All Change! (well, nearly all) - 5th to 18th April, 2021

Having had a period of relative drought, wildlife and photography wise, over the previous few weeks, the first of these two weeks looked as if it was going to continue in the same vein for a while. However, things started turning around in the second week of the fortnight in question. This is haw the fortnight unfolded.

Tuesday, 6th April     Garden

From having our second hottest day ever recorded at the end of March, the weather had turned very cold by spring standards, with hard frosts at night and shallow water frozen over. On this day, however, we had snow on and off throughout the day, never settling to any depth - but just enough to make a nuisance of itself.

Snow shower - garden on 6th April, 2021

Saturday, 10th April     Garden

The cold weather was still with us, and I found myself photographing the male Chaffinch that was outside my study window. It's easy to forget that the common humble male Chaffinch is actually not a bad-looking bird.

Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) (male) - garden on 10th April, 2021

In a comment on a previous blog post, I mentioned that the bumping of Hedgehogs tended to be a territorial thing rather than an amorous one. The lead-in to mating usually entails the male circling the female for quite some time before she eventually agrees to consummation. On this night, one of the trail cams caught this process as shown below (other than the consummation - can't risk offending people's sensibilities). The whole thing lasted a full 19 minutes - note that they both needed a drink afterwards!

Sunday, 11thApril     Garden

Sadly, I missed getting a shot of the Goldcrest that visited the garden briefly this day, but I did get a shot of a Siskin.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (female) - garden on 11th April, 2021

Monday, 12th April     Garden ; Staunton Harold ; Bignall's Wood ; Dimminsdale area ; Staunton Harold

The trail cams show that we had a good snow shower in the early hours. However, by dawn, the snow was only left on plant foliage. One of the trail cams caught a Carrion Crow visiting before we were up and about.

There had been occasional reports of a Ring-necked Duck at Staunton Harold, which is less than 4 miles (6km) from my home, so I thought that it might be worth my while taking a look that afternoon. I spent some time by the lake, but it was not present. Not wanting to come away empty-handed, I took some shots of a drake Tufted Duck and a Great Crested Grebe.

Tufted Duck (Aythya fuligula) (male) - Staunton Harold

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - Staunton Harold

From here, I moved the short distance to Bignall's Wood for a look around, having not been here for over a year. The Hawthorn was in flower all around the entrance area.

Hawthorn (a.k.a May) (Crataegus sp.) blossom - Bignall's Wood

I saw little as I wandered around but I did take some photos of a bee-fly. I only became aware of bee-flies a few years ago, but find them to be delightful insects. I have only ever seen the Dark-edged Bee-fly but would love to see a Dotted Bee-fly - a species first observed in this county (just!) in 2019.  That fierce-looking proboscis looks as if it could do some damage, but it is purely for probing into flowers for nectar.

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) (male) - Bignall's Wood

If you get a good view, males can be detected by their eyes meeting on top of the head - the eyes of females are widely separated.

From here, I got in my car and headed to a parking place near the entrance to Dimminsdale Nature Reserve. In the field adjacent to the bridge, a Carrion Crow was bumbling around.

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) - near Bignall's Wood

From the bridge, a distant Mute Swan appeared to be sleeping whilst incubating eggs on a nest.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) near Dimminsdale

A little closer, a Coot seemed agitated by a stray reed which spoiled her otherwise pristine nest!

Coot (Fulica atra) - near Dimminsdale

In the distance on the other side of the bridge, a Little Egret was trying to hide - it could learn a thing or two from a Bittern!

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - near Dimminsdale

Towards the far side of the field, two Egyptian Geese were seen. To me, these are one of the ugliest of goose species and I'm none too fond of them, particularly as they have a habit of taking squatting rights on Osprey nests before the Ospreys return in spring.

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) - near Dimminsdale

As I was about to leave the bridge area and head into the nature reserve, a car arrived and a birdwatcher got out. We exchanged a few words and he informed me that he had just come from Staunton Harold and the Ring-necked Duck was there. I must have only missed it by less than an hour.

Shortly after entering the wood I started to try and photograph a few insects. The only shot vaguely worth showing is this one of a hoverfly.

