Garden List

Siskin - only garden record

Rank Bullfinch photos in garden

Just added my garden list to Bubo - turns out that the Yellowhammer last week was my 50th species recorded since May 2008. Highlights have included Barn Owl, regular Bullfinch in spring, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff & Blackcap on blossom (or the insects on the blossom), Tawnys singing from roof, Cuckoo singing nearby (can 2011 be the 4th year in a row?), Stock Dove, Tree Sparrow, Grey Wagtail, GS Woodie, Siskin, Kestrel, Yellowhammer and a few other nice bits and pieces. Plenty of 'good' stuff for a garden. Have a feeling that I have seen a couple of other bits but cant remember - Yellow Wag, Meadow Pipit, Sand Martin, Tufted Duck are the ones I'm struggling with.

The birds I want - I quite fancy a Turtle Dove, calling from the reedbed, across the railway and Moorhen calling is possible as they both breed close-ish. A flyover raptor isn't out of the question (Buzzard, Marsh Harrier, Osprey & Hobby seem the most likely). Reed Bunting summer and winter on the sewage works as do Goldcrest although I lack a pine tree for the latter. A flyover Lesser-black Back must be a possibility. Waterfowl from the mere regularly bomb about so there are a few potential additions there with Tufty and Gadwall chief amongst them. Lapwing breed across the road so if I listen hard I am sure I will get some in spring.

What have I missed? Tophill Low regularly gets raptors passing over - Osprey's and Marsh Harriers. The one that may have passed overhead was the White-tailed Eagle in 2009. I also missed the Wansford White Stork of 2008. Nightmare eh!

Terrible pic of Blackcap in garden in spring

Best keep looking, although I think lots of skywatching will be needed to get to 100.

Finally...

Third time lucky with the Ring-billed Gull today! I got across to Mirfield for about half 12 and connected immediately. It looked settled so I fired off a few test shots and started faffing with the camera settings. We ll that was a mistake - I looked down at the camera to sort the white-balance to improve the exposure and puff it was gone... A nice bonus was a Lesser Black-backed Gull in with the Commons and Black-heads. I tried to connect round at the weir but there was nothing there save a few Pochard.

Horribly over-exposed/out of focus Ring-billed Gull "fixed" in Picasa

A subway beckoned to cogitate on a plan - did I try and get a better picture of the RB Gull or did I have a crack at the Arctic Redpolls at Hatfield Moor with a Lesser Scaup as a bonus year tick. Easy choice. I arrived at Hatfield about 45 minutes later. I decided to ignore the Lesser Scaup initially in order to get a better crack at the Redpolls. A mistake as I had to shoot the Lesser Scaup at 1600 ISO. Back with the Redpolls - I wandered about in the birch and alders quickly seeing my first Bullfinch of the year. This was followed by a group of Redpolls, seemingly a few Mealies and plenty of Lessers. I also bumped into a few birders who had a possible Arctic in the morning but nothing since and even that was a bit streaky apparently. Walking on I had a few flyover Redpolls and a year tick in the form of 4 Crossbills overhead. Another yeartick in a Goldcrest caused almost a hesitation - didnt they all die this winter?? How on earth did it not freeze. The light was starting to go so I bombed back to catch up with the Lesser Scaup. This little beaut was trying to climb through the fence - it seeemed desperate for food although once it had its fill soon moved back onto the lake. The question remains - escape or desperate? A gammy leg apparently is hindering its feeding so maybe it is gen. A trio of Whoopers were a nice bonus at the back.

Did I jump a fence? Can James take a decent photo?
On this evidence, no.

Lesser Scaup - Hatfield Moors

West Somerset and Waxwings



Waxwings - Driffield

 Spent Sunday to Wednesday doing bird disturbance work in Bridgewater Bay, West Somerset. It wasn't great weather, we got a puncture second day but still it was good to be somewhere new. Infact if the transit van didnt get the puncture I was due to go looking for the Great White Egrets at Shapwick heath, 10 miles away from Burnham-on-Sea where we stayed. Sadly it was not to be but some decent birds were seen.

