Wednesday 7 February 2024

Its a long way to tick a rare'y

As I've said before there is a hierarchy in ticking birds and a lifer comes top of that. These are birds you have not seen before, mainly in the UK, and trump year-ticks, patch ticks or garden ticks. So, when a rare wader appeared in Cornwall my radar started buzzing. It was a sociable lapwing (or plover) which breeds in Kazakhstan and winters in the Middle East or India. Presumably it got lost on migration. Normally you would think but if that was the case then how come it has only now popped up over here? Well, the grapevine immediately got onto the fact that in fact it has been in Cornwall since about November and had been "suppressed"!!! The county does have a bit of reputation for this though it does explain how the bird got here.

Anyway, I couldn't go for the first few days but then both an opportunity and weather window coincided so I hatched a plan. Although not as far as a trip to Scotland, Cornwall is still a long old drive. However, what I could do was to go and stay in Weymouth with my mother-in-law overnight to break up the journey. This also allowed me to have a bit of sneaky year-listing on the way down at Acres Down.  

So, I set off after breakfast and got to Acres Down late morning. The weather was bit lively to say the least but I got goshawk (distant) and woodlark (in full song) on the heath and a flyover crossbill in the wood. Best spot was a firecrest right  by the car park which was confiding albeit keeping to thick cover!



I couldn't find the lesser-spotted woodpecker but not a bad haul. I tried Lodmoor next but nothing exciting so I headed for my over night stop!
Although I was already some way down towards Cornwall it was still about 150 miles to the estuary where the lapwing was being seen. 

Consequently I was on the road just before 4. The weather was awful on the way down with big puddles on the road and torrential rain. At least the traffic was light. The forecast was for it to clear over by dawn and by the time I was past Exeter the rain had subsided to misty drizzle. After a quick stop in the services I pulled into the very small lay-by at Ruan Lanihorne about 7.15. There were already 3 cars there and the birders were getting set up as the light started to appear.

Basically, it was a small area of marsh and beyond that an estuary, where it was very low tide, and on which the sociable lapwing was being seen in the company of our normal lapwings. I learnt from my fellow birders that it was not seen the previous day. They had all spent most of the day looking for it and one had slept in his car overnight whilst the others found hotel rooms!. Apparently the weather was awful and even though they had seen lapwings the wind was too strong to focus 'scopes on them. The weather now was overcast and drizzly but at least it was still. 
We set up and started scanning the mudflats but there were no small waders only Canada geese, shelducks and curlews. 

As the light started to get better we finally got onto a flock of about 40 or 50 lapwings in flight. They kept distant and finally came down in the fields beyond the estuary and out of sight. We couldn't see the sociable lapwing in amongst them but it was a long way off. Although superficially similar, even in flight you should be able to pick it out as the wing tips only are dark and its body is a lot lighter.
As we carried on watching, the birds would occasionally come up and fly around, often in the company of golden plovers. 

It was really hard to make anything out though. Each time they came back down not onto the estuary but into the fields. A we were discussing whether it was possible to get closer to the fields to have a look a local came past. We ascertained two things from him. First, it was all private land and not really open to view. Second he was the local policeman and therefore we were probably best advised not to think about a mass trespass!!
We weren't exactly getting despondent but the initial excitement of the morning was certainly waning. Three of us had wandered back to the cars, only a minute away, for a coffee and were admiring some greenshank and a common sandpiper nearby (both year ticks!). 

