Slimbridge 10? Devon 23?...... after the Lord Mayors show 1!

As I exceeded my word entitlement last week, I had to carry over the QI items. So, I am doing them at the beginning!!

Simons Trivs

In his varied working life, my brother Simon was an occasional coach driver, and when we go to see him in Brixham, we invariably get the courier treatment in his beautifully maintained XJ8 4litre Jaguar round part of South Devon. These are examples of the snippets from our tour guide!

Starting with the top birding spot of Berry Head, Berry Head lighthouse is reputedly the shortest lighthouse at only 16 feet high. But if you add the depth of the weight that holds the rotating light, in a shaft 148 ft deep, it becomes the tallest.

Newton Abbot Racecourse.  Apparently this is the only UK racecourse in which Prince Charles in his short racing career, stayed on board for an entire race.

The Church of Our Lady is a catholic church in Brixham. It is unique as it has a car park on the roof. This can be seen on YouTube.           

In 1847, the vicar of All Saints church in Brixham, Henry Francis Lyte, wrote the words of “abide with me” a hymn sung at sports matches throughout the world. He died in the same year that he wrote the hymn.

           

And now to some Hornifology!!

Another snippet from my favourite nature writer in the Daily Telegraph. I think we have all heard that the Wren is the most common UK bird, in fact with 11 million ….. PAIRS!… that’s 22 million wrens.

The top 5 common birds include Chaffinch, Robin, House Sparrow and Wood Pigeon. Yep, I have all of these in my garden.  But the species with falling breeding numbers sadly includes perhaps surprisingly Chaffinch, Lapwing and Oystercatcher. Not surprising is the Turtle Dove with a breeding reduction from 75,000 pairs in 1997………. declined to just an estimated 3,600 to-day.

I told you in my last blog, almost entirely about Slimbridge, about the demolition of the Holden Tower hide and it’s replacement by an ultramodern bird hide, and a blog follower asked about the name Holden.

My research indicated that The Holden Tower was built 54 years ago in 1966 with a generous donation by Mr Duncan Holden in memory of his father, Mr Peter Wood Holden who died in 1965 aged 92. The son wanted the observation tower to be erected in memory of his father, close to the sea wall with views over the Dumbles and Rushy Pen, which indeed it has.

I suppose when I told you about the cracking 10 days that I reported in my last two posts, with 33 species, it’s a bit of a come down to have a day out and get a count of….Nil., Zilch, Zippo, diddly-squat.  And it wasn’t for the want of trying.

I set off on Tuesday February 18^th and drove to Broomhead Reservoir, NW of Sheffield. 

The target was Crossbill, which I had seen there on 2 out of 3 previous visits. But not today. Some consolation was that it was dry, although water was cascading across the path in places, off the steep hillside filled with fir trees. Those firs were the saving grace, as they were virtually infested with Tits, in particular Coal Tits, and for good measure 2 very visible foraging Tree Creepers. (sounds like the same Tits and Creepers scenario from last week at Haldon Forest but without the Siskins that were prominent there).

I then drove to Old Moor and checked the daily sightings log.  Maybe because of the absence of Amanda, there was nothing reported to get out of bed for, so after a quick snack I drove the 7-roundabout journey to the Old Moor satellite site at Adwick upon Dearne.

I’d been there twice before with varying success, and the RSPB website reports indicated that both Partridges had been sighted… but not by me. It was a nice walk with large areas of water to scan, no doubt enhanced by the recent rain. 3 Little Egrets and good numbers of lapwing and Greylags, but sadly not what I wanted to find in the bushes – Fieldfare, Brambling, Redpoll etc. 

Sunday 23^rd February, I spent the morning at Carsington.

By the way, a new parking system starts at Carsington on the 25^th February. Your cars’ arrival and departure are logged by Big Brother, and you pay for your time calculated when you leave.  I have no doubt that takings will increase, because there are sadly too many incidents of non-payers, and the exchanging of tickets with unutilised time. These will not happen with the new system. 

From a selfish point of view I hope that Carsington does not move to paying by credit card only. I encountered this system 2 years ago, in Dorset, at Hengitsbury Head, and not having taken a credit card with me, I could not park = lost revenue to the site.

For those of you who read my blog, I spoke to the centre manager this morning, and he tells me that there are no price increases added to the changes, and also there is a free 15 minutes (not there before) if for example you just want to pop in, say to collect seed from the RSPB, or drop someone off.

