Normandy Marsh and Holton Lee

17th December

We met in Maiden Lane and walked out to Oxey Lake then around Normandy Lagoon.  The area always produces a variety of waterfowl at this time of year and as always didn't disappoint.  We started quickly with a Spotted Redshank calling overhead as we left the cars. Little Egret, Redshank, Little Grebe, Coots and Mallards on 8 Acre Pond soon followed.  Oxey Lake was absent of all species except two Shoveler but as we scanned we had fly pasts from three Black-tailed Godwit, two Oystercatcher, couple of Curlew and thirteen Lapwing.

Little Grebe 8 Acre Pond © Nick Hull

Normandy lagoon alway gives the advantage of going through the individual species and discussing identification points and features. Of note here we found Greenshank, Avocets another Spotted Redshank, Dunlin, Teal, Pintail, Wigeon, Tufted Duck, Red-breasted Mergansers and a Kingfisher.  Walking around and looking over the Solent we added Great Crested Grebe, Grey Plover more Dunlin and Brent Geese.  All of a sudden I heard two high pitched calls and looking to my left saw a Kingfisher then another chasing, they flew past us turned and came back around us and away across Oxey Lake, then a few minutes later one of the same or another flew in and landed on the marsh fence right in front of us giving fantastic views.  As we started our return towards the cars we had a Dartford Warbler followed shortly after by a pair of Stonechat, Reed Bunting and Linnets just as the rain started.

Walking back along the lane we added many woodland and garden species and a handful of winter thrushes mainly Redwing with Blackbirds and Song Thrush. Unfortunately the rain started to increase  and and we picked up the pace to get back to the cars before getting to wet.  We ended two and a half hour walk with 59 species.

Distant White Sika Deer - Holton Lee © Nick Hull

20th December

This morning we met at Holton Lee which borders my local patch which lies the other side of Lytchett Bay, it has the advantage of being on the edge of the Wareham Channel there is also Woodland and Heathland areas.  We headed down to the hide in the woodland and we stayed for some time watching a good variety of bird comings and goings.  Great, Coal and Blue Tit made up the majority but Moorhen, Pheasant, Jackdaw and at least three Great Spotted Woodpecker were visiting.  We heard a Raven but couldn't find it and a Sparrowhawk zipped through.  We even had a small herd of Sika out in the reedbed one of which was white.  After a while we were seeing no new species so we moved off to the new scrape hide which looks north over the reedbeds and the Sherford River toward RSPB Lytchett Fields.  The scrape was made back in the summer and a the hide repositioned to give good views over the area. En-route we saw a small flock of Redwing, Mistle Thrush a single Chiffchaff and a small number of Goldcrest.  On reaching the hide I didn't expect much to be there being the habitat was so fresh and new.  At first look it appeared empty but after a short wait a beautiful Greenshank flew it and paraded in front of the hide shortly after a Green Sandpiper flew in for a short while, then a Kingfisher came in and gave us some excellent views.  Out in the bay we could see good numbers of Wigeon, fewer Teal, Mute Swan, Shelduck and a distant Kestrel.

We made our way across the heath seeing a Buzzard lift off and climb away, we continued on and crossed the fields to the Wareham Channel here we added Goldeneye, Cormorants, Great Crested Grebe, Teal, Wigeon, Curlew and Redshank.  It was Mick who found a raptor sat on a post which turned out to be a female type Marsh Harrier, and a small flock of Long-tailed Tit filtered by.

Goldcrest - Holton Lee © Nick Hull

Colour ringed Mediterranean Gull results

I promised to post here the history data when received of our sightings of the two colour-ringed Mediterranean Gull seen at Radipole Lake, on our Sunday (19th) Monthly walk. What is interesting is both birds originated from two different populations and both have turned up within a metre of each other.  It makes you wonder where all the many associating un-ringed Med gull had come from.

The history of these birds and their travels is very interesting.
Bird 1 is very well travelled and has been recorded once before at Radipole in 2013.
Bird 2 hasn't been seen quite so much but is only just starting out as it's a much younger bird.

Bird 1

Legend : 'v' controlled, ring read; 'c' trapped and released; 'x' found dead; '+' shot; 'b' breeding; 

 'r' roosting; '*'  ring found; 'p' picture taken

Green R44R Left pullus Paris  

FS72385  30/06/2009 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE  46,56N 2,09W

ringed by team Matthieu Vaslin and Cap Ornis Baguage

vv 05/05/2010 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 27/11/2010 Santa Cruz, La Coruña, SPAIN  43,21N 8,2W

vv 07/12/2010 Santa Cruz, La Coruña, SPAIN  43,21N 8,2W

vv 03/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 04/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 05/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 06/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 10/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 11/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 12/05/2011 Réserve de Chanteloup, Marais d'Olonne, Vendée, FRANCE  46,33N 1,47W

vv 17/07/2011 Fishguard Harbour, Pembrookshire, Dyfed, Wales, GB  52N 4,59W

vv 29/08/2011 Beauport, Paimpol, Côtes d'Armor, FRANCE  48,47N 3,04W

vv 14/04/2012 Titchfield Haven National Reserve, Fareham, Hampshire, GB  50,49N 1,14W

