A Trip to the 'Lovely' Walpole Lake - 4th March 2014

I had a winter bird survey to carry out today near to Stubbington so I could not resist a short diversion to see the Ring-billed Gull that has wintered at Walpole Lake, Gosport since November 2003. Why it chose Walpole Lake I will never know! The bird showed well amongst the assembled gulls (Black-headed, Herring and Common Gull), Mute Swans and Feral Pigeons loitering waiting to be tossed bread. Having last seen this bird in 2009 I have to say I felt that the bird is looking a little aged why this was I cannot quite put my finger on but there was a certain crusty look to the bird. In 2003 this bird was found as an adult making it at least 15 years old. A quick Google search indicates that they can live up to 23 years but that three to 10 years is a typical lifespan. How many more years will this bird return?

Adult Ring-billed Gull (Simon Colenutt)

Adult Ring-billed Gull (Simon Colenutt)

Adult Common Gull (Simon Colenutt). 

Note this birds daintier bill lacking the defined ring, dark eye, large white mirrors in the wing-tip and darker upper parts which help to distinguish it from Ring Billed Gull.

First winter Herring Gull (Simon Colenutt)

Isle of Wight Weekend

Sarah and I spent the weekend on the Isle of Wight visiting my family. Early morning starts allowed a little birding and some visits to some old haunts. Saturday 1st March was a beautiful still and spring-like day and I visited Newtown Harbour and the Western Yar at Yarmouth. The spring weather sparked a great deal of pre-breeding activity with many of the wildfowl displaying and Black-headed Gulls calling and mating.

Newtown Harbour (Simon Colenutt)

There was a nice (albeit a little distant for photography) gathering of Mediterranean Gull off the boathouse and these were in high spirits giving their distinct and far carrying 'Keouw' calls and walking around pigeon chested chasing off any Black-headed Gull that approached too closely.

Mediterranean Gulls (Simon Colenutt)

Most of the Mediterranean Gull were in near summer plumage as can be seen below where five birds from a flock of 12 are present.

Mediterranean Gulls (Simon Colenutt)

Whereas the Black-headed Gulls seemed to show a greater variation in their progression to full summer plumage as the image below shows with the central bird in near full breeding dress while the uppermost bird shows no sign of progressing from winter plumage. The other birds show a range of plumage stages between the two extremes. A first winter bird is present to the right of centre.

Black-headed Gulls (Simon Colenutt)

A walk to the Needles produced excellent views of Raven and Peregrine and my first butterfly of the year, a Peacock.

Needles (Simon Colenutt)

Back at my Dad's house the first Frog spawn of the year had appeared and based on its condition looks to have been laid in the last few days.

Frog Spawn (Simon Colenutt)

On Sunday another early start and inspired by Saturdays weather I was convinced that I would find my first Wheatear of the year but it was not to be. A seawatch from the lighthouse in strong south-west winds produced little but for three Common Scoter, two Kittiwake and 12 Red-throated Diver moving east. The bushes were devoid of any migrants, not even a Chiffchaff to show for my efforts. The only excitement was a close view of a hovering Buzzard but the light levels were not high enough to get a decent shutter speed and the image below is on the soft side.

St.Catherine's Point (Simon Colenutt)

Buzzard (Simon Colenutt)

Pennington Marshes - 28th February 2014

I spent the morning at Pennington Marshes on a glorious spring like morning. There was a great deal of breeding bird activity with Lapwing displaying over the still extensive floods and the bushes alive with singing Dunnock, Wren and Robin and with the occasional burst of song from a hidden Cetti's Warbler.

Wren (Simon Colenutt)

Just off the car park at Lower Pennington Lane and quick scan with the binoculars revealed the distinctive stumpy shape and sowing machine feeding action of the Long-billed Dowitcher that has made Pennington its home. 

Long-billed Dowitcher, Pennington Marsh (Simon Colenutt)

This bird first appeared as a summer plumage bird on 1st August 2013 and has been present on and off since. Now in full winter plumage this bird will likely head north in the coming weeks - will it relocate to its normal breeding grounds of east Siberia and north-west Nearctic? Or perhaps more likely establish a territory in the northern Palearctic. 

Finally, this stunning Bar-headed Goose was amongst the Canada Geese and while clearly not a wild bird it was worth a good look for its striking head pattern and novelty value. This species breeds in central Asia and China and winters in India and neighbouring countries. It is a common species in wildfowl collections in the UK.

Bar-headed Goose, Pennington Marsh (Simon Colenutt)

Urban Gulls

Sarah and I spent a family weekend in the spa town of Cheltenham on the edge of the Cotwolds in Gloucestershire. Cheltenham is a fantastic town and one of most conspicuous residents are the Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls that nest on the roof tops. At the time of our visit the gulls were just settling back to their roof top nest sites and there was a great deal of long-calling and squabbling as territories are established and pair bonds formed or reignited.

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Simon Colenutt)

The colonisation by nesting gulls of our towns and cities is a relatively recent phenomenon. During the 1930’s onwards populations of gulls increased as a result of many factors but was primarily related to an increase in food supplies and, in the 1950’s, when changes in The Clean Air Act 1956 meant a change in landfill practices resulting in the covering rather than burning of waste resulting in the creation of an abundant food source. Gulls were able to respond to this increase in food availability and populations rapidly increased. Colonies on the coast were quickly outgrown and colonisation of urban areas began. By the early 1970’s urban nesting gulls were a national phenomenon and towns and cities now support populations of urban gulls ranging from a few pairs to colonies of national significance. Cities offer gulls, amongst other things, a ready supply of food, safety from predators and limitless nesting sites and as a result breeding performance is often higher than at more traditional colonies which has resulted in disparity between the performance of colonies with urban ones increasing while traditional colonies are declining.

