More Migrant Magic

As we move from late April into May the migration continues, with what we often regard as Summer birds beginning to appear. Into this we slide a trip 'Down South' to see family, and a chance to visit a Nightingale 'hotspot' at RSPB Pulborough Brooks.

While these famous visitors look rather drab, their song is beautiful, carrying across the reserve. Nightingales are reputed to be shy and elusive. Hmm... I guess this chap hadn't read the rule book. On at least three occasions while we were visiting this particular character posed in plain view, and relatively close in, less than 20 yards away from an appreciative audience. RSPB staff were on hand to chat and answer questions, and it was good to see a mix of birders, photographers and the more casual visitors all getting such joy from such a confiding bird.

 

Talking of confiding, again at Pulborough, this Swallow sat on a fence just feet away from a visitor's rest area, seemingly unconcerned as people came and went.

While we watched the Swallow, someone came over and said, 'there's a baby adder over here'. Well, itwasn't an adder, but a Grass Snake, and it seemed to be in trouble - it's upper jaw was inside a snail shell, while it's lower jaw seemed caught under the shell. One of the RSPB staff carefully pried the shell away, and the snake was able to slide away unharmed, giving us a demonstration of swimming at it went across the pond.

Regular readers will know of my frustration with those people who hang dog poo sacks in trees. Sadly, not even Surrey nor Sussex are immune from this curse, and it seems I'm not the only person disgusted by this habit - one common has a poster to try and get the message across....

 

 On the way back, we stopped off at London Wetland centre, a WWT site. I hesitate to recommend to anyone that they should venture inside the M25, but if you find yourself in the area, it's a lovely place to go - just make sure you allow plenty of time to appreciate the whole area. Oh, and take a pair of ear-plugs in case you meet the same 'posh' birder that we did in one of the hides. She seemed oblivious to the open windows, and addressed everyone in the hide at the same time, as if giving a lecture. LOOK, THERE'S SIX REDSHANK TOGETHER ON THAT ISLAND!!!! While there's usually no need to whisper, a soft, low voice is a a good idea; not only does it not disturb the birds. it also helps to preserve the sanity of other birders! Grrrr... Never mind, we managed to see this lovely Little Ringed Plover, it's striking markings acting as amazingly good camouflage against the stones, before we finally had to run from the hide, our ears covered!

Being in the South-east meant that we couldn't go long before hearing a strangely exotic sqawk from the skies - they're a splash of colour to us dull Northerner's, but the South-east these birds are becoming an issue - they're not native, but seem to be thriving in our slowly warming climate, and I'm told they can both be destructive of property, and have a tendency to drive out truly native birds. Still, nice to see one or two...

 

Equally colourful, but entirely native, is this Siskin, seen at Vrynwy. Vrynwy is well worth a day out; we were there a few weeks ago, and were treated to a Redstart on a fence by a farm. Be warned though, some of the woodland walks are a bit steep when you're feeling a mite unfit, Good cardiac exercise!



Returning to migrants, for the first time we've been able to pick out Garden Warblers from Blackcaps, and managed to get some sightings as a result. The song of a Garden Warbler is longer and bubblier. Of course, once you've seen the singing bird, the difference is immediately apparent, so striking are the blackcaps. The Gardens are more plain, but have a grey mark behind the heads. This example is from Pensychnant - the place to go if you want peace and quiet in North Wales on a Bank Holiday! Also heard calling was a cuckoo, sadly not seen.

 

Finally a return to local pastures, and still some more migrants. The first a female Whincat posing on a fence near the salubrious surroundings of Neston Sewage farm. Though disturbed twice by passing dog-walkers, she clearly liked this fence, returning each time. While watching from a distance, I became aware of a movement much closer, barely 5 yards away; a Wheatear was scuttling across right in fron of me, and quite happy to stop and pose for a few moments... The last is a Whitethroat; the scrub behind the sewage farm was alive with this charismatic bird, all finding convenient bush-top perches from which to loudly proclaim their territories

Finally a brief note; there have been complaints in the media of over-enthusiastic birders and photographers using tape-luring - playing back calls of birds in order to provoke a territorial display. For the record, I don't use tape-luring, and the majority of my photos are taken from a distance using maximum zoom.

