Blackwit saves the weekend

It's been a particularly quiet weekend around my local spots, with precious little among the gulls. Aside the usual Bittern and Jack Snipe combination (which are always nice), the highlight of the weekend was a smart Black-tailed Godwit on the wader scrape at WWT London on Sunday afternoon.

Black-tailed Godwit, WWT London, 4 February 2018.

Herring Gull Y:G41 originates from Rufforth Tip, North Yorkshire, where it was ringed on 30 June 2017. Since then it's been seen intermittently along the Thames in west London, popping up again this weekend.

A little late to the party

After several days of northerlies, migration exploded back in to life on Sunday in quite impressive fashion. I moved house over the weekend and had no time to get out birding, this made all the more galling by the appearance of a Red-winged Blackbird on North Ronaldsay - which I knew I had absolutely no chance of doing anything about, even if I am a bit of a failed twitcher these days.

I was heading back to Lincolnshire on Monday to see family, so was quite excited to hit my old patch, Baston & Langtoft Pits - particularly as a moderate south-easterly was blowing when I woke up and, as I drove north, occasional showers were passing through. Actually, it turned out to be a bit of a disappointment with the best birds of the morning being two adult Whooper Swans flying north and a Bar-tailed Godwit flying through in the evening - not a patch on the previous day's dynamism, and I couldn't help but feel that I was a little late to the party. That said, 13 Dunlin was a figure virtually unimaginable here in the days I used to watch BLGP (wader habitat was always in limited supply compared to nowadays) and there were good numbers of breeding waders plus the usual singing warblers and a Cuckoo - no Turtle Doves though.

I visited Barnack's delightful Hills and Holes reserve with my mother late morning. I remember going here as a small kid and being thrilled by Marbled Whites, Six-spot Burnets and so on, and it's been a place I've treasured ever since. Clearly a bit early for the above insects (and rather cold too!), but a good carpet of Pasqueflowers, Cowslips and Early Purple Orchids.

Early Purple Orchid, Barnack, 1 May 2017

Someone had found a Black Redstart at Deeping Lakes earlier in the day so, after a family meal, I twitched it. An area tick for me, this was a fairly confiding (and very vocal) bird. Pintail was a good May record there and another Cuckoo was singing plus plenty of Common Terns over the main lake.

Black Redstart, Deeping Lakes, 1 May 2017

Back at BLGP early on Tuesday morning, misty conditions had grounded singles of Greenshank and Eurasian Curlew but, most satisfyingly, a female Long-tailed Duck was present on the Corner Pit on the north side of the complex. This is the second I've seen here (following one in December 2006) and appears to be the bird last seen at nearby Deeping Lakes on 23 April.

Female Long-tailed Duck, Baston & Langtoft Pits, 2 May 2017

Black Swan - present intermittently on the same island on 1 and 2 May. No idea where it went when it wasn't there.

Taiwan stuff to come soon, hopefully.

Ringed Black-headed Gulls on the Thames

Here are a few ringed Black-headed Gulls that I had on the Thames last week ...

1) Adult yellow ' 2PJB', Barnes, 5 December. Ringed at Pitsea, Essex, in March 2016. More details here.

2) Adult white 'EE5T', Fulham, 5 December 2016. Ringed as an adult at Griend, Netherlands, on 6 June 2016. First recorded in the UK at Hyde Park, London, on 19 October before my sighting in Fulham.

3) Adult metal 'HV11.766' ringed as pullus at lake (55.1192, 23.7542) north of Kaunas, Lithuania, on 18 June 2011. Not recorded subsequently until in Chiswick on 2 December 2016!

North Uist and back

If you were to ask most birders what the likelihood of them seeing a live Black-billed Cuckoo in the British Isles was, it's highly likely that the vast majority would have rated the probability somewhere between "microscopic" and "nil" before last Sunday.

