24 Oct 15 - Happy Second Birthday

Happy second birthday to the Blog. In keeping with last birthday, here are my favourite Posts from each of the thirteen months/part months over that last year. On the first Birding trip with the camera, two years ago I was lucky to photograph a Pallid Swift at Stanpit & later to see, but not photograph, a Pallas's Warbler at Studland. On the second birthday for the Blog it is perhaps fitting that I should see the other Eastern striped jewel, a Yellow-browed Warbler, feeding in my garden: only my second garden record after one heard last Autumn in a neighbour's garden. It is ironic that this Yellow-browed Warbler disappeared as I grabbed the camera. So I will start the first with the last Post in Oct of the one of the three Yellow-browed Warblers I saw at Studland last year.

Yellow-browed Warbler: Knoll Beach, Studland (31 Oct 14)

November was the most difficult month to select a single Post as I spent the first three weeks in the Pacific visiting Tahiti, Pitcairn, Henderson Island & the other uninhabited islands looking for Tuamotu Sandpipers & other endemic Pacific landbirds as well as a good selection of Seabirds. I still have a backlog of photos to sort through from the final week when I get time. It is very difficult to find a single Post that stands out beyond the others with some many great Birds, Cetaceans & Green Turtles seen, as well as, the visit to Pitcairn island. But I have narrowed it down to two great characters.

The Sweet-toothed (Tuamotu) Sandpiper: Strange to imagine that a Wader will be sipping nectar. Tenararo, French Polynesia (12 Nov 14)

Atoll Fruit-dove: Tenararo, French Polynesia (12 Nov 14)

I didn't get out Birding much in Dec until after Christmas when I started to watch Studland more. The clear Dorset highlight occurred on New Years Eve when I found a male Green-winged Teal at Brands Bay. It, along with an overwintering Great White Egret & an elusive Black Guillemot, were some of the reasons to spur me on to have a go at the Studland/Ballard patch Year List. Frustratingly, it didn't reappear in 2015 despite a lot of seaching on near every day in Jan.

Green-winged Teal: With a male Teal on the left. Brands Bay (31 Dec 14)

With the last minute decision to go for a Studland/Ballard patch Year List then it is not surprising that the year will largely revolve around highlights of the patch. I managed to get out somewhere in the patch on all, but three, days of Jan. As a result, I had stunning start to the Year List with an end of Jan total of 123 BOU species. I also saw my first Butterfly of the year: a Peacock at Greenlands Farm on 16 Jan. My previous best patch Year List was 176 (BOU) in 2009. I set myself an ambitious target of 180 species & after seeing the Peacock, I set a second target of at least one Butterfly seen in each month of the year. Currently, the patch Year List is on 179 with over nine weeks before the end of the year. Additionally, I've seen at least one Butterfly in each month so far. I reckon it will be fairly easy to see a Nov Butterfly, but Dec will be the tricky month.

Peacock: One of the highlights of the Jan Round Up of the Studland/Ballard Year List. Greenlands Farm (16 Jan 15)

One of the unexpected species that I saw in Jan on the patch was a Great Grey Shrike which was found by a local Birder on 24 Jan. I managed to see it that afternoon, but the views & photos weren't great. My third sighting was near Pilots Point after it shifted to the South Haven end of the Studland Peninisula. It was surprisingly approachable on this occasion.

Great Grey Shrike: South Haven (21 Feb 15)

March is always a month when the first of the Spring migrants arrive & so it was great to see a couple of Black Redstarts on Ballard Down on the first weekend. The first migrants are few & far between, but always a sign that Birds are on the move & more will be on their way soon.

Black Redstart: Ballard Down (7 Mar 15)

April started off with more migrants on the patch & then out of the blue, news of the UK's second Great Blue Heron on St Mary's. It soon disappeared, but fortunately, was refound on Bryher. As a result, conditions for set for one of those memorable day trip twitches to Scillies with mates Peter Moore & Richard Webb.

