Red-necked Grebe Chard Res

I have a real soft spot for the winter Grebes, so an inland Red-necked not all that far away proved too tempting to resist. Late this morning I found myself crossing the border heading to Chard Reservoir where Dave Helliar had found a Red-necked Grebe on 25th Nov. Apparently this bird represents only the second record of Red-necked for the Res, following the first way back in 1978!

As soon as I arrived I picked it up where it spends most of its time, loafing with the large spread out flock of Great Crested Grebes in the north arm of the Res...

But on two occasions I was lucky enough to watch it swim in close to the east shore of the north arm to fish...

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Thanks to the Grebe, it really was smiles all around for this little off-patch jaunt...

Thanks Dave!

A Born Again Twitcher?

A proper rarity today - I've been twitching! I'll be honest, twitching isn't my thing, I have nothing against those that do, it just isn't for me. I'm a bit of a loner birder to be truthful, and although I like driving, hours sat in a car for one bird doesn't really appeal to me.  There are two reasons though why I may overlook these negatives...

1/ Because I think the opportunity to watch the species in the field will give me some valuable experience if I was to find one in the future.

2/ Because I want to see it.

There's been two birds in the south west over the last couple of days that have been tempting me. The Brixham White-billed Diver attractive due to reason number two. I saw the Hayle bird, and that was one of the best birds I've ever seen!  What's not to like about a big Great Northern Diver with a rhino horn for a bill!

The other bird is the Brunnich's Guillemot in Portland Harbour, this tempting for reason number one.  It is a bloody rare bird too, one I never thought I'd get the chance to see in the UK.  Anyway, it didn't take much to turn today into a part twitching/part shopping day with Jess, and at 10:30 this morning we tagged onto the the end of the large crowd of birders/twitchers/photographers on the edge of Portland Harbour.  

Within a few moments, and without knowing when and where it was last seen, it popped up right in front of us!!

Then followed the expected small stampede of a group of photographers, all wanting to understandably get in line with the bird.  This proved quite funny to watch, as the bird travelled surprisingly long distances under water, and often only surfaced for a few seconds.  This meant that often by the time the photographers had reached the Guillemots position, it had gone back under!  Jess and I just stood still, and in the ten minutes we were there it surfaced about five times right in front of us, despite at times being out of view to the left, and very distant to the right.  So my advice is, pick your spot and stay there - your time will come...

 

 

I'm not sure where it has been for the past few days, but it spent the whole time we were there along the near shore, most of the time between us and the jetty pictured here (which had several people on it - not bothering the Guillemot at all!)...

You can see in the photo below the same jetty, inside the marina, with the mass water body of the main harbour behind. Really lucky that it's feeding inside the marina, imagine finding it, and the views you'd get, if it was elsewhere in the harbour! I've previously seen a Surf Scoter in this small part of the harbour too.

And the last shot from here, our last view of the Guillemot...

Then it was Weymouth time (and lunch time -  McDonalds for two!), with shopping interrupted briefly by a couple of Mediterranean Gulls...

And an opportunity for Jess to feed her favourite water birds, Coots...

 (I really don't know why she loves Coots so much, but she really does!!)

I then managed to wangle a five minute scan from Sandsfoot Castle (along the north shore of Portland Harbour). What a worthwhile stop this was with at least two Red-necked Grebes (one really close), 17 Black-necked Grebes (one flock of 14 and a trio) and at least three Slav Grebes.  The sea grebes are all pretty scarce on patch, so this really was a treat for me!

The view from Sandsfoot Castle

If we'd had more time I would have tried for the two white-winged Gulls on offer, but we had to return home mid afternoon.

So sat here tonight, can I say it was an unforgettable experience? Well no, not really.  At the end of the day it is an auk with an extra white stripe!  I'm sorry if that offends you, but come on, how often do you look at a winter plumaged Razorbill or Guillemot and go 'ooooohh - what a stunner!'. But if I ask myself whether I'm pleased to have seen it? Well the answer is most certainly yes.  

And my next question?  When can I fit in a trip to Brixham....

Scotland Trip - Day Five

The final day...

Day Five - Thursday 14th April

After breakfast, we loaded up the trusty Corsa and said farewell to Glenan Lodge at about 9am. I can highly recommend this B and B, it is good value, the rooms are very comfortable and the breakfast very yummy!!

