A green-eyed dragon at Platt Bridge

I was excited and intrigued to get news yesterday of at least two Norfolk hawkers at Amberswood LNR, Platt Bridge. Excited because this is a rare species in the UK which historically is known from just a few sites in East Anglia and it's a species that I had never seen previously. But what's it doing in Greater Manchester? Surely the dragonfly is called Norfolk hawker for a reason?

I suppose that on occasion given the right climatic conditions a few individuals might reach the UK from the continent and at such times they could appear anywhere, though surely the south and east coast would be most likely, or at least somewhere on the coast, not 30km inland in North West England.  

Many species of odonata have spread north in the UK in recent years due to climate change and there have been several additions to the UK list. The presence of Norfolk hawker at Amberswood may just be another example of this, and if so we may need to adopt it's other name, green-eyed hawker.

The reason for my intrigue was that one was reported here last year as well, in fact I came looking for it but didn't see it. Amazingly there was also a sighting from the year before that as well, making this the third consecutive year that Norfolk hawker has been seen at this site. Surely this can't all be coincidence, surely they can't all be vagrants that just happened to turn up at Amberswood for three consecutive years? Perhaps the most likely scenario is that the species might actually be breeding here following a previous influx?  

However, this is where it gets a bit complicated. The UK population of Norfolk hawker is almost completely tied to the aquatic plant water-soldier Stratiotes aloides which is crucial to egg laying (British Dragonfly Society). To the best of my knowledge there is no water-soldier at Amberswood, and in fact as a native species it's a rare plant which is on the Vascular Plant Red Data List, and is largely confined to central and eastern England. It does however occur as a more widespread garden escape in places (The Wildlife Trusts), though I must say that I don't recall seeing it anywhere in North West England, let alone Amberswood. So if these dragonflies originated from the UK population then in all likelihood they would not be able to breed because of the lack of water-soldier.

Strangely though, European populations of green-eyed/Norfolk hawker are not so tied to this plant, so if Europe is the source of these dragonflies, which it most probably is, then in theory the absence of water-soldier may not be an issue. However, what is not clear to me is why the UK and European populations differ in this way. Perhaps there are other aquatic plants in Europe which the dragonfly can use, but these plants might be absent from the UK leaving them with just water-soldier. 

An interesting thought is that in places where water-soldier does occur as a garden escape, it can become the dominant species and a nuisance and as such is often removed as a conservation measure. However, Norfolk hawker is a legally protected species and if breeding is suspected at a site such as Amberswood then in order to remove water-soldier a license would be required, because removal of the plant could negatively impact the dragonfly.

So Norfolk hawker appears to need more than just climate change in order to spread, it seems that it may also need the presence of a garden escape to help it and also the understanding of conservation managers.

Rainford loop

July is a pretty quiet time of the year everywhere I find but inspired by my jaunts around St Helens earlier this week I decided to walk the Rainford loop this morning. Highlight was a singing corn bunting at Inglenook farm which is always nice to see, and also still around 50 curlew split across two fields near the junction of Dairy Farm Road and Old Coach Road.

Some St Helens birding

Straight back into babysitting duties following a week whale watching in north west Scotland, Monday morning found me heading for the swings at Taylor Park in St Helens. My binoculars tend to go everywhere with me though and a quick scan of the lake revealed a drake scaup with a couple of tufted ducks. My scope was in the car so later in the afternoon I returned for another look.

July is a good month for seeing drakes passing through on their way to moult, and this was my fourth July record of the species in St Helens alone.

It was still present this morning. Taylor Park may not seem the best place for seeing birds, but the scaup joins the drake ring-necked duck as a decent aythya species on the lake this year, and in previous years I've seen black-throated diver, pied flycatcher and Mediterranean gull here, so always worth keeping a look out.

Rothiemurchus

The drive home from Gairloch is over eight hours without a stop, so we decided to spend a night in Aviemore to break the journey and do a bit of birding. 

However, it was very, very quiet for birds, the Caledonian pine forest of Rothiemurchus was almost silent in fact. Not even common birds to be seen or heard, though fortunately we did come across one roving flock of coal tits which had a crested tit loosely associating with them, but certainly no sign of any crossbills of any species.

We did see a few interesting plants, especially creeping ladies tresses at Loch an Eilean, and there were a few dragonflies about.

Golden-ringed dragonfly. Best of all today, a white-faced darter which was a new species for me, but sadly no photograph. Also several four-spotted chasers and a few common darters.

Epic humpback encounters off the Summer Isles

I seem to be running out of superlatives when describing whale watching trips out into the Minch with Hebridean Whale Cruises (opens in a new window), but once again I can only describe todays experience as epic. 

So far this year most of the large whale action has been just west of the Summer Isles at the mouth of Loch Broom, with several humpback whales and at least one fin whale present. These animals can be seen from the ferry and probably also land, but a dedicated whale watching trip is by far the best way to get a good look at them. Today we saw three different humpbacks, two of which were completely new individuals that had not been recorded by anybody previously.

