Stage 3 - Eastern Olivaceous, Booted and Barred..

After a losing streak of dipping on Citrine wagtail, Little stint and Roseate tern, I was sure that my 3rd twitch in a week would prove successfull? But boy, was I in for the worst days twitching ever!!

Early on Saturday 4th September, I set off from Walton/Liverpool with Jason and Ralph Jones in search of an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler that was in the ''Old fall hedge'' at Flamborough head in East yorkshire. The bird had been present for 3 days and was proving elusive, once it eventually showed itself for the eager twitchers during those 3 days, it showed quite well in the corner of a hedgerow by the old fall plantation. Hopefully we would see it?


Arriving on site around 9am, birders had been there since 7am and there had been no sign of life what so ever. Previous mornings the bird had been 'tacking' and showing in the early hours of the morning. Dissapearing for the afternoon, but only showing once or twice. Dissapointingly, we soon came to terms that we may not see this bird. Can anyone guess the end result? After 2 hours of standing there til 12 lunchtime, every other birder had moved off and it was just us 3 left! Birds in the hedge included a Willow warbler and 2 Robins but definetely not an Eastern Olivaceous Warbler..
It would have made perfect sense if the bird had of been there, but the mood I was in, it was the biggest pile of b***** I have seen for a while.

We were all in sheer shock after dipping such a rare bird in britain. Next stop was a Barred warbler that was showing well in the willows by the golfcourse but even that didn't show for us. A Common rosefinch had been in the vicinity a few hours before we arrived, but that too had flown off!

During the afternoon, news broke of a Booted warbler that was elusive and mobile at Grimston-upon-hull at a site with no general access. Access was arranged shortly after and so we headed off in search of yet another elusive warbler. Getting lost in Grimston in York due to the sat-nav, didn't help matters. On arrival, 80 or so birders lined up on a dirt-track alongside several cereal fields staring intently into the tiniest patch of ditch that you could imagine. Arriving around 5pm and a wait of 40 minutes and guess what..? We saw a Whitethroat for all our efforts and no Booted warbler. It had obviously skulked off further down the ditch. All that's left to say now is that the atmosphere in the car on the way home was somewhat, silent..


Dipping, Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, Booted warbler, Barred warbler, Common rosefinch in a day, Citrine wagtail, Roseate tern and Little stint in 2 seperate days; was more than enough for me to pack in birding.. Haven't decided what to do yet but will keep you posted.

Let's hope something turns up in the next few days for me to twitch!

Stage 2 - Little Stint and Roseate tern play hide-and-seek

After having a serious dip up in Derbyshire yesterday, I decided for a more gentle approach in the form of 2 yearticks that had been seen at seaforth the day I was in Derbyshire. Little Stint and Roseate tern were yet to appear on my yearlist for 2010, so a brief 2 hours at Seaforth LWT would hopefully achieve this. A short 40 mintue train journey and I was peering through the fence at Crosby Marina scanning for these 2 birds.

I knew the Little Stint had been seen on the causeway infront hide A, which can be viewed from the fence at Crosby and the Roseate tern I had absolutely no idea where that was. So after a few scans here and there of every available piece of land in my field of view, it was clear that neither birds were present!

The only birds present this morning were a flock of Dunlin, Lapwing, 1 Black-tailed gowit, 1 Ringed plover, several Little Grebes and a singing Chiffchaff in the scrub by the 1st car-park at Crosby marina.

A scan over the sea and tide edge added.. absolutely bugger all to be truthful. It got to a point where I had had enough and hopped back on the train, to find that a little stint had been seen at Hesketh Out Marsh the same morning! This Little stint wasn't seen the next day either, which had me well and truely pissed off!

In the evening I met up with Kane Brides and Stephen Christmas to help out with their Swallow roost site. A total of 55 birds were caught which included 52 Swallows, 3 Sand martin and 1 Reed warbler. Next morning myself and Kane did some more ringing and caught a Dunnock in his garden and a few Coot at various sites around Manchester as part of his colour-ringing Coot project. Thanks Kane for a rather successfull few days ringing!

