Twelve targets for 2016 (1 Viewer)

[JWN Andrewes]

4th April; part II

... And within seconds, there it was! Some of the best, most prolonged views of Cetti's Warbler I've ever had, it even hung around long enough for me to remember I had a camera!

Buoyed up by this we headed back to the cafe for a coffee, via another helping of Sand Martins, and then it was onto the Adder trail in earnest, and more importantly in sunshine! No problems this time, with a small dark male staked out when we arrived, good views were enjoyed by all.

After a spell in one of the hides overlooking the reedbeds which didn't add a great deal to the day we ambled back towards the scrape, rewarded on the way by good views of a Muntjac crossing the path ahead of us which seemed to be invisible to all the other visitors in the vicinity, despite my best efforts to share the news (ooer, that man appears to be trying to communicate with me, perhaps if I pointedly ignore him he'll stop. Don't know why I bother, cost me photos of the wee beastie out in the open, ungrateful articles).

That was about it for Mins, a place I don't think I'd visited since Little Egrets were a big deal! Next stop was Dunwich, on the hunt for Dartford Warblers. And what a hunt! Easy enough for me to get onto them, but the boys' smaller stature made it a bit trickier to see out over the flat heathy landscape, and it wasn't until the sixth DARTFORD WARBLER I located that the boys finally got decent views. So, the year's third target down, and a most enjoyable day's birding draws to a close.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Nice stuff all round ...

 

[JWN Andrewes]

5th - 6th April

Cheers Jos

Tuesday was more of a family day out, beach, pier, ice-cream and so on. I managed to pick up a Tree Pipit in the dunes on the walk in, but it was bounced by dog walkers before anyone else could get a good look at it, and later on I located a very pale ashy looking female Black Redstart just north of the pier while the kids played on the beach, but their only hit of the day was a year-tick Swallow on the walk back to the house.

Wednesday was drive home day. We detoured via Whixall Moss on the way home in the hopes of picking up another of the year's targets, Spoonbill, but it wasn't playing for the half hour or so we were there (though reported again this morning so could feature later if it sticks long enough). A couple of Green Sandpipers joined the year list here (now at 138).

 

[JWN Andrewes]

17th April

An afternoon visit to Burton Mere wetlands yesterday afternoon added Willow Warbler & House Martin to the year list. Also saw loads of Sand Martins, scrapping Coots and heard all sorts of weird and wonderful sounds emanating from the tree top Little Egrets.

This morning we headed off to Great Orme, and after picking up Wheatear & Guillemot for the year we struck lucky with our chief target when we met a couple of other birders watching the female RING OUZEL in the kale field; we most likely would not have found it without their help (the boys are pretty good out and about, but overly long and meticulous searches can stretch their patience) so I am most grateful! Having located the bird, getting both boys onto it was a whole other challenge. The bird was fairly skulky the other side of quite a high wall. We managed to find a slightly lower stretch that the eldest could see over, and he got onto it pretty handily. For the youngest I managed to wedge my toe in a cavity in the wall a little over a foot from the ground, lifting my thigh up to the horizontal and providing a reasonably sturdy bench for him to sit on while I guided him onto the Ouzel as it foraged under a bush. All this shenanigans cost me the opportunity to grab a couple of what would almost certainly have been distant, grainy, crappy record shots. No great loss, very happy target number 4 is now in the bag.

A quick stop off at Conway RSPB for a coffee and a play (I'll leave you to decide who opted for which) added Common Sandpiper to the year list, now standing at 144.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

29th April

Got back from work a little late today, snarled up in traffic bound for North Wales for the bank holiday weekend. There was fish and chips waiting for me which was soon dispatched, boys had already eaten theirs so as soon as I was done we were on the road, nipping through Hawarden to avoid the aforementioned extended weekenders on the A55, arriving at a nearly empty Burton Mere Wetlands car park a little after half six. A scan of the main scrape revealed a small selection of sum plum waders, highlights being a few Dunlin, half a dozen or so Spotshanks and a couple of Ruff, as well as the expected cast of Redshanks, Blackwits, Lapwings and Avocets. At the back of my mind was that the Spoonbill that's been kicking around the Dee estuary far a few weeks now has been seen here on a couple of recent evenings, but no sign.

