Garden Mega

Well you can't say I didn't see it coming - although really wasn't expecting it from the house! Find below a snippet from yesterday's blog post...

At about 18:30 today, whilst I was in the middle of Harry's bath and bed routine, Twilight Tim (Davey) messaged that he'd found an Iceland Gull on the Estuary.  But by the time I got to my phone there was a second message to say it had flown off south, along with some suitably gripping video footage.  However 15 minutes later there was another message to say it was back. Many thanks for the updates Tim.

I positioned myself at the bedroom window and tried to get a look at every gull I could see in flight over the small section of Estuary inline with mine.  Much to my surprise, ten minutes later bingo, Iceland Gull flying low north up the Estuary! I really wasn't expecting it as most gulls that take off from the Axe Estuary mid-afternoon onwards fly south, which would have ensured it remained out of view from me.

It was flying steadily north, and after the few seconds I was watching it, just as it was about to disappear behind the tree in the foreground that blocks my view north east, it chose to circle around twice with a Herring Gull, before then continuing north out of view.  This gave me a couple of extra seconds to grab my camera and take these two photos.  Yes they can only be described as dreadful shots, but it is a real credit to the capabilities of the P900 that in these couple of extra seconds, at a distance of about half a mile, through a not very clean window, I managed to get anything identifiable at all!

Striking even at this distance!

Just as it flew out of view

Although Iceland Gulls are annual here, they very often don't stick around for long and I've just never been looking out the window at the right time - this is a full fat house tick! 

These distant views were a really good reminder of how big Iceland Gulls can look in flight.  Most Iceland Gulls at rest are clearly smaller than Herring Gulls, and if you see a large looking white-winged Gull in flight it is so easy to incorrectly conclude Glaucous (which are so much bigger than Herring Gulls at rest).  Yes Iceland Gull maybe smaller than Herring Gull, but they are a long winged bird and their whiter wings will always make them 'appear' larger than a darker winged bird even of similar size - especially in dull light conditions.   Just something to bare in mind if you encounter a flying white-winger.

Iceland Gull takes my lockdown house list to 85, with the other addition since my last post being Dunlin and Water Rail, both heard after dark on 28th.  The latter being particularly vocal.  Am pleased to report the Grasshopper Warbler continues to reel, although it seems to have moved a short distance as it's a bit quieter from the garden now. 

Although my camera was with me in the bedroom for the gull, I stupidly didn't take it with me today for my daily family walk.  As we came back through Black Hole Marsh the Ruff was showing exceptionally well, as can be seen with this phone pic...

Why oh why did I go camera-less!

And how can I not end this post without bragging about these beauts Jess cooked up today.  We are trying to eat sensibly during lockdown, but you've got to allow a treat now and then...

She's good at photographing the fruits of her labour too!

Stay safe everyone.

First Redstart and Iceland Gull

Yesterday morning was a dull and misty one, often conditions we don't do that well in during migration time. Still I thought it was worth a wander around Seaton Marshes, so took little Harry out for an early morning walk...

Next month he'll be a year old, how did that happen!??

Although in general the bushes were quiet, a cracking highlight came in the form of a smart male Redstart in the north west corner of the Borrow Pit, our first of the year. And it really was a stunner. Many spring male Redstarts actually have quite restricted orange on their breasts, with a mostly white belly, I've always put these down as second-year birds. This one though was orange the whole way down the breast to the vent area, so presumably a full adult male.  Pity it didn't stay put for another ten seconds as I'd be able to post a photo of it if it had!  Half an hour later Phil and Ian Mc had a female Redstart here, and Kev had a third bird (another male) in Couchill Woods later in the day. Clearly something of a Redstart-day!

Otherwise all I saw in the bushes were four Chiffchaff and two Blackcap, but the skies above were busy with low flying hirundines, about 50, and they spent lots of time perched up on overhead wires...

All three species here

Can you spot the two House Martins among the Sand Martins?

