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25th September
We awoke to yet another pleasant day and headed south to Baron's Haugh a RSPB reserve near Motherwell. We quickly found the hide and were put onto the long billed dowitcher showing distantly on the far side of the lake, also present was a garganey but not much else. Continuing our American theme we found ourself at Covenham reservoir to get stunning views of the American black tern as the stiff breeze kept it in the NE corner of the reservoir along the edge, and finished a top weekend.
24th September - Yankee Doodle Dandy - A weekend of Yanks
James Hunter and I arrived at St Combs, North of Aberdeen about 8am after an uneventful night drive, brown rat and barn owl the only sightings. We joined the group of people searching for the sandhill crane, and after a bit of a run around we joined the group who had located it for a brief view as it was flushed by a dog walker. Another period of searching before it was again located in a stubble field showing very well until it had had enough and flew over our heads giving amazing views. A quick fuel and ice cream stop and we were off to Hopeman where we searched in vain in a puddle in a pig field for the white rumped sandpiper, but the nearby juv drake king eider was more obliging in Burghead Bay. We then headed to Fort George and although the sightings of a pod of bottle nosed dolphins were more distant than from here than Channonry Point we were time limited so it worked well. Another check for the sandpiper proved fruitless as we headed back to Blackdog for the scoters, we could only locate the black scoter as dusk fell. Chips in Stonehaven and then a bit of a drive back to the Edinburgh area for a kip.
18th September
A chance discovery of an adonis ladybird in the garden was excellent, two new species this year in the garden.
15th September
After a quick errand was run it was an after work trip to Grafham Water, where the sabine's gull had been showing very well 10 minutes earlier, but now it was distant and a long walk to where it was proved fruitless as it flew back the way I had just come. I met Lee Gregory (Name Check - as he admitted to reading this stuff) and we wandered back, the gull continually going away from us. But eventually it settled near to us and showed very well until flushed by a dog. A bonus of a cracking little stint was reward for all the effort. The Stint and dunlin were eating the killer shrimps (Dikerogammarus villosus) and some zebra mussel shells were found adding the the exotic setting. The two grey phalaropes and a little gull were showing well from the sailing club, pity we were watching them from the dam! anyway still nice to see and a nice evening out.
5th September
A bumper trapping morning in the garden with 5 wood mice and a house mouse making up for the one I lost a few days ago.
3rd September
After getting two wood mice back on the cat it was once again into London for more exotics, this time Red Swamp Crayfish. After an hour or so with nothing I noticed some kids had found some and they helped me see several and photograph them. There were plenty of ring neck parakeets and a couple of brown rats and a mandarin of interest.
2nd September
A wood mouse in the traps, but the cat also had one, an evening visit to a local bat roost had 7 serotines and a soprano pipistrelle.
1st September
Harvest time in the field behind my house so displaced small mammals were going to be abundant, the cat knew this and was out and I put plenty of traps out. The cat was more sucessful and brought a pygmy shrew which escaped, a wood mouse and a field vole that did not make it and I rescued a house mouse which escaped and bit me as we tried a photo shoot, disapointed no photos but still nice to see. My traps got bank vole and wood mouse so the cat is winning.
31st August
A few nice local mammals over the last few days, the hedgehogs have been active and I rescued a bank vole from the cat. And at dusk a cracking buck roe deer was in the field at the edge of the village.
28th August
We met up with James Hunter, Simon West, Farnboro John and Claire Dell in London to search for Aesculapian snakes but despite some good weather we could only locate a 6' long recently shed skin. I also caught up with the trail cams and had some nice otter shots as well as Fox and Muntjac
27th August
After some terrible traffic I made it to Farnboro John's and we headed off to Devon, traffic was good and we made good time, however I could not find the site details for our first stop so had to use the force! But after a few false starts we found the site but could not find the target species Cirl Bunting, we split up and John had one but I messed it. We then headed down to The famous Abbey Inn in Buckfast where we got the prime table and ordered some beer and food - both which were excellent. A soprano pipistrelle patrolled but it was after we had finished the meal when the first Greater horseshoe bats started to appear and they streamed out in large numbers in the region of 200 or so a superb display. We then headed to the scarry church - which was not very scarry. Here along the footpath the bats are funnelled and follow a narrow route where we can try to photograph them, it is difficult and needs more work but we got a couple of record shots.
