50 birds at Slimbridge – well worth getting wet.

I’m afraid I was so pleased with the trip to Scotland that I just had to do a post PDQ, so I’m catching up. So before I was interrupted.....

Monday January 11 > 14 - 4 days and no birds to talk about..bad news for the 2016 target stuck on 76. Mary and I had a 2-day non-birding trip to and from Surrey, hoping to see Ring Necked Parakeet and Red Kite, but as it was dusk both ways we saw Zilch.

My first Parakeet was in August 1994 at Desborough Island Water Works near Walton-on-Thames Surrey (per my bird records!!!). It was alleged (and subsequently heavily debated) that a few had escaped from a film set at Shepperton studios, or even that Jimmi Hendrix released a pair in the sixties in Carnaby Street. They have multipled widely (and wildly!) and are mainly seen around South London. They are now designated (as with Crows, Magpies, Woodpigeons and even Collared Doves) as a pest which can be disposed of if causing harm or damage. Sad when they are rarities in the Midlands. 

One of our volunteers saw one in Markeaton Park a couple of times in June and July 2010.

Monday January 18 time to do my weekly 2 hour walk at Markeaton and POW!! 34 species in 2 hours. Many of the usual suspects, but started well with a Sparrowhawk passing through (high up and no sign of bird panic!),Goosanders on the main lake up to 9, then right at the end near the A38, a Kingfisher crossed my line of vision. I quickly rounded the end of the lake, look back at the overhanging trees, and there was the little beauty..head bobbing as he kept adjusting his vision to the water, which is well stocked with fish. First one for Markeaton this year; just as I was about to leave, a Little Egret soared up from the reeds around the lake, only the 4^th sighting at the park. 

A late related PS. A colleague saw a Little Grebe on the lake on the 27^th so let’s hope it stays.

Then came the Scotland trip, a licence, sorry a present from my wife - and I returned to Chez Bennett with a record to date, of 106.... this pace cannot continue!

Popped in to Carsington on Sunday 24^th, and added the Barnacle Geese ( I know.. they are Feral birds), and the Leucistic Snipe was still visible.

Tuesday January 26^th (my birthday, but still out birding) Christine (everyone calls her Chris) and I had a VERY wet day at Slimbridge (that is not the Slim Bridge who did a comment on my blog!).

We did have a look at the reed bed opposite the Travel Lodge on the East of Gloucester hoping to see the Penduline Tits, but no other cars in the lay-by gave negative vibes, as did the rain. Made the mistake of later checking Bird Guides web site... and they were there!!   Must try again on Feb 8 on the way to Exmouth. Incidentally it was Exmouth (well Darts Farm at Topsham, where I saw them on 2^nd March last year.)

Anyway, despite the progressive rain increase from showery to heavy, we visited most of the hides, and saw an impressive 50 - species. Green Plovers and Golden Plovers abounded, and Wigeon were everywhere. 3 Cranes dropped in which was nice, and 3 Avocets, loads of Dunlin, and although there was  not a raptor to be seen my list moved on to an impressive 113 (well I’m impressed!).

Wednesday January 27^th  no birding, but I’ve just booked a bird trip round Christchurch harbour on 23^rd Feb.. rumour has it that if they get overbooked, one group goes out in a rib..now that will be fun with a tripod.

Next week is going to be a bit ad hoc on trips, but I’ll find some interesting news.

Keep   Birding.

Memories of Scotland

A belated post script of some memories of last week!
Watching for the Golden Eagles to fly through.. and they did.

                               Some expert photos courtesy of John Sutherland LRPS

                                      Red Grouse (Male)

                                     Pale-Bellied Brent Geese   (Note the leg rings)

                                     Buzzard hunting for worms

                                  ...and finally, my favourite, the Fabulous Crested Tit.

Scotland (for) the Brave !

