Orkney interlude

My wife and I visited Orkney for the first time this September. We accompanied our daughter who had come over from New Zealand to attend her brother's wedding.

Although we only spent two nights there we found it to be a destination we have to re-visit. There are many amazing places there including Skara Brae, a neolithic village over 5000 years old, and the Circle of Brodgar, a stone circle to rival Stonehenge. These sites coupled with the wildlife and local produce such as Highland Park Single Malt Whisky and Orkney Dark Island draught beer make the Orkney Islands truly wonderful

Wedding

Our son was married at Preston Registry Office on Friday 14th September followed by an informal family meal at the Calderbank Country Hotel, Oakenclough. The day afterwards, Saturday September 15th, the blessing took place at St Lawrence Church, Barton. The reception was held at Tino's Restaurant in Preston.

Friends and family came from Wales, Scotland, USA and New Zealand to celebrate the happy event. The photograph shows the bride and groom with both sets of parents.

August wildlife

This beauty was one of the wildlife highlights seen during a hectic August at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.
During the first week we saw an amazing Grayling butterfly as we stopped for lunch at the Pepperpot in Eaves Wood, Silverdale. It was perfectly camouflaged but moved for a split second giving away its position against the limestone where it was hiding.
The second week saw a group of young people enjoying a "Wildlife Discovery Week" which included osprey, marsh harrier and various species of moths as well as learning about the plight of the Sumatran Rainforest
The third week included sightings of 18 little egrets, three spoonbills, an osprey successfully fishing and the kingfisher in the photograph. We also saw stoat and at least ten species of butterfly together with common darter, black darter southern hawker and migrant hawker dragonflies.
The last week was capped off by some magnificent views of red deer and the visit of a great white egret to the Eric Morecambe complex

Butterfly search

This was one of the butterflies seen last week during the brief spell of good weather. Searching for them around Gait Barrows NNR and Arnside Knott we saw Gatekeeper (above) High Brown Fritillary, Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Scotch Argus and Ringlet.

RAIN

This has been the view from my window for over FOUR weeks now. Any attempts to enjoy spring or summer have been thwarted by the current spell of wet weather.
I have seen virtually no birds, butterflies or dragonflies. The moth trap at the nature reserve where I work on a volunteer basis is out of order.
I went on a deer watch last night and it was actually fine with sunny periods. We managed to see at least eight Red Deer as well as one female and two juvenile Marsh Harriers and a common sandpiper.
It is raining again today so I have done some ironing and am settling down to watch the golf from Loch Lomond on TV - roll on winter.

Dragons abound

This is a female Black-tailed Skimmer dragonfly. It was flying around on Arnside Knot a couple of weeks ago.

There is currently a survey of dragonflies and damselflies in progress in Lancashire and Greater Manchester which will continue until the end of 2009.

This lovely thing will not be recorded as she was in Cumbria - just outside the recording area.

Anyone in Lancashire or Greater Manchester can take part. Simply click on the link "Dragonfly Atlas Project" which will take you to the website then click on "Taking Part"

Springwatch

Even more exciting than Big Brother on TV at the moment is Springwatch on BBC every weekday evening at 8.00 pm. (As I have never watched 'Big Brother' it isn't really a fair statement). However if you want new life, sex, intrigue, mystery, exploration, stunning locations, death and fratricide watch this programme. Bill Oddie can be hard to take at times but that is more than made up for by Simon King and Kate Humble. All of them are secondary to the wonderful wildlife on view.

Initially interested only in birds my horizons have been widened to include mammals, moths, butterflies and dragonflies - some of which I'm learning to identify. I photographed the Pearl-bordered Fritillary near Leighton Moss RSPB reserve.

As the presenters keep telling us - all this is on our doorsteps in our gardens and local parks as well as the nearby countryside. I'm off to enjoy my local patch

The Duke is flying

This has nothing to do with the so called nobility of any country except to say that this duke is the noblest I have seen. It is a small butterfly called the Duke of Burgundy which normally flies around this time. It can be found on scrubby chalk or limestone outcrops where the foodplant for its caterpillars can be found. I took this photograph on a nature reserve in the north of England.

Loch Garten

I have been to Loch Garten in the Highlands of Scotland helping to monitor the breeding pair of ospreys.

If you want to know their full story look at the RSPB website at www.rspb.org.uk

This was the view of the area used as a lek by male capercaille as they try to impress the females. There was a capercaille watch every morning from 5.30 until 7.30. This was usually well attended and those who came were rewarded with great views of the birds.

