Birds

At last you cry..

Well isn't it strange. I post other wildlife photos and they rarely get a glance. I didn't post the location of this bird because the 'Toggers' would have chased it for the next few days. It is not as if they couldn't find their own and enjoy the experience even more because of their success.

Grey Heron

Wannabe Woodpecker

Meadow Pipit

Dismissed as a LBJ by some. They are much more than that.

Harrier

Can't ID them all, even birds. This came over the sea  and headed West towards the Academy Pools area. It showed no detail to safely ID.

Sandwich Terns

Terns and Black-headed Gulls are having a terrible time at the moment due to Avian Influenza. Hopefully their numbers will recover in the next few years. I remember the Oil Spillages of the 70s and how quickly seabirds recovered let us hope it is the same after this Flu outbreak.

Tricky time of year if you're new to birding. Immature birds can be quite different from adults. Starlings usually moult quickly to adult plumage, This bird shows the first spotted breast feathers and adult flight feathers.

Another pitfall for beginners is the worn adults. After the frenzied food gathering to feed their broods, many birds don't resemble those showy birds marking territories and attracting a mate in spring. Whitethroats and Chiffchaffs can look awful at this time of year.

Fortunately Swallows look great all the time.

Young Wheatears have been appearing on the coast.

 

Waders are passing through in increasing numbers. 150 Sanderlings at East Chevington beach, 4-500 Golden Plover Whitburn Steel. Wood, Green and Wood Sandpipers all putting in an appearance. Ruff and Greenshank also appearing.

Chaffinch and Wren

 

Plants

Autumn Gentian

White variety. A small patch of this seems to be expanding. The Marsh Helleborine nearby seems to have disappeared this year.

Carline Thistle

Hare's-foot Clover

Hogweed

Twayblade

Wild Carrot

I love the way the central flower is red.

Of course if you look back to the insect post you'll see a good variety of plants there too, but I didn't label them.

 

Insects (and a Spider)

WARNING I am no expert. In fact just a keen observer so  the identification of these insects may be wrong. Apologies in advance.

Amblyteles armatorius

Parasitic Wasp

Well July is a great month. The birds are trickling through (waders and terns mainly).The insects are abundant and hard to identify, so many hours have been spent with books and google attempting to ID the little critters.

Arge cyanocrecea

Bramble Sawfly

It is good when they have common names but few do because of the huge number of species. I guess it is why they are not popular topics for conversation . 

Hogweed is is my favourite plant. It is tall and attracts lots of insects. Best of all I don't have to crawl around trying to take photos, because once I get down it it is a struggle to get back up.

Long-horned Black Legionnaire

Even when they have a common name, they are not so simple.

Chrysotoxum bininctum

Then you have the problem, is it a wasp, a bee, a sawfly? No it is a Hoverfly.

Dark Green Fritillary

Oh and look closely, A hoverfly is approaching the flower.

Rhingia campestris

Deraeocoris flavinea

A plant bug.

Dune Robberfly

Episyrphus balteatus

Marmalade Fly (Hoverfly)

Meliscaeva auricollis

 

Rhagoletis alternata

Ringlet

Well butterflies are a little easier (sometimes).

Small Tortoieshell

Spider

Tibellus oblongus

Spiders are very difficult so you'll not find many on this blog.

Yellow Dung Fly

Yes the clue is in the name? This had me puzzling for hours. Then I realised that it is a female Yellow Dung Fly which is in fact Green!