How not to photograph a Yellow browed Warbler...

Went down to the Swannery this afternoon to have a look for this mornings Yellow browed Warbler. It took a bit of finding but it eventually called giving its location away. Got some decent views but getting some decent pictures wasn’t so easy.

Here’s quite a nice picture of its bill.

This one showing its wing.

And finally one where you can see its eye.

Not bad for about 2 hours efforts! Though did put up a net in the withy bed though with it being mid afternoon I wasn’t expecting much. Three Goldcrest, 4 Chiffchaff and a re-trap Robin.

Also, I completely forgot to mention that I had at least 4 Brambling fly over Clouds hill this morning which were the first of the autumn for me. Hopefully bump into some more of these on Lundy!

Redpoll Ringing

I have been ringing at clouds hill for well over a month without the joy of catching a control. All that changed today when I turned my attention to Redpoll. A few started moving overhead first thing followed by steady numbers through the morning. Managed to catch 11 of them one being a control! All the birds were Lesser Redpoll (as you’d expect) with birds moving from the west heading east. Overhead passage generally was steady though I didn’t do any counting today. A single yellowhammer that stopped briefly on a nearby bush as nice and a Corn bunting over was probably the highlight.

Grounded migrants were limited with just a few Goldcrest and Chiffchaff caught, though at nearby Abbotsbury Swannery a Yellow browed Warbler was found. That gives me a nice opportunity to introduce yet another local blog, http://www.stevesswannerysightings.blogspot.com/ . Steve Groves works and lives very close to Abbotsbury Swannery and birds it most days.

Finally before I shoot off to the Swannery to have a look for the warbler I should mention a superb looking Pied Wagtail Steve Hales and myself caught last night at Weymouth port. Its probably the piedest Pied Wagtail I’ve seen! 

(anyone recognise the background? thought it would make a nice backdrop!)

This could potentially be my last post for a week or so as Saturday morning I am off to Lundy for a weeks ringing. Will take a Laptop and see if I get any internet signal but I am not too hopeful!

Paranoid about Waders!

Why hasn’t Weymouth had an American wader? I know that we had a Stilt Sand back in the summer but during this rather large influx of near-arctic waders we’ve had nought. Three (or possibly 4) Buff breasted Sands just outside of Weymouth was the nearest they came.

Water levels have been low at Radipole lake over the last few days and every wader that has dropped in has got me scrutinising every detail on it. Monday morning a small calidrid dropped in though was rather distant. It looked small but details I could see were limited. I then tried to get another birder onto it but it disappeared whilst I was doing so. This left me very frustrated and annoyed as this could be the wader we were waiting for! Thankfully, yesterday a small wader appeared outside the visitor centre. Just a little stint unfortunately and not then rare American wader I’d hoped. It did however put my mind to rest, as this was more than likely the bird from Monday.

Later yesterday, I found myself quizzing birders who came back from North hide who had been watching two Dunlin. Not convinced by experienced birders I went looking in the evening but just one Dunlin was present! So what was the other one. Surely something will turn up but times rapidly running out. So if the ornithological gods are reading this, PLEASE SEND SOMETHING OUR WAY!

I am still alive!

Just thought I’d better put something on here to show that I am still alive and out birding and ringing. Been at Clouds Hill several times over the last week but the weather conditions haven’t been exactly good to grounding migrants. The overhead passage has been quite spectacular with one day producing over 1500 Meadow Pipits plus a few Tree Pipit still mixed in. The highlight of that morning however was a Richards Pipit that flew over at about 9:00 before disappearing over the ridge heading east.

A species that’s featured quite a lot this week has been Dunnock. Most people don’t think of these as being migratory but I’ve caught a lot of new birds this week and have re-trapped very few. I really hope I get a recovery from one of these to reveal where they are going. Another perhaps more known migrant has started moving through. Song Thrush has started to appear which hopefully means the first Redwing is just around the corner. I know autumns really here when I hear Redwings calling overhead at night.

Today’s session was probably the quietest I’ve had at Clouds Hill. Very few migrants grounded except a few Chiffchaff and Blackcap. A female Sparrowhawk was a good catch though and I’ll post some pictures soon.

Answers on a postcard please!

Or just leave a comment...

Geographical ranges of wagtail races certainly wouldn’t be my first choice if I was ever to have to choose a specialist topic for mastermind. Hence why this wagtail has got me asking a few questions.

