Photographing roosting Hen Harriers - its a no light challenge

Every winter I watch roosting harriers, nowadays mainly Marsh but a few times a winter I get to look at a Hen Harrier roost and try to get some images to confirm what birds are present but I also try to convey the feeling of the spectacle which is basically difficult as its very very dull normally - that is dull in the lighting sense not in the experience sense. The key term is roost which means the birds are not usually present until after sunset and hence there is very little light for flight photography. Modern cameras have got better high ISO performance but even so images are noisy and shutter speeds typically slooooow, Last night I starte dout at 3200 ISO but quickly had to move to 6400 and then 12800 unheard of just a few years ago but even so I was only getting 1/250th and latterly 1/160th second on the 200-800 lens so most of the images were A) dull and B) not sharp. So herewith a selection with a few comments.

a 1cy male came in early but passed by and didn’t return in this nice late afternoon sun

The cmaera AF system works best of course with birds isolated in the sky but even this has been brightened considerably to show plumage detail -

More typical of the light levels that you are fighting and motion blur but some detail in the upperwing feathers allows individual identification

same individual as above 25 minutes after sunset and near the shortest day of the year - marks in the primary coverts and flight feathers with the heavily marked mantle almost suggest Northern Harrier with limited dark trailing edge to secondaries as well but presumably a 2cy bird or maybe just individual variation in younger males

with modern software it is possible to lighten just the bird, not done very well here, to bring out plumage details but to the observant it is not reality

the same male banking towards me - at times it was very close which actually added to the problem of focussing and even getting all of the bird in the same depth of field

pretty dire noise at 12800 ISO - most reviews of images taken at such high ISO levels are actually taken in brighter light when you don’t actually need to be on 12800

simply using software to bring the whole image into daylight rather than darkness looks unnatural and does not reflect the time and experience

with the closer bird actually in focus and the juxtaposition of the two males this is what I would see as a more representative roost time image

a similar shot but both birds lacking sharpness

the second older male - panning with the bird almost got it shrp even at 1/250th

a ringtail probably the 1cy male seen earlier drops into roost

Red-necked Grebes and recollections of the 1978 - 1979 winter

The occurrence of a Red-necked Grebe at Winter’s Pit East Halton over the weekend reminded me of the only previous bird of that species I had seen on that pit back in February 1979. Found on 20th when there was only a small area of ice free water at the western end of the pit I managed a very dark slide of it but sadly picked it up dead on the 28th. That winter was very good for bird watchers but not so good for the birds with some spells of brutally cold weather associated with gales from the frozen east bringing remarkable influxes of scarce grebes, all three sawbills, Long-tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters, divers, Eiders, Glaucous Gull, Short-eared Owls , Hen Harriers and Rough-legged Buzzards. The local pits between Barton and Killingholme produced no less than 13 Red-necked Grebes and I saw at least 32 in Lincolnshire in the months of December - April a staggering total that has never been matched. I delved back into my notebooks and produced a lengthy summary of the winter birdwatching that is copied below. The highlights being an adult Pomarine Skua on the Humber off Barrow Haven in January, the Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes and Black-throated Divers but there was so much more variety. It was also a time gone by when you could drive onto Immingham and Grimsby Docks and park a car on the quayside while birding the docks and never be challenged. A few inches of snow didn’t grind the country to a halt and like most sensible drivers our trusty Mini countryman had a shovel in the back to get through those snow drifts that were more than six inches high!

A very distant and heavily cropped Red-necked Grebe at East Halton December 2024

A copy of my 45 year old slide of the Red-necked Grebe at East Halton Pit February 20th 1979 - note the ice edge in the upper side of the slide

Our trusty Mini countryman - went round the clock a couple of times - here in January 1979 no fear of a bit of snow

The late autumn of 1978 had produced Lincolnshire’s first Isabelline Shrike at Donna Nook on October 29th and maybe in a sign of things to come a visit to Huttoft on November 12th saw a Black-throated Diver south, three Eiders and 12 Velvet Scoters amongst 300 Common with an early drake Mandarin on the sea with Teal off Trusthorpe where the trusty Purple Sandpiper was in residence. A twitch to Top Hill Low on 26th for a drake Ring-necked Duck was followed by a move to Bridlington where a first-winter Mediterranean Gull prompted a full description and sketches such was that species rarity at the time. A Little Auk off Flamborough completed the day.

