21 Sep 14 - Up Narff

Over the last couple of weeks there have been a lot of early starts & plenty of local birding. Despite a lot of looking, it just hasn't been as good as hoped locally, although the Great White Egret around the Middlebere & Studland patches have been a definite bonus. While it's been good for commoner migrants & Waders, the hoped for Wryneck or Passerine goodie just hasn't appeared. Of course to increase the chances of finding or seeing something better, I could have had a day or two at Portland. Or to increase the chances more, a trip to the East coast, which seems to be dripping in Wrynecks, Red-breasted Flycatchers and other goodies, could have been planned. But being loyal to the local area, I've kept Birding mainly around Poole Harbour. At the end of the day, I keep telling myself finding a Wryneck on the patch is more exciting that one on the East coast.

Wryneck: One of the problems with Studland is there is just so much cover for a Wryneck to hide in. Beit Yatir, Israel (8 Apr 14)

Finally yesterday, I had decided to give myself a decent lie-in, after a quick look at the weather at dawn, showed it was still conditions & misty again. Next thing I knew it was nearly 09:30 & the lie-in had been achieved. But soon after the pager mega alerted: Masked Shrike at Spurn. By the time, I had finished breakfast & could have reacted, a calculation of what time I could get there after the 6 hour, 310 mile trip), had me arriving about 16:30, assuming no traffic holdups etc. So getting a bit tight. I should have gone anyway at this point, but a bit of untypical dithering (when a British Tick was involved) & it was looking very tight. Later in the day, I was frustrated, I hadn't got going sooner, as this was only a third for Britain & I hadn't see either of the previous two. It was also the first mainland Tick for me this year, as all the potential Ticks had been on Fair Isle (Swinhoe's Petrel, Hermit Thrush & Cretzschmar's Bunting), Crag Martin (whilst I was in Israel) or a scattering of flyby Fea's Petrels. The following morning, I was up early, in case it had stayed, but with clear overnight skies on the East coast, I expected I would be heading early to Studland. But a quick check of twitter & it was still there. Urgent phone calls with my mate, Peter Moore, to confirm he could abandon his parental football duties. He could & better still, he had it confirmed that he would still be married on his return, despite missing the football. So by 07:30 we were heading North. A good run & arrived in early afternoon. Even better as we pulled into the car park, we met my mates, Edge & Gav from the Croatia trip, who were just leaving. They had taken the really courageous approach of driving Southampton to have breakfast in a Nottingham motorway services. So we quickly jumped into their car & were chauffeured back to the Masked Shrike field. It only saved a 1/4 mile walk back up the road, but it was really a great help. We arrived to find the Masked Shrike sitting in the hedge, only 40 metres from the crowd. By the time, we would have got there on foot, it would have been further back in the field. On subsequent visits to the field, it remained, stubbornly much further away, so that lift really helped.

Masked Shrike: 1st Winter. UK & Ireland Tick 516 (following BOU/IRB rules) & no Mickey Mouse Club species to pad out the list. My full list can be found on Bubo

Masked Shrike: 1st Winter

Masked Shrike: 1st Winter

Masked Shrike: 1st Winter

Masked Shrike: 1st Winter

Masked Shrike Hedge: It was generally in the far end of the hedge, but the above photos were taken when it was about 40 metres away

The first record was a well twitched individual at Kilrenny, Fife which was around from 29 Oct - 14 Nov 2004. This was followed by a single day bird on the 1 Nov 2006 on Scillies. The latest individual is still present for it's third day on the 22 Sep 14. I think that Masked Shrike is the best looking of the Western Palearctic Shrikes and here are some photos of adults taken in Israel this Spring.

Masked Shrike: Adult. Yotvata 11 April 14

Masked Shrike: Adult. Yotvata 11 April 14

19 Sep 14 - Ageing A Close Green Sandpiper

It's not uncommon to hear or see Green Sandpipers at Middlebere from July to the following Spring. But normally they are either flying over the marsh or flying rapidly in front of the hide before landing one out of view. So it was a real bonus when one dropped in on the small pool in front of the hide for 2 or 3 minutes. Not long enough to really enjoy it, but long enough to get some photos. But I'm not going to complain, given it's only about the second time I've seen one on this pool. This is a first Winter Green Sandpiper. Now I just need to photograph an adult Green Sandpiper.

