Aragon 2012

This year's return to the Aragonese Pyrenees is going amazingly well. Superb weather (the key to all things, these days!), nice folks, and all going without a hitch: the main problem seems to be dragging people away from the flowers to actually get back to the hotel before dinner!

A superb Lammergeier came overhead yesterday, followed by around 100 Griffon Vultures and a couple of Egyptian Vultures; Citril Finches feeding on the roadside this morning; Spanish Chalkhill Blues on the wing at the far northern end of their range; and, after teasing us with an hour's wait, a superb male Wallcreeper flopping his way over the cliffs and rocks in front of us, allowing everyone to get good binocular views as he fed in the crevices and pulsated his red flashes across the rock face.

But for me, it's going to be hard to beat this rather splendid Fire Salamander, of the boldly striped local subspecies Salamandra salamndra fastuosa. "Salamanders can sometimes be found resting under logs like this one..." A brilliant beast.

Romania, 24th May 2012

So, our last full day in Romania.

After breakfast, we bid farewell to our fantastic hosts on the houseboat Kingfisher and took the speedboat back to Murighiol, stopping to pay our respects to a family of four young Long-eared Owls on the way.

Our journey across to Amara took us via a lunchtime stop in the Macin Mountains National Park. Just outside the not-overly-lovely town of Macin, these weren't the most immediately impressive range of hills: dry grassland, a large quarry or two. I wouldn't be entirely truthful if I said I had high hopes, but a nice place for a leg-stretch at least...

Two hours later, and I would have to say Macin Mountains is a brilliant place. A couple of soaring Long-legged Buzzards, the usual background noise of Bee-eaters and Corn Buntings, Red-backed and Lesser Grey Shrikes... a nice start. A pair of Woodlark, nice to see... "Raptor!", another Long-legged Buzzard.

For some reason, I raised my bins to the passing flock of starlings, and they all have pale bodies: "Rose-coloured Starlings!". The disappeared into the distant quarry, presumably breeding amongst the rubble piles. A nice surprise! Things are feeling more promising...

"Raptor!", yes, another Long-legged Buzzard. Then "Raptor!", and a circling Honey Buzzard. Nice to see a bit of variety after rather a glut of Marsh Harriers over the past week.

Next was a gorgeous male Honey Buzzard who started his wonderful butterfly wing-clapping display over our heads! Oh, and behind him, a little male Levant Sparrowhawk, all of ten minutes after I'd explained that our chances of seeing Levant Sparrowhawk were pretty much nil at this stage in the spring. Then a pair of Black Storks, together with another Honey Buzzard. Soon to be followed by a Common Buzzard, another Honey Buzzard and around 60 White Storks in a drifting flock, following the ridge.

While looking up at the ridge, a display-flighting wheatear zipped across my scope view. Alas, just a male Northern Wheatear. But let's have a quick check of the other rocks at the top of the ridge... a male Pied Wheatear! Very nice, thank you very much, quick, have a look through the scope... oh, he's gone. But there's another bird on the next rock along. Blue head, red belly: male Rock Thrush! A very unexpected bonus.

Balkan Wall Lizard skitting about, then a young Balkan Green Lizard and, on almost the next rock, a young Eastern Green Lizard, making easy comparison. Cardinal and Queen of Spain feeding on the salts along the stream edge, then a fresh Marbled Fritillary.

We can't stay out here all day, there's still a long way to go... back to the bus, sorry!

Down on the flat grassland, first one, then two Isabelline Wheatear on the rocks, where they should be. And a Tawny Pipit. A quick drink before we head off...

"Raptor!", a Long-legged Buzzard, carrying a big lizard. Turn, around, "Raptor!", another Long-legged Buzzard, this time carrying a struggling Souslik! And behind, a Black Kite, circling along the ridge. And above it, is that another buzzard? Surely too big... as if to wish us on our way, a young Eastern Imperial Eagle drifted in from the right, circled over head, then carried on along the ridge.

Yep, Macin Mountains, definitely a brilliant place...

Danube Delta 2012 #2

A second installment from the houseboat Kingfisher, slowly heading back upstream today. As I type I can hear Golden Oriole, Nightingale and Redstart singing, while a noisy group of Bee-eaters are burbling away on the riverbank..

From the top... a rather splendid pair of Dalmatian Pelicans, being a lot more confiding than pelicans tend to be out here; a Marsh Frog (the soundtrack to the wetlands of the Delta is made up of these!), amongst the lovely Cloverleaf Fern; Paddyfield Warbler singing in the reeds behind Sachalin Island, alongside (unphotographed) Moustached, Reed, Great Reed and Savi's Warblers; Steppe Runner, another local speciality which occurs on sandy soils in the Delta, and then around the northern Black Sea across into Asia.

