Lockdown Blog Day 33

Well we are still on lockdown and I thought it was time to do another blog our Lockdown birding list is improved a little we are up to 71 species on our exercise walk list and the garden list is at 48 species.  The NocMig list has also gone up and now stands at 40 species obviously this includes common resident species but they have to call or sing during the night.  So I've put together a few more sound tracks which are pretty reasonable sound quality for you to have a listen to.  It might be best to ware a headset to listen or turn up the volume as you see appropriate when listening.

This track of Whimbrel lasts 2.23 minutes this is in real time as it was recorded it shows the dilemma when reviewing recordings on how many birds are involved.  I've kept the track length so you can make up your mind, as to me it seems a long time for a single bird like a Whimbrel to take to pass by. So is it different birds calling to keep in contact with each other in the dark as they move in or away from the bay?

Two Owls · Whimbrel

Green Sandpiper are regularly seen in Lytchett Fields RSPB during migration periods and particularly in autumn when number on the pools climb into the twenties. You can also see the odd wintering individual on the pools, it is nice when they fly over and call even if it's only once as is passes over.

Two Owls · Green Sandpiper

As with the previous species Common Sandpiper pass through the bay, though in smaller numbers. I see one or two each year out on the edge of the bay but this year is the first where I've recorded them passing over at night on three occasions so far this year.

Two Owls · Common Sandpiper

Spotted Redshank is another species we have pass through and one or two often over winter in the harbour and are seen fairly regularly on the pools in the fields.  Though saying this it is the first time I've recorded one flying over near my listening station.

Two Owls · Spotted Redshank

Mediterranean Gull are a part of our summer here and we can go out in the garden and around the Lytchett recording area almost at any time of day and hear them calling.  Saying this, this is the first time I have recorded the species moving over at night.

Two Owls · Mediterranean Gull

I suppose the Cuckoo is the harbinger of summer and on the Lytchett Bay patch we see one or two most years but in this last week I have recorder two individuals passing over on migration. I've assumed this as they haven't been seen or heard on the patch the next day. This is the first time that I've recorded Cuckoo at night on migration from my listening station.

Two Owls · Cuckoo

Lockdown Blog Day 25

Hi everyone I hope you have all been keeping busy and watching the wildlife around your gardens and on your exercise walk. Jackie and I have been continuing to keep an out out the best we can to add species to our lockdown  garden and walk lists.  It's not going to badly our garden list is up to 44 species and our walk list is now on 60 species.

Our garden list does include species seen and heard from the garden, we have a few summer migrants  but still very limited with no hirundines yet though Swallow has been seen by others around us.  Blackcap and Chiffchaff are in good voice and its been great to have to Chiffchaff back as we had a blank year in 2019, the first time since we moved here 8 years ago.  The Cetti's is also breeding again and there are two males singing opposite us and one near the Lytchett Bay view point.

We have Greenfinch back but rarely coming into the garden, even the Goldfinch aren't as regular to the feeders at the moment but the male sings from one of the oaks opposite.  We had a Goldcrest singing for just one day and occasionally a Bullfinch will sit over the road and flying over our garden but not coming in.  A pair of Long-tailed Tits were foraging for nest material and a pair of Blue Tits we think are nesting in our "House Sparrow" terrace box but it's gone quiet, maybe she is now sitting.

We've had some excitement with Osprey and Red Kite over the house but apart from Buzzard we've recorded no other raptors.  In the evening from the garden we have heard Tawny Owl, Snipe, Moorhen and Water Rail.

Nocturnal Migration or NocMig is still continuing and I've recorded 37 species overnight most are local species that have been singing during the night around the bungalow or further out in the bay.  The most interesting for me are those species that are passing over as most of these are migrants moving over heading of to their breeding grounds.

I've included a few of the better recording of those species that have flown over very close over our garden. First is a Water Rail a species we have in the reed beds opposite our bungalow but rarely see them flying or even record them in flight.  So I think this is a bird that is moving to breed somewhere else.

The next is a rather long recording of a Sandwich Tern or terns as their is possible more than one involved but it is hard to tell for sure.  It is the first time I've recorded them flying over at night though we do see them in the day time out fishing in the bay during the summer but even then the aren't a daily occurrence. 

This is Mute Swans out in the bay being territorial probably because another pair or another swan has entered the territory and they are seeing them off.  In the recording you can hear a bird takeoff land and prove they aren't mute.  The nearest water is 250m away so it shows I think how loud the wing beating is also how sensitive my new microphones are.

