A Visit to Alvecote Wood - on 30th April, 2017

Alvecote Wood is a great place for, amongst other things, dragonflies and damselflies. It is only about 12 miles (20 km) from my home, but is privately owned, and has limited access. It is only open to the public on the last Sunday of each month (between 10h00 and 16h00) and every Wednesday evening (between 18h00 and 20h00).

As I had not yet managed to see a dragonfly or damselfly this year (first emergences in these parts tend to be way behind those in the south and south-west of England), I felt that a visit to Alvecote Wood on this day might give me my first sightings of the year. Although it was rather windy, the sun was shining brightly and it was quite warm if one avoided being in the wind.

I set off from home a little later than intended, so took fast route that I am not used to rather than the scenic route. The only problem was that, at the point where I intended to rejoin my customary route, I took a wrong turn and ended up on a Motorway with no exit for nearly 8 miles (12 km). In the event, this turned out to be an even quicker route, and I arrived ten minutes before opening time. Luckily the owners, Sarah and Stephen, were there and I was allowed in.

Having had a quick chat, I set off and immediately came across a Muntjac on the path.

Reeves' Muntjac Deer (Muntiacus reevesi) (male) - Alvecote Wood

Muntjac are not popular with the owners of Alvecote wood as they are not a native species, having been released from captive 'collections'. They are, however, present in considerable numbers, and they do damage to plant life, particularly plants of the primrose family - a delightful feature of Alvecote wood.

My stroll through the wood to get to the ponds was a pleasant one and the omens felt good.

path through Alvecote Wood

Having left the wood, there were a few butterflies about, but the wind was blowing strongly. The first two ponds yielded nothing, but the wind would have made things hopeless for photography anyway.

Fortunately the two lower ponds were in a sheltered position and I found my first damselfly of the year almost immediately - the hoped-for Large Red Damselfly. This is a very common species in these parts, and are reliably the first Odonata species to appear. I believe, however, that it's still relatively unusual for them to appear in April.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

 I soon found a second, more obliging, specimen.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

The shine on the wings, and the orange eyes, indicate that these males were relatively fresh. Those eyes will turn red with age.

More searching had me finding a female that had just emerged and was clinging to a reed just above the exuvia - the casing of the nymph that she had emerged from. I'd would dearly have loved to capture the actual emergence, but had to content myself with watching the newly emerged damselfly develop into a a fledged adult. Sadly this specimen was very low down, and to photograph it I had to kneel down on the soggy edge to the pond and bend over with my head nearly touching the water. As the process took over two hours, I found it necessary to abandon the position for a while every so often in order to straighten out the kinks in my arms, knees, back and neck - nearly falling over from dizziness as I did so. Please excuse, on these grounds, the somewhat dodgy photography.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

You can see in the above image that the abdomen is virtually colourless and not fully extended but the wings are forming nicely and extending just beyond the tip of the abdomen. In the next image, the abdomen has extended further, and the wings are longer, although still cloudy.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

In the next image, she has started to climb, the abdomen has lengthened further, and the wings are starting to become clearer. The pterostigma (spots towards the ends of the wings) are now showing.

She's now climbed a little further in the next image, and the abdomen and wings are at their full length. There's still a way to go, however!

In the next image, the wings are almost totally clear, and she's now taking on colour as she dries out.

All this time she'd been alert, and here eyesight was working - although how fully, I don't know. What I do know is that, from the start, if I approached her she dipped round to the rear of the reed. I did manage to get a shot of her from above, however.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

She now steadily made her way up the reed to the tip.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (teneral female) - Alvecote Wood

Shortly after this she flew - she'll have gone somewhere safe, away from the pond, until she is fully settled and ready for her new life.

After she'd gone, I carefully collected the exuvia, and it is now with the small collection I have as souvenirs of such moments, stored in clear pots on my bookshelf.

As already stated, I'd had to have some breaks from this activity, and I used this time to search for other subjects. The Dandelions were attracting plenty of insects.

Green-veined White (Pieris napi) (male) - Alvecote Wood

Dark-edged Bee-fly (Bombylius major) - Alvecote Wood

It was, of course, the damselflies that got most of my attention at these times, however.

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (female) - Alvecote Wood

Large Red Damselfly (Pyrrhosoma nymphula) (male) - Alvecote Wood

I'd been too busy to fully notice that I'd overdone the sessions with my body in strange positions, but a short period of relaxation on a nearby bench brought it home to me rather strongly. I struggled on the way back to the car, but did manage to take a few more photos as I went.

Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) - Alvecote Woods

These are, of course, genuine British Bluebells. The Spanish Bluebells, found in so many British Gardens, are rather different. I've just read that the British Isles is home to around half the world's bluebells!

The next image is of a classic scene that changes dramatically throughout the year, and is always a pleasure to view.

from Alvecote Wood

Thus ended a highly enjoyable day - I'm still recovering!

My thanks to Stephen and Sarah for allowing access to this wonderful place.

I suspect that my next post might be on butterflies!

Thank you for dropping by.

Defeated!! - early February, 2014

On 31st January I set off for an eight-day visit to Charmouth, in Dorset. The objective was a mix of birdwatching and fossil hunting. There was some trepidation when I departed as the weather forecast was not good, with a lot of rain and high winds expected. Because of the preceding weather and high tides, the prospects for fossil hunting, however, were above average, due to the scouring action of the sea.

I'd booked myself into self-catering accommodation in Charmouth (Mrs P wasn't with me as she stayed at home to care for our ageing cat), but with no intention of doing any cooking as the George was only a few metres up the street from where I was staying. It rained virtually solidly all the way to Dorset.

On arrival, I went to explore my surroundings. My first discovery was a sign outside the George to say that their kitchens were closed for two weeks for refurbishment. At least there was a recommended fish and chip cafe a couple of hundred metres further up the road - only open Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays for the winter season (even for takeaway!)!

As it was a Friday, I at least had the opportunity to try the fish and chips, although the place seemed quite expensive. This decision turned out to be a mistake. The first five attempts to order something from the menu resulted in the response "sorry, we haven't got any". I ended up with calamari, which was overcooked and served luke-warm, and a bill for just under £10 - and all I had to drink was a can of pop!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up cooking each evening, and taking a picnic lunch each day.

Because of the way the tides fell, I'd planned to mainly fossil hunt in the first half of my stay, and go bird-watching in the second half. I hadn't counted on the combined effect of the winds and high tides reducing access to the beach quite as much as it did do. The odd freak wave meant that I got the lower half of me soaked on many an occasion. I'm very much a novice fossil hunter, but Charmouth attracts the hardened and professional collectors and as well as getting extremely wet by wanting to access the beach before anyone else could, these were also taking risks to life and limb on cliffs that must have been rendered unstable by the recent weather. They were also getting plastered in mud, I kept at a safe distance! This meant that they got the good stuff, and I picked up the dross.

Come the Tuesday, it was time to switch to birdwatching, but it was a windy day with rain forecast, so I didn't bother. Wednesday 5th February was the day that the South-West took a really bad battering from the wind and sea, and I witnessed things that I wasn't expecting in that neck of the woods. The realities of the force of nature and the stupidity of man were brought home to me big-time!

The weather forecast on Thursday morning was for high winds and torrential rain all day, so I decided that enough was enough, and set off home at around 11:00, a day early.

So that is why I went quiet at the beginning of the month, and since then I've been spending quite a lot of time, between catching up with the chores, preparing fossils. A lot of the Charmouth fossils are pyritised and, unless they are specially treated, liable to decay to nothing over time.

pyritised ammonite - Promicroceras planicosta?

My apologies if I have neglected your blog over the past couple of weeks or so, but the above is the reason why. I'm now hoping to catch up!

I can't do a post without some reference to owls/birds/nature, so here are some 'Owling Incidentals'

Owling Incidentals

Whilst out owling after gale conditions, I went to check that a particular barn was still standing. It was, and a Kestrel was perched on a beam, as shown in the next image. The image, itself, is not remarkable, but I also have photos of Barn Owl and Tawny Owl perched within six inches (15cm) of the Kestrel's position which, to me, is remarkable!

Common Kestrel (male)

Another unremarkable image for its quality, but one that had me worried for a while. Earlier this year, whilst owling on my 'local patch', I found this Peregrine with its prey in the middle of a field. The worry was that one of my Little Owl sites was in the field immediately to the north of this field, and another in the field immediately to the south-east. I'm pleased to say that both sites are still intact, and the Peregrine has not been seen since.

Peregrine Falcon - my 'local patch'

The following day, whilst returning back to base with my pal Titus after an afternoon's owling, there was a superb rainbow as the sun was setting. I believe that the low height of the sun is the reason for the rainbow meeting the ground nearly perpendicularly. It certainly gave a golden glow to the surrounding scene.

Rainbow - near Hungarton

In mid-January, as I started a morning's owling, I found this. Answer as to what it is at the end of this post!

mystery photo

In late January, whilst out with Titus again, we came across this Kestrel. It stayed for a while but, unfortunately, kept its head towards us for the whole time.

