Review of 2013

Review of 2013

At the start of 2013 I had made the decision to take the year off from year bird listing (listing all species of birds seen throughout the year).  However, as we crept into February and with a big trip to the Shetlands booked for October, I changed my mind and decided to go for it.  Unfortunately, being that I am in full time employment, restricted by the days I take off and do not have unlimited resources, I will never be able to see as many species as the “big listers” out there and it is therefore just as well that competitive birding is “not my bag” (I prefer to only compete against myself and beat my own previous records).

Last year was a record year for me with the 250 species limit almost broken.  This year, I made things harder for myself; I continued to disallow any birds where there were possible question marks over identification and in addition I also decided to only use the BOURC listing of recognised species instead of the UK400 Club listing (that includes sub species).  Being stricter in my listing has resulted in revisiting previous year lists and revising their totals which means that last year’s reached 247 (instead of 251 which I had previously noted down).

So, the final tally as per BOURC guidelines for this year is 272 and per UK400 Club guidelines is 276 (I have disallowed a Crossbill sp which I saw briefly at Loch Garten in April which could have been a Scottish Crossbill but I will never know).  Both scores are quite respectable I imagine for someone who cannot go birding all the time.

The year had its positives and negatives moments and below are a few of each:-

Positives

• Meeting some friendly birders in Warwickshire (finally).
• Experiencing the Cairngorms in spring and the Shetlands in autumn, both different but equally memorable.
• Meeting new people and making new friends in the Shetlands.
• The final big twitch of the year to see the Brünnich’s Guillemot.
• Helping friends finally obtain sightings of their bogey birds.

Negatives

• Having to put up with miserable birders in all kinds of places.  I know we all have “off” days but it just seems that I meet more miserable people in birding circles than I do in any other walks of life.  Why carry on with something if it makes you so miserable?
• Being subjected to the competitive side of birding.  Why let it destroy friendships? Hobbies are hobbies and are there to be enjoyed.  I love sharing my hobby with others who have the same interest as me and am thoroughly pleased for them if they see a new species that I may not have hooked up with yet and this is because I only compete against myself.  Saying that though, it is always a laugh to send the odd “triumphant text” to those who can take it when a new species is obtained.

Highlights of the year

• Watching a Swift as it came in off the Channel and flew right over my head – magic!
• Seeing a Roller, a bird that I have wanted to see since I was 8 years old.
• Seeing Bee eaters for the first time (even though it was not in the UK but was in the outskirts of Rome).
• I had two target birds for the year – Red-backed Shrike and Pomarine Skua, achieved by the Autumn but a bit of an anticlimax for both even though I have been waiting to see them for many years.
• Finally seeing a Subalpine Warbler in the UK (after dipping on one in Northumberland) a couple of years ago.

Next Year

So, what does next year have in store?  Not sure at the moment, I may give up on year listing and concentrate on twitching but then I may not - Only time will tell as the year unfolds.

I do have a few target birds and they include:-

• Red Footed Falcon.
• Surf Scoter.
• White Stork.
• Common Rosefinch.

And finally - Photo of the year

Sedge Warbler at Otmoor in June

Have a happy new year and enjoy your birding whether it is twitching or patch listing.

Brambling no longer a bogey bird

Great Grey Shrike

After scouting the surrounding countryside recently for a Brambling to show our Christmas guests (for whom Brambling is a bogey bird), we finally ran out of time today and decided that as I had failed in finding one for them myself we would go and twitch some instead.

En route, we took a slight detour to give them another lifer in the form of the obliging Great Grey Shrike at Hopwood - A very handsome bird indeed.

We then proceeded to Lickey Hills in search of Brambling....the bogey bird of the moment.  After walking amongst the trees for about half an hour, we finally saw a large flock of finches flying to a large Beech and followed them at a distance.  I then heard the unforgettable squawking call of a Brambling and we soon were watching them as they searched for seeds on the woodland floor.  Unfortunately the wood is disturbed greatly by dog walkers which kept on scaring the birds away.  It took about half an hour before one of my guests managed to get a really good view of the birds so that she would be confident to identify Bramblings herself going forward.

A good morning's birding with two lifers for my guests and a bogey bird finally broken.

