Pagham

Pagham Harbour is always a great place for birds. The news of a Lesser Yellowlegs on the ferry pool made me make a visit yesterday. We had an excellent few hours seeing 77 species in total. This compares with 76 species on the same weekend last year, when we saw Osprey, Great Skua, Little Ringed Plover, Whinchat and Peregrine amongst many migrants and waders.

When we arrived at the visitor centre there were Swallows flying around and Chiffchaffs, Willow Warblers, Blackcaps and Whitethroats calling all around us. Viewing from the hide and the gap through the hedge the Yellowlegs was showing well but fairly distantly at the back of the pool, in the company of a Greenshank, 3 Ruffs and several Redshank. There were lots of Shelduck and further scanning found Teal, Tufted Duck, Shoveler, Gadwall, Oystercatcher, Black-tailed Godwit and a nice male Wheatear amongst others.

We took the path along the west side of the harbour stopping to scan over the harbour and fields every so often. Warblers and Linnets were singing from the scrub and Skylarks and pipits were flying around. We came to a small crowd of birders who were watching a Short-eared Owl sitting in a field. We had good views through the scope as it tried to sit through the attacks of Lapwings. A Buzzard was circling overhead and a Reed bunting was on the saltmarsh. The tide was quite high so most birds were roosting by the harbour mouth and around Church Norton.

We walked through the churchyard and past the fort, down to the edge of the harbour. There were loads of waders, mostly Bar-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Knot, Grey Plover and a few Curlew and Whimbrel. A Guillemot swimming around was quite surprising. One or two Sandwich Terns were flying back and forth.

Down to the beach where almost immediately a dark phase Arctic Skua flew past low across the water. It started fairly close before turning towards the horizon and disappearing into the fog at sea. A Gannet also flew past as did a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers and small flocks of waders. Several Turnstones were feeding along the shingle.

On the way back the tide had retreated meaning many waders had moved further into the harbour. 3 Red-legged Partridge were in the fields but there was no sign of the Shortie. Scanning through the waders showed more Whimbrel with Curlews next to them for comparison. A Cetti's was singing from the reedbed and a Reed Bunting gave an excellent view in the hawthorn.

Back by the ferry pool we had a great view of this Kestrel. The Yellowlegs was still in the same place as before with the other waders. A single House Martin was flying over the centre and a Buzzard gave a close flyby.

Emer Bog - no Woodcocks but Wheatears

There was no sign of any Woodcocks at Emer bog this evening up until 20:25 viewing from the edge of the bog. 2 Water Rails were calling from the reedbed plus there were Moorhens and Mallards. 4-5 Tawny Owls were calling from around the site and another flew out of a tree at the end of Green lane.

The first 2 Wheatears of the year were in the usual place in 'chat corner' by the entrance to Emer Bog - 2 smart males standing still in the grass.

Skylarks and Green Woodies were still singing in the dark.

No photos so here is a photo of a Wheatear from last spring:




A Buzzard circled over the garden today for a few minutes. First I've seen for about a year and a half.

I've been to Devon

I spent this week on a school trip in Devon, at Beam House PGL near Bideford. The house is surrounded by woodlands, fields and a meandering river which turns into an estuary. Ravens and Buzzards were easy to see every day, but I never managed to see a Dipper on the river despite the habitat being right. I did see several Grey Herons fishing along the river. We went biking down the Tarka Trail where I saw Dunlin, Redshank, Curlew and Oystercatcher on the estuary, but no sign of any of Tarka's relatives! Swallows were well arrived plus I saw several small flocks of House Martins. I also saw a Jackdaw eating a mouse on the roof by our room and a Sparrowhawk flying over.
On the journey there I saw loads of birds; 28 Buzzards, Ravens, 5 Grey Partridges and a Great Grey Shrike on a bush somewhere near Exmoor. The habitat was moorland with gorse and I had a good view of it quite close for a few seconds. I've been trying to find the place on a map but I don't know where it was.

I will try and keep posting now,
Tom

Titchwell Woodcock

Videoscoping

Eiders at Titchfield Haven


Curlew Sandpipers at Keyhaven


Snipe at Brandon Marsh

Stanpit Marsh

While dipping the Wilson's Phalarope got some shots of a very tame Little Egret. Also saw Curlew Sanpiper, Spotted Redshank, Wheatear etc.

