Yorkshire Mega's Bonanza October Part 2

13th October - In retrospect we probably should have gone to to Flamborough Obs first thing and then headed off to Spurn Point but we didn't, electing to get down to Spurn as soon as we could.  It was a rather breezy day and for much of it, it was overcast which didn't help draw the birds out of cover.  We started our morning visiting ex-CHOG birder Mark Andrews who has moved to Kilnsea and has a wonderful location and garden next to the Humber.  We had a tour of his garden, which has already seen a number of scarce species but none for us, before we walked down the road to see if we could find a Western Bonelli's Warbler that had turned up the previous day.  It had been seen a little before we arrive in the Crown & Anchor car park but after an hour or so waiting and only having heard it call a few times we decided to head off and do a little seawatching and try again later. 

Our seawatch wasn't spectacular but it added a few year ticks in Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter and Goldeneye all missed in the early part of the year because of lockdown.  We also recorded Golden Plover, Ringed Plover, Dunlin and Pink-footed Geese, Razorbill, Guillemot, Rock Pipit, Skylark and Brambling.  

Skein of Pink-footed Geese passing by at distance Kilnsea Beach © Nick Hull

After our seawatch we headed back up the road to give the Bonelli's another chance to show but no chance so we headed off for lunch after which we headed to Kilnsea Wetlands before the tide receded and the waders leave to feed out on the Humber mudflats.  There was a good number of wildfowl and waders and we managed to add Spotted Redshank to our year list though we didn't find it in the roosting birds but caught sight of it when it flew out with accompanying Redshank.

We headed back to the Crown and Anchor to try for the Bonelli's again but when we arrived it still hadn't been seen but a message from the Spurn Obs came through to say there was a Jack Snipe on the Obs pond so we headed up the road and around the back of the Obs to join a number of birders already there watching the snipe.  We had great views and we saw a Jack Snipe swim in the pond something we had never seen before.

Jack Snipe_Spurn Observatory Pond Kilnsea © Nick Hull

The Jack Snipe was a fine way to finish our day at Spurn with a pretty good day list of 67 species on a pretty drab poor day, wasn't bad at all.

14th October - Back to Flamborough Obs for the mornings ringing session but it wasn't a great morning the wind had changed direction overnight and there was little migration, best of the morning was a stunning little Treecreeper up close.  So we headed back to the cottage for lunch and checked out up the lane at Buckton but generally had an easy day, fortunately as it turn out. 

Treecreeper - Flambourgh Obs © Nick Hull

15th October - We were up early and back to the Flamborough Obs with no idea of what the day would bring.  The first net round produced a single bird. the second was much better and added Lesser Redpoll and one of the local Tree Sparrows.

Lesser Redpoll, Yellowhammer,Tree Sparrow & Goldfinch  © Nick Hull

Then came the best bird of the weeks ringing sessions and strangely a species Jackie and I had been talking about over breakfast not having seen one for a while.  The last bird that appeared out of the bag was a juvenile Red-breasted Flycatcher the first we had seen in the hand close up and it was a little cracker.

Shortly after news came to the Obs that a Western Bonelli's Warbler had been found near to the lodge so Jackie and I headed off with a few of the other birders to see if we could catch up with this elusive species and hoped we could get to see this one unlike the Spurn bird.

We arrive at the location and the sun went behind the clouds and we waited for an hour or so, then the sun shone through again and shortly after we heard it calling along with another Yellow-browed.  It was a little further down the path and I manage to spot it moving through a sycamore and called to the others and eventually everyone was getting brief views.  

Western Bonelli's Warbler - Flamborough © Nick Hull

Jackie wasn't satisfied with the views she had so we went for lunch and returned and we both had much better and closer views though it was very hard to photograph as it was on the move all the time.  We left very happy and went out to the viewpoint and tried a bit of a seawatch but only added Eider to our list.

16th October - We started as usual at Flamborough Obs but things were very slow and there seemed to be very little migrations and it was damp and windy.  So we decided to go to Scarborough and start at Scalby Mills a place we've not visited before.  Looking from the sea wall we added Turnstone to our list, otherwise a good number of Wigeon and Oystercatchers with just a singles of Eider, Guillemot and Curlew, a few Redshank and a variety of the more common gull species.  Then news of a Snow Bunting at Bempton Cliffs showing well made up our minds of where to go next.

