Swarm of Harriers and a Load of Owls

Wow, what a day! After the excitement of yesterdays Veery on Muck today was my turn for some birding and what a day it was...

I can't say exactly where the site was due to confidentiality reasons but it was on the coast somewhere and here's what happened...

We arrived late morning in foggy conditions to start our survey and within no time at all the action was underway with 2 harriers up in the air together, both with totally different wing shapes/sizes. It was a ringtail Hen Harrier mobbing a juv Marsh Harrier that had some food. After a good while the Hen finally got the food off it, showing nicely in the process!

A short while later 2 ringtail hen harriers came up behind a bank. An adult female and an immature male based on size and colouration. I watched these birds for a while as they came closer giving stunning views, the juv had some food and the female wanted it big style, after a decent battle in the air he dropped the food and she grabbed it and dropped down and consumed it.

Gradually as the weather started to improve more and more Marsh Harrier became evident, with at least 5 birds present on one side of me with another 4+ on the other side! It was crazy busy!!!

Suddenly the sky was full with golden plover and lapwing, hundreds of birds all over the place. And while all of this was going my attention was drawn behind me by a grey ghost, a stunning adult male hen harrier was stupidly close drifting by - awesome bird! They just blow my mind every time I see them!


Hen Harrier: Source Unknown BBC News.

Having that number of harriers out hunting/fighting was fantastic because they would constantly flush other birds, such as Grey Herons, Little Egrets, Great White Egret, Redshank, Geese, Swans, Pipits, Larks, Finches and one even put up a male Merlin that was sat unseen on a ploughed field!

As lunchtime approached a single Lapland Bunting flew over heading southeast. It (or another 1 or 2) were also seen/heard by two other observers later in the afternoon.

The afternoon session was full of harriers, in total we recorded at least 5 Hen Harriers and over a dozen Marsh Harriers. A couple of Peregrine flew through and flushed all sorts of birds (pigeons + plovers generally). But the afternoons main attraction was owls.

I was surrounded by four Short-eared Owls and three Barn Owl all out hunting. It was so peaceful where I was stood, not a sound and the owls just kept coming closer and closer. The Shorties were incredibly aggressive, chasing off the barn owls and the occasional Marsh Harrier. It was great to watch these birds hunting and having them all to myself and the light by this point was fantastic!


Short-eared Owl © Steve Garvie 2009

As the sun set the various harriers went off to roost, a female-type Merlin shot across trying to catch its supper and a late Kestrel and Buzzard flew through thus ending a great day!

In summary, I was glad I'm not a vole!!!

More on the Veery...

With the incredible find of a Veery on Muck, Highland today by Dave Barden I thought I’d have a look at the past records, courtesy of Russell Slack’s Rare Birds Where and When (Volume 1).

There were seven records up to the book being published: 1970 (Cornwall), 1987 (Devon), 1995 (Outer Hebrides), 1997 (Devon), 1999 (Cornwall), 2002 (Orkney) and 2005(Shetland). All records were of autumn birds, except the bird in 1997 which was a spring bird.

Since the publication of the above book there has been a further three records, two very well photographed birds on Shetland, both present at the same time (2009), with birds on Foula (1st – 7th October) and Whalsay (2nd – 5th October). The other record (2008) Orkney is pending.

See post below for more photos.

The Veery was still present this evening till dusk at Gallanach Farm and is apparently looking very settled. An issue with getting to this bird may be the availability of boats and the potential poor weather for landing on the island. I’ll post more information when I get it.


Veery © Dave Barden 2011

VEERY ON MUCK, HIGHLAND

Got a phone call from Ade at lunch time to say that his friend on the island of Muck, Highlands had found a Veery, Catharus fuscecens that was showing very well at Gallanach Farm. Pictures of the bird taken by Dave Barden are reproduced with permission. All images are © Dave Barden 2011.

The bird is showing well! Unfortunately I don’t know about access to the island!


© Dave Barden 2011


© Dave Barden 2011


© Dave Barden 2011


© Dave Barden 2011

EDIT: For further, updated information on this bird please see here, and for some further photos, here.

Incredible Local Artist

Didn't manage to get out birding today as my survey was fogged off but looking forward to my mega site visit on Thursday...

