Southern Stunner!

Yesterday (Tuesday 25th in the afternoon) Jenny saw a wonderful male Southern Hawker Dragonfly, a stunning combination of blue and green markings on his abdomen, resting on one of our roses in the back garden. Here's a pic of a male I saw last September at the "New" Corton Sewage Works!

Birds, Beasts & ... Corfu

Paraphrasing the second book ("Birds, Beasts & Relatives") the follow up to his most famous book "My Family & Other Animals" in the wonderful trilogy of my hero, the late Gerald Durrell's account of his childhood experiences in the 1930's on the Greek island of Corfu... Jenny & I have just returned from a relaxing holiday on Corfu.

Gerald Durrell is a very heroic figure and much missed figure because he did so much to raise the plight of endangered species from around the world, he established Jersey Zoo (whose work included pioneering captive breeding programmes of endangered species to re-introduce back into the wild) and even rescue from extinction such species as the Pink Pigeon, the Mauritian Kestrel and others.

Our stay on this very green island coincided with a heatwave with average temperatures rising from 32C to a blistering 37C (and even touching 40c in the valleys!)

My quest was to seek out some of Gerald Durrell's old stomping grounds and share some of the wildlife spectacles he experienced seven decades earlier.

I was delighted to find Lake Scotini, a place Gerald visited as a boy and although there had been much development around it, including a quarry and a few houses nearby it was still there and I was delighted to see Balkan Green Lizards, a European Pond Turtle, Roesel's Bush Crickets, Scarlet & Ruddy Darters, Black-lined Skimmer, Cleopatra & Glider butterflies. Birds included a Lesser Grey Shrike and several Little Egrets, not bad for the heat of the summer.

I was also delighted to find Lake Gavrolimni nearby where several Marsh Frogs were seen near the waters edge. There must have been around 60 of their number around the muddy water's edge, as I approached they all hopped into the water and as I retreated they immediately hopped back out again, a very comical thing to see!

Nearby the chortling calls of 4 Bee-eaters heralded the wonderful sight of these rainbow coloured birds flying overhead. Nearby a restless Small Pearl- bordered Fritillary butterfly flew by.

A visit to Mount Pankrator enabled me to see such species such as Rock Bunting, Blue Rock Thrushes, Black- eared Wheatears but sadly no raptors were seen here. This was redeemed wonderfully later with a sighting of a magnificent adult Golden Eagle near Skipero.

Around our apartment confiding Erhard's Wall Lizards (especially those stranded briefly on the steps!) and at night up to 3 Turkish Geckos on the walls near the lights posed nicely for the camera whilst on a flowerbed by the local bakery, a Scarce Swallowtail also gave good views.

On a local beach at San Stephanos we were treated to a wonderful display of the white flowers of Sea Lilys or Sea daffodils.

On a visit to Corfu town, I witnessed the amazing spectacle of hundreds of Alpine Swifts swooping in groups feeding low over the roofs of the tall buildings here, an incredible sight! In a local park were commemorative statues to the Durrell brothers, Gerald & Lawrence.

Sadly, I never found the former childhood home of the Durrells now reputed sadly to be a ruin.

But on a visit to the White House at Kalami, the famous former home of Gerald's brother Lawrence, we saw 2 young Red- rumped Swallows which sat on wires whilst on a bush nearby several Long- tailed Blue butterflies and Lang's Short- tailed Blue butterfly were seen.

A visit to Peter's Biological garden revealed a colourful Hoopoe on the track ahead and a confiding bathing Icterine Warbler as well as 4 Clouded Yellow butterflies in a nearby field.

Meteor Shower

At about 10.15pm Jenny & I had a 15 minute look for the anticipated meteor shower. Most, so I am told, are smaller than a grain of sand. The sky was part covered with cloud but in the clear sections where we had an uninterrupted view of the stars, we saw 4 in 15 minutes, a white flash of light zipping across part of the sky and then disappearing, impressive! A crick in the neck led to a hasty retreat back indoors!

