Beer Head

Wow - what a morning!

I was going to be writing a post today about the additions to my house list during the last week, but that will have to roll over to another day after this mornings excitement!

For us, common migrant wise it's been a very slow and poor start to the spring, with no species appearing in good numbers yet except Chiffchaffs.  Last weekend, and Friday, I couldn't do any ringing up Beer Head, and was convinced I was going to miss a good day. Amazingly I didn't (although Phil did have a Pied Fly up here on Sunday).  This morning was my first free morning for almost a week, so I was up at 5am, and headed up there with my nets and poles....

I really wasn't expecting much. The conditions were probably as bad as they could get for grounding migrants.  All night it was a cloud-less clear starry sky, with an almost full moon and next to no wind.  Clear skies are ok with a northerly wind, in fact this combination can produce superb falls, but when there's southerly or no winds, we need cloud.  There was a very light NW wind at dawn, which did pick up a little mid morning, this must have been what caused this mornings rush of birds!

Would never have guessed this weather could have produced what it did!

It was an odd fall, as even as I was setting up the nets just before sunrise all seemed quiet - just a couple of singing Willow Warblers.  The first net round was also was not that promising, a single Wren in the bottom shelf being the only bird.  About 15 minutes later though, as I was taking the first migrant of the day out of a net - a Willow Warbler - a Redstart flew over my head. And that's when it went a bit mental for a few hours!  

Willow Warblers were soon everywhere, with birds constantly singing and on the move around me.  I saw at least three male Redstarts (one often singing), and Ian P saw two more on the other side of Beer Head. Dad arrived with a group at 8am, and was greeted with another first for the year, a singing Whitethroat.  I was mist netting on Beer Head amidst a fall of birds! Dreamy!!

I only had two nets up, small ones too. This 30 footer...

And this 40 foot net...

I have to say, the nets were very visible in the sun light. I saw several birds flying towards them, but turning back or flicking over the top/around the side at the last moment. Despite this though, these two nets did me proud, with 35 birds trapped and ringed by the time I closed them at 11:30.  

Out of the 35 birds, 30 were phylloscs - 26 Willow Warblers and 4 Chiffchaffs.  Of the 26 Wills, 22 were males (1 female and 3 unsexed), showing varying amounts of fat. Some real fatties, but I also had a few (especially towards late morning) that had very little fat on them. They were clearly moving through quickly as I didn't retrap a single one!  With the numbers I caught, and what I saw/heard, I would estimate at least 70 Willow Warblers came through where I was ringing. Well over a hundred must have been present on the whole headland I'm sure, probably many more if you think how vast the underhooken is.

The five other birds ringed included single Chaffinch, Blackbird, Blue Tit, Wren and...

 

A bloody Redstart! This was the very same Redstart that flew over me early doors. After flying over me, it flitted along a hedgerow and dropped straight into my other mist net!

He's a young male, born last year, and had very little fat stored so could well be hanging around for a bit.  I've ringed autumn juv Redstarts before, but never seen a spring male in the hand. What a bird, so full of character.

My biggest gripe of the day is that as the conditions were so unexciting, I didn't bother asking any of the local trainees to join me. Really wish I did now - sorry chaps.

Just shows, when it comes to spring birding, however much we think we know, you just never know...

Watching Migration

The over night rain has certainly done the trick. As is often the case though in wet conditions, Beer Head watchers came back with little, whereas the marshes and river valley have been jumping!

The best passerine migrant I've seen this morning was a male Redstart on Seaton Marshes, which was fascinating to watch.  I first picked it up distantly on fence posts along the ditch that divides the two fields south of Seaton Marshes, but realised each time it flew it was moving a little further north. It continued making short flights until it came to the ditch that borders the southern edge of Seaton Marshes. It then started moving west along this ditch, doing exactly the same making short flights from post to post. When it came to the last bushes before the cycle track it spent about five minutes here, often feeding on the ground...

