Counting Stone Curlews

I headed up the M11 this morning with the Jims hoping to year tick Stone Curlew at a favourite spot an hour from home. On arrival we found the year tick was easy and set about trying to count how many Stone Curlews were visible. Counting them should be easy right but as they move around, get flushed by Crows, squat down low in the vegetation and hide behind the small banks and valleys it makes a total count quite challenging but as luck would have it the whole flock took flight around 8.30am and landed again seconds later which gave me the time to scan left to right with the scope counting a total of 69 Stone Curlews.

My record for this site is 78 but this years high count by others was 64 until I had this count of 69. I started again from left to right hoping to beat the count but this time only managed 48 as many of the birds had already vanished into the vegetation and a third attempt resulted in a count of 36 proving how hard to see they are once settled.

We had a flock of twenty or more Lesser Redpoll over and some Redwing flew high to the south. Two Great White Egrets flew south and another dropped into a ditch in the distance. There were lot's of Skylark and a couple of Woodlark present along with Stonechat, Reed Bunting and Meadow Pipits. Common Buzzard, Red Kite, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk flew over and the heath was alive with Corvids including a single Jay. 

Great to have finally seen Stone Curlews this year which take the pointless year list to 224 and now only 14 short of my worst ever year list of 238. 

No islands

I often make reference to the fact that I chose not to do the islands as part of this crazy hobby but the last few weeks have again tested my resolve with so many lifers getable should I be able to justify the time and money involved. So far I remain steadfast in my approach and find it helps with the anxiety associated with rare bird news coming in from the islands. I know I'd love any time on the islands and I expect the day to come when my resolve breaks, I've been tested the most with last years Blackburnian Warbler and this years Red-footed Booby but for now it's the odd mainland twitch, the odd reasonably close day out and mostly the local escapes like this mornings trip to the valley where I sat in the Bittern hide for a few hours enjoying prolonged views of a Bittern as it sat stationary in the reeds fishing for Perch taking no fewer than eight fish in two hours. Eventually the bird left the safety of the reeds to walk up the channel away from me but stopped half way to show concern at something overhead that clearly bothered it although from my position in the hide I couldn't tell what it was.

A Kingfisher flew in and sat just long enough for a single shot before heading out over the lake towards the river. Water Rail showed on several occasions and a Grey Heron dropped in. Little Grebe tried to feed but one of the local Mallards took offence and kept chasing back out to deeper water. Parakeets and Great-spotted Woodpecker visited the feeders and a group of 15 Barnacle Geese dropped in for a visit. Of note was a large mixed flock of Thrushes that flew over the lake mostly Redwing but appeared to contain some Fieldfare too.

Barnacle Geese

Dog Fox

Grey Heron

Kingfisher

Little Grebe

Little Grebe

Water Rail

An enjoyable couple of hours in a very quiet public hide with some good birds.

Still looking for a few year ticks to close that gap on my worst year but they're not coming to me so I guess at some point I'll need to go to them if I really want them enough.

Day at Frampton RSPB

Due to a cancelled hospital appointment for my father in law I found myself with a free day on Thursday so invited Jim to join me on a day out at Frampton. Dad was in Rome looking at old buildings and paintings so it was just the two of us on this run.

We arrived to an empty car park and walked along the footpath towards the reedbed hide where we'd set up scopes and scanned all the birds on the flood. Great White Egret was encountered again and it seems we can't go out now without bumping into one of these. A Kingfisher visited the sand bank and fished and then we started the wader count. Lesser Yellowlegs and White Rumped Sandpiper were the highlights and added to an impressive list that included twenty Curlew Sandpipers and ten Little Stints along with Greenshank, Turnstone, Dunlin, Redshank, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Ruff, Green Sandpiper, Blackwits, Snipe, Curlew and Lapwing for a sixteen wader day.  Eleven Whooper Swans left the flood early to feed in the farm fields to the south and we had seven Bearded Tits high over the reed bed hide to finish a very enjoyable morning birding this wonderful reserve.

