Swans and Stints at the Years End

After a crappy couple of weeks at work including Christmas Eve and Christmas Day I felt in need of a Christmas treat and decided a visit to the WWT reserve at Slimbridge was in order. I had a look at the train times and prices and almost changed my mind - £78 return for the train ticket plus taxis and entrance fee on top! After I had gotten over the shock I had a look on the Tickety Split website and managed to whittle down the cost of the train fare to £38.50 travelling on exactly the same trains but having to buy 3 separate tickets - Plymouth to Taunton return, Taunton to Bristol return and Bristol to Cam and Dursley return - how utterly ridiculous.

The journey to Slimbridge went seamlessly with no hitches and I arrived at the ticket office at Slimbridge at 10:30am. It was a cloudy and breezy day with occasional sunny spells but it wasn't too cold and I decided to start off at the Rushy Pen where I immediately found a few Bewick's swans loafing around including 2 juveniles.

Bewick's Swans, Rushy Pen

Onwards towards the Holden Tower and from the hides the Tack Piece was well flooded and covered in birds - wigeon, teal, pintail, shoveler, mallard, mute swan, Bewick's swan, curlew, lapwing, golden plover, redshank, tufted duck, dunlin, Canada goose, greylag goose and shelduck all busily feeding away until a peregrine dashed in like a rocket putting everything up. Eventually the birds resettled and I managed to find 7 ruff, 16 white fronted geese and 2 little stints amongst the flocks with a distant view of a common crane feeding in fields behind a hedge - I was very pleased to see the little stints after missing out in the autumn and it was strange to see them in December but there have often been wintering birds at Slimbridge in recent years (I saw 2 birds here in January 2015).

Ruff with Redshank, Lapwing and Shelduck, Tack Piece

Little Stints with Curlew

Pintail

Pintail

Pintail

Greylag Goose with White Fronted Goose

Greylag Geese with White Fronted Goose

Greylag Geese with White Fronted Goose

Greylag Goose with White Fronted Goose

White Fronted Goose

White Fronted Goose

Greylag Geese with White Fronted Goose

Greylag Geese with White Fronted Goose

A look from the South Finger hides and Zeiss Hide added 2 buzzards overhead, 7 snipe roosting amongst the large number of lapwings and golden plovers out in the fields and a feeding flock of barnacle geese out on The Dumbles to the days list along with a pair of brown rats looking very well fed as they scavenged below the bird feeders in the bushes.

Before catching my taxi back to Cam and Dursley railway station I had a final look at the birds on the Rushy Pen before leaving and I enjoyed watching the Bewick's swans feeding and demonstrating with each including a ringed male bird that is 17 years old called By Brook.

Lapwing, Rushy Pen

Bewick's Swan

Shelduck

Bewick's Swan

Bewick's Swan and Coot

Bewick's Swans

Bewick's Swans

Bewick's Swan

Jackdaw

Teal

By Brook the Bewick's Swan

By Brook - WWT Data Screen

Unfortunately the return journey wasn't so smooth with my train from Cam and Dursley to Bristol being delayed. Annoyingly I watched the train I was meant to catch from Bristol to Plymouth whizz through Cam and Dursley station on its way to Bristol with my late train eventually arriving behind it instead of before it. I then had an hours wait at Bristol for the next train to Plymouth, most annoying as I could have spent another hour at Slimbridge but never mind, it had still been a great day out and my final year list total is now an impressive 208.

Devon Birding - Wembury and Thurlestone

A week off work but with no plans to go away due to continuing family health issues means local days out birding, starting with a trip on the bus to Wembury on Saturday February18th. I have neglected Wembury over recent months and so it was nice to be heading out for a visit on what was a sunny and very mild morning.

The highlight was a/the water pipit feeding on a large mass of seaweed by the sewage pipe with rock pipits and meadow pipits, again adopting a cocked tail and drooped wing attitude at times. The views were mostly brief as the birds were mobile and very flighty, not helped by continous disturbance from walkers along the beach on what was high tide.

A turnstone roosting on the sewage pipe with mallards and herring gulls was a nice find, turnstones are now scarce at Wembury in the winter, and there were at least 3 chiffchaffs feeding along the cliff base by the sewage pipe, looking very yellowy green in the sunlight and constantly flitting about and dipping their tails. Another chiffchaff was briefly seen in the pines by the horse stable, this individual was much browner toned but quickly disappeared in the undergrowth. Two red legged partidge were also a good find, barely annual for me at Wembury, but as quickly as I found them feeding in the field above the horse field they disappeared  into the hedgerow.

