Birding UK and Ireland Forum - Blogs - astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/ Birding UK and Ireland Bird Forum en Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:17:07 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/images/misc/rss.jpg Birding UK and Ireland Forum - Blogs - astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/ Norfolk and Suffolk 02-08 October 2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/452-norfolk-suffolk-02-08-october-2011.html Mon, 10 Oct 2011 21:34:51 GMT Our first stop on arriving in Norfolk on a very warm October lunchtime was Weeting Heath to look and see if there were any lingering stone curlews;... Our first stop on arriving in Norfolk on a very warm October lunchtime was Weeting Heath to look and see if there were any lingering stone curlews; there were not, only lapwing. We moved on to nearby Grimes Graves where the main interest is archaeological but we also saw our first wheatear of the trip and lots of meadow pipits.

From here, we headed back across the border to Lakenheath Fen in Suffolk. Unfortunately, the cranes weren’t at home although the person manning the visitor centre was very excited as they had ten birds on the reserve earlier in the day, whereas they usually have five resident birds. We heard some beardies but the wind was up and they didn’t show. The best bird we saw here was a hobby above the reedbeds.Later, we heard a tawny owl outside our B&B near Brancaster.

The following morning we headed to Snettisham for the lunchtime not-very-high tide. The first bird we saw was a green woodpecker, and we also saw a variety of waders on our walk to the hides; mostly knot and oystercatchers but also grey plovers, golden plovers, curlews, and some smaller dunlin and ringed plovers. The high tide spectacle was a bit of a let down because the birds never came particularly close to the shore, but it was a good visit overall.

From here we went to Titchwell where it was also too windy for bearded tits! Other than lots more of the same waders, the best birds on the lagoons here were a couple of pintails amongst the ducks.

However we had a much better time trying to sea-watch from the beach in the increasingly strong wind. I thought we saw a winter plumaged diver a little way out at sea, but I really wasn’t sure, and while we were trying to focus on it a large dark bird came out of nowhere and started harassing a gull right in front of us and over our heads. Skua! I checked the identity of the bird with another birder further down the beach who confirmed it was a dark-phase arctic skua, and ventured to him that I thought there might be a diver a little way out. He said he hadn’t seen it, if there was. I went back to our scope a little way up the beach, and after a while the other man strolled up to advise that yes, there was a red-throated diver a little way out. We tried to focus our scopes on it, but were distracted by a winter plumaged guillemot (not seen a winter one before!) and I was left unsure whether I could count the diver as a lifer or not. There were a few winter Sandwich terns about, and a juvenile gannet made a very clumsy spectacle plunge diving into the sea. After a while, two more arctic skuas came back to pick on the gulls! On the way up the path back to the visitor centre, we saw a pair of marsh harriers.

We ended the day with a stroll along the coast path from Burnham Overy Staithe towards Holkham. Lots of redshank, before an egret caught my eye in flight. As I watched, it dawned on me that this egret was in fact a spoonbill. We reached the dunes, and sat and watched a few sanderling on the beach amongst the gulls, As we walked back, a second egret also turned into a spoonbill in front of our very eyes, this one flying and also seen feeding amongst the tidal creeks, and not to be outdone, no fewer than six little egrets passed over our head on their way to roost.

Tuesday morning was spent looking at a bush at Holme Dunes. It wasn’t intended to be spent like that, but when we arrived at the car park a man informed us that a barred warbler had been present in the bush, and as I’ve never seen one, I proceeded to waste the whole morning looking for it. Rather oddly, the man in the car park recognised me from the pallid harrier twitch a few days earlier. Obviously thinking I was chasing rarities (I wasn’t!) he revealed the sandhill crane had been relocated in Suffolk. I had no idea it had even left Aberdeen! As for the barred warbler, the only time it showed all morning was while we were wandering around the dunes for a brief few minutes to break up the monotony! Frustrating! We did see another marsh harrier here, but really very little else.

After lunch, we went to Cley. I was a bit cross that we had spent so much of the day at Holme but we needn’t have worried as large parts of Cley were closed off for ‘work’. From the east hide we added avocets and snipe to our ‘trip list’ and saw another two marsh harriers, and a peregrine caused a commotiong amongst the assembled waders and ducks but it was still too windy for bearded tits! We relocated to the shingle beach, and as we strolled along we were absolutely delighted to see a summer plumaged red throated diver swimming (and diving) barely ten metres off shore. Stunning bird, and a lifer (if I don’t count the possible one the day before). We spent a while looking over the area we saw Lapland buntings last year, but unfortunately there were none to be found. We did see a big flock of mixed linnets and goldfinch, and quite a few meadow pipits, though.

The day ended with an unsuccessful look for owls in the vicinity of Stiffkey, where we had seen them last year.

Wednesday began with another shorter visit to the Holme bush but the barred warbler still wasn’t prepared to show (it had been seen again later the previous day), before we departed for more history at Castle Acre. Unfortunately we had not read our handbook correctly and the priory ruins were closed, but the castle remains were interesting enough and from here we moved on towards the Broads, an area I have never visited before.

As we only had an afternoon to spare, we played it safe with a visit to Stumpshaw Fen. Still too windy for bearded tits! The best birds here were a couple more snipe and another marsh harrier, but I am fairly certain we were a little bit late in the year to enjoy the reserve at its best.

It was at this moment that I decided to check the latest whereabouts of the sandhill crane, and was delighted to discover it was about ten miles south of Saxmundham, where we had booked to stay for the next three nights. Even better, it seemed to be lingering at Boyton Marshes, and we had directions to the RSPB reserve there, so we headed south.

The bird wasn’t actually on the reserve, but through a brilliant piece of subliminal navigation we ended up in the right place rather than at the reserve. Not really sure how we did that! We arrived and saw a row of four birders with their scopes trained in a certain direction. Whilst we got ours set up, I scanned the distance with my binoculars but unfortunately couldn’t find it and had to ask the man next to us for a pointer. He very kindly allowed me a ‘sighter’ through his own scope, and so I had my second lifer of the trip and my first ever ‘mega’. We watched the bird for about an hour in the hope it would take off and show us its wingspan, but it was content to wander about its field feeding and occasionally having a good look around.

Our remaining two days were spent at both Minsmere/Dunwich Heath and North Warren but despite our best efforts we couldn’t add anything else to our list, although the barnacle geese at Minsmere have given me a bit of a feral goose quandary. I have no intention of counting them, but can’t adequately explain why I am happy to count feral greylags, Egyptians and Canada geese and not these. Anyone?!

Minsmere did produce a kingfisher, right outside the Bittern Hide and another marsh harrier, more avocets, lots of godwits (of both types, I think), some dunlin, various ducks and a wheatear, but sadly we were not able to track down the reported snow bunting.

Dunwich Heath produced another wheatear, many house martins and a pair of bullfinches, but despite our best efforts the closes we got to a Dartford warbler was a scratchy, squeaky bush that eventually turned into a grey bullet dashing out and into thick cover whilst we were looking the other way. It might have been, but it might have been something else.

Returning to Minsmere through the woods, we had a great spotted woodpecker from the canopy hide, and a green woodpecker shortly afterwards. We ended the day watching the red deer rut on nearby Westleton Heath.

North Warren the following day was, in all honesty, a disappointment, and the best birds we saw being a treecreeper and possibly another pair of bullfinch. Orford Castle was really interesting, and Aldeburgh was nice for fish and chips at lunch time. We ended the day at Shingle Street, which is a really atmospheric place, and provided us with a real mystery bird; as we watched the gulls, and the large ships in the distance, a commotion attracted our attention. The gulls were harassing a large brown bird of prey that came in off the sea, seemingly clutching something in its talons, which landed out of view on the shingle beach; a subsequent search produced only a kestrel eyeing us from a nearby wire; I am certain that the bird we saw wasn’t a kestrel, but even if it was it is beyond me to explain how it got from the beach to the wire without us seeing it! The only description of the bird I can offer was all-dark and long-tailed. I was thinking harrier, but it might just have been a trick of the fading light and a kestrel all along!

All in all a nice few days away with a couple of surprise lifers but none of the birds I intended/wanted to see. I blame the settled weather and the persistent westerly winds!
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]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/452-norfolk-suffolk-02-08-october-2011.html Tour of Lancashire, 21-25th September 2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/445-tour-lancashire-21-25th-september-2011.html Sun, 25 Sep 2011 20:35:47 GMT This is a long one! Our journey up North was uneventful apart from a closure of the M5 which sent us on a round the houses trip around... This is a long one!

