Egghead!

Quite a bit to catch up on, and I've let the photos build up a bit too much!  Nice to be able to report on some non-bird stuff for a change though. Spring is here!

5th

I was up at the break of dawn, and what a dawn.

The best find from this mornings usual excursions was a 1st-winter Rook near the start of Reap Lane.  Very unusual away from Ferrybridge, this bird with it's developing pale base to the bill, was a surprise sound as it called from a lamppost.  Not a sound I expect here!  It was indeed very vocal, and presumably it was pining after some company.

6th

All the usual stuff, including the two Iceland Gull again in Chesil Cove.  What was more surprising was a pair of Pintail, which passed at middle distance.  A Portland tick!

At Ferrybridge, I made a point of photographing a more expected Rook, as the bird went backwards and forwards cashing pieces of a large chunk of bread.

 

Whilst on my second look at the Cove, I heard the Gulls getting animated.  Usually it's the Buzzards or Peregrines that set them off.  I looked up towards the Verne to see a large, slow-flapping Accipiter raptor, with flared out undertail coverts.  I rushed to get my camera, but once I'd set up, the bird had vanished!  I'm not going to tick it, but I can't see how it couldn't have been a male Goshawk!

Later, on a break from work, I popped into Ferrybridge.  I was greeted by two flocks of waders (adding up to 17) flying back and forwards over the sea/beach/Fleet.  I only had my bins, so hence I had my second frustrating moment of the day!  They seemed to have a lot of white on them, but clearly weren't Black-tailed Godwit.  So I concluded, probably wrongly, that they were Redshank.  They did seem to appear from the sea first, which is why I thought against one of the Fleet resident species e.g. Bar-tailed Godwit.  It's too early for them to be moving.

7th

My usual looks at Reap/Barleycrates/Suckthumb produced little to shout about, but what a beautiful day!  I looked at the jungle that is Barleycrates Lane from a different perspective!

 

Whilst here, I took my first proper look at the galls which cover the leaves of the Alexanders.  They are caused by the fungus Puccinia smyrnii.

 



Back at Chesil Cove, in addition to the usual 1st-winter Iceland Gull, the 2nd-winter Kumlien's Gull appeared from nowhere, before flying away along the beach.  A couple of swipes from the nearby Herring Gull revealed it's dark tail.  I wish it would settle down and give itself up to all!

Also in the Cove, the usual stuff, plus 26 Brent Goose, and a load more which looked like they were coming, before peeling off at the last minute and landing at Ferrybridge!

8th

Chesil Cove first thing had promise, as a south-easterly was blowing.  Sadly, I couldn't take advantage of it as I was working the morning.  I only had time to see another 28 Brent Goose south, although they strongly thought about going 'up and over' the island.

Whilst working, I very fortuitously stumbled on a Bloxworth Snout moth settled by a window.  An increasing scarcity.

After work, I had my usual stroll round the place, and found my first migrant Chiffchaff at Barleycrates Lane, and identified for the first time, Common Whitlow-grass (not a grass at all, but a member of the cress family) along Reap Lane.

After that, I left for Surrey, as I was spending the weekend back at my old haunt. On arrival at my old garden, I was greeted by a singing Blackcap!  My first of the year!

9th

The reason I was back in Surrey, was because I was leading a walk for my old local RSPB group on the South Downs at The Burgh.  Before that though, I just had to pop into the former local patch of Tice's Meadow.  It was the start of another gorgeous day.

The water level there was the highest it has ever been.  The whole place is one big lake!  Little of note on the bird side though, except a long-staying female Shelduck, and my first chicks of the year.

After a great meet-up with my old Tice's pals, it was onto the walk.  It went pretty well in perfect weather.  The site wasn't quite up to it's usual self though, with quite a few hoped-for species missing.  We still saw the likes of Grey Partridge, Raven, Red Kite, and Yellowhammer everywhere though.  Loads o butterflies on the wing including Peacock and Brimstone.

10th

I couldn't resist another quick look at Tice's first thing.  Again, nothing particularly notable for the site, but it was just brilliant seeing the likes of  Shoveler and Bullfinch, species I just don't get to experience anymore being at Portland.

And, although I do see them at Portland, the Common Gull were looking smart.

 



I then also popped briefly into Frensham Great Pond, for no real purpose.  I miss this place as well!

A Firecrest, and best of all, a singing Woodlark (my favourite songster) were very welcome here.

I made my way home to Portland.

On arrival, I felt I had to have a quick nip around the place, seeing as the Wheatear had finally turned up!  No luck with those sadly, but I did happen to bump into a pair of Peregrine eating a Woodpigeon at Barleycrates Lane.  Plenty of calling and interaction going on, but sadly the female had had her fill, and had left the male to it by the time I got into a position to photograph the action.

Today

A number of birding sessions finally yielded the winter thrushes, as at least 11 Redwing were scattered about the place (2 at Barleycrates, and 9 over Suckthumb), along with an obvious increase in Blackbird and Song Thrush.  2 Fieldfare were also at Suckthumb, as was two Firecrest still, and a Woodcock which I flushed from the side of the raised area.

A brand new fungus discovery was this nice troop of the wonderfully named Egghead Mottlegill, by The Hump.

A quick look at Ferrybridge revealed the Iceland Gull still, seemingly settled on the pools by the car park.  And last, but certainly not least, a stint at Chesil Cove revealed a distant pod of 3-4 Bottle-nosed Dolphin, whose presence was revealed by their attendant Gulls. 

Still no Wheatear for me though!

If you've made it this far, congratulations!

Teal or No Teal?