vv 15/01/2013 Ares Beach, Ares, Coruña, SPAIN  43,25N 8,15W picture taken

vv 22/04/2013 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE  46,56N 2,09W

vv 24/04/2013 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE  46,56N 2,09W

vv 24/04/2013 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE  46,56N 2,09W

vv 25/04/2013 Barbâtre, Polder de Sebastopol, Vendée, FRANCE  46,56N 2,09W

vv 22/10/2013 Radipole Lake, Weymouth, Dorset, GB  50,37N 2,28W

vv 27/02/2014 Playa San Lorenzo, Gijón, Asturias, SPAIN  43,32N 5,39W

vv 01/03/2014 Playa San Lorenzo, Gijón, Asturias, SPAIN  43,32N 5,39W picture taken

vv 02/03/2014 Playa San Lorenzo, Gijón, Asturias, SPAIN  43,32N 5,39W picture taken

vv 05/03/2014 Playa San Lorenzo, Gijón, Asturias, SPAIN  43,32N 5,39W picture taken

vv 07/03/2014 Playa San Lorenzo, Gijón, Asturias, SPAIN  43,32N 5,39W picture taken

vv 21/09/2014 Porthcawl, Rest Bay, Glamorgan, Wales, GB  51,29N 3,43W picture taken

p   27/02/2016 Ares Beach, Ares, Coruña, SPAIN  43,25N 8,15W

p  29/02/2016 Santa Cruz, La Coruña, SPAIN  43,21N 8,2W

vv 07/11/2016 Plage de Porsmilin, Locmaria-Plouzané, Finistere, FRANCE   48,22N 4,41W

vv 14/11/2016 Le Conquet, Ria, Finistère, FRANCE  48,22N 4,46W

p  23/12/2016 Santa Cruz de Oleiros, Ria A Coruña, SPAIN  43,21N 8,21W

p   05/01/2017 San Valentin, Fene, A Coruña, SPAIN  43,28N 8,1W

vv 19/03/2017 Hayling Oysterbeds, Langstone Harbour, Havant, Hampshire, GB  50,49N 0,59W

vv 28/03/2017 Hayling Oysterbeds, Langstone Harbour, Havant, Hampshire, GB  50,49N 0,59W

vv 19/11/2017 Radipole Lake, Weymouth, Dorset, GB  50,37N 2,28W

Bird 2
Metal ring                                                          5411776 

Current colour ring Former colour rings    Green ALER
Central                                                              Helgoland
Species                                                         Mediterranean Gull 
Age at ringing                                          1 Pullus: nestling or chick, unable to fly.
Sex                                                                    unknown
Ringing date                                                   22.06.2013

Ringing place                                                 Pionierinsel Lühe, Steinkirchen, Stade, Niedersachsen

 Latitude/Longitude                                     53° 34' 58'' N 9° 36' 8'' E
Ringer                                                             Team Hamburg

Type of recovery: v colour ring read, m metal ring read, p photographed, b breeding, n trapped on nest, c trapped and released, k colour ring worn, d found dead

 Recoveries
Date           Place                                                                      Country   Latitude / Longitude   Km  Days

v 13.07.2013 Grünendeich, Strand, Steinkirchen,Niedersachsen - Germany - 53° 34' 51'' N 9° 36' 26'' E  - 0  -   21    
p 15.07.2013 Grünendeich, Strand, Steinkirchen,Niedersachsen - Germany - 53° 34' 51'' N 9° 36' 26'' E  - 0  -   23
p 15.07.2013 Grünendeich, Strand, Steinkirchen,Niedersachsen - Germany - 53° 34' 51'' N 9° 36' 26'' E  - 0  -   23
v 09.07.2015 Minsmere RSPB Reservate, Suffolk                             - England   - 52° 14' 0'' N 1° 37' 0'' E      - 556 - 747

v 07.09.2015 Corton, ploughed field. Suffolk                               - England   - 52° 31' 0'' N 1° 43' 0'' E      - 540 -  807

v 19.11.2017 Radipole Lake, Weymouth, Dorset                             - England   - 50° 37' 18'' N 2° 27' 46'' W - 887 - 1611

RSPB Radipole Lake visit

First, just to let everyone know Jackie came out of hospital yesterday (Sunday) evening and now is at home convalescing.  Jackie would like to just thank everyone who has sent cards and all the get well's and good wishes that she has received over the last week as it kept her positive and in good spirits. So thank you all.

With Jackie in hospital I led the Sunday monthly, group around RSPB Radipole Lake a location we haven't visited for some time.  It was overcast and cool after the early morning frost but promised to be a bright sunny day which it certainly turned out to be.  

We started searching through the gulls and waterfowl from the visitor centre in case the previous days Ring-billed Gull had returned, which it hadn't.  But there was plenty to see with lots of Mediterranean Gulls, Herring, Black-headed, Common, Great Black-backed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls with a small flock of Black-tailed Godwit, Teal, Mallard, Tufted Duck and Gadwall not a bad start.  Just as we were about to move on all the gulls lifted off when a Sparrowhawk went whizzing through.  We walked the main path to the first viewing platform hearing our first Bearded Tit, little was seen from this location other than a female Brown Rat that we watched scurry along the path and under the platform, which we were informed by Fran that it was a female for obvious reason.

