Everybody's goin' herping, herping USA part 1

Danger Noodle

This is the first of my blogs on my holiday from Florida. One of my main aims was to see some of the interesting herpetofauna of Southern Florida during the second half of the trip and a reasonable amount of research on species, locations and techniques (I am a very green field herper) put me in reasonable confidence that I would be able to catch up with some stuff and as you can see I did ok. A few thank yous need to be given at this stage, to my mates Paul and Neil Rowntree who gave me loads of stellar advice including books, locations and answered all the stupid questions I had. Be sure to check out Neil's blog - linked above for their epic trips. Also unknowingly helping me was Noah from NFKHerping who through watching his videos gave me loads of info on field skills in nearby Georgia and how to go about actual herping. You should watch his videos and subscribe to his channel if you like snakes. I purchased a couple of books, the Peterson Guide to Herpetiles of the Eastern States and Bartlett's Snakes of Florida. Both proved invaluable although the taxonomy in the latter is a little outdated and they both undersell the extent of non-natives in Florida.

Tropical House Gecko Hemidactylus mabouia

We spent seven nights at Disneyworld, Florida staying at Animal Kingdom Lodge. Here there were a plethora of non-native Brown Anoles Anolis sagrei which were in all habitats during daylight hours. Large numbers were seen particularly in Animal Kingdom and Epcot. On our second full day we found a Florida Softshell Turtle Apalone ferox swimming merrily round the ornamental ponds of Epcot. This wasnt our last softshell sighting. The only other confirmed reptile sighting from Disney (despite many 'gator' sightings from the bus by my kids) was a dead Southern Ring-necked Snake Diadophis punctatus punctatus which had seemingly been freshly stamped on at Animal Kingdom Lodge. I was of course extremely disappointed by this.

Brown Anole (juvenile)

Southern Ring-necked Snake (dead)

Southern Ring-necked Snake (dead)

 A 300 mile trip south to Key Largo from Disney opened up new herping opportunities but still omnipresent were the Brown Anoles and now they were joined by Northern Curly-tailed Lizards Leiocephalus carinatus and Green Iguanas Iguana iguana. All three species occurred in the Hotel Grounds. At this point I had seen four species of lizard and all were non-native. Part 2 will follow shortly and it is juicy!

Green Iguana

Northern Curly-tailed Lizard

Stuff Wot Happened

I'm at home having barely done any birding for a few weeks bracing myself for a trip to Florida which is hopefully going to see me spending extensive periods of time in the Everglades and the Keys. I thought, perhaps it is time to reflect on the large chunk of the spring and early summer I failed to mention on the blog. Blogging has become more sporadic as I have moved from pouring over websites on a laptop to endlessly scrolling through twitter. Apologies and that...

So May went pretty well - I managed to twitch the Baikal Teal at March Farmers and then latterly as it moved north at Hornsea Mere for my lifer and Yorkshire tick but I was happy enough. At least until it decided to move to Northumberland for the summer... Now, well, lets wait for the BBRC eh? In between the two I saw briefly and heard extensively my second British and first Yorkshire Great Reed Warbler which set up territory at Wintersett Reservoir, one of two holding territory in Yorkshire and perhaps a dozen or more that are known across the country. Confirmed breeding must be on the cards...

Curlew Sandpiper

The end of the Spring produced a female Subalpine Warbler which was probably western like my previous UK subalp plus a fine male Black-headed Bunting which was new to me and a fine discovery by Craig Thomas at Flamborough. A Black Guillemot floating off the foghorn did the decent thing and hung around just long enough to make it 4 Yorkshire ticks in a fortnight. I also dipped a Rose-coloured Starling a couple of miles from home. A handful of visits to Frampton led to awesome views of breeding plumage Little Stints, Curlew Sandpipers plus a Wood Sandpiper, Little Gull and a couple of Turtle Doves plus an enjoyable yap with Toby Collett, the warden.

Garganey

Little Stint

Turtle Dove

 Work saw me monitoring lots of pairs of breeding Peregrines which was great and I am very fortunate to do so. More recently I have been down in Somerset working on the River Parrett with plenty of Mediterranean and Yellow-legged Gulls plus the first returning waders. On my way home the other week my 5th Yorkshire tick in a brief spell was a Gull-billed Tern at Adwick Washlands which was kind enough to hang on overnight after initially being mis-identified. These have been really hard to connect with in Yorkshire and is my second UK record after one in Devon with Pete Clark a couple of years ago.

I have also bee reigniting my love for things non-avian and a quick look at my Instagram will show I have been a busyish bee on that front. Highlights recently include new orchids (Marsh Helleborine, Southern Marsh Orchid and Lizard Orchid), new bees and wasps (Andrena chrysoceles and Symmorphus bifasciatus) and new Butterflies amongst several others (Marsh Fritillary and Silver-washed Fritillary).

Lizard Orchid

Marsh Frog

I hope to have loads of photos from Florida and one of the things I have been doing most work on is Snakes. Hopefully there will be video of a couple and some birds but if not know this - I tried! Below is a rather confiding Fox cub from Skerne Wetlands a few weeks ago whilst watching the Marsh Harriers doing a food pass.