There was a fun run on this morning, so the site was very busy at 9.45am. And the wildlife centre was also busy, mainly with scope toters hoping to see the Jack Snipe. According to Simon Roddis, there were 3 on Horseshoe Island yesterday, but nobody had any joy today whilst I was there. As you will see below, probably because they have been flooded out.

Birders did see 3 Curlews that dropped in, and there was a loud "heads up" to catch the passing Kingfisher, and one chap and I both saw the Sparrowhawk disappearing into the woods at Shiningford North creek.

Finally, a Carsington Water view that I have never seen in 21 years…  yes it really is.....  Horseshoe Island, with a 100% full reservoir….and more water to come??

 Happy Birding.

The brilliant annual Exe birding cruise with Stuart Lines again...despite Ciara!!

THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS

(or TW cubed as older followers will recall!)

74 species in a week

23 additions to the year list

109 species year to date

… and that’s the result of 7 days holiday in Exmouth!!

Which explains why last weeks post was earlier than usual!!

Mary and I had a super break in my favourite birding area. It started with Ciara, and we came home to Dennis but with a bit of flexibility in our plans it turned out to be a super coastal break. I know it’s a bit lengthy but there is so much of interest ( I hope you will find!!) that I must include everything.   I’ve saved the QI items for next week, together with my Brothers contribution of “QI items about Devon!!

For a start, the Imperial hotel, our favourite and repeated venue, upgraded our sea view room to a Superior room. They then contacted Stuart line cruise company to change my birding cruise booking from Sunday back to Saturday, thereby avoiding the impending Ciara storm.

About 70 of us took off at Noon on the Saturday, for 3 hours birding, initially easterly along the coast, and then up the Exe to Topsham.

What were to be regular sightings we soon ticked Brent Geese, Mergansers and Shags. It helped the Shag v Cormorant id with the Shags quite visible sitting on buoys, and also to see that when diving the Shag folded into the water, whereas the Cormorant did a little leap such that you could see daylight as it leapt. (Education lesson 1.)

The 15-year resident Slavonian Grebe was once again in the Starcross area and in golfing terms it was a givee! But the first good bonus was a Red Necked Grebe which had been around for a few days. The good thing about these RSPB chartered trips, is that the captain will go where he is required, so we drifted closer to the estuary wall to get a good view of this special Grebe.

We continued close to the wall to near the Powderham Castle estate, which has a river running through the estate, the River Kenn, and where it discharges into the Exe invariably produces some good species. Today was no exception with Greenshank and our first Pintails. If you look at an OS map where the river goes under the railway line, you will be able to park and cross the rail line and view the Kenn estuary. (Watch out for fast Penzance trains, but you are allowed to cross the line at the right point!!)

Progressing upriver, we had good sightings of Grey Plovers, 5 Ringed Plover, a few Sanderling, groups of Knot and with some id difficulty, mixtures of Bar and Black Tailed Godwits.

As  we approached Topsham we had many sightings of Avocets spread along the water line, and huge congregated groups of Golden Plover, seen at their best when something spooked them into flight.  And the final bonus before we turned for home, was a pair of Black Swans.

Total?   24 good coastal species which we won’t get in Derby. Oh, and the Lentil soup was excellent!!

Saturday night was desperate with non-stop rain and the wind banging against the windows constantly = a sleepless night… Ciara arrived and facing the sea gave us the full impact. ( Quote from a guest across the corridor..” What wind?”).

I gather the second Stuart Line scheduled birding trip did go ahead on Sunday, with reduced numbers and a good quantity of sick bags!!  

Sunday, despite the still raging wind we went to our rescheduled visit to the West Point antique Fair. At 10.00am it was very quiet, and several stall holders virtually welcomed us!!   Anyway, with a bit of traditional negotiating the Microtibialist collection increased by these 3 legs. The small one is English bone c 1800, said to be carved by Napoleonic POW’s. 

The bottle opener is the 4^th corkscrew in a sporting theme, and the nutcracker is a small version of the usual sizes.

  

                                             

Monday we went to Budleigh Salterton for a dry and pleasant morning walk alongside the river Otter. Just as we got back to the car park, in a ditch of mud and reed alongside the path, I spotted a Water Rail, and a passing photographer savoured the chance to get a few shots.

On the river cruise, I had been told that I could find Purple Sandpipers on some rocks close to the Exmouth lifeboat station at low tide. At 3pm using the car as a hide in the still high wind, I was able to add them to my year list. (But see below!!)

