Eco Hvar

Birds and Insects Autumn-Winter 2015

Reports from Dol, many thanks Steve!

Kestrel, Jelsa Kestrel, Jelsa Photo: Michael Southall

My bird watching sadly has been rather limited this year, the intention is to make more detailed notes in 2016 - or just wishful thinking.

I had a friend came over in September for a week and I think he listed 29 species in that time excluding Bee-eaters which had gone by then. Saw my last Swift on 27th October, two months later than we would have in the UK. My friend specialises in Moths and set up a couple of traps in my garden for a week. He was delighted with the quantity and species. Probably about 200 different species which I have pictures of - unfortunately I am not knowledgeable enough to identify any.

Humming-bird hawk moth.

The humming-bird hawk moth is spectacular in flight, and safely inconspicuous when at rest.

 
Humming-bird hawkmoth. Photo Michael Southall

I erected a bird table about three months ago and was rather disappointed by the lack of interest in it. However in the last three weeks it has been a source of food for about 10 Blue Tits / some Great Tits and a Robin.  There clearly is enough natural food for several other species.

Blue-tit at the bird table. Photo Steve Jones

Blackcaps are feeding on pomegranate tree nearby, the occasional Wren pops into the garden and numerous Chaffinch feed off the ground in a neighbours field. Sova Usara calls regularly but seeing it is a little more difficult although some super views in August on an old ruin next door. Saw a male and female Cirl Bunting on some Blackberry bushes nearby on Monday/Tuesday this week.

Last week was seeing Black Redstart/Redstart ( I thought Redstart but two friends think Black Redstart so we will go with them - it is a female and they are both pretty similar). It sort of makes sense as I was positive I saw a male on roof briefly the other week.

redstart
Redstart. Photo Steve Jones

I had two or three trips to the airfield in the summer/late summer and found a few species there. Managed to get a reasonable picture of a young Golden Plover which was a surprise to me. Having seen them in flocks on Dartmoor in the Winter, I have never seen one solitary bird. I also saw Yellow Wagtails. There was a solitary Heron at the small pond near the airport, but I was expecting more, as it is the only source of water I know of. Blue Rock Thrush nested nearby which solved a problem I had had for a while, I was familiar with the call over several years, but hadn't managed to tie it up to the bird until now. Also Nightjars were heard most evenings.

Olive picking yielded an unexpected treasure

A great find whilst picking Olives: this caterpillar, which I estimate to be about 10cm long X 1cm wide, later becomes the deathshead hawkmoth ( I didn't know that, but am reliably informed - a fantastic sight and so well camouflaged).

Deathshead Hawkmoth caterpillar. Photo Steve Jones

I will endeavour to detail more next year - you mentioned hearing a Cuckoo on April 24th, which is interesting, as that is around the same time that they reach Dartmoor. There has been an interesting project in the UK for the past 3 years now, involving radio tagging cuckoos to track their progress and whereabouts. Really fascinating. I am wondering whether or not they actually breed here, or just pass through. And what is their host bird if they breed here?

Steve, Dol, December 19th 2015

I have been a bit disappointed by the lack of birds in the winter, I was expecting far more, but pleased my bird table is attracting some of the more common speicies. Did see four Buzzards conveniently perched on four pylons on my way into Stari Grad this morning.

Steve, Dol, December 23rd 2015

I went off bird watching early Xmas morning  - over to the airfield and the pond nearby.

Pied wagtail, December 25th 2015. Photo Steve Jones

Saw the usual Heron and 2 Pied Wagtail.

Heron, 28th December 2015. Photo Steve Jones

Saw several flocks of Chaffinch in trees (overnight roosts perhaps) between there and Stari Grad. Up to 60 or so on one tree and a couple of instances of similar driving back to Dol.

Flock of goldfinch in flight. Photo Steve Jones

Another pair of Cirl Buntings down near the electricity sub-station at Stari Grad. Several Buzzards but all too distant to get decent pictures. I have noticed Great Tits in the last two days are actually calling now.

