On the final day of out trip to Devon, keith and I did a round trip which included a cruise on the River Dart and a ride on the Dartmouth Steam Railway
The first part of our journey was a bus ride from Paignton to Totnes. Then we took the ‘Cardiff Castle’ from the quay down the River Dart to Dartmouth.
Totnes Quay
‘Cardiff Castle’
Time for cleaning!
Dartmouth Steam Railway runs alongside the River
Not the sort of wildlife you might expect alongside the river
Dartmouth
Dartmouth
Naval College Dartmouth
Then we caught the ferry across the river to Kingswear.
Kingswear
Ferry
Railway station at Kingswear
From Kingswear we caught the Dartmouth Steam Railway back to Paignton
These are a couple of pictures of a Harlequin Ladybird, which we found on our car windscreen at home the other day.
The Harlequin ladybird are originally from Asia and were first recorded in the UK in 2004. Since then they have rapidly spread and are now one of the commonest species found in parks and gardens. The amazing thing is the variations, over 100 to date, that can be found, but most are red with black spots and black and white markings on the head. This was the first time I had seen a Orange variant of this species. there are some even rarer variants such as red or yellow spots on a black background.
following our week in Norfolk, sue and I drove around the wash to South Lincolnshire for another week. We spent most of the week exploring the nature reserves on the northern shore of the wash.
Frampton marshes is a RSPB reserve near Boston which I think is one of the best reserves in the UK. It is not different this time as I saw a Black Stork, a visitor from Europe, which had been present for a number of days. Sadly although we saw it flying across the reserve we didn’t manage to photograph it.
Gibraltar point is a national nature reserve, which is on a spit of land south of Skegness. The highlight here was a group of Spoonbills, once a rare species but now becoming established in a number of places in England.
Spoonbill
Spoonbill
Spoonbill (adult and juvenile)
On one day we traveled north to East Yorkshire to visit the RSPB reserve at Blacktoft Sands to see a white-tailed Lapwing. It breeds on inland marshes in Iraq, Iran and southern Russia. The Iraqi and Iranian breeders are mainly residents, but Russian birds spend the winter in India and north east Africa. So it is a long way from home. the first record in the UK was in July 1975 and it has been seen here on less than 10 occasions since.
Snipe
White-tailed Lapwing
Glossy Ibis
White-tailed Lapwing
Glossy Ibis
On the final day we went to Whisley nature park, near Lincoln. I have never visited here before but found it a fantastic place. Highlights seen here were a Hobby, Little Stint, Little Ringed Plover and Wood Sandpiper, although all too distant to photograph.
Pete's Favourite Things 