Bun Bags a Blyth's

Absolute full marks to Kev today, for a top quality find and a much-deserved reward.  He has been visiting Beer Head every single day since early April (he came here for his daily exercise allowance during the strict lockdown) but has actually seen very little.  Far less than any other spring that's for sure, but he didn't give up.

Last week he stumbled upon a couple of late singing male Reed Warblers.  Then mid this morning he scored with a patch first - Blyth's Reed Warbler!

There's an interesting story though, and a great lesson to all birders within I think. Am sure I am right in saying that from the moment he stumbled upon it he was thinking Blyth's Reed Warbler over Marsh Warbler, and during my time with it (about 45 minutes) I was convinced it was Blyth's Reed on song so put the news out as such.  But then over the course of the afternoon, more and more individuals on site and over social media seemed to favour Marsh. To the extent that BirdGuides officially re-identified it as Marsh Warbler, I believe primarily based on some South African species it was apparently mimicking (Blyth's Reeds winter in India so shouldn't come across these species ever, Marsh Warblers winter in Africa).

No one had still really seen it properly.  I managed a two second view of the middle part of the bird (behind its eye to middle of the secondaries so missing the crucial elements!) but nowhere near enough to add any weight to the identification.

When I heard it this morning it was giving an often steadily-paced and structured song (not rushed like Marsh) with some chuntering, tacking and amazing Nightingale-esque fluty notes interspersed.  Have a listen to this short clip I recorded on the P900. Fairly classic Blyth's Reed I thought...

There was quite a lot of mimicry involved though and it did at times speed up.  For anyone who has a spare two and half minutes, here is some out of focus grass with the Blyth's Reed singing in the back ground. A much longer and varied clip than above...

Anyway as I said, after I had left and gone off to spend the day with the family, it then became much less of a certainty, and by the end of the afternoon I had several messages saying it was a Marsh Warbler.  I did however also have some still saying definitely a Blyth's Reed!  I have been involved with many identification debates in the past where there's been if's and but's with opposite sides disagreeing - but never have I been in one where both sides were claiming clinching features (albeit only in the song) and each being so confident in their respective conclusions.  Any bird that creates this much uncertainty amongst experienced folk is clearly a tricky/a-typical individual.

Despite my Blyth's certainty at first all the debate made me wobble, especially around mid-afternoon after hearing more sound clips of the bird on social media and reading others' opinion. I virtually convinced myself we had all been fooled by a Marsh Warbler in sub-song and was preparing to hold my hands up - to the extent I had drafted the apologetic blog post out in my head.  I even began feeling guilty for all the birders who had trekked over on my duff gen. Blyth's Reed is a proper good bird for Devon, although Lundy have had a couple I believe only a recent autumn Berry Head bird (4th-6th Oct 2016, thanks for the correction Mike) has been available for the current county birding crowd.  Chris T did find one on the East Devon Commons last week, but it didn't hang around long enough for others to see. You can read his blog post about it here.

But then...

Tonight, although I couldn't get back up there, several of the local birders did and it showed much better. Revealing itself for sure as a Blyth's Reed Warbler.  Thanks to Kevin for allowing me to use his photo, which I must add was taken in strong evening sunlight making it appear a warmer shade of brown than it actually was...

(c) Kevin Hale

Short-winged with evenly spaced primary tips which aren't broad and pale-tipped.  In other photos head shape perfect too with a spiky bill, and overall posture and colour supports Blyth's too.  James Mc heard it give a very harsh and sylvia-like tek earlier as well which was handy.

This whole episode was such a good reminder that this birding lark isn't always straight forward, even on the occasions you think it is. Especially the case when it comes to these skulky little brown ones.  I do love birds like this though, even if they can be highly frustrating at times!

Thanks everyone for all your comments and thoughts today, and although I didn't see any visitors it was good to catch up with many of you over the phone.

Thanks again and well done Kev. The third rarest bird to be found on Beer Head in terms of UK records, and gladly another rare warbler which I always think we should do better for here considering the habitat and location. 

American Herring Gull

I am absolutely stunned. Can't really believe I am writing this post to be honest. At the time however it was all a bit stressful...

At about 2.15pm I pulled up alongside the lower part of the Axe Estuary.  As my car eased to a halt I glanced up to see how many gulls were gathered on the mud opposite, like I always do.  There wasn't that many to be honest, certainly not the carpets I was hoping for, but one of the specks instantly grabbed my attention, and without any conscious thinking my brain muttered 'dark juv Glauc' to itself... 

