Rub of the Green

Another lovely week of sun, another lovely week of wildlife in which the colour green featured heavily. Firstly on the Farnes; not a rare bird but a rare moth! Possibly a first for the islands and definitely a scarcity in Northumberland (less than 200 individuals) a Green Silver-lines was a lovely surprise in the moth trap on Tuesday morning!

What a stunner

Green Silver-lines

Then on our day off, Lana and I headed north to John Muir country park with the intention of a nice walk/the possibility of connecting with the Greenish Warbler. After a lovely walk in the wrong direction, we eventually found the site and saw the bird instantly as it samg its heart out twenty metres above us in a pine tree. Unfortunately the light and the birds location made photographing it rather tricky.

Singing away!

Greenish Warbler with striking supercilium!

The country park was also a beautiful place for a walk, with pine woodland, dunes and Bass Rock in the background, it made for a lovely afternoon stroll where we also spotted singing yellowhammer, Small Heath, Small Copper and Northern Marsh Orchid.

Small Copper enjoying the sun

Small Heath in abundance along the dunes

Northern Marsh Orchid

And to end with once again, which is in danger of becoming a running theme; something cute. In fact, it's another Arctic Tern chick. After a few days of hatching, they are mobile and very good at hiding, so in order to help us identify which nest they are from, and track them in the future, we ring them. This little fellow from nest 97 is only a few days old, and by the end of the year will be loitering around the pack ice of Antarctica! Truly truly remarkable.

Tiny life!

Moths and Chicks

This post does exactly what it says on the tin. Having been in Cyprus and returning to a mountain of monitoring, cliff counts and visitor work has meant that I haven't had much time for photography recently. However I have made the leap into the world of smart phones so I have been able to record some of the daily goings on around the Farnes. The weather has been pretty wonderful since my return, and this has meant plenty of opportunity for moth trapping. Using a 15W Heath Trap in possibly the best location one of these has ever been used (see photo) we have some very pretty if not particularly rare species, and below I include my three personal highlights; Angle Shades, Buff Ermine and The Spectacle moth (showing exactly where it gets its name).

Home sweet home. The mighty Brownsman Island

Angle Shades, Phlogophora meticulosa

Buff Ermine, Spilarctia luteum

The Spectacle, Abrostola tripartita 

And now for the cute part. Today saw the hatching of the first Arctic Tern chick in my monitoring patch, and I was lucky enough to catch the second hatching in action. It won't be long before these little balls of fluff are running around causing chaos for us as we leave the cottage every morning.

One down, one to go!

And last but not least, a Black Tern; a splendid adult that arrived on Brownsman for the afternoon of the 5th and posed nicely amongst the Arctics.

Very smart Black Tern

Cyprus: May 2014 Part 2.

When we able to tare ourselves away from the Akrotiri peninsula, we spent a couple of mornings in the Souni district North West of Limassol. Just outside of the town we found some wonderful areas of scrub on the edge of some abandoned housing developments, giving the area a somewhat post-apocalyptic feel. Despite this, we were treated to some wonderful birds here, including Bee-eater, singing Hoopoe, Golden Oriel, Masked Shrike and Cretzschmar's Bunting.

One of a pair of showy Cretzschmar's Buntings

Stunning Masked Shrike

Cyprus Wheatear, plenty seen everywhere

To round off a truly memorable week of festivities and birding, we thought we would try our luck at Kensington Cliffs, just to the West of Limassol. I'd read in various places that this site was inaccessible and potentially not very birder-friendly. However we arrived, parked up and walked a few hundred metres to the edge of the cliffs where we were treated to at least seven displaying Elenora's Falcon at eye level as Alpine Swift soared in the thermals alongside them. It was a spectacular location for a spectacular event.

Kensington Cliffs

Elenora's Falcon

Very blurry Alpine Swift

Our final trip was a tour of the Troodos mountains ending in Paphos for a lovely meal. In the mountains we saw singing Short-toed Treecreeper, the endemic races of Jay and Coal Tit and at Paphos Headland very confiding Crested Lark. A lovely country, with lovely people, lovely scenery and lovely birds.

Short-toed Treecreeper

Crested Lark having a dust bath

Cyprus: May 2014 Part 1.

A week in Cyprus for a family wedding, it was impossible to resist a few early mornings for some birding, having missed the main migration period but knowing that there were some wonderful breeding species to be seen! Upon arrival at our villa in the hills around Germasogia there was a singing Cyprus Wheatear, Cyprus Warbler and Sardinian Warbler. At dusk two Nightjars were churring on the hillside, and these were joined in the morning by a pair of Roller which frequented the telephone wires around us.

Endemic Cyprus Warbler

One of the pair of Rollers

If being bright blue wasn't enough, they also show a distinctive underwing pattern.

Being so close to Limassol was ideal, so our first trip out was to the Akrotiri peninsula. First stop was Zakaki Marsh, a small pool and a hide, with 15ft reed on one side and Limassol port on the other; a most unusual location but an incredible one. We visited 3 or 4 times during our stay, and every time we saw something new. The list from the site included Little Tern, Ferruginous Duck, Squacco Heron, Glossy Ibis, Spur-winged Lapwing, Black-winged Stilt, Little Grebe, Wood Sandpiper, Citrine Wagtail, Black-headed Wagtail and Sedge, Reed and Fan-tailed Warbler.

View from the hide....

Two of the four Fudge Ducks ever present

Pair of Spur-winged Plover showing very well

Black-winged Stilt

Further down towards the sea was Ladies Mile, a long dirt track with some fairly grotty looking beaches on one side and some fairly grotty looking pools on the other. Despite the location, this site also provided some great birds, with four Kentish Plover and 12 Little Stint present all visits.

Pair of Kentish Plover

One of the cracking Little Stints

The last stop on the tour on the peninsula was the Phassouri reedbeds, another excellent site tucked away down a little track. It consisted of more gigantic reed with a beautiful grazing meadow covered with wild flowers, butterflies and birds. Here we found Wood Sandpiper, Cattle Egret, Glossy Ibis, Squacco Heron, Fan-tailed Warbler, Blue and Black-headed Wagtail and singing Black Francolin. The insect life included Goliath Wasps, Common Blue and Swallowtail butterfly.

One of many Cattle Egret

Blue-headed Wagtail alongside a Cypriot cow

Black-headed Wagtail, one of the group of around 10 birds

Distant Fan-tailed Warbler

Goliath Wasp (photo courtesy of Lana)