Common Kestrel (male)

Lately, the weather has been evil over much of UK, and whilst we have escaped most of the flooding (plenty of water on the roads, but nothing impassable with a bit of care), it has affected the owling opportunities. However, it seems that the owls are getting used to it and the past couple of times I've been out when it's been rather windy I've had a nine-owl day and a seven-owl day. I've also managed one or two images, so these will probably feature in my next post.

The mystery image - the ice on the outside of my car windscreen taken from inside the car before I de-iced it and set off owling on an eight-owl day.

More from Calke Park - early December, 2012

Readers of my blog will know that I've recently 'discovered' Calke Park, and have become rather enamoured with this place - with good reason! It's given me some great photo opportunities already. I recently posted a set of images of Great Spotted Woodpecker, taken here. I've now got  myself sorted out for Christmas and have found time to work my way through some of my other recent images from this place.

I've always had a thing about Nuthatches, and these perform quite well at Calke.

Nuthatch - Calke Park

The commonplace birds here are still delightful to watch. Blue tits are, in my opinion, greatly underrated, and not difficult to photograph.

Blue Tit - Calke Park

Also very common but delightful are the Goldfinches, although I find them to be a little more difficult to photograph because of the shiny red areas on the head.

Goldfinch - Calke Park

Much more mundane and (for me, anyway) hard to get excited about are Blackbirds.

Blackbird (female) - Calke Park

What I do get excited about here, are the Marsh Tits. Although they are not the most spectacular of birds, they are not the most common of birds either, but they do show up here on a regular basis. Unfortunately, I've yet to get a good image here. This is the best I've managed so far, but I've had to do a lot of sharpening on it, and I need to do a whole lot better!

Marsh Tit - Calke Park

And, of course, what I really get excited about here are the Little Owls. I've still not had one come close enough for a good image but, during my last visit, one of the owls was quite active.

Little Owl - my Site No.31

I'm also quite taken by the deer in the park. On my last visit I just photographed the Red Deer (although the Fallow Deer  were around). The females and juveniles are quite charming.

Red Deer (female) - Calke Park

Red Deer (juvenile) - Calke Park

However, the Red Deer stags are magnificent animals!

Red Deer (male) - Calke Park

It's usually getting dark by the time I leave the park.

sunset - Calke Park

My next posts will probably be a mop-up on the owl scene and perhaps one on Waxwings. Thank you for dropping by.

Scotland in October, Part.1 - 1st to 4th October, 2011

My wife and I are really hooked on the Grant Arms in Grantown-on-Spey - it's our favourite hotel by far! We were there in July last year, and then again in January this year. We just couldn't resist the temptation to visit again in early autumn.

We're getting a bit long in the tooth for driving to this part of Scotland in one day, so took an overnight break on the way at Glenrothes, staying at the Premier Inn there (a budget hotel which is perfectly adequate for an overnight stop). It was bright sunshine all the way to Glenrothes, with the outside temperature a totally unseasonal 26 C (79 F) all the way!

Saturday 1st October

We woke to find that the weather had changed from hot and sunny to dull, wet, and cooler. The temperature was 16 C (61 F) and dropping.  We set the controls for the heart of the sun (in reality, the SatNav for the shortest (rather than quickest) route to Grantown-on-Spey, we tend to see more countryside that way, rather than motorways and dual-carriageways) and were on our way after a light breakfast.

Within a few miles, near Falkland, we came across a 'black' Pheasant at the side of the road, which slipped into a field as we approached. We stopped, and found that there were quite a few Pheasant in the field, and approximately half of them were black. I've only seen black Pheasant a couple of time before - both times in the north of England. The light was very poor but I did manage a couple of distant images which show that these birds are mainly a very dark greeny-blue, rather than black. I suspect that these are an oddball strain of  Pheasant from a breeding programme for 'game birds'.

Pheasant - Nr. Falkland

As we continued our journey, the rain just got more heavy. A comfort stop at the Glenshee Ski Centre (cafe closed, but much-needed loos open) got us drenched in the 10 metres between car and entrance to loos. We guessed that Glenshee would have been beautiful if we could have seen it through the rain!

Further along, about 3 miles (5 km) from Braemar, Gismo (our SatNav!) took us off on a single track road which ran on the west bank of Clunie Water - the river that approaches Braemar from the south. There was Grey Heron and a Goosander in the river.

Goosander - Clunie Water, Nr. Braemar

We stopped for lunch in Braemar, and had a look round the town, before returning to the car to dry out and continue our journey. The rain continued all the way to Grantown, and we could see that the scenery would have been wonderful if visibility had been better.

