Naked

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise ...

To be honest, stumbling across the teddy bears' picnic would have seemed humdrum compared to what I actually saw in the Wyre Forest yesterday. Mrs Reg and I had set off in search of silver-washed fritillaries, but on reaching the spot where I encountered them last year, I was greeted by the sight of a naked lady.

Said lady was accompanied by a fully-clothed gentleman. I have no idea what they were up to and nor do I wish to know. There was no sign of a struggle or anything particularly untoward going on, so we sauntered off in the direction we had come from and left them to it, whatever it was.

Whilst no further sightings could top this unusual spectacle, we did encounter a good variety of wildlife, including a wood warbler, a spotted flycatcher, a dipper, a hornet, a six-spot burnet moth, two golden-ringed dragonflies, a brown hawker dragonfly and a slow worm.

Fortunately, two silver-washed fritillaries were also present in the meadow alongside Dowles Brook, so I left the forest a happy man. And that had absolutely nothing to do with the bird in the raw - honest!

Next up, Upton Warren, where there was a distinct lack of unclothed people. Spots here included reed warbler, sedge warbler, comma and red admiral butterflies, and a few green sandpipers. Also, some blue-tailed and common blue damselflies, and a few banded demoiselles. Another brown hawker was seen and possibly some broad-bodied chasers too, but I wasn't absolutely certain so they have not been ticked.

Some pictures follow, though none of our bare friend I'm afraid ...



Slow worm



Comma



Common blue damselfly

Finally, a picture of a blue-tailed damselfly taken at work this afternoon.



Blue-tailed damselfly

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

I was never a huge fan of Michael Jackson, but love him or hate him, he was undoubtedly an important figure in the world of music, and certainly one of the most iconic. It seemed only right to reference him in today's blog entry, but the above song title also seems fitting in relation to my continuing mission to get some decent butterfly and dragonfly photographs - I've rattled off many pictures over the past week or so, and most have had to be consigned to the recycle bin.

However, amidst all the rubbish are one or two nuggets of gold. Attempts to get some shots at work were largely unsuccessful, so yesterday Mrs Reg and I drove to Earlswood Lakes to see what was about. Butterflies included red admiral, ringlet, meadow brown, large skipper and speckled wood. Common blue damselfies were seen, as were blue-tailed damselflies, the latter of which I life-ticked at work last week. Best of all were a few red-eyed damselflies, which are the first I have encountered.

I'm really pleased with some of the pictures I took. Here are a selection:



Grey squirrel taken at work last week





Blue-tailed damselflies taken at work



Meadow brown taken at work



Unidentified moth seen at Earlswood Lakes





Ringlet butterfly - unusually happy to stay put whilst I photographed it!



Large skipper



Speckled wood

Extra Ordinary Thing

Today's very short blog entry owes its title to a song by Aqualung, who I went to see at the Glee Club in Birmingham last night. What an evening - Matt Hales is a musical genius in my eyes and he's written some beautiful songs. Most of you will probably never have heard of him, but his best known song is probably Strange And Beautiful, which was used on the VW Beetle ads a number of years ago.

Anyway, as promised I have been out and about with the camera this week, trying to get better shots of some of the wildlife at work. More about that in the next entry, but to whet your appetite, I thought I'd just quickly post a picture of this narrow-bordered five spot burnet that I stumbled across on Tuesday.



Narrow-bordered five spot burnet

Getting decent shots of the ringlets, meadow browns and large skippers has proved tricky - these species all seem to be quite skittish, though I did manage to get two ringlets in my hand today!

I'll continue to plug away at them tomorrow and Friday, and hopefully post some shots here at the weekend.

Oh, and there's news of another lifer to come too ...

I Found Heaven

My little walks around the grounds at work continue to throw up lots of good stuff, particularly in the wildflower meadow, which is brilliant for butterflies. A couple of weeks ago, I saw my first ever ringlet here, and on Friday another lifer came my way. I thought I had spotted a small skipper and rattled off a record shot, but when I got home I realised that it was actually a large skipper.

