The end of 2012

Well, christmas festivities are done and dusted once again.  The following few days mainly involved a piece of the dreaded DIY.  No getting away from this one, as the bannister fell off the staircase wall, suppose I'll have to stop sliding down it from now on.

The fix involved drilling new holes into the wall and new screws to attach the bannister back on, whilst being ingeniously propped up by lots of books on the stairs!  Wow it worked, usually my DIY adventures end up like this.



But as there was a bit of daylight left on Friday afternoon, there was time for a quick look round Brookleys Lake.  Sadly, a small oil spill has appeared.  It would be easy for any flood water to pick up a patch of oil and for it to make it's way into the lake, but it looked like more than a small patch.  Lets hope it doesn't do too much damage, particularly to any fish in there.  As can be seen a boom has been put up at the lake's mouth where water flows in.

Perhaps it's just as well there wasn't very many duck around at all, with 12 Mandarin, 4 Goosander and a drake Gadwall of note.

Saturday involved an afternoon at Blithfield.  A few Goldeneye dotted all around the reservoir, an absolute stack of Teal in Tad Bay, could easily have been 600, no green-winger though.  The gull roost in Tad held up to seven different Yellow-legged Gulls.

And as for today, it's just been Uttoxeter Quarry.  Which contained 179 Wigeon, 10 each of Goosander and Pochard, 1 Goldeneye.  Unfortunately for 2013 listing purposes, no sign of the Pink-footed Geese in the Greylag flock and no sign of the Common Sandpiper for a few weeks now, presumed drowned!  No I definitely hope not.

And that's it for 2012, a memorable year for many different reasons.  But can 2013 have less rain please?

On this special night..................

He's on the way you know, as long as you've been good all year!  No, I don't mean Bob Dylan.  Happy Christmas reader!

Caspian Gull, this time in technicolour!

He's not got another Caspian Gull has he?  Oh, I think he has.  Stick with it though reader, it's not a dot in the dark this time.

Even though birding time is at a premium at this time of year, restricted to weekends and approaching the shortest day.  It really is a case of not knowing what to do with yourself, things are pretty quiet, and not until January will the same birds become a year tick again.

But the weekend began with a usual check of Uttoxeter Quarry.  With Andy already around, 3 Pink-footed Geese were with the Greylag flock.  Two of those birds are definitely new in, and plenty of duck around.  But the undoubted highlight was the sight of a small, dark falcon going full pelt, a female Merlin!  Shortly after losing the bird, a flock of Starlings and Lapwings in the next field scattered themselves and took to the air.  After that little triumph it wasn't going to get any better, so time to move on. 

The next port of call was Silverdale Country Park, where recent goodies have included a juvenile Iceland Gull and two different Caspian Gulls.  On first sight of The Void, plenty of gulls were still on the ice, but by the time of getting to the water's edge and setting the scope up, the vast majority of them took off, typical.  Thankfully however, the first-winter Caspian Gull remained, and that was the bird I wanted to see, never seen a first-winter before.

A really distinctive gull, especially at this distance.  And what a massive hooter!

Gulls in Monochrome

Only out on the Sunday this weekend just gone.  Saturday was a complete write-off, due to waiting for a chimney man.  After Jackdaws nested up there this year, I'm after one of those mesh things to put on the chimney pot.  Sorry Jackdaws, but I don't want to end up with loads of smoke in the house.

Despite being told someone would appear and waiting around home all day, no-one turned up.  That's someone else added to the list when the revolution comes, it's getting a rather long list.  Anyway, hopefully there'll be better luck trying someone else, onto Sunday's birding. 

Duck numbers are building up a bit at Uttoxeter Quarry, with 26 Goosander, 63 Teal, 30 Wigeon, 81 Tufteds and 3 Pochard.  Also two Willow Tits around, and a third GBB Gull over the last few weeks.

With the wind picking up in the afternoon, it was over to Tad Bay at Blithfield and wait for the gulls to come piling in to roost.  Which they did, Tad Bay being more sheltered than the deep end.  The adult Caspian Gull was eventually found, and eventually came nearer to the hide.  However, it was getting darker:

...and darker...

...and darker!

Must admit though, I didn't realise it was getting quite so dark.  Is there a problem with the camera?  Everything's in black and white!

November in a Nutshell

Rumours of my demise are premature!

So what's gone on then?  Well, a bit of post-Scilly blues, how on earth does this blog top that?  But mainly it's been the state of the laptop that I bought earlier this year.  A couple of days after finishing the Scillies blogging it completely packed in, probably had enough of me writing nonsense and piffle.

It should've been fixed and returned last week, but when turning up at PC World:  "We're extremely sorry, there's been a mix up.  A Miss Powell dropped a computer off at the same time, which got sent away and yours is still here!"  Talk about exasperating, to quote Victor Meldrew:

So I've not been best pleased, but I'm informed that it's on the way back in a couple of days time.  In the meantime, thankfully I kept hold of "old laptop", but the dear old thing is powered by a hamster in a wheel these days, and is prone to crashing.  In fact, it's already crashed once whilst getting this far, so I'd better get a move on.

