30th March

After a pretty wet night I was surprised to find a pristine Pale Pinion in the moth trap.  This is a rare but increasing moth locally and one we've taken a couple of times previously.

Pale Pinion

A walk locally produced a few singing Chiffs but not much else in persistent drizzle.

25th-29th March

25th March

More migrants locally with two Chiffs and a Firecrest in nearby gardens.

My walk at Cley had some nice people on it -the birds were a little disappointing though they seemed pleased with Marsh Harriers, Ruff etc, which is the important thing. So was the rest of the day except for a brief patch of excitement when an American Wigeon was reported from Daukes. Unfortunately this was not to be as it was probably an American/Eurasian hybrid when eventually found around a ditch from Teal hide, showing badly. Cettis were singing though and a Peacock butterfly added colour.

26th March

Wandered up the golf course and saw the Alpine Swift again. Three or four Chiffs were singing as was a Blackcap in Ben’s garden and there seemed to be a few Greenfinches moving. A solitary Black Redstart had taken up temporary residence on the bungalows at the east end.

27th

Good numbers of moths this morning but nothing exceptional.

With our son and his girlfriend up for the weekend, before lunch we all went for a walk at Felbrigg in the chilly sunshine. Not really expecting much, a calling Nuthatch was nice but the 50 or so Crossbills in the mixed conifers and larches were excellent, as was the singing Firecrest in its usual car park. I haven’t seen or heard Nuthatch in the village this year – how ominous this is remains to be seen as they have been quite common before this winter.

28th

Shoulder Stripe

A Shoulder Stripe in the trap was nice. This is a moth which was new for us when we moved here but has occurred annually since. There was also a very late March Moth showing how mixed up the spring for moths seems to be so far.

Before lunch we walked round the village and happened on the local Alpine Swift feeding over nearby houses. This was too good an opportunity to miss and ten minutes in the garden secured it for the garden list, flying low over the trees opposite and next door

29th

Following from news the previous evening, Phil V, Alan D and I twitched Suffolk for the male Lesser Kestrel at Westleton Heath. I made the mistake of assuming it would be easy to see and left my scope behind, not reckoning on it being about ½ mile away. Views were just about tickable with scrounged views through Colin Mac’s scope. That will teach me!

In worsening weather we went looking for the Pallid Swift at Kessingland but couldn’t find it. The two Alpine Swifts on the front were easier but looking pitiful in the steady rain, hunched up under a ledge on the block of flats they were roosting on.

Quite an amazing collection of birds along this short stretch of coast. I’d only seen two Alpine Swifts in UK, one years ago in Kent and one at Cromer light not long after we moved, so three in a few days was a bit unexpected.

23rd/24th March 2010

23rd March


A good day, the sun was shining, with lots of moths, mostly Common Quakers, in the trap.  Out and about there were a few butterflies, Peacock and several Small Tortoiseshells and an arrival of spring migrant birds. A walk up the golf course in the morning produced 9+ Chiffs, three each Wheatears and Black Redstarts, a male Stonechat, a White Wagtail and a cracking Firecrest. The best was yet to come when after a period of sky gazing in the garden over a mug of coffee, I’d just gone back in when Tony rang to say there was an Alpine Swift 250m away over the village! Despite rushing out and getting down to the coast in minutes there was inevitably no sign of it, though a Swallow was some compensation.

Putting the news out straight off paid dividends when it was refound flying west over the Runtons so a quick drive – if you can call it that, stuck behind a cement lorry- got me to West Runton where it showed brilliantly over the pub. Everybody happy especially when it flew back east and showed well over Cromer round the church, so I did see it on the patch. However, its not even a patch tick as it’s the second we’ve seen since moving, not bad considering I never got close to one in Essex. The wonders of Norfolk!

Meanwhile, in the garden a hovering bee-like fly seems to be Merodon equestris, a bee-mimicking hoverfly.

Presumed Merodon equsetris

24th March

More moths in the trap including our first Norfolk Lead-coloured Drab, a moth we’d seen a few times in Essex. Frog spawn is increasing rapidly in the pond while we found lots more frogs in a pond opposite the golf course entrance.

A much quieter walk up the golf course with only a couple of Chiffs singing, but another Firecrest lit up the western end of the old railway line. Primroses along there are very late though they are now flowering along the Northrepps footpath, so I’ll wait for some decent light and have a go with the 5D.

