Brockholes NR LWT - 23-25th July 2013: Butterflies

Up to 3 White-letter Hairstreaks have been seen together by the famous Bramble patch by Boilton Wood. I have also seen another 2 different individuals at least including a very tatty female type with almost no orange to the under-hindwing whatsoever! These are my favourite UK (that I have seen...I think Marsh or Glanville Fritillary might edge it when I see them!) so to be able to spend most of the day surrounded by several individuals on my local patch was excellent!

 White-letter Hairstreak

 Small White

 Green-veined White

Comma

Brockholes NR LWT - 23-25th July 2013: Mammals

On the 24th, I had an amazing encounter with a buck Roe Deer which waded into No1 pit and then ran out right in front of me allowing superb views and photo opportunities.
Also, whilst at the Bramble Patch by Boilton, I had amazing views of a Stoat that ran right past me at a 'jogging' pace, so nice prolonged views.

Brockholes NR LWT - 23-25th July 2013: The Birds

I've spend part of the last three days at Brockholes catching up on how my patch is getting on and hoping to pick out something a little interesting in the unseasonally (based on the last two summers!) hot weather and thunderstorms.

23rd July
A lovely flock of 12 Black-tailed Godwits were present on Meadow Lake all day including a colour-ringed bird. This bird was one of 900 birds colour-ringed as part of a French project based near Bordeaux. The 2nd sighting away from the ringing site since 2009. A good record.

24th July
I arrived at half seven with the hope of being caught in some showers that may drop something juicy in. It wasn't long before the clouds cleared and the sun was beaming down from above. I therefore concentrated mainly on butterflies, but whilst waiting the Hairstreaks to arrive at the bramble patch near to the eastern side of Boilton Wood, I heard the noise that I was really hoping for: 'Jip-Jip'. It was a Common Crossbill flying north. There's an obvious movement at the moment, so I was really happy to see my first Brockholes Crossbill.

25th July
A check of Meadow Lake revealed and adult and juvenile Dunlin followed by 4 adult Dunlin on No1. A good start and nice to note some obvious movement during the showery weather overnight. I checked No1 from the family hide viewpoint and soon came across the bright face of a Common Scoter. My 3rd self found at the site and my first this Decade I believe! The bird was present all morning at least.

The bird spend a long time bathing, preening and flapping wings. Possibly ready to move on soon?

I made sure I checked the back of the head just to rule out Black Scoter! Obviously not very likely, but one of these days, if you don't check, it'll be one!

Oxfordshire - 15th July 2013

Nick Patel, Jonny Scragg, Ash Baines and I decided to utilise the nice weather and make our way to the chalkhills to try and mop up on butterflies. We hired a car with Thrifty Cars and headed down to Oxfordshire, arriving for just after lunch.
We started at Aston Rowant reserve between Oxford and High Wycombe and is famed for it's butterflies including Chalkhill Blue and Silver-spotted Skipper.

 Marbled White - Aston Rowant

It would appear that we were a touch early to visit the site and neither of the previously mentioned species were seen during out visit. We did however see lots of Marbled White - a butterfly that I have only seen once before, so to see c200 flying was excellent. I also was able to see my first Essex Skippers at the site which really took a lot of effort to find as Skippers just do not settle and as the main difference between the two species is the underneath of the tip of the antenna is black (rather than orange on Small Skipper), a settled butterfly was really required. We think we had 3 in total at the site. It was also nice to see lots of Dark-green Fritillary at the site as well as I'm only used to seeing them on Limestone areas such as Arnside Knott in Lancs.

 Silver-washed Fritillary coming down to drink. Bernwood Forest.

Once we realised that we were probably a bit early, we moved onto Bernwood Forest with the main targets being Purple Emperor and White Admiral. As we stepped out the car in the car park, the first thing we saw was a White Admiral which was excellent! A really gorgeous butterfly and a new species for me as I've only seen Southern White Admiral abroad. Moving on, we soon came across a few Silver-washed Fritillaries, which have to go down as one of the prettiest species of insect in the UK.