Brown Rat - Radipole Lake © Nick Hull

Continuing on around to the buddleia loop where we checked off some of the more common species including a Great Spotted Woodpecker ,which we first heard calling off the reserve, but it then flew in and perched right above us give excellent views.

Great Spotted Woodpecker - Radipole Lake © Nick Hull

From the buddleia view point looking out over the north of the reserve we had our first views of Marsh Harrier with a stunning male quartering the northern area of the reserve. We added a couple more waterfowl with Shelduck and Pochard also several Water Rail were actively squealing around the reedbeds.  A little further on we added Buzzard and we saw a female Bearded Tit briefly in bushes to the left of the path. 

Female Bearded Tit - Radipole Lake © Nick Hull

Shortly after on reaching the concrete bridge we noticed a male bird on the top of some Reedmace looking stunning in the sunlight.

Male Bearded Tit taking flight © Nick Hull

From the North screen we had better views of the male Marsh Harrier and a little later picked up a female both disappeared into the reedbed. Close views of Little Egret and Grey Heron but it was even closer views of Bearded Tit and Kingfisher that stole the day here.  Eventually we had to leave and whilst walking back over the concrete bridge what surfaced beside the bridge but the male Hooded Merganser, which has been around for a number of years considered an escape species but it is certainly a stunning duck.

Drake Hooded Merganser - Radipole Lake © Nick Hull 

On our walk back we saw more of what had been already seen and we concluded with forty seven species in our two and a half hours on the reserve.  The views of Bearded Tit and Kingfisher fishing certainly topped the day.  The two Mediterranean Gull which were colour ringed I've sent off the information and await the bird history if any and will post results here later.  Thanks to everyone for a very nice morning's birding.

October Rarities and Visual Migration

Two Owls has been busy over the last month one way and another and it has been a good month for us with a little local rarity chasing and with our groups out and about.

We had visits to  Normandy Marsh, Lymington, Pennington, Lytchett Bay and Middlebere where we were able to get to grips with the identification of all the returning waders and waterfowl now moving back for the winter.  Though its nice to see good numbers of the usual species it's always good to see those we do not.  At Normandy Marsh we had close views of Golden Plover, Greenshanks and our first returning Dark-bellied Brent Geese also Peregrine.  The visit to Pennington gave us sightings of Spoonbill and fantastic views of Bearded Tits.  Then a walk around our local patch again produced good views of Bearded Tit, also of Marsh Harrier. Then yesterday on our walk at Middlebere we saw our first Redwings of the autumn, Lesser Redpolls, Bullfinch, over ten Dartford Warblers and in excess of three hundred Avocet.

On our Two Owls Cornish break, which coincided with the tail of hurricane Ophelia which had a dramatic effect on the birds reducing the number that we should have seen.  Though we did have a few highlights with close views of Turtle Dove, Spoonbill, Firecrests, and the star bird was a Greater Short-toed Lark near the Chapel at Sennen which performed extremely well giving wonderful views.

Short-toed Lark - near Sennen Cornwall internet photograph

We also had a really good selection of autumn Butterflies with Wall Brown, Painted Lady, and Hummingbird Hawk-moth being the highlights.

Returning to Dorset Jackie and I headed to St Adhelm's head, to be precise the stone quarry halfway to the head, where we joined a number of birders patiently awaiting views of a Two-barred Warbler (renamed as it used to be Two-barred Greenish Warbler).  After a wait we had tantalising views of this phylloscopus warbler and eventually we had some excellent views, unfortunately my photographs were not as good as I would have liked.

Two-barred (Greeninsh) Warbler - St Aldhelm's Head © Nick Hull

Then we had a visit to Longham Lakes where a Lesser Scaup had been found on the north lake.  By the time we arrived in the afternoon it had moved to the south lake and was more distant feeding with Tufted Duck.  It stayed for a few days then moved to Blashford Lakes giving Hampshire its first record of this American species.

More recently there has been a large irruption of Hawfinch from the continent into Britain and they seemed to be moving along with the winter thrushes so I've had the Lytchett Night time listening station up and running as much as I could.  Plus Jackie and I have met up with Shaun and Ian doing Visual migration watches at Lytchett Viewpoint off Border Road.  Though this site isn't the best place in the Poole harbour area its on our home patch, Jackie and I started on the morning of the 26th October.  In the first hour we had Jackdaw, Starlings a small group of Redwing and Song Thrush and a few high flying Wood Pigeon all moving west.  It was then that I saw a small group of five Starling coming toward us from the east as they were almost level with us the rear bird was obviously not a starling and was moving slightly slower.  I quickly realised it was a Hawfinch and called it to Jackie and fortunately she got onto it quickly and we watched it fly past and on towards the west, possibly flying over our garden but we will never know.  Though Hawfinch isn't considered a real rarity it was the first record for the Lytchett Patch and it felt like we had seen a mega rarity and one that may not be repeated for some years.

Hawfinch flypast

On the morning of the 28th October we were joined by Ian but only after we had just had a Brambling fly over us going West.  But there was more pigeon movement going on so we changed our position to be able to view to our north, which turned out was a good one as we started seeing large flock moving west, north of Upton and smaller flocks right over us. By the time the numbers died out we had recorded 2664+ Woodpigeon, 67 Jackdaw and 86 Starling and smaller numbers of winter thrushes and finches.

