Back to Dorset and on the catchup again

We came back to weather that was hotter than we had in Portugal and we noticed that our British year list was definitely getting behind so we had some work to do to catchup. Unfortunately I had a little trip-up and pulled my calf and strained my achilles so walking was little painful so resting and taking it easy for a few days was the best thing to do.  So for a couple of weeks all Jackie and I did was do our stint watching over the Osprey at Careys Secret Garden and a very gentle walk at Durlston CP. which in fact gave us a new bird for the year in the shape of a 1st summer Kittiwake that cruised along the cliff edge heading west which was somewhat unexpected.

Unfortunately I had a bit of a relapse prior and aggravated my injury when on the 19th May the Red-footed Falcon seen at Holt Heath the previous day was relocated.  So Jackie and I drove out to Holt next day in the late afternoon to see if we could see it, unfortunately we couldn't find where it was supposed to be.  Though we did record our first Hobby and Nightjar which put in a little early churring.  As we were leaving without seeing the falcon we met Peter Moore who had just left seeing the Red-foot and he explained where to go on the heath to see it.  We thought as we were both slow walkers that it would be best to return next day when we could do the walk in daylight.  So not to waste our time we decided to go and search for Barn Owl in the Cranborne Chase area and were successful which made a nice finish to the day.

Barn Owl - North Dorset © Nick Hull

Next morning - 21st May Jackie and I were back out on Holt Heath this time in the correct place.  It was a long walk, well for us with me limping because of my dodgy calf/achilles and Jackie not able to use her scooter, anyway we made it to the area where we ran into a number of our birding friends.  We found out that it had been seen earlier but had flown off and that it usually returns so it was just a waiting game.  

Well during our wait we saw Goshawk, Red Kite, Hobby, Kestrel, Buzzard, Curlew, Stonechat and Dartford Warblers.  After about  two hours we saw two falcons have a bit of a dust up, one was easy to identify it was a Kestrel but the other look different,  We first thought was is it a Hobby but there was no white around the head it was all dark as was the underside and we quickly realised it was the Red-footed Falcon.

Red-footed Falcon © Nick Hull

It's always nice to see a Red-footed Falcon both males and females are cracking birds to see in all plumages.  

Due to the fact Jackie can't get down and backup to Dancing ledge the only way for us to get Dorset Puffin on our list is by taking a a coastal boat trip and it so happened that on the 23rd Birds of Poole Harbour were doing just that and we were lucky to get tickets.  Heading out from Poole Quay we had a brief stop to look over Brownsea Lagoon the Sandwich and Common Tern colony was very busy and birds were flying to and fro with sand eels.  We could hear Whimbrel calling and we located them just as they lifted off the lagoon perhaps heading off to Iceland to breed.  Out in Poole Bay we saw a couple of Mediterranean Gull and terns plunging for sand eels and fish off Pilot's Point.   

Sandwich Tern paid Pilot's Point © Nick Hull

As we rounded Handfast Point, probably better known these days as Old Harry which refers to the chalk stacks, we had nesting Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls.  Ballard Cliffs still holds a number of natural nesting sites for Swift and House Martin and we saw a good number flying around.  The cliffs here have become very smooth due to weathering and that affects the number of ledge nesting species such as Cormorant, though we did find a few dotted over the cliff in suitable places for nesting.  

We then headed across Swanage Bay, I had a distant Gannet and a view of our first auks flying towards Durlston.  As we rounded Durlston Head towards Anvil Point Lighthouse the boat paused for a while to view the Guillemot and Razorbill colony.  This was crammed with birds and very noisy and most probably smelly if we were closer with the amount of guano that whitewashed the cliff face. Further up the cliff a Fulmar was seen cruising round by its nesting site.

Main Guillemot colony Durlston Cliff © Nick Hull

As we moved off we scanned out to sea and along the cliffs and you could see the small colonies of Guillemot and a few pairs of Razorbill, also Shags that were nesting in suitable sites along the cliff.  

Pair of Razorbill off Durlston © Nick Hull

We had another pause adjacent to Blacker's Hole, this is a shallow cave which is more or less the only location on Purbeck to see breeding Kittiwake now and we did manage to see a few pairs of this very attractive gull.  Then we had a shout from Humphrey (BoPH) from the back of the boat "3 Poms going west" Pomarine Skua are not the commonest skua to see off the Dorset coast at best of times and I was lucky to just get a brief rear view from where I stood on the boat, Jackie did get aslightly better from the back and thanks to Joe from BoPH for his shot of two of the birds moving away to the west.