Our journey up North was uneventful apart from a closure of the M5 which sent us on a round the houses trip around Worcestershire. Undaunted, we arrived at Mere Sands Wood near Rufford at lunchtime in the hope of seeing some tree sparrows as they’re rare where we’re from and were missing from my year list. We asked in the visitor centre where the best spot might be and I think the warden was a bit amused to be asked about sparrows! He suggested the feeders at the picnic area and so we sat patiently and ate our sandwiches despite the close attentions of the resident cat. Who knew cats ate lemon cake? No sparrows, but a nice pair of bullfinches and several tits (blue, great and coal), a couple of robins and three dunnocks (well there would be, wouldn’t there?)

A little disappointed we went for a trudge around the woods, and saw very little, until my mood was brightened considerably by a stoat, at close range who somehow hadn’t noticed us! He soon did, and off he ran! We spent some time in the hides, mostly the reliable Rufford hide, but weren’t to be rewarded with a kingfisher, and other than some more of the same at the feeding station, we didn’t see a great deal. As we approached the visitor centre again I thought I’d duck in and check the feeders again, and the first bird I saw was a tree sparrow! Happy, we logged our stoat sighting with the staff and moved on.

Our next stop was Hesketh Out Marsh, where we drew a complete blank, and as time and tide was against us, we quickly made the decision to move on to RSPB Marshside, where we saw an unfamiliar gull from Nel’s hide which I initially took to be a ring-billed but eventually settled for a common gull (which it was!). We also saw our first ever pink-footed geese and our first large groups of wigeon and teal of the autumn with a few shovelers amongst them, a lot of black-tailed godwits and a few lapwing. From Sandgrounder’s hide we saw more of the same, a load more geese come in, a little grebe and a couple of snipe.

On arriving in Morecambe we initially headed to Heysham and got thoroughly confused by our Where to Watch Birds book (not for the first time!) and ended up nearly queuing to board the Isle of Man ferry. We had a short walk along the shore and a small dark bird that caught me unaware might well have been a storm-petrel sp. of some sort. Eventually, we found the nature reserve/bird observatory, but although the gate was open the advertised closing time was 6 o’clock and we were past that so we put it off for another day.

Thursday dawned with a short visit to Hest Bank but again the tide was against us so we quickly moved on and took the tidal causeway to Sunderland Point (via Lancaster for breakfast) which was a great experience (its exactly like a mini Lindisfarne!). Not a great variety of birds, but loads and loads of redshank, a single dunlin, a couple that might have been knot, and several curlews. We walked around the point, and visited Sambo’s grave, and then headed back to the mainland! On the way, we twice stopped the car, firstly to identify a big flock of linnets, and secondly to identify an odd looking wader which turned out to be a juvenile redshank (its pinkish bill and lack of legs was troubling me, but the book told me it what it was at the exact same time that it got out of the water and showed us its legs).

From here we drove back down the M6 to Brockholes near Preston. In a word, it was disappointing. The famous lake village struck me as a bit pointless, they have plenty of higher ground they could’ve built on and they have to shut when it floods anyway because the access road is cut off! We joined a guided walk but to be honest I soon wished we hadn’t. The guide was very nice and knew his local history and geography, but he wasn’t much of a birder and we spent a lot of time looking for things on our own. We got brief views of a kingfisher (perched, would you believe against a plastic blue background rendering it mostly invisible), but other than that the best birds on the reserve were another linnet flock, a kestrel having a scrap with two magpies, a great crested grebe and once we’d left the guided walk, a tufted duck, gadwall and little grebe. The reserve itself seems very immature, which is fair enough as it is brand new, but is already beset by vandalism (all of the hides have been got at and one has been burned to the floor already) and I cant help thinking the place needs a bit of help.

We returned to Morecambe and returned to Hest Bank; the tide was coming in, and a walk along the beach produced lots more redshank, some curlew, a flock of small waders that were mostly dunlin and a few ringed plovers, some distant shelduck, all the commonest gull species, a couple of terns and a mystery duck which by a process of elimination could only be an eclipse eider (I checked it in the book later on, and it was.) We then had to wait an eternity for the level crossing to open, as a nuclear train was about to come through!

Friday morning began with an early visit to Heysham bird observatory where were shown a crimson underwing moth, then had a short walk around the reserve which produced nothing much more than loads of robins, and a kestrel. We then headed to the area behind the nuclear power station, and immediately saw a kingfisher fishing the rock pools! I’d never seen them do this before and was delighted. A walk along the seawall produced more redshank and curlew, various gulls (one might have been a me gull but I’m not certain), shelduck and we spent a great few minutes watching four arctic terns (an adult and three juveniles) fishing in the outflow from the power station! Continuing on, we saw a single turnstone and more assorted gulls.

We then swapped birding for walking and headed through the scenic Trough of Bowland for a 7.5 mile walk in the area famous for the Pendle witches. Very hilly and very muddy, with the notable birds spotted being three grey wagtails, several meadow pipits and lots of goldfinches.

Saturday morning dawned with the Forum Outing to Leighton Moss, where we had a great time but has been covered elsewhere (by Alan's great blog which I can confirm is accurate!), and so I will move on to describe Bristol Rovers magnificent 3-2 away win at table-topping Morecambe in detail…only joking but it made a great day even better!

After the game, and on a whim based on Devonsue’s suggestion to Peter earlier in the week, we headed for Glasson Dock not knowing what to expect. As we approached the village, we noticed a group of birders by the side of the road with all their scopes trained in a specific direction. To be honest, my mind wasn’t really focussed on birdwatching after the days excitement and so we got out of the car intending to go for a short walk without the binoculars. That soon changed when we saw the immense flock of waders twirling in the estuary. One half were clearly lapwing, but the others were smaller. As I watched them alternate between yellowy and white, as they twisted and turned in the air I realised I was looking at a massive flock of golden plovers which was confirmed when first my binoculars were produced from the car, and then once I had the scope set up and the birds had settled back on the ground I picked out what I think was a single grey plover amongst them, and also a fine golden plover still in the majority of its summer plumage.

Emboldened by this, I wandered down the road to casually ask what the others were looking at, and they very kindly showed me a lesser yellowlegs (my second of the year!) through their scopes! It was in the company of two snipes, all showing well in the one view! There were also lots of gulls and herons around.

So all in all Saturday was a pretty good day.

Today, we went into Lancaster and visited the castle (fascinating tour although it will be better if or when they open up the prison to visitors now that it has shut down), and then we headed to Wigan Flashes on our way home. Our book promised us a lovely wetland home to a variety of birds and habitats but to be honest, it felt more like a very local reserve full of kids and dog walkers. We didn’t stay long, the best bird we saw being mallards and instead headed to nearby Pennington Flash.

Much better here, our first bird was a great spotted woodpecker, but our target bird was willow tit, and apparently they are regular at the Bunting Hide feeding station, according to another of my books. We made our way to it, and found the busiest feeding station I have ever seen! The first bird I saw was probably a willow tit, but it was soon off, leaving us to enjoy the masses of chaffinches, greenfinches, bullfinches (at least three), great tits, blue tits, coal tits, and dunnocks, as well as the comical attempts of the magpies and a grey squirrel to obtain food from the feeders through the cages designed to prevent them doing exactly that! The willow tit came and went several times, but eventually I got good enough views to see the differences from the marsh tits seen yesterday at Leighton Moss, these being the scruffier appearance, the thick neck, the more extensive black bib and the fact that the cap extends down the back of the birds head as if it has longer hair! Despite my careful inspection, I couldn’t see the pale panel on the wing but I am in no doubt as to the identity of the bird, which is a lifer for me, due to its location which is famous for willow tit and the fact there was a picture of presumably the same bird stuck to the wall of the hide which also didn’t show the wing panel.

All in all, a great few days away which takes my year list to 196 with only two lifers but provided great views of birds that I’ve previously only had very sketchy ones of, specifically arctic tern and bearded tit, and the opportunity to compare ‘shanks’ at such close range won’t be forgotten in a hurry, and nor will the golden plovers!

Thanks for reading ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/445-tour-lancashire-21-25th-september-2011.html Singing in the rain, 6th May 2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/418-singing-rain-6th-may-2011.html Fri, 06 May 2011 20:47:40 GMT We joined an 'organised' nightingale walk at RSPB Highnam Woods tonight. I say 'organised' but a better word would probably be 'haphazard' or possibly 'shambolic'!

We arrived late but fortunately the group was still in the car park. A man collected £4 from us and I assumed him to be in charge. It was a large group, and without a word of introduction, it marched off. It started to rain.

The group stopped a short while later beside a musical bush. Despite no explanation, I took this to mean the music was provided by a nightingale. It didn't show. The rain got harder. The bird got louder, but still didn't show. The group started to murmur.

