A change is good as a rest

This weekend just gone I birded so much my eyes hurt. Patch abandoned, no two hour Saturday morning stroll for me. Instead a marathon weekend of dawn to dusk birding. I have been threatening it of course, and now that I have done it I want to do it again. As a change of scene goes it was fantastic, and really drove home quite how dull birding in London most often is. 

Call me shallow, but 2 Smew, 4 Long-tailed Duck, a Ring-necked Duck, a Scaup, 2 Great Northern Diver, a Black-necked Grebe, 7 Great White Egret, 2 Cattle Egret, 2 Rough-legged Buzzard, a Merlin, 4 Hen Harrier, 11 Marsh Harrier, a Siberian Stonechat, a Grey-bellied Brent and an Eastern Yellow Wagtail have convinced me that there is perhaps more to birding than repeated visits to Wanstead Flats. Add to that a supporting cast of thousands upon thousands of seven other species of geese, and countless waders and ducks in fabulous scenery, and I am sold. Re-sold. 

This of course is something I used to do a lot, but for whatever reason I fell out of love with it. I have no idea why, it was terrific. There was some driving of course, but not the mind-numbing hours and hours that a long-distance twitch incurs, and most of it was done in the dark. And the rewards at the end of the journeys was frankly staggering for someone numbed by the weekly routine of urban birding.

That is not to say that the weekend was perfect in every way. My metaphorical spectacles are not so rose-tinted as to be able to deny some of the more unavoidable aspects of birding the North Norfolk coast in early January - that is to say that I felt rather as if we were in a procession of sorts for most of the day, seeing the same birds as everyone else. A shuffling doddery green-clad procession...  One man I saw four times, and to be fair he could have said the same about us. Were I to spend all of my time up there I expect that it would drive me stark-raving bonkers, however the excitement of a fresh year list will no doubt wane shortly and my next visit, whenever that is, will probably be rather calmer. The birds were good enough that none of this really mattered, and the landscape vast. At any other time of year you could probably find a few spots that get no visitors at all.

Out here were 7 Marsh Harrier, 3 Hen Harrier, 1 Merlin, 1 Peregrine and 1 Sparrowhawk. 

Suffolk and Essex were far less busy, neither are on the birding map in quite the same way, and I suspect that I will head back there first. Abberton, immense, was exceptionally good. Freezing but excellent. Wanstead has had so few ducks of late, Abberton has thousands, and I spent a happy hour or picking through flocks of Teal in the hope of a vertical stripe. A vain hope... Neither could we dredge up the Black-throated Diver.

This of course was before I remembered to buy a Double Decker. This delectable confectionery is often thought of as an autumn staple, but its mythical power can be unleashed at any time of year. As soon as there was one in the car we were unstoppable. Rough-legged Buzzards in the gloom, the Grey-bellied Brent after less than a minute of scanning an immense flock of Pink-feet, the Stonechat on view immediately - everything simply fell into place. The Wagtail showed brilliantly - a UK tick. Although there have been loads recently I have felt no urge to twitch any of them, but as a part of a big day out seeing gazillions of birds I didn't mind in the slightest.

So why was it so good? Because it was refreshing. I have not done any UK birding like this for simply ages and it felt really good, just like birding abroad. My last visits to Norfolk, Suffolk and coastal Essex were all in 2016, and very simply I was ready again.

Here's to 2020.

More patch Whinchats

The perfect number of Whinchats to have on the patch is one. A Whinchat, rather than Whinchats. One Whinchat is often fairly cocky, quite brazen sometimes. Several Whinchats stir themselves up into a apoplexy of intense fear, feeding off each other, and thus whilst it might be pleasing to the urban patch-worker that there are multiples of this smart little bird - and indeed I was pleased, for as many as six graced Wanstead Flats this morning - for the urban patch-worker who carries a camera with the intention of committing Whinchats into a pleasing series of zeroes and ones, any more than one is a complete disaster, as the moment one sees you even a hundred paces away, all of them fuck off into the middle distance.

Thus were two hours wasted this morning in a pleasant if frustrating attempt to outsmart these little corkers. It didn't work, or at least not very well. Six soon turned into two that I managed to follow around reliably, but they had been very well trained in how to look out for each other, to the point that I wondered if they had known each other before meeting on Wanstead Flats. They appeared at times to share a single mind, disappearing with perfect synchronisation, popping up again exquisitely. It would make a fine Olympic sport in a parallel universe. Here's the best of what I managed before I gave up and went to Suffolk to dip a Wryneck and successfully twitch a Lesser Grey Shrike - this latter also kept an impressive distance between it and the assembled watchers. Maybe it had just eaten a Whinchat?

