North Wales

On Saturday (08/03) I was joined by Jon & Kirsty Philpott. We started off ludicrously early and made our way to 'World's End', a large expanse of moorland habitat between Wrexham and Llangollen. Jon & Kirsty had been there relatively recently with Dave and had sussed out a couple of excellent spots for lekking Black Grouse. We weren't to be disappointed seeing in total around 31 birds altogether, from 3 leks. One lek in particular was incredibly close and we enjoyed fabulous views from the car together with their eerie and fascinating bubbling and hissing calls, it really was awesome to watch. (Jon kindly let me use his camera to get the shots below). We had the added bonus of a male Red Grouse close by too. 

We moved onto Llangollen thereafter to look for Dippers. We weren't to be disappointed, finding two birds along with a confiding Grey Wagtail.

We enjoyed these for a while before driving a further hour to Pensarn on the North Wales coast for the Surf Scoters. There had been up to 7 birds amongst the masses of Common Scoter in recent weeks. Our luck sadly was not in though despite there being several thousand Common Scoter on offer. Other birds noted here included several Red Throated Diver, Red Breasted Mergansers and good numbers of Great Crested Grebe.

We decided to then go along the coast to look for a Snow Bunting along the beach at Llandudno. Despite the stunning scenery, a nice pair of Stonechat and a Ringed Plover, there was very little else about and no sign of the Bunting.

So on to Rhos-on-Sea, an excellent spot for close views of resting waders on the sea defence boulders. We were in luck, getting great views of a single Purple Sandpiper. Below are iphone-scoped (bottom) and taken with Jon's camera (top).

Also present were several Turnstone and Dunlin, as well as a couple each of Shag and Cormorant offshore.

We went back to Pensarn, where I had another good scan, however it had become increasingly blustery and so we decided to start the long journey home. Was a real nice day out but a dam shame the Surfs failed to show, particularly when 5 were reported the next day!!! However that's birding, you've got to take the rough with the smooth!

Glorious Gloucestershire

The weather recently has been nothing short of appalling. So, seeing that Sunday 16/02 was due to be a sunny, still day and with the Gloucestershire Red-Flanked Bluetail well and truly in situ, a trip to the west country was in order!

With the bait of the Bluetail, Dave, Jon & Kirsty took little persuading. After being picked up on the way we arrived soon after 9am in bright sunshine. There were plenty of others already there including several familiar Northants faces! It took next to no time before we were getting fleeting initial glimpses of the 1st winter male Red Flanked Bluetail flitting about from bush to bush. It then sat largely obscured, to preen for what seemed like ages before carrying on leading us a merry dance.

After disappearing for a while it showed again, calling loudly for a short time. It then began to show frequently in an area bated with mealworms by photographers. Here it showed well at times, though all too often was obscured by branches in between darting down for the buffet kindly laid out for him!

After enjoying views of the bird as well as the local Ravens and Buzzards. We headed off late morning for the Forest of Dean, in the hope of a second lifer of the day and a long awaited one, Goshawk!

We headed to New Fancy View watchpoint, a well known spot for viewing displaying Goshawk. The views were awesome, virtually 360 views of endless pine forest. The sun was beaming down and a Bumblebee was bombing around. A real feel of spring in the air, some welcome rest bite from the recent endless storms.

Happily, it didn't take long for our first Goshawk sighting, a female distantly cruising around over to the right. Get in! We went on to see at least 3 birds all fairly distant but showing all the characteristics really nicely. It was great to have a good look at one and to see just how different they were in profile from the similar sized Buzzards. Somehow I even managed a decent iphone-scoped shot of one of the birds (below). Also about were a single distant Raven as well as several Crossbills and Siskins.

After enjoying the Goshawks we finished up at nearby Cannop Ponds. Sadly we found no Mandarins, however there were a nice selection of common woodland birds on show. We then met a guy who told us of a great spot for Hawfinch at nearby Parkend. So late in the day we headed over there to an area full of yew trees by the village cricket pitch. We waited a while before Dave eventually spotted a male Hawfinch up in one of the nearby Lime trees. It sat there for a short while before flying over our heads and off into the distance. Jon managed an awesome photo (below) as the beast cruised over our heads! Super end to the day.

South West yanks

So Em and headed down to the South West last weekend, staying with her Mum & partner in Barnstaple, Devon. After spending some time with them on Saturday, (01/02) I left them all to it and set off for a day birding by myself all Sunday. Happy days!

