It couldn't happen again...could it?!

This week saw the first autumnal gales of the year and as such, attention turned to the possibility of displaced seabirds. With such rewards in my mind, I've spent quite a lot of time on the Grimsbury Res patch.

Following the remnants of tropical Storm Florence earlier in the week, Storm Bronagh soon arrived on Thursday 20/09 & Friday 21/09, with strong westerly / north westerly winds hitting the UK. This one got things going and a good number of Grey Phalaropes began popping up all over the place.



Finding a Grey Phalarope at Grimsbury Res last September was so exciting but surely it couldn't happen again could it?! Well, both early morning, before work and on my lunch break, I drew a bland on finding pretty much anything to be honest. But, seeing how many Grey Phals and other seabirds were continuing to be found elsewhere, I persevered and visited again about twenty past five, after work.

On reaching the res, I began scanning and quickly found a Polish-ringed Black Headed Gull on the pontoon. Further scanning along the east side produced a small, gleaming white shape towards the SE corner. It soon moved and turned...a Grey Phalarope!!

It wasn't possible to view it from the E side as the view along this section of shoreline is blocked by a long stretch of concrete step. So it took a while, but eventually it ventured out into unobscured shoreline allowing myself and local birder Steve Holiday to enjoy this characterful little juvenile/1st-winter. I hadn't realised he wasn't around for last year's one, so it was great Steve got to see this one.







Gareth & Colin arrived too and having watched the bird for a while, we went on to see a decent supporting cast before dusk, including 6 Golden Plovers through, 1 Hobby, 1 Little Egret (scarce here) & c5 Yellow-Legged Gulls into roost.

The next day, (Saturday 22/09) I just had to go back to see the Phalarope again and so arrived nice and early. It was very much the calm following the storm, however still produced some interesting birding. There was unfortunately and rather surprisingly, no sign of the Phalarope, though under cloudy skies, there was a lot of overhead vis mig between 07:25 - 09:40. A total of at least 453 Meadow Pipits moving S was very impressive, as were 35+ Siskins in dribs and drabs, though there were certainly more than that, with many more distant calls heard. A flyover Yellowhammer was a welcome patch year tick, probably my last Yellow Wagtail of the year went S and a Snipe zoomed through NE.

More than satisfied with what I'd seen, I decided to get home for some breakfast with the stomach rumbling! On leaving, I looked back one last time to see a species of tern rapidly dropping out of the sky! I marched back and was pleased to find it was a beautiful adult Arctic Tern. Get in! I sat and enjoyed it elegantly floating up and down the reservoir for a while and then it really was time for some food! My fourth patch year tick in 2 days...very good times!

In search of waders

Last weekend, I made a bit of a last minute decision to go down to Somerset for the day to see my good mate Dan Watson who had relocated down there in recent months. On the Friday, he had found a juvenile Grey Phalarope at his newish local patch of Cheddar Reservoir, or the cheese bowl as it was becoming affectionately named! So it would be cool to see his find and possibly try a few sites along the coast, in the hope of perhaps finding an american wader.

I arrived mid morning and we were soon down at the reservoir enjoying the Grey Phalarope, pootling between the Teal and other wildfowl along the muddy shore at the northern end. It's always a treat seeing a Grey Phalarope, they're a bit of a crowd pleaser. It also evoked memories of the Grimsbury one last year which Dan came to see too, so somewhat role reversal this year!

After a while we headed off to walk along Berrow Beach on the Severn estuary coast, to look for waders. There were particularly good numbers of Sanderling (including quite a few juveniles), some 30 or so Knot, Oystercatchers, c5 Dunlin and a few Ringos. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary but nice to see all the same.





Our final destination was Steart a little way further along the coast. It is a vast site and I imagine it would be an excellent site in winter. But considering how big it was and how good the habitat looked, there was hardly anything there! That said, what was there was pretty decent, with a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, c4 Spotted Redshank, c5 Greenshank, 1 Green Sandpiper and a Wheatear.







Before hitting the road home, we popped back into Cheddar Res for another fill of the Phalarope. Surprise, surprise a guy with a large bazooka-like camera lens was camped out along the shoreline. While this may not have disturbed the bird, it was probably unsettling the wildfowl and gulls about in that area. After Dan said a few words, he soon left and low and behold a good number of birds returned to this area. Say no more!

The gulls again stealing the show

Having stayed overnight on Friday (07/09) with some of Em's family near Oxford, I gave Farmoor a visit first thing Saturday morning.

It was gloomy and drizzly and so promised much! A walk along the causeway and the full perimeter of F2 produced 100s of House Martins, enticing a couple of hunting Hobby. The juvenile Black Tern that had been about for a few days, was right out on a buoy in the middle of F2. Common Sand & Dunlin were seen briefly, while a close in Red Crested Pochard was nice. 



More interest came with a very approachable juvenile Great Black Backed Gull. It was rung, (JJ808) and appears to be from a scheme in southern Norway. I've e-mailed them and await a response.





The highlight though was a beaut of a classic juvenile Caspian Gull, that I initially ID'ed as a possible from the causeway, sat out on a buoy, but confirmed once closer, towards the southern end of F2 (phone-scoped pics below). It showed well together with several Yellow-Legged Gulls of varying ages.





Later on, having gone home and sorted out a few things, I decided to pop out again for a few hours, for bit of a tour of South Northants sites. I started at Daventry Country Park where there were lots of birds about. Scoping from the dam brought a Garganey, 7 Green Sand, 1 Pintail, 3 YLG and a Snipe, together with lots of Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall and gulls.