Kittiwake at Blacker's Hole © Nick Hull

Just a little further along the coast is Dancing Ledge and the boat stopped so we could look for Puffin though this very small tenuous population is down to just 6 birds, we think three pairs but over the last few years it has been noted that they do not seem to fledge any young and the National Trust on Purbeck have set up a project to find out why and try and reverse this decline.  We waited for a while before the first Puffin was seen coming in to the cliff from out to sea, it circled the boat and then landed on one of the ledges.  A while later another followed suit and we then had two eventually, we had one on the ledge and two bobbing about on the sea a little way off the boat giving good views to all on board.

Puffin No.1 flying by the boat. © Nick Hull

Puffin N0. 2 sitting on the sea © Nick Hull

After leaving on our way back to Poole we had several Swift over the boat a few of these certainly still use the cliffs crevices to breed in which would be the traditional natural sites to breed.

Common Swift over the boat © Nick Hull

Two of Three Pomarine Skua heading west off the boat © Joe Parker (BoPH)

This was a good addition to our year list and the rest of the trip was more or less a repeat of the birds seen on the outward journey except for Peregrine which we managed to see sat on the top of the Asda Building as we were heading into Poole Quay.

On the 28th Jackie and I went to an old friend's wake, unfortunately he passed shortly after we arrived home from holiday.  Keith Powrie was a font of all knowledge when it came to botany, dragonflies, butterflies and both Jackie and I learnt a lot from Keith over the years so it was a sad day.  Afterwards we decided to pop to Blashford on the way home to see if we could add Garden Warbler to our year list which we did without too much problem. This brought our year list up to 171 which is 6 less than this time last year so we still have some catching up to do, lets hope June is kind to us.

I think I have faired better with the Lepidoptera overall so far in May as by the time we went off to Portugal we had just seen 9 species.  We added Large White and Green Hairstreak on twitch to see the Red-footed Falcon but we really needed to up our game.  So we arranged with friends David and Fran to meet at Cerne Abbas and visit the Butterfly Conservation reserve there which we did on the 27th.

We chose a good day our main aim was to try and find Duke of Burgundy and Marsh Fritillaries and we were successful with both and added Large, Dingy, and Grizzled Skippers, Small Heath and Painted Lady and Common Blue to the year list.

Grizzled Skipper © Nick Hull

Dingy Skipper © Nick Hull

Marsh Fritillary © Nick Hull

Duke of Burgundy © Nick Hull

Duke of Burgundy © Nick Hull

On our way back to the car we had a bit of luck, I had seen one earlier but it didn't stop,  we came across a much more obliging individual a Forester Moth.  A day flyer which is a pretty scarce species and in recent years I've only seen them here at Cerne though have seen them at Martin Down to in the past.  They are a stunning metallic green colour which the photograph doesn't do it justice really a real bonus.

Forester Moth © Nick Hull

It didn't stop there as my moth traps have produced some nice moths many of them being migrants though there are a few that have been caught by others that hasn't made it to my traps as yet but there is still hope they might drop in.  The night of the 23rd May was a pretty good trap. 

Diamond-back Moth is one of the commoner migrants that I catch most years.

Diamond-back Moth © Nick Hull

Small Mottle Willow is I've only caught twice before in 2015 & 2017 so was a very nice addition

Small Mottled Willow ©

Portland Ribbon Wave has only been trapped regular on Portland and Weymouth area with the odd one turning up at other locations but since 2023 seemed to have expanded with records being recorded further away and this is my third year in a row catching this species.

Portland Ribbon Wave © Nick Hull

Now this one is for me on a different level this is a Red-belted Clearwing. Previously most of the clearwings have been considered nationally rare but since pheromone lures have been developed it has been found that they are not so rare but they are still hard to find.  I have been trying to record various clearwings over the last few years as they are such stunning species.  A fellow moth trapper Phil Saunders lives not far from me and has caught this species in his garden so I thought why shouldn't I get them as well.  So I put out the lure trap and waited for several hours and checked periodically to see if I caught anything.  It wasn't until Jackie came in around tea time and said I think there is something in your trap. A quick check and she was right there was this stunning Red-belted Clearwing.

