Short-changed by a Shortie

I forgot to mention this in yesterday's blog post...

On Saturday evening a friend of mine WhatsApped me a photo with the caption "what's this?".  As a birder, and am sure like most birders out there, I frequently get ID requests from my non-birder mates.  And almost all the time they relate to common species, so I was a bit surprised when attached to this particular request was this photo...

Well look at that! A stunning Short-eared Owl which he snapped sat on a fence post beside the A3052 just east of Rousdon.  Ok, so they're not exactly rare but just check out that photo! We all know how terrible phone cameras are when it comes to wildlife photography - the mind boggles at how close it must have been!  He even managed an arty 'in habitat' shot too...

Sickeningly good! Both photos (c) Lee Taylor.

March Wakes Up

I've never been a fan of March when it comes to birding, so much promise and hope, but in reality you see a few Wheatears and Sand Martins mid month and often very little else.  

The first ten days of this March were just as disappointing as I was expecting. The sea has been absolutely dire with watches most mornings showing nothing on it and nothing over it, and there's been no summer migrants for me despite a few Sand Martins and Wheatears turning up elsewhere. There's not even been any early March wader passage on the Estuary which often occurs (Greenshank, Ruff, Knot, etc). It's the gulls that have kept me going, with a couple of days of triple figure Common Gulls and the odd Mediterranean Gull still coming through.  There's been nice numbers of big gulls too, but even these have disappointed with no more white-wingers or anything better.

There was one thirty minutes of slight delight on the 9th, when the warmth of the sun in Axmouth encouraged my first Blackcap of the year to sing, along with - at last - my first PWC2017 Nuthatch. It was nice to see a Brimstone too, this helped make it feel really spring-like...

Today though spring really did step up a gear. The low cloud/fog dropped some migrants in the Axe valley, and it all started with a text from Ian Mc mid morning reading "Short-eared Owl Seaton Marshes". Twenty minutes later this was my view...

Can you see it?

Dreadful pic I know!

Yes it was day roosting in a tree - quite unusual for a Short-eared. And it stayed here for the whole of the day too!  I saw two Short-eareds last year on patch, but they are only just about annual in the valley and often don't stay for long, so it's nice to get this one on the year list early.

About half an hour after seeing this beaut, news filtered in from Lesley Clarke of an Avocet on Black Hole Marsh.  Perfect. And bang on cue, March is by far and away our peak month for Avocet on the Axe, you would be unlucky to go the month without seeing one - but then again I have gone a year without seeing one here, so it's another handy year tick...

It was showing really well from the Tower Hide, although I didn't have time to venture up there.  It's bound to have woken the local wader photographers from their winter hibernation though, and hopefully they will have many more subjects to aim their lenses at this year. Another good Black Hole Marsh wader year would be greatly appreciated by me that's for sure!  Interestingly this bird was colour-ringed, and I will post the details here when I find out about its life history. Be great to know where it wintered last winter that's for sure.

Later on today I had another hour out, and was delighted to see Sand Martins had suddenly arrived.  There were ten over Colyford Marsh and 18+ over Lower Bruckland Ponds between 16:00-17:00. I wouldn't have been that surprised if I'd seen a Swallow amongst them, I didn't, but I was really surprised to pick up a House Martin with the flock at Lower Brucklands.  My earliest ever in the UK by just under three weeks (31st March being my previous earliest). Amazing.  I knew I had to get a snap of it to save face, but sadly couldn't do any better than this...

March Mega!

It may be dreadful, but it is identifiable. Mind you the same could be said for any of my above pics!

Short-eared Owl

Beer Head was really the only place to go this morning, with the river valley yet again hidden under a blanket of fog...

There was very little moving up here this morning sadly, and only really Goldcrests and a couple of Stonechats in/on the bushes...

A nice highlight though was my third ever Short-eared Owl for the Head, which flew in off the sea west of the Lookout and off west just after 08:30...

Just proves that even on the quiet days it is worth going out. You just never know.

Beer Head

Up to Beer Head again this morning with the nets, joined by Peter for the first time this year - sadly I couldn't offer him an exciting session though.

