Black-throated Thrush, 3rd April

Black-throated Thrush, Hartlepool Headland, 3.4.10.

Having lost all enthusiasm for birds and birding over the winter, I was probably the only active birder left in Britain who still needed Black-throated Thrush thanks to the long-staying North Yorks bird earlier on this year. As a result, the crowd was very small for this smart beast, found in gardens at Hartlepool Headland this morning. The bird seemed a little on the dull side for a first-winter male, but as it had been singing earlier in the day there doesn't seem to be much argument here..!

Ireland, 30/3 - 1/4/10

30.3.10

With a relatively delicious selection of rarities strewn across west Ireland in recent weeks, I decided the time had come for a trip west. Preferred means of travel were a Landrover Freelander coupled with the Holyhead - Dublin ferry, so that I was mobile on the other side of the Irish Sea. As a result, I found myself in the pissing wet rain at Holyhead ferry terminal in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Some hours later, I was stood in the pissing wet rain at Claddagh Beach, Galway, dipping the Forster's Tern. A good start.

Things could only get better, but the choppy waters of Lough Corrib off Angilham Marble Quarries didn't hold the remedy - hundreds of Tufted Ducks offshore, but incredibly difficult (and thus frustrating!) to view in the strong winds . Things needed to improve rapidly, and so I headed off towards Lough Atedaun (via Rahasane Turlough, which was dead) in the hope with connecting with another of the trip's main targets. It didn't take too long for the Pied-billed Grebe to show itself in the small bay in the lefthand corner of the lough:



Target one acheived! Two Swallows were also at Atedaun. A search of nearby Lough Inchiquin failed to reveal little more than 27 Tufted Ducks, and a very choppy Finvarra Point didn't produce the third target - the adult Pacific Diver, although there were 3 Black-throated, 3 Red-throated and 30+ Great Northern Divers offshore there. Back in Burren village, the Green-winged Teal porned it:



With the tide against me, further searches for the Forster's Tern around Galway produced a blank, and so I retired for fish and chips and a few pints in Galway city centre. Overnight in the car at Finvarra Point seemed a rash decision as a storm rolled in, leading to a very rocky night's sleep.


31.3.10

It wasn't half windy this morning. As a result, diver numbers were much lower off Finvarra than the previous day, and there was predictably no sign of the Pacific again. However, I had ducks on the mind, and soon left Finvarra to get amongst as many loughs as humanely possible. First stop, at around 09:00, was Loughrea (Galway). Having never been to the site before, I didn't really know where to look and opted for the southern end first. This proved to be a good idea:




Adult drake Ring-necked Duck at Loughrea.

Not a bad start to a day of lough-bashing, first port of call produces a Nearctic duck simply sat there with 4 Tufted Ducks. Sadly, it didn't continue in the same vein, with most loughs checked producing next to, or indeed, nothing. This Minger was at Nimmo's late morning, with 5 Sandwich Terns (still no Forster's) on Claddagh Beach:



Routine grilling of numerous Clare loughs revealed very little wildfowl indeed (it never ceases to surprise me how Dempsey & O'Clery's book claims 'large'/'good'/'nationally-important' numbers of wildfowl on these loughs and you get there to find no more than about 10 Tufted Ducks), although I guess I was a little late on in the season for large counts. Even Bishop's Quay in Limerick failed to produce a Minger - this site has been quite reliable in the past couple of winters, but not today.

By 17:00 or so, I had reached Lough Gur. It didn't take too long to pick up my second Pied-billed Grebe of the trip; it was frequenting the west shore although proving quite elusive. I walked (illegally) round to the west shore, only for the bird to become even more elusive and then for it to hail/snow for about 20 minutes. Views were close, but brief and intermittent - I only saw it three times over the next two hours before the light started to go. For once though, wildfowl numbers were actually quite good - c.100 Tufted Ducks, c.50 Wigeon and quite alot of Teal - no generic rare yank amongst them though. There were also c.50 Sand Martins hawking over the lake, and an Irish Coal Tit was making itself known near the car park.

The light went as I reached Shannon Airport Lagoon, so I sacked it and went back up to Galway for a pub meal and more Guinness. Overnight in the car near Angilham, Lough Corrib.


