Soil Hill

    Last night there were a few reports of Common Scoter migrating over Lancashire, with reports indicating it was quite the movement of birds. Most of the reports came at around 20:00 but I was not aware of them until already 21:30 by which time those flocks would have had ample time to reach Calderdale and continue towards the North Sea.

  However, from Bradshaw, I did some listening and at 21:40 a clear flock of Scoter was heard passing over. Buoyed by this I grabbed my thermal imager, jumped in the car and set off for Soil Hill. There was not much activity however, and during the hour I stayed on the Hill I only recorded one clear flock of six Common Scoter flying over, with just a few calls heard. A very distant large flock of birds flying in formation were probably also Scoter but without calls it's impossible to be sure. A few solitary birds I picked up in the thermal could have been anything! 

  This morning was once again very pleasant, but with little in the way of standout species. I managed to locate two Jack Snipe this morning but sadly one of these was deceased. A Jay was a nice surprise, initially in the North Slope Tree-Line before flying north. It, or another individual, was spotted flying SW a little time later. A late Common Gull flew north. 

-Common Scoter

-Jack Snipe full of life

-Sadly expired Jack Snipe

-Meadow Pipit

Soil Hill

   I’m back home for the week, so I wasted no time heading up to Soil Hill this morning, hoping for some Whooper Swan migration. I didn’t manage to pick up any flocks flying past, but from the vantage point of Soil Hill I was able to distantly spot a group on Mixenden Reservoir. From the photos I have I was able to count 22, but being so distant it could easily be more. DJS went down later and counted 23.

  However this Whooper Swan action was thoroughly trumped when I reached the bottom of the North Slope. I was just scanning the area of The Shay for Wheater (no joy there) when I turned around to see the bright white crescent of a male Ring Ouzel looking back at me! This is my first March record here, and caught me completely off guard. I was able to approach the bird but it was then flushed by a patrolling police helicopter. It remained in the area after, but was quite mobile. Sadly JJL was not able to re-find the bird late morning, so it may have moved off.

  In addition to these two highlights, there was a nice supporting cast. A single Raven flew over heading SE. Lots of wader activity with two Oystercatchers on The Shay and another three flying north, plus at least two Snipe in full display. Two male Stonechats were at the bottom of the North Slope and a female Bullfinch was on Ned Hill Track. A mobile flock of 30+ Fieldfare was still present on Taylor Lane.

A very rewarding return to the Hill after a few weeks away.

-Ring Ouzel

-Northern Raven

-Whooper Swans

Abberton Reservoir twitching Canvasback

     As per usual on my journey back and forth from Paris, I stopped in to see my good friend David Darrell-Lambert and we spent the day birding together around London. Our destination of choice was Abberton Reservoir, a large water body in Essex that at the time of our visit hosted a good number of interesting species, including a potential world tick with the long-staying Canvasback.

  We arrived mid-morning and headed first to the Billets Farm viewpoint from where the Canvasback was seen. Unfortunately a strong backlight, blustery conditions and the flocks of ducks being distant meant that we were unable to spot the bird during this first visit. However, it was not a complete bust as were able to pick out a distant drake Smew.

  Next we continued around to St Andrews Church Viewpoint, which had the benefit of being with the light but the birds on the reservoir were distant. From here there had been a pair of Lesser Scaup and a small group of Greater Scaup but again we were not able to pick them out as we filtered through the distant flocks of birds. A Sand Martin flying overhead was the highlight of this location, my first Hirundine of the year.

  Moving on, we next stopped at the Layer Breton Causeway, where there had been a flock of 12 Greater White-fronted Geese. Finally we had some luck, with the birds showing nicely in a field at the side of the road. Also at this location we had a small group of Spoonbills, as our day began to turn a corner.

  Now early afternoon, we headed back to the Billets Farm viewpoint, where our visit immediately started well with a flyover Great Egret. We continued scanning the birds and eventually one of the other birders present managed to pick out the Canvasback from a very distant group of Pochards. It was extremely difficult to keep track of however, with the bird sleeping most of the time, whilst the plumage features we could see changed with the variable conditions. Not a classic bird to have twitched!

  To round out our day, we tried once again to see the Lesser Scaups, except this time we chose to view from the Lodge Lane viewpoint. Once again, the birds were very distant from here, but after much scanning we finally managed to pick out both Scaup species. The flock then had the discourtesy of flying around, so we had to once again filter through the flock for the birds. At this range, distinguishing between these two Scaup species was not an easy prospect, but we did manage to find them both. The highlight from this section however was a nice close flyby Peregrine and two Little Gulls over the water!