Tapered Drone Fly (Eristalis pertinax) - Dimminsdale NR

This visit went downhill from there, with little seen, which is possibly due to the actions of one stupid woman who was thowing things into the water for her dog to retrieve and shouting at it as she did so - in a nature reserve! I then took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up a long way from where I thought I was. I did manage to get back to the original entrance in time to take some photos of the woman and her dog as they left, and also of her in the car showing its registration plate. I shall hang on to this for possible future use.

I then decided to go back to Staunton Harold, just in case the duck was still there - but it wasn't. I just managed to get a shot of an Egyptian Goose swimming. It didn't occur to me until I saw this that, although I have had many sightings of Egyptian Geese, mainly on dry land or in the air, I can't recall seeing one in the water before this!

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) -Staunton Harold

Tuesday, 13th April     Garden

Nothing remarkable this day, but I offer yet another shot of a Siskin in our garden.

Siskin (Spinus spinus) (male) - garden on 13th April, 2021

Wednesday, 14th April     Garden

The excitement this day was having two butterfly firsts for the year in our garden - Orange-tip, and Green-veined White.

Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines) (male) - garden on 14th April, 2021

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - garden on 14th April, 2021

A Carrion Crow decided to land in our Cob Nut tree.

Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) - garden on 14th April, 2021

Thursday, 15th April     Garden ; Sence Valley

The same Green-veined White returned this day. I cannot usually tell one Green-veined White from another but this one has a distinctive black dot on the rear of its right fore-wing!

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - garden on 15th April, 2021

We also had a bee-fly visiting. This one was a female, with well-separated eyes.

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) (female) -garden on 15th April, 2021

I also photographed this bee, which I believe to be Western Honey Bee - please correct me if I am wrong.

Western Honey Bee (Apis mellfera) (worker) - garden on 15th April. 2021

That afternoon I ventured out to the Sence Valley Forest Park. My primary objective was to check out the ponds in the newest area of the park. These ponds are fenced off and do not have public access. However, I had been invited by Forestry England (who manage the site) to survey for dragonflies and damselflies. It  is a little too early for the odonata to emerge here, but I wanted to check the access arrangements and the state of the ponds. I found myself a little concerned at water levels in some areas.

 

A pair of Mallard had adopted one area of pond.

 

Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) (female + male) - Sence Valley FP

In another area, a Pied Wagtail was having a wander around.

 

Pied Wagtail (Motacilla alba yarrellii) (male) - Sence Valley FP

I then went for a stroll along the River Sence, which is at the edge of the park. Wildflowers seemed to be predominantly yellow.

 

Lesser Celandine (Ficaria verna) - Sence Valley FP

Marsh-marigold (a.k.a. King Cup) (Caltha palustris) - Sence Valley FP

Also, by the river, I photographed an obliging Small Tortoiseshell butterfly.

 

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) - Sence Valley FP

For a while, the area was filled with the sound of Skylark, but my attempts to photograph one failed. I did, however, take a shot of an over-flying Raven.

 

Raven (Corvus corax) - Sence Valley FP

I then made my way into the older part of the park, and found myself being called by a Robin to take a photo of itself.

 

Robin (Erithacus rubecula) - Sence Valley FP

I am still very wary of the dangers of entering bird hides in these Covid times, but was pleased to find the hide on the first lake had permanently open 'windows' and doorway, and no seats - and there was not another person in sight anywhere. I spent an enjoyable quarter of an hour here and took a few photos.

Mute Swan (Cygnus olor) - Sence Valley FP

Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) (female) - Sence Valley FP

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - Sence Valley FP

It had been a very worthwhile visit, and I was pleased to see that there were not too many people around, and those that I did see there were behaving sensibly.

 

Friday, 16th April     Barlestone ; Staunton Harold - featuring the Three Ring Circus

 

There had been reports of up to three male Ring Ouzel in a sheep field only about 10 miles (16km) from my home and as it was nearly four years since I'd seen this species, it was time to take a look.  Following the directions given recently on social media, I made my way past the first sheep field on the left (they had been described as being in the second sheep field on the left) and ended up at what appeared to be a recently ploughed field, and wondered if this had happened in the last 24 hours as there was no second sheep field. Clearly they were not likely to be spotted in a ploughed field, so I headed back again, only to find a Ring Ouzel on the other side of the field that I was in! I suspect that this had been taken as the first field on the left, although the footpath ran along the left of this field so, tachnically, this was a field on the right!

