The Azores, February 2011

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.