Result at Rutland Water

Alan Shorrock and I took the relatively short journey over to Rutland Water today and it turned out to be a pretty decent day. While sunshine was at a premium good birds were not and we managed to see nearly all the stuff that we wanted to.

Shags.

Beginning at the dam a couple of Shags were seen briefly and at some distance but happily we scored some closer views a little later on. Both birds were diving frequently and provided some of my best inland views of this predominantly marine species. Close by to where the Shags were seen we found the Snow Bunting that has been present here for quite a while. An amazingly confiding bird albeit with a bit of a limp it showed down to several feet as it fed in the short grass on either side of the path. Unperturbed by a veritable procession of cyclists, joggers and walkers we were treated to some excellent views. Leaving the bunting to feed we caught up with another Shag, possibly a third and different bird to the others which if anything showed better than they had. Among the other birds seen from here was a female Goosander and plenty of Goldeneyes.

Goldeneye, Goosander and Snow Bunting.

From here we walked along to Normanton church where we looked for the duo of Great Northern Divers that have been reported but despite our efforts couldn't find them. A stop at Burley Fishponds was much more successful however. Two Great White Egrets were seen, one distantly and a much closer bird that was flushed from near the brick hide. An additional four Goosanders were seen from here too, all brownheads. A scan of the reservoir revealed a brace of Slavonian and a couple of Black-necked Grebes, at one point all four shared one scope view - excellent. Although much too far for even a duff record shot they showed pretty clearly through the scopes. A Redshank was also seen here as well as many Lapwings.

Distant duo, Red-necked Grebe and Great White Egret.

News that the reported Red-necked Grebe was showing from Old Hall set us off in that direction as the chance to see all five of the UK's regular grebes in one place was too good to miss. After a bit of searching we found the grebe feeding fairly close to the shore and we spent about quarter of an hour watching it. A few dodgy record shots were taken before the bird swam out of view. We made another attempt to see the divers from here but once again failed to find them, you can't win them all but then again who cares as long as you win some of them!

Teal, Wigeon and another view of the Snow Bunting.

A Bit Dull

One of those days that never really got going and that despite lots of walking. I couldn't rustle up anything beyond an adult Peregrine at the beginning of my stroll and while I always enjoy seeing these powerful falcons they've become rather regular around here and are not quite the draw that they once were.

Herd of Fallow Deer.

My journey took me up through Willowbrook Industrial Estate and one through Brookfield Plantation before crossing farmland to reach Gretton. From here I followed the Jurassic Way to Harringworth Lodge Lake before taking the same route home.

Siskin.

The plantation was rather quiet though several small parties of Siskins were noted feeding in alders. There were a few mixed flocks too and checking through them produced Marsh Tits and Nuthatches but little else. Lots of Grey Squirrel activity but no other mammals were seen within the wood itself. Feeding on the fringes of the wood however was a herd of twelve Fallow Deer which took off across the field when they saw me.

Harringworth Lodge Lake.

Walking across the farmland by way of public footpaths produced a selection of the usual species as well as several Redpolls while there are still large numbers of winter thrushes around. Continuing mild conditions seem to have encouraged some Great Tits to begin teacher teachering and they added their voice to that of Robins, Dunnocks, Wrens and Song Thrushes.

Familiar faces.

The lake at Harringworth Lodge was quiet with only a small selection of birds on view. The pick were perhaps a few Teal which are quite scarce here but that's stretching things a bit. My return walk did not improve matters any, hopefully tomorrow will bring more interesting fare.

The cows are all locked up at the moment.

A Rare Visitor

I took a short trip over the county border today when I made one of my very infrequent visits to Eyebrook reservoir. In all honesty I don't know why I don't visit more often as it's one of the best birding spots around. Conditions were rather grey and dreary but thankfully rather mild, winter has not quite kicked in yet.

View from the bridge and a Kestrel.

Lots of birds were present with numbers of Teal seemingly rather high, I checked them for any Green-wingeds but drew a blank. Another species here in force was Lapwing, there were probably over a thousand. Mixed in with them were about forty Golden Plovers while a slightly higher number of Dunlins were feeding on the exposed mud.

Little Egret and awful picture of distant Med Gull.

