The reason I own a DSLR....

....to leave it home assuming that it would just be more of the same stuff.
Holes Bay was excellent again today. A slightly late start following a heavy night at the mighty Sound Circus got me to the site as the tide was starting to come up. Loads of waders right in close to the path. Luckily I had the compact (just in case i needed a record shot of the Baikal Teal i'm blatantly going to find there before the winters up) so I could resort to digi-binning.


Lapwing


Adult Yellow-legged Gull ,a 1st winter was over at Kerry Foods with a load of mixed commoner gulls who had managed to get into the bins.


2 of the three Spoonbills present
Also had a Jack Snipe and 4 Spotted Redshanks which gave ideal photo opportunites for the DSLR but evaded being digi-binned.

Yesterday I only managed a quick look down Baiter and Poole Park before heading up to campus for a revision session. Nothing unusual down there and no sign of Barney G. Apparently theres been a few other Barnacles turning up along the Dorset coast, potentially wild birds from Holland fleeing the cold. I was counting it anyway but that information helps ease the guilt.


Kingfisher


Buzzard causing the whole harbour to go apeshit


This Med Gull should be looking rather fine shortly

One of c40 Siskins in the park

The lotties were a bit more lethargic than usual in the cold

Pied Wagtai looking for a drink

Once Bittern.......

OMG, WTF!!!! Yes, I just went birding ,and guess what, I really enjoyed it.
Last year, after moving down to Poole/Bournemouth, my birding effort was embarrasingly pathetic. Having spent half the year living on the Farnes, with all sorts of cool seabirds and potential rares literally on my doorstep, it came as a bit of shock to find myself in a situation where I would have to catch a bus or walk for a while to get into a decent bit of habitat, this, along with plenty of other uni-based distraction resulted in me going birding about 5 times in the last 3 months of the year, a very poor show.

Now, i'm not really one for New Years Resolutions, all this bollocks about turning over a new leaf, becoming a better person and shit like that .If youre a rubbish twat in 2009 ,chances are you're going to be a rubbish twat in 2010. However, before I came back down here from Somerset a few days ago, I did promise myself that i would get out and about a bit more, and even decided to do a self-found year list to help motivate me. I got bored of the list somewhere between writing in Great Tit and Blue Tit (probably at Coal Tit come to think of it) so i've sacked that off, but the reasoning is still there.
Yesterday I went out to Holes Bay, where I was happy to see that it was low tide, Dorset birders will know that Holes Bay is never at low tide, somehow, its always lapping around the footpath and hence has shit all waders there, but yesterday it was absolutely rammed with birds. 500 odd blackwits, nearly 300 avocets and crawling with redshanks and dunlins. Unfortunately, I didnt take any gloves and my fingers actually stuck to my tripod so I cried off home earlier than I should have but I had seen enough to tempt me out again this morning.


Avocet at Holes Bay

This morningI went down to Baiter Park, where there were 14 spanking Med Gulls, all but one of which (a 2nd winter) were adults, like this one.

A greenshank was showing nicely right next to the path

Over the railway line this Barnacle Goose was sat on the ice with Canada Geese at Poole Park. A little bit dodgy maybe, fuck it, if i was still keeping a self-found year list I'd have that straight on there

After a six-pack of hot cross buns from sainsburys for lunch (my way of banishing any remainign thoughts of christmassy times and looking forward to easter), it was off to Hatch pond for a spot of filthy twitching. The goal was to see the Bitterns that have been hanging around all winter and started showing well now that the ice is forcing them out of the reeds. Shortly after arriving, one bird flew over and into the reeds:

Probably the worst photo of a Bittern ever, and my first (and still only) shot of this species ,as it dropped into the reeds.

After landing ,the bird only gave occassional glimpses of eye or bill from deep in the reeds. Walking around to the other side of the pond, a second Bittern was sitting on the edge of the reeds but quickly turned around and crept back in.

Little groups of teal were whizzing around the place. My favourite duck I think

This Goosander wsa fishing close into the edge of the pond, at one point it tried to pikey a fish off a Cormorant, but quickly got told where to go.

And finally, in an attempt to get ove the cold, heres a pair of Scarelt Macaws patrolling the rainforest in a toasty southern Costa Rica pretty much this time last year.

Costa Rica Pt 1

After Nicaragua it wa on to Costa Rica, via an overnight ferry crossing of Lago Omtepe.

