10 Oct 21 - Goodbye To The Hobby

I was doing an Isle of Purbeck Year List in 2021, albeit I was hampered by the Covid lockdowns which helped to restrict my movements at various points in the year. I was back at St Aldhelms for the full morning as it was a weekend, rather than trying to cover the site in a quick dash before work. The Force 2 Northerly winds with initially cloudy skies and mild conditions seemed hopeful. But I hadn't seen that much on a fairly fast walk to the Coastguards. I tried a ninety minute seawatch from 08:30 from one of my favourite viewpoints known as the Delpinus Seat: this viewpoint is named after the pod of twenty-five Short-beaked Common Dolphins I found in Dec 20 from the stone seat. The seawatch had been uninspiring, except for two Harbour Porpoises about a quarter mile offshore.

Harbour Porpoise: Note the rounded head with no beak and the broad triangular dorsal fin

My look around Quarry Ledge relocated a Dartford Warbler which had been around for a few weeks and had moved from Trev's Quarry to the back of Quarry Ledge.

Dartford Warbler: They are less than annual at St Aldhelms

I decided on a final look from my other more traditional seawatch site, above 'The Garden'. Fairly quickly I picked up a juvenile Hobby which appeared to come in off the sea. But I think it had probably headed out, before losing confidence and returning. It circled then went West. As I walked back to the coastguards lookout, I found it sitting on the big rock stack near the steps. It took off, flew around a few times and then slowly drifted out to sea. I lost it about a mile out when I was distracted by some House Sparrows flying over.

Hobby: Juv

Hobby: Juv. I only see one or two a year at St Aldhelms, so this was a nice record

Hobby: Juv

Hobby: Juv

Hobby: Juv

The walk back produced the first two Black Redstarts of the Autumn on the roof of Trev's Quarry workshop. The final highlight was when a Great Spotted Woodpecker flew West over the car park. This my 150th species for the St Aldhelms patch. Overall, it had been a good morning for St Aldhelms in the end.

Black Redstart

23 Aug 21 - A Very Welcome C19 Gripback

On 17 Oct 20, a Rufous Bushchat was found at Stiffkey on the Norfolk coast. It showed well on the edge of the salt marsh, until its last sighting on 21 Oct. Having been found on a Saturday, then it was twitchable over the weekend, with many Birders making the trip to see it. At the time, the C19 numbers were rising significantly with another C19 wave on the way. The second English lockdown began less than three weeks later on 5 Nov. My twitching buddies all went & saw it. But I decided I couldn't justify going due to the rising C19 risk & the likelihood of the imminent lockdown.

This was only the ninth UK record, but it would have been a Tick for virtually all the UK twitchers given the previous records had been a two day individual at Flamborough on 5-6 Oct 1972 & one day individual on 9 Aug 1980 at Prawle, Devon. The record before that was a long staying individual that occurred from 2-9 Sep 1963 at Skegness: apparently one early twitcher heard about this through the post & successfully twitched it from the South East of the UK. There are also three Irish records, but the last one was in 1968. I had made my decision & I was comfortable with it. But I also reckoned I wasn't going to stand much of a chance of another one turning up.

Less than a year later, I was stunned to see on RBA that another Rufous Bushchat had been found at Coverack on the Cornish Lizard. C19 was still a problem in the UK, however, I had had two jabs by that date. I was more comfortable about travelling, albeit I still wasn't comfortable with the higher risk of car sharing: but there again, my twitching mates had seen the Norfolk individual. The only problem was it was a Monday lunchtime & I was working. But I didn't have anything urgent to worry about. In the latter days of being a permanent employee, I would just ask to take the time off or just go & let work know that a rare Bird had turned up & I was going twitching, providing it wouldn't impact any deadlines. Work always knew I would ensure I either made the time up later or in the worst case, I would do a few less hours of overtime that week. But having switched to contract work, I had to be more responsible. Fortunately, I had an understanding boss & she was happy for me to go at short notice & make the time up later that week.

