Spring is here!

On the 3rd April, my first two Swallows of the year flew through Hilfield in amidst some impressive Meadow Pipit and Pied Wagtail passage. Besides the many calling Chiffchaffs, however, no other Spring migrants have reached here quite yet, but it shouldn't be too long before they do.

This morning, I decided to take a break from my revision to go and search for some Spring birds. I started at Portland Harbour, where I found my first Sandwich Tern of the year, along with numerous Red-breasted Mergansers and Great Crested Grebes, but very little else.

I then headed to Portland Bill. There was a great deal of activity in the Observatory garden, with numerous Chiffchaffs and Willow Warblers clearly having arrived, as well as lots of Linnets, Meadow Pipits and Goldfinches overhead. I also saw my first Blackcaps of the year- the female that has spent the entire winter, along with a freshly-arrived male.

This female Blackcap has been eating apples at Portland Bird Observatory since November.

There was also a decent passage of Hirundines, which was very pleasing to witness, with decent numbers of Swallows and Sand Martins (but sadly no House Martins) passing through.

After a long wait, I finally caught a glimpse of a Firecrest, Britain's smallest bird, flitting about the garden, only my second sighting of the species in Britain. I soon saw another, along with two Goldcrests. These really are fantastic birds.

A brief sea-watch at the Bill yielded no more than a decent number of Gannets, Fulmars, Kittiwakes, Razorbills and Guillemots.

I then headed to Abbotsbury Swannery, where I found the Black-winged Stilt that was found two days ago on the Meadow Pool (the same pool on which I saw a Green-winged Teal in March). It was very distant, but as always an absolute pleasure to see.

Not the best picture, but a distant photo of the Black-winged Stilt at Abbotsbury. Hopefully 2015 will be as good for the species in Britain as last year was!

I was pleased to finally see the Long-tailed Ducks here as well. It's taken me a very long time to see them at the Swannery this winter! Unfortunately, there was no sign of the earlier-reported Garganey pair, but hopefully I will see some of this great duck species later on in the summer on the Somerset Levels.

Meanwhile, I am heading off to the Highlands next week for the first time ever. I can't wait to see what wildlife I can find up there!

Radipole, 30th March

I was in Dorchester for the morning of the 30th, so I decided to make the short(ish) detour to Radipole before heading home. I quickly found the bird I was searching for:

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake RSPB. This species is a regular vagrant to Britain from North America, and a very pleasing new bird for me.

This birder was too busy checking his camera to notice what a fantastic picture he could have taken of the Bonaparte's Gull right in front of him!

Meanwhile, Spring migrants seem to be in very short supply at the moment. One year ago yesterday, I had this fantastic Redstart appear in the garden: http://gregorsbirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/redstart-in-garden.html, followed my a Blackcap on the 30th and my earliest-ever Swallow on the 31st. It really doesn't feel like there will be a repeat this year, though a decent number of Chiffchaffs are in song around the garden. Hopefully, a few more Spring migrants will be joining them soon!

This very nice pair of Red-legged Partridges have been spending a lot of time in the garden recently.

Maiden Castle

A Snow Bunting that has been showing well at Maiden Castle has been tempting me all week, and with a free morning on Sunday, I decided that the short journey to the castle would be well worth making.

The bird was showing fantastically well, feeding in a stubble field right next to the car park.

Snow Bunting, Maiden Castle. It was fantastically well-camouflaged.

It was fantastic to see such an awesome bird so close to home at such a cool location. The bird is quite rare in Dorset (this is the only record of the bird in the county this winter other than a couple of fly-over individuals on the coast), and an inland record is rarer still. It really was a great experience to see this Arctic species with the backdrop of an ancient castle. 

Meanwhile, the Chiffchaffs are back in song at Hilfield, Last year, I had seen Swallow, Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Common Redstart here by the end of the month, so hopefully a few more Spring migrants will be arriving here soon!

14-15th March

As I was in London on the 14th March, I decided to visit Hyde Park, mainly in search of the Scaup that has spent the winter there, but also to see some of the park's other waterfowl that often show at very close quarters.