After setting off at 07:45am I drove SW into Cornwall to Dozmary 'Pool' (in fact a fairly sizable lake!) on the edge of Bodmin Moor. Here, a drake Lesser Scaup had been lingering for a few weeks and was a species I've been wanting to catch up with for ages! I started scanning and found a fair few ducks, with several Goldeneye, Pochard and Teal. Scanning the middle of the lake I located a few Tufted Duck and to my utter surprise, associating with them was a female Ring Necked Duck! What a great self find! After taking in the bird for a short while, I scanned a little right to be greeted with my main quarrel, the drake Lesser Scaup. Brilliant! At one point I even had them in the same view! Sadly though, they were rather distant and therefore the photos aren't anything to shout about (RN Duck top & L Scaup bottom). But wow, what a cracking start to the day!

  














On a bit of a high, I left at about 09:45am. Next on my radar was a c.60 mile journey east to Dawlish Warren in Devon. Here, an adult Bonaparte's Gull had been lingering for much of the winter. This was another potential long-awaited lifer having been away when one turned up in Northants back in 2012. Also I'd been down to Devon twice this particular winter, however I could never quite find the time to get over to Dawlish. Thankfully, I now had much of the day to try and locate it.
I arrived at 11am and headed straight for the seawall and Langstone Rock. Sadly no sign initially. Several yearticks here though, consisting of several Shag, a couple of flyby Oystercatcher, c.15 very distant Common Scoter and best of all of Langstone Rock, a group of at least 5 female type Velvet Scoter.

I then headed back along to the beach, dodging the hoardes of dog walkers! Came across a Great Northern Diver offshore, as well as one or two Great Crested Grebe. I then saw something pretty close in just off the beach. Closer inspection revealed it to be a nice Long Tailed Duck, swiftly followed by another. I stopped briefly for a few snaps before noticing something rather small and gull-like sitting on the water a little beyond...

...ahhhh Bonaparte's Gull!!!! YES! The little guy was just chilling, bobbing up and down on the waves slightly beyond the ducks. Was dead chuffed, thank god for those LT Ducks! I watched the bird for about 10 minutes rattling off a fair few photos and a decent video. It then took flight, revealing the white underneath of the primaries, before zooming straight off out to sea. I watched it very distantly feeding before eventually losing it.

Again, not for the first time during the day, I was rather chuffed. I gave the sea a bit more of a scan and added a further Great Northern Diver, however nothing else of note.

I finished the day a few miles down the coast at Labrador Bay, a small RSPB reserve just beyond Teignmouth. I arrived there about 14:00pm. It took a while, but I was soon connecting with a flock of at least 30 Cirl Bunting. This is such a reliable site for the species and you can view the birds a very short distance from the car park too. The birds were a little more tricky to get good views of than previously, spending most of the time on the deck out of view in the field. However the whole flock did suddenly decide to land in the hedge right next to me! Views were restricted though and no chance for any decent photos really. A lovely end to a perfect day really, connecting with two new birds and finding my own yank vagrant too!

Short trip out

Went out with Jon & Kirsty Philpott for a few hours last Saturday (18/01). We didn't see anything terribly outrageous but was just good to be out and about. We started at Ditchford GP, west of Ditchford Lane. Lots of birds about, particularly large gulls. We failed to track down the drake Scaup however we did see 2 pretty active Great White Egrets, a couple of Egyptian Geese, a couple of Little Egrets and a very vocal Green Sandpiper around the waterski pit.

After quickly checking the floods by the Finedon Road Industrial Estate, Wellingborough for rare gulls (without any success), we finished up at Pitsford Res causeway.
Again nothing really of note, however Jon kindly let me rattle away with his camera which was great fun. I managed to get the following shots:

Winter Northants birding at its best

On Sunday, (12/01) Dave James and I decided to do a tour of various sites around the county, with a few targets thrown in for good measure. The weather was stunning, with bright sunshine, though it was bitterly cold.

We started first thing along the southern edge of the reedbed at Stortons GPs to have a go for both Bittern & Bearded Tit. After around 20 minutes we heard the familiar pinging of Bearded Tits as two flew over the tops of the reeds in front of us before dropping down again. We heard them a couple more times after that but never saw them. Also here were several more year-ticks, including Cetti's Warbler, calling Water Rail & a Great Spotted Woodpecker, however no Bittern. We then moved off to Pitsford Reservoir.

