A day full of Birding

I had managed to wangle a day off on Friday 8th May and so decided to start early with another seawatch down at Stokes Bay. It was an overcast morning, and was fairly calm, with a southerly wind gradually veering round to south-east. It was difficult to tell if there was an air of anticipation about the conditions because most of the talk was about the previous days General Election, and the disbelief that the Conservatives had once again got into government, and with a majority. There has to be a genuine fear for Britain's wildlife with them back in.

Sea watching soon took centre stage and a steady trickle of Common, Sandwich and Little Terns drifted by. A winter plumage Red-throated Diver was the first species on note, followed by a couple of Whimbrel. It was pretty slow going with good numbers of Barn Swallows and the occasional Swift coming in, and then Mark Rolfe, who was one of the assembled crowd, picked out a Roseate Tern amongst and small flock of Commons. It took me a while to get on to the bird, but eventually I was on it. I was following the bird east and it had just gone out of sight when Mark called out Hoopoe!!! Amazingly, a Hoopoe was flying along the beach towards us, flew over our shelter heading inland, and then veered west and continued to fly inland. That made up for the bird I missed a few weeks ago in Crawley, when I was in Cornwall. The sea watch continued as it had before the Roseate and the Hoopoe, with a steady trickle of terns and swallows and by 10am, when we finished, the only other species of note were two Mediterranean Gulls, and a Wheatear that landed on the beach in front of us.

I left Stokes Bay and headed to the Haven to pick up some bird food, to keep the parakeet fed. I had a quick scan from the sea front before heading home; there were three Dunlin and a Bar-tailed Godwit feeding on the Meon, several Swifts, House Martins and Swallows feeding over the reserve, but that was all of note.

Bar-tailed Godwit - Titchfield Haven

My next stop was Bunny Meadows. Bunny Meadows is known for it's wading birds and so at this time of year, there isn't likely to be much around, unless some migrants drop in. The tide was pushing up towards high and so there was very little mud left exposed, but five Whimbrel were making the most of what was there.

One of five Whimbrel at Bunny Meadows.

The reed bed was showing little evidence of spring, but there were still plenty of Reed Warblers singing, as was a male Reed Bunting. A couple of House Sparrows were tucked into a dense bit of bramble mid-way along the causeway, which seemed to be an odd location for them, and a Wheatear was feeding on the causeway.

Wheatear - Bunny Meadows

Oystercatchers were the most common wader species, seven in all and two Ringed Plovers and a single Dunlin were flushed off a roost next to the causeway by an off-the-lead dog. Three of the Oystercatchers were colour-ringed, I suspect they will be birds that I have seen before, but noted the combinations anyway. The rings on one bird were very discoloured but hopefully it will be possible to figure it out.

Colour-ringed Oystercatcher - Bunny Meadows

I was just about to head home when news came through that the 2nd CY Bonaparte's Gull was once again back at Riverside Park on the River Itchen at Bitterne. Although I had seen this bird on Monday at Weston Shore, my views were quite distant so I was keen to see it again, and also get some pictures. It has been frequenting the area between Cobden Bridge and a small reed bed to the north, opposite a sewage works, occasionally going into the sewage works and being lost from view. When I arrived it was showing very well but was regularly flying up and down the river, and only occasionally settling down to bathe.

The views were so much better, with the bird on occasion down to 10 metres. There were also around 30 Black-headed Gulls present so it was really nice to compare the two species. The Bonaparte's was so much smaller, and had a more dainty flight than the black-heads, as such it was very easy to pick out as it flew around. Being so close it was easy to pick out the key features, such as the small, all black bill, the grey nape, 'bubble-gum' pink legs and the neat trailing edge to the primaries and secondaries and all white underwing.

Bonaparte's Gull - Riverside Park

Bonaparte's Gull - Riverside Park

Bonaparte's Gull - Riverside Park

Bonaparte's Gull - Riverside Park

Bonaparte's Gull, with Black-headed Gull behind - Riverside Park

Whilst at the Bonaparte's I bumped into a couple of birding mates, and after a quick beer to celebrate with a work colleague, I headed home. What a cracking day it turned out be, starting with Roseate Tern and Hoopoe and ending with a Bonaparte's Gull.

Patch Birding at Curbridge - July 2014

After my visit to the Black Redstarts I stopped off at Curbridge for a spot of patch birding. By early July there can often be small numbers of waders present, which are probably failed or non-breeders. The tide was out, but coming in and so I walked along the creek from the Horse and Jockey end. There were a few Black-headed Gulls, four Little Egrets, Common Moorhen, Mute Swan and several Mallards, including one duck with about 10 recently hatched chicks. As I approached the main estuary I spotted a couple of Common Greenshanks and two distant Eurasian Curlews.

The greenshanks were both adult birds, which would be expected this time of year. They are very obvious to tell from juveniles by the heavily streaked and spotted upper breast and their broad and more rounded scapulars. The two birds were roosting on the waters edge directly at the mouth of the creek and therefore I was able to creep up and get some great views.

