Linacre Insects - 4th September 2022

 It was 21 degrees on Sunday, so I had a couple of hours around Linacre to see which insects were still flying.

It started well, with a Red Admiral, followed by 3 Speckled Woods, 1 Large White and 1 Small Copper, of the form caeruleo-punctata (blue spots of the wings).

Small Copper

Dragonflies were far and few between, but 3 Brown Hawkers were seen, including 1 that posed nicely by the bottom reservoir.

Brown Hawker

There were a few hoverflies, mainly Eristalis species, but I did manage to spot one Helophilus pendulus and  this one, which I believe is a Sericomyia silentis (my first record since 2017).

Sericomyia silentis

Birds seen on site included: Tawny Owl (1 in the ringing site), Buzzard (1), Grey Wagtail (4, including at least one juvenile), Great-crested Grebe (2 adults and one juvenile), 1 Chiffchaff (still singing in the sun) and this juvenile Tufted Duck.

Tufted Duck

Monterey Bay Whale Watching

One of the main reasons for our trip to Monterey Bay was to get out on the sea and see whales and dolphins.

We'd found a really good company, Monterey Bay Whale Watching, so Jayne and I booked on to a 3 ½ hour trip. The first species we saw were Western Gulls, hundreds of Brandt’s Cormorants that were nesting on the breakwater and the Californian Sealions and Southern Sea Otters that were resting in and around the harbour itself. 

Californian Sealion

Sea Otter (adult and baby)

Once out into the Bay we soon started seeing Common Murres and then the whales! During the trip we saw a total of 17 different Humpback Whales, 2 Blue Whales  and a nursery pod of approximately 75 Risso’s Dolphins!!

Humpback Whales

Risso's Dolphins

Other species seen during the trip were: Red-necked Phalarope (1 flew past), a single Black-footed Albatross (no photo unfortunately) and 100s of Sooty Shearwater. Fantastic!!!

Sooty Shearwater

Seaside and Monterey Bay Birds - 2022

 After our first week in America, we hired a car and drove down the coast to stay in an Airbandb in Seaside, just a 10 minute drive from Monterey. On the trip down, we saw our first Turkey Vultures of the trip.

The place we were staying had a garden, and, whilst there, we spotted 1 Hooded Oriole (male), Anna’s Hummingbird (seen daily), Northern Mockingbird (1 across the road), Acorn Woodpecker (1 in the garden), Bushtit (a flock of c15 birds visiting the garden’s water feature for a drink and a bath), Oak Titmouse (2 in the garden), American Crow (regular around the garden, and flocks of c100 flying over to roost somewhere every evening), California Scrub Jay (daily in the garden), Turkey Vulture (daily over the house and beach).

Bushtit (on water feature)

Great-tailed Grackles (male and female birds) were seen around Robert’s Lake, whilst Seaside State Beach had a fantastic flock of  Heerman’s Gull (200+), Western Gull, California Gull, Whimbrel ( a flock of 29 on the beach), Long-billed Curlew, Caspian Tern (1 adult and 1 juvenile, roosting with the gulls on the beach), Marbled Godwit (1 on the beach), Sanderling (c.10 on the beach) and Western Snowy Plover (adults and 2 chicks).

Heerman's Gull

Caspian Tern

Whilst looking around Monterey’s Cannery Row  we saw Pigeon Guillemot, Pelagic Cormorant, Great Egret, Brown Pelican and Brandt’s Cormorant.

Brown Pelican

Black Turnstone and Grey Phalarope were added in MontereyHarbour, along with 20+ Californian Sealions, Southern Sea Otters, Brandt’s Cormorants, Great Egret, Surf Scoter (2), Barn Swallow, Western Gulls and Heerman’s Gulls. 

Black Turnstone

Rufford Gulls - 30th August 2022

 After yesterday's trip to see the Greater Sand Plover, I popped into Rufford CP to see which Black-headed Gulls were around. I was there for just over an hour and saw c.50 Black-headed Gulls, including 4 green-ringed gulls: 246A, 258A, 293A and 297A. I was particularly pleased to see 246A, as this was the first ever Black-headed Gull that I ringed, back in December 2019 (see here). It was aged as a 3, meaning it was born in 2019, so it's now into its 3rd year. It was reported at Rufford, and nearby Center Parcs, throughout the winters of 2020 and 2021. This sighting is the first of this winter. There haven't been any reports of it during the summer months, so we don't know, yet, where it breeds.

246A

The other gulls seen were also ringed at Center Parcs (approximately 2km away) and have been reported regularly there and at Rufford during the following winters. Again, no summer records....yet!

258A

293A

297A

Greater Sand Plover

 Yesterday, I drove across to Redcar beach to see a Greater Sand Plover that had arrived last week. Luckily, there were about a dozen people already on the beach when I arrived, and I soon got great views, as it fed along the tideline. The bird was always quite distant, but I did manage a few "record shots".

Also seen on the beach were: Sanderling (c200), Ringed Plover (c20), Bar-tailed Godwit (2), Oystercatcher (c.60), Grey Heron (2), Swallows (5), Pied Wagtails, Fulmar (1) and Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls.

