Long-tailed Blues

I've got quite a bit of catching up to do!  Since my last post I've seen quite a few birds, not seen even more birds, and enjoyed a couple of really productive moth nights.  All of that must wait though, because the contents of this blog post, quite simply, deserve its own post...

Late afternoon on Saturday 24th, news broke on Twitter of at least two Long-tailed Blue butterflies at Axmouth Harbour, from Lloyd Evans. Here is the very tweet...

What a tweet!

All this came as quite a shock.  I was stuck at work, but Kevin quickly followed it up and saw two an hour later. They were feeding & egg laying on a small patch of pea plant just to the east of the river mouth.  

Frustratingly the following day didn't allow me any chances to see them, but three were present and well reported on social media, pulling in visitors from far and wide.  Then Monday came around, and thankfully - finally - I managed to spend my lunch hour with them.  What a treat...

Female Long-tailed Blue

What wonderful little butterflies, clearly smaller than Holly Blues, and I found them really hard to keep up with thanks to their distinctively jerky and rapid flight.  They were oddly sporadic in their appearances too, with one period of 20+ minutes of nothing, and then a flurry of sightings right up until I left.  This one spent a lot of time underneath the flowers, so often the views were like this...

Easily to overlook - but once seen so distinctive

This female showed by far the best, resting on flowers and egg laying on the nearest patch of pea to where I was stood...

It actually has long-tails!

As can be seen in the above pic though, she has a deformity on her right wing. Also viewable in this pic...

A cracking underwing pattern - but what's with the wing...

This is a defect caused when the wings are being pumped up during emergency, which begs the question, was this butterfly born and bred here!?  Well personally I think not.  Despite this damage it was flying around just fine, and considering there has been a national influx of this species within the last week or so, I think the chances are it arrived as part of this influx.    

Not easy to see the upperwing - just about managed a shot of it here

As you can see, this conclusively sexes this insect as a female - but when flying around on two occasions I heard others announce it as a male due to how blue it appeared.  When comparing it to the second Long-tailed Blue that was flying around however, this was understandable. The second individual was a really drab, brown and tatty female - presumably the one pictured by others in previous days lacking any tails.  I did see a third insect in flight on two occasions, and this one really did look proper blue, sadly never saw it settled though.

There is a previous patch record of Long-tailed Blue, I know of at least one recorded on Goat Island (where there is lots of pea plant - so there could be a load out there now!) but it's great to have some 'gettable' ones!  Whilst at the harbour I also saw Common Blue, Painted Lady, Silver-washed Fritillary and a couple of smart male Clouded Yellows.

As I said earlier there has been something of an influx of Long-tailed Blues into the UK - in fact it's looking likely to prove the biggest influx ever!  For more details have a read of this excellent BirdGuides article; https://www.birdguides.com/news/look-out-for-long-tailed-blues/

And I will finish by ending on a similar note to the article-linked above.  Go out and search your local pea plants, you may not find an adult but there's every chance you could discover some eggs. And if you do then keep coming back and you never know you may just witness a UK bred Long-tailed Blue emerge or take its maiden flight. Something I hope to do in about a month's time...

Lower Bruckland Ponds

With the forecast suggesting this morning was going to be cloudy and still I was keen to get out ringing, and opted for Lower Bruckland Ponds - what a session it was!  I only put two 60 foot nets up and in the first net round caught 21 birds!!  It wasn't just the nets that were busy, there were birds everywhere. The fog appeared to be disorientating migrating birds as I had small flock of Redwings flying in all directions. A Brambling north overhead was my first of the autumn and ten Fieldfare included a flock of eight that flew north.  LOVE MIGRATION!

Bird ringing always has the ability to surprise me, and yet again it did just that today.  I'm always dropping in to Lower Bruckland Ponds during the autumn to check through the Long-tailed Tit flock that seems to be semi-resident here, well I caught this flock on my first net round today.  I then caught another flock of un-ringed Long-tailed Tits, then another, and then another!  Nuts.

You can't do anything with ageing on Long-tailed Tits as both young and adult undergo a complete autumn moult so they all look the same, although one of today's did look a bit different...

Someone been for a manicure? Claws are usually dark.