I did manage some distant shots, and this next 'lightly cropped' shot might give some impression of the distance. 

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) (male) - Barlestone

I spent some time here, hoping for this bird to come a little closer, but it kept its distance. Eventually, it flew up into a distant tree. I waited a while in the hope that it would return, but eventually gave up and headed towards the exit from the field. Just before I reached the exit, a bird returned - and then a second bird!  I retraced my steps on the footpath and managed some better images - albeit, very heavily cropped.

 

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) (male) - Barlestone

I hasten to add that the above image was not as a result of me flushing the bird - I have photographic evidence that this bird landed again only a couple of metres away! 

 

Here are a couple more shots - please excuse my self-indulgence here as who knows if/when I might see this species again!

Ring Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) (male) - Barlestone

Having enjoyed the company of two Ring Ouzels, something in my head said that it was time for a third 'ring' to give me a three ring circus, so I headed to Staunton Harold to try, once more, for the Ring-necked Duck. This time I got lucky - a bit more self-indulgence here as I last saw a Ring-necked Duck in UK fourteen years ago, almost to the day (14th April 2007) at a similar short distance from my home! 

 

Ring-necked Duck (Aythya collaris) (male) - Staunton Harold

Thus ended a most enjoyable and rewarding day.

 

Saturday, 17th April 

 

A review of the garden trail cam footage had me instantly worried when I saw one short clip. Fortunately, subsequent clips helped allay my fears to a degree, but I still wonder whether the Hedgehog's health suffered as a result of it taking in water.

I have now stopped leaving Black Soldier Fly larvae out for the Hedgehogs at night at this location.

 

We'd peaked at a rather special figure of five minimum (it's often difficult to tell one hog from another!) Hedgehogs visiting on 13th April. A week later and we are down to one solitary Hedgehog visiting. I am hoping that this is not due to anything sinister.

 

 

This brings me to the end of this blog post. Thank you for visitng. Once again, I am not sure when my next post will be as I have to update my talk on the Isles of Scilly with visits from the past two years, in preparation for delivery to the Leicestershire and Rutland Ornithological Society in just over two weeks time. 

In the meantime, take great care and stay safe - it's a complicated situation out there!

 

A Short Visit to Hicks Lodge - on 29th October, 2019

My last blog post concerned a visit to Rutland Water on 10th October. Sadly, I'd been a bit too enthusiastic about my recovery from my earlier ills, and had overdone the physical exercise somewhat, resulting in me feeling almost as uncomfortable as I did when I left hospital at the end of July. This, to use a good old English expression, put the wind up me more than just a little, particularly when, on my wife Lindsay's recommendation, I read an article which stated that the condition for which I'd been hospitalised had a 15% mortality rate! I have, therefore, been taking it easy.

However, on 29th October I felt sufficiently recovered to have my first trip out for nearly three weeks. My chosen venue was Hicks Lodge, which is only a couple of miles (approximately 3 km) from my home.

I parked in the Oakthorpe Colliery car park, where there are bird feeders. However, these were empty when I arrived so I put out some bird seed and some peanuts, and sat and waited for quarter of an hour. The only thing to arrive was a Grey Squirrel, so I set off on foot to Hicks Lodge. 

About ten minutes into my walk I glimpsed a distant, but colourful, pair of birds flying in front of the new woodland area. I tried for a few shots, but failed. Fortunately, however, they turned and flew over the path, very much closer to me. I don't recall seeing Egyptian Geese before at Hicks Lodge.

I have always considered Egyptian Geese to be ugly, and a nuisance as they usually start breeding early in the year, often taking over the nests of other birds that have not yet returned to breed. This has been a problem at Rutland Water, where they occupy the Osprey nests.  On this occasion, however, I was struck by how splendid they looked in flight.

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) - Hicks Lodge

Further along the path, to the west I could see the usual flock of white domestic geese on the lake. A bit further on, in a meadow, there was a mixed flock of Canada Geese and Greylag Geese. I was pleased to see that the Bar-headed Goose was still with them. I guess this bird has to have been an escapee at some time, but I think it has been on this site for over a year now.

Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) with Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) - Hicks Lodge

By the main lake, I saw what I at first thought was a day-flying moth with pale wings. It seemed to settle on a nearby branch. It took a while to find it, and I found myself looking at a large caddis fly.  

caddis fly (Anabolia nervosa) - Hicks Lodge

Sadly, there was little of great interest to see by the main lake. There were a few Lapwing and Snipe around on the island, but most were sheltering from the cold wind in the vegetation on the far (leeward) side of the of the island that is nearest the hide, and I could only get very distant views.

Common Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) (x5!) + Northern Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus) - Hicks Lodge

After about an hour and a half it was necessary for me to set back towards my car as the gates of the car park close at 16h00. 

A very distant Kestrel landed on top of a hedge-line

Common Kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) (female) - Hicks Lodge

Further along the path, a Wren announced its presence by an unmissable chattering. It took a bit of spotting, however!

Wren (Troglodytes troglodytes) - Hicks Lodge

With little seen, I was back at my car somewhat earlier than anticipated so I topped up the bird seed and peanuts, and sat in my car and waited once more. This time, there was a little more action and, as well as the grey squirrel, there were several Great Tits, a Robin, a Nuthatch, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker which stayed in the distance and didn't pluck up the courage to approach the feeders due to the endless supply of dog-walkers using the car park. The only thing I photographed was a Nuthatch, and that not too successfully!

Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) - Oakthorpe Colliery

Bird and photography-wise it had been an unproductive afternoon, but at least it had got me out of the house and back into nature. 

This post was written over a week ago, primarily, to fill a long gap and give me something to publish having returned from a break in Dorset. I'll now be processing the photos from that break.

Thank you for dropping by

Back to Birding - at Rutland Water on 10th October, 2019

With a rather poor run of health this summer, what 'wild time' I have managed has been mainly focused on dragonflies and butterflies. With the season drawing to a close, it was always on  the cards that my birding interest would be revitalised, and so it was that, on this day, I headed to Rutland Water for a spot of birding.

For technical reasons (mainly concerning a Nuthatch in the garden!), I didn't get away from home until just after 10 a.m., so arrived at the car park on the Egleton side at just before mid-day. Having wolfed down my picnic, I headed into the visitor centre to check for any news.

A Spoonbill was visible from the visitor centre, but it was rather distant, and asleep with its head tucked in, so I didn't wait around, particularly as a message had come in via the WhatsApp group to say that a possible Ring-necked Duck had been seen on Lagoon 3, so I set off in that direction. 

The possible Ring-necked Duck became a confirmed Lesser Scaup as I made my way to Lagoon 3. However, I did get briefly distracted by some dragonflies, one of which is perplexing me to this day as I only had a very brief glimpse and it looked like a small hawker but seemed to have a bright completely powder-blue abdomen! I've since come to the conclusion that, unless this was an extremely unusual aberrant, I was seeing things! Here's one dragonfly I did see. 

Common Darter (Sympetrum striolatum) (male)

Near to that particular darter was a caterpillar which I believe to be that of one of the Tiger moth species. Any help with ID would be appreciated.

possible Tiger sp. (larva)

I made my first stop at Shoveler hide, expecting to find it full as the car park had been full, with the overflow car park in operation. However, there was only one person in there when I arrived, and he was totally unaware of the potential excitement. 

There was little of interest at close quarters, with any ducks being at too great a distance to sort a lone Lesser Scaup from the rest of a raft of Tufted Ducks! I took a shot of a Great White Egret over on the far side of the lagoon, which Google Earth tells me was nearly 400 metres away, and an Egyptian Goose, which was somewhat nearer.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - from Shoveler Hide

Egyptian Goose (Alopochen aegyptiaca) - from Shoveler Hide

We were soon joined by a third person. With little happening, and my two companions chatting away, totally unaware of what might be going on outside the hide, I decided to depart and head round the corner to Buzzard Hide to look at Lagoon 3 from a different angle. Here I found a gentleman with a scope, already well settled in, and who had not yet found the Lesser Scaup. I stayed for a while during which time the gentleman located the bird for a second or two before losing it again. It subsequently transpired that it had departed to the North Arm of Rutland Water.

