Sunday - bee twitching, naturists and new hoverflies

Sunday morning - not an early start but at 8am, it wasn't that warm and I thought it was too early to look for some bees that Chris Barlow has been seeing lately on the patch (I was wrong it seems) - Sharp-tailed Bee Coelioxys elongata and a leafcutter bee Megachile versicolor, both of which have been hanging around the rotten post where I've been seeing the Ectemnius wasps. He also found Fork-tailed Flower Bees Anthophora furcata nesting in the post.

So instead of going to check out the post,  I had a look at the sea. There was a gang of folks camping on the beach and a handful of them were in the sea - butt naked! Each to their own I suppose? One of the juvenile Cuckoos was still by the road with a hoard of 'toggers' on it.

I retreated to the post and track and left the nudists and the toggers to their own devices.

The Fork-tailed Flower Bees were busy excavating holes in the rotten wood and my Ectemnius wasp was briefly on the post - I don't think it is identifiable to species.

Fork-tailed Flower Bee Anthophora furcata Investigating a nest hole

Ectemnius wasp sp

Chris had seen the sharp-tailed bees further down the path to the hides so I moved between the post and the brambles looking for them as the sun came and went. I didn't see them but there was plenty of other things to keep me occupied.

There were a few hoverflies out, mostly black and yellow wasp mimic types of the genus Syrphus and Eupeodes - both tricky to ID. I did find a new species for me and for the patch Platycheirus rosarum.

Platycheirus rosarum. - new for the patch

Syrphus sp (male)

Helophilus pendulus (male)

Eupeodes corollae (female)

Syrphus ribesii (female)

Platycheirus albimanus (female)

I also found these Gorse Shield Bugs nymphs hatching from their eggs - amazing little things.

Tiny Gorse Shield Bug Piezodorus lituratus nymphs hatching from eggs 

And this strange fly -Sicus ferrugineus - It's larvae are endoparasites of bumble bees, they pupate and overwinter in their victims - nice!

Sicus ferrugineus

Back to the post and still no sign of the bees but I did find a Blue Shield Bug nymph and a looper caterpillar which remains unidentified.

Blue Shield Bug nymph (final instar) Zicrona caerulea

Looper caterpillar to be ID'd

I bumped into Bob Biggs who told me about wood and common sandpipers from the Budge screen. Commons Sands are tricky these days with no edge to the big pool so I headed south through the bushes to see it.

On my way back to the car I saw these two interesting beasts in the grass.

Non-biting midge species

Sciara hemerobioides -  one of the dark-winged fungus gnats seemingly. Bonny thing!

Chris was at the post when I got back, typically just as I headed off he had the sharp-tailed bee briefly on the post. I'll try for them again during the week.

Louise Hislop came up to see them and confirmed the Sharp-tailed Bee as new for the vice-county and the leaf cutter as new for the County. Well done Chris!

Dodging showers

Janet and I headed to the patch for some fresh air after work today. It was fresh n'all  - 13 degrees, it was sunny when we arrived and there were a few hovers around as we wandered up to the little hide but the sky was black all around us - rain was on the way.

An adult Water Rail was showing nicely on the muddy edge from the little hide, just too far away for photos but this Hare was in range as it scampered away. A big flock of dunlin and other waders swirled around in the distance towards the Budge screen that would need a closer look.

Brown Hare - legging it across the field

The sky darkened further as we headed back towards the road and eventually we had to make a dash for the shelter of the car as the heavens opened. From the car we could see one of the juvenile Common Cuckoos, that has been much coveted by the photographers lately, sat on the fence, before it dropped in closer onto a Ragwort plant where it gobbled up several Cinnabar moth caterpillars.

Juvenile Common Cuckoo taking Cinnabar moth caterpillars from Ragwort

The rain got heavier and the Cuckoo flew even closer to the road and our car and at one point was too close for my 400mm lens - 3.5m.

Here it is, un-cropped, on the edge of being in focus.

Cuckoo!

Once the rain eased we headed for the Budge screen to scrutinise the waders. There were five Ruff, four adult males and a juvenile bird and an amazing 45 Dunlin - all adults. One can only assume, as no juveniles are present,  that these are failed breeders heading south? There were 14 Black-tailed Godwits - at least eight of them were assignable to the icelandica race and the others were a good fit. A Little Ringed Plover and three Little Gulls were nice to see.

The Budge fields have been the best for breeding waders for as long as I can remember. Lapwing have done well, despite heavy losses to Corvids and Herons. There have been at least two successful broods of Redshank and Avocet is a new breeding species. The first brood of Avocets are nearly adult-size now and will fledge but the second brood is now only one very small chick. It looked incredibly cute tonight though, in the mud, with it's little up-turned bill. The adults seemed to be paying it little regard though - waders are crap parents.