The Isabelline Shrike at Donna Nook late October 1978 again from some very old slides

November 27th at Goxhill a drake Long-tailed Duck was fairly standard fare with three Red-breasted Mergansers and a Snow Bunting but a water Pipit at Barrow Haven was much more noteworthy and it stayed to 25th. An Eider off Killingholme was the first of the Humber winter.

December 3rd and a Red-necked Grebe at Covenham prompted a visit and description. My first was seen flying past Rimac on September 12th 1971 but such was the view my Lincolnshire list had an added Covenham January 30th 1972 as confirmatory evidence! They were though few and far between in most years and worthy of a twitch. Four Bewick’s Swans at Huttoft the same day were expected winter birds in the late 70’s.

Six Lapland Buntings flying west at Barrow Haven on December 4th were again not that unusual on the Humber in the mid to late 70’s. Our usual gull checks at Grimsby Docks where a nice sewage outfall lay just offshore revealed a second winter Glaucous Gull on 8th the first of the winter.

Being a bit into twitching in those days the lure of rare sea ducks in Scotland had me and my mate Mick Mellor heading for Loch Fleet on December 11th but having pretty dodgy cars we used to train to Inverness then hire a car and of course sleep in it which was fun in mid-winter in northerner Scotland. At Loch Fleet all three divers and 70 Long-tailed Ducks with a Little Gull offshore and a flock of 1000 Eiders revealed the hoped for long staying adult King Eider but then we stumbled across a first-winter drake in the inner fleet a selfie that I have not repeated. A Long-eared Owl flew past and into the nearby wood in the evening. The following day at Spey Bay we failed with Surf Scoter but a cracking adult Iceland Gull and 200 Long-tailed Dicks off Lossiemouth with 200 Velvet Scoters completed a notable trip up north.

Back at Grimsby Docks on 17th a total of 37 Eiders offshore was the biggest flock I had seen in the Humber with a first-winter Mediterranean Gull there on 20th again eliciting a full description. The second Glaucous Gull of the winter a first-winter was at the Docks on 24th.

As the cold weather kicked in at the end of the month with an easterly airflow three White-fronted Geese and two Dark-bellied Brents flew up the Humber of Barrow Haven and the Water Pipit continued its winter sojourn.

The new years day tally included a redhead Smew at Covenham a first-winter Glaucous Gull on the docks with a Nelson’s Gull. The Water Pipit was still at Barrow Haven and eight Dark-bellied Brents at Goxhill Skitter 2nd but 3rd was a big day with 32 Scaup off Barrow Haven where an adult Pomarine Skua with almost full spoons formed an exceptional winter occurrence. Four Eiders and eight Goosanders at Barrow Haven on 4th were the forerunners of a big influx with the afternoon visit to Covenham revealing three Velvet Scoters and a Red-necked Grebe plus four Bewick’s Swans. Red-necked Grebes were up to two at Covenham by 7th and two male and two ringtail Hen Harriers were at Rimac.

Barrow Haven January 1979 - with temperatures dropping to as low as-10C the Humber was often partly covered oin pack ice and as the tide fell it was deposited on the upper foreshore preventing birds from feeding

The Water Pipit survived the winter wandering up and down the Haven and finding places to feed amongst the ice - Barrow Haven January 1979

The first Slavonian Grebe of the influx drifted past Barrow Haven on the 8th with a ringtail Hen Harrier there the following day and the Pomarine Skua appeared again on 12th – 13th. A trip to Killingholme on 10th located ten White-fronted Geese and six Eiders with an oiled Red-throated Diver there 15th when a Red-necked Grebe flew west off East Halton Skitter bird number one of the local arrival.

A flock of 13 Scaup, five Eiders and a first-winter Little Gull were at Killingholme 20th. A search for a Rough-legged Buzzard at Tetney Haven on 21st coincided with fog but fortunately the raptor was sat on a fence post just across the Haven and a brief search revealed seven Lapland Buntings there but a Black-throated Diver at Covenham was picked up dead and the stuffed specimen resided in my house for several years afterwards,

Things hotted up on 22nd with three Black-throated Divers flying east off Barrow Haven with Eider, Kittiwake and two Brent Geese. At Killingholme on 23rd along with 14 Scaup were Red-necked Grebe number 2, and a Slavonian Grebe number two. Both grebes were still there 25th along with a first-winter Glaucous Gull at Rosper Road. Three Smew and a Red-throated Diver at Barrow Haven 26th.

