Cornwall: birds, beer and pasties - Day One

Drift Reservoir: no Semipalmated Sandpiper.



However, alternative entertainment was provided by Dan getting very muddy in a creek.



Digiscoped from the other side of the reservoir (where it was drier)

Nanquidno Valley: no Melodious Warbler, but Firecrest, Goldcrest, Garden Warbler, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Raven and Merlin.




Cot Valley: not a lot. Shag, Rock Pipit, Arctic Skua, Gannets and Guillemot.


Land's End: no Chough, but Raven and Rock Pipit.






Nanquidno Valley: Melodious Warbler!


Drift Reservoir: Lesser Yellowlegs!



















Hayle: Mediterranean Gull, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank etc.







This weekend we have mostly been eatin' Raffters at the Cornish Arms, Hayle.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Day at Eldernell

Westward Ho!: Nene Washes sunset

Spent today at Eldernell on the Nene Washes. I've only ever spent a few hours at a time there before, so it was interesting to see what went past over the course of a day. Numerous Marsh Harriers, a pair of Peregrines, two Buzzards and ubiquitous Kestrels were most prominent, but also notable was the number of hirundines (mostly Swallows and House Martins) which passed over, mostly west or south-west.

There were also plenty of Meadow Pipits knocking about and a few Yellow Wagtails, though it's impossible to tell whether they were local breeders or birds just passing through.


Kingfisher perched by Morton's Leam.

We had fun trying some digiscoping in the less-than-ideal conditions - very windy with low, bright sun. Careful twiddling with camera settings was called for.


Kestrel: grainy and blurred but it's just for fun


First time I've attempted to digiscope a bird in flight

The above Kestrel shots aren't exactly works of art, but it's inspired me to have a go again in the future. It is amazing what you can do with a scope and a camera.


A glorious, sunlit evening on the Washes


A thousand Starlings fly in to roost

I cheated with this Starling pic. I mucked around with the Colour Balance in Photoshop; the original background was a muddy grey colour. Now it's a muddy orange instead. The flock was certainly impressive, sweeping round for several minutes before making the decision to dive into the reedbed for the night. A Sparrowhawk passed over seconds after, but he already had a full crop.

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

House Martins

Yesterday morning, I saw a group of c125 House Martins gather over my street, then fly out of view in a sort of westerly direction. It was raining quite hard at the time. I presumed that 'my' local breeding birds would be among them, and that would be the last I'd see of them this year.

However, this evening, about 30 of the locals were still hunting for insects above the houses as normal. When will they depart? Where will they go when they do? How many of them will come back next year? Nobody knows.

East Midlands Ringers' Conference

Drove up to Keyworth near Nottingham today for the East Midlands Ringers' Conference. I'm not sure I'm really based in the East Midlands but it didn't matter at all.

The speakers gave talks on nestboxes, Wigeon ringing, Treswell Wood, Swallows, the Wash Wader Ringing Group, Gibraltar Point and Tree Sparrows. It was great to meet some like-minded people and to learn about different species, habitats and trapping techniques to what I'm used to.

Now I'm thinking about experiencing wader ringing with WWRG and a weekend at Gib sounds quite tempting, too.

The delicious lunch was suitably lavish for the hungry BTO Gannets...

What's in my CD player: Hot Rail - Calexico

Serpentine lunchtime

Migrant Hawker, Aeshna mixta


Comma, Polygonia c-album

Serpentine Brick Pit

Blue Tit preening after getting soaked in dew


Reed Bunting

Went back to Serpentine again. No Pied and no Spotted Flycatcher, but it was a gorgeous morning and the place was heaving with birds again, including a Whitethroat and a Blackcap. Blackcaps had all gone from Ferry Meadows on Sunday so I suppose that demonstrates that these are almost certainly passage birds, feeding up on their way south.

Serpentine Brick Pit

One of the ponds, surrounded by scrub

Got an e-mail via Peterbirder from George Walthew this afternoon:

Serpentine BP lunchtime

Pied Flycatcher - 1st winter
Whitethroat - 1

George

Gaaaahhhh! Pied Fly has turned out to be impossible to twitch this year (and every other year, I suspect). A prompt visit to Serpentine was required and WeedWorld and I made our way there as soon as we could.

We'd never visited the site before, and a mouthwatering array of habitat awaited us. There is a lot of scrub, open, rough grassland and reed- and tree-fringed ponds of varying sizes. It's like Coney Meadow on a grand scale, and really looks like it should pull in migrants... Oh, hang on, it already has!

[This is the other end of Serpentine from where I had the Wheatear last week]

A thorough search of the best-looking areas yielded precisely no Pied Flycatchers, but we did stumble across a Grasshopper Warbler, a Spotted Flycatcher, a couple of Blackcaps, a handful of Chiffchaffs and a large flock of Blue/Great/Long-tailed Tits.

The Gropper is a pretty late record, I think [locally], and it's always nice to find Spot Fly. In fact, it's nice to attempt to twitch something and actually have some other birds to see...


Bring on the Wheatears and Ring Ouzels!

