Wood Sandpiper and Lesser Emperor

It's been good to spend a bit more time out today, and I'll start with the birds.  A mid morning visit to Black Hole Marsh was timed exceedingly well, as Ian Mc had just found a Wood Sand...

Wood Sand and two Dunlin

Not just any old Wood Sand - a breeding plumaged adult!

Remained distant so was a good test for the P900

I've had a look back through my blog and notes, and am pretty sure this is my first every June Wood Sand on the Axe.  We don't usually see the first returning autumn ones until mid July at the earliest, and all spring birds have been in April and May.  Not only is it the earliest, but it's the least worn adult I've seen too - still in pretty much full breeding plumage. So so different to the pale brown juvs we see in August, nice.

Also on Black Hole Marsh were numerous Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank (one juvenile), two Dunlin, three Teal and a Green Sandpiper. A little later Sue Smith also had a Little Ringed Plover and a Greenshank - autumn seems to be starting early this year.  Although saying that, many of the Black-tailed Godwits and Redshank never actually left us!

A Black-tailed Godwit looking like this can surely only be an adult, so why not even bother going north?

A little later an enjoyable tram ride showed additions in the form of a Greylag Goose on the Estuary and a Lesser Whitethroat singing at the north end of Colyford Common.

I also found time for some dragonflying this afternoon, which was nice because during the last month weather and work has not allowed for much of this.  I spent an hour and a half at Lower Bruckland Ponds dreaming of finding a Vagrant Emperor (been an influx of these to the east coast), so when I spotted a mostly brown Emperor with blue restricted to segment two I thought I'd only gone and done it....but not quite!  I soon realised it was a male Lesser Emperor, still a cracking insect and a really exciting find, but I can't help by feeling just a little short-changed!

Male Lesser Emperor Lower Bruckland Ponds

This is the fourth male Lesser Emperor I've found here (16th July 2006, 10th Aug 2012 and 19th June 2017) but easily the most enjoyable, because it was actually showing well. Hence why for the first time I actually managed to get photographs!  The other three were all brief flybys with Emperors in hot pursuit, but this one seemed to have found its own territory and spent the half-hour I was there patrolling - I even watched it fly up and pluck a Common Blue out of the air before feasting on it.  Amazing!  

Male Lesser Emperor again - showing blue on side of seg 2 (unlike Vagrant Emperor)

Out of focus but still so recognisable!

Other Odonta on show included my first couple of Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, at least 16 Scarce Chaser (one female), eight Four-spotted Chasers and excellent numbers of the other usual species.  This is such a great dragonfly site.

Now I know I have posted plenty of Scarce Chaser photos on this blog before, but as they are one of my favourites I just can't help but post a few more...

Scarce Chaser male

Scarce Chaser male from underneath

Scarce Chaser mating pair

What a top late summer day! 

The Beast From The East

We may not have had any significant snow fall here in East Devon yet (that is about to change!) but like elsewhere we have had freezing temperatures and that bitter east wind. It's been seriously cold...

Black Hole Marsh pre-dawn on Tuesday

A 100% frozen Black Hole Marsh on Tuesday

Even the Estuary has had icy edges this week

More Estuary ice

Lower Bruckland Ponds today

Bird-wise we have seen the expected increase in wildfowl and wader numbers, which I will summarise below, but my highlight of the week so far is a passerine. I haven't seen Bearded Tit on patch since Oct '13, so a series of 'pings' emanating from the vast Axe Reedbed this morning, followed by brief flight views of one bird, was a real treat. Only the third time I've ever seen this species here, they are less than annual and often not twitchable.

I haven't seen as many different ducks as I was hoping, for example no diving ducks. But following on from Mike's flock of 20 Pintail (mostly males) that flew in off the sea late on Monday, on Tuesday morning at least three were still on the river. Pity the whole flock didn't stay though - would have been a great sight!

Today the two Ringed Plover and Greenshank were still present, joined by ten Dunlin and later in the day, an impressive flock of 184 Golden Plover feeding with Lapwing opposite Stedcombe Vale.  Jack Snipe and Grey Plover have also been seen on the Axe today, and am sure there's more out there to find. The Marsh Harrier is also still around.

