Bee-eater!!

I haven't seen Bee-eaters in the UK since 2002, so when I spotted news of 7 birds in Nottinghamshire on the Birdguides website, I knew I had to travel down to see them. Today, we had a family trip and got great views of 4 of the 7 birds as they flew around the site near East Leake. Here's my best attempt!!

Bee-eaters

The RSPB had set up a car park and viewing facilities, and I bought this pin badge to supplement the views I'd had!

Bee-eater

Whilst there, we also got good views of several Ringlet butterflies, including this individual with its wings held open, not something I've seen very often.

Ringlet

Year List update:

175 - European Bee-eater

Night Heron

The Night Heron, or Black-crowned Night Heron, to give it its proper name, is a relatively common bird found on all continents, except Antarctica, but is, perhaps surprisingly, still only an uncommon migrant to the UK. I've never managed to catch up this species in Britain, so when I saw, on Birdguides, that there was a bird not too far from home, on a pond in a park in Shrewsbury, I decided to pop across and see it (thanks Jayne!).

The bird had been frequenting this island in The Quarry in Dingle Park (see here), so, when we arrived, we went straight there, and waited with the half a dozen or so other birders.

We didn't have too long to wait (about half an hour), before the bird walked out of the undergrowth, and stood by the side of the water.

Night Heron

It then walked into the rhododendrons that were hanging over the waters edge and started to hunt. Unfortunately, it didn't catch anything whilst we were there, but we did enjoy great views for 45 minutes. Here's a link to a bit of video I managed to get. A great bird to see, and a lovely addition to the "year list".

Year List update:

145 – Night Heron

Black-winged Stilts

I haven't seen a Black-winged Stilt in the UK for many years, not since "Sammy", the resident, and possibly escaped, bird that used to live in and around RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk (see article here). When I spotted on Birdguides that 3 birds had turned up in WWT Slimbridge, I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to catch up with this species again.

I drove down on Sunday (with family), and got excellent views of 3 different birds feeding about 10m away in front of one of the hides. Here's a couple of photos and a link to a bit of video (here).

Black-winged Stilt

Other birds seen around the site included: Common Crane (4 birds), Ruff (6 birds, including 2 males in breeding plumage), Avocet, Oystercatcher, Black-headed, Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gull (1 2cy bird), Wigeon, Teal, Mute Swan, Greylag Goose, (with 5 goslings), Little Egret, Shoveler, Mallard, Coot, Moorhen and Gadwall.

Gadwall (male)

Year List update:
142 – Common Crane
143 – Black-winged Stilt
144 - Ruff

Bluethroat

Bluethroats are pretty uncommon in Britain, usually seen as a passage migrant in spring and autumn, mainly on the east coast. News, therefore, of a "red-spotted" Bluethroat found apparently overwintering in Lincolnshire was a great record, and one I couldn't pass up on. I've only ever seen 2 before, 1 briefly (about 5seconds) at RSPB Blacktoft Sands, and one on Beeley Moor, Derbyshire, in June 2001 (see details, and 1 photograph on the Birdguides website here).

Today's bird was initially found on 10th February, and has been present in the same area, by the main path at the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust's Willow Tree Fen Reserve ever since. When Jayne and I arrived the bird had just been out, for about 20 seconds! We waited an hour (in cold, windy conditions!), before it came out again for about 45 seconds. I managed a few photos, and a little video (see here), before it dived back into the reeds. A beautiful bird!

Bluethroat

Whilst waiting for the Bluethroat to appear, we also spotted a couple of Marsh Harriers (year tick), and heard some Teal. Driving home, we spotted a small flock of approximately 30 Golden Plovers (year tick).

