Whilst with the family in Lyme Regis this afternoon I was surprised to get a message from (no longer) 'Midland's Mike' telling me of a Glossy Ibis on the Estuary from Tower Hide. It was first found by visiting birders mid afternoon. A surprise turn up in June, most new Glossy's tend to appear in mid-late autumn on the Axe.
I didn't see it until late this evening, and wasn't able to get round to the Tower Hide so my views looked a lot like this...
Would have been point-blank from the hide!
Although this is my 29th Glossy Ibis on patch - frustratingly I am yet to find one! I was nowhere near finding this one as my birding levels have been woefully low this spring, but hopefully one day I'll pick one up dropping in somewhere. I presume enough years down the line they won't be rare at all, so am sure it's just a matter of time...
The last few days have seen excellent numbers of wildfowl and waders feeding on Bridge Marsh, well over a thousand birds. My best counts have been 650 Lapwing, 85 Curlew, 79 Black-tailed Godwit, 290 Wigeon and 160 Teal. Really superb birding and thoroughly enjoyable, just a pity I've not been about to pull a rare out of the mix. Well that's apart from the wintering Glossy Ibis, which hasn't always proved easy to catch up with since its arrival. He/she joined the masses of birds on Bridge Marsh this morning...
Earlier in the day it was nice to finally catch up with the Seaton Hole male Black Redstart, which was actually on the houses near where the cars park at the top of the slope and not down on the beach. A brief look out to sea showed it to be fairly quiet, although a lone Brent Goose flew west.
To finish, another sunset shot I'm afraid, taken this evening from Seaton Beach. The tip of Beer Head looked to be glowing thanks to the angle we were viewing from...
Only a rapid fire post tonight I'm afraid folks, I just wanted to keep you up-to-date.
Well the Glossy Ibis that was found last Saturday afternoon on Colyford Marsh pleasingly remained for me to see. I didn't see it until Monday though due to work commitments. I did try for it on the Sunday morning but a five minute scan over Colyford Marsh failed to show it, however a Great White Egret dropped on to the Estuary which made up for that! Finally! After missing five of these massive white birds here this year, number six (my lucky number as well!) did the decent thing and pleasingly stayed all day for everyone to enjoy. The Cattle Egret was also on Bridge Marsh (and remained until mid week at least) making it a three Egret day!
Wood Pigeons were moving most mornings this week, although in lesser numbers than the end of the previous week. My best vis mig bird without a doubt was the young female Merlin that zipped west through Seaton Marshes on Friday morning. Really overdue this autumn as there seems to be a few about, but amazingly this was my first Merlin on patch for a staggering four years!
Birds that have been seen here this week, but not by me include a Red Kite over the Estuary (B Clark) and a Brambling in a private Seaton garden (K Hale) on Friday, and a male Black Redstart today just east of Seaton Hole (R Harris).
Autumn is rolling on quickly and winter is approaching at speed. Hopefully there's a few more surprises to come yet, but in the mean time have a seasonal Harry photo...
I'm going to kick this blog post off with a video. Make sure you turn the volume up so you can hear their wing beats...
Yesterday proved a major Wood Pigeon day for us, with James Mc seeing somewhere between 30 and 50 thousand pass through (I really must buy him a notebook!) though sadly I only managed to witness about twenty minutes of this. But today, with clear skies forecasted for the first few hours of the day, I wasn't going to miss round two. James joined me for an Axe Cliff vis mig watch 08:00 - 10:00.
There were fewer Wood Pigeons today (for us anyway) with probably about 15,000 seen flying west. Still, many of them passed really low over our heads, or just in front of us below the cliff edge. As the morning went on flocks started passing higher both out to sea and inland, so we probably missed thousands! I tried to capture their magic on camera but it's never the same...
Although this would have proved enough excitement, there was plenty more to be seen this morning. After three busy nights of thrush passage, it was good to finally see more about in daylight hours. There were almost constantly ones and twos of Blackbirds, Song Thrush and Redwing taking off or dropping in, along with my first three Fieldfare of the year west. Pity the four Ring Ouzel James saw here yesterday weren't still about, or some more, but hey ho.
I stupidly forgot my notebook this morning, so the higher counts are more like guesstimates, but this is roughly what would have gone into my notebook (west unless stated);
3 Lapwing
7 Golden Plover (a five and two singles)
15,000 Wood Pigeon
50 Stock Dove (probably a gross undercount!)
6 Rook
200 Jackdaw
140 Starling
70 Skylark (most of these were inland of us so we probably missed more than we saw)
70 Blackbird (total includes both settled and migrating birds)
40 Song Thrush (total includes both settled and migrating birds)
45 Redwing (flying in all directions!)
3 Fieldfare
10 alba Wagtail
50 Meadow Pipit
70 Chaffinch
3 Brambling (all singles)
80 Linnet
15 Siskin
1 Redpoll
6 Bullfinch
25 Reed Bunting
With all these passing migrants the predators were having a field day. Two Peregrines were almost constantly having a go at the Pigeon flocks, plus we saw three different Sparrowhawk...