 White Admiral coming down to drink

We discovered a small muddy pond which we got told was a good spot for Purple Hairstreak and Purple Emperor to drink from. As we arrived at the pond, we flushed a Purple Hairstreak which flew up to the top of an Oak and then never came back down again. We did get some great views of White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillaries drinking though, which was really nice.

 Purple Harstreak at the top of an Oak

Brand new 13 plate Ford Fiesta with only 600 miles on the clock when we set off!

In addition to the butterflies, we saw several Muntjack, Red Kite and yaffling Green Woodpecker, and a plethora of supercars on the drive down. A really enjoyable day, despite the only slight success of target species seen. Driving a new, white hire car with air con, getting out the car into 30oC heat and seeing White Admirals really made it feel like we were abroad. A great day!

The Dynamic Duo!

 On Monday, after Twiteing in the valley, I was picked up by Adrienne and went into Snowdonia National Park to visit on of only a handful of inland UK nests. The nest site was remarkable really as we had to basically abseil down into a cave and then climb a wall followed by a scurry on a ledge, then I belay as Adrienne got the birds from the nest. There were 3 lovely healthy chicks to ring in this nest, but boy was it a hassle to get to! Always a great bird to handle

 

Yesterday, Matt and I joined Tony and Adrienne in the Bangor Little Egret colony where we managed to catch 10 Little Egrets of various sizes during the evening and again, these birds are a joy to ring, despite having remarkably sharp claws and an need to constatly grad things such as leg, arm, finger etc.

2 birds that we also caught, may have been a new species for me in the hand, but they certainly weren't a pleasure to ring! I was unaware just how bad a baby bird could smell until a Grey Heron was plonked onto my lap, followed by a whole crab coming out one end and a shower of white coming out the other! They really do have an impressive reach with their neck, so you really need to hold them at arms length it you would rather your sense of smell wasn't to become your main sense! Impressive prehistoric beasts though!

Tony has recently got a new Welsh Collie puppy called Dylan. Needless to say, he soon became my best friend! Except for he had suspicions that my leg was in fact a female dog haha.

Zac Hinchcliffe BSc Hons

Hello everyone!

Over the past three years, I have lived in Bangor, North Wales studying Zoology with Animal Behaviour. Today I found out that I have come away with a 2:1 degree with a first in my dissertation project, which as many of you all know too well, was on Tits!

Thank you for keeping updated on my blog and hope you have enjoyed my tales of Welsh undergraduate birding!

Now onto the Postgraduate birding! Bring it on!

Nant Ffrancon - 1st May 2013

 Male Lesser Redpoll

Female Wheatear.

This morning, Kelvin and I tried to start off the summer colour-ringing/radio tracking project on Twite in the Nant Ffrancon. During the morning we saw 8 Twite in total including a couple of singing males and best of all a colour-ringed bird. This bird was ringed by Matt, Ros and I at Flint in February.

Birds that we did catch were 2 Lesser Redpolls (breeding pair) and 2 Northern Wheatears. The male weighed 45g and was packed full of fat (Fat 5/6). He was enourmous!

We also managed to get lovely views of 4 Ring Ouzel and a singing male Common Redstart.

It was a shame we didn't get any Twite, but it does mean I actually get to have a rest over the next couple of days before the inevitable field work that will separate the men from the boys!

Wheatears and Radio Tags - 30th April 2013

This afternoon, Matt and I joined Rachel in our Twite valley to train with the radio tracking receivers for the up and coming field work of my Masters project.

There was quite a lot of standing around waiting for people to get in position and various prolonged moments when we were acclimatising ourselves with the various technologies we will be using during the fieldwork.

