The Deskbound Birder: Grey Phalarope

Showing posts with label Grey Phalarope. Show all posts

Thursday, 1 April 2021

Odds and Ends from the 1st Quarter of 2021

Through this horrendous Covid-19 pandemic I have been fortunate in being able to continue to work and to travel for my work. During this time I have managed to make a few short detours to see a few birds. However, during this time I decided to cease posting on this blog, now that April is here and the Country is slowly easing out of lock-down I am planning to revive my posts. Here are some images from the very end of 2020 and into 2021.

Northern Mockingbird - I headed down to Exmouth for this bird at the end of March, not the best of twitches having to stand on a ladder and peer into someones garden.

Cirl Bunting - After the Mockingbird I headed to Labrador Bay RSPB Reserve where around 15 Cirl Bunting showed well

Baikal Teal - A short diversion during the school run got me this very wary bird at Sopley in Hampshire.

Garganey - Some time at Pennington Marsh either side of school drop off produced this fine male at the end of March

Dusky Warbler - I had great views of this bird at Siddington, Gloucestershire in early March

Grey Phalarope - School drop off also produced this bird at Pennington Marsh at the end of February

Bufflehead - I made a short visit for this bird at Lee Marston Lakes at the end of February

Dipper - A nesting pair showed well in Stroud at the end of February

Great Bustard - I dropped into see this bird in Oxfordshire from the Salisbury release programme

in early March

Little Bunting - Showed well at Thursley Common in December

Rustic Bunting - A visit to Thursley Common in December produced good views after a long wait

Sunday, 11 October 2020

Pennington Marsh - 9th October

After dropping my son at school I spent a couple of hours at Pennington Marsh before work, it was a lovely sunny morning and I planned to walk a short loop out to Fishtail Lagoon and back east. When I got to Fishtail Lagoon two Grey Phalarope that had been found yesterday were showing superbly well in the south-east corner of the lagoon and so I spent some time with these fantastic little birds as they fed at close quarters. A Woodlark flew over heading south, a new site bird for me.

The time was pushing on and so I headed quickly out to Keyhaven Lagoon, which was somewhat disappointing as is so often the case, and then headed back east along the seawall seeing a couple of Yellow Wagtail and Bearded Tit.

My eBird checklist can be viewed here.

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Meadow Pipit - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Yellow Wagtail - Jetty Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

On reaching home, I checked my phone and to my shock the top message was 'Wilson's Phalarope showing well at west end of Fishtail Lagoon', reported at 11:15 I must have walked right past this bird at around 10:15. Absolutely gutted! I sat at my desk and completed some urgent work, the rest can wait till later and I headed back down to Pennington. After a slightly mad drive and a quick dash along the seawall I was watching this superb and very confiding Wilson's Phalarope as it fed amongst the rush in the west corner of Fishtail - I was made up. A fantastic bird that I have only seen a handful of times before, the last in the UK being the summer plumaged female just across the water at Yarmouth on 21st June 2013.

My eBird checklist and additional photograph's of the Wilson's can be viewed here.

Wilson's Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Thursday, 27 September 2018

Isle of Wight and Pennington Marsh - 25th September

It was my birthday and as with previous years I planned to go birding for much of the day. I had a survey to complete on the Isle of Wight so I booked the earliest ferry from Lymington to Yarmouth at 05:30 to give me time at St. Catherines Point before my survey. The alarm went off at 03:45 but I had actually been awake since 02:00 and as I stepped outside I was greeted by darkness and a glowing harvest moon. I was on the island by 06:00 and stopped above Freshwater Bay as the sun was rising to enjoy the moon over Tennyson Down.

Harvest moon over Romsey

Moon over Freshwater Bay and Tennyson Down

Arriving at St. Catherine's Point I began the morning by standing to the west of the lighthouse and watching the visible migration. There was a steady stream of Meadow Pipit, a few Pied/White Wagtail, Linnet, Chaffinch and Siskin. Hirundine passage (mainly Swallow but a few House Martin) was fairly dramatic with a trickle of birds initially but then for around 30 minutes a flood of birds with approximately 150 birds passing east every minute. However, by 08:00 this pulse of birds again eased off to a trickle. At 08:15 I gave up on the vis mig, which had all but stopped and headed to the bushes. First, I birded the East Fields before heading along the slope behind Knowle Farm, up through Hanging Valley and back through Wood Warbler Valley. It was fairly slow going, there seemed to be good numbers of Chiffchaff and Blackcap but little else. I watched a Hobby chasing Hirundines over Wood Warbler Valley and a Spitfire performing loop-the-loops but the birding had pretty much tailed off. After a coffee watching a Red Squirrel at the top of the Lighthouse Road I headed west.

Visible Migration Totals (06:30-08:15, all birds moving east):

Hirundine - 362 up to 07:30 then approx. 4,500 through between 07:30 to 08:00.

Pied Wagtail - 32

Grey Wagtail - 1

Yellow Wagtail - 4

Meadow Pipit - 217

Chaffinch - 3

Linnet - 65

Siskin - 9

Totals from my walk around:

Hobby - 1

Blackcap - 22

Whitethroat - 5

Chiffchaff - 25

Stonechat - 8

Wheatear - 2

Weather: Early wind NE F2-3 25% cloud cover and chilly. By 09:00 wind SE F3-4 and warm.