Last twitch of the year (potentially)

Brünnich's Guillemot

An early start and pickup at 6:45am soon saw me and two other birders, Mark and Richard (who I had met in Shetland), winging our way down the M5.  We were not too sure where we would end up today, whether it would be Brixham to see the White Billed Diver or Portland to see the Brünnich's Guillemot.  As we passed by Bristol, news came in on the pager that the Brünnich's Guillemot was still at Portland and we opted for that bird over the White Billed Diver.

Brünnich's Guillemot

We arrived at Portland Harbour at about 10:30am and joined the hordes of other Birders near the castle to view the Brünnich's Guillemot which spent most of the time out of view underwater (constantly fishing).  With patience, I eventually managed to obtain some record shots and then we had a look at the Black Guillemot, Black Throated Divers and Great Northern Divers nearby.

Twitchers

We then decided to make our way to Portland Bill for a spot of brunch and sea watching.  A brief sea watch produced Guillemots, Razorbills, Gannets, Shags, Kittiwakes and a Red Throated Diver.

On the way back home we briefly visited Chesil Beach to see Mediterranean Gull, Red Breasted Merganser and Red Necked Grebe, a Glossy Ibis just north of Radipole Lake and my Little Owl.

A great day's birding with great company and fitting way to finish off the birding year.

Little Owl

Local birding and a big twitch

Our visitors this Christmas are relatively new birders and desparate to see a Brambling.  So, my mission yesterday morning was to stake out our local woods to see if any could be found there.  After topping up the feeders and waiting for an hour all I could come up with was loads of Great Tits and Blue Tits, a Marsh Tit, a Nuthatch, a Greater Spotted Woodpecker and a Bullfinch.  Looks like they will have to wait for another opportunity to see their Brambling.

This morning after much "umming and aahing" I decided to twitch the Ivory Gull near Hull.  After a long and worrying drive with lots of weather forecasts about the forthcoming storms, I arrived in one piece and found the Gull relatively easily as it loafing around the shore line.  I waited an hour to see if it would come in any closer but as the weather worsened, I decided to give up and got a right a soaking on the way back to the car.  I did manage to obtain some decent scope views and a couple of record shots of what was a cracking bird and well worth the journey.

Managed to get back home safely only to find that my birder's wife had dropped and smashed £40 worth of wine on our driveway.  Not her fault, but just a dodgy wine carrier..grrr!  Hey ho at least I got back safely.

Ivory Gull

Back to local birding

As my birder's wife had gone out for her monthly massage, I decided to take a stroll round my local reserve at Hampton Woods.  On the way, I stopped by my Little Owl tree and said "hello".

Little Owl

The woods this afternoon were alive with birds, Redwing and Fieldfare were busy feeding on the berries while there were scatterings of Chaffinches and a couple of Bullfinches.  On route to the river I refilled the feeders and followed a Sparrowhawk as it hightailed it down the pathway in front of me. The river held two Mute Swans, several Moorhens, a Water Rail in the reeds and a Kingfisher flew past.  Also nearby, were 4 Canada Geese, a large flock of Jackdaw and a mini murmuration of about 200 Starlings.

As I ambled back to the car, the birds had already discovered the newly filled feeders, with Great Tits, Long Tailed Tits, Blue Tits and two Nuthatch taking advantage of a late afternoon feed.

Birds I have now seen at that reserve include:-

Blackbird, Bullfinch, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Fieldfare, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Wagtail, Jackdaw, Jay, Kingfisher, Long Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Redwing, Reed Bunting, Robin, Rook, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Water Rail, Whitethroat, Wood Pigeon, Wren.

Norfolk for the final time this year

This was to be our last weekend trip away for the year.  We booked it back in September so that we could have a relaxing break before the onslaught of Christmas.

Rose Coloured Starling

I took Wednesday afternoon off work and picked up my birder's wife from her work at 4:00pm and we made our way up to Hunstanton, eventually arriving just before 8:00pm (a bit of a nasty journey due to fog). Our room at Le Strange Hotel was excellent as per usual, due to the fact that I am a returning customer and a Best Western rewards customer.  After a quick drink in the bar, we hit the sack so that we could get an early start the following morning.

Our first call of the day was at Holt to look for Parrot Crossbills, unfortunately despite a good search, we just could not find any Crossbills of any kind.  We did however find a finch flock which contained a few Brambling and a Tit flock that contained Goldcrests and March Tits.

