Zac Hinchcliffe's Birding Blog

Routine BLUTI

2012-01-29T18:28:00.004Z

Back in the Woods this weekend colour-ringing Blue Tits and furthering my training as a ringer. I am getting a lot more confident with extraction now, and what a better way to spend your weekend that handling birds such as Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Robin and Goldcrest. 94 birds caught in this ringing session and 27 Blue Tits colour ringed. I managed to fit colour-rings to metal ringed retraps too which was a bonus as we now have some birds in the project that can be aged back to 2009 and before, which may prove to be the defining details of my results!

The others - Cia, Kane, Gillian and Chris enjoying some woodland ringing

Obligatory bite from a Blue Tit before release. It's weird, when you want to get birds caught for colour-ringing, the bite isn't as annoying as when you are just metal ringing them...
Sunday morning started with a net in Kane's garden catching 19 birds inc. 10 Goldfinch, 4 Blackbird, 1 Great Tit, 1 Robin, 1 Bullfinch and 2 Dunnock.
Following this netting session, we headed out to Crompton Lodges where we caught 3 Coot and 2 Canada Geese. This is my first darviced Coot, so it was interesting new experience. Affixing Black-headed Gull Darvics is a lot different and a lot easier if I'm honest!
Continuing the theme of routine of the past couple of weekends, I ended this weekend at Brockholes NR LWT twitching a goose!! Whilst at Preston Docks trying to catch some BHGulls, I got a text off Bill Aspin telling me about a Brent Goose at Brockholes. This was a site 2nd and the first one was a long time ago in the early 2000's long before I started going. Being so close, I thought I had to go, so I left Chris at Preston Station to get the train and I rushed off to Brockholes to meet about 25 other birders watching a Dark-bellied Brent Goose across the Ribble, in a field. This is not only a new race for Brockholes, I believe it's a new race for me in Lancashire (I could be mistaken!)

A great weekend all in all, and cheers to Kane for letting me stay and continuing with my Blue Tit study, and to the others for making it a 'banterous' weekend!

A Frayed Knot - 23rd January 2012

2012-01-24T19:22:00.006Z

Monday night saw Steve, Rachel, Chris, Matt, Ros Green and I head out mist-netting waders. It was fantastically dark, and I'm sure if we'd have 150/200 miles further north, we would possibly have witnessed the Aurora that put on a mighty show for the Shetland Isles

Throughout the night we caught 77 Birds: 50 Dunlin, 13 Knot, 7 Redshank, 5 Oystercatcher and 2 adult drake Mallard.
Knot was a new species for me, and it was nice to get to know the ageing criteria which didn't seem too much of a challenge. They are real stocky birds in the hand and like a fat redshank with short legs...superb!

Several retraps from the night including a Dunlin ringed in Nov 2002, Oystercatcher from 1996 and a Redshank ringed at Penmon back in 2010

A really enjoyable night!

First Waders of 2012 - 22nd January 2012

2012-01-22T14:55:00.003Z

My first SCAN wader ringing of 2012 occurred today on Weedy beach between Bangor Harbour and Porth Penrhyn. A rather impressive catch of 171 Redhshank, 5 Oystercatcher and 2 Grey Heron was made. Sadly, because I was off twinkling when the net was fired, I wasn't present to see the Grey Herons in the hand, but I could hear them squawking away! I personally processed 27 Redshank and extracted about 17 birds which I started to get the hang of by the end (I haven't done a great deal of Cannon-net extractions in the past, so was pleased that I didn't struggle too much).
(Above) 2CY bird - retained juvenile Tertails showing a 'saw toothed' pattern where the weaker areas of feather containing white pigmentation gets worn away. This bird is particularly obvious
(Below) Adult bird - adult tertails being mainly uniformly dark with the occasional black barring which is retained from summer-plumage.

(Above) 2cy bird - retained juvenile primary feathers being rather worn at the tips, rather narrow and pointed, and also being a paler brown than adult birds
(Below) Adult bird - much broader and rounder primary tips from the stronger flight feathers, and also are very fresh because they have been newly moulted.

Tits and Gyppos!!! - 21st January 2012

2012-01-21T17:06:00.002Z

The title probably makes this sound much more of a controversial/interesting blog post subject than it actually is!

Pink Pink Orange

White Red Mauve (recap from previous trip)

I spent the morning in Atherton Woods with Kane catching more Blue Tits for my dissertation project. It was a slow morning due to the wind with only 6 new birds being colour-ringed. There were plenty of recaptures from previous visits also. To be honest, the main goal of this trip was to get my head around where the study area is going to be in the wood, and I am happy to say that I am now thinking clearly about what I intend to get out of the projectAfter a rather nice Pizza lunch back at Kane's (where Pink, Pink, Grey and Orange, Yellow, Red were observed in the garden) we made a quick trip to Brockholes LWT as an Egyptian Goose has recently been investigating the site, so I was keen to see it as it's a site first, so a real 'Blocker' in terms of Brockholes listing! It took a short while to pick up, but the bright pink legs helped it stand out whilst asleep on 'Meadow Lake' (It will always be called Main Pool to me)

A great Day all in all! Thanks Kane for having me!

Gull Therapy - 12th January 2012

2012-01-12T17:22:00.002Z

After a very inspiring talk from Birding Frontiers leader Martin Garner the night prior, I was eager to get out birding. During the afternoon, I had to endure possibly the most difficult exam I have ever had the misfortune of sitting and was in a bit of a depressed mood. I therefore decided that I would give the Bangor Harbour gull roost a go.
Arriving at 15.45 on the falling tide, the gulls had started gathering but nothing of note was evident. At 16.30, I was starting to think about packing up, until I scanned the mudflats and picked up a flash of white. This was a white-winger and a brute at that! With it being bigger than the surrounding Herring Gulls I assumed it was a Glaucous Gull, but something just didn't seem right. It was long-winged, had a small head and a smallish bill. It was a massive 2ndw Iceland Gull, and a British self-found tick!
The recent invasion of white-wingers in the British Isles, I was hoping to pick one up, but never actually thought I'd actually do it!

Guinness, Gulls and Galway

2012-01-07T01:14:00.009Z

2012 has started with a bang due to 9 of us young bird ringers making a trip (my first trip) over to Ireland, to Galway where we spent 4 days catching gulls at Nimmo's Pier. 2011's trip saw a really good number of Common Gull being ringed, whereas 2012 saw only 1 Common with a supporting cast of 19 Black-headed Gulls and 4 Herring Gulls being hand caught.
8/9 - Me, Gillian, Craig, Brucey, Birdman, Kane, Ciaran, Andy 'Bigman' Denton (and, off camera, Heather.)
Nimmo's Pier has been a place of legend, personally, for the last 5 or so years due to its regular wintering gulls. As a larophile myself, I hated leaving the pier and heading back to the flat as anything could drop in at any moment! This week has seen a large influx of white-winged gulls in Britain and Nimmo's Pier didn't disappoint with at least 10 Iceland Gulls being seen along with the bird photographed twice below, which I photographed not realising it was actually a Kumlien's Gull! The two-tone bill, pale eye, dark marking on the underwing, and smokey tips to the primaries show this to be a 2nd winter Kumlien's Gull, although I will freely accept comments off my readers.

Iceland Gulls - 4x1st Winters, 2x2nd Winter, 2x 3rd Winter, 1x 4th Winter, 1x Adult Winter

In addition to the plethora of Iceland Gulls, our last morning was spent catching a few more Black-heads at Waterside, Galway. I had packed my camera, so I wasn't able to get any photos of interesting birds that happened to come into view. Sadly, it wasn't long before I picked up something that got the heart racing.
I had a very large dark 1stw Herring come into view that was more of a petey brown than the chocolate brown Herrings also present. It was very dark breasted with the brown extending down to the legs, the tertials were very dark with a thin pale fringe and the tail was all dark, with the outer tail feather being fully dark. Compared to the 4 1st Winter Herring Gulls that it was stood next to (literally 10 feet in front of us) it was considerably more brutish. A very very good candidate for American Herring Gull, and if I had seen this on the other side of the pond, I wouldn't have thought twice about it! Lets just hope that it gets seen again and photographed as it would be nice to get a self-found yank!

A thoroughly enjoyable few days and I couldn't have spent it with 8 better people! Thanks to everyone who made it enjoyable!

2012....you have some big boots to fill! - Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T16:56:00.005Z

Even though I am yet to complete a full year of ringing, 2011 will always be the year that I started ringing and I started with a bit of a bang. Below are the totals of each of the 71 species I have handled

Species	Full Grown	Pulli	Retrap	Total
Shag	1	42	0	43
Manx Shearwater	2	0	0	2
Mute Swan	0	0	17	17
Canada Goose	14	0	7	21
Shelduck	4	0	0	4
Mallard	1	0	0	1
Teal	1	0	0	1
Wigeon	1	0	0	1
Tufted Duck	1	0	0	1
Coot	12	2	2	16
Moorhen	3	0	0	3
Little Egret	0	2	0	2
Kestrel	0	5	0	5
Oystercatcher	54	0	23	77
Lapwing	1	3	0	4
Sanderling	28	0	0	28
Dunlin	48	0	2	50
Redshank	30	0	0	30
Turnstone	12	0	2	14
Curlew	4	0	1	5
Black-headed Gull	16	152	0	168
Common Gull	1	0	0	1
Herring Gull	28	0	0	28
Great Black-backed Gull	1	0	0	1
Lesser Black-backed Gull	15	0	0	15
Puffin	1	0	0	1
Razorbill	10	10	2	22
Guillemot	2	5	0	7
Woodpigeon	1	1	0	2
Stock Dove	0	1	0	1
Collared Dove	0	1	0	1
Barn Owl	0	1	0	1
Tawny Owl	0	1	0	1
Long-eared Owl	1	0	0	1
Great Spotted Woodpecker	1	0	0	1
Swallow	24	9	0	33
Pied Wagtail	9	0	0	9
Robin	3	0	1	4
Dunnock	7	0	5	12
Wren	2	0	0	2
Blackbird	8	4	0	12
Song Thrush	4	0	0	4
Redwing	1	0	0	1
Sedge Warbler	2	0	0	2
Reed Warbler	5	28	1	34
Grasshopper Warbler	2	0	1	3
Common Whitethroat	1	0	0	1
Blackcap	6	0	0	6
Willow Warbler	3	0	2	5
Chiffchaff	11	0	0	11
Goldcrest	1	0	0	1
Long-tailed Tit	8	0	7	15
Blue tit	67	15	24	106
Great Tit	32	30	9	71
Coal Tit	4	0	4	8
Treecreeper	1	0	0	1
Nuthatch	2	6	0	8
Pied Flycatcher	9	28	2	39
Starling	2	0	0	2
Tree Sparrow	2	94	0	96
House Sparrow	6	0	0	6
Chough	0	13	0	13
Chaffinch	18	4	0	22
Greenfinch	7	0	0	7
Goldfinch	15	0	4	19
Siskin	2	0	0	2
Lesser Redpoll	7	0	3	10
Linnet	3	0	0	3
Bullfinch	6	0	3	9
Reed Bunting	5	0	1	6
Yellowhammer	2	0	0	2

Total	578	415	123	1116
Species	62	23	21	71

What an incredible calender year I have had and external ringing highlights have included 21 British lifers including some of the rarest birds I have ever seen inc: Surf Scoter, Golden Pheasant, Sooty Shearwater, Purple Heron, Common Crane, Kentish Plover, American Golden Plover, Sharp-tailed Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Wilson's Snipe, Upland Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Lesser Yellowlegs
Bee-eater, Red-rumped Swallow, Richard's Pipit, Olive-backed Pipit, Citrine Wagtail, White-throated Robin, Desert Wheatear, Rose-coloured Starling, Northern Waterthrush, Scarlet Tanager.

In addition to this, I have been to America for the first time and seen some truly stunning birds.

Happy New Year to everyone and thank you to everyone who made 2011 one of my best years of all time!

Lesser Scaup - Slimbridge WWT

2011-12-30T18:02:00.004Z

After seeing my photo of the Slimbridge Lesser Scaup on Gillian's blog, I felt that I was wrong to just throw it onto my external hard-drive back-up. I thought I'd share it with my followers!

Kane had to work so Gillian, Ciaran and I spent all day around the reserve seeing the Bewick's, the Whitefronts, the Bitterns and the captive species including the superb Wader Aviary where you can be in the same space as Black-winged Stilt, Avocet and Redshank. This is also the enclosure where the Spoon-billed Sandpipers will be kept in the summer months....a return trip is in order!
A great trip and it was very interesting to see Kane do his Bewick's Swan feed under floodlight which was a first for me!

Happy New Year to my readers!

Last post of 2011? - 28th December 2011

2011-12-28T13:43:00.003Z

Kane and I spent all morning at Atherton Woods with 3 nets up at 2 feeding stations. A newly erected feeding station towards the centre of the wood really kept Kane busy! We decided that I would go off and do the ringing whilst he extracted as this was better for my totals and he was able to extract much quicker. We finished the session with over 70 birds processed and 25 newly colour-ringed Blue Tits (I liked the combination of White White Mauve, so thought I'd include the photo above!). I also had the privilege of ringing my first Treecreeper that I was really excited about as I've been wanting to handle one of these since 2007 when I saw one in the hand for the first time with Mark Breaks.
Back in Kane's garden Blue Tits: Pink Pink Grey and Orange Yellow Yellow have been joined by Pink Pink Pink and Orange Yellow Red.
A really enjoyable day, albeit cold and slightly fast paced. Thanks to Kane for helping with with my ongoing training and also for letting me stay.

A decent batch of CR-Blue Tits - 22nd Decemeber 2011

2011-12-22T17:32:00.004Z

above - White, Red, White and White, Red, Dark Blue

I joined Kane and Gillian this morning at Atherton Woods to try and get a decent number of Blue Tits colour-ringed for my 3rd year project. We managed 13 newly colour-ringed Birds, plus 1 retrap (Orange, Red, White) which was ringed as a 2CY female on the nest, back in May.

Above - Orange, Yellow, Yellow in Kane's garden

In addition, I observed Orange, Yellow, Yellow and Pink, Pink, Grey in Kane's garden 1 mile away in Atherton, which was nice!
A really fun day rounded off with a trip to Blackburn Ice Rink where we had our first ever 'Ringer's conference on Ice'! Cheers to Kane for putting me up for the night, and to Kane and Gillian for being patient with me whilst I dealt with the tediousness of colour-ringing tits!