We arrived and enquired if the bunting was still present and was told it was down by the Grandstand viewing point.  It didn't take us long to get there and it was performing extremely well with no fear of people and allowed for everyone to get great shots of this northern breeding species.

Male Snow Bunting - Bempton Cliffs RSPB © Nick Hull

Whilst we were there on the info services it came on that an Red-breasted Flycatcher had been found at the Flamborough Fog Station.  We didn't panic as we had already seen one so we had our fill of the bunting and walked back to the centre for lunch.  Just as we finished one of the volunteers said had we heard that the Red-breasted Flycatcher had been re-id'ed as a Taiga Flycatcher.  There was no worries of where we were to go next and off to the Fog Station as quickly as possible.

We couldn't have timed it better as we walked across to where all the birders were the bird was flushed and it sat on the fence rail of the Fog Station and gave us good views though a tad distant for ideal photograph with just a 400mm lens.  I managed a few memory shots before it was flushed again by birders and photographer that had been watching it down on the undercliff as they climbed back up to the clifftop path and flushed the bird back down onto the undercliff.  We decided as we'd had pretty good views and that the weather seemed to be deteriorating we would call it a day and what a way to finish!

Taiga Flycatcher - Flamborough Fog Station © Nick Hull

17th October - This was our last real day of birding in Yorkshire, rather wet and drab, we went to Flamborough Head hoping for a bit of seawatching but rather disappointing but we had no room to complain our birding break had been superb with one lifer and four British ticks and a total of 116 species for the 10 days in the county.

Just to add a BIG THANK YOU to all at Flamborough Bird Observatory for all the work put in to organise MigWeek21 it made a great birding break.

Yorkshire Mega's Bonanza October Part 1

On the 8th October Jackie and I headed off to East Yorkshire for a birding break to take in the Flamborough MigWeek21 with talks, bird ringing and walks all aimed at seeing migrants fresh in from Northern Europe or further afield. We have taken part in this event previously and had some very good birds such as Red-flanked Bluetail, Yellow-browed Warbler just to mention a couple. We also have had large thrush, finch and goose movements which can be quite spectacular.

We left Dorset early in the morning and as we couldn't book in to our cottage at Buckton until after 17:00hrs we figured that we would have time to fit in a visit to Blacktoft Sand RSPB reserve near Goole.  As there was a White-tailed Lapwing a very sought after bird species in Britain as there has only been ten UK records the last was in July 2010.  It's a species that is also on the Dorset list from Abbotsbury in July 1979, which is another story.

So around five and a half hours later we were pulling in to Blacktoft and the first person we saw was fellow Lytchett patch birder Shaun Robson who had called in to see the lapwing on his way to Newcastle and he told us just where to see the bird.  When we arrived at the hide only six people were there so we took a vacant seat and scanned the pools out front and quickly picked up what turned out to be our first mega of the trip, over the next thirty minutes is performed well and gave unbelievable views.  So we went off and had our lunch then visiting the other hides before leaving to get to our cottage.  Adding Curlew Sandpiper and Ruff, Marsh Harrier plus the more common species to get our Yorkshire list up and running.

White-tailed Lapwing - Blacktoft RSPB © Nick Hull

9th October - Our first morning we spent at Bempton RSPB as they had a ringing demonstration that morning and we had arranged to meet friends later.  We were greeted by the sound of chirping Tree Sparrow always a joy to see and we made our way to where the ringing was to take place.  The first few net rounds produced several of the common species Robin, Dunnock, Blue Tit etc.  Then the first of the autumn for us a Yellow-browed Warbler popped into the net and we had close up views of this stunning eastern gem.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Bempton RSPB © Nick Hull

When the ringing slowed and our friends arrived we headed off down to the breeding cliffs to checkout the Gannets colony as many still hang around for sometime after the breeding season is over and we had some great views of bird plunging in the sea for fish and gliding effortlessly by the uplift of the wind along the cliff edge.  There wasn't much migration going on, though we did have a few Chaffinch and Skylark coming in and moving over also a Mistle Thrush which isn't common here.