Migrant Magic

A quick update to keep you going. Early morning walks around several local sites brought a series of warbler sightings. These are all distance shots, and the quality is not good, but I was pleased just to see the variety.

This chap is a Grasshopper Warbler -  quite often heard, but can be hard to find. As the name suggests, they sounds remarkably like grasshoppers, just at a lower pitch.

Just as loud, and sounding like a bunch of arguing children, Sedge Warblers can be found scolding away in reed beds. Sedge have a bright eyebrow stripe.

 The warbler is called a Whitethroat - can you see why!  These will often be found at the highest point of bushes and trees, while their smaller cousins, the Lesser Whitethroat, is a lot harder to spot, usually skulking around lower bushes and brambles.

 A slightly better shot of a Blackcap - I find these a real challenge to find; they seem very nervous at this time of year.

Moving on from the Warblers, the Whinchat has also been passing through, often sitting, as here, on fences.

Also passing through are Yellow Wagtails, usually found in paddocks, following around behind horses. These beautifully marked birds come in a variety of forms that help the expert identify where they originated. Beyond my capability, but a pleasure to see nonetheless.

The final migrant comes without a photo, though an excellent one can be found here, a Night Heron that has been found locally. A secretive bird, it has brought a fine collection of local birders trying to get a glimpse of it, and a chance to swap storeies and make contacts while waiting for it to fly in from it's daytime roost.

Spring has arrived...

Spring has arrived! The days are longer and warmer, and the light is (usually) better. Slowly we're getting used to the change in the seasons - it's not just how we feel about Spring; it's the gradual disappearance of the winter wildfowl, and the excitement of the reappearance of old friends.

Here we have Black-tailed Godwits in their breeding plumage, showing off their red heads and breasts. In the middle of a long row of council houses is a gate leading to the allotments - and to a large scrape where these Blackwits roost over high-tide, sometimes almost a thousand of these large waders. Alongside the scrape is a local nature reserve, with pond, a wooded area, and (that rarest of things) a scrub area, with gorse, brambles, and small trees; just what is needed for warblers.

 

Happily posing for us near Leasowe is this common warbler - a chiffchaff. These can be present all year round, but really make their present felt when they begin singing their distinctive song. Really they should be called chiff-chiff-chiff-chaff-chiff-chaff-chaff-chiff's, but that's a bit of a mouthful.

And shortly after the chiffchaff begin to sing, the wheatears start to pass through. They stop off in the horse paddocks as they rest during their journey northwards.

 

Ranging a little further afield ourselves, we headed off to the Great Orme, a delightful place to see sea birds, and then on the plateau there all sorts of migrating birds passing through, as well as a wide selection of  scavengers.

Here we have a Jackdaw, checking out the area around the cafe. These intelligent birds are highly social, and are usually found in groups. Great Orme also hosts the Chough, another member of the corvid family, with a thin red beak that is used to probe the soil; when I get a decent picture, it'll appear here, I promise!

During the spring migration, the plateau is often full of resting migrants, here a male Stonechat. I don't think I've seen so many stonechats in one place before, often seen perching on a higher twig above the scrub to watch what is happening around. Meadow pipits are another common visitor at this time of year.

Listen carefully near the cliffs, and you may hear a low 'gronk' noise; not the chatter of the Jackdaws, not the angry 'craw' of the crow. This is the sound of a much beefier bird, the raven, largest of the corvid family. Usually seen soaring in the sky, I managed to find this one perched on top of a cliff overlooking the road.