21st March

Another mild, bright and breezy day so I went for a late morning walk at Trimingham.  Best birds were two White Wags and a cracking Firecrest at the entrance to the caravan park.  Several bees around, presumably terrestris but the only butterfly was a Small Toroiseshell at the rockpile in Overstrand.

This week

A busy week with little time to write the blog up so this is something of a catch up.

Adder, Incleborough

With the onset of much milder weather there has been lots of activity with our first butterflies (Brimstone and Peacock, Barton Broad 16/3), bees (B.terrestris, 17th) and frogs in the pond (17th). A walk up Incleborough in the sun on 19th produced two adders but hardly any raptors. There were however stacks of 7-spot Ladybirds emerging as there have been elsewhere, so they have overwintered successfully after last autums invasion.

Moth numbers have increased with our first Common and Twin Spot Quakers, Hebrew Characters, Satellites and Common Plumes while we are still catching single Early Moths most nights, our latest. Quality has been delivered in the form of two Yellow horned, our 8th and 9th ever here.

7-spot Ladybirds and Yellow horned

Locally birds have included a female Black Redstart in the village on 16th and a male Wheatear, White Wagtail and two Tree Sparrows on the golf course 20th. Elsewhere there were a Common Redpoll and Snow Bunting at Sheringham on 14th, three Lesser Redpolls at Barton Broad 16th and 8+ Sand Martins at Cley on 18th where there were also a Buzzard through west and a female Black Redstart late on, as well as a considerable increase in visible Marsh Harriers over various parts of the marsh. One interesting bird was a neck ringed Greylag, one of a pair near Billy’s Wash, presumably part of a ringing scheme somewhere and perhaps genuinely wild.

11th/12th March

11th March


With temperatures no higher than 5.1C the previous day and down to a meagre 0.8C overnight on the patio I was surprised to find four moths in and around the trap including Pale Brindled Beauty and our first Grey Shoulder Knot of the year.

Pale Brindled Beauty on post

Off to Cley where I met Andy and wandered round the reserve. Not many birds, three or more Ruff and a Spotted Redshank were the highlights with a few Grey Seals moving off the beach. It did however turn into a glorious day after an unpromising start so I took off for Morston late on for an hour to photograph the very obliging Spotted Red there. True to its reputation it showed really well and a little manoeuvring and patience got me some reasonable shots.

Spotted Redshank, Morston

12th March

After rain overnight, four moths of three species at the trap were OK but nothing new.

A walk to Incleborough Hill in the afternoon produced very little except a flock of goldfinches. Oddities were a ringed Dunlin on a puddle by the duck pond at East Runton and a semi albino Wood Pigeon in a flock by Sandy Lane, Cromer.

9th March

With the more overcast conditions and a higher min temperature of 2C, there were a few moths last night with two each of Chestnut and March Moth, our latest ever Spring Usher plus a favourite spring moth, Oak Beauty. This time last year we were catching Quakers however, so it’s looking a late spring. Lets hope numbers pick up.

Spring Usher on house wall

7th March 2010

With the temperature down to –4C last night I was more than surprised this morningt o find an Early Moth and March Moth round the trap, which had only been left on by default. Hardy little b*****s, aren’t they and they did well not to be picked off by the Great Tits


Given the lovely, if chilly weather, I went for a long walk round Northrepps/Sidestrand before lunch but saw little except three Buzzards and a couple of Bullfinches.

3rd/4th March

Sunshine and calm winds and thoughts turn to birding, but first, there was a moth in the trap wednesday morning, just a Chestnut but welcome nonetheless.

With reasonably recent information on them I thought I'd try and get some shots of the Waxwings in N.Walsham Sainsburys car park.  Three birds showed well if a bit aginst the light, but I managed a shot or two.  Why I haven't done so before is beyond me as there have been a lot locally over the last 3 years including some in the garden.

Waxwing, N Walsham

The rest of the day was less successful, with no sign of the Glaugc at Sheringham and no birds at all along the entrance road to Felbrigg.

Thursday and before I went to Cley I tried again for the Glauc, which was sitting distantly on one of the red lampshades off Sheringham front.

Following on from Wednesday's theme, another bird I've not photographed before were the Snow Bunts at Salthouse.  Trying to avoid the crowds there is a bit of a challenge but I mangaed some distant shots before it got too busy - for me, the birds seemed fine.