This is a nice recording in that I've never recorded them flying so close over home usually distantly over the bay then not that often. In fact they aren't a common visitor to Lytchett Bay unlike the Canada Geese.  This must of been quite a large skein which was split up possibly into three groups.

Though we can get large numbers of Oystercatcher feeding on the Turlin sports fields and spread out over the bay feeding at low tide, as soon as the breeding season comes they move out and this is probably what this bird or birds were doing.  As in the eight years we have lived here I think I've only seen Oystercatcher flying over the bungalow once.  With this recording you can hear the doppler effect as it starts faint and increases in volume and then decreases as the bird then moves away to the north.

This recording os a Blackcap I made on my iPhone just this morning as we were taking our early exercise walk to the view point.  There are two Blackcaps that have territories more or less opposite our bungalow and they were having a bit of a sing off this morning so I recorded the closest one as his song was a little more interesting than the other as it was doing a little mimicking within it's  repertoire.  It also shows how good the mobile phones are as its made a pretty good recording.

This last recording isn't a bird but it's quite interesting as it's one of our local Fox or Fox's as I think this involve two animals.  Though I have a number of recording of the local foxes I've never heard or recorded the rapid "hu hu hu hup" that comes before the screaming bark.

Hope you have enjoyed listening to the night sound of Lytchett Bay Keep Safe. Nick and Jackie.

Lockdown Birding

Hope your are all well and keeping safe and watching wildlife from close to home as Jackie and I are doing.  

The thing is what to do, well I think birders adapt well and Jackie is keeping a day garden lockdown list and I'm keeping a night time (or NocMig) list and we take our exercise walk around the local Lytchett patch. I've also been writing a daily species of the day on the Friends of Lytchett Bay Facebook page, though it's getting harder to find new species in the garden each day but just about managing it at present. 

The patch lockdown walk list stands at 45 species the Lockdown Garden List at 39 species and I've recorded 33 species between 21:00hrs and 05:00hrs overnight.  We have had some nice highlights and quality birds, Osprey, Red Kite for the garden and Arctic Tern for the Bay with Coot a patch rarity and Common Scoter as migrants over night on NocMig recordings.

Some of you may know that my trusty parabolic reflector microphone after many years of service stopped working last year and I've been undecided about what to replace it with.  Talking to Paul Morton of Birds of Poole Harbour and Sound Approach guys I made the decision to purchase a SM4 Song Meter from Wildlife Acoustics.  Though quite expensive it is waterproof and can be setup to record continually and saves to one or two SD cards.  I'm using 2 x 16Gb cards which has enough memory for four nights of recording.  So far it's proved to be very good and the recording quality is high, when you think that we're in a semi-urban area with a lot of town background noise to contend with.

Below is a couple of the better recordings, one of the three scoter flocks I've recorded over the last week and one of several coot passing overhead and the third is a migrating Moorhen and finishing with Redwing.

This is one of three recording of Common Scoter passing over Lytchett Bay in this past week.

This is one of five Coot that I've recorded over the last week a real rarity in Lytchett bay but I record them every year on NocMig. The thing is you only record the calling birds so you have no real idea of how many there are unless you get multiple calls all at once which sometimes you do.

Now you have heard Coot I thought I would add a migrating Moorhen for comparison. This is a nice recording though early in the night as there was quite a bit of background traffic interference but at around 19 seconds in you will also here one of the local female Water Rail calling from the reed bed opposite our bungalow, also a male at the end.

We also had a unprecedented Redwing passage on the night of the 1st/2nd April when I recorded 282 calling going over the majority being recorded between 03:00hrs and 04:30hrs in the morning.  This movement is possibly to do with the change from the cold northerlies which held the birds up and when the wind changed back to the south they moved and it appears this was a widespread movement across the south of England.  

Just to remind you of what they sound like I've included a recording below.

Our last Birding highlight was from this mornings walk along the east of the bay towards Turlin Moor where we were hoping to see a Swallow but ended up seeing an 'Arctic Swallow'.  

As when we reached the Lytchett View Point I spotted a tern species dipping in the bay as we watched it, both Jackie and I said "think that's an Arctic" I watched as it quartered the bay and Jackie called Shaun who unfortunately had gone to the other side of the bay for his morning exercise. It eventually came close enough so we were able to confirm it was an Arctic Tern.  This was a life species for our Lytchett Bay list and one we might not see until the autumn depending on how long this emergency restriction last.  Unfortunately I didn't manage a photograph so I've added one from a trip we had to the Farne Islands in 2017 coming on an attack.