A smattering of Tits - 18th December 2011

2011-12-18T17:48:00.005Z

As we approach the Christmas break, everyone is finally back from their far-flung jobs, so Ciaran, Craig, Gillian, Kane, Heather and myself met up at Kane's on Saturday night and went for a Christmas meal, and to celebrate 40 years of the Loganhurst Ringing Group set up by Steve and Tim Christmas.
This morning, us young ringers were up bright and early to do a spot of ringing in Atherton Woods followed by a session at Shakerley. Despite it being very cold indeed, the morning was very slow. I suppose this could have been because the sun was very low and was shining on the net, so the birds could see it? Anyway, we caught 4 Great Tit, 2 Blue Tit, Coal Tit, Blackbird and a Reed Bunting.
This mornings ringing was particularly special for me because I was able to colour-ring the Blue Tit as part of a small project I've set up with Kane for my 3rd year Honours project. It's still getting used to colour-ringing at such a small, fiddly scale, but I rather enjoyed it and think they really do look smart! I can't wait until next breeding season's fieldwork, watching colour-ringed Blue Tits in the field!
A really enjoyable weekend and really good to catch up with Ciaran and Craig and hear about stories from the Farnes and Sweden/Denmark.

My first 2 ring-recoveries!

2011-12-11T13:50:00.003Z

I've received my first two recoveries from Kane over the last week or so, and both have been ring recoveries from Black-headed Gull - my favourite ringing species!

EY02115
I ringed this bird on our 2nd trip to the Killington Black-headed Gull colony back on 20th June this year. On 25th November, Kane and Gillian were ring-reading 90km south of Killington in a Manchester park only 5-10 minutes away from Kane's house when he read a ring that sounded familiar. It turns out that it was on my birds - EY02115! Remarkable!

EX54095 (2A07) - Loch Ryan, Stranraer has now been the location for two of our darvic ringed Black-heads re-sightings. The first was one of the Killington chicks (2A64) but in the last week, 2A07 (above right hand bird) has also been seen. This was one of the first Black-heads I ever hand caught at the services at Killington. The re-sighting was 166km away from the ringing location and 185 days later.

I personally believe the reason Black-headed Gulls are so great to ring is because they are stunning birds, albeit generally overlooked; handcatching is one of the most exciting and enjoyable methods of catching birds, their affinity to duck ponds means that recoveries can be very frequent. There are lots of foreign recoveries also which makes ring-reading very exciting.

Dunlin cure the sense of déjà vu - 10th December 2011

2011-12-10T17:11:00.002Z

Meeting SCAN wader ringing group at Bangor Town Beach at 05.30 this morning, we set 2 nets in the same spot as 2 weeks ago. The tide was an hour or so earlier, so we were set up well before first light which was an odd feeling. Chris and I were put on twinkling duties and I waited for instructions in the car park overlooking the 'beach' (also acting as 'long stop' preventing dog walkers from walking onto the beach near the net...)
Déjà vu soon set in as there were a decent number of potentially 100 Redshank approaching the net on the rising tide. Probably 3 minutes later and we would have fired, but a Buzzard flew through and flushed everything in site!
Steve and another group were on the other side of the Menai in Beaumaris and at high tide they fired on a very impressive flock of 400 Dunlin! Everyone from our side of the Menai, except for Dave, Kelvin and I, went round to Beaumaris to help with extraction. The three of us who stayed with our nets were left to pack up both nets. With a group of 10 or so people, packing up a net-set isn't too strenuous, but with just 3 of you, I was 'dead' by the end!
Dave and I finally got round to Beaumaris at 12.30 where I contributed 20 Dunlin to the ringing totals. I really didn't think we were going to get round in time so was delighted to handle the small number I did!

So to summarise...Dunlin are amazing!

Desert Wheatear - Titterstone Clee Hill - 30th November 2011

2011-11-30T17:09:00.002Z

Today was possibly the most unenjoyable and the most enjoyable twitches I've ever been one! It started off by waking up an hour and a half after my alarm was supposed to go off, then followed by a very long and busy train journey to Ludlow, Shropshire. The night before was also very cold and clear, which is never good!
I had several people who were lined up to text me when news of the Desert Wheatear turned up and until I received the text, I literally felt sick with worry! It was horrible and seemed to take forever until I got the text off Sam Viles saying it was still there! (Massive thanks to Sam by the way, as news didn't come onto the 'pager' until after 11!)
I got the taxi from Ludlow and arrived on site at 12.15 where a small selection of birders were braving the cold weather.

Just about showing the clean bar on the tip of the tail.

The bird was very obliging and I have to say that it is probably one of the best birds I have ever seen! It was such a beautiful, photogenic bird and a joy to photograph, even in the harsh conditions.
Desert Wheatear has been very very high up on my must-see list and I can't actually believe I have finally seen one as I have been 'lusting' after this species ever since I watch the 'Gosney in Morocco' video back in 2004!

The best twitch ever and the worst! I'm now on 297...3 to go!!!

Sharpie AND Spotsand - Chew Valley Lake - 28th November 2011

2011-11-28T18:25:00.003Z

Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (left) image 'borrowed' of Mark J. Palmer
Kane was heading down to Slimbridge early this morning (05.00) to head back to work from Atherton, so I decided that I would join him on the journey south. Sharp-tailed Sandpiper has been really high up on my 'must-see' list so I was eager to twitch the stunning juvenile at Chew Valley Lake. After watching the Bewick's Swan feed at Slim, I headed down on my own and arrived onsite meeting 10 other birders who were watching a group of Dunlin on the edge of the mud at Chew. It took a while, bit I picked up a slightly different wader with a shorter bill, a browner head with reasonably distinct eye stripe bordered by pale supercillium and pale cheeks; strongly patterened back (reminiscent of a juvenile Ruff), a general chestnut tone to the whole bird and a faster running style in the shallow muddy water. This was the bird! Fantastic! What a stunning little bird and a joy to watch!
A huge bonus was that on the other side of the 'bridge' that I was watching from, there was a long-staying Spotted Sandpiper that proved to be very elusive indeed, but allowed me to get breif views of my 2nd lifer of the day, and one that has helped to slightly heal the wounds of the summer adult I missed at Brockholes!
A cracking twitch and although it was almost a 6 hour train journey home, was nice to get out on a proper twitch for once...not one of these poncy 20 minute trips onto Anglesey!

Huge thanks to Kane for transporting me around all weekend. You have saved me £60.00 on Taxi fares and Train tickets this weekend!!

Black-head to the rescue! - 25th November 2011

2011-11-26T15:24:00.002Z

Kane and Gillian came to stay at mine in Bangor for the weekends SCAN session in Bangor. Friday night saw Kane catch a single Black-headed Gull in Bangor Harbour, which was Brucey's first ever gull.
Arriving in Bangor harbour at 06.20 this morning, we met up with the SCAN ringing group with the aim to catch Shelduck in the sheltered bay of Bangor Town Beach. We set two nets and then were ready for the tide to come up at around 10/11am. Birds appeared in front of the net regularly but the tide line was still out of catching range. A Peregrine flew through the bay catching an adult Black-head and flushed everything! By the time the tide had essentially reached the net, no birds returned meaning that we had to call it a day and quickly rescue the net before it became rather damp!
Having to return to Preston, I joined Kane and Gillian in the car home via the beach at Arbergele. Here we read two metal-ringed Black-heads and I was able to get my hands on a lovely adult (photographed above) which was my first hand caught bird since the Killington trips back at the beginning of summer! They really are my favourite birds to catch, especially by hand!

Not so Rosy Starling - 22nd November 2011

2011-11-22T13:34:00.003Z

Rose-coloured Starling (Phil Coombs)

I spent the morning in Holyhead looking for a Rose-coloured Starling reported by a non-birder that didn't know what it was. Phil Coombs posted the picture onto BirdGuides which caused me to contact him and ask about the bird. Phil was very helpful indeed and I thank him greatly for providing the information he did.

I was joined on site by Ken Croft who lives only a few hundred feet away from the garden. We viewed the gardens leading onto the north end of the playing field off Llanfawr Road. The bird proved to be incredibly elusive and it took at least 2 hours before Ken and I started to lose hope. Ken headed off home, but because I had never seen Rosy starling before, I stuck at it and 15 minutes after Ken had left me, a very pale starling flew into the garden (pictured above) where it was initially seen. It sat in the open for about 2 seconds and then promptly disappeared.

A very nice bird, but I think it would be much nicer to see a more showy adult...

I am now 6 away from 300 on my British List...can I make 300 before I turn 20 on 12th February?

Parus city - 20th November 2011

2011-11-20T13:29:00.004Z

69 Birds caught on a morning at Arthur's farm with Steve, Rachel, Brucey and David Jones. We were aiming to catch Chaffinch as there was a rather impressive flock in the area. Sadly, we didn't catch a great number but species caught included: Blackcap, Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird, Nuthatch, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Coal Tit and Chaffinch.

This was my first adult Nuthatch in the hand, and they are truly stunning birds. Even more so up close! The undertail coverts and rufous flanks (proving this to be a male) were all stunning. A cracking bird and a real treat.

It's excellent to get out mist netting again as it seems like an age since the last time I was out. It's just a shame that I had forgotten about the joys of extracting/handling/processing Blue Tits.......

Local birding: dawn til dusk - 19th November 2011

2011-11-19T18:43:00.006Z

With a trip planned to the Orme with Brucey for saturday morning, we met at Bangor station for 06.00 and by 07.00 we were at Llandudno. Sadly, the Orme was very quiet indeed with very little moving except a very light Meadow Pipit passage and a couple of Lesser Redpoll moving over.
Luckily, Chris Jones saved the day by texting me seeing if I wanted to spend a day on Anglesey 'mopping' up on all the current scarcities. This was just what we needed to make the 05.15 wake-up call worthwhile! We met Chris at Llandudno station and headed off to the island.

Lesser Yellowlegs
First stop was the Alaw Estuary at low tide to look for the long-staying Lesser Yellowlegs. It took a bit of searching, but we picked up the bird and enjoyed decent scope-views. This was a lifer for Brucey.

Red-necked Grebe
Next stop was Llyn Penrhyn at Valley RSPB. Here we quickly picked up the Red-necked Grebe. There has been discussion over the week it has been present expressing the idea that this bird could in fact be of the North American holboelli race which, if confirmed, would be only the 2nd record for Britain! The bird showed a MASSIVE bill which appeared longer than the head and showed a very yellow lower mandible. Dusky cheeks also appeared evident which is another good credential. Lets hope that more can be done to try and prove this individuals identity
Please see the photos and the discussion on We Bird North Wales
Also at this site was a bird that I probably shouldn't mention on here in case someone from DEFRA is reading and finds out... Oops! Too late!
It was also nice to catch up with Alex Jones at this site.
Llyn Coron
This site showed that today really was a day for local birders as here we met up with Steve Culley, Alex Jones among others and observed 12 European White-fronted Geese and a Pink-footed Goose with the Greylag and Canadas. Sadly, the 3 Tundra Bean Geese didn't play ball.
Whilst watching these birds, I picked up a warbler right in front of us that landed in a tree to our right. It was obviously a Chiffchaff ssp but was very very cold grey in colour with a hint of 'tobacco brown' on the mantle. There was the slightest hint of a wing bar and a reasonably prominent supercillium. Steve and I heard a very weak piping call that was reminiscent of a Bullfinch. A VERY good candidate for Siberian (tristis). Steve got some record shots into the sun, that should hopefully help our case...
Photos of the bird available here - http://webirdnorthwales.blogspot.com/2011/11/siberian-chiffchaff-at-llyn-coron.html?showComment=1321743781347#c379084489190541695

Malltraeth Marsh
Steve Culley and Alex Jones seemed to be very complimentary of the Glossy Ibis that was showing very well at Malltraeth, so we decided to pay here a visit after Coron. We quickly picked up the bird, but it was at the other side of the field rather distantly. After about 10 minutes of watching a very unsettled ibis, the bird flew really close to us and we were able to get fantastic photos and I was really pleased with the photos I got. A nice 1cy bird and my 2nd Anglesey bird!
The day ended at the Cefni estuary watching the marsh on the south side for raptors. We managed to get a Merlin, Sparrowhawk and a superb male Hen Harrier which hunted actively...stunning!

I really enjoyed the day and it just shows what's out there if you put in the time. It was almost like a day on Scilly with everything being really close to each other and a plethora of great birds to see at reasonably close quarters! Massive thanks must go to Chris Jones for inviting us and also doing all the driving. Hope to repeat a similar day soon!

Dawn on the Orme - 12th November 2011

2011-11-12T13:00:00.003Z

Up at 05.30 this morning, I got the first train to Llandudno where I enjoyed watching the sun rise over the Liverpool bay.

Highlights of the mornings birding were: Richard's Pipit (*), Short-eared Owl being mobbed by corvids, Woodcock flushed from the path on the way up to the pavement, fem/imm Black Redstart on the eastern side of the Limestone Pavement and a very late imm Northern Wheatear that certainly raised my heartrate for a short time!

The Richard's Pipit was a lifer for me and was seen flying reasonably low over the headland heading SW and calling. This is the second time I have heard this species call but this is the first time I have had 'visual contact'. It was reminiscent of a lark with a long tail and a long bill. It is a shame I couldn't view the species on the ground to really appreciate it.

Other sightings: 8 Lesser Redpoll, 4 Skylark, 3 Chough, 2 Siskin, 5 Brambling, Robin, 30 Blackbird (large birds with dark bills suggested continental origin), 4 Redwing, 4 Song Thrush, 3 Mistle Thrush, 50+ Greenfinch, 100+ Chaffinch, 27 Meadow Pipit, 5 Blue Tit, 8 Magpie, 42 Starling

No time for a break in this hobby! - 5th November 2011

2011-11-05T17:29:00.003Z

American Golden Plover - Plover Scar, Cockersands (Stuart Piner)

Just a few hours after getting off the plane from New York, I was out in my dad's car heading north towards Cockersands. I heard, whilst in NYC, about a juvenile American Golden Plover present from Plover Scar. I was eager to see it as this is a bird that I should really have seen by now... I thought I had missed the window for 2011 so was really excited to go and see it.
Upon arrival, a group of 5 birders or so were scoping towards the light house. I picked up a group of 9 Knot and 1 very slightly larger wader with a spangled back facing away. This was the bird! Over the next 25 minutes, the bird fed, bathed and flapped its wings. At the distance the bird was, the diagnostic features I could pick up were the large eye, pale silvery wash to the spangled plumage, reasonably broad supercillium, small size and I could just make out the primary tips projecting beyond the tail. All in all, a lovely wader and a nice bird to have finally seen!

