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!