Eastern Subalpine Warbler at Beachy Head

I've seen four Subalpine Warblers over the years, all of them down in Cornwall. Two were males and two were female types. Back in the day they were just Subalpine Warblers before being split into three distinct species: Western, Eastern and Moltoni's. Western (Sylvia iberiae), as it's Latin name suggests, is to be found in the summer on the Iberian peninsula and in southern France. Eastern (S. cantilans) summers in Italy and further east. Moltoni's (S. subalpina) is located in a small pocket in northern Italy and some of the Italian islands. Now my two male Cornish birds were both Westerns which meant that I still needed Eastern and Moltoni's. So when an Eastern turned up at Beachy Head and stuck around it was firmly on my radar of interest. Reports of it singing and seemingly being on territory were highly encouraging but due to a variety of things going on at Casa Gnome it wasn't until the weekend that I was going to be free to have a crack at it. Given reports of the bird showing best early in the morning, I decided on my tried and trusted tactic of heading up the previous night and AirBnB'ing it so I could be on site early after (hopefully) a good night's sleep. So it was that on Friday afternoon I hastily booked a room and then headed off after dinner on the familiar route down to Eastbourne. As I drove I thought back to past twitches here: the successful American Robin twitch back in February 2022 and the only partially successful Radde's Warbler trip in October 2022 where, in very windy conditions, I heard it but never saw it. Hopefully this trip would be fully successful - certainly reports I'd seen on-line seemed to indicate that if the bird was still there then there was a high chance of connecting.

At the AirBnB I had hoped to be up and away really early but I was awake for part of the night before falling back to sleep so in the end I wasn't out the door much before 7am. As I left, I tried to lock the house door behind me as my host had requested but the keys somehow wouldn't fit in the lock so I left them just inside and messaged my host to this effect. I had carefully chosen my AirBnB to be on the right side of the town for Beachy Head so it was only a 10 minute drive before I was parking up at the Beachy Head Visitor Centre (which was closed at this time of day). Here I tooled up and, noting the chilly wind, opted for my winter coat. As I was putting away my car keys in my zip up trouser pockets I noticed that I seemed to have the AirBnB keys in my pocket rather than my own house keys. At this point the penny dropped that I'd clearly tried to lock the AirBnB front door with my own house keys and in my sleep befuddled state had left them there! Doh! I messaged the host again saying I'd drop her keys back off in a few hours after my (hopefully) successful twitch. Then it was on with my walking boots and my bins; as it was a warbler there was no need for a scope. I was soon yomping off down the unfeasibly steep grassy chalk downland slope that lead to the top of the chalk cliffs where the bird was hopefully still located.

I arrived to find just three other birders present. Having done my usual pre trip research I had a pin drop from Bird Guides that seemed to indicate that the bird was to be seen just below the cliff top along a short path down the cliff side to a small plateau some 20 feet or so below the cliff top. The other birders were at the top of the cliff but I elected to go down the track to the plateau to view the relatively small area of scrub in front of it and one of the birders decided to come with me at this point. Fairly soon after we heard our target bird sing briefly and I had the briefest of views as it dropped into the scrub before disappearing completely. My companion turned out to be a fellow blogger and, after striking up a conversation we more or less stuck together for the duration of the trip. He had a camera so I've used some of his photos to illustrate this post - you can see his blog post here. From trip reports of previous days, these brief glimpses was probably what was to be expected in terms of the quality of views. 

The "upper plateau" where brief glimpses of the bird were initially obtained

More birders arrived and a few more views were had as it buzzed back and forward along this relatively narrow section of the upper plateau. A singing Black Redstart was an interesting bonus - not a song I was familiar with though my companion ID'd it using Merlin. After a while a couple of birders who had been up on the cliff top hurried past us saying that the bird was now right at the bottom of the cliff and showing well. After some debate my companion and I decided to follow. We were half way down the path when we saw these two birders at the bottom looking intently at something and hey presto, there was our target bird in all its Subalpiney glory showing really well though somewhat backlit. We soaked up our first decent views of this exotic continental warbler as it sat right out in the open on top of a bush.

Our first (backlit) views. All bird photos courtesy of Paul Evans

This was all the incentive we needed and we hurried down to the bottom of the cliff where I was able to get a much better idea of the topography. From here I could see that the upper plateau was actually largely made up of the tops of small trees and scrub that were growing up a steep slope that lead down to the much larger lower plateau where we now standing. Actually "plateau" is a bit of a misnomer as it was still sloping though not nearly as steep as the cliff face itself. It was a large area with some deep hollows, with lots of deep cover for a wandering warbler to happily feed in. What's more, the sun was now behind us so viewing conditions were much better. Down here, it turned out that rather than offering brief glimpses every 20 minutes or so, it was instead "porning it". We would see it every few minutes or so when it would often pose quite well, though it was constantly on the move so my companion's photographic efforts were a bit hit and miss. Happily he managed to captured it well in the end. I knew that the way the bird was moving would be no match for my clunky superzoom camera so I didn't even bother trying. 

