Yankee Doodle Dandies.

Something of a departure from recent activities in that birding occupied most of the day on Monday (30/7/18) as a trio of us headed eastwards to the wide open spaces of Norfolk. Black Darter had been one of our target species but unfortunately we did not manage to find any and so I still await my first sighting. Despite this dip related minor depression it turned out to be a very good day and anyway I can always look for the darters on another day.

Dersingham sundews.

Our day began at Dersingham bog with the failed darter hunt, the weather at this point was far from ideal though I did at least finally catch up with a year first Migrant Hawker. A single Holly Blue butterfly was seen near to the car park while several Siskins flew over.

Mud is not in short supply at Snettisham!

Having accepted that it was not going to be our day on the darter front we then moved on to Snettisham where a rare visitor from North America was the draw. Snettisham is far from being my favourite spot on this coast but as I'd never seen a Semipalmated Sandpiper before I couldn't not go. We arrived to find a fairly full car park and set out on the long walk past the row of almost shanty town type huts and past the various old gravel workings. A file of slightly dejected looking birders were traipsing back with negative reports and I began to feel just a little bit worried. Having got to the shingle it was obvious that the tide was out and providing acres of mud on which a hungry American visitor might feed.

Wall butterfly.

Stopping to scope an area of mud we did find a smaller wader feeding amongst a group of Dunlins but after some deliberation decided that it was an adult Little Stint. Ahead of us, near the RSPB reserve there was another group of birders looking out across the mud. Catching up with them produced the hoped for news, the bird was in view and furthermore a chap was good enough to let me have a squint at it through his telescope. At this point I have to admit that I would struggle to tell a Semi-P from Little or in fact any other stint but the plumage of this bird was an exact match for the bird photographed yesterday. The bird's original finder was confident that this was THE bird and so too were the other birders brave enough to venture an opinion. Result!, my first new bird of 2018 and while nothing too dramatic from an aesthetic point of view it did make up for a previous dip way back when at Boddington Reservoir here in Northants.

Ruddy Darter and Red Admiral.

Another highlight here was the sighting of a Wall butterfly which was my first in Britain for a few years. I used to see them around Corby and other areas in Northants but sadly this is a species that has retreated from most of the inland counties towards the coast or more upland areas. Not much else to report from here and we had another American wader in our sights so it was time to move on.

Titchwell RSPB reserve has been playing host to a Lesser Yellowlegs, a species that I have seen a few times before but still one that I was keen to see again. It didn't take too long to catch up with it and we enjoyed some good though fairly distant  views. Not for the first time I got a few dodgy record shots and I'm happy to share one here with you. As is often the case Titchwell had rather a lot of interesting birds and we had a decent time sorting through the waders and gulls. A scan of one of the islands resulted in the discovery of two juvenile and one adult Mediterranean and one immature Little Gull. Highlights amongst the waders included at least eighteen Curlew Sandpipers, a juvenile Little Stint, a lovely sum plum Knot and several Spotted Redshanks. A few Bearded Tits were heard pinging but not seen.

Distant Yellowlegs, closer Avocet.

I was hoping to see Willow Emeralds and we did spend a bit of time looking for them but once again failed to find an ode target today. We did manage to find a couple of Small Red-eyeds and a Brown Hawker and Emperor but apart from a few other common species not much else.

Moorhen.

There was one final stop on the itinerary and that was at a heathland area to look for Nightjars. As related in an earlier post I've already seen them this year but I will never pass up on a chance to see these excellent birds. Settling down to wait for the show to begin we watched gulls heading over towards their roosts and I also saw a C17 flying westwards. Soon after the sun had set a bird began to churr, tentatively at first but more and more as it began to darken. As colour was leeched away by the gathering gloom we began to hear the flight calls of females. In my experience the window for seeing Nightjars is in that period about quarter of an hour before nightfall and it was the same today.

Juvenile Shelduck and Black-tailed Godwit

Further calls put us on to our first view, just a brief glimpse of a female before she dropped below the skyline and out of sight but others soon followed. Another bird flew around me several times before settling on a path. All of us saw her before she took flight again though rather than disappearing she settled further along the trail and was joined by two others! We appeared to have stumbled across a family party and while the juveniles had clearly fledged they were not yet independent. For a further ten minutes we were treated to view of a total of four birds before darkness brought the spectacle to an end. Leaving to a chorus of more churring Nightjars and the occasional calling Tawny Owl we managed to get back to the car without putting our feet in any of the cow pats that decorated the paths, all in all a very satisfactory performance.