So good they named it twice - part 1

2011-11-05T10:15:00.008Z

October 29th - November 4th
I have only ever been outside of Europe once, on a short family holiday to Morocco back in 2005, so I have a lot of ground to cover when it comes to World Birding. My October reading week at Uni saw me venture across the pond to New York City! I have come away from this 7 day trip with 46 lifers without leaving Manhattan! Over the next two blog posts below, I will try to explain my trip without going on and on about the awesomness that is North American birding and Central Park alone!
Day 1 - Arriving at lunchtime to heavy snowfall, we dumped our bags in the apartment on 53rd and 9th and went for a short 15 minute walk in Central Park producing 6 lifers!
Day 2 - The morning was spent in south Central Park from first light in the sun producing 18 lifers. I ventured as far north at The Lake.
Day 3 - The morning spent alone in the park exploring The Ramble and then getting a taxi to Bryant Park on 42nd street 'twitching' a Yellow-breasted Chat and Lincoln's Sparrow
Day 4 - After two days of pure birding in the park, I went in with my family but still managed some birding
Day 5 - Went on the Staton Island ferry to see the statue of Liberty and then spent the afternoon in Battery Park.
Day 6 - I ventured to the north of Central Park above the reservoir and then walked to the Harlem River by East 91st street looking for a Belted Kingfisher seen the day before...unsuccessfully!
Day 7 - Friday didn't see much birding as we had a flight to catch, but I went to say goodbye to the ever present Yellow-breasted Chat in Bryant Park!
Northern Cardinal - reasonably common in more overgrown areas of Central Park. More obvious in the colder snowy conditions
Hermit Thrush - One of the commonest new birds of the trip with good numbers present in most areas of greenery in Manhattan. Stunning birds and I am so pleased to have had such an educational trip with this species!
Red-tailed Hawk - I don't think you can go to New York and not see this species! It's almost an iconic species of Central Park with at least 3 seen on multiple occasions
Downy Woodpecker - one of the commonest species of Woodpecker seen in most areas of the park reasonably close to denser woodland.
Red-bellied Woodpecker - The commonest woodpecker sp seen with probably 20 seen in the park.
American Robin - not a lifer, but stunning birds and it was nice to see several different plumages and very good numbers in most areas of greenery. Lovely birds.

Ovenbird - one of 4 species of New World Warblers seen on the trip. This was by far the most obliging bird seen in Bryant Park and incredibly, it actually stood on my shoe at one point whilst I was photographing the Yellow-breasted Chat! One of the best moments of my life, I'm not going to lie! I've wanted to see one of these for years!
Chipping Sparrow - One of my biggest target birds of the trip as these are truly delightful little birds, and I think I would probably twitch Shetland if one were to turn up! Several small groups of these were present in the open areas of Central Park.
Golden-crowned Kinglet - Very educational little birds that reminded me of a hybrid between a Goldcrest and a Firecrest (I'd love to see how similar this hybrid would actually be!). A lot of this species were moving through the park in small flocks on occasion with estimated 120 birds seen.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - This species was slightly less common than the Golden-crowned but equally as obliging and educational. Without getting good views of the small crest, it was reminiscent of a juvenile Goldcrest. (I tried my best to get a top quality picture, but they are even more mobile than European crests and a real terror to photograph well!)
Eastern Phoebe - 4 seen on the trip with 2 in Battery Park and 2 in Central Park (one on the west side of Bethesda fountain and one on the north west side of The Great Lawn)
House Finch - 2 pairs seen in Central Park. Females look remarkably similar to Common Rosefinch!
Lincoln's Sparrow - this immature was 'twitched' in Bryant Park and showed on + off on the north side of the Ice rink with the other sparrows. It proved quite elusive however!
Song Sparrow - probably the 3rd commonest sparrow species seen on the trip and one of my favourite! I can only imagine what it must have been like finding the Seaforth bird back in the day!
Blue Jay - a constant chorus of screeching was ever-present in Central Park and these lovely birds were a real joy to watch for the first time, no matter how annoying the screeching became!
Dark-eyed Junco - These are just in for the winter and several large flocks were present in the park. A rather educational bird and another one of those species you look at in the back of your collins and imagine what it would be like seeing one hop up into your bins view...
Fox Sparrow - One of the prettiest sparrows seen but also one of the least common with only 3 seen on the whole trip. All of these were seen in Central Park, one by the Hallett Nature Sanctuary and 2 by the Ramble bird feeders.
Double-crested Cormorant - 2 were seen on the Turtle Pond and as with most birds seen, they were very educational. I wouldn't however, feel capable of claiming one in Britain however!

Part 2 below!

So good they named it twice - Part 2

2011-11-05T09:40:00.006Z

Yellow-breasted Chat - One of two birds I twitched in Bryant Park. This was a particularly showy bird and was a joy to watch and photograph. A truly stunning bird and I am really happy with the photos I have got!
Red-winged Blackbird - A few small flocks were seen migrating south but only two grounded birds with this male in Bryant Park and a female in Central Park by the Hallett sanctuary with Common Grackle
Grey Catbird - 2 birds were present in Bryant park feeding actively and proving to be remarkably obliging. Superb birds and almost mythical in terms of European birding!
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - several were seen in Central park and Bryant park. 2 birds were in front of the entrance to the public library. Lovely birds!
Tufted Titmouse - one of the main target birds of the trip that I really wanted to see. Luckily I timed the trip with their arrival and they were reasonably common and stunning to see, but a bit of a challenge to photograph.
Black-and-white Warbler - Probably one of the biggest surprises of the trip was this single bird that was seen deep in the Ramble whilst I was taking a short rest on a bench. It was feeding actively but looking up at the bird, it was a real bugger to photograph, so I can only apologise for not doing this stunning bird justice!
White-throated Sparrow - Without a doubt, the commonest lifer of the trip with lots present almost everywhere and almost abundant in certain areas with flocks of upto 200! Stunning birds, but I am afraid to say, I began to come a little blasé about this bird due to its status.
Mourning Dove - I wasn't expecting such regular views of this species and several were very obliging and probably even more so than Collared Dove back on this side of the Atlantic! Stunning little birds!
Cooper's Hawk - Like a big Sharp-shinned Hawk (also seen), I saw 2 of these within the Ramble and I was impressed by the size of these birds.
Yellow-rumped Warbler - by far the commonest warbler with 15 seen in Central Park. I really wanted to see at least one of the American warblers and I banked on this being the most likely. I was really impressed with this species and I must say, make it a little bigger, elongate the tail and take away the yellow, and you have a good dead ringer for a Buff-bellied Pipit!
Ring-billed Gull - Since finding out that the Alston Res Ring-bill of 2010 was actually a hybrid, this trip saw me tick this species for my world list! Very common around Battery park and on the crossing to Staton Island
Eastern Towhee - Stunning birds! 2 were seen: This female (?) was present around the feeders in the ramble and an even more stunning adult male was seen by the Hallett nature sanctuary but my camera was playing up at this point
Swamp Sparrow - 2 of these were seen, one of which by The Pond with White-throated, Song and House Sparrows, and another bird near to The Loch in the north end of the park.
Red-headed Woodpecker - This immature bird was another semi-twitch as it was present before my arrival in the Hallett nature sanctuary. It took several trips to the park before I got views of this rather Pied bird and it was one of the nicest birds of the trip!
Common Grackle - Common by name, Common by nature! Potentially just one nomadic flock in the park of about 300 birds were seen on several occasions showing off their glossy plumage. Lovely birds with a peculiar call sounding like a juvenile Tawny Owl!
Northern Mockingbird - Whilst on Central Park's East Drive near the MET, this bird hopped down right in front of me feeding on a beetle of some kind, then sat in the sun about 10 feet away! A really stunning bird and again, one of my targets of the trip, except this is one I didn't think I would actually get!
I thought I would end this report with a photo of my highlight of the trip as well as a list of the other lifers of the trip totalling 46 lifers!
American Black Duck, Wood Duck, American Herring Gull, Northern Flicker, Turkey Vulture, House Wren, White-breasted Nuthatch, Hooded Merganser, Sharp-shinned Hawk, Common Yellowthroat, Brown Creeper, American Crow, American Kestrel, Buff-bellied Pipit.

One of the best weeks of my life...I'm surprised to say it, but I think I've fallen in love with America!

Operation Waterthrush - 21/22nd October 2011

2011-10-23T12:46:00.010+01:00

Throughout most of October, I have been keeping an eye on the cracking autumn that the Scillies are having and in the back of my mind, really wanted to get there somehow. As a result, I was overwhelmed when i got offered a space for a 2 day trip there from Jason Stannage. After some number crunching, I took up the place and joined Jason, Neill Hunt and Ian Woosey. We set off at 00.45 on Thursday night and was down in Cornwall for first light. News broke the night before of a 1w male Scarlet Tanager in a churchyard orchard at St. Leven. As all four of us needed this, we thought we'd give it a quick go before boarding the Scillonian III. Unfortunately there was no sign, so we were hoping it had gone overnight as we left the site. Boarding the boat, it took less than an hour before the pagers went off announcing the Tanager had reappeared! Gutting! The three hour boat trip gave us time to contemplate flying back for the bird...we however decided that we would get the Scilly birds and hope it would be there Saturday evening.
Lifers chronologically:
Wilson's Snipe - The main target of the trip was the Waterthrush at Lower Moors. Arriving at Shooter's pool, there hadn't been any sign for about 30 minutes, so I decided to make a quick dash to the Scilly Bird Club hide and instantly saw the Wilson's Snipe feeding at the back of the pool. Sadly, whenever I saw this bird, it was rather too distant for my modest 400mm so I wasn't able to get anything other than record shots. The bird on the other hand was very educational as it fed next to a Common Snipe. In comparison to the Common Snipe, the Wilson's seemed overall smaller, much colder in colour with only a small amount of rufous tone behind the ear coverts. The 'braces' on the back were very reminiscent to a Jack Snipe and the flanks were more barred. At the rear end, the bird seemed almost Spotted Crake like as it faced away and on the two occasions it opened its wings, I noted the heavily barred underwing and flanks. (I didn't get a decent view of the tail feathers however) Neill and Jason visited the bird again the following day and it showed down to 8 feet so were able to get some decent photos of the bird...shame the closest thing I saw was this Greenshank, however delightful it may be!

Wilson's Snipe - Neill HuntNORTHERN WATERTHRUSH - This was the only bird that Neill needed from the trip, so this ended up being the main target of the trip. Arriving at Shooter's Pool, it wasn't long before the bird called and flew to the back of the view into cover. The called is remarkably reminiscent to a Dipper. A couple of minutes later, I spotted movement at the back of the pool on a partially dried up patch. It was the thrush! A superb bird that walked out onto the mud several times wagging its rear end and showing off its stunning plumage. Always elusive, this was a difficult bird to photograph and in the poor light and the distance, I am actually happy with my results! At the time, I failed to pick up on the feature, but on the photograph below, you can just make out the faint streaking on the throat that distinguish the bird from Louisiana Waterthrush. A difficult bird to get decent views of, but when you did...boy was it a stunning bird! A species I have always wanted to see and can't believe I have actually seen it!

Above and below - Northern Waterthrush (Neill Hunt) - Note the streaking on throat on the picture below

Upland Sandpiper - moving onto Borough Farm, we connected almost straight away with the Upland Sandpiper as it sat on the far side of the field. All of a sudden, however, it stood up and started walking towards us closing the gap from 100m in heat haze to about 40 feet! This is another bird I have always wanted to see this bird certainly didn't disappoint! It was a superb bird that looks almost prehistoric and I am actually impressed by the size of the bird. It was getting onto the size of a Whimbrel whereas i thought It would be between Greenshank and Redshank in size. I believe this is a 1st winter bird, and I'm guessing this is to do with the 'saw tooth' appearance to the secondaries and primaries similar to the tertial pattern of a Redshank...feel free to comment on this.
Ending the first day dipping the Olive-backed Pipits along Watermill Lane and and seeing a Firecrest, 4 Yellow-browed Warbler and a Whinchat by Newford Duck Ponds. The evening was spent in the Mermaid Pub.
Lesser Yellowlegs - Day 2 started nice and late with an 08.30 cooked breakfast in our B&B. We decided to have a nice relaxed morning doing a spot of birding rather than twitching (although I thought better of this). Ian and I took the 10.15 boat to Tresco because we had never seen Lesser Yellowlegs and there was one present on the Great Pool. We wanted to get back onto St. Mary's as quickly as possible to give us chance to maybe get some better views of the birds we'd already seen or even do a spot of birding near enough to the harbour to be relaxed before our boat. We hadn't realised that we would have less than an hour on Tresco however so it was a mad dash off the boat to the very SE south of the Great Pool. A quick scan found some Redshank and in amongst them was the delightful yellowlegs. It was noticeably smaller, bright yellow legs, think dark bill with a pale base, long at the rear end with a slight supercillium, and spangled back. I managed to creep up of the bird and get a couple of decent photos...shame the light was in completely the wrong place however! A dash back to the harbour saw me bump into Andrew Holden who told me the Pectoral Sandpiper was showing from the other hide...I made a very quick trip in here and saw that briefly albeit not very well.

