MEGA RARITY: Brünnich's Guillemot in Portland Harbour!

While settling into a nice, calm Boxing Day morning, I decided to check Bird News Extra, just to make sure I wasn't missing anything special on this sunny day. I was missing something. A Brünnich's Guillemot (first for Dorset- actually first for Britain south of Lancashire and fourth for England) had been found off Osprey Quay. Within forty minutes, we were standing at Osprey Quay enjoying great (if rather distant) views of this mega rare Arctic vagrant as it swum among the boats:

Brünnich's Guillemot, Portland Harbour, 26/12/13

What a great first time to use my new camera that I got for Christmas. Nearby, the Black Guillemot was still off Portland Castle (but sadly still too distant for photography) and two Black-throated Divers and one Great Northern Diver were there too. Feeling very much content, we then headed to Hamm Beach, where two more Black-throated Divers and a Red-necked Grebe were present. What a winter Portland Harbour is having!

As if the day could get any better, we decided to stop off at the Weymouth Glossy Ibis, my second in the UK, showing very well in a flooded football field near Radipole Lake:

Glossy Ibis, Weymouth, 26/12/13

What a great day!

Black Guillemot, Portland Harbour

In atrocious weather, we headed to Portland Harbour yesterday morning in pursuit of a first-winter Black Guillemot that had spent the previous two days off Portland Castle. We arrived at first light, and I immediately found the bird distantly off the castle, only for it to disappear underwater and resurface several minutes later further away. This was a new species for me, a very rare one in Dorset, but a common breeder much further north in this country. While they are jet black in summer, with stunningly red feet, at this time of year, they take on a white plumage, with the small black speckles covering their body simply reminders of their more respledent summer coat. The bird was far too distant for any photography, and the violent wind howling into our faces made viewing difficult, but I was still very pleased with seeing this great species. Also in Portland Harbour, we found two Great Northern Divers and a Black-necked Grebe.

Meanwhile, I heard of the tragic and untimely death of Cameron Bespolka in a skiing accident in Austria. I was at school with Cameron for a brief period of time and we spent many hours talking to each other about birding. He was immensely passionate about birds, and had a great knowledge of them, particularly for someone so young. He died at the age of sixteen, having had a very bright future lying in front of him. Rest in peace Cameron, and sincere condolences to all of the Bespolka family.

Common Cranes at Cheselbourne

                                

Common Cranes, Cheselbourne, Dorset 7/12/13

These two magnificent birds were feeding in a roadside field, on the weeds and small plants they favour at this time of year (in summer, their diet changes to one of large insects, reptiles, rodents and small birds). The species is widespread across Europe and Asia, mainly wintering in north east Africa and Southern Asia, though many spend the winter in Europe and approximately 50 do so in England (all of which, other than these two, are in East Anglia). They became extinct as a breeding bird in Britain in the 17th Century due to persecution and habitat destruction, however a small population has now returned to the Norfolk Broads, and a reintroduction scheme is underway in Somerset. Hopefully this stately bird, standing at over one metre tall and with a remarakble two metre wingspan, will return as a regular breeding species in Britain again at some point in the future.

These two birds probably originated in Eastern Europe, though it is impossible to know for sure. We watched them for some time, before they disappeared over the brow of the hill, and then treated us to the resplendent sight of seeing their great wings carrying them into the distance. Watching this breathtaking bird fly over the English countryside felt like we had stepped back 500 years. What a privilege it is to have such a magical species gracing our countryside.

Two new ducks...

We started today at Brand's Bay in Poole, in search of the juvenile surf scoter which has been there for several days. This regular trans-Atlantic vagrant breeds in Alaksa and Northern Canada and normally winters off the coast of north USA and on the Great Lakes, but small numbers arrive in Western Europe every winter. Most are adult males, a magnificent black sea duck with a bright orange and white beak and a remarkably shiny white eye. Sadly this one was a juvenile, a far more drab, brown, bird, yet to develop the resplendent beak and eye of its father, and looking rather more similar to its even more drab mother. Well that was what I was expecting...

Juvenile Surf Scoter, Brand's Bay, 23/11/13

We found it almost as soon as we had arrived, swimming rather distantly out in the middle of the bay. Contrary to my expectations, the bird really was stunning, with its distinctive eider-like head and white spot behind the eye. It is amazing to think of it crossing the Atlantic alone in its first year of life. My photograph does not do this magnificent bird justice at all. It was a new species for me, and an excellent one at that to see this side of the Atlantic.

