Creech Woods, Denmead - May 2013

On Friday 31st May I had to opportunity to spend a couple of hours walking around Creech Woods, near Demead, Hampshire. The site is part of the Forestry Commissions estate, and was historically part of the Forest of Bere. Large parts of the site comprise conifer plantation, but there are some areas, where low scrub and woodland clearings and rides are present. It was these areas that proved to be the most interesting for wildlife. It is a site that absorbs a lot of public recreational pressure and whilst I was there I encountered over 20 visitors with at least half of those having a free running dog. But despite the disturbance there were areas that were less disturbance and subsequently had a good mix of species.

The bird life was fairly typical for a woodland with chiffchaffs, blackcaps, great spotted woodpeckers, blackbirds, wrens and blue and great tits present. But in areas where it was less disturbed and the habitat was more suitable, willow warblers, garden warblers, firecrest and bullfinch were recorded. In the north of the site pylons run overhead, and these made the ideal perch for a couple of common ravens to make their presence known.

Bugle Ajuga reptans was a very common species along the woodland rides

The woodland rides were dominated with bugle and this proved to be a popular nectaring source for bumblebees and hoverflies. A large puddle on one of the woodland rides turned out be be very popular for a couple of broad-bodied chasers. 

Broad-bodied Chaser Libellula depressa: A male standing guard whilst the female was egg laying

Whilst the male stood guard on a nearby twig, seeing off any other males, the female set about the business of egg laying. The puddle where they had set up territory did not give the impression of being very permanent and therefore I presume that the larvae will find it difficult to survive as summer progresses and the pond dries out. Unless this summer is as wet as last summer that is!

Female Broad-bodied Chaser egg-laying: This individual was in flight hence the blurred wings

It appeared that there had been a recent emergence of large red damselflies also, as I recorded this species commonly during my visit. The adults of this species typically emerge from late April and can be seen through to the end of September. The cold weather during March and April has delayed the emergence of many dragonfly species, but they seem to be very widespread now.

Female Large Red Damselfly Pyrrhosoma nymphula

Butterfly species were fairly thin on the ground with the most common species being speckled wood and orange tip. A very confiding green-veined white was the only other species recorded.

 Female Green-veined White Pieris napi

Given the very strong markings on this individual it looks to be a female. The first brood females of this species are usually much more heavily marked than the males, particularly of the upperside of the wings. The males can appear almost white.

European Roller in Hampshire.....

In 1987 I went to the Greek Island of Kos with my wife for a short break, and whilst away a European Roller turned up in the New Forest. Now I've not been dwelling on it, but this morning I was stood chatting to a couple of mates in Botley Wood when confirmation came through of one at Broxhead Common, Hampshire....I just had to go!

European Roller Coracias garrulus - unfortunately it was a bit too
distant for photography but at least I got a record shot

The bird was ranging widely over the heath but was spending the majority of its time in view. It seemed to favour the woodland/woodland edge in the north of the site, but on one occasion it flew to the south, and perched in a large silver birch for a while. Apparently it has been around for three days, so hopefully it will hang around for a few more days. It appears that this is the sixth record for Hampshire, the two most recent twitchable birds turned up on 30th May 1987 and 30th May 1955. The County recorder has just stated that one was recorded in the county in 1997 but was suppressed!

Rhodes - May 2013

Over 20 years ago I visited the Greek Island of Rhodes with my wife for a holiday, this year we decided to go back. We were thinking of staying in England, but with the weather being what it has been of late....we needed some sun. My birding activity was generally limited to walks around the resort of Kolymbia, where we stayed, but we did hire a car for a few days and were able to explore farther afield, something we did not do on our last time. The sites I visited were based on information gathered from the Fatbirder website, the link to it is here.

On reading that information it was apparent that April was the best month to visit the island, but that wasn't an option, so our trip was scheduled for mid May. My trips to eastern Turkey in May have been excellent and birds have still been on the move, so I was optimistic of seeing some migrants, whilst still mindful that this wasn't a birding trip. Rather than produce a day by day diary I have grouped my sightings under site headings as has been done on the Fatbirder site.

Appolakkia Reservoir
The incentive for visiting this site was that it was cited as the only deep and permanent freshwater that can be found on the island. Although according to the map we bought, the reservoir north of Ghadhoura Dam would also appear to be permanent freshwater, and larger, but we did not make it to this site. I have to admit that we arrived at the dam around lunchtime, so not the best time for birding, and that may explain the lack of birds recorded. On and around the reservoir we recorded little egrets, grey heron and little grebe, with long-legged buzzard, hobby, golden oriole, northern wheatear, eastern olivaceous and sardinian warbler and jay either overhead or in the nearby scrub. We didn't stay for more than an hour so with more time and at the right time of day the area could be more productive I am sure.

