Lockdown diaries: the patch (part 2)

I read a behavioural psychology piece during lockdown which suggested that the longer a new behaviour was adopted by necessity, the more likely it was to 'stick', even after the freedom to abandon it returned. Hopefully this will be the case for all those people who've been buying bikes to get around (I had been dithering about upgrading mine and now can't get one for love nor money!) - but it certainly seemed to apply in the case of my regular visits to my local patch at Swineham. Badly neglected over the last few years, birding there once again became a firm fixture of my weekly routine.

Reed Bunting, singing his heart out at Swineham

Sand Martins roosting in the Swineham reedbeds on one of the rare dull mornings of recent weeks

Whether it was the combination of reduced disturbance during lockdown, the consistently fine weather, the more frequent visits on my part or a combination of all three, birding at Swineham this spring seemed much more rewarding than other recent years. The late April glut of singing Reed and Sedge Warblers sustained well into May and, touch wood, both look set for a good breeding year. 

Reed Warbler - now much easier to see than when they first arrive in April

Reed Warbler

I enjoyed some rewarding morning walks along the river banks, more recently taking the 'long' route which follows the meanders of the River Frome from Wareham for a couple of miles before rounding the eastern end of the main Swineham gravel pit, then heading west up the Piddle Valley back towards town. I would normally follow this route anti-clockwise but on the morning of 29th May I went clockwise figuring it would be better to have the sun behind me as I approached the pool where I had found the Temminck's Stint a few weeks earlier. It was rapidly drying out but still held a Little Ringed Plover, a species which normally just passes through Swineham briefly in spring but which was seen either here or elsewhere around Wareham this year throughout April and May.

A couple of pairs of Sedge Warbler have stayed to breed this year - this one bearing a leg-ring

Stock Dove is often seen around Swineham - but rarely poses this well

I trudged back along the bank of the Frome, a little disappointed, and as I entered the avenue of small trees and bushes just before the churchyard in Wareham, which completes the circular walk described above, I heard a snatch of birdsong which stopped me in my tracks. It was difficult to pick out as the wind was tearing through the poplars above, but my instinct said Marsh Warbler, a rare migrant to Dorset and a species I had heard and seen well last year at Lodmoor in Weymouth. I phoned a couple of local birders to say that I thought I'd found a Marsh Warbler, and had the presence of mind to make a quick recording with the voice memo function on my phone. No sooner had I done so the bird went quiet and remained so for over the next hour.

Marsh Warbler in early morning light at Bestwall

Marsh Warbler in song at Bestwall

The recording wasn't very good and of several people I shared it with, some felt it sounded ok for Marsh Warbler, others favoured Reed Warbler. I was convinced it wasn't the latter so returned in the evening to find the bird still singing, audible more clearly now as the wind had died down. Fellow Swineham regular Trevor arrived and we both felt sure it was a Marsh Warbler. I circulated a better recording to Paul Morton, of Birds of Poole Harbour, who consulted other Sound Approach experts and the diagnosis was confirmed. We remained with the bird until almost dusk but despite singing almost constantly we didn't see it once.

Little Gull at Swineham on 1st June

My first Little Gull at Swineham for several years, possibly because I rather than they haven't been visiting

The following morning Paul was first on site making some fabulous recordings of the Marsh Warbler's varied repertoire of mimicry - over its four day stay it was heard to do Nightingale, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Cetti's Warbler, Magpie, Goldfinch, Swallow, Wren, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Jackdaw and Whitethroat. I was hoping for a few more patch ticks from it to be honest (Nightingale being the only one) but you can't have everything...

Thrilled to see Redshank breed successfully at Swineham this year

Two of three Redshank chicks at Swineham on 31st May

After the Temminck's Stint and Marsh Warbler I was on a bit of a roll so, following an early start with the latter, I spent the rest morning of the morning of 31sy May searching Swineham for a good 'hat-trick' bird. It came in the form of an unseasonal Short-eared Owl flushed from the path at the end of the gravel pit - not unheard of at Swineham, but very rare for the time of year. It landed on Swineham Point and stared at me for a few minutes before fleeing in response to repeated divebombing by a pair of protective Redshank looking out for their brood of youngsters which can't have been more than a few days old. My best day at Swineham of the spring was capped by capturing a distant image of the hepatic (rufous morph) female Cuckoo which I had seen several times but never for long enough to raise the camera.

Short-eared Owl at Swineham Point

An unexpected bird for late May

The following evening Phil Saunders, who'd come to listen to the Marsh Warbler, picked up a probable Caspian Tern flying up the Frome towards Poole Harbour. Finding that would have made for a superb hat-trick of Swineham spring rarities! Trevor and I headed to Swineham Point and although we couldn't relocate it, we were rewarded at dusk with a 1st summer Little Gull calling over the gravel pit and a Nightjar churring way across the water of the Wareham Channel on the Arne peninsular - a superb ending to a memorable month at Swineham.