A southerly excursion on 28th produced eight Long-eared Owls at the Witham Mouth roost with a third winter Glaucous Gull then on to Roydon Common in Norfolk where Great Grey Shrike, two Merlin, Hooded Crow and seven Hen Harriers was a fine tally.

By February 4th there were three Red-necked Grebes at Covenham but the real attraction was a male Ruddy Duck a new Lincs bird and to top things off the same day a first-winter Common Crane munching carrots at Scotter made it two Lincs ticks in a day. A roost of 42 Bramblings at Barrow Haven on 8th and an unprecedented winter flock of 66 Ruff at Rosper Road were followed by locating a roost of three Long-eared Owls at Goxhill on 9th.

The immature Common Crane at Scotter February 1979 part of a two tick Lincolnshire list day with Ruddy Duck at Covenham Reservoir

As noted in the BB paper on the Red-necked Grebe influx, Easterly winds returned from 10th, freshening on 13th, when another area of high pressure developed over Scandinavia, and the weather pattern of late December and early January was virtually duplicated. Freezing conditions set in throughout the British Isles and a frontal system over southern England and adjacent parts of the Continent resulted in heavy snow, particularly in the northeast and east of England on 14th and 15th, with gale force winds.

Trips to the north bank were still by ferry before the Bridge opened making any journey to Hull and particularly Spurn a well planned excursion - I recall the trips on the night of February 13th 1979 being seriously cold as a gale force easterly with snow hit the area

On 13th I had arranged to meet up with Tim Milsom who was an early bird surveyor on the Humber at his place in Hull for the evening. The journey involved a ferry crossing of course pre-Humber bridge and I decided to take my bike on the train then bike through Hull to his place. It was brutal with the wind howling from the east and the first flurries of snow arriving by the time I made it back to the ferry and home on the train and bike. The following morning it was a case of walking most of the way to Barrow Haven to work as the roads were piled up with snow. I didn’t manage to get round the pits until 16th still walking but a redhead Smew had been at Barrow Haven 15th and on 16th it was still around with a female Long-tailed Duck and the bigger pits held a Slavonian Grebe (3rd) on sailing pit along with two Red-necked Grebes (3rd and 4th). Only one Red-necked remained to 17th but a pair of Smew flew west and I managed to get to Killingholme on 17th where two new Red-necked Grebes (5th and 6th) one being oiled and a third bird was in Immingham Docks (5th) with six Red-breasted Mergansers at Killingholme. It seems a world away that anyone could then drive onto one of the busiest docks in the country and park a car by the quay and simple watch and photograph birds while avoiding the docks traffic. The same day there were eight Red-necked Grebes on Covenham making it 11 for the day and a Black-throated Diver. A full check of the Barton to Barrow Haven pits on 19th located ten drake Goosanders, three Scaup, Long-tailed Duck and Common Scoter, a new badly oiled Red-necked Grebe on sailing pit (6th) and one on tilery pit (7th) two drake Velvet Scoters flying east at Barrow Haven, a badly oiled Red-throated Diver flying up the Humber, two Great Northern Divers up estuary a sub adult Glaucous Gull and two Short-eared Owls. A pair of Smew were on Goxhill Quebec pit 20th with two Red-throated Divers and three Red-breasted Mergansers at Barrow Haven and a Red-necked Grebe on Winter’s Pit at East Halton (8th). Things then quietened down for a while but 40 Kittiwakes flew east at Barrow Haven 22nd and there were 41 Goldeneye a good count for the time. A Pale-bellied Brent was at Killingholme with eight Scaup and three Mergs a species that was being seen almost daily along with Goosander. A visit to Covenham on 25th turned up seven Red-necked Grebes, Black-throated Diver, seven Mergansers and Smew with three Red-necked Grebes and an immature drake Velvet Scoter on North Somercotes Lido. Three Purple Sandpipers were at Trusthorpe and ten Bean Geese at Huttoft of which I noted one probably Taiga and nine Tundra but in those days it was bigger and darker! There were also two Red-necked Grebes to add to the county tally. Another new Red-necked Grebe at Barrow Haven 26th (9th) and a drake Smew with three at Killingholme 27th when Red-necked Grebe number ten was near the outfall (10th). Grimsby Docks held two Red-necked Grebes and a Black-throated Diver with 15 Red-breasted Mergansers. The East Halton Red-necked Grebe was dead on 28th but 31 Eiders were off Killingholme and a Purple Sandpiper there was roosting on a buoy offshore with 23 Ruff still around. March arrived with two Red-necked Grebes (11th and 12th) at Barrow Haven and far Ings and two Smew.

