Warbling in the marsh

We're heading towards the Summer doldrums as far as birding is concerned, but there are a few nice birds still to be found. One which I have dipped on twice is the marsh warbler (well, dipped once and saw another one which the powers that be decided wasn't kosher!). This is an  Acrocephalus warbler, closely related to our more common reed warbler. It looks VERY similar and is mainly only told apart by it's song, more of which later.
Anyway, I got up early and headed off to Suffolk to a new reserve for me, Hen Reed bed. It's sort of past Minsmere by about 10 miles on the coast and on first sight was just another marshy, reedy, tidal reserve. A walk of about 15 minutes along a river bank got me to a bend in the path by a hide. Already you could see a number of birds flying around in the reeds including this rather smart sedge warbler.

 From a weedy ditch though was coming a very loud song, scratchy and very varied. By walking round the ditch I could also see the bird sitting up on the reeds, which itself is unusual as they normally skulk.

On closer inspection it is an archetypal lbj - little or nothing stands out by way of plumage.

This last photo probably gives you all you need to know - it looks like a reed warbler, dark brown above, lighter below. There are subtle differences to do with length of primary projections but they overlap. The main thing is the song, which you can compare in the two clips below.

Video of marsh warbler

This first one is the marsh warbler. The song is very varied and unstructured with a mix of whistles, flutes and trills. They are notorious mimics and you can sometimes hear other birds calls mixed in.

Video of reed warbler


This second one is a "classic" reed warbler. Theres a lot of wind noise but you should be able to hear that the song is simpler and more predictable with repeated phrasing.

I spent about 30 minutes listening to it sing away with a steady stream of other birders coming and going, all happy and quite surprised about how easy it was to see.
With nothing else rare around I decided to spend the rest of my time at Dunwich heath. This is right next to Minsmere, which I spurned partly because Springwatch was there so I presumed they would be busy packing their gear up. I also wanted to try and see the Dartford warblers which are normally quite showy there. Some years ago their population was very low in the UK but with a combination  of habitat management and mild winters they are much more numerous in the south and east now. This turned out to be just the case, as about 20 photographers attested to. On each path there seemed to be a small group watching the heather! So, I found my little patch and waited. Initially all I could see were smart stonechats flitting around.

Gradually though I could hear the male Dartford's singing and occasionally see a bird flit across the heather. Finally, one decided to settle in a tree near me, then fly down to the heather nearby.

 It was a really smart male.

It proved to be quite confiding and I followed it across the heath where it was feeding vigorously and occasionally sitting up on a bush.

A nice day all-round. One lifer plus some of the best Dartford views I've had in a long time.

The greater-spotted caterpillar muncher

Middle of May is traditionally the time when anything can, and does, turn up by way of waifs and strays. Often these are lbj's or waders, and this year has also brought lammergeier and pelican, but a classic spring bird is the great spotted cuckoo.
A close cousin to our cuckoo, this is normally found around Spain and Portugal in the Summer, so has seriously overshot it's migration. They are also reasonably rare in the UK - 2014 then back to 2009  for recent records then sort of once every couple of years. Often they are not truly switchable though as they don't always hang around.
So, when the reports came out of one on Portland on the 13th of this month my interest was piqued. It seems very happy and was reported most days munching away on brown-tail caterpillars at Reap Lane or occasionally going for a wander down to the Bill. I, however, was struggling to get away to see it. I even passed up on one chance when I could have gone, thinking a day when it had vanished was it's last then it popped up again when I was in Norfolk not seeing much. The final straw though was my brother-in-law Martin going and getting it on Sunday!
So, I took a day off and scuttled down to Dorset to see if it was still there. I started very early and got to the Bill about 8 and the GSC wasn't showing. I had to go back off the island though to make a work phone call (the reception on Portland is awful) which finished about 8.50 just as my phone buzzed with "Great spotted cuckoo still at Reap Lane".
It took me about 10 minutes to park up and I could see about 10 other birders staring intently at a small grove of trees and bushes. I grabbed my bins, 'scope and camera and almost legged it the hundred yards to where they were. "its not showing, was about 10 minutes ago though". Then the worried wait starts. Everyone else had already connected so they were starting to chat about other great birds they'd seen and weren't concentrating on the grove. What if it flew, or had flown? We were only covering one side and it could have popped out over the cliff!

