More Dipping in Devon and Cornwall

I headed off to Slapton Ley on the bus on Friday 22nd March, catching the first bus of the day at 07:30 and arriving at Torcross at 09:15. I decided to visit Beesands Ley first, walking over the clifftops due to the high tide blocking the beach access and along the walk I saw a singing chiffchaff with a second bird also heard, a singing cirl bunting on a telegraph wire before it flew into the hedgerow and I heard an unseen singing blackcap.

Arriving at Beesands Ley and I began scanning the ducks out on the water, hoping to find the recently reported male scaup but there was no sign of it. I did find the wintering male ring-necked duck which gave some great views amongst the tufted ducks but with reeds in the way I couldn't get a decent photo as my camera kept focusing on the reeds and not on the ducks. Also seen were 2 male pochard, a male gadwall, a pair of teal, mallard, coot, moorhen, great crested grebe, mute swan, Canada goose, cormorant and a grey heron with Cetti's warblers heard and a raven flying over mobbing a buzzard.

A nice find along the footpath was my first oil beetle of the year, always a nice insect to see.

Oil Beetle

The tide had dropped enough for me to walk back to Slapton Ley along the beach and I headed to the Stokeley Bay hide near Torcross first as the male scaup has often been seen from here but again there was no sign of it. I returned to Torcross and then walked along the Ley to the bridge, scanning the ducks on the Ley for the scaup but there was still no sign of it - another dip (and it was reported the next day too!).

I did see reed buntings along the Ley side with Cetti's warblers heard calling while out on the water there were gadwall, coot, tufted duck, mallard, moorhen, cormorant and great crested grebes. A few common gulls and lesser black-backed gulls were amongst the herring gulls and great black- backed gulls and a few first summer black-headed gulls were hanging around the duck feeding area at Torcross.

 Black-headed Gull

Black-headed Gull

It was quiet offshore too with a single gannet, a few shag and a flock of 22 sleeping great crested grebes being seen along with the usual gulls.

David and his Mum duly arrived and we had lunch in the Start Bay Inn before driving home and I slept all the way back to Plymouth after stuffing myself with fish and chips - a good day out but no scaup for me.

While at Slapton Ley I received a text from Plymouth birder Russ regarding a garganey found at Millbrook Lake just across the River Tamar from Plymouth and so the next day I thought I would go over for a look. And as expected and continuing the theme for the week there was no sign of it - my dipping streak continues! A blonde headed Egyptian goose, a flyover grey wagtail, 2 lesser black-backed gulls and a Mediterranean gull bathing amongst the herring gulls and black-headed gulls and a singing chiffchaff were all seen and heard though.

Egyptian Goose

Lesser Black-backed Gulls with Herring Gulls

Lesser Black-backed Gulls with Herring Gulls

Mediterranean Gull with Herring Gulls

Muscovy Duck x Mallard

Onwards to nearby Stone Farm along Radford Lane and I managed to get some nice views of the 7 overwintering cattle egrets amongst the cows along with a sickly looking little egret, a nice bonus after the garganey dip.

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Tree Sparrows in Suffolk and a London Stopover

November 2nd and again I thought I could hear a firecrest calling in the back yard as I was about to leave the house for the walk to the railway station and the train journey to Ipswich to visit family. A quick look in the bushes and sure enough there was a firecrest feeding in the still leafy lilac tree next door before it flew off towards the park, a garden tick for me in what has been a firecrest autumn this year.

The train journey was hassle free and very pleasant with mostly sunny skies but occassional foggy patches. We travelled via Bristol and Swindon to London and so had good views of the Uffington white horse as we sped past and I managed good views too of many red kites between Swindon and London as they soared overhead in the sunny and calm conditions.

November 3rd and another sunny and calm day and so we drove out to Ampton in the Suffolk countryside on the way to the antiques and garden centre at nearby Risby. I visited Ampton back in 2015 where a feeding station attracted many tree sparrows to it and I wasn't disappointed again this time with tree sparrows easily seen on the feeders as soon as we arrived at the site. They were a little skittish and flighty but I managed some great views as they fed alongside greenfinch and goldfinch and a lone redpoll while a brown rat fed on the dropped seed underneath them.

