Our survey says...

An early(ish) start this morning saw us gathering information for the Bedfordshire Bird Atlas... in Northamptonshire.

Since the 10 km square sits on the border between the two counties, records from it can contribute to both. Or something. Anyway,  our allotted patch was around Newton Bromswold. We were after any birds showing signs of... well, anything. Found Spotted Flycatcher, Whitethroat, Buzzard, Wren, Swallow, Moorhen, Whitethroat and all manner of exciting things.

We might have found even more, were it not for a Longhorn bull, his cows and calves which were in a field. They blocked our route to the opposite side of the field, so we opted out. That was after we'd negotiated the live electric fence which ran round the perimeter, including the stile! Ouch!

The butterflies were better than the birds, on the whole. An area in an environmental stewardship scheme held loads of butterflies - more than I've seen all year so far. Large Skippers, Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Common Blues ran riot. There were pleasing numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, too.






Before you accuse me of turning into a church-spotter...




...it was lovely to see the village churchyard was being managed sympathetically. Someone in Newton Bromswold cares about wildlife. There were patches of long grass, nestboxes on the trees and these Common Spotted Orchids. It was full of life.






And, unless I'm mistaken, this is a young Ostrich. There wasn't room for it on the survey form, though. Oh well.

photos taken with Canon EOS 30D, EF 300mm f/4L IS USM, or Canon Powershot A640

Bogbumper And The Curse Of The Black Tern

This morning I was woken at 05:45 by a text from Mike 'Early Birder' Weedon which said:

"Blak [sic] tern @ maxey now 5.45am. M"

I neeeeeeeeeed Black Tern for my PBC area list. That was enough of a stimulus to get even me out of bed. I grabbed my scope, bins, camera etc. and set off.

I arrived at Maxey at 06:15 (it would have been sooner if I hadn't gone the wrong way - twice). There was no sign of Weed, and worse still, no bloody terns! I waited around for more than a hour, in the vain hope that they might come back, but there was no sign.

After that bitter disappointment, I went to Castor Hanglands (I'm a sucker for punishment), and had my best-ever views of Grasshopper Warbler. I heard one reeling as I got out of the car, and decided to have a wander up the track to look for it (it sounded close, but they can be quite misleading). Scanning around, I soon saw it sitting low in a tree. After watching for a while, I decided it was worth a digiscoping attempt.



Hardly worth it, but it's fun trying. It's not easy to understand how Groppers sing. They just seem to sit there, open their bills and somehow the mechanical sound spills out. The only sign of any effort is the vibrating tail.

Also at CH were a few Turtle Doves, a couple of Cuckoos, and a lot of young birds.

These Common Spotted Orchids (Dactylorhiza fuchsii) made a nice display.



This flower is pretty, but I don't know what it is...




Update: Mum says it's Goatsbeard, Tragopogon orientalis, otherwise known as Jack-Go-To-Bed-At-Noon.

What's in my CD player: Thriller - Lambchop