Isn't it strange how that happens. I literally could see no detail, but I guess as I have glanced up at these gulls so many times before, my brain noticed without me actually thinking, that something looked different about one of the 'shades of brown' I could see.  My bins went up, with my inner self naively confident I was about to get a bin-full of a dark chocolate brown juv Glaucous Gull...but what I actually got was a Herring Gull! My scope and camera came straight out...

At first I was just hopeful.  Yes I could see a matt brown bodied Herring Gull, virtually solidly dark from upper breast down to the legs, with dark tertials and fairly plain coverts, but the bird was asleep. I have actually been in his exact situation before, on a couple of occasions, only to be let down when I saw more.  But more than ever I was willing this bird to reveal a pink bill and large pale head... and it did!

Panic mode kicked in - the game was on this could be the real smithsonian deal!!! I could see it had distinctly zebra-striped undertail coverts, which was another big plus for American Herring Gull, and look at that strikingly shaped pale head with an unusually pink bill for a first-winter Herring.  Frustratingly though, the bird remained static so I couldn't see any more than just the very tip of its tail - the one part of the bird I really needed to see. 

All in all going well so far you could say.  But now take this into consideration....

1/ I have a bird that has all the hallmarks of a pukka rare, but I haven't seen the one clinching feature. The conclusive single feature that you must see.

2/ My phone battery was at 4%.

3/ My son was with his Nanny, who had to go out in twenty minutes time and is a five minute drive away.

Three stressful factors in what should have been a joyous series of events.  Anyway, I had to do something so bit the bullet...

I quickly phoned Gavin (who was half an hour away) and posted a message on the local WhatsApp Group "Got an American Herring Gull candidate on Estuary but not seen tail yet" . Then my phone died.  I was alone.

Thankfully the American Herring Gull 'candidate' didn't do what many gulls on the Axe tend to do. It actually stayed put.  Ian Mc arrived ten minutes later, and once I got him on (the now sitting down and asleep) gull, he kindly lent me his phone so I could call Nanny and inform her I will give her a lift to where she had to be, which gave me a further 15 minutes in the field.  A short while later Kevin and Phil turn up, and after about ten minutes I felt Phil had captured enough of the birds tail in a picture to nail it - seemed to be solidly black from base to tip.  Bingo. I borrowed Kev's phone to call Mark B, and gladly Gav soon arrived. It was the real deal.  An American Herring Gull, an Axe first, and my first ever full stop. Superb. And surprisingly the first new species for the patch since Least Sand way back on 2nd August 2016!

It was soon time for me to leave, but just over an hour later I was able to return in a more relaxed state.  I had a bit of charge on my phone, my Mum had been to town and returned home, plus Jess had now finished work so Harry was with his Mummy.  Finally I could properly enjoy this bird...

 

And then at 4:15pm it took flight, which I managed to video and subsequently grab stills from...

Although others had snapped the tail pattern, it was something I wanted to do myself so am delighted with the above two stills.  After I took this short video, it pitched down again for a brief moment, before upping and heading off out to sea.  

Will we see it again? I hope so.  But if not, what a privilege and what a brilliantly educational bird.  Am delighted to have found it too as that's now 18 species of gull I've found on the Axe (Glaucous Gull on 12th Nov 2010 being the 17th, so that's a nine year wait!).  Next easiest are Franklin's or Ross's I suppose - so I really cannot wait for number 19 because it's going to be a corker whatever it is!  Great Black-headed (or Pallas's for the kids) remains my most wanted of course.

Anyway, just to summarise for those who aren't so fussed about gulls, here's what makes the above bird a first-winter American Herring Gull (match the points to the images below);

1/ A pretty much all dark tail across the width from base to tip.

2/ Striped rump, no clean white areas.

3/ Distinctively striped undertail coverts.

4/ Solidly dark brown underparts extending to upper breast where it becomes more mottled. This single features made it look like such a dark young gull, strikingly so.

5 / Contrasting paler heavy-looking head. 

6/ Thick based mostly pale bill - most first-winter Euro Herring Gulls retain darker bills in their first-winter.

7/ Solidly dark tertials with narrow pale tips and just a bit of notching on the lowest.

8/ Solidly dark secondary bar.

9/ Far less notched and patterned coverts than you'd expect on a first-winter Euro Herring.

