Black Redstart and a Patch tick!

I had a shortish wander around Grimsbury Res early on the morning of Saturday 10/10. With nothing much going on, I decided to drive along the A361 to Daventry - hopefully to catch up with a Black Redstart around the compound at Borough Hill. It had been around a good 10 days, but this was the first real opportunity to get up there to see it. Luckily for me it clung on and after 15-20 minutes it appeared, to give lovely views in it's usual spot around the eastern side of the compound, where there were also several Stonechat too. Amazingly this was my first Black Red for about 2 years and so would've liked to have hung on a bit longer than I did, to enjoy it some more. However, I had things to do and so had to shoot off home.

While Saturday was a fairly bleak, cloudy day, with a chilly westerly breeze, Sunday 11/10 began with a light sprinkling of cloud, a hint of sun and a light NW breeze. The switch in wind held hopes of a bit of bird movement overhead and low and behold, that's how it proved.

A Little Egret was at the res on arrival, fairly scarce there but increasingly frequent. Four ducks then circled the res a couple of times and I soon realised that while the first three were standard Mallards, the back bird, while silhouetted against the sun, was clearly slightly bigger and much longer necked. It was a Pintail! They landed towards the S end of the res however as I marched down there, the Pintail was soon off, circling the res again a few times before heading off high S/SE. A really scarce bird for the patch - a shame it didn't hang about a bit longer.

After the excitement of the Pintail, it soon became apparent quite a few passerines were moving overhead. In fact it was a very good period of vis mig with almost everything coming through on a NE to S/SW line. The highlight was undoubtedly 9 vocal Crossbill that headed pretty much due S over the northern end of the res. A really good patch tick for me - I think my first patch tick of 2020. Other stuff on the move included a brief, buzzy pipit over S, which I'm pretty sure was a late Tree Pipit rather than something mad, 74 Redwing over in several flocks, a single Swallow, 2 Yellowhammer, 2+ Skylark, 3 Redpoll, 18 Siskin, 7 Reed Bunting, 18 + Mipits, Linnet & 7 Starling. Very Good vis mig for Grimbo, considering it's not a particularly high point in the landscape and all in just an hour and a half or so.

Promise from the east

With a nice easterly wind coming from deep in western Asia and a nice bit of low pressure forecast, the conditions looked great for a decent fall of scarcities and migrants on the weekend of 03/10 & 04/10 on the east coast.

So myself, Dan W & Gareth B quickly arranged to meet up for a day in Norfolk on Sunday 04/10, with the hope of finding some good birds, together with Johnny P based in Norfolk.

We met up early on, by the Wells Co-op. No more than a minute or two after our arrival and we were onto a couple of calling Yellow-Browed Warblers across the road, in the nearby cemetery! Got some half decent views of them flicking around in the canopy, while there were also a good number of Blackbirds knocking about. Encouraging signs!

The rest of the day was spent wandering Wells Woods and 'the dell' before pushing on through the pines to the far west end and to Burnham Overy Dunes and Gun Hill.

What was probably bird of the day but frustratingly gave us the slip, was a probable Radde's Warbler that flushed out of a reedy understorey, west of the dell. It flicked up and called loudly, before diving into a small nearby bush. We all called it as Radde's immediately, before slowly approaching the tiny bush. But nothing came out - it must have been the case that it scuttled away along the deck. Even more intriguingly, one was reported in that exact same area, later on in the day. But although we were very confident it was one, we couldn't claim it on one call and a brief flight view. So one of those frustratingly resigned to the probable pile! 

We saw some great birds but unfortunately weren't quite rewarded with our efforts, as we'd hoped. Still we did enjoy a total of 7+ Yellow-Browed Warbler (plus the two cemetery birds), 1 Siberian Chiff (below), 1 Pied Fly (not seen by me), 4-5 Redstart (including a very tame bird at dusk), 6 flyover Crossbills, 5+ Cattle Egret, 5 Brambling, 1 Garden Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 probable Spotted Fly, 6 Wheatear, Spotted Redshank, several flyover Redpoll and good numbers of House Martins, with a few Swallows mixed in too.

It was a long, tiring day, but good fun - although trudging through the rain all the way back from Gun Hill to the Wells Beach car park was heavy going! Still, a visit to the Fish & Chip shop in Wells and that was all forgotten!

Patch gulls

Gull numbers at Grimsbury Res are very unpredictable, however as autumn kicks in, we do tend to see a rise in large gull numbers - tying in with local farmers ploughing their fields, post-harvest.

Yellow-Legged Gulls are regular, with multiple birds usually about amongst the hoardes of Lesser Black-backs. Caspian Gulls however have been notable by their absence, with just one previous bird and a handful of hybrid-types from continental mixed colonies.

