I'm secretly glad to see the departure of that steamy hot humid Summer we've just had, one of the warmest on record and even now we're having record breaking temperatures into October .. where will it end! Surely there can't be anyone bar Donald Trump that can be any doubt that global warming is becoming more and more noticeable.
I'm off to the
Linconshire coast next week on a camping trip so thought I'd post a few of my more memorable pictures of the last few weeks ...late summer turning to early autumn before I get another shed load of pics to sort and post. No particular order to these and nothing mind boggling but as ever, a story attached to each and every one.
These
Southern Hawker Dragonflies get easier and easier to photograph later on in the day when they're less active and erm preoccupied!
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| Coupling Southern Hawkers, Askham Bog, 1/09/18 |
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Small Copper butterfly, saw several of these round and about my local area late summer but this rather ragged looking individual was my first record for Askham Bog.
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| Small Copper, Askham Bog, 29/09/18 |
Closer to home (quite literally), I spent 3 weeks of September looking after my father whilst my mum had a well deserved break and during much gardening I spotted 2 good butterflies on the trusty old Budlea ...
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| Painted Lady and Comma on Budlea, York garden, 03/09/18 |
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| Common Swift in with migrating House Martins, Wheldrake Ings, 07/09/18 |
There's still a few
Barn Swallows and
House Martins knocking about on the coast and I hope to see a late one next week but my last
Swift was on the 7th Sept at
Wheldrake Ings. Rubbish pic but always try and get a record shot of my last and first birds!
A few days later I was in the company of good friend Mikey who had pointed me in the direction of some late
Hobbies in the York area. We saw just the one but were treated to some fantastic aeriel dispalys of this juvenile bird hawking insects.
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| Juv Hobby, Brockfield Hall, York, 12/09/18 |
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| Juv Hobby, Brockfield Hall, York, 12/09/18 |
Another notable bird for me in the York area recently was this nice female / juv
Whinchat in with several juv
Stonechats on
Strensall Common.
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| Fem / juv Whinchat, Strensall Common, 05/09/18 |
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| Juv Stonechat, Strensall Common, 05/09/18 |
A week in the
Lake District with my children and was a superbly relaxing and enjoyable break. I've posted all the family pics elsewhere so with a couple of exceptions here are a few wildlife / landscape pics from a hugely memorable family holiday in one of the most picturesque places in the country.
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| Lakeland fields and walls, Nr Winston, Cumbria, 23/09/18 |
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| Wast Water, 24/09/18 |
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| Wast Water, 24/09/18 |
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| South Walney nature reserve & Piel Castle, 27/09/18 |
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| Common Seal, South Walney, 27/09/18 |
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| Slow Worm, roadside, nr Winston, Cumbria, 24/09/18 |
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| Me, a bit knackered after a climb! 24/09/18 |
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| My son, same climb, less knackered! |
A couple of trips out so far to the Yorkshire coast for autumn bird migration and with slim pickings so far there'll be more to come! This early morning
Short Eared Owl at
Sammy's Point, Spurn being the highlight so far. 2 on the peninsular that day and great to get good and regular views of them. Bit gutted I never got a decent flight shot though😢
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| Short Eared Owl, Sammy's Point, Spurn, 11/10/18 |
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| Short Eared Owl, Sammy's Point, Spurn, 11/10/18 |
Day I was there I couldn't stay long but I saw plenty of common migrants flying in over the north sea, 100s of
Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and
Redwings could be seen making landfall and whilst I ducked out on
Yellow Browed Warbler,
Ring Ouzel and an
Olive Backed Pipit, I did bag a probable
Richard's Pipit and a handful of migrant goodies including
Bramblings, Whinchat, a late
Swallow and several
Common Redstarts.
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| Common Redstart (juv male?), Spurn, 11/10/18 |
Like many migrating song birds seen in autumn, a pale shadow of the the brightly coloured thing you might see in a quiet wooded glade somewhere in late spring. This
Redstart looks like a juv to me but adult birds can look remarkably similar in their 'drab and worn' post breeding plumages.
Smashing early morning light for one of many
Curlews on the
Humber estuary.
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| Curlew, Sammy's Point, Spurn, 11/10/18 |
The long staying Rose Colured Starling once again evaded me but the big influx of Common Starlings into the country are already impressing their presence on our autumn landscapes .. I've never been a huge fan of wind turbines, mainly because of their 'blot on the landscape' effect but from a photographic viewpoint this works!
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| Flocking Starlings, Spurn, 11/10/18 |
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| Pink Footed Geese, Flamborough headland, 04/10/18 |
Talking about flocks there have been some impressive skeins of
Pink Footed Geese over from the north as they head for their wintering grounds around our northern estuaries and veg fields, so many more I think than in years gone by. They've been flying over the York area since the middle of September and hearing that chattering honking call, looking up and seeing a massed v formation overhead always reminds me of my time in France and the annual migration of
Common Cranes ....happy days!😄 This small group went over
Flamborough early Oct during an overnighter there in dismal weather and precious few good birds!
Danes Dyke looked good the next morning though, through a shaft of sunshine before the clouds really started to gather ....
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| Danes Dyke, 04/10/18 |
....and I'm never too proud to snap a common bird if the light is good!
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| Herring Gull, Flamborough Headland, 04/11/18 |
Back around my own patch at
Fangfoss Park I'm witnessing the arrival of the first
Redwings and
Fieldfares in the hedges, all typically skittish, and the first big flocks of
Lapwing over the fields.
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| Northern Lapwing, Fangfoss Pk, 02/10/18 |
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| Northern Lapwing, Fangfoss Pk, 02/10/18 |
These magnificent
Sloes and the many other berries on the hedges around me are a magnet for winter thrushes. They'll all get eaten within a month or two and once again I'll probably not get around to picking a jug full for that Sloe gin I keep promising myself .. so much else to do!😝
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| Comma butterfly, Fangfoss Pk, 03/10/18 |
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I thought his would be my last
Comma butterfly but I spotted another at
Askham Bog a few days later and a happy looking
Brimstone the week after at
Moorlands nature reserve!
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| Red Kite, Bishop Wilton, 10/10/18 |
On the 10th of October I was laid flat on my back on top of the
Yorkshire Wolds near
Bishop Wilton. Down to a T shirt and snoozing beneath the sun in 22C of heat, this
Red Kite was one of 4 that suddenly appeared circling over my head!
I love a good ariel battle and these last pics from my local patch are from the ageless '
Corvid v Raptor' series, in this case one of my local
Kestrels getting the runaround by a
Carrion Crow.
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| Carrion Crow v Kestrel, Fangfoss Pk, 01/10/18 |
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| Carrion Crow v Kestrel, Fangfoss Pk, 01/10/18 |
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| Carrion Crow v Kestrel, Fangfoss Pk, 01/10/18 |
Been 'heads down' working on a website which I will be launching in the New Year. Primarily a directory of all of Yorkshire's wildlife sites plus topical articles on what's happening in the county, the site will also contain lots of links to all of the wildlife organisations, interest groups, photo galleries, blogs etc ... its proving to be a bigger task than I first imagined but I'm determined to launch in some form or fashion next January.
