Summer Year Ticks (part 2)...

So having managed to see and tick off seven new birds for the year in the space of three days I had a feeling my luck was probably going to run out and I would see many an empty lake or silent tree for the remainder of the summer.

 

30/07/13 - RSPB Minsmere (again)

Having had a productive session at this wonderful reserve a few days previously I decided to try again and maybe catch up with the sandpipers that had defeated me last time. I arrived early and again tried to see the stone curlews near North Wall. Again this ended fruitlessly and I was becoming convinced that my luck had expired.

I got to East Hide at a reasonable time and was again confronted with numerous spotted redshanks and black-tailed godwits and sat next to them, two curlew sandpipers!

Nice to see them showing some of their brick-red summer plumage. Further scanning through the waders revealed similar species as on the last trip with good numbers of green sandpipers around. At the back of East Scrape I saw a sandpiper feeding that appeared to have a speckled back and bold eye-stripe - a wood sandpiper? As I got it in the scope I was pretty convinced it was but it flew off seconds later - very frustrating!

A look out to sea having left the hide was well worth it when a whimbrel flew south and a sandwich tern flew towards the scrapes with a sand eel in its beak.

I set off along the seasonal wader trail with little expectation after the previous visit. I was chased along the path by a very large flock of goldfinches that were feeding in the thistles.

I got to the furthest pool and at first glance it appeared devoid of wader activity. A few geese and ducks loafing around but very little else. I set up the scope anyway and scanned around. Just as I got to the western end (which was fairly well obscured by reeds) a saw a sandpiper moving in some low vegetation. A quick repositioning of the scope and it had disappeared. I then found a couple of common snipe in the same area and then the mystery sandpiper reappeared, this time with a friend. It was a wood sandpiper, as was its friend, and then his friend in turn. Three wood sandpipers all together! What a result. I continued to watch them with the snipe until they all took to the air due to this chap marauding through the pool.

The rest of the visit was uneventful as far as new birds go but there were still fabulous views of four bitterns, marsh harriers, bearded tits and Cetti's warblers to be had. At the centre I asked about the stone curlews and met the very helpful Ian (who I have communicate with before from the RSPB Sandwell Valley twitter account). He gave me some tips, one of which I tried as I left the centre. To my amazement standing right there were two stone curlews - amazing! They we a little far away (in the rain) for the camera so here is an attempt with the proper camera and an attempt at phone-scoping them.

31/07/13 - Christchurch Park, Ipswich

Having completed the depressing task of saying goodbye to the ever-wonderful Beth at the station in the evening I thought I would quickly sneak into the park before closing and have a brief look for Mabel, the obliging tawny owl.

As you can guess from the snow, this photo was not taken this July! This is another one I took of her a while ago - she wasn't home on this visit. I quickly looped around the pools hoping for a mandarin and, as the light was fading along with my enthusiasm, one appeared. I had no camera so I had to make do with my phone in bad light.

02/08/13 - Melton

Dad and I decided to go for a brief afternoon visit to one of our favourite areas, The river Deben at Melton. This area is usually great for waders and this visit did not disappoint. Over the course of the visit we saw dozens of oystercatchers, at least 40 curlews, a couple of common sandpipers, ringed plovers, dunlin and lots more. Greenshanks put on a good show as they chased invertebrates in the water.

However the greenshank was not the year tick from this visit (it would have been a week earlier before the first trip to Minsmere). The tick came in the form of that most sort after bird - a turtle dove. Having earlier commented to dad how it would have been nice to find one in a fanciful manor I was looking at doves in dead trees when one with a particularly pink breast caught my eye. It was miles away and only just identifiable but the very pink breast combined with a very patterned back led me to believe that this was in fact a turtle dove. It was much to far away to photograph unfortunately but I look forward to hopefully getting that opportunity some time in the future.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Summer Year Ticks...

So July roles in August and birders everywhere seem to turn to insect spotting owing to the birds just "sitting in trees and bushes going tweet". With birds seeming elusive at best I didn't hold out much hope of finding much on my trip to Suffolk to see the family. I had however overlooked the fact that early wader passage had begun!

