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