Sadly the fields at Axe Cliff are a shadow of their former self. Since they've been ploughed, flattened and replanted this year with winter crops, they're proving completely unattractive to ground feeding birds. In past years today would have also shown hundreds of larks, pipits and finches feeding in the fields, adding another exciting element to birding here, but today absolutely nothing. I really can't believe Yellowhammers are hanging on, but they are...
After Axe Cliff I had a 15 minute look over the valley. A Great White Egret had flown west past Abbotsbury earlier in the morning, and by my reckoning was due to drop in on the Axe any minute. Sadly though, having now missed five here this year (Bob Longhorn found another on Black Hole Marsh yesterday, which stayed 45 minutes), this bird decided to completely bypass us and flew up the Exe instead. Typical! The other bird I was hopeful for was Glossy Ibis, as yesterday saw something of an influx of these into the UK. Despite checking all the visible ditches and scrapes, no luck. Guess what Sue Murphy found on Colyford Marsh late this afternoon though, yes, our first Glossy Ibis of 2017. I had the right idea - just picked the wrong time!
A few days ago it was nice to see a Cattle Egret still with us. Or was, I haven't seen it since! It was feeding with a few Little Egrets near the cattle on Bridge Marsh on Wednesday...
Am really looking forward to some more vis migging, hopefully there's a few more sessions left in this autumn. The question is though will a Hawfinch reward my efforts? Only time will tell...
For some reason I had low expectations for today, not sure why because it is getting on for mid April, but I just thought it was going to be duff. I spent half an hour on the beach looking out to sea from 8:30 and didn't see anything of note at all, which wasn't a great start. We never seem to do well here in easterlies, annoyingly the Chesil side of the bay do very well in this wind direction.
Home for a quick coffee and then it was down to Black Hole Marsh for a quick pre-recorded interview with BBC Radio Devon. It was during the drizzle here that suddenly the day felt better...
My first Sedge Warbler of the year was singing strongly just inside the entrance gate, with a few Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the bushes above. Overhead Swallows and a few Martins were streaming over NW, with two Ringed Plovers that circled over the marsh also my first of the year (it really has been a dreadful spring for wader passage so far).
A look along the Estuary then showed my first two Whimbrel of the year, but Seaton Marshes produced nothing new. I was out again later with Bun which revealed the continued presence of our lingering Marsh Harrier and a smart White Wag beside Colyford WTW.
And now to the post title. You will notice this has been a photo-free post, well that's because I've been videoing! I've always wanted to own a camcorder, and Sean Foote (@PortlandNature) and his fantastic monthly vlogs (video-blogs) tipped me over the edge. So I purchased one of what he has, a Panasonic HC-V250. It's cheap but seems to do the job well, and boasts a superb 90x zoom. I am not going to be vlogging, but I thought it would be good to film what I see as much as I can. You cannot beat a good photo, but being a realist, unless I spend several thousand pounds on a long lens, I'm not going to take good photos and be able to compete with the pros. Not to mention that everyone takes photos now, absolutely everyone, so I thought it would be refreshing to go off in a slightly different direction. Don't worry there will be some pics still, just expect (and hopefully enjoy!) some videos too.
To start the ball rolling, it just has to be our long staying rarity...
Yes I have got a lot to learn, but still, what a nice subject to start with. I also managed a quick vid of today's White Wag...
Looking forward to the rest of the week now - hopefully it won't disappoint.
Well it's about time I blogged about what this blog is about - Axe Birding! There's been a few pics sitting on my memory card for a week or so, and today I had an enjoyable couple of hours out and about on patch.
Clearly the star bird locally is (sorry Mr Ibis) the stunning drake Green-winged Teal that's often on Black Hole Marsh. I say often because some days it just isn't there, like yesterday sadly. He was showing exceptionally well this afternoon though in the far north west corner of the marsh, best viewed from the screen at the start of the walk way to the Island Hide. Obviously my old Lumix can't compare with the big lenses, but still...
Easily the best views I've ever had of this species. Not only does it show well and close, but it's doing a lot of displaying at the moment - what a show off! Those white stripes aren't simply white, they're like flipping glow sticks! A flock of Green-winged Teal in the dark could look surprisingly similar to a rave crowd I reckon.
