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.

28 Feb 15 - February: The Monochrome Month

Well, February was always going to be a tough month around the Studland/Ballard patch. After the stunning start to the year in January, then there was little in the way of potential new Year Ticks for the patch. Just a small chance that something would turn up as the Winter wore on, unless there was a cold, snowy snap to bring a few Birds in. But that didn't happen. But the arrival of a lone Coot meant the patch Year List didn't stand still. This one new Year Tick brings me up to 124 BOU species for the year, ignoring Crap Pigeon (Columba trafalgarsquarensis).

Coot: I was really pleased to add this now tricky species to the patch Year List (21 Feb 15)

The best species for February was easily the Great Grey Shrike which I saw distantly on the 14 Feb and really well on the 21 Jan at South Haven. A real delight as it allowed me to carefully walk up to about 20 metres to it on the latter occasion.

Great Grey Shrike: I've not got this close to a Great Grey Shrike before. There are more photos here (21 Feb 15)

I've spent a lot of time at weekends in Brands Bay looking through the Waders & Wildfowl as this was my best chances of a second patch trip. But unfortunately, no joy. But it has been filled with Birds on most visits on the low or rising tides. It is great that after a frustrating January with more shooting in the bay than I've ever seen in the last 17 years, to get to February & have no further shooting taking place. Whilst the shooters showed little understanding of basic fieldcraft & didn't seem to hit anything, they were responsible for up to 3000 Birds being disturbed off feeding grounds with most leaving the bay completely. Given this is one of the most important feeding areas in Poole Harbour for both groups, then it is incredibly selfish to the Birds. On a more positive note, there have been good numbers of tricky species in Brands Bay this Winter. In previous years, I've only seen Spoonbills on a couple of days a year feeding in the bay. February continued where January left off with one or two Spoonbills on most visits. This year has seen a new feeding record of six Spoonbills for Brands Bay on 20 Jan 15. While it doesn't match the regular recent Arne roost counts of around the mid thirties, it is really a noteworthy Studland record.

Spoonbill: The month finished off with two 1st Winter Spoonbills feeding in the Bay today

Spoonbill: Number two

It was all a bit surreal walking into the Brands Bay hide. Immediately, on arrival I saw the two Spoonbills feeding in the near channel. Looking further towards the mouth of the channel was the Great White Egret.

Great White Egret

This is the first time I've seen it in Brands Bay this year, although I've seen in on Littlesea or the Eastern Lake on a few occasions. Something I wouldn't have predicted a year ago that I would have been totally unsurprised to find Spoonbills & a Great White Egret in the bay on my arrival. How times have changed. The Great White Egret wasn't happy with the Spoonbills & flew closer to them several times in what appeared to be an attempt to move them on. When this failed, the Great White Egret headed off, presumably towards Littlesea.

Great White Egret: It didn't like the Spoonbills. It is just possible to see the buff edges to the secondary coverts on the right wing confirming this is the first of the GWEs that turned up in the Autumn. The latter didn't stay around for more than a few weeks before moving on

Finally, whilst it was all monochrome on the Bird front this month, at least there was a touch of colour from the Butterflies: with the second species for the year appearing & posing for photos.

Red Admiral: (8 February 15)

Hopefully, there will be more colourful Passerines in March with the arrival of the first Spring migrants.

21 Feb 15 - South Haven Hat Trick

The very Northern tip of the Studland Peninsula is South Haven. Soon after I started Birding the Studland/Ballard patch seriously, I subdivided the patch into a number of sub-patches. This has proved interesting as it has helped to highlight some of the local boundaries for a number of species. It has also spurred me on to Bird the different sub-patches. The boundary of South Haven is the land North of the nudist beach track to the East of the road & North of Jerry's Point to the West of the road. The total land area is about a square km, albeit there is easily another 10 square kms of sea & bay views. Up until this morning, the South Haven patch was only 1 Bird ahead of the Brands Bay, Greenlands Farm & Godlingston sub-patch, by after a stunning 5 minutes this afternoon, it is now 3 Birds ahead on 172 species (ignoring Crap Pigeon). This compares to my Studland/Ballard list of 215 species seen & Nightingale heard.

