Small red-eyed damselflies and more Norfolk hawkers, Bickershaw

It's taken a lot of searching over the past week but finally I found a few small red-eyed damselflies at Bickershaw today. This is a species which I first saw at Cambourne pond in Sankey Valley, St Helens last year, and shortly after on the canal at Pennington Flash, so it was only a matter of time before I found them at Bickershaw, but even so it's always good to find the first. Just like the damselflies at Cambourne pond, todays small red-eyed were landing on algae not on lily pads.

I continued to the stock pond adjacent to Diggle Flash and was amazed to find at least four Norfolk hawkers. No sign of any lesser emperors which is what I really wanted since there are a few in the country at the moment, but hopefully I'll be back tomorrow for another look.

Keeled skimmers, why Bickershaw?

The hot weather this week has made for some great dragonfly hunting at Bickershaw, though I tend to go in the morning at the moment and avoid the severe heat of the afternoon. Hot, literally, on the heels of last weeks' Norfolk hawkers, the past couple of days have seen the even more remarkable emergence of keeled skimmers.

Remarkable because in the north of it's range this is a species mainly associated with upland peat bogs. How it comes to be here, apparently breeding at an old industrial site in the lowlands, complete with slag heaps is a mystery. Following my discovery of these dragonflies here last year, the Lancashire and Greater Manchester (VC59 & VC60) dragonfly recorder Steve White commented: 

"The keeled Skimmers are amazing. I know of only one other record in GM. Several years ago in the West Pennines. Well established in Lancs but confined to a quite small area of Bowland and showing no signs of range expansion. So all previous VC59 & 60 records have been in the uplands."

Photo: female keeled skimmer.

The "Field Guide to the Dragonflies of Britain and Europe" gives the habitat requirements as follows: Running waters such as streams and ditches. In north of range (inc. UK) mainly runnels in boggy areas (acidic, peat). 

Photo: teneral male keeled skimmer.

Given that last years records were only the second for Greater Manchester it seems very unlikely that these are simply individuals dispersing from breeding sites in the uplands, especially since there is only one known (small) site in Lancashire. What are the odds of the insect appearing by chance at Bickershaw again this year? 

Last year I saw a male and female mating and the today I saw a newly emerged teneral male. Unlikely as it may seem, the species is obviously breeding at Bickershaw. 

More black-necked grebes on Pennington flash

It's been a great year for black-necked grebes at Pennington flash, and there were another four adults this morning just off the spit. 

Western Reef Heron in the shadow of Conwy castle

Continuing it's tour of the castles of North Wales, the western reef heron showed nicely on the Conwy estuary today, though nowhere near as close as when it was at Caernarfon. It had a nice little fly around the castle before dropping down on the other side of the bridge.

I call myself a selective twitcher. What I mean by that is, I'll go for the right bird in the right location.  An adult dark morph western reef heron with breeding plumes in Caernarfon harbour ticks all of the boxes so I went. An adult dark morph western reef heron with breeding plumes on the Conwy estuary ticks all of the boxes so I went. This is the reason why I go twice or even three times to see the same bird. I'm going for the experience not just to see the bird. I love the scenery of these places, the dramatic castles, the history, the beautiful countryside, the sea air, the ice cream and the supporting cast of birds and other wildlife, in fact a combination of everything, it's just a great day out. If it was a white morph western reef heron or a juvenile I might not be so keen. If it was on the other side of the country I probably wouldn't go.

An adult dark morph western reef heron with breeding plumes at Hilbre Island really would be something special, so if it turns up there I'll be over in a shot.....

Juvenile black-necked grebes at Pennington Flash

The occurrence of juvenile black-necked grebes at the Flash seems to get earlier and earlier. My previous earliest juvenile here was 29th June and at the time I commented that was three weeks earlier than my previous best. Also today two Egyptian geese on the spit, great white egret and seven common terns.

Great white egret.

Welcome to my Great Orme list!

The western reef heron that was in the Caernarfon area last week has relocated to the Conwy estuary and has been viewable rather distantly at low tide for the past two days from Llandudno West Shore and the Great Orme. 

We already had a walk over the Orme planned for today so we weren't really here to see the bird but it was a great opportunity to add it to my Great Orme list. By the time we arrived at 10:15 it was moving with the tide away from the Orme towards Deganwy but was still viewable from Marine drive. My rule is, if I'm in it's on and I was certainly in when I took this photo! Welcome to my Great Orme list! 

We had a great walk in lovely weather. Lots of fabulous flowers including a new one for me, tall sea-lavander, plus hundreds of silver-studded blue butterflies on the wing.

Rock sea-lavander Limonium procerum ssp procerum, also known as Tall sea-lavander. A very rare plant in the UK, or anywhere else, growing on top of the wall on Marine drive just above the pier.

