Back In Business

Finally!

A few rather major events have happened since my laptop died at the end of August. The most recent is the thing I'm writing this blog post on - a brand new laptop!  Thanks to my wife for this.  She wouldn't usually get me a new laptop, but I have just had a 30th birthday so the time was right.  Yes, I am now 30, and I quite simply can't believe it. It doesn't bother me, but I just cannot understand how it has happened, it was only yesterday I was 25... or so it feels anyway...

The other rather notable event since my last blog post was this...

Blood moon

It's not a great photo, but it does show the colour well. It was well worth getting up for early this morning, I always find anything space related extremely fascinating. And I've just heard they've found running water on Mars - mind boggling!

Anyway, back to the moon, and here's a few other pics showing the build up to the eclipse.  It was a cracking full moon to begin with...

 And later on the action began...

I have got so so sooooo much to write about, but instead of crafting one massive blog post I will divide it up into three; Birds, Bird Ringing and Moths. Next will probably be the moths, but in the meantime I've got a months worth of laptop work to be getting on with...

Oh nearly forgot, back to my birthday, if you've never tried hummingbird cake you simply must. Best cake I've ever eaten, and I have eaten a lot of cake...

Siskins

I figured I needed to put something bird related up here before I lose all my readers! It's going to have to be brief though I'm afraid...

For me one of the most stand out features of this autumns migration (so far) has been Siskins...

Male Siskin

This really has been an exceptional autumn for migrating Siskins. I noted the first 'vis mig' Siskins in late August, which is early, and ever since numbers have been on the up. I am not exaggerating when I say every time I've gone outside in the last couple of weeks - whether it's been birding, dog walking, going to work - I have heard Siskin.  Even had some over Watford and Egham last Saturday when Jess and I spent the day further east than usual.  I've not actually seen all that many as they have mostly been passing over high, but numbers like this so early in the season may be a good sign for the remainder of the autumn. Hopefully other irruptive Scandinavian species won't be far behind them...

Still No Laptop

Well I'm stuck in no mans land here, am waiting to find out if anything has been salvaged from my dead hard drive and am still waiting for a new laptop...

You'd think this would have meant I'd have had plenty of time to go out and about but I've been suffering from a heavy dose of man flu over the last ten days and just haven't had the energy.  Before that I had seen and ringed a few bits and pieces, and when I do get a new laptop one of my many jobs will be to do a summary blog post.  

If it wasn't for the impending mountain load of work I know I have to do as soon as I do get a new machine, a few weeks without a computer would have actually been quite refreshing... 

Disaster

Well this isn't exactly how my laptop looks, but it may as well. It had been in Computer A&E all of last week, but it was on Friday I got the sickening news...

It was dead, and not just any old dead, it was hard drive dead - the worst dead possible. So not only do I now not own a laptop, but it took all the data down with it. The only slight positive about all this is the computer geeks didn't charge for any of the work they did, no fix no fee. I still have to pay for a new machine though!

So all in all last week was not a good week.

Can't See The Trees For The Woods!!!

Just occasionally a birding event occurs that is quite simply mind blowing. However much your mind goes over it, you just can't get over it. And today that happened...

There's been three Wood Sandpipers on Black Hole Marsh for a few days now (there were five).  Sometime last night/this morning another 31 dropped in!!!!!  34 Wood Sands is just completely nuts, and not a number anyone would ever dream about seeing, certainly not in Devon, and probably not anywhere in the UK.  Wood Sands only ever come in ones, twos or threes, sometimes if your lucky six and once before in Devon ten (six was my previous highest here).

They were all juvs, and although spread out across the whole marsh (making counting very hard!), many were showing at point blank range from the Island Hide...

Check the other local blogs, sure to be some cracking shots

What I found even more nuts about this influx was that no other species were involved.  There were plenty of other birds on Black Hole Marsh (one Little Stint, two Green Sands, eight Ruff, lots of Dunlin and Ringed Plover) but all have been present for a day or so already.  

This Wood Sand influx has been witnessed right across the UK, although no other site has had more than 20 birds. I've read about 19 somewhere, along with a few other double figure counts, and smaller numbers dotted about all over.

Wow. Just wow.

