North Staffordshire's elite birding team were resting on Saturday 7th July, as during the afternoon it was England v Sweden in the World Cup quarter finals. As always during these long hot summer months, we never took our eye off the pagers, and news came through from Anglesey that the summering SNOWY OWL had been refound.
Along with the Shropshire LITTLE BITTERN, we discussed a potentially decent days birding on the Sunday, but I did point out that the SNOWY OWL didn't normally stay in the same place overnight. I made the suggestion that we could pop up after the kick off. I agreed to drive, and after picking up The Stalker and Lord Lichfield, we headed off to Anglesey. We arrived at South Stack at 1930hrs and it was still baking hot. A short walk to the moors and there was a small band of birding brothers watching a hot Snowy Owl roosting.
We stood for an hour or more watching her, until she flew down onto the valley floor. A quick sea watch off the cliffs saw a few Manxies fly past plus a single Puffin and we stood and watched the sun go down to end a fantastic evening trip.
The only other trip of note recently was to Kilnsea Wetlands to see the fine Squacco Heron. Our colleague Grizz kindly stayed overnight and waited for me to arrive and even saved me a parking space. Now thats commitment for you.
The spring came and went. We saw some bits but when you try and rattle them off you realise that the quiet spell from Autumn 2017 had continued. Since the last post, we'd seen a few bits at Wesser, another blinged White Stork at Whitemoor plus the midweek Crane there, Little Tern at Rocester, Red-necked Grebe at BGP and the Belvide Red-rumped Swallow but that was all. It hadn't been too bad a spring in Staffordshire, but nationally there was little to excite us.
And so late spring came, and we had our shoes on constant standby just in case. When a MOLTONI turned up at Duncansby Head, the top NE corner of Britain, we finally started to make plans for a long distant twitch. We even got to the stage of allocating seat numbers in the minibus but it decided to flit before the weekend came.
And so to Saturday 2nd June 2018. A day of anniversaries.
It was fifteen years ago to the day since this photo was taken......
And four years ago since this photo was taken...
And two years ago since....ah well, we move on
The day started off at Westport as per usual, but this time we had our coats and a sandwich in the hope that something would turn up somewhere for us to see. After Wesser we toured some of North Staffordshire's birding hotspots but we found them to be shite and birdless. No wonder the regulars who visit these places are so angry and bitter. The drizzle came down, we didn't know where to go, arguments started, tears flowed...and you thought being a member of the Clayheads was glamorous.
We returned home to do our regular Saturday jobs.
Then at midday day, I rang Lord Lich who was sipping champagne in his jacuzzi. The conversation went..
"Well?"
"Not enough time"
"Tomorrow?"
"Monitor"
Amazingly, another MOLTONI'S had been found on Blakeney Point. It was still present during the evening and we decided to head off at 0400hrs the following evening. The twitch was on.
Lord Lich volunteered to drive, and we picked up The Stalker en route. The soft top Range Rover simply ate the miles up, and the on board hostess made sure we were well looked after. We parked up at Cley Coastguards at 0730hrs, already aware that the MOLTONI'S was still present. We headed off while the rest of the Staffs birders were still asleep.
Lord Lich and The Stalker yomping out to the Point
It was a little bit misty
Following a long winter visiting the gym daily and practising on the special shingle covered tread mill, we found the walk to the point very easy this year, and within 20 minutes we were stood with the 20+ birders on site who also hasn't had a lie in and made the correct call.
It was a long hours wait before we had any action. A Blakeney stalwart soon spotted us and came and stood by us, and asked us how Westport was doing this spring. It was good to compare the two sites and it was amazing to hear how similar the sites had fared. He said there had been very few waders on Blakeney this spring, exactly the same as Westport would you believe.
Then a little further down the line, a shout went up. We moved down and we were soon watching the drake Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler perched up in a bramble. We found out the bloke shouting out the directions was called Nobby and he even made sure we had all seen it. What a true gent and we decided that Nobby is going to be made a honorary member of the Clayheads.
We watched it feed and flit around on and off for about an hour, and Lord Lich managed to get some video. Then at 10:15hrs, it became restless and flew over to the Alder Fly plantation before flying off into the distance down the point and lost to view. It was a most unexpected end to the visit
It wasn't the largest crowd at first
We headed off back to the car, and as we were walking downhill, we were back within 15 minutes of setting off. The Staffordshire Birding Club minibus had finally arrived, and we said hello to the Steve twins...Steve Belvide and Steve Gailey, I shook hands with Mr Chairman...Sir Roger Tixall-Broadbent, a nice brief chat with Clayhead Richard Sutton whom I hadn't seen in ages and finally Young Billy Bateman was folding away his duvet and getting the grass out of his hair as we passed. So good to see warm friendly faces and we wished them well.