Steve, Dol, December 27th 2015

For more of Steve's beautiful nature pictures, see his personal pages: Bird Pictures on Hvar 2017, and Butterflies of Hvar

Related items

back to top
You are here: Home Nature Watch Birds and Insects Autumn-Winter 2015

Eco Environment News feeds

  • ‘Magical’ galaxy frogs disappear after reports of photographers destroying their habitats

    Researcher in Kerala rainforest sounds alarm after being told frogs had died after being handled by humans

    A group of endangered “galaxy frogs” are missing, presumed dead, after trespassing photographers reportedly destroyed their microhabitats for photos.

    Melanobatrachus indicus, each the size of a fingertip, is the only species in its family, and lives under logs in the lush rainforest in Kerala, India. Their miraculous spots do not indicate poison, as people sometimes assume, but are thought to be used as a mode of communication, according to Rajkumar K P, a Zoological Society of London fellow and researcher.

    Continue reading...

  • Arctic endured year of record heat as climate scientists warn of ‘winter being redefined’

    Region known as ‘world’s refrigerator’ is heating up as much as four times as quickly as global average, Noaa experts say

    The Arctic endured a year of record heat and shrunken sea ice as the world’s northern latitudes continue a rapid shift to becoming rainier and less ice-bound due to the climate crisis, scientists have reported.

    From October 2024 to September 2025, temperatures across the entire Arctic region were the hottest in 125 years of modern record keeping, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) said, with the last 10 years being the 10 warmest on record in the Arctic.

    Continue reading...

  • The trauma after the storm: Hurricane Melissa leaves trail of emotional devastation across Jamaica

    Experts are calling for the integration of mental health into climate-disaster policy in the Caribbean as studies show that PTSD risks increase after hurricanes and displacement

    When Hurricane Melissa struck Jamaica on 28 October with 185mph winds, destroying homes, hospitals and infrastructure, killing 32 people and affecting 1.5 million, Toni-Jan Ifill immediately realised it would leave many with long-term traumatic memories.

    A month and a half after the storm, which also affected eastern Cuba, the clinical psychologist says recollections of the terrifying winds also haunt some of the staff at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. Even the sound of rain can cause trauma responses among people who lived through it.

    Continue reading...

  • Green groups decry EU ‘betrayal’ after vote to reduce oversight of firms

    Social and environmental reporting to be required of fewer companies after EPP aligns with far right to achieve goals

    Fewer companies operating in Europe will be made to carry out due diligence on the societal harms they cause, in what green groups have called a “betrayal” of communities affected by corporate abuse.

    The gutting of the EU’s sustainability reporting and due diligence rules, which was greenlit by MEPs on Tuesday, slashes the number of companies covered by laws to protect human and ecological rights, and removes provisions to harmonise access to justice across member states.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘No water, no life’: Iraq’s Tigris River in danger of disappearing

    Unless urgent action is taken life will be fundamentally altered for the ancient communities who live on its banks

    As a leader of one of the oldest gnostic religions in the world, Sheikh Nidham Kreidi al-Sabahi must use only water taken from a flowing river, even for drinking.

    The 68-year-old has a long grey beard hanging over his simple tan robe and a white cap covering his equally long hair, which sheikhs are forbidden from cutting. He says he has never got ill from drinking water from the Tigris River and believes that as long as the water is flowing, it is clean. But the truth is that soon it may not be flowing at all.

    Continue reading...

  • Glaciers to reach peak rate of extinction in the Alps in eight years

    Climate crisis forecast to wipe out thousands of glaciers a year globally, threatening water supplies and cultural heritage

    Glaciers in the European Alps are likely to reach their peak rate of extinction in only eight years, according to a study, with more than 100 due to melt away permanently by 2033. Glaciers in the western US and Canada are forecast to reach their peak year of loss less than a decade later, with more than 800 disappearing each year by then.

    The melting of glaciers driven by human-caused global heating is one of the clearest signs of the climate crisis. Communities around the world have already held funeral ceremonies for lost glaciers, and a Global Glacier Casualty List records the names and histories of those that have vanished.

    Continue reading...