 

Returning closer to home, in the last ten days or so, we have the joy of seeing a pair of Gagraney arrive at our local RSPB reserve. Usually they are only present for a say or two as they pass through, but this pair seems quite settled - perhaps they will stay, and breed here. Only time will tell. The male especially is highly distinctive with the grey side panel and bright white curved eye stripe. Head on the effect is quite dramatic, and the bird really stands out.

Meanwhile, overhead soar a pair of buzzards, softly 'mewing' as they go by. While they will take smaller birds, buzzards generally look for something to scavenge, the same kind of diet as the corvids, which does mean they are in competition, and can lead to corvids mobbing buzzards and other birds of prey, trying to force them from the area. In this case all was calm, and we could enjoy the view of this pair lazily scanning for supper.

 

Another spring returnee is the blackcap. Very distinctive once seen, the male has a black top, while the female has a brown top. They make a call somewhat like two stones being tapped together.

When we go Martinmere, the local WWT centrw, we usually keep to the 'wild' side of the reserves. Recently, though, we went there with some friends, a perfect excuse to spend some time looking through the 'captive' side of the centre.

Here we found some Baikal Teal, a brightly marked bird from the far east. Over winter one was seen on the Southport marshes, resulting in a lot of interest. The jury is still out as to whether it was a genuine wild bird, or an escapee from a private collection.

Equally well decorated is this male Mandarin duck. These dapper ducks are not native to this country, but sufficient have escaped and bred that there is a small but established population, and can be found locally.

The delight of the trip was this African gry-crowned crane - his fuzzy head gear looked most impressive, and gave him an expression of curiousity that matched how we felt looking at him!

A Holiday Trip

As an early wedding anniversary treat for ourselves, we booked a long weekend in a a wildlife-orientated hotel, the Grant Arms in Grantown on Spey. If you fancy a treat, give this place a try; the location is breath-taking, the welcome warm, and the food excellent.This was the view from our bedroom window.

On the way up (beware, it IS a long way!) we stopped at Leighton Moss, scene of this years Springwatch programme. The only regret was that we could only stop a couple of hours; you really need a full day to explore here. We missed out on the Bearded Tits, but instead we came across this Marsh Tit trying out a new home for size. These little birds, along with the visually very similar Willow Tits, are under threat as their habitat is being destroyed, so always pleasing to see.

As we were in the area, it seemed rude not to go and visit Loch Flemington, and see the American Coot that has taken up residence there. This is a rare visitor to this country, and yet this individual seems right at home, having been here for several months now.

Having featured a cute Grey Squirrel in a previous blog, it's time to show the even cuter native Red Squirrel. This little chap howed great interest in the food that had been put out to attract the birds at Loch Garten.

The real attractions at Loch Garten were the Crested Tits. These elegant birds are pine tree specialists. so limited in this country to the Highlands, and were the number one reason for the trip. Worth it? Oh, Yes!!

We spent a number of hours at Lochindob, a small loch on a quiet road. The moorland around was so peaceful, yet so full of life. No drone of traffic; instead the accelerating call of Meadow Pipits as they first soared, and then glided in their characteristic display flight, the cheerful burble of Red Grouse, and the 'gronk' of Ravens overhead.

Here is one of the comical Red Grouse. When alarmed they would explode into flight, but to land it seemed they had forgotten how, and would just fold their wings and almost tumble into the heather, and then stick their heads up as if to say, 'I meant to do that'!

Lochindob was also home to this recently returned Black-throated Diver, smart in it's breeding plummage, and hungry for a fish supper.

This view is along the Findhorn valley. While we only saw distant views of the birds of prey that this valley is famous for, the setting more than made up for lack of raptors. The valley was full of curlew, oystercatchers and lapwing, alond with the usual meadow pipits, and a dipper working energetically along the river.

We would loved to have stayed longer, and it was far too soon that we found ourselves travelling back along the A9, heading sadly south.