10/ A restricted pale inner primary window.

11/ An overall heavy and well built gull. Completely different structure to any large gull I've ever seen in fact - really front heavy with a broad breast and thick neck (well it is American!).

Things got even more interesting tonight, as closer scrutiny of the pics revealed this is the very same American Herring Gull that was seen at West Bexington on 25th and 26th January. When it first turned up at West Bex (found by Axe birder Ian Mc) I was egging it on to drop in here - can't believe it actually did! Just amazes me it's not been seen at any time in between, where has it been hiding!?

As ever with a rarity, the best part was sharing it. And am delighted most of the Axe patchers got to see it.  I really would love it to return though, as am sure there are many more who want to clap eyes on it - good luck all!

Although the following sightings feel a bit insignificant now, to complete the day they need to be mentioned. AHG aside it was a good gull day on the Axe, I saw at least 60 Med Gulls, with the actual total probably well over 100.  Also 120 Commons and rather surprisingly a first-winter Yellow-legged mid-morning...

There were a few waders about too, with three Greenshank and a Bar-tailed Godwit being notable winter Axe records.

Wow. What a day. Steve out.

Dusky Dipping

Well this wasn't the blog post I was expecting to write today...

I'm usually pretty early to bed every night, guess it's because I'm an early riser. But for some reason last night I was still up gone midnight, and just before I headed up to bed I had a quick look at my phone for any new posts on the blogs that I follow. I clicked on the latest post on the Axe Estuary Ringing Group blog - detailing their captures during their most recent catch on Tuesday of this week - and honestly I thought I was suffering with some sort of sleep deprivation, or that I'd just gone delusional. In front of me was a photo of a Dusky Warbler, the first Dusky Warbler ever recorded on patch!

Here's the pic that was posted, thanks very much to Doug Rudge for a copy of it...

Here's the same pic, but with a few notes pointing out the features that make it the rare that it is (click on the photo to make it and the writing bigger)...

The short primary projection really is striking, although Chiffchaffs have shorter wings than Willow Warblers, they never look this short.

Doug Rudge kindly sent me another photo today, sadly still no legs on show but it's nice to see the bird in different light... 

What a thoroughly gripping photo. Naturally this morning I was out on Stafford Marsh hoping and hearing, but it was so windy I wasn't expecting any joy, and I didn't have any. Whilst out there though I did find out exactly where it had been caught, in this net ride (between two small reed beds)...

There is every chance it is still around, we just need a day of calm weather so we can have a proper look.

This morning actually felt good, the first morning this month with some decent passage. I only gave the dog a quick walk along the beach, but in that time I had four Pintail, four Wigeon and two Starling in off the sea, with four different ultra distant duck flocks flying past and a constant stream of gulls on the move. If I didn't have a Dusky Warbler to look for I would have set my scope up and had a proper sea watch.  Also saw the four Gadwall again this morning, they were on Black Hole Marsh. 

Well what a surprising turn of events. I have always dreamt of finding the first patch Dusky Warbler, but identifying it without seeing the bird was most certainly not in the script!

Least Sandpiper

What an incredible start to August on Black Hole Marsh!  This exquisite adult Least Sandpiper delighted many by still being present this morning, a first for the patch...

And a (very) short video...

This appears to be roughly the 51st record of Least Sandpiper in the UK, and the sixth (or maybe fifth?) for Devon (the two Lundy records seem very similar and close together, but are listed as two separate records?).  The most recent of these records was a bird at Thurlestone Marsh in Aug/Sep 2005, prior to that you have to go back to 1966!

So that's why Mr Bailey Junior was so happy this morning...

Could Have Been Bad But It Was Baird's

Saturday I took Jess out for the day, a delayed birthday present (only three months late!). But right at the start of the day Phil phoned with news of a long-winged wader on Black Hole Marsh, either Baird's or White-rumped.  I don't need White-rumped for the patch so spent the next few hours hoping it was going to be another of these, but the bad news came early afternoon just as I was munching on a pork and apple pasty (which in my opinion was over seasoned, good meat should be left alone).

Thankfully though it did the decent thing, and when I returned home late afternoon a quick run to Black Hole (where for the first time I could really appreciate the recently tarmacked track to the Island Hide!) showed it was still present, and one of the closest waders to the hide.  Many thanks to Kev and Debs for letting me use their scope. Although there are heaps of staggering photos out there of it, I still had to get my own record shots...

