Good haul at Rainham Marshes yesterday (Wednesday) with a total of exactly 50 bird species recorded during the 9:30-14:00 stint (no pun intended, UNFORTUNATELY).
I won't bore you with the usual suspects, partly because it'd get dull and that's what my spreadsheet is for, but also because it's rather late and I want to go to bed. There was a large flock of canada geese feeding nearby some greylag geese, another sizeable flock (or gaggle!) in the main field. Something that looked very much like an oystercatcher flew right past my face but so quickly I couldn't bring myself to write its name on my notepad. I was very pleased that I identified a small party of 10-12 fieldfares flying over.
And that's basically my gripe today. Flyovers.
Everyone seems to be able to tell that that tiny black speck that I can't even see, making that generic 'jyupp' noise as it zooms directly into the sun, is in fact a 1st-winter female Lapland Bunting. I can identify two different flyover finches/buntings. One is a Goldfinch that makes the most obvious sound in the world, and the other is a Chaffinch, which I am led to believe sounds very much like all the other finches. But I haven't heard the others so a pox upon them. Anyway, my aim is to get better at this so I can really impress people as I go about my everyday life and casually point out the migrating Redpoll flying over. I use the word 'impress' relatively loosely.
On with the sightings! A lovely song thrush showed itself, along with a few skittish redwings, and a cetti's warbler called briefly near the car park. A green woodpecker was the first I'd seen at Rainham, and there were countless reed buntings and stonechats as I've come to get used to. After the first hide (whose name eludes me) I heard something very familiar and saw something quite small shoot past and away - a short glance with the binoculars before it disappeared out of sight showed that this was in fact a kingfisher! My first for London and Rainham, and a beautiful sight nonetheless. Chuffed, I continued to the shooting range hide where I noted hundreds of lapwing amidst tens and tens of golden plover, 2 curlew flew over - another first for Rainham/London, and I identified a greater black-backed gull. The pintail drakes were in the same place as usual, with some gadwall nearby, and a common gull flew lazily past.
I then spent another 30 minutes identifying linnets from about 200 feet with a pair of binoculars. Not much fun, but satisfying when I got the identification (and tried memorising their calls). I also spent a while identifying a little group of around 6 black-tailed godwits, which I decided were not bar-tailed godwits. How did I tell? Their tails were black. No really! I also caught sight of a snipe and spent another 20 minutes trying to tell if it was a jack snipe or not from such a distance. I'm happy it was a common snipe. A little egret made a brief appearance, as did a kestrel, and it was time to head back.
As I walked back to the car park (alas no pinging or cetti-ing) I watched the skies, and had no idea what most small things were. But then I caught sight of a strange gull, binoculared it, and it was a sole avocet flying over towards the river! Lovely end to the day!
So, to bed, so I can consolidate my knowledge of little brown finches flying away making truly un-unique sounds...
Thursday, 25 November 2010
Monday, 22 November 2010
Quick visit to Wilstone
Was up in Aylesbury for the weekend and decided that Dad and I should go for a short walk round Wilstone and Steps Hill (trying out my new binoculars, no less!)
Wilstone was relatively productive, with many waterfowl on the reservoir. A great-spotted woodpecker, goldcrest, long-tailed tits, and a song thrush were good to see, but also on the reservoir itself, a grey wagtail flew in and fed very close to the hide with a pair of pied wagtails - lovely to see in the winter, and brilliant views! There was a large flock of perhaps 50-60 golden plover and hundreds of lapwing. There was also a pair of whooper swans on the reservoir, which was new for me (probably not, but I'd never truly identified them before!)
We proceeded to Steps Hill where the best things on view were several redwing.
Wilstone was relatively productive, with many waterfowl on the reservoir. A great-spotted woodpecker, goldcrest, long-tailed tits, and a song thrush were good to see, but also on the reservoir itself, a grey wagtail flew in and fed very close to the hide with a pair of pied wagtails - lovely to see in the winter, and brilliant views! There was a large flock of perhaps 50-60 golden plover and hundreds of lapwing. There was also a pair of whooper swans on the reservoir, which was new for me (probably not, but I'd never truly identified them before!)
We proceeded to Steps Hill where the best things on view were several redwing.
Friday, 19 November 2010
So Cetti's Warblers aren't mythical after all...
Went to Rainham Marshes today for a few hours - lovely day for it. Really productive too!
