PERDIX BIRDER

En-route to visit Laurence P last weekend I called in at Old Lodge, a Sussex Wildlife trust reserve in the Ashdown Forest as I’d heard it had been a good year for Common Redstarts. I saw about 6/7 juvs, but no adults, lovely little birds.

 

 

 

Its something I look forward to from about the end of May – mid summer influx of Yellow-Legged Gulls from the continent and especially the juvenile birds. Despite a gnarly summer cold myself and Dante un-earthed 4 Juvs and 2 second summer birds at Thames Barrier Park earlier on this evening. With the record for the earliest bird on our part of the Thames being the 1st of July (set by RB) these were almost a week late, better late than never.

Two individuals were particularly interested in the bread however the two others made brief appearances only. The below Adult Mediterranean Gull was an added bonus.

I guess you can expect more ylgs over the next month or so but ill try and keep them to a minimum.

Incredibly, Richard Bonser found his 3rd Bonaparte’s Gull at Crossness a couple of weekends ago. With all thats been going on with work I havent had time to post.

The following weekend Dante and I had it on the outflow at Creekmouth on the essex side of the river.

Well done rich.

 

Last month I got an email letting me know that that the ‘Ocularis’ White Wagtail I found in Abu Dhabi last November was accepted by the Emirates Bird Records Committee 5-0. Its the first record of this sub-species for the UAE, Middle East and Greater Western Palaearctic which I’m very happy about it! Another record since (an adult in Cyrpus) will surely be accepted and will represent the first real western pal record.  The write up was printed in this months Dutch Birding too!

Above – Saadyaat Beach Golf Course. Below – 2cy ‘Ocularis’ White Wagtails, Both taken in  Hong kong, first pic taken by Matthew Kwan and the second my myself earlier this year.

Read the whole write up that Bird guides featured here 

Having only seen birds in first winter plumage previously I tagged along with RB to see the Rosy Starling at Dunge. I guess its part of what looks set to be an influx/invasion with hundreds being seen on the continent and quite a few over here already.

I couldn’t believe the brightness of the mantle, it seemed to emit light! perhaps with it being earlier in the year/less worn etc.

Eyes to the telephone wires/supermarket roofs/anywhere really…

 

7 days away in a motor home with Laurence Pitcher and Graham Gordon, driving anti clockwise around Estonia from Tallinn, taking in what we could.  Laurence and I had been pretty poor at sorting out gen before the trip but with the use of Dave Gosney’s 8 year old map book and Graham’s additional research we did pretty well. Even just pulling the RV over at random places proved decent more often than not.

The dates were chosen with the aim of catching the tail end of the geese and sea ducks and the arrival of the more interesting passerines towards the end of the week. This pretty much worked out as planned and we had good numbers of migrating wildfowl and Cranes too throughout the trip, as well as almost all of the eastern migrants I’d been hoping for. The weather was bizarre for the Baltic coast in May and we had 5 days in a row of the hottest May temperatures in Estonia on record!

We initially headed west hoping to witness the sea blackened by Long-tailed ducks, Scoter, Scaup, and divers. The good weather must have given a lot of them the option to head north and the first site held only Arctic terns, Thunbergi Yellow Wagtails and a White Tailed Eagle. However, at Spithami in the very north west of the country, the sea was alive with the yodelling calls of thousands of Long-tailed ducks with smaller parties of Scaup, Eiders, Common and Velvet Scoter, 2’s and 3’s of Black- throated divers moving North, as well as a number of Herring and Caspian Gulls lurking around the shore under the regular noisy skeins of Banacle Geese moving over head.

Our first evening yielded many Roding Woodcock and first morning gave us a taste of what was to come with several singing Thrush Nightingale, Rose Finches, Whinchats, Wood Warblers, Hawfinches, Redstart, Tree pipits, Pied Flycatchers, Wrynecks and Golden Oriel, as well as Black Grouse heard in the distance and an Adult Male Montague’s Harrier over our heads in between ranks of Barnacle and European White fronted Geese, all within slipper footed walking distance of our mobile home and the single track road.

Spithami also held our first Red breasted Flycatchers, including one dropping out of the sky just metres in front of me upon its apparent realisation that the next stop was Finland. Evenings were spent eating and drinking, watching over clearings in mixed woodland with more Woodcock and the appearance of a Moose.

Thick forest is abundant in Estonia, both mixed deciduous and vast expanses of coniferous, and it was in this habitat that a couple of highlights for me occurred. Pulling off the road on spec and walking into the forest randomly produced a few lucky moments; whilst listening to a Red-breasted Flycatcher singing in a small clearing, the whistling call of a Hazel Hen was heard a few times before we saw the bird.

I was taken aback at how incredible it was! I hadn’t really expected to see them without a guide and the perfectly cryptic plumage in the setting it was designed for was fucking excellent. On the way back to the car we heard a Nightjar churring and spent 20 or so minutes trying to locate it, which we did.

