After missing the spot sand at abbotsbury yesterday, I decided to try and get there for the opening time at 10am today. Before I walked out the door, I made one final check on my phone - a greenish warbler had just been trapped and ringed at Portland Bird Obs! i'm pretty keen on my phyloscs, and greenish is a species I've wanted to see for a long while, especially with their rarity in the Southwest. I knew that warblers ringed at the Obs ussually disappear or are extemely elusive after release, but I just had to try.
I arrived at the bill at 10:30. All the spaces near the obs were full so I had to park at the Bill and quickly walk back. Simon was on site when I arrived. Just as I asked him if he'd had any luck, the call went up. I rounded the corner and a few seconds later locked eyes on the GREENISH WARBLER! Result! The supercilium was very distinctive, and the bird was larger and more 'angular' than I had expected. I managed a few record shots and a bit of video of the bird before it disappeared into the back garden of the Obs.
GREENISH WARBLER - Portland Bird Obs
Checking my phone, I saw that a pair of Pied Flycatchers had been seen at Portland Castle. Having only seen one last year plus the fact that I'd never got a decent shot of one, I decided to have a look on the way back. It didn't take me too long to locate one of the birds which showed well at times, and even fed on the ground at one point. I'm pretty sure that I actually had a second bird at the same time, but I'm not 100% sure.
Pied Flycatcher - Portland Castle
The final stop of the day was, somewhat ironically, Abbotsbury. Steve showed me to the route to Helen's Hide. From here I picked out a couple probable Common Sandpipers on the adjacent banks. Eventually, both flew out to the wooden posts in front of the hide, confirming their ID. After quite a wait, I picked up a third sandpiper with short wings, a pale-based bill and yellow legs. It wasn't until it flew closer that I could ID it as the SPOTTED SANDPIPER. It showed well alongside 2 Common Sandpipers both on the deck and in flight, allowing some good opportunity for comparison. The bird eventually took to feeding on the bank just below the hide, perhaps a little too close for my phone-scoping efforts:
SPOTTED SANDPIPER - Abbotsbury Swannery
I headed home after this to get on with the work I should have been doing today, always worth it though!
Headed down to Lodmoor today to look for the rose-coloured starling, a species I haven't seen since 2014. On arrival, I could hear large numbers of starlings in an overgrown ditch on the west side of the car park. Eventually I managed to find a place to view from, though almost of the birds were impossible to see from any public right of way. Eventually a large number of birds flew from here to the reserve, but I couldn't pick out the rosy. I headed over to the reserve where a decent number of starlings occasionally took flight before heading back to the car park - again no sign of the rosy. Of note on West Scrape were singles of Great White Egret and Little Stint.
Great White Egret - Lodmoor
Little Stint - Lodmoor
As I walked back, a few more flocks of starlings flew onto the reserve. One flock landed on the mud on the west side, including one bird which was clearly paler. I managed to scope the Rose-Coloured Starling just in time before the flock flew up. The birds continued to land and fly up several times before splitting, some heading back to the car park and some landing further east. I headed over to the Shelter to check the latter group, and thankfully the bird was there. I managed to get a few record shots of it on the deck before the birds took flight once again and dropped down by the car park.
Rose-Coloured Starling - Lodmoor
After this, I met up with Family for lunch and then had a walk at Ferrybridge. There was no sign of this mornings yellow-legged gull, but I did manage singles of Hobby and Wheatear. I lost track of time a bit and didn't get to Abbotsbury for the spot sand (which I'm hoping to get tomorrow) and the baird's sand was reported as a no-show, so I decided to skip these year ticks and headed home.
Got back from work today and was pondering whether to travel to Farmoor to try and defeat my bogey bird; red-necked phalarope, or to settle for a grey phal at Seaton (Not a lifer, but I species I haven't seen since 2014). As luck would have it, I was spared the decision. News broke that both species had been found together at Arne Moors - closer to home than the other phals. I arrived on site just after 5pm, hoping that this wouldn't be a repeat of my last trip to Arne. I arrived at the pool and had a few breif views of the Grey Phalarope. After a tense wait, the I finally locked eyes on my first Red-Necked Phalarope!!! Eventually both birds showed together out in the open, allowing for some decent comparison shots:
Red-Necked Phalarope and Grey Phalarope - Arne Moors
Finally embarked on my first trip to Scilly today! The target lifer was a semipalmated sandpiper, a species I've missed in the UK on multiple occasions. The american golden plover on St Mary's would also be a good year tick for me, but really I just wanted to get the lay of the land before I decide to stay for more than a day.
Arrived in Penzance at around 8am, and before the ship departed, I'd picked up singles of Eider, Arctic Tern and Kingfisher in and around Penzance Harbour.
