Reeds & Rough

A few snaps from a couple of excursions.

First up, I joined a small gathering of moth recorders at Rutland Water last week in the hope of picking up a couple of reedbed wainscots that I'm yet to see (Obscure & Webb's). Sadly no joy on that front, and the conditions were not ideal with it cooling quite quickly and rain due in the early hours, but nonetheless another great session - so good to be out by a mothing sheet again. The group split up into three areas, and I joined Adrian Russell in what seemed to be a perfect spot immediately alongside Lagoon 3 and close to Shoveler Hide. We ran a sheet and I walked a trap out along the edge of the reedbed. The constant chattering of Common Terns, Oystercatchers and Lapwings was a great backdrop as we set up.

There was plenty of activity at the sheet and over the trap, though it all seemed to die down a little as the night wore on.

Still, great to see a few species again that I don't generally get in the garden and haven't seen for a while, including Chilo phragmitella, Slender Brindle and these three:

Southern Wainscot

Brown-veined Wainscots

Eudonia pallida

But the first moth of the night was a Gelechiid on the sheet that may yet turn out to be one of the most interesting of the c73sp. once checked ....

Probably Caryocolum fraternella

More recently, last night I headed out for a couple of hours to again walk around a site near Dunton Bassett with Graham Calow and Craig Mabbett. Another peaceful and productive walk, with a fair number of leaf mines collected. The site really is unusual, with very rough scrub at the back of an industrial estate with HGV parking, leading down to managed carp fishing lakes. The site seems to be a magnet for unusual, and often escaped, flora - perhaps dragged in on the wheels of lorries etc.

I'll leave out leaf mines for the moment, though a few were new for me. Instead here's a couple of damselflies (all were a bit sluggish loafing on waterside vegetation after rain) and a spanking sawfly larva ....

White-legged Damselfly

Common Blue Damselfly

Craesus septentrionalis - a good number defoliating a small Alder sapling

A new one for me

The peak period for leaf-mining and galls will be upon us before long ....

Rutland Water 11/04/2014

A county tick Pied-billed Grebe had been knocking about at Rutland Water (found on Wednesday), but last news on Thursday was not ideal as it was last reported drifting off toward Lyndon. I fully expected that news on Friday morning would be -ve and that it would take a while to re-find, and so I made a concious decision to spend the day at Ketton picking up PSL lifers and enjoying myself rather than trudging around Rutland Water.

As expected, no news early on and then the 'no sign' news, but I decided to drop in the way home from Ketton just in case it had been hiding away in the willows. By then it was nice and sunny; Willow Warblers, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps were in full song and Swallows were over the water so all very pleasant.

I had a good walk westwards, well past Berrybut Spinny and the golf course, checking the water constantly and particularly in-shore near any overhanging willows. I didn't see another birder all the time I was walking, and of course I didn't see the grebe. Looking for a small bird on your todd at a place the size of Rutland Water is pretty ridiculous. In fact I was almost back at the car a good couple of hours after arriving before I saw any other birders - a car load that had come from Suffolk in the vain hope of ticking the grebe (they should've gone to Flamborough for Carg Martin!).

Quite likely that the grebe had been knocking about for a while unseen, and possible it is still around there somewhere though after a weekend with no news it's not looking promising. Still, it's just a county tick and having missed so many over the years (mainly due to them turning up on week days whilst I'm at work) then I won't lose any sleep! Unlikely there'll be another any time soon, but the Glossy Ibis that briefly appeared on Tuesday and the possible White Stork that flew over Melton whilst I was at RW will both appear on my list in due course.

Whilst the grebe was lost cause, I still gained from the visit with a couple of unexpected PSL ticks. First up, a quick stop to splash me boots in the spinny lead to a chance find of a slime mould on damp rotting wood ...

Wolf's Milk Lycogala terrestre

And bold as brass, slowing shuffling across the sun-baked pathway was this beetle ...

Pill Beetle

I'd about had enough for the day, and seeing the local inhabitants was only making me hungry.

Dinner

Black-winged Stilt

Had a full family day out yesterday down in the smoke and we were home very late, so it wasn't until this morning that I had a chance to catch up with blog posts and news. I noted that Black-winged Stilts featured and even took the time to change my Seaton Buttons list to reflect the chances on one moving a bit more west. Like everyone else, I had no idea that at that precise moment one was somewhere between Oxfordshire (where it was seen until late yesterday evening) and Rutland Water where it was picked up at around lunchtime.

