Final twitch for the year

After reading that a Penduline Tit had been found in Bedford yesterday, I could not resist travelling down to the area to see it (especially as Penduline Tit has been on my UK wanted list for about 25 years).

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

Otmoor 28th December 2014

After staying with our good friends Sarah and J for the night in Oxford on the way home from Hampshire, we decided to go for a walk in Otmoor.  Our walk took us to the very end of the reserve and despite the good weather, the area was pretty quiet with just a few birds seen.  The cow pens had Reed Buntings and the pools had Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochards and Shovelor.  The fields at the end of the reserve held Lapwing and Golden Plover and the flooded areas nearby had a lot of Wigeon, one of which was picked off by a Peregrine Falcon.  The area also had at least 5 Red Kite, several Buzzards and flocks of Canada Geese which held a feral Ross' Goose.

Fishlake Meadows, Romsey 24 & 25 December 2015

As I was staying with my sister over Christmas, I took the opportunity to patch some excellent Marshes near to her house.  Over the two days I visited I managed to find about 5 Cettis Warblers, 5 Water Rail and 1 Snipe.

Norfolk for final time this year

We decided to visit North Norfolk for the final time this year this weekend on a part birding, part shopping trip.

As per usual we left early and had our breakfast with a cup of coffee at Wolferton Triangle in the hope of seeing the elusive Golden Pheasants.  Unfortunately, they proved to be too elusive this year and we did not see any so we moved on and headed towards Holkham where we decided to take a walk on the beach followed by some shopping at the Adnams Shop.

For lunch we decided to drive over to Salthouse and then spent the rest of the afternoon around there before heading back before dusk to take in a Short Eared Owl at Burnham Overy.

Today we decided to spend the morning at Titchwell before meeting a friend at Burnham Market.

A pleasant weekend with lots of shopping and probably less birding than normal.

Flexi Day Twitch

After completing a major project this week I decided to take off a flexi day and twitch a Blyth's Pipit in West Yorkshire.  The first time I tried for this particular species was back in 1989 where I found out years later that the bird was re-identified as a Richard's Pipit.  So, today was a case of achieving a bogey bird.  The journey up the M1 was relatively easy and I arrived in good time for an organised flush of the bird which was held at midday.  The flush produced about 10 Meadow Pipits, 1 Snipe and the Blyth's Pipit which obligingly sat in a tree which allowed everone there the chance to see it.  The tree was too far for me to get a decent photo so instead I opted for a naff record flight shot instead.

Blyth's Pipit

Combrook

After doing a drive through Combrook yesterday, myself and my birders wife decided to go for a walk in the area today.  We parked up at the end of the main lane in the village and made our way up the footpath through the village field owned by the locals and through the Ridings (the local wood).  The footpath took us through the wood and then across a field to the main road outside Compton Verney.  We then turned back and retraced our footsteps and before we hit the village again we took another pathway which took us along side a set aside field (presumably for the local shot).  The field was providing lots of food for a variety of birds including Yellowhammers, Chaffinches, a Corn Bunting, Bramblings and even a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  We then made our way back to the village and took a further footpath out of the village to Compton Verney (a different route).  This took us along the edge of the lake which provided a bit of variety in the habitat but not that many birds except for a Kingfisher and a party of Goldfinch.  On the drive back home we took in the edge of the wood which has a few firs where Crossbills have been seen but alas not by us.

Nebsworth

As my friend, Richard was visiting his inlaws for the weekend, we decided to do some early morning birding in an area he had never explored before.  I opted for the Ilmington area at Nebsworth where we parked up by the main two masts and then walked past them and down the track.  The fields each side held quite a few Pheasant and Red Legged Partridge, probably for local shoots.  In one of the fields on the Warwickshire side we spotted 22 Golden Plover and the recently planted woods held a good number of birds including, Chaffinches, Great Tits, Blue Tits, Coal Tits, Bullfinches, Greenfinches, Goldfinches, Redwings and Fieldfares.  After strolling down the track for about a mile we decided to turn round and head back to the car and then onto the relay station above Hidcote.  As we passed the Golden Plovers again, they took off and flew high south.  At the relay station we bumped in Gus, another South Warwickshire birder, observed about 20 Skylark and then headed back across the fields to the car, as the weather was beginning to close in.  Back at the two masts there were a few finches on the floor turning over leaves, we opted to take a few minutes to check them out for Brambling and Rich soon found one, a few minutes later, the bird called and eventually I managed to get onto it.  As we got back to the car, it started to rain, we timed it just right!