Conditions on the boat were far from luxury


But were compensated by a nice sunset

First birding stop in Costa Rica was La Fortuna and Arenal Volcano. A day trip up to the grounds of Arenal Observatory Lodge produced a few nice sightings:

Spotted Antbird


Black-cheeked Woodpecker


Chestnut-sided Warbler

Green Honeycreeper

Crimson-collared Tanager

Violet-headed Hummingbird

Broad-billed Motmot

White Hawk

Procrastination for the nation

It may come as a bit of a shock to you to see this blog back in action following a lengthy spell of inactivity. Bascially i've been so busy with uni stuff that I haven't had the time to even go birding, let alone write it up on here.
However, now i'm back in Somerset for the christmas holidays, i'm bored out of my skull and need something to pass the time. I really should be revising for chemistry and biology exams that I have in a couple of weeks time, but really can't face that so, in a desperate attempt to put that off, remembered that my posting of photos from my epic Ameicas trip lst year was incomplete, so here's the next installment, nearly in real time, plus a year of course.

After a mental New Years in the Yucatan, we whipped through Belize and into Guatemala where we camped at the legendary mayan ruin site of Tikal for a few days.

Highlights here included this super rare Orange-breasted Falcon that was nesting on the scaffolding being used to repair one of the pyramids


Occelated Turkeys, wandering around the temples


And this young Pheasant Cuckoo skulking in the scrub alongside the track that lead to the airfield



Not hanging around, we exited Guatemala so quickly that we somehow missed the immigration departure point, oops. A short boat trip later and we were in Honduras, where we camped near Lago Yojoa. We took a short trip into the cloud forest, where we were rewarded with some mega shit more normally seen in Chiapas in Mexico.
Prevost's Ground Sparrow, of the muttonchopus subspecies


Bushy-crested Jay

errm, not sure I remember this one, possibly chestnut-capped warbler, or something along those lines

Oh Yeah, The Boy: Resplendant Quetzal, an awesome sighting, one of the best of the trip. Terribly evocative and atmospheric and just plain amazing as it floated around in the mist through gaps in the canopy

Blue and White Mockingbird. We didnt even realise that his occurred in the area we were so casued a bit of jubiliation at the time

Rusty Sparrow

And finally, a Howler Monkey, pretty much the only picture I took in Nicaragua, thanks to a vicious bout of food poisoning that struck me for most of our time in the country.

Out with a Bang!!!

Well, thats it. My time on the Farnes is over. After 6 fantastic months at at one of the most amazing places in the world, i've moved back down South to start a degree in Ecology and Wildlife Conservation at Bournemouth University.
The Autumn had been really slow migrant-wise on the islands until this last week, and then it all went absolutely mental. Last Friday, a Minke Whale cruised North between the islands and the mainlands, and I managed to get decent views of this dinky whale and secure a British cetacean tick. We were all really happy with that, but what happened next blew us all away. On Sunday, the skipper of a dive boat gave us a call to alert us to a Humpback Whale off Longstone, the most easterly of the island group. Frustratingly, Longstone was blocking our view so we sped out in the zodiac to the Big Harcar to get a clearer view. By the time we got there the beast had moved a fair way to the North but we were still treated to the incredible sight of this 40-ton monster breaching clean out of the water, and coming down with an almighty splash. As far as worldwide wildlife spectacles go, witnessing this behaviour has got to rate up near the top, so to observe it in British waters was just phenomonal, definately the highlight of my year so far.

Surely things couldnt get any better, but on monday they surely did. A quick trip over to Staple Island ib the morning revealed a Barred Warbler lumbering around the sparse vegetation, a long awaited first of the year on what has become a very reliable site for this species on recent years.




A seawatch soon after saw good numbers of Manxies passing close by, and then unbelievably, more cetaceans, this time 3+ Risso's Dolphins that lingered off the South end of the Islands for c10 minutes, giving good views of their tall dorsal fins and scarred bodies, proving that they really are so much more than 'gay sharks'. The Risso's were a cetacean world tick for me, so I was feeling pretty bloody happy.
An hour or so later, David Steel and Jason Moss, the 2 birders on Inner Farne, came over to have alook at the Barred Warbler with us. At one point, the Warbler flew a short distance and dropped into a weedy gulley, only for another bird to jump out onto the rocks, a Bluethroat!!!!



Quality stuff, having birded Staple thoroughly earlier, this was clearly a new bird in, something mega wa happening. Inspired by this, we drove out to Longstone, where we greeted by a Goldcrest, 2 Willow Warblers and 2 Lesser Whitethroats scarmbling around on the seaweed, and then, a Common Rosefinch appeared too, this was just getting better and better.