Brand's Bay was teeming with other waterfowl, particularly great crested grebes, brent geese, red-breasted mergansers, wigeon and shelducks, with several pintail and a female goldeneye very close in to the shore also present, along with three grey plovers. As we walked back up to our car, we came across a group of four (!) Dartford warblers flitting about the heather. What a great place!

We then headed towards Portland. At Ferrybridge, there were several hundred brent geese present, as well as a very nice total of 130 Mediterranean gulls. Sadly there was no sign of either of the black brant which winter there each year. The highlight for me was the presence of three knots, my first in Dorset.

Knot with a Mediterranean Gull in the background, Ferrybridge, 23/11/13

Unfortunately a brief check of Portland Harbour resulted in nothing more than several red-breasted mergansers and great crested grebes, and a distant small grebe, most likely a black-necked, so we moved on to Abbotsbury. We hoped to find the wintering scaup there, and eventually a tedious search through a distant large tufted duck and pochard flock, as viewed from the World War II tank traps at the corner of the swannery, resulted in finding three scaup together. This scarce winter visitor to Britain from its breeding grounds in Siberia and north-eastern most Scandinavia was a new species for me, and particularly satisfying as we had missed them last year at the Swannery.

Scaup, Abbotsbury Swannery, 23/11/13

Sadly they were extremely distant (hence the rubbish record shot!) due to the difficulties of viewing birds in the swannery during the winter months when it is closed, and the lack of public access to the fleet side of Chesil Beach, but their clear pale backs stood out from the tufted ducks. It should be getting harder and harder for me to find two new species on one day, but I'm not having any difficulty yet. I hope that continues!

Red-breasted Goose!

On the 31st October, we headed down to Milford-on-sea in Hampshire. Our quarry was a red-breasted goose that had been present with a flock of brent geese in the fields around Sturt Pond for several weeks. This stunningly-colourful small goose breeds in Arctic Siberia and winters around the Black Sea and in Azerbaijan. They are threatened with extinction, following a large decrease in numbers in recent years and increased threats to their breeding and wintering grounds from increasing development. Very small numbers arrive in Britain each year, almost always with flocks of barnacle or brent geese in late Autumn. It has been a bit of a bogey bird for me, and I have tried (and failed!) to see it twice around the Exe Estuary in Devon and at Christchurch Harbour in Dorset, but I was hoping for a fourth time lucky.

We arrived at Milford-on-sea, only to be greeted by the sight of a complete lack of any geese in the fields surrounding Sturt Pond. We decided to continue, towards Hurst Point, hoping to come across a brent goose flock. Finally, we found several brents feeding on some of the grass islands in the Solent next to Hurst Point. Scanning them revealed several wigeon and shelduck, and finally the red-breasted goose! It was feeding with five brent geese about 400 metres away, occasionally showing well, but generally hiding in the long grass. We watched it for about half an hour, before it disappeared into even longer grass, in which we couldn't see. It was a superb new species for me, my fifth BBRC rarity, and certainly one of my favourite species that I have seen in Britain. Nearby were several rock pipits and turnstones, but nothing else of any note.

We then headed to Portland, hoping to find any of the scarcer species that had been seen around Ferrybridge and Chesil Cove in the previous few days. At Ferrybridge, there were several bar-tailed godwits, turnstones, ringed plovers, dunlins, two grey plovers and one sanderling, as well as a single Mediterranean gull. Sadly there was no sign of any brent geese, and thus of my hoped for black brant geese. Chesil Cove was almost completely empty, with just a single Mediterranean gull of any note. Portland Harbour was of far greater interest, with a new species for me found off Portland Castle. It was a winter plumage red-necked grebe, a scarce winter visitor to Britain from Eastern Europe. It would only show for about five seconds at a time, before diving back under, but it was a very pleasing bird to see. There was nothing else of any note in the harbour, so we headed back to Hilfield very content with a great day.

September and early October

The last seven weeks have been extremely hectic, but there has been some time for birdwatching as well.

On the 21st September, I visited Hengistbury Head on an extremely windy and rainy day. I failed to find the wryneck which had been present for several days, and migrants in general were very few and far between. The bird of the day was a late(ish) Arctic tern that flew past the Beach Huts there, my first in Dorset.