I've never seen an adult Baird's before, but several juvs/1st winters. Whatever the age though that shape never changes, the long tapered wing tip of this species and White-rumped Sand is classic.  I thought it was actually a very pretty bird, very gingery overall with a gorgeous almost juv Curlew Sand-like peachy wash to the breast, and a very striking head pattern. I've always likened Baird's Sandpipers to weetabix, I hope Tim White doesn't mind me nicking one of his awesome photos from his website (http://timwhitewildlife.blogspot.co.uk/)...

Black Hole Marsh Baird's Sandpiper (c) Tim White

And...

Don't tell me you can't see it!? I will admit it is more obvious with the juvs.

A cracking bird for the marsh, and a great patch tick too.  I appreciated this one more than most because I (along with three others) have seen Baird's Sand on patch before, many many years ago though. I must have been about 14 and it was settled north of Coronation Corner late evening, but soon took off and flew out to sea. Oddly I have never forgotten the late Alan Bundy describing its call as "more like a fart than a bird call".  Sadly enough wasn't seen for the record to be accepted by BBRC, and I play by the books so it wasn't on my patch list. Well, it is now :-).

Black Hole has been superb during the last week, just this morning there were four Wood Sands on it, and last night Tim White had nine Ruff. On top of that there's been up to 50 Dunlin, 30 Ringed Plover, small numbers of Greenshank, Green Sands, a few more Common Sands, singles of Turnstone and Sanderling along with a few hundred Black-headed Gulls and double figures of Teal. What a place!

October Ends In Style

What a few days!!!  I'll start with Thursday...

Another day, another dog walk, and another Yellow-browed Warbler (or two?).  At Lower Brucklands Ponds late morning one of the first birds I looked at in a Tit flock around the top pond was a Yellow-browed Warbler - nice!  With so much movement, and so much cover, it was hard to keep tabs on it, but for a while every time I lifted my bins there was a Yellow-browed Warbler looking at me! There was one Chiff in the flock, and I saw that three times, but I must have seen the Yellow-browed(s?) about ten times!  Only heard Yellow-browed call twice, but I'm pretty sure there were two birds (and who knows, maybe more?) in there. Annoying really as I'd liked to have confirmed it if there were more than one, but never mind.  Lower Bruckland really is the local hot spot for this species, almost half of the patch records have come from here.

Soon after I got home I had a phone call from Gav, he was listening to a Yellow-browed in Axmouth just down the road from where last Saturday's bird was - so presumably the same one?  Great that someone else managed to connect with it.

Thursday night was incredible - without doubt one of the best nocturnal migrations I have ever witnessed over Seaton.  Redwing and Song Thrush calls were constant, some sounded so low and there were clearly some flocks involved too.  Just amazing.  Also heard a few Blackbirds and a Dunlin.  Love migration in action. Incredible. And it gave me a good feeling about Friday...

So Friday dawned, and at first it just produced some decent vis mig - Wood Pigeons, Stock Doves and Jackdaws in particular making the most of the clear skies - but there didn't appear to me many grounded migrants about.  I tried Branscombe (a very under watched site), Seaton Marshes and along the cycle track and Mare Lane in Beer (behind the Beer Cemetery Fields). Certainly thrushes weren't very evident so they all must have all flown straight over during the previous night. Turns out I was just in the wrong place....

Seaton Hole has been heaving with birds over the last week, I've seen the Firecrest there daily, but Friday was the first day I didn't go there this week. Ian M and Ian P (looking for the Firecrest) did and found a fantastic patch first - some would say an overdue one, but in my opinion not so, as they seem to turn up only at their favoured haunts year in year out. A lovely first-winter Red-breasted Flycatcher...

Although it was first found in the open on an isolated tree, it spent most of its time high in the conifer plantation on the left hand side of the road. As it was always high up my photos are not too good, but it was a great bird to watch.  And now I realise why they are only seen at their traditional stop over sites....because they are so hard to spot!  It would often sit motionless for several minutes, and could SO easily be walked past by even the sharpest birder.  It didn't call once, and if this bird was another 10 metres deeper into the wood no one would ever have known it was there.  The next photo should show you all what I mean, and bear in mind this was at the very top of the trees.... Can you see it?

I actually now think the only reason RB Flies appear to be so site faithful, is because they aren't looked for deep in random woods across the UK, which is where many of them probably are.  They like big trees and they like being at the top of them!

