Josh's Blog

Langtoft's January Celebrities

2012-01-23T23:00:00.002Z

Over the last couple of days, I've had a few bits in the Langtoft area. Today at Baston & Langtoft Pits, I had a pair of Smew on the traditional location of the old wader scrape: the first of the winter on my old patch:

I was also pretty surprised to find that, when two redpolls flew over and landed in a nearby alder, one of them was in fact a female Mealy Redpoll (the other being a pretty standard cabaret). When it finally came out of the tangle of branches and perched in a nearby ash, it was fascinating to see the bird was ringed on it's right leg; unfortunately, views were far from adequate to read any numbers or letters.

Also hanging around still are a couple of European White-fronted Geese at West End Pits. The Greylags here can be painfully elusive among the thick vegetation on the islands, although with a bit of 'encouragement' they often come waddling off the island and in to the water. No sign of the Tundra Beans lately though - as much as I'd like to suggest they've gone, they've disappeared for six weeks at a time previously so they're probably still somewhere in the Deepings - we have a lot of Greylags.

Local birding 16/1

2012-01-16T23:55:00.005Z

I had a great day out locally today. Spent a couple of hours mid-morning around BLGP - alot of the smaller pits were at least partially frozen. There were lots of Shoveler (c.30) present, and a Pink-footed Goose was with around 250 Greylags at Grummit's Scrape then on The Ocean:

There seemed to be a fair few ducks around, so I headed round to Tallington GPs to see what was there. It was immediately apparent from the bank on the north side that there were a lot of ducks. Indeed, across the complex I had an impressive minimum of 280 Tufted Ducks, but no hoped for rare aythya. I could hardly complain though, as a drake Smew floated in to view - my first of the winter.

Also around the pits were c.50 Pochard and c.30 Goldeneye, as well as a significant concentration of 17 Little Grebes on one of the smaller pits. Langtoft West End was almost completely frozen, so it was perhaps no surprise that I couldn't find the Tundra Bean Geese here (or much else for that matter).

Heading back home for an early lunch, I toyed with the idea of a visit to Dogsthorpe Tip. However, with the tips seemingly closing for good and reduced gull numbers over the past month or so, I was nearly put off the idea. As it was such a lovely day, I decided to head over anyway and, if there wasn't much doing, I planned to tackle the Nene Washes. My fears were unfounded though: around 700 large gulls were on the tip and adjacent pit. It didn't take long for a beautiful, pale biscuit-coloured Iceland Gull to appear:

Result! The bird disappeared around 20 minutes later but was replaced by this subtle 2nd-winter Caspian Gull. Although not the cleanest looking individual with relatively limited moult apparent on the upperparts and a relatively pale iris, I guess this is probably a pure bird rather than a hybrid. Facially it looks really snouty, it has a long and thin bill with next to no gonydeal angle, has that characteristic 'hanging belly' appearance as well as long (but not extremely long) pale legs. Uppertail and UTCs are pretty clean also and, perhaps most critically, it did show a small pale mirror on p10 (not apparent in photos).

Local birder John Saunders arrived, and I was able to instantly put him on the Casp. With John eyeing Iceland Gull for his local year list, we decided to head round to the fields south of the tip. Sure enough, the Ice was located at the front of the flock and, with some careful stalking in my car, we were able to obtain fantastic views.

With work beckoning, I headed home via Deeping High Bank. A couple of vocal adult Bewick's Swans were on the River Welland north of Crowland water tower, and 8 Goosanders (5 drakes) were also in the same area.

Continuing north, I was thrilled to find a redhead Smew by the S-bend in the river. This is the first I've seen at this site; I guess it must be the bird from nearby Deeping Lakes at the weekend.

Western Sandpiper, 15th January

2012-01-16T21:00:00.000Z

Finally caught up with Cley's Western Sandpiper on Sunday. Although at times distant and surprisingly elusive, it did show fairly well. Having said that, a bit distant for images. I was quite struck by, without wanting to sound cocky, how much it seemed an 'obvious' Western to me. The structure, bill shape, retained rufous scaps etc. Perhaps that's the benefit of hindsight creeping in, or perhaps its just having spent hours studying them over the last couple of months.

Also saw the Coues's Arctic Redpoll at Titchwell. Although I can see why a few people have worried about this bird from photographs, it doesn't really look like anything but an exilipes in the flesh. To me, anyway.

Thanks to a couple of ships...

2012-01-14T20:52:00.002Z

... I had a pleasant few hours in Hampshire on Saturday morning:

Spanish Sparrow, Calshot

Dark-eyed Junco, New Forest

On the way home, I realised I had timed the return journey quite well in that the sun was just setting as I reached Grafham Water. Called in for a look through the gull roost. Impressive numbers present, although I only had a light fleece (really cold this evening) and the warden was locking up the car park so I had my work cut short. Didn't find the anticipated winger, but lots of gulls still arriving as I left. This juvenile Shag was on the boom:

Juvenile Herring Gull 9/1

2012-01-10T22:40:00.003Z

This is one of the most striking juvenile argentatus Herring Gulls I have ever seen - a remarkably dark beast at Dogsthorpe Tip yesterday.

The four Tundra Bean Geese, last seen on 28th November 2011, were again on my patch during the afternoon with the Greylags and a juvenile European White-front.

Ireland, 6th-8th January

2012-01-08T22:00:00.002Z

I've just come back from a mixed few days in Ireland. I missed out on a winger-fest at Killybegs by two days (Derek Charles had a mind-blowing session on Sunday), but still recorded almost 40 individuals. There were some other highlights, too.

Day 1: 6th January

After an overnight commute on the back of a delayed ferry from Anglesey, I arrived at Killybegs in the early hours. A few hours' sleep was greatly appreciated before light eventually came around 08:30. There wasn't much activity in the harbour and, after conversing with a local fisherman, it transpired no trawlers had been out during the week due to the extreme weather conditions. No surprises then that there weren't too many gulls about - just a few hundred at most. My final totals for around three hours throughout the morning were a juvenile Kumlien's, 3 juvenile Icelands and 4 juvenile Glaucous Gulls. Following the weather, a real disappointment (Derek had over 60 white winged gulls on 8th!).

Small fan club attracted with bread

Juv Glauc and fluorescent paint

I decided to head south to Enniskillen, where the town dump had recently attracted several Iceland Gulls. Following an unsuccessful search for Nearctic wildfowl around the local loughs, I reached the dump to find a good few hundred large gulls around the dump. All in all, I had eight Icelands (2 adults, 3rd-winter, 2nd-winter and 4 juveniles) and a juvenile Glaucous Gull. There was also a 3rd-winter Glaucous x Herring hybrid and another, adult white-winged gull. The photos below should help to give an impression of jizz - kind of intermediate between Herring and Iceland. It was the size of a small Herring Gull and, facially, really reminded me of this species. However, the primaries are quite obviously white, and the legs short and kind of bubblegum-pink - it also looks quite long-winged for a Herring. These features were enough to convince me it's something more than just an aberrant Herring Gull, although equally it doesn't really look like an Iceland Gull either. As well as being too big and bulky, the grey on the outer webs of the outer primaries also appears far too extensive for a 'pure' Iceland (or Glaucous) Gull. I guess there are two options for this bird - either it could be an unusually small Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid (although structural features would suggest this unlikely), or the mythical Iceland x Herring Gull? I'd be very interested in thoughts.

Mystery adult white-winger

3rd-w Glaucous x Herring

With time pressing, I headed west to Lower Lough MacNean to have a quick look for the recent blue morph Snow Goose that has been in the area. The closest I got was a flock of Greenland White-fronted Geese distantly in flight for a couple of seconds before they dropped behind a drumlin, although I did find the darkest Kumlien's Gull I have ever seen - almost Thayer's-like, but the primaries and tail were perhaps slightly too pale, and the scapulars and tertials were also not right. It was feeding in a field with Hooded Crows miles away, so I could only manage a few poor records:

The final stop of the day was Lough Arrow, although I couldn't find anything of note amongst a few small flocks of Tufted Ducks found around the lake's margins.

Day 2: 7th January

Having slept overnight at Cross Lough, the first half an hour of daylight was spent exploring the lough and nearby beach. Three Glaucous Gulls were immediately apparent - two juveniles and a spectacular adult, although the aythya here consisted of nothing more exotic than Tufted Ducks and 16 Scaup.

Roadside Glauc at Cross Lough

Elly Bay and Leam Lough were both really quiet, so I headed for Annagh. On the way, just west of Belmullet, a juvenile Iceland Gull flew across the road and landed in fields. Lifting my bins, I was drawn to the shape of a big, dark goose in the fields behind - bang! A Canada Goose, of some sort, associating with three Greenland White-fronted Geese. First impressions were it was big, had the neck of a giraffe, and was dark. Any idea as to racial identification is most welcome because I really do not have a clue about these things:

Annagh Beach had three more Glaucous Gulls (two 2nd-winters and a juv), and nearby Dun ma Mbo had a juvenile Iceland. I then headed for Carrowmore Lake via Barnatra (Thayer's Gull 2005 fame), and had the two drake Ring-necked Ducks - the usual adult and a new, first-winter. I also saw three Tufted Ducks but not alot else.

Carrowmore Ring-necked Ducks: adult (left) and 1st-winter (right) drakes

The rest of the day was spent mincing around Achill Island and Clew Bay, where I saw nothing. A real anti-climax given the promising start to the day...

Day 3: 8th January

Throughout the morning, I checked various bays and beaches in south Mayo and west Galway with very little luck indeed - I had a single adult Iceland Gull fly over me at Roonah Quay, and another at Clifden (Galway). This was not made any better by contant messages from Derek, who was up doing extensive winger damage at Killybegs - the messages about arriving trawlers being tailed by flocks of Iceland Gulls is enough to make anyone sick, but I felt particularly bad having been there just 48 hours previous. The first productive stop of the day was early afternoon at Rossaveel, where I consoled myself with six (4 juveniles and 2 2nd-winter) Iceland Gulls showing very well around the harbour - at least the trawler activity here had also had some influence.

Icelands: juvenile (top) and two 2nd-winters

Driving back east to Nimmo's, I had a sort of lethargic end-of-trip feeling come over me. I was numbed by the numbers of white-winged gulls further north. Surely there had to be something around Galway? Alongside the charming Tom Cuffe, all I could manage was a muddy 2nd-winter Kumlien's, and 3 juvenile Icelands. There were hardly any gulls around, though.

Solid 2nd-w Kumlien's

With the light fading, I made one last stop before the drive back to Dublin for the evening ferry - for Dermot's drake American Wigeon at Rahasane Turlough. Eventually found the bird in less-than-ideal conditions at some distance in the middle of the floods. Talking of floods - never seen the water so high here!

Thanks to Dermot and Derek for constant updates over the weekend with various bits of generally gull-related news. Much appreciated guys.

Buckenham, Round Two

2012-01-02T17:14:00.004Z

Another early start with a straightforward cruise eastwards. Following a rather forgettable experience dipping last week, I was keen to get back and have another go at what might be one of Britain's last-ever Cat A Lesser White-fronted Geese. This adult has fortuitously returned to the Yare Valley - last year I was very blasé about this bird and dismissed it (probably no help done by good old LGRE), only realising too late that Taiga Beans have traditionally acted as a carrier species for LWFG and that this bird, realistically, is about as good as it gets.

Anyway, I digress. It was a much more pleasant morning than the one I visited on last week, with the day dawning to clear skies and light winds - pretty cold though. A scan east from the railway revealed the Taiga Bean flock was present towards the northeast end of the marsh, so I steamed around to the old windpump, avoiding several groups of dawdling day-listers en route. Basically, it didn't take too long to find the LWFG which was, as usual, keeping tight to the Taigas and ignoring a nearby contingent of some 80 or so Euro White-fronts. Distance was a problem though: the birds were feeding pretty much on the railway line so were absolutely miles from any public right of way. Must have been good views from the passing trains though, which regularly spooked the flock into a spectacular fast-waddle away from the line. Light was great, too - I must say I enjoyed the bird alot more than I had anticipated. Photographic opportunities were at a minimum due to sheer distance and some early morning heat haze causing pretty bad image distortion, but here are my efforts.

The Lesser White-front was then spooked and flew off north of the railway line a short while before 09:00 with a small group of Taigas, so I decided to leave the site (via a pleasant chat with Andy and Vicky) and head up to nearby Ranworth Broad.

Being a Bank Holiday, the visitor centre at Ranworth was shut so viewing was pretty limited from the adjacent boardwalk. The female Ring-necked Duck nevertheless showed on and off when it emerged from behind vegetation.

Ring-necked Duck through trees.

On the way home I called in at Dogsthorpe Tip, where there were about 200 large gulls but nothing interesting. The tip needs to get working again.

Lesser Scaup, Cardiff Bay

2011-12-31T21:00:00.000Z

Studies of an adult drake Lesser Scaup, Cardiff Bay, 31st December 2011.

Caught up with this showy individual on a brief sojourn in to the Welsh capital on New Year's Eve on the way back from a grey and drizzly couple of days at my father's down at Kenfig. Not done alot else recently - been very busy and not seen alot hence no postings. Dipped the Lesser White-front on 28th but hope to get back for that very soon.

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper

2011-12-01T19:58:00.006Z

For two weeks now, I have been teased by a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper in Somerset. However, I just haven't got round to going due to a lack of time - I've either been working, visiting friends, having a few beers (no driving) or simply sticking local. All this week, I had been planning a visit for this coming Saturday morning but, due to a friends' birthday in Sheffield on the Saturday, driving to Somerset then South Yorkshire didn't really appeal.

So, with a few hours free this morning, I decided to head down to Chew Valley Lake in the hope that the sandpiper had stuck overnight. I left South Lincs at around 04:45; slightly I later than planned as my car wouldn't start and I had t0 charge the battery for a bit. Arrived at Herriott's Bridge at around 08:15 via some slow traffic in Bristol and a McDonald's coffee. The target was not immediately apparent, although there were loads of birds scattered around Stratford Bay - especially ducks, including quite a few Pintail.

I headed round to Stratford Hide, where the Dunlin flock (c.40 of them) was immediately apparent. To my great relief, in amongst them was the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper. Although quite worn for a juvenile, it still sported a very attractive peachy breast, reddish cap and contrasting white supercilium. The white eyering was also prominent, as were the longer yellowish legs. Brilliant bird, but really frustrating - as my blurry shots below prove, the light was still very low whilst it showed well - just as the sun came out, the entire flock flew off towards Herriott's.

A scan to the right revealed three more roosting waders - the bigger bird was a single Black-tailed Godwit, but its smaller companions were my other targets - the two 1st-winter Long-billed Dowitchers. Amongst the throng of Teal present, I also had a female Garganey. Lovely stuff.

With the Sharp-tailed and its escort heading back towards Herriott's, I headed back round there to see what the views were like. Nice light with the sun behind me, but really quite distant - ample 'scope views, but definitely not as close as 150m as has been suggested elsewhere. A Water Pipit flew over me, calling quite a lot before disappearing somewhere on Herriott's Pool. The dowitchers also reappeared in the Dunlin flock; it was nice to see them awake and sewing. Then, more yankage - the adult Spotted Sandpiper was located showing well in the channel just below the weir by the bridge. Remarkable to see four Nearctic waders in such close proximity inland in December!

Spotted Sand chilling out in the December sunshine.

Time was not on my side today, so I soon headed off (some time shortly after 09:30). The journey back home was pretty smooth, and I was back in Langtoft for 12:45. A quick check of the patch this afternoon didn't reveal any wild geese, but 20 Little Egrets was a new site record.

Patching was the Anser after all...

2011-11-29T10:30:00.000Z

After not really expecting much, yesterday (28th) turned out to be a really good day locally. During the late morning, I had a drive along Deeping High Bank where I was obviously overwhelmed to find this first-winter female Scaup:

Okay that sounded slightly sarcastic, but in reality this is the first Scaup in the Peterborough area in 2011 - they're pretty rare round here! So much so that local listing legend Mike Weedon was there not long after for an important PBC year tick. A couple of female Goosanders were also along the Welland - my first of the winter.

Encouraged by the pleasant weather conditions and the decent birds, I headed round to the Cross Drain at Baston & Langtoft Pits where a Water Pipit was scratting around in the recently-dredged surroundings. The Cross Drain is one of the best winter sites at BLGP when it has been dredged/drained; presumably the activity stirs up lots of food and the draining makes fish easy picking for egrets and herons. Also there today were 5 Green Sandpipers, 6 Little Egrets, 2 Redshanks, 2 Grey Herons and a few dabbling ducks.

Shit photo of Water Pipit and Green Sand getting amongst it.

I'm not going to lie, I was chuffed with the pipit - definitely the best views I've had of a winter bird on the patch. But my rare radar wasn't letting up, soon persuading me to head towards the old wader scrape where the local Greylag Goose flock has been congregating of late. There are still load of wild geese around, so I was keen to thoroughly grill the flock to see if anything interesting had joined them. It appeared that, from the first few scans, nothing had changed from my disappointing result last week. But, a bit of 'encouragement' saw the geese waddling off the heavily vegetated islands and onto the water itself and, bang! There were four Tundra Bean Geese, looking wary as f*ck but eventually playing ball for the record shots. Shame the sun went in:

Tundra Bean Goose is a Peterborough Area tick for me, so it was nice to find my own and even on the patch to boot. I gave Mike a call and he came charging down from the High Bank. Frustratingly the birds had disappeared back into vegetation but then, all of a sudden, the entire Greylag flock got up and headed noisily towards The Ocean. Shit! Fortunately, the targets announced themselves with a series of Pinkfoot-like calls (but slightly deeper) as they seperated from the main flock, flew over our heads and headed off west over Langtoft village - the buggers definitely would have been viewable from our house - drat!

