Surprise....

A nice sunny day today with a light northerly shifting to the east in the afternoon.

After a day at Alnwick Food Festival, we decided to have a glass of wine outside and catch the last of the afternoon sunshine. Sitting quietly and a few birds began to appear along our overgrown drive wall. A Wren attracted attention by clucking through a buddleia hunting the undersides of leaves for residue moths above the trap.

Soon, another, larger movement attracted attention. A bird appeared no more than 15 feet away mostly obscured but clearly different. With the naked eye, a plain looking bird lunged at some blackberries and dropped back into cover. Even on this brief view I suspected who this was.

I sneaked off to get my bins and camera leaving Jane 'on guard.' On my return the bird was still there but on the back of the bush in the sunshine. After about 5 minutes that seemed like an hour, it rattled the bushes and moved closer then -  out it came, a Barred Warbler. I knew it but had to eliminate Whitethroat and Garden Warbler first. It grabbed another bramble and moved back into the sunshine.

I took the camera around the other side to view from the field hoping it would come into the open, but it always stayed just behind cover, upsetting the local wrens.

I must have been obvious to it, as it soon started alarm calling 'chukk chuuk, chuukk' not a 'tack' or a 'churr' but half way between both. It then flew, unseen by me, but Jane watched it disappear into our garden where I left it to find food in peace. Hopefully it will be around in the morning for another look...

This is my second garden Barred after one in October 2010, that one only 10 feet from where this one was, Birds must follow the edge of the copse along to our garden from the coast only a couple of hundred yards away....

Bird of the year by far.

And another thing...

Bovine Tuberculosis. BOVINE. Thats cows.

Not Mustelid Tuberculosis.

BOVINE ARE COWS. Thats clear then.

So, Bovine Tuberculosis is a disease of cattle, that has spread to Badgers.

Not the Badgers fault. They have not started some heinous contagion and are wiping out our dairy herds, oh no, the opposite is true. It was the cattle that passed the disease on in the first place.

So how come this government can set about killing our wildlife for this....

Beggars belief.

Petition is now at 71,000. Come on get someone else you know to sign up. You ALL know someone who would but hasnt yet. Click HERE

Please.

I'm boiling...

...about this governments proposed cull of 70% of the Badgers in England.

This is all in the name of stopping bovine TB. I am too angry to write properly so please see my points below.

I heard a scientist from DEFRA on Radio 4 yesterday saying this is crazy. If you eradicated 100% of all Badgers in the UK ie made the species extinct, you would reduce bTB in cattle by 16%! Yes that's right - 16%. Even he, who spent years doing the report, says that a cull is crazy. But the government is ignoring this to appease the NFU.

Only 1% of Badgers has bTB but they will kill off 70% of the population.

The proposal is to cull 70% initially in the SW. They do not know how many Badgers there are ( using a decade old survey for stats) so how can you know when your killing quota is up?

But best of all,lets ignore the stats and look at the principles. How the hell can anyone justify a wipeout of our largest land carnivore for the sake of livestock? This is a protected animal and not long ago Badger groups across the land were reinforcing sets to stop poachers digging them out. Now it is looked at as vermin.

The Badger is one of the best known and loved icons of British wildlife and countryside. It will be gone. Just like that. Wiped Out. Almost.

If this can happen to such a well known and loved creature what do you think will happen next? I cant see Hen Harrier / Goshawk / Buzzard / Eagle / Kite / Raven protection lasting very long. After all, they have an effect on livestock  too. Why not remove 70% of those? Watch this space, it will happen. Not to mention Otter / Fox/ Pine Marten et al. this has massive future implications for all conservation in the UK.

Look at the crap we spout about saving Pandas and Tigers and even Turtle Doves. Not worth a toss to this government and its ilk. Millions spent by tax paying members of the public to conserve our natural heritage, for what? Just to have it deliberately and systematically wiped out in the future.

