Friday, August 30, 2013
It's a mistake to go back
Or at least it is if you are expecting more of the same; but up on Bagshot Heath yesterday there was no sign of Sunday's lesser spotted woodpecker. Pipits and woodlarks were also conspicuous by their absence; instead there were two compensatory wheatears with a family of stonechats.
A redstart flew into the dead pine by the stream as we crossed it; but I must admit I didn't notice the great spotted woodpecker at the time.
Army manoeuvres were on the go, but I doubt that was the reason for the dearth of birdlife. I think the clear still nights of recent weeks have been ideal for birds to migrate, with the result that they have been passing over inland sites and getting to the coast while the going is good.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
I spent an absorbing half-hour this afternoon at the ponds in the grounds of Dorney Rowing Lake. The smaller pond has shrunk, leaving lots of wet mud at the end. There were at least three different species of dragonfly, one damselfly, and several kinds of hoverfly.
This segmented creature hauled itself out of the water and moved rapidly across the mud, poking its nose into all sorts of nooks and crannies. I haven't a clue what it is; I'll have to look it up. (Later: it's the larva of a soldier fly: Stratiomys longicornis. The Observer's Book of Pond Life gave me the genus, and on googling this I found photos on Wikipedia and a Czech site called biolib.cz that looked identical to my find.)
The picture below probably shows a leech, given the way the creature was moving.
Best of all was a family of reed warblers. The birds flew from the small pond to the patch of Phragmites on the main pond; they were lovely to see and also gave me a site tick.
Walking back to my car on the common along the road I only glanced over at the hedgerow where a whinchat was reported yesterday as I didn't really want to twitch. As luck would have it, the whinchat was in the rose bush near my car, next to the dried-up stream. Never one to look a gift-horse in the mouth I got a distant shot. I reclined on the ground to use my rucksack as support for the camera, thereby attracting raucous laughter from a small passing hatchback full of idiot boys and an audible rude comment from a Land Rover containing two idiot men.
Back in September 2008 I cycled down to Dorney on a similarly hot day, and digiscoped a stonechat in the very same rosebush. Since then I've scanned the bush on every visit.
A walk on the downs yesterday produced a few sightings. We stopped for lunch on the bridleway to West Ilsley, hoping for a redstart in hawthorns along the sheep field. We'd just sat down on the bank when a small grey-blue bird hurtled low over our heads from behind, just cleared the fence, and streaked away low across the field and out of sight. Greger noted rather pointed wings and a stiff wing action. I hardly noticed anything. Might have been a sparrowhawk, but equally might have been a merlin.
The weedy field behind and above us held at least two wheatears and a whinchat, but with the gallops between it was difficult to see them.
A redstart was seen briefly on Old Down and a yellow wagtail flew over as we rejoined the Ridgeway west of Scutchamer Knob. We enjoyed the walk but came home with no pictures.
Sunday, August 25, 2013
A lesser-spot for lunch!
We were heading for the downs this morning then changed our minds at the Braywick Roundabout and went to Swinley Forest instead. I'm so glad we did!
At Lower Star Post, Greger suggested taking a different track from our usual one. This took us into a mountain biking area where we watched bikers hurtle down a steep gully; the calls of crossbills were heard and we saw a flock of 15-20 birds flying over the tree-tops.
But the best birds came on the high Surrey heathland, where we sat on a bank to eat lunch. A dead pine tree some distance away was busy with birds, and while Greger had a second cup of coffee I wandered over to see what they were. A stonechat and a willow warbler were foraging close together. Autumn-bright meadow pipits and fluting woodlarks were perching in the tree between bouts of ground-feeding. And then, with a little shock, I realised that the tree also held a lesser spotted woodpecker.
The lesser spotted woodpecker flew down into a dead sapling, where it foraged just a few feet above the ground.
Eventually it flew off to the north-east. There have been several reports of these woodpeckers in Swinley Forest, a couple of them in the southern parts near Lower Star Post; but with my head always full of the "specials" when I'm out on the heathland, it had never occurred to me that I might also see a lesser spot there.
Later, as we walked back up into the forest from Wishmoor, we surprised a juvenile cuckoo sitting on the gravel track. Extensive white on the head gave the bird a distinctive appearance. This displaced Greger's Maidenhead cuckoo as my latest ever.
The Vulcan bomber (last one flying) was an unexpected and thrilling sight as it flew low eastwards over the danger area and the forest. I can't help finding these (and Spitfires, Lancasters, Chinooks) exciting even though they're to do with war. Just one of the irreconcilable things about being human I suppose.
The juvenile stonechat was peeping out from the danger area; two adult stonechats were bathing in a puddle nearby.
Despite the passing over of several large dark clouds there were only a few raindrops, and for most of the day the weather was fine and warm.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
A Taplow garden
A brown argus butterfly flew in yesterday and landed on the wild marjoram. I've never seen one before, so it was a bit special to get my first sighting of one in the garden.
The marjoram is nearly finished and the hebe flowers aren't as good as they have been in the past. Two bumblebees were found dead on the flowers this morning after a fairly cold night.
The worst thing this summer has been the complete absence of ladybirds. I'd begun to despair also of the larger hoverflies; but this morning a banded/hornet hoverfly zoomed in onto the hebe. This is the insect that first got me started and I'm glad one turned up as this will be the last year I record the wildlife in the garden.