Shots of a ringlet and the large skipper follow, but I hope to be able to get better pictures in due course.



Ringlet



Large skipper

Asides from these, other recent sightings in this area include a grass snake, a few meadow browns and the first southern hawker dragonfly of the year.

With the temperatures set to rise and with the promise of more sunshine on the way, my camera will definitely be accompanying me to work next week!

Catching The Butterfly

Asides from the painted ladies captured in Wales, I also picked up a couple of butterfly lifers during the trip - small white and wall brown. Other species seen included large white, speckled wood, green-veined white and a single orange-tip.

I didn't do a lot of birding during the trip, but still saw some great species. On the journey up, I stopped on the Berwyns and had a munch on my prawn baguette. Whilst chewing away, I heard, then spotted a splendid male common crossbill in the trees in front of us. A very unexpected year tick, and a lifer for Mrs Reg. Crippling views too.

On arriving in Llangybi, we all had a walk up the lane to the magic field - a beautiful spot for birding and home to a wide variety of species, including a merlin that my father spotted during the winter months. Methinks I shall have to do some winter birding in Wales next year!

A leisurely walk produced some nice birds, but nothing exceptional. This is where I spotted my wall brown butterflies, which I identified from photographs when I got home.



Wall brown butterfly



Green beetle on sheep's bit scabius

On Sunday we did a few jobs in the garden, though I was a little distracted by the painted ladies that had taken up residence in the front garden. Later on, a large red damselfly turned up in the pond, then what was almost certainly a four-spotted chaser dragonfly appeared momentarily, before shooting off never to be seen again. The damselfly was a lifer, as would have been the dragonfly, but I was reluctant to tick it without being absolutely sure about its identity.



Large red damselfly

After ice-creams in Criccieth, I trawled the rock pools on the beach. I was hoping to find a starfish and it wasn't long before I discovered this little chap.



Starfish found on Criccieth beach

A scan of the sea didn't produce anything. I had hoped to see Manx shearwaters and gannets, but none were present.

Our luck changed that evening though when my Mum, Dad and I took an evening stroll up to the magic field. Several grasshopper warblers were reeling away in the grass, and after about half an hour we were treated to the best ever views I have had of this elusive species. Much better than the fleeting glimpse I had in Islay recently.

On Monday we stumbled upon several pied flycatchers in woodland near Tan-Y-Bwlch, plus common blue damselflies in huge numbers. Two wood warblers were heard, but remained out of sight. Another large red damselfly was seen, plus an unidentified dragonfly, that looked like it might have been a common hawker.



Common blue damselfly

On Tuesday we headed up the coast to Coed Aber. This produced several redstarts, a garden warbler, and lifers in the shape of a golden-ringed dragonfly and the aforementioned small white butterfly. On returning to the bungalow, I sat by the pond for a couple of hours in the hope that a few more damselflies or dragonflies would reappear, but it remained quiet.



Small white butterfly

News of a royal tern in the area resulted in us having another scan of the sea on Tuesday evening, but this only produced a few distant gannets.

I'm off to Devon in a couple of weeks, so I really must get out on the patch before then. The weather doesn't look too bad this weekend, so I hope to be out looking for a few butterflies, damselflies and dragonflies a bit closer to home.

She's A Lady

The undoubted highlight of the few days I just spent in Wales, was getting some nice shots of these painted lady butterflies.

More details regarding the trip in due course ...

The Boys Are Back In Town [Part 3 of 3]

Owling Mad - Thursday 28 May 2009

Our destination today was the Mull of Oa. This is a beautiful bit of headland, situated at the southern tip of Islay, so just a short drive from our base camp in Port Ellen.

