Birds That Aren't Gulls!

With waders and gulls featuring heavily in my last few blog posts, I thought I should fill in the gaps with my other bird sightings from the last couple weeks.

As we approach the end of July, with autumn passerine migration starting to be a feature on the south coast, I gave Beer Head an early morning walk on two days last week...

Looking south west from Beer Head. Such a fantastic location to spend any time!

Both visits showed a similar amount of birds in less than ideal fall conditions.  There were between 6-8 Willow Warblers scattered across the headland on both days, all being my favourite flavoured yellow-lemon juv ones.  There was also a family of Whitethroats in the same place on both visits, as well as the usual breeding Blackcaps.  My second visit however, on 23rd July, did show one more migrant than my previous, with a very charming Garden Warbler feeding on an elder bush in the base of the hollow.  My earliest ever autumn record of this species on patch so a nice reward indeed. 

Just slightly drifting away from the bird theme of this blog post, it was nice to see up to seven Wall Browns during my second visit, which was slightly later in the morning than my first.  This is our most reliable local site for this species...

An underrated butterfly in my opinion, and scarce enough around here to be suitably appreciated

A little inland in the Morganhayes area (woodland west of Colyton), am sure like most conifer plantations in the UK at the moment, there seems to be plenty of Crossbills 'chupping'-around.  Seeing them perched up is a different story though... Why do they always land on the pines just beyond the ones in view!?  On the evening of 20th however one made an error of judgement and actually landed in view, and although it wasn't an adult male it was still much appreciated...

Hello you!  Nice to actually see the cross bill on a Crossbill for a change

Although it landed in view, he/she was never in full view!  

Back down in the river valley, during my recent gull watching sessions other birds have been rudely interrupting my fun.  Take Kingfishers for example, as usual for this time of year they seem to be plentiful, with this one in particular begging to be papped...

A token photo!  Do like the natural framing though so am pleased it stayed put for me :-)

And don't get me started on this Marsh Harrier.  Yes it's a lovely fresh dark glowing-headed juvenile, but it's been around for a week now and not only is distracting, it actually FLUSHES the gulls on occasions!  Not on at all...

My best views were on a gloomy day so pics not great!

Such a striking plumage at this age - love them!

Even a family of Reed Warblers right beside the Tower Hide have been causing me problems, loudly announcing their presence as the beg for food...

A true baby Reed Warbler

Beady eye!

Seemed to be four juvs with at least one adult feeding them

And to complete this post, the final bit of bird news is from today.  Whilst sat at my desk a tern whizzed past my office flying up river - never a common sight on the Axe.  A few minutes later I was outside watching and listening to an adult and a juvenile Common Tern calling to each other as they flew around and around the lower Estuary.  They finally departing when a juvenile Peregrine came diving in.  What a treat. There's a video of them calling away on my Twitter feed, it sure was great to hear.

Balearics and a Beast

It's high time I summarised my recent bird sightings, which thanks to today have become a little more interesting...

Black Hole Marsh had a spate of activity early last week, and although I missed the two Wood Sands that dropped in for half a day, three adult Little Ringed Plovers stayed put long enough for me to catch up with, although they were often flighty and vocal...

Little Ringed Plovers - surprisingly all adults!

On the same day I also saw a single Ringed Plover, two Greenshank, three Green Sands (also vocal and flightly), ten Dunlin and two juv Med Gulls on Black Hole Marsh.  Along with a brute of a juv Yellow-legged Gull on the Estuary and a Lesser Whitethroat on Colyford Common.  

I've not had chance to do Beer Head/Axe Cliff so far this autumn, but Willow Warblers keep popping up in front of me. Ian Mc did ok up Beer Head yesterday morning with a Pied Fly and good counts of Wheatear and Willow Warbler - although this wind will presumably have halted any further passerine passage.  Does looks like it's kick started some sea passage though which is good!