I best mention the Glossy Ibis now, which is spending pretty much all it's time at Seaton Marshes at the moment. In any other winter this would easily take the title of 'star bird', but it's picked a winter with stiff competition.
The Water Pipits are still wintering with us too. It usually takes time to see them, but given patience you should be in luck (really helps if you know the call). Today I saw seven in the same area as usual, I even managed to get one in the view finder...
Looking typically pale
Another bird that was wintering with us this year was a lone Dark-bellied Brent Goose. I say 'was' because I haven't seen him for a week or so...
And now to gulls. Yes lovely gulls. Well sadly they haven't delivered for me despite there being a good turn over, we are clearly in the middle of some pretty heavy passage. There were at least 200 Common Gulls on the Estuary today, along with six Lesser Black-backs, but nothing rare. Best (or worst?) lately was this ugly hybrid from last week...
Third from left, it was smaller than Herring with yellow-pink legs and a Yellow-legged Gull mantle shade, so I guess a HerringxLBBG?
We've also had small numbers of Med Gulls which is to be expected, although I'm surprised I've not seen more with no more than three on any given day...
Adult Med Gull coming in to land
But quite possibly the best birding news I have to give flew over my house at 8am today, a Meadow Pipit. I know it is just a Meadow Pipit, but this is the first Meadow Pipit over my house since the last bird last autumn - Nov 2015. This means passage, SPRING passage. Wheatears and Sand Martins next...
I've got a bit of time off work this week which is nice, and the weather is looking pretty decent too. It's a win win!
Despite my best efforts I haven't seen any more interesting gulls on the Estuary, so I can assure all that this blog post is a gull-free zone...
It's been rather wet and windy this week, and last week, well for the whole of November to be honest! I've not been able to do any bird ringing because of this, but I have still had a dog to walk (and gulls to check!).
This is proving to be one of my best ever autumns on patch for winter thrushes (despite the mild weather!). Every time I go out I'm seeing Redwings, and more often than not Fieldfares too (saw 45+ two days ago) and I don't just mean fly overs which is the usual way we see them in the autumn. In most other years I don't see many winter thrushes settled around here until Christmas time, so it really is notable. And whilst on the subject of thrushes, I should mention here the house tick I had on 12th with four Mistle Thrush from my kitchen window.
Black Redstarts keep popping up in front of me too. After seeing a male and two female-types at Axmouth Yacht Club on 4th Nov, I had three female-types here on 11th (with none in between, so all three could have been new birds?). Away from here I had a female-type in the main car park in Beer on 9th, and about two hours ago was treated to my third ever from my house, another female-type just a few roofs down.
Female-type Black Redstart at Axe Yacht Club on 11th.
The Glossy Ibis is still about, we went down to just one bird several weeks ago, and it's currently spending most its time on the first lagoon on the right through the first gate at Seaton Marshes
Something that for me has been lacking this month, and this autumn, is Wood Pigeons. I missed the biggest morning of passage, but have seen some flocks flying west. They've not had the ideal weather window to move en masse though, instead they've been trickling through in less than perfect conditions. Oh what I would do for a cold, still and sunny morning!
Despite a month of walking the dog in places I thought were quite likely to host a Yellow-browed Warbler, and the fact there's been about million in the country, it's taken me until yesterday to see one!
During an afternoon dog walk along the cycle track by Seaton Marshes out popped the head of a Yellow-browed Warbler for all of three seconds. And that was it. I'd see enough though so sent the texts out, but in the windy conditions there was no further sign. There was actually quite a few birds here, at least two Chiffs (one of which appeared quite grey), three Blackcap and several Goldcrest.
This morning despite the wind and the rain I went back for a better look. No sign for ten minutes but then all of a sudden a Yellow-browed burst in to a spate of calling right behind me. I was then treated to the most fantastic views of it feeding low down in some willows, what a gorgeous little bird. I don't care how common they get, they will always give me a buzz when I see one. I didn't take any photos because I just wanted to watch it, and I knew they'd be crap in the dull light, but I think Tim White has managed to get some pics of it so watch his blog...
Also this morning, after hearing Mark B was heading our way I met him at Black Hole Marsh where we had good but distant views of the two inexplicably sporadic Glossy Ibis...
Too windy to even contemplate bird ringing this morning (and maybe this week?), but I still thought Beer Head was worth a walk around today despite the crystal clear skies and strong north wind.
The regular haunts on the east side of the head were completely blown out and did appear to be pretty bird-less, but looking over the Underhooken, along to Branscombe and the upper slopes of Branscombe were sheltered enough to show there was quite a lot of passage going on. I spent almost an hour looking over the Underhooken watching Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs filtering up the cliff edge, then flicking over the top and off inland. Sadly there wasn't anything rarer (or stripier) among them.
