Birding with the Clayheads

Saturday 4th February 2012 - A wintery weekend in Staffs

2012-02-05T07:03:00.012Z

Little bit of music for you today

Following the lowest overnight temperatures of the winter so far, Saturday started off at Westport. Other than increase the numbers of Tufted Duck and Pochard, the recent cold snap brought nothing new into Westport, and as per usual, the duck numbers then slowly drop day by day. The only area of open water was in the centre of the lake, and is becoming smaller by the day.

As we were walking round, news came from Belvide that the previous nights roosting GLAUCOUS GULL was still present. We decided to leave Westport and head straight down. There was a slight delay on the motorway so we headed through Stafford, adding about 15 minutes to the journey. Then the inevitable happened, and as we were leaving the M6 at Gailey, we found out that the GLAUCOUS GULL had flown off.

As we were so close, we diverted to Gailey to look for the BLACK REDSTART. We met up with the Snapper but there was no sign of the BLACK REDSTART or the regular MED GULL. It was still only 0930hrs and we were struggling as to where to go next.

I checked the sat nav and found that Stubbers Green was only 8 miles away. We'd never been before and so we headed down. We found the pool, but I couldn't really see where to park the car. I had a quick walk around but there were only a few gulls, and these were sat on the ice. You could see a constant movement between there and the tip, and you could sense a decent gull could drop in at any moment. But at least I can stay say I've been to Stubbers now. As we drove away, we passed a sign welcoming us back into Staffordshire. Strange I thought as some of the poor map readers from South Staffs think Stubbers is in Staffs!

And so on to Branston GP's next. We hadn't really seen much so far today, and as I was walking across the sheep field, I received news that the BLACK REDSTART had been seen at Gailey and there was an ICELAND GULL at Stubbers. Super I thought. The first pit at Branston was mainly frozen except for a small area right next to the footpath. I stood by the stile and counted what I could. Most of the birds I did flush did a circle and dropped back in. I then walked along the path and a wader flew off from the shore. I was most surprised to find it was a Knot and I watched it fly to the other side and land. A site tick for me! I met up with GAS and we grilled a flock of 60 Redpoll, but I just couldn't fudge any of them into a Mealy. We didn't expect much on the Sandy Pit, but as I scanned the reeds, I spotted two Snipe. I realised one of them wasn't a Common, and we were soon enjoying good views of a bobbing Jack Snipe. The day was slowly becoming not bad after all.

Jack Snipe at Branston GP's. Usual prices apply but limited to only one per person.

The snow was forecast to hit us at 15-00hrs, but I was aware it was already snowing in Stoke. I headed to the last pit of the day. I started working my way round, seeing 464 Pochard including the leucistic bird. Then it started to snow, but I battled on. In near blizzard conditions, I found the drake Smew again. A perfect bird for a snowy day.

Sunday and I had to battle through four inches of snow to get to Westport. Fortunately the main roads were clear of snow. We had 25 Lapwing on the ice, but it was quite foggy, and duck counting was tricky. During the afternoon, I checked my emails and found that matt4scfc had seen a Knot and two drake Pintail at 3pm. It was by now nearly 17-00hrs and going dark. I hurtled down, but it took me three different platforms before i found the Knot, feeding among the Mallard. I phoned PJ and GAS and they both saw it in the fading light as it roosted on the ice. Eventually I managed to get hold of CJW, and we waited for him to run down. He managed to see a small blob on the ice in the rapidly fading light.

This is the 7th record of Knot at Westport.
1990- 1st record – One flew south Dec 15th
1993- One on Apr 4th
1993- One Sept 8th
2000- One flew around and was chased off by Black-headed Gulls on Sept 26th
2001- One flew through on Dec 30th
2005- One standing on the ice on Dec 30th
2012- One roosted on the ice on February 5th.

PJ kindly produced this artists impression of the Knot at Westport

Saturday 28th January 2012 - A decent day in Staffordshire

2012-01-29T11:43:00.011Z

We decided on another day in Staffordshire today. Unfortunately, despite all week hoping he was having the weekend off, CJW had to work and so was unable to join us.
The day started off at Westport as per usual, but even with the presence of PJ, it wasn't very productive, and the quiet start to the year continued at the Golden Pond.
Then, I thought I had better pop into Fenton Park to see the LESSER WHITETHROAT again, having not year ticked it yet. Mr Birding Frontier aka Martin Garner had been down to see it recently and had written an interesting article on it, suggesting it was indeed an EASTERN LESSER WHITETHROAT. We walked down to the sunken garden and stood and waited. I started to wonder how long would it be for it to appear and how long were we prepared to wait for it, when, as if by magic, it appeared it the trees above us. Lesser Whitethroat -A January tick and all done and dusted in two minutes. Talk about tick and run!

Next target bird was the female RED-CRESTED POCHARD at Copmere. This wasn't so easy, mainly due to the fact that viewing the lake is a nightmare. There is just no clear view - its always through the trees. Even Roy Wents watchpoint is obscured by trees. We eventually went down to the bottom where the fishermen go in and eventually found the Red-crested Pochard. Excuse the photo, I had a tree blocking my view.

Red-crested Pochard at Copmere (or Cockmere as it was put out on Birdnet)

We were on a roll now, but we felt the next target wouldn't be as easy. We headed to Belvide for the 1w drake Scaup. Now this bird could have been anywhere but luckily, I found it from the first hide, showing distantly in the corner. No photo's of this I'm afraid.

Off to the Pits next, and some proper birding for a change. We popped into Whitemoor Haye on the way, seeing two Grey Partridges, the two Little Owls showed a treat and we also added Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer to our Whitemoor day list.

Little Owls at Whitemoor Haye

Branston GP's was not bad despite quite a bit of shooting going on in the area. We faced the task of getting through Dead Mans Wood mid Pheasant shoot, but fortunately it stopped just as we approached, and we had a nice chat with the gamekeeper. He had no complaints it was good to hear. We also didn't end up in the pot, which was also quite good. We had 97 Golden Plovers, a Green Sandpiper, three Ruff, two Redshank and a Kingfisher.

Two of the three Ruff, two Redshank and a Curlew at Branston

We finished off the day very nicely by watching a drake Smew and two Egyptian Geese, plus a sign of spring with my first Staffordshire Oystercatcher of the year. A fine day where everything fell into place so nicely.

Drake Smew

First Oystercatcher back in Staffordshire

Heron in the late afternoon sun

Record shot of two Egyptian Geese - magical birds!

Thursday 26th January 2012 - Elton Hall Flash

2012-01-27T17:09:00.012Z

It had been a funny week. I was getting up at 0400hrs everyday, and so I was able to do a little bit of birding on some afternoons. The only highlight from the beginning of the week was the appearance of a funny hybrid goose at Westport, probably either a Bar-headed x Barnacle or a Bar-headed x Farmyard. It only stayed two days, so it was probably a genuine hybrid.

On Thursday 26th, news came through at 11-30hrs that the GLOSSY IBIS was again at Sandbach. This bird was proving to be a bit of a bugger, and had only reappeared in the last few days following a ten day absence. This was my first visit for it, but CJW had dipped on it once before, and GAS twice before! It was getting personal between some of the Clayheads and this bird.

We arrived at Elton Hall Flash at 12-30 but there were only two birdwatchers on site, and they were looking at Pumphouse Flash. We were told it was on the left of Elton Hall Flash, but all the birds were being repeatedly flushed by something, and we just knew it wasn't on that flash, as at one stage, every bird was in the air. We walked down to the Pumphouse Flash, only to be told it was on the left back up at Elton Hall. Then we realised it was on the left hand side of the road (opposite EHF), in a flooded area. We walked back up again and there was the Glossy Ibis walking just a few feet away from us behind the wood. We were looking through the trees and so it was probably unaware that we were standing there, but viewing was tricky through the branches.

The view through the trees with the Ibis on show.

GAS and CJW finally catch up with the evasive Ibis. A Cheshire tick for both!

Glossy Ibis at EHF

We finished off the short visit with a check through the gulls on Pumphouse Flash, having good views of the sleeping 1w Iceland Gull.

Iceland Gull on Pumphouse Flash

PJ visited Sandbach Flashes on the 28th January when the Glossy Ibis was showing a little bit better. His pictures are below.

Friday 20th January 2012 - A rainy day

2012-01-20T21:17:00.004Z

It rained today, all day. Infact, it was raining when I left the house at 05-00hrs this morning and it never stopped. The news that a GREEN-WINGED TEAL was a Sandbach Flashes caused us to head up there, despite the weather. It was actually only raining lightly when we arrived, and I soon found it sitting on the bank right at the back of Elton Hall Flash. There were also four BLACK-TAILED GODWITS.

The Green-winged Teal at Sandbach Flashes.
Then it was onto wet, rainy Westport. Its a bit of a struggle at Westport at the moment, as nothing it really happening there at the moment. Today, the Fowlea Brook was quite swollen, and that was about as good as it got.

Saturday 14th January - Another grip back in Hampshire

2012-01-15T20:07:00.020Z

News broke late on Monday 9th January of a SPANISH SPARROW in Hampshire. At first before the news was fully released, I had visions of it being on private land and seen in 1990 or something similar. But when the news was released, it was in someones garden in Calshot. It had also been around since early December 2011, and there were also reports of hybrids in the area, suggesting it had been around a lot longer. Before access arrangements could be made, the SPANISH SPARROW was seen the following morning from the road, and so there was no need for a repeat of last years ORIENTAL TURTLE DOVE queuing to get in a house.

Although I had to wait all week before I could go, it wasn't a nervous wait. I just made sure all the arrangements were in place and nothing hopefully could go wrong. There was also a very healthy supporting cast in the area with the DARK-EYED JUNCO nearby, a FERRUGINOUS DUCK, CATTLE EGRET, RING-BILLED GULL etc. Hopefully it would be another good day's birding. PJ had seen the Cumbria SPANISH SPARROW way back in the 90's and so it was just myself, GAS and CJW who headed down for the Hampshire Bird Fest, setting off at the incredibly early 03-30hrs.

It was a cool night, with temperatures as low -5.5C on the journey down, but at least we didn't experience any of the predicted fog. We arrived at Calshot at 07-00hrs when it was still dark. We were met by a car park attendant, resplendent in a high viz vest who came over to us, setting the scene, telling us what time it would appear and where we could get food from. All in all, it was an highly organised affair.

ABOVE - We really felt at home round here. The houses were exactly the same as the ones back in Stoke - even the same types of boats parked in the gardens.

Above - the expectant crowd standing around in the early morning

We set off in the dark so that we could get a good place, and we stood on the verge in front of the hedge, and waited for it to get light.We thought we were really lucky to get such a good vantage point, especially as the crowd started to grow - that was until the organiser came up to us to say we were stood in front of its favourite perch (we were facing the wrong hedge as well). At 08-10hrs, I sensed mumblings, movement and pointing from the roadside, and sure enough the Spanish Sparrow was sitting deep inside a hedge.

Above - The Calshot Spanish Sparrow - its first showing of the day.
It eventually flew out, and showed better in the hedge just in front of us.

Above - the Spanish Sparrow showing out in the open at last

It then flew off into the gardens, and didn't show again for quite a while. There were a few other birds in the area to look at while we waited. Two Green Woodpeckers flew over and a Peregrine was sat on the power station chimney.

ABOVE - A Peregrine on the chimney (I was laughed at when I took this potential Steve Seal frame-filling shot).

The Spanish Sparrow was relocated in the hedge by the village hall. I walked round to join the crowd in the car park, and had decent views again. We decided however, that we would leave now, while it was still showing, so as to be ahead of the pack at the JUNCO site. (We just knew everyone would be doing the same circuit as us, and the JUNCO was the logical next stop).

ABOVE - the crowd in the car park

And so with our first tick of the year safely tucked in our belts, we headed off into the New Forest, and to Hawkhill Inclosure. We had received no news on the JUNCO yet, but when we arrived we could see quite a healthy gathering in the clearing just beyond the car park. As we walked over, some of the crowd were suddenly moving, and some were running. As soon as we were in place, the Dark-eyed Junco came into view and we all enjoyed our 2nd British Dark-eyed Junco. It was to be a very enjoyable session, we some cracking views as the Junco kept appearing and disappearing, flitting around the area, loosely associating itself with a small Reed Bunting flock. We also had three Crossbill drop in, one a cracking red male.

ABOVE - The 1st winter male Dark-eyed Junco in the New Forest

ABOVE - A New Forest Pony

Next stop was at Blashford Lakes for the FERRUGINOUS DUCK. We had a bit of a nightmare finding this place (mainly due to the appalling internet coverage in the area, I just couldn't get my phone to work to find out where we were). Eventually after asking two people, the second one a birder, we found the reserve. The car park was full, and the place was heaving. We found the hide, only to find it full, but we just about managed to perch at the back. We had only just started to scan and settle in when a warden came in a kindly requested that if at all possible, could we please vacate the hide (if we wanted to) as a party of children were coming in. We duly obliged.

ABOVE - This was as good as it got with the Ferruginous Duck I'm afraid.

ABOVE - Loads of birdwatchers on site, no doubt attracted by the 450 different types of feeders dotted all over the reserve.

We could have stayed longer to be honest at Blashford, but we decided to head over to Warblington for the CATTLE EGRET that had already been reported during the morning. It was a 45 minute drive across Hampshire, and on arrival things looked promising with six Little Egrets feeding in a field, but we just couldn't turn any into a CATTLE. We met some locals who assured us it was a creature of habit, and she promised that it would return to the cattle field as it was high tide soon. We had a little walk around the area while we were waiting, seeing 500+ Dark-bellied Brents plus Red-breasted Merganser, Wigeon, Shelduck, Teal on the sea. There was also a pair of Gadwall (can't recall seeing one on the sea before). We hung around until 15-00hrs and then we decided to head for home. It had been another cracking day, and the CATTLE EGRET was the only blip. At 15-45hrs, as we were hurtling up the A34, we received news that it had indeed returned.

ABOVE - A pair of Gadwall sat on the sea

ABOVE - Brent Geese feeding at Warblington

Saturday 7th January 2012 - Out and about in Staffs

2012-01-07T21:51:00.014Z

We decided to head out into Staffordshire today. After a quiet week, there appeared a mass of reports on Friday which meant we had loads of target birds to see. There was the LESSER WHITETHROAT and LONG-EARED OWL in Stoke, two BLACK REDSTARTS at Gailey and Blithers, WATER PIPIT and WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE at Doxey, the photographers favourite GREAT GREY SHRIKE, plus a visit to the A38 corridor of pits. I realised that we probably had too many targets planned for the day, and we would probably miss a few of them, and we did!

Westport didn't take long as there wasn't much too see - it was also quite windy and rainy there again. We decided to skip the local birds and headed down to Doxey. As we parked up, there were quite a few cars turning up, and people getting out with binoculars. I thought that maybe the WATER PIPIT was attracting quite a crowd, but then it suddenly dawned on me what was going on - it was an organised walk! We quickly grabbed our stuff and headed off, just before everyone could start smiling at us and saying things like "Morning" and "Hello". It was quite embarrassing that some people thought we were coming on the walk as well. A close shave indeed.

The problem with Doxey today was that it was extremely windy again. All the geese were spread out, in ditches or just with their heads down. We couldn't find the WHITE-FRONTS anywhere. The paths to the WATER PIPIT zone were also quite flooded. Fortunately we were armed with wellies, and luckily, the guided walk party didn't follow us. But the WATER PIPIT just wasn't going to show today with such a strong wind. We did have a pipit sp fly up from the Pensioner Pollards, but it didn't call, and it landed in long grass. We did see a pair of Pintail and eleven Barnacle Geese, but not much else.

We had spent a little bit longer at Doxey than we planned, and so we decided against going to Blithers for the BLACK REDSTART as I thought that it could be tricky to find in the strong wind. We headed for Upper Longdon instead. On arrival, things looked a little bit bleak. The lay by was full of cars and there were birdwatchers and photographers literally scattered all over the area. We decided to head down into the valley where it would be quieter and more sheltered. We walked down with Hughie King, but had only walked a few yards when I spotted the Great Grey Shrike flying in low over the heather. It perched briefly, then it proceeded to hover. Never seen a shrike do this before, unless it was the wind that caused it. We also met another one of the long lens boys who'd said he'd taken over 700 shots of the bird so far.....

The stump on the right is one of its perches

The Upper Longdon Great Grey Shrike - nicely digiscoped from a safe distance

Next stop was in the A38 corridor set of pits. Full of Coot and Wigeon again, plus nearly 400 Lesser Black-backed Gulls were pre-roosting. Over 80 Pochard was a good count, but only four Goosander and 10+ Goldeneye were rather low. A pair of Pintail were the highlight.

With just enough light left, we hot footed it down to Chasewater for the roost. I realised why I find gull roosts so much fun after standing still for an hour and a half in a cold, icy wind, slowly getting colder and colder. RP struck first blood with an adult Med Gull, showing quite well.

Now excuse time and I do apologise for the quality of the next photo, but the light was fading. The picture illustrates the problem with gulls. One Herring is in immaculate s/pl and the other has an almighty dark hood. But they are the same species!

Next up was a sub adult Iceland Gull that I found, but only later did it come into the main roost and showed well. It wasn't the best of roosts as most of the big gulls decided to roost on the shore in a mass huddle. There could have been more white-wingers about, but we just couldn't see them!

Sunday 1st January 2012 - North Wales

2012-01-03T16:39:00.011Z

The start of another year, and in fact 2012 marks my 30th annversary since I went on my first YOC trip to Westport. We decided to mark New Years Day with a trip out. We could have joined all the other New Year Day listers and followed everyone round Staffs, but as we hadn't seen the majority of these New Year Day listers since ...er..last Jan 1st, we headed out of the county and into North Wales. And a super day was had. It was a full Clayhead gathering, with PJ, Lucky CJW and GAS all managing to get up for 0630hrs despite getting to bed after midnight! I was more sensible and was safely tucked up in bed by half ten. I felt that a good early night was better preparation for the trip than singing one line of Auld Lang Syne and mumbling thru the rest!