1.4.10

First light at Angilham revealed a much more pleasant day - sunny and, more importantly for looking at hundreds of distant aythya - still(ish). Sure enough, it was time to score again. Out popped a splendid drake Ring-necked Duck on the far side of the lough (too distant for pics), whilst this hybrid drake Ring-necked Duck X Tufted Duck momentarily saw me thinking I'd found a second:



Apparently that little beast has been around for much of the winter, though the pure bird is seemingly new in. There were at least 50 Scaup off Angilham, making it clear just how important calm conditions are at this site - the previous day I had seen one female, and on 30th none at all!

So, I was filled with early optimism once more. The sun was out, and surely the Forster's was about to give itself up?! Wrong. Yet again no sign of the bastard bird, but 7 Sandwich Terns along Claddagh Beach, an unexpected juv Iceland Gull at Nimmo's, with the hybrid Glaucous x Herring on the slipway there:


Not been many of these this winter...


Grotty hybrid gull.

I headed rounded for Doorus Pier, but couldn't find the Forster's there either (though there were 6 Sandwich Terns and, in hindsight, I perhaps should have given the site longer). The day went a bit dump from thereon; yet again no sign of the Pacific Diver despite calm conditions (though 2 summer male Long-tailed Ducks were nice there, as were 7 Black-throated Divers). Water levels at Atedaun had risen sharply and the grebe's favoured corner had been submerged - needless to say, I couldn't find it. A blast of a few loughs in the midlands on my way back to Dublin proved useless, as did a jaunt along the seafront in Dublin (low tide = birds much too far away). And so that was it; a rather low-key end to a mixed few days.

Bring back white-winged gulls please.

Caspian Gull, 29th March

This adult Caspian Gull was in fields just south of Dogsthorpe Tip this afternoon, along with two Yellow-legged Gulls. Earlier in the day I attempted a return trip to Suffolk but bailed at Huntingdon on negative news, so went and saw the female Two-barred Crossbill at The Lodge, Sandy (Beds) instead. Off to Ireland tonight, so I guess thats my chance of seeing the kestrel gone...

North Norfolk, 27th March

Today was primarily focussed around having a second shot (this time with my wallet) at getting to Norfolk and seeing some Alpine Swifts. On hearing that both were still present, I got on the road at about 09:00, with first stop being the patch. Around 40 Lesser Redpolls were still being a nightmare to view properly, although the New Workings was much more satsfying - 5+ LRPs, 2 Ringed Plovers, Redshank and 2 Oystercatchers provided a nice selection of typical summering waders, with the star of the show being a single Dunlin there. Dunlin always seem to be good indicators of the quality of a site, so this early showing bodes well for the rest of the spring. Just a shame I will be in Sheffield really!

Battling through hordes of old people driving at ridiculously low speeds, I reached Hunstanton by around 10:45. Needless to say, the Alpine Swift had done one and it was not long before I was back on the road and heading for Cromer. Slow drivers were present in even higher densities along the A149 making for a torrid and stressful journey. As I drove through Sheringham, it suddenly occurred to me to go and have a look for the juvenile Glaucous Gull which has been wintering on the seafront. No sign of the Glauc, but I had a bit of a surprise when this 2nd-winter Caspian Gull appeared just offshore:


Second-winter Caspian Gull, Sheringham seafront.

When you are so used to seeing Caspian Gulls loafing on rubbish dumps or miles away on reservoirs somewhere in the English Midlands, the Sheringham bird seemed a little out of context - indeed, it is the first of its' kind I have seen in a coastal setting. A splendid brute of an individual, it was consistently aggressive towards the local Herring Gulls, and preferred a perch at the eastern end of the seafront. Whilst watching the beast a couple of other birders arrived, informing me that the Alpine Swift was still showing on and off near the lighthouse at Cromer. So, off I went and, after a short walk up to the lighthouse, there it was:


Alpine Swift @ Cromer.

This is only my second Alpine Swift in the UK, following a bird at Hampstead Heath in April 2006.

With little time to spare, I reluctantly left the bird and headed home for work. Overall, despite all the morons driving at moronic speeds across the county, it had turned out to be a fairly successful day. Big plans for next week, so watch this space - I'm hoping there will be something to write home about.

It's been a long time... 26.3.10

So, my blog hasn't been up date for some months, reflecting my complete lack of enthusiasm for anything birdy over the winter. I haven't twitched one bird (until today), and have only been birding once or twice since before Christmas. As it is now the Easter holidays, I thought it would be time to put that right.