Green Sandpiper: The fine spotting on the dark upperparts, clean cut white underparts, short eye stripe, strongly barred tail & dark green legs separates this from a Wood Sandpiper. Hearing the distinctive call as it flew in & seeing its black underwings & clear white rump also sorted the identification out before it landed

 Green Sandpiper: The broad spotting on the edges of the tertials indicates this is a juvenile/1st Winter. An adult would have much finer spotting

Green Sandpiper: The relatively unstreaked head and lightly streaked breast indicates this is a 1st Winter bird. There are some great photos of aging of Green Sandpipers available in the excellent ringing PDF download Green Sandpiper from the Identification Atlas of the Birds of Aragon. It certainly is a lot more useful than my ancient Guide to the Identification and Ageing of Holarctic Waders

Wood Sandpiper: A winter Wood Sandpiper to compare. Note, the more scaly edgings to the golden brown upperparts, the less defined breast which runs more into the white belly. Also the stronger pale supercilium and the more yellowish-green legs. Desert Coursers, Gujarat, India (18 Jan 14)

17 Sep 14 - More From Brands Bay

After a lot of waiting in recent weeks, the winds had finally swung to the NE & so I tried South Haven for a Vis Mig watch. But the wind strength was to great for more than a handful of Meadow Pipits to be on the move. There was also some Hirundines moving on a very broad front, mostly over the harbour. However, counting this movement was compounded by a significant number of Hirundines feeding in the same area. But I did see my first Sanderlings of the Autumn.

Oystercatcher: There are good numbers centred around Brownsea, but there are always a few to be found at South Haven

Sanderling: This is a wintering species around South Haven & the Poole Harbour mouth

Had hoped that the Great White Egret would be in Brands Bay, but had to make do with about 20 Little Egrets feeding: including this bird which was just in front of the hide.

Little Egret: Up to 1987, the annual total of Little Egret in Dorset only exceeded 3 in 1 year, when 11 were seen in 1970. However, this is the commonest Heron in Poole Harbour with a recent daytime roost count of 122 on Littlesea. There are probably over 200 in Poole Harbour at the moment

Little Egret: Showing the characteristic yellow feet

It was all fairly quiet & settled in Brands Bay, until an Osprey flew over. At that point, everything went up, despite the reality that the Osprey is unlikely to have a go at the Birds in the bay. Normally, when I photograph flying Birds, I set the focus area on the Canon 7D to a wider area (shown by squared brackets). In my hurry I set it to the widest setting (shown by rounded brackets). This is a autofocus setting I've not tried before for flying birds & won't try again. The Osprey flew closer to the hide than I've every seen them do in the past & the autofocus just kept focusing on the background sky, not the very large Osprey in the middle of the viewfinder. Eventually, after several failed attempts, I switched back to the squared brackets setting & it immediately found & focused on what was now a more distant Osprey. Good job it was only an Osprey & not anything rarer. But it's the first time, I been really unimpressed with the 7D.

Osprey: Despite being a regular passage species with at least 4 around in early Sept, they are most common around the Wareham channel, Arne & Middlebere and are noticeably less common around the Studland area. This is about my 6th sighting of the Autumn around Studland, which is my best year for Ospreys at Studland

Osprey: The heavy white spotting on the upperparts confirms this is a juvenile/1st Winter bird

16 Sep 14 - At Last A Brands Bay Goodie

Brands Bay is the Southern most part of the Studland coastline on the inside of the harbour. It always looks fantastic, but sadly its track record for good Waders has been very poor. In about 7 years of regular watching, I'm yet to see a Yankie Wader there & the only rare Waterfowl I've seen have been a Black Brant & last Winter's Surf Scoter. But I persist as one day there will be something good there. The best bird I'm managed to find there was a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling about a 1/2 mile away at the back of the bay & edging onto the Greenlands Farm area. It stuck around for 2 days at the start of Oct 10 & was the first twitchable record for Poole Harbour & only the third sighting. I rarely carried the Lumix in those days, so no personal photos, but some nice shots on Nick Hopper on his blog.

Brands Bay: Panoramic view from the hide (21 April 14)

But I've seen a few other patch goodies over the last few years, with Barnacle Goose, Red-crested Pochard, Garganey, Honey Buzzard, Golden Pheasant (on Furzey Island, but viewable from BB), Jack Snipe, Black Guillemot & Barn Owl there. So I was really pleased to go into the hide recently to see the Great White Egret in the bay: my 150th species for Brands Bay. At first it was about half way back in the bay, before moving to within about 150 metres at its closest approach. Then it moved to the start of a channel to the left of the hide, before flying up there & out of view, about 5 minutes before local Poole Harbour lister, Shaun Robson, arrived. He had been away the previous week & so this was his first attempt to see it for the harbour list. We tried the side channel, but it was probably back on Littlesea & Shaun was out of time. Guess it will stick around for him.