We happily followed it as it moved over a fairly large area down at the bottom, sometimes venturing as far as the lower cliff face that lead up to the upper plateau where we had been originally standing. It did rather make me wonder whether it had actually been showing well down here all along and the brief glimpses that people had obtained in previous days might have been the rare occasions when it ventured up to the top area. Who knows? 

Down at the bottom, looking back up the cliff - the "upper plateau" is the green area just below the top white cliff. The bird roamed widely over this lower plateau area

I spent my time enjoying regular views of the target bird, soaking up the warm sunshine and generally feeling at peace with the world. It would sing from time time to time or make its call so we could often keep track of it as it worked its way around the lower undercliff. Also present were some Whitethroats, a pair of Lesser Whitethroats and various other bird bits and bobs such as Wrens and Dunnocks. Given the nice weather I did keep half an eye on the sky for any incoming Honey Buzzards though my main focus was on the undercliff scrub area and it was hard to look at both of them at the same time. On the sea there were a few seals dotted around and various gulls were flying about. It was all very pleasant.

  

Birders who braved the scramble down were able to get excellent views

Eventually I felt that I had had my fill and it was time to face the scramble back up the path to the cliff top and then the endurance test which was the long slog back up the steep grassy slope to the top of the hill where the car was parked. I'm used to scrambling and have done a fair bit of hill walking over the years but the grassy slope was brutal - my thighs ached for three days afterwards!
 

On the way back up - showing the topography

I found this Dingy Skipper on the way back up the cliff

Then it was back to the Gnome mobile where I de-tooled and drove back to the AirBnB to swap over the keys. After that it was time to set the Sat Nav co-ordinates back for home. Unfortunately some horrendous traffic jams on the way home added about an hour to my journey time but as my trip had already been a success I didn't really mind. Instead I basked in the warm glow of another successful outing and another shiny new tick on my list.

 

 

 

Black-winged Stilt at RSPB Otmoor

Back in the day, Black-winged Stilt was a real rarity. I remember twitching my first ones back in May 2011 down at St Gothian Sands NR in Cornwall on one of my trips down there. My first Oxon ones were back in 2012 at Pit 60 in Standlake. I remember dashing down there with great excitment for what was a real county blocker back then for the relatively new county birders such as myself. There wasn't another one until May 2023 when one turned up at Otmoor as part of the bonkers county spring purple patch. I duly went to pay homage - there's something altogether exotic about a Stilt that it's always worth the effort. 

So when Max Buckley found one in April of this year, it would have been rude not to go and take a look. In fact I went the morning that it had been found on a rather blustery and overcast day. As the bird was on Big Otmoor I parked up at the Noke end in order to walk in from that end. As I was parking up I met SM who told me that the bird was very hard to see on the ground and was usually seen in flight. "Hmmm" I thought, "maybe this won't be the quick and easy visit I was hoping for". Still I was there now and headed off towards the bridleway that runs along the southern edge of Big Otmoor hoping that I would be rewarded for my effort.

Once there, I soon discovered that actually I was feeling a bit under the weather with what felt like the ominous onset of a cold brewing. There was indeed no sign of the Stilt with just some rather cold looking younger birders standing around wondering what to do. BM and AS were also there but no one knew where to look. In the end, rather than just standing around in the cold I decided to work my way eastwards along the bridleway, stopping and scanning at every gap in the hedge that afforded a viewing spot.

I had almost reached the eastern end of the Big Otmoor when I managed to find it by scanning diagonally from the south east corner of Big Otmoor (where it was a little bit higher) all the way across to the north west corner. There it was, picking its way over a marshy vegetated area in all its Stilty glory. I put the news out and headed back to the western end now that I knew where to look. En route I picked up BM and AS again and eventually we managed to see it from the western end though it took a surprisingly long period of time before we could all get on it as there were so many hollows and dips that the bird would often be completely hidden. Still it looked very exotic in amongst the drab greens and browns of the marshy habitat, and well worth the effort it took actually to see it. 

The Black-winged Stilt courtesy of the original finder, Max Buckley

In the end it stayed for about a week, usually distant and partially hidden except for one afternoon when it showed well on the new Noke Pool. I expect they will become more common in this county in the coming years which can only be a good thing.

The Stilt on Noke Pool courtesy of Thomas Miller

 

Red-spotted Bluethroat at Swineham GPs, Dorset

There had been a very showy (or "confiding" as birders often like to say) Red-spotted Bluethroat down in Dorset. It had been around for a while and, judging by the photos to be found on various blogs and social media posts, it was showing very well (or "porning" it in birder parlance). Now as a species, I've seen three previous Bluethroats with a first winter in Cornwall back in October 2008, the returning Slimbridge bird last May, and then the first winter bird at Otmoor last autumn. That's plenty of Bluethroats and would normally mean that I wouldn't be particularly tempted by this bird. Also, as someone who is not really a photographer, I wouldn't go out of my way to try to get some good photos of a bird that I've seen a few times before. However, as regular readers will know, I am increasingly interested in sub-species ticks and indeed include all birds species and sub-species that can reasonably be identified in the field on my most inclusive of the various lists that I keep. So while this would be my fourth Bluethroat it would be only my first definitive Red-spotted one since, apart from the two first winter birds, the Slimbridge one had been a White-spotted subspecies. So this would be a sub-species tick and therefore a Gnome "Maxi List" tick. Still, that fact that I didn't race down there at the first opportunity was a testament to the fact that a sub-species tick doesn't quite have the same pull for me as a new species one. Still, last Saturday with nothing better to do, I decided to make a day of it and headed off mid morning on the 2.5 hour drive down to Dorset.