Plenty of Common and Black-headed Gulls were at the "sharp end" and a check through them revealed a first winter Mediterranean Gull near the tern rafts. A drake Pintail was initially seen near the Stoke Dry car park but gradually swan up the res towards the island. Happily for me I caught up with one of my main targets when I found six Smew off the plantation shore. This little flock made up of three drakes and a similar haul of redheads were sadly way too far away for even a dreadful record shot but were still nice to see, Eyebrook is one of the most reliable sites in the Midlands for this attractive though scarce visitor.

Lapwings and Golden Plovers.

A pair of Shelduck were on the island along with a good number of Cormorants though I could not find the Bewick's Swan that has been quite regular here. It never really seemed to get brighter today and the photos were on the whole a bit grim so apologies for the poor quality or downright awful record shots.

Pintail and Goldeneye.

Christmas Eve at Barnwell.

I had a later than usual start today arriving at Oundle some time after midday. At least the weather was a vast improvement over yesterday's when rain stopped play with the sun putting in a welcome appearance.

Barnwell sunset.

The floods near Barnwell Lock continue to rise though they have yet to attract much of note. An Egyptian Goose and a growing gaggle of Canadas had managed to find them and so too had a flock of Lapwings. Duck numbers had dropped a tad though this may have been due to some disturbance. Not much else along the river though there was a female Mandarin on the Princess fishing lake.

Egyptian Goose and Mandarins.

At Barnwell the action centred mostly around the Kingfisher hide where both the male and female were present though only the former showed well. There was not a great deal else to report apart from three Mandarins and I was far too late to have a chance of catching any of the recently reported Otters, I'll have to try an earlier visit in the new year.

Kingfisher, Dabchick, Black-headed Gull and Cormorants.

I'd like to finish by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, hopefully 2019 will bring more interesting stuff to look at.

Merry Christmas everyone.

Butterflies 2018

Another look back at 2018 though this time I'll be focussing on the butterflies that I saw during the year. 2018 was a little different from other years in that I spent a great deal of time out of the county, often in the company of fellow bug botherers Phil Rogers and Al Shorrock. Our efforts did not go without reward either as I managed to see 46 species which included five new ones.

Black and White-lettered Hairstreaks.

My year started unexpectedly early with the sighting of a Red Admiral in January but other than that the season was slow to get going with no further records until March. On the local front both of the spring skippers seemed to do well though both will probably suffer from further development of so called "brownfield" sites. Another species likely to be affected is Marbled White as these sites make up their favourite habitat but in the meantime it's continuing its expansion into the area. Silver-washed Fritillary is another success story with further sites providing records including Priors Hall.

Duke of Burgundy and Adonis Blue.

Of the scarcer species I saw my first Black Hairstreak away from Glapthorn when I found one at Harry's Park while a hedgerow nearby supplied sightings of two White-lettered Hairstreaks. A wood near to Harringworth Lodge Lake hosted at least a couple of White Admirals and once again I got a tantalising though inconclusive view of a likely Purple Emperor here. Thankfully Brookfield Plantation did provide a confirmed record of a likely wandering Emperor which was my first in Corby. While the rest of Northants enjoyed something of a Clouded Yellow invasion I had to wait until October before I found one but given that I don't see this species annually in Britain it was still a result.

Pearl and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries.

The long hot spell during the summer seemed to have a good effect on the numbers of the smaller species in particular with Brown Argus, Small Heath and Common Blue appearing in good numbers. It was interesting to note some very small individuals of these species apparently brought about by accelerated development of the caterpillars before the food plants withered in the summer heat. Another butterfly that seemed to prosper was Small Copper and I enjoyed my best year for some time with sightings lasting well into October.

Large Blue and Marsh Fritillary.

A first road trip down to Bison Hill in Bedfordshire provided my first new tick of the year and that was Duke of Burgundy, a true stunner. Another trip, this time to Hampshire provided both of the Pearl-bordered Frits at Bentley Wood and also Adonis Blue at Martin Down, three lifers in a day, I don't get that with birds! Good stuff continued to be seen, my first English Large Heaths at Whixhall Moss and also my first ever Large Blues at Daneway Banks in Gloucestershire. Essex provided only my second Heath Frits at Hockley Wood and I also caught up with the beautiful Marsh Fritillary again at two spots. It was my best ever year for fritillaries with a total of six being seen, only High Brown and Glanville to go! Other decent species seen during 2018 included Chalkhill Blue, Wood White (in Northants) and Small Blue for only the second time.

