Wildlife in a Suburban Garden

(Small) Pearl-bordered Fritillary sp.

I travelled out again yesterday to Dartmoor to try and get one or two better photographs of the lovely Whinchat pair that I have been watching. They had moved just a few yards from their original position, confirming I think that this pair is not breeding. This obviously is a great shame. I have watched them now for more than 6 hours and only once have I seen them carrying food and also apart from a short period yesterday when the male seemed to be absent there is no sign of incubation either. I feel sure that if they they were feeding young it would be pretty obvious and if they were incubating then they would be taking it in turns to sit and I am pretty sure that the hen, for certain has done no incubating while I have been watching her. But first a bit about the fritillary above. The two species of Pearl Bordered Clossiana species are very similar and can be told apart from the underwing. As I did not manage to see the underwing I can not say which of the two this one is. Suffice to say it is a stunning butterfly and posed nicely for me only a few feet away. Pearl Bordered Small Pearl Bordered Click on these links for a Fact sheet of both species from the Defra Butterfly Conservation. Getting back to the Whinchats. I managed some fine images yesterday, mostly of the female who came very close to me. Here are some of the best. As I watched the female I thought she had been joined by the male but as soon as I trained my lens I realised that it was a Male Stonechat.

Whinchat - Saxicola rubetra............ Dartmoor

This is a male Whinchat that I saw and photographed yesterday. As usual there is a bit of a story which is quite interesting. As you will know if you read the blog regularly, Dartmoor is one of my favourite places because it is so beautiful, isolated, quiet and peaceful. Yesterday I sacrificed the delights of Wimbledon for a wonderful late afternoon on the moor at Sousons Plantain (Warren House). I pretty much had the whole area to myself, imagine that! Thousands of Acres of beautiful landscape in bright sun all to yourself with just birds and insects as company. After the walk down the hill to the bottom valley path I caught sight of a couple of Whinchat who were showing beautifully. I quickly unpacked the chair hide and set it up with the sun at my back facing the area that the birds were seeming to favour. The pictures show both sexes and I am sure you can tell which is which. One thing that stands out in both is the very bold eye stripe a diagnostic feature of this species and something that makes them easy to tell apart from a Stonechat, I guess you could confuse hen Stonechat and Hen Whinchat but not if you had seen them. They do share the same habitat though and are basically the same colour. As I sat in the hide which is fantastic by the way and I would fully recommend one to you. (Light and easy to erect in under 20 seconds). The birds quickly settled and went about their activities which basically involved feeding and flitting around. I was hoping that I would get one in front of the hide but they were slightly wary of it and stayed away the nearest being about 20 feet. At one point a pair of Linnets came right in front of the hide so close that the camera was struggling to focus. I was really disappointed because the Sigma 50-500, on the camera at that moment, has a very noisy motor on the auto-focus and the noise of the lens "hunting" spooked the Linnets almost immediately and I didn't get a picture which would have been a cracker, they are hard to get very close to in my experience. After a short while I left them alone because even though I am pretty sure they are not breeding at the moment this was certainly a breeding territory and even though I was not disturbing them it is better not to take risks with birds like this. All in all I had a smashing afternoon and one that plan to repeat today in the hope of something special photographically. This is a nice addition to my galleries of birds though. I have in the past received comments that I must be doing something different to get so close to my subjects. Well I can assure you that this is not the case. I just watch from a distance and then make my move with my hide and sit quietly and then wait for my subjects to settle, usually only a minute or two and then get the best photos I can with good light and a good firm tripod....... something I never mention but I NEVER take a picture without a tripod. I also use military cam netting to put around the protruding camera which is always a big help.