After the failed Surf Scoter trip Mick and I were back in Inverness on 4th driving to Kingston where a drake Surf Scoter was duly twitched and 150 Velvet Scoters, all three divers and 80 Long-tailed Ducks logged with an additional 100 Long-tailed Ducks at Lossiemouth and 1000 Long-tailed Ducks off Findhorn with 4000 Common and 30 Velvet Scoters the trip concluding with a second winter Iceland Gull at Inverness.

Back at Barrow Haven a first-winter Glaucous Gull flew west 7th and a Red-necked Grebe was at Killingholme but the star bird was my first Lincs Peregrine an adult at Barrow Haven 10th. Red-necked Grebes were still at Barrow Haven 13th with a new slightly oiled Red-throated Diver and Killingholme and a small Glaucous Gull was at Rosper Road. The Water Pipit at Barrow Haven reappeared on 16th and a first winter Glaucous Gull was in the Docks with two first-winters birds at Killingholme tip along with a first-winter Iceland Gull. Two Red-necked Grebes on North Somercotes Lido on 10th were presumably the same birds but one at Donna Nook was an addition to the county tally for the winter taking the total to 12 locally and 31 for Lincs. Glaucous Gulls were becoming commonplace with a third winter at Killingholme tip 22nd and the Red-necked Grebe was still on the pits but in a final gasp another new bird appeared at Barrow Haven 22nd – 23rd (13th) and on 24th three Black-necked Grebes at Barrow Haven were the first local birds ever! One Red-necked Grebe moved from Barrow Haven to New Holland on 27th and this was the last local record but an additional Lincs bird was at Saltfleet April 1st. Killingholme tip continued to attract white-winged gulls with a Glaucous and first winter Iceland March 30th.

So ended one of the best winters for birding locally and some highly memorable moments.

The influxes of waterbirds and raptors and owls were both documented in articles in British Birds referenced below.

Influxes into Britain and Ireland of Red-necked Grebes and other waterbirds during winter 1978/79

R.J. Chandler British Birds 1981 Vol.74: Pages 55–81

Influxes into Britain of Hen Harriers, Long-eared Owls and Short-eared Owls in winter 1978/79

D. L. Davenport. British Birds 1982 Vol.75: Pages 309–316

Since that winter there have been 15 local birds with an annual maximum of four in 1996 a total that included two birds together in near breeding plumage - below are a few images of some of the more recent obliging winter birds

Red-necked Grebe Cleethorpes CP January 2026 - a very obliging bird that graces this relatively small water along with two superb Slavonian Grebes

Red-necked Grebe in wing display Cleethorpe CP January 2016

juvenile Red-necked Grebe Barton Pits September 2010

Juvenile Red-necked Grebes can be almost as bright as breeding adults

a complex head pattern - juvenile Red-necked Grebe

Red-necked Grebe Barton sailing pit February 2019 - this bird that arrived on January 31st stayed to April 18th and moulted into what was probably first summer plumage

Red-necked Grebe Barton sailing pit April 2019

Slavonian Grebes Cleethorpes CP February 2016 - being on a small water body with people walking all round it they became quite tame allowing some nice shots

