To cut a Long story (relatively) Short

The last couple of days have really summed up twitching for me; most of the ordeal has been extremely stressful and left me very ratty but the end result reminded me what I was doing it for.

It started on Tuesday when, at Canons Farm with Richard and Peter (seeing Common Redstart, Whinchat etc), a message came on the pager hinting that the reported 'Long-billed' Dowitcher at Lodmoor might be something to keep an eye on. This wasn't solid enough to be worth dashing off for straight away but I awaited further developments.

I got up very early on Wednesday, planning a dawn start at the patch, and saw that I'd missed a mega alert from just before midnight saying that instincts were correct. Gah! I had to go, but how? I poked dad and he murmured something that sounded like I had car rights until three in the afternoon. If I were to drive there myself I had to go there and then, little time for faffing around. However, a couple of things ended up faffing me around so I ended up leaving around seven and arrived at ten-thirty. Only to find I had no change for parking so had to drive into Weymouth and break up a tenner for a Diet Coke. I wish I was more organised.

Anyway, I basically arrived to find the bird hadn't shown since about eight and I had to leave just after midday to get the car back to dad. Predictably, half way home the bird came on the pager. Having spent £50 on fuel for a short and frustrating dip-and-run, only for one of my regular lifts (Secret Squirrel) to grip-text me while I was driving to Sutton, I wasn't happy (I could and should have given him a call but was in a such a hurry I just dashed off, and he tried to call me while I was over half way there). What a waste of a day.

Yesterday evening, Liam and I arranged to meet at Waterloo this morning and catch the train to Weymouth. I got to the station just in time to buy a ticket and board but found that my debit card was missing from my wallet and I didn't have enough cash to cover the journey. Shiiiiitttttt..... I ran home and dad kindly gave me enough money to get there and back and took me to Sutton station. The train I needed to catch to get to Waterloo in time was leaving very shortly so I headed for the ticket machines that take cash. After going through the rigmarole of sorting out the ticket details, I tried to pay but it said I could only use a card. Unbelieveable. Thank goodness the queue for the traditional manned desks was short despite being rush hour, as I managed to get the ticket and rush to the platform with a couple of minutes before the train arrived. Phew.

Liam and I teamed up as planned at Waterloo and arrived at Weymouth two and a half hours later. Pager messages throughout the morning had been encouraging so we walked fairly confidently to the reserve. We were greeted by a reasonable gathering of birders including occasional twitch-buddies Micheal and Dan from Sussex who put us on the SHORT-BILLED DOWITCHER. It was tucked behind some vegetation but came out into the open and showed its notched tertials and generally well-marked coverts etc for about a minute before it scampered behind the clump again and hardly moved for two hours. We were debating when we should call it a day when it finally woke up and fed out in the open, not too distantly, for about fifteen minutes before for flying out of sight. A beautifully intricately marked bird, and a performer in the end. Stunner! The stress and hassle of connecting was instantly forgotten and we set off home happy.

What it's all about

Patch blitz

The other day Steve Gale texted me about the idea of trying to beat the record day count for CFBW. Steve is always dangerous on the patch, especially when in blitz mode so I thought I'd put in a special effort too, and asked a small handful of other locals if they were up for it. So, today Steve, Ian Jones, Paul Goodman, Phil Wallace and Roy Weller, amongst others, hit the patch hard.

It started well with the first of the day's two Yellow Wagtails flying over the car almost as soon as Phil and I parked up. Not too long afterwards, a Grey Wagtail, a far scarcer bird at CFBW, flew fairly high south east. Phil and I decided to walk around the fields south of Canons Farmhouse while Steve and Ian headed in the direction of Banstead Woods - we were walking around Heathside Field when a loud and unfamiliar call belted down at us from above. I looked up and saw a large-ish wader!!! My first thought, upon seeing the general size and shape, was Whimbrel but the bill was slightly upturned if anything... plain wings and a white 'v' up the back - a freakin' Bar-tailed Godwit!!! I scrambled for the camera and was lucky enough to get a small number of record shots as it bulleted away. I couldn't recall ever hearing a Barwit call before, so checked my apps to see if the call we heard was a typical Barwit noise and it was an exact match to the recording of the call on the BirdGuides app. Barwit was amongst the birds I have had at the back of my mind at the patch lately... I was looking for them in April and May but long since forgotten about them and assumed that if we were lucky enough to get a godwit at this time of year it would be Black-tailed. There have been no or very reports/movements of Bar-taileds locally in the last few weeks - completely out of the blue! It always seems you come across stuff once you've forgotten about looking for it and are very least anticipating it.

