Late Summer At Spurn

Traditionally, the Bank Holiday at the end of August has always been pretty good for drift migrants with pied flycatchers, redstarts and whinchats leading the charge.

This weekend, however the wind was firmly in the south west or west and a blustery one at that so chances of an early Autumn fall were slim.

That didnt affect the quality of another outstanding trip.

Friday evening started quietly with a couple of spoonbills and a whinchat along with some common waders on Kilnsea Wetlands.

Storn Lilian had blown herself out and the evening finished dead still.

The moth trap was quiet but the offering of peanuts for our resident badgers was snaffled up in the early hours.

Saturday dawned showery so I headed to Kilnsea Wetlands hide. Again quiet but a juvenile little gull was new.

It rained heavily over lunch so I was ‘cabined up’ at the caravan for a couple of hours. As forecast, it brightened up in the afternoon.

The tides have been massive on the back of the full moon earlier in the week and with a south-westerly wind, the tide went out for miles. I had a wander up towards Beacon Ponds along the beach and was amazed by the amount of waders heading south along the edge of the sea. Whimbrel, golden plover, dunlin, redshank as well as countles umbers of oystercatchers.

Sanderling and ringed plover were scurrying about on the sand keeping me entertained for a while.

Mid-afternoon the heavens opened and I headed back-too late to beat the rain though and I got a proper drenching.

I popped back to the beach in the evening for the tern roost and whilst it looked like there were good numbers, they remained well off shore and out of range for the camera.

Saturday night was cold and clear which meant great conditions for photographing waders at the gate.

I had 3 fleeces and a jacket and it was not hot! a chilly wind coming over the Humber suggested Autumn is just around the corner.

there were thousands of common waders being oushed in by the tide- a great hunting opportunity for falcons! and so it proved with some great but brief views of both peregrine and merlin.

As the tide pushed on to the saltmarsh, the passage of waders slowed, the radio crackled with news of a purple sandpiper at goodwin battery and then a pod of white-beaked dolphins weer seen off-shore!

What a sight as they were hunting fish-a long way out but you could see the splash being enhanced by the off-shore wind as they re-entered the sea. What a thrill to see and yet another truly memorable weekend in the Uk’s premier wildlife watching venue.

A Short Trip To Norfolk

We had the most wonderful trip to Norfolk over the weekend.

Arriving on Friday afternoon, we had a wander around the village of Brundall which was to be our base for the next 4 days.

The first thing that struck me was the clear engagement with nature, not just by the residents (it looked like every house had its own wildlife reserve for a garden) but also the council, minimal verge cutting (they were brimming with flowers) but not a drop of glyphosate to be seen! Other councils should take note.

There was a wonderful local nature reserve by the name of Creamers Meadow which was an absolute delight-small but perfectly formed. The orchids were stunning as was the number of banded demoiselles and our first close encounter with a muntjac deer.

The next morning I went out earlt to Strumpshaw Fen-a wonderful reserve on the banks of the river Yare, managed by the RSPB and probably more famous for its swallowtail butterflies than the birds that also live there.

I didnt expect to see any butterflies first thing so I used the time to navigate my way around the reserve in anticipation of having to move around later in search of the elusive quarry. I headed towards tower hide and on the way there were at least two cuckoos calling, blackcaps galore interspersed with a sprinkle of cettis warbler and reed warbler-a great start.

I also heard the distant boom of a bittern and the first sight that greeted me was 3 marsh harriers hunting over the fen and a common tern hunting fish close to the hide.

After an hour I made a move and headed north. The sun was out and there was a good number pf active dragonflies including my first ever scarce chaser.

I made my way back to the visitor centre to check if any swallowtails were around.On the way back a muntjac deer and single speckled wood were the highlights.

No swallowtails at the VC so I headed to another well known spot-the doctors garden. Again no sign so went on to the boardwalk. On the way I met up with a really knowledgable young lad who apparrently writes blogs for the Norfolk Wildlife Trust, I was mightily impressed by his knowledge of all of the fauna and flora-he very kindly put me on to my first Norfolk Hawker as well as pointing out a very small swallowtail caterpillar (technically my first ever swallowtail) but not in the form I was hoping for. The boardwalk was good for common lizards as well as close views of marsh cinquefoil and marsh pea.

I made my way back to the car park for a spot of early lunch then went back to check out the VC. No sign so this time I headed out around the woodland walk, brown rat and squirrel were added to the mammal list as well as more muntjac. The woodland walk gave way to open fenland that took me part way along the river Yare. Great crested grebe was the highlight with a couple of buzards overhead. A very kind gentleman put me on to my first ever Fen Raft Spider-what a beast but I had to make a hasty retreat as the heavens opened.

A break in the visitor centre withe some very nice ice cream whiled away some time as the rain continued.

After around an hour it eased and the clouds parted-sunshine at last. I hung around the VC for a while and a very smart ruby tailed wasp created photographic interest while all the time I was hoping for the appearance of a swallowtail. In the enxt two hours I commuted between the VC and the Doctors garden with just 3 red admirals for my hard labour. At around 4.15 I realised I was running out of time but ever the optimist I headed back to the VC and news of a sighting filtered out. A swallowtail had settled on the ground just outside the visitor centre long enough for dome photos. There was still hope!

It had moved on by the time I got there but after only 5 minutes a shout went up that one had been seen near the car park-I dashed over and sure enough sat out in all its glory was my first ever swallowtail. The wait of 50 years plus the 9 1/2 hours on site was over! What a magnificent creature. It wasn’t a perfect specimen as it has a tear in its wing but still, wow I was mesmerised.

It stayed for around 10 minutes, wings half closed as the sun was obscured by cloud the opened them fully as the sun came out.

A true bucket list tick was finally accomplished along with a host of other amazing wildlife at a very special place, full of friendly people sharing the same excitement about some of our natural wonders!

North Yorkshire Butterflies

We had a very nice trip out to North Yorkshire today.

Arriving at our first venue, we were greeted with birdsong, the lead player was a songthrush but very nice backing vocals from willow warbler, chiff-chaff blackcap, wren, chaffinch and blackbird and this was way after the dawn chorus had finished.

A wander along the bridleway produced a peacock, a few orange tips and a small white. We descended a gentle slope through the bracken and almost immediatey got a view of our target species-pearl bordered fritillary. The sun was well up and it quickly zoomed off. We carried on and got a glimpse of another then another. This one was flyong round in a wide circuit and eventually posed long enough for a photo. We are towards the end of the flight period for PBF so unsurprisingly, this one was not in prisine condition.

We saw another one on the way back which was in slightly better condition, two large skippers were also added to the day list.

We had planned to go to Hawnby for Duke of Burgundy, but the rising temperatures and the thought of the walk up the hill were not too appealing.

Instead we set off towards a new venue in search of a new species for me-small blue.

They are only present in on site in Yorkshire and I had limited information as to where to go.

We arrived about an hour later and almost immediately photos online matched reality and it wasnt long before we found a few.

Small Blue is the UK’s smallest butterfly and these were almost pristine and not worried in the slightest by our presence.

The bank they were on was a marvellous example of how wildflowers grow together creating the perfect conditions for a very special butterfly to survive. There were only acouple of peacocks around as well as a reasonable quantity of mint moths.

All in all a fabulous day out in some magnificent countryside.