Thursday 27 February 2014

A day’s birding in Warwickshire & Worcestershire - February 27, 2014

Dave, Roger and I were going to Hams Wall in Warwickshire today hoping to see a Hume’s Warbler that had been present for some time.  Before we left Roger’s we saw two male Blackcaps in his garden.  On arrival there were three other birders present and one being local advised us as to the likely whereabouts of the bird.  We spent well over two hours searching the area without any sight of the bird, are our only reward being a fly over Peregrine and three Chiffchaffs.  One of the birders had gone back to the other side of the bridge and found it in a small area of scrub between the path and the road.  When we got there it had disappeared and a search around the area produced more Chiffchaffs but not the Hume’s.  As we stood talking by the small scrubby area the Hume’s flew in, calling as it did so, but disappeared almost immediately.  Whilst we were searching it started to rain and so we retreated back to the car for lunch.

The rain eased just as we finished our lunch and we walked back to the scrub area and found the bird had just been seen again.  A Chiffchaff was also present in the same area and that is all we kept seeing initially but the Hume’s continued to call occasionally and was clearly still present.  We then had several poor views of the bird and then sun came out and it showed quite well near the top of a hawthorn on several occasions.  We finally decided to call it a day and head to Hopwood for a Great Grey Shrike.


We pulled up in a lay-by on the B4120 and crossed the road to view the new plantation.  It didn’t take too long to locate the bird and we had some rather nice, if distant, views of the bird as it fed within the plantation.  We had intended to go to Uffmoor Wood for a Yellow-browed Warbler but the time spent looking for the Hume’s meant we had to call it a day and head off home.

Wednesday 26 February 2014

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - February 25, 2014

I went to Eyebrook Reservoir first this morning seeing a rather pale Buzzard near Blaston on route.


Buzzard

One of the Little Owls was in the old oak on the approach to the reservoir and I parked close to the bridge over the feeder stream to look for the reported Bittern.  I stood on the bridge close to forty minutes with no sign of the Bittern but I did have some nice views of a Willow Tit, which is the first have seen here since May 2004.


Willow Tit

I then spent some time overlooking an area of mud at the inlet and counted thirty-three Dunlin and a single Shelduck was also present.  There were plenty of gulls on the shore and in the water and I thought it would be nice to find a Mediterranean Gull.  As I scanned through them with the scope they were mainly Black-headed and Common and I came across a single Lesser Black-backed Gull and as I got almost to the end of the gulls and bingo, a moulting adult Mediterranean Gull.  It was well into summer plumage with the hood being well formed, although the forehead was still white and the bill still a little dull.  It was an excellent find that went someway to easing the disappointment of not seeing the Bittern earlier.  It’s always much more rewarding in finding your own birds, even when they are not particularly rare.

I moved off to the north arm at Rutland Water and found the two first-winter Long-tailed Ducks before the rain came.  The forecast for the morning was mainly sunny with an isolated shower.  Well it rained for well over an hour and was pretty heavy at times.  I drove to the Egleton car park and eventually went to the centre and viewed lagoon one until the rain eased.  A nice flock of c.250 Golden Plover arrived whilst I was in the centre and there were ten Shelduck, a single Little Egret, two Snipe and a single Curlew but very little else on the lagoon.

As the rain eased I set off to bittern hide on lagoon three where I found another Little Egret and twenty Snipe flew over and then circled before finally coming down in the reed-bed.  There were two volunteers working outside of plover hide on lagoon four and so I went back to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  There was a Green Sandpiper feeding on the recently exposed mud and a Redshank arrived during my stay.  There were four Shelduck close to the hide that got involved in a territorial dispute with both pairs holding their ground and I found a red-head Smew at the back of the lagoon.  A visit to sandpiper on lagoon four produced another four Shelduck, two Ringed Plovers and two Curlews.  Two Red Kites also provided some excellent views.