As a result, we set up a few spring traps as there were Wheatears everywhere! Almost every 100 metres through the valley, there was pair 'tacking' away. We were able to catch 3 adult male birds and two of these were ringed by me. This is a new species for me in the hand and they're just lovely!

Really excited for the field work as it will be so beneficial for the future of Twite in Wales and the future of my career! It will be very hard work, but nothing in life worth having comes easy.

5 of the 6!

 Common Lizard

 Slow Worm

 Grass Snake

 Adder

 Adder

Adder

Today I took part in a field course for my Herpetology module at Uni and did some reptile surveys at 2 sites in North Wales. We had really great views of the 4 species above (inc 28 Slow Worms) as well as 4 fantastic Sand Lizards at one site. I didn't get any photos of the Sand Lizards as we were trying to minimise disturbance, so I was just pleased to get great views of 2 males and 2 females.

A really enjoyable day and nice to see two UK first for me! - Grass Snake and Sand Lizard.

No deer were harmed in the making of this post!

I haven't quite mastered digiscoping yet...especially when I'm all shakey with excitement!

On sunday, when I was packing the car in Preston, ready to head back to Bangor after the Easter break, I checked Facebook (because I have no life and require Facebook as a life-support!). I noticed that Rob Smallwood posted that there was a Killdeer at Alston Res, Longridge!

I instantly dropped the packing and got into the car to drive the 5 miles to Alston! I got a phone call half way there off Bill Aspin to tell me the bird had flown off! I stopped off at Grimsargh Res to quickly check in case the bird had dropped in, but failed to find anything that would even remotely harm a deer! As a result, I continued to Alston with the hope that it would come back.

Upon arrival, the 15 birders present were running around like headless chickens, so I parked the car and sprinted to the nearest viewing screen. The bird was back!

A superb bird that really showed off during my time viewing the bird. It showed the characteristic double breast band, and when it took flight, it showed the striking orange rump and startlingly white wing bars which reminded me of the inside of a Cream Egg! The call was also very striking and sounded like a cross between a Lapwing and Golden Plover. It was remarkably loud and you could hear it calling even after it departed the wetland at 11.50 (ish...)

Gavin Thomas must be the luckiest man on the planet currently after finding a Killdeer in Ireland 10 days prior to finding it the same/another bird on his local patch in Lancashire! This is a first for Lancashire and a real deserved award for dedicated patchers of Alston (Gavin and Tony Parnell)

My personal thoughts are that the Irish bird and the Alston birds are different after looking at photos of the two birds, but I will leave that to the 'higher ups' to decide.

A session of AA's - 4th March 2013

'collybita' Chiffchaff

This morning, Matt and I did a spot of overwintering warbler ringing and came out with a catch of a collybita Chiffchaff, 2 Goldcrest and 3 Long-tailed Tits.

Not an amazing catch, but we put the net in the wrong place, I think, but the site itself is incredible for migrants!

Blackbirds - 25th February 2013

Matt and I met at 04.15 this morning and caught 4 Blackbirds at various sites around Bangor

AH - The first bird was an adult male caught within 10 seconds of the net being up by Aldi carpark
AI - The second bird took a bit of effort on upper Farrar Road but eventually the male landed in the 2nd pocket
AJ - As with the first bird, this adult male was in the net within 15 seconds of putting the net up right in front of Memorial Building!
AK - This was the first, and currently only, female Blackbird that we've caught so far. She was seen fighting off a male in University Gardens and flew straight into our net and is now sporting a lovely orange darvic.

A quick wander round Bangor has revealed a lot of unringed birds, but between Matt and I, we have now seen 4 ringed birds in the field and they are very easy to notice, but take a little bit of practice to be able to read the rings. Hopefully, other observers will have enough patience to give ring-reading a go.