The travel down was later than expected - I had racked a mere 27 species of bird on New Year's Day (highlights few and far between) and I was hopeful of perhaps getting Buzzard en route. What I did manage was Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull and something else equally crap. We got a good run down (we being me and a colleague, Ann, who was doing the benthic hovercraft sampling I was observing) and arrived at Burnham around 9.30pm.

The next morning I managed to sleep through my alarm almost failing at my job before it started. I zoomed down to Hinkley Point with new year ticks including Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck, Curlew, Greater Black-backed Gull and Oystercatcher. Exciting stuff. I did manage a Buzzard as I travelled - infact these were pretty universal in the area. Plenty of Dunlin were kicking about with top counts around the 10,000 mark.

As the hovercraft sampling moved along Bridgewater Bay I had to move to Stert Flats to get a better view. As I trundled along I noted a bird of prey on a post. I readied my camera and ... bugger, I had forgotten the battery in the rush from oversleeping. I rolled the transit van to within 20m and the bird flushed onto the next post - a female Merlin. It just sat and watched me with me watching it, gutted I didnt have a battery to snap away at it. Not alot on Stert flats so that was my lot for the day save manual labour.

mmm - muddy

The next day had me watching the estuary of the River Parrett as the van had a puncture and I had to sort that. Not alot to report but a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits and 8 Ringed Plover were nice and a Grey Wagtail in a garden was a surprise. We were about done and dusted apart from a few bits and bats don by the power station. These took much longer than expected on the Wednesday so when we got finished at half 3 we were releaved. Then I got the van stuck on wet grass with over a tonne of mud samples in. An hour it took me to unload the van, move the van and reload the van although I was concerned it could have been allnight... Finally we were away. 



Waxwings - Driffield



On the way back I heard that a few Waxwings were knocking about Driffield - I managed to get away and see them this morning. I managed a few shots but messed up my autofocus - sorted now but these shots were all I could manage. I did manage a Common Gull on the roof of next doors house though and a bona fide garden tick - Yellowhammer on the seed under the feeder - a nice bright female.

Common Gull - Nafferton

New Year, New Camera

I didnt manage to get out today recording 20 or so species incidently. The village pond seems to have lost its Pochard, 3 of which were present yesterday including a 1cy male. I finally got hold of my new camera, which is my first foray into DSLR-dom. I have a Nikon D200 with a Sigma 170-500mm. This is all baby steps so I hope you bare with me. Been a bit ropey light wise so I have mostly been reading the manual and trying to get my head round F-stops, ISO and aperture size.

Black-headed Gull - Nafferton Mere

Yesterday I headed up to the mere to try the stuff out and I was rubbish frankly but here is my first effort at a Black-headed Gull.

Sightings

I have just received a couple of histories of Black-tailed Godwits I have caught up with this year at Killingholme, North Lincs.

The first was ringed as an adult in 2009 in NE Iceland. It was seen at Pyewipe that autumn - only a couple of miles south of my survey site. This year it was seen at Caerlaverock in May, presumably en route to Iceland before being seen by me at North Killingholme in August. I have highlighted sightings on the map below (which doesnt want to centre in the right place...)


View Black-tailed Godwit RN-WX in a larger map

My other Blackwit is GO-OO, ringed as an adult female in 2003 in S Iceland, seen at this location the following month before moving to Cliffe Pools, Kent in September 2003. It seems to over winter in Kent as it was seen on the Swale Estuary in February 2004 & 2005. Post breeding it was seen on the Thames Estuary in August 2005. It was then seen next in July 2006 at Northward Hill, Kent, presumably as a failed breeder. That winter it stayed around the Thames estuary with sightings at Leigh, Essex and Cliffe,  Kent before moving onto the Swale Estuary in March 2007.


