A poor show...

 After 16 years of Blogging this has been my worst January showing of all. One post. Well, two now.

Why is that? I'm not wholly sure, but this winter weather is a big factor. The constant winds, wet weather and named storms have made for a grim landscape with little to encourage optimism. 

Still, despite the doom and gloom the year moves on gradually. I've heard Skylarks, Great Tit and Redwing in full song, Woodpeckers drumming and today, my first Song Thrush chuntering away from a sheltered thicket. Only Chaffinch to go for the early birds singing. Tawny Owls are particularly vocal around the village on calm nights, when we get one that is. 

One of our neighbour's conifers blew over during storm, er, Isha. They all roll into one these days. The tree lay precariously on our greenhouse but the weight was taken by the stone garden wall so only soft branches lay on the roof causing no damage. It seems to be a lucky greenhouse having survived Arwen and now Isha unblemished. Lets hope the lucky spell continues.

On Saturday we did the RSPB Big Garden Bird watch, seeing 15 species, with highlights being 18 Tree Sparrows, a Great spotted Woodpecker, 6 Long tailed Tits and the Goldcrest that has been at the feeders most days since Christmas feeding on tiny bits dropped from the fat balls on to ivy leaves below.

Long tailed Tit, Robin and a pandemonium of Tree Sparrows during the Big Garden Birdwatch.

My first lifer of the year arrived last week when a Common Flower Bug Anthocoris nemorum crawled over my phone in the living room.

On Sunday a few hours inland was less than productive, but a moorland Great black backed Gull, adult, hunting for a carcass to feed on was quite unusual.  

New Year Waxwings remain absent but the Snow Buntings did a lap of the Bathing House field again on Saturday morning, the flock now up to 30+.

Snowdrops, Winter Aconites and Winter Heliotrope are now all in flower, so given a window in the weather, I am looking forward to getting out into the field properly!

Common Flower Bug

A pair of Robins displaying ina roadside wood made a change from them trying to kill each other... 

Sunrises and Sunsets a varied week...

 

Top - A Cullernose sunrise, and a quick Sooty Shearwater sketch.

Over the last week or so as summer begins to ebb away there have been no great wildlife highlights but there has been some variety that's for sure . Please bear with me as this post might drift off a bit...

Last week there was a window of seawatching opportunity as the wind swung into the North briefly.

Manx Shearwaters were a feature with 500+ N on one day but other pickings were slim. 7 Sooty Shearwaters, a few Arctic Skuas a couple of Bonxies were to be expected but a watch on the 17th had a few oddities too with Merlin harassing Kittiwakes a mile offshore, 1 Little Gull and a Greenshank that flew N close in. The following day a juv Marsh Harrier came low overhead as I walked the dog along the coast path first thing.

On 22nd my, so far, last 2 Swifts were with hirundines over our village and the first singing Robin of autumn woke us up in the morning. 

Little Stint with Dunlin, centre.

This weekend, visits to Boulmer on Sunday and Monday, early on the former, later on the latter to avoid Bank Holiday visitors was quite nice.  A single Little Stint was with 300+ Dunlin in front of the pub while a Peregrine tried its best to thin the flock out a bit.

Dan found a nice juvenile Dotterel in the wintering Golden Plover flock that seems to be hanging on a while. On Sunday we had reasonable views but distant. I went back yesterday evening for a better look when it was closer but still not quite close enough...

Dotterel juv, Longhoughton Steel, Boulmer

Top, Field sketches of the Dotterel distant on seaweed covered rocks, and last night in the sheep field.  

While watching the Dotterel on Sunday  we had 4 Raven, 1 Wheatear, 1 Roseate Tern, 100+ other Terns ( three species) 6 Wigeon in-off, the first of autumn, 16 Whimbrel, 100+ Curlew, 8 Arctic Skua, 1 Pintail N, 10 Teal N.

Yesterday's early evening visit was quiet though we did have 80+ Manx Shearwaters, 6+ Arctic Skuas, 1 very distant high flying Pom that dropped down on to the sea, but we couldn't nail it.

Boulmer sunrise.

To round off, here are some Invertebrates that have kept me busy mid week - 

Palloptera muliebris a Picture winged Fly, scarce up here apparently, maybe be the first record for VC68.

Feathered Gothic

Totally knackered but this Oblique Carpet is new for me. Scarce in Northumberland.

