Soil Hill; Isolation week 20

  Although not as lively as last week, it was another good week on Soil Hill with a scattering of migrants and another patch and year tick, bringing me up to the landmark 100 for the year at the close of play for the week. The patch tick was one that I have had on the agenda for a while now; Yellow-legged Gull. I’ve been keeping a close eye on the large gulls that have built up in the mown fields as the farmers have been scalping the grass, so I was very pleased when a juvenile flew past me on the 10^th. Initially I was drawn to its pale primary windows, and was pretty pleased after checking other features. I received confirmation from TDJ and GCT so was pretty pleased with that. On the 14^th there were more gulls moving in the afternoon and I picked out two more juveniles flying past with good numbers of Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls.

  The year-tick was one that I was not expecting due to their apparent scarcity this year, but on the afternoon of the 14^th a Short-eared Owl flew across the hill being closely mobbed by a pair of crows. Initially I did not think too much of it, assuming it was one of the regular local owls, but was soon informed of my mis-identification after putting my photo on Twitter.

  Migrant numbers have fluctuated during the week, with Willow Warblers being the flavor of choice with peak counts of 17 on the 12^th but otherwise no more than 6. A Common Buzzard on the 13^th was a nice species I have not seen for a while. Wheatears peaked at two on the 8^th with a single individual remaining for most of the week. Two Snipe flew over on the same date, 2 Tree Pipit flew over on the 12^th as did a flock of around 20 House Martins. Mistle Thrush numbers arrived in the top fields this week as well, presumably exhausting the supply of worms in the lower fields. My top count was 33 but I get the impression there is more…

-Yellow-legged Gull

-Short-eared Owl

-Common Buzzard

Complete Species List:

Soil Hill: Canada Goose, Mallard, Common Pheasant, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Common Wood Pigeon, Eurasian Collared Dove, Common Swift, Common Moorhen, Common Snipe, Northern Lapwing, Eurasian Curlew, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, European Herring Gull, Yellow-legged Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Common Buzzard, Short-eared Owl, Little Owl, Common Kestrel, European Green Woodpecker, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Carrion Crow, Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Great Tit, Eurasian Skylark, Sedge Warbler, Barn Swallow, Common House Martin, Willow Warbler, Common Whitethroat, Eurasian Wren, Common Starling, Mistle Thrush, Common Blackbird, European Robin, Northern Wheatear, Dunnock, House Sparrow, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Tree Pipit, Common Chaffinch, Eurasian Bullfinch, Common Linnet, European Greenfinch, European Goldfinch, Eurasian Siskin, Common Reed Bunting,

Preston Docks

Its been a difficult week, having opted for the Sabines on Wednesday I then had to endure a number of days where little things meant I could not go for the Ring-Billed Gull in Preston. Finally though my time came and by half past nine of Saturday morning I was at Preston Docks finally enjoying the Ring-Billed Gull.

As I arrived there were more birders than I had expected. However, I decided to try and find the gull myself, which I managed after about 10 mins of sifting through the gulls on the wavebreakers. The problem was that it was asleep and distant. After a while I tossed it some bread but there was no response from any of the gulls.

However, it was not longer before more birders arrived so more bread was thrown, and that seemed to wake it up a bit and it flew across to the near wavebreakers. After a little hesitation it was even persuaded to come onto the very closest, and it does not need to be said that the views we were getting were absolutely outstanding.

In the end I was there for three hours, while the bird showed often very close and well but sometimes more distant. I took 1000 photos in the end and the best of these are below. It was a superb bird, complete with a ring on its bill, as if I could ask for any more. Well worth waiting for. When in flight you can clearly see the gaps in the wings showing it is well into its moult. With that in mind I would think the bird will be around for some time yet.

-Ring-Billed Gull

The docks were actually a pretty decent birding spot. I was very surprised to find that there was a colony of Common Terns on the wavebreakers which seemed to have a good number of nesting pairs and quite a few chicks of different ages could be seen.

