Ringing and Year Listing 2013

Well 2013 is nearly over (just 8 hours to go), but I've just got back in from a few hours around Linacre and the sun is just setting, so unless something amazing happens I don't think I'll be doing any more ringing or adding any new species to my "Year List". With this is mind I thought I'd write up a quick post to round off the year.

First up the ringing. Over the last twelve months I've been out ringing with my trainer and other ringers from the Sorby Breck Group, 42 times. Linacre was the most frequently visited site (17 visits), followed closely by The Avenue in Chesterfield (10 visits). As well as these traditional sites, we also started visiting some new sites, most notably the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's reserves of Carr Vale Flash near Bolsover, and Ladybower Woods near Bamford. I "processed" a total of 526 birds of 30 species, with 4 new species added this year (Woodpigeon, Little Owl, Redstart and Pied Flycatcher.)

Year Listing in 2013 was very successful  with an end-of-year total of 197 species, which included 4 new birds or "lifers"; Egyptian Vulture, Thekla's Lark (both in Minorca), Ivory Gull and Two-barred Crossbill. Please click on "Year List 2013" labels for details of all the new birds seen this year.

So that's it for 2013. Thanks go to everyone who has supported me again this year. Happy New Year to everyone reading this blog and Happy Birding in 2014!!

Two-barred Crossbill

Back in August the first records of a small flock of Two-barred Crossbills at Broomhead Reservoir near Sheffield started to appear on the Birdguides website. This species is classed as "Rare", and although recorded annually in the UK, it is seldom seen this far south. This year, however, has been a very good year for them, with several birds seen across the country. More info on the BTO website here.

I had a look for the birds back in the summer, without luck, so, with records coming in again, I thought I'd pop across and have a look again. This time I was successful, and managed to watch a small flock of approximately 7 birds feeding high up in Larch trees by the side of the reservoir. A very attractive bird, and also a "lifer" for me and Jayne.

I managed a few photos.

Male bird (note the two bars!)

 

Male again!

 

I also managed to get a bit of video footage. The first clip is of a female bird (here), and the second is a male bird (here). The birds have a very distinctive "trumpet call" that we managed to hear today. Listen here.

 

Year List update:

197: Two-barred Crossbill

IVORY GULL!!!

Over the last few weeks there has been a small influx of Ivory Gulls into the UK. They are usually found in the High Arctic, so birds that make it to Britain are highly sort after. More details about Ivory Gulls can be found here.

One bird made it south to Patrington Haven in East Yorkshire, so I drove across to have a look and add it to my "Life and Year Lists".

As I arrived, the bird was flying around the pumping station and I managed to grab a quick in-flight shot.

Ivory Gull

 

Within minutes it had landed on the floor about 20m away, to feed on some fish that local birders have been providing. I managed to grab this shot, before it had its fill and flew off towards the Humber.

Ivory Gull

Year List update:

196: Ivory Gull

One bird - three ticks

I'm not a twitcher (honestly!!), but when I switched Birdguides on today and saw news of a Glossy Ibis in Bakewell I just had to go over and have a look. Not only was it a Year tick, but also a British Tick and a Derbyshire Tick- wow!

The bird had been seen late yesterday and had then spent this morning flying up and down the River Wye. It was reported on the Bakewell Showground at 1.00pm, so I drove across with Jayne, just in time to see the bird heading off "high to the west". Phew, just made it. We had a look around the area for a while, but couldn't relocate it, so no photos unfortunately. Instead here are a couple of a flock we saw in Lesvos in 2011.

Glossy Ibis, Kalloni Saltpans, Lesvos, April 2011

 

Year List update:

195 – Glossy Ibis

 

UPDATE: follow this link for a photo of the Bakewell's Glossy Ibis.

 

The Brambling is still in the garden today as well.

Year List Update

I've just been going through my Year List notes, and I noticed that there were a few species missing. As a result, my Year List has just increased by 8 species!! Here they are:

187 – Great Black-backed Gull

188 – Grey Heron
189 – Knot
190 – Curlew
191 – Jay
192 – Jackdaw
193 - Canada Goose
194 - Raven

The 200 mark looks achievable!!!!

North Berwick and Bamburgh

Last day in Scotland today, so I got up early (again) and had a couple of hours on the beaches at North Berwick. The sun was just rising as I arrived and I got this shot of the beach and Bass Rock in the background.

North Berwick beach

Birdwise it was quite quiet, but I did record my first Turnstones of the trip (20+), feeding with at least 3 Purple Sandpipers (year tick) on the rocks below the Scottish Seabird Centre. Other waders present on the beach were Oystercatcher, Redshank, Curlew and a couple of Ringed Plovers. Both Grey and Pied Wagtails were feeding on the seaweed, whilst Starlings and House Sparrows were present on the nearby houses. Out on the sea were a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers, dozens of Eider Ducks, including several males trying to attract the attention of the females with their amazing "oooh,oooh" calls (listen here), a stunning 43 Shags feeding in the bay, along with Black-headed, Common, Lesser Black-backed and Great Black-backed Gulls.

