Birdwatching Tram - 08/09/19

Led another Birdwatch tram on Sunday morning, leaving Seaton Station at 9am.  I had one bird on my mind, and told the driver if I saw it we were to just "go for it!".  Just a few minutes in and this is exactly what happened because I could see the Osprey over the Estuary!

We had just brief flight views before it disappeared, but having not caught a fish I knew it hadn't gone too far.  A bit further up the Estuary and there it was, perched on a post where it stayed for about 15 minutes...

Osprey from the tram!

It then took to the air and fished on the Estuary.  We looked at other bit sand pieces but timed our focus back to the Osprey well, as we all saw it dive into the Estuary and come up with a huge fish!  It then flew right past us and up to its favoured spot in the woods...

Osprey with a massive mullet!

What a crowd pleaser!  As were the selection of wading birds, with singles of Bar-tailed Godwit, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Common Sandpiper, three Ringed Plover and plenty of the usual species... 

Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Little Ringed Plover

There were heaps of Teal about, but frustratingly the singles of Kingfisher and Water Rail were so brief only a few of us saw them - everyone heard the Water Rail though as they were so vocal!  Cetti's Warbler (singing), Reed and Sedge Warblers and several Chiffchaffs were also very vocal during the trap, presumably due to the still and warm weather.

Several Wheatears were seen along the track, along with an extremely brief Whinchat.  Far more obliging were the flock of 6-8 Yellow Wagtails feeding around a close herd of cattle, and went nicely with the Pied and Grey Wagtails that were also recorded during the trip.

So all in all, another bloody good trip! 

A Flavour of August

As can be guessed by my subdued social media and blogging presence of late, it's been a busy few weeks! August is one of my favourite birding months of the year, so with a window of opportunity to get out towards the end of the month, I took it...

The birders who've been getting out to Beer Head this month have been well rewarded, with good numbers of common migrants (including a few Pied Flies) and a bonus Wryneck found by Bun on Wednesday 22nd.  I knew Beer Head would be busy with birders on Saturday morning, and following a glimpse of some decent vis mig during a dog walk on the edge of Colyton on Friday morning (five Tree Pipits and six Yellow Wags flew west in a ten minute period), and the fact Saturday morning saw a cloud-less dawn, Axe Cliff lured me...

The view over Seaton from Axe Cliff

I was up here 06:00-08:15 and saw; 

44 Yellow Wagtail (all west, including two groups of ten)

7 Tree Pipit (all singles, west)

1 Wheatear

1 Redstart (a cracking male)

3 Whitethroat

5 Willow Warbler

So not loads of birds by a long way, but it filled me with so much joy. The joy of autumn birding.

After this I headed down to Black Hole Marsh, another venue that has done well this month, although unlike Beer Head hasn't offered any real patch scarcities. The second Spotted Redshank of the month (with a third found today!) had been found the day before, and showed well around the Island Hide whilst I was there. Exceptionally well...

As you can see it's a juvenile - and an incredibly fresh one at that! I don't think I've ever seen one so young, rewind just a few weeks and it was probably stumbling around a damp Arctic taiga landscape peeping at its mother for food!  Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Also on view were a couple of juvenile Little Ringed Plovers, c25 Dunlin, a Green Sand and a Greenshank.

Won't keep you waiting as long for the next blog post I promise!

Yellow Wagtails Galore!

It's proving to be an absolutely stonking autumn for Yellow Wagtails. We always do well for them here in late August/early September, especially at Beer Head, but this year there are stacks more than usual. 

For the last few days up to 100 have been present in the valley (they can be found wherever there's cattle or on Black Hole Marsh) and most mornings Beer Head goers have been seeing upper double figures flying west. Plus this morning I added a load more with a visit to Axe Cliff, which I will happily write about now...

Beer Head has been pretty well covered so far this autumn by the usual gang; Ian Mc, Phil A, Bun, Clive W and Dad. This gang would usually include me, but this autumn I've decided to really concentrate on Axe Cliff which usually plays second fiddle, hence why Axe Cliff is within my Patchwork Challenge patch.  I went up there a few weeks ago but it was before the autumnal rush, and for the last week Harry has been suffering with a cold so our nights have not been too good (to say the least!). Thankfully though I finally made it up there this morning for a good walk about, albeit later than I would usually visit. An hour and a half from 08:30 produced;

6 Tree Pipit (two grounded, four west)

7 Meadow Pipit (grounded - my first of the autumn)

140+ Yellow Wagtail (all grounded in the stubble fields, I reckon I would have seen 200+ had I walked more fields)

1 Wheatear

3 Whinchat

1 Stonechat

3 Blackcap

2 Whitethroat

5 Willow Warbler

The bushes never do that well at Axe Cliff, but oh my word the stubble fields were amazing. I don't think I've ever seen Yellow Wagtails like it - they were everywhere!

