Spoons and Shrikes: two ticks

OK, not Brit ticks, but a patch tick and a London tick. First, news that a Spoonbill had reappeared at Barnes had me running for the car. I’d missed it (presumably the same bird that has spent most of its time at Rainham) last week, when it turned up just before the reserve shut, so a second chance was really welcome. A quick scan from the Obs showed the Spoonbill sitting on the shingle bank favoured by the loafing gulls. It was, predictably, asleep. I went round to Dulverton to find Johnny Allen already there and watched the bird for a while, during which it woke up briefly a few times to preen. Water levels were high throughout the site and there were no waders around, but the young birds included two Pochard chicks, one Gadwall chick (down from two a week ago) and four Common Tern chicks.

Next up was a run out to Hayes where a male Red backed Shrike had been seen yesterday evening and again this morning. The M4 is closed so I went round in a big loop to avoid it and didn’t run into too many holdups. The shrike was showing less than a hundred yards from the car park – originally buried in a bush but often showing well as it hunted for prey on the ground. Absolutely stunning male and a London tick. I don’t list in London but I do keep a list of birds I've seen there (confusing I know). It’s the kind of thing I had half assumed I would have seen in the London area before, but I hadn’t. Double tick!

Barnes WWT - No Spoonbill

A Spoonbill had been seen at the London Wetland Centre yesterday evening just before it shut, so I headed over this morning in the hope of it still being there. No luck with the Spoonbill and not that much else around but numbers of winter duck are starting to build up with 11 Teal and 3 Shoveler around the site. One Redshank on site – another year when they've failed to fledge young. Four Common Tern chicks with many of the adults fishing on site – some pics below.

A good day and a problem

The day started at Staines with four Black necked Grebe fairly close in, a couple of redhead Smew on the North Basin and an adult male and redhead on the South Basin, 30+ Goldeneye including two groups of displaying males, a juv Shag on the tern rafts and later swimming around on the South Basin. There were also two Scaup – one an adult female and the other that was either a dull adult female or a first winter. While grilling the ducks and chatting to another birder he picked up a Short eared Owl over the far side of the North Basin being mobbed by corvids and which quickly ditched into a tree. It was pushed out of the tree after a few minutes and tracked the east side of the reservoirs before turning west over the south bank and heading in the direction of Staines Moor.

Then the problems started. On the way back from Staines I dropped into the Wetland Centre and everything was pretty uneventful until I got to the Peacock Hide. I scanned around a bit and, fairly close on the nearest bank of the Wader Scrape, was a first winter Caspian Gull. It was an immediate stand out bird with a white head, long wings, all dark greater coverts with white tips to the lesser, median and greater coverts forming three pale lines on the wing, and dark pale tipped tertials. After taking it all in I reached for my camera – and that moment a huge troupe of bird tour people clunked, shouted and tramped into the hide and the Caspo flew off across the Main Lake with the other large gulls. And, while some of the other gulls returned, the Caspo didn’t.

Now why is this a problem? Well the problem is that the LWC has a history of reporting Caspians, some of which are, err, well, not always Caspians. I've been birding at the LWC for nearly seven years and in that time I've been shown about a dozen and a half ‘Caspians’ which turned out to be mostly Herring Gulls or LBBs (with a couple of GBBs thrown in). Of the ones that get reported there never seem to be any photos. So, fairly or unfairly, records of Caspians from Barnes tend to be looked on with a certain amount of suspicion, despite the fact that at least some of them are probably gen.

Which brings me back to the problem. I've just had a Caspo at Barnes with no photo. Which feels like I'm just adding to the problem. Do notes still count?

UPDATE: Thankfully someone else also saw this bird - Stephen Menzie - including some great pictures here.

Spotshank dash

I had a quick scan of Birdguides yesterday at 3.30 and saw that a Spotted Redshank had been seen an hour earlier at the London Wetland Centre - potential patch tick! Dashed over and was watching the bird before 4pm. A really smart juvenile that mainly fed in the vegetation around the islands and so was sometimes not that easy to see. It often fed alongside the juvenile Ruff that's been present for a few days. Seeing the two together, the Ruff is very obviously a male since it's around the same size as the Spotshank.

I also took a few videos which I'll sort through and post anything half decent here. A quick scan of the grazing marsh and the rest of the scrape turned up this Whinchat on the purple loosestrife.

This was a bit more distant and taken with the 400mm and the 2x converter.

Just looked at Birdguides again. Whiskered Tern on the Main Lake at the Wetland Centre for 5 mins. Oh well, I've missed a few good birds at Barnes (eg the PGP) and I'm sure this won't be the last.

