Tigers In The Undergrowth

You don't have to travel abroad to find a wild Tiger. 

I have spent a small amount of time looking for Adder amongst the Bilberry and Heather of the Lancashire Moorlands, both after and before starting work. 

A few shed skins later and I feel my search is getting closer to finally witnessing the scaly serpents!

Whilst searching for the venomous beauties I spotted something moving fast on the stoney ground, a Green Tiger Beetle / Cicindela Campestris, followed swiftly by another and another!

In all honesty I had seen these beasties on Tv shows like Springwatch before but never before in the field and at first I was strangely disappointed. I had expected them to be much bigger and more imposing beetle!

It wasn't until I looked at them closely that I saw the very alien and predatory characteristics and it became evident to me, that size didn't matter.

You don't want to be a smaller insect or invert when one of these killing machines is about!

David

Female Green Tiger Beetle, on the bottom, devouring an Ant during mating.

Wild Horses Couldn't Drag Me Away

Horse anyone? Arcots latest unwanted tenants!! 

I love horses they're majestic, strong and beautiful mammals but like any other captive animal they should be cared for efficiently and in the correct manner. My local patch Arcot Pond & Grasslands on the southern border of Cramlington has become home to a herd of them

• Who put them there?
• What For?
• Do they realise Arcot Grassland is a SSSI (Site of special scientific interest) ?

These horses have been carelessly dumped onto the land at Arcot and are well on course to damage the grasslands, the South West field is by far the worst! Obviously I can't blame the horses themselves, they are after all just doing what comes naturally. I am however, blaming and pointing a very annoyed finger at the person or persons responsible for this reckless semi-abandonment and the authority that has allowed this.
The horses have water so they do still belong to someone and are being looked after to a degree. Therefore I would assume that the owner in question would have sought to gain the relevant permissions from a higher authority to put them on the land.
This means they applied for permission and were therefore successful, which in turn means the relevant authority has gave them the green light to do so! Which if true, really angers and frustrates me!
Why would anyone rightly give permission for eleven horses, a few of which are tethered, free reign over a SSSI grassland. A grassland that holds uncommon species such as;

• Dyer's Greenweed / Genista tinctoria
• Adder's Tongue / Ophioglossum vulgatum

The South West field, the smallest of the four, has gone from being an attractive wild grassland meadow to quite literally a muddy quagmire with little vegetation. The areas the tethered horses are is now just large circular areas baron of vegetation.
These horses need removing and fast!!
Don't get me wrong I'm very much a believer in natural grazing strategies and grazing management when done correctly. A prime example being a few years ago when 'The Grasslands Trust' who formerly managed the site used highland Cattle to graze the fields. The problem is this is not a conservation management plan, this is a classic case of natural negligence!

Below is a quote from the Natural England report in regards to the Grassland;

'It supports probably the largest area of lowland species-rich unimproved grassland in North East England. The grassland contains a number of plant species now uncommon in the county. Both this grassland and the heathland are now extremely rare in Northumberland and threatened by agricultural improvement and development.'

The full report can be found here;
http://www.sssi.naturalengland.org.uk/citation/citation_photo/1000498.pdf

This is not the first time I have personally seen horses or other livestock on a SSSI. Last summer I witnessed several horses tethered and occupying the fields above Claxheugh Rock, Sunderland. Whether those horses are still there now remains to be seen as I haven't been to the location since conducting a Wildflower survey on the date in question.

It would be devastating if this species-rich lowland grassland became permanently damaged due to the intense horse grazing and activity. Arcot Pond & Grasslands is my local patch so I have probably taken this matter to heart more than most, but I think regardless of the fact this should not be allowed.
I'm hoping this matter will be resolved swiftly and the grassland can be left to flourish once again!

David
Nature North East/ The Northern Owl Project

Hide & Seek

Its been a few weeks since my last blog, it does however seem an appropriate time to return to action and blog yet again!

...So Friday 5^th arrived and after only about 5 hours sleep I was up and ready to go because this morning I was after Owls! I had been told of a North East hot spot and after reports of decent numbers earlier in the week I thought I would give it a go.

**I will not be naming the site unfortunately, this is due to the actions of some photographers who have been flushing Owls purposely to take photographs and get 'The Shot'. This was done in a co-ordinated fashion and is plain wrong. Luckily a local birder caught them in the act.

My aim is to photograph wildlife in its habitat with as little disturbance as possible. If that means I don't get 'The Shot', then fair enough that's the chance you take.

Previously Owls have been disturbed to point of not coming back on this site which is a shame and with numbers building back up again, I don't want to be possibly responsible for history repeating. So I'll keep my silence **

So after what felt like a lifetime in the car I arrived, and just as I did so I heard the sound of rain on the windscreen! Nightmare! Owls DO NOT like rain, along with high winds its a weather condition they really can not tolerate. Luckily this was a very brief shower.