  After a very satisfying day, we headed back to London, with all the birds in the bag. My train that evening took me back to Halifax. 

Lac de Créteil

   There is not a huge abundance of birding sites within Paris, and having a car means those of the periphery of the city are often too much of a hassle to reach to consider worthwhile. However, with a little time on my hands this week, I decided to explore some sites within an hour on public transport of the apartment and had a really good time at the Lac de Créteil. Although it takes the best part of 45-minutes to reach, it certainly seems to have excellent potential that warrants investing a bit of time to travel to. 

  I’ve now got two visits wrapped under my belt, and I enjoyed both very much. The lake is home to several common wetland species, but the potential is there for rarer species (reinforced by several eBird records of interest from years gone by). Perhaps the standout is the population of Red-crested Pochards on the lake, with double figures seen on both days. These handsome ducks were not at all shy, allowing for excellent views. In addition, there is an Egyptian Goose present, which has not been recorded on eBird at this site previously. 

  In the vegetation around the lake there are a few species of interest. There had been no records of Cetti’s Warbler before yesterday, according to eBird again, so it was a bit of a surprise to find three singing males. Commoner species that are of interest to a birder from the north of the UK include Firecrest and Short-toed Treecreeper. And to round it off nicely I picked out a Pied Wagtail with two White Wagtail feeding on a cut grassy area, a nice little flavour of home for whilst I am over here. 

-Cetti's Warbler

-Egyptian Goose

-Pied Wagtail

-Red-crested Pochard

Faversham twitching Pallas's Warbler

   With some time left during our day, we decided to check out the Pallas’s Warbler near the small town of Faversham. It had not been reported for eight days, but David decided it would still be worth checking, so that’s where we headed. The specific location was just behind a sewage farm, and it was alive with Chiffchaffs, with possibly as many as 20 different birds moving around, including some suspiciously grey individuals.

  Fortunately the gamble paid off, and after 20 minutes waiting we got on to the Pallas’s Warbler moving among the ivy. As is typical for a warbler of this ilk, it was very mobile and difficult to keep track of, but we managed to get some very nice views. It was especially pleasing when it would hover, picking insects off the leaves whilst showing its pale rump and crown stripe. We lost it for possibly as long as half an hour before we managed to get on it again. It is a shame we could not see it close, but since it has been such a long time since I saw this attractive species, it was still very enjoyable. 

-Pallas's Warbler

Undisclosed Location searching for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

  Although there were a few scarcities dotted around the southeast at this time, David and I had agreed to spend the morning targeting the most outstanding omission from my British list; Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Having dipped the species in six counties on numerous occasions, my quest for this species in the UK had become a bit tiresome. Combine that with the woodpeckers dramatic decline across the UK, and it added another layer of urgency to the mission.

  We arrived at our woodland of choice at around 09:00 and began to search. The wood was incredibly lively with commoner woodland species, but also with a few other goodies such as a smart male Brambling among the hundreds of Chaffinches. It was very enjoyable, and our woodpecker count make good progress, several Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen and a Green Woodpecker was heard on few occasions.

  After about 40 minutes of searching, and hearing a few promising drumming notes, we managed to locate a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the canopy! Mission accomplished! Sadly it was distant and as we approached it moved off. We tried to follow it, but it kept moving and eventually we lost it. About 20 minutes later we managed to locate it, or another, nearby low down, but it was too quick for me and moved away rapidly before proper views could be had. It called a few times from the canopy but we were unable to follow it.

  After so many dips over the years, it was quite the relief to finally set eyes on this beauty! 

-Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

Waxham twitching Glaucous Gull & Iceland Gull

  As usual on my way back to France, I spent a bit of time with my good friend David Darrell-Lambert doing some birding around London. Due to train issues, I did not reach London until midday, but our plan for the afternoon was to drive the two-and-a-half hours north to the north Norfolk coast to the small village of Waxham. Here a Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull had been seen on the beach, and, given the scarcity of both species, and David fancying the trip, we made this our destination. 