Why twitching is a bad idea - part 2

Yes, this lunchtime was another example of how twitching can be a silly thing to do. There was a report of a Black Kite near Monks Wood (in the deep south of the PBC area) yesterday afternoon.

In my usual cynical manner, I immediately dismissed it as a Red Kite seen by someone driving up the A1 who doesn't realise that Reds occur in the district. But today's sighting seemed to be a little more exciting:

This just on Birdguides:

11:52 14/09/04 Black Kite Cambs Monks Wood
one still showing well this morning in open grassland

Brian

WeedWorld and I managed to get out at lunchtime. It was tipping it down with rain but we pressed on down the A1. Except we didn't know exactly where we were going or where the bird had last been reported.

After driving round the area around Wood Walton village for a while (very scenic, I might add), we found the correct location. A load of would-be twitchers' cars parked off the road. No people to be seen - they were all sheltering in their vehicles. The rain was torrential and it was very windy.

Five minutes after finding the correct spot, it was time to leave, so we drove back to the office.

The end.

Some people are expressing doubt over the bird's identity, or certainly that of a 'kite sp.' which was reported today. There was a funny-looking Marsh Harrier around, apparently. I have seen Red Kites sitting on the ground (on Upper Benefield cricket pitch, to be precise), but it seems like a very harrier sort of thing to do.

One day we'll see something at lunchtime...

What's in my CD player: Hot Rail - Calexico

Dogsthorpe Star Pit

The lovely Dogsthorpe Star Pit. None of those nasty gulls here.

Mike and I went to Dogsthorpe this lunchtime in the hope that yesterday's Sabine's Gull might be sitting around for us to see. It wasn't. I don't think I need say anything more.

Birdfest at Ferry Meadows CP

Juvenile Sedge Warbler with a terrific 'growth bar' in its rather stunted tail. This is where the tail (and presumably the whole bird) stopped growing for a time, perhaps due to the food supply from its parents being interrupted.

I attended the Peterborough Bird Club's annual Birdfest at Ferry Meadows yesterday. It wasn't terrifically productive in numerical ringing terms - it was rather windy and that and the strong sun (in the morning at least) helped keep birds out of the nets.

We had a total of 50 birds, but it was more satisfying to be able to show visitors to the park what's on their doorstep. We met lots of beginner birdwatchers who were fascinated by what we had in our bags... Long-tailed Tits went down well, as did the Great Tit that pecked Chris ferociously and the male Great Spotted Woodpecker in the photo below (a retrap).


The ringing demo at the Birdfest attracted a steady stream of visitors all morning.

Bird of the day would have been the One That Got Away. I was minding my own business, concentrating on extracting a Wren when the other end of the net suddenly started bouncing up and down violently. What the...?

I put the Wren down and went to see what on earth was causing the disturbance, and it was a bloody Tawny Owl! Shit! What do I do with this? I could see it was lying on its back in the net, talons in the air, giving me an angry glare, but before I had to decide what on earth to grab, it saved me having to make a decision by fighting its way out and flying off...

Next time I will not worry about those big talons, or the scary, flesh-tearing bill, but instead think of the mickey-taking I may experience. To be honest, tiny, spindly birds like Willow Warblers are probably more frightening because of their fragility anyway, aren't they...?

Why twitching is a bad idea

or, How not to see a Sabine's Gull

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy seeing new birds as much as the next birder. But this evening was a great example of how twitching can be a frustrating waste of time.

The whole episode started this morning, when Kevin Du Rose phoned around to report a juvenile Sabine's Gull flying west from Prior's Fen. It looked as if it might follow the Mighty Nene westwards into town, and perhaps over Ferry Meadows, where the cream of Peterborough birding was at the Birdfest.

Normally, on a ringing morning that would be bad, bad news for me, but fortunately I was positioned right by the river in pole position to intercept the bird as it flew over. I was excused net rounds after the first two because there were so many interested people coming to see what we were up to.

So, it looked good. My eyes were on the skies, waiting for the chocolate-brown beauty to pass over. I'd be able to phone ahead to Will and Brian who were by the visitor centre, PBC-ticking it minutes before they did, and bask in the glory (but would it count as self-found?). Of course, the bird did no such thing and was not reported again. Ah well.

The afternoon passed without a hitch and I headed home. I was a bit tired after my early start so went upstairs for a snooze, leaving my mobile phone in my fleece pocket downstairs. This was my big mistake.

What I should have done was take the phone upstairs with me, like I do 99.9% of the time, so it would wake me up when it rang. Because at 17:15, Will phoned. I didn't answer (didn't hear it). Ten minutes later, I woke up of my own accord and wandered downstairs to forage for something to eat. I heard the phone go, and it was Will. Something's going on. The call went like this:

KF: Hello!
WB: Ah! You know the Sab's is at Star Pit, don't you?
KF: Er, no! Bye...

I left in a hurry and got there in roughly ten minutes. I could see no other cars and nobody was visible. So I parked up, phoned Brian to check I was at the right part of the site, then phoned Kevin:

KF: Kev! It's Katie. Where are you?
KDR: I'm at Star Pit. It's just flown off...
KF: You're joking?
KDR: No...

