Myself and my birder's wife had family business to attend to in the Cotswolds today. However, I took along my bins and telescope just in case.
As we pulled away from our first destination a brown owl shape flapped across the road, it could not have been anything other than a Tawny, the first I have seen for a couple of years and in broad daylight as well (it must have been disturbed big time by something).
The day progressed without any further birding incidents and on the way home we took a detour to Hawling to see if we could hear any Quails, alas no, as the weather had again turned for the worse. However, I cannot complain, a Tawny is always worth seeing.
Saturday 23 June 2012
Friday 22 June 2012
Back to Brandon...Back to Reality
After a very exciting few days birding last weekend, I thought I would get back to reality and make a long overdue visit to Brandon Marsh again last night. As I pulled in and entered the code to gain access to the reserve, I was welcomed by a cacophany of bird song that included Reed and Sedge Warblers and Reed Buntings, a promising start to the visit. However, as I approached the Wright Hide, the heavens opened and the weather just closed in for the remaining time I was there. The cloud cover was so heavy that I could hardly even see that far through my Bins despite it being well before dusk. So, after an hour or so, I gave up and headed home, not even bothering to wait 15 minutes to see if the Otters would turn up. A harsh lesson that has fully reminded me that Birding is not always about rushing around seeing the best birds but seeing the day to day species and appreciating them for what they are. So, highlights of the trip out were a beautiful Green Woodpecker that flew in front of Carlton Hide and a Jay causing lots of alarm calls from small passerines in the wood.
Monday 18 June 2012
Ibis, Herons and Spoonbills
I decided that a visit to relatives down on the South Coast was long overdue and therefore myself and my birder's wife made our way down to the Southampton area on Friday night.
In order to not bore my birder's wife too much, I decided to get up early the following morning to tick off some of my wanted species and found myself at Farlington Marshes at 6:00am. I had the Marshes to myself besides some workmen from the Environment Agency and a fellow birder who obviously had got up far earlier than myself, as he was finishing the circuit just as I was starting. Farlington Marshes is a reserve I have popped by many times but not actually walked round and I cannot believe that I had not made the effort until this weekend. It truly is a fantastic place with many habitats, from marshland, bushes, grassland and coastal mudflats which offer lots of exciting birds to view. I immediately hooked up with the first of my wanted species, a Little Tern, which was fishing very close to shore. I then proceeded round the reserve and soon arrived at the "Deeps" (two small pools of water sitting in the grassland) which have hosted a Glossy Ibis for the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Ibis but there were plenty of loathing Blackheaded Gulls, Little Egrets and a Bar Headed Goose associating with some Canada Geese. I consoled myself that I had at least seen the Little Tern and continued on with the circuit. As I approached the hut that lists recent sightings, I caught a glimpse of something black on the pool behind and lo and behold it was the Glossy Ibis which was looking absolutely resplendent in the early morning sunshine. I tried to digiscope the bird but unfortunately could not hold the camera still due to the strong wind and only just managed the above record shot.
I then headed back to wake up my birder's wife and we headed out again but this time towards the New Forest. Our first port of call was Pennington Marshes, where I thought we could try out for the Night Heron which had been seen there briefly earlier. To be honest, I was not holding out much hope as I have had problems with this species in the past, especially with the bird that appeared in Warwickshire last year, which I finally managed to see after spending many hours waiting. This time proved to be far different, after a 10 minute wait looking across a fishing pond at a heavily vegated island, I spotted a heron flying towards us which was the bird in question. It proved to be very obliging and landed in a nearby tree and posed for us for a couples of minutes allowing me to obtain a great record shot (far better than the Ibis). We then decided to walk out to the sea front, where the tide was in and the wind very strong, both conditions not that condusive for many birds and the only thing we spotted were some Little and Common Terns resting up from battling the strong gusts. We decided to break for lunch before making our way into the New Forest to try for two more of my wanted species, Firecrest and Dartford Warbler. After a brief look at Hawkhill Inclosure and Beaulieu Road Station, we finally found a Firecrest at Bolderwood but it took a fair bit of hunting. The Dartford Warblers were hiding away from the strong wind and would have to wait for another day.
