Norfolk, 31st October 2012

To the Mid Yare Valley we go... and a suitably Halloween-y day we had too, involving the vampire fangs of Chinese Water Deer, the spectacular crow roost at Buckenham Carr, with thousands upon thousands of Jackdaws and Rooks swirling overhead and pouring into the woodlands (Edgar Allen Poe would've approved) and, best of all, the 'creature from the black lagoon', a wonderful male Otter who showed for well over an hour, hunting and playing and posing for (slightly distant and slighty blurry) photos. Great wildlife, great weather, great company: what's not to like??

Norfolk, 30th October 2012

Today we headed west, to the Fens and the Ouse Washes. The usual wildfowl and waders were on show, a fly past from a Short-eared Owl was nice and a surprise Waxwing in roadside rowans was a definite bonus.

But really, with skies like this, who can fail but have a great time?

Norfolk, 29th October 2012

Day one of our Norfolk trip: a pretty good day! We started at Horsey, where not only did we enjoy the hundreds of Common Scoter offshore and both species of seals on the beach, but even caught a little sun! A female Black Redstart at the Nelson's Head pub was a surprise over lunch. Then off round to Hickling, where we enjoyed a male Chinese Water Deer, at least 35 Marsh Harriers coming in to roost, a lovely ringtail Hen Harrier passing close by twice, and best of all a family group of 4 Common Cranes at unusually close range... We spent the day enjoying ourselves, and so, it seems, did these guys!

Coming soon... The Burren 2013

It's been a busy few weeks: as well as getting our 2013 brochure ready and sent to the printers, we've also been sorting out our next three trips (to Norfolk next week, Cyprus in November and Tasmania in January) and finalising the details to send out for our 2013 holidays. One of which, finished today, is our return to the Burren next May.

As a reminder of all things 'Burren', here's a report from last year's trip, by Charlie Moores, who will again be leading our 2013 holiday with Charlie Rugeroni...

"I'm just back from a fantastic six day trip to the Burren in western Ireland with Wildlife Travel. Though I knew a little about the Burren before I began hitting the guide books and the internet - particularly in connection with its high number of orchid species and the Burren Green moth Calamia tridens which in the British Isles is found only in the Burren - nothing prepared me properly for the dramatic hills, the palette of colours, and the wide range of quality habitats found there.
Based in the small town of Lisdoonvarna throughout our stay, we were right in the heart of the Burren itself. Within a fairly small area - and all within easy reach of Lisdoonvarna - lies the stunning beauty of the limestone pavements with their (in European terms) unique assemblage of plants crowded into the grikes (the cracks between the slabs of limestone); turloughs (the seasonal 'lakes' that mostly drain away in summer); sand dunes, pastures, meadows, and hazel woodland; the towering sea cliffs of Moher with their colonies of auks; and the beautiful Aran Islands (Inishmore, Inishmaan, and Inisheer) which lie just off the coast in the mouth of Galway Bay.



Looking from the top of Corkscrew Hill towards Galway Bay

A typical road in the countryside

Over five days we found around 200 species of vascular plants (from orchids to ferns and the striking Bloody Cranesbill and Spring Gentian), some sixty species of birds (including Black Guillemot, Peregrine, Cuckoo, and Dipper), eight Odonata (including five damselfies and my first ever Hairy Dragonfly), and a wide range of other invertebrates from Transparent Burnet and Pyrausta sanguinalis to Small Blue, Water Scorpion, Bog Hoverfly, the longhorn beetle Strangalia/Leptura quadrifasciata, and the sawfly Tenthredo temulosa. Never far from the coast, the Burren is named from the Gaelic for a 'rocky place' and at first sight appears a rather harsh and barren landscape. Perhaps in the winter it is indeed a bleak location (when the rain rolled in on the last day of our trip it certainly took on a more monochrome and wild character compared with when the sun was out and the land is speckled with vibrant colour) but, looking closer, this was one of the most memorable and beautiful landscapes I've ever seen! I'd go back in a shot given the chance (and, boy, do I hope I get the chance...). On top of that, of course, are castles, dolmens, churches and holy crosses - and (genuinely) some of the friendliest people I've ever met (Dermot Dooley who ran the B&B we stayed at, Caherleigh House, is everything you'd want from a 'landlord' and more).