First stop of the day was in Rhyl at the Marine Lake. We arrived at first light, and fortunately the torrential rain that accompanied us all the journey up had stopped, and we were able to get out of the car. The adult Great Northern Diver was only the 5th bird of the year seen, and we enjoyed distant views of it silhouetted in the gloom as it dived frequently before swimming behind the island out of view. What a good start. We also added a few other year ticks such as Magpie, Carrion Crow and Black-headed Gull. Don't you just love year listing!

Next stop was the beach! It was only a few minutes drive to Horton's Nose, Kinmel Bay where the SNOW BUNTINGS were. We had to stay in the car while it rained, but we eventually headed out and thru the dunes. It was quite breezy, but luckily it was a warm wind, or else birding today would have been most unpleasant. We soon found the flock of eleven Snow Buntings, but they were most flighty in the wind and they never settled long enough to take any photo's. I did manage a group shot of the boys on the beach tho.

New Years Day on the beach at Rhyl - simply perfect.

It then started to rain again. We had planned to go and see the HAWFINCHES and then onto CONWY for the FIRECRESTS, but we knew we stood no chance with either bird in the rain. We altered our schedule, and headed for Anglesey. As we drove along the A55, the torrential rain turned even heavier, and on Anglesey we were met by bouncing rain, lightening and a water spout! (We did point out to Lucky that it was in fact a chimney). But again, by the time we arrived at South Stack, it had stopped. But boy was in blowing a gale.

GAS and Lucky trying to stand up at South Stack looking for Guillemots!

The lighthouse at South Stack

We stopped to check the reservoir on the way up to South Stack, seeing several Gadwall, Teal, Tufted Duck and a Goldeneye, plus we had a fly over Hooded Crow hybrid. We soon found two Chough, several Ravens and two Peregrines performed overhead. There were quite a few Guillemots already flying onto the cliff face, plus quite a large raft offshore.

Two Chough at South Stack (picture by PJ).

So with no time to waste, we headed down to the harbour for the long staying BLACK-THROATED DIVER. We searched and searched but we just couldn't find it. We had two Black Guillemots (a s/pl and a w/pl), several Shag and R B Merganser, but we had to admit defeat with the BTD. Next stop was Beddmanarch Bay/Penrhos Coastal Nature Reserve where Lucky found a Slavonian Grebe mid channel, I added House Sparrow to my year list, plus a few other waders (Turnstone & Grey Plover). We visited the Inland Sea next, seeing the Pale-bellied Brent Geese, Lucky was on form again with a highly elusive Great Northern Diver (dived and never saw it again type)plus Little Egret, many Goldeneye etc.

As we walked back to the car, we met up with three other birders, who told us they had just been watching the BTD in the harbour. We hurtled back, parked further down this time by the marina, and we were soon watching the Black-throated Diver. I also managed to find a Little Grebe.

(Sorry about the lack of photo's by the way. Bit windy, bit distant, thank goodness PJ got the Chough pics!)

It was time for everyone to have their midday nap now, so I drove us back onto the mainland. First stop was at Llanfairfechan. The sea was quite empty here, and it took us ages to find a solitary Red-throated Diver. Other than that we only saw two G C Grebes and three R B Mergansers.

And so to the final stop of the day - Rhos-on-Sea for the Purps. This is the place where the waders show extremely well, and we all attempted to get Steve Seal standard shots. We only found two Purps this time, but they showed quite well as they roosted with the Turnstones. We also added Gannet, Common Scoter and Eider to our list, resulting in a magnificant 71 species seen by the group for the day. Infact, it was such a good score that only those who saw more birds than us today bettered our total.

Shot of a Purp with the Turnstones (by PJ)
And four shots by me just to pad the blog out a bit

24th December 2011 - Christmas Eve

2011-12-24T16:51:00.007Z

A quick walk round a very quiet Westport saw little change, then it was onto that birding hotspot - Fenton Park for the Lesser Whitethroat. I stood in the pouring rain for this yesterday and not surprisingly I didn't see it. Today we hadn't been there long when it came into view, drinking nectar from the yellow flower bush. A bit darker than I expected, but whether it will ever be racially id'd, I doubt it. Still, a nice December tick. We weren't planning a full day out today, so we decided to head to Upper Longsdon. We parked up, and I had walked to the edge of the lay by and there was the Great Grey Shrike sitting in front of me. Good views were had. All a bit too easy!

Great Grey Shrike at Upper Longsdon

And that was all for the day. I returned home and did a few jobs. Just as we were sitting down, PJ rang to say he'd found the ICELAND GULL again on the Void. I hurtled down and we were soon watching the juvenile Iceland Gull roosting/preening with a good number of other larger gulls. We had a 4w Yellow-legged Gull, two GBB's, c50 Herring Gulls and 190 LBBG's.

The Iceland Gull on the Void

Not too bad a day really. Finally, all the Clayhead boys would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas (except to all of you wannabe Sandwell Valley types. Shame on you. Its not big and its not clever.Santa's watching)

Saturday 17th December 2011 - A Crane at Blithfield on a three coat day!

2011-12-19T18:17:00.010Z

Another Saturday, and another days birding to be done. Westport was wet and cold with quite a snow fall as I was walking round. I did see seven Teal and four Goldeneye, so it was worth getting my first coat of the day soaked.

Armed with my second coat of the day, we headed down to Blithfield for the duck count. It was good to be back doing the count around the Deep End, but, unfortunately, it was still sleeting. In fact, it never stopped as I walked the complete circuit. Twice I had to seek shelter in the fishermens huts just to get out of the near blizzard conditions. Plus there weren't actually that many ducks to count. Perhaps they had all flown north to warmer climes. How did we all survive last winters epic six week spell!

As I was walking across the dam, with the sleet stinging my face, my thoughts turned to this blog, and what on earth was I going to write. Then, like a vision, there appeared a CRANE in front of me. Perfect I thought, that will do nicely, and I managed to get a few photo's of it on the shore.

Sorry for not putting the sighting out earlier. A fine example you'd all agree. I suppose Tips put that on his year list as well.

The funny thing was, up until this point, CRANE was my best sighting of the day. I walked into Mickledale Bay, counted the Mallard and Wigeon before they flew out, and then noticed a few birds feeding on and around a freshly dug drainage channel. There were a few Goldfinches, a Robin and a Black Redstart. I had to look twice as I couldn't quite believe I'd found something half decent on a day like this. As the sleet hammered down, the Black Redstart fed unconcerned. I called GAS and extracted him from the warmth of his car. I then made the secret signal to the other members of the Blithfield Birders Group and the bird was successfully twitched.

I trudged on, counted Portfields and then headed for the warmth of the car - second coat totally soaked. Next stop was at Branston, but despite the forecast for a drier afternoon, it was still raining heavily. I was down to my third and final coat and so we sat in the car waiting for it to stop. Fellow Clayhead PJ was at Rudyard, seeing his second EIDER in Staffordshire. We had a brief conversation, and he told me how he was watching the EIDER from the comfort of his car. Moments later, I had a text thru saying RED-THROATED DIVER at Rudyard. I forwarded it to PJ, only to find that as he was watching the EIDER, the RTD popped up next to it! We were faced with a tricky decision now. Either get soaked walking round one of the pits in the rain or head to Rudyard for a fine North Staffs tick.

The journey up to Leek wasn't too bad, but as we got nearer to Rudyard, the rain turned to snow. Quite heavy snow. In fact the A523 was quite slippery, and we nearly slid on one of the bends. We headed for the north end of Rudyard where PJ had been, but we just couldn't find a decent place where to stop. The snow paused briefly, and so we headed to the sailing club. The road went over the moors onto high ground, and we were soon driving on very slippery roads, with snow still coming down. From the sailing club, we could see the Eider, but no sign of the diver. We drove up to the dam, and I started walking. In the end, I walked the whole length of the lake, back to the north end, and still there was no sign. My suspicions were that it flew off as soon as it had stopped snowing. I did see two drake Mandarin though, another Rudyard tick!

PJ's shot of the Eider showing the snow falling
My photo as the light was fading.

Monday 12th December 2011 - A Staffs tick!

2011-12-13T07:05:00.004Z

News started filtering thru today on Birdnet that an EIDER was present for its 2nd day at Rudyard. Several strokes of luck meant that Steve Seal was off today and able to pop up and confirm its presence, plus I started work at 0600 today and so I was able to have a legitimate early finish. Unfortunately tho, I only had my bins on me as I'd stopped carrying my scope in the car with me on a daily basis now as it was winter. I arrived at the sailing club at Rudyard at 14-20hrs, and was soon watching my first Eider in Staffs. Having missed the Westport EIDER by a day (I'd paid a visit the day before but decided not to go the day the EIDER was present) it was a welcome addition, especially as Eider have become quite scarce in Staffordshire in the last decade.

So due to have no scope or camera with me, I had to phonebin!

But Steve Seal produced the goods again, and with his kind permission, I am able to post some of his pictures below. Thanks Steve again!

Check out Steves blog here

Saturday 10th December 2011 - Two out of three ain't bad

2011-12-11T20:16:00.015Z

Cue my favourite Meatloaf song!

Anyway, we decided to stay local today and started off at Westport as per usual. Its been quite a quiet period down there recently, so when three Goosanders flew in, it was high fives all round. But that was about as good as it got.

Then we headed down to south Staffs for a couple of ticks. We were originally heading to Gailey first for the BLACK REDSTART and then it was fingers crossed time that the TUNDRA BEAN GOOSE would fly back into Belvide for us. However, as we headed down the M6, news came thru that the TUNDRA BEAN GOOSE had already arrived. We reset the sat nav and headed to Belvide first.

It was fairly quiet at Belvide; presumably all the new Staffs listers and dodgy year listers had already seen the flock of Beans present here a few weeks ago. We walked to the West end and met up with SN. The Tundra Bean Goose was still present and showing well on the shore. Still a rare bird in Staffs, this is my 3rd one, following the Whitemoor Haye birds in 2004/5 and Ingestre birds in Jan 2006 (Thanks to PJ for pointing this out - forgot about Ingestre birds!)

The Tundra Bean Goose at Belvide

Blast from the past - The Whitemoor birds in Dec 2004.

.......and the Ingestre birds in Jan 2006.

So with our first tick in the bag (a Belvide tick of course!), we headed for our second tick (a Gailey tick). There was a small crowd at Gailey, but we soon realised the BLACK REDSTART had not been seen for a while. We met up with Westport Lake's resident photographer Steve Seal, and he assured us that if we stood by the sailing club, then it would keep returning to feed on the shore. We stood there for a short time, and then "Lucky" CJW got itchy feet and wandered off. I followed him and we walked up the causeway in between the two lakes. Then the Black Redstart flew in. We headed back and just managed to get onto it before it flew back to the island. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get a photo, but I know a man who did, and Mr Steve Seal has kindly given me permission to show you his photo's on my blog.

make sure you check out Steve's excellent blog

A shore line at Gailey! Messrs Snapper and Moore-hen have been so desparate to add waders to their patch list that they've siphoning the water away since Autumn.

And so with two site ticks in the bag, we had a decision to make as to where we would head to next. After several suggestions, we decided to head to Clee Hill for the long staying DESERT WHEATEAR. It was less than 30 miles away and about an hours drive, so we headed off. The sat nav performed wonders again, and we were parked up by the quarry on Clee Hill by 14-30hrs.

We had already spoken to a couple of birders as we drove up, and they hadn't seen the DESERT WHEATEAR in nearly an hours search. We set off and searched the whole area, and there was a steady flow of birders coming and going but by 15-30hrs, we had to admit defeat. It was quite windy up there, but we did find a few sheltered areas but there was just no sign. Desert Wheatear will just have to wait a little bit longer to get on my Shropshire list.

Its possible to see Blackpool Tower and Big Ben from up here on a clear day.

Saturday 3rd December - A peep show in Norfolk

2011-12-05T17:37:00.026Z

When a SEMI-P SANDPIPER at Cley was re-identified on Thursday as a WESTERN SANDPIPER, PJ rang me to ask if I was interested in going to see it on Saturday. I replied with "Already seen one. Don't need it". Now this is something I don't have the privilege of saying very often to veteran British lister PJ, as his list is considerably larger than mine (He's a member of the UK500 club now!). In fact, I only have three birds on him, one of which is WESTERN SANDPIPER.

Western Sandpiper at Brownsea Island in Oct 2004.

We had planned to pop down to Chew to see the SHARP-TAILED SAND and LONG-BILLED DOWITCHERS, but you usually can't go wrong with a day out to Norfolk and so I agreed to change my plans and help PJ make his list that bit bigger. "Lucky" CJW was also available to come along, despite having only two hours sleep following a late shift. We set off at 05-00hrs, and arrived at Cley at 08-40hrs.

Now in time honoured Clayhead tradition, we decided to sneak into the reserve without buying a permit. We walked along the path, knowing the fact that the WESTERN SANDPIPER was showing and we could see the hides. Then, on the last bend, a cunning NWT warden was carefully positioned to check permits. We then had to retrace our steps and walk all the way back to the visitors centre. The most annoying thing about this was not the long walk back with the bird showing, nor was it that they could have told us before hand to buy a permit (original instructions said the visitors centre was open at 10-00hrs to buy permits), but the fact that when we walked back towards the hide, the little man had disappeared, and in fact I showed no one my permit at all during my visit.

Anyway, we managed to squeeze ourselves in one of the hides, and we were soon watching the Western Sandpiper distantly. Views weren't great, and then it poured down and the light wasn't very good.

Western Sandpiper at Cley, Dec 2011

Eventually it flew off down onto the other scrape. We moved into the Daukes hide, but we were now looking into the sun. So we walked down to the Bishop hide where we hoped we would have good views with the sun behind us. But by the time we reached the hide, it had flown back to the Simmonds scrape. We did however, see the drake Green-winged Teal, a Norfolk tick would you believe for "Lucky" CJW and PJ.

Everyone agreed that we should head back up to look at the Western Sandpiper for one last time. The sun was out now, the hide wasn't too busy and the bird was out of view, tucked up below a bank! It did eventually show, and we could finally see all the Western Sand features such as the legs looked like a Western Sand's legs, and the plumage and shape were also reminiscent of a Western Sand.

My photo's of the Western Sandpiper - A valuable aid in the id process for anyone.

For a more in depth discussion on the identification of Western Sandpipers, click here

PJ and "Lucky" CJW in the hides at Cley

And so we headed along the coast for our next target bird, the ROUGH-LEGGED BUZZARD at Holkham. We stopped overlooking the fresh marsh at first, seeing 70+ White-fronted Geese, a Marsh Harrier and a few Egyptian Geese. We carried along a bit further, and found loads of cars parked and birders. It looked promising, and by the time we had crossed the road, the Rough-legged Buzzard had been found and was flying in front of the pines. It was a bit distant, but it performed very well for us, even landing on the ground. Another Norfolk tick for CJW - his third of the trip!

Rough-legged Buzzard at Holkham/Burnham Overy Dunes - copies available on request

We were on a roll now, and our last stop was at Titchwell for the YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER. We were told that it had been heard calling around the car park area, and we had a good look around there and along to the Fen hide, but we didn't see it. We did see, however, a Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank and Little Egret to finish off a fine day's birding in Norfolk.

This sign was in the visitors centre at Titchwell. I'm glad that good old Potteries dialect is alive and kicking in North Norfolk. Good on you young Bob!

PJ trying to photograph the fancy handles in the weird Parinder hide.

Two Pintail

Wigeon showing well

Little Egret at Titchwell (photo by PJ)

Black-tailed Godwit at Titchwell (photo by PJ)

A triumphant Clayhead gang trudge wearily back to the car at the end of the day.

Saturday 19th November - Northumberland

2011-11-20T13:02:00.016Z

Last week as we were walking around Branston, we received news that a GREATER YELLOWLEGS had been found in Northumberland. We were actually looking for the Derbyshire GLOSSY IBIS at the time. We considered racing up for it, but then it started getting more active and flighty and we reconsidered; the problem being that if we headed up and then the bird disappeared, we would actually have ruined our planned day out and just spent the day driving up and down the motorway.

Of course, the GREATER YELLOWLEGS performed all day on Sunday but it just wasn't convenient to head up there (I didn't even dare to ask permission to be honest) and so began one of the fun parts of twitching - the week long build up. Sometimes when a rare turns up late on a Friday, there is no build up to the event, you just head off on the Saturday and jobs done - it can be a little bit flat on occasions. So with a week to wait, you have the excitement of waiting every day to see if its still present, dreading every time when it flies off high to the south (as the GREATERLEGS did on the Tuesday, only to return at 10-00!) but eventually, by Friday, you start to think it may just stay until Saturday (as we thought with the bloody Sandhill Crane - "as good as on our list" said Mr Jones). And with the finding of another EASTERN BLACK REDSTART on Holy Island, we not only had two decent birds to go and see, it also saved us a possible trip down to Kent where the other EASTERN BLACK REDSTART was.

And so with all the birds still in place on Friday afternoon, the finishing touches were put in place. PJ opted out of the trip, and so it was just myself, GAS and "Lucky Chris" who headed up north, setting off at 03-30hrs.

The GREATERLEGS had last been seen at Druridge Bay CP and so that's where we headed for first, arriving at 07-30hrs. There were a few birders arriving on site at the same time as us, and we all headed down to the lakeside. We started seeing birds almost immediately, with at least three Scaup (one a male) on the lake and four Red-breasted Mergansers. One birder started walking and checked to the right of the centre, and then he started checking the shore to the left. We just stood still, but we were well placed when another birder shouted to us that the GREATERLEGS had been found - at Hauxley. We headed back to the car and hurtled up the coast to Hauxley. We parked up, walked down the path to Eric's Hide, opened the door and there was ...........just one birder sat on the bench. He informed us that the GREATERLEGS had flown, and was probably showing from the other hide - the one we had just walked past.

