Ticking and Twitching

Yep, the bane of all respectable 'bird-watchers' and ahem, 'ornithologists', I have spend some of the past two days doing both! Now, my good lady is always up for a free trip to M&S at the Willows at Torquay, so I knew yesterday we could combine the trip with a bit of ticking and twitching for yours truly. So first things first, we drove down to Brixham at a leisurely pace, arriving late morning and went looking for the White-billed Diver which was found late on Christmas Day, (yep, even I was surprised that the news got out, given another rare bird that was discovered here backalong was 'suppressed'. The Diver was the first twitchable one in the county, so I thought let's go and have a look at it since I hadn't seen one for several years. Hadn't visited Brixham itself for several years either as we always find it difficult to get there on account of the chronic Torbay traffic. However, folk travelling in the Brixham direction were obviously too full of Christmas excesses to venture out today, so we were able to get there fairly swiftly. We pulled up at the breakwater car park to find no birders and worse still, no birds! I quickly scanned the outer harbour and saw a couple of birders in the distance with scopes looking out from Freshwater car park. Back in car and drive round....... to find several divers including Great Northern and Black-throated of which a few of the gathered birders were claiming to be the White-billed. Having risked a punch on the nose by correcting one or two present, the White-billed was seen out by the end of the breakwater. So yes I twitched it, and I ticked it as well, entering it in bold on my Devon list! Good back-up birds were my first Black Guillemot for a few years, and several Great Northern and Black-throated Divers. After some hard-earned cups of coffee in a harbour-front cafe, it was time to do battle with Magic & Sparkle's finest! Not to be outdone, the neighbouring county of Dorset also produced a fantastic bird over Christmas, but one that was much rarer. In fact it was so rare, it was World lifer for me, and was a devil of a long way south for this species, especially a seemingly healthy specimen that has lingered for more than a couple of days. Yes, Brunnich's Guillemot usually graces our far northern shores, and those that do are usually storm-blown sickly birds! Now, I don't tend to twitch birds nowadays outside of Devon, but if a lifer turns up in one of the surrounding counties, if I have the time and the money, I will try to make the effort. The Brunnich's was in Portland Harbour and had been performing fairly well for everyone, so at 5.30 this morning, I was up for an early breakfast and a reasonably early start. Traffic was very light and I duly arrived at the car park adjacent to Portland Castle at 8.08! The bird had been seen, but over 300 pairs of eyes had remarkably 'lost' the bird. Yes, I know that it could stay underwater for lengthy periods and yes, sometimes surfaced some distance from where it had dived, but surely all those experienced manic twitchers could have kept tabs on it! Well, I had been waiting for some time amongst the restless crowd (not exactly my cup of tea), when at 8.50 the star bird popped up right in front of me resulting in mind-numbing views. Then it was gone again, quickly diving under the surface. Luckily it popped up nearby and repeated the process several times! By now, most of the crowd had got accustomed to its behaviour and the bird was tracked up and down the shoreline. By standing still in one place you could guarantee that the bird would pop back up directly in front of you at some stage. Of course the usual nutters armed with big camera lens and small pea-sized brains had to rush up and down the path trying to get right up the bird's arse so they could outdo one another for the best photos. This normally results in half a dozen 'photographers' jostling and pushing folk out of the way who are just trying to get a good honest look at the bird. Over the years I have developed a way of dealing with these numpties. Just as they are about to click their cameras, my foot tends to have a spasm and either accidentally kicks their tripods or I accidentally trip over a rice grain and push them back! 'So sorry' tends to be one of my common phrases at these twitches. Probably why I don't tend to go to these events much nowadays.... Still, it was a cracking bird and I was so pleased to get my first World tick in the UK for over two years. (Last one was the Sharp-tailed Sandpiper at Chew Valley Lake in Somerset). I stopped briefly at Ferrybridge which was boring apart from an adult Med Gull. Then I called in at Radipole Lake where I had my first Glossy Ibis of the year, feeding in a wet grassy puddle next to a children's playground in Radipole Park Drive, most of which was very boggy after the torrential rain we had last week. Back in the car, I motored over to West Bexington, drove down to the beach car park, and trudged in to wind and by now intermittent drizzle showers along the shingle ridge. I came across a chap with a young lad who were looking for the same birds as me. They had been told the rough spot where they had been seen earlier in the morning and we split up and recovered some of the ground they had covered before. Hadn't been looking for long when I spotted the 3 Snow Buntings right in front of me! Smashing little birds and my first for 2013! Well pleased, I trudged back along the shingle ridge (bleddy good exercise!) and returned home, getting back for lunchtime, despite the traffic being very heavy. Oh well, I might be tempted to go for another lifer in Dorset should one turn up.................

