Winter Woes

I've been walking the dog around Axmouth harbour pretty much daily for the last three weeks, hoping for maybe a storm-driven Grey Phal, or Little Auk, the patches first Spotted Sand (yes I think big - although we are somewhat over due one!), Snow Buntings or even just a Black Red. Well none of the scarcities/rarities in that list ever materialised, and it took until Sunday just gone for a Black Red to finally appear...

 

The following day there were two here, along with a late Wheatear on Seaton Beach.  Although no Spotted Sandpiper, it seems as though one of it's commoner cousins is going to over winter with us...

 

Am so glad to say that thrush numbers have increased.  Last Thursday and Friday I saw several flocks of Redwings around the patch, including a group whizzing about the estate I live in.  And I saw my first Fieldfare of the winter on Friday, with small numbers in Colyford (less than ten).

Have to say though, it has been a very poor autumn for many species of birds, especially finches.  It has to be the worst autumn for year for Siskins, I've had less than ten on vis mig this whole autumn, but in previous autumns I often see over a 100 in a morning. I've not had any true 'vis mig' Redpolls (just one in a woodland where they might breed) and I have still not seen/heard a Brambling.  Even Chaffinch numbers were way way down this autumn - and no Crossbills either.  I reckon there's still stacks of food in Scandinavia, and if something drastic doesn't happen weather wise, I think it's going to be a quiet winter down here in the south west.

Getting Back To It

First of all, I have to say thank you so much for all the comments, emails, texts and tweets in response to my previous post. I do have more to say, but I'm not going to. It's time to draw a line under it...

_________________________________________________________________________________

...and get back to what this blog is about.

We have been blessed with flat calm seas for a few days, and decent cloud cover making conditions ideal for sea scanning. Bird wise though there has been very little on the sea, with species you'd expect to see several of (Great Crested Grebe, Common Scoter, Cormorant, Shag) few and far between, or totally absent.  Thankfully though the last few days have seen a bit of quality appear!

I haven't seen Long-tailed Duck here for six years, and before that I'm pretty sure I've seen just one other. So you can imagine my thrill when I picked up two feeding in the bay off the Spot On Kiosk yesterday morning. Both are immature/female-types, but beyond that I've never been too confident at ageing/sexing distant non-adult male LTD's. One was considerably whiter than the other - and if I had to place bets I'd say they were both female's, and ad and an imm. Most pleasing is that they seem settled, and are still out there feeding this morning.  Also yesterday a drake Red-breasted Merganser flew around the bay for a while which was nice, as was my first settled Great Northern Diver of this winter.

This morning I gave Branscombe its second look of the week, and had two more settled Great Northern Divers, along with a fly by Red-throat.  There were way more Kittiwakes and auks off here than in Seaton Bay, so hopefully regular visits here will turn something up.  A snoop around the sewage works here earlier in the week showed four Chiffchaffs and good numbers of the expected species - sadly no Yellow-browed or Dusky.

Tuesday morning I undertook my usual woodland bird survey near Colyton. Nice to see my first four Woodcock of the winter, along with a couple of Fieldfare, 10 Redwing and a fly over Golden Plover. All very wintry! 

There is a very winter feel to the birding scene now, vis mig appears to have all but stopped and the hopes of a late autumn rarity seem far flung.  Before it did end I gave Beer Head probably it's last visit of the year, on the 15th.  It was nice to see a few Wood Pigeons flying over NE, only 1350, but it was my biggest passage of the year (which is terrible!). 

 

On the ground, four Song Thrush, three Redwing and a Chiffchaff were expected, but a late Wheatear not so...

Looks a bit more exciting in this picture than it actually was - always just a Northern sadly.

So there you have it, autumn 2013 done.  And now we are into the last phase of the year - the last phase of my year listing year.  Long-tailed Duck was my 188th species for the year, which is a notable number as its the first guess from Steve's 2013 Patch Year Listing Competition.  Here's a reminder of who guessed what I'd end the year on...

188 - Andrew  
189 - Karen    
190 - Phil      
191 - Julia      
192 - Bun    
193 - John O' Sullivan  
194 - Col      
195 - 'Corky'     
196 - Dave H      
197 - Jonny      
198 - Skev      
199 - Tim White    
200 - Gav

201 - Sue Murphy  
202 - Catharine    
203 - Sue Smith

So Andrew, if the year was to end now, you would be the winner. But I'm afraid it doesn't, and I'm sure there's at least a few more year ticks in it...
 