 Red Legged Partridge

Red Legged Partridge

Other birds included a pair of kestrel, 2 flyover ravens, a white and a pale female feral type mallard amongst the mallards, linnets and stonechats but despite a good scan around I didn't find any Dartford warblers at The Point although the area where I usually see them has been quite extensively cleared as part of the ongoing restoration work by the National Trust. Cirl buntings were much in evidence with a pair seen together and at least 2 single males with bouts of singing heard also.

Male Cirl Bunting

A walk at Grenofen on Sunday 19th February was a total contrast with grey and leaden skies and damp but mild air and despite searching the trees I couldn't find any treecreepers. I did get some nice views of siskins, goldcrests, coal tits, a nuthatch and a grey wagtail and I heard but didn't see any marsh tits.

Monday 20th and we headed off to Thurlestone for a walk, parking in the village and walking along the coast to Hope Cove and back. It was cloudy with sunny periods but became windy and overcast as the morning wore on but we had a pleasent walk and the footpath wasn't too muddy.

The first winter male desert wheatear is still residing on Thurlestone Beach and I had some nice views but the light was very dull and the bird quite mobile along the beach. At times I could hear it quietly singing away, a pleasent warbling song, and it is beginning to moult into smart adult summer plumage.

 Male Desert Wheatear

 Desert Wheatear

 Desert Wheatear

Desert Wheatear

At South Huish Marsh I soon found the 2 white fronted geese present for a few days now, busily feeding with Canada geese quite close to the road and giving some nice views.

 White Fronted Geese with Canada Geese

White Fronted Geese

A little egret, a coot, a male shoveler, a grey heron, lapwing, snipe, wigeon, teal, moorhen and mallard were also seen on the marsh along with meadow pipits and a male stonechat before we walked to Hope Cove for lunch. On the walk back to Thurlestone there was no sign of any geese on the marsh but the desert wheatear was still showing well along Thurlestone Beach but with the wind strength continuing to increase it was time to head off back to Plymouth.

A Trip to Suffolk via Scotland

After all the excitement of the desert wheatear on Friday 25th November it was off to Edinburgh in Scotland on Saturday 26th with friends Julie and Matt for a few days away. The flight from Exeter was delayed by over an hour due to fog but when we landed in Edinburgh the sun was shining but beginning to set and from the tram to the city centre I managed to see 6 roe deer feeding in fields near the airport.

Edinburgh was interesting but busy, the Christmas market was quite good and we had a  lovely meal at The Dome while enjoying the Christmas decorations. A trip to the Royal Yacht Brittania at Leith provided the best bird sightings of the trip with 2 male and a female red breasted merganser, a female teal, mallard, a grey heron, shag, cormorant and common gull, herring gull, black headed gull and great black backed gull all seen in the harbour from the decks of the boat. I also scanned out across the Firth of Forth from the decks and picked up a distant pair of eider flying low over the water and a distant raft of around 100 common scoter on the water before they split up and flew off in opposite directions.

 Christmas Lights, Edinburgh

 The Dome, Edinburgh

The Dome, Edinburgh

The train journey to Ipswich from Edinburgh via London on November 29th was very enjoyable on a beautiful sunny day and we saw Bass Rock, Lindisfarne Castle on Holy Island, The Farne Islands, Dunsterburgh Castle, Coquet Island, The Baltic Centre in Newcastle, Durham Cathedral and York Minster as we whizzed by sipping wine. I managed to see quite a few birds too - stock dove, green woodpecker, sparrowhawk, buzzard, kestrel, fieldfare, redwing, golden plover, lapwing, redshank, great spotted woodpecker, tufted duck and wigeon were all seen but the highlights were goosanders on the river at Berwick, a small raft of eiders close to the shore off the coast of Northumberland, a flock of around 300 pink footed geese in fields near Morpeth with another flock of around 100 seen near York and a red kite overhead near Peterborough. The journey from London to Ipswich was less interesting as it was getting dark but as we left Liverpool Street we did see The Shard and The Gherkin.

My plan during my stay in Ipswich while visiting family pre-Christmas was to visit Minsmere for a walk and a look around but I left my RSPB membership card and free visitor passes in Plymouth and so faced with paying £27 admittance for David, Mum and myself I looked for an alternative place to visit. With Tundra bean geese being reported at the RSPB North Warren reserve near to Minsmere we visited there instead on November 30th on another cold but still and sunny day. I have never visited the reserve before and it was also free to visit, we even managed to get a free parking space too!

We walked along the footpath to Aldeburgh over the shingle beach and I regularly scanned the marsh by the roadside as we wandered along. There was a 100+ flock of (presumed feral) barnacle geese and lots of greylag geese and despite not finding any bean geese (or reported pink footed geese) amongst them I did see 50+ white fronted geese.