Whilst having lunch in the car park Mike Chester informed me that the Bittern had been performing well at Eyebrook Reservoir and in fact had ventured onto the road at one point.  I therefore decided to go back to Eyebrook Reservoir but the Bittern had disappeared on arrival and was last seen walking through the trees towards the western edge.  I worked the area with a second birder and eventually saw it moving through the vegetation and called the other birder over but we couldn’t find it again and then the heavens opened.  After the shower had passed the other birder found it at the eastern edge of the plantation and managed to get a rather nice photo before it moved back towards the stream.  He saw it again as it moved closer to the stream but then it disappeared again.  A lady then spotted it towards the back of the plantation and at last I got some decent views before it disappeared again.  I then picked it up as it headed closer to the stream and everyone was able to watch until it walked into the base of a coniferous shrub and disappeared and was not seen again whilst I was there.  Two Red Kites and three Buzzards were observed and a Kingfisher gave brief views before it flew back down stream whilst we were looking for the Bittern.


Buzzard

I had not seen Grey Wagtail this year and with reports of one at the overflow I decided to go and have a look.  As I approached the area where it had been reported I heard it call and the saw it in flight as it went further downstream.  There were also eight Tree Sparrows on the feeders close to the fishing lodge.

I finally called it a day and went home rather pleased with successful days birding.

Monday 24 February 2014

A day’s birding in Northamptonshire - February 24, 2014

Dave, Roger and I set off for Thrapston Gravel Pits where there had been two Firecrests reported over the last two days.  Having parked the car at Islip we walked north-east alongside the River Nene and on reaching a footbridge crossed the river to where the birds had been seen.  Other birders informed us that they had seen at least one but that it was very mobile and illusive.  It wasn’t long before we got our first views of a bird but they were very brief as the bird was constantly on the move feeding.  Over the next hour and a half we saw the bird on several more occasions but it was never still as it continued to feed and the views were perhaps disappointing.  We had a look over Town Lake, finding a Long-tailed Duck and drake Scaup.  There were also four Goosanders and on walking back we had a Green Woodpecker and several Red Kites.



Red Kite

A Great Grey Shrike had been reported at Lowick over the last two days and being just a couple of miles away we decided to go and have a look.  We were at the sight for over three hours and Dave was fortunate to see the bird perched at the top of a tree for about thirty seconds.  He alerted Roger and I but by the time we got to him it had disappeared and failed to reappear despite an extensive search.

Sunday 23 February 2014

A day’s birding in Leicestershire & Rutland - February 22, 2014

I was out on my own today as Dave and Roger had other commitment.  After the disappointing day at Rutland Water on Thursday I had decided to go initially to Swithland Reservoir.  I arrived at the northern end of the reservoir just before 08:00 to find the water level had risen considerably.  I soon found at least four Scaup mid-water but there could have been more as they were diving constantly and even finding four on the surface at any onetime was unusual.  A Sparrowhawk was observed flying over Buddon Wood and a Raven was observed perched in the tree that is normally used by the Peregrines but they were conspicuous by their absence.  Two Green Woodpeckers were heard calling and a single Great Spotted Woodpecker was heard drumming.  I drove around to the causeway on the south side and found a pair of distant Mandarin but nothing else of note, although two more Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard drumming.


Pair of Tufted Duck on the northern section of the reservoir


Grey Heron over the northern section of the reservoir

I finally decided to go to Swithland Wood and after parking walked the short distance to the holly tree where Tawny Owl often roost.  I found one almost immediately near the top of the holly and after watching it for several minutes continued to walk around the wood.  I saw a selection of common woodland birds that included two Treecreeper and two Great Spotted Woodpeckers were heard drumming.  A Nuthatch was also heard but could not be located.  After getting back to the car I decided to go back to the holly tree with the camera and managed to get several reasonable shots of the owl and on processing them I found that there was a second bird close to the one I had seen.



Tawny Owl in Swithland Wood

I made a brief visit to Cropston Reservoir but saw very little just a few Great Crested Grebes and Tufted Duck.

From Cropston Reservoir I headed for Eyebrook Reservoir as there had been a Bittern reported in the inlet stream over the last two days.  The Little Owl was sitting in the old oak as I approached the reservoir but after about thirty minutes with no sign of the Bittern I viewed the inlet area and found fifteen Dunlin.  There appeared to be far fewer birds present today and I finally decided to move on to Rutland Water.

