Portland Bill - 4th September

I have been neglecting this blog somewhat of late in favour of entering my records onto eBird, I have now got as far back as 1990 with a few years from the 1980's left to input to complete my UK birding data. Thats almost 30 years of data now on eBird and its a fantastic resource for exploring my historical records. I can now see with a few clicks how many, for example, Pomarine Skua I have recorded at St. Catherine's Point, what my peak day for the species was, my earliest and latest dates, whether I have photographed it etc. I would encourage any birder to commence using eBird and start adding their current and historical birding data. Anyway, I intend to start adding my birding days to this blog once more but perhaps in a slightly more abridged way.

Today I had a survey in Dorset and so headed to Portland Bill for a few hours first thing. I started the morning with a quick scan of Ferrybridge but it was fairly quiet with few waders, best were six Sanderling and 15 Dunlin. My eBird checklist can be seen here.

I then headed to Portland Bill and parked in the main carpark, the wind was firmly in the west with heavy cloud and a few spits of rain and I wasn't particularly optimistic for seeing many birds.  While having coffee it became evident that there was a steady westerly movement of Siskin and Swallow. I then headed up the west cliffs recording further Siskin, Grey Wagtail and Yellow Wagtail overhead but there were few migrants in the bushes. I cut east across the island and birded the Top Fields area where there were good numbers of Wheatear and three Whinchat. I then cut down through Culverwell to the observatory and back, via the Observatory Quarry, to my car. In total I recorded 79 Swallow and 18 Siskin moving west and 24 Wheatear and three Whinchat in the fields - fairly respectable totals for a couple of hours birding. My eBird checklist for the morning can be viewed here. Portland Bird Observatory's account of the day can be viewed here.

Wheatear - Top Fields, Portland Bill

Wheatear - Top Fields, Portland Bill

Whinchat - Top Fields, Portland Bill

The local Stonechat are looking decidedly scruffy - West Cliffs, Portland Bill

Remarkably I have never photographed Carrion Crow before - Top Fields, Portland Bill

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!

Mongolia - 21st May (Day 14) - Terelj National Park and Gachuurt

After a great nights sleep in a bed at the Ulaanbaatar Hotel 2 in Terej National Park we were up at 05:00 to a very cold and frosty morning. Birding the woodlands near to the hotel it was quickly evident that most of the migrants from yesterday had departed and largely we were left with the breeding species. A quick check of the bushes near the rubbish dump produced no Siberian Rubythroat unlike yesterday but a single male Common Redstart showed well. Waking into the forest a pair of Goosander fed along the river. A bit of pishing near to some willow scrub produced a few Willow Tit and then a call which I knew immediately was an Azure Tit, I called Barry and Jon over and we were soon getting great views of this fantastic bird. The rest of the morning produced a range of nice species but no hoped for White-backed Woodpecker, we saw Grey-faced Woodpecker, Lesser spotted Woodpecker, Wryneck, Lesser Whitethroat and Brown Shrike.

After breakfast at 08:00 we birded an area of Birch forest a short way up the road but it was fairly slow going and we saw only Two-barred Greenish Warbler, Pine Bunting, Taiga Flycatcher and a singing Red-flanked Bluetail.

Azure Tit - Terej National Park

Azure Tit - Terej National Park

Azure Tit - Terej National Park

Azure Tit - Terej National Park

Great Tit - Terej National Park

Willow Tit - Terej National Park

Grey-faced Woodpecker - Terej National Park

Wryneck singing from the top of an Ash tree - Terej National Park

Wryneck - Terej National Park

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker - Terej National Park

Brown Shrike - Terej National Park

Goosander - Terej National Park

Goosander - Terej National Park

Red Squirrel - Terej National Park

Carrion Crow of race orientalis - Terej National Park

Chough - Terej National Park

Redstart - Terej National Park

Birch forest at Terej National Park

Birch forest at Terej National Park

Bird's-eye Primrose Primula farinosa, or a species similar to this - Terej National Park

Siberian Chipmunk - Terej National Park

We then drove back towards Ulaanbataar and up the valley to Gachuurt where we visited earlier in the trip for a final look for Siberian Jay. As we drove through the valley we stopped for Rook which here is of the subspecies pastinator and a potential split as Eastern Rook, other than a feathered face in Eastern Rook the differences between the two appear very marginal. A short way up the road a pair of Stonechat were eventually identified as Stejneger's Stonechat but they were not especially obliging.

Rook of subspecies pastinator - Gachuurt 

Stejneger's Stonechat - Gachuurt 

We arrived at our campsite and found the tents already erected and after dropping our bags to the tents we spent a little time birding the clearing and the adjacent area of damp scrub. Here were a few Black-faced Bunting, Yellow-browed Warbler and Two-barred Greenish Warbler plus a rather spectacular dark Red Squirrel.

Campsite at Gachuurt

Campsite at Gachuurt

Pasqueflower Campsite - Gachuurt

Pansy - Gachuurt

Red Squirrel - Gachuurt

Our optimism that we may see Siberian Jay due to a GPS reference that Tumen had obtained soon dwindled as we realised that the positioning was from last year! Regardless, we drove up through the forest to the conifers and slogged up the hill to the GPS reference and there were no jays. In fact, it was extremely slow going with just Siberian Chipmunk, Pallas's Pika and Willow Tit to keep us interested - our enthusiasm soon wained. We decided to cut our losses and head back to the campsite, a jay-like call as we defended produced some excitement but lead us to a stunning Nutcracker which showed extremely well in the evening light.

Siberian Chipmunk - Gachuurt

Pallas's Pica  - Gachuurt

Nutcracker - Gachuurt

 Pine Forest - Gachuurt

 Pine Forest - Gachuurt

Rod enjoying the view at Gachuurt

Back at the campsite a beer was very welcome as was a stunning Ural Owl which showed well at dusk around the clearing. The temperature dropped and a session on the vodka warmed the body and facilitated sleep in the now freezing temperatures.

Ural Owl around our campsite at Gachuurt

Ural Owl around our campsite at Gachuurt

Links to Other Days of the Trip (Click to View)
Day 1 and 2 – International flight then Ulaanbaatar to Mungum Sum
Day 3 -  Mungunmorit and Gachuurt area
Day 4 - Drive to Dalanzadgad
Day 5  – Gurvan Saikhan National Park
Day 6 - Gurvan Saikhan National Park
Day 7 - Gobi Desert and Khongor Sand Dunes
Day 8 – Gobi Desert to Bogd
Day 9 - Baga Bogd Mountain and Kholboolj Lake
Day 10 - Kholboolj Lake and Barig Mountain
Day 11 - Barig Mountain and Sangiin Lake
Day 12 (Part 1) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake
Day 12 (Part 2) - Sangiin Lake and Bayan Lake
Day 13 - Hustai National Park and Terelj National Park
Day 15 and 16 - Gachuurt Area, Tuul River and International flight