Golden Plover and Lapwing

Ditto

Back to passerines and although there have been more Redwing, Fieldfare and Meadow Pipits about, I've not noticed any major movements yet like the 2010 cold snap.

I'll finish this post with a snap I took this morning of a Fox at Lower Bruckland Ponds. It had curled itself up on the sheltered side of a small mound, with the sun shining upon it. He/she looked absolutely gorgeous and in really good condition...

Fox

Small Copper and Lesser Emperor Update

I think Small Copper is one of my favourite common butterflies. I prefer the upperwing but today you'll have to make do with an underwing shot...

Whilst on the insect theme, I found out today that my male Lesser Emperor of last month at Lower Bruckland Ponds wasn't the one day wonder that I thought it was.  I saw it on Monday 19th June and on Sunday 2nd July Roger Harris (@chardbirder) saw it on three occasions.  Sadly neither of us managed to photograph it though.  He's got a great blog by the way, well worth a look especially if you like spiders and other insects; http://threecountieswildlife.blogspot.co.uk/.

It won't take me long to update on my bird sightings because I've not seen that much lately, well not much new anyway. A Whimbrel was with the Curlew flock yesterday morning on the Estuary, as was the usual dull first-summer Med Gull.  Black Hole Marsh will likely go a bit quiet for a few days now as the water levels have risen...

Rain in the forecast... White-winged Black Tern anyone?

Lesser Emperor

Wow what a stunning few days we've had. Not so great for a three and a half week old baby, but great for dragonflies which is why I had a wander around Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon.

This proved a great move with a stunning surprise in the form of a male Lesser Emperor at 3pm over the top pond.  This is the third Lesser Emp I've found here (previous being 16th July 2006 and 10th August 2012) and turns out this afternoon several have appeared in the UK.  Sadly no pics as it didn't settle, and I last saw it being chased by an Emperor towards the next pond down. Fingers crossed it hangs around, all my previous have been multi-observed and I'd like to keep that record up!

Other notable Odonata on show this afternoon included my first Small Red-eyed Damselflies of the year, with at least five males on the smallest two ponds, am pretty sure these are fairly early too. Also still at least nine Scarce Chaser on the wing, seven lone males and an ovipositing pair. The more usual fare included 15+ Emperor, 20+ Black-tailed Skimmer, five Four-spotted Chaser, three Beautiful Demoiselle, two Banded Demoiselle, one Broad-bodied Chaser and the usual damselfly species.  And now for some pretty pictures...

Here's two different Small Red-eyed Damselflies...

Three different male Scarce Chasers...

A Four-spotted Chaser...

A Beautiful Demoiselle...

And VERY unusually for this blog - a flower! A rather long-stemmed Common Spotted (I think!?) Orchid...

And I just had to photograph this Coot chick on its completely exposed nest. Most Coot nests here are nicely tucked away...

I have also got a bit of birding news to catch up with.  I've already enjoyed three early morning wanders around the Axe Wetlands with Harry...

Each time I've heard singles of singing male Common and Lesser Whitethroats from the field to the south of the entrance track to Black Hole Marsh.  Interestingly the Axe Estuary Ringing Group recently trapped a breeding female Lesser White on Stafford Marsh as well, which is great news.  There certainly seems to be plenty of young passerines about this year too which is encouraging - it looks to have been a good breeding season for many species.

Sometime last week I has a Hobby from the back garden, not before time as they have been regular around here this summer. Red Kites are also clearly still around in some number, I had one over Colyton on Wednesday of last week and received emails informing me of low flying birds over Musbury (two) and Colyford on different days within the past week.

Apologies for the lack of posts lately guys, a mostly awake sometimes crying baby hasn't helped the cause. Although actually tonight he really did help...

 

Insects

With a lack of bird (and baby) news to blog about, I may as well catch up with some insect sightings from the past few days.

Today's warmth encouraged my first two Scarce Chasers of the year to emerge at Lower Bruckland Ponds this afternoon...

The above two photos are of the same insect. Personally I think Scarce Chaser is one of the few Odonata species that look best when they are immature - they are just so orange!  Didn't see any other larger insects at Lower Brucklands, just heaps of damselflies. 

