Dipped another Greenish Warbler

With no fewer than five Greenish Warblers scattered along the north Norfolk coast yesterday and with me having never seen one I hatched a plan last night to give it a go and set off to arrive for first light this morning. I stopped at north pools in Wells and walked down the track to scope finding a year tick with two Wood Sandpipers on view and in good company too with Garganey, Green Sandpiper, Greenshank and Spoonbill the best of the offering. A Lesser Whitethroat popped up too on my way back to the car.

The view over north pools from the car park

It was now 8am and none of yesterdays Greenish had been reported so I had to make a start somewhere and chose the campsite at Stiffkey. I walked for a mile or so finding only Lesser Whitethroat of note before heading back to the old sewage works for a while. At 9.15am I got news that a Greenish had been seen at the Dell in Wells woods and by 10am I'd paid the car parking and was walking down to the dell with the hundreds of beach goers.  On arrival all seemed well with news that the Greenish was doing a circuit with the large tit flock and would be round again soon. My mood changed two hours in when I hadn't even seen a Blue Tit let alone a large flock. I started to search further afield finding a minimum of four Pied Flycatchers in the Dell before finding out that the Greenish had been "reported" down the track near the meadow. I told a few others of the news and we started searching again finding a tit flock in the hawthorns by the meadow. The flock contained Chiffchaff, Willow Warblers, Lesser Whitethroat but only a few Blue Tits. A guy next to me played the call of the Greenish and a bird popped up and quickly flew away, this was called as Greenish but for me it was far to quick I couldn't get any detail on it. We tried to relocate this bird but failed and after four hours of searching I conceded and left for home.

The dip was compounded by news at 4.09pm that Holme had a Greenish in the car park this morning but for some reason whoever saw it decided not to put out news until the end of the day. I also noticed that one was reported today as seen on Sunday in Hemsby and a Sardinian Warbler was also reported today as seen at Winterton on Sunday carrying on this recent trend of late news.

Year list now 247

Birding Suffolk

My day started at Landguard as I'd imagined finding something good there and I didn't do too bad as I quickly found a Wheatear out on the point followed by a Common Redstart, Whinchat, Black Redstart, another two Wheatear and a Pied Flycatcher. Lot's of Linnet and Pied Wagtail made up the best of the rest.

Whinchat at Landguard

Wheatear at Landguard

With news of the Red-backed Shrike still showing at Southwold I jumped back in the car and drove another half an hour up the A12 parking up and walking out onto the golf course. Within a few minutes I'd added my second year tick of the day when the Shrike sat up briefly before flying across the green and out view. I searched for the bird while the other guys waited and found it down by the tennis courts and managed a couple of reasonable images before losing it again. Here I also had at least four Lesser Whitethroats and a few Common Whitethroats with the Lessers looking really sharp.

Red-backed Shrike at Southwold

Red-backed Shrike

With news coming in of Greenish Warblers in Norfolk it was hard not to continue north but I resisted and headed south towards home stopping at Alton Waters where I quickly found my second Gull-billed Tern of the year (and ever). The Tern sat on the railing just shielded by a Black-headed Gull before taking flight. I continued to watch the bird for a couple of hours before heading home as the rain arrived.

Alton Water

Gull-billed Tern

Gull-billed Tern at Alton Water

A cracking day in Suffolk delivered some real quality birds and two year ticks bringing 

the year list to 246

Common Terns

Lesser Whitethroats

Common Tern

I'm still looking for my first Wood Sandpiper and Black Tern of the year and I'm hoping for a Wryneck in the next few days to keep the year list ticking over.

Sparrowhawk and one less Woodpigeon

I had this cracking encounter with a Sparrowhawk this morning thanks to a call from my son to let me know he'd just seen one sitting on a Woodpigeon in Clays Lane. I got to the bird five minutes later and it was still sat on the pigeon and continued to enjoy its breakfast until a guy came out of his home and spooked it. 

Robin red-breast

 The Robin that has taken up residence in my garden is now moulting  and a red breast is starting to come through. The little guy is quite sociable and often pops out from the bushes to sit with me and wait for an offering and he really likes to take advantage of the wet soil after the hose has been out. 

