Graham Catley 14/07/2025 Graham Catley 14/07/2025

July 2025

A limited number of species additions to the photo challenge total

2cy Hobby on a scenic perch but in dire light

Appears to have caught a small bat in the middle of the day

best local year for a while for Common Terns fledging with 8 on the wing and a couple more still to take off - new style rafts at Waters Edge key to success -

Lesser Marsh Grasshopper - take all my insect shots with the Canon RF 100-500 and R6II - close focus is great

male Emperor one of the easier dragons to photo in flight

juvenile Bearded Tit 159 on the species photo list -

160 Red Knot just to emphasise that in summer they are indeed Red - amongst its friendly Icelandic Black-tails

a lovely rufous juvenile Cuckoo at Wild wrendale yesterday always great to see in autumn

Wild Wrendal struck again 23rd with this Death’s-head hawkmoth a first for me - recovering from some surgery I had to make a quick exception with the camera to see this and what a beast it was

a rather worn individual but none the less impressive

Graham Catley 05/07/2025 Graham Catley 05/07/2025

Svalbard June 23rd - July 1st 2025

A trip of a lifetime hopefully communicated here with a fraction of the 20,000+ images I took in the eight days but it nearly started with a distaster as the metal connector on my Black Rapid strap actually sheared off on the first morning I was on the deck of the ship and the R6II and 100-500 hit the metal deck with a rather heart wrenching noise. Fortunately when I retrieved them all seemed to function with just the odd dent and even more fortunately I had lost my Black Rapid strap a few weeks previously and bought a new one which I had with me, only to re find the old one at a later date. The story starts here :

Reflected in the most northerly Co-op in the world a feature repeated in the most Northerly Toyota garage and Pub the latter a source of excellent food.

It all started when I was chatting to Roger over a typical Lincolnshire seawatch, not a lot happening and he mentioned a trip to Svalbard that was low in bird diversity but high in Arctic experience and with some very nice birds thrown in plus the chance of the elusive white bear. The price though seemed somewhat beyond our means. Fast forward to January 2025 and thinking about another trip to Cyprus or Canada and the Svalbard idea reappeared. Checking Roger’s source company we came to https://www.aqua-firma.com/ based in Cornwall and highly recommended by Roger. I looked online and casually showed the Svalbard Realm of the Polar Bear cruise to Mrs C who I thoroughly expected to say I am not going on any cruise and it looks cold but to my surprise she said that looks good and even the price tag was met with you only live once. A couple of phone calls later and we are booked on the https://www.aqua-firma.com/experiences/polar-bear-search-north-spitsbergen tour June 24th - July 1st. But then it hit home – boats and me are in general not a pleasant mix but it’s done now and Roger confirms they had no mosquitoes. A bit of research leads me to Stugeron-15 which are duly purchased. AQUA-FIRMA book the necessary flights and hotels and Julia’s brother agrees to a professional taxi service to Heathrow and back.

It occurred to me while swatting that most people actually have no idea where Svalbard (Spitzbergen) is thinking its part of Norway which it is administratively but its nearer Greenland

Coming in to Svalbard on the plane the views were amazing with crystal blue water and lots of snow - the new iPhone 15+ produced some really nice images through the plane window and the whole week it was all I used for landscape shots leaving my 50mm and 24-105 kit lens redundant.

Glacier and landscape from the plane before landing in Longyearbyen

Approaching the airport there was less snow revealing the rugged terrain with stunning geographical features any glaciologist would be proud of

Part of the old mining infrastructure above Longyearbyen

An immediate reminder that you are in the far north outside the airport

The main street of Longyearbyen, well to be fair the only street

At the end of the main street you are out into wet tundra - marsh and the odd sight of skidoos just left all over - the main road, and there is not a lot of it, is mid image with people walking

It is immediately obvious that Barnacle Geese are everywhere feeding and nesting amongst the skidoos right on the edge of town

Barnacle Geese on the marsh on the edge of town taken with the wide angle iPhone

While many of the geese were sitting on nests, built seemingly anywhere, others had broods of small young that were being targeted by Glaucous Gulls

A walk down the only road reveals a lot of breeding Arctic Terns plus Purple Sandpipers displaying everywhere and a few other waders including Dunlin, Tundra Ringed Plovers and one far too distant Grey / Red Phalarope

Not sure if it was thinking of a novel nest site

The light was very variable with low cloud making things a bit flat but when the sun poked through the refection off the snow was amazing

Many Arctic Tern nests were not exactly well hidden

Odd Arctic Skuas were patrolling the edge of the town marsh

In Svalbard terms this Black-headed Gull was probably the rarest bird I saw all week -

Several pairs of Glaucous Gulls and the odd immature were loafing around looking for an easy meal of duckling or gosling

Spot the King Eider - never saw any close in fact only saw a couple of males and female all week

Long-tailed Duck - pairs were only just starting to occupy nesting pools in a late spring thaw

In the afternoon we wandered west to the harbour where there was a small flock of Mandt’s Black Guillemots but the light was a bit dire

We were to see several 100 during the trip and I have a variety of wing patterns

Assume they nest here in the harbour wall

There were some decent creches of Northern Eider ducklings but the concentration by the Husky Dog kennels were getting predated by the Glaucous Gulls

a classic drake Northern Eider *borealis*

Subtle differences in bill colour between drakes

Getting close to them was not a problem and they often wandered about in the road

The Polar Bear sign is as far as you are allowed to walk without an armed guard but as someone commented what tells the bears they cannot come inside the sign?

These birds were literally feet from the side of the road

considerable variation in plumage tones amongst the females

a very different world to the nature distanced UK

In January 2024 a Purple Sandpiper wearing an orange colour ring and a Green tag with the inscription 9LA was wintering on the Lincolnshire coast at Mablethorpe; I noted in this blog post https://www.grahamcatley.com/blog-1/a-rather-special-purple-sandpiper that this was likely the nearest I would come to its ringing place of Longyearbyen Svalbard — well times move on and this year there we were on its breeding grounds watching displaying Purple Sandpipers right on the edge of town all the way up to the highest tundra and most northerly land we visited. I even saw a couple of birds with Orange colour rings and Green Flags from the same scheme including VMC shown here displaying to a female just outside Longyearbyen: it really can be a small world

Male VMC displaying to a female June 23rd 2025

Male Purple Sandpiper in display flight - beautiful song given in flight was a characteristic sound of the marshes and tundra

Human junk was no deterrent to Purple Sandpipers intent on breeding

Sharing its habitat with breeding Barnacle Geese

And what a Red Phalarope looks like at a long long range and you cannot get any closer due to the terrain and the bird then flies away! Frustrating

Very much a record shot - still need to go to Alaska

A more obliging Red-throated Diver nesting close to the road but it was impossible to get low angles due to the height of the road and the risk of disturbing the birds

The male Red-throated Diver but in pretty poor light

The only passerine in Svalbard is the Snow Bunting and they occur in most habitats though they are thinly spread - these birds were breeding on the edge of the town with birds singing from the roof tops and performing display flights over the buildings as well as the nearby tundra

A female feeding along the main street just like a House Sparrow in the days of olden Britain

A fine adult male nivalis over the beach

Feeding along the tide wrack just like a winter beach in Lincolnshire

It was interesting to see Ringed Plovers in their tundra habitats but none looked like the very small dark backed birds we see occasionally in spring locally so where do those birds breed?

Tundra Ringed Plover amonst the permafrost with an Arctic Tern - two well travelled birds

Day list for June 23rd

Arctic skua 3

King Eider 3

Long tailed Duck 1

Mandts Guillemot 16+

N Fulmar 1

Northern Eider 100+

Glaucous Gull 30+

Snow Bunting 30+

Barnacle Goose 200+

Black headed Gull 1

Purple Sandpiper 50+

Dunlin 8

Ringed Plover 4

Teal 5

Kittiwake 5

Grey Red Phalarope 1

The 24th we had the day up to 16:00 when we were due to board the boat fopr our eight day cruise - so it was more of the same walking up and down the only bit of road and getting some nice food in the hotel and at the Barentz GastroPub - male Snow Bunting in display flight over the Longyearbyen main street

Barnacle Geese with two young and an onlooking Glaucous Gull - image taken with iphone

looking west out of the Fjord Longyearbyen

Mountain Avens just starting to flower on the Longyearbyen tundra

Male Purple Sandpiper VMC was still present and showing his flag a bit better

A wider view of the Purple Sandpiper feeding habitat

Different view of the Red-throated Diver

There appeared to be a lot of Barnacles that had either failed early or were yet to start breeding

Arctic Terns are totally accustomed to humans even nesting next to the road just outside Longyearbyen

Glaucous Gulls the ubiquitous gull species of the trip along with Kittiwake

The view across the fjord from Longyearbyen

The RF 100-500 is a good tool for landscapes as well as the usual tele stuff

In the Arctic the weather can change very quickly so you need layers and waterproofs and to be prepared

A boat looks very small in the vastness of the Arctic

Tuesday, June 24. Longyearbyen, Embarkation

12h00 GPS Position: 78°14.8’N / 014°58.4’E

Wind: W-3 • Sea: Calm • Weather: Overcast • Air: 8°C • Sea: 5°C

at 16:00 we boarded the Plancius our home for the next week and after the usual drills and safety stuff we set sail and started the three meals a day culinary extravaganza! I spent the next few hours on deck photographing distant Little Auks and Brunnich’s Guillemots amd the ever present Blue Fulmars - the auk shots I quickly deleted as things got better later in the trip - overnight we headed west then north to our first stop at Tinayrebukta early on 25th. A calm overnight journey was appreciated.

I found the skies, seascapes, landscapes and habitats and the colour of the vistas totally enthralling but hard to capture accurately - these look much better on a computer or ipad screen than on a phone

Blue Fulmar alongside the boat - they were often so close you could virtually touch them

There were many subtle variations in shades

Light made a huge difference to appearances - tried to get some landscape in where possible to put the birds in context

In hindsight I should have tried to get to the Little Auk colony near the airport but thought I would see them on the cliffs from the boat which we did not - so had to make do with flight views and birds swimming near the boat - a first desperate attempt at a passing flock

An early environmental Brunnich’s Guillemot flock from the boat

Note for November on the Lincolnshire coast they are short and fat !!

The scenery started to build as we sailed north

Epic skies and seas are a feature of the far north

Species List June 24th

Longyearbyen

Same but less to previous day

Brunnich’s Guillemot 2 in harbour and out

Puffin 20+

Black Guillemot 5+

Blue Fulmar 30

Little Auk 30+

Kitts

Brunniichs 30+

Wednesday, June 25. Tinayrebukta, Signehamna and Lilliehöökbreen

12h00 GPS Position: 79°12.3’N / 012°02.9’E

Wind: SW-2 • Sea: Smooth • Weather: Overcast • Air: 8°C • Sea: 5°C

a very small bird from high up on a ship

It was a big Little Auk day with perhaps 500 seen

Something spooked this flock and they split and flew upwards

these were way up not hugging the water like most flocks

I was up on deck at 05:30 with many Little Auks and Brunnich’s Guillemots but in spite of my best efforts at mind over matter the Little Auk flocks remained stubbornly not close enough

This striking presumably 2cy Mandt’s appeared to be intent on landing on the ship - brown flight feathers presumably make it a 2cy bird

The trouble with the Fulmars was they were always there and posing so you felt obliged to aim at them!