We all wanted one last look at a summer plumaged Black-throated Diver, so this was the first port of call. It didn't take us long to find a pair of these stunners showing very well indeed...

Just stunning!

Also on the loch were a summer plumaged Red-throated Diver and a pair of Wigeon. Yet again Red Grouse were all around us!

We then headed north (yes I know - even further away from home!), and soon stumbled upon a surprise male Black Grouse...

It appeared to be displaying to itself - unless there was a female hiding somewhere nearby?

After about 50 minutes driving, we'd reached Nairn where we wanted to do a bit of sea watching from...

Looking north from the harbour car park at Nairn

It didn't take long to pick up three Long-tailed Ducks, several Eider, Goldeneye, Red-breasted Merganser and Sandwich Tern - then a fine summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe appeared out of nowhere.

A Goldeneye flashing!!

Also here, there were at least 50 Turnstone, a couple of Ringed Plover and a Hooded Crow.

We took to the road again, and headed around the coast (for over two hours!) to Rattray Head - this is where a King Eider had been reported on a couple of days within the past week. Whilst driving here, a singing Corn Bunting and several Yellowhammers were 'trip ticks'.

We got to Rattray - then began to drive out to the head. We hadn't gone far before I just HAD to pull in...

Grey = Geese

There were thousands and thousands of Pink-footed Geese feeding in road side fields, what a sight!! A look through them revealed a couple of sandy brown leucistic Pink-feet, and singles of Greylag and Barnacle Geese.

On the other side of the road was a huge Ley - this had plenty of diving ducks and Great Crested Grebes on. A couple more Corn Buntings were singing here too, though remained annoyingly invisible!

We eventually got to the car park at the end of the track, and walked out over the sand dunes past a flock of over 200 stunning mostly summer plumaged Golden Plover.

Rattray Head beach and lighthouse

There was no sign of the hoped for King Eider, but there was just so much to look at it was fantastic! On the beach were Sanderling, Redshank and a surprise Ruff. About 100 Eider were loafing about just offshore, and behind them AT LEAST 210 Great Northern Divers!! Also 6+ Red-throated Divers, and auks were constantly flying past north, with a few Kittiwakes and Gannets also noted.

A quick check of Birdguides on my Blackberry showed that the/a King Eider had been seen on the Monday just gone on the Ythan Estuary. As this was south of where we were, and on the way back home, we thought we may as well stop off here...

A quick check of the Estuary from a few stopping places on the A975 showed the Estuary was heaving with birds. Pintail was the only bird added to the trip list here, but if we had more time to look closer I'm sure we would have unearthed a few more 'trip ticks'.

We arrived at the golf club car park, and made our way to the mouth of the Estuary. The sight and sound was just absolutely spectacular as several hundred Eider were 'loafing about like Mallards at Radipole!'...

Stunning!

There was no sign of the drake King Eider - much to our annoyance - but another bonus here was the impressive seal colony...

There were loads of them!

Here's a short video too...

if you turn the volume up you can hear the Eider calling

The time was now 17:00 - and we still had an at least 11 hour car journey ahead of us to get home!!! We followed the Sat Nav (which all week had been a god send), and it took us right through Aberdeen City Centre at rush hour!!!!

We finally came out the other side of Aberdeen and began headed purposefully south. Apart from a quick fuel stop, and an hour's stop at a Little Chef near Sterling (where I ate the nicest burger EVER!) we made good progress.

We got back to Bristol at about 3am, and I got back home to Seaton for just before 5am.... I was bloody shattered!!!

I had such an enjoyable five days, in which time we clocked up 115 species of birds, saw some great mammals, stunning scenery and most of all, had a cracking good laugh! I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Bun, Nick and Karen for their company, and everyone who gave us 'gen' to ensure we got the most out of our trip.

From the moment I took this photo on the Farr Pass, I knew this was the photo I'd finish this review with. Thank you Scotland for such an enjoyable birding break....

The 'Famous Grouse'

Well I hope you have enjoyed reading my rather drawn out trip report!? I'm pleased to announce that normal service will now be resumed on Axe Birding...

The Sea And My Patch List

I do love living by the sea - it is always there to look at, and it can NEVER be built on! Not to mention the fact its appearance changes from day to day...

This was how it looked on Wednesday morning of last week...

Oh so tranquil!

And this is how it looked the following morning...

See what I mean! And yes - the sea watching was so poor that I ended up taking photos of waves!