Great Blue Heron: Byrher (18 Apr 15)

In May, I managed to join one of the Christchurch Natterjack Toad night walks. This was the only native Amphibian I had never seen. Fortunately, we we lucky to see four Natterjack Toads, as well as, large numbers of their tadpoles. A great evening out & a very informative leader. I would recommend the trip to anybody else who wanted to try & see this great species at its only Dorset site.

Natterjack Toad: Hengistbury Head (May 15)

By June, the patch had become very quiet as all the migrants were long gone & all the breeding species were well into their breeding seasons. But it was a hectic month for me at home as I had to empty the living room to allow the builder to lay a new floor, sort out damp problems & have some rewiring done while the room was being gutted. As a result, the appearance of a Cretzschmar's Bunting on Bardsey was worrying, but the prompt disappearance was good news, given the amount of emptying work I was doing around the house. I was more dismayed when the the Cretzschmar's Bunting reappeared & seemed to have settled down. The prospect of a long drive to North Wales with the uncertainty of whether I could even get on the boat over was not appealing. Then I heard the Ewan Urquhart was organising a charter over & there was a place on the boat for me, as he had had to defer the sailing due to bad weather. I cleared it with the boss to have a day off at short notice & it was game on for the second memorable twitch of the year. A great day that went perfectly with nice bonuses of a Thrift Clearwing, some playful Bottle-nosed Dolphins, local Seabirds & good companions on the charter.

Cretzschmar's Bunting: The second memorable twitch of the year (18 June 15)

I had a short trip to Turkey planned while some of the work was going on in the living room as the house wasn't going to be habitable during the early part of the work. I've yet to write up most of the trip, but here is something to wet your appetite for when I do.

Bruce's Scops Owl: It took us about ten minutes of looking to see this Birecik speciality. Initially, it was watching us, but then bored with the appearance of another group of photographers, it fell asleep again. This must be the most photographed Bruce's Scops Owl family in the Western Palearctic. One of the highlights of the week's trip (2 July 15)

Having successfully completed a six month contract in London, then I had the funds to allow myself to take the Autumn off & enjoy the Birding. Not surprisingly, this focused mainly on the Studland/Ballard patch. One of the highlights of the month occurred off the patch, when news of a Black Stork seen flying off from Arne, broke late in the afternoon. With little to go on local Birder, Nick Hopper, & I were quickly out looking to see if we could relocate it. After about thirty minutes of looking, I jammed into it as it flew out of the Wareham Channel area towards Middlebere. Less than ten local Birders managed to connect with it that evening, but those who got out early the following morning were able to enjoy it before it headed off West.

Black Stork: Great to finally get this tricky species on the Dorset & Poole Harbour Lists. With a couple of Spoonbills in the Middlebere Channel (8 Aug 15)

Despite some great Birding on the Studland/Ballard patch, it was the Acadian Flycatcher twitch that will stand out for many, including myself, as the clear highlight of Sep. When the news broke it was an Empidonax Flycatcher sp. at Dungeness and it was a bit of a gamble about should I go or wait to see if there was a clearer idea of what species it might be. Had it been East Anglia, I might have waited on news, but Dunge was my old late teens stamping ground whenever there was a school holiday & I was quick to team up with local mate & ex-Kent Birder, Marcus Lawson, to go for it. Marcus did a sterling job of getting us cross country after a few problems with the roads that day, whilst examining the photos on twitter. His feelings of Acadian or Yellow-bellied Flycatcher were encouraging (especially as it wasn't an Alder Flycatcher) & after seeing it, we came home thinking Acadian was the most likely fit. Thanks to Martin Collinson (see 30 Sep 15 tweet), we now know if you have purple DNA/poo you might be an Acadian Flycatcher.

Acadian Flycatcher: A stunning out of the blue record. Dungeness (22 Sep 15)

The highlight of the first three weeks of Oct has to be the Wilson's Warbler twitch. Another memorable island trip & my first visit to the island of Lewis & Harris. I'm sure it won't be my last. There is still more to appear on the follow on return visit to North Uist.