On the drive back home, we stopped off at Bamburgh and had half an hour on the beach by Stag Rocks. I was hoping to catch up with some grebes or divers, and a Bonaparte's Gull that was reported yesterday, but no such luck. I did, however, see 5 juvenile Gannets "plunge diving" into the sea, 20+ Eider Ducks, 40+ Turnstones, 5 Purple Sandpipers and Common and Black-headed Gulls.

Year List update:
186 - Purple Sandpiper

Update: the Bonaparte's Gull was spotted about an hour after I'd left!!!!!

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)

Aberlady Bay and Gullane Bents

I'm up in North Berwick for a few days, so this morning I got up early and drove across to Aberlady Bay in search of a Snow Goose that's been found with the thousands of Pink-footed Geese that overwinter here. I hung around for about 3 hours and watched as the "pinkies" flew out of their roost to feed on the surrounding farmland, but unfortunately, no sign of the "snowie" today.

Pinkies leaving the roost

No worries though, because whilst looking for the goose I did manage to watch all the waders and waterfowl. The first wader I saw today was a Grey Plover (year tick), followed closely by a Bar-tailed Godwit, dozens of Oystercatchers, Lapwings, Redshanks and Curlew, along with hundreds of Teal, Wigeon, Shelduck and Greylag Goose. 2 Little Egrets were also present feeding in the channels, a bird that is still relatively uncommon in Scotland. A couple of Tawny Owls were heard in the woodlands behind the estuary and a Kestrel was being annoyed by the local Crows.

On the drive back to North Berwick I dropped in to Gullane Bents and scanned the bay in search of Long-tailed Duck (link here) I managed a couple of stunning drakes, along with several Shags, Eider Ducks and a small group of about 10 Common Scoters (year tick).

Year List update:
180 - Grey Plover
181 - Common Scoter

RSPB Frampton Marsh and 3 Year Ticks

A couple of times a year I help lead a walk for the Chesterfield RSPB Group. Today's walk took us to the RSPB's reserve of Frampton Marsh in search of waders and winter visitors. In total we recorded 48 species of birds, including a year tick for me; Pectoral Sandpiper. Here's a heavily cropped photo showing all the relevant identification features (the sharp cut off between the dark breast feathers and the white belly, yellowish legs and the white supercilium.)

Pectoral Sandpiper

First up the waders. In total we spotted 13 species of wader on the reserve today. The highlights for me were 2 Little Stints and the Pectoral Sandpiper, but the sight of a few hundred Black-tailed Godwit, 30+ Snipe, Golden Plover, Knot, Bar-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, Avocet (c.15), Redshank,
Ringed Plover, Ruff and Curlew were all very as well.

Waterbirds were much in evidence today with 100s of Brent Geese flying between the saltmarsh and the lagoons, 100s of Teal and Wigeon on the scrapes, along with Mallards, Pintail, Gadwall, Shoveler, Moorhen, Coot, Mute Swan, Shelduck, Grey Heron, Little Egret, Canada and Greylag Geese across the site.

Finally, several gull species were seen (Great and Lesser Black-backed, Common, Black-headed and Herring), along with a couple of Marsh Harriers, a Kestrel and several smaller bird species (Starling, Reed Bunting, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Skylark, Redwing, Crow, Meadow Pipit, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Magpie and Pheasant).

Year List update:
177 - Bar-tailed Godwit
178 -Pectoral Sandpiper
179 - Brent Goose

Spotted Crake

Just a short post to update the Year List with this superb bird - Spotted Crake!!!!! Not the best photos, but it was about 30m away, so I was very pleased to get a shot at all.

Spotted Crake

Cropped picture

The juvenile bird has been present at the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust's Wyver Lane reserve since Thursday and I managed to get there this afternoon with Jayne to try our luck. The bird was very cooperative and showed within seconds of being there! It then hid away for a while, before coming out again for me to video it. Very kind. It's only my second ever sighting and my first in Derbyshire. Here's a link to the video on You Tube. Enjoy!!

176 - Spotted Crake

RSPB Blacktoft Sands and Old Moor

I decided to have a drive over to RSPB Blacktoft Sands today in search of waders. As always I was very pleased with the variety of birds on offer, including a juvenile Marsh Harrier hunting low over the reeds and then coming to a rest on the floor, Greenshank, Redshank, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Lapwing, Snipe, a Common Buzzard (my first record at this site) and a "year tick"; Spotted Redshank (20+). There were also a few duck species around, namely Teal (100+),  Wigeon (3), Mallard (loads!) and Pintail (4).