19th August
The day before I had got the e-mail saying the conditions for the upcoming boat trip were going to be optimal (exactly what did that mean) and I could cancel the trip with a full refund - sounded like the best option until I read further, but the trip would still be running in these conditions as there had been good numbers of Fin whales in the area in the last two days - wow. I packed every sea sickness remedy known to man and headed off. After a good run I made it to Pembrokeshire and after some sleep I met the rest of the group in a cafe for a light snack before climbing aboard the boat. We headed out at great speed whizzing past a few common dolphins on the way, in the ever worsening conditions. We reached the area of deepwater and started our search but after 20 mins of nothing we were a little down and a few of the passengers were a little green, but I was doing OK. A distant blow had us moving and we were quickly in an area where several Fin Whales were feeding, a breaching whale a little way away could not be tracked down but from the brief views was probably a humpback whale but we could not locate it further to confirm. The fin whales fed in the same area for a while with good numbers of common dolphins and Manx Shearwaters in attendance. It was tricky to photograph them with the heavy swell moving the boat about. The waves crashing over the side had all my gear and myself soaked. We headed back via Grassholm to view the massive gannet colony, the smell was pretty bad and made me feel a bit ropey. A few grey seals were spotted hauled out on the rocks, and we then whizzed back to harbour. Finally back on land I changed into some dry clothes and headed to the Chippy to celebrate a top day and get a few hours sleep before driving home.
18th August
I got back onto the island and after a stop to stock up on local ales I headed to the meeting point at the bat roost, a large house with a very dodgy attic! A quick check confirmed there were 8 bats in the roost we started the tricky job of catching some. Only two were caught and close inspection confirmed they were both grey long eared bats two cracking individuals, they were processed and shown to the roost owners before being released back into the roost. Well worth all the effort and my 50th mammal species of the year. I managed to get home for some sleep before my next escapade.
17th August
After a stupidly early start I picked up Farnboro John and headed to Portsmouth for the Isle of Wight Ferry. Not much was doing from the ferry, a few med gulls of note. We headed to Alverstone Mead which despite its amazingly unlikely location the Sat Nav found. After baiting the hide it was not too long before the first Red squirrel was sighted and it came down to feed, but the others in the trees were content with the abundant hazelnuts and remained elusive. It was time for us to go and meet the bat team, while we waited at the meet point a few common migrants were spotted, blackcap and whitethroat feeding ready for the long migration south. The bat crew arrived and we checked out the first roost, there was a bat present and it was caught. A closer inspection showed it was a Whiskered bat and not our target species. The second roost site contained no bats but had lots of recent activity. The third site also proved to be batless. Our fourth site (a maternity roost) had not been contacted but a quick call finally had the owners but no visit was possible until the next morning which was frustrating, we visited a roost site which could be viewed from a public area and an evening visit was planned. We parted company with the bat grew and headed to Ventnor Botanical gardens where in the car park and environs we quickly found a dozen or so wall lizards in less than optimal conditions. Back to the squirrels where we managed to get a few decent photos before heading back to Ventnor for Chips but some carnival made us detour to Shanklin for sustenance. Back at the public roost the weather had turned and it was very blowy, which the peregrines were using to great effect. As dusk fell we tried to detect bats leaving the roost and we had a few but could not be certain of the ID and the massive firework display and strong wind made it almost impossible so we gave up and headed for home.
14th August
Despite only a couple of hours sleep I still managed to meet up with Tony Moverley at the airport lagoons late morning to follow up on Local patchworker Grame Smith's Adonis ladybird sightings during the week. An intensive search of ladybirds in the area produces loads of seven spot ladybirds probably 100+. I found a single harlequin ladybird and Tony located two Adonis ladybirds in just over an hours searching.
13th August
After having the car repaired (failed MOT in the week) I headed south to Farnborough and after picking up Farnboro John and Clare Dell we headed off to the Forest of Dean for the afternoon on our way to Devon. But there was not much doing birdwise, no dippers, no goshawks and no mandarins, but we did get a couple of Crossbills. We revisited the wild boar but again nothing was doing there, but we got some info on another site but we only had a very brief backside view. But the main event was in Devon so we hot footed it there. It was dormouse time and as we were setting up the cameras one was showing. Our hosts as always were amazing and kept up supplied with cups of tea. But the dormice were very elusive and we had almost an hour without a view. There was a little pessimism creeping in, but we need not have worried, three dormice did eventually put on a show for us and performed very well for some extended periods. We broke the journey back at a random layby on the A303 for a cup of tea, and could hear at least one quail calling from a nearby crop field. I got back home just as it was begining to get light
12th August
Working at our site near Grafham water today was the ideal opportunity to drop in after work to see the White winged black tern and interesting individual in juv plumage, which flew round a little before perching on the boom. Then I battled with the Friday night traffic to Wendover, while I was eating my chips my target was already out and about. I quickly located a couple of edible dormice and had about a dozen in total.
