29/30th October 2017

Headed down to Ninesprings Lake yesterday morning for the first time since January (I really need to spend more time on patch next year!). The highlight were high numbers of Water Rails. There is one regular bird every winter, but today I saw 2 on the Lake plus a 3rd which was heard only, and a probable 4th heard calling from the river. Oddly, no mandarins were present on the lake, though 2 Little Grebes, 1 fly-through Kingfisher and a Grey Heron were on offer, and the intermittent blue-winged goose was again present. There was little of note away from the lake with nothing better than 2 Nuthatches and a few Raven overhead. On the drive back to the house I had a female Kestrel in the fields between Brimsmore and Longcroft.

Walking into work this morning proved to be a good decision as I had a flyover Lesser Redpoll, my first in Yeovil this year.

26th October 2017

Decided to head down to Longham Lakes this afternoon to try for the lesser scaup. I saw the Chew/Blagdon bird a couple times, but it was always too distant or breif to get any decent shots. Also it was in eclipse, so a showy male bird would do my nicely.

Thankfully, the LESSER SCAUP was showing well on arrival on the North Lake, allowing me to get some decent shots through the scope. It was associating with tufted ducks, so it was nice to get some comparison shots as well.

LESSER SCAUP - Longham Lakes

Upperwing shot.

Head profile compared to Tufted Duck

21st October 2017

No proper birding today, but had some great views of a Sparrowhawk in my Grandparents back garden.

17th October 2017

I checked my phone this afternoon and saw the dreaded mega alert, the possible arctic warbler at St Aldhelm's Head had been reidentified as a two-barred warbler! The 7th British record of this taxon due to be adopted by the BOU next January. With the weather so poor, and only two reports in the last three days, I was torn between going or putting in extra hours at work and hoping it stayed until tomorrow. I made that mistake once already this year so I eventually decided to give it a punt.

I arrived on site, and a birder informed me that the bird was still showing. I walked/ran the mile to St Aldhelm's Quarry where a crowd of 30 or so birders were spaced along the road. As soon as I arrived, another birder was watching the bird, however it was moving quickly. After a couple fleeting view of what was apparently the bird, I locked eyes on something with a supercillium and wing bars. A few seconds later and the TWO-BARRED WARBLER popped up again, this time working its way along the the top of the vegetation. A very striking bird with whiter underparts, brighter upperparts and an even more obvious supercilium than last months greenish.

The weather was getting pretty bad at this point, and with such a tight crowd it would be impossible to set up my scope to get some shots. Having had pretty good views already, I decided to head home. At least one Firecrest was all else of note. Very glad I made the effort to get this, as it's my first mega old-world warbler. When the bird was showing, probably only a third of us managed to get onto the bird, as there is little space to view the quarry, so it could be a bit tricky for the larger crowds in the coming days.

15th October 2017 (Kent)

Got to Oare Marshes around 8:30 this morning, and soon after arrival the WILSON'S PHALAROPE was refound on East Flood. The light was pretty terrible, so I decided to stick around for a bit, in which time I refound the LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER which promptly disappeared into thin air, plus a couple of Little Stints also on East Flood.

LONG-BILLED DOWITCHER and WILSON'S PHALAROPE - Oare Marshes

Eventually the light started to improve, and I managed some passable record shots of the Phalarope. Also of note were 3 Bearded Reedlings, a Water Rail and an overdue year tick in the form of a Curlew Sandpiper.

WILSON'S PHALAROPE - Oare Marshes

Curlew Sandpiper - Oare Marshes

Bearded Reedling - Oare Marshes

My first visit here, but I was impressed with the number of species on offer in such a small area, a very nice little reserve.

14th October 2017 (Gwent)

I headed up to Blorenge this morning to try and grip back rock thrush after not going for the Scilly bird last year. The sat nav took me up a '1st gear slalom' followed by a typical mid-wales track with dizzying drops and nothing in the way of barriers!

After parking the car, I walked up the track. On arrival, I heard there was no sign of the bird yet, but shortly after a birder got a phone call to say he had the bird between the first and second quarry, but once we reached him, he informed us that the bird had flown back towards the first quarry where we had just been standing! We started scanning from the top of the quarry, which produced nothing other than meadow pipits.

Two hours passed before there was another phone call. The bird had shown beyond the second quarry. After a short run, we were told that the bird had again flown! Pretty soon, some birders who had walked up the track waved us other. Another short run and I had close views of the 1st year male ROCK THRUSH! What a fantastic bird!

 

 

 

 

ROCK THRUSH - Blorenge

Very happy with my views of this bird, and glad I didn't risk a trip after work yesterday.

I was originally planning to head to kent for the wilson's phalarope next, but a rustic bunting at Portland Bill changed those plans! After lunch in Weymouth, I arrived at the bill late afternoon where the bird had not been since about 1pm. A search of Crown Estate Fields produced a year tick in the form of 3 Whinchats which provided me with some compensation for the dip.

Whinchat - Portland

7th October 2017

Headed down to Newquay airport this morning with hopes of twitching the cedar waxwing and cliff swallow on Scilly. At the airport, the 8:00am flight was delayed for at least an hour, and the return flight seemed likely to be cancelled. I guess I could have switched the Scillonian for return, but I still didn't want to risk it with there being no way to get back the mainland until Monday - a decision I'm now regretting. I ended up at Lodmoor this afternoon, but had no luck searching for the lesser yellowlegs, and was rewarded with just the Great White Egret and a few Ruff as compensation. Highlight of the day were the cheesy chips I bought in Weymouth.

30th September 2017 (Glamorgan)

I overslept this morning, but around 8 the first report came in that the booted warbler was still at Rhossili. I headed off and arrived before midday. On arrival, I was put onto the Pied Flycatcher. Also showing were a few Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs to scan through, and then the rain started. After 2 hours of seeing virtually nothing, a few birds started to move through, mostly Goldcrests and Chiffchaffs, then the call went up. I had a few fleeting views, then managed a breif but good 3 second view of the BOOTED WARBLER before it flew off.

I stayed around hoping for a longer view without any luck, but I did get close views of a female Firecrest and heard (but didn't see) a Yellow-Browed Warbler. Also of note were large numbers of Choughs on the slope north of the NT car park.

Choughs - Rhossili