Teneral Four-spotted Chaser

This was a bit of luck. It was disturbed from dense undergrowth (otherwise known as the footpath from Stonebridge Corner to Prior's Fen) and being fairly recently emerged wasn't up to much flying making this shot possible.

Old Sulehay Leps

Another highly successful lunchtime outing to Old Sulehay Stonepit Quarry, where several Dungy and Grizzled Skippers and a Green Haristreak showed very well.

Daytime Tawny Owl

A quick check for Little Owls at a regular spot along the Billing Brook near Haddon I came across this chap. He didn't sit out in th open for long but managed a quick snap.

Tawny Owl (Strix aluco)

Nikon CP995

Empress?

We left the PBC trip to Old Sulehay early to pick up our lad from a friend's house and were presented with this huge moth. It was picked up injured from a path around the housing estates. This is a female and although it layed no eggs it survived for a few days.

Female Emperor Moth (Saturnia pavonia)

Nikon CP995

Old Sulehay flowers

A few flowers snapped during a very pleasant PBC trip to Old Sulehay. The pansy was the only example in Stonepit Quarry and is probably the first record for the site. The others were in the wood.

Toothwort is a curious plant. It is partly parasitic and partly insectivorous. It parasitises the roots of Hazel and other plants but also traps and digests insects in cavities formed by underground leaves.

Wild Pansy (Viola tricolor)


Arum Lilly (Zantedeschia Aethiopica)


Toothwort (Dentaria diphylla)

Nikon CP995

Hoopoe, Stibbington

Arriving to do my WeBS count at Stibbington in the morning, I flushed a Hoopoe from the entrance track. A year and ten days since the one I saw at Elton Furze! Unlike that one this stuck around so that a few local birders could get to see it. It remains a very rare species locally.

Locals confirmed it had been present for at least a day before but it wasn't seen again after the 25th.

Hoopoe (Upupa epops)

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

The Drinker

We encountered some excellent moths in Ardnamurchan but those pictures will have to wait. In the meantime here is a closup of the larva of The Drinker. These have a habit of drinking from droplets of water, which gives the moth its name.

Getting warmer, in fact 'Otter

Only seen a wild Otter once before and that was at Loch Arisaig not far from where we were staying on the Ardnamurchan peninsular. However we still considered ourselves very lucky when we came across these very fresh prints on a deserted beach at Bay Macneil near the lighthouse. We were even more surprised when we saw the animal running about in the rocks nearby.

Violet Ground Beetle

This stunning little fellow was found by Alex at Portuairk in Ardnamurchan on the Scottish west coast. It is Carabus problematicus, one of two British species of Violet Ground Beetle. The similar C. violaceus lacks the ridges on the elytra and is a common insect in gardens.

Green Tiger Beetle, Old Sulhay

These striking insects are common in the Stonepit Quarry area of Old Sulehay. The blue abdomen can catch the light well as it flies.

Green Tiger beetle Cicindela campestris

Nikon CP995.

Little Owl

Returning from the PBC trip to Southey Woods this chap was sat right next to the road at Top Lodge Farm, Upton.

Little Owl (Athene noctua)

Nikon CP995.

Bullfinch, Southey Woods

Another excellent local PBC trip to Southey Woods had a few highlights and this was one of them. Bullfinches are a familiar and always welcome sight but this one just sat there for ages feeding providing an unusual opportunity for some digiscoping.

Bullfinch (Pyrrhula pyrrhula)




Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Waxwings, Boulevard Retail Park

A great location for a species that so often turns up in supermarket carparks. In this case it is a retail park but much the same really. This party of 12 come hot on the heels of 3 at Crown Lakes on 1 January.

Although very tame, the dull conditions and activity of the birds made photography rather difficult, but here are a few shots including a closeup of the waxy tips.

Waxwings Bombycilla garrulus
 
 
 

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Shag at Dog in a Doublet

This is probably the most reliable location in the area for Shags but it has been a while since the last one here. This one was also seen feeding at Eldernell Lakes and may also be responsible for other brief local sightings. Previous occurences here have stayed for a while and this one is no exception. It may have stayed longer had it not been for its untimely demise, probably a casualty of the adjacent road on 4 Jan 2004.

Along with Red and Black-throated Divers, Guillemot and Kittiwake it makes a fine set of recent seabird records for the PBC area's own bit of "coast".

Shag Phalacrocorax aristotelis
 

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Common Buzzard, Elton

This is an extremely pale adult and has been present in the Elton area since at least December 2001. In flight it even shows a tail with a pale base leading to possible confusion with Rough-legged Buzzard.

