GREAT-SPOTTED CUCKOO!

15/03/14

Having done my fair share of survey work, Birdtracking and local birding for a fair proportion of the year, it was with great 'reluctance' that I found myself at some stupid hour in the morning standing listening to Skylarks singing with local photographer Vern Wright as we waited for our fellow twitchers to arrive.

Why?

A golf course in Pembrokeshire, one which I know very well having holidayed in the area for many years was currently playing host to a Cuckoo from far south in Europe, Iberia to be precise. As well as being a very rare bird, the last having been a few years back, it is also a very unpredictable visitor, and visits tend to be very brief, single day, and very often, single observer birds!

In summery, it is a real pain in the arse to see this far north.

So with a rather stunning 1st year bird strutting its stuff at close range for a few days, it only felt right to take a day off from the local scene and make use of some spare time!

Obviously, the worst feeling when long distance birds is those first few hours in the car as you drive in the dark. What will light bring?

Will it still be there?

Has it gone?

Luckily however, the popularity of this bird was obvious, and being a Saturday, the bird was certain to draw a crowd, so not long after first light, the first few tweets started to creep out as we headed south down the A40. "Great Spotted Cuckoo is still there!". However, we still had a distance to go! And it was time to share some banter with the full car, and much was shared between the 5 birders/togs as we cruised towards our destination!

It didn't seem long before familiar landscape appeared, and once past Carmarthern it really wasn't too much longer before pulling up in a rather crowded Penally Train station car park!

Instantly, the scrum was visible, and we we soon were walking out onto the dunes!

A few birders were talking of the brief views they had had that morning, up on the cliff slopes on Giltar, but it seemed to have disappeared. A few minutes after, I noticed a birder up on top of the cliff pointing out too sea. What did that mean!

A few minutes after that, the unthinkable had happened as a tweet popped up on my phone! It had flown off out to sea!

A sudden sinking of the heart followed, and the look of disbelief on my companions faces is still visible in my memory. Ouch! The only thing that kept us going (despite the fact that we had driven so far) was that the report mentioned that the bird 'possibly' could had landed on one of the offshore islands. 10 Minutes turned to half an hour, half an hour to an hour. Still nothing...

(Insert appropriate word of choice here)

Scanning across towards Caldey Island revealed a single Great-northern Diver out on the sea, and also a Shelduck and a Razorbill. But no spotted Cuckoo.

Luckily, a knowledge of the area meant that we were soon heading off further up the coastline to St Govans Head. A large expanse of rock strewn grasslands atop steep cliffs leading to dense stands of gorse slightly further inland! It took only a few minutes to locate one of the targets, and 2 CHOUGH were easily located as they called and flew around, before dropping into an open sandy area in front of me. With their blood red bill and legs, they really are smart birds!

It amazes me when people complain about Corvids, if you look at them, they really are sublime birds, shimmering purple, green, blue and silver as they move!

After having worked our way across the headland, I scanned Broad Haven beach distantly from atop the cliffs. A large flock of Gulls had drawn my attention (naturally!) and right in the centre of the flock, standing out like a beacon stood a humongous slab of white! Distance prevented a conclusive ID, but on size alone I was already knowing what this was. After informing the group, we moved quickly to a closer viewpoint, losing sight of the beach for a matter of seconds. 

Scope down, viewing the beach. Errm. Where is it?

All that were present were Herring and GBBG...

Surely I hadn't cocked it up that much?

Our photographic companions went back to the Fulmars gliding along the clifftops and I moved closer to the edge of the Cliff and peered down!

Another view of white!!

This time very close as it pelted past us just below the height of the cliff, and at an angle where its huge pink and black tipped bill stood out a mile!! 1st winter GLAUCOUS GULL!

BOOM! Mike and Phil got onto it quickly as it circled above the beach with a few Herring Gulls, shining in the bright sunshine. Despite still being distant, I still tried to digi-scope it, and i managed one shot showing its white wing tips! (You will have to trust me though!)

Moving back across the Headland, we were informed of a BLACK REDSTART showing on the cliff slope below the coastguard watchpoint building. A short time after and we were watching a rather stunning 1st winter male as it fed on a steep rock covered hillside, flitting and flycatching off the prominent rocks far below us.

