Year List Update - 7th April 2024

 It's been a few weeks since I updated the "Year List", and, since then, I've added a few new species.

First was the Ring-necked Parakeet (132). This was first seen in Didsbury Park, Manchester, when 2 were spotted. The next species, Blackcap (133), was added last Sunday, when 1 was ringed at The Avenue in Chesterfield. Bird number 134, Willow Warbler, was heard at Linacre, while 135 was a Barnacle Goose, a feral bird seen in London on Thursday. The final three species seen at Linacre this week, were: Swallow (136 - first seen on 6th, and then c.10 seen today), House Martin (137 - c.20 feeding over the middle reservoir, in rain, today) and Sand Martin (138 - c.5/6 feeding with the Swallows and House Martins today).

Red-necked Grebe - Carsington 2nd April 2021

Jayne and I went to Carsington on Friday and had a few hours walking around the dam wall, Stones Island and Hide area.

The highlight of the trip was a breeding plumaged Red-necked Grebe that we saw by the dam wall. No photo unfortunately, as the blog won't let me upload any!

Other  species new for the year were: Gadwall, Redshank, Willow Tit and Barnacle Goose ( 2 feral birds.

Year List update:

72 - Red-necked Grebe

73 - Gadwall

74 - Redshank

75 - Willow Tit

76 - Barnacle Goose

Year List Update - 4th March 2019

The "Year List" has moved on again, with several new species added at Carsington Water last weekend (numbers 119 - 121), Red-legged Partridge at Linacre, Iceland Gull at Ogston Reservoir (1 adult and 1 1st winter) on Saturday, and Peregrine Falcon (Hardwick Wood fly over during a ringing session) and Great Grey Shrike at Clumber Park on Sunday.

Great Grey Shrike

Whilst at Ogston there were also a 1st winter and a near adult  "Viking" Gull a.k.a. a Herring x Glaucous Gull hybrid in the roost. The 1st winter looked very Glaucous-like, but had dark primaries, but I didn't manage to see the adult bird. Nice to see, even if it's not a  full species!

Year List update:
119 – Barnacle Goose (F)
120 – Tree Sparrow
121 – Snipe
122 – Red-legged Partridge
123 – Iceland Gull
124 – Peregrine Falcon
125 – Great Grey Shrike

Minsmere again!!

RSPB Minsmere really is a wonderful place, so I popped down again yesterday morning at 5:30am, and spent 3 and a half hours walking around the reserve!

I started off at Island Mere hide to listen out for a singing Savi's Warbler that had been reported. It started singing as soon as I sat down in the hide - a wonderful "year tick", and only my second ever record. Bitterns were heard booming here, and Marsh Harriers were also seen. From here, I moved on to the rest of the reserve where I  heard Cetti's, Reed and Sedge Warblers, singing. 5 Little Egrets were on the levels, whilst Black-headed and Mediterranean Gulls were present on the scrapes along with Common Terns. There were at least 2 broods of Shelduck, including this one with 9 chicks.

Shelduck and ducklings

There weren't too many waders about, but Avocets were seen along with a couple of Redshank and a flock of c.20 Black-tailed Godwits. Ducks were represented by Mallards, Tufted Ducks and a single Gadwall. Both Canada and Barnacle Geese were seen with young.

My final stop was the small pond by the Reception, where I looked, unsuccessfully, for Water Voles. I did, however, see a single Hairy Dragonfly (again, no photo!!!), Large Red, Blue-tailed and Azure Damselflies.

Large Red and Azure Damselflies

Driving back at 9am, I saw a Barn Owl hunting over a field near Leiston.

Year List update:
160 - Savi’s Warbler
161 – Barnacle Goose
162 – Barn Owl

WWT Slimbridge- 15th February 2016

It's half term this week, so I traveled down to the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust's Slimbridge reserve with my nephew and his friend on Monday. We saw lots of great birds (as always), including ten "year ticks", one of which was also a "lifer".

The first stop on the journey was a small pond on the outskirts of Gloucester (Horsebere Pool). Two male Penduline Tits had been present here for a couple of weeks. We arrived on site and were lucky enough to see 1 of the birds within about 10 minutes. The bird was feeding on the Reedmace in the corner of the pond. I managed to get it in the binoculars for about 30 seconds (!), before it disappeared, never to be seen again. A very smart little bird and my second "lifer" of the year. No photos of my own unfortunately, but here's a link to the BirdGuides website, where there are some super shots. Also present here were 2 Chiffchaffs, a male and a female Stonechat, Robin, Long-tailed Tit and Reed Bunting.

Moving on to Slimbridge, we spent about four hours looking around the reserve, adding another 9 "year ticks" to the Year List, along with hundreds of commoner birds, including Teal, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Mallard, Canada and Greylag Goose, Lapwing, Dunlin and Golden Plover.