Wilson's Warbler: I'm always happy when I can combine a trip for a good Bird on one of the Hebrides with a few days of general Western Isles Birding. More of the trip to come in the next few Posts. Port Nis, Lewis (15 Oct 15) 

I am pleased to see I passed the 100,000 hits on 11 Oct 15. So a big thank you for all the people following the Blog. I hope you have enjoyed it & the photos so far & will continue to look at & enjoy the Posts going forward.

2 Jul 15 - Turkey - A Little Known Western Palearctic Species

The group tour was over and I had said goodbye to the others at Adana airport in the last Blog Post. However, I still had a final twenty-four hours in Turkey. My plan was to continue onto the Birecik area to look for Iraq Babbler. This was a species that wasn't around in Turkey on my first trip in 1986 and I was keen to look for it, given there are no other realistic locations where it would be possible to safely see it in its range.

A scenery shot as we headed East

However, I was nervous about travelling to Birecik, which was my most favourite location that we visited on the first trip, as it was only twenty miles North of where there had been an ongoing major battle with ISIS around Kobani. By the time the trip happened, it was a few months after ISIS had been pushed out of Kobani, but I was still uneasy given there could be ISIS supporters who were involved in smuggling arms, supplies and supporters across the Turkish-Syrian border. When I checked with Soner's colleague, he assured me that Birecik town was safe to visit, albeit I wasn't going to carry on further East, as that province had a UK Government Essential Travel Only warning.

A distant Crusader castle

Normally, I would have hired a car and gone on my own after asking Soner for some directions for species of interest. However, It made more sense from a security viewpoint to ask Soner to pick up a hire car and guide me, as he would be able to check the local conditions on the day, in case, security in the area had suddenly become more dangerous. Fortunately, the area was still safe to visit and the Birecik extension was on. We were soon heading East on the three hour journey from Adana airport to Birecik. We arrived with a couple of hours of good light.

Overtaking Turkish style: At least it was a dual carriageway on this occasion. It looked-like the skills of Turkish lorry drivers hadn't significantly improved since my first visit in 1986

Soner said the Iraq Babblers would be more active later in the afternoon, so our first site was the riverbank just outside of the town, on the South East side of Birecik. Soon after we arrived, an Ibis flew over. I was hoping it would be a Bald Ibis as I raised the bins, and then the camera, given Birecik is the home of the decades long project to protect the Bald Ibis in Turkey. However, it was a Glossy Ibis. Still the light was good for photography. This proved to be a good site for Desert Finches, Yellow-throated Sparrows and Dead Sea Sparrows. A Rufous Bushchat was singing in the bushes.

Glossy Ibis: This monotypic species occurs locally from the USA to Northern South America, as well as, Africa, Eurasia to Australasia

Glossy Ibis

Glossy Ibis

Rufous Bushchat: This is the ssss subspecies which occurs from the Balkans to West & South Turkey, West Syria & the Lebanon

Desert Finch: This monotypic species occurs locally in the mountains of South East Turkey to North Pakistan & North China

Desert Finch: This is another example of why Birding at Birecik is so good. There are a mixture of dry country species which are on the edge of their range here and difficult to see in South East Turkey & the neighbouring countries aren't possible to visit. Plus, the River Euphrates is a natural corridor that bring species further North, as well as, providing well-irrigated fields in this otherwise dry country

Desert Finch

Desert Finch

Desert Finch

Desert Finch

Yellow-throated Sparrow: This is the transfuga subspecies which occurs from South East Turkey to Iraq, South Iran, South Pakistan & North West India

Dead Sea Sparrow: Male. This is the nominate moabiticus subspecies which occurs in Cyprus, from South Turkey to Israel & Jordan, East to Iraq & South West Iran, with some migrating to Egypt & the UAE

Dead Sea Sparrow: Male

Dead Sea Sparrow: Female. They are heavy-billed, like the Males

It was now worth heading off to look for the Iraq Babbler. But as we were passing the park in the middle of the town, it would have been rude not to stop and look for a Bruce's Scops Owl. This is a lovely pale Scops Owl that sits high in the trees in the park, and often in the open, during the day. The problem is finding where they are sitting. On our first visit, we had been told by Birders who had visited in the previous year, to look for the teenage kids that hang around in the park and show them a picture in a field guide. This worked a treat and within five minutes we were watching the Bruce's Scops Owl. Mates who had been out a few years earlier, had looked at dusk and only had flight views of a small Owl sp. flying out of the park. This time we didn't need to do more than look where a visiting photographer was pointing his camera.

