Wildlife of the Spanish Pyrenees

 In mid-September I took a break from wildlife watching in the UK to go on a walking and general interest holiday with my partner, Helen, to the Spanish (Catalan) Pyrenees, staying in an excellent hotel in the village of Ribes de Freser, surrounded by majestic hills and mountains, as well as flower-filled meadows. Wildlife was abundant, with many butterflies on the wing including at least three species of fritillary. Most were identifiable, but one common type of grizzled skipper (image below) proved to be tricky. I have plumped for Rosy Grizzled Skipper as the most likely candidate. Most of the other common species (Wall, Speckled Wood, Adonis and Common Blues, Comma, Clouded Yellow, Painted Lady, Large and Small White etc.) can be seen in the UK or are widespread in Europe, but a few were different, including Spanish Brassy Ringlet, which was a new one for me.

Rosy Grizzled Skipper (?), Spanish Pyrenees

Dragonflies were less common, but I did see both Red-veined Darter and Emperor, the female of the latter laying eggs in a small water feature in the village of Queralbs.

Female Emperor Dragonfly, Spanish Pyrenees

We saw abundant birdlife, with White Wagtails and Black Redstarts being particularly common, even when we visited Nuria, at an altitude of 2000M. Also seen at Nuria were Water Pipits and an Alpine Accentor. Griffon Vultures were seen regularly, whilst Kestrels, Buzzards and a single Goshawk were other raptors seen. Crag Martins were the commonest local hirundines, although a large colony of House Martins was present at Nuria.

Black Redstart, Nuria

Water Pipit at Nuria

Griffon Vulture - a Common Sight

There was some heavy rain before and during the early part of our stay. This may have encouraged the appearance of many fruiting bodies of various fungi to appear later on, including a cute little orange one (below) that was seen on one of the walks.

Orange Fungus

Occasionally I see unusual or rarely encountered animal behaviour on my travels. On a 'there and back' walk to a waterfall, we found a suitable bench to sit on and have a drink on the way. Coming back, we were surprised to see a Common Lizard attempting to eat a large, green grasshopper that it had caught, on the bench. For a few minutes it struggled, removing wings and legs but still unable to get the grasshopper in its mouth, let alone eat it. Like a Sparrowhawk, it obviously regarded not letting its prey escape as being more important than leaving the scene as soon as we turned up. Eventually it got the grasshopper in its mouth (image) and disappeared under the bench. On the many occasions that I have seen lizards they have invariably frozen and/or then made a run for safety, so seeing one actually attempting to deal with prey was something new for me. This was the main animal memory that I will take away from a thoroughly enjoyable holiday.

Common Lizard, with Grasshopper Prey

Local Wildlife Sightings, September 2025

 With low pressure dominating for the first time in months, the start of autumn was decidedly different to the vast majority of summer. It was (relatively) cool, it was breezy and there were rain showers which were particularly lively on the 3rd, when over an inch (28mm) fell in the day, including a torrential shower in the early afternoon that deposited 15mm in around 20 minutes. More rain fell on the 3rd than in the whole of May, or the whole of June, or the whole of August. There was still a little butterfly activity when the sun came out between the showers, but my macro lens was becoming redundant as I switched to local bird watching. A visit to Phillup's Lake on the 2nd produced at least one Little Grebe, a single adult Coot, three Tufted Ducks (one male) and, a local 'first' for me, two Teal. 

There was no mud, and consequently no waders, at Phillup's Lake, but there was plenty of mud at Dernford Farm Reservoir where the water level was still, despite the rain, extremely low on the 2nd. I counted at least six Ruff and five Common Sandpipers feeding around the reservoir, as well as a Common Snipe that flew off as soon as I appeared. A single Yellow-legged Gull was with the (resident?) Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls. The Tern family had departed, but large numbers of juvenile Tufted Ducks were seen after what has clearly been a very successful breeding season. As usual, the reported Ruddy Shelduck was nowhere to be seen. More gulls (mostly Lesser Black-backs) were seen when I went on a short (rain shower clouds spotted) 'there and back' walk east along the Icknield Way from the A505 layby, again on the 2nd, and they included a Herring Gull.

