Wildlife
Wildlife
James Lowen
28 May 2014 May medley
A few excursions in the final fortnight of May, not all successful and even fewer photographically rewarding. An early morning stroll along Camden's Regent's Canal failed to locate Aesculapian Snake, which I saw a couple of times two or three years ago. A family picnic with Mark Pearman - on a flying visit from Argentina - saw us dip the Oare Marshes Baillon's Crake; Hobby, Water Ladybird and a Cream-spot Tiger were nice, but inadequate compensation for what would have been a UK tick for this former Big Brit Lister (to give you an idea, the geezer's British list is larger than mine, despite him living abroad for 25 years...). A quick stop at Eynsford en route to a Wedding Present gig produced 200++ Man Orchid and a Slow Worm.
Heading west along the M4 over the bank holiday, we called in at Hartslock for the orchid extravaganza. The single Lady Orchid was stunted and had gone over. A few Monkey Orchids were smart and slender but arguably shy of their best. And a raft of Monkey x Lady Orchids were intriguing, if on their way out. Descending to the River Thames, Banded Demoiselles proliferated, the males metallic-green yoyos. A 14-spot ladybird distracted me, as did a number of dancing mayflies. Bumping into John Dixon as I reached the railway bridge at Goring cued success. Looking under the railway bridge, we found an emergent Club-tailed Dragonfly, freshly exited from its larval self but shy of having full functioning wings. Splendid stuff.
Finally, on 29th, a rarity in London. Nick Croft (who else?; I shall henceforth call him Mr Acrobat) had major reward for his dedication to Wanstead Flats, finding a singing Blyth's Reed Warbler in a scrubby area of the SSSI. I headed over and enjoyed several bouts of song and prolonged calling from the bird, but only a couple of glimpses. Sneakily, I am pleased it was that way round: I really wanted to hear the song. But the bird's clandestine behaviour rendered photos an impossibility.
20 May 2014 Leggy mambo
I visit the RSPB's relatively new reserve at Cliffe Pools rather less than I should. I suspect that the same is true of many Kent birders, and that this site - one of the top spots for waders in Britain during the 1980s - is now sadly underwatched. Today, however, I planned an early morning visit. After a weekend of insects and orchids, I felt the need for the buzz of birding. The previous week had seen a string of good birds - up to four Black-winged Stilts, two Temminck's Stints, Wood Sandpipers, Garganey, a trio of Spoonsbills etc - so hopes were high. But high for finding my own birds. Terek Sandpiper perhaps? Or Spotted Sandpiper? Perhaps a flyover Black Kite? A Great Reed Warbler chumping in the reeds?
Of course, reality bore no relation to reverie. I did find a Temminck's Stint, but even that might have been one of the birds from the last week. A Spoonbill flew over, but there was no sign of the pair that had been watched collecting nesting material. (I predict breeding somewhere on Grain...) A first-summer Little Gull rotated on a small pool; it is only when you see one next to a congener (in my case a Black-headed Gull) that you realise quite how wee they are. Bonsai bird.
Eventually I tracked down the pair of Black-winged Stilts, hiding in a gull and Avocet colony on Radar Pool. As if they were preparing for nuptials... Leggily elegant, they towered over the Avocets. Of which there were many. And quite a sight they were. Adults feeding, adults flying, adults brooding, adults roosting. Various sizes of chick exploring. In my 'yoof', Avocets were rare. I recall twitching vagrants in both Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire. Now they breed routinely in those counties. What a wonderful comeback. (EDIT, 1 June: as is now well known, the Stilts are indeed breeding!)
There were plenty of back-up birds too. Two or three Mediterranean Gulls 'caw-ing' their way through the Black-headed Gull nests. At least four Marsh Harriers quartering. Twenty-six singing male Whitethroats, oodles of Sedge Warblers, plus half-a-dozen each of Cetti's Warbler and Nightingale. One of the latter even flitted across the path at ankle height. And, lest I ignore their insect ilk for too long, a couple of Hairy Hawkers performed aerial dynamics and an ultra-fresh Broad-bodied Chaser did a viable Hornet impersonation. A lovely morning stroll, and with the attractions almost entirely to myself. I really should visit Cliffe more often...
18 May 2014 Dukes and swords
In 52 wildlife weekends, I suggest visiting Hampshire for a weekend of orchids and butterflies. Today, Team Lowen met up with Durwyn Liley & children to 'do' one of the suggested days. We started at Noar Hill and made the most of the sun by spending as much time picnicing as looking for special critters. There were plenty of butterflies: perhaps a score of Duke of Burgundy, plus larger numbers of Dingy Skipper and smaller numbers of Green Hairstreak, Brimstone and Small Heath. On balance, however, an amorous pair of Common Blue took top accolade! Orchids were not yet out: Common Twayblades were budding and Common Spotted Orchids stunted. It was far too early for Musk Orchid and while on the border for an early Frog Orchid, we could not find any.
After lunch, it was time for cake so we adjourned to Chappett's Copse. It was perhaps a week too early for the sexiest display of Sword-leaved Helleborine, but there were still plenty of plants in fine fettle. As previously, however, I found it impossible to get a decent image! A few Fly Orchids were out, and somewhat easier to capture. Bird's-nest Orchids were too small to be worth the bother, and Broad-leaved Helleborines merely leaves. Solomon's Seal, however, merited a go - and was a new species for me, to boot.