Sadly, I discovered that my camera had run out of battery before arriving at the park. I was, however, able to enjoy fantastic views of the very tame Mute Swans; Canada, Egyptian and Greylag Geese; Coots; Moorhens; Mallards and Tufted Ducks. I was really pleased to find a female Goldeneye skulking around the base of the reeds on the Serpentine. This bird is extremely likely to be wild as no collection is kept at the park. Eventually I found the Scaup, bizarrely coming to the bread someone was feeding to the numerous Coots, Ducks, Geese and Gulls. I couldn't quite believe that it was a Scaup- how on could this species, usually found on the sea in Britain, or alternatively on large lakes and reservoirs, be so tame?!! I really wish that my camera was working, though I did try to take some pictures on my phone (which, to make things worse, I later discovered had a dirty lense.).

Scaup, Hyde Park. These photos, taken with my phone's dodgy camera really don't do justice to the amazing sight of this remarkably tame Scaup (the bread it was being fed can be seen in a couple of these pictures). The bird was literally no more than three feet from me at times!

Before coming across the Scaup, I had found five Ring-necked Parakeets squawking around the park. These birds really are completely out of place on a cold, grey London day, but nevertheless an enjoyable one to see.

I was determined to find my first summer migrants of the year on the 15th. I headed down to Portland Bill, where I quickly found a group of five Wheatears. More Wheatears continued appearing, as I saw at least 25 in total. The arrival of Wheatears at Portland has been one of my birding highlights of every year since I have been living in Dorset, and with this my last March in the county, there was a touch of nostalgia to the occasion today.

Wheatears, Portland Bill. Without a doubt, this is one of my favourite British birds.

Five Fulmars passed the Bill, the first of the year for me, but there was very little else of note around the Bill. As always, Rock Pipits were everywhere:

Rock Pipit, Portland Bill

Razorbill (top left) and two Guillemots, Portland Bill. It was very nice to see the seabirds back on their nests, though sadly I couldn't find any Puffins.

I then headed to Avalanche Road, followed by Reap Lane. I saw nothing of any real note at either place. Then, I went to Portland Castle, where I found at least six Chiffchaffs.

Chiffchaff, Portland Castle

Next stop was Ferrybridge, where I finally found my first Ringed Plovers of the year, with eight present. I then continued on to Lodmoor. I sadly failed to find any hirundines, nor any waders, though a Marsh Harrier and these two Spoonbills certainly made the visit worthwhile.

Spoonbills, Lodmoor. They seemed to be performing some sort of mating ritual (which can sort of be seen in the top picture). Perhaps they will stay and who knows what may happen??

Finally, I headed to Radipole, where again I failed to find any Sand Martins (the cold, overcast conditions certainly weren't conducive to finding this species). A few Chiffchaffs and a single Snipe that flew overhead were the only birds of any note on show.

Shelduck; Black-headed, Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Radipole

Meanwhile, with five additions in the past two days (Scaup, Ring-necked Parakeet, Wheatear, Fulmar and Ringed Plover), my year total has moved onto 130- just 370 left to reach my target of 500 birds worldwide this year!

Topsham area 8th March

As I was visiting my grandparents in Devon today, I decided to head down a little early to visit two of the RSPB reserves in Topsham.

My first stop was Darts Farm RSPB, where I hoped to find the magnificent Penduline Tits that have been spending the winter there. Arriving at the bird hide, I was pleasantly surprised to see the rather uninspiring-looking miniature reed bed teeming with birds, most Reed Buntings, Wrens and Blue and Great Tits, along with the occasional Goldfinch, Meadow Pipit and Chiffchaff (about seven or so). Sadly, however, no Pendulines. I waited for over an hour, before deciding that it would be worth visiting the nearby Bowling Green Marsh RSPB, after which I would check Darts Farm again.

There was a great number of birds present on the marsh, with large flocks of Wigeon, Shelduck, Mallard, Teal and Canada Geese, along with several Pintails, Pochards and Tufted Ducks. A large wader flock contained both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed (my first of the year) Godwits, Curlews, Redshanks and a single Avocet. Moving on to the viewing platform, I was pleased to find a Spotted Redshank in amongst the more common waders.

Spotted Redshank, Exe Estuary

Nearby, it was awesome to find three Water Rails creeping about the edge of a flooded field, along with a Snipe.

I then headed back to Darts Farm. Again, the Pendulines were not on show, though seeing a Water Rail just in front of the hide was a brilliant surprise.

Water Rail, Darts Farm RSPB

A pair of Egyptian Geese that flew over were my first this year.