I spent the first hour or so trying to identify lots of horrid brown finches and buntings flying about in silhouette. Turns out they were linnets and a female reed bunting. Some would say that wasn't worth waiting an hour for, but I've got to learn identification skills somewhere! Carried on round and saw a pair (male and female) of great spotted woodpeckers. Then another one flew by a little later. I also found my first London redwings in a bushy area where I was looking for waxwings - nice to see nonetheless! Whilst watching another reed bunting, I heard a loud single note, turned around, and saw the reeds moving a little, carrying on in a particular direction. The noise came again and again, and then finally... the explosive, metallic 'plitt!' followed by 'ti-chuu ti-chuu ti-chuu'! I was listening to a cetti's warbler! I was then lucky enough to see it dart out, hold a pose for a fraction of a second, then dart back in again - long enough though to know what it was, especially coupled with the call. So finally I've had my first cetti's warbler, and they're not just some mythical creature that more experienced birders make up.
Onwards, I hit the first hide and noted wigeon, teal, shoveler, you know, the normal stuff. And also a common snipe was discovered by a pair of even-more-novice-than-I birdwatchers. They were adamant that it was a jack snipe, looking in their book and nodding self-assured that they were looking at a jack snipe; their reason for it not being a common snipe was that its "beak looks short". Its bill was perfectly reasonable snipe length, it was not bobbing around incessantly, it was too big, and it had a beige centre crown stripe. It was a common snipe. It's a shame, and I didn't have the heart to point out that it was not what they thought... if I were in that situation, would I want someone to correct me? Probably, but if I was middle-aged, like they were, I wouldn't want some stuck-up 23-year-old telling me in no uncertain terms that I am not in fact looking at a jack snipe. So I left them to it.
Then there were stonechats everywhere! Took me a second to differentiate them from whinchats, which I did so by the lack of a prominent supercilium, the relatively unusual habitat and the fact they're all supposed to be several thousand miles nearer to the equator than Rainham Marshes. There was also a little wren perching beautifully and rattling away. A few meadow pipits (was hoping for rock or water) fed in the mud and then I saw a small bird that I really did not expect to see - a wheatear. In mid-November. It looked perfectly healthy, and was actually really quite confiding, so I watched it for a while, and just to confirm, it flitted about showing a very prominent white rump. I can't believe it, considering they're supposed to be in Africa by this stage, or at least a long way in southern Europe on migration. Fantastic bird to see.
There were about 500 (estimate) starlings going back and forth from the electricity pylons, quite a noise! The next hide produced (amongst the usuals) a single pochard, a decent flock of golden plover amidst the flock of lapwing, and two male pintails. Walking further round produced very quick and limited views of what I took to be a young black redstart! Taken me a lifetime to see any of this species, then I see two in two weeks! I wasn't 100% sure that's what it was, and was going to write a big question mark next to the name, but then a fellow walked by 2 minutes later, "Have you seen the black redstart?" he asked, "It's been around this area for ages". Tick.
A kestrel hunted for a while as I watched some more stonechats in the semi-failing light (it was nearly 4pm), then finally, after walking the whole way round with no 'pinging' to speak of, I... well... heard some pinging. There was a pair of bearded tits, quite close by, flitting about but giving me some really nice views! Before I knew it, they were off, and I had a big smile on my face. There's just something about those birds that I absolutely love. I saw another pair for a more extended period of time just 5 minutes later too!
Finally, I was just packing my stuff into the car, when I heard a noise that was hugely familiar, but that I never seem to be able to identify - turned out that there were up to 30 rose-ringed parakeets flying overhead. I'd seen them in amongst trees, but a small flock of that size flying across a sky with no trees around is a surreal sight to behold. Superb! Back home I went before the London traffic got too bad...
I spent the first hour or so trying to identify lots of horrid brown finches and buntings flying about in silhouette. Turns out they were linnets and a female reed bunting. Some would say that wasn't worth waiting an hour for, but I've got to learn identification skills somewhere! Carried on round and saw a pair (male and female) of great spotted woodpeckers. Then another one flew by a little later. I also found my first London redwings in a bushy area where I was looking for waxwings - nice to see nonetheless! Whilst watching another reed bunting, I heard a loud single note, turned around, and saw the reeds moving a little, carrying on in a particular direction. The noise came again and again, and then finally... the explosive, metallic 'plitt!' followed by 'ti-chuu ti-chuu ti-chuu'! I was listening to a cetti's warbler! I was then lucky enough to see it dart out, hold a pose for a fraction of a second, then dart back in again - long enough though to know what it was, especially coupled with the call. So finally I've had my first cetti's warbler, and they're not just some mythical creature that more experienced birders make up.