Tuesday was a day for a bit of exploring, but en route we went to Haldon Forest Park a large woodland area west of Exeter off the A38. A 10-minute viewing of the large feeding station was rewarded with loads of Siskins, and as a bonus scouring the ground, a Tree Creeper!  

Dodging the weather, we went down to Teignmouth and to the RSPB Labrador Bay nature reserve, which I had visited  before. A walk along the coast path was enough to disturb c15 Cirl Buntings.

Wednesday we enjoyed a train journey up and down the Exe to Paignton and picked up by my brother Simon and Sarah for a tour round Brixham. After coffee with my sister Lynette and her husband Julian, we went to Berry head for a snack lunch and then a look at the cliffs.

Guillemots were nesting in good numbers, a few Fulmars and Gannets were circling round, and I came very close to kicking a Rock Pipit on the cliff edge!!   But probably the highlight for all 4 of us was seeing 3 Porpoise swimming just off Berry Head.

………. And finally, our last day I popped into Bowling Green Marsh the RSPB reserve off the Exe near Topsham, for the reported Long Billed Dowitcher….Wrong. BUT I picked up the still wanted tick with plenty of Greenfinches on the feeding station.

To ease my conscience, and make sure, I went back to the RNLI station to double check on the Purple Sandpipers. Turnstones were in evidence, but I had to go some way across the rocky terrain before one Purple clearly popped up on a rock right in front of me. Conscience clear!!!

Well, sorry again for the length but you can understand that 23 ticks, Storm Ciara, a good antique fair, and a year to date of 109 is worth writing about.

Happy Birding

THE CHASE The Avian version!!

 As you may be wondering why this weeks’ post is a bit early, I should explain that I had such a brilliant day on Tuesday, it warrants a whole post to itself.   So treat it as a bonus, and if you are good, you may get another one on Sunday!!!!!
  

Tuesday February 4th  was a day when everything made up for the sorry saga on Tuesday last week.    It did not rain, there were negligible traffic problems, the car gave me an orange warning light for low oil level (sorted!), I added 10 species to the year list, Chris got me discounted entry to Slimbridge (thanks to a heart-rending plea about missing vouchers) the head waiter in the restaurant provided unsurpassed (for Slimbridge) table service, and a very erudite and interesting guide in the Estuary Tower was the most helpful I have met ( apart of course from Amanda!!)…. All in all, a  “cracking Day Gromit.”

To try and outflank commuters, we left Derby at 7.45, which meant Chris left her home pre 7.00am. She did say it was worthwhile not only timewise, but also stress wise, as her journey was a doddle and she arrived 15 minutes ahead of schedule!

On arrival at Slimbridge again I saw evidence of Lottery money being generously distributed to and for the enjoyment of we birders. Having seen the other week, the significant amount of work being undertaken at Old Moor, today we saw the WWT expanding their facilities, services and attractions; some work was completed, but there was clearly more to come. The biggest surprise was to find that the Holden Tower was no more, and had been replaced by the Estuary Tower, but more later.

The first of the notable birds when you arrive are always the colourful Flamingos, like these.

From the Penn observatory, a number of Bewick Swans were in evidence plus Shelducks, a good start, and then we moved to the Tack Piece hide to add Golden Plover, 2 Common Cranes and a good number of easily disturbed and fractious Dunlin.  The light was good, and we had clear views of the masses of birds on the wetland.

And to the piece de resistance.. the new Estuary Tower. For those who recall the old hide, the stairs were steep, badly lit and just hard work. The new hide has metal stairs, space to pass, 3 landings, a lift (YES a lift…I’m sure principally to enable wheel chairs to actually get up to the viewing areas), a spacious viewing platform, and then a further open air glass surrounded platform on top. WHAT a difference. We eschewed the open air and settled down among a good crowd of people in the enclosed floor.

Low tide (it always is when I go there!!) meant that we had a good wide view of The Dumbles, and with the help of the WWT volunteer, we saw SIX different species of Goose.

Apart from the usual Canadas, Greylags and Barnacles, we had distant views of White Fronted Geese (species that we expected to find at Slimbridge), and then a small number of Pink Footed Geese.  The 6^th Goose, perhaps a little suspect, was very elusive and kept dipping below the mounds on the water’s edge but was in fact a Bar Headed Goose. Even the WWT guide had to get out a guidebook to confirm the bird, a species that I last saw in 2000.