Norfolk 29-31st August

Wednesday:

At Weeting Heath the Stone-curlews disappeared as we arrived but a Wheatear was seen as well as excellent views of 3 Buzzards tumbling around in front of the hide. At the place we were staying (Burnham Deepdale Farm) a Hobby flew over and a Tawny Owl was calling at night.

At Stiffkey Fen a Grasshopper Warbler was seen by the path and large numbers of Ruff and Black-tailed Godwit plus 3 Common Sandpiper and a Golden Plover were seen on the Fen. 9 Little Egrets were on the flooded field.
On the Seal boat trip to Blakeney Point as well as many Common and Grey Seals lots of terns and commoner waders were seen. Also 2 Bar- tailed Godwit, 4 Greenshank and a Yellow-legged Gull.

Morston Quay at dusk Caroline Maynard

Common Seal Caroline Maynard

Thursday:

Cley produced several good sightings. On Pat's Pool there was a summer plumaged Curlew Sandpiper plus a Little Ringed Plover and 2 Garganey. Again there were lots of Ruff and Black-tailed Godwits plus many Avocets, Dunlin and commoner ducks. On Simmond's Scrape there was a large flock of Golden Plover amongst commoner waders and ducks. 3 Snipe were on Whitwell Scrape. 4 Spotted Redshanks were on Arnold's Marsh and while seawatching a flock of c20 Knot flew over. A Greenshank was on the pools by North Hide. Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Willow Warbler were at Walsey Hills. Also around Cley 2 Marsh Harriers, several Egyptian Geese, Black Swan, Little Egret, Common Terns and Sparrowhawk.
At Winterton Dunes there was no sign of the Wryneck despite plenty of people looking, but I did see a late Swift.
At Stubb Mill the conditions weren't great but 2 Cranes still came to roost, also from the viewpoint we got good views of 2-3 Barn Owls, 4-5 Marsh Harriers and thousands of geese flying past. Tawny Owls were calling all around and a Little Owl was calling along the approach road plus 4 Chinese Water Deer and several small bats.

Sunset behind Stubb Mill Tom Jordan

Barn Owl Tom Jordan

Friday:
Along the lanes towards Choseley many Linnets, Yellowhammer and Stock Doves were seen plus 2 Grey Partridge, several Red-legged Partridge and a Corn Bunting. At Chosley more Corn Buntings were seen plus a fly- by Yellow Wagtail and a Kestrel.
Titchwell produced excellent numbers of waders on the freshmarsh including c20 Spotted Redshank (one flock of 12), a juvenile Curlew
Sandpiper, a Little Ringed Plover and a Greenshank. Also many Avocet, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Golden Plover and Ringed Plover. The beach produced many more waders but different kinds. Most numerous were Bar-tailed Godwit, also many Turnstone, Sanderling, Redshank, Knot, Oystercatcher, Curlew and a couple of Grey Plover. A total of 19 wader species were seen on the beach and freshmarsh. Also 3 more fly- by Yellow Wagtails and a Med Gull. Offshore 5 Eider were floating around plus Gannets and a single Kittiwake flying past. Also a very distant shearwater but probably Manx.

Ruff Tom Jordan

New Forest (and Lower Test, the egret)

All photos by me (Tom Jordan)

Brandon Marsh

Taken on 12/13th August with digiscoping stuff. All photos by Tom Jordan

Snipe video

You can download a better quality version of the Snipe video here.

It's a 3.3MB download, and you might need to download and install the Xvid codec before you can view it. You can download Xvid from here.

Titchfield Haven

All photos by Tom Jordan except the 1st and 3rd Kestrel pics which were taken by Caroline Maynard.

It can't be eclipse duck time already!

Staying with my grandparents in Warwickshire this weekend I had considered going to see the Whiskered Tern at Belvide Reservoir but what usally happens happened - it flew off! So it was the usal stroll around Brandon Marsh. There were wasn't anything particularly notable (but I did see 60 species), although Cuckoo, Bullfinch, Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Shoveler, 8 species of warbler (try and guess them all!), many Grey Herons and a variety of baby things were all seen. Of the baby things Great Crested Grebes seem to have done extremely well on the marsh this year but the Common Tern chicks were still quite small. But back to the title, I also saw quite a few Mallards in eclipse or moulting into eclipse plumage. Thankfully I have already seen plenty of Garganeys this year though, so there won't be any need to scan through large number of eclipse Teal this autumn!
Additionally there is a pair of Buzzards nesting in a small strip of woodland at the back of my grandparent's field (which is now very overgrown and supports breeding Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Blackcap).