Looking Back on 2013...

Yahoo! It's that fantastic time of the year again when all bloggers simultaneously indulge in a healthy slice of self-centered nostalgia for the year that has just passed! I'll keep this one short of words as I'm sure, like myself, you're probably not in the best mood for reading after celebrating the start of 2014.

The year started in fair ordinary fashion, and I spent much of the winter working full time in a retail store attempting to fund the months ahead. I made the most of any days off with a few sneaky outings here and there...

Bonaparte's Gull, Eastbourne

Pallas's Warbler, Moor Green Lakes 

Smew, London Wetland Centre

February saw a continuation of the Waxwing invasion, with this small flock doing the decent thing and turning up out of nowhere as I played tennis in the local park (I'm still trying to decide which was rarer; the birds or the fact that I was playing tennis)...

A 'street' shot of some local Waxwings, Thames Ditton

February also saw the return of a female Lesser-spotted Woodpecker in Bushy Park. She continued to show brilliantly throughout the month, but was sadly never seen with a mate...

Lesser-spotted Woodpecker, Bushy Park

March saw some unseasonably cold weather, and very little in terms of invertebrate interest on Stokes Field, despite regular visits for the '1000 species in a 1km square' challenge (which I'd certainly recommend attempting in 2014). A few more successful road trips were made to nearby counties though... 

Purple Sandpiper, Southsea Castle

Black-bellied Dipper, Thetford

Otter, Thetford

April started with a marathon twitch via bike, train, hovercraft and then bike again for a bird reported two day previous in a windswept corner of the Isle of Wight. Then this thing popped out... 

White-spotted Bluethroat, Isle of Wight

Of course, the month will no doubt be remembered by the majority of London birders for the spectacular migrant fall that took place in the last two weeks of April. Stokes Field was no different, and the constant coverage I'd given that dog shit covered site for the preceding three months finally paid off with both Redstart and Tree Pipit turning up within a week of each other, in almost exactly the same spot. Some of the words expressed when that male Redstart suddenly flashed across in front of me probably haven't been uttered since the dark ages... 

The delicious duo- Redstart and Tree Pipit five minutes from the front door

On the other end of the size scale, April saw me fully cement my interest in pan-species listing, with a good number of nationally scarce invertebrates and plant species noted on the patch. Highlights included the rare springtail Isotoma riparia; the small leaf beetle Longitarus dorsalis and the scarce fern, Adder's Tongue. All records collected during the spring will hopefully go towards putting Stokes Field firmly on the ecological radar. 

In May, I spent 10 days travelling around Shetland, starting on the indescribably brilliant Fair Isle, before hiring a bike and cycling around the mainland- soaking up beauties such as these throughout the 10 days... 

Long-tailed Duck, Fair Isle

Snow Bunting, Fair Isle

Red-backed Shrike, Fair Isle

Short-toed Lark, Sumburgh Head

And sights such as these...

This is what midnight looks like on Shetland in early summer

A deserted beach near Levenwick. Who needs the Mediterranean?

North cliffs of Fair Isle

Returning back to London in June, I jumped straight onto the tube and hit the Natural History Museum for a 'behind-the-scenes' work placement in the Hemiptera & Coleoptera department, meeting friends old and new, and getting the chance to sort through mad tropical monstrosities not even Steven Spielberg could make up.

Ever wondered what the museum lobby looks like before the doors open?

As it turned out, the following month was to carry on the trend of general madness, as I found I'd been offered a spot as a funded volunteer back at the bird observatory on Fair Isle. Working with a fantastic bunch of people in a sublime part of the world, doing things I never imagined I'd get to do in a gap year; I can't explain how much of an eye opener it was. There were Puffins, Black Guillemots, rare orchids, jellyfish, Long-eared Owls in caves, late night sunsets, drunken island parties, midnight twitches for Roseate Terns, 200 metre cliff tops, Tennants (too much Tennants as my bar tap proved), Rosefinches that needed ringing, self-found Subalpine Warblers, and of course there was that casual night when we recorded three species of Storm-petrel... 