Tuesday January 19 8.45am, and you find me on the train heading for Aviemore, and a short stay with Heatherlea Bird Holidays at the Mountview Hotel.  The train arrives late afternoon and with 4 fellow birders, we are picked up and driven to the hotel by the MD. And....yes....it’s snowing!! We meet for pre-dinner drinkies (Whisky – what else?) and the 8 of us get to know who’s who, and work out which are the most skilful birders! Lawrence is on 129 already this year (I’m on 78 – you see the difference!). We meet Rob our leader for 3 days, a nightcap (more Whisky) and off to sort out what will be needed for Wednesday, the first full day.

Wednesday January 19^th   7.30 Breakfast !, then with the minibus loaded with scopes, packed lunches, hot drinks, we are off to brave the snow and cold at our first location, viewing a lek of 11 Black Grouse, along with several Red Grouse. 

We move on the RSPB site at Loch Garten, famed for it’s Osprey sightings, but in January it’s all quiet...... except for what is to become my bird of the tour. Rob drops some bird food in a hollow tree stump, and Coal Tits emerge from all directions. When we move to the (closed-) visitor centre we find a feeder tube being regularly used by Crested Tits -  FAB-U-LOUS little bird with a very obvious crest, and which defends it’s food source forcefully against intruding Coal Tits. So the Coal Tits happily perch on my finger tips whilst selecting their food choice from my palm.  

En route to our next location, some of us witness a Sparrowhawk race though a garden and take out a Siskin. Upsetting to some, but the Sparrowhawk has to eat too.

Up in the mountains, standing in snow and eating lunch, 2/3 Golden Eagles are seen, an incredible c600 Red Grouse, and plenty of Ravens with their distinctive pointed tail. Through scopes we could see fanatical photographers buried in the snow, trying to get the ultimate photo of Mountain Hare, and we saw one (Hare!) fleetingly.

So day 1 – cold, enjoyable and 7 on my year list with 2 lifers. Cracking start Gromitt!!

Thursday January 20^th    We drive to Nairn on the Moray Firth, then birdwatch east via Forres to Lossiemouth. This was a brilliant day with 40 species (inc 18 on my year list), almost all water birds and including my event of the tour.

At each stop we view the firth, the beaches and other water areas, and different birds were everywhere. Starting with a Slavonian Grebe, we added Eider, Divers (Great Northern and Red), Mergansers, Sanderling and Knot to name just a few. But my Event was the huge raft of about 250 Long Tailed Ducks. Mostly in pairs, with very handsome white headed males they made an unbelievable sight.

I mention Knot, because that was my 100^th bird target achieved  on 20^th Jan, and the fastest 100 I have ever done!!  

And so to the last day Friday January 21^st yet another abortive search for a Capercaille, but our constant checking of Greylag Geese finally produced one white-fronted Goose. The RSPB’s Insh Marshes did include Whooper Swan, and the day rounded off with lengthy searching of the Aviemore rubbish tip. Succesfully, because we all (ultimately!) saw a sole Iceland Gull. White gulls have no black marks on the wings, but each circling bird has to be examined for any black before looking at the next, and when they are moving constantly, is difficult!

I will visit Heatherlea again. Birding colleagues also speak highly of the good food, the friendly staff and the overall professional way they operate. No fuss but goes like clockwork. (including the lassie who found the WD40 for our bedroom!) 

...and 28 new birds for 2016 takes me on to 106. Superb!

A week outside the home county.

Thought you may like the picture, posted this morning and taken at Markeaton Park which won a small local photographic competition.

As I could expect, the first few days of the year are when birders start their New Year sightings list, which means there are plenty of people out toting binoculars and telescopes. If I see a group of people all looking the same way, I try to see what the attraction is. It may be something dramatic, an obscure plant, a celebrity whatever, but if the people in the group each have 5 legs, you know they are bird watchers with tripods. 

So, Tuesday January 5^th (again!). I get to Rufford Hall on the north side of Nottingham at 8.45am and there they are the 5 – legged brigade, all looking at the top of trees for an elusive bird with a disproportionately large beak that is strong enough to crack nuts. Now don’t get me wrong, I can tote a scope with the best of them, but what these birders do for me is to enable me to see the direction they are looking, and with a bit of luck, I’m in!