Red-belted Clearwing © Nick Hull

I addition to the above moths on the night of the 25th again I had a good size trap and again added a few more migrants.  Again I had several Diamond-back Moth and another Small Mottled Willow but added Rusty-dot pearl, European Corn-borer, Bordered Straw and best a Blair's Mocha a species I caught for the first time last year.

Blair's Mocha - Bordered Straw
Small Mottled Willow - European Corn-borer - Rusty-dot Pearl

On the night of the 29th though I didn't catch so many moths I did add some very good species first was Flame Wainscot a Nationally Scarce species which I usual catch a few most year so it good to know they are still present in the local seedbed.  The next is a species that I was catching regularly until an area of willow and alder was cleared which was encroaching on the reedbed.  When I stopped trapping them and I had a six year break but then in 2024 I caught one and again last year and this Nationally Rare and now red data species turned up in the trap again another Mocha species this time a Dingy Mocha.

Dingy Mocha © Nick Hull

A real surprise was the finding of a Current Clearwing in my office, I'd put out the lure trap in the afternoon and thought I hadn't caught anything.  Then when I was releasing a few micros which I had to check id's on I noticed sat on the window cill was a clearwing, I quickly potted it and id'ed it as a Current Clearwing.  How did it get there the only explanation I think is that it was in the trap when I opened it to see if anything was inside and it flew out and I didn't notice it until later.  Anyway it is another good record for the garden.

Currant Clearwing © Nick Hull

That's bring us to the end of the May wildlife blog, lets hope June can produce more of the same.

Portugal & Douro Valley

May turned out to be a pretty good month as Jackie and I started with a visit to Portugal and a cruise up and down the Douro River from Porto to the Spanish border some 130miles each way.  Though this wasn't a birding trip you can't take the birding out of the Birder and whilst we cruised we spent time on deck looking, not just at the fantastic scenery and all the many vineyards but looking for any birds that could be heard and seen as you do. 

We flew from Gatwick on 30th April landing at Porto a couple or so hours later and taken by coach to our ship the Douro Elegance moored at Vila Nova de Gaia which lies across the Douro from Porto.

Poole Harbour from our plane en-route to Porto

Our ship.

As soon as we were on board we were shown our cabin and went straight to the lounge for a welcome drink and afternoon tea.

Our Cabin

We soon sailed and were on our way and we went up on deck as we left Gaia heading up river to the first lock.  

Porto Riverside

Our first birds as we left were lots of Yellow-legged Gulls resting and bathing out in the middle of the river.

There are five locks along the river which are the highest in Europe a lift of around 75 feet. They were built to make the journey safer for the boats carrying the barrels of Port wine down river to Gaia for processing, by raising the water levels the small boats didn't have to navigate the dangerous rapids of the river.

This is one of the Rabelo Boat - a Portuguese traditional cargo boat

The Rabelo boats were the only transport up and down the river Douro for centuries.  They are flat-bottomed, with a shallow draught, which was necessary to navigate the often shallow fast-flowing waters of the upper Douro prior to the construction of dams and locks from 1968 onwards.

Carrapatelo Lock: approx. 35 meters (115 feet). Known locally
as "Big Mama", this is Europe's tallest river lock.

We found that around each of the five locks there were a number of species that bred on or around the structures.  Swallow, House and Crag Martin, Swift, Black Redstart, White and Grey Wagtail. You also have opportunity to see birds moving around in the trees and bushes that line the banks of the river.

Riverside View 

As we traveled further up river towards Spain we slowly pick up species most by hearing them Blackcap, Cetti's Warbler, Wren, Blackbird and Serin were everywhere singing from the trees and bushes. We recorded Kingfisher and our first of many Black Kite which were a daily occurrence like the others.

Black Kite © Nick Hull

As we cruised further up river the habitat changed to vineyard after vineyard and we would moor up and visit a number of these establishments. It enabled Jackie and myself to add a few species to our list and see the birds that we had only been hearing along the river.

Our ship coming to pick us up from one of our vineyard visits 

The photograph above shows the vineyard covered river banks with Olive and Almond trees that are another specialty of the valley.