Herring Gull breeding in the Garden

I have to be honest, Herring Gulls are not my favourite! But, the last couple of weeks have been interesting and in the end, quite amusing. At least, amusing for my family and friends. I first noticed last week that the Herring Gulls that are always present on the roof of my neighbours house, and my own was acting a bit strangely. It seemed that they were very noisey whenever they saw me and this then developed in to being mobbed whenever I went outside either to the front or back. You would assume that they would 'mob" everyone but no...... just me! We have proved this to be the case by swapping with other adults and the Gull would ignore them and go back to his safe perch only to get very agitated whenever he saw me and continue then to attack me. Even my voice seemed to get the birds excited and they would swoop down to have a go at me. Then I noticed 3 quite large, and by now, active and fat chicks waddling around the roof. All this protective behaviour directed at me is an effort to protect the chicks now living a precarious life on my neighbours roof. But why just attack me? Well I am pretty sure that this is because they see me so often in and around the garden and have come to recognise me and then perceive me as a threat. I suppose we are in for a noisy time as they grow and get more demanding and start to get vociferous as well.`Like I said, they are not my favourite buteach to his own and they deserve to get the chance to survive, albeit perched on my neighbours roof which is hardly a sea cliff and I can think of better places to be reared. Speckled Bush Cricket..latest. The Bush Crickets in the garden are growing well and I saw one today in a new place, in fact on the leaves of a garden Lilly. Even though this one waas only around 4mm long they seem to be growing well.

East Devon Bird Ringing - Garden Warbler and Marsh Tit

Having made the effort to get up before 6 I am glad to say that today's ringing session was a special one. We met before 6.30 and travelled to a new site (to me) in East Devon . Birds were few and far between in the nets due to slightly windy conditions and only 5 in total were caught. but two were very special. 2 Wren, 1 Dunnock, a lovely Marsh Tit and a Garden Warbler which was very interesting to say the least. Garden Warbler are very closely related to Blackcaps and I was very interested to get the chance to examine one in the hand. As Warblers go this is a big species not a lot smaller than a Dunnock for example and significantly larger and more bulky than a Willow Warbler. They are said to be "featureless" when seen in the field, with no wing bar or eye stripe nor white in the tail, in fact it is said that this lack of diagnostic features is in it's self a feature. First impressions led me to be surprised by the size and then a white belly as well as a faint eye ring. 

Garden Warbler Our bird turned out to be a juvenile just starting a moult with pin feathers on the wing coverts. I noticed on the photographs that it also had a soft gape. You can see that this bird is brownish and not as grey as I have imagined when I have caught glimpses in the field. It is slightly unfortunate that the bird's plumage looks a bit ruffled by the handling which confuses the photograph a little. As far as ageing is concerned we first of all checked for any sign of a brood patch and then when there was no sign of that we looked for pin feathers that would indicate a post juvenile moult. Young birds at the age of 6 or 7 weeks for example undergo this moult of feathers to an intermediate plumage and retain these feathers until after breeding in the first year. The presence of these emerging "pin feathers" in our bird proved it's age as a bird bred this season. This was a nice find for the site proving that Garden Warbler breed here in East Devon. 

Marsh Tit. Under the supervision of Dr. Ian I removed this little Tit from the mist net with ease, and back at the central point proceeded with the job of ageing, sexing (if possible) and ringing. We thought at one point that we were dealing with a Willow Tit such is the difficulty of separating these two very similar species.  They were not recognised as individul species until the start of the 20th century. There was a hint of disappointment from Ian when he realised that it was a Mrsh and not a Willow because this would have been a tremendous coup and a wonderful discovery as Willow Tit are very rare in Devon.

Regardless of the small amount of birds the quality made up for it and I was very impressed to be able to see both these two species so closely. The two Wrens were almost forgotten even though they are such gorgeous little birds and in the hand equally as interesting as they are in the field.  One was a juvenile and the other an adult. I am not surprised that we caught a couple because they were singing constantly with lots of individual territories identified..... too many to count really.  If you are interested in identifying Marsh Tit in the hand here is a nice close-up of the underside of the tail which is crucial apparently.

