Roll on next year

It is with a relief that we are at the end of 2018 which has been a tough one with family members playing games, illness and loss of a loved one and continued work issues.  In normal circumstances, one would hope to rely on a steady force to assist in times of trouble, a hobby and people within that hobby to temporarily forget about things but unfortunately that has not been the case.  The less said about that the better as I have no intention of plunging to the same depths of some local birders who enjoy backstabbing, gossiping and lieing.  I can now understand why some birders in our area keep mainly to themselves!

This sounds all very depressing but 2018 was full of good times as well.  I finally managed to see Houbara Bustards and Cream Coloured Coursers and saw some great new birds in the UK, most of them classed as "megas".  The Scillies finally delivered me some good birds and lifers in the shape of Red-eyed Vireo and Grey-cheeked Thrush.  Warwick proved that it is not a total dead zone as far as birds are concerned and that you can see a good variety of birds if you put your mind to it by just staying put in one area.

Below are the highlights of the year in photo format:-

Pied Wheatear on The Wirral

Pied Wheatears in the past have been extremely hard to twitch with some being too distant and others just one or two day stayers.  So, when breaking news of one on the Wirral came up early last week and it remained a couple of days, a twitch was hastily arranged for Friday (if it decided to stick around).

As the week progressed, news came out that the bird was being fed mealworms which quite rightly attracted much criticism online.  Also, it turned out that the journey could be a nightmare with most of the M6 being at 50mph.  It was therefore possibly turning out that this might not be the nicest twitch of the year.  However, as Friday arrived and the news came out that the bird was still there, we departed from Redditch ,where I had picked up the others and it wasn't long before we were crawling up the M6 and the Squire was in his slumbers.

Despite the slowness of the journey, there were no holdups and we made good time that meant we arrived on site at about 11:30am.  As we pulled up, we saw the bird on the sea wall before even stopping - that has surely had to be the easiest twitch I have ever done by seeing a lifer without undoing my seatbelt.

The bird was extremely confiding, the crowd were well behaved and there were no signs of any mealworms anywhere - perfect!

   
We spent about 45 minutes with the bird and then decided to make our way home via Burton Mere RSPB arriving back in the Midlands late afternoon.  

Norfolk escape

Being back in my part of birdless Warwickshire since returning from Scilly was not that fun for the past week.  A huge email inbox was awaiting me at work and lunchtime visits to the Racecourse did not exactly brighten my day.  So, when The Squire contacted me for the possibility of a day trip to Norfolk, I jumped at the chance.  The main aim for him was to secure his first King Eider and my aim was to take a look at the Salthouse 'Eastern Stonechat'.  We had seen both birds by 11:00am and spent the rest of day making our way back west along the coast taking in some birding spots en route.  Good birding with good company - overall a great day and a tonic to get me back on track.

Scillies and Cornwall 2018 - Days 5 to 10

Hasten to add that days 5 to 10 for our trip were not exciting as the first 4.  On Monday we visited Tresco which happened to be one of my least favourite islands but after walking round a few areas I had never visited before with a further visit on Thursday, my opinions may have altered......

Tuesday and Wednesday was spent pottering around St Mary's.  Birds included Long Eared Owl, 2 Richard's Pipits, a few Yellow-Browed Warblers, a dodgy looking Snipe, Jack Snipe, Stonechats, Black Redstarts, Rosey Starling, Water Pipit, Rustic Bunting, Dusky Warbler and my second ever Serin.  If I had a Scilly list I would have also added Great White Egret, Cattle Egret and Spoonbills - but I don't have one.

One of my enduring memories from the trip was views of Samson, an Island I have not yet managed to visit.

On our last day we took a quick  walk to Old Town, saw a Merlin, had a coffee at the Old Town Café and then took the Scillonian back to the mainland.  We opted for a night in Penzance and before heading home on Saturday decided to take in the Choughs round the Lands End area - a perfect way to end the holiday.

Scillies and Cornwall 2018 - Days 1 to 4

The last time we went to the Scillies was back in 2016 which was a very quiet year on the islands for the week we were there on the birds front.  So much so that I decided to abandon going there and opted for the Shetlands instead in 2017.  The draw to Islands however is strong and we decided to book again this year to give them another chance.