I really am chuffed to be able to add this bird to my patch list (my 253rd bird on patch). Although I think we've had them in the past, and am certain we will have more in the future, I think the chances of another actually being found is slim. So it's a good job this bird hung around for the rest of the day for all the locals to see.

Whilst watching this bird, saw a Firecrest and had a massive surprise when this Willow Warbler appeared in front of us!  My latest ever, just such a shame that when it came close enough to be photographed there was a bloody great bramble in the way....

Quite a pale bird, although it did had some yellow tones around the throat and neck.  Have to say when I first saw it head on and could just see a pale belly, striking supercilium and pink-based bill, I was half expecting to see wing bars when it turned around! Sadly not.

This morning I spent a couple hours kicking the stubble fields at Axe Cliff.  Lots of Linnets and Skylarks as is always the case up here in the autumn, but apart from four Stonechat no evidence of much else grounded.  Overhead there seemed to be lots on the move, plenty of Pigeons again and finches along with my first Golden Plover of the autumn.  The Raven population certainly seems to be thriving up here...

Bee-eater!

Well yesterday was a very exciting day, and I can't tell you how lucky I feel.

Every Sunday I always work 6am to 4:15pm. But yesterday, not only was it the start of new Sunday hours for me (now working until 7pm), because I had to go in for an early morning meeting, I had a couple of hours off in the middle of the day.... this was vital.

The first hint of Bee-eater action was former patch birder James Mc who had one fly west along the cliff-edge at Charmouth, which isn't far from our patch at all.  Bun reacted to this news by heading up to Axe Cliff, which is the western edge of the Undercliff and the most likely spot to see a coast-hugging migrant.  I think it was towards the end of his walk when he heard Bee-eater calling, and at the same time Karen saw one briefly by the parking area. But as soon as they saw it, it was off, and flew west.

Phil was at my place, and after hearing this news we debated heading to the coast, but thought standing in the garden would give us as good a chance. But then we had another phone call from Bun (many thanks mate, always good at keeping others informed) to say the Bee-eater was circling over the golf course in the distance. I bundled Phil into my car and we went off.

The next bit of news was less than hopeful though, as Bun said it seemed to continue west and flew off from the golf course. Oh bugger. We stopped along the Estuary to have a listen, nothing. I then thought maybe it was still worth popping up to the golf course as Bun and Karen were viewing from quite some distance away. We walked onto the golf course and within a minute Phil said "What's that on there?" (he didn't have any bins on him!)...

Patch tick! Probably the most colourful bird on my patch list!

Incredible!!!! Then ensued numerous texts and phone calls as we watched the Bee-eater sit motionless. Bun and Karen arrived, as did Tim Wright, but just before the next wave of local birders got to us, a Crow flew in and flushed it. I could have taken some photos of it in flight, but decided to record that lovely call. It's not just the Bee-eater you can hear though, I apologise for the language I use as I realise the bird was flying off. I was just really disappointed that it didn't stay put for a bit longer...

Thankfully for some, the Bee-eater was relocated further up towards Rousdon, along with four more! But sadly yet again they didn't hang around, and soon all five flew off west never to be seen again.  Bee-eater is a mega Devon bird, they just don't hang around.  So it really was a great shame that the Axe couldn't be the place many people added this beautiful species to their county lists.

This was my third UK Bee-eater, having found two singles fly through at Spurn. This was my first perched UK bird though, and what a delight to see. So happy!  And as for Phil, well it wasn't just a patch tick for him, but a UK first too! I hear he was jumping up and down in excitement for the rest of the day...

A Canadian Beauty

Although there are no where near as many gulls feeding off the beach now (and there hasn't been since Saturday) there does still seem to be plenty of large gulls about. I had a couple of looks along the Estuary yesterday but turned up nothing better than this Yellow-legged Gull wannabe.  I presume it's another one of those HerringxLesser Black-backed Gull hybrids...

These are seemingly more regular that pure Yellow-legged Gulls!

A few of the main give aways that this bird wasn't a Yellow-legged Gull were:

• pinky-yellow legs - short legged too
• mantle colour a tad darker and more 'sooty' than a YLG should be
• overall small size, a tad smaller than Herring Gull
• head streaking
• bill a tad smaller than Herring Gull and LBBG-like head shape

Today though I struck absolute GOLD with my second check of the river just before midday. There were a few more Lesser Black-backed Gulls about which is always a good sign, and at Coronation Corner through the bins an interesting-looking adult white-winged gull had me scrambling for my telescope.... it was a STUNNING adult Kumlien's Gull! Kumlien's Gull is a race of Iceland Gull that breeds in the Arctic region of Canada, and I believe this is the first record of this sub species for the patch!  And here it is...

