Some more twitching

So we have all been pretty poor on the patching front recently but I think we have all been out for some dirty twitching recently - who couldn't resist a Brünnich's Guillemot in Dorset?

Simon and I hatched a cunning plan - rather than join the crowds in glorious weather over the weekend we decided to add a little extra risk by going on the Monday...5 days after it was found. Rob, rather sensibly, decided that he would take the safe path and headed down over the weekend.

Which lead to me getting up at 12:30 AM yesterday morning and driving over to Milton Keynes to meet up with Simon and Nick who, in a weak drunken moment, agreed to come along with us. We left MK at 04:00 and drove south into gale force winds and heavy rain.

07:10 - we pulled into the car park at Portland to be greeted by horizontal, torrential rain. And it was dark.
07:20 - we headed off to find some food.

After 30 mins of random driving we finally listened to Nick's suggestion that Weatherspoons opened early for breakfast and, with the help of his Weatherspoons app, were tucking into a cracking full english breakfast by 08:00 - thanks Nick!

We then headed back to Portland and after some more random driving and searching in the wind and rain, the guillemot was located off the old castle.

It was very grey, wet and windy. The Brünnich's Guillemot is just by the end of the pontoon, honest!

We spent an hour or so watching the bird, with it sometimes coming close (I am sure Simon will add his record shots later...) before the weather got the better of us and we decided to retreat back to the car and head off to Brixham for the White-billed Diver.

About an hour after leaving we remembered that there was a Glossy Ibis back at Radipole...we had managed to completely forget in the excitement of seeing the Guillemot and trying to dry our gear...doh!

12:00 and we were in Brixham, the sun was out and after a brief search were enjoying the banana-billed bird. The bird headed out of the harbour before being chased back in by 3 camera waving blokes in a boat. They then spent the next 30 mins or so chasing the Diver around the harbour, to the amusement/distaste of those on the harbour side. The upside for us was that the bird did come quite close at times and I could grab a couple of record images with my little OM-D and 100-300 lens.

All in all a cracking day - 2 UK ticks for me, 4 species of diver and all 3 UK Guillemots!

So continuing Simon's theme of resurrection, I thought I'd post about a pleasant visit to one of my favourite local patches, Little Linford Wood.  Favourite primarily because it appeals to my never-far-from-the-surface misanthropy by being blissfully devoid of people.  And today was no exception.

So my first visit to this site in 9? 10? months was conducted in glorious winter sunshine, and I faffed around trying to reacquaint myself with the f-stops on my bridge camera, occasionally stopping to raise my bins at a Jay or a calling Treecreeper.

Most interesting bird-wise was a small flock of passerines in a stubble field by the disused barn just west of the wood, c40 birds, mostly Yellowhammer and Chaffinch, but also a handful of Reed Buntings and 2-3 Tree Sparrow. The mega flock of 200+ birds of this latter species which wintered at the site a couple of years ago seems increasingly like an anomaly.  I presume that small flocks are scattered around the local area, which is mostly inaccessible and totally underwatched.

Still, with the rise in popularity of patch-watching trying to convince me that such a flock has a greater intrinsic value than twitching an Ivory Gull, I suppose I should feel moderately satisfied with my afternoon's work.

Not a lot

I decided to stop off at the Abbey Paddocks on the way back from doing the School run , figuring there must be a Woodcock hiding in the Undergrowth ..... There wasn't ;-)

A Grey Wagtail flew over , as did a Chaffinch ... and it didn't get much more exciting than that - Healthy number of Blue Tits was also noticeable.

Matt called mid morning to say that he had nailed the SIBERIAN CHIFFCHAFF @ Manor Farm - it responded well to playback of Tristis , but still refused to call !

Cheers

Si

Patch listing returns .....

As Ash now lives next to Lodge lake , its only right and proper that we have a bit of friendly patching taking place in 2014 and with that in mind , I met up with Ash on 13th November ( http://www.viewsfromanurbanlake.co.uk) and had a pleasant walk round the north of the patch showing Ash the sights and sounds of the Northern part !