After a while, one third of the group moved off further along the path without a word. Nonplussed, two thirds stayed put. The bird did not show. The rain got harder, and some people went home. I realised the leader had departed in the first third. We pressed on, leaving the rest of the group behind. They were never seen again.

We caught up with the smaller group. It started to thunder. The walk was abandoned!

Not to be deterred, we waited out the worst of the storm in the car, and when it eased off, returned to the musical bush. The bird continued to sing beautifully, but it never showed! Eventually, it got too dark to see and so we left the still-singing bird to its own devices.

A disappointment, and not only because it rained. We did at least get a spectacular lightning show for our money, and the nightingale's song is wonderful, but all in all I bet a few people went home a bit miffed this evening. ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/418-singing-rain-6th-may-2011.html North Wales, 1st and 2nd May 2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/417-north-wales-1st-2nd-may-2011.html Mon, 02 May 2011 22:10:43 GMT (readers beware, this is a long one!! :o) Having made the trip up from Bristol the night before, we left our hotel at 4.40am yesterday to make the... (readers beware, this is a long one!! :o)

Having made the trip up from Bristol the night before, we left our hotel at 4.40am yesterday to make the short trip to Coed Llandegla Forest for our Black Grouse Walk with the RSPB. We got off to a great start, as we flushed a tawny owl from a tree as we were driving to the venue, and got great views as it flew in front of us.

Arriving just as day was starting to break, we met our guide and waited for everyone else to arrive. Even though it was half dark, the siskins were already darting about over the car park. As we walked up the hill, lots of birds were id’d on sound alone but the very first one I saw when it was light enough to make any detail out was a splendid male redstart singing his heart out. As we emerged out onto the moor, the sun was coming up and we could see quite well. Our next bird was a tree pipit and I watched in awe as it performed its ‘parachute’ song flight, which I haven’t seen before. Lovely bird. Moving on, we saw a stunning male whinchat perched on a post, a first for the year and the first I have ever seen well. I could sense already this was going to be a good day. We could already hear the black grouse bubbling away in the background, and soon enough we were at the viewing platform. With the help of telescopes (we had to maintain a very respectful distance!), we counted 11 male birds (a lifer for me) and some claimed to see one female. To be honest, they weren’t doing very much and they struck me as being a little underwhelming; still, they were nice to see and another whinchat and a wheatear kept me occupied while we waited to see if the grouse were going to perform!

After we left the grouse we moved on and were taking to a ‘good spot’ for crossbills, and what a spot it was. Almost immediately, five birds flew in, initially thought to be all females before we decided one was an oddly pale male. Another lifer for me. As we lurked amongst the trees, we got great views of tons of crossbills, including very vivid males. We also saw redpolls, siskins, the redstart again and a host of commoner birds. I was having a great time, and it wasn’t 7am yet!

After a breakfast in the award winning café on site, we departed the forest on our way to see the famous aqueduct at Pontcysyllte near Llangollen. On a whim, we decided to head across the moor on an unclassified road. Almost immediately, we had a peregrine at close range above the road, then another whinchat. We slowed to a crawl and found wheatears, skylarks, meadow pipits and linnets, and then something I didn’t recognise caught my eye, like an odd flash of white. We stopped the car, and I saw it again. I got out of the car, and looked until I saw it again, and focussed, and realised I was watching a male hen harrier flying dead slowly low over the moor. The flashes of white were him raising his wings, as if in display. Needless to say, a lifer. As I watched, stunned, the female bird came and briefly joined him. I was so happy, and am still chuffed with my bird of the year so far, Eventually, we moved on.

After the aqueduct we headed to Blaenau Ffestiniog for our second RSPB ‘date with nature’ at Llechwedd Slate Caverns, where they have a nest cam exhibition for the resident choughs, and sightings can be made of birds flying in and out on feeding runs. Or so we thought. When we got there, there was nobody from the RSPB in sight, and the nest cam was switched off. Poor show, RSPB, I thought. I asked the lady on the ticket and she said she didn’t think they planned to come today, as it was a weekend?! She explained that the only chance of seeing the choughs were taking the £10 ‘miners tour’ and being very lucky, as we visit the cavern they nest in. Since we were there anyway, I thought we might as well. I also asked if there was anywhere outside or off-site we could safely watch from, and was advised definitely not. Still, we did the tour (it was ok, similar to a lot of other attractions of the type) and as you can imagine, I was less than impressed with the 30 seconds we spent in the cavern in question! We visited the rest of the attraction and then as we were leaving, I spotted an OS map for sale in the gift shop and had a brainwave. Borrowing a look at the map with no intention of buying it (revenge!), I noticed a public footpath running up the side of the mountain and around the back of the site. Perfect, I thought. So we scrambled up it and positioned ourselves where we had a good view over the quarry/mines and identified a few likely looking spots where the choughs might make their entry/exit from (using knowledge gained on the tour, so it wasn’t entirely a waste of time!). Up at the top of the mountain, there were ‘crows’ in pairs and small groups, but way way off and out of our range. We sat and waited, and after approximately twenty minutes, a crow descended from the mountain in fast and direct flight, calling ‘chow…chow…chow’ as it went. It was moving quickly and was hard to pick up with the bins, but as it passed overheard I got a quick look at a red flash on its head, and as I watched, the bird circled the quarry a couple of times, and then dropped into the cavern (or at least, out of sight) in one of the areas we had approximated the nesting chamber to be! I checked the call with a recording on my phone, and I am certain enough that the bird in question was a chough! Another lifer. We spent the best part of the next hour waiting, and a couple more birds did a similar thing, one was more distant and out of audible range and I didn’t pick any red out on it, and the third was making the same ‘chow…chow’ noise but again, I didn’t get a good look at it, before we came down off the mountain. On the descent, I saw a very grey pied wagtail that I thought might be a white one.

Our third ‘date with nature’ was the ospreys at Glaslyn. Initially, I was a bit disappointed as the scopes are a lot further away here than at other osprey watches, I thought, and I was still a bit grumpy about the RSPB’s no show at the previous event! The nest cam showed the male on the nest, but he wasn’t visible ‘for real’. We watched, and waited, and the female flew in (first for the year), and then after a while longer the male took off, flew directly over the viewpoint, circled several times, rising higher and higher, and then hung there in the air looking like a giant ‘m’. Amazing! I forgot all about my initial disappointment (I even bought an ice-cream).

We brought our birding marathon day to a close at the North Wales Wildlife Trust’s reserve at Gwaith Powdwr near Portmeirion. It was getting on a bit by now and we didn’t do too well for birds (a great spotted woodpecker and two jays were the highlights) but what a fascinating site!! It’s a redundant explosives factory that has been converted into a nature reserve, and it is well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area.

We stopped for dinner in Portmadog, and then headed back to our hotel right back over near Wrexham. The sun setting behind Snowdon was a fantastic sight to end a real dawn-to-dusk day!

This morning, we got up at a slightly more reasonable hour and headed to Anglesey with terns our main target. We headed to Cemlyn Bay (thanks Ruth for the tip) and parked at the ‘wrong’ end, but as a result saw lots of ringed plovers and dunlin on the shingle beach. We trudged along to the tern viewing point and found we were on our own. No problem identifying sandwich terns (first for the year), but what of the rest!? Lots of black headed gulls mixed in with them, a couple of pairs of red breasted merganser and we found a godwit sp. feeding in the water, and eventually I realised the slightly greyer terns on the rocks at the back of the island were ‘commic’, but not for the first time I found myself really bemoaning the fact I haven’t bought a scope yet!

As luck would have it, the warden turned up (with a scope) at that exact moment, and helpfully identified our godwit as bar-tailed (first for year), and the ‘commic’ terns as common terns (first for year). And because one good tern deserves another, he went one better and picked out an arctic tern for us (lifer), and then just to show off picked out two Mediterranean gulls on the island (lifer). I was chuffed, and I hadn’t had to do anything! We then for a short walk looking for waders and anything else that turned up, but the best we could do was a common whitethroat, some linnets, a sand martin, a few house martin, loads of swallows and a wagtail sp. that might have been white.

Afterwards, we wasted a good hour heading across to the opposite corner of the island before deciding we didn’t really have time to be there and also visit RSPB Conwy on the way home, so headed off for Conwy. I’m really not sure where the time went today because by the time we got to Conwy it was 4pm! We had an hour to make the best of the reserve, and were lucky enough that the first bird we saw at the first viewing platform was a wood sandpiper showing well, and then two wagtails that were very clearly white wagtails showing very well. A first of sorts, although not going on the list as I’m not Dutch (see thread on main forum if that doesn’t make sense!). Inexplicably, we didn’t take a picture of the sandpiper but we got some nice ones of the wagtails that I’ll try to find time to post later in the week! The ‘only’ other bird of note that we saw was a little ringed plover which appeared to be dwarfed by a wagtail on a distant island, before it was time to head home and join the long traffic jam on the A55!

