Autumn Diary 2013

(Click on the images for a larger picture)

Hummingbird Hawkmoth

In a recent survey of bird watchers autumn was overwhelmingly voted their favourite season. Certainly from a birding point of view it can be very exciting with migration in full swing and the chance of a rarity turning up almost anywhere.

One of my closest RSPB nature reserves; Frampton Marsh, which only opened a few years ago, has established an enviable reputation for attracting rarities, particularly during migration periods. At the end of September the warden posted that it had notched up its' 29th species of wader, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. This species breeds in Siberia, Alaska and the very north of Canada and normally winters in Argentina, so it would not normally be expected on our shores. Earlier in the autumn rarities seen on the reserve included Pectoral and Baird's Sandpipers and a Wryneck.

Silver Y Moth

Early autumn is very good for insects too; especially butterflies, moths and dragonflies. The buddleia bushes in my garden flowered from early July until late September, and as the weather was so much better than last year, they attracted a host of butterflies, day flying moths, bees and hover flies.

A day flying moth that really favours this flowering bush is the Silver Y moth. Often unkindly referred to as the poor man's hummingbird hawk moth the Silver Y merits close examination and whilst by no means gaudy it is quite charming! The real Hummingbird Hawkmoth also put in an appearance but not until the second half of September.

Small Tortoiseshell

Last year the press had written off "Britain's favourite garden butterfly" - the Small Tortoiseshell as heading for extinction, but this year during August, September and even in to October they have been the second most common butterfly in my garden next to the Peacock with both species well in to double figures on the buddleia bushes. It illustrates nature's powers of recovery given the right climate and conditions.

Spotted Flycatcher

However, butterfly numbers were reduced somewhat, on the last day of August when the first Spotted Flycatcher that I had seen in the garden this year arrived to find a buddleia bush full of butterflies a perfect source of protein for the long migration ahead!

Common Darter

Dragonflies have not been as abundant though with very few Migrant Hawkers but a more or less resident Southern Hawker laid eggs in my pond and a few Common Darters have also graced the garden.

Small Heaths mating

As well as counting the butterflies in my garden I have also been recording them in the Breeding Bird Survey square that I was allocated by the British Trust for Ornithology. The highlight was a colony of Small Heath Butterflies that I found on an outcrop of grass rich in limestone flowers on the embankment of a main road. The photograph shows a pair of these delightful insects mating.

Kingfisher

After such a long winter and cold spring, we can now look back on what turned out to be a warm and sunny summer. Again, given favourable conditions it is amazing how nature will fight back. A good example is the Kingfisher. The local population was decimated by a series of hard winters and the cold spring did not do them any favours either. But a pair took up residence along a stream not far from my home and despite a late start they managed to rear two broods of youngsters.

Kingfisher

The favoured prey seems to be baby pike taken from Lincolnshire's drains and dykes but interestingly one observer also noted them catching a Stone Loach.

Barn Owls have not done so well and here in Lincolnshire the population has declined, maybe by as much as eighty per cent. Curiously, its' diminutive cousin; the Little Owl seems to be thriving and a record seventy pairs nested in boxes supplied by Bob Sheppard and his friends in the county.

Whinchat

A two week holiday on the Greek island of Lesvos in September enabled my wife and I to observe autumn migration in full flow under warm and sunny skies. Whinchats and Spotted Flycatchers, both species seriously declining in Great Britain were very common and we witnessed visible migration en masse too. Sitting in an open air bar in our small hotel one evening, we counted more than 600 Yellow Wagtails passing through in flocks of 30 at a time, in just 40 minutes! Thousands of hirundines; mainly Barn Swallows and House Martins flew south one dawn and for two days very few were around until another mass arrival filled the island again.

Flamingos

Mixed flocks of Black and White Storks rising up from the salt pans and fields respectively to spiral up in the same thermal until they were lost to sight is something I will never forget. Nor will I forget the colourful gathering of thousands of Greater Flamingos and hundreds of Avocets on the islands' two salt pans.

Now back home in October the warblers and swallows have mostly gone but we are already seeing more northerly breeders arriving perhaps to stay awhile. Meadow Pipits and Goldcrests seem to have arrived in numbers and the first Brent and Pink-footed Geese can be found around The Wash. However I have yet to see any Fieldfares or Redwings but it can't be too long before winters icy grip encourages these Scandinavian breeders to fly south….

 

Ian Misselbrook
October 2013