Beaut! Wish it was a tad closer though.

Then all of sudden it flew on to the cycle track, perched up in a sycamore, and just after I took the following snap it melted away through the trees towards the church yard...

Fly little bird, continue on your journey. And good luck!

The most numerous migrant in the valley was Willow Warbler, and today's the first day they've out numbered Chiffchaffs (only saw 8+ of these). There were at least 70 spread around various sites, with several small flocks and many singing...

Welcome home!

There's plenty of hirundines around too, not loads, but certainly more than there has been. All three species were hawking over Colyford Common.

Rarest bird of the morning though was a stunning breeding plumaged Spoonbill on Colyford Marshes. I don't think I've ever seen a smarter example of one, really vivid yellow on the neck - what a stunner!!

Bit of an odd thing this morning was making friends with a Pheasant!  I think it was probably being over territorial as it followed me from Stafford Marsh across half of Colyford Common... 

I even ended up opening gates for it!

All I had time for yesterday was a quick walk around Seaton Marshes. Most notable sighting was a vocal Grey Plover over west, which was presumably the departure of the long staying bird on the Estuary.

It was very nice to see a decent spring fall today, but things are still running very late. Most years the first decent Willow Warbler arrival is within the first week of April - I wonder if things will catch up or whether the entire spring will be a week or two behind previous years?

Missing Out

Last weekend saw a huge arrival of early spring migrants. Us birders go through winter dreaming of these days – they seem so far away when you are freezing cold and surrounded by winter wildfowl and wading birds!   Last weekend was probably one of the best early spring falls the Axe has ever seen – and I missed (almost) all of it!

I spent a good few hours out on Friday, which I thought showed promise despite (or I should say because of) the awful weather.  There were c35 Sandwich Terns in the valley and over the sea, with most resting on Bridge Marsh which was a new sight for me. I even managed to see at least ten from the house - a cracking house tick!  A couple of short sea watches showed a Red-breasted Merganser fly east (my third of the year!) and two cracking adult summer Med Gulls that came east along the beach before heading up the Estuary.  Other than the Terns though, no summer migrants. So although Friday was ok, and had potential, nothing really materialised.

Then Saturday dawned, and the spectacle begun! All I got back in time for was a quick look from the Farm Gate at dusk, which gave me a handful of Sand Martins.

Sunday was an even better day for migrants - and I was at work.  Karen found an Osprey on the Estuary just after 10am. I didn’t see the message for a good ten minutes, at which point I was on the phone (and on hold!). I finally got off the phone, only to be pulled into the office for a meeting, so when I finally made it out into the back yard I was too late. Although the Osprey was still around (the gulls were making a right fuss) I just couldn’t get on it. Annoying. Oh well – there will be more, you just have to be in the right place at the right time.

It got worse for me as the day went on, as news of falls from other south coast localities plastered twitter.  Then the final nail in the coffin, two Little Ringed Plovers were found on Black Hole Marsh! A bird on my ‘most worrying gaps in my year list’ list.

It really did feel like a 20 hour shift, but 16:15 finally came around and I was out.  I went straight to Black Hole Marsh to see the (now four) Little Ringed Plovers. Well there wasn’t four any more – there were NINE! Along with three Ringed Plovers.  I have only once seen numbers like this before in the spring, and in the following week or two we had Night Heron, White Stork and three Alpine Swifts!! Let’s hope…

 

I checked a few more sites before returning home at dusk – and added Swallow to the year list at Seaton Marshes.  

Today I have been off patch all day, but understand there are now ten Little Ringed Plovers in the valley. Annoyingly there was another Osprey too - it flew north over town at 13:10. Grrrrr. Bun also netted the first House Martin of the year.

I won’t have much time at all this week for any patch birding, or the following weekend. Hopefully though if a decent patch year tick is found I will be available to nip out.

More important than any of the above though is the current weather. The Chiffchaffs I have seen haven't looked in a good way at all. It really needs to warm up or we may well have something of a disaster on our hands. Fingers crossed...