I think a combination of a very wet winter which suppressed the marginal vegetation, followed by an incredibly dry spell (lockdown) along with the grazing by the six ponies has created the prefect sward height... maybe not for Snipe though which are pretty-much absent this spring.

Full list here

A bit of this and that

I've done a bit of this and a bit of that this week - seawatching, ringing and looking for wee beasties.

On Monday evening I had a look on the sea - lots of terns feeding now with  Roseate Terns being particularly noticeable - given that there are at least 129 pairs on Coquet Island that makes perfect sense. From my vantage point in the dunes I can also look the other way and from there I saw three different barn owls successfully hunting for food for their growing broods, one or more probably two cuckoos in the dunes and a short-eared owl. The latter has been reported between the Pools and Chevington and is now keeping the 'toggers' happy. If felt autumnal  - the gull roost on the beach is starting to pick up and I had my first Great Black-backs of the autumn.

List here

On Wednesday morning I got up at 04.30 and set some nets up to ring. I had to get back for work by mid-morning so only put up four nets. The catch was mostly warblers - a mixture of adults and juveniles. I did catch a juvenile Coal Tit, Coal Tits are normally birds of autumn and winter here but I know that they have bred in the plantation this year. A good breeding record.

I caught 37 birds including retraps, warbler numbers were:

Blackcap  - 2 Juvenile 4 adult
Whitethroat - 2 Juvenile
Willow Warbler - 3 adult
Chiffchaff - 2 juvenile
Reed Warbler - 4 adults (2 retraps)
Sedge Warbler - 4 adult, 1 juvenile
Grasshopper warbler - 1 juvenile

Cuckoos, short-eared owl and barn owls were still about.

Between net rounds I tried to photograph some digger wasps on the fence posts

Digger wasp Crabro cribrarius - A male, you can make out the enlarged plates on the forelegs

Last night I had half an hour looking for hovers and bugs before the light went and an hours seawatch. Two Cory's shearwater had been tracked up the Yorkshire coast yesterday but hadn't been seen north of Seaham, still worth a look I thought. Highlights were:

Manx Shearwater - 30,  all north in groups of up to 10
Arctic Skua - one roaming around harrying terns
Whimbrel - 1 north
Curlew - 2 'in-off'
Common Scoter - a raft of about 750 birds off Chibburn Links

Distant arctic skua

black-headed gull

The 'toggers' were out in force for the cuckoo and short-eared owl.

List here

Some macro shots from last night

Small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris)

Marmalade hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus

Hoverfly Eristalis pertinax on ragwort

Potato Mirid - Closterotomus norwegicus

Spiny Sheildbug - Picromerus bidens

Leucozona lucorum

Scorpionfly species - a female Panorpa sp.

Blustery Day

Today was sunny and bright but blustery with a gusting s'westerly, strong enough to encourage most birds to seek cover. Janet and I had walk around the patch but didn't see a lot of birds until we got to the Budge fields. A pair of stonechat were with a single juvenile north of the of the bushes.

Stonechat amongst the mugwort

Even with the hides as shelter, viewing conditions were difficult as the SW wind was blowing straight in through the windows of the little hide. There were lots of waders including at least 56 black-tailed godwits and three ruff.

Some of the 56 black-tailed godwits

We tried viewing from the Budge screen but that was worse. I didn't have my scope with me but it was probably just as well. The three avocet chicks from the first brood are getting big now and should fledge, I couldn't see the two from the latest brood or the redshank chicks.

Despite the wind, it was warm in the sun which brought quite a few insects out. I didn't have the macro lens with me so just some iPhone shots to identify the species - a job for later in the week.

Yesterday started-off awful with thick fog followed by a mixture of mizzle and drizzle. By late afternoon, visibility had really improved so I headed down to the patch. I thought I might have a look offshore, just on the off chance of a passing albatross. After a few minutes scanning the sea, I realised that the strengthening SW wind had brought the terns closer inshore to feed, so despite the awful light, I had a go at photographing them. The sandwich terns were the only species that fed within range, the common and roseate terns were a bit further out and the Arctic terns stayed well out of reach as did the pair of adult great-crested grebes.

Here's a few of the shots

Action shot

Contortionist

Common scoters - there were about 550-600 in the bay

Having a shake

This one was colour-ringed with black letters on a yellow ring - I've tried blowing it up to read the number, but it's the wrong way around.

On my way back to my car through the dunes, the cuckoo that has been around the dunes the last few days flew by me and I grabbed a record shot.

Heavily-cropped cuckoo

This young carrion crow entertained itself picking among the detritus of a bonfire - they are so inquisitive, even at a young age.

This looks fun!

Despite the pubs being reopened, I had no fancy for going to one. The Drift Cafe were open 'til 7pm with an American Burger menu so we went there instead - my first beer away from the homestead since lockdown.