View Black-tailed Godwit GO-OO in a larger map

GO-OO returned to the same site in Southern Iceland in June 2007 to breed before being seen around the Thames that autumn at Leigh & Cliffe. In early January it was seen on Canvey Island. The bird was not seen again for 2 years before subsequently being seen several times on the Medway in April, 2010. Finally for now it was seen by myself at North Killingholme in August 2010. As can be seen from the map below this bird spends most of its life on the outer Thames estuary. Killingholme is probably a major stopover point en route from Iceland. It is worth zooming in on the Thames area to show usage of the estuary.

Twitching Tales #2 - My First Mega

In the heady days before I had seen Little Egret or Green Woodpecker let alone a Shrike of any description I went to see a Baird's Sandpiper. This I enjoyed very much. I decided to go twitching again. The bug had struck. The question is - where do I go? what do I see? how far should I go? I failed to answer any of those questions and decided to go for the next mega that came up. Boy did I choose a good one - no Red-flanked Bluetail or other such "dross" that would be devalued. I went for something enigmatic and rare. A first for Britain and one that has only been seen once subsequently - a one day bird on Scilly.

The year was 2004 - I was very much the novice but I had drooled over the series of firsts that autumn with Purple Martin, Chestnut-eared Bunting, Rufous-tailed Robin & the unacceptable Chinese Pond Heron. How lovely. I'm sure by now you will have worked out which bird I went for but if not below is a small reminder.

Masked Shrike 1st winter - Kilrenny, Fife 2004

Thats right - setting off in the middle of the night I arrived at Kilrenny in Fife at 10ish to see the Masked Shrike. There was no trepidation which now bothers my twitching, just expectation. I saw a Treecreeper which was my first since I had restarted "birdwatching" as I was still calling it. And lo - there was a silver apparition with a massive white patch on the primaries. Obviously I ruled out Woodchat with extensive observation and detailed notes...hmmm. Ok maybe not but I saw it and I was overjoyed.

Finding myself in Scotland at 11am I went to Vane Farm and life ticked Little Egret, Pink-footed Goose and something even gayer which I can't remember before coming home. Mental. Enjoyed it loads.

p.s. dipped the Mirfield Ring-billed Gull yesterday. Again.

Welsh Winter Wonderland

The Menai Straits are one of the warmest places in Britain, especially in winter. Nice Gulf stream influence, sheltered, little precipitation due to the rainshadow from Snowdonia. Basically lovely. Was minus 7 there and 6 inches of snow when I rolled up last Sunday. In fact when we went to sea we managed to record minus 7. Offshore. Insane. We were surveying Rhyl flats and managed quite a few decent birds. I lost all feeling in my fingers and toes plus I got snowed on but Scaup at sea were very nice. As were the 20,000 Common Scoter that flew past (but no velvets). Truely incredible stuff. It was like that Carling advert but with small black ducks instead of Starlings. During the day we had a passage of Skylark and a few winter thrushes. Wise birds beating the chill. The other highlights were a couple of Great Northern Divers. Not a right lot although we managed Goldeneye and both the commoner sawbills back on the Menai Straits.

I soon returned home and a bit of garden action occured with Song Thrush on my feeders and Pied Wagtail actually in the garden as opposed to on a neighbours roof. Continuing evidence of a hard winter. Oh that and the 6 inches of snow we had between 6pm Christmas Eve and 1am Christmas Day. Oh yeah - we had a proper white christmas. My tweets with appropriate pictures may even still be in the twitter feed. Or not if you are reading this in January (or July) (freak).

Using my smooth linkage Im going to move on to Christmas itself. We had a pleasant time here in Chez Spencer with my wife hosting. Beer has/is being drunk with gay abandon and I appear to now own a Nikon D200. Just waiting for it to arrive in the post but once that happens I can assure you my ability to take limited pictures will be evident. I did however get a couple of useful books - The Sound Approach by Mark Constantine et al which seems amazing plus A Birdwatchers Guide to Digital Photography by David Tipling which will hopefully also prove illuminating.

p.s. Did North Killingholme on Christmas Eve. Simple summation reads as such - Frozen, snow. Best bird a Fox on the ice. Foreshore = snowy. Few waders. Nothing good. Tonnes of Thrushes.