Birds of note included fulmar, raven, rock dove, black guillemot and hooded crow. On Wednesday evening, however, I had garnered a bit of information regarding nesting golden eagles and it wasn't long before we were enjoying cracking views of one of these majestic birds as it rose into the sky, harrassed by a number of corvids, some of which looked suspiciously like choughs.

After an enjoyable walk and a packed lunch, we drove in the direction of nearby Kintra Bay, spotting a male hen harrier and a whinchat on the way.



Whinchat

Kintra Bay was very pretty, but didn't offer too much in the way of birds, though a decent flock of common gulls was notable. However, on the way to Kintra Bay, Ivor was certain that he had spotted a short-eared owl. Some of the others put in a few minutes looking for this bird on the way back and were fairly sure they had latched onto it near the golf course.

We were heading up that way later on to drop David Chalmers off at the airport, so a few of us convened at the golf course and had a look for the owl. When Dad and I arrived, Brian had already spotted what he thought might be the owl on a post. After some deliberation, I was satisfied that this was indeed the short-eared owl, though the views could not be described as crippling. Still, a splendid trip bird.

Another Slice Of Crake - Friday 29 May 2009

More intense birding followed on Friday. Following up on some of the gen I had received earlier in the week, we headed to Kilchoman, where we understood corncrakes might be a bit easier to see.

On the way there, we saw a barnacle goose on the shores of Loch Indaal, then a pair of common scoter at Loch Gorm. Sadly, a biting, relentless wind put paid to any hopes of finding a corncrake once we arrive at Kilchoman.

Moving swiftly on, we picked up a number of choughs at Machir Bay, then headed down to Portnahaven, adding white-fronted goose to the trip list on the way.

Portnahaven itself was beautiful. A superb Arctic tern was fishing in the bay, where a number of common seals were loafing on the rocks.



Common seals at Portnahaven

Driving around the coast, we saw another male hen harrier. Soon afterwards we decided to stop the cars and have a scan around. Over the next half hour we were treated to exceptional views of a pair of golden eagles as they patrolled the area, occasionally being mobbed by the hooded crows. The hen harrier also reappeared, making it one of the best birding moments of the trip.

As we headed back across The Rhinns to Port Charlotte, we had views of another golden eagle, plus a couple of white wagtails and another whinchat.

With the weather somewhat improved, we had another stab at corncrake back at Kilchoman. We could hear a bird calling, but as we were trying to pinpoint where it was, there was excitement from Ivor and Steve, who believed they had seen one of the birds fly over the wall and into the field.

Panic struck as everyone tried to get directions as to where this bird had come down. We found ourselves staring at a small patch of vegetation. Suddenly, there was movement and yet more panic as we all tried to get our bins on the bird that was bobbing about just out of sight. Imagine our disappointment when a thrush hopped into view!

Ivor and Steve maintain that they did indeed see a corncrake and I have no reason to doubt them, but we failed in our quest to relocate the bird, despite the help of a lady from the RSPB who kindly allowed us onto the land and attempted to sort out access for us the following evening. More about that later.

That evening I had a walk along the road to Kintra Bay on my own. I was hoping for owls, which I didn't see, but a few deer and a reeling grasshopper warbler were nice surprises.



Sunset along the lane

I Seafood And I Eat It - Saturday 30 May 2009

Saturday saw us back on the whisky trail at the Ardbeg distillery. It was something of a scorcher too, and after three days of fairly intensive birding it was great to soak up a few rays and do nothing in particular.



Ardbeg distillery

We planned to have one final go for the corncrakes that evening, so not too much whisky was consumed, though I couldn't resist a few more oysters. This turned out to be a very bad idea indeed!

Having returned to the cottage, we were just preparing to head into Port Ellen for a meal, when I came over all queasy. Thinking I may have just had a bit too much sun, I put on a brave face and travelled down to the restaurant. Once there, however, I quickly realised that I was not very well at all.