I decided at this point to head to my grandparents' house. On the way, I checked the beach at Sidmouth. I was pleased to find a large number of Oystercatchers and Turnstones here, but best of all were four Purple Sandpipers.

Turnstone and Purple Sandpipers, Sidmouth

I decided that I needed to check Darts Farm one more time before heading home. Fantastically, the two Penduline Tits had reappeared and they were showing brilliantly in the early evening sun.

These awesome birds look kind of like miniature Red-backed Shrikes I think.

Penduline Tit, Darts Farm. The species is still a rare vagrant to Britain, despite expanding its breeding range into Western Europe in recent decades.

The Pendulines were no further than three metres away from me, and like Bearded Tits, they seemed completely unaware of my presence. Without a doubt, watching these birds was one of my favourite birding experiences in the UK, it was just brilliant. I could have stayed all evening, but suddenly the birds flew off and hid themselves deep within a willow tree and so I headed back to Dorset. What a great day!

The Fleet area, 6th March

On the 1st March, I visited Wyke Down in the east of Dorset in search of some of the special birds of prey that spend the winter there. Sadly, seven Buzzards and three Kestrels were the only raptors that showed- no Red Kites, Hen Harriers, Merlins or Short-eared Owls... Two Corn Buntings, a dozen or so Reed Buntings and truly enormous flocks of Black-headed Gulls and Redwings made for great spectacles.

Four days later, I was lucky enough to stumble upon my first Tawny Owl this year that was flushed by a Blackbird from its roost in the garden. This was my first daytime sighting of this awesome species.

On the 6th, I decided to explore the area around Abbotsbury. Starting at the Swannery, I was disappointed that I was unable to find any Scaup or Long-tailed Ducks, but I had (extremely) distant views of the Greenland White-fronted Goose that has spent the winter in the area, my third sighting of this bird. The only ducks I could find were Shelducks, Wigeon, Teal and Mallards.

I then moved on, visiting Rodden Hive. Here, I hoped to find the flock of Barnacle Geese and some of the waders that have been seen there regularly this winter. Being high tide, there was very little exposed habitat available for waders, though a flock of Redshank and one Oystercatcher were present. On top of that, four Little Egrets and several Ducks and Coots were present, but presumably the Geese have moved northeast to their breeding grounds.

I then went to Ferrybridge, hoping for some waders or perhaps an early Wheatear or hirundine. Sadly, once more, I drew blank, with just a single Curlew, several distant Oystercatchers and a single Little Egret present. The dog walkers strolling across the beach can't have helped things. 

Hearing news of what-would-be a new bird for me present at Abbotsbury Swannery, I headed straight back. Looking onto the Meadow Pool distantly from the road, I quickly found the Greenland White-fronted Goose again, and a little later, a fantastic Green-winged Teal in amongst a large group of Common Teal, Wigeon and Shovellers. This species is a regular vagrant to Britain from its usual range of North America and it was awesome to see a bird that has travelled so far. 

I finished the day at West Bexington, where I had been hoping to find one of the Cirl Buntings that has spent the winter there. Sadly, I didn't see any, but a magnificent Barn Owl hunting over the fields made the trip very worthwhile.

Barn Owl, West Bexington

Start of 2015

2015 promises to be a very exciting year for me (at least the second half of it does!) as I leave school and then embark on 7 months of travelling, before finishing up at my new home in Brisbane, Australia. In April I am visiting Scotland for the first time, which will hopefully give me the opportunity to see some of the country's amazing wildlife, followed by leaving school in June (after my A-levels!). I have booked a bus trip from San Fransisco to New York from mid-July to mid-August, which is hugely exciting as I will finally get to visit the amazing country that is the USA, somewhere I have always wanted to go to. After this, I will be volunteering for three months in northern Kenya, which will be followed by a short time in Queensland before I finish the year with about two months in one of my favourite places in the world, New Zealand. I'm hoping to visit Tasmania in early 2016 before I start at the University of Queensland in Brisbane at the end of February. I really can't wait!

In the meantime, however, I have to get on with finishing my A-level exams in Dorset. I have set myself the challenge of seeing 500 species of bird this calendar year and so I have been taking as many opportunities as I can to go birding in pursuit of this number. In this post, I'll go through the birding highlights of my year so far.