We set off for a stroll, enjoying the feeding Swallows, picking out a few House Martins amongst them as we passed the Mere itself (the eldest very pleased to spot a Swallow perched low in a bush on one of the islands). I kept checking to scrape when breaks in the bushes allowed with no success. As we approached the screen that affords views of a channel through the reedbed we heard a Gropper reeling away, and we got one last chance to scan the scrape before it was lost behind us. Hello, hello, hello, four white blobs but... one of those things is not like the others! Bingo, three Little Egrets and a SPOONBILL! Quick tick views, then time to relocate for better ones (the boys distracted on the way by some very close passes by feeding House Martins, and delighted by the sight of a pair of Greylags with two goslings on the Mere; nice that it's not just about the ticks). Soon enough though we have a closer vantage point and we settle down to watch as the Spooner marched about, feeding on occasion, but mostly just being awake, which I explained to the boys was something of a treat where this species is concerned. I learned on site that the Spoonbill had dropped in a few times on recent evenings and tried to roost with the Egrets, but they kept chasing it off. Then a fierce hailstorm moved in, which kind of put paid to continuing the search for Grasshopper and other Warblers, or anything else for that matter, so it was celebratory Orange Clubs all round (I had neglected to source our usual field snacks of bakewell slices and just grabbed what was to hand on the way out the door) and back to the car. Job well done, homeward bound.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

30th April

To twitch or not to twitch? Got a text this morning about the Woolston Sprog (cheers John) and was all set to strike out east after the day's dance lessons were done, but by then the news was not good. So, not to twitch then, and off to World's End instead.

First up was an attempt to upgrade their tick views of Ring Ouzel. After half an hour of walking, with occasional stops to scan likely looking spots we were watching a Wheatear when the eldest started calling "Ring Ouzel! Ring Ouzel! Ring Ouzel!" and sure enough, beyond the Wheatear, a fine male Ring Ouzel out on the short grass. He quickly dashed out of sight, and it and an accompanying female remained elusive with the three of us up on their skyline, so after a short while we moved on to give them time to settle.

Further on I managed to find a male Redstart, but it was really distant, and really mobile and vanished after a couple of showings, so we decided to call it quits and head back to the car. Similar views of Ring Ouzel on the return walk, but I spotted a sheep trail that seemed to pass close by the Ouzels. From this path a few minutes later we finally got some decent views of the female out on the grass and the male in a bush. Back at the car (Bakewell slices this time, normal service has been restored), and then back over the moors home, via a couple of duelling Black Grouse at the usual spot and the day's only year tick, a roadside Whinchat. They can get the next White-crowned Sparrow. There's time.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

1st May

Dreadful weather this morning. Cold, drizzly (you can see the rain splashing off the Stonechat attached), windy, but beggars can't be choosers, and I didn't want to pass up the chance of a morning out. Didn't really want to strike out too far either, so settled for heading to Shotwick Boating Lake to do the walk from there out to Burton Point.

We were quickly rewarded with a BLACKCAP singing from willow scrub by the horse field, with Warblers being a feature of the walk (along with the rain), Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler & Cetti's Warbler all heard, a few Whitethroats were seen, as was Sedge Warbler at the Point itself, where a Grasshopper Warbler seemed to be reeling from practically under our feet, but was probably several yards in and remained invisible throughout. By now we were a little dispirited by the constant drizzle and decided to head home to dry off and warm up. Bloody Bank Holidays, but at least we're now half way through our twelve targets, and have picked up a fine array of extras along the way.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

6th & 7th May

A couple of evenings out over the weekend, round Burton Point & Burton Mere Wetlands, mostly yielding up bread-and-butter spring fare, with a couple of Common Terns the only new birds for the year, and a fly-over Great White Egret also noteworthy. The youngest gripping the pair of us off with a Badger dashing across the path while we were looking the other way was probably the best sighting, although the eldest spotting his own Whitethroat & Linnet was also gratifying.

 

[edenwatcher]

A few days in the Lake District has seen the boys add species such as redstart, pied flycatcher, stonechat and ring ouzel to their year lists. When we got back Daniel and I went out again to add the Fife mega of yellow wagtail near Crail.