There were a number of other gulls present on the breakers, and the hunt was on to find the reported Yellow Legged Gull. I only managed to string 3 birds before getting it. The first was almost plumage perfect for a YLG but was a pretty small bird and as such we decided it probably was not. The second was a Lesser Black-Backed with a little bit of notching and very long primary extensions. The third was the bird that had been seen previously, with perfectly notched plumage on a whitish head. It was a hefty bird, dwarfing the herring gulls around it. So that was a nice added bonus.

-Yellow Legged Gull

For an urban spot, Preston docks made for a great days birding with a lifer and a chance to continue working on my gulls. Not bad going at all.

Species List:

Preston Docks: Cormorant, Mallard, Great-Crested Grebe, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Coot, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Yellow-Legged Gull, Ring-Billed Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Magpie, Common Tern, Moorhen, Swallow, Swift, 

Dorset Holiday Day 9

Sadly it rained today which left my options limited. The morning I did the moths as per and was rewarded with a new species for the holiday in the form of a very smart Ruby Tiger. I grabbed a couple of record shots, for the lack of any other moths.

-Ruby Tiger

 In the end I decided to revisit the Weymouth RSPB reserves to watch some birds! Since Radipole was right next to the train station I decided to head there first. Birds on the reserve were a little thin on the ground, but a flyby Bearded Tit was nice, and there were a few Pochard and Gadwall on the lakes.

Having said that, most of my time was spent in the reserve car park looking at the gulls… I was pretty desperate to find a YLG, especially since 3 had been reported there about half an hour prior to my searching. I was unable to locate one, or so I concluded having looked through my photos. I could never conclusively rule out YLG but had decided for one or more reasons that all the birds I had looked at considering YLG were in fact something else.
--That being until the 29th when an article appeared on Birding Frontiers with YLG in it. One of the example birds had been photographed in Dorset and was the spitting image of one of the birds I had seen. I decided to message Tim, who confirmed that it was a YLG and that he thought they were the same bird. As such I will now include the photos I took of the juvenile YLG

-Yellow Legged Gull

The fact that the bird raised my attention is a sign that I'm getting somewhere with gulls, even if it was not the right conclusion I hesitantly reached. I hasten to add that the above sequence is not necessarily of the same bird, the first two were photographed in the car park, before all the gulls flushed and I picked it up, or a similar bird, again on the nearby lake...

With that in mind, I have reason to believe that another bird I photographed at Lodmoor later in the day is also a YLG, though I did not get a clear view of the tail on this individual. There are clear faint windows in the wings that I did see, and the notching is incorrect for Herring Gull...

-Yellow Legged Gull

I think a lot more practice will be needed before I will confidently be able to do this in the field, but being able to pick out different looking birds is a good start, and I'm pretty pleased with that. (Its also a yeartick!)--

After spending so long at Radipole I decided to move on to Lodmoor. Once more there were better numbers of birds here, including a nice group of 5 summer plumaged sanderling, a couple of Greenshank, a flock of 11 Dunlin, a Black-Tailed Godwit Flock and a large group of possibly up to 50 Mediterranean Gulls. Not bad going at all.

-Black-Tailed Godwit

-Sanderling

 That was only in the main area for birds, and I headed round to the other side of the reserve where I had not been before. Here there were no waders but a few more wildfowl, including a Gadwall, a couple of Shoveler and a few Pochards.

-Pochard

 As I was scanning one bird really caught my attention, namely by its very small size for a duck. I instantly realised it was a teal of some description, but when it turned I was stunned to see how defined the face was and that there were clear white marks. My immediate reaction was Garganey, but I had to spend ages watching it going through every feature before I let myself believe it. Fortunately it was a very obliging bird, feeding in the open, even doing a couple of wing stretches to put beyond all doubt. That being said, I did release the news as a female, when I was rightly corrected via twitter that it is in fact an eclipse drake. My bad!