Rose Coloured Starling

A bit disappointed, we then headed down to Caister-on-Sea to look for the long staying juvenile Rose Coloured Starling that was situated around the Beach Road car park.  After an hour's search, it looked like we would dip on the Starling as well.  My birder's wife disappeared into a pub nearby for "a natural break" and a coffee and made friends (like she does) with a poor lady who had been widowed for the second time recently, while I continued to look around.  After another 15 minutes I then spotted the bird sitting on top of a telegraph pole.  I managed to obtain a couple of record shots before it then dived down into a nearby garden and I could not relocate it.  I quickly sent the news out to the bird new services and re-met up with my birder's wife.  We decided to fetch the car and in passing gave some other birders directions to where I saw the bird last.  For lunch, we bought some chips and while eating these, I chanced upon the bird again, sitting in a bush in a garden. Unfortunately the other birders had given up and walked way up the road.  On the way out the town, we passed them and gave them further directions - I hoped they eventually connected with the bird.

As we were in the area, we then drove down to Great Yarmouth for a couple of Shore Larks just north of the pier.  We parked up and my birder's wife settled for a coffee while I went for a stroll and immediately saw a movement in the sand, it was one of the birds.  I rushed back to the car to fetch my camera and noticed some birders in a car next to ours, I asked them if they were looking for the birds and they stated that they had tried but could not find them.  We all then walked out to where I spotted the first bird and were soon watching both birds about 25 yards from us.

Shore Lark

Next stop was Waveney Forest to find the mound to observe Rough Legged Buzzards. Unfortunately, as I had never been to the site before, we could not find where to go and we were finally beaten by the dusk and decided to make the long trip back to Hunstanton to stay in our next hotel, the Lodge, where we had booked in for the next two nights.

The following day was supposed to be dedicated to shopping and we headed back to Holt.  I dropped my birder's wife off and then went to look for the Parrot Crossbills again.  Unfortunately, although not foggy like Thursday, Friday was wet and bad conditions for Crossbills which meant that I again could not find them.  I did meet a local birder, who was really helpful and gave me directions to some local sites for Tawnies (but despite going to these, we did not see any).

We then made our way along the coast road gradually back towards Hunstanton, calling in at Holkham Adnams store for some further Christmas shopping and then Titchwell where my birder's wife bought some crackers while I walked to the sea.  For the first time during our visit, I noticed the sheer devastation that hit the east coast recently, litter and debris absolutely everwhere, awful!

A quick scan on the sea gave me a group of Scoter (too far away and fading lade prevented me from picking out any Velvets), Red Necked Grebe, Black Throated Diver and 5 Long Tailed Duck.  The walk back to the car gave me 2 Water Rail and when I met up with my birder's wife (who had seen a Marsh Harrier), we managed a distant flight view of a Bittern.

Male Parrot Crossbill

Today, was our last day and time to check out of the Lodge and make our way back home.  As we finished breakfast, I checked on the bird news and noticed that the Holt Parrot Crossbills had been reported again.  We quickly made our way over there (yet again) and as we drove into the car park field, I noticed the friendly local I had met on Friday who had a male and female in his scope already (very obliging).  The birds were busy feeding in a tree out in the open and we got great views of them to enable us to really look at what makes them different to Common Crossbills (large beaks, thick necks, sturdy bodies etc)

Parrot Crossbills at last - Fantastic!

I mentioned to the local that we did not find the Tawny Owls the day before and he very kindly came with us to the same spot and then onto another site, where we finally found a pair, perched up high in a Pine tree - Probably the best views we have ever had of Tawnies, really gorgeous birds and so difficult to spot as they just blend in so well.

Blurry Richard's Pipit

Another quick look at the bird news for the area gave us our next target bird, Richard's Pipit, which was just one mile away at Kelling.  The bird had been seen about 1.5 hours earlier, in a field filled with debris but despite a search by myself and a few other birders, we could not find the bird although we were kept entertained by six Meadow Pipits and a pair of Stonechats.  By this time, my birder's wife decided to head back to the local Cafe for some lunch and I met up again with my local birder friend again and as we were walking round a pile of debris we both saw a lone pipit take flight, call briefly and then settle in a nearby field - It was the bird.  A further search and then the bird took flight again, this time calling a few times before settling out in the open, where I managed an appalling but record shot all the same.  Looking back at my records, this is only the second time I have seen a Richard's Pipit with the last one being on Portland Bill in the 1980's.