Great White Egret: Even at the back of the near half of the bay, it was obvious what it was when compared to the Little Egret in the photo

Great White Egret: A large crop at the same distance

Great White Egret: It then walked down the channel & got a fair bit closer

Great White Egret: It then flew closer & came down in the near channel

Great White Egret: The buff edges to the secondary coverts and some of the secondary median coverts are obvious

Great White Egret: The pale fleshy-yellow above the knees is visible for the first time. Up to now the photos have really only shown the black legs & feet

Great White Egret: Just the hint of a black tip to the bill. Something else I've not seen up to this point

Great White Egret: Close up of the bill. I can now see why I hadn't seen the black tip in previous days

There is often a Black-tailed Godwit flock in Brands Bay, apart from after late May when the last stragglers depart for Iceland until their return in late August. The other time they are really difficult to see is at the start of the year, when the whole of the Poole Harbour flock departs for the Avon Valley, before returning after a couple of months. I'm sure they do this to make the traditional mid Jan Winter Bird Race harder for us.

Black-tailed Godwit

16 Sep 14 - Bicentennial Celebration

Back in mid May, the blog reached it's centennial post, which was a chance to look back on the first 7 months of blogging. The centennial post was split over 2 posts & was a chance to look back on the Non-Passerine & Passerine families photographed up to that point. It was great to have been able to reached that milestone and also look back on some of the great bird families I had photographed up to that date. Also it showed I was getting the enough photos and interest to keep the blog going. At the time, I was really pleased as I had just reached a total of 15,000 hits on the blog and a daily average of 150 hits a day. But I did have the advantage of some great trips over the Winter & Spring to India, Western Sahara & Morocco and Israel to provide plenty of material. I had also been to Croatia as well, but hadn't got around to putting those photos on the blog at that point.

Kingfisher: This was the first Bird photo on my first post (24 Oct 13)

Well 4 months on & I've just reached the bicentennial post. It's quite ironic that a few days ago, I was sitting in the hide at Middlebere & two of the species seen on the first morning with the camera appeared again & gave me the idea for this post. The first post all started with a Kingfisher & a Fox at Middlebere, but then went on to really challenge my fledgling photographic skills with a Pallid Swift at Stanpit. Sadly, there were no rare Swifts involved on this occasion. But at least there was a Kingfisher & it's the first I've seen at Middlebere since the first post & only my third for the site.

Kingfisher: The all black bill indicates this is a male (12 Sep 14)

Kingfisher: Back to the original wooden perch (12 Sep 14)

Kingfisher: You looking at me? (12 Sep 14)

There was also a showy Fox. This is a species I see erratically, but every few visits to Middlebere. They are generally on the approach track, but occasionally they appear in front of the hide. On the first occasion, the Fox came right up to the hide, but the individual was more wary on the recent sighting.

Fox: This was the original photo (24 Oct 13)

Fox: The recent sighting. At least it fits in the photo being further away (12 Sep 14)

So it's been a great last 100 posts. Recently I looked at the number of species of photos already on the blog & realised I have already photographed just over 5% of the Birds of the world. So just another 95% to go.

Reed Warbler: My first Reed Warbler for the blog. That's one less to the 100% target

With the Summer, there has been a lot of opportunity to blog more on other wildlife interests, other than Birds. Butterflies & Dragonflies have been a lot of fun over the Summer, with the undoubted high (& subsequent low) of finding the Map Butterflies. But it's also given me the chance to explore some of the other lesser known Insect groups that Birders rarely look at, including Grasshoppers & Bush Crickets and Shieldbugs. I look forward to more of these posts in the future, as I've really enjoyed looking at these groups and learning more about them. It's been really encouraging that people who know more about these groups are helping point out the occasional error, but good to know I'm getting nearly all the photos correctly identified.

Ruddy Darter: Dragonflies species are dropping off now, but there are still good numbers of some species. South Haven (10 Sep 14)

Another thing that has been encouraging over the last 4 months, the total number of hits has almost tripled to over 43,000 and the daily average is around the 300 hits a day. Another thing that has been fun, but I wish I had started this on day one on the blog is the flag counter. This counts countries, or to be more precise internet countries, of visitors. Thus Jersey, Guernsey & the Isle of Man all appear as flags. Big thanks to my friend Clare for reading the blog from Bhutan today & adding the 90th country since I discovered the flag counter: great timing Clare. Of these 90 countries, I've only managed to visit 38 so far. So it's interesting & really great to see how widely this blog is being read.