Stage 1 - Disastrous dip in Derbyshire for a Citrine wagtail

When I first met Jason stannage on a Red-backed shrike twitch at the old tip in Formby- Lancashire, I realised that my current birding just wasn't the same. So I took up twitching and let me tell you now; my life hasn't been the same since. Myself and Jason had never met each other that day and over the past few years I seem to have become twitching mad due to that particular twitch. Although I am 20 years younger than Jason, I don't seem to mind twitching with older folk because that has always been the case. I only have a few birding pals of my age, but far more twitching pals older than me.

These past few years I have twitched some pretty mind-blowing birds that I had never dreamt of seeing such as Brown shrike, Eastern Crowned Warbler, Oriental Pratincole and Glaucous-Winged Gull to name but a few. Thousands of miles sat in people's cars, train journeys totalling 12 hours to see 1 bird and the odd bus journey here and there. Twitching is a drug and there is nothing else on earth that I would rather do.. Whenever something turns up whether it be a local patch tick, a scarcity, rarity, mega or a 1st for Britain; I am always on the laptop planning the journey there. Twitching has brought my british list up considerably from 270 to 322 since I started a few years ago and I still don't drive. That's enough of a rant eh!

A decision was made to twitch, what would hopefully become my 323rd British bird.

On Tuesday 31st August I set off from Ormskirk at 5am, in search of a Juvenile Citrine wagtail at Ogston Reservoir in Derbyshire that had been present for the last 3 days, however it had bird elusive and distant the day before. Arriving at Alfreton station around 10am, it soon became apparent that the bird hadn't been reported all morning. News reached me that it had flown off high the night before. So basically I didn't even bother going to the reservoir, which was 8 miles away and hopped on the next train home and didn't speak to anyone else for the whole day! I wasn't too pissed off either as it wasn't that rare of a bird. There will be others is my motto and the next one will be on my list!

Birding at Spurn Point > 28th-30th August

Autumn migration is enough to get any birders blood rushing, especially us twitchers. So when I finally had time to sit down with Mr M Bridge and Bridge senior, I only had one thing to say and that was Spurn point! A quick phonecall and we were booked into the Ivy B+B as usual for 2 nights and off we went, early on saturday morning.

First stop was North Cave Wetlands for a bacon buttie and a brew, but the best bird of all came in the form of a Hobby which flew over the car, complete with a recently caught Swallow. Moving off from here and within 3 hours or so we were at Spurn and the fun could begin.

Over the past few days, there had been 3 Barred Warblers, Wryneck and a few other goodies in and around Spurn, so I was hoping to see at least one of these, yes...well..

I spent the day with my dad and grandad stood at several locations grilling for these rarities..

- An hour and a half stood at Kew waiting for a Barred warbler

- An hour stood scanning the 'Canal hedge' for a Barred warbler

- Several hours checking the scrub at the point but to no avail

- An hour scanning the sea for a Bonxie or a shearwater with no avail

Our first day at Spurn, was as usual, diabolical! The day was drawing to an end so we headed off in the hope that something would drop-in overnight and stick around until the morning for us too actually see! Booked into the B+B and the only thing left to do was....

Next morning, it was up at 6am and off for a seawatch off Withersea. Best here was 6 Arctic skuas and Common scoter. A gorgeous cooked breakfast and we were all set for another full day at Spurn.. The morning started off the same as yesterday with common migrants seen such as Redstart, Pied flycatcher, Lesser whitethroat, Common whitethroat, Willow warbler and lots of Yellow wagtails buzzing about..

It wasn't until lunchtime when I spoke to a couple of guys to see whether they had seen anything! They replied: ''Yeah, there's a Barred warbler showing well by Rose cottage near Crown and Anchor'' The next thing I remember was hurling my coffee and buttie, informing my dad and grandad where it was and the words - ''See ya'' sprang to mind! On arrival, 10 birders

with bins up, looking into a small hedge some 15ft away, a bird flitted in the hedge and my bins were up like a shot and I managed to catch a 30 second glimpse of my first Barred warbler! The bird showed well for the next hour and a half in which I stayed with the bird to enjoy it, whilst the other 2 bridges went off for a walk down to Beacon ponds..