About 20 minutes passed before we saw a movement in the bushes. You could just about make out a shape moving, wings being preened, a tail flicking.

Yes, it is in there somewhere! Finally, after it groomed itself it gave itself up nicely, sitting out on the edge of the bushes munching away on the hairy caterpillars.

The bird itself is a handsome beast. Cream coloured underneath with a grey cap and a brown spotty, striped back. In size it is about our cuckoo sized so when it moved in the bushes you could see it clearly. This was it's favourite place to go, because of the caterpillars. They must have been in their thousands as it's been eating them voraciously for almost a fortnight. Apparently they are quite toxic, and this is on of their few natural predators so it must have been a shock for them!
It may be though that their numbers are starting to decline, as it seemed it had to go to increasingly difficult to reach positions to get them.

 I can see a juicy one up there

 ooh that looks tasty

 if I just reach across from this twig

 got it but this twig is a bit small

 damn, nearly lost it

 right

lets have lunch!

You get a better idea of it moving around from this short video on youtube

https://youtu.be/lJLmhDf8DdQ

I watched it for about two hours, and it clearly had a pattern. Eat for 10 minutes, disappear into the bushes to digest for 20 minutes, repeat.
I left it to go and visit my mother-in-law for a bite of lunch, a very happy boy!
On the way back I stopped at Bolderwood in the New Forest. I was hoping for wood warbler, which I didn't find, but there were some lovely deer wandering through the forest, grey wagtails by a stream and a showy redstart feeding it's young.

With M25 traffic being awful I got back late but very happy. A stunning bird with a good back-up cast, a lifer and a grip back on Martin. What more to want!

Taking me back

One of my abiding memories as a small boy is my mother putting out food on the back lawn of our house and dozens or even hundreds of starlings descending to eat it. I can still see in my mind the throng when our Xmas turkey carcass went out - it was like a scene from "The birds". Living in Peterborough we were on the edge of the fens where some of the starling roosts numbered in the millions. Once we had a flock over the house that literally darkened the sky in a long sinuous wave.
Move on 40 years though and whilst still not rare starlings are nowhere near as numerous as they used to be. Along with sparrows, turtle doves, bullfinches and corn buntings their numbers have declined. Large roosts do still occur in places like the Somerset levels where the murmurations attract people in the winter to see them. Here in Rickmansworth though we only see small numbers and we very rarely get them in the garden.
On Friday night I was particularly pleased therefore to hear some family groups in the trees at the bottom of our garden. You could hear the young pleading for food and the adults shuttling back and forth to satisfy them. By Saturday the numbers had grown and a walk along the river clearly showed there had to be well over a hundred birds.
A plan started to hatch in my head. Judith had bought a large packet of mealworms so I threw a couple of handfuls on the lawn. Within 30 minutes we had perhaps twenty birds coming down, both adults and juveniles. More mealworms gave us more birds till we had perhaps 30 or 40.
So, on Sunday, I set myself up on our terrace with my camera on a tripod and I heavily baited the lawn with mealworms and settled down to wait. I didn't have to wait long before the flock descended, loud, always moving and a marvellous sight in the May sunshine.

The adults are resplendent in their thing metallic coats, the juveniles are the dull brown birds. The juveniles, although being the same size as their parents, just stood around making a racket and eating to have their beaks stuffed full of mealworms. At it's maximum Judith counted almost 70 on the lawn but there were clearly more in the trees as well, so it had to be a hundred at least and that was just on our bit of the river.

 

You  can get an idea of the sheer noise and movement from these videos. The youngsters seem insatiable and the mealworms are obviously just the thing for them. Of course, the starlings weren't the only ones attracted by the feast. Our resident crows and magpies also joined in, often scaring the starlings away into the surrounding trees, but they quickly came back.

This could cost me a fortune in mealworms but it is so good to see starlings in good numbers and it really does take me back.