I went to north arm at Rutland Water and found the four Black-necked Grebes, one of which was showing signs of summer plumage, just of Dickinson’s Bay.  Despite a good search I was unable to locate any of the Long-tailed Ducks, although one was reported yesterday.  A single Oystercatcher flew over and a heard a Ringed Plover calling but couldn’t find it and five Buzzards were showing over Burley Wood.  A final scan for a Long-tailed Duck produced the same result and I headed off to the Egleton Reserve where I had a bite to eat before setting off towards lagoon four.

There were twelve Curlews on the right hand island and three Shelduck on the water.  As I was scanning round a picked up a large pale gull coming in and watched it land and join several other gulls on one of the islands. I suspected that it might be a first-winter Glaucous Gull but it didn’t look quite right, although I was unsure why. I watched it has it bathed and preened amongst the other gulls and eventually joined Tim, who I had informed of the birds presence, in Dunlin hide as it was much closer.  However when I got into the hide all I could see was its head as it was on the back of the island.  It wasn’t too long before it took to flight and I was able to get a few shots off as it departed to the south.  The photographs showed dark tips to primaries 7 to 9 and Andrew Harrop pointed out from the photographs that it was probably a Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid, albeit quite subtle.  It would appear that my initial suspicious about the bird were correct and it shows the value of getting photos in bird identification.  I suspect that this bird could easily have been passed off as a Glaucous Gull at longer range.




Probable Glaucous x Herring Gull hybrid over lagoon four


Photo showing the dark tips to primaries 7 to 9

Tim had said he would take me to a part of the reserve not open to the public to hopefully see Jack Snipe.  I agreed to meet at 13:15 at the centre but went to shoveler hide on lagoon three first where there were four more Shelduck, a Green Sandpiper and a Redshank.



Drake Shelduck on lagoon three

feeding station.  We drove to the southern edge of heron bay and after checking that the hides were empty Tim walked and area close to the water’s edge.  He initially flushed a Snipe but then a Jack Snipe took to flight before coming down close to lagoon eight.

Before we had got to Heron Bay we had walked a wood between lagoons seven and eight but there was very little a few Blue and Great Tits and a single Marsh Tit.


Marsh Tit

A walk on Lax Hill initially produced very little but once on the sheltered side there were a few common woodland species and there was on the feeders at robin hide.

Tim then drove back to lagoon four where there had been a Mediterranean Gull yesterday afternoon but there were very few gulls and certainly no Mediterranean Gull.  There were thirteen Shelduck on the lagoon but we couldn’t find the reported female Smew.

There were plenty of gulls from the centre but again no sign of the Mediterranean Gull but there were three Pintail and six Goosanders.

Friday 21 February 2014

A day’s birding at Rutland Water, Rutland - February 20, 2014

I spent the whole day on the Egleton Reserve initially in the centre sheltering from the rain.  There were circa eight Golden Plovers on the long island and a single drake Pintail was observed.  As the rain eased a Peregrine scattered the Golden Plover and Lapwing, a Sparrowhawk was seen at the same time and a single Egyptian Goose and a Little Egret could be seen on the wet meadow.  There was also seven Shelduck on the lagoon and ten Snipe flew around before coming down on the long island.


When the rain stopped I had a quick look at the feeding station and there was a nice pair of Lesser Redpoll on the Niger feeders but a claimed Willow Tit failed to reappear and was possibly a Marsh Tit.


Female Lesser Redpoll at the feeders


Male Lesser Redpoll at the feeders


Male Lesser Redpoll at the feeders

I walked to sandpiper hide on lagoon four where there were another six Shelduck, two Oystercatcher and four Ringed Plovers but very little else.  From shoveler hide on lagoon three other than another four Shelduck there was nothing of note, although I did see three distant Buzzards.

A walk to lapwing hide and visiting both smew and crake hides produced very little and nothing of note but there were many of the screening panels down following the recent gales.  There were four Ringed Plover from plover hide on lagoon four that were probably different to those seen earlier.  There was very little on lagoon two from either grebe or redshank hides on lagoons as there was a working party repairing the Sand Martin building.  I had further views of the female Lesser Redpoll on e feeders before I had some lunch.


