A Day Full of Wildlife

The weather this morning looked very promising for a sea watch so I got up early and headed down to Gilkicker Point near Gosport. I arrived at 6:15 and settled down in the shelter for what might be a long morning. Mark Edgeller arrived at 6:30, followed by a steady stream of local birders and before long the shelter was overflowing. It turned out to be a quiet morning with a trickle of terns initially, Common, Little and Sandwich all recorded, a couple of Whimbrel and a flock of nine Sanderling. It proved to be a sea watch of quality rather than quantity, as the number of birds did not increase but we saw five skuas of three species, Arctic Skuas were recorded at 7:20, 8:04 and 8:25, a Bonxie (Great Skua) was seen at 8:00 and a stunning pale phase Pomarine Skua at 8:02. Other bits included a couple of Dark-Bellied Brent Geese, 13 Shelduck and a couple of Swifts. Five Skuas on a four hour sea watch may not seem that good, but for Hampshire that is a very good day.

Yesterday, 3rd May, a 2nd CY Bonaparte's Gull was found by Southampton Sailing Club on Weston Shore. It had hung around for 20 lucky birders, but was not relocated. I had not been able to go for it, but when news broke of its return to the same area today, I was quickly on my way. The bird was feeding by an outfall which was at the far end of a jetty, which was way too far out for any photos, which was disappointing. This was my second Bonaparte's in Hampshire, the first being back in 2003 at Farlington Marshes.

I had promised my wife that once I had returned from sea watching we wound go for a walk, she had patiently waited in the car whilst I watched the Bonaparte's, then Manor Farm Country Park. I had a planned route that would take us through a fantastic piece of Ancient Woodland then back along the Hamble Estuary. This year the woodland flora has been spectacular and I wanted my wife to see it looking so good. A Red Admiral butterfly was the first bit of wildlife of note, and then we were into the flora, Bluebell, Greater Stitchwort and Yellow Archangel all in full bloom and looking fantastic.

Red Admiral

Bluebell

Greater Stitchwort

Yellow Archangel and Bluebells

One of the species I always like to check on at Manor Farm Country Park in the Early Purple Orchid. It is quite a scarce species in the park and this year I have only found nine flower spikes. Early Purple Orchid is generally quite an easy species to identify as it is usually one of the first orchid species to flower, has deep purple flower spikes and leaves with large purple blotches.

Early Purple Orchid

Early Purple Orchid

There is a fair amount of variability with orchids and hybrid and aberrant forms have been found to occur in many species. Most of the Early Purple spikes looked to be the same, but I was very confused with a flower spike that really didn't fit the typical mould. This plant had pale pink and white flowers, with a slight yellow hue to the middle and dark purple spots on the lip; the leaves were narrow, pointed and totally unstreaked. I have a good selection of orchid books at home and although I cannot find exact examples of this form but have found reference to pale flowered forms and also plants without spotted leaves and therefore presume this to just be an aberrant Early Purple Orchid.

Presumed aberrant Early Purple Orchid

Presumed aberrant Early Purple Orchid

Presumed aberrant Early Purple Orchid

Un-spotted leaves of presumed aberrant Early Purple Orchid

There was very little of note on the high tide wader roost, two each of Greenshank, Whimbrel and Shelduck, being the only species of note.

I have mentioned previously that a Ring-necked Parakeet has been occasionally turning up in the garden. It has been perched on the top of a Silver Birch tree in my garden, but has been extremely flighty and therefore I have only ever had brief views; based on those views I had presumed it to be a female. Today, after we had returned home from our walk, and whilst doing a few bits in the garden, it returned. At first I heard it call as it flew towards the garden, but it saw us, changed course and sat on a Silver Birch on the other side of the field. It sat there for 10 minutes before heading off, but over the next hour and half kept doing circuits of the garden. Eventually, after we had finished what we were doing, it dropped onto the feeders in the garden.

It was incredibly nervy but stayed in the garden for about 20 minutes, during which time I was able to grab a few shots, albeit through glass. Being now able to get some decent views it was evident, that this bird was not a female but an immature male. The orange eye ring, black lower mandible and blue in the tail confirming this. A bit of reading up tells me that adult males don't get the rings around their necks until their third year, which it why my original views made me thing it was a female. Ring-necked Parakeet is not an easy bird to get in Hampshire, well at least down in the south, looks like I may have to keep my feeders topped up just in case some birders want to come and twitch it.

Immature Male Ring-necked Parakeet

Immature Male Ring-necked Parakeet

Twitching the Hudsonian Godwit in Somerset

Last Saturday (25th April) when I was in Cornwall news broke of a Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath in Somerset. It was the third record of the species in Britain and a species that I had not seen before; obviously I was quite keen to connect with it. I had hoped that it would hang around and I would be able to call in on my way home on Monday. No such luck, the bird departed late in the afternoon and was not relocated. Around lunch time on 29th April it was back again at Meare Heath, which was great, but I would not be able to get there until Saturday. I suspected that most local birders would have already gone by then and intended to go on my own, but Dave Ryves was in a similar position to me. We decided to leave early and before there was any news in order to avoid the Bank Holiday traffic and were at the site before 8am. 

News of the bird being there had come through at 06:45 so we were feeling pretty confident, and when we arrived there were around 70 birders present. Unfortunately the bird had flown from the back of the wader pool to the front and was out of view behind a bank; we had a nervy 20 minute wait before it eventually appeared. We did scan through the Black-tailed Godwits on view, just in case the hud-wit had sneaked back out, but alas it had not. Despite our target bird not being on view there was plenty to keep us occupied; a drake Garganey, several Great White Egrets and booming Bitterns and a couple of Ruffs were the highlights. The Great White Egrets were in full breeding attire and looked quite stunning, certainly a much better view than the bird I saw at Marazion Marsh last week.

