Barn Owl and 2014 Marsh Harrier "LD"

A very pleasant, if windy, evening with a confiding  barn owl at Dunsby Fen in the late afternoon of 19th December. There seem to be a lot of voles about, as the owl made three kills in about 20 minutes, quickly eating them all on the ground where they were caught (probably to avoid the aggressively kleptoparasitic kestrels on the site). Barn owl number seem to be much better than last winter, but the short-eared owls are pretty scarce. A single SEO briefly showed on the rough grassland to the west of French's Farm just as darkness fell, and hopefully there will be more later.

Two peregrines in the area, an adult male and a juvenile female, several passes by a female sparrowhawk at the linnet flocks in the game crops and the wing-tagged marsh harrier that has been around for a while. Fortunately, I was able to grab a few distant shots that gave us a readable code - she is female marsh harrier "LD," ringed and tagged at RSPB Lakenheath Fen on 12th June 2104 and this was the first sighting of her since she left the breeding site. Poor pictures, as she never came very close, but good enough for a positive ID and adding a little to our knowledge of this species as it slowly claws its way back from extinction in the UK.

Short-eared Owls Asio flammeus

One of my favourite birds. They are winter visitors in my part of the world, and the numbers vary from year to year. This species is often very trusting, even curious, of humans where they are not harassed and it is always a thrill when one of them flies straight toward you, looking you straight in the eye before making a close (sometimes very close indeed) pass before going about its business. This species quite often hunts by day, particularly toward evening, and I have spent many hundreds of hours sitting quietly watching these birds which share their winter grounds with barn owls, hen harriers, kestrels, buzzards and the occasional peregrine. Many of their kills (mostly voles) are stolen by kestrels, which although smaller than the owls are very persistent and aggressive and will chase the owls high into the air before snatching the vole from the owl's feet.

I often crop my photographs more "openly" than most other photographers, with more space around the bird. This is quite deliberate, as I prefer to show the bird in its habitat (where the image is suited to that purpose). To me it gives a better impression of the true nature of the bird - which is the wild animal in its time and in its place. 

I will let the pictures say the rest.

Through the Car Window at Point-blank Range

Resting on a Bed of Straw

Fly-by

Who's Watching Who?

Hunting the Rough Grassland of the Lincolnshire Fens

Passing Close By

Serious Eye Contact!

Butterfly Collection, Volume 1: Hesperiidae (Skippers)

The British skippers are all very small butterflies that are easily overlooked. They are difficult subjects for photography because they are small and extremely active. The members of the sub-family Hesperiinae (the large and small skippers below) make things even more difficult by the unusual way in which they hold their wings - separated like the flights of a dart - which makes it very difficult to get the whole insect within the shallow plane of focus when working at very short distances.

The large skipper Ochlodes sylvanus has a wingspan of only 29-36mm, so is only "large" when compared to other members of its family. It is widespread in England and Wales, but absent from most of Scotland and the whole of Ireland.

Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus on Lady's Smock Cardamine pratensis

Large Skipper Ochlodes sylvanus - Underside

The small skipper Thymelicus sylvestris is a butterfly of similar form and colour to the large skipper, but slightly smaller with a wingspan of 27-34mm. This species is also widespread and often numerous in England and Wales, but absent from Scotland and Ireland. It lacks the broad brown margins to the upperwings that the larger species shows, and the hindwings lack the pale markings on a darker ground shown by the large skipper. It can be separated from the very similar Essex skipper T. lineola by the orange/brown tips of the antennae, which are black on the Essex skipper.


 

Small Skipper Thymelicus sylvestris

 

Small Skippers Thymelicus sylvestris at Roost

 

The grizzled skipper is a tiny, hyperactive speck of a butterfly that is difficult to see, let alone to keep track of as it dashes around at high speed close to the ground. The males are extremely pugnacious, and chase off any other male (or any other flying object) that enters "their" airspace and this aerial combat includes a great deal of physical contact. As a result of this, they quickly start to lose scales from the wings, particularly the chequered margins, and begin to look worn and battered. When roosting, they tend to settle, wings folded above their backs, near the tops of dried plant stems or low-lying stems of woody scrub and several can often be found roosting close together. This species tends to be found in colonies that are small in size and with small population numbers (often just tens of insects present each spring). Many of these small colonies have quietly slipped into extinction.

Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae

Grizzled Skipper Pyrgus malvae - Underside (at Roost)

The dingy skipper is comparable in size to the large skipper (27-34mm span), but is a very different insect in both colour and form. When newly emerged, the adult is attractively patterned in various shades of browns and greys that vary between the sexes and individuals. When older and worn, however, this patterning tends to deteriorate into a genuinely "dingy" more uniform brown. When feeding or basking in the sun, they usually hold their wings "flat" like most other butterflies and can sometimes be seen with the wings folded vertically but when roosting this species has a very unusual behaviour, unique among British butterflies. It finds a roosting site, very often a dried flower head, and holds its body close to the plant while folding its wings, moth-like, in a "roof" shape with the upper forewings exposed. In this position, the importance of the brown-grey patterning becomes apparent, as it appears to become part of the dead, dried plant stem.

Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages on its Larval Foodplant Lotus corniculatus

Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages

Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages - Mated Pair

Dingy Skipper Erynnis tages Roosting on Dried Flowerhead of Centaurea nigra

Information on Another Colour Ringed Black-tailed Godwit

This bird was seen at the RSPB Burton Mere reserve in Cheshire on 13th July 2014. It has only been reported twice since it was ringed as a chick in southern Iceland in 2011. The delay in returning the data was caused by  uncertainty as to whether the lower ring on the left leg was yellow or orange. It certainly looked yellow to me in the field (and in the photographs) but the ringer states that it is, in fact, orange. In the first shot, it is unclear which leg is left and which is right, so it's always worth taking a few - however poor in quality - to confirm ring colours and locations.

Which Leg is Which?

Ah! It's Red, Orange - Red, White flag: RO-RWf

History so far:

Ringed as chick

RO-RWflag    07.07.11        Kaldadarnes, Árnessýsla, S Iceland

RO-RWflag    20.02.13        Port des Barques, Estuaire Charente, Charente-Maritime, W France

RO-RWflag    13.07.14        Burton Mere Wetlands RSPB, Burton, Wirral, Cheshire, NW England

And thanks again Dr Jennifer Gill at UEA and to Böðvar Þórisson in Iceland - that's two of "his" birds found in just a few weeks - on opposite sides of the country.

Air Raid at Frampton

On the evening of 3rd August, after most of the hordes of bird watchers and twitchers had departed, a juvenile peregrine tiercel, colour ringed on its left leg, put on a spectacular show in front of the 360 hide. He made repeated passes that were mostly directed at black-tailed godwits and black-headed gulls. He made three separate hunting sorties, settling on the ground to rest between efforts, before eventually departing to the west. Although dramatic, his repeated attacks were unsuccessful and by the third sortie many of the birds were paying him very little attention - although the waders on the shorelines had made themselves scarce. Throughout the commotion the glossy ibis and the two spoonbills (along with most of the ducks) remained unmoved, although the disturbance finally woke up the spoonbills!

I am assuming that this young bird was one of the Boston brood, and the ring number should confirm that. I will update if I get confirmation.

* Update. That's confirmed. Orange WJ was one of four young peregrines ringed on "Boston Stump" (St Botolph's Church) on 2nd June 2014 by Alan Ball. 

Master of the Skies - But Not Today!

A Black-tailed Godwit Dives Headlong Into the Water to Evade the Young  Tiercel - Which Missed

Black-headed Gulls Stay Close to the Water, Splashing Down if Threatened

Who's a Pretty Boy, Then?

At least two colour ringed black-tailed godwits present today, GW-OYflag again (see earlier post) and BR-OfL, a French-ringed bird. Curiously, both birds stayed close together. Poor record shots, but good enough to confirm the colour combinations. Again, I will update on the "French" bird if/when I receive details.

* Update.

BR-OfL was ringed at Moëze (Charente Maritime), France, on 6th August 2013 as a 1+ year-old.
It was seen at Sainte-Radégonde-des-Noyers in France on 3rd February 2014.
The only other sighting is this one at Frampton on 3rd August 2014, so a fairly short history. Distance travelled - 783km.

GW-OYf has now been seen at Frampton several times since my first report on 23rd July, so here is its updated history.

GW-OYflag   13.07.12        Svafadardalur, road 817, Dalvik, Eyjafjordur, N Iceland (chick)

GW-OYflag   20.08.12        Frodsham Marsh, Cheshire, NW England

GW-OYflag   27.08.12        Carr Lane Pools, Hale near the, Mersey estuary, Cheshire, NW England

GW-OYflag   09.09.12        Frodsham Marsh, Cheshire, NW England

GW-OYflag   15.09.12        Carr Lane Pools, Hale near the, Mersey estuary, Cheshire, NW England

GW-OYflag   22.10.12        Warren Farm, Talacre, Flintshire, NE Wales

GW-OYflag   15.11.12        Warren Farm, Talacre, Flintshire, NE Wales

GW-OYflag   27.11.12        Warren Farm, Talacre, Flintshire, NE Wales

GW-OYflag   03.12.12        Warren Farm, Talacre, Flintshire, NE Wales

GW-OYflag   27.04.13        Gilroy Nature Park, West Kirby, Merseyside, NW England

GW-OYflag   28.04.13        Caldy Wildfowl Collection, Caldy, Merseyside, NW England

GW-OYflag   29.04.13        Caldy Wildfowl Collection, Caldy, Merseyside, NW England

GW-OYflag   29.04.13        Gilroy Nature Park, West Kirby, Merseyside, NW England

GW-OYflag   30.04.13        Gilroy Nature Park, West Kirby, Merseyside, NW England

GW-OYflag   16.09.13        Marshide RSPB Nature Reserve, Southport, Lancashire, NW England

GW-OYflag   23.07.14        Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

GW-OYflag   30.07.14        Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

GW-OYflag   1.08.14          Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

GW-OYflag   3.08.14          Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

GW-OYflag   3.08.14          Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

GW-OYflag   8.08.14          Frampton Marsh, the Wash estuary, Lincolnshire, E England

Thanks to Vincent Lelong, Warden at the Réserve Naturelle de Moëze-Oléron for the information.

And finally a couple of portrait shots lit by the warm, low angled evening light. While tracking the lapwing, waiting for the light to catch it's eye, a "birder" asked me "why are you taking pictures of that?" Hmm .. I was probably a bit rude to completely ignore him and carry on - but I had no answer for someone who could not see what I was seeing.

Lapwing, Iridescent in the Evening Light

An Avocet Strides Past, Intent on Feeding