Red-footed Falcon

Last month I ventured over the Cheshire county border and into Staffordshire in search of an enigmatic and rare bird of prey, namely a male Red-footed Falcon. This dashing little raptor breeds  in Eastern Europe but a few vagrants appear in this country in most years.
I saw my first Red-footed Falcon at Hickling Broad in Norfolk in August 2003. It was a first-summer male, but it was so far away that even through a scope its was tricky to identify. Amazingly a few days later there was another (or possibly the same bird?) at Deeping Fen near Spalding in Lincolnshire. This bird spent most of its time perched on a distant fence, occasionally dropping to the ground to seize some invisible prey item. But I did manage to take a few shaky digiscoped photos of it as it shimmered in the heat haze,
I was determined to see an adult male, and so when one was reported from Tophill Low nature reserve in Yorkshire in 2008 I interrupted my journey to the East coast, in search of Autumn migrants, to try and get some photos of this bird instead. Unfortunately this bird did not show itself until mid-afternoon, and then only distantly, but I did manage to take some "record" photos. Imagine my surprise a few months later when this bird was re-identified as an Amur Falcon, a closely related species that breeds in Mongolia and Siberia! My record shots were then of interest to the wider birding community and featured in articles on the bird in the journals British Birds (December 2011, Vol. 104, pp 694 - 701) and Birding World (Vol. 21, No. 10 pp 432 - 435). It was the first British record of Amur Falcon; for details of the plumage differences I would recommend those two journals.
I still wanted some good photos of male Red-footed Falcon hence my trip to Staffordshire. I knew I was at the right location by the number of cars parked along the narrow road leading to a colliery. A lot of birders were leaving, which is never a good sign, but some were still looking through their scopes at some distant wires. Apparently the bird had been showing well in a nearby horse paddock but had flown off towards another field where it was giving occasional but distant views. I managed to spot the bird perched on the wires where it was being mobbed by a couple of magpies. Luckily these feisty corvids eventually chased the falcon back to the horse paddock where I finally managed to take some decent photos. This bird was identified as a first-summer bird so I still need to photograph an adult male! But I am not complaining, it was a stunning bird, and performed well for its many admirers, and it was not far from home either!

Amur Falcon, Yorkshire, September 2008

 

Lady's Slippers, Dukes and a Ghost Deer.

In the north of England, on the borderland between Lancashire and Cumbria lies a hidden kingdom rich in strange wild creatures, exotic-looking butterflies and mythical plants. Known only to a few, but passed by many as they journey to the honeypot that is the Lake District. But if the weary traveller heading north to the land of mountains and lakes on the M6 were to accidentally leave the motorway a junction earlier they might discover this hidden land of reeds, mosses and limestone pavements and its abundant wildlife.
Most well-known in this fabulous land is the RSPB reserve of Leighton Moss with its secretive Bitterns, squealing Water Rails and gliding Marsh Harriers. But venture further down the narrow winding roads flanked by dry-stone walls and you will find other natural wonders.
My trip last May was to the Natural England reserve at Gait Barrows; an area of Carboniferous limestone pavement; rock formed before the great age of the dinosaurs. This beautiful area is home to scarce butterflies and some even scarcer plants. Not long ago the beautiful Lady's Slipper Orchid was on the verge of extinction in this country, so close that the only known site where it was found was a closely guarded secret; the site itself being closely guarded as well! But this beautiful plant has been part of a Species Recovery Programme and seedlings from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew have been planted at various suitable locations, Gait Barrows being one of them.

Gait Barrows' limestone pavement (iPhone photo)

The footpath from the small car park was signposted with images of the orchid so finding them was a piece of cake. Although the first plants that I photographed were a cluster of Herb Paris, an unusual-looking plant that was used by medieval herbalists to ward off witches.

Herb Paris

I hardly saw a soul at this gem of a reserve never mind any witches, but that might have been due to the dull overcast conditions, or maybe everyone had gone to the Lake District that Saturday.
The Lady's Slipper Orchids were an amazing sight, their gaudy yellow "slippers" contrasting markedly with the claret-coloured petals and the dark green leaves. I took many (careful!) photographs and, I although |I know it is impossible to capture the true beauty of such a rare and exotic looking plant with a mere camera sensor, the images failed to do justice to these exquisite yet gaudy rarities. The clouds failed to clear and as I prefer natural light to flash I decided to visit nearby Foulshaw Moss and hope that the weather improved by the afternoon.
Retracing my steps along the footpath I heard the breathless song of a sylvia warbler, and was pleased to confirm what my ears were telling me when I glimpsed a Garden Warbler secreted in the centre of some bushes; its song being very similar to that of a Blackcap.