A flock of Brunnich’s Guillemots passing by

A few of the Brunnich’s had not aquired full summer head - throat patterns like the left hand bird making them 2cy birds

The browner toned upperparts presumably point to it being a 2cy bird

Love the 100-500 for landscape shots in a big vista

On 25th we had two zodiac landings at Tinayrebukta a bay in Haakon VII Land . It is located at the east side of Möllerfjorden, and is surrounded by the mountains of Fallièresfjella and Generalfjella. The glacier of Tinayrebreen debouches into the bay. The bay is named after French painter Jean Paul Louis Tinayre. Then in the afternoon at Signehamna a natural harbour in Albert I Land located at the western side of Lilliehöökfjorden. We hiked up past some impressive bird cliffs to look at relics from weather station Knospe (1941-1942), then Nussbaum, built by German occupants during World War II.

A Polar Bear lookout was always essential before landing several boat loads of potential breakfast

Beach landings were usually smooth but Muckboots, supplied, were necessary - landscapes were always spectacular

Always pays to be close to the person with the gun

Harbour Seals staking their place on the list

And just to prove they were everywhere a Purple Sandpiper on the rocks but not quite a Rock Sandpiper

Tundra forest Net-leaved Willow the highest trees on Svalbard

Tufted Saxifrage - tundra flowers were just breaking out

White Arctic Mountain Heather - I use the 100-500 as a one lens covers all tasks tool

Some of the treks were testing and we only went in the middle effort group so you do need to be fit to get the best out of the trip - Landing site in the bay below and the Plancius moored in the bay offshore

These were on some pretty rugged terrain

Bird cliff with Brunnich’s Guillemots and Kittiwakes

In the late afternoon as we cruised close to the glacier in the boat there were birds on ice that had calved off the glacier front including Arctic Terns -

The size of that large cruise ship puts the glacier in perspective

It was impossible to gauge the scale of the glaciers as you were often miles away and details only became apparent on closer approach

We also came across our first Bearded Seals in evocative surroundings

And an unexpected Walrus hauled out on the ice flow

I was trying to put birds in the context of their environment and show how small they are in relation to things such as the glaciers and mountains - a flock of Brunnich’s Guillemots against the snow covered mountainside over a glacier

A flock of Northern Eiders dwarfed by the lower bit of the glacier front

Northern Eiders again on an ice flow with the front edge of a dirty glacier as backdrop

The intricate patterns and colours of the floating ice was staggering and demanded photography

You were constantly left spellbound by the beauty of the place and the quiet only broken by the popping of the air in the ice

Day List for 25th

Little Auk 400+

Mandts 10+

Bearded Seal 3

Brunnichs Guillemot 200+

RT Diver 2

A Skua 1

Reindeer 4

Harbour Seal 4

Walrus 1

Purple Sandpiper 2

Snow Bunting 10+

Kittiwake big colonies

Distant view of the Monacobreen glacier on a glorious morning

26.06.2025 Position: 79°31.4’N / 012°29.6’E Wind: W2 Weather: Overcast Air Temperature: +7

June 26th and we were at Monacobreen a glacier in Haakon VII Land on Spitsbergen, Svalbard. The glacier debouches into Liefdefjorden: We boiarded the zodiacs for a few hours in the morning just slowly moving around the foot of the glacier and marvelling at the huge icebergs, many of them blue, while listening to the popping ice and watching the wealth of feeding birds. A long dark line at the foot of the glacier in the distance transformed into 10’s of 1000 of Kittiwakes with Arctic Terns and a few other birds mixed in. It was a spectacular few hours. It was a beautful sunny day with temperatures up to 8C in the afternoon making it almost hot in the light winds.

Cold start on the zodiac keeping the lens covered in case of wave splash - that was the biggest iceberg in Svalbard for many year apparently

The scale of this blue berg was hard to define but the next shot with a zodiac up close gives an idea

A much smaller chunk of floating ice but big enough - the only sounds you could hear were Kitts, popping and cracking ice and the occasional loud bang from the flexing glacier

As far as I am aware not one phone or camera went into the Arctic Ocean during the trip!

Approaching the foot of the glacier a dark line where it had been undercut by wave action was transformed with a line of 1000’s of Kittiwakes sitting on the ice and feeding in the melt water - as I say images cannot convey the scale

Kept the ISO fairly high at 1600 as the boat was bobbing a bit and with people moving around and the fact that you are on the side of a zodiac you need a bit of extra speed

A bit better idea of the scale of the glacier the very small white dots at the bottom right are the Kitts

An Arctic Skua sat watching the Kitts - a very small bird in a big vista

Closer to the glacier the Kittiwake flocks were transformed

Floating ice was often adorned with Arctic Terns and Kittiwakes

Arctic Terns were totally unconcerned and often at arms length from the boat

On a wider scale Kittiwakes were perching all over the glacier edge as well as on the floating ice

Kittiwakes in a different world to Bempton

As I was thinking I had got enough Kitts and Arctic Terns we came across this adult Glaucous Gull

It allowed a pretty close approach before moving off

We got closer to the Kittiwakes with slow approach in the rib - the colours were amazing

Birds were completely at ease with highly coloured humans

As we passed a small clump of ice with a Kittiwake on it I suddenly realised that the bird with its back to me had a black head!!!! I quickly but calmly asked Valeria at the helm if we could stop the BOAT!! while blasting a few shots and hoping I had got the exposure right

We were pretty close but the angle wasn’t the best but all credit to Valeria who acted on my requests and managed to manoeuvre the boat into a better position before the Sabine’s flew off to feed with the Kittiwakes - I have seen a few adults in Britain but in this environment it was something else

The lack of full sun meant that contrasts were nicely reduced but bringing out the red eye ring was almost impossible

I kept zooming out to put the bird in its environment conscious of the fact that the other 8 people on the zodiac were not going to want to watch a Sabs Gull all morning!

Valeria was fantastic and did a great job getting us in close without disturbing the bird

After the prolonged show it flew off to join the Kittiwakes feeding in front of the glacier

What a privilege and an amazing encounter one of the highlights of the trip

After the excitement of the Sabine’s it was back to Kitts on ice and crevasses

A couple of cracking Arctic Skuas flew by

lone Glaucous Gull on top of the glacier

You appreciate how small you are in a big landscape

You do become mesmerised by the colour and patterns of the ice

Back on board, we enjoyed a relaxing lunch as the ship cruised toward our next destination:Texas Bar, a rustic cabin built in 1927 by the legendary trapper Hilmar Nøis. Still used by locals on excursions, the cabin offered a glimpse into life in the Arctic decades ago.

Purple Saxifrage on the tundra slopes as we started a brief exploration - A couple of King Eiders and four Arctic Skuas were on the sea and two Minke Whales and a party of 14 Pink-footed Geese added to the short species day list

And more tundra breaking out from under the snow cover which was extensive and late this spring

Our first Svalbard Ptarmigan - less than pristine

Another epic evening sky as we set off to our next destination

Day List 26th:

Sabines gull 1

Kittiwakes 6000+

Mandts 20

Glaucous Gull

Arctic skua 4

Ptarmigan 1

Pink footed Geese 14

King Eider Drake and duck

Long tailed Duck 1

Reindeer

Snow Buntings

June 27th:

Alkefjellet, Kinnvika and BBQ Date: 27.06.2025. Position: 79°40.7’N / 018°22.4’E. Wind: SE5. Weather: Overcast. Air Temperature: +5 During the night, we sailed out of Liefdefjorden aboard the Plancius and headed south into Hinlopenstretet—the strait that separates the large island of Spitsbergen from Nordaustlandet (the lands of the northeast). It was the first windy day since we had come aboard, and with temperatures hovering around 0°C, our expedition leader advised us to dress warmly and in multiple layers.

The day started with the usual Little Auks, Brunnich flocks and Flumars from the boat then it was two hours under the bird cliffs thronged with 20,000 pairs of Brunnich’s Guillemots and lots of Kittiwakes with a few Glaucous Gulls and Barnacles Geese

although it was abit choppy the angles on the Brünnich's Guillemots were much better from the zodiacs

Back to the job in hand trying to get something different on a black and white auk

The usual din from a seabird colony but amplified and with the addition of snow

Have I seen a Brünnich's Guillemot in Britain? - No why would you unless of course it was in Lincs - a fly by in the autumn would be easily identifiable - I am well genned up and ready

One of several pairs of Glaucous Gulls living with and on the guillemots

Waiting for the snow to clear from their ledges

The 100-500 lens is ideal for these type of situations, light and easily slung around with the ability to quickly zoom in and out as things occur - I thought about taking the 200-800 but was pleased I didn’t as I would probably have put my back out

A Bonxie patrolling the cliffs - or I assume it was a Bonxie didn’t see it that well

Ending the morning with another impressive glacier

That afternoon’s landing was quite different from anything we had experienced so far: Kinnvika, a relatively well-sheltered bay on the northern edge of Murchisonfjord. A Swedish- Finnish expedition built an extensive research station here during the International Geophysical Year (1957–59), including ten buildings—among them, a sauna! There were not many birds with a Sanderling on the newly revealed Tundra being one of only a handful seen but Arctic Terns were already nesting on the beach and a 2cy bird was here on its first journey from pole to pole.

There was still a lot of snow on the ground in a late spring thaw

as soon as the snow cleared the flowers burst into life

arty Arctic Tern while waiting at the landing site

2cy Arctic Tern after its first two pole to pole journeys

as we landed in the afternoon there were signs of a solar halo but it was a bit vague then

it developed into a full 360 halo and what a place to experience it - images with iphone

Bird List for the day before the Friday night Barbeque and we set sail for the pack ice

Bonxie 1

Brunnichs 20000

Little Auk 20

Puffin 2

Blue Fulmars

Mandts 10+

Glaucous Gull 30+ one pair with two 10 day old chicks

Sanderling 1

Purple Sandpiper 1

Ringed plover 1

Pink feet 12

Arctic tern 20

Red throated Diver 2

Thanks to the Oceanwide crew for this summary of our day in the Polar region:

Saturday, June 28. Pack Ice day, Looking for Polar Bears 12h00 GPS Position: 81°40.7’N / 020°03.4’E Wind: E-3 • Sea: Calm • Weather: Sunny • Air : 5°C • Sea : 0°C After a wholesome Arctic dinner yesterday evening, we departed the Kinnvika area late in the evening. Our course was set North-North-East, aiming to reach the pack ice in the early hours of this morning. With excellent sailing conditions, we arrived at the ice as planned! Since we had enjoyed our traditional BBQ the evening before—and some of our guests danced well into the night—we allowed ourselves a small luxury: a half-hour sleep-in. Our wake-up call came at 07:30. After breakfast, we began to encounter the first floes of pack ice. Long before this moment, the keen eyes of our watchmen, officers, and staff were already scanning the horizon through binoculars, carefully examining every ice floe. Our mission was clear: to search for polar bears, the solitary kings of the North. Our captain continued heading North-North-East, targeting a small peninsula of ice where according to the latest ice charts—the ice was thick enough to be promising ground for spotting bears. As we advanced northward, the weather began to shift. The early morning brought perfect conditions: limitless visibility, blue skies, and brilliant sunshine. But the farther north we sailed, the more the fog crept in, gradually reducing visibility. Our captain and officers navigated skilfully through alternating banks of fog, offering moments of clarity interspersed with near whiteout conditions. Interestingly, as we headed north, the sun remained mostly behindus. This alignment allowed us to witness a rare optical phenomenon: a fogbow. Unlike a rainbow, which is rich in colour, the fogbow appeared as a faint, ethereal arc caused by the diffraction of sunlight by tiny fog droplets. At times, we could discern a subtle hint of red along its outer edge—a delicate reminder of nature’s artistry.

Around noon, we reached the northernmost point of our voyage: 81˚ 40.914' N, 20˚ 12.796' E. At that moment, we were just 500 nautical miles—or approximately 925 kilometres—from the North Pole.