Flag Counter: Now up to 90 countries. Wonder if I missed any countries in the first 7 months

Certainly, the Butterflies & Dragonflies has helped to attract some additional followers. If so, I hope you enjoy the blog & will keep visiting it. There might not be so many shots of these over the coming Winter, but they will feature a lot from next Spring onwards & I've got plans for some Butterfly & Dragonfly posts to keep interest going over the next few months. Also, I've still got a couple of more Map posts to finalise, but Birding has kept me so busy, that I've not had the time to really sit down & write them yet. Hopefully I will publish these Map posts soon.

House Martin: The first post ended with a rare Swift. This commoner House Martin will have to do as a stand in. But it's another new species for the blog, just got this photographed as they start departing the UK

I am already looking forward to the next centennial milestone, I've got some exciting plans to keep the photos & ideas on the blog looking fresh, but you will have to wait till these plans develop. In the meantime, there is the important matter of the Autumn's Birding to attend to first. Let's hope there will be some good Birds for us all to enjoy. Finally, a big thank you to everybody who reads the blog. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have & you continue to follow it going forward & better still encourage your friends to have a look at it. Thank You.

14 Sep 14 - Revisiting The Aging Of The Studland Great White Egret

A few days ago, I posted a photo of the Poole Harbour Great White Egret at Littlesea, which has been hanging around the Studland area over the last week. This photo shows buff outer webs to the secondary coverts and buff tips to the secondary median coverts, which I've not seen in the field before. Additionally, I've not found any reference to this in the handbooks & field guides I've looked at. All the handbooks & field guides seemed to agree that Great White Egrets could only be aged on bare parts & the plumage was uniform white. All the photos I've looked on line, seem to show gleaming white wings.

Great White Egret: Littlesea, Studland (9 Sep 14)

Great White Egret: Note, the buff outer webs to the secondary coverts and tips to the secondary median coverts

As I was struggling to find any information about buff markings, I circulated the photos to a few friends for comment. The responses have been: Brett Spencer was on a bit of a learning curve, but guessed that it is a juvenile, as he thought there would be some moult visible, if it were an adult. Also, Brett expected there would be a difference in feather tip shape on the primaries, with juveniles perhaps showing a slightly pointier feather tip. Brett thinks he has seen similar brownish colouration on juvenile Little Egrets. James Lidster didn't remember seeing this in Great White Egrets before, but thought it occurred more frequently in Little Egrets. Martin Garner wasn't sure on this either, but felt it was probably a feature of fresh juveniles. Many thanks for Brett, James & Martin for allowing me to put them on the spot, responding quickly & having a go on this clearly difficult subject. 

Great White Egret: Note, the buff outer webs to the secondary coverts and tips to the secondary median coverts. Littlesea (9 Sept 14) 

Great White Egret: Blow up of the left wing. Littlesea (9 Sept 14)

I've spent a bit more time this afternoon, looking on line. I've not managed to find any other references to these buff wing edgings, but I did find a useful link on aging Great White Egrets in the US in late Summer from David Sibley. This web page is well worth a read. It confirms Brett's thoughts that juveniles would be expected to have really uniform coverts, primaries & secondaries as they are all fresh. It states that Great White Egrets do not moult their flight feathers, until they are one year old. So older birds would be going through their moult in late Summer & thus would have gaps in the flight feathers. 

Great White Egret: Whilst not close, it's closer than I've managed to get so far & the buff edgings are just about visible in the closed wing. Littlesea (14 Sept 14)

The best information that I've found on European Great White Egrets has been an online publication of the birds of Aragon, Spain by Javier Blasco-Zumeta & Gerd-Michael Heinze. Clicking on the Great White Egret link, will download an informative PDF file. This confirms the complete post breeding moult will be completed by November. Juveniles also go through a partial body feather moult which will also complete by November.

Great White Egret: Frustatingly, it flushed when I was walking back, was behind vegetation & going away from the bird at 150 metres. Whilst not sharp, it does show the uniform feathers on the left wing. Littlesea (14 Sept 14)

Bare part colouration will separate a breeding adult as that shows a black bill with contrasting blue-grey or lime-green lores, with black legs & feet & yellow on the tibia as far as the 'knees'. But outside of the breeding season, the bill reverts to the typical orange-yellow colouration. Keith Vinicombe's excellent Helm Guide to Bird Identification, states that juveniles are similar to adults with orange-yellow bills and black legs & feet with the extent of the yellow on the tibia varying between individuals. HBW and Herons Handbook by Handcock & Kushlan indicates that juveniles would have a black tip to the bill. The Handbook of Bird Identification for Europe & the Western Palearctic states juveniles will have initially have a yellowish-grey bill. Therefore, the story doesn't appear to be consistent, but it looks like juveniles are likely to have a dark tip, but it suggests this will change to orange-yellow reasonably quickly, given some sources don't mention it.

