Just before heading down to the Somerset Levels last month I was lucky enough to witness and photograph one of those 'once in a lifetime' nature moments - a young Cuckoo being fed by the surrogate bird who's nest it had presumably taken over.
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Juv Cuckoo, Wheldrake Ings, 08/07/20
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One of the oldest tricks in nature's book, the
Common Cuckoo lays a single egg in smaller bird's nest and when hatched the naturally bigger Cuckoo fledgling demands and gets more food and then gradually ousts any other chicks from the nest. The bird I saw, quite by chance as I was scanning some fields at
Wheldrake Ings, was a young Cuckoo already out of the nest but still demanding food from its tireless surrogate parent, in this case a
Reed Warbler.
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| Juv Cuckoo calling for food, Wheldrake Ings, 08/07/20 |
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| Juv Cuckoo being fed by a Reed Warbler, Wheldrake Ings, 08/07/20 |
Inevitably after watching for a 2 or 3 minutes, during which our baby Cuckoo received 2 feeds, I ended up spooking the bird as I edged closer. Stupid of me really but the bird was ok, I heard it persistently calling for more food further down the river bank, and of course I had my shots in the can!
Had it not been for my first ever Cattle Egrets the following week that would have been a tough photographic act to follow for the whole summer, but of course, as I pursue a still largely solitary existence in these still perilous times, high summer has brought many highlights.
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Greenshank, North Cave Wetlands, 06/07/20
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As early as the first week of July (sometimes even earlier) there is a trickle of wading birds returning to the UK after breeding further north with numbers increasing through Aug and into September. I had
Green Sandpiper, a nice looking
Greenshank and a very good record of 12
Common Sandpipers in a single flock at North Cave Wetlands.
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Common Sandpipers, North Cave Wetlands, 10/08/20
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Evolving scrape, North Cave Wetlands, 29/07/20
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Still evolving as a nature reserve, North Cave is a regular haunt of mine. It will almost double in size once all the undeveloped scrapes and lagoons are finished but even these areas are already attracting the wildlife with
Common Terns, Little Ringed Plover and
Avocets all making good use of these emerging habitats.
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Common Tern, North Cave Wetlands, 29/07/20
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Even the Hares are finding something to like about these still barren stretches ..
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Brown Hare, North Cave Wetlands, 29/07/20
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With so many daylight hours to play and not always a lot happening I always find that high summer is a good time to visit new local places, and my new website on Yorkshire's wildlife still requiring lots of location pics, I've got around quite a few.
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North Newbald Becksies, 24/07/20
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North Newbald Becksies may look like just an overgrown field, but in fact it contains a spring that ensures keeps the ground there continually damp and does wonders for the summer vegetation and wild flowers, many of which I struggled to identify.
Sugar Mill Ponds and Eastrington Ponds are both former brickyard ponds come local nature reserves near Goole with some fishing at both. The ponds at Eastrington held more potential for me with no fishing on some of the ponds and lovely adjacent meadow.
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Eastrington Ponds, 25/07/20
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Galium Sp. Hedge Bedstraw? Eastrington Ponds, 25/07/20
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Sugar Mill Ponds, 06/08/20
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Saltmarshe Delph, 20/08/20
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Saltmarshe Delph near Howden was another YWT site I hadn't visited before and was rewarded by a
Kingfisher and 8
Great Crested Grebes all with several youngsters in tow. Nearby
Howden Marsh, a local nature reserve, was perhaps the most interesting though - smallish but densely vegetated with reeds and other marshland plants. Although I didn't see one,
Water Voles are regularly seen there and the boardwalk is great for gazing into the water for pond life. I saw several diving beetles, disturbed a probable
Elephant Hawk Moth and heard a couple of
Sedge Warblers there.
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Howden Marsh, 25/07/20
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A couple of trips out to the coast in the hope of some early autumn migrants did yield an elusive Pied Flycatcher, 2 or 3 Northern Wheatears, and this nicely posed Peregrine Falcon on the cliffs at Flamborough, one of 3 on the headland that day.
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Peregrine Falcon, Flamborough, 18/08/20
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Almost as smart but in a different way this
Great Egret, still a relatively rare bird in my neck of the woods, seemed to be in playful mood at Tophill Low.
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| Great Egret, Tophill Low, 12/08/20 |
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| Great Egret, Tophill Low, 12/08/20 |
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White (Bladder) Campion, North Cave, 06/07/20
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Peak time for wild flowers of course, I post pictures of the same flowers year after year. Why? I'm not sure - every picture is a different image though and some of our UK flowers are just beautiful things to photograph and share!
Still can't identify a lot of what I see though - so many species (close on 4,000 in the UK), sub species and many hybrids to boot!
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Purple Loosestrife, Wheldrake Ings, 09/08/20
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Still to identify this one, some kind of mint species ..
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Mint species, North Newbald Becksies, 24/07/20
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Juv Goldfinch, Wheldrake Ings, 30/07/20
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Just as perplexing at this time of the year are the increasing numbers of juvenile birds, often pale imitations of their parents, confusing us all with their strange calls. I struggled to figure out this drab looking finch at Wheldrake Ings until it turned around and a small yellow wing bar revealed it to be juvenile Goldfinch.
Every young bird is a small cause for celebration but they do pose some identification headaches, especially out of context - this juv Stonechat for instance was flycatching from the top of a tree and I had it down as juv Spotted Flycatcher at first.
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Juv Stonechat, Thornton Ings, 24/08/20
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Juv Common Tern, North Cave Wetlands, 21/08/20
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Juv Little Ringed Plover, North Cave Wetlands, 29/07/20
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Sedge Warbler, Wheldrake Ings, 30/07/20
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With the summer nearly over my thoughts turn to the autumn and I hope and pray for an end to all this Covid business and who knows, a long overdue trip abroad may still be on the cards. Here's a few more of my photo memories of high summer 2020.
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Rosebay Willow Herb, North Cave Wetlands, 06/07/20
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Peacock Butterfly on Budlea, Wheldrake Ings, 30/07/20
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Reeds at Wheldrake Ings, 30/07/20
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West Beck at Skerne Wetlands, 26/08/20
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Marsh Harrier, Tophill Low, 12/08/20
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