A few days in, we left the coast and headed inland. There were a few sites that appealed, all in close proximity to Tartu,  so we headed to the general area intending to move between them over the following days. The wooded marshland, freshwater lakes and open countryside near Aardla as well as Ilmatsulu fish ponds became our regular sites. It was in these bird-abundant habitats that something really stuck out: the amount of Mimicry involved in the songs of so many bird. The Sprossers and Marsh Warblers of course, but also things like Red Backed shrikes imitating Whitethroats, insane Icterine Warblers and an Incredible 2cy Whinchat that almost sounded like a Sedge Warbler in terms of phrasing and constant singing. Graham is very good with calls and very interested in song and even he was slightly baffled by a couple of things singing outside of their usual repertoire.

These areas were brilliant, and yielded new additions to the trip list in the form of many Black terns, Little gulls, White–winged terns, more Rose finches, Great Reed Warblers, Marsh and Icterine Warblers, River, Savi’s and Grasshopper Warblers…

…Penduline tits, Citrine Wagtails the males of which were completely astonishing. Having only seen autumn birds before, I was blown away; I really like wagtails anyway but these are really almost the perfect bird, I guess it’s things with yellow on them that make you go ‘oh fucking hell!’ when you see them.

This area also proved interesting for Both Lesser-Spotted Eagle (an individual we saw a couple of times, below)

and one or two ‘Middle’ Spotted Eagles. A broad winged bird with long p4 (Greater Spotted feature) also showed a pale iris and more Lesser Spotted-like barring to the secondaries, confirmed by consultation with my keen-eyed raptor enthusiast friend young Dante. We did hear that the chicks from a pair of what were thought to be Great Spotted Eagles in the area had been DNA tested, and there were mixed genes at play.

Gulls were a little disappointing,  but what else can you expect in hot weather? Our first encounter with any Large Gulls were a smallish flock distantly loafing in a field made up of mostly Caspian and one or two Herring Gulls. It was bizarrely in this same field, next to the gulls, that I came across my first ever Black Grouse!

At the Coast, the Gulls were a little closer. The Caspian Gulls I saw were very reminiscent of birds I saw in Cyprus, winter 2016/17, in both structure and also a propensity for many softly patterned grey replaced 2nd generation wing coverts in first cycle birds. Above is one that came close(ish).  Some of the Herrings were what might be described as a Baltic type Herring Gull, with Yellowish legs, a red/orange orbital ring and limited black in the primaries.

I saw one or two small, dark, long-winged lesser black-backs, which I took to be Fuscus, and a large, paler mantled 3cy bird with many replaced adult grey wing coverts, replaced in rectangular blocks, that I recognised from my time in Abu Dhabi as a Hueglins – alas it was not seen on the deck.

Our final day was a very successful one and began with Graham and I seeing our First Black Woodpecker (we also had Middle Spotted that day and I think Graham had a White–Backed).  Graham also found a Ural Owl right out in the open being mobbed by Chaffinches and Song Thrushes. By the time we got there a pair of Jays had moved in, and the bird was forced to move, however we all saw it well.  It’s attention was split between us and the Jays mobbing it, in turning its head back and forth it gave a shaggy impression and almost looked like a man in an Owl suit, much bigger than I had originally thought. Another ‘FUCK-ING HELL!’ moment.

Another thing that occurred to me on the trip, was that pretty much all of the passerines we were seeing would have been migrants. The Flycatchers and Warblers of course, but the small numbers of Wrens, Dunnocks and Robins too, which gave them an elevated status. A Robin singing on the top of a spruce became as vital to watch and listen to as the Wood Warblers, Pied and Red–Breasted Flys.

We saw a few Caudatus Long Tailed Tits as well as Northern Bullfinch and Familiaris Treecreeper too

The final night was spent just off an unmade track near Aardla. We’d had a walk taking in an Osprey, Spotted Crake, very close Citrine Wagtail, Red- Backed Shrikes, Marsh Warbler and a showy River Warbler (below). It did actually show very well, walking along branches and across the ground only to appear metres away for another minute of reeling.

As the evening drew on, and the long sun set began, Graham and I heard the electrical trickling sound of Lekking Great Snipe! We then enjoyed much closer views than we had previously at a well known site; wing flicking and bill clapping whilst 3 Spotted crakes sang behind us, squadrons of Wood Sandpipers came and went, the big beers were good and LP and I broke out some Neil Young on the car stereo as the mozzies licked their lips.