By way of some background info, the Bluethroat is a migratory member of the Old World Flycatcher family (which is a rather large taxonomic family encompassing many species). It is widespread across Europe and overwinters further south in northern Africa and Asia as well as the Iberian peninsula. I guess that global warming is only going to make this species more common here in the UK as they start to colonise the country. There are 11 subspecies but the two main ones that are considered here in the UK are the White-spotted and the Blue-spotted. The other subspecies tend to be variations on this - e.g. the Spanish subspecies has no spot (or sometimes a very small white one). I think in terms of my Maxi Listing these two will be more than enough for now.

The journey was uneventful though with a fair amount of traffic. I arrived at the specified road for parking to find the whole end of the street rammed with cars. Fortunately the local rugby ground was open for a match (Swanage & Wareham vs Devizes) and I was able to park discretely by the entrance there. Having done my research I knew where to go and set off on the 25 minute walk to the far side of the nearby Swineham gravel pit. It was a lovely sunny day and the scenery was interesting. Initially it was along a road lined with Scotts Pines (with calling Siskins in the canopy) with a stream and a marsh on the other side (with distant calling Redshank and a singing Reed Warbler). This gave way to the reedy banks of the tidal River Frome on one side with some high hedging bordering the gravel pit itself on the other side (with singing Cetti's Warblers). Finally the path got narrower as I turned a corner and after about 100 yards I came across the twitch site. Here there were less than half a dozen birders, sitting or crouching down and peering intently or trying to photograph something on the path ahead. The "something" of course was the Bluthroat which was porning it every bit as much as the internet photographs had suggested. It was hopping about ahead of us no more than a few yards at time, seemingly oblivious to its assembled admirers. I busied myself with trying to take some photos though in the strong sunlight, the shade cast by the hedge meant that half the time it was in deep shade and half the time in bright light. This, coupled with the fact that I have just a crappy Superzoom camera meant that my photos weren't going to be on a par with some of the stellar shots seen. Still they were good enough for me. 

 

At the twitch site waiting for the next showing

Soon, the bird disappeared into the reedbed for a while. I was told that it would do this for up to 10 minutes at a time though it would soon come back. At this point four people left having had their fill and it was just myself and one other chap. The bird came back for a while, we papped away, then it left again. Some non birding walkers passed through and another birder (a senior gentleman) came and "collapsed" next to us. Apparently the long walk in the heat had taken its toll and he spent the next twenty minutes recovering with his eyes closed. After a while he perked up and was able to partake in enjoying the Bluethroat which continued to come and go periodically. While we waited I kept one eye on the skies on the lookout for Osprey or White-tailed Eagle - both would be real possibilities in this location though all I saw were a few gulls. On the ground the Bluethroat would be joined by a Robin and a couple of Chaffinch from time to time. I'm guessing that they'd all learned to look out for the inevitable mealworms that the toggers had been putting out there though there were none that I could see at the time.

More birders arrived. The Bluethroat came and went and everyone got to see it. It was all very relaxed, easy and enjoyable. After about an hour or so I decided that I'd had my fill and started to head back towards the car. I took my time, enjoying the scenery and feeling content with life. Then it was back to the Gnome mobile and back off towards Casa Gnome. I had toyed with the idea of stopping off somewhere else but in the end I decided I just wanted to head home. After a pit stop for some food, it was an uneventful journey back home for my usual celebratory cup of tea. It had been an ejoyable day out with a very showy bird and a new sub-species tick under my belt. As a footnote, a couple of days later it departed so I'd gone to see it just in time.

American Golden Plover at Otmoor

Last Saturday news "broke" of an American Golden Plover at Otmoor. I say "broke" because it was initially a very confused affair. Somone on a local Facebook group posted a photo of a Golden Plover species that they weren't sure was a Eurasion or an American. They reported that "multiple people" had seen it but no one was sure what it was. This was certainly news to the county's birding WhatsApp group and started off a rather confusing period of time where those nearby converged on the Wetlands Watch Hide, took some photos and tried to ID the bird. The trouble was that this was a first winter bird at a reasonable distance from the hide in bright hazy sunlight so initially the photos were less than conclusive. Eventually somone posted a decent phone-scoped photo during a time when the sun went behind a cloud and at last the photo was clear enough for everyone to be certain that it was an American Golden Plover. This kicked off a mass twitch with many of the county's finest converging on the hide that afternoon. 

