Great

And so the next chapter begins.

On Wednesday 15th June, I arrived at Westport Lake at 05:45hrs. Nothing unusual about that as it was my 154th day I'd visited there so far this year. This June has been particularly crap down there, but then again its been a very poor year so far, with a low number of species seen so far and the possibility / probability that this will be the first year that I won't see 100 species down there. 

Its fairly well known that on my first scan of the main lake I always check for a drake SURF SCOTER. Its one bird I do believe will grace Westport in the next few years. Todays scan resulted in a large chocolate brown gull sat on the lake at the far end. Armed with only bins, I walked onto a jetty to reduce the distance between me and the bird. It still looked like a large brown gull. From the start I only had one bird on the tip of my tongue, but this was Westport. I wanted to eliminate a oiled LBBG but without a scope it would be tricky. 

I started to look round for CJW as I thought there was a chance he would be down today. I texted him to see if he was awake. No reply. Bearing in mind it was still before 6am and a work day I was in a bit of a predicament. I rang PJ as his mobile is always by the sideof his bed. Nothing. I rang them both several times. Nothing. The bird was being dive bombed. I managed a few "record" shots through my bins. Not Steve Seal standard but hopefully enough to prove what I was watching.

 

Would it be good enough?

Then at 05:58hrs, I gambled and rang PL. A tricky one because PL works shifts. He answered. I asked if he had been working late last night. Yes he said. Ouch I thought. I then told him I thought I had a skua sp at Westport. Ok he said and put the phone down. He was down quite sharply and set his scope up. Looks like a Bonxie he said. Thank you I said!

I then left Westport to go and knock on CJW's front door. It was quite amusing to see him lean out of his window and peer down at me. It only took three knocks as well. Great Skua I said. Mmm he replied! 

Mrs PJ answered the land line in PJ's house and he was soon on site as well. The panic of not being to contact anyone at before 6am was slowly subsiding. Westport's first ever Great Skua was sitting pretty on the main lake.

CJW

Steve Seal

Steve Seal

PJ

   

Video courtesy of CJW

I disappeared from Westport and headed off to work. Around early afternoon, information starting coming through that there was a GREAT KNOT at Titchwell. This bird had so far eluded me in Britain, having had two opportunities before with the Lancashire and Suffolk birds. I decided to risk it and head off. 

I escaped worked and eventually headed off to Norfolk. All this time, the GREAT KNOT was sat on the freshmarsh roosting. I was only about fifteen minutes away when it flew off. Gutted wasn't the word. I later discovered the flock had been hit by a flash of lightening! It was absolutely pouring down and the roads were starting to flood. I decided to head for Hunstanton and wait on news; the reason being there was internet connection and so I could keep up to date. I'd been sitting for nearly an hour when news came on that the GREAT KNOT was back on the beach. I was only fifteen minutes away and I hurtled off. The water was pouring down off the fields and the roads were almost unpassable. I parked up at Titchwell, walk to the beach, saw the crowd in the distance and headed towards them.

I'd almost reached them when a flock of Knot came flying toward me. I instinctively lifted my bins and latched on to a bigger bird at the top of the flock. I knew it was the Great Knot and watched it fly away towards Thornham Harbour. 

I hung around until 9pm but it never came back. Still, it had been a great day. 

Pops

4th May 1934 to 2nd June 2016

Despite fighting cancer for 16 months, nothing stopped him getting out and about. Here he is, 81 years old, on a boat to Stokholm last year for the Swainson's Thrush. An absolutely fantastic twitch and brilliant memories.

Thanks pops - You'll always be with us on every trip we do

Great Spotted Cuckoo in Dorset - May 14th 2016

A GREAT SPOTTED CUCKOO was found on Portland on Friday 13th May and was present all day, feeding on newly emerged caterpillars. CJW was in charge of trip co-ordination this week as following his week at work, he could still think logically whereas I was frazzled. He decided to play safe with his decision, and we headed to Westport at 05:50hrs.  

We had only been walking around the lake for about half an hour when news came that it had stayed overnight and was still present. CJW hastily made the decision and we set off for Dorset, leaving Westport at 06:45hrs. The motorways were quiet and we made good progress. However the problem was the total lack of news coming from Portland. After this initial sighting, there was no news at all until 08:50hrs, by which time we were already in Somerset. 

We made it safely onto the Isle of Portland, reminiscing about our last visit here in 2013.  We parked up on a small housing estate and walked along the footpath to view the paddocks, along with c40 other birders. We were soon watching the Great Spotted Cuckoo as it perched in view on occasions before dropping out of view. But it wasn't until a bit of clever marshalling of those dastardly photographers that allowed the bird to fly to its favoured feeding area and we had excellent views.