It was soon evident the bushes were quiet, with just the odd Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler filtering through.  They could clearly see the nets as well which really didn't help - at one stage I watched a group of five Willow Warblers flitting along the bushes right towards one of my nets, but two went over it, two went around it and I caught just one!  

Two nets in two and a half hours saw 14 birds of six species ringed;

1 Blackbird

1 Blackcap

4 Willow Warbler

5 Chiffchaff

2 Blue Tit

1 Long-tailed Tit

Chiffchaff (left) and Willow Warbler (right).

With the clear skies I guess I wasn't surprised how few birds were in the bushes, but I was really surprised about how few birds were passing over.  I only noted five 'vis mig' birds overhead; two Swallows, two Meadow Pipits and.... well the and was a bit of a good one...a Short-eared Owl!

As can be seen from my video it was harassed by every Crow in Beer for a short while before it gained height and flew off south east across Lyme Bay.  What a lovely surprise, and one of the bonuses of having Beer Head as a ringing site :-).

Despite then spending the rest of the day at work, I still managed another year tick today. Whilst walking the dog around my estate tonight (about 20:30) I could hear a Grasshopper Warbler reeling from the edge of the marshes.  A few minutes later and I was stood right next to it - one of the best sounds of the bird world if you ask me. 

A Cracking November Day Plus Another Yellow-browed

The first part of this post's title does not refer to the weather, it's been pretty grotty for most of the day, but at least the wind has remained light/non-existent. Birding wise though I have had a thoroughly enjoyable day with some real nice highlights, and that's despite spending more than four hours of the day sat in front of this laptop! (Probably five by the time I've finished writing this post!).

Had to take the dog for a walk this morning, so soon after breakfast we headed up to Beer Head for a wander (thankfully Honey is used to frequent pauses during her walks!).  The bushes were in general very quiet, with just a Chiff and two Goldcrest noted. There were clearly a few thrushes about though with 15+ Blackbird, 15 Redwing, six Song Thrush and a Mistle Thrush noted.  Overhead passage was also quiet (probably due to the occasional drizzle) with just small numbers of Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Chaffinch, two Redpoll and singles of Siskin and Reed Bunting.

It was a very worthwhile walk though as there was one major (and overdue this autumn) highlight, a beautiful Short-eared Owl. It came up from the base of some bushes just a few feet in front of me, and treated me to an amazing close fly by. But within what seemed like a few seconds it was distant, beyond the cliff edge. Oddly though it then remained on view for forty minutes as it didn't seem to know what it was doing or where it was going, drifting off north, then back south, flying off to the east then back west. It finally seemed to be heading off as I was getting back in my car, I could see it distantly flying east across Seaton Bay.  

Just about identifiable.

A rather dramatic photo I think, or just crap...

 

Despite all the time I spend up Beer Head during the spring and autumn, this was amazingly my first Short-eared for the site! There has been a couple in the past but I have just never jammed in to one here, which is surprising because I've seen half a dozen at Axe Cliff, a few less in the river valley, one over the sea front and two in the Beer Cemetery Fields (just inland from Beer Head).

On the way home I pulled in at Seaton Hole where at least one of the Firecrest was still showing, there's been at least two here for a week now...

It was a male, not that you can tell that from this pic!

I was home by mid morning and got my head down.  Lunch time was soon upon me and I realised there wasn't much food in the house, so en route to the shops I stopped off at Axmouth Yacht Club. I've been here a few times in the last week but haven't seen any more Black Redstarts since the two last Tuesday, so was surprised to see three today including a stunning adult male.  None of them were very co-operative though and remained skittish...

Male Black Red

And again

One of the female-types

Back home, and after a bite to eat and another couple of hours of laptop work, it was time to take Honey out for her second walk of the day.  I drove along the Estuary on way, where small numbers of gulls included my first Med Gull (an adult) for almost a month...

