Last Gasp 2007

We popped down to Weymouth for a couple of days. Nipping out for a couple of hours is normally difficult in winter, but this time I could nip out for a couple of hours in the morning because D#1 appears to be in a state of quasi-hibernation, and doesn’t normally make an appearance until the afternoon.

29th was Lodmoor. I started off scanning Weymouth Bay, and got 3 Great-Northern Divers, 2 Razorbills, a GC-Grebe, c20 Turnstones, and a frustrating distant diver.

On Lodmoor, a large female pheasant powered past, and it was only as it plunged into the reeds that I twigged it was a Bittern – my first for Lodmoor. Then 3 Stonechats, and from Beachdown Way a flock of Pochard contained 2m Wigeon and a female Scaup – another first for Lodmoor. Otherwise a female Bullfinch, and a Shoveller.

Then 30th it was round Portland Harbour. With no wind it was like a millpond, perfect conditions. I watched from Portland Castle, then The National Sailing Academy, and then over the shingle bank into Chesil Cove.

There were at least 4 Great-Northern Divers, possibly 6; a Red-Necked Grebe, 3 Long-Tailed Ducks causing a stir amongst the regulars, 3 Med Gulls (ad, 1st winter, 2nd winter), a couple of Razorbills, a GC-Grebe, and a few Dunlin, Turnstone and Oyks.

Over the bank, there was c30 Common Scoter on the big sea. I couldn’t see the Velvet Scoter with them, despite much searching, but did see a Red-Throated Diver.

Finally another two distant Divers in the harbour. They were good candidates for Black-Throated; serpentine appearance, horizontal beaks, occasional glimpse of white thigh patch, but just too distant to be absolutely positive.

Last minute local birding

A couple of visits to Harlow Town Park to make sure the children don’t spend all day in front of the computer. Despite the location in the centre of a new town, and the large areas of close cropped grass there’s a few spaces for birds; notable totals were:

Green Woodpecker, GSW, Siskin c50, Grey Wagtail, Song Thrush 1, Blackbird 12, Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Chaffinch, Long-Tailed Tit 3, Cormorant 2, many Common Gulls going over with similar BH Gulls and 1 LBB Gull.

And a male Bullfinch in the garden this morning!

Finally a happy Xmas to everyone, and if I don’t post anything between now and next year (which is quite likely), best wishes for successful birding in 2008.

Sawbridgeworth Marsh Roost 22 Dec

I don’t do freezing cold as a rule. If I spend a day out in sub-zero temperatures I always seem to end up getting flu for two-weeks afterwards. But today I reckoned I could get away with a visit to Sawbridgeworth Marsh Roost.

Mike has had some excellent records recently; LSW, Peregrine, Woodcock, Jack Snipe, but my incessant yakking put a stop to that today. I find roosts difficult as birds call once then plunge out of the gloom into a reedbed, and got some invaluable lessons from Mike in bird calls and distant flight identification.

Highlights below (a subset of Mike’s List of evening totals for those notable species I saw): 2 Water Rail, 7 Stock Dove, 2 Little Owl (both calling birds), 1 GSW, 11 Meadow Pipit, 10 Redwing, 256 Fieldfare, Chiffchaff (heard in reedbed), 207 Jackdaw (SSW), 159 Rook (2, 157, SSW) , 24 Reed Bunting, 2 Yellowhammer (N).

I notice that nearby Rainham Marsh has had an influx of exotic geese in the last couple of days. Has St James’s Park lake frozen over?

What’s going on with my blog?

According to the various stats attached to this blog, the readership is increasing and becoming more international.

Just as I was congratulating myself on this blog finding its rightful place in the pantheon of bird blogs, my photographic talent getting well deserved attention, and my writing abilities finally gaining their proper recognition etc etc I noticed that most of the recent hits come from the same google request back to this entry from the summer. It’s not a particularly noteable entry.

I suspect some automated process is up to no good. Can either of my regular readers shed any light on this?

SLRS 16 Dec

South of Sawbo. Cold, bright, frosty but difficult with the low sun. The scrape was frozen round the edges but melting in the mddle.

Probably the worst list this year. The heaving hedgerows and flocks of finches in the field have all gone, leaving just a basic list.

Kevin was out with his new scope, so we wandered slowly round the fields, putting it to the test on distant trees with some success. We found two mussel shells in the middle of the field. A peruse of my guide book at home indicated Swan Mussel as the most likely candidate

Slowly some decent sightings were assembled, and on the way back we came across a Bullfinch. A common enough bird round here, but usually all you get is a call and a white rump disappearing into the distance; today we had a pristine plump vision of jet black, battleship grey, shocking pink and brilliant-white. For a moment I was a transported back to a snowy garden in Leeds, and an eight-year old boy gazing in awe at a male Bullfinch sat in a tree just a few feet away.

Lowlights: Snipe 5, Herring Gull 8 N over, LBB Gull 2 incl 1 on SLRS, Common Gull 4, BH gull 23, Kestrel 2, GSW 2, Green Woodpecker 1, Jackdaw c20 in plughed field, Wood Pigeon c50+ over towards the Gibberd Garden, Song thrush 2, Blackbird 5, Redwing 2, Goldfinch 8, Chaffinch 4, Bullfinch 2, Greenfinch 5.

Hatfield Forest in the gloom

Hatfield Forest this morning. Took the 100-400 with the 1.4x to try and get some decent shots in the morning sunlight.