I had a quick look in at Smew hide, and found myself looking straight into the sun, with not much close in except a female Shoveler, and the photos were grim!

I next moved on the short distance to Crake Hide, which gives onto a corner of South Arm III, and here I stayed for the next two hours as the action was virtually non-stop!

Shortly after my arrival at Crake Hide, a Great White Egret flew in and landed by the far bank. It only stopped briefly, and by the time I'd checked my camera settings (they weren't good!) and looked up again it had departed.

Great White Egret (Ardea alba) - from Crake Hide

A Grey Heron also made a brief appearance.

Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea) - from Crake Hide

There were a few Great Crested Grebe, in varying states of plumage, out on the water in front of the hide, and to the right of the hide.

Great Crested Grebe (Podiceps cristatus) - from Crake Hide

Black-headed Gulls were making a nuisance of themselves, trying to steal fish from the Cormorants.

Black-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) - from Crake Hide

An immature male Teal had me scratching my head ID-wise for a while.

Teal (Anas crecca) (immature male) - from Crake hide

Twice, a Marsh Harrier passed by - possibly the same individual.

Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) (female) - from Crake Hide (1st pass)

Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus) (female) - from Crake Hide (2nd pass)

The real stars of the show were, however, the Little Grebes, Cormorants, and Little Egrets.

At first, two Little Grebes were fishing in a shaded area to the right of the hide, mainly obscured by vegetation. I did manage to get one shot of one of them in the open with a good-sized fish - I'm rather pleased by the effect of the light on the water in this shot.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - from Crake Hide

On my previous visit to Crake Hide, the water level in South Arm III was extremely low and there was just a trickle of water running through the mud in front of the hide. Now, the water level was much higher and came right up to the hide. It seems that the reeds in front of the hide had grown, but had recently been cut, leaving an area of reedy water in front of the hide, surrounded by high reeds. After a while, the Little Grebes moved into the area in front of the hide.

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - in front of Crake Hide

At one point, one of the grebes managed to come up from a dive with a dead and decaying fish. I think the second image, below, shows its look of disgust after dropping the corpse back into the water!

Little Grebe (Tachybaptus ruficollis) - in front of Crake Hide

The Cormorants were very active and mainly fishing in the water beyond the reeds in front of the hide, and they were very vocal, with noisy squabbles over fish catches.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - from Crake Hide

Occasionally a Cormorant would swim underwater through the reeds (detectable by bubbles) and end up right in front of the hide. They seemed to be very successful in fishing in this area but I failed to get a shot of one with a fish.

Cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo) - in front of Crake Hide

For me, it was the Little Egrets that really stole the show, however. When I first arrived, they were starting to gather on the far shore.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - from Crake Hide

After a while, they started to disperse to other roost points. The first was to the right of the hide, and totally hidden behind a Willow.

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - from Crake Hide

The second roost was to the left of the hide, and out of sight behind tall reeds. They then started to come in to a third roost - immediately in front of the hide! As they arrived, and dropped down, probably only 3 or 4 metres in front of the hide, they spotted me sitting in the hide and departed again. I then employed the tactic of sitting well back and peering round the edge of the closed shutter to the left of my open one. 

Little Egret (Egretta garzetta) - from Crake Hide

All was going rather well, until the lady who was one of the two I'd left behind at Shoveler Hide arrived and started opening the rest of the shutters in the hide. I explained the situation to her and how, with care, she'd see some great bird action. Sadly, she paid little heed and opened the shutter that I'd been hiding behind and came to sit beside me. It didn't help that she kept leaning out of the hide window and peering around, and also felt the need to chatter. It was soon time for me to depart!

Although nothing of great rarity was seen, it had been a very rewarding, and entertaining afternoon at Rutland Water, with even more bird action than I usually see there.


I'm sorry to say that my health had been improving to such a great extent that I got a little careless, and did something really stupid which seems to have set me back more than a little, so I have not managed to get out again since that day. Therefore, I'm not sure when my next blog post will be or what it will feature - watch this space.

My apologies (particularly to Diane with her slow internet connection!) for the length of this post. Thank you for dropping by.