11th of June: Oystercatchers and Olivers

In May we found an Oystercatcher scrape containing seven eggs, which was predated. Although it is sad to see a nest fail, it is only natural that some will be taken by predators, after all Oystercatchers are predators themselves, feeding on bivalves such as cockles. Most birds will have another attempt if they fail the first time, and this is what has happened to this Oystercatcher nest. In the same scrape another five eggs have appeared over the last few days. The clutch size for an Oystercatcher is two to four eggs, so it seems that, like before, the same two females have both laid in the same scrape. We put a trail camera on this nest and captured the following clip:

The clip shows an incubation changeover, where one adult takes over from the other. However, in this case one bird seems to force the other off the nest. We wondered whether this could be the two females incubating the same nest? Unfortunately it is very hard to know for sure.

For a comparison, this next clip shows a normal changeover between male and female Oystercatchers. This bird seems a lot less reluctant to leave the nest...

Things have slowed down on the migrant bird front. The Pied Flycatcher stayed for two days but has now moved on. This morning 70 Canada Geese flew in off the sea and this afternoon a Grey Heron flew over the beach only to be mobbed by Herring Gulls.

In botanical news, we recently found a new plant for the Point: Milk Parsley.

Milk Parsley is the food plant of the rare Swallowtail butterfly, found only in East Anglia. Coincidentally, on our respective days off all three of us went to the Norfolk Broads and all saw Swallowtails. Matt took this photograph at the RSPB's Strumpshaw Fen:

Swallowtails can sometimes be seen at the National Trust's Horsey estate, near Great Yarmouth. It is well worth a visit if you are nearby.

A couple of weeks ago we had a very special visitor on Blakeney Point. We were thrilled to be visited by Professor Francis Oliver’s grandson, Stephen. Francis Oliver was a botanist from the University College London (UCL) who spent much time studying the vegetation of the Point. Professor Oliver played a big part in the acquisition of the Point in 1912 recognising the need to protect its wildlife and habitats.

Stephen brought a collection of old photographs, letters and documents, some dating as far back as 1910. He also shared with us many of his memories of the Point from the 1950s as well as stories about his grandfather. Among the items Stephen showed us was this pressed plant, which is 99 years old:

Left to right: Matt, myself, Paul, Stephen Oliver, Professor Dawn Oliver (UCL) and Professor Andrew Pomiankowski (Head of Biology at the UCL)

- Ajay

9th of June: Rings, chicks and a large sausage!

A few weeks ago we found a ringed Sandwich Tern on the Point. It turns out that it was ringed as an adult in July 1998 in Teesside (Northeast England). This means it was born in 1996 or earlier, as Sandwich Terns do not migrate north to breed until their second year. So this tern was at least 17 years old.

Continuing the theme of ringed birds, Richard Porter photographed this colour-ringed female Ringed Plover on the Point this week. This bird was ringed along the coast at Snettisham in 1999. She has been found breeding or holding a territory on Blakeney Point for at least seven years since 2003.

These two stories highlight how useful ringing birds is for getting more information about them. We will be ringing a sample of Sandwich Terns this summer in order to increase our knowledge about their movements.

Also this week, the first Oystercatcher chicks have hatched as well as more Redshanks. We were able to capture some footage of four Redshank chicks leaving their nest with our trail camera:

Unlike passerines (song birds such as Linnets and Meadow Pipits) which remain in the nest for several days after hatching, wader chicks can leave the nest the same day, like ducklings and goslings.

We have enjoyed watching Oystercatcher chicks running amongst the thrift in front of the Lifeboat House. The first one hatched on Wednesday.

Other bird sightings include a Spoonbill in Pinchen's Creek on Saturday, which Matt managed to photograph. There are still a few migrants trickling through; today there was a female Pied Flycatcher in the Plantation.

On Friday 42 Common Blue butterflies were counted. This is the highest record of Common Blues on the Point.

(Photograph by Richard Porter)

On a completely different note; you never know what you might find washed up on the beach. Our most recent finds include this large German sausage, which has proved delicious for lunch...

... and these rather patriotic sunglasses:

  

- Paul, Ajay and Matt

3rd of June: Nest news and more

We continue to find new nests daily on Blakeney Point. Recently we found a Grey Patridge nest, containing 21 eggs.

Sitting tight on the nest, the patridge is very well camouflaged amongst the vegetation:

We record all nests using a nest monitoring computer programme and update their progress. So far we have 79 nests logged. At the end of the season, the data will be sent to the BTO. Whilst monitoring nests this year, we have noticed a high level of gull predation. Both Herring and Common Gulls have taken several Oystercatcher and duck eggs. Sadly around 50% of Oystercatcher nests have failed due to predation. Oystercatchers will re-lay a new clutch, but this higher than normal rate of predation suggests gulls are relying on eggs due to a reduction in other food sources, or maybe individual gulls have become specialised to find and take eggs.

Sadly, the Oystercatcher nest containing seven eggs has been predated and is now empty. It's not all bad news however... We recently noted several more Sandwich Terns sitting on the very tip of Far Point that were not present when we conducted our nest count. An additional 326 nests were counted, taking our total number of Sandwich Tern nests up to 4,120. This is the highest ever number recorded on Blakeney Point (previously the highest was in 1992 when there were 4,000).

The very end of May brought several notable migrant birds to the Point. Between the 29th and 31st there were a couple of Wrynecks, a male and a female Red-backed Shrike, several Spotted Flycatchers and a Pied Flycatcher. A nice end to the month. Yesterday morning an Osprey flew over the Lifeboat House.

To finish with, here is a time-lapse video we made of the tide coming in and going out of Pinchen's Creek. Eight hours condensed into ten seconds...