Kolymbia
Most of my birding was done on the headland to the north of the resort. To be honest there wasn't too much to see bird wise, other than the resident hooded crows, crested larks, Sardinian warblers, greenfinch's, linnets and goldfinch's. But on occasions there was a small passage of migrants with European bee-eaters recorded and occasional red-footed falcons passing through.

Crested Lark Galerida cristata a resident species on the headland at Kolymbia

Other species recorded included white wagtail, black-eared wheatear, common kestrel, raven, a squacco heron, which looked well out of place on a headland, and a flock of 10 little egrets. Hirundines were well represented with barn and red-rumped swallow, house and crag martin and common swift all recorded.

Common Raven Corvus corax recorded on two occasions on the headland

With the bird life being fairly limited my attention was drawn to other species groups. The most notable moth species was what I presumed to be white-collar burnet, at least 20 were recorded daily feeding on nectar. This is not a species I had seen before and I note that there are several similar species, but white-collar seemed to be the most similar.

White-collar Burnet Zygaena carniolica

There were plenty of reptiles to catch up with too, it is always fun trying to get a good shot. Starred agamas were numerous, not just on the headland near Kolymbia but at all the sites we visited around the island. This species is one that I have regularly encountered in Turkey where they vary greatly in colour...that was the case here on Rhodes too.

Starred Agama Laudakio stellio

A species that was new to me was Lacerta oertzeni. I assumed that this individual was a Balkan wall lizard when I found it, but on checking with a reptile enthusiast mate, I was informed it was most likely L. oertzeni.

Larcerta (Antolalarcerta) oertzeni

Apparently this species is not strictly a wall lizard (Podarcis) but belongs to the rock lizards, although in the Eastern Aegean it fulfils much the same ecological niche as wall lizards. A cracking beast whatever role it fulfils I think.

Larcerta (Antolalarcerta) oertzeni

Another species that was very common around the resort was Turkish gecko. Every time we got back to our room after dark, this species was all over the walls. They were surprisingly translucent and are easily identified since the adhesive pads do not extend to the tip of the toe.

Turkish Gecko Hemidactylus turcicus

Kremasti
I was drawn to this site because there were previous report of a white-tailed plover and Baillon's crake here, admittedly that was a few years before and in April, but you never know. The site is located just north of the airport and before you arrive at the centre of the town. On arriving I immediately picked out a little stint in the middle of the river.

Little Stint Calidris minuta

Several species of heron were also present, squacco was the most numerous, with seven recorded.

Squacco Heron Ardeola ralloides

They were generally very confiding but occasionally birds would take flight, showing the contrasting white wing feathers. Grey and purple herons were also present and reed, Cetti's and eastern olivaceous sang from the scrub and reeds.

Squacco Heron

Heading down stream I came across a cracking black-crowned night heron roosting in a nearby tree, but no sign of any crakes or plovers.

Black-crowned Night Heron Nycticorax nycticorax

On the way back to our accommodation we stopped at an amazing species rich meadow. European bee-eaters, hoopoe, European turtle dove and woodchat shrike were present. But the highlight for me was a stunning cricket. It was predominantly dark in colouration, but with white and red patterning and a green ovipositor.

Poecilimon hamatus

After a bit of research I was able to pin it down to Poecilimon hamatus. Apparently this species occurs in Turkey and on the Island of Rhodes only. It is quite different to other Orthoptera in that the female responds to the male acoustically. For more information check out the following link http://naturewonders.piwigo.com/picture?/1191

Poecilimon hamatus

I did manage to get a few pictures of some other Orthoptera but have not yet had the time to sort them out, so they will have to wait for another post.


Plimmyri and Southern Tip
The southern tip of the island was quite spectacular. It was much lusher than the northern half of the island, with more dense scrub and less development. Our first stop was Plimmyri; on arrival there did not seem to be much to see, but after a bit of effort I saw a couple of squacco herons, a great reed warbler, woodchat shrike, spotted flycatcher a very confiding eastern olivaceous warbler.

Eastern Olivaceous (Isabelline) Warbler Iduna opaca

Black-headed buntings were relatively common and a male and female red-footed falcon hunted over the nearby fields. The usual Sardinian warblers and crested larks were as abundant as ever. Moving on we headed on to the southern tip of the island, the scenery was great and the crashing waves were very popular with wind surfers. The only new bird species of note was a cracking male black-headed wagtail.

After lunch we headed north up the western coast stopping at various view points on the way. At one stop I wandered off into the dunes and immediately stumbled across the remains of a dead turtle.