Photo courtesy of Steve Sansom

I had been doing various household chores but with everyone else out of the house for the afternoon and with nothing else planned it seemed like a no brainer to go and take a look. Not that I "needed" Anerican Golden Plover (or AGP as it is often abbreviated to) for the county having already seen two previously, but as it was only the third county record (yes I've seen all the previous county records) it's a really good Oxon bird and definitely worth paying homage to. So I set off in the Gnome mobile, electing to park at Noke and walk in from the west giving the likelihood of the main carpark being rammed. It was a pleasant sunny afternoon and after a brisk walk while being serenaded by warblers, I arrived at the Wetlands Watch Hide to find surprisingly few people there but everyone looking relaxed with the bird on show and looking settled. A quick "for the tick" peep through someone's scope and I was able to relax and set up my own optics. There it was, my third AGP for Oxon in all its plovery glory, looking very much at home as it fed along the distant shoreline. I passed a very pleasant hour or so watching the AGP, trying to take some video footage and chatting to the various county birders as they came and went. It was very interesting to tune into its jizz: it's long attentuated rear really gave it a different feel from a Eurasian GP - it felt very different to watch.  

 

A record shot videograb of the bird above; below showing the diagnostic dark underwing

 

Some video footage courtesy of Jason Coppock

At one point quite soon after I arrived, SS who was sitting next to me spotted a White Stork circling in front of us. For more than five minutes we watched as it circled overhead, constantly being harried by Red Kites. At one point it looked like it wanted to land but the Kites kept buzzing it and eventually it drifted off to the east. This was probably the same bird that had been seen in the west of the county the previous day but was a very nice bonus bird to get. Photo analysis determined that it was ringed and had probably been released from a West Country release scheme.

The White Stork overhead courtesy of Gareth Cashburn

After I'd had my fill of the AGP I went for a little walk to take a look at the resident Glossy Ibis trio down by the first screen. Apparently they tend to commute between the first screen and the pools just on the other side of the path in the north east corner of Big Otmoor. Indeed I soon found them at this latter location feeding away busily and looking very much at home. Then it was time to amble back to the car and to head homewards for my usual celebratory cup of tea.

At this point I should wheel out some backstories about the history of this species within the county. Local birders will already know this but the story of how the first one was found is so extraordinary that it certainly bears repeating. Back in the day before AGP had been recorded in the county, our esteemed county recorder had told me to be on the lookout for this species in the large Golden Plover flocks that used to congregate on my local patch of Port Meadow back in the day. Sadly these days these flocks no longer grace the patch but at that time you could get several hundred easily in a flock. Back then I was inexperienced and fairly useless at bird ID ("what's changed?" I hear you ask!) but IL the county recorder patiently tried to explain what to look out for. My tiny brain was only able to take in the bare gist of it so basically I just tried to look for something that was "different". One day not long after this conversation back in October 2008, I indeed found a Golden Plover that looked "different" and stood out from the crowd. I phoned IL and told him I'd seen an unusual Plover so he thought he'd better come and take a look. I'd left by this time but a while later I got a call from him that he had indeed found an American Golden Plover in the flock. I hurried back down and was treated to great views of a juvenile bird in amongst the rather restless flock that kept flying up and resettling. After a short period of time the flock got spooked one time too often and flew off so only a handful of county birders managed to see it. Now, it turned out that the AGP wasn't anything like the "different" bird that I'd picked out. I had noticed one that was unusually pale whereas this bird was a classic dark juvenile with strong supercilium. So I'd completely got it wrong and had dragged the county recorder down to take a look on a wild goose chase only for him to find the real deal in amongst the flock. What are the chances of that happening? Needless to say after this I soon learned how to ID them properly.

Record shot of the 2008 American Golden Plover at the back courtesy of Nic Hallam

I did manage to redeem myself four years later. I had since made a habit of always scanning through the Golden Plover flock on the Port Meadow looking out for rarities. One evening at last light in November 2012 I was looking through a flock of only about 30 birds when at the back I found a genuine American Golden Plover. This time I knew exactly what to look for and was pretty certain of the ID. IL confirmed it from the video footage I'd taken but it was too late for anyone else to twitch it that day. The next morning the great and the good of the county were at Port Meadow at first light. By all accounts the Plover flock gave them the run-around. They all circled high for several hours without ever landing before finally settling mid morning with the AGP still in amongst them. It didn't stay that long though and quite a few county Big Listers managed to miss it for one reason or another.

2012 American Golden Plover courtesy of Jason Coppock

This year's bird did the decent thing and stayed three days, allowing just about everyone in the county who needed it to connect. It had been really nice to have one that was so comparatively easy to see. There was no big flocks to sift through, no being spooked and then having to refind it. Just one settled bird on its own, almost constantly on view (it did disappear for short periods of time but would always return). Come Tuesday morning it had gone on its way. What a nice bird to have seen!