The following day (Sunday) we made our way to the Purbeck Peninsula to stay for one night and after quickly checking in at our hotel, we made our way to Langton Matravers which is the start of a walk to the "Dancing Ledge" on the "Jurassic Coast". After 20 minutes of walking we were on the "Ledge" looking out to sea, with nothing between us and France except for "blue", my phone certainly thought so anyway, as it picked up a french network. The "Dancing Ledge" is an excellent place for sea birds and before long, during which a bold little Rock Pipit fluttered round us , we had good views of Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemots (further species notched up). As the weather began to close in we made an uphill dash back to the car and found somewhere to eat in nearby Corfe Castle.
Today, we decided to venture forth to Durlston Country Park for some further sea bird action and during our 2 hour visit managed Greater Black Backed Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets and one Manx Shearwater moving eastwards. Birds in the bushes and on the cliffs included Rock and Meadow Pipits, Black Redstart and young Kestrels. As time marched on, we started to make our way back home via Arne RSPB reserve where I was hoping to see Dartford Warblers which had so far eluded me during the weekend despite many efforts to try and see one. Again, I was not fortunate and I had to contend with another year first instead, two fine looking Spoonbills and Simon King, who was apparently visiting the Reserve on one of his Nature Holidays that he leads. We walked round the heathland twice but just could not find any Dartford Warblers, plenty of everything else, including Woodlarks but not the pesky Dartfords. On the way back to the car we decided to broaded our horizons and watched the Dragonflies and Damselflies on the bog pool and even managed to capture an almost decent shot of a Four Spotted Chaser.
Alas, our time was running out and we started the long journey home. I decided to make one final pitstop in the New Forest and while I left my birder's wife in the car finishing off her coffee, I took a walk down a path with gorse on each side and finally managed to catch up with a very bold Dartford Warbler singing from the top of a bush (finally the last of my weekend target birds seen but only after hours of searching). A great few days away, with good company, good weather and great birds.
In order to not bore my birder's wife too much, I decided to get up early the following morning to tick off some of my wanted species and found myself at Farlington Marshes at 6:00am. I had the Marshes to myself besides some workmen from the Environment Agency and a fellow birder who obviously had got up far earlier than myself, as he was finishing the circuit just as I was starting. Farlington Marshes is a reserve I have popped by many times but not actually walked round and I cannot believe that I had not made the effort until this weekend. It truly is a fantastic place with many habitats, from marshland, bushes, grassland and coastal mudflats which offer lots of exciting birds to view. I immediately hooked up with the first of my wanted species, a Little Tern, which was fishing very close to shore. I then proceeded round the reserve and soon arrived at the "Deeps" (two small pools of water sitting in the grassland) which have hosted a Glossy Ibis for the past couple of weeks. Unfortunately, there was no sign of the Ibis but there were plenty of loathing Blackheaded Gulls, Little Egrets and a Bar Headed Goose associating with some Canada Geese. I consoled myself that I had at least seen the Little Tern and continued on with the circuit. As I approached the hut that lists recent sightings, I caught a glimpse of something black on the pool behind and lo and behold it was the Glossy Ibis which was looking absolutely resplendent in the early morning sunshine. I tried to digiscope the bird but unfortunately could not hold the camera still due to the strong wind and only just managed the above record shot.
I then headed back to wake up my birder's wife and we headed out again but this time towards the New Forest. Our first port of call was Pennington Marshes, where I thought we could try out for the Night Heron which had been seen there briefly earlier. To be honest, I was not holding out much hope as I have had problems with this species in the past, especially with the bird that appeared in Warwickshire last year, which I finally managed to see after spending many hours waiting. This time proved to be far different, after a 10 minute wait looking across a fishing pond at a heavily vegated island, I spotted a heron flying towards us which was the bird in question. It proved to be very obliging and landed in a nearby tree and posed for us for a couples of minutes allowing me to obtain a great record shot (far better than the Ibis). We then decided to walk out to the sea front, where the tide was in and the wind very strong, both conditions not that condusive for many birds and the only thing we spotted were some Little and Common Terns resting up from battling the strong gusts. We decided to break for lunch before making our way into the New Forest to try for two more of my wanted species, Firecrest and Dartford Warbler. After a brief look at Hawkhill Inclosure and Beaulieu Road Station, we finally found a Firecrest at Bolderwood but it took a fair bit of hunting. The Dartford Warblers were hiding away from the strong wind and would have to wait for another day.The following day (Sunday) we made our way to the Purbeck Peninsula to stay for one night and after quickly checking in at our hotel, we made our way to Langton Matravers which is the start of a walk to the "Dancing Ledge" on the "Jurassic Coast". After 20 minutes of walking we were on the "Ledge" looking out to sea, with nothing between us and France except for "blue", my phone certainly thought so anyway, as it picked up a french network. The "Dancing Ledge" is an excellent place for sea birds and before long, during which a bold little Rock Pipit fluttered round us , we had good views of Puffin, Razorbill and Guillemots (further species notched up). As the weather began to close in we made an uphill dash back to the car and found somewhere to eat in nearby Corfe Castle.