This is the single call of the Brambling that attracted our attention as it passed overhead.

The 30th saw Ian, Shaun and myself at the viewpoint again hoping for another Woodpigeon movement, I arrived a little later than I wanted but I'd missed little and in fact by the time Ian arrived things had just began moving.  Between 07:15hrs and 09:00hrs we recorded 3965+ Woodpigeon and 361 Starlings better than previous days but not a record number.  We think the weather was too good as there was very still condition and usually when we have recorded large passage it has been much windier.

Lytchett Bay

Our group meeting on Sunday (8th October) had a perfect day, a little cool to start but windless, dry and sunny. As Lytchett Bay is our home patch it's always nice to share it with others the only thing is you always worry that it's not going to live up to expectations.  We walked through the wood out to the bay the tide was low but rising slowly. As we reached the shore a few close waders moved off landing again further out in the bay. We started scanning with binoculars and scopes picking up Wigeon, Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Mallard and Teal but for scanning the whole bay I was distracted by a pinging sound to my right in the reedbed.

Yes, Bearded Tits at least six individuals were flitting about in the reeds only giving brief views as they moved around.  We were still watching and hoping the Reedlings would sit up on the reeds when I then picked up a Marsh Harrier quartering at the Slough Lane end of the reedbed.  As this bird hunted over the reeds it became obvious this was a young second year male, he disturbed a few birds including a Snipe that towered up and flew high over our heads. After we went back to scanning the bay and Bob found a single Spoonbill feeding at the far side and a Kingfisher flew across. We heard the slightly eerie bellow from a Sika Stag and he was found out to our right looking rather smart.

We retraced our footsteps back to the road and walked around to the Lytchett Bay View near Border Drive, en-route checking off several garden and woodland species.  From the raised viewpoint we could see a small group of duck mainly Wigeon, Mallard and Teal then we heard the squealing call of a couple of Water Rail.  We also had good views of a flight of Black-tailed Godwit and a large skein of Canada Geese passed over.  We also had more Bearded Tit and the Marsh Harrier again though gave us closer views this time.  As we started to move on Jackie called Skylark and looking skyward there were seven birds flying over towards northwards, we had a second group going the same direction shortly after when we were looking around Chad Copse.  We continued our walk along the shoreline to Turlin Moor leaving ten Collared Dove and a couple of Greenfinch and Chiffchaff in the copse.  The shoreline produce Blue Tit and Wren, Reed Bunting and out in the bay we added Oystercatcher and five Greenshank roosting with Redshank, several Little Egret, Grey Heron and a flock of Goldfinch.  A single Stonechat is unusual here but by the time we had reached the Turlin birding screen we had seen six, obviously migrants moving through.

Our return to the cars enabled us to see much of what we already had though we added Goldcrest and a few more Chiffchaff, House Sparrows, Starlings and distant a Buzzard.  We recorded 54 species in what is relatively a small area.

One or two of the group requested if we could direct them to RSPB Lytchett Fields so I led them to the west of the bay and with the tide in there was a good number of wildfowl and waders on the fields.  We added Ruff, Dunlin, Pied Wagtails and the Spoonbill was now a little closer and we could see it was a immature as it was showing black tips on the primaries. There was about five Ruff two of which came into the pools right in front of us and gave stunning views, unfortunately the Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint that was there earlier couldn't be found. Probably roosting in amongst the Redshank and Dunlin and hidden from our view.

We ended the morning saving a Pale Tussock caterpillar that was crossing the road who could let such a stunning caterpillar get squashed by a car.

Internet photograph

Next Morning
Jackie and I were invited to drop by the Stour Ringing Groups ringing session at Lytchett Heath early next morning.  I woke at 06.45hrs breakfasted and Jackie decided to be lazy and lay in so off I went.  All I had to do was drive half a mile, it was dry when I left home, after getting out of the car and starting to walk to the ringing station there was a dampness in the air.  By the time I met Shaun, Ian and the others it was "mizzle".  They had just finished the second net round and had bags of birds, umbrella's were fetched to shelter the birds in the bags and the ringing table and recording book and the net furled.  The rain didn't last long but we all got a bit wet except the birds which was good.  The first bird to be ringed was a Reed Bunting, an immature female age unknown or in ringing terms a 2.  The next was a delight to see up close a female Bearded Tit, then a male.

Male Bearded Tit - Lytchett Bay © Nick Hull

Other birds caught were Reed Warbler, Robin, Chiffchaff, and Blue Tit but before I arrived they had the patch first Redwing of the autumn, a single Cetti's Warbler but double figures of Reed Bunting and Bearded Tits showing that there was some post breeding dispersal going on.

Lytchett Bay Night-time Sounds

As some of you already know I do a little night-time recording when the weather is conducive, but living in a semi urban location it's hard to get good clear recordings as there is usually something that spoils it.  Emergency vehicle sirens, helicopters, plane and trains are usually the main culprits but people walking by shouting, dogs barking etc also spoil many a recording.  Very occasionally everything comes together and I get a pretty good recording which is loud enough to upload here which doesn't require wearing headsets to listen to them.

The following two sounds were selected from nine hours of recordings taken on the night of 17th - 18th September 2017.

Tawny Owl Sonogram

The above sonogram is just a small part of the recording below, it shows the three calls that start at 36  to 45 seconds which ends with the two hoots.