Bullocks providing potential pat hazard and C17.

Any thoughts that our wildlife spotting day was over were to be proved wrong on our way home. A road closure in Peterborough forced a change of route and it was this that lead to a sighting of a Badger crossing the road just outside of Glapthorn village, what an end to what a day!

Come Back Summer, All is Forgiven

Yucky conditions prevailed today as our untypical summer warmth gave way to grey and wet weather. Having kept an eye on the many weather forecasts I knew that today would be far from ideal for nature spotting but I decided to have an afternoon stroll around Priors Hall.

Brown Argus and Common Blue.

Scoping the quarry lake revealed three Common Sandpipers and I also heard a Little Ringed Plover. Two juvenile Dabchicks keeping company with a parent suggests that a pair have successfully bred. Apart from a few Lapwings there was not a great deal else to report birdwise though a Brown Hare was seen racing across the muddy hills.

Common Blue and Blue-tailed Damsels.

Despite the less than ideal weather I found many Common Blue butterflies roosting amongst the grass, certainly over a hundred and perhaps even more. In with them was a far smaller number of Brown Argus with about fifteen being seen. Perhaps not surprisingly there were few other species on view but I did record sightings of three Meadow Browns, three Gatekeepers, a Small Heath and two Small Whites.

Ruddy and Common Darters.

An enjoyable feature of today's walk was the number of toadlets hopping and walking around the site, I would imagine that the damp conditions were very much to their liking. I suspect that dragons and damsels enjoyed the weather less and this was reflected in the low numbers observed. Common Blues were, rather appropriately, the most numerous species and there were rather a lot of Blue-tailed too. A single Small Red-eyed showed very well and I also found two each of Common and Ruddy Darters.

Toadlet and Six-spotted Burnet.

One final thing to mention were the three Six-spotted Burnet moths seen feeding rather sluggishly on ragwort and thistle flowers which allowed a very close approach.

Priors Pond and dragonfly exuvial case.

Showertime at Weldon.

During my after work walk around Weldon this afternoon I had my first dose of proper rain for what feels like months. I'm not talking the very light is it or isn't it? style of drizzle from Sunday either. No this was bona fide splotchy big drops that would have given me a darn good drenching had it not been for a full canopied tree providing decent shelter. Sadly it passed all too quickly but at least there is a promise that we may get some more tomorrow.

Ruddy Darter and Banded Demoiselle.

Before and after this moist interlude I had been looking out for any damsels and dragons that might be about on this the hottest day of the year so far. Banded Demoiselles remain common along the stream, in fact I think that they may be more numerous now than at any previous time this year. A solitary male White-legged Damselfly showed rather well and so too did a male Ruddy.

White-legged Damselfly and Emperor.

Around the pond a good number of Small Red-eyed and Red-eyed Damselflies were recorded and Common Blue Damsels nearly matched their number. A few Blue-taileds completed the damsel list though not quite the story. A little flicker of movement drew my attention to a Common Blue trapped in a spiders web sharing the fate of a Red-eyed caught in the same web. I didn't attempt to free it as it was out of reach and of course spiders have to eat too.

The cycle of life.

Commonest dragon today was the Emperor with several patrolling males  and an ovipositing female on site. Three Brown Hawkers were also seen and there was another Ruddy Darter.

Blue-tailed Damselfly and Ringlet.

There were not too many butterflies but at least they included a county year tick among their number, a Small Copper that moved just a tad too fast for my camera. A few Common Blues appeared to be looking for moisture at the pond's edge and were joined by the smallest Brown Argus that I've ever seen, it was about the size of a five pence piece. Other species included a few Gatekeepers and a Ringlet as well as Small and Green-veined Whites while there was a Holly Blue in Corby Village.

Riverside Ramble

England's land may still be pleasant but it's a lot less green at the moment as the hot spell continues. I headed over to Oundle but, aware that it's school holiday time I chose to take a different walk along to Cotterstock rather that tangle with the crowds at Barnwell CP.

River views.