It was great to see this sign about Birecik's famous Owls

Bruce's Scops Owl: A species I've been lucky to see on both visits to Birecik, as well as, at the Desert Coursers lodge in Gujarat, which is its only reliable site in India

Bruce's Scops Owl: This is the obsoletus subspecies which occurs from South Turkey to North Syria, North Iraq, Uzbekistan & North Afghanistan

It was time to head onto the North West bank of the river to look for the Iraq Babbler.

Swallow: This is the nominate rustica subspecies which occurs from Europe & North Africa to West Asia and winters in Sub-Saharan Africa & South Asia

There were a couple of active Iraq Babblers moving around in the reeds that bordered the River Euphrates. This regionally important river has its headwaters in the mountains of East Turkey, before flowing through Birecik and into Syria, before finally travelling the length of Iraq. It joins the River Tigris near Basra forming the Shatt al-Arab waterway, which then flows into the Persian Gulf. This is a natural highway for Birds and explains how the Iraq Babblers arrived in Turkey. There are a few eBird records elsewhere in South-central Turkey as they have continued to slowly expand in the country.

The Iraq Babbler reedbeds

Iraq Babbler: It was great to watch this little known Western Palearctic species

Iraq Babbler: This monotypic species occurs in the reed beds of the Tigris & Euphrates Valleys in Syria, Iraq, South West Iran & more recently in South Turkey

Iraq Babbler

Iraq Babbler

Iraq Babbler

Iraq Babbler

Iraq Babbler

Iraq Babbler

We had enough light left for a quick visit to the Bald Ibis breeding colony. We crossed the River Euphrates again and within a few minutes, we were there. When I visited in 1986, If I remember correctly, we were told there were about thirty wild Bald Ibis left at Birecik and the captive breeding site had sixteen breeding ledges and twelve youngsters. Three years later, the last of the wild individuals had died. Now, all the Birecik Bald Ibis are descendants of the reintroduction scheme.

The entrance gate to the Bald Ibis breeding colony

The Bald Ibis captive breeding centre: The cage around the breeding boxes

When I visited in 2015, there were around one hundred and seventy Bald Ibis in the breeding cage, with one or two still flying in the wild, that hadn't been caught for the winter. The cage is opened in February to allow the Bald Ibis to forage in the wild and by the end of June the majority are recaptured. This is to stop the population migrating South, where many were expected to be shot in Lebanon, Syria and neighbouring countries. Protecting the Bald Ibises in some of these countries isn't a priority, given all their other problems. Three years later, this total had increased to two hundred and fifty. By the early 2020s, the population was healthy enough for a few to be released with satellite tags, so that their winter migrations can be mapped and to assess their chances of surviving in the wild on migration.

Bald Ibis: It's a shame they have to be penned over the winter to stop them migrating. Interestingly, the Moroccan Bald Ibis are non-migratory

Bald Ibis were downgraded from Critically Endangered to Endangered in 2018, based upon improved breeding success in the handful of their remaining Moroccan colonies and the breeding success of the semi-wild Birecik colony. There are also attempts to reintroduce captive bred individuals in Spain, but in the early 2020s, this released population is not self-sustaining.

Bald Ibis nest boxes

Bald Ibis

It's good to see the town is proud of its Bald Ibises

The light was starting to go, so it was time to head off to check in at the hotel. We had crammed a lot of good Birds into a couple of hours. It was disappointing that the tour hadn't included Birecik in the route, given it is easily the best Birding location in the country in my opinion. But I guess, with the Syrian Civil War continuing just over the border at the time, the organisers decided to skip the location, in case visiting Birecik wasn't possible when the tour ran. The other reality is with the exception of Nigel, Simon and myself, most of the punters on the trip wouldn't be aware how good Birecik is and what they would be missing by not spending a day or two in the region.