Day 279 - Wonderfully Stealthy Water Snails

Great Pond Snail (Lymnaea stagnalis)

Hey All Day 279 and another post that I started before I headed to Norfolk but didn't get chance to finish off. I saw this lovely little creature in the crystal clear waters of the Glacial lake that is Lake Gormire on the edge of the fabulous North York Moors. You can see from the photos just how clear the water is - in fact so clear you probably, ironically can't see it in the photos, but honestly this little beauty was under the water at the lake edge.

I've been looking up snails on the web and I think it's a Great Pond Snail so I've done my research on this species. It's shell isn't as long and point as some pics I've seen on the web so I'm not 100% sure.

Well here's the facts I found:

It moved quite smoothly through the water.

• The second part of their Latin name, stagnalis, means they prefer stagnant water - Lake Gormire doesn't look very stagnant so I guess they're ok in fresh water, this one was quite big, about 4-5 cm long in all.

• The shell is a shiny yellowish brown with a tall slender spire.

• They like slow moving or still water with plenty of aquatic vegetation.

Fully expanded

• Great Pond Snails live mainly in England, they are widespread here, but much more scare in Wales and Scotland.

• Didn't expect this but they are omnivores! Not only do they eat the aquatic vegetation they will detritus (decaying plant matter on the pond bottom), carrion (dead animal matter), other snails, insects and even small fish and newts!

• They lay big long strips of tough eggs in jelly on the underside of vegetation. There may be as many as 300 eggs in a mass

• They are eaten by Great Crested Newts and a number of species of water bird. They may make a nice lunch but they might pass on to the bird a parasite which lives in them in its larval stage and then becomes an adult in the water bird.

• Whilst they live in the water they are an air breathing snail.

Well, quite an interesting little creature to find in the waters edge, if you want to find out more try these site:

Nature Spot - Great Pond Snail

Life in Freshwater - Great Pond Snails

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 278 - Lovesomely Scintillating Little Stint

Hey everyone today's Day 278 and you will all know that I have been recently been to Norfolk on holiday. When I was there I went to some many places. Cley-Next-The-Sea, the Broads, Holt and Sherringham are just some of the places that we went to. One of my favourite places that we visited was Titchwell Marsh. When we were there we saw some birds that we had never seen before. The lovely Little Stint! Now I've just been through my photo's and I haven't got any that are any good - I must have had my camera stuck in macro mode as they were all blurred. So if anyone has a Little Stint photo or two I could borrow I'd be very grateful.

So, here are the facts:

• They only really pass through on the East and South of England. They are also found on the East of Ireland. 

• They somehow Winter somewhere in the UK, but not many, only 14 are found in the Winter but 460 do pass through.

• They breed in the north of Eurasia mainly and spend the winter in Africa and India.

• Even though there is only this small amount of birds in the UK, they are a Green Status! This is probably due to the large breeding size in Europe, 5,000 pairs - 500,000 pairs!

• I got Day 276's Dunlin mixed up with these birds, probably because the only difference is a Black stripe on the bottom of the front. 

• If you see Dunlins quite a lot then the chances are, you might have see a Stint. They, apparently feed quite a lot with Dunlins.

• Their diet is mainly made up of invertebrates that they find on the surface of the mudflats they visit.

• The first part of their Scientific name (Kalidris) means a Grey waterside bird described by Aristotle and the second part (minutus) means small.

• They are 13cm long with a 36cm wingpsan. Both Males and Females weigh 24g. Their ring size is either A2 or B2.

• There is so little information about these that there is no data about their first breeding age or their typical lifespan. The only data about their age is that the oldest recorded one was 3 years 11 months and 27 days, but that was in 1956... 

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Little Stints

BTO Birdfacts - Little Stints

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 277 - Beautifully Natty and Bonny Bloody-Nosed Beetle

Bloody-Nosed Beetle (Timarcha tenebricosa) out for a walk

Hey everyone today's Day 277 and as you will all know, I have recently been to Norfolk and, while I was there, I went to the lovely RSPB reserve of Titchwell Marsh. It's such a great place to go not just for birds but for insects as well. As I mentioned in the last post I saw lots of birds but also lots of great bugs too. Today is a great bug, in fact it is one of the largest beetles I have ever seen. The Bloody-Nosed Beetle. I look for them at Nosterfield as it's the only place in Yorkshire that they are found but when I go to Norfolk, I was so happy to find three!

So, here are the facts:

Looking for lunch - what's under here?

• There's a reason why they are the largest Beetles I have ever seen. They are the largest Leaf Beetle in the whole of the UK.

• There has actually only been one sighting recorded around where I am, they are only really found in the South of England and the West of Wales.

What if I follow this stem?

• The reason they are called the Bloody-Nosed Beetle is because, when they are scared, they emit a foul-smelling red liquid from their nose. Both sadly and happily, he didn't do it for us.

It's hard work finding lunch sometimes!