Adult Common Greenshank - Curbridge

Adult Common Greenshank - Curbridge

Adult Common Greenshank - Curbridge

After I had finished watching the greenshanks I turned my attention to the rest of the estuary. There were a further six Little Egrets, around 70 Black-headed Gulls and two Eurasian Curlew. Scanning over the mud I picked up two adult Oystercatchers and a chick. Interestingly the chick was still flightless and given that it was on a piece of mud that is totally covered at high tide, it will be interesting to see where it goes. 

Oystercatcher with chick - Curbridge

At the far end of the estuary I suddenly noticed a tern feeding over the water. It is not that uncommon to see Common Terns this far up the River Hamble, but this bird was an adult Sandwich Tern, which I must admit I don't recall having seen before. It didn't come very close but I still managed to grab a record shot before it turned around and headed back down the river. 

Adult Sandwich Tern - Curbridge

The only other bird of note was a roosting Lesser Black-backed Gull, so with time pressing on I headed back to the car. On the way back my attention was drawn to a large orange butterfly which turned out to be a Silver-washed Fritillary, my first of the year. Unfortunately I only had my long telephoto with me and was unable to get a photo.

Bunny Meadows - 6th October 2012

Back in the UK I thought this weekend would give me the chance to catch up with some bird ringing at Titchfield Haven, but heavy rain overnight, continuing onto Saturday morning scuppered those plans. So after doing a few domestic chores I headed out to Bunny Meadows to catch the rising tide. High tide was at around 14:30 and being a sunny Saturday   afternoon there were lots of people out walking, but there were still good numbers of waders around. The most abundant species was Common Redshank so I started to count them a immediately picked out a colour ringed bird. I was unaware of anyone locally colour ringing this species but text a colleague just in case it was one of his, and got an immediate response. It was, he hadn't ringed many but this bird had been ringed on at Hamble Point, 4 km to the south on 27th March 2011, 18 months previously. 

Eurasian Curlew

Continuing on there were a few Curlew, Eurasian Wigeon, Eurasian Teal, Grey Plovers and a flock of 96 Golden Plover. Having been away for the last few weeks these were the first I had seen this autumn. I spent a few minutes working my way through them just in case there was something different in the flock, but they were all Eurasian Golden plovers.

Eurasian Golden Plovers

My attention was drawn to  a couple of Oystercatchers on the far bank, one adult and one juvenile. The adult was one of the colour-ringed birds I had previously seen tending their newly hatched chick, so it looks like the chick survived. Whilst on the subject of those Oystercatchers, whilst away I heard back from the BTO details of their original ringing, and as suspected they were both ringed at Hamble Point. Interestingly they were both on the same date 29th December 2007, nearly five years previously. Since they were both ringed together I wonder if they were paired up then, and whether Oystercatcher are monogamous?

Wader Ringing, Farlington Marshes - 4th August 2012

The wind did drop as predicted and so it was off to Farlington Marshes for some wader ringing. High tide was not until 02:00, so we started with a wander around potential sites for catching Common Sandpipers, since Farlington Ringing Group, have just registered a colour ringing project on this species. It was not our intention to target this species to tonight, but hopefully we will later in the week. We set our nets after dark, and then laid back and waited for the incoming tide to bring in the birds. Our first birds were the expected Dunlin and by the end of the session we had ringed 18, all were adult birds and no re-traps

As is often the case with bird ringing, each session can include a surprise, and this time it was our first Common Sandpiper. An adult bird which was duly fitted with its colour rings and sent on its way. So if you are out and about looking for waders keep an eye out for a Common Sand with the below colour combination, hopefully there will be many more to come.

Adult Common Sandpiper with Colour Rings Fitted

Common Redshank was equally as numerous as Dunlin with 18 birds captured, but this total included two retraps. The majority of the birds were adults and in heavy primary moult, but we did catch one juvenile, so at least one breeding pair have been successful. 

Juvenile Common Redshank



The next surprise was in the form of an Oystercater, a species that is captured in small numbers each year, but last night we ringed five.

Adult Oystercatcher

The adult birds have a long and predominantly orange bill, and pink legs, whereas juveniles have a shorter bill, with a black tip and greyish-pink legs. The adult birds were just finishing their post breeding moult, in the image below it is possible to see the old outermost primary, contrasting with the new fresh feathers on the rest of the wing, and if you look closely you can see the replacement second primary protruding past the primary coverts.

Wing of Adult Oystercatcher Showing Primary Moult



By the end of the session we had ringed 42 birds, 18 Dunlin, and 18 Redshank, five Oystercatchers and one Common Sandpiper, not a bad start to the wader ringing season.