This is what the Axe Cliff stubble fields are looking like at the moment

If you enlarge this photo, all the dots flying above the stubble are Yellow Wags!

Two Yellow Wags - they weren't easy to photograph as they spent most their time feeding in among the stalks

One of the Whinchats

Down in the valley, Black Hole Marsh is pretty samey wader wise but it's nice to have a juvenile male Ruff with us, which has been here since the afternoon of 23rd. There are a few more Snipe (11) and Teal (25+) about as well, and I'm sure a scarcity or rarity is only a matter of days away.

Which leaves me just to say goodnight...

Tonight about twenty minutes after sunset on the lower Axe Estuary looking towards Seaton

Birdfair 2017

This year I was able to spend two days at the Birdfair at Rutland Water, and was proud to be representing Nikon once again...

We had a really successful show with so much interest on both the optics and camera side.  I really enjoyed chatting to people visiting the stand and was thrilled at how many people introduced themselves to me.  We saw plenty of birds from our view point too, with numerous Ospreys and Hobbies, a Great White Egret, Greenshank, few Yellow Wagtails and an array of wildfowl.

As ever with Birdfair it's great bumping into familiar faces...

Nathan from Spurn - he had just told me all about the male Bluetail he saw a few years back!

Jonny of Blyth's Pipit fame! Along with his better half and their beautiful new addition

But it's also about making new friends. I can't tell you the respect and admiration I have for this chap..

Tom Mason

Tom Mason is a freelance wildlife photographer. He hasn't even reached 25 but has been on photo expeditions to locations such as the Falklands, the Amazon, etc... At the age of 16 he took a Friday off school to attend the UK Photography Show, where he tracked down someone in particular (a marketing manager I believe), managed to entice them to a sit down and a coffee and basically walked away with a job.  For a 16 year old that takes serious balls!  What he doesn't know about cameras and photography isn't worth knowing, and what's so refreshing is that he knows his wildlife too.

I was also delighted to see first hand the work of one of my favourite wildlife photographers Rebecca Nason. I've always found her work to be something of a mixture of photography and art, and I just had to shake her hand when we met. Seeing her photographs up close made them look even better!

Sadly I had to leave the fair at 2pm on the Saturday, but obviously couldn't leave Rutland without a quick stop off to look at this bush...

Surely quite famous now?

Yes on the south shore of Rutland Water a healthy population of Tree Sparrows survive. And it looks like they've had a good breeding season as there were plenty of young'uns about...

During my absence Phil seemed to be keeping a close eye on things around here, he wouldn't let anything rare slip through. I tried to retweet as many of his tweets as I saw but the signal at the Birdfair was mostly pants. To very quickly summarise though thankfully I didn't miss anything major.

I did manage to grab an hour out this morning at Black Hole. There had clearly been the first semi decent pulse of Yellow Wagtails with up to twenty between Seaton and Colyford Marshes. A lone Whinchat just south of Black Hole Marsh was my first of the autumn.  On the marsh itself the variety is still poor (no doubt due to the lack of easterly winds), but overall numbers are looking good with 60+ Black-tailed Godwit, c50 Dunlin, 12 Teal and smaller numbers of the usual suspects.

Oh, almost forgot, I saw some really bright juvenile Willow Warblers today. They were nice and yellow... one could say they were yellow warblers in fact...

Marsh Harrier and Yellow Wag

Both Cattle Egrets are still here today. This morning they were probably no more than about 20 feet from the Tower Hide, but would have been completely invisible from there. I was watching from Axmouth and they were tucked right under the river bank with seven Little Egrets.