Year List: 

156 - Great Reed Warbler (Langford Lowfields)

157 - Fulmar

158 - Greater Sand Plover

159 - Bar-tailed Godwit

San Fransisco 2022

 At the start of the summer holidays, Jayne and I went on a long-awaited 3-week trip to California. We spent the first week in San Francisco, before moving down the coast to Seaside and Monterey Bay for the second week, and finished off in Groveland, near Yosemite National Park, for the final week. During our time there, we spotted , and managed to identify, 100 species of bird (including 62 lifers), 20 species of butterfly, 4 species of dragon/damselfly, 16 species of mammal and 4 different reptiles/amphibians!

During our stay in San Francisco, we were based on the west side of the city, in the Stanyan Park Hotel, right next to the Golden Gate Park. We chose to stay here, so that we could visit the park, and the two museums that stand in its grounds, the De Young Museum and The California Academy ofScience (both worth a visit).

Our first visit to the park, on the evening of 23^rd July, gave us excellent views of our first “lifers”, namely, Black Phoebe and Anna’s Hummingbird, along with Brewer’s Blackbird, American Crow, American Robin, Dark-eyed Junco and Raven. As it turned out, all of these species were common throughout the park, and were seen regularly. We also spent most of Sunday 24^th and Friday 29^th in and around the park, and added the following species: California Scrub Jay (common), California Towhee (2/3 seen), Nutall’s Woodpecker (1), Downy Woodpecker (1), Hairy Woodpecker (seen regularly), Allen’s Hummingbird ( a few seen, much less common than Anna’s), Steller’s Jay (heard more often than seen, but relatively common),  Song Sparrow (not easy to see), House Finch (regular), Barn Swallow (regular), Tree Swallow (1 bird seen at a nest with 1 well grown chick), Red-winged Blackbird (just a few seen around the Stow Lake), Brown-headed Cowbird (adults seen by Stow Lake), White-crowned Sparrow (regular), Pygmy Nuthatch (seen with a Brown Creeper in trees near the Japanese Tea Gardens), Red-tailed Hawk (regular/common), Chestnut-sided Chickadee (heard regularly, but tricky to see), Lesser Goldfinch (1 pair seen feeding on dandelion seeds), Western Gull (common), California Gull (common around Spreckles Lake), Mallard (common), Canada Goose (common, including in the Botanical Gardens), Cackling Goose (1 on Stow Lake, possibly feral) and White-fronted Goose ( 1 on Spreckles Lake, probably feral), Great Blue Heron ( 1juvenile on Stow Lake), Hutton’s Vireo (1 seen) and an Osprey (flying over the Botanical Gardens, with a fish in its talons).

Anna's Hummingbird

Whilst in San Francisco, we also visited several other areas, where we spotted other species. A trip to Fort Mason added Pigeon Guillemot to the trip list, along with Snowy Egret, and our first confirmed Brandt’s Cormorant.

Pigeon Guillemot

Whilst visiting the Golden Gate Bridge, we saw a lovely flock of 6 moulting Surf Scoters, 5 Western Grebes, hundreds of Brandt’s Cormorants, dozens of Brown Pelicans, 2 Caspian Terns, along with a small flock of Pygmy Nuthatches, a single American Goldfinch, Red-tailed and Red-shouldered Hawks, Cliff Swallows, Brown-headed Cowbirds (adults and juveniles) and Cliff Swallows (attending a nest).

Surf Scoter and Western Grebe

Red-masked Parakeets (a feral/introduced species) were seen in the Alamo Park by the Painted Ladies, along with House Sparrows, Raven and American Crows.

Red-masked Parakeet

A walk around the Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39 area added  Heerman’s Gull, Western Gull, House Sparrow, Double-crested Cormorant, Brown Pelican, Great Egret and Eurasian Starling.

Heerman's Gull

On our last day in San Fransisco, we headed out to the coastal area of Sutro Baths/Land’s End/Point Lobos. Here we recorded Western Blue Bird (juveniles), Black Oystercatcher (2), House Finch (c.10), Brandt’s Cormorants, Brown Pelican, Dark-eyed Junco, Brown-headed Cowbird, Brewer’s Blackbird, Downy Woodpecker, Great Blue Heron, Caspian Tern, Raven (a flock of 23 on Ocean Beach!!) and our first Whimbrel of the trip, on Ocean Beach.

Raven on Ocean Beach

More Gull News

 On 16th August, I went to Rufford CP to renew my annual parking permit. Whilst there, I spotted two of "our" Black-headed Gulls: 258A and 293A (click on the labels for further details).

On the 19th August, I was out swan ringing at Rother Valley CP, when I spotted a white darvic-ringed Black-headed Gull. Annoyingly, I didn't have my camera with me, but I did have my binoculars and managed to read the ring, JMT9. I recognised it as a Norwegian-ringed bird, and sent off the details. Sure enough, the details came back as having been ringed in Oslo on 1st April 2020 and aged and sexed as an adult male bird. It had been recorded at Rother Valley before (on 31st January 2022), so we can presumably be pretty sure that this site is its favoured wintering site. I went back today, this time with my camera (!), and found it in exactly the same spot. 

JMT9

This year, it was reported back in Oslo on 16th March, so I'll pop back again throughout the winter and see how long it hangs around for, and try to get some photos of it as it regains its full brown hood.