Some Nice Butts

Butterflies are the last thing on my mind at the moment as I sit in my house with rain beating down on the windows and neighbouring trees swaying in the wind.  But there has been some sunshine over the last week and I've not just been looking up...

I wanted to see if there were any Chalkhill Blues hanging on in the corner of the patch, but sadly I couldn't find any so I think the answer is no.  There were lots of Common Blue, one Holly Blue, and highlights in the form of three Wood White and several Dingy Skipper...

Wood White - they look so much better in flight!

Dingy Skipper with Honey in the background!!

I've also been trying to locate Brown Hairstreak at a local site where one was reportedly photographed last year.  Nothing yet, but it is still early days!

Could Have Been Bad But It Was Baird's

Saturday I took Jess out for the day, a delayed birthday present (only three months late!). But right at the start of the day Phil phoned with news of a long-winged wader on Black Hole Marsh, either Baird's or White-rumped.  I don't need White-rumped for the patch so spent the next few hours hoping it was going to be another of these, but the bad news came early afternoon just as I was munching on a pork and apple pasty (which in my opinion was over seasoned, good meat should be left alone).

Thankfully though it did the decent thing, and when I returned home late afternoon a quick run to Black Hole (where for the first time I could really appreciate the recently tarmacked track to the Island Hide!) showed it was still present, and one of the closest waders to the hide.  Many thanks to Kev and Debs for letting me use their scope. Although there are heaps of staggering photos out there of it, I still had to get my own record shots...

I've never seen an adult Baird's before, but several juvs/1st winters. Whatever the age though that shape never changes, the long tapered wing tip of this species and White-rumped Sand is classic.  I thought it was actually a very pretty bird, very gingery overall with a gorgeous almost juv Curlew Sand-like peachy wash to the breast, and a very striking head pattern. I've always likened Baird's Sandpipers to weetabix, I hope Tim White doesn't mind me nicking one of his awesome photos from his website (http://timwhitewildlife.blogspot.co.uk/)...

Black Hole Marsh Baird's Sandpiper (c) Tim White

And...

Don't tell me you can't see it!? I will admit it is more obvious with the juvs.

A cracking bird for the marsh, and a great patch tick too.  I appreciated this one more than most because I (along with three others) have seen Baird's Sand on patch before, many many years ago though. I must have been about 14 and it was settled north of Coronation Corner late evening, but soon took off and flew out to sea. Oddly I have never forgotten the late Alan Bundy describing its call as "more like a fart than a bird call".  Sadly enough wasn't seen for the record to be accepted by BBRC, and I play by the books so it wasn't on my patch list. Well, it is now :-).

Black Hole has been superb during the last week, just this morning there were four Wood Sands on it, and last night Tim White had nine Ruff. On top of that there's been up to 50 Dunlin, 30 Ringed Plover, small numbers of Greenshank, Green Sands, a few more Common Sands, singles of Turnstone and Sanderling along with a few hundred Black-headed Gulls and double figures of Teal. What a place!

Puzzling Garden Warbler

Enjoyed a superb ringing session yesterday morning with 43 birds trapped at Lower Bruckland Ponds.  I never knew this place was such a fuel station for migrating passerines, but clearly it is.  As ever with ringing I wouldn't have had a clue half these birds were there without the nets. The more ringing I do the more I realise field counts are way off the mark, especially when it comes to migration.

It was mostly Warblers; 11 Chiffchaff, six Willow Warbler, one Blackcap, one Whitethroat, one Sedge Warbler and best of all a Garden Warbler.  Garden Warblers are scarce around here, so it was a complete surprise!

What a beaut!

This is only the second Garden Warbler I've ever handled (the other a spring bird) so am not experienced in ageing them. In fact I thought it was a 3 (this years young) at first, until I looked closer at its eyes...

The reddish tones to the iris makes this an adult (age code 4), would be more grey-brown if it was a 3.

Another look at the tail showed that although the feathers were quite pointy tipped, they're broad and abraded...

Not too sure what's going on with the tail though to be honest...

The main reason why I thought it was an young bird was because of that darker and obviously fresher central tail feather.  Many first-year passerines moult the odd or a few tail feathers during their post juvenile moult, which is what I thought had happened here - but other features make this an adult bird so that can't be the case!?  Also look at the middle tertial at the top of the photo, that's another darker and newer feather.  I keep looking at the other central tail feather too because to me that looks almost like a juvenile feather, much browner and narrower than the rest of the tail. Could this be a '5' (born last year) that failed to moult its two central tail feathers in Africa during the winter, but has since replaced one of them!?  