Brian turned up shortly afterwards. Kev, Trevor Williams, Martin Coates and Will emerged from the hawthorns by the road looking pleased with themselves. Smug, even. There can be no worse sight. Martin Coates, for pete's sake! He doesn't even go birding anymore, does he?

I just laughed because there's not much else to be done. Chasing rare birds around is a pretty stupid thing to do, and it's good to remember that.

The Sabine's Gull was last seen flying off east with some larger gulls. Kev reckoned they were heading for The Wash. But we tried a gull roost site near Hampton just in case. We waited until dark and there were plenty of birds there, but not the right one.

Brian was virtually inconsolable. WeedWorld was also there. He hadn't even gone to Star Pit because his mobile phone wasn't working. So he sat at the roost site for three hours, waiting for something to happen. It didn't. The Sab's hasn't been seen since.

What's in my CD player: Lifes Rich Pageant - R.E.M.

Serpentine Brick Pit

I think these are some of the nicest photos I've taken in a while. It was a lucky encounter. I decided to put in a quick visit to Serpentine BP and was marching along in rather a hurry, thinking about going back and 'well, this looks good for Wheatear, but why aren't there any?'

(I could pretend that I had noted the meteorological conditions and calculated that Thursday morning would be the ideal time to find migrants, but I'd be lying)

As I drew alongside a big heap of bricks, I suddenly caught sight of a bird perched on top. Grabbed my bins and got an eyeful before it flew off to the next heap. Wheatear! Excellent! I think we both did a double-take.





With a careful approach I managed to get close enough to get these half-decent digiscoped shots. I had to 'stop down' about -1.0 because of the bright sunlight in the east (obviously) hitting the bird in the breast and 'bleaching out' on the camera's monitor. Surprisingly, the pics didn't need too much work in Photoshop (I only ever do cropping, resizing, a bit of Levels adjustment and some Unsharp Mask).

After that I had to Proceed Directly To Work (do not pass Go, do not have any breakfast), but I came back this evening and the bird (or what I presume was the same bird), a juvenile/first-winter, was still there and fed on the ground among the brick debris. The light wasn't as good as this morning and the bird was more active but I got the last shot above. Even that's not too bad.

Nay-sayers might sneer at my Wheatear-induced excitement, but to me, that's just the kind of bird I need to encourage me to Get Out There And Do It. It doesn't take much, just something nice to remind you that it is worth looking for stuff...

Bird lover misses out on sighting

Bird lover misses out on sighting

"An unlucky bird lover has travelled the length of Britain only to just miss sighting a rare American visitor.

The purple martin, which matures to a glossy, purple-black plumage, is the largest of the North American swallows.

When Lee Evans, from Buckinghamshire, heard one had been spotted in Scotland he set off for the Isle of Lewis.

"I feel absolutely gutted"
- Lee Evans
Bird-spotter

But after travelling more than 650 miles, Mr Evans missed the martin by only an hour, the 12th time he has missed a bird in the last few weeks. " - BBC News

Red-backed Shrike at Prior's Fen!

Had a text message last night from Steve saying:

"pinky has had red backed shrike at priors fen this evening"

I put the message out on Peterbirder and Cambirds and Brian offered me a lift in the morning.

Red-backed Shrike is a seriously rare vagrant to Cambridgeshire, despite its proximity to the east coast. Records from recent years are as follows:
April 2004: seemingly unconfirmed report from Wicken Fen.
June 2003: unconfirmed report from a Burwell garden, and a male briefly at Buckden.
Sept 2001: one at the BirdLife Internation HQ in Girton for three days.

So you'd think there would be a bit of demand for this bird. It seems not. When Brian and I arrived at about 6.50am, there were only two people there - Mike Weedon and Dan Williams. People round here moan about not hearing about local 'rarities', but when the grapevine swings successfully into action and everybody finds out about it, nobody turns up! Some people...

We all had a good eyeful and plenty of digiscoped photos were taken. The bird seemed relaxed and we might have pushed our luck by trying to sneak closer. Brian also took some photos; visit the new Peterborough Bird Club photo gallery blog to see them - make sure you bookmark it!

It was interesting to see other birds interacting with the shrike. A couple of Reed and Sedge Warblers had a good look, keeping their distance, as did a pair of Reed Buntings, but a pair of Blue Tits paid no attention whatsoever. They'll never have seen a shrike before...

Other birds on show at the same site included:
Whinchat, 1 (on edge of Middle Pit)
Ruff, 3
Dunlin, 3
Golden Plover, 20 with large Lapwing flock
Sparrowhawk, 1
Hobby, 1
Marsh Harrier, 1

I usually despise Prior's Fen; it's a long walk across a ploughed-up footpath with often little reward at the end. So thanks must go to Kevin for putting in the initial effort. It was actually a very pleasant couple of hours' birding. Must Try Harder.

Moth

Garden Carpet, says Brian