Local Wildlife Sightings December 2022

 After two months of incredibly mild temperatures and lots of rain, December proved to be very different as wintry weather, with mist, frosts and daytime temperatures close to freezing, arrived. I decided to go on a now monthly walk around the villages on the 1st, despite it being a misty, murky morning. Because of this I wasn't expecting great things from my walk, so I was pleasantly surprised to arrive home five hours later having recorded no fewer than 53 bird species including a local 'first' in the form of a (first winter male?) pochard at Phillup's Lake, where I again saw a gadwall, as well as little grebe, coot and a flock of at least 25 Canada geese through the mist. A reed bunting, seen at Hatchpen Farm, was a local first of the year and I also saw a marsh tit at Reed. Lots of redwings and (recently arrived) fieldfares were seen in several places, a tawny owl hooted near Reed and a flock of golden plovers was still present in a field off the Icknield Way in Therfield.

'Record Shot' of a Gadwall taking off through the Mist at Phillup's Lake, Reed End, 1 December

'Record Shot' of a Pochard (First Winter Male?), Phillup's Lake, Reed End, 1 December

I went on another long walk, exploring what was happening in the countryside to the east of Royston, along the Icknield Way as far as Heydon Pig Farm, on the 6th. Huge flocks of gulls and starlings were seen 'following the plough' in a field along the way. They all took to the sky at one point as a peregrine came over. It started chasing the starlings before moving off. I managed to get one or two 'grab shots' of the peregrine, which revealed it to be a juvenile / first winter bird (streaking, rather than barring on the body), as it flew away - an exciting encounter! A male stonechat and more reed buntings were seen on the way to the pig farm, where a raven and at least five species of gulls (including yellow-legged) were seen.

Juvenile Peregrine, off the Icknield Way, Cambridgeshire, 6 December

A few of the Gulls seen at Heydon Pig Farm, 6 December

An unexpectedly heavy snowfall, the biggest for a few years, arrived on the evening of the 11th and the morning of the 12th. With northerly winds dominating in the following week and daytime temperatures which rarely reached 0C, the snow persisted until the 18th, when milder weather arrived. There was very little bird activity in the countryside during this period, when I walked mainly from home, with a raven over-flying Fox Covert on the 15th the only noteworthy bird. The return of warmer, wetter weather from the 19th saw me being more active, but the only birds worthy of reporting were a mixed flock of yellowhammers (50+) and corn buntings (5+) at Hatchpen Farm and a flock of around 200 linnets in a field close to the Barkway Road, just outside Royston town.

UK Wildlife Sightings December 2022

 A couple of trips early in the month highlighted the vagaries of bird watching. A juvenile grey phalarope had taken up residence at Isleham near Mildenhall, a 45 minute drive away from my house, from the beginning of the month. Having arrived at the site on the 5th, I found a couple of bird watchers watching it swimming around almost at their feet, picking tiny invertebrates off the water - the standard method of feeding for this unusual wader. I was able to get close enough to this (typically) confiding bird to get some decent photographs (below). Two days later I was off again to the Norfolk coast, this time to see a Hume's warbler (a tiny Siberian-breeding bird, closely related to yellow-browed warbler) at Brancaster. Having found the site (a row of bushes and small trees close to the sea) I had to wait, along with other bird watchers, for well over an hour in freezing conditions before I heard what I first assumed was a distant pied wagtail. However, the others immediately sprang into action and, a minute or so later, I was looking at my first UK Hume's warbler, with its greyish back, obvious wing bar, strong, pale supercilium and distinctive two note call (which I had mistaken for that of a pied wagtail - oh dear). This was one occasion when I felt that it was more important to observe rather than to photograph, as the bird fed in amongst the dense bushes, frequently disappearing from view, for 5-7 minutes. So, on one occasion, a rare bird was very easy to see and on the other occasion far more difficult. However, I was at least lucky to come away having seen both! I had time, having seen the warbler, to move on to RSPB Titchwell Marsh to do some wader photography.