Branscombe Devon

The last few days have been difficult for the blog because I have my 85 year old mother staying and this has seriously put a damper on my freedom to come and go as usual. However, this afternoon we went to the seaside village of Branscombe, a nice place for an old lady to visit, and a chance for me to be at least outside! This is a typical Devon shingle beach with steep cliffs. A stream meanders down a valley to exit into Lyme Bay but disappears under the shingle beach before it reaches the sea. I had a good look for Grasshoppers and Crickets and spotted two but couldn't get a good enough look to name them, nor get a photo. I took pictures of this leaf hopper. It was one of dozens, all of the same species and easy to see. I think this bug was a bit more unusual and as yet I haven't got a name for it.. Having a good luck around led me to this caterpillar which is a 6 Spot Burnet, I would not have immediately known but it wasn't too hard to identify. later on, at dusk I had a look at the hill between Alphington and Exminster and took pictures of the Rabbits in a warren that has hundreds of occupants. I was really hoping that a fox or stoat would put in an appearance but I suppose that was expecting too much.

A Few interesting insects

At the height of summer insects are the main interest, the birds are a little quiet but Dragonflies and Damsels are abundant as well as interesting Hoverflies and Bees. Today it was hot! So armed with a variety of lenses I made my way first to the Exeter Canal in the hope of capturing some Damselfly portraits. Cow Parsley is a favourite food for lots of nectaring insects and is always a good place to be near if you want to see hoverflies. Today was quite good and I took just about my best ever "macro" photo Also on the "parsley or at least near by was this Brindled Hoverfly, there were in fact several if not dozens and as they are very common to my garden as well I was not surprised. very common to my garden as well I was not surprised.

Volucella bombylans plumata

I went out on a ringing session this afternoon with Dr Ian. It was quite successful and rewarding. lessons were learned and birds were caught. In fact a total of 16 in all. These included Wren, Greenfinch, Robin (adult and juvenile), Chiffchafff, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Song Thrush, Dunnock and the highlight for me today a juvenile Long Tailed Tit.

Dunnock

If you look very closely at the Juvenile Dunnock here you may notice that it has a pink fleshy end to the inside of the beak. This is called a gape and is soft in nestlings, once they have left the nest this gradually decreases but at first the fact that it is a newly fledged bird can be told by the presence of the "gape". In Dunnocks I noticed today that the gape is pink which is unusual because most birds have a yellow gape. 

Volucella Bombylanus 

Referring back to the Hoverfly above. This is the Bumblebee hoverfly, a first for me and although I did not have the correct lens with me I did manage to get a reasonable record shot for my Devon Hoverfly Galleries click here to view. The hoverfly pictured is the yellow "plumata" form and I also saw and photographed the nominate Brown tailed form but not  a good enough shot to post here.  It really was a good little spot for insects and as well as those already mentioned I saw a Large Skipper Butterfly as well as a couple of unidentified Dragonflies.

Wren

This is a very early 2009 bred bird, netted, weighed (9.1 Grams) measured ringed with a unique numbered ring and then released to contribute in a tiny way to science. 

Leaf Hopper sp.

Leaf hoppers are a hard to identify and there are 250 species of them in the UK so I am going to find it hard to put a name to this one. But I have to say that when you have a really good look at them they are fascinating. The one here is only about 1.5mm long and very hard to get a good photo of..... don't I say that about most things?

If this little bug doesn't look like the inspiration for ET then I don't know what does. And below he looks like dangerMouse in a cape! Leafhoppers can be pests in agriculture but in a normal garden I can't imagine that they would do much harm. They suck the sap from plants so if there was a large infestation I am sure that there would be a big impact. Regardless of that I am pleased to see them when I do because they are interesting and make good macro photo subjects.

