Thursday 30 September 2010

Skylarks

A party of 13 skylarks just flew over Ash Valley Golf course heading south east. Largest flying group I have seen locally. Also on and over the course today; several green woodpeckers, 1 male kestrel and up to 50 linnets roosting in shrubs near the putting green

The Camargue 25th - 29th September












































































































































































































Just returned from a super 4 day trip to The Camargue, with a quick visit to Avignon on the last evening.
All very good with a wide selction of birds, butterflies and dragonflies observed, as can be seen in the attached photos.
In all, over 70 species of bird, which is low for this area but was expected as it is between the summer migrants that have now almost all moved on and before the winter migrants arrive. However, a few summer visitors were recorded, including purple heron, roller, aquatic warbler, sub alpine warbler, spotted crake, wood sandpiper, kentish plover, common sandpiper as well as the resident sardinian warbler, moustached warbler, egrets (100's), flamingos (1000's) thekla lark, crested lark, calandra lark, red kite and peregrine.
Day 1: Luton airport at 4.30 for a 6.30 flight to Nimes. Train and bus had me at Albaron village mid afternoon and an exploratory walk gave up 24 species, before returning to the hotel.
Day 2 and a 24 mile bird wander following a 45 minute bus journey. In all another 32 species were seen and heard along with butterflies and dragonflies. Day 3 was spent at the Parc Ornithlogique before a bus trip to Arles and a train journey to Avignon before returning to Nimes for a 13.00hrs flight back to Luton.
Great trip, good food, super natural history and great weather.
Photos;
self portrait
red underwing moth
clouded yellow butterfly
red veined darter ( I think. good discussion on bird forum thread regarding some of the darters I photographed)
scarlet darter
flamingos in flight
coypu
general architecture
Popes Palace, Avignon,
River Rhone, Avignon
little egret
flamingos
bull
horses
red kite
The road out of Ste Marie de la Mer
Looking south from the road
The hectic road
Looking north from St Marie
Statue to the horse in town centre.
I have been booked to give an illustrated talk on this trip: Little Hadham village Hall. 7.45pm Tuesday 9th November. All welcome, £1.50 entrance which will include coffee and cake. Please come along and help increase the funds for the village social club and hopefully have a pleasant and interesting talk.

Friday 17 September 2010

North Norfolk 13th - 16th September

A few splendid days spent at Salthouse, staying at The Dun Cow. Basically, just an away break and little specific birding done, but bins came on the walk and so some good birds were registered.
Lapland Buntings were a highlight, along with a pectoral sandpiper, hooded crow, bearded reedling and 400+ black tailed godwits.
Several black terns were feeding along the beach at Cley, with one flying inland and directly over the visitors' centre. Marsh harriers were evident most of the time, along with the expected waders such as curlew, avocet, redshank, little stint and dunlin.
Photos to follow

Thursday 16 September 2010

small copper butterfly


A butterfly not regularly seen around Little Hadham parish is the small copper. However, at Dungeness they are by far the most common butterfly. This was one photo taken near the bird observatory as I have only poor shots of local ones.

A few moths; September 2010
















A few moths found locally, mainly on the walls of the Nag's Head pub, on warm evenings.
In order from the top;
1. square spot rustic
2. small square spot rustic
3. setaceous hebrew character
4. light emerald
5. feathered gothic

Local round up
















A walk on Sunday 12th September offered a selction of expected birds, with common buzzards (3) (1 shown overhead) and regular gulls being good sightings. Butterflies were evident throughout the walk along the Ridge path and then over Ash Valley Golf Course, with comma (photo here) speckled wood (photo attached), red admiral, large and small white and small heath ( photographed here)(6) being observed.
The other photo depicts a juvenile swallow resting on a roof along Chapel Lane.

Dungeness 7th September



A day trip to Dungeness observatory and RSPB reserve was the order of the day. In all, 91 species were recorded with many highlights and lifers for my 3 companions. Top birds included whinchats (a distant bird shown here), wheatears, black redstart, hen harrier, marsh harrier, juvenile cuckoo (photographed), black necked grebe, spotted redshank and over 30 yellow wagtails. Birds of prey were evident throughout the day with hobby, kestrel, merlin, the harriers and sparrow hawk all being observed. A firecrest was heard but not seen and the bushes appeared to be full of whitethroats, with 1 lesser whitethraot and 1 reed warbler also recorded.
At the patch arctic, little, common, sandwich and black terns were registered along with a solitary kittiwake whilst out at sea a single shelduck headed west and plenty of gannets were heading in both directions along the channel.












