Monday 27th August 2012 - The rest of August

Since coming back from Tenerife at the beginning of August, I've been out every weekend, flogging the patches and looking for that golden nugget. Needless to say, its been tough going again, and following on from a quiet July, its been a truly quiet summer all round. Things started to pick up a little towards the end of the month, but it was still low on the quality stuff. At the moment, getting a patch year tick signifies in a good day!
Saturday 11th August 2012 - Arrived back from Tenerife on the Friday, and following a slight pause to the proceedings in order to find which case had my bins and scope in, we were out in Staffs again. A visit to Branston Pits saw an adult Yellow-legged Gull as the highlight on an otherwise quiet visit. This being a patch year tick. Not many waders around, just two Green Sands and fourteen Curlew.

Adult YLG at Branston - 11/8/2012 

We called in at Blithfield on the way home to see the Ruddy Shelduck. That just about sums up the day.

Distant shot of Ruddy Shelduck in Tad 11/8/2012

Saturday 18th August 2012 - Something to go for at last in the shape of a fine flock of 24 Black Terns at Blithfield. We also found two Black-tailed Godwits in Tad Bay. One was much larger than the other. I did a bit of research and my book suggested Icelandic birds did show a size difference between the sexes. We also saw five Wigeon and the two Black Swans.

Three of the Black Terns north of the causeway 18/8/2012

On to Branston Pits next, and not a bad visit with ten Black-tailed Godwits, two Ruff, two Common Sandpipers, fifteen Curlew and sixteen Green Sandpipers.

Shoveler at BGP's 18/8/2012

One of the Black-tailed Godwits at BGP's 18/8/2012

Saturday 25th August 2012 - The final weekend of the month got off to a good start with a fly over Little Egret at Westport. Having been stuck on 99 for the year at Westport since 29th June, it was nice to finally get my 100th species of the year in the bag. I can relax now but I don't think I'll be adding too many more to that total. After a visit to Berryhill, we wandered down to Branston as per usual. Highlights were a Spotted Flycatcher, sixteen Blackwits, fifteen Curlew, a Hobby and twelve Green Sandpipers.

Peacocks were showing well on the buddleia again at Branston 25/8/2012

The Spotted Fly at Branston 25/8/2012

And that was August. Not the best August in recent times. Roll on for the annual Autumnal fun and games.

Clayheads on Tour 2012 - Tenerife (Part 2 - Erjos and The Whales)

Due to the fact that it didn't really get light until 07-15hrs, we were a little restricted this holiday with how much birding we did. We were back early on from our day out on the 7th August, and so we popped out in the afternoon sun to the famous Erjos Pools. Fortunately, the was a little bit of cloud cover, so the heat wasn't that intense. Its true what it says in most reports - it is not an easy place to find, but on our second attempt, we found the narrow track down.

Erjos Pools - quite dry!

We soon added Tenerife Moorhen and Tenerife Coot to our lists, but then we spotted a pigeon at the back. Eventually it came down to drink, and we realised it was a Bolle's Pigeon. As we stood, we realised there were more roosting, and we were soon watching eight Bolle's - a most unexpected bonus. The area was also full of Linnets and Atlantic Canary.

Bolle's at Erjos

Atlantic Canary

One other interesting trip we did was a whale watching trip out of Los Gigantes. A most enjoyable trip on an almost flat sea saw at least 15 Pilot Whales at extremely close quarters, some even swimming under the boat. One member of the party likened it to being in a wildlife programme. As we came back closer to shore, we saw four White-sided Dolphins.

Short-finned Pilot Whales

Atlantic White-sided Dolphins.

Clayheads on Tour 2012 - Tenerife (Part 1 - August 5th 2012)

For this years summer holiday, we headed to Tenerife, an island I'd visited in 1990, but not for birding purposes.Having already visited Madeira and Fuerteventura, we'd already seen some of the Macaronesian endemics, but there were still plenty of ticks for us to see. Our hotel, the excellent Barcelo Santiago in Puerto Santiago was on the north west coast, handily placed for all the sites we wanted to visit.

We set ourselves an ambition target to see all the Tenerife endemic in one day. We chose August 5th, which just happened to be my birthday as well. My main concerns were with the pigeons. I had directions for the LAUREL PIGEON site at Mirador de la Grimona, and had one site for BOLLE'S, but if we failed at any site, I had no back up plan, and no other days planned for birding. The pressure was on.

