Signs of autumn

The patch has looked like autumn for many weeks - dead brown leaves, fallen before their time, carpet most of the copses as the dessicated trees are unable to maintain them. The bird life has of course remained decidedly summer, i.e. dead, and as is customary I completely avoided the patch in June. And for all but the last week of July actually, which I can't recall doing before. I was just busy, and by the sounds of it I did not miss a great deal.

Naturally it started getting interesting as soon as went to Fife, with the first Tree Pipits, Redstarts and Flycatchers arriving. I am back now, of course just as Fife starts getting interesting! The Eden estuary has had a Spoonbill, the East Neuk has seen multiple Pomarine Skuas, and there was a two Great Shearwater day at Fife Ness which is basically unprecedented. C'est la vie I suppose, but I have been venturing out here in Wanstead instead and it is beginning to feel good.

Before work the other day I scooped up three Whinchat and three Wheatear together by the model airfield, and a Yellow Wagtail went over south which was my first of the autumn. It's not quite the flock of 40 that Abberton got, but I am still of the opinion that Wanstead Flats consistently punches well above its weight during migration season, particularly autumn. There was also a briefly exciting moment when a "Plover" was mooted on Alexandra Lake, reported by a non-birder and possibly talked into it! I was working from home and was able to take the time to hop on my bike and rapidly pedal down there. As I arrived I heard a Common Sandpiper call. Still, all waders are good round here - my 39th Common Sand on the patch in coming up to 20 years birding here, which gives an idea of their scarcity.

A bird from long ago....maybe this weekend I will take my camera out with me?

On the day that the Thames Water hosepipe ban was announced we had a deluge locally, and this has lent the area a new lease of life. It is still a myriad of shades of tan and brown, but the air feels humid, there are clouds overhead, and birds are appearing and finding food. After work yesterday I came back across the Flats, encouraged by earlier news of Flycatchers. I did not take long. I struck out at the birches, a favourite haunt that had hosted a bird in the morning, but at Esso Copse a familiar dash of muted brown resolved into a handsome Spotted Flycatcher. Quite mobile, a short while later it flitted towards Long Wood and as it did so a second bird followed it, I fancied greyer than the first. I followed both! In the part of Long Wood we know as the Enclosure I had the briefest view of a Pied Flycatcher before it disappeared, and pretty soon I could once again see a bird perched up prominently on the outer edge of Esso Copse again. Joined by Nick (long time no see), this turned out to be the Spottie again, but the Pied had vanished. Meanwhile James found both species together at Alexandra Lake, so we are a little confused as to how many birds there actually were. Definitely two Spotted Flycatchers, but potentially just one very mobile Pied. Equally there could have been three, so I think we are going to settle on two. Science in action.

So the next few weeks are the good ones, and generally they make up for all the crap ones. We need to make the most of it!

Another from the extensive back catalogue. This is really easy!

Flamborough Head

I'm not in Wanstead. This is a miracle. It nearly did not happen, two last minute spanners threatened to confine me to home but fortunately neither doomsday scenario came to pass and I am actually on holiday. It was supposed to be Shetland of course, but we could not in all good conscience travel there. Instead Bradders, Pete and I are in East Yorkshire trying our luck at Flamborough Head and nearby sites. We arrived on Friday afternoon and saw very little. On Saturday we saw even less, albeit that it was quite exciting to be watching Thrushes and Robins falling out of the sky. Perhaps not exciting enough for the soakings we got, but we felt we were only ever a single Robin away from the big one. When you raise your bins and see eight Robins emerge from Old Fall hedge and start to feed frantically on the path in front of you that ninth bird really gets the pulse racing until you realise that it is another Robin, and unfortunately that was the story of the day. I have never seen so many Robins looking so mega.

One of hundreds

Sunday dawned clear however and the hedges around Flamborough Head were alive. We were five minutes from the New Fall Plantation when the Red-flanked Bluetail was found. Would that we had ignored the Barred Warbler next to the Lighthouse but nevermind, this is the way it goes. Any Bluetail is a good Bluetail. Somehow I have now seen seven and I'd like to see another seven. And the way the weather is going there could be more on the cards.

The entire weekend has been extremely birdy. We are on double figures of Yellow-browed Warbler and Redstart, there has been a Ring Ouzel, a Firecrest, a Great Grey Shrike, a Red-breasted Flycatcher and monstrous numbers of commoner migrants. There has not been the dream quality of Masked Shrike or Siberian Thrush, but it is not for lack of effort, and any weekend with a Bluetail is a mighty fine weekend indeed. I have walked miles and miles which is extremely good for me (despite the high level of junk food consumed) and I am feeling pretty good about the rawness and integrity of the birding. 

From Russia with Love

The last few years I have become fixated on world birding. In doing so I have had a brilliant time and seen some superb birds in superb places. But in the context of 2020 these past two days have been their equal in my eyes - I have learned that if I am motivated and up for it I can bird anywhere and have a great time. There might not be deserts, mountains and volcanos, but this part of Yorkshire is pretty special.