Hampshire Twitches

Franklin's Gull (centre bird)

I had been tempted by the Franklin's Gull at Blashford Lakes for a couple of weeks and decided to take the plunge and organised a visit to my sister in Hampshire.  I travelled down last Friday afternoon and arrived at the site in good time to settle myself into the hide and watch the gulls as they came into the roost.  The gull itself was eventually found quite a distance away on the other side of the lake but was soon lost amongst all the other gulls of various shapes and sizes.  The flock was then flushed and it took a further 20 minutes and lots of string from various birders before the bird was located again, although I could not get onto it again and all the birds I was put onto were Blackheaded Gulls that still had full black heads.  Overall not a very satisfactory result.

I decided to go back and give the gull a second look the following day and did so via a slight diversion to twitch a Isabelline Shrike on Hengisbury Head.  The roost on Saturday proved to be more successful with the bird showing nicely.  Other birds of note were a Long Tailed Duck, Blacknecked Grebe and the first Ruddy Duck I have seen since 2009.  A flock of 2500 Starlings also entertained us as they murmutated over the lake.

Isabelline Shrike

Warwickshire High Spots

With the weather forecast to be fine and calm, I decided to hit the road early this morning and headed first towards Burton Dassett.  When I arrived at 7:15am there were already a couple of dog walkers there but in general it was quiet.  A quick walk round gave me some Linnets, Skylarks, Pied Wagtails and 15 Fieldfare.  Next stop was Gredenten Hill where there was a set-aside field which was attracting lots of birds in it and in the bushes next to it.  Besides, some Wrens, loads of Pheasants, Dunnocks and Robins, I also counted about 100 Linnets and 1 Sparrowhawk that took a pot shot at them.  As I drove onto Avon Dassett about 40-50 Redwings flew across the road and the road through Arlescote produced up to 10 Bullfinch.

Edgehill was very quiet but the road below it was more productive with Skylark and at least 5 Tree Sparrow.  I decided to drive through Kineton on the way back and then onto Lighthorne where I strolled round the heath (north) which only had about 10 Skylarks, 2 Mallard, 1 Grey Heron and a Kestrel.

Corvid Count

After gardening in the rain and doing household chores, I needed a break and headed over to Wellesbourne Airfield to count some Corvid.

They were all over the other side of the field to me which made it difficult to pin them down, especially as there were lots of arrivals and departures constantly.  However there did seem to be a pattern in that the Rooks seems to be the majority (c60), which were then taken over by the Jackdaws which at their peak were 150+ before flying off and then there were about 40 Carrion Crows splattered around.  I also noted about 5-10 Magpie in the distance and 2 Golden Plover in the long grass.

An unsual event

Well, today witnessed an unusual event, I went on a mega twitch, something that I have never done before, I decided to go and see the Eastern Crowned Warbler near Middlesborough.  I would not normally go such a long way for a bird but decided as my birders wife had other plans for today that I would go for it and shared the car with a friend of mine, Mark, who I picked up en route in Birmingham, thus sharing petrol, which always helps.

We made great time and arrived at the location at 9:30am and immediately bumped into Matt.  We were then really fortunate, in that immediately after we arrived someone found the bird in a Sycamore along with a Yellow Browed Warbler and it was not long before we were able to watch both, although it was difficult to keep on both birds.  I managed to obtain a few record shots of the Eastern Crowned Warbler of which the best is below.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

We decided to then make a sharp exit as there already were about 60 people there and I imagine as the morning went on, hundreds of birders would arrive and it would soon turn into a circus.

As we had the rest of the day to get home, we first visited Staithes, which could be the St Ives of the North, where lots of artists reside due to the fantastic light.  We then drove back over the moors via Sleddale where we knew there were Rough Legged  Buzzards in the area and during lunch watched 3 of them and two Common Buzzards hunting over the nearby ridges and woods.

There then was the looooong journey home, this is not something I would like to do every weekend but with the other activities as well as the twitch, it was a nice day out.

Cornwall and Scilly - October 2014

A couple of Saturday's ago, myself and my birders wife got up extremely early and made our way down to Cornwall for the start of a weeks birding in the South West.