Second from the right

The biggest surprise though was when I pulled over to have a scan over Colyford Marsh, and I picked up ring-tail Harrier being chased by a Crow over the reed bed. Flipping heck!!  I scrambled for the scope, and thankfully after a nervous couple of minutes of no sign, it reappeared and showed itself to be a gorgeous juvenile Hen Harrier.  Pity it wasn't the rarer species of Harrier, but Hen is rare enough here - only my third ever on patch.  I just managed to grab a couple of dreadfully poor record shots before it dropped down out of view behind a hedge, I'm not sure whether it carried on flying north or landed.

Can just about make out a white rump and I'd say a broad wing tip (if you squint!)

Yes an even worse photo!!

So all in all an excellent day.  I do like early November, it can be a great time of year on the south coast, although a bit of cold weather wouldn't go a miss.  

Yesterday I had even less time out, in fact much to Honey's dismay she only got one walk (tut tut bad me!). Late morning we had a wander up Axmouth village, although didn't walk as far as usual as it sounded like World War Two with the amount gun fire around the Spring Head area!  Anyway, turns out we didn't have to walk that far at all, as half way through the wander I thought I half heard a Yellow-browed call once from dense cover behind a couple of noisy Coal Tits. I got the mp3 out and played Yellow-browed call, and about twenty seconds later a small bird flew from behind me and landed in the tree right by the road, Yellow-browed Warbler.  It remained in this tree and in view for about a minute, but then melted away in to the trees behind and I didn't see it again during the next hour (Gav joined me but sadly dipped).   I thought I took a couple of pics of it but on downloading the photos all I took is photos of leaves!!

Weekend Update

I got up nice and early on Saturday, spurred on by tweets from Bill and Andy at Berry Head who had stumbled upon a Nightingale and a Lesser Whitethroat - fall?

Well no, not here anyway.  Phil did Beer Head and Bun the Beer Cemetery Fields, and both reported slim pickings.  I checked most the sites around the valley and didn't see much, although did manage one year tick with a (not so) Common Whitethroat.  Before I saw this though I had two Lesser Whitethroats, with singing males at Black Hole Marsh and Axmouth.  So this year I had four Lesser Whitethroats before getting my first Common! Also noticed more Reed Warblers about, and on Black Hole Marsh four black-bellied Dunlin. 

I tried a sea watch as well, and stood at the Spot On 07:30-08:00.  Conditions weren't at all promising so I wasn't expecting much, good job really (all west):

1 Common Scoter

2 Great Northern Diver (singles, my first of the spring)

11 Manx Shearwater

5 Sandwich Tern

9 Razorbill

To be fair I've endured much worse here! And it was great to see the GND's, I always love seeing these beasts power through in the spring.

Today all I've managed is a quick trip to Black Hole Marsh at dusk, where the Short-eared Owl was showing well. Sue's managed some excellent photos of it which really are worth a look, I said it was a dark one: http://bicyclebirderontheaxe.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/short-eared-owl.html

A Spring Shortie

There was yet another aborted attempt at bird ringing on Beer Head on Monday morning, when I got up there it was too blowy.  Mind you, the sunrise was nice to see.... 

It was actually a great shame about the wind as there were clearly quite a few Willow Warblers about, with most moving through rapidly.  Determined not to make it a wasted early morning wake up, I headed down into the valley for a look about, where I was surprised to see a Short-eared Owl flying around over the Estuary.  It spent a few minutes hunting over Axe and Colyford Marsh, before pitching on this distant post...

It stayed here until I left 20 mins later, and eight hours on when I returned, it was sat on the ground about 10 feet to the right of this post!  Later that evening it was hunting south of Black Hole Marsh, and it did the same again tonight apparently.  Although you can't tell it in my pic, it's a really dark bird, in fact when I first saw it in flight through the bins I was expecting it to turn out to be a Long-eared. Pity it wasn't, but still Short-eareds aren't ten a penny around here.

Today I didn't get out birding until late morning, and my first little wander was my most productive spell of the day.  My first Lesser Whitethroat of 2015 was singing well, and showing now and then, in the hedgerow that runs north of Coronation Corner. Two Common Sandpipers were flitting along the near bank of the Estuary here, with a Greenshank feeding on the first bit of exposed mud as the tide began to drop.  Best of all though were two adult summer Med Gulls that only gave themselves away by repeatedly calling to each other as they flew over rapidly and VERY high north west - sweet.  

