Glossing it over

Really getting back into the swing of birding now. Although it was tempting to go up to Aberdeenshire for a sooty tern, a 10 hour drive there and then the same back may have to wait for another day! Still, there were a few nice morsels to go for today so back on the road.
Most of the action seems to be north at the moment, so I headed off first to Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire. This was where I got the red-necked phalarope last week but that has now moved on. The target today was a pectoral sandpiper. These are relatively uncommon migrant waders, occurring every year in low numbers through the autumn migration. They are like a cross between a ruff and a sandpiper, with an upright stance but the sandpiper bobbing walk.
A brisk walk got me to the east hide but the scrape was worryingly quiet. With the tide low a lot of the waders were probably off the reserve. Still, a brace of common sandpipers, a few ruff and a dozen or so godwits and avocets kept me amused. After an hour I finally got onto a group of smaller waders, mainly dunlins, in a ditch on the far side of the scrape. Finally a larger, upright, bobbing bird came into view. It only lasted about a minute, and way too far to get photos, but the pec sand was in the bag. I tried moving round the marsh to get better views but no luck. I did find a trio of curlew sandpipers though to add to the day list. I've seen more of them in the last two weeks than the last few years. Just goes to how the the harder you work the luckier you get!!!!

So, onwards and upwards to the next target. This required a cross-country trip to Rutland Water. Specifically the Egleton bird watching centre. A glossy ibis had been strutting its stuff for a few days and apparently showing quite well. As I got to the car park you could see loads large marquees being put up ready for the bird fair in August. I paid my slightly exorbitant £6 entry fee and headed off. The hide was about 15 minutes walk and had 6 other birders already in there. This was one of the easiest twitches you could want though. The glossy ibis was about 50 yards away feeding vigorously.

Glossy ibis are quite exotic to the country. The are now regular visitors and have bred. I'm not sure if any are breeding this year, as they are rare enough to be suppressed till any young have fledged. This one however is a juvenile bird from last years crop. The head and neck show a distinctive mottled pattern and the body, even though it IS glossy, is mooted compared to the gorgeously coloured adults.

Still, with the right light it glowed with green and purple hues. For 90 minutes it pottered about on the scrape, driving its bill into the mud and pulling up morsels to eat.

I'm no sure what sort of molluscs or worms they were getting but when one was caught it was tossed into the air before eating, as you can see above. It was 15 to 20 probes per success so it had to keep moving to get a good meal.

All that feeding was eventually getting tiring and it started stretching and grooming.

Finally it must have decided enough was enough and it waded across to the island and after a last groom settled down for an early afternoon nap!

The rest of the reserve was quite quiet. A green sandpiper pottered about near the ibis

and a pair of reed warblers were very busy, clearly feeding a brood out of sight in the reeds.

Another good day. Two nice years ticks, taking me to 238 and only 4 behind my best August total. Anglesey should easily take me past that let alone anything else I can get to connect with. Then Autumn starts seriously!!

Less is more

When you get to September and October you get to thinking about rare warblers in bushes. AS July turns into August though its about waders. Many of them migrate through our country in Spring heading towards their breeding grounds in Scandinavia, Iceland and Greenland. Starting from late July those who failed to breed begin the journey back south, followed by their more successful compatriots. Thus we get wood and curlew sandpipers, little stints and many rarer cousins. Some of them though are slightly more lost. A classic American wader is the lesser yellowlegs. A medium sized, long legged bird it is pretty common on the other side of the pond. Over here it is pretty much annual but will still attract interest from the twitching fraternity.
Titchwell, on the north Norfolk coast, had been playing host to one since the weekend. I risked it again and left it till Wednesday to go for it though. As per my last post, a risky manoeuvre!!!! With Judith abroad I left at very silly o'clock and got to Titchwell just gone 6.30! A short walk got me to the Island hide, where the bird had been showing well the day before. There was one other birder already there and he quickly got me onto the bird, which was about 5 yards away!!! You could not ask for a better view.