Marsh Fritillary

Red-footed Falcon at Thorne Moors

I'm pretty rubbish at finding rare birds. I've been birding for 15 years properly more or less and have a grand total of zero rare birds found but recently I have been turning up the odd county rarity both home and away with a couple of accepted Rough-legged Buzzards in Northumberland and Yorkshire, an American Golden Plover in Northumberland, Great White Egret in Nottinghamshire, Caspian Gull, Bee-eater and Leach's petrel in Somerset, Crane in Lincolnshire and a few more. Nothing earth shattering there but I really enjoy looking and sometimes I get a stupid idea about a bird and poof it appears. It happened for the Rough-legged Buzzard at Barmston and it happened again for the AGP at St Mary's Island. I thought the conditions and timing all looked good for the species and I was tuned in and expecting to find them. It happened again last week. I went to Thorne Moors looking for Red-footed Falcon. I was fortunate in that I had an afternoon of free time as I couldnt get back from a course to set up the laptop and my wife and kids were out with a friend so I could utilise the warmth of the late afternoon sun that was heating it up to 18c after a misty, murky start.

Tim Ward's shot shows exactly how I saw this bird initially.

I knew that the first Hobbys should be in at Thorne in a pre-breeding aggregation and that these would be concentrated by the fresh hatches of insects given the cool, early conditions. Thorne is a classic Red-foot location but the date, 30th April, was perhaps a week early. The air-flow was from the south and I marched to the middle of the moor watching a lanky looking ringtail harrier fold-up and dive from a couple of hundred meters up. Its jizz screamed Monty's but there was a significant heat haze and it was perhaps 1km away so a brief view wasn't going to go anywhere in terms of firming up species. A Red Kite ambled over - these guys seem to be everywhere now. Underfoot I disturbed a large male Adder which was foraging and shot off into the undergrowth. Marsh Harriers and Hobbys were obvious across the moor as I made for the picnic bench, north of the watchpoint, with at least half a dozen of each on view most of the time.

Another shot from Tim Ward showing the slightly blunt winged appearance

Watching the Hobbys I started checking them for Red-foots but the strong lighting made everything look dark underneath. I had 15, 16 no...20 Hobby in the air at the same time. Everywhere, high, low, in singles, pairs and loose groups. It was humming with them after a massive hatch of Four-spotted Chasers and Large Red Damselflies. Two probable Swifts were just too high to be sure they were Hobbys. Everytime I scanned with the scope more falcons were behind the ones I was locking on to. A loose group of half a dozen birds started hawking low-down infront of me. I noticed one looked a little smaller with gleaming white patches on the inner primaries of the upperwing. Watching it, it worked in a more relaxed way with less aggressive hawking behaviour and generally flew lower at a more consistent height. It came a little closer and my anticipation grew. It banked and was slatey blue-grey underneath. An adult male Red-footed Falcon no less. This was exactly as I imagined it but what I hadn't anticipated was quite how bright and obvious those upperwing flashes would be.

Not obviously dark underneath when strongly lit

Over the next 90 minutes it hawked to within 50 meters, remaining fairly loyal to the loose group of birds. I was joined 15 minutes after I found it by David Slack. It was great for someone to corroborate the sighting as I had forgotten my camera and try as I might, I failed to phonescope the bird in flight. I got lots of shots of fresh air and the odd blurry Hobby as I latched onto the wrong bird. Tim Ward very kindly let me use his shots from the following day here and there are photos out there on Graham Catley's blog:

http://pewit.blogspot.com/2019/05/falcon-day.html

Nb - whilst I was looking at the bird I was talking to David about features I was seeing and he was agreeing yet we realised we were looking in different directions. Neither of us saw two birds simultaneously but two adult males were seen together on 12th May which at the time of writing is the final sighting.

Spurn in late April

Water Pipit

Like most birders I love a trip to Spurn. Despite my relative proximity I dont get there as often as I'd like. I have managed two trips in the last nine days. The first, for my 37th birthday no less was on Good Friday. I spent the entire time at Numpties and it was great. Hirundines were streaming south in reasonable numbers with 3 figure totals for both Sand Martin and Swallow plus a ringtail Hen Harrier went south and three Whimbrel north which were my first of the year. Ten Arctic Terns headed east out of the Estuary for another year tick. Four Wheatears scampered around Clubleys Field and a Hooded Crow blogged about. A handful of flava and alba wagtails south harboured at least two White Wagtails. Tardy Redwing and Fieldfare were great to see as was a female Brambling that wheezed its way past. The highlight of the visit was a surprise breeding plumage Water Pipit which pitched into Clubleys as I was thinking about packing up. I failed to get a photo and was on my own without my radio. It slunk out of site and I assumed it would walk back over the shallow brow in the grass but after 30 minutes I'd given up. I was walking back to the car when it picked up out of some reeds onto a bund. I managed to rattle off a few phone scoped pics before I headed off.

