15th August 2021

No blog for the last couple of weeks as we have been on holiday in Shetland so I thought I would share one or two sightings from this wonderful place. We stayed again in the Taing, on the west side of Shetland, where the cottage is almost on the beach. This meant sightings of Otter from the living room and birds like this in, or from, the garden…

Red-throated Diver

Arctic Skua

Twite

Despite it being a far from ideal time for scarce birds I found Black Tern, a Shetland rarity, and also saw Bonaparte’s Gull…

A beautiful Long-tailed Skua…

And an albino(?) Great Northern Diver…

But undoubted pick of the birds was a Black-winged Pratincole, only my second British sighting. We had booked the ferry for Fetlar before the news came through of its discovery so the birding gods were smiling on us and whilst waiting for the boat we had Otter running around the wharfes.

The bird showed exceptionally well, hawking for insects literally above our heads, so it’s a little disappointing this is the best I managed!!

But just to show what an amazing place Shetland is this wasn’t the best species of the day! As we enjoyed an ice cream in the sunshine the news came through that a Fin Whale had been seen from the Fetlar ferry. It was reported moving south out of Bluemell Sound. We headed off to that end of the island and spent a fruitless 20 minutes looking for it.

As we were quite near the terminal we decided to take the next ferry back rather than our booked one. We were scanning half heartedly as we sailed back when I spotted it! An impressive blow and then a great rolling back. It was huge!  Only the Blue Whale is bigger.

We then watched it moving across the sound and then turning back north. Thanks to my daughter’s excited squeal every time it reappeared everyone on the ferry was alerted and managed to see it. This was one of four species of cetacean we saw on this holiday.

We also went on a boat trip to Noss, third largest sea cliffs in Britain and home to a large Gannet colony. We had the stunning spectacle of 100s of birds diving for fish within inches of the boat

Add in a couple of new plants - the lovely, and scarce, Oysterplant…

And a target for this holiday, Bog Orchid…

Despite having a very precise grid ref. and supposedly 300 plants at the site, it took the two of us an hour to find this single tiny flower but well worth it!

Needless to say we will be back…   

25th July 2021

Well after managing to stay free of covid for so long it finally arrived in the house (unsurprising given the free for all which seems to be government policy now) and the consequent extended period of self isolation was not conducive to great discoveries in nature but I did see my first Ruby-tailed Wasp in the garden plus this rather handsome leafcutter bee, Megachile centuncularis…

My release coincided with John setting a moth trap in the village. A fantastic catch with 531 moths of 90 species which must be the highest single-trap catch we have ever had in Ainderby. This included three new species for the parish: Gold-ribbon Argent, Double-striped Tabby and this Chequered Pearl…

This is a really scarce moth in VC65 (North-west Yorkshire) and was a new species even for John.

Always nice too to get your first Garden Tiger of the year…

And Ruby Tiger…

Later that day we went down the river at Morton bridge to try out two pheromone lures. This targeted two species associated with willows and there are a couple of good patches of them here. I wasn’t expecting anything to happen but within five minutes of putting the lure up a cracking Lunar Hornet moth flew in! Looking, and sounding, just like a very large wasp it was surprisingly disconcerting even when you knew it was a moth. Unfortunately it was extremely difficult to photograph so my only image is through a dirty pot lid which hardly does it justice…

The second target was Red-tipped Clearwing and two of these striking little moths also responded immediately to the lure...

A magic half hour.

11th July 2021

Another largely birdless week but John bought two moths trap over on Friday evening for an excellent catch. One was in our neighbours’ Tom and Kirsty’s garden and one up at Ladyfield. We recorded 449 moths of 101 species. This included six new species for the parish: Marbled Beauty, House Groundling, Yellow-oak Button and (four)  Beautiful Hook-tip…

This used to be very much a southern species but is another one that has been moving progressively further north and Alan Miller caught his first in his garden in Northallerton on the same night.

The other newbies included Bordered White…

And this micro, White-backed Marble…

This is a scarce moth in this area and was actually a new species even for John.

We also caught only the second parish record of Tawny-barred Angle

Some commoner, but stunning, others included Antler...

 

And Buff Arches...

To finish off I also had a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in our garden this week feeding, as always, on Red Valerian.

4th July 2021

After  an incredibly quiet period for birds there have been a couple of records of interest this week, unfortunately none of them were seen by me! Chris texted to say there was a Cuckoo calling near Thrintoft on Monday. Depressingly this is only the second sighting this year.

Five minutes later he rang back, Turtle Dove calling there too! I heard it purring on the phone and dropped everything and ran along there (alright walked briskly). Typically no sight or sound by the time I arrived. Turtle Dove used to be a regular breeder in the parish but, like many parts of Britain, it disappeared more than thirty years ago. Intriguing to think where this bird has come from? To finish off birds I didn’t see my wife had a Hobby low over the garden yesterday.

We have managed two sessions moth trapping since I last wrote and added a couple more species to the village list. Pick of these for me was this beautiful Map-winged Swift.

Not sure where this will have come from as it is a bracken specialist.