Gannet - Bempton Cliffs RSPB © Nick Hull

10th October - Out again early this time to Flamborough South Landing and Observatory.  The mornings ringing brought in very little in fact much the same as the previous day with the highlight being another Yellow-browed Warbler and a nice male Bullfinch.  We headed back to the cottage and Jackie went for a rest and I headed off up the lane/footpath to see what was around locally.  In fact there was very little as the area is quite intensively farmed but after about a mile I met RSPB's Mark Thomas a local birder.  He was investigating a sighting of a Yellow-browed Warbler in a small copse and invited me to join him which I duly did.  We had hardly arrived when we both heard the 'shweee' call of a Yellow-browed and in due course had good views as it moved around in some elder and thorn before heading back into the sycamore where we first heard it.  It was then that I realised the time and had to head back to the cottage for lunch.

Yellow-browed Warbler - Buckton © Mark Thomas

In the afternoon we headed to Hornsea Mere usually a good place to catch up with Little Gull and it didn't disappoint but we only had a single well marked 1st/winter bird, we added a flock of Barnacle Geese that flew in and a number of common waterfowl species but the Slavonian Grebe couldn't be found.

1st/winter Little Gull_Hornsea Mere © Nick Hull

11th October - On the Friday we arrived a real mega wader was identified a Long-toed Stint at St. Aidan's RSPB.  Jackie and I decided we would risk not going straight away, to avoid the crowds of weekend twitchers by going on a week day and Monday suited us best. So an early start and after an hour and fifty minutes we were pulling up in the reserve car park and getting directions to where the bird could be seen.  It was a pretty long walk possibly three quarters of a mile.  We arrived to find around a dozen birders present and they made room for us at one end and directed us to where the bird could be seen.  We had to wait for it to walk around from the back of a small island to come into sight but it appeared next to a Lapwing and looked really dinky in comparison.  Long-toed Stint is an Siberian breeding species that winters in Thailand through Malaysia to Australia and has only been recorded in Britain and Ireland on three previous occasions Marazion, Cornwall in 1970, Saltholme RSPB, Cleveland 1982 and Ballycotton, Cork in 1996.  Due to the distance we were from the bird I only managed a few memory type shots but it was a fantastic bird to catchup with.  We also saw Bittern and I had two Red Kite while Jackie had gone to get sandwich's for lunch.

This is the small island the stint frequented and the boxed area is expanded below

Long-toed Stint_St. Aidan's RSPB © Nick Hull

The dark rufous crown and prominent supercilium, long tertials with no primary projection and pale yellowish legs were very noticeable. When viewing through the telescope at high magnification the legs also seemed long for a bird of its size and seemed very flexed almost like a Jack Snipe much different than with Little and Temmick's Stint. In fact It reminded me more of a Least Sandpiper.

We lunched at St Aidan's before moving on to tick off another RSPB reserve at Fairburn Ings, our purpose here was to see if we could find Willow Tit.  We needn't of worried we checked in at the centre and were told to try the hides where there were feeders as they had been getting regular visits from Willow Tit in the morning. So we headed out and only went as far as the centres feeding station and lo and behold there on the fat balls was a Willow Tit.  None-the-less we did a circuit of the reserve and glad we did as we added two possibly four Great White Egret, two Cattle Egret, Grey Heron and Little Egret to our Yorkshire list.  Jackie also caught up with a Red Kite that circled right over us on the return path to the centre.  

Red Kite over Fairburn Ings RSPB © Nick Hull

At this point I'd just like to thank Alan Davis of 'The Biggest Twitch: Around the World in 4000 birds fame'. (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Biggest-Twitch-Around-World-birds/dp/1472918606). As we approached the centre, via a boardwalk, the corner to turn to get off and return onto the path was too sharp for Jackie's scooter to  drive around.  Instead of Jackie having to reverse all the way back Alan, who happened to be behind us, suggested to help me lift Jackie's scooter and spin it around the corner, which  between us we managed to do. 

 

Marsh Tit - Fairburn Ings © Nick Hull

We ended our day here as we started with Willow Tit at the centres feeders.

Willow Tit Fairburn Ings © Nick Hull

12th October - It was back to Flamborough for the early morning ringing session and it turned out to be pretty good with some thrush and finch migration.  With Redwing predominating a handful of Song Thrush and Blackbird the first Fieldfare and Brambling moving in off the North Sea all of which were seen in the hand except for the Fieldfare.  