Heath Fritillaries and Small Blue.

I'm hoping that next year will provide yet more goodies with the reintroduced Chequered Skippers in Northants foremost amongst my targets. There are still a few species that I would like to see in England and hopefully I'll be able to catch up with some, a High Brown Fritillary would be nice!

Purple Emperor, Small Copper and Wall, Chalkhill Blue.

Dragonflies 2018

As the imaginative title may have suggested it's time for my annual look back on a year's worth of dragonfly spotting and I'll begin with a summary of my Northants highlights.

Variable Damselfly, Downy Emerald and Willow Emerald.

Despite a series of very cold snaps in March the season began only three days later than last year on the 22nd of April with several Large Red Damsels active at Priors Hall. Early May saw perhaps the biggest highlight of my year when I discovered a couple of male Variable Damselflies along the stream at Weldon. Subsequent visits over the month by multiple observers revealed a small population including several females and hopefully will lead to an established population. While there is a colony in the Soke of Peterborough at Maxey it appears that this may be the first one in the modern county of Northamptonshire.

December Common Darter and late October Brown Hawker.

My next high point was a visit to a private site in Yardley Chase with Phil Rogers for a guided walk by the county recorder in order to view Downy Emeralds at their only Northants site. Luckily several showed and they included one that posed very nicely as it sat on the recorder's hand! On the way home from here a stop at Hanging Houghton produced sightings of Beautiful Demoiselle which was one of only two times that I caught up with them this year.

Common Club-tail and White-faced Darter.

My final highlight came towards the end of the season in September when I saw a Willow Emerald at what had been their only county site at Finedon Pocket Park. While it took three visits to produce the goods it was worth it even though this turned out only the start of things. On the same day Alan Shorrock found one at a new site, Priors Hall, and I was lucky enough to see it too. Alan also saw one a week or so later at yet another new site, Fermyn Woods CP where our county recorder had seen one too. During October I found another one at Barnwell CP which was the fourth spot in the county for this colonising species. There appears to be a lot of potential habitat for them in Northants so 2019 will hopefully see them consolidate these first tentative steps and expand to other areas. Given that there was evidence of breeding at three of these sites it's looking encouraging.

Southern Emerald.

Away from these red letter sightings I was very happy to get my first December record of Common Darter with a sighting of a male at the ever dependable Priors Hall on the ninth. This meant that I'd seen this species in seven of the nine months that the season lasted for. Banded Demoiselles did not quite repeat their endurance feats from last year though they were still active until the very end of September and another species that hung around for longer than usual was Brown Hawker with several showing until late October.

Scarce Emerald and Southern Damselfly.

Away from the county several excursions brought a host of good records and these included several new ones as well as a few species that I haven't seen often. An outing to Worcs with Phil Rogers brought some excellent views of Club-tailed Dragonflies, a lifer. On the same day I got another new species at Whixhall Moss when I caught up with White-faced Darters, a real beauty. Phil also got me another tick in Bucks when we managed to see a Southern Emerald at what must be their most northerly site. A stop in Oxfordshire on the same day resulted in some more quality spotting with sightings of Southern Damselfly, Keeled Skimmer and Small Red Damselfly. My brother David took me to Thomson Common where I caught up with Scarce Emeralds and lots of mosquitoes. Ialso saw this species in Essex with Phil and Alan where we also saw a few Southern Migrant Hawkers. Alan and I took a trip over to Paxton Pits where we saw rather a lot of Norfolk Hawkers though these sadly turned out to be rather camera shy.

Small Red Damsel and Keeled Skimmer.

Thankfully there were not too many low points during the year, a dip on Lesser Emperor at Stanwick Lakes was unfortunate and I once again dipped on the Black Darters at their heathland sites in north Norfolk but that was it really. Next year I'd like to catch these elusive darters and also perhaps to catch up with Scarce Blue-tailed Damselflies. On a more local footing it will be nice to monitor the Variable Damselfly and Willow Emerald situation while I'd like to check out the Welland for both Beautiful Demoiselles and Scarce Chasers. Perhaps I'll get a nice surprise, those Cambs Norfolk Hawkers are not too far away as the dragonfly flies......

Targets, Beautiful Demoiselle and Scarce Chaser.