A Quickie

This really is going to be a boring, brief and photo-less post...sorry!

Yesterday I didn't really have any time for birding, but did squeeze in a quick trip to Beer to see two Slav Grebes found by Ian M. There seemed to be quite a lot of birds feeding out there - oh how I would love a nice flat sea!

Today I had a couple of hours out during the morning. The highlight was seeing the Wheatear again on Seaton Marshes, with two Stonechats. Wouldn't it be great if it stayed into 2012!

I didn't see anything of note up the valley, or at Lower Bruckland Ponds (certainly not the two drake Ring-necked Ducks I was hoping for!), and at Colyford WTW I saw just 6+ Chiffchaffs.

I think there's been another pulse of migrants within the past few days. Last night I heard several Redwings going over (for the first time in a week or two) and there seems to be more thrushes about during the day. Wildfowl and wader numbers on the Estuary seem to be increasing too at the moment.

Maybe there is still something left in 2011....

Fire-crested Wren

Yesterday I ended my post with the caption 'Woodlarks are fast becoming my favourite bird'. Well my all time favourite bird reinstated itself back on top today! A visit to Branscombe Sewage Works this morning rewarded me with superb views of this cracking Firecrest...

Not the Hume's I was after - but I don't mind because Firecrest are fab!

Also here were two Chiffchaff, plenty of Goldcrests and two Treecreepers amongst the usual selection of sewage work loving birds...

A Grey Wag

A look along the Estuary this afternoon showed we are up to six Barwits. Although to all readers of this blog this probably means nothing, to us these Barwits are very notable! Bar-tailed Godwits are not usual winter residents on the Axe, they can best be described as regular but not numerous spring and autumn passage visitors and very rare and irregular winter visitors. We have had between four and six here now for the past couple of months - very exciting for the Axe birder!

Also on the Estuary were three Med Gulls (2 ads and a second winter) and 68 Canada Geese, including this slightly odd plumaged bird that has been around for a few weeks...

I'm pretty sure I've seen this bird in previous winters too

On Seaton Marshes I noted two female Shoveler, and the Wheatear remains - meaning today becomes my new latest ever date for this species...

It certainly looks Greenlandy to me - but why isn't it a rare one!!!??

I finished by birding day at Seaton Hole today, where eight Great Crested Grebes were on the sea, and a female Black Redstart was on rocks to the east...

It wasn't an approachable one though!

I forgot to mention in yesterday's post, that whilst at Seaton Hole yesterday, two Brent Geese flew west.

So although we are stuck in a mild spell with apparently very little happening - I've still managed to have an enjoyable birding day on patch :-)

A Day Late

Thought I'd post up a quick one, as I had a couple of hours out yesterday afternoon.

After I got my car back from its service, my first port of call was Seaton Marshes where a Wheatear had been reported. A December Wheatear just HAS to be something good, surely...

Although this photo is rubbish, I think it still shows the answer

...just a Northern Wheatear! I'm pretty sure Phil has seen a February Wheatear on the Axe, which means there's only one month of the year that Wheatear hasn't been recorded on patch. Pretty mad that really isn't it!!!

I then had a good look through the gull on the Estuary afterwards (at about 2pm). There were six Med Gulls again, and like the other day, it was four adults and two second-winters. One of the adults was wearing a white colour ring.

Last time I managed to photograph four out of six Meds. This time I got all six. Just....

Meds galore!

Frustration...

Yesterday wasn't a good day! The Desert Wheatear that was meant to land on Seaton beach, didn't - and a Spotted Sandpiper well and truly stuck two primaries up at us as it was feeding on the rocks at Lyme Regis (and looks like it has been for several weeks!). Let's just hope the Spotted Sand does what none of the wintering Purple Sandpipers ever have...

The best yesterday had to offer me was this...

A Black Swan with the Stedcombe Mute flock - still present today. Oh dear!

Today I had just over an hour out this morning, this is when the real frustration came! Whilst walking through the boats at Axe Yacht Club I glimpsed a Wheatear....

Shortly after I spotted it perched up in full view....

And....

It.....

Was....

A....

Bloody Northern Wheatear. Bugger.

You ****!

The Brents and Greylags were still on Colyford Marsh, and there were at least 24 Dunlin on the Estuary.

This afternoon I had a gig in Lyme Regis, so I headed over a little earlier to get an eye full of this Spot Sand. It's a well known fact I am the worst twitcher, and five minutes before I got there it flew off over to the end of the Cobb, and I didn't have time to walk round and see it.

