Juvenile YLG

After an uneventful patch visit on Sunday (the drake Scaup was still on Ferry Lane Lake, but there was little else of note), I headed back for another session at Cotham Landfill. There were fewer gulls present than the day before, and rather than trying to count Yellow-legs, I spent some time actually looking at them properly. 

Best was a nice, and reasonably close, juvenile Yellow-leg. Everything appeared to be there, the icing on the cake being several replaced scapulars with dark anchor-shaped markings - this early in the year a very pro-juv YLG feature! Other features included dark tertials with neat, narrow fringes (only extending halfway along the feather edge); white rump and tail with a neat black terminal band; near-absent pale window on the inner primaries; long-winged appearance; and a dusky mask around the eye on a pale(ish) head. The bill could perhaps have been heavier though. It was also quite large and aggressive...

Red and Yellow

Back to last week, and the Garganey at Mons Pool lingered until Sunday 23rd, when volunteering at East Leake allowed views of three of the Bee-eaters without having to leave the carpark, and my WeBS count at Girton yielded a Redstart - very nice, although it would have been better at Collingham!

Bee-eater

Juv Redstart

This week, and the highlight until today had been a party of 11 Black-wits on the 26th (with 19 the day before, according to the Notts Birders sighting page), along with a drake Scaup on Ferry Lane Lake which John Ellis had found at the weekend. 

Drake Scaup

However, today produced my second Redstart in as many weeks, this time obligingly on patch, in the hedgerow along the western footpath at Mons Pool. Not a guaranteed species annually on the patch by any means. 

Female Redstart

I then decided to have a look at Cotham Landfill, which I'd been meaning to do since I cycled past a couple of weeks ago, spurred on by a monster count of 37+ Yellow-legged Gulls just to the south at Kilvington Lakes yesterday (along with 4 Casps). Several hundred Lesser Black-backs were present (, along with at least 25 Yellow-legs - nearly all adults or near-adults, plus a second summer and a juvenile, as well as a couple of Herring Gulls (including 2 juvs) and one GBBG. 

An adult YLG

Another adult YLG

Check out the bill - a brute!

Juv YLG

Mid Summer birding

The best things about mid Summer birding is the big screaming flocks of Swifts over Newark. They're always difficult to count, but the biggest count visible from my garden has been 55, in two groups. Love 'em!

Aside from another stint on car park duty at the Bee-eaters, my only other birding has been a few patch visits. There have been a few waders, most notably 5 Black-wits on 15th (with singles on 9th and another tonight), the first few Common Sands (2 on 14th and 2 tonight), several Green Sands, a high count of c.10 Oystercatchers (on 14th), and a juv LRP (not bred here). At least 220 Coot were across Ferry Lane Lake and Mons Pool on 14th.

On the breeding bird front, one of the two pairs of Great Crested Grebes on Mons Pool has managed to hatch a chick on the third time of trying (having been flooded out twice), whilst the second pair abandoned there nest for some reason (they were on their second try). The three remaining Kestrel chicks have fledged, and there are two Tufted Duck families around too (with a total of 10 ducklings). 

Wildfowl have also provided a little interest of late, with an eclipse drake Pintail last night bettered by a Garganey tonight, which appeared to be a juvenile rather than a female. Also present tonight was a brief juvenile Yellow-legged Gull which flew off shortly after I scanned onto it (amongst a group of LBBGs and BHGs, plus a single Common Gull). 

Bee-catchers and butterflies

It's always interesting when non-birding friends and colleagues ask me about a particular bird - "do you know about the Bee-eaters at East Leake?" (or Bee-catchers in one case!). Well yes, yes I do - I didn't act fast enough on the Sunday night (unlike some), but was down there first thing on Monday morning, eventually enjoying somewhat distant views at about 6.30am. Today was my first crack at seeing them again. First of all though, I had a four hour shift (6-10am) in the carpark, but this was rewarded with a fly-over by four of the Bee-eaters heading south, and then two returning north a bit later. Amazing really, to be stood in a field in south Notts and for that to be happening. I then wandered down to the viewing point and had very satisfactory views of two, then four birds perched up and hawking for insects (not that you'd think so from my pics). 

Bee-eater

Bee-eaters

Back home, and whilst attacking some unruly shrubs in the garden, I became aware of a familiar call, but one I couldn't instantly place. A chunky passerine then appeared overhead, flashing large white wing patches, and the penny dropped - a Hawfinch! Quite what this was doing flying west over Newark in mid July, or where it had come from, I have no idea. 