Stunning eyes - Slavonian Grebe Cleethorpes CP February 2016

Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat at Donna Nook in 2011

On the morning of November 9th 2011 at Donna Nook Lincolnshire there had clearly been a good arrival of thrushes, mainly Blackbirds, but also up to 30 Robins and a few other birds; that late in the autumn thoughts turn to really rare birds from the far east and the lingering hope of an Asian Desert Warbler meant that when we came across a small pale sandy coloured warbler with obvious white outer tail feathers in the marram there was a brief moment of could it be but the bird quickly resolved into an eastern, recently deemed / named Central Asian, Lesser Whitethroat (halimodendri). The bird landed in a small hawthorn but then quickly went down into the marram where it was catching caterpillars; better views confirmed it was tiny and very pale coloured with almost no contrast between the upper and underparts and the faintest of grey tinges to the forecrown - it was a striking little bird but its choice of habitat meant that it could be easily overlooked and we lost it for an hour or so but it could generally be found in the grass or low in the scattered elders and hawthorns where it seemed to go when disturbed. Along with Neil Drinkall we watched it for a few hours on and off and hearda. very distinctive and most un Lesser Whitethroat like call. I returned on 11th and managed to get a very poor sound recording on my phone complete with far too much wind noise which is posted below along with sonograms of the calls. I also took a series of images of the bird but it was elusive and many were not sharp and critically for the ensuing 13 years I did not manage to get the white balance correct in the images that had a heavy magenta cast caused by the mis match of Canon files and Adobe software. Having now got the white balance sorted I have re-processed the images and they are presented below. BBRC do not accept that Central Asian Lesser Whitethroats can be identified without DNA evidence so this bird will forever remain speculative in their opinion. Things have changed rapidly in the field of bird identification in the last 50 years but to my mind the recent move to DNA based identifications rather than good old solid field observations is a detrimental step. Whatecer this was a really interesting bird and still stirs my imagination.

Description:

It was strikingly pale and sandy on the upperparts and with a contrasting whitish throat and upper breast then a peachy – buff lower breast, belly and flanks. The bill was short and the head pattern weakly marked compared to nominate Lesser Whitethroat with a white crescent below the eye being more obvious than the weak crescent above; most of the features of the bird are shown in the attached photos with a poor out of focus flight shot that shows the extent of white in the outer tail feathers. The most distinctive feature of the bird apart from its looks was its call a mid-toned dry series of rattles described as trrrrrrrrrt totally dissimilar to the call of nominate birds. (I have attached a poor-quality recording of the call recorded on the 11th.)

 It looks very similar to the bird in Aberdeen British Birds 98 (11) Eastern Lesser Whitethroat in Aberdeen and the same bird in Birding World 17 (12) 502 – 504 Apparent Desert Lesser Whitethroat in Aberdeen. But as all authorities seem to state making sub-specific identification between minula and halimodendri in a vagrant context is not practicable; the plumage and calls however, make these birds a very different bird to our summer breeding Lesser Whitethroats.

Sonogram of the bird’s call

View fullsize

View fullsize

The text from the excellent Frontiers series by Martin Garner and Ray Scally just about fits this bird to a tee and the images in the new ID Handbook of European Birds are also a good match.

It rarely perched up in the low hawthorns and this was an unusually clear view - note how pale and sandy the upperparts were right up to the central crown with the peachy underparts only a little paler than the upperparts but the white throat standing out - the very short primary projection c30% of the tertial length is obvious here

Feeding down near the ground in marram and low sea buckthorn

the pale upperparts and wings with contrasting dark alula and again the very short primary projection with the short p2 possibly visible here

the habit of feeding on the ground in low vegetation meant it was often hard to locate

tail cocking habit is mentioned in the Frontiers book and is also a regular habit of Asian Desert Warbler - note here the brownish wash extending to the central crown

feeding in marram

All white T6 visible on right side

I think that look says - don’t you know how far I have come to be labelled as non-proven!

Ross’s Gull — the holy grail

It is one of those birds with a mythical past and such a strong attraction that every birder surley wants to see one but I was never satisfied with one and as it has now been 18 years since I last saw one I am getting a bit desperate for the chance of another encounter.

Named after the Arctic explorer James Clark Ross the breeding grounds of this delightful little gull were not discovered until 1905 and there is still a lot of uncertainty about the extent of its breeding grounds in the high Arctic and where they winter although most birds frequent areas around the polar ice cap. Records in Britain run back to 1936 when a juvenile - first-winter was found in Shetland. My first opportunity to see one of these jewels came in 1976 when an adult was being seen at Scalby Mills. With no car I relied upon a lift from Derick Robinson and we spent the whole day there on April 10th after the bird had been seen from March 27th - 30th - Little Gull and three Mediterranean Gulls, then a good bird, did not compensate for the lack of Ross’s Gull and to add insult to injury it reappeared at the same spot on April 22nd staying to the 28th but I couldn’t get and am not even sure if I heard about it such were the news systems of the day. My next real chance came during a chilling spell of north-easterly winds in late February 1983 somewhat akin to today’s weather. With our Mini clubman I was up on the Brigg early on February 19th after hearing of the bird on 17th. Notes apart from plumage described it flying up and down the south side of the Brigg dipping to feed with other gulls and sitting on the Brigg as well as picking food off the surface of the water like a phalarope. I was sufficiently impressed to drive to Filey two days on the trot. With the Nikon F301 and the Sigma APO 400 f5.6 manual focus lens I took some memorable slides which have now become very very damaged - below the scans of said slides