I recorded the first bellows from the Sika Stags on the 25th August but they were all too far away but on the night of 17/18 September I recorded this Stag which must have been close to our the home.  At this time of year when the rut is taking place we can hear them from the garden all around the bay.  Most of the Stags will bellow three times then stop then bellow another three times then stop I presume this is to listen for other stags that may be nearby.

Sika Stag Sonogram

Keyhaven Wader ID Walk

We met at Keyhaven on a three quarter tide and as soon as we got out of our cars we had seven Bearded Tits flying into the reedbed next to the parking area, not waders but what a start!  We took the shoreline path and immediately started with a number of Black-tailed Godwits, mostly adult birds but we managed to find a couple of youngsters to compare plumages.  Here we also had Turnstone, Dunlin and Grey Plovers followed by Curlew and Redshank.  Moving on round we came across a number of birders looking into a marshy field and found out that the Wryneck from the previous day had been seen.  We gave it some time but it didn't show so we moved on to look for the Grey Phalarope on Keyhaven lagoon, though we hadn't gone far when Martin drew our attention to a Peregrine sitting on a post out in the saltmarsh on the seaward side.

Scanning Keyhaven Lagoon we added eight Pintail looking like they were freshly arrived and a flight of eight Wigeon flew over to the west.  We were just viewing the Grey Phalarope at the far end of the lagoon before moving for closer views when another birder mentioned to us that the Wryneck was now showing.  We turned on our toes and headed quickly back to look for this small woodpecker species.  Very kindly one of the birders helped me to place my scope on the right spot so I could do the same for the rest of the group.  It took a few minutes for it to show and then it popped up right on top of a small mound giving good views though a little distant, then it flew a short way and disappeared out of sight again. It was nice to get a life tick for a number of the group so everything else was going to be a bonus.

Shortly after we were stood at the end of Keyhaven lagoon looking to see where the Grey Phalarope had gone, it was nowhere to be seen.  I stepped as close to the drainage ditch as possible to look down the edge and it just popped up and flew directly towards us banking at the last minute and plopped down on the water just a few metres in front of us giving great views.

Grey Phalarope sequence shot as it passed us and landed on the water © Nick Hull

Well, Jackie and I knew we weren't going to top that but the rest of the walk produced all the usual species we would usually expect to see and we added a couple of Spoonbill which were feeding on Fishtail lagoon.

Spoonbill - Fishtail Lagoon - Keyhaven © Nick Hull

We walked out to the point to see if there was anything out on the Solent and this gave us the opportunity to look at a number of Grey Plover that still retained most of their summer plumage.  We had a few more Dunlin and Oystercatchers. We ended the day with 64 species and hopefully the group has a better idea of ageing waders.

Grey Phalarope - Keyhaven Lagoon © Nick Hull

I promised a couple of the group a link to the ageing of Grey Plover, and one to show waders that migrate via the Yellow Sea that shows what an important area it is for so many wader species or as they say on the video Shorebirds.

1.  Grey Plover ageing Tutorial 

2.  Birds of the Yellow Sea

You should never think it's all over, particularly in birding

After seeing Least, Stilt and Buff-breasted Sandpiper in just a few days it never struck us that the next week was going to be nearly the same.  

We had a walk at Lodmoor on the 20th where we hoped the two American sandpipers would stick around but unfortunately they didn't, but the day was good and we had a good selection of birds none-the-less.  Not long after starting our walk we had two Cattle Egrets flying across the back of the reserve and going into the distant reed bed, a good start.  Jackie found a couple of teal sized ducks with a distinctive supercilium I managed a brief look at one of them before they disappeared from view, to quick for most of the group, we both thought Garganey but they didn't show again for us.  Later three were found by another birder which confirmed our thoughts.  On the marsh at the bottom of Beachdown Drive we had our first Yellow Wagtail along with a number of Pieds. A little further on at one of the viewpoints I picked out, among a few Dunlin, a Curlew Sandpiper then one of the group picked out a Common Sandpiper and from the viewing shelter we added two more.  Here we also had an adult and juvenile Sandwich Tern, then eight more Yellow Wagtails flew in showing the variations of plumages of juveniles and adult.  

From the Hump side of the reserve we scanned through the small flock of Dunlin and found a second Curlew Sandpiper, Black-tailed Godwit, Lapwing, a Sparrowhawk flew in and disappeared into the rush at the far side of the scrape. We were just walking on when Joe called Marsh Harrier and over the middle of the reserve was a immature male quartering the marsh.

Curlew Sandpiper - from Two Owls Archive

After finishing our walk we found out that the Baird's Sandpiper was still at Lynch Cove and a few of the group were keen to see it.  So we headed off across the town and around fifteen minutes later saw us standing beside the Fleet scanning through a flock of Dunlin and Ringed Plover.  I quickly picked up a small long winged stint-like wader a smart juvenile plumaged Baird's Sandpiper a perfect end to a mornings birding.