Ruff, Dernford Farm Reservoir, 2 September

Juvenile Tufted Duck, Dernford Farm Reservoir, 2 September

Record Shot of a distant Teal, Phillup's Lake, 2 September

I made a further unsuccessful attempt to see the Black Redstart at the Baldock model aircraft field on the 5th - this is obviously going to be this year's 'bogey bird'. On the same day, a Wheatear was seen at Thrift Farm, near the bottom of Church Hill. I found a couple of almost pristine Adonis Blues on the Old Rifle Range the following morning.

Wheatear at Thrift Farm, Therfield, 5 September

Adonis Blue, Therfield Heath (Old Rifle Range), 6 September

A holiday in the Spanish Pyrenees (I may publish a future blog post) kept me away from my local patch for the better part of two weeks. The holiday included plenty of hill walking, and on my return I decided that I was fit enough to go on the extended walk round the villages of Reed and Therfield (8-9 miles) on the 19th, for the first time since early May. Passing through Hatchpen Farm I encountered three more Wheatears. There was an obvious visible southerly migration of Swallows (40+) and House Martins (8-10) through the farm, and a single Yellow Wagtail was seen amongst them. A 'record' four Little Grebes were seen at Phillup's Lake, where a Cormorant was swimming and diving. Also seen here were four Tufted Ducks. Further on, I encountered another Wheatear at Park Farm (Therfield). A total of 43 bird species were recorded (37 seen). Although I must have heard 30-40 Robins on the way round, none were seen! Another surprisingly 'heard only' species was Goldfinch.

Cormorant at Phillup's Lake, 19 September

One of four Little Grebes seen at Phillup's Lake, 19 September

Another Wheatear, this one at Hatchpen Farm, Reed, 19 September

High pressure once again dominated the scene in the second half of September, with most of the rain having fallen in the first week of the month. Insect life dwindled, with the exception of the thousands of Ivy Bees, that awaken in late summer to take pollen from the many flowering Ivy bushes in the area. However, whilst butterflies have had a much better year in 2025 than in 2024, I have seen far fewer grasshoppers, shield bugs and bush crickets than in previous years. Whether this is a consequence of the very dry spring and summer I don't know. Anyway, here are a few images of insects that I did manage to photograph in late summer, including a mystery insect (tentatively identified as an Ichneumon Wasp), which was noted rapidly flickering its antennae. I suspect that there will be very few insects left to photograph in October....

Ivy Bee on Ivy, 25 September

Ivy Bee on Ivy Leaf, 25 September

Box Bug, Royston, 22 September

Unidentified insect (Ichneumon Wasp??), Royston, 25 September

UK Wildlife Sightings, September 2026

 Poor weather (but with welcome rain) and a whole load of admin. jobs restricted my activities in the first week of September. The appearance of a juvenile Grey Phalarope at Rutland Water on the 3rd, however, was too good an opportunity to miss and I decided to risk the trip to see it that evening, despite only being able to set off at 5.30pm. Heavy rush hour traffic slowed me down but I got to the Sykes Lane car park at 6.45pm, to find that it was closing at 7.00pm. I decided to dash down to the northern end of the dam, where the bird was located, at least see the bird and then dash back. Fortunately, the phalarope was only three minutes away, typically picking up tiny invertebrates from the rather windswept water, and had been located by another photographer, virtually on the shore line (phalaropes tend to be very confiding birds and rarely stray far from the edges of lakes and reservoirs when migrating cross country). I managed to take 37 photographs of it in a little over five minutes before dashing back to the car and exiting less than 15 minutes after I arrived (and hence not having to pay a parking fee!). Although this was the briefest of 'twitches' and very unsatisfactory, I would still prefer it to the 3.5 hours that I sat waiting for the Zitting Cisticola to give decent views (and no photographs - see last month's blog).

Juvenile Grey Phalarope, Rutland Water, 3 September

Juvenile Grey Phalarope, Rutland Water, 3 September

Following on from my trip to Suffolk to see the Zitting Cisticola, the chance to see another UK 'lifer' arose on the 8th, when I visited the Norfolk Broads, where the UK's third (I think) Black-winged Kite had been showing, distantly, for a few days. Plenty of people were on hand to point the bird out to me at Hickling Broad NWT - it was sitting in one of several dead trees, perhaps 300 metres away. Being forewarned that it would be distant, I had brought my telescope - just as well, as it was a tiny speck in my (10x42) binoculars. Of course, I tried to get photos of what is a fairly small raptor anyway. If you look carefully at my 'best' photo below, you may just about be able to make it out as a black, grey and white blob in the centre of the frame.