Spoiling autumn

I have just mostly spoiled autumn by finding a Spotted Flycatcher in Long Wood. Sorry about that. The one remaining regular migrant is now Pied Flycatcher, which I'm going to try and find tomorrow. Then we needn't bother going out later in the year and can go and do something more rewarding, like banging nails into concrete with our heads. I didn't have a camera today as it looked like the heavens might open at any point, so the below is an artists impression of what the bird looked like when it popped out briefly for the assembled twitchy masses. Seen one, seen 'em all.

Success!

Finally, a breakthough! Approaching Long Wood this morning I learned I had missed another Brambling, a single bird that had called only once and disappeared northwards. I had seen a few silent finches heading that way on my approach, but even I decided that having one of them as a Brambling was a step too far. Happily another two birds zipped through a few minutes later; I was too busy talking to actually hear them, but they were helpfully pointed out as being Brambling by a couple of the guys - nice of them. Perhaps I'll get my own tomorrow? Not that I care anymore of course, Brambling hold no interest for me now until January - unless there is a particularly showy one of course, but even then the light levels need to improve significantly. I've barely picked up a camera since Shetland, there has been almost no point.

Apart from some Great Crested Grebes at Canary Wharf that is, which coincided with some rare sunshine and my lunch break which I could actually take. Most of them I have uploaded to my other website, but here are a couple just to break the monotony of text-only posts recently. It can be pretty bad when I not only have nothing to say, but also have nothing to upload.

I have nothing else to offer. My life since returning from Shetland has involved work, more work, and family stuff. Birding has not so much taken a back seat, as been left off the bus altogether. This is a great shame, but what can you do, there is only so much time in the day. The good news is that the clocks change this weekend, which should mean that I get an additional hour on the patch in the mornings. I expect that the birds will realise this however, and wait an extra hour before showing themselves....

Naaarfaak for migrants

Norfolk actually worked. This is the first time ever. Normally what happens is that I look at a forecast, decide that Norfolk looks really promising, and then go there and see nothing. Today, on a forecast with east in it, there were lots of migrants, decent ones, and though I didn't see them all, I got my fair share - Yellow-browed Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, and Barred Warbler. All good training for Shetland, autumn has started.

Bradders and I left London yesterday afternoon so as to be in place for an early morning seawatch. It was only so-so, with some decent views of Great and Arctic Skuas, and a good Sooty Shear, but otherwise quieter than the forecast had suggested. For a moment it seemed like it was going to be a typical Norfolk day of unfulfilled promise, but when the first bird found down towards Kelling Watermeadows was a Yellow-browed Warbler, I began to change my mind. Soon afterwards news broke of a Red-breasted Flycatcher at Warham Greens, annoyingly our next destination, but we couldn't pass it up. Following in the slipstream (more like jetstream!) of Sir John of Furze were nearly first on site, and had some great views of this brilliant little bird as it flitted along the track. Somehow this is my sixth one in the UK, it wasn't that long ago that this would have been a monster rarity in my book!

Horrible...

We poked around Warham for a couple more hours, plenty of birds but nothing from the east, and again with Shetland training in mind headed to Holme to hone our Barred Warbler identification skills. As we arrived we could see a few people peering into an elder. The bush swayed from side to side, its trunk straining under the weight of the gigantic warbler as it crashed around, half the time I expected a Woodpigeon to clatter out, but it was just the Barred daintily picking off berries as it skipped lightly from branch to branch. Eventually it came most of the way out, and we all backed away in fear. I'd even go so far as to say it was quite showy, and it's not often you can say that about a Barred Warbler.

This is not normal

Finished up the day at Twitchwell dipping a Pec Sand. Lovely light, but most birds just a little distant. Plenty of waders, including a Little Stint, and plenty of typical visitors. My favourite ID today was a lady who found a juvenile Shelduck and wondered if it was a Smew. Then again, I was able to look at a Knot wading around without working out it was a Knot, so I was pleased to get Smew in September, and thanked her very much.

A top day out in warm sunshine, good company, plenty of good birds for once, and plenty of junk food, always a key ingredient in a full day's birding. Hopefully a taste of things to come - on all fronts.

Wanstead on Fire

It is remarkably hot, and even slim young people like me have been suffering. God knows what it must be like to be old in this weather, or overweight. Yuk. By about half nine in the morning the patch has been sweltering, and I have to confess to abandoning it for the relative comfort of home and a cold shower. Yesterday Nick found a Pied Flycatcher at about two in the afternoon. Soporific, I could not move, despite the quality. I reasoned that there might be another at a cooler time of day....

Wanstead is in London. We are truly lucky to consistently get Whinchats, Wheatears, Ring Ouzels, Redstarts, Spotted Flycatchers and Pied Flycatchers on an annual basis.