 

 

Richardson's Cackling Goose & Lesser Scaup at Clifton Pits, Worcestershire

I have history with Richardson's Cackling Goose, having previously dipped it on two occasions. The first was down on the Exe estuary on the way back from Cornwall; the second was on a trip up to Durham on a daughter University run. Two dips I think is certainly enough to qualify as a bogey bird so I was keen for my revenge. Now, usually they are only to be seen in the winter up in far flung places like Scotland which makes twitching them difficult. So when one turned up initially in Shropshire this certainly picqued my interest. This bird wasn't really twitchable and soon moved on. However, it then turned up in neighbouring Worcestershire where it proceeded to move around between several sites, never staying too long in any one of them. Despite the relative proximity, somehow I never got to the point of pulling the trigger and going for it. It then disappeared for several weeks and I assumed that I had missed my chance. However at the start of the week it turned up again at Clifton Pits where it was reported on a more or less daily basis. The last piece of the puzzle fell into place on Saturday when my younger daughter wanted to host some friends at our place and hinted that her parents might like to be out of the house for the afternoon. That was the final push I needed so that afternoon I set the Sat Nav coordinates for Clifton Pits and sallied forth. The drive was an hour and a half along the familiar route west along the A40 to the M5 and then heading northwards and turning off onto the A38. 

Just as I turned off this road into Clifton I saw a car driving ahead of me. I couldn't help but wonder if this was someone else twitching the Cackling Goose. The driver was getting ready just as I arrived and turned out to be a local birder coming to visit his patch for the afternoon. We started chatting and he turned out to be very friendly and helpful. He set off ahead while I donned all my winter clothing as the weather had turned wet and very windy - it was freezing!  

Clifton Pits: park at the arrow by the gate

I soon caught up with my guide for the day, scanning the North Pit where the Richardson's Cackling Goose was usually reported. With a scan of my bins I quickly picked it out of the flock of about fifty or so Canada Geese - it was standing right at the front where its diminuative size was readily apparent compared to its larger cousins. 

My first view of the Richardson's Cackling Goose on the North Pit

My companion commented that often on the bank it can be surprisingly hard to spot the smaller size and as I looked through the other birds I could certainly see what he meant. Some of them were tucked up asleep on some small islands and it would have been a nightmare to try to work out which bird it was if it hadn't been standing in such a prominent position. I took some digiscoped video and was just feeling very smug about such a quick conversion of my target when it and one Canada Goose took to the air and flew off to the far side of the Main Pit to our left. Again, had I arrived a bit later than I had done, I would have spent a long time fruitlessly searching for the bird in amongst the Canadas so I once again thanked my lucky stars that things had worked out as well as they did.

Cackling Geese are part of the difficult complex that makes up Canada Geese and over the years have been split in different ways. They were originally subspecies of Canada's before becoming species in their own right. There are four subspecies of Cackling Goose, the nominate Richardson's, Taveners, Small (minima) and Aleutian. To make matters more confusing, there are other small Canada Geese such as Todd's which are considered subspecies of Canadas themselves rather than Cackling Geese.

So what of this bird's credentials? It had first arrived in Shropshire as part of the eastern wild goose influx that brought so many Russian White-fronted and Tundra Bean Geese to our shores. Now, superficially this is the wrong direction for a nearctic Cackling Goose but I subsequently learned that there is a feral Category C population of this species on the continent and that this bird is almost certainly from there. That makes it eminently tickable and the Gnome Rarities Committee has already approved this bird. Of course it would be nice to see a genuine nearctic vagrant but in the meantime, this would certainly do.

Apart from the star bird there were about a dozen or so Egyptian Geese, plenty of Oystercatchers and at least a 100 hirundines, mostly Sand Martins with a few Swallows and one or two House Martins, all hawking low over the water in the fierce wind. A Redshank and a few other bits and bobs completely the birdage on the North Pit. As we chatted, my companion and I compared notes about inland water body patches - it was interesting to hear about the similarities and differences about the sort of birds that turned up here compared to Port Meadow back home.

North Pit where the Richardson's Cackling Goose usually hangs out

We then moved a short distance down to the shoreline of the Main Pit. There we scanned along the shore to avoid looking into the strong sunlight that had now appeared after the rain shower had passed. My companion told me that there were a pair of Lesser Scaup there which we soon picked out. What's more, it was thought that they were the same pair that I'd seen at Helston in Cornwall back in February as they appeared the day the Cornwall birds disappeared. Quite remarkable to see the same birds in two different locations so far apart in the same year! Apart from these ducks, there were a pair of Avocet, a Little Ringed Plover, a Common Sandpiper and a White Wagtail.as well as lots more hirundines.

The much larger Main Pit, looking into the sun. You can see there is some flooding still which meant it was larger than usual

A digiscoped video grab records shot of the two Lesser Scaup

 

After that we worked our way west along the shoreline, meeting up with another birder and helping him get on the Lesser Scaup. I refound the Cackling Goose on the far side of the Main Pit, hanging out with a few Canada Geese. When some dog walkers approached the geese moved onto the water. As my friend had suggested, when it was out swimming it was much easier to determine the size difference - it looked tiny compared to its cousins when on the water. 

