Where to start. The new year has gotten off to an amazing start and in just 9 days I had already reached 100 species on my year list and this included a new one for me as well. A species that I have always wanted to see. The year started off well with a decent trip to RSPB Rainham Marshes on the 1st. However the mist and the murk didn't help with trying to see birds. Infact when I first arrived you couldn't see the opposite side of the river Thames. It was really eerie. I managed a respectable total of 69 species which wasn't too bad for the first day of the month. It could have easily been more as well. Especially as I missed Toms Woodcock and we also had an all to fleeting glimpse at an Owl over the silt lagoons that was almost certainly a Short-eared Owl. Above: Little Egret Below: Lapwing and Black-headed Gull Above: A Male Marsh Harrier hunting over the misty marsh. (Pintail and Canada Goose in the 2nd image) Below: I may have spent way too much time enjoying the company of not one but 3 incredibly tame Robins in the woodland. Above: I am not entirely sure what this seal was eating, but it was acting how i would have expected a Sea Otter to be the it rolled and tumbled with its catch. What ever it was must have been quite large. So the next day I decided that I would go and see some of London's long staying rarities. So firstly i headed to Canada Water where the over wintering Yellow-browed Warbler had been. I do love these little gems and this one was no different. It eventually showed its self and ranged some distance. It was incredible to watch this tiny insectiverious bird. In fact at some points it was even picking insects off the roofs of the nearby houses. It was Urban Birding at its finest. The Afternoon saw me head back on to the Tube and head to Snaresbrook for what i can only describe as possibly the worst bird in the world. It was of course the returning Adult Caspian Gull and although it was an educational experience, it is perhaps the worst bird i will see all year... Sorry Dante. Above: Yellow-browed Warbler Below: Caspian Gull. Note the Pear Shaped head, Dark eye ect... Boring! There were other birds around too so it was a good chance to continue to test out my new camera. Above: Tufted Duck Below: Mallard. The colour on the Mallards Head is actually quite stunning Anyways moving swiftly onto the 3rd. Today was the 6th London Young Birders Walk at RSPB Rainham Marshes and the best attended one yet with 11 of us. Now it has become tradition that we see at least one notable bird per walk and as we headed towards the end of the day we thought this was going to be our unlucky day. That was until a Birdguides notification came through from Hawky to say that he had found a Juv White-fronted Goose feeding with the Canada Geese just a few yards to our North West. So after a nice gentle jog to his position we were staring at the prize. The Juv White-fronted Goose was perhaps half the size of the Canada's that it was feeding with, however i have to admit although it was a much needed patch tick, Juv White Fronted Geese are basically just tiny Greylags. Again another rather dissappointing bird. The Adults are much nicer. Anyways the Barn Owl/Owls put on a great show for us right at the end of the day and both Rock and Water Pipits showed well as did a lazy Seal. All in all a good day for us at the Reserve. Above: Seal Below: Rock Pipit Above: The young White-fronted Goose is the most right hand bird. The next two days saw me head to both Totteridge and Walthamstow Wetlands, however with little to add to my year list bar the odd few embarrassing thing like Jay and Nuthatch. In fact it was nice to see a decent count of Common Gulls at Walthamstow in what has on the whole been a poor year for them nationwide which is a shame. Again this is a species with a long term decline. Above: Common Gull Below: Common Sandpiper Above: Red Kite back on territory for the 7th year Below: Little Owl Above: Nuthatch Below: Song Thrush That was it for London birding for a few weeks and so on Monday 6th i headed back to uni and so on Wednesday 8th i decided that i would treat my self and hope on the bus along the coast to Highcliffe. However i did what i promised my self i would never do. Yep, that's right i forgot my SD card. It was however awesome to watch the birds that i had gone to see on their favoured groyne, however for now they shall stay unnamed and i will come back to them in a bit. So yesterday (9th) was the day that i finally sent my year list up and over 100. I decided to go and have a visit to Poole and Baiter Park for the first time this year. The first year tick was also a patch tick in the form of a pair of Mistle Thrush feeding on the cricket pitches where i got off the bus. The only other year tick i had in Poole Park was a pair of Turnstone feeding on one of the islands. It was however good to see a few of the now locally scarce Common Gull and also to find one of Thomas' ringed Greylags U076 on the lake. Interestingly this was the first re-sighting of the year for Thomas' project and therefor there is still a lot that isn't known about where the Poole Park Greylags go. For U076 this is the first re-sighting of it since July and therefor for the last 180 days we have no clue where this Goose has been. Could it have been in the local area and just not seen? Or has it travelled to a different county? Hopefully in the next few months ringing recoveries elsewhere will provide us with an answer. Above: Mistle Thrush Below: Common Buzzard Above: U076, a Coot, and Black-headed Gulls Moving onto Baiter Park I was now searching for my 100th species. I asked a few people to guess what it might be, although unfairly they