Less than satisfactory views for Mike, even though it was clear they were 'Bean' Geese. Fortunately, they looked like they went down just west of the village and, knowing the fields opposite Langtoft West End GPs as a traditional hotspot for geese (Greylags, Canadas and rarer species alike), we headed down there. Mike quickly picked up four distant birds away from a nearer flock of Greylags. Phew... at least they were still here! 'Scopes up, but no! It was only a party of four European White-fronts (adult & 3 juvs)! They were feeding along the edge of an uncut sugar beet field, munching away but looking really wary. Fortunately, it soon transpired that the four Tundra Beans were also in the same field, and we left the eight birds together in field at about 13:45.

Euro White-fronts and Tundra Beans.

I could have gone for the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Chew over the weekend (or probably even early this morning); after all it would be a new WP bird. However, the morning had proved that, at least sometimes, local birding really is the anser. A great couple of hours that were infinitely more rewarding than driving 7 hours to mid-Somerset and back.

Patching is not the anser

2011-11-24T18:41:00.002Z

Sorry for the lack of updates.

I've been really busy over the past few weeks and so birding has been minimal. I went out locally today looking for grey geese for a couple of hours in between work, but nothing despite a good few hundred Greylags making enough of a racket to attract any passing Anser within several miles.

Best today was a Green Sandpiper... desperate times.

Reorientating Pinks 6/11

2011-11-06T21:26:00.007Z

Yesterday's patch Red-breasted Merganser was greatly appreciated, but it seems I underestimated this latest bout of misty conditions and northerly-based winds. I mentioned briefly yesterday that they tend to produce lots of birds in our area, and perhaps yesterday I should have put in a bit more work.

Although the merg had done one this morning, it seems that birds were obviously still reorientating back out towards The Wash. The first evidence I had of this was a group of 21 Pink-footed Geese in fields by the Cross Drain. This is by far the biggest group I've ever seen on the deck here and, when I checked back on them later in the morning, they had already cleared off - presumably they arrived in the poor conditions yesterday and had roosted overnight.

Eleven of 21 Pink-footed Geese near the Cross Drain

Further sign that things were on the move was later provided by a further 47 Pink-footed Geese flying low east over the northwest pools as I searched for the merganser. There was one considerably smaller bird amongst them, but I couldn't get anything on it - instinct suggested it was just a runt Pink.

There wasn't too much else of real note this morning aside a few flyover redpolls; I spent an hour or so hunting Firecrests with little luck. The weather forecast is for further overcast conditions and northeast winds tomorrow; these can be very productive in our area in autumn and winter so I live in hope.

Patch Tick!

2011-11-05T17:29:00.008Z

Quick health warning that this post contains some horrendous images taken in horrendous light conditions.

Tiring week, this week. The shock of full time employment was evidently too much for me following three years of not really doing alot at university. Anyway, I woke up this morning about 8 feeling a bit shell-shocked, and was mildly disappointed to see that it was pretty foggy outside. Great - a morning's birding ruined.

Long story short, things started to clear up yet it was still pretty misty on my arrival at my favourite place in most of the world, Dogsthorpe Tip. The poor visibility was making gull-watching pretty difficult, but it did mean that the birds were mostly cotching on and around the pit, giving good views when the weather cleared. Although there were plenty of birds present, alot were sat out of view behind the crest of the 'hill' of ex-rubbish and finding anything interesting was proving difficult. The best I could do were the two creatures below:

Adult Yellow-legged Gull - a decent winter bird here.

First-winter Med

I also had a black darvic-ringed 1st-winter GBB Gull with the inscription 'JP070'. Which reminds me - the yellow-ringed 1st-winter Herring Gull I had earlier this week had actually been ringed the previous week at Blackborough End Tip (Norfolk). Interesting to get proof that gulls commute between Peterborough and there, but not quite the Polish-type I had hoped for.

As the morning wore on, the gulls started to misbehave a bit more, getting restless as there was no tipping activity occurring. By just after 11:00, they started to disperse and so I headed off home via Deeping Highbank, where these four adult Whooper Swans were chilling out in a field by the River Welland towards Spalding:

After heading home for some lunch and a chill out, I headed back down the patch to see if anything was lurking on the pits. These cold, calm and misty mornings traditionally produce decent birds in the Peterborough area; I've had Long-tailed Duck and White-fronted Geese amongst other bits on days like this previously. A check of the old wader scrape revealed plenty of birds, but nothing out of the ordinary, although a Dunlin was flying around calling in the poor visibility. It might sound weird, but waders such as Dunlin are usually a good indicator that some kind of displacement has gone on here in winter; indeed on 'Long-tailed Duck day' I saw Dunlin, Sanderling, Grey Plover and Curlew locally. So, with renewed vigour, I decided a more complete check than usual was necessary.

Our old friend Pochard 'H'. I originally thought it was an 'N' but better views today confirmed otherwise.

A female Pintail was nice on North Pit with a decent selection of dabbling ducks, as were a few redpolls and Siskins. However, that one bit of real quality was still lacking as I headed towards the northwest pools to check the slurry pits here for any odd waders. What I wasn't expecting here was to pick up on a young drake Red-breasted Merganser, just sort of floating about and looking a bit knackered on one of the small pools. After what must be about six or seven years since Mike Weedon gripped me off with a short-staying party of three at BLGP whilst I was in Norfolk, it was great to finally nail this to my patch list. And this is what it looked like, in the dank conditions:

Mike even managed to get over from the Nene Washes and successfully twitch it for his PBC year list, just as dusk was approaching.

Caspian Gull, 1st November

2011-11-01T17:42:00.009Z

This 1st-winter Caspian Gull was amongst increased numbers of large gulls at Dogsthorpe Tip today. I also had a couple of birds with yellow darvic rings; one was a 1st-winter Herring "1U1B", the other was a 2nd-winter that I didn't manage to see on the deck although in flight it looked quite Caspian-ish.

Last week's Glaucous Gull appears to have moved on for now; surprised it hasn't been picked up elsewhere as it's not exactly a subtle bird.

Angel from the North

2011-10-25T18:28:00.008+01:00

Spent my first proper morning in some time down at Dogsthorpe Tip today, primarily targetting Caspian Gulls and any Yellow-legged Gulls that might still be hanging on from the annual summer influx. As I was driving to the tip, I thought about the mini-arrival of white-winged gulls that seems to have happened in the far northwest over the past week or so - perhaps this year is going to be a bit better for them after two incredibly lean winters?

What didn't occur to me was that I'd find one today in Peterborough, but that's exactly what happened. Naturally, there were a few expletives when this massive white apparition emerged from amongst several hundred large gulls in fields south of the tip:

A monster of a second-winter Glaucous Gull; by far my earliest ever in the Peterborough area (I've never seen one before December) and one of very few around in England right now - I can't recall many aside the 'resident' birds in Kent and Devon...

Soon afterwards (this was c.10:30), most of the birds got up out of the field and dispersed, many heading for the tip but some elsewhere. In the following three hours of grilling the tip, I couldn't relocate the ghostly beast but did score a single 1st-winter mich, as well as one or two interesting looking gulls below:

Dark and smudgey 2w Herring, with dark coverts and chocolatey tertials - if it wasn't for the structure, tail and UTC/rump pattern then one could almost look towards 2w Azorean Gull, which do come this dark pretty regularly.

Really dark adult argentatus, approaching graellsii as well as the Rainham Slaty-backed!

Juv/1w Lesser Black-backed Gull, presumably intermedius as perhaps a little large and long-legged to claim a candidate fuscus; only saw this thing briefly so hopefully better luck with it later in the week.

Eventually, the Glaucous Gull was relocated at 13:25, back in the same field as earlier. I decided a bit of off-roading was necessary to get a few closer shots, so drove down the track leading south from the road. The result were pornstar views but, on such an unseasonably warm day, heat haze was making photography problematic at best, and thus results aren't really up to scratch given the close range of the bird:

Really good start to the 'winter'...

Scilly, 19th October

2011-10-20T11:37:00.006+01:00

Despite openly confessing I have lost alot of enthusiasm for my Britain & Ireland list (and thus twitching B&I 'ticks'), I constantly had one eye on news back home whilst I was out in the Azores. This was accentuated by the fact that Britain and Ireland seemed to be receiving a constant westerly airflow that seemed destined to dump one or two juicy Nearctic birds on west-facing coasts at any moment. Luckily, that real biggie never came; the best in fact were two birds on Scilly, continuing a good autumn for the archipelago (what has happened to Ireland this year?!).

So, when arriving back in Lincolnshire on Monday to find both target birds were still present, it seemed wise to have a crack at them yesterday (Weds 19th). With local meat connoisseur Will Bowell confirming he had secured a rare day out of the butchers', things were set up to go very smoothly indeed. The drive down was problem-free and, although we couldn't find the Pec Sand at Drift early doors, we were soon on St. Mary's thanks to a sleep-filled outward journey on the Scillonian.

It was only when we arrived at Borough Farm did things start to become disjointed in our grand plan. The Upland Sand had flown off somewhere and wasn't showing - not to worry though, we strolled round to Watermill Lane where there were two absolutely stunning Olive-backed Pipits showing ludicrously well in a small field.

The 'duller' of the two OBPs

I'd only seen one OBP previously, that being last year on the saltmarsh at Stiffkey. Although that bird was close, it was bloody elusive and stayed amongst gorse and long grass for 95% of the time. Not these two though; they were on show more or less constantly as they fed amongst the furrows, and the constant tail-pumping was the first time I had noted such behaviour - amazing!

So, back round to the Upland, which we still couldn't locate. I decided to keep my eyes on the prize, and we walked back down to Lower Moors. No snipe... gargh! My previous experience with Wilson's Snipe has been painful, starting back in October 2007 on the Scillonian on the day the first bird that year was found. By the time the ferry had docked and we'd got to Lower Moors, it had done one, only to return the next day and gradually be confirmed as the month progressed. I've also had a bit of misfortune on the Azores - loads of people see Wilson's around the Archipelago (especially Terceira), but I've never seen anything but Commons. The trip in February was summed up nicely by a very interesting dark snipe I flushed on Pico once and saw once-only; the closest I've got to a likely Wilson's, but yet still so far. Surely the saga wasn't going to continue here today on Scilly, when the bird had been showing reliably virtually every day either at Lower Moors of Porth Hellick?!

Well in short, it did. We charged round to Porth Hellick to look there, but only had three Greenshanks on the pool. There was a very showy first-winter male Bluethroat at the seaward end of the boardwalk, but I'd manage to misplace my camera and so my mind was worrying elsewhere as I watched this little stunner walking round people's feet.

It turned out that the Upland Sandpiper had been re-found in the usual field up at Borough Farm so off we yomped again, up through Holy Vale to enjoy some really nice views of extra-terrestrial beast. Nice to see one on the ground for more than two seconds after experiences on Flores last week, although sadly the Scilly bird didn't utter that magical call (it's instantly become one of my favourite bird sounds). With relocating my camera at the top of my list, closely followed by the snipe, I was unable to enjoy the bird as fully as I would have done if relaxed, so I got a taxi down to Old Town where I was very fortunate to bump into the bloke who had picked up my camera at Lower Moors (thank you!).

The final half hour or so was spent in a noisy ISBG Hide at Lower Moors, longingly scanning the reeds for snipe but with no success. And that, via a sleepy ferry journey and six-hour drive home, was about it.

Yellow-legged Gull

2011-10-17T21:00:00.005+01:00

3rd-winter amongst a throng of gulls in fields south of Dogsthorpe Tip, Cambridgeshire, on Monday morning - primaries still growing. Ironically can't see the legs!

Azores: Days 12 & 13

2011-10-16T20:39:00.018+01:00

First of all, an apology for not getting to update about the last two days of the trip until now - only just got back home today, and my laptop died out in the Azores so will have to buy a new one of those now... more expense.

Basically, I'll give a fairly brief run-through of the final two days. With so many birds on neighbouring Flores, we chartered the ferry (a rib) for a return trip across on Thursday 13th - this hopefully also giving us a crack at some of the interesting seabirds seemingly in Corvo/Flores waters. As we were getting on the boat, news broke that a Common Nighthawk had been found at Ponta Delgada (our destination), and with that the already-high expectation levels ascended further. The trip over was relatively uneventful for seabirds, with one or two Leach's Storm-petrels noted amongst the large numbers of Great and Cory's Shearwaters. After an enjoyable close look at some of the fascinating rock formations on the cliffs at the north end of Flores, we pulled up in Ponta Delgada harbour and were met by three taxis - enough to accommodate all 22 of us that had travelled over! First port of call was inevitably the old football field at PDL, where we arrived to find the Common Nighthawk sat in long grass by the clifftop. An attempted flush seemed at first suggest the bird was dead before it attacked me (no jokes) and then just lay there, looked knackered with it's wings open:

Unfortunately more shitehawk than dream bird...

Leaving the poor, wretched goatsucker alone, we all piled in the taxis and headed for Lagoa Lomba. A brief look at Lagoa Seca produced two Black Duck-types - perhaps hybrids but very BD-like; we did not linger for anything more than distant views from the road:

Black(ish) Dross

The drake Wood Duck was surprisingly easy at Lomba - I soon picked it up feeding in emergent vegetation on the far side of the lake but, with an excitable mob of the WP's keenest listers arriving, the bird wasted no time in making for overhanging trees and thus out of sight:

Things were going very smoothly indeed as we headed round to Faja Grande. This splendid first-winter Bobolink continued the trend, showing well in a small crop field, on stone walls and occasionally flying around calling. A much nicer bird than I ever imagined, being a beautiful rich yellow in colour with go-faster stripes and pink bare parts thrown in for good measure:

A juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper was also noted here on the the lava fields, but seemed quite wary as it bombed around looking alert as anything. Wary waders formed a significant part of the rest of the afternoon, as we headed for Ponta do Albarnaz. Another taxi-load had located the Upland Sandpiper that has been in the area here for a few days, and had even gone on to find a second bird with it. It took a while but, after walking through plenty of fields and jumping over several walls, an Upland Sandpiper was eventually located sat on a wall a few fields east of the lighthouse. The bird was pretty aware of our presence though, and soon launched itself into the air and off east, calling with a beautiful bubbling crescendo as it did so. Ridiculously, this was my fourth WP tick of the day(!) - something that doesn't happen often when vagrants are concerned. A couple of adult White-rumped Sandpipers were also here with a Dunlin and two Sanderling.

With no news forthcoming on the exact location of a reported Dickcissel, I spent the last hour or so left on the island lazing around near the harbour at Ponta Delgada, waiting for the boat. The trip back was a bit more eventful with a couple more Leach's Petrels, loads of showy Great Shearwaters, a shark species and plenty of Common Dolphins giving wonderful views. However, as we neared Corvo, the peace was shattered by a crackly message on the walkie talkie from Peter and Eric - they'd just had a large martin (presumably Purple) fly in off the sea at the windmills! Shit! The rest of the evening was spent searching for it and the Cliff Swallow found up by the power station by two Israeli birders - no luck, but a Spotted Flycatcher there was a good Azores tick, even if it has been round a few days.

So, that was Thursday. Friday 14th dawned bright and sunny, with me standing overlooking the fields, cliffs and sheds a few hundred metres up the road from the power station. Everyone was reasonably confident the hirundines would still be around, but less positive about how long it would take to track them down. The answer soon came - not very long! The Purple Martin flew south past me at about 08:05 - amongst expletives I sprinted down to the power station to find the first taxi load of birders had just arrived, and thankfully connected! At least it wasn't a single observer record...

The Purple Martin, along with the Cliff Swallow, went on to show pretty well on and off throughout the morning, mainly over the fields north of the power station - the latter bringing up the 600 for me in the Western Pal. The undoubted highlight of the morning was a ten-minute pornstar-style showing from the PM, when it sat on a stone wall chilling out in the warm sunshine:

A great trip - eight new WP birds, all of high quality. So, would I go back to Corvo? To put it bluntly - yes. However, don't let the long lists of American vagrants reported each day fool you. Corvo is not an easy place to go; the birding can be supremely difficult at times and, if the weather is not on your side (it wasn't for me - all but one day of east/southeasterlies) it can be a draining place that can mess with your mind(!). However, the rewards are high and, if you are lucky enough to encounter westerlies on a trip then the birds soon start to arrive - take the 24 hours we had on the 13th/14th that produced the two hirundines mentioned above, as well as a 1st-winter Blue Grosbeak for two lucky observers (a true first for the WP). The big difference between Corvo and the rest of Europe is that you really don't need fast-moving depressions to see Nearctic passerines - sure, the best 'falls' occur after these but the phenomenon is similar to drift migrants on the east coast; an airflow from the right direction and you're in business. Perhaps I'll be back next October.

Now, back to the reality of British birding...

Azores: Day 11

2011-10-12T23:44:00.004+01:00

I've spent much of today relaxing, trying to ease the pain of the blisters on my feet. So, all of the morning and much of the afternoon/evening was spent at the windmill seawatching - perhaps also because visiting birders from Flores saw both Fea's-type and Trindade Petrels from the ferry crossing yesterday!

The morning session was excellent, with superb views of a Madeiran Storm-petrel (a really fresh bird, whatever that means as to more specific identification) and a couple of Sooty Shearwaters amongst hundreds of Great and Cory's Shearwaters. The evening was less spectacular, with no gadly petrels seen.

The afternoon was broken up by a quick search for the Yellow Warblers in the tamarisks (no luck), as well as crippling views of a newly-arrived juvenile White-rumped Sandpiper that Morten picked up coming in over the airfield. The bird proceeded to show really, really well down at the beach:

Apparently a Dickcissel on Flores today. Who knows what is going on right now.

Birds
White-rumped Sandpiper: juvenile on the beach
Madeiran Storm-petrel: one past the windmills
Sooty Shearwater: two past the windmills
Great Shearwater: maybe four-figure numbers offshore today

Azores: Day 10

2011-10-11T23:51:00.006+01:00

Today was filled with optimism in the wake of the previously-mentioned small depression passing to the north of Corvo. Alas, alot of work by us and others today but no new birds! Today was supposed to be spent in Cantinho and Cancelas, but on arrival it appeared weather was clear at higher altitude - finally! So, first stop was the Caldeira.