It was actually rather a surprise just how much it blended into the rather similarly coloured rocks, and it was often lost from views as it made its way up and down the cliffface.

It was just as the bird flicked up onto the grass in front of me (great view!) and was just as quickly blown back down the cliff by a gust of wind that I heard my phone. It was a fellow young midlands birder.

The wind muffled out most of the sound but I picked up the occasional word.

"ugrfs kdvids CUCKOO kjbfs BACK!!"

That was enough to make me power walk behind the building

"THE CUCKOO IS BACK" He was watching it right now!

A very quick exit of the headland, and a pleasant 'jaunter' of a car journey back through the county lanes of Pembrokeshire soon saw us pulling into the car park for the 2nd time! This time I really was in a rush to get out there! I really didn't want to miss it again! (I still didn't run!)

I spied Espen atop one of the dunes on the edge of the crowd, and as I approached out flew the GREAT-SPOTTED CUCKOO from the vegetation just in front of the crowd! Having dropped in behind one of the dunes, I scrambled up to the crowd!

And there it was!

Ok, not the crippling views the crowd had been having since it reappeared, but still, great scope views of what can only be described as a stunning looking bird! Just look at that pale silver hood, that lemon yellow throat, the spotting on the wing coverts, and that stunning, ridiculously long, pied tail!

Every negative thought earlier was forgotten!

It had a good taste for the nations caterpillars, and it scoffed many while we were watching, jumping about in the long dune grass near the top of a dune.

It must be said, once we heard the bird had flown out to sea earlier in the day, I did honestly think that it wouldn't appear again. And that was only made worse by it still not having shown for 4-5 hours after it flew off!

After about 20 minutes showing on the sand dune, the bird flew off distantly and perched on a hedgeline towards the Tenby end of the golf course, where it then promptly disappeared!

While the crowd stayed stationary in the dunes, me and Mike walked up the beach to find another viewpoint, and in doing so found 2 Ringed Plover and 9 Sanderling foraging along the tideline!

Our change of position though didn't help, and we couldn't pick up the Cuckoo, so we headed back, at which point we decided to head back to the midlands, each one of us happy with finally seeing the mega Cuckoo, a beast of a Glauc and a Black Redstart!

Great day!

MB

Pembrokeshire- Autumn 2013

I have never been to Pembrokeshire in the Autumn before! So as you could expect, a week away was highly anticipated! We were staying in the freshwater east area and i spent much of the week searching the surrounding area.

Soon after arrival out our beach-side temporary home i was already picking up birds, with 4 Sanderling scurrying along the shoreline close to some fishermen. All of them being juvenile's and these were the first of many over the week. 5 GBBG were also on the sand with a Shag out in the bay.

The next morning i was itching to get out, so i was out at 6:30am, and was soon ammassing a healthy list of species, a 1st winter MEDITERRANEAN GULL spent some time on the Beach before flying off, as did a winter plumaged BAR-TAILED GODWIT and a single juvenile Sanderling.

As time progressed, and having had little luck on the cliffs (No seabirds moving other than Gannets) i moved back down onto the Beach, where a juvenile Sanderling was showing, which as the tide increased became more and more confiding. After a patient wait, this superb arctic wader approached within 15ft of where i was sat, giving superb and intimate views!

Nice view isnt it.

The Sanderling remained all day on the Beach, moving out on the tide then moving back in again. Another wader highlight was soon given when a WHIMBREL fly over calling, as did an Oystercatcher and eventually 2 CHOUGH were seen over the hillside.

The next morning i awoke with optimism again, and i was out searching the area from early on in the morning and i was rewarded with a superb range of species. By far the standout species was that of a superb SABINE'S GULL which hung around offshore for around 15 minuites with a large flock of Gannets, Kittiwakes and Gulls, with 11 SANDWICH TERN'S, 20 Fulmar, 5 MANX SHEARWATER and the same 1st winter MED GULL as yesterday! Hows about that for a bit of seawatching! There was a massive movement of Hirudines and easily 2000 Swallow, House and Sand Martin flew over, all going south and straight out to sea! Watching them skimming only a flew feet over the top of the headland before dropping down to sea level was breathtaking! A TREE PIPIT put on a similar preformance heading straight south calling. Actually on the headland it was quieter, with a single Stonechat, 2 Whitethroat and i flushed a GREY PARTRIDGE while walking through waist high foliage.