What an absolute stunner!! Just look at that subtle grey patterning on the primaries. For me also, it's head shape looked a bit different than the average Iceland Gull, with a slightly meaner look to it. Overall it was probably just a tad smaller than Herring Gull - but not by much.

Annoyingly my mobile is not allowing me to text at the moment, so I asked Bun to spread the news on my behalf, but just as I was speaking to him the bloody thing took flight and started flying south. I quickly made for my Lumix and managed to fire off these shots as it went by...

Really pleased with these shots as they show the primary pattern quite nicely

Sadly it kept flying, and as it got towards the sea it seemed to veer east. With all the gulls around though, and more storms over the horizon, there's got to be a chance it will return? I really hope it does!

An adult Kumlien's Gull was seen off Exmouth sea front yesterday, the chances are this is the same bird. I have been sent a couple of images of it though, and to me it looks to have darker (almost black) primary markings. Terry if you read this what do you think?...

A Fitting Way To Go

Well a heck of a lot has happened since my last blog post!  Obviously the Green-winged Teal was fantastic, and winning the Buttons has literally made my hour, but there's been one major change in my life which comes above both of these...

My 106

I've had this car since I started driving in September 2004.  110,000 miles and eight years later the time has finally come to say bye bye.  This car has been just brilliant for me, yes I have spent money on it, but it's always kept going.  I have had a few near misses, a few bumps and prangs (as you can see!) but it's never let me down.  It was the middle of last year when my garage first advised me to start thinking about getting a new motor, so I started looking around - although I was always reluctant to let the Peugeot go because of how economical its 1.5 diesel engine is. I could drive from Seaton to Spurn (320 miles) and use only 2/3rds of a tank of fuel. And whenever bits did need replacing, they were always at the cheap end of the scale.

It has been getting more unwell within the last few months though, in fact within the last few days it hasn't let me reverse!  I actually think this was the cars way of protesting at me as it knew what was coming. 

Tuesday was my last day driving in it, and on the last 'lap' of the river, and the very last pull in, I found the Green-winged Teal.  This car has so many birding memories for me - good and bad (Pacific Swift...ouch!), so I thought this was a wonderful way of ending our time together.

So, out goes the old.  And in comes the new...

Say hello to Mr Toyota!

I have always wanted and often needed a 4x4, so I have gone with the most economical of them all - a diesel Rav4.  I've just come back from Plymouth in it, and it averaged 50.6 miles per gallon, which has really impressed me.  It's much bigger than what I'm used to, but I'll get used to it! :-)

Ok - enough about cars. Bird talk now...

I just have to start with the bird that won me chocolate yesterday.  I was only out because I'd be told about a Glaucous Gull that was seen heading our way.  Earlier in the day I had been to Colyford Common (dipping Stonechat - yes I still need it for the year!) and noticed lots of gulls on a flooded Colyford Marsh, which is why I went to the 'Farm Gate'.  I was disappointed on the gull front, but that soon turned to jubilation when I panned over to the main scrape and had a look through the Teal.  A long awaited addition to the patch list, and pleasingly one that we have (almost) all seen - hope you get it Ian and Dave!

The Green-winged Teal wasn't the only year tick yesterday, I managed another one during an hour's sea watch from Beer (08:30 - 09:30).  At 09:15 a Great Northern Diver flew close west, this is the first non-Red-throated, Diver that I've seen this year (oh, except a distant larger diver sp. on Jan 2nd), but the larger Divers have been very scarce so far this year.  The full totals of my watch were:

1 Great Northern Diver

7 Red-throated Diver (5w, 1e, 1 on sea)

14 Gannet

24 Kittiwake

6 Dunlin (flew w - unusual in a mid winter sea watch)

I will admit now, as I touched upon it earlier, that I then went to Colyford Common to twitch a Stonechat.  I found out Gav had seen one here a couple of days ago during my sea watch.  I just haven't bumped into Stonechat yet this year, and yes I know I will see one, but I was hoping to get all the easy stuff before I tot my list up at the end of the month. So I went to Colyford Common, I saw a second-winter Med Gull, but no Stonechat. Probably because of this...