 

Digiscoped video grab - showing the size difference nicely

 

 

Above and below out on the water

 

Some more searching, mostly from my companion who was compiling an eBird day list, turned up some more Little Ringed Plover, a Ringed Plover and serveral Yellow Wagtails. All in all, there was some good birds to accompany the star attraction and I was feeling very pleased with the fruits of my afternoon's sortie. 

As time was getting on I decided to leave and bade my companion for the afternoon goodbye. I then headed back to the car and started for home. I did try to stop in at a local garden centre to score a cup of tea but their cafeteria had closed for the day. So I girded my loins and headed on tealess back home to Casa Gnome, arriving back just before 7pm, very pleased with trip and a shiny new revenge tick under my belt.

Local Winter Birding Round-up

Periodically I like to do a round-up of various local trips that weren't important enough to warrant a blog post of their own but which still involved some nice county birds. This is just such a post with a few visits to some choice Oxon birds to document.

First off were a couple of decent Farmoor ducks that chose the concrete bowl as an overwintering spot. Specifically they were a female Greater Scaup and a first winter male Common Scoter - the latter I'd already seen last December. It took me a couple of visits to catch up with them, usually because I was looking for them en passant while trying to see something more interesting. Eventually I got pretty decent views of both of them with the Scaup especially showing very close in.

The female Greater Scaup

 

A rather poor digiscoped image of the 1w make Common Scoter

Next up was a long staying Long-tailed Duck at Rushy Common. This bird intially gave a lot of people the run-around as it would appear for one day and then promptly vanish again. When it appeared one very rainy afternoon which happened to coincide with me feeling bored with nothing to do, I decided to go and visit. The only trouble was that I didn't have a key to the hide which was the only easy viewing point. I arrived in torrential rain and hurried along the flooded path towards the hide. A judicious WhatsApp message on the county chat found someone in the hide who came out to let me in. Once inside I spent an hour or so watching the always-distant Long-tailed Duck. It would periodically disappear behind a line of Willows and was diving frequently so it was often out of sight. This was my third county Long-tailed Duck after one in an obscure pit near Dorchester and another in one of the many Cassington GP complex pits. In subsequent weeks it became much more reliable and more easily viewed.

In the conditions I saw this bird there was no point in attempting any photographs but Ewan Urquhart got this great photo in brighter conditions when it was much closer

There was also a county Kittiwake that was originally found at Port Meadow by TM before relocating to Farmoor. There over the ensuing days it became increasingly ill before collapsing on the bank. I happened to be there ar the time so I picked it up and took it to the Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue centre. To their credit they were the only one which would actually take the bird, given the risk of bird flu. Sadly the bird died a few days later in their care (not from bird flu). This was only my third county Kittiwake as they are generally surprisingly hard to catch up with in Oxon. Often they are found in a winter gull roost though spring passage days can sometimes produce the goods.

The Kittiwake on the first day it was found at Port Meadow, courtesy of Thomas Miller

 

Being handed over to Oxfordshire Wildlife Rescue

I also went to see the long-staying Black Redstart at Christchurch College in the centre of Oxford. This has become a bit of a regular thing with one or two birds finding the south facade of the college as it backs onto Christchurch Meadow, to their liking. I chose a bright sunny day and was soon rewarded with some lovely views of this charming bird.

I'm going to include one more trip which was definitely not local but which again falls into the category of not really of sufficient interest to warrant a post of it's own. At the start of March I went for a long weekend up to the Lake District with my children. One striking thing about the Lake District is the distinct lack of birdage. I have often noticed the general lack of any interest on the national news daily maps in this region. That's not to say that there aren't any birds at all, just there is not much variety. Anyway, the birding highlight was a lovely Dipper that was offering nice close views in a local stream. Always nice to see! Apart from that we had a great time walking in the hills and enjoying the beautiful countryside - even if it didn't mean missing out on seeing the Ring-billed Gull back home in Oxfordshire on my local patch no less!

 

So there you have it. Now that we are in April, it's full-on spring migrant action on the local patch. I'm excited to see what my next national twitch might be. 

 

 

Cornwall in February

The rest of the family had gone off elsewhere for a couple of weeks leaving just me and the cat alone to our own devices. After a few days of rattling around in the house on my own I decided that a change of scenery for a few days would do me good as well so decided to head down to Cornwall. This choice of destination was strongly influenced by the fact that my brother and his wife had recently moved down to Penzance from London. Regular readers will recall that I used to own a holiday cottage down in Pendeen but eventually the burden of constant maintenance and an illegal campsite next door proved too much and it was sold. However, the promise of free accommodation that didn't require any DIY was too strong to resist and I arranged everything hastily before setting off on Friday morning at around 9am. 

