Read’s Island’s Waders

Another beautiful evening up at Read’s Island - and in amongst thousands of small waders comprising mainly Ring Plover and Dunlin were 35 Knot, 1 Sanderling, 1 Little Stint, 10 Curlew Sandpipers, 4 Ruff,1 Grey Plover and 4 Turnstone.  Also 5 Common Scoter and 3 Pintail on the river and 37 Fallow Deer out on the Island.

Red Deer Stags

It’s not often you can get near the Red Deer stags in the Park but this week they have formed a tight group and have become fairly approachable.  It seems they are having a pre-rut ‘love-in’ before they knock six bells out of each other in October.  No sign yet of their winter coats or neck manes but with a distinct autumnal feel in the air this morning it can only be a matter of time.

Record Counts for the Scunthorpe Reporting Area

Not one but two record Counts for the area this week, firstly a record high of 1271 Avocets on Read's Island this morning and secondly 18 Spoonbills at Alkborough Flats in the week (15 this afternoon).  Also at Alkborough this afternoon 6 Ruddy Shelducks and a hybrid Ruddy/Common Shelduck and at Read's Island 12 Curlew Sandpipers, 1 Ruff, 491 Ringed Plovers, 6 Bar-Tailed Godwits, 5 Grey Plover, 435 Dunlin and 763Curlew - I fear Autumn is here!

Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner

Well it’s back in the Park again but doesn’t seem quite so advanced as last year - if you look at the images taken last year http://normanbynature.blogspot.com/2010/07/trees-in-park.html which were 3 weeks earlier than today I’m sure the damage is not as great.  Last year the whole tree just looked brown where as you can see from the image I took this morning the trees still look pretty healthy - fingers crossed someone will find a way to deal with this intrusive non-native species which by the way is a little micro moth which I still have yet to see.

Buff-Breasted Sandpipers

Spent the day at Gibralter Point where we had a lovely day but didn’t see much so decided to call in at Horse Shoe Point on the way home for the high tide roost of Terns.  It turned in to one of those evenings that will stay in the memory for a long time -  the light and the weather couldn’t have been better and as we walked out on the beach we could see Terns beginning to congregate and eventually we estimated 2000 Common Terns, 3 Little Terns , 1 Black Tern, 2 Little Stints and thousand of Ringer Plover, Dunlin, Godwits, Knot and there right in front of us 2 Buff Breasted Sandpipers standing out in perfect light just waiting to have stunning photos taken alas within a minute of me trying to send texts and Wayne trying to delete a full memory card we lost them and despite two hours of searching the beach and neighbouring ploughed field where hundreds of Golden Plover were roosting we never saw them again - moral of the story forget the phone, always have space on your memory card and never take your eye off the bird.

The thin white line in the distance is a mass of Common Terns and Gulls.

Pond Species Update

Couldn't believe it this morning first a Humming Bird Hawkmoth feeding in the garden on Buddleia and Geraniums and then a Southern Hawker dragonfly spending 5 minutes hawking up and down the pond catching insects - no photos are they were both far too quick for me!  The garden is also alive with Hover Flies and Bumble Bees which just love the Japanese Anenomies and Rudbeckia.  Our rockery is coming a long well with the first of the plants to flower - a bit of a surprise as it is a white Gentian but it is suppose to be a blue one which should flower is April!

Gentiana Acaulis Rannoch - or not!

Arum Lilly

Japanese Anemone

Rudbeckia

Cosmos

As you can see the pond is beginning to clear of algae with just one central patch left - the rest is slowly starting to clear and we are starting to be able to see the bottom of the pond - clearly we need many more plants in the water to provide oxygen and we still have lots of marginals from the old pond to put back in but its slowly coming along.

Hobby

Messingham Sand Quarry’s Summer Flowers

The reserve at Messingham is looking truly wonderful at the moment with a wildflower display around every corner- thanks in the main to the hard work of John Davidson and John Petyt who due to an unfortunate turn of events are no longer in the roles of voluntary wardens of the reserve.  So if you want to see it at its best go now as in my opinion the Lincolnshire Trust who manage the reserve will not have the experience or expertise to maintain it in its present state.

Yarrow - Achillea millefolium

Sneezewort - Achillea ptarmica

Heathers with Hawkweed in the background

Narrow Leaved Hawkweed - Hieracium umbellatum

Tansy - Tanacetum vulgare

Great Willowherb - Epilobium hirsutum

Hemp Agrimony - Eupatorium cannabinum

Ragwort with a Cinnabar Caterpillar feeding on it - they absorb the bitter tasting alkaloids that make ragwort distasteful to animals and become distasteful to birds as a result. The bright colours are a warning to birds not to eat them.

Field Scabious - Knautia arvensis

Common Fleabane - Pulicaria dysenterica

Hedge Bindweed - Calystegia sepium

Red Admiral butterfly on Hemp Agrimony - seems to me to have been a poor year for butterflies except for Red Admirals and these are probably continental ones not our own.

Purple Loosestrife - Lythrum salicaria