21st August 2022

After a very enjoyable couple of weeks in Dumfries and Galloway it was back to Ainderby and so this morning I walked along the Swale. The walk to the river was depressingly birdless but on the first bend I flushed a Little Egret and a Kingfisher. Soon after I picked up a Green Sandpiper and then a smart Greenshank.

These are less than annual visitors to the parish so always good to see. Another Kingfisher flashed by and then I spotted a second Green Sandpiper, three Cormorant and two more Little Egret…

They took off but I also glimpsed a third egret as it disappeared behind the rookery wood. It looked big but it was difficult to judge at distance so I walked on. A couple of Jays were here again and the Greenshank flew in to be joined by two more. It was turning into a good day.

As I walked back to try and photograph the ‘shanks, I decided I would retrace my steps just to see if the ‘funny’ egret had landed. As I rounded some vegetation there it was, Great White Egret! It was stood on the opposite bank but immediately took off and flew across in front of me. I should have had some excellent flight shots but completely messed up my camera settings so the following are the least worst of those I managed at distance…

GWE are one of the species which has moved rapidly north, presumably driven by climate change, so it was on my ‘possible new birds’ list for the parish but fantastic to actually tick it off.

As I walked on it appeared there had been some bird movement with a dozen Chiffchaff calling from bankside vegetation and also a smart Wheatear, only my second of the year…

The only other sighting worth mentioning is another first for the parish, a Red Underwing moth, which was under the kitchen window of our friends Jim and Sue.

11th July 2022

Bird activity over the last couple of weeks has been distinctly dull with the exception of two Red Kites seen over Ladyfield Farm and a pair of Yellow Wagtails nesting along Manor Lane. The first pair in Ainderby village for many years.

It was nice too, to see the female Goosander on the Swale had managed to preserve six of her seven young so far…

But it was insects that really dominated the sightings. Pick of these was my first parish record of Small Heath…

The visit by the Yorkshire Naturalist’s Union to the village in the 1940s described them as very common but at some point they completely disappeared from the parish, so excellent to see them back.

On the same stretch of the Swale I had really good numbers of common butterflies on the thistles..

And also around 50 Banded Demoiselles along about 500 yards of riverbank…

Yesterday I got a call from a friend that he had a Pine Hawkmoth in his garden. This would be a new species for me so Sand and I drove over. A cracking beast…

As a bonus we watched a Hummingbird Hawkmoth on the red valerian…

And then, completely unexpectedly, a White-letter Hairstreak flew in giving me my best ever views of the species…

To round off a superb lepidopteral day I found at least 17 Purple Hairstreak in the oak ‘avenue’ down Greenhills Lane.

Svalbard

A bit different posting this time as I have just returned from a fantastic trip to the Arctic. It was a visit planned some time ago but a combination of the pandemic, flight cancellations and a late Covid testing scare meant I never really believed it would happen until we actually landed in Longyearbyen.

Here is my son breaking the law as you are not allowed to pass these signs on the edge of the town without an armed guard!

The town itself gave a chance for early contact with the typical birds of the archipelago with Snow Buntings everywhere…

And Arctic Skua…

And Eider nesting right next to the paths…

Incidentally these are of the ‘borealis’ race, a rare, but probably overlooked, visitor to the UK with yellow tones in the bill and little ‘sails’ on the males back…

It was then on to our boat, the Sea Spirit, for a trip up to northern Spitsbergen. I won’t bore everyone with all the details but a fantastic combination of amazing landscapes…

Some great birds including all four skuas, groups of King Eider, both Ivory and Sabine’s Gull (none of which I managed a good photo of!!)...

Arctic Terns

Brunnich's Guillemot

'Blue' Fulmars

Glaucous Gull

Ptarmigan

Purple Sandpiper

Iconic mammals, with four Polar Bears (including a well fed mother with two cubs)...

Walrus

Bearded Seal

Svalbard Reindeer (shorter legged than the mainland form as they don't have to outrun wolves!) 