Juvenile Grey Phalarope, Isleham, 5 December

Juvenile Grey Phalarope, Isleham, 5 December

Bar-tailed Godwit, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 7 December

A rare, sunny day on the 9th saw me visiting St Albans. There was plenty of ice on the lake at Verulamium Park, but the river was still flowing and a pair of kingfishers were using the clear water to fish for 'tiddlers'. Quite a few photographers had come along to photograph these birds, which often posed just a few feet away. However, the background vegetation was usually very messy and, when the birds dived to try to catch fish, the river bank was too dark and the birds too fast for me to get anything other than a blur. Nevertheless, I did manage one or two 'very attractive bird on a stick' photos.

Male Kingfisher, St Albans, 9 December

From Verulamium Park I moved on to the tiny, but very attractive Watercress Local Nature Reserve nearby. This is an excellent spot for watching siskins feeding in the alder trees, next to the River Ver, in winter. On my visit a water rail was also showing, but there was no sign of lesser redpolls here on this occasion.

Female Siskin, Watercress LNR, St Albans

On the 11th I went on an RSPB 'own transport' trip to Rutland Water (Egleton Reserve). For various reasons (not least the foggy, icy, frosty weather) only two of us made it, but we enjoyed visiting many of the 25 hides on the reserve and compiled a list of 66 bird species recorded (64 seen). One interesting sighting was that of a fox walking across the ice in front of the visitor centre towards a pair of swans that were swimming in a small patch of water surrounded by the ice. The fox circled the water a couple of times, yawned and slowly trotted off. Would it have regarded the swans as prey? If it had attacked them, I suspect that it would have come off worse!

Stonechat, Rutland Water, 11 December

Male Goldeneye, Rutland Water, 11 December

Black-tailed Godwit, Rutland Water, 11 December

Fox and Mute Swans, Rutland Water, 11 December

I visited Lynford Arboretum on the 16th to set up a bird feeding station and photograph the woodland birds. I had hoped to find snow there to use in my set-up, but unfortunately the snow had not reached this far north. When I looked through the images I had obtained, it was noticeable how many marsh tits must have been using the station - the arboretum must be one of the best places in the country to see (and photograph) this species.

Marsh Tit, Lynford Arboretum, 16 December

On the 21st I was back on the Norfolk coast (Holkham and Titchwell), looking to add one or two last bird species (velvet scoter and woodcock, in particular) to my year list. I may have seen the former in amongst the large flocks of distant common scoters at Holkham, but couldn't get an unambiguous sighting (not helped by having a bad back, which made it impossible to look through my telescope for any length of time before having to change position). However, as I was returning to the car I did notice a buzzard with a pale head sitting on a distant gate post to the west of Lady Ann's Drive. My photos were inconclusive, but did point to the bird possibly being a juvenile rough-legged buzzard ('record shot' below). Subsequent sightings of (presumably) the same bird reached the same conclusion, without providing confirmation. As the reader may have noticed, I am rather hooked on photographing waders at Titchwell and it was here that I effectively finished my year's bird watching. No woodcocks put in an appearance here, leaving me with a UK 2022 year list of 231 species (or 232, if the identity of the rough-legged buzzard can be confirmed).

Red-breasted Mergansers at Holkham, 21 December

Record Shot of a possible Rough-legged Buzzard (or Common Buzzard), Holkham, 21 December

Bar-tailed Godwits in Flight, Titchwell, 21 December

Local Wildlife Sightings November 2022

 November continued in the same vein as October - extremely wet, but very mild with temperatures almost reaching 20C in the first half of the month. Ground, which had been rock hard during the hot, dry summer, became a mass of mud as overall rainfall levels for the year returned to normal by the end of the month. Over 120mm of rain fell, making this the wettest November since (my garden) records began, over 30 years ago. Opportunities for me to get out were limited for a variety of reasons, but I did manage a walk around the villages on the 4th. On a warm, sunny day I saw quite a few of our over-wintering butterflies as well as an unusually late speckled wood. The bird watching highlight was a pair of gadwalls on Phillup's Lake. Unfortunately, the birds flew off before I had the chance to photograph them. Other highlights included flocks of 17 fieldfares, 15 corn buntings and around 200 golden plovers (all seen from the Icknield Way). Grey partridges were seen and/or heard on a few occasions, with 14 recorded along the Icknield Way on the 1st.

