Targets for 2018 (1 Viewer)

A Sunday outing to the Lothian coast with Daniel. As a (mediocre) club runner I knew in advance that the Scottish half marathon was happening in Musselburgh and could prevent all access to the white-winged scoter. However woodchat shrike is a tricky bird to catch up with in Scotland so once news came through that it was still around (halfhearted twitcher alert!) we decided to go anyway.
Arriving at Barns Ness we found the shrike to be showing well. Over the next hour and a half we had some excellent views in bright sunshine. Not sure I've ever seen a juvenile before, like an interesting mix of juv red-backed, isabelline and masked. Whilst watching the shrike a merlin powered past and a wheatear was just above the beach. We then went back up the road to view Whitesands quarry, where there was no sign of the previous day's buff-breasted sandpiper or possible American wigeon. Checking the local bird news revealed that the rose-coloured starling has been seen on the beach at Barns Ness (while we were there!) so back we went. No sign of the bird but a reasonable selection of waders and the large starling flock was put to flight by what was presumably the same merlin.
Having chatted to a friendly local birder it seemed that we could get to the sea wall at Musselburgh if we were prepared to walk a bit further, so off we went. Traffic was slightly chaotic near the race course but we found a place to park and made our way out to the sea wall. Another birder told the area the scoter had been last seen and I made the discovery that the rubber eye cup had fallen off the Swaro - b*gger! On the sea were plenty of velvet scoter, razorbills and guillemots, a couple of red-throated divers, great-crested grebe, a red-necked grebe and two apparent moulting black-necked grebes. Finally I found the right group of velvet scoters and picked out the white-winged scoter. I managed to get Daniel on to it and we had reasonably good views. Unfortunately a shower blew in, the scoters turned half away from us and the water got a lot more choppy and I wasn't able to relocate it. We didn't have time to visit the wader scrapes so set off back to the car - fortunately finding the eye cup about half way back!
A successful day out with two British ticks plus two year ticks for Daniel and a Scottish tick for me.

Rob

Smart day out there Rob, wouldn't mind upgrade views of that Scoter myself but can't quite justify the drive! My last weekend off was hijacked by non-birding stuff, but while it would have been nice to head off somewhere on spec there was nothing unusual locally that we missed. Fingers crossed for next Sunday....

September 30th

It’s an awful long way to Kent from North Wales, particularly for a day trip, so it was always going to have to be something a bit special to get us down there. Beluga very much fits that brief, and as Sunday drew closer things looked increasingly optimistic, so with positive news all day Saturday we prepared ourselves for the journey; camera batteries charged, Dart Charge pay-as-you-go account established, plenty of snackage stowed, and alarm set. Good. We set off at 03:00, and the drive was pleasingly uneventful until we were a bare five minutes from our destination when there were excited shouts from the back seat as Arch had spotted a white Squirrel on a grassy roundabout that we passed (me and Sam missed it). And then a little after seven, we arrived at the end of Mark Lane. Not the most beautiful setting for finding so fantastic a beast, but such is wildlife watching; for every Great Glen there’s a Gravesend.

We soon found our way up to the Ship and Lobster, and from there headed downstream, scanning the water as we went, scores of Meadow Pipits rising up from the sea wall where they’d been roosting, one with a startling white rump and lower back, quite arresting; odd white creatures was beginning to become a bit of a theme for the day, here’s to hoping it would continue. I’ve always been more of a legger than an arser, so having reached the last of the barges around which the Whale had been seen we retraced our steps, eventually all the way back to the car to grab snacks drinks and extra layers (there was something of a chill to the early morning). Off again for another riverside patrol, and by now the Whale seekers had swelled in number, and unless I was very much mistaken there was one small knot of them that was watching rather than scanning. We made our way over to them and sure enough, they were on it!