This is me

This is me
At the end of another Norfolk Coastal footpath walk. 47 miles, 3 days 99 species of bird. September 2009

Caley Wood view

Caley Wood view
sunshine through the canopy 29.05.08

A walk along the Warta Valley, Poznan, Poland. Feb 2007

A walk along the Warta Valley, Poznan, Poland. Feb 2007
Best birds on this walk: black and middle spotted woodpecker and short toed treecreeper

About Me

My photo
A primary school teacher for 30 years, I retired from teaching in July 2009 to set up my own science enhancement and communication company. The Primary Works offers science clubs, workshops and staged science shows nationwide. I have always been interested in bird watching since my early years. Apparently my first tick was after inquiring about a chaffinch and then receiving the Observer book of birds. By the age of 9 I had moved on to Tory Peterson's collins guide and was now involved on YOC birding holidays to Northumbria, Essex coast, Slimbridge and Yorkshire. My twitching rule is that I will willingly travel 1km for each gram the bird weighs. However, I have had many rarities just by being in the right place. I have travelled widely throughout Europe and also visited Australia and Sri Lanka. In 2016 I spent time at Portland Bird Obs and two trips to Aviero, Portugal. 2017 found me back in Sri Lanka in Feb/March, then July and back for New Year's Eve celebrations in December. Also returned to The Camargue in May for a 4 day trip. Few plans for 2018, but nothing yet booked apart from a trip to the IOW.

Grey heron

Grey heron
Over the allotment 28.09.08

Southern Hawker

Southern Hawker
Ridge footpath 27.08.08

Juvenile green woodpecker (17.08.08)

Juvenile green woodpecker (17.08.08)
Note the stripes, denoting a bird fledged this year.

common blue

common blue
Ash Valley G.C. 15.08.08

Indian balsam (impatiens glandulifera)

Indian balsam (impatiens glandulifera)
River Ash

azure damselfly

azure damselfly
River Ash 28.07.08

marbled white

marbled white
Discovered at Westland Green 22.07.08

ruddy darter

ruddy darter
Bush Wood 21.07.08

honeysuckle 19.07.08

honeysuckle 19.07.08
growing in hedgerow in Chapel Lane

cinnabar moth caterpillar

cinnabar moth caterpillar
Photographed on ragwort 19.07.08

Bittersweet

Bittersweet
Study of petals 11.06.08

male yellowhammer

male yellowhammer
08.06.08

common blue butterfly

common blue butterfly
06.06.08

River Ash

River Ash
looking south from the bridge at Hadham Ford

Common poppy (papaver rhoeas)

Common poppy (papaver rhoeas)
in rape field 29.05.08

Caley Wood sunshine

Caley Wood sunshine
29.05.08

Millenium Wood fox

Millenium Wood fox
24.05.08

common comfrey (symphytum officinale)

common comfrey (symphytum officinale)
06.05.08 banks of the River Ash

Garlic Mustard or Jack by the Hedge,(Alliara petiolata)

Garlic Mustard or Jack by the Hedge,(Alliara petiolata)
flowers, leaves and fruit edible . Good in salad and pesto

April showers

April showers
Double rainbow 30.04.08

Caley Wood bluebells

Caley Wood bluebells
22.04.08

Yellow Archangel

Yellow Archangel
Chapel Lane (20.04.08)

sunlight 16.04.08

sunlight 16.04.08
looking south west from Bush Wood

snowy buds

snowy buds
06.04.08 in Bush Wood

Looking north west

Looking north west
05.04.08 evening shower approaching

Back Garden

Back Garden
Easter Sunday (23.03.08)

Brick Kiln Hill

Brick Kiln Hill
Looking east (23.03.08)

No play today

No play today
The 2nd hole at Ash Valley golf course

Teasel head

Teasel head
Bush Wood (21.03.08)

Reflections

Reflections
daffodils at Bush Wood pond (21.03.08)

Swollen River Ash

Swollen River Ash
The river at the bottom of Winding Hill 16.03.08

Daybreak over the chapel

Daybreak over the chapel
Thursday 13th March

Wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus)

Wild daffodils (narcissus pseudonarcissus)
growing in Bush Wood

January snowdrops

January snowdrops
Banks of River Ash, north of Much Hadham

Good Moon

Good Moon
From garden 24.01.08

Village Green

Village Green
Looking east towards Acremore Street

Looking south before Hadham Ford

Looking south before Hadham Ford
rare January blue sky

Useful sites

The following are some useful websites that may interest readers of this blog.
Firstly, Bishop's Stortford Natural History Society http://bsnhs.webplus.net/

Fellow birder, Gary Whelan's blog. Gives reports from our trips out together plus reports from his trips abroad. http://hairybirders.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.hertsbirdclub.org.uk/ The official herts bird club website. Frequently updated, listing bird sightings around the county. Offers links to many other websites. Both of these sites also offer links to yahoo discussion groups.
http://www.birdforum.net/ An international site. You can enter as a guest but become a member( free) to post comments, bird sightings and just about anything to do with wild birds. Good news updates, classified section for binoculars, cameras etc.
http://www.guidedbirdwatching.com/ A new site set up where you can contact people worldwide who will help you find good birds in their country. UK section being set up presently.
http://www.britainsbirder.co.uk/
Fellow birders blog. Strtford resident, Graeme Smith regulary birds the area south of Stortford as well as around Spellbrook and the River Stort from Spellbrook to Twyford Locks. Some superb bird photography: Graeme uses a digital camera attached to his powerful telescope to get detailled images of the birds he sees. Well worth a browse.
Two local sites that may be of interest can be found at
http://www.thehadhams.com/ www.thepelhams.net/content/section/12/139/

South Easterly walk

South Easterly walk
black, normal, red extended walk

South Westerly route.

South Westerly route.
Black usual, red extended

North Easterly walk

North Easterly walk
black short, walk. Red, extended

North West Patch

North West Patch
black route regular. Red route the extended wander