Different styles…Graham (above) and Laurence (Below)

We missed a few things during the trip, this was expected and we were prepared to. I would have liked to have seen rather than just heard the Barred warblers, having only seen 1st winters in UK.  I was surprised there were no Bramblings, no sign of any Greenish or Blythe’s Reed (although I think Graham had one or two after we left). We accepted that without a guide we weren’t going to see all the owls, and that the Wood peckers would be harder given the date, but overall it was a brilliant trip. I’d recommend travelling around in a motorhome too, we must have turned up a few bits that other birders wouldn’t have just by getting out and walking around on spec so often. Below ‘The Map’ butterfly…

I’d also recommend buying Dave Gosney’s ‘Finding Birds in Estonia’ map book if you’re thinking of going. And also recommend doing endless impressions of him whilst driving a ridiculous vehicle, fridge stocked with giant cans of beer, cupboards full of cracker breads and bogroll, vehicle full of hiding mozzies, down unmade gravel roads to the soundtrack of Estonia’s incredible bird life.

 

Once a year I try to get to a couple of sites in the Hope Valley, Derbyshire. Its 25 mins drive from my Dad’s house and I usually make the pilgrimage over the last weekend of April/first weekend of May. Arriving at Padley Gorge about 6.00 am I could hear a Pied Flycatcher singing before even getting out of the car. Ancient Oak woodland isnt quite totally in full leaf at this time of year so birds are easily seen. I think I saw about a dozen males and about 5/6 females, some of the females were carrying nest material about.

I had a Wood Warbler briefly in Song and briefer views which In havent seen there for a few years as well as a Spotted Flycatcher heard singing from the treetops and a Dipper was seen and heard in the gorge itself. 5/6 singing male Common Redstarts…

…and about the same number of Tree Pipits.

The next site is open moorland and gritstone cliffs and boulders – ‘Stanage Edge’ and the surrounding area is a good spot for things like Ring Ousel. (a female flew right over my head as I ate a packed lunch.)

Its also a great place for Cuckoo, Wheatears and Whinchats but the bird i enjoyed up there the most were Red Grouse. A species surrounded by controversy and the reason for the lack of Hen Harriers in this perfect habitat. You just don’t see Red Grouse away from moorland so I made a point of spending time watching these Incredibly plumaged birds.

Its hard to see all of these in one trip so i really happy. Its well worth the trip and only 3.5 hours drive from London. If anyones intrested in the gen contact me directly and i’ll happily share. emailpartridge@gmail.com

 

Dante, Rich and I had one of our best days at Crayford today. Despite a brief interlude to dip a rare hirundine in north London. The weather was spot on for staring at Larids with icey winds and what felt like freezing temperatures for late April

Above and below are 2 of 3 second calendar year Caspian Gulls present between Viridor and Jolly Framers at Crayford.

There were 2 Iceland Gulls present, this 2cy and the following 3 cy. Both have beem seen elsewhere in London I’m pretty sure.

Next up was a beautiful juv Glaucous Gull, very special birds.

There were one or two 2cy Yellow-Legged Gulls.

Back to normal spring birding now and before too long I wanted to highlight a few species that arn’t always easy to see on the patch from the past week or so. Before the excitement around the Black Kite(s) last week I was planning to write a blog pointing out a couple of valuable moments.  The Ring Ousel that was present for a few days was a real highlight for me.

A small flock of 8 or so Brambling featured in morning walks, feeding on insects and towards the end of their stay included one or two singing males.

Yellow Wagails are much more common but rarely let you get close and I’ve had a handful of them on the deck. This bird was present with two White Wagtails during a rainy morning on the 27th.

Graham H found this Black Redstart on the paddocks. I took the silvery fringes to the innermost tertial to be an indicator that this was a 2cy male, although I see no moult contrast in the wing so im not sure really that its not an adult female… maybe the real question is – Who cares?

.. I do abit so let me know if you can age and sex it.

Amazingly (after finding last weekend’s bird with LP on Beachy Head) I had a Black Kite! Fly west over Walthamstow Reservoirs on the morning of the 24th April.   The ‘In Profile’ and active flight views of a Kite sp left a nagging feeling as to ID, and the shorter looking tail appeared to lack any Reddish tones. As the bird disappeared west, I was left concluding the ID from Photos, which showed; 6 long primaries  (rather than 5 shown by Red Kite) the slight fork to the tail, the broad secondaries (longer than tail length and most obvious in third and fourth shots below), darker more diffuse primary window and mask can all just about be seen in this morning’s shots. I put the news out “Black Kite heading West…” this was followed by another 4 records of (surely the same) black Kite over a few sites in London. 

Its the first record for the site and nicely won back after a bird I had over my old house in Hackney 2014 that went unrecorded due to lack of photos. 

 

 

 

A short trip down to stay with Laurence P was headlined by a Black Kite that flew East along the headland. LP picked it up initially and sounded it out as looking like a Black Kite. Our first views were probably the closest but involved me running like mad to get some diagnostic shots of the disappearing bird then some (legal) formula one style driving in an attempt to intercept the bird further down the coast. We parked up at Beachy head pub at the apex of the headland and sure enough the bird gave us more distant but in my opinion better views – Circling as well as some direct flight.

 

Nice bird and a really fun 30 mins or so. We also had a female Ring Ousel but very few other migrants. I drove home that evening and missed out on an excellent following day which can be read about here