Spitfire and P-8 Poseidon, Auchmithie - and some wildlife

   
A look back on the last week where I didn't travel far, with photos from East Haven and Hatton, Auchmithie, the first insects of the year in Olive's garden, and the Lurgies at Montrose Basin. 

I suppose the highlight was the fly past of a Spitfire and Boeing P-8 Poseidon which were touring the country. They were scheduled to fly from Leuchars to Lossiemouth (I think), when I saw them the P8 looked to be checking visibility on it's own when it flew a few loops, it then did two more passes with the Spitfire in formation. A separate plane GSOL Spitfire.com was also seen, assumed to be filming? Olive has a tenuous connection with Spitfires, her Mum worked on Merlin engines during the war, could you imagine young women today.....

The garden insects were photographed on my P1000, a sighting of what appeared to be a Hummingbird Hawk Moth wasn't photographed as I couldn't keep up with it as it flew over neighbours gardens. Info from Butterfly Conservation, click here 

Some insect videos, something I don't usually attempt. Note ID's are "best attempts" for some of the potter, mining and nomads...

Greenfinches      Peacock Butterfly      Ruby Tiger Moth      Common Carder Bee Queen      Gooden's Nomad Bee

Wheatear male at the Dowrie end of the Hatton field

Skylark

Curlew

Linnet male

Meadow Pipit

Goldfinch collecting sheeps wool from the barbed wire fence for this years nest

Stonechat male at East Haven

Spitfire and Boeing P-8 Poseidon Auchmithie

Fulmar

Puffins, 14 or 15 counted at low tide

Rock Pipit on territory near the harbour

A Peacock Butterfly in Olive's garden

Common Carder Bee Queen

Gooden's Nomad Bee

Buff-tailed Bumblebee Queen

Honey Bee

Seven-spot Ladybird

Wolf Spider species unknown

Ruby Tiger Moth newly emerged

The very clever and adaptable Rooks have found how to get the fat balls, the feeder hangs on a long string and one bird tried to raise the feeder into it's reach by pulling the string up, the string was too long. They've settled for precarious wing beating and hammering the fat balls to knock the fat to the lawn

Still two pairs of Yellowhammers

Five Shelduck drakes chasing a female at the Lurgies

Gadwall drake

Red-breasted Merganser male

The only one of 14 Black-tailed Godwits showing summer plumage coming in

Redshank with "Bling"

   

The Redshank below was ringed at Welwick Saltmarsh on the north bank of the Humber estuary (53.6494, 0.0169) on 28th February 2025 when it was aged as an adult.  This is the first re-sighting.

Photo derived from a video frame

Redshank, right blue over red and metal, left green over black flag Maryton Ditch   

Redshank with leg rings and a flag,  click for videos

14 Whooper Swans      Pintails Maryton      Slavonian Grebe      Greenshank in a hurry 

Brook Lamprey battered near Golden Haddock Chipper!

   
Here's another post where in the short time Olive was waiting on her White Pudding Supper at the Golden Haddock, Arbroath, I saw a Redshank catch a lamprey. I'd only ever seen one lamprey before, a River Lamprey I accidentally foul-hooked while fly-fishing on the South Esk in the Cottage Pool above the Lurgies, it was a much larger "fish". The Redshank had a Brook Lamprey a small species reaching only around 5.5 inches, hindered by its bill it tried hard to kill the lamprey only to attract a Herring Gull which didn't mess about.

Some information about the extraordinary creatures lampreys are is added at the bottom of this post.

This Redshank had caught a Brook Lamprey just where the Brothock Burn meets the sea, in Arbroath

Not the best bill design for despatching a wriggling lamprey

In stepped the big guy, a Herring Gull, easily chasing off the Redshank. You can see the lamprey's yellow eye in this photo

The very flat underside of the head hides the "mouth" which had multiple blunt teeth

This photos shows the mouth

Lesser black-backed Gull (yellows legs)

Great black-backed Gull pale legs and a bill like a bricklayers bolster (chisel), seen at the harbour smashing edible crab shells

Lampreys are often called "living fossils" because they have remained largely unchanged for over 360 million years—meaning they were swimming in Earth's waters long before the first dinosaurs appeared.

They belong to the superclass Cyclostomata, making them some of the most primitive vertebrates alive today.

1. Anatomy: The Original Jawless Fish. Unlike almost all other fish, lampreys lack scales, fins in pairs, and, most notably, jaws.

The Sucker: Their mouth is a circular, suction-cup-like disc. In parasitic species, this disc is lined with concentric rows of sharp, horn-like teeth and a "rasping tongue" used to scrape away host flesh.

Skeleton: They have no bones. Their entire skeleton is made of cartilage, similar to sharks and rays.

Breathing: They have seven distinct gill pores on each side of their head, which often look like extra eyes (leading to the nickname "nine-eyed eel").

2. The Three-Phase Life Cycle: Lampreys have a fascinating, often years-long journey from mud-dwellers to ocean travelers.

Ammocoetes (Larvae): They begin life as blind, toothless larvae buried in the silt of freshwater streams. They stay here for 3 to 10 years, filter-feeding on algae and detritus.

Metamorphosis: They undergo a dramatic change where they develop eyes, their signature silver/grey color, and their specialized mouths.

Adulthood & Spawning: * Parasitic types (like the Sea Lamprey) migrate to the ocean or large lakes to feed on fish.Non-parasitic types (like Brook Lamprey) actually stop eating entirely once they reach adulthood. They live just long enough to swim upstream, spawn, and die.