Back in the game

I haven't been birding since my trip to Bempton at the end of June so today I made a solo run to Snettisham. I arrived at 7am with high tide due at 8am but on arrival all the birds had already roosted on the pits but somebody had reported the Western Sandpiper (which was my target) at 6.40am although it hadn't been seen since. I picked up a year tick with my first Sanderlings of the year as I scanned the few Dunlin still on the mud. As birds started to return to the mud around 9.30am I picked out a Little Stint and Garganey whilst searching for the Sandpiper and around 10am as around thirty of us scanned the mud the shout went up "got it!" I moved up to get directions and very quickly was watching my second ever Western Sandpiper following the 2011/12 Cley bird.

Western Sandpiper at Snettisham

Also at Snettisham lots of Little, Common and Sandwich Terns, a couple of Whimbrel, three Turtle Dove plus thousands of Knot. Hundreds of Oystercatchers and Godwits with the odd Turnstone. I picked up a couple of Med Gulls but couldn't find the reported Black or Roseatte Terns.

Following my early success I moved on to Frampton being just 25 miles out of my way and as I parked up I was put straight onto the Pacific Golden Plover but had better views later on as I got to the sea wall where I also had good views of Short-eared Owl, Marsh Harrier and Peregrine. My walk around the reserve gave up Spotted Redshank, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpipers, Greenshank, Spoonbills and many other good birds but I failed to find the reported Whinchat which I still need for a year tick.

Pacific Golden Plover

PGP

Year list now 211

BOU list now sits at 626

 With three new additions the BOU list now sits at 626

The additions all from sightings last year are

Ruby-crowned Kinglet (On Barra from 12th to 27th November)

Yellow-bellied Flycatcher (a relative crowd pleaser on Tiree from 15th to 23rd September 2020)

White-chinned Petrel (seen by one person walking on a beach in Orkney on 25th May 2020)

Interestingly the much twitched Paddyfield Pipit has as yet not been accepted by BOU as a wild vagrant.

The list now breaks down as such

Category A    608    (RECORDED IN THE WILD SINCE 1950)

Category B        8    (RECORDED IN THE WILD PRIOR TO 1950)

Category C       10   (INTRODUCED SPECIES BUT NOW SELF SUSTAINING)

Follow the below link to the article by BOU

Changes to the British List (30 June 2021) - British Ornithologists' Union (bou.org.uk)

The eight species in Category B are......

Ruddy Shelduck

Red-necked Nightjar

Eskimo Curlew

Great-black-headed Gull

Great Auk

White-faced Storm Petrel

Egyptian Vulture (Which finally looks set to be moved to Cat A after this years Scilly bird)

Spotted Eagle

_____________________________________________________________________

The Ten species sitting in Category C are......

Egyptian Goose

Mandarin

Ruddy Duck

Capercaillie

Red-legged Partridge

Pheasant

Golden Pheasant

Lady Amherst's Pheasant

Little Owl

Ring-necked Parakeet

As for me well I've seen 423 of the 626 (67%)  so I have 203 still to connect with should any turn up again in a twitchable range.

Half time review 2021

Well I've made it the end of June in this second year affected by the global pandemic. I've been vaccinated twice now and although cases continue to rise with the new Delta variant it does feel as though things are slowly returning to normality of sorts. I'm back in the car with the Jims after over a year of not travelling together. The first half of 2021 saw my year listing badly affected for a second year as I missed many of the winter species due to the national lockdown for the first three months of the year. I nearly gave up on year listing after last years struggles but I didn't and have made the best of a bad time with my efforts.

I sit on 206 for the end of June which is my lowest every June total with my best being 264 and my ten year average being 239 and my previous lowest being 219.

I've picked up five life ticks so far in 2021. Firstly I was lucky that the Mockingbird hung around until I could travel for it in April and I picked up the American Herring Gull on the same trip. A White-throated Sparrow was a welcome addition too before this months River Warbler and then there's yesterdays show stopping Albatross. It's fair to say I didn't see any of these ticks coming but they sure lifted my spirits after a very long winter lockdown saved only by the local Shorted-eared Owls and some good socially distanced company.

Mockingbird

Black-browed Albatross

River Warbler

White-throated Sparrow

American Herring Gull

Looking forward to July I can say that it's a tough month for year listers.

My best year tick total for any July is just nine back in 2013 and my worst is just two. The most popular July addition to my year list is Curlew Sandpiper which I tick most years in July as birds head south again.

The best July Tick I've ever had was the White-tailed Plover at Rainham on 7th July 2010.

So I'm not expecting any fireworks for the rest of 2021 but will keep the year list ticking over without chasing it and just see where it ends. I hope to find another lifer or two before the years out and of course I'm trying to help Jim find the three ticks he needs to break the 400 barrier.

I'm still without Whooper and Bewick's Swan, Pink-footed Goose, Long-tailed Duck, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-necked Grebe, Slavonian Grebe, Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, Great Skua, Hen Harrier, Merlin, Shorelark, Snow Bunting, Whinchat, Dipper, Twite and Red-crested Pochard to name but of few of the common birds I've failed to connect with thus far in 2021. For another winter I missed any chance of chasing the Cornwall Pacific Diver, Black Scoter, Snow Goose and Cackling Goose ticks.

