Seawatching

May is my favourite month for sea watching without a doubt. Everything is in fresh spring plumage and the variety of what can fly past is as good as it gets (skuas, terns, shearwaters, divers, wildfowl, waders, etc) and we often do get a good blow at some point during the month.  I love it!  

But this can cause problems....  Birders know just how painful it can be when you are tied up with 'daily life' and there is a bird or are birds you want to see. It could be a rare, a movement or fall and you're stuck at work/in the middle of a shopping trip/have the kids for the day - I'm sure we've all been there. Now I'm very lucky, first of all Jess is very understanding, and has now learned it is always best for everyone if I just go.  But I am sensible about it, and I can cope with missing most things now except for 1/ a patch tick and 2/ may sea watching.  Although with sea watching you can kind of predict what you are going to see, there is just something so magic about watching birds migrating over the sea as they head to their breeding grounds. I find it so SO hard to leave/ignore a busy spring sea.  

The weather looked good for Monday 2nd May, not great but good enough, so I watched from the Spot On Kiosk on Seaton seafront 05:55-08:20 and 14:00-15:00 and saw;

4 Great Northern Diver (1 s/pl e, 2 s/pl w and 1 w/pl on the sea)

1 Black-throated Diver (w s/pl w)

16 Pale-bellied Brent Geese (w in one flock at 06:08)

31 Common Scoter (all w, biggest flock was seven)

122 Manx Shearwater (40 in morning and 72 in afternoon, all west)

1 Great Skua (w at 07:45, Dan J had it past Sidmouth just under half an hour later)

2 Arctic Skua (2 d/ph hassled gulls then flew e at 06:30, they were later seen past West Bay and possibly the same two through Chesil Cove at 07:50 per John Down)

4 Kittiwake

6 Sandwich Tern (two groups of three w)

2 Whimbrel

2 Ringed Plover (two singles w along beach)

4 Sanderling (two two's w with Dunlin)

210 Dunlin (a very impressive movement with flocks of up to 40 flying w, they dried up by 8am)

So although I have had much better May sea watches, there was a real nice variety and some decent movement.  The skuas were the first one's I've seen on patch for almost 18 months (missed the few we had last year) and the Dunlin movement was really quite spectacular. It's just a pity there wasn't a bit more rain about because then the waders would have come on to the beach and up the river valley instead of just passing.

I didn't manage to video any of the real goodies, but here's the Brents, a Whimbrel and a Fulmar...

The relatively new phenomenon that is the spring Pale-bellied Brent migration is fantastic. We don't get flocks of geese down here in this small valley, so it is about as 'Norfolk' as birding can get for us. The flock past the sea front was great, but I had an even better sight that evening...

The girls and I were enjoying a wander around Lyme Regis, and just after we arrived I noticed on twitter a flock of c60 Pale-bellied Brents were flying around over Weymouth (Julian Thomas) and then flew west through Portland Harbour. I knew they were coming so kept one eye on the sea, but I actually nearly missed them because of this....  They left west from Weymouth at 17:13 and at 18:05 I was suddenly aware of Brents calling. I turned around and was greeted with the beautiful sight and sound of 70 Pale-bellied Brents flying rapidly west between us (on the end of the Cobb) and the town. It's a short clip, but just listen to that sound!! (and not my wife asking if it's a ship or a boat!)...

A quick calculation indicates they were traveling at about 28mph - love being able to work things like this out! I fired off a quick text to let the other patch birders know that there were heading for Seaton, and Tim Wright managed to make it down to the sea front just in time to see them/some of them pass by.

I would really love to know where these Brents come from, maybe Holland or France?  They only seem to appear at around Portland, fly west along our part of the coast then always seem to settle on the Exe Estuary for the rest of that day.  It is such a predictable passage now that it clearly is a movement of birds from a regular wintering site to their breeding grounds, presumably in Canada. AMAZING!

Isn't the weather looking promising for the next week. Not for sea watching, but it's looking good for some rare herons, warblers, maybe something better... and surely a tan!? 

Some Nice Variety

Yesterday turned out to be a pretty decent day.  The only migrants about in quantity were hirundines (about time as I've only seen small numbers so far this year) with 200+ at Bridge Marsh during the morning, mostly Swallows but also several House and Sand Martins...

Was really hoping for a Red-rumped...