Platyptilia gonodactyla

A Mirid Bug, Stenoderma calcarata

Sitona obsoletus

Phycitodes binaevella

Sallow

Another new moth for me and rare up here is Small Mottled Willow, first for VC68. 

Moving into the dark art of Diptera we have Dolichopus griseipennis displaying around our drain.

Barred Chestnut

Beautiful Plume Amblyptilia acanthadactyla

Copper Underwing on sugar ropes.

Another Grey Chi 

This was a right pain. I thought it was a Gem, but it wouldnt open its wings other than to fly around like a nutter for the first 12 hours. Finally it sat out for this shot then I lost it in the kitchen! It has yet to emerge... oh yes its another first for me Red Twin Spot Carpet.

Sunset from the kitchen.

Suffolk Part 2.

 As I have said in the previous post, while pottering around the Suffolk Sandlings area doing the tourist thing, visiting Southwold, Walberswick, Aldeburgh etc a few other creatures of interest to a Northern Naturalist were discovered. In no particular order here are a few..

Many of us who use a moth trap are familiar with a wide range of Ophions or Ichneumon species. They range from orangy yellow to black and white things and are generally tricky to id. Some just stand out from the crowd. This Enicospilus inflexus is one such specimen. Looking at the photo you might shrug and think you've had loads like that, but in life I had never seen anything like it that was quite so big. It was huge. You can almost make out that it was bigger than a cranefly and in flight was like a Common Darter. Apparently it is a parasite of the large Eggar / Drinker type moths. I wish I had taken its photo with a good size comparison now. On Google, sites show it to be quite sparsely distributed, but that is maybe due to a lack of recorders rather than it being a rare insect. Impressive.

Above, another parasitoid, Ichneumon sarcitorius was contrastingly, very common with up to half a dozen in the trap every night. I dont see these in the trap at home. Smart little things, unless you are a moth.

Finally for the hymenoptera were the Hornets around the garden. I like to catch up with them when we are here and they did enjoy the moth sugar. They were quite defensive towards trespassers such as Red Admirals who would be chased off by a short wing flicking open jawed charge from the Hornet. They're like terriers....

 

This large, blackcurrant Fruit Gum lookalike beetle Chrysolina banksii was quite a good record too. I dont really do beetles as they mostly need a microscope but this one was id'd from the Facebook beetle page. 

Dark Bush Crickets are common and can be heard stridulating from bushes under street lights and in gardens etc. There are no Bush Crickets in Northumberland.

Oak Bush Cricket was new to me found on the kitchen window attracted to the light. This one is a male. Smart.

A special visit to Carlton Marshes was required to see this one, the rare Fen Raft Spider, Dolomedes plantarius. We found three in a nicely vegetated ditch near the visitor centre. It is only found in 3 UK locations. This one can be seen with its feet on the water surface feeling for the vibrations of insect prey using it a bit like a web.

While we were here Wasp Spider was seen along with Brown Hawkers and Chinese Water Deer.

Chinese Water Deer looking more like a dog than most deer.

Then we come to some odds and sods - Bugs. True Bugs, not that Americanised slang for insects. 

Ant Damsel Bug.

Dock Bug final instar nymph.

Hawthorn Shieldbug 

To end with, although there wasn't much birding to be had, a morning on the heath with a flock of 8 calling Stone Curlews and a dozen Dartford Warblers is always appreciated.

A ringed Dartford Warbler, Dunwich.

  

Its not cricket....

 The patch has been a bit quiet of late with only the locals to keep me interested. Barn Owls and Hooded Crow from the house daily and over the past week, singing Chiffchaffs. A Red legged Partridge calling from the top of Hips Heugh was only my third garden record.

So, today, during the standard lunchtime dog walk around the village wood I was pleased to find a right gathering of Water Crickets Velia caprai in one of the ditches that bisects the wood. There were at least 25 of them skittering around in pond skater fashion. I've just read, they can move a lot faster, as they spit on the water surface and reduce the tension so there is less drag on them. What a great fact!  On top of that revelation, they aren't actually crickets, they are true bugs...

Water Crickets

Other than these, I have tried to improve on the Barn Owl shots by reading about settings for birds in flight with the 7D2. It has definitely helped..

The female Barn Owl taken from the drive with 300mm lens....