And what an amazing place the Caldeira is. Geographically-stunning, as well as offering a unique habitat on Corvo - expansive fresh water with shallow margins - we're talking waders, ducks etc. Pierre and I ended up doing two 'laps' of the crater and the lakes within; highlights were a very nice adult drake Black Duck with 25 or so Mallards (and a few hybrids), a 1st-winter Lesser Yellowlegs, a Lapland Bunting and 9 Black-tailed Godwits as well as a Pintail and a Shoveler. By midday, we had all but exhausted the area and left Bosse and a few others to it. Talking of exhausted; if you want to feel that way, go to the caldeira. It knackers you out, especially the climb out afterwards.

Lapland Bunting in the crater

Lesser Yellowlegs - bottom image camera only!

We then traipsed down the hill towards Cantinho. A couple of hours in the valley were rewarded with the Northern Parula still present in exactly the same spot as last time. Not calling today, but lots of bill-snapping made it easy to pick up in the still and sunny conditions. It responded well to the tape too, and I even managed the appalling digibinned effort below:

By this point, Vincent had radioed in that the juvenile Marsh Hawk (Northern Harrier hudsonicus) had been showing near the Lighthouse Valley before heading up towards Caldeirao. Having not seen any of the variably-convincing candidates around Britain and Ireland last winter, I was pretty keen to get back up there and give it a go. So, off we went - back to the crater for the second time in a day. Basically, the bird eventually showed quite well to me (but not to Pierre, he will be going back tomorrow):

I then walked back down the hill to the village. Needless to say, after three laps and two climbs out of the caldeira as well as a bit of Cantinho, I am sapped of energy. I'm feeling pretty sorry for my feet, too.

Birds
Marsh Hawk: 1 juvenile at Caldeirao
Northern Parula: 1st-winter still in Ribeira do Cantinho
Black Duck: adult drake at Caldeirao
Spotted Sandpiper: juvenile at Caldeirao
Lesser Yellowlegs: 1st-w at Caldeirao
Lapland Bunting: 1 at Caldeirao
Pintail: drake at Caldeirao
Shoveler: female at Caldeirao

Azores: Day 9

2011-10-10T20:39:00.005+01:00

Somehow, the southeasterly wind still clinged on today, although it went more southerly by the afternoon as the the depression tracked some way to the northwest of us. We also had a few heavy showers this afternoon and evening, the change in weather suggesting perhaps that the influence of the low had just about hit Corvo. So perhaps from tomorrow there will be birds...?

Talking of new birds, two were found today. JSH and MBH found a Grey-cheeked Thrush in the valley below the reservoir, whilst Hannu flushed a Blue-winged Teal from a dry grassy field near Fojo(!).

My day was not quite as spectacular, unfortunately. I started off by exploring the small wood above the Lighthouse Road. Spent 90 minutes there but nothing! The rest of the morning was spent exploring alot of fields; most notably the Lapa Fields and upper Ribeira da Lapa. No birds!

I spent an hour at the Blue-winged Warbler from around midday. Had my best and most extensive views of this absolute gem of a bird today, it's very easy to locate as it calls regularly with a sharp, piercing 'tsiip'. Pretty mobile though! Afterwards I headed back to Lapa, and worked the lower part of the valley. Again nothing, so I moved on to the fields along the road back towards the miradour. Nothing! Bleugh!

Came back down the hill just as the newly-arrived birders were getting a taxi up to the BWW. Had a rest for half an hour before heading out to the Middle Fields and the adjacent tamarisks. No bloody birds! Desperate times called for desperate measures, so I sat at the rubbish tip for half an hour - amongst 30 Azorean Gulls, I had four 1st-winter Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The variation amongst Azorean Gulls is also quite fascinating. Saw one or two that looked very similar to claimed birds in the UK but I still wonder if the latter birds are Herring x LBB hybrids. I'll go back to take proper digiscoped photos tomorrow, but for now here are some digi-binned efforts:

Juvenile/1st-w Lesser Black-backed

Near-adult Azorean; essentially adult-like but with signs of immaturity in bill colouration and primary coverts, as wells as dull pinkish-yellow legs. This bird looks frighteningly similar to the "Azorean Gull" that has been at large in England for the past two autumns. Problem with that bird is that it should look more adult-like this year. It doesn't. Could hybrid Herring x LBB look like this...? Perhaps the hybrid option explains the retarded plumage/appearance of the English bird? Either way it looks extremely similar to this bird.

Birds
Blue-winged Warbler: still in da Ponte
Lesser Black-backed Gull: 4 first-winters at the dump

Azores: Day 8

2011-10-09T20:47:00.002+01:00

Today hasn't been the most productive of days, but it was going to be hard to follow on from an excellent day yesterday in a strengthening southeasterly breeze. Not looking for any sympathy here, but my feet are really messed up. I can hardly walk due to blisters but am currently just wincing through the pain in an attempt to get the kms under the belt.

For the first couple of hours today, Pierre and I staked out the unidentified warbler we had late yesterday evening. Unfortunately nothing appeared, so I guess the bird has moved on or just to another part of the island. We then walked back down through the middle fields to the guesthouse; again no birds.

We got a taxi up to the valleys and did Cantinho today. Midway along the valley near the clearing, Pierre again latched on to the high-pitched "tsiip" of a Nearctic wood warbler. I was on the north side of the valley (which was windswept to say the least today), so missed hearing it but came down to join him on the south side. We had nothing for around half an hour but then, all of a sudden, I saw something flit amongst the canopy and latched on. Double white wingbars but... ah shit! Another Parula, and presumably the same bird seen further down the valley about 10 days ago. It seems everything is sticking; we need some new birds! To be fair to the bird, it was a little stunner - in my opinion even brighter than the bird in Cancelas yesterday, with a cracking orange necklace amongst the beautiful yellow breast.

We moved on pretty quickly, but did not see anything else. Do Vinte was also pretty birdless, and the mood began to slip once again. According to Magic Seaweed, some mildly-exciting low seems to be passing to the northwest of Corvo tonight and tomorrow so perhaps we'll get some new bits in... I sure hope so. I also need to put my feet up and have an early night!

Birds
Northern Parula: 1st-winter male in Ribeira do Cantinho
Great Shearwater: c.30 past off the windmills this evening

Azores: Day 7

2011-10-08T23:07:00.004+01:00

The east wind still blows but it's been a good day for the French and Welsh! This update may not make much sense, and is written very poorly, but I'm half-asleep (dead) already and it's only 22:30! So... sorry!

Aside two great rugby victories early this morning, the birds have been great too. In fact today has had it all; relief, joy, exhaustion, pain and also a little frustration late on!

This morning, the France v England game was interrupted by a message on the walkie-talkies that a 'wood warbler' was present in tamarisks below the airfield. "American or European?!" I replied. "American" came the answer and off we went.

After a bit of a wait, the bird came out to play. I was the first to get views of the bird on the deck, and it quickly became apparent it was a Yellow Warbler; presumably a 1st-winter male judging by the lovely bright yellow-green plumage. It was calling quite a bit with a typical Nearctic wood warbler "chip", with call and elusive/flighty behaviour reminding me very much of my first WP Yellow Warbler at Mizen Head (Cork) in 2008 - as with this one, also enjoyed alongside Ernie Davis! Nice start to the day! Following the warbler, I worked much of the upper/middle fields area, including alot of the tamarisks. The constant easterly airflow seems to have finally had an effect as I had no less than four Willow Warblers in the upper fields area. Not what we want! A (the) juvenile Barn Swallow also flew over.

We organised a taxi lift up to the valleys for 11:30; destination for Pierre and I was Cancelas as it hadn't been done for a couple of days. After working the lower reaches of both Cantinho and Cancelas with little luck, we began the ascent up the main part of the latter towards the lighthouse road. About 200 yards up on the north side, I twice heard a sharp "ziip" which excited me at first. However it did not call again and, with many Starlings around making odd noises, I dismissed it and continued some 50 yards or so further up the valley. Some 15 minutes later I had Pierre on the radio saying he had heard what he was sure was a wood-warbler calling four times down the valley from my position. I went back to meet him and we heard it twice more - it was at this point I realised it was more or less the same position I'd heard a bird earlier - shit!

Moving round to the north side of the valley, we again heard the bird call and Pierre picked it up, flitting around in the canopy. I soon got on to the bird and it was clear it was a rather splendid 1st-winter male Northern Parula! Fucking get in, at last the first find of the trip! A bright individual with lots of deep orange streaks on the yellow breast, it was a much better looker than the already-stunning female I saw on Tiree last year. We radio-ed the news out and a few people came to look; I think almost all connected.

Boosted by the find, we continued up the ribeira to the lighthouse road. From here, we decided to continue to the upper reaches of the valley above the road, and bang! Another yank popped out in front of me - Red-eyed Vireo! The bird showed well out in the open at about 10m range for 30 seconds or so, but managed to disappear by the time Pierre had walked round to meet me. We couldn't relocate it so decided to head back towards the reservoir.

Red-eyed Vireo spot, Upper Cancelas

The reservoir was fogged up, so we did the lower slopes of the hill and the valley to the south; amongst the few birds here were a Quail and a Woodcock. We continued south towards the juniper bushes on the hill above the 'Tennessee Valley', but again couldn't find much. Heading down in to the valley, it did not take us long to relocate the Tennessee Warbler still showing well at times and calling regularly, although it seems much more restless and mobile today in the company of two Willow Warblers. We left Vincent and Rafael to continue the plight for photographs, and headed down towards the Miradouro as the light was slowly going.

Now for the frustration. At dusk, just below the miradouro, Pierre and I had a small warbler-sized bird flew up from our right and buried itself in tamarisks above the road. I heard it utter a single soft, high-pitched "siit". It must have been another American wood warbler but what species remains a mystery as we couldn't relocate it in the ever-worsening light. Unsurprisingly, this will be our first port-of-call in the morning!

Today has been exhausting yet deeply rewarding, especially as the wind is still firmly stuck in the east. A half-decent low looks to be passing to the northwest of Corvo tomorrow and Monday, so perhaps we might get a few more birds.

By the way, the Blue-winged Warbler is also still here today (seen by others).

This is what Corvo does to white clothes.

Birds
Northern Parula: 1st-winter male found in Ribeira Cancelas
Tennessee Warbler: 1 still in valley above Miradouro
Yellow Warbler: 1st-winter male(?) in tamarisks below airstrip
Red-eyed Vireo: 1 found in upper Ribeira Cancelas
Willow Warbler: 6
Barn Swallow: 1 juvenile, Middle Fields

Azores: Day 6

2011-10-07T21:01:00.004+01:00

The wind is still in the east, but as quoted on Netfugl this evening, PAC is Back!

The day started pretty lazy; no one was expecting new birds with the weather as it is and so most stayed around the village seawatching - some went to Cantinho but saw nothing. The seawatching was good; Olof connected with a juvenile Sabine's and a (the?) Fea's-type but I saw nothing more than lots of Great Shearwaters. A wander around the shoreline to the west of the windmills saw me eventually connect with the juvenile Spotted Sandpiper that has been around a while. I seawatched until around midday, before deciding to lazily walk back to the house for some lunch and an afternoon nap.

Until bang! Pierre found a Tennessee Warbler in the early afternoon in the valley northwest and above the Miradouro that overlooks the village. Fortunately, he rang me to tell me just as I was nodding off in an attempt to read my book. I panicked, and began to run up the hill towards the miradouro. Big mistake - it basically f**ked me up, but did make me realise how unfit I am. Some half an hour after the news broke, I finally made it to the valley in which the bird was present - it had been favouring large areas of fennel on the east side of the valley, but was very mobile and had only really been seen in flight.

I soon got on to the bird as it announced itself with a couple of typical Nearctic wood warbler-type "ticks" and then proceeded to perch in a juniper some 20 yards in front of me. Wow! I called the others over as I enjoyed excellent first views of the bird through binoculars; a lovely lime green on the upperparts and rump, with obvious paler yellowish supercilium, sharp grey bill, yellowish throat and breast, and whiter underside and undertail coverts. We enjoyed further views both in flight and in the fennel, and enjoyed the bird's high-pitched zitting. One thing that struck me was how long the bird remained stationary as it fed - so much so that I'm hoping to go back tomorrow to try and digiscope it! Not at all like other warblers, and nothing like the two flighty Willow Warblers in the vicinity.

The rest of the day was spent with Pierre heading around the slopes west of the 'Tennessee valley', as well as in the upper fields. No more birds aside a Quail, but I don't care - magnifique and big thanks to PAC for finding a bird on a day when everyone else was down in the dumps!

Lots of Great Shearwaters still offshore this evening and a Whimbrel flew over (European). Guess the pterodroma is still out there somewhere.

The windmill this evening.

Birds:
Tennessee Warbler: 1 above the Miradouro
Spotted Sandpiper: 1 on rocks below airstrip
Whimbrel: 1 on rocks below airstrip in morning then over village this evening
Willow Warbler: 2 above Miradouro
Great Shearwater: 300+ past today
Quail: 1 on upper slopes above Vila Nova

Also Striped Dolphins (5+) today, and a Basking Shark yesterday!

Azores: Day 5

2011-10-06T20:24:00.006+01:00

The weather changed overnight, but the wind didn't! More southeasterlies flowing over The Rock today, with no new birds to show. I spent the morning walking around Cantinho (spent 4 1/2 hours in there today!) and saw absolutely zilch. Pierre had a similar situation at Pico, and most of the others either did da Ponte for a bit or just stayed around the village. It was very foggy:

The Blue-winged Warbler is still here today, and I enjoyed more brief views of this little stunner - it seems alot more mobile than it did on Monday although is not too difficult to locate thanks to it's call. Afterwards, I headed back down to the village where a seawatch off the windmills produced perhaps 150 or more Great Shearwaters, with similar numbers of Cory's and a couple of Common Terns:

Olof picked up the juvenile Yellow-crowned Night Heron down on the rocks, so I walked round and took a few photos:

The most exciting sighting of the day however, was this very large container ship off the west of Corvo and heading south past Flores:

Perhaps a few birds were on board?

Birds:
Blue-winged Warbler: still @ Ribeira da Ponte
Yellow-crowned Night Heron: juvenile still at Vila do Corvo
Great Shearwater: 150+ offshore

Azores: Day 4

2011-10-05T20:26:00.003+01:00

Not much more to write home about today other than the east wind is still blowing! The weather has been beautiful for much of the day with lots of warm sunshine, although the crater has been clouded over all day so didn’t manage to get up there.

This morning, I started up at Cantinho (above) as I quite liked the look of the place yesterday. I worked much of the valley from the low to middle roads, but found absolutely nothing! The plan for the morning was to concentrate effort from as many observers as possible on to Fojo in the hope of turning up a surprise or two, so I walked back along the middle road to the top of the valley. I headed in, and spent an hour walking very slowly down to the picnic site – the best bird I saw was a Woodcock! Whilst I sat at the picnic site with René discussing the lack of birds, the radio crackled to life – alas it turned out to be a series of updates from birders around Fojo and further afield – no-one had seen anything, and it appeared even the Blue-winged Warbler had gone from da Ponte!

With nothing doing in the valleys I decided to head up to the reservoir, accompanied by Daniel. I had five waders flying high over the hillside briefly but they disappeared in to the low cloud (fog) – bizarrely they looked most like Turnstones. We found very little around the reservoir area; I flushed two very Common-looking Snipe from the north side. I still don’t believe Wilson’s exist in the Azores ;-)

Walked back down to the village via the fig trees along the shortcut; again no Baltimore Oriole. Things are real quiet right now! Also my feet are pretty fucked:

Update 17:00: the Blue-winged Warbler has been re-found in da Ponte... that will please today’s new arrivals (three of them). René left this afternoon so there are now 16 birders on the island.

Had an evening seawatch off the village this evening; enjoyable views of about 100 Great Shearwaters offshore with lesser numbers of the usual Cory’s. Also a few Common Terns.

Birds:
Great Shearwater: c.100 off the village this evening
Common Snipe: 2 at the reservoir

Azores: Day 3

2011-10-04T21:00:00.001+01:00

Today was a day of blue skies and warm sunshine on Corvo, with a light southeasterly blowing through the day – not good for the yanks!

I started the day at the Lighthouse Valley with Daniel Mauras; our target here was a lingering Northern Parula that was still present yesterday. Not this morning though; we couldn’t find it anywhere!

We moved round to Ribeira do Cantinho although we could not find anything here apart from a Woodcock in a couple of hours searching. I will hopefully return here tomorrow or Thursday, dependent on weather tomorrow. Cancelas was difficult to penetrate and provided us with just another Woodcock. In fact, the rest of the morning and early afternoon was hard work in the warmth, with nothing seen of note.

We decided to head back to Ribeira da Ponte, which seemed to be faring better. Along the with the Blue-winged still being present, both Philadelphia and Red-eyed Vireos as well as Grey-cheeked Thrush had all been seen at various points during the day. No such luck on my part though; after a couple of hours it seemed as if I was going to go the day without seeing anything – I even spent an hour looking for the Blue-winged without success! Just as I was berating my failures to Vincent by the bridge at da Ponte, I caught sight of a bird drop down in to the famous ‘Indigo Tree’. At last, a decent bird – my first Azorean Red-eyed Vireo! The bird performed fairly well for a couple of minutes before flying back in to dense cover. Hopefully it realised it had saved me from a desperate day, as we were later unsuccessful looking for the ‘new’ Baltimore Oriole back towards the village. A Barn Swallow (probably European) was seen flying over the hillside there but we could find little else.

Forecast is for more of the same weather-wise... not promising but who knows!