It was starting to get dark by now, so headed back to Brownsman to celebrate a superb day. As we walked up towards the cottage, a chunky, pale bird flew up from the nettles at our feet. As it flew away, I knew immediately that it was a bird I had never seen before, it just looked wierd. luckily it landed on the wall of the veg garden, bins up, and, BLACK-HEADED BUNTING, HOLY SHIT!!!! The bird dropped down behind the wall straight away, leaving us rolling around on the ground, punching the air and generally going apeshit until we realised that we really ought to crack on with the ardous task of ruling out Red-headed Bunting. The bird showed well on the ground before flying back to wall giving us great views through the scope and allowing me to grab some record shots in the gloom.

The black streaks on the crown, shadow of a black-face and rufous tint to the scapulars are all spot on for Black-headed Bunting. Some books are pretty useless when it comes to identifying immature black/red-headed bunts but it seems that with good views there shouldnt be too much of a problem.

Cor, he's a Shearwater

With a 3-4 West-nor-west this morning, and no new migrants on the land, along with an overnight departure of yesterdays birds (including the Icky), I settled down for a morning of data entry on the computer (a big job when you have as many seabird nests to monitor as we do). Just minutes after turing on the computer, Head Warden David Steele called us on the radio to warn us that some lads seawatching down the coast at Newbiggin had just had a Cory's Shearwater heading North. Myself and fellow brownsman warden Adam Scott needed no further excuses to abandon work (come on, it's a Saturday) and headed down to the seawatching spot at the Brownsman South End. It wasnt looking good, with the few manxies that were moving being very far out and with the morning sun right in our faces, we weren't feeling overly confident that we would get the bird.
After an hour, the sky started to cloud over things were looking a little easier, maybe we had a chance. 80 minutes after the Newbiggin sighting, a sudden radio shout from Inner Farne, they had the bird and it was heading our way. After a few frantic seconds searching through distant manxies, the beast loomed into view no more than 300 metres offshore, and slowly sauntered past, giving me my best views ever of this awesome seabird. it showed so well that I was able to pass the scope on to Adam, giving him great views of a British Tick and I even managed to grab a few photos that could just possibly be classed as 'record shots'.
This was an excellent example of how good communication between coastal sites can allow plenty of people to enjoy great birds like this, so many thanks to the guys down at Newbiggin, Cheers Lads!!!

Icky at last!!

Well, I had been hoping to update this blog quite frequently this autumn with tales of rares and mega falls on the Farnes, however to be perfectly blunt, the autumn thus far has been absolute shit, no two ways about it.
Like the rest of the country, we've been dominated by howling westerlies and clear skies, which for an east-coast site like us is a total waste of time.
At long last, wednesday night and thursday morning gave us a brief spell of easterlies, as the wind direction backed a full 300 odd degrees to the nor-westerlies we're stuck in now. Yesterday (thursday) was quite an exciting day, with The Farnes beating its record day counts for Teal and Swallow, with 894 and 248 north respectively, along with the first Ruff and Goosander of the year. However it failed to produce any of the much anticipated rares, just a few commoner land migrants. And then the Nor-westerly picked up to Severe Gale Force 9 and driving rain all night and all this morning, effectively the end of any rare hopes.
Still, us wardens on the mighty Brownsman don't give up that easily and a most un-pleasant walk in horiffic weather this morning was rewarded with brief looks at a nice Icterine Warbler trying to shelter in the sparse vegetation by our pond.
Luckily the weather cleared up this afternoon and we were able to get excellent views of this eastern scarcity feeding in typical Farnes fashion on open rocks and then in our artifical 'stick' (a bundle of driftwood nailed together to look like a tree!'

I've only got 2 weeks left on the Farnes before moving off to pastures new (watch this space!!!), so i'm desperately hoping for some easterly orientated weather conditions to bring in a few more goodies before I leave, fingers crossed eh.

So Farne So Good

Apologies for a rather long-term lack of postings since returning from my travels.

Way back in mid-march, I moved oop north to The Farne Islands, in Northumberland, where I'm working as a Warden for the National Trust for the summer. It's been a superb season so far, it's just an amazing place, absolutely covered in birds. For example, Brownsman, the island I live on, has 1000 pairs of Arctic Terns, 10,000 pairs of Puffins and 8,000 Guillemots!!!

It's a good spot for 'real birding' too, this spring we've had 2 Red-throated Pipits, a Bluethroat and a Wryneck, along with a good sprinkling of common-ish migrants.

Here's a few pictures for now ,hopefully i'll be able to add a few here and there over the course of the summer.

Roseate Tern, not breeding unfortunately, but always nice to see


Arctic Tern, one of the massive colony around our cottage


Puffin, THE bird that people come to the islands to see


The second Red-throated Pipit, in horiffic weather back in May

Possibly the best bird of the spring. A male Bluethroat that spent a few days showing ridiculously well around the cottage