Record Shot of a distant Black-winged Kite, NWT Hickling Broad, 8 September

After getting back from holiday in Spain (more anon) my next excursion was as part of an RSPB Local Group coach trip to Cley NWT on the 21st. As I wasn't leading this trip, I sneaked away along the coast in the afternoon to look for a long-staying Pectoral Sandpiper off the Iron Road in Salthouse. I was lucky, because the elusive bird (apparently one of two here) appeared briefly after about 15 minutes, before disappearing into the reeds again: some people had been there for two hours waiting to see it! There are no photos of the bird, I'm afraid. Earlier, with the wind having turned round to the north overnight, I had gone down to Cley beach to do some sea watching. I had hoped to see a few skuas and shearwaters, but it appears that I turned up a little too late. Instead, there was a distant stream of Gannets (mainly juveniles, which were shearing the water and looking like large shearwaters - if only!). I did see three Razorbills, a couple of Arctic Terns and a variety of flying ducks. A Spotted Redshank was seen on the reserve, but annoyingly I missed out on the Wood Sandpipers that virtually everybody else in our group saw! Hundreds of Pink-footed Geese had already returned to their winter quarters. Several Cattle Egrets were closely attending some black cattle. A Curlew Sandpiper and a Knot were on the same pool as the Pectoral Sandpiper. Insects seen included several Wall butterflies and Common and Ruddy Darter dragonflies. Some of the images that I took are shown below.

Cattle Egret with Black Cow, Cley NWT, 21 September

Two Cattle Egrets, Cley NWT, 21 September

Curlew Sandpiper, Salthouse, 21 September

Marsh Harrier (with Prey), Pink-footed and (far right) Greylag Geese, Cley NWT, 21 September

Wall Butterfly, Cley NWT, 21 September

I was back on the Norfolk coast, sea watching at Sheringham, on the 24th. By now the wind had swung round to the east but had dropped to a gentle breeze, so there was no great passage of sea birds, although I was able to add Red-throated Diver (several birds heading east) to my year list. I then headed up the coast to RSPB Titchwell, spending time photographing waders including some fairly confiding Knot, on the beach. More Wall butterflies were seen here.

Bar-tailed Godwit, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 24 September

Knot, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 24 September

After seeing reports of a Lesser Yellowlegs (an American wader) at the Etton-Maxey gravel pits complex north of Peterborough, I eventually decided to have a look for it in the late afternoon of the 26th. I had never visited these pits before, and took a bit of time to orient myself. The bird had been regularly reported from two pits, with the most recent sightings being from 'Pig Jaw Pit'. When I eventually found this pit, the bird was not present so I headed for the other pit, Rectory Pit. As I was approaching the pit, another bird watcher was coming the other way. He said that he had drawn a blank at both pits, and speculated that the bird had gone. Crucially, however, he mentioned that the Yellowlegs had been seen accompanying a Greenshank. Arriving at Rectory Pit I couldn't find anything initially. However, as I was about to leave I noticed a distant Greenshank. Surely the Lesser Yellowlegs must be with it! By walking along a bank to the other side of the pit I was able to locate the bird and get some record shots of it. I enjoy these kinds of 'twitches', where I have to work hard to find a bird, often on my own.

Lesser Yellowlegs, Rectory Pit, Etton, 26 September

Local Wildlife Sightings, August 2025

 After a changeable first week, in which there was some (but not enough) rain, the weather settled into another spell of very warm or hot weather, with the fourth 'heatwave' of the year arriving from the 11th - at least in the Royston area. On Therfield Heath, Chalkhill Blue numbers peaked at the beginning of the month, before a gradual (or rapid, in the case of Gatekeepers) decline of these and most other species set in. The exceptions were Small Heath, with the appearance of another generation, and Adonis Blues, first reported at the end of July, which were present at both ends of The Heath by the 9th. There was a welcome increase in numbers of these in the second week of August, with a few males being seen away from the colonies on the Old Rifle Range and Church Hill. There has been a small influx of Clouded Yellows from Europe this month. Some were reported on The Heath on the 10th and a single butterfly flew north past me, on the Old Rifle Range, on the 11th.