Since lockdown was relaxed in the second quarter of 2021 I've dipped Tawny Pipit and Eastern Subalpine Warbler but my regrets are not going for the Red-necked Stint in Northumberland and Thrush Nightingale at Spurn. Thankfully I don't look too hard at birds missed on the Islands as I've never twitched one to date but should either the Sulphur-bellied Warbler on Lundy or the Egyptian Vulture on Scilly have settled I may have had to break my own travel restrictions for them.

Happy birding for the second half of the year guys and keep well.

And already on the 1st July what looks like a first for Britain with the Soft-plumaged Petrel along the north east coast yesterday....what a year!

Black-browed Albatross at Bempton Cliffs RSPB

On Monday evening a Black-browed Albatross was reported as having spent time at Bempton during the day and into the evening. I didn't get the news until around 11PM just after the France v Switzerland game in the Euros so didn't take too much notice. Tuesday morning and the bird was reported again and reports continued throughout the day. The bird concerned has been spending time at Bempton over the last few years but was thought to have fell victim to a couple of Sea Eagles in Denmark so it has taken the birding community by surprise.

I hatched a mad plan with the Jims to leave at 12.30am this morning and at 4.30am we were looking over the cliffs along with around 300 other like minded fools. The bird had moved from its roost area of the previous night and so we walked the cliff to search for it. The crowd grew and by 7am there was still no sightings when all of a sudden the shout went up "there it is!" It wasn't as easy to pick out in flight as I expected but once I got my eye in it was a lot easier to find as it flew around the cliff edges for the next couple of hours before setting down for the day on the rocks with the Gannets.

The Albatross is a bird I never expected to see in the UK as although this particular bird returns each year its appearance on our east coast is usually brief. It was truly fantastic to see such an impressive beast performing and has to be one of the best bird encounters I have experienced. The sanity of a dawn raid is questionable and not without risk in time, money and reward but on this occasion it was without doubt worth the risk.

My images don't really do it justice as I spent more time looking though my bins and scope than my camera but I did grab a couple of records shots. 

Year list now 206

Life list now 423

Roller at Icklingham in Suffolk

Wednesday a Roller was located in Suffolk and I couldn't resist a trip to see it having only seen two previously in the UK.

The Jims had other plans so couldn't drop everything as easy as me so this was a solo run and on route the bird went missing but within the hours drive it was refound at Icklingham so a small diversion and I was back on track. Lee Evans was on site and had taken on the role of parking supervisor so directed me up a small road and said the Roller could be seen on the wires above the sheep field. I turned around on the hard standing and parked up at the bottom of the lane and managed fantastic views of the Roller through the scope and even managed some reasonable images although it was at a challenging distance for my newly repaired 400mm lens.

The local farmer wasn't pleased with parking arrangements and has since asked people to not use the lane. I showed the farmer the bird through my scope and explained why people wanted to see it so much and this calmed him a little and he agreed it was a smart looking bird. He agreed the cars parked could stay but asked Lee to stop more cars coming in giving an alternative car park about 800yards further up the road which Lee asked RBA to include in future messages. The walk along the A1101 is dangerous with no path and traffic moving much faster than the 50mph limit. The police were in attendance ticketing anybody parking on the main road and asking people to walk in single file as it really is an accident waiting to happen. I hope everybody attending appreciates the danger and applies adequate caution. 

I returned on Friday as the Jims were now in a position to travel and we took Rob along too as he needed Roller as a life tick. Parking was easy as we found a spot in the layby opposite the field and simply crossed the road to view for an hour or so. You cannot describe the beauty of this bird in flight it just has to be seen to be appreciated fully. My images do not do it justice.

Year list now 205

June has delivered for sure!

A life tick with the River Warbler followed by THREE Collared Pratincoles, NINE Bee eaters and a Roller.

Bee Eaters at Breydon Water

 On Tuesday I watched NINE Bee eaters at Breydon Water

They flew around lots, sat in the bushes for these pictures and constantly called and it was magnificent.

Year list now 204

Seconds of the River warbler at Ham Wall

When I travelled to Ham Wall last Saturday to see the River Warbler the Jims couldn't come with me. My brother had a poor reaction to his first vaccine and had his second last Friday so was advised not to travel for a couple of days after so all week he's had one eye on the River warbler hoping I'd find the time to take him and yesterday I did just that.

We arrived just after 7am and made short work of the walk out towards the gathered birders. The bird was heard as we walked down and seen within seconds of stopping at the two wooden seats. For the next couple of hours it played to the crowd often sitting very close but obscured by vegetation before going missing and quiet for about thirty minutes between each display.

River Warbler

River warbler

River warbler

Came close but was difficult to frame

Very vocal

Not a bird I expected to be ticking this year

We saw Bittern, Cuckoo, Marsh Harriers and Great White Egrets whilst watching it before leaving at about 11am. On the way home we stopped to have a couple of hours wandering around Thursley Common where we had great views of a few Redstarts, a Woodlark, several Hobby and lot's of Dartford Warblers. Colin and his mates were in fine voice but we didn't make it to the Cuckoo field.

Jim has now picked up two lifers this year as he nudges closer to the 400. He's also dipped two this year with the Tawny Pipit and Eastern Subalpine Warbler and missed a couple as the earlier covid restrictions prevented us travelling together when I twitched the Mockingbird and American Herring Gull. If I have my math's right he's looking for three more for the 400 now which should be achievable this year with a planned trip to Porthgwarra hoping he can finally see some more Petrels and Shearwaters. Sadly there were no ticks for me this weekend but I still enjoyed the day out.

I currently have my lens with Canon for repair so used Jims Sigma for the above images. I'm hoping the repair will not be too expensive.