'Plastics'

I refer you to the birds that have escaped in certain countries, gone on a shagging spree and now in some cases outnumber the original natural species! Now, in our visits to the Algarve, Italy and Cote D'Azur during the last couple of years I have ticked off birds which were certainly not part of the local avifauna, until some berk left some cage doors wide open. Do you count them or not? Well I do, as they are no different to us ticking off Golden Pheasant, Mandarin, Little Owl and Ring-necked (Rose-ringed) Parakeets in dear old Blighty. Let's start in the jolly old Algarve. Whilst wandering around the Parc Ambiental in Vilamoura in October last year, as well as seeing such wonderful species as Booted Eagle, White Stork, lots of Red-rumped Swallows and Spanish Wagtails, I also had cracking views of Common Waxbills and Black-headed Weavers! These birds have been nesting and multiplying all along the Algarve coast and beyond and now have self-sustaining populations. They are now part of the local birdy scene, and are likely to stay that way for the rest of my lifetime. Moving on. In June this year we travelled to Tuscany in Italy for a fortnight's holiday, relaxing, taking in the local history, the beautiful cities (such as Florence) and sampling the local culture and manic Italian driving. I also took in absolutely stunning views of Red-billed Leiothrix (Pekin Robin to you!) lurking in riverside vegetation with Crag Martins flying overhead and Nightingales singing from the same area. Yes, together with the Red Avadavats I saw in a reserve to the south of Montecatini Terme, these are on the 'official' Italian list. Finally, our trip to the Cote D'Azur in October just past. The area around Nice and Cannes seemed to have rather embarrassing numbers of Indian Silverbills, which apparently are increasing in numbers all the time and spreading along the coast quicker than Sebastian Vettel. They are not exactly the most colourful of birds, so who the hell keeps the damned things anyway? Presumably the French aviculturalists who kept them got so bored of looking at them they tipped them out of their cages one dark night. Land at Nice Cote D'Azur Airport. You walk towards the hire car garages and there they are. Loads of them in the bamboo stands planted by the airport designers to provide some sort of 'greenery' in an otherwise grey landscape! We drove over to Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat just after we landed and had a wander round the marina. It's a nice place. No dog turds on the pavements, properties kept rather clean and tidy, lots of 'yachts' in the bay and some pretty serious 'metal' on the streets. Oh, and yes, some noisy Lovebirds outside the cafe which we decided to sit outside under an awning whilst a thunderstorm passed over! Now these birds managed to provide superb views, conveniently perching in palm trees just the other side of the street from the cafe. Four of these were pure Fischer's Lovebirds, providing yours truly with another World Lifer. Examine the others closely and it soon became apparent that there were more than one species here, two were clearly Masked Lovebirds and a further two birds seemed to be hybrids between the two species! This clearly produces quite a dilemma. Yes, you can 'tick' the Fischer's as these are on the official French list. However the Masked Lovebirds are not! And yes if the two species keep on having a bit of 'nooky' with one another over the next few years, who's to say whether there will be any pure Fischer's Lovebirds left. Well, they're on my list for now. By the way, I also saw a few Ring-necked Parakeets in the Antibes/Juan les Pins area! Birding just gets more complicated, the older I get...........

I'm back!!!