Scarlet Tanager - Neill Hunt

SCARLET TANAGER - We hadn't realised why everyone was so anxious and excited whilst waiting for the boat back to St. Mary's until I had a quick chat to Andrew who told me that the Scarlet Tanager had been found on St. Mary's and was currently showing as we spoke!!! The boat seemed to take forever but Andrew and others arranged a taxi for 8 of us and by 12.10 we were present by Holy Vale and galloping towards the 50-60 assembled twitchers. The bird was in a row of hedges across a field when we arrived and 50 birders had to view from a very small gate and any little holes in the hedge they could find...The viewing was horrible with very little of the hedge visible at any one time. The bird was very elusive and It seemed to take an age before I caught site of movement. It suddenly popped out and sat in the sun side on. This is all I needed to pick up the yellowly green plumage, very dark wings, reasonably short broad bill, and smallish size (probably between Robin and Redwing in size). No matter how hectic the twitch was or how brief my views were. I picked up all the features of one of the rarest birds I have ever had the good fortune of seeing. One of those birds you always want to see, but never imagine it actually happening! Thanks must go to Andrew Holden for arranging the twitch for us. (From what I can gather in the quick read of Birdforum I have just had, the Scilly bird is actually a different bird to the Cornish bird... I think the cornish bird showed brown fringing to the greater coverts, whereas the Scilly bird didn't.)
Tanager twitch Holy Vale - note the big hedge we had to view through on the right! (Jason Stannage)
Olive-backed Pipit - After the Tanager became more elusive, Jason, Neill and I decided to have another look for the pipits as we really weren't far away at all. We arrived on the road by the second field along Watermill Lane and the birds had just been seen flying through the trees by the farm. It wasn't long however until someone shouted, 'got 'em!' He got us onto one pipit that was half way along the field with a Song Thrush. I was looking at the bird and something didn't seem right. I was struggling to ID the bird and assumed that maybe looking into the light didn't make them look especially special, because I just couldn't turn it into anything other than a Meadow Pipit. I was about to say something when Jason said, 'that's just a Mipit isn't it!?!' We all agreed this and then Neill picked up two birds at the back of the field. I got onto them straight away and the diagnostic head pattern that I have studied so often when being gripped off my Shetland pictures appeared in my scope. Now these WERE Olive-backed pipits. Viewing at this distance and into the light didn't help photography at all, but scope views were excellent and it was reasonably easy to note the 'tear drop' behind the ear coverts, heavy supercillium, broad streaking to the warm brown breast, short legs, reasonably plain back with very faint streaks and overall stunning appearance. I have wanted to see one of these for years and is probably my 3rd all time target bird to see. Result!
Due to forecast bad weather later on, we had to get the Scillonian III at 3pm rather than the 4.30 boat. The sea on this passage was slightly rougher with the weather being a little more unpleasant. This however made for a fantastic crossing as an observer with 3 species of cetacean being seen! To start off with a Minke Whale swan in front of the boat and was seen by about 5 of us on the boat. This is my first ever whale sp! Shortly followed by 2 Bottle-nosed Dolphin and then a single pod of 13 Common Dolphin which leaped out of the water at the same time which made for almost emotional viewing! Such stunning animals! On the bird front, the highlights were 2 European Storm-petrel, 2 Atlantic Puffin, 2 Arctic Skua, Great Skua and a Chiffchaff that landed on the boat half way, went into the grill to the engine room, then hopped out and flew off very high north (wrong direction!) We arrived back in Penzance at 6.00 and then drove back arriving in Liverpool at about midnight.

Left-right: Jason Stannage, Neill Hunt, me, Ian Woosey outside Evergreen Cottage Guest house (our accom for the night)

I would just like to say a massive thanks to Jason for inviting me along and also for providing me with a bed when we got back to Liverpool. Also thanks must go to Neill Hunt who drove essentially the whole way, provided most of the gen for locations on Scilly etc. Also a final thank you to the 3 lads who I joined on the trip for providing 48 hours of entertainment, stories and for contributing to probably the best 48 hours of birding I've ever had!
A superb first trip to one of the most beautiful birding locations I have ever been. Completely different to anywhere else I have ever seen in Britain.

Déjà vu - 4th October 2011

2011-10-04T13:18:00.002+01:00

A year to the day since Chris and I went to Soldier's Point twitching a Yellow-browed Warbler which showed incredibly. Today I was joined by Matt on the train to Holyhead where another Yellow-browed Warbler turned up at Soldier's Point!

Upon arrival it was obvious that there were many Goldcrest, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff were on the move. We viewed the horse fields from the lower road and within 3 minutes of arrival, I heard the diagnostic 2/3 syllable call of the Yellow-browed. Unlike the 2010 bird, this bird was extremely vocal and I would estimate it called 40 times whilst we were present. It was a hard bird to connect with visually, with only 4-5 decent sightings of the bird before it came rather illusive. A delightful bird nontheless of which I can now relax as this autumn contains a YBW sighting!

I didn't get any photos of this bird, but here is a link to the 2010 bird for you to feast your eyes on! - http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/yellow-browed-warbler-soldiers-point.html

SCAN Sunday - 2nd October 2011

2011-10-02T20:00:00.004+01:00

A small and slight gamble of a catch was on the cards for the final day of the SCAN weekend. We set a single net in a field between Llanfairfechan and Bangor at 11.30. High tide was not until 14.53 so there was a rather long and uncomfortable wait in a tent with Matt, Rachel and Dave. (The very crippling noise, whilst in the tent, of a very probable Richard's Pipit was made worse by a text off Chris saying he'd just seen a large passerine that he thought sounded like a Richard's Pipit!) Twinklers included Ian Lees, Chris Bridge plus Dave, Brynn, Phil and Ian. It seemed like an age before we were looking at something other than an empty field when a huge flock of Curlew started circling on the rising tide and several birds landed in the field just out of the catching area. Several times, the birds took to flight, but eventually 90 or so Curlew landed on the field with about 10 or so in the catching area. We took this opportunity and fired. A dash to the net saw that we had caught 15 Curlew and 2 Bar-tailed Godwit. I ringed 2 Curlew on this catch as I was just happy with the changing style of catch on dry land. It was also a huge privilege to be up close and personal to a Bar-tailed Godwit, even if I didn't get to handle it myself.

A nice end to a great, albeit tiring, weekend

My first 1000! - 29th September/1st October 2011

2011-10-01T19:00:00.003+01:00

The first SCAN weekend of Autumn 2011/12 saw us mist-net on the Friday night on the marshes. Setting 5 nets, we caught a selection of Curlew, Redshank, 3 Dunlin, 3 Lapwing, a Mallard and an adult female Eurasian Teal. I have never ringed Curlew before so this was a first. I have also never ringed adult Lapwing, so ringing the last bird was a real treat. The highlight however was the pleasure of ringing the Teal which was truly superb! It was so small and so placid in the hand...superb!

The main catch of the weekend was on Saturday where a very impressive 448 Oystercatcher were cannon-netted near Llanfairfechan. This was another new species for me and 77 birds down the line, I was able to confidently age (and even sex in some cases) the birds.
Since returning home after the catch, I have discovered that the bird above, which was the last bird I processed, was actually the 1000th bird I have processed since 29th January 2011! An impressive total for only 8 months of ringing!

Thanks to Steve, Rachel and Dave for coordinating and well done to Matt Bruce for getting through your first cannon-netting session!

GREAT Orme - 27h September 2011

2011-09-27T18:06:00.002+01:00

My second visit to the Great Orme in two days produced this delightful juvenile Dotterel on the north west side of the Orme. My first visit produced very little apart from lots of common migrants with the highlight being 2 Common Crossbill.
This is my first juvenile Dotterel, and this is the first time I've been able to get such amazing views which allowed me to get the incredible images above and below (I don't even care if I'm blowing my own trumpet!)
The wonderful weather we are experiencing at the moment means that butterflies are out in force and I saw 3 very late Graylings. This is rather peculiar however as thyone Grayling which is an endemic subspecies should be finished by mid-July. I noted that it was very small compared to the nominate race, so maybe this is a second brood due to the hot weather!?
Southern Hawker was taking advantage of the beautiful weather too as this frequented the bramble around Powell's well.

A day to remember!

10 Tonnes of Coot!

2011-09-21T23:21:00.005+01:00

Photo: Kane Brides

A short blog post this evening to just say a huge congratulations to Kane Brides for reaching the very impressive milestone of 1000 Coot to have been hand-caught and colour-ringed.
All this has been completed in just under two years which is impressive by anybodies standards, and I feel proud to say that I have been able to contribute to this total whilst helping Kane on a few trips out this year.

The 1000 milestone also means that the colour combinations that Kane has been using, have run out and today marked the start of a revisited Coot project. Kane is now using single white darvic rings showing 3 black letters/numbers.

Photo: Kane Brides

Please visit Kane's blog post introducing the darvic project for more details. As you will see, we cannot stress enough that every resighting of a colour-ringed bird is invaluable so please report both colour-ringed and darviced birds to kanebrides(AT)gmail.com

A Sunday Tryngites! - 18th September 2011

2011-09-18T21:55:00.004+01:00

I just couldn't stay away! I NEEDED to get some more views of this wonderful wonderful bird! I made the trip late morning with Matthew 'Brucey' Bruce from Bangor to Junction.
The bird was instantly present and I was able to fire off a few shots as it fed in front of the boardwalk at Conwy RSPB. I would have loved to get some digiscoped pictures, as the scope views were just incredible! You could even see the sparkle in its eye! (Sorry...I'm waffling)

It seemed so happy at the reserve that it even sat down for a short time!

It took flight and flew left to right in front of the screen showing off its pristine white underwing and landed even closer which allowed me to scrutinise the bird and note down the features that separate it from an adult bird.
A most enjoyable revisited twitch!

Bangor bound! - 17th September 2011

2011-09-17T16:22:00.004+01:00

Photo: Alex Jones

2011's Hurricane season has done wonders for British birding with some stunners such as Black and White Warbler and Northern Waterthrush on Scilly Isles today, plus a huge influx of American waders on the west coast of Ireland and a trickle elsewhere. It was a matter of time before one of these birds made it across the Irish sea and became twitchable for a young student like myself!
I am now back in Bangor so I was delighted to hear that a Buff-breasted Sandpiper had turned up at RSPB Conwy and was still present when I would be passing the Llandudno Jn turn off on the A55. Arriving on site, I met up with Chris Bridge (and family) and Alex Jones who were watching the stunning juvenile Buff-breast.

Although photographs of these stunning waders are almost jaw dropping, you really do have to see one in the flesh to really appreciate just how lovely they are. Such a lovely warm gingery tone and a very placid looking face make this bird potentially one of the most visually enjoyable birds I have ever twitched...stunning!

McLesser with Fries - Preston Docks - 14th September 2011

2011-09-14T22:07:00.002+01:00

Kane and I took advantage of the post-breeding dispersal of large juvenile Gulls down at Preston Docks with a spot of grabbing. With a little help from a certain fast food chain's chips (no salt but ofcourse!) we were able to grab a single juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gull. Sadly, the gulls became very skittish after the first bird, so we weren't able to catch anymore but the adrenaline of waiting to strike made for a very enjoyable 45 minutes! Cheers Kane for making the trip across the Ribble!

Gynn Square Seawatching - Blackpool - 14th September 2011

2011-09-14T15:42:00.002+01:00

Basking Shark moving very slowly north 08.30-10.30.

I decided I would try one last time seawatching off the coast of Blackpool to see if I could add to the list of great birds Katia has brought me. I wasn't disappointed!
Arriving at 07.45, I understand I had just missed an adult Pomarine Skua which would have been nice!
The first decent bird I saw flew south at 08.46 in the form of an adult Sabine's Gull...superb! This is something I have always wanted to find for myself and be able to scan the open sea and discover that unmistakeable wing pattern!
)8.52 and I got my first views of a Leach's Storm-petrel making its way slowly south which was in view for approx. 3 minutes and I loved every moment of it! Storm-petrels really are wonderful things!
At 09.05, I spotted a very similar wing pattern in my scope to the first bird and there in front of me, was a delightful juvenile Sabine's Gull heading south too! What a start!
The watching became pretty difficult thereafter until 09.45 when a 2nd Leach's appeared in my scope just in front of North Pier. I decided to try and get a photo of this one by running to the edge of the incoming tide and hoping it would be visable for a record shot...sadly, it was very low and appeared only a couple of times above the surf. In the process, I almost stranded myself on the very fast moving incoming tide which was surrounding me in all directions!

Apart from the avian highlights, I picked up a large animal 100 meters in front of North Pier which I instantly thought was a whale. It took about 2 hours to make its way north out of view, so I had a very long time in which to observe this beast and attempt to photograph/ID it. Throughout the whole time I was watching it, I was saying to myself that it wasn't a Basking Shark as it just didn't seem to scream Basking which is what I would have expected. I really did think it was a small whale (maybe a Pilot or something). After much deliberation, and cross referencing Google images and my montage above, I have come to the conclusion that I saw my first ever Basking Shark (and in Lancashire too!)

A great mornings seawatch and and lovely finally to 3 days of being blown about the Blackpool coastline! Highlights being Sooty Shearwater, 3 Sabine's Gull (inc. Heysham's bird), 2 Grey Phalarope, 2 Leach's Storm-petrel and a Basking Shark...Not at all bad!

Grey Phalarope - Fairhaven Lake, Lancashire - 13th September 2011

2011-09-13T19:00:00.004+01:00

After a rather uneventful seawatching session at Starr Gate on the falling tide today, I called in on the way back at Fairhaven Lake to see my 2nd Grey Phalarope in 2 days. I was hoping it was showing well like storm blown 'sea' birds from the past. It did not disappoint! The bird was showing very very well in the eastern corner of the lake feeding on the debris that had been blown into the corner by the ever present westerly wind.
Similarly to the Red-necked Phalarope present on the lake on the 17h September 2010, the phalarope was very tame and allowed me to get very close to it to observe its delightful feeding habits and lovely plumage. I would suggest it was moulting from juvenile to 1st winter, but I'm no expert...

Norwegian ringed Black-headed Gull - White J0N8
Ringed in Frognerparken, sørlige utløp, Oslo, Akershus & Oslo, Norway 08/04/2011
Resighted - Fairhaven Lake, Lancashire (1078km from ringing site, 158 days later)
The seawatch itself produced very little compared to what other lucky lancashire birders saw, but Fulmar, Manx Shearwater, Arctic Skua and several very close in Gannet were the highlights

Sooty and Sweep - 12th September 2011

2011-09-12T17:09:00.004+01:00

A certain forum discussing birds has been getting rather excited with the build up to the 2nd Hurricane to attempt to cause our birds some discomfort. Katia was set to hit overnight last night and it appears to have hit pretty hard! I arrived at Starr Gate for 09.20 to a huge swell and 30 or so mph winds.

Sandwich Tern - the only photo of of the avian variety and I feel almost embarrassed to put it on my blog!

I got two main highlights from the seawatch with the first at 10.02. I picked up a small wader appearing slightly larger than a Dunlin. It had cold grey Mantle with generally white body except for a black 'line' on the birds face. This quickly made it apparent that it was a phalarope sp. The Black wings except for a reasonablyhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif broad white wing bar at the base of the secondaries and tertials, in addition to the grey mantle made me come to the conclusion of a (presumed adult) Grey Phalarope! My 2nd self found bird following my first ever views back in 2005!
Next came the highlight of the trip, and probably my seawatching highlight of the year! Scanning from left to right I picked up a shearwater flying south. With it being off Blackpool, I instantly labelled it as Manxie, but the wings appeared too long so I followed it as it banked from side to side. It turned away from me showing its underside for the first time, and instantly, I noted that it was almost completely dark underneath except for a couple of silvery flashes on the underwings...I had a Sooty!

Not a photo but an appropriate image that I painted back in 2007!

This is a lifer for me and my 8th species of tubenose which certainly makes today special in terms of The Tubenose Challenge
Full sightings from the day:
Sooty Shearwater flew South-east 11.27
Grey Phalarope flew North 10.02 (close in at c50 meters out)
16 Sandwich Tern
4 Arctic Tern
6 Gannet
1 Manx Shearwater flew south
1 Guillemot
24 Cormorant
1 Knot flew south
c200 Common Scoter

Lets hope it continues tomorrow!

