Black-throated Thrush - Whipsnake Zoo, Bedfordshire - 27th December

Between the Christmas and New Year festivities at our cottage in Cowley near to Cheltenham I decided to head for the long staying Black-throated Thrush at Whipsnade Zoo. The bird was first found on 11th December and has been seen on every day since feeding in a Cotoneaster tree. After leaving Cowley at around 09:15 I arrived at the zoo at just gone 11:00. I wandered directly to the birds favoured tree and was soon watching this stunning adult male bird with around 15 other birders. The Thrush showed down to around 15 meters as it devoured the berries of the Cotoneaster. On occasion the bird would move deeper into the tree and would also fly off to other parts of the zoo for short periods of time soon to return. Unfortunately, over the last few days the bird appears to have been attacked, presumably by a Sparrowhawk, and on its left side it has lost all its tertials and many of the wing coverts (see fourth image below) and there is a hole in its rump feathers, when flying the bird clearly has a large gap in its wing feathers but otherwise it appears healthy and is feeding well.

There have been 84 British records of Black-throated Thrush to the end of 2017. I have seen one in the UK previously a sub-adult male which wintered at Curload, Stoke St Gregory present from 24th December 2005 to 6th January 2006.

My ebird list for the morning can be viewed here.

Black-throated Thursh - Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire

Black-throated Thursh - Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire

Black-throated Thursh - Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire

Black-throated Thursh - Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire

Black-throated Thursh - Whipsnade Zoo, Bedfordshire

Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly - 17th - 22nd October

It has been a long time since we had visited our cottage in Cornwall and so we had booked a long weekend away in Cornwall and on the Isles of Scilly. Due to work commitments we had to reduce our time in Cornwall and so we eventually only had one full day. We headed down on 17th and spent the afternoon and evening relaxing. On 18th the weather was foul but as it was my only birding morning on mainland Cornwall I headed out at first light and spent 1.5 hours seawatching at Pendeen in a F7 westerly with some heavy squally showers. There were many Gannet, Razorbill and Guillemot passing plus smaller numbers of Kittiwake. Highlights were four Arctic Tern, a single Sooty Shearwater, two Balearic Shearwater, three Manx Shearwater, four Dunlin and a Merlin which zipped westwards. News broke of a first year Subalpine Warbler at Cot Valley and I decided to have a quick look for it. The bird was in the bracken and scrub above the Youth Hostel and in the strong winds and heavy rain it was pretty hopeless and all I managed was a brief flight view of the bird as it flicked between two Hawthorn bushes.

On 19th we were up at 06:30, tidied the cottage and were on our way to Lands End airport for our 09:30 flight to St. Mary's. Arriving on Scilly at 09:50 on a beautiful sunny day we checked into the Star Castle Hotel and then headed out. We wandered out to Old Town Churchyard and spent some time here where the only birds were three Goldcrest and two Blackcap. There was no sign of the long staying Red-backed Shrike. We then headed through Lower Moors, a couple Yellow-browed Warbler called, the hide was devoid of birds and the long staying and confiding Spotted Crake did not show. After a relaxing lunch in Juliet's Cafe we headed out to Holy Vale where there were three Yellow-browed Warbler and then to Porth Hellick pool where there were eight Common Teal and 11 Snipe but no sign of the long staying Blue-winged Teal. It was now 15:45 and so we decided to head back to the Star Castle. A stop at Lower Moors produced a very brief view of the Spotted Crake and a single Water Rail which had just chased the crake away. It had been a slow start to our time on the islands but its always good to be back here.

Cot Valley as we flew from Land's End to Isles of Scilly

Grey Heron - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Porthellick Pool, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

On 20th we headed over to St. Martin's and walked along the back of Par Beach before cutting up to the Day Mark and then headed back down to the road before walking along the spine of the island to the Karma Hotel in the west of the island where we had lunch. Birding was fairly slow going but there were large numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare with around 250 of the former and 50 of the latter. A Firecrest and two Yellow-browed Warbler were in the Middle Town area, a male Merlin on Chapel Down and two Stonechat. We caught the 15:30 back from St. Martin's and on arrival on St. Mary's we headed up to Lower Moors where the Spotted Crake was showing well as it preened in the boggy woodland at the Rosehill end of the trail. We watched the bird for a few minutes before it slipped away into the flooded woodland once again. We then headed to Porthloo Beach where there were around 45 Oystercatcher and a single Northern Wheatear. The main thing I wanted to see here was Portuguese Man' O War of which we soon came across five beached animals, although most were now bleached and colourless, one had retained its bright blue and pink colours. These strange creatures, dubbed locally as 'Purple Pasties', are not true jellyfish (which are single organisms) but a siphonophore, which is a colonial organism made up of many specialised animals (polyps) of the same species.