A few English Flowers

Late evening saw me on my way to Escot near Ottery St Mary. I wanted to have a look to see if the Little Grebe noticed on a previous trip was showing. It was a really dreadful night, the cloud was so low that it blanketed everything in a foggy, damp haze but it wa s still strangely warm. Anyway I persevered because it was just a look at what was showing. Lots of bird calls/songs and I heard Blackcap.Greenfinch,Green Woodpecker, Wren, Chiffchaff and Long Tailed Tit. The conditions were absolutely appalling for photography and I sat in the hide for 30 minutes in the hope that the Little Grebe, if still present would come out and show him/her self, but no! I decided to experiment with the new lens and flash a nd took a few hand held shots to see what I could come up with and I have posted a few here for the record. The first is an Ox Eye daisy, one of my favourite plants.

Dog Rose

This is a Dog Rose, and once the flower has died off a big fat Rose Hip will take it's place. If you are not from the UK,I can assure you that this is a truly wild English Rose, something that we take for granted, but part of the history and folklore of the country.

Clover

This is Clover, typically English but overlooked by most. Fields are deliberately seeded with clover because cattle that graze on it give good quality milk.

PENTAX-DA* 200mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM Lens

I took delivery today of my new lens, purchased specifically to try and improve the quality of images from the garden hide at short distances I have to say that so far I am impressed with some of the results. It feels incredibly high quality and the auto focus is so silent and quick. I sat in the hide and managed a few shots and have to say that the end results are really pleasing.

 

If you are a spec. kind of person you may be interested in this infor which I have copied from:

 "Digital Camera Review".

 "The two new fast telephotos smc PENTAX-DA* 200mm F2.8 ED [IF] SDM and smc PENTAX-DA* 300mm F4.0 ED [IF] SDM are not only optically astounding but also support the ultrasonic autofocus drive system for fast and quiet operation. Special optical glass including ED glass elements, aspherical lens elements and outstanding lens coating provide for excellent contrast characteristics, a consistent edge-to-edge sharpness and a particularly clear rendition of fine details. As well as the outstanding imaging attributes, PENTAX engineers have raised the mechanical characteristics of the lenses to a state-of-the-art level. Built-in ultrasonic motors (Supersonic Motors) in the lenses provide for extremely quiet and fast autofocusing. Both lenses are also weatherproofed and protected from penetrating dust by appropriate seals. The front lens elements of the lenses use the special Pentax SP - "Super Protect" - fluoride coating technology. This nano-technology protects the front lens against dust, finger marks or smearing, making the lenses exceptionally easy to clean. The Pentax "Quick Shift Focus System" allows the photographer to manually alter the focus point at will without having to take the camera out of the autofocus mode. The new smc PENTAX-DA 35mm F2.8 Macro Limited Lens will satisfy the most demanding photographer with its pictorial quality. Due to its fast aperture and outstanding sharpness this lens is ideal as an everyday ‘standard lens’. Two zoom lenses; the smc PENTAX-DA 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 AL II and the smc PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 ED complete the new PENTAX lens assortment. With their compactness and extended zoom range they are both well suited for all types of general photography. The SP - "Super Protect" - technology and the PENTAX "Quick Shift Focus System" are incorporated in both lenses. ED glass lens elements are used in the optical construction of the smc PENTAX PENTAX-DA 55-300mm F4-5.8 tele-zoom in order to assure the highest image quality possible."

 Perhaps you are the kind of person that prefers to see the results so here are a couple of images taken today and I have to say that they show a lot of potential. The first picture is pretty much as it is with no cropping. I was  around 6 foot from this juvenile Goldfinch from my pop-up chair hide. I particularly like the background.

Juvenile Goldfinch

The next image is a House sparrow perched in a Bottle Brush bush at about 15 foot away and then cropped in Photo Shop. I have to say that I like this image as well and it is still quite sharp and quite acceptable.