Nearby Borough Hill was relatively birdless, however 4 Whinchat close to the BBC compound, were cool!





On the way home, a couple of Yellow-Legged Gulls were the only things of note at Bodington Res, while there were at least 2 more amongst a large numbers of gulls following the plough close to Brackley.

You ain't "Cach"ing me out!

Monday 03/09/18 was a really good day on patch. It began with the rare discovery of an autumn Wood Warbler, foraging with a large tit flock on the edge of Grimsbury Wood. Great views were had, but not for very long and it managed to flick away just as the camera came out of the bag...of course! A Teal and a plastic Black Swan, both unusual visitors to the patch, added to the variety too.





The interest did not stop there. I popped in after work for another look. With heavy cloud overhead, I fancied something might drop in. It was all pretty quiet, however things were spiced up a little when some guy began flinging bread over the fence for the ducks! In very little time a juvenile Yellow-Legged Gull appeared and began fighting for the bread, together with a few Mallards and Black Headed Gulls





After a while, the YLG flew to the water, presumably to sit and digest it's bready treats! Another gull then circled in and joined it. This bird looked interesting and certainly a potential Caspian Gull, with a long, sloping head/bill, whitish ground colour and a distinct shawl forming around the neck. The barring on the scapulars were concerning me a bit, as was the underwing, which was whitish but not as bold as I have seen on Caspians before. I had a small hunch that it could perhaps be from a mixed colony. In fact, speaking to a couple birding friends later, they also suggested the same.





It flew around a bit and on reviewing the photos it was ringed.

Later, blowing the pic up on the computer, I could read it as XEHA and indeed the CR birding website confirmed it to have originated from one of the east German mixed colonies. Ronald Klein, running this ringing project sent the following details on the bird:

I also sent pics to Ian Lewington and he kindly made the following comments:

I think yours looks good apart from the heavily barred greater coverts and scaps so I would guess it's also of mixed parentage. I think the underwing is OK for cach. Ronald Klien says there are a few Herring, Yellow-legged and LBb Gulls in the same colony.

So not a new addition to the Grimsbury year list, but plenty learned and a rare, opportunity to discover so much more about a particular bird!

Double Yanks

I decided I needed a change of birding scene, away from patching and local stuff, so I decided to spend the day at Frampton again, luring me with it's great numbers of passage waders and the possibility of connecting with two cool American waders - Stilt Sandpiper and Long-Billed Dowitcher that had been there for a week or so. Neither would be lifers but would be immense birds to see again.

I arrived around 9am to be greeted with a steady number of cars already in the car park. The air was filled with the sounds of calling Yellow Wagtails, as well as a good gathering of Swallows and Sand Martins overhead.

I made my way straight towards the Reedbed Hide area, where both the Stilt Sand and Dowitcher were likely to be seen. Quite a crowd was already lined up along the path, just before the Reedbed hide, viewing the bird-filled area between here and the small visitor centre. I joined them and began scanning. In no time, with a little assistance from the guy stood next to me, I was able to enjoy good scope views of both the Stilt Sandpiper and the Long-Billed Dowitcher. They were very contrasting in their activity, with the Stilt Sand veraciously feeding away, almost constantly with it's head in the water. The Dowitcher on the other hand was sat fast asleep with Lapwings, on a nearby island!





As well as the yanks, there were loads of birds to go through here. These were further enhanced by several thousand Black Tailed Godwit swooping in over our heads from the nearby wash and landing on the islands / scrapes in front of us. The swooshing sounds of their wings cutting through the air as they spiraled down was amazing!







Waders here were generally plentiful, with a moulting adult Curlew Sandpiper, several Knot & a Bar-Tailed Godwit amongst the Black-Tailed Godwits, as well as plenty of Ruff, Ringed Plovers and Dunlin.

I spent ages picking through the numerous Teal, looking for Garganey and eventually found one, possibly two, as well as a handful of Pintail, before a juvenile Peregrine bombed through, putting everything up!





After a good while, I moved on down towards the East Hide. Along the way, 3 Spoonbill flew out towards the wash and I also got some great views of another or the same moulting adult Curlew Sandpiper close to the path, feeding with a few Dunlin & Ringed Plover. 







This area near to the East Hide produced a further 3 Curlew Sandpipers (all juveniles), plus the summering collar-ringed Pink Footed Goose. I was starving by this point and so I headed back to the car for food. Soon after, I set out again to explore the southern and eastern parts of the reserve.



An amazing 28 (!!) Spotted Redshank (23 of the 28 below, together with a couple of Black-Tailed Godwits) were the main highlight assembled near to the sea wall, by far the most I've seen by some distance. I enjoyed them for a while, until a Chinook helicopter came through low over the reserve, literally putting everything up. Surely that's not allowed!!

Other birds of note during my walk included a couple of Golden Plover, 3 Wheatears, a Whinchat, 4 Marsh Harriers, 2 Greenshank, a Common Sandpiper and many more Yellow Wagtails.





Before leaving, I decided to go back and have one last look at the Stilt Sand and the Dowitcher. I was well chuffed to discover that the Long-Billed Dowitcher was now right in front of the Reedbed Hide...and I mean right in front of the hide, just 15-20 feet away, giving amazing views as it eagerly fed away, albeit looking into the sun a bit.









The Stilt Sandpiper gave further decent scope views and so I was more than satisfied to head home. Not before the summering Whooper Swan and the one and only Green Sandpiper of the day went overhead calling. That concluded the day...and it was time to head back to Northants.