Having never seen a Barred warbler before, I was rather chuffed to find that I had digiscoped a rather terrific record shot of it! I had waited 11 years to see one of these birds, not forgetting the numerous twitches, dips and hours of standing staring at hedges, the wait had finally paid off! My dad and grandad soon turned up and great views were had by both.

Note: This Juvenile was the one I digiscoped with my Nikon Coolpix P5100. This bird can be identified by the heavy, well-set bill and you can just pick out the undertail barring starting to come through. If you look closely, the pale edges to the primaries are just visible. What a stonker! It took me just under 2 hours to get this shot and well worth the wait too!!

There was also a Common Crane up near Hornsea Mere at Bewholme hall and after one failed attempt, we tried again on our last day.. A British tick for me and my 237th species for 2010!

Long-Billed Dowitcher

Early on Thursday 26th September I met up with Alex at Llandudno junction train station for a bit of patching up on the Great Orme. A short drive and it soon became clear that there wasn't much moving in terms of migrants this morning! Birds of note included: Singles of Willow warbler, Chiffchaff and Common whitethroat, but nothing extraordinary this morning.

Next stop was Little orme for a seawatch but it soon also became clear that the sea wasn't going to produce anything for us this morning, me being without a scope didn't help matters..

Throughout the morning, we were waiting on news of a Long-Billed Dowitcher that had been seen at Neumann's flash in Cheshire the day before, regrettably it flew off high south that night and wasn't seen again. So when news came through that it was at Inner Marsh Farm, we hurtled off the Little Orme, drove to Inner Marsh Farm and waiting for us in the hide, were the words - ''A raptor just shot through and put everyting up and we've lost it'' I wasn't having that; so a quick scan around the pools revealed it to be asleep amongst a flock of Lapwings and Starlings on the small island to the right of the hide. Yeartick 235..

Other highlights included a colour-ringed Spoonbill, in which I am waiting to hear back from where it was ringed. I shall keep you posted on this, once this has been confirmed.

Yeartick 234

The yearlist this year isn't at its best to put it briefly. Being away in Iceland has a lot to do with it but I wouldn't have missed that trip for the world! The realistic target for this year has been set at 280 and that is at a push, unless in the next 4 months something amazing happens and I see all my targets - we will just have to wait and see for the time being! Having had a month in Iceland, a week in Norfolk and an amazing 24 hour ringing session, it was time to hit the books and get some revision done. 3 Days hard work from dawn til dusk and it was time for a break so when news reached me of 3 Juvenile Wood sandpiers at Martin mere from Ron Barker hide, that was my break for the afternoon..

On arrival on 21st August, I picked up all 3 birds straight away out on the mud to the right hand side of the main channel. After an hour or so, one of the birds came a hell of a lot closer than it was before!

The Kingfisher then appeared on the large concrete block situated on the channel, sort of infront of the hide and faffed about on there for half and hour or so..

200+ Swallows and 200+ Warblers!!!

I knew this summer was going to be a busy one but not this busy! After a week's worth of cannon-netting down at the wash and 2 days rest, I hopped on the train to Bangor for an evening Swallow roost with Steve and Rachel, followed by a CES visit the next morning... A few weeks ago, they netted the Swallow roost and with 150 or so birds in the roost one night, a smithering of 12 birds was caught.. Several weeks on and the roost had grown considerably! 3 60'ft nets were quickly erected and once this was done, we could sit back and enjoy the show. At dusk, 500+ Swallows had gathered and without any kind of clue, one after the other they piled into the roost site in small flocks. 10 minutes later and only a few Swallows were flitting about - time to extract and see what we had got!

210+ Swallows awaited us in the 3 nets - great extraction practise!

The birds were taken back to the house as usual to be ringed and processed and then roosted overnight and released the next morning - my job..

Steve + 3 60'ft mist-nets

Also, about half a dozen Starlings were mist-netted during the start of the roost and believe me, they are terrible to extract..

The morning after, {19th august} it was up at silly o'clock - being 4am and off for a morning's CES session. The Swallows were all released while Steve and Rachel went and set the 10 nets which are dotted around the site.Now, their last CES visit produced a massive 230 birds in one morning, that was on 12th August! We had hoped that things might have calmed down a bit by now... Don't be silly, had they hell!!