Year Tick update:
102 – Bluethroat
103 – Marsh Harrier
104 – Golden Plover

Sheffield Waxwings

I was out early this morning down on Queen's Road in Sheffield to "tick" some Waxwings for the "Year List". 300 had been reported on Birdguides yesterday, so I thought my chances were quite good. When I arrived at 7.45am there were about 20 Redwings and 3 Blackbirds feeding on the Rowan trees,  but no Waxwings. However, at about 8am, a small group of 4 birds arrived, and then, over the next 15 minutes, numbers built up very quickly to number at least 400!! They were very flighty, and barely settled for more than a few seconds, but I managed some photos.

Waxwings

After looking at the Waxwings, I drove down to Worcester, and added another 10 species to the "Year List" (numbers 37 - 41)

32 – Pied Wagtail
33 – Feral Pigeon
34 – Redwing
35 – Waxwing
36 – House Sparrow
37 – Mute Swan
38 – Common Buzzard
39 - Cormorant
40 - Herring Gull
41 – Lesser Black-backed Gull
42 - Lapwing

Waxwing in Chesterfield

For the last few weeks there has been an increasing numbers of Waxwings being reported on Birdguides. There were a couple of reports in Derbyshire last week, and then, at the start of the week a report came through of 2 or 3 birds that were present in the Donkey Derby pub car park in Chesterfield. I had a drive down earlier in the week, without success, but today I returned, and managed to see 1 bird. Here are a few photos.

Waxwing

Year List update:
183: Waxwing

Two Unexpected Year Ticks

Jayne and I have just spent a couple of days in Dublin, celebrating a couple of friends' birthday, and, as well as having a very great time, we've also managed to add a couple of new, unexpected species to the "Year List"; Hooded Crow and Pale-bellied Brent Goose.

The first bird, Hooded Crow, was quite a surprise, as I hadn't even thought about this species being present in Ireland! Checking the Bird Watch Ireland website however, shows that it's the main crow species in Ireland (see website here). We saw this species a couple of times, including in the middle of Dublin. We also saw a few other corvids, namely Jackdaw, Rook and Magpie.

The second species, Pale-bellied Brent Goose, was an even bigger surprise, as we spotted these birds whilst driving back to the airport! Six birds were flying over, and then landed on the River Liffey. Again, the Bird Watch Ireland website shows this race of Brent Goose to be the commonest one in Ireland, with the Dark-bellied race being much less common (see website here). My only English records of this race is in  Holy Island, Northumberland, with these birds consisting of birds that breed in Svalbard. The Dublin Bay population breeds in Arctic Canada and Greenland, before spending the winter in Ireland. See this excellent Bird Guides article of the different races.

Year List update:
120 - Hooded Crow
121 - Pale-bellied Brent Goose

Firecrest!

After a morning's ringing session (more about that later) I drove out to Silkstone near Barnsley, with Jayne, to "twitch" a Firecrest that has been present at the sewage works fora few weeks.

We arrived just before midday, and spotted a small group of birders, so headed in their direction. After about 10 minutes, and lots of false starts (pesky Goldcrests!!!), we managed to spot the bird, and watched it for about 10 seconds before it disappeared. We had another 10 -15 minute wait, before the bird was found again, and this time it hung around for about 1 minute, and gave some reasonable views. A great bird, and my first since at least 2010. I didn't manage to get a photo, but here's a link to a great shot on the Bird Guides website.

While looking for the Firecrest, we spotted a few other birds, namely: Treecreeper, Long-tailed Tit, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Pied and Grey Wagtails on the neraby sewage words.

This bird was, of course, a "year tick", and it's the second of the week, following a Red-legged Partridge that I saw stood on the top of a farm building in Apperknowle on Thursday. I was a bit taken aback to see it on the top of a building as I've only ever seen this species on the ground before!

Year List update:
118 - Red-legged Partridge
119 - Firecrest

Mancunian Great Northern Diver

Jayne had an appointment in Stockport today, so I had  a few hours to spare. Checking the Bird Guides website, I noticed there was a juvenile Great Northern Diver at Salford Quays, which was described as "showing well", so I popped across to have a look and "tick" it for the "year list".