In the meantime I thought I'd draw your attention to an incredible local artist. If you want some inspiration check out Jack Ashton-Booths blog. A couple of samples of Jacks work are reproduced below:

The UKs first Amur Falcon and the UKs first Sykes Warbler:





Jack's work is featured in many of the local and national bird reports as well as several books, including a recent one of Kate Humble's!

Really worth spending an hour or so looking through Jacks blog.

More Greater Yellowlegs Pictures

The Greater Yellowlegs remained all day at Hauxley Nature Reserve today, here are a few of the pictures I managed on my phone yesterday, nothing anywhere near as good as Frank Goldings pictures!!!

WOW! Great Legs!! (Even better pictures)

No I'm not referring to last nights episode of Strictly Come X Factor but Greater Yellowlegs in Northumberland.

On Saturday afternoon I got news of a Greater Yellowlegs moving around the East Chevington area of Northumberland but sounded pretty difficult and mobile. Unfortunately I thought I'd probably not be able to connect with it given the amount of light left in the day. This record represents about the 31st bird in UK (excluding Ireland) but the majority of those records seem to be very short staying birds or birds on islands, so all in all a difficult customer. But the knowledge that it was present to dusk filled me with a little hope...

I was a little surprised, but very happy to hear that it was still present this morning at Hauxley Nature Reserve about a mile south of Amble so sorted out the dogs and the horse and headed north in thick fog the whole way, getting there around late morning.

I sent Dave ahead to secure it for me but an anxious 2+ hour drive ensued. I parked up and walked (very quickly) down to where Dave was saving me a place in the viewing area. In no time at all I was straight on it. The bird was about 40 m away roosting up, however after no time at all it started walking about feeding, all the time coming closer to the crowd, great stuff! I ruled out any possible confusion species such as Greenshank, House Sparrow etc and stood there enjoying the view.

A really cracking view, only interrupted by a Grey Phalarope flying about the place. I managed some pretty naff shots (as usual) on my phone - (will save these for a rainy day, ok I'll allow you one now...). But check out the two images after mine, you'll probably notice the change in quality!, very kindly sent to me by Frank Golding of Cramlington. These photos are reproduced below with permission and are © Frank Golding 2011 - Future Birdgudies Photo of the Week!! Please click on the photo to enlarge them, they are amazing!!!


On my phone... now for the proper ones....


Greater Yellowlegs, Hauxley NR © Frank Golding 2011.


Greater Yellowlegs, Hauxley NR © Frank Golding 2011.

Rounded the trip off with a couple of European White-fronted Geese as I was leaving. Another great bird!

11.11.11 is my Birthday and this...

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Thrushes Galore

I spent the day report writing at home today, trying to prevent the imminent transfer of germs from my cough etc. However I couldn't help but notice the half-decent passage of Fieldfare and Redwings going south/southwest over the garden. The main movement seemed to occur between 1100 and 1400 hrs.

The totals for the day (over the garden) were:

Fieldfare: 967
Redwing: 560

I spoke with Ade this evening, he was working up in Northumberland and also had a decent thrush passage with 2000+ Fieldfare during his VP survey.

I noticed a few Golden Plover and Lapwing flocks moving around and also a few Wigeon flying about.

A good day at Spurn...

For those lucky to be birding today, Spurn Point again appeared a good spot to be, at least in Yorkshire anyway. After the Isabelline Wheatear turned up on Friday (and stayed showing well all day on Saturday) today's star turn was a 1st year female Pied Wheatear that turned up at the point and apparently showed well for most of the day - per spurn website (which also see for several photos). Interestingly, the last Yorkshire record of Pied Wheatear also turned up on 8th November, in 2008 at Reighton Sands.


Pied Wheatear - Reighton Sands (2008)

There has been a fairly decent arrival of scarce/rare wheatears in Northern Europe over the last couple of weeks made up by Desert, Pied, Isabelline and Black-eared. Technically there is also a Desert Wheatear in Yorkshire today too. A Yorkshire Black-eared Wheatear would be better though! (at the weekend!).