We laughed at the thought that it could be one of those days, wandering up and down the coast chasing the GREATERLEGS from reserve to reserve. We entered the other hide, and everyone was crowded up the corner. The Greater Yellowlegs was literally feet away from the hide, but it was tucked right up the corner. I lent over and managed to glimpse it, but eventually it started to walk along the shore. I gambled and took a seat at the front of the hide, and soon enough, the GREATER YELLOWLEGS walk straight past me, only a few feet away. Incredible views were had in the early morning sun.

The juv Greater Yellowlegs

Video of the Greater Yellowlegs at Hauxley NR

We then headed up to Holy Island.

The safe crossing time was at 10-56hrs, but we arrived just after 10-00hrs. Several cars were already heading over, but the road was still quite wet. We sat in the lay by and had a quick scan around, finding a flock of c150 Pale-bellied Brent Geese. After only about ten minutes wait, the road was dry and we drove across, seeing a Merlin flying across, only to be chased by a Peregrine. We were soon walking into the town and down onto the beach. Two birders were walking from our right, and so we started walking in the same direction. I climbed down onto the beach, but by the time I was down, "Lucky" Chris had found the Eastern Black Redstart working its way along the seaweed. It really was an awesome bird - with its red belly it looked like a weird Redstart. We eventually had good views of it as it fed quite unconcerned in front of an ever growing audience.

The Eastern Black Redstart

As we stood there, we had flocks of dark-bellied Brent Geese flying past, plus in the channel there was a good sized Merganser flock, six Long-tailed Ducks (five were splendid males) and a few Eider. We also had a flock of 17 probable Tundra Bean Geese over as well. We walked round to the harbour where there were mixed dark & pale-bellied Brents plus a flock of 80 White-fronted Geese flew over.

Brent Geese in the harbour

White-fronts overhead

We weren't finish yet though. We headed south to see the LESSER SCAUP at Marsden Quarry. On the way, however, we had news that the two ROSS'S GEESE were still present. We headed towards Dunston Hill, and eventually we found the flock of geese. The two Ross's Geese were easily spotted, but we also had good numbers of Barnacle Geese, several White-fronts and 5+ Tundra Bean Geese in with the Pink-foots. A fine way to end a most enjoyable days birding.

Saturday 12th November

2011-11-16T06:12:00.004Z

Westport was rather productive today with the first Goldeneye (a fem) of the Autumn, plus three Wigeon, fem Shov and the continued presence of the immature male Red-breasted Merganser. There was a surprise on the sewage works with the return of last winters female Pheasant. Digibinned shot below

Video thru my bins of the Pheasant at Westport

Then it was onto the pits. Branston was rather disturbed today. We were in quite early, looking for the Derbyshire GLOSSY IBIS, and so there were still workmen around. The Golden Plover was 450+ but it never settled. There were still Ruff, Dunlin, Green Sand and Redshank around, plus four Little Egrets. Another pit in the area saw good wildfowl numbers again and an adult winter Little Gull was with the bhgs.

Three of the four Little Egrets at Branston

Superb full frame Little Gull shot.

A Westport semi-Mega is found!

2011-11-11T20:45:00.003Z

On Wednesday 10th November, veteran Westport stalwart "Super" Jeff Jones found an immature Red-breasted Merganser, and it was still present on Friday 12th at least. It's an astonishing 23 years since I saw my last Red-breasted Merganser at Westport, the over wintering female bird in 1987/88. This is the 10th record for Westport, and the first for eight years. The first site record was as recent as 1987.

1987 Westport Lake An immature male from November 12th to 15th.
1987 Westport Lake A female from December 29th to February 22nd 1988.
1988 Westport Lake An immature male on April 16th.
1996 Westport Lake Three males and two females on February 1st.
1996 Westport Lake A female on November 15th to 21st.
1997 Westport Lake A female from February 21st to 27th.
1999 Westport Lake A female on March 15th.
2002 Westport Lake Two females stayed briefly on October 12th.
2003 Westport Lake A male and three redheads flew low through on January 30th.
2011 Westport Lake An immature male from November 9th to ....

For far better pictures of the Merg, check out the Seal's blog.

Saturday 5th November 2011 - Spurn and Attenborough NR

2011-11-06T10:34:00.007Z

Another decent days birding had been planned. The idea was to go and see the Shropshire STEPPE GREY SHRIKE first, then probably to Rutland for the WHITE-RUMPED SAND and finishing off at Attenborough for the SQUACCO. Myself and CJW had seen the Squacco last weekend as it came into roost on the Saturday, but while we were there viewing was slightly restricted.

Birders lying on the floor trying to see the Squacco at Attenborough last Saturday

Then, as per usual, another bird came along to upset the apple cart. Late on Friday afternoon, news came through of an ISABELLINE WHEATEAR on Spurn. I had managed to see the Anglesey bird in 2006 but GAS hadn't. Despite it having a fat score of zero when it was trapped and rung, we still decided to go on news in the morning. We could have risked it, but we decided on the safe option. We headed for Westport to start off with, but we had only just finished playing with the Coots when the news came through that the ISABELLINE WHEATEAR had bucked the recent trends and had decided to stay for a second day. At 07-40hrs, we set off, and arrived on Spurn 2-40mins later. We paid our £3, joined up with those ASBO boys and made the long walk down to the beach. We could see the crowds standing on the beach in the distance, but before we had reached them, the Isabelline Wheatear had flown up the beach to where we were. We carefully stood on the dunes, and there it was feeding on the beach. It was quite unsettled, and spent most of the time flying up and down the beach, but on occasions it landed very close to where we were standing. Having had our fill, we headed back to the car. Spurn was surprisingly quite quiet apart from the main attraction.

Isabelline Wheatear at Spurn

The heaving masses jostling for position

Video of Isabelline Wheatear on Spurn.

We drove back and called in at Attenborough. The juvenile Squacco was showing well underneath the bridge, but the light had faded and digiscoping was quite tricky.

So that was the end of a decent days birding. A fairly straight forward tick in the end for GAS, and now Autumn is nearly over, our second successive succesful trip.

Thursday 27th October 2011 - Filey and Greatham Creek

2011-11-03T20:24:00.004Z

I had been off all week, and today was to be my big day out. There were a few tempting birds still around, such as the PIED WHEATEAR in Gloucestershire and an ISABELLINE SHRIKE in Norfolk, but the forecast was for rain all day in the south. Then, during Wednesday afternoon, an OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT was found at Filey. The later report suggested that there were two birds present. Unfortunately, there was not much else up there to see. I knew I would have to travel up there but I didn’t hold out much hope. At least, we would be above the line where rain was predicted. So, I arranged to pick GAS up at 05-30hrs to see a bird I expected to have gone, and with no back up species either. When I arrived at GAS’s flat, it was all in darkness. He had set his alarm for Saturday. We headed off a little later than planned, at 06-00hrs.
Filey CP, North Yorkshire – It was a straight forward journey up, and we arrived at a damp Filey at 09-00hrs. We drove straight up to the small crowd gathered in the corner of the Top Shrub. There had been no reports of the OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT yet, and the birders just seemed to be hanging around. Two birders then came from further down the field, and they intimated that they had seen the OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT and it was moving up through the vegetation towards us. It suddenly was on show in front of us in a tree, but I wasn’t quick enough to get onto it. It then dropped out of view. I was told it was calling, and I could hear a Robin-like ticking. In a flash, the Olive-backed Pipit was flying above us, calling away. Twice we had flight views, and quite long flights too, and eventually it dropped back into the scrub. One birder went into look for it, and as I watched him walking, he suddenly stopped and got his camera out. I slowly walked down and realised he was watching the Olive-backed Pipit. Before I had reached him, it had move out of view again, but we waited as he walked round, delicately trying to flush it. Eventually it flew up, and I managed to see the Olive-backed Pipit perched in a small tree. We had several later views of it sitting in another tree, but by 09-45hrs, with more persistent rain, we lost track of it. GAS was sitting in the car, and so I had a walk round. I heard a Chiffchaff calling, and eventually I located a very vocal Yellow-browed Warbler calling away, but I only managed brief flight views. At last I had managed my first tick of the Autumn.

GAS at Filey

There wasn't much else to see at a wet Filey, and when the SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER came on in Cleveland, we decided to head up there. It was an hour and a half journey up, but when we arrived the Semipalmated Sandpiper was showing among a flock of 100+ Dunlin.

The Semipalmated Sand at Greatham Creek

Saturday 22nd October 2011

2011-10-28T19:40:00.003+01:00

We faced another dilema today with the arrival of a SCARLET TANAGER in Cornwall. On Friday, there had been very few sightings indeed, and for the first time this Autumn, we actually made a correct decision, and we decided not to go. We did leave Sunday free just in case, but in the end, there was no further sign of it in Cornwall, and, amazingly, another SCARLET TANAGER was found on the Isles of Scilly. In fact, as we wandered around the Staffordshire gravel pits that afternoon, there were an amazing four ticks for me on St Mary's (the WATERTHRUSH, WILSON'S SNIPE, OBP and the TANAGER!). Still it was great to be birding on my local patches!

We visited Croxall first, seeing not a lot but a Little Egret. Then it was onto Branston, where we saw a Little Egret plus a few Goldies

Then, we went to another area, where we saw enormous numbers of Coot (800+) and Wigeon (500).

15th October 2011 - Rufous-tailed Robin twitch

2011-10-28T19:22:00.005+01:00

I had planned a day out in Staffordshire for today; starting off at Westport, then I’d offered to help with the duck count at Blithfield before heading to Branston and then onto some other pits. Quite a busy day. Then, late on Friday, a mega came on.

17:08 ***MEGA*** NORFOLK RUFOUS-TAILED ROBIN N OF WELLS AT EAST HILLS THIS AFTERNOON.BN

17:08 14OCT2011

Initially, it was thought that the bird was on a tidal salt marsh, but all this was soon cleared up, and in fact it was on a track at Warham Greens. However, clear skies were forecast and we knew there would be a very strong chance that it would not be present in the morning. However, it was a Saturday, and PJ suggested that we went anyway. RSu joined us, and I picked them both up at 03-30hrs. I was to be the only driver for the whole day as GAS was still not driving yet.

Warham Greens, Norfolk – 07-00hrs We drove up the track and we were guided into a field to park by LGRE. There was quite a crowd gathered already by the track, and we stepped through a hedge and stood on the edge of a field, waiting for the sun to come up and warm the bushes. There were already birds flying over, and we saw several flocks of Golden Plovers and Pink-footed Geese over. All of a sudden, the massed crowd started walking down the field. At first we thought that the RUFOUS-TAILED ROBIN had been found but we then realised everyone was not walking with purpose and in fact just getting into position. Another party were working their way down the lane. When they reached the bottom, I think everyone realised that there was no sign of the RTR, and it had done the widely predicted bunk during the night in clear skies. We stood around for a short while before wandering back to the car. We saw a Brambling, an Egyptian Goose flew over, three Lapland Buntings flew over calling, a Barn Owl flew over, there were some distant Brent Geese on the saltmarsh plus several Little Egrets. With a BLUETHROAT reported at Stiffkey and a RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL at Holme already reported, there were a few bits for us to go for.

Warham Greens

Holme NWT, Norfolk – We headed along the coast to Holme next for the RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL. We were stopped along the track by the first hut, and asked specifically where the RFBT was. He assured us it was in the NWT reserve, and so we paid him £3-50 each. We followed his directions and ended up in the NOA place. We didn’t last too long in there and we were asked to either leave or pay another £3. It was quite annoying to then walk on a public footpath through the dunes. We soon found the crowd waiting for the RFBT to reappear – it had showed only ten minutes previously. It was slowly turning into one of those days. We stood around for a short time, but I soon got bored and wanted to actually see something. I walked along the path and did a bit of sea watching. It was flat calm and extremely sunny. There was not much to see, but there were two Red-throated Divers, a Gannet and a Great Crested Grebe. A Brambling also flew over. We all wandered off a bit, but then I saw people moving quickly through the woods. We headed back to find everyone heading in the same direction. When we finally caught up with them, I saw a silhouetted bird shape tumbling through a tree. It then flew, and so I headed off in that direction. I stood again and waited. Someone spotted the RFBT again, but I couldn’t see it from my angle. I was crowd watching more than birdwatcher, and I was able to keep up with the bird. Eventually, I managed brief views of the 1w Red-flanked Bluetail as it was perched on a branch at the bottom of a bush. The crowd all soon caught up, and it was gone. I felt as though the bird was being chased and it was not being allowed to settle. But everyone was desparate to see it. We eventually followed the crowd and encircled a bush but there was no further sign. As we stood and waited, reserve staff were frantically putting a rope fence up around the bush, no doubt trying prevent the twitching hordes from trashing the bush. What with the confusing problem of two reserves in the same area and then this, and along with all the £3-50's they had raked in, we decided to leave Holme with rather a bitter taste in our mouths.

PJ took this photo of a Comma at Holme NWT/NOA today

Stiffkey Fen, Norfolk – We decided to head back along the coast to Stiffkey where the BLUETHROAT had been seen. I was originally heading to Stiffkey Campsite Wood for the YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER but I managed to miss the turning. We started walking down to the Fen, the first birder we asked told us that the BLUETHROAT had been seen to fly off some time ago. We continued down into the wood by the stream where we were told there was a YELLOW-BROWED WARBLER. We stood around but it wasn’t too long before we heard the Yellow-browed Warbler calling. We stood around long enough to eventually have several brief glimpses of it in the trees, but it never showed well. I was almost certain a second bird was in the area as well.

Weybourne, Norfolk – We were sort of on a roll now, with poor views of fairly decent birds, so we decided to go to look for a very elusive RADDE’S WARBLER just a bit further along the coast at Weybourne. There was a small crowd gathered, but there had been no sign of it since it had been tape lured earlier. I tried to do the same with my phone but it just wasn’t loud enough. We suggested to other birders to try to play the call, but again it failed due to loudness and connectivity. There was a Cetti’s Warbler in the same bush. This rather summed up our day and we headed home.

Saturday 7th October 2011 - The Sandhill Crane twitch......

2011-10-09T11:53:00.008+01:00

The SANDHILL CRANE gave itself up again last Sunday dinnertime by landing in Suffolk. It just wasn't practical to dash off last Sunday (roast beef dinner just coming out of oven) and with no chance of getting a day off in the week, we knew we would just have to grin and bear it and wait until the weekend. We always knew there would be a chance that it could fly off at anytime, but once the pleasant weather ended on Tuesday, and the roughish weather came in from Wednesday, our optimism increased. Quite strong winds were forecast for Thurs and Fri, and we began to think there was a chance it would stay until Saturday.

The Autumn 2011 jinx (come on, who's cursed me into having a tickless Autumn? Is it you Tips, or you Ramron, or Derbyshire's chief flusher?) struck again on Friday when at 1030hrs, it flew off high south. It was truly gutting news as another decent tick had gone begging.

So the full Clayhead crew (including Pops on his first trip out since breaking his ankle in August) were all revved up with no where to go. We had to stay local just in case the SANDHILL CRANE did happen to be located again. And with the news that a GREAT WHITE EGRET had been seen at Kings Bromley, we decided to head there first. We pulled into the lay by, seeing two Little Egrets, but no sign of the GWE. We headed up towards Yoxall, where we met up with GJM. We followed him to Yoxall Meadows, an area that was near to the river. There were some nice fields here, but the river was a little too deep. We returned to the lay by and decided just to sit and wait and have our dinner. At 12-00hrs, a large white bird ghosted down the river and carried on flying south. Another Staffs Great White Egret in the bag.

We headed next to Blithfield, and drove down into Blithe to save Pop's legs. A nice, unhurried plod down saw two Wheatear, a Peregrine, a Pintail, a Black-tailed Godwit, twelve Dunlin and a Curlew Sand. Tad Bay was a little quieter, with three Pintail, a Ringed Plover and two Dunlin.

We were heading to Belvide next, but news of an AVOCET at BGP's sent the team into a spin. Some wanted to see the LEO for a year tick, others wanted AVOCET for their Pits year list. Arguments started, with those who wanted to see the Owl changing their minds, and those who wanted to see the AVOCET saying it was alright to see the Owl. We drove round in circles for nearly two hours before we headed off to Belvide. We only had to ring SN once before we found the Long-eared Owl, which was showing quite nicely.

Long-eared Owl at Belvide

The full Clayhead crew re-united - the first time together since 2nd January!

And then we headed towards Branston for the AVOCET. We were sure we had just enough time to get there and still be back home at a reasonable time. We walked rather quickly to the Sandy Pit, and CJW with his little legs was finding it hard to keep up. The Avocet was showing quite well in the fading light, along with six Green Sands and a Black-tailed Godwit.

Avocet at BGP's - my 19th species of wader there this year (and managed to miss Turnstone and the Pec)

So a fairly decent day in Staffs, but missing the SANDHILL still dampened our spirits. Will we get a tick this Autumn?

September 2011 - A Clayhead on Safari - Part 2 Birds

2011-10-03T20:19:00.004+01:00

Approx 150 birds seen with over 70 being ticks (3rd visit to Africa) many highlights - including Secretary bird, both Ostriches, 3 species of Bustard, 6 species of Eagle, 6 species of Vulture and 4 species of Hornbill.

