New Forest, Poole Harbour and RSPB Arne

 After our visit to Salisbury, Jayne and I spent the next four days in The New Forest and Poole Harbour/Swanage area. Whilst there we added 9 more species to the Year List.

Our first new bird was House Martin (139), which was seen around our accommodation in Fordingbridge. Firecrest (140) was added during a walk in Bolderwood Deer Sanctuary in The New Forest, as was Willow Warbler (141).

Firecrest

On 9th, we had a 3 hour cruise with Birds of Poole Harbour, where we managed to see 3 Spoonbills (142), 2 distant Ospreys (143), and, best of all, amazing views of a female White-tailed Eagle (144).

WT Eagle G466

The White-tailed Eagle that we saw was a female, G466, that was translocated from The Isle of Skye into the Isle of Wight in 2020 by the Roy Dennis Foundation. She has been settled in this area, with a male bird, G463. See details here. Whilst on the trip, we also saw Black-headed, Great Black-backed, Herring and Mediterranean Gulls, Black-tailed Godwits, a Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Great-crested Grebes, Curlew, Lapwing, Canada, Greylag and an Egyptian Goose, 3 Little Ringed Plovers (145) and Sandwich Terns (146). 

Our last addition to the Year List was Dartford Warbler (147) that was seen on Hyde's Heath at RSPB Arne. Unfortunately, no photos, as the two birds we saw, decided to keep low down in the gorse, to avoid the attention of a pair of Stonechats!

Cornwall Ringing

 Yesterday morning (31st), Luke and I were up early visiting a private ringing site in the Nanjizal Valley in West Cornwall (West Cornwall Ringing Group). Thanks for arranging Luke, and thanks to Kester and Jon for allowing me onto your site.

We arrived at 7am, and got straight on with the ringing. The first bird I ringed was a Chiffchaff (the first of 26 ringed by me that morning!). Other birds ringed were: Blackcap (12), Robin (6), Song Thrush (5), Redwing (3), Blackbird (3), Great-spotted Woodpecker (2;1 new and 1 retrap), Goldcrest (1), Firecrest (3), Cetti's Warbler (3; 1 retrap and 2 new) and, best of all, Yellow-browed Warbler (3 new birds) 67 birds from a total of 80!

The obvious stand out birds were, of course, the Yellow-browed Warblers, the Firecrests and the Cetti's Warblers - 3 new species for me. The Yellow-Browed Warblers were also colour-ringed, as part of a national scheme (see here), to try and find out a little more about their distribution and wintering sites. This site has colour-ringed just over 40, this winter alone!

Yellow-browed Warbler

Firecrest

Cetti's Warbler (10 tail feathers)

The morning was very busy, but we did manage to keep an eye on birds flying over, the best of which was a Merlin (year tick 197).

Falmouth - 29th October 2024

 Today, we spent the day in and around the Falmouth area, with our nephew, Luke and family. We managed another couple of year ticks, Firecrest (195) and Common Scoter (196),   had amazing views of a winter-plumaged Red-throated Diver and saw another couple of ringed Herring Gulls.

We started the day with a walk around the Penryn Campus, where Luke found us at least half a dozen Firecrests.

Firecrest

Afterwards, we popped down to Falmouth, where we found Herring Gulls,W:073 (down on the water' edge) and W:120 (in town).

W:073

W:120

After a quick visit to Pendennis Point, where Luke found me a fly-by Common Scoter, we headed off to Swanpool. On arrival, we (Luke) spotted a Red-throated Diver fishing with a Cormorant and a Shag, about 5-10m off shore.

Red-throated Diver

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