Chiffchaff - East Fields, St. Catherine's Point

Blackcap - Hanging Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Carrion Crow dwarfed by two Raven - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Juvenile Hobby - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Carrion Crow and Buzzard - Wood Warbler Valley, St. Catherine's Point

Spitfire KJI SM520 over St. Catherine's Point - More information on this plane can be read here

Red Squirrel - Lighthouse Road, St. Catherine's Point

Birding the pools along the Western Yar at Mill Copse was pretty slow going, a flock of 55 Mediterranean Gull, three Sandwich Tern, 150 Black-tailed Godwit, 15 Golden Plover and a single Spotted Redshank was all that I recorded. I decided to head to my survey and get an earlier ferry home to get to Pennington Marsh so that I could at least see something of a little more note on my birthday.

Mediterranean Gull (1st winter) - Western Yar, Yarmouth

At Pennington Marsh I only had 1.15 hours before collecting Tobias from school so I headed straight for Fishtail and Butts Lagoon. My first scan of Butts Lagoon produced the Temminck's Stint feeding on the north shore. Also here were 15 Dunlin and four Snipe. I then headed to Fishtail Lagoon where a Grey Phalarope showed down to seven metres on the channel between Fishtail and Butts Lagoon - what a stunning little bird. Finally, on Butts Lagoon were three Spotted Redshank and a Curlew Sandpiper. After such an early start I was knackered and it was time to collect Tobias and head home for dinner and some wine.

Here are a few images of the Grey Phalarope on the channel between Butts and Fishtail Lagoon, I first saw this bird on 22nd September, its becoming like an old friend!

Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Pennington Marsh - 24th September

This morning news broke of a Temminck's Stint at Pennington Marsh on Jetty Lagoon, this was a patch tick for me and so I was keen to see it. Fortunately, at 16:30 I had to pick-up Tobias from school and so I headed off a little early to give myself time to pop in and take a look. By the late afternoon the bird had settled onto Fishtail Lagoon and on arrival it was feeding in the eastern end of the lagoon moving between the islets and the main bank. It was very flighty and at one point seemed to head out onto the saltmarsh before returning being pursued by Swallow's. After feeding on the main island for a short while it then flew to the west end of the lagoon before vanishing. It was then relocated in the south-west corner of Butts lagoon where it showed well in the early evening light.

Temminck's Stint - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Following my views of the Grey Phalarope on Fishtail Lagoon on 22nd September there were now two birds present and both showed very well along the southern edge of the lagoon. It was interesting to note the subtle differences in the plumages of the two birds 'Saturdays' bird (the lower of these two images) was far more buff around the front of the neck with a more elongate dark ear covert patch, more extensive buff streaking in the crown and a more extensively dark bill although they were at a similar stage in their moult sequence.

Also during my short visit there was a juvenile Curlew Sandpiper on Fishtail Lagoon, six Yellow Wagtail and an impressive movement of several hundred Hirundine's, mostly Swallow, heading slowly eastwards.

Grey Phalarope - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Grey Phalarope (the same bird as on 22nd September) - Fishtail Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Sunday, 23 September 2018

Pennington Marsh - 21st and 22nd September

It was the second storm of the Autumn, Storm Bronagh, which passed over the UK just 24 hours after the passing of Storm Ali. Bronagh seemed to be a more subdued affair with maximum wind speeds around 30mph lower than Ali, mind you when I arrived at Pennington around seven hours after the passing of the peak of the storm it was still exceedingly windy. I had very little time and decided to head to Fishtail Lagoon which is proving to be superb at the moment with water levels ideal. I spent some time here scanning the Dunlin, Black-tailed Godwit and Ringed Plover looking for something a little more unusual but the highlight proved to be a fine juvenile Little Stint that flew in from the east with a Dunlin flock. I headed on to Keyhaven Lagoon which was almost devoid of bird life but for a fine juvenile Ruff which showed well. I then headed back along the seawall past Butts Lagoon and past Jetty Lagoon before cutting back to the carpark. It was tough going in the wind and I saw little but for five Swallow and a Water Rail. Back at the car I dumped my scope and wandered along the Ancient Highway seeing 12 Sand Martin over Efford Lagoon and 30 Wigeon on the balancing pond at the western end of the Ancient Highway.

Juvenile Ruff - Keyhaven Lagoon, Pennington Marsh

Storm Bronagh (windy.com)

On 22nd September, Sarah and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary and so while Sarah was having a treatment at the spa I dropped Tobias at a friends for a play date and then popped to Pennington Marsh. I had no more than two hours and so decided to spend the entirety of my time at Fishtail Lagoon. Scanning from the Old Tip there were clearly good numbers of waders on the lagoon and after picking up a distant Curlew Sandpiper I decided to head to the seawall to get closer. It wasn't long before I picked up a fine juvenile Grey Phalarope feeding on the north shore of the lagoon. I spent virtually all my time with this bird and it wasn't long before it made its way across the lagoon to feed on the southern shore and gave superb views down to around 5m or so. The two recent storms have displaced many Grey Phalarope with at least 100 being reported around the UK with many inland records. The weather was pretty fowl and the rain became progressively heavy and so my images are perhaps not as good as they could have been but I was happy with the views of the bird that I had obtained. There were also five Knot, 120 Black-tailed Godwit, 250 Dunlin, one Spotted Redshank and 15 Ringed Plover on the lagoon - surely its not long before something really good shows on the lagoon? Also while here I recorded single Wheatear and Whinchat, six Yellow Wagtail and a moribund Arctic Tern on the mud of the lagoon. It was midday and time to head off to meet Sarah for a celebratory lunch - I was chuffed with my couple of hours at Pennington.