Long-tailed Shrike!!

 I've been very lucky to have seen many species of shrike over the years, but the one I saw today; Long-tailed Shrike (178) wasn't, to be honest, one that I was even aware of until this year! It is a proper 5-star, mega rarity in Great Britain, with just 1 record here before this year. The second record for Britain, an adult type, was found earlier this year (5th July) in Crail, Fife, and stayed for just three days. Amazingly,  "my" bird, this time a 1st summer male, was found in Eastleach Martin, Gloucestershire on 18th July, and is still there at the time of writing.

I went down this morning, and couldn't believe either the tameness of this bird (down to 10m away) and the amazing colours of this bird's plumage. A real stunner!! Here are a few photos (!) and a video.

Whilst I was there, just over two hours, the bird was feeding very well on a variety of small insects. Some of the pictures show how the bird is in full moult (note the tail), thought to be the reason why it has hung around for so long, and the brown fringing on the wings (black in a full adult, I believe). One, if not the best, bird that I've ever seen in Britain!

Long-tailed Shrike

A few other birds seen whilst there were: Wheatear, Red Kite (2) and a couple of Red-legged Partridge.

Nottinghamshire Day Trip - 18th February 2024

 Yesterday, I had a little drive around a few sites in Nottinghamshire, adding 5 species to the Year List.

I started off, in the rain (!) at Rufford, searching for Hawfinch. Unfortunately, after two hours, I came away empty handed. I did, however, manage to add Jay (119) and Stock Dove (120).

Next up, was Budby South Forest, where I managed to spot Stonechats (121) and singing Woodlarks (122).

From here, I drove on to Clumber Park, spotting the long-staying, feral Red-breasted Goose (in the background of the photo) along with Mute Swan, Y358 (ringed 13km away, in 2019, as an adult. This was my 6th sighting at Clumber), and a green-ringed Black-headed Gull, 263C. This was the first sighting of this bird since it was ringed, at Center Parcs, on 16th December 2023.

Y358

263C

The next stop, was a return visit to Rufford, where there were just 70 Black-headed Gulls, along with 10 Goosander (8 females and 2 males) and lots of geese!! Ringed gulls were: 258A (my 30th sighting since February 2020!), 207C (14th sighting since December 2022), 258C (6th sighting since December 2023), 270C (2nd sighting, since December 2023) and 273C (4th sighting since 6th January 2024). 

The final stop of the day, was Carburton Lake, where I managed to spot a very distant adult Caspian Gull (123). A single Red-legged Partridge (124) was seen on the drive back home.

Year List Update

It's been quite a while since I last updated the blog, so here's a post about the bird species I've seen since then.

The first new species for the year are Red-legged and Grey Partridges, which were seen near Rufford and at Apperknowle.

The next bird, a Black-throated Thrush, was a 1st winter bird that has been present in Grimsby for several weeks, and is the second time I've seen since this species in Britain, the first being way back in 1997! Here's a heavily cropped record shot.

Black-throated Thrush

The two owl species, Little and Tawny, were both added within 24 hours of each other! The Little Owl was seen perched in a tree in Apperknowle, whilst the Tawny Owl was heard calling (male and female) from the bedroom.

The last three species were added today in Keithley, West Yorkshire. The Waxwings (15 in total) were seen feeding on a Rowan tree, whilst the Iceland Gull, a juvenile/1st winter bird, and the Oystercatchers (2), were on Redcar Tarn, on the outskirts of Keighley.

Waxwings

Iceland Gull

Year List update:
84 – Red-legged Partridge
85 – Grey Partridge
86 – Black-throated Thrush
87 – Little Owl
88 – Tawny Owl
89 – Waxwing
90 – Iceland Gull
91 – Oystercatcher

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

Linacre - 2nd March 2019

Luke and I had a couple of hours at Linacre yesterday morning, hoping to see, or hear, our first spring migrants. Unfortunately, we didn't see, or hear, any migrants, but we did get some good counts of the waterbirds, and recorded a species that we'd not recorded at Linacre since 2014!

First the waterfowl numbers: Mallard 59, Tufted Duck 29, Mandarin Duck 26, Moorhen 14, Coot 10, Grey Wagtail 2, Great-crested Grebe 5, Canada Goose 2, Black-headed Gull 14.

We also had drumming Great-spotted Woodpecker, Stock Dove (1), Skylark (1 singing), Siskin,  and ….. Red-legged Partridge (2; the first record since 2014).

Red-legged Partridge

Son Real

Whilst in Mallorca, Jayne and I spent a few hours at the Son Real Nature Reserve.

Son Real

We went hoping to find the Balearic Warbler (details here). Obviously July isn't the best time of year to see this species, and, although we had a brief glimpse of a small warbler disappearing into the bushes, we couldn't be 100% sure it was this bird, so this tick will have to wait for another visit! We did, however, get great views of Red-legged Partridge, Kestrel, Thekla Lark, Nightjar (1 flew up from the ground about 1m away!), Turtle Dove (1 flew over), Serin and Woodchat Shrike (ssp badius).