All in all, two days that felt like a week, mostly for the right reasons!! And I am still buzzing about those hen harriers. We got some pics of most of the birds mentioned, and I will post the best of them once I've had a chance to sort through them!

Thanks for reading! ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/417-north-wales-1st-2nd-may-2011.html Rathlin Island, 29/04/2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/415-rathlin-island-29-04-2011.html Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:09:50 GMT After an early start, we boarded the 8.00am ‘fast’ ferry in Ballycastle for the 25-minute journey across to the island. I half hoped for shearwaters... After an early start, we boarded the 8.00am ‘fast’ ferry in Ballycastle for the 25-minute journey across to the island. I half hoped for shearwaters on the way over but the boat was too fast to spot anything much! As we neared the island, little whizzing black birds were either guillemots, razorbills or even puffins but I wasted no time in trying to identify them as I was confident we’d see them later! When the boat slowed down, we entered the harbour and discovered it to be full of eiders (a lifer only yesterday)! At least 20 birds, and what a brilliant noise they make!! A good start.

Once we disembarked, we immediately saw lots of swallows and house martins, and a single blackbird. We could hear chiffchaffs but they were outnumbered by willow warblers all over the island. I’ve never seen willow warblers singing from wires before, I presume they do that here due to the relative lack of trees and scrub. As we were on the first crossing, the buses to the west of the island weren’t yet running so we had no choice but to walk the 4.5 miles to the sea bird centre! And what a lovely walk it was:

Before we’d even left the main village, a bird caught my attention on a wire. It looked a lot like a redpoll missing its cap, and it was singing. I used my phone to check ‘twite’, and it sounded similar but not 100%. Unfortunately, my photographer had wandered off and not wanting to make too much noise ordering her back, I was left stranded with a bird I wanted a picture of and no camera. The bird flew before I resolved it, but I think it was a twite. Leaving the village, we saw our first willow warblers, hooded crows and Irish hares of the day. The hares are truly abundant on Rathlin, we saw dozens, but not the famous golden one. Walking on, we saw two linnets feeding on the ground, and slightly further on, a bird on a wire caught my attention. This one wasn’t singing, and had its back to me. It looked a little like a linnet with a noticeably long tail, and eventually it shifted its wings to show the briefest flash of pink on its rump. Again, the photographer had wandered off, but I am sure this one was a twite. Walking a long through a variety of habitats, we encountered wrens, robins, goldfinches, rooks and more of the birds already mentioned as well as tons of wheatears, before coming across a scrubby boggy patch where we could distinctly hear a grasshopper warbler and also a sedge warbler. The sedge was happy to show, but not the gropper. A little way on a scrubby hilly patch revealed a common whitethroat. Eventually, skylarks took over from willow warblers as the constant musical accompaniment. The scenery changed into open moorland (on a rather small scale), and we entered a nature reserve called ‘Kebble’. Mainly skylarks and wheatears still, before we flushed a snipe from the side of the road, which zig-zagged away from us at great speed. The snipe, that is, not the road. Down below, we could see a small lake which held lots of black headed gulls, tufted ducks, oystercatchers, and mallards with ducklings. An information board told us to look for buzzards, but we didn’t see any. The cliffs and stacks on the western edge of the island came into view for us to see they were covered in thousands of guillemots and endlessly circled by fulmars.

Eventually, we reached the Seabird Centre to be greeted by the volunteers. We were (presumably) the first visitors of the day and I think they were a little bored as they were almost too attentive. Friendly, though. After we descended the steps to the viewing station above the lighthouse (yes, it sounds weird but that is how it is!) we were informed the puffins had arrived but weren’t yet spending much time on land, preferring to come and go as they awaited the arrival of the rest. We were lucky enough to see a couple of dozen though, in singles, pairs, and small groups on land and in the water, which is easily more than we’ve ever seen before in one place at one time. (mental note – next year we’ll go to one of the big colonies in the peak season!) Also present were kittiwake (conspicuously few, I thought but I picked some out amongst the herring, lesser black backs and fulmars), shag, razorbill (probably my favourite auk) on the rocks and cliffs and in the air, as well as squads as gannets out at sea. I was pleased with this as I hadn’t necessarily expected gannets on this trip. We also saw a couple of the villains of the piece, a raven and a great black backed gull lurking menacingly outside the puffins burrows. We were told that they’d already made a habit of eating the adults, so there are worries for the chicks. Lets hope there’s enough strength in numbers for the puffins to come through! A pied wagtail popped up on the wall of the viewing platform (just like they do everywhere, nice birds) and a couple of rock pipits were squabbling in and out of view on the cliffs. Down below, there were a couple more eiders on the sea, before one of the guides showed me a table demonstrating the decline in seabirds numbers. What I found more interesting was the inclusion of black guillemots, which I didn’t know were present on Rathlin. That reinvigorated my searching amongst the birds coming and going on the cliffs, but no luck there. I asked the guide about them and she said as far as she knew the were more likely to be found in the harbour than on the cliffs.

Eventually, we had to leave the seabirds but I was happy enough that I’d seen the birds I’d gone for, plus gannets. After an interminable wait, we got a bus back to the harbour (no black guillemots) and got a bit of late lunch in the café. After lunch, we still hard a couple of hours until the ferry and so we headed for the ‘Roonnivoolin’ trail, hoping for choughs. In my opinion, the trail is appallingly waymarked, but we persevered and made our way around it. In my companion’s opinion we weren’t doing too well for time as I tend to stop and look at everything, but as we (too) briskly made our way around we heard another grasshopper warbler, saw tons more hares and hooded crows, and added stonechat, greylag, meadow pipit and buzzard to the day’s list, but not unexpectedly, no choughs (not to worry, I have a plan for them).

As we headed back to the harbour to get the boat back, we found we had more time than expected (I despair sometimes!) so we took the path past ‘Mill Bay’ to look for seals. And seals there were! Every big lump that looked like a rock or a washed up log turned out to be a seal (I believe these are Common Seals, rather than Grey) and we also saw a ringed plover scurrying about on the stony beach, just as there leaflet said there would be. Eventually, as we prepared to retire to the bar for a quick pint before the boat, I picked out a single black guillemot on the harbour, quickly followed by four more! Delighted with that we headed for the bar, and it proved to be the last bird of the trip, as we saw another one just outside Ballycastle harbour as we returned on the boat.

In summary, a very good trip. The weather was perfect, the island was wonderful, the birds were plentiful and the beer at the end was cheap. I saw all the birds I went for, the twite was a lifer, and most of the seabirds were year ticks, we saw 40+ birds on the island and the discovery of the eider’s ‘sound effect’ made my day. I thoroughly recommend a visit to the island, and the Antrim coast in general.

Although I'm now at home, I’m not actually ‘back’ yet, we are heading off to North Wales for part two of our holiday. Up there, I am hoping for black grouse, choughs, ospreys, and terns. Once I am properly back, I’ll sort through the pictures and hopefully find a few worth posting!