Birds:
Red-eyed Vireo: 1 at Ribeira da Ponte
Barn Swallow: 1 of indeterminate race over the village

Azores: Day 2

2011-10-03T20:18:00.000+01:00

In comparison to yesterday, relatively little to write up today despite a new WP tick! Had another unbearable night’s sleep last night (perhaps the worst I’ve ever had as I was chucked out Terceira airport in to the rain in the early hours). Anyway, despite that and inclement weather earlier cancelling our flight from Faial, I’ve somehow made it to Corvo this afternoon, for about half 3ish.

No guesses as to what the first target was. Dropped the bags off at the place I’m staying and then got a lift up to Ribeira da Ponte, where the Blue-winged Warbler had been seen all day. A short walk down in to the dark depths of the valley below the road found us at the site, where Vincent had seen it shortly before our arrival. We could hear the bird calling (a soft, sort of ‘dziit’) and eventually it showed well but briefly in the canopy. Moving around the valley side to where the bird had been proved to be wise, with much closer views afforded to all. Despite being warned about how dense the foliage is in these ribieras, I don’t think it is possible to appreciate the fact fully until you’re amongst them; despite being close at all times, views of the warbler were generally tantalisingly brief. What a stunner, though! A beautiful yellow bird with grey-blue wings and double white wingbars, greenish-yellow upperparts and a striking black eyestripe. Great start to the trip!

Shortly afterwards, it emerged that a Swainson’s Thrush had been seen just up the valley from where we were. However, it was being very mobile and elusive and perhaps it was not surprising we did not see it. By this point (mid-evening), the previous 48 hours were beginning to catch up with me and, as I hitched down to the village with Vincent and David, I felt very weary and in need of rest to the point that I could not be bothered to search for the night heron or Dickcissel!

Looking forward to a good night’s sleep, here’s hoping tomorrow will be a more energetic and bird-filled day! For what it’s worth, there are currently 14 birders on Corvo – one Brit (me), one French, three Belgians, 5 Swedes, 2 Danes and 2 Germans.

Birds:

Blue-winged Warbler (1) at Ribeira da Ponte

Azores: Day 1

2011-10-02T22:15:00.007+01:00

Following on from a direct flight from Gatwick to Sao Miguel the previous evening, I found myself on Terceira first thing this morning thanks to an early flight from PDL. As the skies brightened (by that I mean from black to an ominous blue-grey), I ambled down the hill towards Praia da Vitoria full of typical first-morning enthusiasm. There are, it seems, two inevitabilities in an Azorean birdwatching adventure. The first is that you will get absolutely soaked, and the second is that you will see a species of Nearctic origin. I debated which of these would come first today as the skies darkened once more and the northeast wind (not ideal direction!) got stronger.

As it turned out, the latter came first in the form of a (relatively) smart female Blue-winged Teal wallowing around amongst the Muscovies at Paul da Praia. Not quite on a par with the half-dead juvenile seen on Scilly earlier this autumn, she was rather wary and just a few seconds were enjoyed before she bolted off in to the sky.

I didn't have to wait long for the soaking, though. Just a few minutes later the heavens opened as I conducted my first scan of Praia harbour, although through steamed up bins there seemed to be a fair few Common Terns bombing about the harbour. It took a while to get around to the fishing port (I spent around half an hour hiding behind various objects to avoid several nasty squalls), but on arrival a couple of decent bits were picked up - a 2cy Great Black-backed Gull amongst the Azoreans and two adult Roseate Terns giving stunning views at times amongst the Commons - wasn't expecting those so late on here.

2cy GBBG

With a more extended break in the weather now prevailing, I moved round to the notorious Cabo da Praia quarry, where I met Mauris, Per and Thomas. Amongst the gathered waders were 3 adult White-rumped Sandpipers, 2 juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers and a juv Pectoral Sandpiper - not exactly ground-breaking but decent enough. There was also a female Common Teal-type present, which looked rather interesting with a strikingly contrasted head pattern - presumably a Green-winged but better views need.

Mauris was very kind in that he offered me a lift as he was the only one in his car. So, off we went up towards the Lagoa do Junco area to look for Killdeer (via a quick look at the Roseate Terns in the harbour). The weather was still squally and in the time we were out the car here, I must have got soaked and dried out again about three times! No Killdeer nor Wilson's Snipe on the pool near Posto de Radio Americano, but 5 juvenile Pec Sands were impressive. A teal sp (again probably a Green-winged), a Greenshank and a Common Snipe were less so.

Keen to get out of the squalls and low cloud, Mauris and I headed back down to Cabo to re-check the quarry. The White-rumped Sandpiper flock had risen to four, a juvenile Ruff had popped in, and I heard a Semipalmated Plover. With the sun out the sandpiper photo opportunities came:

Semipee, White-rumped and mix-up

Followed quickly by a Semi-p Plover which was not the juvenile Mauris had photographed the previous day; looks more like the usual(?) adult:

Our next stop was Cabrito Water Reservoir. This probably isn't the best name for the site currently as water levels are phenomenally low. I had a bit of a surprise when a Black-necked Grebe popped up post-dive, but it now appears this bird has been around a while (shame). We checked Lagoa do Negro and Lagoa dos Patos but neither had anything on them.

Down at Angra do Heroismo harbour, I was reacquainted with an old friend:

Final few of stops of the day were Lagoa do Ginjal (nothing), Posto de Radio Americano (3 Common Snipe, 5 Pecs still, Greenshank still), and finally at the quarry again. The teal here I am pretty sure is a Green-winged not only due to head pattern being suggestive but also a dock-off buffy covert bar.

Writing this exhausted in Terceira airport. I'm going to try and get some sleep before I inevitably get woken up by security at some point in the night. Flying to Corvo in the morning, where there is now a Blue-winged Warbler. Please stay one night....

Highlights today:

Blue-winged Teal: female at Paul da Praia
Great Black-backed Gull: 2cy in Praia da Vitoria harbour
Green-winged Teal: female at Cabo da Praia, presumed female near Lagoa do Junco
White-rumped Sandpiper: 4 adults at Cabo da Praia
Semipalmated Sandpiper: 2 juveniles at Cabo da Praia
Semipalmated Plover: adult at Cabo da Praia
Pectoral Sandpiper: juvenile at Cabo da Praia; 5 juveniles at Posto de Radio Americano
Black-necked Grebe: one at Cabrito Water Reservoir

Little (Ringed) Improvements

2011-09-29T21:55:00.004+01:00

I did the patch for a longer period of time today. The highlight was this juvenile Little Ringed Plover on the new slurry pools; definitely my latest ever at BLGP and possibly a latest for the Peterborough recording area (waiting to be confirmed):

There were also singles of both Common and Green Sandpipers there, as well as a Snipe. Haven't given up hope of a Pec there this autumn but it seems unlikely given that I'll be in the Azores for two weeks from Saturday. Also today, a new singing Cetti's Warbler on the ARC Pit, as well as these beasts:

It's very good to have so many back in September but alas there was no token yank wader amongst them. Not even a measly Dotterel.

Here's to tomorrow.

Ruddy Dross

2011-09-28T22:33:00.000+01:00

These two foul beasts were on my patch this afternoon. Guess they've come from Rutland.

Get me back to Ireland, please. Or the Azores.

Ireland, 20th - 23rd September

2011-09-26T21:27:00.008+01:00

20.9.2011

Following an eventful day on St. Mary’s the previous day, Oliver Metcalf and I drove straight back north to Bristol from Penzance following the docking of the Scillonian. We then headed back west to Pembroke to catch the 02:45 ferry to Rosslare, docking just after 06:00. First port of call before the long drive to Mayo was Lingstown reedbed at Tacumshin. In the early morning light, up to 6 Hen and 2 Marsh Harriers were noted before the target bird – the long-staying juvenile Pallid Harrier – appeared and gave stunning views at close range. A good start, especially for Ollie for it was a lifer for him.

And so the tedious drive northwest to Mayo began. We stopped at only a couple of sites (Shannon Airport Lagoon and Rahasane Turlough), although both were uninspiring due to an over-abundancy of water. I haven’t seen Shannon looking good for years! So it was some relief when we finally arrived at Carrowmore Beach, just north of Louisburgh (Mayo) mid-afternoon to find this little beauty bracing the blasting westerly by the river outflow:

A fantastic start to the trip that was soon to be made far better as we arrived at Corragaun Lough, some 12km to the south. This site is one of Ireland’s hidden jewels; basically a mini Carrahane Strand with open machair, saltmarsh, a muddy lough and lots of small pools that constantly look like they will imminently attract Nearctic shorebirds. And it doesn’t even get checked much!

We soon got on to Richard Bonser’s adult White-rumped Sandpiper from the weekend, and there were also 2 juvenile Little Stints and 2 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers present amongst around 25 Dunlin. A short while later, a juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper popped out of nowhere to join the flock:

And then, in came another flock of Dunlin (perhaps 20 or so). With them were these two stunning juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers:

By this point, exhaustion and fatigue had been entirely over-ridden by adrenalin. Such a yank-filled start to the trip had not even been anticipated despite the deluge of rarities further south and some very exciting weather charts in the days leading up to our visit. With great excitement we headed round Clew Bay to Achill Island for the final couple of hours of daylight. Needless to say, we couldn’t locate anything of note on Achill in our two hours there, which brought us back down towards earth somewhat. Still, there was always the next morning.

21.9.2011

Overnight, the weather had gotten pretty serious as a front swept through off the leading edge of what had been Hurricane Maria. As we emerged from the car at dawn, we were greeted by a howling southwesterly wind that must have been gusting to as much as 60mph. We struggled in to the wind as we walked south from the clubhouse at Keel golf course towards the area of rough ground where Rich had found two Baird’s Sandpipers on Saturday. As well as a Ringed Plover struggling in to the wind, we noticed a wader flying towards, calling with a distinct (almost Spotted Redshank-like) “dluu-eeep”. It turned and landed around 10 yards away, showing lovely grey underwings as it did so – a smart juvenile American Golden Plover! The bird lingered for just a few seconds before getting up in to the wind and subsequently blown inland across the golf course – really encouraging early score on day 2; judging by behaviour it must have just arrived in off the Atlantic. Fired up once more, Staines and I set out on our twice-daily hike around the golf course. We soon located one of Rich’s Baird’s sheltering with a few Ringed Plovers and Dunlin just inland of the shingle bank some 400 metres or so southeast of the clubhouse, but the golf course was otherwise quiet. On the way back, we checked the small flock with the Baird’s again only to see a juvenile Buff-breasted Sandpiper fly in and begin to feed – things were getting better and better!

We headed around to Doogort, at the northeast end of the island, in order to check one of last year’s hotspots – the wet machair around Achill Rovers FC football ground and the adjacent Barnynagappul Strand. We had a Pec and a couple of Buff-breasts here last year, although the area was disappointingly devoid of birds this time around and we struggled to find little more than a Black-tailed Godwit and a few Sanderlings. With that, we decided to head around to Sruhill Lough to see what was happening. We located the usual adult drake Black Duck with relative ease, and I also noticed that there were a few small waders on mud and sand by the lough outflow. As a result, we decided to walk along the beach south to the outflow to check the flock – on the approach it was clear there were two stint-sized waders running around amongst the Dunlin (c.40) and Ringed Plovers (c.40). Closer views confirmed that there were in fact four stints, and all of them were Semipalmated Sandpipers!

Whilst I blasted off some record shots, Staines located a juvenile Sabine’s Gull feeding off the outflow with Arctic and Sandwich Terns. Afterwards, we headed back to Doogort valley and had a sniff about for passerines, although the best it got was a flock of 25 Chough and a couple of Chiffchaffs plus small flocks of Lesser Redpolls heading over. Another walk of Keel Golf Course produced the three yanks from earlier, although the AGP was still very unsettled.

With much of the late afternoon and evening left, we decided to head back around to the sites around Clew Bay and further south. First stop was the harbour at Mulrany, which has always looked decent but never really produced anything. The tide was out, and there were plenty of smalls (mainly Ringed Plovers with about 10 each of Sanderling and Dunlin) feeding on the mudflats. Eventually, a juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper appeared from nowhere amongst the flock, and proceeded to show very well – our fifth of the day and seventh of the trip, it was perhaps not surprising to hear the words “another Semipee?! Why not something else” uttered from Staines’ lips. We weren’t complaining, though.

The rest of the evening was spent around Louisburgh and down at Corragaun Lough, where the White-rumped Sandpiper was roosting on the beach with other smalls and an adult Whooper Swan was amongst the Mutes.

22.9.2011

With lighter winds forecasted, today was planned as a day to hammer the bushes across Achill as hard as possible. The usual dawn walk around the golf course revealed the American Golden Plover, and Baird’s and Buff-breasted Sandpipers still just inland of the shingle bank, and generally associating together:

We spent a couple of hours walking around the gardens in Dooagh and Keel, although many were too difficult to view to work properly. Needless to say there was a dearth of migrants save for a single Yellow-browed Warbler that was head calling in the Art Gallery garden. With that, we headed round to the valley at Dooagh where we spent a couple more hours. Once more, there was little on the bird front save a couple of Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests, and 20+ Lesser Redpolls flying around. Of greatest interest was a very large dragonfly found over a boggy field at the end of the cul-de-sac off the upper road in the valley; my initial impression was of Emperor (size-wise) but with this being somewhat unlikely on Achill Island in September in big westerlies, I began to think of Green Darner. Although I never managed perched views, the dragonfly seemed uniformly brownish in flight, but little more detail was obtained. Guess it will have to go down as one that got away.

Round at Sruhill Lough, the four juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers were still performing well by the outflow, but the arguable highlight was a brief juvenile Red-necked Phalarope that spent about five minutes on the lough before flying out to sea. There were also a couple of female Black Duck x Mallard hybrids; one looks particularly like a female BD, being very dark and uniform:

A dog Otter was also a pleasant bonus as it showed very well at the south end of the lough. Nearby in Dooniver we had a second Yellow-browed Warbler in roadside bushes – found by call as we drove past at 70kph! I slammed on the brakes, reversed and we enjoyed brief flight views and more calling before it flew north and buried itself in a thicket 100m or so from the road. A Pintail was also on a nearby lough; the first I’ve seen on Achill.

With evening fast approaching, we decided to head back off Achill to Mulrany, to see if the Semipalmated Sandpiper was still present. Rather remarkably, yesterday’s bird had been joined by a second juvenile, and we enjoyed fine views of both birds in the fading light alongside increased numbers of Dunlin (25) and Sanderling (15).

23.9.2011

Our final day began with the usual early morning walk around the golf course revealed the Baird’s and Buff-breasted Sandpipers still together in the wake of the shingle ridge, although we couldn’t find the AGP. We also spent an hour or so walking the marsh at Sruhillbeg Lough, but couldn’t find anything new in there either. An adult Arctic Tern was on Keel Lough, but there seemed little else about.

A search of the machair around Achill Rovers was again quiet. This site still looks excellent and it is perhaps just chance that birds are not present this year. Round at Sruhill Lough, we found two juvenile Semipalmated Sandpipers still amongst reduced wader numbers – it probably didn’t help that a massive immature Peregrine had scattered the flock on our arrival. The drake Black Duck was still on the lough with associated Mallards and hybrids, but there wasn’t much else immediately obvious. Then, on the far bank, I noticed an Actitis sandpiper feeding amongst a group of Teal. Distance and strong winds were making a sure identification impossible, so we decided to head around the lough to try and get closer views. As well as Teal, the sandpiper was also in the immediate vicinity of a roosting flock of Curlews and Greenshanks, and I discussed the realistic probably that the bird would flush with Staines. Once we had halved the distance, we had another scan and were relieved to find the bird still there but mobile. From this distance the legs looked obviously yellowish and the bill had an extensive ivory-pink wash to the base – it seemed likely the bird would be a Spotted but we needed better views to confirm. Walking further round the bay we flushed the Curlews, Greenshanks and Teal as suspected, and frustratingly lost the bird. Not for long, however:

Out it popped from a hidden bay – a stunning juvenile Spotted Sandpiper, showing very well indeed! I called Ollie over and we enjoyed some point-blank views of the bird as it fed around the south shore over the next 45 minutes or so:

The Spotted Sand proved to be the final find of the trip, being the thirteenth Nearctic wader found over the few days we spent in Mayo – the rest of the afternoon was spent at Corragaun where the two Semipees were still present. Although we had been very fortunate with the weather and year (it has been one of the best Septembers for American waders on record), we hope that our experiences around the County through the week further highlight the huge potential that it offers, further backing up the efforts put in by ourselves and others last year. Since we left, it seems the Punks have gone to town in Kerry, finding both Semipalmated Plover and Least Sandpiper amongst more ‘regular’ vagrants. If only time was on my side; I think both Ollie and I would have been more than happy to spend another week out west! I guess that Nearctic passerine will have to be a find for the future.

Scilly 19th Sept

2011-09-20T14:25:00.000+01:00

Really good day on Scilly last Monday. The Black-and-white Warbler was all I ever expected and more; a stunning humbug of a bird with striking call and lovely ochre-yellow feet. Outstanding. Other great birds seen included a Red-eyed Vireo, Ashley Howe's remarkably tame juvenile Blue-winged Teal, and of course a splendid juvenile Solitary Sandpiper thrown in for good measure. Scilly on fire for the first time this century? Let's see how the next month goes.

Next week on Achill Island....

2011-09-17T10:12:00.004+01:00

.... should hopefully be pretty good. If Richard Bonser doesn't find everything (he's already scored two Baird's Sandpipers this morning).

Now a Black-and-white Warbler on Scilly; gutted, but perhaps the big one is lurking in the bushes at Dooagh. We will see...

Ruff @ BLGP

2011-09-15T21:49:00.003+01:00

This juvenile male Ruff was on the North Pit at Baston & Langtoft Pits this evening; remarkably it is only my second patch record of the species since I started watching it seriously back in 2003! Not really sure why they've been so rare here, perhaps it has been a lack of habitat.