Yes, I'm back after a 4 and a half year absence! I'm older, wiser and stick more to my local patch and have started visiting more countries when funds allow, than all that time ago when I started this blog. Ok, my grammar is still the same, my spelling is probably off the mark and I might cuss a bit more, but hey, I am getting into serving my apprentice years as an old codger. Still working though (thanks Mr Bleddy-Cameron) and plan on travelling abroad more with my lovely wife. Since my last post, we've visited Cyprus, Mallorca (Spain), Algarve (Portugal), Tuscany and Liguria (Italy), Cote D'Azur (France) and Monaco. Birding highlights for me were Black Francolin, Eleonora's Falcon, Masked Shrike and Cretzschmar's Bunting in Cyprus, Audouin's Gull, Balearic Warbler, Griffon and Black (Cinereous) Vultures in Mallorca, Black-shouldered Kite, Azure-winged Magpie and Rock Bunting in the Algarve, Short-toed Eagle and Moltoni's Warbler in Tuscany and Bonelli's Eagle in Monaco, all of which were Lifers. I'm still covering my local patch, which is Exmouth. The boundaries are defined by the Civil Parish borders and directly offshore from the seafront. More on this later. I won't be publishing quite so often as I did 4 years ago, but any good birds seen will get a mention.

Friday 13th February 2009

Unlucky For Some?

Yes, Friday 13th! Not a very good day normally for yours truly. Now, I'm not unduly superstitious, but I have had my share of really bad luck on this date over the years. Like when I was a child. I cycled with some mates to the local town (one of them needed a haircut!), completely forgetting that I had to go to my aunt's for tea as I my mother was off somewhere with my younger brother! Well, we got delayed and it had got dark when we returned to our bikes. No lights meant a hairy ride back up to our village, with cars zooming past just millimetres away, (but don't tell my Mum!!). I was still at junior school at the time, so you can imagine it was a bit scary. Luckily cars were not so frequent on our country roads then as they are now. Unluckily I was late getting to my aunt's and I got torn off a strip for it too!
Then a couple of years ago - Friday 13th again - I was chauferring my parents around for a few days whilst they were spending a few days down here in East Devon, when we decided to stop for lunch at a cafe in Honiton. I duly proceded to consume a hearty plateful of ham, eggs, chips and peas. I eventually arrived home late afternoon to hear of a Stone Curlew on the Axe Estuary near Seaton. As I had never seen one in Devon before, I went for it! I got reasonable views of it before it disappeared, never to be seen again. So, where the's bad luck associated with Friday 13th, I hear you asking yourself? Well, that evening I was very very ill! I had obviously had a very dodgy meal in that Honiton cafe. (Subsequent tests by the good doctor revealed I had succombed to severe food-poisoning!). So I paid for more Stone Curlew! I managed to lose a stone and a half over the next 10 days - not a recommended way of losing weight!
So, what of today? I first trundled down to Mudbank Lane, where due to the high tide, a large number of wildfowl were present, in fact the first large gathering of wildfowl for some time. Hordes of Wigeon were present, a little way out from the railway line, as were quite a few Shelduck and a very vocal lone Dark-bellied Brent Goose. Scanning through, the flock I discovered a drake Common Teal and a female Shoveler lurking within the masses. However, there was nothing else of note to be found at this site.
Later on, I trudged across from Knowle Hill, across the edge of Budleigh golf course and back into my patch, just east of Straight Point and Sandy Bay caravan park. On the sea here I found a small party of 7 Great Crested Grebes and a Red-throated Diver. A single adult Gannet passed offshore. I looked down on to the landslip and spotted a Fox, curled up asleep below me! However, I didn't see anything else of interest. I then trudged back to the car.

Thursday 12th February 2009

Another Patch Yeartick

A quiet stroll along the cycle track at Mudbank Lane was the order of the day, or should I say lunchtime! The usual scene greeted me as I alighted from the car - several Shelduck, lots of Redshank, Curlew, Oystercatchers and a few each of Grey Plover, Dunlin, Little Egrets and of course, a multitude of gulls. I wandered along as far as West Lodge, where upon I found another local patch yeartick in the form of a Common Snipe, resting on the edge of the reedy pool. This pool always looks like it could produce something interesting, but I have yet to see anything unusual here. I think that the disturbance from the adjoining cycle track probably has something to do with it, but there again, on quiet days like today (hence Common Snipe) I'm sure if I keep plugging it, other birds will appear. It has the potential of being a nice little (with the emphasis on little) reserve. If it was screened off from the cycle track and a walkway put in along the side to a viewing screen............I'm getting carried away here!
I had a look out over the estuary from adjacent to West Lodge and was pleased to find a Great Crested Grebe and a female Goldeneye offshore. A Green Woodpecker called from the trees behind me. I then found a tiny group of 7 Knot shuffling around out on the tideline.
Having another look at the Common Snipe, I returned to the car, and thence work.