Buness, Fair Isle

The 'classic' Puffin

In August, my brother and I travelled to Santa Cruz, where we spent two weeks kayaking with Sea Otters in Monterey Bay, drinking ridiculously cheap Mexican imported beer, and getting a taster for Californian beach parties. 

... What? I'm was on a gap year! I'm allowed to spoil myself... 

Santa Cruz, CA

The rest of August will be remembered for a welcome burst in lepidoptera numbers. Word on the street suggested that Clouded Yellow butterflies were piling in front the continent, and moth traps were consistently becoming full to the brim night after night. My undoubted highlight during the period was this colourful micro, Ethmia quadrillella, caught in the garden moth trap on the 21st August. The first record of the species for Surrey/London, and one of only a handful of records to have come from the south-east of England in the past 20 years. Who knows where it's come from...

Ethmia quadrillella

Before the month was out there was just time for a quick trip to the Dorset coast, where I was to catch up with Sand Lizard for the first time, and enjoy point-blanc views of this textbook male Ruddy Darter... 

Ruddy Darter

In September, University happened... 

I've been more sober before...

October, November and most of December carried on the general university theme, without too much time for wildlife. I did make numerous trips to my new 'University patch', Grimley Camp Lane Pits, and if I was to make a cheesy New Year's Resolution, it would definitely be to put in more hours at the site over the coming winter and spring. Grimley seems to have hit a bit of a purple patch recently, and last spring there saw ridiculous local finds such as Great Reed Warbler and Temminck's Stint. I wouldn't mind finding my own migrant or two in between lectures, and with a bit of effort put in it's definitely possible. 

... I've got high hopes for this place

So there you have it. That there has basically been my year. 2013 will take some beating, so here's wishing you a very happy and successful 2014! Let's hope it's a goodun'.

Have Yourself a Merry Spring-mas

The Christmas holidays have come around like a train, which means that for the first time in donkey's years I've found myself back in my merry home village of London. With two weeks of free time, one would naturally go straight into planning out a healthy schedule of local winter birding trips, but at the moment I seem to be struggling to complete even the most basic of tasks associated with a civilised, well organised home life. It's almost been a week, but I still haven't gotten used to the big, scary machine in the kitchen that seems to spotlessly clean dishes- and if you want a sure fire way of scaring me out of the house, just turn on a hoover. Coming straight off campus, these new and innovative methods of cleaning are lost on me- if it's not a Kleenex tissue, it's too much hassle to use.

In between all this, I have managed to do a bit more sketching. Being the under-rated, under-recorded group of terrestrial non-insects that they are, it seemed only fair to scribble down a few of the 10 springtail species I recorded earlier in the year whilst trying to complete that extremely addictive '1000for1ksq' challenge set by Andy Musgrove. Out of the all those that could be identify without the use of a hand lens, only one species (Isotoma riparia) was anything other than ridiculously common. No matter where you look, there is likely to be a springtail utilising a niche of some sort- in tree bark, under a log, in a leaf pile or even in a pond. They're everywhere, and that is what's so great about them. 

... think I'll stick to the crayons

Just for the record, here's a short list of species found around the patch this year, with a few notes jotted down at the time:

1. Tomocerus longicornis- extremely long antennae. Found on soil heap. 
2. Orchesella villosa- very hairy, with distinctive black markings. Found under plant pot.
3. Orchesella cinta- distinctive pale band on abdomen, found under plant pot
4. Tomocerus minor- large, plain springtail found under a brick in the garden
5. Dicyrtomina saundersi- colourful 'globular' springtail found on a woodland tree stump.
6. Deuterosminthurus pallipes- Yellow 'globular' springtail, swept from meadow. 
7. Isotoma riparia- distinctive dorsal stripe, found under a wet log. Apparently localised.
8. Entomobrya albocincta- distinctive light abdomenal bands, found under tree bark.
9. Heteromurus nitidus- small, silvery springtail found under a wet log.
10. Entomobrya nivalis- Distinctively marked, swept from hawthorn tree.

Admittedly, I couldn't have even started to think about IDing this tricky group without the help of some invaluable online resources. Steve Hopkin kept up a fantastic website dedicated to springtails until his untimely death in 2006; the site has since remained open as a general resource with plenty of photographs and distribution maps for all our common species. For a more in-depth study, this huge site provides information on species from around the world, with plenty to links to photo galleries from different countries, keys, glossaries and enough general springtail facts to make you the coolest person around the dinner table on Christmas day.