Limestone pavement at Poll Salloch


Below Slieve Carran


The day before we arrived in the Burren, Ireland experienced what many weather reporters were describing as 'a month's rain in just two days'. Blown in by very powerful winds, the rain could have ruined the trip but - and while I have no doubt it was purely good fortune - almost miraculously it stopped the morning we woke up and only started again on our final afternoon. So much water falling did however mean that the many turloughs in the area - lakes that would normally fill up in the winter and disappear over the summer as they drain away through swallow holes and underground streams formed by the dissolution of carbonates from the underlying rocks - remained very high. Some of the special 'turlough-side' flora we were looking for was under water therefore, but the lakes are a very attractive feature nonetheless.



Lough Bunny, a turlough  One habitat I hadn't realised was so close and so important was sea cliffs. The sheer (and guano spattered) Cliffs of Moher are apparently one of Ireland's top visitor attractions (shame on me for not knowing that before I began to research the trip!) and are a designated UNESCO Geo Park. They rise over 200m high at their highest point and their ledges are home to one of the major colonies of cliff nesting seabirds in Ireland (boat trips from Doolin Harbour regularly sail right alongside the cliffs and offer spectacular views of the birds). Their importance is underlined by their designation as a Special Protection Area for Birds under the EU Birds Directive in 1986 and as a Refuge for Fauna in 1988. Crowded with auks, Kittiwakes, and Fulmars, the surrounding area is also good for littoral plants, and the Atlantic Edge Exhibition in the Interpretative Centre is well worth a visit.



The Cliffs of Moher, from the land (top) and the water
Another 'top visitor attraction' is the Aran Islands. Doolin Harbour is again the starting place for trips, which are operated by a gaggle of ferry companies who loudly vie for custom on the harbour front. We visited Inisheer (or Inis Oirr, which is somewhat like the Scilly Isles's St Martin's for anyone who's been there), a flattish island with many stone walls, small hay meadows, and - on a good day - spectacular views to the other islands, Galway Bay, and the Connemara Mountains.
The very local Wild (or Babbington's) Leek is one of the island's specialities, but highlight of the visit for most of us was finding a large colony of Bee Orchids part-hidden in Marram Grass (photographs in a later post). Ferries are regular throughout the day, and Inisheer is a lovely place for a gentle stroll - and for a good lunch in the local tea house or pubs.



Looking from the harbour on Inisheer, and botanising on the island
Inisheer, looking to the Connemara Mountains

I'll finish with a photo of Leamaneh Castle.

One of the many ruined buildings that are scattered around the Burren (there are many modern and/or completely rebuilt buildings too, in case that gives the wrong impression), Leamaneh is on private land and is not open to visitors. Even from the road though it is clearly two buildings in one: an Irish tower house built around 1480 (probably by Toirdelbhach Donn MacTadhg � Briain, King of Thomond, one of the last of the High Kings of Ireland), and a second construction added in 1640 to make a fortified house by Conor O'Brien and his wife, M�ire n� Mahon, one of the most infamous women in Irish folklore."

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores/Talking Naturally 2012

Badgers given reprive

Lots of Badger news today, as the UK government announced it was going to delay the proposed Badger cull until next summer. Why? Because apparently they want to 'get it right'.

So not because, with twice as many badgers in the proposed cull areas, even the farmers agree they can't afford it and are having to be persuaded not to pull out?

Not because 30 of the most eminent animal disease scientists, including the Government's own chief scientist, think the proposed cull is 'mindless' and a 'costly distraction' from the real problems of bovine TB (namely animal husbandry).

And not because it's an outrageously unpopular policy decision with the public?

What was all that craven nonsense about being 'the greenest government ever'?...

Ash Dieback: the next Dutch Elm Disease?

Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus, a tiny fungus with a big name. And the potential to have a massive effect on the British landscape...

In Denmark, 90% (ninety percent!!) of the Ash trees have been killed by the fungus, and it has arrived in the UK.

To quote William Cobbett, "laying aside this nonsense of poets and painters, we have no tree of such various and extensive use as the Ash.  It gives us boards; materials for making instruments of husbandry; and contributes towards the making of tools of all sorts. We could not well have a wagon, a cart, a coach or a wheel  barrow, a plough, a harrow, a spade, an axe of a hammer, if we had no Ash... It therefore demands our particular attention."