• These beetles cannot fly and but after all, they are still a beetle so they are quite small. Therefore they cannot get out the way of people very quickly and may get squashed.

• They are mostly seen between April and June but they can be found through to September as well.

• They are mostly active at night during these times and only move in the daytime when they are disturbed. 

• When we found ours, two were on plants in the verges, and one was walking along the path. After taking his picture, we put him somewhere safe away from where people would be walking.

At last - tasty Goosegrass!

• They are found in Uplands, Coastal, Farmland, Grassland and Heath lands. This is weird as Titchwell is a Marsh, but it could technically be a Grassland as well.

• I said above that they are the largest Leaf Beetle in the UK. This is true and they have a rather specific length of 2 - 2.3 cm.

• They like to eat Goosegrass and Lady's Bedstraw both as Adults and as larvae.

Here are some links to more information:

NatureSpot - Bloody-Nosed Beetles

Hitching a lift to safety.

Wildlife Trusts - Bloody-Nosed Beetles

BugLife - Bloody-Nosed Beetles

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 276 - Greatly Perky Grey Plovers

Grey Plover (Pluvialis squatarola) in summer plummage

Hey everyone today's Day 276 and as you will all know I have been to Norfolk recently, I went to a place called Titchwell Marsh which is run by the RSPB and I see so much there, I've still lots of birds and insects from there to write up! They used to have a thing called Spot It trails for kids which I really enjoyed and I remember finding something like 50, 60, 70 or more species (birds and bugs) in a day! I saw lots of different types of Plovers such as the Ringed and the Little-Ringed. I also saw one other type of Plover which was the Grey Plover. I said in my other post on Grey Plovers that I would try to find one in its Summer plumage, which is exactly what I did at Titchwell!

So, in these facts I will be repeating a lot of them but it was 101 days ago, so you might have forgotten them:

• Now the only real difference between their Summer and Winter plumage is that they have a black front, also their head turns to a tanned colour.

  

  Here's the winter plummage - ironic that the
  winter day was much brighter than the summer day
  that I spotted this bird on!

• They have only one similar bird, the Golden Plover, I don't see why its called a Golden Plover but the Juvenile has a sort of Golden tinge to it.

• They only seem to Winter in the UK and pass through in the Spring so seeing them in the Summer isn't a very common sight.

• They spend their Winter around the Coasts of most of the UK apart from Northern Scotland and North -Eastern Ireland.

• There are about 43,000 Wintering birds and a quite large amount of birds, around 70,000, pass through in the Spring.

• They are an Amber Status bird as they are a 'Localised Breeding population' and because they are 'an important Non-Breeding population'.

Looking out for prey

• They first breed at 2 years and live for an incredible-ish 9 years. The oldest though, was 25 years 1 month and 18 days. 

• They are 28cm long with a 77cm wingspan but only weigh around one quarter of a kilo.

• Their diet changes with the seasons in the Summer they eat a lot of invertebrates but in the Winter this changes to marine worms, molluscs and crustaceans.

• It finds its food by standing still and watching, running to peck the prey it's spied then standing still again.

Spotted and moving in for the peck!

• There is a bit of folklore about these birds too. It's meant to be bad luck if you see seven of them at once 'an ill omen' apparently and if you see the first one in Spring without any money in your pocket it will be a hard year ahead!

That's a little bit about these lovely birds, if you want to find out more try these sites:

Birdlife - Grey Plovers

RSPB - Grey Plovers

BTO - Grey Plovers

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 275 - Desirable Dunlins

Dunlin (Calidris alpina  ) in breeding plumage

Hey everyone today's Day 275 and as you know I have been to Norfolk and I went on a walk near Cley Marshes on a Shingle Beach to get to Blakney Point. Now, a lot of birds like to nest on Shingle Beaches as they blend in with the rocks. An example of this is yesterday's Little Ringed Plover but this one is even better at camouflage! We couldn't see any at one point and we were just walking down the beach when it seemed that a rock just grew legs and walked away! Then it was joined by another one and then eventually there were 4 Dunlins walking around! They could disappear just as quickly by sitting down again if you didn't keep an eye on them..

So, I did my research as usual and here are the facts:

• They are resident in North-West Ireland and they Winter around the rest of Ireland's Coast as well as England's, Wales' and Southern Scotland's.

They seemed to magically appear and disappear
among the stones

• They do spend their Summer here as well. They breed in most of Northern Scotland and some of Southern Scotland. Also some parts of England and Wales are breeding places.

• There are 8,600-10,600 breeding pairs in the UK but a dramatically increased 360,000 Wintering birds.

• Despite this rather large number of birds they are a Red Status. This is because there has been a rather large decline in Non-Breeding Birds.

• They have some very weird local names, like the 'Tang Snipe' and another is 'Plover's Page'.

I saw four in all

• Their Scientific Name Kalidris alpinus means grey waterside bird described by Aristotle Alpine.