Garden Warbler

Fowlshaw Moss is an area of lowland raised peat bog and Cumbria Wildlife Trust are doing a sterling jobof restoring this habitat back to its former glory. They have introduced the rare White-faced Darter and Ospreys also nest on the reserve. From the raised boardwalk, with the aid of my 'scope I could see the two Osprey parents in trees near their nest. But what was that ghostly white shape moving through the reeds below the trees? Eventually the apparition moved into the open and revealed itself as a Red Deer, only it was white! I took a few distant record shots of this unusual animal. The warden later told me that this albino deer had been present in the area for a number of years and it had even shocked an unsuspecting motorist by dashing across the main A-road to Barrow; the driver thought he had seen a giant sheep!

Red Deer at Foulshaw

Willow Warbler



"Ghost" Deer

The day was brightening up so after photographing a confiding Willow Warbler, I returned to Gait Barrows to try and photograph the orchids again.
It was well worth the return visit as the sun was now shining and I managed some nice back-lit shots of the Lady's Slipper Orchids. Not only that, it was now warm enough for a few butterflies to emerge from their hiding places and tempt me to break out the macro lens.

Gait Barrows is home to some rare butterflies including the beautiful Duke of Burgundy, which was once thought to be a fritillary but most authorities now place it with a group of mainly neotropical butterflies called the metalmarks. All this is beside the point because the Duke is a stunning little butterfly, and even better a few were feeding on flowers right by the footpath. The areas of the reserve which contained their caterpillars' foodplants were roped off to avoid trampling, and rightly so. But the adults were no respecters of safety and flew jauntily over the tape and gaily flaunted their checkered upperwings at all passers-by.

The Duke

I also found another sadly-declining species hunkered down in the leaf litter, a gorgeous Pearl-bordered Fritillary. It is named after the seven "pearls" that edge the border of its underwing.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Pearl-bordered Fritillary's underwing

And after a fabulous day enjoying the stunning wildlife of the area I finished off by photographing a singing Chiffchaff against the now blue sky. A fairy-tale ending after all.

Chiffchaff

 

Snowdon and Conway

In one week's time I will be taking part in the International Snowdon Mountain Race, a fell race that runs to the top Wales' highest mountain via the Llanberis path. Although I have competed in this race twice before I am not a pure fell runner and definitely need to train on the route, so last week I drove to beautiful Snowdonia and ran slowly to the summit.

View from the summit looking towards Llanberis (iPhone photo)

 

Despite it being a warm July morning there were not a lot of people on the mountain, which at times can be as busy as the proverbial Piccadilly Circus. The summit was shrouded in cloud so I had to pause for a few minutes to take a photograph, that's my excuse anyway! The run down was a breeze, and I was soon enjoying my picnic lunch overlooking the calm waters of Llyn Padarn.

I had a number of options planned for the afternoon, if I had been very warm I had planned a wild swim in the plunge pools on the Watkin Path, but the skies had become overcast and the temperature had plummeted from the mid-week record breaking highs. Likewise, looking for Silver-studded Blues on the Great Orme or Keeled Skimmers near Betws-y-coed were both dismissed due to the lack of sunshine. So I headed for Conway RSPB reserve which is often a good place for seeing Stoats.

By the time that I was pulling into the reserve carpark the wind had strengthened and rain was beginning to fall; not ideal conditions for watching wildlife. Undeterred, I strolled down the estuary path carefully watching for any signs of Stoat activity. The tide was in and there were plenty of waders roosting on the main reserve. From the hides I could see flocks of Oystercatchers and Redshanks waiting patiently for the tide to turn. A few Little Egrets were feeding on the pools; I remember when this bird was a real rarity. I travelled to Fford Bay near Caernarfon, not that far from Conway, in 1987 to see my first ever Little Egret, how times have changed.

I was not successful in my search for Stoats but an afternoon watching the birds was more than enough consolation.