Somali Ostrich

Silvery-cheeked Hornbill

Hildebrandts Starling

White & Pink-backed Pelican

Hadada Ibis

Red-billed Hornbill

Kori Bustard

Common Ostrich

Maribou and Great Cormorant

Blacksmith Plover

Greater and Lesser Flamingos and Grey-headed Gulls

Lappet-faced Vulture

Secretary Bird

Black-bellied Bustard

September 2011 - A Clayhead on Safari - Part 1 Mammals

2011-10-02T17:52:00.009+01:00

PJ has just returned from just over two weeks hoilday in Kenya. The first week was on safari visiting Samburu, Aberdare, Lake Nakuru & Masai Mara. Forty species of mammals were ticked off including - Black Rhino, Spotted and Striped Hyenas, Silver Backed Jackal, Genet, Warthog, Giant Forest Hog, three species of Mongoose, four species of Monkey and twelve species of Antelope
All these pics below from Masai Mara

Below Grevys zebra at Samburu, Buffalo at Aberdare all the others at Masai Mara

Waterbuck & White Rhino with red billed oxpeckers at Nakuru, Reticulated Giraffe at Samburu

Saturday 24th September 2011 - The Waterthrush twitch - Isles of Scilly

2011-09-26T06:14:00.024+01:00

It was turning out to be quite a good autumn with almost continuous stream of mega's turning up on a daily basis. It started on Monday 12th Sept with a GREATER YELLOWLEGS in Cornwall, but typically with this species of late, it didn't hang around long enough. Mega's then became daily as the week went on, with a SOLITARY SANDPIPER turning up on the Scillies on Wednesday 14th, a FEA'S off Suffolk on the Thursday and another FEA'S past Norfolk on Friday 17th.

Then it all kicked off big style. During the evening of Friday 17th, news broke from the Scillies about a probable NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH on Lower Moors. Luckily, I wasn't in the position to dash down for a probable, but it was still a bit of a choker standing on the bank at Westport on Saturday morning when the mega came through confirming the presence of the NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH. It was to get even worse when during the morning, another mega from Scilly, this time a long awaited return visit from a BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER. Both birds continued to show all weekend, and they were joined on the Tuesday by a BALTIMORE ORIOLE. The question was, what else was out there?

September sunrise at Westport - put in just to break the text up so you don't get bored

With all the other Clayheads unavailable (either working, in Kenya on safari or still in plaster), I was in touch with SR about a possible trip to the Scillies on Saturday if everything was still present. I was keeping an eye on the flight availabilities but by Tuesday a lot of the slots were selling out. We planned to fly out on the chopper, and the first flight out, at 0730hrs was still alright, but the return flights were selling out fast, and the lastest flight back was now 1600hrs. On Tuesday evening, I suggested that we took the plunge and book the flights. I got in touch with RB; SR got in touch with AA and all four of us were on the same flight. It was all systems go, and now all we had to hope for was that the birds stayed.

The mega's continued, with a LESSER KESTREL on Orkney on Tuesday 20th, but then the week became even more complicated with the identification of a Stint sp in East Sussex. Originally a Temminck's, it briefly became a LEAST SANDPIPER, then it was mega'd on Wednesday 21st as a LONG-TOED STINT, the first in Britain since 1982. With the trip planned to Scilly on Saturday, there was no alternative but to go to East Sussex on Thursday.

Unfortunately, I was due in work, and with no spare holidays available, there was no alternative but to ring in sick. I woke up early on Thursday and was on the road by 0315hrs, arriving at Weir Wood Resv just after 0700hrs and joined the 100+ birders already on site. We all stood and waited, scanning what few distant waders there were. We watched the three Dunlin and several Ringies work their way backwards and forwards, and then two Green Sands and a Greenshank came in, and then a flock of eight Ringies made us take note, but then a few hours later, everyone began to realise there was no movement taking place and no new waders appearing. Despite being present for the seven previous days, as soon as it became available to the masses, it had buggered off. A great day indeed.

The day was made even worse when another mega came through (not forgetting the SWAINSON'S mega'd on Shetland on Weds 21st as well). This time, it was a SANDHILL CRANE at Loch of Strathbeg. We were unable to go to Orkney for the only weekend it was present due to work commitments, and it had flown off by the time we would have been able to get up there. There was no way of having another day off, so this mega would just have to wait.

So Friday night came and RB picked me up at 2220hrs, and we joined up with SR in Cannock and picked AA up on the M5. SR did a sterling job driving down to Penzance through the night, stopping at Exeter services and then on Bodmin Moor just to scare everyone. We parked up at the heliport at 0600hrs, and we were all feeling rather knackered. The mood was quite positive though, as there had been quite a few reports of the NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH the previous day, and it usually stayed at Higgo's Pool until 0830hrs, giving us plenty of time to see it, we hoped. Our flight was due off at 0730hrs, but luck was on our side and we took off earlier at 0725hrs. Shortly into the flight, SR gave us the news we hoped for - the NW was showing already. We hurtled off the chopper as soon as it landed (the blades were even still going round!), gathered our bags together and managed to get quite a group of us from the flight into a minibus. The driver knew exactly where to take us (he'd been doing it all week) and we were soon running (well some of us) towards the Dump Clump and the pool. AA and SR, being sprightly young lads sprinted off, leaving me and RB to sort of walk fastly behind. The path was well worn through the moors, but I did once nearly go head over heels as I misjudged my step. All the birders we passed said it was still showing, and we arrived at the pool with quite a few birders still in attendance. I walked up to SR and Mr Higgo, got directions but the NW had only just walked out of view. We stood and waited, but it didn't reappear. I wasn't sure who had seen it and who hadn't, but I knew I'd missed it. I found out later AA had been watching it from near the hide, but as SR ran up, Mr Higgo beckoned him to stand next to him. If SR had stood with AA, he would have seen it. It then started to rain, and we decided to head over to the Lower Moors hide - the general direction apparently the NW was seen to fly.

Spirits were quite low, we were damp, and we sat in the ISBG hide and saw not a lot. There was a Kingfisher, a few Mallard but we just kept scanning the far bank. By 1000hrs, it had stopped raining, and we all decided to head off to look for the NW, and, we hoped to relocate the B&W WARBLER. We checked Shooters Pool, then we followed AA into the Jungle. This was the area we were told we needed wellies for, and its a good job we did. Most of the time, you didn't know how far up your boot the mud would come, and then there was the worry of getting your boot out as well. All it needed was a few scramble nets and tunnels to crawl through.

Then, at 1020hrs, SR received a message that the NW was showing from the hide. It was amazing how quickly we retraced our steps on hearing this news. We literally sprinted back out, and ran straight back into the hide. We then discovered that only five minutes after we left the hide, the NW had flown across in front of the hide and fed on the left hand side, before dropping over the back. We were gutted. We then sat in the hide for nearly four hours, getting colder and colder and stiffer as the hours went by. At least we did have a Greenshank to watch this time, and SR even managed to spot what he thought was the SOLITARY SAND fly over the hide towards Higgo's Pool (a quick call to divert someone to the pool revealed the SOLITARY SAND had flown in).

Our flight back was at 1600hrs, and we only had till 1530hrs. Time was rapidly running out and we had literally missed it twice by seconds. At 1400hrs, I decided to stand up and try and get the blood circulating again. A bloke immediately jumped into my seat but I said nothing, and took a stroll outside. The sun was out, and it was quite warm now. I wandered back in and started to face reality. Then, in a flash I was running back up to Shooters Pool. I was near the front, and I was determined this time not to stop. A pager message revealed that the NW had been seen to the east of the pool. Confusion set in as to which direction east was (good job I had a compass on me) and we realised we had to go in the jungle again. We were veterans at this and we were soon wading through the quagmire again. It was quite amusing to see some of the faces of the new boys who had just turned up when they realised what they had to walk through. We staked out a few pools, and AA thought he saw something at the back of one. But, again, the trail had gone cold and there was no further sign. We decided to call it a day and head up towards the airfield.

We had to wait for Archie to have a paddle in the sea

As we walked into Old Town Bay, SR phoned the Chopper people again to see if we could transfer onto a later flight. Earlier in the afternoon, they had said there were no cancellations, but this time there was a different story. Due to the mornings rain, flights had been delayed, and there was now a backlog. They were only too willing now to transfer us onto a later flight. We were now on the 1815hrs flight back. We were absolutely elated. This meant we could now return to Higgo's Pool and hope for the evening showing (on Friday it had returned by 1730hrs). We walked up to the airfield to look for the WOODCHAT SHRIKE, and we actually did a bit of birding. I found a strange Yellow Wagtail sp that resembled a Grey-headed type, and we had distant views of the BUFF-BREASTED SANDPIPER.

Distant shot of the Buff-breasted Sand

With a skip in our step, we walked in the glorious afternoon sun, full of optimism. We felt our luck was changing, and this time we would nail the little b@@@@@d once and for all. We joined a small crowd at Higgo's Pool and waited. We even managed to get three of us in the hide. It certainly was an interesting hide, but cosy, and with the Solitary Sandpiper literally feet away, it was quite an experience.

An attempt to take a picture in the hide, but I couldn't really turn round as I walked out to take it properly. One of these hides would go down a storm at Titchwell I think.

Time slowly ticked by, and still no sign. By 1715hrs, I was anxiously looking at my watch, but you knew any second it would appear.

Higgo's Pool

Really awesome watching the Solitary Sand just feet away in the evening sun. Well, there wasn't actually much else to see - it was the only bird on view.

By 1730hrs, mild panic was setting in. SR again rang the airport. We had to be there by 1800hrs. We also rang a taxi to pick us up at 1755hrs. We were down to the last 15 minutes. We stood and scanned and waited. Finally, at 1750hrs, we reluctantly headed back. We knew it just wasn't going to be our day. As we walked to the taxi, we passed John Sutton walking towards the pool. "You are in luck, John" I said. "It hasn't appeared yet".

We were airbourne again by 1820hrs, and were soon back in Penzance. We headed to KFC and I sat outside with SR. I then received a text from Richard Sutton.His dad had seen the NORTHERN WATERTHRUSH just ten minutes after he had passed us. That news just about finished us all off once and for all.

What a bastard hobby it can be sometimes.

Saturday 17th September 2011

2011-09-25T20:52:00.004+01:00

Stayed local again with visits to Blithfield and BGP's. At Blithfield, the two Bar-tailed Godwits were again present and showing well today.

Branston GP's (or is it the water park?)was also quite good again. There were only three waders on the Sandy Pit - first was a Curlew Sandpiper, second a Little Stint and the third was amazingly a Dunlin. Two more useful additions to my Branston list.

Final visit was to another pit where the Black Swan made a return plus a sign of the changing seasons with a build up of Goosander numbers

A decent few days in Staffs - Sept 2011

2011-09-16T20:42:00.005+01:00

Late update due to PC crash, but back up and running now. Not a bad few days in Staffs saw a visit to Belvide on the 8th September for the juvenile Sabine's Gull that had been grounded in the high winds.

Then on 10th September, I had an Arctic Tern at Westport, picked CJW up and headed down to Gailey, where we saw the Sabine's Gull again, the Red-necked Grebe and another Arctic Tern. Onto Blithfield, where a rather good visit saw a Curlew Sandpiper, Ruff, Knot, two Barwits, a Greenshank plus more Arctic Terns and a Black Tern. At BGP's, we had more waders (ten species for the day) with eleven Green Sandpipers, two Greenshank, two Ruff and a Blackwit, plus three Water Rail, five Little Egrets and a bizarre sight with two Hobbies chasing a Peregrine (bit confusing at first!).

Then on Sunday 11th September, following a quick walk round Westport, I headed for Gailey in the hope that the reported Shag were still there. En route, I had to divert to Belvide to see the Manx Shearwater that SN had found that morning. The Sabs Gull was seen again. I just had enough time to pop into Gailey for the two Shags to cap off a fine spell.

One Clayhead on Tour - Northumberland August/Sept 2011

2011-09-05T21:02:00.005+01:00

A weeks holiday with the family to Northumberland. I managed to do a bit of a Bernie, and miss Pec Sand and WWB Tern while I was away, but it could have been far worse, as the legendary Bernie will tell you. The Pec Sand was quite harsh as we've been checking that scrape all year, thinking it looked good for something rare. Oh well, there's always the Autumn to look forward to.

A few pictures from my trip up north, firstly with birds seen around Holy Island.

An amazing number of Seals were present on the sand banks

When the crossing times weren't suitable to cross over to Holy Island, I visited Stag Rocks (wasting quite a bit of time looking for the reported Black Scoter) and Cocklawburn.

Friday 26th August 2011 - Westport Lake, Staffs

2011-08-26T14:55:00.006+01:00

Today CJW finally found a twitchable Black-tailed Godwit for the masses instead of all these dodgy fly over ones I have. It was successfully twitched by at least five of the regulars. It appeared quite knackered and would allow walkers and joggers to go past without flying off. BTG's are becoming more regular now at Westport, and this is the fourth consecutive year it's been recorded. Furthermore, this is the second bird this year.

Pictures from my garden

2011-08-23T21:19:00.005+01:00

A few butterflies have been visiting my garden this week. Here's a few pictures of them.

and then this one turned up

Saturday 20th August

2011-08-23T21:04:00.006+01:00

A shorter day trip today due to family commitments, so I headed to Branston GPs and Blithfield with CJW. It appears that Branston has been visited quite frequently during the week, and to my complete shock today as we entered, two birdwatchers were walking out. These are the 3rd and 4th birders I've met here this year. Certainly things appear to be picking up in Staffs at the moment, and even more surprising, the field has finally been cut, and so access now is a lot easier glad you took my advice Mr Farmer).

Highlight of the visit was a site tick for me, found by old sharp-eyes himself, CJW

Two Collared Doves - a Branston GP tick!

We managed to eventually found the juv Spotted Redshank again, plus a large count of 15 Green Sands.

It was then off to Blithfield, and we just sat in Tad Bay and never moved, seeing the juv Black-necked Grebe again

...a Peregrine...

...and the two Garganey

17th August 2011 - Gailey

2011-08-18T19:55:00.003+01:00

A quick trip to Gailey after work eventually saw the s/pl Red-necked Grebe showing well from the causeway. This is my first RNG in Staffs since the Alrewas 2006 birds. Its also amazingly my 5th summer plumage bird. We have been blessed with these recently. Below are the other four s/pl birds that I've seen.

1987 Staffordshire Blithfield Reservoir A s/pl on 23rd April.
1989 Staffordshire Belvide Reservoir A s/pl on 28th May.
2000 Staffordshire Chasewater A s/pl on 29th April.
2003 Staffordshire Blithfield Reservoir A s/pl was seen on 7th & 22nd June.

I also managed to visit Pops in hospital after tea. He was in good spirits following his successful operation to mend his ankle. They even made precautions so that they stuck his leg back on the right way round.

13th August 2011 - Blithfield, Branston & dancing at the Bloodstock Festival

2011-08-14T19:41:00.016+01:00

Well for the fourth weekend running we stayed in Staffordshire and plodded the same old familiar route. We weren't expecting much today, although there had been a little bit at Blithfield recently. Westport was quiet today, and so we were down at Blithfield before 0900hrs. The sun was out so we headed over to Blithe Bay first where the light would be better. It was not a bad start to the days birding with five Dunlin, fifteen Ringed Plover, a Green Sand and two Black-tailed Godwits.

Black-tailed Godwit in Blithe Bay

We walked round Beech Tree Point and saw the ever faithful "Bird of the Day" - the Osprey perched in his usual tree, surveying the world and thinking what was for dinner today.

Osprey in Tad Bay

From the hide in Tad, where we met up with Graham, Roger & Steve, we had a Black-necked Grebe, two fem-type Garganey and seven Ringed Plovers flew in. It turned into rather a good visit this week.

Two Garganey (above) and the Black-necked Grebe

And so it was onto Branston for our next stop. The field still hasn't been cut yet, but I now know where the tracks are that run through it, so it wasn't so much of a slog this week. (If you are reading this Mr Farmer at Branston, the field on the way to Stansley Wood with the same crop in it as yours was cut a fortnight ago! Have you forgotten about it this yr?). There were six Little Egrets on the first pit but that was about all. I walked round to the Sandy Pit, had my usual chat with the nice security guard (bit serious this week - warned me about the moving vehicles on the track. I told him that they don't work on a Saturday afternoon. He laughed then promptly told me he'd just seen four Buzzards! Bless him). There was a Greenshank, but it walked beneath the reeds in front of me and out of view. A quick scan revealed two Green Sands, but that was all, as per usual. Then, I presumed the Greenshank had come back into view. When I lifted my bins, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a juv Spotted Redshank. At last, a semi-decent wader at Branston. I managed to take a few shots, but it was flushed by two Greenshank and flew off.

Spotted Redshank at BGP

I decided to walk back towards the bridge just in case any waders were down the bottom corner. To my complete surprise, there was a whole flock sitting roosting on a bank. It was just like Minsmere, except it was a gravel pit in Staffs. A scan thru revealed the two Greenshank, ten Green Sands and a Wood Sand all roosting on the bank. It had turned out to be rather a good visit for a change.

So we headed off to another pit nearby to see what was there. Pops joined me after his nap. There was another reason for him joining me - it was the Bloodstock festival again, and the stage is clearly visible from where we were going to. Pops is a thrash metal fan, and his favourite heavy metal group, The Evil Slashers were playing. We could bird, and listen to thrash metal at the same time. As I set my scope up to scan the lagoon, The Evil Slashers belted out their iconic hit, "Slash, acid and death". Pops was in heaven, dancing away. Now, being 77, he's not the dancer he used to be. I tried to warn him, but he slipped, and ended up in a heap at the bottom of a slope. Now, those of you who know the area, realise its about a one mile walk back to the car. Pop's ankle was at a different angle to what it should be and minor panic set in. I'm not sure how, but we managed to get back to the car after an hours struggle, and Pops was clearly in a lot of pain. I drove home, got changed and we were up the accident unit for five hours. Pops had managed to break his ankle!