This autumn has been amazing for Yellow Wagtails. Steve and myself have ringed over 260 though we could have ringed more if the weather had been on side. None of those have given us any reason to think they weren’t flavissima (the British ones) except this one. Blue headed Wagtails (the nominate race ‘flava’) must pass through the UK in autumn but identification is very tricky indeed. In fact it’s probably not possible in the field unless its an adult. I’ve also not read anything on this subject regarding ID of autumn birds in the hand which suggests that it’s also very difficult in the hand. This bird on closer inspection appears to have a blueish grey colour coming through on its forehead. The bird also stood out as having a very bold supercillium unlike all the other Yellow Wagtails from last nights catch.  This is shown on the photo below.

If anyone could offer any thoughts I’d be keen to hear them even if you think I am talking rubbish!  There are still wagtails roosting at Abbotsbury so we’ll keep trying to catch this week and see what else we get.

Its Definitely Autumn!

The last few days have produced far too much evidence to suggest that autumn is defiantly here. I am currently seriously thinking about digging out some trousers and ditching the shorts. This is always a sad point in the year as I pretty much live in shorts from April until about October but the temperature in the mornings is plummeting rapidly. Clouds Hill is still producing the goods with 60+ birds being caught on every visit. Yesterday’s catch of just over 60 birds was made up largely of Chiffchaff and Blackcap which hopefully suggests that October is going to be good at the site when these two species flood through on mass. The first Goldcrest of the autumn was caught as well as a slightly unusual species to occur in some scrub, a Kingfisher!

Hopefully you can tell which is which!

Earlier in the week a few Linnets found their way into a net.

Overhead passage is building up nicely. Yesterdays list went something like this. Redpoll 1 west, Siskin c.60, Linnet c.250 east, Yellowhammer 1 east, Reed Bunting 3, Tree Pipit 6, Meadow pipit c.600, Skylark c.40, ‘alba’ wagtail c.40, Grey Wagtail 2 west, Yellow Wagtail 8 west. Grounded migrants included 1 Redstart plus a few Whitethroat but neither made it into any nets.

Brown things and Bees

The last two days I’ve made the most of the calm weather as it’s forecasted to change again and as I type the wind has already got up. Yesterday proved to very good at Clouds Hill on the fleet with a slightly unexpected sudden mass passage of Meadow Pipit. Plenty of other species were also moving through with the best of the bunch being a Nightingale that for whatever reason gave a very short blast of song then went quiet and disappeared. Unfortunately it never founds its way into a mist net but about 90 other birds did. Chiffchaff being fairly numerous plus about 20 Meadow Pipits also caught. A single Tree Pipit also founds in way into a net which was a new bird for the site. Also new for the site this autumn was a wandering Treecreeper that’s probably come from some of the wooded areas along the Fleet.

Some pics of some brown birds. First up a Meadow Pipit

And a Tree Pipit.

Yesterday evening we headed to Abbotsbury in the hope of a few more Yellow Wagtails before they disappear. We only caught a few plus some Pied Wagtails and a single White Wagtail.

This morning I was back at Clouds hill hoping the overnight easterlies had brought something in. About 70 birds caught but the day turn unexpectedly dangerous by lunch time. About 11:00 I noticed a loud buzzing sound coming from the scrub. I went to look and discovered literally thousands of honey bees swarming around the site. It was very impressive but they were right amongst my mist nets! Every time I approached they would start landing on me which is not a nice feeling, especially when you’re wearing shorts! As time went on this became a real issue as the nets were still open and needed checking. I found a spot from a distance where I could see the nets and there was one bird caught. Obviously I couldn’t leave it there so I had to be (or should that be Bee?) brave and go and get it. Several stings later (on me) the bird was removed safely and I got the net partly down so that other birds should notice it and not fly in. After an hour of cowering under some bushes they finally moved on which meant I could take down the nets without having to remove too many stingers out of me. I though ringing was a nice safe hobby but obviously not!

Apart from bees, migration was still very autumnal with plenty of Meadow Pipit going over plus a single Reed Bunting overhead and a Sanderling flew down the fleet. Tree Pipit and Yellow Wagtail numbered around 30 each and a single female Redstart was near my car after me near death experience with the bees. Ok, I may be exaggerating a little but I was pretty scary!