Broad-billed Sandpiper- Newport Wetlands

23/04/16
Sometimes, twitching is one of those pasttimes where either things go completely right, or completely wrong, and today was one of those days.

With news of a Broad-billed Sandpiper having been found on the Friday at Goldcliff pools, South Wales, it didn’t take too strenuous a decision as to where to head on a planned day out the next day.

With spring blooming, what better way could a calm morning be spent than standing in a Gloucestershire woodland, with the sound of Nightingales reverberating through the sun dappled vegetation. With one bird singing deep within the vegetation behind us, away from prying eyes, further music to our ears. The Sandpiper had just returned onto Goldcliff for the tide!

Being around 40 minutes away, we were in a good spot.

We drove southwards, pulled up near the entrance track for the pools to be greeted with hoards of smiling faces “Still there, showing well” repeated with reassuring certainty. “Asleep on the islands, it won’t be going anywhere”. It took a mere minute to walk to the platform the bird was showing best from….

All the waders were gone.

“Peregrine literally just flushed them, they flew off towards the estuary…”

And that was that, gone. No sign. Slight compensation was offered with one of the Little Stints crawling around on one of the shingle islands, but at this time, it all seemed a little dire. The tide was still high, but after an hour, it was clear they weren’t coming back. We walked out to the seawall with a vain hope.  After only a few meters, a Short-Eared Owl flew across the path in front of us, very low before suddenly somersaulting towards the floor. Firstly I thought the bird had dropped onto prey, so we changed position to get another view. We moved a couple of meters before the bird came into view, and it was clear something more disastrous had happened. The bird had collided with an electric wire and was lying stunned among the vegetation. A couple of local birders arrived, who contacted the site rangers and vet, who quickly came to check the bird out.

 (After being collected and looked after for a short while, the bird recovered and flew off strongly)

With no sign of a wader flock, and a view of a perched Peregrine looking rather smug with itself, we decided to head for the RSPB reserve. However, we left with a grand plan, till the next tide!

A particular corner of the reserve has previously resulted in good views of Grasshopper Warbler and it didn’t take a long time before our first was heard reeling away. Luckily, the bird was singing from an area of nettles right beside the path, and soon we got our first view. Over the next 5 minutes, a few more brief views were had, until the bird climbed to the top of a nettle bed and started reeling in full view. Crippling!

Good views of ‘gropper’ have been something that has proved difficult for me. So to finally have one showing so well was fairly exciting!

After exploring the site further, finding other reeling Groppers, we moved back down towards Goldcliff pools. We stopped around half way along through to view from a hide overlooking an extensive area of marshland. A Glossy Ibis had been seen on/off here for quite some time, but it often proved elusive, and hadn’t been seen in nearly a week! We tried however and it proved we were in luck. While walking along the field edges towards the hide, a number of migrant Redstarts flicked out, their rusty tails glowing in the sun. In total, we found 4 flicking around this small area, feeding and chasing each other throughout the time in the hide.

After a short time, a dark bird emerged from among the dense vegetation before quickly dropping down, a couple of seconds in the bins was enough to confirm the Glossy Ibis! A couple of further views were had, and soon a number of wannabe Sandpiper twitchers appeared to make the most of the dip. For the next 30 minutes, the bird wandered in and out of the tussocks. Once we had moved back to the car however, we struck lucky, the bird had wandered into view, and was significantly closer!  

With the day now progressing, and the tide soon to be on the rise, we moved back to the Goldcliff Pools. A summer plumaged Spotted Redshank was giving good views among the Redshanks, and a party of Whimbrel flew over. Small flocks of waders were arriving off the estuary, dropping onto the shallow pools in front of us.

The stunned Short-Eared Owl from earlier in the day was now hunting the long grass around the edges of the pools, flying closer and closer until it flew past the screen a mere few meters away.

The bird dropped onto a nearby fencepost, where it scanned for potential prey.

The bird took off soon after, but as it did so, a birder scanning the incoming waders asked for others to get onto this bird…

All scopes changed direction and there it was.

