A Trip to Suffolk

Sunday 11th July and it was off to Suffolk for a few days away visiting my family. The journey from Plymouth to Suffolk was not fun though, taking 7 hours and beset with heavy traffic and various jams but we arrived safely and in one piece and I managed to see 8 Red Kites along the way. 

We stayed at The Holiday Inn again which is  just across the road from my Mums house and on checking out the grassy roadside verges along the A12 when we walked back and forth between the hotel and Mums house I was very pleased to find quite a few Essex Skippers along with Small Skippers, a Bee Orchid and a few Pyramidal Orchids. 

Essex Skipper

Essex Skipper

Small Skipper

Monday 12th July and I managed to wangle a 3 hour visit to RSPB Minsmere. It was raining quite heavily when I was dropped off near the Island Mere Hide but by the time I was picked up 3 hours later it was hot and sunny.

I had a great time despite the weather and the challenging light conditions and I managed to add Common and Little Tern, Ruff, Little Gull, Green Sandpiper, Knot, Bearded Tit and Spotted Redshank to my year list. Marsh Harrier, Avocet, Kittiwake, Mediterranean Gull, Reed Warbler, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, Sanderling and Sand Martin were all good to see too. 

Common Terns, Minsmere

Mediterranean Gull, Felixstowe

With the sun beginning to shine I decided to finish my visit with a walk along the butterfly trail and was pleased to find 2 Comma, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Silver-washed Fritillary and a White Admiral flitting about. 

Silver-washed Fritillary, Minsmere

Silver-washed Fritillary 

Silver-washed Fritillary 

Long Horn Beetle Sp., Minsmere

Tuesday 13th July and I had my moth box out in my Mums back garden and the next morning I had a nice haul of moths including 3 Elephant Hawk Moths, a Light Arches, 10 Box Tree Moth, a Short-cloaked Moth, a Poplar Grey, a Pale Mottled Willow, Least Carpet and a Rush Veneer. 

Elephant Hawk Moth

Box Tree Moth

Short-cloaked Moth

Pale Mottled Willow

Heading home to Plymouth on Thursday 15th July and the journey was much more pleasent with only a few hold ups this time and along the way I saw a total of 7 Red Kites soaring overhead.

An enjoyable trip as always but the weather wasn't great for butterflying and I didn't get an opportunity to look for Purple Emperors and Small Blues as originally planned. It was nice to do some proper birding though despite the rain and also nice to catch up with my family in these continuing weird COVID times. 

Madeira - Part I

Since returning from Oxford it has been very busy with work, jury service (for David) and ongoing family health issues but fortunately we had a pre-arranged holiday booked to Madeira and so it was with happy smiles as we headed off to Gatwick Airport on July 11th for an overnight stay before flying to Madeira the next morning.

We have visited Madeira twice before - the first time was in September 1993 when I won a week's stay at The Savoy Hotel in a competition in The Mail on Sunday newspaper and the second time was in September 2001 when this time we had to pay for our trip ourselves. It had become noticeably more built up and developed in the 18 years between our visits with the roads especially much improved and so it was on our visit this time with even more road building going on. However despite this huge areas of the island are still totally untouched and it is as stunningly beautiful as ever.

Paul do Mar, Madeira

On arriving at Funchal Airport at around 6pm on Friday 12th July the first birds I saw were yellow-legged gulls, feral pigeons and plain swifts flying around overhead as we headed to the Quinta de Penha de Franco, our hotel for the week and a fantastic place to stay, and walking around the gorgeous gardens of the hotel before dinner I saw a family group of goldfinch and a monarch butterfly.

 Monarch

Monarch

The next morning I had a brief sea watch from our room balcony and managed to pick up a few distant Cory's shearwaters flying low over the waves or resting on the sea along with more yellow-legged gulls and a few common terns patrolling back and forth along the waterfront. Even better were some brief views of a pod of dolphins at the waters surface before they disappeared never to be seen again and too far away to ID what species they were.

We spent our first morning in Funchal before heading up to Monte on the cable car to visit the Botanical Gardens and I saw more common terns, yellow-legged gulls and plain swifts on our wanderings along with grey wagtail, robin, blackbird, blackcap, chaffinch, farmyard type mallards, muscovy ducks and (captive) mute swans.