I really hope someone experienced with the moult cycle of Garden Warblers reads this and gives me their thoughts. I am probably way of the mark but surely it can't be a younger bird with an iris that colour and so much wear on the feathers??

Thankfully having handled many ten's of Sedge Warblers it was easy to age this bird as an adult (age code 4)...

Sedge Warblers didn't breed at the Ponds this year so it's definitely a migrant.

Looks like we are in for a few wet days now....

Autumn Passerines

Friday of last week was a lovely day, with plenty of sunshine and not a breath of wind.  And it was nice to finally see some autumn passerine migration...

Over Lower Bruckland Ponds several large flocks of hirundines flew west, along with a few Swifts and my first Tree Pipit of the autumn.  In the bushes were several Willow Warblers, Reed Warblers, a Whitethroat and a Marsh Tit - the latter being my first for the Ponds. 

Chiffchaff (rear) and Willow Warbler - both young birds. There was an 11mm difference in wing length!

I was really pleased to finally catch Kingfisher here too, two of them in fact...

Thanks for the extra pair of hands, James.

Seeing as this whole post has been about Lower Bruckland Ponds, I must just point you towards the Lower Bruckland Ponds website.  You'll see my monthly updates here that summarise how the wildlife of the ponds changes as the year progresses: http://www.natureindevon.co.uk/

Unseasonal Ducks...

Well I say unseasonal, but in recent years July has proved a good month for wandering wildfowl. I once had a flock of Pochard fly in off the sea during a heavy rain shower in this month - and they are a true patch rarity.

Anyway today's oddities were two Gadwall at Lower Bruckland Ponds, and then these that dropped in out of nowhere...

Tufted Ducks

They only stayed for about 30 seconds, before flying off back west. In this brief post I must also mention the Little Ringed Plover on Black Hole Marsh early yesterday morning, as amazingly it was my first of the autumn!

Two More Yellow-legged Gulls

Had another lovely juv Yellow-legged Gull on the Estuary yesterday, along with my first juv Lesser Black-backed of the summer and a juv Med Gull.  Sadly, just like my first, it remained distant...

Just right of centre, compare with the juv Herring Gull in the bottom left of the photo - it was a hefty thing.

I had another one this afternoon as well, offshore amongst c200 large gulls following one of the boats from Beer.  Don't get me wrong I am glad I've seen three, but I really wouldn't mind a close one soon!!

Later on along the Estuary I saw my first Common Gull of the summer, an adult, and a juv Water Rail which nicely confirms successful breeding here yet again.  Also heard there was a Sanderling on Black Hole Marsh, but I didn't get round to seeing it.

Small Red-eyes and Colour-ringed Med Gull

I never did get round to posting these few dragonfly pics last week, so here you go...

It was great to see Small Red-eyed Damselflies out again at Lower Bruckland Ponds last week, I saw them on four of the ponds - basically where ever there's surface vegetation (whether it's lily pads or algae/weeds)...

Also this lovely Golden-ringed Dragonfly, one of my favourites...

As always Camille Duponcheel has replied in ultra quick time regarding the colour-ringed first-summer Med Gull pictured in my last post, Green RU15.  It was ringed as a pullus last June in a colony at Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE - which is here:

After fledging it spent autumn and the first half of winter in Cornwall, mostly on the Camel and Hayle Estuary, but it then flew back over the channel and was in Northern France by Feb of this year. It returned to the Hayle in late April and this was the last sighting before I saw it on Black Hole Marsh last week. Many thanks Camille.

Many Meds

I've only seen a couple of Med Gulls so far this summer, despite excellent numbers of Black-headed Gulls about. So I was pleased to seen ten on Black Hole Marsh this morning; five juvs, single first and second-summers and three adults...

Two adults flanked by two juveniles

Adult

Colour-ringed first-summer

A gorgeous juvenile

Same juvenile back on, they are subtly beautiful

And now for a quiz pic. How many Meds? And what ages are they...

I know many don't find gulls interesting or attractive, but I don't think there's many birds smarter than an adult summer Med Gull.