And what we are all looking for to-day is a colourful Hawfinch. I’m lucky, because within 2 minutes I am getting frantic semaphore signals from a fellow birder, pointing to a single Hawfinch high in the canopy. What a pleasure - better than 2015 when I was greeted with “You should have been here 5 minutes ago”!!

We look for a Marsh Tit, but to no avail, so we drive to Old Moor, a good RSPB site in S.Yorkshire between Rotherham and Barnsley, and add to the days total of 53 species. Water was unsurprisingly very high, but the feeding station produced great views of Siskin, a single Redpoll, Bullfinches and Reed Buntings.

On the water we found 2 handsome male Pintails, Shovellers and Little Egret, and a small flock of Golden Plover did a nice fly past. A Song Thrush had been singing in the car park when we arrived, and 4 hours later, it was still singing in the same place.  Got him!!

Saturday January 9^th. Decided to join with a group from DOS (Derbyshire Ornithological Society) for a 3-hour walk in Nottinghamshire, at Attenborough Gravel Pits. This is a very good mixed environment site, just over the Derbyshire border near Long Eaton. In 2011, a huge number of birders went to see a rare Squacco Heron which was fishing at the confluence of the Erewash and Trent, catching the fish in the Notts river, and flying into Derbyshire to eat it. So both counties were proudly proclaiming they had a Squacco!

To-day, our group of 8 experts(!!) saw 43 different species including both male and female Mandarin ducks (at different locations, and more of that later!), and 3 Goose species, including 5 Pink Foots which had taken up residence on the other side of the Trent in a very flooded field. The hoped for Bittern and Water rail will have to wait for another day.

Sunday January 10^th. Again at Attenborough, this time with 6 people who join my monthly Carsington walk, and came for an “away day”, the one such event each year. Weather was superb, and between us we saw 36 species, with Adele being thrilled as the spotter of a Great Spotted Woodpecker in the Delta area. In addition a calling Cetti warbler in the reeds near the visitor centre, was BOD as Cettis are warblers not normally in the UK until the summer, and can be very hard to see. Radipole Lake in Weymouth is a good place to see, and hear, Cettis. 

 So a week spent mainly outside Derbyshire, but leading to 75 birds to date, made the journeys worthwhile.

Oh, Oh..seen the forecast for Scotland next week?? Can I hire skis?

"I've never eaten Goose"

2016.... and we are up and running!

Sorry I could not wait until January 10 to do my first promised blog, but I thought I should explain what bird recording is all about. So now here’s the bird news!!

2016 Targets.   100 birds in the January. Mark you, one birder I know has this target, but to be completed in Derbyshire! I will be lucky if I find 100 in England!  Bit of a hint there, because I’m going on a bird trip to Aviemore mid month so that will help, although I am hoping any snow drifts are less than 5ft 3in, otherwise I won’t see much!

January 1. Most people still in bed or nursing the excess from the night before, and I’m defrosting the car at 8.15am. But that’s what the keen brigade does. So 3 of us hit Markeaton Park and manage to identify 23 different birds. A lovely Jay was hopping about with Woodpigeons, Nuthatches were up noisily getting breakfast, but otherwise it was the usual suspects, finches, tits, corvids, ducks etc.

So we moved to Radbourne where I knew of a field good for winter thrushes, and we were not disappointed. Plenty of Fieldfare, Redwings and Goldfinches. After an abortive diversion for Brambling, we then headed up the A6 to Cromford, to try and see Hawfinch. We ticked off Pheasant and Rook on the way, but I’m afraid we dipped on the Hawfinch. (Dipped?.. bird speak for “went looking but didn’t find”..it’s in Wikipaedia!)

However what turned out to be the BOD (more bird speak “The Bird of the Day”) as we walked along the River Derwent towards Matlock, was a superb Dipper, busily diving and feeding. So if he can do it, so did we and went for an enjoyable snack lunch at Cromford Mill. (28 so far)

Replete and warmed up, we next visited Carsington Water and popped into the Sheepwash hide then the Wildlife Centre. The Great Northern Diver was a distant view as were Shelduck, handsome Goldeneyes were seeable, and winter visitors such as Teal and Pochard were about. Carsington is a good site for Tree Sparrows, and we found them on the feeders with Bullfinches and Willow Tits.