Thanks for reading!! ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/415-rathlin-island-29-04-2011.html Waders and Warblers - 22/04/2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/414-waders-warblers-22-04-2011.html Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:32:43 GMT What a day! Heading out in search of waders, I first headed to Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve near Portishead. I knew I was on to a good thing when... What a day! Heading out in search of waders, I first headed to Portbury Wharf Nature Reserve near Portishead. I knew I was on to a good thing when virtually the first bird I laid eyes on was a lesser whitethroat, a lifer. I also saw a reed warbler, my first of the year, before settling down in the hide in front of the main pool. The island was largely full of gulls but in amongst them were oystercatchers. Eventually, a common sandpiper was spotted, another first for the year, quickly followed by another, and also two dunlin. I left the hide and ventured onto the ‘sea wall’, to look for the days main quarry: whimbrels. Almost immediately, two flew past, obviously shorter-billed than a curlew and confirmed for me by another birder who announced them while I was still looking at them. So two lifers in little under an hour!
The walk back to the car produced at least another three lesser whitethroats. I collected my other half, and then we headed down onto our familiar hunting ground at Shapwick Heath. On the way, we saw a red kite circling over the road in the very scenic Burrington Combe gorge, a great sight! A lesser yellowlegs had been reported at Shapwick earlier in the week and I half hoped it would stick around until today; I needn’t have worried. The drained lagoon held a large number of black tailed godwits, most in breeding plumage, two ruffs (first for the year), and also the lesser yellowlegs (another lifer!). I was chuffed!
Moving on, we saw our first hobbies of the year (up to five in the sky together), and got good views before heading over to Ham Wall. Almost immediately, we were treated to a good long look at a bittern in flight, and heard several more booming. Cuckoos were a ubiquitous sound, although I didn’t manage to see one. We also saw and heard lots of blackcaps, when I realised not all of the blackcaps looked like blackcaps. At least two were garden warblers, another lifer! Moving on, looking for cuckoos, I heard a Cetti’s warbler abort its song, before seeing it dart across the path behind me as I turned round! Success, first one I’ve seen in ages! Lots more reed warblers here, and one common whitethroat. Overhead, I saw my first swift of the year.
Leaving Ham Wall, we drove a short distance to a reserve called Catcott Lows that we hadn’t visited before. Wood Sandpipers (two) and Garganey had been reported here and we were lucky enough to see both, which were both lifers, amongst lots of lapwings, redshank, teal and other ducks.
Not believing the day could get any better, we called in at Steart in Bridgwater Bay on the way home, and were rewarded with our first sedge warbler of the year, and then finally a grasshopper warbler, another lifer!
All in all, a breathtaking day! Fourteen for the year list, and half of which are lifers. A very Good Friday!
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]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/414-waders-warblers-22-04-2011.html Bad photography day at Arne 26/03/2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/405-bad-photography-day-arne-26-03-2011.html Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:20:30 GMT We took advantage of a Saturday without football to make a visit to the RSPB at Arne on Poole Harbour with high hopes of finally seeing a Dartford... We took advantage of a Saturday without football to make a visit to the RSPB at Arne on Poole Harbour with high hopes of finally seeing a Dartford warbler, which have eluded me on every single attempt to see them I have ever made.

Unfortunately, as I spent rather longer in the pub on Friday evening than was strictly sensible, we were a little late in leaving. On the way down we saw our first partridges of the year from the car; I’m not certain as to the species of the first one but am fairly sure the second one was red-legged partridge due to the blackish neck it had so I’ve added that species to the list (partridge id isn’t easy at 50 mph!).

Arriving at Arne, we headed around the Shipstal trail. Almost immediately, we heard a green woodpecker and I hoped to see one so that I could add it to my list after missing out last week. The first good birds we saw were a pair of male linnets, but the woods seemed fairly quiet as they often do when we visit! We visited the hide, and saw redshanks, shelducks and curlews, and a large flock of distant brent geese. Moving on, we saw a lot of black headed gulls but nothing special amongst them, before hearing a very close green woodpecker in a tree. We waited, and eventually it darted out of the tree and out of sight! We walked on, and a second green woodpecker darted (they always seem to dart) across the path ahead of us. Further ahead we heard another one in the trees across a field and could see it quite clearly, silhouetted against the sky. We watched it for a bit as it yaffled away to itself, and managed a picture of dubious artistic merit.

We saw a little egret as we walked on, before heading around the ‘winter finch trail’, which yielded a single blue tit. We then headed off to lunch with my grandfather, slightly disappointed by the morning’s haul.

After lunch, we headed back to Arne to resume the hunt for Dartford warbler. Heading for the more-reliable Coombe Heath trail, we heard lots of chiffchaffs and chaffinches, before a pair of stonechats caught our attention. Whilst watching them, we noticed a small purplish bird flitting about in the gorse. Success!! It was a bit distant, and the world’s worst picture is attached, but it was to be the only we saw. Still, I was chuffed!

After it disappeared, we moved on and headed to a hide overlooking an inlet of the harbour. Hundreds of black tailed godwits were feeding in the water, some going into breeding plumage, amongst more black headed gulls, redshanks and curlews. Scanning the distance for avocets, my attention was drawn to three large white birds that looked a lot stockier than egrets. They were spoonbills! I’m counting this as a lifer although I remember being taken to see a spoonbill that had turned up at Abbotsbury swannery when I was very small, although I can’t recall if I actually saw that bird. These birds were also very distant, and another dodgy record pic is attached.

All in all, quite a good day. I am delighted with having seen a Dartford warbler, and the spoonbills! Arne holds lots more good birds that we didn’t see, but that provides an ideal incentive to go back soon.
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]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/405-bad-photography-day-arne-26-03-2011.html Forest of Dean 06/03/2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/400-forest-dean-06-03-2011.html Sun, 06 Mar 2011 21:47:50 GMT I joined an organised walk in the Forest of Dean today with high hopes of seeing all of the birds I’d missed out on when on our own a couple of weeks... I joined an organised walk in the Forest of Dean today with high hopes of seeing all of the birds I’d missed out on when on our own a couple of weeks ago and especially seeing my first brambling of 2011.

Our first stop was Woorgreen Lake where I instantly added goosander to my year list, at least 8 females present. Others present saw two males but I didn’t. Feral geese (greylags and canadas) were present and assorted ducks including teal and gadwall. There were at least five mandarins hiding on an island too, which is a ‘lifer’ in terms of actual wild (i.e. non-captive) birds, as I’d only previously seen them at WWT reserves. Lovely, bizarre little things! Also present was one golden retriever, doing its best otter impression. Made me laugh, although it drew predictable tutting from others in the group as it scattered the ducks and geese! We had good views of blue, coal and great tits and also lots of nuthatches and good views of goldcrests too before we moved on.

In the vicinity of Speech House, song thrushes abound and we saw chaffinches but no bramblings amongst them. We saw a siskin flitting about although I didn’t see enough of it to feel I could legitimately count it, and the same for a flock of redpolls moving through the trees. I did get a good view of a redwing, before great excitement as someone in the group spotted a hawfinch. Annoyingly, I failed to connect with it and had to make do with a nice male bullfinch. Two more hawfinches were announced as flying over head but although I saw the birds in question, they could have been anything so I’m not counting them either! A sparrowhawk then descended on the area we were watching, snatched something (not the bullfinch) and was off! We added lots more song thrushes to our tally and a couple of treecreepers before venturing into an area that is reputedly good for bramblings; today, there were none! Moving on, we saw an empty field with short grass, which on closer inspection was full of mistle thrush! A walk through an arboretum produced a great spotted woodpecker, lots of tits and another sparrowhawk, but still none of the longed-for specialities.

We then got in the cars to move on to New Fancy View. On the way, I spotted a small dark-eyed pigeon feeding on the roadside verge; my first ever stock dove! I arrived at New Fancy View (noted raptor viewpoint) to find a treeful of chaffinches and more tits, before someone finally pointed out a brambling at the top of tree as we ate our sandwiches! Success, and I declared I could now go home happy! I didn’t go home though, I went up the hill to the view point. It was fortunate I was with an experienced group, as without them I wouldn’t have been able to id the goshawks displaying in the distance, nor view them through a scope. Another lifer, and at least three birds seen. Buzzards were also present, and raven, and a siskin flew past. Eventually, a small flock of small birds settled at the top of a close tree; at least eight bramblings, the males looking resplendent in their summer clothes. Annoyingly, I then missed out on adders by not paying attention to what I was overhearing, and when I got back to the car park learnt that those who had lingered at the top of the view point had missed a sparrowhawk catch a male blackbird in full view of the car park! I was however shown some photos taken and wow!! Still, you can’t win them all!

We then drove on to an area called Cannop Ponds. Not a lot was added here other than little grebe, some dubious manky mallards, and lots more mandarins (it was at this point I remembered I’d brought a camera with me – doh!). There was a grey wagtail and a great spotted woodpecker also seen before the official walk came to an end with buzzards circling over head.

I agreed with another pair in the group to try for hawfinch on the way home in another renowned spot for them where they’d been seen earlier that day. Unfortunately, it was not to be but we did add another siskin (good views of this one), two peregrines circling way up high and more song thrushes to the list before eventually heading home.

In all, a very good day. Goshawk, stock dove and mandarin added to my life list, and another few species added to the year list (goosander, sparrowhawk, siskin, brambling) and so I’m now up to 98 for the year so far.

]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/400-forest-dean-06-03-2011.html High Tide weekend, 22nd/23rd January 2011 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/386-high-tide-weekend-22nd-23rd-january-2011.html Sun, 23 Jan 2011 21:23:37 GMT I’ve had another good weekend! Yesterday, we took a walk along the Severn estuary at high tide. Lots of shelduck, turnstones, dunlin, redshank,... I’ve had another good weekend!

Yesterday, we took a walk along the Severn estuary at high tide. Lots of shelduck, turnstones, dunlin, redshank, curlew, teal, wigeon and a buzzard. We saw the black redstart at Severn Beach again, and I added reed bunting, fieldfare and meadow pipit to my 2011 list. A lapse in concentration caused me to miss a kingfisher.