First port of call today was the patch. Soon after getting out the car near the Old Wader Scrape pull-in, I heard a few excitable redpolls, but didn't manage to get on to them (I was a bit rusty first off). A scan of the skies produced a number of Sand Martins blogging about, before the redpolls began to distract me again. This time, I got on to a flock of about 10 making for the alder stands just west of ARC Pit, so headed over there to see if I could sniff out some better views.
Over the next hour or so, it became apparent that a good number of Lesser Redpolls were present (some 30+, with small flocks coming and going all the time), and a number of males were singing and generally getting a bit rowdy. However, the wind wasn't making things easy, and the birds were tending to bury themselves deep in bushes. Nevertheless, a female-type Mealy Redpoll was located:


Mealy Redpoll - BLGP seems to be a reliable site for this species in most winters, even in poor redpoll years.

As I watched the redpolls, a Willow Warbler burst into song providing a nice seasonal contrast - one of (if not equalling) my earliest dates for the species. There were a few other mildly interesting bits about, including two Little Ringed Plovers, a few Shelducks, 11 remaining Goldeneye and quite a few Common Gulls. Standard late March fayre really...

On arriving home it transpired the Alpine Swift was still at Hunstanton, so I set off that way. By the time I got near King's Lynn, petrol was running low. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to pick up my wallet (and so had no way of paying for petrol), resulting in a miserable drive home instead of continuing the extra 15 miles to Sunny Hunny. An excellent reintroduction to twitching then.

Two trips to Pegwell, 8th & 12th November

Since Sunday, I have visited Pegwell Bay twice.

Round One

I left Lincolnshire with punter's-favourite Will Bowell at around 23:00 on Saturday 7th, arriving at Pegwell Bay some time just after 02:30. A few hours' kip were had, and the day dawned bitterly cold, windy and overcast - perfect for seeing what has been an elusive bird at the best of times. Sure enough, in the time we spent at Pegwell (until c.10:30), the Shitting Zisticola failed to show - the only saving graces being time to sleep in the car and an excellent breakfast butty from the car park cafe (more on that later). In fact, we didn't see much at all. From the comfort of the car, I had two Swallows fly south (I think my latest ever), and the dregs of the recent Woodpigeon passage were in evidence - c.200 went south. We decided we couldn't be bothered to hang around, and headed home. A quick diversion to Grafham Water (Cambs) produced three Great Northern Divers off Mander car park, two adults and a juvenile:

Adult Common Loons rocking around Grafham.

Just as I walked in to the door, out came the pager message - "Cisticola again showing well this afternoon". Bugger. Even more problematical was a possible female Siberian Rubythroat in Fife, but that one was soon scrapped when it was reidentified as a Bluethroat(!).

Round Two

Seeing that the forecast for the morning of Thursday 12th was very nice indeed, I decided late on 11th to head back down to Pegwell for first light. I arrived just before 04:00, and managed a couple of hours' sleep in the same spot at Saturday night. Up for 06:45, I drove round to the Jet garage, parked up, and walked south to the country park. First surprise of the morning was this:

Local youths had decided to burn down the cafe overnight, ruining my chances of a substantial breakfast. Nevertheless, the sunrise made up for it:

And sure enough, the weather was stunning. Sunny, flat calm and pleasantly mild - perfect conditions for searching for that little bastard bird. For the first hour or so, I was the only person on site - magic. A Water Pipit showed extremely well by the hide early morning, and a few scummy Ring-necked Parakeets flew over. At least one male Brambling showed well in a big finch flock in scrub by Shore Hide, as did 3+ Twite (one colour-ringed). However, by 09:00 there was no sign of the beast, although a few more A-team twitchers had shown up.

Rather than standing by the hide like a lemon all morning, I regularly walked up and down the seawall, going up to half a kilometre either way from the hide. This eventually paid off - just when I thought time was pressing and another dip was on the cards, out popped the Zitting Cisticola, announcing itself with a few chipping calls some 200 metres south of Shore Hide. Views were brief, but I don't recall ever being so excited by this species before. By the time I had called the other gathered birders across, the Cisticola had buried itself on the saltmarsh. Thankfully, it wasn't long before it lifted up again, but soon buried itself once more. After c.15 minutes of toying with us, the boy decided to porn it, sitting in pathside bushes and occasionally showing to 10 metres, calling regularly:

To be fair, it was a decent bird. Nice buff tones, and lots of arousing streaks on the upperparts. Sadly (as is often the case in the human world) the body was let down by a rather plain-looking face which looked like it had taken a few hits over time. Still, a great relief to see it on a such beautiful morning with a decent supporting cast and in pleasant settings. Dare I say it, but I actually enjoyed myself, and even made it back to Sheffield for 13:30!