Here was the view from my self designated 'Seawatching spot'.

A brief watch later in the day around 12:30 revealed a dark morph ARCTIC SKUA was followed the coast heading SE.

A small flock of Gannets entered the bay, and i tried to take some digi-scoped flight shots,

Again, a nice early start had me out scouring the clifftops. The Hirudine passage was still going incredibly strong with 1000+ Swallows and about even numbers of House and Sand Martin at around 100 birds. 'Alba' Wagtails were also on the move, and 50 flew over, as did a measly 20 Meadow Pipit. In contrast to yesterday, there was very little seabird activity and an after an hour I gave up and scoured the gorse. I had closer views of the CHOUGH pair, but could not locate their feeding area. It was while doing this I heard the 'raspy' call of a Dunlin as one wizzed past over my head. Passerines were still a little hard to come by, but 2 Whitethroat and 2 Stonechat were found. Late in the day, 3 Sanderling came up on the tide, but didn't hang around for long!

 

11/09/13

A visit into Tenby town always produces Rock Pipits and I wasn't disappointed when I found 3 birds on the south beach.

 

12/09/13

Do you know those days where you really couldn't ask for much better? That one day where the slightest bit of dampness in the air and a little fog and every bush seems to have some sort of life in it. These next two days certainly lived up to that expectation, not because of the rarity of what was seen, but just for that feeling of interaction you get when you come face to face with a variety of migrants, that you know in just a few weeks would be flying across oceans, plains, deserts and countries to reach their wintering ground. That brief moment when you can almost feel that slight feeling of anxiety, that desperation to move onto pastures new.

Quickly I found 3 SPOTTED FLYCATCHER doing exactly as their name implies, flycatching off a wire fence along a hawthorn hedge only 50ft from the sea, obviously waiting for that moment to launch themselves off towards Cornwall of beyond. In the fields adjacent to this hedge, 5 WHEATEAR and at least 40 WHITE WAGTAIL were scurrying around, relentlessly searching for sustenance for its upcoming journey. Multiple Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Goldcrests, Constant streams of Linnet, Goldfinch, 'Alba' Wagtails and Meadow Pipits overhead.

A late evening jaunter on the beach was rewarded by a flythrough flock of 15 Dunlin.

 

13/09/13

If the previous day had been good, today was brilliant! 'Our' SPOTTED FLYCATCHERS were still hanging on, but had been joined by a 4th bird overnight, and the hedge was absolutely teeming. 5 Willow Warblers, 5 Chiffchaff, a Whitethroat and multiple Goldcrests were also flitting from the hedge to the wire fence, obviously a prime feeding spot. The adjacent horse paddock was similarly teeming, but with Wagtails, Pipits and Goldfinch. 30 White Wagtail remained, with small flocks of Meadow Pipits in the weeds (Although 150+ flew over) and 50 Goldfinch were feeding on Thistles.

A very good start and I quickly had itchy feet to search the rest of the coastline. A LESSER WHITETHROAT was feeding on Trewent Point, and I was briefly exited as I saw a black 'mask',blue head and a peach breast perched on the top of a hawthorn. Shrike flashed through my mind but a change of viewpoint revealed the head on bird to be a male WHEATEAR, 3 others (totalling 4) were present in more typical habitat.

 

 

6 Stonechats were found, but my personal highlight was when a bright orange autumn male REDSTART perched on a wire fence, only feet from the cliff face. Within a minute, the bird had flicked of and down the cliff face not to be seen again. Migration in Action!

 

And finally, after nearly 5 days, I finally located the CHOUGH feeding area, and I was treated to stunning views of the pair as they fed in a paddock!