One of the great things about the whales being in this area is that they are often seen with the magnificent backdrop of the mountains of Inverpolly. This is an area which I know well and in the photo above you can see Stac Pollaidh just left of centre.  This is is a hill that I have climbed many times over the past 40 years, including last year with Elaine, and I've photographed from all angles but I never thought that I would get a photo of it like this with a humpback whale diving in front of it!

The first humpback that we saw today was actively feeding on northern krill. What an incredible experience to witness this at close range! The winds were light and the sea was as flat as it's ever likely to get here. Suddenly an area of the sea would turn orange, perhaps no more than 50m in front of us. At first it was hard to know what was happening but it soon became apparent. 

Firemore Beach, Loch Ewe

There's a nice beach just a few miles north of Poolewe on the eastern side of Loch Ewe, called Firemore beach. The grasslands here have a nice array of machir flowers, whilst the bay often holds divers. Today we also saw ringed plovers and a flock of twite.

Field gentian.

From the Ullapool to Stornoway ferry

It's always worth the £22 to travel as a foot passenger on the Loch Seaforth, Ullapool to Stornoway ferry. The ferry leaves Ullapool at 10:30 and arrives back at 16:30 following a very brief stop at Stornoway when you literally have just enough time to leave the boat, get your return boarding pass and then reembark. However, this isn't about visiting the Isle of Lewis, it's about marine wildlife watching on the cheap in the Minch.

Of course the boat doesn't stop or turn back for a closer look at cetaceans or sea birds, it just keeps on going, straight ahead, in it's relentless fashion and if you missed something or didn't get a good enough view for an identification, then that's just too bad. Write it off.

Today we did ok, a minke whale surfaced in front of the vessel just once but good enough to confirm identification, whilst on the return journey we saw three distant blows that were almost certainly fin whale.

Common dolphins, Summer Isles

Some more excellent cetacean watching today with Seascape Expeditions at Ullapool. We came across a pod of about 10-15 common dolphins which included some tiny calves, probably just a day or two old. Wonderful to see, one of them was so small that at first I thought that it was a fish jumping 😆. I've never seen such tiny calves. Also some tail slapping today.

Adult common dolphins measure between 1.7 - 2.5m. Therefore looking at the size of this youngster you would have to conclude that it is certainly less than 1m and perhaps as small as 0.75m which would indicate a new born animal. Far more experienced observers than I have commented on these photos on the Facebook group Hebrides and NW Scotland cetacean sightings and have said that the calf looks neonatal because the dorsal fin is not fully stiffened up and in this photo in particular you can see the fetal folds.

Cetacean watching in comfort

Our accommodation is at Aultgrishan just north of Gairloch on the road to Rua Reidh lighthouse. We chose this place because of it's excellent location for cetacean watching and we weren't disappointed. Obviously from here we're not going to see whales and dolphins close up, but today we managed to see common dolphins, harbour porpoise and a single minke whale whilst sat in the garden with a cup of tea and a biscuit! Only problem is, it's difficult to switch off when you're in a location like this!

 

Ptarmigan in the mist at Sgurr a' Chaorachain, Applecross

An in between whale watching trips day today, so we headed for Applecross in the hope of finding some of the easiest ptarmigan in Britain. Only easy because the spectacular road, full of hairpin bends and steep inclines, goes up to 650m (around 2000ft) and you don't have to climb the mountain on foot to see them. However, get there in low cloud as we did and these highly camouflaged birds become a lot more difficult.

We parked up near the top of Applecross Pass and followed a track which led up to a mast, just because it seemed the easiest way to do it in the conditions that we were forced to endure, scanning the rocks as best we could in the circumstances, but with little hope in our hearts. However, finally after about 1km and an ascent of little more than 100m we spotted two shapes on the rocks that eventually moved and revealed themselves to be a male and female ptarmigan. They stayed there for about 10 minutes before finally flying off into the murk never to be seen again. A very atmospheric experience, or at least that's what I tell myself, far better than seeing them on a sunny day!

White-tailed eagle at a nest

We were returning to Gairloch after visiting Applecross and spotted an adult white-tailed eagle flying over the road and away over a hillside. After a short distance we came to a small layby overlooking a sea loch with a wooded island. We agreed that it looked like a likely place for a white-tailed eagle to nest so we unloaded the scopes and folding chairs from the boot and settled down to wait. After about an hour the adult returned and appeared to land on the far side of the island. 

We threw the birding gear into the car and drove round to a point where we could view the other side of the island. Sure enough, there it was, an eagle sitting in a tree and even better, above it was the nest. We couldn't see into the nest and there were no obvious birds on or in the nest, but we did see a wing stretch on one occasion, so very happy with that!