Bar-tailed Godwit

The day didn't end there and over the remaining hours of the stake out we enjoyed two Common Redstarts, two Tree Pipits, a Whinchat, seven Canada Geese, a flock of about a dozen Sand Martins and a few other bits. Ian and Steve saw the Red-legged Partridge and Roy snatched a Cormorant. As a group we finished on a total of 59 species (I logged 53), a new record by a margin of two, but, frustratingly, just one off the magic target of 60.

female Common Redstart

Spot Flys

Having been away when the only two records of the year have occurred, I've been desperately searching for Spotted Flycatchers at the patch lately, and today it paid off with two showy individuals located near The Scrub. I'm only two away from 100 for my patch year list and still need Brambling, Short-eared Owl, Reed Bunting etc so my target of 105 is well in reach. Yesterday, a Red-legged Partridge appeared along with a new Whinchat. Is the Red-leg the same bird that was around earlier in the year, just visible once again now that they've cut the wheat?

Spotted Flycatcher 1

Spotted Flycatcher 2

Raptor day at Canons

A day of highs and lows at the patch today. I was with Ian Jones, Paul Goodman and Ian Magness at the back of Legal & General and Jones casually called a Common Buzzard over near Lunch Wood, being mobbed by corvids. Magness and Paul had a quick look at it but, while I'd normally check all raptors, I was putting my sunblock on as the sun was coming out and I burn like a banana slice in the summer sun, so I didn't bother looking. It turns out that at that very moment Steve Gale was watching a Honey-buzzard flying over next to Lunch Wood, being mobbed by corvids. Steve tried to ring me but I was in a blackspot so didn't realise until eight minutes later at which point panic ensued as we frantically scanned towards Banstead Woods. I briefly picked up a distant large raptor that looked as if it was flying on flat wings and had a long, fanned tail but lost it before I could zoom in on it or study it closely enough to satisfy myself that it was definitely the bird. It quickly dawned on us that we'd missed out, I'd probably just seen the bird and the buzzard that Ian, Ian and Paul were looking at earlier was certainly the Honey-buzzard judging by timing and positioning and that fact that none of them gave it much more than a second glance; so for fifteen minutes I threw a bit of a rage. Honey-buzzard is one that I'd really been dreaming of for the patch and another tricky bird added to the list of super patch ticks I've narrowly missed out on this year. Also on this list are: Little Egret while at the other end of the patch; Green Sandpiper while at college, dipped it by about an hour; Whimbrel while showing a bird racer around a site near Epsom; and, finally, Black Terns while looking for Black Terns at Staines. Missing one or two is a pain, but when the list keeps getting bigger and bigger it really starts to grind on you.

It is great in that it shows that the patch is being pretty well watched and birds that would have been missed by me are being recorded. The Honey-buzzard really was a superb and deserved find by Steve, it would have just been a little more superb if I could have seen it well enough to be sure I'd seen it!

After seeing the first-winter male Common Redstart that remained for its second day, and having a mooch around The Scrub, Jones left - to be soon replaced by Nick Gardner, who started down the lane to look for the Redstart. I made tracks for the Watchpoint as the sky was looking promising, and wise-man Roy recommended a good sky-staring session. I hadn't been there more than ten minutes when I picked up a big raptor with long and flat, occasionally slightly bowed wings, approaching. My first thought was 'Is this the Honey-buzzard coming back!?!' but it was very soon obvious that it was actually an Osprey! It cruised along south-westish, roughly along the railway line but started to drift away and become slightly more distant. I rang Nick as soon as I could and he said he just about managed to get on it as it disappeared from view. A superb year-tick and the third year running that I've had one at the patch, all roughly tracking that valley south in the autumn.
Very much a record phone-scoped clip...

Common Redstart

In my ongoing search for a Spotted Flycatcher (they're all at Wanstead) I found this superb first-winter male Common Redstart along Slangs today, showing throughout the day. Also a Yellow Wagtail over earlier in the morning.

first-winter male Common Redstart

Yesterday the two Tree Pipits showed again and I located a Whinchat at Horse Pasture (Ian had two birds nearby in the evening) and two juvenile Yellow Wagtails at Legal & General.

Yellow Wagtail

 
Not bird-related (that literally is a first for this blog I think) but on Tuesday I really enjoyed going with a couple of college friends to see Icelandic indie folk-rock band Of Monsters and Men in Brighton, I had been looking forward to it for a long time and they put on an amazing show - the first live gig I've been to, believe it or not.

Whinchats

1st Whinchat

2nd Whinchat

Ian was pleased when he found a very smart Whinchat at the traditional chat hotspot of Horse Pasture this afternoon. After enjoying this bird for a while, I went around the corner and found another. One of my favourites, these are! At least one Tree Pipit was flighty around Infront George Field today, probably involving one or both of Saturday's birds (which were a year tick).

Cuckoo on the wire

A pleasant surprise today: a juvenile Cuckoo found by Ian, feeding from the wires near Reads Rest Cottages. I thought I'd missed out on my chance for one at the patch this year so this was a very nice and very welcome patch year tick!