A few of the birds we saw close up at the ringing demonstration

It was interesting to see the Blackbirds which they identified as most likely to be Scandinavian birds as they had longer wings and were slightly heavier birds also the plumage appears slightly sooty black compared to local birds.  The Song Thrush and Redwing were also Scandinavian birds, and Jackie was allowed to release one of the Redwing which was placed on her open hand on it's back where it stayed momentarily before righting itself and flying off.  

To be continued in Part 2

September Birding & NocMig Ortolan Bunting's

Jackie and I visited eleven locations in September not all of them were necessarily productive but none-the-less we added species to our year list.  On the 1st we went over to Stanpit Marsh but we missed the tide and the birds had gone into the marsh to roost which made it hard to pick them out amongst the long marsh grasses. The highlight here was our first Grey Plover of the year which a really smart summer plumages individual though there was a few signs that it had started it's autumn moult.  We had been there sometime scanning looking for the reported Curlew Sandpiper but we couldn't find them anywhere but as a consolation an Osprey came over and quartered the harbour and gave us pretty good views as it dived to catch fish 

eventually it was successful and flew up towards the River Avon.  Jackie found our only Wheatear of the day which was in around the gorse patch on Crouch Hill.  Otherwise it was very much the usual species that were to be found.  Jackie and I popped around to Mudeford Quay to the public loos and had a view across the harbour to see if we could add anything and got lucky finding two Curlew Sandpiper and five Knot on the sandbar which finished the mornings birding off very nicely.

We had a morning walk out to Old Harry from Studland on the 7th where we had good numbers of Whitethroat and a steady passage of Swallow, House Martin and a few Sand Martin making their way South for the coming winter. We also had a couple of Wheatear out on the head and we had the usual gull species.  It was the insects that were the highlight with our first Clouded Yellow Butterflies and my first Field Sand Digger Wasp Mellinus arvensis which I found as it took a fly on some bracken which it will take back to her burrow as food for her young after she lays her egg on to the fly. 

Clouded Yellow Ballard Down © Nick Hull

Sand Digger Wasp Mellinus arvensis Ballard Down © Nick Hull

Our next visit was out of county to Keyhaven and Pennington Marsh, it has always been a bit of a favourite site for us particularly in the autumn as you always can find a good assortment of birds there almost at anytime of year.  Our target species here was Spotted Redshank but as always we were finding everything but this species.  We found Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper and a forty or so Yellow Wagtail on Pennington Marsh but it wasn't until we were making out way back to the Keyhaven car park that I spotted a wader in the back of the Fishtail lagoon and scoping it found our target bird a Spotted Redshank.  I know they aren't a particularly scarce species but we seemed to been missing them in the field pools at Lytchett so it was nice to get it on the year list.

Male Kestrel Keyhaven © Nick Hull

Wheatear - Keyhaven © Nick Hull

It wasn't until the 19th that we managed to add another species to our year list with Ruff which had been on the Sherford Pools field along with Little Stint, Green Sandpiper, Hobby, Marsh Harrier and Jackie managed to get to see her first Kingfisher of the year.

We ended the month with a walk around Greenlands Farm and back via the Agglestone Rock with the only highlights being a couple of Crossbill and Wheatear and a single Whitethroat.

NocMig

Since I started recording the sounds of birds on nocturnal migration going over Lytchett Bay I've recorded an assortment of different species from Common and Green Sandpiper, Redshank, Greenshank and Spotted Redshank, Whimbrel, Curlew, Redwing, Fieldfare and Song Thrush, Ring Ouzel and Pied Flycatcher, the Pied Flycatcher was possibly the best I've record up till now.

Other friends who have been doing NocMic recording around the harbour have recorded a number of Ortolan Bunting but not me, well until now that is. Because on the morning of the 5th September at 01:46hrs I found 5 calls from a single bird flying past and comparing the sonogram with recordings on the Sound Approach website they appeared to match an Ortolan Bunting.  I sent a copy of the audio to Paul at the Sound Approach who was able to confirm the record as being indeed a Ortolan Bunting. At last I had joined the Ortolan Club.