Saturday 23rd July - A quiet day in Staffordshire

2011-07-24T20:55:00.007+01:00

Not much around locally at the monent so we visited the usual haunts on a Saturday. After a very quiet visit to Westport, we were down at Blithfield for about 0830am. As we walked down to Tad Bay, Martyn, Kay and Richard Powell were already walking back up - not a good sign! But we soon found out the answer - we were looking straight into the sunlight (is easy to forget that when you arrive early at Blithers, you go to Blithe Bay first!). We had 8 Common Snipe and a Redshank in Tad, but Blithe Bay was fairly quiet, with just a Greenshank on show, and as we walked back round Beech Tree, a Kingfisher flew past. From the point, we could see an adult Yellow-legged Gull on the causeway. By the time we returned to Tad Bay, the light had improved. The Osprey was perched up, and Richard managed to find a Dunlin.

And this was about as good as it got. I headed off to the pits, and in 4hrs, all we managed were two Green Sands, a couple of Little Egrets and another Kingfisher.

Especially for you Martyn - hybrid geese!

Butterfly pics for all those who give up birding in the summer and wait for those who are still birding to find something for you

One or two Cormorants

An almost in focus Yellow Wag - at least the pebbles in the background are in focus

Saturday 16th July 2011 - Arnfield Resv & Blacktoft Sands

2011-07-17T20:29:00.018+01:00

No, don't worry. I'm still here and I haven't resorted to chasing round after butterflies, worms and dragonflies yet (nor racehorses!) . The previous two weekends I spent at my usual haunts in Staffs, seeing a few bits and bobs but I didn't manage to take any pics. This Saturday, the Clayheads (this week - myself, GAS & CJW) decided to hit the road. First stop was for the summering WESTERN BONELLI'S WARBLER in North Derbyshire. This bird turned up on a Sunday, and so I decided to wait until the following Saturday to go for it (bit too far for an after work trip and it seemed to be a morning bird). Last Saturday however, I couldn't make it until mid morning and so I left it. Fortunately for me, there was only one sighting all day, but then on the Sunday, it was reported three or four times. The bird was starting to bug me. So we made plans to go this Saturday. However, as has happened quite frequently this summer, the forecast was bad. I thought there was a possibility that it would be dryish from 0700 - 0900hrs, so I knew we had to be early. We arrived at Westport at 0530hrs, did a quick walk round, picked CJW up and headed up to Tintwhistle.

There was a small crowd when we arrived, but there had been no sign of the BONELLI'S so far. We walked around, got a feel for the area and even found a warbler flock. Then, following a few showers, more persistent rain came, and by 0900hrs, we were soaked and headed back to the car. We knew there was no chance of seeing it in this weather. We sat in the car, dried out and waited.

Our idea was to pop up to Blacktoft to see the MARSH SAND, but even that hadn't appeared on the pager yet. So we just sat and waited. CJW even tried to ring Blacktoft, but they couldn't answer the phone as they were "out on the reserve". Eventually, positive news came thru and we set off for East Yorkshire/North Humberside, arriving on site at 11-30hrs. And it was pouring down.

We walked towards the Ousefleet Hide but no one appeared to know where the MARSH SAND was. We found the screen from where the last sighting had been, but all three seats were taken. Then a birder from the hide came out and said he'd just seen it. We went into the hide and waited. Eventually, the birders moved out, and we managed to get a front row seat. (The hide faced forward overlooking a field. It was only a side window that overlooked the scrape, and together with the three seats at the screen, viewing the area was limited!) And so we waited. We must have sat there for an hour, seeing several Little Egrets, Ruff, Dunlin, two Green Sands, and an almost black Spotted Redshank. Then we spotted what we initially thought to be a Greenshank. We sat and watched it, and slowly we realised several things weren't quite right with it. Its beak was very fine, its legs were spindly, and although it was feeding away from the other waders, I realised it was actually smaller than a Redshank. We realised we were watching the Marsh Sand! (it was our own version of the Daventry Greatershank). But no one else in the hide said anything, no one else spotted it, they were quite happy to scan the empty field in front of them.

The Marsh Sandpiper at Blacktoft.

We had a quick walk round the other hides, and we had quite a good session, despite the appalling weather. We saw two Spoonbills, several Marsh Harriers with young, an Avocet, more Spotted Redshanks, two Wood Sandpipers and a Black-tailed Godwit.

Images from Blacktoft

So despite the weather, we had seen one of our targets for the day. We decided to head back to Derbyshire. As we drove back, it did stop raining, and in parts, there was a bit of blue sky. We parked up by Arnfield Resv at 15-30hrs in beautiful sunshine. As we walked back along the path, we saw loads of warblers feeding. Things were looking good. Then, five minutes later, it poured down again. Even after it stopped it took ages for the warblers to come out again. There were five of us wandering up and down, but there was just no sign of the BONELLI's again. We stood on the bridge, and despite the fact it had been dry for nearly an hour now, we were facing defeat. I walked up towards the barbed wire gate and immediately heard a short burst of song. I picked up some bark, a few strands of grass and managed to imitate exactly the call I had heard. Amazingly, it responded. CJW heard it and pin pointed it to a lone hawthorn bush in the field.

The lone hawthorn where the Bonelli's Warbler was skulking.

CJW managed to get everyone together (all 5 of us) but there was a small bit of disbelief that we had heard it sing from an isolated bush. We all agreed that we would imitate the song once more (this time CJW whistled the song). It sang again, and soon we were watching the Western Bonelli's Warbler sitting in the tree. It was an incredibly skulking bird, and so inactive for a phyllosc warbler. It came out again but then it disappeared again and it was time to head for home.

Two modern day birdwatchers!

Look at these two. They don't even know a rare bird is watching them from a bush. One is even looking at his phone. And no bins in sight at all.

Then the one suddenly spots the rare bird. But what does he do? Get his notebook out? No, because modern birders don't carry notebooks! He tries to take a picture with his phone! Modern birders hey

Saturday 6th June 2011 - Murcar GC, Aberdeens

2011-06-20T19:14:00.018+01:00

The WHITE-WINGED SCOTER had been showing offshore all week but sightings were dependent on the right light and tide conditions. I started to plan a trip up to there for the weekend but all week, a wet, windy day had been forecast, and I didn't fancy trying to see the bird in these conditions. PJ decided to opt out of the trip, and so that just left CJW, GAS and myself. It wasn't ideal for CJW, as he was finishing work at midnight on Friday, and therefore wouldn't be getting any sleep before we were due to set off.

By Thursday, I was beginning to have big doubts about the trip as the forecast was not improving. By Friday, after much discussion, I was virtually certain that the trip was off. The only problem was that it could be up to 4 weeks before we could go again. My concern was that I thought the "shelf life" of this duck was not going to be long, and I had visions of walking along the coast for 2.5miles alone searching for the duck in July!

On Friday dinner, after checking every single forecast I could think of (all saying the same - wet morning up to possibly 13-00hrs, stronger wind and a larger swell than earlier in the week), I sent a text to SR to ask if he was going. He certainly was going up, and whats more, he said according to the Met Office website, the forecast was for a dry, cloudy day. That made my mind up - the trip was on.

We arranged to pick CJW up at 02-00hrs on Saturday morning. Due to the location on the East coast and looking into the rising sun, there had been no early morning sightings, with the first ones usually at about 10-00hrs. Therefore, by setting off at 02-00hrs, we aimed to get there for 08-00hrs ish, in plenty of time for the first showing. Also high tide was at 15-29hrs, and this was the best time to see the Scoter flock as they all came in closer.

I walked out of the house at 01-50hrs and received a text from CJW. He had arranged for someone to come round and pick his dog up as we were probably going to be out all day. However, the person had not turned up. CJW was walking up and down the street looking for anyone to who could help, but, not surprisingly, there was no one about. Reluctantly, having waited to see if the dog sitter turned up, at 02-30hrs we had to set off without CJW.

The journey up was straight forward, but we hit heavy rain just south of Perth. We still had a long way to go North, and we hoped we would drive out of it. However, when we arrived on Murcar GC at 08-25hrs, it was still raining. We made contact with SR and we already knew that the WWS had been seen. We headed out to the dunes to stand with the crowd on the 4th tee, overlooking the flock. Moments after I arrived, the WWS was spotted again. It was down from the red boat, just left of the two GUILLEMOTS. I scanned frantically, but I just couldn't find the Guillemots. The sighting was brief and I had missed it.

While quite a few of the birders who had connected earlier wandered off, we stayed on the 4th tee to try and relocated the WWS. It was raining persistently now, but fortunately GAS had bought his umbrella with him. We learnt from our mistakes we had made at the very wet ALDER FLY twitch, and we put his scope in a bin bag to keep it dry. My scope was under cover.

For the next 6+ hours, we stood in the rain, continually scanning the flock. Conditions were appauling. When it rained heavily, visibility was further reduced and the Scoter flock would become black silhouettes. The swell was heavy, and duck would simply disappear in the waves and you wouldn't pick them up again. There were two drake Surf Scoters in the flock, but you could loose these birds and not see them for half an hour at a time despite continually scanning. If it was easy to lose one of these, what hope had we in seeing the WWS.

Then, at just after 14-00hrs, a small miracle happened. For about ten minutes, it actually stopped raining. We even dared to put the umbrella down. But it soon started again. The flock now was coming in quite close, as we were nearing high tide. SR, AA and JA had come back from seeing the KING EIDER, and so we walked down and stood with them. It was still raining on and off but conditions had slightly improved nevertheless. A small group of birders headed off down the dunes to view the main flock from a closer position. We followed them. After about 1/2 mile, we stopped and started scanning again. Times like this I find its useful to people watch as well as birdwatch, and I was soon aware that a birder to my left was on to something. SR was alerted as well. SR was soon onto the WWS as well, and it was quite close in, in with a group of four Scoter. I asked for directions, and was told the WWS was next to two Great C Grebes. I could see the flock through my bins, but for the life of me I couldn't find the grebes. I couldn't believe I was going to miss the WWS again after all this time. Directions were repeated. It was now swimming away from the small flock on its own, and then I picked up the 2s AMERICAN WHITE-WINGED SCOTER. It was side on and the head/beak profile was clearly visible. I moved away from my scope to let GAS had a look, but he couldn't see it. The WWS was spotted again in with the Eider, but despite its location being shouted out (off the right hand end of the boat), I couldn't get onto it again.

The crowd watching the WWS in the afternoon

Mixed emotions then at finally seeing the duck, but GAS had dipped. We were cold, wet and hungry, and at 16-00hrs, we finally hheaded back to the car. I had also seen two drake Surf Scoters, 30+ Velvets, 5+ Red-throated Divers, four Red-breasted Mergs, a Great Skua, five Arctic Skuas plus endless auks, Gannets etc.

We got changed into our dry clothes (again learnt from the ALDER FLY twitch) and headed up the coast to Newburgh. We soon found the King Eider, asleep on the sand bank. In fact, I only saw it lift its head twice. Oh well!

Saturday 11th June 2011 - Tox Quarry and Blithfield

2011-06-13T20:55:00.008+01:00

A rare solo trip out today as all the regular Clayhead members were unavailable. First stop was at the mighty Uttox Quarry. I snook in hoping no one would see me - but it was no problem as I was the only birder on site. I quickly found my target - a Red-breasted Merganser swimming about on the main pit. Looking directly into the sun gave only silhouette views, but its not a bad record for June.

Large Skipper

An arty silhouetted shot of the RBM at Tox

Then it was on to Blithfield. I went straight to Tad Bay where I was met with an ID poser. This is the view I was faced with.

I quickly went through all the white birds I knew and quickly eliminated a cygnet and a white goose. Eventually I managed to see a long leg and I was fairly certain as to what it was. All I had to do was wait for it to wake up and show me its beak, which it duly did.
GJM came into the hide and we walked down to the Forward Hide. Unbeknown to me, Sir Roger Broadbent was in the Forward hide going through the exact same processes and he came up with the same ID just after I did. We were fairly certain it was the same 2yr bird that was at Doxey recently.

Later on, an Osprey came over the bay and circled around briefly.

The White-throated Robin twitch - video

2011-06-07T21:38:00.001+01:00

Monday 6th June 2011 - Hartlepool Headland

2011-06-07T20:53:00.018+01:00

The beginning of June has recently been quite good and so we were half expecting something to turn up. However, the weekend came and went with nothing doing. Understandably, it was a bit annoying to receive news of a mega on a Monday morning at 09-00hrs. Not the best time of the week. As the morning went by, the reports of the WHITE-THROATED ROBIN kept coming through, and I started to think about going after work. This week, Tuesday and Wednesday were totally out of the question, and I realised it was Monday or bust. Then news came that the bowls match had started and the bird became more elusive. The last sighting was at 13-43hrs when it flew back into the out of bounds Doctor's Garden. I decided to leave work at 14-30hrs but I was still very undecided as whether to make the effort or not. I could only think that the sightings would get less and less as the day went on, and we would not be there until 17-00hrs. I headed round to GAS's flat to discuss the situation with him. As he came down, he jumped into his car with all his gear. The trip was on.

We headed up the A50 and A38 and then received the news that it had been seen again briefly at 15-10hrs. That raised our hope a little, but as we were driving along, I worked out it had been seen once in 4hrs, and that was only a brief sighting.

We hit no traffic and headed out onto the headland. As we got nearer, we could see a crowd in front of us. They didn't look like birders, more like a riot of some sort. As we got nearer, we started seeing a few scopes and we realised we had found the crowd. But what on earth was going on. There were two vans with birders stood on the roofs, and loads more birders just standing around.

Our first impressions

We slowly discovered that the WHITE-THROATED ROBIN was showing in the garden on the other side of a 10ft wall. I then started to think how was I going to get on top of the van, and how was GAS going to get on. Then the ladders started turning up. I noticed one was being set up and we immediately joined the queue. There were only three birders in front of me. We had to wait about ten minutes for the bird to be found again, and then I simply had to wait my turn. Incredibly, after only being on site for less than 15 mins, I was up a ladder watching a female White-throated Robin sitting sunning itself. I reluctantly came down to let the next man have his go, but I joined the small queue for seconds. On my second go, I managed a bit of a video.

So after nearly not bothering to go up at all, we had our tick in no time at all. It really was a bizarre sight and one of the strangest twitches I've been on. Grown men on top of vans, grown men trying to climb wall, some covered in anti climb paint. Unforgetable!
Note the dirty hands These blokes were only popping down to the shop
GAS in the red cap up a ladder

A video grab (well what do you expect when I'm up a ladder!)
The bird is just right of the obvious white rose (This was repeated many times on our ladder)

There was more drama to come. Fellow Clayheads Rich Sutton and Phil Jones had set off at 16-45hrs from work. I had already worked out that it would be nearly 20-00hrs by the time they would arrive. We kept in touch as they drove up. When the Robin flew from the Doctors garden, we all walked round to view the bowling green but there was no sign of it there. I saw quite a few birders walking down the road, so I followed them, only to find they were simply walking to their cars. We walked back to the green, only to find most of the crowd had departed. It was only 19-00hrs, and it seemed that everyone had seen it. I really felt so sorry for the boys on their way up, as they were going to have no chance of seeing it. We headed off for home just after seven. I spoke to Phil; he was still an hour away.

Then, at 19-17hrs, I received news that the WHITE-THROATED ROBIN was back in the Doctors Garden. I sent this to Phil. He arrived in Hartlepool at about 19-40hrs. When he parked up, he saw three empty ladders and so presumed the bird was not showing. A quick question as to whether it was showing was asked, and they got a surprise answer back.

HE WHO DARES...RODNEY...HE WHO DARES!

An ecstatic PJ following his furthest after work twitch ever (finishing work at normal time that is)

Second half of May 2011

2011-05-30T08:37:00.010+01:00

Monday May 16th An early start/finish at work meant we could hurtle off to Cheshire & North Wales where the previous day a Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Citrine Wagtail and Broad-billed Sand had been seen. We were short of time and so headed to Conwy first, where after a 30 minute wait, the 1st summer male Citrine Wagtail finally came back into view, worked its way along the far shore and promptly disappeared again.

Distant shot of Citrine Wag at Conwy.

We then drove back towards Frodsham. While we had been waiting at Conwy, the Buff-b had been reported on the pagers, but by the time we arrived it had not been seen for an hour and a half. We stood on the bank with the wind howling in our faces, along with the odd bit of drizzle. Excellent conditions for May. We were on the verge of giving up when suddenly the bloke next to me suddenly spotted it. We had a few views until it was flushed and it flew onto the mud flats. Further brief views of it behind the reed bed, but we had run out of time and and to head off.

Thursday 26th May After missing out on the Blithfield Red-necked Phalarope (Tues are not a good night for me, and this spring quite a few birds are turning up on Tues), I went down to Doxey after work for the Spoonbill. It had been showing well all day, but the time I arrived, it had been sitting behind the island for an hour. I did see it preen briefly.

Sleeping Spoonbill behind bush - Move over Steve Seal, there's a new kid in town!

Saturday 28th May We had decided to head off for a trip today, but nothing really caught our eye, and so a small Clayhead team decided to plod round Staffs again. And we were pleasantly surprised with what we saw when we were actually expected a bit of a naff day. Two more waders were added to the fine list of spring waders in the county with a Sanderling and a s/pl Grey Plover.
And I also managed a good site tick with the wandering Black Swan

Picture by special request of the Blurred Birder.

Sunday 29th May And so on to Staffs Mega Day - a day early this year but I'm not complaining. An afternoon call from PJ sent me bombing down the A50 to the new, flash in the pan, five minute wonder pits at Uttoxeter. The water level looks spot on there this year and its certainly producing the goods this year. The bird was a fine Lesser Yellowlegs, a great grip back for us newer Staffs lister as the last one was way back in 1995 when I was enjoying my few years of rest from birding.

