Dartford Warbler at Ivinghoe Beacon!!!

A recent surge of Ring Ouzels sent me to Ivinghoe Beacon today, with a little help from my parents (as they needed to walk the dog). It began as a little bit of a dull day, with the only signs of bird life being a group of Goldfinch. A walk around the beacon proved to be no more useful, but the news of 2 Yellow-browed Warbler at Amwell spurred on my spirits to try and find a migrant of my own. I continued to scour the bushes for any sign of a "little brown jobs", with no luck. Until I reached the bottom of the hill, an unknown call brightened my senses and I waited for the mystery bird to reveal itself. Shortly thereafter a small almost wren sized bird flew into the air, then dropped into the bushes, before timidly emerging from the undergrowth. The light was perfect and only with a glimpse I was able to see the unmistakable red and grey, making up a Dartford Warbler!!! I dashed for my camera, knowing without a picture it would be impossible to prove such an incredible local bird sighting. It briefly showed again and I was able to get a quick snap of it before it flitted off, and I was unable to relocate it.

Male Dartford Warbler

The next question was how to get the news out there, as those of you who know Ivinghoe will know, it hasn't got the best of mobile receptions. I decided to post the sighting on twitter and hope for the best. However, it wasn't until around 3 o'clock that my phone actually posted it on twitter.

For an exact grid reference of where it was click here.

Wryneck, aren't they just the best!

I have seen my fair share of Wryneck, but the day I say no to seeing another, is a day I don't want to know about. Therefore there was no possibility on the Saturday of last week that I would choose not to accompany my Mum down to Brighton where a particular Wryneck had been present for a few days. A late start meant that I wasn't on the site, Beachy Head, until around 12. However, this did not deter the bird at all. The instant I arrived the Wryneck came into view, much to my delight!

I stayed on the sight for a while following the bird around, which was great for good views from a distance. However, the bird never showed at close quarters, allowing only record shots. Nonetheless, seeing a Wryneck always proves to be a good day, and this was not an exception.

I left the site reluctantly, but hastily as I needed to meet my mum in under an hour in Brighton. Amazingly, on the walk back I relocated the bird, as it flew from a distance. The bird then landed, perched on a twig and sat right in front of me!!! It was difficult to contain my excitement, but luckily I did and I was fortunate enough to be one of the few to have seen this bird at such a close proximity.

Euro Birding

Well here we are again, I haven't written anything in a long time and I'm having to write a huge bulk update which probably contains too many grammatical errors to count. Anyway here we go, if you want to skip to the photos, don't hesitate because this could be a boring 20 minutes.

Berlin
My journeys abroad began in the Capital city of Germany. Berlin, although a largely urban city, is surrounded by wildlife. It’s a city in the middle of nowhere. Furthermore, lakes and ponds are scattered around the city along with forest which provide the perfect habitat for breeding Icterine Warbler, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-backed Shrike, Goshawk and many more interesting species for british birders. I tried my luck and visited a few nearby city parks. However, many times the rain or the scorching sun made it hard to locate anything of interest. On the weekend before it was time for me to leave, I set off to a “Natur Schutz Gebiet” (nature reserve) on the outskirts of Berlin named Lietzengraben. Taking the train it took me about 1 hour before I was at the closest station to the reserve, there I walked a few km to the reserve. I arrived in a medium sized woods, I instantly set my mind to locating a Icterine Warbler, but instead I had a pair of Wood Warblers which seemed to enjoy themselves fluttering around the canopy of the trees. Shortly after that I found an opening where it immediately picked up, a Spotted Flycatcher flew overhead, followed shortly by Treecreepers of both species, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and 2 Marsh Tits. The woods had been a success and I moved onto the marsh, here I took the most successful wrong turn known to man where I located not one family of Red-backed Shrikes, but at least 6 each with young, the small 100m² bush infested region homed around 20 of them! Soon after a White Stork flew over, it showed signs of slowing and landed in a stubble field. Here I relocated it and viewed it as the farmer seemed to chase it with his tractor. It showed well, but was distant. It then evidently had enough and flew off, I also moved on, to the marsh. I spent a few minutes scanning and managed to locate a group of around 40+ waders most of which were Wood Sandpiper and a few Green and Common Sandpiper scattered in amongst them. Lapwings and Snipe were also numerous, and a few Marsh Harrier were aware of this. Before leaving the marsh a flock of 3 Common Crane flew over heading north. The reserve is partly known for Crane so they had probably flown over to join a larger group. Then it was back to the Red-backed Shrike spot where, once again the White Stork had returned, this time showing much closer and allowed me to get some pictures. At this, I had had enough and I headed back with lifted spirits after having had such a good birding day.

