Hornborgasjon spring 2008

While on a business trip to Gothenburg, I managed a return to Hornborgasjon making this something of an annual pilgrimage for me.

The trip was a little later than last year, but the timing seemed spot on, with birds, flowers, dragonflies and butterflies all vying for attention.

I spent all of 8 hours out in the field there, but it felt like I really needed another day to do it justice. I only covered about a third of the area. The size of the place is awesome. On a sunny Sunday, I only past a handful of other birders.....yet another plus for the mighty Hornborga.

the quite thin strip of reed held the singing great reed warblers

the lake is mostly surrounded by swamp and wet grassland

home of the vidye-vuy-vidya

I have not managed to id this plant yet - found at the edge of marshes all round the lake. Looks a bit bittercress-like

Birds of note were several singing great reed warblers, common rosefinch, calling wryneck, a small group of black tern and 100's of arctic tern, along with the regulars such as wt eagle, several osprey, 10's of rn and bn grebe, whooper swan, nesting cranes, 60+ wood sandpiper, spotted redshank, temminck's stint and flocks of raven. Surrounding woodland held pied flycatcher, and garden warbler.

No snaps of anything exotic, but the yellow wags were obliging again.

in almost everything, the swede's seem to have it sussed and do it much better than us. But they do have a goose problem that they have not yet solved - just like us.

There was a mass emergence of dragon and damselflies while I was there. They appeared to be mostly variable, azure and red-eyed damsefly, along with 4-spotted chaser, but several large white-faced darters with their bronzed wings looked stunning.

red-eyed damselflies (immatures)

large white-faced darter

Butterflies included brimstone, comma, green hairsteak and a fast flying camberwell beauty.

brimstone male

The east side of the lake has limestone hillsides where the pasque flowers were almost finished this year. Not really sure if the pansy species here is mountain pansy or not amonst masses of stitchwort.

limestone hills on the eastern shore

mountain(?) pansy

pasque flower

Holly Blue

A section of old hedge in the garden and those in neighbouring gardens seem to hold a small colony of holly blues.

male

This male has been on the wing quite frequently this past few weeks, chasing interplopers. I really must make an effort to find eggs and caterpillars this year. Have checked the Ivy in the past, but there is also holly, dogwood and spindle as potential food plants.

Smooth Newt

My pond is crammed with smooth newts this year. Hard so say how many due to the amount of pond weed for them to hide in, but having counted 20 separate newts, over 50 is not unreasonable.

After some poor results photographing through the surface, I fished a few out and took some snaps in an old fish tank. Results are quite OK. Must repeat with more realistic foreground, background and making sure threads of algae don't go in the tank.

male smooth newt though the pond surface amongst the water soldiers

male in the tank




male in display pose


Only under close viewing did I notice that the female has strange extensions to her yaws at the sides - don't have a clue what the function of these are.


female smooth newt

Key Jinglers

Went on a search for Corn Buntings this morning on local Saxby Wold. Soaked up the lovely key-jingerly song. Not really somewhere that I watch very often, but was surprised to find attendant tree sparrow, yellow wagtail (nesting in rapeseed?), wheatear, linnet and buzzard.


corn bunting





tree sparrow tree - not many places where you will now find a dead tree that has not been chopped to satisy the health and safety mantra. About 3 years ago the local council and electricity distributors had a blitz on the trees around Barton. The once-abundant noctule bat totally disappeared at about the same time. The two events are probably not unrelated.

I really dislike driving down the wold single track roads, stopping the car, listening, starting the car, finding somewhere to pull off, etc, etc. I now however, have a cunning plan - throw bike in back of car, park somewhere near wold central and bike it around the area for a good few hours on a warm day among the jinglers. Bliss.

Vole Activity

The local water voles have been quite active, but not particularly willing photographic participants (to me at least). These are my best shots to date.











Noticed a pike in the drain and a stoat along the bank, so keep your heads down.

Heathland Shrike

A great grey shrike where it should be - on the local Risby Warren heathland. It was busy feeding mainly on bumblebees - maybe this is because they are mostly large queens ready for egg laying at this time of the year - must be quite nutritious.



as promised - no frame-filling bird shots here

After viewing the shrike for a good hour, I went in search for reptiles. I've never managed to find any and this time was no exception. There are not many spots suitable for snake hibernaculums, but the long dry stone wall on the eastern side should surely hold common lizards. Have come to the conclusion that the many decades of shooting on the warren equals gamekeepers + masses of pheasant, equals zero reptile population.

The western side looks more wooded with birch and I have not checked this yet, so there is hope yet.


The inland wind-blown sand dune here is quite impressive.





inland dune


Really must return at night this summer - it looks ideal for glow worm with many snails and large open areas for displaying. However, there is not much in the way of water here, which seems to be a feature of many glow worm sites.

Grass Snakes

Five separate grass snakes found today. Not confident about sexing them yet though.

Single snake found at site2 (ditchside), close to where I found a single snake last year sharing a hibernaculum with some adders. Comparing pictures indicates they are probably the same snake.

Snake1

Snake1

Snake1

Site3 (roadside) had 5 separate snakes with quite a variation in markings. In one place there were at least 3 snakes and there was a slight bad smell in the area, which may have been from the grass snakes themselves - they are well known to be able to excrete foul smells in defence.

Snake 2

Snake3

Snake4 - quite a large snake, less yellow and few markings

Snake4 - close up

Snake4 - close up