Wood You Believe It?

I do love Wanstead.  A migrant hot-spot within walking distance, what's not to love? Sure, it's probably one of the high causes as to why my patch produces oh so little, but I really can't complain. It's like a second patch almost, but with the twist that it's actually quite good.  Last year Wanstead got a Blyth's Reed Warbler, I got a Gadwall.  You see what I'm getting at?  Maybe I should just make a permanent transition of my patch... I'd probably end up missing the Squirrels.
 The routine morning check of Twitter showed once again that the dedicated Wanstead crew had another great find, a Wood Warbler.  A rare bird in London, and perhaps another site mega.  As soon as breakfast was eaten we were off.
 Half-an-hour later we arrived to the news it was still there, and to hear it a second or so later.  It seemed it would be that kind of a day. Turn up, see it, done. That joy was not to be. Try it more like this: turn up, hear it, search for ages, hear it again. Despite it tormenting singing with some regularity, it just didn't seem to fancy being seen. A Garden Warbler early on was our only consolation. It made one think fondly of finding a Cetti's Warbler.
 After three hours of canopy staring, it's trill finally began to come from lower down.  After a slightly tense few minutes where it managed to hide in a small patch of branches a small bird flew to the left into an Oak, where it finally showed, revealing that stunning yellowness of a Wood Warbler! Whoo, what a weight off the shoulders!  It showed for a good thirty or so seconds, so I managed to grab a couple of record shots before it disappeared.  Incredible bird, worth the wait.  It probably would have been quicker to go to Wales...

Scotland (Part Two)

After successfully twitching the Harlequin duck  in Aberdeen, we drove down to Blairgowrie, where we'd be staying for the rest of the trip.  Having the next three days already planned out, my preparation was perhaps in vain.  Admittedly, being as we were, near to the highlands, I should have expected it. Weather - The spite of so many dreams.  Wind speeds exceeding 45mph and heavy snow forecasts meant travelling nearly one hundred miles through the Cairngorms was rather astray from the safe side.  So no Crested Tits, instead we explored an area near Amurlee for grouse.
It wasn't too far, and the drive did produce my first Grey Partridge for nearly three years, it was however, sadly, a rather flattened individual on the road.  If only it had looked before crossing.  The number of Pheasant I saw who had met similar unfortunate ends is just ridiculous, somewhere in the region of fifty I might guess? Crazy.
 Another mile or so further and I spotted three (thankfully) very un-flattened male Black Grouse in a sheep field off to my left!  They were fairly distant, but also pretty amazing, so I felt obligated to take a few photos. As the Black grouse began to slowly disperse into the rougher grass behind the field, a Red Grouse called from, umm, somewhere.  Somewhere distant. Although I don't believe it to be the same bird, after a few minutes I did find a Red Grouse, but far, far away.
 It was an excellent start to the morning, but I had my hopes up for some better views, so we continued on towards Amulree before taking a turn off down a road I'd read to be good for Grouse.  And as it turns out, it was. We drove it six times, and saw a further three Black grouse (including two females with their stunningly intricate plumage), about eight or nine Red Grouse, a Mustelid, either Stoat or a Weasel and a Short-eared Owl! And yes, the Grouse showed a lot better.

It snowed heavily on and off, and the Grouse appeared -or rather didn't- to go into hiding.  So we drove a little further along the main Amulree road, and saw a load more Black Grouse, including a group of nine males, taking the day count up to twenty-two! Exceedingly better than I had hoped for.
 The weather picked up briefly on the drive home, so we stopped by Loch of the Lowes, and straight away had the male Osprey from the hide!  He was on the nest, but then took off with a piece of fish and disappeared behind some trees.  An absolutely incredible morning, and all before midday!
 As part of the prize for winning the Junior Scottish Nature photographer of the Year in 2014, I had a day out photographing with professional nature photographer Lorne Gill. So on the 1st we met up with him, before heading north to Braemar to photograph more Grouse.  Lorne was a nice chap, and with his excellent local knowledge it was a successful day of photography.  We had another two female Black Grouse, numerous Red Grouse, Buzzards and even a few Red-legged Partridge. The Red Grouse showed well amongst the heather, but they just wouldn't sit up on the stone walls. No matter how nicely I asked.  Still, very beautiful birds up close!

After a fantastic few hours photographing the Grouse we decided to try and look for Mountain Hare and Ptarmigan at Glenshee Ski Centre.  The night before and most of this day had been heavy snow and strong winds, so we were doubtful we'd have any luck.  It was hard work getting up the mountain, in the first ten minutes you would overheat, and just a bit further on you felt as though your ears would fall off.  The snow was above my knees at point!  We got about two-thirds of the way up, and saw quite a few Mountain Hare scampering away in the distance, but beyond that, with the wind being what it was, it seemed perhaps foolish to try any further.  Getting down thankfully was a lot easier, and between us we only fell over a few times. So concluded another great day, and my last full day in Scotland.