might say i didn't tell them what i had seen already and also didn't tell them the habitat i was in. Unfair? I think not. Some great answers came in including the likes of Sanderling and Firecrest, both of which i haven't seen yet this year. However, neither of these were my 100th bird. My 100th bird was infact a Shag that was feeding close in rather confusingly right alongside a Cormorant. As one Dived the other would surface. It was like some sort of comedy act and it was doing my head in. Eventually they both surfaced together. Infact its interesting to see the differences in technique when they dive. The Shag is the bird with more agility leaping fully out of the water before disappearing into the waves without a splash. The cormorants being larger and heavier don't seem to get as much air on their dives and simply veer up before propelling themselves into the water... Its quite hard to explain, but was interesting to watch. Having brought about my 100th bird i wasn't finished there. I headed up to the playing fields where an incredible amount of Oystercatchers had gathered. 239 in total and right in the middle of the flock looking somewhat bemused was a young Dark-bellied Brent Goose. It kept looking around as it knew something was wrong, although each time it would carry on feeding. I presume it felt safe due to the fact that it was in a flock with other Black and White birds even if they are a little different to the ones it would normally hang out with. Back to the Harbour side of the footpath and some distant blobs could just about be made out as Great Crested Grebes and more importantly there were several Red-breasted Mergansers mixed in with them. Whilst i was scanning out over the Mergansers i picked up what looked like a Tern flying towards me. Surely not i thought, but then it dived into the water and came incredibly close in to confirm that it was indeed a Sandwich Tern. In fact it showed incredibly well. Its interesting as this isn't the first time that i have seen Sandwich Terns down here at this time of year and these are one of the species that has been benefiting from our warmer winters. They don't have to travel as far south and therefore they are fitter and healthier than their counter parts as well as being able to get back on territory earlier than the others, thus finding better nesting spots. Effectively these Terns have adapted to become sedentary/ travel a shorter distance rather than migrating all the way to the med or West Coast of Africa for the winter and as long as they find enough fish and there aren't too many cold snaps it works. So the final year tick was not really surprising however, i was surprised at just how far out they were. With 3 Great Northern Divers picked up as mere specks bobbing up and down out in the harbour. Two were straight ahead off towards Brownsea Island and the other was off on my right hand side out towards Shipstall. In fact the bird out towards shipstall was feeding in with a flock of Cormorant and Shag which is not something i have seen before. Above: Shag Below: Sandwich Tern So I am sure you are thinking that this is the end of the blog post, and actually i started thinking that for a few moments. It isn't and that is because on Friday i decided to go and see that Lifer again. You know the one that i chose not to name earlier in the blog post. Now that you have finished scrolling back up through the pages to try and remember what i haven't yet named and where i was at the time of the Lifer. I will give you a clue the title of this blog post gives it away. So off i went on the X1 back to Highcliffe this time on and incredibly still and sunny day. Oh and yes i remembered my SD card this time. Now last time i had to wonder a little way along the beach to find them, however this time they were sat on the first Groyne i came to. Well i say sat they were actually split into two groups. One was sat on the Groyne that faced East with half the group asleep and half the group bathing in the outflow from a nearby river. The other half were on the Groyne that stretched South and this is the one that i decided to sit on for the next hour or so. The ones on my Groyne were feeding and sleeping happily chirping to one another. It was incredible to watch them scurrying around the rocks, almost like a plauge of Mice. Infact it was amazing to think that there were at least 29 of these tiny little Sandpipers running along the groyne, prodding and probing and takng tiny little insects and crustaiions of the surface of the rocks. So what were they i hear you say. They were of course Purple Sandpipers and a flock of 29 is quite an unusual sight in this day and age. They were so close at times that i could almost reach out and touch them. They didn't seem to mind my company at all. Infact at one point i noticed that they had all turned their heads and were watching something over head. Where a Kestrel was hovering motionlessly above them, only to move on much to the Purple Sandpipers relief. The place and the birds were stunning and it was incredible to sit there in the sun, which i may just may have been burned by in January! Anyways i think i am now going to let the photo's do the talking... Above: The incredible Purple Sandpipers Below: I decided to take some 'artsy' type shots. So after a hectic first few days of the month it is back to normality and limited birding opportunity untill after the exam period. What an incredbile start to the year it has been. I wonder what my target for the year should be. Will i beat last years total of 200...? Only time will tell...