My ringing totals for the morning were:

1 Robin

4 Chiffchaff

2 Goldcrest

3 Great Tit (1 retrap) 

12 Blue Tit (4 retrap)

27 Long-tailed Tit

1 Treecreeper

1 Goldfinch

So that's 45 new birds ringed.  Not bad for a session that I actually had low expectations for, and only two nets!

The Yellow-browed Warbler was still present in Primrose Way this morning, but there was no sign of it at midday so it may have moved on.  Later on in the day Clive pulled a good'un out of the bag with a Cattle Egret in Colyford, the second he's found in two days! Seems to be something of a influx of these happening at the moment, so maybe we can expect some more?

Best Beer Head Ringing Morning Yet?

Sorry again for the lack of updates, I simply haven't the time at the moment. I really need a break from all the numbers and dates that I'm in the middle of writing up though, so lucky viewers here's a blog post...

Ideally I would be ringing every morning up Beer Head at the moment, but am limiting myself to one morning a week so I can get my work done. This week I decided to head up on Monday just gone, and I was joined by Peter again (who brought along two incredibly tasty vegetable tarts - yum!). Must just add my congratulations to Peter who following  a ringing course on the Isle of Wight has been recommended for his C Permit - well done.  Hope you and your vegetable tarts still want to join me on my Beer Head outings.

The weather was absolutely perfect for ringing, with no wind and complete cloud cover. At first though it didn't seem like there was much about, but this clearly wasn't the case as two nets open for just over two hours caught us 53 birds!  The first hour was steady, and we were catching a few Goldcrests, Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps, as well as my first two Meadow Pipits for the site. But then a Long-tailed Tit flock appeared, and spent ages just milling about - this is when it went a bit busy and I decided to close the nets...

Luckily my Dad was about, and acted as scribe.

Out of the 53 birds, 48 were 'new' birds (means unringed when first caught) and compromised: 9 Blackcap, 23 Chiffchaff, 7 Goldcrest, 6 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Meadow Pipit and a Wren.  Interestingly, and I guess this indicates a good breeding season, out of these 48 birds, only one was an adult (a Chiffchaff), with the other 47 being birds born this year.

Following on from my last Beer Head post, the variation in crowns of first-year (3) male Blackcaps still amazes me (both these birds had seemingly completed their post juvenile moult)...

On the right hand bird note just a few brown flecks above the eye and at back of head.

Since Monday, the only trips I've had out is when I've gone to work or walked the dog. This morning Axe Cliff showed four Wheatear and lovely views of a Stoat, and a woodland walk yesterday gave nothing more than good numbers of Goldcrests.  This morning I pulled over briefly when driving along the Estuary, and am pleased to report Honey does indeed take after her 'Dad' - although I will be peed if she finds that Pallas's Gull before me...

She doesn't even need optics!

And to complete this post, my first post in October (which by the way I can't believe - its over 20'C outside by day at the moment!), a shot of a Robin singing its winter song with clear blue sky behind...

Talking of Robins, it'll be Christmas soon...

Beer Head

Since the last post I have managed two short ringing sessions on Beer Head, one with Peter on Wednesday 3rd and a couple of hours by myself on Monday 8th.

On the 3rd 28 birds were trapped and ringed, with 26 of these being 'new' birds. No stand out species, but it was mostly about Sylvia Warblers with ten new Blackcaps and three Whitethroats trapped, along with two already ringed Blackcaps.  The Blackcap re-captures were interesting as it shows I'm catching local breeding birds and not just passing migrants, with one of them being a male I ringed here back in May, and the other a young bird I first caught as a 3J (which means still in juvenile plumage - so almost certainly hatched on Beer Head) in the middle of August.

I will do on a post on Blackcap ageing one day in far more detail, but here's three head shots all showing first-year male Blackcaps, and the various extent of brown on the cap. The top bird had completed it's post juvenile moult, the middle and bottom birds were still in the process of their PJ moult, but they will probably retain some of those brown cap feathers even after their moult has finished.

3m Blackcaps

Other birds ringed included singles of Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Goldcrest (the second ringed of the autumn), and a nice trio of Long-tailed Tits - my first ringed at this site.

