Venus Pool - 17 Nov 18

Today I made another visit to the SOS Reserve at Venus Pool.

Just in time to catch some more great Autumn colours.

A beautiful clear blue sky, if somewhat hazy.

This bird, amongst all the Canada Geese present, was the only one with a ring – well two rings actually: the easy to read and somewhat fragile plastic Darvic ring; and the metal BTO ring that needs a better camera than mine to zoom in and read the embossed data. I am trying find out who, why, where?

Two Canada Geese fly off.

Four Wigeon: two ducks on the left; two drakes on the right.

Now three drakes, two showing their yellow crowns; and two ducks.

You can understand birds mistaking Herons for birds of prey: they look rather threatening as they sail overhead.

Talking of birds of prey. This Kestrel seems to be asking “are you taking my photo?”. In fact it was looking the other way and I squeaked to attract its attention to get the highlight in the eye. I think this is a first-winter bird. The breast looks rather ‘streaked’ rather than ‘rows of spots’ that characterises an adult female. Also the undertail has too many bands. Its a great-looking bird for all that.

Moorhens are splendid: the tones in their plumage are really delicate and they are not black or slate-grey but an admixture.

(Ring-necked) Pheasant males look (and are truly) exotic.

Though they look a bit dozy in close-up. 

A flock of Lapwings takes to the air, lit by the sun. Here is a good place to see several hundred of these birds – an increasingly rare sight these days.

I don’t really ‘do’ photographs of birds at feeders but this male (the red on the nape tells us its a male) Great Spotted Woodpecker standing on tip-toe and just about reaching the food in the feeder was well worth making an exception for.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker in more natural surroundings. Cannot see the nape to sex this bird. Strange pink suffusion on the breast and most of the belly.

Similar feeder-exception this Nuthatch. Having reached in to get some food it is now man-handling (bird-beaking?) it to open the sunflower seed.

Another “are you taking my photo?” look.

Mr. Chaffinch apparently gazing vacantly in to the distance. A rather dull specimen.

This one hardly looking any more dynamic.

At least this one is feeding.

And a rather brighter bird perhaps indicating that the viral infection Fringilla papillomavirus that causes the growth we see on its feet is none too harmful. A similar effect of the legs can be produced by a Knemidocoptes mite but that usually also affects the base of the bill and there is no sign of that on this bird.

(Ed Wilson)

RSPB Burton Mere - 23 Oct 18

Today I visited the RSPB Reserve at Burton Mere Wetlands on the Dee Estuary. After some splendid Autumn days it was of course rather dull and windy

One of the spectacles here in winter is the gathering of Pink-footed Geese – up to 10000 in the fields in and around the reserve. Here is a trio. Each species of geese has a different flight call and that can be a way to separate them – there are Canada and Greylag Geese here as well. Here we see the pale grey forewing, not as pale as shown by Greylag Geese which also shows a darker contrasting inner area. The smaller bill is mostly dark with a pink band whereas a Greylag has a completely pink-orange bill.

Compare and contrast time: the waders with mottled backs and curved bills are of course Curlew. At the left are three Black-tailed Godwits with straight bills and ‘smoother’ plumage. Almost the same size as Curlew. The bird at the extreme right is a Ruff but you’d do well to identify it from this view. We can just about make out the rather mottled back, the rather short straight bill and the ochre wash on the face. But ...

Also compare and contrast: an escape Black Swan shares the pool with a rather unexpected ‘wild swan’ – a Whooper Swan. The other wild swan that visits the UK, Bewick’s Swan, is smaller with a shorter neck and less yellow on the bill. In front on the left is a Black-tailed Godwit. The smaller waders in front of the Whooper Swan are Common Redshank.

And here is a trio of Common Redshanks. When the legs are hidden underwater the bi-coloured bill and the white eye-ring are identification clues. Behind we see a drake Shoveler with its odd-shaped bill. Not quite yet in full plumage

Shoveler were bathing and behaving more like diving ducks. In an attempt to wet all his under-feathers this immature drake has exposed his pale blue forewing normally visible only in flight.

Who has got muddy feet then! This Moorhen struggles through.

Also with muddy feet is this Little Egret having a bad hair day – it was rather windy! This species is separated from other ‘white herons’ by its yellow feet but if it has been in the mud that may not apply.

In close up we see the breeding ‘aigrets’ hanging over the back and sprouting from the breast. Note also the elongated feathers on the crown.

And the mud is sliding off the foot here and we can just make out some yellow on the foot.

You would not want to be a fish looking up at that bill and stare would you?

This was the highlight of the day. It is a Water Pipit. Frustratingly it stayed behind the sedges and I could not persuade the camera to focus through to the bird. This species nests on uplands mainly in Scandinavia but is a regular if scarce visitor to the UK in winter. At this time of year it is best identified by the rather prominent wing-bars. It is slightly larger than Meadow Pipit and the very closely-related and rather grey-toned Rock Pipit would be much less likely inland. In Spring the Water Pipit’s breast moults to a distinctive peachy colour.

