13 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - A Morning In The Sand Dunes

After a three hour drive from Puerto Madryn, I arrived at the town of Las Grutas after dark. As I drove through the town there were parties of Burrowing Parrots roosting on telegraph wires and trees in the town centre. I guess coming into the town is safer than roosting in the low scrubby bushes, where they might be grabbed by a nocturnal predator. I found the dirt road and drove South of the town parallel to the coast for about five miles. Eventually, I found a side track near the small cluster of beach houses at El Sotano. Finally, I could park up and get some sleep for the night on this side track. I was up at first light to look at the scrubby coastal bushes in the dunes behind El Sotano, where there were several potential Ticks for me.

An early morning view of the small cluster of beach houses at El Sotano

Another view of the habitat

Typical of much of Argentina, most of the dunes were fenced off. However, by chance, I had stopped by some dunes which weren't fenced off, which allowed me to wander around in the scrubby coastal bushes. There was a good selection of local species in the area.

Stripe-crowned Spinetail: This is the pyrrhophia subspecies which occurs from South Bolivia to the far South of Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina

Stripe-crowned Spinetail

Hudson's Black-tyrant: This is the local variant on the Black-tyrant theme

Hudson's Black-tyrant: This monotypic species occurs in central Argentina and winters to Bolivia, south West Brazil & South East Peru

Hudson's Black-tyrant: A jammy photo as it took off

Straneck's Tyrannulet: This monotypic species occurs in Paraguay, Uruguay, South Brazil and Argentina

White-tipped Plantcutter: This is the nominate rutila subspecies which occurs in the Chaco of West Paraguay, West Uruguay, Brazil & North Argentina

Patagonian Mockingbird: This monotypic species occurs in central and Southern Argentina & South Chile

Patagonian Mockingbird

Carbonated Sierra-finch: This monotypic species breeds in the Pampas of central Argentina. They winters as far North as North West Argentina

There were also some widespread South American species.

Turkey Vulture: This is the jota subspecies which occurs from in the Andes from Colombia to South Argentina

It was dry and arid habitat

Eared Dove: This is the chrysauchenia subspecies which occurs from Bolivia, Uruguay, central Brazil to Tierra del Fuego

I was surprised to see there were good numbers of an unidentified Dragonfly that looks like the UK Hawkers. It was a very arid habitat and it was hard to figure out where they were breeding.

Unidentified Argentinian Dragonfly

It had been a successful morning with four Ticks. By late morning, I had to head off to Las Grutas for an early lunch before heading North, as I had exciting plans for the afternoon to look for one of my key targets for the trip. It would be a two and a half hour drive, but I was planning on roadside stops in areas of similar habitat to try and bump into some of the remaining Ticks for me in the wider area.

30 May 26 - Good Night And It's Still Mid-Morning

I was just getting ready to go out Birding when I got a text, which was rapidly followed by more texts from other mates. All were saying that news of an adult Night Heron had just broken on the local Purbeck whatsapp group. Even better it was at the Rees Cox hide and had been found by Poole togger, Rich Stevenson. I knew that Rich only carries bins and a camera, so it wasn't going to be impossibly distant. I was out of the door as soon as I had grabbed the optics and camera and fifteen minutes later, I was trying to encourage the new parking National Trust machine to recognise my membership card. Finally, it did and I could walk quickly to the hide. Rich was still there and he pointed out it was sitting in the open in a bare tree on the far bank. It was my two hundred and thirtieth species for the Studland patch, not including Nightingale which I've only heard.

Night Heron: It was sitting in the open when I arrived and thus took the pressure off seeing it

After about thirty minutes, it flew around and landed in a large tree. We could just see glimpses of it. I assumed it was going to go to roost.

Night Heron

We could see it was moving around in the tree and after a few minutes, it reappeared on low branches close to the water's edge, but nearly always tucked in the shade. For the next ninety minutes, it walked around the water's edge, looking for food. Often it was obscured, but every now and then it gave a clear view.

Night Heron

Finally, something spooked it, perhaps the Sika Deer that was nearby. It flew a couple of times before it landed in the same tree just before midday. I stayed for another hour, but it didn't reappear. Perhaps it had finally decided to get some sleep. It reappeared late afternoon according to Pete Moore.

Night Heron

Night Heron

Night Heron

This is the first Night Heron for the Studland patch and also the first confirmed record for the Isle of Purbeck. There is a historical Wareham record which could have occurred in Purbeck, but there are no details of exactly where that individual was and if it crossed into the Purbeck side of the border.