Black-billed Cuckoo, a bird that has only appeared once in Britain in a quarter of a century, has a reputation for arriving on this side of the Atlantic in poor health (many have been dead or dying) and rarely lingers for more than a day, is notorious for being among the most difficult species to catch up with on our shores. Even in the heydays of the 80s there are countless tales of birders arriving a day too late to see one, or even stuck on the wrong island while down on Scilly. This, combined with their apparent decline in the States and the clear downturn in occurrences on this side of the Atlantic, created a dire scenario - it seemed any occurrence of the species had become almost impossible to come by, let alone a remotely twitchable individual. Then came the faint glimmer of hope: records from Brittany, France, in November 2013 and North Ronaldsay in October 2014 hinted that, one day, British birders might be afforded another opportunity to see what ranks as one of the most enigmatic of all Nearctic landbird vagrants recorded in Europe.

I spent last week in Finland. It was a fantastic six-day trip - beautiful scenery, brilliant wildlife and great weather. The only blemish on a perfect - if largely sleepless - week was that little more than an hour after our arrival in Helsinki on Sunday 22nd, Chris Batty had phoned Dan to tell us that a Black-billed Cuckoo had been found on North Uist. Initially we tried to dismiss the report - a Coccyzus in May?! It surely had to be rubbish! It wasn't. Dan was beside himself; even the failed twitcher, yours truly, couldn't help but feel gripped.

The week slipped by and, day by day, we were informed of the cuckoo's continued presence. It showed no signs of poor health, like so many of its predecessors, and by Wednesday the first waves of cautious optimism were beginning to flow through our veins. By the time we flew back on Friday, a plan was in place - we'd land at Heathrow, head back to mine in West London and hit the road north with the aim of getting on the Saturday afternoon sailing of the Uig-Lochmaddy ferry.

The drive was one of the worst I've done for a long time. A chronic lack of sleep in Finland made it a battle. By the time we reached Glasdrum Woods, north of Oban, we'd been travelling constantly for the best part of 18 hours without rest. But with these sort of things, you just have to grit your teeth and keep going - the last remotely twitchable Black-billed was in October 1990. I was nine months old, Dan two months and both James and Liam, who made up the rest of the team, were still some way off being born.

It was a beautiful morning in Argyll and it was no surprise to see that Glasdrum's Chequered Skippers were out enjoying the already-warm sunshine at 7 am. At least 15 were seen, some of which hadn't yet warmed up enough and were affording decent photo opportunities. Also there were plenty of Small Pearl-bordered and a single Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Chequered Skippers, Glasdrum Woods, Argyll, 28 May 2016

Shortly after leaving Glasdrum our nerves were transformed to exaltation as Dan received a text message from Adam Archer saying something along the lines of "f**king get in!" Evidently the cuckoo was still around, now all we had to do was get there ...

Skye proved packed with eagles: we had an adult Golden south of Portree, 3cy White-tailed just north-west of there and then three Golden and two White-tailed around Uig. The ferry crossing produced a couple of Arctic Skuas, a Bonxie and a breeding-plumaged Great Northern Diver plus some extremely distant Bottlenose Dolphins.

Dan barged his way to the front of the hire car queue and we were soon on our way west from Lochmaddy. Fifteen minutes later and the search was on. More and more people arrived and fanned out. It was a particularly warm afternoon - far too toasty for the jeans, coat and boots I was in. For some time it was just the usual displaying waders and a singing Common Cuckoo that kept us entertained.

An hour or so in to the search and suddenly, some distance from where we were stood, there were the tell-tale signs that something exciting was happening: birders waving, starting to run. We jumped straight in the car and bombed down to gardens near Loch Sandary. The crowd grew near, the car was ditched. Seconds later there it was, poking its fantastic head out of a Christmas tree. The bird we all hoped - but dared not believe - we might one day see.

Black-billed Cuckoo, Paible, North Uist, 28 May 2016

It proved quite mobile for the next hour but afforded great views for much of that time. It was, however, pretty unobtrusive for long periods as it sat motionless in bushes. It could easily go missing without large numbers of observers looking and it's no wonder that there'd been no sign for much of the previous day.

After having had our fill of the cuckoo, we mooched off for a drive around North Uist and Benbecula. It was a glorious evening and waders were displaying all around: Dunlin, Common Snipe, Redshank ... and eventually our target, Red-necked Phalarope; a cracking pair.

Rather than head back for the cuckoo (which apparently showed beautifully at around 8 pm) we decided to return to Lochmaddy. We wanted to watch the Champions League final and so went to the Lochmaddy Hotel, but were given the cold shoulder ("we're too busy", said the waitress). This was a fortunate turn of events as we ended up eating at the nearby Hamersay House, where the food was excellent and the place generally far superior.