I made a brief visit to Portland Harbour on the 2nd of January, where the highlights (in very dull light) were my second-ever Red-necked Grebe, about five Slavonian Grebes, three Common Eider and four Great Northern Divers. I finished the day with a year total of 50- only 450 to go!

I had a great day of birdwatching around the Portland-Weymouth area on the 5th. I started at Maiden Castle near Dorchester, where I managed to find my main two targets, Golden Plover (about 1000 seen) and Corn Bunting, almost immediately, along with several other birds that were new for the year, such as Lapwing and Stonechat. I then visited Weymouth's fantastic Radipole Lake RSPB. Here, I added a number of waterfowl species to year list, including the reserve's resident Hooded Merganser (personally, I feel that this is a wild bird, so I'm counting it). A Cetti's Warbler was a fantastic bonus!

Hooded Merganser, Radipole Lake RSPB. What an awesome bird!

I then returned to Portland Harbour, and this time I found the Black-necked Grebe flock off Sandsfoot Castle along with the usual selection of Slavonian Grebes, Great Northern Divers, Eiders, Red-breasted Mergansers, etc. 

Slavonian Grebes off Sandsfoot Castle

I then headed to Portland Castle and this time the regular Black Guillemot was showing fantastically well, sat on buoy relatively close to the shore.

Black Guillemot off Portland Castle

Ferrybridge was bizarrely devoid of any waders at all, other than a number of Oystercatchers. I don't think I've ever been here before without seeing Dunlin!

I continued on to Portland Bill. A great number of seabirds were passing in the windy conditions, with thousands of Guillemots and Razorbills and dozens of Kittiwakes and Gannets. Sadly I was unable to find any Fulmars nor the Great Skua seen earlier in the day. After a prolonged search, I eventually found the fantastic six Purple Sandpipers showing brilliantly as they fed perilously close to the rough sea with a group of Turnstones.

Purple Sandpiper, Portland Bill

I then walked up to the Obs Quarry and was extremely fortunate to find the Little Owl showing brilliantly there.

Spot the Little Owl!

Little Owl, Obs Quarry, Portland

A brief search around Nothe Fort as it was getting dark sadly produced no Black Redstarts, but it was great to see three Great Northern Divers offshore and about 15 Chiffchaffs that have chosen to winter in the coniferous trees around the car park. This brought my 2015 total to 84.

I continued to add to that total over the next few days around Sherborne and Hilfield, with the highlights being a fantastic Barn Owl at Hilfield LNR and a flock of several hundred Fieldfares on Hilfield Hill. A rather quiet visit to Lodmoor RSPB on the 17th was made worthwhile by the sight of two Marsh Harriers that flew low over my head (they were too fast for a photo though!). Despite a lack of any other birds of any great interest, I really enjoyed watching some of the more common species at close quarters.

Gadwall, Lodmoor RSPB.

Tufted Duck, Lodmoor RSPB

Lapwing, Lodmoor RSPB

On the way home, it was very pleasing to find a pair of Wigeon very close to Hilfield, at Up Cerne, along with a number of Little Grebes and Teal.

On the 24th, I had another great morning around Weymouth. Starting at Portland Castle, I quickly found a Black Redstart and finally two Dunlin were at Ferrybridge. At Radipole Lake RSPB, I was incredibly fortunate to come across to groups of Bearded Tits. These really are such awesome birds and on this occasion I managed to take a couple of photographs of them for the first time.

Bearded Tit, Radipole Lake RSPB. This is definitely one of my favourite birds I have seen anywhere in the world.

This Reed Bunting was also a first for me in 2015.

I heard that a Greenland White-fronted Goose was showing well in front of the North Hide, so I rushed over there to find it. This is the first-ever record at Radipole and is presumably the same individual that I saw at Abbotsbury in November.

Greenland White-fronted Goose, Radipole Lake RSPB.

This Marsh Harrier was also showing fantastically from the North Hide

The next day, I visited Arne RSPB at Studland, with high hopes of finding some of Poole Harbour's fantastic specialities. Sadly, the luck really wasn't with me as I missed a huge number of great birds, including Spoonbill, Dartford Warbler and Hen Harrier. I suppose I have become rather complacent to feel disappointed to feel disappointed by a visit during which I 'only' saw a pair of Peregrine Falcons, a Merlin, two Marsh Harriers and an enormous flock of Avocet!

