Around Devon

A beautiful day in Devon, mainly doing habitat surveys. Highlights today included Cirl Bunting, Cuckoo, Green Hairstreak butterfly and Golden Ringed Dragonfly.

Stoke Point.

Green Hairstreak.

Tonights accommodation the 15th century Duke of York.

Stoke Point, Devon

Cirl Bunting 2 (male & juv.)
Stonechat

Bats: Probably Greater Horseshoe flying around hedge at dusk.

Year: 258 (Cirl Bunting)

My first Cirl Bunting in years, the camera performed exceptionally well to get this photo, taken at 9:30pm with the last rays of the sunlight almost spent. I guess that's what f2.8 is useful for! This male is carrying food.

Marbled White taken earlier in the day. Who put that piece of grass in the way!

Short-toed Eagle, Ashdown Forest, East Sussex

Short-toed Eagle 1
Woodlark 2
Tree Pipit 2

UK Life: 400; Year: 257 (Short-toed Eagle)

"Boom!" as they say these days, 400 up in the UK with the bird of the year so far, which I feared I had missed, Short-toed Eagle. It was seen to probably go to roost yesterday evening and it seemed the perfect opportunity to go and see the bird. No need to worry about getting time off work, with the boss needing Short-toed Eagle for his 520th UK bird (!!), I met up with him at Sandbach at 2:30am and we headed south to Ashdown Forest near Wych Cross in East Sussex, arriving at 6:30am.

We joined the 30 or so birders overlooking an area of woodland about 150m in front of us, but there was no sign of the eagle. Amazingly though, at about 7:50am, it suddenly appeared, sitting on a branch in full view right on the edge of the wood. Nobody saw it fly in and land, it just appeared in full view to gasps of delight from the assembled birders. It sat there for about 5 minutes before flying back into the wood, mobbed by crows. We hung around for another three hours but it wasn't seen again until much later, well after we had left. We also had some nice views of Woodlark.

Short-toed Eagle and Carrion Crow.

Pectoral Sandpiper, Swillington Ings

Pectoral Sandpiper 1

Year: 256 (Pectoral Sandpiper)

Amazing views of the pec sand, we accidently flushed it from the causeway and  it landed about 10 feet in front of us for about 2 minutes until a cyclist flushed it.

Wykeham Forest Raptor Watch Point, North Yorkshire

Honey Buzzard 1
Goshawk 3
Hobby 1
Buzzard 10
Sparrowhawk 2
Kestrel

Year: 255 (Honey Buzzard)

My experience of raptor watch points is usually pretty poor. I generally see just a few distant Buzzards and the occasional Sparrowhawk. Today was different, with lots of raptor activity despite the far from ideal weather. We had several good views of goshawks, and a close fly past by a hobby, but the best was left until last, a superb honey buzzard, not as close as we would have liked but still a decent view and clearly identifiable. A great way to pass 7 hours!

Night Heron, Cheltenham

The Night Heron was an amazing sight on the banks of the lake at Pittville Park near the centre of Cheltenham. Usually Night Herons are very elusive during the day, as the name implies, roosting in trees and difficult to spot, but this one was feeding under the trees. A great sight!

South Wales

Wood Warbler 2
Tree Pipit 1 singing

Dragonflies:
Golden-ringed Dragonfly 2
Broad-bodied Chaser 5
Emperor Dragonfly 1

Amongst other things this week I've been using a new eDNA technique to check for the presence of Great Crested Newts. This involves taking water samples from ponds and eradicates the need to use bottle traps. Great to be involved in this cutting edge methodology. The downside is you don't need to see the newts to prove presence, but on the upside eDNA is a lot more scientific than a homemade trap made from an old pop bottle and cane.

Wood Warbler.

Stonechat.

Newport Wetlands, Gwent

Definitely after the Lord Mayor's Show, I called in at Newport Wetlands RSPB today, in the vain hope that the long staying Savi's Warbler would still be there, but no, as I suspected due to the lack of recent reports, it's gone, or at least not singing, which amounts to more or less the same thing.

Still, it was good to tick off another RSPB reserve, and I did hear at least six Cetti's Warblers, and saw a Green Woodpecker and a Whimbrel.

Female Pochard with chick.

Red-eyed Damsels at Leg O'Mutton

Red-eyed Damselflies are now out at Leg O'Mutton Dam, near Taylor Park. This is one of the few places in St Helens where you can see this species. I counted at least 20 today. Not such good news from nearby Paddock Dam, where much of the species preferred habitat of lily pads seems to have been removed.

This is a male.

This male and female are not mating. The male is laying claim to the female until she is ready to lay her eggs.

Let battle commence!

Eccleston Mere

Mute Swan 2
Gadwall 2 male & female
Kingfisher
Tufted Duck 7

Swans feed on vegetation on the bottom of lakes.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Pochard 12 males
Yellow Wagtail 6
Tufted Duck 10