Having checked in at the Grant Arms there was time for a quick wander around the town before attending the Bird Watching and Wildlife Club (BWWC) briefing in the club's lecture theatre in the hotel at 6 p.m. The BWWC is a facility at the Grant Arms. As well as the lecture theatre, it has an extensive library, and an information room. At the daily briefings, guests and club officers exchange information on what has been seen where, and where the best places to visit are. There are also organised events each day that guests can attend, free of charge.

After the briefing we headed into the dining room for an excellent three-course dinner - another feature of the Grant Arms is the superb food! Having taken coffee and a tipple in the bar, we decided on an early night.

Sunday 2nd October

The weather forecast for the day was not good, and was expected to get far worse as the week progressed. We decided that we'd start by visiting our favourite local beauty spot - Lochindorb, just to the north of Grantown. The weather was not too bad as we approached Lochindorb, but still very dull and grey. Little was seen as we rook the single track road between the A939 and the loch, but as we reached the loch, an eagle flew up from the loch, probably about half a mile (0.7 km) away. By it's huge size, strong head, and really heavy bill, I thought that it might have been a White-tailed Sea Eagle. It was far too far away for even a record shot with the camera. I later found out from a local expert that, although juvenile WTSEs have occasionally been reported from this location, it was almost certainly a Golden Eagle, as one had been seen several times recently around Lochindorb. This was to be the only eagle that we saw during this visit to Scotland.

Only a few yards further up the road a Red Grouse flew across in front of the car and landed at the road side next to us, where the water is only a yard (metre) or two from the road - hence the lack of backdrop to the following image.

Red Grouse - Lochindorb

Shortly after this, the heavens opened. Two Tufted Duck were doing their best to kid us that they were Scaup. Further on, at the south end of the loch, we found more Red Grouse, and managed a few more images, in spite of the weather. The colours of the wet vegetation added something to the images.

Red Grouse - Lochindorb

From Lochindorb we set off for Loch an Eilean. This place has the reputation for being one of the most beautiful in this part of Scotland, and we had not been there on previous visits. We had our picnic in the car park (nothing interesting on the feeders - they get Crested Tit here in the winter), and then set off round the loch in an anti-clockwise direction, thankful that it had stopped raining.

Loch an Eilean - north end

It was certainly a beautiful place, but there seemed to be a distinct lack of small birds. On the castle ruins in the lake there were Jackdaws, but after two hours of walking we'd only seen birds in two places, and they were Coal and Blue Tits, and Chaffinches.

Loch an Eilean Castle

We were more than two and a half hours into our walk (and only half an hour from getting back to our car) when we happened on another small flock of birds and, as well as the usual suspects already seen, there were two Crested Tits amongst them. For about ten minutes I tried to get an image, but they were constantly moving high up in the foliage and I just couldn't get a bead on them - and then they were gone!

The walk had nearly finished off my wife, who suffers badly from asthma since she had a bad chest infection earlier in the year, so no further walking was on the cards for the rest of the day (or the following day, for that matter!).

We decided to return by the scenic route, calling back at Lochindorb to see if we could find any Short-eared Owls as dusk approached. We had no luck, but did disturb a Goosander that had decided to roost on the narrow strip between the road and the water.

Goosander - Lochindorb

That night, after dinner, I had arranged to take a small group to Anagach Woods, behind the hotel, to see if we could find one of the Tawny Owls that reside there. Unfortunately the wind had got up strongly during the late afternoon, so I was not surprised when we had no luck.

Monday 3rd October

We purposely avoided any significant amount of walking this day. After breakfast we set off for the Findhorn Valley. This place is known locally as 'The Valley of the Raptors', and we have seen Golden Eagle here previously. We looked for Dipper in the river, but none were seen. A couple of Buzzards were seen as we headed up the valley, and when we arrived at the top car park, we soon had two sightings of Peregrine. It was extremely windy up here, and not pleasant to be out of the car for too long. We were told that there were two Red Deer stags further up the track from the top car park, and these, each with their group of 'ladies' were bellowing at each other from either side of the valley. However, in deference to my wife's wishes, we did not venture up there! Instead, we headed back down the valley and then turned off on the very scenic road to Farr. We managed to find a nice spot for our picnic, but didn't see anything interesting in the way of wildlife - it was still extremely windy here.

Turning left at the end of the road we headed for the RSPB's reserve at Loch Ruthven in the vain hope that there might still be a Slavonian Grebe or two here. Just before the road to the reserve, we spotted two Red Kite flying low over the adjacent field. I tried (unsuccessfully) to get some images.

