A 'Floral' Afternoon on the Beach at Aldeburgh

We spent a little time on the beach at Aldeburgh yesterday afternoon. As expected there were a lot of people out and about on the footpath that runs between the car park and the beach, but there were very few people on the shingle and only three in the sea. As you can see there was nobody in the vicinity of the iconic Scallop.

My thanks to Conehead54 for advising me that this is Fennel (see comments)

There were few birds about, just the odd gull overhead and a single juvenile on the beach. There did not seem to many insects either, so I decided to photograph some of the plants. Many, if not most of these, are fragile and rare; and consequently cannot be picked.

I think this is Restharrow

This may be Common Restharrow. I find I am a bit rusty on my wildflower names. The insect is probably a Cinnamon Bug. I hadn't realised it was there until I uploaded the photograph.

Possibly a Blue-tailed Damselfly: what do you think? (* see below)

There was a straggly clump of bramble near the footpath, and David noticed this rather well-camouflaged damselfly.  

The leaves in the photo above look similar to a Bindweed. But I really don't know whether I am on the right track with this red and yellow bud.

There were a few clumps of Ragwort, so we kept a close eye out for Cinnabar caterpillars. I am wondering if the insect in the photo above is a type of (possibly damaged) Earwig. Do let me know if you recognise it, and meanwhile, I shall post it on the iSpot site. 

Lady's bedstraw?

There seem to be quite a few yellow plants along this stretch of coast. I presume there must be a reason: could it be linked to salt-tolerance?

Yellow Toadflax

I always get confused when it comes to saxifrages and stonecrops. I wonder whether the clump of vegetation below may be related to Biting Stonecrop.

White Campion is fairly distinct, but Sea Campion and Bladder Campion are not so easy to tell apart. However, I believe the plant below is Sea Campion. There were quite a few clumps on the shingle ridge.

I don't often encounter Groundsel these days, but we came across a small specimen (below) near the upper edge of the beach. 

And here is the juvenile gull!

I love the patterning on its scapulars and coverts.

Lichen is usually an indicator of clear air. Aldeburgh is considered a healthy, if bracing, place to live. 

The sea, the sea...

I'm guessing this is a variety of Yarrow above.

The yellow flowers of the Horned Poppy are unmistakable.  

We noticed a couple of 'mermaid's purses'.  

There were  several clumps of this yellow plant in the photo below; and in one of the dandelion-like flower heads, I noticed what I thought at first was a small moth. Closer inspection suggested a bee of some sort, and I hope someone on iSpot will be able to enlighten me. I apologise for the poor quality: stem and insect were rocking to and fro in the wind.

The photo below shows how empty the beach had become by about 4.30 in the afternoon. The village with the tower is Thorpeness.

Sea Kale, in the pictures above and below, seems to grow well here on the stony beach.

It is a plant protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981 and should not be picked.

I am always intrigued by these lookout poles. In my childhood we knew them as 'bear poles'.

We kept looking at the stems of Ragwort...

... and eventually found one 6-spot Burnet moth ...

... and a single striped Cinnabar caterpillar. 

The plant in the photo below is the Sea Pea, another legally-protected plant that is well adapted to the harsh terrain. Its low-lying nature means that it is sheltered from the force of the winds on this exposed east coast. 

And finally, as we returned to the point where the beach joins the path, I noticed a few red Poppies. 

P.S. My thanks to the author of Odo-meter and Imperfect and Tense blogs for informing me that the damselfly seems to be a female Small Red-eyed specimen, a variety new to me. Further thanks to Conehead54 for indicating that the same damselfly is a female Common Blue. I will see if we have a better photograph which may possibly make a more definitive ID possible. Watch this space! 

Holiday 3: A Day on Walney Island

I had read that there was a Cumbrian Wildlife Trust nature reserve at South Walney, so after we had visited the ruins of Furness Abbey, we drove through Barrow and over the bridge in the photo above to Walney Island (which is the near side in the picture). It was a rather chilly day in June, and my photos testify to the fact that the sun was not much in evidence.

The island is not very large and we were soon on the reserve. I was thrilled to find Eider ducks in good numbers, including the pair in the photo above.

I gather that Walney Island pretty much marks the southern limit of Eider colonies on the west coast. Eiders are amber listed in terms of conservation, so the island is lucky to be able to boast 700 breeding pairs. The duck in the photo above is the female ...

