Thursday 27 February 2014

Dunge

On Saturday I spent an enjoyable day birding around Dungeness with Josh Burch and Pete Denyer. Highlights included the two male PENDULINE TITS, although they were distant, along with a juvenile Glaucous Gull on Burrowes Pit, Great White Egret, two Black-necked Grebes and three Smews.

This juvenile Glaucous Gull dropped in or a brush-up on Burrowes Pit

One of the two male Penduline Tits viewable from the ramp

The Long-tailed Duck on Burrowes Pit

Redhead Smew on Burrowes Pit
One of two Black-necked Grebes

Saturday 15 February 2014

Kittiwake

Another day of conditions too uncomfortable for trudging around Canons Farm led to me spending much of the day at Beddington Farmlands, although I was not out of the wind and rain even there seeing as the hide was flooded! Anyway, the stake-out paid off with an adult Kittiwake which flew north and other highlights including Little Egret, Shelduck, Peregrine, two Egyptian Geese and a Greylag (uncommon there). When the weather calmed a bit in the afternoon I did have brief walk around Canons but there was little to show for it. Of note, Liam, Paul and I headed down to see the putative Chinese Pond Heron in Kent yesterday - it was very flighty and I'll go back for more prolonged views if it reappears.


Storm-blown Kittiwake

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Ross's Gull dip

Following the success of the Myrtle Warbler, I was excited to continue the good run with the Ross's Gull in Glamorgan. Unfortunately, I didn't think to check the weather forecast before setting off and it turned out to be a day of violent weather. The first part of the morning was just about 'calm' enough to search for the bird but conditions worsened and we called it a day around lunchtime, with only Colin having seen the bird (while I was looking the other way!). Oh well, it doesn't work out every time... Six Little Gulls, an adult Mediterranean Gull and a handful of Kittiwakes did put on a pretty good show as they tackled the wind off the end of Jackstone Pier, but they couldn't be fully enjoyed with hail hurtling into my face at 80kmh; four Purple Sandpipers and a Guillemot were also present.

Adult Little Gull

Tuesday 11 February 2014

Myrtle Warbler

I went up with Liam Langley, Rob Stokes and John Benham early yesterday morning for this bird, discovered during the Big Garden Birdwatch, which was frequenting the suburbs of High Shincliffe, County Durham. We arrived to find that we had missed it by minutes, but patiently awaited its return to the fat balls and coconuts put out for it. It took about an hour and a half but the MYRTLE WARBLER announced its presence with a loud, hard call and showed for a minute or two in the trees near the feeders before deciding to fly off to nearby gardens. For the remainder of the morning the bird performed on and off around the estate, often quite high in a number of different trees and sometimes low in the scrub as it gorged on the offerings hanging out for it. In a poor winter for Waxwings, it was nice to be able to walk just around the corner to see three by the roadside. Early afternoon, and with negative news of the adult Ross's Gull in Lancashire, we thought it might be worth a punt on the apparent 'Central Asian' Lesser Whitethroat a relatively short drive away in Tynemouth which, luckily, performed during our short visit.

Myrtle Warbler
One of the three Waxwings
Apparent Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat

Thursday 6 February 2014

A rainy day's gull-watching

Being back in Surrey, and the weather being too horrible for walking around Canons Farm, I chose to spend the day grilling the gulls at Beddington. This proved productive, as I found an adult Glaucous Gull and two Caspian Gulls (an adult and a first-winter), although I missed the Iceland Gull which gave a brief fly-by. A Shelduck was on the main lake and two Egyptian Geese flew through.



Above three: adult Glaucous Gull
 

Above two: adult Caspian Gull



Above three: first-winter Caspian Gull

Tuesday 4 February 2014

Red-flanked Bluetail

It didn't take much persuading on the part of Liam to have me setting off early this morning to Gloucestershire where the Red-flanked Bluetail showed well near Marshfield. The only other bluetail I've seen was two or three years ago now on the day of the Rufous-tailed Robin dip in Norfolk, when one was at Holme; the Norfolk bird was very flighty and difficult to get a prolonged view of, especially as everyone was running around after it like mad. So, it was a pleasure to spend a laid-back couple of hours in the bird's company this morning in a peaceful patch of countryside.