175 - Spotted Redshank

Spotted Redshank

Marsh Harrier (juvenile)

Toad - found walking across the path

 

After Blacktoft I drove over to RSPB Old Moor for a few hours. Again, waders were the highlight, with Wath Ings Hide very busy. Black-tailed Godwits, Green Sandpipers, Ruff, Dunlin, Lapwing and Redshank were all on show, along with this very showy Kingfisher that spent most of the afternoon perching and hunting from a perch by the hide.

Kingfisher (adult male, I believe)

 

There were a few insects about at Old Moor, including a beautiful male Common Blue Butterfly. Here are a couple of shots, the first showing the blue upper wings and the second showing it feeding on a flower of the Bird's Foot Trefoil. Gorgeous!

 

Common Blue Butterfly

Year List Update

Just a quick  post to update the old Year List. Three new species were added recently as follows:

172 – Osprey
173 – Greenshank
174 – Ruff

The Osprey was added whilst visiting Rutland Water for the Bird Watching Fair and the 2 waders were seen last week on a quick visit to RSPB Old Moor at Barnsley.

Greenshank

Ruff

Year List update and 2 "Lifers"

Yesterday I blogged about my recent trip to Menorca and promised to update the Year List, so here goes:

149- Zitting Cisticola (Fan-tailed Warbler)
150 – Turtle Dove
151 – European Bee-Eater
152 – Yellow-legged Gull
153 – Audouin’s Gull
154 – Scops Owl
155 – EGYPTIAN VULTURE (lifer)
156 – Blue Rock Thrush
157 – Booted Eagle
158 – Hoopoe
159 – THEKLA’S LARK (lifer)
160 – Cattle Egret
161 – Purple Heron
162 – Purple Gallinule
163 – Little Stint
164 – Green Sandpiper
165 – Sardinian Warbler
166 – Red-crested Pochard
167 – Night Heron
168 -Woodchat Shrike
169 - Rock Dove
170 – Stonechat
171 - Whinchat

Numbers 149 - 170 were all recorded in Menorca and the Whinchat was added following a trip to Big Moor yesterday.

As you can see, the two "lifers" were  Egyptian Vulture and Thekla's Lark. The vultures were seen on several days, mainly in the western end of the island around a place called Algendar Gorge, but we did get one flying over the swimming pool in Son Bou. Here's a link for a bit of information about this bird. Thekla's Larks were seen briefly at an area called Punta Nati. Here's some more information about the Thekla Lark.I'll blog more about these two sites later.

I didn't manage to get any photos of either of the lifers, so here are a couple of photos of a Scops Owl that fed around our apartment every night and a Turtle Dove that also came and fed on some bread crumbs outside the apartment!

Scops Owl

Turtle Dove

Ring-necked Parakeet

Last weekend I spent the day in London celebrating my daughter's birthday. Whilst there I spent a few hours at Kew Gardens and saw and heard Ring-necked Parakeets; a year tick.

Year List:
148: Ring-necked Parakeet

St Mary's Island Year Ticks

Regular readers may well remember that my son lives up in Newcastle and that Jayne, Lydia and I head up there periodically to see him and his girlfriend. Whilst up there I always find a few hours to head up to one of my favourite birding spots; St Mary's Island. Although quite quiet this weekend, I did manage  a couple of year ticks: Gannet and Fulmar.

Gannet

 

Fulmar

 

Also seen around the island were: Golden Plover (3 breeding plumaged birds), Turnstones (6), Sand Martins, Swallows, Swifts, Cormorants, Eider Ducks (5), Sandwich Terns (20), Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls, Starlings and a very unusual sighting of a Nuthatch that flew in off the sea!!

Year List:
146 - Gannet
147 - Fulmar

Nightjar Walk - Clumber Park

Every year, at about this time, I join up with Chesterfield RSPB group to lead an evening walk around the National Trust's property of Clumber Park in Nottinghamshire. The key species we're looking for are Woodcock and Nightjar, and this year we managed excellent views of both species.

The evening started in the main car park, where we spent a couple of hours walking around the lake and woods. We managed good views of many different duck species, including Mallard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall. Canada and Greylag Geese were present in very good numbers (50+) of each species and there were at least 30 Mute Swans, with one group of 7 cygnets. Gulls were represented with several Black-headed and 1 over-flying Lesser Black-backed.

Summer migrants were present around the site and included Swifts, Swallows, House Martins attending nests on the buildings, a singing Cuckoo and 3 species of warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler.

The night ended with a short drive to another area of the park where we heard and saw the stars of the night; Woodcock and Nightjar. Lovely birds!