Great Northern Diver

When I arrived, it was indeed "showing well", down to about 10m at times, and I was able to get quite a few shots, including the one above. It's my best ever view of this species, and looked quite out of place in the middle of the city! Here's one more shot, showing the bird next to the ski jump that's on the quay.

Great Northern Diver in Salford!

Other birds seen in the area were: Canada Goose (year tick), Moorhen (1), Coot (2), Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail (2), Feral Pigeon, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull and this beautiful juvenile Cormorant ( 1 of 4 present).

Cormorant

Year List update:

79 – Great Northern Diver

80 – Canada Goose

New Year starts with a Lifer

This year's "year list" started off in Northumberland, and, as you can see, Jayne and I managed a very respectable 59 species. The first birds, from 1 - 23 were seen in Warkworth, and on and around the River Coquet. Numbers 24 - 43 were seen at Cresswell Pond, and the nearby coastline. Numbers 44 - 51 were seen at St Mary's Island, numbers 52 - 57 were seen around the Priory and pier in Tynemouth, and the Coot was seen at Wetherby Service Station on the way home! The Wren was seen in Warkworth, but I forgot to add it in earlier, so I stuck it on the end of the list!

The best bird of the day was my first "lifer" of the year in the shape of a Long-billed Dowitcher that has been on Creswell Pond since late last year. The bird was on show from the hide, before being flushed by a Sparrowhawk. I didn't manage any decent photos, as it was quite distant, so here are a few on the Bird Guides website. 

1 – Blackbird

2 – Jackdaw

3 – House Sparrow

4 – Woodpigeon

5 – Robin

6 – Black-headed Gull

7- Chaffinch

8 – Starling

9 – Mistle Thrush

10 – Cormorant

11- Red-breasted Merganser

12 – Mallard

13 – Grey Heron

14 – Eider Duck

15 – Feral Pigeon

16 – Goldfinch

17 – Redshank

18 – Curlew

19 – Herring Gull

20 – Magpie

21 – Common Buzzard

22 – Rook

23 – Collared Dove

24 – Whooper Swan

25 – Greenfinch

26 - Tree Sparrow

27 – Dunnock

28 – Long-billed Dowitcher (lifer)

29 – Mute Swan

30 – Lapwing

31 – Snipe

32 – Little Grebe

33 – Pheasant

34 – Teal

35 – Wigeon

36 – Water Rail

37 – Pink-footed Goose

38 – Goldeneye

39 – Reed Bunting

40 – Sparrowhawk

41 – Oystercatcher

42 – Purple Sandpiper

43 – Great Black-backed Gull

44 – Sanderling

45 – Pied Wagtail

46 – Turnstone

47 – Dunlin

48 – Knot

49 – Ringed Plover

50 – Golden Plover

51 – Common Gull

52 – Peregrine Falcon

53 – Shag

54 – Fulmar

55 – Red-throated Diver

56 – Guillemot

57 – Kestrel

58 – Coot

59 - Wren

Shags still there!

News of the Shags at Linacre have continued to come out on social media and the Bird Guides website throughout this week. This means they have now entered their 2nd month- one step nearer to 2016!

I've only been able to get down once this week, this evening, and I was very pleased to find 6 birds on the overflow again. I managed to get some better photos of the 6 birds, and a nice portrait shot of one on its own. 6 had increased to 8 by the time I left, but it was too dark to get a photo by then!

6 Shags

Shag

Whilst walking back to the car I  heard a Kingfisher calling and also heard a Tawny Owl just below the car park. The weather forecast isn't great for the weekend, but I'll try to get down again and get a shot of all 8 birds together.

Linacre- First Snow and a New Species!!

The weather this Autumn has been much milder than usual with temperatures up to 15 degrees in the first few weeks of November, but last night the temperature dropped down to 1 degree and we had the first snow of the winter. I headed down  down to Linacre this morning to get a few pictures of the snow and to see if the cold snap had brought anything exciting in. I wasn't disappointed, with a few nice snow pictures and a brand new species for Linacre - SHAG!!

Snow!