We opted to have breakfast of croissants and a flask of coffee in the company of an American Golden Plover on Davidstow Airport.  After driving up and down the runway for a while, scanning the grass either side, we practically ran over the bird as it was on the actual runway itself feeding in a puddle.  After carefully sticking my arm out the window and pointing out the bird to other birders in cars who had been doing the same as us, we settled down to eat breakfast and take photos of it, which at times was only about 8 feet away from us.

American Golden Plover

American Golden Plover

After breakfast, we made our way down to Porthgwarra, where we were meeting our friend, Mark for a spot birding before heading onward to our bed and breakfast.  A walk round the headland there gave us some excellent views of a Peregrine Falcon but no sign unfortunately of the Moltoni Subalpine Warbler that had been there for a few days.  I also caught sight of a large Shearwater but just could not get onto it properly before it was out of sight (one that got away...).

Peregrine Falcon displaying a fine pair of trousers

Our friend had to leave us mid afternoon to arrange his flights to Scilly, so we decided to check out the St Just area where we saw Chough and the juvenile Rose Coloured Starling in Penzance which seems to like hanging round the Penzance KFC.  The bird obligingly was sitting on some wires as we arrived and after a quick look at it, we went and settled into our bed and breakfast.

Purple Sandpiper

The following day we met up with Mark for a walk round Penzance and found a Purple Sandpiper near the Lido.  We then went for Sunday lunch followed by a walk at Marazion, which unfortunately was devoid of birds due to high winds and therefore we retired to the pub for the evening and a few pints of Doom Bar.

Prior to our flight on Monday, I did a spot of seawatching off Pendeen and managed to clock up about 30 Balearic Shearwaters and about 5 Bonxie.  We were all nervous as to whether or not our flights to Scilly would be cancelled but the wind had calmed and we were soon settling into our self catering accomodation in Hugh Town on St Mary's.  While my birders wife did some food shopping, I met up with Mark and other friend, Rich and walked round the island taking in the Garrison, Runway, Tip, Lower Moors and Old Churchyard.  It was still fairly windy, so the birds were not really showing at all and we found nothing.  In the evening, we attended the log at the Scillonian, where it was confirmed that was not much around.

The following day, we walked round St Mary's again taking in the same locations as well as the north of the Island and managed to clock up the long staying Barred Warbler, Peregrine Falcon and a Merlin.  News broke of a Rosefinch on Tresco, but we decided to stay on St Mary's and all met up for a meal in the Mermaid and a few Doom Bars.

Although me and my birders wife had been to Scilly previously, we had never been to any islands except for St Mary's and therefore we opted for a visit to Tresco on Wednesday.  The birding on that island proved a bit more successful than previous days as we managed to bag Whooper Swans, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Ring Ousel and Green Winged Teal, along with a Black Necked Grebe in Tresco Channel on the way back.

We were bitten with Island hopping and decided to head for St Agnes and Gugh on Thursday.  The tide was in our favour upon arrival on St Agnes and headed over to Gugh, which was idyllic.  After exploring Gugh, news broke of an Ortolan Bunting on the other side of St Agnes and were watching the juvenile bird feeding in the cattle paddock - a great bird and a lifer for both of us.

Ortolan Bunting - Class!

We spent the remainder of the day exploring St Agnes and managed to find a couple of Whimbrel and a Yellow Browed Warbler.  A quick walk round the Old Churchyard back St Mary's and we found the Firecrest there along some Redwing.

Our last full day on Scilly was spent wandering round the whole island again with the highlight being the Barred Warbler, which performed magnificantly for us.

Barred Warbler

Our flight back to the mainland was mid afternoon on Saturday, so we again walked around the Garrison and had a pasty near Porthloo Beach watching a Rose Coloured Starling and two Black Redstarts.  After returning to Lands End Airport, we did a spot of birding down Kendijack Valley where we saw a couple of Choughs before heading back to our bed and breakfast.

Our final day of the holiday was spent travelling back to Warwickshire stopping off for lunch at Steart Marshes where we watched the Pallid Harrier on and off for about halof an hour, a nice end to the week.

Twitch at beginning of week - Birding while cycling at the end of the week

I already had Monday booked off last week and decided to take the opportunity to go and see the Steppe Grey Shrike in Norfolk.  I arrived at Burnham Norton at dawn and there was already a crowd of about 20-30 people watching the bird feeding along a hedge about 150 yards away.  As I watched the bird, another birder pitched his telescope next to me and decided to regale me with all the birds he had seen and twitched, bit of a birder bore, so I took my leave and decided to head down to Suffolk to Minsmere to see if I could add another lifer in the form of Little Crake.  Unfortunately, despite waiting for a few hours in appalling conditions, the bird was wise and stayed hidden - heyho, you can't win all the time.

