There'll be a rock thrush in the hillside

Well, that was a totally unexpected day! My Friday trip was planned for Wales to see the rock thrush that has been in a quarry for the last week. When it was found last weekend it was generally reported as being very distant and people were getting soaked in appalling weather. It is that bad weather though that has probably kept it in place. So, I set out early as normal and travelled the M4 into Wales across the very exorbitant Severn crossing (£6.70). The weather was getting worse as I went further west, especially the wind. The site by the time I got there looked quite wild although it was only just into south Wales.


































This is actually looking across the valley towards the hillside I had to go to, taken on my way back home! The car parking area was just a pull-off and I set off with another birder who arrived at the same time to try and find the bird. The instructions were "3rd quarry" which sounded a bit cryptic but became obvious as we walked along the hillside. It is an old slate-mining area and there were large gashes out of the hill where it had been mined. After we passed two without stopping we reached the third where three other birders were already on site.

 This gives you an idea of the lay of the land but not the weather - it was blowing a hoolie. There was no sign of the rock thrush, although there were good numbers of meadow pipits and a few wheatears being blown around. After 30 minutes of grilling every rock in the quarry we agreed it wasn't there and that we should split up. Phone numbers were exchanged and an agreement made to call if one of us found it. Two of us headed further on down the valley, the rest turned back to check the other quarries and one waited in the quarry. Another 45 minutes of searching and no sign, but the wind was starting to drop. A few more birders were turning up as well but still no news. I decided it was time for coffee so I got my flask out and poured myself a reviving cup of Nescafe. Before I even had time to put it to my lips though there was a shout from a birder higher up the cliff. He waved and then ran off. Coffee was thrown away, gear gathered up and 4 of headed off back towards the other quarries. Two of them actually ran but myself and the guy I walked in with decided if it was showing it would still be there in 5 minutes so we played it a bit cooler, or as we agreed we're getting too old for this running around stuff!
It only took us a few minutes to get to where 5 others were pointing scopes at a rock face. I quickly got onto a distant peck of a greyish bird, as you can clearly see below!!

Cracking. smart bird that looked like it was just waking up as it groomed and stretched. We watched it for about 5 minutes as around 10 other birders started to arrive, all searching the cliff for it initially. Suddenly it then flew off and we lost sight of it, despite a thorough search of the immediate area. To be honest, if that was as good as it got and there another target to go for then I would have gone away happy. As it was, with nothing else to tempt me away myself and 4 others reckoned it may have gone back to where we started the day, so we yomped off to check. No sign immediately then a guy whistled and pointed right behind me. The rock thrush was only feeding away on the path about 20 yards away!

This was when it started to get slightly surreal though. As the hordes, probably about 30 strong now, gathered it flew down into the quarry.

Then it flew straight back towards us, landing probably no more 10 yards away and started to feed.

For the next hour it was one of the most amazing birding encounters I've had. It showed no fear of us and just pottered about in the grass and stones despite the numerous lenses pointed at it and motor drives whirring away.

With everyone now relaxed the atmosphere changed as well. It was clearly going nowhere and we could stand around chatting, having coffee and biscuits then going back to have another look.

At one point it came probably to with  5 feet of me as I lay on the ground taking shots of it.

It was pretty much too c lose for my 500mm lens to focus on!! When it flew off I rolled over with a giant grin on my face only to see the assorted hordes behind me bursting out with laughter as from their point of view it looked like it was literally on my head. What an amazing day and an amazing bird!!! After that I figured it couldn't get any better to I packed up my gear and walked back to the car with a few of my new friends, two of whom I found were very local to me anyway. Another lifer in the bag but more importantly it wasn't just a blob in a bush but a stunning encounter. What else does the year have to give I wonder??

Well spotted

The Scillies and the Northern Isles are still picking up all of the goodies this Autumn, leaving thin pickings on the mainland. It does come to something when you have a full day to go anywhere in, say, 3 hours drive and you're struggling to find a tempting target. Norfolk is dead as a dodo, Kent has a few nice birds, the long-staying ones I've already got though, Midlands only has an American wigeon, so I opted for Dorset. First stop was down at the Bill, hoping for a bit of movement on the sea.There was a clustering of sea watchers at the observatory early-doors but apart from a good number of gannets and a few auks there was nothing on the sea or indeed on the land. So, I left at 9 to go to Abbotsbury for a long-staying spotted sandpiper. Nice bird, I've seen  few before and a lot in their homeland of America but not had one for a couple of years here. As I was leaving though RBA came up with "no sign". With the swannery only 20 minutes away and nothing else to tempt me I carried on. The big down side of twitching here is the entry fee - £10! Still, when I got the entrance desk and told the nice lady I was there for their star bird she radioed down to the warden who confirmed it has just been seen. I handed over my money and headed down to meet him and he pointed me to an area normally off-limits to visitors. opposite the relic of WW2, the tank-traps!