In terms of what I was planning for my trip down to Cornwall, there were a few decent birds around. These included a pair of Lesser Scaup at Helston on the boating lake, the (presumably returning) Ring-billed Gull at Hayle that I'd seen last year, a Bonaparte's Gull along the promenade in Penzance and the Pacific Diver near Mousehole. Nothing too urgent but all nice birds to see. With the promise of a supporting case of some Divers, a couple of Black Redstart and an Iceland Gull or two it should be a nice weekend away. In addition, I was keen to do some walking and to explore bits of the area I'd not visited much before. In particular I was keen to visit some of the many ancient stone circles that are sited in this area. With some friends also to catch up with as well as my brother and his wife to see, it promised to be a good weekend away. 

There was one additional reason for going down: as I have discussed in previous posts (see e.g. The Zitting Cisticola twitch) that my binoculars have outlived their usefulness and were in sore need of replacement. I'd been meaning to visit an optics shop for some time to try various things out but each time something had come up to thwart me. I had more or less decided on getting the Swarovski 8 x 32 NL Pures, having read rave reviews about them and having tried out a birding friend's pair. Howver, I wanted to compare them to the 10 x 32's just in case I could be tempted to the higher magnification. I had my reservations about the higher magnification: being of slight stature a small, a lightweight pair would suit me better and I was wary of handshake counteracting any magnification benefit but it would be nice to at least test them out. So I made arrangements to stop off at South West Optics in Torquay. This would more or less be en route, entailing just a thirty minute detour from my route down to Cornwall. 

The journey to Torquay was uneventful and I arrived at just after midday at an industrial estate not too far off the main road into the town. The previous proprietor had been a Cornish birder whom I knew though he had retired and someone new had taken over. On the phone he had been trying to tempt me to the 10 x 32's saying how great they were but when I arrived he was all about the 8 x 32's. I was puzzled at this sudden change of advice until he confessed he'd just sold the last pair of 10 x 32's. Anyway, I tried the 8's and they were really good. I did notice that as I was a bit tired from driving I did have a bit of hand shake even with these so decided that these would be fine. Whenever I've used 10's in the past I've always found them too much in this respect. So I bought the 8's before heading back to the car and back on to Cornwall.

I finally arrived sometime around 3pm. With just a couple of hours of daylight left, and having spent most of the day in the car, I decided to head inland to go for a walk on the moors. There was a stone circle up behind Tregeseal that I wanted to visit so I headed up there. It was rather muddy on the track up but the beautiful ancient scenery and the lovely babbling stream that accompanies the track soon combined to work their magic and to soothe away the travails of the journey. Up on the moors themselves I revelled in the vast emptiness and the timelessness of the landscape. I'd forgotten just how beautiful it all was. I paid my respects to the stone circle and then wandered over to the rocky outcrop known as the Ancestors where I sat atop, taking it all in.

Tregeseal stone circle

The view from the Ancestors looking over towards St Just

 

In terms of birds (I supposed I ought to mention them since this is a birding blog) it was the usual stuff: a Stonechat, a Raven, a Kestrel and a Wren. As it started to get dark I headed back down, spotting a hunting Barn Owl as it quartered over the field next to me. This is actually a species that is not so easy to see in this area. Back in St Just (where I'd parked) I scored a quick cup of tea before heading back to Penzance to where my brother's house was. This turned out to be a wonderfully large victorian house on one of the leafy roads that leads down to the promenade at Penzance. It was far enough from the sea to be sheltered from direct storm damage and sea corrosion (something I knew of only too well from having to maintain my old holiday cottage) but close enough so you could walk there in a few minutes. There I passed a very pleasant evening catching up with the two of them and eating a very nice meal prepared by my brother, who is no mean chef. Then I turned in and slept soundly.

My plan for Saturday was for it to be my main birding day while I was down here. I started off with a walk down to the promenade and then along to Tolcarne beach - always one of my favourite locations in PZ. In past days the Bonaparte's Gull had been frequenting this area though it had not been seen for several days and I had more or less dropped it from my target list. Still I found one of the two Black Redstarts easily enough, hopping about on the wall and perching on the surrounding rooftops. There were plenty of Rock Pipits walking around under the parked cars - I'd forgotten how unphased they could be by people down here. 

The female type Black Redstart on the sea wall

One of the many Rock Pipits peeking out from behind a pub table

Next it was into Newlyn Harbour itself, looking for the juvenile Iceland Gull which has recently been seen on the traditional fish quay roof. There was no sign of it but a Great Norther Diver in the harbour was nice to see. I wandered down to the end of the harbour outer wall, enjoying the morning sunshine. It was all very pleasant.

Gig rowers in the harbour

The Great Northern Diver in the harbour

 

There are always plenty of Turnstone in the harbour at this time of year

Next I decided to walk to the other end of the promenade to year tick Purple Sandpiper off Battery Rocks. I enjoyed the walk but was disappointed to find no Sandpipers at all roosting there even though it was high tide. Disappointed I headed back to the house to grab some elevenses with my hosts before heading out again, this time in the car. 

