A lesson in being greedy

A chance, after some initial chores, to get down to Rainham for a Wryneck. It's been a while since I've seen one, and a long while since I had good views of one.

But first, my phone pings with a local Redstart. How lucky am I? I pop up to the patch and local birder Laurence has kindly hung on to show me the bird. Or, as it happens, the stretch of bushes where it was. Never mind, Laurence is a very knowledgeable and genial birder who works hard in the local area, and as always it is a pleasure to spend time with him.

And then Rainham. A forced march round to Numbers. Someone coming away tells us (I've found company on the way round the reserve) that it is showing really well. We get to the spot, and yes its been high in the bush and feeding on the path all morning. Birders are showing each other their frame-filling photos. It's just popped out of sight but no doubt will be back in a minute.

You can guess the rest. We are treated to a couple of hours of Classic Wryneck Behaviour before a phone call requesting my presence puts and end to this fiasco. I passed the time entertaining the crowd with my opinions and observations, something I suspect I enjoyed a lot more than they did. 

Birdguides reports the Wryneck seen again this morning. I suspect that what the bird is doing, as I think Shrikes and others do, is to feed up first thing, and when it has eaten for the day it sits up quietly out of sight. 

Some lessons are clearly in order here:

1. Don't go for others' passage migrants, particularly Redstarts in autumn. They appear briefly, then disappear. By the time I've heard, its too late.
2. If I intend to go for a particular bird, then go. Don't mess around. 

And there are clearly some more lesson on the nature of birding to be drawn, maybe for another day. 

 

Rainham Marsh on Grand Opening Up Day.

Monday 17th May. A day for the ages. A day when we take another step to freedom.

Unfortunately no-one seems to have told RSPB Rainham Marsh. The gate was closed. Mike was following so I texted to say go to Coldharbour Lane / Ferry Lane at the west end of the reserve.

From Ferry Lane a quick scope scan along the shoreline produced an Avocet, a couple of Redshanks, 4 Dunlin and a year tick in the form of a Great Black-Backed Gull. A couple of Common Terns went by on the river.

Then up to Serin Mound. A photographer said he'd had a Gropper up there - needless to say we didn't - but we did get a male and a female Marsh Harrier distantly, and a Heron being bombed by a Lapwing.

There was a large creche of about 30 Canada Geese chicks still at the fluffy stage. But elsewhere there were families of just a few chicks. Mike thought from previous reading that the creche was the offspring of first year female Canada Geese and they were being looked after by old Geese. So the other families were more experienced breeding geese looking after their own. That would make sense. 

A Cuckoo called. My experience is to look for a prominent high point to find it, and bingo there it was on top of a large bush. Excellent views. The effort these birds put into calling is quite noticeable. 

The air was full of gulls and Swifts, and amongst them 2 Hobbies cruising around. We got a great display form them as they stooped and chased. One was bringing its claws up to its mouth in flight so I guess they were finding some insects to feed on. 

Bumping into photographer again and he mentioned Wheatear and Corn Bunting from the grass-covered landfill mound. Back we went but before we got there another Wheatear along the river wall scrub. It went round a bush then completely disappeared. Anyway on we went, and after a lot of scanning found a Corn Bunting and indeed heard it singing, and another Wheatear briefly popped up.

That was it. A decent total despite, or perhaps because the reserve itself was closed.

Missing the Glaucous at Rainham.

Glaucous Gull is one of my favourite birds. Such a powerful, menacing bird. Unfortunately I haven't seen one for years, so when two turned up at Rainham, it was a no brainer. I set off on Friday morning straight down to Coldharbour Point.

Long story short - I didn't see them. Lots of large gulls, even more small gulls, and a few downcast birders. It was my first time doing a circuit of the tip, and I did eventually get views of loads of gulls on the top of the tip from just east of Coldharbour Point at a considerable distance, but nothing doing. somehow, a fly-though Peregrine, Marsh Harrier, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Pintail, Wigeon, and even 8 Snipe on the foreshore were scant consolation.