The view looking South from the Pilots Point high dune: Taken on a misty morning on 22 Jan 15. The Great Grey Shrike was about 400 metres away

I had planned to spent the afternoon out at Brands Bay for the falling tide, but a pager message indicating the Great Grey Shrike had moved to the heath near Shell Bay, gave me a different plan. I couldn't get out till mid afternoon, 2 hours after it had been seen & I wasn't that optimistic. There was no real directions & its a large area of heath to scour. Also there were a number of people walking around on this part of the heath, which is unusual at this time of the year. But I walked out to the high dune by Pilots Point & tried another scan. Bingo: it was sitting on a small bush about 400 metres further South of Pilots Point. After putting the news out, I was about to start walking towards it, when I saw a distant Egret flying towards the Eastern Lake. I figured it was most likely to be the Great White Egret & putting the scope on it, it was. My second South Haven Tick in 5 minutes.

Great Grey Shrike: It also good to get these photos as my photos of this individual on Godlingston Heath in Mid Jan were only record shots

A bit of careful walking up the dunes & some shots on the way in case it flew. But it stayed put & allowed me to approach to 20 metres. Don't think I've been that close to a UK Great Grey Shrike before. Not having the Canon 7D with me probably helped as I doubt it would stayed put with the good camera. Still I was able to get some reasonable photos with the SX60.

Great Grey Shrike: Great to add this to my South Haven list

As to the third species in the South Haven hat trick, that will be revealed tomorrow.

Great Grey Shrike: It relocated with a bit of the sea behind. An unusual background for a Dorset Great Grey Shrike

2 Feb 15 - January Summary For The Studland/Ballard Patch Year List

In the last Post, I provided an overview of the Studland/Ballard patch. In the last few years, I have found I haven't been as motivated to get out onto the Studland/Ballard Down patch as often as I was getting out when I was doing a patch Year List. So to incentivise myself, I've decided on another patch Year List. I won't be registering for the Patchwork Challenge15 as it is too large a patch & I don't want to narrow my attention down even further to a smaller sub-patch within the Studland/Ballard patch. I won't be competing against anybody other than my younger self from previous years (2008, 2009 & 2011). I will aim for monthly patch updates on the Blog as to how the Year List is going, but will put occasional extra Posts in when good birds warrant them. It will be possible to follow all updates on the Year List by clicking on the Label Studland15 on the right hand side Label list.

Great White Egret: This was the highlight of the first few hours on 1 Jan. Two Great White Egrets turned up during the Autumn & this one was still around in January. Quite remarkable given there were only a couple of previous records & they stayed minutes before moving on from both Studland & Poole Harbour (11 Jan 15)

My best Studland/Ballard Down patch Year List is 176 in 2009 (following BOU taxonomy). This excludes Crap or Feral Pigeon which I saw, but I ignore all of the Crap or Feral Pigeon individuals I see in the UK as I don't believe there are any wild pure Rock Doves, left in England. My target for 2015 is 180 (again ignoring Crap Pigeon).

Black Guillemot: The second stunning species for the patch Year List & only my second Studland & Poole Harbour Black Guillemot. After being incredible elusive with only 3 brief sightings in about 3 weeks around Studland (including my refound sighting off Old Harry on 19 Dec 14), it was then finally pinned down on the Poole Harbour Pelagic on 1 Jan in the Brownsea Channel. It was often in that area in the first half of Jan & visible from the Studland Houseboats. Photo taken on the Poole Harbour Pelagic (1 Jan 15)

I have had a great start to the Year List. I've been able to get out on the Studland/Ballard patch on all, but three days in January. Overall, I managed to spend about half the daylight hours out Birding. The patch is about 3 miles from top to bottom and about 3 miles from East to West at the bottom, but it tapers to a narrow point at the Northern end at South Haven, which is the Southern side of the Poole Harbour mouth. The land area is about 4.5 square miles, but there can be a lot of exposed mud at low tide, especially in Brands Bay and there are extensive bay & sea views from the Studland peninsula & Ballard Down. This makes the overall area considerably larger, but like the PWC rules, I'm happy to count Birds seen from inside the patch boundaries, even if the Bird is outside the boundary (e.g. on Furzey Island or closer to Brownsea than Studland). Given it is possible to see a long way out to sea from Old Harry & Ballard Down, then it seems inconsistent to have a fairly narrow boundary on the inner boundaries.