As news broke about the Grey Catbird in Cornwall I worked out that there would be a lack of time to go and see it before our sailing on Friday and therefore performed some juggling and in the end managed to arrange to go and see it on Thursday instead.  After waiting a couple of hours it came out of cover just before dusk and performed nicely to the 50 twitchers present - A good start to the trip - Maybe Scillies would be paying me back what it owed me after all.....

Grey Catbird

The trip over to the islands on Friday morning was pleasant with a dead calm sea which didn't produce many birds except for a few Guillemots, 2 Razorbill, 1 Manx Shearwater, 1 Great Skua and lots of Gannets.  However, it was good for the prevention of sea sickness and we did instead have good views of Dolphin, some Harbour Porpoise, a Minke Whale and several Tuna (presumably Blue-Finned).  As we landed, we received news that a Red-Eyed Vireo had been seen on Bryher, so I left my Birder's Wife and Companions for the extra boat scheduled for birders to go and see the bird.  I was in so much of a hurry that I forgot my camera....so the picture of the bird below is even worse than normal.  Fortunately the bird performed well for the crowd of admirers.

Red-Eyed Vireo Twitch

Red-Eyed Vireo naff photo through bins using my phone

The following day we decided to go to over to St Agnes and I again left my Birder's Wife and Companions to go stake out the very elusive Grey-Cheeked Thrush in Covean.  After 2.5 hours of absolutely nothing besides the back of a Boat Shed, I met the others for lunch at the Turks Head before going back to the Boat Shed for another stint.  I know I should never have had the pint at lunch, as the bird decided to appear to one other birder present when I had decided to abandon my post for a wee - Not the best of days.

Not a wise choice when waiting for a bird to appear

 However, the following day I went back to St Agnes and we scored the bird after just 15 minutes of waiting.  Result!

The rest of that day was spent walking round St Agnes taking in the beautiful scenery and some Troon Ice Cream while securing a Melodious Warbler and a Red Backed Shrike - Quality birding on a quality Island.

Saxon Mill Fields at stupid o'clock

Saxon Mill fields at dawn

I closed my front door quietly early on Sunday morning and placed my hand on the windscreen of my car only for it to stick to a layer of ice, I wondered for a second why I was being so stupid and didn't retreat back to the warmth of my bed.  However, I had arranged to meet Lizzy and Jack at Saxon Mill Fields for a spot of birding and vismigging that morning and decided to brave the 1degree temperature.

As I climbed the small hill where vismigging is done from, the rising sun and cloud formation was creating a lovely sight over the spire of Old Milverton Church.

Lizzy and Jack were at their usual spot and had already recorded their first Redwings flying over for the autumn.  As it grew lighter, Jack's sharp eyes pinpointed birds way in the distance which my poor middle-aged eyes could not grab onto without the help of binoculars and over the course of the morning we recorded a decent passage of Meadow Pipits and Skylarks going south (185 degree line) and Redwings, including a single Fieldfare going west.

Even though I am not a believer in the hype surrounding certain places in South Warwickshire being significant flyways for certain types of migrating birds, it is obvious due to its location in the kink of the Avon on slightly high ground that Saxon Mill Fields could attract something a bit more unusual, especially as it is watched by someone with infectious optimism and sharp eyes.

For me, I was just glad for a change of scene away from the heavily disturbed Racecourse.  Talking of which, please could the birder I was speaking to on the Racecourse the other day contact me via this blog so that I can keep you updated on birds seen and projects being undertaken.  Also it would be great if you could supply me with your records and also past records for when you used to walk at Saxon Mill fields - Thank you.

Back on patch and back to reality

After spending early afternoon with "Champ" Bradders and "Proud Mum" Bradders at their Saxon Mill patch and having great views of a Yellow Wagtail, I felt inspired to be back at the Racecourse and ventured out early this morning.

It definitely felt autumnal with a heavy ground mist making everything very atmospheric and photogenic, so much so that even I couldn't fail when taking a picture.

There were nothing of note bird wise except for visible movement of Meadow Pipits along their usual SSW route at about 60-70 birds per hour.  I'll be out again tomorrow morning at the same time to see if I can luck in on a Tree Pipit (if not too late).