A superb summer plumaged Broad-billed Sandpiper!

That bird that had caused so much pain earlier in the day had just made a group of birders elated! Its striking black and white plumage, its humbug head pattern, its massive bill. Celebrations were shared as we all enjoyed this eastern wader.

The bird waded around with a mixed flock of Dunlin and Redshank, often in far deeper water than the rest of its short legged cousins. This however, meant it was ‘slightly’ closer than the rest of the flock, but it was still fairly distant at the back of the pool. With our target acquired, and having watched it for some time, we decided to head back north towards home.

The early dip perhaps improved the day significantly, without having missing the bird, we perhaps wouldn’t have spent so much time in the area, seeing so many species and having such great views. Sometimes, things do just work out. This time, for the better!

The return- April 2015

It was a somewhat depressing return to the UK on the 12th, the lack of birds of prey and general birdlife drained a fair bit of my usual 'spring optimism'. However, I soon tried to get back into the swing of inland UK birding.

Daily visits of Sedgley Beacon occurred, with optimism raised slightly by a couple of passage Wheatear on the 14th, followed by a decent day (in Beacon terms), with a Wheatear, 4 Tree Pipits and best of all a singing Grasshopper Warbler on 15th. Infact, the Gropper gave fairly good views, popping up on top of its temporary bramble home briefly on a couple of occasions!

A visit out to the University survey site on 16th revealed a pair of Little Egret was still present within the Heronry present there, however there was unfortunately no further breeding evidence over the summer.

This year a new joint BTO/ Natural England/ Forestry Commission survey has been set up within the Wyre forest to monitor effects on breeding birds within the Wyre over the coming years in which management work is being carried out to restore the original broadleaved deciduous forest. My Survey area is deep within the center of the forest and my first visit was very promising, despite the Douglas fir plantation (which is my survey area), the surrounding land is promising, and featured good numbers of Tree Pipits and Willow Warbler. A Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and a nice early Wood Warbler singing away next to 'my' woodland were very gratefully received.

Later the same day, the second summer Mediterranean Gull was still present at Upton Warren, together with the usual cast of breeding waders.

The patch has been fairly exiting this summer, and things kicked off early, with LRPs and Peregrines both being seen. A late Goosander still present on the river is usually a good sign that breeding could have been on the cards but unfortunately no chicks were found. A couple of Red-legged Partirdge scurried away along one of the dirt tracks while a Wheatear and a Yellow Wagtail were both the first on patch this year.

A day trip to near Reading with a University Society on 21st led to me seeing lots of Red Kites however it was on the 22nd that a real panic moment hit. While midway through writing up one of my essays (about flightlessness in the Galapagos Cormorant no less) I received news from a fellow Upton Warren warden. "Red necked Grebe at the Moors!!

Many rushed phone calls until a friend agreed to drive up from my hometown in Worcester up to my house on the other side of West Midlands country to pick me up! (massive shoutout to Rob, Legend!) And we were on our way. 

A couple of hours running up and down the west shore until superb views were had just before the sun started to set with the bird swimming about just in front of the hide, a crippling bird for Upton Warren, a reserve first no less and in stunning summer plumage!

Huge thanks to both Rob and Hughie for their help!

My first Swifts of the year, a party of 3 moved over the university site again the follow day.

A fair quiet visit to the patch followed other than breeding birds but the Upton Warren all dayer was on the Saturday (25th). I arrived fairly early, before I heard news of an absolute 'mega' in Somerset. Despite the offer being given and many others abandoning the birdrace to go see the rare yank wader I refused as I was meeting a friend on site. As always, by the end of the day, my only contribution to the day list (with others already having found everything else by the time I arrived) was a single Ringed Plover, a species that I often seen to find on these All dayers, and infact it was probably the my best bird of the day, so I wasn't going to complain!

MB

Sheepwash Mega's!

2/06/14

It's not very often I 'twitch' Sheepwash, but with news of a 3rd record for the site paddling about on the pool, it was time to get moving.

