This latest blog is about some urban birding and surveys I carry out through the winter and year.
Back on Sunday the 8th I set off again to look for those pesky Gloss Ibis that keep avoiding me over at Wareham. I arrived at the end of the road by the Rugby Club to find a match on and I thought oh well not going to see much this afternoon. I am find the one thing this challenge is doing is pushing me to go and try places I have not been to before. Having said that I have been to Swineham GP a few times and having walked down the lane I noticed and as expected due to all the rain that the fields below the house ( The Curlews) were very flooded and the path down to the gravel pit blocked by floods. I turned left of the path that lead to a small lake and some fields behind the rugby pitches. Here is the distance I noticed a group of large birds over in a far field hoping they were the Glossy Ibis. I was a little disappointed to find it was a group of 84 Curlew ! With having a good look round I ticked of a Pied Wagtail, saw some Little Egrets but could not find any Glossy Ibis anywhere. So as it started raining again I made my way back to the car but stopped just before the house The Curlews as I heard what I though were Siskins and sure enough with some Chaffinch and Goldfinch a small group of Siskins going from tree to a feeder and back to the in back garden so Siskin ticked off and now on 88 species.
After this I made my way to Hole Bays, this is a very special site and to look at it you would not think so with a retail park a very busy bypass just behind you as you look across the large expanse of water and further down the cycle as you get nearer to Poole Town you have the Poole Rail Station, Poole Pirates Speedway Stadium and rail bridge cutting across the bay.
The bay is approximately 286 hectare and is intertidal and a very important site for wintering waders and wildfowl. Even just this month there have been huge numbers of wintering/resting Black tailed Godwits with the extraordinary count of 5000 plus godwits counted let alone the massive numbers of Wigeon and Pintail that winter at the site it soon becomes apparent how important the mud flats can be for winter stop overs and resting site and so close to very busy area of Poole.
The purpose of my visit though was to hopefully find the Little Gull and female goosander that had been frequenting the bay. After find somewhere to park near the industrial estate I waited for the heavy rain to subside a bit before venturing out and crossing the busy bypass which as been made easier with the press button crossing. Down to the cycle path and setting up the scope up I soon noticed a large group of Wigeon feeding close to the shore line
Male Wigeon
After this is was not long before I found a small gull bobbing about on the water out in the middle and thought got you, a Little Gull, then the bird took flight and their was no mistaking that it was and adult Little Gull with those dark smokey black underwings showing off in the distance like beacons.
The gull made it was closer to the PC World drain area and I could not help watching this suburb little gull flying and dipping a bit like a tern then sort of patting the water as it flew a bit like a petrel just sublime. As you can probable tell I like gulls special Little Gull and Common Gulls I can not explain why I like gull as I do find them especially the bigger gulls a real challenge when in their early years. I have read and read about id features but they do not go into the brain very well, though I think I am slowly very slowly in fact getting to understand some of them. Having spent time watching the gull I set about scanning the bay for the Goosander but for the life of me I could not see or find it out in the bay and started to think was it holed up on one of the far muddy shorelines or had gone under the rail bridge in to the other sector? Putting the scope on the arch of the rail bridge to look through with a hopeful sight of the said Goosander. I noticed a quick flash of blue dive towards the water and back up and there diving off the bridge was a wonder Kingfisher my 91st species as the Little Gull was the 90th.
As I could not see the Goosander, I decided through intermittent shows I would watch the Little Gull a bit more, but as once again the rain started to get heavy and called it a day. Luckily for though there were to birds on the cycle path Nick and Jackie Hull, and having got to them they asked If I had seen the Goosander with me explaining I had not and spent far to much time watching the gull. Nick shouted quick I have the bird in the scope and I looked through Nick's scope to secure my 92nd species with the female bird. My thanks to Nick and Jackie for being out on such a rainy day and helping me with seeing the Goosander which I might not have seen.
Little Gull bobbing about
Little Gull,
even at a distance it is unmistakable with those dark sooty black underwings
The Little Gull
closer showing off the underwing
Little Gull flying away from me
showing grey upperparts and white trailing edge to wing
and white tipped primaries giving the wing a rounded apparency
Having seen juvenile and 1st winter Little Gulls in the past this was my first adult gull to watch and it was a pleasure watching this bird despite the grey and wet day.
Sunday 15th and out for a winter roost watch for Hen Harriers, I must say before I go any further I will not be give away with any information!
Heavy rain at times and raining all morning and my hopes of seeing a Hen Harrier disappearing like the rain water down the drain. Then a ray of hope in the afternoon as I was getting ready to depart to a heathland the rain stopped.
I got my self in a comfortable position to watch over the recording area and it was not long before I found a pale morph type Buzzard. Scanning round and picked up a young Goshawk zooming low across the mire and landing in a pine. I managed a very ropey and not very good record phone scoped capture.
At about 1700 hrs a grey ghost comes gliding in and flies a round for a short while, what a stunning bird, he flies out of sight but comes tearing back in and starts to gain a bit of height and there to my delight is a ringtail and the two birds interact for a short period just spectacular to watch and the break off and go the sperate ways to settle down and roost for the night,
The Grey Ghost
A view of the underparts, Male Hen Harrier
A view of the upperparts of a Male Hen Harrier
Crap record captures of a Goshawk
I was not sure whether to put these up
and sully the page with these rubbish pictures
It is a real privilege to be able to watch these birds that come to Dorset to winter, though we do not get to see enough of them and I expect we all know the main possible cause of that, but there can be many factors. Harriers are my favourite birds of prey.
Now we are at Sunday 22nd February and it is the day of my BTO WeBs core count at my local patch Longham Lakes. And guess what its bloody raining again but that did not stop play.
I was out late 11:20 hours. I began the count with the geese which had congregated round the island and a large group of Wigeon 158 to be precise. Then I found a wonderful drake Pintail a favourite duck a long with the Pochard, I began to notice the numbers of the wintering wildfowl are steadily going down so the birds are I expect making the way back to there breed grounds.
While doing this WeBs count I ticked off another 5 species which took my list just over the 100 a total I was hoping to achieve before the end of February. What a way to reach the 100th bird with a dashing Peregrine that came storming in at a large flock of mixed gulls mostly Black head Gulls swooping and drive at them and putting up at least 500 birds of gulls and crows plus 20 Lapwing which I did not see in the fields, the sound of the birds and sight was memorizing and that word again spectacular just incredible.
A view of North Lake
The path leading to the causeway
with South lake in the back ground
Common Gull another gull I like to see in the winter
And the updated list as of 22nd February.
# 88 Pied Wagtail
# 89 Siskin
# 90 Little Gull
# 91 Kingfisher
# 92 Goosander
# 93 Goshawk
# 94 Hen Harrier
# 95 Stonechat
# 96 Pheasant
# 97 Reed Bunting
# 98 Common Gull
# 99 Great White Egret
# 100 Peregrine
# 101 Lapwing
# 102 Egyptian Goose
No comments:
Post a Comment