Monday 30th May Chris had been off all last week and had visited Westport everyday. It would have been very harsh on him today, his first day back at work for me to find something at Westport. Well I walked round in the rain from 0600hrs until 0700hrs seeing nothing. I then sat in the car for a while and scanned the main lake.

Sorry Chris

PLEASE NOTE - Apart from the Spoonbill pic, no nest box lids were lifted up during the taking of any of these photo's

Early May 2011

2011-05-19T20:15:00.005+01:00

Still playing catch up but here's a few pictures from what was a bit of a wader fest in the first part of May, fuelled by the mighty east wind that made birding the Pits quite unpleasant at times. Still, I managed to get a good sand blasting. Above is one of two drake Garganey that I saw, the Croxall Spotshank and an awesome flock of 8 Turnstones - all well worth the soaking we got. Westport Lake was also producing the goods. I managed to find a pair of s/pl Black-necked Grebes on the 12th May and had four Whimbrel fly over on the 17th. The first pictures of the Westport BNG's before the long lens boys had even woke up!

The Whimbrel over Westport - all in 6 seconds!

April 24th to 30th 2011

2011-05-09T19:59:00.004+01:00

I was off for the week after our holiday to Cyprus. We did manage to have several days birding, but we wasted two of them by standing in Horton, Staffordshire looking for a reported IBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF. Being up the north of the county, we managed to see Pied Flycatcher, Wood Warbler and Dipper, plus a Wood Sandpiper and two Greenshanks at Tittesworth. Frustrated by how the week unfolded, we made the most of the Saturday with a quick dash over to Lincolnshire to see the Collared Pratincole.

Then we returned to Staffordshire and started what turned into a bit of a wader fest over the next few weekends. It was all down to a strong easterly wind that made birding the dry, sun baked pits quite unpleasant, turning them into dust bowls. It was also hard to keep your scopes still, and so most birding was done on your knees. But the wind certainly produced the goods, with pictures below of Black-tailed Godwit and a partial s/pl Knot.

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus 2011 - Saturday 23rd April

2011-05-04T20:23:00.004+01:00

It was our last day and the hire car had been returned. I had no other option but to stay in bed. Only joking - I was up at 06-00hrs and made the 35 mins walk along the coast from the hotel to Paphos Headland. It was a glorious sunny morning again. I soon found a hole in the fence just to the left of the main entrance and I virtually had the headland to myself this morning. There was a Spur-winged Plover on the mosaics plus a Short-toed Lark - my 84th and final species of the trip. There were 5+ Wheatears and later on the Wagtails came in to feed, with a Black-headed amongst them. The Pied Flycatcher was still on the Avenue.

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus 2011 - Friday 22nd April

2011-05-02T20:17:00.013+01:00

Up at 06-00hrs on a beautiful sunny morning with no wind. First stop was at the Chicken Farm where we had eight Lesser Kestrels perched on the wires before they flew off over the fields for their first flight of the day. Also Corn Bunting singing.

Lesser Kestrel at the Chicken Farm

Our next stop was at Nata Ford where we had three calling Black Francolin and two Whinchat but not much else. We headed back down towards the coast again and ended up on a small road leading to Foinikas. We pulled up by the side of the road because a Roller was perched in a tree. What followed was one of those excellent spells of unplanned birding which we could easily have driven past if not for that Roller.

Roller

We had two singing Eastern Olivaceous Warblers, with one showing well and a lilith Little Owl flew onto the cliff face above us. We had two Turtle Doves and Cyprus Warbler.

lilith Little Owl

We decided to drive on, but just round the next bend I stopped to check two Swallows. They turned out to be two Red-rumped Swallows, and so we stood and watched them feeding and calling as the swooped over the valley. A Cyprus Pied Wheatear was singing, then a Spectacled Warbler started, along with another Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, and two Great Spotted Cuckoos flew over calling.

Spectacled Warbler

The road to Foinikas

We dragged ourselves away and drove down to Paphos SW where three BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS had been seen the previous afternoon. Unfortunately there was no sign, but we did have two Spur-winged Plovers, an Ortolan, two Black Francolins calling and many Blue-headed Wagtails.
During the day we visited the monastry at Agious Neofytos, where a fine male Collared Flycatcher was in the car park plus the ever present Cyprus Wheatears and Warblers.
We returned to the hotel at 16-00hrs and so we popped out before tea for another session. We were heading to Aspro Dam, but we soon rode into heavy rain. We decided to check the Mandria Fields instead from the comfort of our car and we were just on the edge of the rain. It was clear that it had been raining in the area for a considerable time with huge puddles on the fields and rain water running down the culverts. We drove along the beach but there were no signs of any larks or wheatears. As we came to Lark corner, seventeen Little Egrets were in flight having come in off the sea. They eventually flew inland. As we were watching these, a Black Francolin was calling and was flushed when a farmer drove past it, giving us brief flight views. Then we had a flock of seven Black-winged Stilts and Ruff coming in off the sea. It would appear that they too were flying into the rain shower and then being forced inland to get away from it. This was the first (and only ) time this week we had seen migration on Cyprus. We drove inland a little bit and had an amazing 30 Turtle Doves feeding in a field. We carried on back to the beach and carried on past he access road and headed down towards the greenhouses. A fairly large bird flew up and perched up in a bush, trying to dry itself off. It turned out to be a Great Reed Warbler, again probably downed by the rain.

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus 2011 - Thursday 21st April

2011-05-01T10:15:00.007+01:00

It was a damp start again to the morning and by the time we were on the outskirts of Paphos it was raining. It was still raining when we arrived at Aspro Dam and so we carried on up to Nata Ford. Unfortunately, our low fuel light came on and so we headed back down towards the coast. We returned to Aspro Dam and checked out the area above the car park, where two days ago there had been three Collared Fly and a Semi-collared. We soon found two Blackcaps and heard a Nightingale calling. We had brief views of it several times but it never really showed well. While we were stalking it, we saw a male Cyprus Warbler and then a Great Spotted Cuckoo moved through the conifers.

Great Spotted Cuckoo, Aspro Dam

We were again running out of time and so we headed down to the Mandria fields. We paused to check the fields and had two Stone-curlews and two Chukars, and there were at least two Black Francolins calling. We parked on the beach and had a Squacco over plus three Wheatears in the grass before we headed off to pursue a calling Francolin. We eventually located it in a field and slowly drove down the lane, stopping every so often. It continued to call and we knew it was in the field directly in front of us. I scanned several times but I just couldn't see it. Then I finally found it - perched up in a bush. I tried to set the scope up but it soon dropped out of sight. We also had 50+ Yellow Wagtails in a field by the side of us with one Black-headed, a Grey-headed and many Blue-headed. A Sedge Warbler was also singing plus three Turtle Doves.

Stone-curlew and Chukar, Mandria Fields
Our day trip out was along the bottom coast. At Secret Valley Picnic site we had 5+ Cyprus Warblers and two Chukars. In the Aphrodite Rock car park another pair of Cyprus Warblers were present. At the Sanctuary of Apollo, a Black Francolin was calling plus another Cyprus Warbler . At the Kourion Stadium , a Marsh Harrier flew over plus Cyprus Warblers and Cyprus Pied Wheatear were seen. At Kourion itself, we had Cyprus Pied Wheatear, Cyprus Warbler feeding young, a Woodchat, a Marsh Harrier over plus two Alpine Swifts and several Tawny Pipits.

Swallowtail and Huge Lizard type thing (answers to nick.smith907@ntlworld.com pls)

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus - Wednesday 20th April

2011-04-29T05:54:00.016+01:00

We had originally planned to go back to Aspro this morning, but when I walked outside, again at 06-00hrs and saw it had been raining during the night, I decided we would head to Paphos Headland and see what migrants had turned up. A bit of rain before sunrise were meant to be classic conditions! We parked up just past the restaurant and soon found a hole in the fence large enough for us to climb through but there were plenty to chose from.
As we walked towards the Avenue, we had our first Spanish Sparrow of the trip. In the first trees by the ruins, we had a male Pied Flycatcher and a male Black-headed Wagtail. We carried on walking around, spoke to a few birders who had the same idea as we had in coming to the headland but no one had seen much at all really. A Red-throated Pipit flew out of the grass, but we returned to the Avenue for a second check, seeing 5+ Blue-headed Wagtails, a male Redstart and two Ortolan Buntings were showing well. We decided to head back having really made the wrong decision this morning.

Today was to be our big day out, and after breakfast we headed over to Larnaca SW, a drive of 1hr-40mins, and we even managed to drive through a bit of rain on the way. We were able to drive straight up to the hide, but we were amazed at how strong the wind was here. The hide was on stilts and above the protection of the grassy banks, and so we decided to shut the windows - only to find all the glass was missing. We sat there and took the full brunt of the wind and it was virtually impossible to keep the scope still. Our target birds for the day were six SLENDER-BILLED GULLS that had been reported here as recently as the day before. A pair of Spur-winged Plovers were showing well in front of the hide, and we also had seven Black-winged Stilts, eight Shoveler, two drake Garganey, five Little Terns and two Whiskered Terns, but there was no sign of the Slender-bills. We headed off to check the surrounding area. As we drove down the track, we stopped to chat with another birder. As we did a male Spectacled Warbler sat in full view only a few feet away. He told us about a BROAD-BILLED SANDPIPER just around the corner on Spiro's Pool, and in no time we were watching five Little Terns, five Greenshanks, an impressive 120 Little Stints, c10 Kentish Plovers, a Curlew Sand and the Broad-billed Sandpiper there.

We returned to check the sewage works again just in case the gulls had dropped in. There was still no sign, but we did have five Little Grebes, six Spur-wings and by the access track, a female Pied Fly and Whinchat.
We were bitterly disappointed to have missed our target bird for the day. We headed over towards Akrotiri to try our luck there. Our first stop was at the Phasouri Reed beds. We weren't sure we had arrived there as we were looking at such a small pool, but we stopped and checked it out and saw five Cattle Egrets, two Black-winged Stilts, a Little Egret, a Squacco, three Glossy Ibis, drake Garganey and drake Ferruginous Duck.
We carried on driving along the road and soon came out onto the Akrotiri Plains. At our first stop, we heard a BLACK FRANCOLIN calling, and then we had two birds answering back in the distance. I thought I saw some movement in one area but nothing more came of that, so we drove further down the track. As soon as we pulled up, one called literally feet away from us. Again we tried our best to see it, but we were having no luck today. We drove down several tracks in the area but there was no further sign. Time was running out and we had to head back. As we left the plain, two Turtle Doves were in a field, another BLACK FRANCOLIN started to call, and a Purple Heron was showing extremely well by the side of the road as it walked about in an olive grove.
We decided on one last check of Phasouri Reed beds, and three Irish birders had turned up since we were last there. We stood with them and chatted, and then they casually said there were three BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATERS over the reeds. We soon were watching them and had good but distant views. They eventually perched up on the reeds and were joined by a fourth bird. They had been seen in the area on the two previous days, but I didn't expect them to stay for a third. It was a good session here to end the day, with a Squacco, a male Little Bittern, three Ferruginous Ducks, Garganey and two Marsh Harriers to end a hard day's birding.

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus - Tuesday 19th April

2011-04-26T20:24:00.006+01:00

Up at 06-00hrs but it was much cooler (17C) and I immediately regretted leaving my fleece in my hotel room. First stop was Cape Drepanum, to the north of Paphos. We parked up by the small harbour first, seeing a pair of Cyprus Pied Wheatears and a Common Sandpiper. In the fields on the headland itself, we had at least five Ortolan Buntings, four Tawny Pipits and 8+ Yellow Wagtails, of which at least two were Grey-headed, and 5+ Blue-headed.

Above - Ortolan Bunting on Cape Drepanum

We still hadn't seen CYPRUS WARBLER yet, and after careful checking of all the information I had bought out with me, we headed to Mavrokolmpos Dam. We pulled in by the dam itself and walked down to view the bushes on the dam slopes. We had a singing male Cyprus Pied Wheatear, a Woodchat Shrike, and eventually we had 5+ Cyprus Warblers in the area, located by most birds singing and behaving quite territorial to each other. Relieved by getting another of our target birds, we walked over to the other side of the dam, and had a CHUKAR fly over and perch on a rock. We also had Kestrel, Great Tit and Magpie in the area.

Above - Male Cyprus Pied Wheatear

Above - Cyprus Warbler

Above - Chukar

Mavrokolympos Dam

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus - Monday 18th April

2011-04-25T19:09:00.003+01:00

This holiday, as with most of my others is a family holiday, and so the majority of birding is done pre-breakfast. Its a punishing schedule of getting up at 05-30hrs daily, but you just get on and do it. This morning we were up and out of the hotel by 06-00hrs and we made our way to the pools below Aspro dam. To be honest it was very disappointing down there with just Fan-tailed, Cetti's and Sardinian Warblers on show, with a single Moorhen on the pool. We drove up to the dam, and immediately had a LONG-LEGGED BUZZARD being mobbed by corvids on the ridge to the left of the road. Our first tick safety in the bag. We parked up by the dam and started to walk across, finding a pair of CYPRUS PIED WHEATEARS on the overflow. We also had a Common Sandpiper and a Whiskered Tern.

Female Cyprus Pied Wheatear

Whiskered Tern

Second tick of the day and it was only 07-40hrs. Next stop was at nearby Paphos SW. As soon as we pulled up we had our first of six SPUR-WINGED PLOVERS showing well just inside the fence. We also had a Cattle Egret fly over and a Cyprus Pied Wheatear.

The main trip of the day was the drive up north to the Baths of Aphrodites, west of Polis. We had another four Cyprus Pied Wheatears, some showing well on the telegraph wires, several Blackcaps and our first Magpies of the trip. After hearing an unfamiliar Reed Warbler type song coming from a bush, we eventually tracked it down and had good views of a singing EASTERN OLIVACEOUS WARBLER. There were probably at least three singing birds in the area. We had 10+ Pallid Swifts overhead. In Latchi just down the road, we had two Black-headed Wagtails, one Blue-headed and a Grey-headed in a field by the beach. So with four lifers, it wasn't a bad at all.

Clayheads on Tour in Cyprus - Sunday 17th April

2011-04-25T10:10:00.009+01:00

We arrived on Cyprus at 21-50hrs and made the short transfer from Paphos airport to the Louis Imperial Beach Hotel, just on the eastern side of Paphos. We had booked a hire car for the week but that wasn't coming until 10-00hrs, so I went for a walk along the coast. I spotted a small headland and made for that, seeing plenty of House Sparrows, Swallows and Hooded Crows. It was a warm, clear morning and I soon realised that I didn't need my fleece on. A Common Sandpiper was feeding in one of the bays, and on the headland, two Crested Larks were singing.

Crested Lark

I did a bit of sea watching, but there was nothing going past at all, other than a flock of five Cattle Egrets. It seemed strange to watch Linnets feeding fully grown young having just left Britain. There was a patch of open waste land near to a building site, and here I watched 8+ Blue-headed Wagtails feeding. I also found a female Black-eared Wheatear feeding on the mounds.

Female Eastern Black-eared Wheatear

Blue-headed Wagtail

Grey-headed type Wagtail

Two Tawny Pipits flew in and stayed briefly, as did two White Wagtails. As I walked back, I saw a Northern Wheatear along the beach.
We planned to visit Paphos Headland during the morning, mainly to see the ruins. We arrived at 11-00hrs and I knew it was not an ideal time. We had several Sardinian Warblers singing, plus many Fan-tailed Warblers and Crested Larks. A Hoopoe flew over and we had three Woodchats. We saw some German birders watching some large lizards/gecko's, and I noticed a Black-headed Wagtail was feeding amongst the ruins. We stood there for a while and eventually had two Black-headed Wag's showing well and a male Redstart. I managed to add Kestrel, Corn Bunting, Cetti's, Swift and Yellow-legged Gull to my list before we headed back to the hotel. It was quite warm with temperatures of 25C +

Black-headed Wagtail

Saturday 9th April - North Wales

2011-04-11T20:36:00.007+01:00

PJ suggested that we went on a trip, and as the week progressed, our attention turned towards North Wales, especially to Anglesey, where a PURPLE HERON was present. So armed with our target birds, we headed off at 05-30hrs. First stop was at World's End. We had fabulous view of lekking BLACK GROUSE along the road, but we decided to only have a brief look at these as there was a larger lek further down the road apparently. Unfortunately, we never found this, and so if you want to see any pictures of lekking Black Grouse, check out SURFBIRDS!

We spent about two hours here, seeing two male WHINCHATS, three male RING OUZELS and fly over CROSSBILLS. The star bird at this site took two hours to show, but when it finally show, it showed down to a few feet.

We then headed for Anglesey, but there was no news on the PURPLE HERON yet. We decided to head instead for the Great Orme where a DOTTEREL had been found earlier in the morning. Then we changed direction again when news came through on the wires of a BLACK SCOTER off the Rainbow Bridge. It took us ages to find how to get to the bridge, and by the time we walked to it, there was not a birder in sight. The SCOTER flock were swimming just off the wind turbines and picking out a BLACK SCOTER at this range was impossible. We did see several RED-THROATED DIVERS, GUILLEMOTS and two SANDWICH TERNS flew past.

By this time, the PURPLE HERON was showing, and so after wasting an hour on the SCOTER, we finally crossed over to Anglesey. We knew that we had to find a footpath opposite the church in Dwyran, down in the SW corner of Anglesey. No problem we thought. Churches are easy to find. What we didn't know was that it was a small Welsh chapel set back from the road, and it didn't have a steeple. We found it on our second drive past. We walked into the field, joined two birders already there and enjoyed good views of the PURPLE HERON as it fed in a small pool. The light was very good as we were looking directly into the sunlight, but I thoroughly enjoy watching my first Purple Heron for five years in Britain, and, more importantly, my first Welsh Purple Heron.