Magic May

Well except for sea watching, April was pretty forgettable. But I am very pleased to say May has already proved a much better month!

On 1st May (Tuesday) the south coast experienced an amazing fall of migrants. Beer Head gave nowhere near the number of birds as other sites, but I still had an excellent couple of hours up there.

Seaton Bay from Beer Head

It was a bit of an odd one. Some parts of Beer Head were dead - literally nothing to see or hear at all. But every now and then I came across pockets of activity. Whilst walking along one hedge a male Redstart caught my eye, it flew along the hedge a little and perched up beside a Whinchat. I wandered closer, a couple of Whitethroats flew out and then a Lesser Whitethroat started singing!

The full totals of this enjoyable spring fall look like this:

15 Pale-bellied Brent Goose (flew west)
3 Whimbrel (flew west)
5 Dunlin (flew west)
12 Yellow Wagtail (some amongst cattle, others north over)
1 Tree Pipit (flew north west)
16 Wheatear (all together)
1 Whinchat (female)
3 Redstart (2 male)
2 Grasshopper Warbler (both reeling)
15 Blackcap
20 Whitethroat
1 Lesser Whitethroat (one singing along hedge from farm, showing on and off)
35 Willow Warbler
6 Chiffchaff
2 Spotted Flycatcher

As well as the above, there was a strong passage of Swifts, Swallows and House Martins flying north east. None of the 'decent' migrants stayed put long enough to allow photos, except for this Spotted Flycatcher...

A well behaved Spot Fly

After Beer Head, a wander around the Beer Cemetery Fields showed another Lesser Whitethroat (a silent male), six Whitethroat and this female Redstart...

Crap photo - sorry!

A little later in the day, a sweep of the Estuary revealed 20+ Whimbrel, 10 Barwits and 9 Dunlin.

Yesterday (2nd), I set the morning aside for a spot of bird ringing in a private wood near Colyton. First I'll mention the birds I saw and didn't catch. Two Crossbills spent about an hour in the wood feeding in conifers, and a couple of Lesser Redpoll and Siskin flew over. Sounds like autumn doesn't it!!!

I had four nets up, and had great rewards for my efforts. A nice load of warblers included 7 Chiffchaff, 5 Blackcap and this Willow Warbler...

They really are long winged, the longest winged Chiff measured in at 65mm, this Willy measured 73mm

I was quite surprised (maybe I shouldn't have been?) that one of the Blackcaps was a 3J. '3J' means it is a recently fledged juvenile! A quick calculation indicates its mother must have laid her eggs within the first eight days of April!

3J Blackcap

The highlight for me though was trapping and ringing a Jay. I often hear Jays whilst walking around this wood, but I didn't think one was going to end up in one of my mist nets! A simply stunning bird...

I wasn't going to hold it the way I'm holding the Warblers above because I'm sure it would have loved to eat my fingers!

And now to today. And this morning the weather looked good for a beach walk - so that's exactly what I did! It was worthwhile too, and Seaton Beach offered 9 Dunlin, 7 Wheatear and a Grey Plover...

It just wouldn't face me!

After this, a look along the Estuary and up the valley, and a second visit later this afternoon (incl. Black Hole Marsh) gave totals of:

6 Gadwall
2 Shoveler
4 Grey Plover (2 stonking summer plumage males)
14 Ringed Plover
22 Dunlin (so a total 31)
52 Whimbrel
7 Bar-tailed Godwit
5 Black-tailed Godwit
1 Greenshank
2 Common Sandpiper
1 Yellow Wagtail (flew over Coronation Corner)
3 Sedge Warbler

If there's a bit more rain today, I fancy a Turnstone. It certainly feels like a Turnstone-day for us! One the year listers no doubt would like.

Also, whilst driving, a Tawny Owl flew low across the road near Boshill Cross. A bit of a surprise!

And that's that. A great few days :-)