Rounday Park twitching Red-necked Grebe

   I was away from home for a week, and on the first day of my absence a Red-necked Grebe was found on Waterloo Lake in Roundhay Park, Leeds. This is a bird I have only seen in the UK on a seawatch, and so even though my twitching days are pretty much behind me, I knew that this bird would have tempted me had I been in the UK when it was found. Alas, I was not and so I forgot about it. But as my return date drew nearer, and the bird remained in situ, it began to garner more of my attention until I finally got back.

  Once I got home early afternoon I immediately grabbed my optics and headed over to see the bird. The bird had already been reported in the morning and I was certain it would still be present during the afternoon. It did not take long to locate, and spent the next hour showing very nicely close to the footpath around the lake. The light conditions were challenging with quite a lot of glare on the surface for photos, and at times even making it a challenge to pick out the bird when it emerged from diving.

  Given how poor my last views of this species were in the UK, this was at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. A fantastic bird to see!

  On my drive back, since I already had the car out, I decided to call in at Jay House Lane to pick up Tree Sparrow for my Halifax year list. Having already dipped them twice this year, I wanted to get them seen. So I was extremely relieved when I rocked up to see a bird on the feeders there. It only had one eye which was a bit off, but otherwise it was good to get them seen. 

-Red-necked Grebe

-Tree Pipit

Species List:
Roundhay Park: Canada Goose, Mute Swan, Mandarin Duck, Mallard, Tufted Duck, Red-necked Grebe, Great Crested Grebe, Feral Pigeon, Common Wood Pigeon, Common Moorhen, Eurasian Coot, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Great Cormorant, Grey Heron, Rose-ringed Parakeet, Eurasian Jay, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Great Tit, European Robin,
Jay House Lane: Common Wood Pigeon, Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Eurasian Magpie, Western Jackdaw, Rook, Coal Tit, Eurasian Blue Tit, Common Blackbird, European Robin, House Sparrow, Eurasian Tree Sparrow, 

Old Moor RSPB - The 17th hour of Little Bittern twitching

This was my only free day before I left for Spurn, other days taken up with goodbyes and packing. It was therefore my last chance to attempt once more to try and see the phantom Little Bittern at Old Moor. By now, having spent over 16 hours since its first appearance last year not seeing it, I was at breaking point. Seeing it today was simply a must.

I brought a uni friend, Issac, along, so I had a comforting shoulder should I once more fail to connect with the bird. As soon as we arrived though things started to look up, as a few birders were standing on the bridge outside the Bittern Hide saying that the bird was being very vocal. After a short while we also heard it, far softer and more mellow than I had anticipated from its call, but proof that the thing did actually exist.

The bird was clearly calling from a matter of feet in front of us, all the more frustrating but then one of the birders quickly indicated that he could see it. We were with him immediately but it took me a while (relative to the time we had) to work out where exactly he was looking, until I realised just how close it actually was, and that it was sat at the top of the reeds. I will never forget that image, of the bird sat atop the reeds just there, almost right in front of me. It did not sit there long, opening its wings to reveal the large white patches and diving into the bushes. It continued to call from there for a short while before it flew off into the reed-beds past the hide. Issac had missed it when it had sat up but saw it when it flew past the hide, the occasion when I missed it. It all worked out nicely in the end then. I finally saw the bird in the 17th hour of trying, and Issac got the bird on his first proper twitch.

The relief of seeing the bird at long last, even if I failed to get a photo of it. We tracked to where it had landed in the reeds and waited a solid four hours for it to come back out, but it failed to do so before we left at 13.30, and at the time of writing, 16.00, there has still be no further reports. Sadly no pictures then, but the view was fantastic and all that I needed. What a bird.

Other birds on site were very much the same as yesterday. The Great Bittern did a couple of flybys, throughout the day, but none were particularly close. A Tree Sparrow turned up in front of the hide and started catching damselflies which was something of a novelty. There were also a few insects on the wing, including Four-spot Chaser and Black-tailed Skimmer.