These animals are not 'owned' no one has the right to eradicate 1% never mind 70%. These are sentient beings who were here when the wildwood covered the land. Have they not got enough to cope with now, without this. Intensive farming, roads, pesticides, herbicides, buildings, increasing population etc etc

If you have any interest at all in the countryside and its wildlife even if it is just birds, think of what may happen if this goes ahead. If you subscribe to any natural history society, bird club, wildlife trust, conservation body, the RSPB, The Widlfowl and Wetlands Trust, The Hawk and Owl Trust. If you subscribe to British Birds, British Wildlife, BBC Wildlife, Bird Watching Mags surely you must disagree with this ridiculous cull. If this is so...

Please sign this petition NOW - Click Here ( No not tomorrow, NOW! It will only take a minute)

Try to get anyone you know to do the same. Imagine, when Badgers are as rare as Pine Martens...Its too late then.

I dont think I have ever felt so helpless and mistreated by our 'democratically elected' system.

I fucking despair for the future of this country, I do...

Lovely September...

In recent years, September and October has been more reliable for decent weather than the traditional summer months, certainly up here anyway.

Today had that hazy late summer feeling with a mild breeze.

We had a good walk up around Detchant Woods this morning where a few butterflies were on show with 16 Speckled Wood, 1 Wall, 2 Peacock, 2 Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Red Admiral but the dragonflies were the highlight for me. A few Black Darters, still in teneral dress, hovered around but 6 Southern Hawkers showed nicely, even allowing a photograph.

Little and Large, a small bee takes a rest on its wing...

Female Southern Hawker

  
After lunch in 'The Barn at Beal' it was back home and into the garden.

Two small Sedum plants were laden with butterflies -

Red Admiral 6
Peacock 6
Small Tortoiseshell 9
Large White 1
Silver Y 1

Making a nice show.

Holy Island.

Yesterday was a nice clear sunny early autumnal day, so we had an early crossing on to Holy Island, beating the tourists across the causeway before getting cut off by the tide. This is how to experience the island at its best. It seems to go very quiet even though there were still a good few visitors, there is no traffic sound.

We walked the Chare Ends, to the Excavations and back via the Straight Lonnen.

Unfortunately birds were very thin on the ground, but we did manage a fleeting glimpse of a Barred Warbler as it up ended into some tall willows. ( It was also seen by a visitor from Scarboro and by Mike Carr later on). A few Willow Warblers and a Wheatear were the only other migrants seen.

While wandering the dunes checking sallows we found these -

Grey Dagger

Buff-Tip

Fox Moth

 There were over a thousand Buff Tip moth cats on one bush in webs. They had stripped some branches bare. They varied from very first instars to pre-pupating finger sized monsters.

Grass of Parnassus

There were swathes of Grass of Parnassus in flower in the damp flatter areas. A Common Hawker sounded like a wind blown bag of crisps as it tried to get free from some marram grass. We gently helped it up and on its way.

Common Hawker

The wind of change...

Wasn't that a song from the Scorpions? Anyway, autumn is slipping around us almost unnoticed. The nights are definitely getting darker earlier, the hirundines are moving away and what may be the last of my Swift sightings were 8 over the garden yesterday...

I need a blogging plan for 2013. It seems that just like the autumn, I have had a change online too, with the blog slipping away like the summer...

I'll ponder it.

MEGA!

Stilt Sandpiper, from memory, after snapping my pencil in last nights panic...

When you get a phone call from Gary Woodburn at 8pm on a Sunday evening, its best to hope that you haven't started that second glass of wine...

Tonights call from a plainly incredulous Gary, said that I should get in the car and head to Newton...why? I asked...Stilt Sandpiper...on the scrape....NOW!

I hung up first, and made excuses to my brother, sister-in-law and Jane who was making the dinner and legged it to the car. I managed to call a few interested parties before the off and arrived at Low Newton about 10 minutes later. That jog from the Tin Church to the scrape is just the job in a state of panic, dragging scope and the weight of a county first with me.

No need for haste though, Gaz was cool, standing glued to the bird, now feeding a hundred metres away with Greenshank and Redshank. Apparently it had flown off twice, only to do a lap of the area an drop back in again.