On balance, I think that the uniform flight feathers indicate this must be a juvenile bird. Looks like the bare parts might not really help at this time of the year. So the obvious next question is whether the Studland bird is showing an unusual coverts patterning or is this something that has been overlooked in the past. This wouldn't be surprising, given Great White Egrets seem to be quite a shy, wary species & not a relatively confiding species like the local Little Egrets are. Despite several attempts I've not managed to get close to this bird yet.

Great White Egret: Whilst not sharp, it does show the uniform feathers, except for some wear to one primary feather in the right wing. Littlesea (14 Sept 14) 

I also posted an email on the Dorset email group about these markings and that's when this whole subject went in a different direction, to the one I was expected. I had an email from West Bexington stalwart, Mike Morse, of a Great White Egret that flew past West Bex on the 24 July this year. This shows the same buff edgings as the Studland.

Great White Egret: Many thanks to Mike Morse for allowing me to post a picture of the West Bexington bird. Copyright of this photo remains with Mike. (24 July 14)

Great White Egret: Cropped & sharpened left wing. Copyright of this photo remains with Mike Morse. (24 July 14). There appears to be some lack of uniformity on the primaries, but as this isn't shown on the right wing, I'm assuming this might be individual feather damage rather than moult (as I would expect evidence of moult to be seen on both wings)

Mike's photo is fascinating (do I really mean that White Herons are fascinating???). This shows the buff edgings continuing onto the primary coverts. But the buff markings, do not appear to be as bold as on the Studland bird. It also shows some lack of uniformity on the primaries, but only on the left wing. Therefore, it's not the same bird as the Studland bird, despite being assumed to be the same bird that was later seen in the Weymouth area (& thus apparently heading in the Poole Harbour direction).

I think both birds are probably juvenile birds, based on the overall conditions of the wing feathers. But this buff markings to the wing coverts in Great White Egrets doesn't appear to be something restricted to a lone individual. I would really appreciate any thoughts on these conclusions and feedback on other Great White Egrets which show buff markings to the wing coverts, as I'm sure there must be more to learn here.

13 Sep 14 - Some Nice Repeats

A call from local Birding mates, Mark & Mo Constantine, had me spending the afternoon trying to relocate a Melodious Warbler they had found at lunchtime at Greenlands Farm, on my Studland patch. Unfortunately, without any success. But the sun was out & there were some migrants around to keep me occupied & I was in the best corner of Greenlands Farm for migrants.

Spotted Flycatcher: Always happy to see these great looking Flycatchers

Spotted Flycatcher: It stuck to this perch where I had a narrow photographic gap in the bushes

Spotted Flycatcher: But eventually I moved around to get a better angle

At one point, I had another local Birding mate, Jol Mitchell, on the phone checking up on the news on the Melodious Warbler. Once updated, Jol went on to point out that the Hurricane features on the previous blog post, was actually a 'clipped' wingtip Spitfire. I thought that all the Spitfires had rounded wings. But apparently some models, like the latest addition to the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Spitfire TE311, had a 'clipped' wingtip: giving them a squarer ended wing shape. Jol went on to say that his son Joe & himself had been over to Bournemouth airport, as the Lancaster bombers were using that as a base, following their return from the Channel islands. Coincidentally, at that point, I heard a deep throbbing plane engine, that sounded similar to the Lancasters as they went over Littlesea a few days ago. But I couldn't see much of the sky where I was standing & I knew I would lose the phone signal if I was to try to get to a clearer view. So I stayed put & didn't think too much more about it. But about any hour later as I was leaving Greenlands, I picked up a Lancaster Bomber in the distance over Poole. Hadn't appreciated one was planned to be in the area this afternoon. It circled the area once, then did a second closer pass over Greenlands Farm & Littlesea, before heading off in the direction of Bournemouth. As I hadn't planned to try & get to any of the events it was appearing at then I hadn't expected to see it again, so it was a real bonus to have a second private air display of the Canadian Lancaster over Studland. I haven't been able to figure out which plane or planes that I heard whilst speaking to Jol.

Canadian Lancaster: VRA showing the Victoria Cross markings below the cockpit

Canadian Lancaster: A real bonus seeing it again & it made up for the 3 hours spent looking for the Melodious Warbler

Canadian Lancaster: It will be over the Goodwood Revival Festival in Sussex on the 14 Sept so keep your eyes open in the South on that day

I finished the day with a short watch from the High hide at Littlesea, Studland, where I saw the Great White Egret again (but more on that in a future post), as well as, my first 2 Brent Geese flying South as they return for the Winter.