  • ‘We hate it. It’s desecration’: the real cost of HS2

    Ten years after I first followed the proposed route, I retraced my steps to see what life was like along the world’s most expensive, heavily delayed railway line

    Ten years ago, I walked the route of HS2, the 140-mile railway proposed to run from London to Birmingham, to discover what lay in its path. Nothing had actually been constructed of this, supposedly the first phase of a high-speed line going north. The only trace was the furtive ecological consultants mapping newts and bats and the train’s looming presence in the minds of those who lived along the route. For many, it was a Westminster vanity project, symbolising a country run against the interests of the many to line the pockets of the few. People whose homes were under threat of demolitionwere petitioning parliament, campaigning for more tunnels or hoping the project would collapse before their farms, paddocks and ancient woodlands were wiped out.

    The line, we were told a decade ago, would be completed by 2026. Like many of the early claims about the longest railway to be built in Britain since the Victorian era, that fact no longer stands. The fast train is running – very – late. The official finish date of 2033 was recently revised upwards. “The best guess is that it will begin with a ‘4’ when you can catch a train,” one well-informed observer told me. There’s similar uncertainty about its cost, but one thing is sure: it is catastrophically over budget. When complete, HS2 will almost certainly be the most expensive railway in the world. Nearly 20 years ago, HS1, the line from the Channel tunnel to St Pancras, was completed on time and on budget for £51m per mile (£87m in today’s prices). It was criticised for being twice as expensive as a high-speed route constructed in France. HS2 may cost almost £1bn per mile.

    Continue reading...

  • A moment that changed me: a pigeon fell out of the sky – and she led me to a secret underground rescue network

    I had no idea what to do with the injured bird I named Belinda. But suddenly 3,000 Mancunians were happy to help, giving me a whole new appreciation of my home town

    The plane pushed through wall after wall of sleet on its descent into Manchester. I’d had a sinking feeling during the flight that only deepened as I shuffled through the terminal. I resented having to be back in the city where I had grown up, after living on the other side of the world for what had felt like a lifetime.

    After a few days, I headed out to get a haircut. My mind was miles away, back across an ocean, when I heard something hit the pavement. I looked down to see a pigeon on its back, spatchcocked, and twitching.

    Continue reading...

  • Plantwatch: Pitcher plant’s sweet nectar is laced with toxic nerve agent

    Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing liquid on the rim of its pitchers that tempts its prey into a deadly trap

    A carnivorous pitcher plant has recently been found to use a chemical nerve agent to drug its prey and lead them to a deadly end, being consumed in digestive juices at the bottom of the pitcher traps.

    The pitcher plant Nepenthes khasiana oozes an enticing sweet nectar on the rim of its pitchers for visiting insects, particularly ants, to feed on to lure them into the trap. But the nectar is laced with a toxic nerve agent called isoshinanolone, which strikes at the ant’s nervous system, leaving it with sluggish movements, weakened muscles, and causing it to groom itself excessively. Eventually the prey falls upside down in spasms, with the nerve agent sometimes killing it outright. But apart from isoshinanolone, the nectar also contains three types of sugars that can all absorb water and make the rim of the pitcher especially slippery, so the prey is more likely to slide down into the pitchers.

    Continue reading...

  • Worried about winter? 10 ways to thrive – from socialising to Sad lamps to celebrating the new year in April

    The temptation is to sit at home and hibernate, but beating the winter blues can be done. Here’s how to embrace the coldest and arguably most beautiful season

    Stephanie Fitzgerald, a chartered clinical psychologist, used to dread winter. Like many, she coped by keeping busy at work and hibernating at home, waiting for the cold, dark days to be over. But this approach wasn’t making her happy. So she sought out the science that would help her embrace the winter months, rather than try to escape them. In her resulting book, The Gifts of Winter, she writes: “I fell deeply in love with winter … It is a captivating and truly gorgeous season.”

    How did she change her mindset – and can the 42% of us who say summer is our favourite season learn to love winter too?

    Continue reading...

Eco Health News feeds

Eco Nature News feeds

Copyright © 2025 Eco Hvar. All Rights Reserved. Developed by Orion Informatika.