Remains of a Turtle Species - Both Loggerhead Caretta caretta and Green Chelonia mydas turtles
breed in the Mediterranean, unfortunately it was not possible to identify the remains of this one

Apparently, there are two species of turtle that breed in the Mediterranean, loggerhead and green. The loggerhead has been the subject on many studies in the Ionian Sea and its breeding success studied. One of the highest causes of mortality is fishing, but these remains were too old to look for any cause of death. The shell was at the highest point of the tide line, and could have just been washed in or the tide, or maybe this beach in the site of a small breeding colony and the turtle had rolled over whilst coming ashore.

Snake-eyed Lizard Ophisops elegans

Another new species for me was snake-eyed lizard, so called because it has an unusual eye adaptation. Looking closely it is possible to see the unusually large and shiny appearance of the orbit.

Snake-eyed Lizard

River Ghadhouras
I think that any of the river valleys are worth a look if you are travelling around, unfortunately I only had time to look at one. The River Ghadhouras is down stream of the aforementioned dam, and partly because of recent storms, and being fairly early in the year, there was still plenty of water and mud present.

Black-winged Stilt Himantopus himantopus

I hadn't brought any sturdy footwear with me and parts of the river bed were quite muddy, nonetheless I was able to navigate my way through. Eastern olivaceous warblers were common, as were crested larks. Red-rumped swallows foraged overhead and a couple of stone curlew gave tantalising glimpses, but called frequently. Two wader species were present, three black-winged stilts and a sanderling, but despite extensive searching there were no other species. This area has previously supported little-ringed and ringed plover, wood, green and marsh sandpiper and collared pratincole...but not today.

Sanderling Calidris alba

A broad scarlet or scarlet darter was the only species of dragonfly to settle long enough for me to photograph it.

Broad Scarlet Crocothemis erythraea

A couple of European bee-eaters hunted from some overhead wires, one of them caught a large grasshopper (most likely an Egyptian grasshopper) and preceded to throw it in the air to break of all the legs before swallowing it....presumably just in case a sting was present.

European Bee-eater Merops apiaster playing with a large Grasshopper Species

So despite this not been a birding trip, I was able to catch up with a few regular European bird species and some excellent reptiles and invertebrates. I have not had the time to add up the species tally but that was not really the point of the trip.

In Search of the Barley Bird....

After a couple of days wandering around Botley Wood looking for common nightingales, the aim today was to try and catch some. The plan was to start at 6 AM, but after what can only be described as a slightly tardy start by Izzy, we eventually started at 6:45. It had been cold overnight and with the exception of blackcaps, chiffchaffs and willow warblers there was not much in song. 

We started at the first territory, and were soon listening to, and watching a male nightingale singing. That was expected, but the surprise was that this bird appeared to be paired, because a second bird was working its way to and fro along the hedgerow 'wheeting' and 'croaking'. Unfortunately neither bird ventured into the net.

Adult Male Nightingale

Our next stop was the territory where I had managed good views of a singing male last week. This bird was again silent, but we could hear more 'wheeting' and 'croaking', perhaps indicating that this bird was also paired. I knew that this bird was unringed and soon we had captured and ringed it. The bird was an adult male with a wing of 85mm and a weight of 21.8 grams. I have been studying the species since 1998 and as part of the study I colour ring birds so that I can observe individuals in the field. 

Adult Male Nightingale - looking very dapper with his new colour rings

We waited in the hope that we might catch a female but unfortunately we failed. We packed away our nets and headed off in search of the next territory past one of the on-site ponds. Great crested newts breed at this site so we stopped to check for any evidence and soon found loads of leaves folded over in the distinctive newt way. Unfolding, one of the leaves we were able to confirm that inside were the eggs of great crested newt. At this point I should point out that you need to be licenced by Natural England to disturb great crested newts, and both Izzy and I are, and so we were not committing any offences.

We pressed on and went to check out an area of land which is not part of the reserve, but we have permission to enter. As were approached the area we immediately heard a drumming woodpecker, which sounded more prolonged and rapid for great spotted. We hurried to the area and soon found a male lesser spotted woodpecker drumming on a dead tree.

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

This is a very difficult species to see these days, but one that I have seen at Botley Wood before, but only once. This bird was a great performer and gave us some prolonged views before flying off in a northerly direction.

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

We spent a while searching the area looking for suitable nesting trees and a female but unfortunately we had no joy. Nonetheless we were so pleased to have found this bird, in fact I was planning an early start to look for them at Manor Farm Country Park tomorrow...maybe I will have a lie in!

Male Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Whilst waiting for the bird to return Izzy started looking beneath some wooden cladding on a small shed, and before long she had found some bat droppings and a roosting pipistrelle bat....what a day!