Some More Manaus Birds

Pied Puffbird

Yellow Throated Woodpecker

Nacunda Nighthawk

Orange Fronted Yellow Fich

Large Billed Tern

Laughing Falcon

Cinnamon Attila

Wire Tailed Mannikin

Mealy Parrot

Black Tailed Tityra

The long weekender

Nothing quite as exotic as Phil and Mike, but travelled up/back from Scotland over the week.
A bit of a nightmare journey up over night Thursday/Friday with the approx 20mls between Junctions 16 and 18 of the M6 being closed and the detour taking 3+hrs. In need of a break I pulled into Leighton Moss around 7:15 am, some breakie, then a wander round the reserve. No sign of the Marsh Harriers or Bittern, Beardies were represented by a single juv/female zipping across he reads. The Great White Egret that has taken up residence was no where to be seen. Marsh Tits, however showed well with at least 4 seen in two different localities round the reserve. The reserve also boasts a Robin with a death wish. As I walked along a path I had to take great care not to stand on it as it hopped along next to my boots. The Egret decided to put in an appearance as I drove over to the Saltmarsh extention to the reserve.

With the sun now putting in an appearance, I decided to head to Warton Crag to look for butterflies. Despite the wind, there were plenty of butterflies on the wing, but it took a while for me to find one of the key species - Northern Brown Argus. Unfortunately, there was no sign of any Fritilaries. A bonus was Dark Red Helleborine still in flower.

Sat was taken up with athletics, so it was Sunday that I took myself down to my old local patch around the Seafield area on the Solway - now well known for its spring Skua passage. Avian highlights were 7+ Whimbrel and a summer plumage Sanderling. I've a few insects to work through but did find a Diamond-back Moth and a couple of Tree Bumblebees.

For the journey home I decided to take a bit of a detour and head over to the Farne Isles for the day. What a great day. It's a site I've tried several times previously to get to, but weather has always been against me, so it was great to finally set foot on these islands. The Boat trip out didn't start well, as I felt rather queasy... and that was before we'd left the harbour. Phil would have been so proud of me!. However, as soon as we hit open water, I was fine. even on the rougher, bouncy return journey - a couple of sea-shanties put everything into perspective.
Standing there on Inner Farne, with the Arctic Terns within touching distance was magical. As it was rather late in the season, many chicks were fledged, there was little danger of being dive bombed. It also meant that Roseate's from Croquet Isle were visiting and one of the wardens pointed one out (it was above me) and a refound it, or another, later.

 

Cwm Cadlan Reserve

Back at the reserve on Sunday in the rain and I remembered me and Phil had found lots of caterpillars a couple of weeks earlier so I thought I would see if they had grown any bigger. I found they were just coming out and were everywhere, there were Ermine Caterpillar and Bird Cherry Ermine and it was a amazing sight as they were all over the tree and were trying to drying out. When I looked later on they were all over the floor and were dropping like snow and lots of birds were making the most of the feast.

I checked the pond as the rain stopped and the sun was coming out but the the pond was dead and no sign of any Dragonflies or Damselflies. When I started to walk back I found two male Keeled Skimmer which was a nice surprise and a first for the year and great too see as I did not see any here last year. When I got to the stream there was Beautiful Demoiselles along the stream and it was a pleasure to watch them flying around.

There were lots of Butterflies out but sadly the same four types which were both Skippers, Ringlet and Meadow Brown. It was only when it was starting too warm up I had a single Small Tortoiseshell and a Small White .

The birds were pretty busy with loads of young Wheatears on top also Redstarts. I checked on a pair of Whinchat that myself and Phil found before and they were still there. I also found this party of young Wrens. Also it was nice see the Peregrines over head. It shows that when sitting in the car and the rain is hitting the windows it would have been too easy to just go back home and forget the walk so really glad I did not .

The Leg of the Jungle

Day 1: well and truly chiggered. Only known relief is; (i) to dangle legs into pool while consuming large amounts of cold beer, (ii) to be sprayed with a secret concoction by a mad man called Denis. Cracking trip excellent guides, good birds, good food and a healthy dose of uk self effacing humour.

Breezy Bryn Du

I never managed to get to see the Pyramidal Orchids at Bryn Du last year, so this afternoon, I put that to rights by making sure I saw them this year instead. They were putting on a fine show and as Martin rightly said, they are starting to spread out beyond their original colony. I counted 106 flower heads in all, but I noticed that some were within the advancing edge of the encroaching brambles, which if nothing is done and NRW don't see them off first, might be the ultimate fate of the whole colony.

I spent some time around the wheel wash area, where an Emperor Dragonfly was seen hunting. I also saw a couple of Golden-ringed Dragonflies along the ride.

Down in the wheel wash, I came across this curious looking cocoon, in the form of a delicate net, with the pupating larva visible inside. It was attached to the leaf of a Curled Dock plant, which itself showed no sign of having been used as a food plant by the larva, which I assume is some sort of beetle, though I really have no idea.

The highlight of the afternoon was this fantastic and fantastical looking Puss Moth caterpillar, which was low down on a sallow, at the edge of the wheel wash. I have always wanted to see one of these and it was a shame that with such a gorgeous creature to photograph, it was in a really awkward position for photography and the breeze kept jostling and buffeting the shoot it was on, preventing a nice crisp image, even when using flash. If I get the chance, in calmer weather, I'll try to revisit it and have another go. What strikes me most about the general appearance of it and it might be just my impression, but doesn't the front of the caterpillar resemble a large, gaping mouth, with pink, fleshy lips, bordered by a yellow face, with two black eyes?

Look at those pink appendages curling out of the prongs at the rear end. 

The pink appendages have withdrawn in this image.

While having a good look at the basic slag bank, I noticed a small, fast moving spider, scurrying about. It was about the size of a zebra spider, but dark and shiny, with cream markings on the abdomen. Again, I must apologise for the poor image, which its the best of a bad bunch, but the spider wouldn't stay still for a moment and following it with the camera and getting any sort of half decent image was more of a challenge for me and the camera's autofocus than we were able to meet.

Steatoda phalerata hurtling through the undergrowth!

It turned out to be easy to identify from the photo and is Steatoda phalerata, which is found in just the kind of open, poorly vegetated habitat as this one was found. They are very fast moving (I can vouch for that) and actively hunt ants, apparently often entering their nests. It's status is regarded as generally uncommon, though there are records for VC41.

Manaus Brazil Some Photos to Start

Pompadour Cotingha

Greater Yellow Headed Vulture

Red Capped Cardinal

Harpy Eagle 4 month old chick

Purple Breasted Cotingha

Yellow Tufted Woodpecker

Cinnamon Throated Woodcreeper

Green or White Tailed Trogon

Moth Trap wednesday night

 my first Swallow Tailed Moth of the year and a grey Arches in the trap and a Pebble prominent was a great surprise and a bit worn but a cracker.I  also got a tripple spotted clay and found this Tree Bumble Bee resting on a leaf .when i was over the field also found this Dock Bug which was a nice bit of colour and great too see.