I was the only person in the isolated hide and initially I was struggling to make out any birds along the lagoon edge.

Eventually I was joined by a Welsh birder and we found two sandpipers at extreme range. Spotted sandpipers are extremely similar to our common sandpipers when they are not in breeding (spotty!) plumage.

This is massively cropped in and we were trying to make out whether it had yellowish legs and whether its wings stuck out beyond its tail or not! Not a chance. Eventually though a few of the local Portland birders turned up and by looking out the other side of the hide we got onto another bird which looked a lot better.

 It is in the photo above, which is cropped in below.

The top photo shows you the habitat it was in. The edge of the lagoon was its favourite spot and it fed along the tide-line but this was below our line of sight, so we were playing hide and seek with it as it occasionally poked its head in the open. We all agreed it looked good but there was still a bit of doubt.

Occasionally though it did show properly and you could make out the key features. It's legs were certainly yellow.

 The plumage was quite dull grey and most importantly as you can see from the side-on shot it has no tail! More correctly its primary wing feathers do not stick out beyond its tail giving the impression of no tail! It eventually flew off to the far side again, showing one more characteristic feature, its wing bar. On a spotted sandpiper the wing bar tapers out before it reaches the wing whereas on a common sandpiper it reaches close to or at the body.

I stayed in the hide for probably 3 hours and it never came very close but finally did show for more than a few seconds at a time - fortunately for me but not for the other birders who had all left by this time!

Whilst I was waiting there were a few other things to keep me amused. Swans were of course ever present, but mainly waiting for their feeding time and only occasionally flying around.

One of a pair of dabchicks came fishing long the edge of the lagoon.

Meadow pipits were present in good numbers, coming down to the edge in search of food.

Eventually I headed off home, but I did stop on the road out to look at the two cattle egrets in the field with, well, the cattle!

It makes a nice change to sometimes stop in one place and not rush around, watching the scenery and the activity around you, as I did today. Still got a year-tick but the enjoyment was a bit more rounded than just the tick.

Sergeant Wilson

This has been the week to be in either the Scilly Isles or the Shetlands - vireos, grosbeaks, Cedar waxwings, parrot crossbills and lots more. The rest of the country has been in relative famine. Norfolk has had nothing, Suffolk not much, even Portland has been struggling to get anything rarer than a little bunting. The only possible was the Scops owl in Northumberland, but that is one helluva drive and it is showing about every other day so that was discounted. With thin pickings around elsewhere the news of a Wilsons phalarope at Oare marshes in Kent was enough to get me out of the house early doors.

I had left early and it was a harvest moon night, and it was still showing well by the time I got to the car park. As I walked down to the viewing area, basically a lay-by on the road past the marsh, the sun was just starting to pull above the horizon. This made for  a gorgeous golden sunrise.

The light was clear and it was interesting to watch all the birds start to wake up and become active. The first was a small murmuration of starlings who suddenly came up out of the reeds and flew over our heads.

With the sun still coming up and the mist over the estuary giving a glow to everything even electricity pylons can look beautiful.

However, I wasn't there to just admire the scenery and one of the three other birders with me even at this early hour called out "phalarope has just flown in". There are 3 phalaropes we get in the country, all migrants, usually in the Spring: red-necked (which I saw here) and grey (which I saw at Staines) are the commoner ones. Wilson's is the least common, not rare or mega but worth a trip to see.

Even in this shot you should be able to make it out. Small to medium sized wader with a very thin dagger-like bill. The other phalaropes have much thicker, stronger bills. The main issue with Oare is that you are looking straight into the sun so photography is horrible but gradually it came closer and you could get half-decent (well quarter-decent perhaps) shots.

It was doing the classic phalarope behaviour of feeding in quite deep water, spinning around picking up insects off the surface. There were a few other waders around, the nicest of which were 3 or 4 little stints. You can see why "little" when compared to this ruff.

Other than that there were godwits, avocets, dunlin and a probable curlew sandpiper around.

I left just after 9 to go about 20 miles along the coast to try and find a Lapland bunting but it was a no-show, much to the dismay of the assembled birders. Still, a kestrel  did put on a display hanging in the wind nearby (the German name for them translates as "windhover"). 

Really nice day, very pleasant weather and a good bird, but it will be nice when the wind changes to get a bit more easterly in it and bring some sibes across to the East coast. Shouldn't complain though, year list now up to 261!