27/07/13 - Upper Hollesley Common + Melton

On my first day I took a brief stroll around Upper Hollesley Common. I was hoping to fill a gaping hole in my year list with a bird that I know breeds there. Yellowhammers should be an easy find but they always seem to escape me. I also had vague hopes of finding some dartford warblers or some crossbills - both of which I had seen there previously. After a certain amount searching I had heard a number of yellowhammers and a single dartford warbler but had thus far failed to see anything except butterflies. Finally one popped up and sat singing for a while - first year tick of the trip!

On the way home from the common I had a quick stop at Melton to have a look at the tidal mud flats but much to my horror, despite the possibility of an early wader passage, there was virtually nothing with long legs evident! Some consolation was this nice showy reed warbler.

28/07/13 - RSPB Minsmere

My first trip to this flagship RSPB reserve for a number of months and I was seriously excited about the prospect of some of the waders that had been mentioned on various websites. When I arrived I headed straight past the North Hide for a scan across the field behind the visitors centre where stone curlews had successfully bred this year for the first time in three years. Alas they were nowhere to be seen and I was keen to start searching the scrape so I vowed to try again later in the day. I arrived in East Hide and was greeted by the sight of 30+ spotted redshanks along with copious numbers and varieties of other waders.

In a single scope view I was treated to views of spotted redshank, common redshank, dunlin, knot, turnstone, lapwing, avocet and black-tailed godwits - crazy! Elsewhere on the scrape were green and common sandpipers, ringed plover, a brief visit from a kittiwake and then four little gulls.

After a long stay in the East Hide I left and headed out for a look over the sea. There was very little evident in the strong winds but a few turns were feeding and I suddenly spotted two little terns heading towards land. They flew straight over my head and landed on South Scrape. As I approached the sluice I was surprised to find what must be an early departing wheatear since I'm not aware of the, breeding locally.

It was the first time I had a chance to explore the temporary wader trail despite it being open annually. I had high hopes but I was a little disappointed not to find anything new. Everything then left the scrape and appeared on the North Levels but still nothing new. I completed the loop around the scrape with very little extras to add to the day's sightings. After stopping to refuel in the cafe I tried again for the stone curlews with familiarly disappointing results. I decided I would go for one last look from East Hide and this was rewarded with a couple more year ticks. A pair of sanderlings landed as the tide drove them from the shore and a lone sandwich tern was a nice addition.

29/07/13 - Levington Creek

Having returned from Minsmere the previous day I was frustrated to hear that I missed a series of year ticks through not being in the right place at the right time. I spent most of the day at home but I decided to head for a quick look a Levington Creek at high tide. Much to my annoyance, I arrived to find the tide was already in and there was almost nothing to be seen on the creek itself. Round the corner there was still some exposed mud and elevated areas and these had been taken over by dozens of golden plovers. As I looked through the plovers something else became obvious, a pair of whimbrels sat in the vegetation.

I had hoped to see some of these birds, it was one of the main reasons for trying Levington. The previous day there had been reports of record numbers of whimbrel past the Spurn Observatory and it was one of the birds I had missed at Minsmere.

 

Year ticks so far...

• Little Gull
• Little Tern
• Sanderling
• Sandwich Tern
• Knot
• Yellowhammer
• Whimbrel

 

Posted with Blogsy

Suffolk Birding - Day 3...

So today a strong, biting wind combined with overcast dull skies have rather stopped play. It is horrible outside! However dad and I found the motivation to brave Melton for a couple of hours.

There was virtually no sign of any passerines in the bushes around the car park which was surprising so we headed straight towards Wilford Bridge where, when we looked over the river for the first time, we were greeted by oystercatchers, redshanks and dunlin.

Oystercatcher - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Common Redshank - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

We popped over the bridge where the wind seemed to double in ferocity. The wind-battering we received was worth it for a brief flash of a kingfisher, a little egret also struggling in the wind and a pair of great crested grebes on the fishing lakes.

Back over the bridge and a flock of dunlin started to creep towards us feeding quickly as they marched over the exposed mud.

Dunlin - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Other waders that we encountered were grey plovers, turnstones, ringed plovers, a common snipe and curlews.

Curlew - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

There were also a number of black-tailed godwits that joined the party as we were leaving. It was interesting to see them in different stages of moult. Below is my guess at gender but if you know better than myself feel free to correct me.