Also on Black Hole today was my first Shoveler of the 'autumn', three Teal and waders included 12 Blackwits, 9 Common Sands, 6 Dunlin (my first juv) and a Green Sand.

Yesterday I had a rather nice and spectacular surprise during a mist netting session. Although I've been a C ringer for four years, this was the first time one of these have flown into my nets (and stayed there until extracted, big birds often 'bounce' straight out of mist nets)...

Sparrowhawk

What fierce eyes! They really have nailed the 'death stare' to perfection.  This bird was a '5 male', which means it's a male that was born in the previous calender year (2014).  It showed a remarkable moult with a seemingly random mix of first-year (brown) and adult (blue-grey) feathers...

The fact the adult feathers are blueish say its a male, as did its small wing size

I say the moult looked random, but clearly it isn't and this is obviously how Sparrowhawks do it so that they remain in good enough condition to continue to hunt.  It still looked very 'juvenile' on its front...

So glad James M was with me at this time, enabling me to get these photos.

Also of note was this juvenile Whitethroat, notable because they don't breed on site so it has clearly travelled some distance - although probably not that far...

Whitethroat age code 3

Juv Yellow-legged Gull, Insects And An Anniversary

There's a bit of everything in this blog post, so I hope you see something that interests you!

I'll start with not everyones favourite, but one of mine - my first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the year.  Large gull numbers have been low so far this July on the Axe, with the Exe having had Yellow-legs since the 1st of the month.  I had my first juvenile large gulls on the Estuary on Saturday, but frustratingly they were both Herring Gulls. Yesterday though I had a feeling the damp and dreary conditions would produce the goods, and it did...

What a beaut!  As you can see it was distant (425 metres to be precise!), but it was such a strikingly pale bird that this really didn't matter when it came to the identification.  I'd say this is probably as pale as they come and many are darker (see THIS BIRD Tim Worfolk had yesterday on the Exe), but I really love the ones like this, they are almost Great Black-backed like. In early July juv Herring Gulls are at their darkest, so a bird this pale needs closer inspection.  But it's not just the paleness that makes this a Yellow-legged, notice the dark eye mask, hefty size, long wings, plain dark tertials with white tips and the overall dark chocolate brown colour to the mantle/scapular feathers (usually more grey-brown or grey in Herring). This latter feature isn't often spoken about but I find it very useful, although juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls can be the same colour so beware!

In other bird news I bumped into some more Crossbills last Thursday with Richard Phillips, a nice flock of ten at Trinity Hill.  And this morning I gave Black Hole Marsh a quick look over, plenty of birds but nothing special; 450+ Black-headed Gull, 34 Little Egret, nine Lapwing, six Common Sandpiper, three Dunlin, three Kingfisher and two Teal.

Now for insects, and I had an excellent catch of 244 moths of 54 species last Friday. There was a lovely variety, and some excellent numbers including an impressive 33 Elephant Hawkmoths!  Only one immigrant though, but it was quite a rare one...

Clancy's Rustic - my fourth here but all the previous have been during the month of October.

 Some of the other notables included...

Scallop Shell

Brown-tail

L-album Wainscot

Privet Hawkmoth - don't catch many of these here.

With my wedding ring on full show in the above photo, I must just mention that unbelievably it is already our one year wedding anniversary! Can't believe how quick that's gone, I do hope life slows down a bit so I can savour it some more. I mean crikey I'm 30 later this year...

Back to insects, and here's a couple more pics to complete this post...

Mating Large Red Damselflies

One of five Glow Worms Bun managed to track down on patch last week, I saw this one on Friday night.

A New Moth For The Garden

Sadly it is not a very exciting one though! In fact its a very common and rather drab moth, and I have no idea how I haven't managed to catch one here before now. The Common Lutestring was one of 76 moths of 35 species in the trap on Monday night...

Some of the smarter moths included...

Crescent Dart - a local speciality

Phoenix

Blood-vein

Burnished Brass

There's a few more birds turning up locally now, with a few waders on Black Hole Marsh and Black-headed Gull numbers increasing by the day (including my first juvs a few days ago).  I keep bumping into Crossbills locally too, with at least two this morning feeding high up in conifers at Bovey Down amongst a large mixed flock of birds.