Sea-Watching

A short couple hours Sea watching this morning a bit crap...

On a southerly wind so no Stormies  But a group of 5 Arctic Skuas hunting together. Black Guillemot showing well at times. 24 Common Scoter including a group of 14 North then South. 12 Manxies 1 Puffin South 2 Sandwich Tern  and usual species. 

 

 

The Farnes 26th June

Well as there is no birds about i thought id show Keith a great Spectacle on the Farnes and its Puffin population. So we got on the boat from Seahouses and had an amazing hour on Staple Island photographing these stunning little creatures.

Other species were Shag, Kittiwakes and Guillemots with Arctic Terns everywhere.

I didn't have a lot of time i had to get back so we checked Amble for any Roseates we could see the island but none came close enough for a proper id, we then jammed in on a pair of Black necked grebes in the centre of Newcastle, a UK lifer for Keith. A great day and time for home.

Sweet Little Swift

Well thanks to a text at 4-30am telling me the Little Swift was still in the Wirral, New Brighton. So a quick text to Keith had us on the road by 5-30am. Trouble was once at Bassenthwaite flooding had closed the A66 and the smaller roads around it. So a 50 min at least major detour had us worried. We Arrived on site to have a great crack with a few good facebook friends and after only a handful of minutes superb views of a Little Swift, showing well too, WHAT A BIRD... never imagined id ever seen one of these in the UK and only 3 hours from home. After watching this bird for a while it disappeared and then reappeared but more distant. So Keith and i decided to have a bite to eat and then do some seawatching. Seawatching was slow with just a small trickle of Terns, so when we heard there were a small number of Storm Petrels of our local patch back home in Workington, we decided we just had to get back. We arrived about 3 o-clock and straight away spotted our first Stormies of the year and Keiths second lifer of the day. By 5pm we had seen 39 Storm Petrels as well as 5 Common Scoter and 35 Manxies. An amazing finish to our day and so unexpected....

Workington Seawatch

Well this is Cumbria after all, so for the last few days i have nothing at all to add.
Today however come lunch time the wind was blowing a hooley from the South West. I though ah well Workington will be worth ago, it was hissing it down so i wasn't gonna do owt else.
When i arrived at Workington the first 10 min i sat and watched from the car. loads and loads of Manxies close up too, then a small seabird but lost in the wave as soon as saw it, i was too low down to stay on anything. That was probably a Storm Petrel but oh well.
So i moved to the pier i could look much better into the troughs of the waves now. No more Petrels though, bugger. Heres what i did see though.
In 2hours 40 minutes a very Conservation 2,400 Manxies . No rarity unfortunately.

60 - 70 Fulmar although some were back n forward

3 Puffin, Guillemots and Razorbills, Kittiwakes and Gannets plenty

9 Sandwich Tern. 

 

 

Back in Cumbria

Well been back in Cumbria for a couple of weeks now but there's nothing been happening. A few trips to Soddy and a couple along the coast Maryport to Workington. As i say very very quiet... Gannets from Maryport and Workington. Grey Seal from Maryport.
So the camera ain't been out the bag till today when i sat in the garden taking some pics of the Sparras...

Greenfinch

Juv Blackbird

Whoops how did that get in there ;-)

Roller

Well i bowed to the pressure of the long staying Roller in North Yorkshire Aldbrough, so spent the weekend camping in the tent at Reighton Sands. Rach the dog n i arrived late on Friday night so it was tent up n bed. Next morning a fairly relaxed drive to the Roller, the bird services said still present phew....but when i got there about 8am the bird had flown...WHAT no it really couldnt be.... after a sweat of about 40 minutes it did come back to its favoured post and field, what a relief. Whilst watching this Stunning European Roller i scoped a very distant Corn Bunting. The Roller then flew off again so we decided to move on to south of the Humber for a Juv Pallied Harrier or Monties. After finally finding the site we couldnt locate the harrier. We moved down the hill to find some other birders who had been watching a harrier all morning and to be told it had been showing well.... thanks a lot for getting the news out. It had caught a blackbird and with its full crop gone to ground somewhere.. i wasn't gonna waste anymore time on this bird whatever it turns out to be, i was hoping to make my own mind up but not today!!!!.
In the meantime a Rosy starling had been seen at Flamborough head, i made the mistake of hopeing it would stick around until id seen the harrier but on returning to Flamborough that had disappeared too. That was the end of today's birding, the Roller was brilliant but the rest of the day was pretty shite..

I made an effort this morning to get out early, no migrants of any sort though. I did a short seawatch from Reighton Beach, my first collection of Manxies this year. LOADS of auks, Guillies, Razors and Puffins. We packed up the tent and moved onto Flambrough for Breakfast and a wander around. A Bonxie was it!!!
Id had enough by now so we called it a day and made our way home.

Norfolk last days.

Day 20 26th May

No birding done today except a quick stop in for 2 Wood Sandpiper and a Ruff at Salthouse. The light was all wrong unfortunatly.