Well, actually, you could. The problem with Titchwell is that the marsh is to the east of the path and hide and early in the morning the sun is right in your eyes. The yellow legs resolutely remained in a perfect line between us and the sun for the hour I watched it. Still, the power of Lightroom dehaze tool can work miracles!!
As one person in the hide remarked, it was only just a yellowlegs as the mud was so deep that often it was a brown legs as it busily fed away picking insects off the surface.

It is a medium-sized wader, a bit larger than a redshank with a straight, pointed, dagger-like bill. The plumage on its back is particularly attractive, with a mottled pattern and yellow/ orange highlights in the sun.
Both the day before  and today it was favouring one area. It must have been good feeding as it certainly wasn't quiet. To the left was family of avocets with a young chick, who did not appreciate the yellowlegs getting too close.

There was also a particularly aggressive redshank who flew at it when it came too close.

 The only bird it seemed to get on with was a ruff, one of many around on the pool.

By the time I left the hide was starting to fill up with admirers and the yellowlegs carried on feeding right in front of the hide. Anyone waiting till the afternoon would have got some lovely light for photos.
I had a quick stroll around the rest of the reserve. Nothing really rare but the fresh marsh did deliver with a trio of returning curlew sandpipers, two still showing their red breeding plumage.

They are similar to dunlin but have a much longer, down-curved bill. They are a classic autumn (in birding terms) bird. First ones I've seen this year.
The numbers of avocets and godwits was in the hundreds, most of them roosting as the tide was very high. Although the avocets would stay, the godwits would probably move onto the mussel beds when the tide dropped.

Elsewhere there were a lot of gulls mooching around, including Med gulls, now a common sight anywhere the coast. A few very young gulls (second brood?) were trying to keep out of the way of larger birds as well.

Another good day. Two more to add to the year list, taking it to 234. With August in the country this year I'm still well on target to get a record. Lets hope for a good Autumn.

Even the best....

I know I've said it many times before, but not going for a bird when it's there is a risky business. Waiting a day or so for when it is a bit more convenient is asking for trouble and for the bird to fly. I got caught out again by a greater sand plover this week. It was seen on Saturday then showed well early and very late in the day on Sunday. Problem was I was already committed to go to Chenies plant fair, one of the better plant fairs, and it was in Humberside. So, a four hour drive on Sunday afternoon did not seem that attractive, especially as the bird went missing from mid-morning till early afternoon. Still, when I went to bed it was showing very well on the beach. Waders, I reasoned, often hang on.
So, I set off early and got to Easington, north of Hull about 8.30. This is where there was a major twitch 18 months ago when the Siberian accentor dropped in for a few days. When I pulled into the parking area though I was greeted by a two depressing sights. First, three birders trudging back towards their cars. Second, the famous Lee Evans, Britons top twitcher, topless and sunbathing on a bench! I quickly ascertained three things from Lee. First, there was no sign of the bird. Second, he had been there since before 4 in the morning! Third, he is getting very p'eed off this year with missing birds on Monday that were seen on Sunday!!!! Glad it's not just me anyway. This would have been a lifer for me so I gave it another two hours, walking down the beach to check out the tidal pools but it was clear it had departed.
With a four hour drive back I decided to break the journey, but where. Fortunately just before I left the bird alert went off with "red-necked phalarope at Frampton marsh". This was sort of on the way back, but as with no set time to get back I crossed the Humber bridge and went into north Lincolnshire. This is another of those marshy reserves and is relatively new. It does pick up some nice stuff though. The phalarope, of course, was on a pool by the hide furthest from the car-park. A quick yomp though and I was in the hide where 4 other birders confirmed it was there but not showing.
Phalaropes are small waders the don't wade. They behave more like ducks I suppose, feeding on the surface of the water whilst swimming. There are not mega rare but only occur on migration in the south. I quickly spotted it though hiding behind a bank on the marsh.

