Great Bustard - 17th Feb

So if you read my previous post from Saturday the 16th Feb you would know that I was hot on the heels of a wintering Great Bustard on a nearby estate. And that although I saw the bird the previous day it was miles away and I couldn't really photograph conclusive proof. So with some nicer weather on Sunday and a call from the local Keeper to say he had seen the bird heading back to its favoured spot, I headed off again just after lunch determined to get a photograph.

I found my way into position a lot stealthier than the day before, and instantly I could pick out the bird huddled down on the far side of the Stone Curlew Plot. Bingo some rather distant grainy pics at 500 yards or so, but definitely a Great Bustard. A couple of times over the next hour or so the Bustard stood up went for a short wander grazing a couple of times before heading back to the one large tuft of grass on the open ground.

It was clear to see no wing tags, Having seen the bird earlier in the week the estate called the Great Bustard group out from Salisbury Plain to see if they could shed some light on its being here. The guy came out pretty quickly and having located the bird with the landowner seemed to think it was one of their released birds and around 2 years old, having lost both wing tags. Although this seemed most definitely the most plausible explanation as Salisbury Plain birds have showed up in Somerset from time to time, North Hampshire being the same kind of distance away. It seemed strange to me that a bird this big that is tagged with some pretty large wing tags would just so happen to loose both. (Maybe I just hoped it was a wild one and I had the discovery of a lifetime)

The one thing that was clear to me however was, I wasn't going to get any closer to the bird. It appeared so skittish, every time it did venture out from behind its tuft, a slight noise, movement from the nearby Roe Deer and even on one occasion a Woodpigeon sent it strutting back to its tuft. Whilst savouring the Bustard a falcon shaped bird darted quickly over my head and landed out on the ploughing, having my lens focused on the Bustard it took me quite a while to find the bird in flight and missed out on a good angle. It landed on a furrow and sat and sat and sat. It was still perched there by the time I left, and I concluded that it was juvenile Peregrine, slightly browner in colour than any I had seen before. Another awesome patch tick to go with the weekends Bustard.

Eventually the Roe Deer rose up from the furrows they had been led down in, making their way towards the fresh foliage atop the curlew plot. The Bustard didn't appear to be too tolerant and was soon up on its giant drumsticks and wandering across the top of the field to a nearby plantation. This allowed me my only decent-ish ID shot I was happy with as the bird kept to the skyline. The below pic is quite a heavy crop but beggars cant be choosers right?

Satisfied I headed back to my car parked out on the road, leaving the Bustard heading for new cover, and the Peregrine perched motionless on the furrow. I got some great views of fleeing Skylark, Reed Bunting and Linnet in the warm afternoon sun as I head back down a game cover crop topping off a cracking afternoon.

You just never know what might turn up on your doorstep! Wild, released or totally unexpected.

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Danebury & Red Rice - 25th Jan

This will be a bit of a first for me, a no photo blog post! Some of you might say all the better. After being office bound all week due to the snow, the previous day I had seen on Going Birding for Hampshire that quite some big numbers of Farmland birds had been seen within 10 mins of work.

That pretty much sorted my friday lunchtime. I was soon out the office door and off towards Danebury Hillfort. The large flat fields on the Danebury road resulted in nothing more than the odd Buzzard and around 2000 Rook.

Spying a rough piece of set aside cover next to a fairly low hedge row on the smaller road back towards town I took a punt pulling up in the gateway. Not having the camera with me it was quite nice for a change to make use of the scope. With plenty of Snow still covering the surrounding fields this hedge row proceeded to erupt with flock upon flock of small birds as they fed on the cover crop next door before returning to perch back upon the hedge.

Yellowhammer were the easiest to ID, with the bright yellow breasts and heads glowing against the dark hedgerow. With the odd pause in movement, I started to make out Corn Bunting, Reed Bunting, Linnet & Dunnock amongst the throngs. And more interestingly a Buzzard perched on a fence post mid hedge right in amongst them all.

With the constant movement it was pretty tricky to get an accurate count but if I had to roughly estimate I'd say

c.250 Yellowhammer
c.370 Corn Bunting
c.200 Linnet
c.22 Reed Bunting
8 Dunnock

All in all quite pleasant just to do a little bit of Birdwatching without having to worry about photographing it all. However I was a little gutted I missed out on some relevantly close shots of some Yellowhammers.

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Pembrokeshire - Part 2

So determined to make it out too Skomer on Friday, before the weekend hoards arrived we packed up all the gear on Thursday evening and were up and out of the Boathouse by 7.50am joining the already 20 strong queue down at Martin's Haven for the first boat to Skomer which departed at 10am. Within minutes the first 50 places on the boat were taken and 30 or so cars joined ours in the car park. So with an hour and a bit to kill, I thought I'd have a wander up and around the Deer Park in the early morning gloom, the fog from the previous day still hanging in the air, although visibility was a lot better. Loads of small birds perched and singing from the tops of the gorse bushes, with Whitethroat, Linnet, Chaffinch, Sedge Warbler, Meadow Pipit and Stonechat all seen. I walked out to the furthest point, and was rewarded by a fly by of about 15 or so Chough all calling as they dived and weaved their ways along the cliff edge.

Whitethroat

As the clock neared 10 we headed down the very steep road towards the embarkation point, whilst Nat used the public conveniences I was distracted by the close proximity of the Swallows visiting their nests on the Toilet building, eager to try and get a closish shot I soon got the lens cap off but the morning gloom left me disappointed, however some chirping behind me caused me to turn around and see a Swallow perched no more than 15 feet away preening and stretching its wings. Not all that often you see them perched on anything other than a Telephone wire so I was quite pleased to see one on an isolated bramble. Even better with a Green backdrop.