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

Ruff

Ruff

Day 21 27th May

Yes were still here, the wonderful people who own the van let us stay here a couple more days. Definitely got to leave for Derbyshire on Monday though as its Daves funeral on Tuesday, then off home and back to finding a Job!!! Only birding done today was a walk out on the heath during the day and in the evening for Nightjars. A few churring, calling, wing clapping and showing well over the busy campsite.

Day 22 28th May

BOOOOOO HOOOOOOO time for home, or at least to Derbyshire for the funeral. Before we left I had a walk early on the heath produced nothing new but it was nice to be out, although the low mist didn't help. Unless theres something easy to twitch on the way home I wont be stopping.. I'm all birded out...

Time for getting back to serious life and trying to find a Job.

finished on a poor 166 species...

Norfolk Black Kite

Day 17 and 18 23rd-24th May

Well well well, 2 nights out on Kelling Heath and the first night I could only just heard a distant Nightjar churring.. The icing on the cake was when talking to a couple of guys a Stone Curlew screamed out from somewhere on our left. The guys left and the Stone Curlew flew around the heath for a short time. This I find out is a first for the Heath Woohoo.

Tonight however no sign or sound but much better sounds and sight from at least 4 Nightjars.

No birding through the day just the heath tonight.

Day 19 25th May, Probably our very last full day here boo. So we had promised ourselfs to do a Seal Trip to Blakeney point, but I wanted to do the trip when I thought it was gonna be good on Blakeney for migrants, soooo as it was our last day it had to be done without the migrants anyway, good timing id say though. We were on the point turning the boat around to be dropped of on Blakeney when all the gulls and terns took flight, something was in the Air. A large raptor headed towards us, it was only a flaming Black Kite, bloody brilliant. The Boat dropped me off on the point and I walked back covering the area fairly well but could only find a Spotted Flycatcher, but then it was such a nice day there's no way any migrants would be dropping in..To be honest my scope never came out on the walk back.
Im dropping in a couple more Bee eater shots i processed today ;-) Remember to click on the image to enlarge them...

Atlas Flycather NOT!

Well the results are in and it seems the Atlas flycatcher i wasted 50 quid of diesel on was a bog standard Pied Flycatcher, it caught everyone out... heres the results..

Genetically, the four Western Palearctic black-and-white Ficedula species are all quite distinct from each other, and the feathers from the Flamborough bird provided a potentially foolproof way of deciding whether it was an Atlas Flycatcher. At the mitochondrial DNA level, the Pied, Atlas, Semi-collared and Collared Flycatchers show about 2.5-3.5% divergence in their sequences. On the first round of analysis we successfully sequenced 3000 base pairs of mitochondrial DNA from 4 separate genes and the Flamborough bird was identical, or almost identical (0 to about ~0.1% divergence) to nominate Pied Flycatchers. While we can occasionally make small mistakes in reading long stretches of DNA sequence, there is no way to make enough mistakes on that scale to turn Atlas Flycatcher DNA into another species. For example for 991 bases of the cytb gene, the Flamborough bird was identical to, or only 1 base pair different from, nominate Pied Flycatchers but 29-35 bases different from Atlas, Collared and Semi-collared Flycatchers. Whatever the Flamborough bird was, it wasn’t an Atlas Fly.

Another initial possibility was that the bird was a Collared x Pied Fly hybrid. The mitochondrial DNA comes down the female line, so to that point we only knew that its mum was a Pied Fly. To find out what its dad was we needed to sequence nuclear DNA, which would be a mixture of genes from both parents. Fixed differences between Collared and Pied Flycatcher genes have been defined previously by other labs – e.g. at position 315 of the RHO-1 gene, Collared Flycatchers always have a ‘G’ and Pied Flycatchers always have an ‘A’. If the bird was a hybrid, at that point the sequencing machine would get confused as an ‘A’ and a ‘G’ went through the reader together. For the Flamborough bird, the sequence was only ‘A’ – its dad was a Pied Flycatcher too.

Iberian Pied Flycatcher was the final possibility. Genetically, the iberiae subspecies is very close to nominate birds but appears to be, just about, reliably distinguishable. At the cytb gene, the Flamborough Flycatcher was 4 bases different from Iberian Pied Fly sequence, and similarly different at other genes. There wasn’t a lot in it, but it seems as though it was not an Iberian bird either.

Conclusion? Pied Fly. More cautiously, either the bird really was ‘just’ an aberrant, or extreme, Pied Flycatcher showing plumage features more consistent with Atlas or Iberian Pied Flycatcher, or there is something even more weird going on – maybe a second or third generation hybrid, or with some Iberian ancestry that we have not picked up on the first round of analysis. We will continue to work on this bird. It seems to have made the certain field identification of vagrant black-and-white Ficedulas a more daunting task.”

Norfolk Running out of time...

Day 15 21st May

Today the parents left for home so it was time to hopefully see my first lifer of the trip.I Started by checking out a reported Siberian Stonechat at Salthouse, id seen a Continental Stonechat there last week, its breeding with a nominate bird, or its just an unusual colored nominate Stonechat... Anyway after looking at this same bird and chatting to locals turns out this is the bird being reported as a Sib Stonechat, so that solved that, no Sib Stonechat but i can sort of see where there coming from..

