Cricket action and a colour-ringed Cormorant

I had quite a good orthoptera day today; a site visit to Langar Airfield produced loads of Roesel's Bush-crickets in the long grass on the western side of the airfield near the control tower, plus at least two female Long-winged Coneheads.

Long-winged Conehead at Langar Airfield

When I got home, I trimmed out buddleja (which was beginning to overhang the road a bit too much), and in the process found a green cricket nymph. By the time I'd gone to fetch my camera it had wandered off and I couldn't find it again, but I'm pretty sure it was an Oak Bush Cricket - the first cricket of any species I've had in the garden, which is only a small urban one. This page on the orthoptera.org.uk website shows what these beasts look like (or at least, the adults).

Whilst on the subject of my garden, I cut the mini-meadow at the weekend. This resulted in invertebrate Armageddon, about which I felt a bit guilty (especially as the chickens were out and had a field day in the cut grass...), and mainly I didn't know what I was looking at, but I saw a couple of 14-spot Ladybirds (yellow and black), and some shieldbugs, which I looked up on the very useful British Bugs website; they proved to be Common Green Shieldbug nymphs.


Common Green Shieldbug nymph in Newark

Anyway, back to birds. Once again not much at Collingham late PM. There was a Dunlin (still?) on the Main Pit, along with a colour-ringed juvenile Cormorant; I first thought the ring read '912', but a better angle showed it to actually read ZL6. A quick check here (accessed via the cr-birding.org website) suggests this bird was ringed at Rutland Water - but I will seek confirmation of this. Elsewhere, on the Silt Lagoon there was a party of 8 Shelduck - seemingly an adult female and 7 immatures. And that was about it!

Colour-ringed Cormorant (ZL6) at Collingham

Peacock paradise

After a bit of DIY at home this morning, I went out and did my WeBS count at Girton Pits this afternoon. Birdwise, it was fairly uneventful; Spalford Pit held the best, with single Common Sand, 2 Little Egrets and a 2nd S Yellow-legged Gull.

Aside from birds, there were at least 40 Peacocks on three small buddlejas on 'the breach', plus 5 elsewhere around the site. I've seen one or two over the last week or so, but it was great to see so many after a complete absence so far this summer. They really are gorgeous insects. A single, very tatty Tortoiseshell was with them - the first I've seen for months, and a dire state of affairs for what's meant to be one of our commonest butterflies. On a more positive note, there were also 2 Common Blues, a Small Copper and a Brown Argus(my first in Notts this year) elsewhere at the site. I also heard Roesel's Bush-crickets stridulating in long grass on the north side of the A1133 Pit, the first for the site as far as I know although I'm sure they've been here a while, undetected.

Peacock at Girton Pits

At Collingham Pits, there were 8 Shoveler and a Wigeon on the Main Pit amongst plenty of other duck including good numbers of Teal (but no Garganey!), and a Common Sand. Ferry Lane Farm Pit was a bit disappointing, with 2 Dunlin, 3+ Common Sands, 4+ Green Sands, 3 LRPs, a Ringed Plover and 4 Little Egrets. The Turnstone appears finally to have departed, although the dewatered terrain in the pit is now such it could have lurking out of sight.

Easy birding

We spent a very relaxing five days in Suffolk this week (including a trip to the Olympics on tuesday). Like last visit, I somehow didn't have much time to do any substantial birding. However, we visited Minsmere with my parents on wednesday, and although we didn't do the scrape or levels (where a Pec Sand turned up on Lucky Pool!), we had a nice walk out to Island Mere, via Bittern Hide; this lived up to its name, with 3 Bittern sightings in the space of 15 minutes! I couldn't rustled up the Ferruginous Duck at Island Mere itself (I know this bird has been 'elusive'), but did have two plant ticks; Red-tipped Cudweed (in a little fenced-off area next to the path), and Round-leaved Wintergreen (next to the ramp up to Island Mere hide) - both usefully signed. Both are scare plants - see Plantlife's website for some info on the cudweed, and BSBI's online distribution maps for both the cudweed and the wintergreen. Several Purple Hairstreaks were also seen near the visitor's centre.