-Black-tailed Skimmer

-Tree Sparrow

So after many hours waiting I finally got the bird I had been after, plus it was another fantastic day out with plenty of nice birds and good company. Its nice to be able to settle this old score. Now for a new arch nemesis...

Species List:

Old Moor RSPB: Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Carrion Crow, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon, Stock Dove, Blackbird, Tree Sparrow, Coot, Moorhen, Great Tit, Bittern, Mute Swan, Wren, Common Tern, Little Grebe, Tufted Duck, Swallow, Swift, Sand Martin, Whitethroat, Great-crested Grebe, Goldfinch, Jackdaw, Gadwall, Canada Goose, Long-tailed Tit, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Greylag Goose, Reed Bunting, Kestrel, Common Buzzard, Herring Gull, Little Bittern,

Spurn NGB Weekend Day 1

The first day of the NGB weekend of Spurn, but without many NGB's. There were 4 of us at Numpties in the morning; Martin, Jonnie, Tim and me. Together we had a good time, clocking an incredible passerine passage. The species of the day was Tree Sparrow, of which there were 2285 birds going south, the second highest ever Spurn count and only 40 off the record. There were also 312 House Sparrows and 701 Skylarks, which were also both notable counts and the best for some time. There were other finches moving too; 84 Chaffinch, 106 Greenfinch, 876 Goldfinch, 5 Siskin, 1047 Linnet, 1347 Meadow Pipit, 91 Rock Pipit, all of which made for an impressive mornings spectacle.

There were other goodies among the birds moving south, including a Jay which came south and then banked and turned round north. The highlight of the moving birds was a Lapland Bunting which Tim picked out. I grabbed a photo in of it as it turned back north and though it is a poor attempt you can clearly make out the fact that it is a Lapland Bunting, a Lifer for me.

-Lapland Bunting

We also had a small flock of Whooper Swans fly over the triangle and down the Humber. They were quite distant but that was my tarts tick for the year gone, which is a relief. They were also the first of the autumn for Spurn, There were other wildfowl going too, including Brent Geese and Pinkfeet as well as a couple of duck species, but these were mainly moving over the triangle and not going south. 

-Whooper Swan

-Pink Footed Geese

There were also good numbers of Hirundines moving. Considering before today I had only seen 3 'October swallows' it was great to see 574 going south, including 80 House Martin, which are the first time I have ever seen the species so late into the year.

-Hirundines-Swallows and House Martin

But there was an undoubted highlight of the morning. As we were all counting at numpties there came Steve's calls from the seawatching hide. His cry was of 'Whale, Whale Whale'. I have never seen a whale so I, along with all the others present turned our eyes straight to the sea. Steve had picked it up quite south but its breaches were irregular and difficult to follow. I only pick it up the once but the view included Spray and the Fin, all that you could realistically hope for. That was fantastic, made all the better for the fact that it was so unexpected. Steve said he had spent 2500 hours watching the sea since his last whale, so to be there for this was a privilege. There were birders all along the Spurn coast that had heard the message, and they followed its progress as it moved up north. As to its identity, we remain unsure. Based on the spray it may have been a humpback,but Minkie seems to be the most common thoughts about it based on peoples previous experiences with the species, and that is what most people have put it down as.

That was early morning so left me buzzing for the rest of the day. By early afternoon the passage had dried up so I headed over to Canal Scrape to see if there was anything about on there. There was not a lot, in fact the only bird was Long-John Silver the redshank. who is somehow still alive despite having only half of one of its legs. Considering he was there when I left my job back in September it has done remarkably well for itself. 

Since it was so quiet I went back for an afternoon kip. Turns out a woodcock was caught at kew but I did not hear about it, which was a big blow. The evening was spent back up at Numpties seeing what was moving. There was much less than the morning counts, the highlight being a few Whooper Swans that came down and landed on the sea, and a few large Skeins of Pink-footed Geese with a single Graylag in tow.