As usual I was on deck early watching the Blue Fulmars and auks keen to see the first bits of pack ice - a life event

A beautiful pre-breakfast view of a Brünnich's Guillemot

with a bit of rolling shutter - you can just imagine a togger taking a shot of one of these at Bempton some day and posting it as a Guillemot or Razorbill

The light was so good that I just could’t resist another close fly-by shot

my best Brünnich's Guillemot flight shot

I even took my most northerly Puffin shot

With Svalbard disappearing into the distance the pack ice was next

A Blue Fulmar over the blue water and the first signs of pack ice

And then some real pack ice that started us crashing through

there were even arctic penguins stood on the ice flows

Brünnich's Guillemot with a true Arctic backdrop

A 2cy Brünnich's Guillemot over the pack ice - there seemed to be a higher proportion of 2cy birds further north as would be expected further from the breeding colonies

as well as the head pattern a duller tomium stripe

Pack Ice that looked good for a bear but revealed little

Could there be a bear behind that big collection of ice?

a blue and white scene but the fog bank is looming in the distance

You had to do something while scanning for bears

Bad angle but a typical 2cy Brünnich's Guillemot

There were Little Auks feeding this far north but the angle from the boat was even worse on a small bird

An atmospheric flock in front of a small berg

a bit surprising to see Mandt's Black Guillemot this far from land

Three were flying round the boat at one stage

Little Auks and Brünnich's Guillemot in a lead in the pack ice - I had read books by polar explorers and of course watched so many wildlife documentaries on the Arctic but never imagined I would one day get to see it

Quote from the Oceanwide log with my input

By midday, anticipation among our guests was high. Many hoped to spot a polar bear, but despite the diligent watch and persistent searching, no bears had yet appeared. We went to lunch with the hope that the fog would lift—and our luck would change. Time, however, was not on our side. We knew that our chances would diminish once we left the pack ice and it is fair to say that an air of despondency was creeping over those of us who had been staring through bins for what was now 8 hours in my case with not a lot to show. But finally, just after 15:00, the wait paid off. Philipp, our Expedition Leader, made a brief radio call announcing a sighting ahead of the ship. Moments later, Clara confirmed it: a polar bear was visible in the distance. As we slowly approached, we saw that the bear had a kill. Around it, several scavengers—Glaucous Gulls and Ivory Gulls among them—waited patiently for their share. We observed the bear for a generous amount of time, during which many of our guests were visibly moved, some even with tears of joy. For many, it was their first time seeing a polar bear in the wild. We believe it was a young male.

First view of a wild Polar Bear - no wonder people were struggling to see it

as we gently edged a little closer it eventually raised its head at which point I noticed that there were not only two Glaucous Giulls stood nearby but two Ivory Gulls emerged from behind a lump of ice - this was wildlife watching at a new level - during a chat Steffi had already told me that on the previous trip they had seen only one Ivory Gull and that just flew by so this was already a success

Ivory Gull behind a sleeping giant very full of seal meat - I had already put the 1.4x converter on my 100-500 lens as we could obviously only go so close to the bear so as not to cause disturbance but at this stage he just seemed in need of a Gaviscon

The light was stunning with bright sun and little wind but the heat and ice/snow combined to produce some shimmer - but a lifetime high point

sniffing the air for human scent! interesting fact we were told is that Polar Bears can detect their prey by scent from up to 32kms - just take a moment to digest that fact

After a while and a considerable amount of sniffing it started to dig a hole as if it was going to bury the rest of its kill

Two of the Ivory Gulls feeding on seal scraps

Click the image above to go to a short video - ignore the old fashioned cameras with noisy shutters in the second halgf volume up the Ivory Gulls are calling -

The Ivory Gulls, peaked at five, always kept a respectful distance but I was surprised at how vocal they were with flying birds calling regularly as they came and went - sadly I didn’t make any sound recordings being consumed by the watching and photography

The bear meanwhile decided against burying the seal there and instead dragged it off over the ice even taking a dip in a lead with it at one point before appearing on the ice where it had a good roll and shake at which point we left it

Maybe to a Polar Bear Ivory Gulls are a bit like mosquitoes to us

Competition was intense between the foraging Ivory Gulls

Just like taking your left over Pizza for a walk home

This 3cy Long-tailed Skua came in to investigate the kill but didn’t linger and never came close

The Ivory Gulls were never remotely close of course unlike on Aldeburgh beach but it was the setting that made the observations so special

I took a lot of distant Ivory Gulls and will spend hours looking through them over the winter

Even one on a rotting Donna Nook seal carcass will never compare to this

After this incredible encounter, we changed course and began sailing South-South-West. Many guests gathered in the lounge for a hot drink and to reflect on the experience. Then, around 17:00, Koen made another announcement over the radio: "We have another polar bear." And indeed, he was right. Directly ahead of us, another male bear lay on the ice beside a fresh kill. With perfect lighting and a favourable position, our officers and captain expertly maneuverer the ship for a close—but non-intrusive— approach, offering an unforgettable photo opportunity. This was our second bear of the day.

A Glaucous Gull on an ice perch en route to our second Polar Bear encounter

The second bear was clearly very full of seal and spent most of the time either sleeping or yawning

The day list was not a long one but quality over quantity

Little Auk 30+

Brünnich's Guillemot 50+

Mandt's Black Guillemot 40+

Common Eider female

Long-tailed Skua 1 3cy

Ivory Gull 6

Glaucous Gull 10+

POLAR BEAR 2 males

Kittiwake 30+

A pleasing start to June 29th after a rather bumpy few hours overnight on our passage back from the pack ice

Sunday, June 29. Alicehamna and Buchananhalvoya 12h00 GPS Position: 79°44.4’N / 012°10.2’E

Wind: NE-2 • Sea: Rippled • Weather: Sunny • Air : 12°C • T Sea : 5°C

From the deck it was very much more of the same with plenty of flocks of Little Auks and time to add to the data bank of Brünnich's Guillemot ID pointers

On land it was time for some snow shoeing and the “this is us” photo (note put hat on properly before photo)

Julia chilling in the snow on what was a very warm day

Flock of Pink-footed Geese still heading north

A pair of Arctic Skuas had staked out a breeding territory amongst the snow and took exception to our passage

The light reflected up off the snow was stunning and something you never seem to get in Britain

As we sailed out of the fjord a huge feeding flock of Brünnich's Guillemots with two Minke Whales and lots of other seabirds was being harassed by a Bonxie

Day List

Little Auk 200+

Brunnichs 1500+

Blue Fulmars

Long tailed Duck 4

Reindeer

Purple Sandpiper 6

Arctic Skua 3 + 6

Bonxie 1

Pink-footed Geese

Minke whale

Snow Bunting

Harbour seal

Mandts 40+

Monday, June 30. Poolepynten and Alkhornet 12h00 GPS Position: 78°19.1’N / 012°24.4’E

Wind: SSE-4 • Sea: Smooth • Weather: Part. Cloudy • Air: 10°C • Sea: 7°C

This morning we woke up once again with clear skies and the sun shining brightly. Yesterday was a wonderful day and today looked just as promising. Today, however we were going to see the big blubbery Walruses! But first things first, breakfast!

Distant Walrus hauled out on their beach from the boat - note the heat shimmer

Just like Scarborough but a few more of them

One of the only two “if onlys” of the trip

As we wandered to the Walrus haul out I saw three Red Phalaropes on. apool but straight into the sun and we couldn’t walk round the other side due to regulations! It was to say the least frustrating seeing them there and not being able to photograph them but thats life

A fly by Turnstone that appears to have a ring on its left leg

A final Blue Fulmar tubenose shot over the stern

Pale-bellied Brent Goose on the sea as we left

Some beautiful tundra colours highlighted by Tufted Saxifrage

a stunning Arctic Skua a fitting end to an amazing trip

A few more images in a couple of galleries on second or was it fifth edit

Graham Catley 05/06/2025 Graham Catley 05/06/2025

June 2025

Slow months are upon us so may try and add a few obvious omissions to the 2025 photo challenge

As it will no doubt be the only Turtle Dove image of the year this one will have to make do for 151 - the tragic loss of this species from Britain has been catastrophic - Locally I recorded a total of 172 birds flying west in four hours on May 14th 1077 at Barrow Haven and there was passage on most days of the month with up to 34 breeding pairs along the Humber clay pits. On August 26th 1992 a gathering of 156 was present on a harvested field at South Ferriby such was the local status of the species. As recently as 2000 there were 14 singing males and ten confirmed pairs on the clay pits with 13 males but only six pairs in 2002. The last pair I saw locally was in 2015 and the last bird was 2026. I have not even seen one anywhere since 2021 so a trip to the Lincs coast at least just topped up my memory of an iconic and much loved, lost species.

If we had some warmth there are other things to enjoy - Lizard in a regular spot in the forest

We have had decent numbers of juvenile Starlings coming to the food in the garden in the last few weeks and the first fledged family of House Sparrows at the weekend - Canon R6II and Canon RF 100-500 a cracking combo

A chirpy cock House Sparrow in some of the garden dog daisies

a somewhat chilly night in the forest with early promise in the sky before cloud built quickly and the Nightjars started late

152 Nightjar - not one of my frame filling perched shots but a blue hour image of a male drifting over the heath

Brown Hare in a field with many poppies up the road

Had my first Lincs Crossbills of the year today and not just a couple but a flock of 40+ followed by a flock of 35 unless they did a very quick loop around

Good numbers of still streaky juveniles and some older juveniles half way through their post juvenile moult

Whitethroat 153 - a lot of mopping up to do through the summer - autumn

154 a summer Siskin makes a change from all the winter shots

155 Osprey pair at Folwshaw Moss on a weekend Kendal visit

and the male on his lookout - at least they are scenic distant trees in heat haze

Somewhat more impressive than distant Ospreys a close up Golden Ringed Dragonfly

156 Marsh Warbler from earlier in the month

Graham Catley 22/05/2025 Graham Catley 22/05/2025

Honey-buzzards - reacquaintance with old friends

I have been going up to Wykeham for many years to watch the Honey-buzzards, or at least to attempt to watch them, because as all raptor watchers know nothing is certain or guaranteed and with Honey-buzzards that is doubly so. In 2017 a striking pale male took up residence and I was fortunate after many visits to be in the right place at the right time when he flew past close enough for a decent image (see below). Since 2017 he has returned every year but views have been very varied and photo opportunities even more so with record shots often being the order of the day.

Pale male Honey-buzzard Wykeham, North Yorkshire, July 2017.

The same male produced one of my favourite images in 2018 as he displayed below the raptor viewpoint in Troutsdale - although very small in the frame the image is full of atmosphere and scene setting

and a more standard shot of the male 2018

So 2025 and after a blank year for sightiongs in 2024 I headed up to Wykeham on 21st in what seemed like less than ideal conditions weather wise; it was cold and cloudy with a fresh northerly but forecast was a bit better. When I arrived at the raptor viewpoint it was decidedly Arctic in nature with a strong Northerly coming straight up the valley but at least the Tree Pipit was in full display and at very close range, a Garden Warbler was in full voice and a few Common Crossbills soon appeared but it was not a good omen for raptor watching - or was it? But not long after arrival I picked up the female coming in from over the newly cleared plantation by the RVP and she performed some nice moves in front of the small crowd albeit in pretty dire light.