Taking the house keys, I started walking back to Cairn Cottage, but only made it to the public toilets in Port Ellen before I was violently ill. Yep - that'll be the oysters then! Must have had a dodgy one.



Which one do you think made me ill?

Stopping only once more on the way back to the cottage to dry-heave at the side of the road, I made it back with my dignity still relatively intact. Within minutes though I was slumped on the toilet. I'll spare you the gory details readers, but let's just say the words ends and both spring to mind. Finally, devoid of my stomach lining and probably a stone lighter, I went to bed.

A bit later, the others returned. Dad came in to see me and asked if I was still up for a bit of corncraking. To be honest, if he'd said a corncrake was downstairs watching Britain's Got Talent, I don't think I would have made it.

Anyway, they set off and I fell asleep, but was delighted to wake up two hours later feeling much improved. Hell, by 11:00pm I was out in the lane looking for cockchafer beetles! I guess my body must have rejected that bad oyster before it really did me any serious harm. With a 13 hour journey ahead of us on Sunday, it came as something of a relief, I can tell you!

Oh, and the others dipped on the corncrake again, so I hadn't missed anything important!

Homeward Bound - Sunday 31 May 2009

The ferry trip back produced a similar list to the one we had accumulated on the way to Islay, with the notable exceptions of a possible kittiwake, a possible Manx shearwater, a great skua and an otter. Sadly, Leapy was not on deck when the skua was spotted. A pity - it would have been a British lifer for him, and he doesn't get many of them nowadays.



Cairn Cottage as seen from the ferry

An unidentified butterfly was flitting around the deck too. Steve said that as we were on a boat, it must be a red admiral. Quick as a flash, I replied, "Or a skipper!"

The roads and motorways brought us another haul of Eddie Stobarts, though nothing like as many as the journey up. Around 100 lorries for the whole trip in total, I think.

Also, a few more trip birds, namely swift, great spotted woodpecker and sparrowhawk.

Finally after a full day's travelling I was reunited with Mrs Reg. It had been an amazing trip, with some great banter, good food, good company and of course, some exceptional birding.

A pity about the corncrakes. Still, it gives me at least one reason to head back there someday, doesn't it?

The Boys Are Back In Town [Part 2 of 3]

Rock 'n Roll - Monday 25 May 2009

The rain was coming down on Monday morning, but this wasn't a problem as we were off to the Caol Ila distillery. One of the birds I had been really keen to see on Islay was the pure rock dove - none of your feral nonsense that litter our towns and cities, although I must confess I do tick these each year!

As we neared the distillery, we spotted a ploughed field, which contained a good number of rock doves. It was quite odd to see these birds all sporting the same, smart finery. After a hastily snatched record shot, we continued to Caol Ila.



A couple of rock doves

Once at the distillery, we were greeted by a pair of camera-friendly black guillemots - no scope required for these two.



Black guillemots at Caol Ila

After an enjoyable tour of the distillery, led by the charming Hazel, we headed to a room to sample some of the distillery's wares. Although you could effectively drink as much as you wanted, we exercised a bit more caution than we had at Lagavulin. I was so impressed by one of the cask-strength bottlings that I made my first purchase of the holiday.



Caol Ila distillery

On the way back we had more rock doves, then a willow warbler in Bridgend woods. A scan of the northen shore of Loch Indaal produced common gull, dunlin, ringed plover, a pair of wigeon and a few terns, possibly arctic, possibly common - we weren't sure. A pair of grey wagtails were spotted on the river that runs through the village.

We spent the evening at the ceilidh in Port Ellen, where we enjoyed an evening of traditional Scottish song and dance.

Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow - Tuesday 26 May 2009

A pleasant start to the day meant the first opportunity to look for the corncrake near the cottage. We found out later in the week that finding birds on this part of the island is quite unusual. Mind you, hearing them is one thing - seeing one is a different matter. Our bird was calling readily, but it was impossible to tell exactly where it was and we never spotted it.