 

Oystercatchers heading to the estuary

Shelduck (note the rain splashes on the lake)

Oystercatcher acquiring its white winter throat collar

 

 

And just to prove there are Stoats at this site, here are two photos that I took two years ago.

 

 

 

 

River Dee Meander

Last week the country experienced some of the hottest days since records began, well, down south at least. So I thought Saturday would be a good day to catch up with some insects on the River Dee in Cheshire.
I drove to Farndon  where the Dee forms the boundary between Wales and England. This area had proved very productive for insects such as the Banded Demoiselle in the past and I hoped to take some photographs of this delicate riparian species.
Unfortunately the weather was having other ideas as a strong breeze was blowing and the sunshine was intermittent to say the least. I struggled to find any damselflies and there were no dragonflies at all. I have seen the scarce Club-tailed Dragonfly at this site before but July is probably past the end of its flight period.
But there were a number of common butterflies on the wing including Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns, Large Skippers and a solitary Red Admiral. I eventually found a few Banded Demoiselles but they were a bit elusive in the breezy and frequently dull conditions. Highlight of the walk was a Spotted Flycatcher with a beakfull of insects that perched on the top rail of a wooden gate; if only I had had my other lens on my camera and not my macro!

Meadow Brown

Large Skipper

Small Tortoiseshell

 

Male Banded Demoiselle



Female Banded Demoiselle

 

Llandegla Forest (part 2)

I visited Llandegla Forest in North Wales at the end of April with my girlfriend Jane (see previous post), and although we saw some fantastic birds there were a number of species that we missed so a return visit was definitely on the cards. An early start at the beginning of May saw us walking up the Offa's Dyke path and into the forest not long after sunrise.
It was a great place for a dawn chorus. Common woodland birds including Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush, Robin, Wren and Dunnock provided a rich musical symphony as we made our way through the ranks of conifers and up onto the open ground adjacent to the Denbighshire moorland. As on our previous visit the arias of Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs were very much in evidence, along with the fruity songs of Blackcaps. On the open ground Tree Pipits twittered in parachuting display as Siskins and Redpolls flew overhead.

Willow Warbler



 

We made our way to the hide overlooking the moorland, it was here a few years ago that we were priveledged to see a male Hen Harrier quartering the heather, like some long forgotten spirit of the hills. It's remarkable how once you have seen a special bird in a certain place that you always expect to see that bird in the same place again; but that rarely happens, and today was no exception as far as the harrier was concerned. A Raven cronked in the distance and flapped lazily over a dip in the heather. We were too late in the year for the lekking of the Black Grouse but I did manage to scope two beautiful males feeding on the heather. Another good find was a male Whinchat perched sentinel-like on a small tree among the heather his peachy breast and pale supercilium clearly visible through the telescope, but he didn't come within range of my camera.
A couple of Whitethroats were singing their scratchy songs close by but remained camera-shy. Not so a Redpoll which paused briefly near the hide and allowed a few record shots to be taken.

Redpoll

A very obliging Willow Warbler fed and sang in willows and young conifers near the hide and allowed me to take some photos that illustrate the subtle beauty of this exquisite migrant.

But, best of all, the distinctive disyllabic panpipe call of a Cuckoo had us hastily gathering our gear and marching smartly towards a nearby copse. Through my scope we could see the bird calling in the distance, but if flew into the forest and we could not relocate it. Nevertheless this enigmatic Spring icon was a very welcome addition to our dawn chorus list.
We strolled down to the reservoir were a pair of Canada Geese were busy defending their area of water from another pair.

 

 



A large shoal of Minnows was milling in the shallow bankside water, but there was no sign of the expected tadpoles. On the far side of the reservoir a bare patch of rock was hosting some sunning butterflies including Small Tortoiseshell and a few Peacocks.

 

 

We continued our journey back to the visitor centre when the unmistakable call of a Crossbill was heard. Scanning the tops of the trees we located a beautiful green female Crossbill perched on the very top a the tallest conifer. A great bird and one that we had failed to see on our previous visit. And there was one last surprise as we made our way back to the car, I heard the fluty song of a Redstart and located this gorgeous bird in an oak by the road. With its red breast, quivering orange-red tail and black face crowned and mantled with a luscious silvery-grey, this is surely our most attractive songbird.