Bad light stopped play, we left with 46, which sounds better as 23% of the years target!

January 3, the first Sunday of the month, is normally my Bird Watching for Beginners walk (BWB), and 19 people turned up for the 2 hour walk. 30 minutes later, with just a distant view of the Diver, it was back to a warm room in the visitor centre for hot chocolate, a quiz and some bird id questions. Only the second time in 128 walks that we have had to abort.

At 11.30, we opted for the wildlife centre for half an hour birding, and apart from Redshank and 32 Snipe, the absolute hi-lite was a white leucistic snipe. This rarity is due to the bird lacking melanin pigment resulting in white feathers. Often leucistic birds do not survive as they are alien to the normal species and get attacked.

January 4, did my monthly bird count for DOS at Markeaton Park, and found 2 tiny Goldcrest, the smallest British bird, plus Goosander.

January 5, I’ll have to hold over the excellent day about Hawfinch at Rufford, and 50 + species at Old Moor until next week.

NOTE that the cracking new hide being built by the Garganey Trust at Broomfill Flash (near Old Moor) does mean there is currently no public hide. Check before going there – we didn’t! Opening date not known.

Not finished the first week yet, but I’m on 55 – now that IS a good omen.    

To List or not to List - THAT is the question

Monday 4th January................... and a Happy New Year to my self-confessed reader!

Before I start my field journal/diary of my birding experiences, it occurs to me that some people will say, why keep records? Fair question.

In a straw poll yesterday of 19 people, 18 said that they keep records of their sightings. Reasons varied from for their own interest and a record of what they have seen, to compiling sightings data for birding organisations for research, conservation and ornithological history.

Several people knew that sighting information is gathered in the annual RSPB Big garden Bird watch, in the BTO Garden Birdwatch, and by the local Ornithological Society, in my case Derbyshire (DOS) and funds to run that society partly derives from selling bird habitation (sighting) data to Property Developers etc, to ensure developments do not disturb important bird conservation areas.

But an aspect of bird watching that I firmly believe in, is that, to get to know whether your birding knowledge is improving or not, you need to keep comparison records. And that is exactly what I do.

I have a spread sheet that starts with a column listing all the different UK bird species I have seen since I started bird watching. This is followed by 17 columns, one for each calendar year from 1999 to 2015.  A sample section look like this:-

	First Seen	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015
Arctic Skua	9.03		10.9			6.9
Arctic Tern	5.98	11.5	17.9	24.4		20.6	25.7
Avocet	4.87	16.2	8.3	20.3	5.3	22.1	4.3
Barn owl	5.99	15.2	13.1	11.7	26.6
..and at the end
YEAR TOTAL		206	193	180	179	197	170

This sample shows that in 2010 I saw 206 species (happened to be my best year ever!!), following which my year totals declined to 179, a recovery to 197, and then due to 3 months non-birding after falling off a ladder, my lowest year count since 2004, a lowly 170. Sadly, this (factual-) sample also reveals that I have not seen a Barn owl for 2 years.

Spotting 200 different species in a year is very satisfying albeit a long way from the skills of the UK bird expert Lee Evans who has seen 386 species in one year. 386!! When was he ever at home?

I encourage people on my bird walks to keep sighting records, for their own interest and as a guide as to how their identifications skills are improving. Of course, increases may be due to more birding trips, more guided walks and loads of other explanations, but an upward trend can indicate better identification skills. Downward?? = Must try harder.

65 years ago, I used to collect train numbers (Remember the Ian Allan books), and would stand at the end of platform 6 at Bristol Temple Meads watching the engines in the sheds. I then graduated to Clapham Junction for Southern Region trains travelling in all directions.

Now I stand on the platforms at Willington Gravel Pits, watching Swallows travelling in all directions.   Nothing changes that much. Except that the platform ticket 60 years ago was 1d. Willington platform - FREE.

So that’s the why... next edition will be some of the what!

So.... Keeeeep Birding (Sorry - Tess and Claude)