Levels-birder

October 31st 2008

I spent the later part of this morning walking along the Huntspill Seawall on a falling tide. Nothing much to see in the way of any passerines, and my bog-trotting across the salt-marsh at the mouth of the River Brue didn’t put-up a single Jack Snipe, just 20+ Common Snipe. It wasn’t until my return walk, that I saw anything of interest: this Purple Sandpiper feeding on the muddy, rock-strewn foreshore (a distant photo) and two Avocets, bathing and preening, off the mouth of the sluice.

Hopefully, if this sandpiper remains in the area, I might get the chance for some closer photos during next week's hide tides.

 

 

October 28th 2008

Yesterday, my walk along the Huntspill Seawall was pretty uneventful, the best was a small flock of 40 Knot in flight, plus another 2 feeding along the shore-line. This lone Dunlin was very confiding and allowed a close approach to get these photos.

 

 

 

 

Today, I was on the road by 5.00 a.m. driving to Newquay in North Cornwall; from here I caught the Skybus on a 30 minute flight to the Isles of Scilly. My quarry was two-fold, firstly, and most important, a Brown Shrike on St Mary’s; secondly, a Blyth’s Reed Warbler on St Agnes. Imagine my dismay, when on arriving at Newquay I received a text message saying that the shrike had been re-identified as a first winter Red-backed! Having paid for my day return air ticket, I just had to go. Luckily, I took the first inter-island launch to St Agnes, where this Blyth’s Reed Warbler was showing very well.

 

 

 

 

Obviously, being on St Mary’s, I went and spent sometime looking at the Shrike, and couldn’t see anything that made me think it was other than a Red-backed: one of the grey-brown first winter birds that can show some rufous at the base of the tail. It certainly didn’t have the heavy-bill or the 'bull-headed' appearance of what, from literature and photos, I had expected a Brown Shrike would look like, but then I have no previous experience of this Asiatic bird. The primary extension looked long, and I counted 7 exposed primary tips, as opposed to Brown which, from various sources, has a shorter primary extension and shows only 5 exposed primary tips. Also, a 1st winter Brown is said to have fairly uniform, brown upperparts, with very few, if any, noticeable crescent markings (markedly shown by this bird). The closed tail of a Brown is also said to be graduated, not full and square-ended as in Red-backed which has a white edged outer-tail, a feature said to be lacking in Brown. Also, the mask of a 1st winter Brown is stated to be blacker and more pronounced than in Red-backed. These are my rather distant and much enlarged four photos of this Shrike.

 

 

 

The following photos of Brown Shrikes have been borrowed off the web for instructional purposes.

LH photo: copyright Marcus Lawson, 1st winter, Bryher, Isles of Scilly, 24th Sep. 2001. RH photo: copyright Nial Moores, Birds of Korea, juvenile, Sep., probably either the subspecies confusus or cristatus.

 

 

 

 

October 24th 2008

Arriving at Appledore in North Devon, just as the tide was beginning to run, Kay and I sat on one of the benches along the harbour wall and had our picnic lunch. We then walked along the harbour to the rocky outcrop near the lifeboat station, where, after a quick scan through my ‘scope, I located our quarry, a 2nd winter drake King Eider, far away, diving in the mouth of the estuary. As we watched, it gradually came closer and ever closer on the rapidly rising tide until it was directly opposite us. I clambered down on to the rocky foreshore, from where I was able to take these photos of this smart-looking seaduck, only my fourth sighting in Britain and my first since one in Sullom Voe, Mainland, Shetland, in 1981. Afterwards, we celebrated a ‘first for Kay’ with an ice cream each, whilst sitting in the afternoon sun; just great!

 

 

 

 

We then drove around the estuary to the RSPB’s Isley Marsh reserve. Here we saw a small flock of 6 Spoonbills (a mix of adults and juveniles) together with about 25 Little Egrets, and I managed these rather distant photos. The juveniles have mainly pinkish coloured bills, whilst the adult has a black bill with a distictive yellow tip.