Also at spurn today Garry Taylor found a 'Coues' Arctic Redpoll - see his blog for some photos and there was a Pallas' Warbler and Siberian Chiffchaff too. It will be interesting to see what the next few days bring. Hume's Warbler I guess, but Pine Bunting would be better!

For those not lucky enough to be at Spurn today my garden held a record count of (at least) 50 Goldfinch! It's costing me a fortune to feed them, already! I hope it's a mild winter!!! Although I'm hoping they bring something good in with them...

Izzy Wheatear a right show-off

An Isabelline Wheatear turned up at Spurn on Friday afternoon where it was trapped and ringed. The bird had very little fat, meaning it needed to feed, so I was hopeful that it would still be present on Saturday, though history with this species in the UK dictates that they don't often hang around for long, therefore making it quite a tricky species to connect with unless you are in striking distance on the first day!

It represents only the fourth (and latest) Yorkshire record after birds were recorded in 1990 Kilnsea (21st - 23rd October), 1998 Whitby (26th September) and 2006 Filey (14th October). A quick look at past records shows that the 1990 Kilnsea bird was actually the last mainland long-staying bird (i.e. more than 1 day!), prior to that it was a bird in Northumberland (16th - 20th September 1980) and Aberdeen (17th October - 10th November 1979). I really hoped it would stay!

I made the quick sortie over to Spurn this morning and I wasn't disappointed as the bird showed really nicely on the Humber beach for the hour or so I watched it. The bird was very actively feeding and occasionally came very close providing great views. I managed to get the following pictures on my phone but it was moving around so much it proved very difficult!











Some better photos can be found on Graham Catleys blog here, and also check out Tim's blog for a video of the bird, and some idiot who managed to get his car stuck in the dunes!!! As mentioned yesterday check out Garry Taylors blog for some in-hand shots.

Other birds seen during the hour included several showy Twite, a Short-eared Owl high over the humber before dropping into the triangle, lots of thrushes and a couple of Woodcock.

Isabelline Wheatear Pictures

The Isabelline Wheatear pictures are now up on the Spurn Bird Observatory website.

Also check out Garry Taylors blog for some more in-hand shots.

I've not managed to connect with one in Yorkshire yet! In 1990 I was not properly twitching (I was 10) and then in 1998 I was in Kenya and 2006 I was in Costa Rica! Fingers crossed it's still there in the morning.

A Scilly Hour...

By about 1 pm on Saturday afternoon Dave and I were buzzing. We had 1 hour of birding left before we had to get back to Wingletang B&B to collect our bags and head to the airport. I decided, after we'd seen the Scarlet Tanager it would be fun to try and connect with the other MEGAs on the island. We set off towards Borough Farm but there was no sign of the Upland Sandpiper, gutted, plan over then! We then headed off to Watermill to check out the Olive-backed Pipits and after only seeing one of them in the last couple of days it was nice to see them both together again.

We headed back towards the B&B via Borough Farm (where there was another first winter Black Redstart) and there, no more than 10 feet from the road was the Upland Sandpiper walking through the bulb field. It was back on!! We only had brief views as there was tonnes of people around and as good as it was to see the bird it was far more enjoyable watching it on our own!

We headed down to Lower Moors to see if we could connect with the other two megas. First stop was the ISBG Hide (there was a Little Bunting reported earlier in the day however there was no sign after the initial sighting). On entering the hide it took about 5 seconds to locate the Wilson's Snipe as it was parading around right out in the open. Third one down.

Next we headed across to Shooters Pool, there was quite a crowd there but a bit of careful maneuvering ensured I got to the front of the screen just in time to connect with the Northern Waterthrush as it walked out of some vegetation, tail bobbing. I got some really good views before it flew to the far side of the pool (calling) before it showed again. RESULT!! All four MEGAs (Scarlet Tanager, Upland Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe and Northern Waterthrush)seen within an hour (plus 2 Olive-backed Pipit and Black Redstart)!

Unfortunately that signalled the end of our Scillies trip. While at the airport we bumped into Andy Vinson who showed us his Scarlet Tanager pictures, WOW! They were incredible! Hopefully Andy will be emailing them through to me (and some of his others of the birds mentioned in the last few posts). A brief flight back to Lands End was not very eventful (thankfully) and within no time at all we were back at Lands End YHA. We rounded the trip off with a smart Firecrest that was in the YHA car park at dusk.

