Honeysuckle farm

The kids requested a visit to the farm for their last day of Easter holidays and I was only too happy to oblige. The day was sunny and mild, and while they played endlessly on the hay bales, I had a few walks around the farm, enjoying the spring weather. There was a blackthorn covered in blossom and droneflies and other flies, a few active bumblebees and a Comma were feeding and hovering by it. I heard a Chiffchaff singing and getting closer and soon he was also feeding on the blackthorn flies.
 I also heard a Willow Warbler and managed to locate it, but it was in the young woodland area and stayed in areas of thick cover so I couldn't get any decent shots. A male Blackcap sung, and a female was nearby.
 I was very pleased to find a number of Tree Sparrows near nest boxes. One of them was being chased by a Blue Tit, maybe competing for a box? Unfortunately, there was no trace of Yellowhammers in the farm.§
 The highlight of the day for me was finding a number of Dark-edged Bee-Flies, Bombylius major. One fed on primroses and then sunbathed for a while. Others were egg laying on colonies of mining bee (Andrena sp.). They were most fascinating to watch. They hovered near the ground, and either stopped to rest or laid eggs, by swaying their body towards the bees nest holes.

Male Chaffinch

Singing Chiffchaff

The flowering blackthorn.

Goldfinch collecting pigeon feathers for nest lining.

Sunbathing peacock.

Moorhen chicks. I counted seven.

Parent feeds the chicks.

Moorhen and chicks

Bullfinches were very visible today. I counted four at the same time. This male feeds on buds.

Tree Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Comma on the flowering blackthorn.

Sunbathing Bee-fly

This, like the one at the top of the post shows the egg laying process, as the fly drops eggs on the soil by nest entrances.

A quick bask on the soil

This is one of the females of the large Mining bee, Andrena nigroaenea (many thanks to Ian Beavis for ID) that nested on the soil heaped up after digging ponds.

Bee-Fly feeding on primroses.

Bird list

1. Blackbird
2. Blackcap
3. Blue Tit 
4. Bullfinch
5. Buzzard
6. Carrion Crow
7. Chaffinch 
8. Chiffchaff 
9. Coal Tit 
10. Collared Dove 
11. Dunnock 
12. Feral Pigeon 
13. Goldfinch
14. Great Tit 
15. Greenfinch 
16. House Sparrow 
17. Jackdaw 
18. Kestrel
19. Long-tailed Tit 
20. Mallard
21. Moorhen
22. Mute Swan 
23. Pheasant
24. Pied Wagtail
25. Robin 
26. Rook
27. Skylark
28. Tree Sparrow
29. Willow Warbler
30. Woodpigeon
31. Wren

Migrants at North Cave Wetlands

I had an early morning trip to North Cave wetlands. It was overcast, breezy, and quite cold compared to earlier in the week, not ideal for photography, but there was plenty to see. From the viewing area I watched a pair of Shoveler preening, it is the furthest I have seen this species from water. A male Reed bunting fed on the ground for a while, and a pair of Swallows passed by. I carried on to East Hide. The raft was teeming with feisty Black-headed gulls courting, mating and fighting. A Greylag sat on her nest, closely guarded by her mate. The noise was deafening at Turret hide, with more Black-headed gull action. A pair of avocets fed near the hide.
 More migrants at the end of the north path: a group of chirruping Sand Martins with a few Swallows amongst them flew low over Reedbed Lake and Far Lake. A Blackcap and a Chiffchaff sung around the western path. I arrived at Crosslands, where there were three Yellow Wagtails, a large flock of Avocets, Little Ringed Plovers and a Ruff, a bird that I hadn't seen in a long time.
 A total of 51 bird species altogether.

Drake Shoveler

Male Reed Bunting

Black-headed gulls mating. They take their time, the male sitting atop the female for minutes, which makes it easier to photograph.

Greylags on nest

Black-headed gull city

Avocet feeding

Displaying Black-headed gull

Marsh Marigold by the dragonfly ponds

Coot nest building

Lapwing and black-headed gulls on a sandy field.

Ruff feeding

Ruff

Little Ringed Plover

Cormorants

A pair of Mediterranean gulls in the main lake, displaying together, amongst the hundreds of Black-headed gulls.

Male Reed Bunting

Filey Brigg

We went to Filey Brigg today, a sunny, warm, misty day. We were lucky we could make the most of it as our visit was centred around low tide. We arrived when it just became possible to walk to the Brigg from the beach. A paraglider enjoyed the updraft of the cliffs, and it was joined by Herring Gulls, a male Kestrel and Crows, that effortlessly glided by the cliff face.

Kestrel, suspended in the air, not hovering.

Herring Gulls

And a gliding Carrion Crow

We saw hundreds, if not thousands of dead flat-backed millipedes (Polydesmus sp.) by the tide line, possibly fallen from the cliff, during a storm? with the high winds? It was most puzzling.

We found just one alive, next to a dead one below.

As we arrived at the Brigg proper, it became apparent how much this rocky peninsula just into the open sea: Cormorants, flotillas of Gannets and loose groups of Kittiwakes and torpedo-like Razorbills passed by on their way to Bempton. A turnstone and a group of Oystercatchers were the only waders on sight, but a Swallow passed us by a couple of times, and I snatched a quick snap.

A Record shot of the second Swallow of the year, passing over the Brigg itself, the first one we saw on the drive on fields by Flixton.

Slumbering Oystercatchers

A Cormorant passing by.

It was time for a picnic, and back by the cliffs we chose a sheltered south-facing cliff face, where we were soon joined by Green Tiger Beetles. Amazingly flighty, like shiny, metallic jewels, with an iridencence that makes them look bronze or green depending of the angle of the light. Their abdomen is the most amazing blue-green colour, which is visible on flight, but disappears as they alight, making them more difficult to spot. I promptly consumed my lunch and, lying down on the rocks proceeded to take hundreds of photos of these awesome and flighty beetles. This is a small selection (click on the photos for a high resolution view).

Another superb cliff inhabitant provided plenty of entertainment were the Meadow Pipits. They sung their click-click-click flight song, parachuting down from the sky with they tails up and chasing each other. This one hunted on the cliff and was quite approachable.

This one flew off from the clifftop as I was going to take its photo, I was quite pleased with this resulting, surprisingly focused, in flight shot.

The clay cliff eroding into mud avalanches.

A male Pied Wagtail on the cliff top.

A pair of Herring gulls.

Bird list

1. Blackbird 
2. Carrion Crow 
3. Chaffinch 
4. Chiffchaff 
5. Cormorant 
6. Dunnock 
7. Fulmar 
8. Gannet 
9. Herring Gull 
10. Kestrel 
11. Kittiwake 
12. Magpie 
13. Meadow Pipit 
14. Oystercatcher 
15. Pied/White Wagtail 
16. Rook 
17. Skylark 
18. Starling 
19. Swallow 
20. Turnstone 
21. Woodpigeon 
22. Wren