Axe Cliff and Surprise Crossbills

Yesterday morning, although it was clearer than I was hoping, I went up to Axe Cliff soon after dawn. After a short while I realised I was actually grateful the sun was shining, it was a real pleasure to be out with the fine weather ensuring the local breeders were showing and singing well...

Male Yellowhammer with a back drop of Lyme Bay and Beer Head

I was staggered by the numbers of Common Whitethroats around.  In recent years there's normally about six singing males in the area of Axe Cliff that I cover.  Yesterday however I noted 13 singing/displaying males, along with a 14th non-singing bird. They were all behaving like they were local breeders too - so is it simply going to prove a good summer for the species? Has anyone else noted good numbers of Whitethroats this year?  On the other side of the coin though, I usually come across one or two singing Lesser Whitethroats here, but none during this visit.

The Whitethroats were all sat out proudly and partaking in frequent song-flights

This one on a more natural perch

A lovely highlight was a Hobby that flew low east across the fields soon after I arrived, with the only definite 'grounded migrant' being my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year.  Not that it stayed grounded for long - it soon continued west along the cliff edge.

This morning during a family outing I was surprised to hear Crossbills calling from Bovey Down, then about half an hour later watched two flying around above me calling at nearby Blackbury Camp.  Presumably the date indicates local breeding?  Mid summer is usually our best time to see (or more often just hear!) Crossbills, when family groups are dispersing from their breeding grounds.  Anyone with more experience of the Crossbill breeding cycle have any thoughts on this? Could they actually be breeding here!?

Gotcha Gropper

It was a lovely still and cloudy dawn this morning, which got me out the door nice and early again. A quick look around Black Hole and Seaton Marshes was disappointing, but Axe Cliff beckoned as the conditions were just too good.

It was however quiet for new migrants, unlike Portland today which seems to be having another good day. My hour walk revealed just three new migrant passerines in the bushes; a Willow Warbler, a new Whitethroat (saw four this morning) and this invisible reeler...

Yes I did it - I got my Gropper! You will probably need to turn up the sound and listen carefully to the above YouTube clip, but that's all I can offer you I'm afraid as per usual for a spring migrant Grasshopper Warbler it didn't show. I am so happy to get one of these on my Patchwork Challenge year list, because if you miss out on Gropper in the spring, you have probably missed them for the year - autumn ones are hard to catch up with here.

It was nice to get some better views of the very vocal but highly elusive Lesser Whitethroat on today's visit, although a completely clear view was only just about manageable...

And here's one of the Common Whitethroats, this particular individual has been in since Wednesday...

Whilst walking through a field of Rapeseed it was a bit odd to suddenly hear some Brent Geese calling, but I couldn't see a thing. I did eventually get to see them when I arrived at the first decent viewpoint over the sea, a nice flock of eight Pale-bellied Brent Geese...

They soon swam in towards the rocks just east of the river mouth, and began feeding here...

All in all a rather pleasant morning out with a nice bit of variety. Oh I do love spring.

Back To Basics

Well after a very enjoyable and exciting fall on Tuesday, and a excellent sea watch on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (so far) have been somewhat dire!

Yesterday, the best I mustered were my first White Wagtails of 2012 (late or what - I often see my first in March!). Two males were on Black Hole Marsh early morning, before flying off north.

This morning, the Beer Cemetery Fields produced just half a dozen Willow Warblers, two Swallows and a singing male Whitethoat. I was hoping for much MUCH more than this, because after a mostly clear night there was some decent clover this morning.

Today's blog post photos are going to have to come from some garden bird ringing. I've had the net up between showers today and yesterday as lots more birds are coming into the garden at the moment - especially finches. In fact about ten minutes ago I ringed the 150th Greenfinch for the garden (since June 2011).

Another small landmark was reached yesterday, with my 35th Bullfinch for the garden. It was a cracking second calendar year (aged 5) male, and below is a comparison shot of its open wing (above) with an adult male (below - taken on 27th Feb). Note the big red arrows pointing to the greater coverts and the key difference...

note the much broader whiter tips on the retained juvenile feathers on the younger bird. My fat thumbs are obscuring the carpal coverts on these birds, which is also a key ageing feature for Bullies.

Also this morning, I was rather surprised to catch this recently fledged juvenile Dunnock...

Don't worry, it was reunited with 'Mum' (or Dad?) upon release

Not The Day I Was Expecting

Normally, the evening before I have a pretty good idea what kind of birding I will be doing the following day. And last night I set the alarm for 6am with sea birds in mind. I was very wrong!

For some reason I woke up shortly after 4am today, and it was horrendous outside. Heavy rain and strong winds battering against my windows. When my alarm went off at 6 though, no rain, and much less wind. This, along with my interrupted sleep, encouraged me to get a little bit more sleep!

When I did get up, I sent Gav a text to find out what the sea was like. The response was mostly negative, so I headed out at 7:30 to check elsewhere.

The Estuary showed nothing new at all, so I headed to Black Hole Marsh. As soon as I stepped out the car I could hear several Willow Warblers singing, many more than I should be hearing! I wandered down the track towards the marsh, but was interrupted by a reeling Grasshopper Warbler in the field to the south. One of my favourite sounds of the spring - and our first of 2012. A look over the lagoon showed another 'first for the year', in the form of this Common Tern...