Linnet at Royston, 4 November

A Hertfordshire rarity, in the form of a juvenile Sabine's gull, was discovered at Amwell as it came into the black-headed gull roost on the evening of the 16th. The bird departed very early on the following morning. There was a repeat performance on the 17/18th, so I (and many others) visited the Amwell watchpoint on the afternoon of the 18th, hoping for another repeat performance. However, on this evening (it gets dark between 4.00pm and 4.30pm) the bird didn't turn up - much to our disappointment. Frustratingly, it did come in, to roost on the 19th and 20th, when I was unable to visit Amwell, so I missed out on seeing it on the only day in five that it didn't roost! However, I did see the 'resident' juvenile whooper swan when I visited Rye Meads on the 24th.

UK Wildlife Sightings November 2022

 Another visit to the Norfolk coast on the 2nd was rewarded with good views of a long-billed dowitcher (an American wader) at Salthouse. Another red-throated diver, this one in neat winter plumage, was feeding close to the shore here. A couple of razorbills were also seen on the sea. Moving on to RSPB Titchwell Marsh a single snow bunting was searching for food where the beach met the dunes. I came primarily to search for the male hen harrier that had regularly been seen coming into the marsh harrier roost. It duly obliged and spent several minutes flying around before finally settling.

Long-billed Dowitcher in Flight, Salthouse, 2 November

Red-throated Diver, Salthouse, 2 November

Snow Bunting, Titchwell, 2 November

The following week I spent a couple of days up in North Yorkshire. Whilst I was there, I managed a short visit to Hay-a-Park Lakes (Knaresborough), where I was lucky to see a long staying red-necked grebe, as well as a Tundra bean goose.

'Record Shot' of a Distant, Red-necked Grebe, Hay-a-Park, North Yorkshire, 9 November

We spent a pleasant weekend, with surprisingly good (warm, no rain) weather, in Arundel in West Sussex from the 11th to the 13th. My bird watching highlight was seeing a flock of about 25 cattle egrets in a sheep field, close to the banks of the Arun River. We visited the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve (of course), whilst we were there. I was surprised to see black-necked grebes (including young) in the captive birds' side of the reserve. Are these being bred for release? We enjoyed watching the Dalmatian pelicans here: maybe one day, these birds will be released back into the wild in the UK. A small evening marsh harrier roost had attracted a lot of people to visit the wild side of the reserve. Although smaller than the East Anglian roosts, I guess that this is a bit of a novelty along the South Coast.

Cattle Egret, Arundel, 12 November

Black-necked Grebe (Captive Bird), WWT Arundel, 12 November

My next trip out was on the 18th to Abberton Reservoir where, having failed twice at Grafham Water, I finally saw my first long-tailed duck of the year. Also seen were a Slavonian grebe, at least one great northern diver, a female scaup and 20+ goosander, which appeared to be feeding under the Layer de la Haye causeway.

Long-tailed Duck, Abberton Reservoir, 18 November

Female Goldeneye, Abberton Reservoir, 18 November

An RSPB visit to Lackford Lakes (Suffolk Wildlife Trust) and RSPB Lakenheath Fen on the 20th was enjoyed by all participants, with 72 species (including barn owl, marsh harriers, water rail, marsh tit and kingfisher [at both sites]) recorded. Despite the much cooler weather of late November a few insects were on the wing, including a common darter dragonfly. Some dragonflies can remain active until the first frosts arrive, maybe into December, but this is my latest ever sighting of a dragonfly.

Common Darter Dragonfly, RSPB Lakenheath Fen, 20 November

I ended the month as I had begun it, with another trip to Norfolk on the 25th. In the morning I visited Holkham beach, where three shore larks and a large flock of snow buntings were showing, before moving on to the East Hills saltmarsh, east of Wells, where I waited patiently, with others, to see the pallid harrier which had been reported there regularly for a couple of weeks. At least one 'ringtail' hen harrier was seen regularly, but the pallid harrier refused to show. Many people drifted away as the sun went down and I was about to go as well when the pallid harrier flew in from the south, directly over my head, at 3.55pm. It flew around on the saltmarsh for 2-3 minutes, before appearing to roost. A hunting barn owl, seen on the way back to the car, was a fitting finale to a good day's bird watching.