Skewer Skua

Finally some birding. A leisurely start on a largely dead Wanstead Flats allowed me to chew the fat with the regular band of stalwarts, and then it was off to Suffolk for the Lesser Grey Shrike. Love 'em. Sadly it wasn't quite as cooperative as the last Shrike I saw, but it still was one and that counts for a lot. As expected a medium-sized crowd with a few familiar faces, and although the bird sadly didn't come and perch on my scope, good scope views were nonetheless had. This is the skewer bit, in case you were wondering.

Far more obliging once I had worked out the correct approach was an Arctic Skua at Sizewell, just down the road. With patience you could get relatively close to it, so that's what Bradders, Nick and I did. Lovely, although the poor bird is mildly oiled, which probably explains why it spending quite a lot of time sat around on the beach preening. I hope it makes it. I'll probably do a whole post on it over on the other channel at some point, but by necessity this post is short and sweet, as Mrs L and I are spending the evening together. We are both so busy that this happens approximately once every two years, and I have opened a rather special bottle of Shiraz to celebrate.

 

Breckland birding

Today I went to the Brecks with Hawky and Hawky sr. for a crack at Golden Oriole and a few other things. Although we failed to see the Orioles, which is pretty much par for the course, we heard at least three, and possibly four or five. Depends how quickly they can move through the plantations really, and given we saw nothing, it's impossible to say. We did come across a very shy and elusive Jackdaw though, which more than made up for the lack of Oriole sightings. A birding lens was entirely useless in this situation, so instead I resorted to the macro. I've barely taken a photo of a bug this year, I didn't think I'd be using it on a bird! It took quite a liking to Hawky, as you can see. People talk about the great wildlife experiences, you know, herds of Wildebeest crossing the Mara river, millions of Monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico, that kind of thing, but rarely does 37 year old essex man feeding Jackdaw bits of apple from his lips get a mention, and I think that's a real shame. National Geographic are definitely missing a trick.

Passing the rictal bristle test with flying colours!

Several Bitterns, and gazillions of Cuckoos and Marsh Harriers jumped out at us as we wandered round, and the flutey calls of the Orioles carried far on the breeze. We finished our meander around eleven, and so headed for some well deserved breakfast at the roadside Cafe near the five ways roundabout. I had a coffee which I sprinkled lettuce in, delicious.

A few miles deeper into Breckland and we stopped to check out a Redstart site we had been told about. I could tell you but I'd have to kill you. The young had left the nest and were being fed by attentive parents. No idea how many young, but dad was feeding one, and possibly mum was feeding others. I've rarely seen Redstart so well, the odd passage bird on Wanstead Flats (Remember Wanstead Flats? This is a blog about Wanstead.) being the exception, and I didn't have my camera with me on the really memorable occasion. At this site, the adult rarely stayed put, and a two hour vigil resulted in few opportunities, and when they came I was often too slow. The one time where the bird landed close enough, in the right light, and stayed put long enough, the angle was such that I had to lift the lens with monopod attached up off the ground and take it handheld. Sharpness, I'm sad to say, suffered, and sharpness is everything. Or it's a start at any rate. Still, best Redstart photo I've ever taken by some distance, so I'll take it, ever so slightly soft though it unfortunately is. Lovely weather, and when the Redstart action became all too much, I fell asleep in the sunshine. You can't beat birding in June!

PS An explanation of yesterday's post about Mistle Thrushes, as it appears to have confused some. Desperate for a London tick, I dashed to Rickmansworth on Wednesday afternoon in order to see the Little Bittern. I saw it in flight for approximately 4 seconds, but it was it, and I sent a few tweets (what a great word, oh yes...) saying I'd seen it. Not one but two people texted or tweeted back asking me how I had ruled out Mistle Thrush. I mean, please. Whether they were being serious or not only they can say, I know what I think though - if I have maligned, then, er, too late. Anyhow, there are some things I might confuse, and some things I might not. Mistle Thrush and Little Bittern come into the latter category, and so I thought I might respond with some light sarcasm, and that's what you got yesterday. It's always tough when you know only a handful of people will know what you're talking about, but I enjoyed it, and as I've mentioned before, that counts for a lot on here. Nonethess, sorry if it appeared a little left field, as one correspondent put it. Now that you know, go back and read it again, as it will be a lot funnier.

