Day in the Forest

Out with Andy on Sunday and as the Honey Buzzards have been showing again recently we decided to go for them this morning then maybe go on to the coast later, we ended up spending the whole day with them and were glad we did. The day started at the Wykeham Raptor viewpoint and after being entertained by several common Buzzards plus a couple of juv Goshawks sparring with each other during the morning three Honey Buzzards got up over the other side of the valley around midday, they showed well enough but were a little distant so after lunch we headed over to the other side of the valley to see if we could get a little closer. We spent about an hour at one spot where a couple of common Buzzards came closer, the two Goshawks were seen again then eventually two Honey's were seen but a way over to our left, we headed off over in that direction and found a likely area and after spending some time at the top end seeing very little we came back to a place midway and realised thats where we should have been all along, after several Raptor sightings we eventually picked up a female Honey and followed her as she landed in a tree and although fairly distant and a bit obscured it was great to see one perched, I decided to walk down the road to see if I could a better angle and was amazed to see two birds flying straight overhead, the male had come in, both birds soared round for a couple of minutes then incredibly landed not only a bit nearer but out in the open as well, absolutely stonking scope views of these birds although a fine drizzle had started hampering attempts at digiscoping, it didn’t last long though and eventually it turned into a nice evening complimented by the male taking to the air again when a second male came over displaying.

some early fungi near the viewpoint

juv Common Buzzard

first grab shot as they flew over me

the pair perched

the male

the female decided on another perch

the second male displaying

soaring during the best part of the day

Lincs

Nothing much around birdwise today so me and Andy decided on another Butterfly day the target being Brown Hairstreak at Chambers Farm Wood in Lincolnshire, unfortunately the morning was more cloudy than we expected with a strong breeze and although we managed to see a couple of Purples it didn’t look likely the Brown Hairstreaks would be out and with there being no sign of improvement by midday we gave it up. As we were in the area we headed off to Ruckland next where an immature White Tailed Eagle is summering and a Black Kite has been seen again recently, we timed it just right for the Eagle it had just flown in before we arrived and was perched up in a distant tree although a bit of scanning around revealed nothing more than several Buzzards and a couple of Kestrels. Next up was Covenham Reservoir where a summer plumaged Red Necked Grebe has been posing for photographers recently but typically there was no sign of it today just four Little Egrets and three Common Sandpipers being the only things of note. We ended the day at Blacktoft where a good selection of Waders included at least 16 Spotted Redshanks, there was plenty of Harrier activity and there were also two  Garganey present on Xerox, one a male in eclipse the other we're not sure about.            

from the Butterfly Garden

                                                                                                 

Finches and Doves

A few birds come down to feed around the Salt bin outside work on a regular basis, heres a few images from Friday evening, as you may have guessed were not too busy at work at the moment.

and a Pigeon too

Teesside peeps

Went up to Teesside after work on Wednesday afternoon for the Temminck's Stint and Semipalmated Sandpiper, both birds showed well enough along the causeway that runs across the Saltholme West pool and add to the recent run of good waders but like the ones before these were also too distant for a good photo. There were also a lot of Common Tern on the causeway many juvs plus an adult Little Gull dropped in and what is becoming the norm at many wetland reserves these days, several Little Egrets, then to top it all off a couple of juv Peregrines came for some hunting practice which of course resulted in everything clearing out, a good couple of hours birding.

Semi-P

Temminck's

Cumbria

A nice day on Saturday prompted me to head over to Cumbria in search of Fritillaries, after some investigation on the internet I deemed Roudsea Woods near Haverthwaite as the best site for Silver Washed Frits, it didn't disappoint I saw one within 5 mins and spent quite some time here photographing them, there were also a good few Brimstones about and Purple Hairstreaks in the Oaks, I flushed a Buzzard that was roosting in the wood and a couple of Ravens were perched on some Pylons that cut through. I then spent the afternoon at Arnside Knott, great place there were loads of Scotch Argus and Graylings about and a thistle patch at the top had a fair few predominately Dark Green but also a couple of High Brown Frits flying around, although they were all rather tatty individuals.

Lake Windemere

from the boardwalk

Arnside Knott

High Brown