I gave the sea a couple of ten minute watches this afternoon, showing the odd Manx Shearwater and several Gannets passing, but things livened up a bit more during a 40 minute watch from 17:40 this evening when I recorded;

11 Balearic Shearwater
4 Manx Shearwater
1 shearwater sp.
1 Med Gull (juv)
2 Kittiwake
2 Common Tern
3 wader sp.

Great to see some Balearic action, with ten of the 11 passing in a ten minute window from 17:45, including a fairly close flock of five which looked so awesome. I haven't had any decent counts of Balearics off here for a good number of years - they seem to be sticking more to the west part of Lyme Bay these days - so every one of these 11 were very much appreciated.

A look up the Estuary just after this watch revealed an absolute beast of a juvenile Yellow-legged Gull, a real brute...

A truly epic bird - that juvenile Herring Gull looks so tiny in comparison!

Long legged, long winged, huge billed - what a treat!  Quite a dark one too (esp around the face), although note the pale ground colour to underparts

More Birding Required!

I've not seen loads or been out that much, but I have seen enough to write this...

There's been a refreshing pulse of wader activity on the Axe Estuary since the turn of the month, kicked off by a Ringed Plover north of Coronation Corner on 2nd with three Dunlin.  On 6th whilst sky watching from my bedroom window, I was surprised to see a very high-flying flock of c30 Black-tailed Godwits power in from the north west then drop like a stone into the valley. Frustratingly as they twisted and turned before heading off down river I could make out a smaller, plain-winged wader in their midst. I suspect it was a Knot, but there was knot anything I could do about it. The following evening (7th) it was nice to see our first Whimbrel of the spring with ten Curlew just north of Coronation Corner, and this morning a flock of 18 Dunlin were zooming around at high-tide not knowing where to land.  Hopefully Kentish Plover is next :-)

Axe Estuary at dusk

With the strong winds at the end of last week I gave sea watching a go on Friday 5th.  The direction and strength of the wind however meant shelter was very hard to find on the sea front, so twenty minutes late I gave up and checked elsewhere.  Still, in that time two Pale-bellied Brent Geese flew west and a Manx Shearwater flew east - my first of the year for both.

My passerine highlight of the last few days surprisingly wasn't a migrant species, but a Dipper.  They've been really reliable on our section of the River Coly this year, and yesterday I was delighted to stumble upon an active nest - not where I was expecting to find one either.  I gave them the space they deserved and was rewarded with prolonged views of an adult Dipper plunge-diving. So lucky to be able to watch this on my patch.  

There are more hirundines about now, although I am still yet to see a House Martin.  Sand Martins were well represented during the grim weather of last week, with just under 100 in the valley on 3rd, with small numbers of Swallows seen pretty much every day now.  Willow Warblers are now starting to pass through in decent numbers, tonight I watched six feeding in an isolated clump of Blackthorn in the valley even as the sun was setting. Amazing to think that by the morning they will probably be hundreds of miles away!

A well defined setting sun over Colyford

I saw my first Red Kite of the season from work yesterday morning (7th) thanks to Phil. He had seen it fly east over Beer Head and I happened to be outside when it carried on east over Sheep's Marsh and the Estuary. I wonder how many more (hundreds!?) I will see as the year progresses.

And I will end this somewhat disjointed post with my absolute highlight of April so far. During a morning outing to Black Hole Marsh with Harry on 6th I was suddenly aware of the charming calls of Med Gull.  Two second-summers were flying around calling to each other low over the marsh before landing on one of the islands, both with pretty much full hoods.  An amazing sight and sound, and proof to anyone that gulls are anything but boring!

April Dawns

Easter Sunday started with surprisingly pleasant weather conditions, in fact we even saw some sunshine here!  This enticed me down to Seaton Marshes where the Borrow Pit showed itself to be alive with singing Phylloscs, including my first ten Willow Warblers of the year...

