Welcome to my birding blog - first launched 12th March 2012...
November 13th ff
Serin-dip-ity I
No, it's not a typo. Serendipity is a word coined by Horace Walpole in 1754 to express a sort of happy accident. Well, there was no happy accident yesterday [13.11.13] when I went to Millennium Wood, Flamborough to see a bird that had been reported. It was cold, overcast and soon I was reminded of a Kipling novel I had to read many years ago: 'The light that failed.' Not a bad tale but out on the set-aside field in a strong breeze the light did soon fail. I dipped on the serin.
Serendipity II
The serin was reported again and so I drove back to Millennium Wood and made my way up the slope to a group of birders whose scopes were trained on the southern edge of the wood. Brambling, dunnock, goldfinches by the score, bullfinch, chaffinches and then: the happy accident. Lifer number 397 there in front of me in the bins. It dropped back down. Later I saw it in someone else's scope. Two good views but it was very flighty. Andrew Hood has put up a record-shot photo on Rare Bird Alert if you want to see it; others now on BirdGuides.
Friday 15th November: all the Seatons
Seaton Sands, Seaton Carew, Seaton Snook, Seaton Reach - the lot. I walked and walked and walked...
The idea was to find the lapland buntings. Well, to try. I drove slowly along the road to the North Gare car park. Curlew and lapwing were reasonably close by.
I parked and then walked out through the dunes. It was further than I expected. A flock of snow buntings swirled overhead as did an anonymous dark raptor [buzzard, probably]. Redshanks were on the shore. I walked all the way to the samphire beds at Seaton Snook because someone said the twite were active. When I arrived there was no sign but that didn't surprise me. Eventually I spotted a single bird on look-out duty atop a dead plant.
I had been told they often perch on the wire fence. Suddenly they all flew up in the air, circled round and landed on the fence whilst ones and twos dropped down onto the grass behind the dune to bathe in a rainwater pool. I tried to edge nearer using the marram grass on the dune side as cover. Note how the birds face at different angles covering all directions...
14 twite [or twites!] One is calling.
...including straight at me! Guess I've been spotted. No twits these twites!
Best close-up I could manage. Need a 600mm with a 1.4 teleconverter. In my dreams!
I walked back to the Zinc Works Road and was surprised just before reaching the works entrance to see a tail flick in front of me: grey wag!
After that I then took the path inland from the dunes across the golf course back to North Gare car park. Curlew streamed inland from the east.
Driving back to the main road I paused to check over some black-headed gulls. I spotted this orangey-legged bird with a ring. You don't often see black-headed gulls with rings.
I called at Tesco and at Newburn Bridge. The tide was high and the normal set of waders were present as was my friend the mediterranean gull. Then the pager announced 'lapland bunting with snow buntings, Seaton Carew on beach south of sewage works'. I decided, tired as I was, to set off again with bins and scope. From a distance I saw the flock of snow bunting - very mobile - and I could see 2 darker birds with no white patches flying with them. Alas, I never got close enough to be sure. The lapland buntings remain a probable, that's all.
Eventually I dropped in to Saltholme before coming home.
Yet another birding trip!
Sunday 17th November
Up nice and early and off over the bridge to Lincolnshire. First stop: Theddlethorpe Dunes NNR to try to find some shore larks. I met up with a lad called Dave and we swapped phone numbers so we could contact each other if we found our target birds. I soon had a mixed flock of twite and snow buntings. Birders were stretched out over some distance along the front of the dunes.
Dave phoned. Four shore lark located. Great views in the scope but too far to photograph. Soon a group of birders arrived . Obviously they had guessed from our behaviour that we were on to something. A mini 'twitch' of six birders was soon lined up. We didn't approach further for fear of disturbing the birds.
I drove on, through Boston, heading for my beloved Frampton Marsh. One of my top ten birding locations. In search of the long-travelling white-rumped sandpiper. I soon saw it. A peregrine put everything up. Golden plover...
...lapwings and a few redshank, I think...
...wigeon...
...and brent geese.
Monday 19th November: Burniston and Long Nab
A late morning departure to look for the reported lapland buntings. I found the stubble field and after advice from the birder in the old coastguard's hut I walked up the field and soon put up the skylarks and, eventually, the group of five lapland buntings. Never quite still enough for a photo unfortunately. As soon as I got near the larks would go up and the others would follow.
November 9th
Remember the back-up team!
Strange title to which I shall return later.
Saturday was a grand day out with a generous tour of East Yorkshire. We set off pretty early as the days are horribly short now and headed for Hornsea Mere in order to meet up with the great white shark, sorry, egret if he was still knocking about [as they say]. He was. Barry soon spotted him on the tiny fallen-down-tree island north-west of Kirkholme Point. I was still getting into gear..
