It's too hot!

Singing Wren

Mute Swan family

'There once was an ugly duckling...' Not really. Aren't they lovely?

Small Tortoiseshell butterfly caterpillar

We spent this morning searching for Yellow Wagtails on the Nene Washes. Probably not a very good idea. Not only did we fail to find any, but by the time we finished, temperatures were getting near the 30 degrees Celsius mark. Too hot for me, with this humidity!

The highlights, in the absence of any wagtails, were dragonflies. A few Hairies about, including a mating pair, lots of Four-spotted Chasers and an assortment of damselflies, with quite a few Blue-taileds.

With a bit of luck, we'll get some big thunderstorms to help clear the air.

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

Yellow and green

For woodland flowers, these celandines (?) grow in a rather bizarre location on the Nene Washes. Not a tree to be seen, but presumably there were some at that spot originally.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Nene Washes

Lapwing

Golden Plovers

Mute Swan


Tiny spider with even tinier fly

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 77 with 20x eyepiece

It's cold outside

'Welcome to the Nene Washes... Arctic tundra', said Jonathan as today's RSPB guided walk began at Eldernell.

That felt about right, as with a biting north-easterly wind and 100% cloud cover it felt grim indeed. We walked up to just past Lord's Holt to look over the reserve floods, and saw four Marsh Harriers and a selection of cold-looking wildfowl.

I was worried that people would start asking us for their money back because of the relative lack of birds (it's so much better on a sunny morning!), so we were relieved when the resident Barn Owl pair came out to hunt and flew right past us.

Thank goodness for Barn Owls.

The longest evening

Black-tailed Godwit. What a bird!


Snipe


Ladybird


Fly thing on thistle


Sedge Warbler with food.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Nene Washes

Snipe






Yellow Wagtails

Went for a stroll down the Nene Washes with Toadsnatcher. It was very pleasant, but could have been even more so if it wasn't so flippin' cold. The wind has turned north-easterly and it's still not very warm out there.

There were no unusual birds but all the regulars (Garganey, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwit, Snipe, Marsh Harriers, Barn Owl, Redshank, Meadow Pipit) were doing their spectacular stuff. Hopefully it'll be a good breeding season.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Nene Washes

There was the mother of all rainstorms approaching but fortunately she passed by to the east.


Meadow Pipits were fairly obliging this evening, sitting on fenceposts.


A few Linnets bathed in the fresh puddles.


Post-bath preening took place nearby.


This male Reed Bunting was one of several to pose nicely.




I've finally joined the Shortie Club! This bird was hunting the meadows and stopped for a rest a little way ahead of me.

digiscoped photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Nene Washes walk

This evening I helped on an RSPB guided walk at Eldernell. It was good fun. There were 24 people keen to find out more about the birds and environment of the washes and I think they went home happy. Bob and Emily, who showed me the Slow-worm at Bedford Purlieus, were there.

We had good views of Barn Owl, Grey Heron, Swift, Swallow, Cormorant and Meadow Pipit and more distant views of Long-eared Owl and Marsh Harrier. We watched a Hobby hawking for dragonflies over the pit, which was nice. All these are taken for granted by most birdwatchers but it's great to look at them in a different, fresh way...

Euro Mullet Watch
I am desperately trying to find the owner of the fantastic Spanish mullet I saw on TV earlier. I think this is the man - Fernando Torres.

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Jeff Tweedy: We are trying to break your heart
With A Ghost is Born, Wilco's alt.country origins are becoming an ever-more-distant memory. The band's leader, Jeff Tweedy, tells Kevin Harley what drives them on.

What's in my CD player: If You're Feeling Sinister - Belle & Sebastian

Washes waders

Spent a large part of yesterday afternoon/early evening on the washes. Spring wader passage seems to be at its peak so far, which is good 'cause we didn't really have any at all last year! Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Little Ringed Plover and Greenshank have all been seen in the past week - not bad for an inland area.

We were just about to go home when Steve called "Temminck's Stint - flying along the bank, past the Shelduck, past the Mute Swans, over the drove - now!" He ID'd it on tail pattern - all white with a black central stripe. Pretty impressive.

Unfortunately, it's such a big area that it was nigh-on impossible to get onto a titchy wader flying hell-for-leather. I saw it as it flew over the drove, but didn't get anything on it at all - bugger!

Had a phone call this morning about "four or five Wood Warblers singing at Woodwalton Fen". In the PBC area, that's definitely worth checking out, since the species is only a rare migrant, and I neeeeeeeeeeeeeed it.

Sadly, by the time a small group of us had arrived, there was no sign of them. Actually, "four or five" in a small area does sound a little odd, since it's practically a vagrant to this area and they were "doing that trilling call" - I thought Wood Warbler's call was a bit like Bullfinch? Anyway, it's not the end of the world... There was the usual array of warblers, including Grasshopper and Garden Warblers. So not entirely wasted.



What's in my CD player: Gold - Ryan Adams

It's A Wonderful Life

I meant to get up early this morning but I stayed in bed until 07:15. Lazy. I drove to Eldernell in the hope of seeing a Ring Ouzel. It was a lovely morning, but there were none there, and no Wheatears either. Oh well. You can't have everything.

Instead I concentrated my efforts on trying to digiscope singing birds. I hoped they'd be sitting fairly still, but it was the usual story of birds buggering off just when I was ready to take a picture. I was all set to get what I thought would be some fantastic pics of a singing male Blackcap, but every time I pressed the shutter, he was facing away from me! Finally, I got one half-decent image.

I don't mind. Fortunately, the Nene Washes is the kind of place where you can return, having seen nothing, and not feel too hard done by. Some of the best birds were by the car as I arrived: a Barn Owl floated by over the meadows, with Black-headed Gulls in close attendance (but keeping a safe distance). By the sluice gate on Morton's Leam, a pair of Pied Wagtails were a'courting. He was fervently bowing up and down, while she crouched down before seeing him off with a warning wave of the bill.

What's in my CD player: It's A Wonderful Life - Sparklehorse

Meadow Pipit, Nene Washes

I think this is my best photo to date. I was just giving up on trying to digiscope Meadow Pipits when this one perched on a fencepost for a few minutes.

There's always the 'do I or don't I try to digiscope it?' quandary - I seem to spend half my time carefully moving into position, only for the bird to fly off at the critical moment. Fortunately, it stayed put for several minutes and the meadow made a good background. They're very under-rated birds. I think it must have been watching flies above its head.