With two Black-headed Gulls

I walked back towards the car where I met Gav who had twitched the Gropper (they can be hard to find when you 'need' them). Whilst we were waiting it didn't make a sound, but another first for the year briefly popped up, in the form of a cracking male Whitethroat.

Next stop was the Beer Cemetery Fields, I grabbed my mist nets on the way up too. I shouldn't really have bothered with the nets, as it was really quite windy up there - although it wasn't a total waste of time as I did catch and ring three birds; Blackcap, Wren and Blue Tit.

It certainly wasn't a waste of time coming up here though! Two and a half hours produced;

2 Redstart (males - in the same area as each other)
1 Tree Pipit (flew low west calling at 11:15)
1 Grasshopper Warbler (reeling near the cemetery - it was real close but I never saw it!)
45+ Willow Warblers (probably many more)

One of the Willys

And I know you know what a Grasshopper Warbler sounds like, but here is a short video clip of the Beer Cemetery bird reeling...

I was out again this afternoon. Seaton Marshes produced ten Wheatears, Colyford Common another seven, and my first Sedge Warbler of 2012 was singing beside Black Hole Marsh.

Considering the date, and the weather, there are still very few hirundines about. I have seen a few Swallows about, but in past years, this weather on this date would produced several hundred hirundines in the river valley - and possibly even the first few Swifts. I wonder where they all are?

What a brilliant and very enjoyable day! It's so nice to see a decent spring fall. I spent a lot of time out yesterday too, and saw nothing of note all day! The only migrants I saw were a couple of lone Swallows. What a difference a day makes! I presume the weather over northern France was clear last night - they must have had one hell of a shock when they arrived in the UK!

Autumn Migration In Full Swing

I've had a couple of very enjoyable days - with lots of birds!

Yesterday, I spent four hours in the morning in Beer at my regular haunt of late - the fields above the Cemetery.

Without a doubt the highlight was the Tree Pipits. I'd had three or four go over, with a couple perched up in a large dead tree. I then had a walk through a field of long grass, and nine flew up and perched up in nearby bushes. I walked away and came back fifteen minutes later, and this time an incredible 14 Tree Pipits took off (in ones, twos and threes) from the same area. This is by far the most Tree Pipits I have ever seen together anywhere - let alone on the patch! They didn't show on the ground because the grass was so long, only when they were perched up...

...just a pity none of them ended up in my nets!

Other birds I saw during this visit included; 1 Spot Fly, 2 Yellow Wags, 1 Nuthatch, 7 Whitethroat, 1 Garden Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 3 Willow Warbler, 6 Chiffchaff and a Reed Bunting - the latter a real surprise as I don't normally see migrant Reed Bunts until much later in the autumn. Ringing wise, somehow I only caught one migrant bird (although a juv Coal Tit may just qualify as a second?)...

Another Whitethroat

Which did this to my hand!

Today, I spent another couple of hours up there late afternoon, hoping to catch one or all of the three Garden Warblers that were lurking in the bushes - no luck at all. I caught absolutely nothing, but saw about eight Blackcaps and a couple of Whitethroats.

Earlier today, after helping with the 'Moth Breakfast' which was part of the Wet and Wild Weekend, a look over Black Hole Marsh was very enjoyable indeed. Four Wood Sands, two Common Sands, five Greenshank and 25 Dunlin were on show - some venturing quite close to the hide...

Wood Sandpipers

Greenshanks

And both!

Ok, time for a little bit of moth news now. I had a trap out in the garden last night as usual, and there were two highlights amongst the modest catch...

Four-spotted Footman - my first ever female!

A very worn and faded Crescent Dart

And finally - some family news; I'm an uncle! My sister-in-law gave birth to the beautiful Lily Waite last Tuesday, both mother and daughter are well.

I have already bought her her first pair of binoculars....and I'm not even joking!

Lots Of Larvae, Waders, And Ringing...

This morning I had two net sets up at my most promising ringing site - the fields behind Beer Cem. Ringing wise, it was rather quiet - although this Whitethroat made all the effort worthwhile....

My first ringed as a 'solo' ringer :-)

There were another couple of Whitethroats arounds calling, along with 5+ Blackcaps, 4+ Willow Warblers, and over head I had seven sightings of a single Tree Pipit during the time I was here. I don't think they were seven different Tree Pipits, but at the same time I don't think it was just one!

I have got quite a bit to mention from Saturday now, when I spent the morning at Black Hole Marsh/Colyford Common.

There had been three Wood Sands in the area which were found the previous morning by Ian M, but this doubled to six right in front of my eyes as they flew up and down the valley calling loudly - a record high count for me - anywhere!!! A Little Stint was new in too, a juvenile on Black Hole Marsh which is still there today. A Hobby flew low south and looked like it was going...

Caterpillars were rather popular too on this morning, as seven Eyed and two Poplar Hawkmoth larvae were showing on the willow 'thing' that's just by the entrance to the Field Studies Base on Stafford Marsh....

Eyed Hawkmoth

Poplar Hawkmoth