Sabine's Gull - Heysham Harbour - 8th September 2011

2011-09-08T19:10:00.003+01:00

After an early start at Brockholes produceing a blank on pretty much anything except a light Mipit movement, I was more than eager to go and see a Sabine's Gull when I found it was lingering in Heysham Harbour. This is a bird I have only seen once back in October 2001, long before my proper birding days so I was keen to be able to fully appreciate one in the flesh.Adult Sabine's Gull - Heysham Harbour/Outfalls
Arriving at the Outfalls late afternoon, I got the briefest of glimpses of the classic white wedge in the wing of an adult Sabine's Gull. Result, it was still present!
Over the next 20 minutes, I was able to get some wonderful views of this truly beautiful bird as it made several visits into the harbour itself passing at c30feet away from me at eye level. I don't care who you are, if you get close up views of an adult (or indeed a juvenile) Sabine's Gull, you have to agree that they are stunning birds.

Also present on the outfalls and in the surrounding area were several juvenile and moulting adult Arctic Tern plus a few Common Terns and a single Sandwich Tern
My personal highest count of 15 Mediterranean Gull was an added bonus that I wasn't expecting (well, not in those numbers anyway!)
aswell as 2 Little Gull which blended into the 'crowd' and took a while to pick out.

Even at a decent range, the classic wing pattern of the Sabine's Gull stands out a mile off. I can't wait for that day when I am scanning a rough sea and this sight appears in my scope...phwarrr!

Poppin' ma Coot Cherry - 7th September 2011

2011-09-07T17:28:00.003+01:00

As the summer turns into autumn, it approaches Coot season as today saw Kane, Chris and I head down to Redesmere, Macclesfield to do a bit of grabbing.
As I am the only member yet to catch a Coot, I went first at having a go for them...

It took a while, but after a couple of attempts, I had my hands on a young Coot and added to the day total which was 10 new birds and 1 recap.

Kane still makes it look easy, but it is certainly not! I will be back to work on my technique, but for now, I just have peace of mind that it is not impossible! A great day!

Swallow Roost - Worsely, Gtr Manchester - 3rd September 2011

2011-09-03T22:10:00.004+01:00

Photo: Kane Brides

Regular readers of this blog will note that I haven't done any ringing at all for almost 2 months since the Long-Eared Owls back on 12th July.
Similarly, it has been just as long since I last saw Kane, so It was nice to catch up with him this evening in Worsley, Gtr Manchester for a Swallow roost at a reedbed.

We caught 51 birds which were ringed by Jenny and myself. This was the first time I've handled 'adult' Swallow, so it was a lovely experience, particularly the 2 adult males that I ringed.

Thanks to Kane for the invite and to Steve Christmas for letting me come along.

It's good to be back with some pliers in my hands

Me, Myself & Irene - 29th August 2011

2011-08-29T16:01:00.003+01:00

With all this talk of Hurricane Irene attacking the east coast of North America, British birders can't help but think about what the hurricane will do to the ornithology across the pond, and what will turn up on our coastal headlands.
With strong winds forecast on our coasts, I thought I would give Starr Gate a go...

Starr Gate - 24mph >NW
Watching all the Cornish headlands 'scoring big' with Cory's, Balearic, Great and a possible Little Shearwater the night before, I couldn't help but arrive at Starr Gate with massive expectations. A Balearic would probably be the best I could hope for in August off Starr Gate, but this wasn't to be.
The wind was too northernly for the Blackpool coast to have a wreck (it would probably be better on the Wirral today) so the best I could muster up was as follows:
2 Manx Shearwater >S, 5 Gannet >N, 2 Guillemot >N, Razorbill >N, 2 Sandwich Tern >N, and a raft of 170 Common Scoter reasonably close in.
Apart from this, there wasn't a great deal so I called it a day after about 2 hours.

By lunchtime I was back in Preston and got a text saying there were 2 Ruff in Meadow Lake at Brockholes. I got there as quick as I could, but they left the site heading strongly >SW just before I arrived!
These would be the first Ruff I would've seen on site since 2 self found juveniles back in August 2006! I'm not even sure there have been any since this date! Ruff have become so ridiculously scarce in recent years.

Not the best day I could have imagined, but it beats being a cyber birder...amazing nearctic vagrants will never be found if we all had lazy bank holidays sitting by a computers screen all day!!

Butterflies: Catalunya 7th-19th August 2011

2011-08-20T22:42:00.008+01:00

With 2011's holiday to Spain being mainly a butterfly holiday, I really enjoyed my trip seeing a huge number of new species for me with a total of 42 species seen, at least!
I'm still getting a few species identified, but please comment on any of my already identified photos below.

worn Panoptes Blue
Swallowtail
Tree Grayling
Scarce Swallowtail
Scarce Swallotail
very illusive Long-tailed Blue
Red-underwing Skipper
Bath White
Cleopatra
Swallowtail
Spotted Fritillary
Silver-studded Blue
Lang's Short-tailed Blue
Clouded Yellow
Cardinal
Southern White Admiral
Spotted Fritillary
Geranium Bronze
Striped Grayling
Brown Argus
Geranium Bronze
Common Blue

Species seen:
Scarce Swallowtail, Swallowtail, Small White, Large White, Green-veined White, Bath White, Clouded Yellow, Wood White, Comma, Southern White Admiral, Red Admiral, Peacock, Cardinal, Spotted Fritillary, Lesser Spotted Fritillary, Marbled White, Grayling, Tree Grayling, Striped Grayling Giant Banded Grayling, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Spanish Gatekeeper, Large Wall Brown, Wall Brown, (Southern) Speckled Wood, Small Copper, Long-tailed Blue, Lang's Short-tailed Blue, Panoptes Blue, Silver-studded Blue, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Adonis Blue, Panoptes Blue, Brown Argus, Red-underwing Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Mallow Skipper, Large Skipper
Can anyone help with the ID of this Fritillary sp seen at the Millau Viaduct, France?

Reptiles: Catalunya 7th-19th August 2011

2011-08-20T22:29:00.001+01:00

Moorish Gecko
Lizard sp (yet to be identified...)
European Green Lizard

Odonata: Catalunya 7th-19th August 2011

2011-08-20T21:55:00.002+01:00

Scarlet Darter
Scarce Emerald Damselfly with a shorter, paler pterostigma than Emerald Damselfly

Keeled Skimmer
Red Veined Darter

Species seen: Emperor, Lesser Emperor, Keeled Skimmer, Ruddy Darter, Common Darter, Red-veined Darter, Violet Dropwing, Common Blue Damselfly, Emerald Damselfly, Scarce Emerald Damselfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly,

Moths: Catalunya 7th-19th August 2011

2011-08-20T21:30:00.004+01:00

I found that the increased greenery in Catalunya this year improved the moths present around the garden. I saw several species I've never seen before with Lime Hawkmoth being the most impressive and Pine Hawkmoth being my favourite

Pine Hawkmoth
female Lime Hawkmoth
Hummingbird Hawkmoth
Lime-speck Pug
Scarce Footman

Birds: Catalunya 7th-19th August 2011

2011-08-20T19:51:00.003+01:00

Long-time followers of my blog will know I have been on a family holiday to Rosas, Catalunya every year since 2006. This year was no different, but it could well have been our last year this year. As a result, I thought I would try something a little different and have my main focus being butterflies. Birds therefore took somewhat of a back seat in this trip so I don't really have too many exciting stories from this years holiday...I will do what I can however!

Millau Viaduct, France

We drove down this year meaning I could add a few different species onto the list. The drive down saw more Buzzards than you could ever wish to see! I would suggest that there were at least 100 Buzzards plus a male Montagu's Harrier, a Honey Buzzard and Osprey seen. A mile north of the incredible Millau Viaduct, I located a flock of 15 Griffon Vultures. We stopped the car and out of nowhere a jaw-droppingly massive bird appeared at close range in loose association with the Griffons and it turned out to be the only lifer of the trip for me which was Black Vulture. Incredible bird!

Cap de Creus.

Whilst on a butterfly photographic 'expedition' near to the area of Mas Ventos (on the road from Vilajuïga to San Pere de Rodes) I came across a family party of Woodchat Shrike. One of the juveniles landed on a bush only 15 feet away, providing some brilliant photographic opportunities.
A 2 hour seawatch from the Cap de Creus peninsular produced a flock of 8 Whimbrel flying south...and that was it! Not a hint of any of the 3 tubenose species. I was a little disappointed to be honest.

Aiguamolls de l'Emporda

2011 saw the wettest July for over 100 years in Catalonia. As a result, everywhere was greener than ever, and the rivers were full of water, but the pools at Aiguamolls were devoid of any water! Amazing! There is a flooded farmers field to the west of the road from Rosas to Empuriabrava which seemed to hold almost all of the water birds in the area. Here I had great views of Greater Flamingo, Spotted Redhshank (a new bird for Spain for me) as well as Black-tailed Godwit and and a cornucopia of Gulls and heron species.
I managed to witness two species of Woodpecker on this trip. One of which was Great Spotted Woodpecker, which is a new Spanish bird for me, as well as Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which was heard from the reserve car park. This is almost the exact same site that I saw my first ever Lesser Spot there back on my first visit in 2006.

Melodious Warbler

Scotch Argus among 22 other species - Arnside and Warton - 2nd August 2011

2011-08-02T20:45:00.004+01:00

Arriving at Preston train station at 8.30 in torrential rain, Nick and I really weren't optimistic at all about seeing the main target species - Scotch Argus - but we decided to give it a go anyway and go on the train to Arnside. by 12pm we hadn't seen a single butterfly whilst walking around Arnside Knott.The temperature suddenly rose and we caught sight of a dark flash in front of us...Scotch Argus! Superb!
This was new for me and due to it being the first butterfly of the day, we didn't want to lose sight of it so 'ran' after it. In the process, we flushed at least 10 Scotch Argus which was crazy. The patch of land in the above photo was absolutely full of Scotch Argus with an estimate of 200 being in flight at the peak of the warm weather burning through the clouds. This was a spectacle to behold and one of the most incredible wildlife events I've witnessed...Amazing! (No wonder UK Butterflies has Arnside Knott as '*****' for Scotch Argus. To be able to see at least 200 of one of Englands scarcest species in pouring rain was superb)

The rain aided photography as the butterflies were very approachable and stayed still for a very long time which allowed me to get a really intimate look at, in my opinion, one of Britain's most beautiful butterflies. Some of the really really fresh individuals were stunning with almost black wings with blinding orange spots.

I got to experience an interesting aspect to a butterflies journey from Ovum to Imago which was an adult that had literally just hatched from its chrysalis and its wings were still folded so looked very peculiar. It reminded me of an Angle Shades moth, which is what I initially thought it was.
After Arnside, it started to become sunny, so we thought we'd try out luck at Warton Crag. The main targets here were second generations of Dingy Skipper and Small Blue but sadly, the sun disappeared soon after we got on site so didn't see however. Consolation species were 2+ male Brimstone which were beautifully fresh, as well as 3 or 4 Wall Brown which is a species that's eluded me all year until now (last seen at Brockholes in 2010)
I got the impression that a lot of butterfly had only emerged this week as they all looked really fresh...the same can't be said for this Dark-green Fritillary however which looks as though it's on its last legs!

From what we thought was going to be a disastrous day, it turned out to be really productive with 23 species seen, which bettered our visit in bright sun a few weeks ago! Amazing!

Juvenile Bredstarts - Preston - 28th July 2011

2011-07-28T14:43:00.002+01:00

After hearing that the Black Redstarts fledged the day after I initially located the two adults together, I couldn't resist a second visit. These birds have become somewhat of a local internet sensation so I was surprised to be the only other observer (except for John Wright whom arrived as I was leaving)
I could hear the juveniles calling from some distance away in the grounds of The Chambers (53 Guildhall Street). I soon located both and managed to get several photos which I am pretty happy with.

calling to his mum...

Thanks to the kind gentlemen who let have access to the roof of The Chambers' building where I could see the male singing and the female feeding the chicks...superb!

Black Redstarts return to Preston! - 26th July 2011

2011-07-26T15:44:00.004+01:00

In August 2010, I confirmed breeding of Black Redstart in Preston Town Centre for the first time since the 1950's! (see blog post)
I only managed to confirm breeding after the birds had fledged so the adults soon became elusive which was a shame. I hoped they would return in 2011 so I could observe these enchanting birds before they settled into breeding.
Nick and I visited the town centre once a week for several weeks in June to try and catch the sound of a singing male, but the closest we came was a very brief flight view of a redstart sp.

On Sunday 24th July, Phil Buck spotted a male on Bairstow Street calling frequently. Nick and I therefore decided we would have a real go today and we managed to locate both male and female. Both of which were carrying food and the male was heard singing several times also. Superb!

Let's hope they are successful breeders for a second year!

Local Lepidoptera - 24th July 2011

2011-07-24T17:32:00.003+01:00

Sunday morning started off with glorious sunshine in my garden. This brought a couple of butterflies into my garden in the form of a Speckled Wood, Red Admiral and a very elusive Holly Blue. I went about trying to photograph these but my dad soon got into gardening mode and asked me to move!

With a hunger for butterflies running through my veins, I decided to go for a wander into Haighton House Woods as I'd never concentrated on Lepidoptera here. Being a very well established woodland, I knew I was in for a treat...I wasn't wrong!
I found an opening with a decent meadow in the middle of it where highlights were 2+ White-letter Hairstreak, 3 Small Copper, 10 Gatekeeper, the '3 Whites', Small and Large Skipper and Comma among others

Small Copper - One of my favourite species of Butterfly and my first for the year, which was a treat.

Apparantly this is the first time White-letter Hairstreak has been seen at Haighton House Woods, so I am very lucky to have experienced such close up views. It was so obliging that I was able to see the detail of its 'face' with the naked eye. Stunning!

Butterflies and A&E - 14th July 2011

2011-07-18T19:00:00.004+01:00

I apologise for the slight delay on this post, but as a result of my trip to the Lakes with Nick Patel on Thursday, I have been in Hospital ever since and have only just been discharged, 96 hours later!