On Wednesday, I did my usual bike ride from Warwick to Ashorne and back and noticed an increase in Jays, with at least 5 seen.  Today, I did a longer ride from Warwick to Loxley and back with the main highlight bird wise in the form of about 100 Rooks on Wellesbourne Airfield.  The grass on the Airfield is quite short and I must remember to pop by there more often to check for Golden Plovers over the coming weeks.

Blog to be made private

As this blog is more of a diary for myself than anything else and I doubt many people read it anyway, I have decided to make it private.

If you want to continue reading it then please contact me and I will find a way that can continue to give you access.

Portraits of a Kestrel

Just a couple of shots of a Kestrel on a recent birding trip.

Kestrel

Kestrel

A kind of twitch to Spurn and some special thanks

The main reason for leaving Lewis early was to twitch a Masked Shrike, as well as going to see the Snowy Owl.  So, after trekking for 6 hours to see the Snowy Owl, we then embarked on a car journey of 9 hours to East Yorkshire.  Fortunately, we could share the driving and in between us each driving, we managed some sleep.

We arrived at Spurn at about 5:00am and took the hours before dawn as sleep time before finding the field where the Shrike is currently residing.  The Shrike was predicably sitting on a fence and gave us great views, although distant.  Before any other twitchers arrived, we moved away from the viewing spot and had a look around the nearby area, finding a Pied Flycatcher and a Redstart.

Masked Shrike

The drive back to Warwick seemed to go on for an age but we finally got back safe and sound in the early afternoon.  Now that the holiday is over, I would like to thank Matt for inviting me and for showing me the Snowy Owl and his parents for allowing a stranger into their rented self catering Cottage for a nominal cost - I had a great but tiring time.

Lewis Trip Report Day 6

We decided to leave a day early to try for some mainland birds on the way home and therefore switched our tickets to the Stornoway - Ullapool ferry instead of the Tarbert - Uig crossing.  This proved to be an excellent choice with the best sea watch I have ever encountered.  Final tally of the birds we saw over two hours included 50+ Bonxies, 20+ Arctic Skuas, 2 Long Tailed Skuas, 2 Leach's Petrels, 1 European Storm Petrel, 120+ Sooty Shearwaters, Manx Shearwaters, Fulmars, Gannets and Guillemots.  Cetaceans spotted were Bottlenose and Common Dolphins and a possible Whale sp.

Spot the Sooty Shearwater

Dolphin

Dolphins

Our next destination was the Cairngorm base station, where we parked the car and ascended for two hours to the slopes of Ben Macdui to view the resident Snowy Owl.  This has to go down as one of the best birding experiences of my life and a huge thank you to Matt for taking me to see the bird even though he had only been a couple of weeks before.

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl

View from the Cairngorms

Lewis Trip Report Day 5

A typical coastal view on Lewis

For our last day on the island, we decided to stay around the area of the Butt again.  As we topped the hill to view the sea, we got a quick glimpse of a White Tailed Eagle being mobbed by a Raven.  We then came across a Peregine hunting and watched in awe as it tried to take out a pair of Mallards.  Third raptor of the day was a Merlin doing aerial acrobatics as it chased after a Meadow Pipit.  It was therefore no surprise with all these raptors around that the area was devoid of any waders.  A quick seawatch gave us a few Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters and Bonxies and the surrounding fields/machair at Loch Stiapabhat had Ruff, Lapwing, loads of Snipe and some Golden Plover.  We spent some time at Loch Stiapabhat watching a feral ferret going about it's business checking out each Rabbit warren.

Golden Plover

We then drove over to the Port Arnol area again, pausing briefly to photograph a Sparrowhawk sitting in a tree.  We chose to take our time time looking on the beach for waders as well as bashing nearby vegetation for passerines.  This gave us the same species we had previously with the addition of Curlew Sandpiper, Twite, Golden Plover and Reed Bunting.  To keep Étienne quiet we decided to Lunch at Morven Gallery again on coffee and cake before heading back to the Butt for one final walk around.  This time, the area proved more interesing with a tame Dunlin, Wheatear, lots of Meadow Pipits and Skylark and a single Lapland Bunting.  We decided to go back to the house via Dail Beag and caught up with one of the Golden Eagles again, along with a Buzzard.  The final tally of the day for raptors was 1 White Tailed Eagle, 1 Peregrine Falcon, 1 Sparrowhawk, 4 Merlin, 2 Kestrel, 5+ Buzzards and 1 Golden Eagle.