Procrastination

Don't you hate it when you sit down to write a 2000 word report, and instead find yourself scribbling a load of random shit on bug morphology?

It's the festive season for God's sake. Why write essays when you can visit German beer festivals, eat roast potatoes and buy Jagerbombs for £1 in the local nightclub?

Far from Grim(ley) on the Patch

I'm embarrassed to say its taken nothing less than a reported Siberian Chiffchaff to get me out onto the patch recent, with university antics now in full swing. This past week alone has been taken up completely with volunteering at various Worcestershire reserves- part of our final assessment for the module. Sounds like a sweet way to be assessed, doesn't it? It gets better though- another module is assessed entirely on our ability to keep a notebook! ... Of course, there is inevitable chemistry module, but I drink that one away in the Student Union every evening, so its alright.

Reports back on Monday of a probable Siberian Chiffchaff had me on tip-toes ready to bolt it down to Grimley Camp Lane Pits, but being completely booked up this whole week, I could only manage a fleeting visit yesterday afternoon. Not surprisingly, it wasn't enough time to find a Chiffchaff of any sort, but the sun was out, the wildfowl were back, and any thoughts of small, tricky Phylloscopus warblers were soon forgotten. Two female Goldeneye feeding out in the middle of the lake were a nice surprise, as was a Green Sandpiper feeding along the shore. There was a large, potentially juicy (I didn't have time to scrutinise it) gull flock present, occasionally disturbed by the passing of a Raven overhead- I don't think I'll ever be able to get over the sheer awesomeness of Ravens, even if I have seen them on a weekly basis since arriving. Fantastic things.

Grimley seems to be having a bit of a problem with mysterious dead Mute Swans in recent months, but conveniently enough, this female was alive enough for a blue darvic colour-ring to be visible on the right leg. Having worked through the summer with colour-ringed seabirds on Fair Isle, the amount of data that can be turned out from reading a metal ring is phenominal. Whilst Mute Swans may not wander to the same extent as a Leach's Storm Petrel, its still great to be able to uncover the events that lead to a bird finding its way to your local patch.

After a bit of digging about on the interweb, it appears as though 7HFH could be part of a ringing scheme undertaken over near Ynyslas by Tony Cross. See this link for three similarly darvic ringed birds from the same area. I'll push further to find exact locations and dates. 

On a final note, I'm afraid any kind of 'proper' bird photography seems to have gone out the window for me recently. I'm not sure whether its a lack of time; a realised ability that birds can be appreciated without the need to lug a camera around, desperately searching for a 'killer' shot; or whether its in response to the annoying amount of self-promotion I've noticed amongst the photographic community recently, particularly through on social media. That is a nice photo of a Puffin, but just how different is it from every other Puffin photo that you felt the need to tweet about it on three separate occasions?

Was I like that at one point? Probably. So I should just shut up.

Here is a brilliant photo I took of a Little Egret whilst at Grimley. The light had caught the bird perfectly, and with a huge amount of skill, I lifted the camera to my eye and fired off 100 shots- safe in the knowing that one would probably be useable.

A Plug for a Shrike

Even though I'm sat 120 miles away, I couldn't help but punch the air at the familiar report of a Great Grey Shrike at Thursley Common last week. Presumably the same individual has made the Common its favoured wintering grounds for a number of years now, and despite the bird's tendency to become lost amongst the miles of heathland for hours on end, I managed a number of memorable encounters with the Shrike last winter.

That first distant glimpse of a pale blob perched atop a tree a mile away is enough to brighten up even the bleakest of winter mornings...

Once tracked down and given a sensible approach, the Shrike will often show beautifully. Take your eye off it for even a moment though, and your next view of it will most likely be a flash of wing bars on the other side of the heath. It doesn't hang around.

With a supporting cast of Woodlark, Dartford Warbler, Raven and Hen Harrier, Thursley offers some of Surrey's juiciest winter birding opportunities. Well worth the trip down the A3 if you ever find yourself with nothing to do on a Sunday morning.