We started at the dam, again in bright sunshine. Soon I had further year-ticks in the shape of great numbers of Little Grebe, a Green Sandpiper on a small flooded area behind the dam and a Redshank flying past the dam calling loudly. We had also hoped to pick up the long-staying juv. Great Northern Diver from here but couldn't locate it so we decided to walk along to find it.

After having a Redpoll sp. over calling and enjoying the amusing sight of a chubby cyclist going flying on the ice, we arrived at the back of Moulton Grange Bay. The pool behind the bay held 3-4 Little Egret and at least 4 Goosander too. We headed on past the pines, and we were soon greeted by very good views of the juvenile Great Northern Diver pretty close to shore. It was diving frequently making i-phone scoping a little tricky but pretty happy with the results:  

   

On the way back we checked the pool behind Moulton Grange Bay again and managed to pick out a fishing Great White Egret, largely obscured by vegetation, another decent year tick. We then drove round to have a quick scan from the causeway. Me managed to find very little, however I did pick out a distant female Smew south of the causeway.

We were hearing news of both Iceland & Glaucous Gulls on show in flooded fields on the edge of Wellingborough, by the Finedon Road Industrial Estate. So around midday we shot over to take a look. We weren't the only ones there will several familiar faces present. By this time it had clouded over and it was fookin cold but the draw of feasting our eyes on some 'white wingers' spurred us on.

It wasn't too long before we had an adult Yellow Legged Gull in the nearest field. Most of the gulls though were further away and were largely obscured by a hedge. Despite this we soon were onto a very smart 1st-winter Iceland Gull. This showed on & off for a while before we got the other main target with a 1st winter Glaucous Gull on show too. Brilliant! The gulls were constantly being flushed by several Red Kites swooping around and a big old bruiser of a Fox ambled past causing a bit of caos.

Eventually a large number of the gulls moved over to the field right in front of us. Here we were able to enjoy great views of both the Iceland & Glaucous Gulls. In addition were two Caspian Gulls; a very dapper looking 2nd-winter and a ringed 4th-winter, a 2nd-winter Yellow Legged Gull and a 2nd-winter Herring X Glaucous Gull (the latter three picked out by Martin Elliott a real gull expert and a very interesting guy to listen to. All these were in a seriously small area and made for quite a haul!

By this point we were painfully frozen so off back to the pub for a well earned pint to conclude a great days birding.

January bits & Pieces

So the 2014 yearlist has begun! It isn't something I'm going to be putting as much effort into as last year. I think I'm going to struggle to beat 246! I am though determined more than ever to find my own birds, especially locally.

So with that thought in mind, I began the year trying out several sites around south Northants on Thursday 02/01. Disn't see anything particularly spectacular with highlights being a huge female Peregrine hunting over farmland between Edgcote & Culworth, Kingfishers at both Boddington Res & the small lakes just north of Syresham & a flock of around 300 Linnet in the same area as the Peregrine.

On Saturday 04/01, on route to friends in Little Irchester, I popped into Summer Leys seeing 2 of the 3 Long Tailed Ducks and at least 200 Golden Plover.
The next day, Sunday 05/01, I started at Ditchford GPs, west of Ditchford Lane. Both entrances into the pits were though completely flooded out, boat required. I did manage to get some sort of view of Viaduct Pit and managed to find a distant adult Caspian Gull and 2 Egyptian Geese in the field just north of the pit.

I followed this with a quick look from the feeding station and causeway at Pitsford Res, however in difficult, cold and wet conditions, all I could find were 5 Red Crested Pochard (3 drakes) and a drake Goosander in the Scaldwell Bay.

I paid another visit to a heavily flooded Summer Leys late in the afternoon on Tuesday (07/01). The 3 Long Tailed Ducks all showed very well right in front of the gate by Mary's Lake. A male Peregrine flew along the valley and a Little Egret was on the pit between Mary's and the river, however the site was largely quiet.

On Friday 10/01 I had an interview in Milton Keynes and so on my way back I made the small diversion to Steeple Claydon near Buckingham. Here I soon found the long-staying Cattle Egret amongst cattle in front of Briarhill Farm. Initially he showed well, however he soon became very illusive, playing hide and seek behind the cattle! Ropey over exposed photo below!

Completing the round up, on Saturday 11/01 in perfect still, sunny weather, Em and I went over to Bucknell wood for a walk. I managed to see a handful of woodland year-ticks, with the highlight being 2 Woodcock, my first here, in one of the clearings at SP649451.