Hepatic Cuckoo - a stunning bird

Orange Tip on Bluebells - another memorable moment from an excellent spring on the local patch

All over the place - again

As promised, here is the second horribly late post from our travels around Cornwall and Devon at Easter. Castle Drogo in Devon is about half-way home for us from Cornwall, so a good stopover at this time of year as the Pearl-bordered Fritillary can be found around the base of the castle.

As we were packing up to leave Cornwall on a bright but chilly morning, a male Orange Tip fluttered weakly into the garden. Still torpid in the low temperature, we were able to get some close photographs.

 

Bewitched on the Downs

Blue butterflies weren't the only things on the wing at Ballard Down on Sunday - a few day-flying moths were also in evidence, the most numerous of which was the Mother Shipton, named after a 16th century Yorkshire prophetess whose visage is replicated in the wing pattern of the moth. She is said to have foretold, among other things, the Great Fire of London, the invention of iron ships and the defeat of the Armada, insights which saw her reputation deteriorate rapidly from 'soothsayer' to 'witch'. Seems a bit harsh. Good job she didn't claim to know about climate change, or the latter day equivalent of Donald Trump would have had her fried. Fortunately, Tudor overlords were more tolerant than modern day Presidential candidates, and, despite predicting the end of the world, she was left to die of natural causes in her 70s. Such is her legend that Mother Shipton is the only British moth to share its name with a cave-based visitor attraction in Yorkshire. Fact.

Mother Shipton - the hooked nose and protruding chin of the witch's face can be seen in the wing pattern  

Also on the wing was a smart Wood Tiger

I was surprised to find this Angle Shades roosting out in the open

And representing the micros, Pyrausta ostrinalis - related to, but a different species from, the Pyrausta purpuralis I saw on Melbury Down a few weeks ago

Had to phone a friend to identify this one: Cydia ulicetana, a common and widespread species in Britain, but not one I had photographed before

As well as blues doing the wild thing, these Dingy Skippers were also at it

Always a pleasure to see a male Orange Tip nectaring

Ditto a roosting Small Heath

It started to rain at Ballard so I retired to Wareham, picked up the family and we headed to Morden Bog for a late afternoon walk - a Green Hairstreak near Morden Park Lake was a pleasant surprise

It was perched up on Rhododendron...

...along with another of my favourite species - the Beautiful Demoiselle

This is the female of the species - perhaps not lovelier than the male, but still a stunner

 

Grizzled and Dingy on the Downs

The words 'Grizzled' and 'Dingy' may not conjure up the most cheerful of images but the recent sunshine and warmth have seen an emergence of the Skippers which go by these names - enough, I would suggest, to lift any spirits. I was able to spend some time this week with both species, along with other butterflies and day-flying moths, on Fontmell and Melbury Downs, two of Dorset's finest.

Grizzled Skipper on Fontmell Down

A lot prettier than the name suggests

Dingy Skipper - a little more understated, I grant you, but 'Dingy' still seems a bit harsh

Who doesn't love an Orange Tip?



Commoner than the Skippers but no less welcome was this Green-veined White



The battered wing suggests that this Peacock has had a close shave with a would-be predator

Day-flying moths were also in evidence on the Downs, including some attractive micros. I wasn't carrying the scholarly works of Messrs Sterling, Parsons and Lewington to help with the ID, though I took the precaution of having the first one of them with me in person, which made the task a little easier!

Small Purple-barred - a day-flying macro-moth

Another Small Purple-barred - though much easier to see how it gets its name from this one

A very striking micro - Pyrausta purpuralis

The closely related Pyrausta nigrata

Ancylis unculana

There was too much to look at on the ground to look up much, but when I did this Red Kite was a handsome reward

A fine show of Bluebells in many Dorset woodlands at the moment

While I try to avoid being a camera gear-bore on these pages, a few people have asked me how I am getting on with my newish Canon 100-400mm Mk II zoom lens, so if you don't want to know, look away now. I bought it largely because I figured the closer focus (about 3 feet compared to about 10 for the 400mm f5.6) and zoom range would give me more versatility for a wider range of subjects, particularly smaller subjects, compared to my old 400mm. I like to travel reasonably light so having the flexibility to shoot distant and close subjects, of all sizes, without the need to carry around a second lens or a macro, was an important consideration.

I was already pleased with the results I was getting for bird photography with it over the autumn and winter, but this is its first spring, and after a bit of a poor summer last year which restricted the scope for insect photography, I have now been able to start putting it through its paces on a wider range of subjects than was possible with my old lens. Compared to that, I have to say it's quicker, just as sharp and the Image Stabiliser does seem to give the equivalent of a few extra stops of light, especially in darker conditions.

I have also been quite pleased with how it performs as an alternative to a macro lens, the closer focus compared to the 400mm being the key to this. Being a long zoom lens, good sized images of smaller subjects are possible without getting too close or disturbing them. Clearly, as you can see from some of these images, it was never going to be as good as a proper macro, and it's also a lot heavier (the Canon guarantee could have included neckache!). But if you like to photograph a variety of subjects, and only want to carry one lens around over your shoulder without a tripod, my conclusion is that you could do a lot worse than this. So if anyone is out there with their finger hovering over the 'Buy now' button of a consumer electronics website, I hope this helps!