Landguard: Blue Butterflies on a Blustery Afternoon

I see we are fast moving towards the autumn equinox, and perhaps this had something to do with the force of the waves on Saturday afternoon. I know other places have experienced dreadful storms and floods. The beach at Landguard shelves steeply as you may be able to tell from the photo.

 

As ever, I enjoyed seeing what was on the sand around my feet. I need to get my pebble book out and gen up on my stones. I spent my teenage years in East Anglia and used to know my carnelian from my quartz!

 

As you can see, this far end of the beach was once again pretty unpopulated. There were three windsurfers quite a way out, braving the breakers.

 

We spotted a bird on the groyne, this time clearly a Turnstone.

 

You can see the wing markings in the photo below. I nearly missed its take-off!

 

Up on the reserve we managed to find several Common Blue butterflies in the sheltered spots. 

 

Most had hunkered down to avoid the wind.

There were also a couple of tiny Brown Argus.

 

I think this butterfly had seen better days. 

Another Common Blue...

 

... and another, this time on the Tamarisk.

I wonder how many more we will see this season. For any who may not know it, here's a link to Robert Frost's beautiful 'Blue-Butterfly Day' poem, though as you will see, it doesn't exactly fit with our UK season right now!

 

Landguard Nature Reserve again... and a new Moth

We returned to the Landguard Nature Reserve yesterday afternoon and were delighted to see a new moth, which we think is probably a Treble-bar. I am waiting for the folk on iSpot to come to my aid over the ID.

We noticed this bird hopping about on its orange legs on one of the groynes. It seems to be a Turnstone (well, two of us think this is what it is), but perhaps its plumage is in an in-between stage. 

It was wonderful to be back on the water's edge...

...though there was a bit of sea fret over Felixstowe beyond the person in the distance.

Wonderful pebbles!

Turning inland a little, I noticed this plant, which I think may be Black Nightshade.

Landguard holds a very strategic position, and there are a number of grim reminders of past conflict, like this WW2 bunker pill box.

Speaking of happier things, we were delighted to see Common Blue butterflies in reasonable numbers. They were mainly low down in the grass, which made photography a challenge!

This one is on a stem of what I assume is Rest harrow. 

We also saw a couple of Brown Argus butterflies. The spot on the wing is quite marked and the abdomen quite long so I think this is the right ID.

Outside the fenced-in areas on the reserve there were lots of signs of rabbit activity... and we finally got to see two of the burrow-makers!

 

A Winter's Day on the Beach at Southwold

We always enjoy a visit to Southwold, with its breaking waves and brisk sea breeze!  

The sun was low and there was a lot of spray and sand blowing about. 

This was 20 December, one day before the shortest day, shortly after 2pm. 

The spray was mesmerising ...

... but it was not the only thing to catch my attention ...

The photo above is a close-up of the egg cases of a skate ...

... and there was a discarded mermaid's purse lying about a metre away.

The beaches at Southwold are known for a variety of semi-precious minerals such as carnelian and agate that can sometimes be seen on the shore after a stormy tide. Amber, a fossilised tree resin, can also occasionally be found. 

I noticed an orange pebble, which you can see in the photo below. It was light, but not particularly light. David held it for me to allow a photo before we let it fall back into the sand. I wish I had known or remembered that amber floats in sea water ...

The 'pebble' above was not the only item that stood out on the shore. The small pebble below also caught my eye. Perhaps they are both pieces of carnelian (see photo here), but I shall never know for sure. 

It seemed to be a day for finding sunset-coloured objects along the shoreline ...

The Turnstones near the car park looked pretty miserable. I think they may have been waiting for scraps of cone from the ice cream van.

We were just leaving when this spectacle of airborne geese caught our attention ...

Wet Weather on the Shotley Peninsula

It has been a very dark, wet day, as you can see. My photographs have suffered not only from the lashing rain but from a graininess that occurs in these conditions. I still haven't worked out which setting to use for wintry pictures or for photos taken through the car window, so yet again I'm sorry that these are little more than record shots. 

The photo above shows the view from Shotley Gate, at the end of the Shotley Peninsula which straddles the rivers Orwell and Stour on the east coast of England. I was looking across the Stour towards Harwich.

Eurasian Wigeon

There was a small flock of Wigeon on the foreshore.

You will find some stunning photos of these birds here.

Wigeon were named Anas penelope by Linnaeus. 

They are dabbling ducks.

Every so often there was a sudden flutter as birds came in to land. 

A single Redshank touched down rather gracefully ...

... and surveyed the scene.

You can make out the red legs!

A couple of Turnstone were foraging. You may have to take my word for these! 

I had visited this spot once or twice before, and it is a place I shall return to in better weather!

Bird List 2014 ~ New Birds Added

I mentioned in my last post that the Great Spotted Woodpecker was the last to hop on to my home patch list for 2013. I forgot to add that a Dartford Warbler was the last bird of 2013 to take a perch in my list for birds seen elsewhere ... in this case at Dunwich Heath.

I have a few birds to add to my 2014 list as a result of a bracing walk at Minsmere ...

Cormorant, RSPB Minsmere, 2014

Blue indicates that the bird was seen somewhere other than on my home patch or at Minsmere.
Yellow indicates my home patch.
Purple indicates Minsmere. 

If you click on the bird names in the list immediately below, you will be taken to the RSPB site about the species mentioned.