Despite seeing them on every patch visit I was still going to travel across to Great Bridge to look for a male Mandarin Duck that had been found that morning.

From the raised track, it took a while scanning, but eventually, sitting on a half sunken log below the overhanging trees on the west shore was a stunning drake Mandarin! It was fairly distant, and combined with them being common on my patch I didn't try to get many photos other than a quick record shot.

Mark then appeared, and after scanning around, we decided to head over to the mound and as we reached the top, I heard a brief 'reel' from the riverside vegetation. Immediately I knew it was a 'locustella', but it quickly went quiet, and following a very long wait sitting next to the large area of reeds and small plants, it finally piped up again, and reeled briefly a number of times, but still refused to show! But at least it was certain it was now a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER!

Not a bird I had thought I would find at the park, as they're aren't too many dotted about in urban Birmingham.

With a last look at the main pool, an explosion sound flushed the still present Mandarin, and it flew off east, but after a few minutes it returned and dropped onto the 'mud bank'. Sadly, I was on the opposite side of the pool again, and similar to before, I didn't have the willingness to try to find a closer viewpoint, but I took a couple more photos.

MB

Dotterel, Partridges, Grouse, Flycatcatchers and a bit of Med.

18/04/14

It was late on the evening of 13th that news emerged that a large flock of some stunning passage waders had dropped onto a regular stop-off on the Long Mynd, and sensing my angst to get up there, Liz, Rob and Luke came to my rescue, and within an hour, plans were arranged for a dawn journey up onto the stunning Shropshire hills.

 

Unfortunately, I usually miss Dotterel passage, but this year the birds arrived on a day I was able to drop everything.

 

Following a bit of driving around, we soon located a suitable looking field up on one of the peaks of the Mynd, just down the road from Pole cottage, and even from a distance, a couple of birders could be seen.

 

We were soon informed that the entire flock of DOTTEREL were still present! All 12 of them!

 

Even though the light was poor, we had amazing views of the birds as they trotted around the sheep grazing field. Of the flock, 8 were males/ winter plumaged birds, but the remaining 4 were all stunning summer plumaged females, truly stunning birds,

 the mixture of slate grey contrasting strongly to that vivid orange belly and bright white face and breast markings!

 

 

 

Soon however, the sun started to come out, and the light improved, showing just how stunningly beautiful these high plateau breeding waders are!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Even from early on, it was clear the birds had migration on the mind, being very flighty, taking off and circling, sometimes up to a great height, calling , but always eventually dropping down, often giving binocular filling views as they flew past the ever growing crowd.

 

 

 

While watching the Dotterel flock, a few raspy clucking calls from behind us in the heather gave us prior warning to a short fly past of a pair of RED GROUSE before they dropped back down into the undergrowth, and no doubt then going off scuttling away along the ridge.

 With the crowd now growing  rapidly, we moved on to another site in the hills, where we managed to find a nice and early male PIED FLYCATCHER, singing his heart out from adjacent to his chosen patch of trees.

 

 

 

In the distance, a spiral of soaring Raptors guided us onto a loose 'flock' of 4 Red Kite, 2 Raven and 8 Buzzard, not at all a bad combination!

 

Our last check of the Shropshire hills led us onto the Stiperstones, where we managed to 'connect' with even more summer migrants, with both Tree Pipit and Redstart singing. The heather held a few Stonechats, and 2 Red Grouse gave stunning views as they flew past us and over the ridge and the adjacent valley proved superb hunting grounds for another 2 Red Kites.

 

Moving onwards again, we moved to Venus Pool, where a long staying Mediterrenean Gull was showing on the water, a rather poorly marked 1st winter bird, but it gave good views in both flight and on the water. A single Little ringed Plover was scuttling around one of the islands and a late male Pochard was on the water.

 

 

With the pool being generally quiet however, we decided to walk around, down to the river and back. In doing so, a male Yellow Wagtail flew over our head calling.

 

On our walk around some nearby fields, a pair of GREY PARTRIDGE flushed out of the set aside ahead of us, before flying off and landing on the set aside on the opposite side of the field. It was great to see this species in particular, as it is one I do not regularly see at all!