Adult male almost completely moulted into summer plumage:

Black-Tailed Godwit - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Adult male starting moult into summer plumage:

Black-Tailed Godwit - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Adult female barely starting summer moult:

Black-Tailed Godwit - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Group of godwits feeding and bathing:

Black-Tailed Godwits - Melton - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Final birds of note were a few common gulls that were hanging on, a large group of wigeon also hanging around and three very pale looking wagtails that flew overhead - potentially white wagtails.

Suffolk Birding - Day 2...

So, as always when back in Suffolk, today I decided to visit the RSPB's flagship reserve, Minsmere. As you have probably noticed from previous blogs I have, in the past, been a regular visitor to this reserve but today's visit was my first of 2013. I was hoping for a flood of spring migrants but having looked at recent reports online, I knew that this was unlikely.

When I arrived I headed straight back down the approach road towards Island Mere Hide. It was a joy to walk past the work centre and towards the Whin Hill watchpoint at this time. There was nobody around and I got wonderful views of some common, but beautiful, birds. At least four green woodpeckers flew from the ground and stuck themselves to trees and telegraph poles, jays escaped silently into the woodland, great spotted woodpeckers shouted at each other deep in the trees, marsh tits 'sneezed' at me and a pair of red-legged partridges turned their heels and scampered away in an almost comic manor.

A quick reminder of winter flew over Canopy Hide in the form of a couple of redwings. Onward through the rhododendrom tunnel and more marsh tits greeted me alongside many other small woodland birds including a song thrush and these very obliging long-tailed tits.

Long-Tailed Tit - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Entering Island Mere hide the garganey that had been showing well recently were immediately apparent - because they were sleeping just in front! Not good for photos but a very easy sighting by garganey standards.

Sleeping Garganey - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Whilst waiting for the ducks to wake up a male marsh harrier gave some stunning views as it hunted in the low morning sun out to the side of the hide.

Marsh Harrier - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Marsh Harrier - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

A bittern flew across the far side of the mere and we got more excellent views of birds as this little grebe fished progressively closer to the hide until it was lost to view (possibly underneath us!).

Bittern (record shot) - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Little Grebe - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Finally the garganey awoke and spent about a minute wondering around before finding an even worse position, tucking their heads back and falling asleep again.

Garganey - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Other birds of note from the hide were the calling bearded tits and Cetti's warblers along with the teal, common snipe, mute swans, great crested grebes and other regular waterfowl.

Off to bittern hide and the walk between the two hides provided my highlight of the day. No, it wasn't another bittern or more marsh harriers, it wasn't anything unusual - it was a goldcrest! Nothing special you might say but it kept hopping straight towards me from bush to bush until it passed me by too close to photograph. I am very happy with what I did get though.

Goldcrest - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Bittern Hide was pretty quiet so I headed for an early lunch. Massively recommend the cheese and ham toasties! Also recommend the view - it was a finch fest...

Finch Fest - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

From then on the birding became harder work. The wind got up and the complete lack (other than the garganey) of spring migrants became painfully apparent. Offshore there were a handful of red-throated divers fighting the wind heading north and the Scrape was full of black-headed gulls with a few others. One subtle sign of spring was the number of avocets that had returned - they all seem to disappear in the winter.

Avocet - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Quickly, a dampener was put on that spring feeling with a count of 10 smew! Not that seeing smew is ever a bad thing - but in April?!?

Smew - RSPB Minsmere - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful with turnstones, a dunlin and a black-tailed godwit being the only highlights on  the scrape and a grey plover on the levels.

All together I saw over 65 species but the second half was indeed hard work with the windy conditions. A good day.

Suffolk Birding - Day 1...

So today I have returned to (slightly surprisingly) sunny Suffolk to see the family for, unbelievably, the first time in 2013 - quite remarkable considering my weekly returns a couple of years ago. As previous blogs have shown, when in Suffolk I do like to get out and sample the local bird life so over the next few days we will see what can be seen.

Having arrived back in the early afternoon we had some lunch, chatted for a while and then noticed that two short-eared owls had been seen today at Levington Lagoon/Creek. With no further ado we jumped into the car and headed down to try our luck.

It was high tide when we arrived (presumably the owls were seen when the encroaching tide pushed them out from the edge of the river) and other than some wigeon and teal there was very little to see on the creek.

The waders had all massed on a small peninsular quite a way away and out of camera range. Further small groups of redshanks and dunlin darted and swirled through the air to join the assembled flock as the tide crept to today's high.

