King Canut’s favourite bird?

17 Wednesday Sep 2025

Tags

autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Calidris canutus, Ferrybridge birding, Knot

My afternoon being battered by the strong winds at Ferrybridge also provided several other nice bird sightings, including these Knot (Calidris canutus).

I was intrigued by the epithet canutus in the bird’s scientific name; fortunately, Stefan Buczacki provides the answer in Fauna Britannica:

The name ‘Knot’ imitates the rather low, grunt-like call and dates back to the fifteenth century … there is a poorly founded belief that the name ‘Knot’ has some connection with King Canut and that the Knots were his favourite birds (hence Calidris canutus), presumably on the basis that they behave much as he did, foolishly playing around the tide-line.

The Knot is a relatively large wading bird – you can see a size comparison with a Dunlin in my first photograph. Both birds belong to the genus Calidris, a long list of waders that look rather alike and all breed in the high Arctic. We are fortunate to enjoy their presence during the winter months, when large flocks often form around parts of the British coastline. You can read more about the Knot on the BTO website.

Sanderlings, sand runners

16 Tuesday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, Calidris alba, Ferrybridge birding, Sanderling, Wild Chesil Centre

My plans for my days in and around Weymouth last week didn’t quite go as I expected due to the weather: we had a lot of heavy rain showers, and the westerly winds, especially on Thursday, were gale-force and relentless. Luckily, I had gone prepared, with full wet weather gear – I wasn’t going to let rain spoil my birding plans.

I knew from previous visits that the area in front of the Wild Chesil Centre, at Ferrybridge, on the causeway between Weymouth and the Isle of Portland, was a good place to look for birds, especially as autumn migration is well underway now in Britain. I checked that area on Tuesday afternoon, but the tide was already well out so the birds were too distant for me to see with binoculars.

So, on Thursday, after spending the morning at RSPB Lodmoor, I caught the bus to Ferrybridge around noon. Though I could barely stand up in the wind, my tide timing was perfect; as I walked from the bus stop to the Wild Chesil Centre, water was just starting to recede from the mud flats below the footpath, and already a little flock of 12 Turnstones and 2 Sanderling were foraging for any tiny sea creatures that were being exposed by the receding waters.

I admit to being a big fan of waders, which I seldom see in my local area, and I find the Sanderling (Calidris alba) especially attractive, both in looks and in habits; they forage by scurrying rapidly back and forth across the sand and mud. Though photographing these birds was a challenge – I had to wrap my arms around the railing adjacent to the footpath for stability, I managed to get some reasonably decent images of this pair and, though I was very close to them and they were certainly aware of my presence, they were intent on feeding and my photography didn’t disturb them. I clung to those railings for a good 15 minutes, watching their antics, their interaction with the Turnstones and each other, their feeding methods. It was quite magical!

Leafmines: Coptotriche marginea

15 Monday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, plants

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British leafminers, British moths, Coptotriche marginea, leaf-mining moth larvae, leaf-mining moths, leafmines on Bramble

Today’s leafminer is one of two I found before I went away on my latest little mini break (I’ll feature the second in next Monday’s blog post). These bright white blotches, shown here on Bramble, but also found on other Rubus species, were made by the larvae of the moth Coptotriche marginea. Here’s a link to the UK Moth website’s entry on this moth, if you want to see what the adult looks like.

The female moth lays her egg on the upper side of a leaf, then, when the larva hatches, it chews into the leaf and initially creates a linear, gallery mine (you can see this in the third of my images, below), before the mine widens out to form a blotch. My photos below show the upper and under sides of each leaf.

This species is bivoltine; the first leafmines can be seen during July, while the second brood feed right through the winter months, from September to March. I guess staying inside a leaf is a cosy enough place to spend the winter, as long as your leaf doesn’t wither and die during the colder months.

Reddening Glasswort

14 Sunday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in autumn, plants, wildflowers

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn colour, Glasswort, reddening plant, RSPB Lodmoor, Salicornia species, saltmarsh plants, seaside plants

You may have noticed, in a couple of yesterday’s Ruff photos – as in the photo below (which includes Lapwings, Starlings, a Cormorant drying its wings, with a Grey heron lurking in the background) – the birds are moving around amongst a reddish-coloured plant.