A House Martin flanked by Sand Martins

Three White Wagtails at Cowhayne Lane during the afternoon was the only other highlight during the rest of the day.

Today the weather has been tasty, but sadly I've had such little time out - I reckon the sea would have been worth a watch, especially this evening.  I did just about manage a look along the Estuary mid afternoon, which showed there had been a decent influx of gulls. Not the Little Gull I was hoping for but 69 Common and a first-summer Med Gull were north of Coronation Corner, and among the large gulls was - hugely pleasingly - my first Iceland Gull of the year...

It was always pretty distant from my viewpoint

Always love a white-winger!

Despite the distance, I'm happy it's a second calendar-year bird, and to me it looked a fairly hefty and especially long-winged individual. I could see it wasn't the bird Tim Wright had on the Estuary at the start of the month, and when Ian Mc twitched it he was certain it wasn't any of the three Iceland Gulls that he's seen on the Axe this year (he has done really well for them!). So I'm happy it's a 'new bird'.

This Iceland Gull just proves that even if you only have the shortest window of time to go out birding, use it...

Iceland Gull

I think gull flocks get over looked when it gets to May, everyone seems too preoccupied with spring migrants and over shooting rarities.  But if you go back through the county records mid May often brings a little pulse of white-winged gull records to the south west. There was a Glaucous Gull at Slapton at the beginning of the month and I was really hoping for one of these, but I'm certainly not complaining at seeing my fourth Iceland Gull of the year at 9am this morning...

Ian Mc found this bird at about 08:30. I didn't rush out for it but on the way to walking the dog I thought I'd drop by Coronation Corner in case it was still about. I'm glad I did.

Yesterday was a very wet day. I only had a few spare hours in the morning, and I spent most of them walking up and down Seaton Beach with wading birds in mind. The only waders I saw though were a flock of 30+ mostly Ringed Plovers that flew in off and quickly vanished in the gloom. When I later looked along the Estuary gladly they were there, 26 Ringed Plover and ten Dunlin.  The biggest group of Ringed Plover that I've seen here so far this year, just a pity there wasn't a Turnstone or two tagging along...

Excellent Gull Passage

What an exciting few days. February is a great month for gull passage and the last few days have not disappointed. Today I had quite a bit of free time and could barely tear myself away from the Estuary.  It was nice to spend time gulling with Gav too, just like the old days!  What was telling was that he wasn't even working in the area today...

Iceland Gull was the rarest of the days birds, found by Ian Mc at about 08:55 down by the tram sheds. It was a first-winter/juv, so not last weeks bird and probably my third different Iceland Gull in as many weeks!  I would have been able to post a nice photo of it here but for the bait digger who decided to flush the lot just after my arrival, so this is my only pic of it...

The middle bird. Yes I know it looks to have dark in the wing tips but that's just shadows

Next best bird was this second-winter Yellow-legged Gull.  I first saw it mid morning but sat with a bunch of Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the rain it looked short legged and rather unimpressive in overall structure, so I put it down as a probable hybrid-type. But Gav picked it up again later and we both watched it for much longer and in better light, and he soon managed to change my mind. Yes it was not long legged at all, and didn't have a strong bill, but everything else was absolutely perfect for second-winter Yellow-legged Gull. It was such a smart and clean bird, really pristine looking, hybrids always seem to look 'messy'. So a small female Yellow-legged Gull it is, but do drop me a line if you (Tim/Mike/Matt?) don't agree...

For me though today was all about the Lesser Black-backed Gulls.  There were 75 along the Estuary mid afternoon, but with birds coming and going all day, and no fewer than 40 birds on the river at any one time, who knows how many really passed through? As always with Lesser Black-backed Gulls at this time of year they came in a variety of mantle shades...

One of them was colour-ringed though, and it looks like 'V6VU' was ringed in Denmark. I will let you all know when I hear back about its ringing details, as this would be a confirmed intermedius if it originates from here. I do wonder whether all these spring passage Lesser Black-backs are intermedius though - even the slightly less black mantled birds!?