Enjoyed a lovely hour out late this afternoon down Black Hole Marsh with Harry, in gorgeous weather.  Managed to bag two autumn firsts during the wander, a Marsh Harrier and a Yellow Wagtail.  A fidgety Harry ensured I left the Tower Hide bang on cue to see all the loafing gulls flush up and a juv Marsh Harrier float around in the air above. I didn't see it close up and had to keep moving, but still it was good to see (our second of the year)...

The Yellow Wagtail was far less exciting. It flew over east calling.

The wader situation looked much the same on Black Hole itself, just a few more Dunlin (36+) and now nine Ringed Plover. Numbers will probably keep rising now as we move into August - the peak month for autumn wader passage on the Axe.

Slow Going

I don't think it is just here that spring seems to have stopped for the time being. Although I've not had much time out this week (an hour or so in the field both first thing in the morning and last thing at night) it's clear that it's really quite quiet.  In fact I hadn't had a year tick at all this week (so unusual for the last week in April) until just before 7pm tonight...

Whenever I've been around in the evenings over the past few weeks I've been checking the little pre-roost gathering of up to twenty Pied Wagtails that can usually be found either on Bridge or Colyford Marsh. A White Wagtail would have been nice enough (still not seen one this year) but a pair of Yellow Wagtails on Colyford Marsh this evening were way more exciting!  Hard to beat a spring male Yellow Wag if you ask me - I just love 'em! And a year tick too :-)

Otherwise today has been poor, as was yesterday. Tuesday was a little better though with the increased water level on Black Hole Marsh at dawn offering 16 Dunlin, six Ringed Plover (both notable increases), a Greenshank and a Common Gull, plus five Cattle Egret over north and seven Whimbrel on the Estuary (been this many pretty much all week).  Walking back from the Island Hide I briefly caught sight of a large yellow bunting and crossed everything that it was going to turn out to be a Cirl Bunting...

...It was a Yellowhammer. Still really notable though, I can't recall seeing many/any Yellowhammers on the deck in the river valley. I have had a few fly over, but not perched up in a bush which is promising, it would be great if they started nesting here. It was nice to see a Sedge Warbler quite well too for a change...

At both ends of Tuesday there were at least 200 hirundines feeding low in the valley, by far my biggest gathering this year and no doubt congregating low due to the bitterly cold north wind. They were mostly Sand Martins and Swallows with the odd House Martin mixed in.  It was fascinating watching them during the evening, because when a huge dark cloud came over and the light level dropped instantly, they all flew up and started behaving like a murmuration of Starlings...

I have been keeping an eye on the sea since my Great Skua, but it's been as quiet as the land. I had four Sandwich Terns fishing offshore on Tuesday, a Ringed Plover flew east on Wednesday and today the lingering Common Scoter remains...

I'm actually well impressed with the above photo, as the Scoter is at the very least half a mile out!  

Having moaned in my last post about the lack of sea watching weather this spring, I am literally salivating at the forecast for Saturday evening/Sunday.  I've asked Jess to keep our imminent arrival in there til Monday at least...

 

Beer Head Bird Binge

Very different weather conditions up Beer Head this morning, not a cloud in the sky and hardly a breath of wind. 

Pre-dawn looking east to Seaton Bay and Axe Cliff

A few hours later looking west

After yesterday's debacle I didn't even consider bird ringing this morning, I just packed my bins, camera and a breakfast bar and went for a wander - well I clocked up 4 miles actually!  The birding was so exciting, there's nothing better than being surrounded my migrant passerines at a beautiful location such as Beer Head, and in such nice weather too! I'm also desperate for a patch Ortolan and now's as good a time as any to try my hardest for one. 

A beautiful scene, but can you spot the Whinchat?

I was up here for four hours from 06:10 and noted; 

1 Egret sp. (this was so annoying. Rear end views of a large and deep wing-beating Egret heading NE overhead just after 9am - well aware how tricky it is judging size on lone white birds though so could do nothing more with it)

2 Skylark

2 Tree Pipit (over)

50+ Yellow Wagtail (c25 with sheep with more overhead)

40+ Wheatear

2 Whinchat

3 Stonechat (juvs)

4 Redstart (2m 2f)

2 Garden Warbler (one in Dell, one Branscombe slopes)

3 Blackcap

1 Lesser Whitethroat (stunning fresh juv in Sheepwalk, gutted it never popped back out for a pap. Oh and sorry Ian P!)

12 Whitethroat 

15 Willow Warbler

8 Chiffchaff

6 Spotted Flycatcher 

So, far fewer Tree Pipits than yesterday, but more of everything else. I had the feeling some of these birds were remainders from yesterday, for example two of the Spot Flies were with a female Redstart and flicking between the Sheepwalk and the Hollow, just like yesterday.