Always exciting to hear the first Willow Warbler song of the spring

This afternoon the weather took a turn for the worse. Quick looks around mid and late afternoon showed a few Sand Martins had arrived, with four over Colyford Marsh and 18 over Lower Bruckland Ponds. I've still not seen a Swallow yet this year though, something is clearly holding a lot of migrants up somewhere south of us.

Quick Update and Icelandic Blackwits

Only time for a short update. The last few and the next few days have been and will be a bit hectic for a variety of reasons. I have managed a bit of time out though which I'll summarise here...

A morning wander around Black Hole Marsh last Friday showed the bushes were the busiest they've been so far this autumn. The highlight was a cracking juv Lesser Whitethroat along the track to the Tower Hide, but the ten Willow Warblers were just as exciting to see...

Autumn Willow Warbler - hope I get to ring some soon!

The marsh itself revealed a Greenshank, c18 Dunlin and two Cattle Egrets.

Saturday gave me less than above, although three Green Sands showed well.  In the afternoon I saw my first settled Yellow Wagtail of the autumn (but my third of the season) on Seaton Marshes.

Green Sandpiper

And that's about all the bird news from me, although there has been a few other bits and bobs about. The six Goosander are still around, as are at least two Cattle Egret. And this afternoon Dad had a juv Little Ringed Plover on Black Hole which was new in.

Lastly I have been showing my (annual) love for juvenile Black-tailed Godwits on Twitter over the past few days. I saw my first on Wednesday 2nd which showed really well in front of Island Hide...

Juvenile Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit

This dull photo doesn't really do it justice. They are the most beautiful colour, with soft yet crisp plumage and amazing patterning on their scapulars and tertials.   Despite the gloomy weather, a nearby adult meant I was able to take a nice adult vs juv comparison shot...

Moulting adult Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit (left), juvenile Icelandic Black-tailed Godwit (right).

There are so many differences visible and I would happily go through them all...but that would be boring so I won't. All I will say is just look at how different they appear, the adult is a tatty worn looking bird, whereas the juvenile is so so fresh - you can just tell all those feathers are new.  Such smart birds.

More Yellow-legged Gulls and More Waders

Had a really enjoyable hour and a bit in the Tower Hide with Phil and Clive this morning, oh and Harry of course who as usual slept through all the chit chat and excitement. There were lots of birds about on the rising tide, including a couple of local scarcities which was nice.  

So that most of you don't switch of now I'll start with the wading birds and end with the gulls. Even if I do say so myself though, you would be a fool not to look at today's Yellow-legged Gull helpings as they are a bit good.  But for now the non-gulls; 

3 Teal
2 Ringed Plover
12 Dunlin
2 Whimbrel
20 Black-tailed Godwit
5 Common Sandpiper
1 Turnstone

Turnstone with Dunlin and two Redshank

Two adult Ringed Plover

At least one of the two juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls on show was an additional bird to yesterday's four - the more distant of today's two had more pale notching on its tertial tips than the average Yellow-legged and any of yesterday's. Still within variation though and all other features ticked the right boxes...

Bird one. Classic pale ground colour to underparts, large size and hefty bill, square head shape, long pale legs, dark centered scapular and coverts and mostly black tertials just with some pale notching on tips of the upper two.

Bird one. A lovely thick set bird and looked quite long necked at times.

Bird one in flight. Pale head contrasting with darker breast streaks, pale inner primary window also visible but no tail detail on this shot sadly.

And then there was bird two, which may or may not have been one of last night's four. It was unquestionably though an absolute stunner and was almost always the closest gull to the Tower Hide...

Bird two. An even paler bird and another chunk.

Bird two. Tertials much better on this bird, all black with narrow white edging. Note the brown cast to the mantle and scapular feathers, another trait of juvenile Yellow-legged.

Bird two. This shot shows really well the classic Yellow-legged Gull (irrelevant of age) head and bill shape. This bird had a really striking dark eye mask, almost hiding the eye.

Bird two. A swimming shot - looking suitably long winged and long billed.

