A rosy future

 I've not done a blog recently, mainly because I've not been out birding that much, or at least not for anything terribly exciting or photogenic. Yesterday though I had the chance to go out and do a full days birding.

I started off on the south coast at Normandy Marsh, one of the series of small lagoons opposite the Isle of Wight. The target was a pair of roseate terns which have been nesting. They do already nest in the Uk, but mainly on the east coast in Northumberland. This nest was first spotted a couple of weeks ago and is in a fairly accessible location. Unusually it was a nice day so after parking up, a short sunny walk got me to the lagoon. This was separated from the channel by a seawall and you had the Isle of Wight ferries passing by you every so often.

The main tern island was pretty busy with common and little terns nesting and flying back from the sea with fish to feed their youngsters.

I quickly learned from the 3 other birders there that the roseate tern nest wasn't viewable and that your only chance was when there was a change-over on the nest. We knew where the nest was so we could at least watch that area. One bloke had been there over an hour already waiting! It was quite tricky as there was a constant flow of birds in and out and you had to assume any one of them could be the returning roseate. 

There was lots of activity to keep us amused whilst we waited including this redshank posing on a nearby post.

Fortunately my luck was in and I only had to wait about 10 minutes before we spotted a slightly different bird flying over the island.

Roseates are slightly smaller than common terns but the main points of difference are the bill, which is all or mainly black and the longer tail streamers, more reminiscent of arctic terns. They also have a much more white colouration than the greyer mantle of the common terns. Anyway, it was an easy spot and it came straight down near the nest site.

For a few minutes it groomed itself and plucked away at the vegetation. As they prepared for the changeover you could see a bit of movement in the grass behind it and the second tern was just about visible from the right angle.

You can just about make out the white of a bird and the black cap. They did a change over and the second bird headed straight out over there lagoon to go and fish. The eggs aren't hatched yet and probably have another few days to go.

By now the crowd had grown to about 20 people and the heat-haze was building so I decided to call it and head off for my next stop. 

This was in the New Forest, specifically at a car park called Pig Bush. This is a known spot for seeing honey buzzards and I have had them there before. It was only a short drive, lightened by the numbers of New Forest ponies and donkeys by the roadside. I had only gone the short walk from the car park to the open heath area when I saw two birders lurking behind a tree. It wasn't honey buzzards they were watching but a redstart family feeding a chick which was sitting on a pile of horse poo!

The first bird to come down was the smart male bird,

with the female in close attendance, coming down via the nearby gorse bushes.

They seem to be very good parents though I think this large worm was eaten by the male itself rather than its progeny.

I then walked up to the top of the heath to try and see there honey buzzards which live in the woods nearby. Stonechats were omnipresent on the gorse with their sharp call which gives them their name - it's supposed to sound like two stones being hit together.

After about half an hour and seeing two goshawks and a common buzzard I finally go onto a raptor soaring over the forest. It had very flat, long wings, rather than the characteristic V-shape of a common buzzard and the head, even at some distance seemed "right" with a jutting-out appearance. Way too far for photos but I watched it for 10 minutes whilst it soared up and down, possibly even doing a display flight. 

With it now getting late I called it a day and headed home. I did have one more stop for day. I went out early evening to Chobham Common. This got me Dartford warbler, nightjar and woodcock for my year lost. The night was really cold and the nightjars in particular seemed very subdued compared to normal. Very few insects on the wing for them. Still, a good day and takes my year list up to 213. This is very much mid-range but a trip to Dorset and Pembrokeshire before the end of the month should get me a bit higher.

A feast of waders

Spring is certainly in the air. A lot of migrants are starting to arrive on our shores and most of the winter birds have now left. Apart from one warbler in Scotland though there aren't any full-fat lifers to go for (yet). So, with a day free I decided to head out and try and pick up a few year ticks. My site of choice was Frampton Marsh in Lincolnshire, probably one of the top reserves in the country now. It always has a good selection of birds on offer. My main targets weren't newly arrived spring migrants but two long-staying Yanks. 

I got to the car park about 7.45 and after a quick coffee and a bun I started scanning for my first target.

After our very wet Winter the fields by the car park were more flooded than I have ever seen them. This attracted in lots of wildfowl including some very smart pintails. 

and lapwings patrolling their territories.

After 10 minutes I couldn't find my target bird so I poured myself another coffee and started to scan the back of the marsh, expecting another subliminal view of a distant bird. I glanced to my right and saw a movement by the car park fence no more than 50 feet from me.

This is the lesser yellowlegs which I had been hoping to see.

It is an American wader so is nominally totally lost. This particular bird however has made its home over here. It has been at Frampton for at least a year and I saw this exact same bird here last Spring. It has been described as showing well by the car park and it certainly didn't disappoint. 

It is a medium-sized wader, a bit bigger than a redshank with a rather delicate appearance. I watched it for about 30 minutes whilst it pottered about on the wet field, probing for insects the mud. 

It has a rather short bill for its size and of course it has those striking yellow legs. 

Although never in anything other than low numbers over here, a few long-staying birds make this a well-watched species unlike their mega-rare cousin the great yellowlegs which would have attracted a much larger crowd.

On the next door pool was a superficially similar wader, the ruff. Short-billed, light underneath and with a mottled back they could be a confusion species. 

They are a lot chunkier birds though with orange legs as well as a thicker bill with a white base.

With a beautiful Spring day developing I decided I ought to leave the car park and try the rest of the reserve. My second main target was another long-staying Yank bird. This time it was a duck, a green-winged teal. They are very similar to our Eurasian teal, separated only by a small vertical white-stripe on the flank. It has been in residence at the far end of the reserve on the grazing marsh together with a large flock of common teal. I started at the end of the main path and scanned through many dozens of sleeping teal. No sign of anything different but I was attracting some interest from nearby tufted ducks.

I decided I needed a  bit better view as a lot of the teal were hidden in the grass so I headed up onto the seawall. This gave me height as well as the sun behind me so the views were much better. I slowly worked my way along until I reached the final group of about a hundred teal. Finally I got onto to my target, a male teal with a very bold vertical white-stripe. It was showing quite well. Just as I lifted my camera to start getting a few images 4 American jets from one of the nearby bases decided to come piling low across the reserve. Everything lifted off!

Despite about half the birds coming back to their original place there was no sign of the green-winged tea when they settled! That was really annoying. Two more minutes and I've have got at a half-decent shot. At least I got the bird.

I headed back the way I came, stopping along the main path to admire a small group of little-ringed plovers which seemed to be trying to set up a territory.

 There were still brent geese around as well, their distinctive calls echoing around the marsh.

I did drop into the main central hide to see what was going on. With the surrounding fields so flooded there were very few birds around. Most of the godwits and dunlins were very distant but a small group of avocets did keep me amused. 

Always smart and feeding in the channels they still add an air of the exotic despite now being quite common wader in many places.

I headed back to the car and was about to leave when a final good bird was found right  by the visitor centre - a Russian white-fronted goose.

They are a classic winter goose and not that rare. To be around still is unusual as it should have migrated by now. 

A really successful day, with 4 year ticks including the two I wanted. Takes me to 170 for the year, a bit above average but with plenty of birds still to go for. A nice rare lifer dropping in would be nice though.