In the afternoon I was treated to the splendid sight of seeing some robins mauled by pirates.

Today we woke up with a hangover and consequently missed high tide by three hours and with it the chance of purple sandpipers at Portishead so they will have to wait. We did see more turnstones and a pair of rock pipits, though.

In the afternoon, we headed for Shapwick Heath to try for the great grey shrike for the fifth time! Success, definitely my bird of the weekend! The pic is a bit duff as it was a fair way off for our feeble camera but we did get some really good views of the bird, and I was really chuffed! We also saw four great white egrets at Ham Wall (there’s six now!!), three grey herons, a little egret, a buzzard, loads of coots, a reed bunting, and lots of ducks including pochards for the first time ever! We lingered for the start of the starling display but had to head back early and we’d left the car three miles away (that’s the problem with such a linear reserve, you always end up at the wrong end!). We didn’t see a bittern for the third visit in a row, which I think is a record, but my year list is now up to 78.

I didn’t realise Ham Wall was going to be on Countryfile this evening so it was nice to see it again!

]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/386-high-tide-weekend-22nd-23rd-january-2011.html Exe Estuary and beyond, 27/11/2010 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/379-exe-estuary-beyond-27-11-2010.html Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:43:25 GMT Braving the arctic weather and a scary forecast for heavy snow, we headed for the Exe Estuary reserves at Topsham and Exminster. I briefly lived in... Braving the arctic weather and a scary forecast for heavy snow, we headed for the Exe Estuary reserves at Topsham and Exminster. I briefly lived in the area as a child, but had never visited either reserve as far as I know so it was nice to finally put that right!

Although the hills and fields most of the way down were white with snow, as we neared Exeter it gave way to greenery and whilst it was cold, it wasn't anywhere like as bad as I'd feared it might be. There was also no sign of snow on the way either so I decided we'd made a good decision to go!

We stopped first on the east side of the estuary at Bowling Green Marshes near Topsham, hoping for avocets. Initially, we made for the hide along the road. Lots of robins, dunnocks, pied wagtails, goldfinches and redwings in the hedges and on the road. In front of the hide was a great mass of ducks and waders, virtually all wigeon, teal and black-tailed godwits on first impressions. However, after a few minutes careful watching we were able to pick out shovelers and snipes amongst them I ddin't know snipe could swim, incidentally, but the ones here appeared to! There was a buzzard in the background, which perched briefly and then began soaring again, and a little egret. No avocets, though.

After a while in the hide, we headed further along the reserve to the short trail that heads to a viewing platform. Not expecting a great deal, we had a mystery little bird showing lots of white as it flew off into the hedge (absolutely no idea, probably a chaffinch!), and then got to the platform. Wow! Absolutely hundreds of avocets, godwits, dunlin and a sprinkling of curlews amongst them feeding on the mud where the Rivers Clyst joins the Exe. The pic in my album gives an indication of the spectacle, although thats pic shows approx 1/5 of the birds on the mud!

We then tramped through the mud on the rest of the trail and saw nothing, before returning to the road. More dunnocks and redwings!

We then got back in the car and drove to Labrador Bay, a newish RSPB reserve created to protect cirl buntings. It was bitterly cold on the exposed slopes, but our trip was worth it was we saw at least one, and probably two cirl buntings as well as a small flock of little finches flitting about on the stubble. One particularly cirl bunting was kind enough to pose as we reeled off hundreds of pics (the best is in the album!) and edged closer in the hope of a definite identification! It was too cold to linger, so having got we wanted, we head back up the coast to the west side of the Exe Estuary reserve.

Whilst driving, we passed a flock of Brent Geese feeding in a field in Dawlish. Arriving at the reserve, we took a walk down the tow path of the Exeter Ship Canal to Turf Lock. It was getting gloomy by now, and we saw mainly redwings in the hedges and some mystery finches which I couldn't get a good enough look at to id. In the marshes itself, there were swans and canada geese but we didn't see a great deal on the marshes. The canal had moorhens and coots and a warbler flitting about which I think might have been a Cetti's based on the time of year and its colouring, looked like a reed warbler but they surely should have gone home by now? Unfortunately, the little thing wouldn't stay still or make any noise so I'm left to wonder. It was definitely bigger than a wren, though. The walk was redeemed by a redshank, more godwits and dunlin feeding at the end, and we saw a kingfisher (in bad light, it looked almost dark!) which was lovely. On the walk back, we could see the flock of Brent geese on the wing in the distance, and were treated to a fly past! Much better than the red arrows, in my opinion.

The final bird of the day crossed the track in front of us when we were back in the car; I'm not saying it definitely was a water rail, but it was a very thin moorhen if it wasn't! I'm not counting it, as it was too gloomy to make any detail out, so water rails continue to frustrate me for the time being!

A good day, though, and not a bad tally for a few hours which made the long drive home worth it.

As a postcript, I'd read that there were some purple sandpipers present at Portishead; not a bird I'm very familar with, and certainly not one I've seen before. I'm not familiar with Portishead either (prefer the music to the place) and so while I had a good idea where they were, I had no idea how easy they'd be to see so on Sunday we went and had a look. Turns out, it couldn't have been easier as the pictures in the album will testify. After a few minutes watching them, my hands had turned blue with the cold so I took that as a sign to curtail my weekend's birding early (and go home to watch the football instead! ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/379-exe-estuary-beyond-27-11-2010.html New Forest weekend http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/348-new-forest-weekend.html Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:33:38 GMT We made a very vague plan to 'go camping' in the New Forest this weekend, knowing full well it was going to be very, very busy!

We didn't manage to set off early either so it was after lunchtime that we arrived at Beaulieu Road train station. We'd visited here last year and seen very little but given Chaz's crossbill tip I thought we'd give it another go. No crossbills in the pines, but lots of chaffinches, greenfinch and a mistle thrush instead. We then took a walk over the heath on the otherside of the road, with linnets and stonechats. I really wanted to see a Dartford Warbler, but once again they eluded me totally. Two buzzards overhead, but not a lot else of note either on the heath or in the woods, other than a couple of treecreepers. Finally, on the walk back along the road we heard a bush that was singing. Eventually, it dawned on me that the bird must be on the other side of the bush, and as I inched round I spotted a bird definitely a lark, and probably not a skylark (it was in a bush, and when it took off it didn't sing for as long or fly as high as a skylark tends to), so I'm thinking it might have been a woodlark. I will google a woodlark's song and see if it sounds similar. Overall, I think we must be doing something wrong because Beaulieu Road is heavily tipped as a good site on the internet and in my book, but we've seen relatively little on both our visits so far. Perhaps its a seasonal thing.

Continuing the theme of following Chaz's tips, we then headed south to Pennington Marsh. We parked at Lower Pennington, and as we walked along the path towards the seawall we spotted a Common Whitethroat. On the sea wall itself we walked towards Keyhaven and saw loads of sand martins, Lapwing, Black-tailed Godwits, Common Tern and a possible Ringed Plover running along the far edge of the pool, along with oodles of Oystercatchers, Coots and Black-headed gulls. We stopped for dinner in the Gun at Keyhaven and then walked back the way we'd come. There were a lot more birds on the pools when we walked back than there had been on the way down. Amongst the Oystercatchers and Godwits were countless little waders. I thought they might be Dunlin, and had it confirmed for me by a kind birder who was watching them through a scope. I am fairly useless when it comes to iding waders, but I've never definitely seen a dunlin before so was chuffed with these. Further along, there were lapwings, and oystercatchers on the rock pools to the right of the path along with a good four or five definite ringed plovers, another lifer, along with what I'm fairly sure was a common sandpiper. Further along, we saw more whitethroats, including one that I think might have been a lesser (no pic, so its not a definite and thus not a lifer!) and another sandpiper-ish bird which didn't look much like the common we'd seen earlier. The light was fading by now and so I didn't get any concrete observations with which to id it by, but I'd be interested to know what other 'leggy' waders are on the marsh at present!! The last bird we saw was a very obligingly perched female Reed Bunting, a lovely bird.

We then got back in the car, thinking we were heading home since it was now approaching 9pm and we hadn't sorted anything else yet. We had a good look at a couple of forestry commission campsites which were very clearly labelled 'full', before taking a wrong turn in Lyndhurst and heading out on the A35. Attempting to rectify it, we took the Emery Down road towards Stoney Cross, when it suddenly dawned on me we'd be passing the road to Acres Down, where we'd visited last year, and we remembered there was a campsite at the foot of the hill; so on a whim, we tried it, and they had room, so we got to camp after all. After the tent was up, the football had finished, and I'd run out of beer, it was very nearly dark so we took a short stroll up the hill to listen for nightjars. We were rewarded, too, with churring from at least three seperate locations of various distances from us. Whether it was three birds or one mobile one, I couldn't say. We also saw bats!