Pintail

Crane, Pintail, Lapwing and Wigeon

Year List update:

102 - PENDULINE TIT (lifer)

103 - Stonechat

104 - Black-tailed - Godwit

105 - Shelduck

106 - Pintail

107 - Common Crane (4 colour ringed birds)

108 - Scaup (2 females)

109 - Avocet

110- European White-fronted Goose (7)

111- Barnacle Goose (100+)

112 - Bewick Swan

Dovedale Walk and Carsington Water

Yesterday I went for a walk along Dovedale with my family and a good friend. We walked around the river from the car park at Dovedale to Mill Dale and back again, a long, but enjoyable 6 mile walk.

Dovedale

 During the walk we spotted a few nice birds and added a couple of "year ticks". The first "year tick" was a Dipper, which we spotted flying up the river. We also managed to find 3 Swallows feeding high above the valley at Mill Dale. Other birds seen along the way were: Grey Wagtail, Wren, Robin, Chaffinch, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Mallard and Grey Heron. Along with the birds, we also spotted this plant called Butterbur.

Butterbur

 

Today I spent a few hours at Carsington Water, and also added a couple more "year ticks"; namely Tree Sparrow and Barnacle Goose. The Tree Sparrows were looking in the nestboxes, and the flock of feral Barnacles were feeding on the bankside opposite the Wildlife Centre.

 

Year List update:

91- Dipper

92 – Swallow

93 – Barnacle Goose (F)

94 – Tree Sparrow

New goose at Linacre.

I've been recording the birdlife at Linacre Reservoirs regularly since 2006, and in that time I've only seen Canada and Greylag Geese on the water. I've also had Pink-footed Geese flying over, and ever Spring a strange hybrid goose has appeared for a few weeks and then disappeared again (see here for a picture).

This morning, after a ringing session had been rained off, I went down to Linacre for a few hours, and spotted this bird swimming around the bottom reservoir, honking loudly.

Hybrid goose

 

At first glance, I thought it was a Canada Goose, and noted it down as such. After a few moments, however, I noticed it looked a little different, and grabbed a few photos. Looking closer, I'm now moving towards a hybrid Canada and Barnacle Goose.  This isn't as far fetched as it seems, because there is a feral flock of Barnacle Geese at Carsington Water, and a mixed Canada and Barnacle Goose pair have bred and raised young at The Avenue Washlands in Chesterfield.

 

Other birds present today included 4 Great-crested Grebes (2 pairs; one on the middle reservoir, repairing last year's nest, and another pair on the top reservoir), Mallard (37), Tufted Duck (10), Black-headed Gull (31), Cormorant (2), Coot (11), Moorhen (3), Goosander (1 "redhead") and Grey Wagtail (2 together on the middle reservoir, with a little song).

 

The woods were quite quiet, but there were several Song Thrushes singing along with the Blue and Great Tits, and a Common Buzzard flew low over the trees being mobbed by the local Carrion Crows.

East Lothian Tour and 3 Year Ticks

Got up and out again this morning. First stop was Musselburgh Lagoons on the outskirts of Edinburgh. I visited this site for the first time last October, where I managed some video footage of Velvet Scoter (see here).  Scoters were present again this morning with at least a dozen male bird swimming close to the seawall. Also present were 1 Slavonian Grebe, a female Red-breasted Merganser, Oystercatchers, Dunlin, Eider Duck and Black-headed and Common Gull.

Driving back to North Berwick I stopped off at Gosford Bay in search of Red-necked Grebe, without luck!! I did however add Golden Plover to the trip list, along with more Dunlin, a Great-crested Grebe and a dozen Bar-tailed Godwit.

A quick visit to Aberlady Bay brought me 3 Barnacle Geese, which was very nice as these are presumably wild ones, as opposed to the feral ones seen in Derbyshire. Two Little Egrets were present again and feeding around the bridge and, of course, a couple of hundred Pink-footed Geese flew out to feed in the farmland.

Last stop was Gullane Bents. No Long-tailed Ducks today, but I did pick up a single winter plumaged Red-throated Diver, several Eider Ducks and a group of 10+ Common Scoter.

Gullane Bay (and my thumb!!)

Year List update:

182- Slavonian Grebe

183 – Red-breasted Merganser
184 – Red-throated Diver
185 - Rock pipit (1 in North Berwick)

139 birds

That's the total number of birds me and five other members of the Sorby Breck Ringing Group caught at The Avenue during two sessions on Tuesday.

The first session began at 6am. During this session we caught the first 37 birds of the day. The vast majority of the birds were juveniles, which is very good news, demonstrating a good breeding season. I got to ring 4 Blackcaps (all juveniles), 1 juvenile Whitethroat, 1 juvenile Blue and Great Tit and 1 juvenile Chiffchaff.

Juvenile Whitethroat

Juvenile Whitethroat

Other birds caught this morning were: Willow Tit, Robin, Dunnock, Wren, Goldfinch and Bullfinch.