Two Owls · Ortolan Bunting 05 - 09 - 2021

Four days later I was going through the nights recording as before and came across another recording of what sounded like another bunting passing over this one was slightly closer and at a quieter time of the morning at 03:05hrs the sonogram looked slightly different but it was within the correct frequency range but I wasn't 100% so sent off another audio file to Paul and yes a second record of Ortolan Bunting for the Lytchett Bay airspace.

Two Owls · Ortolan Bunting 09-09-2021

What will be next?

August surprise Aquatic Warbler

August I think is always a slightly strange month as summer isn't quite over and autumn hasn't really begun but usually we see the start of the return migration.  This year was no exception with returning Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Spotted Redshank, Greenshank, Spoonbill and Great White Egret all being seen locally in the first week of the month.  Otherwise it was very much the usual summer species that is until the 17th and typically it was a morning when Jackie and I had decided to have a bit of a lay-in. It was around 06:56hrs and my mobile pinged an alert which is for the local Lytchett What's app group.  It had to be good at that time of morning, so checking it was a message from Shaun who was ringing out in the reedbeds in the bay.  The message 'We have just caught an Aquatic Warbler if you want to see it get to the water works asap'.  We jumped out of bed and fifteen minutes later we were gathered at the waterworks and Shaun arrived and produced a stunning juvenile Aquatic Warbler. What a surprise as the wind was all wrong and conditions wasn't at all right for the species to be in the UK and at Lytchett Bay.

Juv. Aquatic Warbler Lytchett Bay © Nick & Jackie Hull

The next day we decided to have a walk out across the fields and catch-up on some waders that were lacking from our list and as we were leaving Ian messaged to say he had found a Little Stint on the Sherford Pools.  We arrived shortly after and Ian kindly pointed us in the right direction and Little Stint went on the list along with Ringed Plover for the patch.  

Our next real birding trip out was on the 23rd when we popped down to Lodmoor and had a very nice mornings birding.  We didn't get anything much out of the ordinary but had some really nice conversations with a number of different visiting birders enjoying the day.  Highlights of the day were Green and Common Sandpiper, Bearded Tit and no less than three Great White Egrets.

Great White Egret - Lodmoor © Nick Hull

Our next few walks didn't produce anything new until we had a visit to Sunnyside Farm it is here that we often add Whinchat and Yellow Wagtail to our harbour list.  So after visiting Arne to top up on bird food we had a quick stop off at Sunnyside and almost straight away we heard Yellow Wagtails and eventually managed to find them out in the field with the cattle.  

A family walk in Wareham Forest produced very little but we ended the walk with excellent views of Spotted Flycatcher which brought the month's birding to an end.  

Spotted Flycatcher - Coldharbour © Nick Hull

Roll on September what could be waiting for us to see or find.  We are 11 species short of the 200 species with three months still to go it's going to be interesting and close run thing this year.

The promised blog at last

 Hi all, sorry this has taken so long we have been a little busy of late with domestic duties etc. but here are a few of the other inverts we saw on our Hartland Moor walk.

Ammophila sabulosa Sand Wasp ©Nick Hull

The Dorset heathland have both species of sand wasp but Ammophila sabulosa is the commonest of the two they are fairly difficult to tell apart but A.sabulosa tend to be larger and have a bluish sheen to the black segment at the end of the abdomen which you can just make out on this shot.  They are a parasitic wasp which predates on moth larvae which it stocks it's burrows before sealing up the burrow. When her  hatch the young then feed on the caterpillars.  The adult will often return and check to see if more food is required at a later date.

Bee Wolf - Philanthus triangulum © Nick Hull

This is another species that burrows into firm sanding soils and it specialises in Honey Bees which it paralyses and stock several cells in her burrow and the covers in the burrow entrance They were formerly rare but in recent years have expanded their range and are becoming quite common around areas that have suitable habitat for them.

Ruby-tailed Wasp - Chrysididae Cuckoo Wasp species ©Nick Hull

We also saw one or two Jewel or Ruby-tailed Wasps the above photograph was of one I found in our conservatory there is quite a large number of species in this group and they need microscoptic examination of the genitalia to get to individual species.  There are others which can be identified from good photographs but still pretty tricky.  