Despite quite a lot of looking, didn't really see anything else of note whilst out birding this afternoon.  I did see an Osprey, but that was the comfort of my own kitchen, as it flew south west over Black Hole Marsh.  Why bother going out?

And to break up the text a bit, here's another Wheatear photo. At least it's a female for a change...

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. On Sunday evening whilst watching my sixth Red Kite of the month circling over fields between Colyford and Musbury, two Swifts zipped into my binocular view. It's funny how often this happens, when your watching one bird in the bins, and another you wouldn't otherwise have seen appears in the field of view. Maybe I should just randomly put my bins up to apparent empty skies every now and then?

No birds here....or are there?

Move Over February, March Is Here

Hello all, I'm back!  Not been anywhere mind, just haven't had much to blog about and no time to do it.  It won't be hard to sum up my February though... 

We had something of an invasion of Greylag Geese mid month, with a couple of different flocks dropping in on the Axe, the biggest being 22!  These records tied in nicely with an increase in Greylag sightings elsewhere along the south coast, so am certain they relate to genuine wild birds. Best guess is that they are Spanish wintering birds migrating back north. The first small group seen by Tim Wright didn't stay long at all, just one night, before flying off north. Only one lingered, one of the 22, it remained with the semi-resident Canada Geese until nearly the end of the month.  

The increase in temperature part way through the month seemed to fool the birds into thinking spring had come early. So many of the resident species started to sing, and sing well. It even encouraged a couple of the wintering warblers to break out in song, with both Blackcap and Chiffchaff giving it some nearer the end of the month.  

Beautiful blue skies at Lower Bruckland Ponds. You can just about see the white buds appearing on the willow to the right.

These white buds! Lovely to see.

So that's February. Thankfully March has already proved better...

The one I didn't see was an Iceland Gull found by Phil on 1st.  A great find really as there hasn't been many white-wingers about, although a few do seem to be appearing now.  March/April often proves the best months for white-wingers here, when birds that have been wintering south of us head back north.

The quality I did (finally!) see (third attempt!) was the Short-eared Owl  first seen by Mike Lock on Friday evening at Axmouth.  It was seen over the weekend, but it wasn't until this evening that I saw it. Well WE saw it, as Jess is a big Owl-fan, and this was the last of the five regular UK Owls that I needed to show her.  I have tried to show her Short-eared Owl before, just a month or so ago at Wyke Down, but we dipped spectacularly, so to get one on patch is magic. Although I have seen quite a few here over the years, they have pretty much all been passing migrants that have stayed between 5 mins and an hour, so I didn't for a second think I'd be able to get Jess on to one here. But I did, and flipping heck did we see it well. 

Within seconds of arriving at a sunny Axe Cliff Golf Course at 5pm today Dave Helliar pointed it out hunting over the rough grass, and about two minutes later it flew past us about 10 feet away! Despite only having my point and shoot Lumix in my hand on automatic mode, and in the same hand that I was holding the dogs lead, I somehow manage to fluke this...

What a beaut!

We watched it for another twenty minutes or so, and it showed very well almost continuously, but it didn't come that close again...

 
And here's a short video...

Jess kept saying after we dipped this one twice, and the Wyke Down disaster "it wasn't meant to be - when I do see one it will be extra special". She was dead right. I must learn to be this positive when it comes to dipping...

Maybe Tomorrow...

..that's a title I could have used for yesterday's post too!  Today was better though, less birds but a bit more variety.  

I didn't make it over to Portland again today - but am starting to dislike that place as they seem to be sucking up every BB rarity that's made it to the south coast of Britain!  Yes not only have they got a stunning Daurian Shrike, but on Monday they bagged a first for the Western Palearctic with a Pale-legged Leaf Warbler, and today a Siberian Stonechat has appeared.  And don't forget the Wrynecks, Hawfinches, Yellow-browed Warblers, etc...

Anyway that's enough of the negativity about Portland - I am in danger of sounding like a fellow blogger and good friend of mine!