 

As it was on the way back, it would have been rude to not drop into Chelmarsh, and we were rewarded with a singing Lesser Whitethroat, which was showing in the hedge adjacent to the parked car. 2 Whitethroat were also showing here which added to the passerine interest of the day. The reservoir had low water levels, and 4 Common Sandpipers were wading the edges. A surprise female Goosander was also roosting on the water.

 

 

Following on from a great days birding, we split our ways, but we were all reunited as soon as a few hours later, when we turned up to Upton Warren to try to see the reported Savi's warbler.

 

A couple of hours later, a few singing Sedge, Reed and a single reeling Grasshopper Warbler was all we had to show, but the banter was brilliant and ended a great day perfectly.

 

MB

#TheMidlandersAreComing

11/05/13

At the unearthly hour of 5am, a group of 4 dreary eyed Midlanders met on a quiet residential road in the center of Redditch, the objective?

To absolutely thrash the North Norfolk coast in a day of hardcore birding.

In reality, 'Hardcore' is really not the word to describe it, but more of a relaxed 'mop up' of  a variety of superb birds that us as Midlanders are deprived of in our home county of Worcestershire. We reached the county of Suffolk by 7 to be greeted with superb sunshine! At Lakenheath just after 7:30, and walking the path to the New Fen viewpoint soon after. A Cuckoo could be heard calling from near the visitor center, and proved to be one of MANY around the site. At least, i would guess that 5 birds were on site, and we had many views of the birds, including some stunning views!

The View from the New Fen viewpoint was stunning!

And it wasn't long until a personal favorite of mine flew into view, an absolutely stonking male MARSH HARRIER. The bird quartered the reeds at very close range, giving stunning Bins views, before moving a little further away where i took a few photos as it flapped low along the Pythagamites. A female soon joined it, and both hunted the beds.

Eager to move on we moved to the path adjacent to the river, but while doing so heard the deep, quiet booming sound of a male Bittern! Again a species that we had a cumulative total of 5!

Standing on the raised track overlooking the reedbed and the river, a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER could be heard reeling, and managed to get brief views of this elusive Locustella warbler. Infact, one of very few actual 'sightings' I've had, as most are usually deep within a reedbed and refuse to show.

4 HOBBY were picked out perching on the edge of the woodland, one in particular giving great views, all waiting for the day to warm slightly so the insects take wing. There is something just 'not right' about seeing a Hobby perched up, don't get me wrong, it is a stunner of a Falcon, one of the best, but to see Hobbys doing 'what they do', that is, catch, eat and show the immense agility that is part of their trait all 'on the wing' is just magnificent!

Walking up the track further, one of the party picked up a stunning COMMON CRANE as it flew past us, quickly followed by a 2nd bird, and we had decent views as they circled over the reserve. Only on the return flypast did they give truly decent views.

Joist Fen was quieter, a couple of MARSH HARRIER quartering the reeds, and a further flypast of the CRANES, as well as insanely close Common Swift flypasts.

The male at this end of the reserve was even better than the New Fen bird, i mean just look at it!

Our main target however was still refusing to show and, as far as we knew, hadn't been seen. Being very conscious of the time, we decided to walk back to the visitor center, dropping in at New Fen again to ask one of the RSPB staff if anything had been seen. Literally a few minutes before, they had seen our main target for the reserve! We went over to check where it was seen flying to, but we had nothing, although the first flying Hobby of the day was nice to see. Sitting in the visitor center, we took a vote, to Norfolk, or stick around, with an absolute deadline of 1pm. We chose the 2nd, and it chose to be a superb decision. Back at New Fen, we joined the crowd, and after about 10 minutes a 'commotion' stirred at the other end of the crowd, a few muffled 'At the back' or 'behind the bush........ Now' remarks and i got onto the stunning male RED-FOOTED FALCON!!

