An early birthday treat

So far this year I've not done too badly on the listing front. After a good start I tailed off a bit mid year on my year list but before today I was one behind my best ever total. More importantly I had managed to get 8 lifers. Not as good as many years  but by definition this gets harder each year as the new ones are getting increasingly harder and rarer. With my birthday coming up and a trip out promised I was looking to see what I could go and find. Initially it was going to be a trip on spec to Norfolk but then on Thursday news filtered out of a potential lifer, a black-throated thrush at Whipsnade Zoo!! It was actually found as a result of someone putting up a "what is this strange bird" photo and thus creating a major twitch. On the Friday it was elusive in poor weather and on Saturday was seen early doors then went AWOL after lunch. Still, there seemed a good chance of it sticking for Sunday and of course it is a nice place just to visit anyway.
We got to the entrance 15 minutes after it opened at 10 and news had already come up of it being seen near Hullabazoo. Having parked up it was only a short walk to the area. I'm not sure how well the assorted crowd of middle-aged blokes in camo gear and 'scopes went down with Judith though. Fortunately the zoo has lots of other attractions so she went off to inspect the nearby aquarium whilst I worked out what was occurring. The bird had been seen but then flew off before I got there. We all watched one berry-covered tree for 15 or 20 minutes but apart from a couple of blackbirds and redwings there was no excitement. Gradually the crowd of 30 or more started to spread out to inspect other areas as it had been reported as ranging widely. Finally, only 4 or 5 of us were left. I could see Judith had come out of the aquarium. I gave her a thumbs-down signal and she started looking around the back of the buildings to see if she could find it.
Suddenly a call went out as someones phone bleeped. "they've got it by the railway". There then ensued one of those very amusing sights as the assorted twitchers, joined by others now arriving from points distant, gather up their gear and half-ran, half-jogged off in search of the bird. It was only a few hundred yards and a crowd had already gathered looking at a grassy area with a flock of thrushes feeding on the ground. I immediately got a view thorough someones 'scope and the bird was in the bag.

It was feeding right next to a road with people and cars coming past it. Realising it might flush at any minute I grabbed some quick photos of it at reasonably long range.

It was a very smart bird, clearly larger than the redwings it was associating with. The black and grey patterning stood out well as it fed vigorously. Judith finally arrived and got onto it as well just before the whole flock lifted off as one of the resident wallabies came out of the hedge and spooked them!
We took that a sign to go and have a look at the rest of the zoo rather than stake out for a better view.
It was a cold day but we had some good performances from the animals in the collection including 4 wolverines, albeit being mainly asleep but as least on show.

The big paddocks are always good for showing off the associated larger animals. The central paddock  is actually the same size as Regents Park Zoo so gives them lots of room to breathe.

On the smaller side, the red panda was actually showing well, mainly because it was being fed as one of the keepers was giving a very instructional talk about it.

One of the good bits about Whipsnade is the way you have lots of animals wandering around semi-wild. As well as the wallabies you see lots of maras pottering around. These are basically large Patagonian guinea-pigs with a very cute expression on their faces.

As we were leaving we went past the flamingo pool. The light was just going but the low sun lit up their pink feathers very nicely.

The most amusing encounter though was on the drive through Asia. Ahead of us a car was being held up by 4 camels. They stopped right on the road and just looked at the car as they chewed the cud.

They really gave you the impression that they knew exactly what they were doing. They held us up for no more than 5 minutes but it was well pitched to be just long enough to show who was boss!!

Overall a very enjoyable day. A lifer, a nice lunch and a good day round the zoo. So good in fact that we joined the zoo so we can go back next year when the weather might be a bit better. Who knows, it might even be in January if the thrush hangs on and I need it for my 2020 year-list!!

A cold waif and stray

The number of potential birds to tick on your life list can go up each year by a couple of different means. First, it can be if a real rarity arrives on these shores, like the brown booby in Cornwall this Summer. Secondly it can be when a species with a number of races is subjected to DNA analysis and becomes two or more full species. In past years stonechats were simple but now you can have three different full species ticks - our common stonechat (Saxicola rubicola), Stejnegers stonechat (S.stejnegeri) and Siberian stonechat (S.maurus) plus a few even rarer species not normally seen here.  I've got two of the three but so far the Siberian version has escaped me. Partly this is because it can be tricky to tell them apart without DNA evidence from poop samples. However an eastern race (stejnegeri or maurus) has been in Suffolk for a week or so and the assorted experts have decided it is good enough on visual evidence to be a Siberian version. That being so I had to go and make sure I got it before it departs.
The site directions were to a new reserve for me, Hollesley Marsh, right next to the prison there. The road takes you through the prison to park behind it with some of the inmates working in a greenhouse area. There was a weak sun but it was very chilly so I pulled on full warm-weather gear and set off on the short walk to where the bird had been seen.