The view from the Rees Cox hide: It was just to the right of the centre patch of low reeds

12 Dec 25 - Patagonia 25 - An Afternoon In Puerto Rawson

I arrived on time at Trelew airport in Patagonia for the third and final leg of my Argentinian and Antarctic trip. I was soon leaving the airport in the pre-booked hire car on the thirty minute journey to Puerto Rawson. There were a number of options for the three days I had for this final section of the trip, with trying to get out on a rib to look for Commerson's Dolphins as the first of these options.

Peregrine artwork: I flew with Jet Smart who had some impressive artwork on their planes

Andean Condor artwork

I knew the afternoon rib departed from Puerto Rawson at 14:30. I arrived with about thirty minutes to spare to find the place was locked up. The two hour trip was about seventy quid and I wasn't prepared to risk booking for this afternoon, as I knew that any delay in the internal flight would mean I would lose my money. Clearly, there was no trip planned for the afternoon.

A decorated window on the Commerson's Dolphin building

A wall sign on the Commerson's Dolphin building

With no rib trip running, Plan B was to spend the afternoon looking from the coast and hope to locate some Commerson's Dolphins from land. I hadn't managed to find anything online suggesting favoured feeding sites, so it was a case of driving up and down the coastline for a few miles either side of Puerto Rawson and hoping I got lucky. I was focusing on looking for some Commerson's Dolphins, but did occasionally get distracted enough to raise the camera.

Chalk-browed Mockingbird: This is the modulator subspecies which occurs from South East Bolivia to South Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay & North Argentina

Shiny Cowbird: This is the nominate bonariensis subspecies which occurs from East Bolivia to Paraguay, Southern Brazil, Uruguay & central Argentina

As I explored South of Puerto Rawson, I ran into the first parties of Burrowing Parrots. I remember they were a commonly-seen Parrot on my 1998 visit to the Valdez Peninsula, but that didn't stop me taking lots of photos.

Burrowing Parrot: This is the nominate patagonus subspecies which occurs in central to South East Argentina. They winter to North Argentina & Uruguay

Burrowing Parrot: There are three other subspecies that occur in central West to North West Argentina & Chile

Burrowing Parrot

Burrowing Parrot

Burrowing Parrot: The really are a gorgeous-looking Parrot. Despite seeing well over a thousand in the three days in Patagonia, I didn't get bored with seeing them

With no joy to the South of Puerto Rawson, I explored the beaches around the North end of the town.

This was the closest I got to seeing some Commerson's Dolphins during the afternoon

There was a nice selection of other wildlife art along the Puerto Rawson coastline.

A Penguinos Family

A Humpback Whale Tail

Leatherback Turtle

Having failed to find any Commerson's Dolphins along the shoreline to the North and South of Puerto Rawson, I was left with a dilemma: should I stick around in Puerto Rawson overnight in the hope of getting out on the next day or stick with the plan to head as far North as I could and try and see the limited range Pampas Meadowlark, which was one of my other key targets for this Patagonian section of the trip. Having been lucky to bump into the Commerson's Dolphins in the Beagle Channel, I decided to head North.

An Octopus

After an hour and a half of driving, I reached Puerto Madryn. I had another look for Cetaceans along the coastline here, but again I drew a blank. This wasn't surprising, as there was a busy port here, which probably wasn't going to be great for Cetaceans. The obvious choice would have been to stick around in this area and spend a day on the excellent Valdez Peninsula and to look for some Southern Right Whales. However, I was short of time for this leg of the trip due to the cost and availability of flights back to the UK in the run up to Christmas. In hindsight, I should have booked a post Christmas flight and spent another week in Argentina. However, that wouldn't have been a cheap extension and it had already been an expensive trip. I had spent a couple of excellent days on the Valdez Peninsula during my 1998 trip.

Statue of Patagotitan mayorum near Trelew airport: This statue is of one of the largest Dinosaurs and six skeletons were found at a dig site about one hundred and sixty miles West of Trelew. This guy gives an idea how large these Dinosaurs were. The latest understanding is they were about thirty-one metres long

As I was trying to get to new locations on this return visit, I pushed on North for another three hours to the small town of Las Grutas. This was an area I hadn't visited in 1998 and there was the opportunity for several Ticks in this area. I arrived in Las Grutas an hour after dark and headed South along a coastal dirt track until I found a quiet place where I could kip in the car for the night.

22 May 26 - Signs Of Spring Part 14 - Green Hairstreak

On a quiet visit to Brands Bay, it was nice to see this Green Hairstreak. This is a species that I see less than annually at Studland. So, every sighting of this great-looking Butterfly is special.

