Little and Lesser Waders

Thursday 19th September was warm and sunny but with a strong easterly wind and so we decided to head off to the beach at Cawsands for the day. The Cawsand ferry was running from The Barbican but the service stopped after we arrived at Cawsands due to the increasing wind and low tide. An adult winter plumaged Mediterranean gull was seen flying overhead from the ferry to Cawsands but I had much better views of one resting along the shoreline by the Edgecumbe Arms pub at Cremyl while we waited for the ferry back to Plymouth.

Mediterranean Gull, Cremyl

Mediterranean Gull

I had the moth box out in the back yard that night and the following morning had a few nice moths to sort through, the highlights being a silver y, square spot rustics, a shuttle shaped dart, a light emerald and a large ranunculus.

Silver Y, Back-yard

Square Spot Rustic

Shuttle Shaped Dart

Light Emerald

Large Ranunculus

Large Ranunculus 

Friday September 20th was another warm and sunny day but with an even stronger easterly wind and so we headed off out for the day with Mother-in-law, firstly to Aveton Gifford where I was dropped off for a wander around South Efford Marsh while David and Beryl carried on to Kingsbridge.

A lesser yellowlegs had been seen on the marsh the previous day and had also been seen that morning but the birders on site when I arrived hadn't located the bird. I wandered down to the hide, seeing teal, 4 dunlin, redshank and curlews along the way along with a smart comma butterfly. From the hide I could see some waders roosting at the back of the marsh but they were distant and obscured and the harsh light and strong wind hampered viewing. As the tide receded the waders flew out to the estuary, a mix of greenshank and redshank, and 2 birds were left behind, a black-tailed godwit and the lesser yellowlegs. It began to feed along the waters edge but never came any closer with the viewing conditions remaining difficult but I was glad to see it, my 4th UK sighting of one.

Comma, South Efford Marsh

It was soon time for me to be picked up and we all carried on to nearby Bigbury for a walk over to Burgh Island for refreshments in The Pilchard Inn. It was great fun walking across to the Island as we were sand blasted in the strong winds blowing right across the beach and needless to say I didn't get my binoculars or camera out due to the danger of sand scratching my lenses.

Saturday 21st September and my planned pelagic trip out to The Eddytsone from Plymouth with the DBWPS Group was cancelled for a second time due to the weather conditions and so I caught the train down to Hayle for a look around. I almost decided against going as the weather forecast was for rain but I'm glad I made the effort as I had a great time and the rain held off until I headed home.

On arriving at Hayle at around 10:45hrs I walked over to the Carnsew Pool but with the tide still high there was no exposed mud and therefore no birds other than a pair of little grebes. I had a quick look up the estuary from the embankment wall of the Pool and found an osprey sat on a post out in the river but by the time I had walked along the road to get a closer view it had flown off! However it soon returned and gave some great views as it flew around the estuary spooking all the birds and hovering over the water and diving unsuccessfully for fish before disappearing from view.

Osprey, Hayle Estuary

A group of small waders were feeding in the saltmarsh where views were difficult in the vegetation but scanning through them I noted dunlin, ringed plover, turnstone and a ruff but no sign of the recently reported little stints. On Ryan's Field 2 more ruff were found amongst the roosting curlew and bar-tailed godwits along with a single black-tailed godwit and a lapwing while over on the estuary on the dropping tide I found 2 knot and a very nice spotted redshank with oystercatchers, greenshanks and redshanks plus a variety of Mediterranean gulls amongst the roosting and preening gull flock.

Greenshank

Amongst the wigeon, teal and Canada geese out on the estuary were 6 pale-bellied brent geese, only my 2nd Hayle sighting, but despite scanning around I still couldn't find any little stints and so I headed back down to the Carnsew Poool for another look. The mud was beginning to be exposed and I found a few bar-tailed godwits busily feeding when a small wader flew over my head and landed out on the mud - a little stint! It gave some great views before it flew off after a few minutes but I was very pleased to see it after a blank year last year.

 Pale-bellied Brent Goose

 Pale-bellied Brent Geese

 Little Stint

 Little Stint

Little Stint

I walked back up the estuary to St.Erth to catch the train home and as I reached the causeway bridge for a last quick scan around the osprey returned, flying over the estuary and spooking everything before landing on the post again, a nice end to a great day in what has been a great wildlife watching week.

Osprey

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.

Garden Moths and Birding in Bude

I had the moth box out in the back yard overnight on Wednesday August 24th - Thursday 25th August and I had quite a decent catch in the morning, the best catch I have had in the yard this year.

Highlights were 4 Jersey tiger moths (first of the year), a marbled green, a common marbled carpet, a currant pug, 2 yellow barred brindle, 2 lime speck pug, 1 Vines rustic, 1 shuttle shaped dart, 1 brimstone moth, 1 cabbage moth, 1 knot grass and 1 lesser broad bordered yellow underwing. There were only 3 large yellow underwings in the trap which is unusual for this time of year but there were loads of light brown apple moths and quite a few wasps.

 Vines Rustic

 Cabbage Moth

 Marbled Green - hiding on the pebble dash

Currant Pug

Thursday 25th August and an unscheduled day of annual leave from work due to rota and staffing issues had me thinking of a trip to Fontmell Down in Dorset to look for silver spotted skippers and chalkhill blues. However the weather had other ideas and despite being warm and humid it was cloudy and misty and drizzly and with heavy thunder storms forecast later in the day especially for Dorset we headed off to the caravan at Bude for the day instead. The drive to North Cornwall was wet and misty but by the time we arrived at Bude the sun was beginning to show from behind the clouds and the day wasn't too bad although we did have a few prolonged periods of drizzle mist.

I headed off to Maer Lake as soon as we arrived at the caravan while David worked on the wheels and brakes of the caravan ready for its potential move at the end of the summer. The lake still had lots of water in it but with some lovely muddy margins and I could see various sized waders feeding across the water. However as I arrived at the gap in the hedge overlooking the lake some of the large number of roosting Canada geese took to the air and spooked all the feeding birds but I managed to find a curlew sandpiper and a little stint flying around amongst dunlin, ringed plover and black tailed godwits. The waders soon resttled and with the curlew sandpiper and little stint I counted 3 ringed plover, 18 dunlin and 41 black tailed godwits along with 3 curlew and a common sandpiper - not bad. I had some great views of the little stint feeding with dunlin along the muddy shore but the curlew sandpiper was more distant and feeding with dunlins in the water where it was much more skittish and flighty.

Even better was a yellow wagtail flying over calling as it headed north, I had hoped it would drop down on the marsh around the lake but it carried on flying over without stopping. Later at the caravan a (the) yellow wagtail flew over heading south towards the lake but again it didn't appear to drop down to the ground.

Otherwise it was quiet with an adult gannet offshore, a painted lady along the clifftops, a fulmar along the cliffs, a very yellow juvenile willow warbler along the hedgerow at Maer Lake and 2 adult mute swans with 3 cygnets along the canal.

Juvenile  Herring Gull, Bude Canal

The toilet block had an orange swift, a rusty dot pearl and an oak bush cricket inside which I caught and released outside.

 (Faded) Orange Swift

Oak Bush Cricket

Not a bad day out and what was to be the beginning of an excellent couple of days wildlife watching.