Scops Owl is a species I’ve
always wanted to see in Britain, coming in at number 9 on my top ten most
wanted species. Having always loved owls, this quirky, angry looking miniature
bird of prey has always been a firm favourite of mine when visiting falconry exhibits,
and the only birds I’ve seen in the wild are a pair that were flying around a
park in northern Spain several years ago, in the pitch black and just managing to make them out through the inky darkness as they sat perched in the trees, “bong”ing
away in that characteristic and bizarre manner.
Scops Owl in Britain!
It’s been over ten years since
the well-known Oxfordshire bird back in 2006 (bar a few records on the northern
Scottish Isles and Scilly in between), therefore when the message popped up on
my phone of a Scops Owl found in Ryhope near Durham I nearly did a double take,
even more so when it transpired that this was actually the real deal and not another
‘car alarm’ false start as has been reported in the last few years.
Photos of the bird sat
roosting soon began to flood social media as expected (all with ‘that leaf’
obscuring the top of its face!) and it became extremely hard to sit back and
watch as scores and scores of birders connected.
Luckily the Scops stayed put and we eventually found ourselves making our way up north in order to try and
see this remarkable little owl for ourselves - thankfully still in the same
Elder bush it was first found in when we arrived and showing well for the small
crowd of birders that had gathered round to admire it. Scops Owl in Britain –
result and relief!
Sat relatively out in the open
half way up the bush we were treated to excellent scope views of what can most
certainly be a difficult bird to see well – I definitely wasn’t expecting to
connect with one on British soil any time soon that’s for sure, and especially
not showing so well!
Phone-scoped shot of the Scops
A roosting Scops Owl during the day on mainland Britain is
the best it’s going to get as far as this often cryptic and well-hidden species
is concerned, and luckily this individual stayed around long enough for the
majority of those who wanted to see it to connect. Luckily the Scops had chosen
to roost in a tree that couldn’t be approached too closely, thankfully
alleviating the risk of someone getting too close for comfort and flushing it.
The Scops bush....
....and its admirers
With no sign in recent weeks the question remains as to whether it finally has moved on to continue with its
migration south to Africa for the winter, or if it is merely keeping a low
profile out of sight in an as yet undiscovered roost - either way this was an
absolutely top notch bird and one I’m extremely glad I got the privilege to see
so well on mainland Britain. With 84 accepted records in Britain to date this is by no means a “mega mega” but it was still an absolutely superb bird that was most definitely worth travelling for and a bird on my personal wish list for Britain.
With a juvenile Least Sandpiper making an appearance down at Lodmoor RSPB in Dorset and staying on throughout the week, it would have been rude not to pay a visit, especially as it would be a new addition to our British lists. Unfortunately two back to back leaving parties meant Sunday was the only free day to travel down, and with Alex agreeing to wait a day we made the mammoth journey down south in an attempt to connect with this transatlantic vagrant.
The Least Sand!
With news coming out early in the morning and with the Least Sandpiper already having been in residence on the Dorset scrapes for a week, we were relatively certain it would hang on for the remainder of the day. Sure enough. pulling up in the car park 4 and a bit hours later (via several closed road diversions - it turns out a local Ironman Triathlon was taking place right on the roads surrounding Lodmoor RSPB and rendering them impassable!) we were met with the alert going off to signal the Least Sand was thankfully still showing from the viewing platform.
Navigating the many fences, bikes and lycra clad runners that the triathlon had brought with it, we eventually made it on to the reserve, and after a quick check around the shallow scrapes and pools we were soon watching this dainty American wader.
The Least Sandpiper tended to loosely associate with a small flock of Dunlin as well as the Little Stint
Lodmoor RSPB
Extremely small in size and helpfully accompanying a Little Stint for comparison, once you got your eye in it was relatively easy to pick out as it foraged through the mud – the slightly more russet tones and light green legs of the Least Sandpiper standing out from the much paler Little Stint, as well as its slightly smaller size.
Least Sandpiper on the left and Little Stint on the right - note the paler colouration of the Little Stint and the stronger markings
Having seen Least Sandpipers during our trip to Florida the previous spring this was our first individual on British soil (mud?!) and it was great to finally catch up with one after the showy Devon bird last year prematurely departed before we could organise a weekend visit. With no sign yesterday evening or this morning, it seems the Lodmoor bird has also finally departed – thankfully it stayed until the Sunday for us!
The south east corner where the Least Sandpiper favoured
A less than annual visitor to UK shores, the Dorset bird (also being a first for the county) is just the 40th record for Britain, and is one of a long line of American waders to recently make landfall in the South West, alongside a strong supporting cast of Stilt, Buff-breasted, Spotted and Baird’s Sandpipers.
Alex's video of the Dorset Least Sandpiper
The dubious of origin drake Hooded Merganser at nearby Radipole Lake - luckily I've already seen a legit female in Gloucestershire!
After a quick stop at nearby Radipole Lake on the way home to get my very first glimpses of the notorious drake Hooded Merganser that now resides there (of slightly dubious origin and unfortunately in eclipse plumage), we braved the M5 closure traffic and the 2 hour detour that came with it, heading home happy that we had made the effort to travel down south. With just Upland Sandpiper the missing piece of the jigsaw in terms of the sandpiper family on my British list, here’s hoping one makes landfall soon – preferably in the North West!
Man Orchids are one of my favourite species of British orchid, and having last seen them flowering nearly ten years ago, I thought it was time I made a trip back to take another look and get some improved photos of these fantastic plants.