Lots of sharks, a few birds

Having still never seen a Wilson's Storm Petrel or a Cory's Shearwater, a further trip seabirding trip to the south west was in order and so it was arranged with Liam that we'd spend a week down that end of the country. We had high hopes to say the least, expecting an exciting bird-filled trip. I arrived at St Ives on Sunday 5th and got comfortable in Liam's very handy and very comfortable flat there which overlooks the beach/sea (providing comfortable viewing for people with different interests).

Sunday evening we seawatched off St Ives, which was quiet but it was great to see lots of Manx Shearwaters and a Sunfish. The winds were looking to be north westerly for Monday and following the recommendations of countless birders I've encountered, we tried Pendeen. The road there almost seemed to be a popular furry suicide venue, with several rabbits dashing right in front of the car and the remains of a menagerie of critters littered along a particular stretch. Anyway, we got there and saw a couple of Sooty Shearwaters and Balearic Shearwaters and a Basking Shark. Nice but not particularly eventful.

Tuesday the winds had switched south westerly. Porthgwarra then. The road there was mildly daunting for me the first time but I soon got used to it. We put in a good ten hours and scraped two Great Shearwaters, a couple of Pomarine Skuas, a Balearic Shearwater, an Arctic Skua, a Puffin, a Razorbill, six Bonxies, and four Sooty Shearwaters at sea plus at least three Basking Sharks and a Sunfish. On land two Choughs were a rare treat and a study into the diet of a tame and hungry Herring Gull revealed that they far prefer Quavers to Jaffa Cakes, although they will attack the latter if presented belly-up.

Chough

The winds had become less favourable by the following day but we still gave it a (slightly briefer) shot at Porthgwarra. Three Balearics, three Sooties, three Puffins, four Storm Petrels, an Arctic Skua etc etc was the best of the sea. A few Wall butterflies grabbed my attention (being a new species for me) and I managed to get befriend a Banded Demoiselle which really liked my hand. There were a couple of Basking Sharks offshore. News of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Hayle Estuary had us heading there earlier than already planned, it showed pretty well with Dunlins and Ringed Plovers and a Med Gull a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits (including one in summer plumage) and several Whimbrels provided extra interest.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Thursday looked really naff for seabirds so we sat spent the morning on a bench before summoning up the energy to check out the valleys. From the bench we managed to spot a couple of Balearics and a Basking Shark. A Willow Warbler was the climax in terms of passerine migrants but we did stumble upon something very odd that we still can't figure. At one point we came across a pool surrounded at the back by a rather common and standard short green reed-like plant which right now I can't name. We kept hearing rather subdued clucking/mumbling call/noise thing coming from this vegetation so we walked around the edge to where it was coming from, in the process getting soaked almost to the knees in stinky stagnant water. We never saw what was making the noise but in the end there were two whatever-they-weres. The closest we got to a view was seeing a slow, steady and calm movement through the vegeation as something small moved through it. A bird? An amphibian? Something else? A quick look at the Hayle Estuary revealed a Med Gull and a couple of Whimbrels.

Friday: packed bags and got on the Scillonian from which we saw nothing but we teamed up with Jake and Cristian from Sussex, both top guys. We had a quick walk around once we'd landed but this didn't yield much at all. At 5.00pm we emarked on our first pelagic expedition from the quay at Hugh Town, apart from my first good views of Storm Petrels of the year and a small Blue Shark being landed (these were tagged then released as part of a conservation programme), this was a flop.

Gannet

 
Saturday. This was when we went on the first of the birder special pelagics. The wind was blowing from the north west so expectations were relatively low but we still thought we'd see more than a Bonxie, a Common Scoter, a few Stormies, an Eider, a Med Gull and a Peregrine. A small pod of Risso's Dolphins were notable but ironically some of the greatest excitement was generated by two creatures more commonly associated with dry land than miles out into the Atlantic Ocean: a Reed Warbler and a Red-veined Darter. Both were tired migrants and landed on the boat for respite. The former ended up getting put in a plastic box and the latter flushed back across the sea. A Blue Shark or two caught.

Storm Petrel

Kittiwake

Risso's Dolphin

 
Sunday was the best day, but only because two semi-scarce birds happened to perform particularly well. The first was a first-summer Pomarine Skua with gave the best views a healthy one could possibly give, flying feet above and around the boat amongst the gulls. Amazing stuff! The other was perhaps more impressive, being a Great Shearwater which spent a considerable amount of time circling the boat and dropping a few jaws. Also Storm Petrels, Bonxie, Blue Sharks, Sunfish etc (novelty wearing off on the fish...).

 

Great Shearwater

Uncropped - it was too close to fit the whole bird in at times!

