Back With The Kingfishers - Autumn, 2017

I really did think, when I published a Kingfisher post three weeks ago and said that I thought it would be "my last Kingfisher post, for this year at least", that that would be the case.

On 30th October, I visited the same Kingfisher location because it can be good for other interesting birds and unexpectedly found a Kingfisher in attendance. I couldn't resist a few more photos of Kingfisher as it was a reasonably bright day. Here are a few from that session.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (male) - Leicestershire

The main interest here during that session was, however, the Water Rail. Unfortunately, although this showed for a while, it remained well-tucked into the phragmites and I only managed a record shot which confirmed the bird by its bill and a small section of its back.

On 2nd November I returned in the hope of seeing the Water Rail, but it didn't show. It was a dull day and the Kingfisher showed again, so I took some more photos although the lack of light made photography difficult for most of the time.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (male) - Leicestershire

On 6th November, it was a relatively bright day, and in considering where I should go I settled for a place near home, but in Derbyshire rather than my own county of Leicestershire. The reason for choosing this place was that it can be good for 'water birds', but also good for passerines. I'd ruled out the Kingfisher location on the basis that I'd like to see something different.

Having parked my car and set off on foot, I found the sight of a Magpie perched on top of the head of a particularly hairy beast to be an amusing sight.

Magpie (Pica pica) - Derbyshire

Arriving at the first viewing platform, I found some distant ducks, geese, and grebes, but nothing to get me excited, until towards me flew - a Kingfisher!! It briefly alighted on a phragmites stem which didn't bear its weight, and instantly flew back up the channel and out of sight.

The next two platforms didn't reveal any more than the first, and I then ended up at the hide, which was still under construction when I last visited. I was greeted with the information that Kingfisher had been showing well and frequently!

The window seats were relatively full, so I sat at the back. When Kingfisher was first spotted in the far distance, I was kindly given access to a window and pointed at the bird. It was too far away and somewhat obscured for a worthwhile photo.

Later it came a little closer and I managed a shot that was still somewhat obscured.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (male) - Derbyshire

After a while, the lady who occupied the prime seat departed, and I moved into that position. I did not have to wait long before the Kingfisher came quite close, but it was behind vegetation. With patience it was possible to get a slightly clearer shot when the breeze moved the vegetation aside. It was a pity that a totally clear shot wasn't possible as the light by then was gorgeous!

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (male) - Derbyshire

It soon departed, but came back again a short while later to a place that was a little further away, but relatively unobstructed. Sadly this place was in shade.

Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) (male) - Derbyshire

From this end of the hide I also had three very brief (about one second) views of a Water Rail as it flew across a 2 metre wide patch of water from one set of phragmites to another. I missed getting a shot each time.

The only other photos I took were of a very distant Common Snipe - not worth including here.

I gladly gave up my seat to newcomers to the hide, and set off back to see if I could find an owl - I did, but didn't get any photos as it was too dark and my car, in which I was sitting, was facing in the wrong direction anyway.

At this point in time I have absolutely no idea what my next blog post will feature.

Thank you for dropping by

Fermyn Woods - on 7th July, 2017

I'm still in catchup mode and, like my previous post, this post also features one of the excellent walks led by Sarah Proud, for the benefit of volunteers at Rutland Water, which took place just one week later.

Never having been to Fermyn Woods before, and them being roughly 65 miles (105 km) from my home, I left home rather early, not knowing what sort of traffic I might meet on a Friday morning. In the event, I arrived an hour early and did a little pre-visit investigation.  

Within a very short time I'd found a White Admiral. This was one of the target species for the day, and a 'lifer' for me. Sadly, the specimen I saw had a chunk out of one of its hindwings. I initially thought that this was probably a male because the forewings seemed relatively pointed. However, I now suspect that it was a female, having looked at Richard Lewington's illustration.

White Admiral (Limenitis camilla) - Fermyn Woods

I wandered around for a while, only seeing a Silver-washed Fritillary during my travels - but it was quite early in the day. It was time to head back to meet the rest of the group at the arranged time. However, after around 15 minutes, I realised that I'd taken a wrong turn somewhere! I couldn't relocate the route I'd been on and, eventually, had to resort to heading northwards in the knowledge that I should end up at some time at a tarmac road. I did this at a trot, found the road and, to my relief, found I was only a couple of hundred metres from where I needed to be. I arrived just in time, but rather overheated in mind and body.