Barnes Brambling

Saturday: a bright sunny day raised hopes of a few migrants in at Barnes (maybe a Chiffy, Sand Martin or LRP). Redshanks are fairly new in - six birds across the site. This one from Dulverton Hide.

Also from Dulverton had a burst of song from a Cetti's and caught a flash of brown that looked Cetti's-like so just picked up the camera reeled off a few shots.

Had great views of the Water Pipit from the WWT Hide feeding on the edge of one of the Main Lake islands. Was able to get a few shots and also a video.

This shot at 800mm with the 2x converter.

In the hide one of the regulars gave me a heads up to a Brambling showing at the WWT Feeders - this would be a 'deck tick'. I've heard a couple overhead in autumn but never one on the deck.

Also on or around the feeders: 3 Reed Bunting (2f, 1m) and a GS Woodpecker. A walk around the Sheltered Lagoon turned up a single Chiffchaff - not calling or singing but presumably fresh in since I've not seen any Chiffies here since the snow.

From the Peacock Hide were 3 Dunlin still in winter plumage, the Water Pipit dropped in to feed on the islands, several of the Lapwings were displaying, another 5+ Redshank (so at least 6 in site), still around 30 Wigeon present and a total of 10 Snipe on site.

Canon teleconverter experiments at Barnes

Cold day (1-2C) with cold NE winds hitting even central London, but not enough to kick off any bird movements at Barnes. The Shelduck is still present (as, apparently, is the Scaup although I missed it today).

I also tried out my new Canon 2x teleconverter for the camera (a Canon 7D) using it for both close targets like this Mallard. This bird was fairly close and shows up rather soft.

And more distant ones like these Peregrines (on Charing Cross Hospital taken from the WWF hide). These shots were taken with both 2x (the first photo) and then stacked 2x and 1.4x converters (the second). The stacked teleconverters combined with the 400mm lens (the f5.6 prime) add up to a focal length of 1120mm (sort of equivalent to a magnification of 22x). Basically I think the birds were just too far away for this to be any kind of useful test, but shots are included to give some idea of the difference in reach. While its hard to see on the small grey dots, the size difference between the two birds (female on the left) is immense. The birds are the small dots on the third railing down from the top and the second and sixth 'columns' from the left of the right hanbd (protruding part) of the buidling. The Peregrines perch here quite a lot, usually either on these railings or on the top of the white verticals.

A massive crop from the photo of the female with stacked teleconverters. This is, obviously, pretty rubbish, but, with a rough calculation using Google maps this is only slightly under a mile away (about 5,000 feet).

The day was pretty dull with poor light so shutter speeds were rock bottom which really didn't help photo quality.

The Siskin flock is still on site, around 14 birds around the back of the Sheltered Lagoon, but missing the Lesser Redpolls previously with the flock.

A few Snipe were also present, although fewer than at the start of the winter period. Jack Snipe seem especially thin on the ground this year. The water levels have been very high at Barnes for some time - whenever this happens the numbers of Snipe always seem to plummet. One of the few birds showing today below (taken with the 400mm and 2x converter).

Great crested Grebes seem to be in a mix of plumages ranging from some in full summer and others barely out of winter plumage - one pair were diplaying together were made up of a 'summer' and a 'winter' bird.

2011 Kick Off - Barnes

There is something special about January the first. No matter how much it's an arbitrary date in an arbitrary calendar. The first day's birding of the new year is always fun. Part of the reason for this is the additional excitement you get from really common birds. I tried to explain this to my partner when I said I was going out birding on the first of Jan which she thought was ridiculous, but I bet at least 99% of birders are out there on New Years Day. Not that I do anything that looks remotely like yearlisting. I do keep a list of birds I've seen during the year but (in my head at least) that's quite different. Since my return to UK birding I've spent most of my time on my two local patches with occasional day trips (even, whisper it, twitches) further afield. This means I've frequently seen fewer than 200 species in a year, although a few more day trips mean I've edged over that in the last couple of years.

Barnes is a great place to start the year. Not only is it my most productive local patch but it has a mix of common species with things that are generally hard to get in London (eg Bittern, Jack Snipe, Water Pipit) plus the chance of adding something unusual.

This year Barnes scored well on with pretty much all of the expected common birds, a couple of species that can be tricky (Skylark, Linnet, Siskin and Lesser Redpoll)

Had great views of a Water Rail legging it between the Wader Scrape and the first channel on the Grazing Marsh. On the way out a Cetti's was calling and showed really well in the big entrance lake near the bird feeder. The number of these at Barnes has just exploded over the last year going from one (perhaps two) wintering birds before 2010 to around 4-6 singing males in 2010 and a number of wintering birds in 2010/2011.