The second session of the day was a Swallow roost in the evening. We returned at 6.30pm and set up two nets along the edge of the reedbed.

Mist nets

Approximately 200-300 Swallows came in to roost and we managed a very good catch of 102 birds. Again, the vast majority were young birds, including 2 controls (birds ringed by other ringers and re caught by us). Interestingly, the ring numbers of these two birds were just 6 digits apart, indicating that they were ringed by the same person, most likely from the same nest.

As well as the Swallows, there were about 70 Canada Geese on the reserve tonight, including this family, where a feral Barnacle Goose has paired up with a Canada Goose to produce 2 hybrid birds.

Barnacle and Canada Goose family

 

Carsington Water - January 2013

Following on from yesterday's excursion I spent a few hours out at Carsington Water today. The weather wasn't great, but I had a short walk down to the Visitor Centre Hide where I managed several "year ticks".

First new bird of the year was a Redshank seen running along the shore of the reservoir, followed closely by a over-flying Common Buzzard. Out on the water I managed to locate one of the three Great Northern Divers that were present.

Around Horseshoe Island there were 9 Snipe feeding in amongst c.200+ Lapwings, dozens of Teal and Wigeon, a flock of 22 feral Barnacle Geese and 10s of Mallards. Pochard and Coots were out on the water.

Next to the hide there are 2 enormous bird tables and the final year tick of the day was a Willow Tit that was seen coming in. Also on the feeders was a very impressive flock of between 30 - 40 Tree Sparrows, which made a very good sight, along with Chaffinches, Blackbird, Collared Dove, Woodpigeon and Mallard!

Year List additions:

64 - Redshank
65 - Common Buzzard
66 - Great Northern Diver
67 - Snipe
68 - Barnacle Goose (feral)
69 - Willow Tit

Carsington Water - 4 Year Ticks

Hi there. Had a trip up to Carsington Water today and managed to bag myself 4 Year ticks- hurrah.

First up was a Great Northern Diver that has been present thoughout the winter. What's really nice now though is that it's moulting into summer plumage and is beginning to look very smart.

Great Northern Diver

To see what one looks like in full summer plumage take a look at this link. The next year tick of the day was quite a surprise when 6 Black-tailed Godwits were found feeding around Horseshoe Island. This bird is an uncommon passage migrant in Derbyshire, so I was very pleased to see them, especially as 2 were in full summer plumage already. I managed to get a distant record shot, but again, this link will show  just how pretty they are.

sleeping Black-tailed Godwit

The next year tick is a bit of a cheat because it is Barnacle Goose. It's a cheat because the birds at Carsington are part of a feral population that have been present for several years after escaping from a collection. "Real" Barnacle Geese migrate to Britain in the winter before leaving and breeding in the High arctic.

Barnacle Geese

Last but by no means least was the 4th year tick of the day - Swallow. The first birds were seen flying over Stones Island and then approximately 12 were seen feeding low over the reservoirs. Amazing to think that these birds have just arrived back from a winter spent in South Africa! Hopefully I'll be able to ring my first Swallows this year and I may even get a control from Africa. That would be good!

The year list moves on:

117 – Great Northern Diver

118 – Black-tailed Godwit

119 – Barnacle Goose

120 - Swallow

Other birds noted today were: Chiffchaff, Blackcap, Dunnock, Robin, Blackbird, Black-headed Gull (several pairs settling to breed), Common Gull (1 asleep with the BH Gulls), Oystercatcher (1 pair), Redshank, Coot, Moorhen, Mallard, Canada Goose, Pied Wagtail, Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Teal (1 pair).

Bamburgh and Seahouses - 24th October 2011

Our last day in Northumberland was unfortunately very windy, which meant that the birding was quite difficult to put it nicely! Despite the winds, however, we mananged a quick trip to Stag Rocks at Bamburgh and a look around the harbour at Seahouses.

Stag Rocks is one of my favourite places because, during the winter months, views of Purple Sandpiper are almost guaranteed. Today we managed to find a group of approximately 15 feeding with Turnstones and Oystercatchers. There were also a few Common, Black-headed Gulls, an adult Gannet and a late tern species. I managed to get a few photos of the tern, which had a short, black beak. When I checked Collins, it showed adult winter plumaged Common, Arctic and Roseate Tern all with black beaks, so I can't identify it with 100% accuracy. Any ideas?

Tern species

After about half an hour, we drove down to Seahouses, had some chips(!) and then scanned the harbour for anything blown in by the strong winds. Unfortunately nothing extraordinary was present, but we did see a raft of 10 Eider Duck, a Rock Pipit, Starling, several more Turnstones a Shag, 4 fly past Barnacle Geese (real ones most likely from Svalbard!),and Herring, Great Black-backed and Black-headed Gulls.

Great Black-backed Gulls and a juvenile Herring Gull.