Birdwise 1 Shelduck, 56 Wigeon, 180+ Teal, 3 Pintail, an increase in Shoveler numbers to over 100, singing Cetti's and calling Chiffie.
Saturday, 20 November 2010
Bizarre habitat management at Barnes
As part of the WWT's continuing commitment to making Barnes as bird unfriendly as possible they've decided to cut down a couple of trees near the WWT hide that were favourites of finches in winter (especially Siskin).
Birdwise 1 Shelduck, 56 Wigeon, 180+ Teal, 3 Pintail, an increase in Shoveler numbers to over 100, singing Cetti's and calling Chiffie.
Birdwise 1 Shelduck, 56 Wigeon, 180+ Teal, 3 Pintail, an increase in Shoveler numbers to over 100, singing Cetti's and calling Chiffie.
Saturday, 13 November 2010
American Robin, here? Really?
Another twitch makes this my twitchiest year since the late 80s. I'm not sure why, or whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Or just a thing. My relaxed approach to twitching saw me roll into the Exminster Marshes RSPB car park a little after 8.30 to find all of the car parking spaces full except the disabled bays. After a split second crisis of conscience, I drove around to check out other places to park and eventually ended up going back to park in a space outside the pub - less than 10 minutes walk away from the car park.
At this point they'd been no reports of the Robin showing so I assumed this was probably going to end badly, but (along with a local guy I'd met on the way) we bumped into someone coming back who'd already had good views. Walking down the track we were confronted with the second worst twitch scene - a whole bunch of people walking back indicating that great views had been had by all but that the bird had now buggered off.
What seemed to have happened for most people (from what could be heard from snatches of conversation) was that it had been in one of the roadside hedges and everyone had piled in so that most people had seen half an eye here, a couple of GC there but it had been like pin the tertials on the turdidae.
After checking out some of the further away hedges (which contained c20-30 Redwing but not much else) the bird was relocated back towards the hotel. At this point the group of birders split into two with one group walking up the bank and the other staying on the road to view the hedges and small fields to the west of the track. Since the Robin at this point was some way back into the fields it was a pretty 50/50 decision. Most people were on the road but I decided to head up onto the bank partly because it was a bit further back from the hedge but mainly because it looked likely to give a better view across the field system. At this point the guys on the road weren't crowding the bird in any way. The Robin showed really well in the Hawthorns and other bushes in the hedges with occasional flights out to a puddle under the hedge to drink and a small tree in the middle of the field.
Below: not the best photo but shows the pale edges to greater coverts, tertials, secondaries and primaries and (just) the white tail tips. Median coverts were also pale edged but aren't really visible here.
Later on a few people who'd entered the fields started to wander around and stand under whichever tree the Robin was in.
After watching the Robin over the course of about four hours of it mainly showing, I wandered around the rest of the site and picked up a few things. Good numbers of waders on the river along with a few Red breasted Mergansers. Viewing the flooded fields produced a lot of Blackwits, Wigeon and Teal with a few other waders. Suddenly a small goose flew over that didn't feel like a Brent. Bins up - Red breasted Goose - obviously free-flying and I couldn't see any rings. I managed to grab the camera and get a few shots, although I had to manual focus as I'd left the 1.4 converter on from the photos I'd taken of the Robin.
Being a bit cautious asked the next guy I bumped into whether there had been any reports of RB Geese locally and whether these were plastic or not. Apparently there'd been a red-ringed bird hanging around the area for a month or so. Although I couldn't see any rings on the bird it was in flight which always makes it hard so I assume this was the same bird as the presumed escaped already seen.
OK, it's an escape, but great looking bird though.
After Exminster I headed south to Dawlish to hunt for a Velvet Scoter that had been mentioned by one of the locals at the Robin twitch. Found a decent sized scoter flock. This had a few GC Grebes mixed in that occasionally wing flapped white and raised hopes, but despite this no sign of any Velvets.