Willow Warbler entertained in front of the RVP all day - I loved the perch

female and two juvenile Common Crossbills from the RVP

Maybe because of the cold and dull light the birds were sometimes quite low down which has its advantages and you don’t often get shots of the bird’s upperparts - female again

Subtle but intricate patterning even on an essentially brown bird

Beautiful looking bird - I still vividly remember my first ever Honey-buzzards - studying (sort of) at UEA in June 1974 we were sitting on the East Bank at Clew with the late great Richard Richardson on June 18th - three new birds were logged Spoonbill, Kentish Plover and Red-necked Phalarope but in our chat Richard kindly told us about Norfolk’s first Cetti’s Warblers at Surlingham which we managed to twitch two days later and he also gave us a location where we could hopefully see Honey-buzzards in North Norfolk. On June 23rd armed with a few reference books for revision purposes, on the back of Duncan’s motorbike we arrived at the designated track on a lovely sunny day and not long after a beautiful male Honey-buzzard flew out of the nearby wood at about 60 feet up straight down the track towards us and gave us the most superb views. One of those things you never forget and we were back three days later seeing the female as well. Five lifers in six days.

The sun eventually did make an appearance in the afternoon but the birds were usually higher and not as close but I did get this shot of the female with some bluish sky

female watching something - probably the male with his enticing mummified bird’s legs

The male appears to have some central tail feather still growing - here he was receiving some unwelcome attention from a raven - it doesn’t seemthat many years since I reported a pair of Ravens at Wykeham and it was a rare event

From late morning the male was carrying something which was assumed initially to be a frog but closer images revealed it was the legs and feet of a passerine with some very dried up body parts attached - certainly not an apetising looking treat for a potential mate but he clearly had other ideas as he held onto it for several hours and even did some bouts of wing clapping display still holding it in his feet

Although many views were more distant and into bright light persistence paid off when he made one close pass in good light - still a very striking bird and he hs made that return trip to sub-saharan Africa at least 10 times now

Not often that you can get a view of the upperparts and against a woodland backdrop - stunning bird

A balancing act putting the bird in the context of the location and habitat the male over Troutsdale

Graham Catley 16/05/2025 Graham Catley 16/05/2025

May 15th and 17th 2025 - Buff-breasted Sandpiper special days

On May 15th 2025 and again on 17th I was privileged to witness something that I had never seen before and realistically never expected to see, the breeding display of a Buff-breasted Sandpiper. With a highly restricted breeding range encompassing only the High Arctic of northernmost Alaska and Canada, where access is at best difficult and very expensive and birds are thinly spread, the chances of seeing the lek of this species is for most people a remote possibility.

Most of the information below is taken from:

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Buff-breasted_Sandpiper/lifehistory

Buff-breasts are the only North American wader that leks with males gathering fairly close together to display to females but like Ruffs and other lecking species the males take no further part in rearing the brood. Males display in prominent raised areas in the high Arctic environment, usually along ridges, bluffs, and banks near creeks and rivers. Here, water sedge, dwarf willow, horsetail, mountain-avens, and cotton grass are common plants. Similarly, females build the nest on dry slopes or other raised locations, often not far from a stream. Other occupants of upland tundra habitat include Baird’s Sandpipers and American Golden-Plovers, and these three species are often found together during migration as well. They seek out mostly dry, flat habitats including sod farms, prairies, and many kinds of agricultural fields, so long as they are not covered by water or heavy vegetation.

As soon as they arrive on tundra nesting grounds, male Buff-breasted Sandpipers begin their rousing courtship displays. Several males (rarely up to 20) form a loose group (all within sight of each other) known as an “exploded lek,” often on dry patches of tundra near river bends. These leks last for several days. Some males frequent the same lek location, whereas others move from lek to lek, taking short flights or in some cases wandering for hundreds of miles. Their displays are unusual among shorebirds, involving at least 17 different postures and behaviours. Most often, males crouch and raise the tail and one wing, waving the wing slowly to show the bright white under surface. They also leap into the air and flutter the wings in a balletic display. When a male has attracted the attention of a female, he raises and opens both wings, raises the bill and head, puffs out the breast, stands on tip-toe, and moves forward like a wind-up toy, making the wings move up and down. A receptive female opens and raises the wings, then turns her back toward the male. Leks can seem chaotic in their activities, as males often seek to disrupt other males’ displays when females are present. Some males even try to distract others by mimicking female behaviour, and it is common to see males attempt to mate with other males at leks. Male and female do not form a pair bond; the females select nest sites, build nests, and raise young without help from males. After the breeding season, Buff-breasted Sandpipers gather in flocks for migration, like most shorebirds. They arrive on wintering grounds in flocks but soon begin to establish feeding territories there. Males often display on wintering grounds and sometimes during migration.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper populations once numbered in the hundreds of thousands to millions, but by the 1920s hunting, overgrazing, conversion of prairie to cropland, and other landscape changes had brought this species close to extinction. Their numbers increased slightly after shorebird hunting was banned in the early 20th century, but are thought to be declining again. Partners in Flight estimates the global breeding population at 56,000, rates the species a 14 out of 20 on the Continental Concern Score, and includes the species on its Yellow Watch List for species with declining populations. Habitat loss and energy development projects (including oil/gas and wind power) threaten the sites these birds use for display, nesting, and migration. The effects of climate change in the Arctic, including both sea-level rise and habitat changes, are likely to render some current nesting areas unsuitable.

male Buff-breasted Sandpiper East Halton Marshes May 15th 2025

My first Buff-breasted Sandpiper was a juvenile twitched at Blithfield Reservoir on September 21st 1980 on return from an unforgettable week in Cornwall that started with my first juvenile Spotted Sandpiper at Draycote Water on the way down and then produced not only self-found Semi-palmated Sandpiper and Aquatic Warbler but juvenile American Golden Plover, two Pectoral Sandpipers, two Wilson’s Phalaropes and a Ring-necked Duck. In early September 1981 Andrew Grieve rang me from Blacktoft to say that a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper had flown from Blacktoft across the Trent towards Alkborough Flats. My first ever visit to Alkborough Flats on September 3rd duly relocated the Buff-breast feeding on burnt stubble fields with 70 Ruff.

With several notable Transatlantic flights in the 70’s and 80’s the wisdom was that it was actually easier to see Buff-breasted Sandpiper in Britain than in most of the US. A total of five autumn juveniles and an August adult followed before my first self-found local patch bird, an adult, at Chowder Ness on July 30th 2007. With six more juveniles and three adults, two in August and one on May 24th 2009 at Alkborough Flats I had amassed a total of 18 birds of this charismatic species up to the end of 2024 including two juveniles together at Rimac in September 2011. I spent a few hours lying in the dried out mud frequented by the Alkborough Flats spring bird but it never showed any inclination to display to the Arctic bound Ringed Plovers nearby. In spite of several visits to Canada and trips to Arizona, Texas and California it was the autumn of 2016 before I saw Buff-breasted Sandpiper across the pond when a juvenile was feeding with four Pectoral Sandpipers on the Spit at Campbell River, Vancouver Island.

Buff-breasted Sandpiper East Halton May 15th 2025 - feeding in sloppy mud is clearly not what Buff-breast do regularly and it ended up with a muddy bill and forehead most of the time I was watching it

So back to May 15th 2025:

It was cold with a freezing NE wind and after a morning of fruitless scanning of the local Swift flock, still only about 100, and the 30 or so House Martins and 50 Swallows I decided to look for waders around Goxhill – East Halton. A couple of Sanderling on Monday with one a superb summer male and the faint possibility of something different at Winter’s Pond saw me sitting in the car having a leisurely lunch and avoiding getting out into the cold wind. Two Whimbrel flew past and northwards after failing to find any suitable mud. But eventually it had to be done and I donned appropriate winter gear and walked to look at the one remaining good-looking pool on the mitigation area. Now this was either good or bad timing but initially it seemed like the latter. As I scanned, I could only see one Ringed Plover but unfavourably a pair of Avocets and two Lapwings on the pool two species that are usually aggressive to any other waders. Indeed, as I walked up one of the Lapwings started chasing a Little Ringed Plover around the pool then it flew at the lone Ringed Plover which flew up accompanied by the Buff-breasted Sandpiper that I had not picked up on the deck. Dam and double dam as it and the RP flew up, up and away over the hedge and out over the Humber – that was just bad timing and I was curding the time spent eating lunch when I could have been looking at a Buff-breast. The obvious thing to do seemed to be to walk down to the Humber, where it was low tide, and hope they had landed somewhere out there but a quick scan revealed many hectares of wader less mud and just three Shelduck. I walked towards Killingholme Haven checking the seaweed and upper mudflats but to no avail so I wandered back towards the car then walked up towards the pool where to my surprise the Buff-breast was feeding right next to the fence. The Lapwing seemed to have settled down so I set about taking to pictures but the light was dull and grey and almost murky. There were three or four Little Ringed Plovers on the pool and the Buff-breast seemed to be associating loosely with them but what happened when it flew and landed next to one of the LRP’s had me stunned. It suddenly started displaying towards one of the LRP’s with legs stretched and wings raised and held open showing off the amazing patterning on the underwing feathers. I fired off several shots but it was a bit distant and the background was a mess. Having seen images of this display it was truly exciting to see it in the flesh so to speak. During the next hour twice when the Buff-breast flew and landed it performed the same wing raised display sometimes strutting towards its friend and sometimes almost running with raised wings. The pattern of the upperwing proved to be almost as striking as the underwing and the bird was clearly uttering a low call while displaying but in the strong wind it was hard to hear. I managed a few more shots of the display but frustratingly thought I had got some video but I had pressed the wrong button on the camera in my excitement.

So, has a Buff-breasted Sandpiper ever displayed to a Little Ringed Plover in the past? Who knows what a vagrant in the wrong part of the world will do but for me this was a brief but mazing first and truly memorable encounter with one of the World’s best waders.

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025 - the LRP seemed less than impressed

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025 - the underwing pattern is so striking

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025 - the upper flight feathers are almost as impressively marked as their undersides

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025 - sadly not on some nice tundra vegetation but some dried out Lincolnshire clay

Male Buff-breasted Sandpiper displaying to a Little Ringed Plover, East Halton, Lincolnshire May 15th 2025 - another pose

As the Buff-breast hung on to 17th I was receiving messages saying that it was showing at close range so I headed back to East Halton mid-morning but the light was dire and it remained cold, dull and cloudy with a persistent NE wind - images were bigger but certainly no better with worse light

It blended in with the dried, caked mud very well and could be tricky to see and easy to overlook

then early afternoon the sun was out and after a fruitless Ancholme walk I returned late afternoon for another crack - It was not that close most of the timeand even the beast did not send it our way but the light was so much better and eventually it did a few short displays in the glorious light allowing me to improve on the initial efforts - the image above being the best

What a difference light makes though to any pose

Having read a few more texts it appears that they do often display on spring migration and occasionally even in autumn

I heard a call similar to some of the more melodic notes recorded on eBird when the bird landed

And below images of my previous Buff-breasted Sandpipers all in Lincolnshire

Juvenile Donna Nook September 2006 in seemingly typical salicornia habitat on the Lincs beach

Covenham Reservoir juvenile October 2006 - concrete sides reservoirs seem an odd site for waders but the wealth of insects is clearly the attraction

Adult with Dunlin Chowder Ness Barton July 2007 - my only local patch bird

A one day bird at Chowder it was found further up the estuary att Read’s island the following day

a confiding juvenile at Toft Newton september 2007 - sadly it had somehow become impaled with a straw stem in its leg - rear flank

juvenile Toft Newton Reservoir September 2007 as above

adult Alkborough Flats May 2009 - I spent seevral hours being eaten by flies lying in the mud near this bird but it stubbornly refused to display

This was the closest I got to seeing that underwing - Alkborough Flats May 2009

a typically very confiding bird Alkborough May 2009

juvenile Rimac with two juvenile Curlew Sandpipers September 2011

One of the two juveniles Rimac September 2011 again in salicornia on the beach

Graham Catley 08/05/2025 Graham Catley 08/05/2025

Bempton seabirds - trying to make things a little different

I have been to Bempton a few times already this year and typically take the same old pictures so I have consciously been trying to think a little differently whether it be light or subject size or backdrop or anything slightly different - this blog is a selection of images that I have taken between February and May of the usual suspects - herewith the Gannets on Staple Newk in fairly flat light not blowing out the white highlights which always happens on sunny days

Back in february there were masses of auks on the sea with the first Gannets drifting around and Fulmars back on the cliffs - capturing the spectacle of all the auks is tricky in a flat image so I zoomed out and tried to show some of the patterns created by the flocks of birds on the water.

zooming in a bit to a flock of mainly Razorbills

a bit of bill conflict with a dark background

In February there is a lot less light but it is subtle and brings out the details in the white plumage

The first Guillemots packing the ledges with the empty Kittiwake nests as they had not returned in February

On this latest visit I took a series of images of birds over the crashing waves at the foot of the cliffs as there was a notably chilly onshore breeze for May - sometimes you have to look harder to see the subject and sometimes there are additional birds like the Kittiwake below the Gannet

This turned out to be my favourite result - I was tracking the Kittiwake but then the Guillemot flew through and kjust caught the light with a good wing position - the juxtaposition fo the two birds and the power of the breaking waves makes it probably my best shot of the year but all opinions are personal!