Best bird for me was a SKYLARK that flew over the Abbey paddocks - the first one I have seen since moving to Bradwell over 4 years ago - Ashley scoffed at this as he has regularly had them over the lake this Autumn , I guess i don't look up often enough ! We also had a few redwing and small flocks of Fieldfare moving through.

2 male BLACKCAPS in the Bradwell Abbey bushes were a nice surprise

Bring on 2014 !!

To get myself further excited , I walked the Flood Plain yesterday ( Thursday 21st November ) with REED BUNTING and 4 COMMON SNIPE the best I could produce - Snipe are very scarce on the patch and these are records 3-7 as Ash had one flying over on 13th

2 new patch birds in 2013 came in the form of a hard weather movement of 15 PINK FOOTED GEESE in early January and a PEREGRINE that hung around for a few minutes before heading off south in April

The Patch list now stands at 102 of which I have seen 98 ...... the Four that I have missed are Pheasant, Common Sandpiper , Ring Necked Parakeet and Garganey - Odd omissions from the list are Goosander , Partridges , Any Wader other than Common Sand, the 2 Snipes and Lapwing , Any Owls other than Barn ( seen twice ) Marsh Tit , Nuthatch, Stonechat , Nightingale and Brambling.

That Old Twitching Feeling

I cant actually remember my last tick , thats not to say I don't know what I have seen , its just 2010/2011/2012 all seem to have merged together ! I know I saw Sandhill Crane and White Tailed Plover - I even have photographs of them , but couldn't say what year without looking it up ! What I do know is that I have not seen a LOT of goodies in recent times and I am supposed to be a twitcher ( Didn't See WOW in Hartlepool or White Throated Robin ( Even the FOP saw that one !!! ) , Didnt go for any rare Swifts, Warblers in far flung places , dodgy Thrushes or large pink Finches, all in all , other than going local , my twitching had hit rock bottom ....

SO October 2013 - Many rare and good stuff on Shetland the exact week that we would have been there last year , did nothing to improve my mood , but I vowed that the next biggee that hit the mainland , I would drop sticks and go there and then ...... HERMIT THRUSH - Porthgwarra - Ticked all the boxes on the 29th .... Except that I was busy ;-) SO after dropping the kids off to School on the morning of the 30th , I headed west .... and then more west ..... and finally arrived @ Porthgwarra at 3pm in the afternoon , news had not been the regular on the way down and upon arrival I found that it hadn't been seen since 1pm and that some people had been there since 11am and not yet seen it !! Dire straits ! So I settled in the car Park side of 60ft Cover and waited .... for about 2 minutes , before a tyre squealing behind me indicated that some birder had got stuck in the Car park ! doing the decent thing , i went and helped push him out , getting spattered in the process ! , When I walked back to the crowed , they were all focussed on one bush , the Bloody Thrush had flown in while I was good deeding ! No worries , as the delightful gem of a Cartharus thrush performed excellently for about 15mins before hopping slowly off into the gloom - I even managed some pictures ! yay

Hermit Thrush resting and OML

So under the belt but I didn't fancy getting back in the car after only 30 minutes out of it , so decided to just hang on a little longer rather than try for the White Rumped Sandpiper or Rosy Pastor in Penzance

Big Mistake , about 5 minutes after the bird had hopped off , everyone left except me and 2 guys on the other side were left then 1 guy joined me , he looked a bit like Tony Soper , and I hope it was him ;-) however he had NO bins ..... and just stood silently next to me peering into the gloom .... after about 5 minutes of mute staring , I asked him if he was here to see the Thrush , he replied that he was , and that he had left his "Glasses" on the kitchen table in Birmingham ....... But when he remembered he was too far down the M5  .... 