I only saw two adult Med Gulls today, but at least one of them was different from the five of yesterday. The five yesterday included a green-ringed second-winter, which was another new bird for me.  The last few weeks have seen a steady turn over of Med Gulls, I've seen at least 20 different individuals on the Axe this month, only two second-winters and one first-winter though.

Also yesterday the Lesser Black-backed count got to 44, and there were 135 Common Gulls which is more proof of gull passage.

Right let's leave the gulls for now, and I'll try and tidy up all my other patch birding sightings for the last few days. I'll start with the sea, and that's where I started today (as usual!). In 45 minutes I had eight Red-throated Divers and three Common Scoters west, along with a lovely pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.  There were at least six animals, including three calves that were jumping around all over the place, but they always remained distant and quickly headed off west.

Yesterday the sea gave twelve Red-throated Divers, but little else.  And on Monday I gave it an hour despite how quiet it was, and was rewarded with a fine drake Pintail close west with a Wigeon. Also two Red-throated Divers and a Razorbill.  I just WISH I stayed on an extra ten minutes or so though, as Ian Mc from another spot had a Velvet Scoter fly west shortly after I packed away my telescope. So gripping!!  I've given the sea so much time and effort this year hoping for something like this, and each watch one or two Scoters go by, but for me so far none of them have had white secondaries.  I suppose something like this was always going to happen though, I can't watch the sea all the time!

The Brent Goose is still knocking around with the Canada Goose flock in the valley, but another bad miss was a Goosander seen by others flying down and then upriver at dusk on Monday. Bums.

Dark-bellied Brent Goose

On the western boundary of our patch there's still Golden Plovers about, had 16 last Wednesday and 47 on Sunday morning. Also saw 50+ Snipe today in a field near Hangman's Stone (the Beer turn off on the A3052) which was a bit of a surprise.  

It's been nice to finally see some more Siskin about, I had 15 alongside the River Coly just north of Chantry Bridge last Saturday, and another couple over Lower Bruckland Ponds (yeah on my PWC patch finally!).

And last but by no means least, Chiffchaffs. Both Colyford and Branscombe sewage works are still home to plenty of Chiffchaffs, with many of them singing in recent days too which is nice.  The ringed tristis is still at Colyford WTW and there were at least two grey birds at Branscombe too.

Even wetter and windier tomorrow, can't wait to see what the Estuary has to offer us...

Jam with my Dinner

I couldn't have scripted it better myself!

Early afternoon today I noticed a few tweets from Portland about a Red Kite flying around the island. This was enough to make me open our small kitchen window as I cooked my pre-work dinner, in case the local Herring Gulls had something to tell me about. And I kid you not, no more than five minutes later the distinctive 'there's a raptor about' alarm call from the local Herring Gulls got me outside, and a few minutes after that there was a first-year Red Kite soaring above the field to the north of my house! 

It quickly got itself together and headed off south east with a Crow for company...

As you can see from the upper photo it's quite a distinctive individual. The bird is missing a primary from its right wing and the left tail folk is severely damaged. Do let me know if you think you see it, and I will be keeping a close eye on any Red Kite photos taken in the south west within the next week or so.  Wouldn't it be great if we were able to track its movements.

There was another treat today too, when a look through the gulls on the Estuary at 13:40 produced this stunning second-winter Iceland Gull...

What a beaut! And what a productive afternoon. More of this please...

Iceland Gull

Well this is uncanny!

Last week I blogged about how the large numbers of wildfowl in the valley annoyingly contained only the usual Axe species, then the next morning I went out and there were three Pintail. Last night I blogged about how I was really expecting a scarce gull yesterday afternoon considering the gulls numbers and weather conditions but failed, and at 08:30 off Seaton Hole this morning...

A flipping Iceland Gull! Apologies for the photo, I stupidly left my trusty Nikon P900 in my car so had to resort to my mobile phone camera. The light was truly awful as well, I first spotted it as it drifted out of the line of sunlight, albeit not all that far out, and it didn't move far from that spot...