Today, we decided to venture forth to Durlston Country Park for some further sea bird action and during our 2 hour visit managed Greater Black Backed Gulls, Lesser Black Backed Gulls and Herring Gulls, Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets and one Manx Shearwater moving eastwards. Birds in the bushes and on the cliffs included Rock and Meadow Pipits, Black Redstart and young Kestrels. As time marched on, we started to make our way back home via Arne RSPB reserve where I was hoping to see Dartford Warblers which had so far eluded me during the weekend despite many efforts to try and see one. Again, I was not fortunate and I had to contend with another year first instead, two fine looking Spoonbills and Simon King, who was apparently visiting the Reserve on one of his Nature Holidays that he leads. We walked round the heathland twice but just could not find any Dartford Warblers, plenty of everything else, including Woodlarks but not the pesky Dartfords. On the way back to the car we decided to broaded our horizons and watched the Dragonflies and Damselflies on the bog pool and even managed to capture an almost decent shot of a Four Spotted Chaser.Alas, our time was running out and we started the long journey home. I decided to make one final pitstop in the New Forest and while I left my birder's wife in the car finishing off her coffee, I took a walk down a path with gorse on each side and finally managed to catch up with a very bold Dartford Warbler singing from the top of a bush (finally the last of my weekend target birds seen but only after hours of searching). A great few days away, with good company, good weather and great birds.
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Phalarope and Cranes
After a relatively bird free long weekend, I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours at Slimbridge this morning with my birder's wife and we managed to catch up with the the female Red Necked Phalarope that has been frequenting the Gloucester area over the past couple of weeks. Other birds present were a few Black Tailed Godwits and a couple of the Somerset Levels released Cranes that have made their way back to the area. Bird of the day has to be though the female Red Necked Phalarope who looked very splendid indeed. That spot will keep me going till our next trip in a couple of weeks time to the New Forest.
Saturday 2 June 2012
Early Otmoor
As I always seem to wake up at 5am each morning at the moment, I thought I would not waste any time trying to fall back to sleep and got up instead and made my way over to Otmoor. My main reason for driving down to Oxfordshire was to try and see two elusive species for me, Grasshopper Warbler and Turtle Dove.
Fortunately, as I made my way down the M40 the weather improved from sheets of rain to just overcast and by the time I pulled into the carpark at Otmoor the birds had got over the shock of the downpour as the place was awash with song.
First birds of the day were 3-4 Skylarks and a Snipe drumming in the distance. The main path from the car park was alive with warblers including Chiff Chaff, Willow Warbler, Garden Warblers and Blackcaps and the electricy wires had a nice flock of pristine Linnets.
The field near the carpark had at least two Grasshopper Warblers reeling but after a 45 minutes search I just could not locate any. As I was waiting, I heard the purring sound of a Turtle Dove and I eventually managed to locate it sitting on a dead branch just behind the entrance.
I decided to give up on the Groppers for a while and wandered up the path towards the hide, the walk provided me with great views of male and female Cuckoos, Red Legged Partridges and many Sedge Warblers singing their hearts out, including this very obliging chap who posed for me nicely (digiscoped with my phone - as I had forgotten my camera...again).
The hide itself did not provide any new birds for the day, so I decided to amble back to the car, stopping for another fruitless half an hour trying to track the Groppers. Hey, at least I managed to catch up with some Turtle Doves, they really are just fantastic and beautiful birds.
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