Arctic Tern coming in to see me off the path - Inner Farne © Nick Hull

North Wales, Anglesey & Holy Island

Hi everyone,

Jackie and I ventured off to North Wales, we had booked to stay at a Warners hotel at Bodelwyddan Castle as it was convenient to be able to visit Jackie's Aunt who lives in Llandudno and good access to a few birding sites and the coast.  I have to say the service we had and the food was excellent and the lodge we stayed in was comfortable and all one needed for a holiday I should say it is an adults only hotel.

We arrived late afternoon on the Monday so our first day for birding was Tuesday and we decided that a trip to Holy Island and South Stack would get us, with a little luck, Black Guillemot and Chough and perhaps a Rose-coloured Starling which seems to have taken up residence in a small village.

We headed off to Holyhead harbour it's a good location for Black Guillemot and other sea birds.  When we arrived we managed with a little luck to find a small parking area that overlooked the harbour and almost immediately I saw a Black Guillemot diving and feeding in the harbour.  I grabbed the camera and went to the edge of the shore in the hope it would come close enough to get a decent shot but didn't really have any luck, as you can see it is in summer plumage.

Black Guillemot - Holyhead Harbour © Nick Hull

From here it was on to South Stack our target here was to have lunch at the RSPB centre and to see Chough.  Well, the seeing of Chough went ok we saw nine flying over The Range which headed off out of sight.  The lunch didn't happen at the centre as it appears the RSPB are having it refurbished and had the builders in, we presume it will be completed for the breeding season.

Chough flying over South Stack Holy Island Wales

So we snacked and had a cuppa hoping the Chough would reappear but no such luck and the wind was increasing. Our next location was the small village of Llanfaethu as a first winter Rose-coloured Starling or as some now call them Rosy Starling had taken up residence with the local Starlings.  Instructions on the bird news said the bird could be found on the feeders in the garden behind the post box.  We parked up just a few metres down the road from the post box and walked back up the road.  We hadn't gone twenty metres and I could see the bird perched in a tree preening. It gave great close views and enable me to get some ok photographs.

Rose-coloured Starling - Llanfaethu, Anglesey Wales

It was a pretty scruffy individual and was obviously starting it's moult and it just shows if you see a pale bird in a winter flock of Starling take a closer look it's probably a Rose-coloured Starling.

On Wednesday we visited Jackie's aunt it was extremely windy day we had a drive up to the cafe on the Great Orme and saw one or two Fulmar which had returned to the cliffs to get ready for the new breeding season.  Unfortunately due to a cliff fall we couldn't travel all the way around so headed back to Jackie's aunts apartment for tea & coffee.  Whilst there I noticed a flight of Chough four birds which flew along the cliff top of the Great Orme and on around out of sight.

Thursday was going to be our last full day and we wanted to see if we could see Black Grouse so we had breakfast as early as we could and headed out to the World's End an area of grouse moor where we have been successful in the past.  We had a little difficulty finding the right area but once we had found the correct road we drove up onto the moor and slowly worked our way across the top.  Around halfway across I spotted something at the edge of the heather and juncus, stopping and getting the bins onto it, it revealed itself as a Red Grouse.

Head of the Red Grouse © Nick Hull

Over the next thirty minutes or so we had several calling and managed to locate around six individuals scattered over the moor.

Red Grouse returning out into the open © Nick Hull

Shortly after we saw a Black Grouse fly across and then land disappearing into long heather, a little  while after another flew across and kept going.  We moved down the road and I had a look over a rise and as I did Jackie saw another Black Grouse fly towards us, I was looking in the wrong direction. Jackie was shouting at me but the wind was taking her voice away, oddly I panned back to the left and caught sight of a Black Grouse just landing in the heather some 150m away Jackie's bird. I saw another distant bird but Jackie came away with the best view of us both.

Black Grouse - Archive photograph

We left happy with what we had seen and lunch at the Rhug Estate Organic Farm, Shop & Cafe which was very nice and well worth a visit if your ever passing.  After lunch we headed to Conwy RSPB reserve, here we managed to dodge the rain but not the wind but we managed to get around three of the reserves hides and saw many of the resident species, the highlight here was a pair of Goosander that flew in whilst we were there and gave us some pretty good views.

pair Goosander - Conwy RSPB © Nick Hull

The Goosander were a very nice end to our week in North Wales and it will be nice to return in the late spring to be able to catch up with some of the areas breeding species.