Not to worry - we enjoyed good views of the local brown hares as they charged around the fields. Also seen that morning were more hooded crows, siskin, wheatear and the spotted flycatcher in nearby Cairnmore Woods.



Hares - bonkers

Continuing our run of distillery visits, we walked to Laphroaig later that morning. Dad and I fell behind the others on the way there, which turned out to be a good thing. As we approached the distillery, I had a scan of the hills to our left and noticed what appeared to be a large raptor in the sky. After careful deliberation we realised this was our first golden eagle of the trip, and it was quickly joined by another. The views were distant, but the size and power of the birds was quite distinct.

More drams at the distillery, where once again the staff were quite happy to pour out as much whisky as you wanted. Again though, we showed an incredible amount of restraint. I'm not even sure if I hit double figures.



Reg outside Laphroaig

As a Friend of Laphroaig, I actually own a square foot of land near the distillery, so was able to collect my rent from them - a miniature bottle of Laphroaig Quarter Cask - one of my very favourite tipples, no less!

Before leaving, I made another purchase - a bottle of cask-strength Laphroaig. A snip at £30.00.

That evening we saw the spotted flycatcher again and spent some time photographing the local siskins as they fed from next door's feeder.





Siskins

A Whin Whin Situation - Wednesday 27 May 2009

Believe it or not, we didn't visit a distillery on Wednesday. Instead, we planned to go hill walking near the Ardbeg distillery - a hot spot for golden eagles. Whilst we didn't encounter any eagles, we did have a single red grouse, which was flushed by Matt as he ploughed a lonely furrow away to our left, a pair of whinchats and a few stonechats. A cuckoo was heard in the valley too.



Hill walking near Ardbeg



An orchid spotted by Ivor during our walk



Weird bog plant

After a full day's walking, most people were happy to kick back once we returned to the cottage. Not me though - I took a stroll around the beach and the lanes. It felt a bit like patch birding, but the prizes on offer far outweighed anything I see in Wythall - black-throated diver, eider, shag, razorbill, guillemot, red-breasted merganser and sand martin were all spotted from the beach.

Up the lanes I had wheatear, meadow pipit, stonechat, curlew, hooded crow, common buzzard and the spotted flycatcher, plus I got some good gen from a fellow birder who had spent the day on the Mull of Oa. We were off there the next day, so this was of particular interest.



Stonechat

More about that in the next instalment, plus news of our big corncrake adventure, sickness in the camp, and an eventful ferry trip back to the mainland ...

The Boys Are Back In Town [Part 1 of 3]

The Isle of Islay. Situated off the west coast of Scotland, just north of Northern Ireland. Home to some of the finest whisky in the world and the destination for thousands of geese during the winter months. The birding ain't too shabby during the rest of the year either. The jewel in the crown is the elusive corncrake, a summer visitor that spends most of its time skulking in vegetation, teasing hopeful birders with its rasping call.

I visited Islay for the first time in May 2006 and was privileged enough to hear these amazing birds. Some three years on I was hopeful to go one better and catch a glimpse of one. I won't keep you in suspense - I didn't manage it, but I had a heck of a good time trying, and there were many brilliant moments along the way. So this is it - my account of a memorable week spent on the beautiful island of Islay, Queen of the Hebrides.



The Islay crew: Dave 'Leapy' Lyons, Dave 'Ivor' Thomas, Matt Bailey, Ray Scott, Brian York, Steve Jones, David Chalmers

On The Road Again - Friday 22 May 2009

Leaving Birmingham at around 6:45am, the first thing on my mind was spotting as many Eddie Stobarts as possible on the way up to Scotland. They came thick and fast, and by the time we reached the services at Tebay we already had an impressive tally. After a hearty breakfast we continued to Glasgow, notching many more on the way. Passing Loch Lomond, a stoat dashed across the road in front of us - an unexpected bonus, and only the second one I have seen if my memory serves me correctly.