Male Adonis Blue, Therfield Heath, 11 August

Female Common Blues with varying amounts of blue on the upper wings were seen in the fields near my house. I tried to photograph them all, but unfortunately missed out on the most spectacular one, with wings almost completely covered in a shade of violet. I did a little more photography of blues roosting in the evening light, but by the end of the first week of the month they were becoming increasingly tatty.

Male Common Blue (left) and Chalkhill Blue, Therfield Heath, 7 August

Blue Variant of a Female Common Blue, Royston, 8 August

Whilst butterflies have had a much better year, I have seen very few day flying moths on The Heath or night flying moths coming in to the bathroom this year. Maybe they have been hit harder by last year's poor weather. I can't remember seeing any 'Silver Y' moths (normally the commonest day flying moth hereabouts) at all, although other factors may be at work here, as this species is migratory. Two moths that I have seen regularly are Hummingbird Hawkmoth (one even got into my greenhouse - not too difficult as it has one or two broken panes of glass) and Jersey Tiger Moth, which goes from strength to strength, having only arrived in the Royston area a few years ago.

I start spending more time looking up (for birds) rather than looking down (for insects) in August. Waders are migrating across the country in August and Dernford Farm Reservoir, just across the border in Cambridgeshire, has plenty of mud available for them in the current near drought conditions. I visited on the 11th, looking for Ruddy Shelducks that had been reported there on the previous day. There was no sign of the Shelducks, but I did see six Black-tailed Godwits and a juvenile Spotted Redshank on the mud there. A male Ferruginous Duck (unfortunately an 'escape', so I can't list it) was also present (image)

Male Ferruginous Duck, Dernford Farm Reservoir, 11 August

Spotted Redshank, Dernford Farm Reservoir, 11 August

Closer to home, I flushed three Grey Partridges on The Heath on the 14th. One was much smaller than the others: it must have been a juvenile as juvenile game birds learn to fly well before they are full grown, in order to escape their many ground (and avian?) predators.

High pressure continued to dominate the weather in the third week of August, but, with the wind coming from the north and east, Royston was plagued with lots of low cloud and much cooler temperatures. Insects became much less active under the cloud, although I was lucky to be out on Church Hill when the sun came out for an hour or so in the late afternoon of the 19th, and I was able to photograph male and female Adonis Blues there, as well as a Hummingbird Hawkmoth that seems to have been present in Fox Covert for several weeks. The best photo that I could manage of the hawkmoth is shown below. Around 20-25 Adonis Blues were flying on Church Hill, including 'fresh' females. It may not be true elsewhere, but in this colony many of the females have some blue markings on their backs and upper wings (see example below), which I don't see on the otherwise very similar Chalk Hill Blue females. In addition, the spots on the lower wings are bolder than those on female Chalk Hill Blues. After a very poor 2024, it is good to see numbers of Adonis Blues recovering this summer, even though numbers are still well below where they were in the years after they had first been introduced.

Female Adonis Blue, Church Hill, 19 August. Note the Blue Efflorescence on the Body and Wings

Male Adonis Blue, Church Hill, 19 August

Record Shot of Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Fox Covert, 19 August

The dry weather has resulted in the water levels in lakes and reservoirs falling, resulting in lots of muddy margins - ideal for waders on passage. During the duller days I visited Amwell, the Tring Reservoirs, Dernford Farm Reservoir (which, by the time I visited on the 21st, was almost dry) and Kings Meads, where a juvenile Spotted Redshank had been discovered a couple of days beforehand. Other waders seen at these sites were Ruff (four at Dernford Farm Reservoir on the 21st), Green Sandpipers, Common Sandpipers (lots) and a Common Redshank. At Wilstone Reservoir, where there is very limited access due to long term engineering works, a couple of Hobbies flew over and at Startops End a colourful Mallard (?) hybrid and a Black Swan were seen. Lots of hirundines, including my first (!) Hertfordshire Sand Martin of the year were flying over the water here.

