Huddsbirder

We decided on a few hours out at Old Moor since the weather was good for a spot a birding, on arrival we walked straight dow to Wath Ings hide where all the reported waders were being seen, on our walk we picked up a Buzzard but my wife shouted Osprey this side, no it was a Buzzard I said and on that most of the people from the hide were running out saying “did you see the Osprey” “No Buzzard” “there was an Osprey too” looks like it wasn’t going to be my day. Settling in we soon picked out a handful of Green Sandpipers to the left of the hide, most of the action was to the right  side of the hide with plenty of Lapwing and Golden Plovers about, you could pick smaller waders in and amongst Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint. 

A few duck species still about namely Shoveler, Mallard, Teal, and Gadwall, smaller birds Blue Tit, Greenfinch, and Linnet with a Sparrowhawk and a “yaffling” Green Woodpecker to finish the bird side off. There was still a lot of Common Daters still about in the sun trap areas

Here is a view from Wath Ings hide

Well its been a long time since I’ve been here, sorry about that but things went a bit over the top at home, so getting out was put to the back burner for a while. So hopefully we are back and my first outing in a while was back to Old Moor in glorious sunshine the bugs were everywhere. The very friendly Common Darters were numerous and even landing on the hand, Ruddy Darters were plentiful. Brown Hawker seen feasting on a Common Darter, Migrant Hawkers and even Black Darter were seen. Hoverflies were plentiful with a couple of new ones seen

On the bird front waders are now starting to wonder back thro, we saw Greenshank, Ruff, Common Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper. The winter flock of  Lapwing and Golden Plover has started.

Norfolk week from 28th June until 5th July 2012 for full story and species lists press Trips tab Norfolk June 2012 and some pictures can be seen at my flickr.

Highlights being Grass Snake at Lakenheath Fen, Variable Damselfly and Scrace Chaser at Wicken Fen, Small Red Damselfly at Fermyn Woods, Clouded Buff Moth at Two Mile Bottom Thetford Forest, and Stone Curlews at Weeting Heath

News has broke of a UK first on the Dragonfly front with a Yellow Spotted White Face Darter seen in Suffolk at or near Dunwich Heath

Link Here of the News – Click

David Hastings – Information and Photos of the Species

Therapy days at Old Moor RSPB nature reserve were called for this week, these being the 19th and 20th, and in ways I’m glad I did. I had the enjoyment of Damselflies landing on my hand, seeing Blue Tailed and Azure Damselflies flitting about everywhere in the warm presence of the sun, catching sight of 4 Spotted Chaser  patrolling their territory and one male guarding a female has she went about laying eggs, was wonderful to watch. Common Blue Butterflies seemed to be in every patch of meadow flitting from one patch to another. There were also Common Blue Damselflies along with Emerald Damselflies amongst the more numerous Azure and Blue Tailed, butterflies they were in short supply with only the Common Blue in numbers and I managed to see one Large White zipping thru the reserve.

On the bird front we managed to catch up with the Mediterranean Gull, Ringed Plover and Common Terns at long last, but as always at this time of year no birdy photos due to the distance for my equipment. Other birds of note were Lesser Whitethroat, Reed Warbler the few pairs of breeding Avocet, Little Ringed Plover and of course the breeding Bittern

Day list in no particular order :-

Black-headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, Common Tern, Avocet, Redshank, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Kestrel, Sand Martin, Swallow, Swift, Lapwing, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler,Long Tailed Tit, Great Tit, Bullfinch, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Moorhen, Coot, Oystercatcher, Common Blue Butterfly, Large White Butterfly, Emerald Damselfly, Blue Tailed Damselfly, Common Blue Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, 4 Spotted Chaser

A Few photos from the Days

Marsh Orchid

4 Spotted Chaser

14 Spotted Ladybird

Back on home ground and another visit out to Old Moor RSPB the forecast was reasonable so I was hoping for a few Dragons/Damselflies but of course the first visit was out to the Bittern Watch area to try for a glimpse of mother going to and fro from the nest area, this time we hit the mark, short and sweet it was but see it we did. Whilst watching we also Great Crested Grebe, Tufted Duck and a Male Common Blue Butterfly

http://www.rspb.org.uk/community/placestovisit/dearnevalley/b/dearnevalley-blog/archive/2012/05/28/breeding-bittern-at-rspb-old-moor.aspx