On the stretch of the Nene nearest to the north bridge I found a White-legged Damselfly which turned out to be the only one today, I'm not sure how common they are on the Nene in general but they're certainly rare here. Banded Demoiselles in contrast were common with many males in particular being obvious. Both Red-eyed and Common Blue showed in good numbers too.

Brown Hawker.

Of the dragons Brown Hawkers were the most common with at least ten being seen and these included a female that landed long enough to photograph. A few Emperors were found but they were overshadowed by the sighting of two Scarce Chasers, I thought that their season might be over but was happy to be proved wrong. Several Common and two Ruddy Darters completed the list, one of the latter was adopting the obelisk position  which was perhaps in response to the heat.

Scarce Chaser and "obelisking" Ruddy Darter.

It's likely that the heat was forcing the larger butterflies to seek shelter as most were hiding amongst vegetation. Six Red Admirals were probably locally bred rather than migrants as they were in pristine conditions. The Commas and Peacocks noted were in fine condition as well though a battered looking Small Tortoiseshell might have been a survivor from last year. Pretty much the usual selection of the commoner species were on the wing with two male Brimstones and a Holly Blue at Cotterstock being the pick of them.

Comma and Red Admiral.

Few birds were noted though the local Red Kites put on a bit of a show and a Kingfisher was heard.

Banded Demoiselles.

Rain!

For the first time in what seems like ages I actually felt some genuine Northamptonshire rain on the old bonce today, not normally a big deal of course but during this droughty sort of summer it was a pleasant sensation. I'd chosen to walk around the local area having spent more than a few weekends travelling around the country and it turned out to be a decent wander.

White-letter Hairstreak and Silver-washed Fritillary. 

My day began with the short bus ride over to Weldon and from their I walked along Bears Lane before heading along the public footpaths that cross the neighbouring fields. Good if rather brief views of a Lesser Whitethroat were welcome and the local Yellowhammers also showed well. Lots of white butterflies were seen with Green-veined being commonest. Despite the clouds and the lightest of drizzle butterflies continued to show and a single Common Darter was also glimpsed.

Brown Argus and female Common Blue.

Taking the footpath that links Harry's Park Wood with the A427 provided one of the days highlights when I discovered two White-letter Hairstreaks feeding on bramble blossoms. This has always looked like a potential site for this species with lots of Elm regrowth and bramble bushes but I had not visited at a decent time in the past. Another goody along here was a Silver-washed Fritillary and also a Brown Argus.

Painted Lady and Green Sandpiper.

Weldon Park Wood provided another Silver-washed and also a female Purple Emperor that disappeared into a Sallow bush before I could take a picture. Small numbers of Common Blue and Small Heath were also observed. Walking a little further along the airfield at Deenethorpe produced sightings of a battered looking Painted Lady but by this time the rain was falling steadily if still very light and most of the insects apart from the brown butterflies had disappeared.

Small Red-eyed Damsel and Common Darter.

Deene Lake inflow had the impressive total of nine Green Sandpipers feeding in the shallows, I believe that this is the highest total that I've recorded here, several Lapwings were also seen. The main lake had a decent sized colony of Small Red-eyeds as well as Red-eyeds and I also saw an Emperor, several Common Darters and a Four-spotted Chaser. At the churchyard a Holly Blue had joined the Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns feeding on the brambles.

Speckled Wood and Small Heath.

An uneventful stroll along Kirby Lane was enlivened by sightings of Red Admiral and Essex Skipper but little else. Priors Hall had a male Brimstone within yards of the entrance sharing some Burdock flowers with various whites and Ringlets. I was pleased to find three Silver-washed Frits here, my first, though a friend had recorded them here in the last week or so. Meadow Browns were common  though Common Blues were abundant, I think that I may have seen over three hundred  today. A further three Holly Blues were seen too, I can't recall if these were my first site records but either way they remain rare here.

Red Admiral and Holly Blue.

At the ponds I managed to find five Emerald Damselfies which were my first Northants ones this year, they joined Common Blue and Blue-tailed on the list. Small Red-eyeds were present on three of the ponds while Red-eyeds matched them. Several Four-spotted Chasers and rather a lot of Ruddy Darters were also seen during my walk.

Little Ringed Plover and Mint Moth.

At the quarry a Little Ringed Plover was present and there were also a few Lapwings. Other birds here included Grey Heron and Cormorant.

Six-spotted Burnet moths and Emerald Damselfly.