Green Sandpiper, Kings Meads (Between Hertford and Ware), 21 August

Juvenile Spotted Redshank, Kings Meads, 21 August

Hobby over Wilstone Reservoir, 20 August

Mallard (?) Hybrid, Startops End Reservoir, 20 August

UK Wildlife Sightings, August 2025

 Whilst my previous visit to East Anglia, in July (to Welney, Dersingham Bog and Snettisham), had been full of interest, birds, new dragonflies and butterflies, my next visit, to Walberswick on the 6th, was quite the opposite. Mind you, I had a single target in mind - Britain's 10th (I think) Zitting Cisticola (aka Fan-tailed Warbler). The bird had been present for some time when I visited, and there were only a handful of people waiting for it to appear. I sat down to wait, looking inland towards a marshy area with  a river channel running across about 200M ahead, for possibly the most boring three hours of my life. I heard the occasional 'zit' and, after a couple of hours, I saw the bird distantly in 'song flight' (I couldn't hear the song when others could, perhaps my hearing is not as good as I thought). Eventually, I did get a better view of the song flight and was able to properly 'tick' it off (my 371st UK bird species). What made the wait so boring was that there were hardly any other birds to see, at least until the last half hour (early evening), when the occasional egret flew by. The Cisticola is still present as I write on the 15th, so at least all UK bird watchers will have had the opportunity to see it.

July and August are 'dragonfly months' for me, when most of our UK species are on the wing at one time or another. I made a couple of trips in the first half of the month, looking to photograph particular species. First off was a visit to Santon Downham (Suffolk) on the 8th, my second of the summer, to have a go at photographing Banded Demoiselles. There were far fewer to see than on my first visit (see my June UK blog), but the ones that were present were somewhat easier to photograph, because they weren't being constantly disturbed by the flights of their neighbours! Good numbers of Ruddy Darters and Willow Emerald damselflies were also present along the banks of the river.

Male Banded Demoiselle, Santon Downham, 8 August

Male Ruddy Darter, Santon Downham, 8 August

I also made my annual visit to Paxton Pits (Cambridgeshire) to photograph the Common Darters there, in an area where there are usually 50+ on the wing at this time of the year. I came away with nearly 100 images, which were reduced to a dozen after editing. Here are a couple that I like.

Common Darter, Paxton Pits, 12 August

Common Darter, Paxton Pits, 12 August

On the 13th I chose my first visit of the year to Thursley Common in Surrey for a day out. It turned out to be a bad choice: the M25 western section was a nightmare in both directions, the road that I access to park at the Moat Pond was closed for roadworks, necessitating a 15 mile diversion and then there was a thunderstorm not long after I had arrived, cutting short my visit. Target dragonflies were Small Red Damselfly (which I did see) and Brilliant Emerald (which I didn't). Several Black Darters and Keeled Skimmers were also encountered before the rains came, as were some Stonechats close to the Moat Pond.

Male Black Darter, Thursley Common, 13 August

Small Red Damselfly, Thursley Common, 13 August

Juvenile Stonechat, Thursley Common, 13 August

"Butterflies and Birds of North Macedonia" - 'Naturetrek' Trip, June - July 2025

 Every year I take a wildlife holiday to somewhere in the world that I have not previously visited. In 2023 it was Japan, in 2024 it was The Gambia and this year I chose a shorter holiday, closer to home, in North Macedonia (formerly part of Yugoslavia). Two of my major wildlife interests (bird watching and butterfly photography) were well catered for and there was the chance to see other wildlife (particularly invertebrates and reptiles) that are not encountered in the UK and Western Europe. Unfortunately, the original leaders had to pull out due to illness. They were replaced at short notice by Slave, who proved to be an excellent and knowledgeable bird guide and leader, and Marek, the butterfly expert, who came all the way from the Czech Republic and proved to be a very keen and enthusiastic leader on all things 'butterfly'. Our group of 14 clients contained a considerable amount of expertise and I found that, as in The Gambia, that whilst at home I may be considered the 'local expert', here I was of little help in species identification. The party included some very keen 'moth-ers', who brought their moth traps with them and were up at 4.00am to check what the traps had captured.