So I decided to stay and find it for him again so he could see it with my bins ..... 

to cut a long story short as I am getting typers wrist , I refound it 2 hours later in the last rays of daylight , handed my bins to the bloke who saw the shadow and then I got it in the scope so he could see it there also , we shouted to the 10 or so other people on the other side , who were also able to get on it ! Great days , it was now 17:30 and raining and dark - it took me 5 hours to get home .... That was a rubbish drive ;-) but Hermit thrush was my 500th Species in the UK ( if you play by the UK400 set of guidelines ) if you don't , it was 481 BOU - Which is not too shabby ;-) 

Si

First Bucks Storm Petrel for 84 Years

Hello Again ! Wow , the first post for nearly a year , lets try and get this thing moving again !

So whats happened in a year ..... I have left my job and Set up on my own Consultancy , The Beast has had a baby Girl (Emily - ahhhh ) The Fop went permanent at work and Wheelspin ...... Finished his bathroom and the Study - Chez Wilson Rocks !

Major excitement in the Bucks listing camp happened @ 15:00 on 13th October , I was picking up Alex from School when I missed a call from Warren - now this is a bad thing .... Warren tends to find things , rare things ! I called him back , but he was engaged , now this was a really bad thing ! So i try him 3 more times before listening to the message .... Hi Simon , Just had a STORM PETREL fly past the first hide @ BBOWT Lake , Calvert ....... "

In shock , i stare at the phone , He said STORM , not Leach's ..... ( there had been a few Inland Seabirds over the previous few days and a Leach's would not have been unusual ) , but a STORMIE ! Jackpot time !

I tried Warren a 4th time and bingo got through to him ( Sorry Alex , I totally ignored you in the car ;-) )

"Did you say Storm Petrel" ,

"Yep ! But I have not seen it since it flew past into the little side bay"

"No worries , I am on my way !"

Dropped Alex off at home , Text alert sent and then the busy task of phoning the Bucks Elite as i travelled safely and carefully towards Calvert lakes ;-)

Upon arriving in the near hide at a run , Warren calmly met me and informed me that he hadnt seen it for abut 30 minutes since it flew past the hide and landed in the far left hand side corner (north) ..... Stressy or what ! I decided to head out into the corner to see if I could see it , trepidation as i pushed my way through the bushes to reveal ..... 10 or so Coots ! no sign of anything petrel shaped ... I started to scan the lake just in case , nothing , then I lengthened my view , there was a small black dot about 1/3 of a mile away at the end of the lake .... Scope up - Petrel ! bingo.

I start running back to the hide where I bump into Venerable Ted , Fop and Mrs Fop and Golden Bins ( Warren is still in the hide ) I shout something incomprehensible as i tear past them into the 1st hide , no use , cant see it from there , out to the 2nd hide , Golden bins is like a rocket and i struggle to keep up !

we arrive in the 2nd hide and the bird is still there ! I struggle to get my Telescope unfogged and for the first few minutes , cant even see through the scope let alone nail the ID

After about 4 minutes of tense watching , it raises its wings ! great white underwing bar ! Yes its the first STORM PETREL in the county since 1827 ! and only the 8th ever

We watch it for a little while more , Rob Andrews, Mike and Rose Collared, Graham Smith , Tim Watts and Steve Rodwell arrive on the other bank to watch and Dave Parmenter arrives in plenty of time , suddenly about 16:20 it gets up and starts flying towards the Gulls - Danger Will Robinson , Those Lessers will rip you apart ! it settles again briefly and then does an amazing fly past of the hide and dances in front of us for about 2 minutes before flying in front of the hide and away to the right

After a general bout of what a great bird etc , Dave P , Warren and myself start to wonder why its not reappeared ..... and it never does ! No-one on the other side of the lake saw where it went and people start arriving ( Robert Norris and Mike Campbell ) and stay looking , but no further joy - by this time its approx 16:30 and the Storm Petrel was "available" for a mere 1.5 hours ! The Sailing lake was checked , but it looks as though it just flew through .....

Cracking find by Warren and a great county tick !

My Pitiful efforts

Tim Watts much betterer pic ;-)

















More days out to Follow

Si