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So today is the day that I have reached over 100 species of bird on my new year list, but I will come back to that either tomorrow or over the weekend as I feel that now is the time that I should take a look back at 2019. Yes, I know I am a little late to the party, but I feel that there are several things that I need to highlight, including both the good and the not so good. I am going to start off with the good. In 2019 I was lucky enough to see 7 new species of birds in Britain bringing my list up to a respectable 230 species. The first of which was a Bewick Swan on the 14th January. This bird is now thought to be over 20 years old and is unfortunately the only remaining bird in this area. As recent as the 1980s the Harbridge area new Blashford Lakes would have had up wards of 1,000 of these tiny Tundra Swans however since then like most species they have unfortunately suffered a dramatic decline. Now just the one remains. I owe quite a lot to the guys who gave me a lift up from Blashford Lakes to see it and allowed me to use their car as a hide as well. We managed some incredible views of this Tiny Swan. Above: Bewick Swan The next lifer of the year came just over a month later on the 16th February when i decided to make a trip to the Weymouth Wetlands in order to see the over wintering 1st winter Lesser Yellowlegs. This wasn't the only highlight of the trip as there was also a bonus chance to go and see the 1st Winter Drake Ring-necked Duck at Radipole and also the chance to see over 1,500 Med Gulls heading into roost in the evening. It was an incredible day. Above: Lesser Yellowlegs and co The next lifer was like the Lesser Yellowlegs a sigh of relief. I happened to be nearby at Rainham Marshes when a Drake Green-winged Teal was found at the viewing platform at Ingrebourne Valley. A quick dash over there saw me with point blank views of this breeding plumaged Drake swimming around with just a handful of teal. It often makes you wonder why rare things always turn up with smaller flocks. One day! Above: Drake Green-winged Teal. Note the vertical white stripe rather than the Horizontal one that Drake Eurasian Teal have. Although not a lifer the next good bird came on the April London Young Birders walk at Rainham Marshes when a White Stork flew through and ended up circling above our heads for at least half an hour. It was an incredible experience and one that none of the young birders that came will ever forget. So far we have managed a notable bird species on each of our walks. I wonder what will be found this April? Above: White Stork My next lifer didn't come until August and in fact this was a month that i didn't actually blog post about. (I will explain why later on in this post.) In August i was lucky enough to be selected to attend the BTO's young leaders course at Spurn Bird Observatory. This was an incredible experience and i am really grateful to Nick, Nick, Faye and Shaun for the week. While we were there we learnt about what is was like to lead walks, events, attend receptions, how to use social media and also how to tackle different environmental issues. Every time I visit Spurn I have to admit that it feels like being a part of a massive family and to be honest this time was no different. The locals are some of the nicest people i have ever met. There were also two interesting stand out videos of the trip which are on Amy's twitter. The 'Kittiwake' one and the Cricket one. All of which have made quite an impact for various reasons on social media. Anyways i digress. On this trip I actually managed two lifers. One on the 3rd August and one on the 4th. The first was a White-rumped Sandpiper. This tiny little wading bird is similar in size to a dunlin but is slimmer and more drawn out than the well rounded Dunlin. Also in flight it has the characteristic white rump. The other lifer was the never easy to see Marsh Warbler. Incredibly these birds actually bred at Spurn last year and therefor I was able to watch the adults feeding their youngsters in the small patch of reeds in Skye's Field. This trip also saw me finally see my first ever wild Brown Hare and at some incredibly close range. What an amazing creature they are. Above: Brown Hare Below: White-rumped Sandpiper Another trip to Fuerteventura over the summer was interesting as I wasn't sure what to expect having only visited the island in winter. To be honest I was pleasantly surprised with the amount of species that we ended up seeing and baring in mind that we didn't actually visit the desert or bird watch in Costa Calma I felt that it was a pretty reasonable trip. With 4 species of Swift including my first ever Plain Swifts and daily Alpine's, Pallid and last gasp Commons. And some great sea watching from the hotel balcony which saw 100s of Cory's Shearwaters streaming South every evening in order to reach their colonies after a day of feeding out at see. There were some incredible encounters on this trip that will not be forgotten for some time. Moving on into September I found a love for a species that I had never seen or even heard of before a visit to Frampton Marshes. I must thank Toby for this actually as a few days later I was checking the Sea Aster on the foreshore at Rainham Marshes to stumble across a decent sized colony of Sea Aster Mining Bee's. These bee's are incredibly similar to another type of mining bee called the Ivy Mining Bee and occasionally even swap food plants with one another. Sea Asters are different from Ivy Mining Bees as they have white stripes instead of the yellowy ones. You'll have to admit though that they are incredibly cute. Above: Sea Aster Mining Bee Below: Ivy Mining Bee Anyways the next lifer of the year was in October pretty much as soon as i headed back to uni. I was