 

 

           

 

 

October 23rd 2008

On the 21st, having spent a fruitless 45 minutes searching through the high-tide roosting waders at the mouth of the River Brue, I took shelter, dodging a sudden squall, behind the high, bushy bank at nearby Apex Leisure Park. Returning, after the rain had passed, I joined a group of 5 birders who had just located what I had been searching for: the previous day’s Baird’s Sandpiper, running in and out of grassy runnels on the opposite river bank among a host of roosting Redshank and Turnstones. During the next fifteen minutes we had reasonable, if somewhat distant ‘scope views and were able to make out most of this small waders distinguishing features, before all the waders suddenly took flight and relocated en-mass a little further along the bank.  Also present, was a single Spotted Redshank and 4 Dunlin; the latter giving good comparison against this smaller American vagrant.

I spent the afternoon undertaking a WeBS count on the RSPB’s Walton Heath and Loxton’s Marsh reserves. Afterwards, while watching some feeding Shoveler from one of the blinds, I was able to grab this photo of a drake Shoveler, at the instant that it sprang into the air, having been alarmed by a less-than-quite approaching person.

Today found me in the Decoy Lake hide at Shapwick Heath NNR, where after a wait of more than an hour I eventually had distant ‘scope views of two adult Whooper Swans, when they appeared from behind a reedbed at the far end of the lake. These birds have been present for a few days, and I wonder if they are the returning pair from last winter, minus their last year’s juvenile?

 

 

October 18th 2008

Since my last diary entry I’ve been out on King’s Sedgemoor on two consecutive days searching for a reported Hen Harrier. No success with this, but I did observe the display of a pair of adult Peregrines: the male continually chasing the female and excitedly calling, she rolling over and presenting her talons to him; they actually talon-touched on one occasion. I also came across this female Roe Deer with her two almost full grown fawns.

 

 

I stopped off at Greylake RSPB Reserve, and as well as several dozing Snipe (photo) I had good ‘scope views of a female or juvenile Merlin, perched in a small bare tree c.80 metres from the hide.

 

 

On the afternoon of the 16th I tried again to photograph this Great Grey Shrike at Ford Common, Berrow, but again it was much too flighty and wouldn’t allow any approach to less than 70 metres, so all I could manage was this rather poor distant flight-shot.

 

 

This male Stonechat was more obliging.

 

I spent this morning on a field-trip with the Somerset Ornithological Society. We walked the coastline from Wall Common to Catsford Common and back. We were looking for waders, and the highlight was this juvenile Little Stint which although having a damaged leg was still feeding alright.

 

 

 

In the afternoon, together with three other birders, I searched along the Huntspill Seawall, but couldn’t find this morning’s reported Lapland Bunting. I did however manage reasonable ‘scope views of 4 Spotted Redshanks and a distant single Avocet, but this Curlew was the only wader to come anywhere within camera distance.

 

 

 

October 14th 2008

 

 

 

 

This past weekend found me on a visit for my granddaughter’s 13th birthday in south Bucks, where, as usual, I saw a few Red Kites – a common sight on the Chilterns, and even took this photo (without my long-lens) of one that was circling high above my son’s garden in Chalfont St Peter. Whilst here, a text message on my phone alerted me to a Great Grey Shrike back ‘home’ in Somerset.

 

 

Arriving home on the late-morning of the 13th, that afternoon I was at Ford Common, Berrow, where I joined a few local birders and spent a couple of hours watching the same Great Grey Shrike as per my phone text. It gave good ‘scope views, but in the time I was there it never allowed a close enough approach for a ‘decent’ photo and this was the best I could manage on the day.

For better photos of it, see James Packer’s website at http://www.somersetbirder.co.uk

 

 

Whilst here, I was pleased to see this Grass Snake (a reptile I hardly ever see) swimming along the edge of a small rhyne. From its size, about 30cm long, I would think it was one of this year’s young.