During the morning we caught 215 birds and about 95% of them were warblers. Willow warbler, Chiffchaff, Garden warbler, Blackcap, Whitethroat, Lesser whitethroat, Reed warbler and Sedge warbler were all caught and ringed! If I remember rightly, we had singles of Blackbird, Song thrush, Blue tit, Great tit, Magpie and Starling!

In less than 24 hours we had mist-netted 415+ birds!

Every time I go out ringing now, with whoever it may be, recording what I ring is quite important and in this case I personally ringed about 70 Swallows and 70 warblers.. These records are for when I am ready for my C Permit Application..

After finishing around 11am, it was time to hop back on the train and begin the revision for my 2 re-sit exams back at Bangor univeristy.. Wish me luck...

Wash Wader Ringing Group

No sooner had I landed back at Manchester airport on Saturday 7th August with the lads, I was already planning my next trip - This time with Steve and Rachel.. Home on 7th August and off again on 10th August for a week's cannon-netting waders down on the wash in Norfolk!

7th August - Flew back from Iceland
8th August - Washing and packing
9th August - Train to chester/drove down to the wash with Steve, Rachel and Louise

Each year the teams are split into 2, one on the Terrington side of the wash and the other on the Lincolnshire side of the wash. Myself, Steve, Rachel and Louise were on the Lincolnshire side..

The Lincs team

Ringing totals for Lincolnshire Team:-

Bar-tailed godwit - 314 new + 20 recap

Curlew - 3 new

Whimbrel - 1 new

Oystercatcher - 348 new + 56 recap

Redshank - 10 new + 1 recap

Knot - 18 new + 1 recap

Turnstone - 1 new

Dunlin - 14 new

Total :- 710 new + 78 recap

Ringing totals for Terrington team:-

Bar-tailed godwit - 7 new + 2 recap

Black-tailed godwit - 191 new + 4 recap

Curlew - 32 new + 1 recap

Whimbrel - 4 new

Oystercatcher - 52 new + 23 recap

Grey plover - 32 new + 1 recap

Redshank - 71 new

Knot - 5 new

Turnstone - 6 new

Ringed plover - 19 new + 1 recap

Sanderling - 169 new + 49 recap

Dunlin - 625 new + 21 recap

Totals:- 1213 new + 102 recap - inc a pullus Skylark = 1214 new and 102 recap

A summer-plumaged male Bar-tailed godwit

Norwegian/Oslo control - JJJ6

Also caught was a Pullus Skylark newly out of the nest, a new species for Rachel and not long out of the nest.. Louise and myself kindly got a lift to Boston station, where we caught the train back to Liverpool Lime street - late on sunday evening..

Louise is currently doing a PHD on Puffin island studying the feeding habits of Kittiwake and Shag and so she kindly asked if I would like to help out with her fieldwork next year on Puffin island, as well as Alderney and Skomer - seems as though I will have yet another busy summer next year!!!

Please see the link in ''Ringing and Birding blogs'' on the right hand side of my blog for more information on The Wash Wader Ringing Group and to see what their work is all about - you may even want to try cannon-netting out for yourself?

Gentle Gyrfalcons!

Before our trip to Iceland began, I put together a list of 3 taregt species I wanted to see. These included: Gyrfalcon, Barrow's Goldeneye and Harlequin Duck! Instead I got all 3 of the above, plus 4 LONG-TAILED SKUAS and a single ARCTIC REDPOLL!

So when I saw my first Gyrfalcon, it was absolutely f***** massive! I mean, it would out do a Peregrine Falcon anyday! Many individuals were seen and a few at nest sites with young, including these 2 well fledged juveniles! Strangely, since they were not used to man at all, we were able to creep to within less than a metre from them and this is no joke!

See for yourself!!!

Absolutely unreal!!

These are wild birds don't forget!

Photographs of the Gyr's in their natural environment - photographed by Kane brides!

Slavonian grebes

During our trip to Iceland I think we managed to see at least 50 Slavonian grebes and god knows how many chicks, maybe more than that! These set of pictures were photographed by Kane brides on a secluded little lake near Lake Myvatn - we were less than a metre away from her/him at times, the views were crippling....