We spent the day looking for a few Cumbrian specialities using my dads car to help us get around.
The main target for the day was Mountain Ringlet. A species of butterfly that is considered potentially the 'oldest' species of butterfly in Britain due to it being the first butterfly present after the ice age due to their cool, high altitude habitat.
We started off the day at Cold Pike near to Little Langdale in brilliant sunshine which is perfect for Ringlets. It was a decent walk in terms of distance before we started getting to appropriate territory and altitude, but this allowed us to spot a couple of other upland species. Small Heath and the occasional Large White were the only species of butterfly present on the ascent, but Large Red Damselfly, Four-spotted Chaser and a single Golden-ringed Dragonfly (new for Nick) kept us our spirits high.
When we reached Red Tarn, we knew we were close to the right habitat, but the sun suddenly went in! We decided to sit down on a large rock, waiting for the sun to reappear. When it did, we spotted 2 small dark brown butterfly appear from the Matt Grass. Closer inspection revealed them to be Mountain Ringlet...superb!
These proved to be a real challenge to photograph as they very rarely landed and when they did, they kept deep down into the medium-length Matt Grass.

Mountain Ringlet

After about an hour, I kept my eye on one, of the five present, at a distance which I saw land...a short stalk later, I was able to get a decent enough record shot of this enchanting species.
Moving on slightly south, we headed to Yew Tree Tarn to change our focus to Odonata. The two main targets at this site were Downy Emerald and Beautiful Demoiselle. The latter is a species I have wanted to see for several years now, but have never made the effort to go and see. Sadly, we were unable to locate any, but 2, maybe 3, Downy Emerald made up for this (even if they evaded my camera!)

The second butterfly target species of the day was Large Heath which we know to be present at Foulshaw Moss and Meathop Moss. The latter is more reliable due to more dense colonies in the smaller habitat, but Foulshaw Moss also has White-faced Darter, which is another species I have always wanted to see.

Black Darter

We failed for both of these at Foulshaw (despite countless Black Darter), so we decided to go for one last attempt at Meathop.
Within about 3 minutes of arriving onto the more compact heathland, a Large Heath flew past and gave me gripping views.

(Mountain Ringlet, Black Darter and Large Heath photos taken by myself. The rest are kindly donated by Nick Patel)

Not to worry however, as these became reasonably regular and I was able to get a record shot showing the characteristic underwing of the, in my opinion, prettiest of the 3 British races of Large Heath.
I was however not expecting what happened next. Whilst leaning forward to get a better photo of the Large Heath, I put my hand down to keep myself stable. Feeling a sudden 'prick' in my hand, I pulled away thinking it was a thistle or something. What I wasn't expecting was that I had put my hand down into the striking range of a rather angry Adder, which was now hanging from my finger!

The culprit - A foot and a half of Adder

An Entomologists and Herpetologists heaven!

Nick and the Adder to show the size

Hearing that Adder bites are only as bad as a Wasp or Bee sting, I wasn't too worried so soon picked the snake up by the tail (as a childhood of watching Steve Irwin taught me!) and began taking lots of pictures of this rather stunning animal. This is my first adder and boy, did it make a first impression!

We decided to call it a day after we let the snake go so that I could nip into a local chemist in Milnthorpe to get an anti-histamine for the bite in case I reacted badly. The chemist were shocked about my nonchalance and said I it would probably be wise to get to A&E asap. I thought this was a bit extreme but went anyway just to make sure.
(I went to Kendal hospital and was quickly transferred to Lancaster by Ambulance)

I was seen straight away and was given a huge 10mg dose of European Viper Anti-venom. I really wasn't expecting them to say that I would need to stay for a minimum of 48 hours to make sure I didn't react badly. (Apparently this is more common than the initial bite)
As the photographs below show, I reacted pretty badly to the bite and the swelling went from the tip of my finger to the base of my neck. It is still partially swollen as I write but it much better
I am more than grateful to Nick for helping me keep in regular contact with my parents and to keep me from going mad when I started growing a boxing glove for a hand!
As Thursday 14th July 2011 has shown, taking photographs of butterflies isn't a danger free pursuit and all I can say is, if you can avoid an Adder...do so!
Obtaining a slightly better photo of a Large Heath is not worth 5 days of Hospital meals and no use of your writing arm!
Thank you for reading and hopefully, I've learnt the hard way, so you don't have to!

LEO and a migrant from the Farnes! - 13th July 2011

2011-07-13T23:52:00.003+01:00

I've done some awesome things this year, and to be honest today is up there with one of the greatest.
Ciaran is back from the Farne Islands for a couple of days so we took this opportunity to see him before Chris and Kane shoot off to Iceland for a month! Kane picked Ciaran and I up early on and then waited for Chris to join us in the afternoon after a pub lunch and a catch up.
We headed to the Long-eared Owl nest in the late afternoon to go and ring the owl brood.
All 5 chicks were at the right age to ring so we were over the moon. This was a new experience for Ciaran and I so we couldn't be happier.

They were absolutely amazing! Little balls of fluff with piercing orange eyes that never left our gaze. One of the best birds I have ringed by far mainly because the mood in the group was lifted by a certain Northumberland migrant's presence! If it wasn't for the recent Tubenose catching, I'm sure these would be up there with the title of my greatest ringed bird.

Throughout the whole time we ringed the birds, the two adults were in close proximity keeping an eye on us which was superb to see as I very rarely have seen Long-eareds in the flesh apart from when they are doing very little at Marton Mere.

We ended the day catching 2 Grasshopper Warbler and a Collared Dove pulli which were two new species for Ciaran! Excellent!

A superb day and great to see Ciaran again! Hope you have a brilliant final few months on the island and hope you keep well
Also, Good luck to Kane and Chris in Iceland and hope you don't 'grip' me off with the inevitable cornucopia of stories you will tell when you get back!

20 species of Butterfly at Arnside Knott - 11th July 2011

2011-07-11T20:51:00.005+01:00

I spent a day with Nick Patel at Arnside Knott for my first full day of entomology, specialising in butterfly. We managed a pretty impressive 20 species of butterfly in 8 hours, which I was over the moon about! It was particularly special for me because I saw 6 new species.
Above and Below - Northern Brown Argus was one of my favourites for the day, mainly because it is one of the rarest and most localised species in Britain being restricted to far north west Lancashire and Durham. Separated from Brown Argus by the two white spots on the open wing, this was a delightfully delicate little butterfly.

Above - High Brown Fritillary was another new species for me and only my 2nd ever species of fritillary in Britain (Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary being the 1st). These were impressive beasts and being such a bright orange colour made them stand out from a decent distance.
Above and Below - Dark Green Fritillary was the 2nd fritillary of the day and another new one. These weren't quite as orange at the High Browns but with the addition of the intricate underwing, made for another lovely butterfly. This was probably the most common species we saw all day with over 100 being seen at least! Fantastic!
(In addition to the 2 fritillary species photographed above, I also managed to see Pearl-bordered Fritillary and 2+ Silver-washed Fritillary which were again new for me.)
Above - Grayling was the 6th new species of the day for me and was one of the most abundant of the butterfly species present with 30+ being seen.

Butterfly species seen - Silver-washed Fritillary, Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Dark Green Fritillary, High Brown Fritillary, Grayling, Northern Brown Argus, Common Blue, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Comma, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Ringlet

Incredibly we never saw Peacock all day and we felt a little bit 'short changed' that we were unable to locate either Purple or White-letter Hairstreak despite great effort. We were hoping, considering everything else being early this year, to maybe get an early Scotch Argus, but no such joy.
Above - The only odonata species we saw was this Emerald Damselfly which was present next to some Ragwort and Bramble in some Juncus. This is only the 3rd time I've ever seen this species after seeing 1 at Brockholes and 6 at Beacon Fell back in 2007.
A final addition to the days list was a Hummbird Hawkmoth feeding on Ox-eye Daisy on the front at Arnside next to the Kent Railway Viaduct.

A superb day overall and really worth the effort, even if I extremely tired as I write this.

Robinson comes to Longsands - 4th July 2011

2011-07-05T12:03:00.002+01:00

I have always wanted to put a moth trap in my garden as I soon tired of running round the garden with a torch and a couple of plant pots catching 2 moths a night! Kane has provided me with the opportunity to trap for the first time by lending me his 'Rolls Royce' Robinson 125w MV Trap.

1922 Swallow-tailed Moth Ourapteryx sambucaria
1884 The Magpie Abraxas grossulariata
1860 Green Pug Pasiphila rectangulata
1931 Peppered Moth Biston betularia

Totals of Species I could Identify: 16 Swallowtail, 14 Dot moth, 5 Riband Wave, 9 Heart and Dart, 2 Magpie, 4 Brimstone, 3 Flame, 1 Peppered Moth, 1 Small Magpie, 3 Large Yellow Underwing, 2 Green Oak Tortrix, 1 Mother of Pearl, 1 Beautiful Golden y, 1 Garden Carpet, 17 Double Square Spot, 1 Flame Shoulder, 1 Dark Swordgrass, 1 Green Pug, 1 Clouded Silver, 2 Willow Beauty, 2 Double Lobed, 2 Fanfoot

An excellent nights mothing!

A gaggle and a half of Geese - Llangorse, Powys - 3rd June 2011

2011-07-03T20:14:00.007+01:00

Kane, Chris and I made our way south today to the annual Canada Goose round up at Llangorse Lake in Mid/South Wales.
We joined a group of 25 or so people including our good friend Gillian Dinsmore. Canada Geese gather here from all over Britain for their annual wing moult making them flightless. This makes for a very good opportunity to catch as many as possible to ring. The majority of the work was done by a selection of 10 or so kayaks which essentially herding the geese to the area of the lake where the ringing team was gathered with a metal pen. We helped with the final part which was keeping the birds from espcaping back into the water whilst making the short journey into the pen. It was a very impressive sight to behold as we caught c370 Canada Geese. I have only ever ringed 1 Canada Goose before so it was nice to get used to using L rings as well as being able to eperience the sheer power of a big goose trying to wriggle free.

In glorious sunshine, it was a really successful catch. Whilst waiting for the 'herders' to bring the geese round to our side of the lake, my 8th Osprey of the year was seen fishing in the water in front of us for at least 15 minutes catching a couple of decent sized fish. Superb.
I also managed to see my first Ringlet and Marbled White butterfly which was rather nice to see in the car park.
Thanks to Jerry Lewis for coordinating the catch and to Kane for use of his photos and for driving the 400 mile round trip! What a trooper!

No Birds in this post! - Brockholes NR LWT - 1st July 2011

2011-07-01T21:13:00.003+01:00

For me, July is by far the least 'birdy' month in the year, so I thought I would start the month concentrating on Odonata and Butterfly down at the patch. I spent a couple of hours by the bramble patch by the style to the eastern end of Boilton Wood.
This patch is very good for Butterfly and with it being just below a couple of young Elm, it is ideal habitat for White-letter Hairstreak.
It took about half an hour of waiting before a large burst of sun brought down a rather stunning White-letter Hairstreak seen by myself and a handful of LWT staff. This is a first for me, so I felt very fortunate that is was so obliging!

Whilst waiting for the Hairstreak to appear I saw a couple of first for the years in the form of a male Broad-bodied Chaser which is one of my favourite dragonfly species due to them being very obliging for photography compared to some of the other species like Black-tailed Skimmer.
For rarity value, the star of the day was a Hummingbird Hawkmoth that appeared on a patch of nettles next to the brambles then made its way across the front of the patch. This was present for two minutes and seen my Bill Gregory, Mike Foley, Robin Shenton and myself. A personal sight first and the first to be seen since the the LWT took over the site.Hummingbird Hawkmoth photo by Mike Foley

6 months in the life of a Trainee

2011-06-30T21:10:00.003+01:00

I have now completed 6 months of ringing training and all I can say is 'What an amazing 6 months!'.
Since January 29th, I have ringed 781 new birds of 65 species (processed 844 birds of 66 species (I've not yet actually ringed Mute Swan despite 17 retraps!))
Oh the species I have ringed, a few stick out in my mind as being species that I never thought I'd ever ring!

Chough
Puffin
Little Egret
Dunlin (A personal favourite of mine)

In addition to the unexpected birds, I have added to the experience of ringing by visiting some rather unusual ringing locations
26th March saw Chris and I cannon-netting gulls on a Landfill site catching 138 birds. Everything about this location was surreal including the bouncy floor that made running to the net a somewhat comical experience!
Catching 31 Pied Wagtails outside the entrance of Tesco car park in Bangor was also very surreal as it was still rather busy with the petrol station still being open and car passing by all the time.

The Tubenose Challenge hasn't really had the kick start it needs yet, so it was an apt way to finish the six months with a trip to catch Manx Shearwater and European Storm-petrel. This went down as the best ringing session of the lot as Manx Shearwater has been a species close to my heart pretty much since I read my first bird book back in 1998.
European Storm-petrel and Manx Shearwater were the 2nd and 3rd species to be photographed for the Tubenose Challenge after we retrapped an adult Fulmar on our first trip to Puffin Island. This is another species that I adore and can't believe how lucky I am to have held such a superb bird!
I think it would be unfair to not give a few thanks to people for helping me in my first 6 months. A big thanks for Steve Dodd and Rachel Taylor for being my official trainers when I am ringing in North Wales. I doubt I would be where I am now without your help. Kane Brides is my adopted trainer for when I venture into the North West. I certainly wouldn't be where I am today in terms of progression with ringing if it wasn't for Kane as he has the advantage of being my mate as well as my part-time trainer so he knows where I am struggling and how to overcome any problems I may have. I have also met many other people that have provided me with memories that will last a lifetime
No thank you would be complete without thanking Chris 'the birdman' Bridge who pushed me to start ringing in the first place and has introduced me to some superb people who will only be assets to know in future life.
...Lets hope for a similarly incredible 6 months when I get to a year into my training!

My Greatest Blog Post to Date! - 29th/30th June 2011

2011-06-30T05:19:00.005+01:00

Today (29th June 2011), I have been training to ring birds for exactly 6 months. What a way to mark this mini milestone by joining Kieran Foster to ring Storm-petrel and Manx Shearwater off Anglesey!
Kane, Chris, Kieran and I arrived at 21.45 and set up 2 nets. One for Stormies and one for Manxies. The latter being slightly higher up and slightly in land. We waited until it was fully dark before checking the nets, which didnt come until almost 11.45pm! A couple of net rounds later and Kieran returned presenting Kane with the first bird of the night, European Storm-petrel!
This was a stunning bird, so delicate and placid. What made the bird even better was when it started shaking and making an enchanting purring noise along with the occasional chirrup. Storm-petrel hold somewhat of a party piece in that they smell naturally of perfume! Such a lovely smell that is still lingering on my clothes! It was a while later until we caught our 2nd stormie at c01.15 which was handed to Chris to ring. This bird was even better as it was 'singing' in the net when we went to extract it!
As we were extracting the Storm-petrel from the net, Manx Shearwater were going mental offshore and even onshore calling frantically and whizzing right over our heads, We opened the 2nd net and it was literally a matter of moments before we could see a dark blog land in the net against the milky darkness of the summer sky. We ran over to extract the bird, shortly followed by 2 more.
For me, this was even better than the Stormies (perhaps because I didn't get to ring a Stormie?) I can honestly say this was probably one of the best experiences I have ever had whilst bird watching. To be sat on a cliff in the North West of Britain and to be able to hear Manx Shearwaters calling all around you and then get to hold and ring some what just incredible!
Looking at photos however, their 'faces' give them an almost placid look, however I can honestly say that these are more of a handful than almost anything else I've had the pleasure of ringing! They kick and bite like a Coot or Razorbill. Incredible!
We caught 7 Manxies in the end and Kieran was planning on ringing this until he suddenly caught sight of a ring. It was a controlled bird, and one we are certainly eager to find out where it was ringed. The first Manxie control that Kieran has had to date.