Yellow-rumped Warbler - High Shincliffe, Durham

One of the most popular birds of this winter has been a Yellow-rumped Warbler which has frequented bird feeders at High Shincliffe, Durham. While a little far for me to travel for a bird that I have seen many times before I cannot help but feel an inner tug to jump in a car to drive to see this bird - American Wood Warblers are fantastic birds regardless of how many one has seen.

There are 30 records of Yellow-rumped Warbler, with the only form confirmed as occurring in the UK (and indeed Europe) being Myrtle Warbler. However, of these many have occurred on off islands with Cape Clear and the Isles of Scilly accounting for half of the records to date.

The cracking photograph below taken by Martyn Sidwell shows many of the distinctive features of this species, including a hint of the yellow rump and breast breast side which distinguish it from all similar species.

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler - High Shincliffe, Durham (Martyn Sidwell)

There are two 'groups' of Yellow-rumped Warbler, Audobon's Warbler breeds within the south-western USA while Myrtle Warbler is the northern equivalent. Within Audobon's there are three races while the Myrtle group contains two races. These two groups were once split but are now generally considered to represent a single species, with Audobon's being a short distance migrant or sedentary (depending on race) while the Myrtle is a long distance migrant and hence more prone to vagrancy  Male and female Audobon's are readily distinguished from Myrtle by their bright yellow throats which in Myrtle is off white to white. However, first winter birds such as that at High Shincliffe are more subtle with Myrtle having a more extensive pale throat wrapping around the ear coverts (as can be seen in the above photograph) and a more heavily streaked breast.

Red-flanked Bluetail - Marshfield, Gloucestershire

After a long spell without a post mainly due to the arrival of Sarah and my son, Tobias, in April 2013 the current wintering Red-flanked Bluetail at Marshfield, Gloucestershire was such a beauty that it inspired a post and hopefully a revival of this blog.

After a pre-dawn start I arrived at a beautiful Cotswold valley to the north of Marshfield on the Wiltshire/Gloucestershire border and followed the path east alongside the Broadmead Brook. Within a short while of arriving at the location where the bird is wintering I glimpsed a Robin like bird and was soon watching this stunning eastern chat at close range and with no other birders in sight. Over the next two hours I watched the bird sheltering within its favoured Hawthorn bush and feeding on the ground in the sunshine. Interestingly the bird was in near constant subsong, examples of Red-flanked Blutail calls and songs can be found here on the Xeno-canto website as well as a range map.

Red-flanked Bluetail - Marshfield, Gloucestershire (Simon Colenutt)

The bird has been present since the 3rd February and, with this its 13th day, the longest staying Red-flanked Bluetail in the UK ever, the previous longest staying bird being that at Spurn, Yorkshire from 17th to 27th October 2009. To the end of 2012 there have been a total of 118 accepted records in the UK with this being the first wintering individual. The species is well known for going from near mythical status to a scarce but to be expected autumn drift species with records surging since the mid-1990's. Prior to 1990 there were just 12 records from 1900 to 1989, while since 1990 there have been 106 records peaking at 32 records in 2010. This change in status has been largely attributed to an westward spread in the breeding range but may also be linked to a change in the distribution of wintering birds associated with eastern spread in breeding birds.

A Quiet Winter

The recent run of cold easterly winds appears to have extended what feels like a long cold winter into the time of year when we have come to expect a spell of fine and warm weather. The winter has been a quite one in terms of rare birds with the highlights being a Pied-billed Grebe at Ham Wall RSPB Reserve and a Harlequin Duck at Balranald RSPB Reserve on North Uist.

The Pied-billed Grebe was first found on 15th February from the second viewing platform of the superb wetland reserve of Ham Wall RSPB. The bird is still present at the time of writing this post on 24th March and like many of its predecessors is likely to be a long stayer. The bird is elusive at times disappearing into the reedbeds that flank the pool on which it frequents, however, it regularly performs well. This bird appears to be an adult with its distinct black chin and throat and blue-grey eyering and bill, the latter crossed by an irregular black band. I visited the site on 18th March after a meeting in Yeovil and after an hours wait the bird swam into view and began calling, a kind of cross between a Little Grebe and a diver with a hint of Common Crane thrown in! Evidently the bird is looking for a mate but it could be a long wait.

There are a total of 52 records of Pied-billed Grebe in the UK with the first as recently as 1963. Many stay for protracted periods of time with the longest staying bird from 2nd April 1993 until 13th September 1995 at Stithians Reservoir, Cornwall this bird hybridised with a Little Grebe and reared at least three young. The Pied-billed Grebe is distributed throughout the Americas where it is a short range migrant moving southwards from the northern parts of its breeding range.

Pied-billed Grebe, Ham Wall RSPB (Gary Thoburn - see more of Gary's photographs at http://garytsphotos.zenfolio.com)

The Harlequin Duck was found on the 18th February and again is present at the time of the writing of this post. While not in full plumage the bird is nonetheless a stunning 1st winter male showing male characters in a subdued manner and with a scaly whitish belly. The bird frequents the coastal waters of the reserve and can often be seen hauled out on the kelp covered boulders that line the shore.

Harlequin Duck, Balranald RSPB, North Uist (Kit Day - see more of Kit's stunning photographs at http://www.kitday-uk.com)

There are only 14 previous records of Harlequin Duck in the UK with the most recent being an adult male on St.Kilda on the18th June 2007. The last twitchable bird was a female on Lewis from mid-January until 20th May 2004. The Harlequin Duck is found from East Asia,, north-west and north-east North America, Greenland and Iceland. The species winters on the coast and during the spring moves inland along streams to breed.