With still good light, we enjoyed the bird to a backdrop of wheezing as myself and a few other arrivals gathered our breath back ( birders are getting older). The bird, an adult in breeding plumage, probed around in a relaxed manner before having a preen and settling down for the evening.

I wonder if this is the same individual that was at Lodmoor RSPB same week last year? I bet it is you know...Regardless, this, the bird of the year in Northumberland so far, will take some beating. A county first, as you would expect, and a fantastic one too.

Takes me to 327 for the county, the first new species since last years Greater Yellowlegs...

Cheers Gary!

[Tuesday edit - Looking at videos of the bird it is much paler from the front than I depict here. My impression was of a much darker bird, but it was evening...my excuse anyway...]

Where is this summer...

Although it was still quite warm today was overcast and windy, from the SW. Not good for anything really.

JWR and myself did his WeBs count at Branton and Hedgely Pits where the highlights were an adult Cuckoo and 2 Green Sandpipers, supported by 2 Goldeneye and very little else.

After this we had a plan to head up onto the moors to search for Lesser Twayblade. Now this is a tiny, underwhelming orchid that hides on bog under rank heather, and today it did just that, remained hidden. While stooping and searching under the vegetation, a few other bits of interest were found - 12 Crossbills ( not under the heather, but very low overhead) 2 juvenile Buzzards hoping not to get poisoned, lots of Cranberry and Cross leaved Heath with a  few Round leaved Sundews and Bog Asphodel.

Speckled Longhorn Beetle Pachytodes cerambyciformis was a new species for me on Hogweed nearby.

Speckled longhorn beetle Pachytodes cerambyciformis

Round leaved Sundew

Not gone far...

Not out of Howick to be precise.

As the day was one of those all too rare sunny ones, most of the day has been spent out in the garden or village, loafing about.

A while back I saw someone discussing the area required to create a wild flower meadow. Above is mine. Its a triangle of about a metre across. Nothing has been planted, I have just not mown the grass for about 6 weeks. What a show of, er, Rough Hawkbit? I think. There are lots of plants in this family that all look alike so forgive me for not trying harder to id them. Today the flowers were covered in bees and even an odd Ringlet dropped in for a look.

Another area in the garden was a trench excavated to repair a drain. It is 2 mtrs x 0.5mtr. The backfill was just clay and stones so a 'wildflower mix' containing no wild flowers but several hardy annuals was thrown on and raked in. This is the result. Mallows, Poppies, Daisies, Escholtzia and Phacelia all attract insects and look better than soil.

So, you dont need a paddock to create some interest. Have a go!

Not long ago Speckled Wood was a 'holiday' butterfly if you lived in Northumberland, but now I get them in the garden. A few butterflies appeared today - Green veined White, Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral. Makes a nice change.

This afternoon I had a walk to the coast path for a short seawatch.

1 hour on a flat calm high tide was quite fruitful - 

Sooty Shearwater 1

Manx Shearwater 7

Pomarine Skua 1 ad complete with a set of spoons, a nice early one, my first skua of 2012.

Roseate Tern 6 inc 5 together and 1 S.

Black tailed Godwit 10 S were a patch tick for here.

Also rans were Good numbers of Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemot, Gannets, Fulmars and Kittiwakes, Shag and Cormorant, Arctic, Common and Sandwich Terns.

2 juv Grey Wagtails fed in a runnel over the rocks and a lone Porpoise showed briefly.

A very pleasant day.

 

A Northumberland Endemic.

A trip up to Holy Island was almost thwarted when on arrival JWR announced that he had left his bins in the car - at Alnwick. We almost decided to give up when a plant theory came to mind. And what a fantastic idea, the dunes of Lindisfarne are a botanists dream with lots of rare and scarce species and even a plant so special that it is found nowhere else on the planet. Its a shame we aren't botanists and struggle to identify our flora, but we gave it a go.

The dunes were very wet underfoot, but maybe this was a benefit to wetland plants such as Cotton Grass and the various Orchids.