Vizmig and the two bird theory

I've tried a bit of viz-migging this week, but probably missed the vizmig highlight of the year today - a huge southerly movement of swifts, with thousands of birds logged at east coast hot-spots including 28,0000 at Hummanby Gap. I hadn't anticipated it so didn't get down to the patch until lunchtime, by the time I did there were still lots of swift headed south but nothing like the numbers reported earlier.

After reports of crossbill movements, I positioned myself on the big dune at 5.30am on Wednesday morning. When I arrived on site, there were 11 siskins feeding on the alders before moving north. I estimated about another 100+ siskins, all moving south in small groups of 15-25 until 7.30am. Nothing like the 6500 Tom Tams had at Tynemouth and no crossbills - my target for the morning.

I tried for crossbills on another two mornings but no joy.The meadow pipits kept me entertained though and fly-through little egrets on two mornings were welcome sightings of scarce bird this year. The big dune is a good place to scan the budge fields and I picked up both wood and green sandpipers from there.

Meadow pipit song-flighting from the big dune

In the bay, the common scoter flock reached a peak of about 1400 birds midweek. On Friday, I abandoned viz-mig and had walk north and south. A family group of pied wags entertained me at the Dunbar burn and a new moth...

New moth - Pammene aurana (there were at least eight of them)

One of the pied wag youths

New hoverfly for the patch Cheilosia illustrata - one of the bumblebee mimics (iPhone photo)

As is typical, the weather deteriorated just in time for the weekend. I manged a wander between showers on Saturday morning and it was nice to catch up with Bob Biggs and ADMc. Waders from the Budge included  four, maybe five ruff including gingery, black and white/cream coloured birds, 19 black-tailed godwits (most or all Greenland race birds), two knot, two ringed plover and two dunlin. A female marsh harrier was my first since lockdown and an adult cuckoo shot through the dunes - northbound.

Today, Janet and I had a walk to the hides, mostly looking for hoverflies but we found the four spoonbills, that have commuted between Cresswell Pond and the Budge fields, feeding on the doughnut pool from the little hide.

Four spoonbills- an they were all awake!

mating common blue damselflies

This evening, news came through of a female pied flycatcher near the Budge screen. Pied Fly is a scarce bird in any year at Druridge, unheard of in June, so worth a look before the footy I thought.

Graham Sorrie reported north of the path to the screen-hide. The first bird I got my bins on was a spotted flycatcher.

Spotted Flycatcher

I knew Graham wouldn't have mistaken spotted fly for pied, but for two flycatchers of any species to be at Druridge in June would be mega rare, but I couldn't rule out the two-bird theory and I was right not to as shortly after that a female pied flycatcher appeared on the same edge. My first pied fly since 2014!

Pied flycatcher

I'm not sure what is going on here. Is this early returning birds or very late northerly migrants? Someone on Twitter sent me a link to a wind map and a report of high temperatures and forest fires in Arctic Siberia - which is worrying in itself but might explain these birds?

Wet WeBS

Today has been mostly wet.

Once the rain eased after lunch, I popped down to the patch to do the monthly WeBS count. Nothing startling on the count, six black-tailed godwits, 20 dunlin dropped in and there were three snipe on the Budge fields.

On the big pool it was nice to see the great-crested grebe with its youngster, still sporting some stripes looking less like a humbug, there were also two pochard. Moorhen seem to have had a good year, there were 26 on the patch today.

I had been talking to a couple of visiting birders up here on holiday from Warwickshire, as I was about to leave the hide, the lady says "Is this a bird in the tree or just a branch sticking out? I got it in the bins, then the scope  - it was a bird. It was stunning juvenile cuckoo sitting out on some branches. I am presuming it was locally reared but could've been a passage bird I suppose.

I managed a quick look on the sea before the fret rolled in - three red-throated divers, about 80 common scoter and four roseate terns were the highlights. An amazing sight though, was flocks of cormorants heading north. I counted 54 in ten minutes or so, with one group numbering 24 birds. Where have they all come from?

There were a few warblers flitting through the bushes, mostly willow warblers with chiffchaffs, blackcaps and sedge.

No photos today because of the poor light and rain so here are some macro shots from last weekend.

seven-spot ladybird Coccinella septempunctata on nettle

22-spot ladybird  Psyllobora vigintiduopunctata

The Heineken hoverfly Rhingia campestris

The most distinguishing feature of the Heineken hoverfly is the long snout.  Heineken used to advertise their beer by saying it could reach the parts other beers couldn't reach.  With it's long snout the Heineken hoverfly can reach the nectar which other hoverflies can't reach - hence the name.

Eupeodes Sp

Turnip Sawfly - Athalia rosae

Not sure what this one is

Eupeodes sp

Tree wasp Dolichovespula sylvestris

Smoky Wainscot Mythimna impura

Scaeva pyrastri

Scaeva pyrastri

 These Scaeva pyrastri hoverflies seem to be quite common at the moment.

Small copper butterfly Lycaena phlaeas on sorrel