So Sunday morning, and why not try again? Well, because the tip is shut on Sundays so its the gulls' day off and they leave the area generally is why not. I turned up to find a second winter had been seen flying NE about thirty minutes earlier, which is funny because as I was driving down the M25 NE of Rainham about twenty minutes earlier a large pale gull had flown high across the motorway, and as I glanced up and saw sunlight through translucent primaries I thought to myself Bollocks Bollocks Bollocks I bet that's it.

Peregrine again, Marsh Harrier, c40 Golden Plover, c200 Dunlin, Avocets, plus the usual stuff all viewable from the mound. There was a time when such a list would have been an epic day out. No more. I guess you know when you've arrived as a birder when you get a list like that and leave disappointed.

Home and Away

A couple of recent trips

Abberton. Quite a list! Black-Necked Grebe , Long Tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Bewick's Swan, distant Little Gull, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit, Marsh Harrier, and I've stopped looking at Great White Egrets there are so many of them.

Canvey Point - a bit gloomy, but a diver flying around was probably a Black-Throated, then off to Rainham. Howard on the desk. Anything around? Howard rattled off an okayish list, and then said that a gloomy day with an easterly breeze something like White Fronted Goose was a possibility. Just before the Ken Barrett hide 5 geese over - one of them has massive black barring on the belly - thank you Howard! Then Water Pipit, Pintail, Ruff, and a couple of Marsh Harriers. So some decent stuff.

This all contrasts with the patch, which has been  ... okay. A Chiffchaff calling incessantly in river-side willows eventually gave pleasant sepia views; my first winter chief on the patch. A Little Owl prowling at dusk. Then in the park, 5 Lesser Redpoll were the first of the winter, and a few Siskin were flying around.

Today I managed an hour or so. Three Green Woodpeckers in the field, a few Bullfinches, then some bird action visible over the railway line. A flock of a few hundred Woodpigeon with some Stock Doves, about the same number of corvids, and about 50 Chaffinches and 20 Yellowhammer, with good numbers for the patch. Now many areas have seen Bramblings passing through recently, and as its one of my favourite birds I had as good a look as I could through the finches. I'm sure you can imagine my joy at finding I had possibly the biggest flock of Chaffinches in the south of England that does not have even a single sodding Brambling in it.

But anyway ... onwards, and quite a few Fieldfare including ones feeding in bushes not too far off, and a distant Red Kite.

The thing is, I think I enjoyed my common birds about as much as I enjoyed all those rarities at Abberton. I guess we all started birding because we love birds. And not just rare birds, but any bird. I'm increasingly conscious that the best moments of bird trips aren't necessarily the target birds, but are the ones that give confiding views, or that you stumble upon and didn't expect. Take that Chiffchaff - is there a duller bird than a winter Chiffchaff? But I really enjoyed its smooth sleek plumage and warm tones.

July photos

A couple of trips. Firstly Rainham Marsh RSPB. Marsh Harrier and Bearded Tits notwithstanding, it was all about the insects. There were masses of workers on the Lavender in the car park and I think these were Brown-Banded Carder Bees, mainly because at least one of them was a carder bee with a brown band. Difficult to photograph in a suitable pose, I am nevertheless quite pleased with the art in these photos.

Then a few Shrill Carder Bees, an Emerald Damselfly in the Cordite area that I am told is a Willow Emerald, and some more common stuff - the Hornet Mimic Volucella Zonaria which I now see more often than I see Hornet.

Shrill Carder Bee worker

Willow Emerald

Then with David today to Stansted Airport Lagoons for waders followed by another trip to Hatfield Forest to see Purple Emperors. Needless to say this did not go as planned. There was a lone Lapwing at a very full lagoons, but there were up to ten damselflies on algae pads on one of the lagoons. David was sure these were Small Red-eyed Damselflies and having looked at photos the step on the end of the abdomen does match the photos and is quite distinctively different from Red-Eyed. A flicker in the foliage turned out to be another Willow Emerald.  We left the lagoons quite happy with our haul and went to the Forest. We walked round the NW corner of Hatfield Forest finding little new in the way of Butterflies, and no sign of the Emperors but did see plenty of Ringlets and Gatekeepers sunning themselves. We paused from looking down long enough to see a Raven fly over which is a good record for the forest.