Our train from Glasgow on the 2nd wasn't until half-past-four, so we had an hour spare in the morning, so.... we went looking for Grouse!  I'm sorry if you were looking for variety, but, Grouse are great.  Although this time it didn't seem like they would play ball, metaphorically speaking of course.  After driving up and back once along the road near Amurlee, we'd seen only a single hen Red Grouse, and no Black.  We pulled up for a while and got out to scan the moors, and did manage to find one or two distant male Red Grouse, and in the fields Lapwing were displaying, along with Skylark and Meadow Pipit.  A Red Grouse then flew across and landed just further back down the road.  Without much hope, I decided to walk back along and see if I could see anything.  As I approached I realised where the Grouse was, on a stone wall!  The wall was about sixty foot away, and I was a little worried it would fly the moment I left the road, but I used the heather as cover and crawled a bit closer.  The Red Grouse (a male) stayed, and continued strutting along the wall, and was soon joined by a female, who had been hiding in the grass to my left.  It wasn't quite as close as I would have liked, but I was buzzed to finally get the shot I'd been after for the last three days!  And in the final few minutes I had spare before heading back down to Glasgow.
 There ends my trip to Scotland, three lifers and a few hundred images, an awesome trip, I can't wait to go back now!
 If you have read this far, I honestly, honestly applaud you.  Give yourself a pat on the back!

Patch News!

Part two of my trip to Scotland is being temporarily put on hold, because (wait for it)... I have patch news!  I know, hardly believable.
 Having returned from Scotland the previous day, I was back on the patch on the 3rd. It was pretty quiet really, not much of note (as is the norm), but there was a singing Chiffchaff to put a bit of spring mood on things, although it was probably an over-winterer.  As I was beginning to head home I caught sight of a large bird flying over, pure white, heavy wingbeats and long extended black legs with yellow feet... In simpler terms, Little Egret!  A patch-lifer, I've been hoping for one of these to fly over the park for years, namely since I missed one which was seen in the canal after the park was reopened having been closed due to storms.
 Returning to the patch on Sunday, I took yet again to searching the old Pitch-and-Putt course for any Wheatears which decided Valentines look nicer than Wanstead. So of course it drew blank.  All was not at a loss though, as there came the distinctive call of a Meadow Pipit.  A moment of confusion followed, as I tried in vain to see it fly over with no luck, no wonder, as my father then found it sitting in a small tree! It showed nicely before flying down into the grass.  A second patch lifer in a week!
 Later that day, I even managed to find my second Great-crested Grebe for the patch this year! For now, the patch is good(ish).

Scotland (part one)

Five hundred and thirty miles for one duck? No I'm not that bad, well, not quite. That said I did twitch a duck that distance from my home... In my defence I was in Scotland anyway, so it would have been rude not to go. And, it was a drake Harlequin Duck, that justifies it.
 I'd headed up to Glasgow on the Saturday (28th) and spent a couple of nights there before continuing the rest of my six day trip to Scotland by journeying a few hours further north to Aberdeen for the Harlequin Duck. We got to Seaton Park before 11am and although there was a ridiculously cold wind, it was a nice bright spring winter's day. Upon arriving at the river Don, three ducks flew by, the two at the back I have no idea what were, I was a little distracted by what was at the front. Yes, it was the Harley!!! It continued past and disappeared around a bend in the river. A mega warms even the coldest of days.  The day got warmer and warmer as we tried to find Papermill Drive, I then began then to regret the giant coat I was wearing, oh for that chill wind.
Papermill Drive has seemed a favourite spot for the Harlequin during it's long stay on the Don, and after about five minutes of searching here we had it showing reasonably well. I spent a couple of hours photographing it, and eventually got some great views. It's beginning to look rather nice now that it's moulting into summer plumage.  It'll be a hard duck to top!

 Generally it stayed mid-river, but on one occasion did come down to 15 foot, unfortunately the light was bad, and you know how it is when a mega pops up right in front of you, keeping your hands from shaking isn't easy!
 The Don is a great river, while I was there I also saw plenty of Goosander and Grey Wagtail and even an Otter swimming upstream!
The next four days of my trip to come...

Rich(ard's) Pickings

My, it's been a while since my last post! Have you missed me? No? Can't say I'm all that surprised...
Since my last post here in the blogger-sphere I can't say all that much had happened, well, despite a bucketload of dipping. And a big bucket at that.  You see, my annual late winter trip to Ireland wasn't quite the success I had hoped.  It resulted in the dipping of the following; Black Scoter, American Coot, Ring-necked Duck and Laughing Gull... Though some small consolation did come from a stunning drake American Wigeon.
 Yesterday morning I headed out for my first proper days birding since returning to England.  I met up with Liam Curson at Newhaven, before heading to the Ouse Estuary to look for the Richard's Pipit he had found a few days earlier.  After fifteen or so minutes scanning the grassy banks in the rain, we were heading to try a slightly different location when another birder found it up on a fencepost.  It gave great scope views here for a couple of minutes before dropping down into the grass. A great bird to start the day with!  We got some more views after it came down into the grass on a distant bank a little later on, and also had four Bearded Tits (Reedlings, whatever) in the reeds around it.