Later that night, I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep due to the biker that was snoring three tents over; I wouldn't like to know how his partner put up with it. I dozed for a bit, and then woke again to find the snoring had been joined by the very distintive churring of a nightjar. I would like to think that the nightjar was trying to impress the snorer. I promise I am not making this up!!

That morning, we walked back up the hill to the raptor watch point. Two distant buzzards, was all. After a while we wandered down into the woods to try for redstarts, but my run of bad luck with redstarts continued. That said, I was pleased with spotted flycatcher and marsh tits. I also got a glimpse of a big brown, bird of prey type thing flying away from us through the trees. Buzzard, I don't doubt!

Later on, we returned to Beaulieu Heath (different location, on the road between Beaulieu and Lymington) to try for Dartford Warbler. We got lots of linnets and stonechats, and a meadow pipit but I am starting to believe that Dartford Warblers simply don't exist. After that, we stopped for an ice cream and to see the deer at Bolderwood (no birds, too many people) and then set off home to be back in time for the World Cup Final.

All in all, a good weekend. ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/348-new-forest-weekend.html Lake District and Scotland (part three) http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/338-lake-district-scotland-part-three.html Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:03:40 GMT Saturday was the day of the Abernethy tour, so we got up early and made the short drive, nearly running over two daft red squirrels on the way in... Saturday was the day of the Abernethy tour, so we got up early and made the short drive, nearly running over two daft red squirrels on the way in (they were playing chicken in the road, and nearly everyone said the same thing when they arrived at the car park!) Both had beautifully blonde ears and tails! The tour of the reserve was really interesting, but not half as productive for birds as I'd hoped. That said, we did hear a crested tit, see crossbills in flight, and I managed to tick Tree Pipits and Whinchats too. We also got good, if distant, views of a pair of soaring golden eagles. We also visited the Osprey Centre, whch provided ospreys, a GS woodpecker, a female redstart and a very nice comparison between a greenfinch and a siskin side by side on a feeder.The closest we got to capercaillies was being shown their droppings though, and the closest to a black grouse was being given a whisky tasting that evening! We did however learn a lot about the conservation work they're doing, and the very ambitious plans to double the size of the forest, as well as being given a good tip for locating breeding Slavonian grebes at a local pond! We took the opportunity to look for them during the break between the tour and the evening reception, and was very suprised to find an information board on the roadside advertising their presence! However, the view point is a long way from the pond and the light wasn't brilliant and so while I could clearly see a dark little grebe bobbing about amongst the tufted ducks and gulls, I couldn't see enough of it to positively id it as a Slav. So another maybe!

Having failed to see one at Abernethy, we spent Sunday traipsing around Loch an Eilean in the rain looking for crested tits; no luck, but we did see coal tits, a splendidly close Treecreeper, and a possible female crossbill (or a possible greenfinch!) as well as getting thoroughly soaked. The rest of the day was spent driving to our next, and final destination of Whithorn in Galloway. After dinner, we visitied Barsalloch Fort and saw a pair of Kestrels (i'd never previously seen a pair together and side by side the female really is bigger!), watched the sunset at Port William, and then visited the Drumtroddan standing stones.

Monday, our final day, dawned and started with breakfast at the B&B; this wouldn't normally have been worth remarking on (in fact, every other day started like that too!) but on this occasion, we had it in the conservatory of the wonderful Ravenstone B&B, which afforded us great views of feeding sparrows, a family of yelllowhammers, a song thrush and a goldfinch! From there, we headed to Portpatrick to see Little Sparrow's black guillemots (they're still there, another lifer for me, thanks again for that tip!) and then to the Mull of Galloway reserve. We got simply the best possible views of guillemots and razorbills on the cliffs, and also black guillemots on the water, along with puffins (x4) and a squadron of juvenile gannets (x7) flying in formation. On the cliff tops we got abundant meadow pipits, linnets and a whitehtroat. From there, our final stop was the Wood of cree, which, despite being a beautiful place and a very pleasant walk, I am sorry to report contains no birds. Only joking, but other than hearing an invisible wood warbler, and spotting a couple of chaffinches, we'd virtually walked the whole woodland circuit before it redeemed itself at the last minute with a brief glimpse of a pair of pied flyctachers and a treecreeper! This took us nearly to teatime, and needing to get back for work the following day we reluctantly began the long drive back. The last bird noted was a red kite gliding across the road somewhere near Dumfries.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip and I hope I'll be back very many times in the future! I'll check the lists when I get home and edit in anything important I might have missed! ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/338-lake-district-scotland-part-three.html Lake District and Scotland (part two) http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/337-lake-district-scotland-part-two.html Thu, 10 Jun 2010 12:13:31 GMT The following day we embarked on stage two of the journey to Aviemore (where we'd opted to base ourselves for the Scottish part of the journey). We stopped for lunch in Dalwhinnie, and as we left the car park I saw two or three largeish birds in the opposite field. We stopped, and got the bins out and identified them as golden plovers, which was a first for me. And then a lovely male in summper plumage put his head up, rendering the previous id efforts almost pointless!

We made it to our destination in good time and took in a tour of Tomatin distillery (unremarkable tour, pleasant enough whisky!) and headed up the Findhorn Valley in search of eagles and ouzels. Along with a vast herd of red deer and two hares (possibly one of each type), there was a small group of birders with scopes at the end of the track, so we got out and asked what they were watching, which turned out to be a nesting Peregrine. They let us have a look, whhich was kind, and then we walked on up the valley surrounded by house martins and noisy oystercatchers. No dippers on the river, no ring ouzels (I think we could hear them) and large brown birds of prey appeared above the hills on two occasions; the first was definitely a buzzard, in my opinion, but from the frustratingly brief look at the second I got, I'm really not sure about the second. Seemed bigger and brown beneath the wings. Still, didn't get a positive id on it so its down as a maybe!

After that, we headed to Aviemore, and were pleased to see lapwings in the field next to the b&b, and swifts overhead (in fact, I think virtually every town we visited or passed through had swifts!). Other than that, Aviemore is thoroughly unremarkable!

Thursday dawned, and we set off for Skye! Our route North provdied several buzzards and took us past the Black Isle north of Inverness, and a spectacular piece of poor navigation by me put us 15 miles in the wrong direction; however, the wrong turn did provide us with two red kites we wouldn't have otherwise seen, so I believe it was serendipity rather than poor map reading on my part! The very scenic route across to Kyle of Lochalsh provided us with a very good view of a soaring golden eagle overhead, and as we approached the bridge we got our first views of hooded crows, which I always like seeing as they're so different to the crows here!

The purpose of the trip to Skye was to hopefully see a sea eagle, but as we drew close it became apparent I hadn't really researched it very well. That notwithstanding, almost as soon as we got off the bridge, my attention was drawn to a bird with a simply massive wing span flying off into the distance. By the time we'd stopped and got the bins out,it was out of sight, and so it will have to go down as a maybe, but if it wasn't one, I'd love to know what it was! We stopped in Portree for lunch, and then headed out on the Staffin road to the Old Man of Storr. We climbed up to it (literally, since we took the wrong path at the top!) and were rewarded with two very confiding ravens. Wheatears and meadow pipits abound on Skye, and lots of things that I think were twites but can't quite be sure, but other than that we didn't do especially brilliantly for birds on Skye; we stopped at Duntulm castle at the top of the island and there were gulls and shags on an island just off the coast. I particularly enjoyed the fine views of the outer hebrides, seeing as this was my first visit to a hebride of any description! We continued our tour of the Trotternish peninsular all the way round to Uig, and then headed towards Penifiler in the hope to resume the eagle search. Couldn't find any access or anywhere to park the car, so gave up! We headed instead to the otter hide at Kylerhea. No otters, but lots of seals in the water were fun to watch, and a couple of herons fishing. Eventually, we headed back across the bridge for the long drive back to Aviemore.

