Visit to an old patch (yet another one)

11 years after leaving the tiny Suffolk village of Blaxhall, I returned there this weekend to catch up with some friends, do some birding and show Steffi round my old haunts. The forecast wasnt promising, but as it turned out, apart from a drizzly Friday evening, we got lucky and enjoyed some dry, warm weather, with Sunday in particular turning out to be a proper mid-May scorcher. After our arrival, and setting up the tent and eating, and before heading out to the Ship Inn to meet up with my former neighbours, we took a brief soggy stroll up the common, my ex local patch. A singing male yellowhammer brightened the gloom, soon followed by a pair of woodlarks - a first for Steffi, and something I'd promised her that we would see (always a bad move with birds, but thankfully this time it all turned out well).

Saturday dawned dry and bright, and a full day at Minsmere and Dunwich was eagerly anticipated. We werent disappointed. Within minutes of arriving we picked up a preening stone curlew in the field next to the north wall, and the trip list continued to grow throughout the day. For Steffi, this included a lifer in the shape of (several) showy dartford warblers on the heath at Dunwich, and for us both, a 2CY caspian gull on the south scrape. Great views of hobby, bittern, cuckoo, water rail, marsh harrrier, lesser whitethroat and avocets were highlights amongst the expected reed and sedge warblers, common sandpipers, sandwich and common terns, green woodpecker etc and best of all was watching a pair of bearded tits going back and forth with beakfuls of food to a presumed nest site. We also had a nightingale singing in the scrub near the visitor centre but could not get a glimpse of the secretive songster.

 

 

That evening back at Blaxhall we tried the common again - previously a great site for nightjar, but all was quiet despite it being still and mild. Again, a singing nightingale kept us company without actually showing itself to us, and a pair of tawnys were making a right old racket.
On Sunday we awoke to blue skies and rising temperatures, so headed off to Lakenheath. Primary target, of course, was golden oriole, but reports of an adult male red footed falcon also had us keen to get there as early as possible. We pulled into the car park an hour before the visitor centre opened and trudged off down the track to the area where we had the orioles on our previous visit. No luck this time, so we took another path where we could see a small gathering of folk and within seconds had clapped our eyes on a gorgeous red footed falcon, sat 15 metres above us. Words cannot do justice to describe just how elegantly graceful and beautiful these falcons are - so heres some of Steffis pics.

 

After an hour of watching this beauty hunting with the numerous hobbies, we tried again for the oriole, and this time spent an age honing in on a singing male, which just flat out refused to show itself, much to our frustration. A fly by crane provided some form of compensation, as did the the very vocal and showy cuckoo. A lone, and probably confused, whooper swan amongst the mutes was an unexpected end to the day.
On the Monday, before heading home, we popped down to Landguard obs to say hello to Steffis former colleague from her Gib Point days, and had cracking views of a dozen little terns to round off the weekend nicely.

Spot the dot

What an afternoon! But first let me report on yesterday's events. On a stroll down to our local river I was relieved to see that the pied flycatcher pair was still around despite plenty of noise from bank holiday visitors. As I scanned the shingle banks I spotted a common sandpiper just beyond a pied and grey wagtail. I quickly made my way around the back of it and approached it with my belly-crawl technique. Turned out a pair of them were present and enjoyed a preen together. Afterwards I walked to a spot on the river where Dave and I had seen a kingfisher a few times recently. I hunkered myself down in the shadow of a few big boulders on the river bank and waited. Not soon after I was rewarded by the appearance of a kingfisher in what seems to be the usual spot but unfortunately it was soon spooked by one of the grazing horses. We will certainly keep an eye on this area from now.

 

Now on to today. Yesterday dotterel were reported from Ynyslas but due to work commitments we could not go for them until this afternoon. Dave picked me up from the Borth train station and we meant to park by the railway crossing but due to road works our usual spot was taken and we had to park by the golf course and walk quite a bit. What a chore! Or so we thought. As we walked we kept scanning the fields and at the end spotted a yellow wagtail feeding distantly amongst the sheep in a muddy bit. A year tick! Approaching our target area we got another unexpected bonus in the form of a distantly calling cuckoo. First scans of the prominent field didn't reveal anything until we saw a bird with a dark belly moving around in the far distance. Turned out three dotterel - two female and one male - were still present. The birds slowly moved closer to us so we sat down in the sunshine and enjoyed the scene. On the way back to the car we got lots of wheatear in the fields which must have been brought out by the warm sun. One very inquisitive female allowed me this photo opportunity. A lifer, two year ticks and a nice photo opportunity. I'll never moan about walking again.