-Gargany

Not gonna lie, I was buzzing after that and was a real bonus for the bird list of the holiday. It means I did actually make a contribution to the Dorset birding world during my stay…

Species List:

Radipole Lake RSPB: Herring Gull, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Mallard, Moorhen, Coot, Tufted Duck, Reed Warbler, Mute Swan, Canada Goose, Swallow, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Greenfinch, Woodpigeon, Goldfinch, Feral Pigeon, House Martin, Sand Martin, Dunnock, Bearded Tit, Great Crested Grebe, Pochard, Cormorant, Gadwall, Great Black-Backed Gull, Swift,

Lodmoor RSPB: Sanderling, Dunlin, Greenshank, Common Sandpiper, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Black-Tailed Godwit, Herring Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Mallard, Cormorant, Common Tern, Linnet, Coot, Moorhen, House Sparrow, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Canada Goose, Magpie, Swift, Starling, Great Black-Backed Gull, Avocet, Shelduck, Tufted Duck, Goldfinch, Carrion Crow, Pochard, Gadwall, Swallow, Greenfinch, Reed Warbler, Feral Pigeon, Teal, Shoveler, Little Grebe, Gargany, 

Spurn Day 12 - LIFER ALERT

Sort of a continuation from yesterday; in the evening Paul was going to try to ring storm petrels and since I had never seen one I gave him a hand. However, nothing happened in yesterday’s half on the night with the exception of a few bats and a Toad. However on this side of the night stuff did start to happen and I picked up another lifer. Not a stormie or even anything alive but I saw my first Shooting Star. The first one I was not expecting and it was the brightest. I was surprised by just how bright it was, clearly adding illumination to the dark seascape as it whizzed overhead. There was a second too but this one was less bright. To say that I was thrilled would be an understatement! Paul even commented that I was easily pleased, which is true, and a good way to be I would say.

We now skip ahead to 5 in the morning as the shift began. It was another lovely morning only this time I was on the right side of it, so would be able to appreciate it all the way. There were no waders in when I arrived but still plenty of stuff around, including a personal record of 5 Little Egrets and both Oystercatcher families.

The morning began to pass with species coming and going. At around half 5 a Common Sandpiper dropped in, which I recognised by the call but only saw briefly. There were the usual assortment of regulars in, Arctic, Sandwich and Little Terns making up the bulk of the lagoon-side birds, plus the Ringed Plover and 5 Cormorants on the raft. At 6.00 I found a Red Knot feeding along the shoreline, but only one, and it soon moved onto the beach to feed.  At 6.10 I found a juvenile Little Gull preening itself on the side of the lagoon too, but again only one.

Things really began to kick off at 6.55. From behind me I heard a few terns call alarmingly and turned around to see a large black gull sized bird flying along the shoreline. It was an Arctic Skua, Dark morph. It moved along the beach very close to where I was sitting, the best view of one I have ever seen. The only downside was that the morning sun was behind it, so all I got of the bird was its silhouette. I was also surprised by how big it was, at least the size of a herring gull, but it has been 4 years since I last saw one. It was great to see, even though it’s my job to keep them away…

-Arctic Skua

The Skua did not stay long, only really passing through. It did cause absolute havoc in the colony, and the Sandwich Terns were probably part of the reason it did not stay for long. Its agility for a big bird while avoiding the terns was also striking, as was the size of terns in comparison to the Skua.

The tide had started to drift out over the morning so once the Skua had left and all had settled down I began to check out the birds on the beach. Most were Sandwich Terns with a few Arctic and Little thrown in. I continued scanning and stumbled across a small gull among the colony. I had a check of the key features and was left in no doubt that I had found myself a Kittywake sat on the beach. Now this may not sound much but this is a personal milestone for me. Ever since the Old Moor kittywake I have wondered if I would have been able to find and i.d a kittywake outside of its regular habitat. And now I had, with this individual on the beach. This self-found bird shows just how much I have improved even over this year.

-Kittywake

But the Gulls on the beach did not stop there. Another quick look and I found myself another unusual gull. Sadly it was quite distant but it was still pretty clear that I had found an adult Yellow-Legged Gull sat on the beach. This is not a species I see very often, though I have seen one at spurn already, but this one was self-found so all the more rewarding. Sadly I could not get any decent photos of it simply because of the distance, but they serve as record shots for this find.

-Yellow Legged Gull

I continued to scan the beach and the sea in case anything should drop in or drift by. I found a Black-Tailed Godwit feeding up near the far end of the beach and a young Gannet flew north at 7.20. The Terns were having a really bad day. Apparently the fox dropped in 4 times last night, then the Skua this morning. Add to that an adult and juvenile Kestrel that came in at 7.50 and a Grey Heron at 8.05 that sent them up. A Brown Hare then set them off, but these are easy enough for me to deal with.