Off we trotted back towards the centre seeing Blue Tailed Damselflies, Azure Damselflies, Common Blue Damselflies. We finally made it to the wader scrape hide hearing and seeing along the way Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler and Willow Warbler from the hide we could see Little Ringed Plover, Avocets, Redshank but not the Ringed Plover, looks like another visit. Did manage a few photos not of birds they were too far off
 Fly (Calliphora vomitoria)

Soldier Beetle – Cantharis nigricans

Remember the Red, White and Blue quiz from Springwatch

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/natureuk/2012/06/knowing-your-damselflies—an.shtml#more

We decided on another trip out to Leighton Moss for the Bank Holiday taking in Tuesday (5th) and Wednesday (6th) this trip out we were hoping for some fine, warm weather for insect life but alas the weather wasn’t good so we spent our time around the Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.

We did see a good selection of birds including Marsh Harrier,Raven, Marsh Tit, Garganey, Spoonbill, Avocets and Little Gull. The weather did cheer up on the Wednesday afternoon so we did see Blue Tailed Damselflies along with Broad Bodied Chasers, for the full story, Photos and B&B details see the TRIPS tab > Leighton Moss and June 2012

Due to weather forecast, becoming warm, we decided spending our Bank Holiday Monday at Old Moor in the afternoon with the hope of seeing a dragons about. On arrival we made our way around the ponds before heading off to the Bittern watchpoint as we did we saw 4 Spotted Chasers (2), Azure, Blue Tailed and Large Red Damselflies as we made our way. From the Bittern watchpoint we saw Mallards and Tufted Ducks and once again no Bittern. Other wildlife on the reserve Small Copper and Common Blue Butterflies, other birds of note were the breeding Avocets now with young, Redshanks still about, Sand Martin, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Reed Warbler. A great afternoon with much going on birds, Bees, Damselflies, dragonflies, Bugs and Flowers

Species List in no order 🙂

Blue Tailed Damselfly, Azure Damselfly, Large Red Damselfly, 4 Spotted Chaser, Small Copper Butterfly, Common Blue Butterfly, Black Headed Gull, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Teal, Gadwall, Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Avocet, Redshank, Swift, Sand Martin, Willow warbler, Reed Bunting, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Mute Swan, Woodpigeon, Stock Dove,Great Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Pheasant, Great Tit

And a few Pictures 🙂

Well the dinner time patch watching at work finally brought some excitement this week when I found a Holly Blue Butterfly around the top pond area. It was a Red Admiral that caught my eye at first, being the first of the year, when I caught sight of a blue butterfly and first thoughts were of Common Blue, then it landed and on closer inspection, well you couldn’t see my face for the smile. The camera was in the bag and it was then a mad scramble needless to say by the time the camera was primed and pointing in the direction of the Holly Blue it was off. However 15 minutes later it reappeared after catching my eye again flying passed a Large White and settling into a nettle patch, I got the picture and closer looks at this little beauty along with the nettle rash up my arms, joy 🙂

End of the week (Friday 1st June) saw me back on one of the “Patch” Reservoirs, Langsett, been keeping away from Patch sites due to the Dog Fouling and out of controllable dogs scaring migrant birds I couldn’t watch it anymore and you end up watching where you’re treading rather than the wildlife, that’s the beauty of Old Moor and Potteric Carr. Anyway today saw me at Langsett and as I made my journey I could see the fog and drizzle over the moors and thought I was in for a bad morning but it turned out good, I saw Blackcap, Pied Flycatcher, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff, Pied Wagtail and Meadow Pipit.

Saturday we where at Clumber Park mainly on a family day there were all the usual woodland species but we found this chap in the car when we returned from our walk, beauty 🙂

Longhorn Beetle (Rhagium bifasciatum)