Lucky Landguard

Being a saddo lister, I am able to tell you what birds I've seen where. Partly this is notebooks, but mostly it's the most amazing spreadsheet ever. Have you heard of Pivot Tables? They're great, I mean really great. A quick couple of clicks, and I can produce this:

Landguard NR, Suffolk			5
	Hoopoe		1
		15-Apr-09	1
	Arctic warbler		1
		2-Sep-09	1
	Booted Warbler		1
		16-Oct-11	1
	Short-toed Treecreeper		1
		25-Mar-11	1
	Tawny Pipit		1
		6-May-12	1

Those are all the rare birds I've seen at Landguard, and every single one of them - yes, all five - were lifers. Not a single one was any trouble at all. I bowled up and there they were, straight onto my list, spectacularly easily. I also keep a dip list, not that I dip very often, but it's always nice to reminisce. Landguard has no entries on the dip list. Every time I've been for a bird, it's always still been there, and I've always seen it, and seen it really well. So yesterday, even though I was nearly a hundred miles away in Cambridgeshire, I knew that if I went, I'd score the Tawny Pipit. Dipping was out of the question, no petrol would be wasted. And that's exactly what happened - Muffin and I arrived, bailed out of the car, walked calmly to the point, and immediately saw a Tawny Pipit.


I have similar luck at and around Minsmere. Hang on a sec. Click, click.

Minsmere RSPB, Suffolk			4
	Glossy Ibis		1
		9-Oct-11	1
	Purple Heron		1
		24-May-07	1
	Roseate Tern		3
		21-Jun-09	3
	Audouin's Gull		1
		9-May-11	1

Dunwich, Suffolk			2
	King Eider		1
		17-Oct-10	1
	Thrush Nightingale		1
		7-Jun-08	1

Westleton Heath, Suffolk			2
	Great Grey Shrike		1
		17-Oct-10	1
	Lesser Kestrel		1
		29-Mar-10	1

It's never quite as nailed on as Landguard, for instance I recall a Spectacled Warbler dip, but my record here is still pretty good, and I'm always pretty confident of seeing what I set off to see. It's harder work though - although most were straightforward, the Thrush Nightingale required overnighting in the car followed by three hours walking around in a small circle, most of it in the pouring rain, for about a thirty second view. The less said about the Lesser Kestrel twitch the better, and the Audouin's Gull gave me a mild heart attack by flying off half an hour before I arrived, before doing the decent thing and returning to the scrape just as I arrived on the beach.

Anyway, enough stats. For now. I also do quite well at Dungeness. In fact, I do quite well everywhere, but I think that of the places I've been several times, only Landguard has a 100% unblemished record.

Today was a family day, and what better family activity is there than enforced birding disguised as a walk? Sheppey was the destination of choice, centered around lunch at the Harty Ferry Inn. But before the family were allowed into the pub, the were marched to the hides at Elmley Marshes, where yet another two Black-winged Stilts awaited us. Mrs L was delighted to get a tick, but the girls didn't even look!

The main problem is that the hides are miles away, and so small children lose interest well before half way. Much better is the entrance track to the reserve, where the kids can hang out of the window and observe Lapwings, Redshanks and others at point blank range. Today we had great views of these, as well as of Yellow Wagtails and cute Rabbits. A quick stop at Capel Fleet produced Peregrine and the ubiquitous Marsh Harriers, and a more prolongued stop at the Harty Ferry Inn produced both food and beer.

Suffolk Surprise

The plan today was to go to Norfolk, but with no news on anything by half eight, Muffin and I deceided Lakenheath would be a better bet. I promised him Garganey, Grasshopper Warbler, Bittern, Cuckoo, Crane, Marsh Harrier and possibly Golden Oriole. With the exception of the latter, we got the lot, and I have to say it was a most enjoyable stroll round. He's really growing up quickly, questions are a dozen a minute (of which I can generally answer about three), and he wants to see everything that moves. Today our luck was really in - picked up two drake Garganey from the viewing ramp soon after we arrived, and Gropper was reeling nearby. Two Cranes were on the margins of the first big reedbed you get to, and a Bittern flew over us on the next one. We witnessed a pair of Harriers passing food in mid-air, and Muffin spotted a Cuckoo in a tree that I had overlooked as a Pigeon. Nice. A real pleasure to be out with him, and may those monosyllabic teenage years remain a distant proposition.

A bite to eat at the splendid Walkers roadside cafe on the fiveways roundabout, and then onwards to Paxton in Cambridgeshire for the Black-winged Stilt I mentioned yesterday. It's an extremely long walk from the car, possibly even matching Trimley Marshes, but for such a great bird why not, and there were trillions of Warblers en route. Last time I was at Paxton was in 2008 for a Baird's Sandpiper; it's a great place, birds everywhere, and not many birders at all - hats off to whoever found it as the area is vast. When we got back to the car I checked my phone for the first time in a while and found out about a Tawny Pipit at Landguard. This was a much needed tick, and the only one I can recall that I could have gone for was also back in 2008. I was in Norfolk but never managed it, something about needing to be home or face the consequences..... Today might have been a similar story. It was half-three and ideally I would have been home at five as my parents were coming round for dinner. Luckily the good son in me prevailed, and so at five on the nail we arrived..... at Landguard. The Pipit showed excellently, and I was about to nab a top drawer photo of it when a four-legged friend flushed it. Meanwhile my parents called from outside my house; Mrs L wasn't in either. Oh dear. I figured that perhaps we ought to forego the photo opp and make tracks for home, which we did, arriving at precisely 108 minutes past five. So barely late at all really.