We stopped at Inverary for lunch. It seemed only right for me to choose the Highland Burger from the menu. This consisted of a venison burger topped with haggis, and very nice it was too. There was one final Eddie Stobart on the roads that snake through the Mull of Kintyre - Meisha Reagen. In view of where we spotted it, Dave Lyons felt it could be some kind of mega-crippler of the Stobart world. That made me chuckle.

We reached Kennacraig in good time, allowing us the opportunity to scan the water. By the time we set sail, the year list was ticking over nicely. Gannet, eider and hooded crow had been spotted in and around Loch Fyne, and black guillemot and red-throated diver were present at Kennacraig, along with a fine trip bird in the shape of great northern diver. From the ferry we saw more divers, guillemots and presumed harbour porpoises. As we arrived at Port Askaig, a few shags and great black-backed gulls were noted.







Three shots of the great northern diver



Birding from the ferry

After a nightcap at the local hostelry, plus another back at our B&B in Bowmore, we turned in for the night.



Bowmore distillery

Whisky Galore - Saturday 23 May 2009

Saturday was the Lagavulin open day. After getting our groceries in Bowmore, we drove to our home for the next week, Cairn Cottage near Port Ellen. We walked to the distillery and bagged more good birds on the way, including sedge warbler, house martin and common buzzard. Willow warblers and a single chiffchaff were heard, but remained out of sight.



Setting off for Lagavulin



Lagavulin distillery

We had a brilliant day at Lagavulin. The first oysters of the trip were consumed, much whisky was drunk and a tasting session in the warehouse with the legendary Iain MacArthur was both entertaining and informative.



A somewhat pissed Reg and Iain MacArthur

Staggering back along the lanes, my Dad and I were offered a lift back to Port Ellen from a Frenchman who looked a little like Liam Connor from Coronation Street. We duly accepted, and whizzed past the others, cheering and waving as we did so. Alighting at Port Ellen we began the short walk back to the cottage, and laughed when the others came whizzing past, having blagged a lift of their own from German couple Stefan and Ursula, who we bumped into several times during the week.

We were now joined by the eighth member of our party, David Chalmers, whose plane had finally been allowed to leave the mainland some six hours later than planned. Despite being pretty well tanked-up already we were soon on the gin and tonics, and we polished off a few bottles of red wine with our pizza that evening. I think we also had another few malts later on, though it's difficult to recall. One thing was certain - if we continued at this pace, we would be lucky to return to the mainland with our livers intact!

Fins Are Looking Up! - Sunday 24 May 2009

Brian and I had a walk along the lanes near Cairn Cottage on Sunday morning. This was really productive, with spotted flycatcher, hooded crows, whitethroat, linnet, wheatear, lesser redpoll and stonechat all seen. Also, a huge caterpillar, which I always find enjoyable. From the conservatory that morning we also had razorbill and another great northern diver.



Impressive fellow

After breakfast everybody headed for Loch Gruinart - home to the elusive corncrake. We heard corncrake in approximately the same area as three years ago, but knew that trying to spot it was going to be nigh impossible - even when Matt decided to take a wander through the vegetation. A spell in the hide added several birds to the trip list, including a distant male hen harrier.



Matt seeks the elusive corncrake



Green-veined white at Loch Gruinart



Sedge warbler

After a few hours at the Bruichladdich distillery we went back to the cottage. I was flaked, so I had a nap on my bed, but was woken to be told that there was a pod of bottlenose dolphins in the bay. They hung around for the next hour or two, but I was unable to get any really good pictures, just a few record shots. Amazing stuff! A black-throated diver was also present.







Record shots of the dolphins





The black-throated diver

That evening saw Brian, my Dad and I take an evening stroll up the lane. We were surprised to hear a corncrake calling from one of the fields near the cottage, and resolved to have a stab at it one morning. More about that and other adventures in the second instalment ...