Sparrowhawk

Walking back to the car on the Butt of Lewis

Interesting Snipe with deformed up-turned bill

Skylark

Wheatear

Lewis Trip Report Day 4

The weather forecast for Tuesday on Lewis was to be rain rain rain followed by more rain.  We therefore decided to head to the east coast to Stornoway first thing in the morning before the rain hit there.  First port of call was the causeway which separates the Eye Peninsula from the rest of the Island.  Branahuie Banks is a good area for Black Throated Diver and it was not long before we had a few in our scopes before they drifted out into the bay.

Black Throated Divers

As we were practically on the Eye Peninsula, we thought we would carry on as far as Tiupan Head for a spot of seawatching.  En route, we scanned Loch Ant-Siumpain and found a Slavonian Grebe in with the Tufted Ducks, a great photo opportunity.

Slavonian Grebe

The sea off Tiupan Head was pretty dead, so we then decided to head back west towards the Aird Uig area on the otherside of the Island, which we had been informed was very underwatched, wild and picturesque.  Well, after a long car journey, during which we were battered by the wind and the rain, we turned onto the Aird Uig road and to be honest were not that enthralled, although I am sure it would be fantastic in the sunshine.  As the option to go for a walk was out of the question due to the lashing rain, we decided to drive to the end of the road towards the village of Aird Uig.  Upon reaching the village, we turned round and drove back out again.  We found the place to be run down, with rusting cars and minibuses parked up by the side of the road and prefabricated functional one storey houses with huge square chimneys.  The village itself was the site of an RAF base and full details about it can be found by clicking this link.

Sandwich Tern

The rain continued to fall and we therefore decided to take shelter in a local cafe, which also served as a Museum, Heritage Centre, Primary School and Community Centre.  After a cup of coffee and a mammoth bacon, egg and black pudding roll, we headed out again into the elements.  We decided to take the circular road round Nisa Mhor, as the map showed that the area held sandy beaches.  In a break from the rain, we took a look on one of the beaches at Traigh na Beirigh which proved to be very productive in giving us some more Black Throated Divers, a Red Throated Diver, rafts of Eider, Sanderlings, Dunlin and a Sandwich Tern.

The rest of the day proved to continue to be a wash-out, so we headed back to the house and over the course of the evening consumed some quantities of alcohol, while playing cards.

Lewis Trip Report Day 3

Dunlin

After I had retired to bed (early again) on Sunday night, Matt's old university friend, Étienne arrived to stay the rest of the week with us.  We decided to spend the day around the Butt of Leiwis again and then work our way back down the west coast. As the wind was not in the right direction, we decided to walk the Butt instead of sea watching and managed to find a couple of very tame Dunlin and a Snow Bunting.

Snow Bunting

Golden Eagle

A quick look round nearby gave us Snipe, Golden Plover, Curlew and Lapwing but not much else, so we left Tony Marr to his Seawatching and made our way down to Port Arnol which has sandy beaches with good potential for waders.   Indeed, one of the beaches proved to be very good and we managed good views of Dunlin, Sanderling, Ringed Plover and a Bar Tailed Godwit.  As Étienne is a coffee addict, we decided to Lunch at Morven Gallery which does the best coffee and cake.  The coffee fix set us up for the rest of the birding day with the highlight being amazing views of two hunting Golden Eagle near Dail Beag.

Golden Eagle

Golden Eagle

Lewis Trip Report Days 1 & 2

In August, I was contacted by fellow Warwickshire birder, Matt, offering me a space on a trip he was doing to the Outer Hebrides this September.  After some juggling, I managed to secure the week off work and started researching the birds we were likely to see during the trip.  Top on the list were Great Shearwater and any american vagrants.

The 19th September arrived quickly and soon myself and Matt found ourselves immobile on the M6 not relishing the prospect of a further 11 hours of driving ahead.  As the rush hour subsided, we started to make progress without any incidents except for a stationary car facing us on the same side of the carriageway, a scary moment.  After crossing our way over the border of a non-independent Scotland, we joined the A82 near Glasgow and drove around Loch Lomond.  The first birds of the trip during this part of the journey were 2 Tawny Owls as they flew across in front of the car.  We also almost knocked over a possible Pine Martin as it dashed across the road.  As we carried along the A82 past Loch Lomond and onto Glencoe, the driving became more hazardous with many Red Deer at the edge of the road, we must have seen at least 30+ animals.  The drive across Skye was easier and we arrived at Uig Ferry terminal in good time at about 6am.

