Felbrigg & Red-veined Darter

With some decent sunny and warm weather this afternoon I headed down to Felbrigg Lake just in case any Red-veined Darters were present. Arriving at the lake I was amazed to find that there was a positive wader fest going on with 5 Common and 3 Green Sandpipers present, both site record numbers as far as I can recall.

There were good numbers of dragonflies present by the lake including Black-tailed Skimmers, Emperors and Broad-bodied Chasers, with the odd one conviniently perching up on vegetation in the surrounding meadows to enable me to get a pic. 

A few Four-spotted Chasers were also present, along with the usual damselflies including these Blue-tailed in a mating wheel.

Butterflywise a few Meadow Browns were present round the park, along with this Large Skipper.

Acting on information gratefully received, I then headed off to Beeston, where I quickly found the Red-veined Darter around the Dew Pond on the Top Common where it was showing excellently. It eventually moved off from the pool and became quite mobile, but I managed to refind it again quite quickly each time I lost sight of it, as it perched up on the mown areas on the Common. With it being so obliging and having it all to myself I was able to get the photos I had hoped to get but failed to last weekend, with a selection reproduced below.

Red-veined Darters

Took a trip along to Kelling Water Meadows this morning to look for the Red-veined Darters seen there yesterday. Sadly with the blustery conditions and only intermittent sunshine they were far from co-operative in their appearances and I had to resort to a bit of digiscoping to get a photo of them, although that said they still came out fairly well.

In addition to the ones by the pool, we also had one back up by the main road along a field edge near Muckleburgh Hill, which makes you wonder just how many are in the area and indeed elsewhere along the coast.

Green Sandpiper and Keeled Skimmer

Took a quick trip along the coast to Cley yesterday to see the Sacred Ibis which is currently gracing Popes Marsh, and whether its an escapee or a Cat C vagrant from the feral French population is was just a nice bird to enjoy as it devoured a host of invertebrates expertly extracted from the bottom of the wet meadow.

Heading back I called in at Beeston Common and soon found my hoped for target Keeled Skimmer, my 20th Dragonfly species for the patch, with one seen briefly but well in an area of sedges.

Butterflies seen on the Common included a few Common Blues, Small Copper and Large Skipper.

With some decentish weather this morning I headed down to Felbrigg Lake to check out what dragonflies were about, but on approaching the lake my attention was instead grabbed by the sound of a Green Sandpiper calling from somewhere nearby. After scanning the skies drew a blank, I was relieved when I eventually found it feeding on the newly created water meadow, and was naturally delighted with the unexpected year tick.

Getting back to my intended quarry, it was nice to see a good number of dragonflies feeding over the water meadow including Broad-bodied Chasers, Four-spotted Chasers and my first Emperor of the year.

A walk round the lake produced good numbers of Black-tailed Skimmers were also present with as usual many resting on the molehills in the grass along the eastern side. Another Emperor was seen over the lake where good numbers of Common Blue Damselflies were present too along with a few Red-eyed and Blue-tailed Damsels.

Not surprisingly the dragonflies had attracted the attention of a Hobby which gave excellent views as it hawked over the lake, before perching up in the lakeside trees, with other birds of note seen including a female Mandarin on the lake, along with the resident Whooper Swan.

A Brilliant Day

With decent weather in short supply this summer, I took the opportunity to head south today given the reasonable looking forecast. First stop was Wrecclesham where an early walk round to suss out the site produced the surprise of this Beautiful Demoiselle.

Further searching of the site produced my first Large Skipper, Meadow Browns and Common Blue of the year, and then to my delight I eventually found my intended target a Glanville Fritillary. With their natural range in Britain now being predominantly confined to the Isle of Wight, this population here in Surrey was introduced some 10 years ago and seems to have taken hold now, and regardless of their origins, they were a welcome new species for me.

As the day warmed up, a few sunny spells brought more up from the grass and I saw up to a dozen more over the next hour or so, with the odd one pausing long enough for a photo before heading off again across the meadow.

I eventually tore myself away from the Glanvilles wanting to make the most of the day, and headed off to a section of the Basingstoke Canal between Fleet and Aldershot. Parking up by Farnborough Airfield, in more hope than expectation, I walked the canal bank westwards, but with the now predominantly overcast conditions I only saw a few damselflies plus a brief couple of dragonflies.

I then decided to check out what appeared to be a parking area back towards Aldershot which I had passed earlier, and my hope that this would give access to the canal aswell was confirmed as I pulled in, and better still the sun had just appeared again. I quickly made my way down to the canal and after crossing a metal bridge to the towpath along the far bank, I was immediately greeted with the sight of a Brilliant Emerald Dragonfly patrolling a section of the water, the second new species of the day! I watched it for about 15 minutes as it flew back and forth patrolling the canal and a small bay, often flying quite high up in the manner of a hawker before it eventually disappeared up into the trees as the sun went back in.