Overhead passage was ok, not great numbers (Skylark and Meadow Pipit the most numerous), but there was some nice variety. Best of all being a flock of six Crossbill that fleweast, low enough to see a couple of nice red males too. There were the expected Chaffinches, Linnets, Goldfinches and Siskins, along with a single Reed Bunting and two Redpolls. Still a few Swallows and HouseMartins about, but seemed to be noticeable fewer than just a few days ago.
I've already mentioned the Chiffs and Goldcrests, but it was also a Stonechat day - I had at least 18 in all, which is a great count for Beer Head. And with them two Wheatear, one of which posed in a nice autumnal way...
I am still waiting for my first Redwing, but there were noticeably more Blackbirds and Song Thrush about so I don't think it's far away. To complete my list of sightings from this enjoyable two hour wander, three White Wagtails were nice to see as they were my first of the autumn, and a couple of Yellowhammers dropped in (although they could have been local birds)...
I'm sure you have already read about them on another website/blog/social media platform, but on Saturday as I was driving towards Portland, two Glossy Ibis were flying the opposite way. They weren't seen from the sea front here (the obvious place to stand when you are told two birds are following the coast west), but it later transpired they were seen circling over Black Hole Marsh at midday, and then feeding on Colyford scrape later in the afternoon.
Thankfully Phil refound them on Sunday afternoon, but I didn't manage to see them, well one of them, until 4pm today. It was worth the wait though because I saw it from my bedroom window! To be honest I thought they'd gone as they were last seen at 11am today on Colyford scrape, and I checked that place several times since and saw nowt. But as I was typing away on my laptop I heard a very low flying helicopter going over, so thought it was worth a punt.... and among a sky full of panicked birds, a lone Glossy Ibis came circling down on to Black Hole Marsh. Result! This is my fourth patch record of Glossy Ibis, the others being;
A flock of six on Black Hole then Colyford Marsh on 19/09/09, found by Clive and they stayed for about six hours.
On 13/09/10 a flock of 18 that had been on the Otter Est for days flew past Gav and Bun on Beer Head, I was at Axe Cliff and could see them flying east and then north up the valley. Later the same day they were at Dungeness (Kent)!
A one day bird on Seaton Marshes on 8/11/13 found by Tim White.
As you can see from those records, Glossy Ibis don't usually stay with us very long at all, but these two must have found something they like!
Just a quick post - with the superb news that yesterday I saw my 25th patch Glossy Ibis! Yes, finally the Axe has bagged one this year, with a visiting birder being the lucky finder, although Tim White stumbled upon it a little later without knowing it was there. Superb bird and a cracking patch year tick! I know 25 seems like a lot of Glossy Ibis to have seen on patch, but 18 were in one flock and flew over very rapidly (and distantly!), and the other sighting were of six that spent less than a day here.
Had an interesting tweet this morning from Ian Ballam, to let me know he recognised my (presumed) hybrid RuddyxCommon Shelduck. It was in Poole Harbour Dec 2012 - Feb 2013, and here's a thread on Birdforum about it...
'Hello And Goodbye' and 'Blink And You'd Have Missed Them' were two other options for this post title...
Finally the Glossy Ibis from the Otter (well 18 of them) decided to come our way - unfortunately though they didn't stop!!!
I was on Axe Cliff looking for Lap Bunts when the call came in that they had just flown east over Beer Head. I wasn't in the best spot, but soon picked them up in the bins flying north east into the river valley. But almost as soon as I picked them up, I lost them....
I hot footed down to the farm gate to scan over the river valley, no sign of them here, but did have a nice surprise in the form of a cream-crowned Marsh Harrier...
Eventually the Crows chased it off northwards - bloody things!
Black Hole Marsh also drew a blank for Ibis. All that I noted here were singles of Knot, Greenshank, Curlew Sandpiper, two Little Stints and a Barn Owl that finally appeared to go to roost at 08:40!
He/she obviously approves of the new hide under construction!
A few more scans over various bits of the valley suggested the Ibis didn't pitch down, and a message that has just come over Birdguides confirms this.... they just circled over Dungness in Kent!! That is incredible - what speed have they been flying at???
I'm pleased to report Meadow Pipits have started, with a decent passage over work yesterday morning in the sunshine. There seemed to be fewer this morning...and by the way...I never did find a Lap!
The only other bird I've seen today that is worthy of mention was the smart Hobby over Lower Bruckland Ponds mid morning.
A bird that really isn't worthy of mention is Wryneck - as however much I look for one - I can't bloody find one! I even went to see one that has already been found (Waggs Plot), but it didn't show for me. Although I think they are stunning birds....I am beginning to really hate them!!