And when it comes to birding - the sea is just fantastic! You simply never know what is going to fly past, literally anything could at any moment! Which is why, if I'm not sure what to do or where to go, I head for the sea front. This was the case today....

I arrived at the Spot On Kiosk at 08:20 this morning, joined by Ian M about five minutes later. There are three lessons to be learnt from today's sea watch...

1/ a quiet sea watch isn't always a rubbish sea watch

2/ eat lots of breakfast beforehand

3/ sea watching with company is much better as you are less inclined to give up as quickly

So, in the end, we did a full TWO HOURS of sea scanning, I was planning on a twenty minute watch!

First highlight was a female-type Eider bobbing around distantly, our first of the autumn - and not a common bird for the patch at all. It remained on view throughout the whole two hours despite getting itchy wings and taking to the air on a couple of occasions.

Second highlight was a Black-throated Diver which flew west at about 09:15.

Third and final highlight was a Red-necked Grebe Ian picked up flying east at 09:30. It looked as though it was going to fly straight through, but it landed somewhere miles to the east of us. I wonder if it's the same bird that I had off Branscombe on Wednesday just milling around?

Other than these three highlights; five Red-throated Divers (3w,1e,1 on sea), one diver sp. (distant e), a few Gannets, nine Dunlin (w) and a Razorbill (w) were all that made it in to the notebook.

So little to show in quantity for two precious hours of my life, but some nice patch quality :-)

I spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon at home, that wasn't totally bird-less though...

Oh look - a nice male Sprawk

I was out again though mid afternoon til dusk...

Spent 40 mins wandering around the stubble fields at Axe Cliff. The first flock of Skylarks I flushed (c80 birds) had a Lap Bunt in with them. I couldn't see it, just heard it call several times. And I didn't see or hear it again despite sifting through another 350+ Skylarks before returning back to the car.

I spent pretty much the rest of the daylight hours seeing nothing of note at all. But last thing from the farm gate was incredibly pleasant....

Very nice

And when it was almost pitch black, a/the flock of 12 Brent Geese (re)appeared. They flew south down the river - so I assume they are feeding up river somewhere and roosting on the Estuary or in the bay.

Now to lists....

Whilst sea watching, Ian M casually asked me "so how many birds have you seen on patch?"

To which I replied "haven't a clue!"

So this evening I worked it out - and have even uploaded my list to BUBO (thanks to Bun for the guidance!).

And yes I have been strict...

1/ Ruddy Shelduck is not on the list....despite the fact the two Gav found were wild!! If you don't believe me - look for yourself...

See, both totally wild! Wary, unringed, fully winged, only present for a couple of hours, seen by me, etc...

2/ The Black Stork that stunned Bun and myself on 08/06/07 was 0.4km outside the 5km radius from Axmouth Bridge - which just sucks! As you read this I am drafting a letter to the 'local patch authorities' to see if I can get ours expanded by another half a kilometre!

3/ I have only seen Nightjar on Trinity Hill, again outside the 5km zone

4/ I know I've seen Baird's Sand on the Estuary, on Wednesday 19th May 1999 to be exact - I was 13. I won't go in to details, but it wasn't accepted by BBRC despite four people seeing it, and even hearing it call! But, it got the NP vote so it's not on the list.

Anyway, after all that, my official patch total is.... 238.

But if anyone was to ask me casually whilst in the field, the answers 242 ;-)

So what do I still need (apart from the four mentioned above!). Well my three biggest bogey birds are:

1/ Turtle Dove - and I reckon if I don't get one in the next couple of years I'm stuffed, just as they sadly are.

2/ Puffin - how I've not seen one of these I don't know!

3/ Hen Harrier - I was counting Chaffinches half a field away from Gavin who jammed in to one. From where I was stood, I couldn't see it! And I was at work for the male everyone else saw going to roost on Axe Marsh a year or two later.

The most painful gap on my list is Common Crane. I think I'm the only birder in the world who has ever 'fluffed' a flock of four of these easily identifiable and humongous birds....

....I reached in the car for my bins and yanked them out, but the strap got caught on the handbrake. By the time I'd untangled them, and put them to my eyes, the birds had gone around the corner.... I went to sleep that night thinking 'just what were those four massive large winged grey birds!??'.... the next day, four Common Cranes were on Exminster Marshes. In the words of James May.... oh cock!