The site was basically a seawall separating a flooded field from the tidal estuary. The bird was in the Winter flood on the field. Another birder was already there and had seen it earlier. What we were looking for was a very pale version of a stonechat, almost more like a whinchat. There wasn't a lot else about but I quickly got onto a common stonechat. Within 5 minutes or so we saw a much lighter bird about 50 yards in the reeds.

It is exactly in the middle of the picture above, sitting on a stick in a very stonechatty way. For 10 minutes it refused to come any nearer. From reading the inter web this is fairly typical of it. Another birder joined us and we started gossiping rather than looking! The bird, clearly upset we were not paying it any attention, decided to join us and suddenly appeared right next to us!

It is a 1st winter male and has a very cross look on its face. It was very pale especially when you compared it to the other stonechats around, who were fortunately ignoring it.
It spent only a few minutes feeding near us, presumably grabbing small insects and spiders for its breakfast.

Finally it flew back to the rear of the marsh and for the next hour or so, as more birders arrived, it stayed there.
There wasn't much else around, though a marsh harrier did quarter the field causing everything to get their heads down.

By now the sun had disappeared and a light mist was setting in. It was getting really cold and any light there was for photography had totally gone so I headed back for a reviving coffee. So, the 8th lifer of the year, taking me to 380 against the stricter BOU list or 392 against Lee's 400-club list (for instance BOU has brent goose, Lee has dark-bellied brent, light-bellied brent and black brant all separated). So, next year with the wind behind me I should get to 400 on one list. Who knows, December still might drop in one or two more surprises. The hermit thrush relocating from Scilly to Hampshire would be nice!

That seals it

We are coming very late to this party. For a few years now I have been aware of the seal colonies on the East coast and how in the early Winter they can be good places to see seal pups. A lot of friends and acquaintances have been and come back with some great tales and photos. Now with a bit more time on our hands and a good weather forecast we decided to bite the bullet and go to one of the two prime locations - Horsey Gap in Norfolk. We set out in good time (5.15!) and got to the car park, north of Great Yarmouth, just after 7.30. There were already 5 or 6 cars there, parked up behind the dunes with lots of signs and noticeboards pointing us in the right direction. You could hear snorting and mewing noises from behind the dunes as we pulled on our warm clothes, sorted out the camera gear and set off.
I thought it was going to be a bit of a walk but it only took a couple of minutes to get up onto the top of the dunes. Looking down there were seals in both directions, and lots of them.

From the noticeboard we gathered that over 1400 pubs had been born this year. You could certainly see lots of them on the beach.

With the tide very high they were pushed up close to the dunes, meaning that the mothers were having to be aware of the larger males who were there in large numbers as well.

With a strong onshore wind the surf was being whipped up creating almost a bubble-bath effect for the seals as they moved about on the edge of the waves. Even the very young seals were confident, albeit only in a couple of feet of water!

When they weren't messing about in that playful-young-animal way the pups spent a lot of time near their mothers, either for protection and reassurance or to suckle and feed. They can put on 2kg a day apparently on the rich milk.

The only ting about Horsey which could be a bit annoying is that you are on the top of the dunes looking down on the seals. Great panoramic views of the scene on the beach but not so good for photos which are, generally, better when you on the same level as the subject. So, we were very pleased and somewhat surprised when we came round a corner on the path and came across a photographer lying down. On the path in front of him was a mother seal with a pup, only an hour or so old and still quite damp.

You see both a bit of the afterbirth and its umbilical cord still attached. Initially it had a bit of a confused expression on its face as it came to terms with being outside of the warmth of its mother and into a brisk East coast day. The mother had been quite clever though and the path, although used by people, who now gave it a wide birth, was sheltered both from the wind and the other seals. The pup gradually dried out and took on a lovely silky sheen to its coat. It also became much more animated and rolled around though never leaving its mothers side by more than a few feet.

At the risk of going a bit anthropomorphic, the mother did seem to have a proud expression on her face. She was pretty relaxed as we kept a respectful distance, and only got agitated once when another group came up from the other side of the path and blocked her in. We all moved back and she quickly relaxed again.
The other main interest, but on the beach, was the males, who perhaps as the sand was getting less and less were being forced into close proximity to each other. This created quite a few stand-offs and even some rather vicious fights.

The mothers and pups had to make sure they didn't get caught up in the fights as the males are significantly larger than them!

We spent almost three hours I would guess on the beach, or rather in the dunes. You only get to see a small section of the whole colony, the rest stretched out in both directions away from us. It was a stunning day though in every sense and we will certainly go back, or perhaps try the other colony at Donna Nook in Lincolnshire.