Hard to spot crake

In case you missed it, it's been Birdfair weekend down at Rutland Water. I'm normally there with my work, in fact I haven't missed a Birdfair since 1999... until this year that is. It was becoming like groundhog day, same people,  same places, same conversations... So I took a year off.

Quite often, when I've been down at the fair, there's been a fall of birds on the east coast, so it is about right that the year I don't go we have wall-to-wall strong south-westerlies. It wasn't all bad though, I took Friday off work and we were lounging about at home when a message came through that ADMc was watching a spotted crake in front of the little hide at Druridge. I was quickly on the scene and saw the bird for all five seconds through my bins before it darted left into thick grasses and wasn't seen again until much later that evening, by which time i was in the pub. Piss-poor views but enough to year-tick it.

Luckily it was picked up again this afternoon by Hector and I had much better views, brief as they were though as it crossed open ground between the clumps of soft rush.

This is my third 'patch' spotted crake. My first was in September 2002 which was found by Steve Taylor on the edge of the big pool. My second was found, but not identified, by a photographer who has snapped it on the old boardwalk in April 2013, it hung around for a week or so.

Offshore this afternoon there were 10+ red-throated divers, many still with red-throats, three arctic skuas but little else of note.

These butterflies were on the path...

Wall on knapweed

Peacock on teasel

We did some nocturnal ringing last Saturday for storm petrels. We caught one at 11.25pm - our earliest ever catch so we hoped for great things but it wasn't to be, it was another two and a half hours before we caught the second and final bird of the night. A few folk came down for a look, so it was nice to share these amazing little birds with them. Thanks to Cain Scrimgeour for this photo - if I had known I was in the shot, I might have smiled :-)

Storm petrel (Photo: Cain Scrimgeour)

Quick update from the weekend

No photo's I'm afraid and there probably won't be for a while as it looks like my 300mm lens is knackered. I might manage some butterfly shots?

I've inherited the Druridge Links butterfly transect from the National Trust, I had a quick today and had some wall browns and small coppers. Will start it properly next week once I've downloaded the stuff, I actually did this transect for a summer back in 1997 or 1998 when I worked for the National Trust as the seasonal warden at Druridge.

Highlight of today though goes to a STONKING summer-plumage great northern diver, which was loitering close inshore, just of the links. The tide was on it's way out but still a stunning bird. It was made even more better when a fishing roseate tern came into the same scope view. My first 'rozzas' of the year.

Another year-tick came with tonight cold NNE winds - manx shearwaters. A couple of little parties headed north. Also this evening there were at least nine little terns moving between the Budge fields and the big pool.

No sign of any passerine migration either at Druridge or at Lynemouth Sewage Works where I spent this morning ringing.

Both roseate tern and manx shearwater score two points in the Patchwork Challenge taking my species total to 127 and points tally to 159.

126 roseate tern
127 manx shearwater