I'd walked all around the site, and was just heading back to the car when I spotted the Shag, a young bird, swimming and fishing around the overflow on the middle reservoir. I noticed it because it was smaller and slimmer than the usual Cormorants. I also noticed that it was jumping clean of the water when it dived, whereas Cormorants tend to slip under the water when diving. I managed to get a few record shots, and I'm pretty sure I saw 2 different birds fishing together.

Shag

I left the site at 11.30am, put the news out on the BirdGuides website and over the course of the afternoon, reports of 4 and then 8 Shags were reported!!! One bird was good, 2 was great, but 4 and 8 together must have been pretty special. 

As well as the Shags, I also counted the following: Mallard (106), Tufted Duck (49), Little Grebe (1), Great-crested Grebe (3), Coot (3), Moorhen (8), Grey Wagtail (1), Cormorant (2), Grey Heron (1) Kingfisher (2), Mandarin Duck (6 - where have they all gone???) and Black-headed Gull (c.60).

The woods were quite quiet, but I did see a Great-spotted Woodpecker, several Blue, Great and Coal Tits, several Nuthatch and this very confiding Robin, that was after the sunflower hearts in my pocket!

Robin

Scarborough Birding

The weather wasn't good enough for any ringing again this weekend, so instead Jayne and I decided to drive across to Scarborough to look at some Black-necked Grebes that have been reported in the harbour on the Bird Guides website. We parked up and walked along the pier, finding 2 birds swimming just outside the harbour. As we watched, they swam into the harbour fishing all the way, until they were about 10 m away! Another 3 birds were also seen later on in South Bay.

Black-necked Grebe

As well as the grebes, we also saw Turnstones, Redshanks, a couple of Cormorants, Herring and Great Black-backed Gull in the harbour.

Cormorant

After a spot of lunch in the C.A.L.F. cafe, we drove up to the Holbeck Car Park to see if we could catch up with the Mediterranean Gulls that over-winter there. I threw some fat balls out, and within a few seconds there were 3 adult and 2 1st winter Med Gulls, feeding along with about half a dozen Black-headed Gulls!

Mediterranean Gull (1st winter)

Mediterranean Gull (adult winter)

Year List update:
174 - Black-necked Grebe

CRAG MARTIN!!!

When I looked at the national bird sightings on the Bird Guides website ( see here)  on Sunday, I saw a record of a Crag Martin that had been spotted flying around the Crooked Spire in Chesterfield earlier that day. My initial thought was... what, that can't be true!??? After reading a little more on the web and on Twitter, I realised that it was true and that I'd most likely missed out on a very rare bird, on my doorstep!

The bird was refound on Monday morning, but work called, so I couldn't get. Luckily, however, it stayed put and was seen again today. I managed to get down to town after school, and had a couple of minutes with the bird flying around the Spire, before it disappeared again! This is the first ever sighting in Derbyshire, my first record in Britain, and I believe, only the 10th ever record in Britain! I didn't manage a photo myself, but there are lots of great ones on the internet, including on the brilliant Darley Dale Wildlife website (see here).

Whilst there, I also spotted an adult Peregrine Falcon that was perched up on the church, and managed to get a quick photo before the light went.

Peregrine Falcon

Year List update:

173: CRAG MARTIN

Derbyshire Osprey

News on the Bird Guides website that there were a couple of Ospreys at Ogston Reservoir, made me decide to pop across there earlier in the week in order to "tick" it for the Year List. I arrived at the West Bank car park at about 9.30am, and within 5 minutes, saw an Osprey flying high over the reservoir. It continued to fly along the reservoir, and then stooped, dived into the water and caught a fish!!!

Year List update:
159: Osprey

Ring-billed Gull

Last year I was lucky enough to be in Hampshire, where I spotted a beautiful adult Ring-billed Gull (see post here). Well, a first summer bird had been reported on the Hayle Estuary in Cornwall, on the Birdguides website, so whilst down here, I thought I'd pop along and have a look at it.