Year list now 223 (15 short of my worst ever year count of 238) 

Curlew Sandpiper

Great Egret

Great Egret

Kingfisher

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Little Stint

Ruff

White-rumped Sandpiper with Little Stints

White-rumped Sandpiper

Pallid Harrier at Wallasea Island

Jim and I visited Wallasea Island yesterday and walked out to the viewing mound in the eastern corner at lunch time. The tide was out and wader numbers were very low with just a small flock of Dunlin, a pair of Oystercatchers and four Lapwing noted. Well over a hundred Little Egrets were counted over the reserve along with a single Great White. A Peregrine sat on the ground having a rest between assaults and probably wondering where all the waders were.

From the mound we spotted another Peregrine several Buzzards and Kestrels along with a few Marsh Harrier sightings. Then a tatty female Hen Harrier flew low across the eastern corner of the island before the at around 4pm the Pallid Harrier eventually came in and flew low over the marsh crossing the path to fly on the river side of the wall, it would later be harrassed by a Sparrowhawk and return at speed to the eastern corner.

On our drive out we spotted a male Merlin sitting out in the muddy field to cap off a memorable day on the island. After we left somebody reported five Short-eared Owls leaving us wishing we'd remained on the island for another hour.

Weather front brings in the Yanks

A weather system that travelled down the east coast of America and across the Atlantic has produced a truly memorable fall of American vagrant birds to our shores.

The fall started with an American Yellow Warbler on Foula in Shetland between 5th and 11th September 

This will be the 7th record for Britain with the last previous being 2017 at Portland a bird I should have twitched but due to work I wasn't able to.

Next came a Tennessee Warbler on St Kilda between 15th and 18th September followed by another on Barra on 21st September still there on 23rd but not reported as I type this on 24th.

There are six previous records so these will be 7 and 8 when accepted. 

Then came the arrival of anticipated American Cliff Swallows with the first to arrive being found in Kent on 19th September which I twitched on 20th, it wasn't seen after this. Another was found on Scilly on 20th and another in Glamorgan on 22nd. There have been only 13 previous records in the UK one of which I saw in 2016 at Minsmere so the Kent bird is my second in Britain.

An Alder Flycatcher was found on Skokholm on 20th September and is still present as I type here on 24th. It has been twitched by a few but access to the island is restricted and of course I have the no island rule to help me deal with these troublesome twitches. There have only been two previous records for Alder Flycatcher 2008 in Cornwall and 2010 in Norfolk.

Also found on 20th September was Britains third and first mainland record of Magnolia Warbler.

This bird remained long enough for me to twitch it and is still there as I type on 24th. The previous two records were Scilly in 1982 and Fair Isle in 2012.

They kept arriving and on 21st a Bobolink was found on Skokholm (33 previous records for Britain) then a Black and White Warbler was trapped and ringed on Bardsey Island followed by a different bird being trapped on 25th. These represent Britains 18th and 19th Record.

On 21st September the finding of a Bay-breasted Warbler on Ramsey Island sent the big listers into meltdown. This was a bird that had one previous accepted record which was not twitchable and remained a target for the must haves. The island has a strict allowance of visitors and is dependent on weather for boat crossings so nobody could get access to the bird until 23rd. 120 people on three boats would be allowed access and so the challenge of gaining access began. Again my no island rule took the pressure of me on this rarity.

A Northern Parula was seen on Scilly on 23rd. This will be the 16th record for Britain when accepted.

An Oven Bird was also found on Rum on 23rd with only six previous records this will be the 7th.

The same day saw a Empidonax Sp. found in Gwynedd which has not yet been ID'd beyond that. Then a Philadelphia Vireo was found on Barra in the Outer Hebrides. This is a bird that has only previously graced our shores once before with a record of one on Scilly in 1987 but access to Barra is difficult so twitching this bird even for the top listers may be beyond the challenge and as I type it's reported as "no further sign".