... and this one is the male.

There are long expanses of shingle which provides a nesting area for various gulls, terns and other species such as the Ringed Plover. The Horned Poppy added a splash of sunshine to the scene.

Can you spot the Eider ducks nestling on the grass of the remains of the Walney Salt Works, which closed in 1909?

The lighthouse dominates the skyline.

Piel Castle lies across the water, and can be reached by boat. In 1487 Lambert Simnel landed on Piel Island. The castle dates from the 14th century.

The photo above shows the Eider colony on Walney Island.

In addition to long shingle beaches, there are large areas of saltmarsh.

The photo below helps to give a sense of scale and also a sense of 'the remote', which is something that strikes the visitor after the hustle and bustle of Barrow.

In a landscape that was predominantly grey, it was not only the Horned Poppy but also the tall spikes of Viper's Bugloss that added colour to the scene. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit, but all too soon we were crossing the bridge back to the mainland for a drive through the Lakes to our rented holiday property near Cockermouth.

Tree Following 2: Silver Birch

This post is the second in my Tree Following series, part of a wider project run from the Loose and Leafy blog. 

Since my last 'Tree Following' post I have another bird to add to the list, namely the Starling. The bird visited the feeder on 9 March, missing my first bulletin by two days. It returned on 14 March with a mate. The Great Spotted Woodpecker has only been seen once this month.

Starling and Robin onSilver Birch feeder

I am not sure what variety of Silver Birch I am following. What I do know is that these trees are considered a good choice for small spaces between houses because their root systems rarely interfere with foundations. I recall a song we used to sing round the camp fire at my Brownie pack meetings in about 1970. It was about North America and ran thus,

'Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver,
where still the mighty moose wanders at will ...'

I was surprised to discover much later on that the Silver Birch is also one of our British native species. The Silver Birch is monoecious, meaning that it has male and female flowers (aka catkins) on the same tree. I will hope to post photos of these in due course.

Base of the Silver Birch

And now for a couple of diary entries.

Diary entry for Monday 17 March
I was 'tree watching' when a Blue tit landed under the branches of the Silver Birch in front of me. It pecked around in the soft grass and moss for a moment, and soon its bill emerged full of a large bundle of nesting material. It flew up to the tree, by-passing the coconut halves, and landed on the circular feeder. I was expecting the bird to take the nesting material into the feeder through one of the Blue tit-sized holes, but instead it allowed its nesting material to drop to the ground and began instead to feed off a fatball inside the feeder.

Diary entry for Wednesday 26 March
Was it only yesterday on my blog that I commented on the spring weather, contrasting it with a year ago when the garden was covered in a blanket of snow? Well, this morning put paid to my optimism. A wintry shower arrived out of a sombre sky, sprinkling the undergrowth at the base of the Silver Birch with a dusting of hail. The feisty Robin was the first bird to alight on and flutter around the coconut feeder, and for a few moments it felt like Christmas.

26 March: a sprinkling of hail around the foot of the tree ...

Hailstones

This is my round-up of species seen so far (on, in, under, over or around the Silver Birch):

Birds

TFb1:   Great Spotted Woodpecker [March]
TFb2:   Great tit [March]
TFb3:   Long-tailed tit [March]
TFb4:   Blackbird [March]
TFb5:   Song Thrush [March]
TFb6:   Blue tit [March]
TFb7:   Robin [March]
TFb8:   Magpie [March]
TFb9:   Wood Pigeon [March]
TFb10: Dunnock [March]
TFb11: Starling [April]

Insects

TFi1: Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly [March]
TFi2: Buff-tailed Bumblebee [March] 
TFi3: Brimstone Butterfly [April]
TFi4: 7-spot Ladybirds [April]

Molluscs

TFm1: Brown-Lipped Snail  [March]

Flora

TFf1: Snowdrops [March]
TFf2: Daisy [March]
TFf3: Dandelion [March]

'I'm Following a Tree' Project ... and you can join in, too

I have chosen a Silver Birch as my tree and will be taking part in the new project, 'I'm Following a Tree', run from the wonderful Loose and Leafy blog. If you would like to join in with a tree of your choice, you will find the contact details here and here. 

My tree is nothing very special in terms of outward appearance. It was probably part of a mass order of trees planted by contractors when new houses were built some twenty years ago. Since then it has been pruned back because space is limited. A bird feeder and a couple of fat-filled coconuts (one with mealworms) hang from the tree.