Cetaceans can be so difficult to get onto, especially at distance, but a few things worked in our favour. Firstly, the water was pretty flat calm, no real chop to speak of to confuse things. Secondly it had chosen a spot right next to a big green buoy, so no problems with directions and being confident we were looking in the right place, and thirdly, having surfaced once, it generally did so again three or four more times in exactly the same place, so getting photos, while still challenging, was a genuine prospect. Distance was the only drawback, it was way across the far side of the estuary, not much change from a kilometre according to google maps, but that’s a minor quibble when you consider the fact that we were watching a Beluga! In the UK! I mean, wow! It left several minutes between each cluster of surfacings, and the reappeared, sometimes in the same place, sometimes a little way off. This happened several times, and in the sunshine it shone out gleaming white, visible with the naked eye, even as far off as it was. And then a huge container ship chugged upstream, my gods, we could feel the vibrations from it on the riverbank, lord alone knows what it would have been like for a Beluga. Don’t know if it was a coincidence but no sign for a good while after that. In fact, we’d decided to move on, and it was only an idle check of the patch just upstream of the green buoy where we first saw it, more in hope than expectation, goy us back on it. Several more surfacings as we followed it upstream before it vanished again, and we decided to move on.

The rest of the day didn’t really go according to plan but to be honest that hardly mattered. Being greedy I fancied trying for the whale again in the afternoon, when it had often headed back downstream, against the tide, on the Kent side of the river, a lot closer. Needing a diversion while we waited we toddled off to Rainham to look for Pec Sand, but probably didn’t give it the time it deserved, picking up Clouded Yellow as a tick for the boys and Marsh Frog as a tick for all three of us but scant rewards other than that. Then back at Gravesend the Beluga declined to put in an afternoon performance, and the Pec was reported back at Rainham, but we were all pretty weary by this stage and decided to head home. One last stop at some waste ground that Richard Bonser (who we bumped into on site; I knew him from twenty some years ago when we lived in the same village) recommended as an occasional drop in spot for Caspian Gull but which drew a blank for us and then it was a long but straightforward drive home. Hopefully there’ll be some actual birds to go for next time we’re all off, but in the mean time Mammalia is delivering in style!

Monster lifer - great stuff!

Excellent account Arch, very well done!

John

Scant opportunity to get out so far this month, pinning all our hopes on the half term, but enjoyed the year's second home visit from a hedgehog on Thursday evening.

Nice. The Scottish half term being earlier there will be a report on our doings shortly. Three UK lifers for the boys though.

Rob

edenwatcher said:

Nice. The Scottish half term being earlier there will be a report on our doings shortly. Three UK lifers for the boys though.

Rob

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I envy you your half term Rob. And they're starting theirs just over the border in England on Monday; it'll all be over by the time we come out to play the following week.

Looking forward to reading your report in due course.

Half term road trip Pt 1

We were supposed to head down to the Lakes on the evening of Friday 12th but the onset of Storm Callum meant that we decided to avoid the rain, wind and dark in favour of a Saturday morning departure. It was still very wet but largely cal. During the week I had been monitoring the presence of the bee-eater at Haltwhistle but it seemed to have moved on - only to reappear close to the M74 at Crawford. It seemed rude not to call in as we went past! Having found the right bit of Carlisle Road we got out of the car and I immediately found the bird in birch above the road. Fortunately the rain was at the lightest it would be all day. A UK lifer for the boys and it performed impeccably despite the gloomy conditions.
Sunday was devoted to fellwalking with the only birds of note being jay, teal and raven. On Monday we left the Lakes and headed to the mum's in north Lincolnshire. A stop at Leighton Moss produced an obliging male bearded tit on the grit trays, nuthatches, marsh tit and a range of ducks. The reserve seems to be experiencing a plague of rats - most I've seen anywhere for some years. We opted for the scenic A65 route across country, with the bonus of several red kites around Harewood.

Rob

edenwatcher said:

During the week I had been monitoring the presence of the bee-eater at Haltwhistle but it seemed to have moved on - only to reappear close to the M74 at Crawford.

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Hadn't heard that it had been refound! Where is Crawford? There seems to be a few of them around Britain, and I'm not sure which one yours is 3

Just south of Abington services! Think it stayed until Tuesday.

Rob

edenwatcher said:

Just south of Abington services! Think it stayed until Tuesday.

Rob

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Not my 'best guess' Crawford, then (Lancs). And two Abingtons :-O but only one of them close to an M74 . . . so it headed north, a very odd way of getting to Africa!