Mute Swan on lagoon three


Female Shoveler on lagoon three


Male Shoveler on lagoon three


Female Goldeneye on lagoon three


Male Goldeneye on lagoon three


Female Pheasant on lagoon three


Moorhen on lagoon three


Lapwing over lagoon three


Adult winter Common Gull over lagoon three


Jackdaw in the car park

After lunch I walked towards Lax Hill, initially calling at snipe hide on the wet meadow.  There was a distant Buzzard and a Red Kite flew over but little else.


Cormorant over the wet meadow


Drake Wigeon over the wet meadow


Pair of Wigeon over the wet meadow


Red Kite over the wet meadow


Red Kite over the wet meadow

From snipe hide I went to the 360° hide on lagoon five where there was another Shelduck and a Redshank and from pintail hide I found two more Ringed Plovers on lagoon six and there was another Redshank from tern hide on lagoon six.  Harrier hide failed to produce anything of note and from mallard hide during the late afternoon I found single a single Oystercatcher and a Curlew and there were two male and a female Pintail on lagoon one.

Rather a quiet day but I didn’t visit anywhere else except the Egleton Reserve.


Female Greenfinch near the feeding station at lagoon five


Pair of Gadwall from mallard hide on lagoon one


Drake Teal from mallard hide on lagoon one


Grey Heron from mallard hide on lagoon one

Tuesday 18 February 2014

A day’s birding in West Norfolk - February 17, 2014

Dave, Roger and I had decided to have day’s birding in West Norfolk and set off heading for Salthouse where a Richard’s Pipit had been present since last year.  There was a light breeze as we were on our way just before dawn but fog soon developed and was quite dense in places.  As we approached Kings Lynn it began to clear and there were a few snatches of sun but it remained patchy until we reached the coast when it was reasonably clear.


It was our first visit to the part of Norfolk since the storm surge hit the Norfolk coast in early December.  As we drove down the beach road at Salthouse we found the car park completely covered in shingle that came up to the top of some of the fence posts.  We parked the car on the road and walked to the top of the shingle to view the sea but found nothing except a few gulls.  We walked towards Gramborough Hill to search for the Richard’s Pipit as it had been reported in the field to the south.  There were a few Skylark and Meadow Pipits around but other than a Little Egret there was little else.  Dave Holman and another birder spoke to us as they walked beyond Gramborough Hill and towards Kelling.  I few minutes later they called us as they had seen the Richard’s Pipit fly behind a single bank.  We walked to towards the area and picked up the pipit feeding on the footpath.  It was quite distant and the path was partially obscured by some grasses. I got the bird in the scope and had some reasonable views as walked away from us on the path before it flew further towards Kelling.  Walking further along Dave then picked it up feeding along a tide line that had been created by the tidal surge.  It then continued to show on and off as it fed along this tide line before disappearing into some longer grasses.  The other birder then spent a few minutes showing us actually where the tidal surge had reached and it was incredible to see just how far it had gone and much debris it had carried.  One of the signs from Cley Reserve and a small boat could be seen on the edge of the extent of the surge.  Dave and the other birder then walked on and we decided we would return to Gramborough Hill and have another look at the sea.  As I turned I picked up a falcon, which was quite close, but flew rapidly across the marsh heading in land to settle for a while on a distant bush.  It was a Merlin and the second good bird of the day.  From Gramborough Hill we found at least five Red-throated Divers and several Brent Geese flew by.


One of thirty Turnstone on teh shingle at Salthouse

Calling at the NNT Centre at Cley we established that there was little on the reserve but we could see plenty of Golden Plovers and Dunlin on Pat’s Pool and found a single Avocet amongst a party of Lapwings.  A female Marsh Harrier then flew over before landing in a bush on the marsh.

We moved on towards Titchwell and stopped for a while at both Holkham and Burnham Overy Staithe.  At Holkham there were masses of Pink-footed Geese and Wigeon with smaller numbers of Greylag Geese, Canada Geese, Egyptian Geese, Shelduck, Teal and Mallard and I did find three Pintail but I suspect there were more.  There were also good numbers of Lapwing and Curlew, with one group of Curlew containing at least fifty birds.  A female Marsh Harrier was causing havoc amongst the wildfowl and waders with both frequently flying.

At Burnham Overy Staithe there were more Pink-footed Geese and Wigeon and we also had two more female Marsh Harriers, two Buzzards and a nice Barn Owl.  There was also at least 1000 Golden Plovers on the meadows.