Red Kite

After yesterdays Black Kite at Spurn and the Alpine Swift at Flamborough I was optimistic for this morning at Spurn. Initial promise fizzled out but I still managed to catch up with a few decent bits and pieces including a 2CY Spoonbill heading south at half 6 and a 3CY Red Kite which blogged about, both of which were Spurn ticks for me. A little movement over the sea included 3 Manx Shearwaters and 4 Sandwich Terns. A female Ring Ouzel pitched onto a bush by the warren briefly and I was leaving a Marsh Harrier was briefly strung as a Black Kite. Alas it was not to be. A single Whimbrel went north on the sea and there was a steady stream of Yellow wagtails south. Cool winds and rain seemed to stop any movement and only a handful of swallows passed whilst three House Martins were hawking over the Kilnsea. A Tree Pipit alighted briefly on wires by the Warren and I managed a pants shot of it.

A very blurry Spoonbill

 

Tree Pipit

Early April in Eastern England

Yellow Wagtail - Frampton

I have had a pretty decent April after a quiet start to the year. I found a Great White Egret whilst working in Nottinghamshire and a Crane at RSPB Frampton Marsh whilst there was a volunteers meeting so it turned into a big twitch. I've also been lucky enough to find half a dozen Peregrine nests and a few other rare breeders both whilst working and here in East Yorkshire.

Crane - Frampton. It was dark and distant!

Great White Egret - Catton, Notts. iPhone binned.

Obviously migrants have been the order of the day over the last month and the first Blackcaps and Willow Warblers opened the month up and I have caught up with most of the warblers now with Garden and Grasshopper still to go. I took a brief trip to March Farmers in Cambridgeshire on the Nene washes whilst I was working in the Fens and saw 18 of the 21 reported Cranes in one flock.

Thirteen Cranes at March Farmers. Great birds.

Andrena fulva - one of many females I have seen round and about.

White Wagtail - Frampton

Saints and Devils

My wife and kids were at Leeds arena watching Disney on Ice so that gave me the perfect opportunity to visit St Aiden's for the first time. I have been to the Swillington Ings complex a handful of times over the years for rare birds but never St Aidan's. One trip to Skelton Lake with a migraine to see a Spotted Sandpiper with Collared Pratincole and Caspian Tern at Astley Lake. I had heard that the Black-necked Grebes were returning. Jim Welford, a friend who is on the committee at Swilly said that the site is impressive with the scale and the way it is hidden until you get past the visitor centre and I totally agree. Hidden by the dragline machine from the mine and the new visitor centre you get on the first path and the enormity of the site opens up with a starkness as you look over the ridge and furrow which sits in a bowl surrounded by spoil mounds which have grown up into almost downland pasture. A mile in the distance sit the reedbeds and it was here I was heading towards. En route I came across my first Sand Martins of the year when 30+ sallied in the fresh wind.

So if the site is the Saint then these are definitely the devils with their ruby red eyes. At least 10 were about and these two were mere feet from the bank, indifferent to the public. They briefly did a bit of display but soon gave up.

Aside from the grebes a Ringed Plover was smart and there were five Pink-footed Geese up on the hillside. These were nestled between a variety of domestic Greylags and Canadas and somethings inbetween. A little gem was hidden amongst the gank - a fine Tundra Bean Goose. I watched it feeding on the grass for a while amongst the Greylags. Soon though it was time for me to clear off and hear about how one of the lions fell over in the Lion King skit.

Close to Home

I havent been out much this year yet for a variety of reasons. Busy, CBA, it's cold, it's winter etc. Today was supposed to be a full day out in the field but too much of Islay's finest and a late night playing Red Dead Redemption 2 (gaming isn't just for kids folks) mean't I started late and gave up early. With a slight hangover I opted to stay local and went out on Wansford Carrs for a couple of hours. It sounded like the Somme with Pheasant shoots all over the place but there were plenty of birds. Snakeholme Pastures is a small YWT reserve sitting on the Driffield Canal SSSI and it is being extended with works along the West Beck linking it with Skerne Wetlands. Some fabulous habitat is present and much of the adjacent areas are managed for shooting so contain some decent areas. It is the most northerly chalk stream in the UK with crystal clear water and gravel beds which attract spawning Brook and River Lamprey.

Peregrine

 A few Mute Swans fed on the carrs but nothing wilder. A mixed flock of thrushes contained all five species that you would expect in winter including my first Mistle Thrushes of 2019. They were all digging for worms in the plethora of mole hills. Further south a couple of Buzzards were mewing away whilst sat on small pylons and the reason for their annoyance soon became obvious as a Peregrine was bombing them with some persistance. There were stacks of brand new owl boxes up so I am hopeful that there will be an upturn in the local populus soon. Plenty of otter sign failed to turn any up. Some of the best habitat was some hawthorn scrub that was birdless but I have high hopes for the coming year.

Little Egret

Returning to the car after a decent ramble along the river featuring a smart male Kestrel and a loafing Grey Heron a cracking Little Egret floated along infront of me. Now a regular wintering species it was much appreciated on an overcast day. All this may not add up to much but its literally five minutes from front door and was awesome to be outside.