-Whooper Swans

-Pink Footed Geese

In the pub later on I met some more NGBs, which was great, a chance to get together with other birders my own age. It had been a good start to the weekend, with a bird lifer and a Whale, can you ask for much more.

Species List:

Vis-Migging: Siskin, Merlin, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Brent Goose, Teal, House Martin, Swallow, Jay, Pink-Footed Goose, Rock Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Mallard, Reed Bunting, Rook, Skylark, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Linnet, Feral Pigeon, Goldfinch, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Greenfinch, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Tree Sparrow, Lapland Bunting, House Sparrow, Whooper Swan, Little Egret, Cormorant, Knot, Whimbrel, Minke Whale, 

Vis-Migging: Red-Throated Diver, Swallow, Meadow Pipit, House Martin, Whooper Swan, Pink-Footed Goose, Kestrel, Little Egret, Knot, Curlew, Pintail, Brent Goose,

Fairburn Ings

My time at uni is drawing near to an end for good for the summer. Since it is 'Le tour' this weekend I decided to make today my final major birding trip due to the number of road closures over the weekend. I decided to try a new site, for public transport at least, by going to Fairburn Ings RSPB. Its a site where I have had mixed fortunes before, dipping smew 3 years in a row, but I had not been for some time.

Reports showed that there were 2 spoonbills on site, that had been around for some time, which was the main reason I thought to go and have a look, but the glossy ibis that has been roving around west and South Yorkshire had recently made it is home. As a result I decided to head over that way to enjoy my last bit of proper first year birding.

Despite its steep train fare I did not have to get a bus, as I can walk to the site from Castleford, so that was a major bonus. Once out of the town you follow the canal for a short distance before going onto the RSPB land.

It was walking along the canal that I had Mallard, Swallow and Mute Swan on the canal and woodpigeon on the overhead cables over the hedge. Or so I thought. I don't really know what inspired me to check out this so obvious woodpigeon on the wires, but for some reason I gave it a thorough inspection. It was difficult from my range, and my head secretly wanted turtle dove, so I allowed myself all kinds of thoughts. When I managed to get a decent view through the bins I immediately noticed a lack of white round the neck. Woodpigeon no more. I still struggled to make anything out with my bins though, so got the camera and grabbed a record shot. I could not believe my eyes when I had a look, it was a Cuckoo, chilling on the wires. I got closer until I was right in front of it, the hedge providing a suitable hide. Its my first good shots of a Cuckoo landed, and it is also one of my best self finds. To find a Cuckoo at this time of year, on a site not reknown for its cuckoos, is something pretty special. I was well pleased with myself. I had a good look through the bins, before taking some shots and then going for the bins again. But it was between the transition of camera to bins that the bird moved off, as it was no longer there when I looked up again. I don't know where it went, but it made my day, and it was not even lunchtime.  

-Cuckoo

I continued onto the reserve, and decided to first call in at Lin Dyke Hide, as that was where the ibis and spoonbills were most frequently recorded. As I left the riverbank and headed up towards the hide I noticed 2 large white birds circling near the farm in the distance. Of course my first thought was swans, but through the bins I could see that they were not swans, they were in fact the Spoonbills that I had come to see. The scope was in my bag, and through the bins there was not much to make out except for their long neck and broad wings and tail. I grabbed a ton of record shots of the birds, since I had no idea what their next move would be, and good thing too, as they quickly dropped down below the tree line. They are my 17th lifer this year, and a bird I have long wanted to see. Sadly because of distance I could not make out the bills properly, but I had hope that over the course of the day I would find them again.

-Spoonbills

Now I was really buzzing and it was about to get even better. Not much further up than from where I saw the spoonbills I noticed a large bird fly towards me over the reeds to the right of the hide. It was clearly a heron and because the neck was tucked in from such a low flight I identified it as a bittern. A quick check with the bins showed I was right, but it also showed that the bird was coming towards me. I grabbed the camera due to the potential of some great shots, just in time for the bird to gain altitude and fly right over me. Great shots? you bet, it was without doubt the greatest view of a bittern I have ever had, beating even those birds that I have seen landed. I think it would only be right to let the pictures do the talking.