As many of you will be aware, I have set myself a challenge to see all the Tubenose species in the world. I have said that I would try to photograph every species in order to 'prove' the ID of the birds we see. It was really difficult to photograph the birds in the darkness of last night, without causing too much stress from flash, so I only managed plumage shots of Storm-petrel.
The photos above and below however show a couple of distinguishing features of European Storm-petrel.
Above - The rounded square tail and small round rump
Below - Dark vent, Round tail, white side to rump and most important, the white bar on the underwing which pretty much distinguishes European Storm from any other species.
A truly incredible night and my best ringing and probably birding experience to date. A massive thanks to Kieran for the invite and the knowledge provided on the night and to Kane for doing all the driving! Incredible!

The Blitz - Brockholes NR LWT - 25th June 2011

2011-06-25T10:06:00.002+01:00

25th June 2011 is Bioblitz where a site is covered as much as possible to try to obtain as many species of organisms as possible. For Brockholes NR LWT, this started on the evening of the 24th at 22.30pm where Kane and I joined Bill Aspin, David and Jim Beattie to set up 3 moth traps. After the setting of the traps, Bill, Kane and I walked around the site with Bill's flash light trying to see any nocturnal species. It wasn't long before we got our first reflecting eyes in the form of a Tawny Owl which was sat on a post to the south of Boilton Marsh. This is the first visual site record for me. In addition to this, we saw a 'nocturnal' Little Ringed Plover as well as a Roe Deer and a Hedgehog (my first for the year!) We left the site at 00.30 after a decent catch up.

I arrived back on site this morning at 05.25 in drizzle trying to count roosting wildfowl on the islands, and hopefully check any of the Coot for rings! Complete species count as follows:
9 Mute Swan, 6 Great Crested Grebe, 1 Little Grebe, 138 Canada Goose, 1 Barnacle Goose, 127 Coot, 12 Moorhen, 37 Mallard, 4 Gadwall (2 juv), 3 Tufted Duck, 1 fem Goosander, 4 Cormorant, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Kestrel, 11 adult LRP, 3 Ringed Plover, 7 Oystercatcher (2 juv), 19 Lapwing, 3 Common Redshank, 2 Common Sandpiper, 18 Black-headed Gull (1 juv), 1 Common Tern (on Ribble nr Redscar 08.50), 2 Collared Dove, 8 Woodpigeon, 2 Stock Dove, 14 Feral Pigeon, 1 Barn Owl, Cuckoo, 1 Kingfisher, 150+ Sand Martin, 5 House Martin, 10+ Swallow, 3 male Skylark, 4 Pied Wagtail, 30+ Swift, 2 Dunnock, 3 Whitethroat, 1 juv Garden Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 6 Sedge Warbler, 1 Reed Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 14 Blue Tit, 8 Great Tit, 2 Coal Tit, 1 Wren, 3 House Sparrow (across river), 8 Tree Sparrow (over), 8 Magpie, 1 Jackdaw, 10 Carrion Crow, 4 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, 11 Reed Bunting.

The Cuckoo is a first for the site personally and with less than 10 records since 10th August 1998, this is a very difficult species to connect with. With confirmed decreases in the British population, I was starting to think I have missed my opportunity to see this species. This is the third sighting this year with one seen on the 23rd in the same place, so presumably the same bird. In addition James Walsh saw a bird on the 31st May, which presumably is a different bird?

When Bill, Jim and David arrived, we started examining the moth traps. It took us all a while to pick up 2 stunning Eyed Hawkmoth that were resting outside of the main trap which was a first for me and the first to be caught on site. Other species caught overnight included Dark Arches, Light Arches, Cinnabar, Buff Ermine, Snout among several other species that have already eluded my memory...you need a good memory when it comes to mothing!

Before I left the site at 09.35, I helped to check the small mammal traps with the Lancs Mammal Group where we caught a Wood Mouse, Bank Vole and a feisty Common Shrew which were all rather delightful to see up close. As a left, the local botany 'expert' was starting his survey so hopefully Brockholes will come out as being one of the most diverse sites in Lancashire.

It already has my vote as being one of the best sites in Lancs....

Twitching a Coot! - Brockholes NR LWT, Lancashire - 22nd June 2011

2011-06-22T15:30:00.005+01:00

(Photo: John Wright)

Either I have gone completely mad after my first year of University, or I have Ringers blood flowing through my veins. It's not every day that you get excited about a 26km Coot movement!
On the longest day, 21st June 2011, John Wright posted a picture of a colour-ringed Coot on the Brockholes Facebook page. This is one of the birds ringed as part of Kane Brides' North West Coot study. This is the first colour-ringed Coot to turn up at Brockholes, so I was eager to see it!

Recapture History

number Typ Date Init Details

Coot

GR24371 N 3F 28/09/10 CMB Stanley Park, Blackpool

5 Resighted 04/02/11 PB Stanley Park, Blackpool

5 Resighted 21/06/11 JW Brockholes Quarry, Preston, Lancashire (26 km, ESE, 266 days)

I decided to walk to the quarry after a Bacon sandwich and was on site just after 12.30. I set up shop in the motorway hide scanning the wildfowl on No1 pit. There was at least 100 Coot present in a reasonably tight flock on the northern side of No1 in the water (therefore the legs weren't visible). The flock started moving towards the bank and 4 birds started getting out of the water and standing on a spit. A fifth bird joined and I caught a flash of Green followed by a flash of Orange. It was the bird! What are the chances that it would be one of the five birds? [1/20 chance for any smart alecks out there ;)]
This may be the first colour-ringed Coot to be seen at Brockholes, but it is not the first of Kane's Coots to be seen as Bill Aspin read the metal ring GC64146 on 1st April 2009 45km from its ringing site in Fallowfield, Manchester.
After the initial 'excitement' of the Coot, I had a wander around and a slightly sombre mood came over my following sightings. I found a freshly dead Mole, which although was interesting to see up close, it wasn't how I would like to have seen this species if I'm honest.
In addition, I thought I would make the effort to go and check out the work of the local Vandals. It really is upsetting and disgusting to see how easily these rather impressive hides can be reduced to ask and oxidised metal. In terms of comfort, I would love similar hides to replace it, but for convenience, I think a container hide would be the most sustainable option until the offenders grow up!

'Kraving' more Black-heads - Killington, Cumbria - 20th June 2011

2011-06-21T17:18:00.004+01:00

above and below - Black-headed Gull catching (photos by Gillian Dinsmore)

A follow up trip to the Killington Black-headed Gull colony with Kane, Chris and Gillian Dinsmore (whose first time it was catching Black-heads). We caught a further 128 chicks which has again helped to boost my totals for my training.
After this, we had a quick wash and change of dirty clothes (as well as a dry off in the case of Mr. Chris Bridge whom fell in whilst catching a wayward Black-head in the water...now that's commitment to ringing!) we totted up the totals from this years two visits. Finding out that we had ringed 598 birds, we were left slightly unsettled so Gillian and myself set up camp in the front of her car where we set out trying to catch a few adults. Using Krave breakfast cereal as bait (hence the title) we lured the birds back in. I never thought it would take so long to catch two birds, but I managed to grab two stunning adults. They really are beautiful birds as adults and I can't wait for the winter months to be able to (hopefully) catch lots of these overlooked beauties.
It's not all catching and ringing birds when I go out these days. I was lucky enough to spot this Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary in the juncus which is the first Fritillary species I have seen in the UK. They really are beautiful organisms, and make me gasp every time I catch my first glimpse of them.

Yorkshire bird seen from Lancashire - 19th June 2011

2011-06-21T17:01:00.002+01:00

Common Crane

After completing a 16 mile sponsored walk with my dad in York, we decided to pull into Paythorne, East Lancashire to have a look at the Common Crane.
During the walk, I decided to travel light by only taking my Canon 40D and Sigma 10-20mm lens. Not exactly the perfect equipment to take photos of a bird!
Arriving on site at c20.00, I noticed a figure standing in the middle of a field from the crossroads. Due to the size of the 'figure' in my periphery, I initially thought it might be a photographer or a farmer but it was in fact the crane! What a huge bird! I have seen this species close up in Zoos and also a distant flock in Spain in 2008, but it was amazing to see the birds size in the wild.
The bird was 30 yards into Yorkshire soil, but it was visible from Lancashire, so counts on my Lancs list...doesn't it?
The above photo is with my dad's 70mm camera, so it is shows off how close the bird was and also how brilliant my photos could have been with my 400mm!

Access All Areas WWT - 16th June 2011

2011-06-16T21:31:00.002+01:00

juvenile Barn Owl
Juvenile Collared Dove

Chris and I joined Kane at Martin Mere WWT today to help finish off the last few nest boxes of the Tree Sparrow's 2nd broods. Martin Mere has had a very impressive 72 breeding pairs in nest boxes this year and a handful are already on the 3rd clutch. A couple of bonus birds were Swallow pulli which breed around the reserve buildings. We caught 3 Moorhen by hand aswell as a brood of 2 Collared Dove which was a new bird for me and was impressed by how big the chicks were and how incredibly small the nest was!
A real treat to end the day was a trip into the heart of the reserve with Chris Tomlinson (The Reserve Manager), Kane and Chris to ring a brood of Barn Owl. Last year Martin Mere ringed 9 young Barn Owl. The brood today was only 1 bird which is quite worrying after such a cold winter...Even with this worry at the back of our minds, the owl was passed to me and a smile was instantly put on my face. These really are lovely birds to hold as they are essentially a large ball of wool with claws! A huge thankyou to Kane for having a Schedule 1 license in order to 'disturb' the nest of this enigmatic species. An absolute joy to ring!

A glimpse into the future! - 15th June 2011

2011-06-16T21:04:00.002+01:00

Kane, Chris and I were planning on having a follow up trip to Killington to finish off the Black-headed Gulls. The new darvics had not yet arrived from Poland, so we thought we would wait until next week. I noticed that an impressive post-brood flock of 38 House Sparrow had been visiting my garden for a couple of days. As a result I suggested to Kane that would could try and catch a few to pass the time. It wasn't long before a 40ft mist-net was errected for the first time at No.6!
There have only ever been 5 or 6 Bullfinch in my garden, so I was amazed when a stunning adult male appeared in the net after an hour of starting! We also managed to catch 5 House Sparrow, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Coal Tit, 2 Dunnock and a Blackbird.

Not a huge catch, but a really enjoyable session and one that I really can't wait to repeat in a couple of years if/when I get my C permit. Thanks to Kane for supplying the net, knowledge and rings.

3rd amazing day in a row - 10th June 2011

2011-06-10T22:38:00.008+01:00

We woke up nice and early to head to Pickmere, Cheshire to head round the reed bed ringing the Reed Warbler Pulli. We checked 43 nests and managed to ring 30 birds. It's amazing to be able to see the intricacy of the nests in person.
There we various stages of nests with both eggs, young chicks, chicks that are ready to fledge as well as empty nests and nests being rebuilt.
After a lovely pub lunch to have a quick ready after finishing the warbler pulli, we headed to Shakerley where Kane caught a stunning Lapwing chick which was a joy to ring! By the time we finished this, it was getting close to 5pm which is when a local open coal mine was finishing for the day, which meant we were allowed to enter to ring a Kestrel brood that were ready for ringing

I have only ringed Tawny Owl chicks before, so this was only my second bird of prey in the hand. There was a brood of 5, all of which Kane and Chris allowed me to ring. Another species that were a joy to ring, even if they do make a bit of a racket!
We ended to day netting at Shakerley where we caught 2 Grasshopper Warbler. We caught a juvenile which was a retrap aswell as a new adult male and 2 Common Whitethroat which were all new birds for me and very interesting to see in the hand, particularly Whitethroat as they are surprisingly big. Grasshopper Warbler is one of my favourite warbler species and one I have never really been able to get great views of. To be able to see 2 birds in the hand was a real treat!

juvenile Grasshopper Warbler
adult male Grasshopper Warbler

2cy male Common Whitethroat

adult female Common Whitethroat

Ending the 3 days with 2 wonderful species of warbler was the perfect way to end 3 awesome days with two of my best mates. Lets hope my ringing training can provide many more 'breaks' like this one. Cheers guys!
I have finished my first year of Uni now, so will be back to see the family tomorrow and be back birding in Lancashire!

Martin Mere boxes - 9th June 2011

2011-06-09T21:28:00.006+01:00

Day 2 of the June pullus ringing trip with Kane and Chris and we checked all of the Tree Sparrow nest boxes at Martin Mere. 101 boxes were checked and 100 pulli were ringed. Each brood differed in size ranging from naked and blind to birds ready to fledge. Colour-ringing took a little bit of a time but it was all very fun!

I got to ring 3 new species today as well which included a young Stock Dove in the nest, an adult Moorhen (which was a bit of a handful!) and finally a brood of 4 Swallow which were the last birds of the day. Superb!

Kane caught 2 Moorhen for Chris and I to ring as we had never done them before so Kane was keen to show us how the Coot's smaller cousin can be just as feisty! In addition, Kane couldn't pass up the opportunity to catch a very obliging 1cy Coot.

Black-head catch at Killington - Cumbria - 8th June 2011

2011-06-09T21:15:00.004+01:00

I joined Kane Brides, Chris Bridge, Steve Christmas and Aidan (from Yorkshire) at Killington Resevoir to catch the Black-headed Gull chicks. This is an annual catch that has taken place since 2009. We arrived an hour or so early, so we stopped in Killington services where we hand caught 4 adult Black-heads (inc. one of my own, which was my first BHG!) using breakfast cereal as 'bait'! One of the main reasons for the 2011 visit was to colour-ring the birds as part of Kane and Ciaran's North West BHG study. We colour-ringed the 4 adults which left 80 rings left to use as a sample when we got into the colony.
This was my first visit to the colony and I was not expecting to ring so many birds! Between the 5 of us, we ringed 477 birds in 2 hours, which is incredible! It was an incredibly enjoying, albeit tiring, trip which was rounded off by catching another adult at the services to 'show off' our catching technique to Aiden whom had never previously ringed adult Black-headed Gulls.