 

 

On returning back to Freshwater East, 9 SANDWICH TERN were feeding in the bay and spent about 30 minutes doing so before flying off again. Small numbers of Gannets were also following a similar routine. Just to add to the total of 'Sarnies', much later in the day 2 more flew in and perched distantly on a Boyd.

The final day of the holiday was a brief stop at Saundersfoot, where another 3 SANDWICH TERNS were feeding, with 40 Gannet, 2 Rock Pipit and a Grey Wagtail!

MB

"The best days birding I've had in Pembrokeshire.... Ever"

That above statement proves so true! I have never found a decent bird on holiday in Pembrokeshire, so to find two superb birds in a couple of hours was amazing!

But first, here are the few days running up to that final days birding.

27/05/13

While returning from a trip into Tenby, we returned to our staying location to find a superb RED KITE hunting over the meadows adjacent in a howling rainstorm. There is just something special about seeing a 'true' Welsh Kite hunting over a Welsh meadow, a real conservation success story!

28/05/13

A walk on the cliffs behind our accommodation revealed a Whimbrel and 4 Gannet offshore, as well as the expected Meadow Pipits.

29/05/13

A trip to the Beach with The Girlfriend revealed a flock of 5 Chough, as well as 2 Wheatear. A small flock of Gannets were hunting offshore and an Oystercatcher was on the offshore rock stack.

In the surrounding woodland i found singles of Pied and Spotted Flycatcher, and a male Redstart.

30/05/13

So it bring us to the day, the big one!

The keener eyed of you may have noticed that was last visit to Marloes Mere was painfully quiet, and i had a date with an old friend.

With the tide just being on the turn we dropped into The Gann first in the hope of Waders and did it produce!! Near the outflow of the river stood a flock of 40c Waders, a mixed flock of Dunlin and Sanderling!

With the wind being exceptionally strong, with resulting sand blasts of rocky stones and sand i decided to hunker down and get some photos or some summer plumaged Sanderlings.

A couple of birds joined the flock, so i had another scan of the flock. Bloody hell, LITTLE STINT! How on earth did i miss that he first scan because the two that just flew in were a Dunlin and Sanderling. While just grabbing the camera the entire flock, including the minute Stint took flight, the reason? A Peregrine flew through, causing mayhem, and in the confusion the Stint was lost to view, and we presumed that the bird had followed the larger flock of Waders (30c) and flew northish.

With these flocks now gone, we checked the lagoons in case the bird had dropped onto them, but all we could find was 6 Dunlin.

Moving out into the wider estuary, out list of waders for the day kept increasing, Whimbrel after Whimbrel until at least 20 were located feeding on a muddy shore. These birds were fairly distant, however a couple were close in on the newly exposed rocks as the tide dropped.

The Bar-tailed Godwit from the last visit was again showing, intermixing with the large flock of Whimbrel and Oystercatcher.

So it was onto Marloes Mere to meet an old friend.

Grabbing my Beach chair, scope and Bins, we positioned ourselves near the Barbed Wire gate, and waited, and waited, and you guessed it, waited. The old friend was proving late. With the time now approaching 4:20, and only 3 Shoveler, a pair of Ravern and a flyby of small waders hope was dwindling, so i decided to stand up and have a stretch, tilting my head back to stretch my neck.

"That looks a little dark and rakish"

Bins up

ARCTIC SKUA!!

ARCTIC BLOODY SKUA!!

A dark morph adult, showing a extended central tail feather (or two??) and white comma's on the outer wing accelerated low and fast over out heads. It turns out that very same wind that i had been cursing all afternoon     helped me find one of my highlights for the day as it pushed the Skua overland due to the high winds.

Having got my dad onto the bird, i tried to signal the two birders walking away from us towards the hide, not getting their attention, i ran to the hide to tell them the news, and then made my way back to my scope, picked it up and sped it along the path overlooking the bay adjacent to Marloes Beach, where the bird had flown to. After about 20 minuites scanning, it became obvious the bird had flown straight through. Small numbers of Kittiwake and Gannet were feeding in the bay.

That certainly picked things up a little bit, a rare occurrence for a Midlander to find an Arctic Skua, despite it being the commonest.