If this had been in focus it would have been acceptable in the day

My next two encounters with the Arctic waif were in the harbour at Thurso, about as far north as you can get in mainland Scotland - en route to Shetland in April 1985 we took in the long staying adult on April 21st 1984 and then there was January 2005. Still being interested in my British list and never having seen a Desert Wheatear news of a male wintering in Freswick Bay near Wick and free rail travel saw us planning a long weekend trip to the northern extremities setting off on January 10th. The journey north went well but I had actually planned nothing other than the train journey! We arrived in Wick in the depths of a very cold January and casually asked about car hire - a very dodgy Mini Metro was picked up from a local garage, not a lot of brakes or anything else! and we managed to log into a local Motel with not a lot of heating but some spare bed covers. The Desert Wheatear was very obliging but travelling light I took no camera but my field notebook. An additional attraction was the adult Ross’s Gull that had returned to Thurso for another winter and we duly watched it performing well and also added three Iceland Gulls including an exquisite adult, several Black Guillemots and Long-tailed Ducks, three diver sp Velvet Scoters and a flock of 44 Greenland White-fronts. It still being Hogmanay, apparently, we managed to get invited to a few people’s houses for Whisky after a meal in the local tavern which made the Motel room a bit warmer. The journey back also went Ok to Inverness but there I had managed to mix up 00:10 on Saturday and Sunday so we were on Inverness station at 22:30 at night with no train until mid-morning next day. Went to the local Police station and in the spirit of the day they rang a B&B for us and we ended up with a warm bed for the night rather than a cold night on Inverness station.

Desert Wheatear Skirza , Freswick Bay January 1985

Ross’s Gull Thurso January 1985

With two adult Ross’s Gulls seen I stil wanted to see a first-winter and in February 1993 one was being reported at an outfall on the River Ness at Inverness. This was too good an opportunity to miss and it was back onto the East coast main line and a train trip north which I worked out would get me to Inverness hopefully in time to see the bird that afternoon. The train was on time and after a wander through the docks I found the outfall and the bird. a real stunner. Again no camera but I enjoyed sketching it and was back home the following day at zero cost.

First-winter Ross’s Gull Inverness February 23rd 1993.

The following year another adult was twitched at Sunderland on February 28th and a very dodgy slide taken above.

This rich Ross’s Gull spell continued into 1995 when an adult with a faint pink wash and full neck collar joined a summering gang of Little Gulls on Teeside at Greatham Creek. I went twice on June 15th and 25th and took some decent slides but they have suffered badly in the interim and the scans are pretty poor. It was a superb bird but a hot June was not really what you want when watching and Arctic Gull.

Adult Ross’s Gull Greatham Creek June 1995

Adult Ross’s Gull Greatham Creek June 1995

2002 was one of those years - On March 31st my wife was ill and a rapid visit to Hospital was confounded by a phone call telling me a Ross’s Gull was at Blacktoft Sands!!! just up the Humber — I somehow managed to get out later amid reports of it passing Brough Haven and presumably my local patch but I failed miserably and guess I will never have another chance of one in the Humber. Later in the spring an adult turned up at Scarborough and I twitched it on March 16th watching it walking about on the footpaths on castle hill avoiding passers by and birders’ tripods. Digi-scoping by this stage my images were pin pricks.

The adult Ross’s Gull at Scarborough March 2002.