 Yellow-legged Gulls, Funchal Harbour

 Common Tern, Funchal Waterfront

Common Tern, Funchal Waterfront

 Blackbird (Turdus merula cabrerae), Monte Palace Gardens

 Chaffinch, Monte Palace Gardens

Fringilla coelebs maderensis

 Chaffinch, Monte Palace Gardens 

Chaffinch, Monte Palace Gardens 

Chaffinch, Monte Palace Gardens

Funchal Market

Other wildlife sightings included East Atlantic Sally Lightfoot crabs, an emperor dragonfly, painted lady and speckled wood, Madeiran wall lizards and Perez's frogs.

East Atlantic Sally Lightfoot Crab ( Grapsus adscensionis), Funchal Waterfront

Painted Lady, Funchal Promenade

 Speckled Wood, (Pararge aegeria), Monte Palace Gardens

 Madeiran Wall Lizard, Monte Palace Gardens

Perez's Frog (Introduced), Monte Palace Gardens

Sunday 14th July was spent around Funchal again and I managed to find long-tailed blues and Lang's short-tailed blues in the flower beds along the promenade feeding with painted lady and monarch while at the hotel I found a common wall gecko resting vertically on a wall.

 Long-tailed Blue, Funchal Promenade

 Long-tailed Blue, Funchal Promenade 

 Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Funchal Promenade 

Common Wall Gecko, Hotel

Monday July 15th and it was time to explore outside of Funchal and so we headed off for the day to the neighbouring island of Porto Santo by ferry, a 2 hour 15 minute trip each way. The ferry terminal was just a few minutes walk away from our hotel which was handy as we had to be at the terminal by 7:30am for the 8am crossing. We upgraded to a first class ticket which gave us access to the first class lounge complete with a breakfast and dinner buffet and a viewing deck right across the front of the boat above the bridge.

While waiting to sail out of the harbour I watched common terms flying around and resting on the quay and was very pleased to find an adult roseate tern amongst them, a good start to the day.

Roseate Tern (record shot), Funchal Harbour

As we headed out of the harbour the breeze was very noticeable as we headed into the wind and the seas were noticeably choppy but after wolfing down my breakfast I was out on deck watching lots of Cory's shearwaters living up to their name as they flew across the waves close to the boat. Viewing through binoculars was difficult in the wind but as we neared the Desertas Islands I picked up a Fea's type petrel flying past, a bird I hoped to see but wasn't really expecting too, and eventually I managed to see another 3 individuals including a definite Fea's petrel showing a distinct dark 'm' (or 'w') across the upperwings as it passed nearer to the boat than the others.

 Cory's Shearwater, Porto Santo Ferry

Cory's Shearwater, Porto Santo Ferry

After passing the eastern tip of Madeira the sightings dwindled other than the odd Cory's shearwater but eventually I began to pick up a few Bulwer's petrels skittering low over the waves, another bird I was hoping to see.

Arriving in the harbour at Porto Santo and common terms and yellow-legged gulls were flying around and on the walk into the main town of Vila Baleira I saw collared doves, kestrels, buzzards, blackcaps, plain swifts and Spanish sparrows along with monarchs, small whites and long-tailed blues and Madeiran wall lizards.

Yellow-legged Gulls, Porto Santo

Spanish Sparrow, Porto Santo

We spent the day sitting on the beach watching common terns fishing, including a very confiding juvenile, and enjoyed ice creams and mojitos and a swim in the sea before it was time to walk back to the harbour to catch the 7pm ferry back to Madeira.

Common Tern, Porto Santo

 Common Tern, Porto Santo

Common Tern, Porto Santo

Common Tern, Porto Santo

Common Tern, Porto Santo

I was looking forward to the return journey and after wolfing down my dinner I was back out on deck watching for wildlife as we sailed out of the harbour. This time the wind was behind us and had eased off somewhat so viewing was much easier with the sea less choppy too but this meant there were less birds. Cory's shearwaters were seen in much lower numbers than on the morning trip but Bulwer's petrels were seen in greater numbers - unfortunately no Fea's type petrels were seen on the return trip but I did see an Atlantic flying fish soaring low over the water surface looking very blue and bird-like and a very distant pod of leaping dolphins being trailed by a large flock of Cory's shearwaters.