It started raining hard soon after we arrived at Loch Ruthven, and as we could only find a few Mallard from the hide, we did not stop long. Having never seen Loch Ness, we made a diversion to travel along its south-east shore - I was only impressed by its size - and then headed back towards Grantown, taking a route past our beloved Lochindorb. It was nearly an imageless day but, as we reached the end of the Lochindorb road a low-flying Kestrel caught our eye and settled on a rock beside the main road (A939), trying to keep out of the wind. I managed a few images, but it was difficult as I was shooting through a wire-mesh fence, and parked at the side of a road with heavy traffic!

Common Kestrel - Dava

Tuesday 4th October 

My wife was keen to see Dolphins, and Chanonry Point on the Black Isle, north of Inverness, is famed for giving good views. We were advised that the best time to see them is just after low tide. Having checked the tide table, we set off after breakfast for a leisurely run northwards. A stop for coffee had us arriving just before mid-day and low tide. Getting out of the car at the car park, we immediately saw Dolphins over the other side of the channel by Ardersier. The distance was so great, however, that I only managed some record shots, one of which is below.

Bottlenose Dolphin - Ardersier, from Chanonry Point

The Dolphins soon disappeared out to sea, and for the next twenty minutes we amused ourselves by watching some of the other wildlife, which included Grey Seal and Guillemot messing about just off the point.

Guillemot (winter plumage) - Chanonry Point

Grey Seal - Chanonry Point

Herring Gull (1st winter?) - Chanonry Point

Suddenly I spotted two or more Dolphins in the bay off Rosemarkie, outside the confines of the point. However, although these put on a show briefly, they remained very distant.

Bottlenose Dolphins - off Rosemarkie, from Chanonry Point

My wife was determined to stick it out, in the hope of better views of Dolphins, and for the next three hours and twenty minutes, we endured the strong winds and occasional rain - and did I say that the temperature had dropped to 8 C (46 F) when it had been 26 C (79 F) only four days earlier! We were frozen, but kept ourselves amused once more with the wildlife as follows:

Turnstone - Chanonry Point

Oystercatcher - Chanonry Point

Herring Gull (winter plumage) - Chanonry Point

Herring Gull (1st winter?) - Chanonry Point

There were other diversions too, including a couple of fishing boats that decided to leave harbour and brave the open seas, a magnificent rainbow, and views of the Kessock bridge which connects Inverness to the Black Isle, inland from the point.

Fishing Boats - about to pass Chanonry Point

Rainbow - from Chanonry Point

Kessock Bridge - from Chanonry Point

By this time we had got so cold, and were aching from so much standing around, that we decided to leave. We had literally taken the first steps of departure when we spotted Dolphins approaching from the seaward side. I grabbed a few distant shots, and it was only when I looked at the images later that I saw that I had one with a 'baby' in it, swimming beside an adult!

Bottlenose Dolphin (with youngster) - Chanonry Point

Suddenly we had a pair of dolphins in close - so close that I had difficulty tracking them with the camera! This close encounter was all too brief as they reached deep water after the shallows of the point. Regrettably, I only managed images of backs and tails - none of their heads - during these moments. You can see enough detail in the fins in the images below to see that these are two different Dolphins.

Bottlenose Dolphin - Chanonry Point

They were gone as quickly as they arrived, but a few minutes later we saw Dolphins over by Ardersier again. This time there was one that, very briefly, was fully breaching (coming out of the water) ahead of us. The only shot I managed of this spectacular behaviour was a very distant, head-on, record shot.

Bottlenose Dolphin - Ardersier, from Chanonry Point

It seemed like no time at all before they were gone again. Was it worth the wait? - you bet! Would I do it again? - I can't wait to get back here again!

As we returned to the car I noticed a small brown bird near the pier by the car park. It turned out to be a Rock Pipit.

Rock Pipit - Chanonry Point

After this we headed to the RSPB reserve at Udale Bay. The weather had got brighter but, unfortunately, the tide was fully in and so all that was visible was a strip of grass which was overcrowded with gulls and ducks of various species, none of which I found photographically inspiring.  The bay was dominated by a huge oil platform which, judging by the boats around it, was being worked on.

Oil Platform - Udale Bay

Our final call of the day was at Cromarty, at the north-east end of the Black Isle, for a much needed cup of tea. Whilst my wife was finishing off the pot (she's a tea addict!), I went for a walk by the water, unusually for me, omitting to take the camera. Just my luck to find a sheltering Wheatear and a couple of Twite! I hurried back to get the camera but, by the time I returned, they'd gone.

This ends this post on the first part of our Scottish holiday. The second part will follow in a few days, when I've processed more images, including some of the Dowitcher!