Snow Buntings, Holkham, 25 November

Local Wildlife Sightings October 2022

 October proved to be an exceptionally warm month, but also an extremely wet one. Temperatures reached 20C on a few occasions throughout the month, but torrential rain on the 20th produced 54mm, making this day wetter than any single preceding month this year! All told, 112mm fell in the month, according to my rain gauge. However, invertebrate numbers dropped away after the first few days and the emphasis for the rest of the month was on bird watching. Butterflies on the wing in the first week included common blue (several sightings), small copper, peacock, red admiral, brimstone, speckled wood, and small and large whites. A visit to the Old Rifle Range on the 3rd produced more than one female Adonis blue, including a specimen that was in surprisingly good condition (image). A late holly blue was seen close to my house on a glorious, sunny day on the 18th. Ivy bees were still active until near the end of the month, as were field crickets and hairy shield bugs. A hornet was seen in Therfield on the 6th, when I did my long walk around the villages.

Hairy Shield Bug, Royston, 3 October

Female Adonis Blue, Therfield Heath (Old Rifle Range), 3 October

Golden Plovers in Flight at Dusk, Therfield, 17 October

A redwing was heard passing over the house on the 3rd, but arrivals from the east were few and far between in the first half of the month, perhaps being held up by westerly winds and unseasonably warm weather. A flock of up to 200 golden plovers was seen in flight from the Icknield Way on the 3rd and the 17th and on the ground on the 6th. Lapwings were seen early in the month, but later disappeared. Further afield, merlin and marsh harriers were sighted by others from along the Wallington to Baldock road. I visited on a couple of occasions, failing to see these raptors but noting up to four stonechats and two reed buntings at the edge of a field of quinoa, where a Dartford warbler had been seen and photographed by one lucky person earlier in the month. This field proved to be quite a draw, with many skylarks and meadow pipits using it as well. News of a jack snipe (the first for five years) at the attractive little Lemsford Springs reserve, near Welwyn Garden City, on the 10th gave me an excuse for a return visit on the 11th. When I arrived in mid-afternoon the bird hadn't been seen all day. However, I hung around and fortunately it re-appeared just as I was about to leave. I managed to get some photos of the bird, in the company of a common snipe, but they are poor and not worthy of publication. Up to eight green sandpipers were on the reserve, along with at least three little egrets, a water rail, three snipe and a pair of grey wagtails (image).

Grey Wagtail, Lemsford Springs, 11 October

Chiffchaff numbers dropped away during the month, although individuals were heard locally on the 27th and 31st. There was a noticeable increase in numbers of goldcrests towards the month's end, presumably part of a large influx into the country from Continental Europe during the middle of the month. Despite a corresponding massive influx of redwings into the country, only a few individuals were seen locally, and no fieldfares were recorded by me during October. Gull numbers grew, particularly following the heavy rain later in the month, and a yellow-legged gull was seen at Greys Farm on the 24th. At least two stonechats were seen on The Heath on the 25th (just east of the Therfield Road). Unfortunately, they were in the middle of the golf course, making photography difficult, although I managed a few 'record shots'. These birds appeared to have moved on by the month's end.

Stonechat, Therfield Heath, 25 October

Butterfly activity continued until the end of the month although, apart from the odd 'white', only potential hibernators (small tortoiseshell, red admiral, brimstone and peacock) were seen. A few bumble bees and common hoverflies were still active to the end of the month and a very late hummingbird hawkmoth was seen taking nectar from a neighbour's garden flowers on the 27th.

Hummingbird Hawkmoth, Royston, 27 October

 

  

UK Wildlife Sightings October 2022

 My first proper outing of October had to wait until the 12th, when I visited the North Norfolk coast. Winds had been blowing from the west throughout the month, so vagrant rarities were virtually non-existent. However, I had hoped to see black-throated diver (birds reported from a number of locations) and the hooded crow that had taken up residence at Warham Greens. Of course, there was always the photography to look forward to!