The Snook, Holy Island clouds of Cotton Grass

 We found many hundreds if not thousands of Marsh Helleborines and full bloom, a fantastic sight.

The flatter areas near Snook House and Tower were covered in Marsh Helleborines.

Marsh Helleborine

 But on the lower slopes of small dunes was the star of the show - the Lindisfarne Helleborine. This was once thought to be a form of Dune Helleborine, but analysis has found it to be different enough to award it species status.

  A new species for both of us, and one that orchid hunters would be well jealous of. A small well hidden plant, we cheated really, because the best way to find one is to look for the tiny wire mesh fences to keep rabbits off.

Lindisfarne Helleborine

Common Spotted Orchid maybe of the form 'alba'?

 Another plant of wet flushes, the Brookweed is very rare in Northumberland being found in only a few locations, including Howick Cliffs but I've not seen it there.

Brookweed

The Round leaved Wintergreen was in good numbers in a dune slack where we usually look for Wrynecks or Shrikes! 

Round leaved Wintergreen

Other plants noted include Common Spotted Orchid, Northern Marsh Orchid, Lesser Spearwort, Eyebright, Common or Seaside Centaury, Piri piri Bur, Burnet Rose, Quaking Grass, Heath Speedwell and a very early small Autumn Gentian.

Dark Green Fritillary

While searching at ground level, a few butterflies were on the wing - 22 Dark Green Fritillary, 12 Small Heath, 3 Ringlet, 2 Small White, 1 Large White, and moths included 23 Yellow Shell, 2 Narrow bordered 5 spot Burnet and 1 6 spot Burnet

An excellent morning out, not bad for someone with optics left behind, its just as well he brought his camera.

Mackerel are in!

After a tip off from Alan Gilbertson that there seemed to be good catches of Mackerel just up from home at Cullernose Point, I took a stroll up there this evening to try my hand.

Now Mackerel and I don't get on. I arrive, and they leave, simple as. I meet people coming away with some good fish, but all my efforts fail, until tonight.

I had already set up my rod and four glittering lures at home, so all I had to do was find a suitable rock edge and cast out. Cast 1, I snagged briefly then felt a telling nod on my light rod. After a good struggle the first fish was landed. Next cast gave me two at once, then the third, I had a full house of four rainbow coloured shimmering Mackerel all on one trace.

Once dispatched and bagged to eat, I felt this was enough for me, so after only half an hours fishing and half an hours walking I was back home.

I might have another try this week but using a small trout rod and a small spinner, what a fight these give on that gear...

Maybe some visitors here could take note. The only downside was that the rocks were like a landfill site with bags, beer cans, bait, guts etc all over the place. An absolute disgrace at this beautiful spot. I wish people would be happy with taking just enough then leaving the site as if they had never been...

Howick Hall Meadows...

I spent Sunday afternoon in a brief warm spell checking tall oaks in the grounds of Howick Hall for Purple Hairstreak butterfly. This is flogging a dead horse, but one was seen and photographed in Alnwick Garden last year, the first for North Northumberland so this place looked as good as there ( in my opinion the gardens are much better at Howick).

No joy with the Hairstreaks but I did see 1 Red Admiral, 1 Small White, 3 Meadow Brown, 35 Ringlet, 1 Comma and 1 Large Skipper. The uncut meadows here are excellent too and well worth a look especially if the sun is shining...

The Croquet Lawn, Howick Hall. Complete with uncut flower margins.

Howick Church. This is how church yards should look with lots of hidden over grown corners for wildlife.

The Croquet Lawn from the other way. Look closely at the short turf, its full of wildflowers too with Self Heal in profusion.

A Speckled Wood

Martagon Lillies were naturalised into the meadows.

Also noted were Chiffchgaff singing, Nuthatch, Bullfinch, 2 Buzzards, Jay, 1 Roe Doe.

Holidays...

Westleton Church

Just came back from a week in Suffolk. We stayed in Westleton, between Southwold and Aldeburgh, a handy locale close to a variety of nice habitats.