The two who had remained then gave out the shout that the flock had not only taken off but were circling over the mud. I dropped my coffee and rushed back to my 'scope just in  time to see a steady stream of waders, lapwings and golden plover, descending onto the very far side of the estuary. At least now we stood a better chance of picking out our bird.
They were strung out on a long line across the mud, feeding and preening. Four 'scopes were trained and we started working through them. We are going for a bird a bit bigger than the golden plovers, smaller than the lapwings, lighter in colour and with a distinctive eye-stripe and dark cap. The light was poor and it was proving a challenge, especially as they were constantly moving and flying off short distances. 
Eventually the guy to my left gave the call "I've got it!". No chance of describing where it was so he locked down his 'scope and we all took turns to get that crucial tickable view. As we all cycled through we worked out roughly where it was. Fortunately there was a large rock, a tree stump and some shelduck to act as markers. within a couple of minutes we all had it in our 'scopes and had acceptable and tickable views. The general rule is that in order to tick a bird you should have good enough views to be able to make out enough detail to see it is the bird and not just take other peoples word for it. I was happy that the overall size, colouration and eye-stripe were ok. With all of us happy we could relax and a lot of smiles broke out, especially from the guy who slept in his car!!!




I fired off a lot of photos but to be honest I was only really pointing the camera in the general direction and hoping. The above photos are the best I got. To be honest, the only ones where you can just about make out the bird! Within a few minutes the flock took off again for a fly around. With no prospect of them coming much closer we all started to pack off and head off home, very satisfied with what looked initially to be a tricky day. 
I did stop off at Broadsands for the cirl burnings on the way back but although I saw them the theme of it being a "no photo" trip continued as they kept themselves very much to themselves in the hedge.
Overall a cracking two days. A potentially tricky lifer taking me to 416 BOU and 8 other year ticks (159 BOU). Second lifer of the year together with the Northern waterthrush. A very good start and potentially a big year coming up!




Tuesday 30 January 2024

Hidden in plain sight

With January almost over and no lifers on offer (or at least none with a reasonable chance of success) I had a trip out to get a few more onto the year list. After a successful weekend in Weymouth (9 ticks) I decided to be a bit more land-based. The best trip seemed to be to head first to Lynford Arboretum and then to Eldernell. The first stop would be for woodland birds and the second for the overwintering owls.

It wasn't an early start but I still got to Lynford about 10.30. This is a lovely little reserve on the edge of the Brecks in Norfolk. It is known mainly for the hawfinches which are there in variable numbers each winter but it also good for woodland birds such as brambling, marsh tit, yellowhammer and crossbill. Even firecrest can be found there.

It was only a short walk to the feeding station where another birder was already looking down the short ride. I could see a number of birds on the ground and he said he'd already seen both hawfinch and brambling. It took only a couple of minutes and a brute of a hawfinch came down to feed on the ground.

They are very reliable here but this is the first time for some years that I've seen them this close. That beak gives them the nickname of being a parrot! It is usually used for cracking seeds and you can see how good it would be for that purpose. 

Despite having good views of brambling and marsh tits, both year ticks, I failed to get a decent photograph despite heavy-baiting of the bridge area which was alive with other small birds.

I failed to find any crossbills or firecrests so with another hours drive to my next stop I called it a morning and left for Eldernell. This is part of the Nene washes, north east of Peterborough. It's very flat area of reclaimed fenland and is a hotspot in Winter for raptors and especially owls.

This Winter the water levels have been exceptionally high so there haven't been many harriers but both long- and short-eared owls are roosting as well as there being a very showy resident tawny owl. 
The small carpark was already quite full when I arrived. A quick coffee and a roll sufficed for lunch and I set off for the short walk along river bank. 
With the help of my thermal camera I almost immediately got onto the first short-eared owl, roosting in the low hedge next to the bank. They are really cryptically camouflaged and can be very hard to spot so the thermal imager really came into its own.
This is a pretty heavy crop as we were keeping well back from where they were. I suspect though that they are well-used to people now and as long as we behaved sensibly then they are pretty chilled. 
With it still being only about 1pm it was some while before they were likely to start flying so I worked my way along the hedge to see what else I could find. 
Next up was a pair of long-eared owls. One was visible, albeit behind a lot of twigs, the other you could only see via its heat-signature as it was buried in the bush!