Münster
After Berlin, I travelled south to see my aunt, who lives in Münster. Unlike Berlin, Münster is not quite as good for urban birding, however there is a nature reserve, called Rieselfelder, located just on the outskirts. On one day I decided to make a trip there with a lent bicycle. The reserve is very large with small lakes made from waste from the nearby dump, they covering approximately 2.33 km². The reserve is a key spot in migration and many of Germany’s rarities have been located on the reserve. It is also known for having an underpinning breeding population of Bluethroat and White Stork, however I was there in the late summer when very few Bluethroat are actually seen. I began the day with 2 Wood Sandpiper (a more realistic number than Berlin), and a female Garganey. A little further in the reserve I managed to locate a group of 6 White Stork, which were feeding in a field. On the main lake I located a Greenshank and 2 Spotted Redshanks. The reserve also had very large numbers of Snipe and Lapwing, much like in Berlin. Further on I also found a Great White Egret, a slightly more uncommon appearance on the lakes.


Pantenburg
It was now an official trip through Germany, From Berlin-Muenster-Pantenburg. All of them containing different habitats and species. Pantenburg is located in West Germany, the landscape is dominated by coniferous Woodland, which hosts many species which do not occur in Britain, examples being: Short-toed Treecreeper, Middles spotted and Black Woodpecker and Crested Tit. The woodland is broken up by pastoral and crop fields. As I was there I managed to find a possible breeding pair of Red-backed Shrikes, lots of Tree Sparrows, a possible juv. Serin, Garden Warbler, Turtle Dove, Stock Dove, Crested Tit, Short-toed Treecreeper, Coal Tit, Marsh Tit, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Hawfinch. None of the species are particularly rare, but all of them are something interesting to see on the continent.

Somme Bay
Following my trip through Germany I met up with my Dad who picked me up from the Belgium border. We then had a 5 day holiday down to Neuf-Chatel. Only the leaving day was dedicated to birds, of which a mere 1 or 2 hours of which was actually birding. On the Somme Bay, an absolute spectacular place for birds I located large numbers of Black-winged Stilt. By the end I managed to see 35! On the actual nature reserve I also saw Spoonbill, Garganey, Snipe, Avocet and Great White Egret other than that the day was devoted to walking along a beach, which we got stuck on one end of because of the quick tide which came in at about 1 meter a minute!

Anyway here are the pictures

White Stork

Pitstone, Corn Bunting

Last year, when I first bumped into the Corn Buntings at Pitstone, I vowed to myself that I would take on the opportunity to photograph them, and express their true beauty amongst the fields of corn, which provide a perfect back drop. So in the winter of 2013 I set up a project of my own. Unfortunately it failed dismally, I only managed to get one possible record of one fly over Corn Bunting in 5 trips! Then last week, I went to Ivinghoe to see the Dark Green Fritillaries, along with the butterflies I also saw that the Corn Buntings had returned. So now I have relaunched the project and I hope to photograph them in the next few weeks. Tonight I took a tester to see how well I could do, the light was fading and had been extinguished by the clouds, but the Corn Buntings didn't fail to show. The views weren't anything special, but the birds were.

Another bulk update

Well then I've once again left it for too long and I need to write a bulk update about the last few birding trips. If I remember correctly, my last trip was to Ivinghoe Beacon. Ivinghoe Beacon is a prominent part of the Chiltern Hills, filled with lush grassland and has hilly terrain. The purpose of the trip was to see and photograph Dark Green Fritillaries. Once we arrived, there was no problem in locating them, they were very flighty and we didn't see one land until we had already been looking for an hour or so. After that we saw a few settle down, but by the slightest sign of disturbance or wind or even sun, they flew back up. Once again, not great for photography. However, on the way back we did manage to see a Corn Bunting, which showed well for scope views, I tried my luck with photography and received worth while shots. We then moved onto Pitstone Hill, here we hoped to see a Quail, a rather elusive species which eludes both my life list and I can imagine many other birders. Whilst there we did hear up to 7 individuals calling, possibly more. However, seeing one was a complete other matter.

Corn Bunting

Dark Green Fritillary

Moving on to the more recent, today I made a "twitching" trip with Chris, Paul and Samuel. Our hopes where for the Stilt Sandpiper to reappear, and head up in the direction. Unfortunately our hopes were not answered and we were left with the option of Wood Sandpiper at Carlton Marshes, Suffolk. When we arrived the directions seemed a little vague, but after some help from some locals we were well on our way. At the scrape we had distant views of the Wood Sandpipers, 5 individuals in total! No pictures but a life tick. After our success the White-winged Black Tern at Abberton Reservoir seemed promising and that was the next stop on the list. Once we arrived it only took us a few minutes before we were on the bird, conveniently with a Black Tern flying around with it. We then went to the visitors center, were it looked as if the bird was regularly flying past. From the visitors center we realized we had been mislead, but the views were still better than from the causeway. After a successful day we headed back home with high spirits.

The Tern showing too distantly for any good shots

After my GCSE photography course I found black and white photography and colour photography need completely different exposures, contrasts and composition. There for I have taken a few shots differently, and edited them on Lightroom, I think the results have been decent, what would have been rubbish shots in colour are interesting abstract shots in black and white. Have a look for yourself and make your own decision.

BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOGRAPHY

Hobby

Kestrel

Common Tern

Common Tern

Avocet