Continuing on towards Titchwell we called at Choseley Barns but were unable to find either of the target species Grey Partridge and Corn Bunting.  There were plenty of Red-legged Partridges and we did find a nice party of circa thirty Bramblings and a single Buzzard.

At Titchwell we had lunch before setting off down the west bank.  Thornham Pool was empty and just held four Redshanks and the Reedbed Pool held just a single Tufted Duck and a couple of Coot.  Thornham Marsh was very quiet as we continued to the freshwater marsh, which was quite high and not particularly suitable for waders.  There were plenty of ducks on the water that included Shelduck, Gadwall, Teal, Mallard, Pintail, Shoveler and Pochard.  There were c.200 Golden Plover amongst the Lapwing and four Ruff were observed.  There was at least twenty-five Avocet and several Black-tailed Godwits and a single Grey Plover were also present.

The tide was out and Volunteer Marsh was proving a good feeding area for Shelduck and Redshank and there were also more Black-tailed Godwits and several Bar-tailed Godwits.  The tidal marsh held three Little Grebes and more Black and Bar-tailed Godwits and a single Water Rail was observed.

On reaching the beach there appeared to be few waders on the exposed beach to the right, which is normally covered in waders at low tide.  However to the left there were numerous waders feeding on the more sandy shore.  These included 1000+ Dunlin and good numbers of Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwits and smaller numbers of Curlew.  There was however a noticeable lack of Oystercatcher, Knot and Sanderling, three species that can be quite common here.  In fact I could only find a single Knot and a Sanderling.  I have seen reasonable numbers of Grey Plover in the past but have never seen as many Dunlin on the beach before.  Two Ringed Plovers, my first of the year, were also observed. The sea was relatively calm and there were three distinct groups of Common Scoter, which must have contained 2000+ birds and we did see a couple of Velvet Scoters in flight.  There was also good numbers of Red-breasted Mergansers with thirty-five being counted.  Other birds seen on the sea included a Tufted Duck, a Red-throated Diver in flight and several Goldeneye.


Brambling on the feeders at the centre


Brent Goose over the beach

On walking back to the car park there was no sign of the hoped for Spotted Redshank but we did hear a Cetti’s Warbler and had some nice views of the second Barn Owl of the day.





Barn Owl on Thornham Marsh

On route home Dave picked up two Grey Partridge close to Anmer, which eased the disappointment of Choseley and was a good end to a reasonably successful day’s birding.  A Little Owl was observed on route at Sculthorpe.

Friday 14 February 2014

A day’s birding in Durham & West Yorkshire - February 13, 2014

Dave had not seen Yellow-rumped Warbler and so he, Roger and I decided to go to Shincliffe in Durham for his first lifer of the year.


News came through as we were approaching the M62 that the bird was still present and we arrived on site at 10:00, three and a half hours after leaving home.  I was surprised to see quite some many birders with it being mid-week as access had been possible since the 9th.  It was not on view and it was about thirty minutes before it actually appeared on one of the coconut feeders and we were able to view through the bare branches of the bushes.  After it first showing it appeared with some regularity and eventually visited a second feeder that was slightly more visible and a managed to get a few reasonable record shots of the bird.  A Willow Tit also visited the feeding area and a Sparrowhawk also made a brief visit before we had seen the warbler and the area was much quieter but eventually the Willow Tit and a Robin returned and then the warbler.  We decided to make our way back at about 11:30 as we intended to call at Smawthorne Marsh in Castleford to hopefully see a Firecrest.







Yellow-rumped Warbler

We had lunch at Wetherby services and decided to go call at Fairburn Inges before going for the Firecrest.

When we arrived at Fairburn the centre was closed due to a power cut and there was no information available on the birds present.  The feeding areas had a good selection of common species, including Tree Sparrows and we also had our second Willow Tit of the day.  We took a short walk and saw a Kingfisher but very little else and eventually we decided to go for the Fiercest.



Kingfisher



Male Bullfinch

Smawthorne Marsh is in the centre of Castleford and was not particularly accessible but we did get into the area where the Firecrest had been reported yesterday.  We spent of an hour in the area but there was no sign of the bird and we eventually called it a day and headed home.