Five years passed with no accessible Ross’s Gulls and then word came of a long staying first-winter at Ormsary on the Mull of Kintyre no short journey but a first-winter and I now had a camera a Canon iDIIN and a 300f4 lens. Thus after much deliberation in late January 2007 four of us, Kev DuRose, Dave Jenkins, Mike Weedon and myself headed to Scotland hopefully taking in the Barrow’s Goldeneye that was wintering on the River Teith at Callander. the weather forecast was shall we say mixed but sounded better on the Sunday than Saturday with at least a chance of some brighter spells. We arrived in Callander after an overnight drive to find people canoeing down the main street but through the torrential rain we did see the duck before traversing Scotland and arriving somewhere near Ormsary where we found a B&B and settled in to dry out and check the weather for the following day. The MET men still said a brighter day but needless to say they were 100% wrong and it peed down all day. Arriving at the site where the bird had been feeding not surprisingly we were the only people there but the bird did not take a lot of finding as it was feeding over a small outfall near a fish farm where you could literally stand within 5m of it as it fed unconcerned dipping in the abundant water. My images were OK given the conditions but could have been so much better.

KDD, DJJ and yours trult getting very wet at Ormsary January 2007.

Ross’s Gull over the loch with Black-headed Gulls

Water droplet on its bill tip - we had lots of water droplets dripping off us!

Getting close to the bird was no problem at times you could almost touch it

We were often looking down on it from a small raised area as it dip fed over a small stream

In the afternoon it landed on a muddy area and paddled about getting worms

By the end of 2022 there had been 105 records in Britain but in recent years records have become much less frequent probably as a result of the rising sea temperatures in the Arctic impacting breeding success but also changing the location of wintering areas.

For some years I had the book by Michael Densley, In Search of Ross’s Gull but I lent it to a colleague and sadly he died before it was returned; I see copies now trading at over £100.

Hopefully an accessible stayer will appear sometime soon and even if it involves a long drive or train trip I will need to go - a recent long staying first-winter in the Netherlands produced some amazing images and I was almost tempted - next time.

Wildfowl with the Canon RF 200-800 and 1.4x converter and the Canon R6 Mark 2

December 6th was mainly bright and sunny and with a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers at Alkborough I hoped to get a useable image for the December report; they were not close after a skirmish with two Marsh Harriers and so I tried the 1.4x converter on the RF 200-800 lens making it f13 but with the lovely low winter sun I was getting decent shutter speeds at ISO 1600 and the results were well beyond what I expected with an extender on a zoom lens giving me 1120 mm . A few of the images below. It was helpful that the Pintail and Shoveler came close to the hide thanks to the presence of two Otters and regular Marsh Harrier movements. I also took a lot of Marsh Harrier images that Ihave yet to process but even the flight shots look pretty decent.

I managed to get the best images I have ever taken of Pintail which are usually distant locally

Subtle colours were remdered by the lens and camera combo but its difficult to keep detail in the white and brown at the same time

There is so much to a drake Pintail apart from the standard side on portrait

aptly named

the bill pattern is more complex than just grey

out of five birds four were drakes an unusual proportion

beautiful speculum and uppertail coverts seldom seen in flight views but frozen by the camera

the colours of Shelduck only appear in good sunlight

drake Shoveler with its impressive bill

Love the quality of the R6 mark 2 - all taken as CRaws and converted in ACR and Photoshop

The best shot I managed of the Mergansers was this flight image as they were too far away even for the 1120 mm set up

Male Marsh Harrier at pre-roost in bush - deliberately tried to frame it with the out of focus reed taken towards the weak late afternoon sunshine - I have rather a lot of Marsh Harrier images but try to get something different when I can - inspired by the superb You Tube videos made by Andy Parkinson well worth watching if you aspire to take something a bit different in wildlife photography https://www.youtube.com/@andyparkinsonphotography

standard female Marsh Harrier flight shot

different take on a male Marsh Harrier coming in to roost

young adult male Marsh Harrier hunting - used the reeds

Wallcreeper

An email from my friend John stated that they were heading to Spain (from Canada) in search of his Holy Grail of birds the Wallcreeper. This of course got me thinking; the header for my old blog was a Wallcreeper image I managed to get in Provence in 2010 and that image features in my favourite shots section https://www.grahamcatley.com/wallcreeper so the species clearly has an indelible mark in my brain and so it should - surely this is one of those birds that everyone wants to see and every encounter is going to be an unforgettable one. So here we go with a bit of a career list of Wallcreeper enjoyment.