And here's a few more pics...

One of the Whinchats and it's shadow!

Juv Stonechat

Same again, a juv Stonechat

The colours on autumn male Wheatears are amazing. So much more than those beige juvs!

Spot Fly

Another Spot Fly

An elusive male Redstart - all of the four were buggers to get a good look at

Yellow Wags by their second most favoured choice of livestock!

Yellow Wag posing a bit better

Ok I think that's enough bird pictures for now.  Having a P900 makes it hard not to point and shoot and everything you see, however far away!

What was extra rewarding about this morning was the trek out to the upper slopes of Branscombe...

Short grass and plenty of bare ground and scrub

Almost every time I come out here and have a good look around, despite how yummy the habitat looks, I rarely see much at all.  That was different though today, and the area shown in the  photo above was home to ten Wheatear, four Whitethroat, two Redstart, two Blackcap, one Garden Warbler and a Spot Fly. It was just after I took this photo when I picked up the flying Egret, can't lie it did put a slight downer on things - I never like things getting away from me.

After Beer Head I gave the Estuary a couple of sweeps looking for big white things (whatever their bill shape!), failed on this but saw a lovely juv Marsh Harrier.  I would have said this was the bird Tim Wright saw a couple of days ago, but I don't think it was because this is the first Marsh Harrier I've ever seen here actually arriving - all the previous ones I've stumbled upon in the valley have already been over the marsh hunting.  I first clocked it thanks to an alarming Herring Gull behind me high above the hill above Axmouth.  It seemed to be drifting high west, but then dropped like a stone...

Marsh Harrier losing height!

And began to hunt over the marsh, with Crows in attendance as ever...

You can just about make out the pale fringes to the coverts, making this a juvenile

It's amazing to see how this species has increased here, in line with an increase and spread in breeding range across the UK. Ten years ago they weren't even annual, but this is probably our fifth of sixth individual of this year alone...

So all in all, a cracking morning, one that really got my juices flowing. But I must say it does feel like I am missing something.... Oh yes, now where's that Ortolan...

.

Yellow Wag Tap Turned On

I have been seeing one of two Yellow Wags over the last week or so, but this morning my word they were everywhere!

Every group of cattle in the valley - Bridge Marsh, Colyford Common and Seaton Marshes  - had their own little flock. As well as these, every so often small groups or singles would fly over west. It's really tricky to know for sure how many I saw/heard, but as a guesstimate I'd go with 50+.

The bushes were really quiet though, with the only other passerine migrants noted being two Wheatear and this Whinchat on Seaton Marshes...

Whinchat playing peekaboo!

That's better!  I am so impressed with the P900 - this bird was some distance away but you'd never know it from the photo

More Rain Please!

The showers this morning did the trick in grounding some migrants around the Axe.  I decided to concentrate on the river valley and it was soon evident there had been an arrival of Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs.  It took a while until I found any quality, and when I did they were in the same hedgerow, the rare-looking hedgerow that runs north from Coronation Corner alongside the Estuary.  One was a Grasshopper Warbler that reeled briefly before vanishing, but the other was far more obliging - my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year...

As ever with my videos, if you click on that small cog-like symbol near the bottom right hand corner of the picture, and change the quality setting to 1080pHD, it will look a whole lot better.

For my previous birding outing you will have to turn back to last Friday, which was a very very wet day indeed!  The weather did the trick though as this proved our best wader day of this spring so far (which isn't hard as it has been dreadful!).  I clocked up 27 Dunlin, one Ringed Plover, 6 Common Sands, one Barwit (a gorgeous summer plumaged bird) and 19 Whimbrel.

Best of all though were the four stunning Yellow Wagtails on Bridge Marsh.  Spring Yellow Wags are a bit like Tree Pipits here, they are almost always just fly overs - so it was a real treat to see these.

Lastly, I just realised I never got round to thanking Mrs Bishop for finding the Montagu's Harrier the other day. A pity you got the ID a little wrong Brenda, but if it wasn't for you none of us would have seen it so many thanks from all of us here :-)

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.