Shetland 2023

We have just come back from two weeks in Shetland, this is our sixth or seventh visit since our honeymoon there 35 years ago! A fabulous trip as ever. We stayed again in The Taing at Reawick with the sea literally at the bottom of the garden…

So the garden list was quite impressive…

plus regular sightings of Black Guillemot, Merlin, Arctic Skua etc.

We also had a fantastic trip out to see the gannetry at Noss...

with spectacularly close birds diving within inches of the boat

There is always a sense of anticipation here as birds can turn up anywhere, so I had Greenish Warbler in a cattle feeder…

Barred Warbler on an old tyre dump…

And Wood Warbler on a garden fence…

But the rarest bird was the long-staying Hudsonian Godwit. It was very poor light the day I saw it so not great pictures but it was rather nostalgic as this species was the first real rarity I ever saw (more than 40 years ago!)…

Some nice plants too with Bog and Frog Orchid, roadside Field Gentians, Oysterplant but the star being Edmonston’s Chickweed…

We were very late for this species but managed to find a single plant in bloom, by definition this would be the only one in flower on the planet as its world distribution is restricted to the tiny Keen of Hamar reserve on Unst.

Mammals too with good views of Otter and Mountain Hare. The one disappointment was cetaceans, it has been a really poor summer for them in Shetland, nevertheless we had views of Risso’s dolphin and Harbour Porpoise and some of the family saw a pod of Orca on the ferry back to Aberdeen (it didn’t include me as I had just gone to have my tea in the restaurant!)

Another memorable experience was seeing the Mareel, this word comes from the old Norse for ‘fiery sea’ and is a marine phosphorescence. Swimming (or in my case paddling!) in the nighttime sea was like stirring up a miniature firework display, magical!

6th August 2023

I managed to add three new species to my parish year list in July, Tawny Owl, Hobby (flying over the Bottom Fields in Ainderby) and Greenshank. The latter bird was only picked up as I photographed a group of six Little Egrets and spotted the ‘shank swimming across the river in the corner of the picture.

Today I walked with Sam along the river, given the recent rains it was, unsurprisingly, quiet with no mud edge to attract waders. We did count at least six Little Egrets along the way, though, and then on Big Bend I spotted a couple of young Yellow Wagtail. Another two flew up on to the fence line and then I spotted another on the gate…

As I walked closer to get a better shot a group came up out of the stubble and we counted a remarkable 21 birds, by some way the best ever count in the parish. I assume these were migrants rather than local but but they were mainly young birds which was encouraging.

Otherwise, it was insects providing most of the interest. My first Migrant Hawker of the year was down Warlaby Lane…

And I had two Purple Hairstreaks on Vicarage Lane, the first time I have ever seen them away from their stronghold on Greenhills Lane.

One of the local farmers has planted an area of rough grazing with wildflowers and I did the Big Butterfly Count there the other evening. I had a good count of 44 Large Whites, 10 Small Whites, three Green-veined Whites, Red Admiral, three Speckled Woods and three Silver-Y moths.

The moth highlight was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth in the garden, this might be the first time I have seen one ‘perched’!

I also photographed a leafcutter bee species, Megachile ligniseca …

This was the first record for North-west Yorkshire (VC65) as was the Psychocephala rufipes fly I included in my last post. This is undoubtedly more to do with lack of observers in this very under-watched Vice-county than actual rarity but it’s still nice to add something to the record books…

9th July 2023

Bird news this week is unsurprisingly limited, although we did have the first returning wader with a Green Sandpiper on the river last Saturday. Otherwise, it has been insects that have provided most of the interest. The most prominent of these were Banded Demoiselles with unprecedented numbers in the village. In one area of Himalayan Balsam by the river I got to 120 before I stopped counting…

They have also been turning up well away from water with, for example, regular sightings in our garden.