• They are 18cm in Length and they have a Wingspan of 40 cm and both Males and Females weigh 48g

• They first breed at 2 years and usually live for a surprising 5 years but the oldest lived for 19 years 3 months and 26 days!

Here are some links to more information:

RSPB - Dunlins

BTO Birdfacts - Dunlins

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 274 - Lovely Resplendant and Perky Little-Ringed Plovers

A juvenile Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

Hey everyone today's Day 275 and on Day 273 I covered the Ringed Plover. I said that I found them at Norfolk, you'll know that I have been there recently, and I also saw some birds that look extremely like them. I mentioned them in yesterday's post. Yes, you'll probably already know that I am talking about the Lovely Little-Ringed Plover. Even though I only saw the juveniles they are one of the most beautiful birds that I have ever seen, lovely little things picking through the mud.

So, here are the facts:

• They are found in all of England apart from the North and South-West. They are also found in most of East Wales except from the North-East.

• There are only 1,200 - 1,300 breeding pairs in the UK and in Europe between 70,000 and 115,000 pairs.

Looking for a bite to eat

• Despite this rather small national number, they still have a Green Status. This is because there hasn't been a decline recently...

• ...It's also because in the 1930's they were quite rare visiting birds here but, because of their liking to breed in Gravel Pits, they started to live and breed here!

• While we're on the topic of their habitat, they like to live in Gravel Pits, sewage works, reservoirs and Shingle Beaches.

• They only usually breed for half of their life. They start breeding at 2 years and live an average of 4. The oldest was 6 years 8 months and 14 days.

• They are usually 14 cm long with a much larger 45 cm wingspan and both Males and Females weigh 40g.

Two of them were watching me!

• Their ring size is B2. I have never encountered a B2 ring size before. When I was ringing with the East Dales Ringing Group they didn't mention this at all.

• For their diet they feed mainly on insects and invertebrates that they find just below the surface of wet ground.

• They are very similar to the Ringed Plover but are slightly smaller (only 1-2cm less in length) a bit slimmer and have slightly longer legs. Their dull pink leg colour, eye ring and slightly different head markings are the main differences.

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Little-Ringed Plover

BTO Birdfacts - Little-Ringed Plover

Birdlife - Little-Ringed Plover

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.

Day 273 - Wondeful Whimbrels

A Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) at RSPB Titchwell
Here you can see its size next to the Lapwing and gulls

Hey everyone today's Day 274 and as you know I have been on holiday the last week. I got photographs of about 35 species that I haven't covered and that is quite a lot since I struggle to find one or two sometimes now locally. I focused on the Ringed Plover yesterday, I also saw a Little Ringed Plover there. But that is not today's post but look forward to that in the future. Today's bird, though, is one that I had never heard of until now, the Whimbrel! A lovely name! I was glad that there were other birders there as I wasn't sure if it was a Whimbrel or a Curlew but other people there agreed it was a Whimbrel!

I had great weather for most of last week but while I was watching this bird it went a bit grey and it was quite far away from the hide I was in (the Parinder Hide if you know Titchwell) but managed to get a couple of ok shots.

From the Collin's Bird Guide that I have it doesn't look like the Whimbrel is actually found in the UK. We shall see if this is true in the facts, here they are:

• Well, they are not very common but they are sometimes found here. They only breed in the Far North - East of Scotland as well as well as the Shetlands and Orkneys.

• They do pass through all of the UK's Coast, apart from most of the East side, in April to May and also in Late-Summer to Winter. 

• They are a Red Status because there has been a recent breeding population decline. It seems to be quite recent as well as in 2007 they were an Amber Status.

• A bit more on population, there are about 30 wintering birds, 500 pairs of breeding birds and 3000 passage.

• They have a few interesting local names which are 'May Bird', 'Tang Whaup(?)' and the mnost interesting is 'Seven Whistler'.

• This name comes from the number of whistles in their call (see below) which also has an interesting story...

• ...People believed that the reason they whistle 7 times is because there are 6 birds looking for a seventh. This connects quite well with their melancholy. Click here for their call from 10x50.com

• They look incredibly like the Curlew. The only way I see to identify them is by looking at their bill. The Curlew's is curved all over whereas the Whimbrel's is straight with a curve at the end.

This is a BTO video with more ways to identify them.

• They have an 81cm wingspan and a length of 41cm and both Males and Females weigh around 430g.

• As I have done for a while now, I have said the ring size. In this case, because of their huge legs, it's E, one of the larger sizes.

• They first breed at a quite old 2 years but they do live on for, again, a quite old 11 years. The oldest, though, lived for 24 years 1 month and 25 days.

• They usually eat slugs, worms and insects on Passage but when they breed they usually eat crustaceans, their beak is a nice shape to fit into the burrow of a Fiddler Crab.

Here are some links to some more information:

RSPB - Whimbrel

BTO Birdfacts - Whimbrel

Birdlife - Whimbrel 

All About Birds - Whimbrel

Hope you enjoyed,

Z.