UK Nature Blog

Grey wagtail

Sadly I didn't have my 400mm lens with me on the day I spotted a Grey wagtail in the mud on the other side of a small lake. But this picture is good enough to identify it well. It's a good opportunity to point out some things about Wagtails in general.

You've no doubt seen the monochrome Pied wagtail doing its dipping and dashing, commonly seen in car parks. At the other end of the scale in colour as well as rarity is the Yellow wagtail, which is like our grey friend above but more yellow throughout. And that's the trick - to realise that Grey wagtails are in fact yellow, at least on the underside, but grey on top.

Eider duck in the penguin pool

This is a good study of a male Eider duck if I do say so myself, but what might surprise is that it was taken at the Penguin pool at Whipsnade zoo, high on the escarpment of the Dunstable Downs and a long way from the coast! As the RSPB will tell you, this is the UK's largest duck and a true seaduck that spends its time out on the waves of the ocean. Except for when it's mixing it with the penguins well inland apparently!

That head is sheer 30s art deco if you ask me - a seriously designer duck! Here's another angle, though it's a shame I didn't get any pictures with the penguins in as well, so you'll just have to believe me.

Return of the birds

The bird feeders in my garden have been largely silent all summer - I don't think I've refilled them in months, until just two days ago when I got out the special sanitising spray, a bottle-brush and hose and gave them a good clean, then refilled. Because it seems the birds are back so I felt I should put the effort in.

So far it's been mainly tits of various sorts and the odd Robin, but hopefully thigns will pick up as they refind it.

Is everyone else finding the same pattern through the seasons this year and others?

Farne carnage

When I visited the Farne Islands earlier this year, I saw many of the behaviours that had been on tele just a few weeks before on Springwatch when Lolo Williams reported from Skomer - a not dissimilar island full of birds.

That included the not-so-fluffy aspects of island life, which in my picture above shows a Herring gull taking a tern chick. The parents were swooping around above it, but all was lost. Still, Herring gulls and their chicks must eat too.

August nature notes

A few things I've noticed of late:

• Lots of ladybirds about, especially 7-spot.
• Garden full of Gatekeeper butterflies all of a sudden, often in pairs. This is their time of year apparently.
• Slugs and snails living it up in the recent boughts of wetness (and eaten all our courgette plants) though it's still fundamentally dry out there and some plants are struggling.
• I have a large wasp's nest in the hedge - about the size of a football. I think they're Median wasps, so not the usual sort: bigger but much less agressive and bothersome. I blogged about them once before when I saw a single wasp before I discovered the nest.
• I saw a Red kite circling above the garden lower than I've seen it before - probably just 50 feet up or so. Their successful comeback seems to continue apace.
• Smooth newts are easily terrified and they just freeze. They also looks just like little lizards. I found one crawling across my decking the other night - frozen stiff at my sudden appearance. The picture above is a pair I found on a previous occasion.
• Wasps of all sorts are particularly evident now. Presumably their numbers have swelled as they built up the size of their colonies over recent months. August is traditionally a waspy time of year and before long they'll be drunk on rotten apples.

More Farne Terns

I think I mentioned previously that the terns on Farne were surprisingly small once you got up close and personal. This photo perhaps helps judge their size a little bit and demonstrates how many of them were nesting directly on the ground amidst the long grasses. That meant you often couldnt' see the chicks at all, but made for good photos as the parents flapped and hovered just above.

So far all my pictures were Arctic terns (or maybe Common - the differences are minor) but this is a Sandwich tern - markedly different without the red accents, and just a yellow tip to the bill. This ones demonstrating that it eats Sand eels, the same as the puffins.

Cormorant or Shag?

OK, I give up. I've been endlessly reading up on how to tell the difference between a Cormorant and a Shag and I swear this bird demonstrates features attributed to both. To me the head shape says Cormorant so I'm going with that, but it's lacking the colouration on the face that would really confirm it. As seen on Farne, where both are definitely resident.

Full frontal Arctic tern

Another shot from the recent visit to Farne. I really rather like this, for its stark simplicity and art. What do you think?

Puffin on Farne

Next up from my recent trip to the Farne Islands - a Puffin, its bill laden with Sand eels (as required by law for any attempt at an iconic image of the bird). Those of you who watched the last series of Springwatch will know that it can keep on packing those fish in because it has an unusual hinge and backward pointing bits inside the mouth to hold them in place.

One good Tern deserves another

UKNB has been on tour to Northumberland, which included a boat trip to the Farne islands at the height of the breeding season. Whilst being dive-bombed from all directions I managed to get some great pictures of Terns, Puffins and other seabirds.

First up is a couple of Arctic terns in flight. I'm pretty sure these are Arctic rather than Common terns as the bill is pure red. The terns were nesting right by the path and often I had to back off in order to photograph them as my big lens has a 6 foot minimum focus!

More pictures to come.