We had been watching the Cuckoo for over an hour, and we decided to head off down to the Bill for a spot of sea watching. Apart from a few Razorbills, Guillemots, Gannets and Fulmars going past, it was extremely quiet. We did have very good views of a Whimbrel though as it fed just in front of us.

We made a quick visit to Lodmoor to see if the RED-RUMPED SWALLOW was still knocking around, but there had been no sign for well over an hour. We did enjoy seeing a full summer plumaged Grey Plover and a s/pl Knot that were on one of the pools. Amazingly, this is my first ever visit to Lodmoor without a tick!

And so completed another succesful day for CJW. In fact, he has now seen all the British Cuckoos. And for those hell bent on just seeing a bird once and then never ever seeing one again because its been ticked off, here are a few more photos for you to slobber over.

My first Great Spotted Cuckoo on Spurn in July 2003

My second in Norfolk in August 2009

And now my third in Dorset in 2016

Rufous Turtle Dove in Kent - 7th May 2016

The trip to see the Kentish Plover in Manchester was unplanned, but our trip to Kent for the RUFOUS TURTLE DOVE had been thought about for quite sometime. Eventually it had been pinned down and was showing on a regular basis. However, once it showed it had a tendency to disappear for the whole of the day and not return until early evening. We hoped to be successful at the first time of asking. I picked CJW up at 03:30hrs; not bad going for someone who'd finished work at midnight. 

The journey down had the same difficulties as usual. We had to come off the M6 and divert through Penkridge, then with another section further down closed as well, CJW suggested we headed down the toll road instead. This saved about fifteen minutes off the journey and we arrived in Otford, Kent at 06:45hrs. We were told the Rufous Turtle Dove. had been seen already, and we'd only waited about five minutes for it to reappear in the tree. A tick for CJW and the gamble had paid off. A bitter sweet moment for me as well, after dipping the Rufous Turtle Dove on Orkney in 2002. We watched it for about half an hour and then it dropped out of sight. Birders were still arriving (why not do a bit of homework you novices), but there was no further sign of it again until 16:45hrs. 

First views were similar to those we had in Oxfordshire for the Oriental Turtle Dove

 

Rufous Turtle Dove in Kent - the closest I've had to a tick so far this year.

It's always nice to get the day off to a good start. We now had two choices. Either stay in Kent and visit a few sites or head up to Bedfordshire. It was an easy choice and we were soon heading up the M1 to Lidlington in Bedfordshire for the now very well known site for the LADY AMHERST'S PHEASANT. On my last visits to the site in 2012, it was a totally different story. The site was only known to a small few and you had to "be in position" under the cover of darkness. It was an amazing bit of fun though. 

We were soon up to date with what had happened on site already, and basically it had just been seen once and was possibly heading up the slope to the ride. That's where we positioned ourselves and waited. Then it started calling frequently and we were able to pin point the rough area where it was. With a bit of scanning and field craft, one sharped eyed experience birder managed to see the Lady A's and the majority of the crowd were able to get on to it; including CJW for his second tick. It was so good to see the Bedfordshire Lady Amherst's Pheasants again - so much better than the released and sustained Welsh birds at Halkyn which still had the price tag on from PheasantsRUs from where they were bought.

Next stop was a little further up the motorway. Cheshire actually where two Whiskered Terns had spent the day at Elton Hall Flash. It was quite a journey, and we were started to flag a little bit by this stage. But we arrived at 13:25hrs and we were the only birders who'd made it from Kent on site. (I'm guessing this bit but it's a safe bet). The terns did show quite nicely indeed.

Whiskered Tern Elton Hall Flash Cheshire

Kentish Plover at Audenshaw Res

Well hello everyone. It's nice to be back and thanks for the many thousands of letters and emails asking when the next blog would be done. To be honest this spring I've found birding a little bit difficult and I haven't really seen much. I've been out every sodding weekend trying to see birds but this spring has so far been like flogging a dead horse. Just too many unproductive weekends. 

Take the recent WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW at Woolston Eyes. We were heading to North Wales when news broke and so we carried on up the M6 and popped in. We only just missed a sighting but we stood around waiting and watching. Then a young lad turned up and found it. He shouted out mumbled directions and someone else then took over with detailed directions to one bird moving up through the tree. We all spotted this bird, and pointed out it was a male Blackcap. And that was it. The twitch faded and we left. Headed home having seen nothing. Here's one I saw earlier.