Greenfinch - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Oystercatcher - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

View to north-west over St. Martin's from the Day Mark with White Island to the right

Redwing and Fieldfare - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Dark Common Pheasant, these seem to be the common form present on St. Martin's - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Redwing - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Northern Wheatear - St. Martin's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Crake - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Portuguese Man O' War - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

On 21st we caught the boat across to St. Agne's, one of my favourite of all islands, and wandered out to Wingletang Down via the Gugh Bar and back down Barnaby Lane. It seemed fairly quiet and the highlights were two Swallow, a single Northern Wheatear, Chiffchaff and two Stonechat as well as moderate numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare. At the top end of Barnaby Lane 'pishing' into the elms produced a Goldcrest and a single Yellow-browed Warbler. We then dropped down through Middle Town to Porth Cloose where a Spotted Sandpiper showed well as it fed along the strandline seaweed mounds. After lunch at the Turks Head we were on the 14:15 ferry back to St. Mary's and enjoyed a wander around the Garrison where eventually the Blue Rock Thrush showed fairly well but a little distantly as it fed on the beach at Morning Point. This bird has been present since 22nd September and is my second in the UK after the Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire bird on 3rd February 2017. There was little else to be seen and so by 17:00 we were tucked up in the Atlantic with a pint.

Yellow-browed Warbler - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Spotted Sandpiper - St. Agne's, Isles of Scilly

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly 

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Blue Rock Thrush - St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

View of St. Agnes from the Garrison, St. Mary's with the Scillonian

The 22nd was our final day and after breakfast we had a walk around the pines, campsite and Woolpack area of the Garrison where there were small numbers of Redwing, three fly-over Brambling, a couple of Goldcrest and a Chiffchaff. Spider collected us at 10:40 for our 11:40 flight and we stopped in Old Town where a New Zealand Spiny Stick Insect had been seen yesterday and after a bit of searching we found this superb 15cm insect dangling from a Pittosporum. Our flight was delayed by 50 minutes but our crossing was very smooth and the sea flat calm allowing us to see around 20 Common Dolphin from the air. We landed at Land's End at 12:45 and were home by 18:00.

New Zealand Spiny Stick Insect Micrarchus hystricuelus - Old Town, St. Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Shetland Mainland - 5th October

The weather forecast was for a windy day with a damp start to the morning and so I decided to have a lay-in and set the alarm for 06:45, I eventually got out of bed at 07:15 and out in the field (well into the car anyway) by 08:00. A Pied-billed Grebe was present at Loch of Spiggie and while I decided to go birding before twitching the grebe the weather was pretty nasty and news came through that the grebe was present and so I decided to head for it first off. I arrived at the road on the west side of the Loch and soon got onto the Pied-billed Grebe, there were around 30 birders present. It was distant and I was somewhat disapointed by the views and had to scrounge some scope views to even be confident that it was at least a grebe. I spent around an hour here and the grebe would frequently disapear into the marginal vegetation for periods of time. Also here were two Swallow, a Slavonian Grebe and several Tufted Duck but it was cold and very windy and so I didn't spend much time looking at anything but the grebe. The Pied-billed Grebe had first been found here on 4th November 2017 remaining until 18th April 2018 and so it looks like it may spend another winter at Loch Spiggie.

Loch of Spiggie perhaps gives an impression of how cold and windy it was

Pied-billed Grebe - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland

Slavonian Grebe and Tufted Duck - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland

I then headed north along the west shore of the Loch of Spiggie stopping occasionally but there was little to be seen but for 22 Whooper Swan at the northern end of the loch.

Whooper Swan - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland

Whooper Swan - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland

The Cooss - Loch of Spiggie, Mainland Shetland

I continued north through Scousburugh and to Geosetter and spent an hour or so birding here. It was very slow and the only birds I recorded of note were a single Goldcrest, a male Reed Bunting and an Icelandic Redwing.

View over Bay of Scousburgh to Northern Ness and Colsay

The rariety hotspot of Geosetter

Top end of Geosetter, its quite tough work getting up this far as one has to scramble 

along near verticle grassy slopes

Icelandic Redwing - Geosetter, Mainland Shetland

Icelandic Redwing - Geosetter, Mainland Shetland

I then headed to the east coast of the island and birded Levenwick, Upperton and Southpunds and then north to Northwick and Northwick Burn but saw very little. There was a rostrata type Common Redpoll and Icelandic Redwing at Upperton, two Swallow at Levenwick and two Swallow and another Icelandic Redwing at Hoswick but in the strong winds it was very slow going. I spent more time enjoying the landscape than expecting to find a rare, stiil, forecast is for a better day tomorrow so its all to play for......