Over the course of the following weeks and months, I shall hope to explore some of the following aspects, listed in no particular order (though I may get sidetracked by other tree-things as we go along) ...

• The Silver Birch - its history, habitats, features, appearance.
• Seasonal changes.
• Flora - plants that grows on the tree (lichen) and around it.
• Fauna - particularly birds, and I already have a cast of 'usual suspects' in mind.
• Insect life - my personal preferences here are butterflies, ladybirds and dragonflies ... but who knows what I will find.
• 'X' the unknown factor(s) ...

All my posts linked to the project will be labelled 'Tree Following 2014'.

I took part in a similar project called 'The Tree Year' when I lived in Wales back in 2011, so know already just how rewarding these observational schemes can be!

I can't resist beginning this journey with the birds who visit this tree. I will give each species a number with the 'Tree Following' prefix, TF.

I watch these birds every day and find great enjoyment in observing their habits.

TF1 Great Spotted Woodpecker

The Great Spotted Woodpecker is to my eye the most striking. She feeds on the fat-filled coconuts that dangle from the Silver Birch and has been known to perch on the tree itself. She is an occasional visitor, who comes with stealth when she feels no one is looking. The photos below were taken through my 'hide' of double-glazing!

TF1 on the Silver Birch

The Great tit below seems to come high up in the pecking order! It will be interesting to see whether the Great tits or the feisty Robins win out. The Great tit below was investigating the feeder.

TF2 Great tit

This photo below was also taken through glass. You can see the catkins, which I will try to shoot again in better conditions.

TF2 Great tit

This handsome little fellow (TF3) is a Long-tailed tit. I have never knowingly shared a home patch with these wonderful birds before. The Silver Birch is visited regularly by a blitz of five Long-tailed tits. The one in the photo was perching a metre away from the tree, preparing to fly towards the feeder. I am still trying to decide what constitutes a suitable 'boundary' for the purposes of this project.

TF3 Long-tailed tit

I am aware of four Blackbirds, two male, two female, who perch on the tree and rootle around in the undergrowth. The one below is a male, with his yellow bill.

TF4 Blackbird

I have a regular (?Song) Thrush who loves the dead leaves at the base of the tree. It has a silver ring on its left leg, which you can probably make out in the photo below. A piece of bark had fallen off the feeder, and I guess it may have had some grubs on it or earthworms under it. I have seen a second Thrush, but these are shy birds and I have yet to photograph it.

TF5 Thrush - Mistle or Song? Do leave a comment!

The Bluetits have been particularly active in the spring sunshine. This one is surveying the scene among the catkins on the Silver Birch.

TF6 Bluetit

And next I come to the feisty Robins. Most of the birds perch of the coconuts to feed, but the Robins often flutter their wings frantically as they try to extract a piece of fat with their bills. I shall have to try to take a picture of the fluttering!

TF7 Robin

There are other visitors, such as the Magpies who bomb in at full speed, grab a mouthful of fat in their bills and retreat. There are also plenty of Wood Pigeons who come into the garden from larger trees in the local nature reserve nearby. They tend to huddle under the Silver Birch, waiting for the smaller birds to drop scraps on the leaf litter below.

TF6 and TF7: share and share alike ...

Most of these photos were taken through glass. I hope that as the weather gets warmer and the birds get a little more used to my presence that I will be able to take photos outdoors. Meanwhile the first Bumblebee and Small Tortoiseshell Butterfly visited the garden yesterday and it will not be long before more insects appear.

TF(Gastropod)1: Brown-Lipped Snail

I found the Grove - or Brown-Lipped Snail - in the photo above ambling along in the undergrowth. It is the first snail I have seen on the move this season. You can make out the distinctive brown lip. These snail shells come in a remarkable range of colour (yellow, pink, brown) and stripe design. Song Thrushes are particularly fond of these molluscs and demolish the shell on a thrush anvil (this link may take a second to 'settle' once clicked) which may be a favoured stone. The shell damage has possibly been caused by one of these birds, perhaps by TF5, the ringed Thrush above.

TF(Flora)1 Snowdrops

There are a few Snowdrops, which lie almost hidden in the undergrowth below the Silver Birch, close to an early Daisy that I noticed yesterday, heralding all the good spring things that lie ahead.

TF(Flora)2: Daisy