I also saw my first Southern Hawker of the year yesterday (down Vicarage Lane) and my first Four-spotted Chaser…

The chaser was seen in the Magic Garden. Since they have taken out most of the phragmites the wildlife interest of the garden has dropped significantly but I also had at least three Emperor dragonflies there…

Including one ovipositing…

Butterfly numbers have also been good with Meadow Browns being particularly numerous but I also picked up my first Small Skipper of the year…

And this (very small) Small Tortoiseshell…

It doesn’t show in the photo but it was only around 3/4s the size of normal ones. Second generation are smaller perhaps?

The most encouraging news is that Chris did a count of White-letter Hairstreak near Thrintoft this morning and tallied up at least 45 butterflies.

Continuing the lepidoptera theme, Cinnabar Moth is very scarce in the village, in fact I have only ever seen one individual, but I counted 32 Cinnabar caterpillars on a small area of Ragwort this morning…

Finally, I found this striking little fly…

Which I think is Psychocephala rufipes. The distribution maps show this as very much a southern species but like so many other insects it has been moving relentlessly north and is now apparently quite widespread in Yorkshire.

25th June 2023

The undoubted birding highlight this week (but depressing that it is) was a ‘singing’ Cuckoo by the river at Morton. This is the first ‘cuckooing’ bird I have heard in the village in at least the last five years.

Best sighting though were outstanding views of two Stoats in Morton. They were almost oblivious to my presence and I got some great photos…

 

The only other sightings of note were an Emperor dragonfly on the river and my first Large Skippers of the year…  

The French Pyrenees

A bit different this time having just come back from a week in the French Pyrenees. It was my first visit there and what a superb place! Stunning landscapes, great range of plants, butterflies and birds, lovely food and a really nice ‘vibe’ to the way of life…

Cirque de Gavarnie (1400ft high waterfall!)

Ossoue Valley

Col de Tentes

Birds included daily sightings of Lammergeier, Golden Eagle and both Choughs. We saw three species of vulture, Short-toed Eagle and Honey Buzzard from our bedroom window.

Snow finch

Water pipit

Rock Thrush

I also tallied up over 40 species of butterfly (despite the late spring)

Swallowtail

Southern White Admiral

False Heath Fritillary

Large Wall

And a handful of day flying months including this striking alpine species Psodos quadrifaria…

As well as other insects including the superb Sulphur Owlfly…

Marmots of course…

And a few reptiles…

Western Green Lizard

Apart from the mountain peaks perhaps the most striking features of the landscape were traditionally managed meadows and road verges brimming with wild flowers

Horned Pansy

Vanilla Orchid

As well as Pyrenean and high mountain specialities...

Pyrenean Saxifrage

Ramonda

 Alpine Gentians

Alpine Snowbells

Alpine Buttercups

All in all an amazing week.

4th June 2023

This blog mainly reflects the pleasure of being interested in nature, but when you care about something then you feel it when it’s damaged. This spring has been the worst I can remember.

I went for a six mile walk around the village last week, in good weather, and I managed a total of two bumblebees and two hoverflies. Bird numbers are hugely down too with hardly any swifts and very low numbers of hirundines (I have so far only found a single House Martin nest!). Resident birds too don’t seem to be faring well with, for example, only three singing Corn Buntings (against a typical count of 7-8)…

It’s an intensively farmed area so I don’t expect Amazonian levels of biodiversity but genuinely in 30 years of nature watching in the parish I have never known it like this. The optimistic half of me says it might just be a blip because of poor early spring weather etc. but the pessimistic (realistic?) side says this is the inevitable outcome of a constant year on year decline, particularly in insect numbers.

Anyway, on to more positive things because despite it all I did have a couple of additions to my village list. Pick of these was this superb Broad-bodied Chaser…

This is a species that has been increasing significantly in the north and there have been a couple of recent records in the parish but this was my first village sighting.

The other was a chance find on the garden wall, Small Dusty Wave…

These following three are relatively common species but I haven’t consciously recorded them (or at least photographed them) before…

Splayed deerfly – a fearsome looking beast!

Bumblebee hoverfly

Narcissus Bulb Fly

And talking of keeping positive, it’s important to remember there are some good news stories like the resurgence of the Common Buzzard. I can still remember the buzz of seeing my first village flyover and now there are between 5 and 6 territories in the parish. I photographed this one near the river last week…