More local action..

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

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

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

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

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.