After a bit of judicial dithering to see whether I was being lined up for anything else by Nichola, I set off and headed straight to Lagoon 4 and scored immediately. There are already lots of good shots of this Stilt on the tinterweb showing that it is undoubtedly the same bird, like here in Oxfordshire and here at Rutland Water. Whilst I was there it moved about a lot, showed very well for scope views but never came in range. So as there are so many good shots available, here are some pants ones as I do like to show my new shiny county ticks off wherever possible ....

Despite the distinctly ruthless twitch mentality, I did manage to see a few other bits on Lagoon 4 including several county yearticks: Avocet, Curlew, Ruff, Little Ringed Plover, Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Redshank, Little Egret, Common Tern, Sand Martin plus assorted common wildfowl still loitering. I also picked up both Willow Warbler and Blackcap singing on the reserve, and a nice Red Kite just before the Uppingham roundabout.

Liking Lichens

Whilst out and about at Rutland Water yesterday, I distracted myself for half an hour or so looking at Lichens. That is looking at and photographing, not identifiying! I've found a couple of good resources to check through, but for the moment these are just unnamed images of things that it is all too easy to ignore (of course if you recognise anything let me know).

First up, something on smooth barked trees in Hambleton Wood:

The rest are from the old wall running along the fields by the North Arm Marsh:

More birding - with a Tarts Tick to boot

Headed out this morning to Rutland Water for a long-overdue appointment with an over-wintering Snow Bunting. It has been loitering around the Old Hall area, but that was pretty much all I knew. I haven't been to this area for a while and was surprised at how low the water is - well short of the normal shoreline. This in turn meant a big expanse of 'muddy marsh' for a bunting to get lost in.

I head a bloody good search all along the area east of Old Hall, and bumped into a couple of others doing the same. We all drew a blank and aside from a couple of Pied Wagtails there were no passerines anywhere along the 'marsh'. I did pick up a few other nice yearticks though (nothing photographable): Scaup, Goosander, Goldeneye, Redshank, Egyptian Goose and Marsh Tit included. Eventually I had just about got back to the Old Hall when I heard and saw a couple of Meadow Pipits drop in behind me, but a quick search and nothing else with them. Around the same time I bumped into Matthew Berriman who also hadn't seen the bunting but confirmed it has been using teh area I was searching and that it was cohorting with Meadow Pipits. Whilst we were talking a few more pipits came in and, finally, so did the Snow Bunting. Get in - a county tick for me (albeit a bit tarty these days with a few easily twitchable ones in recent years that I haven't twitched!). Also a Reed Bunting knocking about with the flock.

It was a bit distant though seen very well with optics. Whilst Snow Bunts maybe quite approachable, Meadow Pipts aren't so no chance of getting a good close shot. So I opted for a distant pants vidiclip instead - you won't see a worse effort anywhere else on the net.

After filling my boots, I opted to head over to Eyebrook for a quick look. Again I haven't been for a while, and it looks like someone has pulled the plug out. I have never seen the res so low.

A few more nice birds for the year, including: Smew (drake and redhead), Pintail, Gadwall, Golden Plover and Dunlin. I completely forgot about the regular Green-winged Teal until I was half way around the res, and I was not compelled to work my way back and start looking for it. Maybe another day.

I ended the day on 64 species - hopefully a few calories burned with all the walking as well.

Birders - Birds

Photographing stuff in the garden on Wednesday, out mothing Wednesday night and out with the family all day yesterday, getting home well after dark. So - loads to catch up on over the next few days/posts.

Today though I was at the Bird Fair all day. Good to meet and chat with Gary 'Newton Beadnell Birding Stringer' Woodburn and Iain 'Druridge Pools' Robson, and a number of Leics. faces, like Colin Towe, Mark Andrews, Graham Finch and Mark Rossell (apologies to those I missed etc etc). Mainly though, the crack centered around the beer tent with a number of Birdfair Bitters downed in the company of John 'Drunkbirder Freebie Blagging Media Whore' Hague, Andy 'Llama' Mackay and Dave 'Teaboy' Gray. Lots of obtuse conversation about non-birdy stuff, sniping about wildlife cameramen who make you feel queasy when on the wrong side of the lens, and mainly lots of laughs. A good 3 hours whiled away around a plastic table.

I did spend a bit of time in the various marquees, and spent some money on non beer/birding items. Finally got around to getting a couple of books that have been notable ommissions from my pathetically small library - British Hoverflies by Stubbs and Dragnoflies of Britain and Europe by Dijkstra/Lewington. The BWP stand is showing the new Lewington micro book as due for publication in early 2012 - looking forward to that one.