Wader Flock - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

We arrived at the lagoon to find more waders that had escaped the tide. There were more redshanks, a couple of oystercatchers, some common snipe, 3 grey plovers and a handful of shelducks.

Shelducks and Grey Plover - Levington Lagoon - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

After speaking to a local photographer about the apparent absence of the reported owls we moved further down the creek and found a lovely spotted redshank. A real bonus because it was a year tick for me.

Spotted Redshank - Levington Lagoon - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Wigeon, Snipe, Spotted Redshank, Common Redshank -
Levington Lagoon - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

We watched a skein of Brent geese (c.40) fly down the opposite bank of the river and eventually two of them landed on the water just offshore from us.

(Dark-Bellied) Brent Geese - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Whilst watching them a real flying rarity flew up river.

Sea King Helicopter - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

These sea king helicopters have been such a constant presence through my coastal childhood that it is sad to think of them all now being decommissioned.

Anyway, as the tide began to retreat it took no time at all for the waders to literally flock back to the newly exposed mud flats. They came back in their hundreds; dunlin, redshank, turnstone, grey plover, curlew, avocet and oystercatcher all featured.

Wader Flock - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Waders - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Dunlin - Levington - Apr. 2013 - Mike Ixer

Having watched this feeding frenzy we decided it was time to return home. No short-eared owls (again) but a very enjoyable hours birding.

Let's see what tomorrow brings...

A Thrush Rush...

It has been a long time since I last posted anything on this blog and for that I apologise. Starting a new job has left be with much less time to go out birding but half term in Sandwell this week left me with an opportunity to indulge and have a bit of a catch up with incoming migrants.

To do this I headed back to Suffolk on Monday via the Suffolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Lackford Lakes. It was disappointing quiet to be honest, but there were a couple of highlights. A marsh tit frequenting the feeding table where the tree sparrows normally reside was nice to see. I also scored my first flock of fieldfare for the year and realised how not seeing thee sort of migratory species for a few months dulls the senses to their call. I heard what I instantly recognised as a thrushes call but couldn't for the life of me pin it down to which species. I then spotted the bird flying out of the tree cover, followed it with my binoculars and as it broke into the skyline I realised it was not just one bird, it was at least 200! A great result - one of my biggest flocks of fieldfare.

It was only when I reached my parents house in the evening that I began to look at Twitter and other sources of information only to realise that there had been an enormous fall of migrants during the day. To quote something I read "birds were literally falling out of the fog onto the coast". Made me wish I had gone straight through to the coast rather than stopping at an inland reserve - but you can't change the past. At least in the future when I hear someone say "there is a bit of east in the wind" in mid October I know to head to the east coast. Well missing out on his spectacle strengthened my resolve to get up early and head up the coast to Minsmere RSPB reserve.

So the following morning (23rd October) I was up and out the house before the family left for work and I arrived at Minsmere (a little later than planned due to lethargy) at about 8:30. As soon as I got out of the car a flock of c.30 fieldfare circled overhead and landed in nearby bushes - a promising start to the day perhaps? I headed straight towards the North Bushes because from what I had read in previous Autumns, this was the place to look. I was instantly welcomed by robins by the dozen, blackbirds and redwings in similar numbers, a flock of fieldfare (possibly the flock from earlier) and a couple of very confiding jays. A flyover brambling was a year tick for me though I was hoping to get better views later in the day and a reasonable size flock of siskin were a bonus. There were plenty of tits foraging in the North Bushes, including long-tailed tit and marsh tit, and a few goldcrest joining in the feeding fun.

As I got to the end of the North Wall I looked across the reedbed towards Dunwich and saw a well-fed looking sparrowhawk sat in a low bush. Clearly he had been feasting on the exhausted migrants coming off the sea. Birds were still flying straight past him and he just didn't care - I think an exhausted finch could have landed on his head and he wouldn't have bothered with it!

Sparrowhawk - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

As I got to the coastal path a gannet flew north quite close offshore (had to be close or I wouldn't have seen it through the fog) which was a massive bonus because it's one bird I just never expect to see. I headed up the coastal path towards Dunwich and about 50 metres up the path I saw a dark bird hop up onto the fence post, then another onto the next fencepost. Binoculars up! They were black redstarts which I was delighted about because having not seen this species this year I felt the moment had probably past me by.