With the group assembled, we entered the woods, and were soon having another of our target species pointed out to us - Purple Emperor (Apatura iris). Frustratingly, these were all high up in the canopy and, although readily identifiable, were totally impossible to photograph. This proved to be the situation for the rest of the visit, so I will not return to this subject.

Soon we were looking at White Admiral again. This one was also not in perfect condition. As we were in a group, I had to hold back somewhat from close-up photography. The underside of this species is, to my mind, even more attractive than the upperside, although I failed to get a good image to show this. I think that this was probably also a female.

White Admiral (Limenitis camilla) - Fermyn Woods

In the same area as the White Admiral, there was a Silver-washed Fritillary.

Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) - Fermyn Woods

There were some of the more common (sorry, but I just can't bring myself to use the word 'commoner' in this context) butterflies around, including Speckled Wood and Comma. Here's one of a Comma conveniently showing how it got both its common and scientific names.

Comma (Polygonia c-album) - Fermyn Woods

At one point, Sarah spent some time looking pensively through her binoculars at something up in a tree. Eventually she announced that she'd found a Purple Hairstreak. There was a debate as to whether or not this was a recently emerged butterfly as its wings appeared to be not fully unfurled. This matter was not resolved at the time, but I can see from my images that, although the wings are deformed, the butterfly looks somewhat battered. I'm suggesting that this was an old butterfly that had wings that had never fully unfurled.

Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus) (male) - Fermyn Woods

After this, we headed out of the woods and into agricultural land in the hope of finding Black Hairstreak. We were unsuccessful, but there were several Southern Hawker dragonflies distantly patrolling over the cereal crop in the fields adjacent to the path that we were on. As we returned to the wood, to enter by a different track, we came across several Silver-washed Fritillary, including a pair that were mating.

Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) - Fermyn Woods

Shortly before the end of the walk I spotted another Purple Hairstreak, but most of the rest of the group had gone on ahead, so not everyone saw it. This one was also in poor condition, but I did manage to get a shot which more clearly shows its underwing markings. I don't like to publish such poor images, but it's an absolute rarity for me to see this species - only once before in my life!

Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus) (female) - Fermyn Woods

As we left the woods and returned to our cars, a Red Kite was flying in the distance. These birds are now rather common in this area, after a successful reintroduction programme.

Red Kite (Milvus milvus) - near Fermyn Woods

After the group dispersed, I set off in my car to look at another part of the woods which is accessed from the visitor centre. Unfortunately, they'd had a problem with the parking ticket machines here. This resulted in having to walk the 200 metres from car to cafe to buy a ticket and then the 200 metres back to the car to put the ticket in the window - a bit of an inconvenience.

My main objective here was to locate the ponds that were shown on the site plan that is in the site's brochure, and try and find some dragonflies. Because the site plan didn't bear to much relationship to the actuality, and the signage was minimal it took a while to locate what I now believe to be the only accessible pond.

Whilst searching, I took a shot of a Magpie which I'm quite pleased with. It departed at speed as soon as it saw me!

Magpie (Pica pica) - Fermyn Woods

By the time I found the pond, it was turning cloudy and breezy. There were a few moments of sunshine when a few damselflies and dragonflies appeared, and I took advantage of these as best I could.

Four-spotted Chaser (Libellula quadrimaculata) (male) - Fermyn Woods

Ruddy Darter (Sympetrum sanguineum) (male) - Fermyn Woods

Azure Damselfly (Coenagrion puella) (pair in tandem) - Fermyn Woods

When the cloud looked as if it was going to be continuous, I gave up at the pond and did a little more exploration. In spite of the lack of sun, Gatekeepers were still around.

Gatekeeper (Pyronia tythonus) (male) - Fermyn Woods

Being weary by now, I decided to head homeward. It had brightened up a bit by the time I reached Launde Abbey so I stopped at the very small pond by the road junction here as I'd seen dragonflies on previous visits. 

On arrival I saw Black-tailed Skimmer, Broad-bodied Chaser, and Emperor dragonflies. There were also plenty of Common blue Damselflies around. I didn't do at all well with the photography, and it got dull again ten minutes after my arrival and the dragonflies disappeared over the horizon.

I wish I'd got a closer and better focused image of this next one as it reminds me of an approaching fighter aircraft.

Black-tailed Skimmer (Orthetrum cancellatum) (male) - Launde Abbey

I didn't manage any sensible images of the Emperor, and my attempt to get a record of my first sighting of mating Broad-bodied Chaser resulted in a very poor shot, but I include it here for the record.

Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) (male) - Launde Abbey

Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) (pair mating) - Launde Abbey

After this it was time to head home.

I take this opportunity to thank Sarah Proud once again for yet another splendid Butterfly Walk.

Thank you for dropping by. I suspect that, unless something else crops up, my next post will also feature dragons and butterflies.

Garden Birds - March, 2015

I keep daily records of the birds visiting our garden ('back yard' to those from the other side of the pond), and March is usually an interesting month. Many of our winter visitors are starting to leave, and a few birds are passing through on migration. This has been a bit of a funny old year, however. We've had far less in the way of winter visitors - which seems to be the case countrywide, possibly due to less snow and more food than usual further north. Added to this, migration seems to be happening somewhat later than usual, probably due to cool, wet, and very windy weather. There have, nevertheless, been some highlights, although photography has been difficult, also due to the weather.

We usually only get a couple of brief visits by Treecreeper each year. This year we had Treecreeper visit us continually for a few days making us wonder if we were going to have a breeding pair. This bird was unsure of its own identity and ranged from Wallcreeper to Fencecreeper, to Sundialcreeper, to Patiocreeper, and occasionally Treecreeper. It also seemed to spend a lot more time horizontal than most Treecreepers. Sadly the last sighting was on 29th March.

Treecreeper\PCerthia familiaris) - our garden on 1st March, 2015

Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) - our garden on 2nd March, 2015

Treecreeper (Certhia familiaris) - our garden on 4th March, 2015

I've already publishes images of the aberrant orange Chaffinch that visited us on 2nd March. Here's a reminder. I kept an eye open for a few days, but didn't see it return.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (aberrant female) - our garden on 2nd March

Lesser Redpoll have been very thin on the ground this year, compared to previous years. We peaked at two on 3rd March. Here's a couple of images from that day. No, the second image has not been manipulated to any great degree!

Lesser Redpoll (Carduelis cabaret) (male) - our garden on 3rd March

We used to have regular visits by Grey Wagtail, and occasionally Pied Wagtail, in winter when we had the large pond, but their visits completely stopped when I filled in the pond over five years ago. Suddenly this winter we started getting regular visits by both species, usually in bad weather. The last recorded visit by Grey Wag was on 3rd March, and by Pied Wag on 17th March.

Grey Wagtail (Motacilla cinerea) - our garden during its last visit on 3rd March

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba ssp. yarelli) - our garden on 4th March

We do, of course, have plenty of common birds in our garden. The Collared Doves, together with their relatives the Woodpigeons, are responsible for consuming most of the bird food in the garden.

Collared Dove (Streptopelia decaocto) - our garden on 4th March

It's always delightful to see a Wren in the garden. They're probably there most days, but often missed due to their secretive nature.

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - our garden on 6th March

After eight days on holiday in North Yorkshire in the middle of the month, we came back to find some changes had taken place. Blackcap is a rather rare visitor to our garden with a record number of sightings (3!) in 2014. Amazingly, these have always been males. We'd already had 7 sightings in 2015 (Jan/Feb/Mar) before we went away but we came back to find we'd got a male in the garden for almost as much time as when he was away! It became exciting for us when he brought a lady friend on 17th March - the first female we'd ever seen in the garden! Things got silly, however, when on 25th, 26th, and 27th he arrived with two females. Sadly, on 28th, only a solitary female Blackcap showed. She showed again a couple more times and then she too was gone. Here are a few record shots.

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) - our garden on 17th March

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (male) - our garden on 22nd March

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - our garden on 25th March

For the past two years we've had a pair of Stock Doves visit our garden at the beginning of June. This year they turned up early (on 17th March) and are still visiting. I really must try and get some decent images which show the fabulous iridescence on their necks.

Stock Dove (Columba oenas) - our garden on 17th March

I'll finish off this post with some images of our more common, but nevertheless cherished, visitors.

Dunnock (Prunella modularis) - our garden on 20th March

Blue Tit (Parus caeruleus) - our garden on 20th March

Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) - our garden on 20th March

Magpie (Pica pica) - our garden on 25th March

Coal Tit (Parus ater) - our garden on 27th March

That's all for the March garden birds. April is already a different month birdwise, with late Brambling and Siskin showing up, and Reed Bunting making welcome visits.

Thank you for dropping by. I'm not currently sure what the next post will be - possibly back to the owls!