epic invert day (20150610)

Crambus lathoniellus proved to be common in the long grass at both sites visited today.

With the car in the shop being sorted out ahead of our summer holidays I was released into the neighbourhood on a glorious sunny day. With my net in hand and a few hours to spare I did not waste any time in getting to nearby Petersberg. The micromoths here were fascinating and included my first Crambus lathoniellus, Cochylis dubitana and the stunning Nemophora degeerella. Birds here included a few singing reed and marsh warblers and a single grey wagtail.

Crossing the road I checked out the Makadamfabriken, an old quarry that I thought might have potential for Lepidoptera. I was not wrong and over the next few hours the moths and butterflies just kept on coming. It was nice to see some fresh painted ladies here but the big shock came when I discovered a tiny colony of small blues clinging to the grassland at the top of the quarry. Also here more new moths in the shape of cinnabar black-veined moth, yellow shell and the micromoth Crambus pratella. Birds here included a five long-tailed tits, a pair of little ringed plovers and perhaps 25 active sand martin burrows. An epic session.

Nemophora degeerella - just stunning.

Cochylis dubitana was new for me too today at Petersberg.

The quarry was amazing for invertebrates. First up was the first BK cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae), one of three or four during the session here.

Another new moth - the yellow shell (Camptogramma bilineata). New for BK too.

The grassland at the top of the quarry was home to a small colony of black-veined moth (Siona lineata). New for BK...

The biggest surprise in the quarry though was the discovery of BK's first colony of small blues (Cupido minimus).

postcard from Corfu

 Misumena vatia

Finally got round to posting a few photographs from my Corfu trip last month!

 Southern festoon (Zerynthia polyxena) larvae were everywhere on Aristolochia, must have missed the adults?

 Number 2 found this assassin bug (Rhynocoris iracundus) on a walk along the coast.

Fireflies were everywhere at night around our riverside accommodation.

Orchids were reasonably abundant but confusing...

Calopteryx virgo

Seeing blue chaser (Libellulla fulva) is always a highlight.

The primary reason we went to Corfu was to track down some critically endangered Greek red damsels (Pyrrhosoma elisabethae), which we managed to do. Only one site seems to remain on Corfu sadly.

I was very pleased to finally catch up with Grecian copper (Lycaena ottomana) at the damsel site.

Birds were spotted during the week, invariably common migrants like this great reed warbler.

We only recorded ten species of Odonates, with most being recorded away from water like this immature Crocothemis.

Egyptian grasshoppers (Anacridium aegyptium) were egg-laying on all the sandy tracks we walked.

 The kids enjoyed finding tortoises on the trip, all were the expected Hermann's tortoise (Testudo hermanni) until we found this big marginated tortoise (Testudo marginata) on the walk up Mt Pantokrator. Perhaps a released pet? This species does occur on the nearby mainland though.

Another surprise on Corfu is the presence (again on Pantokrator) of chukar. Not present according to BWP but presumably must have been introduced for hunting?

Postcard from Honduras

Brilliant blue-skipper (Paches loxus)  - I had just one afternoon of warmer, almost sunny, weather during the week on a day trip to Lancetilla -  an hour west of Pico Bonito. Butterflies and dragonflies responded and I saw a lot of new things including this little stunner.

I had a week in Honduras at the end of November, staying at The Lodge at Pico Bonito, which was excellent despite the non-stop rain (just my luck to be hit by a weather-bomb during my stay). The weather made frogging rather good but put a definite dampener on invertebrate activity and prevented me seeing many of the birds I had hoped to track down during the week. That said the place is amazing and if you have a week to spare and you fancy Honduras, this is the place to get to know the country and its wildlife. Great guides, accommodation and food.

 We visited the nearby Rio Santiago Nature Resort on two days. They have an incredible number of hummingbird feeders here and we had nine species of hummer including plenty of fantastic violet-crowned woodnymphs.

Another hummingbird easily spotted at Rio Santiago was the white-necked jacobin.

The Lodge garden was always worth stalking about to see what was coming into the feeders, like this collared aracari.

 Honduras finally produced my first male red-capped manakin, after a number of female/immatures in Belize and Guatemala.

This juvenile boa constrictor (Boa constrictor) was a nice find in the Lodge garden on the last day. A tick for me and yet another Brooke Bond wildlife card moment on tour.

The easy highlight of the week though was two Honduras brook frogs (Duellmanohyla salvavida) on a night walk at Rio Santiago.

 This crazy glass frog (Hyalinobatrachium fleischmanni) was the target of a concerted effort in the rain one evening at at the Rio Santiago Nature Resort with James Adams and some very good local guides. These frogs reflect or absorb light differently than most things!

More Duellmanohyla salvavida - this frog is a critically endangered endemic. They do not get better on the frogging front than this little beauty. The specific name is in honour of the local beer I believe...

 Some crazy invertebrates are attracted to the light at the Lodge, it was not brilliant whilst I was there because of the rain but things like this freaky Odontoptera carrenoi could be found.

 The blunthead tree snake (Imantodes cenchoa) was surprisingly easily found at night around the Lodge.

The animal I most wanted to see at night was the iconic red-eyed treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas). They did not disappoint at the specially-constructed ponds near the Lodge.