Bird two. Can just about see the tail here, which is really white with a neat black tail band. This bird has a little bit of extra black on at least one of the tail feathers just above the tail band.

Bird two. As with most juvenile Yellow-legged Gulls at this time of year, this bird is already starting to moult in to first-winter plumage. There are several second generation feathers coming through here, but the most obvious two are smack bang in the middle. They are more rounded feathers, not pointed, worn and brown like the juvenile ones, but white, grey and black. You can see why they are called 'anchor-shaped'.

Bird two. To complete the photos a flight shot, which was mostly ruined by the Herring Gull in the foreground! Still the pale ground colour and typical juv YLG wing pattern can be seen well.

Ok no more gull pics...well not today anyway!  

Oh I almost forgot, I've heard at least four Willow Warblers today, hooet-ing from various different places on patch. Numbers of these will rapidly build up now as autumn rolls on...

Early Tree Pipit

Today started promising, Black Hole Marsh first thing suggested there had been an arrival of warblers, with three Willow Warblers and two Blackcaps.  This didn't seem to be the case though with other sites showing very little.  In fact after this warbler flurry all I saw of note in the valley today were a House Martin, ten Sand Martins and the lingering Knot and Pintails.

There was surprise for me whilst walking the dog at Bovey Down though mid morning (sadly outside my PWC patch).  Last March I published a post about what I felt were the top five misidentified early spring migrants, you can read it again HERE. But in brief, Ospreys that are white Buzzards, calling Cuckoos that are actually Collared Doves, Willow Warblers that are bright Chiffchaffs, etc. Third on my list was Tree Pipit.... and guess what I saw today - a Tree Pipit!!

I picked it up on call, so never any doubt to the ID.  I heard it call three times before I even saw it, and then I watched it fly low west over the common before it seemed to drop down at the far west end of Bovey Down.  They have bred here in recent years so it may be a returning breeding bird, or possibly just a passing migrant. Wherever it's heading it's my earliest ever in the UK that's for sure.

It's gone lovely and mild out there today, with a nice southerly wind blowing, so the next few days could be interesting... or just frustratingly quiet with nice birds turning up elsewhere. Hopefully it's the former!

Slow Day, Busy Evening

I have basically spent today waiting for an Osprey. The weather conditions have been absolutely perfect and so many have arrived into the UK today, but I drew a blank. Not even a token Marsh Harrier.  

Over all today has felt quiet.  A few Sand Martins and Chiffchaffs dotted about, my first Willow Warbler of the year singing in Axmouth which was nice, and amazingly a patch first!  Ok, I can't actually tick it, but it was novel seeing a Swan Goose with the Canada Goose flock for most of the day...

Massive bill!

Bizarrely there seems to have been an influx/breakout of Swan Geese in the last week, with replies on twitter informing me of singles at Lodmoor and Langford (Wiltshire/Hampshire border) in the last few days. Odd. Even odder was that people were replying to my tweet with the word "gripping!". Really!??

I am really glad I kept plugging away today despite the apparent lack of birds, because I had an excellent hour out tonight. Although still no Osprey!

Three Little Ringed Plovers had been on Colyford Marsh all day, and tonight they were joined by a fourth bird and a Water Pipit.  It's hardly surprising to come across an Axe Water Pipit in late March, but in summer plumage (although this one was only half way there) they are always a delight to see.  The total Axe Little Ringed Plover count this evening was six, as just after seeing the four on Colyford Marsh I nipped around to Black Hole Marsh where two were showing well (and had been seen earlier in the day).

There was one further surprise to the day, when at 19:45 (oh how I love BST!) four Goosanders came floating down river. A drake and three females, which you can just about make out here...

A three year tick day. Excellent!

Lastly a bit of late news from yesterday, with the six Cattle Egrets south over Black Hole Marsh at 19:20. Nice to know they are still around, but how much longer will they stay?