With time pressing, I decided to move on and headed off homewards but first made an intended detour into south Essex in the hope of getting far better views of Heath Fritillaries than I had got there last year, and also to hopefully get some decent pics too. Going on info gleaned from the web, this time I headed to Starvelarks Wood, by Daws Heath and on reaching the first clearing by the pylons I was immediately greeted by the sight of numerous Heath Fritillaries flying low over the top of the vegetation. There must have been easily 40+ individuals in this one small area all enjoying the now virtually unbroken sunshine, and although they were seemingly constantly on the move I did manage to grab a few pics when the odd one paused briefly, and which show well the differences from the similar looking Glanvilles, with Heath Fritillaries lacking the spots on the underwing and the bottom edge of the upper hindwing.

Black-winged Stilt at Cley

Notable sightings round the patch since the last update have included a Red Kite over Cromer on 30th May, just the 2nd one of the year,  a flock of c10 Crossbills were noted in Felbrigg Park and the first Common Tern of the year was finally noted offshore.

I very rarely leave the patch these days, but today saw me heading back to my old patch for a Cley tick in the elegant form of a Black-winged Stilt. Initially seen very distantly from the visitors centre, I moved round to the west bank where slightly closer views of it could be had as it fed on Cricket Marsh, and although it was always distant I still managed an acceptable record shot.

Having lived there for nearly 20 years, Cley is always close to my heart, and despite having moved away now I still maintain a patch list for the area, with this new site addition being the 336th species I've recorded within the 10km square.

Green Hairstreaks and Marsh Fritillaries

A walk at Overstrand this morning revealed that at least a dozen Green Hairstreaks were present on the clifftop vegetation, with these being the first ones that I've ever seen there.

Other new butterflies for the year noted were at least one Wall, a Large White and a Small Tortoiseshell. A Hobby drifted over and a Large Red Damselfly was also seen.

Following a tip off, the afternoon was spent enjoying a number of freshly emerged Marsh Fritillaries which had been unofficially introduced to a site along the coast, and although initially elusive they eventually gave excellent views and were incredibly photogenic too.

Four-spotted Chaser emerging

With the warm weather, more dragonflies have started to emerge down at Felbrigg, and below is a sequence of shots of one of the Four-spotted Chasers there emerging which was excellent to watch. 

With the larva having climbed up out of the lake onto a reed stem, the emerging dragon broke out through its back in an initial crumpled up state, before it outstretched its wings and plumped out its abdomen, and then with the benefit of the warmth it slowly gained its colour and the wings hardened enough to fully open them out and was then eventually able to take its maiden flight.

Garganey - New for the Patch

Headed down to Felbrigg Lake today to look for Dragonflies, not really expecting any bird action, but how wrong I was, as when I approached the lake edge a pair of ducks were inadvertently flushed from the edge of the reedbed and getting my bins on them as they quickly landed again I was delighted to see that they were Garganey, my first ones ever for the patch.

One of these days I'll get round to working out the total number of species I've recorded on the patch over the years, but guess it'll be somewhere around the 260 mark by now. The resident Whooper Swan was as ever on the lake too, and although looking for Dragonflies understandably took a back seat to the Garganey, I did see my first Red-eyed Damselflies of the year to the south of the lake, where a Reed Warbler was singing, and Little and Barn Owls were also noted.

Osprey & Red-backed Shrike

News of a probable Black Kite over the patch this morning saw me dashing along the coast to see if I could relocate it, and as usual in such circumstances I headed for the highpoint of the layby by the council offices. Scanning round for a while revealed nothing but the local corvids, and with the ridge shrouded in low cloud and fine drizzle, I was just thinking to myself that no self respecting raptor would fly into that when I picked up two large birds of prey in the distance through the bins. I quickly established one was one of the local Common Buzzards, and that it was mobbing a longer-winged bird which banked in the tussel to reveal its white underparts - an Osprey!

Due to the weather it was barely clearing the tree tops and I watched as it slowly headed over Felbigg Park. Knowing that it was heading towards the lake I thought it was worth a shot to try and relocate it there, and indeed coming withing sight of the lake I picked it up again circling round before it carried on its way westwards being mobbed by the local corvids. Due to the weather and distance only a poor record shot was obtained, but it was still an excellent bird, and only my fourth ever for the patch.

With no sign of the kite, I embarked on a good slog round the patch although this revealed very little of note until a phone call alerted me to the presence of a Red-backed Shrike in East Runton. Typically I was a long way from the car, but thankfully it was still there when I arrived and despite being elusive at times, it gave some excellent views and was a really smart bird.

A Garden Warbler was seen mobbing it at one point and a Hobby flew over a couple of times to add to the excitement. A final check of the day around Sidestrand again drew a blank on the migrant front, but a couple of Common Sandpipers were still on the reservoir.

