Targets for 2018 (1 Viewer)

April 15th

Not feeling at all well enough to contemplate a nine plus hour round trip for American Bittern instead a potter round Anglesey was today’s agenda. Beddmanarch Bay was pretty much devoid of life on our way on to Holy Island, and Holyhead Harbour looked, for a while, like it was going to follow suit. Arch spotted a couple of Wheatear up on a roof, but the water seemed deserted until eventually I managed to find a super distant Black Guillemot. That done we continued on up to South Stack, where things were beginning to swing. Apparently the Auks had been pretty hit and miss of late, quite a lot present the previous morning but all gone by the afternoon for example, but now they seemed back in earnest, and the RSPB guys reckoned this was it, they were back to stay. Guillemots & Razorbills were everywhere on the cliffs and sea, the latter new for the year, but best of all the usual technique here of going to the top of the cliff and looking straight down gave us a couple of Puffins bobbing in the swell. Linnets and Rock Pipits in the heather and rocks were also new for the year, as were a few passing Gannets, but we didn’t get Chough until we were heading back down the road towards Holyhead, with a couple of birds flying by.

We next stopped off at Soldier’s Point for a hoof about for migrants, but apart from a fly by House Martin it was pretty quiet, as was Beddmanarch Bay as when we stopped again for another look. Next up there’s a large flooded field by the road in Valley which looks made for newly arriving Yellow Wags, but alas nothing today, so we headed on up to Cemlyn, where the marshy pools on the fields by the car park were similarly deserted, but we picked up a couple of new in Sandwich Terns. Last stop of the day was Conwy RSPB, where a Willow Warbler singing by the play area was the day’s last year tick. Far from a classic Anglesey trip, but a nice day out for all that.

A targeted excursion yesterday for the long staying black-necked grebe at Elie. Gone are the days when they used to breed nearby at Kilconquhar. I was instrumental in getting non-breeding birds made a description species in Fife and we recently upgraded this to include all records, so a good bird to get.
A lifer for Andrew and only Daniel's second.
Sadly the tide was out, so no close views in the harbour.

Rob

April 28th

A weekend away with a trip on the Gemini Explorer on 29th as the focus.
On Saturday morning, having dropped off Sue at Cupar station, the boys and I (together with RobHynson of this parish) set off north. Sue had a work commitment in Glasgow and would join us in Elgin that evening.
First stop was at Monikie, just outside Dundee, where at least 15 little gulls performed very nicely - 6 adults and 9 2nd calendar year birds. A lifer for Daniel and a good start to the weekend. Common sandpiper was also new for the year.
We drew a blank in Arbroath, having brought no bread for the Iceland gull(!) and then headed inland to drive over Cairn o'Mount. Jay and red-legged partridges were both year ticks near Fettercairn but only a single red grouse was seen. We spent some time snarled up in traffic in Aberdeen before getting to the Ythan estuary for a late lunch.
Here the king eider snoozed on the far bank and terns of four species were present - all year ticks for the boys. Next stop was Loch of Strathbeg, after negotiating a heavy downpour (and a wrong turning!). Greenshank and black-tailed godwits were visible from the visitor centre and a spoonbill showed well from the new hide overlooking the Tower Pool. Unusually it was feeding actively instead of the usual snoozing!
Final stop was Troup Head with stunning views of the gannets in the late afternoon sunshine before departed for our accommodation in Elgin.

TBC

Rob

Well I'm never in the UK long enough to hit any of my last birds, but I can copy my target list from the past 5 years since it hasn't changed much!!

1. yellow wagtail (no number of sitting on cliff tops listening for migrating wagtails has revealed this one. I chased every sight record reported in Hampshire in 2015 to no avail)
2. brambling
3. nightjar (heard them off in the distance before)
4. lesser spotted woodpecker (have heard the bugger once though)
5. twite...or water pipit...not sure which is easier to find. At least wipit is seen locally to where I used to live.

I wouldn't dream of seeing king eider or caspian gull in the UK. Those sorts of rarities are waaay out of my league.

April 29th

A chilly but fine morning saw us leave Buckie harbour on the Gemini Explorer at 9 o'clock. Plenty of summer plumage long-tailed ducks and auks (including a single black guillemot) were seen along with many shags. On the outward journey towards Portsoy it was fairly quiet but some of us saw two nice great northern divers, with a further bird off Portsoy itself. We had started the return journey before we finally connected with a superb white-billed diver. This bird was particularly obliging, giving great views - relief all round and completing the boys' diver set.
Several porpoises were seen, and further divers included another great northern, a black-throated and several red-throated before I picked up at least two, probably three, white-billed divers together! One of these had almost completed its moult into summer plumage. Finally a small pod of bottle-nosed dolphins went past and rock pipits showed well on the harbour wall. It had been a notably quieter outing than the previous day's trip which had had 14 white-billed and 24 great northerns, but no one was complaining having had such good views.
After a late lunch we headed back to Fife via Speyside with a stop on Cairngorm for superb views of ring ouzel. Final year tick were a couple of house martins close to home.