The visit ended with 53 spp, but no sign of a number of Barnes regulars I'd expect to pick up in the next month or so (Bittern, Jack Snipe, Water Pipit, Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Peregrine) and also missed some basics like Kestrel, Sprawk, Stock Dove, Redwing, Fieldfare and Greylag. Where have all the Stonechats gone at Barnes? It used to regularly host wintering Stonechats. I didn't pick up a single one last year and no sign so far - the birds are usually in place by late autumn so it looks like this winter period isn't going to see any either.

Also chose to wander around Teddington stalking one of the London Waxwing flocks. Saw bugger all. I must be about the only birder in Britain who hasn't seen a Waxwing this winter. Did pick up Collared Dove and House Sparrow, though. Jan 1st total 55spp.

Barnes Peregrines perform

Morning trip without kids with Barnes WWT. I didn’t have much hope of connecting with the three Goosanders reported yesterday on the Main Lake. They’re normally either flyover birds or one-day wonders (although there was a long staying bird five or six years ago) and this group were typically absent today. Highlight of the day was a pair of Peregrines that performed brilliantly over the site.

Other birds included a couple of Meadow Pipits that flew over the site and briefly dropped into the Loosestrife on the Wader Scrape, a Water or Rock Pipit that flew over the Grazing Marsh calling, Wigeon numbers have increased to c35 (although 50 reported here just a few days ago), Teal have also increased to around 90 birds (mostly on Wader Scrape), a juvenile GC Grebe still hanging out with its parents (presumably anyway), a female Sparrowhawk over the Reservoir Lagoon mobbed by Magpies, 2-3 Cetti’s singing at various points and over 20 Jackdaws.

Barnes White fronted wonders

Trip out with both the kids which usually makes birding hard work. The trip out today paid off though - just after 10am saw a small party (6) of grey geese circle the site and first assumption was that they were Greylag, but something in the back of my brain made me do a quick check with bins: White fronted Geese!! Patch tick!! They circled the site twice fairly low then I lost them behind the trees by WWT Hide - they were later seen heading downriver and over Beddington. Couldn't get a firm bill colour so certainly not conclusive, but these birds had big long bills and heavy barring on at least three of them - do this and the date point to Greenland White fronts?

A little earlier I'd had at least 2 (probably 4) Mipits over (2 calling, the other 2 pipit spp that were probably Meadow). Elsewhere numbers of Shoveler were up from last week (to around 45), slight increase in Teal (50-60), although Wigeon still only in high single figures.

Another wagtail post

Yet another wagtail themed post - this time a Yellow Wagtail at Barnes. This is my second of the year here, and this one, like the first in the spring, was also feeding around the feet of the cattle as they kick up insects. This time, though, it's feeding in longer grass so you can only see it every 10 minutes or so when one of the cows gives it a kick (or just gets to close) and it flies up.

None of the other recent goodies around - the sites had small numbers of Ring Ouzels moving through over the last few days and I've only been able to get her eon the days when they haven't been seen.

Also good numbers of Black headed Gulls (c190) with a couple of Common Gulls and small numbers of HG and LBBs around.

Wigeon numbers are still fairly low (9-10), likewise Lapwing numbers are a llittle down from usual levels at 35-40 birds, also c30 Gadwall, c20 Shoveler, around 8 Snipe, although they're being a bit skittish so hard to count accurately, Peregrine over the river, approx 4 Chiffchaffs including one doing a fairly flat 'weet' call. Just like a few days ago there are reasonable numbers of hirundines around: 25+ Swallow and 30-40 House Martins.

Since it's a bit quiet I thought I'd try an experiment and do a three way lens comparison. This means comparing the results of (1) the 400mm f5.6 lens with (2) a 560mm (400mm plus a 1.4 teleconverter) and (3) a digiscoped shot through the scope using a 50mm lens and using the 20x on the scope zoom. In theory this should give around 1000m but in practice it looked a little under, more like 980-990mm (assuming the 400mm focal lengths are right anyway). I’ve tried to pick out the best shot from a fairly short burst on each of the three options as a fairly rough n ready comparison.

This photo gives an idea of the distance - full shot from the 400mm

Baseline shot: 400mm f5.6, 1/640, ISO 16000

The following three pics are crops from the 400mm, 560mm and digiscoped shots. As usual these are cropped but nothing else.

Crop 400mm, f5.6, 1/640, ISO 1600

560mm (400mm + 1.4 MkII Canon), 1/250, ISO 1600

Digiscoped 50mm f1.8 (at f5.6) through Swaro 20-60x (at 20x), 1/200, ISO 1600

I think I'm getting a bit more detail (and better colour) from the 560mm shot than either the 400mm or the 1000mm digiscoped shot. The other take out seems to be that the 400mm is slightly forward focusing (the Mallard seems to be in better focus on the autofocused 400mm shot than the Wigeon).