The next day (21st) I took a bit of a lay-in and was just finishing breakfast when Shaun rang and said "Hi Nick, Shaun Stilt Sand on Lytchett Fields" it took me a few seconds and for Shaun to repeat what he said for me to take it in, I quickly replied "ok see you in a minute".  All thought of finishing breakfast had gone Jackie and I grabbed Bins, Scope and Camera and in to the car.  A short drive and a quick walk found us standing in the drizzle trying to locate the sandpiper at the bottom of the field.  We had several views none were brilliant when it suddenly took flight and headed towards us, the four of us  there were locked on to it as if it was a guided missile.  Nearly to us it banked left circled and then our prayers answered it landed about thirty metres from us.  I threw caution to the wind and pulled out the camera into the rain and took a dozen or so confirmation shots not really expecting them to be prize winning and not caring too much.  Jackie and I watched it until we were uncomfortably wet and headed home to dry out by which time a number of fellow patch and Poole Harbour birders had arrived to see it.

Stilt Sandpiper - Lytchett Fields © Nick Hull

That morning we also had two Curlew Sandpiper, two Little Stint, three Ruff plus all the usual common waders. Next day it wasn't seen but was refound at Middlebere on 24th.

The day did get even better when we heard that the Grey Phalarope on Arne Moors had been joined by a Red-necked Phalarope.  Of course an opportunity we could not miss of seeing both species together and in Poole Harbour.  Arrangements had been made with boat yard for access so easy parking and a short walk found us with lots of fellow Poole birders watching these two small and very attractive arctic breeding species. It's uncommon to see both together and the Red-necked was quite obviously smaller.

Red-necked & Grey Phalaropes - Arne Moors © Ian Ballam

Buff-breasted Sandpiper

Since I started writing our last blog we went off to see yet another American sandpiper, a Buff-breasted Sandpiper and this time on Portland.  We arrived at the Obs and decided to just pop to see the Wryneck in the Obs Quarry first.  The bird had not been seen for 1/2 hr or so, but eventually I wandered round to a young man who was staring into the grasses.  After a little while he turned and said he had the bird, it was difficult to get everyone on to it but I thankfully found it fairly easily as it popped its head up, it was incredibly well hidden.

Wryneck - Obs Quarry, Portland Bill

The Buff-breasted Sandpiper was a different matter, it was so close to area fenced off where the few birders were sat watching it feeding quite happily, before trying to shelter from the strong wind behind the horse poo.  Then it would come back out and run around, feed then without any apparent reason started flying and we watched flying out to sea a little way and out of sight.  Apparently it does this every so often, but didn't return before we left.

              
The video clips were photocopied are © Wayne Prosper and the Buff-breasted Sandpiper © Nick Hull

Dorset Sandpipers and more

American sandpipers seem to be favouring Dorset at the moment with Baird's on Brownsea Island, Poole Harbour, Least and Stilt on Lodmoor, Weymouth and most recent yesterday a Buff-breasted was found at Portland.  We did try twice for the Baird's but dipped twice so we were hoping we could get to Lodmoor after taking our Tuesday group at Middlebere on the 12th.  More of about Lodmoor later, first we had a brilliant morning with the group.

It was the first of our Autumn course (12th September) so it was good to see everyone back together and Ben who was new to our group.  The sun was shining and this certainly brought the birds out and we started almost immediately with Redstart.  It would fly down to the path showing it's bright tail beautifully, a little further on we found two more.  House Martins were flying over all the time we were out, then a Kestrel appeared hovering over the moor.  Meadow Pipits were on move to as well as our usual resident species of Goldfinch, Wren and Robin joining in the mix.

Common Redstart - Middlebere ©Nick Hull

One of the highlights this morning was a Lesser Whitethroat sat out on a branch of the hedge enjoying the sunshine allowing time for us to really enjoy this little bird.  For some of the group this was the best views they've had of this species.  Above it was a small charm of Goldfinch and Blue Tits.  The sun also brought out the butterflies with Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Heath and Speckled Wood.

We'd hardly moved a few hundred metres down the track at this stage with so much to see, moving down though we added a pair of Bullfinch, though calling they were hard to see.  A female Blackcap popped up which I called then Nick said he had a male.  Then we stopped at a copse where several Chiffchaffs were flitting about with a couple of Willow Warblers with them and Long-tailed Tits.  From here on to the cottages we added Stonechat and a very smart Spotted Flycatcher as well as the usual Blackbird and Dunnock.

Spotted Flycatcher - Middlebere ©Nick Hull

From the hide an Osprey was perched in the dead tree but the heat haze didn't help viewing.  An array of waders in the channel included Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, Dunlin and Oystercatcher.  Also Teal Mallard and Little Egret as well as three Spoonbill, until a flight of 27 came in to boost the numbers to 30!  Seeing them in flight is a such a sight very graceful for a long legged large white bird.

26 Spoonbill over Middlebere lake ©Nick Hull

Looking from the bench by the barns we heard Water Rail and saw a couple of Stonechats.  But it was the sight of a Kestrel being joined by a juvenile Hobby and they started tussling together right in front of us.  Quite quickly they broke away and the Hobby landed in a tree allowing us great views through the scope.  What a finish to a great morning now for those Sandpipers at Lodmoor!