First stop was to Helston to catch up with the long-staying pair of Lesser Scaup. They had made the boating lake their home for the winter and seemed from reports to be a sure thing. True to form, after a bit of searching I found them tucked up asleep. I took some photos though they never really got too close nor raised their heads for long.

The Helston boating lake has hosted quite a few rare duck over the years

The two Lesser Scaup, tucked up with a wary eye open

The female actually lifted her head briefly

Next, it was off to Hayle estuary to try for the Ring-billed Gull. I opted for Lelant Station as a viewing platform where I'd had success last year on the Booted Eagle trip. There I met with a fellow birder and we scanned together. We got chatting and he turned out to be a local who had moved down from the Teeside area. Despite our combined efforts we could neither find the Ring-billed Gull nor the adult Iceland Gull that had occasionally been reported. There were several Med Gulls, the usual Common Gull flock that the Ring-billed liked to associated with. A Bar-tailed Godwit was a year tick and there were a few Goosander in the channel as well. All good stuff and I wasn't too bothered about missing my target. 

News had broken that the Bonaparte's Gull was back along the promenade at Wherrytown. I'd arranged to meet a friend for a walk at Marazion beach at 3pm but just had time to nip back into PZ to see if I could connect. I parked by the tennis courts and started walking towards Newlyn. In the end the flock of loafing gulls were right by the river outflow at Tolcarne so I had to walk the entire distance. There was a birder down on the beach but I decided to stay on the promenade. After a bit of scanning I found the Bonaparte's on the rocks. I yelled down to the other birder and put him on it. I was just about to do some digiscoping when it flew off. Looking at the time I decided not to linger any longer but hurried back to the car for my rendezvous at Marazion. 

As I didn't manage a photo myself, here is fabulous shot, borrowed from the CBWPS website, taken by Adrian Langdon ©

 

At Marazion I had a lovely walk along the beach with my friend, admiring St Michael's Mount (though we didn't go over) and then walking along St. Michael's Way a bit, following the Red River along the edge of the marsh. Very enjoyable! Then we parted company and I headed back to my brother's place. That evening we went out for a very nice meal in the town. I was quite tired after my day out in the fresh air and soon retired to bed for the evening.

St. Michael's Mount as yet another band of rain approaches

 

Marazion Marsh from St Michael's Way

The next day I decided on a more leisurely start. After breakfast I first walked down to Tolcarne and Newlyn again. Once again I came across the female type Black Redstart and the Great Northern Diver was still in the harbour but once again there was no sign of the juvenile Iceland Gull.

The female type Black Redstart. I am guessing a 1w male as it appeared to be singing

The Great Northern Diver was showing better today

 

I went back to my brother's for elevenses and a catch-up with them before heading up the road to the Penzance Quaker meeting. I attend in Oxford and thought it would be interesting to see what it would be like attending another meeting. They had an excellent on site shop where after the meeting I had a nice bit of cake and a chat. Then it was back to base for lunch. 

For the afternoon I planned to explore the area near St. Buryan where there were a couple of stone circles I wanted to visit. The first was at Boscowen-un which involved a five minute slither down a muddy track to a lovely little circle. Set in amongst the surrounding Bracken and Blackthorn, it was gorgeous! 

The beautiful Boscowen-un stone circle

Then on to the Merry Maidens. This was just sited in a grass field so not quite as beautiful surrounding but was still very nice. Then it was back to base via St Just for another quick cup of tea. The evening was spent quietly at my brother's chatting with my hosts before turning in early once again.

The Merry Maidens stone circle

Monday dawned to torrential rain and strong winds. I was due to go back today but as I was in no hurry I thought I would do a bit more birding. I did have to nip into town to buy a gift for the neighbour who was looking after the cat while I was away. So I thought I would walk along the promenade and go via Battery Rocks just in case the Purple Sandpipers were back. This turned out to be quite an experience! The tide was in and despite walking on the landward side of the road I managed to get splooshed by a breaking wave and got soaked. Miraculously there were some Purple Sanpipers hunkered down on the rocks so it was worth the soaking after all.

Purple Sandpipers trying not to be blown away in the wind

After my errand I returned to the house and said my farewells to my hosts before heading of in the rain back home. Before hitting the A30, I decided to nip into Hayle for one last try for the Ring-billed Gull on the way. As the tide was high I first went to Ryan's Field though something had flushed all the birds and there were only a few Lapwing and Redshank about. Next a trip across the road to the causeway where there were some loafing Gulls as well as the Dunlin flock but no Ring-billed. Not to worry, I soaked up the sights and sounds of the estuary for a bit before reluctantly heading off on the A30 for the long slog home.

Hayle Estuary Gulls waiting out the high tide

I broke up the journey by rendezvousing with a friend who lives in Devon at one of the service stations on the A30. We had a lovely chat while the weather raged outside. Then it was back on the road, negotiating the rain which had reached biblical proportions. It was hard work that required extra concentration but eventually I arrived back at Casa Gnome late afternoon tired but very pleased with my long weekend away down in Cornwall. Now that my brother has a place down there, I can't help but think that this will be the first of many return trips to the far South West.