Nature Notes

[ErrolTheDragon]

Yesterday walking around Martin Mere WWT on a beautiful first day of May with the air full of bird song (squawk/screech/bark/quack and honk) it occurred to me to start a thread here for nature lovers to share what's going on through the seasons around the country - and indeed, other parts of the world. (Helps if you can give some idea of location!)

So - whether you're out in the country, suburbs or urban jungle, what have you heard and seen this week?

On the Somerset Levels we heard bitterns booming this week and saw this beautiful orange tip butterfly. Geese flying over our house honking their heads off as I write.

Heard: usual garden birds plus willow warbler and black cap.
Seen and heard skylarks.

I am not great at identifying bird song but am trying to learn more with the help of the Merlin app. Also recommend Flora Incognita for plant ID.

I saw cows, horses and a weasel yesterday, i often see all sorts of birds including kestrels, marsh harriers and cranes. I hear all sorts that i cant put a name on but i love the sounds of the birds happily singing

Good photo,@Churchview , I like the way it shows the markings on the underside of the wing too.

We've recently got the Merlin app after seeing it mentioned on a thread here - it's exactly what we've been wanting! yesterday it alerted us to a garganey we'd not noticed, and told us what all the little birds we couldn't spot amidst leaves and reeds were - I can't remember them all but some I've never seen (or been able to identify) eg Cetti's warbler.

Whereabouts are you to see cranes, @DazedAndKerfuddled ? I've seen one once at slimbridge, I assume the progeny of the ones they reintroduced into Somerset but I don't know if/how they've spread from there.

@ErrolTheDragon i live on the norfolk broads, we have them all year round and a huge number of other wildlife that only tends to show up here too, its beautiful, highly recommend a visit if you ever get the chance, its a good spot for nature lovers

We go up there quite a lot too - we went up on Sunday, DH had forgotten his walking pole without which we tend to avoid the cliff path, so we walked up the estuary. Larks singing on the saltmarsh, oystercatchers etc.

The Broads are indeed wonderful, we've been boating on it a couple of times. We may be coming in June...we've got a boat booked on the Thames but it's been flooding too much for hire boats and more rain to come so we may have a change of plan.

@ErrolTheDragon definitely a great alternative if needed

Here's an Early Spider Orchid taken a few days back by DH - I'm on the Dorset Coast. Primroses are going over now but all the rain has made the bluebells extra good this year.

I love this time of the year when everything is changing constantly - last week the local beach was filled with the, not so wonderful, sound of sandwich terns. This week they’ve all moved on to their nesting site and there’s been a big influx of warblers. Swifts have started to return, whimbrels are on the move. I could go on and on!

In my garden the highlight has been three blackbird fledglings taking turns to use the birdbath. Keeping my fingers crossed they’ll make a dent in the local snail population.

We're having a few days in Northumberland - yesterday's walk from Newton-by-the-sea to Craster had so much birdsong - too many to list but lots of larks and sedge warblers. A freshwater pool had various wildfowl including a goldeneye, the cliffs at Dunstanburgh noisy with nesting kittiwakes, quite a lot of razorbills too on the cliffs and in the sea. There were some eider ducks in the harbour at Craster where we stopped for a massive crab sandwich in the pub before returning via Dunstanburgh Castle. From the top of the cliffs there we spotted a big bull seal wallowing about, as well as a very close view of a razorbill and a random pink footed goose.

Very envious ErrolTheDragon 😀
Festina you have reminded me to find some swift song online to play underneath our swift box! Haven't seen one yet but should soon.

According to the BTO bird migration blog, there was a mass movement of swifts in Spain & Portugal earlier this week, so fingers crossed they’ll make it across to your part of the U.K. soon @BlueChampagne .

My highlight of the week has been my first ever sighting of a Little Owl in the U.K. They really are small! I’ve also been enjoying watching (and hearing) the warbler numbers increase over the last week or so. Birdsong everywhere!

Today on lindesfarne we could see large numbers of seals on the beaches opposite, and also there was a grey plover handsome in its distinctive summer plumage in the harbour. A couple of meadow pippits on fence posts and so many larks!

Wow! Never seen one of those.

@ErrolTheDragon You are in one of my favourite parts of the country. Summer 2022 we saw 40+ dolphins about 9pm on a hot summer evening. They were passing right in front of Bamburgh golf club and it was high tide so they were so close. It was pure luck on our part but a couple of cars suggested locals know it as a spot.

I have a nesting song thrush in the big hawthorn bush in my garden, I'm so delighted about this. I love to see her around in the garden. Bit concerned that there only seems to be one of them though

I'm not sure I've ever seen more than one thrush at once.

The other thing I saw today was a very hairy caterpillar with a rusty red head - from my googling so far I think it was a garden tiger aka woolly bear.

I live on a housing estate so urban jungle ish??? Gets lots of buzzards flying over. Also had a sparrowhawk sitting on the fence just outside our window!!!! 😱😱 Couldn't take a decent picture as the net curtains blocked the view. Had a navy blue shiny beetle land on me this afternoon ❤️ thanks for this post love reading about everyone's wildlife!!

Plenty of these kind of pictures around on MN today, but thought it fitted here too - sky over North Yorkshire last night.

Regretting not going out last night now but we were too tired.

But today we've already had an excellent walk, up the coast to Beadnell. Mostly on the beach but diverting into the dunes around the Long Nanny tern nesting colony. We saw a few little terns, and lots of Arctic terns - they only arrived on Thursday so it's lucky we didn't do this walk first! There were some mating and digging scrapes a few yards from the rangers hut. They've got 6 rangers camped, on duty at this time of year, doing night patrols to scare off foxes and badgers.
Then a little way on there was a colony of sand martens in the sandy cliff, and a raft of eiders at Beadnell - identifiable by their 'Frankie Howerd' calls before I'd raised my binoculars, they're another I don't need Merlin for!

Yesterday on the way back from a visit to Holker Hall, we dropped in at the Fouldsaw Moss reserve, something we've been meaning to do for ages. It's definitely worth visiting if you're in the southern Lake District. Our first sightings of damsel and dragonflies , and through the heat haze a glimpse of a nesting osprey.

It's an area which used to be a big impassable bog which was drained and used as a source of peat. There were plans to turn it into a landfill site but fortunately the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust was able to buy it and is gradually restoring it.

My first swifts of the year today, swooping over the coastal meadows at Silverdale, where the orchids are starting to come out.

Our swallows have been here for about 3 weeks. No babies yet though.