Last stop of the day was at the Otter estuary where, just north of the cricket pitch was a flooded field with a whole bunch of duck (Mallard, Teal, Wigeon) and a Glossy Ibis. By this time it was late afternoon and the bird was fairly distant so the photos are pretty poor.
At this point they'd been no reports of the Robin showing so I assumed this was probably going to end badly, but (along with a local guy I'd met on the way) we bumped into someone coming back who'd already had good views. Walking down the track we were confronted with the second worst twitch scene - a whole bunch of people walking back indicating that great views had been had by all but that the bird had now buggered off.
What seemed to have happened for most people (from what could be heard from snatches of conversation) was that it had been in one of the roadside hedges and everyone had piled in so that most people had seen half an eye here, a couple of GC there but it had been like pin the tertials on the turdidae.
After checking out some of the further away hedges (which contained c20-30 Redwing but not much else) the bird was relocated back towards the hotel. At this point the group of birders split into two with one group walking up the bank and the other staying on the road to view the hedges and small fields to the west of the track. Since the Robin at this point was some way back into the fields it was a pretty 50/50 decision. Most people were on the road but I decided to head up onto the bank partly because it was a bit further back from the hedge but mainly because it looked likely to give a better view across the field system. At this point the guys on the road weren't crowding the bird in any way. The Robin showed really well in the Hawthorns and other bushes in the hedges with occasional flights out to a puddle under the hedge to drink and a small tree in the middle of the field.
Below: not the best photo but shows the pale edges to greater coverts, tertials, secondaries and primaries and (just) the white tail tips. Median coverts were also pale edged but aren't really visible here.
Later on a few people who'd entered the fields started to wander around and stand under whichever tree the Robin was in.
After watching the Robin over the course of about four hours of it mainly showing, I wandered around the rest of the site and picked up a few things. Good numbers of waders on the river along with a few Red breasted Mergansers. Viewing the flooded fields produced a lot of Blackwits, Wigeon and Teal with a few other waders. Suddenly a small goose flew over that didn't feel like a Brent. Bins up - Red breasted Goose - obviously free-flying and I couldn't see any rings. I managed to grab the camera and get a few shots, although I had to manual focus as I'd left the 1.4 converter on from the photos I'd taken of the Robin.
Being a bit cautious asked the next guy I bumped into whether there had been any reports of RB Geese locally and whether these were plastic or not. Apparently there'd been a red-ringed bird hanging around the area for a month or so. Although I couldn't see any rings on the bird it was in flight which always makes it hard so I assume this was the same bird as the presumed escaped already seen.
OK, it's an escape, but great looking bird though.
After Exminster I headed south to Dawlish to hunt for a Velvet Scoter that had been mentioned by one of the locals at the Robin twitch. Found a decent sized scoter flock. This had a few GC Grebes mixed in that occasionally wing flapped white and raised hopes, but despite this no sign of any Velvets.
Last stop of the day was at the Otter estuary where, just north of the cricket pitch was a flooded field with a whole bunch of duck (Mallard, Teal, Wigeon) and a Glossy Ibis. By this time it was late afternoon and the bird was fairly distant so the photos are pretty poor.
Sunday, 7 November 2010
All quiet on Wandsworth Common
Quick trip out with the boys. Not much around: around 20 Mallard and only 4 Tufties.
Saturday, 6 November 2010
Wandsworth, dimly
A late trip out with the boys in fading light didn't produce that much. Highlights were 4-5 Grey Wags around the delta, 2 GC Grebes on the Thames and another 2 on the delta. Only low numbers of Tufties (3) but good numbers of Mallard (c70 up to Wandsworth Park), 3 Mute Swans and 2 Herons. Few gulls around as it's not far off of high tide.
Low light levels made getting any photos a bit tricky: this one at ISO6400 and 1/200.
Low light levels made getting any photos a bit tricky: this one at ISO6400 and 1/200.
Saturday, 23 October 2010
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.
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.