I moved onto watching the Bee-eater at Glandford again, this time it was showing a little better. I just love these creatures..

An Icterine Warbler than got reported from Burham overy but instead of twitching this I foolishly hunted the dunes from Waxham to Waverton trying to find my own with no luck and absolutely no birds except 2 fly over Turtle Dove, there were no migrants of any sorts, big mistake. A Long-tailed Tit showed nicely for me.....

I then finished the day at Strumpshaw fen for the 2 week old Savis Warbler this was my first lifer of the trip, or so i thought but checking my records its not a lifer but i cant think where i had my first one.. Not a lot else around except a Booming Bittern and Marsh Harrier but at least I saw a couple of really nice birds today. I tried digiscoping the Harrier in fading light.

Day 16 22nd May

Today was Oriole Day. Started at Cley where I found a singing Nightingale then proper views of the Red Breasted Flycatcher at Warham Green and after picking Rach up moved onto a regular site for Stone Curlew, the heat haze was terrible and so dodgy views were had. I moved onto Weeting Heath for better views but still crap through the heat haze. Finished at Lackenheath for eventual nice views of a Male Golden Oriole.

6 Hobby's were showing superbly and Common Crane were calling frequently. Hairy Dragonfly and Large Red Damselflys were been eaten by the Hobby's. Birding seemed hard work today but successful in the end.

Day 17 23rd May

Today was once again spent up the coast to Hunstanton, scoping the usual spots, Salthouse, Cley, Blakeney etc. Nothing of note here. At Warham Greens we spotted a Spoonbill and 2 Great-white Egrets on the marsh. The Egrets then flew towards Stiffkey. The Red-breasted fly seems to had bugged off and a fly over large Skylark sized pipit had me thinking Richards Pipit but it never stopped or called.. Bugger one that got away. Onwards along the coast to North Creak and Thronham for the Monties but they STILL weren't in!!!! Looks like ill miss them this year. A Red Kite was the only thing of note here. I was gonna make an effort by doing Ryburgh Watch point for the Honey Buzzards but it was misty and I felt probably pointless as these were probably late too. The Red Kite was the last decent bird of the day really. I missed a fly over Black Kite at Kelling Heath which was a bit disappointing but I cant stay on site all the time. Only a few Days left here now boooo.

Norfolk getting better.

Day 11 17th May

Firstly had a bit of a sea watch from Sherringham, nothing of any note, it looked good for some movement...Then had a good route around the coast from Kelling to Happisburgh, but nothing seen of note but a color ringed Herring Gull. 

Day 12 18th May

Parents arrived last night for the weekend so that means no proper birding. We walked the scenic 5 and a half miles to Sherringham then caught the train back. So this meant typically the 1 day I don't have transport a pissing Bee-eater turns up at Salthouse and I couldn't get there. So on the walk the best I could do was a Hobby over Sherringham park, pair of Green Woodpecker and a couple of Stonechat.

Day 13 19th May

Today another day with the family, We visited Cromer then in the afternoon had tea at Cley where I managed to scope the pools from here picking up 6 Little Gulls, Little Stint, Curlew Sand and Wood Sand

Then I got dropped off at Stiffkey to twitch a 1st summer male Red-backed Shrike whilst the family went to Wells. As I arrived and was watching the Shrike a shout for Bluethroat in front of me, of coarse I never saw it and couldn't find it. I had to get back to the family so called it a day.

When we got back to the van I managed to nip to Cley again this time I went to North hide where there were 6 Curlew Sands, 2 Spoonbill, Temmnicks Stint, Dunlin and Sanderling. Then a Bluethroat landed on the fence and was then mobile around the hide...absolute brilliant, this time it was a 1st Summer bird not like the adult I missed at Stiffkey earlier. I watched this bird for a while but it was very elusive unfortunately.. What a great day Finally!!!

Day 14 20th May

Another brilliant day in the field, although an early morning stroll around the heath AGAIN produced nothing but Woodlark and Turtle dove. Back at the van I gave the dog a run when a Tree Pipit flew over singing brilliant!!!. Went on a walk with the parents but this was cut short again because of news of a Bee eater at Glandford so I had to run back to the van to collect the car, I could risk missing this one. Directions  were poor so it took me a while to find the spot but when I did I was very happy to see the Bee eater sat on wires catching plenty of bees, great scope views but a little distant for decent photos. A walk back to the car produced a Hobby. News broke of a Red Breasted Flycatcher at Warham Green, parked in the wrong lane so had to walk a little farther than I needed too. When I arrived the bird was showing badly on and off, and continued so. A flight view from one side of the lane to another whilst calling tak tak was all I managed on 2 occasions. So decided id wait for a better one in the spring, this was a boring 1st summer anyway. I was neglecting the family so thought id better return before I get into to much trouble..

These last two days have been better bird wise than the whole 2 weeks I've been here.

Saw many of the ASBOS this weekend good to see ya lads n lasses.