On the 27 September, I had a far more successful trip, this time to Normandy and Keyhaven Marshes in Hampshire. On Normandy Marsh, I found three ruff, five greenshanks, two bar-tailed godwits and three spotted redshanks among large numbers of the more common wader species, including several grey plovers. Nearby, a field was swarming with meadow pipits and yellow wagtails, the latter numbering at least seventy. This magnificent, but rapidly declining, summer visitor no longer breeds in Hampshire, but still passes through the county on their migration south back to Sub-Saharan Africa. Overhead, a bar-headed goose passed. This species is regularly recorded as an escape in Britain and is famous for being reportedly seen migrating over Mt Everest, as it makes its way from countries such as Kazakhstan and Mongolia, south to the Indian Peninsula for winter.

As we headed towards Pennington Marshes, a first calendar year little gull passed on the sea, and several wheatears were found. Sadly there was no sign of the long-billed dowitcher on Keyhaven Lagoon.

My only other trip out of school since then was to a site in the New Forest on the 14th October. There, I heard a crossbill fly over, saw a hawfinch over and what seems set to become my final swallow of the year passing through.

On the 6th October, I had my first day at home since the beginning of September. There was a clear passage of meadow pipits passing over, and with them was a single yellow wagtail, my first at Hilfield. I have also seen my first redwings of winter at Hilfield, but no fieldfares yet- it's only a matter of time!

Portland 7th September

This morning we visited Portland on the last morning before I go back to school.

Just as we arrived, we were told of three ortolans in Suckthumb Quarry. Needless to say, they were no longer there, but I did see a first for me in Britain- an all-too-brief view of a nightingale which we flushed from a bush, allowing us to notice its distinct rufous tail. The only other birds of note around the area were several wheatears and a spotted flycatcher.

After that, we headed down to the Bill, where we came upon a nice little passage of Balearic shearwaters passing to the west. Pelagic seabirds are, along with owls, my favourite family of birds, and this was a new species for me. This slightly more chunky and duskier cousin of the Manx shearwater is very sadly now considered to be critically endangered, due to a range of threats, including predation from cats and rats, increasing development of holiday resorts around their breeding areas and being killed as fishing by-catch. 3000 pairs are believed to remain in the wild, though other figures suggest that up to 30 000 birds may remain, and remarkably it is believed to only be the females which travel to Britain, with the males travelling south, so to see 40 or so passing Portland today was a real treat, but nothing compared to the 382 which passed the Bill last Saturday! It is predicted that the species will become extinct within 40 or so years and it is a great privilege to have seen this highly threatened and increasingly rare visitor to Britain.

The day was not done yet, when a wryneck was reported in the top fields, we headed up there. On the way, we passed the strange and very intriguing sight of about 30 people trudging through the field next to the obs! Normally this is an almost empty field, so we knew something great must have been seen. It turned out to be a corncrake that had been flushed by a person waking through the field earlier. Sadly our attempts to flush the bird failed- it had clearly hidden itself away in the long grass so a potential new British bird for me was missed- not that I particularly minded after the unforgettable views I had of this species in Kenya two years ago.

We then heard of a wryneck found in the top fields, so raced up there. It had been flushed and had flown out of sight by the time we arrived, so unfortunately we missed it. Compensation came very soon however, when an ortolan bunting was find nearby and we arrived just in time to see it fly off calling towards the observatory. This was a new species in Britain for me, a really rather scarce passage migrant here that is bizarrely trapped for food in France during the autumn. My only previous sightings of the species came in Jordan last year. Around the area we also found up to 20 whinchats, 50 wheatears and 3 yellow and one white wagtails, alongside good numbers of commoner migrants like whitethroats and meadow pipits, as well as a garden warbler and a fly over tree pipit (my first at Portland).

It was also a good week at Hilfield, with two new species for the area seen by me. The first was a stunning lesser whitethroat calling from its perch in the area of our garden I call the 'warbler patch' ( because it is always swarming with blackcaps, willows and chiffs). I have been looking in this area regularly, knowing that it would be the most likely place for a scarcer bird to appear in the garden due to its abundance of berries, so to get this reward was very satisfying! The second was, like I saw at Portland, a flyover tree pipit. I first heard its distinctive, higher pitched version of a pied wagtail's call, and soon managed to find its silhouette in undulating flight right over the house. The only other bird of note seen was a peregrine that went over chasing someone's racing pigeons!

A largely non-birding trip to Brownsea Island gave me my first mainland Britain red squirrel and a flock of 8 spoonbills on the lagoon was a nice bonus.