A short spell in the hide revealed a short flight view of a Black-Tailed Godwit.

So now it was to wait for our old friend. We walked the path, where we found 1 Chough, and had a chat with a woman from 'up north' who said she was looking for an LRP as they were hard to come by up by her! Its hard to put that into context when your used to seeing them every week. We turned around and started walking back to our viewpoint and in doing so spotted my old friend flying in over the Reeds.

GLOSSY IBIS!

With the sun shining, its metallic plumage at times looked almost silver, before the bird dropped into the area where we had been waiting for the previous couple of hours. We hot footed over there to be greeted with ok views of the bird feeding at the back of the flash.

Having certainly gone through a change in maturity since i saw it almost a year to the day before, back when it was a brown and speckly 1st year bird, it looked almost pristine in colour, with stunning shades of green maroon and blue, not forgetting those orange thighs.

A small crowd had developed, and while watching a small flock of 5 Black-tailed Godwits dropped in beside the Ibis, and started feeding together! Awesome! Mission done, it was time to head for some well deserved supper.

But that wasn't the end of the birds!

Ok, there weren't any birding days from now on, but just a few highlights from being out and about.

31/05/13

The last full day in Wales, so i decided to spend the day with the Girlfriend. In Tenby i found a Rock Pipit and a Shag, the Pipit showing on the Beach weaving in and out of the sun bathers.

Moving onto Manorbier Beach, 2 Chough were the best, and both Gannet and Fulmar were offshore, with an Oystercatcher on the exposed rocks while Rockpooling.

1/06/13

The saddest day, because it was time to head back. However, one thing to look forward to was the Red Kites, and they didn't disappoint, with 52 seen, including a single flock of 25! 2 Yellow Wagtail were also seen in roadside fields once we had reentered the Midlands.

MB

At the forefront of a 'Purple' patch!

20/01/13
I am a dumb-ass!
After trying (and ultimately failing) to photograph Marsh Tits with my bridge camera the day before, i forgot to switch the SD card back into my compact Nikon. That i hear you yell is not a problem..
The problem emerged when i arrived at Grimley to twitch the GREY PLOVER that had been found in the morning. Turing on my camera i saw the disastrous message 'Internal memory' and i found out that i hadn't got the memory card in, and it only got worse.
With only 8 pictures to play about with i kept having to go back to delete photos to take new ones, and with the weather being nothing better than shite, with sleet, snow and heavy rain, the prospects never looked good. Anyone (and as it seems, most sensible birders within Worc's) would avoid this weather, but, for the reasons set out in the last post, i love this weather, despite it being very hard to bird in.

They GREY PLOVER gave decent views feeding on the flooded Causeway.
Sadly, that's about all i'm going to write about it, i really lack any inspiration to try and make a Grey Plover in winter plumage sound exiting. Yes, its a good county bird, and I've only ever seen a few, but it is a bit dreary and the only thing to say about it is that it does show what cold weather can do to displace birds.

 As you can see from the photo's, the snow was getting fairly thick, preventing anything decent. Similarly showing around the Causeway was a pair of Goldeneye. The cold weather had brought a huge flock of Wigeon (252+) which is easily the largest  i have seen in Worcs, and among the grazers were a similarly good number of Dabbling ducks, 50c Gadwall, 20+ Shoveler, 30+ Teal among many hundreds of Mallard and Coot. Scanning along the few un-frozen edges revealed 2 winter plumaged Dunlin and at least 7 Common Snipe.

After everyone bar me and SMW had left, the snow eased slightly, allowing us to scan the distant ducks on the flooded middle section in the hope of finding the Pintail. And it was only a couple of minutes into this that Steve called out that a Smew had just popped up among the Coots. Soon after, i was onto a superb looking female SMEW as it dived almost incessantly. I had infact only a day previous said that this weather was bound to 'dump' some of these gorgeous small ducks in the country, and then hopefully the county. The views were far from great to say the least, but they were good enough to secure an early year tick!
Again (in my 8 photo memory space) i tried for some distant, snowy crapographs.

(Hey, you can see what it is!)