Anyway, this bird went some way to explaining why I've seen so few waders at BLGP this autumn - it was incredibly flighty, and soon flew off high to the north just after 18:00. I suspect this behaviour is down to the large number of skittish birds on the pit (predominately Greylag Geese, Black-headed Gulls and Lapwings) which are constantly coming and going, thus flushing other species on the pit. Knowing how skittish waders can be, I guess we are still getting a few but they are probably being flushed soon after arrival by larger species moving about. Sure is going to make finding a Pec even harder this autumn...

1cy Caspian Gull again

2011-09-15T21:16:00.003+01:00

I popped in to Dogsthorpe Tip on the way back from Grafham this morning; although there was again a lack of tipping activity and therefore gulls, there were still a couple of hundred birds on the pool. Amongst them, on the very same spit as where I first saw it as a fresh juvenile back on 17th August, was the 1cy Caspian Gull again.

It's fascinating to see how much it has moulted since then (see pics here). As well as the head and body already appearing much paler, note the rapid scapular moult since August, most prominent in the second photo below. The third image is just another showing upperwing pattern; shame I couldn't capture it with the wings at a slightly higher angle to reveal fully that wonderfully pale underwing.

A 1st-w Yellow-legged Gull was also present today.

Grafham Seabirds

2011-09-15T21:01:00.003+01:00

An hour or so on the dam at Grafham Water this morning produced the lingering adult Sabine's Gull as well as a couple of splendid first-winter Grey Phalaropes. Easily my best views since the Lowestoft bird in 2003, the Sabine's was a pretty gritty-looking bird - knackered flight feathers and moulting its hood, it looked much better once it got up and flew around. There were also alot of Rainbow Trout being caught off the dam this morning, as well as a couple of dying/dead Bream in the shallows. The shot with the fisherman illustrates just how much the Sabine's seemed to care about people...

Picking up binoculars almost felt strange...

2011-09-13T20:40:00.005+01:00

Got back from an exhausting interrailing trip around Europe late last Thursday, and have been catching up with friends in the meantime, as well as recovering from Outlook Festival. I've developed a nice cough and cold, too. The only interesting birds I saw whilst away were a couple of Spoonbills from the train somewhere near Amsterdam, and a few Black Kites here and there.

So today, it felt almost alien to be hanging my bins round my neck again. With seabirds and Nearctic waders seemingly littering the west of Britain and Ireland, surely it was only fair to hope for a possible straggler this afternoon. So, with that in mind, I headed out to do a few local Deepings sites that have traditionally been decent for both the families mentioned above.

First stop was Deeping Highbank. Whilst concentrating on a large (predominately Black-headed) gull flock on and around the River Welland, I was pleasantly surprised to see two terns struggling into the gale towards me. Bins up and yes, nice one! Two splendid juvenile Arctic Terns, that proceeded to give fantastic views as they slowly moved upriver and past where I was parked. Shortly after, a juvenile Common Tern came cruising by, providing a useful comparison for someone as rusty as I with juvenile commic tern identification (or just birds in general to be honest). Encouraged by a bit of dynamism, I decided to head upriver to Deeping Lakes - the old stomping ground of birder-cum-butcher Will Bowell. The main lake here (imaginitively known as "The Lake") produced another (or the same?) juvenile Common Tern and a lot of common ducks, but not much else. A turquoise-green nasal-banded female Pochard was also there but wasn't close enough to read the lettering.

And so, via a trip to see my Gran, I headed back to my beloved patch of Baston & Langtoft Pits. Amongst the throng of myxomatosis-filled rabbits, there were a few birds. On the ARC Pit, a small collection of Lesser Black-backed Gulls revealed a surprise - a 2nd-winter Yellow-legged Gull. Now, I've seen michs on my patch before, but most have been adults (plus one 1st-winter in September several years ago). To see a 2nd-winter was really quite surprising, especially amongst so few gulls! Nice bonus anyway.

2nd-winter michahellis giving it some wing, tail and leg action on the patch

On the nearby old Slurry Pit were a couple of Green Sandpipers, with a third over the road on Corner Pit. I checked the Jet Ski Pit for any terns or gulls but there was nothing, so I headed round to North Pit. On arrival, it was clear there were a few more birds here but, true to form, a juvenile Peregrine bombed through and scattered everything but the geese and a mass of Pochard. Most the gulls came back down but I suspected any waders present would be heading away from the area as rapidly as possible as I set up my 'scope. Never mind; there were over 100 Pochards present - no Ferruginous Duck yet but a nice eclipse drake Tufted x Pochard hybrid. It looks darker than the 'usual' Deepings hybrid and thus may be different, although perhaps this is because it's plumage is still a bit grotty. There was also a yellow nasal-saddled female Pochard.

Another hybrid - where are the genuine rares?!

There were also a few of the ever-present Little Egrets, and about 20 or so Teal. Then, quite remarkably, my second Yellow-legged Gull of the evening dropped in with an adult Lesser Black-backed - bizarrely, another second-winter. Definitely a different bird due to much more advanced scapular moult, bill colouration and tertials:

More patch michahellis action

The new Slurry Pit revealed a mini gull roost including about 30 or so LBB Gulls (couldn't see either of the michs but they were flighty). Another Green Sandpiper was here but no other waders tonight. I didn't care though, I was chuffed with my Yellow-legged Gulls. Call me distasteful.

Anyway, things seem alot more dynamic now than when I left two and a half weeks ago. Will be interesting to see if anything new drops in in the next few days. Fingers crossed.

1cy Yellow-legged Gull

2011-08-24T14:06:00.008+01:00

I'm a strong believer that Yellow-legged Gulls are one of the most misidentified species to occur in Britain and Ireland away from their strongholds in the southeast, even above species such as Black Kite and Honey Buzzard. Regularly we read about large (double-figure) counts across much of the country in winter gull roosts, but should they really be that common through the winter away from the southeast?

Well, based upon my experience, probably not. Although it may be because of our geographical location in north Cambridgeshire, we tend to get as many Caspian Gulls in winter than Yellow-leggeds - i.e., not many. Away from the southeast, Yellow-legged Gulls are a bird of the summer, with the highest counts coming from June/July through to September, with numbers tailing off after that as they drift off south as winter advances. As I'm lucky to see one Yellow-legged Gull in the winter at Dogsthorpe, I do find it baffling when you see reports of 5, 10 or more from north Midlands reservoirs or the northwest. Perhaps I'm just not looking for michs in the winter but, in all honesty, it must be for a different reason - alot of these birds are being misidentified.

But the issue of Yellow-legged Gull misidentification is that it isn't exclusive to winter - it is happening right now, as I type this. Probably the most-commonly misidentified age class at the moment are this year's offspring, the 1cy birds. There seems to be a great number of people about at the moment who are simply re-writing juvenile gull identification. In the past week I have seen various sites/blogs/pages littered with juvenile Lesser Black-backed (and even Great Black-backed) Gulls that have been wrongly labelled as Yellow-legged Gulls. Many of these images depict fresh, heavily marked and darkish looking birds which, for anyone who truly knows 1cy Yellow-legged Gulls well will testify, is not the case with these birds by mid-August. Instead, Yellow-legged Gulls (as they were born and fledged perhaps a month or more earlier than British-breeding large gulls) are well into their moult to first-winter plumage right now. They are particularly striking, and are already much paler than they were a month or so ago. Claiming fresh juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls right now is fraught with danger as the vast majority of birds are well into their moult. The classic example I use is of this bird, photographed by Dick Newell in late August some years ago:
http://www.magikbirds.com/image.asp?title_id=811&show_thumbnails=True

To compare, here is a 'real' juvenile Yellow-legged Gull from over a month ago - note how pale it already was by mid-July:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-68E6FzLOq4U/Th9ZCi1Ey9I/AAAAAAAAAj0/EyoLaxkRVfk/s1600/YLG_14_7_11_3.jpg

And below is a 1cy bird I had today at Dogsthorpe Tip. Although not as advanced as the very striking bird in Dick's photos above, it clearly illustrates what people should be looking for in a 'juvenile' Yellow-legged Gull in mid to late August - a bird that, for all intents and purposes, looks more like a first-winter than a true juvenile. Note the extensive scapular moult with lots of second-generation scaps with the classic dark anchor shape on them, note how the head and underparts have already become so pale that they are predominately white, and also note the undertail - virtually lacking any dark markings/barring so typical of juvenile Lesser Black-backed and Herring Gulls. The coverts on this bird below are also still in pretty good condition; alot of michahellis right now have much more worn-looking coverts:

Although there is admittedly considerable variation in large white-headed gulls (and I concede some michs won't be quite so advanced right now), I would hope these thoughts are worth pondering before claiming the next juvenile Yellow-legged Gull. Any 1cy bird that still looks fresh at this time of year simply won't be a michahellis, and thus likely a Lesser Black-back.

I'm off on holiday for a couple of weeks around Europe and will be returning on 8th September. See you all then for more larid action, I guess.

More Caspian Gulls, 22nd August

2011-08-22T17:54:00.003+01:00

The only real success I seem to be having in local birding currently is on the tips and pits east of Peterborough, scouring the large gulls for a bit of cachinnans action. No gulls at Dogsthorpe today due to disturbance (perhaps the falconers had been back). Tanholt however was bustling, and there was plenty of turnover on the pit by the footpath - all in all, must have been 750 or so large gulls. Despite this, Mike Weedon, Will Bowell and I couldn't pick up anything amongst the birds regularly coming to bathe on the pit. So we headed round to the tip, where I soon picked up a couple of Caspian Gulls - the 2cy bird below, and a brief adult:

Views weren't exactly ideal on the tip today, viewing through the fence with alot of heat haze (as you can probably tell from the above). So we were pretty delighted when most of the gulls were flushed off the tip and ended up flying back on to the pit. Needless to say, the 2cy Caspian showed very well for a few minutes:

No sign of the adult though; guess it was still on the tip. The only other gull of note was this 2cy Yellow-legged, looking slightly odd and dumpy without fully-grown primaries:

I've now had 4 Caspian Gulls in Peterborough in the past week. They are evidently on the move.

Juvenile Caspian still

2011-08-20T19:55:00.004+01:00

The juvenile Caspian Gull was still at Dogsthorpe Tip this afternoon, although was quite flighty and soon drifted off over the tip and out of view. A couple more images from today; still not quite got the shots I'm after:

Not alot else going on at Dogsthorpe - a lack of tipping to blame, as is tradition on Saturday afternoons. So I headed round to Tanholt, where the new tip was full of gulls (500+). The only thing I could muster however was this already pale and rather advanced 1st-winter Yellow-legged Gull (excuse shit shot):

Another slice of the cachinnans pie

2011-08-18T18:17:00.005+01:00

Returned to Dogsthorpe Tip today with John Saunders in an attempt to relocate yesterday's juvenile Caspian Gull and hopefully show him the ropes with a few immature YLGs. The weather was very disappointing, being cold and rainy throughout the three hours I spent on site. Nevertheless, within an hour I had located another Caspian Gull - this one being a massive 3cy bird looking for all intents and purposes like a 3rd-winter. However, it was still moulting it's primaries and one or two other bits looked like they were yet to be replaced. Big, bulky bird with a huge conk - must be a male:

In the third (open wing) shot you can also see the white spot on the old P10 feather - a classic feature of 2nd-winter Caspian Gull if any confirmation was really needed.
In addition to this, yesterday's juvenile dropped back in mid-afternoon for 10 minutes or so allowing John some nice views to compare the bird to the surrounding juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, as well as the couple of juvenile/1st-winter Yellow-legged Gulls we had observed earlier.

Despite the rain, a most rewarding afternoon.

Juvenile Caspian Gull

2011-08-17T23:00:00.000+01:00

Fresh juvenile Caspian Gulls are a pretty rare sight in Britain - most 1cy birds appear a little later on when they have undertaken quite a bit of moult. Today (17th), I had a stunning juvenile at my local gull mecca of Dogsthorpe Tip, Cambridgeshire. I've put a few photos below - click for larger versions:

I think this is probably only the second juvenile I've seen, and definitely the freshest. Even at such a young age, a juvenile Caspian Gull is a wonderfully striking beast, as the images above illustrate.
In addition to the obvious structural features - ridiculously long legs, long parallel bill and long body giving a gangly, rangey appearance - the plumage is most striking. At rest, the remarkably pale (white) underparts are immediately apparent, particularly when viewed head-on. The tertials are plain and dark. In the final image (a composite of several videograbs), the underwing and upperwing patterns can be seen - unlike other juvenile gulls, the underwing is virtually white, even this early in the season. Note also the pale window in the inner primaries. The upperwing has a distinct and striking dark secondary bar. Although it can't be seen well, the tail possesses a dark and sharply-demarcated black band at the tip, although is predominately otherwise white with very limited flecking.

Brilliant bird!

Turkey in late July...

2011-07-29T17:01:00.005+01:00

... is incredibly hot, sweaty and hard work. It appears that by the second half of July, alot of birds (for example Upcher's and Olive-tree Warblers were notable in their absence) have already cleared out. However, I had twenty new WP birds; the highlight a magnificent family of Brown Fish Owls watched at point-blank range for an hour or so. A few photographs below:

Adult Brown Fish Owl (pics 1 & 2), juvenile Pallid Scops Owl, juvenile Iraq Babbler and a gaggle of Armenian Gulls.

Caspian Gull, 22nd July

2011-07-22T21:40:00.003+01:00

Had my first Caspian Gull of the summer today; a lovely (near-)adult that appeared for a few minutes on the 'ridge' at Dogsthorpe Tip before all gulls were flushed and it was lost to view once more... hence the rubbish photos below:

Also at 'The Dog' were six Yellow-legged Gulls (adult, 2 third-summers, 3 juveniles) though birds very difficult to view today and I suspect there were plenty more than this. There were also 5 michs in about 500 gulls at Tanholt, including the second-summer below:

Juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls

2011-07-14T21:59:00.004+01:00

I had five juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls in the Peterborough area today (four at Dogsthorpe, one at Tanholt), making it the most common age-class of the day. I guess more and more will appear as the month wears on. The only other michs seen today were the Caspian-like 1st-summer (from last week) again at Dogsthorpe, and an adult at Tanholt.
A couple of juveniles are illustrated in the images below:

Back on the tip, 12th July

2011-07-12T22:33:00.003+01:00

I had an hour spare this afternoon, so headed to my favourite of all birding locations - Dogsthorpe Tip. A fair selection of gulls were present; probably c.500 or so on the tip, but only about half of that on view. Amongst the 'large' were four Yellow-legged Gulls (2 adults, 2 juveniles). Adult:

... and juvenile (note scapular moult already commencing):

However, my highlight of the day (they usually are when they look this good) was this adult Mediterranean Gull, which dropped in with a group of LBBs:

I'll be back on the tip with more time later in the week.

Quail, 11th July

2011-07-12T17:05:00.005+01:00

I hear quail most years, either locally or somewhere in the UK when on my travels. Until yesterday evening, I had never seen one in this country - most of the local birds I hear are usually miles away in the middle of agricultural fields, and often after dark. So, spurred on by local reports of at least one Quail singing (and apparently even showing) near Ryhall, I decided to go and check it out last night.

I arrived at around 17:45, and spent a fruitless half an hour listening for birds singing up and down the road. Eventually, a male Quail started singing at around 18:15 in the same spot as one was heard and seen on Saturday evening. I rang Will Bowell to let him know, and he soon joined me. Over the next hour or so, two males were heard singing in the near corner of a pea field. Perhaps spurred on by one another, their song became louder and more regular after 19:15 and, eventually, Will picked up one bird sat out in the field edge singing.

Even abroad I have only seen Quail scurrying or flying for cover. It was a truly wonderful experience to be able to watch this bird singing and feeding just 20 metres away along a furrow, and finally appreciate the fantastic intricacy of their subtly-beautiful plumage. I was even fortunate enough to take a few half-decent images:

A really special moment that will stay with me for a long time...

Straight gullin'

2011-07-07T19:48:00.004+01:00

Another day, another visit to Dogsthorpe Tip. Today, I had eight Yellow-legged Gulls on and around the tip, despite only managing to get to check around half the birds present. Six of the eight were 1st-summers; the other two were 4cy/5cy type things - some of these boys can be a bit indeterminable in terms of age, particularly when at distance through a few fences. Here are some first-summers:

Big male

Another classic & v. striking bird

Quite a dirty-looking individual with streaky head

Caspian-esque

Scapulars almost fully-moulted but shitty-looking coverts and tertials.

And below are some older birds; note the first-summer though in the first shot:

There were very few gulls at Tanholt. Guess most must have been using 'The Dog' as they were actively tipping here.

Booby - an alternate perspective

2011-07-06T23:36:00.001+01:00

This fantastic image puts in to perspective how I took the photos below...

Red-footed Booby, S France

2011-07-06T14:24:00.005+01:00

Yesterday (5th), day-tripped the adult Red-footed Booby at Lac de Sainte Crox, Alpes-de-Haute Provence, some 100km or so northeast of Marseille. The bird showed wonderfully well (see the photo of it with me swimming behind!), although to us appeared a little ill - for example, it spent alot of time sat about closing its eyes and shaking! However, in-the-hand examinations seem to suggest it was actually in rude health(?!), and it is still there this afternoon.

All the above photos were taken with a point-and-shoot camera only; the image below is digiscoped.

Flikr

2011-07-04T20:27:00.003+01:00

Through a combination of my ever-growing fascination with large gulls, a growing library of images, and a lot of boredom, today I decided to set up a Flikr account to share gull photos in the hope that it can be seen as some kind of reference, at least from a UK perspective, for any gull enthusiasts around the country.

The address is as follows; currently just a few cach's and mich's up but soon to expand:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wrexile1/sets

Enjoy(?)