Felt obliged to look at some birds before heading home, so dropped into Eyebrook Res for a quick look. Loads of mud. And water. A quick scan with bins revealed lots of Ringed Plovers, a few juv Ruffs and the odd Dunlin. Also loads of Lapwings. Got the scope out and confirmed that the bins were right and couldn't see anything more exciting and gave up quickly. Lazy bastard. Everything too far to photograph as usual.

So in lieu of any decent photos from today, but to maintain the unfamiliar birdyness of this post, here are some photos and vidclips from our grand day out at Scarborough yesterday.

A classic natural Kittiwake colony

Greedy fat bastard

juv Herring Gull

Herring Gulls

Great Black-backed Gull

Turnstone

TTV, Yankee Duck and Useless Twats

Headed out earlyish this morning into what promised to be a clear, bright and cold day. At least that was the conditions I set out in , and drove out of Leicestershire in. By the time I was in Rutland it was distinctly greyer. Consequently no photos today - it was either too dull, stuff too far or I couldn't be arsed ..

I had a TTV to do around the middle (literally) of Rutland Water. Barely no land in this tetrad, aside from the tip of Hambleton Peninsular, the tip of Whitwell creek and part of the southern shoreline around Normanton. I anticipated that the diversity might not be what you'd expect for RW - and I was right. With no houses and only a small spinney in the tetrad, passerines were always going to be limited. There are a few fields and hedgerows though.

I carefully sifted through the wildfowl and picked up reasonable numbers of Tufted Ducks (106), Great Crested Grebes (58) and Gadwall (36) on the water in the immediate vicinity of the Peninsular. Far greater numbers of Canada Geese (479) and Wigeon (564) grazing on various bits of grass. But otherwise it was surprisingly limited - eg only 1 Pochard, 31 Mallard, 14 Goldeneye and a couple of Goosander. Even more surprising was the complete lack of Coot, and the shorelines were free of Moorhens, Teal, Grey Herons and Little Egrets - only 2 Redshank, a Lapwing and a Dunlin were on show. In fact, by far the most interesting thing on the water was a lone female Ruddy Duck. Otherwise, 3 Skylarks, 2 Meadow Pipits, 2 Jays, 1 Bullfinch and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker were the highlights with 45 species in total.

Before I left the Peninsular, I encountered a couple who upon seeing my scope and bins enquired if there was anything interesting about. I assured them that it was all usual stuff - nothing exciting. They then excitedly told me about a large group of Quails in a field that they'd seen on the way over. Oh dear - I suddenly remembered where I was.

As I drove back down through Hambleton I could see where all the rest of the expected wildfowl was - absolute masses of Coots, Tufteds, Pochards, Mute Swans etc all massed up in the north arm. Two tetrads east, one north.

Time was getting on a bit, and I had intended to head over to Loughborough to gawp at Waxwings, but I decided to drop into the Lyndon reserve first and have a look at the drake American Wigeon. Best laid plans - in all I spent a good two hours at Lyndon and scuppered any chance of getting over to Loughborough today.

First I headed to the Deep Water Hide on the west of the reserve to search. Initially, this was in blissful solitude. There were plenty of ducks on the water, but nothing on the shore. Sanning though I picked up a female Scaup, 3 drake + 1 female Red-crested Pochard, 4 redhead + 1 spanking drake Smew, and 7 redhead + 2 drake Goosander. No sign of the yankee though.

I was joined by others. On them immediately enquiring about the Wigeon, I let them know that I hadn't seen it, didn't know if it was about, and then reeled off what was there. "Not sure I know what a female Scaup looks like" was one response. 'Fucking hell, here we go' I thought. Sure enough, their assistance in looking for the Wigeon was frankly unnecessary. One of them tried to string redhead Smew as drake Ruddy Duck, and couldn't see the Scaup even when I eventually talked him directly onto the bird. When a huge group of feral Greylags dropped in, the same geezer proceed to call two Barnacle amongst them (1 Barnacle, 1 CanadaxGreylag Monstrosity). He then speculated on the parentage of two mainly white geese.

I'd had enough and left the hide. After watching a few Tree Sparrows on the feeders, I fully intended to head home but fortuitously bumped into the newly arrived Bretts in the car park who had a pager update - showing from east of Swan Hide on the east of the reserve. In for a penny, I trudged off with them for another go.