After lunch, we then started on the long journey home and as a bonus managed to spot a couple of Common Cranes at Guyhirn and a mini Starling murmuration over Peterborough.

A fantastic mid week break away, meeting friendly birders, doing a spot of shopping, staying in great places, eating good food and seeing some fantastic birds.

First Cattle Egret for the year

After yesterday's success with the gull roost at Chasewater, I felt inspired and decided to hop down the motorway to Buckinghamshire to go for a Cattle Egret.

Cattle Egret

Upon checking out the route on my new phone, I accidentley discovered that my phone has satnav on it. So, I programmed the destination in and off I went.  I was quite impressed that after 45 minutes and following my phone instructions I actually arrived at the destination.

The bird was performing to its name and in a field with cattle, while being admired by an ever increasing group of birders.  I decided to take a couple of shots, reprogramme my satnav and come home swiftly (in order to avoid any impending wrath from my birder's wife due to the fact that I am birding again....).

On the way home, I was not so impressed by the satnav, as it took me a weird long winded route home.  I think I will stick to my trusty tattered old map.

Late afternoon, we decided to take a walk round Hampton Woods, which is not that far from where we live.  It is the nearest reserve to us.  Our walks round this wood have previously been completely unproductive with just Bullfinch and Whitethroat being the highlights.  However, this evening proved different with good numbers of Starlings and Jackdaws preparing to roost, a sizable tit flock consisting of Blue Tits, Great Tits, many Long Tailed Tits and two warblers (presumably Chiff Chaff).  Two Grey Wagtails patrolled the river and two very active Goldcrests were round near the feeders and as the gloom descended, we managed to see a couple of Fallow Deer.   The journey back home took us past my Little Owl field which used to have a large log that the Owl roosted in.  Fortunately, the Owl has found a new home in another dead tree in a field nearby.

Chasewater Gull Roost

Glaucous Gull

As today had bright conditions, I decided to take the plunge and drive to Chasewater to look at the gull roost.  It was the first time I had been to the site and was not too sure where to go and pitch up with my telescope.  However, after walking up and down the south shore for about 15 minutes, I eventually spotted a group of other birders and went and joined them.

Glaucous Gull

The roost at Chasewater is far easier to scan than that at Draycote (where the birds are often very distant) and with many eyes searching, one keen observer soon found a juvenile Glaucous Gull and then a juvenile Iceland Gull.  As it grew darker, a couple of Yellow Legged Gulls were also spotted along with a couple of probable Caspian Gulls.  All these were in addition to the many Herring, Lesser Black Backed, Greater Black Backed, Common and Black Headed Gulls present.

A very pleasant afternoon "gulling" with a bunch of friendly Staffordshire birders.

Iceland Gull

Forest of Dean again

After a non birding weekend except for the brief inclusion of a couple of Ring Necked Parakeets, I decided to take today off and go birding again in the Forest Of Dean, this time with my friend, Mike.

We arrived at the Forest around about 10:30am, parked up and started to walk up the path to Kensley Lodge (near Woorgreens Lake).  As we rounded the bend by the Lodge, I immediately got onto a Hawfinch sitting in the left hand side of a Fir tree.  Unfortunately, Mike did not spot it but we hung around for 15 minutes and soon found 5+ birds scattered around in different trees in the area.  We managed to scope a couple of the birds which gave Mike great views of his first ever Hawfinches.  Also in the area were several Brambling, Redwings, Blackbirds and Siskins.

We decided to continue along the path to Crabtree Hill (where I had seen the Two Barred Crossbills a couple of weeks previously) and then out onto the clearfell but despite searching and hanging around for quite a long time, we could not find the long staying Great Grey Shrike.  We saw some Common Crossbills flying overhead and also heard a Two Barred Crossbill but did not see it.

As it was now past midday, we headed back to the car, and after lunch, decided to retrace our footsteps for another try for the Shrike and the Two Barred Crossbills.  As we were heading up the path, we came across a local birder giving directions to some other birders as to where he had seen the Crossbills earlier.  As the location was a drive away, we decided to head back to the car and the local birder very kindly let us follow him to the destination.  A quick walk up a hill brought us to some larches with a good crop of pine cones but despite an extensive search, we just could not find the Two Barred Crossbills.  We did however obtain good views of Common Crossbills, several Nuthatch, Treecreepers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.