More Gulls (4/7)

2011-07-04T17:40:00.005+01:00

Went back to Peterborough today for the gulls. More tipping meant more gulls today; I would say 500+ on Dogsthorpe Tip and 300+ at Tanholt. Most were on the tips at both locations and difficult to see, though there was some turnover which allowed a decent proportion to be checked.

All in all I had six Yellow-legged Gulls; four (adult, 2nd-summer, 1st-summer & juvenile) at Tanholt and two (adult and 3rd-summer) at Dogsthorpe. The first-summer is shown above.

What did surprise me was that I also had a juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull today; this is by far the earliest I've seen round here but it did look like it had just fallen out of the nest, presumably on a nearby warehouse roof somewhere in Peterborough.

When all else fails...

2011-07-02T18:59:00.009+01:00

... look at gulls. If gulls displease you at the best of times, it is probably best to look away now.

For starters, here's a load of Lesser Black-backed Gulls from Dogsthorpe Tip today - pleasant enough you may think, but what follows is very likely to make you violently sick - just a warning.

So, with all my local sites seemingly birdless, this morning suddenly seemed like the time to crack out a first trip of the summer to the Peterborough tips to see what the larids were saying. On arrival at Dogsthorpe, it was clear there was no tipping going on - by midday on a Saturday this is not unusual, but it does mean that, in midsummer, there are generally very few gulls. Sure enough, there were around 50 Leebs, a few immature Geebs and Herrings, but little else. Despite so few gulls being present, there were some pretty abhorrent individuals around. Here's some gruesome action from 'The Dog' today:

3rd-summer Herring Gull - not sure even this poor bastard's mother could love him/her; as well as a pretty gruesome plumage state (bits hanging off all over the place), this ill-looking creature also possesses a disgusting overgrown upper mandible. Don't think this one has much left in the tank...

1st-summer Lesser Black-backed Gull - although not the worst Leeb seen today, this gritty individual has some pretty heavy wear in the wing coverts with plenty of feathers reduced to quills.

After projectile vomiting over half of the flock, I decided to leave and head over to Tanholt Pits to see if anything was there, or on nearby Eye Tip. Turns out they've got a new landfill site taking shape near the pits; today there were about 300 gulls there. Eventually, after a bit of encouragement from myself, some of the flock moved from this hard-to-view area over on to the pits, although most just spiralled off towards Peterborough. Amongst the moulting mess were a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls:

5CY/4th-summer/near-adult/whatever you want to call it

2CY: this individual is quite advanced for a 1st-summer in early July, having already moulted the entirety of its scapulars to show the characterstic mid-grey upperparts of 3rd-generation and older birds. Also note the moulted tertials (though one or two have been retained). A pretty small individual with quite a 'soft' face and slender bill means this little cutie is a female.

Plenty more gull action to come in the next few weeks - you have been warned. Excuse the shit photos, most birds are generally quite distant and severely heat-hazed at this time of year.

Poppy Fields

2011-07-02T17:09:00.003+01:00

You don't see many poppy fields these days (not round here, anyway). Yesterday (1st July), I had a 9-mile walk round local villages with the dog. The highlight for me was stumbling across a family of Grey Partridges (two adults and 8 chicks); something of rarity round our parts these days. However, a small, poppy-filled field out the back of Langtoft was also rather impressive.

Further summery wanderings

2011-06-29T14:43:00.003+01:00

This morning I went to the excellent Hills & Holes NNR, Barnack, primarily because it harbours several species of orchid that I have never bothered to go and see. Which is a bit embarrassing given how close the site is, and that orchids genuinely interest me. Well, it sure seems the dry spring has ruined this year's flower spectacle; usually this place is covered in flowers and grasses but this year it is most barren.

Having said that, there were plenty of Pyramidal Orchids about, although they seem very small and weak-looking this year. Here are a few photos:

I failed to locate any Fragrant, Bee or Frog Orchids - apparently a recent visitor had just one of the former, two Bees and a couple of small Frogs still in their infancy. I'll perhaps go back to look for the latter some time this week. Just about the only flower that seemed to be having any luck in the dry conditions was Common Rock-rose:

The only birds of note I've seen lately were four Curlews flying southwest along the River Glen at Katesbridge during the early evening of 27th. This Swallowtail Moth also made a brief appearance on our outdoor light as I got home a few evenings ago:

Summer Patching

2011-06-26T18:19:00.003+01:00

Although I can't claim to have put back-breaking effort in to local birding over the past week or so, I have been doing quite a bit of walking (with and without dog) at local sites, and have consequently seen one or two half-decent birds. For example, I did a 13-mile walk the other day north from Bourne and up around some local villages - best birds were a Spotted Flycatcher at Grimsthorpe and five Crossbills in Bourne Woods, both new this year for me (don't see many of the former at all).

The patch has been very slow, and feels very lazy indeed. The gull colony is less busy than it was a few weeks back; compared to other sites (locally and nationally), the BLGP colony always seems to have a much earlier average fledging date and, with the sheer number of juveniles present this year (300+), I can only assume it is a sign of a very healthy colony indeed. Most juvenile Black-headed Gulls are well fledged and in various stages of maturity. Some still look like they have just fallen out the nest, being very brown and possessing very stunted primaries. Others, such as the individual below, are more advanced in to their first moult:

It's disappointing to see that few of the waders appear to have had a successful year (though still early days). However, there are a few fledged Lapwing chicks about so it's not all doom and gloom. Perhaps related is the persistant presence of several Lesser Black-backed Gulls; most are adults which appear to be prospecting the site (as they have done for a few years now but no confirmed breeding), but there are some immatures also, such as this second-summer:

One or two ducks are beginning to turn back up now. A flock of three Shoveler were present in the evening of 20th, with the first two Gadwall back on that date. The Gadwall 'flock' has since risen to three, and a drake Pochard is also back with the moulting Tufties. The Red-crested Pochards are starting to gather to moult (looking a bit grim now). This family of Mute Swans is on the workings on the north side:

The weather is beautiful today; I still haven't had any Quail despite there being loads at sites further north - perhaps tonight will be the night.

American White-winged Scoter, 12/6

2011-06-17T00:39:00.006+01:00

Until this year, White-winged Scoter was one of those highly-anticipated birds to make an appearance on British & Irish shores, but had not yet done. In March, I was fortunate to play a part in the discovery of the first Asian White-winged (Stejneger's) Scoter for Ireland, and the wait was finally over. I don't suppose anyone was really expecting the North American counterpart (ssp. deglandi) to turn up so soon afterwards. But that's exactly what happened at scoter hotspot Blackdog, in Aberdeenshire, on Saturday.

John Pegden now lives very close to me in Lincs (where I happened to be over the weekend), so we were soon teaming up and drafting in the exiled Mick Frosdick and Steve Webb. We were up at Blackdog (or rather off Murcar links golf course just to the south) by early morning, but the weather was very poor and prohibited an early morning search. As the morning progressed, the weather improved and it was now possible to look at the scoters. Swell was proving a problem, with most birds spending more time obscured by waves than being visible. The White-winged Scoter was eventually picked up and proved very elusive over the next few hours, although did show pretty well at times. Was surprised at how much contrast there was between the brown flanks and the rest of the body, and the head and bill shape were also pretty striking.

There were also three drake Surf Scoters, two of which are in the photograph below:

A few other bits were also seen, including a Black-throated Diver, a few Manx Shearwaters and Arctic Skuas, and an Osprey. We moved round to the Ythan Estuary where the King Eider was asleep, then left and got back to Lincolnshire by 21:15 - a successful day!

Summer doldrums

2011-06-11T22:46:00.002+01:00

Well, it looks like spring is well and truly over now - even the Sanderlings appear to have dried up inland. So, on my return to Lincolnshire this weekend, I was hardly expecting to see alot. That certainly rung true; I only had the usual breeders on my patch (Baston & Langtoft Pits) this evening - 4 Redshanks, 5 Oystercatchers etc but no sign of any young. Perhaps worrying but still early days.

Definite highlight was what seems to have been an incredible year for the Black-headed Gull colony. Many, many juveniles have already fledged (some even starting to moult to a 1st-winter type plumage); a partial count revealed almost 200 this evening, vastly outnumbering adults. Here's a few of them:

But, despite the large numbers of birds present, that elusive summer mega just wasn't there tonight. Let's see how the next couple of months go - not long before the first Green Sandpipers.

Boom!

2011-06-07T18:54:00.002+01:00

Bit rushed for time right now so a brief summary of yesterday (6th), which finally produced the first real mega of the spring; it's been a while coming. I was woken at around half 8 this morning by a phone call from Staines, asking me if I'd like to go for the Red-flanked Bluetail that had apparently just been trapped and ringed at Hartepool Headland (Cleveland). I had had a few beers the previous evening, so my instant response was a groggy "no".

Things soon changed when a puzzled Dan Pointon rang me a few minutes later asking what was all this about a White-throated Robin at Hartlepool. I told him I was pretty sure they'd ringed a bluetail but I'd check it out. Quick check of BirdGuides and yes, the bluetail was in fact the robin. A few expletives later I was careering out of Sheffield towards the M1.

Journey took around an hour and 45 mins, and by half 10 I'd arrived at the scene of the crime - Hartlepool Headland bowling green. Unbelievably, the bird was casually hopping about feeding in the margins of the green(!) - I'd been expecting it to be a bit more difficult than that! Continued to watch the bird for a couple of hours as it fed on the bowling greens and in surrounding gardens but, as more and more people arrived and the day wore on, the bird became increasingly mobile, flighty and elusive. I managed a few record shots (below are the best) but this is definitely a DSLR man's bird - a very active critter. I appear to have also been selected as a pin up for twitching; to see what I mean check this out from 22 mins in!

Having had my fill of the robin, I went round to Seaton Carew where an absolutely beautiful male Red-backed Shrike was showing well in dunes south of the sewage works. This will presumably be the most-twitched Red-backed Shrike of 2011. The bird was feeding quite actively but was a better subject for me to try my new camera on (Canon Ixus 220HS). A couple of shots below; very pleased with how it seems, especially given light and heat haze were pretty grim by early afternoon:

Final stop of the day was Saltholme RSPB where an adult Spoonbill was sleeping. Looked at it for a few seconds then went off on a wild shrike chase in the Calor Gas Pool area; eventually found the site with the help of a couple of locals and a bit of searching revealed my second male Red-backed Shrike of the day. Fantastic! This individual was really mobile, and disappeared on to one of the landfills in the area - I don't think many saw this one; a much smaller crew than at Seaton Carew that consisted of a few locals, Mulvey Tours and myself.

Terek Sandpiper

2011-06-01T23:51:00.004+01:00

Terek Sandpiper is one of those birds which, although it occurs annually in the UK, I had previously never seen. Several birds in the past have come at the wrong time for me; I've either been abroad, at work, or without transport. In addition, many are very brief stayers, rarely lasting longer than a day. So the occurrence of a bird at Hauxley (Northumberland) certainly pricked my ears up on Saturday afternoon. However, with a rather big football match on the tv in the evening, I decided against making a move as I didn't want to risk missing some of the action.

It wasn't much of a surprise to hear that there was no sign of the bird early on the Sunday. I quietly thought to myself, "there goes another..."

So imagine my surprise when the bird was again seen on the wader scrape at Hauxley mid-morning. Quick change of plans from revision to driving and, via an offensive drive in to York to collect Staines (who had lost his car keys, useless tw*t), I was on my way. We got to Hauxley mid-afternoon; it was very breezy, but the bird showed well (above). A very charismatic and striking wader, always hurrying around feeding. Love that bill as well!

A few Roseates were seen out towards Coquet Island, but we saw little else during the rest of the afternoon. The Great White Egrets weren't at Castle Island when we stopped in on the way back south. Got back to Sheffield for 19:30.

Least Sandpiper

2011-05-27T11:05:00.005+01:00

Splendid summer-plumaged Least Sandpiper at Old Moor yesterday evening (26th); originally identified as a Temminck's but, as can be seen from the photos, a bit better-looking than that. Showed well from the Wader Hide pretty much constantly, and is a long-awaited new British/WP bird for me!

Old Moor is only 14 miles from home in Sheffield but the roads/traffic make this place just a bit too far away to have as a regular patch - shame, lots of birds there this evening.

Yorkshire Coast 22/5

2011-05-22T19:13:00.003+01:00

An early start this morning (22nd) saw me leave Sheffield at around 03:30 with Filey being the destination (via York to pick up Staines). Collected him with some minor confusion in navigation through York, and were at Filey caravan site for around 05:30. We split up on arrival at Long Lane; not knowing exactly where the bird was, we decided it for the best. Staines went north towards the sea, and I headed south. A speculative scan around 50 yards down the path and - boom - there it was! An outrageously attractive male Rustic Bunting, scrotting around on the floor some 20 yards in front of me! Quick call to Staines saw him charging down the path to meet me, and we enjoyed some splendid views in perfect harmony, with no one else about. As my camera battery has died and the charger is in Lincolnshire, I borrowed Staines' Samsung for a record shot. In the poor early morning light this was as good as it got:

A gaudy bird that is not done justice by the picture; there are some nicer ones on BirdGuides.

Buoyed by an early success I forced Staines in to accompanying me to Easington - forgot how grim the drive is down the Holderness coast; the roads are crap! A nice enough (albeit blustery) walk down to the lagoons south of the caravan site at Easington saw us connect with the long-staying Tawny Pipit frequenting the sandy area between the two lagoons. It was nice to obtain extended views of this bird as it fed leisurely amongst the marram grass - the only other Tawny Pip I'd seen in the UK was a bird flying around over a field in Norfolk six years ago. There was also a Wheatear here, as well as a few Yellow Wags. Good movements of hirundines south (of all three species), as well as a few small flocks of peeps powering through and a Little Tern or two offshore.

Back in Sheffield by late morning. Tired now (revision is a bore hence I'm writing this), but well worth it. Great morning.

Lesser Scaup 19/5

2011-05-19T21:43:00.004+01:00

Went for this very showy drake Lesser Scaup this afternoon on the small dam lake at Cuckney, Notts. Conditions were quite difficult for photography (water colour, reflections, in to the sun), but got some reasonable snaps:

Spot of twitching

2011-05-16T11:45:00.005+01:00

It's been a while since my last update, probably due to a lack of birding to be honest. Anyway, I was dragged out of the doldrums by a combination of a displaying Great Snipe at Cley and a very keen Oliver 'Staines' Metcalf, who seems to be charging round the country at the moment. So we headed down towards Norfolk from Sheffield around mid-afternoon on Thursday (12th), with the hope of connecting with the lekking beast.

A quick stop at the splendid Frampton Marsh RSPB (Lincs) produced the grotty male Red-necked Phalarope and a gang of six Temminck's Stints, which proved fairly difficult to pick up amongst the vegetation at times. There were also a few other waders, including small numbers of Dunlin, Greenshanks, Blackwits and a male Ruff in nice plumage. But time was pressing, and the ants in Staines' pants were calling for us to press on towards Cley.

Cutting a long story short, the experience was typically farsical. No bird, a load of tapes playing, and not alot of birds. Luckily, someone found a Lesser Yellowlegs on the pool next to Avocet Hide, so we traipsed round to West Bank and saw this bird in the fading light at some distance. Not a bad consolation, which was further backed up by singles of Spoonbill and Wood Sandpiper flying over. Got back to Sheffield about midnight.

Yesterday (15th), news broke of a male Citrine Wagtail at Conwy RSPB some time in the early afternoon. Realising that both Staines and Tim Jones 'needed' it, and the only Cit Wag I'd seen in the UK was a 1st-winter at Filey in September 2003, I rang up Ollie and organised a late afternoon jaunt to the northwest, as I was working until 15:30. So, eventually they arrived in Sheffield about 16:00 and, despite some pretty offensive traffic, we arrived at Conwy at about 18:30 with my Uncle Dave also now on board. Within five minutes, the wagtail was out and showing well (if a little distantly) along the far side of the pool. A splendid bird that brightened up a pretty grotty day for weather:

There wasn't alot else on the reserve save a White Wagtail and Little Ringed Plover, so we decided to head back towards England with enough light left to possibly plan a raid on one of two rare sandpipers in Cheshire. After dropping my Uncle back off in Hawarden, I was outvoted by my two low-listing passengers - I gave in and decided to give them a chance at the Broad-billed Sandpiper present on the foreshore at Meols, despite the odds seemingly stacked against us - tide coming in fast, light fading, and a lack of recent news. The journey up to Meols was pretty quick along the M53, and we pulled up along the seafront to find people staring at several incredibly skittish flocks of Dunlin. I decided it was a good time to tell the boys they had wasted my effort and there was 'no chance' of connecting - this reinforced when all the birds headed off west towards the lifeboat station.

We drove round there anyway, and found a good few thousand Dunlin. With a strong wind blowing 'scopes around combined with the ever-poorer light conditions, it seemed desperate. Nevertheless, I picked the bird up asleep and way off to the right at about the fourth scan, so we walked a couple of hundred yards or so down the promenade to obtain better views. This is basically what it looked like:

Spot the Broad-billed Sandpiper...

Gritty pixelated close-up

Staines and Tim did enjoy brief views of the bird with it's head out (necessary for a lifer of course!) although I was rather cold and ready to go, so had packed up by the time it decided to oblige. Nice easy drive home and was back in Sheffield for about half 10 last night, with two great birds 'in the bag'. Got to love a bit of twitching every now and again.

Wheatear

2011-04-21T21:51:00.002+01:00

First-summer male Northern Wheatear, Deeping High Bank, 20th April 2011.

It's been a good spring for these boys so far.

Blue-winged Teal

2011-04-21T20:13:00.003+01:00

Drake on the Ouse Washes, 20th April.

Had a few local birds, including a Turnstone on the patch on 19th. Also plenty of Wheatears, Green & Common Sands etc but nothing much else.