A fine start, but a poor finish

The day started very well with news of Kev finding an Alpine Swift at Crossness. I am in the happy position of having seen an Alpine Swift in London this week already, but being greedy I headed off.....to Rainham. Yes, uber-cool being that I am, I felt that there was a chance to bag this southern wanderer for my Rainham list by virtue of seeing a dot zooming about distantly over Crossness. I was wrong, though there was a moment of excitement when it was reported to fly high east. All eyes were to the sky, but nothing came through.

All was not in vain though, for on the way to Rainham, news of a male Ring Ouzel on the sea wall reached me. Despite the possibility of an Alpine Swift from Rainham, I went straight to the Aveley Bay carpark and following some top "it's in that bush there" gen from Steve B, picked it up more or less straight away. All thoughts of Alpine Swift were forgotten, Ring Ouzels, especially immaculate males like this, are stunning, and I can't get enough of them. And it was a site tick....

Bradders arrived soon afterwards, and there was a comedy moment when I turned round to wave and point at the bush, and whilst my back was turned it flew out and down the sea wall another 100 yards. I continued on towards what I thought was the bush, and was puzzled when I couldn't see it, and only discovered what had happened when Bradders turned up. Impossible to get any decent shots of it, an extremely flighty and nervous bird. Then the news of the Alpine Swift flying high east came through and all thoughts of Ring Ouzel were forgotten....

The afternoon was less glorious. Bradders, the Monkey and I attempted to twitch the Pallid Swift at Kessingland. We didn't get it - the Dipmonkey strikes again. We only called him to save a bit of petrol money, next time I'm paying the full fare. In addition to not seeing the Pallid Swift, we basically failed to see anything at all, it was dead. Until just after we left of course, when all the Pallid dippers had an Alpine Swift go over their heads, apparently only the 854th record this month.

Subsequent photos of Monkey may look happier....

A superb day out

Excellent day out in Suffolk today, year-ticking like a nutter. Think I got eight in the end, to take me to 201, but that was not the main point of the day. Actually what was the main point of the day? I think it was loosely based around the desire, some might say need, to see the Purple Heron at Shingle Street, but it turned into more than that.

Bradders and I set out at 5.30am for Suffolk, and saw the Heron very well in a field, in flight, and in a bush, almost immediately we arrived. It promptly disappeared again, seemed quite a wary bird. We wandered about a bit looking for migrants but it was extremely quiet bar a couple of Wheatears and Sedgie, so like the troopers we are we gave up and went to Minsmere before the rest of the world did.

This proved a smart option, as there were very few cars there when we arrived, and it was stuffed when we left around lunchtime. After a nutritious Double Decker breakfast, we did a clockwise circuit, spending quite a lot of time attempting Godwit photography from the hide near the beach. I gained a couple more year ticks from here with Common Tern and blantantly supressed Barnacle Goose, and we helped a man just starting on this mad journey identify as many waders as we could find, before going on our way, enjoying the sunshine. Reed Warbler on the Reserve was another year tick and by this point in the day I had gained six to put me on the brink at 199. Round about this point we realised that we were having quite a productive day, and whilst Bradders sourced some lunch, I wrote down the day list, which came to 81. Party-animals that we are, we decided that we should attempt 100, which I have never done before, and so started planning what we might see where. This involved David working out likely birds and sites, and me fretting that we were never going to make it.

DB's planning involved going back via Essex, which seemed a like great idea, until I realised that there was a Spoonbill cunningly built into on his agenda, which he needed for '09 and I didn't! "Lets just go straight home and not go birding anymore" I said, but we went for it anyway AND I found it AND generously got him onto it. Having said that, he would have found it in another 30 seconds, and also he had inadvertently got me onto Whimbrel on the way to the Spoonbill, which he already had and I didn't, so I was already on 200 and feeling magnanimous.

A couple of waders later and we had cleared the ton. So 100 in a day and 200 for the year. Boy am I cool. I am not sure what bird was #100, it was all just too exciting. Actually I had cocked it up by missing Cormorant off the original list made at lunchtime. It might have been the Spoonbill, but I think we celebrated a Grey Plover. We found an elusive Whitethroat near Abberton Res late in the day which was David's landmark 200 for 2009, so a good day for both of us.

I got back several hours after my original estimate, but amazingly didn't get into too much trouble - I think Mrs L was expecting it. And needless to say, she shared my excitement at getting to 200 and seeing 105 species in a day. She said something that sounded a bit like "hmmmm, whatever" but I knew she really meant "Wow, thats amazing, well done!"