This is Glasswort, one of the Salicornia species, though I don’t which of several species this might be. For one thing, due to the watery environment in which Glassworts thrive, I couldn’t get close to any of the plants, but also these plants can be tricky to distinguish one from the other. If you see Glasswort and want to give it a try, the Wildflower Society website has a downloadable pdf ‘A Guide to the Identification of the Glassworts of the British Isles’.

The Glassworts are plants of seasides and saltmarshes, and are common all around the British coastline. Until this latest visit to RSPB Lodmoor, I hadn’t particularly noticed these plants but this time, as the season is changing from summer to autumn, the Glassworts begin to change colour, and, I think, look stunning. I’m sure the photographers amongst you will also appreciate what a wonderful backdrop this colour provides for images of the local birds.

Ruffing it

13 Saturday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in autumn, birds

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

autumn migration, birding, birdwatching, British birds, female Ruff, Philomachus pugnax, Reeve, RSPB Lodmoor, Ruff

I’ve just returned from another few days on England’s south coast, in Weymouth and on the Isle of Portland, this time, due to its being migration season and the often inclement weather, mostly birding. And, despite the blasting westerly winds and the frequent heavy rain, it was wonderful!

After arriving mid afternoon on Monday, I took myself on a walk – to stretch my old body after five hours’ train travel and to get some fresh air in my lungs – to RSPB Lodmoor. It’s such a convenient distance from Weymouth town centre and always has something to delight my birding senses. And Monday’s visit did not disappoint, providing my first sighting this year of Ruff (Philomachus pugnax).

The story of the Ruff in Britain is a sad one. My guide book recounts that Ruff became extinct as a breeding bird in Britain around 1850, though it managed to re-establish itself in East Anglia for a time in the 1960s. Now, few if any young are raised in Britain, with the bird’s main breeding grounds ranging from Scandinavia as far east as Siberia, and south as far as the Netherlands. Though some Ruff are present throughout the year in Britain, and several hundred over-winter here, most are seen during autumn migration when the birds pass through on their way to Africa, some flying as far as South Africa.

The Ruff is red-listed in Britain and is globally threatened, as its population has declined dramatically and its breeding and non-breeding ranges have also declined. The two birds I saw are female (though the species name is Ruff, the male bird is known as Ruff due to its extraordinary breeding plumage, while the female is known as Reeve). I felt very privileged to enjoy reasonably close sightings of these large waders and spent quite a lot of time watching them feeding up for their long journey south.

Bug: Megacoelum infusum

12 Friday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British miridae, bugs on Oak, Megacoelum infusum, mirid bugs on Oak, Miridae

Here’s another of this year’s new bug finds, a handsome little mirid bug coloured a rich brown and orange, Megacoelum infusum. I found it on a local Oak tree, which was fortunate, as there’s a very similar looking bug (Megacoelum beckeri) that lives on Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris). The British Bugs website entry for this species says it is both vegetarian and carnivorous, supping on Oak sap and tiny insects.

Fly: Merzomyia westermanni

11 Thursday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

British flies, British fruit flies, British Tephritidae, flies on Ragwort, fruit fly, Merzomyia westermanni, Tephritidae

This little beauty is one of the Tephritidae, the fruit flies, and its name is Merzomyia westermanni. As I’m sure you all know by now, flies can be tricky to identify but, fortunately, the patterns on the wings of this creature are unique so, as long as you get a clear photo of its wings, it can be recorded with confidence. Even better, in my brief experience of this species – I’ve only seen them twice, they are more settled, more confiding than many fly species so getting a photo is less difficult. Look for these fruit flies in grassland, particularly around the Ragwort flowers they favour.