Here I have cropped another shot from the same sequence to show just the Guillemot, bigger in frame and the waves which look rather like a waterfall

Here the sea is key and the Kittiwake almost invisible in need of looking for

a less dramatic sea and more obvious Kittiwake

Does converting to Black and White make it more dramatic?

A Herring Gull with even more foam and froth

A Puffin near the cliff top in a mud hole

A Razorbill coming in to land - pretty standard shot with modern AF systems

This Razorbill just caught the low sun while the sea was in shade and hence dark - I take loads of Razorbill images but delete most of them!

Not really a fan of head shots but its the eye that captures the imagination

Arguably a Kittiwakes best bit is its orange gape so you need a calling bird to show it off - I preferred this one as it includes some fo the cliff and the sea as backdrops

The value of zoom lenses - taken with the Canon RF 100-500 lens at 100mm and the Canon R6II - the architecture ie the stack and the distribution of the Gannet nests just draws my eye all the time - I love this image

Razorbill catching the low light - would you remove that insect? I thought it added interest

Full sun but a bit of activity interest - Razorbill display

A pair of Kittiwakes displaying but its the quizical look of the onlooker that adds interest

the contrast of two species caught by chance

Graham Catley 03/05/2025 Graham Catley 03/05/2025

May 2025

As spring dashes by a few more images to add to the challenge and some better or repeat shots of species already logged

Common Terns are a constant feature of the pits from now through to July or August with about 14 birds present so far and a few pairs displaying but none settled on eggs as yet - I like to try and capture something a litle different each year

The first two days of the month were hot and with a lot of insects aloft the terns were flycatching

138 on the challenge sheet Common Sandpiper one of the very few passage waders we get on the local patch nowadays as we have lost all our freshwater wetlands and the Humber inter-tidal seems devoid of life

139 - I said I wouldn’t include Pheasant but it is a colourful bird in some nice green grass

One of the local male Cuckoos passed by within range but the beautiful rufous female continues to elude me for year three!

I actually saw a Hairy Dragonfly being dismembered by a Hobby before seeing one in the flesh as it were - recent days have seen an emergence of several damselflies, Azure, Blue-tailed, Common Blue and Large Red as well as Four-spotted Chasers and Hairy Dragons

Orange-tip mating pair and intruding male - I have a lot of invert photos from the spring that I really need to organise

A cracking couple of hours yesterday photographing four Hobbies locally - will do a blog post on them when I get them processed

One of the local breeding male Swallows - although there seems to be more birds than last year numbers are still well down

140 Swift - although birds have been over the gardemn for over a week this was the first morning I fired off a few shots at the screaming birds - more attempts will no doubt follow

Swifts and skies is one of my photo fascinations

and my favourite of the year so far - we have three birds screaming around the hosue but they are looking at the neighbour’s roof and not our nest box but who knows maybe another arrival will find us

With precious few waders on the local foreshore this Whimbrel was a photographic bonus this morning - 141 on the challenge list

142 Herring Gull at Bempton over the red campion

another Hobby encounter at Searby this time - every one is a moment to cherish

A House Martin closing in an an insect - a few more on the pits in cold weather but still only about 30

don’t often get the chance to photograph this species so a bonus in the field of view of the BBS

Buff-breasted Sandpiper East Halton displaying male - read the full story with lots of images by clicking the image above - this is the male in display - 144 on the challenge list

a stunning summer plumaged Sanderling at east Halton - bad angle but brilliant bird and rather different to the winter bird featured earlier

brilliant birds even in the Humber cappuccino

a male Turnstone from early in the month getting into decent summer plumage but maybe a younger adult as its not that bright

145 on the challenge list Moorhen - there are quite a few species I just have not taken a decent shot of yet this year

146 Ringed Plover here part of a large flock of Tundra birds heading for the Arctic - there were 380 in this group (not all shown here) but up to 900 on the nearby middle Humber on this day along with three Sanderling, Two Turnstone and a Little Stint plus a few Dunlin

147 Common Crossbill up at Wykeham in North Yorkshire see image below

male Honey-buzzard a shot from an epic day’s encounter linked to a blog post above 148

Don’t think I can get away with claiming this is a representative image of Long-eared Owls - maybe see if they fledge successfully

149 Spotted Flycatcher and particularly that orange base to the lower mandible - we lost them from the local park in 2017 with none since and I struggle to see one on the patch annually now - they hang on in the forest with a few pairs most years

and 150 up with this rather dapper male Redstart - I was tipped off to where this male had been singing for a few days and went hoping for a fleeting glimpse - it sang for about an hour but defied observation then with people and dogs and screaming kids about it came down tot eh ground to feed - I missed the close shot as it was slap behind a tree! but was very lucky to get this as it took off after a ground foray - not had a signing male in Lincs since 2017 yet another breeding species lost from the county in my birding lifetime - Wood Warbler, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Willow Tit and now almost Turtle Dove

Graham Catley 11/04/2025 Graham Catley 11/04/2025

Short-eared Owls

It was a pretty poor winter locally for seeing Short-eared Owls though they seemed to be there but almost nocturnal! Then they became a bit more co-operative until the favoured fields were managed! Here below a selection of the better ones

It is a matter of opinion whetehr birds looking directly at you are better or preferable to ones where the bird is clearly looking at the ground for food or elsewhere

I like backlit shots but they are not to everyone’s taste

Even when you are in a car they clearly know you are there but because you are deemed less of a threat the look is more quizzical?

whereas plain backdrops make an image - some beautiful light during the high pressure

One of my favourites due to the look in its eyes

Graham Catley 09/04/2025 Graham Catley 09/04/2025

April 2025

The photo challenge continues but being spring I am diversifying a bit on the photo front so a few non-birds in this month’s edition

To kick off April a singing male Blackcap something I have been trying to get a better image of for a few weeks

Waters’ Edge has a good breeding population of Blackcaps

My spring fascination with Blackcaps continues but I have yet to get the camera onto a female

110 on the challenge list the Linnet - a still common breeding bird and record numbers in the winter with a flock of 1000+ in the Ancholme Valley

111 Spoonbill - a record shot but better images to come during the summer no doubt

I have several weeks of Short-eared Owl encounters linked here

Been coming across good numbers of Brown Hares this spring

2cy male Hen Harrier from earlier in the month

Black-headed Gulls - very smart in summer plumage

Common Lizard in the forest yesterday in a nice pose amongst the vegetation

112 on the challenge list - Cetti’s Warbler in habitat

Not difficult to hear or get deafened by but always a challenge to see

Some nice misty morning this week - a Mute Swan was one of the few birds available

misty Black-headed Gulls and a female Pochard on Waters’ Edge

A bank of fog rolling around the upper Humber

Always open to a challenge on the flying insect front as well - a Dark-edged Bee-Fly giving me the evil eye

113 Red Kite - it has taken a while to get a representative Red Kite image this year diue to my lack of travel to suitable locales but this 2cy flew over me at Alkborough today after the American Wigeon twitch

Drake American Wigeon Alkborough Flats 9th - the second for the site and clearly paired to this female Wigeon - sun made it tricky with heat haze and then cloud made it look a bit drab 114

115 Another of those that has to be done but at least they were local at Alkborough today - Egyptian Goose

116 Willow Warbler with a little proviso - this bird arrived on April 6th on Waters’ edge and it was a definite mixed singer doing about 65% Willow Warbler and 35% Chiffchaff but the call was Willow Warbler - since then it has certainly become a Willow Warbler and now only very rarely does it do any Chiffchaff song in spite of having a Chiffchaff in an adjacent territory

The mixed singer still present as of April 20th and now doing 99% Willow Warbler song

117 Lesser Black backed Gull — now a daily sight around town and over the garden but formerly a scarce local bird that only started breeding in the late 1990’s

On the morning of the 12th I was pleased to find two Ring Ouzels on my local patch but quickly realised that there were in fact three then amazingly four and eventually five birds together - two still there today 14th. — 118 on the challenge list

One male was very accommodating after the human traffic on the adjacent footpath died down

Such subtle and intricate pluamge details visible at close range and the beautiful sunlight helped

By standing back and anticipating the next human flushing I managed some decent flight shots

Birds are creatures of habit or should that be habitat, and I have seen a numebr of individuals in both spring and autumn in this location

119 Barn Swallow - a few local pairs have arrived early hopefully there will be more than last year’s dismal showing

2cy Great Black-backed Gull 120 on the challenge list - thsi bird was actively seeking out Mallard broods in the reedbeds a seemingly odd behaviour for this pelagic species.