Woodchat Shrike (juvenile)

Year List update:

180 – Woodchat Shrike

181 – Serin

Birthday Lifer

It was my birthday this weekend, so I travelled up to Teesdale and RSPB Bempton Cliffs with my family for a couple of days. High on my wish list was a bird that I've looked for before - Black Grouse. This year luck, and a bit of research, paid dividends, and I got to watch an amazing 22 males and 19 females at a lek site in Upper Teesdale. The birds were seen (and heard) from the road, with the birds about 500m away. After the lekking was over, a female bird and 2 males flew closer to me, allowing a couple of reasonable shots from the car.

Black Grouse (female)

Black Grouse (male and a Curlew)

Driving back down to our hotel in Barnard Castle I managed a couple of lovely photos of 2 other moorland birds; Lapwing and Snipe.

Lapwing

Snipe

Other birds seen in Teesdale were: Red Grouse, Common Sandpiper (1 on the Tees in Barnard Castle), Dipper, Grey Wagtail, Curlew, Swallow (5) and Red-legged Partridge (year tick).

After Teesdale, we drove across to Bempton Cliffs in North Yorkshire, and added another 4 species (Razorbill, Puffin, Gannet and Kittiwake) to the "year list", taking me to 141. It was pretty windy when we got there, and the Gannets, in particular, were hovering just on the edge of the cliffs, and dropping down onto the grass to grab mouthfuls for  their nests, allowing some decent photo opportunities.

Gannet

Other species seen here were: Guillemot, Tree Sparrow, Skylark, Fulmar and Herring Gull.

Year List update:
136 – Black Grouse
137 – Red-legged Partridge
138 – Razorbill
139 – Puffin
140 – Gannet
141 – Kittiwake

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

Year List tops 150

After a week away in Norfolk I thought it was about time I updated the Year List, especially as I've managed to reach the 150 mark again.

The first new addition, Barn Owl, was actually spotted in Derbyshire a few weeks ago. It suddenly appeared flying over the road as I drove to work through Apperknowle.

The other new birds were all recorded during the last week in Norfolk. Red-legged Partridge was seen in the fields around Sharrington. Sandwich Tern and Knot were seen at the Norfolk Wildlife Trust's Cley Reserve, whilst the two Godwit species (both in breeding plumage!), Spoonbill and Bearded Tit, were all recorded at the RSPB's Titchwell Reserve.

Whilst at Titchwell, I also spotted a juvenile colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull. A quick check on the internet suggested that it had been ringed earlier this year in Norway- nice! Here's the colour ring.

JT187 

Colour-ringed Great Black-backed Gull

On the way back to the centre, we came across these 2 juvenile Reed Warblers that were sitting in the reeds just 20 ft or so from the path. There was a 3rd young bird lower down in the reeds as well, and whilst stood there, an adult bird came in to feed them.

Reed Warbler

Year List update:

146 - Barn Owl

147 - Red-legged Partridge

148 - Ruff

149 - Sandwich Tern

150 - Knot

151 - Black-tailed Godwit

152 - Bar-tailed Godwit

153 - Spoonbill

154 - Bearded Tit

A Golden Morning

Today's blog title comes from Alan this week (thanks Alan), and refers to the fact that out of the 55 birds we managed to catch this morning at Linacre, 10 were Goldcrests and 10 were Goldfinch.

In addition to these lovely birds, we also managed to catch 3 Bullfinches, 3 Blue Tits, 4 Great Tits, 3 Coal Tits, 6 Chaffinches, 2 Wrens, 8 Dunnocks, 5 Robins and 1 Chiffchaff. The Chiffchaff was a very nice bird to see, especially as we heard 1 singing at the same time that this one was being ringed, so we know that there were at least 2 on site today. It had a fat score of 5 and a muscle score of 3, so it will presumably be heading south soon. Interestingly, I also had 2 feeding in the garden this afternoon. Good records for the BTO's Garden Birdwatch Scheme.

My personal totals were (new/retrap):
Robin 1/0, Great Tit 2/1, Blue Tit 0/2, Coal Tit 0/2, Dunnock 1/1, Chaffinch 2/1, Bullfinch 1/0, Chiffchaff 1/0, Goldfinch 2/0 and Goldcrest 2/0.

Other birds seen or heard during this morning's session included 5 over-flying Cormorants, a lovely flock of approximately 50 Pink-footed Geese flying over to the north west (my first at Linacre this year), 3 Red-legged Partridges (feeding in the fields by the main entrance, and again, my first at Linacre in 2014), and several Skylark that were heard flying over, but not seen.

The sun was out most of the morning, which meant I was also able to log a couple of insects, namely a Harlequin Ladybird and a Red Admiral butterfly.