Leven Wick Bay - Mainland Shetland

Sound Recording - Cowley Woods 1st November

I have spent many years recording and analysing bat calls as part of my work and have often considered experimenting with bird sound recording but have never done so. Having read the recent article on night sound recording in Birdwatch magazine and seeing the various samples posted on the Portland Bird Observatory website I thought I would finally give it a try. Initially I borrowed a Tascam DR05 from work but I quickly found that this recorder was not suitable (despite good reviews) for recording bird sounds. I found that the recordings were low level and that the playback on the recorder was poor, I considered that the ability to playback a recording at reasonable volume was important. After some research I opted for the Olympus LS-14 and although I tested the inbuilt microphones i found that these were not good enough for anything but the closest of birds. So I then tested a Sennheiser video-microphone that I have had for years but I couldnt get this to work. Finally after digging around I found my Sennheiser ME66 microphone which, again, I have had for many years but barely used. This was, and I believe still is, considered to be one of the best directional microphones for recording bird sounds. My research indicated that the Telinga set-up is the ultimate but this is a considerable financial outlay for one just commencing in bird sound recording.

I then investigated software for analysis of recorded bird sound and after some fairly quick research I decided that the Raven software was a good starting point. Having downloaded the free Raven Lite and watching a number of tutorial videos and reading some of the user manual I found this a fairly straightforward piece of software to get to basic grips with. I then opted to download the Raven Pro one year licence for USD100 with a view to extending this licence if my interest took off.

On 1st November I had my first opportunity to test my kit and here are a few recordings from wandering around Cowley village and to Cowley Woods near to Cheltenham. The calls were uploaded to Sound Cloud and the sonograms were generated in Raven Pro.

First I encountered a flock of Long-tailed Tit and recorded their 'zerrr' call. The sonograms generated remind me of horse heads with the higher pitched 'ze' element of the call forming the head and the lower pitched trilling 'rrr' the body of the horse.

 I then recorded this singing Robin. The recording levels are a little high and therefore there is some distortion to this recording but the sonogram shows some of the complexity of the song.

Here is a fairly distant (c.200m) Great-spotted Woodpecker showing its broadband 'pic' call.

I then encountered a flock of around 50 Redwing and in this sonogram the familiar 'seep' calls at around 7kHz and and low inverted 'V' of the 'gack' call at around 2.50 kHz at 0.4 and 2,5 seconds can be seen and heard,

Finally, at sunset this flock of House Sparrow were socialising just before settling down to roost. The sonogram is so busy that its simply fuzz from the shear level of calling by the birds.




So, I think that this is a fair start but initially I notice that there is a lot of noise to my recordings particularly in the lower frequency. I suspect this is simple background noise from the recording device as the frequency of this noise seems to be consistent across all recordings. There is a way to filter this noise in Raven Pro and I began to get to grips with this in the Robin recording, this reduced noise can be seen in the sonogram above which has a reduced fuzz along the bottom of the sonogram. During my investigations to find suitable kit to commence sound recording I found the following websites very useful and I hope they are useful for you if you decide to embark on this rapidly evolving element of birding.

Resources
ABA Blog - How to Record Birdsong Part 1
Audubon - A beginners Guide to Recording Bird Vocalisation's
Ear Birding Blog
How to Visualise Bird Sounds
Macaulay Library - Audio Recording Techniques
Raven Sound Analysis Software
Sound Approach
Understanding Sonograms
Wild Mountain Echoes

Eling, Hampshire - 10th January

My birding has lacked inspiration so far this year. We spent the Christmas period in the Cotswolds and the Blue Rock Thrush at Stow-on-the-Wold was just a 30 minute drive for me but I couldn’t face birding with the hordes in a town. I just couldn’t do it no matter how much I wanted to see the bird, tales of birders with ladders peering over walls, this is not me, I could not face the numpty crowds. Then on the 9th I had a few hours to spare and headed to Pennington Marsh, I picked up my camera to shoot a nice close Little Egret and the battery was dead, it was so long since using it that I had forgotten to check the battery power – school boy error. And then the heavens opened and I got a good soaking as did my dead camera. Should I give up birding in 2017, it was all a bit depressing. That said, the birding was quite nice at Pennington with two Slavonian Grebe, a Great Northern Diver, 350 Golden Plover plus good numbers of the usual Wigeon, Pintail, Teal, Brent Geese etc. At the campsite I enjoyed great views of a flock of around 1,000 Brent Goose amongst this flock was a ringed bird which had a lime (but possibly stained white) ring on the left leg with the code RRR – I am looking into the origins of this bird but I find the European Colour-ring website terribly clunky to use and responses from scheme coordinators painfully slow.

On the 10th Januray I had a bird survey to do near to Eling on Southampton Water. A quick stop for the Cattle Egret gave good views but as I walked along the road the bird flushed and flew high in to a tree. There has been a significant influx of Cattle Egret in the UK this winter and good numbers have been recorded in Hampshire, I am convinced that this bird will ultimately be joined by other birds as has happened elsewhere. My bird survey was relatively uneventful bit I had nice views of a wintering Green Sandpiper.

With a weekend in Cornwall coming up I am hoping for a few good birds for the year – oh, and I don’t think I will be giving up birding in 2017!

Cattle Egret - Eling, Hampshire

Cattle Egret - Eling, Hampshire

Green Sandpiper - Eling, Hampshire

Redwing - Eling, Hampshire