Isle of Wight mini-break - Glanville Fritillaries and Wall Lizards galore!

With beautiful weather forecast for the south coast at the beginning of June last summer, I made the snap decision to take us down to the Isle of Wight in an effort to track down one of our most localised British butterflies – the Glanville Fritillary. Traditionally restricted in distribution to the southern coastal headlands on the picturesque Isle of Wight, I’d never yet had the opportunity to track down this orange-clad winged wonder, and with a day off work on the Friday it was the perfect opportunity to make a long weekend of it.

Glanville Fritillary

After a tedious drive down (suffering the constant delays that is now the M6) to our overnight stop in the New Forest where we spent enjoyable evening filled with churring Nightjars and a Chinese feast big enough to keep us well fed for at least a week, we were soon boarding the short 40 minute ferry to Yarmouth the next day ready for our mid-morning arrival on the Isle of Wight.

The view from the ferry

With the sun shining against a backdrop of clear, periwinkle blue skies, the beautiful rolling chalk cliffs of the southern coasts were truly a sight to behold, the English Channel stretching far into the distant horizon as the sunlight sparkled and danced across the crystal clear waves.

With our first site of The National Trust’s Hanover Point just a short drive from the ferry terminal, we were soon exploring the coastal paths on the edge of the cliffs for our target, quickly spotting two fellow Lepidopterists searching at the base of the path where we were heading. Noticing something small and orange near to where they were kneeling, sure enough, we soon had our first glimpse of the delicate Glanville Fritillary. 

Much smaller and daintier than I had expected and feeding on one of the coastal flowers nestled beneath the cliffs, we had soon located a handful more of these charismatic beauties, bounding powerfully across the vegetation before settling to bask, wings spread wide on the parched earth. Following a tip off from our fellow Glanville hunters, we headed up in to a small sun trapped valley on the side of the cliffs over on a grassy path, where sure enough, a group of around 6 or 8 individuals were feeding and flitting around the lilac coloured thrift – a seemingly favourite nectar source.

Over the course of the next three hours we spent an enjoyable afternoon tracking our orange-checked targets, taking advantage of some individuals’ tolerant nature to get an exceptionally close look, while getting thwarted by several others’ flighty tendencies! 

Named after Lady Eleanor Glanville, a 17thC Lepidopterist who first discovered the species in Lincolnshire, Glanville Fritillaries are sadly now mostly confined to the Isle of Wight, restricted to the southern coastal headlands where they occur in good numbers. The population on the Isle of Wight fluctuates wildly year on year, with some seasons seeing very few individuals while other years enjoy a particular boom in numbers. Whether this is down to the weather conditions or due to a particular parasite is not clear, but numbers on the whole have declined substantially over the last 30 years and Glanville Fritiallaries are now seen as vulnerable in Britain. 

Pleased with our close-up encounters and with our car park ticket due to expire any second, after fuelling up on ice cream we checked out a nearby site off the A3055 for Adonis and Small Blues, but with the wind now having picked up substantially there was very little butterfly activity on the slope, a lone Dingy Skipper and a battered Green Hairstreak the only indication of the many other butterfly treasures lurking out of sight.

After an overnight stop at the delightful Kenbury B&B in Shanklin on the eastern side of the island and a delicious meal of redcurrant duck and garlic buttered chicken just hitting the spot after a long day in the field, we had just enough time on the Sunday morning to visit Ventnor Botanic Garden on the hunt for the brightly coloured and quirky Wall Lizard. 

Wall Lizard!

Thought to be the largest and oldest population in Britain after supposedly being introduced in Victorian times, these bottle green reptiles can be found in certain spots on the Isle of Wight, Ventnor Botanic Garden being a particular hotspot. Sure enough, in our half an hour search amongst the floral masterpieces in the garden, we located several individuals soaking up the sun and basking on the stone walls, including a handful of stunning males scurrying around the plants on the rugged walls surrounding the car park.

Favouring areas that had spots of vegetation in to which the Wall Lizards could run in to cover, we were able to get great views as they basked (in-between instances when curious and intrigued fellow visitors to the garden got a little too close for comfort to them!)

With our time on the Isle of Wight coming to a close and getting back to the mainland for lunch, we had just enough time to check out Soton Common (just outside Southampton) where a population of Dactylorhiza orchids hold several monochromatic individuals. Sadly on this occasion many of the plants had gone over (they appeared to be a hybrid mix of Common and Heath Spotted Orchids) and we at least couldn’t spot any of the full monochromatic flowers that have occurred here in previous years. We did however spot several that displayed some monochromatic traits (with a predominantly pink lip), while the Heath/Common Spotted Orchids that were still in flower were also nice to see.

Partial monochromatic Common Spotted Orchid - note the darker colouration on the lips)

After an enjoyable weekend packed full of birds, butterflies, lizards, orchids and sunshine coupled with the beautiful scenery and hospitality that the Isle of Wight offers, this was a great off the cuff trip for a species that, living in Cheshire, was always going to require a lengthy journey to see. Having well and truly succeeded on the Glanville Fritillary front (with Nightjars and Wall Lizards an added bonus to boot) the Isle of Wight made for a fantastic mini-break and one that I would highly recommend during the Glanville flight season! 