On the other hand, I have got some really nice grippers....but no way am I going to list them or go in to any details - wouldn't even dream of it! There is one bird I will extrapolate on though....

"Friday 26th April 1996 - Dad took me and Mr House (a Grammar School music teacher) to the Undercliff tonight. Heard and got good views of a singing Nightingale in the undergrowth near Goat Island"

What is weird is that my life up to age of about 17 is just a blur of immaturity, but this is one night I can remember - and I'm not just saying that! I can see us walking down the steps, waiting, hearing and seeing... and the hazardous walk back in the pitch black! Sadly I think this was the last one ever recorded here.

So there you have it, I am now a 'lister'....

Pigeon Snubbing, A Nice Grebe And Lap Overload!

I poked my head out the front door at 6:30 this morning, and knew instantly it was going to be a good Pigeon day. But any one who knows me will be shocked to hear I spent all morning IGNORING them! Every time I glanced skywards, Wood Pigeon flocks were flying west. Don't ask me how many.... 'cuz I didn't count any of them!

And why this shocking behaviour from me!?? Well I've been longing for a flat calm English Channel to scope over, and this morning I had just that - nothing was going to distract me!

Before dawn, I had a quick check to see if the Long-billed Dowitcher was still with us - it was. I sent a few texts out, then hot-footed it over to Branscombe.

I was here by sun rise, and can prove it too...

That boat has been moored up out there for a few days, seems to have moved on now though

After I took this pic (or the series of pics this pic was in - I should say!) I started scoping the sea. Literally the first bird I saw was a Red-necked Grebe flying head on - RESULT! It kept flying towards the beach, and landed just offshore, though a little to the west of me.

Now, if I was more prepared, I would be posting some stunning digiscoped images of it. But I had left my Nikon in the car, so had to run back for it. When I'd returned, the bird was still there - in fact EVEN closer, but it was now diving constantly, and always re-surfaced where I wasn't expecting it too. ****!

In the end, I gave up, and just took a couple of hand held shots with my Lumix....

The original

Cropped a bit

Cropped a lot - but you can still see what it is!

Soon after I took these snaps it took off and flew west - I didn't follow it all the way though so am not sure how far it went. Red-necked has always been my favourite species of Grebe, and today's view was easily the best I've had of one on patch. Well worth the early start :-)

A Red-throated Diver was the only other bird worthwhile of mention on the sea. There wasn't much more flying over it either, 07:20 - 08:30 gave me:

3 Great Northern Diver E (together)
5 Brent Geese W
4 Shelduck W
4 Common Scoter E
2 Auk sp. E

I had a look around the sewage works after this, and saw two Chiffchaff, three Goldcrest and a Treecreeper. Any other birders planning to visit here, beware of this...

Yes I know, it's only a Pied Wag, but it sounds like a Waxwing! Ok so it doesn't 'trill', but the pitch and quality of its call is just spot on for Waxwing - it stopped me in my tracks when I half-heard it!

My next stop was Axe Cliff, where I continued to ignore Wood Pigeons. I didn't ignore the flocks of Starlings flying over though, just in case there was a real Waxwing in with them!

I had only got to my second field, when a flock of Skylark that had taken off from the next field showed to have a couple of Lapland Buntings in with them! My first on patch this autumn - which is pathetic considering how many have been knocking about the county/country.

After a few minutes of having some distant flight views, they landed back in the same field they had originally come up from. A short while later they were up again, flying around, this time much closer and calling too. At one stage they both flew north past me very low - at which point one showed itself to be a very well marked bird, so presumably a male?

About 15 mins later, I was a couple of fields nearer the coast, and another Lap Bunt (or one of the same?) flew west over calling with half a dozen Skylark. It circled around for a short while before flying back east.

Hopefully they will hang around, and allow some 'on the deck' views.

The Whooper Swan remains, an adult Med Gull was on the Estuary, and after a phone call from Phil early afternoon, I saw a flock of 12 Brent Geese on Colyford Marsh. I counted how many were juv's - but have forgotten! It was either six or seven.

The 'Dowi' has proved very popular, with lots of cars and birders there mid morning. It's a busy and fast road though peeps, so take care. After seeing photos of the Weymouth bird, and talking to someone who saw it, it certainly appears to be the same bird.

So, it's been a a thoroughly enjoyable morning of patch bird for me - in glorious autumnal weather too :-)