I started at Holkham, walking down Lady Anne's drive to the beach. There were plenty of pink-footed geese around, both in the fields and flying overhead, and I spotted a couple of grey partridge close to the car parking area. The usual area of the beach had been cordoned off, but there was no sign yet of wintering shorelarks or snow buntings. A few common scoters and great crested grebes were on the sea and a couple of razorbills flew west. More distant birds (I didn't have my 'scope with me) could have been divers. However, there was one diver close inshore, which allowed me to take some photographs. This was probably a sick bird, which made no attempt to fly or swim away (hopefully not bird flu). My images indicated that this was an adult red-throated diver, moulting into winter plumage.

Red-throated Diver, Holkham Gap, 12 October

Moving on to Warham Greens, a vigorous 35-minute walk from the eastern edge of Wells took me to the pig farm where the hooded crow had been hanging out. Not a single crow could be seen here so, with a touch of disappointment, I set off back. I had earlier passed another bird watcher - I saw him again shortly after setting off way back, looking intently across the saltmarsh through his telescope. I decided to spend a little time looking in the same direction across the saltmarsh at the various waders, egrets and marsh harriers that were in the area. A few corvids were also on the saltmarsh and one of them was - you've guessed it - the 'hoodie'!

I finished the day at RSPB Titchwell, photographing waders in flight. Just before I left, I spied another diver not far from the shore and close enough to photograph. Although the markings were different, I think that this was another moulting adult red-throated diver (image below, together with a couple of photos of godwits in flight). Red-throated diver is by far the commonest diver species to be seen in the North Sea during the winter months, but it can be difficult to separate from black-throated diver when seen distantly. The following day, two black-throated divers were reported on the sea at Titchwell... 

Red-throated Diver, RSPB Titchwell, 12 October

Black-tailed Godwit in Flight over the Freshmarsh, RSPB Titchwell Marsh, 12 October

Bar-tailed Godwit in Flight over the sea, RSPB Titchwell, 12 October

Two visits to Grafham Water, on the afternoons of the 18th and 27th, were unsuccessful in locating the long-tailed duck and American wigeon that had been reported there on several occasions both before and after my visits. I wasn't alone: others failed to find the birds whilst I was there. However, I had better luck on the 19th when I visited Holkham and Wells on a reconnaissance trip for an RSPB walk that I was due to lead on the 23rd. Having walked from Holkham to Wells harbour and back on a pleasant, calm day without seeing anything too exciting, I decided to pop into to the 'Lookout' cafe for a reviving cup of coffee. Several bird watchers were there, and I found out that a Pallas's warbler had been found a few hours beforehand and was still showing near the Washington Hide, about half a mile west of Holkham. I rushed off to see the bird and was lucky to not only see the warbler (a 'lifer' for me) but also get some 'record shot' photos (image below). In fact, several of these very pretty, tiny little warblers were found along the east coast over the next couple of days, having flown in from the Continent during a rare break in the dominant westerly winds. Pallas's warblers mostly nest in Siberia - very small numbers reach the UK each year at about this time of year as passage migrants. They are nowhere near as common in the autumn as their close relatives, yellow-browed warblers.

Pallas's Warbler, Holkham, 19 October

By the time of the RSPB visit on the 23rd the Pallas's warblers had moved on. However, one or two of our members were lucky to see another very rare drift migrant, pallid swift! Apparently, the unseasonably warm weather had resulted in quite a few of these swifts being seen along the East Coast during the last nine days of October. On a very wet day I missed the swift and had to settle for good views of rutting fallow deer stags in Holkham Park.