More moth appreciation

10 Wednesday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bird-cherry ermine, British moths, moth, Nomophila noctuella, Orchard ermine, Pleuroptya ruralis, Pyrausta aurata, Yponomeuta evonymella, Yponomeuta padella

It’s moth appreciation time. Here are a few recent finds …

I thought it would be interesting to place these two ermine moths together so as to show their differences. On the left is an Orchard ermine (Yponomeuta padella), on the right a Bird-cherry ermine (Yponomeuta evonymella). To identify these and the several other species of ermine moths, you need to look carefully at the patterns of their spots and also at their food plants. The Bird-cherry has five rows of black dots on the forewing, so is quite distinctive. The Orchard ermine is very similar in appearance to a couple of other ermines, the Apple ermine and the Spindle ermine, so knowing their food plants is a great help (for the Orchard, they are Blackthorn, Hawthorn and Cherry, while the key to the other two is in their names, Apple and Spindle).

The Mint moth (Pyrausta aurata) can also be a bit tricksy to ID, as it’s very similar to the Common purple-and-gold (Pyrausta purpuralis), but the latter has distinctive light spots on its hind wings, which the Mint moth does not. Unsurprisingly, the Mint moth is often found on or near plants from the Mint (Mentha) family.

This, in my opinion, is the loveliest of today’s moths, the Mother of pearl (Pleuroptya ruralis), named for the pearlescent sheen of its wings. I must remember to look for its larvae, which feed in rolled-up leaves on Nettle plants (I can feel those stings already!).

For me, seeing a Rush veneer (Nomophila noctuella) – or, usually, several Rush veneers in one day – means warm winds are blowing from the south, bringing in migrating insects from Europe. And they are exactly the weather conditions we were experiencing over a couple of days very recently, when I saw more than six of these moths in just a few hours during a coastal walk.

Spider: Agalenatea redii

09 Tuesday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in spiders

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Agalenatea redii, British spiders, Gorse orbweb spider, spider on Knapweed flower head

I met this handsome little spider, a Gorse orbweb spider (Agalenatea redii) in a local field where once there had been a medieval village (no trace of the village remains above ground, except perhaps if you squint a certain way at small lumps and bumps in the grass).

I was actually checking the dying flower heads of Knapweed for insects, now difficult to find after our prolonged period of drought, and didn’t at first notice the little spider, so well did its colours blend with its surroundings. But then I noticed a series of tiny black eyes watching me from behind a fringe of long pale hairs.

My guide book observes that Agalenatea redii is most often found ‘amongst heath and gorse, and in rough grassland, often in rather damp situations, where it spins its web fairly low down amongst the stems. A retreat is often constructed in an adjacent dead flower head.’ So, perhaps, I had found my watchful little friend sitting comfortably in its retreat, waiting for its next meal to stumble into, and be ensnared in, its web.

Leafmines: Bedellia somnulentella

08 Monday Sep 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, leaves, plants

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Bedellia somnulentella, Bedellia somnulentella larva, Bedellia somnulentella pupa, British leafminers, British moths, leaf-mining moth larvae, leaf-mining moths, leafmines on Field bindweed

I’m particularly pleased to share this new leafminer as it’s not often that I find the signs of the mine, a larva within said mine, larvae resting outside their mines, and also a pupa, but here they are. These were found during two walks around the edge of a local recreation ground with, perhaps surprisingly, the pupa being seen on 9 August, a couple of weeks before I found the larvae (on 27 August) on plants that were a couple of hundred metres from the initial find site.

These mines are the work of the larvae of the moth Bedellia somnulentella, the adult of which is something of a ‘little brown job’, as you can see on the UK Moths website. The larval plants include both Field bindweed (as shown here) and Hedge bindweed, as well as Morning glory, and, though the mine begins as a gallery, this appears to be subsumed by the later blotch, as blotches were all I noticed.

These larvae have some interesting habits: they weave silken threads below their mines to create resting places outside their mines (an unusual habit). The threads would not be easy to spot, except for the fact that the larvae’s frass is also caught by them and so appears as scattered clumps and strings of pooh.

When they’ve finished feeding and their development is complete, the larvae exit their blotches and pupate suspended amongst their silken threads. They’re fascinating little creatures.