Saturday 12th November

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!

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

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

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

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

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......

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?