Even from this distance, it brilliant silvery primary s stood out like a beacon from the many Hobby that it was hunting with, and with the sun, blue hues could be seen from its dark plumage, with occasional glimpses of its Red under tail. We knew the path we had walked along was much closer, and we hot footed it over there, and again, a superb decision, and we had stunning views of this beautiful Falcon as it sped low across the Reeds with at least 7 Hobby. At this range, you really could admire this stunning eastern European Falcons plumage. Almost entirely slate blue/grey body and upperwing, with incredibly pale primary s (at times, almost white), contrasting to an almost black underwing and tail as it jinked its way after one of the many St Marks Fly.

 With the incredible speed of the Falcon, it proved almost impossible to digi-scope, but a few 'lucky' aim and  burst fire shots came good with a couple including the Red-foot!

(RFF on right, Hobby on left)

The Falcon refused to land so i could get some 'proper' shots, but a few Hobbys did, only confirming them as a stunning species!

After a decent time savoring this beauty after out long 4 hours worth of effort, we bode farewell to Lakenheath to move to another Breckland location. Weeting Heath.

Without introduction, you know what our objective was here. Stone Curlew, and we were soon treated to clear, but somewhat distant views of these unusual wading birds as they slowly made their way out of a furrow. Only two could be found however, the late cold spring obviously having had the effect we feared before visiting, as many had been picked up dead around the Brecks. Despite this horrible fact, we enjoyed the views of this enigmatic bird, and one that is exceptionally rare in the Midlands!

We didn't want to hang around too long, already being behind schedule, so we quickly moved off, towards North Norfolk.....

To be Continued....

MB

Birding the Avalon Marshes and Chew

28/04/13

What a way to finish April! With a trip down south into the stunning county of Somerset to visit the recently publicized birding hot-spot of the Avalon Marshes

Neil Duggan (@NeilDuggan80 on Twitter) had again offered the trip, and i gratefully accepted, knowing of a whole host of amazing birds present in the area at the time. Pied Billed Grebe, Black winged Stilt, Whiskered Tern, Woodchat Shrike, as well as all the residents. It'd be a good day!

Arriving at the parking spot as Ashcott Corner, nestled between two fabulous extensive reedbed reserves, one owned by the RSPB, Ham Wall, the other by the Natural England, Shapwick Heath NR we took the unanimous decision to head straight to the 2nd viewing platform on the RSPB side. The walk up was incredible, as only a few meters onto the reserve we had already clocked Cuckoo, Marsh Harrier, and numerous Cetti's Warblers!

Our walk along the track was constantly, and i do mean CONSTANTLY followed by Cetti's Warblers, with easily 15 counted in the time we were on site, and that was only the Ham Wall side, they were everywhere!

A Grasshopper Warbler briefly reeling near the first Platform.

At the 2nd Platform, we were informed the Pied Billed had been heard singing a little earlier, but to cut it short, we didn't see or hear it throughout our visit, which was a huge shame.

But then again, there were loads of amazing birds.

3 Marsh Harrier were hunting the reedbeds, one of which was a stunning male. But here is one of the females.

Initially, we could only pick up 1 GARGANEY, but as time went on, it became apparent that there was infact 4! All of which were drakes, and all looking absolutely stunning! Even despite the distance, i managed a couple of shots which i am happy with.

After a bit, someone called out they had two 'pale' Sandpipers, and upon getting onto them confirmed that 2 WOOD SANDPIPERS were hunting the margins. The distance was around the same to that of the Garganey's, but with a Sandpiper, it was a fair bit harder to get a picture, but i tried, and i got a few in which you can tell is a Wood Sandpiper, you just have to trust me.

Do you see it?

As can be seen with the direction the scope is facing, every decent bird was tucked up in the far right hand corner, exactly where the Stilts had been the previous day, but had now departed.

At least 4 BITTERN were around, 2 of which were seen. One of those flypasts gave stunning views for around 30 seconds as it flew the entire length of the pool. However, the true birder i am, i chose to savor the moment rather than grab the camera. So here is the distant bird:

Added to this, an amazing supporting cast was present. 5 Little Egret flew through, as did single Ringed Plover and Dunlin. A male Yellow Wagtail was on the islands and another Cuckoo was heard calling.