Well until it took flight about two minutes later. It flew really close in west with three other gulls towards Beer Beach, but I couldn't see it there half an hour later.

Thanks to the light, and the fact it took me ages to line my phone camera up with my scope and the bird to get these few record shots (why is that SO hard!??), I didn't really obtain the best view of it, but I saw nothing to suggest it was anything other than a juvenile/first-winter bird...

Hopefully it hangs around for others to see, and I wouldn't mind a better look myself. But still, I'm well chuffed with it, and what a cracking PWC2017 year tick!

Iceland Gull

One of the things I love about birding is how just one bird can make all the difference. 

The first three months of this year have been some of my most frustrating for 'gulling' ever. Although we didn't have good numbers of gulls in January, much better numbers in February and March just wouldn't produce anything scarce. Many days seemed so promising, and each time I set my scope up to look through a gull flock I thought it was going to be. But no matter how many times a day I scanned through our Larid flocks they remained stubbornly rare-free zones.

At 13:38 today though this all changed, and all the unrewarding hours I've spent gull watching so far this year were instantly forgotten...

Yes an absolute beaut of a first-winter Iceland Gull.  What a cracker.

Also today there seems to be more hirundines about, have seen many more Swallow and Sand Martins but still no House Martin for me.

Yesterday a lone Sandwich Tern off the sea front which gradually made its way west was my first of the year. Fresh spring Sarnies always look so sleek and smart compared with the scruffy individuals that over winter with us.

I Hate March

What a cheery post title I know!

I usually rant most years about how March promises so much, but often delivers very little. So I won't rant again this year I promise!!!

All I will say is I've done a far bit of birding over the last few days, and have seen virtually nothing of note at all, let alone any spring migrants. This bloody fog doesn't help either - it hasn't lifted all day!

I did at least finally catch up with a/the first-winter Iceland Gull today, distantly viewable from Coronation Corner early afternoon...

It does have a head, just not when I took this photo!

Iceland Gull At Last

Had a text from Bun soon after midday, to inform me of an Iceland Gull on the Estuary. So naturally, I went straight to it!!

What a cracking bird, a real white one too! As you can see from the pics it's a nice second winter bird (my first of this age here!), and is surely the same bird that was seen here two weeks ago by one lucky visiting birder - that was also a very white second winter. Just makes you wonder where it has been for all this time! Anyway....

If you can't find it you need to go to Specsavers!

What a beast!

Bon Voyage

Avid and long-term readers of this blog will know that every winter I usually enjoy a birding trip to Norfolk with some of my fellow 'patchers'. Last winter this never happened, but instead, tonight we are driving up to Scotland for some birding fun! There's no lifers up here for me, but I've just not been to Scotland for 8 or 9 years - a return trip is definitely overdue!

Anyway, before I go, I really should update this blog with what little birding I've had chance to do over the last week...and I have two nights of moth trapping to update everyone on- wooopeee!

Birds first, and let's re-wind a week to last Saturday when Bun and I enjoyed an afternoon stroll through Black Hole Marsh and Colyford Common....

On Black Hole Marsh, a Little Ringed Plover (found by Ian Mc earlier in the day) showed on a spit from the hide. The only other summer migrants we noted were 20 Sand Martins and a Swallow.

The LRP - our second of the spring so far

From Colyford Common hide, a redhead Goosander on the river was a bit of a surprise - we couldn't enjoy it for long though as it soon swam up river and out of sight.

Sunday was a day of work, with no birding. Though I was very pleased to hear the Iceland Gull had returned, with Phil getting this cracking photo of it (see HERE). You can see what I meant when I said it still had quite a dusky and well marked head!

On Monday and Tuesday, well I can't actually remember what I did! So I can't have seen any decent birds!