fortunate to be offered a lift to the CHOG trip to Portland Bird observatory. Although i didn't have a camera at the time we still managed some incredible sightings. Infact i recon species showed better then i had ever seen them before. With a Short-eared Owl at point blank range as well as some incredibly tame Great White Egrets. However the star bird of the trip was the Grey Phalarope at RSPB Lodmoor which was seen feeding just metres away from us. I have to admit i knew they were small, but i didn't realise that they were quite that small. This was my first species of Phalarope ever and i have to admit i would love to be able to see one again. Before i get onto Costa Rica i am going to quickly go to my final lifer of the year which was the Great Grey Shrike in Brogborough, Bedfordshire. This is a species i had always wanted to see in the UK and i was lucky enough to be able to see this one feeding at such a close range. I didn't realise that shrikes also had a hovering movement where they can be motionless almost like a kestrel just above the ground before swopping down and grabbing their prey. These birds have to be one of the prettiest predators around. Above: Great Grey Shrike Now I am well aware that this blog post is starting to become quite lengthy so I am going to try and keep my summary of Costa Rica as small as possible. I mean to be honest its hard to know where to start it was just such an incredible trip. As Howard reminded me recently the Green Kingfishers I have to admit win the best bird. I mean I was nearly in tears when I found the first ones. It was just like something out of a dream and to be honest I am still in shock that I was even there. The following photo's and videos I hope will do the trip justice. Above: Blue-Grey Tanager and Hoffman's Woodpecker Below: White-faced Capuchin Above: Shore Crab sp Below: Black Sea Turtle Above: American Green Kingfisher Below: White-fronted Parrot Above: Coati Below: Violet Sabrewing Above: Scarlet Macaw Below: American Crocodile As you can see It was an amazing trip and I will certainly be heading back at some point in my life time there is just so much to see and explore. We only visited a small part of the country and still managed to clock up atleast 136 species of birds which was a respectable total. Moving onto the bad things that occurred in 2019 and I feel that this could be a completely different blog post all together. I am going to try and keep this short. Last year was the first year that i have struggled with my mental health especially in the run up to Christmas, but also in September time as well. It was all mainly silly small things that were causing me stress and I am greatful to those that helped me through the tough times. It is difficult and although i am not completely out of the woods when it comes to this sort of thing i feel that i have learnt quite a bit about my self in this time and aslo learnt a bit about what others may be feeling as well. Infact right at the beginning of the year i actually had an exam related break down in the library when i was revising for an exam. Thankfully i passed it, but it was the first time that i had seen my self like this and it should have been a warning sign for what was to come, but instead at the time i chose to ignore it which was completely the wrong thing to do. I am just hoping that i wont need another blog in February trying to explain my self as to the most recent run of stressful events. Fingers crossed. Yes, i know i have just skimmed the surface, but believe it or not i have gone from this incredibily happy mood to a rather stressfull one just from attempting to write about the issues i have had. Now the other 'bad' thing that happened over the year and you may have noticed this is the fact that i struggled to find the motivation and time to write these blog posts. This is not because i don't enjoy writing them i was just forgetting simply things, had issues with my camera and was also struggling with getting back from a day out and just needing to rest up. Effectively this has resulted in tonnes of unpublished blog posts which i stopped writing because i felt they were either too poor to publish, or because i didn't have enough photo's, or because they weren't written on the day it happened. I often feel that a blog post is best written on the day that things happened as its still fresh in your mind and you are still living the ecitment and feeling that were felt at the time. Again this is just skimming the surface as i don't want to go on a full rant at my self for simple little things, but at the same time i felt that this was the chance to address the fact that i have had struggles this year and my social media covers it up quite well. Its a reminder to people that although sometimes social media portrays this 'perfect' life sometimes it isn't so and its just as important to right and post about those difficult times. In fact reading back through what I have written its not quite what I had in mind when i first thought about writing this blog post, but oh well. In fact i am going to end this blog post on another incredible day last year, which was, as voted for by you the readers of my blog post, the best expereince of Decemeber. That is of course the incredibly showy Kingfisher in Morden Hall Park which i owe to Arjun for showing to me. What an incredible bird. Above: Kingfisher All in all last year was an incredible year, despite the few blips along the way and hopefully heres to a better 2020. Happy New Year one and all.
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AuthorI have been a birder since I was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 19. ArchivesCategories |