9th August
You cannot beat the Benfleet badgers for close up views so I arranged a visit, traffic on the M25 was surprisingly light so I made good progress, and after a quick visit to the supermarket and chip shop I was at the site well early eating my tea. I spotted a young fox and it was clearly inquisitive so I invested a couple of cocktail sausages to lure it close and get some photos, it was joined by another and they showed amazingly well devouring the whole pack of sausages in the process. The owner of the land running the badger hide appeared and told me of the foxes, it was vixen and cub and they both happy to scrounge round the local area and are very used to people, and he feeds them scraps as well. Once in the hide the badgers quickly started to arrive, eager for some free food, one of the two cubs first, followed by a steady stream of the rest of the group, with 9 individuals eventually putting in appearance. They showed exceptionally well as always showing down to a few feet for prolonged periods until eventually we had to leave them, top night.
6th August
With the pelagic trip cancelled, an alternative trip was dreamed up, this time totally land based, I joined Simon and Paul and headed down to Dorset. Our first stop was in Bournemouth for the introduced wall and Green lizards, several wall lizards were easily found and eventually a rather nice adult green lizard. We continued our search and had a common lizard and a young green lizard. A short drive later and we were in some classic heathland habitat, where we quickly had a basking smooth snake and a small pond held a nice selection of dragon and damselflies, black darter the pick. Further into the heath another smooth snake, slow worm and a grass snake were spotted, the walk back had another smooth snake and three nightjars roosting by the side of the path but they flew before we could raise cameras. A last smooth snake was basking by the path as we neared the car. A short drive later we were at a small nature reserve looking for sand lizards, and very shortly we had a couple basking in the sun. There were a few refugia and there were a couple of slow worms and one had an adder completing the native reptiles in a day. We were then off to Arne, where joe public were out in force but that did not deter the Sika deer and we had a very close encounter with a doe, showing down to a few feet. But it was stags we were really after, and we eventually located a small herd still in velvet, which showed very nicely. We now had to battle with traffic and the sat nav to get to the Forest of Dean where we had some good gen on some wild boar, here we met up with our local contact and Farnborough John (who we tipped off the previous evening) and headed into the forest. A short while later we had some wild boar a sow with some piglets and we watched them and another group or two for well over an hour, photography was difficult due to the poor light but we got a couple of pics. We were not finished there it was a short drive to a lesser horseshoe bat roost where we had several emerging from the roost and flying all round the entrance. We then had a quick stop for chips and ice cream before the long trek home.
2nd August
An evening visit to a local bat roost, a couple of Natterer's bats and 9 serotines during the visit.
28th July
An evening visit to a local site for red eared terapins but I only had one brief sighting.
25th July
Conditions were perfect when I left work but as I reached my destination in Norfolk the sun had gone and it was cool and overcast not great for finding my quarry. Despite the conditions I still managed to find a dozen or so Northern clade pool frogs mostly in the middle of the pond but one was quite close and was quite tolerant of my photography. The walk back to the car produced a roe deer and a stoat hunting the newly released pheasants, top night.
Catching up on the garden trail cam, plenty of hedgehog photos and a few muntjac but nothing of the fox or badger.
24th July
After a sensible lie in I one again met up with Simon West and Mike Richardson this time we headed to the Forest of Dean where we met up with one of the locals well into wild boar, we were hoping to finally get Mike a wild boar sighting. It was a gruelling wander round the forest for 5 hours and the feeling was we were going to dip, but there were plenty of fallow deer around so we kept going. We finally had two wild boar but it was too dark for photos, but anyway Mike had his wild boar, we headed on to a Lesser horseshoe bat roost, although a little late there were several bats coming and going and a bonus of a young badger on the approach track. After some chips and we headed for home with a Fox seen on the journey.