In my last ringing related post I mentioned about the partial post juvenile moult in passerines, and that some species actually complete a full moult in their first autumn - replacing all their flight and tail feathers. Well Long-tailed Tit is one of those species, but all three of our birds could still be aged as first-year birds (3's) as they hadn't completed their moult yet.

They had replaced all of their primaries, although the last couple we still growing, but were only part the way through their tertial, secondary and greater covert moult. The browner and more worn juvenile feathers are pretty obvious to see, but hopefully the red lines will help. You can see a half grown secondary feather along the middle red line and the arrow is pointing to the replaced adult tertial feather. Compare the condition of replaced tertial with the older juvenile one above it - the old one has little nicks at the tip and along the edge of the feather, this is natural feather wear and a brand new feather wouldn't show this. If I was to catch these birds in maybe a week/ten days time I'm pretty sure they would have completed their moult, and would be aged as '2's' on plumage (the age code for haven't a clue - could have been born in any year).

Yesterday I caught just ten birds, but eight of these were migrants so I was still happy; three Blackcaps, three Willow Warblers and two Chiffchaffs.

I've been up Beer Head again this morning, but only for a quick dog walk.  There was a real late autumn feel to it, with crisp blue skies, a chill in the air, and heaps of Meadow Pipits flying about.  Also saw ten Wheatear, three Grey and two Yellow Wags, five Blackcap, three Whitethroat and a handful of Chiffchaffs. Sadly no Wrynecks.

New Year... New Home!

Sorry it has been a bit quiet on here lately, but we've been a bit busy!

Having lived in Primrose Way, Seaton, for over 12 years, a move was long overdue as we had all very much out grown our first home.  The location of the house is what kept us in it longer than we planned, being just a few minutes walk from Seaton Wetlands and with views from the main bedroom over the river valley across to the hills above Axmouth.  

More details of the house and pictures can be found on the blog post I wrote back in November 2012 shortly after we moved in.

Moving day!  Many thanks Tim C and Kev for all the help loading and unloading this van.

 

It was largely due to its location that in the 12 years and one month we lived there I recorded an impressive 129 species from the house/garden.  Full list below...

 

House List
Mute Swan	Collared Dove
Canada Goose	Swift
Shelduck	Green Woodpecker
Wigeon	Great Spotted Woodpecker
Gadwall	Magpie
Teal	Jay
Mallard	Jackdaw
Shoveler	Rook
Pochard	Carrion Crow
Goosander	Raven
Red-legged Partridge	Goldcrest
Pheasant	Firecrest
Cormorant	Blue Tit
Cattle Egret	Great Tit
Little Egret	Coal Tit
Great White Egret	Skylark
Grey Heron	Sand Martin
Glossy Ibis	Swallow
Spoonbill	House Martin
Little Grebe	Cetti's Warbler (heard)
Red Kite	Long-tailed Tit
Marsh Harrier	Yellow-browed Warbler
Goshawk	Chiffchaff
Sparrowhawk	Willow Warbler
Buzzard	Blackcap
Osprey	Lesser Whitethroat (heard)
Kestrel	Whitethroat (heard)
Merlin	Grasshopper Warbler (heard)
Hobby	Sedge Warbler (heard)
Peregrine	Nuthatch
Water Rail (heard)	Treecreeper
Moorhen	Wren
Coot (heard)	Starling
Oystercatcher	Blackbird
Avocet	Fieldfare
Little Ringed Plover (heard)	Song Thrush
Ringed Plover	Redwing
Golden Plover	Mistle Thrush
Grey Plover	Spotted Flycatcher
Lapwing	Robin
Dunlin	Black Redstart
Ruff	Stonechat
Snipe	Wheatear
Black-tailed Godwit	Dunnock
Bar-tailed Godwit	House Sparrow
Whimbrel	Yellow Wagtail
Curlew	Grey Wagtail
Common Sandpiper (heard)	Pied Wagtail
Green Sandpiper	Tree Pipit
Greenshank	Meadow Pipit
Wood Sandpiper (heard)	Rock Pipit
Redshank	Chaffinch
Black-headed Gull	Brambling
Little Gull	Greenfinch
Mediterranean Gull	Goldfinch
Common Gull	Siskin
Lesser Black-backed Gull	Linnet
Herring Gull	Lesser Redpoll
Iceland Gull	Common Crossbill
Great Black-backed Gull	Bullfinch
Sandwich Tern	Hawfinch
Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon	Yellowhammer
Stock Dove	Reed Bunting
Woodpigeon