121 House Martin one of four seen last week but oddly none since - hopefully better images in better light later

122 Sand Martin - another species to improve upon

123 Sedge Warbler - my first shots of the spring - hopefully some display flights at some point

One of the local female Sparrowhawks starting nest building this week

Nice to see even a small flock of Swallows after last year’s dismal showing - at least 20 this day

A close encounter with a Treecreeper around trhe pits earlier in the month

124 Grey Partridge a male chasing a potential mate - not all images need to be full frame portraits - this is good breeding habitat unlike 95% of Lincolnshire farmland

125 Yellow Wagtail - and the dreaded barbed wire fence

126 Reed Warbler - my first this year was on the 8th and my earliest ever was on April 2nd 2024 - back in the late 1970’s we never expected Reed Warbler until the first week of May but now there are loads in my late April - changing migration patterns related to climate change

early birds are typically much less visible than later in the spring as they sing from well down in the still dead brown reed stems - this one was almost cisible this morning then of all things a male House Sparrow landed in the reeds and first a Cetti’s then this Reed Warbler took exception to its presence

127 Grasshopper Warbler - never seen one on a brick post before - part of the infrastructure of the old brick and tile works in the local pits

always value early spring views as you never know when you will see one again until July

initially very difficult to see in low dead reeds

and a couple of Sedge Warblers from a reedy warbler kind of day

My earliest ever Garden Warbler, by one day, becomes 128 on the challenge list and a species that I often struggle to photograph at all let alone in spring so this male was a nice addition to the day

129 Lesser Whitethroat - although only in for a few days this male was nest building today and had attracted a female but she seemed less than impressed with his nest and disappeared west

Love the colour of the newly opened leaves

Not a species I have many spring images of

130 Tree Pipit - some memorable encounters yesterday on the forest heaths - a series of flight images and a mid-air fight linked above in another blog post

One of the fight images with a male coming up underneath another male that has just about turned itself inside out

131 Hobby - a pair back locally yesterday - better images hopefully as the spring progresses but great to have them back

a nice showy yellow toned Grasshopper Warbler to add to the spring tally

Pair of Common terns in aerial display over the local patch this week

Time to tidy up April which has flown by with one or two new birds for the photo challenge - herewith 133 the Cuckoo one of two battling males that just did not quite pose in the right light

134 the Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon - this one at Bempton looked pretty real for a Rock Dove

135 Kittiwake - several more images to process from a Bempton visit with lots of Razorbill activity

136 Puffin - not many birds visible on 29th maybe a Coquet visit needed later in the year

and at the very last gasp of April 137 a roding Woodcock that did not show until well after sunset

Graham Catley 06/04/2025 Graham Catley 06/04/2025

Hen Harrier v Short-eared Owl

A couple of weeks back the male Hen Harrier set off at speed after a Short-eared Owl hunting the fields; a battle then ensued with the owl climbing higher to avoid the harrier and at first it seemed like it was a just an interspecific skirmish but on looking at my images, all heavily cropped, it was clear that the owl had a vole which the harrier was attempting to steal - this behaviour has now been repeated a few times but it is not something I had knowingly seen before

male Hen Harrier and Short-eared Owl in aerial tussle

when being chased or mobbed the owls usually head upwards - the vole is visible in its right foot

Hen Harriers can seemingly fly upside down

the owl escaped with its catch this time

Graham Catley 11/03/2025 Graham Catley 11/03/2025

Hen Harrier action

The weather yesterday was not great looking for photography with the strong cold northerly combining with bright sun to produce a serious amount of atmospheric distorion with only about 200m being haze free: But it was sunny so I went to have a look for Hen Harriers and it proved to be a good decision. The adult male was present along with a 2cy male that was hunting much more frequently. The male seems to adept at catching voles that he spends very little time on the wing but even the young male caught three voles in less than 90 minutes. The adult male chased off the young male a couple of times but he always came back then an unusual encounter ensued. The adult male caught a vole and moved to eat it but the young male then flew after him almost in a feed me juvenile type way but also partly in a robbing flight - this clearly angered the adult male who flew up and gave chase to the young male and several skirmishes ensued of which I managed to capture a few shown below. Later in the afternoon the two did some more sparing but then seemed to almost accept each other’s company. Fortunately the light was good and the haze a little reduced during the encounter but by 15:30 the wind picked up again and brought in some sea fret and it was time to leave.

Adult male Hen Harrier voicing his anger at the younger male

2cy male chasing the adult male carrying a vole

stunning adult male with a striking tail pattern

I read too many reviews of camera gear! So many I read say that the Canon RF 200-800 is not sharp and maybe with the R7 its not great but with my R6II it seems pretty decent to me even with the haze of yesterday

the times when the 2cy male had the upper hand or position were few

seeing encounters like these is a rare privilege

The 30 frames a second on the R6II comes into its own in brief action sequences like these

the eyes say it all - get your own voles!

this 2cy male is richly coloured on the underparts particularly obvious at a distance

Some more action this week with the adult male mobbing and being mobbed by a Carrion Crow and then another 2cy male joining in the action

Adult male and the second 2cy male of the week a much paler and more advanced bird than the richly coloured bird in earlier images

and the first 2cy male for direct comparison

Graham Catley 10/03/2025 Graham Catley 10/03/2025

Lakes, Dales and Moors

Three days in the Lakes at a very quiet time of year and then diverted to North Teesdale in search of Black Grouse that I had not seen for years but inevitably we hit the only wet day of the week on the Black Grouse quest so departed mid-morning and wandered back via the North York Moors to add Red to the week’s grouse list.

Langdales - the Canon R6II and Rf 100-500

Signs of spring were few but it did hit 16C on our last day in the Lakes

The walk up Langdales did produce a Dipper though the angles were not great for photography

Esthwaite Water on a dull day when the sun was forecast - well by the MET Office anyway

My annual Marsh Tit encounter seems to be in this area - but as the British Willow Tit heads to extinction the Marsh Tit seems to be following

Far from satisfactory images of this singing male

Although still bright when we arrived in upper Teesdale by the following morning there was low cloud and haze and the rain soon arrived

A gang of Brown Hares chillin on the moors

and a bit of distant boxing albeit in very poor light

Good to see so many Lapwings tumbling and displaying

The number of displaying Curlew was amazing and their bubbling song produced an amazing soundscape

Ended up putting the 1.4x converter on the 200-800 lens which is not ideal in dull light

But at well over 1km range the results were almost acceptable as record shots

I was pleased to see about five females but even on a green field they were rather well disguised

Their ability to fade into spread manure was also impressive

There seemed to be very little lekking taking place

Just before we left we took a drive up another road and came across this male close to the roadside: I had seen a few males with brownish wings and poor combs but it had not registered that they were 2cy males like this bird

Red Griese were not hard to find on the roadside across the North York Moors - far too much heather burning and grouse management makes me question my photography of this species but they are an attractive bird

Plenty of males displaying but as usual the light was pretty dire

Graham Catley 03/03/2025 Graham Catley 03/03/2025

March 2025

Amazingly we are into March and although it feels more spring like there seems to be little change on the bird front with a small increase in local Siskins after a very poor winter while the early Stonechat passage has aybe peaked with seven locally last week. Marsh Harriers are displaying and a pair of Peregrines are drifting around locally but I have managed to miss two local Red Kites so far but surely one to come soon.

A somewhat better Stock Dove shot than the February addition

Green Sandpiper makes it to number 87 although the images are far from good it is a species I have consistently struggled to get any good shots of

A wintering bird seen in November and December but then not again until this weekend.

I am in the process of reading the Peregrine by J A Baker for the first time since I was at school! and it has been fascinating to be able to go out and watch this local pair putting into context the observations of Baker in the 60’s - a great read and a classic of natural history writing in spite of its seemingly sometimes flawed observations - this is the male or tiercel of the pair that have been wandering around the local patch this last week

Sincerely hope this is not the best Hawfinch shot I get this year but for now its 89

A nice 2cy Common Buzzard during a non productive Gos search yesterday

90 Pink-footed Goose - I have not got anything decent on teh local Pinks so far but today’s shots were a bit better

Drake Pochard 91 on the challenge - up to 52 locally in the last three weeks the highest counts of the winter but hardly comparable to the 2000+ that were regular in the mid 1980’s

93 Russian White-fronted Goose with Pink-feet in the Ancholme Valley this afternoon - just the one as far as I could see

94 Dipper from a Lake District visit - blog with many iamges of two grouse species and a few other oddments linked below

Grouse, Lakes and Dipper

95 Marsh Tit singing male in the Lakes - not a great shot

96 Black Grouse again many images linked on the button above in a blog post

97 displaying male Red Grouse North York Moors

98 one of a big arrival of singing Chiffchaffs locally this weekend

100 Purple Sandpiper and 101 Dunlin on the Humber

Hen Harriers from this week adult male and two different 2cy males sparring this week - link to series of images by clicking above

103 one of our garden Collared Doves in display flight

When I looked at this image on the camera I thought it was good but the background is too close and too colourful and messy

Our garden flock of up to 35 House Sparrows have deserted us this winter in favour of a neighbour’s food but this week a few birds have ventured back

Little Egret in head on pose at Wild Wren

There have ben up to 52 Pochard, only six drakes, locally of late but a few less now though hopefully a few of the females will breed

And 104 on the photo challenge list the diminutive but very loud jenny Wren

Feel I have been guilty of over-cropping a lot of images of late - need to reset the balance

I also have a bucket load of harrier images to process / delete! - 2cy male Hen Harrier above

Amazingly I did not see a Scaup in Lincolnshire let alone locally in 2024 so the six on the patch this week has been a bonus and 105 on the challenge list

We had an injured drake locally for about 10 years and although it could not fly it clearly attracted other Scaup to the pits in spring but since it died visits have been much more sporadic

The days of seeing 250 Scaup on the Humber are long gone

Stretching the photo challenge idea somewhat with this Long-tailed Duck but it was on the local pits which allows for some slight variation in interpretation - 106

Goldeneye and Pochard at sunset while searching for the Long-tailed Duck on its first day

Hopefully get some better Little Gull images in the spring but for now this March winter adult will have to do as 107

109 Short-eared Owl - its been a long wait for a decent image of this species and this week’s were still not great

But this memorable encounter with a male Hen harrier will be expanded upon in a new post linked above

110 on the challenge male Blackcap - a few arrived locally in late March and I spent a long time trying to get a decent image of a male but they have been surprisingly tricky and I have a lot of rejects

With the run of sunny days many males have been singing and feeding high in the trees - this one was leaping up for a morsel

Record numbers of Chiffchaffs have been singing locally this spring with a count of 86 around the pits and additional birds in town, one regularly audible from my garden taking the total to well over 100

Sitting in the hide waiting for Marsh Harriers when this cracking Treecreeper ran up a couple of hawthorns behind the hide - the 200-800 lens filled the frame and I forgot to zoom out!

Graham Catley 25/02/2025 Graham Catley 25/02/2025

Woodlarks are back

Late looking for the first Woodlarks this year and only partly successful but the weather turned midday - found two males and a female this morning at one site and then at a second site lots of chasing, fighting and odd behaviour with three birds regularly in the air together which I assumed to be two males and a female. The pair often settled on the ground with the second male either chasing them around or hanging in the air above them looking down before making diving attacks. When the second intruding male flew off the pair settled to feeding and the male took a dust bath in the sand something I had not photographed before.

Intruding male Woodlark looking down at pair on the ground

not easy getting decent flight images that don’t just show the underparts of a singing bird

leafless birch trees as a backdrop and far enough away to not fool the AF system

the defending male on the deck looking out for the intruder

male foreground on bare sand before his dust bath

I rediscovered breeding Woodlarks in Lincolnshire in 1984 after a 24 year absence and worked on them for many years surveying most of the sites in the North of the county for many seasons - you can see some of the flying sand grains around the male’s head here

no he didn’t die on the sand just got into some odd positions

Graham Catley 20/02/2025 Graham Catley 20/02/2025

Eastern Yellow Wagtail at Winteringham

Sitting having a coffee on Wednesday 19th when the phone starts ringing - Mr D is telling me that Mike Pilsworth has found an eastern yellow Wagtail just eight miles down the road at Winteringham - the croissant disappears rapidly and I’m on my way. On arrival Mike quickly points if out on a field that is in the process of being ploughed. Over the next two hours it flies off a few times but always comes back calling loudly and get some good close views and a few images albeit in pretty dull light. A couple of videos includes one where it calls as it takes off at the end - volume up to get a good impression. A new bird for Lincolnshire and Mike’s second addition in three years - at this rate he will be catching me up! Video and series of images below.

Performing well this morning 21st in spite of the gale force winds

attempts at flight shots were not very successful in the wind

Graham Catley 02/02/2025 Graham Catley 02/02/2025

February 2025

A new month and some more species for the 2025 photo challenge - with a dull and dismal 1st not a lot to add but a sunny 2nd brought the chance to add some real padders so here goes with some of those missing common or garden birds and a few follow ups

Male Blackbird but note the brown wing feathers indicating that it is a second calendar year bird but from where? local or a winter migrant from the East?