Onwards, I hit the first hide and noted wigeon, teal, shoveler, you know, the normal stuff. And also a common snipe was discovered by a pair of even-more-novice-than-I birdwatchers. They were adamant that it was a jack snipe, looking in their book and nodding self-assured that they were looking at a jack snipe; their reason for it not being a common snipe was that its "beak looks short". Its bill was perfectly reasonable snipe length, it was not bobbing around incessantly, it was too big, and it had a beige centre crown stripe. It was a common snipe. It's a shame, and I didn't have the heart to point out that it was not what they thought... if I were in that situation, would I want someone to correct me? Probably, but if I was middle-aged, like they were, I wouldn't want some stuck-up 23-year-old telling me in no uncertain terms that I am not in fact looking at a jack snipe. So I left them to it.
Then there were stonechats everywhere! Took me a second to differentiate them from whinchats, which I did so by the lack of a prominent supercilium, the relatively unusual habitat and the fact they're all supposed to be several thousand miles nearer to the equator than Rainham Marshes. There was also a little wren perching beautifully and rattling away. A few meadow pipits (was hoping for rock or water) fed in the mud and then I saw a small bird that I really did not expect to see - a wheatear. In mid-November. It looked perfectly healthy, and was actually really quite confiding, so I watched it for a while, and just to confirm, it flitted about showing a very prominent white rump. I can't believe it, considering they're supposed to be in Africa by this stage, or at least a long way in southern Europe on migration. Fantastic bird to see.
There were about 500 (estimate) starlings going back and forth from the electricity pylons, quite a noise! The next hide produced (amongst the usuals) a single pochard, a decent flock of golden plover amidst the flock of lapwing, and two male pintails. Walking further round produced very quick and limited views of what I took to be a young black redstart! Taken me a lifetime to see any of this species, then I see two in two weeks! I wasn't 100% sure that's what it was, and was going to write a big question mark next to the name, but then a fellow walked by 2 minutes later, "Have you seen the black redstart?" he asked, "It's been around this area for ages". Tick.
A kestrel hunted for a while as I watched some more stonechats in the semi-failing light (it was nearly 4pm), then finally, after walking the whole way round with no 'pinging' to speak of, I... well... heard some pinging. There was a pair of bearded tits, quite close by, flitting about but giving me some really nice views! Before I knew it, they were off, and I had a big smile on my face. There's just something about those birds that I absolutely love. I saw another pair for a more extended period of time just 5 minutes later too!
Finally, I was just packing my stuff into the car, when I heard a noise that was hugely familiar, but that I never seem to be able to identify - turned out that there were up to 30 rose-ringed parakeets flying overhead. I'd seen them in amongst trees, but a small flock of that size flying across a sky with no trees around is a surreal sight to behold. Superb! Back home I went before the London traffic got too bad...
Sunday, 14 November 2010
North Wales Retreat
Went to Bangor this weekend for a friend's birthday. Took the opportunity to pop out on Saturday afternoon to have a good walk around the area and see what was on offer bird-wise. Weather was lovely and had a nice lunch at the base of Mt. Snowdon.
Highlights were coal tit, pair of bullfinches, ravens, my first fieldfare of the winter, goldcrest, nuthatch (first of the year), one male and four female red-breasted mergansers, all feeding very confidingly close to the shore of Lake Padarn, and finally a fleeting peregrine falcon flew by. There was another large flock of c. 50 fieldfares towards the end of the walk.
There were a couple of redwing in the garden the following morning as I was nursing a relatively severe hangover!
Not a bad haul considering I hadn't seriously planned on anything bird-wise (though was hopeful enough to take my bins...!)
Highlights were coal tit, pair of bullfinches, ravens, my first fieldfare of the winter, goldcrest, nuthatch (first of the year), one male and four female red-breasted mergansers, all feeding very confidingly close to the shore of Lake Padarn, and finally a fleeting peregrine falcon flew by. There was another large flock of c. 50 fieldfares towards the end of the walk.
There were a couple of redwing in the garden the following morning as I was nursing a relatively severe hangover!
Not a bad haul considering I hadn't seriously planned on anything bird-wise (though was hopeful enough to take my bins...!)
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
Suffolk Update
I lied.
I had black headed gull and avocet down twice. How terrible of me! But I'd missed out little grebe so it's 59 species after all.
Top-end bronze medal.
I had black headed gull and avocet down twice. How terrible of me! But I'd missed out little grebe so it's 59 species after all.
Top-end bronze medal.
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
Waxwing-less
After receiving exciting e-mails about waxwings seen along the Mall, I decided to head out and find them.