Red-necked Grebe: A species I would expect to see sometime in the year on the patch, but they are erratic & I've often had to wait till late Autumn/early Winter to see one. Typically there is only one individual a Winter, so to have had up to three individuals around on the between South Haven & South Beach for most of Jan is excellent (Jan 15)

Despite its relatively small size, the variation in habitats within the patch is impressive. There are tidal mudlflats, sandy beaches, a freshwater lake known as Littlesea, with a couple of smaller lakes. These are surrounded by heathland, dunes, deciduous & coniferous woodland and wet marshy areas. Greenlands Farm is mainly grassy fields, which through grazing has been changed to grassland from the surrounding Godlingston Heath (heathland). Ballard Down is a mixture of chalk grassland, farmland and chalk sea cliffs. There is also the small urban development of Studland village, albeit it is a very leafy village. Overall, it has micro versions of nearly all of the habitats found in Poole Harbour, with the exception of open wet fields for Waders & dense urban sprawl (not surprisingly I don't miss that, although it would make Waxwing a potentially easier species). As a result, it is easily the best local patch within Poole Harbour.

Spoonbill: Another erratic species with usually about one wayward individual in Brands Bay for a few days in a year. Some years, I've only got them on the Studland patch Year List, by seeing Spoonbills flying in or out of Brownsea. But this year, Spoonbills have been regular feeding visitors to Brands Bay with a peak of six individuals on 20 Jan 15 representing a new Studland record count. Brands Bay (22 Jan 15)

Another reason to try for a patch Year List was the presence of some good species on the patch in late December: the wintering Great White Egret, an erratic & rarely seen Black Guillemot & the Green-winged Teal found on New Years Eve. Unfortunately, despite spending an hour or two on a near daily basis scanning & rescanning the Teal flock in Brands Bay, I was unable to refind the Green-winged Teal. Previous individuals have been elusive in Poole Harbour, but a couple of previous Poole Harbour individuals have been relocated in different locations (to their original location) in Poole Harbour, so perhaps it is still lurking somewhere else locally.

Great Grey Shrike: Easily the Bird of Jan on the patch. Only the second record in the last 25 years (the other being in Mar 11). Godlingston Heath (24 Mar 11)

As I was running out of new species to add to the Year List, one that I was struggling to find was Grey Wagtail. Whilst being an erratic Winter visitor, I have usually seen one in Jan. But I hadn't been able to track any down at their usual haunts, so I thought I had missed it. Finally, I found a lone individual feeding quietly on a frozen, flooded pool on the Littlesea Nature Trail.

Grey Wagtail: It would be hard to miss this in a Year List, but I was glad to get it in Jan. Littlesea (23 Jan 15)

I finished on 123 species in Jan (BOU of course), not counting some distantly scoped Crap Pigeons flying over Poole. I had expected that it should have been possible to get to 120 species & had set myself an ambitious Jan target of 125. So to get 123 was an excellent Jan total given how small the area is. I am already over 2/3rds of the way to my end of the year total of 180 species. It will now get difficult to add more than one or two species before the Spring migrants arrive.

Peacock: I've also started the Butterfly patch list, although I won't be keeping a patch Year List. At some point, I will probably see the completely untickable & feathered Indian Peacock as they occasionally appear on the Brownsea shoreline. Greenlands Farm (Jan 15)

I managed to miss Kittiwake & Redpoll. Additionally, there was also a pager report of a Velvet Scoter at the South Haven (from an unknown observer on one occasion, but the news was slow getting out & it had moved on by the time I looked soon after hearing). There were a handful of other potential species that could have occurred including Eider, Spotted Redshank (only about one or two records a year), Golden Plover (generally only a cold weather species in the Winter, but also an erratic Autumn visitor), Siskin & Crossbill. Potentially, the Green-winged Teal could have put in another appearance, so the 125 total could have been feasible.