Half term road trip Pt 2

Previous October half term stays with my mum have included a trip to Spurn - each time with reasonable success. This year, with nothing much new on offer there, we spared ourselves the drive and crowds - though it probably cost us pallid swift. On Tuesday afternoon Sue, Daniel and I visited Far Ings (very quiet other than hearing Cetti's warbler) followed by Alkborough Flats. The latter produced marsh harriers, an avocet with a limp, little egrets, stonechats and an obliging wheatear plus another two Cetti's heard. On Wednesday afternoon all four of us went to Blacktoft Sands, where reserve management work was probably responsible for only one marsh harrier sighting. Highlights were 3 spotted redshanks, a few ruff, black-tailed godwits, a little egret, and a green sandpiper - which seems to have been a UK lifer for the boys. How did that happen? Guess what - we heard Cetti's again!
On a beautiful sunny Thursday morning the boys and I went back to Alkborough hoping for good views of bearded tit but only saw one. The highlight for me was a raven - the first I have seen in Lincolnshire. Otherwise it was more of the same - marsh harriers, spotted redshanks, 2 avocets, ruff, greenshank and another invisible Cetti's warbler.
We drove home on Friday - how best to break the journey? The gull-billed terns were rejected as involving a child unfriendly walk along the road plus distant views. Black scoter was similarly viewed as potentially difficult. The Jarrow spotted sandpiper was the obvious choice - a simple diversion via the Tyne Tunnel instead of the A1. We turned up at the old bridge to find a photographer present and the bird less than 20m away. It then proceeded to walk towards us giving absolutely fantastic views. We did the touristy thing and looked round St Paul's monastery before resuming our journey north. Amble marina failed to produce the red-necked grebe and the traffic getting round Edinburgh was appalling but such is life.

Rob

Fine shots of the Spotted Sandpiper

cheers
Mike

October 27th

edenwatcher said:

Nice. The Scottish half term being earlier there will be a report on our doings shortly. Three UK lifers for the boys though.

Rob

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Nice trip Rob. Now, my turn!

It stuck! It actually flippin’ stuck! Arch had been keeping an eye on the bird news over the previous week, and was working on the assumption that if it was still there we’d go as soon as the schools broke up, an assumption I did little from which to dissuade him. Weather looked poor for Saturday morning though, and I didn’t quite fancy the 02:00 start required to get us on site for first light, so I took a gamble that if it showed in poor weather in the morning it would show in better weather in the afternoon, and instead opted for the 05:00 start required to get us to Goldcliff reasonably early. No sign of the Baird’s unfortunately, possibly owing to a Peregrine sitting on an island in the middle of the reserve, would certainly discourage me if I were a snack sized calidrid! Oh well, worth a try, and there was always the journey home if timings worked out. There were big flocks of Woodpigeons passing overhead throughout our visit, heading southwest out over the Severn, and a late Red Admiral was sunning itself on a fence post. Otherwise, very quiet. Weather was nice though, still, bright and clear.

That quickly changed west of the Tamar, as the wind picked up, and the rain and hail kicked in (turning to light snow over Temple Tor, slowed the traffic right down, and according to a birder we met later sent at least one car skidding off the A30), but with clear bright spells too, although the wind remained brisk. A drive-through lunch was acquired just before Penzance, eaten as we continued our journey, and we arrived at Treeve Moor a little after 14:00 to the news that the bird hadn’t shown for a while. Our timing turned out to be perfect though, with it coming into view as soon as we rocked up. Unfortunately, in the strong wind it was keeping very low, necessitating me to pick each of the boys up to see it over the brambles at the bottom of the willows. Still, pressure off, Grey Catbird on the list, and with the bird having retreated in to cover I headed back round to the car to fetch our invaluable little foot stool, meaning that when the bird came back into view a little while later they were able to get that little bit of extra height required to gain unobscured views, with the bird eventually showing very nicely. My first Catbird since some in Canada nearly twenty years ago, an excellent way to kick off the boys’ yankee songbird list, and potentially another blocker in the locker for them. Everyone on site was helpful and welcoming, suggesting good places for the boys to get views from, moving aside to let them get in place, birders really are a very nice bunch. A couple of Choughs over calling completed a double tick for the partner of one of the guys present (hmm, could be a thread in that, watch this space).