The only disappointment is that we were a little too early for whales with multiple sightings of Minke (including my son spotting a full breaching animal) the only cetacean records.

There were even a few flowers…

A great selection of Moss Campion, Whitlow Grass and saxifrages in a tiny sheltered rock cleft

Mountain Avens in Isfjorden

A genuine once in a lifetime experience…

5th June 2022

Another quiet period in what has been a very poor spring locally. Numbers of even common migrants remain low. Swallows are missing from a number of regular nesting spots…

I haven’t found a single House Martin in Ainderby and only one or two pairs in Morton. Swift numbers are much lower and most warblers seem particularly scarce. This is particularly marked with Lesser Whitethroat. There are usually six to eight pairs in the parish but I have had only a single singing bird this year. The only species bucking this trend is Garden Warbler with the species outnumbering Blackcap this year…

One notable sighting was this Goosander with seven young. This is the first ducklings I have seen this far down the Swale…

On the plant front I found this very strange Dandelion (literally a spring plant!)…

It’s not clear what caused this but I suspect it is agricultural herbicide which doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence!

There is also this superb area of Kidney Vetch restricted to just one small site…

This is the only place I ever see Burnet Moths and it is alive with bees like this Common Carder…

I’ll also mention an excellent weekend away in Suffolk, a bit of culture, a bit of good food and a few new species including White Helleborine…

Pasqueflower…

And Adonis Blue…

15th May 2022

The slow trickle of migration continues with the first Swift seen over Ainderby on 7^th May but the first significant arrival from 10^th. 

They actually beat House Martins back this year with the first pair of martins over Morton on 11th. This latter species has really declined in the parish in recent years and only the odd pair still nest in Ainderby itself.  

Garden warblers seem to have arrived in good numbers, at least in comparison with recent years, but Lesser Whitethroats are exceptionally scarce with only one singing bird noted so far.  Yellow Wagtails have so far been restricted to the meadows along the river but there look to be three pairs along the river between Morton bridge and the spinney...

The most interesting migrant records though fell to other villagers with Tracey hearing Cuckoo down Greenhills Lane yesterday and Andy having excellent views of Osprey moving south along the Swale today (including at least one fishing attempt in the river).

John did a ringing session in the Magic Garden last week but it was worryingly poor, some of that reflected the late/non arrival of migrants but even resident birds seemed in very short supply. Most interesting bird was this Willow Warbler…

It was a re-trap of a bird John had ringed in the same place almost four years ago to the day. It was an adult then, so this little bird has made at least ten journeys to and from southern Africa.  

In terms of butterflies I saw my first Common Blue this week and my first Wall of the year…

This is a declining species so it’s good it is still hanging on in Ainderby (although numbers are small). I also photographed this rather nice female Orange Tip on bluebells...

Finally, I had another Otter on the river. Some way from my last sighting so possibly a second holt here?

2nd May 2022

John came to do some bird ringing in the wild garden at Ladyfield on Friday. A total of 27 birds ringed which was ok considering there was so little sign of movement. A pair of Blackcap, a Willow Warbler and five Chiffchaff were the only summer migrants… 

Other birds caught included Treecreeper, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and a couple of Goldcrests, including this male…

Yesterday I walked down from Ainderby to the river and then along to Morton bridge. My first Lesser Whitethroat was singing on Langlands and there were now good numbers of Common Whitethroats seen along the route. Six singing Corn Buntings (depressingly outnumbering Yellowhammers now), three pairs of Grey Partridge, three Yellow Wagtails, Kingfisher, three Cormorants…

...Five Oystercatchers, Green Sandpiper, four Little Egrets and good numbers of Sand Martins…  

More surprisingly there was still a small flock of Fieldfare feeding on the pasture at Langlands. The latest I have ever seen them in the parish.

In my last post I was bemoaning the scarcity of Hares in recent months but today I saw at least eight individuals. Fantastic animals…

Less positively this Mink was hunting along the river bank. The first I’ve seen for many months...