More Dragonflies at Felbrigg

A walk down to the lake in Felbrigg Park today revealed that the numbers of damselflies were on the increase with double figures of tenerals in the grass around the banks and a number of freshly emerged ones watched crawling up the wall around the southern end of the lake.

Also around the sheltered southern end were a number of more mature damsels, with in addition to a few Common Blues, I found my first Large Reds and Blue-tailed Damselflies for the year.

However the main highlight was this immature male Broad-bodied Chaser, which eventually allowed me to get close enough to get a pic, and its always a delight to see the first Dragonfly of the season.

A few butterflies were also out in the meadow to the south of the lake, including my first Peacock of the year on the patch, and birdwise the Cuckoo was still calling away from the trees along the western boundary of the park.

Elsewhere, a walk round Beeston Common produced my first Garden Warbler of the year, a Sedge Warbler was noted singing from the cliff-face between the lighthouse and the pier, and a single Wheatear was noted at West Runton.

Spotted Fly and Seawatching

A walk down to Felbrigg Lake this morning produced the annually returning Spotted Flycatcher in the trees along the western side of the lake, which brought the patch year list up to the 150 mark. On the lake itself the Little Grebe was still present along with the resident Whooper and Mute Swans, although the latter have now dwindled down from the high twenties to just four. Also a Greylag Goose perched at the top of a dead tree was a rather bizarre sight.

A duck which was mostly hidden amongst the vegetation on the water meadow got me excited for a brief second or two before it revealed itself as an escaped Ringed Teal, the second one on the patch in three years following one on the reservoir in 2010.

Due to the wet and windy conditions no butterflies or damselflies were noted today, but a few more teneral Common Blue Damsels and my first Speckled Wood of the year were noted over the weekend.

With the fairly stiff northerly breeze, a couple of sessions of seawatching were undertaken this afternoon which produced a nice selection of birds including two Arctic Skuas, which were my first spring record of the species for the patch, 10 Manx Shearwaters and a fairly decent passage of Little Terns. Other birds noted included Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars, Sandwich Terns and Guillemots.

Some Butterflies at last

Having missed the warm spell in March due to being in Florida, I had only recorded one solitary butterfly so far this spring on the patch, which was a Small White. However with temperatures hitting 21 degrees yesterday and it still being fairly warm and sunny today, a few species had emerged with Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Orange Tips and Small Coppers all evident during a walk round Felbrigg Park.

Also the first damselfly of the year on the patch was seen with a teneral Blue sp. seen briefly before flying out of view. Birdwise in the park, a pair of Cuckoo's were calling, a large feeding flock of hirundines attracted a Hobby, a drake Mandarin flew onto the lake where the Whooper Swan remains along with a Common Sandpiper. A Moorhen was found to be nesting atop a tree stump, some six feet off the ground, but the most notable occurrence was a Little Grebe which was on the lake and which as far as I can recall was the first one I've ever recorded there.

Migrants continue to arrive

An early morning walk along the golf course on the 7th was rewarded with 2 Tree Pipits flying over, along with a few Yellow Wagtails. Lesser Whitethroat, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Common Whitethroat were present in the clifftop bushes and a single Wheatear was also noted.

A visit to West Runton produced the first Whimbrel of the year, 3 Ring Ouzels and more Yellow Wagtails around the cows there.

The southerly airflow and warm temperatures yesterday produced the biggest coastal movement of hirundines and Common Swifts of the spring so far, and 2 Hobbies circling round together over the golf course were also notable. West Runton produced more Yellow Wagtails, including a 'blue-headed' type and a few Wheatears.

A walk in Felbrigg today produced the hoped for Cuckoo in the trees surrounding the lake, along with the years first Reed Warblers, along with a Sedge Warbler, in the reedbed. Two Common Sandpipers were on the lake along with the Whooper Swan, and the Barn Owl was again noted.

A few more migrants

A walk round the patch Tuesday produced the first Lesser Whitethroat of the year at East Runton, where there was also a Ring Ouzel and another male Redstart. A pair of Gadwall were on the reservoir which were the first I've recorded there, and also present were two Common Sandpipers which brought the patch year list up to a respectable 142.

Birds noted on Wednesday included a Whinchat and a few Wheatears along the golf course, a couple of summer-plumaged Bar-tailed Godwits on the beach by the pier which are a notable occurrence this end of the coast, and the presumed released Whooper Swan was still on Felbrigg Lake.

The first Sedge Warbler of the year was found on Friday with one singing in Happy Valley. A walk round Felbrigg produced 2 drake Mandarins on the recently created water meadow, a Common Sandpiper on the lake, a few Swallows, Swifts and a House Martin feeding overhead and a Barn Owl hunting the meadow to the south of the lake. However the surprise of the day came in the shape of a White-fronted Goose which was by the lake with a few Greylags, and whilst it was maybe of feral origin, it quickly flew off and it will be interesting to see if it reappears in the future.