I love it when a plan comes together. I had finally managed to get my act in gear and head out this morning when a message from Dan informed me of, guess what, a Pied Flycatcher in Long Wood. I hastened over there to find a twitch in full swing - Nick, Steve, Stu, Tony and Dan (though Dan, who found it, cannot really be said to have been part of the twitch). The Flycatcher had done a bunk, but this is typical - all Pied Flycatchers I have seen tend to do circuits of a feeding area, and sure enough, though it took some time, I relocated it in the low middle of Long Wood after about an hour. Harry and Barry turned up a short while later, as they tend to do when we get something good, and it showed pretty well for them too. Another guy then turned up to twitch it as well, and said he'd had Tree Pipits in one of the copses. Yes, plural Tree Pipits. No, not allowed. You can't just turn up on somebody else's patch for the first time and claim a species that none of the patchworkers have yet seen, and so even though I have precisely no idea as to his Anthus experience, they unfortunately have to go down as Meadow Pipits. Harsh, but rules are rules. As soon as one of us sees, or more ideally hears a Tree Pipit, then we may count them retrospectively, but for now, whoever you are, I'm really sorry. Martin Garner could have turned up and I wouldn't have counted them either if that helps soften the blow. Do come back though, the more the merrier, and we are a welcoming bunch.

L-R Dan, Nick, Stu, Steve

We all oohed and aahed at the Pied Flycatcher, they are brilliant birds. It was a different bird to yesterday's one, and this is now my fourth in eight years, so a proper scarcity. The timing is spot on as well - last year's bird was on August 21st, with another (or possibly the same) on August 24th. A couple of Spotted Flycatchers were knocking around as well, again right on time - we're getting towards double figures for this autumn now. If any statisticians are reading, that's bird 115 for the collective yearlist, and 105 for me. There's still a lot of the autumn to come, though I'm struggling to think what else we might get. Maybe a Tree Pipit....

Back to business

This is of course a birding blog. Without beating around the bush, it's about birds, pure and simple. Not moths. Not pretty hockey players. Not jogging, not cycling. And not Gulls. Birds. Sometimes I have been known to stray, but this is very rare. No, if birds is what you want, this is the ideal blog to visit.

Today I went round the patch, just as I normally do. It's been hard work recently, June has been unusually long this year, lasting approximately 70 days, but I can safely say that we have turned a corner now. Look what I found on the playing field nearest my house!


Wooohooo!

 Yes, it is a Wheatear, and yes, it is monumental. Autumn has started. In the same way that the northbound birds herald the arrival of spring and local patch birding that might rise above terminally dull, so the returning southbound birds signal the arrival of autumn, and the end of the long drought. I feel reinvigorated. Apologies for the crappy photo, I went out with a short lens rather than the standard bazooka. It was feeding on the playing fields in the company of no fewer than 12 Mistle Thrushes, and when I saw it I smiled. I'm still smiling.

I was of course looking for waders, right now is prime time. Yesterday I got a Common Sandpiper on Alexandra Lake. I didn't have a camera, but luck was on my side. Common Sandpipers come in two varieties, the ridiculously tame kind, and the fly-a-mile-when-they-see-you kind. This, happily, was one of the latter, and even had I had a camera I wouldn't have stood a chance - shoulder saved. After Lapwings, which generally come in flocks, or at least in small multiples, and Snipe, that are a regular winter resident, Common Sandpiper is the commonest wader in Wanstead, and this is my 12th, with the Flats leading the Park 7-5. In eight years that's not a great return, but even common waders are mega here.

The Wanstead Wader Scale (WWS) is used to plot the occurence of waders on the patch, and is fairly easy to get to grips with. It runs from nought to one, with anything else literally being 'off the scale'. Despite hitting the Flats at ten to six, the WWS remained resolutely on zero, as it does most days. I live in hope though, as Dan scored two Blackwits the other day. The only trouble is that he scored them in horrible weather of the sort that is likely to confine me to bed.

Any other news? Not really, Autumn only started about an hour ago don't forget. I was out at the weekend as well. It was as quiet as June normally is, but I did spend some quality time by the side of Alex. Sitting still and waiting for birds to come to you is easily the best method of getting a chance at decent shots. It's pity that passers-by don't leave you well alone - "Oi, wot you takin' pictures of?!"  "That's a big camera, does it zoom?!"  "Have you seen any of those Green Parrots?" Despite the regular interruptions, it worked out OK. But please, if you were one of the curious people who wandered over to have a chat, causing all the birds near me to sod off to the other side of the lake, cease and desist. I am normally a mild-mannered person, but there is only so much I can take, and the Arca clamp atop my monopod would really really hurt.

After I had finished digging the last shallow grave (kidding, before those with no sense of humour get involved) I headed homewards. Approaching Esso Copse, I could hear a familiar chuckling - the Turaco is still here. It's been around for so long now that I can't remember how many years it is - I definitely have photos from early 2010, so that's at least two and a half years, and it's probably longer than that. What a legend. Some muted whooping and out it popped, what a stunner.