-Bittern

The bittern flew over the path and then was lost behind the trees. I had barely made it on site and already it was one of the best days birding this year, and that is saying something. I made it to the hide without further incident, but that's not saying much due to the short distance. I began looking for the ibis, or to see if the spoonbills had landed. The latter had not and the former was not to be seen. I did not want to ask other birders, as it removed some of the pride from any sighting, but from tactical eavesdropping I learned that it was in a pool just up the path.

From the hide there was good stuff to find, including many waterfowl; Common Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall and more Mute Swans. On the banks there were Lapwing, Redshank with a well grown chick and a few Little Egrets, which were showing really well. After some continued searching I found a few Little Ringed Plover on an island quite far out, and was going to announce them with pride, when I noticed a small bird right in front of the hide have a stretch. There had been a Little Ringed Plover with a well grown chick right in front of the hide all along, and nobody had noticed. They were even close enough to get some decent record shots.

-Little Ringed Plover

After my stay in the hide I decided to head up to check out the Ibis and see if it showing. I saw the small cluster of birders on the path, but could not see the bird due to the hedge. I saw the pool next and was shocked by how close it was to the path, as in really close. There were also about 10 Little Egrets on the pond, which being so close and so unfazed looked absolutely great, the best views I can ever recall having.

After a short while the ibis raised its head, it had been feeding at the back out of view. It was moving closer though, but keeping to the reeds and sedges, making it difficult to photo, or even see. This is of course the same bird that I twitched at Wombwell Ings, before exams and all that fun. That seems so long ago, and compared to how close the bird was currently seems completely independant of this encounter.

While I waited upon the ibis to yield a great view I noticed a pair of Whitethroat that had been moving around the hedge in front, probably disturbed by the small cluster of birders. I decided to back off to avoid causing them more harassment. Once back the birds started landing in very nice positions for a photo of Whitethroat for this year.

-Whitethroat

As I had mentioned before there were many Little Egrets all showing well. While photographing the Whitethroat I had noticed to my horror that my camera battery was very very low. Even so, I decided it was too good and opportunity to miss, so took a few photos of the egrets while they were in nice positions.

-Little Egret

But of course, the bird of the hour was the ibis. After waiting a little while it decided to finally come out and show itself in all its glory. It was a different perspective to the view I had got at Wombwell, here really highlighting the grey streaks on its head and the the green and purple sheen on the bird. It carried out all kinds of behavior, mainly feeding but also preening which was a different perspective of the bird.

-Glossy Ibis

I got so many better pictures of the Ibis than before, the fourth awesome bird that I have seen already today. After a while I decided to move on to try and re-find the Spoonbills further up the reserve. I had initially decided to walk along the river, but the spoonbills had changed that and I decided to walk along the road to see if I could find them further up.

Before the road I added Willow Warbler to my day list, and Wren too, which was singing with great gusto from the hedge. Once on the road the birds naturally declined. Overlooking the Spoonbill Flash I did not get many additions as most of the birds could be seen from the hide. However, there were some ducks resting hidden next to the road which I failed to see due to me being distracted by a Sedge Warbler. One of the ducks was a Pochard female, which I took a couple of photos of due to it being so close.

-Female Pochard

I continued along the road, reaching the area that overlooks the moat. However, the spoonbills could not been seen. What did impress me were the number of Cormorants. They were everywhere, on the trees, on the bank, in the water even flying overhead. I was very surprised by how many there were.

I moved off and entered the car park area of the reserve. I first headed down to the main bay lookout point near the car park to see if there was anything there, as there has been some decent stuff in the past. Today it was very quiet though, mainly eclipse mallards. There was also a female Mandarin which was different, a lovely male reed bunting giving it Gusto from the reedbed and a couple of Common Terns hunting out over the bay.

After a short stay at the feeding station my next call was the Pickup Hide for lunch. On the feeding station there were Blue Tits, Great Tits and Tree Sparrows, nothing particularly unusual, nor were there any willow tits which I really wanted to see.

