A new species for Northumberland

1247 Plum Fruit Moth Grapholita funebrana

Caught in my garden moth trap last night in Whitley Bay. The 1st record for Northumberland!

Storm Chasers

The Storm Petrel passage, witnessed by many over the last couple of days, is still showing no signs of abating.

Somewhere in the photos below you might just see a small black spec that is, believe me, a Storm Petrel.

From Seaton Sluice I had 8 moving North in just over 40 minutes, and at St Mary's I had at least another 10 in the same period. Simon P had already counted over 30 in an hour and a half at St Mary's.

This passage is quite unprecedented for the North East, or maybe I'm just too young to know any better :)

Monkey Business

The North East coast was taking a pounding from a big Northerly swell today. There were good movements of Storm Petrels and Skuas reported.

While a single Artic Skua sat on the sea just off Seaton Sluice, and Oystercatchers fed along the shore, a group of pink monkeys were learning about natural selection.

St Mary's Island, as viewed from Seaton Sluice.

Oystercatchers

Monkey business

A queer fella at Arcot

While do a spot of mothing at Arcot I noticed lots of these little fella's in the grass which turn out to be Common Green Leafhoppers (Cicadella viridian).

A few other highlights included a reeling Grasshopper Warbler, posing nicely in the open.

Moth wise there was just a few including Udea lutealis, Straw Dot, Silver-ground Carpet, lots of Agriphila straminella, and a single Latticed Heath.

Agriphila straminella

Latticed Heath

North East Biodiversity - have your say

A day later this was mowed!

An online forum has been set up for the discussion of North East Biodiversity. The aim is to provide ecologists, biodiversity officers, naturalists, recorders and the public, a place to share ideas and concerns.

You can get involved here http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nebiodiversity

Go on, vent your spleen have your say.

All the fun of the Farnes

So what is it that attracts 40,000 visitors a year to the Farnes? Travelling cheek by jowl with 60 clumsy people with tripods, cameras and unnecessary rucksacks on a fishing boat? Paying over the odds? Watching idiots drop litter on Staple Island? Seeing how many numpties ignore the request not to cross the blue rope? The sweet smell of guano? Sunburn? Well for me it's the fantastic scenery, and of course the birds. Oh, and watching the Artic Terns terrorise the visitors to Inner Farne :)

The good news is that this year is proving to be a very successful breeding season on the Farnes with many species fledging very early, and in good numbers.

I think I might visit again next week!

Some more pics on my website: Farnes Island Photos

Raped

While walking along the beach yesterday evening, a huge number of small black beetles swarmed around my wife, landing on her hair and clothing. Thankfully she's an adult, and not prone to running around screaming, giving me a chance to have a look. Turns out they are Pollen Beetles, which fly in from nearby oilseed rape crops to gather in open flowers where they feed on ripe pollen. Or they land on anything pretty and yellow, or blonde in my wife's case.

Today the beetles are on all the yellow flowers in my garden.

Hatching Hermann

The 6th hatchling from this year's eggs - my wife breeds Hermann's Tortoises (Testudo hermanni) - in the wild they can be found throughout southern Europe. The first clutch was laid about 8 weeks ago and started hatching last weekend. Here's some time lapse video of one hatching.

Have you seen a Tree Bee (Bombus hypnorum)?

The Tree Bee has a very distinctive ginger head, black body and white tail. It was first recorded in the UK in 2001 having arrived from continental Europe. It is thought unlikely to impact negatively on existing bee species, making it a welcome addition to our island's fauna. Northumberland is as far north as it has got so far, and judging by the large numbers in Whitley Bay, it's doing very well and likely to progress north of the border sometime soon.

The Bees, Ants and Wasps Recording Society (BEWARS) is keen to receive sightings. You can contact them on their website, http://www.bwars.com

You can download a factsheet on the Tree Bee from http://www.bwars.com/Files%204%20downloading/Info_sheets/03_Bombus_hypnorum_1col_infosheet.pdf

Charva free Garganey

Propa Belta

A late afternoon visit to the public hide at Holywell Pond was well timed.  As I arrived, the drake Garganey untucked his head from under his wing and came dabbling towards me. Thanks to the crap weather, there were no cider soaked charvas to keep me company.