Flood!!!  There was in fact a Little Grebe just the left of this picture - very odd for Coly Com!

Well you know what happened next (well after an hour at home and a half hour sea watch anyway!)... Green-winged Teal.  And it's about time I pointed you all to here: http://karenwoolley.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/green-winged-teal-on-colyford-marsh.html  Superb photos too considering the distance and weather!

So that sums up yesterday. To sum up the weekend, I had a brilliant weekend off, and even squeezed in a patch year tick thanks to Phil and Karen.  I've dipped these little critters several times this year, so was very pleased to see them feasting on alders on Sunday afternoon....

They are both in here - I think I did extremely well to ensure both were out of focus!

Monday was a day of lots of patch birding - just no birds! The six Gadwall being as good as it got.

I have very limited birding time for the rest of this week and this weekend - so nothing until next week please birders!!!

Patch First!

Long-eared Owl is a bird we all know we get on patch - maybe not often - but we must get them.  Despite this, before today this species wasn't on the patch list, they are just so elusive. We could have a winter roost of twenty in the Undercliff and not know about them!

So although it is a bird we know we get, I thought there was a good chance it could be a bird we may also never get! (if that makes sense!?).  So imagine my excitement when upon investigating an alarm calling Blackbird at the Beer Cemetery Fields, a brown wing flopped out and two orange eyes looked down at me!!!

I'll rewind back a bit, and I had spent almost an hour walking the arable fields around the Beer Cemetery Fields, hoping for a Lap Bunt or such like.  All but one field was almost bird-less, the one with birds was STACKED out - just common species though sadly.  So I headed back to the car via the usual bushy areas, though wasn't expecting much as it really was dull and gloomy.  Any self-respecting passerine would be hunkered down deep in cover.  As ever though, expect the unexpected!

So I heard this Blackbird, but to be honest it wasn't going crazy at all - in fact it even seemed to move some distance whilst alarm calling.  I still checked it out though.  And as I was approaching the bush, I heard some rustling, looked up, saw an out stretched wing and then two huge orange eyes looking down at me!!!  Not believing what I was seeing, I took my camera off my shoulder and was about to snap when it took off and flew out the back of the bush and around the corner.  Argggggh!  

I went off in pursuit, thinking all I was going to see was the back end of a flying asio Owl - but before I had even opened the gate I needed to get through  - it was flying back over my head!!!  With my camera already in 'ready to fire' position, I aimed and clicked...

If you enlarge the pic you can see those stunning eyes!

Then to my delight it then perched up briefly. Although not to my delight in the excitement I some how breathed on my camera's lens so the photo is even more gloomier than it already would have been...

Woooooooooo!!

After a few seconds it dropped down deep in to cover and I lost it, although I knew it hadn't gone far.  I sent the texts out and am pleased to say Phil and Tim were able to respond and added the bird to their patch lists about half an hour later.  I am not sure if anyone else tried for it this afternoon, but I'm sure it was still there.

Well I have gone on a lot longer than I though I would already in this post - so will sum up the rest of the birds I've seen today in one sentence; 35+ Redwings, 250+ Starling, one Redpoll sp. all fly overs and not much else.

A Patch Tick

It had been a long weekend for me, and after I spent the best part of Sunday at work, I got home and just collapsed on the sofa!

All of a sudden though, and out of nowhere, a surge of adrenalin got me up and driving as quick as (legally and safely) possible to the farm gate just north of Axmouth. Bun had phoned to say a Crane was on Colyford Marsh!

At about 20:00 I scored the patch tick, standing on Colyford Marsh scrape. It soon had a bit of a fly around and landed on the river where the Stafford Brook joins the Axe. I am so pleased to get this one under the belt, as it is one that has always hurt (as I have said before on this blog). I managed to fluff four Cranes that flew in off the sea one March morning about seven years ago. I think I am the only birder in the UK who has managed that!!!

I didn't get any photos as it was almost dark, so I was hoping it would stay over night. It did! This morning I spent half an hour watching it feed on Colyford Marsh from the entrance of Stedcombe House....

Crane overdose!

A quick catch up on Bubo showed that this Crane takes my patch life list up to 243. With Phil bagging Stone Curlew this spring, and all of us seeing this Crane, I think 2012 is going to go down as 'the year of unblockers'. Squacco Heron next please...

Also a quick note to say we have another patch blogger! It's nice to see Phil has started up this already great looking blog, No Further Than Kuwait.