1. Bar-tailed Godwit (1 bird, 9 January, Pin Mill) 
2. Barn Owl (1 bird, 12 January, Minsmere) 
3. Blackbird (1 bird, male, leucistic stripe, 8 January, home patch)
4. Black-headed Gull (about 25, 3 January, Woodbridge)
5. Blue tit (2 birds, 2 January, home patch) 
6. Buzzard (1 bird, 11 January, near Eyke)
7. Canada Goose (small flock, 9 January, Wherstead)
8. Carrion Crow (about 20, 5 January, field near Leiston)
9. Chaffinch (2 birds, 5 January, Minsmere)
10. Collared Dove (1 bird, 5 January, up the lane from Minsmere reserve)
11. Common Scoter (1 bird, 12 January, Minsmere) - red conservation status
12. Cormorant (several, 4 and 5 January, Minsmere and Ipswich Waterfront)
13. Curlew (2 birds, 19 January, Minsmere)
14. Dunnock (1 bird, 5 January, Minsmere) 
15. Great Northern Diver (1 bird, 16 January, Alton Water, Shotley Peninsula)
16. Great tit (2 birds, 4 January, home patch)
17. Green Woodpecker (1 bird, 12 January, Minsmere)
18. Greenfinch (7 birds, 5 January, Minsmere) 
19. Greylag Goose (small flock, 16 January, Wherstead)  
20. House Sparrow (4 birds, 12 January, Minsmere)
21. Herring Gull (1 bird, 3 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
22. Kestrel (2 birds, 5 January, Rendlesham)
23. Lapwing (9 birds, 4 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
24. Long-tailed tit (3 birds, 2 January, home patch)
25. Magpie (2 birds, 2 January, home patch) 
26. Mallard (1 bird, 5 January, Minsmere) 
27. Marsh Harrier (2 birds, 12 January, Minsmere)
28. Moorhen (1 bird, 5 January, Minsmere)
29. Mute Swan (2 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge) 
30. Oystercatcher (1 bird, 16 January, Wherstead)
31. Pheasant (1 female bird, 5 January, Minsmere)
32. Redshank (2 birds, 9 January, Pin Mill)
33. Robin (1 bird, 1 January, home patch) 
34. Shelduck (8 birds, 19 January, Minsmere) 
35. Shoveler (2 birds. 19 Januray, Minsmere)
36. Song Thrush (1 bird, 17 January, home patch) - red conservation status
37. Teal (about 20 birds, 19 January, Minsmere) 
38. Turnstone (15 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge)
39. Wigeon (about 10 birds) 16 January, Wherstead)
40. Wood Pigeon (11 birds, 4 January, home patch)
41. Wren (1 bird, 8 January, home patch) 

Greenfinch, RSPB Minsmere, 2014

Home Patch list for first sightings ...

1. Blackbird (1 bird, male, leucistic stripe, 8 January)
2. Blue tit (2 birds, 2 January)
3. Chaffinch (1 bird, 8 January)
4. Dunnock (1 bird, 8 January) 
5. Great tit (2 birds, 4 January)
6. Greenfinch (1 bird, 8 January) 
7. Long-tailed tit (3 birds, 2 January)
8. Magpie (2 birds, 2 January)
9. Robin (1 bird, 1 January) 
10. Song Thrush (1 bird, 17 January, home patch) - red conservation status
11. Starling (1 bird, 10 January)
12. Wood Pigeon (11 birds, 4 January)
13. Wren (1 bird, 8 January)

First wild mammals of 2014 ...

1. Grey Squirrel (1, 12 January, Minsmere)
2. Muntjac Deer (1 doe, 11 January, Rendlesham Forest) 
3. Otter (2, 12 January, Minsmere)  
4. Rabbit (several, 5 January, Minsmere) 
5. Red Deer (2 does, 12 January, Minsmere)
6. Stoat (1 fleetingly, 12 January, Minsmere)

First arachnids of 2014 ...

1. Unidentified spider (8 January, home patch)  

... and finally, these were my sightings for almost exactly a year ago. 

Bird Count ~ 2013 and 2014

I was very impressed with fellow-blogger, Juliet Wilson's bird list total for 2013. Do take a look here.

I began logging ...

• the birds in my garden 
• the wildlife at RSPB Minsmere 
• the wildlife on our Scottish holiday

... but I failed to keep a total. So no prizes for guessing the nature of one of my New Year Resolutions! 

A beautiful Great Spotted Woodpecker graced our feeder for the first time on 23 December. I failed to get a picture then, but will post an old photo for those of you who may not know these birds. I have not seen it since, but we keep hoping it will come back for more coconut. And if it does, it will be added to the 2014 list!

My aim is to keep things simple in the hope that my goals remain relatively easy to achieve. I plan to keep an ongoing alphabetical list, which I will re-post every so often once it has been updated. I hope to log dates and locations ...

My bird list for 2014 looks like this:

1. Black-headed Gull (about 25, 3 January, Woodbridge)
2. Blue tit (two birds, 2 January, home patch) 
3. Great tit (2 birds, 4 January, home patch)
4. Herring Gull (1 bird, 3 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
5. Lapwing (9 birds, 4 January, Woodbridge) - red conservation status
6. Long-tailed tit (3 birds, 2 January, home patch)
7. Magpie (2 birds, 2 January, home patch) 
8. Mute Swan (2 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge) 
9. Robin (1 bird, 1 January, home patch) 
10. Turnstone (15 birds, 3 January, Woodbridge)
11. Wood Pigeon (11 birds, 4 January, home patch)

First Turnstones of 2013 ...

... in Woodbridge, near the Tide Mill

First Lapwing of 2013

First Mute Swan of 2013 ...

... more Turnstones.

And don't forget the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch, which takes place on 25 and 26 January!