Spring is here!!

Spring has sprung! Chiffchaffs have arrived, calling from the coastal gorse and gardens; Wheatears are hopping around the coast; Wrens, Dunnocks, Stonechats and Meadow Pipits are singing; seabirds are returning to breed on the coastal sea cliffs; Daffodils and Gorse are flowering and adding a flush of yellow to the landscape; and the first few moths of the year are emerging from their winter hide-outs. 

With a nice big high pressure sat over the UK at the moment, the weather has taken a turn for the better, with calm winds from the North and East accompanied by chilly temperatures and occasional patches of bright blue sky and warming sun. The movement of migrant birds over and through the island has been very slow compared to previous years, but Chiffchaffs, Wheatears, Black Redstarts and a single Manx Shearwater have all arrived and certainly make it feel like spring has begun. Swallows and Sand Martins should be here soon, with one of the former reported over Nefyn (just up the coast) a few days ago, and a few of both moving through southern parts of the UK. Many of the island's breeding birds are 'waking up', and showing signs of nest-building and pairing up: Choughs have split up from their winter feeding flock, and are often opposite their respective nesting sites feeding away, or gathering wool and twigs for their nests. 

Here are a bunch of images taken on the island over the last week...

Wheatears have arrived! They were somewhat later than last year, with our first ones appearing on the 14th this year, compared to the 10th in 2014. Many of the first birds moving through have been stunning males such as these

This smart Snow Bunting spent a couple of days on the island from the 13th to the 14th. Last year we only had one Snow Bunting in the whole of the Spring, and that was a fly-over, so it was nice to get such good views of one so early in the year

Meadow Pipits have been moving through the island en masse in the last week, with numbers gradually building from just 473 on the 13th, and a peak count of 690 on the 14th.

Seabirds are now firmly established back on the coastal sea cliffs and many have already made a start on constructing their nests, such as the pairs of Shags collecting drifting seaweed and twigs from the sea. Hundreds of Guillemots and Razorbills are lining up on the cliff ledges and in the various boulder scree areas. Fulmars are courting and jostling for places on the grassy ledges...

Guillemots, with a smart 'Bridled' Guillemot standing out amongst the crowd in the lower image

Fulmars showing off their aerial prowess, with such a graceful flight. In the lower image, I tried using a lower shutter speed (1/100th) to capture the speed of the birds in flight. It is a little different and not totally sharp unfortunately

A pair of Herring Gulls

Common garden birds such as Dunnocks, Wrens and Robins are making up the largest contribution to the chorus of bird song at the moment. 

Oystercatchers have started splitting off from the overwintering flock, and settling in pairs around the coast at their various nesting sites and territories

With lambing now underway, many of the corvids are making use of the free meals lying around the fields, in the form of...many things.

Ravens are also making use of the free meals, and it is a very good year for this species on Bardsey. With as many as 12 birds on any one day at the moment, there are at least two pairs hanging around the coast at the moment, and some have been showing very well

Pied Wagtails have been returning to their respective nesting sites and territories

Hooded Crow

Just the one pair of Shelducks have been present on the island, which is a bit worrying, as usually there are three to four pairs of birds at this time of year, ready for breeding a little later on in the Spring. They had an appalling year breeding on the island last year, with just two broods, and no surviving chicks

Photographic highlights from Bellavista, Ecuador

After arriving back in the UK last Saturday, I now am in the possession internet again, which should allow me to upload quite a few more images from my trip to Ecuador over the next few weeks. I am going to start the instalment with a blog of photographic highlights from my time at Bellavista Lodge. It is going to take a long time to produce a detailed trip report-style blog on my time in Ecuador overall,  and so for now I will focus on particular areas or species. I have uploaded a selection of images for this post, which were all taken around the Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve area, near in the Tandayapa Valley in Pichincha province, Ecuador. The equipment I used to take all of the bird images was a Canon 7D and Canon 300mm f2.8 USM lens, whilst any macro work was using a Sigma 105mm f2.8. I hope you enjoy...