House Sparrow

Ringing Session

This evening was a bit of a disappointment because at around 5.45 it absolutely poured down which is no big deal. But at 6 I met Dr Ian to have a look at the Sand Martin colony. Had the weather been acceptable, that is, no rain or high winds we would have ringed some Sand Martins at the colony on the nearby river Exe. . This has now been delayed until next week. I must say that I am looking forward to this very much. It is going to be good to put rings on "my" Sand Martins and then se what/who returns next year. When you consider the immense distance that they travel on their migration it is amazing that they then return again to the same spot on our River. Next week there will be photographs and a report of the session so don't forget to check back to see. 

Tits in my Garden!

One funny aside.......... last night I had posted about the Tits in my garden and without being crude I suspect that it is possible to misunderstand what we are talking of here. Well this is exactly what happened because I had a hit from Korea last night(one of 74 countries that have been on the blog). I have ameans through the stat counter on the post side of the blog to see who has been looking and what brought them to the blog. This man must have been quite disappointed to see the lovely little birds in my garden which is not exactly what he was looking for!!!!!!!!

Tits in my garden

Today has been a good one in the garden for Tit species. I decided to take some experimental photos using a 200mm lens that came with my first camera and am pleased to say that it worked quite well, the final results are a little on the "soft" side as you would expect from a very cheap lens but the principle worked well. I have ordered a high quality 200 mm lens which will be with me tomorrow. This should improve the images taken in my garden even more. I am looking forward to using it. In the meantime I have posted these two images so that we can compare them when I post images with the new lens in the near future. These birds are both juveniles, the first is a Blue Tit and the second a Great. As I sat in the hide waiting I got very excited because I could hear Long Tailed Tits in the apple tree and I was really hoping that one at least would come down on to the feeders and present its self for a photo.......................................................... but no luck and eventually they left the garden. I note that this time last year I had Long Tails in the garden so I can see a pattern there. Later on in the early evening the weather cleared and the sun shone so I decided at the last minute to go out to the moor to continue my Cuckoo study. I heard at least 5 different males calling but didn't have the look of one visiting the tree which I had decided to concentrate on. I did waste a little bit of time though pursuing a pair of Whinchats, the second sighting this year....... and well, you can't resist that can you. I noticed that there was a true pair and it might just be that I have never actually seen a male in true breeding plumage before. As I arrived at the cuckoo tree there he was right at the top and I tried to get as close as I could to him. After a while he flew back over my head to his mate and it gave me the chance to study them both together and note how much more brightly coloured the male is. As I sat in the hide some 30 minutes later he came back on to the top of the tree and I was waiting for him to turn his head in a good photographic pose but unforunately he never did and I cursed as he flew off knowing that I had missed a really good photo opportunity.

Today's garden insects and arachnids.

Speckled Bush Cricket

A completely flightless, very long-legged cricket, the "Speckled Bush Cricket" is virtually wingless, apart from the tiny brown flaps on the top of the male's body. It is bright green, conspicuously spotted with very dark red speckles. Its song is very high-pitched and barely audible to the human ear. It is well camouflaged among vegetation and usually only seen as it hops to bright outdoor lights or windows at night. It lives on well structured vegetation, tall grasses and shrubs, being found as an adult from mid-July through to the autumn. Eggs are laid in bark and the young nymphs hatch the following spring. A common species throughout southern England and the East Midlands, it is absent from the North. Young hatch from mid-May onwards and mature through 6 larval stages to adult, with about one week for each state and one week for the adult to become sexually mature. Males appear to have a shorter adult life than females. Females can still be around in early November but we do not believe that any survive the winter. I last saw them in my garden on the 20th May. I can say that the ones seen today, several in fact were slightly larger than those 2 weeks ago. I find them very photogenic and am looking forward to seeing adults later in the summer.