Photo of tea-cosy man © Barry Bishop [used without permission as my agent says that as I am a brand name I retain a degree of copyright over pictures of me at work....]
The egret had the good manners to fly down our way [whilst I wasn't paying attention] and land in a tall tree across from us. Here he is.
Pity about the twigs. Wished he'd nibbled a few off...
That's better. Jacko came and tried to carry the bits away but he'd exceded his flight weight and soon crashed back to the ground!
We moved on. Next stop Mappleton where Barry was struck down with amnesia and didn't remember the best bit of Mappleton: the sparrowhawk swooping low across the car park and being mobbed by crows before she swept away across the fields. For his version of events go to http://barryjohnbishop.blogspot.co.uk/
Withernsea sewage works next. Remembered from many picture postcards, Hollym sewage works is a favoured spot for passing snow buntings.
We soon found a decent flock. I have a photograph [very blurred and not used here because it's rubbish] where I can count at least 25 birds [and possibly up to 28] and they were very accommodating. They even offered us a room for the night! We managed not to accidentally tread on any of them. Here's some nice photos: they'd make a lovely picture postcard, J. Arthur Dixon!
My favourite of the day.
Next port of call was at Kilnsea Wetlands where Barry spotted a couple of whooper swans. They took off and I missed another flight-photopportunity while tracking a dunlin. Annoying. But I was having a great time! Flocks of waders were flying along the Humber estuary. I assume knot. Well, actually I do.
A fairly long drive in Tiggy to Blacktoft Sands RSPB to round off the day. We said hello to Mike Andrews in Reception and he recommended Townend and Singleton [hides, not estate agents!] - so off we set. A few marsh harriers dropped in as the day drew to a close. Some greylags came straight at us before veering away.
Eventually as no hen harriers were gracing the scene we decided to call it a day dusk. A blackwit came ever closer to the hide.
Back to the back-up plan
Tree sparrows disappear from our garden as spring begins to warm the air. Saturday night must have been pretty cold as, on Sunday morning, the first tree sparrows of the winter were visiting the feeders in our garden. A timely reminder to keep feeding the birds this winter and to maintain a varied selection of food. You never know what might turn up! Best birds in our garden ever: woodcock, waxwing, brambling, reed bunting, siskin and great spotted woodpecker.
Photo from the kitchen window a couple of winters ago.
Dragons
Here be dragons!!
Plus a few damsels...
The intention in this posting is to do something a little different: bring together photos of the different species of dragonflies and damselflies that I have photographed.
If any are misidentified I hope any reader who spots such errors will let me know. Let's see what we've got to show you...
Above: female emperor dragonfly ovipositing at North Cave Wetlands YWT - with damselflies in attendance!
I'm going to start with the damselflies. Of the 17 species regularly seen in Britain I have photographed 5: azure; common blue; blue-tailed; red-eyed and emerald.
Azure damselfly
My identification tip: a secondary, truncated stripe on the side of the thorax.
Common blue damselfly
My identification tip: no secondary stripe on side of thorax!!
A damsel in distress...
Immature
Blue-tailed damselfly
My identification tip: penultimate segment blue: remainder of main body black including final segment
Red-eyed damselfly
My identification tip: red eyes!! Although my only current photo shows a female with rather more brownish eyes!
Emerald damselfly
My identification tip: green main body. Rests with wings outstretched unlike all the previous damsels
The dragonflies
Of 23 resident species I have only photographed 6 - so some way to go yet!
Common darter
My identification tips: body not waisted towards the middle as in ruddy darter. Common darter has yellow striped legs.
Ruddy darter
My identification tip: 'waisted' main body; all black legs. Red coloration variable - often similar to some common darters.
Emperor dragonfly
My identification tip: size; green-sided thorax; black dorsal stripe
Four-spotted chaser
My identification tip: yellow spots along tapering abdomen; middle spot on each wing.
Migrant hawker
Brown hawker
My identification tip: amber wings; brown body. Unmistakable?!
Currently my favourite dragonfly [emerald being my favourite damsel] - I hope you like these images.
Flight shots are not impossible but a decent image is often trawled from among many failures! Here's a few of my efforts...
Emperor
Four-spotted chaser ovipositing as it hovered.
All four-spotted chasers. I really like the first of these. Like a little combat fighter plane on a sortie!
Where?
The brown hawker was at Heysham in Lancashire, in the little reserve by the nuclear power station. The migrant hawkers were at Blacktoft Sands RSPB, East Yorkshire. The emerald damselflies were at Saltholme RSPB, Middlesbrough. Apart from that nearly all the others as far as I recall were taken where I take lots of my insect photos at North Cave Wetlands YWT. Lenses: for the dragonflies often my Canon 400mm DO; for the damselflies my 100mm Canon macro L-series lens.
Early November
I'm in the cemetery again!