Throughout November, checking at weekends of course at this time of year, the best bird around Uttoxeter Quarry (but not today by the look of things) has been an extremely late Common Sandpiper, looking set to overwinter.

Just hope it can survive.  Every time this bird has pink legs and the tail stretches beyond the primaries, so it's still not a Spotted Sand.

Back in Burton for the evening of Sunday 11th November, but before that the afternoon was spent on the banks of the mighty River Trent, taking a butchers at a Great White Egret.

From what I could tell, those viewing this bird from Clay Mills were getting rather distant views.  I knew that you could get to the riverbank from other side, at Newton Solney in South Derbyshire.  Luckily, much better views could also be gained from this side of the river too.  The Egret happily feeding in the ditches of the field by the river, and also walking around, sticking it's leg out like John Cleese's ministry of silly walks.

Around this time, the national invasion of Waxwings had reached this neck of the woods.  But personally they weren't easy to catch up with to start with, the first seen being a flock of seven in Cheadle.  Additionally, a White-rumped Sand had been discovered at Drayton Bassett during the Tuesday of the week.  Oh no, would it stay until the weekend?

Thankfully it did, and two visits were made, just to the south of Tamworth, on Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th.

En route back to Drayton Bassett, I got a little distracted just before reaching the A50 at Uttoxeter.  This was due to a fine flock of Waxwings!

At least 16 birds, perched in trees just by the roadside, next to JCB's world parts centre (not world darts centre, if only!).  It was discovered they were feeding on Yew berries, which I've never seen Waxwings feed on before.  When eventually back at Drayton Bassett, a nice little bonus to the White-rumped Sand was the discovery of a Long-tailed Duck.  Or if any Americans are reading this, that's Oldsquaw to you (what's one of those?).

Finally, catching up on last weekend.  On the Saturday, unfortunately the Snow Buntings up on the moors, around the Mermaid Pool, had disappeared.  Into the afternoon, surprisingly Uttoxeter Quarry hadn't yet flooded, the Common Sand still around, along with 10 Goosanders.  In addition to the Waxwing invasion, the midlands has been getting a mini-invasion of Great Northern Divers of late.  Not sure whether I'd be needed for some DIY help on Sunday, there was enough time for a look at the Blithfield Diver by the dam.  The bird showed really well between the angling club and the dam's valve tower.

Very wisely, my DIY skills weren't required for the Sunday, so I went birding instead.  By this time Uttoxeter Quarry was flooded out.  The path through Cotton Mill farm and over the River Tean was accessible, but not knowing how much higher the river may get put me off crossing, don't fancy getting swept away and drowned!

So most of Sunday 25th was at Blithfield.  The Diver was still around the deep end, but now further in the middle because of sailing boats.  Two female Scaup were discovered in Tad Bay, and about an hour before dusk, along with Martyn, Kay and the Proud Potter, two adult Yellow-legged Gulls and a pretty good candidate for an adult Caspian Gull appeared in the Tad Bay pre-roost, before eventually flying off towards the causeway.

So that was birding in November, and rather good it was too.  Just want my laptop back.

The 2012 Scilly Season. Part 4, All the fun of Blackpoll.

There's not much left to mention on this year's Scilly trip reader.  With only one full day left, a calm, sunny day was forecast for Thursday 18th October.  The Blackpoll Warbler was still being seen on Bryher too, so a whole week after seeing the bird in flight, it had to be a return to Bryher for better views, hopefully.  But the main thing to do is to just enjoy your last full day on Scilly for this time.

There was just enough time before catching the boat, for a walk to the dump clump where a Red-breasted Flycatcher was showing well, and a Snow Bunting on Porthmellon beach too.  After about an hour and a half on Bryher, the Blackpoll Warbler was re-discovered just to the south of Veronica Farm.  Oh oh, where am I?  Stuck on a path by Samson Hill, Scilly-ticking the Hooded Crow!  Somehow I got back to the coast path rather quickly, and may have involved a bit of tresspass round a field and over a gate, but I did walk along the edge.

The Blackpoll Warbler showed absolutely brilliantly, probably the best it had shown all week, with it's full set of colours on show.  The dark wings with two white bars, yellow underneath and bright orange legs!  There's plenty of photos of the Blackpoll Warbler around the internet that do this bird justice.  It was one of those times when messing about with photography was unneccesary, just enjoy a fantastic bird.

Other birds seen on Byrrr that day included another 2 Coal Tits, a female Merlin and a selection of waders including Redshank, Greenshank and one each of Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit.

Due to the pager mishap the previous week, Friday 19th October had to be spend on St. Marys, to eventually find Dick Filby who had my new replacement pager ready.  All sorted, and a big thank you was given.  Not only for the pager, but for all the hard work he puts in there every October.  Not sure what would happen, with regard to bird news and arranging extra boats, without him.

During the day, the main highlight again was excellent views of the Red-breasted Flycatcher in the dump clump.