Wednesday morning I spent a couple of hours on Beer Head first thing - it was dire!! Later on in the day, only my second House Martin of the year flew over my front garden. Swallows suddenly got a lot more obvious too. A couple of Sandwich Terns were fishing off the sea front early afternoon.

Thursday morning was another Beer Head morning, with the light northerly wind I knew it was going to be decent even before I got there.

Unfortunately I didn't have all that much time, so spent all the time I did have on the east side of the head - around all the bushes. The highlight was without doubt the two Redstarts (one of each sex) that were in The Summit bushes. The male quickly flew off north, and I caught up with him at first in The Sheepwalk, then again in The Dell. He was never approachable though, which is why the best photo I have of him is this...

Stonking bird!

Phylloscopus warblers were passing through in force too, with 50 Willow Warblers and 15 Chiffchaffs noted during my hour and a bit I was here. I just wish I had more time to look - I reckon there must have been a Pied Fly lurking somewhere!

Yesterday, an hour's birding revealed very little - and today I have/will be doing none. So that's the birding up to date :-)

Before I write about my two moth catches, butterflies are out in force now. Over the last few days I've seen my first Comma, Brimstone and Orange-tips, as well as plenty of these...

Small Tortoiseshells

Ok, it's time to clean up the moths! Last Friday night (1st April) I caught 30 moths of 11 species. No new species for this year, but several new for the year:

1 V-Pug
1 Streamer
2 Oak Beauty
1 Dotted Border
1 Early Thorn
16 Common Quaker
1 Twin-spotted Quaker
2 Small Quaker
2 Hebrew Character
2 Clouded Drab
1 Early Grey

Here are a couple of photos...

Streamer

V-pug

Last night, I trapped 34 moths of 8 species, same goes - no new ones but a couple new for the year:

1 Early Thorn
1 Brindled Beauty
1 Lunar Marbled Brown
8 Common Quaker
7 Small Quaker
8 Hebrew Character
2 Clouded Drab
6 Early Grey

Right, that's enough laptop work...time to get packing! Expect a bit of a monster post on my return....

Gulls And More Summer Migrants

The weather totally changed overnight, with the high pressure and blue skies of recent days replaced with rain and mist! A drastic change in weather conditions during migration periods usually means something happens on the birding front, so this morning I chose to leave 15 minutes early for band practice so I could give the Estuary the once over.

A scan with my bins over the rather small collection of big Gulls just north of Coronation Corner revealed the very exciting sight of an immature white winger! I quickly assembled my telescope to see...

...a first-winter Iceland Gull :-)

This is the first Iceland Gull (seen) on the Axe since August 2009. As you can see it was a very well marked individual with a fair bit of streaking around the eye and head, and some dark markings still on the scapulars and coverts.

It spent a few minutes in the water, before flying a short distance and landing amongst the main gathering of Gulls...

Note the second summer Med in the foreground!

After watching it for about 25 minutes, and just as Ian Mc pulled up, it took to the air and flew off north. Despite looking for it this afternoon, there's been no sign of it since :-(

Today has seen a fair bit of Gull action, with up to 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the Estuary and six Med Gulls...

All six of today's Med Gulls - the only adult was the metal ringed bird

The weather conditions really did 'feel' good today for some migration action, but aside ten Sand Martins, a Swallow and two singing Willow Warblers at Lower Bruckland Ponds late morning, it wasn't until I got to Black Hole Marsh mid afternoon that I noticed some actual passage.

Here 20 Sand Martins, several Meadow Pipits and a surprise flock of eight Ringed Plovers flew north over. Afterwards at Seaton Marshes I saw just four hirundines, but one of these was my first House Martin of 2011. It was with two Sand Martins and a Swallow feeding low over the southern part of the reserve.

To complete today's post, the Bewick's Swan is still in the valley, and during a quick sea watch late afternoon, my first Sandwich Tern of the year came in and flew around for a few minutes looking totally lost in the sea mist!...

Sorry about the awful photo, but as you should know by now - it never normally stops me! :-)