Common Buzzard Buteo buteo
 

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Dartford Warbler, Stanground Wash

A most unexpected find and an unusual location. I check out the Sewage Works and outfall here for Green Sandpipers and Grey Wagtails and always take a look at the washland opposite where Short-eared and Barn Owl are regular as well as Stonechats and the like. What I didn't expect was what looked like a brown Long-tailed Tit bouncing towards me through the vegetation along the River Nene. As it passed just below me I couldn't quite believe I was having point blank views of a Dartford Warbler. The bird stayed on the bank next to me for a while but typically, just as I went for the camera, it flew to the far side of the opposite river bank and gave me 20 nerve racking minutes before Steve Dudley caught a brief glimpse then I saw it again in the middle of the wash. Views were more distant but I was extremely relieved that there was something for the arriving hoards to see. It showed well enough to provide these record shots, most of which were taken at long range or in low light.

This is the 270th species for the PBC area and there are also no other records for Huntingdonshire. There are two other Old Cambs records, neither of which were twitchable - one from 1870 at Great Abingdon and one in a garden in Cherry Hinton in February 2001.

Dartford Warbler Sylvia undata
 

Pushing the limits of digiscoping with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 32x eyepiece.

Greenland White-fronted Goose, Hampton North Lake

This adult Greenland White-fronted Goose (Anser albifrons flavirostris) with very dense barring and rather dark upperparts was initially located on Orton Brick Pit with a group of mainly Greylag Geese, which also contained a Pink-footed Goose and the regular Barnacle and Bar-headed Geese. Part of the flock containing these geese then headed off to Hampton North Lake where the White-front posed for these pictures. 
 
 
 
 
Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Hoodie

Another Kevin Du Rose special and a long-stayer. This was at the beginning of its stay near the rubbish tip at Tanholt Pits. The species is a recent split from the common Carrion Crow and is not annual in the Peterborough area.

Conditions were terrible for photography but here is a distant shot taken through the mist and gloom.

Hooded Crow Corvus cornix

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 32x eyepiece.

Lesser Whitethroat ssp.

This bird conveniently favoured some trees in front of the offices of Nene Park Trust along Ham Lane near the entrance to Ferry Meadows Country Park west of Peterborough.

A remarkable late date for this species - the latest for Cambs. There have been two overwintering birds, one of these was in the PBC area at Bainton from Jan-Apr 1991 and resembled the Siberian form blythi. The Ham Lane bird does not appear to be of the usual nominate curruca form either: it appears too brown-toned above, has a weak face mask, rather sullied underparts and the grey head does not contrast very strongly with the upperparts. It may also be rather short-winged and has rather pale outer tail feathers. It is possibly the halimodendri form but would perhaps need to be examined in the hand to be sure





Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Robin at Ham Lane

While waiting for the Lesser Whitethroat to put in an appearance I got a bit of digiscoping practice in the difficult conditions under the trees and captured this Robin.

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Black Redstart, Wash Northey

A regular visit to the area near the new foot/cycle Millenium Bridge over the Nene at Wash Northey, normally only good for the large winter thrush flocks that are sure to turn up something rarer one day. This time luck was in as two scarce migrants were present. The Black Redstart was using a small paddock and a Brambling was with a building finch flock nearby. I couldn't get a pic of the Brambling.

Female or immature Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros)
 
 
 
Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Most photographed bird in Cornwall?

As it frequented the boating lake and adjacent car park, where this was snapped, it was a favourite among birders passing through.

Second calendar year Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Nikon CP995

The Wandering Whistler

This little fellow spent some time in the area normall associating with a Greylag flock and seen over quite a wide area. This was a long-range stretched digiscope effort at Prior's Fen.

Fulvous Whistling-Duck (Dendrocygna bicolor)

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 32x eyepiece.

Stonebridge Corner insects

Often a visit to Prior's Fen is just as interesting for the insects at the start of the footpath at Stonebridge Corner.

Male Migrant Hawkers (Aeshna mixta)



Comma butterfly (Polygonia c-album)

Nikon CP995

Common Snipe, Ferry Meadows

This snoozing Snipe (Gallinago gallinago) provided a bit of digiscoping practice.

Digiscoped with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.

Garden hover-fly

The garden pond is only a couple of months old but is producing insects like this hover-fly that likes to sunbathe on waterside vegetation.

Helophilus pendulus

Nikon CP995.

Brown Argus in cop.

A real treat these especially as I didn't expect to find them on the banks of the river Nene near Elton Bridge.

Brown Argus (Aricia agestis)

Nikon CP995.

Manx Shearwater, Baston & Langtoft Pits

Could this be the worst photo so far? Probably. But its one of the best birds I've ever seen in the area. I have a thing about inland seabirds and Manx Shearwater is right at the top of the list. Josh Jones was the finder and got the news out lightning fast. You had to be quick as the bird only stayed the one evening. It was bizarre and unforgettable to see this bird shearing over the flat fields of the fens.

Manx Shearwater (Puffinus puffinus)

Digiscoped (badly in very poor light) with the Nikon CP995, Leica APO77 and 20x eyepiece.