These are parasitic also but they lay their eggs in various other digger wasp species burrows, it often helps to identify the host species burrow which indicates which is the likely ruby-tail species.  For example if the ruby-tailed pictured was Hedychrum niemelia its host would be Cerceris digger wasps.  If it should be Chrysis ignita its host species would be Wood nesting Mason Wasps.

In the last blog I posted a little about the Purbeck Mason Wasp  and during our walk I mentioned that they feed by taking the nectar from the heather flowers but because they have short tongues they short cut by snipping through the side of the flower.  Whilst out surveying after our walk I came across some heather where they had been feeding and took a couple of shots to show what I was describing. 

Snipped out base of heather flowers to enable access to the
nectar by the Purbeck Mason Wasp

To finish today's blog one of the last we came across, digging a burrow then found a few feeding, was a bee with big yellow baskets on the hind legs.  I tentatively identified it as Pantaloop Bee, having not seen a female of the species before, just a male in our garden and that was only for the first time this year.  So I took a few photographs and checked the id at home and indeed they were Dasypoda hirtipes the Pantaloon Bee named for obvious reasons.

Female Pantaloon Bee - Dasypoda  hirtipes © Nick Hull

The next blog will be the August bird and wildlife highlights.

July Birds and Wildlife

July is always a month that is usually slow for birds though often a rarity will turn up somewhere. Though the best recently have been a five hour drive away with Elegant Tern in Wales and Black-browed Albatross at Bempton RSPB which I have to say is still there as I write and is very tempting.

July is generally a month to catchup on the domestic chores to clear them for the autumn and fitting in a walk or two targeting certain species.  So our first highlight of the month was a evening trip out to Hartland Moor and Arne, where we had superb views of a Hobby hawking over the copse at the Stud farm for around fifteen minutes after which we moved on to Arne for Nightjar.  To save Jackie having to walk far we watched over Hyde's Heath area and saw both male and female Nightjar which performed well for us and I was able to get a few audio recordings of them.

A few weeks ago we had promised friends that as soon as we were back from our Welsh holiday we would arrange to meet them and take them to see Stone Curlew up on Salisbury Plain.   So on the 15th Jackie and I met with them at RSPB Winterbourne Downs reserve. Jackie and I haven't always been lucky here and have to go out on the plain itself to find them or to other locations we know.  So as we walked up the footpath to the screen that overlooks one of the Stone Curlew fields we weren't expecting to see very much.  As we approached the screen I heard a Stone Curlew call and saw a single bird flying across the field and pitching down and called to others and looking through the scope found four birds. Then another two Stone Curlew appeared though they all were on the opposite side of the field to us we could see them well.  Our friends were really pleased as they hadn't seen Stone Curlew for a few years. Little did we know at that point what the future was going to bring.  As we watched them moving around they seemed somewhat restless as all of a sudden they all lifted off calling and circled around and some going one way and some another.  They then settled again in the same area accept one bird which I picked up was flying directly towards us.  I called it to the others and we watched it fly in and pitch down just 20m from where we were behind the screen, only to be joined by two others just afterwards.  They were very alert and nervous and we realised that some people were walking the footpath the other side of the field and must have spooked them.  So we had excellent views very close before they decided it was ok to go back to where they had been a few minutes before. 

Collage of Stone Curlew shots - © Nick Hull

We had a nice picnic lunch and a catch-up with our friends and then left us so could get back for their dog which they left at home but not before adding Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and Buzzard to our day list.  We had decided to Langford Lakes nature reserve near Salisbury to see the 2cy Red-footed Falcon that had been there for a few days, hunting over the meadows.

When Jackie and I arrived at Langford Lakes it appeared fairly quiet so we wondered if the falcon had gone, but as we were there and hadn't visited the reserve for a few years we would take a look around anyway.  We spoke to a birder who was leaving and he said if we hurry the falcon was perched out the front of the hide to the left.  It was a good job Jackie had her scooter as we had to go to the furthest hide but it was worth it as we entered and joined around six other birders the bird was sitting more or less right in front of us on a dead upright wood perch.

