Old Coach Road - Wheatears galore

Wheatear 19 (inc. 7 in horse paddocks on Clare's Moss and 11 in the ploughed field near New Cut Lane)
Oystercatcher 2
Tree Sparrow 4

Still quite a lot of Wheatears about for this late in the season. I guess that some of them at least will be the Greenland race leucorhoa which is larger and brighter than the nominate race oenanthe, which breeds in Britain. Greenland Wheatears pass through Britain slightly later in the spring than oenanthe.

Springtails

As part of my work studying the invertebrates of the Ribble Estuary, I'm currently identifying springtails. These are strange little creatures which are only indentifiable under relatively high powered microscopes and with my camera they are almost impossible to photograph! The individual below is Isotoma viridis, and is about 4mm long in real life. This is a giant amongst springtails, and most are much smaller than this (and hence are unlikely to appear on this blog!).

Springtails (Collembola) are very common in just about every conceivable habitat. There might be 100,000 individuals in a cubic metre of topsoil, and they are a vital part of every ecosystem. There are an estimated 250 species in Britain, but they are much under studied and under recorded, and it's possible that you could find not only a new species for Britain, but a species new to science. Their exact class is a matter of debate, but it appears that they are no longer considered to be insects.

The long tail-like appendage is called the fuca and is the thing which makes them jump. This indivual is dead, but in life the fuca tucks under the body, and is released if the animal is threatened, propelling the springtail some considerable distance.

Rainford Mosslands

Yellow Wagtail 1 Dairy Farm Road
Wheatear 7 Old Coach Road
Oystercatcher 2 Dairy Farm Road, 4 Old Coach Road
Tree Sparrow 4 Old Coach Road

Woodlice

With the Breeding Bird Survey on hold for a couple of weeks until the second round begins, I've been back studying invertebrates from the Ribble Estuary. I'm really pushing my camera to the limits on some of these creatures, so apologies if they're not great quality.

Below are some woodlice, all of which are pretty common, both on the Ribble and elsewhere. They are crustaceans, and there are 40 different species in the UK. They are identified by the number of flagella (segments) in the last segment of the antennae, the shape of the uropods (the spikey tail like things at the back) and the pereon and pleon. In Woodlice, the front part of the body (or thorax) is called the pereon, and in some woodlice it runs smoothly into the back part of the body (the abdomen), which is known as the pleon, whilst in other woodlice it is staggered. There are five very common species, three of which are shown here. The other two are Porcellio scaber (Common Rough Woodlouse) and Trichoniscus pusillus (Common Pygmy Woodlouse).

In the past, some people used to take them like pills for various ailments. Being crustaceans, they are a good source of calcium (or so I'm told).

Oniscus asellus (Common Shiny Woodlouse) - Three flagella, lob under the eye, pereon runs smoothly into the pleon.

Philoscia muscorum (Common Striped Woodlouse) - Three flagella, pereon and pleon staggered.

Armadillium vulgare (Common Pill Woodlouse) - Two flagella, very round form, uropods spade like and triangular.

Rainford Mosslands

Yellow Wagtail 1 Dairy Farm Road
Grey Partridge 2 Dairy Farm Road
Wheatear 3 Old Coach Road, 1 Inglenook Farm, 1 Berrington's Lane
Whitethroat 1 Windle Hall, 3 Berrington's Lane, 2 Dairy Farm Road, 3 Old Coach Road
Tree Sparrow 4 Old Coach Road

Eccleston Mere

Common Tern 1
Kingfisher 1
Whitethroat 5
Blackcap 4
Willow Warbler 4
Chiffchaff 2
Oystercatcher 1

Yet more Pennines birding

Another fabulous few days in the Pennines working on Breeding Bird Surveys. I've been really impressed by the numbers of birds I've seen, lots of Redstarts and Ring Ouzels again, but the highlight this week were the Golden Plover. It's a wonderful experience to see these great birds calling and displaying at close range in good numbers.

Golden Plover.

Green Hairstreak butterfly.

Primrose.

Old Coach Road

Wheatear 8

Eccleston Mere

Swift 3
Whitethroat 2
Blackcap 3
Kingfisher 1

More Pennines birding

Another week working on Breeding Bird Surveys in the Pennines, highlights included plenty of Ring Ouzels and Redstarts, and several Short-eared Owls. The village where I was staying had a Badger set nearby, and I spent a couple of evenings hiding silently in the undergrowth, watching the animals going about their business. A wonderful experience.

I was also handily placed for a quick late afternoon visit to Teesdale when the surveying was finished for the day..............

Upper Teesdale

The River Tees meanders its way through a landscape of rolling green hills which have remained unchanged for millennia. With the warming of the climate following the last ice age, whilst much of the UK was covered in trees, many arctic-alpine plants found refuge on the Teesdale fells, where the trees could not take hold on the crumbling soils of the sugar limestone outcrops. When man began to clear the forests around 1000 BC, the plants were then able to spread down the fells and into the valleys. This has resulted in an area which has been described as arguably the most important botanical site in England.

I realise that certain readers of this blog may consider that I am a little obsessed with Gentians, but they are a charismatic and often stunningly beautiful family, and none more so than the electric blue Spring Gentian, which in the UK grows only in Upper Teesdale, and only consents to open fully on bright sunny days. They are also very photogenic, you can never take enough photos of a Spring Gentian, and I can't decide which is the best of the many photographs I took today, so, with no apologies given, here are a few of my favourites.

Botanically speaking, it's still a little early in the year, but there are still plenty of species to see other than the gentians, most notably the beautiful Bird's-eye Primrose, and the very rare Teesdale Violet.

To the botanist this is paradise, and birds seem very much secondary here, but even so we shouldn't ignore the fact that this is one of the best breeding sites in England for a variety of waders and the calls and displays of Curlew, Redshank, Lapwings, Common Sandpiper, Snipe and Oystercatcher provide the backdrop, or should that be the canvas, to a glorious days botanising. Also here, though more difficult to see are Black Grouse, Short-eared Owl, Merlin and Ring Ouzel.

With the River Tees in the background.

Bird's-eye Primrose

Bird's-eye Primrose

A white version of Bird's-eye Primrose.

Teesdale Violet is quite a difficult plant to identify, but this one seemed a likely candidate, with very downy, kidney shaped leaves, characteristic of the species, and seperating it from the almost hairless, heart shaped leaves of the Common Dog Violet.

Mountain Pansey

The fern Green Spleenwort.

The River Tees with Cronkley Fell to the right.