All the greater coverts have been replaced by new black feathers

Another black bird with a slight twist a white winged Carrion Crow - feathers suffer from leucism in Carrion Crow’s wings on a failry regular basis but tis may also be due to poor diet during their formation in the nest

Green Woodpeckers - maybe seeing this nest box occupants as a threat so need to bring it down!! - 50

51 slightly different to the usual hovering shots a perched adult male on the patch this afternoon

a scenic tree albeit dead makes a better perch

52 Redshanks at high ide roost on the wreck of an old ship on the Humber at Goxhill

53 a flock of Turnstones - only 12 this morning but 70 at low tide yesterday was a decent count in recent terms though up to 400 used to winter on this stretch of the Humber

winter Turnstones reflect the umber colour of the Humber water

loved how the colours of this Yellowhammer were repeated in the surrounding trees and lichen - I continue to photograph this amazing species as it seems to be another one we are certain to loose sooner rather than later

54 Mute Swan cygnet taken through a film of reed that again complemented the colour of the bird and the warmth of the low winter sun

55 Whistling Wigeon - we have about 40 tame Wigeon locally now accustomed to people walking past them on the Humber bank so spoint for choice really

The problem with the birds omn the Humber is the closer they are the worse your angle looking down on them from the raised embankment

56 Great Tit - the light at this time of year is superb, when its not cloudy! so making the most of the common birds

another of those had to be done at some point Canada Goose 57

One of the Waters Edge specialities cracking male Bullfinch

male Chaffinch in winter hues - the quality of the relatively inexpensive Canon RF 200-800 lens continues to impress me with the R6II

59 up with the local flock of Curlew - always tricky getting a flock of birds with no overlapping individuals so this was a nice series in lovely early morning light - a declining species we have a flock of c45 locally but had up to 300 at Goxhill at the weekend where the species has always been in considerable numbers.

some individuals hold winter territories and this bird is highly tied to the area around Barton Haven where it feeds daily and is presumably the same bird seen in that area for a few winters

Probably a male from bill length but a tricky individual

60 Gadwall with male in head throw back display - in 1970 when I was just starting submitting records to the Lincs Bird Report my record of a pair of Gadwall in Goxhill Marsh at Quebec tileyard was one of very few records in that years county report - now there are up to 250 on my local patch and up to 450 at Alkborough a massive change in status

61 House Sparrow - considered a pest species when I started birding in the late 60’s and through to the late 70’s we used to get a notable westerly passage of birds up the Humber in September and October - nowadays I have a few spots locally where there are small numbers but flocks in fields in the autumn are a thing of the past

The flock at Waters Edge survive because there are old pan tiles rooves in the houses along Waterside road and the birds have easy access to a good insect food supply in the Wedge reedbeds in the summer when feeding young

Who can resist one more Long-tailed Tit shot

62 maybe pushing it a bit with this Tawny Owl shot but didn’t have one in January and found it because the resident pair of Stock Doves were sat outside the box looking non too happy

63 Blue Tit in a reedbed a major wintering habitat around the edges of the Humber - with a lot of imagination it could be an Azure

not really qualifying as 64 but a Dark-bellied Brent Goose on my local patch this morning was a rare bird so it makes the secondary grade and I am sure I will improve on it coastal later in the year

65 my first patch Little Egret of the year in a ditch by Wedge - I hammered my local patch at Barton in January walking about 150 miles and finished January with a total of 94 species seen the highest for eight years but my all time January max was 104 in 2008. In the last two days I have added five species, Tawny Owl, Little Egret, Treecreeper, Stonechat and Dark-bellied Brent Goose and I have still not had Barn Owl. All time February max was 120 in the record breaking year of 1996 when I managed 184 species in Barton something that will never be beaten given all the species that we no longer get and losses of species like Turtle Dove and Willow Tit.

66 Treecreeper in a regular local spot in the clay pits but a site where I had not managed to see or hear a bird throughout January but today a male was singing and a second bird calling - photographing them in hawthorns with lots of branches is never easy

a really bright looking bird in the February sun

67 Raven with nest lining material - it was only in 2003 that all the Lincs listers headed to Belton Park near Grantham for the first twitchable Lincolnshire Ravens now they are seemingly commonplace or at least very widely scattered

A Raven pair collecting linings yesterday - always an early breeder

68 Nuthatch - we lost our breeding birds from Baysgarth Park at Barton three years ago for some reason butr elsewhere in North Lincs they still seem to be doing OK; When I started birding in the late 60’s and through to about 2000 Nuthatches were restricted to woodlands south of Lincoln in the county but the northward spread was remarkably rapid for a sedentary species

another species I had few images of so yesterday’s collection were welcome

Had to make 70 with a decent bird and this second calendar year female Northern Goshawk fits the bill nicely - spent 5 hours with nothing to show but two minutes of close encounters made up for the stiff but

Will be putting more images in the Goshawk gallery when I get them processed

A good selection of padders on Waters Edge this morning including a decent flock of Goldfinches 71

I tried different shots of this Great Spotted Woodpecker male as he moved between drumming branches in the early morning sunny spots

And the feel of the morning - Robin and reed

around 300 Jackdaws roost in Barton town and before sunrise they assemble in the trees behind our house before dispersing for the day 72

73 Lesser Redpoll - in the whole of 2024 I saw one Lesser Redpoill on my local patch and that was a fly over in fact I only saw 4 birds all year including numerous visits to Laughton Forest so the 5 on Waters Edge yesterday were already more than last year and included a nice pink breasted male

Frosty Robin - they seem more prominent this winter but is it just people feeding them?

75 Jack Snipe - there has been a long spell of truly dismal weather with zero light but found 5 Jack Snipe with the aid of a thermal imager of which this was the most visible

Another Jack Snipe keeping its head down

76 Hen Harrier - taken a while to catch up with one in almost decent light here having a tussle with a crow

79 Eastern Yellow Wagtail - certainly not a species I expected to be adding to the annual challenge particularly just seven miles from home and a first for Lincolnshire - click the image above to go to more on a blog post about this exciting find

80 Tree Sparrows at Bempton where a Saturday visit added a few more species - a thriving Tree Sparrow colony is good to see as we seem to have lost all our small colonies at Barton in the last two years

81, 82 and 83 Guillemot, Razorbill and Gannet - there were masses of auks on the sea in huge rafts with plenty of Razorbill and Guillemots visiting the ledges

Many of the auks were distributed in wavy lines

the light at this time of year is better than mid-summer with a lower sun and more subtle shades - partially bridled Guillemot

Conscious effort to try and get a slightly different Gannet image

Plenty of nest site agro already under way

Nicer tones on the white plumage than in June

84 a pretty standard Fulmar - there were no Kittiwakes back and didn’t see a Puffin

85 Woodlark - full blog posit about first encounters of 2025 linked by clicking above image of a dust bathing male

Ending the month on 86 with a flying Common Snipe

Graham Catley 23/01/2025 Graham Catley 23/01/2025

January 2025

I set myself a sort of challenge in the photographic sense to get decent or new images of as many species as possible in the year concentrating of my local patch at Barton followed by Lincolnshire and then the UK. Herewith I will attempt to update with new species images taken through the year but as with my filing system things may not go just according to plan!

The first-winter Great Northern Diver that I found on the local pits in early January was literally frozen out by the mid-month freeze and headed to the Humber but kept flying back to the pit to see if the ice hole was big enough for it to land. It was dull but I attempted to get some of the early morning sky glow as a backdrop.

A more conventional shot of the Great Northern on Barton sailing pit

A low level Coot of course a common local resident

Coots concentrated around and in a hole in the ice covered pits mid-January with Shoveler and Gadwall and a few Herring Gulls

drake Goldeneye also on sailing pit - th ehighest winter count so far was 120 in the ice holes during the freeze

and a female in flight at a rather bird free Covenham Reservoir but in lovely light

A drake Goosander also at Covenham - I have seen a couple of local birds in January but neither was anywhere near enough for a decent photo

Great White Egret - one of two in the Ancholme Valley - amazing how the status of this species has changed in North Lincolnshire in such a short space of time but now regular in winter as well as spring through autumn

a juvenile Grey Wagtail adding a touch of colour to the Chowder Ness floods - the Richard’s Pipit absconded before the New Year

The Grey-headed Lapwing in Northumberland more of this bird on the blog post linked below

Grey-headed Lapwing and White-billed Diver

And the Northumberland White-billed Diver also linked above

Lapwings on a winter field of wheat lit by the low January sun - I am trying to vary the images of different species not just going for straight portraits of all birds

Little Grebes on the local pits - up to 23 birds were trapped in the ice holes by the freeze and at least one was dead on the ice but others probably suffered the same fate. A different perspective on this endearing species.

one reacting to the appearance of an Otter

Long-tailed Tit backlit by the low January sun - with common birds its nice to try something different while the species is still clearly identifiable

adult female Marsh Harrier hanging over an Otter that was swimming along the edge of the reedbed - I am generally spoilt by Marsh Harrier opportunities but this female is restricting the chances of other birds this winter as she is very territorial and drives off other birds that come anywhere near her patch but she does allow the adult male to roost in her reedbed

This 3cy male Marsh Harrier is also resident locally this winter but the adult female keeps him distant and I have yet to get any good images of him - his upperparts are very similar to the adult female and he is often logged as another female!

A smart Greenfinch - this is one of those common species that I have very few images of and I set about redressing the balance a bit this month

An adult Peregrine on the coast at Rimac - I have yet to see a patch bird this year but two were reported today so the time is nigh

Song Thrushes in a frosty meadow - from the plumage tones these look like local birds rather than continental visitors

Male Reed Bunting showing off its tail pattern

Robin feeding on the edge of a reedbed not on a garden implement

Barnacle Geese at Alkborough Flats where the Humber population of c2000 birds was present in January as usual - they seldom stray very far down the estuary though and I usually struggle to see one just 10 miles away on my local patch

I clearly need to write things about difficult birds more often - just after writing the above had this lone Barnacle with a flock of Pink-footed Geese, part of a movement of 1600 birds, on the afternoon of the 25th heading west up the Humber over my patch

Drake Pintail at Alkborough Flats - an early year shot of a species I often struggle to get anything decent on

Sanderling on the beach at Rimac - I take so many images of this species and then delete 95% of them but I liked the pose in this one and the habitat

Rock Pipits have been absent in winter locally for a few years but the cold snap saw up to three present though usually flighty this one posed for a few minutes at Chowder allowing better than normal images - presumably a Scandinavian littoralis

a paler littoralis on the coast in bright sunshine

And at Alkborough Flats I even managed to get some moderate Water Pipit images as the birds were forced out to feed on the ice covered pools - never an easy bird to photograph as they are typically very flighty

Shovelers on ice during the freeze looking suitably impressed

I have to include Greylags sometime in the year so best to get them out of the way early

male Stonechat on the hated barbed wire fence

low angle Tufted Ducks in a hole in the ice

Water Rails at Alkborough Flats in the freeze- standing togetehr on the frozen ditch this image begs the question are pair bonds maintained through the winter months? Something I have been unable to unearth and answer to but these birds were clearly together with no of the usual territorial aggression

A slightly boring portrait of a Whooper Swan but I may not get a better image of this species on the patch this year who knows?

