A new month of sightings and the start of a very hot July. 1st July; after hearing about a family party of Whinchats, I had a drive up to Fen Bog; no luck after a 3 hour search!!! However there were plenty of Redpoll flying around and some Stonechats too… but they didn’t come close.
July 2nd saw myself and birding companion Graham over at Bempton !! What an awesome wildlife spectacle, thousands of Gannets were milling about the sea cliffs with a supporting cast of Razorbills, Guillemotts, Fulmars and a hat full of Puffins. Star of the show however, was the Black Browed Albatross that had returned. Apparently it has been staying a few days and then disappearing out to sea – then coming back. Graham and I were lucky to get some super views of this incredible visitor to the Yorkshire Coast- what a bird!!
Another cracking bird for the end of the day was a singing Corn Bunting. Once very common across many parts of North Yorkshire, Corn Bunting is now very scarce ; however it is still common on the Wolds and along these stretches of fields that run parallel with Bempton and Flamborough.
You do not have to go far to experience spectacular wildlife!! This morning … 6th July..while I was out in the garden, I spotted a dragonfly hatching out of its nymph case!! This is the first time we have had dragonflies hatching in the garden. Amazing to think we only made this small pond just over 2 years ago. After sending in some photos to the excellent internet site ; British Dragonflies and Damselflies, it was confirmed that the dragonfly in question was a Southern Hawker … a new species for the garden!!
On the 7th July I had a great walk round Scampston Hall just east of Malton; this beautiful old house has 2 main lakes and it must be one of the best sites for Dragonflies in the local area. We saw good numbers of the following species; Four Spotted Chasers, Common Darters, Black tailed Skimmers, Emperors and Brown Hawker. The best sighting for me were Banded Demoiselles which gave some amazing point blank views. What a great place to spend 3-4 hours – and the cake at the cafe is brilliant too!!!
Carrying on with the Dragonfly theme on the 8th July I had a visit to Tranmire Bog which is just off the Egton Rd. And the top end of the bog was alive with Keeled Skimmers, I tried in vain for some flight shots but I gave up in the end for some static shots!!
On the 1oth July I had a trip to Westerdale …. strictly speaking just to the north. Golden Ringed Dragonflies were quite abudant on the swift flowing stream. Again flight shoots were a mixture of blurs and frustration. So it was a matter of waiting until one landed close ….. an hour later success!
The start of the following week was surreal; the Met office were giving out warnings of a dangerous heatwave with 40 degrees centigrade forecast…. so Alf, my birding companion and I decided to bring forward our annual visit to Ellerburn Ponds so Monday 11th July saw us down at the ponds…. am I glad we we went early morning and started heading home about 1pm … Was it hot!!! Had a great time down at the ponds; there were Hawkers everywhere mainly Brown Hawkers and small numbers of both Common and Southern Hawkers. Emperor females were busy ovipositing and there were small numbers of Large Red Damsel fly amongst thousands of both Common Blue and Black Tailed Damselflies. Other highlights included Purple Marsh Orchids and I managed to photograph Brown Argus, which was a new butterfly species for me!! A great morning’s walk!!
One of my ambitions in local patch visits was to record and if possible photograph Otters. Over the past 4 years my Birding mate Alf and I have collected a mass of second hand evidence of Otters using Pickering’s waterways. This evidence includes anecdotes from Anglers, walkers and farmers and physical evidence including tracks and spraints. Sadly we have also picked up two dead Otters; one been a cub and the other been a mature female; both animals were road casualties.
Great News !!!!!: I have now seen an Otter in North Yorkshire, which is amazing!!!!! This week I heard that Otters were being seen regularly at Nunnington Hall in broad daylight !! So it was too good a chance to miss. So armed with camera, bins and a lot of optimism my Mrs and I paid a visit to Nunnington Hall on the 13th July and eventually after a 3 hour wait … YES !!!!! A fleeting glimpse by the bridge!!! An Otter in North Yorkshire!! So a mad rush ensued, as we raced from the grounds of the hall to the road bridge. Eventually the Otter was spotted upstream … unbelievably it swam down stream towards us …. then it stopped directly below us checking us out !!! What a moment…. a magic sighting which will stay with me for a long time!!!!