This Green Woodpecker was one of seven new species for me in 2015 that I saw at Arne on the 25th.

Arne is teeming with magnificent Sika Deer. This species was originally introduced to Brownsea Island for hunting purposes in the 19th Century from East Asia, however, amazingly, several individuals managed to swim across Poole Harbour to Studland, where there is now a thriving population, which is spreading rapidly throughout south Dorset.

Part of Arne's huge wintering Avocet flock. It's such a privilege to be able to see so many of this species that was once extremely rare in the UK. The grey birds are Black-tailed Godwits.

I then headed to Brand's Bay, hoping for Dartford Warblers, seaducks and some of the wader species I had missed at Arne. Sadly a distant flock of Pintail was the only new bird for the year, while seeing a Marsh Harrier was a fantastic bonus. I later discovered that I had missed a Hen Harrier flying over the bay by about five minutes!

Finally, I visited Middle Beach at Studland, hoping to find some seabirds offshore. I wasn't disappointed, with about 11 Slavonian and 6 Black-necked Grebes seen, along with a Great Northern Diver and 10 or so Common Scoter, which brought the year total to 108.

On the 30th, I revisited Winterbourne Abbas Cress Beds, which had brought me my first-ever Jack Snipes exactly a month ago. Sure enough, on this occasion, I was just as lucky, as three Jack Snipe were flushed along with about 20 Common Snipes by a passing Buzzard.

The next day, I paid a very quick visit to Yeovil's Ninesprings Country Park. This park is known for only one thing in birding terms- its 30-strong flock of Mandarin Ducks that spend the winter here. These birds were incredibly tame, but they are truly feral individuals. Needless to say, seeing these fantastically brightly-coloured ducks in a rather dingy park on a cold and grey Yeovil day made for a rather surreal combination!

Mandarin Ducks, Ninesprings Country Park, Yeovil

On the 16th February, I made a quick detour to Lodmoor RSPB to look for the two Spoonbills found there the previous day. I quickly found them and I enjoyed the great experience of watching this awesome species for a decent amount of time. Sadly I had failed to bring my camera with me.

I headed up to London later that day. I had seen that the bird I most wanted to see in the UK before I move to Australia had been showing well in Lincolnshire for about two weeks. When I discovered that to get to where it was required just a 45-minute journey on the train to Peterborough, followed by a short taxi journey to the Deeping Lakes Nature Reserve, I knew it had to be done. My Dad and I got up early the next day and were at the reserve by 8.20. Ours hearts were pounding as we headed towards the hide from which it had been seen regularly for so many days, knowing that with our luck it was almost certain that it had moved on overnight. 

The feeling when I found the bird roosting on the island in front of the hide was initially one of extreme relief, followed by complete joy. Finally, I had seen this incredibly awesome species, and there it was, fast asleep just in front of me!

Long-eared Owl!!!!! 

We watched the bird for about an hour, as it occasionally preened itself, on several occasions showing its awesome bright-orange eyes. After dipping on the bird so many times (at Exminster Marshes RSPB, Portland Bill five times, Steart and most painfully at Elmley NNR on the Isle of Sheppey), it was enormously pleasing to finally see the bird and to see it so well was an amazing privilege. Without a doubt, it is one of Britain's most awesome birds and I will certainly never forget this sighting.

The experience was added to by the presence of several other species that are scarce in the south-west. A magnificent drake Goldeneye was just in front of us, between us and the island that the Owl was on.

Drake Goldeneye at Deeping Lakes NR. This fantastic duck was very common at the reserve, with about 30 seen. 

Nearby, a pair of Goosanders paid a quick visit. 

Goosanders, Deeping Lakes NR

I also saw my first Kingfishers of the year, a species that is always a great pleasure to see, and my first Greylag Geese (I have never been able to understand why this bird is so rare in Dorset, but so common seemingly everywhere else in the UK!). In amongst the numerous Greylags was this bird:

Pink-footed Goose, Deeping Lakes NR

This was a great way to end an excellent morning, and much to many of the reserve's wardens and other visiting birders, our taxi soon arrived to take us back to Peterborough station (I can imagine that there can't have been many other birds who've arrived there in a black cab!). Now it is 117 down, 383 to go in my pursuit of 500 this year!