At dawn, as we still had a couple of hours before our ferry, we decided to do some birding round the harbour and nearby gardens.  During this time, we managed to clock up a good number of species, including:- Eider, Lesser Redpolls, Pied Wagtails (100+), Meadow and Rock Pipits, Ravens, Buzzards, Black Guillemot, Red Breasted Mergansers, Common Gulls, GBB Gulls, Oystercatchers, Curlews, Robins, Chaffinch and Reed Bunting.  The ferry crossing itself to Tarbert produced a Bonxie (Great Skua), Kittiwakes, Common Scoter, Fulmars, some Manx Shearwaters, Guillemots and a Razorbill.

For the rest of the day, we investigated the area around Harris, which has a variety of habitats from mountains down to sandy beaches.  After just leaving Tarbert and near East Stocklett, we had fantastic views of a Golden Eagle as it took off and soared above us.  We then searched the Sound of Taransay for rafts of Common Scoter to see if any held Surf Scoter but alas that proved fruitless and only produced a few Common Scoter, Red Breasted Mergansers, Eider and Greylag Geese.  We gave the edge of the vegetation round Horgabost a good bash for passerines but could only find, Hebridean Wren, Goldcrest, Blackbird and Coal Tits.  The area around Seilebost and Losgaintir was very good for Stonechat with several birds seen.  Losgaintir proved a great place to view the Sound of Taransay and the Estuary for waders although, by this time tiredness was beginning to set in.

We decided at 14:00pm to make our way to the self catering cottage in West Lewis.  The drive along the A859 from Tarbert to Stornoway gave us our first Hen Harrier for the trip and the area near the cottage at Tolastadh Chaolais had Hebridean Wren and Hebridean Song Thrush.  The Dunnocks in the surrounding gardens appeared much darker than the ones we have in the south.  At 21:00pm, after being up 38 hours and with tired red eyes, I collapsed into bed.

Matt finally emerged the following morning (these young birders need all the sleep they can get to keep up with us middle-agers) and we headed over to Stornoway to have a look in the woods around Stornoway Castle.  This area is massive, with a nearby golf course in the middle.  Rareities have been found in the woods in the past but lost again quite quickly, and I can see why. After an hour, we managed to find a large tit flock with lots of Blue Tits, Goldcrests, 1 Great Tit, Treecreepers, 1 Blackcap and 2-3 Chiffchaff.  The golf course had a large number of Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails and some Jackdaws nearby.  Despite an extensive search, we could not find any other birds and decided to head to the nearby Estuary to have a look for waders instead.  Unfortunately, upon arrival, we found that the tide was out but did manage to find some Redshanks, Greenshanks, Curlews, Ringed Plovers and Turnstones before they were flushed by a local dog walker.

After lunch, a message came up via Birdguides of Sooty and Great Shearwaters being seen from the Butt of Lewis, so, we decided to head up North.  We parked near the lighthouse and spied a birder, the first we had seen for 2 days.  The birder turned out to be local birding legend Tony Marr, who was thrilled to see us and have the company for his seawatch.  He informed us that we had missed a Great Shearwater just minutes before...darn it.  We spent the rest of the day with Tony and managed to see many Manx Shearwaters, Sooty Shearwaters, Bonxie and Arctic Skuas as they passed by.  He then took us for a walk near the Lighthouse and we managed to find Golden Plovers and about 6 Snow Buntings.  Tony then showed us some other sites nearby which are good for waders, including a local nature reserve at Lionel (Loch Stiapabhat) where we had great views of our second Hen Harrier for the trip.  We then swapped mobile numbers so we could stay in touch for the remainder of our stay Lewis.

Musings...........

As we are nearing the end of the 3^rd quarter of the year, I thought I would review my year of birding to date.  Besides the odd twitch here and there, a couple of weekends away and my week in Spain, I have been trying to stay as local as possible.  I estimate that although I have been staying as local as possible, I have amassed the same kind of mileage as I did last year due to the frequency of my birding.  The main down point is that even though I have done the same mileage as last year, the rewards are way down on the number of species I have actually seen in comparison.