Rob

Silverwolf said:

Well I'm never in the UK long enough to hit any of my last birds, but I can copy my target list from the past 5 years since it hasn't changed much!!

1. yellow wagtail (no number of sitting on cliff tops listening for migrating wagtails has revealed this one. I chased every sight record reported in Hampshire in 2015 to no avail)
2. brambling
3. nightjar (heard them off in the distance before)
4. lesser spotted woodpecker (have heard the bugger once though)
5. twite...or water pipit...not sure which is easier to find. At least wipit is seen locally to where I used to live.

I wouldn't dream of seeing king eider or caspian gull in the UK. Those sorts of rarities are waaay out of my league.

Click to expand...

I've said this before but when are you next over here? Depending on the season one or t'other will be easily available (not necessarily in Hampshire, but does that matter?). Happy to help.

John

Farnboro John said:

I've said this before but when are you next over here? Depending on the season one or t'other will be easily available (not necessarily in Hampshire, but does that matter?). Happy to help.

John

Click to expand...

Hi John,

I feel like we have this conversation every time a "targets threads" comes up :t: I will certainly inform you if I do return.

Thanks for the (future) help!

May 7th

Those White-billed Divers sure are tempting, glad you scored. With a later Easter next year they could well persuade us to head up that way again for a crack at them. And thanks chaps for keeping the thread ticking over while I've been hors de combat, having had some health issues recently (nothing serious, and fortunately nothing chronic, but has necessitated some convalescence), but I can only just drive again (short periods).

Finally back out again today, and we headed out to try and catch up with our local rarity, an Iberian Chiffchaff up at Thurstaston. We heard him singing away as we approached, and soon enough we were watching him flit from tree top to tree top. Hadn’t expected so quick a return time on this species after last year’s near Kelsall.

We were now ideally placed to drop in on Burton Mere Wetlands on the way home, where by the time I had set up scope for a scan the boys had checked the sightings board, decided what they wanted, made enquiries with the RSPB bods as to where they’d been seen, and relayed the gen to me. Top targets were Yellow Wagtail (down by the barns) and Grey Partridge (ploughed field by the end of the boardwalk), so off we went to the barns first, where Whitethroat was a year tick, but in spite of plenty of scanning no sign of any Yellow Wags. Happily a BMW patcher, knowing what we were looking for, very kindly came and found us having seen one from the bunker. Unfortunately it flew before I could get the boys onto it, but at least I now have a better idea of where to search on future visits. We did get Sedge Warbler for the year from the bunker, and the first of several Brimstones (the boys have been quite enjoying seeing butterflies recently).

Next up we headed to the other end of the reserve, where the Partridge had been seen. Given the large number of folks about on a Bank Holiday Monday I confess I didn’t have high hopes for Grey Partridge, thinking they’d be hunkered down out of sight, but no, there one was, stood right out in the open, giving excellent views, and I’m pretty sure that in twenty some years of birding this site (albeit with something of a hiatus part way through), a species I’ve never seen here before. With plenty of Rooks strutting round the field I also took advantage of the opportunity to remind myself just how damned dramatic looking they are.

Nothing of any real note from either Inner Marsh Farm or Marsh Covert Hides, but a year tick Reed Warbler from the blind and a very relaxed looking squirrel catching some rays by the Meres rounded things off.

Hopefully I’ll be able to get out a bit more now and start catching up with what’s left of spring.

More success than we had this weekend.
A trip after local yellow wagtails yesterday gave very distant flight views for me and nothing for Daniel. Today we had a more impressive dip - failing to find the white-winged scoter at Musselburgh. A change in the wind direction today seems to have disrupted its habits of the past week. Ho hum.
Meanwhile here's a white-billed diver pic.

Rob

May 10th

Heard about the Ring-necked Duck at Burton while we were out doing the weekly shop, so had to head back home, grab kit, and head out again on a supper-delaying cheeky evening twitch. Views were substantially better than last autumn's Cotswold bird (no Hubble required), and having dipped the Edinburgh bird last month and then been indisposed for the Conwy one a couple of weeks later I was mighty glad to nail this one, and its reported absence this morning vindicates the scramble. Common Tern also year ticked, to the accompaniment of a variety of weird gargling and yammering emanating from the Egret colony.

May 11th

This afternoon's excitement was provided by a visit from this little critter to the front garden....