Bunny Meadows - 29th July 2012

There was no bird ringing for me today, partly because I was just too tired, and partly because I would have been the only one there, so potentially a lot of effort for little return, well based on the last few sessions anyway. Instead I opted for a 7am start and a stroll along Bunny Meadows on the rising tide. There have been a few good autumn waders in the west of the county at Pennington Marshes, so I was hopeful that it would be my turn to find one.

The tide was already pretty high when I arrived and the Turnstones had been pushed up close to the sea wall, so I was able to get excellent views of them doing what they do best....turning stones.

Turnstone - Bunny Meadows

In all there were 32 just scattered along the foreshore, they were so confiding that I was able to spend a bit of time photographing them and enjoying their incessive chitter chatter as the bickered over a tasty morsel. It was interesting to see that whilst some birds were busy turning stones, another standing nearby would pretend to be doing the same, but as a grub was exposed it would run in a snatch it from beneath the others stone....very sneaky!

Turnstone - Bunny Meadows

Last time I was here there were good numbers of waders present, despite it being very early in the season, and this visit was the same. In total I counted 45 Common Redshank, three Greenshank, 14 Eurasian Curlew, 11 Whimbrel, two Grey Plover, seven Lapwing and a single Dunlin. Black-tailed Godwits were again present in good numbers, with at least 43 present, but it was difficult to count this species as some were nestled right down in the tussocks.

Black-tailed Godwits

I would normally expect to see a few colour-ringed birds amoung the scattered groups, but unfortunately this time there were none, which was a shame, but I will keep looking. Three birds were roosting on the edge of a sea locked island, and although they were over 50 metres away they were very wary, and kept a close eye on my movements.

Black-tailed Godwits

Black-headed Gulls were the most numerous species, with 147 roosting on the islands, along with single first summer Mediterranean Gull and Common Tern, and as I was counting the gulls an adult sandwich tern flew by.

Black-headed Gulls and Common Tern

Continuing on I soon came across a pair of Oystercatchers, who were incredibly wary and constantly 'Kleeping' at me, I assumed it was because I was paying them an un-necessarily high amount of attention because they were both wearing colour rings.....but as it turned out that was not the case.

Colour-ringed Oystercatcher - Bunny Meadows

I think I have seen both of these birds before, but on looking through my records I could not find any detail, so I will contact the person who ringed them and let you know when I find out, although I suspect they were ringed at either Hamble Point or Cracknore Hard, but we will see.

Colour-ringed Oystercatcher - Bunny Meadows

Anyway, going back to why these birds were so alarmed was suddenly evident. My attention was so focused on making sure I had got the right colour combinations, that I hadn't noticed the fluffy little brown chick, gingerly wandering around on the top of the tiny island.

Newly Hatched Oystercatcher

I must admit I am not really sure how late Oystercatchers normally breed, but I presume this is a new attempt after a failiure, rather than a second brood. This chick was on a tiny island very close to the shore and I could have easily walked out and picked it up, so it is going to be extremely vulnerable to both predators and an out of control dog!...I will try and keep you posted on its progress.

Pipstrelle Bats and a Colour-ringed Oystercatcher

After the extremely mild and spring like conditions of the last week, it was back to winter with a changeable weekend weather wise, rain then wind on Saturday and then more rain and wind on Sunday! So with no chance of doing any bird ringing I headed down to a small barn to check on the local bats. I have been keeping an eye on this barn (well its bats) since 2007, and have recorded five species, Brown long-eared, Common and Soprano Pipistrelle, Serotine and Natterer's, during that time. The bats use the barn in different ways, with the Pipistrelle's tending to use it for hibernation and the Long-eared's using it mainly for breeding, with a few staying on to hibernate.

The last time I looked in the barn was January 2012, when I located single Brown long-eared and Serotine bats and seven Pipistrelle species. This time I located 13 Pipistrelle bats, which is the most of this species I have ever recorded in the barn. I have previously left a remote bat detector in this barn and have found that of the two Pipistrelle species, the Common Pipistrelle is the most regular and therefore I suspect that these bats are all that species.

Pipistrelle Bat (most likely Common Pipistrelle)

All of the bats were located in small crevices in the lower part of the barn, and were very awake, which is probably a result of the recent mild weather, although they will be in for a shock if they venture out tonight!!

Two Pipistrelle bats in a small Crevice

The bats were mainly clustered together in small groups with the largest group numbering four bats, but the most visible were a group of two just inside the entrance door. The Common Pipistrelle is one of the UK's commonest bats which on average can weigh between 4 - 8 grams and has been recorded living to the grand old age of 12 years.

Colour-ringed Oystercatcher, Bunny Meadows

By the time I had finished in the barn the weather had cleared and the sun was shining, so I popped down to Bunny Meadows. It was bitterly cold so didn't stay out too long, but did find a colour-ringed Oystercatcher on the inter-tidal. Two of the rings were discoloured but I think I eventually managed to get the correct combination. All of the previous colour-ringed Oycs I have seen here were originally trapped at Hamble Point on the other side of the water, so I am guessing that is where this bird was ringed.....but I will keep you posted.