It all settled down for a bit then, with birds coming and going but nothing major really. The next headlining bird to come along was a juvenile Marsh Harrier that drifted over from the north and circled the top area of the ponds. It then drifted west, largely avoiding the colony. It is a patch tick for me though, a nice addition.

-Marsh Harrier

Luckily the Harrier did not come in close enough for the terns to kick up a fuss. But their troubles did not stop there. At 10.50 the worst of them all came in. I saw the birds all go up but could not make out a threat, but this time it was really bad, as all the birds were calling and in the air. Then I saw it flying straight towards me. It was a male Sparrowhawk that had zoomed through the colony. It actually had the nerve to land in Area A, which meant I had to scare it off, a pity for such a spectacular bird. I did not see it get anything, but it went back south after I flushed it and I lost it, so it’s possible it may have done more damage out of sight. The Terns took an age to calm down, and were on edge for the whole afternoon, often going up for no reason.

The next bird that stood out from the regulars was something special, a self-found lifer. Out my 18 lifers this year only Corn Bunting was completely self-find, so this is pretty special, and long awited. As I watched the dunlin, a small group quite near to the hut I spotted one among them that was definitely not a dunlin, but for the first time it was pretty clear what it was. I had finally found myself a Curlew Sandpiper, at long last. Having seen one now I can safely overrule all the dubious birds during my time here.

It was a young bird, but molting so its plumage was quite blotchy. It really stood out from the Dunlins and was pretty much the spitting image of that in the book. It basically looked like a dunlin on stilts, with a slightly longer beak. I was very impressed by how different it actually looked in real life, having made it difficult for myself over the past few days. I tried to follow the bird as it fed to grab some photos for record purposes. I grabbed 2 in focus, but the bird I photographed and the bird’s plumage I saw looked completely different. It was not until I found a different photo from a different set that I figured it must just be the lighting

-Curlew Sandpiper (Middle Bird)

-Curlew Sandpiper (Central Bird)

I spotted the bird at 11.20 and by 11.40 the small flock of dunlin it was part of had taken off and gone to the beach. As a result when I went to lunch I kept an extra eye open for them. I failed to find any Dunlin but did flush 2 small waders. When I first saw them I considered if they were little stint, but were too red on the face and when they took of the distinct wing pattern showed clearly that they were Sanderling. I have never seen a summer plumage sanderling before so this was a plumage lifer for me, another addition to what was turning out to be a great day.

-Summer Plumaged Sanderling

By now it was getting quite hot, and me with 2 jackets on was beginning to feel a bit of a mug. However, the weather meant that Beacon Lane was alive with butterflies and dragonflies. On the small pond there was Ruddy Darter, both male and female, and Emperor, the latter was ovipositing too. On the butterfly front it was manly whites and browns, of the latter however I got a patch tick in Wall Brown. A species that used to be common back home, I hardly see them anymore, so I was well pleased when I found this individual, very fresh.

-Wall Brown

 On my walk back after lunch I found some more Sanderling on the beach. There were also Dunlin and the Ringed Plover. I had thankfully disposed of my excess clothing and so was feeling fresh for an afternoon perched on my dune watching the birds. If the morning was anything to go by I should be in for a good time.

The afternoon was significantly quieter than the morning, most things probably put down by the heat, as indeed was I. The haze over the pond was bad that I could not distinguish between Dunlin and Redshank in the wader roost. I did manage to distinguish the Black and Bar Tailed Godwits, 1 Black and 11 Bar, as well as count the number of Grey Plover, 13 with 1 summer plumaged ad.

At 2.30 the next treat came in, if only for about 10 seconds. I heard a peculiar call and turned round to see a pair of dark wader with distinctive white rumps drop in. They were Green Sandpiper, or so I take it, as they left almost immediately, before I could get the scope on them to look. I was scouring the bank where they had landed to get a better look, took my eye from the scope to get my bearing to see the birds flying off…

I enjoyed a quiet afternoon catching a few rays while counting terns and other birds. The Terns were still very put out due to the Sparrowhawk in the morning, but they had no real reason to worry despite their constant jittering. That’s until 4.15.