With almost 1 in 3 British trees guesstimated to be an Ash, the countryside could be a very different place if Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus gets its way...

Coming soon... Ghosts of Gone Birds in Brighton

One of my highlights from 2011, set to spend 3 months beside the seaside (beside the sea...).

More details as and when they're announced. But get those dates in your diary!

Sillem's Mountain Finch rediscovered

There are some birds which appear out of the mists of nowhere and then slip back into obscurity just as quickly.

Large-billed Reed Warbler was one, until it's recent rediscovery, singing happily in Afghanistan and apparently quite widespread across Central Asia.

Nechisar Nightjar, known from a single Ethiopian road kill, and  Red Sea Cliff Swallow, known from a single bird killed at a Sudanese lighthouse, are two more that spring to mind.

And Sillem's Mountain Finch, a species first described in 1991 from two specimens which had spent 62 years gathering dust in a drawer of similar looking finches, having been collected in the Karakoram mountains by a Dutch expedition. A not-very-exciting-looking dull grey bird, from a very exciting but hard to get to part of the world. And then never seen again.

Until this summer, when a passing wilderness trekker in western Qinghai had a spot of foot poisoning and took a day out to rest, and snapped some (brilliant) photos of some finches feeding near his tent.

Wildlife News: 17th October 2012

Pel's Fishing Owl photographed in the Okavango Delta, Botswana

While some of us are stuck in the office, it's good to know that others are out there enjoying some great wildlife!

Some truly amazing extralimital 'rarity' records in recent weeks have included Africa's first Black Skimmer (35 days after one was watched flying south past a Co Mayo headland in August); Europe's first Eastern Kingbird on the Co Galway island of Inishmore; another amazing autumn of American birds arriving on the Azores, including such mouthwatering goodies as White-eyed Vireo, Dickcissel, Wood Thrush, Golden-winged Warbler and Lincoln's Sparrow... and no doubt more to come; a Pel's Fishing Owl feeding on goldfish from a Cape Town pond, some 2000km away from the nearest breeding population; a couple of rare Siberians in the form of an Eastern Crowned Warbler on Heligoland in Germany and a Rufous-tailed Robin in Denmark; and also from Denmark, and perhaps most remarkable of all, the first Wolf seen in that country since the last Danish wolf was shot in 1772!

New for 2013: Sierra de Grazalema

More from Charlie in southern Spain:

"The olive trees in the orchard situated at the head of a valley near the village of Montejaque, were full of fat olives � they would be harvested in December; the almonds, though, were ready for collection. Yesterday they were collecting the seeds of the Carob. This is a particularly scenic valley, with much birdlife in it. Black Redstarts, Stonechats, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock - Bunting - Thrush and - Sparrow are common here as are flocks of Red-billed Choughs, their tetchy calls echoing from one valley side to the other. I heard a bird of prey calling from high up on a cliff face but couldn�t spot it. Bonelli�s Eagle, Eagle Owl and Peregrine can all be seen here. Crag Martins wheeled around above my head appearing and disappearing into the cliff�s craggy shadows

In spring, the Afro-Iberian species, Ornithogalum reverchonii (a Star of Bethlehem) is spotted here on the rock face together with Saxifraga bourgaena. Today a few Autumn Snowflake (Leucojum autumnale) provided some discrete contrast against the brown vegetation, their pendulous, white flowers tinged with the merest of pink at their base; they were much more evident yesterday along the path to Salto del Cabrero, growing in tiny bunches alongside the equally tiny Autumn Squill and the ubiquitous Bullate or Autumn Buttercup (Ranunculus bullatus)."

Coming Soon...

Colchicum troodi, a lovely Cypriot endemic currently in flower in the Troodos mountains (as photographed here by our fantastic local guide Yiannis Christofides). In a month's time this plant will be flowering at lower elevations, just in time for our November visit to the island.

New for 2013: Gibraltar and Grazalema

Continuing the theme of new destinations, Charlie Rugeroni is currently in the Sierra de Grazalema in Andalucia, sorting out the itinerary for next spring's visit to the area...

"The day broke with a soft blanket of low cloud over the village of Grazalema, but this imperceptibly lifted to reveal the �pueblo blanco� in all its glory bathed in warm, golden-syrup coloured early morning light. This is a tightly packed pueblo in the middle of the Parque Natural de Grazalema, lying at around 1,654 metres, amongst well eroded limestone and small areas of acidic rock.

