Nature Notes: the 2022 edition

[ErrolTheDragon]

Happy New Year to all nature lovers!
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Please join us to add your observations throughout the year. Urban or rural, there's always something going on throughout the year, even if it's a bit quiet right now.

DH and I have been pottering in the garden today and I've spotted a damselfly emerging on from our lockdown pond. I keep sneaking up to check on it

We get quite a few black-backs a bit further up where I live, not sure if lesser, greater or both though.

There are plenty here on Skye too, along with the ubiquitous herring gulls. No black headed though, which we have lots of at home.

My other spots today were another black throated diver, a pair of eiders and a seal head popping up a couple of times.

Heading back home tomorrow.

Ah yes, the challenge of trying to tell gulls apart...I once read somewhere that there are two kinds of birdwatchers: those who can tell you in minute detail what the differences between different kind of gull are, and those who couldn’t care less! 😂

I lean more towards the latter, but as I live near the coast some of them have managed to make it into my birding subconscious.

Yesterday I went for a very brief walk on one of the headlands here. There were so many tourists around that I didn’t think it’d be very good for seeing any wildlife, but within minutes we came across a pair of choughs. Plenty of wheatear, stonechats and meadow pipits around too. We also came across lots of tiny purple flower, growing amongst the grass. Google lens tells me these were two leaf squils. Not sure if that is correct, but they were very pretty (once you started noticing them!)

I came across a couple of different small pink flowered plants I didn't recognise on Skye, and I can't find my book which was good for identifying flowers. I should have taken some photos and tried them on the gardening thread, some of the people there are better than any AI!

Today we came home - everything getting greener as we headed south, with the hawthorn and some cow parsley starting to bloom when we got near. The only unusual wildlife was a group of feral goats lurking either side of the road somewhere along the way.

One unfamiliar plant I did identify was the abundant bog myrtle, the catkins a quite bright browny orange.

The swans’ eggs have hatched and yesterday we watched the cygnets go for, what must have been, one of their first swims! Four balls of grey fluff 🥰 They looked so tiny next to their parents.

They're so cute at that stage, especially when they hitch a lift on a parent. But they grow so quickly!

On a walk along the river estuary yesterday, there were wheatear everywhere! I also counted 10 whimbrel. A clear sign that things are on the move.

Closer to home, I have a great tit “tidying” up my windows for me, no doubt looking for cobwebs for his or her nest. Lots of close up views! I’m guessing that as the bird is visiting so regularly, it may well be nesting somewhere in my garden, but I have no idea where. As usual, they’re ignoring the bird boxes we’ve put up 😂

My bird box was occupied by tree bumble bees last year, hope they return!

We had a roe deer on our drive yesterday morning. I was drinking coffee at 6am and got quite a surprise when it sauntered past the kitchen window. I'm glad the garden gate was shut.

Been a very busy week so not had a chance for a walk but did top up on food for the garden birds. Great value

I've been trying to get out for a short walk every day now the weather has improved. I don't always manage it but today was glorious, lots of house martins darting about the devon lanes and all the verges full of colour

Yes, it's proper Maytime now, the scents as well as the colours.

I’m currently on holiday in Yorkshire, getting blown away by the seabird colonies here. I thought we had some pretty decent ones around where I live, but those are tiny in comparison.

Yesterday, we watched 1000s of gannets, guillemots, razorbills and kittiwakes nesting on the cliffs. Today we saw all of those, but thanks to some helpful RSPB volunteers we also saw our first Yorkshire puffins. They nest deep in the cliffs here, so are not the easiest to spot. We got some good views whenever one popped off their nest to stretch their legs, which fortunately happened a lot!

Wonderful!

Does anyone know what this bird is?

I think that's a bullfinch @Thirstquenching

Today has been a great day for wildlife in out garden. I've seen 3 lizards and a juvenile grass snake. Also, a swarm of bees arrived and is currently hanging out in a tree in my hedge. We've contacted a local beekeeper. Not sure what happens next though.

Bullfinches have black heads - I think that one is a chaffinch. It's a very good photo!

Oh yes, I hadn't noticed the head, I was focussing on the orange chest

My ds 10 took the photo in his phone 🙂

More seasonal progression on todays walk - little pink doves foot geraniums and birds eye primroses, meadows with golden buttercups replacing the dandelions and joined by blue speedwell and red clover. Yellow iris and a lovely patch of deep purple orchids. Birds included wheeling buzzards and my first summer swallow, while the path through the rspb reserve was noisy with the insistent calls of reed (or possibly sedge) warblers and bitterns booming on either side!

Yorkshire has been nothing but good to us when it comes to wildlife sighting. We ended our trip yesterday with dolphins and a sighting of an actual albatross 😮

Exciting as that was, that wasn’t even the highlight for me. I just loved seeing the thousands of seabirds on the cliffs, as well as all the birds and animals that possibly aren’t that rare in England, but we just don’t get in west Wales. I saw my first ever roe deer, lots of hares and adorable tree sparrows. I also saw my first ever yellow wagtail, which looked like a burst of golden sunshine.

I managed to confuse some RSPB volunteers by chatting to them about some of the rare birds we get in my neck of the woods and then having to ask “what those birds in that field are”. They turned out to be partridges and the staff were clearly bemused that I had no idea. We just don’t see those around here 😂

I quite often get red legged partridges in the garden or wandering around our cul de sac! They make the oddest noise at times.

But an albatross? Wow! I just had a Google, I guess it must be this guy but early this year? (The report is from July last year)

Bempton cliffs albatross makes return to Yorkshire coast www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-humber-57683184

That’s the one! Apparently he’s been coming back to Bempton every Summer for the last three years, but was unusually early this year.

It’s not something I ever expected to see, for obvious reasons. It was amazing, but also a little bit sad to see him sitting all alone amongst the gannets and to know that he probably won’t ever find his way back home 😔 He seemed at ease amongst the gannets though, so at least that’s something. Apparently he spends his winters in Scandinavia, where he gets into trouble with the white tailed eagles. At least the gannets don’t cause him any problems.

I always feel sorry for these waifs and strays too, so I can never understand the appeal of twitching (as opposed to bird watching). I remember there being reports in the media about excitement due to an American blackbird showing up ...ffs, if you want to see one (and who wouldn't, a blackbird with go-faster stripes!) then take a trip to the US where they're commonplace rather than chasing one poor bird around.