I arrived and found nothing. Went round every berry-bearing bush in St. James' Park (there were two) and found nothing. Lots of woodpigeons eating all the berries the waxwings should have been eating but never mind!
One highlight was a tree that contained a rose-ringed parakeet, a jay, and a great spotted woodpecker. All at the same time!
There were rare geese and scarce ducks all over the place but I'm not ticking them due to the fact that they're blatantly captive and I'd feel a little dirty if I ticked...
Back to watching the bush outside my back window for waxwings then... it will happen...
I arrived and found nothing. Went round every berry-bearing bush in St. James' Park (there were two) and found nothing. Lots of woodpigeons eating all the berries the waxwings should have been eating but never mind!
One highlight was a tree that contained a rose-ringed parakeet, a jay, and a great spotted woodpecker. All at the same time!
There were rare geese and scarce ducks all over the place but I'm not ticking them due to the fact that they're blatantly captive and I'd feel a little dirty if I ticked...
Back to watching the bush outside my back window for waxwings then... it will happen...
Sunday, 7 November 2010
Suffolk Massive
Went to Suffolk with Dad this weekend (6th and 7th November) to get our fill of East-Coast goodness.
06/11/10
On the journey to Snape Maltings, we saw kestrel, rook, crow, jackdaw, woodpigeon, jay, blue tit, chaffinch, black-headed gull, starling and pheasant. Arrived at Snape at about 11:30 and set off round the reserve. Here, had mallard, shelduck, cormorant, ~160 avocets (we were amazed at the sheer number!), lapwing, bullfinch, blackbird, robin, wren, barn owl, mute swan, pied wagtail. Not a bad little reserve, but no absolute stunners (although the avocets were quite brilliant and the barn owl is always a treat, especially at such close range - it also called once).
Then it was off to Dunwich a bit later than planned to have a quick walk along the beach to see if we could find what we had heard rumours of... Soon after hitting the beach, we caught sight of a stoat/weasel (more likely weasel as it was brown and I know stoats sometimes turn white in winter, otherwise no idea) which was a refreshing creature! Through some nasty rain across the hard-to-walk-on-shingle, we were getting a bit fed up by this point... but glimpsed some small flitting birds along the shingle ahead of us. A bit of patience led us to identify it as a very confiding (within 25 feet) snow bunting, probably a female. There were some teal, a little egret, and a grey heron across the marshes as we pressed on. Suddenly I saw my first short-eared owl flying back and forth across the marsh hunting - haunting and beautiful, very exciting for me! Shortly after beautiful views of a male kestrel, and a small flock of brent geese, we were about to leave... suddenly we found what we were looking for: a small group of 9+ shore larks! Another life-tick right there, and at least 9 of them about 40 feet away, easily viewable through the scope even in the dying light. Star bird of the trip! During this, there was a flock of what must have been up to 10,000 starlings flocking together to roost against an absolutely beautiful red sunset, definite icing on the cake.
07/11/10
Awoke nice and early, saw woodpigeons, magpie, blackbird, jays, dad counted a flock of 60+ cormorants which was an amazing count, and some starlings, with a pheasant, robin, and a moorhen on the journey to Minsmere! Upon arriving (in the pouring rain, which promptly cleared up for pretty much the rest of the day) we had blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, coal tits, greenfinches, robin and dunnock on the bird feeders where we were hoping for the previously-seen brambling, but no luck. Headed down to the large bodies of water and from the first hide, had teal, mallard, wigeon, shoveler, shelduck, avocet, bewick's swans, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backed gull, great black-backed gulls, lapwing, gadwall, a female hen harrier, a female marsh harrier, and then we left the hide. As we left, a small bird landed just on a post next to it, close to us - before it flew off, we saw it was a black redstart, completely unexpected and a new tick for me! We ran back into the hide to see if it had gone round in front, but couldn't find it again. Lucky we went inside as someone had spotted a grey phalarope which we watched in disbelief for a while - two ticks in 5 minutes! On from there, we headed round, with a wren, and through the reedbed walk for a brief bearded tit sighting. Onwards, we had little egret, pied wagtail, herring gull, snipe, and then came across goldcrests quite regularly, from about 10 feet away in gorse bushes - beautiful sights and almost bizarre to see a stone's throw from the sea. The next hide revealed a canada goose and a flock of (and a lone) dunlin. The north bushes further round the track revealed the first redwing of my winter, and a green woodpecker. Soon, we came across a flock of ~50 siskin, mixed with a few goldfinches. Back up to the visitor's centre and the canopy hide up in the... well... canopy of the trees. After a short vertigo attack, we saw a beautiful treecreeper (had seen one by the feeders at the visitors' centre just previously too), rook, crow, and a small flock of long-tailed tits! Then as we left, it began raining again - perfect!