Ring-necked Duck

Adult drake Ring-necked Duck, Kirkby on Bain GPs (Lincs), 6.11.09

Blast from the past: 2

A couple from the archives.

More dirty twitching, 30-31/10

On 28th, a Greenish Warbler was discovered lurking on the Lizard, Cornwall. My initial reaction, given that time was pressing on, was to suspect that this had a good chance of being something considerably rarer. So, it wasn't all that surprising when whispers suggesting it was a Green Warbler started to float around the birding community. Following a bit more gen, it seemed a trip southwest the following morning was not necessary, with nitidus seemingly being ruled out by many observers. Things took a twist during the afternoon and evening of the 29th, with newer news filtering through that numerous features fitted Green better than Greenish. Always looking for an excuse to drive long distances, I soon decided to get down to Church Cove for dawn the following morning, and hopefully make my own mind up on the warbler.

The journey was a long one, including a 100-mile detour down the A1 to pick up Watford's keenest, Mick Frosdick. We finally rolled up at Church Cove at around 05:00, with sleep deprevation ensuring I was snoring within minutes of arrival. What was slightly perculiar was that ours was the only car present... a little odd for a potential second for Britain perhaps?

The day dawned much as it had been on the drive down - dense fog with occasional drizzle. Mick and I were the only birders from dawn until around 07:45, when Team Bonser arrived. Still, not exactly the sizeable crowd we half-expected. There were a fair few birds about, with a Siberian Chiffchaff and Yellow-browed Warbler in and around the churchyard. It was not until around 08:15 that the Green(ish) Warbler turned up, announcing itself with a series of bog-standard trochiloides-type calls. It went on to show well:


Phylloscopus mindf**k

Certainly an interesting bird that I'm glad I went for - really bright and fresh for a Greenish so late on. Upperparts were bright green with a broad greater covert bar; supercilium and throat were bright lemon-yellow, with a yellow wash to the flanks and (less so) the undertail coverts. More than one person commented on how it superficially resembled a Wood Warbler in colouration. A couple of Black Redstarts and a late Pied Flycatcher also showed up.

With news of its continued presence, Mick and I moved on to St. Levan where the Radde's Warbler eventually performed fairly well in thick scrub up the hill from the turning circle. A long-awaited lifer, it showed a typically strong ochre-tinged supercilum and underparts, dark brown upperparts, bright yellow legs and a broad bill, but remained elusive in poor weather. Unfortunately, I failed to enjoy it quite so much as I should have done as I managed to reverse into the 'collection box' in the 'car park', creating a few sizeable dents and scratches in the back right corner of my car. Bugger. The journey back to London was a tedious one, so staying with an old school mate in Epsom was a welcome relief from the crap that is Britain's road network.

Next day dawned bright and sunny, and after sleeping/pissing about in Epsom for much of the day, I eventually found myself at Staines Moor for late afternoon. The first-winter Brown Shrike was showing as I arrived, so I lifted my bins up to admire it for a few seconds - reddish-brown upperparts, dark facial mask and scaly underparts - nice. Pleased it was still showing, I decided to move to a position where the shrike would be unobscured so I could study it further and take a few images. So, I did. When I looked back, the little shit had done one - nor did it resurface before I left just after 16:00 - presumably it had simply gone to roost. So, after the ridiculously distant male at Flamborough last autumn, I still haven't had particularly good views of the species in Britain. But then again, at least it hung around for me to actually see it (albeit for about 5 seconds) before sacking it off for the day. Regular parties of Ring-necked Parakeets were flying over, making a horrible racket as they did so. A couple of Stonechats were happily flitting around the river, blissfully unaware that they will presumably become shrike food as the insect population dies off for the winter...

Blast from the past: 1

Steppe Grey Shrike, Grainthorpe Haven, Lincs, November 2008.