Willow emerald

Gatekeeper sunning itself

Finally a reminder that wildlife is exploding all over. David's eagle eyes spotted a freshly emerged Six-Spotted Burnet Moth. Quite fantastic it is too, with its damp wings still creased.

Where are the bees?

Spring birding is the best. All the birds look like they are dressed up going out to a party. A couple of trips recently had some cracking birds even if there are no major rarities on the list.

Firstly up to the North Norfolk coast with David. I glimpsed a Ring Ouzel at Burnham Overy Dunes but we couldn't find any others, but there were lots of Wheatears and a Whinchat, some nice waders around too - Common Sandpiper, Whimbrel, Knot, Grey Plover, Barwit. then Titchwell and some Velvet Scoters mid-range from the beach, some Sanderling, a Little Tern and a couple of Med Gulls, Ruff, Turnstone, three Marsh Harriers doing the talon-grappling thing and a close-up male Whinchat. A nice day with some sunshine and excellent company

Yesterday I popped down to Rainham Marsh. A fantastic selection of waders on the Target Pools (3 Wood Sandpiper all sparkling elegance, a Greenshank, another Turnstone - what fantastic birds they are in spring -  2 Little Ringed Plover, 2 Ringed Plover, and a Common Sandpiper). A couple of small parties of Whimbrel too picking their way through the grass. Then from the riverside path a female Ring Ouzel seen well but distantly in the middle of the reserve (sorry David).

On both occasions I was keeping an eye out for bumble bees, and there were very few. Perhaps I'm being premature and we wouldn't expect to see anything but a few queens, but I fear the cold spell may have really set them back.

I'm not sure if problems now correct themselves later. Dave Goulson in his book "A Sting in The Tail" says 50% of bee nests fail every two weeks, so at the end of summer its a case of many queen bees being produced from a few nests. If lots of bee nests fail now, does that mean the other bees have an easy ride as there is lots of food for them? Or is there another limiting factor? Do they get predated more than they would otherwise? I've no idea, but I am a bit concerned how the rest of summer is going to pan out for these splendid creatures.

Thames Estuary Waders

Vange then Rainham.  Lesser Yellowlegs, Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Blackwit, and an accommodating male Bearded Reedling at Vange, Then Temminck's Stint, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Greenshank, Ruff, Blackwit, Snipe, Common Sandpiper at Rainham. All views good but distant.

Here's the Lesser Legs at Vange.

here's a close up to help you find it.

Dartford in Essex

Dartford Warbler is something of a blot on my list. It's on there, Rame Head April 1984, but it was a fleeting view at best. The tail end of something diving into a gorse bush. Probably a Dartford Warbler. Possibly a Long-tailed tit, or maybe a Dunnock.

Blot no more! A morning visit to a frosty Rainham Marsh RSPB saw me finally getting decent views. One was following a Stonechat around which I gather is a frequent pairing, and for a skulking bird was being very showy. Sat out in leafless thorn bushes, perching on barbed wire, even singing. And a surprisingly nice bird to look at too - rusty red throat and underparts, a slight white moustache. Much nicer and easier than I thought it would be,

For a while it looked like that would be the only notable bird, but a Short-Eared Owl gave a cracking display near the rifle butts in the SW corner of the reserve. It even called a few times - rather like a deep-throated sneeze. Other birds worth a mention include 2 Marsh Harriers, a few Pintail, Kingfisher, 7 Stonechats, and the bizarre circumstance of having Jack Snipe in my year-list but not Common Snipe was ended when 7 Common Snipes flew over the frozen reserve.

Finally, some music. The death of David Bowie made me think of another star from glam rock - Marc Bolan, and I found this video from 1972 . It is worth looking at this with a perspective of 40 years of "progress". They look like they are playing our local village hall, but in fact it is Wembley Stadium. Just the four of them, and one (Mickey Finn) seems to do nothing other than bang a tambourine and try and get the audience going - a kind of proto-Bez. Various commentors note a marked resemblance to Mr Bean. Compared to the modern stadium concert with large screens, light shows, dancers, walkways into the audience and a host of backing musicians this show seems a complete shambles, a ludicrously naive thing to do. But there is, nevertheless, bags of star quality in Marc Bolan that seems to be missing from many of today's manufactured stars. Enjoy!