Then the sun emerged, prompting a single male Pearl-bordered Fritillary to buzz along the sheltered southern side of the clearing. Over the next couple of hours, we enjoyed perhaps 10 or so males. Some paused on bugle long enough to be papped. Most, however, were actively patrolling a metre or so above ground, desperately seeking Susans with which to procreate before they became so faded that their expiry date beckoned. One male nearly succeeded, tracking down a very fresh (but surprisingly small) female. She shivered her wings as he helicoptered an inch or so above her. Intriguingly, this male has a fairly pronounced row of silver spots on the underwing, prompting some speculation on UK Butterflies that it might be a Small Pearl-bordered. It wasn't - but is assuredly curious. A few Grizzled Skipper were a surprise, and a Green Tiger Beetle as stunning as always.
17 May 2014 String of pearls
Only last month I learnt that Pearl-bordered Fritillary - which has become one of Britain's scarcest butterflies - has been reintroduced to an ancestral home near Eastbourne in East Sussex. I had only previously seen one individual of this species, on a limestone outcrop near Morecambe Bay in Lancashire - and had not even managed to photograph it.
Knowing that it would be a new species for Josh Jones (but then, almost everything is given the man's very recent expansion into the world of pan-species listing...), and we agreed to meet up at Abbott's Wood near Hailsham at 7am. Josh was a little late, giving me time to spot and snap a fine caterpillar suspended from a near-invisible thread at head height.
The early start was deliberate: we wanted to locate fritillaries before they became active. Following directions kindly provided by Greenie in the wild, we quickly arrived at the designated clearing, and began examining likely roost sites near flowering bugle, the fritillary's food plant. Nightingales provided the acoustic backdrop to our search. For two hours, we had no luck. Plenty of Speckled Yellow (a dayflying moth) and a single Common Swift (moth not bird) were nice. Jones's torso, on the other hand...
13 May 2014 Professional recognition
Today I had an interview with the committee of the British Guild of Travel Writers. Normally I interview people. On this occasion, people were interviewing me, vetting my suitability for election to the Guild, which is "the leading organisation for travel professionals" and the trade body "representing travel writers, photographers, editors and broadcasters". The fantastic news is that, barring what I am assured is a formality, I passed. And will be admitted to the Guild in July. Hurrah!
15 May 2014 Indy article
Readers may recall that the Independent on Sunday is serialising extracts from my book 52 wildlife weekends on a monthly basis. This month they have again made the same choice as Wild Travel magazine, and plumped for a weekend of fantastic fish and kite-flying in mid-Wales, focused around the wonderful Radnorshire Wildlife Trust reserve of Gilfach (a wildlife trust for which the chair is a former work colleague and inspirational figure, Bill Stow). Here's the article as it appeared in the hard-copy paper, plus the frontispiece from the relevant article in the book. You can also read the extract online on the Indy website.
11 May 2014 Rare bird in London
Today saw my head firmly down, writing a lengthy magazine article about the forthcoming Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World, a collaboration between BirdLife International and Lynx Edicions (both former employers of mine). I was up against the clock, with barely time for a break. Which meant that news of a Red-rumped Swallow just 15 minutes drive from home, at Thamesmead in ultra-urban London, did not go down well. Even more so because the car that would have enabled such a speedy drive was in materialist Essex (ie the ladies in my life were shopping in Lakeside).
This left me with a straight choice. The logical decision was to stay put, write my article and go in the evening once the car was back. The illogical choice was to drop everything, take laptop on the bus, and see my first UK Red-rumped Swallow for 20 years.
Forty minutes later, I was greeting Mick Southcott, who had probably got lost finding a gull to photograph, and then score the swallow. A fabulous find byRich Bonser, who somehow spotted it in the teeming masses of Barn Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin and Common Swift that had bizarrely congregated at a concrete-banked lake in the housing estate used by Stanley Kubrick for the fight scene in A Clockwork Orange.
The gloom, wind and swallow speed didn't really make the 'Redrump' photographable; Jono Lethbridge seemed to have divined this in advance, and brough two descendants but no Canon. But the swallow was still enjoyable, an aberrant swift with plenty of white feathering provided a neat bonus... and the article still got written. Result.
5 May 2014 Orchids and Nightingales
A bank holiday weekend. With sun. Not to be sniffed at. And an excuse for a photography-cum-family excursion, down to Samphire Hoe country park, between Dover and Folkestone on the Kent coast. The Early Spider Orchids were in fine fettle, and in greater abundance than I recall from previous trips. Among their number were a couple of wacky plants. One is 'flavescens' (all yellow). The other - rather different with chestnut fringes to a yellow-green lip - prompted some discussion on BirdForum, but also transpires to be within the 'flavescens' variation.
Sunday offered the opportunity to track down the Nightingales singing at Hythe, north of Maidstone. I photographed one singing individual within three minutes of arrival - and by 7am - but then had no luck getting further images, despite seeing a further four males. A robber fly with victim was rather eerie.
Monday saw us joining David Capper and brood to rejoice in the Green-winged Orchid-filled meadows at Marden, south of Maidstone. The display was simply superb, right at its peak. A few tens of thousand of pink, magenta, pink and white blooms. Stunning. We finished with a quick trip to Trosley country park, near Wrotham. A quick wander of the scrubby chalk downland produced a single yearling Adder and a few Slow Worms. Grizzled and Dingy Skippers were looking rather faded compared to when I saw them here a few weeks ago, but Brimstones and Peacocks continued to dazzle. A few day-flying moths included Speckled Yellows.
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