We met up with Wayne who works at RSPB Arne for his ever twitch and first visit to Lodmoor.  This proved to be a very easy twitch as we arrived at the "Bandstand" or viewing shelter it was very easy to find the juvenile Least Sandpiper.  As named it is a diminutive American wader which has been blown across the Atlantic and the first one seen in Dorset.  While watching a Green and Common Sandpiper  came in and now we wandered round to find our fourth sandpiper and second rarity the Stilt Sandpiper.  This was a very different looking bird to the Least and no less good looking and we had good close views of this splendid wader feeding alongside Black-tailed Godwits and a Dunlin.  I think we can safely say that Wayne was impressed with Lodmoor and his first twitch!

We hoped to be able to include a piece of video of the sandpipers but we have a glitch that Nick is working on and hopefully we can upload soon.

Birding Lytchett Fields

On Wednesday (6th) our group met for a walk round our home patch of Lytchett Fields.  Our arrival was timed well for the high tide when large numbers of waders use the fields when the feeding areas disappear in the bay itself.  On the way we had views of one of our local Buzzards and a few of the usual resident species like Robin, Blue Tit and Starlings.  It was fairly quiet as we walked across the "Purple Heron" field as it's known by the local birders, to the two viewpoints and now called the approach field for more obvious reasons.  But just after crossing the wooden bridge I heard a Yellow Wagtail call, scanning the pools to our left for this bird we found a good number of Pied and mixed with them a few White Wagtails, then right at the back of the pools we could see a couple of Yellow Wagtails.  We were just moving forward towards the viewpoints when Ian Ballam, a fellow patch watcher, phoned my mobile telling me that in the corner of the pools in front of us was a Curlew Sandpiper close to the path.  So I quickly found it for all to see just in case it flushed as we walked passed though we didn't need to worry as neither the Dunlin or the Curlew Sandpiper took any notice of us.

Curlew Sandpiper - Lytchett Fields RSPB © Joe Baldwin

Arriving at the Sherford Pools viewpoint other than a few wagtails everything was at the far end, apparently just before we arrived a Peregrine had "buzzed" the field.  There was still good numbers of  Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Teal, several Little Egrets, a single Greenshank and a few Lapwings.  Chris found another Buzzard sat in an Oak tree and then a Peregrine sped in from the left across the field really low and nothing moved!  Soon after Fran found it sat in a dead tree, it was a young bird obviously still honing her skills.  Shortly afterwards a Kingfisher streaked across the pools heading for the Sherford River but perched long enough in an oak to allow us brief scope views. 

Next we viewed over French's Pools, here the field had a deeper water level but there was a couple of Greenshank and more godwits.  Also a large flock of roosting gulls with mainly Black-headed Gulls, with a Great Black-backed and a few Herring Gulls mixed in. We had taken over an hour working our way through the birds trying to find the Wood Sandpiper, which had been around for a few days, but we couldn't find it anywhere on the pools. 

Walking back to Slough Lane we had a Kestrel hovering over the Purple Heron Field, in the lane we had a small tit flock, also Chaffinch Greenfinch, Goldfinch and of course Robin.  A look of the wildflower/arable field didn't produce anything of note but it was looking good for the late autumn and winter, with the flowers heads now gone to seed, hopefully this will bring in the winter finches and buntings.  Lytchett Pools had more gulls, a scattering of Lapwing, a couple of godwits and a Green Sandpiper.  A quick look around the waterworks we added Jay and a few Chiffchaff.

Now time to return to our cars but it was really nice to show the group our local patch.

Egrets, Spoonbills & Ospreys!

Our Wednesday group met on the 16th at Middlebere track on a still, warm and fairly sunny morning.  Walking down the track to the hide it seemed quiet with no obvious migrants in the hedgerows.  As we arrived at the cattle grid and farmyard we had a flock of Goldfinch along with the resident House Sparrows and at last Swallows flying round and then landing in line along the wire fence and on the barn roof.  A Green Woodpecker flew across and then a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker landed on a post and a short while later was joined by another juvenile.  We had the usual Robins, Wren and Chaffinch as we moved on down to the National Trust cottages.  Angus was very lucky to see a Barn Owl, the rest of us were out of sight for just a few moments as we turned the corner and missed it!  

Great White Egret © Nick Hull

We got into the hide and a lucky photographer said he had seen Cattle Egret earlier that morning and showing Nick his photos it was obvious that it was in fact 3 adults and 5 juveniles, what a record for Poole Harbour.  We did see Little Egrets from the hide of course but no Cattle Egrets for us.  However we did have views of Osprey and of a Spoonbill, though due to a low tide not much in the channel other than a few Shelduck and Grey Heron.  A Curlew landed in the grass in front of the hide and a Whitethroat and Wren in the brambles and two Greenshank flew in and disappeared into one of the creeks.

Walking back past the cottages and looking over the field with a flock of Canada Geese, Fran picked up a bird across the field on a fence, with the scope we could see it was a Whinchat.   Distantly over the harbour were a couple of Buzzards and Osprey, then a Peregrine flew across towards the Wytch channel.  This is where we were heading next and walked up to look from the Harrier Hide.  This was a good move!  We scanned the channel finding Little Egret, Lapwing and a couple of Greenshank but it was Ann that first pointed out that an egret on the left bank had a Yellow bill with a black tip.  To our surprise we had a Great White Egret and through the scopes we all had good views.  A few minutes later it too took flight towards the harbour, in just one morning Poole Harbour had hosted three species of egret, a scarce event indeed.

parasitic wasp possibly Ammophila sabulosa

Our attention was momentarily taken away from birds to watching a Amnophila wasp possible A.sabulosa, a parasitic wasp taking prey into it burrow in the sandy soil.  It then filled the hole with small stones and sand until there was no trace of a hole at all, quite a mesmerising show.  Then the calls of Greenshank made us look up again to see five Greenshank flying away towards Corfe Castle, though one remained on muddy bank.  One last look along the end of the channel a group of 5-6 Spoonbills could be seen.  We also added Stonechat as we walked back and a few butterflies with Grayling and Small Heath.  Other butterflies seen this morning were Red Admiral, Gatekeeper, Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown.