Back in Business

Apologies for the radio silence recently- what with me being an official Uni Fresher and all, I'm probably going to become more and more of an unpredictable maverick as the year progresses. Be warned.

University has been a great laugh so far, with Fresher's Week pretty much summed up in three words; drinks and money (taking in lots of the former whilst burning through most of the latter). The first night saw me lose my debit card whilst out a nightclub with the new housemates, resulting in the rest of the week being spent drinking the cheapest, shittest alcohol imaginable- Ikea's own brand cider comes to mind as being one of the less great tasting beverages I drank during the week. Imagine rotten eggs with a hint of apple... yeah. 

Anyway, we're now two weeks into lectures, and the Conservation Ecology course I'm taking is really starting to become interesting. The vast majority of sessions are spent in the field, which is ideal since I've never been a fan of note-taking lectures. One particular module is focused completely on practical volunteer work at various nature reserves in the local area, whilst another focuses on actually getting out in the field and become familiar with the ID features of some of the lesser known British taxon. There's a bit of geography and some annoying chemistry mixed in, but overall the course looks brilliant, with plenty of like-minded students who share similar interests, and some friendly lecturers to motivate us. 

Today's session mean't going to a nearby woodland to study autumn fungi. What a chore.

Notable finds included Drab Bonnet (Boletus edulis), Pear-shaped Puffball (Lycoperdon pyriforme), Penny Bun (Mycena aetites) and Turkey-tail (Coriolus versicolor)- as badly sketched above. Sadly no magic mushrooms about.

Now Fresher's Week is over, I've been itching to get out and about to explore the Malvern Hills and surrounding Worcestershire countryside. Grimley Camp Lane Pits, a few miles up the road, looks like a decent contender for my new local patch; Wood Sandpiper, Black Tern, Little Gull and an assortment of waders have all been seen there in the past few weeks. The University runs a pretty handy bike loan scheme, so I should be able to check it out in the next day or two.

Watch this space.

Worcester Bound

Packing sorted, various forms filled in and clown fancy dress outfit arranged- I'm pretty much ready to head off to uni in the morning. It's an exciting time, but I'm not going to pretend that I won't miss the freedoms of a gap year. It really has been great fun- hardcore birding on Scilly back in October; hiking and cycling across Shetland in May; helping manage the backstage collections at the Natural History Museum; a month's conservation work at the bird observatory on Fair Isle... not to mention a few weeks of R&R in California.

So what will this whole University thing mean then? Well, first off it means I won't be in Surrey anymore; I'll be up in the Midlands- Worcester to be precise. I'll come back ever now and then, but the local patches of Stokes Field and Bushy Park will take have to take back seats for a while. It also means I'll be studying an Ecology course, which in itself means I am probably going to have to do some work at some point during the the next three years. Despite a new commitment, I'll still try and keep the blog going whilst I'm away (you might have to bare with me for the first few weeks), and I still aim to get out and about as much as I always have, just with a shiny new park to play in.

Cheers all for reading. Who knows, maybe I'll actually come away from it all with a degree.

I'll leave you with a selection from recent warm, early autumn afternoons spent wandering the North & South Downs. Now those are some views I'm going to miss. Damn.

How (Not) to Prepare for University

With Fresher's week at Worcester Uni just a short and sweet five days away, I spent the vast majority of yesterday attempting to pull my act together in preparation for the real thing. High on the agenda of stuff that needed doing was to sort out a shiny new banking 'student account' to harbour thousands of quid worth of loans that our war-supporting, badger killing government has so kindly lent to me. Of course, I could just do all my banking in my existing account, but with a new Lloyd's student account I get the added benefit of £500 overdraft, which means I've now got the opportunity to borrow even more money. Blimey, I could get rich out of this.