After walking about the site for a couple hours with no result besides a few flighty Fieldfare and Redwing, you've gotta love the winter Thrushes, I had seen nothing. I managed to catch up with a local birder and Twitter friend who was on site at the same time, and we set off looking together.

We found a few possible roost sites, all empty but clearly used recently due to droppings and pellets. We literally scoured every Hawthorn bush, hedge line, tree and bushy scrub as we went. Nothing......hmmm, I was nearly 3 hours into searching and still nothing but droppings to go off.

Long Eared Owl Pellet

Then as we scoured along near an old marsh, a Short Eared Owl burst up and out from some gorse scrub. Brilliant!! What a feeling. After hours of searching it's so rewarding to find the quarry you were hunting. 5 Minutes later another lifted and then a third individual just observed us from within the scrub. The Shortie with its big yellow eyes just scowled at us.

We moved on not wanting to stress the Owl out any further. We moved into a nearby plantation said to have good roosting numbers of Long Eared Owl, 6 to be precise. The number often changes though with Owls using a few nearby locales. Unfortunately nothing showed. On our way back a dog walker and his children flushed 2 of the Shorties, including the one which remained perched.

We later caught up with all 3 and had some more great views.

On the way back to the car we had a mooch around another Long Eared Owl roost site again and found only droppings and pellets. Its surprising how well Owls can fly through a dense patch of Hawthorn. The last port of call was a Little Owl hotspot, there is a regular couple of birds seen this area and today we managed to see one of the pair! I was loving this! Little Owl are my favourite birds, they're fantastically entertaining and although they're technically an invasive species brought over as a novelty in the 19^th century and later released, they're fantastic!

With cracking views of 2 british owls(1 Little and 2 Short Eared) as well as Willow Tit, Kestrel, Redwing, Fieldfare and a female Sparrowhawk! Friday morning was very well spent!  

Sun, Sea & Suspicious Holiday Makers

Suspicious being the perfect word because when your chilling out poolside with a pair of binocs it  doesn't look good no matter how you try and dress it up.

"Erm I'm a bird watcher...."(whack!) 

You always get the feeling that fellow sun seekers think your quite simply perving on the nearest Czech or Cypriot hotty, and for the majority of the time that was not the case...

....What? Don't judge me, you can't tell me you've never took a cheeky glance whilst hiding behind those shady sunglasses. How dare you....

Ermm where were we ....oh yeah Cyprus, that little island in the Med, well it was home to myself and the boss(the other half) for the past two weeks.

We were in Cyprus because one of my best mates was getting married over there, and we doubled this up as as both a chance to celebrate the wedding with friends and as a holiday as a couple. This in turn resulted in a holiday which was not birding focused, I digress much drinking and sunbathing ensued. I did however, indulge when I could. Taking myself off on little walks around the local area or just keeping a watchful eye around the pool and beach, Binocs at the ready should I need to take visual aim. 

Home for the 2 weeks was the Cyprotel Maris near Paphos 

The poolside and around the hotel complex was home to handful of regular species of bird. A handful of Collared Dove zipped backwards and forwards, stopping now and again to drink the pool water. Multiple small flocks of House Sparrow were an ever present sight, due to the major decline of these in England, there cheeps and chirps were a joy to hear. Long gone are the days I hear them on mass in local hedgerows. A real shame.  Feral Pigeon adorned the rooftops of the hotel and a lone Kestrel would do the rounds and zip through daily, generally at the same time. The hotel and Cyprus in general was abundant with many a murder of Hooded Crow, a lifer bird for me, believe it or not.

Now despite them being pretty much a Carrion Crow with a grey feathered Gilet on, I was rather excited at their presence.

Hooded Crow

We did have a couple species of reptilian keeping us company, the Sling Tailed Agama being the more predominant. Though it goes by several names including; Slagama, Star Lizard, Hardim, Stellion & Painted Dragon.

I prefer Sling Tailed Agama, makes it sound more prehistoric.

Sling Tailed Agama

Keeping a watchful eye

After a few days we transitioned from lounging around the pool to lounging around the beach and sea, a stones throw from the pool.....equally as lazy really, blast my fit and active intentions! I will defend myself however, I did hit the hotel gym on numerous occasions.

So we spent time relaxing under the burning sun on the beach and it was at this moment the game changed For it was in a small man made bay by the beach that the kingfisher was king. Day in day out he spent hours in this small bay fishing, surrounded by holiday makers. A brilliant view, at one point I took a swim into the water of the bay and got with 6 feet of him. He just stared back, not phased at all. Amazing!

'Kingy Bay'

A five minute walk South West took you to a small headland of rock, scrub and rocky shore. There were 4 Crested Lark feeding and singing here, as well as a lone Wheatear.  I stumbled upon an Ocellated Skink whilst lifting a piece of tattered carpet, a near threatened species.

Crested Lark

Northern Wheatear

This pretty much sums up the extent of my wildlife and bird watching in Cyprus, lets not forget I was on holiday after all. ;)
Keep an eye on the blog, the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram page over the coming weeks and months for more regular updates about what I've been up to in the North East......