The Young Birder

I recently went to the Avalon Marshes in Somerset which  is a fantastic place for wildlife and home to many amazing species as you will see. Reedbeds carpet the marshes where  people have lived and worked  e ver since the Neolithic era, over 5000 years ago.  Until the 1990's, vast quantities of peat were extracted and during the 1960's, over 65,000 tonnes were being taken out every year. Although peat extraction is still happening it is on a much smaller scale and much of the area is now  a superb mix of habitats, such as reedbed, lakes, woodland, mires, and large wet meadows, the soil black with peat. My favourite photo of the trip was this one of a Cattle Egret, one of 8 individuals which were feeding around the cows feet in a meadow.  Cattle Egrets ( Bubulcus ibis ) are  native to South East Asia, north and tropical Africa and mainland Europe. The first time Cattle Egrets were reported in the UK was in December 2007, when o ver 200 birds were r...

I'm starting off this post with a lovely Common Whitethroat, taken at Whixall Moss, Shropshire. Whixall Moss is surrounding by 2 other mosses (Fenn's and Bettisfield) and straddles the border between England and Wales. Sadly, peat was being extracted from it until 1989 - a year later the Nature Conservancy Council bought 170 acres of Whixall Moss, 640 acers of Fenn's Moss and 112 acres of Bettisfield M oss.  In later years, they bought another 363 acres of Fenn's Moss and 55 acres of Whixall Moss.  The Mosses are now a superb mix of peat bog, woodland and heath. They also have the largest population of a nationally scarce dragonfly species, the White-faced Darter, as well as Adders, breeding Curlew,  Hobby,  Cuckoo and Skylark among many other species. The odd rarity too has turned up too; a White Tailed Sea eagle being the most recent and largest! There are many plant species on the Mosses too, such as Sundew, 18 species of bog moss, Lesser Bladderwort and...

After having a break from my blog in July I am back! Not far from where I live, just  below the Malvern Hills,  is  Hollybed Farm Meadows, a   Worcestershire Wildlife Trust nature  reserve. It was acquired by the trust in 2013 when it was used a horse grazing field - now it is a beautiful series of wildflower meadows, woodland and hedgerow. One of the recurring plants throughout the reserve is Field Scabious which this Painted Lady is clearly enjoying! The Painted Lady's presence in the UK is unpredictable; they are a migrant here and some years many will turn up and in others barely any! Perhaps as the climate and weather changes we might see more of these beautiful butterflies. Its not just butterflies that like Field Scabious, these flower beetles (the one at the back is a female Thick-legged beetle but I'm not sure about the one at the front) were probably looking for pollen to eat. As I walked along the edge of one of the meadows I noticed a  Marb...

  I've recently been down to Dorset in search of wildlife that frequent the numerous heaths that are in the area. One of these species is the beautiful Dartford Warbler ( Sylvia undata ) which needs these heaths to be able to breed and survive. In the 1960's, Dartford Warbler numbers dropped to only a few pairs in the whole of the UK, due to very cold winters, habitat and insect loss. However, the RSPB has been working very hard to get these beautiful birds back to safe numbers and 50 years on there are now 3,200 breeding pairs in the UK. The Dartford above was taken at RSPB Arne on one of the infrequent sunny spells I had on the day!  After hearing the 'churring' contact call of one, I sat and waited for a while to see if it would come any closer. I was rewarded with lovely views of it feeding amongst the heather, gorse and small pine trees.   Then, 3 more appeared! They were flying in and out of one patch of heather with food then coming back out again without food...

I was recently in Radnorshire, Powys, hoping to catch a glimpse of some spring migrants.  Radnorshire has some beautiful and amazing habitats - from ancient woodland, moorland, rivers, heathland, meadows and  also Celtic  rainforest; s o rare, it is considered to be even more threatened than tropical rainforest. My first location was the Elan Valley Celtic Rainforest which supports over 200 species of lichen and plant species and also a wide variety of birds. One of these birds is the beautiful Pied Flycatcher( Ficedula hypoleuca )   which nest in the large number of nest box's that the Elan Valley Trust provide for them. Walking up the steep wooded sloops of the valley I heard the calls of Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff, 2 other spring migrants who arrived earlier this month. After walking for only a few minutes I saw my first ever Pied Flycatcher flitting around in a low shrub. I was so pleased when I saw there were also 2 more darting in and out of the tree canopy....

I was recently staying at the Youth Hostel in Conwy, North Wales, the weather was on our side with bright sun and temperatures reaching 15c. Above is my favourite photo from the trip - a male Linnet in the sand dunes on RSPB Point of Ayr, Dee Estuary.  RSPB Point of Ayr is a fantastic nature reserve with sand dunes, beach, saltmarsh and reedbed.  There were many Meadow Pipits  ( Anthus pratensis )  flitting about in the dunes singing as they flew; this one perched really close by on a Evening Primrose stem. Distinguishing Meadow Pipits and Skylarks  ( Alauda arvensis ) can be quite tricky  though there are some ways you can tell them apart, the most reliable way is the size; Meadow Pipits  are quite a bit smaller than Skylarks which are taller and have a longer body.  Skylarks have a crest (which is sometimes not visible) and although plumage is quite similar they are  usually lighter. Here's a Skylark for comparison and you can see it h...