Last week I was in the New Forest for Oriole (will get to
that shortly I promise!) and my route home was somewhat obscure and via the
Global Bird Fair where I was helping out on the Bird’s Wildlife & Nature Tours
stand as well as floating around.
I have only ever been to Fair on a Friday –
either as a visitor ambling around randomly reconnecting with friends or
loosely ‘working’ on the now sadly absent RSPB Birders stand.
This time was different and I was there for both weekend
days. I am now ‘me’ – the Blue Eyed Birder. I now have the opportunity thanks
to Bird’s Nature & Wildlife Tours and Oriole Birding to see the world and
broaden my natural history horizons.
I spent the weekend engaging with the birding public and
promoting the adventures planned for me to lead. Finding the people to join me
on them turns the paper dreams into magical reality.
For the first time I felt a proper part of the travel
community despite being on the general birding scene for forty years now. I was
introduced to guides, ground agents, travel companies and seemingly a few
legends within their own countries. I was welcomed in and the prospect of trips
to new countries in the coming years left my head spinning at times. I still
have to pinch myself to believe that my time since leaving the RSPB has
developed into the dream I had longed for. I am still having a little trouble
with talking about planning two or three years ahead but this is now the world
in which I live. Plan, promote, enjoy and share.
As I hoped, I bumped into many of my birding friends from
over the years some of whom came to the fair seemingly just to catch up with
me, others who I knew from my happy days at RSPB Rainham Marshes and some newly
acquired ones from recent trips.
A catch up drink with Su Delve who opened the door at the
BTO to me 25 years ago at the Lee Valley Bird Fair with the London Bird Project
was a long overdue reunion. That post inevitably led to other opportunities
that I subsequently had within the conservation sector for both the RSPB and
BTO. There was no looking back. Su also guides and we talked about Madagascar
and that my BW&N tour in November 2026 may be in the nick of time. I spent
quality time with Mr Lindo (and Lisa) and The Beard Pearson and Rich Bains and
his lovely Rarity Garden book. Eleni was encouraging people to visit our
beloved Lesvos and I snaffled catch ups with Richard Allen, Adrian Thomas and
Alan Davis along with a host of others who I shall apologise to later for
missing out.
Our two teams for the end of Saturday quiz merged Limosa,
Bird’s Wildlife, Sunrise Birding, the Blue Eyed Birder with a brief first round
input from the Urban Birder too and my little team – The Splitters – came close
to winning! How on earth did I know that Chairman Mao caused a huge famine by
slaughtering Tree Sparrows? The marquee was full and had people watching from
outside. It was such a great atmosphere and Messers Moss and Glenn did a fine
job at managing the rabble.
Over the two days I became aware of the sheer number of
young people attending the fair both on the stands and as punters. It was
refreshing. During my time at Rainham I would like to think that I made a
difference; that I encouraged a new wave of birders, conservationist and
wildlife advocates. Max Hellicar is off working around the world at
observatories and adding to the ornithological migration story and many of the
others were there at the Fair too. Ben Rumsby, Zach Pannifer and Arjun Dutta
were all involved on the glowing yellow Wild Space stand with Ben doing moth
talks and id sessions with Nick Baker and Zach also involved with Spurn Bird
Obs , Sam Levy was enjoying a day out at the fair but is now a key part of the
BTO Youth Advisory Panel and Kabir Kaul is a prominent environmental lobbyist
for London’s wildlife and the communities that live there and carries with him
a matureness well beyond his years. I felt very proud to have been involved on
that journey with them.
The disco after the quiz made it even more apparent and I
chuckled at the ‘youf’ singing along to songs that are now 25 years old for me
(Teenage Dirtbag if you must know) let along the ones double that and beyond.
There was even a snaky conga. I felt old (Steve B felt older) as we sat there
with a drink but I was strangely filled with a glimmer of hope that there is
now a movement within the younger generation to properly become involved in
enjoying, educating and preserving what we have left.
Mothing at the quaint little cottage in Uppington where the
Bird’s were based was quite productive with about 40 species including Smoky
Wainscot, Poplar and Elephant Hawk-moth, Large fruit Tree Tortrix, Brown-line
Bright Eye, V Pug and Peppered Moth. I
had Hawfinch and Red Kite over the garden too and a Crossbill while at the
actual fair.
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| Poplar Hawkmoth |
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| V Pug |
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| Peppered Moth |
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| Hoary Footman |
By the time I got home late on Sunday 13th it
felt like a month rather than a little over two weeks.
There were lots of jobs to catch up on at home but a poodle
out on Wednesday saw me picking up at least eight Spoonbills at Breydon Water
on the way through on what was to become a traffic related somewhat longer circuit! I put the moth trap back on that night and
did quite well with a couple of Langmaid’s Yellow Underwing again along with
Euzophora pinguis, Least Carpet and Scarce Footman.
