When in doubt, visit Norfolk

Since it's the beginning of autumn, the first vagrants are beginning to turn up, although still in small numbers. Since there had been a small fall of Icterine Warbler in Norfolk on Friday, me and Chris decided it would be best to head in that direction. On the way up we made a short stop off to enjoy some brief views of 11+ Stone Curlew, and as we were leaving I managed to grab a few shots of a group through the car window. An absolutely extraordinary bird, which still baffles me now.

As we continued our journey up North, news came in of an Icterine Warbler at Burnham Overy, so we set the sat-nav, and in just over an hour we had arrived. We made our way to the bird, stopping occasionally to spot the odd bird. Once we arrived at the infamous apple tree we were met by surprisingly few birders, but still we had good views of the bird almost instantly! Having seen the target bird the pressure was off and we stayed for a while admiring the relatively showy bird.

Our next stop was Titchwell, because it always delivers a nice amount of interesting waders. There we managed to connect with: Ruff, Spoonbill, Little Stint, Greenshank, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Sanderling and various other common waders. There we ended the day and headed home, happy with what we had got.

Germany 2015

Inventive title, huh? Those of you who follow me on twitter will know that from the 23rd of July till the 3rd of August I was on a trip to Germany. Since I have relatives in Germany I am a frequent visitor of solely Rheinland-Pfalz (one of the larger provinces of Germany). However, because of the book "Vogel Beobachten in Sud-Deutschland" (Birdwatching in South Germany), which I had received as a birthday gift earlier that year, I came to the conclusion it was time I visited other parts of the country half of me is from. A particular site caught my attention with the brightly coloured word Bee-eater, this was the Kaiserstuhl.

The Kaiserstuhl is a small range of hills found in Baden-Wurttemberg, which have a volcanic origin. Now because of its hot climate and steep hills it is used for growing a wine crop, which leads the landscape to be quite unique. It is the hottest place, found in Germany, therefore it plays host to a range of exotic Mediterranean species of bird. These include: White Stork, Honey Buzzard, Peregrine, Little Owl (not introduced like in Britain), Bee-eater, Hoopoe, Red-backed Shrike and Cirl Bunting. Basically the place had a lot of desired species.

The trip was split into two major legs, the first being to my Grandma in Rheinland-Pfalz and then to the Kaiserstuhl in Baden-Wurttemberg.

We stayed with my Grandma for a few days before pressing on, which gave me time to explore the local area and pick up on some continental species. One short trip produced Crested Tit, two families of Red-backed Shrike (both with Juvs.), and a couple of Black Redstarts among other things.

Red-backed Shrike

I also managed to visit the local wetland which is a half an hour cycle away, where within an hour I managed to see two Common Sandpiper, a Wood Sandpiper, some Stonechat and a hell of a lot of Hirundians. I also managed to hear a few Quail, in the surrounding fields.

Queen of Spain Fritillary

Three days later, once we had eventually arrived in the Kaiserstuhl, I took the first opportunity I had to visit a sand-wall, which was only a 15 minute walk away from our self-catering in Oberbergen. My target was to try and find some Bee-eater. 10 minutes in I heard a distant rolling wader like call, and shortly after, I managed to pin it down to colourful thing itself. A couple of Bee-eater were flying around the sand-wall repeatedly calling in an inflecting tone, prrut, prrut, prrut...

Bee-eater

Having quickly managed to find Bee-eater, the week became far more relaxed and I spent a large amount of time just admiring the incredible birds from a distance, and occasionally having a fly by Honey Buzzard, which would always lighten the mood.

Bee-eater

On one of the days I made a trip into Freiburg, which has a large breeding population of Alpine Swift, which could be as large as 260 breeding pairs! With such a large amount it would have been hard not to be successful, and I saw my first within half an hour. The rest of the time I spent trying to capture a decent picture, but because of the speeds they flew past and the infrequency it was a very difficult task.