Then home. So we saw 60 species overall this trip, which is great for just two days. A whole 6 of these were entirely new life ticks for me, and such quality ones too! Till next time...
06/11/10
On the journey to Snape Maltings, we saw kestrel, rook, crow, jackdaw, woodpigeon, jay, blue tit, chaffinch, black-headed gull, starling and pheasant. Arrived at Snape at about 11:30 and set off round the reserve. Here, had mallard, shelduck, cormorant, ~160 avocets (we were amazed at the sheer number!), lapwing, bullfinch, blackbird, robin, wren, barn owl, mute swan, pied wagtail. Not a bad little reserve, but no absolute stunners (although the avocets were quite brilliant and the barn owl is always a treat, especially at such close range - it also called once).
Then it was off to Dunwich a bit later than planned to have a quick walk along the beach to see if we could find what we had heard rumours of... Soon after hitting the beach, we caught sight of a stoat/weasel (more likely weasel as it was brown and I know stoats sometimes turn white in winter, otherwise no idea) which was a refreshing creature! Through some nasty rain across the hard-to-walk-on-shingle, we were getting a bit fed up by this point... but glimpsed some small flitting birds along the shingle ahead of us. A bit of patience led us to identify it as a very confiding (within 25 feet) snow bunting, probably a female. There were some teal, a little egret, and a grey heron across the marshes as we pressed on. Suddenly I saw my first short-eared owl flying back and forth across the marsh hunting - haunting and beautiful, very exciting for me! Shortly after beautiful views of a male kestrel, and a small flock of brent geese, we were about to leave... suddenly we found what we were looking for: a small group of 9+ shore larks! Another life-tick right there, and at least 9 of them about 40 feet away, easily viewable through the scope even in the dying light. Star bird of the trip! During this, there was a flock of what must have been up to 10,000 starlings flocking together to roost against an absolutely beautiful red sunset, definite icing on the cake.
07/11/10
Awoke nice and early, saw woodpigeons, magpie, blackbird, jays, dad counted a flock of 60+ cormorants which was an amazing count, and some starlings, with a pheasant, robin, and a moorhen on the journey to Minsmere! Upon arriving (in the pouring rain, which promptly cleared up for pretty much the rest of the day) we had blue tits, great tits, chaffinches, coal tits, greenfinches, robin and dunnock on the bird feeders where we were hoping for the previously-seen brambling, but no luck. Headed down to the large bodies of water and from the first hide, had teal, mallard, wigeon, shoveler, shelduck, avocet, bewick's swans, black-headed gulls, lesser black-backed gull, great black-backed gulls, lapwing, gadwall, a female hen harrier, a female marsh harrier, and then we left the hide. As we left, a small bird landed just on a post next to it, close to us - before it flew off, we saw it was a black redstart, completely unexpected and a new tick for me! We ran back into the hide to see if it had gone round in front, but couldn't find it again. Lucky we went inside as someone had spotted a grey phalarope which we watched in disbelief for a while - two ticks in 5 minutes! On from there, we headed round, with a wren, and through the reedbed walk for a brief bearded tit sighting. Onwards, we had little egret, pied wagtail, herring gull, snipe, and then came across goldcrests quite regularly, from about 10 feet away in gorse bushes - beautiful sights and almost bizarre to see a stone's throw from the sea. The next hide revealed a canada goose and a flock of (and a lone) dunlin. The north bushes further round the track revealed the first redwing of my winter, and a green woodpecker. Soon, we came across a flock of ~50 siskin, mixed with a few goldfinches. Back up to the visitor's centre and the canopy hide up in the... well... canopy of the trees. After a short vertigo attack, we saw a beautiful treecreeper (had seen one by the feeders at the visitors' centre just previously too), rook, crow, and a small flock of long-tailed tits! Then as we left, it began raining again - perfect!
Then home. So we saw 60 species overall this trip, which is great for just two days. A whole 6 of these were entirely new life ticks for me, and such quality ones too! Till next time...
Thursday, 4 November 2010
Return of the Steve 2: Return of the Steve
Ok, not the most imaginative post title, but I thought I'd try out this blogging lark (pun intended) for my birding antics again. I'll be heading to Suffolk very soon, this weekend in fact, and look forward to summarising briefly on my return!
Have a look about.
Have a look about.
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