There is plenty to see around the village including its old mule tracks and backdrop of cliffs; much of the plantlife was dead, dormant or gone to seed but the profusion of plants and diversity was clearly evident � as were the Red-billed Choughs and Rock Buntings accompanying my every move. Even in death, or near death, some wildflowers manage to look good and this is true of the Spanish endemic Centaurea clementei(a yellow-flowered Knapweed). Only the fresh-ish leaves of the crucifer Biscutella frutescens, an Afro-Iberian endemic, were visible below the dead frothy and once yellow flower-heads.

The Southern Colchicums (Colchicum lusitanicum) have been out in full bloom and nowhere showing better than at Llanos del Republicano (the largest polje in the Park) where they were protected from the south-westerlies coming up the valley � surprisingly, they�ve been left alone by the roaming quadrupeds � I hope to see Natterjack Toads here in the spring and the elegant Paper-white Daffodil (Narcissus papyraceus) growing along the stream banks. A particularly charismatic Spanish plant is Echium albicans, a few examples still retained their pink-white and blue flowers.

As a youngster I�d dreamed of dancing with wolves (at a distance) but now at my age, the best I could do on this trip was walking with pigs in the dehesa; the pasture land combined with Holm and/or Cork Oak standards. At the Salto del Cabrero (Shepherd�s Leap) I came across the dainty looking narcissus, N. humilis (syn. cavanillesii), it stood no more than three or so inches high.

At the top of Puerto del Boyar, near Puerto de las Presillas (1,300m) I couldn�t but help stumble on the �cushions� of Erinacea anthyllis (Hedgehog Broom), armed with weapons of mass protection (lethal sharp spines) of its leaves and lilac-blue flowers out next spring. Limestone pavements provided the backdrop to this confident looking plant with a �Make my day� punk�, sort of look given to any grazing Spanish Ibex or sheep. Swallowtails were around as were a myriad of blues and coppers and Graylings. Black Redstarts and Black Wheatears have been plentiful � a group of four was the highlight, as was the Bonnelli�s eagle at Manga de Villalengua (Sleeve of Villalengua), an impressively wide gorge 20 mins. away from Grazalema."

Grazalema awakes

  Colchicum lusitanicum

 Hedgehog Broom Erinacea anthyllis in the Sierra de Grazalema

 The delicate Narcissus humilis

 Some wonderful ham in the making...

More details of our April 2013 visit to the mountains, together with Gibraltar should be available soon after Charlie's return to the UK. 

New for 2013: Northern Lights in Iceland

Another new trip for us next year, but this time to a familiar destination, just at a different time of year.

2013 is expected to be a peak in the cycle of solar activity which produces the spectacular display of lights, the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. We will be hoping for clear dark nights, to give us the best views of the stunning visual display. And during the daylight hours there's plenty to see too, with visits to the famous Geysir, impressive waterfalls and volcanic features, Iceland specialities such as Harlequin, Barrow's Goldeneye and Gyrfalcon all likely to be seen, together with a very good chance of Orca and/or Humpback Whales hunting herring close in to shore.

With our first Northern Lights trip already fully booked, we are now taking bookings for a second departure, on 8th to 13th April 2013. The trip is limited to just 8 people, so please get in touch soon if you'd like to be one of those 8!

 

All photos copyright Andy Jones, Iceland Naturalist.

New for 2013: Macedonia

We're currently hard at work on finalising the details for our 2013 holiday programme. Full details of the trips are being uploaded to the website as and when they are finished, and we'll soon be sending out a newsletter-cum-brochure to tempt you with.

One new destination that I am particularly excited about is Macedonia (or, if we're going to be correct, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). On paper it already sounds like a great place to visit: limestone mountains; extensive grazing still the norm; the world's largest breeding colony of Dalmatian Pelicans; Rock Partridge, Saker and Eastern Imperial Eagle all expected; Masked Shrike, Olive-tree Warbler; an amazing diversity of butterlies...

If I wasn't already sold on the idea, then the photos that Martin (our guide for this trip, as well as our recent holiday to the White Carpathians) sent through sealed the deal. It's worth a visit for the poppy fields alone! See you there!!

 

 

All photos copyright Martin Hrouzek, Arnika Travel.