The Stalker was very pleased with his visit and struggled to contain his excitement.
All videos in the blog are taken by the Lord Lichfield Video Company and are produced here without his permission.
And so after a very short break for a short healthy snack and re hydration, we headed down to Salthouse where we met up with our old friends Richard M and Steve G and stood with them listening to a Common Rosefinch singing. Eventually it was located in the hedge at the rear and we had brief but fantastic views in its brown-morph plumage.
One more stop and that was to Kelling where we had views of the white-spotted red-spotted Bluethroat while feeding in a ditch. By now the temperature was in the early 30's and we spent time distributing water to the elderly.
Kelling Water Meadows - well the beach by it
And then we went home. My first tick since October 2017 and three Norfolk ticks in the bag too. A fantastic day was had by all.
So what has happened since the last Snowy Owl post. Well this blog I'm going to use headings for a change. Hope everyone likes it. Just email me with any comments, well unless you are blocked and can't.
Big Exclusive News
Well as mentioned in the last blog, celebrity birdvlogger Lord Lich has certainly been enjoying the high life and the taste of fame. Well one night it all went slightly wrong. He's spending most of his time now at the hall of Jeremy and Sophie Farquharson, along with celebrity pals Timothy Snott and Phillip Boast. One night, when many bottles of Pinot Grinot were being drunk, and while playing Junior Cluedo, Lord Lich ran out of pennies from his penny jar and foolishly bet his appendix to get him through to the end of the game. The rest is history and we say, and on future trips unfortunately we will be one appendix short now. He knows we are not happy to say the least but we will just have to accept the situation and let him share ours when he needs to.
Flexi-listing
The Clayheads have decided to adopt the well used listing technique now of Flexi-listing as it seems everyone else uses this system and we don't want to be left behind. Basically it makes listing far easier and less stressful. So how does Flexi-listing work. Well you choose a list, add your total but you don't worry about things like borders, escaped birds, BBRC decisions or IOC split criteria. That way you cut out the stress of what to count and what not to count, and if your arch enemy suddenly gets close to you in your total, then you just add a few more. Its so easy and I'm sure more and more will adopt this technique.
Scottish Trip
Well I decided on a short break before Easter with the plan to take a car full of my mates up for a jolly to the Highlands and further. So on 28th March I set off on my own and headed up to Musselburgh for my first stop. It was an excellent visit with four species of Scoter on view. The American White-winged Scoter was in a small flock of five or six Velvets and for a change was showing nicely and easily picked out. A drake Surf Scoter was also flying around.
Musselburgh looking over towards Edinburgh
I was staying in the Nethybridge hotel as we always do, and following my drive up from Lothian I was able to visit a few sites in the area, seeing Crested Tit at several sites, plus enjoying walking in Abernethy Forest as usual.
Driving up the A9
Loch Garten
Abernethy
Loch Garten
Loch Mallachie
Following a pleasant night and an equally pleasant breakfast, I headed off from Speyside and headed north. I stopped briefly in Inverness before carrying on up the A9. The sky was blue, there was no wind and it was simply a superb drive up. The scenary was breathtaking at times, and you never knew what was round the next bend.
Beauly Firth
Near to Cromarty Firth
Cromarty Firth
I drove and drove until I could drive no more. Unfortunately for me, it was the end of the road.
View from John O'Groats towards Orkneys with loads of Purps on the rocks
I headed up to Duncansby Head lighthouse and was able to walk from Britain's east coast to the north coast in two minutes. For a moment I was the most north easterly person in Britain.
Top corner of Britain - Duncansby Head
The actual corner where the Atlantic meets the North Sea. Note the waves
These were just round the corner
I then drove further along the coast to Dunnet Head. The birding was quite good en route, seeing a nice flock of Greenland White-fronts in many many fields of Greylag Geese plus Rock Doves and Hoodies. Then I became the most nothernly person in Britain.
The Old Man of Hoy showing in the distance
Looking towards the Orkneys on Britains most northern headland
Dunnet Bay
An excellent stay in the Harbour House B&B in Wick and following another fine breakfast, I headed for home, arriving back in Stoke at 18:20.
News of a possible Snowy Owl in Norfolk sort of filtered out during the week, and we sort of got our outfit washed and ready, polished our lens and chose our shoes, but it wasn't until Friday 9th March and pictures of a 1w female Snowy Owl on Scolt Head Island that the Clayheads stirred into action. A quick ring around and the car took an amazing three minutes to fill, and we were all treated to a ride in Lord Lichfield's new car. To say Lord Lichfield's videos have been a success is only half the story. He's now supplying videos to the rich and famous, but obviously I can't divulge who. Anyway, here's Lord Lichfield's new car - top of the range, all singing and dancing..