As this was the first time I have taken my moth trap south you can see the results here. I was very pleased with 32 or more new species with a couple more still to identify.

Apart from the moths, I didnt do any real birding, so all I had of note was a Hobby and a couple of Marsh Harriers.

Odonata is always an attraction for me down there as we have so few dragonfly species available in the north east. On Minsmere River at Eastbridge a few Norfolk Hawkers weren't new species but only my second while Hairy Dragonfly and Variable Damselfly took my list up to 30 species.

Eastbridge dragon habitat.

Variable Damselfly

Norfolk Hawker

The weather was warm enough to sit out on the beach and enjoy the plants of the shingle ridge such as Sea Pea and Yellow Horned Poppy.

Thorpness Beach

Sea Pea

White Bryony

The hedgerows were full of stuff such as White Bryony, Hop and Old Mans Beard.

Silver studded Blue going to roost.

On the heaths this was my only Silver studded Blue. In previous years I have seen 70 or more here.

All in all a lovely week in a great place. I think we'll go back next year. The weather is better than Scotland!

Last Sunday...

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Young Tree Sparrow

I got up early looking forward to getting out and about, but was met with a strong NE wind and rain. This eased off to dull drizzle by 8am, and myself and JWR headed up the coast.

Low Newton Pool and scrapes had a few birds including Black tailed Godwit, 11 Gadwall, Teal, a male Wigeon and 7 Shelduck while the dune bushes had a good show of local warblers with Blackcap, Chiffcahff, Willow Warbler, Whitethroat, Sedge Warbler and 2 Reed Warblers singing in the background. A lone Black headed Gull was incubating, maybe trying to restart the old colony...On the way back to the car, day flying Long Eared Owl was on the fence next to the main car park, a nice bonus.

A few moths flushed from the damp trackside vegetation - Common Pug (ok, this one was in the phone box) 2 Timothy Tortrix and 2 Epiblema cynosbatella.

At a loose end because of the weather, we took a look up at Spindlestone Quarry near Bamburgh. No birds were around but the flora was quite interesting on the scree and old slag areas ( I wonder if 'old slag' gets me more hits?). Not being too clever on botany, our list is as follows -

White Stonecrop, Red Valerian, Birds foot Trefoil, Black Medick, Hop Trefoil, Candy Tuft, Hares foot Clover, Thyme, Herb Bennet, Herb Robert, Rough Hawkbit, Wood Sage, Barren Strawberry, Pirri pirri Bur, Ribwort Plantain, Greater Plantain, Pineapple Mayweed, Nipple Wort, Common Cudweed, Curled Dock, Red and White Clover, Maiden Pink and Perforate St Johns Wort.

Some of those must be right.

Hop Trefoil

Common Cudweed

Later on in the garden were 8+ young Tree Sparrows from my boxes plus about 8 adults. A male Great Spotted Woodpecker fed a juvenile, one on each feeder, leaning across.

Catch Up...

Just a few snaps from the last couple of weeks to test out the new PC.

Cocklawburn Links

Lamberton

A few weeks back we took a trip just over the border into Scotland, all of about 35 miles from home. Our target was the Small Blue butterfly, a species with a scarce and fragmented distribution in the UK.

Firstly we checked out Cocklawburn Links where masses of its food plant, Kidney Vetch was growing. Unfortunately no butterflies though.

We then drove north to a spot on the coast near Lamberton, where after a bit of a trek we found our quarry.

Small Blue male.

A Small Blue female?

This one showing the distinctive underside.

We had over 20 Small Blues flickering about the scree, including females egg laying and males behaving territorially. Typically for the species, it prefers areas with less of the food plant and lays eggs on isolated small plants rather than the bigger clumps.

A Small Heath keeping watch.

The grass moth was quite common, Crambus lathionellus.

A few other butterflies were around, 5+ Small Heath, 5+ Wall and a good few whites sp.

This area around Burnmouth / Lamberton is excellent for butterflies with Grayling and Northern Brown Argus later in the year too. Well worth a day out.