I heard the call of an alarmed tern at sea and looked to see an Arctic Skua mobbing a Sandwich Tern. It was quite far out but it was clear to see through the scope. It’s the first time I have ever seen a Skua undergo this characteristic mobbing behaviour. I have to be honest, its not pleasant to watch, though it is fascinating. This was quiet far out. The Tern got away this time, and the Skua began to approach the shore…

As a result I got the camera ready, but then lost the bird. In fact I lost both, as there two, but only one had been mobbing and only one was coming towards shore. I waited a couple of mins before deciding it must have moved off. I then heard the terns go mad, and spotted the Skua very close to the shore causing chaos. But as soon as I saw it, it began to move back out to sea, so not decent shots as such. It was still a great encounter and a behaviour tick to add to my collection.

-Arctic Skua Mobbing

-Arctic Skua

 The Skua left northwards I think, but I lost it again among the waves. It was almost time to head home too, having clocked up 50 species of bird during my shift today. The only other thing of note was a flock of Common Scoter that went north while I was watching the Skua. I did not follow them as I was busying trying to work out what kind of Skua I had (Poms or Arctic), but I reckon about 35 birds.

On the beach there were a few more Sanderling, this one though was a juvenile and so lacked the colouring on its head that the others I had seen had. I managed a pretty decent flight shot though as it took off.

-Sanderling

I arrived back at the warren at around half 5, absolutely worn out. I crashed onto the sofa for a good ten mins before I managed to muster the energy to cook dinner. 12 hour shifts on 4 hours sleep are not a good idea I have decided.

I had just put my chicken on when another birder, Rob, wandered in to get a jacket and said that there was a Bonxie on the sea. This required immediate attention. Off went the chicken, on went the boots. I made it up there, the bird still there, but it took me some time to actually find it. As we watched, Rob noticed that it was pecking something, which we worked out was an auk, probably a guillemot. The brute was giving it a fair old bash, but was too far out to get any pics.

That was the final bird of the day, clocking up my 3^rd yeartick and second Skua of the day, what a finish. A finish well worthy of the day I would have said.

The Daily Oystercatcher

And of course our update from Spurns star birds. Both chicks with both adults were about when I arrived, feeding along the shoreline. There was also some wing-stretching from the chicks which is a promising sign. Sometimes they were feeding themselves, but other times they were pestering their parents. One chick seems to pester the parent significantly more than the other, and I have also noticed that one of the chicks seems to wander on its own a lot; an independent chick.

But this feature has been going for a few days and I have not yet introduced you to our stars. So this morning when they were fairly close and together I grabbed a few photos. Please note that there is also a Little Egret, one of the 5, photo-bombing this family portrait.

-Oystercatcher (With Photobombing Little Egret)

Species List:

Beacon Pools: Little Egret, Little Tern, Oystercatcher, Avocet, Common Sandpiper, Sandwich Tern, Arctic Tern, Ringed Plover, Cormorant, Mallard, Mute Swan, Woodpigeon, Swallow, Black-Headed Gull, Whimbrel, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Knot, Little Gull, Skylark, Redshank, Arctic Skua, Kittywake, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Yellow Legged Gull, Gannet, Black-Tailed Godwit, Common Tern, Swift, Kestrel, Grey Heron, Sand Martin, Graylag Goose, Dunlin, Marsh Harrier, Carrion Crow, Sparrowhawk, Curlew Sandpiper, Linnet, Sanderling, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Pied Wagtail, Whitethroat, Grey Plover, Green Sandpiper, Magpie, House Martin, Feral Pigeon, Herring Gull, Common Scoter, Blackbird, House Sparrow, Starling, Grey Seal, Brown Hare, Southern Hawker, Emperor Dragonfly, Ruddy Darter, Common Blue-Tailed Damselfly, Small Tortoiseshell, Large White, Wall Brown, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper,  Green-Veined White, Small Skipper, Ringlet, Red Admiral, Peacock, Small White,