We enjoyed a few beers/ciders in the evening and celebrated a great few days!

SCARLET TANAGER: Scilly Highlights Day 5...

The final day of our Scillies Birding Trip saw us having a leisurely breakfast chatting to some fellow birders. The main topic was hoping the Scarlet Tanager would be sorted in Cornwall and how much time we'd have to connect with it before heading north. We also talked about the fact that a decent bird always seems to turn up on the last day of a trip, we hoped that a) one would actually turn up, and b) that if one did turn up it would be before we had to get on the plane!

The bird log the previous night didn't provide any new information so we decided to head off and check out Carreg Dhu gardens. It was really windy making it difficult to even stand up in some places! We found a couple of Black Redstart in Old Town Bay along the beach. We headed into the gardens where it was much more sheltered - and bearable.

Walking through the gardens we made for the large Sycamore tree where we'd scored with some decent birds earlier in the week. In no time at all we were enjoying great views of a showy Firecrest but then the highlight dropped in, Treecreeper. Yes you read that right. Treecreeper. This is a MEGA on the Scillies, astonishingly this was only the 12th record of the species on the islands! Half the number of Blackpoll Warbler records which really puts it into perspective. We checked to make sure it wasn't Short-toed Treecreeper and both wished it was a Blackpoll Warbler!!

We got news that the Melodious Warbler was showing again so we decided to go and take a look (not really expecting it to still be on show) and bang on cue, it wasn't! We decided we'd go and have look around the bushes for it, however our plans changed very suddenly when the radio crackled into life "Scarlet Tanager Holy Vale".

The next scene was people all running off wherever they had been all heading towards Holy Vale. We quickly made our way up to Sandy Lane where we joined a large crowd of people watching a bit of hedge. After a short wait someone at a gateway about 30 yards back signalled they'd got it, a quick sprint and suddenly from being at the back of the queue Dave and I were right at the front of it! All we had to do now was see the bird!

After a very frustrating and nervous 10 minutes, that felt like an hour, and the highlight of someone claiming 'it' - when in fact they'd just seen a Dunnock, 'it' did actually come into view. My first sighting was a flight view as it flew out, and then back into a stand of Pines. It gave the impression of a strange golden oriole like bird in flight. Was that going to be all I'd be getting? I hoped not. People started to move around to try and get a better angle, climbing into the hedge to get their scopes through the thick hedge.

After a further 20 minutes or so I had ended up a fair way from Dave, and then it appeared BANG right in the centre of the scope as it sat in a Pittosporum hedge. Amazing bird and good scope views too. After it moved off I headed back towards where I lost Dave, hoping that he'd got it too. I was greeted by Dave with a huge grin, it was clear he'd had it, and had really good looks at it by the sound of it too.

We hung around for a while longer but there was no further sign of it. It was getting busier all the time as people were flying onto the island and as the Scillonian arrived in harbour.

What an amazing bird, and what an amazing end to the trip. We were on a MEGA high...

Scillies Highlights Day 2, 3 & 4

As crazy as it may sound the last 3 posts all relate to Day 1, Dave and my first day on our second trip to the Scillies this autumn.

On day two there were several further highlights. After connecting with all the big stuff yesterday we decided to take a walkabout to see what we could find en route to a couple of birds we hadn't already caught up with. We set out along the coastal route and found a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers (one at Old Town Church and one at 'Nowhere'), the latter with a Firecrest, then as we continued on to Porth Hellick Pool we discovered a very smart Wryneck on the rocks. After enjoying the Wryneck for a while we continued down to the pool where we enjoyed great views of the long-staying 1st winter male 'white-spotted' Bluethroat. It was actively feeding right out in the open for a while but then it sat down in the vegetation and looked rather sickly before been flushed by some rather clueless twitchers. Redwings and Fieldfare had arrived weeks ago in Yorkshire but today they hit the Scillies in low numbers with 1 and 3 respectively.