It was around this point that i picked up a 'pale' wader feeding on the ice on the far edge of the pools. Was that what i thought it was?
The Grey Plover came slightly closer (see, i did my best to mention it again!),

However, it was again quickly forgotten when my 'pale' wader dropped in closer, showing prominent wingbars similar to Common sand, very pale white underparts and pale grey upperparts ! A SANDERLING! We were treated to great views as it fed along the near shore, showing through tall weeds, a wire fence, falling snow, and fogged and wet optics!

So there we go, 3 for the price of one, and testament that when bad weather hits you should be out there birding! If you don't come back with drenched optics, soaked hair, a snifly nose and a bright red nose, your not doing it right. Get out there birding when its like this, you don't know what your missing!
MB

Sanderling- Upton Warren

16/06/12

I recieved news that a Sanderling has been seen on the flashes, and with the shocking weather outside, i was quite sure it would stick around the day.
By the time we were able to get onto site however, the bird had somehow dissapeared, and hadent been seen for about an hour. Anyhow, we still went down for a look, and its a good job we did!
Sanderling is one of those species that pass through the county in small numbers, most of the time only staying a day, so therefore, it is often a hit or miss species on a year to year basis within the midlands.

We sat down, but could see a small wader running the edges of the mud anywhere, and after about an hour, everyone in the hide was coming to the conclusion that the bird had flown.
2 drake TEAL were new in, and my first of the 'autumn'.

We were just about to leave and head to my girlfriends house when i had a last scan, and while scanning the end of the 'peninsular' in front of the hide, i was drawn to a movement just behind the now overgrown island. Immidiatly, i knew that this was what we were all waiting too see.
"There it is, the SANDERLING is here" was the shout, and a flurry of directions were given, and soon everyone was watching the bird.
 Soon after, the bird appeared fully from behind the vegitation, and immidiatly became extremly mobile around the flashes, moving from one island to another in quick succesion. Occasionally however, it settled long enought for us all to get a decent view, and with a brief glimmer of sunshine, i was able to take a picture that wasnt grey.

Looking remarkably Little stint like with its red neck, i wsa shocked, as earlier the bird had been described to me as 'quite pale', which i presumed ment it was in winter (type) plumage, or at least a pale colour, but when it emerged i saw a spring plumaged adult, a very nice looking bird!

(Sorry about the odd effect within the video's when panning, Youtube has changed the video somehow and messed it up, will be back to normal next post)

The bird mainly spent longer periods on the mud type islands, as could be expected from an esturine wader, and it was when on the mud that i was able to get some videos.


It was far more restless on shingle islands however, as shown here.



After some time watching the bird (a year tick), we decided to head off, already late for visiting the girlfriend.
MB

Bits N bobs

1/06/11

As where we was staying is close to a military base and a training area, we oftern had flypasts from many military Aircraft, this Sea King flew over while i was photographing Swallows.

And here are the Aformented Swallows.

But it was on the 1st that i noticed that a Pied Wagtail (female) was colour ringed, i tried for ages to read the rings but the views were always inadequet to Id the colours, so when in the morning on the 1st the bird dropped down onto the lawn to feed i took many snaps of the bird, the rings were:

(From top down)

Right Leg- Red then Bto ring

Left Leg- Red, Yellow, Yellow

This bird was seen everyday on site.

Later in the day we checked out a few spots where i visited last year

Carew Castle

We hadnt got out of the car before i picked up a wagtail scuttiling on the car park, a Look at the bird revealed it to be a Male White Wagtail, i Took a few photos of the bird, then wlaked down to the tidal pool.

Which was Dead, only 2 Distant Shelduck out on the Mudflats on the Estury side.

So as we were close, we decided to Drop into Lawrenny, where last year we had a Great Egret, this year we wernt so lucky, But 2 Of their Little Cousions were stalking the banks, there was a good scattering of Shelduck and Gulls and it was while scanning the Flats i picked up a small flock of Waders.

Consisting of 15 Birds, it was headlined by 2 Turnstones, both of which were in summer plumage, A Sanderling run in a close second, which also was in summer plumage, a single Ringed Plover and 11 Dunlin.

MB