Sunday was spent sleeping and mooching around the cuckoo site (we didn't see it) before checking a few gardens on the south side of the island. Nothing interesting, but another pleasant day and a calm return crossing on the ferry. The journey back south from Uig proved tedious due to an hour-long tailback near Loch Lomond; it wasn't until after midnight that we reached Dan's in Staffordshire. Not that it mattered much after such a successful 48 hours - Outer Hebrides twitches are always among the most enjoyable, not least because of the wonderful scenery on offer both en route and on arrival. Here's to the next one!

Japan 2015 day four: Lake Miike and Yatsushiro

22 December 2015

Having stayed just a few kilometres away overnight, we arrived at Lake Miike not long after dawn. The lake itself was littered with common wildfowl including Spot-billed Duck, Mallard, Wigeon and Tufted Ducks, and a drake Spot-billed x Mallard was interesting. There were, however, no Baikal Teal, Mandarin or other more interesting species.

At first the woods seemed quiet although species around the campsite included Olive-backed Pipit, Daurian Redstart and groups of Red-billed Leiothrix as well as the more familiar woodland birds. We found the northern route around the lake to be blocked off, and perhaps just as well - aside a handful of Black-faced Buntings and the faint call of what were probably Grey Buntings emanating from the undergrowth, it seemed quiet.

As such we headed back the other way and soon picked up our first Yellow-throated Buntings - a small group of three. Alas they were quite wary and generally liked to bury themselves in cover, so photo opportunities were limited.

Walking further along this trail produced a couple of flyover White-bellied Green Pigeons while a Ryukyu Minivet disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Up to 15 Yellow-throated Buntings teased us with brief views while the lake margin held Common Kingfishers. A woodpecker quickly transpired to be a namiyei White-backed, the extensive reddish underparts easily the most striking feature. As we turned back for the campsite, Rich and I were treated to fantastic views of a Japanese Weasel as it strutted along the path.

Rich then received a text from Mick telling us to "stop looking and nothing and get back - Forest Wagtail!" Sure enough the wagtail was showing more or less on arrival and gave some great views over the next half an hour as it came to mealworms put out by a Japanese photographer. An unexpected bonus to say the least, but it turns out this is the third winter running that it's been seen here. One of the most characterful passerines I've seen, it was great to watch it moodily swaying from side to side as it crept along branches - that was until it had stuffed itself full of mealworms and just sat there looking slightly embarrassed by its gluttony. Further Ryukyu Minivets flew over and a male Red-flanked Bluetail gave some stunning views.

Forest Wagtail at Lake Miike

By now it was late morning and we decided to begin the drive north to Yatsushiro. I was constantly on the eye out for interesting roadside birds and lucked out with two Japanese Grosbeaks sat in a mistletoe-covered tree in Takaharu - the only ones we saw on Kyushu.

Arriving at Yatsushiro estuary early afternoon, we found the tide almost entirely out. Nevertheless Saunders' Gulls were instantly apparent and two partial counts of 130 and 120 led us to believe that well in excess of 250 birds were strewn across the estuary, some giving great views as they preyed on mudskippers and crabs.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon in the estuary area, waiting for the tide to come up and generally enjoying the multitude of birds, predominately wildfowl, that were present. At least 20 Falcated Ducks were very welcome and a minimum of eight Black-faced Spoonbills were seen alongside several of their Eurasian congeners. Waders included Long-billed and Kentish Plovers, Dunlin, Lapwing, Greenshank and Redshank.

Immature Black-faced Spoonbill - one of several at Yatsushiro

Wandering inland I soon found the first of many Meadow Buntings frequenting scrubby field edges. Similar habitat produced a fine flock of 50+ Russet Sparrows and a couple of Chestnut-eared Buntings - a species I'd been keen to see - as well as numerous Dusky Thrushes and Siberian Pipits plus one or two Bull-headed Shrikes. I hadn't realised how spectacularly large Japanese Wagtails were until one flew right past me along the channel, repeating its rasping single-note call on several occasions.