Danube Delta 2012

A quick 'hello' from the Danube Delta, where we are currently moored up at Sfantu Georghe, just at the mouth of the channel next to the Black Sea coast. A beautiful sunny evening, with the smells of yet another spectacular meal wafting through the boat... life is hard, sometimes. : )

from the top: Dalmatian Pelican, one of a handful we've seen so far amongst the several hundred White Pelicans; Large Copper, a stunning little butterfly; Squacco Heron are a ridiculously common sight, but it's quite a challenge to get a photo of one looking semi-relaxed, as they are very quick to take flight as the boat draws alongside; Great Black-headed Gull, one of the key Delta specialities, we had around ten during the day as me moved from Uzlina downstream to where we are now.

Not a bad first few days.

100 Candles

Happy Birthday to The Wildlife Trusts.

One hundred years ago this evening, in the Natural History Museum in London, Charles Rothschild chaired the first meeting of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, the Society that went on to become The Wildlife Trusts. A centenary worth celebrating.

Shenandoah Critters

and finally... a handful of randoms, including the co-stars of the show (together with the Cerulean Warbler, of course).

 Appalachian Cottontail. What do you mean, it looks just like a rabbit?... 

 White-tailed Deer, anything but shy... the 5000 strong herd in the National Park is, apparently, descended from just 13 individuals!

 Red Eft, a rather fantastic newt!

And, of course, Black Bears. We saw five in the end: one big male blundering up a slope away from us, a mother with two cubs (top: you can just see one peeping over the wall) feeding along the roadside before heading across the road and up the hill, and finally another male (bottom) as we left the park.

Shenandoah flowers

Although maybe not as floriferous (such a good word...) as I'd maybe expected, there were still some great flowers to be found in the woods, with a bit of searching...

Arisaema triphyllum, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, giving me my Araceae fix for this trip

Flame Azalea, Azalea calendulaceum

and Rose Azalea, A. prinophyllum, two very colourful flowering shrubs in the otherwise nearly leafless understorey

Pink Lady's Slipper Cypripedium acaule

and Large Yellow Lady's Slipper Cypripedium pubescens, two showy orchids more than worth the effort of searching for!

Houstonia caerulea, a subtley pretty little Rubiaceae that was common on the forest floor

 

and Trillium grandiflorum, an anything-but-subtle flower of the forest floor!

Shenandoah Butterflies

Some butterflies from the last couple of days. From the top: Spicebush Swallowtail, Variegated Fritillary, Horace's (larger) and Dreamy (smaller) Duskywings and the lovely Question Mark.

Shenandoah National Park, VA: 2nd May

After a fair few miles of late, it's now time to sit still... today it took us 8 hours to drive all of 60 miles to a cabin in the woods, in Shenandoah National Park.

Amongst the many colourful little warblers in North America, some have a special appeal: some are crazily colourful (think yesterday's Prothonotary), some have a tale attached (one day I will catch up with Golden-winged, and cease to think about what might have been in that Tesco's car park). One in particular has a bit of everything: beautiful colours, restricted wintering range in the cloud forests of Colombia, rapidly declining as a breeding species in stately American forests, a walk-on part in Jonathan Franzen's last book... and as it happens, one of the healthiest remaining populations is in Shenandoah National Park!

Driving into the park with the windows wound down, ready-primed having listened to the song online last night... and as we came round a corner, I distinctly heard the same song coming from the forest by the road. Pulled over, walking back along the verge. And there it was above me. A wonderful male Cerulean Warbler, singing his little heart out. Simple as that! By the end of the day I'd seen and heard two more males, but neither was as good or as close as that first little pearly-blue stunner.

Hooded Warbler. Just an 'also ran' today, as were the singing Black-throated Blue Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Ovenbirds and American Redstarts a-plenty...

Barred Owl. Pretty much the first bird we saw on entering the Park, sitting next to the road, wondering where the night went.

Yellow Lady's Slipper

Great Dismal Swamp, VA: 1st May

Great Dismal Swamp... as soon as I saw the name on the map, I knew I had to get there! And four days after setting off from New York, we made it, tucked right in at the bottom of Virginia, within spitting distance of North Carolina, and definitely in 'The South'. The place certainly met expectations: it really was Great!!

112,000 acres of (very) wet woodland, packed to the gills with singing warblers (headlined by the crazy canary Prothonotary Warbler, together with Pine, Prairie, Hooded, Black and White, and American Redstart), stacks of turtles of five species, butterflies in amazingly large numbers (literally thousands of Question Mark, like a big dark Comma feeding along the tracks, swarms of dragonflies and some cool snakes. My new favourite place!

 Snapping Turtle

 Yellow-belly Slider

 Red-bellied Turtle

 Red-bellied Water Snake

Black Rat Snake: one big snake!

Driving across to the other side of Virginia (the mountains are calling!) we passed by Pocahontas State Park which raised a smile and memories of a visit to her final resting place in the other Norfolk.