22nd July
I met up with Simon West and Mike Richardson and battled through the Holiday traffic and after what seemed like an age made it to a site where we were going to do some herping. The site was alive with butterflies good numbers of Chalkhill blues and under the first refugia were loads of slow worms, another held an adder and one a grass snake but the best was a basking melanistic common lizard, which was truly stunning and was quite confiding allowing some great photos. We left the herps in peace and headed to Petworth where we sniffed out a chip shop and suitably fed we went to Petworth Park for the main event of the day. But we were a bit early so had a wander and photographed the fallow deer abundant in the park. A bit more wild were the bats which we started to catch in the park, and a nice selection we caught. Common and Soprano pipistrelle were the first ones followed by brown long eared, Natter's and Daubentons and then some of the rarer bats, the main reason most people were here. In total we had three Barbastelle bats and three Bechsteins bats and two beastly noctules but the star was the single Alcathoe's bat which was the real icing on the evening, we had a slightly premature departure due to a sudden turn in the weather bat catching in torrential rain is not a good idea. A fox was seen as we
19th July
After picking up some chips and ice cream I headed to Eldernell to eat them, and almost as my last visit a barn owl complete with field vole flew over me, but I was slightly more prepared this time and managed one shot before it flew away. The killing continued as I also had a family of kestrel's eating an unidentified small mammal and a sparrowhawk outwitted a young song thrush.
I then went to the noctule roost for a count. After 30 mins or so the first noctule left the roost, and there were at least two Common pipistrelles flying around but that was it although there were bats chattering in the roost no others left in the 2.5 hours I was there, very disappointing, hopefully more next time. But a tawny owl, fox and a hedgehog on the way home were quite nice
15th July
A cute baby hedgehog in the garden this evening, was less confiding than its parents but it did allow a few photos.
13th July
With the car semi repaired and not needing to make the trek to visit the Greater Greenshank legs, I instead visited the rather uninspiring Common Rosefinch despite seeing several nice red ones in Finland recently. It showed from time to time but sang quite a bit out of sight. After having my fill I popped into Fowlemere for a quick visit and to my horror was full of Brownies but it appeared they were just finishing so I headed away from them to the reedbed hide which I had to myself. It was not long until a muntjac came into view and showed quite nicely but was acting quite strangely, it took a while for me to realise it had a quite well grown fawn and was trying to get it to come out into the open, which it eventually did and I got some nice photo's. It was quite jumpy and was running around a lot in and out of the reeds at the slightest disturbance camera shutter or mallard were equally as alarming. A quick look at the Barn owls showing outside the nest box before home.
10th July
The final BTO Bird Atlas surveys today with three tetrads to visit, it was pretty quiet as you can imagine at this time of yesr but a spotted flycatcher and two turtle doves did keep me interested. So a quick summary of my BTO atlassing - All done within TL64 highlights include Bittern, peregrine falcon, oystercatcher, tree sparrow, willow tit, lesser spotted woodpecker, grasshopper warbler, peafowl, I have enjoyed it making me explore my local area and despite the whole area being farmland I have seen a few good species.
9th July
I met with messers Simon West and Paul Lambourne at New Hythe, where some Lesser Emperor Dragonflies had been seen. This was my bogey dragonfly having dipped several before, but in good conditions we quickly found one but it was quite mobile. There were a few other dragonfiles, including Emperor, brown hawker, small red eyed damselfly at the site. With some good weather we continued to Sussex to a site near Crawley where we quickly found Downy Emerald and finally a Brilliant Emerald but they were difficult to photograph, still worth the effort to visit.
6th July
Heading into the Fens, first stop was the Ouse Washes to check out the tree sparrows then for some chips and on to Eldernell for corncrake but I have probably left it a bit late this year as I only got a brief distant call. A barn owl flew right over me carrying a field vole. All this was on route to a bat roost. In place for dusk we watched almost 40 Noctule bats about half the colony emerged in far from ideal conditions. A couple of comon pipistrelles were also seen as were two foxes on the drive home.
5th July
An after work jaunt to Fowlmere dodging the showers in the reedbed hide produced a kingfisher and a few water rails of different ages, adult to chick. But the real surpirse was the number of turtle doves with almost 10 individuals seen without much effort. And plenty of hares about in nearby fields.
2nd July
Back to Sheppey with Simon West and it was not long before we picked up a female dainty damselfly and after further searching we found two males all which showed reasonably well. A quick look at Elmley where a barn owl and an emerging dragonfly sp were the highlights. It was then a short drive to see some water voles which did show off and on but no clear photo opportunities. We stopped at Rainham on the way home which was very quiet, the new hide was open so we investigated, we were intrigued by the door which went nowhere and even more impressive it had a padlock on the outside how you would ever get to lock it. There were some very impressive marsh frogs and both forms of two spot ladybird.
1st July
A quick visit to Finemere Woods as I was passing, I had 10 butterfly species including purple hairstreak, white admiral and silver washed fritilary.
