25th Aug.
Sunday saw Sam and me making a trip to Gosforth Park Nature reserve with
the intention of moving onto another area afterwards. As the weather improved and the temperature
rose we did our usual lap of the reserve passing only one other person until we
reached the hides where we briefly met another two. Peace and quiet is one of the things very
much in the reserves favour. It also
gives us opportunity to exercise our wider naturalist interests with little to
no disturbance and there aren’t many local spots where this is possible these
days. Having said that there is one
drawback in the reserve during summer, especially after rain, and that is the
damn Mosquitoes. I managed to get my insect repellent on
quickly, as my allergy makes sure I lose no time. Sam isn’t usually bothered by insect bites,
but he paid the price of being a bit slower with the repellent.
We saw little in the way of birds until we reached the hide,
but we noted numerous Speckled Wood
and Wall Brown Butterflies and a
single Small Copper Butterfly as
well as the White species. All very flighty, so no photographs were
possible, but we did manage some macro photography of other inhabitants. The only real birding interest of more for a
while was listening to a Common Tern
apparently being chased by a Sparrowhawk. A Grey
Squirrel was seen at the same time (record left at the reserve), as we
heard what was thought to be a Roe Deer
disappearing into the woods.
One of many small young frogs (I only have eyes for you)
Common Green Grasshopper I believe
A mug for the 'Ugly Bugs Ball'. This one is courtesy of Samuel Hood, Under the Hood Photography
The first hide we entered didn’t keep us long as the Mosquitoes had taken over this
area. We headed for the second hide not
realising just how long we would stay there.
The sun was up now, we had the hide to ourselves and we had hopes of the
Kingfisher visiting. Any thoughts of
moving on were dismissed. Now I would
have argued until recently that watching from a hide is not my favourite form
of watching nature. I think the truth is
it is hides where there is constant chat from numbers of users that I don’t
like, so as we were by ourselves most of the time I really enjoyed the
afternoon vigil. Having spent quite a
number of hours in the hides recently at the reserve, Holywell, Cresswell and
the Tower Hide I think I have to confess I’m getting a liking for it. I also think I’m more laid back these days
and not one for chasing all over the place in the pursuit of species. The Kingfisher never did call by so we
enjoyed what was on offer which included numerous fly bys from the Sparrowhawks. Judging from size when two were in the air
together there must be a family of them in the reserve. The female was seen but when two were in the
air together they were of the same size.
We also watched as one of the Sparrowhawks
seemed to be almost enjoying annoying the over head Common Buzzard. All
afternoon we had the calls from what I think was at least two adult Water Rails and possibly juveniles, at
times very close to the hide. Two Southern Hawker Dragonflies teased us
as they hawked right in front of our eyes, but at no time settled. A Common
Darter Dragonfly did settle. Other
birds seen included Little Grebe, Grey
Heron, Common Tern, Wigeon and Teal.
The Mute Swan family
entertained with a balancing act on the small floating island as did the Moorhen perched where we had hoped for
a Kingfisher. We left the reserve early
evening, relaxed and content.
26th Aug.
We headed to Holywell Pond at lunchtime hoping to reach St Mary’s Island at least a couple of hours before high tide.
Greenshank
The single Greenshank
at the pond gave us an excellent sighting in good light as did the very
attractively marked Lapwings. Eighty-five Greylag Geese and circa fifty Canada
Geese were close by. The Lapwings lifted from time to time and
the geese eventually took to the water.
As yesterday, we watched a Common
Buzzard flying with a Sparrowhawk. Eventually two Common Buzzards were seen flying together and occasionally mewing
calls could be heard. Swallows and House Martins were hunting over the pond and other birds seen included
Little Grebes in number, Grey Heron, Mallard, Gadwall, Pochard,
Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck and gulls including Lesser Black Backed.
Greenshank with Lapwing
A Grey heron makes its usual appearance
Wall Brown and Speckled Wood Butterflies were with us
from the outset today, especially the latter species. Phil Gates comments on Speckled Wood Butterflies on his excellent blog here http://cabinetofcuriosities-greenfingers.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/reason-to-be-cheerful.html#comment-form
I’ve read a little more about the Speckled Wood Butterfly and it seems to me that it was far more
common as north as Scotland
in the past but then became restricted to small areas from which it is now
spreading from once again. I also seem
to remember that it was found in North Northumberland long before it appeared
in North Tyneside. Anyway, this does underline the need to
protect small areas and populations and not just assume that remaining
populations, no matter how small, will become extinct. We need to protect what we have for when
times change. A lesson which perhaps
many do not take on board.
Holywell Dene provided little excitement on the bird front
and I have to say that this year we have found little in the way of odonata in
this area. We did find Common Hawker, Common Darter
and Common Blue Damselfly today. As yesterday, we added Small Copper to the butterfly list and once down at the coast Peacock Butterfly was added.
Small Copper Butterfly
Once down at the coast we found little in the way of
movement over the sea, but we did find plenty of waders. Our lone Greenshank
and flock of Lapwings were joined on
the list by Oystercatcher, Golden Plover,
a lone Grey Plover (very well
spotted by Sam behind a flock of many hundred Golden Plovers), Ringed
Plover, Knot, Sanderling, Turnstone,
Redshank and Curlew. We ended the day watching the tide bring in a
few Sandwich Terns and also watched
as the Golden Plovers were forced of
the islands in North Bay and flew into South Bay
in small flocks. Little beats watching
large flocks of waders, especially Golden
Plovers in good light. A few of
these birds still retained much of their summer plumage and one in particular
stood out from the flock of hundreds.
Just before we left we bumped into a group of birders including AS, BD
and MF obviously out on a Bank Holiday jaunt!
The atmosphere was better now that many of the Bank Holiday crowds had
gone. I have to say it had been a
wonderfully sunny and warm day without cloud.
We were both tired by now so decided to make for home once again more
than content with our lot.
Juvenile and adult Common Tern on patch
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