Otherwise, another 3 Cranes, a non-stop Peregrine heading somewhere for lunch (and putting up all the Lapwings and Golden Plover en route) and many species in goodly numbers  (Wigeon, Shovellers, Shelduck,), and that was us done so that we could head back for lunch.

2pm does not leave much time to see many birds in the fast falling light, so the Zeiss hide was unproductive with the Green Winged Teal not having been reported for a couple of days. The alleged Ruff was not at the Kingfisher hide, so the consolation on our route through to the South Lake had to be the 2 otters being fed, in front of a thoroughly entertained crowd.

South Lake yielded 5 Avocets, but also what to me was the highlight of the day…. A Peregrine Falcon chasing and harassing the flock of c80 Black Tailed Godwits. It went on disturbing the Godwits and spent c5 minutes continuously, soaring, swooping and generally making one hell of a nuisance of himself.     

What do you think..How’s that for a good day? 50 species, and another 10 on my year list taking me to 86. 

Oh and I must mention whom I assume was the Slimbridge Restaurant Manager. Delivering orders, clearing tables, getting your missing utensils all with a very pleasant smile – just sorry I did not get his name to give him credit.

Oh, nearly forgot.. QI item

56 years ago – gawd en Bennett…was it that long ago, we agreed with France to build a channel tunnel.

Happy Birding

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The Lull before the storm??

Well I know we are technically out of Europe, but I don’t feel any different.    Heard a few fireworks in Allestree at 11.00pm on January 31, but that was it. I suppose when I think about it, 47 years ago was the start of a long drawn out period of progression and change to get where we were last Friday. I suppose not everything has to change, because no doubt most of the changes don’t need altering back anyway, but I can’t help wondering what will change.

Can we go back to having curved bananas, and can a costermonger show prices in pounds and ounces?    Will it matter? Am I bovered? Time will tell.

But coming to today, how does it feel to know that you, dear reader, are one of 67 million UK people who will be alive on one of the very rare palindromic dates, this time…

O202 2020

Second February 2020.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.  Heather, the environmental journalist at the Daily Telegraph continues to publish interesting birding news developments.

Thanks to a very mild January some bird species have been laying their eggs earlier this year thereby aligning with the abundant numbers of insects that warm weather also encourages.

The main beneficiaries are Blue, Great and Long-tail tits, and I must agree that I do seem to have seen more Tits than usual.

Conversely, 2019 was a poor year for Blackbirds, Dunnocks and Robins. Numbers were the worst for 40 years

A friend of many years’ standing was bemoaning the lack of variety in the birds he sees in his now home country in mid-France. Last month with his family, they returned to France after a short UK visit and straight away he added a new species to his life list, this very handsome Great White Egret. It was in a field 150 metres from his house and whilst it does not have quite the biggest kink in the neck it is quite clearly a Great. Greats are about 50% bigger than a Little.

 Elsewhere on the news front, hotspot mapping techniques have been applied to tracking data, which has enabled the RSPB to identify sea hotspots were certain coastal birds feed. 

This enables them to apply the best conservation efforts and action to protect birds such as Kittiwake, Guillemots, Razorbills and Shags.  

Sunday 2^nd February 2020  time for a palindromic bird walk at Carsington with Amanda. Not the best start as at 10.00am it was raining, so Amanda did the walk in the reverse order, and took the c16 birders to the wildlife centre. This worked well as those new to birding had good close up views of a number of birds, including a large number of Snipe, Goldeneye, Barnacle Geese and the Willow Tits that were very visible on the feeding station (and elsewhere).

At about 11 o’clock the weather and the light improved and the whole group went to “do” Stones Island.

This plan had a life threatening  sorry, enhancing experience for one of the regular birders. Having seen a Firecrest on one occasion, he had never seen the less rare Goldcrest. Well he did to-day, in spades! Not sure how many there were but Goldcrests were quite active and visible at a decent height, and not surprising that it was Bird of the Day for the group.

Considering the weather, it was hugely satisfying for Amanda to tell the group that she had a list of 44 species…. And that did not include a Peregrine that flew through at such a lick that only 2/3 saw it…..as is often the way!

As you will see, sorry you won’t see, I have no additions to my year list this week. With Slimbridge in mind with Chris on Tuesday, and a forthcoming spell further afield, I just hope!!! The lull before the storm??

And finally, the QI for the week.   128 years ago in 1892,the longest ever boxing match - 77 rounds, in Illinois, USA between Harry Sharpe & Frank Crosby

Happy Birding