May 2012

I started the month based in Cumbria with only a few days remaining before I planned to hand in my final media project and hence complete my three years at uni. Like the second half of last month my time was concentrated in the editing suites; only one bird briefly distracted me before I returned back home to Southampton and that was a Blue-headed Wagtail in Northumberland. I had been planning to meet up with Cain anyway, so this seemed like a good enough excuse to do it sooner rather than later. The bird itself performed very nicely and was almost entirely on view feeding on the line of seaweed with dozens of White and Pied Wagtails, Wheatears and the odd Yellow Wagtail. Rather embarrassingly this was the first of this race I had seen in Britain.

A few days later I submitted my final project, and wasted no time in packing my stuff up to head home! Migration had been particularly slow with no real notable passages till that point and it was clear most things had been delayed somewhat due to the weather and so for the first few days in Hampshire I visited several sites with very little reward besides the low numbers of common and expected migrants.

The first notable birding session was a seawatch after work on the 8th from Stokes Bay. Visibility was poor but I was convinced stuff would be moving. On occasions the sea mist did lift and I could see Gannets passing through The Solent which is always a good sign. In a slightly prolonged clear spell I picked up my first Little Gull and Arctic Skuas of the year heading East before the mist limited my view again. I knew the weather was meant to improve early evening so I stuck around till then. Within moments of clearing more Arctic Skuas passed through with a number of Commic Terns including two distant Roseates, a Whimbrel and strangely a Turtle Dove flew up the beach. But the creme de la creme came with a stunning adult Pomarine Skua with spoons East down the beach providing excellent views. Shortly after another did the same but without such an impressive tail.

Odds and sods elsewhere kept the interest going but it was generally slow going and by mid-month the only other highlights were a Cuckoo singing from my bedroom window at 4am, and... well.... that was it really. But despite how poor the general birding seemed to be, there was still the hope that a decent bird would be found somewhere else. Though I really didn't expect to be woken by various phone calls late on Friday 17th to find various photos of a Dusky Thrush in Kent circulating the regular birding sites.

In many ways it was a similar scenerio to the Cream-coloured Courser last year, and there was no way I could continue trying to sleep knowing that that was about. I hopped out of bed and wasted an hour or so fannying about with the car before I picked up the Fullers and began the journey to Kent, with the aim of getting there just before first light.

About 300 others had the same idea. But nobody knew the whereabouts of the bird within the grounds of Margate cemetery. There were thousands of headstones and all we had to go on were a few photos that provided some clues to where the Thrush may have been frequenting. The first showing a partially covered headstone with Ivy. The other, an Ash tree with the leaves still yet to emerge. A bit of team work was required. Dan Pointon rather impressively located the headstone (perhaps he's done this kind of thing before?), but there was still no sign of the bird.

An hour later I took a wander around the back to see if it was lurking beyond the trees directly infront of us. No sooner had I done so, when I noticed a small Thrush sat motionless in a tree. I knew immediately what it was, whistled to alert others, and the rest was history. It continued to show well on and off for the remainder of the morning till we left.

We stopped at Reculver on the way home to see a first-summer male Montagu's Harrier that performed nicely, albeit too distantly for photographs.

Following the appearance of the Dusky Thrush, a number of discussions have ensued relating to the amount of rufous in the flanks. It's difficult to find much information on these birds and the intergrades within them, but Chinese birders (who are in regular contact with the species') think it may carry Black-throated Thrush genes, whereas Lars Svensson deems it to be bang on.

The following weekend (25th) and there was a surprise within the county. An adult Roller; inland at Broxhead Common. A rarity like this has been a long time coming in Hampshire and attracted an impressive crowd in little time of news breaking. The bird itself was distant, so all I could get were severely cropped phonescoped images at the highest magnification I can. But regardless of how distant the bird was, Rollers never cease to impress.

On the way home I went in search of butterflies at Noar Hill with several each of Duke of Burgundy, Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper being the highlights. Not a good day for photography as I again had the wrong lens with me.

Towards the end of the month I visited Lakenheath RSPB with the Fullers where a showy Red-footed Falcon was on offer. Although I am disappointed with my photographic results (compared to Lee's anyway), I was very much impressed with the adult male hawking literally metres above our heads providing excellent views. A Golden Oriole and two Grasshopper Warblers sung throughout the morning, at least 5 Bitterns were active and a Common Crane flew through, making for a productive morning.