Tuesday, 19 October 2010
Bittern thoughts
I was having a think about the likely origin of the Barnes Bitterns. I assume that the birds we get at the start of the season are from Scandinavia or Baltic states whereas when we get individuals later in the year these are either displaced by hard weather from elsewhere in the UK or from the continent. I did find some interesting info on just how widespread Bitterns are in winter compared with the highly localised breeding population.
Below: winter distribution of Bitterns.
This compares with the breeding distribution of confirmed booming males (left, blue dots) and confirmed nesting attempts (right, purple dots). Source: RSPB.
The 2009-10 winter was pretty hard so this may exaggerate the difference - with more sites reporting Bittern than usual.
More info on this article from Birdguides.
Below: winter distribution of Bitterns.
 |
| Sites where Bitterns were recorded between October 2009 and March 2010 (Source: RSPB) |
This compares with the breeding distribution of confirmed booming males (left, blue dots) and confirmed nesting attempts (right, purple dots). Source: RSPB.
More info on this article from Birdguides.
Sunday, 17 October 2010
Newhaven Rose Bowl - Rose coloured Starling
Despite having seen half a dozen juvenile Rose coloured Starlings I’ve never seen an adult. Since one has been hanging out near the coastguards at Newhaven on the south coast that's the target for today’s day trip. Pulling into the car park at the Fort I could hear quite a lot of activity – a small tit flock moving through (Blue, Great and Long tailed) and few Blackbird feeding among the bushes. After a walk uphill and then west round the coastguards I was soon looking down into a bramble filled depression facing the sea. I could see two other birders on the seaward side looking into the centre so gave it a quick scan – 5-6 Chaffinch, 8-10 Robins and a few Blue Tits. It looked like the other birders were looking at the other side of some bushes not visible from where I was standing so moved round to where they were standing and almost immediately the Rose coloured Starling popped up on the side of one of the bigger bushes.
Really stunning bird still with a very strong pink wash across underparts and mantle, pink bill with a dark base, blue iridescence on wing coverts and tertials and purplish on primaries and secondaries.
Perhaps it’s just the Magpie/ Hoodie type pattern but the deeper and heavier bill could make the Rosy look more corvid than Starling like.
A walk west along the clifftop didn’t produce that many more birds but a Peregrine gliding along the tops, loads of Mipits, at least 30 Robins along the stretch (including those in the ‘rose bowl’), a few Skylark (but the place is surrounded by fields so just as likely to be local birds as migrants), plus c20 Curlew and c15 Oyks feeding in some rocky pools at the base of the cliffs.
Drove over to Belle Tout wood at the back of Beachy Head to have a look for the Pallas’s that's not been seen for a day or so. Did connect with the Goldcrest flock that was quite good value in itself and also had contained a Firecrest. When the sun came out walked the seaward (sunny) side of the wood and bushes and added around half a dozen Chiffchaff, another (or probably the same) Firecrest with a mixed tit and warbler flock, male and female Blackcap feeding together, and a dozen Goldcrest.
Really stunning bird still with a very strong pink wash across underparts and mantle, pink bill with a dark base, blue iridescence on wing coverts and tertials and purplish on primaries and secondaries.
Perhaps it’s just the Magpie/ Hoodie type pattern but the deeper and heavier bill could make the Rosy look more corvid than Starling like.
A walk west along the clifftop didn’t produce that many more birds but a Peregrine gliding along the tops, loads of Mipits, at least 30 Robins along the stretch (including those in the ‘rose bowl’), a few Skylark (but the place is surrounded by fields so just as likely to be local birds as migrants), plus c20 Curlew and c15 Oyks feeding in some rocky pools at the base of the cliffs.
Drove over to Belle Tout wood at the back of Beachy Head to have a look for the Pallas’s that's not been seen for a day or so. Did connect with the Goldcrest flock that was quite good value in itself and also had contained a Firecrest. When the sun came out walked the seaward (sunny) side of the wood and bushes and added around half a dozen Chiffchaff, another (or probably the same) Firecrest with a mixed tit and warbler flock, male and female Blackcap feeding together, and a dozen Goldcrest.
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