When I began using the internet to look up insects I didn't know (which was most of them!) I realised that quite a few other people had also embarked on documenting the wildlife in their gardens, many of them as amateur as I was. Their blogs proved useful in helping to identify the various creatures, and I'm also indebted to many macro-photographers who have posted useful as well as stunning pictures on the web. One of these is Jeremy Early, who has also written a book entitled My Side of the Fence: The Natural History of a Surrey Garden.
Possibly the first garden recorder was Jennifer Owen (Wildlife of a Garden: a Thirty-year Study), who found thousands of species including invertebrates, mammals, birds, and plants and discovered six species of parasitic wasp previously unknown to science. I have photos of tiny parasitic wasps that I still haven't identified, but when I learnt that there are about 6,000 species in this country alone, I gave up! My list is probably under 200 species; and it's been only occasionally frustrating, mostly fun, and always interesting.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
This could be the biggest bee I've ever seen. We get buff-tailed queen bumblebees in the garden and they are said to be around 22mm. The cuckoos that parasitise them are apparently around 21mm, and I believe this is an extra large southern cuckoo bumblebee.
A tractor was harrowing a strip in a harvested field, and this was attracting corvids and gulls. The harrier was sitting in the stubble, presumably waiting for a passing vole. I took the pic from the road.
Otherwise the only notable birds on our walk yesterday were a little bunch of migrant willow warblers in a hawthorn tree. The best thing airborne was a passing Spitfire.
Thursday, August 08, 2013
Despite recent bee mortalities, there are at least thirty bumble bees of five different species visiting the garden at the moment; they nectar mostly on lavender, marjoram, and the hebe that is just now coming into flower. There are very few honey bees, however; and I've yet to see any of the larger hoverflies.
There have been two silver-Y moths. This one fluttered (more like "whirred") across the lawn and landed head-down on the fork. I wonder if it knows that this presents a strange and unsettling "face" to an observer? Probably what it does know is that in this position it's less likely to be bothered; evolution has done the rest.
I've been lazily counting five large white butterflies for several days, but a closer look revealed that some might be small whites (I find it hard to distinguish) while this one is different again. I think it could be a green-veined white.
Exciting because it's another garden first. A comma butterfly paid a brief visit yesterday; but there are still no ladybirds.
Tuesday, August 06, 2013
Yesterday I got caught in a real downpour on Dorney Common when I went down to see the pectoral sandpiper reported by another birder. It was a lovely wader but photography was out of the question. A green sandpiper and a kingfisher were also seen. Earlier, Greger walked out towards Cookham and reported that the cuckoo was still there.
In the garden this morning, a gatekeeper butterfly nectared on marjoram while underneath, a wasp scavenged from a dead bumble bee - killed possibly by the heavy rain yesterday. Bees often simply drop dead "in harness" towards the end of the summer, but after another recent deluge I noticed four or five bumble bee corpses on the flowers, while a drenched cuckoo bee was stumbling through the wet grass. Too much of a coincidence perhaps.
This afternoon I went for a walk across Widbrook Common hoping to get an even later cuckoo sighting than August 1st; but the cuckoo was nowhere to be seen. There were a few compensations, such as this hobby launching itself from the cuckoo's tree in a flurry of blue and red, and scattering dragonfly wings as it goes.
A weasel popped out from the wheat, realised I was there, and spun on its heels to dart back into cover.
It soon emerged again, running across the path and disappearing into the tangle of long grass, thistles, brambles, and hogweed growing along the brook.
Apart from some swifts, loads of red kites, a buzzard, and a yellowhammer singing somewhere unseen, that was about it. Safe journey south for Greger's cuckoo!
Sunday, August 04, 2013
Saturday
There were at least twenty ravens circling and tumbling and calling over the downs. Some of them perched near the gibbet, bringing to mind a macabre association.
Otherwise birds were few and far between.
Thursday, August 01, 2013
Greger's cuckoo
The first thing I did this morning was to try out (not very successfully, I fear) some 1001 carpet shampoo in a corner of the hall. Hands up who remembers this jingle:
"One thousand and one cleans a big, big carpet, for less than half a crown!"
Well, given that you have to whisk the stuff into foam and then apply it by hand with a cloth, I should hope it would be cheap! And I intended to clean whole rooms like this. There must be an easier way.
Next we indulged in some sunbathing in the garden. It proved too hot for us, and as we moved indoors, Greger suddenly said "Oh, I forgot to tell you; on my walk yesterday I saw an interesting bird." He said it flew across from trees lining a stream and then flew back out of sight, and a bit later it was on the path in front of him. He had no binoculars but had fairly close if fleeting views. It appeared to have smooth brown upperparts and was rather falcon-like in shape, and he was pretty sure it was a cuckoo.
We drove along the river from Maidenhead Bridge and parked in Lower Cookham Road at a pull-in, and then made our way across sun-baked fields on the edge of Widbrook Common back towards Maidenhead. As we approached the spot Greger had pointed out, he got onto the bird again as it winged swiftly over the tree-tops and out of sight.
We saw the bird once more as it flew out from the trees, and this time I saw where it had landed. It did look dark brown in flight but seemed greyer in the tree with some brown barring. Anyway, it was certainly a cuckoo, and probably a juvenile. It was very wary, but Greger got this photo.