Eider - Penzance
Arctic Tern - Penzance
Once we were heading around the Southwest tip of Cornwall we came across some large rafts of seabirds, mostly Gannets and Manx Shearwaters, plus a few pods of Common Dolphin. In amongst the rafts, I picked out a few Kittiwake, 2 Balearic Shearwaters, 7 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Great Skuas, 1 Arctic Skua and a flock of Common Scoter. At one point, one shearwater flock suddenly took flight as a very long dark shape emerged from the water before submerging again.I never saw a dorsal fin however, so couldn't confirm the Id. The last hour and a half of the journey was very uneventful with a few Guillemots and Razorbills, and singles of Manx Shearwater, Kittiwake and Grey Wagtail on the Approach to Scilly.
Arctic Skua - Scillonian
On landing at St Mary's, I promptly headed towards Lower Moors. Another birder kindly gave me a lift to Old Town, and put me in the right direction. On arrival in the Hilda Quick Hide, the SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER was giving point blank views, through was frequently behind vegetation. After a while, it started to wander away from us, so I wandered north along the path, mistakenly thinking there was another hide looking out onto this pool. Whilst wandering back to the hide, I heard a familiar call. With a bit of patience I'd clamped eyes on the Yellow-Browed Warbler! A very welcome find, my first for the year and only the second on Scilly so far this Autumn.
Yellow-Browed Warbler calling - Lower Moors
I wandered back, by which time, the Semipalmated Sand was now showing even closer to the next hide and in better light, allowing me to get some great shots through the scope:
SEMIPALMATED SANDPIPER - Lower Moors
Green Sandpiper - Lower Moors
Greenshank - Lower Moors
I wandered over towards Porth Hellick for the AGP. There were plenty of Wheatears along the cliffs, however I didn't make it all the way as I was short on time. I did scan the beach from a distance but no luck.
I headed back to St Mary's and boarded the Scillonian. I had several Gannets and Sandwich Terns from the ship as we departed. The first hour or so was more eventful than the trip over with several Manx Shearwaters and Fulmars. Eventually I picked out a single Storm-Petrel showing fairly close to the ship, though a scope was really required. I was pretty pleased with this year tick, as I hadn't expected to get any today. Shortly after, I picked out a second stormie, though the difference in wing shape was immediately obvious. The wings were more pointed with a straight trailing edge, a long sloped leading edge. I quickly attempted to find any white on the underwing. This bird was keeping much closer to the sea, and for a long time I couldn't make out the underwing, just the black upperwing which at times I thought showed a grey bar. It took me a while to realise that the white rump extended right down the flanks, giving the impression that I was looking at the top off the bird, when I was actually seeing the black underwings! The bird flew along side the boat for a good 5-10 minutes, giving me ample time to get all the features and nail it as WILSON'S PETREL! Definitely not something I expected to get!
The rest of the trip was fairly uneventful. Most of the shearwaters off Porthgwarra had dispersed, with just 2 Balearic Shearwaters of note. Returning to Penzance harbour, I had a flock of Turnstones and great views of a Common Dolphin alongside the boat.
A fantastic place, I'll definitely come back for the next rarity, or maybe to stay for a few days over October. I would certainly recomend the use of a scope on Scillonian when the sea's not too rough - I saw at least 5 other birders on there today, all using binoculars and I'm sure they wouldn't have been able to get most of the birds I picked out.
Got the day off work to try and finally catch up with leach's petrel, a species I've never been free to go for when the conditions were right. High tide wasn't until after midday so I started at Minehead. On arrival, it was obvious that the forcast was completely wrong; there was barely any wind! None the less, I started scanning, picking up a few terns and Kittiwakes. Eventually I got onto a pale wader heading towards me. It was probably a Grey Phalarope, but I managed to knock my own scope, then couldn't refind the bird! (Brian Gibbs saw what I presume to be the same bird shortly after, plus another which I also missed!).
I picked out a few distant Manx Shearwaters on the horizon plus a pair of skua sp with the sun behind them. After a bit of contact with Brian who was set up just down the beach, I scanned again and picked up a large stormie-type with pointed wings. A few more views confirmed it was indeed a Leach's Petrel! Shortly after, I also picked out a Great Skua sat on the sea before it flew East. I went over to where Brian was set up and had a few more Manx, Gannets and a Painted Lady, but little else of note, so come 11:00 I headed home.
Great Skua - Minehead
Picked up Lewis and headed to Lodmoor this afternoon. He wasn't free on Monday evening so I took him to have a look at the two sandpipers. First we had a look at the STILT SANDPIPER which was in the same spot as Monday evening. Glad I managed to improve on my previous records shots. We then wandered over to the Southeast side and quickly picked out the LEAST SANDPIPER as well, though it was showing more distantly than it was when it was first identified on Monday. Also of note were singles of Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper as well as plenty of Med Gulls.