MEGA!! Sooty Tern at the Ythan Estuary, Aberdeenshire!!

The summer holidays are always a tricky time when it comes to twitching, especially as Alex has six weeks of freedom while I’m stuck at work, and as such I always dread the mega alert going off during July and August…

Sooty Tern! Not the most expected of summer megas!

Typically, no more than 3 days (!) into the holiday the mega alert sounded in to action once again, this time signalling the relocation of the Sooty Tern that had been flirting with the east coast for the past few weeks, finally getting pinned down at none other than the Ythan Estuary, home of the long staying and famous King Eider that now calls the beaches and river mouth its home. Groan. On a Monday this was probably the worst time for a bird to appear, and meant I had 4 days to endure before I could make the trip up (while Alex went dashing up to the Ythan without me…) 

Alex's views of the Sooty Tern.... without me!

Originally spotted off Brownsman Island on the Farnes at the start of July, with a gap of two weeks before it was seen again flying past Inner Farne (and later landing briefly at Long Nanny in Northumberland for a few hours) the Sooty Tern had actually been seen fleetingly at the Ythan on the Friday evening, but with no sign at all over the weekend it wasn’t until 5pm on the Monday that it was re-found on the mussel beds, performing well all evening for those initial observers.

The mussel beds on the Ythan Estuary where the Sooty Tern set up home

Showing well all week since, treating onlookers at the famous tin hut to fantastic fly-bys and perching obligingly on the rocky shore, it was somewhat disheartening to see the “no sign” reports come trickling through on Friday morning, carrying on in to lunchtime. With a tricky decision to make and a potential dip on the cards after a long drive of 6+ hours, it may have seemed risky to press on with no sign, but it was a case of definitely NOT seeing a Sooty Tern sat at home as the only alternative, so leaving work at lunchtime, me and my Dad made the long journey north in what initially seemed like a bit of a doomed mission from the get go.

The weather was absolutely ATROCIOUS (this was not night!)

Arriving as darkness approached in absolutely torrential rain and with lightning so close it practically shook the car, there had still been no sign of the Sooty Tern all day. Never the less we made a quick attempt to scope out from Inch Road (standing in a tin hut in a lighting storm didn’t seem like the best of ideas) but with darkness soon closing in and the tern colony just a touch too distant in fading light, we failed to make out a Sooty Tern amongst the wheeling flock of white.  

Thankfully, despite heavy rain forecast all weekend, Saturday morning dawned with a refreshing break in the weather and dry skies, and on checking my phone the impossible seemed to have happened – the Sooty Tern was back. Luckily our hotel was only a ten minute drive from the Ythan, and after a rather tense wait of an hour or so when the bird had gone missing out at sea, thankfully the cry went up as one stately Sooty Tern came swooping in to view.

Waiting for the Sooty...the view from the famous tin hut!

Much larger than the assorted Commic Terns, with jet black wings and giving off a distinctive Skua-like silhouette, the Sooty was truly unmistakeable, and we watched as it gave further fly-pasts before continuing left down to Inch Road before settling down distantly on the algae clad rocks with a handful of Sandwich Terns.

Sooty in the rain....

Zoomed in....when I say distant I really mean distant!

Deciding that heading back to the car and driving to Inch Road instead of walking along the now soaking wet dunes would be the best option (it was now starting to rain quite heavily) we raced back to the car and nipped round to the car park at Inch, the Sooty Tern conveniently perched right in front of us and providing great views despite the now torrential downpour. Brollies in one hand and camera in the other I was able to reel off some record shots before the Sooty alighted once more, circling round to the tin hut and back before powering off up the river upstream and lost to view as a distant spec. Excellent timing and Sooty Tern well and truly in the bag!

Despite having seen Sooty Terns before at the Dry Tortugas islands off Florida and Michelmas Cay in Australia, I was still struck by just how large the Sooty was compared to our resident tern species (Common, Arctic, Sandwich, Little and Black were all present on the Ythan during our visit, making it a 6 tern day!) and it really was unmistakable when flying among the swirling masses of white.

The Farne Islands Bridled Tern back in 2014. Sooty Terns differ from the very similar Bridled Terns by their larger size and much darker, uniform black back and upperwings compared to a Bridled Tern’s lighter grey. 

Usually found in tropical seas around Australia and the Caribbean, this Aberdeenshire bird was realistically only the third twitchable record in recent years (following on from the widely twitched and popular bird that frequented the Skerries off Anglesey and Cemlyn Bay during July 2005 and the moribund bird found on a Northamptonshire gravel pit back in 1980) so I was especially keen not to miss this opportunity – who knows how long it will be before the next twitchable Sooty in Britain! 

Our views of Sooty Tern on Michelmas Cay last summer

Despite seeming like a no hope situation when setting off on the Friday, this was most definitely a case of “he who dares wins” and I’m glad I followed my usual mantra of persevering with a planned twitch even if negative news surfaces while en-route – thankfully this time the gamble paid off!