Norfolk neck-collared Pink-footed Goose

Those of you that follow our blog might remember I mentioned a neck collared Pink-footed Goose that we saw in Norfolk.  I contacted  Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust WWT with the details and Kane Brides replied with the following history of the bird.




As you can see it is a well travelled bird and particularly likes Norfolk to winter as do so many of this species.

Lytchett Bay Report

Hi all,

This is going to be a short blog just to make you all aware that the 2019 Lytchett Bay Report has been completed and is now on line on the Birds of Poole Harbour website survey page or you can follow this link for a PDF version.

https://www.birdsofpooleharbour.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/LB2019Rep_compressed.pdf

Wryneck © Terry Elborne

The report gives you a summary of the birds, mammals,  invertebrates and botany recorded in 2019 in the Lytchett Bay survey area.

Shaun and myself would like to thank particularly Ian Ballam for his continuous recording in the area and all those that have contributed by sending in their records and photographs either by entering them on BirdTrack, e-Bird, Twitter or directly by e-mail it all adds to our knowledge of the patch.

So a Big Thank You All

Nick, Jackie and Shaun

Highlights of Norfolk 2020

Usually over the last fifteen years or so when Jackie and I have visited North Norfolk it's been leading groups, but this last week we went alone to grab a break together and see if we could continue adding species to our year list.  So last Sunday we headed off to the Briarfields Hotel in Titchwell for a short stay. We arrived a little later than we hoped and it was raining hard so we decided to rest and start birding next morning at Sedgeford for the Alaskan/Eastern Yellow Wagtail.

So next morning straight after breakfast we headed to Shaw Farm Sedgeford though it was fine it was overcast and breezy we parked off the road and walked the lane to where other birders were looking for the bird.  After three hours of searching it became obvious that the bird had found somewhere else to spend the day.  So we decided we would try again later in the week and headed to Sculthorpe Moor to try for the Waxwing.

Arriving at Sculthorpe we were told that it was still around but was not in view but they were sure it hadn't gone far.  We went through to the rear of the centre and waited not long as it happens as it flew in and perched in an oak tree very near us and gave stunning views.

Waxwing - Sculthorpe Moor Norfolk © Nick Hull

Whilst waiting for the Waxwing to show we managed to check off a couple of Red Kite and a Sparrowhawk but oncce the Waxwing was in the bag we headed towards Wells-next-the Sea to chance our luck to see the Rough-legged Buzzard wintering in the area.

En-route to Wells we checked out North Point /Warham Fresh Marsh as it was somewhere we hadn't been to before and found it a very nice little marsh well worth knowing about.  As we turned under the old railway bridge to go into Wells we saw a couple of car parked in a gateway and the birders scoping something. So we safely parked on the verge and joined them and found they were watching our target.  Though at some distance from where we were watching from we had good scope view of a cracking looking Rough-legged Buzzard.

Rough-legged Buzzard - Wells-next-the-Sea © Nick Hull

From Wells we drove to Thornham Quay here we hoped for Twite we were told they like to sit on the old coal house on the right of the road at the quay. As we arrived we could see some small birds on the roof and I pulled up opposite and we had a look and my bins were full of Twite, I couldn't believe we were so lucky.  We didn't stay long but headed to Titchwell to see the harrier roost and hoped for a Woodcock.  As Jackie was getting tired we went to the Fen Hide where we could sit and watch and we probably didn't see as many as others did at the viewing screen but we saw 24 Marsh Harrier come into roost and 17 Little Egret, but no Woodcock none-the-less a nice end to the day.

Next morning (28th) we tried for three Tundra Bean Geese that was associating with a Pink-footed Goose flock near Holkham.  We found the Pink-feet without a problem but dipped on the Bean Geese. We did find a Pink-footed Goose with a neck collar which I've reported and now waiting for the history of the bird. 

Salthouse had changed since our last visit as there was no car park anymore.  I took a walk to see if I could find any Snow Bunting and I also checked out if there was anything out to sea.  Other than get cold and wanting to warm up I found very little, so we headed to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust centre at Cley for a lunch break.  We noticed that there was little on the reserve we hadn't seen already so we decided to wind our way back to our hotel popping into Holkham to see if the Grey Partridge were behind the parking attendance hut at the bottom of Lady Anne's Drive and sure enough they were.  We then spent about an hour checking through the wildfowl on each side of the drive, of interest was a good number of Ruff.