Red-tipped Cudweed at Minsmere

On thursday evening I had a wonder down to my old patch on the Orwell, checking out the saltings at Crane's Hill, at the northern end of Shotley Marshes. It was just after high tide, and there were quite a few nice birds in evidence; 1 Spotted Redshank, 2 Ruff, 3 Greenshank, 2 Common Sands, 4 Whimbrel (one on the deck and three over), an Avocet, several smart Grey Plovers, Turnstones and Black-wits, and 11 Med Gulls, plus 2 Marsh Harriers and a Cetti's Warbler. Nothing spectacular, but if I'd seen all those species on a trip to Collingham or Mons Pool, I would be over the moon! It just makes me realise how lucky (and spoilt) I was growing up and cutting my birding teeth in this area. 



Spotted Redshank and Ruff at Shotley Marshes

Grey Plovers at Shotley Marshes

Whimbrel at Shotley Marshes

Dark Bush-cricket at Shotley Marshes

Purple peril

I failed to see anything of note today (although I could've tried harder - I watched a lot of Olympics!). However, things are looking more promising at both Collingham and Mons Pool, with water levels down and more marginal areas available (helped by a couple of pumps at the former site). However, no decent waders today, although a check of the sightings book at Mons Pool revealed that there have been a few Green and Common Sands in the area over the last week, with a Greenshank at Mons Pool on wednesday.

At Langford, I couldn't do better than 4 Snipe in flight over Phase 2, but there were loads of Roesel's Bush-crickets buzzing from the longs grass around the silt lagoons - they were first recorded here in 2007.

I then occupied myself by pulling some Himalayan Balsam from the Fleet where it passes the wood;  Himalayan Balsam is bad news (see here), and is prevalent on several river catchments in the county - especially in the west. It is a problem further downstream on the Fleet in Collingham, but it hadn't been recorded this far up until I spotted ithere  a couple of weeks ago. I pulled some of it then, but knew I'd missed some. Hopefully I've got it all now and it wont become established here...

Himalayan Balsam on the Fleet at Langford

A nice morning for cricket(s)

Mons Pool looked promising this moring, with water levels down (but carpets of algae in places), but there wasn't even a Green Sand taking advantage of this newly reappeared habitat - one Little Egret was the only thing of note.

Not much at Collingham Pits either, so I had a look in the grassland adjacent to Wharf Cottages Pit for Roesel's Bush-crickets. This species was first recorded in the county in 2006 from a road verge on the A453 near Clifton; I then had the second county record from this field at Collingham Pits in 2007, where they have been present ever since (and seemingly quite widely elsewhere now). They are difficult little beast to see - their high pitched, buzzing stridulation is difficult to pinpoint, and even when you think you're in the right patch of grass, actually locating them is tricky! Nevertheless, I persevered today and got a few record shots.

Roesel's Bush-cricket at Collingham Pits

As I was waiting for one of the Roesel's to re-emerge after I spooked it, a different bush-cricket walked into view - a conehead. It was a male as it lacked an ovipositor, and had short wings, so I wondered if it was a Short-winged Conehead (which I don't think has been recorded in the county yet!), but a quick Google tonight revealed that Long-winged Coneheads do come in a short-winged form, and apparently the shape of the cerci (the spikes on the tip of the abdomen) are a good ID feature. My pics suggest these are straight, and therefore this was a Long-winged Conehead. This species arrived in the county a year after Roesel's Bush-cricket, being first found at Keyworth Meadows in 2007, and spreading north ever since - I found several at a site on the south side of Hucknall in 2008, and at another site in Hucknall in 2011, but this is the first I've had in this area.

Long-winged Conehead at Collingham Pits

After an uneventful walk around Dukes Wood and Mansey Common this afternoon (it was cool and breezy with a heavy shower at one point, and there were very few butterflies around, let alone any fritillaries...), I popped out to Langford for the early evening. There had been up to 35 Black-tailed Godwits through the site yesterday, but the best waders I could muster today were 4 Dunlin which flew in and circled low around the site before disappearing. Also present were 14 Common Terns and at least 5 Little Egrets, and a Peregrine powered over on a beeline south. Non-avian highlights were 3 Purple Hairstreaks again at the northern end of the oak copse next to the silt lagoons, with a huge Privet Hawkmoth on the end of a willow stump next to the path - always an impressive animal to see.

Privet Hawkmoth at Langford Lowfields