2cy Red-footed Falcon - Langford Lakes Wiltshire © Nick Hull

We were very lucky as a minute or two later it took off and started catching dragonflies and eating them and a crow came and landed on the perch and she went off over the meadows behind the hide. Jackie and I decided to leave and we checked out over the meadow and found the Red-footed Falcon sat on an electricity post across the far side of the meadow but very distant. 

July is always a slow month for birding so we tend to go out looking for other local wildlife such as orchids, butterflies, dragonflies, wasp's and bee's. Starting with the botany I had promised Jackie that I would show her Lesser Butterfly Orchid which I was involved with surveying for Back from the Brink project but as 2020 was so restricting for travel we never got to see them.  So things eased this year and so I took Jackie to see these rare orchids and without too much hunting we found 15 spikes but later I heard their were many more which was very good news.

Lesser Butterfly Orchid © Nick Hull

A few days later we had to go to Arne to buy bird food and stopped off en-route and checked if the Marsh Helleborine's were out in flower and found three spikes but later heard there were around 25 a week later so we had obviously saw them right at the beginning. 

Marsh Helleborine © Nick Hull

At the end of the month I had a chance to do a little surveying on the local heaths and caught up with a few of the local specialty inverts like Heath Potter Wasp, Purbeck Mason Wasp also Heath Tiger Beetle and Mottled Bee-fly.

This Heath Potter Wasp is mining clay suitable for making her pot which she will place in the heather or in a gorse bush or sometimes attached to grass. She then catches and encloses a caterpillar into the pot lays an egg and then seals the pot, then starts again with the next.

Heath Potter Wasp © Nick Hull

The Purbeck Mason Wasp has a very localised distribution on our local Purbeck heathlands and is listed as endangered and was one of the Back from the Brink primary species.  They are a stunning wasp that exclusively predates on Acleris hyemana moth caterpillars.  She digs the burrow which will have 1-3 chambers which she will create cells in starting from the bottom. She will provide up to 20 caterpillars and once she has filled the chambers she will seal the burrow with a clay plug to disguise it.

Purbeck Mason Wasp - © Nick Hull

The day I went out with a friend to see this tiger beetle it was perfect conditions hot sunny and little wind, we only walked a couple of hundred metres and recorded 16 of these rare beetles.  They spend much of their life in a burrow in the ground and are only in their adult form for a few weeks a year to find a female and mate, job done.

Heath Tiger Beetle © Nick Hull

Mottle beefly are one of the host species of the Heath Sand Wasp Ammophila pubescens so can often be found in the same locations.

Mottled Bee-fly © Nick Hull

During a reptile survey on the 27th at Arne other than seeing a number of Sand Lizard Stewart managed to find a couple of female Hornet Robberflies a species which has had a 20% decline over recent years. They lay their eggs in manure preferring horse dung but they will use other animal manure if available. They are the largest of the robberflies and are quite a beast at up to 28mm but can be up to 35mm and will take large pry such as grasshoppers.

Hornet Robberfly © Nick Hull

That brings me to the end of July with 183 species to our birding list so far for the year and a nice list of scarce invertebrates coming along.  

For all of you that joined me for the walk on Tuesday I will put together another blog with a bit more about the digger and sand wasps we came across soon, just to help you remember what we saw.

Birding Somerset, North Wales & Dorset

As May ended June started with us birding on Dartmoor at Challacombe Farm we had two visits here one with the grandchildren and another in the afternoon on our own. What was strange for us was the Bluebells as we are used to seeing them in woodland here they covered the moor in profusion which looked wonderful.

one of many fields of Bluebells that covered the moor

Bombus lapidarius - Red-tailed Bumblebee

On our walks here we had our Lesser Redpoll with several flying by but never landing in view. We also had our best views of Redstart with a super male which sang from the top of one of the stone walls to one of the sheep paddocks. 

Singing male Redstart Challacombe Farm ©Nick Hull

Singing male Blackbird Callacombe Farm ©Nick Hull

As our holiday with the Grandchildren came to an end the River Warbler turned up on the Somerset Levels at Ham Wall and the lure of this bird was to much. So on the day we were leaving Dartmoor we had a cream tea at Darts Farm and said goodbye to the family and headed for Ham Wall. 