Fallow Deer Stags Not Seeing Eye to Eye, Holkham Park, 23 October

My next visit to the East Coast was, by way of a change, to Suffolk. I have seen Alpine accentors in the Alps and the Pyrenees, but never in the UK, so when the first 'twitchable' bird for 20 years turned up at Slaughden, near Aldeburgh, on the 27th, I was keen to see it. The bird was still present the following day, so I decided to look for it. I arrived to find the bird feeding on a narrow causeway between two large groups of bird watchers and bird photographers. I have to say that I felt rather sorry for it, in much the same way as I would feel sorry for a cheetah tucking into prey, surrounded by jeep loads of tourists on the Masai Mara. After getting a few sightings of the bird as it plodded away in light vegetation, it flew over our heads and landed close by, so I was able to get a few photos of a quite attractive bird (images below). I had hoped to also see a dusky warbler nearby at Southwold, but the bird had flown overnight. The Alpine accentor stayed for another night, but then flew off at dawn, not to be seen again.

Alpine Accentor, Slaughden, 28 October

Alpine Accentor, Slaughden, 28 October

 

Georgia (Batumi) September 2022

 Back in early 2020 I booked a holiday with 'Naturetrek' to visit Georgia, to witness the raptor migration and to enjoy exploring the area around the Black Sea coastal city of Batumi looking for some of the special birds that live in or pass through the area. The trip was twice postponed because of Covid, but eventually, on 19 September, it was 'all systems go'. An overnight flight saw our bleary-eyed party of six finally arrive in Batumi late on the morning of the 20th. After ditching luggage at our hotel, it was straight up into the Lower Caucasus mountains to 'Watch Point One', which we were to visit twice more on the holiday. We had been promised the sight of hundreds or maybe thousands of Steppe buzzards migrating south past the watch point in the blurb, but it soon became obvious that the dominant species was black kite, with 'kettles' of 100+ birds passing through. Honey buzzards were also much in evidence, with small numbers of Steppe buzzards, black storks, common and Levant sparrowhawks and a handful of short-toed and booted eagles coming through. Smaller birds on migration included bee-eaters and rollers. A handful of passerines in the area included spotted flycatchers and a green warbler, the only one that was seen on the holiday.

Bee-eater in Flight, Watch Point One, Batumi

When we arrived in Batumi, the one couple on the holiday (Ken and Sarah) revealed that, between them, they had managed to bring two tripods, a telescope and camera with a ginormous 500mm lens with them. At first, I was sceptical of whether all this hardware was necessary. However, when I saw the quality of the images of birds in flight that Ken was producing, my own efforts with my Nikon D7500 and 100-400mm zoom lens were made to look very poor. Basically, there always seemed to be thick cloud cover and my camera/lens combination just wasn't letting in enough light, even when I over-exposed by two stops. Consequently, the raptors, large but usually distant birds, appeared as silhouettes with little feather detail. Lightening revealed lots of noise and rendered the images useless except (in some cases) for identification purposes. The image of the juvenile honey buzzard (below) was a rare exception.

Juvenile Honey Buzzard, Watch Point One, Batumi

Whilst the holiday was overall interesting and enjoyable, it was marred by two factors - the weather and hunting. Of course, there is nothing you can do about the weather, but we were unlucky to visit Batumi in a week when copious amounts of heavy rain fell, meaning that we effectively lost a day to the weather and were unable to participate in all the planned activities. When it wasn't raining there was quite a lot of dull, gloomy weather, although at least this did tend to create opportunities for 'falls' of migrating passerines throughout the week. Hunting is a major problem in Georgia. Shooting was going on all around us as soon as we were out of the city, with hunters coming quite close to us and shooting at the same birds that we were watching. One particularly distressing example of this was on a visit to a river estuary. On the other side of the estuary, we saw a black-winged stilt and an avocet, close to the far shore - the only members of these species that we saw on the holiday. A few minutes later, another bird watching group witnessed both birds being shot by a hunter. The stilt was killed instantly, whilst the avocet had part of its bill removed and a badly damaged wing, meaning that it would have been unable to feed or fly. The bird was swept across the estuary to our side, where it had to be euthanised by the guide. There are so many unlicenced hunters in Georgia that it seems that there is little that the authorities can do. They don't kill for food, but seemingly for 'pleasure' - something that I just can't get my head around.

