Quail

Beer Head was absolutely exhilarating this morning.  Felt like the flood gates had well and truly opened with migration in full-flow.  I wasn't able to give it anywhere near the time it deserved as I had to be away by 8am, but wow.

The calming sunrise before things got a bit crazy!

 

Before I write about the spectacle, I will write about the surprise rarity from the one big stubble field...

I had just put up a small group of Skylarks that were still flying around me, when from near my right foot, emerging from an area of longer stalks of stubble a game bird shot out - looking small but at the same time surprisingly long-wined, and showing a golden striped back on an otherwise brown body - Quail!  It happened about ten paces on from me taking this photo of a Wheatear lit up by the first sunshine of the day...

The soft early morning light gave everything a warm orange glow

 

The yellowy stripes running down its back, continuing all the way down its rump looked almost Jack Snipe-like.  The morning sun must have been catching them as they really stood out on its otherwise plain brown back and wings.  It flew low rapidly across the field directly away from me, then as it came into land it slightly banked and fanned a short all-brown tail before dropping in to some long grass at the edge of the field.  I rushed straight over with camera in arms, but it literally melted away and there was no further sign of it.

Something that really threw me at first, which I had never heard before, is on take-off it made a noise, a soft double-noted 'kreear kreear'. Repeated a couple of times.  Literally a sound I have never heard before, either in real life or a recording!  Reading up since, pleased to see this is a known call (although transcribed in many different ways) however I can't seem to find any recording of it. Presumably because any would-be sound-recorders never know it is about to happen!?  

I cannot believe how lucky I was.  It's a big field and I just took one route through the middle of it, which happened to take me within less than a meter from where this bird was hunkered down.  If I had taken any other route, or if this bird was elsewhere within the field I would not have known anything about it.  It's also not a field I would have even considered for Quail, I was actually hoping for a nice wader like a Dotterel or better.  But as I said in an earlier paragraph, it came up from a patch of taller stubble, probably 7-8 inches high - more than enough to hide one of these!

This was my first (live) Quail record for the patch. And actually I think very much deserved due to the multiple summer evenings I have spent over the years walking and driving around the fields behind Axmouth failing to find even a single singing male! As is so often the case with a semi-expected scarcity, it actually happened when I was least expecting it.

Meadow Pipits, hirundines and Chiffchaffs were the main movers this morning.  Over a thousand Meadow Pipits moved through Beer Head whilst I was there, with big flocks continuously dropping in and flying on, presumably due to the fairly strong northerly wind.  Almost as many (estimated at 900) hirundines flew east as well, again staying really low.  Accompanying them were 30+ Siskin, with several singles and small flocks over.  

Chiffchaffs were littered across the site, with at least fifty in small groups along the sheltered hedgerows.  Six Wheatears, three Blackcap and two Stonechats were the only other grounded migrants noted, however am sure if I had longer and was able to cover more ground I would have uncovered far more.  Still not seen a Redstart here this autumn!

It felt criminal walking away from such an exciting birding and busy migration event, but was pleased to at least see a snippet of it.

Will be trying again in the morning, that is for sure.