But with a heavy heart, aching limbs and sore feet, it was time once again to board the Scillonian ferry back to Penzance.  But even on the ferry that wasn't quite the end of it.  A pod of about 50 Common Dolphins were spotted.  But best of all when approaching Lands End, 3 Balearic Shearwaters flew south, in front of the ship!  And with them, a long overdue British tick.

The 2012 Scilly Season. Part 3, The Road to Mandellii?

A tough few day's birding then ensued.  On St. Marys for Sunday 14th October, a brief Serin on the Garrison didn't stick, and was subsequently seen on Gugh.  The following search of the Garrison did produce 2 Crossbills and a Great Spotted Woodpecker though, all flying over.

By the time of reaching Porth Minnick there was no sign of either the Little Bunting or Wryneck.  So a return to the Garrison at the end of the day did reveal a Ring Ouzel, showing really well.  But in reality, it was a bit of a salvage operation for the day.

Monday 15th October was a day of impending heavy rain forecast for the afternoon, and another day spend on St. Marys.  A morning walk through the Holy Vale, Borough Farm and Pelistry Bay didn't produce very much.  The main highlight of the day was the discovery of a Short-toed Lark, with Meadow Pipits in the horse paddocks of Carn Friars.

With the lark seen well, the rain did start to pour down heavily now.  Taking some shelter in the ISBG hide at Lower Moors for a while, a Jack Snipe showed really well, bobbing away as only a Jack Snipe does!

Over the course of the day, a Hume's Yellow-browed Warbler had been found in the Dump Clump.  The wet weather made looking in a rather dark Dump Clump impossible.  One for another day hopefully.  No boats went to St. Martins either today, and with no birders staying on the island, what's there to be found tomorrow, was the thought.

So Tuesday 16th October was to be a return to St. Martins, despite the Hume's Yellow-browed.  It sounded like there was a bit of contention surrounding this bird anyway, so that put my mind at rest for going off-island.  It so very nearly paid off too, as an Olive-backed Pipit was found around Little Arthur Farm.  The trouble was the boat I was on docked in at Lower Town, so had half an island to walk through to get there.

The OBP didn't settle at all, first flushed by a Merlin, then dog walkers.  On finally catching up with the group on the bird and setting the scope up, by the Higher Town cricket pitch, the bird took off west and over the hill by the Higher Town quay.  Aaargh, agonisingly close.  From the bird that I saw take off it could've been anything really, and Olive-backed Pipit is too good a bird to tick than with a view like that.

The rest of the time was spent scrutinising the fields along the coast path back to Lower Town, but no sign of the OBP and not much else either.  So the idea of heading to St. Martins was right, but execution wasn't quite there.  Back on St. Marys the sight of three Ring-necked Ducks taking off out of Porthloo cheered me up no end.

The Ring-necked Ducks must've been blown in ahead of a big depression out in the Atlantic, heading in for the evening and next day.  Indeed next morning, Wednesday 17th, the overnight rain had passed but it was very windy:

Thankfully the dump clump is quite sheltered, suppose I'd better head over to look for the Hume's Yellow-browed.  At the Scillonian club log the previous evening, people were happy with this bird being a Hume's rather than a bog-standard Yellow-browed, call is king.  It was also suggested that this could be a race of Hume's called Mandellii, which spend the winter in south-east Asia and do appear more boldly-marked than your normal Hume's.  All completely new to me, and absolutely fascinating.

Whilst watching birds hopping through the sallows, there was definitely one Yellow-browed type that was duller underneath, compared to another obvious Yellow-browed.  No point comparing the wing bars because they'll show up on this bird anyway.  I think that's safe enough to tick as Hume's.  Meanwhile, the Ring-necked Ducks had eventually settled at Porth Hellick pool, not surprisingly having a well-earned rest.

A slow walk through Holy Vale to Porthloo was next, via the Strudelhaus.  Upon reaching a nice comfy rock to sit on at Porthloo beach, most of the time was spent counting Oystercatchers, Curlews and Wheatears.  A few gulls passed overhead, and one of them was a second-winter Med Gull.  "Ooh, I could radio that out" I thought, especially as the bird was heading towards Hugh Town.  So the details were spouted out on Radio Filby.  "Channel 1, Channel 1.  A second-winter Med Gull flew south over Porthloo beach, heading towards Hugh Town. Over".  The details were then duly relayed. 

About 10 minutes later a rather panic-stricken looking birder approached me, demanding details of the Med Gull, in a manner reminiscent as if I was something scraped from the bottom of his shoe.  Shortly afterwards, this charmless chap then spoke on the radio "Apparently, the Med Gull flew over Porthloo towards Hugh Town".  Eh, what do you mean apparently?  I already said that, and saw it with my own eyes! 

Be careful what you say on the radios, because an argument could've easily started, had I wanted to.  But perhaps he didn't catch everything that I said.  About a minute later, the radio mentioned that the Med Gull was re-found on the other side of Hugh Town, at Porthcressa.  Ha, vindicated, that showed him.

The 17th ended off with a seawatch from Penninis Head, but only six distant auks flew past.