 

 

Another nice addition to the day and my yearlist is the return of the male yellowhammer just now as I was uploading today's photos. Up until now both male and female have only made appearances when I was away and ever since we went to Pembrokeshire for a couple of days we have not seen them at all.

Reeling in the ears

Early mornings do pay off!!! On his way to a survey site Dave dropped me off near my old local patch Pendinas, a local nature reserve on a steep hillside consisting of scrub, brambles, hawthorns, willows and gorse. As I walked along the cycle path towards the reserve I came across singing blackcap (seem to be everywhere at the moment) and numerous whitethroat. As I approached Pendinas the sedge warblers became more and more abundant when I heard the distant reeeling of a grasshopper warbler on the hillside. Not having any illusions about being able to track down the bird I carried on to see if the world's tamest sedge warbler was back in his tree - and he was, singing away and not bothered by anyone approaching. All of a sudden that distant reeling became louder and was not so far anymore. I went back, entered Pendinas through the gate and soon approached the brambles from which the reeling came. And there it was, a little brown bird walking clumsily through the scrub with its beak wide open. And to make things even better it came out and continued its singing in the open. At first I was so excited about these amazing views, that I couldn't even think about taking photos. But then I calmed downed, managed to compose myself and got plenty of shots. I enjoyed the spectacle a little while longer before moving on. Also noteworthy from this site were a pair of stonechat, chiffchaff, willow warbler, linnet, a male wheatear and a common sandpiper down by the river. When I met up with Dave I took him to the gropper spot, where we had three reeling individuals.

 

 

Moving onto Borth, through the grim bank holiday traffic, we parked at our usual spot and walked down the Leri. The reedbeds were full to bursting point with singing sedge and reed warblers, as well as resplendent male reed buntings, whilst swallows and martins swirled about above our heads. Once again we were treated to the sound of 2 groppers reeling here. Most exciting of all was coming across this sunbasking adder on the footpath, who showed no fear at our eye level inspection of him.
To cap the day off nicely, 2 common sands were on the river, whilst a couple of wheatear and a cracking whinchat saw us heading home happy and slightly suntanned.

 

Our Halcyon River

Spring presented itself at its finest for at least a few days this week. The sun was not just shining but it also filled the air with plenty of warmth allowing us to venture out without our jackets. On Tuesday we walked around the sessile oak woodlands by Devil's Bridge, followed by a visit to the Hafod Estate - a combination of an active conifer plantation, broadleaved woodlands and open landscaped gardens originally designed in the 19th century.

Both places were filled with singing and displaying migrants typical for these habitats in mid-Wales: Pied flycatcher, redstart, tree pipit, willow warbler and chiffchaff. But the star of the show was a delightful male wood warbler near Devil's Bridge, singing its little heart out and quivering all over throughout the last tunes of his song.



As great as it is to get these birds out in the field, its even better to be able to see them close to home. On my regular check-ups on the dippers a few days ago I discovered a singing male redstart in the open oak woodland by the river Dulas. Although I have not spotted a female, I hope there is one around - with a few nestboxes in the area they will hopefully decide to stay. This was topped by a pair of pied flycatchers Dave spotted yesterday just beyond the metal bridge crossing the Dulas when we wandered down to the Dyfi. Apart from ubiquitous sand martins and swallows flying up and down the river not much else braved the wind.
So today when I popped down to see the dippers again I got in the following order: a pied flycatcher pair, the dipper pair (they seem to be on eggs now, the presumed female appeared briefly today to stretch her legs) , a white wagtail, a cracking male grey wagtail, a fly-by kingfisher and a male redstart. Not too shabby for a lunch time stroll just beyond our cabin. I will definitely visit our local migrants regularly over the next few weeks as they delight me so much. I just hope I won't forget there is an exam waiting for me at the end of the month....

 

   

 

Noteworthy from the garden is an ever-increasing number of redpoll. Our highest count of birds present at the same time is now 14. Where were they all winter...?? And as I am writing this post, Dave spotted garden tick number 81 in the shape of two linnets feeding in the field.

A pale substitute....pallid, one might say

A fair bit to report since our previous blog of last weekend including a highlight in the form of an osprey that drifted up the valley last Sunday, interrupting our breakfast in a scramble for bins and camera....number 80 on the garden list. With the trickle of blocked migrants now becoming a steady stream, this week has seen us catch up with swifts (Thurs 25th), wood warbler (Tues 23rd), common whitethroat (Fri 26th),

cuckoo (Sat 27th) and today, a lesser whitethroat that I inadvertantly flushed from the side of a track - and although not new for the year, we did have a female pied flycatcher in the garden on Friday. Another interesting garden regular this week have been a pair of yellowhammers, which have graced us with numerous visits to forage under the feeders. From our limited observations (work does get in the way!) through the kitchen window, mid afternoon seems to be the prime time for them, and first the male comes in, feeds, heads off, and then the female comes in and does likewise - never have they been observed coming in together.