A "Poplar" Moth

Whilst at work at the Library today, John one of my work colleagues said casually "We've got one of those Hawk moths here" and I went outside and it was rather very precariously perched on the edge of the outside door jamb. I moved the Moth for its own safety, which was a very impressive Poplar Hawk Moth, onto the outside wall. This awakened it and it's wings started whirring and it flew up and away and safe! Poplar Hawk Moths are a common species which usually frequent Poplar & Sallow trees.

It was probably attracted to the outside wall of the Library by the white outside light which is on at night for security reasons. This is the second time I've seen this species of moth outside the Library, we had another exactly a year ago in the same spot!

Baird's Sandpiper

Hearing of a Baird's Sandpiper at Hickling, after work I paid an evening visit to Rush hills scrape which always a very pleasant walk. Parking at the church and following the footpath past agricultural fields and woods where I often encounter Marsh Tits, this evening they were calling their distinctive "pitchoo" calls. I walked to what must be the most badly designed hide you'll ever see. The open door is facing north so you always have to walk to the far side and then in. The hide is situated quite a way from the scrape so views are always distant. The birds that frequent the Scrape are mostly ducks and waders that feed in this productive area. Whilst inside you either have to stand tall (you need to be at least 5 foot 10 inches tall to view through the square holes (fortunately I am exactly 6 feet tall!) or crouch down and get severe neck ache looking through your scope!

Anyway, there were a lot of Lapwings on the Scrape, with 2 distinct lines of them at the back (of course!) of the Scrape, a few Ruff walked between them and hidden behind the furthest line were several Dunlin and the slightly smaller more elongated form of the excellent Baird's Sandpiper, shorter legs, and it was an adult bird with a uniform grey/ brown scaly pattern (recalling juvenile Curlew Sandpiper) and buff head and chest and slightly but noticeably shorter bills than the Dunlin. It gave the appearance of crouching near the ground with it's flattened oval shaped body. The Baird's Sandpiper is a native of North America and is a rare transatlantic visitor to these shores.

It spent much of its time feeding with 5 Dunlin usually behind some Lapwing but it's scaly back and noticably whiter underbelly meant it could be picked from the slightly larger and browner Dunlin (all in winter plumage) with some confidence even with a telescope with just 30X magnification. When a fellow birder kindly let me look through his Swarovski HD scope with 60X magnification it could easily be picked out.

It later flew to the far left hand corner of the Scrape right at the back where Little Ringed Plovers at least 2 were seen (but could only be picked out at this even further distance with the 60X scope).

Helleborines

The Broad- leaved Helleborine is the last local orchid to flower in the year.  During a stroll through a Gunton Woods this evening,  I was delighted to count 14 plants at the usual spot. They have obviously had a good year as most had already flowered, flowering much earlier than last year. The plants were also a lot taller than the previous year, reflecting the excellent growing conditions this year (alternating conditions of sunny weather followed by downpours that we have experienced this summer).

Looking at the second picture, it clearly illustrates why the Broad- leaved Helleborine is so aptly named.

Hot & Sultry

It was a very hot sunny day today and first thing I walked along the Lowestoft North beach seawall. During my walk, I saw lots of Common Terns & several Turnstones plus 2 Dunlin in full summer plumage feeding on the rocks of the old seawall almost completely surrounded by the sea during this high tide. Between the groynes, a Common Seal fished. On the Oval, amongst the Gulls slept the tatty adult Yellow- legged Gull, which as usual was the first to fly off when the groundsmen entered the grounds.

A trip to Southwold with a diversion via the Wolsey bridge at the Hen reedbeds, was in order to try and see a rare Egret. Looking from the style I instantly spotted the excellent Great White Egret, a large white heron from the Mediterranean which sported an all yellow bill, obviously feeling at home on this hot sultry day (the temperature was around 27C) skulked in the far reeds by the pool before flying out over the pool and out of sight.

At Dunwich a very pleasant walk along the beach revealed several Common Blues and at least 1/2 a dozen Grayling butterflies. With several of them landing on the pebbles on the beach posing nicely for the camera!