Druridge Diary: common spotted orchid

Sunday, 24 June 2018

Return of the blog

After much consideration and even a debate on Twitter I have decided to start blogging on here again. I got out of the habit, became lazy and relied on social media which was quick and instant. I realised that I, even if nobody reads this, I enjoy writing it and more importantly enjoy looking back at it.

So here goes...let's see how long it lasts.

Unbelievably, it's nearly the end of June, the longest day has been and gone and the nights will start to cut in soon. I've not been out birding much recently with big DIY projects, the garden and a work trip to Latvia.

Today, I decided to put some nets up. With Janet away on the Farne Islands and no trainees, it was just me, so I only had three nets up. It's always quiet at this time of year, but I had high hopes of juvenile warblers.

I was all set up by 05.30 and was soon catching birds. The most exciting bird, for me, was reed warbler - nothing unusual there? But, this was a 'control' - meaning it had been ringed by someone other than us. We don't get many 'controls' so they're always interesting. The last controlled reed warbler we had came from Suffolk.

The controlled reed warbler

A male cuckoo was cuckooing all morning (a very rare occurrence at Druridge these days), at one point it was sat in the tree at the end of my net - never managed to catch it unfortunately.

Between checking the nets, I tried photographing swifts -not easy, this is the best I got.

Swift

I was also playing around with the iPhone. When I was in Riga, one of my hosts was showing the SloMo video thing on iPhone - he was getting some great results so I've been playing around with it.

This Scorpion fly was the best I got.

Here is a still

Scorpion fly Panorpa communi

I caught 17 new birds in total which isn't bad for June. Only one juvenile warbler - a chiffchaff, but I did get adult blackcaps and sedge warblers.

I also had a look at some plants and butterflies - there were lots of speckled woods, on the wing, with a couple of ringlets and skippers.

Ribwort Plantain Plantago lanceolata

Bloody Cranesbill Geranium sanguineum

Common Spotted Orchid - Dactylorhiza fuchsii

Well, there we go. Hopefully the first of many more blog posts from Druridge.

Tuesday, 10 July 2012

mostly misty

Here's a weekend round up from a mostly fog-bound Druridge.

This shot of three mute swans flying south on Saturday morning nicely summarises the weekends weather.

mute swans through the gloom that was Saturday's weather

The long-eared owl family are still about, encouraging lots of visiting birders to Druridge, which in itself is a rare thing nowadays. Have a look at John Malloy's blog for some excellent LEO shots On Sunday evening, the young barn owls in the box at the farm were venturing out to have a look around and a wing-stretch whilst they waited to be fed, it won't be long until they're fledging.

A juvenile yellow wagtail feeding with a group of juvvy pied wags was my first of the year, they were up by the 'Druridge bushes' feeding were the cattle grazed.

A whimbrel flying south was my first of the autumn.I think fly-bys are going to be the only waders I'm going to see on the patch this year. The big pool is brim-full so no edge for waders there, this doesn't bother me because it isn't possible to control the water levels on the big pool. What does bother me is the lack of grazing on the Budge fields. The ponies are better than nothing, just, but they're aren't enough of them and they are too selective. What is needed is cows, big, hungry cows at that. I intend to take this issue up with NWT to see if there is anything the birdwatching community can do to assist.

There are a few family parties of warblers, reed bunting and the like moving around, we really need to start ringing at Druridge now....if the rain ever stops.

I've been practising with the new SLR again - here are some non-birdy shots.