Local birding has not been that rewarding for me and while I have honed my skills even more on common species, I feel that I have trailed behind on those birds not often seen which leads me to believe that twitching in moderation to see a new bird and specifically to watch it and it’s behaviour is not a bad thing as it improves one’s skills in the field.  Anyway, this brings me onto thinking that it could just be that the 5 mile radius from my house is a genuine birding black spot which very rarely may cough up the odd unusual bird like Golden Plover, Waxwing and Brambling in the winter but nothing of much interest any other time of the year.  This then would mean in order to find any birds, I would have to extend my local birding to a 15-20 mile radius which then doesn’t really count as local does it?  So, I may as well resort to what I did last year which is drive to where the birds are, which is either to the North of the County or completely out of the County.  A bit sobering and depressing really.  Well, I have 3 more months of the year left to try and keep it local but don’t hold out much hope.  Of course, it could that I may be wrong and birds are falling out of the sky around me which would leave me to believe that (1) I am a crap birder and can’t see things in front of me (2) there are more birders in the area than I am aware of, who basically do not communicate their findings and suppress (3) there is definitely good habitat in the area but I have not yet found it despite scouring local maps (4) there are some rarer breeding birds in the area but those sites are quite rightly kept quiet to avoid disturbance.

I do love birds and birding, but it is always refreshing to see different birds from time to time which helps keep the interest more alive.  So, whether I am right or wrong on the lack of birds near Warwick, I expect my birding habits will be changing again next year (unless I can find a decent patch close by).

South Warwickshire and across the border

Tree Pipit

After a few quick visits to the Race Course recently which rewarded me with Wheatear and Whinchat, I finally met up with Matt and Dan again last night and we paid a visit first to Balscote, which was pretty dead then onto the Edgehill Escarpment for some vismig.

Things were a bit slow for the first 15 minutes but we were soon rewarded by a few Goldfinch and Linnets and then about 200 hirundines.  Other birds passing through were Meadow Pipits and within them were a couple of Tree Pipits.

Ebrington Hill

After all the not so local birding that I have been doing recently, I decided to spend a couple of hours this morning round the Ebrington Hill area.  It was a fantastic morning in terms of the weather which certainly showcased the beauty of the Warwickshire countryside in all it's glory.  However, on the birding front, despite me finding some nice lusicious bushes laden with berries which I thought may have attracted a few birds, I just could not find the birds.  The only birds of note that I could find were 2 Willow Warblers and some Ravens overhead, a bit disappointing but "hey" you can't have everything and the one thing I have learnt this year is that more effort should be put in locally and perhaps less effort chasing after other's finds.

Marsh Sandpiper Twitch

Marsh Sandpiper

After seeing that a Marsh Sandpiper was frequenting a field not that far from Slimbridge, myself and my birder's wife decided to spend the day in Gloucestershire mixing a day of viewing wild and captive birds.

It was great to finally see a Marsh Sandpiper which has been a bird I have been longing to see for several years now.  Not the best of views but it was lovelly to watch the bird for a while taking in the way it moved, it's plumage, bill length and size compared to the other birds in the field which were Ruff and Greenshank.

Norfolk Trip Report

Friday 22nd saw us heading up to the North Norfolk coast straight after work and after a horrendous 3-4 hour journey battling our way through the bank holiday rush, we arrived at our rental cottage in Stiffkey and met up with our companions for the week, including Jumble the Irish Terrier.

The following day after a very boozy first evening, we departed for a walk from the cottage east that took us past Stiffkey Fen, along the coast path to Morston, where we had a Crab Sandwich lunch and then continued our walk to Blakeney.  We took a coffee break in Blakeney, then continued along the path which circled round the marshes ending up at Cley.  After stocking up on provisions from the Cley deli, we caught the Coasthopper bus back to the cottage, all exhausted.

Black Tailed Godwit

We decided to take Sunday as a rest day and drove to Morston then ambled back to Stiffkey Fen where we took in some delights along the way and on the Fen which included Spotted Redshank, Curlew Sandpipers, Ruff and Spoonbills.  After a lunch stop at Salthouses at the famous seafood hut, we strolled to the sea along the public footpath then sat on the beach watching Sandwich Terns being attacked by two Arctic Skua and a Great Skua flying by before walking back to the car down the beach road.  On the way back to the cottage we stopped by Cley east bank car park and strolled out to the sea again, watching Bearded Tits, Sedge and Reed Warblers along the way.