I left just after 13:00 & arrived at Coverack just before 17:00. Parking had looked to be an issue as there was only a small car park. Fortunately, there was one space left when I arrived. It was a short walk to where the Rufous Bushchat was showing. I turned the corner & saw a small group who were watching it. I saw it immediately & the pressure was off. I wasn't sure whether I would need the telescope, but I took it anyway. It was so close that binoculars were perfectly adequate, although the telescope provided even better views. It was feeding on the footpath & sitting on stones next to an isolated house. As I was driving to Cornwall, I realised that in my rush to leave, I had the left my camera at home. I had to fall back on my Leica telescope & the mobile. Despite it being a brilliant telescope, I've never succeeded in getting any worthwhile photos from this combination. The Rufous Bushchat was no exception, albeit the photos weren't as bad as they usually are.

Rufous Bushchat: It wasn't pinned down to a definite subspecies, but it was considered to be one of the Eastern familiaris or syriaca subspecies: which indicates it originated from the Southern Caucasus to Iran & Pakistan or the Eastern Mediterranean & Middle East. It stayed for one extra day before it moved on, so it was good that I reacted quickly

15 Aug 21 - Success At Bempton

I had tried on three occasions over successive weekends in July to see an English Black-browed Albatross, but it kept eluding me. This was partly down to it not being a UK Tick, as I had seen Albert, the Hermaness Black-browed Albatross in late June 81. This was the long stay individual that had turned up for most summers between 1975-95.

The Black-browed Albatross had settled into a routine of being seen virtually every day at Bempton Cliffs in the second half of July, until it was last seen on 7 August. Then on the 13th it was seen again. Having missed it three times, I wasn't in a hurry to rush back to Yorkshire. With news of its present on the 14th & seen sitting on its roost spot that evening, I decided to try again and ensure I was there for first light the next morning. I arrived about 04:45 & quickly walked down to the viewing platform overlooking its roost spot. Finally, in the early dawn mist, I added it to my English List. This is a list I started keeping for a bit of fun, but I'm slowly taking a more seriously now it's getting quite reasonable.

Black-browed Albatross: This photo was taken as the early morning mist cleared a bit: this was one of the better initial views

The mist clear & reappeared a few times, before clearing properly.

Black-browed Albatross: A better photograph once the mist cleared

Black-browed Albatross: It stretched its wings a few times over the next couple of hours.

Finally, about 07:40, it had taken to the air & spent the next half hour flying around the offshore, but it was never particularly close.

Black-browed Albatross: The white head with the characteristic Amy Winehouse eyebrow, uniform dark grey mantle, wings & tail and contrasting white rump, all help to identify this as a Black-browed Albatross from the other Albatross species

I walked back towards the car park & stopped at a closer viewpoint. It was still flying around, but it was closer to the cliffs. It made once close pass, then steadily headed out to sea. That looked like it would be the end of the views for several hours.

Black-browed Albatross: It's a pity there were a few bits of cliff top grass in the way

Black-browed Albatross: It was time to leave as it continued to fly steadily out to sea

I decided I had taken plenty of photos of the other Seabirds at Bempton Cliffs over the three previous visits: so, I headed back to the car park. I had a plan B if I saw the Black-browed Albatross early, which was to head down to Frampton Marsh in Lincs for a Pacific Golden Plover that had been present for the past three weeks.

Pacific Golden Plover: This is only the second Pacific Golden Plover that I've seen in the UK: the other one was the Stanpit individual back on 25 Jul 90

Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Pacific Golden Plover

Frampton Marsh has managed to attract a number of rare Waders over the years, but I had never visited it. So, this would be a good excuse for a look. It has lots of good pools & I was very impressed with the reserve. It's a pity it is the best part of a five hour drive from home.

Little Ringed Plover: Juv

Ruff

17 Jul 21 - The Remake Of Saturday Night Fever

Another weekend & another trip to Bempton Cliffs. This was my third trip in three weekends to try to see an English Black-browed Albatross. Due to some evening working, I was able to leave a lunchtime on the Friday & arrived for the evening at Bempton in the hope that it would appear on its cliff roost: it didn't. I slept in the Focus hotel & was walking out in the half light, with a few other Birders who had arrived overnight or just arrived. Frustratingly, there was no sign of the Black-browed Albatross and it didn't appear all day. I stayed till just after 20:00, when the sea mist that had appeared and cleared once, appeared again & looking to be in for the rest of the evening. Apparently, the following day was foggy during the morning and there was no sign of the Black-browed Albatross until the evening, when it returned to its roost spot.

