Sunday 26 September 2021

26th September 2021

A few more signs of autumn with a couple of skeins of Pinkfeet passing over the parish, 25 over Ainderby itself and more than 50 over Thrintoft. This was part of an exceptionally heavy movement through Yorkshire on Thursday.

The first Meadow Pipits have been back in the village for a week or more...

and there was a small movement of Teal along the river with five also seen on the Magic Garden pond. Surprisingly the first I’ve seen here.

A pair of Grey Wagtail were on the river, the first since early spring, and, after an exceptionally poor year for them, Kingfishers are being regularly seen again on the Swale. Blackcap still calling this morning and still numbers of Chiffchaffs about (including singing birds) but no other migrants seen.

John set up a couple of moth traps in The Hall last night, catching 129 moths of 20 species which is not too bad for the time of year. These included one new moth for Ainderby – Large Wainscot…

And two species that were only the second records for the village, Blair’s Shoulder Knot and this Brick…

The catch also included both Hawthorn and Birch Shieldbugs, the latter a new species for the parish.

Talking of shieldbugs, this little creature is a nymph of Pied Shieldbug which I found on Red Deadnettle on the path to Thrintoft.

This is a largely southern species but is another one which seems to be moving north. This represented  the most northerly Yorkshire record to date.

Sunday 12 September 2021

12th September 2021

Another rather quiet week bird wise with one exception; Chris photographed what seems to be a small flock of Grey Plover flying south over the river. I’m just waiting to see the actual images but this would be unprecedented (although surprisingly this wouldn’t be a new species for the parish as I had a single fly-over bird more than a decade ago).

Otherwise signs of departure with more than 100 Swallows gathering on the top wires and around the house on the ridge…


I assume the birds in the second picture (part of a group of over 20) are sunning themselves?

Walking along the river yesterday I had only my second sighting of Kingfisher this year plus a Snipe, four Little Egret and six Goosander.

A small movement of Jays over was noticeable and seems to be an increasingly regular feature of autumn now.

This lovely patch of ivy in the village was absolutely alive with insects this morning,

there can’t have been less than 500 bees/wasps/flies on here, a fantastic sight and sound.

The hoverflies here included Common Flower Fly (Syrphus ribesii)…

And Death’s Head Fly (myathropa florea)

Named for a supposed similarity of some of its markings to a skull.

I’ll finish with this huge, and rather splendid, fungus, the Giant Polypore…

Sunday 5 September 2021

5th September 2021

I’ll start with this picture from last weekend, a Little Egret perching ahead of a storm, just because I like it! Seeing them against the corvids really shows how small they are…

I photographed the same tree yesterday and it still had plenty of crows…

but this time their focus was a buzzard. I thought they were preparing to mob it but it seems they were just after the offcuts!

Migration doesn’t feel as though it has got into full swing yet but there were one or two decent sightings since I last wrote. On the wader front I had Whimbrel flying over the Swale and Andy heard a Greenshank calling as it followed the course of the river. Curlew numbers are also starting to rise and John and Anne had more than fifty birds in one of their meadows on Langlands.

Andy had a Hobby last week and Chris was lucky enough to spot a Red Kite over Warbler Corner this morning. It’s perhaps surprising, given the growing population not that far to the south of us , that this is only the second record for the year (less surprising that I have missed them both!)

Chris also found, and photographed, this young Redstart on the path to Thrintoft this morning. 

That stretch of fence and bushes seems to be the place for migrant chats…

Lots of phylloscs on the move during the week and I had double figure counts of both Chiffchaff and Willow Warblers in the Magic Garden…

Along with at least one Sedge Warbler (depressingly my first of the year).

It has also been a relatively good week for dragonflies with Brown and Southern Hawker in the Magic Garden along with at least half a dozen  Migrant Hawkers…

And I also had at least ten Common Darters, making the most of the sun…

It seems to be a particularly good second period for Speckled Woods this year and I had 40-45 in the Magic Garden this morning. For some reason they really dislike Migrant Hawkers!

Finally, at one site along the river the farmer has put up a single strand wire fence, to stop the cows swimming across the river to eat the willows and Giant Hogweed(!), but this protection from grazing has meant the plants have had a chance to grow. There are no rarities here but compared with the usual bankside vegetation of a few nettle and thistles it is much more interesting. Amongst the plants were Common Restharrow , masses of Tansy, Water Forget-me-Not…

...Marsh Woundwort, Amphibious Bistort, Goldenrod, Yellow Loosestrife and Soapwort. This is the only place I have seen the latter two species in the parish. It feels quite heartening that a small change in management can have this effect.