Male Russet Sparrow

It had been a thoroughly successful afternoon but I was lacking one thing - nice photos of Saunders' Gull. Mick had already accomplished a series of gripping shots and the birds seemed to be flying off inland. With no more than an hour of light left we set off in the general direction that the birds were heading and, after a few kilometres, found at least 100 Saunders' feeding in roadside rice fields. Here we enjoyed some fantastic views and I finally managed some satisfying shots - not award winning, but a considerable improvement on my earlier efforts.

Saunders' really are fantastic gulls and it was brilliant to watch the flock wheeling round and calling to one another in the golden light of late afternoon before they eventually dispersed, presumably to roost. With the sun sinking behind the horizon we headed south to Izumi where we were staying, although were a little put off on arrival as the entire town seemed to stink of chicken farms. Putrid!

Japan day three: Hyuga and Kadogawa

21 December 2015

After arriving in Hyuga, on the east coast of Kyushu, late the previous evening, we headed for the nearby headland - Cape Hyuga - for sunrise, taking in our first Black-tailed and Vega Gulls in the harbour en route. The weather was calm and overcast with a few spots of drizzle in the air, though it was very mild.

Alas a couple of hours of searching the bays and inlets as well as scanning well offshore failed to produce any Japanese Murrelets, while our other target species - Japanese Woodpigeon - also decided against making an appearance. Nevertheless a selection of the commoner species was welcome, including excellent views of Japanese Pygmy Woodpecker as well as Varied Tits, Red-flanked Bluetail, Daurian Redstarts and parties of introduced Red-billed Leiothrix. Offshore our first Slaty-backed Gulls and Japanese Cormorants were noted while both Peregrine and Ospreys passed overhead.

Cape Hyuga

We gradually made our way back towards Hyuga town, stopping off at a small temple on an island joined to the coast by an isthmus. No murrelets, but some nice Black-faced Buntings and very pleasant scenery.

Our optimism that the next site, Kadogawa harbour, would produce murrelets proved unfounded - no sign there either, but at least 15 Black-necked Grebes in the bay, a couple of Olive-backed Pipits and Oriental Greenfinches favouring scrub at the start of the southern breakwater and the usual mix of coastal species including our first male Blue Rock Thrush.

Blue Rock Thrush

By this point the sun had come out and, naturally, we decided to indulge in a spot of gull photography. Mick's tried and tested British formula of popcorn and bread once again proved an inspirational move - within minutes we had good numbers of both Black-tailed and Vega Gulls coming in to the scraps thrown off the harbour wall, but were soon confronted by an alien problem - Black-eared Kites! The kites, seemingly rather hungry, would continually swoop down and pluck the popcorn from the water's surface, at the same time deterring the gulls from feeding. Nevertheless we finished the session with pleasing images of adult Black-tailed Gulls in particular.

 Adult Vega Gull

After a spot of food we returned to Cape Hyuga for another shot at the murrelets - again no sign, and still no pigeons either! Further searching around the coast brought no reward and, by mid-afternoon, we decided another gull session was in order. Thankfully the gulls in Kadogawa harbour now included a few first-winter Black-tailed, which duly became the focus of our efforts.

With the gulls once again being pushed off by the Black-eared Kites, we spent half an hour focussing on them instead, the golden late afternoon light giving the birds' plumage a real warmth and making for great photo opportunities.

The final hour was of the day was spent traversing Cape Hyuga once more but the day disappointingly finished murrelet-less, albeit with nice views of the coastline and a confiding female Daurian Redstart as some consolation.

The drive back south was fairly slow until we rejoined the expressway. A brief stop for food was our only interruption and we arrived at Gokuraku Takaharu-cho mid-evening. A fantastic traditional Japanese lodging, this is a characterful place that is beautifully decorated. I soon had my first onsen experience, although both Rich and Mick didn't fancy the communal aspect and decided against joining!

A memorable June weekend

No time for words, so I've summed up my long weekend with in photographs.

male Eastern Black-eared Wheatear, Acres Down, Hampshire, 13 June

male Cretzschmar's Bunting, Bardsey Island, Gwynedd, 15 June

male Melodious Warbler, Hampton in Arden, West Midlands, 15 June

Not a bad weekend...