Work in progress - there is currently a flock of c30 Yellowhammers on the foreshore and some days they are quite approachable but light has been absent - maybe the Pine Bunting will join them later in the winter

Having narrowly missed one of our garden Collared Doves this female Sparrowhawk paused on our neighbour’s garage roof long enough for me to take a few shots hand held at 1/80th second through a double glazed window with the 200-800 lens - pretty decent considering the conditions

To contrast with the garden environment a male in the reedbeds on a convenient willow stump perch

So 31 species represented thus far and a few days of January left

a bit more light sensitive Cormorant take off

33 a flock of Bullfinches nine last week but only eight yesterday - another non portrait habitat shot

nice male in the favoured Wedge blackthorn

34 Skylarks in squabble - at least 51 back at Wild Wren yesterday in the sunshine with a lot of singing and display flights

35 and the sun also brought out the Little Owls for the first time this month

Thought I was going to get through the month without a co-operative Bittern but in a short burst of sun this morning this one performed a treat - more images linked below - 36 species

More images in the Bitern galleries linked by clicking image above including several from today

37 cock Chaffinch in beech leaves - not many in the park and no sign of any Brambling this year but the ground staff were busy raking up all the remaining leaves and beech mast to protect the public

and a male showing the often concealed green rump - lower back

Common Buzzard this bird flew right past me in the wind and then perched on a low hedge - the light this morning was spot on — number 38

and a rather distant but suitably stunning first-winter pale bird seen amongst a gathering of 12 Common Buzzards and two Red Kites this afternoon in a Lincolnshire Valley

Mistle Thrush was one of those common ish species that I had very few images of so I was determined to try and improve that and today this bird in the park was nice and co-operative in lovely light - lots more images to process and upload

Mistle Thrush is also a species that we seem to be loosing quickly so good to get some images now - I have already left it too late to concentrate on Willow Tit, Turtle Dove and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker all species we have lost in the last 15 years

40 Pied Wagtail one of several feeding in the leaf litter in the park this morning

42 it has gone from a rarity you chased to something you have to force yourself to photograph in such a short space of time - the proverbial white plastic bag as described by a colleague many years ago - Cattle Egret at Saltfleetby

43 Great Spotted Woodpecker in Barton Park - we lost our Nuthatches three years ago, Mistle Thrushes seem to be down to one pair and so far this year I have failed to find any Treecreepers - woodland birds are in real catastrophic trouble

44 Red-necked Grebe at Sutton Ings a long stayer - never came very close though

but maybe the only one I will get this year?

45 a suitably glossy winter Starling with some lichen

Meadow Pipit (48) one I forgot to upload from early in the month - and onto February

Graham Catley 12/01/2025 Graham Catley 12/01/2025

Two out of three ain’t bad but in this instance it didn’t seem that way

In the immortal words of Meatloaf / Jim Steinman two out of three ain’t bad but lets fast forward to January 9th 2025. The first Grey-headed Lapwing for Britain was found in Northumberland in spring 2023 and subsequently went up to Scotland and then even to the western edge of the known world on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides at a spot we have visited several times. It was often distant and a bit erratic while in Northumberland and I didn’t have much inspiration to go and see a dot and hence it remained absent from my very lowly British list. It seemed like my six birds at Beidaihe in May 1993 would remain my only record but in early December presumably the same Grey-headed Lapwing popped up in Northumberland and in spite of odd absences it was still around in early January and apparently easier to see. I was still not really enthusiastic but when a very photogenic juvenile White-billed Diver dropped in nearby at Druridge Bay the attraction got a little stronger but the weather was a bit dicy with the worst frosts of the winter. Then just to rev me into gear an adult Ross’s Gull added to the Northumberland - Durham haul appearing at South Shields and it was notably pink flushed. Now as I had written a blog about my encounters with Ross’s Gulls pretty recently and stated I would love to see another the draw was now too much to resist.

Ross's Gull blog post

All three birds had been seen on January 8th so alarm was set for 05:00 on the 9th and after some traffic delays I was at South Shields at 09:00 but there were very few birders about apparently and no sign of the gull. As the sunny morning dragged on with no sign of the gull I made the decision to head up for the Lapwing and Diver just 45 minutes north through the £2:40 Tyne tunnel. Thanks to great map links from Phil H I was soon at the field where the Grey-headed Lapwing was feeding and it was on the list in seconds. Not distant but not that close so I put the 1.4x converter on the 200-800 lens to get a bit more reach. The sun was from the side and back and there was some shimmer but it walked down the hill towards us and gave great scope views. Then to complete the show a gull flushed it and it flew right past us albeit partly into the light but I had forgotten to take off the converter so shutter speeds were low and many images were soft or totally OOF. It had flown over the hill to the left of us so I headed down to the Druridge VC to check out the diver.

One of the easiest twitches - parked the car walked to the field gate and looked in and there it was then it wandered down the hill towards us

The mole hills were clearly an attraction presumably offering some feeding opportunities in the hard frosts

Grey-headed Lapwing Druridge Bay January 2025 - the sun and freezing air made it impossible to get really sharp images.

Having abandoned its Lapwing friends it was a bit less wary than previously apparently

A bird distinctly more impressive in flight

As I headed from the VC to the nearby lake edge for the diver a quick look at Birdguides showed that the Ross’s Gull was back by the south pier - was this going to be a full house? I gave the diver a shortened attention span and got some nice oimages then set off at pace back towards South Shields planning an arrival at about 13:15 that would give me plenty of time for some viewing and photography in the afternoon.

juvenile White-billed Diver January 2025 - my first since the showy juvenile on the River Witham in Lincs in January 2017

Initially sunny in the 15 minutes I was there it clouded over and there was a brief snow shower

somewaht more obliging than the local Great Northern

So after taking a few 100 diver images it was back to South Shields but as I dropped into the car park the Whatsapp said Ross’s flown north to North Shields fish quay - dam - anyway get the gear out and scan across the Tyne but no sign - after a while a gang of Yorky birders including Johny Mac and Gary Taylor appear - they have all seen it off the pier and improving photographer Gary T has images - after getting the gen on its movements I hear the fateful words you will see it -never has there been a better curse and the rest of the afternoon we are chasing shadows as it gets reported from further and further up the Tyne where access to the river side is highly restricted. So I head south with two out of three but missing the big prize.

The closest I got to the Ross’s an adult Mediterranean Gull

Inevitably the Ross’s Gull is being seen on 10th so W & C agree to a Saturday return visit but from the outset things do not look good and although the weather is distinctly Arctic the Arctic waif is nowhere to be seen all day and we have poor consolation in the form of very distant Iceland Gull, Green-winged Teal and Long tailed Duck through a fence in the mist un aesthetic locality possible at Jarrow - you can see why they all marched away -

The light on Saturday was stunning and hence more frustrating as the pink giull was nowhere to be had

A very very distant Iceland Gull and lots of non Ross’s

So the failed twitcher struck again - Ross’s Gull scoreline 11 chased and seven seen so better than average but this one was very annoying; maybe the next one will be in Yorkshire and more accessible - I don’t give much hope for Lincolnshire with no gull holding spots on the coast

Graham Catley 05/01/2025 Graham Catley 05/01/2025

Alkborough Flats January 3rd 2025

For the past 18 years I have been monitoring the wildlife, mainly birds, that used the Managed Realignment site at Alkborough Flats. Many thousands of hours later and 213 monthly reports, 18 annual reports and many thousands of images later I finally decided to retire as of the end of 2024. The site of course is still good for birds and other wildlife in spite of massive changes over the last 18 years mainly as a result of colonisation by reed of the former tidally inundated mudflats and latterly former arable fields and even wet grassland. The site now has a massive reedbed with decreasing areas of wet grassland and the range of bird species has changed dramatically in recent years.

Counting waders and wildfowl from the escarpment to the south of the Flats - now I can just enjoy the spectacle

March 2008 and below the same location February 2019

November 2023 - reed spreading across former open wet grass fields

So after a tip off from Neil D that Water Pipits were showing relatively well on the ice I left the car at Julian’s Bower and walked down the hill avoiding the icy road - the pipits were indeed showing to c50m not close for a small passerine so I used the RF 200-800 with a 1.4x converter giving 1120 mm equivalent but even then the birds were very small in the frame but the accompanying Meadow Pipits were closer as usual - why are Water Pipits always so skittish in Britain? Pied Wagtails were also skating on the ice and flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers occasionally rose up when a Marsh Harrier passed by and everything panicked when a Merlin dashed through only allowing very small record shots but my first of the year. Later I came across it again feeding on what appeared to be a Dunlin but as usual it did not linger for imagery. A nice male Stonechat in lovely light added to the birds photographed this year list. After a fairly short window of opportunity the pipit flock moved off into another field where they resumed their usual invisibility,

Meadow Pipit on ice - always at least 10m closer than the Water Pipits

Cracking little birds Meadow Pipits but yet another species in serious decline - very few now on my local patch and autumn movements particularly limited

Meadow Pipit picking food items from thistle - all the pipits were picking something from the dead thistle leaves

Pied Wagtails are also always so much tamer than Water Pipits

they often do seem to be slipping and sliding on the ice

Water Pipits selection below - never really close enough but better than most of my images

Another species that is so incredibly wary of human beings in Britain but so accepting of them in Canada

The sun was still shining mid-afternoon so after a longish walk I went back to the hide to be greeted by a flock of 90 Shoveler rotating in a feeding flock at point blank range. Numbers then built up to 200 and a cracking drake Pintail came in for a short sojourn. I then finished off with roosting Marsh Harriers and a Barn Owl and almost a sunset with Venus and the Moon showing well!.

Reed Bunting in the lovely afternoon sun - still had the 1.4x converter on the 200-800 - with good light it is still really sharp

Love the intricacies of Reed Bunting plumage

The subtle tones of a drake Gadwall in the low winter sun

Incoming Shoveler with a mix of background shades

but 200 are more so - a few Gadwall muscling in

They occasionally blasted off for no apparent reason

A drake Pintail outshines all wildfowl in late winter sun

A female Marsh Harrier pre roosting in the edge of a reedbed

Post sunset looking across the Flats to Trent Falls and Yorky land

Graham Catley 02/01/2025 Graham Catley 02/01/2025

A winter walk at Bempton Cliffs RSPB

A post Christmas walk at Bempton on an initially sunny then cloudy and progressively more windy day revealed that the only Puffins were in the shop, shock horror, but a number of Fulmars were back prospecting along the cliffs and the local Jackdaws proved to be entertaining while the locally made scones in the cafe are always a major attraction. A Peregrine and Kestrel patrolled but evaded the camera but the cliffs thronged with that seldom appreciated super species the Rock Dove / Feral Pigeon. Presumably in summer they are lost amongst the hordes of seabirds but in winter they gather in large flocks and dash around the cliffs commuting to inland fields to feed. On getting home I consulted John Mather’s, The Birds of Yorkshire 1986 to find that even in the early 1980’s there were counts of up to 5000 birds in the area in winter and surveys had revealed that 80% were or more realistically resembled pure Rock Doves. Looking at the mix at the moment that percentage I think will be lower but there are still a lot of good looking Rocks. Early authors of Lincolnshire bird lists considered that Rock Doves from the Yorkshire coast occasionally strayed to the Lincolnshire coast particularly in hard weather but proof was always lacking. Below a selection of images all taken with the Canon R^2 and Canon RF 100-500. The saddest part of the visit was seeing the empty Gannet nests at Staple Newk all adorned with masses of plastic fishing detritus a start reminder of the appalling way in which we treat our seas and oceans and the creatures that live there.

Bempton Cliffs looking towards Flamborough Head December 2024

Staple Newk - Gannets nests peppered with plastic fishing debris

A lone Great Black-backed Gull atop the ridge - the Black-browed Albatross memories seem a long way back

Fulmar patrolling the cliffs - check the wing moult

Fulmar in nice flat light - Bempton is such a great place and living so close I tend to visit as an after thought most years - I should make more effort and appreciate it more

There are a lot of photo opportunities beyond the portraits that I seem to end up with every year - must try harder

Jackdaws are always entertaining and look at the subtle colours in the wing coverts and mantle feathers

Jackdaw flight over cafe scraps - submissive bird on the left

A wide range of plumage types but still a good proportion of Rock types

You would guess that the local Peregrines never go hungry