Pomarine Skua

Bonxie

Blue Shark just before release, after being tagged; held by Joe Pender

Bob Flood mentioned another pelagic running on Monday at 5.00pm, half an hour after the boat I was booked on was due to depart. Having already invested an awful lot of time and money in getting Wilson's and/or Cory's, and envisaging the pager bleeping with Wilson's that evening in accordance with sod's law I decided to wrangle another day on the islands. As did Cristian, who paid a £10.00 amendment fee for the Scillonian; I called the same people in order to re-arrange and was asked to basically buy a new ticket for £43 or something (taking the piss!) so I pointed out that someone I was with 'only' paid £10.00 to change [still a rip-off]. I was charged £15.00 in the end.

So on Monday Jake, Liam, Cristian and I had a walk on St Mary's before J and L sailed away. The highlight of this walk was a pair of Pied Flycatchers at Porth Hellick. As I watched the Scillonian chug safely away to the mainland from the quay, and felt only a light south westerly breeze on my face, I began wondering whether I'd be happier on the ferry. Too late anyway and soon it was off on the extra pelagic. A couple of Sooty Shearwaters provided light initial excitement but soon it was down to small numbers of Storm Petrels, none sporting a toe-projection, and a couple of Manx Shears. It was pretty fun to watch a twelve year old kid get dragged around the boat about three times after getting a bite from a seven-and-a-half foot Blue Shark before finally getting it on the deck the best part of an hour later. We actually caught half a dozen or so sharks that evening. Almost worth the money.

Pied Flycatcher

 This Blue Shark was 7.5ft and dragged the 12-year-old that caught it around the boat about three times before finally being landed the best part of an hour later!

I looked forward to and enjoyed a casual walk around The Garrison and Penninis Head on Tuesday before heading at last to the mainland. I was so engrossed around the Pine Trail that I forgot to check the RBA app just in case anything had turned up (in classic Campbell style I stepped on my pager earlier in the week and burst the screen); when I did check I saw a message had been sitting about a Melodious Warbler at Penninis for some time so I headed over there, but didn't allow it to interrupt my Garrison walk. I got up there to see no bird and no birders, checked the app again and saw it had flown off. Bah! I was going to walk around Penninis anyway so that's what I did and I dug out a Pied Flycatcher and a Whinchat which was enough to keep me happy. Eventually, time for the boat arrived and Cristian, most of the other birders and myself were sailing away back to Penzance. A Balearic and a Sooty Shearwater were the highlights, plus small numbers of Manx Shearwaters and Storm Petrels.

A night in St Ives then back home. All in all a bit of a damp squib and I'm not sure I wanted almost all my savings going on the slim pickings we scraped out from the bottom of the barrel, guess I'll subject myself to it all again next year. I never don't enjoy myself when I'm birding and it could have been a lot quieter, plus Liam, Jake and Cristian were brilliant company and provided many laughs. If you are into sharks, you'd have had an amazing time with lots of Blue Sharks caught on the pelagics and Basking Sharks all the time off the Cornish coast. I was sick of Sunfish by the end of the holiday.

Autumn starts well

CFBW's first Oystercatcher pipes away as it heads north east

While July slowly shows signs of early migration towards the end of the month, August is the month where my motivation for patching really steps up a gear. I arrived at the farm this morning to be greeted by generally overcast conditions, which I quite like. I spent quite a bit of time at the Watchpoint before starting my walk. I didn't have to go far before I found something. I approached the fence surrounding the barns behind Canons Farmhouse, as the bushes, brambles and scrap piles there can produce the occasional migrant (I fancy Wryneck there one day...). Doing so caused an interesting-looking passerine to fly from the long grass near me and land in the main bush there. It was a Sedge Warbler! Usually streaky autumn warblers flushed like this at the patch are Grasshopper Warblers (which would be the better bird in most places) but this was the first record for the site! It showed well for a minute or two before disappearing and it could not be relocated throughout the day. It shared the area with a Willow Warbler and a Blackcap (both migrants).

An hour and a half later, I was patrolling the now famous Heathside (a.k.a. 'Dotterel') Field when I heard a loud 'peeep'. Dismissing it as catching an odd bit of a Song Thrush song or something I continued, then I heard it again, and again... and it sounded interesting. Look up! A bleedin' Oystercatcher flies past me at c200-250ft height (maybe less? I'm not great at judging height/distance). ANOTHER first for CFBW! It was heading north east, roughly towards Beddington, but wasn't picked up there.

A big female Peregrine also put in an appearance today.

Another migrant

With a small flock of roaming warblers I found an adult Lesser Whitethroat today, first the flock was in the small wood in the corner of Infront George Field then they were relocated along Slangs. This is a surprisingly scarce patch bird, with 3-4 singing males in the spring (none staying to breed) and 1-2 autumn migrants in a typical year. With two Yellow Wagtails, a Whinchat, a Meadow Pipit and two fresh-in Willow Warblers in the last couple of weeks, passerine migration is slowly starting up.