Planning to visit family in South Lincs on Friday night and Saturday, I could resist calling in to Broom Gravel Pits near Biggleswade on my way up. A White-winged Black Tern had been found there earlier in the day and was still present on arrival, showing well over the pit - if a little distantly for photos. the bird was characteristically restless, rapid and unpredictable as it fed over the pit; occasionally it would head down to the south end of the pit and rest on the spit for up to ten minutes before recommencing feeding. I haven't had chance to check yet but I think this may be the first White-winged Black I've seen in Britain since 2006!

It was a pretty grey evening in Bedfordshire and photo opportunities were limited, this being the only half-decent shot I managed. There are a couple more on my Flickr page.

The pits at Gypsy Lane look great and it's no surprise to see that good birds are regularly reported there; best of the rest in the hour I spent on site was a Black-tailed Godwit plus the usual Little Ringed Plovers, Redshanks, Yellow Wags etc.

Saturday dawned bright and warm, and I was out early shovelling gravel on mum's drive. Needless to say I didn't go back inside and look at my phone until almost half past 8, by which time news of a Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset had been floating around the airwaves for an hour. Twitching never has been a sociable pastime and plans to meet family instantly went out the window. Four hours later and I was looking at this:

This meagre image hardly does the 'Hudwit' (to give its beautiful name an ugly abbreviation) any sort of justice. It really was excellent and although others had great flight views of the bird wheeling around with the Black-tailed Godwits, I was happy enough to see it wake up, walk around for a bit, kindly flap and then wing stretch to reveal the startling black underwings. There are loads of better shots here.

With news that it flew off a few hours later and didn't return, the decision to leave family behind was justified - in the mind of a twitcher, at least. Off to Azerbaijan on Sunday - hoping that's it for spring now, or at least until we return on May 17th.

Great Blue Heron

Had a brilliant day trip to the Isles of Scilly on Friday. There were quite a few nervous souls during the morning Scillonian crossing - many of those on the boat had dipped either on Wednesday, Thursday or both, and they were understandably apprehensive about connecting. As it turned out the Great Blue Heron played ball on Bryher throughout the day, favouring Big Pool and giving excellent views from the Hell Bay Hotel.

This was my first visit to Bryher and I can only echo what everyone else says - it's a bloody picturesque island that still looked great despite the bouts of early afternoon drizzle. The heron, on the other hand, didn't look so thrilled about life but soon perked up as the rain abated. A typically imposing individual with long snaky neck, the neck and underparts were washed with a rustiness not normally seen in Grey Heron. The thighs were quite a bit paler but tinged rufous on close views, while the neck and upperparts were a mix of dark greys and blues, and the crown obviously dark. A couple of shots below, more on my Flickr pages:

After almost an hour in its company half-a-dozen of us decided to charter the Falcon over to nearby Tresco to try the wintering American Black Duck. Tresco is another island that I'd not previously visited before and, like Bryher, is really very pleasant. There were a bunch of hirundines over Great Pool and it really looked ripe for a Red-rumped Swallow, but alas it was not to be. A 15-minute yomp round to Abbey Pool produced the Black Duck right away, showing near to one of the close islands and loosely associating with a couple of Mallards. It soon powered off towards the centre of the lake at the sight of a group of over-excited NGBers (for some of whom it was a tick) and with time at a premium, we bid farewell to this most glorious of dabblers and headed back to the quay.

Rather than slog around St Mary's for the final 45 minutes we retreated to the Mermaid for a celebratory pint before boarding on the Scillonian. It always impresses me how much you can fit in to these day trips to Scilly, and indeed see with a slice of luck. The crossing back produced a Basking Shark off the Cornish coast between St Levan and Mousehole and, bar a stop to dip the Hayle Ring-billed Gull, our next port of call was fish and chips in Indian Queens.

Eurotrip

I've just had a most enjoyable weekend on the near-continent in the company of James Shergold and Harry Murphy. Our quarry was a mixed bag of distasteful introduced species and some altogether more appealing Continental specialities. On paper, I guess you'd have to say that the highlight of the weekend was the wintering Wallcreeper in Dinant, Belgium - after a fair old wait, we were treated to some excellent views of this brilliant bird as it alternated between the cliffs and the Palais de Justice. At one point, it even disappeared under the eves for as long as ten minutes before resurfacing! After seeing Wallcreeper at about a mile's range at Les Baux last March, it was great to finally see the species well.