The pool at Dwyran

My first Purple Heron in Wales, and my first photographed one in Britain

Next stop was for the GLAUCOUS GULL near to Menai Bridge. We did find a field with quite a few large gulls in it, but there was no sign. After a brief discussion, we decided to head towards the Great Orme. Reports on the DOTTEREL were quite infrequent during the day, and so I was not expecting it to be still present. Following a small detour via the carpark at the top of the Orme (due to GAS's navigating and then admission that he didn't actually know where the Limestone Pavement was), we parked up a saw two birdwatchers standing, staring. PJ leapt out of the car and confirmed that the DOTTEREL was still present. It performed like a dream, and we were soon joined by fellow Westport Wanderer DK. The Orme was full of Clayheads on Tour!

Dotterel on Great Orme - another Welsh tick for me

DK exhausted after taking 7500 shots of the Dotterel

1st April 2011 - Happy BK Day

2011-03-31T19:25:00.008+01:00

My blog has been going for less than a year so this is my first opportunity to celebrate BK day - Yes its SIX years now since the bird of the decade the BELTED KINGFISHER graced our fair county. To remind everyone of the date, I've posted a few bits below - my video of the bird, a recording of the Midlands Today feature and a few more pictures. Happy BK day to those who want to remember it, and those that want to forget it.

Sat/Sun 26th & 27th March 2011

2011-03-28T21:05:00.006+01:00

A quieter Saturday planned for this weekend. Firstly, three hours at Westport saw my earliest ever British Swallow and joint earliest Blackcap. We also had eleven Waxwings over, two LRP's and a Little Grebe flew in. Then it was on to Belvide for a distant Black-necked Grebe that showed right on the far side. No pics sorry.
Then onto Branston GP's for an average visit that saw a par of Mandarins, a Little Egret, Ruff and a few Redshank.

Redshank, Little Egret and Mandarin at Branston GP's

Sunday afternoon became quite pleasant, and so I persuaded the family to go on a walk. They chose a stroll around Westport. As it was a family trip, I didn't take my bins with me (reminds you of a birdforum member hey!). The main path was quite busy so we took a detour into the quieter reserve area. To my complete surprise, I heard Waxwings calling, and soon found 15 feeding in the tops of the trees and a few were flycatching. My only previous sightings of Waxwings were on the estate back in 2005, so these latest sightings were very welcome indeed. Below is a shot taken from my phone.

Waxwings at Westport. Copies of this photo are available to buy

Finally, my male Reed Bunting returned to my garden again, this time briefly perching on my bird table.

Then, amazingly, a female Reed Bunting turned up as well. Must get some reeds sorted for them because there arn't many around in my street

Friday 18th March - A surprise garden tick

2011-03-21T20:24:00.002Z

I casually glanced out of the kitchen window during the afternoon and to my surprise there was a male Reed Bunting feeding on the seed beneath the table. Never even had a fly over, so this completely came out of the blue. It came down a few times before a cat came, flushed it and its not been back since.

Saturday 19th March 2011 - Clayheads on Tour in Ireland

2011-03-21T17:06:00.010Z

It had been suggested several times that a trip to Ireland should be made when there was a fine selection of birds on offer. In fact, out of the crew, only GAS had ever been there before, and that was on a sight seeing trip. So with the arrival of the ASIATIC WHITE-WINGED SCOTER and the continued presence of the HOUSE CROW, the idea cropped up again. With another Stoke crew successfully seeing both birds on a day trip the previous weekend, we realised it was possible to do, and the wheels were set in motion.

All week there was constant discussions going on. Some members dropped out, and the whole trip cancelled for good on the Wednesday. On Friday morning, news that the duck was still present came on quite early that morning, and, despite finally cancelling the trip I suggested to GAS that we had nothing to loose, and there was nothing stopping just the two of us going. So we booked the ferry and the trip was on.

We left home at 17-45hrs on Friday and drove up to Holyhead, and we didn't arrive at the port until 20-30hrs due to the roadworks on the A55. Now I really wasn't looking forward to the ferry crossing and I've heard many stories about the Irish Sea. The notice board said "moderate" seas. That made me even worse. We caught the 21-30hrs Stena Line and soon found the lounge area where we hoped to bed down for the crossing. The ferry is huge - there are two levels for the vehicles and in total the ship has about 11 floors. As for the crossing, well once I was settled down on my sofa you could hardly tell the ship was moving. If only the Scillonian III was as smooth as this. I was soon asleep and I woke up at 00-15hrs. We docked at 01-05hrs (some 15mins late due to not running on full power!) and I was finally setting foot in Ireland.

Sat navs are amazing things, and we zipped straight through the centre of Dublin just as the pubs and clubs were emptying. We were soon on the M7 heading towards Limerick. The roads, once you were away from Dublin were empty and GAS was sound asleep - until I saw a toll booth ahead - but it was only €1-80 to get through. We eventually parked up on the spit at Rossbeigh, Co Kerry at 05-15hrs. We went through a maze of tiny villages with many unmarked roads, and getting there would have been unimaginable without the sat nav.

Looking over Rossbeigh at first light

We tried to sleep again but by 06-00hrs, we were parked in the layby with the hay bales with the scopes set up. As soon as it started getting light, there were small flocks of Common Scoter coming in - feeding, displaying and calling. The light was too poor at first, and everything was silhouetted, but we soon saw our first Hooded Crows and Choughs flying past. By 07-00hrs, the light was good enough to see the yellow beaks, but despite quite large groups just offshore, there was still no sign. Then at 07-25hrs, I caught a glimpse of the white around the eye and we had found the Asiatic White-winged Scoter. We watched it for the next hour or so as it preened and even went to sleep. When it dived it seemed to be under for a long time, far longer than the Common Scoter. It truly was an awesome looking bird. We also had 60+ Red-throated Divers and 10+ Great Northern Divers in the bay, but as you scanned, it was amazing as to how many Common Scoter were in the bay - they were as far as you could see; right into the distance. If the AWWS was in these, I wonder if anyone would have picked it up in the first place?

The crowd at the Scoter twitch.
The Asiatic White-winged Scoter

At 08-30hrs, we started the 2hr journey to Cobh where we hoped to see the INDIAN HOUSE CROW. It appeared that this bird was becoming slightly erratic now with its appearances, and last weekend we heard that birders had been looking for it since first light and had only seen it briefly when it finally did appear. We had about six hrs to see this bird, but I was still slightly concerned. We arrived in Cobh centre via a €5 car ferry (sat nav on wrong setting) and we met the birder we had been standing with at Rossbeigh. He hadn't seen the Crow yet. I walked over to two other birders looking in the harbour. As I approached the bloke immediately ran across the road. I stood next to the lady and asked if she had seen the crow yet. She pointed to it perched on a boat. We had been in town less than five minutes and had seen the House Crow. We followed it around the harbour, getting some incredible views, and for a Crow, its quite a looker. The wings were almost blue, and its call was something else. After about 15mins it flew off and we never saw it again. We now only had 9hrs to wait for the ferry. House Crow in Cobh Cobh, Co Cork
We ate our dinner and then had a look around Cobh, including a visit to St Colman's Cathedral. Unfortunately, it started to rain at 13-45hrs, and we decided to head back to Dublin. I decided as we still had hours left to head for the coast line just below Dublin, and we made for Blackrock. Along this coast we made several stops, seeing 33 Pale-bellied Brent Geese, a good selection of waders, at least three Mediterranean Gulls, a few Gannets, Razorbills and Guillemots. By 18-00hrs, it was getting dark and it was raining again. We tried to find a bit of tea at several petrol stations, but we failed (no fridges full of sandwiches and ginsters over there. Only deli bars, that were all shut!).

We headed for the ferry and parked in the queue at 18-30hrs. To our amazement, we were soon driving on, and we were soon lying on our sofas again with an hour to go before we set sail back. I was soon gone, and woke up at 23-15hrs, and again you were hardly able to tell the boat was moving. We arrived back home at 03-15hrs, thoroughly knackered but very happy as to how our first trip to Ireland had gone. And for the right bird, we'd go back again.

Saturday 12th March 2011

2011-03-14T16:08:00.007Z

And so we returned to Cannock Chase again this Saturday following another spate of sightings of the GREAT GREY SHRIKE in the week. CJW joined us this week despite a severe foot injury. What a hero! Just before we arrived at the Cadet Huts, we knew the GREAT GREY SHRIKE had been seen at 08-15hrs flying towards the Old Quarry. We parked up at 09-00hrs and met Rob Swift (retrospectively identified later) walking back to his car. Armed with his information we headed towards the Quarry, but there was no sign of it. We decided to head towards the Shooting Butts and explore the area behind. We started to descend into the valley but CJW was lagging behind and was still at the top on high ground when he spotted the Shrike in the distance on the pine belt behind the mound. We hurried over in the general direction it was heading but again there was no sign. I even climbed the mound to survey the whole area, but it was looking like it had escaped again. Then, four birdwatchers walked up and we had a chat before we walked to view the valley again. Then, one of the four immediately spotted the Great Grey Shrike in one of the birches directly in front of us. We'd finally seen it on our third attempt! One of the group that found it was on his ninth attempt.

Great Grey Shrike, Cannock Chase - my first on the Chase since 2000

Next stop was Branston GP's, seeing a Ruff on the first pit but apart from seven Curlew on the Sandy Pit it was fairly quiet.

Tree Sparrow seen at a feeding station near to Branston last week

As we were walking back to the car, GM phoned to say the GREAT WHITE EGRET was in Tad Bay. It was still early in the day, and so we decided to hot foot it over. It was still present at the bottom of the bay when we arrived, and although the views were distant, at least the light was better than when we last saw it.

Saturday 5th March 2011

2011-03-07T17:37:00.007Z

During the week, I had to visit our office in Norwich. I decided to have a comfort break near to Thetford, and I managed to get good views of a Wood Lark in the forest near there. Back to Saturday, and after setting another new Goosander record for Westport - 85 - we headed down to Branston GP's. It was a bit murky down there, but there was a Barnacle Goose with the Canada Geese and the Sandy Pit was positively heaving with waders - 500+ Lapwings, 150 Golden Plover, nine Dunlin and two Ringed Plover. But the best news was firstly, the bird scarer that was positioned right on the public footpath has been removed, and secondly, the old wobbly stile has been repaired and the bridge across the stream has been replaced! Then we headed for Blithfield, and the long wait for the Great White Egret to come into roost. It eventually did at 18-00hrs and sat on view until the light faded.

Saturday 26th February 2011 - Rainham Marsh

2011-02-27T14:49:00.004Z

Bit of music for you to listen to while you read this one

Well, there had been a few sightings of the SLATY-BACKED GULL at Rainham this week, but not many, and there were mumblings on the forum that some sightings were possibly "a bit unreliable". We discussed the pros and cons of going, but in the end wise old PJ said "you ain't gonna see it sitting at home". We also realised that time was probably running out to see this gull, as dispersal would be starting soon. We had not much to loose, resigned ourselves to possibly dipping and headed off. To be honest, I thought that maybe we had a 50:50 chance of seeing it - surely some sightings in the week were genuine?

We arrived at about 0830hrs and went straight to the tip and we were pleasantly surprised to see 15+ birders already on site.

The crowd at the tip on our arrival

The tip....again

We watched the tip until about 1100hrs but we felt that there weren't that many large gulls present and so with the constant rain that was to last for the next five hours we headed back to view the marsh. So now the birders were split between two sites. Here we heard a rumour that a named birder had seen the SBG on the tip during the morning, but those around him couldn't get onto it. Now bearing in mind the line of birders at the tip was c20 at that stage, we knew nothing about this sighting at all, but our hopes were raised a little - maybe it was still around? We carried on viewing the marsh and then we had the next message saying the gull had been seen flying away from the marsh and over the tip. Oh we thought. And then another message came on that the SBG had been present on the tip from 1120-1150, but this message came out about an hour too late.
So by midday, we were slightly confused and we had met no one who had seen the gull. We also heard from a local that the gull has been present everyday this week on the marsh up to Thursday.

Phil enjoying himself in the fine weather

Then things hotted up. The SBG was showing at 13-50 from the Shooting Butts hide. We all went to the Serin mound to view over the reserve. Fortunately, a voluntary warden was there and he immediately rang the centre. They knew nothing about the sighting but they named the birder who had reported it (he didn't know him though). We all then headed for the Shooting Butts hide, about a 20 min walk from the mound. Just as we were getting close to the hide, a birder came out and shook his head. It had already flown and no one knew in which direction.
So we headed back to the mound, slightly knackered, quite gutted, and we stood in the rain again and our spirits were getting lower and lower. There were very few gulls flying onto the marsh (1430ish) but a few trickling away, and so we thought we'd had our last opportunity to see it.
Then I noticed a bloke in a blue coat walking quite quickly in the direction of the tip, pointing towards the tip as he walked past birders. I sensed something, and suggested we headed in the direction of the tip. Soon we got the message on the pager that the SBG was on the tip. En masse everyone headed for the tip. PJ managed to do a bit of running and he reached the bottom of the slope and it was still on show. By the time he stood next to the finders, the SBG had walked out of view and down a slope. Soon there were 40+ birders looking at the tip again but despite the feeling that it would suddenly walk back into view, it never did. Then all the gulls went up, and no one was able to pick it out in flight. Most birders headed back to the marsh as most gulls were generally heading that way, but by the time we arrived, there were only a handful of large gulls still roosting - it was by now 15-45hrs. We just couldn't believe we had missed it again.

So to summarise, we stood in the rain for at least 5hrs today, and out of the 40+ birder on site today, I would guess at c5 saw the bird today. At the final showing, we did meet someone who had actually seen the gull, and this was at his 4th attempt.

Unfortunately, as far as the Clayheads are concerned, we are still firmly in the hybrid camp, and maybe for sometime to come!

Saturday 20th February - Chipping Norton, Oxon and South Mimms Services, M25

2011-02-20T16:18:00.016Z

There were two potential ticks for the Clayhead Crew - the ORIENTAL TURTLE DOVE in Oxfordshire and the SLATY-BACKED GULL at Rainham. Unfortunately, the SBG didn't show on Friday, but we knew we could always head down from Chipping Norton on news - Rainham was only two hours away. Due to logistics, there was only two of us in the car, but PJ travelled down with the Suttons and Karl, and we arranged to meet on site. I knew there would be quite a queue this morning, and so we set off at 04-10hrs, arriving on site in the rain at 06-10hrs. I couldn't believe how many cars there were already parked up, and my fears came true as I saw the queue that had already formed outside the house. I stood at 06-10hrs in constant rain with c50 birders already in front of me. So much for getting up early! It gradually got light at 07-00hrs, and the first Jackdaws started to appear. GAS left the warmth of his car to stand with me, and the rain eased slightly. The other car load arrived, but despite an offer to stand with me, they all nobly joined the back of the queue.

My view for nearly three hours

The rain got heavier, and despite quite a few neighbours and the first few birders being let into the house, it was clear there was no sign of the DOVE at first. The rain got heavier, and we gradually became wetter and colder. Then, at 08-45hrs, someone on the opposite side of the street spotted the dove in the trees in between the two houses. All hell broke loose, and the treasured place in the queue was lost. We all dived into whatever space we could find to try and see the dove. I gently lent on another birder and just managed to get the right angle and saw the Oriental Turtle Dove. It was all too easy and we had our tick in the bag..............ah, if life was that simple.

The Oriental Turtle Dove had virtually taken over my life this week, and I was getting to know the street quite well. This was my third attempt this week. On Tuesday, the first big full day, I suddenly felt unwell at work, and at 0900hrs I was heading south to join the queue, the plan being that the DOVE was showing and the queue had died down. I arrived at 11-35hrs with no sign of the dove since first thing and the queue was not moving. I only had two hours on site before I had to return for the school run, and needless to say, I dipped.

The queue on Tuesday

Then, on Thursday, there were frequent sightings of it in the morning. I finished work at 12-00hrs, and we again headed south. We had two sightings come on the pager while we were driving, and we were starting to feel confident we would nail it this time. The last report was at 13-10, and we arrived at 14-00hrs. At first there were just a few birders walking around, then we were joined by the successful twitchers of the SLATY-BACKED GULL returning from the south. We walked around for three hours, and again, there was no further sign.

But there's more. In December 2002, I travelled to Orkney for the long staying RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE. We planned to go on the Saturday 21st, but there had been no news on the Friday. We decided to risk it (probably they had got bored of phoning it in we thought) and anyway, with Christmas looming, it would be well into the new year before we could come up again. We drove through the night and caught the 05-00hrs ferry across. It was a nightmare crossing, and the only way I coped was to sit outside and stare at the island on the horizon. Unfortunately, I sat directly into the oncoming wind, and in my half sleep/boat sickness condition I realised I was becoming quite numb with cold. I forced myself back inside, but I completed the voyage intact. We walked over to the roosting Collared Doves, and even while it was still dark, we couldn't see the RTD, and we feared the worse. The one thing I remember about the dreadful dip was the first road sign we passed once we were back on the mainland - 100 miles to Inverness.

So back to the Oriental in Chipping Norton. It flew from the tree, and was then showing in the garden. Birders were slowly going in the house. There were only two birders in front of us - the dove was on the bird table - we would finally get in the house - and then it flew.

Eventually it was relocated down at the bottom of the street, and we all hurtled down. Now on the Bird Forum, one person who was there said he was embarrassed by the sight of grown men running down the street, jumping over the gate, jostling for position. Well pal, I've travelled 1655miles in my quest to add ORIENTAL TURTLE DOVE to my British list. I think I just about deserve to run and climb after that effort!