Wolf Spider

This Wolf Spider sp. is very interesting. You can clearly see that it has what seems to be a sack protruding from its backside. This is in fact an egg sack. The female makes it from her spineret and lays her eggs in the sack which she then attaches to the spineret and carries around with her. After a week, the babies hatch and climb on to the mothers back and she continues to carry them with her. This is a reasonably small spider, around 5 mm long, not including the legs and therefore the tiny spiders on her back are not immediately noticeable but you can see them very clearly in the photo below. There are several theories as to the name of this spider which does not build a web, but in stead either chases down or ambushes it's prey, like a wolf in fact. My theory is that they are very hairy when you look closely. They look like mini terantula. Also look at the size of the "main" pair of eyes which are very animal like and massive in comparison to the rest of the body. Eyesight is obviously an important faculty for a hunter. I will be having a close look for them again. I have an idea that this spider is a cucumber spider, named after it's colour but I am checking this before we go public with it! , I will be confirming this information as soon as I have it but it was one of 4 different species seen today in the garden. I also am pretty sure that this one is a Crab Spider again not sure of the scientific name but I do feel that if the blog is to have anything serious to say then this is very important and I will be giving it a scientific name in due course. Again this spider has large eyes and would indicate that it is also a hunter/ambush feeder. I see this species in my garden every year and have never seen it with a web so pretty sure of my assumptions. If you look at the Cucumber above you can see that eyes are hard to see which would indicate that this is a web builder and I can confirm that this is a fact. Other species in the garden today were 4 different Hoverflies and a Painted Lady Butterfly, the first for a week. I really enjoy being able to step in to the garden and find interesting insects and arachnids to photograph. This is totally different than trecking on to Dartmoor and finding relatively exotic birds like the Cuckoo. In the garden there are discoveries to be made and I think finding the egg/baby carrying Wolves is proof of that for sure!

Cuckoo -

Last Thursday I had been fortunate enough to watch a female Cuckoo in the process of nest finding. I had been pleased to watch her as it's not that usual to get really good views of cuckoos. I was even more pleased when I had a look at the few distant photos to see that it was one of the "rufous/brown" form of females. Males a grey as you know and most females also, but now and again there are brown coloured females and this individual was one of these. The next opportunity I had to go out to the moor was 5 days later on Tuesday and I was excited when I set up my hide that gave me a good view of the area in front of me where I had seen the hen the previous Thursday. I didn't get a good view in front but to my left and up the valley a male cuckoo perched and began to call. Then later another bird or probably the same one was in that area. I decided that when I returned I would place my hide near to that little tree as it seemed to be a calling tree for at least one male anyway. So Wednesday arrived and my plan was to focus on the "calling tree". The idea that I might get a good photo really excited me and I set up the hide only some 20 feet from the tree. I got myself set up and started the wait. After only a short while a male cuckoo flew over my head as if to go to the tree but instead circled and landed on a more distant bush and started to call. As he flew over me I heard the other strange call that cuckoos make. To describe it, image if you were to ask someone to imitate the noise a boomerang would make as it whirred in the air. It is a really weird sound and not one I have heard before to my knowledge. He disappeared after a while and another bird. or the same one was calling to my left. The hide has a convenient flap on each side and I was looking through at the bird 75 yards away. Basically, I had taken my eye off the ball because the female pictured above had settled on the tree as predicted. I was only just ready and managed to get three shots before she flew off up the valley to carry on with her dirty deeds also making that strange sound that I had heard the male making. As you can see it is probably the bird seen last Thursday. Cuckoos are territorial so that would figure. A male never did arrive on the tree but I was happy enough. In fact I had an immense feeling of satisfaction. Yet again I had done a bit of study and a bit of prep and predicted where my best chances were and it had come true.