  It was already late afternoon when we arrived so we had only a limited timeframe to find the birds. Fortunately the directions we had were absolutely spot on, and we found the Glaucous Gull reasonably quickly as it fed on the beach. The Iceland Gull was a little further, but again, once we were in the right area we were able to find it without too much hassle. There were a lot of large gulls to filter through, but both of the white-winged species were quite conspicuous. Sadly they were not approachable at all, and we never managed to get close to them.

  In addition to the gulls, we had fantastic time with the areas many seals. We counted hundreds of Grey Seals hauled out on the beach right next to us, as well as a few pups. I scoured through the animals for Common Seals, and eventually spotted one in the water just before we left. On the birding front, there were a couple of other nice species; Common Scoter, Rock Pipit and a Turnstone being the best of the rest. 

-Glaucous Gull

-Iceland Gull

-Common Seal

-Grey Seal

Soil Hill

  It being a blustery morning in late February, I was not anticipating a morning of anything particularly notable on my visit to Soil Hill. The rain had cleared and there was no fog, so despite the wind I hoped for a pleasant walk where most of the regular species would be recorded. This was particularly important since it was a new week in the eBird bar charts!

  As I began my descent on Perseverance Road towards Ned Hill Track at 08:40, I spotted a large gull slowly moving in a southwesterly direction. Whilst I anticipated a Herring Gull, I was in for quite a shock when I got the bird in the binoculars to see that it had creamy-white primaries; a white-winger!

  Given the paucity of Glaucous Gull records in the UK, I was fairly confident the bird would turn out to be an Iceland Gull. Still, my priority in that moment was to take as many photos as I could, which was fairly straightforward given that the bird was not moving particularly quickly.

  Once it began to fly away from me I switched to following the bird in the hope that it might land on one of the nearby reservoirs. Simultaneously, I tried to get the news out so birders lower down the valley might be able to connect.

  In the end, the Gull headed for Ogden Water, where I lost it as it dropped behind the trees in the plantation there. Sadly however, BS and JJL checked the reservoir shortly after found no sign of the bird.

  A quick check of the photos confirmed my suspicions that it was an Iceland Gull. Scenes of celebration followed! This is my 133 species for Soil Hill and represents the first Halifax area record since 2022! It was not seen again at any other locations! Also of note, the long-staying bird at Roundhay Park in Leeds was not recorded today!

-Iceland Gull

-Stonechat

Roundhay Park twitching Iceland Gull

   With work not particularly forthcoming I had a bit of time on my hands, so decided to head over to Roundhay Park to twitch the Iceland Gull that has been showing well for the best part of a week. Twitching is not usually my scene, but a local bird which is showing well is always worth a fancy if time allows.

  Armed with some stale bread I headed down to the Waterloo Lake and very quickly found the gull sat on the water with the Herring Gulls. For some reason Half of the lake edge was fenced off. Where the fence ended I began to throw the bread for the assembled Mute Swans and Black-headed Gulls, but sadly the Iceland Gull seemed reluctant to move. I decided to change location, this time trying from the area in front of the café where there was no fence. 

  This began to work, with the Iceland Gull drifting towards this position with the allure of bread. It was getting to where I wanted it when my limited bread ran out, but I had hoped I had done enough to keep it where I wanted it. Sadly at this point another birder arrived, armed with his own bread, but decided to throw from the other side of the lake, from behind the fence. Consequently, now without my own retaliatory bread, the gull once again began to move away.

  Still, I was able to get some nice photos of the bird perched on the posts in front of the Lakeside Café. It was a very smart juvenile, and the first time I have seen this species since the individual on Redcar Tarn, back before the pandemic, so well overdue! 

-Iceland Gull

Tenerife Day 6; Las Galletas & departure

   Our flight was in the afternoon, so we had rescheduled our whale watching trip from the previous morning to this morning before our flight. Instead of departing from the more popular port of Los Cristianos, from where we had departed the previous afternoon, we instead headed out from the port of Las Galletas on the southwest corner of the island, with the company Biosean. I had hoped that going from a different area might produce some different species, but sadly it did not. 

  It actually took quite a while before we managed to find any cetaceans at all, but in the end we did manage to encounter a group of Short-finned Pilot Whales. They once again came close to our small vessel, and we even got to see them spy-hopping at one point. An excellent way to finish off our trip. It was also nice to see a couple of wader species, with a Turnstone and two Whimbrel in the harbour as we departed. 

  And after that we headed to airport, handed back the car and prepared to return to Paris. An enjoyable short trip, with some pleasant birding and nice marine mammal action. 

-Short-finned Pilot Whale