The best of the bunch was the Canada Warbler found on MOD land on St.Govan's head Pembrokeshire. It was found by the same guy that found the Magnolia Warbler and is a first for Britain.

I managed to twitch this bird. As I type on the 24th it's being reported as "no further sign"

Magnolia Warbler

So I connected with three of the eleven Yanks this week, I know some that connected with five but what a week for all British birders to enjoy. Now lets see what Autumn brings!

Two tick day in Pembrokeshire

Thursday and Friday saw family commitments preventing me travelling down to Pembrokeshire with the added irony that if my good lady had been well enough we'd have been holidaying in the county this week so with Saturday free I picked Jim up at 12.30am and we made the 275 mile trip to St Govens head in Pembrokeshire arriving in the car park at 5.15am in darkness which allowed a quick hours catch up with some sleep before we joined the other birders on site to view the area that the Magnolia Warbler was last seen yesterday. 

After about an hour with no sightings the bird was spotted by a couple of guys who let everybody know and shortly after the gathering of c100 or so birders were slowly connecting as the bird did a fast circuit of the bushes often sitting in among the red berry areas.  Chough flew over for an added year tick and Raven noisily flew over to add to the atmosphere. Now that the bird had revealed itself the mood lifted but this was to be improved on news that Toby Phelps (finder of the Magnolia Warbler) had now found a Canada Warbler just four miles away at Stack Rocks. 

The car park emptied as everybody headed off to Stack Rocks with many choosing to park on the grass verges to save the very short walk back from the car park. We opted to park in the car park and walk back where we joined the fifty or so looking for the Canada warbler. After about an hour the bird was spotted and most managed fleeting views of it moving through the thick twiggy areas at the back of the trees. I opted to move away from the masses and eventually had great views as the bird sat up in the canopy for a few moments before taking flight and reverting to it's skulking behaviour. Jim had managed some good views allowing us to both leave satisfied we'd connected well with the bird. 

The crowd was growing and getting ever closer to the area the bird was in so we left and started the long journey home. What a fantastic days birding in Pembrokeshire, great birds in a lovely setting and it's always nice to catch up with everybody at these twitches.

The Canada Warbler twitch with finder Toby far right with the orange peeked cap

The Magnolia warbler twitch

Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia Warbler

Magnolia twitch

Magnolia Warbler

Many of the birders present also enjoyed views of the Bay-breasted Warbler on Ramsay Island and some saw the Alder Flycatcher on Skokholm, thankfully I don't do the islands so didn't have to stress too much about these birds. Boats to both islands were limited and would have also added a few pounds to the day trip but I congratulate those that did connect with one or both. 

Year list now 221

Life list now 442

American Cliff Swallow at Joss Bay in Kent

I had a tough day yesterday with a few family duties to fulfill and didn't see the news of the Cliff Swallow until late afternoon and with the Dartford crossing closed and two hour delays into Kent expected the afternoon run was put off after discussions with the Jims who still needed the bird for a life tick. With the bird present into the late evening we decided to leave it and wait for news this morning and with that positive news we set off at 9am and with no trouble getting over the water into Kent we arrived at Joss Bay at 10.50am. There was a small crowd of around twenty or so birders present but the bird hadn't been seen for half an hour or more.

The Cabbage fields and lighthouse

Joss Bay

In my haste to leave I'd left my camera bag and binoculars in the house so borrowed Dads to search for the bird and within ten minutes I was shouting to the crowd that it was flying along the cliff top towards us. For the next hour we enjoyed several views as it did a loop around the cabbage fields.  The flock contained mostly House Martins but several Sand Martins and a single Swallow were seen. Meadow Pipits were numerous and a single Curlew was found on the beach  but it was otherwise very quiet with nothing moving on the sea in strong South Westerlies.

The Jims gripped back the Cliff Swallow on me as I'd previously seen the Minsmere bird in 2016 and I ticked my 268th Kent bird and my 218th bird for the pointless 2023 year list for which I still need 20 birds to avoid my worst year list ever of 238.

Onwards and Upwards.