Squacco Heron in Flight, near Batumi

We made two visits to 'The Boulevard', near the centre of Batumi on the Black Sea coast. The trees in this park form a welcome resting place for passerines travelling along or across The Black Sea on migration. On our first visit, we had been told about a nightjar that was resting on a park light in the centre of The Boulevard. As in the UK, when a nightjar is found resting during the day it will stay in the same place, provided it is not approached too closely, before flying away and likely continuing its migration once night falls. Having seen and photographed this nightjar, we managed to find three more nightjars roosting in nearby trees! Clearly The Boulevard is nightjar heaven! Other passerines found here on our visits included spotted (lots) and red-breasted flycatchers, wryneck, common redstarts, willow warblers and lesser whitethroats.

Nightjar Roosting on a Light Fitting, Batumi Boulevard

The poor weather meant that we didn't see a great variety of invertebrates or mammals (other than the feral dogs that were everywhere!). Butterflies seen included painted lady (seen every day) and long-tailed blue. On the final day, when the sun finally came out, silver-washed fritillaries were seen in the woods adjacent to Watch Point One and one member of our group also saw a bath white. However, lots of red-veined darter dragonflies were seen in large numbers nearly everywhere we went - they really were very common.

Female Red-veined Darter, Watch Point Two, Batumi

Other bird watching highlights on the holiday included seeing a blue-cheeked bee-eater (a 'first' in Georgia for our guide and a 'lifer' for me). My other holiday 'lifers' were oriental turtle dove and the crested honey buzzard mentioned below. We had success at a Kruper's nuthatch site and saw white-winged, black and Caspian terns. At the watch points we saw, in addition to the 'usual suspects', two ospreys, a handful of lesser spotted eagles (we were too early for the larger eagles), a crested honey buzzard, a single white stork and (something I wasn't prepared for) flocks of tree pipits. However, for me the bird of the holiday was nightjar. On our second visit to The Boulevard, we witnessed no fewer than four individuals coming in off the (Black) sea! I even have one or two half decent photos of them, but I'll finish with an image of a different bird - a juvenile collared pratincole. I haven't done justice to what Batumi is like as a place in this article - that will have to wait for another time.

Juvenile Collared Pratincole, near Batumi

Local Wildlife Sightings September 2022

  Apologies for the very sporadic nature of my sightings: this has been due to a combination of circumstances - hopefully, things will be back to normal by October. 

We finally had an 'unsettled' period of weather in the first ten days of September, with more rain (30mm) falling than in the whole of July and August combined. The weather turned much cooler too, although it was still pleasantly warm during this early period. Butterfly numbers inevitably dropped off, although Adonis blues were still present in decent numbers at both ends of The Heath during the first half of the month. Perhaps the commonest butterfly during this period was the speckled wood, which always seems to be far more abundant in our area during the early autumn than it is in the spring. Small heath butterflies were also quite common.

I turned my attention more towards grasshoppers, bush crickets, bugs and spiders later in the month. Three bush crickets (long winged conehead, Roesel's bush cricket and dark bush cricket) were seen on the field adjoining my estate and a Roesel's bush cricket was also photographed on Church Hill.

Female Roesel's Bush-cricket, Therfield Heath, 6 September

Bird sightings picked up noticeably during the second week as migrants started to pass through our area on southbound migration in good numbers. Although I missed out (again) on a pied flycatcher seen nearby (David Hatton) as well as redstarts, I did see (and photograph!) the notoriously skulking lesser whitethroat on the 12th, when I also saw willow warbler, blackcaps and around 25 chiffchaffs on a walk up the Icknield Way and on to The Heath.

A 'bright' Chiffchaff (I think!), Royston, 12 September

Lesser Whitethroat, Royston, 12 September

Male Blackcap, Royston, 12 September

Numbers of ivy bees continued to increase towards the end of the month - thank goodness they don't sting! They have a peculiar habit of resting on leaves close to ivy plants and appearing to wipe their bodies against the leaves - are they cleaning themselves of excess pollen?

Two Ivy Bees, Royston, 29 September

After a holiday break (I will write a separate post about this) I returned to find that most of the passage migrant birds had moved on, although a few chiffchaffs remained to the end of the month. Winter visitors, in the form of lapwings, common and black-headed gulls, were back in the area, but generally things were pretty quiet.