White-crowned Sparrow at Cley. January 2008

So what actually did I see in April? Well there was a Spoonbill in Shropshire, a self found Black-necked Grebe at Branston and a fabulous full summer plumaged Black-throated Diver were the highlights.

Black-necked Grebe at Branston GP 9th April 2016

S/pl Black-throated Diver at Blithfield 10th April 2016

And so to May. The first bank holiday weekend was limp. Then on Friday 6th, the Audenshaw KENTISH PLOVER mysteriously reappeared. PJ offered me a lift and off we tootled on a Friday afternoon up to Manchester. The journey up wasn't too bad to be honest and we even had the thrill of climbing through a fence to get into the permit holders only reservoirs. This was more like it. A bit of excitement and a Manchester tick to boot. We walked past the adult s/pl Little Stint and carried on round  past No1, then past No2 and along to No3. Well actually someone pointed where the Kentish Plover was on the far bank. And when we arrived it was showing a real treat. An excellent addition to my Manchester list.

Kentish Plover at Audenshaw Resvs

 

Little Stint

 

Saturday 12th March 2016 - South Wales / Gloucs

A nice simple trip to South Wales, then heading off through the Forest of Dean and into Gloucestershire was planned with a nice selection of birds to see. It had been quite a busy few days, with a full days birding on the Friday as well due to an extra day off. 

We visited a few sites in Staffordshire and the West Midlands before finishing off at Chasewater for the gull roost....along with at least 30 other birders, all gathered hoping to see the putative 1w AMERICAN HERRING GULL that the boys had seen on the previous three nights. Despite the no show, it was still a good roost and an excellent social gathering, and it was nice to meet up with Paul Jeynes again. One of the highlights was seeing Chaz Mason almost running. The reason was Chasewater's 3rd ever Avocet was swimming about with the gulls. Apart from a few Yellow-legged Gulls, the only other gull of note was a 1w Caspian Gull.

A Chasewater mega

1w Caspian Gull

And so the trip to South Wales started off at Cosmeston Lakes, south of Cardiff where the regular wintering drake Lesser Scaup was still present. We were heading to see this bird on 18th February 2012 but we never arrived.  

Lesser Scaup in Glamorgan

Cosmeston Lakes

Next stop was at Newport Wetlands. Starting off at the visitors centre, we obtained directions from the warden and drove down towards Goldcliff, finding the Red Barn Farm hide overlooking some wetlands. The hide was large, spacious with easily movable chairs. The GLOSSY IBIS though wasn't as accomodating, and spent most of its time hidden either in a ditch or behind a mound. Eventually it tired of being elusive and flew into view.

Part of the Newport Wetlands - so vast an area we had to drive to this bit from the centre

Glossy Ibis - a Gwent tick for me

We headed off into Gloucestershire and to the Forest of Dean. Fortunately for us, Messrs Jones, Locker, Sutton and Sutton had checked the next few sites out for us last weekend, and Mr Jones was handily placed to give us directions on the odd occasion that we became slightly lost. First stop was for the Goshawks, and following a short wait we managed to find at least five birding circling over the ridge for the other birders who seemed to like standing and chatting and not using bins.

An excellent drawing by PJ

We called in briefly at Parkend for the HAWFINCHES but there were just too many people milling about in the area. Next stop was Crabtree Hill which was quite a tricky place to find. Eventually armed with a map and a mobile phone we sort of stumbled across the correct area. There was no sign of the Great Grey Shrike, until we turned up and we found it for the small crowd gathered at the top of the hill.

The Shrike showed well but distant.

Great Grey Shrike in the Forest of Dean by PJ

Last stop of the day was for the PENDULINE TITS in Gloucester. There had been no sign of them all day, and when we arrived this was still the case. Still, we managed four out of six of our target birds. Not a bad few days at all.  

February 2016

Despite being one of the quieter months of the year, this February didn't turn out too bad. Following the trip to Norfolk, a trip to Aqualate saw us find five Whooper Swans. We went and saw the Hoopoe again (a February tick of course) and then the two Mediterranean Gulls were added to my Branston list

Whooper Swans at Aqualate

Two Mediterranean Gulls at Branston

A quick after work trip saw my third Staffordshire American Wigeon at Aqualate - another excellent find by Richie "Purple" Patch-Powell.

American Wigeon at Aqualate

Then the final trip was to see a nice trio of birds. First we headed over to Rutland Water for the Long-billed Dowitcher which had finally settled down and was showing well. Then it was down to Wiltshire for the female Hooded Merganser which was showing well, but not too well, and finally on the way home we stopped off for the very popular Penduline Tits in Gloucestershire.

Penduline Tit in Gloucs