Alpine Swift

The last day was dedicated to trying to see Hoopoe, as they had so far evaded me. One of the neighboring towns was rumored to be the best sight in Kaiserstuhl to see them, so that is where I went. After two hours of searching I had basically given up, but when I reached a viewpoint which was slightly more elevated I had hopes for a flyby. As soon as this thought had gone through my head a Hoopoe flew over me and into the field below. It was quite distant so I tried to get closer, but failed to see it again. However, a Red-backed Shrike popped out of the hedge to console me and shortly after I managed to pick out a flyby Golden Oriole! A bird which I had had no intention of seeing. However, the fun didn't stop there, instead a short walk on I managed to connect with another couple of Bee-eater and a fly over Black Kite, which performed well. I hung about the area for another hour or two but wasn't successful, apart from having distant views of a perched Hoopoe. I went home with a huge smile across my face and was completely content.

Find the moth and ID it...

In conclusion, the trip had been a success and I had managed to enjoy all the birds I had set out to see. Some of which had performed very well.

Feeding my twitching habits

It's that time of year again, Spring migration is kicking off and me and many others are stuck inside, watching countless reports of birds come in on the phone. Never the less, I have managed to loosen the chains slightly and on Saturday I was able to catch a lift with Ian Bennell to see the long staying Greater Yellowlegs in Hampshire. On arriving the bird was still showing which made for an easy tick, and enjoyable observation. Whilst looking at it I compared it to it's smaller cousin, the larger, more muscular body gave the bird away instantly and it seem to largely resembled a Greenshank, with it's upturned bill and strong streaking.

Greater Yellowlegs

Following my second to last exam, my mother offered to drive me to a local twitch, if I put in a good amount of effort into my exams. I was absolutely thrilled when a Red-necked Phalarope arrived on Broom GPs, a bird I had hoped to see since I first opened a field guide. The reserve had a surprisingly good environment, with habitat for many interesting migrant. Which has been seen in its recent history, starting with a White-winged Black Tern and Temminck's Stint (which is incredibly good, for an inland patch). The Red-necked Phalarope although distant, showed nicely only being disturbed by a resident Redshank, which appeared to be a racist :).

Gypsy Lane, East Pit

Red-necked Phalarope

3 Woodpecker Day

Having woken up at 5am my brother and I cycled off to Withey Beds, near Croxley Green to try our luck seeing the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker which had been frequenting the area. We arrived shortly before 7 o'clock, and were greeted by a deep fog which was slowly settling in, making viewing conditions difficult.

However, we persevered and explored the small reserve searching for good drumming trees for the Woodpecker. A pair of Treecreepers provided entertainment for short while, seemingly chasing each other and drumming Great Spotted Woodpeckers excited us frequently to no avail. Throughout our wait, other birders joined us searching for the Lesser Pecker, and by 9:30 or so the fog had lifted. Kindly another birder told us its favored drumming tree and we waited close by for the bird, eventually at quarter to ten I saw a small Woodpecker fly in, I instantly recognized it as a Lesser Spotted and pointed it out to the others. We had good views of it for a minute or so before it flew on encouraged by an arriving birder.

We waited a little longer to see if it would reappear, but evidently it had continued on its circuit around the area, so we moved on as well. We looked around Croxley Common Moor for an hour or so, were my brother and I picked up a Ring Ouzel flyng from the moor northwards. I first picked it up by call, but almost dismissed it had it not been for my brother who saw it at the same time. Returning home, we were both relieved to eventually have ticked off Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in the UK, which had been up until that morning a 'boggy bird' for both of us. I'm not even going to attempt a 4 Woodpecker Day (not in Britain anyway).

Purple Sandpiper, Southsea Castle

The day was originally planned so as to see the Dusky Warbler at Chichester GPs. However, this fell apart due to the strong winds. Neither the Ring-billed Gull at Gosport or the Dusky Warbler showed themselves which left our spirits dampened. Yet the Purple Sandpiper at Southsea Castle showed very well and allowed for some entertaining pictures.

and others...