Rutland Water Bank Holiday Monday

 As my birder's wife was due to visit a dear friend of ours, I took the opportunity to accompany the Capt for a visit to Rutland Water to help secure her with a few birds missing off her year list.

Our first stop was Manton Bridge where we got her the first species of the day, Osprey, where there was still 4 in residence.  We then made our way to the main Egleton Reserve and Lagoon IV where all the wader action seemed to be occuring.

The water in Lagoon IV was quite low, which offered plenty of opportunities for waders and it was not long before we had spotted Ringed Plovers, Dunlin, Redshank and Ruff.  After a short while we managed to find a Sanderling and a Little Stint before it flew left behind an Island.  In a bid to refind the Little Stint, we moved hides and from the new hide although we could not relocate the bird, we did relocate the Sanderling, along with a Greenshank and a Spotted Redshank.  Further searching produced a female Garganey and a Black Tern.

After the highly productive time we had at Lagoon IV, we headed back to the Visitor Centre, encountering a large tit flock on the way which myself and another birder could have sworn included a female Redstart.  Unfortunately, the flock was moving very fast and we could not relocate the bird again.

 

We then made our way home firstly via the Lyndon Reserve to obtain Tree Sparrow for the Capt's ever expanding list and then Eyebrook Reservoir (which unfortunately had nothing of interest).

Grimley and a Great White Egret

This morning in a bid to enlarge my year list, myself and my birder's wife decided to take a visit to Grimley to see if we could find the Great White Egret who has been residing there for about a week now.

As the site was new to me, I was not too sure where to go but once parked up safely, we wandered to a nearby gate which gave us a view of the ponds and soon saw distant views of the GW Egret which was busy fishing on the edge of the northern most pond.

As we were watching the bird, we became aware of a bird calling from the field behind us and decided to investigate.  Nothing was too obvious but I decided to just check the top of a dead tree and came across a Little Owl.  I rushed to put up my scope but alas was too late as he decided to fly away.

The rest of our time on St Mary's and in Cornwall

Sunday 19th August 2012

We woke up to torrential rain and decided to make use of the morning by finding some waterproof trousers so at least in the afternoon we would not get completely soaked on our pelagics trip.  As it happened, when we had purchased some trousers, the sun decided to come out and shine upon us.  So, the rest of the morning we decided to take a short stroll up to the Garrison to see what we could find.  Unfortunately, as time was against us, we did not find anything worth mentioning and boarded our vessel for the third and final pelagic trip of the weekend.  This final trip was another attempt to see Wilsons Petrol with a cruise to five miles from shore and then drifing and chumming.  As we left St Mary's we encountered a Bonxie and sighted a couple of Manx Shearwaters.  As the evening drew on and we drifted aimlessly, we attracted two Arctic Skuas, a few Storm Petrols and a further Sooty Shearwater.  Unfortunately, as the wind was very slight, the birds were few and far between and it was not long before we were making our way back to shore.  Wilson Petrol and Pomarine Skua will have to remain on my unseen list for the time being.

Monday 20th August 2012

Our final morning on St Mary's involved a march round the Garrison and then onto the Airfield, the Church and back to the B&B.  The woalk produced about 10 Pied Flycatchers, 2 Mediterranean Gulls, 4 Common Sandpipers, 2 Green Sandpipers, a Greenshank and a very confiding Wheatear.

The crossing back to the mainland proved to be very successful indeed with sighings of Bonxie, Arctic Skua, Storm Petrols, Manx Shearwaters and my very first Balearic Shearwater (hurrah, another bird that can be crossed off my unseen list and another lifer).

Tuesday 21st August 2012

After a restful nights sleep in our new accomodation, we ventured out with new optimism and decided to pay a visit to Gwennap Head to seawatch for the morning.  The sea did not seem to produce that much except for the occasional Manx Shearwater and I therefore decided to go for a wander round the clifftops and left the Capt and my birder's wife to continue scanning the horizon.  In my wanders I managed to come across a Whimbrel among the rocks and went back to inform the Capt who informed me that she had located a Balearic Shearwater in the passing birds.  As we made our way back to the car to try and relocate the Whimbrel (who had disappeared), the heavens opened and blessed us with rain.mmmmmm!

For the rest of the day we explored the area, including Drift Reservoir (for an Osprey which we could not find) and Marazion (for a Spotted Crake, which was just too elusive for us) and Nanquidno Valley where we managed to score a lifer for the Capt in the form of a Chough (rubbish shot below).

Wednesday 22nd August 2012

Having been bitten by the sea watching bug, we thought we would try our fortunes at Pendeen.  The group we had shared the pelagic trips with were there and for following hour or so, we managed to see a couple of Arctic Skuas, 6 Whimbrel and about 1000+ Manx Shearwaters.