We arrived to a very packed car park but as Jackie can't walk long distances any more the staff directed us to a disabled parking area near to the first viewing area. This was a great help easily halving the distance required to get to the bird.  So off we went along the path to a gathering of birders all very well distanced and behaved.  We found that the bird had been singing very well but had just disappeared into the reed bed. It didn't take long before it reappeared though briefly.  It then took a while before it returned to it's favoured singing perch and gave us fantastic views and sang its little heart out.  I managed to get a few reasonable photographs and a couple of audio recordings of the bird singing.

River Warbler Ham Wall ©Nick Hull

There must be lots of similar photographs going around of this bird with the amount of photographers that were present.  Though very few people were recording it's song and it came to Jackie and myself that the last time we had seen and heard River Warbler was on our honeymoon 25 years ago in Poland.  We also ticked off a few Great White Egret for the year a species that seems to be doing well on the levels.

Two Owls · River Warbler Ham Wall

We were home around two weeks when we headed off to North Wales to do a little birding and to visit Jackie's aunt.

The 19th was our first days birding where we visited a small reserve at Penmaenmawr which was just up the road from our holiday cottage.  It is a small reserve but in the past has been very good for Redstart and flycatchers.  We started well with a Spotted Flycatcher close to where we had parked and our walk through the woodland only added common species and it appeared that the Pied Flycatcher numbers were down on the normal or they had already fledged as we didn't see one.

Spotted Flycatcher - Penmaenmawr ©Nick Hull

After lunch we headed off to Caerhun this is a small church set above the Conwy esturary surrounded by farm fields here we added a few of the commoner species on the estuary such as Curlew, Oystercatcher and many local gulls. We also added Buzzard and Sparrowhawk and I was lucky to see a Hawfinch fly out of a Yew tree in the church yard but unfortunately Jackie wasn't looking the right way and missed it.

On the 20th we visited Holyhead harbour for Black Guillemot and managed to see at least six in the old part of the harbour.

Black Guillemot - Holyhead Harbour © Nick Hull

After Holyhead we headed to South Stack here we managed a brief flyby view of a Chough and we had our first Puffin of the year plus the usual Guillemot, and Razorbill, Kittiwake and other gull species which have colonies on the stack.

On our return to the holiday home we had time to make a visit to Cemlyn Bay tern colony hoping we would be lucky to see Roseate Tern which had been there for a few days but we had timed it wrong and it had flown out to feed, but we had good views of the common and Sandwich Terns which were continuously coming and going to bring in sand eel and small fish to feed their young.

Sandwich Tern leaving Cemlyn colony to go fishing © Nick Hull

Common Tern in a hover Cemlyn Bay © Nick Hull

The next day we visited Bodnant NT gardens and whilst walking the large park area we came across a male Pied Flycatcher which was a bit of a surprise but a very nice addition to our list. The was also a meadow which was allowed to grow unrestricted and was covered in wild native flowers and many Common Spotted Orchids.

Orchid Meadow Bodnant © Nick Hull

On the 22nd we headed off to World's End a grouse moor in the Snowdonia National Park, it's an area we have visited a few time over the years to see Black Grouse but unfortunately this time we failed to see any. Though Jackie did find a couple of Red Grouse and we had several Whinchat and the highlight was a male Merlin that put in an appearance.

The approach up onto World's End with a few local sheep © Nick Hull

Male Whinchat -World's End © Nick Hull

Before we left Wales we visited the Great Orme here we managed to see more Chough but I managed to get a few shots of the now famous Kashmir Goats that live feral on the Orme and at night come down to the town and munch on the flowers and hedges of Llandudno.

Kashmir Goats - Great Orme © Nick Hull

Whilst we were on our last couple of days in Wales news broke that a Melodious Warbler had been found and was singing regularly in and around Tom's Thump a small pine copse at Middlebere. So after arriving home on the Friday we chanced it would stay until the next day and visited Saturday morning. We were not disappointed because as we arrived and joined a couple of local birders that was already watching and listening to the bird we could hear it singing.  It took us a minute or two to locate it with some directions from Gary and Martin and then it was just a case of enjoy the moment.  I managed to get a couple of reasonable shots and an audio recording which brought June to a very nice end with 121 species for the month.

Melodious Warbler - Middlebere © Nick Hull

Two Owls · Melodious Warbler Middlebere 26 - 06 - 2021