(thanks to Kane for letting me us his photos from the day. I didn't fancy getting my camera wet on the crossing to the island!)

White-throated Robin... - Hartlepool - 7th June 2011

2011-06-07T22:45:00.006+01:00

When news came out yesterday that a White-throated Robin had been caught and ringed at Hartlepool Headland and released at the Bowling Green, I was on Puffin Island at the time and strangely wasn't in the slightest bit bothered about going to see it. I think this was down to a couple of things: 1. I was in ringing mode, on one of the nicest places in Britain so wasn't up for an expensive train twitch, and 2. The initial text read '(not Red-flanked Bluetail)' which led me to believe that it must be a female as you surely couldn't mistake a male White-throated Robin for, well, ANYTHING!
Tuesday morning came and I was planning on having a relaxing day off from a pretty hectic weekend's ringing. Chris rang me to say that Robin Sandham was getting ready to go for the bird and asked if we fancied it. Before long, I had my bag packed and a car full of Robin Sandham, Martin Jones, Chris Jones, Chris Bridge and myself were eastern bound with Hartlepool Headland set on the satnav!

Arriving at Hartlepool at 5pm, it was pouring down with rain and there wasn't a birder in sight. Chris Bridge spotted a birder 'nipping' out of a garage door next to a large wall which I recognised from photos. We soon entered this very door and met a crowd of 25 people in the Doctor's garden. The bird appeared after about 2 minutes on a compost heap and then began feeding on the lawn. The photos do no justice for this bird as it is stunning in the flesh, filled with character. It was slightly too far for anything decent in terms of photography but I settled for a few record shots and very pleasing scope and bins views.
The bird was identified in the hand as a 1st summer female which, according to Svensson, a 2y fem has light tips to a varying number of Primary Coverts, tertials or outer Greater Coverts. Primaries rather much worn, brownish....I couldn't see any of this in the field if I'm honest!

It was a truly superb bird and one that hasn't quite sunk in yet. Have I really seen a White-throated Robin in Britain? Thanks to the 'Doctor' for allowing access into your very well kept garden as well as Jason Stannage for keeping us updated on our outward journey. Thanks also to Martin for doing all the driving and a final thanks to the other 3 for making it such an enjoyable twitch

A cracking bird!

Finishing off the Razors - Puffin Island, Anglesey - 6th June 2011

2011-06-06T19:29:00.003+01:00

Steve invited me to join a small party visiting Puffin Island again today to help finish off the Razorbill ringing and help retrieve data-loggers on several birds backs. Sadly, we weren't able to capture any tagged birds, but we did find a logger that had fallen off in the nest which is extremely useful.
Once we'd 'given up' trying to retrieve the logged birds, we moved onto the ringing which involved noosing adults on ledges and extracting adults and chicks from their 'caves'. I did surprisingly little ringing as I was put in charge of noosing and also extracting birds from the nest sites along with Steve. Very few of the Guillemots were ready, but we ringed 10 chicks and 1 adult.
above - Razorbill chick
Above - Guillemot chick (appologies for out of focus/rushed photo)

As we were primarily targeting Razorbill, I was hoping to remain relatively clean, but to kill some time, Ian and I were send off with a string of 10 K rings to catch some Shag. A few bites and 10 rings later, I was covered in poo again!
Another really enjoyable day however, and a much more relaxed session that Saturday as there was less to be done and a smaller party. I'm now pretty confident with fitting 'Razorbill and Guillemot Specials' which is a plus!

Thanks to Steve for the invite, aswell as Ian and Katrina (3rd year PHD student)for another thoroughly enjoyable ringing session!

Self-confessed Acroholic! - 5th June 2011

2011-06-05T10:49:00.002+01:00

Still carrying my scars from a day on Puffin Island, I was up this morning at 4am to attend my first ever Constant Effort Site (CES) ringing session.
The main two species targeted at almost every CES site are Sedge and Reed Warbler of which I got to handle several birds today which was a first more me and a real treat, especially with some of the adult Sedge Warblers.

Also in the day we caught Blackbird, Song Thrush, Lesser Redpoll, Chaffinch, Wren and Reed Bunting. Also caught were Willow Warbler, Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tit including lots of freshly fledged juvenile birds where were all rather lovely in the hand. I did however miss out on a 2cy male Lesser Whitethroat whilst on a net round with Steve...maybe next time?
A really enjoyable morning despite the unwelcome early start!

Caught Red-handed on Puffin Island - 4th June 2011

2011-06-04T19:42:00.003+01:00

Today I spent a very long, hot and tiring day on Puffin island off Anglesey. Although it was exhausting, it was really enjoyable!
The only problem was that everything you catch in Seabird colonies, have the ability to give you a fight, particularly adult Razorbill. I didn't in my mind think I could possibly go and ring birds on an Island called Puffin Island without ringing a Puffin of my own! Steve 'noosed' 2 adults which we ringed by Gillian Dinsmore and myself...stunning, although size can be deceaving! You automatically don't give them as much respect as Razorbill due to their added 'cute-factor' but they pack a bite and a scratch.
Although, I am harbouring several deep cuts from this bird, you can't help but be charmed by them. This is the only species I got to photograph as I didn't fancy taking my camera into certain poo-filled crevices. I also ringed a couple of adult Guillemot which were stunning and seemingly placid in comparison to their two cousins. A joy to ring!

The team split up into two groups nearer to the end concentrate of Razorbill and Shag. I was sent off with the Shag party and I made myself 'cheif shag catcher' and caught 100 birds in relativly quick succession. Annoyingly, of the 100 birds I caught, 100 bit me (hence the title of the post) and 50 shat all over me, so it wasn't a particularly pleasant job if i'm perfectly honest, although I did enjoy it!(Shag photo: Kane Brides)

It was a hugely enjoyable and memorable day on Puffin Island, and one that I will remember for sometime...every time I look at my wrists for the next month or so most likely! My only regrets are that I didn't take many photos and also the adult Fulmar that Steve caught for me was a retrap so I am yet to catch my first Tubenose!

A huge thanks to Steve and Rachel for coordinating the day, aswell as a big thanks to all whom attended to make it such an enjoyable, albeit tiring, day!

Never in a million years!!! - 1st June 2011

2011-06-01T22:23:00.007+01:00

...did I ever imagine that I would be holding a Little Egret! Incredibly, this is what happened today to kick start June 2011!Chris and I joined Tony Cross and Adrienne Stratford at a heronry in North Wales where Tony climbed the pine trees and brought down 4 Little Egret chicks! They have quite a 'stab' on them, hence why I am holding them away from my face...I value my eyes!This bird was the largest of the brood and was absolutely stunning! This is close to adult size, so in hand, you can fully appreciate why they are called Little Egrets. The best bird I have ringed so far...by far!
Being in the colony itself was an almost prehistoric experience as the gloomy pine floor looked like a scene from Jurassic Park and the screech of Grey Heron and Little Egrets were almost Velociraptor-esque!We got up at 05.30am in order to complete the daily Pied Flycatcher survey for Chris' dissertation project, so I am wondering whether today's events actually happened, or was it just an exhausted hallucination!?!?
We ended the day at 10pm with the ringing of 2 Chough broods which added to an amazing day.
A massive thanks to Adrienne and Tony for inviting me and also congratulations to Chris for finding his first Wood Warbler and Tree Pipit nests!

The Little Egret Project.

Tony Cross, Kelvin Jones and Adrienne head into the Heronry every June and colour-ring the young. The two that I personally ring were white 'L' on the left leg and yellow 'B' on the right, as well as white 'L' on the left and yellow 'D' on the right. (Hopefully these will turn up somewhere a little sunnier than North Wales!
Tony was telling Chris and I that there have been some really interesting recoveries, all of which from the north or west apart from the bird photographed above which was seen in Tenerife in November after being ringed in mid-June! Reports have come from a range of places from Lancashire to Northern Ireland.
Please report any colour-ringed Little Egrets to the BTO to further our knowledge of individual bird movements.

The things we do for birds... - Anglesey - 27th May 2011

2011-05-27T22:54:00.003+01:00

Chris Bridge and I spent a whole day with Adrienne Stratford and Tony Cross colour-ringing young Chough all over Anglesey.
We visited 6 sites in all, with each one being somewhat of a challenge in terms of access. We abseiling into sea-caves as well as using ladders across the crashing tide from one side of a cliff to the other.
When we finally got into the caves, Tony extracted the chicks from the nest using a ladder and then we had to the wonderful tasks of fitting the birds with rings.
The combination of the extreme methods of accessing the caves, the scenary and the how we kept looking into our hands and seeing that there was a Chough in our grasp added up to one hell of an amazing day!
Between Chris and I, we ringed 18 chicks with the biggest brood being 4 chicks. I am slightly disappointed I didn't get more photos of the scenery and the routes we took into the caves as it was quite hard to believe we were descending some of the cliffs that we did...Extreme Birding!

Iberian Chiffchaff update

2011-05-23T09:55:00.003+01:00

Leaving Devonshire Road Rock Gardens with photos of a bird that everyone dismissed as a Chiffchaff left me unhappy with the verdict so have subsequently written to several people whom have both has experience with Iberian Chiffchaff abroad and in the UK, both In hand and in the field, as well as people who photographed the Blackpool bird, and observed it for prolonged periods. the final verdict is that the 'second' bird I saw was indeed the Iberian Chiffchaff, so I can be happy that I got some personally decent record shots, and not just a shot of a twig with a bird behind it!

To see more photos, visit - http://zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/spaniard-by-sea-blackpool-4th-may-2011.html

Pied Flycatchers - Abergwyngregyn, Gwynedd - 22nd May 2011

2011-05-22T19:10:00.005+01:00

Chris Bridge is now in his second year at Bangor University so is doing the fieldwork for his Dissertation project this summer ready for the wonderful ask of writing his paper! The project in question is - Does the Maturity and Experience of Adult Pied Flycatchers affect the fledgling rate of their offspring? - The way he wants to complete the fieldwork is to compare different ages of Pied Flycatcher. As these can be a bugger to age both in hand and in the field, Steve, Chris and I went up to Abergwyngregyn this morning to catch and ring both the adults and ring any pulli ready to be ringed. At the end of the morning, we had ringed 20 adults and 30 pulli (from 4 broods) which I was pleased about as I have never seen Pied Flycatcher in the hand and they truly are stunning birds!
20 adults later however, and I am still no further along with my knowledge of ageing Pied Flycatcher. Some continental migrants such as Willow Warbler, Pied Flycatcher etc undergo two full wing moults in a year, so there is no real contrast in immature and adult feathers when you look at them in hand. This means they go down in the book as a '4', as they cannot be aged. The thing with Pied Flycatchers is that they can actually be aged despite this, but I found them a terror to age!
I will be helping Chris with his 2 week study at the start of June where we will be observing nest boxes for 5 hours every day for 2 weeks. It's hard going cycling the 16 mile round trip and then walking the slippy hillside, but I am looking forward to it, as I don't think there are many places I'd rather be than sitting down with Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher and Common Redstart all singing within a 100 feet or so!

Define: Record Shot - Citrine Wagtail, Conwy RSPB - 16th May 2011

2011-05-16T17:16:00.003+01:00

I was hoping to get some decent images of the Citrine Wagtail today as it was showing well early morning, but when I arrived with my non-birding flatmate (Dan), the weather was hideous and the bird was proving to be elusive. The above photos do still show the stunning male's features and what I like to call a Pied Wagtail dipped in Lemon Curd!

Atherton Woods, Gtr Manchester - 15th May 2011

2011-05-15T19:46:00.004+01:00

I visited Kane's again with Chris so that we could check the nest boxes in Atherton Woods. Birds ringed during the morning included Nuthatch (a new bird for me), Great Tit, Blue Tit and best of all 2 Tawny Owl chicks. Potentially the cutest birds I've ever seen! One was considerably larger than the other and we were lucky to have ringed both chicks as the larger bird will surely fledge in the next couple of days.
A short mist net session in Kane's garden rewarded us with Starling (c-r for a RAS project), Song Thrush, Robin and retrap Dunnock and Goldfinch.

Sadly, whilst away from Bangor I received news of a Broad-billed Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper and Citrine Wagtail all of which were twitchable and all lifers for me! I decided I would concentrate on ringing and then stopped off at RSPB Conwy on the way home where I got pleasing scope views of a stunning male Citrine Wagtail - view some images by Robin Sandham here: http://webirdnorthwales.blogspot.com/2011/05/citrine-wagtail-conwy-rspbagain.html

460 miles for a Corncrake 19 miles away... - Holyhead, Anglesey - 13th May 2011

2011-05-13T21:57:00.005+01:00

I never posted about my trip to Morpeth on the 17th November because it was so depressing! We twitched the Squacco Heron that died overnight (the night before we went). I never thought I would experience a day like that again. 13th May 2011 decided to have a go at the title of the worst twitch ever!
I set off at 07.22 for a summer-plumaged Spotted Sandpiper in Milton Keynes which was present on the 12th. When I got to Milton Keynes, I got a text off Chris to say that the bird had not been seen today...gutted! A wasted journey and a waste of a lot of money!!
I decided to turn back straight away and within 15 mins, I got a phonecall off Mr. Bridge regarding a Corncrake that had been found by the legend, Ken Croft, at South Stack and it was calling. I should have stayed in Bangor!
I got back to Bangor at 14.30 and then onto Holyhead by about 15.00. As soon as I got off the Station at Holyhead, It started to rain. I literally thought that Mother Nature was taking the mick as there really couldn't be much more in the day that could go wrong. If there was a weather that would make the crake hard to see, it was rain and wind. Sadly, both of these were present when I arrived on site (very wet indeed)
At 16.19, I was rewarded with the wonderful sound of a Corncrake calling in a field...unmistakeable! From 16.50-17.40, the bird called ever 10 minutes, literally on the dot. I managed to catch a very brief (albeit educational) view of the bird at 17.20 when I saw the bird calling from the grass.
This is only the second bird I have ever seen, after I saw a bird in flight on Iona (Mull) in 2006. This was the first time I have ever heard a Corncrake in the flesh!

Although, when I woke up on the 13th May, I was 19 miles from a Corncrake, I travelled 460 miles to see the bird....mad!

It was a tortuous day, but a Corncrake in North Wales more than makes up for it!