A good day for a Hobby or two

Had two good views of Hobby today; one at Alkborough gliding across the hillside and one hawking for dragonflys over the main lake at Messingham. Also at Messingham two Black Swans, plenty of dragons including Four-Spotted Chaser and Hairys and lots of Large Red Damsels. On the butterfly front only had two Brimstones but my brother today had 200ish Painted Ladies on one track at his local wood in Shadoxhurst, Kent - we have had one or two during the week so maybe we will also have large numbers by the weekend as these migrants move further north.

Leopard (Kruger Park)

This was one of those magical moments where you can't quite believe what you're seeing, we were alerted to its presence by the jackals barking .  Remarkably it was the only big cat sighting we had in Kruger.



and as quickly as it appeared it disappeared

South Africa 2005

In February 2005 we visited South Africa - we did a circuit starting in Joburg down to Wakkerstrom then Sani Pass(Lesotho) across to the coast to Saint Lucia on to Mkhuzi NP and then through Swaziland to Kruger NP. The photos are pre digital SLR and were taken on a compact Panasonic and the occasional digiscoping so in other words not that good!
Back in April I showed you my favourite ever photo Wayne has taken, well this is my favourite photo which I have taken - it's a Lilac-breasted Roller

Red Bishop                        Orange Breasted Rockjumper
Malachite Sunbird
Sani Pass
Ground Woodpecker
White-fronted Bee-eater
White-headed Vulture
Woodland Kingfisher
Woodland Kingfisher
Zebra
Fish Eagle

Elephant
Double-banded Sandgrouse
Cape Parrot - first light digiscoped at a great distance!
BlackSmiths Plover

Buff-breasted Sandpiper - Alkborough

Its happened again - I stayed in bed and Wayne went to Alkborough and found a Buff-breasted Sandpiper.  Also an invasion of Painted Lady butterflies.

Bird Race 2009

Every year we do a Normanby Parish Bird Race where we see how many species we can see in 24 hours and this year is no different however this is the latest date in the year on which we have attempted it.  So how have we done..... well not as good as previous years infact the worst ever but it was still enjoyable if not tiring(and I didn't join Wayne until 07.00, he started at 03.00).  The total  species seen was 84, 10 less than last year's record but the banter isn't about what we saw but what we didn't ie  Spotted Flycatcher or Turtle Dove which we find very worrying, we also seem to have lost Little Owl, Water Rail and Bittern from the parish.
The weather has not been brilliant today - sunny spells with very heavy thundery showers and 15 mph westerly winds but when the sun came out we had a few nice butterflies such as the Brown Argus and Common Blue pictured below and also Wall and Small Heath.  Best bird of the day would go to Barn Owl flying past in full sun with a vole in its claws otherwise nothing particularly special but we were relieved to get Cuckoo (only 1) and Willow Tit.  Prize for bird more prolific than previous years would go to Buzzard a species we previously struggled with.
Changing the subject completely, last night we went to see the new Star Trek film which we thought was fantastic a must for any Trekkies out there - live long and prosper!

Stone Curlew at Alkborough Flats?

Well I'm just back from a stint down on the flats in search of the Stone Curlew but alas to no avail.  Alkborough is a large site and it does seem like looking for a needle in a hay stack.  When Wayne saw it last night he saw it in flight, flying over one of the fields set with broad beans, it continued passed him and appeared to land a fair distance away on the foreshore where there is no public access and he was unable to relocate it - who knows where it will be now!

Cryptic Clue - just a 'stone' throw from here a strange curlew is sighted!

Well it's the badger episode all over again - Wayne goes to Alkborough without me and has another brilliant record in the form of a Stone Curlew.  He rung to say that it was too late to come back for me as it would be dark by the time we got back so an early start for me in the morning without him as he will be at work.  So the only way I can get my own back is to get a photo - he's left his camera at home so watch this space. 

MSQ & Alkborough

Early morning start at Messingham produced the following; 

6 Black Terns, 7 Garden Warblers, 1 Peregrine, 1 Little Egret, 1 Ross's Goose (same bird at Bagmoor yesterday), 1 Pinkfoot, 1 Egyptian Goose, 2 Dunlin, 1st summer Med Gull, 200 Sand Martin, 30 House Martin

Later in the morning at Alkborough;

3 Black Terns, 2 Greenshank, 9 Arctic Terns, 1 Common Tern, 2 Knot, 1 Grey Plover, 1 Whimbrel

My spring garden

The garden is looking good at the moment with the spring flowers now in full swing below is a selection including  - Yew tree disguised as a Montana, Solomans Seal, Yellow Archangel and Woodruff with Bluebells and Saxifrage.  The garden birds are still fighting over boxes even at this late stage  but at the moment we have Blue Tit and Tree Sparrow x 2 probably sitting on eggs and Great Tits who have presumably failed at one attempt and have only started taking nest material into one box today.  A few days ago we had Blackbirds feeding 2 chicks in the garden but after hearing several battles with Magpies the chicks have vanished .

Redstart, Temminck's and Badger

Started the day at Laughton Forest in search of the adders that every man and his dog seems to have seen but not us!! however we did have a male Redstart singing his head off at the top of a very wind swept pine.
On to Messingham where an adult male Peregrine was causing havoc with the Lapwings and I had my first Garden Warblers of the season. After a couple of hours of strong winds and nothing much else we came home for shelter but Wayne soon got itchy feet and headed out again to Alkborough Flats, I was soon to discover I'd made a made regretful decision to stay home........ 2 hours later Wayne comes flying in claiming a lifer. I knew immediately it wasn't a bird but a badger - we have discussed many times how we have travelled the world and seen all the 'special' mammals but never our own badger. The nearest we have come were 3 dead ones only half a mile from our house but this evening he had one in full view in daylight running across a field - he'll gloat about this for weeks.

Wayne also had the best birding down at Alkborough for a long time seeing a Temminck's Stint, 2 Little Stints, 1 Sanderling, 165 Dunlin and 40 Ringed Plover.

Alpine Swift - Barton on Humber

This is possibly the worst shot ever taken of an Alpine Swift but at least I got a record shot with my tiny battered Canon Ixus 800, if you want to see a really good shot click on the pewit link on the right hand side. We were out for a leisurely morning today checking down Bagmoor Lane for Garden Warblers when our friend Graham Catley rang telling us of this Alpine Swift he had just found on his local patch so at great haste we shot off and thankfully it was still there - so a British tick for me and a Lincs tick for Wayne. This Alpine Swift is only the second record for the Scunthorpe recording area - the first was on the 16th June 1979.