With banking out the way, thoughts turned to a more important part of the University preparation process; purchasing a wristband. I can't admit that they are often high on my list of things to buy, but when that wristband entitles you to free entry into a week's worth of clubbing venues with thousands of other drunk & desperate freshers, action has to be taken. It won't be clean, I'll admit. Having left almost everyone and everything I know back at home, and with most other students in the same desperate boat, alcohol will probably never play a more important role in our lives. I will most likely end up getting completely hammered beyond my wildest dreams, utterly wrecked, sloshed, trollied, inebriated... you get the drift, but it will be a laugh, and I can't wait. Pretty much all that's left to do now is to stock up on pots, pans and other fancy homeware shite- I did spend quite a while yesterday afternoon prancing around WHSmiths like a little child, picking out lots of colourful gel pens and dinosaur shaped rubbers, but they probably won't be much help to me when I attempt to cook for myself.

Of course, it wouldn't be a truly successful day without seeing some birds, and whilst I was faffing around in town, a very thoughtful Wood Sandpiper decided to turn up at Berrylands- a small under-watched sewage works five minutes away. The little beauty showed in all its distant glory, feeding on a patch of mud with a Green Sandpiper and a load of Teal, as a few of us watched from the station platform. I can't even begin to imagine the number of times I've passed that reservoir whilst on the train to Waterloo, completely oblivious to any of the gems that might be lurking there. Hats off to the sharp-eyed commuter who scored the Sandpiper in the first place.

Whilst I'd like to say this is a painting I did when I was five, it's not. It's a photo of the actual bird... I know. I'm afraid this isn't one of those 'wildlife photography blogs' anymore. In fact it never was. 

Crambinae tribute

Caloptria falsella

Agriphila latistria

Agriphila tristella

Agriphila straminella

Chances are that no matter where you are in Britain you would have flushed one of the above 'grass moths' at some point during the summer. These members of the large sub-family Crambinae, relatively easily distinguished by their elongated posture and distinctive snout, reach a peak in early August and usually fly until earlish September. The above four species were all attracted to the moth trap after dark, and given that their abundance at this time of year makes them hard to overlook, I thought it only right to post a tribute to this entertaining group. Some of the commoner species in the family are happy to utilise any kind of grassy habitat, even lawns; walking aimlessly around over your garden turf will usually prove successful. Flush 'em whilst you can though... give it another week and most of them be gone, along with the summer weather by the looks of things.

Quick one from Dorset

Just thought I'd do a quick one with a few odds and ends from a glorious couple of days spent wandering the sandy beaches and chalky clifftops of the Purbeck area of Dorset. I'd initially planned to use the time as an excuse to do as much of nothing as possible, but the huge potential of the area for searching for wild beasts was too good an opportunity to miss, and I inevitably ended up wondered off the beaten track more times than I stayed on it.

Studland has always been high on my list of places to visit. Owned by the National Trust, the beach itself is extremely popular with tourists at this time of year, but walk a few metres back from the sea and you find yourself completely at one with rich coastal heathland...

Ruddy Darters, Black Darters and Migrant Hawkers were patrolling the marshy areas for smaller insects, no doubt taking advantage of swarms of late-season hoverflies that were nectaring on the flowering heather. Frustratingly fleeting glimpses of a few elusive Sand Lizards were had, but the highlight had to be watching a Clouded Yellow come in off the sea... full frontal butterfly migration before the eyes. Mind blown.

Note how the final segments widen to give the abdomen of this Ruddy Darter a distinctively clubbed appearance...

Black Darter; nice to catch up with this late-season specialist after missing it at Esher Common the other week...

Blue-tailed Damselfly, although it took a bit of ummin' and arrrin' to separate it from the very similar Scarce Blue-tailed Damselfly which also inhabits heathland, confusingly...

Eupeodes luniger, a migrant hoverfly...

Sphaerophoria scripta...

Troublesome hoverfly of some kind...

Mottled Grasshopper, belated identified from photos only after I'd spent hours convincing myself that it was the much rarer Heath Grasshopper. Doh.

In other news, I can't believe it's September already. How time flies when your having fun, eh? Two weeks from now and I'll no doubt be doubled over a toilet somewhere in Worcester, flushing down the alcoholic memories from the first night of being a fresher. Of course, this also means that I've only got two weeks left in the magical land of Surrey- minus the Tories, the private roads and the families who feel the need for five separate cars in their drive, I'm going to miss this place.

Now to start eyeing up a sparkly new local patch along the Welsh border. Any suggestions?