Wryneck - Phonescoped


Wryneck - Phonescoped


'White-spotted' Bluethroat feeding happily - Phonescoped


not looking so great - Phonescoped

On day three we spent the day doing circuits of Peninnis Head trying to connect with the rather elusive Melodious Warbler. There were more highlights in the form of 5 Yellow-browed Warbler where we found 3 at 'Nowhere' (but no sign of the Firecrest) and saw another 2 at Carreg Dhu Gardens showing well in a Sycamore. While bashing the head we noticed several Chaffinch (and 1 Brambling) flying through, along with several Meadow Pipit, however the clear highlights were a Richard's Pipit that flew low overhead calling, heading straight towards Cornwall, a Siberian Chiffchaff that worked its way along a hedge, a Short-eared Owl. Eventually, when the sun came out in the afternoon we even managed to connect up with the Melodious Warbler. We even had a couple of Mistle Thrush, a scarce bird on the Scillies apparently.


Short-eared Owl - Phonescoped


Mistle Thrush - Phonescoped at a bit of distance

On the fourth day we didn't fare too well, we spent all day around the Peninnis area again but didn't get much reward. We had a Great Northern Diver and 2 Pink-footed Geese fly low overhead. The Pink-footed Goose was only the 75th record of this species on the islands which was rather surprising! We also had a first-winter Black Redstart on Porthcressa Beach feeding amongst a few White Wagtails. For most of the day our mind was preoccupied with trying to make arrangements to get off the islands and over to Cornwall to try and connect with the UK mainlands first Scarlet Tanager, unfortunately we didn't manage it.

In order to not totally draw a blank for the day we took a quick wander through Lower Moors where we had a Yellow-browed Warbler near Shooters Pool and further views of Wilson's Snipe, this time it was with 2 nominate and one presumed faroeensis bird again all were showing well. We also decided to try for the Waterthrush. We'd both had breathtaking views of the bird a couple of weeks back but since then it had become a little bit more variable in its preferences, presumably as its favourite foraging places around the reserve have dried out. We had been hearing stories of people spending days and even weeks in some cases trying to catch up with it (which we both though was a little strange!) and when we walked up to Shooters Pool it took us a grand total of less than 5 minutes to locate and see the bird! Again, like our last visit the bird was very vocal. A remarkable bird that has been present for at least 42 days to date! I can't resist another of Andy Vinsons photographs of this bird. The end of the day had certainly improved the daily score however we were both worried that the trip was petering out and had peeked on our first day.


Northern Waterthrush (Copyright Andy Vinson 2011) (taken during last visit)

Scilly Highlights 3: OBPs & RTPs etc

After enjoying a great time with the Wilson's Snipe we decided to nip out into Old Town for some lunch and at this point I got some phone signal and suddenly a message popped up, 2 Olive-backed Pipits Watermill. We made our way staraight up there as this was a new one for Dave (I'd seen 2 before but they are definitley my favourite pipit, such cool birds!).

So far during the day we'd seen hardly any birders/twitchers etc but on getting to Watermill it was clear they were all here! The place was rammed! We negotiated a spot along the road and set about looking for the birds. Within no time at all we were enjoying really good views of the two birds, one was a lot brighter than the other and they we always keeping close company, occasionally they would fly up into the nearby trees but always went back to the same field.

I didn't manage to get any photos at this time but when we went back later in the week I managed to get the following photos on my phone, not great but they illustrate the point.

As people started to drift away from the OBPs we heard a crackle on the radio, Red-throated Pipit showing at Longstones. We were on a roll so we thought it might be worth a try as it was fairly close, however we did take a while longer getting there than expected as the Upland Sand was showing to about 10 feet on a ploughed field which was incredible as the thing came straight towards us!!!

On arrival at Longstones we had to jostle for a place halfway up a conifer tree to look over the field but once we could actually see into the field it was quite easy to pick the bird out amongst the Meadow Pipits, but unfortunately I couldn't get any pictures.

After these great birds we headed down to Wingletang B&B pausing for a Firecrest enroute.


Olive-backed Pipit - Phonescoped


Olive-backed Pipit - Phonescoped


Olive-backed Pipit - Phonescoped

One of the most memorable birding days I've had in the UK recently, Upland Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, 2 Olive-backed Pipit, Red-throated Pipit, Firecrest and a whole load of common birds.