Haven't seen one in ages around here

Rich

JWN Andrewes said:

This afternoon's excitement was provided by a visit from this little critter to the front garden....

Click to expand...

Gripper!

Nice pic.

John

May 12th

Garden Warbler is a tricky bird round here. Certainly all my recent enquiries out in the field seemed to indicate that they were like hens' teeth over in west Cheshire and Wirral, and although I have once had one singing from the garden, that's in twelve years here. So tomorrow's agenda is to head over Clocaenog, or Snowdonia even, see if we can track one down. I say is, but really it's was. This afternoon I took the boys up to Waun-Y-Llyn, a Country Park up a hill by our village for a run around and a play. This time of year the place is full of Whitethroats, Linnets, Willow Warblers and Meadow Pipits, and I have picked up Tree Pipit and Cuckoo there too, as well as Wood Warbler nearby. But we spend so much time out in what must be prime play environments with me exhorting the boys to "keep quiet", "slow down", "calm down", that this afternoon was all about letting off steam and having a damn good play. Didn't stop me from taking the boys' bins with us though. After a while scrambling round the dell by the trig point while I pottered about failing to get pics of sum plum Linnets I suggested exploring further afield (you can see where this is going, can't you). On reaching an open bushy area on the edge of some birch wood I picked out a Garden Warbler singing. I had to call the boys back, they were off ahead being Avengers, and ferret their bins out of the backpack, and then we sat on the grass and waited. Over the next ten minutes or so we managed several brief views, but mostly he chuntered away out of sight in the bushes, so no pics, but hey, target bird, totally out of the blue, fantastic! Need a new plan for tomorrow now.

May 13th

We settled on a fairly gentle stroll round Loggerheads Country Park this morning, and were rewarded with a very welcome, albeit tricky to pin down, Wood Warbler singing away first from one side of the path, then after a brief silence from the other side. Most of our views were in flight, but it did briefly sit out for us on one occasion. Having tried and failed for this species at this site last year it was nice to find one today. Slightly more obliging was a Pied Flycatcher, also vocally staking his claim, near the cliffs. A couple of Redstarts remained heard only, but with the two main targets safely sub-belt most of the rest of our walk consisted of the boys picking up yesterday afternoon's game where it was left off while I just bimbled along in their wake.

A somewhat more productive afternoon on Saturday.
Daniel and I went down to Fife Ness and after some time connected with an elusive marsh warbler. It gave a burst of song as we arrived, before shutting up for an hour. Another short snatch of song and i got to see it as it clambered about in a conifer (Daniel's view being obscured). It then sang more determinedly and we both got to see it as it moved having stopped. Not great views but the song is the thing...
Other warblers present included willow warbler, chiffchaff and whitethroat. Nearby we were both successful with yellow wagtail.

Rob

May 19th: part I

Another morning playing catch up on the year list with a trip to World’s End, where the Black Grouse were on fine form at the roadside lek (pic 1), and in glorious sunshine for a change (pics 2-4, usually when I’ve seen them it’s been so early in the morning or late in the afternoon that the sun has been absent). We watched and listened for ten minutes or so before continuing over the moor, clocking another lek (pic 5) cross the valley as we drove, and then pausing just before the road drops down into the woods to admire a pair of Whinchat by the road. While pulled over for that we could hear a Cuckoo across the valley, but no amount of scanning could locate it. Fortunately, at just the right moment a Buzzard cruised up the valley side, spooking the Cuckoo into the air and across the valley towards us. Excellent flight views ensued.

May 19th: part II

For the day’s fourth year tick we actually had to get out of the car, but not actually walk anywhere, as a Redstart sang away from a tree top a little further along the road. We were parked up at a spot where we’ve had Ring Ouzel the past couple of years, but in spite of searching the area all we could come up with was a couple more Redstarts and a handful of Wheatear, the latter demonstrating how well they can blend into a landscape of jumbled, lichen speckled limestone.

Heading off towards Nercwys next took us over Horseshoe Pass where I’ve had Ring Ouzel before, but I couldn’t locate the right looking quarry, and as my sighting was over twenty years ago I didn’t let it eat up too much of the morning. Heard only Red Grouse and fly by Chough here.

On then to Nercwys Mountain, where I was hoping for Tree Pipit but came up short and found nothing else of note. Definitely a site more suited to after dark visits; Nightjars should be back soon.

Superb blackcock.
We had a family outing yesterday morning to Letham Pools. Lovely views of a drake garganey for all and sedge warbler was also a year tick for the boys.

Rob

Daniel and I had an outing to Fife Ness on Sunday, with nice views of a female red-backed shrike. We followed up with a couple of yellow wagtails nearby.

Rob