Although there wasn't anything else about in quantity yesterday I did have some nice snippets of quality, including my second Lesser Whitethroat of the year rattling away whilst watching these hirundines. Amazingly I have still not seen or heard a Common Whitethroat on patch this year, so to have two Lessers before any Commons is just weird. Sometimes I don't see any Lessers in an entire spring, compared with tens and tens of Commons. 

Just prior to this, I had a Grasshopper Warbler reeling for about twenty seconds lower down the Estuary near the Riverside workshops. Really thought I'd missed out on one of these skulkers this spring, they've been few and far between like many other passage species.  

I did Beer Head as well, but after flogging the eastern half of it I thought it was going to be a complete write off, the bushes were dead. When I reached the old Coastguard Lookout though a nice double whammy made it all better...

A fairly shy but very vocal male Redstart, only my second of the spring

This gorgeous male Whinchat, also my second of the year

I spent a lot of time with the Whinchat, it was a pity to leave him as he was such a stunner...

And now to today, which has been pretty disappointing.  I was up at 5am, and at Beer Head for 6am with my mist nets and poles. To me the weather looked perfect for a fall, the wind had switched round to the south west overnight, and was light, plus there was 100% cloud cover. I also checked some European satellite images last night which showed a high pressure sitting over the Med with virtually no cloud between us and southern Spain.

By 8:15 I had caught just three birds, two Chiffchaffs (both possibly local breeders) and a Robin. The only other grounded migrant I saw was a Sedge Warbler in full song - which was a bit of an odd one.  That was it for the bushes, pitiful and far from a fall. Two summer plumaged Golden Plover over low west were nice mind, with eight Whimbrel doing the same a little later. 

By this time last spring I had trapped and ringed 127 birds at Beer Head, including 76 Willow Warblers. The three birds I caught here this morning were the first three birds I've ringed up here this year.  I have tried, I've woken up at 5am on five mornings this month, but all sessions have been no good.  On three of these visits the net sites were completely blown out by an easterly wind (my rides are fairly sheltered from anything northerly or westerly, but exposed to easterly winds), on another thick fog and clear skies above deemed the session a fail before it begun, and the fifth attempt was today - when there just weren''t any migrants about.

The best sight of the morning was during one of the daily dog walks, when a flock of 16 Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew close west past the sea front...

Just about got them all in frame!

They flew past me at 09:52, I tweeted Dawlish Warren and texted Lee C, and later learnt Dave Jewell had them off the Warren fly in from the east then south at 10:27. Always love it when migrating birds are tracked, and it's really interesting to know it takes a Brent Goose flock about 25 minutes to fly just under 20 miles.

By the time they reached Dawlish they must have lost the 17th bird of the flock. Can you spot the Brent Goose-wannabe?

You don't fool me Mr Carbo

Pom-Tastic

Last night I witnessed some very dramatic scenes on Seaton beach. Although there was almost no wind, the true power of the sea could be seen. Foam was everywhere, and beach huts were being knocked about like they were made of polystyrene. I watched several being 'sucked' from the beach and into the sea, where the next large wave destroyed them with seemingly no effort at all. This morning, half the beach huts on the west walk are damaged/destroyed/gone, likewise many on the east part of the beach.

It looked like snow! Note the green beach hut facing the wrong way!

This morning I was up at 05:45. After quick look at the sea front to check on our beach hut (which had thankfully survived the night) I was at Beer shelter for 06:15. Bun and Karen joined me briefly from 06:30. Although there was nothing like the Skua passage of yesterday, it was still an enjoyable sea watch with some nice sights.

The highlight was an adult summer Little Gull soon after I arrived, it was feeding whilst slowly flying west. I really enjoy the Brent Goose passage too - although I had missed a flock of c45 that came through prior to my arrival (seen by Gav from Seaton).

My totals for this watch, 06:15 - 08:15, were (west unless stated):

93 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (four flocks, one of a flock of six had a lot of white in the wing - anyone else seen this bird?)
6 Dark-bellied Brent Goose (in with the Pale-bellies)
6 Gadwall (4 and 2)
49 Common Scoter
4 Great Northern Diver (1E, 2W and 1 sum plum close in on sea before also flying west)
13 Manxies
13 Whimbrel
4 Bonxie (2E, 2W - at least three birds involved for definite)
1 Arctic Skua (pale-phased adult flew distant east but came in and flew back west close in)
1 Little Gull
6 Kittiwake
10 Sandwich Tern
8 Razorbill
13 auk sp.