It was a shame they were so well-hidden as they are beautiful birds, especially with their over-sized ear-tufts. They are also our most nocturnal owl so were unlikely to be moving before dark. Consequently I left them to their steady stream of admirers and carried on to find the last of the three, the tawny owl. This has been resident in a well-known and highly visible tree-hole for some while. Another birder who I was with helped me find it though it wasn't hard as it was almost perfectly positioned for viewing.
It was in a very small patch of woodland the other side of the river, so totally inaccessible. This was even more so than usual due to the floods. Apparently the waters have receded and at their worst were only a few feet below its hole!
The crowd of admirers swelled to about 6 or 7 but the owl was totally unfazed. In fact it barely even opened one eye to look at us. Every day it must have a steady stream of people coming to look at it!!
Just like the long-eared was it clearly wasn't going to do anything exciting so I decided to put my time into the short-eared owls as they start hunting during daylight hours. 
I worked my way back down the hedge and found there were 3 owls visible. One was sitting up in the top of the hedge admiring the view,
but from a photographic point of view was quite obscured. A second was a  bit closer but still covered by twigs.
The third one though was sitting out nicely and from one angle had very few twigs in front of it.


As the afternoon moved on the night began to fade and you could the owls starting to stir a little bit. Unfortunately one of them was flushed from its roost by a photographer getting way too close and almost leaning over the fence to get close to it! I "had words" but it clearly wasn't her fault, just coincidence it flew off as she leaned into it! 
As the light stated to fade though it all kicked off. First, there was a honking noise from behind us and 4 or 5 skeins of cranes came into their roost on the edge of the flood.

It was an amazing sight and sound. One that has been missing from the UK from many decades but which is now, at leat in the Fens, returning in strength.
The short-eared owls had the idea it was time for supper as well, and were up and hunting. The floods helped as they were limited to looking for voles over the field closest to the car park.

The light was going fast but there were three owls all pirouetting around the meadow, diving down in hope of an early-afternoon feed.

With it getting late, dark and cold I called it and headed back to the car. A very successful and enjoyable day. I got most of the birds I was after and the afternoon at Eldernell was magical. It's got me up to 146 for the year with a day to go!







Friday 22 December 2023

Not a red nose in sight

 Out last proper trip on our Scottish holiday was to visit the reindeer herd. This is the only free-ranging herd of reindeer, about 150 strong, most on them on the mountain slopes below Cairngorm. We went to visit them last year and have adopted one of them. Fitting with the weather we experienced all holiday it was really cold. As we found before the wind was getting stronger as went higher up the mountain so we wrapped up very warm!

After checking in at the centre we drove the short distance to the Sugar Bowl car park and waited for our guides to take us to the herd. After our safety briefing - watch our for cars crossing the road, don't slip over - it took us about 20 minutes to get onto the place where the herd was. Our group was about 25 people strong. Apparently at this time of year they are booked out most days, especially at weekends. 




Most of the walk was pretty easy through a wooded ravine but once out of that you had to cross a wooden walkway, covered in snow, with a really strong side-wind. Fortunately we had decided walking poles were a good idea so four points of balance helped!
As soon as we emerged into the top area the reindeer, encouraged by judicious shaking of food sacks, all trotted over.






They are totally unfazed by people and just wander amongst you. The only thing to watch out for is that some of them only have a rough idea of the width of their antlers and you can get accidentally prodded!



You are encouraged not to stroke or cuddle the reindeer - they won't like it and anyway they're not pets - but if you hold some food in the palm of your hand they will happily whiffle away it. Their noses are incredibly soft!!
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Although superficially they look similar, in actual fact each reindeer has a very distinct pattern and the reindeer herders know them all by name. Each years calves have a theme to their names - chocolate bars for instance - and there is a full stud history.
With the food running out the reindeer started to wander back off onto the slopes. The snow and wind had no effect on them though we were all starting to feel it by now.  




We fought our way back across the walkway and back to the car where we did try to go and find the snow buntings but the wind was so strong in the car park we could hardly stand so photography was out of the question.
Our last stop on the way off the mountain was at a very frozen Loch Morlich where the sun was going down.





Someone had built a couple of snowmen looking out across the lake. It all looked beautifully festive and was a perfect end to our holiday.