2 Apr 25 - Arnie The Tern

I can't remember anything of the film, other than the often-repeated phrase "I'm back" that Arnold Schwarzenegger used in one of his dull Terminator films from decades ago, when there were few TV options to watch in the evening.

On a much more interesting note, in Apr 23, a Forster's Tern was found at Lytchett Bay and it was only the second Dorset record, albeit it had turned up a couple of weeks earlier at Sutton Bingham reservoir. It stayed until mid-May and travelled widely around central and Northern Poole Harbour away, when it wasn't at its regular Brownsea haunt. It reappeared in Poole Harbour in mid-July. Just as we thought it would overwinter, it disappeared in mid-Nov and was seen soon after in North France. We weren't surprised when it reappeared the following Spring and Autumn. Several UK and Irish records have settled into long staying patterns, so nobody was suprised when it popped up again in late Mar 25 at Arne: one of its favourite locations. I didn't make any effort to chase it as I was expecting it to reappear on Brownsea. Sure enough it was seen on the lagoon a couple of days later. I was expecting it to be there on my next volunteering day. I arrived into the new Lookout hide and scanned the Boomerang Island: Sandwich Tern, Sandwich Tern, Sandwich Tern, Forster's Tern. That was easy. It spent most of the day on the lagoon that day.

Arnie the Forster's Tern: Anybody want to bet if it will be back in the early Autumn?

I spent the morning chatting to members of the public in the Lookout hide and it wasn't until the afternoon, that I managed to visit to the Avocet hide. It was good to see this close Redshank just in front of the hide. Every now and then a Wader will happily feed on the mud close to the hide.

Redshank

After I was relieved from operating the vid-scope in the Avocet hide, it was time to head to the villa for a break. This Female Mallard must take the record for the greatest number of ducklings I've seen a Mallard with: nineteen is a pretty good clutch. I wonder how many will survive?

Mallard: Can I have a Channel 4/5 TV series says single mum with 19 babies?

It had been a good day volunteering on the Brownsea lagoon.

29 Jun 15 - Turkey - Storks, Sparrows & Owls

We started the morning with a couple of Birding stops around Akseki town, where we saw a Middle Spotted Woodpecker and some Kruper's Nuthatches. After good views of these species, we carried onto Sugla Lake. There was a couple of White Stork nests on posts close to the lake. A closer view confirmed there were a few Spanish Sparrows nesting in base of the White Stork nests.

White Stork nest: With a group of Spanish Sparrows nesting in the base of the White Stork's nest

Another White Stork nest with a juvenile

White Stork nest with a juvenile: This is the nominate ciconia subspecies which occurs in Europe & West Asia and winters to tropical & Southern Africa. The other subspecies occurs in Turkestan and winters in Iran & India

This Adult White Stork drifted over, but didn't land on a nest

Spanish Sparrow: Male. This is the nominate hispaniolensis subspecies which occurs in Cape Verde, the Canaries, Madeira, Southern Europe & North Africa. The other subspecies occurs from Iran & Transcaspia to East Kazakhstan & Afghanistan

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Female. The Females would be tricky identify if they were on their own

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Spanish Sparrow: Male

Nigel photographing one of the White Stork nests

We carried onto the lake, which proved disappointing as it was a large body of water, with narrow reed edges.

Sugla Lake: It was disappointing as there wasn't a lot of nice edges to the lake

Sugla Lake: A small patch of reeds further out in the lake

Little Egret: This is the nominate garzetta subspecies which is widely spread across Eurasia, East & Southern Africa

Azure Damselfly: It was disappointing when I check the options for blue Damselflies in Turkey to find this was an Azure Damselfly, a species that breeds in my garden pond

We stopped for lunch somewhere along the road from Sugla Lake to Karaman.

Spiny-tailed Lizard: This species looks to be a good fit for these Lizards

Spiny-tailed Lizard: They are found in North Turkey & South to Anatolia & the Taurus Mountains, as well as, Georgia, Russia & Azerbaijan

Simon and Nigel keeping up the ice cream eating traditions from our previous trips: I'm sure I would have joined them in this tradition

After a lunch stop, we carried on driving East for a couple of hours, before a roadside stop near Karaman. The highlights here were Black-headed Buntings and Cretzschmar's Buntings, neither of which were new to the trip. I think the stop was to relieve the tedium of the drive to Eregli and probably as a comfort break. It wasn't a long stop before we carried on towards Eregli, which was another hour of driving East of Karaman.

A habitat shot at the roadside stop

Black-headed Bunting: Male. This monotypic species occurs from Italy & the Balkans, Greece & Turkey to South East Ukraine, South West Russia & the Caucasus, to North Israel, North Jordan, North West Syria, North Iraq & Iran to India

Cretzschmar's Bunting: This monotypic species occurs from South Albania, Greece, Crete, Turkey & Cyprus to Israel & West Jordan. They winter in North East Africa & Arabia

Cretzschmar's Bunting

Roughtail Rock Agama: This is a common Agama species across Greece, Turkey, North Syria, North Iraq & the Lebanon

There were also some Blue Butterflies, but I've not managed to figure out which species they were.

Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is

Turkish Blue sp.: I've been unable to figure out which Blue this is

Turkish Blue sp.: This looks like a different species. Again, I've been unable to figure out which species of Blue Butterfly this is

Our next stop was when we pulled off on a side road for a few minutes' drive, before stopping at some tall trees. This was a breeding site for a pair of Long-eared Owls which had been successful with fully grown youngsters. We quickly found a couple of Long-eared Owls sitting in the trees.

Long-eared Owl: This is the nominate otus subspecies which occurs in Europe, Asia & North Africa

Long-eared Owl: Unfortunately, one of the other punters got a bit too close for this individual and it flew off to trees about a couple of hundred metres further along the road. We left it in peace at this point

Long-eared Owl

As we got closer to Eregli, the landscape changed into an extensive grassy plain. There seemed to be little birdlife, apart from a party of at least ten Lesser Kestrels.

The extensive grassy plain near Eregli: If we had had the time, it would have been interesting to stop and spent thirty minutes to see if it was a birdless as it appeared. Perhaps there were Larks out in this grassland

Lesser Kestrel: This monotypic species occurs from the Mediterranean basin to E China. They winters to South Asia & Southern Africa

Lesser Kestrel

The hotel in Eregli was the poshest of the trip. However, it had a very poor selection of food, to offset the better quality of the rooms.

28 Apr 25 - Chasing The Dragon (Purbeck Style)

If you search for "Chasing the Dragon" on the internet, you will find it's a name for smoking heroin. However, the Purbeck version is a much more pleasant variation. For the past few days, I've seen a Broad-bodied Chaser hanging around my garden and being typically elusive. It took me ten years before I saw my first Broad-bodied Chaser for the Garden List and I had one or two sightings annually for the next five years. Then they appeared to die out as I had no sightings in the nine years until I saw one during the first Spring lockdown. Since then, they have been almost annual, but still just one or two sightings a year. In several of the years, I've seen them, the views have been so short, that I've had to record them as a Chaser sp. However, as Broad-bodied Chaser is the only Chaser I've recorded in the garden, then it is a fair bet only one species occurs. Finally today, I've had one perch up for several minutes by my front garden pond. I had to take some photos and I'm pleased with the results.

Broad-bodied Chaser: They are my favourite UK species of Chaser

I always think of Dragonflies as having hard external bodies. However, when you watch them at a few metres, you can see the abdomen broadening and contracting. The next two photos were taken within a few frames, so about a half second apart in time and from the same position. Note, the differences in the width of the abdomen (which is the same length in both photos).

Broad-bodied Chaser: A typical broad abdomen

Broad-bodied Chaser: The abdomen is about five percent narrower in this photo

This is only the second occasion that I've managed to photograph a Broad-bodied Chaser in the garden.

Broad-bodied Chaser: A final & closer photo before it moved on

29 Jun 15 - Turkey - A Morning At Akseki

Our first stop was another visit to the Olive groves where we had seen the Eastern Bonelli's Warblers on the previous afternoon. Here, we saw a Middle Spotted Woodpecker that had eluded us on the previous afternoon. However, it wouldn't perform for the camera. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was equally unobliging.

Bush Cricket sp.: This looks similar to a pale Roesel's Bush Cricket, but I can't figure out the exact species

Having seen the Middle Spotted Woodpecker, we were soon moving onto the forests above Akseki town to look for Kruper's Nuthatch. It didn't take long to find them. They were fairly common in the area as we saw at least five in the one place we stopped.

The forest at Akseki

The forest was extensive

Looking for the Kruper's Nuthatch

Kruper's Nuthatch: They occur in the Pine, Cedar & Juniper forests of Turkey and the Caucasus mountains

Kruper's Nuthatch

Kruper's Nuthatch: They are a small and lovely Nuthatch

Southern White Admiral: This is a common species across most of southern Europe, Turkey, the Caucasus, Lebanon, Iraq & Iran

Silver-washed Fritillary: This is a common species that occurs across Europe as far North as Southern Scandinavia, as well, as Turkey, the Caucasus & Ukraine

Silver-washed Fritillary

There was a Laughing Dove in Akseki town as we returned for a late breakfast and to collect our bags from the hotel.

Laughing Dove: This is the nominate senegalensis subspecies which occurs from some of the Greek islands, to Turkey, Israel, West Arabia, Socotra & Sub-Saharan Africa

Our next destination was Sugla Lake, which was a ninety minute drive from Akseki. In the end, it look a lot longer as we saw a Black Stork fly low over a rocky gorge, before landing on its nest on one of the cliffs. Obviously, we all wanted to stop.

Black Stork: Our first sighting was this individual flying low over the road toward the cliffs

Black Stork: It landed on the next on a rocky cliff on the other side of the valley

The Black Stork nest was on a flat area to the left of the large dark cave

Black Stork: There were three large chicks in the nest

Black Stork watching the world go by from its nest

Black Stork: The other adult flew in

Black Stork: One of the adults departed and provided opportunities for photos as it circled low over the road as it gained height

Black Stork

Black Stork

Black Stork

After a half hour, we decided to carry onto Sugla Lake. I will cover the rest of the day in the next Blog Post.