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| Endotriche flammealis |
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| Euzophora pinguis |
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| Rustic agg |
The garden is in full high summer mode with the Ragwort
being the focal point for countless
Dasypoda hitirpes along with Andrena flavipes, Heriada truncorum and plenty of
Hovers although they seem to favour the Fennel at the moment which has had
several Scaeva pyrastri in attendance.
My Buddleia is just beginning to bloom having been given a new lease of
live from the aphid munching Ladybird invasion while I was in Scotland and has
had a mixed bag of Whites, Peacocks and Browns so far. There will be more!
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| Dasypoda hitirpes |
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| Dasypoda hitirpes |
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| Heriada truncorum |
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| Scaeva pyrastri |
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| Scaeva pyrastri |
Out the front the local Privet hedges are full of Caloptilia
cuculipennella mines and rolls and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth was my first this
season. The local Swifts have done very
well by the look and sound of things and there are parties zooming around in
close knit screaming groups which are always a pleasure to see.
Antony had kept a few moths back from the previous night to show me. All new ones!
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| Acleris spectrana |
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| Ethmia bibunctella |
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| Fenn's Wainscot |
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| Vitula biviella |
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| Wormwood Pug - AW |
This morning I headed over to Somerleyton to carry out a
Butterfly survey on a very small part of the estate. It was a few hours well spent and I amassed
422 butterflies of 16 species. Thirty Brown
Argus was a good count and finding Wall and Painted Lady was pleasing. Most
butterflies were on the field margin Ragwort with some on the last of the
Bramble.
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Meadow Brown |
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| Gatekeeper |
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| Gatekeeper |
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| Common Blue |
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| Brown Argus |
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| Brown Argus |
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| Brown Argus |
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| Brown Argus |
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| Small Copper |
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| Small Copper |
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| Small Copper |
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| Comma |
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| Comma |
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| Red Admiral |
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| Peacock |
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| Peacock |
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| Peacock |
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| Small White |
Hoverflies were in the ascendance although the species range
was quite limited but there were hundreds of Eristalis and plenty of Episyrphus
balteatus, Helophilus, Syrphus, Eupeodes, Sphaerophoria and a couple of Scaeva
pyrastri too.
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| Helophilus pendulus |
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| Eristalis tenax |
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| Eristalis intricaria |
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| Episyrphus balteatus |
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| Scaeva pyrastri |
Oddly there were no Dasypoda hirtipes here but I did find a
few whining Anthophora bimaculata. Field
Grasshoppers were everywhere and I found a single Speckled Bush Cricket while
amongst the flies there were a vast number of Sarcophaga and Lucilia on the
Ragwort and I was pleased to find a Nowikia ferox and Tachina fera as well as a
scouting female Sicus ferrugineus.
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| Cinnabar cats were everywhere |
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| Seven Spot Ladybird |
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| Sicus ferrugineus |
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| Sarc and a Red Soldier Beetle |
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| Tachina fera |
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| Nowikia ferox |
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Field Grasshopper
|
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| Chicory |
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| Yarrow |
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| Musk Mallow |
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| Beech mast |
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| Common Cudweed |
It was Hawker time and I counted a surprising 16 Brown
Hawkers and a more expected 27 Migrant Hawkers along with a single male Emperor
and both Ruddy and Common Darters.
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| Ruddy Darter |
But the invert find of the day came in the woodland where
the smell of a decaying corpse invaded my nose and a quick glance around
revealed the a rather proud but weathered Stinkhorn and on it a staggering 27 Oiceoptoma
thoracicum – the rather poorly names Red-chested Carrion Beetle. I had only seen one before (on a dog poo bag
at Lynford Arboretum) so this was a pleasant if somewhat malodourous diversion.
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| Oiceoptoma thoracicum |
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| Caliphora vicina on Oiceoptoma thoracicum |
Bird wise it was a quiet as you might expect with a few
calling Chiffchaffs and a brood of recently fledged Buzzards while two
Crossbills were in the pine trees but soon moved on. The pond had two Kingfishers and there were
plenty of signs to suggest all the local Deer were depending on that small
waterbody.
The temperature was still climbing and it was only just
midday and I sought the shelter of my car and headed for home. A brief visit to Chez Wren to drop Aidan off
a little later resulted in a rather incongruous juvenile Cuckoo flying low over
the rooves and north down the road as we left! A Banded General was in their garden - very smart!
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Banded General - Stratiomys
potamida
|
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| Grapholita delineana - seen them a couple of times around the Hop in Antony's garden this week. None of this new coloniser on my Hop yet |
I think I might just put the moth trap on again tonight.
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