Sunday 3 July 2022

Red-tailed Shrike at Bempton, Yorkshire

 Red-tailed Shrike

Bempton Cliffs
Kittiwake
Razorbill
Nesting Gannet
Gannet
In flight Gannet
Wandale Farm
Shrike entered his larder
One for Red-tailed Shrike for luck

News broke on Wednesday (29th June) of a male Red-tailed Shrike very close to RSPB Bempton Cliffs. The first report stated Isabelline Shrike, however in 2000 these were split into three seperate species. I'd seen Durian (that breeds from the Caspian Sea through to central China)in Norfolk. Chinese Shrike is very unlikely as a short range migrant whilst this beauty was identified as a Turkestan Shrike which as an adult differs from the Durian Shrike in having a rufous crown, nape and hind-neck and a prominent white supercilium. It breeds in south Siberia and central Asia.

We hatched a plan on the first day myself and the Squire was going to be free and Chris Lane joined us. We decided we would leave at 6.30am and just hope postive news would be released as we headed north, which it did before we hit the M1. The journey was pretty smooth just very long. We were welcomed to the Wandale Farm. Access to the farm was £10 which seemed very reasonable given they had to pay staff and no one would have seen the bird without the access.


Any time I go and see a Shrike I know that they can be illusive & you can be waiting around a long time. No such worries on this occasion as the Red-backed Shrike flew up and down the hedgeline giving us spectacular viewing opportunities. Tree Sparrow families fed in the same hedgerow whilst Corn Bunting & Yellowhammer sang from the telegraph wires closeby. As we were late to the party as usual there was only around thirty birders/photographers present, all very well behaved and gave the rarity plenty of room to go about it's business.

It occured to me when writing the blog I have now seen eight of the nine Shrike species on the UK list, namely Great Grey, Lesser Grey, Masked, Red-backed, Woodchat, Brown, Durian, and Turkestan. I best not hold my breath for the missing Long-tailed but you just never know with birding.

We exited the farm via the eastern side to enable us a walk along the cliffs where we took on the breeding sea birds including Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake, Gannet and Fulmar, sadly no sign of Albert.

Saturday 2 July 2022

Butterflies of Oversley Woods




Purple Emperors



Silver-washed Fritillary
Hornet


Coma

With it now being the season of the "Purple Emperor", I've started visiting Oversley Woods every couple of days as there are some stunning butterflies to study & photograph. The circuit is just over 3 miles with a bit of diving around to get a nice image. Lets hope for a decent couple of weeks of weather to enable the Purple Emperor to have a productive season.


Painted Lady giving home dividends





Home working has certainly given me more opportunity to spend some time in the garden. A wander around a couple of times a day to pick a few weeds and see how the plants are growing helps the time pass. I've planted a number of new butterfly friendly plants and also developed a wild flower area. 

The photographed Painted Lady was a super butterfly to see close up. I managed to put my macro lens on to get some nice close ups of this stunning butterfly. 

Salford Priors GP (June)

 Oystercatchers

Marbled White
Pryamidal Orchid
Little Ringed Plover chick
Cuckoo
Skylark
Large Skipper
Brown Argus
Oystercatcher 
Oycstercatcher chick
Bee Orchid
Juvenile Yellow Wagtail

June has been enjoyable overall with breeding birds & orchids to see. Two Oystercatcher & 4 Little Ringed Plover fledged were noteable breeders. We continue to do well with butterflies with Esses,Large Skipper and Marbled White added this month. 

The year list crept to 117 species with a brief Turtle Dove sighting (JB) & a Great Black-backed Gull (MC). With no tern sightings and very little wader movement we will need a big autumn to reach close to our regular total. We still haven't recorded a Green Sandpiper.

Highest counts during the month were :- 8 pairs of Little Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 2 Little Egret, 7 Grey Heron, 21 Mute Swan + brood of 9 on Pophills, 3 Greylag + brood of 4, 75 Canada Geese, 230 Mallard, 51 Tufted Duck + brood of 4, 2 Red Kites, 5 Buzzard, 2 Kestrel, Hobby, Peregrine, Sparrowhawk, 95 Coot, pair of Oystercatcher+ 2 young, 8 Little Ringed Plover + 4 young, 15 Lapwing, 1 Redshank, 2 Cuckoo, 150 Swifts, 30 Swallow, 20 Sand Martin, 30 House Martin and 3 pair of Yellow Wagtail.