London's early summer celebrity

Rich went to check out a female Long-tailed Duck a couple of Sundays ago when it first turned up on a small park lake, festering with McDonald's wrappers and various other bits of everyday urban detritus, in the middle of Peckham. By the time I got round to twitching it on the Tuesday it had disappeared, only to turn up again on James L's patch in Greenwich Park on the Friday. Rich had been livid that the duck had overflown his patch in Rotherhithe but, while slightly intoxicated in Manchester on Saturday afternoon, I received a call from him and instantly recognised the urgency in his tone. My heart sank. "Bollocks", I cursed, "this is going to be mega".

But no, thankfully not. It transpired that the duck had relocated to Canada Water, an empty Coke can's throw from Rich's flat. Here it has since remained to the time of writing [13th], showing extremely well at times but often diving around in the middle of the lake. I managed to fit in half an hour or so with the bird on Tuesday evening prior to my football game, though it primarily remained distant aside for a brief period when it unwittingly floated in to the margins as it preened. Sadly it didn't seem fond of the cheap white baps I'd brought along and, with light pretty poor, my shots aren't great. Needless to say, Jono Lethbridge has some considerably more appealing images.

Hopefully London's latest summer hit will hang around a few weeks longer. If it does, I'll be sure to head back down in proper light, armed with some hearty seed-filled goodness.

Italy trip report, May 2013

Much the same drill as with my past publications for both Israel and Morocco, you can view and download a report for my recent trip to Northern and Central Italy below. It contains details and directions on how to find bird species such as Rock Partridge, Northern Bobwhite, Red-billed Leiothrix, Vinous-throated Parrotbill and Sacred Ibis as well as Marsican Brown Bear.

 

Barnack Hills & Holes

This is such a cool place for plants and insects and is just a few miles from where I grew up in south Lincolnshire. I remember being taken here as a little kid by my parents and seeing Marbled Whites, burnet moths etc - though it's only in recent years that I've realised what a great site it is for plants too.

I visited on Sunday - it was breezy but bright and warm. Plenty of Green Hairstreaks and one or two Dingy Skippers were the best of the butterflies. The Pasqueflowers were mainly over but some were still looking decent, with much the same applying for the Early Purple Orchids - photos of both (with my wide angle) below.

Early Purple Orchid

Pasqueflowers - a little over but some still looking nice

Sadly I couldn't find Man Orchid in the hour or so that I had spare. Having said that, I really need to buy a macro lens before I start seeing all these things!

Mediterranean Gull

Is there a finer sight than an adult Mediterranean Gull against a rich blue sky with bright sunlight glowing through its primary tips? This was one of two vocal birds that flew over me in Norfolk at the weekend.

Barn Owl

This Barn Owl comes and sits in my father's Norfolk garden most mornings and evenings. It's pretty wary for really good shots and tends to turn up when the light is going, but I was still reasonably happy with the above.

Dusky Thrush in Kent

The Dusky Thrush at Margate - a similar pose to the first image I saw on opening Steve Tomlinson's email!

Despite a call on the BirdGuides hotline from Kent birder Steve Tomlinson at around 22:00 on Friday evening describing a strange thrush that he'd seen in Margate cemetery, I must admit that I still had a bit of a shock when he emailed over a bunch of shots apparently depicting female Dusky Thrush - what was worse that it had apparently been present since Wednesday! Following a couple of follow-up phone calls (including to Will at RBA), we decided to run with the news at around 23:00 and the rest is history.

Needless to say, the bird was still present the next morning although I was again working on the news. Alan T kindly agreed to take over at 12:30 and I met Kit Day shortly after at the utterly offensive Lakeside Retail Park in Thurrock. Ninety minutes later, we were watching the thrush and, although it was pretty elusive at times, it eventually showed well late afternoon as the crowds dispersed.

There's been quite a bit of discussion about the purity of this bird, though it's really hard to find any sort of quality literature and photographs of Dusky Thrushes in general (let alone second calendar-year females), but this one has quite a bit of rufous in the flanks while this one is a dead ringer for the Kent bird. The plot is thickened by the fact that at least one Chinese birder seems to think it is an integrade - not with Naumann's, but perhaps with Black-throated Thrush! Must admit I never realised these Asian thrushes couldn't keep the the snake in the basket, so to speak.

Brown Bears in Abruzzo

After drawing a blank during the pleasant weather conditions of the Saturday, we eventually scored distant views of three Marsican Brown Bears (female and cub and addition singleton) in the rain early on the Sunday of our Italy trip over the Bank Holiday. The bears were on show more or less constantly for the 45 minutes we watched them up to 07:00. Brilliant!

Pekin at introduced Robins in Tuscany

The Red-billed Leiothrix (or Pekin Robin to aviculturists) is something you'd normally expect to see on the Indian Subcontinent but, thanks to a helping hand from man, this stunning species has colonized a handful of spots in Spain, France and Italy where it is eagerly sought by tick-hungry Western Palearctic birders such as myself. Here are a few shots of some of the several Leiothrix we saw along the River Serchio near Lucca, Tuscany on Sunday 5th May:

Cat C species aren't to everyone's taste, and some of the targets on our Italian trip (Northern Bobwhite, Sacred Ibis and Vinous-throated Parrotbill) will certainly raise a few eyebrows among those who like their wildlife a little more 'natural'. We only had shit views of the bobwhites and the ibises were admittedly rather unpleasant, but the parrotbills were pretty characterful!

Believe it or not, we did see some real birds too (not photographed; too wary!) that included several Rock Partridges plus nice Med stuff like Collared Flycatchers, Red-backed Shrikes, Wrynecks, Golden Orioles and so on - I hope to produce a full trip report in the coming days/weeks which will detail all the sites you need to fill your boots with non-native goodness.

Israel Trip Report, March 2013

Below is a copy of my Israel trip report for March 2013. As with my Moroccan article, you can read, download or share the document at your will. Hope it comes in handy!

Eastern Subalpine Warbler, Suffolk

I've had a busy weekend, moving house over both days and playing cricket with James' team on Sunday afternoon (63 runs in my first innings for five years). Photos emerged of a Subalpine Warbler at Landguard on Friday evening that clearly depicted it to be of the Eastern race (albistriata) - not a split but a new form for me in the UK. Surprise news after a clear night saw the bird still there on the Saturday morning and so I sneaked away from packing/unpacking boxes in time to arrive in Felixstowe early evening. Enjoyed great views to just a few metres (bird often too close to focus on with my 400mm) with Marc, Kev et al over the following hour or so; what a stunning creature - a nice adult by the looks of things. The bird was restless and I never really managed the glorious shots I had envisaged taking as I made my way to the site, but some decent results nevertheless.

Even managed to get home at a reasonable hour to get on with further packing before retiring to bed. Off to Italy this weekend coming, hoping for some Brown Bear/Rock Partridge/Cat C action. Hopefully have some decent shots to post...