Sunrise at Bempton Cliffs

However, a visit to Bempton Cliffs, when the weather is OK, is never a wasted opportunity given it is the best mainland Seabird colony, with unrivalled photographic opportunities. It is a great place to watch the Gannets and other Seabirds & how they interact with each other.

Gannet: This Gannet started to display

Gannet: He has his eye on the female

Gannet: Passing over the vegetation

Gannet: A convenient fumble allows him to get closer

Gannet: The vegetation worked

Gannet: He's back on the top of the bank

Gannet: He's now back with the female as another male starts displayng

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet: This Gannet has more moves than John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever

Gannet: The problem here is Gannets begin breeding in late Feb to Apr. A single egg is laid in Apr and incubation takes six weeks, with the chick fledging in late Aug. With four months from egg laying to fledging, this mating attempt will fail this season

Gannet & Egg: This Gannet is going to struggle to get a chick to fledgling

Gannet: Just to reconfirm the obvious, this is how advanced the main pairs are

10 Jul 21 - Just Drifting By

In the last Blog Post, I detailed my first attempt to see the Black-browed Albatross at Bempton Cliffs, when I missed it by about one hour, after it had flown out to sea. It was back on the cliffs for most of the mornings on the Monday and Tuesday mornings, but it disappearing off to feed at some point in the day. There were no sightings on the Wednesday & Thursday. But it was seen again on the Friday, where it spent the day on the cliffs. During the week it seemed to have found a regular spot on the cliffs, which was viewable from one of the viewing platforms.

I decided to have another attempt on the Saturday, after another hectic week of work. I was too tired to get up at 23:00 after only two hours sleep. I finally got up at 00:30 and left at 01:30. I arrived at Bempton at 07:15, to hear that it had already flown off the cliffs, but it was still showing at a distance on the sea. However, it had flown out to sea by the time I arrived at the clifftop viewing platforms. I had missed it on its cliff roost spot by just over an hour & on the sea by about forty minutes.

Still I had a good time watching the Gannets, Auks and Kittiwakes and chatting with my friend Ewan Urquhart (Black Audi Birding) & his mate Hugh. We were at the platform that could see the Black-browed Albatross roost spot. It was packed with a few Birders, as well as, birdwatchers and photographers: as it also provided good views of part of the Gannet colony. Pete Moore was standing nearby, as he had arrived earlier than me. But there was no room in the crowd to join Pete. C19 still a big concern for me & I was not into sharing cars at this point.

Fulmar

Bempton Cliffs are a superb area to visit & enjoy the spectacular Seabird colony. It should be one of those locations that everybody puts on their Bucket List to visit at least once in their lifetime. I will focus on some flight shots in this Blog Post. But there was so much more going on in front of each of the viewing platforms, that it still remained a great day out, despite missing the Black-browed Albatross.

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet

Gannet

Puffin

Puffin

Puffin

Kittiwake

Kittiwake

Kittiwake

Later in the day, I walked off to try some of the other viewing platforms to see some of the other parts of the colony. There was a Bridled Guillemot distantly on view from one of the viewing platforms. I must have seen them before on my first visit to the Shetland Islands, but there is nothing in my notes to indicate that. It is only a colour form of Guillemot, which is uncommon in Dorset, but more common in the Shetland Islands.

Kestrel: It wasn't all about flying Seabirds during the day

Sea fog appeared & cleared a couple of times in the late afternoon, but then it drifted in and looked like it was set in for good. I left about 19:15 for the long journey home. The weather forecast for the following morning was for the fog to persist . There was thick fog there the following morning, which didn't clear for several hours. So, I made the right decision to head home. However, the Black-browed Albatross reappeared on the cliff around mid-afternoon and it spent the rest of the day on view on its preferred cliff perch.