 Tree Sparrow

 Tree Sparrows and Greenfinch

Tree Sparrows

I checked out the nearby fields where pheasents and red legged partridges were feeding but a scan through the chaffinches didn't reveal any bramblings. A flock of around 40 fieldfares flew over before doubling back and dropping down into the tree tops, surprisingly my first of 2017, and amongst them was a single redwing before they all flew off and disappeared from view.

We continued onwards towards Risby but stopped off along the way at Lackford Lakes, a Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve that I have only briefly visited once before. We enjoyed hot chocolate and cake at the visitors centre, sitting outside on the benches and enjoying the warm sunshine while common darters flew around us before Mum and David headed off to Risby leaving me behind to explore the reserve.

Lackford Lakes

Lackford Lakes are like a rich mans Stover, a large site with a collection of lakes, reed beds, damp woodland and fields and numerous hides along the paths but without yummy mummies power walking their offspring in strollers and canine lovers emptying their dogs. There were however the ubiquitous photographers with massive camera lenses clogging up the hides with all their photographic equipment but I had a very enjoyable 90 minutes wandering around before Mum and David arrived to pick me up.

It was good to see numerous pochard out on the lakes, an increasingly rare sight here in Devon, along with tufted duck, teal, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, wigeon, a male goosander and 3 goldeneye (a male, a female and an immature male). Lapwing looked stunning in the sunshine and snipe showed very well feeding in the grassy and boggy areas, a marsh tit flew through the alders and a Cettis warbler belted out song in the wet undergrowth. A kingfisher was heard and greylag geese, Canada geese, coot, moorhen, a little egret, a grey heron, cormorant, a little grebe, lesser black backed gulls, 2 great crested grebes, a flyover buzzard and a yaffling green woodpecker were also noted before I had to leave but I was very impressed with the reserve and my sightings.

Immature Male Goldeneye

The next day was cold and grey and wet so no birding for me, instead we went Christmas shopping in Ipswich which was the joy it always is, and that evening we went to see Alison Moyet in concert at the Regent Theatre which was absolutely brilliant.

Sunday 5th November and it was time to head back to Plymouth by train but with a stopover in London for a few hours allowing me time to visit Hyde Park for some birding and David time to go shopping. It was another beautiful day with sunshine and blue skies but a biting cold breeze and I arrived at The Serpentine in Hyde Park at around 12:30. Unfortunately it was a sunny sunday and so the park was extra busy but I managed some good and close sightings despite the crowds and disturbance as the wildlife is quite used to us humans.

I quickly found 3 male and a female red crested pochard sleeping on the water underneath the overhanging tree branches on the opposite bank where I saw them back in 2014. They occassional woke up and looked around before going back to sleep as they floated around amongst pochard and tufted duck and a nice (plastic) year tick for me. Also on the water were mallard, shoveler, a pair of gadwall, a little grebe, 4 great crested grebe, cormorant, Canada geese, greylag geese, 4 Egyptian geese, a grey heron, coot, moorhen and gulls (herring, common, black headed and lesser black backed).

 Red Crested Pochard

 Red Crested Pochard

Red Crested Pochard

 Tufted Duck

 Tufted Duck

 Shoveler

Shoveler

 Egyptian Goose

  Egyptian Goose

 Grey Heron

 Grey Heron

Common Gull

Common Gull

 Common Gull

 Lesser Black Backed Gull

 Black Headed Gull

Black Headed Gull

Ring necked (or rather rose ringed) parakeets were very noisy and obvious as they flew around and fed from peoples hands and I joined in the fun when somebody gave me some sunflower seeds, getting some great views of the birds as they nibbled away in my palm - love them or loathe them, they are great looking birds and are doing very well but at what cost to our native wildlife? They were certainly popular with the assorted crowds and maybe can help spark an interest in wildlife in some of those present?

 Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeets

I had a look for the little owls in the chestnut trees but without any luck. I did meet Ralph who writes a very good daily blog with some good photos all about the varied wildlife in the park (www.kensingtonandhydeparkbirds.blogspot.co.uk) but he was not very friendly or open or forthcoming about the owls and quickly scurried off although his blog has 2 lovely photos of 2 of the little owls he saw that day - I guess he was having a bad day or maybe my scary countenance spooked him? (!).