We also had a couple of these brilliant Spectacle moths, only the second and third records we’ve had here…

Noticeably more butterflies about in the last week or so including my first records this year of Large Skipper and Small Copper…

But the most interesting butterfly was this aberrant Small Tortoiseshell with much restricted black and no dark spots on the forewing.

I don’t think the photo really captures how striking it looked but it was noticeably different even in flight at distance.

I’ll finish off with a couple of cracking species from my travels. First is ‘Albert’ the Black-browed Albatross which graced Bempton Cliffs for a couple of days this week. Not a great picture but a brilliant bird.

I saw this on the 30^th June, exactly 33 years after I failed to see one on Unst (on our honeymoon!)

And these are Military Orchids…

restricted to just a handful of sites in Britain we saw this in Suffolk on a surprise weekend away for my wife’s big birthday.

13th June 2021

Best sighting this week was a Broad-bodied Chaser in the Magic Garden. This was my first sighting of this dragonfly in the village, although there were a couple of records from other people in the parish last year. It is another of the species which has been progressing northwards in recent years so hopefully records might become regular in future. Unfortunately it never settled to allow me to take a photo. Another chaser, Four-spotted, was also here along with my first Banded Demoiselle of the year…

And at least 50 Azure damselflies, many doing what comes naturally...

In the village Common Blue damselfly definitely doesn’t live up to its name but I did find a couple a long way from water on the path along the railway…

A few minutes after taking this picture I tripped over a hidden strand of fence wire and crashed down heavily on to my binoculars. Typical birder the first thing I did, whilst still lying on the floor, was to check my bins were still working but by the time I got home the pain was starting to build and got much worse over the next couple of days. I eventually ended up in hospital as I was struggling to breath. Fortunately it was only a broken rib and severe bruising of the sternum but it was the worse pain I have ever felt.  The only silver lining was the order from the doctor to rest just as the Euros started!!  (if my wife ever reads this it was an accident honestly…)

We also managed our second moth trapping session of the year catching a very creditable 114 moths of 41 species. This included six new species for the village: Brindled Flat-body, Yarrow Conch, Grey Pine Carpet, Scalloped Hazel, Rustic Shoulder-knot and Least Black Arches.

A few pictures from the catch…

Grey Poplar

Elephant Hawkmoth

Chinese Character

Poplar Hawkmoth

Scalloped Hazel

I mentioned in my last post the conditions had really suited Cowslips, another plant which, in the village at least, has done remarkably well this year is Ragged Robin with plants in many new areas and in much greater density than I have ever seen before.

6th June 2021

With a couple of days off this week it was a chance to go slightly further afield. On Wednesday I went with Chris to try and tick off my Yorkshire bogey bird, Bee eater but unfortunately they had departed early morning so we ended up looking for a couple of special butterflies on the North York Moors.

Duke of Burgundy is a small (and rapidly declining) species which occurs in just a couple of specialist habitats in Yorkshire, after a long trudge uphill we were treated to excellent views…

Also here we saw Dingy Skipper…

Small Heath and a surprise Red Kite cresting the ridge.

Near Appleton-le-Moors we caught up with our other target, the lovely Pearl-bordered Fritillary. This was on a sheltered bankside with bracken, not a particularly uncommon habitat on the moors but again it is a very localised, and declining, butterfly here.

On Friday I went with Frank up to Upper Teesdale, a glorious day…

We had good views of Ring Ouzel and other moorland birds but our main target was the specialist flora, in particular Spring Gentian. In the end we only managed a single bloom…

And this was only due to some public spirited botanist having been here before us!

Then yesterday I helped to survey a site in Wensleydale for orchids. It is managed particularly for Burnt orchids and we found at least 25 of these superb flowers…

Along with dozens of Green-winged and early Purple and half a dozen Frog orchids, a new Yorkshire species for me…

30th May 2021

I thought I had better post something to remind people I’m still here but this has been the worst May I can remember. Cold, wet and devoid of birds. Even as I write, with the fine weather of the last couple of days, I have still seen very few Swifts and none of the traditional Swallow nest sites in our road are occupied. Warblers too seem generally down with hardly any Lesser Whitethroat heard and very few Willow Warblers.

The odd good bird sighting there has been unfortunately hasn’t fallen to me with Chris having a pair of Hobbies hunting insects over Thrintoft and my wife a Red Kite no more than ten feet above the car as she drove over Morton bridge.

I had to settle for much more mundane fare but I did notch up four pairs of Yellow Wagtail along the river which is the best total for a couple of years

an out of place Corn Bunting briefly tested my ID skills...

And this Skylark was unusually confiding on Back Lane in Morton…

Butterflies have also been rather elusive, I have only seen a single Speckled Wood and no Brimstones this year but I did see my first Wall this week…

The strange spring also seems to have held back many plants but one that has really thrived this year is Cowslip, and I have seen more than in any other year I can remember…

I did also add a couple of plants to the village list, neither rare but I have obviously missed them before, Ivy-leaved Toadflax…

And Thyme-leaved Speedwell…

I’ll finish off with one of the few benefits of the wet month, some superb rainbows…