A few visits to Axe Cliff lately have shown a couple of Silver Y and Painted Ladies, one Clouded Yellow and several Wall Browns...

Hopefully I will see a few more birds before spring is out. Unless it is already out...

Winter Birding

I've seen a few nice things over the last couple of days, most of them distinctly wintry. I'm also finding myself willing every good bird I see now to stay put until Jan 1st - yes I'm already getting fired up for my Patchwork Challenge 2017 year list and it's only November! 

I'll start with yesterday afternoon, and an enjoyable half an hour along the Estuary up to dusk revealed three redhead Goosander (sat on mud north of Tower Hide), two Med Gulls (adults), 24 Dunlin and a Grey Plover.  It's been such a good autumn for Goosander on the south coast, and many other species of wildfowl (especially sea faring ones), I do wonder if that means we have got a proper cold winter coming?

This morning started on the sea front where I could see my first Great Crested Grebe of the winter off towards Seaton Hole. There were also three Black Redstarts about this morning, the two female-types still at Seaton Hole and an adult male near the Spot On Kiosk (thanks Dad)...

I also popped in to Lower Bruckland Ponds this morning, where the Yellow-browed Warbler was showing well right by the entrance bridge. It spent most the time flitting about in the trees as they do...

But in the frosty conditions it did briefly come right down to ground level...

Also present was a female Tufted Duck, which has been here for a couple of days at least...

Yellow-browed Warbler and Tufted Duck.  What a dream Jan 1st duo that would be...

Willow Warbler

Another day and another new spring migrant for me - a Willow Warbler at Lower Bruckland Ponds this morning. No photos I'm afraid as it was frantically feeding, uttering a few quiet bursts of subsong and the odd call as it went.

I always find the first Willow Warbler of the year a phylloscopus slap in the face. After spending the first three months of the year looking at scruffy Chiffchaffs ranging in colour from grey to dull olive green, when the first Willow Warbler head pops out in front of me it's like a breath of fresh air.  That yellow and white throat and breast, long yellow supercilia and overall fresh and bright plumage makes them as obvious now as they ever are. I really can't wait to start ringing a few up Beer Head again - they are even better in the hand!

Aside from a few more new in Chiffchaffs I've not seen much else today, and no Iceland Gull.

Control Goldcrest

You may remember that within my blog post that featured the ringing of a stunning Green Woodpecker at Lower Bruckland Ponds last month (see here), I mentioned that one of the four Goldcrests I caught that morning was wearing a ring with a number I didn't recognise.  Well late yesterday I'm pleased to say I got all the info back from the BTO. I must say I really applaud the BTO at how much quicker they are at getting data like this back to us ringers these days - bravo ringing HQ!

Goldcrest CPX749 was ringed on 18/10/15 at Seacroft, Skegness, Lincolnshire. No doubt ringed soon after it made first landfall to the UK after completing that treacherous flight across the North Sea. Here are the full details and a map:

As you can see there were 94 days between ringing and recapturing, and a distance of 217 miles (350km) travelled. It wasn't weighed up at Skeggy, so I presume it was caught on a day of pretty intense ringing. A quick check on the Gibraltar Point Bird Obs website (link here), which is a bird observatory a mile or two south of Seacroft, shows that the 18th Oct 2015 was indeed a very busy day. Hope they don't mind me copying and pasting this on to my blog:

"October 18th. A new Pallas's Warbler was found during the morning at the North End along the sycamores along the northern boundary of the reserve. Other birds around, including those trapped, were a Richard's Pipit, a Yellow-browed Warbler, a Great Grey Shrike at the Wash Viewpoint in the afternoon, a Firecrest (East Dunes), a Grey Wagtail, a Redstart, an adult Caspian Gull (on the beach in the morning), a Short-eared Owl, a Marsh Harrier, 2 Merlin, a Kingfisher, a Treecreeper and a late Grasshopper Warbler. On the Mere were a Jack Snipe and a Water Rail, and on Tennyson's Sands another Water Rail. Flying south were 24 Siskin.
At Aylmer Avenue another 600 Redwing moved south and west during the morning along with 30 Fieldfare, 20 Song Thrush, 30 Blackbird, 10 Brambling, 8 Siskin and 6 Lesser Redpoll. There were 300+ Goldcrest around through the morning before they quickly moving on south. Interestingly none of the 194 Goldcrests ringed yesterday at Aylmer was retrapped today, amply demonstrating the rapid turnover of birds through the reserve when we have north-easterlies.