At extreme range on reed-mace waving in the breeze we see a Stonechat. This is a male with the white collar. His feathers will abrade during the winter and in Spring he will be almost black and white with a peachy breast.

(Ed Wilson)

Venus Pool - 20 Oct 18

Today I visited the public hides at the SOS Reserve of Venus Pool.

The surprise of the day was to find this Egyptian Goose. We see the rather strange eye-patch and the white panel in the wing that is so obvious when this species flies. Originally escapes / releases from wildfowl collections there is now a feral breeding population in the UK. This bird is not ringed, as birds in wildfowl collections are supposed to be, but whether it is truly ‘wild’ is open to conjecture.

Here you get 4 for the price of one. The smaller rufous-tinged Egyptian Goose has gone to sleep next to a sleeping Canada Goose while a Greylag Goose flaps to shake its feathers back in to shape following a preen. A Lapwing looks about showing why one of its other vernacular names is Green Plover.

The water level at Venus Pool is still low at the moment so most birds are rather far away for photography. This Grey Heron was fishing a bit closer.

And again.

Looking intently for its next meal.

Meanwhile the Little Egret is all dash and lunge. Note the yellow feet. On the closely-related New World Snowy Egret the yellow goes all the way up the back of the leg to the knee (well: ankle if we are anatomically correct).

A fine flying Cormorant. An adult judging by the all-black belly. Not sure why there are white feathers in the wing – a trick of the light on glossy feathers?

Not my best photo of flying Lapwings. Included here to show that other species attach themselves to Lapwing flocks – in the bottom right we see a Common Starling. Later in the season we could look for Golden Plover to join Lapwings.

Looking great in the afternoon Autumn sun this male Common (or Ring-necked) Pheasant. Yet to acquire the long tail of a breeding bird.

Magpie acting like an ox-pecker from Africa. The Hebridean Sheep seem rather sanguine about it all.

Not sure I would want a Magpie that close to my eye even if it was removing a tick.

One of the features of today’s visit was hundreds (if not thousands) of ladybirds. Ladybirds in unprecedented numbers. All those I checked were the invasive Harlequin Ladybird (Harmonia axyridis). Here are two specimens.

And here is a third variant. The white ‘panda eyes’ seems to be a good feature to separate this in all its variants from ‘our’ ladybirds – and there are more than 20 of those.

(Ed Wilson)

The Flash - 27 Jun 18

Hurrah! At last the Pen has emerged with at least four cygnets 27 June 2018.

However, she has just dumped them on the island with some geese, and hared off after the cob.

Perhaps she is starving after her long confinement, and someone is feeding from the bridge. Not a very good start, but hasn't been a perfect mum in the past.

So relieved, after seeing her emerge chick less for a swim two days ago.

(Ann Dewhurst)

Newport Area - 10 Jun 18

Been out and about (with permission) on some farmland with a small pool close to Newport to see what I could find. Most of what is in these photos is pretty common at the moment and you should be able to hunt many of them down.

My first Meadow Brown butterflies of the year enjoying the white clover.

A Silver Y moth at rest: the name from the mark in the wing.

‘Only’ a Common Blue Damselfly but posed in good light how could I resist. Always surprised how hairy the bodies are.

A side on view of a male Black-tailed Skimmer showing the yellow markings along the side.

The usual view is a resting male from above when it looks blue.

The female Black-tailed Skimmer is mainly yellow with some black marks.

Note too the unmarked wings (apart from the small mark in the pterostigma at each wing-tip).

A female Black-tailed Skimmer in plan view.

The only Four-spotted Chaser I noted today. It was perched at some distance. The photo reveals the brown (almost reddish here) at the base of the wings and the small spot at the bend in each wing. Another hairy insect. The sexes are similar to look as but males are reported to sit, as this was doing, by the water looking for females. These stay away from water until they are ready to lay eggs.

Was lucky to get one shot with this passing dragonfly more or less in focus. It is a male Emperor Dragonfly and these blue-bodied / green-headed individuals patrol their territory for hours, darting around as they feed on the wing and chase all other dragonflies away.

Garden Bumblebee (Bombus hortorum) also enjoying the white clover.

A rather better photo of a male Oedemera nobilis beetle with its swollen hind femur – why?

I have no idea what this iridescent ‘thing’ is. Is it a bug and is that a face at the right hand end? It seems to be suspended on the ‘spikes’ of the leaves so it cannot weigh much.

It is also rather hairy. We could have an argument about whether it is green or blue! It is that colour that ‘depends’.

Tried pinching the leaves and confirmed these flowers are Scentless Mayweed (Matricaria perforata). In the closely-related Scented Mayweed (Matricaria chamomilla) the rays in the flowers should have down turned by now – and the stems smell strongly of chamomile if pinched.

(Ed Wilson)