Wednesday 11th March 2009

Bystock

Yes, it does sound like some hippy-fest does it not? However, Bystock Reserve, at the top end of Exmouth parish, is apart from being laid-back and incredibly peaceful (grab some flowers man!), a truly marvellous little reserve. It has a little lake, with some very large Coy Carp, surrounded by pines, a number of tiny ponds, (good for frogspawn and dragonflies), a large grass meadow (ideal for butterflies), a bog, a deciduous wood, and can be very wet underfoot, hence the raised boardwalks and steps in places! I decided to pay it another visit lunchtime.
A swift look at the small lake produced a single drake Mallard, an inauspicious start! I bumped into Glenn Vernall, and had a quick chat about what he'd seen. We disussed the paucity of Siskins in the area this winter, but Glenn indicated he'd had one fly over calling earlier. A Green Woodpecker flew past us, calling. I carried on up the path and Glenn left towards his scooter. About 2 minutes later, I had a Siskin fly over calling! This was a patch year tick. I strolled on up to the top end of the reserve, into the deciduous wood. I was soon watching a vocal Nuthatch, in a beech tree above me. A few common species were also seen including 3 tit family members. After getting taken in by the peace and solitude of the place, I soon realised that my daydreaming had made the time march on - got to race back to the car! On the way back down through the reserve, I heard a Raven calling and saw a Great Spotted Woodpecker near the lake. And so, having experienced an hour's worth of "good vibes" it was time to return to work.

Monday 9th February 2009

And I thought it rained enough yesterday!

.........but it was truly awful today. There was a cold easterly wind blowing, and it poured with heavy rain on and off all day. Now, as well as hating being cooped up all day indoors, I also have to get away from work at lunchtimes, otherwise I would go insane! There was only one place to go lunchtime today, given the weather - the hide at Bowling Green Marsh! It was that sort of weather. Anywhere else in Britain if there was a bitter cold wind blowing from the east, and precipitation was great, it would SNOW like the blazes. Not here around the Exe! Yes, we get bitter cold wind, but the salty sea air makes sure that what would cover the country with a thick blanket of snow only falls as RAIN here! This makes it doubly unpleasant. Cold wind and heavy rain - roll on the spring! As I was passing Darts Farm a Sparrowhawk dashed across the road in front of me. I duly arrived at Bowling Green Marsh and kitted up, making the hide my first port of call. The wind was doing its best to blow big spots of rain through the slats into the hide. I had to position one of the benches a little way back from the "windows", set up my 'scope on its tripod and view as best I could. There were a large number of ducks present - Shelduck, Mallard, Teal, Wigeon, Pintail and Shoveler all tried their best to make the day seem a little more colourful. Black-tailed Godwit and Redshank walked across the grass, probing in the very wet ground for food. On the main pool, a Little Grebe, 6 Pochard and a female Goldeneye were diving for their food. A few Dark-bellied Brent Geese were seen. I then decided to brave the elements, as the heavy rain had abated somewhat, leaving just a steady veil of rain. I wandered down to the viewing platform. Here were the obligatory Grey Plover, Curlew and Dunlin. This was more exposed than I would have wished for, so I quickly moved on round to the Goat Walk to view the upper Exe estuary. It was a little more sheltered here from the easterly wind and rain, and plenty of Avocets were feeding right in front of me. I then retraced my steps, seeing a nice flock of House Sparrows in the laneside hedgerow opposite Riversmeet. They may be dwindling in numbers but there always seems to be a regularly little flock here. I got back to the car, quite wet and starting to feel a bit on the chilly side, so headed back to work to warm up!