With Man Orchids enjoying a decidedly southerly bias in terms of distribution in Britain, I returned to the same site I visited in 2009 to see them – the botanically rich roadside verges of the Copper Hill reserve in Lincolnshire and the most northerly site in Britain where Man Orchid occurs.
The Copper Hill roadside verge
Situated just outside Ancaster, the roadside verges that fall under the reserve’s boundary are protected under Lincolnshire’s Protected Roadside Verge Scheme, and as such a particularly rich and diverse mixture of limestone flora is allowed to thrive, including the endangered in Britain Man Orchid.
Benefitting from an escape from the vastly overused council lawnmowers, the Man Orchids, along with a whole smorgasbord of other wildflowers, seem to be doing exceptionally well here, and we counted at least 34 spikes of these unusual orchids along the short stretch of the eastern verge (although the Wildlife Trust volunteers counted an exceptional 50 spikes a few days earlier!).
Man Orchids are one of the most fascinating species of orchid in Britain (along with the rest of the often-extravagantly decorated Orchis genus) and a closer inspection of the flower spike reveals a column of delicate banana coloured human shaped flowers washed with a delightful rich red and bronze hue, each one impressively mimicking a tiny little man.
Apparently the flowers also give off the scent of fried onions, although I didn’t sniff them to confirm whether or not this is just a rumour!
Man Orchids are one of the taller species of orchid in Britain, often growing to around 30cm high
With our native wildflowers in decline over here in the UK, it would certainly be good practice to allow all of our roadside verges to flourish like is the case at Copper Hill, instead of the current trend for our councils to be obsessed with neat and tidy short-mown grass, completely bare and devoid of any floral character at all.
Man Orchid in situ!
The tank the Man Orchids are next to
Man Orchids in situ!
Parking at Copper Hill reserve is off King Street (NG32 3PY), and the end of May/beginning of June is the best time to visit.
Living in England, male Hen Harriers are not a sight I get to see very often. Driving along a stretch of grassy meadows sadly doesn’t yield a floating figure quartering over the fields as it does in Spain and other European countries, and instead numbers have now been depleted to just a few upland breeding sites – if they can cling on amongst the gunfire that besieges them that is. My first ever male Hen Harrier was an individual at Parkgate Marshes many years ago, a ghostly figure hunting distantly on the horizon, no more than a grey spec on the far away skyline. Fast forward several years and I haven’t seen another male Hen Harrier in England since – a very sad sign of the times indeed. Therefore when a male Pallid
Harrier (even more stunning than a male Hen Harrier) was reported as being present at the Forest of Bowland in Lancashire just
before the bank holiday weekend - observed displaying and even nest building - it was
simply too good of an opportunity to be missed to catch up with this impressive individual. Having seen a juvenile Pallid
Harrier down in Somerset a few years ago, this wasn’t a new bird for either
myself or Alex, but with only a very small handful of male Pallid Harriers
making it over to our shores compared to juveniles, we couldn’t resist going to
see this graceful beauty for ourselves.
Making the gruelling 4km treck
to the best viewing spot along the winding hillside, we were immediately met by a hauntingly pale figure quartering over the moors, swooping down and gliding swiftly along the valley bottom,
white wings shining out as he twisted and turned in the air. Glorious, and the tiring journey up to the
moors was soon forgotten as we watched him perform.
Over the course of the next
two hours the crowd watched on in awe as our ghostly visitor completed several
circuits over the hillside, often sat perched preening on the fence posts for
periods at a time as well as bringing small sticks back to the nest site on several occasions,
spindly twigs held tightly in his bright yellow feet.
With a pattern soon emerging
of crossing over the road to our right and swooping back overhead, eventually
the moment happened that his captive audience had been waiting for, and to
appreciative woops and gasps our male Pallid Harrier begun to skydance. Tumbling through the air with extreme grace and speed, wings twisting in a remarkable
butterfly-esque style while his trilling call echoed out over the valley, he
had the crowd of 30 or so birders completely mesmerised and hooked on his every
move.
Sheer beauty, and to have a
male Pallid Harrier skydancing over your head is a thing of enchanting magic.
Without doubt this was one of the most exquisite birds I’ve seen, and to watch
him perform was an absolute privilege. For anyone thinking of going, but hasn’t
yet got around to it or who may be put off by the long walk – go! You won’t
regret it!
Hopefully the amount of
attention the Pallid Harrier is receiving will save him from the unwelcome
persecution from gamekeepers in the area - indeed, it’s lucky that it was a
birdwatcher that discovered him before the guns did. Sadly though, his aerial
acrobatics will most probably be in vain, as the lack of Hen Harriers (and
raptors in general) during our walk in the Forest of Bowland area was
startling. With the likelihood of a female Pallid Harrier stumbling upon his
airtime show almost nil, it seems the chances of a female Hen Harrier joining
him at the nest (as was the case in Orkney in 1995) are just as depressingly slim.
Male Emperor Moth!! What an amazing creature!
With the added bonus of our
first ever Emperor moth causing excitement on the moors, as well as a
supporting cast of Dipper, Common Sandpipers and Grey Wagtails on the brook, we
were exceptionally glad we made the effort to head up to Lancashire to see this
incredible bird and endure the tiring 5 mile round walk - although our aching
legs and weary feet were nothing a tasty sausage batch once home couldn’t sort
out!
For information on where is best to view the Pallid Harrier from, check out the directions page from the RSPB.
