Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
17.10.2016
Postscript: just another of those funny little dunnocks!
A very brief blog...
17th October: went to Hartlepool to look for lapland buntings but just linnets in unmanageable wind. Decided to make the 30 minute trip [according to the satnav] to Hendon, Sunderland and see if I could spot my second ever siberian accentor...
...found it behind a wall on derelict land near the docks...elusive, fleeting views, rain...here it is:
See previous post for recent photos including the Easington accentor.
12th-14th October
On the crest of a wave!
As a tribute to those mesmerising little goldcrests that keep cropping up in this blog but also as a reflection of some amazing recent birding. It didn't all go right but as well as the crests [both feature] there are some exceptional goodies. The new camera and lens have started to amaze me - especially the capabilities of the camera at 1000 ISO whilst not becoming too grainy: the 1D couldn't produce images like some of these that were taken in challenging lighting conditions.
Let us begin... October 12th at Bempton then Old Fall and then Thornwick Pool. Bempton first.
Pity the branch got in front of the bird.
These were taken whilst I waited for the red-breasted flycatcher to reappear. If birds could get Oscars I'd give this one an award!
At Old Fall I looked for a great grey shrike but it had scarpered. A few yellowhammers were in the hedge.
At Thornwick all was fairly quiet. One cormorant, one snipe and one dunlin [plus a few ducks and moorhens].
Snipe and drinking straw!
Outside the hide a kestrel came literally overhead.
October 13th reminds me of a day Barry and I went to Covenham Reservoir in Lincolnshire and saw a phalarope but the day was memorable for us getting unbelievably soaked - although we then moved to Spurn and had a wonderful day. Well, this October morning I stood in a strong wind with my back to aggressive rain watching very brief views of a paddyfield warbler [lifer 427]. I gave up trying for a photo and headed back to Bempton for a chiffchaff and brambling extravaganza [plus a couple of goldcrests of course!]. I'll start with the chiffchaffs - several different birds feature.
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A redwing posed briefly - not a bird I find easy to get good photos of. They seem pretty wary having just arrived.
Bramblings showed well at the feeder station and nearby. Here's a selection of views - again taken in poor light...
...and some goldcrests again!
I went back to have another look for the paddyfield warbler. Saw it perched ever so briefly and could only manage this 'almost' shot. It's in focus!!
I met Mark Killeen in the morning as I was departing for Bempton. For proper, decent photos of the paddyfield look at his images on Rare Bird Alert.
October 14th was very special. I joined a couple of thousand birders at 7.30am to see the siberian accentor [lifer 428] at Easington. The whole experience was mad! Parking, crowds of excited birders. People I knew from many other twitches...including people who never, ever twitch!
I went to Sammy's Point and saw a few ring ouzels...
...but a report of a confiding shore lark drew me back to the Blue Bell car park.
A firecrest was to be released at Church Field. Watch the world's shortest video!
A short while later a dusky warbler was also shown to the crowds.
I moved to Canal Scrape to recover from the adrenalin rushes of the morning. Jack was there.
I'll finish this blog with a photo of a bird whose amazing plumage is sometimes overlooked. Gadwall in his finery.
UK 2016 262
9th-10th October 2016
East Coast pleasures...
Sunday 9th October: Spurn
A typically early start got me to Easington by 7.15am. A search round the cemetery produced nothing of interest so I retired to Canal Scrape for a break. Snipe, meadow pipits and redwings.
A little grebe with a fish at Canal Scrape.
This redwing had just been ringed at Church Field.
A little later behind the White Horse a pallas's warbler was located. I had brief views as it flew off but I hung around after the crowd had largely dispersed. Ian Smith and co relocated it behind the warehouse building in the corner in a sycamore. Great views but as I heard lots of shutters firing I couldn't get a clear shot among the foliage. Still, a good bird for the day. I made my way to Kilnsea Wetlands. Pretty quiet there - a pair of greenshanks came reasonably close.
For me the best session was down at Sammy's Point. After walking past all the paddocks and seeing little other than goldcrests...
...I turned back towards the car park. First encounter was a wheatear...
...even a dunnock can be photogenic. I like this image very much!
Then a redstart popped into view on the grass of the second horse paddock.
It came onto the wire next to me...
...and then onto the path in front of me.
A lesser whitethroat was hiding among a pile of rubble overgrown with 'Russian vine'. It eventually surrendered!
I thought this one was a bit different!
Last photoshoot of the day was of an extremely obliging [and interested] ring ouzel. It allowed us to watch him as he watched us!
Monday 10th October
Sheila and I headed north to Hartlepool Headland having seen reports of a red-breasted flycatcher at St. Mary's Church. En route it changed into a red-flanked bluetail at the Putting Green. We watched for a long time... and saw little other than robins and sparrows. Eventually we heard it was going to be released on the beach. Instead of instantly disappearing it posed for us!
As a postcript we did eventually also see the red-breasted flycatcher at St. Mary's church - there were two rather good birds on the headland that afternoon!!