So, it was a grand to come across a striking 2cy Caspian which hung around for an hour or so on the evening of 25/09.

Great-Black Backed Gulls are also pretty scarce on the patch, being just about annual at best. Another look for the Caspian Gull from a couple of days previously on 27/09, instead unearthed this beast of a 1st winter Great Black-back. Another notable patch gull!

That same day I also caught that familiar 'seeeep!' overhead, as my first four Redwings of the autumn, zoomed over Grimbo N/NW (2 of them below). It's now official, autumn is here!

Back to the South West

I was back down in the south west for much of w/c 14/09 - this time with Em, for a few days in our favourite stomping ground of Topsham, on the Exe Estuary.

While not a birding break, we spent a lot of time walking and outdoors and so had plenty of opportunities to see some birds.

We had a day down in west Cornwall on 14/09 and spent some time in the Hayle area.

I was hoping the recent Semipalmated Sandpiper would be knocking about the estuary as it would be a lifer for me. While there was no sign, on our walk around Carnsew Basin, I was treated to an excellent 'consolation prize', with amazing views of another nearctic wanderer - a very confiding juvenile Baird's Sandpiper. The poor little thing was flushed by dog walkers a couple of times, but did resolutely return, calling it's head off!

It also shared the rocky shoreline with a couple of equally showy Wheatear and a Rock Pipit too. Quite a few Med Gulls were around, as well as a lone Pale-Bellied Brent Goose, several Sandwich Tern, a couple of Barwits, Knot, several other common wader species, Peregrine and a couple of Kingfisher. A good visit!

We were staying only a short walk from Bowling Green Marsh, Clyst & Exe Estuaries, so it would've been rude not to have a look! It was stunning, calm weather throughout the week and so an early walk along here, with the sounds of waders ringing out across the estuary, was absolute bliss!

A flock of 12 Cattle Egret were certainly a highlight on the morning of 15/09 (which I initially, rather inexplicably dismissed as Little Egrets!). There were also up to 5 juvenile Curlew Sandpipers around and particularly big numbers of Black-Tailed Godwit and Redshank.

Other notables included a returning flock of 14 Avocet, an impressive count of 33 Greenshank, a couple of flyover Tree Pipits, singles of Whimbrel, Knot, Barwit & Ruff, a flock of 9 Grey Plover, an adult Med Gull and a flock of 13 Dark-Bellied Brent Geese.

We spent a day exploring Dartmoor and also spent some time in Beer. Beer was a new place for me and was super nice, even more so as it was such a beaut of a day. We took a picnic and had a wander around Beer Head which I have to say looked like a great place for migrants. A Couple of Spotted Flys were about, as well as a flyover Yellow Wag, 4 Wheatear, Peregrine, Willow Warbler and a trickle of migrant Swallows overhead. A Hummingbird Hawkmoth was a welcome surprise while walking along the high street!

On our last morning in Topsham, we took one more early morning walk along the estuary. Luckily for me, an Osprey was on show off the goat walk and we sat and watched it flying around for a good 20 minutes, once also having a failed attempt at catching a fish. A great way to end the week!

Bicester Garganeys, patch Osprey and Chats

Birding pal Dan Watson was in the area on the evening of Tuesday 01/09, so I suggested we took a look at Bicester Wetland Reserve after work. I'm glad we did, as we found not one but TWO Garganey, amongst the large numbers of Teal. What's more, they were a reserve first and generally a scarce bird for this part of the world. At least one of them went on to linger for nearly 2 weeks.

The day before was the Bank Holiday Monday (31/08) and with the morning free, I decided to have a stroll around Borough Hill, Daventry, looking for chats. At this time of year you can't quite guarantee to see Redstart and Whinchat, but you come away surprised if you don't! Luckily for me I didn't come away disappointed, finding a single Whinchat and a couple of typically sneaky Redstarts, as well as 4 Spotted Flycatchers and 6 Small Coppers too.

I was really chuffed to chance on a flyover Osprey at Grimsbury Res on Sunday 06/09, as it flew purposefully S early morning. The downside was I was busy staring into scrub at a skulky warbler (which turned out to be just a Chiff!) and only picked up the Osprey as it flew away from me! They're a hard bird to come across around here so a goodun for the patch, my third there.

In fact it was a productive weekend on patch with a flyover Tree Pipit, a distant Whinchat on the cattlefield fence and a good push of Siskins .

Finally, on the morning of Saturday 12/09, I came across yet another Bicester Wetland Reserve first in the shape of a mobile Whinchat. I was amazed this was a reserve first, given that there's seemingly a good amount of suitable habitat on offer.