Great White Egret - a better picture than last week's attempt at Marazion Marsh

After what seemed an age and several false alarms as Black-tailed flew from the out-of-view area, the Hudsonian Godwit appeared and flew to the back of the pool where it fed in full view..........at last. Despite having seen so many images of this bird as I was scanning through the flock of Black-tailed's I had questioned myself as to whether I would have been able to ID it, but now it was there it all it's glory I had note doubt. My first impression was of a generally dark bird which lacked the orange colouration and pale underparts of the Black-tailed's, but as I worked my way around the bird there were many differences, some subtle and some much more obvious. In flight it really stood out from the other godwits. A summary of features I noted are as follows;

• Generally darker upper parts, lacking orange on breast and neck of Black-tails;
• Greyish tone to neck;
• Slightly upturned billed;
• Underparts dark, including vent and underrated coverts strongly barred;
• Under wing coverts dark and wing bar fainter than Black-tailed;
• Only feet project beyond the tail in flight (part of tarsus also does in Black-tailed)

Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian (left) and Black-tailed Godwit - note the longer primary projection beyond the tail on the Hudsonian

Hudsonian (right) and Black-tailed Godwit - note the difference in the projection of legs beyond the tail

Hudsonian (right) and Black-tailed Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian (top) and Black-tailed Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit (centre) with Black-tailed Godwits

Hudsonian Godwit (top left) with Black-tailed Godwit - note the fainter wing bar on the Hudsonian as opposed to the very broad and white one of the Black-tailed's

We spent a good couple of hours watching the bird, which was an absolute corker, and decided it was time to head home. We stopped briefly on the way back to look at a Bittern that had been sat on the edge of a reed bed for a while, and were on our way. 

Bittern

Trevose Head, Cornwall - 27th April

For the final day of our long weekend I started with another pre-breakfast walk around Trevose Head in search of migrants. I started again by the golf course and on the road down to Boobies Bay there were a couple of Sedge Warblers, three Whitethroats and a Blackcap. There were good numbers of hirundines feeding over the fields but they were all Barn Swallows and Sand Martins. As I got to the beach 11 Whimbrel took off from one side of the golf course, flew over the road and landed the other side, they were the only Whimbrel I saw.

Whimbrel - Trevose Head

I worked my way around the fields towards the headland, there was a distinct lack of migrants, although two Wheatears put in a brief appearance. With very little evidence of migrating birds I spent my time looking at the residents. The Skylarks were being quite lazy birds and rather than flying up high to sing, they were just sitting on fence posts singing. They were evidently very used to people and allowed me to walk right up to them for a few pics.

Skylark - Trevose Head

It was a gloriously still and sunny morning and the light was fantastic.I was able to get some great shots, albeit of birds on posts.

Skylark - Trevose Head

A Meadow Pipit was also being quite lazy and sitting on a rock and singing, again it was very approachable, and allowed me to get a few images before it flew off.

Meadow Pipit - Trevose Head

Other than a constant stream of hirundines there was nothing to report of note, until that is I heard a singing Corn Bunting. There is a project on Trevose Head aimed at maintaining the dwindling population, but as with many schemes it seems to be failing in its aims. It seems that the conflicts with modern farming practices and farmland birds are not being resolved, and as is happening on my patch in Hampshire, species like Corn Bunting and Yellowhammer are disappearing.

Singing Corn Bunting 

In the end it was a very quiet morning with very few migrants to report, but overall I had had a fab weekend back in Cornwall.

Marazion Marsh, Cornwall - 26th April

My birding today was limited to about an hour at Marazion Marsh this afternoon. We arrived just after lunch, which was slightly fortuitous as the Great White Egret was feeding in a distant ditch, and just about in view. I must admit that I was not really bothered about seeing it, as I regularly see the individual at Blashford Lakes, but stopped for a quick look anyway. A quick look was about all I got, as the bird was deep in a ditch and obscured by reeds, but it was possible to make out that it was a Great White Egret….honest.

Great White Egret deep in the reedbed.....honest

I decided not to wait for a better view and headed along the road scanning over the reserve. There were several Reed Warblers singing, along with the occasional Cetti’s, a single Wheatear was feeding amongst the rabbit burrows and about 50 Sand Martins fed over the reedbed.  

Northern Wheatear

A small willow in the middle of the marsh seemed to be supporting a Grey Heron nest, a single nestling was present in the nest; what I assumed to be the parents were busy feeding on the water’s edge, occasionally taking flight to see off intruders.

Grey Heron

Grey Heron

There was very little going happening on the marsh so I crossed the road and began looking out to sea. Thirty Whimbrel were roosting on the beach, but they were soon flushed by dog walkers and headed off north. I started to scan out to sea and picked up a flock of another flock of around 50 waders that included 48 whimbrel and a single Bar-tailed Godwit. This flock was quickly joined by another 30 Whimbrel, all of them settling on the beach to rest.

Whimbrel and a single Bar-tailed Godwit

Whimbrel and single Bar-tailed Godwit

Resting Whimbrel, except for the one fighting with an Oystercatcher

There was a degree of bickering between individual Whimbrel and some of the Oystercatchers, and the Herring Gulls seemed intent on giving the Barwit a hard time. After about 30 minutes resting the whole flock took flight and headed off north, this seemed an appropriate time for me to head back to St Merryn.