The birds tended to be to distant to photograph but I did manage a few ok shots of a few that dared to get closer to the ship during our periods on deck.

Crag Martin on the side of one of the locks © Nick Hull

Egyptian Vulture as we passed through a narrow Gorge © Nick Hull

The halfway point to the cruise was a visited to Castel Rodrigo and a visit to Salamanca. These visits added a number of species to our birding list.  We saw Nightingale, Red-backed Shrike, Serin Spotless Starlings though like the Serin they were common along the river.  We saw a number of White Storks which were nesting in and around the city as were the Serin.

 

White Stork on the Cathedral roof in Salamanca © Nick Hull

the above White Storks mate on there Cathedral nest - Salamanca

male Serin in the Cathedral Square - Salamanca

In the main square where had our lunch amongst all the Portuguese dignitaries that were depicted in carved stone one was British and that was the Duke of Wellington honoured for pushing Napoleon's French army out of Portugal.

Carved plaque of The Duke of Wellington

We were also told that Portugal had the first astronauts as one was depicted on the carved facade that edged one of the entrances to the 900 year old Cathedral and indeed there was.

The carved Astronaut in the stone facade around a 12th  century Cathedral Door

Though it was very much in keeping with the rest of the carving it was part of a restoration project in 1992 to serve as a modern signature representing the 20th century.  Another of these whimsical carvings was a dragon eating an ice cream.

Dragon eating Ice cream on the Ramos Gate Salamanca

On our return journey to the ship, we recorded our only Grey Heron and Montagu's Harrier of the trip.  Our guide mentioned we would have a brief stop at a gorge where there was a chance of seeing some eagles.  When we stopped and started looking around the gorge, Jackie and I realised that it wasn't eagles but a Griffon Vulture roosting site and there were 8 resting on an outcrop of the gorge and we watched as they lifted off with two soaring up past us and then right overhead.

Some of the resting Griffon Vulture © Nick Hull

One of the Griffons that flew over us © Nick Hull

We rejoined our ship and that evening the bridge near the mooring was lit and the reflections was amazing and very picturesque. 

night time reflections of the bridge

Our return to Porto repeated many of the birds we saw on the outward journey Bee-eater, Golden Oriole, Hoopoe, Black Kite, Griffon Vulture, Alpine Swift.  

As we passed the through the gorge on our return the light was much better and I took a shot of the colourful lichens that covered the rock and boulders.

Colourful lichen covered boulders of the gorge © Nick Hull

On our penultimate day we moored up near at Lamego and  Jackie and I opted out of another vineyard tour and instead we had a walk along the river which turn out to be an excellent decision. We had quite a few birds and flowers which we hadn't seen previously. including Sardinian Warbler. 

Male Sardinian Warbler © Nick Hull

We also had White Wagtail collecting a beak full of insects obviously nesting near by and had young to feed.

White Wagtail © Nick Hull

Not sure if this male Stonechat was looking at us or, what was more likely, spotted some insect which he planned to eat or take to its brood.

Male Stonechat © Nick Hull

Though the best birds of our walk were two Pale Booted Eagle which crossed the valley and passed over head.

Booted Eagle © Nick Hull

Hoary Mullein in the UK ia a nationally scarce plant only found in East Anglia, here it was scattered around in the rough grass areas and along the road verges.

Hoary Mullein Verbascum pulverulentum © Nick Hull

The Purple Milk Thistle is very much a Mediterranean species and not really found very much further north that Northern Portugal and is a specialty found on waste ground.

Purple Milk Thistle Galactites tomentosus © Nick Hull

We finished our holiday with a tour of Porto and a visit to the Railway Station with its amazing tiling. Grand Central Station in New York was pretty good but the tiled scenes here were amazingly detailed and well worth a visit if you're ever visiting.

One of the tiled walls of the Porto Railway Station

Just to summarise, our cruise took eight days cruising approximately 260 mile up and back on the Douro from Porto to the Spanish border with coach trips to Castel Rodrigo and Salamanca.  We saw great scenery tasted good wines and great port wine and learnt all about the making processes and history. We saw and heard 54 species of bird during our trip which highlights included Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Golden Oriole, Griffon and Egyptian Vulture, Montagu's Harrier and Booted Eagle.