258 UK 2016
3rd-7th October 2016
Good stuff!
1: Getting my boots on!
October 3rd I decided to go and find me a cattle egret. The one at Burton Mere Wetlands [Wirral area] seemed the most reliable but the Marshside, Southport bird, although not reported as regularly, offered better views at times. I headed for Cheshire and Burton Mere. Lots of pinkfeet had just come in along with 4 goosanders - apparently a rare sight at Burton Mere. The cattle egret was seen within a few minutes among cattle naturally about a mile away but well seen in the scope. Satnav said it would take 67 minutes to get to Marshside for the other bird. I glanced at the pager just to check. Booted warbler [a lifer for me] Great Orme, Llandudno. An area I knew well. In fact reading the very good instructions I could picture the location. So I set off for North Wales. When I arrived and got out of Tiggy I espied a line of about 8 telescopes only a few yards away.
Here's lifer 426...
2: Curlew sand
Tuesday October 4th I headed north hoping for a rarity or two. I ended up spending a few hours photographing a curlew sandpiper in Phil Stead hide at Saltholme. A bird I had never got that close to. This bird was not especially close but the new kit performed reasonably...
...a couple of blackwits were present too...
..and what's this?
This magpie's idea of having a wash seemed to involve aggressively attacking the water!
3: One of those special days...
Thursday October 6th I set off early for Spurn and popped into Canal Scrape hide to have a coffee to set me up for a day's birding. And what a day it turned out to be. Things were soon bobbing along nicely...
...common snipe too...
...a hare was pottering among the bushes on the far side...
...and there was much local excitement when most unusually a purple sandpiper dropped in!
Mipits and wheatears were plentiful .
I wandered down to the seawatch hide. Sooty shearwater and a Cory's shearwater were my highlights accompanied by a few bonxies, an arctic and lots of red-throated divers. A few swallows were seen. After an hour a radio message tempted me down to Sammy's Point for a possible great grey shrike. People there said they could hear yellow-browed warblers in the second horse paddock but they only saw goldcrests which were everywhere. They remind me of cartoon character birds!
Some young birders reckoned they had seen a little bunting so we hung around in front of a hawthorn bush for about 40 minutes. I started to leave but a low whistle from one of the birders beckoned me back. Little bunting indeed.
[also reed bunting on right in photo above]
I set off back to the car. The great grey shrike showed in the horse paddocks but flew off low and south although it has been seen again today [8.10.16] A painted lady fluttered by. Monday 9pm BBC4 I thought...
...and yet another wheatear trotted along in front of me. The 5D SR is said to be tricky to hand hold but I'm happy enough with the 500mm lens and 1.4 converter and 1.6 crop! [Same goes for the painted lady shot]
Bempton Cliff was claiming all sorts so I left the chocolate factory and headed north. I saw the arctic warbler but didn't try for a shot due to distance. The eastern crowned warbler was more cooperative.
6 year ticks in a single day isn't bad for October!
4: Just a grebe...
Friday 8th October and I headed up onto Huntcliff, Saltburn to look for lapland buntings but failed to find any. Then I went to Scarborough harbour to look for the [probably] returning black-necked grebe which was easy to spot.
At Grindale the only buzzard I saw was a common buzzard so I wondered if the single report of a rough-leg was erroneous. At South Landing a great grey shrike showed distantly in Holmes Gut before flying off over Thornwick Camp.
254 UK 2016
24th September ff
Araneus diadematus and the Umlaut bird!
Forgot to include this fellow in my last blog. Garden spider [aka araneus diadematus] in our garden 24th September.
I had been hoping for a few days to find a gap in our family commitments to get away for a night and go to Anstruther in Fife to see the Brünnich’s Guillemot before it left. I managed it on Thursday but, unable to leave York before midday, it was 6 p.m when I arrived and the bird was hiding somewhere under the pontoons in the harbour. Eventually it came into view and I watched it for some time as it swam around, flapping its wings a few times. [Lifer 425!] By now it was fairly dark and I decided to leave photographing the bird till the morning - or more likely lunchtime when the tide would refill the harbour.
Next morning I snapped a few of the birds on the beach...
...and decided to explore the local area whilst I waited for the bird to reappear. Imagine my shock when the pager announced the bird was dead. Bird Guides later said 'the corpse had been retained'! Good job I saw it the night before...
I returned via Roseden for the rose-coloured starling which failed to show whilst I was there. That, of course, is birding. For a radically different account read Nigel Stewart's version of events at http://cliftonbirding.blogspot.co.uk/
A sparrowhawk was flying about and probably didn't help my chances!
Final break from driving at Newburn Bridge, Hartlepool. It was a very high tide - one giant wave took all the waders, me and this cormorant by surprise. I happened to point the camera at the cormorant as it broke over the short stone section of the jetty.
I soon spotted a med gull on the jetty.
The waders were nice and close but seemed not bothered by the people watching from the promenade.
The big wave was too much for the med gull. It returned to its favourite perch.