Anyway, Lord Lichfield, still wearing his tux from one of his celebrity bashes the evening before picked us up at 430am. The crew today consisted of The Angry Man, Lord Lichfield, The Stalker (due to potential legal action) and Grizz. Lord Lichfield did all the driving despite not having slept for three days.
We decided to head for the nearest car park to Scolt Head and wait on news. One member of the team suggested we sat in a hide in Titchwell, but The Angry Man's said "No you xxxx xxxxxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx". So we sat in a side road near to Scolt Head and The Angry Man was given his tablets.
Then it happened. The Stalker suddenly blurted out that the SNOWY OWL was on Thornham Point. Lord Lichfield started his motor, and screamed off, wheel spinning as he went, burning rubber and filling the North Norfolk early morning air with diesel fumes. The rest of the birders milling around just stood and stared. For once, we were first with news.
Unsure of where to go, we decided to head for Thornham Harbour. We were soon following a green car, and obviously it was in possession of the same news as we were. We tried to follow the car, but Lord Lich eased back when we reached 140mph. We later found out we were trying to follow Clayheads favourite North Norfolk female birder pin up babe Penny "'Hot Rod" Clark.
The green car suddenly screeched to a halt, did a full handbrake-180-Top Gear style spin and headed back to Titchwell. Lord Lich calmly reversed into a side road and headed to Titchwell.
We were soon marching through Titchwell towards the beach, pausing briefly to watch a Woodcock a few feet off the path. The fast walking members of the crew soon reached a boy with a scope. And there was the target bird sat on top of a bush five miles away in the distance. It wasn't even 0800hrs and the Snowy Owl was in the bag.
We stood on the beach and snapped away at the distant blob. There was small flock of Long-tailed Ducks just offshore along with a few Scaup to keep us amused, but after a while we headed into one of the hides, counting a nice 38 Mediterranean Gulls in the colony.
The Snowy Owl had finally dried out and started to move, so with news reaching us that it was sat on the beach, we went back for seconds. It sat on a post for two hours and then it sat in a bush for two hours and that was it really.
Initial view (copyright Lord Lichfield)
Snowy Owl sat on a post
Snowy Owl sat in a bush
As we walked back, a Snow Bunting was showing well on the beach
Snow Bunting by Lich
We headed round to Thornham Harbour and eventually found the nine Twite. Next stop was Holkham, where nine Shore Larks were showing well about 20 minutes walk out from the boardwalk.
Shore Lark by Lord Lichfield
We stopped on the main road and a quick glance saw a Barn Owl, GWE, a few Y-fronts and an amazing 59 Egyptian Geese. All in all it was a jolly good day out.
Under a huge Norfolk sky, three Clayheads stroll along
Finally, today's song is dedicated to a recent Westport twitch. I could have chosen another Icelandic export with Bjerk and "Its oh so quiet" but in the end I went for this. Enjoy xxx
I have been ordered to print the following statement from Mr Hugh J'Arce, the solicitor representing "The Stalker".
Dear Mr C Head,
Since your blog stopped in December 2017, my client, known as "The Stalker" has seen a drop in earnings. "The Stalker" regularly used to be booked to open village halls, asked to attend Christmas Fayres and also make celebrity guest appearances in hides. Now, he is finding it difficult to get a seat in the hide at Aqualate and even strangers walk past him now and don't speak to him. I therefore am requesting you send him the sum of £4-57 as compensation and print this statement on your blog.
Many thanks Hugh
So there you are folks. In order to save me from going bankrupt and having to give up the doorway in Burslem where I now live, I will have to, against my will, start this stupid, nasty, trouble causing, atmosphere creating blog again.
So 2018 started on January 1st this year and I went to Westport. I parked my car in the car park and I saw a Coot, some Mallard, a fabulous Black-headed Gull, six Willow Tits in a bush.....argh.....dam
I didn't leave the county at all in January and concentrated on going back to basics and patch birding. I did get to see the brief Great Northern Diver at Chasewater and the Whitemoor Haye Whopper Swans, and managed to add Great White Egret to two site lists.
Hawfinches also showed well at Kingsley. Video below taken by Lord Lichfield
February again was a struggle with local patches being very quiet. It wasn't until 25th February that I finally left the county and went on a trip down to Weymouth with Grizz to see the Ross's Gull. The trip started off perfectly at Lodmoor as we arrived just as the adult Ross's Gull flew in. We had decent views but it soon flew off and it was all over so briefly. We considered heading off to see the STILT SANDPIPER, but we decided we wanted better views and so we camped out in the Radipole car park and waited. It was at the height of the beast from the east wind, and we just sat in the car and watched the crowd. It was unbelievably bitterly cold. But eventually it flew back in and performed well. Can't beat a good Ross's Gull...this being my fifth in Britain, one of which was within 40 miles of Staffordshire.
