Three Egret Heaven at Ham Wall

Saturday 13th May and it was off on a coach trip to RSPB Ham Wall near Glastonbury in Somerset with the Plymouth RSPB Group on what may well be the last coach trip for the group as nobody is willing or able to take on the role of treasurer meaning the group will have to fold. I had originally planned to go on the DBWPS trip to Lundy this weekend but opted for Ham Wall instead (cheaper and less hassle) and I'm very glad I did.

It was sunny but breezey, cool in the wind and out of the sun but quite hot in sheltered and sunny spots. It did become increasingly cloudy and on the drive back to Plymouth at the end of the day the forecasted rain duly arrived.

On arrival we had the option to join the warden on a guided walk off the public paths but myself and my mate Mavis decided to head off on our own to find our own birds. We started with a nice singing male whitethroat in the car park hedge and walking along the path to the viewing platform we heard blackcap, chiffchaff, willow warbler, garden warbler, reed warbler and Cettis warblers singing. The deep resonant booming of a bittern could be distantly heard from the platform and we managed to get brief flight views of 2 birds flying over the reed beds, a new bird for Mavis. From the platform we also saw 2 great white egrets, pochard, 2 great crested grebes with 2 large young, at least 8 hobbys hawking for insects over the reeds, swifts, gadwall and tufted duck.

 Mallard and Pochard

Mallard and Pochard

 Great White Egret

Great White Egret

We carried on along the path towards the new Avalon hide situated right out in the reed beds but took a short detour first on the advice of a passing birder to a nearby small viewing platform overlooking a scrape where we found 2 little egrets, a very nice glossy ibis preening and a very smart male garganey feeding nearby, my bird of the day, along with lapwing, coot and mallard.

 Glossy Ibis

 Glossy Ibis

 Garganey

 2 sleeping male Garganey with Glossy Ibis

Garganey

From the hide we watched a male and 2 female marsh harriers hunting with 2 mid air food passes seen by the male to the female, hobbys hawking overhead, a bittern flying over the reeds, 2 great crested grebes with 2 small young, bearded tit groups bouncing over the reeds including a few males, a tawny owl chick perched outside its nest box and 2 gaudy male ruff feeding on the mud.

 Tawny Owl chick

 Marsh Harrier over the reed bed

Marsh Harrier

We walked back to the small viewing platform where the glossy ibis was still on show along with a male teal, 2 male shoveler and now 2 male garganey. Mavis picked up 3 egrets flying towards the scrape which turned out to be cattle egrets in breeding plumage and at one point we had little-, cattle- and great white egret all on view together.

Cattle Egret

We walked back to the car park and crossed over the road to Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve and visited the new tower hide overlooking a scrape where around 30 black tailed godwits were feeding. Also seen from the hide were more marsh harriers, hobbys, a bittern, great white egrets, 2 greylag geese with a gosling and a male wigeon. Mavis again picked up 3 cattle egrets flying towards the scrape with one coming in to land by a little egret, presumably different birds to those seen earlier.

Common Blue Damselfly

 Four Spotted Chaser - a new dragonfly for me

 Blue Tailed Damselfly

Azure Damselfly

With time running out we walked back to the viewing platform at Ham Wall where we watched a bittern having a tussle with a great white egret flying over the reeds, a little grebe, our only moorhen of the day, marsh harriers, hobbys, swifts and swallows before it was time to get back on the coach for the journey back to Plymouth - but what an amazing days birding we had had.

Day Calling Tawny Owls at Noss Mayo

With 3 days off in a row and some good weather I decided to get out and about as much as possible. With a mini influx of hoopoes, ring ouzels and ospreys I kept my fingers crossed and headed off to the coast.

Thursday 9th April and it was hot and sunny but hazy on a walk around Stoke Point. Chiffchaffs were very vocal and showy and I heard a few blackcaps and managed a brief view of a male singing. Stonechats were also vocal and showy but despite searching I couldn't find any Dartford warblers in attendance. A few swallows flew by and 2 male wheatears were seen feeding on grassy areas on the cliff side. Cirl buntings were very noticeable, the most I have seen on this walk before, and I managed to find 2 male yellowhammers near The Warren car park before they flew off. Buzzards, kestrels and ravens flew along the cliffs and a peregrine was seen high over Noss Mayo before heading off towards Plymouth.

My first speckled woods, walls and commas of the year were seen along with peacocks, small tortoiseshells and a brief view of a white sp. before it disappeared from view. A female oil beetle was also seen digging a hole in the mud on the footpath - I carefully moved it on to some mud nearby and out of harms way from walkers boots.

Peacock



Comma



The highlight were 3 tawny owls calling in Ferry Wood at Noss Mayo, one bird "tu-wu" ing and 2 birds "kewick"ing.  It sounded most strange in the bright sunlight, especially the "tu-wu"ing and I tried to find them amongst the trees but had no luck. I have heard tawny owls calling in the daytime once before - 2 birds on a sunny day in February at Wembury a few years ago - and I have sent my sighting (or rather hearing) to the BTO who are conducting research in to this phenomena.

Friday 10th and the skys were grey and cloudy and it was quite cool compared to the previous day. A quick walk along the footpath at Wembury was fairly quiet with chiffchaffs, blackcaps and cirl buntings seen and heard. A green woodpecker was heard yaffling but I couldn't find it. Just 1 common lizard was seen in the cloudy conditions and I found a moth at the window of the toilet block, a male dotted border. I did at least manage to get a steak pasty in the café this time!