Yesterday, and I had an enjoyable afternoon on the patch. Nothing too out of the ordinary, but the Lapwing bonanza at Mons Pool continues, with at least 12 young birds in 7 broods on Mons itself, or in the fallow fields to the west and north, ranging from a couple of days old to fully grown. Here too there were three cygnets with an adult Mute Swan (good as I though the nest had failed), a female Gadwall with 6 duckings (with another with 5 ducklings elsewhere). There were also signs that for some birds, summer was over, with 6 Green Sands and 9 Teal present.

The non-avian highlight of the week was a Purple Emperor in Cotgrave Forest. The origins of this species here are undoubtedly questionable, which slightly takes the shine off them for me, but still great little creatures to see, along with a bonus Silver-washed Fritillary and two Purple Hairstreaks. I also had a work visit to Freckland Wood near Newstead, which spports another species of dubious origin - Marbled Whites, at least 25, plus 100s (maybe 1000??) Ringlets - there was literally one every metre. 

Purple Emperor

Silver-washed Fritillary

Settling in for the summer

It's fair to say that things have been a bit slow going on the patch over the last couple of weeks, with everything settled in for the breeding season. One species that isn't breeding is Turtle Dove; it's now the longest day, and I still haven't heard one, so I think it's safe to say that they're lost from the site, which is a real tragedy especially as there were three purring as recently as two summers ago. 

On a more positive note, Lapwings are having a good year, with three broods out and about (totalling 8 young), and at least a further three adults on nests; the fallow field north of Mons Pool has produced all of these. The first young Little Egret has also appeared. However, last year's success for Coots and Great Crested Grebes on Ferry Lane Lake hasn't been repeated, with just one young grebe visible tonight. A single Mute Swan cygnet is also present. Finally, there is a brood of 4 young Kestrels in a nestbox, and a Barn Owl is busy ferrying voles in the direction of Langford Lowfields. 

And I almost forgot the non-breeding highlight of tonight's patch visit - two 2cy Spoonbills! These flew south along the western side of Ferry Lane Lake just before 8, and are a nice addition to my patch list. These are undoubtedly the two that flew north over Langford on Monday; perhaps they've been on Mons Pool?

The Lizard

Our week in Cornwall at the end of May/start of June seems like a long time ago already. The Lizard is one of those places that every naturalist should visit, and I wasn’t disappointed. There is some fantastic heathland and maritime grassland habitat, and even as a non-botanist I spent some time searching out and identifying some of the peninsular's special plants (including several which occur no-where else in Britain). A few pics of these below.

Coastal grassland

Broomrape sp.

Upright Clover

The Lizard Point

Goonhilly Downs

Wild Chives

Early Marsh Orchid (incarnata)

Trackway near Goonhilly Downs

A  nice little damp patch

Windmill Hill Farm

Marsh Fritillary habitat at Windmill Hill Farm

Windmill Hill Farm

Thyme Broomrape at Kynance

Prostrate Broom

Flowery turf at Kynance

Gone over Spring Squill

Spring Sandwort

Hairy Greenweed

Kynance Cove

Spotted Cat's-ear

Early Purple Orchid

Fringed Rupturewort

Western Clover

Long-headed Clover

Rough Clover

Caerthillian Cove

Hairy Bird's-foot Trefoil

Grassland at Caerthillian Cove - clover central

A pool near Goonhilly Downs

Lizard Downs

Church Cove

Ivy (?) Broomrape

Wild Clary

The birding was generally sedate, although the fact that we found ourselves in the most southerly part of mainland Britain at the end of spring wasn’t a co-incidence. I spent the week with my ears pricked for the sound of a Bee-eater or Serin overhead, but had to make do with a self-found Red-footed Falcon - and a dodgy kite. The only other birds of note were 2 Chough (in flight at Lizard Point) and three Red Kites, plus several Cuckoos.

The only picture I could get of a Chough

Other wildlife included a couple of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries on the coast between Kynance and Caerthillian, and a Slow-worm at Windmill Hill Farm; the latter site also supports a Marsh Fritillary colony, but I couldn’t find any (not helped by sub-optimal weather).

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Slow-worm

The Lizard is one of only two places in the UK where the rock serpentine occurs (part of the reasons the area is so botanically-rich). The other place is Unst, where I’ll be in just over three months time! But before that, our next trip is to South Africa, which will be a bit different from Cornwall I’m sure...