27th of May: Here comes the sun

It's not The Beatles but butterflies and flowers that have come out in the sun and warm weather.

Flowers are starting to emerge in greater numbers with Common Bird'-foot-trefoil and Sea Pea appearing on the shingle ridge. Sea Pea was introduced by Ted Ellis in 1954. More Thrift flowers have also started to emerge creating a pink haze along the shingle.

       Thrift (left), Common Bird's-foot-trefoil (right)

We had our first butterfly on our butterfly transect yesterday! With our transect today amassing the most we have had with 10 butterflies, the majority of which were Small Coppers. Although a total of 6 different species have been seen today including the first Orange Tip and Wall.

 Small Copper

We also have our first Black-headed Gull chicks of the year. With some only just breaking through the egg shell to emerge. 

Sitting outside the Lifeboat House in the evening has given us good views of waders at high tide including 150+ Ringed Plovers. These birds are migrants and are only stopping off to feed on their way back to breeding grounds in the tundra. We also were lucky enough to have good views of two Little Stints in summer plumage as well as 2 Curlew Sandpipers.

 Migrant Ringed Plovers

Saturday's low tide seal count on the West Sands recorded 616 Grey Seals and 65 Commons. We continue to have daily Short-eared Owl sightings near the Lifeboat House, over the weekend there was also a Black Redstart. Other notable bird sightings include Spoonbill on Saturday and Sunday and a Honey Buzzard and Hobby today.

 Grey Seal

With the warm and sunny weather over the last two days, me and Ajay decided to go for the first swim in the sea of the year. One word to describe it is refreshing, another and more poignant one is probably freezing! Still it was good fun.

- Matt

21st of May: Birds in the house, elephants in the garden

When running a moth trap in the garden, we always look forward to finding the large and colourful hawk moths. Today it was a pleasure to simply come across a fresh Small Elephant Hawk moth in the grass.

After a weekend of great migrant bird sightings, things were a bit quieter today with just a Willow Warbler and a handful of Wheatears. Yesterday the Bluethroat was still around, as well as a Whinchat and a Grasshopper Warbler.

We continue to find new nests everyday, with a total of over 40 Oystercatcher nests (although a number of eggs have been predated by gulls and possibly even a Short-eared Owl). The Pied Wagtail eggs can't be too far away from hatching. The adult bird is sitting tight on the nest - we are delighted that they have nested in a box on the side of the shed:

The Pied Wagtail is just about visible on the nest

(click to enlarge)

Every year we get swallows flying inside the house at some point. One year they nested in the public toilets. We have to put a bead curtain up to stop them flying into the visitor centre. This one seemed quite content perching on a tripod strap in the kitchen.

- Paul and Ajay

19th of May: Choosing the right pasta

Following last year’s Sandwich Tern nest count, we looked into the perfect pasta with which to mark nests. Penne proved to be the right choice. When in the tern colony counting nests, which we are permitted to do by licence, it is important to be as efficient as possible to reduce the length of time spent in the colony in order to keep disturbance minimal. Putting a piece of penne pasta in each nest enabled us to easily see which had been counted and which hadn’t.

Yesterday we had the task of counting out 4,000 pieces of penne in preparation.

This year the Sandwich Terns had all settled on the tip of Far Point, further along from last year when most were amongst the suaeda. The nest count revealed that there were 59 more nests than 2012: a grand total of 3,794 nests.

 

It was a privilege to be in the colony and see the terns’ eggs. The photograph below/right shows how close together they nest. The one to the left shows a marked nest, this one is of interest because of the unusually white egg in contrast to the typical mottled one.

Sandwich Terns on Far Point

The nest count was not the only highlight of the weekend. Today the first chicks of the season were seen. It was a pleasure to watch day-old Skylark chicks in their nest. Note their yellow mouths, this colouring directs the parent to the chicks’ mouths when they fly in with food.

Matt was able to see his first (Red-spotted) Bluethroat. A male was found on the Point on Saturday morning. Seeing a Bluethroat on Blakeney Point is always special, they are historically synonymous with Blakeney Point but have become increasingly rare in recent times. Some very nice photos of the Bluethroat on Blakeney Point can be seen on Penny Clarke’s blog. There has been a Short-eared Owl roosting on the Point over the past few days. It has been regularly perching on fence posts near the Lifeboat House enabling fantastic views...

Another find this weekend was a Drinker moth caterpillar, so called because the caterpillar is said to have a liking for drinking drops of dew:

This afternoon we were able to finally get on the water in the boat, following the successful installation of a new outboard motor.

- The Blakeney Point Rangers: Matt, Paul and Ajay

 

(All wildlife photography by Matt Twydell)

17th of May: Another case of egg dumping

Today we discovered the 32nd Oystercatcher nest of the year on the Point. We were surprised to find another scrape containing more than four eggs. This scrape, on the end of Middle Point, contained no less than six eggs - another case of egg dumping (a female laying her eggs in another bird's nest). This particular nest is on a small area of undisturbed shingle and is one of four nests within less than five square metres - much closer together than the nests near the Lifeboat House.

Six-'egger' on Middle Point

A pair of Oystercatchers outside the Lifeboat House

Today's bird sightings included a Hobby and a Short-eared Owl. The highlight of May so far was undoubtedly yesterday's female Red-breasted Flycatcher. Norfolk's first Red-breasted Flycatcher was recorded on the Point in 1890. They breed in eastern Europe and Russia and winter in Asia.

Latest low tide seal count (Thursday 16th): 108 Common and 533 Grey.

This weekend we will be positioning trail-cams near some of the wader and passerine nests, so check back soon to see what we capture.

- Ajay and Matt