Toucan Barbet. This species is a target of the area I was in, as the range of this species is restricted to the Choco region, extending from north-western Ecuador to south-western Colombia. The Toucan Barbet is placed in a family called Semnornis, which contains just one other species (the Prong-billed Barbet), and both species are thought to be intermediate between the New World Barbets and toucans

This is another target species of the Choco biogeographic region: the extremely handsome Plate-billed Mountain-toucan. Bellavista Cloud Forest Reserve is one of the best places in Ecuador to find these fantastic birds, which tend to tour around the forest in flocks of as many as 17, feeding on a variety of fruiting trees. This species is classed as Near-threatened

Strong-billed Woodcreepers are one of the largest, heaviest woodcreepers. One pair spent most of their time hopping up and down the trunks of trees looking for meals whilst I was there. They consumed a variety of different insects whilst I was there, from massive Hercules beetles to the largest of moths. The range of this species extends from south-western Mexico through Central America and as far south as central Bolivia 

Although not a common species around Bellavista, this Fawn-breasted Tanager can be found not far away, feeding amongst small flocks of tanagers on fruits of various kinds

Masked Trogons are handsome birds, and they can get very tame. This pair pictured above (female top, male lower two) would hang around the lodge car park most mornings, feasting on a whole range of insectivorous prey, usually taken whilst on the wing. The trogons such as this species possess a similar skill to Cuckoos in their ability of dealing with spiky and poisonous caterpillars, although they can also swallow such unsavoury things as large fluffy moths and hard-cased Katydids (top image)

Male Red-headed Barbet. This species was busy nesting and rearing chicks during my time in the Tandayapa Valley

A Black Vulture (top) and a Barred Hawk (lower) soar on some mid-morning thermals above the valley, as the clouds and mist gradually engulf the forest below. By 1100 most days the mist and cloud would have risen and completely blocked any views from the lodge. Light rain would often have set in by early afternoon

This handsome male Blackburnian Warbler was one of several species that were just visiting the tropics for the boreal winter. During my time in the country, I also saw other North American migrants such as Blackpoll, Black-and-white, Cerulean and Canada Warblers, as well as Rose-breasted Grosbeaks and Swainson's Thrushes. Blackburnian Warblers were a very common species at Bellavista, with two or three present around the lodge most days

This is a Great Thrush, which is a common species that was present in greatest numbers in the higher altitude areas such as Quito and Antisana. A touch larger than our Blackbird, they are otherwise more or less the same. A pair spent a lot of time during my visit gathering food for a chick they were rearing. They picked off anything from small insects and caterpillars, to large moths and small berries and fruits

There were two species of Quetzal present in the Tandayapa Valley: the Golden-headed Quetzal pictured above was by far the most common, and could be encountered along the road or in the forest trails in small flocks of three or four. Generally they are quite shy, and are hard to get very good views of. The second species is the Crested Quetzal, which can be found at much lower elevations (approx. <2000m), and one which I only saw once during my visit. The main difference between the two is that the Crested has a striking white undertail

Cinnamon Flycatchers were one of the commonest species of flycatchers around the lodge, with a pair present every morning in the car park. This species could also be encountered in mixed species flocks in the forest, but were much harder to get decent views of in their natural setting!

A Turquoise Jay about to devour one of the coolest moths I was during my time at the lodge.

A Montane Woodcreeper- the other common species of woodcreeper at Bellavista, and a much smaller relative of its monstrous cousin

Two of the lodges most colourful tanagers: the stunning Grass-green Tanager above, and the bright Blue-winged Mountain-tanager below. The latter of these species is said to be the leader of mixed species flocks, and it is certainly true that their high pitched and excited calls are often the first thing that is heard before a flock is encountered. It is thought that other species such as warblers, furnariids, and woodcreepers follow the tanagers because of the increased protection they offer from predators. Tanagers such as the blue-winged mountain-tanager feed on fruits and berries in the forest canopy, and spend a much higher proportion of their time scanning the horizon and skies for predators; furnariids, woodcreepers and warblers on the other hand, spend a large amount of their time rummaging around in moss and with their heads in crevices and cracks, thus spending much less time on the look out. This is just reason why mixed species flocks are thought to exist in rainforests and the tropics.

                                                                               HUMMINGBIRDSI have uploaded a small selection of hummingbird images taken whilst I was in the country, and virtually all were taken at Bellavista. Unfortunately I did not have the luxury of a multi flash setup whilst I was there, and so did not manage to obtain any picture-perfect flight shots with frozen wings and perfect lighting etc. Most of these images were taken with natural light, and a few with fill-in flash.

Buff-tailed Coronet

            Violet-tailed Sylph

Purple-throated Woodstar

Buff-tailed Coronet

Andean Emerald

Green Thorntail

Purple-throated Woodstar

male Green Thorntail

INSECTS

Here are a variety of images of insects that I took whilst at the lodge. With very little work done on any of the lepidoptera in the valley, there were no resources on any of the species, and so identification beyond family level was virtually impossible. I therefore just had to appreciate them without IDs, which was quite tough when every morning some of the most amazing-looking moths were devoured by a horde of  different birds!