Oh well, a stonking male Black Redstart was nice compensation though...

Stunner!

After the gig I had another look, despite the fact it was getting on for dusk. The Spot Sand hadn't come back, but there was now a female-type Black Red on the rocks...

It was dark so these pics are a bit shabby!

Is it my eyes or does the lower pic make the bird look like it has a rusty breast/belly? I have to say I didn't notice it in the field, so I presume it is something to do with the dreadful light, and nothing to do with the fact it could have come from a long way east!

I'm a bit concerned by the urges I felt today to go to Chew Valley Lake. Maybe if I look at this photo of Lyme Regis at dusk for a bit it might sort me out...

A Wet One

It really is - and windy too! I couldn't muster the enthusiasm for a sea watch though, and have been doing my usual whizzing backwards and forwards checking as many places as possible!

First of all the 'hangers on', and the two lovely Snow Buntings were still at Axe Yacht Club. They were still showing very well in exactly the same place despite the awful weather. I couldn't see the White-rumped Sandpiper today, but judging by how elusive it was yesterday it could well still be with us.

I had a bit of a fright again this morning when I looked over part of the Tesco site...

Oooooohhhhh, I recognise that shape.....

Although I saw a (Northern) Wheatear here in exactly the same place a couple of days ago, I still noticed 'the shakes' creeping in as I reached down to my bins..

As I raised my bins to my eyes, I was picturing the cold plumaged Pied Wheatear I was about to get an eye-full of........

....BUGGER!

Oh well - that's one for another day!

Ten Brent Geese (first seen last night) were on Colyford Marsh this morning, and looked very nice huddled together in a tight flock. It was hard to make each bird out, but at least five were juvs.

An early afternoon sweep of the Estuary showed good numbers of gulls, including two colour-ringed Great Black-backs and two lovely Med Gulls...

Second winter and adult

I'm working at 4 today, but am hoping to have another look through the gulls before I start. If I find something decent, expect another blog post later...(always hopeful!)...

A Lifer On Patch!

I spent a lot of time out this morning, and covered a lot of areas. It started with five of us watching over Colyford Marsh soon after dawn hoping for last night's probable Rough-legged Buzzard - but nothing (and no pale Buzzards either!).

The best Lower Bruckland offered was a Chiffchaff, I walked almost all of Seaton beach which showed nothing, and when I did have a fright when a Wheatear appeared on the Tesco building site...I was immediately disappointed cuz it was just a Wheatear! So I was going to sum up my birding day with this photo...

A dead fish!

But then I had an early afternoon sweep of the Estuary....

I was scoping through the gulls which were resting north of Coronation Corner, and soon came across a nice adult Med Gull. I continued scanning up the river, and noticed a couple of small waders feeding in amongst the gull flock. I zoomed in and was immediately struck by an attenuated rear end! A look at the shape of the rest of the bird got my heart rate going - it must be a Baird's/White-rumped!!!

I ran from my car, and scoped it from the side of the Estuary just north of Coronation Corner. It was distant, but thankfully with a Dunlin. The different feeding action, shorter bill, and the whole shape of the bird prompted me to start making phone calls. This distance meant I could see very few plumage features - just that its mantle wasn't plain and it looked overall darker than the Dunlin, with some facial markings. Although I've never seen White-rumped Sand before, this is what it 'felt like' to me...

Ian Mc and Karen soon joined me, and they both agreed with my observations. It soon became much harder to view as it continued to walk even further up river, so Ian and I sped round to the Black Hole Marsh car park, where Gav met us. Many thanks to Karen for staying on the bird for us.

We promptly pegged it to the hide, and thankfully it was still there....a (we think an adult in mostly summer plumage) White-rumped Sandpiper! Although it did take a good 15 mins 'til it actually showed us its rump!

The light was 'flat' but good, and the views excellent of this stunning bird, but all my photos have turned out totally and utterly pants! This is the best I have...

It does kinda shows face pattern, mantle, streaks on upper breast and flanks, bill and body shape

I don't know why and how I have never seen this species before. I guess it's one of the birds I've just not been near, and thought never warranted twitching as I knew I'd bump into one one day. Funnily enough this autumn I was a day away from twitching the Davidstow bird, but it 'did a bunk!' I've been waiting for another 'nearish' one to appear - I was right to wait! :-)