April 2012

I have been very busy this month with back to back assignments as I near the end of student life. To say nothing has happened in the first half of the month wouldn't be an exaggeration, outings have been few and far between. Unfortunately I still haven't even had the chance to see the more numerous spring migrants yet. However I can't go a whole month without at least two or three trips out. On the 7th, Dan Houghton and I made an attempt to twitch the Killdeer in Lancashire from Southampton, but we didn't get very far before it flew off, so still no birds.

An ill-timed trip to Poland with Emma that coincided with an ever growing pile of work for me to do wasn't really what I needed. But we made the most of an awkward situation; the evenings were spent writing essays but the days were fun and productive; exploring the city of Krakov, while visiting Auschwits and the salt mines were thought provoking to say the least.

On the birding front nothing worth mentioning happened till the 15th when I was pleasantly distracted from another essay when I noticed a male Redstart picking at the apples I had left out for the Blackbirds on the front lawn constituting the first for the garden. It seemed to spend all morning there but would go missing for periods and I only managed a few mediocre images before the Yorkshire Baikal Teal hit the pagers. It was a bit of a risk as deadlines were looming, but I had planned to head back to Carlisle that day anyway. I quickly packed up some clothes (I now realise I didn't pack enough) and my laptop before dashing off.

By late afternoon I arrived at Flamborough Head where the bird was out of view. Keen to see it as promptly as possible so I could be on my way again, I jumped onto the fence behind the hide and looked over which gave me enough height to pick out the bird roosting on the near side shortly before it became more active again. A quick swim before it grazed with three Wigeon offered great, albeit distant views of this attractive duck.

It looked good in the field. Wings looked complete and the legs unringed and its behaviour no different to what you'd expect a wild bird to act like. It had apparently flown in-off the sea that morning with Wigeon during a period of good movement of wildfowl and as you'd expect it was gone the next day as the birds appeared to be actively migrating. Once back in Cumbria I reviewed some of the images taken throughout the day and the wing damage evident in Martin Garner's flight shots warranted some concern. However with damage to outer secondaries and a little to the inner primaries this bird does not seem to have been clipped nor pinioned but the damage looks rather reminiscent of predatory or gun shot damage so it'll be interesting to see what the BBRC do with this one. Another one pending. These shots were phonescoped so not the best quality but not bad considering the distance.

I had to wait till the 21st for another trip out. This time with Tristan and Chris over to the east coast where we hoped to catch up with some migrants. There were lots in already and hirundine flocks were well represented throughout the day and even contained our first Swift of the year. Warblers in and around Saltholme included Whitethroat, Blackcap, Chiff-chaff and Willow, Reed and Sedge Warblers; all in song. A Common Tern was over the Back Saltholme Pools where two smart Black-necked Grebe were hanging out and a drake Garganey fed on the Dorman's Pool, but the highlight of the morning was the drake Lesser Scaup on the allotment pool amongst a small flock of aythyas.

We headed a little further north in the afternoon to Houghton-le-Spring where the Little Bunting Tristan and I  saw last November was still in situ (though it had gone missing for about 5 months in between). It didn't take too much finding as it was regularly singing its heart out and offered ridiculously close range views. It will certainly be a while before I get another opportunity to see this species so well again!! It was so close I managed a quick sound recording on my phone. Thanks to Joe Stockwell for the edit.

Back in the media suites after that to crack on with my final media project, in a prison cell like room with no windows. Needless to say it was quite depressing and I would have taken any excuse to dash off at a moments notice though I really didn't expect anything to come to my saviour since I rarely get more than one new bird in a spring these days  I almost went east for an Iberian Chiff-chaff but couldn't justify going that far for a bird I have already seen a few times in Britain so stayed put. That was until Adam Hutt produced the goods at Spurn by stumbling upon a female Rock Thrush. I waited for Mick Frosdick, who coming down from Scotland picked me up enroute and within 3 hours we were at Spurn...and watching the bird! The bird itself was very co-operative albeit at range and was nearly always on view except when it popped to the ground to feed giving a flash of its red tail in the process. Admittedly not the most attractive of birds when perched and at that sort of range but on occasions it came close enough to see the scaly breast and red-tinged flanks.

Whilst watching the Thrush in a field with Wheatear and Yellow Wagtails we were rudely interrupted by Adam Hutt again as he alerted everybody on the Spurn Radio System of a Caspian Tern flying out of the Humber and heading northwards close inshore. A quick sprint to the beach and we were all watching it as it casually flew past. A fantastic bonus, and only the second of the species I had seen in Britain. A red letter day for Spurn and more impressively for patcher Adam Hutt! Congratulations!!