  

As you can see there are some really good birds on there, with some of the stand out sightings being an adult Little Gull feeding over a flooded Axe Estuary on 5th February 2014, three Glossy Ibis including two feeding in the field next to the house, an immature Iceland Gull flying up the valley on 30th April 2020, several sightings of Cattle and Great White Egret, numerous Red Kite, Ospreys, Marsh Harriers, Hobbies and three Goshawk sightings, two female Pochard in flight on 8th May 2023, a vis mig Hawfinch on 29th October 2021 and out of the four Yellow-browed Warblers that I have heard from the garden, one I actually saw from it (the other three I did see but not from the garden).  The dates of the Yellow-broweds were 30th October 2015, 23rd October 2016, 19th October 2017 and 14th October 2018.

The 2015 Yellow-browed Warbler. Two were in trees by a small green just down the road from our house, with the other two in trees by a small green just up the road from our house.  It just proves that good birds can be found anywhere!

 

One of the things I really loved about the house was that at night, from the garden or our bedroom with the window open, once all traffic noise had died down you could hear the water birds (and occasionally passerines) of Black Hole Marsh.  High tide was an absolute treat, especially during the autumns, with many species on the list simply because they were so vocal after dark.  

The year the Avocets bred on Black Hole Marsh (2023), although I did see them several times from the house, hearing them call most nights with a back drop of Redshank, Oystercatchers, squabbling Godwits and Black-headed Gulls and later in the season whistling Teal and calling Snipe, was absolutely magic.   Another great heard-only from the garden was a spring Grasshopper Warbler which took up territory for over a week in a very uninspiring hedge between two uninspiring fields besides the house in April 2020.

I was gutted not to have seen the October 2024 Rose-coloured Starling from the house, even though I saw it about ten paces from my front door, and where it was perched would have been viewable from my back garden.  Sadly it never did come back to Primrose Way, despite staying in East Devon for several weeks following its discovery.

I have got a 'one that got away' house story too.  On a very wet and dreary day in April 2016, I was sat in the kitchen and could not for the life of me figure out what the bird was that was flying towards the house from the direction of Black Hole Marsh/Axe Estuary.  I rushed into the garden and  just as it flew over the house the penny dropped... can only be a Stone Curlew!  I ran through the house to my car parked out the front and grabbed my binoculars from the boot, but just as I raised them to my eye I could see the bird disappear from view to the west.  As I never manage to get any plumage on it I never submitted the record, but there was simply nothing else it could have been based on structure and flight. This certainly taught me to always leave a pair of easily grabbable binoculars in the house, a lesson I will be bringing over to our new house for sure.

Time to talk about the new house now, and yes we are still 'on patch'. We are still in Seaton in fact, just a few minutes drive from Primrose Way actually. We are slightly closer to the town, but high, above all surrounding houses, giving us excellent views of the Axe Valley up to Musbury Castle, plus views towards the Tower Garage and best of all a huge sky vista.  I am really excited about the vis mig potential here - roll on spring and autumn!  

The best thing though (which my Son and Golden Retriever will certainly agree with me on) is that we actually have a garden.  Behind the house is a lovely large lawned garden with big hedges on two sides and fruit trees in the corner, so the day after we moved in of course some well-stocked bird feeders went up. Ten days later, after the expected Robins, Dunnocks, Blackbirds had discovered them, I snapped this out of the kitchen window...

A very welcome female Blackcap. Doesn't seem to be many around this winter making it even more exciting.

I do have some local bird news to catch you all up with, but will write about that in another post within the next week or so. 

To complete this post all that is left for me to say is to wish all readers of this blog, whether regular readers or one-time viewers, a very Happy New Year.  I sincerely hope for every single one of you, that 2025 is filled with happiness, good health and of course plenty of birds!