Rob

 

[JWN Andrewes]

15th May; part I

Had considered this for May Day Sunday, but weather was pants, so it got bounced to today - a Big Day Out in North Wales. Didn't end up being as big as it could have been because a) the boys needed to be back for a family thing mid afternoon and b) the car started behaving in a disturbing manner part way through, but as a prototype run for what I fondly imagine will be an annual thing it wasn't half bad. To put it into context, our best day list to date was 74, last October, on a run out along the North Wales coast, finishing up with a cross border raid on Burton Mere Wetlands. Today was to be a wholly Cambrian affair.

Embarked at 04:00, on the dot, the day got off to a good start with a Barn Owl over the road near Llandegla, then nothing more until dawn's light started to reveal roadside Carrion Crows & Blackbirds as we approached Betws-y-Coed. I had opted to start the day in Gwydyr Forest, exploring some of the more open areas for Cuckoo, one of our chief targets. Had we been simply going for a big day list I suspect we could have spent the first couple of hours of the day more productively in a more wooded habitat, maybe Coed Hafod. Next year maybe. As it was we had a slow start, Robin, Chaffinch, Mallard, Canada Goose, until a singing Tree Pipit provided the boys with their first tick of the day.

Their second could have been something rather special, but alas, it was not to be. I rounded a bend and saw what I assumed was the silhouette of a Buzzard up in a pine tree not far off the path, got the scope on it and clocked sharply defined dark hood, striking white eyebrow, holy [email protected]! Goshawk! Flew before we could shift positions at the eyepiece. That's the drawback to having kids to introduce to the delights of birding; I got my second ever views of perched up Gos today, and walked away gutted. To compound our woes the local Cuckoos were a good deal more vocal than visible, with brief distant flight views deemed unsatisfactory for ticking purposes

By the time we rocked up at the Hafna Mine car park a little after seven the day list was on a fairly paltry 17, but included at least a couple of useful goodies in the form of Treecreeper, which can be easy to miss, and Common Sandpiper.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

15th May; part II

Hafna Mines was not a bad little stop off. Steep steps up to the abandoned mine proved an irresistable arena for play, and way up in the woods I could hear a Wood Warbler singing… So up we hiked, admiring the view, and breaking off from larking about to pin down the Warbler. (I do so appreciate a bird that keeps returning to a favoured perch from which to sing - scope bait!) As a bonus we even managed to nail one of our twelve targets when a REDSTART sat out on overhead wires for a spell (managing to judge its timing perfectly as just long enough for everyone to get onto it without quite giving Dad enough time to get his camera the right way round). I had to content myself with another crack at Tree Pipit.

From Hafna it was a relatively short hop to the southern end of Nant Ffrancon valley. (I missed the turning on first attempt, and scored a female Ring Ouzel darting across the road as I tried to find a spot to turn round, but without a safe place to stop and de-car couldn’t get anyone else onto it.) Eventually we managed to correct our route and stopped at some facilities before setting to in earnest. Here the boys were yet again delighted to experience House Martins swooping by at extremely close range, but didn’t get onto the Spotted Flycatcher I was photographing (if I’d realised they weren’t on it I’d have redoubled my efforts at directing them, but one of the perennial issues we have in the field is their disinclination to communicate about whether they can or can’t see what I’m telling them about). Also here was the umpteenth distant calling Cuckoo of the day. Starting to grate.

First stop down the valley was a likely looking amphitheatre of scree, boulders & hawthorn, perfect Ouzel real eastate, where Kestrel, Raven & Magpie quickly hit the day list, and, for crying out loud, yet another distant calling Cuckoo! Except this time… boof, in they come, and we are treated to a fine display of two fabulous CUCKOOS, bouncing from bush to rock to bush, a magnificent performance that the lack of hoped for Ouzels did nothing to diminish. Top drawer stuff. Most of the rest of the off-A5 detour passed without incident, but a singing Pied Fly at a stop just before rejoining the main road was a treat, bringing the day list at 09:00 up to 31. Work still to do if we’re to post a score to challenge our previous best.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