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Pembrokeshire - Part 1

So on Monday 28th May the girlfriend and I headed down to Dale on the South Western tip of Pembrokeshire for her birthday present come spring holiday for the both of us. (Excuse to visit Skomer for me) The sun was shining which seemed a slightly daunting prospect as I don't recall that happening in Wales all that often. The illusion didn't last too long as a look out of the window on Tuesday morning resulted in a more expected weather front - cloud! Just up the road from Dale the Gann estuary enters the bay, so first port of call was a quick walk up the coastal path to see if any waders were about on the receded beach. Plenty of Whitethroat, Dunnock & Linnet flitted about on the surrounding gorse bushes. 6 Shellduck present on the pools behind the beach.

A smallish flock of small Waders flew and landed within 30 yards but the light was poor so I only managed a few clearish shots, which I think show Dunlin & Sanderling. Ringed Plover where also mixed in. A pair of Curlew also flew in amongst the obligatory Oystercatchers and Gulls.

Sandering & Dunlin

Dunlin

Next stop Marloes Mere after reading a lot about the resident 3 Glossy Ibis, we soon picked them up on a bank at the far side of the reserve, they soon were up and on the wing soaring around in a couple of circles before landing on the marshy meadows. The grounded photos were pretty poor due to the distance but I did get a fairly clear outline flight shot, even if the light was so poor to pick up much colour detail. But a great edition to the Species list.

Glossy Ibis

From the barbed wired gateway that overlooked the Ibis, we headed on down to the rather small Hide overlooking a couple of the Mere's pools. Proving a haven for small birds, with Linnets, Sedge Warbler, Willow Warbler, Reed Bunting, Dunnock, Blackbird and a lone Reed Warbler all showing themselves as well as a juvenile Dunnock.

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler 

Dunnock Juvenile

With the car park at Martin's Haven overflowing from Skomer and Deer Park visitors we had a walk along the coastal path above Marloes Sands and over looking a mist shrouded Skokholm. Linnets seem to adorn nearly every bush along the path, but none pausing long enough in the open to satisfy my camera, however a pair of Stonechat appeared more obliging, the male in particular. Also got a quick glimpse at a pair of Chough as we walked back to the car.

Stonechat Male

Wednesdays weather proved similar in the morning but soon the warm sun burnt the mist away in the afternoon and bathed the area in glorious sunshine. We had a quick lunch stop at Stackpole Quay before walking the 25 uphill minutes or so to Barafundle, well worth the walk a glorious undisturbed Sandy beach managed by the National Trust. Plenty of Gulls and Jackdaws soaring along the elevated cliffs, a lone Gannet and Fulmar both spotted on the walk up along with 4 Skylarks singing over the pasture on top. Distant cliff views showed quite a few nesting Guillemots and the odd Razorbill.

Barafundle Bay 

Herring Gull

We then headed around to Freshwater West a lovely long stretch of beach with a lot of rocky pools, I did get distracted by the constant passing by of Ravens along with a couple of Chough.

Raven

Still nursing some of the previous days Sunburn and waking to a really crappy morning, Thursday we decided to do the 7.5 Mile walk round route to and from the cottage around St. Ann's head. Other than getting bloody wet due to the lack of footpath maintenance (4 foot grass) we didn't see all to much other than a lone male Stonechat until we had passed St. Ann's Lighthouse at the halfway stage.

The walk back over looking Skokholm and very distant Skomer was far more rewarding with Fulmar, Gannet, Rock Pipit and even a Brown Hare all added to the list. The rapid arrival of thick fog in the afternoon pretty much prevented anything else outdoors, so I skulked off back to the house praying for some decent weather for the trip to Skomer the next morning. Part 2 to follow.

Clifftop Fulmar

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Meadow Pipits Aplenty

Another weekend spent at the Girlfriend's in Shropshire, and I set off hoping for some migrants on the upper moorlands in the south of the county. Saturday morning we headed off to the Long Mynd hopeful for a break in the showers, first bird spotted as we reached the top of the hill from Church Stretton, a Meadow Pipit, I managed to grab a few shots thinking maybe this new addition to my species list might not be see again. How wrong I could be! Its fair to say Im not sure which was more numerous along the length of the Long Mynd, Meadow Pipits or People, hundreds if not a thousand or more Walkers and Cyclists seemed tp appear over every brow and in every gully, about every 50 yards along the road. The Meadow Pipits also seemed to be just as numerous rising and chasing each other from the heather.

Particularly Happy With This Shot 

Meadow Pipit

Other bird life was pretty scarce, Im guessing because of the invasion of people, all I noted were Ravens, 3 Buzzards, 2 Kestrels, 2 Red Grouse, and numerous Chaffinches, some of which the cock birds were very inquisitive, forcing me to retreat a little so I could focus properly.

Cock Chaffinch 

Hillside Ponies

Waking up to clear skies on Sunday Morning we headed off to Titterstone Clee, with the hope of a Ring Ouzel and Wheatear. The Wheatear was a confirmed tick as we saw 25-30 pairs all around half way up to the summit, and a few around the quarry. Even mixing in with a couple of Linnet. Unfortunately they all remained very flighty, and I couldn't get close enough for a shot I was happy with. We did also get a brief glimpse of a Peregrine in the gale force winds before it shot off out of sight elsewhere.

So compared to my last weekend visit not the most successful of trips, but 4 new species added to my list for 2012 so It cannot all be bad.