Patching

2011-04-18T23:13:00.005+01:00

Last couple of days I've spent some time covering my old patch; the extensive area of gravel pits on Baston and Langtoft Fens.

Yesterday (17th) produced my first decent flock of wagtails of the spring; at least 20 Yellows (all males), as well as my first Whitethroats, Sedge Warblers etc of the spring down there. Highlight was provided by a partial summer-plumage Black-tailed Godwit on the new, northern pit. Blackwits are a surprisingly rare bird here (I've seen many more Barwits), so was understandably chuffed - poor views in the fading light suggested it was probably a 2cy bird, but it wasn't there today so I'll never know for sure. The new pit it was on looks like it might be alright this spring (shame I'm not here to do it daily), and I've given it a new name - hopefully something worthwhile to report from it soon so that it gets on the news services.

Today promised a bit more; southeast winds and clear but becoming overcast by early afternoon. To me, it seemed like a good afternoon for the first Black Terns to arrive (which they did at a few sites across England), but none at BLGP. New-in migrants included a White Wagtail and a Common Sandpiper (both firsts for the year), whilst a Red Kite drifted over. A late adult Common Gull was on the new diggings opposite Reedbed Pit, and a drake Shoveler was at Grummit's Scrape. All the usuals were present, with LRPs now up to 5 in number. Highlight for me though was a small flock of 13 Golden Plover in splendid plumage on the south side of the complex, showing nicely for some photos:

No Dotterel tagging along, but these birds really are mint at this time of year. Got back this evening to hear that my partner in crime Staines had done further damage with a drake Blue-winged Teal in North Yorkshire this evening - he's finding some good birds this year. Gripped!

Portugal & Spain, 11-15th April

2011-04-18T21:13:00.003+01:00

A good five-day trip to Portugal and Spain, the former country for Ruppel's Vulture and Cat C action, whilst we also visited the steppes of Spain. Details on the ticks I had at my netfugl page, whilst some pics below:

Purple Heron 10/4

2011-04-10T22:32:00.005+01:00

I've been up in North Wales over the weekend visiting family; early this morning I headed west to Anglesey in order to try and connect with the adult Purple Heron frequenting a small pool in the river valley at Dwyran. It took a while to find the site but once located, the heron was easily picked up fishing on the pool. It was catching quite a few fish and, contrary to reports, seemed relatively unconcerned by my presence. A few photos below, taken with my mother's new Canon camera - my old Canon Ixus has bust. The results are pretty pleasing:

Also had a singing Sedge Warbler and a Swallow over there. I called in at Old Colwyn and Llanddulas on the way back to Hawarden, but unsurprisingly no sign of the Black Scoter - the scoter flock, and there were thousands of them, were inconceivably distant - an impossible task. There were a few Red-throated Divers and other mildly interesting blobs at extreme range.

Off to Portugal & Spain tomorrow.

More local action..

2011-03-20T21:13:00.005Z

Gaining a bit of height in the fens, © Mike Weedon

Not a bad weekend, both weather and bird-wise locally. Still no true migrants (apart from a few singing Chiffs), but some nice bits. It turns out there are a pair of Smew on my patch, and today (Sunday) there was an impressive influx of Tufted Ducks.

Highlight of the weekend was an adult Dark-bellied Brent Goose along Deeping High Bank on Saturday 19th. First seen in flight after being flushed by a passing glider, the bird then settled in fields on the opposite side of the river. It was often tucked up behind the far bank, thus requiring some athleticism to view (above). This only my second Brent in the Peterborough area, following one my Dad and I found along the same stretch of river in November 2003!

Dark-bellied Beast

Back to earth 18/3

2011-03-18T16:36:00.007Z

Following on from a couple of great trips over the past few weeks, I've popped home for a long weekend this weekend. It was nice to get out in the pleasantly spring-like conditions this morning for some long overdue local birding.

First stop was my old patch, Baston & Langtoft Pits. No true spring migrants yet but nice to see a couple of raucous Oystercatchers back again to breed. Highlight was an absolutely stunning drake Smew on the old wader scrape; for the past few years now (admittedly not last as I wasn't around to look), a drake has popped up here in March/April - latest date I had it was 22nd(ish) April back in 2008 I believe. Guess it must be a returning bird; again no redheads though. This species has become really quite rare in the Peterborough area. In the shelter belt just west of ARC Pit, it was nice to see 20+ Bramblings - the best numbers I can recall seeing here. Some of the males were even participating in subsong which was great. The same could be said for the wonderful flock of 100+ Siskins near Gull Pit. This site is now a traditional area for big flocks at this time of year. Typically, there were a few Lesser Redpolls mixed in, and I did see a female-type Mealy which is a nice patch year tick. Otherwise, there wasn't too much doing; just a couple of Green Sandpipers.

I pressed on to Crown Lakes where Steve Dudley had had a drake Green-winged Teal the previous evening; alas no sign of the bird and only 7 Teal present! To compensate for such disappointment, there was only one thing for it - a bit of gull action and fast food.

Dogsthorpe was devoid of gulls, with the reason soon becoming apparent - no tipping. It looks like the landfill site is in a transitional stage. The dump boys are digging out the pits here, presumably to make more room for more of Peterborough's waste; hopefully by April when I'm back they'll be back tipping. No great shakes though; all the gulls had congregated at Tanholt and Eye Tip. Although the tip here is impossible to view, the gulls often loaf in nearby fields and on the pits. Today, several hundred were on the new pit with another 1,000 or so in the field opposite. There was alot of changeover in the 90 minutes or so I stayed, partly natural and partly due to a Red Kite then Buzzard causing a great deal of unrest amongst the larids.

Bird of the day was this splendid first-winter Caspian Gull; a worn and faded individual:

In addition to this, a couple of 1st-winter Yellow-leggeds were also seen, presumably having arrived with the increasing numbers of Lesser Black-backed Gulls around now (YLGs are pretty rare in these parts in winter). However, the sexiest gull of the day had to go to this beaut:

Adult summer Mediterranean Gulls have to be one of the best-looking larids out there. This bird was pretty vocal; guess it won't be long before it's back on territory. In contrast to this fine specimen, there were plenty of foul Herring Gulls about. I never fail to be astounded by how variable this species is in juvenile/first-winter plumage. It seems like every time I head to the tip I see a combination of features I've not seen before! Here's a few from today:

When I first picked this up I was naturally quite intruiged. It almost reminded me of this. Then it turned around and, for all intents and purposes, it looks like a fairly typical Herring Gull, albeit quite a large one and of course having very pale primaries. The tail and rump pattern was of a typical Herring (just tea-coloured rather than black), and the greater coverts and tertials look fairly normal, just pale. I can't even see any real reason that Glaucous might be involved, apart from the size.

And this one looks like it might have Glaucous in it somewhere, at least facially. Plumage-wise, it was pale but not really that far off this argentatus I had back in December. I suspect it is probably just an argentatus.

And the final bird, below, is another argentatus. In contrast to the two grotty creatures above, it is still remarkably fresh and, most critically, is still in full juvenile plumage (excuse the photo quality). Birds like this aren't all that unusual, even in March:

Unfortunately my camera has finally packed up, so I fear that may be the last of images for a while. At least until I can afford a new camera, anyway.

Siberian White-winged Scoter

2011-03-10T10:13:00.004Z

A montage of videograbs of this first for Ireland. The jury is still out on which subspecies it is although our personal notes and recollections would suggest stejnegeri as the more likely candidate; but hopefully that will be confirmed in the next few days with further, more educated views.

Update 11/3: most opinion seems to be settled on Stejneger's Scoter.

Thanks for all the kind words; full credit to Davey Farrar for initially locating this bird!

Click on the image for a larger version.

Ireland, 5-7th March

2011-03-08T22:42:00.008Z

A long weekend out in west Ireland with Oliver Metcalf turned out to be generally productive. Saturday 5th was spent in Sligo and Mayo, with the Small Canada Goose noted at Raghly whilst nearby in Sligo Harbour a juvenile Kumlien's Gull and adult Ringer were noted. The Small Canada is being touted as a Taverner's; I must admit I know nothing about the bewildering array of forms that occur in the Canada/Cackling Goose complex, but this bird looked better for a Small Canada than the other 'Taverner's' I saw in Dumfries a few years back. Whilst possessing a longer, snakier neck than the surrounding Barnacles, it was of a similar size to them and looked somewhat diminuitive. As can be seen in one of the photos below, it has a significant chin strap.

Taverner's-type Canada Goose

We moved round to The Mullet, where the 1st-winter American Coot took some locating as it stayed predominately amongst the reeds at the north end of Termoncarragh Lake. c.400 Barnacle Geese were also there, whilst the returning drake Ring-necked Duck was easily located at Carrowmore Lake. We then did a selection of the usual spots on Achill Island but couldn't locate anything save a female Black Duck x Mallard hybrid. Doogan Lough also held very little, so we headed down to Galway for the night.

We overnighted it in the car at Angilham, at the south end of Lough Corrib. First light therefore saw us scanning the (flat calm) lough. Calm conditions are always vastly helpful at this expansive (and at times frustrating) site. Within a few minutes a bird caught my attention amongst the main Pochard flock; larger, longer-necked, paler flanks and upperparts and an apparent all-black bill. I calmly said to Ollie that I might have a Canvasback, and proceded to get him on to the bird. At the distance it was at (c.500m) and in poor light, the bird looked really rather good. However, being all too familiar with the very Canvasback-like hybrid that has been touring sites in Britain over the past couple of winters, I was somewhat hesitant so put out news of a 'possible Canvasback or hybrid'. The bird then swam frustratingly distant (up to c.1km), although the combination of features previously mentioned made it identifiable at such range. The bird was also noted displaying, and whilst calling puffed out a rather sizeable gular bulge.

Dermot Breen then joined us a little after 09:00, by which time the bird had fortuitously flown in to the nearest Pochard flock. Unfortunately, the rest is history. As soon as it landed it became apparent that the bird wasn't a pure Canvasback and, somewhat amazingly, appeared to be the very same individual that had previously been noted in North Yorks and Suffolk - I had seen it in the former county in November 2009...! So, a bit gutting but entertaining all the same. The drake Ring-necked Duck x Tufted Duck I saw at this site last March was also present again. A few images of the duck below; the fourth down is a more typical, distant view of the bird giving a very Canvasback-like impression.

The 'Canvasback'...

Up to Rossaveel, where juvenile and 3rd-winter Glaucous Gulls were seen but no sign of the possible Thayer's-type creature. Nimmo's revealed the usual adult Minger(s) and a Sandwich Tern but no Forster's. We did Loughrea, where we failed to repeat my 'success' of a Ring-necked Duck last year. Rahasane Turlough held lots of ducks including plenty of Pintail, but no rares. Round at Doorus Pier, a bit of luck was on our side as the Forster's Tern, with its wonderful silvery wings and distinctive head pattern, gracefully bounced in to view with a Sandwich Tern, before flying off up the coast. Finally tracked this beast down! We searched several sites along the north Clare coast but had little more than Long-tailed Ducks, Black-throated Divers and Common Scoters.

Coastline between Black Head and Ballyvaughan, Clare

The next morning dawned and, following a considerable overnight drive, we looked out over Ballinskelligs Bay, Kerry. Despite searching the throng of Common Scoter offshore, we had little more than 5 Long-tailed Ducks but certainly no Surfers. An adult Iceland Gull was at Reenard Point amongst very few gulls indeed. Most interesting bird of the day was the Velvet-type Scoter off Rossbeigh. Whilst I don't see many drake Velvets well, I couldn't help but feel this bird looked odd. It had a whacking great upturned white tear behind the eye, and the base of the bill felt very bulbous. The colouration of the bill was more reddish-orange than yellow-orange, but with no literature to hand, we couldn't really go much further. Here's a poor video of it:

The adult Spoonbill was at Cromane. Our best find of the day was on the Dingle peninsula; an adult Yellow-legged Gull was amongst a newly-arrived flock of migrant Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Ferriter's Cove. It was certainly a day to enjoy the weather; beautiful blue skies and mild sunshine with not a breath of wind.

Sunny Cromane, Kerry.

Sunny Dingle, Kerry...

The Azores, February 2011

2011-02-28T16:55:00.008Z

Returned from a week-long trip to the Azores with Rich Bonser at the weekend. It was my first trip to this wonderful islands - hopefully the first of many. The week was a general success, despite letdown on a cancelled flight way out west to Flores. We scored 60 individual 'Yanks', with 28 of these being Ring-billed Gulls (23 on Terceira). I've broken the trip down into a daily account, below.

19th February
A day of travel; our only birding opportunities came in Lisbon during a four-hour wait for a connecting flight to Ponta Delgada. In a casual stroll down to the seafront, we recorded at least two Firecrests, and a singing Fan-tailed Warbler.

20th February
A delayed early morning flight to Terceira meant that we were eventually out birding on the island by mid to late morning. First stop was at Paul da Praia, where the impressive flock of birds consisting of American Coot, Bufflehead, Lesser Scaup, 3 Ring-necked Ducks, Greater Scaup, 10 Tufted Ducks and several Coot was showing admirably, although the Great Blue Heron was not present.

Above: Paul da Praia, 1st-winter drake Bufflehead, and drake Lesser Scaup.

In nearby Praia da Vitoria harbour, the White-winged Black Tern did a customary fly-by, and the ringed Sandwich Tern and Slavonian Grebe were showing well during a number of visits throughout the day. This was also my first opportunity to study Atlantic Gulls - 2nd-winters are definitely the best!! Cabo da Praia produced the Semipalmated Plover almost immediately, as well as the Lesser Yellowlegs, a Dunlin and 3 Knot amongst the usuals.

Semipalmated Plover, Cabo da Praia

The plateau saw us score Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs(es) at Lagoa do Junco, and the Wood Sandpiper wintering here flew round calling a few times. A couple of Greenshank ensured no close views were had of the Greater Legs. Cabrito Water Reservoir, the dump and Lagoa dos Patos were all quiet.

Above: Lesser and Greater Yellowlegs, Lagoa do Junco

It was time to start thinking about the main target, so we headed down towards Angra do Heroismo. There was a Greylag Goose accompanying the local Muscovies in Sao Matheus harbour. Quickly getting disillusioned by this foul creature, we headed to Angra, where we were amazed to find the Yellow-crowned Night Heron sat out on the rocks at 15:45! We hurried round, and the result was well worth it (see below). The Spotted Sandpiper was also showing well, as was the 1st-winter Pied-billed Grebe - all three often in the same view, ridiculous!

Angra specials: Pied-billed Grebe and the Yellow-crowned Night Heron

We finished up at the Praia da Vitoria gull roost, where a 2nd-winter American Herring Gull, a 1st-winter Bonaparte's Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, 2 Med Gulls and at least 18 Ring-billed Gulls were all chilling out.

21st February
The day was spent around Terceira, checking the sites we did yesterday. Unfortunately, poor weather meant that upland sites (e.g. Junco, the dump etc) were all impossible due to a lack of visibility.
New birds not seen at Cabo da Praia the previous day included the female Blue-winged Teal, Semipalmated Sandpiper, Little Stint, 3 Curlew Sands and a Quail, as well as securing the all-important Azores tick of Collared Dove in the town. The White-winged Black Tern flew over the quarry in the evening.

Lesser Yellowlegs, Cabo da Praia

All the ducks were still present and correct at Paul da Praia, where there were up to 7 Little Egrets early morning and evening. Despite several checks throughout the day, it was not until our last check at dusk did we find the Great Blue Heron, which had clearly just arrived to roost. It sat amongst juncus for a bit then caught an eel (which proved amusing) - stunning bird and the final of four WP ticks I had on Terceira (others being the coot, YCNH and Semip Plover).

Great Blue Heron at dusk, Paul da Praia

Down the coast at Porto Judeu, we had two Gannets offshore in the afternoon. The gull roost at Praia da Vitoria didn't contain an American Herring Gull but the 1st-winter Bonaparte's turned up again, and showed better. Just one 1st-winter Ringer flew by.

22nd February
The Great Blue Heron was still at Paul da Praia early morning then flew off and landed on the hillside to the north. The ducks were all still there too, whilst 2 Barwits, 25 Blackwits and 4 Ruff were at Cabo da Praia quarry. We then had to head to the airport for our flight to Flores, via 23 Ring-billed Gulls sat on the runway. Unfortunately, our flight to Flores was cancelled due to inclement weather conditions at 'destination airport', so some quick thinking saw us on a late afternoon flight to Horta, with the aim of doing Faial and Pico instead of heading west. It was dark by the time we got in to Horta, but it was nice to meet Olof and Arnie and have a few beers - they were going to try and get out to Flores again the next day.

23rd February
Early morning saw us full of optimism and stood waiting for the 07:45 ferry over to Pico. I picked up a Great Northern Diver in Horta harbour, which is always a decent bird out here. There was little else in the harbour, although the crossing was more productive with plenty of gulls, Cory's Shearwaters and a nice adult Arctic Skua.
A few waders were around Madalena harbour, Pico, with the highlight being a couple of Dunlin. Our first port of call were the upland lakes across the centre of the island due to the weather looking fairly clear. A female Wigeon was a Lagoa do Capitao, and a Mallard was seen nearby. Flooded fields near Lagoa do Paul held 10 Eurasian Teal and a snipe sp., which looked dark as it flushed but I could not find it again despite traipsing round fields for ages. No hoped for yanks, then.
We headed down to Lajes do Pico which was another disappointment, with little more than a few waders (all European!). Further searches of the harbours on the north of the island and around Madalena produced very little.
And so it was back on the ferry across to Faial. It appeared the gods had acknowledged our hard day of grafting on Pico, and provided us with a superb 1st-winter Bonaparte's Gull flying close past the boat about half a mile outside Horta harbour, which Rich and I both independently picked up at the same time. At last, something decent. A couple of adult Kittiwakes roosted just off the harbour with Black-headed Gulls, but we didn't pick up the Bonaparte's again.