North Macedonia is a small and beautiful country of mountains and plains. It is also very hot, with temperatures above 30C being 'the norm' for the time of our visit. In fact, temperatures reached 40C on our first two days, when most of our wildlife watching was done early or late, before returning to normal (around 30 - 35C) for the rest of the trip. The food was good and plentiful (perhaps too plentiful at times, as we were treated to some large lunches in cafes and restaurants). The first hotel (three nights) was good, although the air conditioning in the second hotel (four nights) left a lot to be desired and led to some poor sleeps. Only 'Wizz Air' departures from Luton fly directly to and from Skopje (the capital of North Macedonia) and they depart late in the evening, meaning that our arrival at the first hotel (12.30am) and our arrival back at Luton (2.00am) led to sleep deprivation (a common factor, it seems, on my wildlife holidays). I'll deal with the wildlife in three sections, Birds, Butterflies and Everything Else.

Typical Scenery in North Macedonia

Birds

I didn't come out with a 'wish list' of birds to see on this holiday. I have seen most of Europe's breeding birds and was more interested in getting good photos of (preferably) some of the species that we don't get in the UK. In fact, only three of the species that we were likely to see (Eastern Imperial Eagle, Ortolan Bunting and Rock Partridge) would be new to me. We saw the eagle on the first day and the Rock Partridge (which I thought at the time I had previously seen but in fact hadn't) later in the holiday, but the Ortolan Bunting remained elusive, despite Slave's best efforts to find one for me and one being seen by one of the other clients on the holiday. Ironically, an Ortolan Bunting was being 'twitched' in England whilst I was away! There were some good sightings nonetheless, including Lesser Spotted Eagle and both Dalmatian and White Pelicans. In all, we saw 138 species on the trip. Here are a few of my images.

Male Crested Lark, Singing

Male Lesser Kestrel

White Stork (they were nesting just up the road from our second Hotel)

Tawny Pipit

Black-headed Bunting

Butterflies

Around 200 species of butterfly can be found in North Macedonia, and we ended up with a trip list of 117 species (about twice the total number of species that can be found in the UK, and bear in mind that not all those species will be on the wing in midsummer). I had decided beforehand that I wouldn't make a big effort to see as many as possible, but would try to photograph a good variety. Marek was an enthusiastic 'netter' and a few of my fellow travellers also used nets to catch and, in some cases, place the butterflies in containers before (of course) releasing them after others had seen them. In this way, I probably saw all but a handful of these species although this wasn't an entirely satisfactory way, for me, of getting 'ticks'. We saw the Macedonian Grayling, the only North Macedonian endemic, as well as the very rare Yellow-legged Tortoiseshell Butterfly. As always, it was very difficult to sort out the rarer 'blues' from the masses of Common Blues, Small Blues and Brown Argus butterflies that were present everywhere we looked. Sometimes, as many as 200 could be seen 'puddling' in the mud together. Very few Swallowtails were seen, but Scarce Swallowtails were everywhere and at one site around 40 were seen together, picking up minerals from the mud. Many different species of Fritillary were seen, and it was interesting to note the hugely variable markings on the Lesser Spotted Fritillaries and (the commonest Fritillary), the Queen of Spain. Look at the following two images, both of Queen of Spain, for example.

Queen of Spain Fritillary, 'Standard' Markings

Queen of Spain Fritillary. Note the darker, heavier markings than on the Butterfly above

Common Blue, Small Blue and other Butterflies 'Puddling'

Eastern Greenish Black-Tip, a rare and localised Butterfly

Everything Else

One of the pleasures of the holiday was in seeing invertebrates, reptiles and amphibians that are rare or absent from Western Europe, such as the Four-lined Snake that was in the process of strangling a poor Blue Rock Thrush chick when we came across it near the entrance to a road tunnel, and the many Hermann's Tortoises that we saw. A good variety of dragonflies were seen, of which the Small Pincertail (image below) was the commonest. Giant Bush-crickets and huge Lacewings were encountered, as well as a variety of lizards. Very few mammals were encountered, but there was so much of everything else that it didn't really matter. I can heartily recommend North Macedonia for those who have a general interest in wildlife, in particular birds and invertebrates.

Small Pincertail Dragonfly

Four-lined Snake

Green Lizard

An attractive species of Ascalaphid