The rock sea-lavanders are a very complex group of plants with various subspecies recognised. I don't know what the latest thinking is, but I'm pretty sure that this is a different subspecies to that which grows on Hilbre, but I'm not certain. Whatever the subspecies, I've never seen any rock sea-lavander on the Orme previously so another new species here for me today. Welcome to my Great Orme list!

Norfolk Hawker, Bickershaw

It's that time of year again when we go looking for Norfolk hawkers in Greater Manchester and sure enough today we managed to find at least four individuals at Bickershaw, with two on Nevison's flash and two on New Water. With other sightings recently from Amberswood, for at the least the fourth year running, the species is now clearly established in the area at these old industrial sites. 

Western Reef Heron in the shadow of Caernarfon castle

"The big one travels alone" they say, referring to the fact that very often true megas don't arrive with flocks of other birds at peak migration times, rather they're often alone, at unexpected times and often in unexpected places. I could cite many examples of megas appearing long after migration seems to have stopped, with June an exceptional month for this strange phenomenon. Black lark, Cretzchmar's bunting, great knot, black-winged pratincole, little bustard, Hudsonian whimbrel, Marmora's warbler, paddyfield warbler (Hilbre), river warbler (Wigan Flashes), African royal tern, short-toed eagle, white-tailed plover and spectacled warbler are just a few birds that I can think of which I have seen in June over the years, and there have been many others which I haven't bothered going for. I can now add western reef heron to that list.

Last Saturday news broke that a western reef heron had been found at Foryd Bay, just west of Caernarfon. It was a first for Britain and there was never any doubt that I would go for it, especially with it being in North Wales, but there was just one problem - I was in Slovenia at the time! I didn't get home until midnight on Monday and there was no chance of me going on Tuesday, so I just had to wait and hope that it would stay. It was still there on Tuesday evening so at 3:30 on Wednesday I was up and by 4:15 I was on the road.

I arrived at the hide at Foryd Bay just before 6:30 to find about 20 birders already on site. Not exactly the huge crowd that I had expected but I suppose most people who really wanted to see the bird would have already been, especially since it had been found at midday on Saturday, giving birders the opportunity to go Saturday afternoon or Sunday. At least it meant that the anticipated parking problems did not materialise. There had been no sightings up to that point so I had my breakfast and then had a 30 minute nap in the car. Wake me up when you find it guys!

By 8:30 there had still been no sightings and the first embers of doubt started to creep into my mind. Had it gone? Surely I couldn't be that unlucky? It wouldn't be the first time....

Suddenly I was awakened from my slumbers by a ping on my phone. A message informed me that the bird was in the harbour at Caernarfon. Everybody was now racing to their cars, a mass exodus from Foryd Bay was taking place! Relieved yet also a little disappointed, I followed.

Twelve minutes later we pulled onto a car park right alongside the castle and even more conveniently right alongside the harbour. There was already a group of 30 birders at the bottom of the car park peering through telescopes and more were arriving by the second. We were out of the car almost before the engine had stopped and joined the growing masses. 

Above the fog on the Vogel trail

A cable car took us out of the dull grey early morning fog in the valley to a world of bright sunshine and wonderful colour in the mountains. There were plenty of great flowers and butterflies today on the Vogel trail high above Lake Bohinj. We walked 7 miles and climbed nearly 1700ft (520m), with the highest point on our route being Šija at 6168ft (1880m). 

Carpets of gentians and mountain avens and a sea of alpine pasqueflower and globeflowers were the canvas, interspersed with lots of other wonderful flowers and butterflies. Water pipits sang on the hillsides, alpine chough flew past and ring ouzels cackled. A really great experience, if a little hair raising at times. Then it was onto a mountain hut to chill for a bit before taking the cable car back to reality. At least the fog had now cleared.

Goodbye dark and dreary world, hello sunshine.

A walk around Lake Bohinj

Today we had an 11.5 mile (18km) walk around Lake Bohinj and the surrounding area. Whilst perhaps not as scenically breathtaking as Lake Bled, from a biodiversity point of view Bohinj seemed much more interesting and wild to me.. 

Botanically Bohinj was outstanding today, with many species that I've not seen anywhere else so far on this holiday, including various species of orchid, dwarf masterwort and Sternberg's pink.

Bird highlights included a flying nutcracker and a hawfinch.

In the garden of the butcher bird

We arrived at our apartment in Bohinjska Bistrica two days ago, and almost the first bird I saw from the balcony, in the garden below, was a male red-backed shrike. It was on a fence in full sunlight, about 10m away, a stunning bird! Unfortunately, I've not seen it so close since, but it does still patrol the perimeter of the garden, and today I watched it hunting insects and chasing small birds to add to its larder. 

Other birds present over the past couple of days, singing male redstart and black redstart, plus a singing serin. Then tonight, just as we were about to go out for our evening meal, a hobby shot into the garden and started chasing sparrows. Breathtaking!