Whooper Swans...

Flatey island has to be the best ringing expedition I have ever witnessed, so when we were due to leave on Sunday 25th July, I was somewhat sad to leave such a delightful and peaceful island. However, our fun didn't stop there and as stated before - we duly headed off to the North of Iceland to Akureyri with Sverrir Thorstensen a few days later, to help out with the Whooper swan work, in which Kane has been involved in over the past few years.. For the next 10 days we were to be based at Sverrir's house with his lovely wife Dorey Ketildottir. The day after we arrived, the work began!!

Every morning we were up early and out searching the many lakes around where Sverrir has been monitoring the Whooper swans for many years.. Once a Whooper swan family had been located on a lake, the fun began.. First job was to get as close as we could to the lake so we didn't need to carry the boat as far - motor attached - swan jackets and hook at the ready and off Sverrir went in search of the adults and cygnets...

Myself and Ciaran with the boat - complete with a mouthful of Blackflies

Adult Whooper Swan

Some days we managed to catch and Darvic at least 30 birds, but some days it was less than 20 as we had other things to do..

Whooper swan totals:-

82 new + 33 recaps

Brood of 6 cygnets and 1 adult

Whoopers swans have been ringed with Yellow darvics for the past 24 years {this is both in Iceland and the UK}, so when we had used up the last yellow darvic, it was time to change and begin the new scheme of red darvics.. A total of 82 Whoopers somewhere, wear bright new red darvics; so this winter, keep your eyes peeled and please, please.. send sightings to kanebrides@googlemail.com

There were times just like this one, where the lake was too weedy for the boat to go out, so...

These Whoopers were in for a shock!!

It wasn't just swans we were catching - Whilst on the look out for whoopers, we were also on the look out for any Golden plover or Whimbrel chicks..

Golden plover chick

Whimbrel chick

After 10 days > 7 new Golden plover + 3 new Whimbrel

With a combined effort with ringing totals from Flatey Island and the Whooper swan work -

2140 birds caught inc..

2035 new + 105 recaps

Myself and Ciaran also managed to catch 2 baby Ptarmigan chicks with our hands, however they were to small to take rings..

Once again, huge thanks to all who took part on an absolutely fantastic ringing expedition, Especially thanks to Kane Brides, Sverrir Thorstensen, Aevar Petersen, Solveig Bergs, Dorey Ketilsdottir, not forgetting Craig Brookes, Ciaran Hatsell, Steve and Tim Christmas... Cheers guys!!

Bring on Iceland 2011!!!

Ringing on Flatey Island

The main purpose of this trip was to carry out ringing work on Flatey island in North west Iceland. This yearly fieldwork is carried out by Aevar Petersen and Sverrir Thorstensen, but this year they invited myself, Kane, Craig and Ciaran to take part. On Flatey, if a bird can fly, it gets caught and ringed. The other good thing about ringing on Flatey is that we don't start working until the clock is in double figures.. Usually work started around 10am or so!

Puffin

Kittiwake

Ringing totals for Flatey:- 2012 birds caught = 1941 new + 71 recaps

Black guillemot - 71 new + 3 recap

Arctic tern - 417 new + 4 recap

Snow bunting - 5 new

Ringed plover - 11 new

Snipe - 5 new + 7 recap
Mallard - 18 new + 4 recap

Meadow pipit - 16 new
Kittiwake - 1146 new + 14 recap

Red-necked Phalarope - 61 new + 3 recap

Redwing - 2 new + 2 recap

Redshank - 5 new

Dunlin - 7 new

Fulmar - 111 new + 17 recap

Puffin - 18 new + 11 recap

Oystercatcher - 3 new

Shag - 38 new + 6 recap

Eider - 7 new

Red necked Phalarope

Arctic tern

Snow bunting

Eider

Kittiwake

Meadow pipit

Mallard

We left Flatey Island on Sunday 25th July and headed for Borganes where we camped overnight, slept for the whole day on Monday and collected by Sverrir Thorstensen in the evening and headed for Akureyri for 10 days fieldwork catching Whooper swans - hopefully with the odd Golden plover and Whimbrel..