If you enlarge this photo you can just about to make our four Dark-bellied Brents

So, it was an enjoyable sea watch...but still no Poms. I thought I had blown it...

I was at home doing things that needed to be done, but a quick check on Portland Bird Obs website had me heading for the door again! They had had Poms in Chesil Cove and past the Bill, I was still in with a chance - so I went back to Beer.

I sea watched 10:30 - 12:30, and what a great watch it was! This is because I saw not one, but SIX Pom Skuas! Y-e-e-e-e-a-a-a-a-h-h-h-h-h!

At 11:15 I picked up a flock of four Skuas way off to the east flying west, I knew instantly they were Poms. I watched them for the next fifteen minutes as they made their way across the bay and out around Beer Head - twice they stalled briefly on the sea, but they didn't stay down for long. The flock comprised two full-spooned pale-phased birds, a slightly darker intermediate-type full-spooned bird, and a dark phased 'spoon-less' bird. I sent some texts out, and Gav and Ian M both reacted and were alongside me within half an hour. I have to say, I felt bad though because there was absolutely nothing to see! Since the four Poms, the sea had gone dead.

Well, that was until at 12:20 when Ian picked up a Skua heading east - another Pom! And with it a second one. These were both pale-phased birds, one with spoons and one without. The spoon-less bird briefly harassed some Sandwich Terns before continuing on east. Result! So pleased for Gav too.

The full list from my second sea watch of the day looks like this (west unless stated):

24 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (in two flocks; with Gav's flock we've had c170 of these today)
12 Common Scoter
1 Black-throated Diver (a really close winter-plumaged bird west)
42 Manxies
1 Bonxies (east)
6 Pomarine Skua (4W, 2E)
1 Med Gull (first summer feeding offshore)
3 Kittiwake
33 Sandwich Tern
4 Razorbill

Also of note, throughout both these watches I saw several hirundines and other passerines fly in off the sea, indicating that it was a good day for passerine migration today. Wish I had more time because I would have 'bashed some bushes' if I had.

A Long Awaited Birding Update

Time to get this 'birding blog' back up to date.... and to be honest that won't take much because besides the birding highlights I've already blogged about (including the 'plastic' White Stork!), I haven't seen all that much!

It has been a bit of an odd spring for us (again!). Very few 'good birding days' with lots of migrants about - but the potential has always been sky high with excellent rarity conditions and other sites turning up some cracking birds.

I was gutted to miss the monster flock of Pale-bellied Brents that flew from Portland Harbour to Dawlish Warren on 16th April. They did indeed fly past here, but while I was making a cup of tea - I had been waiting for them for two hours and at THAT moment felt my thirst needed dealing with! There were two small flocks of Brents sat on the sea totalling 36 birds, but that wasn't much compensation for a flock of 220+....

They were pale-bellied, honest!

With regard to the sea, for me this has been poor and very uninspiring this spring. I wish I had more time to look over it within the past week with these strong easterlies, but we have just lacked the much needed wet weather and blustery southerly winds. The odd Common Tern, a few small flocks of Manxies, a couple of Whimbrel and a Ringed Plover is all I can report.

Wader passage picked up at the start of this week, on Tuesday morning on Colyford Marsh there were: three Barwits (two in stonking summer plumage), six Blackwits, one Greenshank, two Ruff (females), nine Dunlin and a lovely Wood Sandpiper (my second of the spring - an Axe first for me!). Black Hole Marsh I have to say has been very disappointing - the water levels look ideal and have done now for several weeks, but birds just aren't interested in it!!

Now to passerine migrants, which as I've said already have been rather few and far between for me. I suppose my highlight was a Grasshopper Warbler which after reeling for a few minutes, showed really well for about a minute on the edge of a bramble bush at Black Hole Marsh.

I got a couple of year ticks on Wednesday morning this week, with a Yellow Wagtail over Colyford Common and a very vocal Lesser Whitethroat singing from bushes alongside the tramline adjacent to Coronation Corner. The Lesserthroat was still singing there this morning, and can be easily heard from the road alongside the Axe Estuary - when there are no passing cars that is!

Swifts are now frequent over the town - they seem to have taken their time coming in this year. I saw my first only three days ago!

The hedges between Axmouth and Rousdon are packed full of Whitethroats as ever, as are the reeds and shrubs in the valley of singing Sedge and Reed Warblers...

Sedge Warbler at Black Hole Marsh

And to finish this long awaited post, I just had to point my camera at this stonker...

A fine male Reed Bunting