Sunday 1 July 2018

End of Spring/Summer Term

This week was our final full week of sessions until September.  The mornings on the coast were cool and overcast, but those inland were quite sunny and warm.   Kilnsea on Tuesday was misty and cool.  The mist didn't actually clear until the homeward journey.  we had 5 new species for the term, taking the total to 101 species.  We encountered Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Avocet, Dunlin, Ringed Plover, Linnet, Greenfinch, a confiding Skylark, Meadow Pipit, Tree Sparrow, House Sparrow, Shelduck, Swallow.  Butterfly numbers were down because of the mist, but we did see Ringlet, meadow brown and a probable Wall Brown.
Skylark
 Dunlin in the mist
 Ditto
 Roe Deer
 Linnet
 Meadow Pipit 
 Swans and Little Egret
 Ditto 
 Reed Warbler
 Ditto
 Skylark
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Swallow
The gamble was taken on Wednesday and we went ahead with Flamborough.  Luckily, the mist had changed to cloud cover, so we could actually see the birds.  Eventually, the sun broke through.  We saw all of the usual suspects.   

Razorbill with a beak full of sand eels  
 Razorbill with Chick
 Razorbills with chick, and beyond a Puffin
Peregrines (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
 Linnet (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Linnet (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Yellowhammer (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
Meadow Pipit (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Meadow Pipit (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
Skylark (c) 2018 Tony Robinson
 Ditto
 Ditto
Shag
 Whitethroat
 Roe Deer
Burnet-Moth (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce 
Burnet-Moth
 Ditto
And now for some photos taken at the same location which should have appeared on the last visit to this location, but which were lost in the ether.  
Puffin (c) 2018 Mike Woods
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Razorbill & Puffin
 Kittiwakes bathing in fresh water 
Herring Gull chick in Tyre 
 Meadow Pipit 
 Ditto
 Record shot of House Martin
 Swift
 Jackdaw 
              
 On Thursday a fine day was predicted, so we were able to go ahead  with our final visit to Wharram.  We saw Yellowhammers on the slope down from the car park, and then in the open area Maggie spotted the female redstart.  She collected food a few times, but then flew a long way into cover, presumably to feed her brood, which were concealed in woodland.  The Grey wagtail was seen by both groups, and the journey to the nature reserve resulted in Blackcaps, Whitethroats, Linnets, and other small birds.  The nature reserve had a lot more Marbled Whites than at the weekend, and there was plenty of other species, and a fine display of flora.  
 Yellowhammer

Whitethroat
Whitethroat (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
Ditto
 Immature Whitethroat
 Whitethroats
 Ditto
Chaffinch (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce

 Blackcap
 Ditto
Marbled White (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
 Marbled White
 Ditto
 Ditto
 Large Skipper
Small Skipper extracting salts
Speckled Wood - bitten by a bird!
Woolly Thistle (c) 2018 Maggie Bruce
On Friday the weather was unrelentingly fine, so were were able;e to visit Oakhill.  We were rewarded almost immediately with a Turtle Dove.  In the afternoon we also saw one when a handsome individual flew over one of the ponds.
Turtle Dove
 Ditto
 Ditto 
 Male Marsh Harrier
Ditto 
 Willow Warbler
 Ditto
 Great Spotted Woodpecker
 Frog
Frog (c) 2018 Dave Hill
Gatekeeper - our first of the year
 Hawker species
 Four-Spotted Chaser
 Purple Loosestrife
Centaury 
 Bedstraw?
Bee Orchid (c) 2018 Dave Hill

 Developing Walnuts


1 comment:

Conehead54 said...

Your hawker is the poorly named male Common Hawker. Bedstraw looks like Hedge Bedstraw.