 

 

 

Today I spent some time on the Somerset Levels, not far from my home. Walking across Ham Wall RSPB Reserve, where I am a volunteer warden, I saw a quartering female Marsh Harrier and a family party of 5 Bearded Tits, including a fine looking male. At Long Drove, on drained old peat workings, there were at least 30 feeding Little Egrets and 2 Green Sandpipers, and later I saw 2 Cattle Egrets, perched in dead trees with roosting Cormorants at Canada Farm Lake, part of Shapwick Heath NNR.

 

October 10th 2008

On the morning of the 8th, Kay and I had what can only be described as a ‘purple-patch’. Walking towards Meare Heath seat from the car park at Ashcott Corner we first of all saw what I first took to be a distant peregrine in my binoculars, but on Kay’s insistence “that it didn’t look quite right” I looked again, through my ‘scope, and saw it was in fact a male Goshawk. We watched it, with three other birders, as it slowly soared and circled over the back of the Heath for almost ten minutes before moving away to the west and out of sight. We had hardly finished congratulating each other when distinctive “ping – ping – ping” notes were heard and a male Bearded Tit flew past and landed in the reeds just over the drain, to be joined five minutes later by a second bird. Soon after this an ‘October’ Hobby rose up above the wood, and then Kay spotted a Bittern, flying low across the reeds at the back of the main pool. If this wasn’t enough, a birder coming towards us said he had just been watching a Yellow-browed Warbler, just off the car park in willows behind the boardwalk entrance. We hurried back and after a short wait I heard its distinctive sharp calls and had a brief view as flitted about just inside the canopy. A little later we relocated it in the tall trees at the start of the main track leading off the car park. Later, I met the birder, Dave Smallshire, who had found this YBW, and discovered that 35 years ago I had shared a cottage with him and two others, when birding on the island of St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly – what a coincidence and what a small world it can be!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is an old library photo of a Yellow-browed Warbler; just to show what this, among the smallest of warblers (about Goldcrest size), actually looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

Kay and I finished a great day when we saw a Grey Phalarope, actively feeding out in the centre of Cheddar Reservoir. I was back there yesterday afternoon and although spending three hours watching, during which it twice flew a circuit of the reservoir; it never came close enough for a decent photo, so all I ended up with was this enlarged distant one that could well be used in a “guess the bird competition”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This afternoon, after being alerted by a birding friend, I saw another Grey Phalarope along the Huntspill Seawall, and this one flew off up the estuary almost as soon as I arrived, before I could take even one photo. Just a little bit disheartening!

 

 

 

October 6th 2008

 

Being somewhat confined to home this weekend with a pulled muscle in my lower-back, I noticed that Starling numbers are increasing, which reminds me that it will soon be time (early next month) to witness their mega winter roost on the Somerset Levels. In-the-meantime here's a photo of a Starling in it's winter plumage, taken today in my neighbour's garden.

 

 

October 3rd 2008

A strong westerly wind and high-tide early morning on the 1st found me on Burnham seafront for a spot of sea-watching. Although disappointing for the number of seabirds seen, I was pleased to see my first Great Skua (2) and distant Leach’s Petrel of the year, and also 4 or 5 Manx Shearwaters. Later that morning a check on the roosting waders along the Brue Estuary revealed a nice Curlew Sandpiper among the 1,000 Redshanks and 150 Turnstones. I was back at Burnham today, and saw a Pale-bellied Brent Goose fly up the estuary, while 2 Peregrines battled against the strong wind as they flew north towards Brean Down. Afterwards my high-tide walk along the Huntspill seawall produced good numbers of roosting waders: Ringed Plovers, Dunlins and Turnstones, but the only passerines of any note were 3 passage Wheatears.

 

 

Note how different these adult and juvenile Turnstones are. The winter adult (left) has very dark looking upperparts with hardly any contrasting feather edgings; whilst the juvenile has much brighter looking upperparts, each feather showing obvious pale fringing.

 

                                         

                                                Pale-bellied Brent Goose (Digiscope image Nov. 2005)