We woke up when it was still dark and went for our special early breakfast - consisting of bread, a bit of German cheese and ham. Spoilt for choice, I managed to find a small tub of honey instead, and managed to spread it on one half of a slice of bread. A nice breakfast for my birthday! (Actually this breakfast lasted me all day and I didn't eat again till 7 o'clock at night!)

First stop was at Mirador de la Grimona on the north coast. We arrived at 07-45hrs, not quite first light, and soon parked up on the hard shoulder in between the 1st and 2nd tunnels (heading west). Within a matter of moments, a Laurel Pigeon flew out from the cliffs, landed and perched on the cliff face. It then flew back across, and again fed in the open. Not a bad start to the day at all. We soon had our second tick of the day, the very abundant Canary Islands Chiffchaff. We saw the Laurel Pigeon four times in flight as we sat there. There were many Plains Swifts overhead, plus three insularum Buzzard. As we drove off, we passed the layby between the 2nd and 3rd tunnels. We had parked in the wrong place!

Laurel Pigeon at Mirador de la Grimona

Mirador de la Grimona (or just before in between the wrong tunnels)

Next stop was for the BOLLE'S PIGEON and we chose Chanajiga, also on the north side of the Teide NP. It was quite a drive up, but we stopped several times and saw Berthelot's Pipits, Canary, teneriffae Blue Tit and the first of many canariensis Kestrel. We eventually arrived at Chanajiga at 10-20hrs - far later than I had hoped for. We parked up and started walking along the track. The notes I had read suggested walking along for at least a kilometre and more, stopping at the various viewpoints. As we reach the end of the carpark, there was a huge forested slope in front of us.

First available viewpoint of the slope at Chanajiga

We stood and waited. Again, within moments of us stopping a pigeon flew across the path. It was a Bolle's Pigeon. We stayed for about an hour, seeing birds in flight on five occasions, and the last time we had two birds fly across. Again, every bush seemed to have a Canary Island Chiffchaff in it. There were teneriffae Blue Tit, superbus Robin and our first canariensis/tintillon Chaffinch.

So, three ticks in the bag, including the two tricky Pigeon sp, and the best tick yet to come. We started to climb up the slopes of Mount Teide, and we past a picnic site. I thought the name sounded familiar so we called in. It was La Caldera, and I remembered the name as it was one of the few sites that both Chaffinch sp were present. Our first stop produced a few Tenerife Goldcrests, and then by the picnic tables, we watched a superb male Blue Chaffinch. Our task was almost complete.

Original artwork by Phil Jones - Blue Chaffinch

We only had one more bird to catch up with - the canariensis Great Spotted Woodpecker. We drove past the very impressive Mount Teide with its incredible scenery and headed for La Lajas picnic site. On the way, we saw vast areas that had been burnt in the recent fires.



We arrived at La Lajas mid afternoon, and there were still a few picnic tables in use. We saw about 15 Blue Chaffinches in total, but only two were decent male birds. Getting close views was difficult. Canaries and Blue Tits were also present, and then the canariensis Great Spotted Woodpecker flew into view. Job done - all the endemics seen on one day.

La Lajas

Canary

Blue Chaffinch

Canary Great Spotted Woodpecker

Clayheads on Tour 2012 - Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece

To escape the Birdless British Summer PJ and Mrs PJ flew to another Birdless Island, Kefalonia home to Captain Correlli and his mandolin. Most of the usual mediterranean birds were seen during the week the highlight being a very reliable male Scops Owl which could be seen around the hotel most nights.

The only tick of the holiday were the Loggerhead Turtles in Argostoli harbour which hang around the fishing boats waiting for scraps.