Postcard from Tikal

 Owl butterflies are often found along dark trails in the forest in Central America, this one is yellow-fronted owl butterfly (Caligo telamonius).

We went fishing for tarantulas on one day at Tikal and got one straight away. Although this Mexican red-rumped tarantula (Brachypelma vagans) had 'just' been found by one of the park maintenance team on one of the trails.

A huge gang of white-nosed coatimundis rules the parking area at Tikal.

Grey-necked wood-rail is tame near the the small ponds by the entrance gate.

Wet weather before we arrived soon turned to sun and brought out the army ant swarms and their attendant birds. This ruddy woodcreeper was hopping about like a mad thing and was unconcerned by our presence.

hot and windy

 Dragonflies were the order of the day, despite the windy conditions and the fact that I would probably of been better off birding! My first Coenagrion puella were on the wing at a number of sites.

Out and about again today in the hot sun and windy conditions. Hit Drängstorp first hoping for Coenagrion armatum but instead had to settle for a huge emergence of Coenagrion lunulatum and my first Leucorrhinia rubicunda for the Atlas square.

 Coenagrion pulchellum

Next stop was Boarp, which was disappointing as the  water level in the ordinarily shallow and very good fourth pond was way up. Did get more puella here though and Coenagrion pulchellum, but very small numbers and no sign of any emergence at the site.

 Hovs Hallar produced at least seven migrating honey buzzards in a one-hour watch

Hovs Hallar for an hour in the middle of the day was good for honey buzzards (seven through) but the hoped-for rosefinches failed to sing. After lunch I had a quick look at the pool at Lönhult but it was too exposed for a reasonable odo-survey.

 Mute swan

Last stop of the day was another speculative listen for rosefinch at Öllövsstrand, again no joy, just a noisy thrush nightingale. The stars here though were two territorial map butterflies.

 Map butterfly

Driving out I glimpsed a male black redstart around the farm buildings at Öllöv and Number 1 and I returned later finding the nest-site and watching both adults shuttling to-and-fro with food for the hungry chicks. Nice find.

Last bird of the day was perhaps the best find, a breeding pair of black redstarts feeding young at Öllöv

marsh warbler and some odo action

Got out really early this morning for a change. Checked Sinarpsdalen (male red-backed shrike) en route to Klarningen. The latter had a singing marsh warbler and a calling garganey but little else of note.

In the afternoon I grabbed an hour in the sun at Bränneslätt and chased a few Odos and butterflies. Coenagrion hastulatum, Leucorrhinia dubia and Pyrrhosoma nymphula were all new for the year. Three species of butterfly were identified, the best a mint male pearl-bordered fritillary, lot sof green hairstreaks and a few holly blues. Birds were represented by an unseen calling crane and a brief glimpse of an osprey overhead.

Coenagrion hastulatum

 Green hairstreak

Pearl-bordered fritillary

 Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Teneral and rather monochromatic Coenagrion hastulatum

self-found hoopoe - just splendid

Today's highlight was easily my single-observer five minutes with a hoopoe at Hovs Hallar. There were too many non-birders (NoBs) walking the path for it to stick around for those trying to twitch it sadly, but it may still be lurking somewhere.

Got up rather late this morning but got to Sinarpsdalen for 0800 and my attempt to add lesser spotted woodpecker and grey wagtail to the year-list was partially successful with a single female grey wagtail popping up to look at me.

Klarningen next, chasing garganey. No joy but there were a few birds on site including 23 wigeon, four shoveler and eight redshank. News of a hoopoe flying over Förslöv sent me off to Hovs Hallar on a gamble. After a random police breathalyser test I reached the site and eventually settled in my usual place looking south from the low ridge towards Gröthögarna. Now Hovs Hallar is the site in BK where I should spend more time. Geographically it has huge potential, especially in spring and it is hugely under-watched. This New Year I made a resolution to visit more often but it is a hard place to work in the traditional sense but a great place to sit and watch birds go by. This static form of birding has taken me ages to get used to but it paid off very quickly today.

I had hardly settled in when a bird flying past caught my attention. A single avocet resolutely heading north high above the sea. Only my fifteenth BK record and coming after a blank year in 2013 a most welcome addition to the year-list. On the sea a single gannet and red-necked grebe. Raptors were dribbling through with sparrowhawk and kestrel heading north and out over the sea, their presence indicated by corvid harassment. Amazingly a snow bunting went through north too hugging the shoreline but not stopping. Then the crows were up again and I looked on in amazement as the hoopoe appeared to the south flying towards me for a minute before dropping into the scrub - my second BK bird. I texted out a message and looked up in time to see it coming on towards me again. This time it landed in view and after a few desultory pecks of the turf it was flushed by Easter walkers and hopped the wall. I gave chase but looking over the wall revealed no bird, an amazing vanishing act. Håkan J arrived just a few minutes too late and Jan was not far behind but I fear they dipped.

After lunch we all took the bus down the hill and walked back up Sinarpsdalen in the blazing sun. Butterflies and bees were on the wing. I finally caught up with a singing willow warbler and four hawfinches were good to see as usual. A black woodpecker called in the distance. A great day.

Peacock

Hawfinch