We decide to finish a bit earlier so Jackie could recharge before going out to dinner with friends, though we stop at the parking area that looked over Holkham/Burnham Very Marshes.  I checked out the Pink-foot flock again for the Bean Geese still no luck.  I was just about to get back into the car with Jackie when she shouted Barn Owl, I turned just in time to see it fly by to my right very close indeed.  I grabbed my camera but it was too late it had passed by and was heading away.  Anyway we watched it and waited for a while to see if it would come back and probably ten minutes past when we noticed it flying towards us along the hedgerow opposite.  I got out the car with the camera and waited then managed to shoot a few frames as it hovered and pounced into the grass not to far away.

Barn Owl near Holkham © Nick Hull

At dinner that evening news came that the Alaskan/Eastern Yellow Wagtail had been seen again so we arranged to pick our friends up and head back to Sedgeford next morning. 

So the 29th started well for us as we had Barn Owl, Buzzard, and Marsh Harriers and a single Sparrowhawk whilst having breakfast. An hour later saw us pulling up adjacent to a manure heap at Shaw Farm and almost immediately Jackie said "Oh it's there halfway up the heap" We stayed sometime watching this super looking wagtail that breeds from Siberia to Alaska I managed a few shots none are particularly good but they are good enough for a memory of a stunning rare bird.

Alaskan Yellow Wagtail - Sedgeford © Nick Hull

The rest of the day was spent at Titchwell RSPB, picking up a few trip ticks with birds such as Knot, Avocet, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwits, but fairly quiet really.  We did catch up with Woodcock and had great views of Muntjac by the visitor centre, then went on to help our friends connect with Rough-legged Buzzard and Barn Owl.

Woodcock - Titchwell RSPB © Nick Hull

Muntjac Deer - Titchwell RSPB © Nick Hull

On the 30th again our day started well at breakfast with two Red Kite, Kestrel and three Marsh Harrier after which we headed out to Holkham parking in Lady Anne's Driver and walking out to the beach.  I was a little concerned how Jackie would cope with walking as far and on sand but it's amazing what the promise of seeing Shore Lark, Snow Buntings, Velvet Scoter and Long-tailed Duck can do to a persons determination.  Anyway we took our time and almost as we reach some other birders watching them we saw 40-50 Snow Bunting take off and land out on the dunes so when we reached the other birders we expected that the Shore Lark had gone as well. We needn't worried as the Shore Lark were still there and after a few minutes to get on to them you could see the occasional head popping up and down as they moved through the undergrowth of the salt marsh.

one of five Shore Lark - Holkham Mills © Nick Hull 

One down, so we moved out to the dunes to find the sea duck.  We joined a few other birders and found there was a large number of Common Scoter off shore in more or less three large rafts.  I thought it's going to take a while to search through this lot for a handful of Velvets.  We had been sorting through one of the rafts when the flock of Snow Buntings flew past in front of us and landed to our left searched and fed for a while before moving on up the beach.  I eventually found a male Long-tailed Duck and a couple of Red-breasted Mergansers and a while later I picked out the white in the wing of a Velvet Scoter what was really amazing was I managed to get Jackie on them all without too much trouble.  A clean sweep, so it was back to the new lookout cafe for a celebration coffee and piece of very nice flapjack where I added a Peregrine to our list sat out in the marsh.

Snow Bunting - Holkham Dunes © Nick Hull

Before leaving we checked out the wildfowl each side of the drive and we managed to find the Black Brant or Brants lots of controversy about one of them being a hybrid or as some have claimed Grey-bellied Brant.  Well to me there was little difference in the two individuals though one did appear darker than the other and with slightly whiter flanks.  But saying this both birds stood out to be different from the associating Dark-bellied Brent.

Black Brant (Back) & Brant x Dark-bellied Brent?middle - Lady Anne's Drive © Nick Hull

Looking at photographs on the web taken in North America both seem to fit within the colour range of Black Brant, what I cannot find written is if the colour differences it to do the sex or age of the individuals but it's certainly interesting birds to see.

On the 31st we started our journey home but stopped off at Welney WWT to add Whooper Swan and Tree Sparrow to our list.  We saw a family party of Whooper Swan on our approach to the WWT Centre and had lots of Reed Bunting and several Tree Sparrows on the centres feeders.  The overriding experience was to see what was possible 2000+ Golden Plover all in the air just dotting the sky and wanting to land but wouldn't, they were very nervous and we eventually found out why there was a Peregrine sat out on the fen.

Whooper Swan family - Welney WWT © Nick Hull