Ringing Ringed Plover at Rhos! - 23rd February 2013

Matt and I woke up early this morning and were set up by 4.20am near Bangor Police Station. We caught two Blackbirds this morning which are now sporting bright shiny colour-rings.
At 6.45, I was picked up at ASDA in Bangor and we headed off to Rhos-on-sea where we had set 2 nets for Turnstone. They weren't exactly playing ball and we eventually fired the net on 6 Ringed Plover including the above adult (probably male) which was rather stunning indeed! This is a new species for me in the UK in terms of ringing, so I was pretty happy! I also managed to see my first 2013 Purple Sandpiper and catch up with some ringing friends I haven't seen for a long time!

An enjoyable, albeit cold, morning.

Fflint Twite...a few more snaps!

I couldn't resist a few more photos from Tuesday's trip to Flint Castle, so hope you enjoy.

 Sunrise on the Dee

 The frustration of up to 7 Twite sat on the shelf strings of the nets evading capture!

 The flock was very obliging indeed sometimes coming as close as 20 feet in the food-rich marshy edge.

Bangor Blackbird Project - 21st February 2013

In conjunction with BTO Wales, I have started a colour-ringing project on Blackbirds in the grounds of the University and anywhere between. This is to monitor the longevity of the birds, to see if breeding birds are resident or summer migrants, as well an being able to territory map the singing males. We fit an orange darvic ring on the left leg with 2 black digits e.g. AA, A3. This morning we headed out at 04.45 as males were already feeding and attempted to catch a few. Around Bangor, we saw many, but we only managed to catch 3. I say 'only', but I was really pleased with the catch and it's going to be very exciting to wander around the university campus and see colour-ringed Blackbirds!

 AA - Nice adult male that flew straight into the net as we walked away from setting! Hopefully he'll do well as he's our flagship!

 AC - This 2cy male had a superb orange bill that I don't think I've seen in the hand before.

At the last site we tried, we caught a Redwing and a Chaffinch, but the Blackbirds were having none of it!

More Twite in Flint! - 19th February 2013

This morning, Matt, Ros and I ventured to Flint on the train at dawn to attempt to catch more of the accumulated Twite flock.
It took a while for the flock to come into view as they were further up the marsh towards Chester for the start and eventually we caught the first bird, which happened to be a Goldfinch! This wasn't the target, but it was new for Ros and the first Goldfinch to be ringed with my rings.
After this we managed to catch a single juvenile female Twite, a single adult male Twite and then a 2 bird catch of an adult female and juvenile male Twite.
A really successful morning and Twite are fast becoming one of my favourite birds. They are just superb little things with an enchanting call.

Bangor Mountain - 17th February 2013

Another short session up Bangor Mountain yesterday morning saw 2 Wren being caught along with 1 Blue Tit, 2 Robin, 2 Dunnock, a Coal Tit and a Great Tit.

Birds starting to move overhead, so should hopefully catch some migrant finches etc soon.

Afternoon on Bangor Mountain - 16th February 2013

 22nd Coal Tit ringed with my C-permit.

I spent an afternoon on Bangor Mountain today taking advantage of the Spring sun and the rare lack of strong wind in North Wales! It feels like forever since I got out ringing by myself.

It wasn't an outstanding catch, but 2 Long-tailed Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 2 Dunnock and a Great Tit made for a nice relaxing afternoon in the sun.

Llinos y Mynydd Twite! - 15th February 2013

 Colour-ringed Twite

Flint Castle

With Twite now on the move back to breeding habitat, birds are moving along the Welsh Coast from the Dee, so we went to Flint today where there was a superb flock of c40 Twite gathered on the high tide. It was great to see the birds so well as it's a bird I rarely see and certainly rarely see well. We managed to see 4 colour-ringed birds including: Orange above Metal, White above Yellow, which was a bird that isn't from the known Welsh population which was great.
The highlight was of course catching and ringing a lovely 1st winter bird that was duly colour-ringed. A new species for me in the hand, and a taste of the near-future as I will be taking over the N.Wales project for a Post-grad degree.

A really enjoyable day thanks to Kelvin and Matt.