I suppose I shouldn't be admitting to this, but I did get just as much of a buzz out of some of the introduced birds seen over the weekend. Our first stop on Saturday morning was Forêt d'Hesdin, where about a dozen Reeves's Pheasants were seen. Most were females, like this one:

We did see a couple of absolutely glorious males, including this one which briefly posed well for photos before scampering off in to the forest...

With the pheasant and Wallcreeper safely in the bag by mid-afternoon on Saturday, we decided to try a few woodlands in southern Belgium in the hope that we might be able to turf out Middle Spotted Woodpecker. And that we did without too much difficulty thanks to James' sharp eyes - a tick for Harry, as was Short-toed Treecreeper.

A successful first day was capped off with a few beers and fantastic tapas in a hotel near Utrecht. Leaving Harry - a testosterone-fuelled teen - to head off in to the night in search of local Dutch girls, James and I retired to the room for a good night's sleep - very much needed after a long day. Fortunately Harry returned in one piece, and was even up for our early start. Heading over to the east side of Utrecht, we met up with Thierry Jansen and friend who kindly showed us to a Black Woodpecker territory. It didn't take long before we were treated to good views of a male set to the backdrop of overflying White-fronted Geese and singing Woodlarks. Not a bad start to the day!

After this it was a case of 'eyes on the prize' as we re-focussed on two introduced species - Bar-headed Goose and Black Swan. The former was easily encountered near Culemborg while a pair of the latter were seen not far from Vianen, a third swan later seen in fields near Strijen.

Fortunately these were interspersed with more recognisable quality - namely a flock of Lesser White-fronted and many hundreds (thousands) of both European White-fronted and Barnacle Geese, plus Goshawk, Merlin, Med Gulls, Hawfinches and plenty more besides.

After dipping the Long-legged Buzzard at Maasvlakte we began the long drive south, calling in for these boys on the way - the less said about them, the better.

And so that rounded off a fine weekend on the European mainland. It was an excellent reminder of how much better birding can be just across the Channel and, even with the Cat Cs now safely planted on my Western Palearctic list, I'd happily return and do it all again. Very much cheap and cheerful, with some great birds to boot. It's my intention to produce a fuller trip report with GPS for some of the more interesting species (Reeves's, woodpeckers etc) in the coming weeks, so watch out for that.

Quick trip to North Yorks

Imagine opening your curtains one morning and seeing this hopping about in the road!

Popped up to North Yorkshire in the ever-delightful company of Dan Pointon to have a look at this gorgeous Eastern Black Redstart (P. o. phoencuroides), which had been busying itself about a housing estate on the north side of Scalby for a few days. I can't entirely remember why I didn't see either of the 2011 birds, though I suspect the reason was something list-orientated - not bothering to travel for a subspecies (or similar).

Male Black Redstarts are seriously brilliant birds and this one, with its brick-red breast and belly sharply demarcated from the black face and throat, grey forehead and brownish upperparts was one handsome beast. At times it looked remarkably Common Redstart-like but both behaviour and structure were much more reminiscent of Black Redstart. I'd actually go as far as saying this is one of the best-looking birds I've seen in Britain and the fact that it's not a species in its own right shouldn't detract from that.

Unfortunately behaviour didn't match appearance and while it did show incredibly well on a few fairly brief occasions, it was utterly restless and kept zipping off in to gardens. It appeared to be conducting a fairly loose circuit, ranging over a good few hundred metres (at one point it stormed off down the hedgerow of an adjacent field and didn't come back for a couple of hours). As such it proved a frustrating subject for the lens but there are some decent pics floating about the internet now. Here are a couple of my best, more on Flickr as always:

We also popped up to nearby Cloughton Wyke where we found the Richard's Pipit in its favoured field south of the Hayburn Wyke Inn. A really big and obvious bird that called frequently, it was also typically mobile and wary.

I suspect that will be it for the good birds now this year, unless someone turfs out a surprise passerine. Come to think of it, has there ever been a better year for a late, late autumn hyper-rarity? The mild weather seems to be encouraging a number of common migrants to attempt to winter here - think Swallows, Whinchats and two species of warbler on a Leyton traffic island, for example. A Siberian Accentor would be ideal, as would a Black-faced Bunting - though I'd settle for a Pine!