In Search of Shearwaters

On the morning of Sunday 30th July we met our group at Portland Bill for a seawatch.  We joined a small gathering of birders watching from the shelter of the lighthouse wall, it soon became obvious that there was indeed a movement of seabirds, at first we watched a trio of Arctic Skua chasing and harassing a small number of terns off the Bill.  

Then we could settle a bit to get to grips with the shearwaters, as a few of the group hadn't seen Shearwaters before we braved the wind and moved to take as much shelter at the Obelisk could afford. We were soon rewarded with a number of Balearic Shearwaters passing close by.  The best was still to come, we were scanning through a number of large gulls and picking up the odd Gannet sitting on the very rough sea when I picked up a Manx Shearwater moving toward us from along the East Cliff.  When it reached our position it landed on the sea right in front of us.

Manx Shearwater resting on the sea © Mike Davidson

We had plenty of opportunity to see many Balearic and the odd Manx Shearwaters moving past and a number formed a small feeding raft a few hundred metres off the Bill.  We added a number of other species such as Fulmar, Kittiwake, Common Scoter, Mediterranean Gull, Herring and Great Black-backed Gull, Shag, Cormorants.  We also saw three Kestrels, a Peregrine which flew in off the sea and a single Whimbrel which flew past out to sea.  A single Common Sandpiper took a short rest on the rock just in front of us.  We even had a passing Oystercatcher and a handful of Linnets plus a number of Rock Pipits.

After the seawtaching slowed we walked to the Lower Lighthouse Bird Observatory and added many of the commoner species found on the Bill, though the Little Owl in the quarry wasn't to be seen, probably due to the wind direction.

We thought that as it was so windy at the Bill it might be worth checking the north of the island so we headed for the Verne Common and the Admiralty Cemetery.  As it happened, though it was sheltered and warm here, other than a very noisy Peregrine and the usual gulls and corvids there was little to see so we headed to Ferrybridge for lunch.

We started again looking over the Fleet where Mediterranean Gull and Sandwich Terns showed well. We moved on to Lodmoor to finish our day where we added a small selection of waders including three Common Sanpipers, six Dunlin, a few Black-tailed Godwits still looking splendid in summer plumage.  Also Marsh Harrier, Sparrowhawk and a few Swift over the reserve as well as the usual duck species.

New Forest walk for wildlife

On Saturday, 22nd July, we had a group out at Hawkhill Inclosure to look for wildlife, a new walk for Two Owls Birding.   We had a fairly early start and we hoped we would be able to get round before the forecasted rain started.  Bob had arrived just before us and had seen a Spotted Flycatcher on the fence in the car park, unfortunately it had disappeared as we parked up.    

Grayling © Nick Hull

Once everyone was ready we set off and soon we could hear Great Spotted Woodpecker and Mistle Thrush.  A Goldcrest was singing high in a pine tree but it was further on our walk before we actually saw one.  A Green Woodpecker was making a lot of noise out on the heathland and we took path into the open, a family of Stonechats and making their familiar "tac" call sat up on the small gorse bushes around us.  As I turned round to walk back to the main path I put up a Grayling butterfly, it landed just in front of me, it just blended in completely with the stone path.  Everyone had a good look and we found several more on our walk, though the Gatekeeper butterfly took the honour of the most numerous.

Silver-studded Blue © Nick Hull

Further on, my eye was caught by a bird in some honeysuckle, in fact two birds were here and the quick glimpse I had made me think it was a Marsh Tit.  Then a couple of Great Tits came in to view and wondered if I was mistaken.  However we only walked a few feet when I saw my bird again and it was Marsh Tit and its mate was close by and we all got wonderful views of them.  Moving on Nick called Redstart as a bird flew across the path, I just caught the back of it as it disappeared, unfortunately not everyone in the group got to see it.  A Stock Dove started calling and Chiffchaff, by the brook we had a little party of Blue, Great and Coal Tit, also Chiffchaff and Goldcrest.  

We then came back out on to the heathland and the sun was shining, so this brought out several butterflies with Small Heath, Meadow Brown and Common Blue.  However, it was the beautiful little Silver-studded Blue butterfly we were really pleased to see feeding on the bell heather.  Dragonflies were not to be forgotten with Keeled Skimmer, male and female also Common Darter.

Keeled Skimmer (male) © Nick Hull

We did have a walk on the opposite side on Beaulieu Heath and added a few more birds to our list including Swallows, Swift, Grey Heron, Little Egret and plenty of Linnets.   We also had our first and only bird of prey with a Peregrine.  Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated and rain set in, but it was a most enjoyable walk and one we hope to do again.

Juvenile Linnet © Nick Hull