Eventually, the American Wigeon showed itself. Smart bird too - or at least a smart as an American Wigeon can be. It was constantly busy dabbling/feeding amongst a big group of Wigeon and Gadwall on the water - not sure what they were onto but they were like a mass of seabirds around a ball of sardines. Another 3 redhead Smew and 2 possibly 3 more female Scaup in the same area. Good stuff. As I left, the aforementioned group from the hide passed - they'd been in Swan Hide and couldn't see the bird ....

I headed into the now empty Swan Hide and though the viewing was constrained by a big bushy obstruction I immediately picked up the bird again for further views in better light. On leaving, I bumped into John 'media whore' Hague along the track where he'd been watching from - we had independently drawn the same conclusions about the same people as he also commented about what a load of useless fucking morons there seemed to be in the vicinity and had left Swan Hide before they drove him mental.

Before finally heading home, I headed over to Eyebrook for a quick look but it was still quite frozen so I gave it nothing but a cursory glance. Two Red Kites soaring over the fields by Holyoaks Farm were a nice end to the day.

Otterly Disappointing

Today was one of those superbly bright sunny days that make it really feel like spring - whilst you are indoors. Stepping outside confirmed that the bright sun was only giving the illusion of warmth - it was fecking cold!

I'd have loved to have got out and about early, but we had things to do and I also wanted to give my two gennies their annual service. The totality of the service, which for me has worked 100% every year so far, is: remove them from inadequate winter storage in the garden shed, take out and look at the spark plugs, leave the gennies outside to warm through, put the plug back in, yank the pullcord a few times and smile smugly as the two-stroke noise and blue exhaust gasses permeate the garden. None of this proper maintenance that the four-stroke gennies need lest they become expensive write-offs.

Cheapo chinese 650W continuous model (available in a variety of brand names). This gennie is superb value (cost <£90 inc VAT when I bought it six years ago). Runs 5 x 125W MV traps & cables or equivalent without issue. I have run it unattended for 9hrs+. It's heavy and noisy, but the cost makes it a no-brainer for leaving chained up to a tree with no worries about it being stolen (vs the £600+ you'd pay for a Honda EX-10i).

Technically not mine, though I've had it on permanent loan for so long it may aswell be. This small gennie is superb for carrying deeper into woodland, and will run 2 x 125W MV traps on the higher setting - only problem is it needs topping up more regularly.

Having sorted oursleves out, and assured myself that both gennies are at least available (and should survive another full season), I got on with my other main plan for the day - a late afternoon trip to Rutland Water. My first stop was an obligatory look at the main feeders by the visitors centre. Within 5 minutes I'd picked up 12 or so species, including Tree Sparrow although there were only a couple - maybe the rest were getting on with more important things. I was just thinking how annoying it was that the only sparrow I could get in the view-finder was House, when this suddenly appeared ..

Brambling

Makes Chaffinches look dull

Always nice to see Bramblings, and not sure there have been that many in Leics & Rutland this winter. I then headed straight over to sit and wait for my main target for the day - Otter.

Otters appear to be doing well in VC55, or at least they have a very wide overall distribution from recent reports. Seeing one is of course another matter, and I've never seen one anywhere. This is largely down to me never having made much of an effort to see one, but I have spent enough time in Devon over the last 20 years (Nichola's family live there) that a chance sighting would not have been unexpected.

On hearing earlier in the week about one having been seen on consecutive evenings emerging from the reeds and climbing up to scent mark a tern raft, I though it was worth having a go to see it. I'd also seen John Wright's superb sketches and photos on his blog.

Whilst waiting patiently, I was entertained by a singing Cetti's Warbler, a redhead Smew, a great pair of Curlews that dropped in to roost for half an hour, a pair of flythrough Oystercatchers and a superb Barn Owl. Plenty of commoner wildfowl on the water as well, notably displaying Goldeneyes and Great Crested Grebes.

The patient wait was starting to wear a bit thin as the sun descended and the coldness got colder. By 18:00 I was coming to terms with failure and thinking about heading off. A few others had joined the search though so I decided to stick it out. Suddenly, the shout Otter! went up and there it was clambering on to the tern raft. It then disappeared for a couple of minutes before launching itself back into the water and zooming off across the lagoon. All of this in very low light and at scope-only distance. What a fecking disappointment! I saw an Otter, badly. I am now more determined than ever to see one properly, preferably feeding on a shoreline in Scotland.

In fact, the only mammals I enjoyed seeing today were the lambs - is there any more iconic image of the British Spring than a suckling lamb in the sunshine?