15th May; part III

With the Snowdonia leg of the day over we crossed the Menai Strait and headed straight for South Stack, where a Chough hanging on an updraft by the visitor centre was the first of this site’s speciality species to join in the fun. It was inevitably followed, once we’d made our way down, by a bunch of seabirds; Guillemots & Razorbills decorated the cliffs as well as the sea beneath, where they were joined by a few Puffins, Fulmars swept to and fro, smaller numbers of Shags and Great Black-backed Gulls, and singles of Gannet (out on the sea) and Kittiwake (on the cliffs). Also on offer to the growing list were Rock Pipit, Linnet, Stonechat & Whitethroat, as well as a Peregrine which flew in, sat up on the cliffs for a breather and a quick brush up before launching itself back into the day. A small pod of Harbour Porpoise just offshore was a bonus mammal tick, and there was even time for a play, just not too close to the cliff top! In other words, a typical South Stack drop in. Good stuff, and a shout out to a very pleasant chap, evidently knew the site well, who was so generous with sharing information.

A quick (<2 minutes) stop at Holyhead Harbour added the odd mix of Starling, House Sparrow, Black Guillemot & Greenfinch to the roll call before we relocated to Beddmanarch, where there wasn’t a whole lot on offer, and then on to Cemlyn, where it became apparent that all was not well with the car…

 

[JWN Andrewes]

15th May; part IV

The racket under the bonnet suggested a goosed alternator (later confirmed, car getting fixed on Thursday, fortunately still under warranty). Still, we're here now, might as well look around. Plenty of Terns, always fun to watch, but didn't manage to locate any Meds among the Black-headed Gulls. Nothing of note in the marshy field either, but Red-breasted Merganser on the lagoon was useful for the day. Car started ok, but I was reluctant to indulge in too many stops on the way home, not knowing how many starts the battery had left in it, so forwent Valley wetlands, where various duck species may have been possible, as well stops to scan the sea at Llanfairfechan or Penmeanmawr. Did risk a stop at Conwy RSPB, picking up stuff like Reed Warbler, Gadwall, Black-tailed Godwit and a much needed coffee, as well as the day's final (76th) species (Dunnock), so beat our previous best by two! (I'd picked up a dozen or so that the boys had missed, but this was strictly a day list for the kids!) Without having had to be back home by four, or the car misbehaving, we would probably have hit Gronant/Point of Ayr for Little Terns and waders, then World's End for Grouse and then perhaps the Welsh portion of Whixall for Hobbies. 100 is certainly on the cards next time round

 

[JWN Andrewes]

28th May

Last Saturday we participated in the Whit influx of grey estates, black 4x4’s and white SUV’s onto the wonderful Scottish island of Mull, with a view to seeing Eagles, Otters, maybe Corncrake and with luck a few other goodies, as well as having a family holiday with some of the more conventional holiday activities that normal families do (apparently. I'm still slowly getting used to the idea that holidays need not come with an extensive list of targets and objectives and each day does not require a plan of attack).
One old habit I was allowed to hang on to was the early start, so after a day at work on Friday, followed by a work’s family do that evening, we set off at a little after 23:00 and powered through the night, arriving at the filling station just outside Oban (the one that will be familiar to many travellers to Mull) shortly after 05:00 on Saturday morning. Here we scored the first tick of the trip, the first of a great many Hooded Crows by the road, as we left with a full tank. Hoodies were to become something of a totemic bird for this holiday, with cries of “Hoodie” punctuating every car journey, with no diminution of excitement throughout the whole week.

We were among the first on the ferry, and were up on deck as quick as we could, but the crossing was fairly uneventful, although the Oban Black Guillemots are always good value; a single fly-by drake Eider was considered best of the rest.
Once off at Craignure we headed north to look for breakfast, which we found in the Tobermory bakery (bacon & haggis bap and a strong black coffee, bullseye) and followed this up with a visit to the Mull Aquarium, whose rich assortment of marine phyla kept the boys entertained (highlight for me was seeing sea squirts up close) before heading off to explore further afield. Little Grebe on Loch Meadhoin, with a fly past from a Cuckoo nearby got the ball rolling, and we were soon seeing Meadow Pipits & Wheatears by the roadside, Buzzards & Ravens overhead and, of course, Hoodies by the score. A stop off at the viewpoint high above Dervaig added Tawny Owl to the trip list with one bizarrely hooting away at eleven in the morning, and a little later we pulled into the car park at Calgary, reckoned to be one of the finest beaches in Scotland. In the half hour or so we were there we never made it from the car park to the beach. The machair was crawling with beetles, and with memories of watching Steve Backshall on telly recently both boys were soon carefully scooping up the beetles for a closer look. Most of them quickly raised their elytra, spread their wings and flew off, but occasionally one would stay on a palm, or finger, or thumb, and elicit delighted cries of “he likes me, he likes me” from whoever had been honoured in this way. The beetles were proving no less popular with hordes of Common Gulls, Starlings, House Sparrows & Hoodies that decorated the machair. The boys also didn't take long to spot the Sand Martins going about their business around their colony in the dunes.

