A Cheshire Birders Account Of Trips,Dips and Ticks!

23 July 2024

LATEST BIRD NEWS-MEGAS IN BRITAIN AND CHESHIRE RARES!

MEGAS

24/07/24

GREATER SANDPLOVER-Bird showed well all afternoon and early evening,then male (eastern subspecies leschenaultii) flushed and flew south past Beacon Point at 20:18

STEJNEGER'S SCOTER-Adult drake still on sea off old lagoons-Musselburgh Lagoons-Lothian

22/07/2021

CORRECTION-WHITE WINGED SCOTER-1st-summer drake on sea was a Hybrid-St Cyrus-Aberdeenshire

17 July 2024

NORFOLK BREAK

Visiting friends in Norfolk I called in at Finningley in Nottinghamshire this morning and managed to connect with a Black winged pratincole that has been present for the last couple of weeks.

This was only my fourth Black winged pratincole I had seen in Britain,the last one was on the 4th May 2012 at Burton RSPB in Cheshire.

Over the next few days whilst out walking I connected with a Glossy Ibis at Cley

and Black tailed skimmer and Beautiful demoiselle,whilst on my travels.

Black tailed skimmer

Banded demoiselle

I also visited Hickling broad whilst in Norfolk but there was no sign of any Swallowtail butterflies,to late again for me! Whilst walking around though I did see a Wood sandpiper,Marsh harrier and stunning views of Hobby hawking over the reserve.

Marsh Harrier

Hobby

Wood Sandpiper

There were also a good variety of Butterflies and Odonates about on the reserve.

May be an image of dragonfly

Ruddy Darter

Large Skipper

Variable Damselfly

Norfolk Hawker

Red Admiral

Peacock

On leaving Norfolk I called in at Thompson common and had a walk along the Pingo trail in search of Dragonflies and Damselflies.

Good views of Common darter,4 Spotted darter,Southern hawker and Emerald damselfly were seen.

Four spotted chaser

Emerald damselfly

Southern Hawker

The Pingo Trail

A great few days away in Norfolk!What a county!

13 July 2024

DAY OUT IN NORTHAMPTONSHIRE

I visited Northamptonshire today and had a really good day catching up with Butterflies that I needed.I visited Weldon woodland park first and it didnt take long walking around the site to connect with my first Marbled whites.

7 Marbled whites were seen in total

Next stop was Fermyn woods where I saw my first Silver washed fritillary straight away as we got out the car.

Silver Washed Fritillary

There were Butterflies practically everywhere on site and then the magic moment came as I was photographing a White hairstreak up high in a tree.A Purple emperor appeared in front of me flew around and then headed high into the forest,amazing!

This is what I had travelled down to see and I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time to see this one as many people on site were looking.

This photograph is off the net but shows

the Purple emperor in all its glory

Photo - White-letter Hairstreak - Satyrium w-album - Observation.org

White Hairstreak

Other butterflies of note on site were:

White Admiral

Comma

Ringlet,which took a fancy to Jenna's hand!

Small copper

Gatekeeper

On the way back to the car to top it all off a Southern hawker put in an appearance to finish off a great day!

8 July 2024

MOUNTAIN RINGLET-BEN LAWES-PERTHSHIRE

I’d never seen Mountain Ringlets before so continuing the theme of seeing more butterflies this year I drove north and visited Ben Lawers today.The great variety of mountain plants is why Ben Lawers NNR has been in the care of the National Trust for Scotland since 1950. It’s also why it has multiple designations for its natural heritage.

Ben Lawers NNR has the most extensive populations of arctic-alpine plants in Britain. Some of the species and communities at Ben Lawers are extremely rare and threatened. Of the flowering plants and ferns on the reserve, 13 are classified as nationally rare.

The site is equally, if not more, important for its lower plants, the lichens and bryophytes (liverworts and mosses). With over 600 species recorded, again including a concentration of national rarities, Ben Lawers is arguably the most important individual site for lichens in Britain.

Over 30 nationally rare mosses and 5 nationally rare liverworts have been recorded at Ben Lawers NNR, which puts the importance of the site for bryophytes in perspective. Several mosses are found nowhere else in Britain, eg Roaldia revoluta.

It is also home to the Mountain Ringlet and is our only true montane species and is found on mountains above 550m amidst the spectacular scenery of the Scottish Highlands.

I arrived at the site just after lunch and started the walk up the gravel path through the tree line.An Osprey flew overhead and Tree pipit's were seen on the way up.

I eventually made it up to the area where the Mountain Ringlets were meant to be.

I spent the next two and half hours walking around this hillside only seeing a few Small Heath butterflies which was due to it being overcast.As I was sat on the hill side a glimmer of hope, the sun was breaking through.

As I started walking again and the sun broke through a Mountain Ringlet appeared out of the long grass and landed.

At last I had connected!

5 individually Ringlets were seen in the next half hour but they never stayed still long enough for any better photograph's,I was just happy I had found them and they were on the list!

The walk down was much more pleasant having seeing the Mountain Ringlets and thankfully the sun had appeared and made the walk worth while.

After the walk down I visited a near by loch in the evening sun and managed to see these two beauties!

Common Darter

Black Darter

7 July 2024

CASPIAN TERN-SANDBACH FLASHES-6TH JULY 2024

News broke this morning that a Caspian tern had been found at Sandbach flashes.This was a new bird for me in Cheshire and Wirral having missed the Acre nook bird back in 2013 due to being on hoilday.

Acre Nook bird

After a good run over to Sandbach and many a phonecall on the way to see if the bird was still there,I arrived and got put straight on the bird by my good friend Fred ferne,at last I had gripped this bird back,it had took 11 years!