 Walking from here to Tide Mills produced a frankly ridiculous number of Snipe, probably somewhere around sixty. Oh and brief flight views of a jack Snipe as well!
 Tide Mills was pretty quiet, none of the hoped for Wheatears, but a Firecrest was a nice surprise.
 It was then on to Cuckmere, where Liam quickly found an adult Yellow-legged Gull.  A Scandi Rock Pipit, Yellowhammer and Pintail were a couple of other good birds as we headed down the river to look for the Great-grey Shrike which's been in the area for a while. And although it was still in the area having been seen earlier, we couldn't locate it.
 A possible Iberian Chiffchaff had been reported just a hundred or so metres away, so we headed up to see what was going on.  There were a few others there who'd had the bird earlier, and had taken some recordings of its song.  We then got to hear it in person as it appeared in a tree and begun singing.  How does one describe this bird? Hmm, I think weird is the best word. Yes, the bird was weird - No offence.  Most of the time it gave a song, slightly reminiscent of a Coal Tit with some little warbles, but yet it also did the standard 'Chiff-chaff', and seemingly the 'wheet' contact call of a Common Chiffchaff.  An aberrant Colybita is the current theory, and I would agree, though I'd be a long, long way out of my depth making an opinion on it.
An interesting end to a superb days birding, with a total seen and heard list of seventy species!

Breakfast Decisions

I was up moderately late on Sunday, well, it was the weekend.  Or has that excuse all but dried up now?  Still, it was before nine.  While discussing over breakfast the plans for the day, we decided, sure, why not do two hours on public transport to Gunners Park? Ah, perhaps without adding the bit about Serin being there, it might seem a little weird.

 After the tedious and seemingly dragged out journey there, we were greeted at our destination by a biting cold.  Joining the group of assembled birders - or perhaps, twitchers - I spent an hour and a half scrutinising every Green and Goldfinch which went past.  Every one, and there were quite a few.  With nothing happening, we headed down to the sea for a while, year-ticking Sanderling, Turnstone and Knot. And still, there had been no sign of the Serin since much earlier that day.
 By now, we had only a couple of hours of light left to the day, so it was back to finch watch.  Another lengthy period of watching, with again, no results. Thinking it may soon be time to leave, I stood up to have a walk around, when I noticed a few birders looking into a tree.  Interests plucked, I started to walk over, only to have one of them wave to us, signalling they had the Serin - A brief sprint followed. Then I was watching two yellow-green blobs, yet undoubtedly the stunning Serin.  Approaching closer to the tree, we managed some fantastic views before the Serin flew down and landed in the undergrowth in front of me. Apparently rather deep into the undergrowth...They effectively disappeared.  It took about twenty minutes before one showed, and by now the light was fading, but quite simply, wow!  A truly beautifully little finch.

It continued to feed here for a while, before both birds flew off high over some houses. Mostly likely to a garden feeder somewhere, being passed off for a Siskin or an escaped canary.
 Truly well worth the trip, even with the two hour journey home in the dark...

A Most Egrettable Day

Well certainly not regrettable!
Up at the uncomfortable and undeniably cold time of 05:20 yesterday, saw me heading down to Kent for a days birding around the Dungeness area.  With such an early start, the sun was barely starting to rise as we approached Lydd.  A large white bird hovering along the roadside caught our eye, and revealed itself as we approached as a Barn Owl.... oh, at last!  One of my most long sought after life-ticks, which had avoided me (sometimes by fractions of a second) for about two years of looking!  It veered off over the trees as our car drove past, and unfortunately I couldn't get a look at its face.  A surprise start to the day, and perhaps a good omen?

 A few minutes later we were watching a field of around eighty Bewick's Swan, a second lifer before the sun had risen.  A single Whooper was in with the Bewick's and in the low light was fairly tricky to pick out.

 After we'd had our fill of the Swans (metaphorically speaking, of course) we moved on to Scotney Gravel Pits to try, and fail for White-fronted Geese, before heading to look for the recent stars of the show in Kent - Cattle Egret.  Despite there now being a lack of Cattle, we found both of them with relative ease around some farm buildings. Watching from the car, one of the two showed beautifully, sitting still for a few minutes in the sun - which, on a bird this white was rather harsh!  Three lifers before ten, pretty good going wouldn't you say?

 After a while it started to move off along the line of a fence, so a little reluctantly we left for the ARC hide at Dunge. Everything was, as expected, rather distant, but it was still nice to see Bittern, two Great-white Egret, Smew and a couple of Marsh Harriers. When things died down at the hide, we stopped for the Tree Sparrows, and then went to the coast for a spot of seawatching. It was ridiculously breezy on the beach, at one point my scope toppled over... Despite this, we did manage Razorbill, Guillemot, Common Scoter and Red-throated Diver, not too bad a haul.
 With time left, we went back for the Cattle Egrets and had more fantastic views.  Perhaps slightly better than earlier, as they fed on insects in the fields and then paused for a while on a hay bale.  Oh for some clouds!  Exposing them correctly was incredibly tricky, but the views were somewhat awesome.

Another stop back at Scotney on the drive home got us Black-necked Grebe, and a load more Tree Sparrow to end a superb day's birding (well, technically it wasn't twitching). Fantastic birds, three lifers and I got my year-list up to 102, a personal best this early in the year.  A long but successful day.