Harlequin Ladybird

Red Admiral

100th species of the year

In my last post I mentioned that Chiffchaff was the 99th species I'd seen this year and speculated about which would be 100th. My guess was another spring migrant, but this morning, whilst out ringing, I saw and heard a Red-legged Partridge in a neighbouring field, making this my 100th species this year!

Apart from the new bird, this morning's ringing was, to be polite, quite slow. Over a four hour period we managed just 12 birds. My totals were (new/retrap): Blackbird 1/0, House Sparrow 0/1 (my first of the year), Long-tailed Tit 0/1 and Dunnock 0/1. We also caught a beautiful adult male Greenfinch, which was very nice. Unfortunately I forgot my camera today, so no photos!

Anyway, as they say, we had a lot of time to study the birds we caught and also to enjoy the good company and look at the resident species that were getting ready to breed. In particular, a pair of Mistle Thrushes, which seemed very keen on an ivy-covered tree, with 1 bird, presumably the male, standing guard. Other birds recorded, but not ringed, were Collared Dove, Canada Goose (2 flew overhead), Sparrowhawk and Woodpigeon. A Red Fox was also seen running though the garden on one net round.

Year List:
100 - Red-legged Partridge

Linacre WeBS Walk 10th and 11th March 2012

2 visits to Linacre this weekend; the first by members of the Chesterfield RSPB Group (thank you everyone) and then by me this morning, to carry out the monthly WeBS walk.

As is usual at this time of the year numbers of wildfowl begin to fall as birds disperse to other areas to breed. This is especially the case with the Mandarin Ducks and today's count of just 4 birds was down from a much more impressive 38 just a week ago! Where these birds go to breed we just don't know, but at least one pair used one of the nestboxes on site last year (see here for details). 6 Canada Geese were present today, including the hybrid bird. They were split into 3 pairs over all three reservoirs. 60 Black-headed Gulls were still present as were 33 Mallards, 5 Moorhens, 15 Coots, a singing Grey Wagtail, 9 Tufted Duck, 3 Great-crested Grebes (a pair on the middle reservoir and another summer plumaged adult on the top reservoir), a trilling Little Grebe, the immature Goldeneye and 7 Goosander. Last record from the water was 3 Lapwings that were seen flying over - our first record this year.

Signs of the forthcoming breeding season were everywhere with lots of the woodland birds singing and a piar of Jackdaws prospecting around the chimney pot of the house again.
The Year List moved on by 1 species today when a Red-legged Partridge was found running up the main drive at Linacre. As wella s being a Year Tick, it's also a first ever record for Linacre!

102 - Red-legged Partridge

RSPB Farm Walk - 9th April 2011

One of the joys of carrying out survey work is that it quite often gives you a chance to visit certain parts of the countryside that are normally inaccessible to "joe public". For the last three years I've taken part in the RSPB's Volunteer and Farmer Alliance survey and have seen some great birds and enjoyed some super, early-morning walks in the local countryside.

The purpose of the survey is to help out farmers who are interested in improving the bird life on their farms, by surveying their land. This information is then passed onto the RSPB who analyse the results and offer advice on how to improve and increase the number and quality of birds on their land. The key species of concern are those farmland specialities such as Tree Sparrow, Grey Partridge, Skylark, Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer that have declined in number and distribution across large parts of the UK.

To take part in the survey you need to register with the RSPB, who will then put you in touch with a local farmer, usually in the local area, and then carry out three or four early morning walks throughout the breeding season.

This year's farm is in Blyth, Nottinghamshire. The area to survey is relatively small and took just over 2 hours to cover. Over twenty species were seen today and the highlight of this morning's walk was the good number of Skylark (6), singing and displaying over the fields. This bird is "red listed" i.e. of the highest conservation concern, and so will be a priority species for this farm. No other "red listed" birds were seen today, but  a Sparrowhawk was recorded flying along the hedgerow and a good number of Red-legged Partridge were running around. The only summer migrants seen today were Chiffchaff, which were singing in nearby woodlands, but I'm sure this will change on the next visit in May.

Early morning on the farm- lovely!

Apperknowle 8th January 2011

The fields around Apperknowle in North East Derbyshire are a good spot to visit during the winter months as you can often locate a few hard-to-find species such as Grey Partridge.

So it was this afternoon when I headed up there for  half an hour. Straight away I spotted 11 Grey Partridge huddled in the middle of one of the field just by Snowdon Lane. Although they were quite distant, I managed to get good views through the 'scope and I even managed to get a shot or two. Whilst up there I also flushed 4 Red-legged Partridge and a male Pheasant that were feeding in the same field. A small flock of 12 Fieldfare flew over, along with a couple of Redwing and 20 Lapwings were also feeding in the nearby fields.

Driving back home I managed to spot a Brown Hare crouching low in a field as well as an enormous mixed flock of at least 1000 Jackdaw, Rook and Carrion Crow feeding on a field just behind Unstone.