On Monday, after an early start at Stiffkey Marshes where there was a mini fall of migrants, mostly Blackcaps, I went off on my own for some birding (which proved to be fruitless due to torrential rain) and my birder's wife and the other members of our party visited Blickling Hall.  The next day we decided to do another big walk and opted that time to travel west from the cottage along the coast path, making it all the way to Holkham with another trip on the Coasthopper bus back home.

Grey Plover (in the middle)

Pied Flycatcher

Wednesday was to be our big day with us tackling Blakeney Point and back.  The way out seemed to be fairly easy and we were rewarded with good views of two Wrynecks.  We had our lunch looking at the plantation, watching two Willow Warblers, a Pied Flycatcher and a Whinchat.  The way back seemed to go on for ever...................................When we finally returned to the cottage I then opted for another walk out to Stiffkey Marshes to try and look for a Greenish Warbler that had been seen there earlier but despite an extensive seach by myself and other birders, we could not relocate the bird.

I jumped out of bed on Thursday morning at 6:30am (or more like creaked out, as I was aching from the previous day) and walked out to the coast path near Stiffkey Marshes to look for the Greenish Warbler again.  After 90 minutes of nothing, except for a brief call (which I was beginning to think I had imagined), I decided to give up and began walking back towards the car.  At that moment, a warbler flew across the path emitting the unmistakeable call of a Greenish Warbler.  I managed to obtain brief views over the following couple of minutes before it disappeared for 20 minutes only to call a few more times giving tantalising but brief views.  The rest of the day, I spent round the Gun Hill area and Burnham Overy dunes seeing nothing much at all except for Whitethroats and a Whinchat.  Before heading back to the cottage, me and my birder's wife decided to try and look for an Icterine Warbler in Wells Woods.  The search proved to be fruitless but I did meet another birder who also had seen the Greenish Warbler in the same place as me, a bit later on in the morning between 9:00am and 10:15am.

After saying goodbye to our good friends and Jumble on Friday, we made our way back home, stopping by Titchwell for a final walk to the sea and back with the highlight being a Great White Egret in the reed bed.

Loads of butterflies but no birds

Speckled Wood

Comma

This morning I decided to head oop north to Napton on the Hill to search for the Spotted Flycatchers and Redstarts that many of the local birders have been mentioning recently.  As I have not been there for about three years, I needed directions from Dan and was soon at the relevant location.

Red Admiral

Unfortunately for me, it was very windy and everything was hunkered down, I gave up and looked for some sheltered spots on the footpath down by the Windmill but even there could only pick up on a family of Bullfinch and a couple of Whitethroats.

After returning home and a leisurely lunch with my birder's wife, we headed out to Hampton Wood for a stroll which again was birdless, so I decided to change my approach and searched for butterflies instead.  We managed numerous Speckled Woods, some Large Whites and Green-Veined Whites, a single Red Admiral and a single Comma.  We also chanced upon three Fallow Deer and a Kingfisher.  Later on, we then took a stroll on the Racecourse which again had nothing except for the Goldfinch flock which is now at about 25 birds.

Kingfisher

Lighthorne and area

As I left work earlier than normal, I thought I would go over to Lighthorne Heath for a poke around.  As per normal, I was the only one on the heath and a quick search round the nearest pool to the footpath gave a fairly good mix of species (although nothing spectacular).  Birds seen and heard included Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Long Tailed Tit, Linnet, Reed Bunting, Robin, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Bullfinch, Reed Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat and Barn Swallow.

I then moved onto the Kineton area which was very unproductive with just Yellowhammer, Skylark and a Weasel running across the road in front of the car.

A quick walk on the Racecourse also produced nothing...I hate days like this.....

More Local Birding

A couple of intense evenings birding trying to nail some local good species for Warwickshire saw me trampsing around last night and hearing a Quail call twice from some fields about 5 miles from home and watching the local Corn Buntings going to roost.

A quick look on the Racecourse after the rain gave me two juvenile Reed Warblers which are a first for that area and a classic Reed Bunting being very inquisitive.

Reed Bunting

This evening I went out with Matt and Dan to a local site and despite me discovering that my scope is broken (in that I can no longer attach it to my tripod) we managed some good birds with 13 Green Sandpipers, 3-4 Common Sandpipers, Snipe, Grey Patridge, Dunlin, Turnstone, Cuckoo and Kingfisher.

Reed Bunting