Cuckoo

Last Thursday I had been out to the moor and had a fortunate encounter with a female cuckoo who was intent on laying. She had been investigating some low shrub and heather obviously looking for an occupied nest. It was an interesting encounter but a bit distant. Last night, armed with a bit more knowledge about the species and realising that they seem to be a more active in the evening I went back with a plan. I took the chair hide and placed it closer to the potential for action. I sat it out for a couple of hour! I knew it was going to be a waiting game and a bit hit and miss. To get to the point, no female arrived in front of me but I increased my knowledge and therefore my chances of getting a photo considerably. As I sat there and the evening wore on the males became really active and I recognised at least 3 by their calls which would have been hard to tell apart but being a trained and professional musician I have a good "ear" and I could tell by the pitch of the calls that there were several individuals. Suddenly very close a cuckoo was literally only feet from the hide but behind me and I can tell you that their calls when close, are very loud! It then flew off up the little valley to my left and perched on the solitary pine tree but now too far away for anything like a good picture. Later on in the evening on my walk back I noticed that this tree was a favoured perch. My plan is to go again this evening and place the hide with a good view of this tree and hope for the best! As I sat in the hide a few bird watchers walked down the path to my right. They were unaware of me which proves that the hide is good but I was certainly aware of them. Firstly they were noisy, and all wearing bright white or very light tops. The first indication that someone was around was the sudden silence around me apart from their talking. The birds were really aware of them! But in their totally unsuitable attire they stood out like beacons in a desert! I wonder if people realise that with just a tiny bit more thought and dressing for the occasion they could be so much more successful and their walk would be so much more fruitful. Earlier in the evening prior to the cuckoo attempt I had gone to take Redstart photos and with the use of the flash got some belting photos. This time I managed better photos of the female emerging from the box. On my walk down to the cuckoo territory I took photos of a Pipit which is 99% a meadow but was perched on the top of this Holly Bush/Tree and giving a good impression of a Tree Pipit. I don't find Pipits easy to separate and I am sure that I am not alone in this, but in spite of wanting to turn every pipit I see in to either a water or tree pipit I am pretty sure that we have a Meadow Pipit here, nice never the less.

Sea lamprey

Out yesterday at the Sand Martin colony as blogged here I had an interesting and great sighting. I stood talking to a dog walker who's Staffordshire Bull Terrier had disturbed my photographic session. We were just casually glancing in to the water when a large, odd looking fish appeared in the shallows. At first I thought it was a Salmon and then an eel but after just a few seconds I realised that it was a Sea Lamprey. It was large,  at least 3ft long and it was very blotchy in appearance with a strangely large and odd shaped tail. here is a description that I downloaded. 

• Lampreys are among the most primitive of all living vertebrate animals. They belong to a group known as Agnatha – literally ‘jawless fishes.’ 

• They only have one nostril – on the top of their head! 

• The lamprey’s saliva contains an anti-coagulant that keeps a wound open so that it can continue to feast on the blood of its host. 

• The male sea lamprey releases a powerful sex-hormone that females find irresistible. They can detect it up to 65 metres away. While insects are known to emit pheromones to attract mates, the lamprey is the first vertebrate creature to use a similar chemical ‘come-on.’ 

And this from Wikipedia:

 "The sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) is a parasitic lamprey (a kind of jawless fish) found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America, in the western Mediterranean Sea, and in the Great Lakes. It is brown or gray on its back and white or gray on the underside and can grow to be up to 90 cm (35.5 in) long. Sea lampreys prey on a wide variety of fish. The lamprey uses its suction-cup like mouth to attach itself to the skin of a fish and rasps away tissue with its sharp probing tongue and teeth. Secretions in the lamprey's mouth prevent the victim's blood from clotting. Victims typically die from blood loss or infection."

My photo shows the 7 gill holes and the large tail as mentioned. (The head is to the left). It was interesting to note that it disturbed the river bed and sent up "clouds" of muddy water. I took this is an indication of spawning activity as they are known to move large rocks on the river bed to get to the sand beneath where they then lay their eggs.

Sand Martin - Riparia riparia

I went back to the local Sand Martin colony today to see if there were any sign of fledged babies. The nest that I had original photographed and watched for a while a few weeks ago , see here, was still active and I managed a great shot of one of the youngsters emerging from the nest.