Black Redstart - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

These two females (or young males) kept hoping down onto the beach and back to the post and I watched them doing this for about 10 minutes when, from nowhere, a pristine adult male hopped up onto the fence as well - he was a stunner! Unfortunately in the misty light this was the best I could do.

Black Redstarts - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

From here I headed back down the beach hoping to see some more migrants in the bushes. I wasn't disappointed. Song thurshes were all over the place, as were goldcrests and various awkward to identify finch silhouettes. A mistle thrush flew out of one bush and a stonechat was hoping around the old tank defences with the resident dunnocks. I briefly stopped in East Hide where I found all the usual suspects for this time of year - teal, wigeon, gadwall, mallards, shoveler, lesser and great black-backed gulls, a common gull and black-headed gulls. It was quiet on the wader front with a flock of c.40 black-tailed godwits and a single avocet being the only ones in evidence.

I made my way up to the Sluice bushes hoping for some more migrants feeding up, but migrants came in the unlikely summer form of a chiffchaff and a blackcap. Whilst there another visitor told me that at least one (probably 2) firecrests had been showing back down the beach (about 20 metres further on from where I had earlier seen the black redstarts) so I decided that instead of completing the circuit around the scrape, I would head back and see if I could find one of these little beauties.

I arrived to find a number of slightly frustrated looking birders who, upon questioning, revealed that the firecrests had not been seen for at least 20 minutes. I joined their vigil and whilst looking for the tiny birds we got very brief views of a ring ouzel flying between bushes. We returned to our tamarisk watching and suddenly I spotted the firecrest fly from the bush into the nearby sycamore. It gave excellent views but for just a short time. Alas all I managed in the bush were some slightly shakey pictures of goldcrests which were again present in large numbers.

Goldcrest - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

Goldcrest - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

I headed back to the visitors centre for some well earned lunch - I highly recommend the ham and cheese toasties - and choose a perch overlooking the feeders outside. Some commotion outside caused a number of finches to take flight into the low branches of the trees behind the feeders. A cursory glance through the finches resulted in chaffinch, chaffinch, chaffinch ... wait a second (insert movie style double-take) ... chaffinch, chaffinch, brambling! A fantastic bit of lunchtime birding.

The walk to Bittern Hide was very quiet - clearly everything was in the bushes nearer to the coast. The hide itself was also particularly quiet with the only highlights coming in the form of a couple of marsh harriers hunting and hundreds of ladybirds seeking refuge from the fog. I didn't stay for long and headed towards Island Mere hide. On route a couple who were walking towards me suddenly lifted their bins and stared intently a something over my head behind me. I felt compelled to turn around and was greeted by excellent views of a hobby hunting overhead.I thought this was a pretty late record but the dragonflies were still on the wing so I guess with food readily accessible there was no desire to head south yet.

Island Mere had its standard fare with cormorants drying themselves, little grebes diving and a few diving ducks (tufted ducks and pochards). This pod of coots was very wary of the local marsh harriers (see top right of photo) and were keeping a very tight formation as they moved around the mere.

Coots - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

A quick scan through the coots was rewarded with a female red-crested pochard which was a massive bonus as it is one of those species that I wasn't sure when I would next be seeing. She spent the whole time I was in the hide associating with the large group of coots and was happy feeding with them. Walking back to the visitors centre I saw a falcon sitting on an old wooden telephone pole. Looking through the binoculars it turned out not to be a kestrel as I originally expected - it was a hobby. I presume it was the same bird as I saw earlier as it had flown in the direction of where I was know standing. It then flew and grabbed a dragonfly and came back to sit right above me in a tree where I just managed to find an angle to get this photo.

Hobby - RSPB Minsmere - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

The rest of the walk was very quiet with the only highlight being another black redstart on the work centre roof - takes the mick really when most sites would be glad of just one of these birds most of the time!

On the way home I stopped at Melton where a quick look over the river added some extra waders to the days list (grey plover, dunlin, redshank, ringed plover, curlew) as well as a brief kingfisher and some shelducks.

Black-Tailed Godwit - Melton - Mike Ixer - Oct. 2012

This brought to a conclusion a fantastic day's birdwatching during which I saw 85 different species including some little gems!