Reports on the website, said that the bird had been seen just north of the road that runs parallel to estuary, just next to the RSPB Reserve, so I started my search there. The first bird I saw wasn't the one I was looking for, but it was a beautiful second summer Mediterranean Gull (year tick)! There were also dozens of Black-headed and Herring Gulls, a couple of Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a few Great Black-backed Gulls present. After about 15 minutes of searching, the Ring-billed Gull flew in from behind me and settled on the mud about 50m away, where I got some photos.

Ring-billed Gull

I took this more distant shot of the gulls, and when I looked at it on the computer, I noticed that there are, in fact, 5 out of the 6 gull species present in the one photo!

Mixed gulls

 Also present on the estuary and reserve were a Spoonbill, Curlew and another year tick, a Whimbrel!

Year List update:
156- Mediterranean Gull
157- Ring-billed Gull
158 - Whimbrel

SABINE'S GULL!!!

When news of an adult, inland Sabine's Gull at Pennington Flash in Greater Manchester appeared on Birdguides earlier this week (see here), I'm afraid to say, my "twitching ears" pricked up, and I decided to drive across and see it. Not only is this species of gull a very attractive one, but it is also a "lifer" for me and one that is not easy to catch up with in the UK, unless you're willing to take a "pelagic" trip, i.e. go out on the sea for many hours, or sit on a high cliff in the South West for many hours staring at the sea!

So it was then, that I drove the 2 hours to Pennington Flash, and stood watching this superb bird, down to just 5m at times, as it fed and mooched  about on the lake in front of me. I took about 800 photos, but here are just five to give you some idea of how great a bird this is. The last photo, showing the amazing wing pattern, is my favourite, but I've also included one with a juvenile Black-headed Gull, to give some idea of scale, and a couple of standard "side on" shots. Enjoy!

Follow this link to find out more about this species.

Other birds seen on site included several Common Terns, the aforementioned Black-headed Gulls and at least 50 Common Swifts!!

Year List update:
155 - Sabine's Gull

Great Grey Shrike - Beeley Moor

Great Grey Shrikes appear in Derbyshire most winters, and one has been reported on the Birdguides website since December, so I decided to go up to Beeley Moor this afternoon with Jayne to see if we could catch up with it.

As you can most likely tell from the blog title, we dropped lucky and managed to watch the bird hunting around fields by Sitches Plantation. It was a little too distant for any great photos, but I did manage to get a half decent record shot.

Great Grey Shrike

Whilst in the area I also managed to add another 2 species to the "year list"; Lapwing and Golden Plover, both of which were present in the area in good numbers (approx.200+).

Year List update:

57 – Great Grey Shrike

58 – Lapwing

59 – Golden Plover

Black Redstart

Black Redstarts are very uncommon birds in Derbyshire, so when news of a summering bird at a site just 30 minutes from home, came out in July (see Darley Dale Wildlife blog here), I decided to have a drive over for a look. Unfortunately I didn't catch up with it then, but another record this week on Birdguides, made me decide to have another drive across today. This time I dropped lucky, with the bird showing within 10 minutes of me arriving.

The weather wasn't great (bit drizzly and misty), so, although I managed to get a quick photo, it isn't the best. You can just about make out the red tail.

Black Redstart

 

I also managed a short piece of video (see here).

 

Year List update:

174 - Black Redstart

Siberian Lesser Whitethroat

This winter has seen several records of over-wintering Lesser Whitethroats in Britain. Several have been spotted feeding in gardens on suet feeders, and at least two have been caught, ringed and their DNA has been analysed by scientist in Aberdeen.

The upshot of all this clever science is that the birds seen in Sheffield and Tynemouth; Northumberland, have been identified as "Siberian Lesser Whitethroats", most likely from Kazakhstan!

There is an article on the Sorby Breck Ringing Group website with a picture of the Sheffield bird here .

Information about the Tynemouth bird and pictures of another bird seen in a Derby garden can be found on the Birdguides website here.