 White Fronted Goose with Greylag Geese, North Warren

 White Fronted Goose with Greylag Goose

 White Fronted Goose

Barnacle Geese

A cup of coffee at The Brudenell hotel in Aldeburgh (where my lovely Great Uncle Les treated the family to a lovely Christmas break back in 1986) helped to warm us up on a very chilly day before we headed back to the car. A scan offshore on the walk back gave distant views of flyby red throated divers and great crested grebes but none were close to shore. A further scan of the marsh gave some closer views of the white fronted geese but still no bean geese but a female marsh harrier flying over was a nice bonus as it spooked unseen snipe from the ditches.

Marsh Harrier

We moved on to Snape Maltings for some lunch and while Mum and David looked around the shops I took a walk along the river, seeing a kingfisher, 2 little grebes, a little egret and another female marsh harrier. A very large looking female peregrine flew over on a hunting mission, spooking all the birds on the mudflats before being lost from sight but a short while later it flew over again carrying what looked like a redshank in its talons.

That evening we had a nice meal out at Prezzos in Stowmarket with my nephew Jack and my "Uncle" John (my Dads cousin so technically my second cousin) and the next morning it was bright and sunny and frosty again (although it did cloud over later) and so we headed off to Dunwich to visit Dingle Marshes, another RSPB reserve I haven't visited before and which was free to visit and with free parking.

Dingle Marsh, Dunwich

On arriving at the beach car park I headed up the shingle beach to view the sea and immediately found the wintering flock of sea duck offshore, around 2000+ common scoter, but without my telescope I could only find an immature male eider amongst them (no reported velvet scoter, scaup or long tailed ducks). A few distant red throated divers were seen flying past but a lone female common scoter was resting on the sea quite close to shore.

 Scoter Raft, Dunwich

 Female Common Scoter

Common Scoter

The wind was bitingly cold despite the sunshine and Mum and David had soon had enough and I didn't want to push my luck so despite a very distant view of a great white egret flying over the reed beds we started to head off to nearby Yoxford for lunch at Mums friends cafe and a look around antiques shops for David. However Mum surprisingly suggested I stay at Dunwich and she would pick me up later and so I leapt at her suggestion and was very glad I did as I had an amazing walk around the marsh.

I headed off up the beach, seeing a male sparrowhawk perched on a fence post out of the wind as I began my walk. A small flock of finches flew up from the path in front of me, spooked by a flyover carrion crow, and I dismissed them as linnet. However on getting closer to where they had settled I quickly realised they were in fact twite, a very nice surprise - yellow bills, pink rumps of some of the males in flight and a lovely twittering call all noted but they were active and mobile and flighty and eventually flew off and out of sight.

 Twite

 Twite

Twite

My attentions however were soon taken over by 4 snow buntings feeding amongst the pebbles, I almost stood on them as they were so tame and I had some lovely close views of them feeding on seeds along the beach.

 Snow Buntings

 Snow Bunting - well camouflaged

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

I carried on along the beach, eventually reaching some open pools where I watched shoveler, teal, gadwall, mallard, wigeon, shelduck, redshank, snipe, a curlew, a dunlin, grey heron, little egret and a very smart looking water pipit but best of all was getting some great views of the great white egret feeding around the pool edges looking very large compared to the little egrets and with a lovely all yellow bill and black feet.

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Great White Egret

Time was ticking on and I headed back to the car park to meet Mum but unfortunately I was a little late - I hadn't realised how far I had walked and walking along the shingle beach was hard going. I also had various avian distractions along the way - a pair of marsh harriers taking it in turns to be mobbed by carrion crows and lovely views of a flyby bittern along with more views of the 4 snow buntings feeding with linnets and skylarks. Unfortunately I couldn't refind the twite but never mind.

Arriving back at the car park late I found Mum waiting but I had a quick look at the scoter flock again and thought I had a brief flight view of a velvet scoter with some common scoters - a brief flash of what I think were white wing patches before the bird turned and flew directly towards me and then splashed down on the sea and was lost from sight.

We headed back to Yoxford to have tea and cake in the G and T cafe run by Mums friends - I had homemade cauliflower and courgette cake which was very tasty - and we picked up David from the antiques shop where he had bought some silver candle holders before we headed back to Ipswich for dinner at The Beagle with Dad after what had been an amazing days birding.

And so all in all it had been a very pleasant if tiring trip with some good bird sightings along the way and a nice break before the horrors of Christmas fully kick in.