On my day off I went north to the Moray Firth. On the way I called in at Lochindorb to see 4 Black-throated Diver. I then arrived at Spey Bay where off-shore I saw more than 300 Long-tailed Duck, over a thousand each of Common and Velvet Scoter, many eider, gannets and terns as well as 4 Red-throated Diver and a fantastic Surf Scoter. On the shore I spotted 2 ringed plover, 3 wheatear, 2 snow bunting, rock pipit, yellowhammer and linnets. Altogether a wondereful days birding.

On my last morning a totally different sight greeted me than the one shown above.The mist had come down making the whole area a place of wonder

OTTERS!!!

This was the scene from Lillians hide at Leighton Moss shortly after two otters had just dived below the surface of the pool.

I was at Leighton Moss helping to lead the group of RSPB Wildlife Explorers who were there learning about spring migration. We had talked about which birds were on their way and where they had come from. We had seen a few swallows and both the male and female Marsh Harriers which had only arrived there a few days before. As we were about to leave we saw a large group of gulls flying over the mere as if they had been disturbed by something. I looked in the water below them and saw the unmistakeable silhouette of two otters swimming quickly from right to left and being mobbed by the gulls. Most people in the hide had excellent views of them as they broke the surface and disappeared several times. They then reached the far side of the pool and disappeared into the reedbed.

We returned to the centre excited at what we had seen and wanting to see more of what Leighton Moss had to offer.

Forest of Bowland AONB

Went walking with my wife up the Dunsop Valley in the Forest of Bowland AONB.

As we set off it was a beautiful sunny spring morning. Above us we saw buzzards, crows and gulls. In the stream there were mallard and in the trees we could hear goldfinch, goldcrest great and blue tits while a party of long-tailed tits flew in front of us.

As we reached the head of the valley a group of birdwatchers walked quickly by on their way to Whitendale farm. I took the left fork of the stream and very soon saw and heard a dipper in the water singing away. I returned to my wife who as observing four oystercatchers in the field close by. As we returned to the village we saw 50 fieldfare in a tree. After a pleasant walk we went for a snack and cup of tea at the Post Office before driving home.

Signs of winter on the first day of spring

I went for my usual walk around Moor Park yesterday. As I went past Deepdale I saw icicles hanging from the statue of Sir Tom Finney. The weather was sunny but cold. Many lesser celandine were pointing their heads towards the sun although most of the daffodils had been "borrowed" for Mother's Day gifts.

Later we went to the area of Winmarleigh where we saw that someone was doing a controlled burn of bracken or heather on the fells around Fairsnape

It's only a game

I went to a football match on Monday to see Preston North End play Southampton. Not unusual but, as I have now reached the ripe old age of 65, it was the first time I had paid the senior citizen rate of £13.00. It was well worth the money.
The first half was awful and we should have ended up at least three goals down. Thanks to a remarkable goalkeeping display by Andrew Lonergan and a gaol in the last minute of the first half we actually went in 1-0 in the lead.
The second half started with Southampton doing most of the attacking which resulted in a goal for the visitors. Our manager soon made a substitution bringing on Patrick Agyemang who tore into the opposition and laid on a pass to David Nugent who scored a wonder goal to take us into the lead. An own goal for the visitors late in the half sealed the points and we returned home happy but wondering how we managed to win the game

Moon gazing

I had decided to go to bed early as I was due to rise at 0500 for a guided walk at Leighton Moss RSPB reserve helping people to identify wildfowl when my son rang to say that there was a total eclipse of the moon so I stayed up hoping to get some photos. Here is one of them.

I did manage to attend the event at Leighton Moss which was thoroughly enjoyable - fine cold weather and many birds on view

A successful day's birding

I set off with my brother today to find some birds to watch. We went north from Preston through Eagland Hill to the Lane Ends Amenity area at Pilling.
Just past Eagland Hill we found a spot where Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting were feeding.
As we arrived at Lane Ends we saw a number of birdwatchers looking over the saltmarsh. They had spotted a Snow Goose among the Pinkfooted Geese. In front of them on the saltmarsh were two Taiga Bean Geese with another large flock of Pinkfoot. Two Little Egret were also feeding on the marsh with six Barnacle Geese coming to join the others.
Altogether a very pleasant morning watching birds