The distance and heat-haze made for poor photos but you can see the small size, especially in comparison to the godwit in the top photo. It made its way round the pools and came a bit closer.

It's a male, moulting out of its breeding plumage. A bit tatty but the red-neck is showing quite clearly. Suddenly a sparrow hawk came across and everything lifted off. The phalarope came back briefly but then flew off to land a few hundred yard away by another hide. Picking my gear up and walking out of the hides I was met by Lee. He was, how shall I say it, a tad dis-chuffed when I told him the bird had just flown! I did put him onto where I thought it had landed though and he yomped off at great speed leaving me behind. Unfortunately he went too fast and overshot so I had to go and drag him out of the wrong hide. Luckily the bird waited for us and we got reasonable views before it flew off again.
I droppend into the main hide and got another year-tick, wood sandpiper, as well as three little stints and assorted other waders. Eventually I gave it up, though a black tern on the walk back to the car park was a nice bonus. Autumn, from a birding point of view is coming on, so lets hope for a few more nice birds.

Two turtle doves...

You just get the slightest feeling that birding may be picking up. It may just be me wanting it to be so, but I am feeling more like putting up with the heat and getting out there. Wader passage is starting - just - and there are a few other nice birds to catch up with. With a cooler day forecast I set out early as ever, this time for Kent. My main stop was to be Oare Marshes in North Kent. This is a lovely smallish reserve, basically a marsh with a circular path next to the Swale estuary. It has tidal movements, less of water, more of waders coming into it at high tide. I've been here quite a few times before so I knew where to go and to park.
There were two birds I wanted to see. One, a Bonapartes gull, has been visiting here in the Summer for the last 5 years. It is a waif and stray from America so it totally lost and is now living here! The other birds were a family of 4 black-winged stilts. This is particularly exciting as it is one of the few broods to fully fledge in the country.

When I arrived the tide was rising and the central marsh was starting to fill with waders being forced off the mud. Most of them are black-tailed godwits, the brown waders in this photo. My target though was the stilts which were initially at the back of the marsh. A short walk and I got round to where 2 other birders were already onto them. They are another of those birds which does what it says on the tin. They have black-wings and they have really long legs, just like stilts! This is one of the adult birds. The two juveniles were parked on a more distant island!.

Both the adults were in the area though.

The limited space forced the birds of all sorts a bit too close together and squabbles would break out.

After an hour or so they moved to the front of the marsh and basically went to sleep amongst the other sleeping birds including a good number of avocets.

My other target, the Bonepartes gull, was out on the estuary feeding on the mud. I have already seen one in May, so you wonder if that one may even be the same bird as this one? Anyway, it took me about 10 minutes but eventually I found it amongst the slightly larger black-headed gulls.

The problem is that from behind it looks very like a "normal" gull! It's only when it turns sideways that you see the distinctive black, not brown, hood and more delicate bill. I watched it for about 30 minutes. It never came close but traversed the estuary looking for tasty morsels.

These shots show you a couple of the key ID features. The size, slightly smaller than the black-headed gulls, the white eye ring and the black slightly down-curved bill. It never flew but did flap a couple of times and you could see the black tips to its primary feathers.

Finally at Oare I stopped at some cottages near the reserve entrance. One of the locals had put me onto it as a good location for turtle doves. Boy, he wasn't wrong. There must have 5 or 6 purring away in the bushes. They used to be the iconic sound of Summer in the UK but now their numbers are dramatically down, due to habitat loss here and awful slaughter by the guns in the Mediterranean on migration.

Mostly they were calling out of sight but occasionally popped up onto the wires. They were also still displaying and two flew quite close to me, chasing each other round and round.

After Oare I did go down the coast to Dungeness. It was pretty quiet, though the patch had lots of gulls feeding just offshore.

I did pick up another year tick in the form of black redstart but it was very flighty. Still, a good day out, some lovely birds showing well. Lets see if things really do start picking up now through July.