(taken by Dave)

Another newby for the garden was this cheeky hedgehog, that seems to have cottoned onto the fact we are putting out food for the badgers and nicks in early to grab a few bits for himself (or herself) before the brock boys arrive.

We spent Thursday night down in Pembrokeshire, stopping at Manorbier and so spent some time walking along the stunning coast that this county has to offer. Not dissimilar to my old home patch of The Lizard in Cornwall, with craggy shoreline, crashing blue waves and big surf, it felt good to spend some time out and about. This is my way of putting a brave face on the fact we had booked to spend the night on Skomer Island, but they had rung the day before and cancelled due to the unfavourable conditions for landing the boat, meaning we missed out on our chance of close up photos of the seabirds, the nightly arrival of manxies, and to cap it all, the juv pallid harrier was still around and showed really well on the day we were supposed to be there. Ho-hum. Still, we did get some good views of the auks and fulmars at Stackpole Head to make up for it. Sort of.

                    

One consolation was breaking the journey at Teifi marshes, where we were treated to great views of singing cettis warblers (a tick for Steffi) amongst the numerous sedge warblers.

Lords of the Flies

Well, what a cracking 48 hours that was! The last two days have been just about the best couple of days I've had in a long time when it comes to birding, and thats without even seeing a new 'tick'. It started yesterday around 10am when I decided to head over to Ynys-hir for a couple of hours prior to picking Steffi up in Aber. Taking the path through to the woodland hide, I stopped to listen out for any singing newly arrived migrants, and heard just above me the calls of a lesser spotted woodpecker - I quickly latched onto it and was delighted to watch a female frantically feeding in the trees around me for at least 4 minutes, before she headed off. Feeling chuffed as billy-o, I carried on my way, soon hearing, then getting great views, of both male and female pied flycatchers. The woods were full of redstarts,willow warblers and chiffchaffs, and it really felt good to be out in the warmth and sunshine of a proper spring day (finally). Making my way onto the boardwalk that cuts across the marsh, next up was a displaying tree pipit, and this was followed by my inadvertantly flushing a small dark bird that dropped a few feet away into some scrub - getting my bins focused on it revealed a grasshopper warbler, looking almost as surprised as myself. Prising myself away to go and get Steffi, once she'd heard about my previous few hours, we decided to head back to Ynys-hir, taking a small detour to check the sea at the turn car park. Within seconds of arriving, right in front of us on the track was a belting male snow bunting, which showed so well that Steffi was beside herself with grief that she didnt have her camera. Also on show was a whimbrel, again very photographable......
Back at Ynys-hir we cleaned up on the migrants, with only the lesser spot and gropper refusing to play ball, and adding sedge warbler and arctic tern to our year lists. Just as exciting was the dicovery of a sunbathing grassnake on the bank by the track from the woods to the boadwalk.
Today, combining work and pleasure, we spent the day in the Elan valley, where we managed to boost the 2013 tally with a lovely whinchat that Steffi found, along with good views of many redstarts, pied flys, wheatears, common sand, dipper, grey wagtails, peregine, sparrowhawk, willows and chiffs, reed buntings, kites, buzzards and others. Coming up next, a fine selection of photos from today, when Steffi did have her camera.....

polls apart

Spring has finally dragged itself kicking and screaming into mid Wales; though looking out the window as I write at the rain and howling wind, maybe its decided to hive off again. Nevertheless, some good 'year ticks' have cropped up this week, including whimbrel at Borth and a common sandpiper at the Leri. In the garden weve had a cracking male redstart, willow warbler and chiffchaff - yesterday was particularly noteworthy, with chiffchaffs seemingly in every bush and shrub around 4pm. Swallows, house martin and sand martin are now regulars down by the river, and today 3 male & 1 female blackcaps appeared together in the ash tree. Also in the garden, and about time too, we had our first ever redpolls, at least 3, and now that they've discovered our niger feeder seem determined to stay put and squabble over the pickings with the resident siskins and goldfinches.

On my rounds with work this week I've had great views of green woodpeckers, lots of wheatears, stock doves and a handsome stoat amongst the usual suspects, and great clumps of frog spawn in every pond and puddle I've come across. Our local pond is full of adult frogs and its lovely to sit there awhile and listen to them call.
On an interesting note, Steffi was mesmerised by a chiffchaff last night as it appeared to be fly-catching around the postbox light after 10pm - she could have reached out and grabbed it had she been so inclined, which, thankfully, she wasnt. On her regular commute to Aber this week Steffi has also had good views of the returning male osprey at the nest site by the Dyfi junction.