Rumours of shore lark took me back to the Old Cemetery Road at Hartlepool on Saturday 2nd November. Plenty of birders but no bird! However a late wheatear caught the eye of many birders that morning.
Shore larks had been reported a couple of days before at Crimdon Dene. I had never been there so I went to have a look. I saw the site of the little tern colony but little else. Iphone photo from the pony club.
Later I moved on and went down to East Saltholme where I looked for the long-tailed duck I had seen a week earlier. I took a lot of distant photos but found later that in nearly all photos the bird has the back of his head pointing at the camera! A couple were all right.
RSPB Saltholme has a new slogan:
Giving nature the boot!
I finished up in the Phil Stead hide where a number of blackwits were close to a very full hide. I've said it before: let the pictures do the talking! Oh yes, there's a snipe and an egret in there too somewhere...
Ditto!
We went back to the Old Cemetery Road yet again - this time for a very elusive Richard's pipit which, to my delight, my wife spotted as it flew past us down onto the dunes. She's always had a good eye for a bird. We were able to follow it in flight until it landed on the grass path by the central, eastern cemetery exit. It walked into the longer grass. We tried to get closer but it flew off over the cemetery wall back towards the southern edge of the cemetery. An excellent November tick.
Just a comment. Why do all the pager reports [without exception it seems] refer to 'in the Jewish cemetery' or 'across from the Jewish cemetery' or in this case 'just south of the Jewish cemetery' when the Jewish cemetery is only the small walled rectangle on the northern edge of the larger cemetery? Most references should surely just be to the 'old cemetery'. It's very confusing to be told a bird is in the scrub across from the Jewish cemetery as that refers to a very specific small area. As I said, just a comment!
After the pipit we went to Newburn Bridge to have our lunch. It was very high tide. Anyone new to birding and puzzled by waders could well start here: 5 species of wader in one photo! From the left: oystercatcher; ringed plover; sanderling; dunlin; turnstone.
Oiks don't always make very good photographs, I find. This one isn't bad.
Med gull now in residence for its 4th winter and bossing the black-heads about!
At Saltholme we dropped into the Phil Stead hide for a coffee and chocolate. The blackwits were still close to the hide, plus redshank and teal, gleaming in the autumn sunlight.
A fox was spotted prowling along the far bank.
We called at the Wildlife Watchpoint for water rail but had to settle for moorhen - through the glass of the giant windows.
Carnaby surprise!
Turning into a week of surprise, last minute trips. Yesterday [5th November] I dashed off to Bridlington after lunch when the earlier reported common rosefinch at Park Rose Village was clearly not just a bird passing through but was lingering in a rowan tree outside the Original Factory Shop!
Having arrived I could see little sign of life nor, for that matter, of a rowan tree. A large blue cedar obscured the view from where I was parked. Then I heard voices. Grabbing just my bins, I wandered over. A birder was pointing his camera into the fruit-laden, leafless tree. Another couple whispered: 'Left-hand side, half way up.' There it was. My second ever rosefinch and this one was happy to be watched closely, unlike my brief encounter at Spurn Point a year or so earlier...
I strolled back to Tiggy for the camera. Incidentally the 259th British bird I have photographed.
Not as colourful as an adult male but a nice bird nonetheless. Very beady-eyed!
I said there was more to come!
271 UK
29th October ff
You should have been here earlier!
Barry and I headed north again towards Hartlepool in search of black redstart, dusky warbler, western Bonelli's warbler. It was to be a slightly trying morning up on the Old Cemetery Road. We failed to find the blackstart or the dusky. An unknown fellow birder remarked: 'It says it's showing well but when you get there there's nothing there!' So it was also with a reported lapland bunting.
At our second visit to the Putting Green on the Headland we did a little better and Barry connected wirth another lifer: the western Bonelli's warbler. My attempts to photograph the birds [there were probably 3] in 'the tree with lots of leaves' on the eastern boundary of the green were, I think, unsuccessful. Bearing in mind how quick and elusive the birds were, I'm quite pleased with a couple of the shots - even though I think they are of a chiffchaff, or even of 2 different chiffchaffs!!
Here they are.
Just for comparison here's the Bonelli's from Borough Hall Gardens on 18th October.
A walk along the Headland promenade produced a few more birds. I spotted this red admiral pausing to take in the warming sunshine.
We dropped in to the car park at Newburn Bridge where there was a good selection of waders including purple sandpiper and lots of ringed plovers. Here's a youngster.
The long-staying mediterranean gull was soon picked out.
A drive along the North Gare access road produced some wildfowl and lots of curlew. This one looks well in black and white.
Here's the original.
Skinningrove was also devoid of talent but perhaps that was my mistake. The sunshine had left the shoreline and long shadows from the cliffs behind made the place unattractive: we should have come earlier and looked for the birds in the sunshine.