Conscious of the time, we headed back to the car, stopping at the 1st Platform again as a giant white bird was sitting there!

GREAT EGRET!

This was one of our targets, so was great to see up so close, its green lores and black bill contrasting to the plain yellow of the Grimley bird.

The bird strode around in the shallows while i took some footage. But again, we had to move on.

A very last minute decision to head onto Shapwick heath to check the first pool was rewarded almost immidiatly with another stunning flight view of a Bittern, of which again, there were at least 4 birds. The others 'booming' from within the reeds. 2 WOOD SANDPIPER were present on the mud as we arrived, much closer than the Ham Wall birds, so the scope went up immidiatly  but once up, i aimed the scope, and there was nothing. A few seconds later i was informed they had flown...

A female Garganey was picked out among the ducks. Wader wise, 62 Blackwits were stunning to see and a lone Dunlin.A Little Egret was also hunting the shoreline.

We had received news that the Woodchat Shrike was showing again near Chew Valley Lake, so we decided to drop in there before Neil had to head back to his sons Cricket match.

Pulling up, we walked to the crowd, and what i did not expect to see was a WOODCHAT SHRIKE perched up on the hedgeline just on the other side of the fence, a mere 30ft away! Initially obscured, the bird emerged in full view, and gave absolutely unbelievable views as it dropped down onto the gate to feed. Is there anything to say other than Wow!

We had literally scope filling views as the bird perched on the hedge, occasionally dropping down to the floor (which was even closer than the hedge) to feed.

With our out and out highlight of the day seen, we decided to head back, where i was dropped of at Upton Warren to have a quick look there before i headed home. The flashes was quite bar the usual, so i headed to the Moors, which had 2 Dunlin and a Green Sandpiper. Not too much longer after the Dunlins flew out north. Vismig!

All in all, a total day tally of 98 Species, so close to breaking the 100 barrier!

An awesome days birding, despite bad behavior of the 'rares' that didn't cooperate!

MB

Day listing at Upton Warren

27/04/13

Well OK  not a full day, but as we had gotten away from the gardening job early, we arrived at Upton around 3, and stayed until dark, in total picking up 69 species.

Walking around the North Moors Pool i was rewarded when i heard a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER singing from within the reeds adjacent to the track. Needless to say, after some time the bird didnt show, but i had a nice time sitting watching/Listening to Cetti's, Sedge and Reed Warbler, Not a bad start!

A Garden Warbler was showing on the Causeway.

Moving down to the East hide, i was immidiatly greeted by a stunning ARCTIC TERN, a nice pale bird, which flew around low over the pool briefly while we were battered by heavy rain before flying off south and dropping onto the Sailing Pool. A Water Rail was showing to the right of the hide, as was 2 Common Snipe.

I picked up two Falcons flying towards me, and as they sped past the hide i saw red under-tail coverts and shouted HOBBY!

We had great views of the birds as they gained height on a thermal just to the north of the Pool, and they flew around for a few minutes before flying off in the direction of Upton Warren Village, My first Hobbies of the year! 2 Green Sandpiper were showing in the 'Seasonal pool'.

Moving down to the flashes, i paused briefly at the Sailing Pool and had views of the Arctic Tern as it hawked the pool with the Swallows and Martins. I even tried for some photos.

May i just say, Digi-scoping a flying Tern is hard!

On the Flashes itself, 5 BLACK-TAILED GODWIT'S graced the shallow waters, all showing varying signs of summer plumage. All seemingly of the 'islandica' race due to their very vivid orange tones. The two birds in the center of the photo are simply stunning!

Despite having been around for a protracted period of time, the birds were actively feeding, and therefore it didn't come as a surprise to hear that they flew off the same night

A few Common Sandpipers were also showing, including one down in front of the hide.

To end the day, the 3rd Hobby for the day flew through the flashes late in the evening, before ending up circling over the Sailing Pool, visible from the platform on the back of the hide.

MB