This was him just three weeks ago..............

And finally I get a 2020 Wheatear

I drove down to Dungeness yesterday in the hope of finding some migrants and on the drive down I had a Tawny Owl fly low across the M20 in front of me thankfully missing the traffic. On arrival at Dunge a drive down Galloways delivered my first year tick with a single Whinchat. The road was open until 8.30am before the firing started at Lydd ranges and other birds here were lot's of Linnet and Meadow Pipit along with a couple of breeding pairs of Stonechat and Whitethroat. 

A young Stonechat

Dad

I then managed to find a couple of Wheatear in the area around the RNLI to finally give me that tick and by far my latest Wheatear of any year list but it's always pleasing to see these little crackers. A Peregrine  was all I had to mention here before I set off for a walk around the Long Pit in search of migrants but I found only Willow Warbler, Blackcap and Whitethroat again of any note.

Wheatear

By now the car park at ARC pit was open so I popped in to add Glossy Ibis to the year list, Marsh Harrier, an adult Little Gull, a couple of Green Sands and a Common Sand were about all else of note here and Denge Marsh was very quiet too as I searched again for migrants. The reserve was closed to visitors and although you can walk the public paths I decided against it as it was getting too hot to be comfortable walking about in it.

Long Pit

This morning I popped out for a local twitch at Amwell and quickly found the Temminck's Stint on the island in front of the hide from the viewpoint. I've seen these little guys before but was particularly struck by how tiny this one looked as it sat in the shade provided by a resting Gadwall and walked with a Coot for company.

Amwell with the position of the Stint highlighted

Look how tiny that is next to the coot.

Migration seems to have really kicked off now with Spurn having a massive variety yesterday having two life ticks and eight year ticks on offer to me if I could make the journey and to my added frustration on this occasion because I didn't go they all stayed overnight. 

A probable Scopoli's Shearwater was also found yesterday and has been successfully twitched by a few today. This hobby of ours is crazy for sure and I have to pinch myself sometimes and remind myself that it is a hobby but as mad as it sounds I can understand the thrill of connecting with that Shearwater today and can't help wish I'd been in the group.

Lot's of Tigers about this year too

Found this guy resting in the garden too today

Year list now 244

Porthgwarra

I make no secret of my love for seawatching, a passion that started at Dungeness and Cley but over recent years my life has been enriched by the experience of Porthgwarra. I love the place, just to sit there for a few hours a year isn't a lot to ask and yesterday I managed just that. Having watched the weather patterns bringing in a reasonable chance of south westerlies for Wednesday morning and mindful that I had also predicted a decent day last Monday but didn't go this time I wasn't going to miss the chance and so made the long run down to Cornwall over night stopping for a break about half way and with Covid still a player I sadly had to make the trip alone.

What a view

I arrived at the car park at 6.30am and quickly loaded up with scope, camera, bins, flask, chair and rain protection and strutted up the rocks to take a place in the small gathering at a safe distance from the others guys. As the morning progressed we reached a total group size of around thirty or so.

I'd already missed both large Shearwaters but wasn't put off as the turn out of the locals gave me confidence I had picked a decent day. First up was a group of Chough calling behind me four of which then landed on the ground in front of us to give good views and my first year tick of the day. Next was a Sooty Shearwater speeding through and past the Runnel stone bouy.

The famous Runnel stone bouy

Fulmars glided past and large groups of Gannets moved along the coast containing a few juveniles. A Whimbrel called as it flew overhead and the gulls flew overhead calling loudly with Med Gull and Kittiwake both seen during the watch. A single Yellow-legged Gull was reported but I missed it as can be the case if you have your eye to the scope as they glide past. Next came a Bonxie followed by a Pom and then as I watched the Pom an Arctic Skua came up to mob it which I suppose must have been sat on the water so I literally had three species of Skua in one scope view which was quite thrilling.