So I did try Axe Cliff this morning, and am pleased to have changed location.  There seem to be a few Short-eared Owls about at the moment, and I thought here would give me my best chance of seeing one. And with only one area of rough grassland, it wasn't hard to figure out where it would probably be! And when I got to this strip of pasture, as expected up came a Short-eared Owl.  But I didn't expect it to fly south, south some more, and even further south, until it was a dot half way across the English Channel!

It all happened so quick too!  This was the first photo I managed of it...

Yeah I know - it could be anything!

And this was the last photo I took of it...

You can just about make it out still!

Short-eared Owls aren't regular on patch - so they are always a joy to see.  But this one was even more special because it made me the first person to see five species of Owl in a year on patch.  I'd do anything to take that up to six species though!

Back to Axe Cliff, and a Snipe was my second best grounded migrant of the morning, with a Stonechat and stacks of Linnets and Skylarks also noted.

We never do very well with vis mig if the wind doesn't have west in it - and today was no exception.  There were good numbers of birds passing over, with Starlings and Wood Pigeons being the most numerous species, but they were flying in all directions making counting impossible!  There were lots of Chaffinches too, along with several Siskins, five Mistle Thrush, two Brambling, two Reed Buntings and one Redpoll sp.

One of the biggest Wood Pigeon flocks I saw this morning

 

After Axe Cliff, a quick look along the Estuary showed a Ringed Plover (my first here for almost a month - just shows how terrible this autumn has been!), a Barwit and a Common Gull.

Mid afternoon the weather looked to be clearing, so I headed up to Beer Head.  I was wrong - in fact it clouded over even more and the wind was much stronger up here!  I still gave it a bash though.  Not much apart from Blackbirds in the bushes on the head, but looking down the Underhooken gave two immature Ring Ouzels. Two Stonechats were along the track as I walked off the head...sadly they weren't pale with black underwing coverts!  I have seen Sibe Stonechat once (Spurn), and I have to say I was really impressed with it!  You may think 'I won't bother - it's just a Stonechat'. I can tell you it really isn't - they can look more like Wheatears! Top birds.  Well done Portland...

Having A Hoot

Yeah I know Short-eared Owls don't go 'hoot' - but it's called 'poetic license' I'm told!

The weather was stunning yesterday morning, and I decided to spend the best part of it up around the Beer Cemetery fields. As I stepped out the car four Crossbills flew over east - it was going to be good!

The highlight(s) came whilst wandering through the 'Richard's Pipit field'. I picked up a Short-eared Owl towards Branscombe, it circled and always gained height, before cruising off high north. I took another few steps forward, the grass rustled and another Short-eared Owl appeared, about ten foot in front of me...

Which soon landed in a nearby hedgerow...


After about ten minutes, it took to the air again, and seemed to spend ages just flying around giving cracking views...


And here's a little video....

The last I saw of this bird was when it drifted off towards Beer Head.

By the end of my wander, at least 17 Crossbills had flown east; the four, a flock of 11 and at least two 'heard only'. Several small groups of Siskins and Skylarks also flew over, but in all directions!

The best of the grounded migrants (except the Owl) was two Lesser Redpolls again with the Meadow Pipit flock. Still no Red-throated or OBP, but there's time yet....

Despite checking several other sites yesterday, I couldn't turn anything else up, a colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull (ringed on 28/6/10 in Calvados, France) and the Lower Bruckland Cetti's Warbler (which has moved to the lower pond now) being the best.

I didn't have chance for any birding today, although from the garden this morning a few Redwings, Siskins and a Redpoll flew over.

As well as all this birding I've been enjoying, and working obviously - I've had a net up in the garden for a couple of short spells over the last few days. A nice big but fat-less Blackbird must have originated from somewhere east of here, this Goldcrest was my second for the garden...


But this was the highlight...


Have I gone mad!? It's a Blue Tit - yes it is just a Blue Tit! But this Blue Tit was ringed before it flew into my net!

Ok, so it hasn't come that far - Fraser Rush ringed it as a pullus in a nest box in Holyford Woods on 18th June this year. I know that doesn't sound much, but fellow ringers will know re-catching a Tit ringed as a pullus isn't a regular thing! I wonder how its two siblings are faring!?