24th February
Today our first birding was in the fog at Lagoa do Pedro Miguel, which took some finding! We eventually got there Corvo-style, with a lift in the back of a local's pick up truck. The only bird was a Grey Heron; a few gun shells around the lake suggested that the locals had probably shot and eaten anything American that had been present previously. Back down in Horta harbour, we couldn't find the diver nor anything of particular interest so we soon moved on. Coastal rocks at Feteira provided two 1st-winter Ring-billed Gulls on rocks there with Black-headed Gulls.

The time then came to go to the airport, where we caught an early afternoon flight to Sao Miguel. First site was the small lake at the farmhouse just outside Faja de Cima (name escapes me), where 5 Blue-winged Teals, a Garganey, 2 American Wigeon and a female Greater Scaup were all still in residence. We did the pool at Batalha golf course, as well as Ribeira Grande - zilch! There were 8 Grey Plovers at ETAR, Ponta Delgada, whilst the roost in the harbour there produced a 1st-winter Ring-billed Gull, a 1st-winter European Herring Gull, 5 Mediterranean Gulls (including an adult ringed in Lancashire), and a 1st-winter GBB Gull amongst the 250 or so Azorean Gulls. Not bad at all.

First-winter European Herring Gull, Ponta Delgada - a good Azores bird.

25th February
Our final day's birding before a flight back to London in the morning of the 26th. We slept in a car park somewhere in the mountains at the east end of the island, where two courting couples were also present in very steamed-up cars...! We eventually tracked down one Azores Bullfinch flying around calling at the traditional clearing after three hours, and left shortly after - a couple of Woodcocks were also heard roding in the early morning light.
At nearby Povoação harbour, two 1st-winter Ring-billed Gulls were showing very well amongst Muscovy Ducks, and allowed for some photo opportunities. Quite interesting watching these birds, one was much larger and more advanced than the other, and repeatedly aggressive towards the smaller bird. Presumably male and female:

First-winter Ring-billed Gulls at Povoação

At Lagoa das Furnas, the ringed Spoonbill performed to just a few yards amongst Muscovies (which are everywhere here, the bastards). In addition, the long-staying Pied-billed Grebe had acquired breeding plumage, whilst a drake Green-winged Teal was amongst 62 Eurasians. The egg-like smell eminating from the sulphur springs here was offensive so we moved on.

Pied-billed Grebe, Lagoa das Furnas

A fair drive was then undertaken to the east side of the island, where we visited the crater lakes of Azul and Verde. The Pied-billed Grebe and two female Greater Scaup were noted from the bridge, the drake American Wigeon was at Sete Cidades, and a female Pintail was at the east side; Lagoa Verde was birdless. Nearby Caldeira do Alferes was the best-looking site I saw on Sao Miguel, with a female Blue-winged Teal, female Ring-necked Duck, 4 Pintails, drake Shoveler, 2 Gadwall Spoonbill, Black-tailed Godwit and 10 Tufted Ducks were noted amongst 88 Eurasian Teal.

Pied-billed Grebe and American Wigeon at Lagoa Azul

The weather had cleared somewhat so we headed down to Mosteiros with a seawatch in mind. The weather was the best of the trip, with warm sunshine feeling very pleasant indeed. I strolled around looking for the recent Purple Sandpipers but only found Knot, Turnstones and Whimbrels. Rich had a look at the sea, got suitably bored (nothing passing), and we went back to Praia da Vitoria for the gulls. The 1st-winter Ringer was again in the harbour but the gulls were disappointingly flighty. At ETAR, the 8 Grey Plovers were still present.

So, overall an excellent trip as previously mentioned. I look forward to being back on the islands as soon as possible; the only thing that let us down was the weather. Oh, and our flight back to Gatwick which managed to lose my bag (still waiting for it to arrive at time of writing; 28th February, 18:00). I saw the Oriental Turtle Dove in Oxon yesterday morning, but the situation surrounding the twitch was a bit grim and I left shortly after seeing it.

Redpolls, 6.1.11

2011-01-06T21:39:00.005Z

After reading with interest about local birder Richard Astle's flock of 80 redpolls at Bainton Pits, in the south of the Deepings Area, I decided to head home for a long weekend.

Got to Bainton about half nine this morning, but the sunny weather which was forecasted had failed to materialise. Nevertheless, a few Bullfinches and Goosanders made the walk around the Main Pit interesting. Got to the spot where Richard Astle had seen the redpolls shortly after, and sure enough a flock of c.100 was noted flying out of birches by the hard standing. What I was not expecting was to see, in my first scan, was a flock that appeared to contain a vast majority of Mealy Redpolls! Astonishing - it really was a case of 'spot the Lesser' - something I've never experienced in Britain previously. Looking back, it seems over three quarters of the flock were Mealies which, by my estimates, meant there must be a minimum of 70 present! It soon occurred to me that there would be a good chance of picking up an Arctic Redpoll, so I started sifting through the birds.

Sounds easy enough, but the birds were typically skittish, mobile and flighty. This meant that only portions of the flock could be searched properly at once, and the poor light didn't help either. Nevertheless, I picked up a good candidate after half an hour or so. Sure enough, further views revealed just a single, thin streak on the longest undertail covert and a large, unstreaked white rump. The bird was strikingly pale, with frosted upperparts and clean underparts. A couple of thick streaks on the flanks would be towards the streakier end of Arctic Redpoll, but everything else fitted. Brilliant - a self-found Coues's Arctic Redpoll!

Sadly views were brief, and this is the only photo I really managed(!) - the others haven't come out well at all, which is frustrating:

A second bird, which may be a dull 1st-winter female type, was also seen briefly and looked fairly promising. No photos, sadly.

So, a frustrating rather than satisfying day. The flock was seen again briefly early afternoon but not well, and the birds flew off high towards Helpston village in the afternoon. Shame! With so many Arctics being found at the moment, I suspect there may be more than one bird here...

Christmas birding 23rd - 25th Dec

2010-12-25T11:51:00.008Z

More birding over the past couple of days. On 23rd, I went to Dogsthorpe Tip for a few hours. Amongst the many thousands of gulls present, there was a 1st-winter Caspian Gull (which I had on the tip briefly about 10:30), and then this bird:

To me, this a fairly 'good' Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid, and has arrived with large numbers of argentatus which look like they have come from a long way north. In my opinion, there are a few features that rule out the leucistic Herring Gull theory:

boldly-patterned greater coverts and tertials
extensive pale chevrons on primaries
scapular pattern lacks obvious chevrons
tail band is weak and broken
head and bill structure, at times, looking quite Glaucous-like
'broken' eyering (see final picture)

BLGP and Baston Fen continue to hold 8 Bewick's and 3 Whooper Swans:

... and were joined by two lovely adult European White-fronted Geese, one of which is below:

All the wildfowl above are still present as of today (25th December), as well as good numbers of Wigeon and the odd raptor and wader.

Season's greeting to all.

21st - 22nd Dec

2010-12-22T17:51:00.002Z

Nice couple of days birding around the local area. Yesterday (21st) was really good; a spectacular hoar frost combined with very calm conditions allowed for some excellent birding opportunities.

On Deeping High Bank I had 5 Goosanders, 11 Bewick's and 2 Whooper Swans. The river was completely frozen save one or two duck-filled patches like this:

Baston Fen and my local patch (Baston & Langtoft Pits) gave a further 8 Bewick's and 3 Whooper Swans, as well as ringtail Hen Harrier, 3+ Short-eared Owls, a couple of noisy Curlews, Water Pipit and a few other odds and sods, which all gave for some excellent cold weather birding.

Today was slightly less productive in heavy snow showers and poor visibility, but at least it was milder (0 celsius rather than -5!). The Bewper Swan combination was still chilling out (literally) on the patch, and a nice finch flock contained a few Siskins (mostly Goldfinches). No redpolls. Gargh! I also had 4-5 Buzzards around, and 540+ Wigeon on the two small holes of unfrozen water on ARC Pit and the Old Wader Scrape. There are flocks of Skylarks everywhere.

A nearby game strip between Greatford and Baston produced alot of passerines this evening primarily made up of Corn Buntings, Yellowhammers and Chaffinches, but I also had 2+ Bramblings and a redpoll over. Only had my bins and didn't have alot of time but will check it again in the next few days to see what else is lurking there.

Glaucous Gull, 17-18th December

2010-12-20T09:33:00.005Z

Back in the Peterborough area for Christmas now, which allows me to get out and do some local birding for a change. At the time of writing (2oth Dec), everywhere has frozen up in what is one of the coldest Decembers for a century. Water-based birding is therefore out of the question, so I've stuck to what I know best around here - gulls. Within five minutes of arriving at Dogsthorpe Tip on Friday, I had a winger flying around - from poor flight views it looked like a Glaucous. Further flight views with Mike Weedon confirmed it was indeed a Glauc, but I didn't see it again in three hours.
Mid-morning on Saturday, Mike rang to say the bird was still at the tip, and was indeed a 2nd-winter with unusually dark iris. Turns out it was the same bird which has been touring the Midlands over the past couple of weeks:

Dec 4th: Appleford Pits (Oxon), then roosted at Farmoor Reservoir that evening
Dec 12th: Throckmorton Landfill Site (Worcs)
Dec 13th: Stubbers Green (West Mids)
Dec 14th - 15th: Dosthill Lake (Warks)
Dec 17th - 18th: Dogsthorpe Tip (Cambs)

Couple of photos:

Otherwise, there was nothing really of note, save a few nice argentatus Herrings such as this pale individual:

I've also been trying to track down redpolls locally but so far it's been very frustrating.

Best of the Rest

2010-12-20T09:19:00.004Z

Been a while since I've updated this, so here's a quick blast through the rest of the autumn in pictures:

Black-eared Wheatear, St. Mary's Scilly, October

Myrtle Warbler, Cape Clear, Co. Cork, October

American Bittern, Walmsley Sanctuary, Cornwall, November

Green Heron, Heligan, Cornwall, November

Ferruginous Duck, Kingsmill Reservoir, Notts, November

September 2010

2010-10-04T00:36:00.005+01:00

Another September flies by, and here are some of the highlights...

1st-winter female Northern Parula, Tiree Argyll; 28th September
A morning flight from Glasgow on the 28th saw us spend 24 hours on this beautiful, yet wild, island. In addition to the obvious highlight above Buff-breasted Sandpiper, scores of Lapland Buntings, and superb views of Otters made for an excellent first visit out here.

1st-winter Alder Flycatcher, Blakeney Point, Norfolk; 27th September
Following a busy (and heavy) weekend, I eventually emerged from a pretty grim hangover to tackle the point on the bird's last afternoon. Being very mobile and active, it was perhaps not surprising there was no sign the following morning.

Adult drake Black Duck, Ventry, Co. Kerry; 16th September
A three-day trip over to Ireland over 14th-16th September yet again proved to be a general success. Whilst many of the sites around Dingle were quiet for birds, it was pleasant to see the Black Duck back near Cuan Pier after an absence of almost two years!

2CY American Herring Gull, Blennerville, Co. Kerry; 15th September
Although this bird is reported with some frequency (and has been since it first appeared in July), it can be very difficult to catch up with as its appearances are strictly determined by the tide. Low tide is essential, when it feeds in the channel upstream of the windmill, although it regularly disappears into smaller creeks for extended periods of time. High tide is a write-off as the bird seems to head off towards Tralee town over the period (where it goes exactly is still a mystery). In at least five attempts to see this bird, I've only connected twice. Photo is poor but at least illustrates how much the bird had moulted since August, and is now well on the way to acquiring a most striking second-winter plumage.

Juvenile Pectoral Sandpiper, Leam Lough, Co. Mayo; 14th September
An impressive first day in Mayo saw myself and Oliver Metcalf heading south to Dingle with high hopes for the morning of the 15th - in hindsight, we perhaps should have stayed and focussed on the former! This was one of a couple of Pecs seen on 14th, the other being a find on Achill Island (alongside 2 Buff-breasted Sandpipers).

Adult drake Ring-necked Duck, Achill Island, Co. Mayo; 14th September
Our team found this bird back in late August, when plumage was much more drab (see older posts for a pic). Rapid moult has led to it acquiring a much neater appearance, and it won't be too long before this bird is back to it's breeding best. On this trip, the bird had moved to a small, crap-looking lough right by the R319 on the east side of Achill. It's still there as I write this (3rd Oct).

Ireland, 21st - 25th August

2010-08-28T19:03:00.004+01:00

Just back from an Irish trip with Richard Bonser and Marc Read, which was a general success. To cut a long story short, the seawatching was very poor (numbers of even common birds very poor this year), although we did score a Fea's.

Most of the time was therefore spent doing anything but seawatching, with popular activities including drinking cheap, supermarket-brand continental lager, general pratting around and the occasional bit of birding.

After an overnight drive/ferry journey, our first port of call was Blennerville on 21st. Here, the American Herring Gull was located in the channel upstream of the windmill. Whilst it still looks pretty offensive, things look like they are on the up plumage-wise as the photo below shows.

That was the first of four lifers on the trip for Marc, and he seemed understandably overwhelmed by it. We headed southwest towards Dingle in the hope that the recent system had deposited some nice early waders, but it hadn't. The pool at Ventry is looking shit hot and was covered in Dunlin, although Baile an Reannaigh continues to degrade each year and now looks absolutely rubbish.

Realising the Nearctic wader dream wasn't happening on Dingle, we decided to head back north to Barrow Harbour. Tide was in, no birds. Carrahane was a bit better, although wader numbers were not at the levels one would expect in a couple of weeks. This streaky-headed beast was present, though:

Interesting bird; not sure it's a true Azorean atlantis, but presumably from an Atlantic population. Note the extensive head streaking, starting to extend down the nape. It will be interesting to see how this develops in the next couple of weeks. We then got bored and went to Clare, via the Killimer ferry where there was an adult Med Gull. At Kilrush, this 4cy Glaucous Gull was the only bird at Cappa Pier. Nice.

We then went to Bridges of Ross for a few days, saw a few seabirds including the aforementioned Fea's, but spent most of the time bored or in The Lighthouse. This was the first year the weather has been pleasant enough for me to seawatch for hours in flip flops and shorts. To be fair though, the Fea's was an absolute blinder in the close Manx line. Unfortunately, most present were gawping at a Sabine's Gull that went past just prior to the Fea's, and so it was only picked up very late. This meant that several members of the assembled crowd were at an angle where it would be too late to see it. Unfortunately, claims that suppression is going on by certain "satirical" members of the birding community have sprung up, although it was more to do with a bit of bad luck. The bird was called (loudly) pretty much instantly after being picked up. I was just lucky I was at an angle where viewed were most prolonged, and I thoroughly enjoyed all 15 or seconds of the bird before it went round the headland - Read was ecstatic.

By Tuesday afternoon, the weather had deteriorated to absolutely hopeless (no winds), so we seized the opportunity to head north to my favourite Irish county - Mayo. We scored the Snowy Owl on Termon Hill (Read's third lifer) on the Tuesday evening, and even found some memorabilia to take home.

After a cracking meal in Belmullet, the night was spent at Dooniver, Achill Island. We awoke to a f**k load of midges biting us to pieces, and a few hybrid offspring before the boy - the drake Black Duck - swam into view at Sruhill Lough. An excellent bird (I really like Black Ducks), and great to see it has been spreading it's seed around the local ladies. Views were distant, and we decided to move on when it paddled out of view. On the way towards Doogort, Read suggested checking the lough just north of the road and east of the R319 crossroads. Just as I exclaimed that the lough looked "rubbish" and probably "never gets birds on it", we all caught sight of an aythya-shaped dark blob in the margin of the lake. We all raised out bins, and it appeared to have a rather arousing peaked crown. None of us actually said it at the time, but we were all thinking the same - rare. I cautiously suggested it looked like a Ring-necked Duck (although it was rather too distant to confirm with bins), so Read jumped out and 'scoped it. And it bloody was! The only bird there; wonder how long it's been around - if it had been October I'd have said not long but who knows at this early date. It did a bit of stretching, revealing that it did indeed have wings and so could feasibly have been a bird fresh in off the Atlantic, but who knows!

Then we went home via Sandymount Strand and a load of Roseate Terns.

Gulls 22/7

2010-07-22T23:50:00.005+01:00

More gulls I'm afraid. 11+ Yellow-legged Gulls on Dogsthorpe Tip today (5+ ads, 2 3rd-s, 2nd-s, 3 juvs). Nothing at Tanholt.

3rd-summer michahellis

slightly bulkier juv michahellis

Confusing beast - you can probably forgive me for thinking that, when I saw the head only, I was onto a cachinnans. It then walked out from behind a crowd of Herring Gulls revealing itself to be, a Herring Gull with a most odd head and bill structure. You're always learning with these critters.

BLGP was quiet this evening; the showers did not produce much more than a Snipe and a Common Sand on the New Works.

More Gulls 21/7

2010-07-21T18:04:00.004+01:00

I went gulling again today - it's about the only thing worth doing at the moment. In fact, it's probably the only thing worth doing in Peterborough at any time of year. Much improved on Monday, but that was presumably due to alot more gulls being present.

At Dogsthorpe Tip, I half-heartedly scanned the dump from the KFC car park and predictably saw nothing. However, I did get amongst the flock in the field south of KFC. Amongst the predominately Lesser Black-backed Gulls was this superb 2nd-summer Caspian Gull:

In addition to this beauty, there were at least six Yellow-legged Gulls in the same field. Who knows how many more were on the tip...

juvenile michahellis - these things are stunning when this fresh.

I moved on to Tanholt Pits, where a sizeable chunk of laridae was bathing/moulting/falling apart on the new pit. Amongst them was my first juvenile Mediterranean Gull of the year, as well as a couple more Yellow-leggeds (1st-summer and juvenile). Sadly my camera battery died halfway photographing the Casp, so no more pics!

I'll be back tomorrow.