Snow Bunting at Salthouse

Then to Cley where a few birds have started to arrive, most notably Avocets and the first Ruff I've seen since the ground froze. Shelducks were starting to look splendid as were the Teal and Gadwall in front of the hides so it would have been rude not to photograph them. Most of the day was spent talking dragonflies however - only a month or so to go!

Tenerife - 12th-26th Feb

Tenerife 2010 – brief notes




We visited Tenerife from 12th-26th February 2010 mostly to get some winter sun but also to try and see several birds which we had not tried for on an earlier visit and to see and photograph as many endemic butterflies and dragonflies as we could. Unfortunately, perhaps owing to the wet winter and the torrential rain on at least one day of our first week, insects were hard to find but we did manage a few.

We stayed between Costa Adeje and La Caleta which is a lot quieter area than Los Christianos/Playa de las Americas just down the road, but has the same parking problems, i.e few hotels have dedicated parking, which meant in practice once we had left the hotel we couldn’t return till at least 4.00pm when some staff left. Not a problem in good weather but difficult when it closes in.


Birds

Common birds around the resorts were Yellow-legged Gull ssp atlantis Spanish Sparrow, Collared/African Collared Dove and lots of Chiffs.
We saw both pigeons at Erjos by walking 1.4km along the track into the laurel forest to where it turns sharp left. A footpath goes straight on and after about 20m opens out to look over the trees. We visited twice and saw 2 Laurels and 3 Bolles the first time and 2 Bolles the second. Each visit was about midday and we didn’t stay for more than 3/4hr. All pigeons were very close, 50m maximum, though views were brief.

Walking the track also produced Tenerife Robin, Tenerife Goldcrest, tintillon Chaffinches, Canaries, Sardinian Warbler, Buzzard and a newly arrived flock of Plain Swifts

Wood Duck with Coot

Nearby Erjos Ponds had several Coots and a surprise young male Wood Duck first noted in autumn 2009 apparently.

Our first visit to Las Lajas picnic site was in wet cold weather but we still managed Canaries, African Blue Tit and Great Spotted Woodpecker. We had to wait for a second visit in slightly better conditions to see Blue Chaffinch but we then saw 7 males and a female, at least two of the males sporting shiny metal rings on their right legs.

Other than the above Berthelots Pipit is still a relatively common bird in open country, we saw 2 Barbary Partridges randomly crossing the road and Canary Island Chiffs were common, calling and singing. On at least one occasion we heard what may have been Iberian Chiff singing and several birds seen and heard calling looked to be from northern European populations.

Berthelots Pipit and

Canary Island Chiff

We only saw Southern Grey Shrike, Hoopoe and Spectacled Warbler on some rough hillside near Adeje, though they are likely to be easier later in the season


We also believe that both Collared and African Collared Doves are meant to occur but they take some sorting out and we wondered if they were hybridising anyway. We also saw long tailed, dark faced parrots especially at the Las Americanas Golf course (good for Moorhen and Little Egret) which may have been Monk Parakeets.

Butterflies

Generally scarce when we were there, we only saw Monarch (scarce) and African Grass Blue (common on open grassy areas) around the resorts, which was disappointing as we were expecting others including Bath White and African Migrant. We found lots of Small Whites and one Canary Speckled Wood at a small botanical garden near Adeje but the only good butterfly watching was along the Erjos track with Canarian Red Admiral and Speckled Wood, as well as Small Copper. Several Painted Ladies were seen around and about but none stopped for any length of time.

 Monarch, African Grass Blue, Canarian Red Admiral and Canarian Speckled Wood 

 Dragonflies

Scarlet Darter male

Scarlet Darters were found in small numbers in dry coastal habitat and there were several Emperors seen, mostly at Erjos Ponds where egg-laying was noted. The only (perhaps) endemic seen was Atlantic Darter with several along the Erjos track, mostly by the stream but also at the pigeon site.

Atlantic Darter

 Orchids

We went with little information on local orchids available unfortunately apart from knowing they are in the Sanatiago/Masca area. We did find Gennaria diphylla in full flower (such as it is) along the Erjos track perhaps 500m after the pigeon site.

Gennaria diphylla

 Other stuff

One prominent feature of the fauna were lizards and we saw at least two species, Canary Lined Lizard and Tenerife Spotted Lizard, the latter at Erjos. We also heard Tree Frog at Erjos Ponds

Sites
Apart from those mentioned we did want to walk the Barranco del Infierno track for Barbary Falcon and Partridge plus dragonflies and butterflies. Unfortunately it was closed for track refurbishment and may not open any time soon because of the recent floods