Year List:
145 - Nightjar

Busy Weekend

This weekend I have been very busy with ringing and birding. After Friday night's trip to Ladybower Woods I was out on Saturday and Sunday morning ringing with members of the group, adding another 23 Blue Tits, 2 Great Tits, 2 Pied Flycatchers and 1 Little Owl pullus to the total. As well as the ringing I also managed an addition to my "Year List" with a singing Quail in fields near Shilito Woods (thanks for the tip off Sylvia).

Saturday morning's ringing session took place at a new site for me, Greenwood Farm, an area of land in the Peak District, owned by the National Trust, and part of the Longshaw Estate. Over a three hour visit we managed to ring 2 broods of Pied Flycatchers, as well as several Blue and Great Tit clutches, including 1 Blue Tit nest with 15 well grown pulli, the highest number I've ever seen.

Sunday morning started with the year tick, when I went to listen to a singing Quail. The song is very distinctive, listen here, but the bird is very elusive and rarely seen. Afterwards I drove up to Linacre, where the group ringed another 44 more pulli, including a Little Owl chick from the nest where we ringed the female bird in May (see here). Back in May she had laid 2 eggs, but when we checked yesterday only 1 had hatched.

Little Owl pullus

There were three boxes with pulli still to ring, so when they're done next week I'll give a round up of this year's successes.

After the ringing we popped down to the ringing site to check on the net lanes and whilst down there we spotted this beautiful day-flying moth, which according to Ispot and UKMoths is a Forester. It's a new species for Linacre and it posed nicely for this photo.

Forrester

Year List:

144- Quail

Ladybower Wood SSSI

Spent a couple of hours out at the DWT's Ladybower Wood reserve with Stewart from the ringing group to check a few boxes and ring my first Redstart pulli. He had 1 box  with 4 chicks in it and we ringed 2 each. Thanks Stewart!

Redstart pulli

 

We checked a few other boxes and ringed some Blue and Great Tits, but the 4 boxes with Pied Flycatcher chicks and eggs weren't ready, so they'll have to wait for another day.

 

Pied Flycatcher chicks

 

Pied Flycatcher eggs

 

As well as these birds we also managed to record several other species including 2 "year ticks", namely Wood Warbler and Tree Pipit. Cuckoos were calling all morning and Stewart managed a quick glimpse of one as I dragged myself up the hill!!

 

Year List:

142 - Wood Warbler

143 - Tree Pipit

Colour-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull and possible Caspian Gull

Whilst in Suffolk last week I spent quite a few hours at RSPB Minsmere. One morning, whilst looking out over the scrapes I spotted a colour-ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (see below).

Lesser Black-backed Gulls

 

I sent off the record to the BTO and am currently awaiting information to say where and when it was ringed. It could possibly be from nearby Orford Ness, where many birds have been ringed and tracked on their winter migration (see details here).

 

Also out on the scrapes was this large, immature gull, (left hand bird) that I think is a Caspian Gull.

 

Immature Caspian and Lesser Black-backed Gulls

 

I love looking at gulls, but I'm not great on identifying them in juvenile plumages, so if you can positively identify this bird for me, please let me know.

 

 

UPDATE: I received an email today (3rd June), telling me that my colour-ringed LBB Gull was ring as a pullus at Havergate Island, an RSPB site in Suffolk, in July 2010. This is the first sighting back in England, but it was reported 3 times in winter 2010 in Portugal and then moved south to Agadir in Morocco, where it spent the early part of 2011 and returned again in winter 2012. Interestingly, this is very similar movement to the birds from Orford Ness, in the BTO research shown above.

 

UPDATE 2: Just heard from Dominic that the above bird is definitely a Caspian Gull, so thanks for that Dominic and I'll update the Year List:

 

141 - Caspian Gull

Minsmere Magic!

Just been down to Suffolk for a week's family holiday. I managed to get quite a lot of birding done, including 3 visits to RSPB Minsmere and a drive over to RSPB Lakenheath.  Over the course of the week I managed a respectable total of 101 species, including 15 "year ticks".

We stayed in a small village called Sweffling, which was about 20 minutes from Minsmere. I went across to this superb reserve on 3 ocassions, incluidng 2 early morning visits. Bitterns were heard booming on all visits and Jayne and I watched one feeding from the aptly named Bittern Hide for over 30 minutes one evening.

Bittern

Over the three visits we recorded a total of 69 species including Cuckoo, Bearded Tits, Nightingale, Marsh Harrier and Hobby, as well as a Great White Egret. This really is an amazing place, well worth a visit at any time of the year.

Hobby

Year List update:

126 – Hobby

127 – Cuckoo
128 – Nightingale
129 – Marsh Harrier
130 – Common Tern
131 – Cettis Warbler
132- Reed Warbler
133 – Bearded Tit
134 – Red-backed Shrike
135 – Dartford Warbler
136 – Woodlark
137 – Grasshopper Warbler
138 – Dunlin
139 – Great White Egret
140 – Barn Owl

More details of some of the above birds to follow.