Fortunately at the Pickup Hide there was a Willow Tit, a very aggressive individual that was chasing all other birds on the feeders. Besides that there was not much about. The Sand Martin wall in front of the hide was quite busy, with a few birds drifting in and out at regular intervals. There were also about 5 Avocet on the bank, I am informed a pair with chicks. A Stock Dove also joined in at one point for a drink, but it was very quiet. I tried for some record shots of the Willow Tit but it was very dark and they did not come out well. Never mind.

-Willow Tit

-Tree Sparrow

Once I had moved on from Pickup I decided to take a look at the hide overlooking the main bay before returning to Lin Dyke via the river. In that hide there was not much, but there were good numbers of Great-Crested Grebes on the lake, most of which were sleeping. On the way to the hide I also picked up Chiff-Chaff and Long-Tailed Tit, the latter being a regular at the site.

Along the river it was very quiet. There good numbers of Cormorants in the river, and a Grey Heron on the bank. It was mainly the insects along the bank that were the highlight, with many species of butterfly; Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Small and Large Skipper, Red Admiral, as well as a couple of dragonfly species; a spectacular Four-Spot Chaser and a Black-Tailed Skimmer on the path.

-Four Spot Chaser

-Black-Tailed Skimmer

 I re-arrived at Lin Dyke hide intending to stay a little while and then go and re-find the ibis. However, not long into my stay at the hide and a birder came in and informed us that the ibis had moved on, apparently we should have seen it from the hide, but failed. So I spent all my remaining time in this hide waiting for something to appear.

And right on cue the Spoonbills decided to do another flyby, but this time I opted to watch them rather than photograph them. Even through the scope it was difficult to see that beak, but I certainly got a better view than I had got before, and I was glad I saw them again before I left for the train. Once they had gone down again I returned to try and see what else was about. The fore mentioned birder had spoken about Common Sandpiper, and right on cue a Common Sand came and landed on one of the pieces of wood on the lake, another great day tick. There was a tree in the middle of the flash, and while I watched this tree became frequently covered in Sand Martins, before something would cause them to flush and they would all leave. But the real stars again were the Little Ringed Plovers, which once more were right in front of me, but I was unable to spot them for a good half an hour. It then turned into a nightmare trying to describe their location to the other birds, who could not believe how well hidden they were, despite being out in the open.

-Little-Ringed Plover

It came to the time when I had to go for the train sadly, and I departed. On the way back I picked up another Grey Heron and a Pheasant but not much. It truly had been a great day, really enjoyable. And with another lifer, and catching up with that Glossy Ibis what more could a birder really ask for.

Species List:

Fairburn Ings RSPB: Spoonbill, Bittern, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Glossy Ibis, Starling, Dunnock, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Magpie, Carrion Crow, House Sparrow, Blackbird, Blackcap, Great Tit, Robin, Common Pheasant, Black-Headed Gull, Wren, Mallard, Jackdaw, Mute Swan, Feral Pigeon, Woodpigeon, Mistle Thrush, Bullfinch, Goldfinch, Pied Wagtail, Kestrel, Collard Dove, Lapwing, Long-Tailed Tit, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Moorhen, Coot, Great-Crested Grebe, Jay, Common Teal, Shoveler, Gadwall, Pochard, Redshank, Greenfinch, Tree Sparrow, Reed Bunting, Stock Dove, Willow Tit, Oystercatcher, Chiffchaff, House Martin, Little-Ringed Plover, Sand Martin, Willow Warbler, Scaup, Canada Goose, Graylag Goose, Avocet, Sedge Warbler, Common Sandpiper, Common Tern, Whitethroat, Swift, Cuckoo, Small Skipper, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Large White, Gatekeeper, Ringlet, Speckled Wood, Common Blue Damselfly, Common Blue-Tailed Damselfly, Brown Hawker, Black-Tailed Skimmer, Common Darter, Four-Spot Chaser, Common Toad,

Yorkshire Dales Holiday Day 3