24 Jan 15 - A Patch Rare

Having had a relatively quiet day on the Studland/Ballard Patch, I was ready to head for home mid afternoon, when I had a call from one of the locals, Steve Morrison. He had just seen the breaking news of a Great Grey Shrike on Godlingston Heath. This is the South West corner of the patch, but is the most underwatched part of my patch, after the nudist beach area. The details were vague, just a text from a friend of a friend saying there was a Great Grey Shrike seen whilst walking somewhere on Godlingston Heath. There was no opportunity to check where it was, so Steve and I met up & started scanning from the high hide part of Studland. It is easily 1/2 mile to the nearest part of the heath & well over a mile to the Southern end. Looking into the light didn't help. After 20 minutes, I suggested Plan B, to look from the top of the heath. There is a good, but more restricted view. No joy in the first 15 minutes of scanning & I was about to suggest moving to a different viewpoint, to check the rest of the heath, when Steve said he had found it. It was about 200 metres away from us, sitting on the heath. Not great shots, but better than nothing. We were lucky it was so close, given how large Godlingston Heath is.

Godlingston Heath: Viewed from Greenlands Farm. Godlingston Heath is the heathland area which continues for about 3/4 mile until the heath gives way to the higher pastural fields. This is only the Western side of Godlingston Heath, the Eastern side is even larger

Great Grey Shrike: Only my second individual on the patch, having twitched the only other record in the last 25 years on 24 Mar 11

Great Grey Shrike: Another record shot

Great Grey Shrike: The uncropped original from the SX60

There are only 14 records involving 11 individuals between 1952 and 1989 on the Studland patch. Since that date, there has only been one more record: an individual seen on 24 & 28 Mar 11 on Godlingston Heath. So despite being more or less annual within Poole Harbour, it has become a very rare Bird on the Studland patch. Most Poole Harbour records have been around the Hartland Moor/Arne part of the harbour.

15 Feb 14 - The Final Moroccan Post

It was an early start to be back at the Tafingoult site for dawn, as Cuvier's Gazelle are probably coming closer to the village to feed when it's dark & quiet. However, a careful scan of the slopes above the village failed to locate any that had fed there overnight. Therefore, we headed up to the top of the hillside to spend a few hours checking the extensive hillsides to the North. We had no joy with the shy Cuvier's Gazelle which had thousands of small trees in the miles of hillsides to shelter underneath from the sun. But it was a good morning as we managed to catch up with some good views of Tristram's Warbler: which we had missed further South.

Richard checking the rocks hillside above Tafingoult

This is only part of the extensive hills to the North of Tafingoult

Looking South over the village

Tristram's Warbler: The maroccana subspecies occurs in Morocco & Western Algeria

Tristram's Warbler

Black Redstart: Female of the gibraltariensis subspecies which occurs across most of Western Europe (except for the Iberian Peninsula where it is replaced by aterrimus)

Great Grey Shrike: This is the algeriensis subspecies of Northern Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia (which doesn't have the distinctive wing pattern of the elegans subspecies seen earlier in the Western Sahara: where the white primary coverts patch extends to the tertials)

Great Grey Shrike 

Chaffinch: Male of the distinctive africana subspecies is found from Morocco to North West Tunisia

Spur-thighed Tortoise: This is the Southern Moroccan subspecies

By late morning we were heading back to the hotel to check out. There was time for a leisurely lunch in Taroudant before we had to head back to Agadir airport for the late afternoon flight to Gatwick. Late turned out to be the key word as the Easyjet plane was nearly 3 hours late in arriving, apparently down to the bad storm that had passed through Europe in the previous 24 hours.

This street cafe provided some decent pizza & coffee

There were a number of horse driven carriages taking the tourists around Taroudant

The cafe was a good place to photograph some of the locals

Cattle Egrets roosting over the kazbah

White Stork: The final species for the trip list

The Western Saharan & Moroccan trip proved to be a successful trip with the key World tick, Cricket Longtail, easily seen. Additionally, we saw 4 Sudan Golden Sparrows which were a bonus World tick: two of which we found. I had 3 additional Western Palearctic ticks: Royal Tern, Black-crowned Finchlark & Brown-throated Sand Martin. Spotlighting produced views of Pharoah Eagle Owl, Ruppell's Fox, Fennec Fox & Saharan Striped Polecat: my favourite mammal for the trip. I managed to photograph 66 species on the trip out of a trip list of about 115 species. Finally, it was great to get to the Western Sahara, which is an interesting & fairly rarely explored part of the Western Palearctic, with a couple of good travelling companions.