Grown men crouching in a field after jumping over a gate - Shocking

Record shot Oriental Turtle Dove at Chipping Norton

And so despite being soaked, optically steamed up and cold, we were rather pleased at our mornings success. We decided to head off to see the AMERICAN WIGEON. We hadn't been driving for long when PJ rang me to say the SLATY-BACKED GULL had been seen at Rainham (only nine birders on site!). We made a quick decision, reset the sat nav and headed for London town. Despite torrential rain all the way, we made fairly good progress and we were about 30 mins away when we received news that it had now gone to Pitsea. We headed for South Mimms services and decided that was pretty much that for the day. The gull will just have to wait.

Saturday 12th February 2011

2011-02-14T20:05:00.005Z

Normal service resumed this weekend after no birding last weekend due to being busy/wet weekend forecast. First stop, as per usual was at Westport, where we saw a whopping 33 Goosander (main lake record) plus signs of spring with the first three Shelducks of the year down there. Best bird of the day though was a new CR Coot. This bird (picture below) was rung at Crompton Lodges near Bolton on 14th Dec 2010 and walked 57km in 60days! (Well have you ever had a Coot fly over?).

Next stop was a rare visit to another North Staffs Bird Forum reserve, Uttoxeter Quarry to look for the rare geese that have been seen here recently. We easily found the goose flock viewable in fields from the access track off the A50, but viewing was hampered by the flock repeatedly feeding behind bushes. We did see one White-front and one Pink-foot, but we decided to head to the pits instead for better views. By this time, the geese had moved out of the field and onto the water, and we saw the single White-front again but no sign of the Pink-foot this time. First two Oystercatchers are the year - more signs of spring.

White-fronted Goose at Uttoxeter Quarry

Next stop was at BGP's where there was a Little Egret on the first pit, and the Sandy Pit was covered with birds including 20 Curlew and three Redshank.

We also visited other pits in area, seeing the five Whooper Swans that are usually found at Croxall, a Black-tailed Godwit plus a female Red-breasted Merganser, that probably promptly left as one was found at Blithers on Sunday.

Saturday 29th January 2011

2011-01-30T20:17:00.005Z

Another day out in Staffordshire was planned, following on from last weekends rather productive session. First stop after Westport was at Brookleys Lake, which was rather frozen following a fall to -3C overnight. All the wildfowl were congregated around a small open patch on the right, and so we stayed at the bottom and scoped from there so as to avoid flushing. We saw six Mandarin.

A pair of Mandarin at Brookleys Lake

We had brief pauses at JCB Pools, Rocester and on the causeway at Blithfield before heading to Branston GPs, and our first visit of the year to this site. The first pool was quite busy with two Pink-feet among the Greylags, 22 Gadwall, six Shelduck, 62 Wigeon, 45 Pochard and a Redshank, but the rest of the pits were virtually birdless, with just two Crows on the Sandy Pits and single Green Sands and Redshank further along.

We were going to check other pits in the area but with working and maintenance going on, it was necessary to head elsewhere. We made the decision to cross the county line and head down to West Mids County and go and see the BLACK-THROATED DIVER at Clayhanger Marsh. This was a new site to us, and many thanks to Messrs Yapp, Nuttall and Jones who all assisted in trying to get us to the site. We did eventually find Ryder's Mere (the problem was it was in Pelsall, and not Brownhills or Clayhanger) and easily found the very showy juvenile Black-throated Diver. We had been alerted to the fact that the diver was showing a chin strap, but despite all our efforts, we couldn't quite make it into a PACIFIC.

Juvenile Black-throated Diver on Ryder's Mere

Saturday 22nd January 2011

2011-01-23T11:25:00.006Z

A surprise visitor to the garden this week with a Sparrowhawk feeding on one of the local racing pigeons. It seemed quite happy just to sit there despite the whole household watching it through the window.

And so onto Saturday and amazingly my first full days birding in Staffordshire this year. First stop was at Gailey where two Bewick's Swans were still present with a small flock of Mutes.

We then went onto the Chase for the GREAT GREY SHRIKE, but, we couldn't find it and the Chase was generally very quiet.
Next stop was just past Croxall and the five Whopper Swans were showing very well in the field.

We finished off the day at Chasewater for the roost. This was my first roost at the new look Chasewater, and it was a bit of a nightmare. Some gulls were roosting on the water, and some on the shore in the middle, but these were clumped together tightly, so you couldn't really see them all. Then all these plus the ones on the water were flushed by something and most flew off. There were still a few gulls dropping in late on, and fortunately, Steve Richards, who was standing on the veranda with Jules, rang to tell the juvenile Iceland Gull had dropped in. The drake Smew was also showing well all afternoon.

Saturday 15th January 2011 - Just rubbish!

2011-01-16T19:36:00.005Z

News broke late Thursday night of a probable SLATY-BACKED GULL at Rainham in Greater London. It was seen again several times during Friday afternoon, and so we decided to head down on Saturday. It was a good decision as finally, late on Friday evening, its identity was confirmed following a series of flight shots published on Surfbirds. CJW was working all weekend, and so Carl joined us today. We set off at 04-30hrs and enjoyed an easy and trouble free journey to Rainham, arriving just after 07-30hrs. Howard was on hand as soon as we arrived and guided us in to a space in an already packed car park. In the early morning light, we set off for a 25 mins walked along the river side to the tip. It was quite windy, but fortunately dry.
As we were walking along, three cockney geezers in front were staring at some gulls flying over in the gloom. We asked them what they were looking at - they thought they had just seen the SLATY-BACK fly over. Interesting we thought. We eventually arrived at the tip - and we were confronted with a long line of birders all standing on top of a bank jammed up against the fence. We tried a few places first before we eventually joined the end of the line. This was to be our home for the next four hours.

We just spent hours scanning through the thousands of gulls in flight over the tip and those sitting on the deck. There was very little calling out in our area and we had no knowledge of what was going on further down the line. We just hoped the pagers would produce the goods. There was some early excitement as someone just a bit further along shouted up for a Doctor. The ambulance turned up eventually about an hour later. The poor bloke had waited so long he walked off with the paramedics.

At 12-15hrs, I finally decided to leave my spot just to stretch my legs at the bottom of the bank. I was starting to feel the effects of standing in a strong wind all morning. I noticed a small commotion along the line and then people started running. I returned to my spot and informed the others. The story was that two Belgians had seen an interesting bird with two LBBG's over the tip and it had flown towards the river. This seems to sparked the beginning of the end, as the tipping also finished and most of the gulls started to disperse. Some birders went to the river, some stayed at the tip, others just stood around talking like they had all morning.
We decided to walk down to the riverside. There weren't really many birders down here, and what few gulls were widely scattered on the river and the banks. We just walked along, and eventually got back to the car. And that was that. First twitch of the year and it ended in a most frustrating dip, made even worse when rumours came out that it had been claimed at 08-00hrs on the tip, and a Norfolk birder had been watching it for ten minutes sitting by a pond on the tip itself. The forum was also full of glimpse-it records (I'm sure I saw it but for only 15 nanoseconds but I returned home and checked my field guides and saw a space on my list and my mate saw it yesterday and I'm sure it was it)
Yes, right. Of course you did. And we saw a 10ft tall deep sea diver coming out of the Thames!

Saturday 8th January 2011 - Lancashire

2011-01-11T20:49:00.005Z

We scoured Westport again for two hours this morning, with a GBBG as our only reward. It was our original intention to tour Staffordshire, but when the 1w RED-BREASTED GOOSE came on again in Lancashire, we had a tricky decision to make. Now I was always a little bit suspect about this goose, due to the fact it was with Pink-feet, but there was just something about the bird, plus a few other little goodies in the area that made us head north. PJ was busy chasing WAXWINGS in Longton and so it was just CJW, GAS and myself today. We headed for Staynall where the goose had been reported earlier. We found the lane, but it was one of the tighest lanes I've been down for a while, and very few passing spaces. We made one car reverse quite a way back, but fortunately they were birders (cheers chaps!) and they told us there was no sign of it, and no one had seen it either. Viewing here was extremely difficult - a combination of undulating fields in a valley and high hedges, so we drove down to the bottom road to try and get better views. Three birders were walking back to their cars from out of a field, so I stopped and waited to chat to them. One was Bill Brydges, so we had a little chat. The Pink-feet were in the field, but they couldn't see them properly as they would have been flushed if they had gone any further. It was turning into a frustrating visit. Soon all the geese were up in the air (a duck shoot was going on nearby) and we saw where they landed and headed there. Viewing was from the narrow lane again and eventually we found a gap in the hedge and we could view most of the flock - but there was no sign of the R B Goose. We tried again from another angle where most of the birders in the area had gathered but we were looking into the sunlight from here. Most birders gave up and we headed for Fluke Hall to the north, a place where I remember seeing geese on my last visit up here in 2002. At last we found a field full of Pink-feet all perfectly visible, but, no sign of the RBGoose. We did see some more in a field further back with 11 Whopper Swans, but again not all were visible here. By now we had spent nearly three hours in the area, and so we decided to call it a day.

Above - Pink-footed Geese at Fluke Hall

We headed down to Fairhaven Lake where we soon spotted a very showy 1w Red-necked Grebe. It was relatively easy to spot - you just had to look where the long lens boys were gathered. But for a Red-necked Grebe, it was showing ridiculously close in at times. There was also a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers here as well. And that was all wwe had time for. We originally planned to head down to Inner Marsh for the GREEN-WINGED TEAL but we had run out of time.

Above - Red-necked Grebe and Red-breasted Mergansers at Fairhaven Lake

Postscript to RED-BREASTED GOOSE -The following two afternoons, the RBGoose was to be found in the Fluke Hall/Pilling Lane area, exactly where we had been. When I asked on the forum for local opinion on the bird, this is the reply I got -
Local opinion is probably what local opinion anywhere would be these days:

- it's definitely wild
- there's no way of knowing
- it's definitely an escape

No there hasn't been one knocking around this summer. It isn't immediately evident how a first winter would end up in with Pinkfeet. Red-breasted Goose did breed in the 'wild' in the UK this year but apparently on dates it isn't one of that brood. It is the kind of record where 'unknown origin' means just that but if I had to come off the fence I would say it is an escape which would have to be from a successful captive pairing.

Stephen Dunstan

Sunday 2nd January - East Norfolk

2011-01-05T19:36:00.007Z

We always plan a new year trip to Norfolk, and this year, having seen the NORTHERN HARRIER before Christmas, we decided to head to see the TAIGA BEAN GEESE instead. I last saw one of these back in 2003 and had never seen any in Norfolk, having dipped them once in 2006. To add some excitement to the day, the LESSER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE was still present. We had a few other sites in mind too, but we would see how the day panned out. It was a full Clayhead Crew with GAS, PJ and CJW joining us again after his month long girl flu session. After a mammoth 3hr 45 mins journey (this ain't as close as North Norfolk!) we parked up in School Lane to view Cantley Marshes. As we were walking down, a birder asked us if we knew where we were going. In true Clayhead fashion we replied with a no, and he gave us directions to a field just up the lane. We joined a group of about 15 birders but the viewing through the trees was limited, seeing only a small flock of Taiga's. We already had been told that there was no sign of the LWFG here. Moments later it came on PJ's pager that it was down the road at Buckenham Marshes, so in true wacky races style, we all sped off. We parked up at Buckenham, walked just a few metres down the lane to join the crowd, only to be then told that it was an erroneous message. The goose was a feral/hybrid LWFG that lived with thelocal Greylags/Farmyard Geese. Things were not going to plan, so we wandered down the track to see what was on offer here, and hoped the LWFG would be found soon. We had good views of Peregrine, endless numbers of Wigeon plus a few waders. There was also a Chinese Water Deer. The visit was only spoilt by a heavy sleet shower, but we found some shelter and sat and pondered, watching the birders taking the long walk following the River Yare to view the Taiga's, and discussing whether we should follow them or not.

Above - Peregrine, CWD and Wigeon at Buckenham Marshes

Then PJ's pager (again Dag!) came up trumps. The LWFG was at Cantley, viewable from the bottom of School Lane - the very place we were heading for in the first place before being directed away to the field. We managed to jam into a parking space and walked down to view from the gate at the bottom. It was quite crowded and premium spaces were limited. After a short wait, the adult Lesser White-fronted Goose came into view as it fed in a flock of c50 Taiga's. It then walked behind a bush and out of view, and apart from a brief glimpse I had of it through the bush, that was the last we saw of it.

Above - Taiga Bean Geese at Cantley

Above - PJ's excellent Lesser White-fronted Goose drawing

It had taken us slightly longer to see the LWFG than we had originally planned, but we still stuck to our plan and heading to Stubbs Mill and for the Cranes/Harrier roost. We had a quick scan on arrival, and then we walked up the river to view the fields, but apart from several Marsh Harriers, there were no sign of any CRANES. We could have driven round to Horsey, but we decided to stay put at the watchpoint. The were several large flocks of Pink-feet flying over, and PJ , whilst pouring a coffee, pointed out a low flying group. One quick scan of my bins revealed they were not geese and I shouted out to everyone to take a look at these! It was a truly marvellous sight to see nine Cranes slowly fly past right in front of you. We saw two Bitterns fly over the reeds, one being chased by at least five Marsh Harriers, a Woodcock flew around us twice, a Peregrine, five Whopper Swans and a Hen Harrier was reported as being seen but unfortunately this happened while I was taking the car to the proper parking space 4 miles down the lane.

Above - The Crane fly past at Stubbs Mill

Later, another three Cranes flew in, but these were more distant.

Below - Some of the Pink-feet going over

New Year 2011

2011-01-05T17:26:00.006Z

1st January 2010
A quiet start to the New Year this year with a visit to Westport on the 1st to start things off. We managed to bag the highly prized Westport mega - the female Pheasant - on our list following several days of careful preparation to entice it to stay. We also saw Goosander, Wigeon and Teal but it was generally a quiet visit (38 species in all). Below is a video of the Pheasant hiding under the bushes in the snow taken through my bins - its a corker!

I then planned a quick solo trip during the afternoon, birding just in the city with three target species. The 25 Waxwings were still at the bottom of Anchor Road,but it took me slightly longer to find two Long-eared Owls at Parkhall plus two Golden Plover in the field. Finally, I decided to head to the North Staffs Bird Forum's own bird reserve Berryhill to see the wintering Short-eared Owls. Now I was expecting a full turn out here of every member of the bird forum (as had happened every night at the back end of last year) but I was pleasantly surprised to find just me, a dog walker and two other birdwatchers who stood right up at the far end. The two Short-eared Owls showed down to a few feet again.

4th January 2010
A quick trip to Westport saw an adult Yellow-legged Gull standing on the ice - another useful addition to the Westport year list.

Sammy the resident Westport Shoveler (present for nearly a year now) has decided to give up shovelling and take up the far nicer bread option on the car park.

Final visit of the day was at Doxey for the Bitterns. One had been showing well before we arrived, but we just managed to catch the last glimpses of it before it went into the reeds. We probably had a second bird fly over from the right later on as well.

A quick review of 2010

2011-01-03T07:46:00.016Z

The year saw me add six British ticks to my list - namely Scottish Crossbill in Scotland, Lesser Kestrel in Suffolk, the Lincolnshire Oriental Pratincole, the Gwent Marmora's Warbler, Alder Flycatcher on Blakeney Point and the Cornish American Bittern. I also saw the Norfolk Northern Harrier and the House Finch in Devon but we'll save these for later. Luckily, I only dipped once this year - on the usually productive Flamborough Head and the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler.

Above - Lesser Kestrel on Westleton Heath, Suffolk 31st March 2010

Above - Oriental Pratincole at Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire on 11th May 2010

Above - Marmora's Warbler at Blorenge, Gwent

In Staffordshire, it was rather quiet all year, but there was just the one tick, the Franklin's Gull at Chasewater on 15th July.

It was a good year at Westport Lake, with my highest year total to date - 112. I also managed six ticks enabling my promotion into the exclusive Westport150 Club - Woodcock, Nuthatch, Crossbill, Green Sandpiper, Sandwich Tern and Pheasant plus added Tawny Owl to my heard only list, and Marbled Duck, Ruddy Shelduck, Cape Shelduck and Chestnut Teal to my feral duck list.

Nuthatch and Sandwich Tern at Westport.

and not forgetting Marbles in June

I also had a Brent Goose, a flock of 16 Barnacle Geese, a Black-tailed Godwit, two Green Sandpipers, Hobby, two Little Egrets, Lesser Whitethroat and Mediterranean Gull.

It was a year of seconds this year, with six birds being seen only for the second time - Pallid Swift, Iberian Chiffchaff, Gull-billed Tern, Booted Warbler, Arctic Warbler and finally, after a 23yr wait, Pied-billed Grebe.

Other rares included a Bonaparte's Gull on Anglesey, two King Eiders off Burghead in March and off Suffolk in October, a drake Blue-winged Teal in Cambs, Northern Long-tailed Tit in Suffolk and a Glossy Ibis on Anglesey.

Bonaparte's Gull, Lligwy, Anglesey. January 2010

Ferruginous Duck, Brookleys Lake, Staffs. January 2010

Buzzard at Gigrin Farm, Powys in February 2010

The overwintering Black Kite at Gigrin in February 2010

Capercaillie in Scotlandshire in March 2010

And finally, who can forget the bird of the year, the Alder Flycatcher on Blakeney. This was very satisfying after harshly dipping the Cornish bird in 2008, but boy, those who saw it on the Sunday will never forget the conditions from midday onwards.

Two of the Clayhead Crew celebrating seeing the Alder Flycatcher.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-03T07:19:00.004Z

I felt Boxing Day was the coldest day this winter so far. I arrived at Westport at 07-45hrs and it was -9.5C . The model boat lake only had a metre square patch of water left open and there sat two Coots and nine Khaki Campbells. Most amazingly of all, the Fowlea Brook was frozen in large stretches, someone that even Westport stalwart WJL can't even recall seeing before.