A morning ringing session in East Dunes, with James Siddle, provided 93 new birds: 36 Goldcrest, 3 Wren, 11 Robin, 5 Blackcap, 8 Goldfinch, a Grasshopper Warbler, a Reed Bunting, 4 Lesser Redpoll, 8 Song Thrush, 10 Redwing and 6 Blackbird; and 8 retraps: 2 Robin, 3 Goldcrest, a Blackcap, a Dunnock and a Goldfinch.


A longer ringing session at Aylmer Avenue by Mick Briggs and David Vincent, who were assisted in the morning by Neil Hagley of the Charnwood Ringing Group (Many Thanks, Neil), resulted in 241 new birds and 18 retraps.
The new birds were 138 Goldcrest, 48 Redwing, 19 Robin, 11 Song Thrush, 7 Blackbird, 5 Blackcap, 3 Fieldfare, 3 Greenfinch, 2 Wren, 2 Brambling, a Reed Bunting, a Dunnock and a Chiffchaff. The retraps were 9 Greenfinch, 2 Robin, 2 Dunnock, 2 Blue Tit, a Goldcrest, a Blackbird and a Chaffinch.
  
Ringing during October so far has resulted in 2333 new birds ringed - the best monthly total since October 2012. There have been an amazing 1266 new Goldcrests."

Source: http://gibraltarpointbirdobservatory.blogspot.co.uk/

So although not a surprising movement for a migrant Goldcrest, for me it's so special, as it is for the Ponds. And with so many Goldcrests ringed on the east coast during the autumn of 2015, its another recovery that helps paint the picture of how they then spread out to spend the winter across the UK and Western Europe.

First Bird Ringing Of 2016

With a couple of days midweek forecasted to have little/no wind, I wanted to get out with my mist nets on at least one of them, so yesterday headed out to the superb Lower Bruckland Ponds...

Because it was so cold I only put two nets up, and didn't open them until the sun had come up. It's only right to be extra cautious when ringing in cold conditions like this.  The two nets in two and a half hours gave me just nine birds, but it was quality not quantity. 

Over the past few weeks I've been chatting to other patch birders about how scarce Green Woodpeckers have become, I hear them only very occasionally now and I've not seen one on patch for over a year. But as I was putting up my nets I heard one call in the distance, so once the nets were up I gave Bun a call to let him know there is still at least one left here!  While we were nattering it flew down from the slopes above and began feeding around the base of some of the small trees at the Ponds.  Occasionally it flew up to a large oak, which is when I was able to get this snap...

From this oak it kept returning to the same small trees to feed in, but after taking this photo it flew straight for the clump of trees which had one of my mist nets in.  I looked around the corner and was shocked to see it IN my mist net!!!  I ran...

This, not surprisingly, is the first Green Woodpecker I've ever ringed.  And it's a bird I thought I would never ring around here, what an absolute privilege.  Lower Bruckland Ponds is a big site, and two mist nets covers such a tiny proportion of it - I was so so lucky!

The other eight birds caught included a couple more notable highlights. Two of the four Goldcrests I caught already had rings on, one was a bird I ringed here on 1st Nov 2015. Really interesting to see it is over wintering at the ponds, and it was half a gram heavier so it must be doing ok. The other ringed Goldcrest wasn't one of mine, anyone reading this recognise ring number CPX749? 

Two male Siskins were great to ring, the flock has been here since October but they are very hard to catch as they usually stay up at the tops of the trees...

And the last highlight, in fact the last of the nine birds I caught, was this fantastic male Stonechat - he's been overwintering at the Ponds and I see him most times I visit...

What a fantastic morning, lovely weather too. Sadly though it looks like we've slipped back to wet and windy conditions again...