Little to report. I drove past flocks of finches on the way, but once at the forest birds were hard to come by. I went to the NW corner and eventually found a few birds. Apart form the usual woodland birds – Bullfinch, Nuthatch, GSW & GreenWood, the highlights were 11 Jays in total, and 3 Marsh Tits. Back to the lake for 2 GCG’s, 3 Teal, a few Pochard and Tufted Duck on the lake, and back to the car as the downpour set in.

Halfway round I realised that the reason I couldn’t seem to get a reasonable photo was the zoom extension was still locked from the previous trip, and I’d been taking pictures at 140mm. My punishment was the sun immediately disappearing so apologies for the photos from the gloom.

Tonight Mrs D is indignant. "How come Russell Brand has been introduced to the Queen and I haven't?"

Quick question

A quick question for you, which occured to me as I was looking at a tree with Starling, Woodpigeon, Blue tit, Jackdaw, Goldfinch, Blackbird in it.

What's the highest number of species you've seen in a single tree?

Stonechats at SLRS

Went round the Moors south of Sawbridgeworth at midday today in search of Steve’s pair of Stonechats. They eventually gave themselves up on the new fence east of the Railway opposite the scrape. I couldn’t see any rings on the legs, however, but I didn’t get that good a view. (A pair were ringed a mile north at Sawbridgeworth Marsh a couple of weeks ago, and there is in all probability a separate pair up round Stortford).

The scrape was frozen, so smaller numbers here. Meanwhile the fields south of the “Chaff dump” field were freshly ploughed and had large flocks of pigeons and finches.
Highlights of the list below:

Cormorant 1 over, Lapwing 2 on the ice, 5 Snipe flushed from the field south of the scrape. Stock Dove 14 with c30 Wood Pidgeons (the Stock Dovers a record for me in a single group I think). Jay 2, GSW 1, Green Woodpecker 1, Meadow Pipit 5, Yellowhammer 2, Chaffinch c100, Goldfinch c30, Blackbird 10, Song Thrush 3, Mistle Thrush 1, Redwing c20, Fieldfare 1, Starling c20.

Do Stonechats always winter in pairs? Round Weymouth I either see none or several, or don’t count the sexes, but here, where there are fewer, it’s always a pair. So are these the adults from a local breeding pair? Or do first winters pair up in autumn? Questions, questions; perhaps the ringing will give us the answers.

A new bird for the tetrad

Did the second of my tetrads to day. With the wind keeping the birds down, and myself unfamiliar with much of the tetrad, I only managed about half of it. Nevertheless I found myself in some out of the way corners of rural Hertfordshire with some surprising bits of woodland, orchards, and ponds.

Highlights were: at the golf club, Nuthatch, Linnet, Goldcrest, Skylark, GSW, Kestrel, Bullfinch, Song Thrush. A farm in the middle of the tetrad; GSW, Heron, Bullfinch, Jay, some sparkling Fieldfares and Redwings, Siskin, and then a Common Buzzard heading north along a hedgerow.

Finally back along the road from Gilston to High Wych two more (and different) Common Buzzards. That’s three in an area where the last time this area was surveyed, there were none.

Hatfield Forest & SLRS

First up this morning I did my family duty and took D#3 and D#4 to Hatfield Forest for a constitutional walk. I got my reward in a spooky kind of way that makes you think there might be a God and “Most Haunted” might not be complete nonsense. I saw a couple of Goldcrests in bushes at the bottom of the lake (Shell House end) and was thinking thought what would be really nice now is a Firecrest, when I got onto a Goldcrest with a white supercilium. Hang on! white super, black stripe above it, Bronze sheen on the wings, IT’S A FIRECREST! IT’S A FIRECREST! It flitted around for thirty second or so and then went off. Fantastic.

Nothing could match up to that, but Siskins, Kingfisher in the middle of the lake, Nuthatch over and various finches and peckers and plenty of Redwings made for a terrific day, particularly as the Forest is now looking fabulous in its vivid Autumn colours.

Then in the afternoon back to SLRS with a camera for some more autumn colours. Just 70 Lapwing, 16 Snipe, 2 Common Gull, 16 BHG, 6 Long-tailed Tits. Standing on the opposite bank seems to mean the birds aren’t bothered and are happy to come out in the open. The views are too distant for photography, but still excellent through the scope. Okay it isn’t Minsmere, but I cannot think of a better way of spending time than watching SLRS, with the odd narrow boat drifting by, and some chat with the local dog walkers.

BTO Survey - Sat 2nd

Did my first ever BTO survey west of Allen’s Green. Main sightings were masses of Fieldfares – estimate c180 in total, the most numerous bird. Otherwise 5 Jays, a few Siskins and Yellowhammers; 29 species in total. There were 2 hares as well. It felt great to be doing something that will, even in just a small way, contribute to what will be a significant piece of scientific work.

Allen’s Green Wood is a Pheasant-rearing base, and there was a shoot going on in the fields outside. Having observed the shoot, I now realise that the bin plonked in the middle of the field in which SLRS sits is not for dog-waste but for spent shotgun cartidges.

In the late afternoon went to SLRS. Highlight was a Water Rail. The Water Rail is a speciality of the Stort valley due to the many boggy places down its length. I know just one is poor compared to the 9+ north of Sawbridgeworth, but this was out in the open for ages on the SE corner. Otherwise some Siskins in the birches by the marina and some Chaffinches, Goldfinches, Green Woodpecker, GSW, c30 Starlings.