In the afternoon we thought we would search for migrants down the Nanquidno Valley but were pretty much unsuccesful.

Thursday 23rd August 2012

Our last day,during which we made our way home via Hayle to see if we could find any waders.  Unfortunately, we arrived the wrong side of the tide and only managed a group of Curlew.  A further detour on the way back was to Prawle Point where we walked east for about 400 yards to observe good views of Cirl Bunting (another lifer for the Capt - who was just being greedy by now).

Stormies and Sooties

Saturday 18th August 2012

After settling into our B&B and a good nights sleep, I had a very plain breakfast, took a dose of Sturgeron and left my birder's wife for the day to potter round St Mary's (she just could not face another boat trip).  Myself and the Capt then made our way to the Quay for a full days pelagic following trawlers and chumming.  Fortunately,  the sea and wind had calmed down a lot since the night before, which was good for our stomachs but not so good for birds.

Our main aim for the day was to locate trawlers and trail them to find out what birds were following them, this involved a trip out to sea of approximately 20 miles.  On the outward trip, we located further Bonxies and Sabines Gulls, along with distant views of Storm Petrols.  As we approached the trawlers, the Storm Petrols came closer and I managed to obtain a few shots.

During the day, we also obtained a couple of distant views of Manx Shearwaters but for me the star bird of the day was a Sooty Shearwater which was following one of the trawlers, this used to be one of my unseen birds and was a lifer for me.

Scillies - Puketastic!!

Friday 17th August 2012

As we boarded the Scillonian III, we were informed by the check-in office that the crossing was going to be rough and they weren't wrong.

As soon as we sailed out of the harbour we spotted our first Common Terns closely followed by an Arctic Skua.  Further out, we came across our first Bonxie and then mid voyage several Storm Petrols accompanied us for a while.  Unfortunately, by that time, my birder's wife and the Capt had retreated inside, both feeling quite queasy.  I have to admit, it was not an easy crosssing and I think everyone was pleased to see St Mary's.

However, our sea faring for the day was not over as we had a 5 hour pelagic trip ahead of us.  Despite the excitement of the possibility of seeing Shearwaters and Petrols, the sea was rocking and rolling far too much and before long about 75% of the ship, including myself were saying hello to their stomach linings.  Unfortunately, most of us were just too ill to enjoy the close views we had of two resplendent Sabine Gulls, close views of Storm Petrols, Bonxies and a single Manx Shearwater.

Cornwall...Here we come!!

Myself and my birder's wife and the Capt have been away for a few days and this is the first of several reports of our time away:-

Thursday 16th August 2012

Around about 10am, the Capt arrived to whisk us away to Cornwall and the Scillies for a weeks worth of birding.

We made great time before coming to a grinding halt on the M5 near Brissal (Bristol) and sat motionless for 40 minutes in the outside lane watching about 15 police cars, fire engines and ambulances fly past.  The lady in the middle lane also caused us much amusement as she spent the 40 minutes rearranging her boot, the back of her car the and back seats of the car in front of her.....I just hope that she knew them otherwise that was just pure weird.  Anyway, fortunately, it appeared that the incident was not serious and we were soon on our way again.

After surviving the vile Exeter Services, we made our way into deepest Devon and Yarner Wood to see what we could find.  Unfortunately, the heavens opened and we decided not to venture any further than the car park and the hide nearby.  The hide proved to be very effective with many Coal Tits, Great Tits, Marsh Tits and Siskin.  As the rain continued to fall, we deciced that further bird watching was not on the agenda for the day and just pushed onto Penzance for our one night stay.

The evening at the Dock Inn proved to be very enjoyable with us coming second in the pub quiz while enjoying a few pints of "Doom".

No birds but more sport

After another couple of weeks of pretty much nothing around on the birding front, we made our way down south on Saturday morning (last week) in preparation for our visit to the Olympics the following day.  As per usual the journey was nightmarish on the M25, things never change.  However, as part of our visit we did get good views of Ring Necked Parakeets.

Upon arrival the following day at the Olympic Park we made our way through the very efficient security checks and were soon inside, marvelling at the sheer scale and stunning architecture of the stadium, made us proud to be British.

We spent the afternoon wandering around the park, taking a brief break to watch Andy Murray being presented with his Gold Medal and then as evening descended, made our way to the Olympic Stadium to find our seats.  The evening itself just flew by watching the Men's 100m Semi Finals, Womens 400m Final, the Women's Triple Jump Final, the Men's High Jump qualifiers and of course the Men's 100m Final - A night that we hopefully will never forget and of course since then Usain Bolt has gone onto to win the 200m and 100m relay.