Beer Head

I've been visiting Beer Head twice a week at least for the last three or four weeks hoping to see signs of autumn migration.  Well I have been seeing some signs, but only very very small ones!  Late July and early August can see big numbers of Willow Warblers passing through, but not this year. Probably not helped by the clear skies and light winds that we've seen during this period - it usually takes cloud or a cold wind to drop any numbers - but I am worried they've not had a good breeding season.

Apart from the odd (and I mean odd, just one or two) Willow Warbler, it took until the 15th August before I saw any numbers worthy of a notebook entry. A Tree Pipit over east, eight Whitethroat, two Willow Warbler and a Wheatear grounded were noted on this date.

A Wheatear looking autumnal

These few birds gave me the encouragement I needed to get up here with my mist nets at the next available opportunity. So I did a few days later, but was a little late and having trudged out to my ringing site and being struck by how there were no migrants about at all, I just turned around and came back home! 

A veil of cloud and almost no wind on 18th tempted me up there again, and this time I actually stayed put and set up some nets!  A few hours with two nets gave me 15 birds of 5 species, including a control. They were:

6 Swallow (1 adult)

2 Robin

1 Dunnock

5 Willow Warbler (2 ads, 3 1st yrs)

1 Chiffchaff (a control, ring number HLV777)

Young Willow Warblers are just so yellow!

Chiffchaff HLV777 looking really scruffy in head moult

Usually I only catch young Swallows in the mist nets up here, so on catching an adult I thought I'd do some comparisons.  Adult Swallow (age code 4) on left, juvenile Swallow (age code 3) on the right...

So although I have had an enjoyable couple of hours of ringing, really it is still very quiet for passerine migration. Let's hope as we come towards the end of the month things pick up....

Beer Head Ringing

Looking at the weather forecast for this week, I had to take my mist nets to Beer Head this morning because it looks as though I won't have another chance any time soon!   With a gentle NW wind and plenty of high cloud the conditions couldn't really have been any better, but I was a bit concerned about a huge low that moved slowly east through Spain/France last night - right on the migration route. Thankfully though this didn't appear to be a problem...

Only set one 60 foot net, and in 4 hours caught 19 birds of 9 species. Two were retraps (a Dunnock and a Wren) with the other 17 being; 

1 Robin

1 Wren

1 Blackcap

3 Chiffchaff

8 Willow Warbler

1 Redstart

1 Linnet

1 Goldfinch

It was shaping up to be a really excellent session, but the phylloscs quickly dried up. I caught eight within the first half hour, but from then on only had the odd one drop in (I'm sure not helped by the net moving in the breeze).  The Redstart certainly brightened things up though :-)

First saw it in the field, but within 30 seconds it was in my very well placed net!

Just love the head pattern on a spring male Redstart

Classic spring Willow Warbler - so great to handle a few of these again

I saw an unringed male Redstart about an hour and a half after ringing the first one (think there were three on site), but other than that there were just a few more Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs in the bushes.  Overhead passage was non-existent, the only notable bird I saw flying past remains unidentified! It was either a Goosander or a Red-breasted Merganser but I only saw it for a few seconds before it flew into the glare of the sun and then below the cliff.

Yesterday I saw my first House Martins of the year, with five over Lower Bruckland Ponds with Sand Martins and Swallows. There were plenty of gulls on the Estuary for most of the day, and among the 26 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were four intermedius-types. Also saw the Marsh Harrier numerous times during the day, including from the house last thing at night...

It's definitely a 2cy bird, but unsure of which sex. I keep thinking I can see a grey wedge on its underwing but the upperparts look female.

It was was nice to see several of the regulars (and Alan) up Beer Head this morning, spring is well and truly in the air!

Willow Warbler

Another day and another new spring migrant for me - a Willow Warbler at Lower Bruckland Ponds this morning. No photos I'm afraid as it was frantically feeding, uttering a few quiet bursts of subsong and the odd call as it went.