 

Loggerhead Turtle

Woodchat Shrike

Eastern Rock Grayling

Saturday 28th July 2012 - Gloucestershire

Today we left the county for the first time this month. There were two reasons for this. Firstly, Staffordshire is going through a pretty quiet spell at the moment, and last Saturday, we spent all day trawling various sites, and at the end of the day we realised we'd seen absolutely nothing. Secondly, I have a slight problem with visiting Branston at the moment. You see, you have to walk through two grassy fields to get there. Last week as CJW followed  me, he commented on the amount of dust I was kicking up. We soon realised we were caked in yellow dust. It took me a few moments to realise the yellow dust was pollen - loads of the stuff - in fact, my trousers were yellow, and CJW had to wipe an inch of yellow dust off his scope lens. As a hay fever sufferer, this is not an ideal situation, and for the last two weekends, I been sky high on anti-histamine and sneezing my head off for several days afterwards. This week, we gave the place a miss. We headed to Gloucestershire instead. 

We popped into Gailey on our way south (GJM -who would have thought it had come to this!), but our journey south was soon held up by an overturned vehicle on the M5. We decided to leave the motorway, but soon discovered that there was a PURPLE HERON at Coombe Hill Meadows, a place I'd never visited before. We soon found the place, but the car park was small, and we only just squeezed in. We walked along the towpath, and soon met up with some birders heading back. They looked at our footwear and laughed at us. We then found out that the path to the hide was flooded, and there was a nice, black, smelly mud about a foot deep to wade through. We were told that without wellies, we stood no chance!

Every birder walking back told us the same story. Except one in trainers.

The path to the hide



He said that he had walked along the bottom of the fence. And so I did the same. Sometimes, I put a foot on either side. However, it was quite a long stretch of flooded boardwalk, and I was soon knackered. The things you do to see a bird! It took me about three-quarters of an hour before the juv Purple Heron decided to give me a flight view. Then, I had to negotiate the path once more. Ten minutes of shuffling along the bottom of the rail again.

Stunning picture of the Purple Heron in Gloucs

It was then onto Slimbridge. Unfortunately the motorway traffic was now coming through Gloucester town centre, and it took us nearly an hour to do the 25min drive down to the WWT centre. We managed to get in without paying the £10-95 entrance fee and soon were watching the s/pl LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER sleeping among the large group of BLACK-TAILED GODWITS. It was showing quite well, but we were looking into the sun.

Long-billed Dowitcher at Slimbridge - my first one for 6yrs!

Saturday 21st July 2012

Another day beckoned in Staffordshire. At least this time the forecast was for a good dry day. Walking round dry, sandy, gravel pits on a warm, summers day is something that everyone enjoys doing, especially CJW who joined me today. There had been a few waders appearing on Friday, and so we headed off full of hope. I started off at Westport, but it was really a lifeless, soul destroying visit. There hasn't been much seen there this week at all looking back.

Next stop was Blithfield. We called in at the causeway, having a chat with GJM. We drove round into Tad Bay. The water levels here are still incredibly high, and you have to start fearing the worse for wader passage this Autumn.

At Branston, on the other hand, water levels are dropping nicely. With high expectations we headed for the Sandy Pit. We had eight Green Sands, a Common Sandpiper, two juv Redshanks.......and that was all.
We visited another pit nearby, but again, we flopped. At the end of the day, we realised we'd been flogging a bit of a hot dead horse today.

During the week, PJ and myself discussed "blasts from the pasts" on quiet days in the summer. I told him today's blog would be alright, as I would find something, but he sent me some photo's just in case.  

Back to July 2005!

This beast was seen on 10th July

This monster was seen on 16th July

and this on 18th July

 Sooty Tern off Anglesey, Caspian Tern at Leighton Moss and Lesser Crested Tern in Norfolk - all in eight days. Oh the good old days!

The Clayheads receive the ultimate honour

The latest Gyr Crakes video is out.



Amazingly, the producers have decided to feature three of the Clayheads this time. At 3:26 minutes, we appear, sunbathing on the garrison.

We were unaware as to who took this picture, but there were plenty of birders around. It was a gorgeous, sunny September day. The Scillonian crossing, costing a special £25 day return, was like a mill pond. We had excellent views of a probable Sunfish, 25+ Common Dolphins, including four swimming alongside the boat, 2+ Harbour Porpoise and a pod of 10+ Risso’s Dolphins, as well a few Pom Skuas.

Our main purpose was to see the Buff-bellied Pipit on St Mary's, and excellent views were had indeed.



It really was an excellent day trip. We had an hour to spare. So we sat on the Garrison, and having been up since 01-30hrs, we enjoyed a little sleep. Great days indeed!