Eventually the Catbird launched itself along the ditch, passing by just a couple of feet away, and into cover, so we decamped to Drift. Here the wind really hampered viewing, coming straight at us from the direction we needed to look into for seeing the Ring-necked Duck, which was distant and not showing all that well (good luck spotting it in the attached record shot), quite glad we didn’t need it for the year. Overnighted in the Hayle Travelodge where, after an indifferent (but short lived) meal at the nearby Brewer’s Fayre (I’m sure there are better options locally but I wanted somewhere I could walk back from), we settled down to watch Strictly before turning in, like any normal Saturday at this time of year!

Ooh, filthy twitching! Good stuff.

Rob

October 28th

edenwatcher said:

Ooh, filthy twitching! Good stuff.

Rob

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And there's more...

I had considered revisiting the Catbird this morning, but the wind was still quite strong, so I reckoned it would still be kept low and probably not show any better than we’d had it the previous afternoon. So instead I vacillated between Cot & Porthgwarra, both recent Yellow-brow venues, and went with Porthgwarra in the end as it offered the chance to look for Rosy Starling to boot. In the end the wind hampered attempts here too, with not much coming out to play. Nice views of Stonechats, more big Woodpigeon flocks bombing about, our first Fieldfares of the season over, one Chiffchaff and another late Red Ad were our rewards. I did get onto a small bird buzzing low over a field between two clumps of willow that I am 95% sure was a Yellow-brow; right size, greenish above whitish below but no detail possible, and its destination was not one that lent itself well to further investigation without a bit of dodgy trespass, really not worth it. An hour and a half of this, and maybe half an hour scanning through Starlings at a nearby farm and we decided to start heading home, first port of call being Stithians.

Here we were told by a departing birder where the Temminck’s Stint, which he hadn’t seen, had been reportedly hanging out, across the other side of the water where some dry-stone walls came down to the shore. We shared this gen with another arriving birder (he'd tried Cot this morning, nothing doing there either), who quickly got on to a Common Sandpiper in that area, but nothing else. After an hour or so of searching (once we’d found a spot out of the wind) I finally picked it up, way away from where we’d been recommended to look, out on the mud over towards the causeway. It was super distant though, and managed to do a vanishing act before everyone present got onto it, but after another fifteen minutes or so another birder picked it up, much closer now (though still a fair way off) and we were at last able to take in all salient features at leisure, before we needed to depart for Goldcliff (I was slightly wrong footed by forgetting we had an hour less light to pay with at the end of the day, but fortunately that didn’t cost us).

An easy run up to Newport was followed by a brisk march to Snipe Screen and the day’s second distant views of a special Calidris. Fortunately Baird’s Sandpiper is one of the more distinctive of its genus (a Semi-p at this range and light would have been disappointing), so there were no problems clinching tickable views (Arch got a few phone scoped shots, the fifth attachment here is a heavy crop of the best of them), before an uneventful drive home (back in time for the Strictly results show).

There is a programme of other activities lined up for half term, so we may only manage one more run out, probably fairly local, but at least we’ve made a good start.

JWN Andrewes said:

Nice trip Rob. Now, my turn!

It stuck! It actually flippin’ stuck! Arch had been keeping an eye on the bird news over the previous week, and was working on the assumption that if it was still there we’d go as soon as the schools broke up, an assumption I did little from which to dissuade him.

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:t:

Hoping to see Waxwings again this winter and seeing a Fieldfare would be fun too.

October 30th

Didn't see the Water Pipit we were hoping for at Burton Mere Wetlands this morning, but had a nice trip out nonetheless. There was a distinctly wintery flavour to the morning, with Redwing and Fieldfare both on offer, as well as the spectacle of hundreds of Pink-footed Geese on the move, dropping in and taking off, with the associated soundscape filling the air. A couple of very close passes from an immature Hen Harrier as well as a Water Rail dashing from cover to cover kept things interesting in Marsh Covert Hide, and a couple of Med Gulls were showing back at the Reserve Reception. Top spot though was a couple of Cetti's Warblers skulking low in some reeds, not exactly prolonged or unobscured views, but with this species you take what you can get.