Green Hairstreak

10 Dec 25 - Antarctica 25 - Returning Along The Beagle Channel

It was the last full day at sea on our whistle-stop trip to Antarctica. We awoke to find the seas were moderating as we continued sailing towards the Tierra del Fuego. However, it had been another reasonable crossing of the notorious Drake Passage.

Not surprisingly, the ship's flag was looking a bit battered

I spent most of the day on the bridge as it was the best viewpoint to look for Cetaceans. There were a couple of Snowy Albatrosses and a Grey-headed Albatross among the far commoner Black-browed Albatrosses.

Black-browed Albatross

The clear highlight of the morning was another Western Rockhopper Penguin, which was well out to sea from Tierra del Fuego. Presumably, this was breeding on one of the Southern Chilean islands off the Magallanes Province or Cape Horn Archipelago.

Western Rockhopper Penguin: The only other breeding location is the Falkland Islands, which we didn't have the opportunity to revisit on this trip

Western Rockhopper Penguin

As we got closer to the Tierra del Fuego coastline, we started to encounter the first Chilean Skuas and large numbers of Imperial Shags. However, few were close and while the bridge provided a good viewing location, the glass windows made photography a challenge.

Chilean Skua: This monotypic species breeds along the coasts of South Chile & South Argentina and they range North to the coasts of South Peru & central Brazil outside of the breeding season

As I've got plenty of good Seabird photos from my two previous trips on the Plancius, I was focusing on looking for Cetaceans. Unfortunately, we didn't see any as we sailed towards Tierra del Fuego. A lone South American Sealion was the only Marine Mammal seen, before we reached the start of the Beagle Channel.

Finally, the Chilean coast (on the left) and the Argentinian coast came into view

Finally, we reached the entrance to the Beagle Channel in the afternoon. I was expecting this to be good as I've seen a reasonable selection of Cetaceans in this area. I was not disappointed. There was a Fin Whale with a second Whale blowing next to it, which was presumably a second individual. Also, a single Sei Whale and another unidentified blow. However, it was the Dolphins who put on a real show for us. In total, I saw thirty Dusky Dolphins, five Peale's Dolphins and another ten that were one of these two species. The first pods of Dusky Dolphins weren't close, but that didn't stop them being entertaining.

Dusky Dolphin: It's a pity these Dusky Dolphins weren't close to the ship

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin

Dusky Dolphin: This pod were closer, but weren't they weren't feeling acrobatic

During the afternoon, we said goodbye to the three helicopters as they departed for their home base. I guess, it made more sense for them to depart in the outer Beagle Channel when the ship could manoeuvre to allow them to depart, rather than closer to Ushuaia when we had a pilot onboard.

One of the helicopters departing

The helicopters did a final flypast, before they departed

I had deliberately had a good lunch as I knew I would be skipping dinner, as well as, the Captain's final drinks. As I was in a good area for Cetaceans, I didn't want to miss this opportunity. Finally, we reached the Penguin Island and I was keeping a close look out for the Commerson's Dolphins that I had seen on the boat trip to Penguin Island. Unfortunately, I didn't see them. It was only when I was much closer to Ushuaia before I finally left the bridge.

The Penguin Island beach

The Rock Shag colony on Penguin Island

It's not just the wildlife, but the other fellow travellers on the ship, that makes these trips enjoyable. Thanks to all these passengers and the Expedition staff for being good company.

Nick, the other Birder on the trip and his partner, Caroline, talking to one of the Chinese passengers

Australian Anne, two of my cabin mates Rob and Zac, Janet & Clive

Expedition Leader Pippa

It had been a great trip. While we couldn't get far South into the Weddell Sea, I had seen three of the four Emperor Penguins that we seen. The other key species I was hoping to see were Antarctic Petrels and my first Crabeater Seal, which I had missed on the previous Antarctic trip. The stunning views of the Type B (Large) Orca were unforgettable. Finally, although I didn't land on the Antarctic Peninsula, I was pleased to have been able to land for the first time in the South Shetland Islands.

The Expedition Staff team: Shan, Allan, Saskai, Jess, Sam, Beth, Wei and Gary

We docked in the late evening in Ushuaia and stayed on board for the final evening. There was an early call for breakfast during the follow morning. Soon after breakfast, the ship was cleared for us to depart. I caught the ship's bus to the airport, where I spent the rest of day catching up with emails etc, as I hadn't wanted to be distracted with emails etc while I was at sea. I caught my early evening flight to Ushuaia that evening and arrived in the domestic airport about 22:00. I jumped into the pre-booked taxi which took me to a local uninspiring hotel for the evening. The following morning, I got the hotel to arrange an early morning taxi back to the domestic airport for breakfast, before my mid-morning flight to Trelew for the final leg of the Argentinian trip.