There’s a good café just round the corner from Calgary (travelling clockwise) and I can thoroughly recommend the bacon, chicken & blue cheese panini, and the strength of its coffee (provided a vital boost to my faculties at the time). In the woods above the café is a “sculpture trail” which we explored, seeing the week’s only Treecreeper here, and we decided that this would merit a return visit later in the week. A slow drive down the Aros valley followed, with frequent fruitless stops to scan for Eagles, until we finally arrived at Crannich, our base for the week. By now I had been on the go for 36 hours (barring a twenty minute snooze sitting in the car as we waited to board the ferry at Oban, followed by another twenty minutes sitting in the Aquarium while the kids joined a touch-pool session), so past the point I had a glass of wine in my hand the rest of the day has now, a week later, receded completely from memory.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

29th May

Sunday was Eagle day. After a lie in, and a potter round the north end of the island, including revisiting the view point above Dervaig at the boys’ request (with Tree Pipit the bird of the morning) we decided to head round to Loch Na Keal to look for White-tailed Eagle.

As we passed through Knock en route a little voice from the back seat called out “Deer”, and sure enough, there in the woods on the left was a trio of Fallow Deer, the only ones of the trip. Our eldest is really beginning to come into his own as a spotter, rather than just relying on Dad to show him stuff.

A wee bit further on, by the south east corner of the loch, was a promising looking cabal of scope toting spotters, and sure enough the news was good; we were nicely wedged between Goldies behind us in the hills and White-tails out over the water. Both species had been showing well off and on, and it wasn’t long before the latter appeared, high and distant over the hillside on the far side of the loch. As luck would have it an Eagle seeking tour was out on the water, offering up freebies in return for close views and photo-ops. They were way way out on the water, but the Eagle was easy enough to pick out, and once it was clutching its fishy prize it drifted a lot closer, and came back later, sans salmon, and presumably replete. With WHITE-TAILED EAGLE in the bag it was time for a set piece from one of the GOLDEN EAGLES. I was on a Peregrine when the call went up, and it took me a couple of beats to get onto it, by which time the boys were oohing and aahing as it swept down and plonked itself on the cliff face. Brilliant.

Well satisfied, we set off once more, heading west along a loch side dotted with Oystercatchers and Common Sandpipers, and as we pulled up for our first on spec scan our youngest started excidetdly claiming two more Golden Eagles. To my shame I assumed he was on a couple of Buzzards, and was just over excited from having seen his first Eagles half a mile back, but no, they were the real deal! Nice one! Seals were loafing on the rocks off shore (Grey & Common, with one Common looking like it had been in the wars, sporting a bloody gorget). Also here one off my most wanted chose our vantage point to float by, a stunning sum plum Great Northern Diver, numbers of which fall pretty sharply this time of year, so would have been easy to miss, this was our sole sighting.

We stopped tolook for Eagles again on the way back but didn’t see any, although it was a real pleasure to see Snipe drumming over the pasture by the road.

The boys had now matched last year’s year list (168), and were just two away from hitting 200 for the life list.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

More from Loch Na Keal...

 

[JWN Andrewes]

30th May

Early Monday morning saw us cruising down all but empty roads, through the majestic scenery of Glen More, in glorious sunshine heading for Fionhphort, point of departure for the island of Iona. We arrived with just enough time for a brief foray south to Fidden, scanning the pastures for the hibernicus Mountain Hares I’d seen here in previous years, but with no luck.