I always find the first Willow Warbler of the year a phylloscopus slap in the face. After spending the first three months of the year looking at scruffy Chiffchaffs ranging in colour from grey to dull olive green, when the first Willow Warbler head pops out in front of me it's like a breath of fresh air.  That yellow and white throat and breast, long yellow supercilia and overall fresh and bright plumage makes them as obvious now as they ever are. I really can't wait to start ringing a few up Beer Head again - they are even better in the hand!

Aside from a few more new in Chiffchaffs I've not seen much else today, and no Iceland Gull.

The Top Five Stringy Spring Species

One of the least enjoyable aspects of being County Recorder is telling people they've made a mistake.  To be honest 95% of people take it very well and just accept they've come to the wrong conclusion, but there is that 5% that aren't quite so accepting.  They openly admit they are not experienced bird watchers, but will not accept they are wrong - I'm sure this says more about their personality than anything else, but please, Google is not always right!  

Early spring is an exciting time of year, and optimism is in the air. Sadly though this seems to tip some over the edge, and I can categorically say that February and March are the two worst offending months for inaccurate bird records. As a bit of fun I thought I'd put together my top five of the most frequently wrongly reported species...

5/ Yellow Wagtail. To be honest this is an all winter problem, which I blame mostly on the fact that Grey Wagtail is a bit of a misnomer.

4/ Willow Warbler.  From late Feb through to mid March way more Willow Warblers are reported than would be expected, and the ID features mentioned (if any) are 'looked really green' or 'had pale legs' and never the longer primary projection, whiter belly or longer bill.

3/ Tree Pipit.  It's simply amazing how many Tree Pipits are on territory and displaying from mid February. I mean, what else would a parachuting Pipit launching itself off a small heathland tree be? This is a mistake made even by fairly experienced birders.

2/ Osprey.  The difficult one with Ospreys is that they can arrive very early, as early as Sand Martins and Wheatears. But reports of Ospreys sitting in the middle of fields, or on road side telegraph poles does make sifting the 'iffy' ones out fairly easy.

1/ Cuckoo. This is always a non-birder's mistake, and no doubt mostly down to the fact that people just don't hear Cuckoos any more.  It is surprising just how many February and March Cuckoos get reported, only ever heard and only ever by non-birders.

Now to help make this post more of a constructive and informative one, let's do 5-1 again...

5/ Yellow Wagtail. This species is very rare in the UK out of April-October, although the last few days of March could see the first few arrive. As you can see from the below photo they really are yellow (the males anyway) and are a bird of open marshes and open fields, they particularly love feeding around cattle. This is quite unlike Grey Wagtail, which are much longer-tailed and are most often found on fast flowing streams or around large ponds.

4/ Willow Warbler.  Here's a pic I took in 2014 showing a Willow Warbler on the left and a Chiffchaff on the right. Chiffchaffs can look very yellow and show pale legs, but the face of a Willow Warbler is pretty striking, as are the paler underparts.

3/ Tree Pipit.  First and foremost, Meadow Pipits do perch on trees, they sing from trees and even parachute off trees during song flights.  You really have to hear a Tree Pipit's song to realise how much more varied it is than a Meadow Pipit's, but also listen out for the buzzing call of Tree Pipit.  When perched up, note how little streaking the Tree Pipit below shows on its flanks...

2/ Osprey.  To be honest there isn't much to say when it comes to pale Buzzard v Osprey, just take a look at the below photo. They are so much longer and overall bigger with a very distinctive head pattern...

1/ Cuckoo.  Well this is an audible one so a picture won't help, but the 'Cuc' in the Cuckoo is on another level - so strong and gutsy and puts the 'koo' to shame. Also bear in mind that Collared Doves don't always sing three notes, sometimes it is just two, but they do always sound like a dove (soft and coo-ey).

Yes it may be true that I have become far more cynical now, but in reality you have to be if you are vetting bird records.  But it is SO important to also keep in mind than anything can happen and nothing really is impossible. Thankfully it usually is pretty easy turfing out the inaccurate records, but I would challenge anyone who says they could get it 100% right.