Having arrived home, we had one more day before returning to work, so what better way use it than to head into the North Wales hills before dawn, windows open so that we could listen for the odd bubbling sound that marked a Lek site, and then to park up and wait for first light to reveal the sight of male Black Grouse displaying in a series of twirls and rushes at one another. The purpose of this strange 'dance' is to establish the relative rankings, like teenage lads at the dance floor showing off for the girls. 



Spring is almost here

It's always worth a trip to New Brighton in winter. On the highest tides, the pontoon in the marine lake becomes a refuge for local waders. There will dozens of redshank with a good smattering of dunlin. Often there will be a local speciality, the Purple Sandpiper, but on this occasion the highlight of the day was tucked in with the redshank, this Greenshank showing a nice contrast in leg "shank" colour. 

Another local treat was this Kingfisher, not a mile from home. The poor light robs the colours from the picture, but a real delight to see. We've seen reports of a bird at this site for some time, but this was the first time we'd actually seen him. It seems such an insignificant bit of water, with all sorts of junk dumped both on the banks and in the water itself, yet there must be enough life to support this fisher, and hopefully we'll see many more times.

We managed a return trip to Pennington Flash, near Wigan. The hides there provide great views, such as these of a Reed Bunting and a Bullfinch. The only downside with a popular place is that it can get crowded, and sometimes you meet a 'character'; we found one photographer with a lens the size of a rocket launcher running up and down in the hide, pushing the lens right out of the window in an attempt to get a 'better' shot.  Needless to say the end result was the sight of lots of bird's bottoms disappearing rapidly into the trees. Sigh - time to move to a different hide...

Not quite as far away is Woolston Eyes; this is a much quieter place, not least because you need a key to get in! Woolston has been the scene of some amazing Starling murmerations this year, with some estimates as high as 500,00. The Starlings have been starting to arrive just before dusk, groups of birds flying in from all directions to merge with the growing mass. Sometimes a large group of maybe a 1,000 birds, other times just dozen birds at a time, indeed, even single starlings, each flying up to the main stream, and disappearing into the mass. Every now and again a sparrowhawk flew into the mass, and each time clear air formed around the hawk, like an invisible forcefield was around it. The mass of birds stratched from as far left as we could see to as far right; the sky was full of swirling wings. And then a group would peel off and dive into the reeds with a sounds like that of heavy rain, and then another group, and another, and another, until there was one final group. They too would dive into the reeds, and the sky was empty. Fascinating, and well worth the rushed trip from work, and the dark trip home.

 

Not far from Woolston is Moore Nature Reserve, no key needed, yet still much quieter than Pennington. From wigeon and teal whistling in the ponds, to the raptors soaring over, the wary goldcrests flitting around the trees, to the raucous great spotted woodpeckers pushing all out of the way at the feeders, there is much varied birdlife around. Even waders dropped in, these curlew feeding in fields by the road in.

Wherever you find woodland you are likely to find a great spotted woodpecker. These large birds, about the size of a starling, are easily identified, black and white with a bright red spot on their underparts, like this one.

As well as the great spotted, Moore has a small number of Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, it's star resident. The Lessers are a smaller bird, not much larger than a sparrow. They lack the red under-spot, and have more white on their backs, in almost a polka-dot pattern. 

Alas, they are not just lesser because they are smaller, they are also lesser seen - this is an increasingly uncommon bird. The most likely threat to them is from loss of habitat; they need an established wood with a good canopy. It's very important for the survival of this delightful birds, and many like them, that we protect established woodlands. The government is keen for economic growth - with good reason. However, they have indicated that they are willing to allow developers to destroy established woodlands, to replace them with newly-planted woodlands elsewhere. This policy makes no sense from a wildlife point of view - it could take a hundred years or more for a new woodland to mature sufficiently to again support Lesser Spotter Woodpeckers. So, please, support your local woodlands, and help to protect them.

 

And to finish, a 'cutey' shot, again at Moore, of a Grey Squirrel nonchantly munching on his lunch, seemingly oblivious to our presence.