If you're short on time, I'd urge you to scroll down to the Baikal Teal twitch.  I've only got another couple of days to catch up on, but I wouldn't think any less of you of you wished to bypass these, in comparison, very uneventful days!

5th

I spent a morning mooching around the Ferrybridge and Portland Harbour area, but found little to show for it.  Nonetheless, it was still enjoyable in perfect sunny conditions.

I started round at Sandsfoot Castle, as it's often the best point to view the harbour.  Unfortunately, on this occasion it was rather quiet there, with just two flocks, of 6 and 2, Black-necked Grebe out of the ordinary.  It goes without saying that despite doing everything in my power to scrutinise ever bit of the harbour, someone later counted 15!

I then had a nice watch from the visitor centre at Ferrybridge, as the tide receded.  The light enabled me to fully appreciate all the plumage features of the gathered Gulls and Brent Geese, such as these immature Great Black-backed Gull.

 

And I also found a striking Common Gull that could be a serious trap for the unwary, sporting as it did a perfect ring round it's bill.

As I was photographing it, the view got interrupted...

...as the long-staying Black Brant got in the way!

Finally, I suddenly noticed a small flock of Skylark feeding close-by, on the seaweed on the edge of the mudflats.

 

7th

All the birding I got in today was a brief look at Bincleaves Corner, which is the northernmost extreme of Portland Harbour, before I started work in Weymouth.

Yet again, despite the calm conditions, nothing of note in the harbour, but on the wrong side of the breakwater from my point of view was a single female Eider (which presumably later entered the harbour, when it was seen by Joe).

Yesterday

When I got my new car, I told myself that I really should get back into twitching again.  This was largely inspired by the remarkable year the UK has had for twitchable rare birds, with the likes of the Great Snipe, Pacific Swift, Hermit Thrush, and Orphean Warbler all being at the forefront of my mind.  So, to that end, I have decided to try and go for as many of the twitchable good birds that turn up in the UK from now on, though with the restriction of mainland only. 

The first long-distance possibility occurred yesterday, with the appearance, and subsequent stamp of approval, of the Baikal Teal in Lancashire.  As it will be for all these long-distance trips, I ideally needed to find others to share travel costs with.  It came to my attention that a few guys in the New Generation Birders Facebook group were keen to go, including some that were conveniently positioned along my route.

So, we were all set, and the first challenge was getting up at 3am!  That done, I first headed the 150 miles to Hereford to pick up Espen Quinto-Ashman, then another 35 miles onto Kidderminster for Craig Reed, as the day dawned.  Assembled, we did the final 120 mile stint up to Southport, and got there at 9:30, in overcast conditions.

I initially wasn't sure where to park, and my best guess turned out to be a bit wide of the mark, as we had to walk a fair way along the coast road before we got to the area the bird had been yesterday.  Nevertheless, we thought it wise to scrutinise all the Wigeon and Teal flocks on the way, and boy was that a task!  There were hundreds of them! 

A view out onto part of Crossens Outer Marsh, as the sun attempts to break through.

I say part, as the area was massive, with the vast Ribble Estuary saltmarsh on the other side of the road in addition.  I don't envy the job of the WeBS counters for the area!

As we were about to arrive at the line of scanning birders, we received the dreaded 'no sign' message, and our hearts dropped.  We carried on regardless, as with so many duck about, we felt confident it had to be here somewhere! 

Once at the beginning of the seawall, I thought it best to let the others carry on, while I rushed back to get the car.  There was a hellish biting wind blowing, and I don't think any of us could have coped with having to fight our way back to where I'd parked it, particularly if we dipped!

I was almost at the car, when I got a phone call from Craig.  I could barely hear a word he said, as the wind was obviously howling at the exposed seawall where he was!  But, did he really mention something about the bird being found? I wasn't sure!

Anyway, once I'd driven round to the seawall, I was met with a stampede of twitchers, as they frogmarched in a long line towards the road.  A mass exodus like that can only mean one thing!  I overheard a few words from some of them, and all I could gather was that the bird had been found at Marshside, which I took to mean the main reserve.  Hence, why I waited for Espen and Craig to appear, so we could drive round, rather than head off on my own.  I had barely noticed that all the birders had been disappearing down a nearby path, rather than jumping in their cars! 

Once the guys had returned, I learnt that the bird was actually not far away at all, adjacent to Crossens Outer Marsh. 

On arrival at the long line of birders, there was a little confusion, as the bird was sleeping in the middle of a large group of Wigeon, with very few markers nearby!  It was a bit of a struggle, but eventually I found the stunning Baikal Teal, and it stuck out much more than I expected, like a foreigner in fact!

The sun was now out and behind us at this point, and we all got really good views, although the bird was rather distant, and largely inactive. 

A couple of phonescoped shots, the latter using full zoom on the telescope eyepiece.

And this was the view with the naked eye (you can just see the flock in the distance).  Thank goodness for optics!

I would have liked to have watched it for longer, particularly to see it more active.  Reluctantly though, we really had to leave if we wanted to have a go for the Two-barred Crossbills in the Wyre Forest on the way back.

I couldn't resist getting a crowd shot on the way out.

We knew things would be tight what with such a short amount of light at this time of year, but I hadn't really factored in traffic.  It wasn't that bad really, but by the time we'd got to Kidderminster, the sun was almost at the horizon, so I don't think there would have been any chance of catching the birds before they roosted.  A real shame, as we could have spent more time at the Teal!  Hey ho.

In reality though, I think we were all grateful for getting home a bit earlier, cause it had been a very long and tiring day!  I dropped off Craig, then Espen, before getting home to Portland myself just past 8. 

Thoroughly enjoyable!  Maybe an Ivory Gull or two next?  Perhaps more realistically, a Pacific Diver!