I had only been on site a couple of hours before my first life tick when a local called "large Shear!" It was quite distant but with his directions shouted loudly through the group we all managed to get on it and it became apparent that I was watching my very first Great Shearwater more "large Shears" came and went without clarity on species due to distance then another appeared a bit closer almost at Runnel Stone range and it was clearly identified as my first tickable Cory's Shearwater. Over the morning more Great and Cory's were seen well enough to identify and I saw at least three of each that I was happy with along with a few that will remain either or. More Sooties came along later in the morning to add to the spectacle. A Balearic was called among the hundreds of Manx Shearwaters but I couldn't find it and think I might have been on the wrong group of Manx. I then thought I had a Storm Petrel but it was brief and nobody else could find it and I'm not 100% sure it was a Stormie to be honest but it looked good although I've talked myself out of it as time has past as I often do with these brief encounters. I then missed two Stormies called by the group later on to my disappointment. A Puffin was seen but having checked every Auk of the morning I was disappointed not to have seen that too. It's great to be joined by the local guys and gain from their experience of these sightings, their confidence to call at distance is impressive my only shouts of the day was the Bonxie (A sea bird I'm very familiar with) but it did provide the focus for the group to get on the Pom too so a decent shout and my Stormie shout was quieter, less confident and largely ignored. As for the large Shears I may well have picked up a couple before the group but they didn't need my help finding them for sure. The Runnel Stone Bouy is very useful as a marker if you are struggling to pick up a bird it's a good place to focus and wait for the bird to pass to help your chances of connecting, a trick I used on a couple of occasions if I couldn't pick up the bird earlier within the directions. One shout came of "large Shear passing the cargo ship" I couldn't even find the cargo ship in the distant mist so these guys must have some super upgraded equipment on me or just better eyes I guess.

This guy entertained me trying to get the brolly up in the fierce wind his mates were better prepared

Also of note during the morning a couple of Dolphin, a pair of Rock Pipit and a group of nine Common Scoter. The Scilly Isles helicopter was busy and the Scillonian sailed past mid morning in choppy waters. As mid-day approached the forecast rain starting coming in and I sat it out for an hour with the wind picking up now I thought it worth getting a little wet if the birds where to come in closer but what I hadn't allowed for was the sea mist and the lack of visibility so with that I packed up and left for the long journey home, happy that I had managed in this difficult year to still get a day at Porthgwarra but sad that it could be a whole year before I get back.

The Scillonian on its way out to the Scilly Islands

I already want to go back and do it all over again as it really is quite addictive. 

It's both challenging and rewarding.

Year list now 240

Life list now 414

What a view

Year list update as we move into August

2020 is without doubt the strangest year I've faced in my 55 years on this planet, I can't say it's the hardest year I've had but it's without doubt the strangest.

I've Isolated and locked down, socially distanced, masked up, anti bac'd, washed my hands and generally done all the things asked of me since early March. I had started the year list well and was approaching 200 as we exited February with little concern for the pandemic that was to hit us in March.

Isolation came my way on 9th March before the national lockdown was imposed on us all.

I sit here now at the end of July on 233 so just the 38 ticks in the last five months and I'm down 36 on last years record year figure for July. By this time last year I had seen 53 birds not seen so far this year so I can hang on to the fact that I've seen a few this year I didn't find last year.

August has been pretty good to me over the years and I have seen the following in the coming month in years gone by.......

Wood Sandpiper

Red-necked Phalarope

Pectoral Sandpiper

Black Tern

White-winged Black Tern

Pied Flycatcher

Arctic Skua

Great Skua

Wryneck

Baird's Sandpiper

White-rumped Sandpiper

Temminck's Stint

Spotted Crake

Bee-eater

Melodious Warbler

Sabine's Gull

Alpine Swift

Long-tailed Skua

Western Sub-alpine Warbler

Ring-billed Gull

Kentish Plover

Storm Petrel

Sooty Shearwater

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Whinchat

Stilt Sandpiper

So although travel is a little different and since March I've travelled alone which detracts from the experience some and I look forward to sharing the trips with the Jims again before long as the government continues to lift the restrictions placed on us of late. It's fair to say I have a few targets and Wheatear remains top of the list. Every day I get a little closer to the shared car being something I can accept and don't think it'll be long before we become a team again and travel together.

Here's hoping for a decent autumn but I do fear the virus may still have a part to play in the rest of 2020.

Sabine's Gull, an August tick of  2013