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?

A Nightingale - yards from the runway at Gatwick Airport! We visited the little aviation museum there and while waiting to see an A380 land (I'm a bit of an avgeek 😳) I heard a bird I couldn't identify which the Merlin app told me was a Nightingale. I have only heard them in France before. I posted about it on my local wildlife FB page and another member told me he had done a survey of Nightingale territories and there are seven (seven!) around Gatwick. And I did see the A380 so a great day all round 😁

I’ve not noticed any this year yet, come to think.

Saw some lovely dragonflies or damselflies today at a lake in Dorset. There were a few large blue ones with very prominent black wings. Possibly banded damselfly but they just weren't alighting on anything for me to properly look.

We have been to Walney Island at an event. Did some birdwatching and saw some some cormorants, gannets and grey seals..

That sounds great @johnworf.

Does anyone have any suggestions of great places to watch nature on Anglesey? I'm going next week. Was planning to go to Newborough Forest & beach but open to suggestions.

I went to a birdwatching thing there a few years ago, it was very good. I seem to remember there were some feral Emperor geese which I wasn’t expecting!

@DiggoryVenn

RSPB South Stack for lots of sea birds, including puffins (if you know where to look….), ravens, chough etc. It gets busy, but if you get there early enough (i.e. not too long after the cafe opens!) you should be fine. There’s a chance of seeing seals, sometimes porpoises and dolphins too. I visit often, so let me know if you want to know exactly where the puffins are and I’ll try to explain 😊 It’s nice in the evenings too, after the crowds have gone home.

Cemlyn lagoon for terns, terns and more terns. This time of the year, the noise is deafening, but it’s fun seeing them dive and fly over your head with their latest catch. There’s some lovely walks around there too and it’s a good place to see birds of prey, if you’re lucky.

Point Lynas is great for all sorts of things. I’ve never been there and not seen dolphins, but there’s lots of other interesting things there too. It’s my favourite spot to see Black Guillemots, but I appreciate that may be a bit niche!

Oh and Penrhos Coastal Park is the easiest place on Anglesey to spot red squirrels. Just ask any of the dog walkers and they’ll point you in the right direction. The feeders aren’t too far from the car park, so you can easily combine it with a trip to RSPB South Stack.

Newborough beach is absolutely stunning, but it’s not always that easy to see the wildlife, especially if there’s a lot of people. It’s still a must see for the scenery, but this time of the year it may be easier to spot wildlife in any of the places above.

@Festina thank you, that is amazing advice. I'm not too bothered about seeing puffins because I'm off to Lundy again in a few weeks where I know where to see them, but I will look at South Stack because I would love to see dolphins or porpoise. I may do Newborough with my DH the first day, and head to South Stack whilst he is at his conference the next.

I've seen some bats! Not sure which sort, but they roost in a local church and were zooming about inside at dusk - they clearly know how to get in and out.

I've been using the Merlin app for the first time this spring and it's teaching me a lot. I was scolded by blue tits yesterday for hanging up my washing (I think they have a nest near one end of the line). I couldn't see them but Merlin told me what they were.

@DiggoryVenn oh yes, you’ll definitely have a better puffin experience on Lundy!

I may be biased, but I think South Stack is still worth it for all the other seabirds you can see there this time of the year, as well as the amazing coastal scenery. And it’s one of the best places to see choughs. Watching their aerial acrobatics is always a treat 😊

I posted my bird haul on the other thread from South Stack, but we saw some lovely fat basking seals at Newborough beach yesterday. The flora on the little island at the end of the beach was lovely - a really pretty pale yellow rock rose which I don't think I have seen before. There was also a lovely pale yellow large daisy like flower at South Stack. Anglesey is lovely and I'm hoping to look for some red squirrels later.

Glad you enjoyed RSPB South Stack @DiggoryVenn . It’s a special place, as is Ynys Llandwyn (the island on the end of Newborough beach). I love all that specialist coastal vegetation, but I’m not very good at identifying it!

It’s a shame you didn’t get to see the choughs. They really show off their aerial acrobatics at South Stacks, often getting into fights with ravens at this time of the year.

The swifts have returned and are nesting in the stables. They seem to return to the same nests each year.

Lovely to see them in large groups doing their aerobatics, catching insects on the wing.

Some interesting wildlife today - 4 types of geese including Egyptian and a stray barheaded, grebes, parakeets and … we discovered why people drink but don’t eat outside the Lido cafe on the Serpentine - too close an encounter with fearless young starlings who mugged DH’s sandwich before we beat a hasty retreat inside 😂
it’s lovely how much wildlife there is on the heart of London, there’s unmowed grass, wildflowers and even a bit of reedbed which I don’t think were there in the past.

Loving hearing positive news from London, sandwich excepted!

We lived close to South Stack in my primary years and many a poor visitor got dragged up and down those steps.

I think we have a magpie nest nearby. We see a few year round but they are definitely being more noisy at the moment. A wren keeps going into a shrub we can see from our living room but I've not spotted it taking food or nesting material so maybe it's just a convenient resting spot.

Gosh some birds are so cheeky! Did you see the pelicans in St James Park @ErrolTheDragon ? I have been to London so many times but only found out they were there last year!!

I did manage to see some red squirrels at Plas Newydd on Friday. This one was very cheeky feeding from the bird feeder just outside the National Trust shop. There were a couple of woodpeckers on it as we arrived too.

Great photo.

I’ve heard the bitterns there, they’re great! They seemed to do three booms at a time.

Beautiful butterfly!

No, we were just in Hyde and Kensington parks. Kew today which is a treat even if not all ‘nature’ exactly - though it’s one place where you can look down at a squirrel bounding through a treetop.

I was out early this morning in the car, and a barn owl flew across the lane with some small unfortunate rodent clasped in its talons.

"We lived close to South Stack in my primary years and many a poor visitor got dragged up and down those steps".

I did a year of Earth Science as part of my Botany degree at Bangor Uni and spent lots of time on Angelsey looking at rocks and doing surveys. I couldn't get down the steps at South Stack because I got extreme collywobbles and had to stay at the top spotting Choughs. The rock formation in the cliffs there is amazing.