Other birds seen were a nuthatch, a dunnock, robins, blackbirds, long tailed tits, great tits, blue tits, feral pigeons and jackdaws before I walked over to the Natural History museum to meet David and have a quick look around before walking back to Paddington to catch the train home to Plymouth - a busy few days away but a very enjoyable time with 3 year ticks to add to the list.

 Natural History Museum

Natural History Museum

A Trip East - Swallowtails and Norfolk Hawkers

Friday 9th June and it was off to Suffolk for a few days to visit my family. The journey was fraught with traffic jams on the M3, M25 and A12 and along the way I saw 2 red kites by the M3 and the usual roadkill - fox, badger, pheasent, hedgehog and rabbit - although the A12 provided more variety with muntjac deer, lesser black backed gull and barn owl also noted.

Saturday 10th June was hot and sunny but breezey and it was off to my nephew Jacks school sports day where I saw flyover kestrel, sparrowhawk and great spotted woodpecker between races. When the sports day was over we headed off with Jack for the afternoon to the beach at Felixstowe where we ate ice cream and doughnuts, skimmed stones across the waves and played crazy golf where I saw 2 holly blues flitting about in the bushes.

Sunday 11th June and myself and David drove up to the RSPB reserve of Strumpshaw Fen near Norwich in Norfolk on a hot and humid day despite the strong breeze. It was mostly sunny but eventually it clouded over and I wasn't sure if we would be successful in seeing the main purpose of our trip but as we sorted out our admission tickets at the visitor centre one of the volunteers called a swallowtail butterfly flitting past which we managed to get a good but brief view of - result! It was larger than I expected, beautifully marked and very flitty and floaty as it passed by and quite exotic looking.

We walked off from the visitors centre and out onto the reserve and along the route we found 3, possibly 4, swallowtails flitting about in a sheltered area near the Doctors garden - we had some very nice views of them although photographers with massive cameras kept trying to get within inches of the them when they rested on the vegetation only for them to unsurprisingly fly off which was most annoying as I was managing to get some decentish snaps with my little automatic camera.

Swallowtail

Swallowtail

Swalowtail - with a damaged right tail

Swallowtail

Swallowtail - underside record shot

Swallowtail

I have never seen swallowtails before despite living in Suffolk until I was 18 and regularly returning to visit friends and family over the last 30 odd years. It was lovely to see them but it felt almost a little contrived, not helped by the masses of people and especially photographers present although not unexpected on a visit on a Sunday.

We moved on around the reserve and I eventually managed to get good views of Norfolk hawkers, another species I was hoping to see and a new dragonfly for me. They were very active and fast in the warm conditions but as it cooled down slightly and clouded over they were easier to see including an ovipositing female.

 Norfolk Hawker - Aeshna isosceles

 Norfolk Hawker

Norfolk Hawker - ovipositing female showing yellow triangle on the 2nd abdominal segment which gives it its Latin name

There were plenty of other dragonflies buzzing around too - banded demoiselle, scarce chaser, four spotted chaser and "blue" damselflies were all seen along with the Norfolk hawkers - and a hobby flying acrobatically low over the reeds was enjoying snacking on them.

 Four Spotted Chaser

 Scarce Chaser

Other birds seen were marsh harriers, a whitethroat, a pair of Egyptian geese, gadwall and brief views of bearded tits buzzing low over the reeds before diving into cover as they "pinged" away. Chiffchaffs, willow warblers and blackcaps were heard and reed warblers were seen.

Egyptian Geese

Comma, brimstone, speckled wood, small tortoiseshell, peacock and red admiral were all seen along with bee orchids and southern marsh orchids and before heading home I had another quick look at the swallowtails again although they were less active and soon disappeared out of sight.

Comma

Bee Orchid

And so it had been a very successful visit to an RSPB reserve I have never visited before and I had managed to get some great views of the swallowtails there along with some good birds, dragonflies and orchids - an excellent day out.