After the short voyage across the strait we hopped off the boat and headed north to check the iris beds below the Abbey. All quiet here (barring the ubiquitous Hoodies, a scattering of Oystercatchers and Starlings and a couple of fly-by Shelducks), so after a short wait I decided to shift position to see if we could find a better vantage point, maybe with a good view of some shorter vegetation in amongst the irises. After a while the boys drifted back towards where their mother had remained at our first stake out, and then about five minutes later I started to follow them. We had still not heard anything. As I walked along the wall a Corncrake popped up beside me, point blank, at eye level, on the wall! The bird reacted first, quickly launching itself off and away, legs dangling, and dropped into a thick patch of herbs in a field between us and the Abbey. It all happened so quick, I had no time to draw the boys’ attention to it. It’s a real bugger, but I'm starting to find it harder and harder to enjoy birds I see but the boys miss! And this was a real beaut! Hey ho. We moved round to sit on some stone steps that lead out from the Abbey grounds that afforded a good view of the field the Crake had flown to, but all was quiet, predictably.

Ok then, off for a mooch around, and as we rounded the north side of the Abbey we finally heard our first Corncrake, rasping away from the irises, but again, utterly invisible. Onward, via a visit to a couple of craft type shops, and then up a track towards the west of the island. Here we heard another Crake, calling from thick cover in someone’s garden to the right of the track, and saw a couple of Rock Doves, or the closest thing to the real deal that the boys have seen so far. (As an aside, there was a racing pigeon being fed by the owner of one of the shops we’d visited. She said they had managed to catch it and contact the owner via the information on its ring. He’d asked if they could possibly take it to the mainland and release it, which they duly did, near Stirling. Three days later it was back on Iona. Doesn't bode well.) While watching the Doves we heard another Corncrake from a distant iris bed off to our left, and way beyond it we could see a couple of birders staking out a field between two houses back on the coast, so we decided to grab a bite at the Martyr’s Bay Café by the quay and then start checking fields south of there. While at the café we saw another birder who confirmed that there was a bird in the field between the two houses that did show from time to time. So off we went. When we arrived the boys were quickly distracted by a small beach across the road from the Corncrake field, so they went off to play, having been promised that I would call them if there was any action. All remained quiet until, when glancing over my shoulder to see what the boys were up to, there was a Corncrake crossing the road! Hells Bells! I managed to get the boys’ attention without scaring the bird off, which was now hunkered down under and unoccupied boat trailer parked up by one of the houses. The eldest was quick enough to see it before it crept round the corner of the house and into the cover of the field, but his younger brother wasn't. Too bad, although he has shown no signs of being traumatised by dipping in such a fashion (had it been the other way about it would have been a very different matter)! Unfortunately there was no time for photos with the priority being to get the boys onto the bird, otherwise I might well have gotten something decent. At least I could now retrospectively settle down and properly enjoy the one I’d seen earlier at the Abbey. That pretty much concluded the wildlife agenda for Monday, the balance of the day being spent travelling back from Iona, sightseeing and playing.

Back at Crannich the local farm cats had a wild look about them...

 

[JWN Andrewes]

31st May

A day at the beach, where much fun was had by all, paddling, building sand castles, genarally kicking back and having fun, followed by another visit to the Café with the sculpture trail (and zip wire as it turns out, spent quite a while here), rounded off with a bimble round Tobermory. Not a complete dead loss on the wildlife front however, with more beetle hunting (Garden Chafers, many thanks to sidewayspigeon for the ID over on the invert forum), including finding several dashing Green Tiger Beetles, and a trio of Eiders with ducklings out in the bay at Calgary. Back in Tobermory close examination of the beautifully clear high tide waters gave us what appear to be at least three species of jellyfish (Crystal, Moon & Blue, with thanks to Jane Turner and Welsh Peregrine for ID’s over on the marine forum) and a flatfish of some sort, cunningly concealed against the gravelly sea bed. Back at Crannich I took a photo of a sheep with horns, which the boys have taken to referring to as “Attack Sheep”, or on occasion “Battle Sheep”.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Jellies, flatfish & Attack Sheep...

 

[Farnboro John]

Jellies, flatfish & Attack Sheep...

Dain of the Iron Hills might think that sheep an acceptable alternative to his battle boar!

John