Next day, we headed to RSPB Troup Head on the opposite side. This is a coastal cliff reserve and Scotland's only mainland Gannet colony. the drive there provided more buzzards, and as we got closer onto the very small roads we saw yellowhammers too. The reserve is great, we got astoundingly close to the gannets who didn't seem at all bothered and also great views of the razorbills and guillemots. The information boards said if we were lucky we might see a puffin, and we were doubly lucky because we saw two! I was chuffed to be able to pick them out from the cliff as they were a little way out to sea. We then headed to Banff for lunch and saw rock pipits on the harbour, and made our way back along the coast towards Elgin, stopping at Portsoy to look at the old harbours. Having seen Elgin cathedral we headed inland to Cawdor Castle, but we were approaching last admission so settled for an ice cream and a quick peek over the wall instead! We then followed the country roads inland to the Ardclach Bell Tower. The tower is nice and the walk back from it provided a blackcap, but the river below is much nicer, and having befriended a horse, we went down to see if we could find a dipper (they'd been frustrating me all trip thus far!) no luck initally, so we made our way a few hundred metres up the bank, and found ourselves staring directly across at a dipper. He (or she) didn't move from his spot the whole time we were there, but while we were watching him something else flew by... I initially thought it might be a baby dipper, but once I'd found it on the rocks I could see clearly it was a common sandpiper, another lifer! I was suprised to find this was the same River Findhorn as we'd visited two days earlier, although a lot further along! Back in the car, we continued our scenic touring, and got a great spotted woodpecker, and four curlews up on the heather moors. I'd not seen them anyway but muddy places before! We went to Tomintoil for our dinner, and they had swifts and house martins there too. The drive back provided me with the first red grouse I've ever seen not on a whiskey bottle, and so all in all it was a very good day!

(there's still a part three to come!) ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/337-lake-district-scotland-part-two.html Lake District and Scotland 31/5 - 7/6 http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/335-lake-district-scotland-31-5-7-6.html Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:54:18 GMT Being 'Friends' of Abernethy Reserve, we were invited to this years open day for a guided tour of the reserve. For the uninitiated, Abernethy is right up in the Cairngorms which is a long way from Bristol, so we thought we'd better make a week of it!

We planned to have a short break in the Lake District before continuing our journey north, and booked to stay in Keswick. Arriving in Windermere early on Monday our first bird was a greenfinch which was hiding in a tree but making enough noise that I could find it eventually! We took a short stroll along the lake and saw swallows, house martins, mallards, geese and swans, and lastly a song thrush. From Windermere, we took the Wrynose pass to Hardnott Roman Fort, which produced wheatears and meadow pipits and some stunning scenery. From there, we headed to Haweswater in an attempt to see an eagle! We saw buzzards on the way, as we had regularly on the way up the motorway, and a kestrel, but no eagles en-route to the car park. The information boards seemed to point us in the wrong direction but luckily my other half has orientation skills better than I and we headed off in the right direction, a little disheartened to have learnt that a) there was only one eagle (I remembered reading about the female going missing once I'd had my memory jogged) and b) the view point shut at 4 and it was a 45 minute walk away (it being about 3.40 by this time!). We virtually sprinted up the hill, and halfway up I was about to ask a couple of birders coming down how much futher it was and whether the eagle was about, when I hesitated. Yes, that was Bill Bailey walking towards me!! I decided against interrupting their conversation and ploughed on up the hill, lots of wheatears but no visible ring ouzels (which was to become a recurring theme!). We arrived at the viewpoint at 15.55 just as the RSPB man was starting to pack up! He told us we were in luck, the eagle was there, and he kindly agreed to stay open until the advertised time! The RSPB scope was pointed straight at the eagle, which was sitting under a tree looking resplendent in the sun, so it was pretty much the easiest bird I've ever had to spot, England's only Golden Eagle! Poor old thing, I thought. He's been on his own for six years now but the RSPB have no plans to 'interfere', which on balance is probably the right thing to do.

Later that evening we were walking home from the pub surrounded by little bats overhead, which was nice. I have absolutely no idea which type, but they were small and would imagine they were pipistrelles. They followed us right into the B&B car park, and then we could continue to watch them from our bedroom window!

The following day we went for a walk on Walla Crag in the drizzle, and saw some interesting views of the fells and lakes. Not much bird activity, but we saw willow warblers and chaffinches, and a buzzard. After lunch we visited the Forestry Commission's Dodd Wood which overlooks Bassenthwaite Lake and contains a nesting pair of Ospreys. And beautiful they were too, especially when the male came in with a fish, perched, and then was up again to chase off a crow that had flown to close to the nest!! So that was both big birds I'd hoped to see in Scotland ticked off before we even got there! On the way back down, we saw blue tits, coal tits, great tits, siskins and a great spotted woodpecker, as well as a very fat red squirrel on the feeders.

(part two to follow, silly length limit!) ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/335-lake-district-scotland-31-5-7-6.html A Nightingale Sang in Cotswold Water Park... http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/93-nightingale-sang-cotswold-water-park.html Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:25:06 GMT ...well, very briefly it did. I paid my first ever visit to Cotswold Water Park yesterday; its name is a bit of a misnomer. Its actually a... ...well, very briefly it did.

I paid my first ever visit to Cotswold Water Park yesterday; its name is a bit of a misnomer. Its actually a collection of more than 100 flooded gravel pits, rather than what I would imagine a Water Park to be; not a flume in sight.

My 'Where To Watch Birds' book gave its usual very vague directions, and said to head for lake 36 as a good place to start*. Not very easy without a map, so after a little to-ing and fro-ing we eventually settled on Swillbrook Lakes, a Wiltshire Wildlife Trust nature reserve bordering a building site.

The very first bird spotted was a distant gull with a strange flappy un-gull-like flight. My binoculars revealed it to be a Tern, which I could confidently id as Common, seeing the information board at the entrance had told me I'd see one. Still, my first ever tern - a good start. Only coots on the first lake (46 or 48, couldn't tell which - thats the lake number by the way, there were 2 coots on it). The information boards said to look out for nightingales, and so I duly did, and saw a couple furtively darting into bushes. Glimpses were frustratingly brief and they weren't singing much at all, but I heard and saw enough to be confident they were Nightingales (plain brown above, whitish below, slightly bigger but very Robin-like), so thats a second new species in five minutes! Also, buzzing around overhead were three or four hirundines which were probably sand martins. I couldn't definitively say they weren't house martins, but in terms of habitat (gravel pits!) and what was on the information boards, sand martins seem more likely.

We walked on, and reached a fairly unscenic building site (part of the very odd Lower Mill Estate development, the UK's 'first residential nature reserve') and saw another Nightingale, as well other small brownish birds, the only reasonably certain ID I got was a Willow Warbler (nice to be able to id a non-singing one!) although there is always the possibility it was a chiffchaff!

Lots and lots of butterflies (peacocks, painted ladies, brimstone, red admirals amongst lots of unidentified whites and browns of various sizes and a couple of blues!) and we walked on past the development, flushing a male bullfinch and to another lake where I really couldn't be sure we were on private property or a public footpath (contradictory signposts). Assuming no harm would come of it, we pressed on into a field where a sign told us to be aware of nesting Little Ringed Plovers on the ground. Unfortunately, we weren't to see one, which is a shame as it would have been another first. We did see though, lots of swans, coots, great crested grebes, black-headed gulls and lots and lots of Common Terns (red bill with the dark tip!), in flight, on land and in the air, some hovering like kestrels.

We came to a bizarre raised stile which a sign said was raised over an electric fence to keep the beavers in the adjacent field/lake. Not sure how I feel about 'reintroduced' beavers which are essentially captive so we walked on past, rather than entering and were rewarded by a hobby swooping down, picking up some prey (assume dragonfly) and proceed to eat it in the air. Great sight! On we walked, aiming for the bird hide on the opposite side of the lake to where we'd started. A kestrel overhead, more terns, grebes, coots and then we eventually came through a gate that told us retrospectively we'd be on strictly private property but then told us the footpath was open April - September. So I'm still no clearer as to whether we were supposed to be there!

The hide was closed for 'maintenance' although I'm sure its more to do with the fact its directly facing the glass-fronted buildings of the very posh Lower Mill development!!

We sat down to eat our sandwiches on the side of the lake, and the red arrows flew by (in the distance!). A bit surreal! Then a stoat ran past.

We decided to walk back exactly the way we came but didn't see anything much at all on the way back other than a couple of rabbits. One downside, the leather strap on my ancient binoculars snapped and will need replacing. Or the bins will!

I'd definitely visit CWP again, but start in a different spot and research my visit in advance!

On the way home we stopped off at the famous Uffington White Horse near Swindon, and walked up the hill to the ancient horse and hill-fort. Although not really there for the birds we did see meadow pipits, skylarks, a linnet and some very close goldfinches, and I nearly got hit on the head by a black kite. Unfortunately, it was made of plastic and shaped like a shark!

edit: having looked at an online map today, I'm fairly sure lake 36 doesn't even exist. ]]> astafjevs http://www.birding.uk.com/forum/blogs/astafjevs/93-nightingale-sang-cotswold-water-park.html