Violet sp., Wembury Point



Another Violet sp., Wembury Point (larger flowers than above)



Male Dotted Border, Wembury



Saturday 11th and I headed off to Rame Head in Cornwall, a place I have visited a few times but have never really explored or birded before (except for a twitch a few years ago to see an Iberian chiffchaff). It can be a good place to sea watch from in the right conditions and I have wanted to do a reccy there for some time. The bus dropped me off at Whitsand Bay and I walked along the coast to Rame Head and then to Cawsands, catching the ferry back to Plymouth, and it was an enjoyable walk. It was sunny but cold and breezey following overnight rain and this had a bit of a dampner on birding. I did hear a willow warbler and blackcaps singing and chiffchaffs were seen and heard. A swallow around some farm buildings and a second bird mobbing a sparrowhawk at Cawsands were nice to see and a Sandwich tern diving for fish close to shore at Penlee Point were the only other summer migrants seen.

Rame Head Chapel



Rame Head from Penlee Point



I managed to find 3 yellowhammers and a pair of cirl buntings on the cliff sides and offshore a few gannets and fulmars were seen. A female sparrowhawk was in hunting mode low over the gorse while buzzards and kestrels flew overhead. A group of fallow deer were also feeding amongst the cliffside vegetation but were very nervous looking and often retreated in to deeper cover. A speckled wood and a few peacocks were also seen in more sheltered spots.

Yellowhammers



Fallow Deer



Peacock in Primroses



And so I failed to find any of the previous mentioned birds - I had considered a trip to Polgigga in Cornwall to look for hoopoes that have been seen there but didn't fancy the 6 hour round trip to get there and back. Maybe next week?

Plastic Year Ticking in London

A sunny but breezey walk at Bellever on Dartmoor on Sunday 9th November was relatively bird free with a flyover siskin, redpoll and great spotted woodpecker being the highlights. I thought I heard a crossbill flying over twice but couldn't be sure over the noise of the breeze and David yapping.

I did find some yellow stagshorn amongst the conifer tree plantation,  a very pretty fungus that grows on coniferous wood.

 Yellow Stagshorn

Yellow Stagshorn

On the way back to Plymouth we stopped off for a very tasty cream tea at the Two Bridges Hotel. In the car park were a few feral geese with one bird having angelwing. I had never heard of this condition until I began following an excellent blog about the birds of Kensington Gardens in London, written by Ralph Hancock. I have never knowingly seen it before but may have just not noticed it before, it occurs in young birds fed on a very rich diet and is common in wildfowl, especially those fed on bread in parks. The condition occurs at a certain point in their growth, causing the wing joint to turn outwards and rendering the bird flightless.

Feral Goose with Angelwing

With a trip to Suffolk to see family on November 12th I decided to stop off in London on the train journey to Ipswich to have a wander around Kensington Gardens, having been inspired by Ralphs blog.The journey up was very pleasent and I managed to see a kingfisher and 2 greenshank along the River Exe, 2 roe deer and around 20 red kites in the sunny conditions. Most of the kites were distant but a few were very close to the train as we sped by and were my first "plastic" birds of the day, having been reintoduced to England through a captive breeding programme. I also saw plenty of pheasents in the countryside, another introduced bird.

Arriving at The Serpentine in the Park I quickly found my first target birds - 4 male red crested pochards roosting under branches with pochards and only occasionally waking up to have a squabble with each other before going back to sleep.

Red Crested Pochard with Pochard on The Serpentine

Also seen were tufted duck, 2 pairs of shoveler, great crested grebe, common gull and grey heron, all giving amazing close views due to being quite used to the disturbance from people using the Park.

I could hear my second target bird squawking in a tree nearby and eventually found it hidden amongst the leaves - a smart ring necked parakeet looking a little out of place in London in November. I saw and heard quite a few more birds as I walked around the Park as they investigated holes in trees and chased each other around calling noisely.

 Ring Necked Parakeet

Ring Necked Parakeet

I saw a pair of birders intently watching the top of a tree and wandered over to find they were looking at target bird number 3, a male little owl, hidden amongst the leaves. I probably would have struggled to find it on my own so was very glad that I met them and they very kindly walked me to another nearby tree to show me a female tawny owl, target bird 4, roosting in the tree top. I have never seen tawny owl so well, I have only seen them flying amongst the leaves of trees and never perched. I have only heard them this year so it was nice to see one for my year list and again I probably would have struggled to find it without the help of the 2 birders.

 Little Owl

 Little Owl

 Tawny Owl

Tawny Owl

A quick walk around the Round Pond and I found target bird 5, a pair of Egyptian geese with 5 goslings. There had been 8 goslings but I only saw 5, I assumed the missing 3 had been predated but a few days later all 8 were seen together so I don't know where the missing 3 were hiding on my visit.

 Egyptian Goose

 Egyptian Goose with 3 Goslings

Egyptian Goose

And so within 1 hour I had seen 4 (or 4 and a half) year ticks, but the 4 year ticks were all "plastic" (introduced) birds ( little owl was introduced to the UK in the 1800's). However they gave some fantastic views in the bright sunshine and calm conditions and seemed quite at home and appeared to be thriving in the centre of London.