Friday 31 March 2017

Spring sarnies - 31/03/2017

I made a hopeful trip down to Bowling Green Marsh this morning to see if the Bonapartes came in at high tide. I popped over to Goosemoor en route, and had my first willow warbler of the year in the trees along the path.

At BGM, avocet, green sandpiper and Barwhits were the best on offer, though lots were on show, including many wigeon. Full seems tobe in full swing, as this wren attested in full  song in the lane.




At Exmouth there were at least 3 sarnie terns diving in the sea, and luckily for us the tide was quite high so they were in nice and close.




So not an amazing trawl, but 3 new on the list for the year. Ticking over nicely. Pun intended.

Monday 27 March 2017

Ring-necker! 27/03/2017

Luckily the weekend of dips well and truly came to an end with today's ring-necked duck as Cosmeston. Jess and I bundled Olive in the car and drove through traffic to get there, with the sun going down. The duck was with tufties right in front of the entrance, so we were soon onto it.



Sunday 26 March 2017

The weekend of Dips, Brimstone and Silhouettes - 26/03/2017

And so the weekend of dips came to a end when a trip to Wern Ddu to walk Olive failed to produce Gos which I tried to get to make up for yesterday's Sprawk. It was a nice walk in the sun though, and there were quite a lot of brimstone on the wing, and alighting briefly..




It's been a weekend of studying BOP's in flight for that elusive Gos. Frustrating, but at least educational.


Buzzard

Buzz 2

Kite - nicely obvious though over a local spot it was nice to see! 

Another of yesteday's sprawk. 

There's a spoonie down at Goldcliff, so I feel another trip coming on if it hangs around!

Saturday 25 March 2017

Dorset and Forest of Dean - 24/03/2017

Bleary eyed, I stumbled out into a 6am start off down to Dorset for the Hume's Leaf Warbler. After picking up Tara and Jon, we were off and on our way. It was the first time to Portland for all of us, so we took the sights in as we approached, watching the sea for divers and other unusual's as we went over.  We soon arrived at Thumb Lane, and walked off down a muddy track to find 3 birders already on site. As we arrived, sure enough the 'it was here 5 minutes ago' chorus came out, and so we settled in, hopeful, and buttoning up against the chilly morning air. 


Lair of The Hume's Warbler


It seemed to be a big morning for Mipit's, with quite a few coming in over head. A chiffy gave us a start at one point, and then we heard it. Several times in fact, but never giving away it's position. After a frsutrating vigil, we decided to try the Bill. There, we parked up and did some seawatching, picking out gannets, shag, cormorant, guillemot, fulmar, which amounted to 3 year ticks for myself, and 4 for the others. We didn't manage to pick out any divers, (or wheatears! Which I was sure would be around), and we headed back for round two on the Humes.





Arriving back at the patch, the sun was out and it was warming up nicely so we were optimistic - but nothing. Not even a call this time. So, with the clock ticking down we decided to get moving. On the way back we stopped by Chesil beach twice, picking out ringed plover in a small pool, and then redbreasted merganser and little grebe in lovely summer plumage over the water body nearby.

Back on the road, we decided to try for a Garganey in West Bexington. The road there was high above the 'mere', and we dropped down to the beach front to park up. After a ramble over the shingle we took a very muddy and waterlogged path into the reserve area, kicking up snipe as we went,  including a possible jack at one point. We also had great views of cetti's which was great, but we cut our losses and headed back for the car park where we saw sandwich tern flying down the beach away from us.

We arrived at Hamwall about 6.15, and with the light rapidly going down we saw a swallow above us in the car park, and we headed swiftly to the new Avalon Hide, bitterns booming around us from all directions. Upon arrival at the hide the GWE was very conspicuous, and several ducks were around on the water. Water rails were calling, but remained frustratingly elusive. as did the tawny owl from the nearby box.  However, it was a lovely way to end the day!



Saturday morning saw some amazing weather, and news broke of a firecrest found up on Rudry. Jess and I needed to walk Olive though, so we went to FOD again, and I headed up to New Fancy. About half a dozen birders sagely pointed out this bird as Gos, and I snapped some pics - slightly unsure myself. Checking at home and after getting adjudication from Dan and Geth - the jury was out. Sprawk. Annoying really, becase I would have hung around longer. So the hunt for Gos continues.


   

Sunday 19 March 2017

Little Gull Round 2 - 19/03/2017

Despite some superb birding on Heather's part and picking up the little gull yesterday, I was still hankering after some better views, but hedging my bets with how rubbish the weather was. Nick was fancying heading down anyway, so we made our way down the Bay and luckily for us the weather was much better than anticipated if still cold and windy. Based on where we myself and Heather were yesterday I thought Prospect Place might be a better bet than the Barrage, and we were soon on to the scaup and long tailed duck upon arrival. The LTD is looking very smart now, and living up to it's name.







A passing birder put us on to the general area for the little gull and we made our way around to the left to look over towards the yacht club. After a couple of false starts, I picked it up, and Nick was able to get a pretty good pic snapping away at a general area with me calling out where it was going. I managed a couple of poor record shots at distance, but enjoyed some great scope views several times.




A celebratory bacon sarnie went down nicely - cheers Nick!

Saturday 18 March 2017

Catching up with trips and some local goodness! 18/03/2017

A few runs of bad weather on the weekends of late has meant that the 200 year list has stalled a bit. I've been up to Wern Ddu again and had the crossbill there, calling in a group, as well as having gone to Gwaelod y Garth on what I thought would be a long shot for woodcock, and flushing an individual from the undergrowth (near a strange nestbox - which amazingly Dan recognised!)

Jess and I also made a trip to Gloucestershire last weekend, initially to Frampton on Severn, where I picked up fieldfare (finally!), genuine barnacle geese which flew over in a big flock, and also a new lifer in the form of red-crested pochard. The day started well, but then we had some bad luck at Arlington, with no cattle egret on show, and a failed attempt for the Richard's Pipit.



The following day I popped to Goldcliff, and after what felt like ages scanning through the redshank, only managed to add greenshank to the year list. At Gregynog for the DOT conference, I added stock dove - and I could have sworn I could hear an early willow warbler whilst I was in bed, but nothing after that so couldn't track it down.  


After dipping on the Arlington area cattle egrets, I fancied a go at trying to see Mat Meehan's recent find in St Athans. So it was that, not entirely hungover after Rich's leaving do, (could have been worse!) I headed out with Olive. Upon arrival I met Amy, and she informed me that it wasn't there, so I wasn't best pleased after a 40 minute drive on a gloomy drizzly morning. Graham P was there, and I decided to try and head over to Aberthaw, only I didn't get far because I wasn't sure where to go or where to park. So I took the decision to refuel with grub at the petrol station and head back, and I'm glad I did! I could see that there was more in the field, and the cattle egret was there too. Heather came around from her initial spot by the bus shelter, and we had good views with other birders. Olive wasn't happy, and she peeked over the road to see where I had gone. 

These two took a bit of Photoshop work to get looking half passable. 




This one which Heather phone scoped also cleaned up a bit more on photoshop - 

Credit: Heather!! 
Heather and I then went to the Barrage to try and see the little gull. We bumped into a birder on the way over the Barrage and he said that it was there and to watch for a dark  underside. After looking for a while, I googled for some more help, and realised that the 'underside' meant the underside of the wings! We just about managed it in the end, but it was completely a hats off situation to Heather for persevering. Very difficult in the conditions. No sand martin, or wheatear. Yet.