Bulwer's Petrel, Porto Santo Ferry

Cory's Shearwater, Porto Santo Ferry

Nearing Madeira from the Porto Santo Ferry

Arriving back in Funchal at 21:15 hours and I was very tired but very happy after a great sea watching experience and a great day out - our holiday to Madeira was certainly delivering on the wildlife front.

Caspian Gull at Minsmere

Sunday 13th May and it was off on the long drive to Suffolk for a few days away visiting family and doing a bit of birding. The journey was uneventful with the usual road kill seen along the way - roe deer, fox, pheasent, badger, rabbit, hedgehog, woodpigeon, muntjac deer, etc. - but more pleasant fare were swifts overhead, brimstones fluttering along the verges, a red legged partridge in a field along the A303 and 3 red kites (1 over the M3 and 2 together over the M25).

Monday 14th May and we visited the National Trust house and gardens at Anglesey Abbey near Cambridge with Mum and cousin Claire who was celebrating her birthday. We visited Anglesey Abbey a few years ago on a winters day when we only saw a small part of the gardens and a few rooms in the house and so it was nice to revisit for a better look around.

The wildflower meadow in the house grounds was full of cowslips while the surrounding woods held a few holly blues, my first of the year. 2 muntjac deer were as surprised to see us as we were to see them as they ran across the footpath in front of us before disappearing into the trees giving a dog like bark as they went.

 Cowslip, Anglesey Abbey

 Holly Blue

Fungus Sp.

Tuesday 15th May and I managed to wangle a day at Minsmere, well 3 and a half hours anyway. David dropped me off at the reserves reception at 11:30, a little later than I had hoped for, and I was picked up at 3pm but I made the most of my short time and enjoyed some great birding.

I began my walk along the North Wall to the East Hide, seeing sand martins hawking overhead and hearing reed warblers chuntering in the reeds on the way. At the East Hide 2 green hairstreaks were flitting about in the trees by the path, looking stunning in the bright sunshine but chilly wind and creating quite a bit of interest from passers by.

Green Hairstreak, Minsmere

A cacophony of sound from the nesting black headed gulls on the scrape greeted me as I sat in the East hide scanning around. Waders present were a female ruff, avocets, black tailed godwits, a common sandpiper, redshanks, lapwings, a ringed plover and 3 dunlin with gadwall, shelduck and shoveler representing the ducks. Kittiwake, black headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls looking stonking in the sunshine with jet black heads, bright red bills and ghostly white bodies, lesser black backed gulls, greater black backed gulls and herring gulls were noted but there was no sign of the reported little gull. Common terns were flying around with 3 little terns also seen - a pair with the male busily catching fish to feed to the female resting nearby with both birds vigorously chasing off another passing bird.

The Scrape, Minsmere

Black Tailed Godwit

Avocet

Redshank

Gadwall

Common Tern

Common Tern

Common Tern

Little Tern

The highlight was a 1st summer Caspian gull which was flying around and resting on the islands, a striking bird but not as much as the 2 other birds I have seen in the past and with a smaller looking bill. It kept to itself and lesser black backed gulls nearby kept out of its way when it came near to them before I lost track of it amongst all the birds flying around.

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull

Carrying on around the Scrape to the South and West hides added a flyover grey plover, a bar tailed godwit, 5 knot, 2 turnstone and 2 oystercatcher to the wader tally and mallard, a male teal and a male wigeon to the duck list along with greylag, Canada and barnacle geese and 4 Sandwich tern.

From the Island Mere hide 5 hobbies were dashing around catching insects and 2 singing sedge warblers showed very well from bushes amongst the reeds. Also seen were 2 pairs of marsh harrier flying over the reed bed, a good view of a flyby bittern before it landed in cover and a few brief flight views of pinging bearded tits over the reed tops before it was time to head back to the reception for my lift home.

Sedge warbler

I could have done with more time but it had been a very productive visit with a small copper, a calling cuckoo, sticklebacks, hairy dragonfly, large red damselfly and ant lion larva devouring hapless insects in their sand pit traps adding to the great sightings of the day.

Small Copper

Pheasent

Pheasent