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

No Redstart, but...

Adult female Green Woodpecker

As the title of this post suggests, yes, I went to see the male Redstart by the Nene Valley Railway this evening. And no, I didn't see it. A "very showy" bird earlier today has changed into a "not-showing-at-all" one. Never mind. Click here to see Brian's photo of it.

I'm really happy with the Green Woodpecker photos above, though. A mixture of luck and skill (or so I'd like to think!) allowed me to get these shots in the beautiful evening light.

The lucky part was a cyclist flushing the bird up from the side of the railway line, and it perching in a tree a little way in front of me, with the sun behind me. The only skill involved on my part was: a) managing not to make my tripod legs squeak as I set up; b) moving slowly and quietly; c) plonking camera onto scope and pressing appropriate buttons when required.

That's what's so great about digital cameras and digiscoping - even people who know nothing about photography (like me) can get surprisingly good results!

Redstart(s) at Ferry Meadows

There has been a string of Redstart records from Ferry Meadows over recent days/weeks. This is a pretty rare species in the PBC area, since (like Pied Flycatcher), it has a westerly breeding distribution in Britain, so we rely on passage migrants being found. Very often, they don't hang around, so these birds represented my best chance yet to get them on my list.

I was ringing at the park on Saturday morning when two birds were showing between Oak/Coney Meadows, but I obviously couldn't get away at that point and I was too tired - and muddy - to go searching immediately afterwards. I tried for them again yesterday, with no luck, so it was third time lucky this evening...

Being a Bank Holiday, FM was busy with barbecues, kite-flying and football, even though the weather was less than ideal, being showery and very windy. I lurked for about 90 minutes in the required spot before I glimpsed a shape flying into the dark depths of a hawthorn bush. I thought 'well, either that was a Robin or a Redstart', and before I could pick my bins up, I saw the bird's tail quivering... Yes!

I spent the next 30 minutes or so watching, but mostly waiting. It was incredibly uncooperative! For about a total of 60 seconds it fed on elderberries out on the side of the hedge, but the rest of the time it was out of view, and there were certainly no digiscoping opportunities. That didn't matter; it was just nice to have picked it up at all.

Mike Weedon would like to point out that he got some photos of the other (first-winter male) Redstart that I didn't see. Click here to see 'em.

What's in my CD player: Gold - Ryan Adams

Fruits of the hedgerow

An ongoing gallery of autumnal goodies.

Ferry Meadows

Went to look for the Redstarts on Coney/Oak Meadow. Unsuccessful on that count, but I found two Spotted Flycatchers (one adult, one juvenile). Not much else of note around, but I did some digiscoping.




Swallow


Grey Heron


Juvenile Spotted Flycatcher (bad, I know)




Pied Wagtail

I was trying for the oxpecker feeding around the hooves of giraffe/elephant/zebra/wildebeest effect, but this is as close as I'll get.

What's in my CD player: Guerilla - Super Furry Animals

Hola!

¡Los saludos a nuestros visitantes españoles!

Mill Lane, Castor

Attempted to find some migrants this morning. Matt Webb keeps turning up the stuff at Ferry Meadows, so Brian and I tried to give the surrounding area some coverage. He did the Coney Meadow area, while I tried my luck at Mill Lane, Castor (just west of Ferry Meadows in the Nene valley).

The dismal weather didn't help. There may well have been migrants there, but they weren't inclined to come out of hiding. I didn't find anything of note, but Brian picked up a Spotted Flycatcher. Mill Lane always looks good, but I've never seen anything there (apart from White-fronted Geese) on the handful of visits I've made, admittedly... Nor have I heard of anyone else finding anything. But hey, that must be because nobody goes there. Birds are just waiting to be found by whoever can be bothered to get out there...

What's in my CD player: Mutations - Beck

Grrrrrrrripped again

From: Don Gardener

Matt Webb saw a Redstart this morning close to the gap in the hedges connecting Coney and Oak Meadows.

Due to not having been around most of last weekend, I have realised I failed to report a message from Matt Webb that last Saturday morning. In the same vicinity of Oak Meadow he saw a Whinchat, Wheatear plus saw and heard a Tree Pipit.

I neeeeeeeed Redstart and Tree Pipit for my PBC list, but I couldn't have got out last Saturday morning anyway... There were two Redstarts at Dogsthorpe that morning, too...

What's in my CD player: Nixon - Lambchop

House Sparrows

What cheeky little chaps they are. Digiscoped through double-glazing.

British Birdwatching Fair: Day 3

TV presenter Nick Baker presents the Young Birders of the Year with their splendid prizes. L-R: Caroline Simpson, Claire Maloney, Nick Baker, Becky Searle.

One of the most inspiring events is always the presentation of the Young Birder of the Year prizes. Being a birdwatcher at a young age can be really hard work. You can't drive yourself around, your mates take the mick out of you and perhaps you can't afford good binoculars or a telescope.

So it's great to hear of young people battling school work, peer pressure and the lure of other interests to watch birds and produce great projects to win fabulous prizes. Fancy winning Swarovski binoculars at the age of 9! This year, the winners in all three age categories were girls. Let's show the boys how it should be done...


Artists at the Birdfair created a Peruvian-themed mural, Peru being this year's project which will benefit from the money raised.


Note Clive Byers' painted toenails.

Oriental Bird Club charidee football

MJW takes on the mighty Brazil.

The highest highlight of the Birdfair each year is the charity football tournament which takes place in one of the car-parks [fields] on Saturday evening. As usual, Mike Weedon played on the mighty Windrush Harriers team and I was present on this auspicious occasion to record it for posterity.







The squad, comprising Mike Weedon, Dominic Couzens, Dave Gray, Rob Still, Rob Fray and Ian Lewington, 'managed' [shouted at] by Ralph Todd and 'sponsored' [T-shirted] by David Tipling (the Roman Abramovich of the birdwatching world) was sadly knocked out at the first opportunity, having had two no-score draws, a win and a defeat. What a shame.

The Rutland Sparrows (who drew with Windrush in the first round) played the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in the final - WWT came out on top and won the splendid trophy.

The real highlight was after the match when Tyto the dog stole one of Mike's boots. Foolish animal.