Being found essentially in high mountain ranges where they breed Wallcreepers do descend to lower levels in the winter and can sometimes be found feeding on buildings as long as there are holes and crevices to harbour their invertebrate prey items. My first encounter came in April 1976 on a University of East Anglia Bird Club trip to the Pyrenees and north-eastern Spain - extract below:

We awoke in our tent at Gavarnie in the French Pyrenees toa dump of 8 inches of overnight snow - some of the team not exactly prepared for sub-zero temperatures - note the tell tale Zenit B camera orange glare as the back of the camera often came open of its own accord affecting the precious slide film. 

Pyrenees April 1976:

Following a successful mini-bus trip by the UEA Bird club to the Camargue in April 1975 a second trip to the Pyrenees and North-east Spain was planned for April 13th – 24th 1976 entitled the Lammergeier trip that was the main target bird but obviously a lot more birds were on offer. After logging our target bird in the high Pyrenees at Gavarnie, where we had camped and awoken to a dump to 8 inches of overnight snow some poor weather saw us heading for the warmer climes of Spain just over the mountain range but a long drive was entailed in the hard winter weather that was affecting the area. Narrative from the 16th and 17th below.

April 16th   

Rise to rain again and decide we may as well set off for Spain where it may be less inclement, driving along the base of the Pyrenees can' t see much because of rain and poor visibility so drive to St. Girond 10 Black Kite, 10 Buzzard and a Red Kite, on road side plus singing Cirl Bunting. From Girond up the Maras road two Firecrest building a nest where we have lunch in the valley and a bit further up 11 Garganey on a small lake on the roadside, 11+ Buzzard, a Sparrowhawk, Kestrel and 3 Crag Martin. From here up road to Col de Port the col high in the hills, spruce and pine clad slopes, scree and rugged valleys, snow in the distance. Raven, Goldcrest and Water Pipit but looked good for other species in better weather. Drive down from here and then up some very rugged mountain roads towards Andorra. Very steep road to the pass with masses of snow and partially blocked roads with cars stuck in drifts and its still snowing.  In order to get going several members of the group get out and start pushing cars stuck in snow up the road! At the café at the top, I seem to recall we were treated to a free hot chocolate. On the back, southern, side of the pass we drop down to Canillo in Andorra below snow line again and camp in the dark, as usual, and wake to a sharp frost and masses of skiers driving up to the slopes above.

April 17th  

Pre breakfast walk in the valley quite illuminating; rugged valley with steep slopes and maquis scrub, to the north and pine and spruce forests to the south. In the morning Willow Chiffs moving, 20+ Rock Bunting, Firecrest, 50+ Siskin, heavy movements of Goldfinch, 200+ Serins and White and Grey Wagtails. Climb slope to the north in hope of Rock Sparrow but no joy on that front but on burnt off grass slopes Redstart 2, Black Redstart 6+, Blue Rock Thrush in song 100+ Alpine Choughs flying over, then sitting on the grass slope Jeff makes the find of the day a Wallcreeper on a craggy outcrop which feeds sings and behaves perfectly giving wonderful views. Totally elated we shout down to Dunc et al in the valley below and eventually get some of then up to see it. Descending for some not to hot or palatable porridge. Pack up again and Derreck et al go off for the creeper, returning they claim Alpine Dunnock and we have to have another go for them, climbing the hill behind the hotel a lot of time spent looking but no joy in wind and rain but eventually I flush an *Alpine Dunnock and three more are found feeding on the burnt off slope, they prove to be what Jeff and I found in the early morning session but lost. Set off for the Ordino valley but not too successful here due to heavy tourist developments and dull weather: Pine clad slopes on the less rugged valley stretching up to the high tops to the north birch scrub on lower slopes held only tits. From here drive to the Spanish border in the dark and camp in a valley bottom on the roadside, + dogs etc; and lots of foreigners.

Five star accommodation here in the valley below the Wallcreeper in Andorra - canisters of water caused us a problem at the Spanish border where the police thought we were smuggling petrol! 

The history of Wallcreepers in Britain stretches back to 1792 when one was shot at the unlikely location of Stratton Strawless in Norfolk on October 30th with five more records before 1969.

https://www.historicalrarebirds.info/u20/wallcreeper

 https://www.historicalrarebirds.info/cat-ac/wallcreeper

Naylor, KA 2024 Historical Rare Birds

Being 16 at the time this bird passed me by but it was the first detailed and documented live bird in Britain and caused quite a stir as detaield below;

Wallcreeper     1969     Worth Matravers          Dorset  Accepted

Details: Worth Matravers, male, 19th November 1969 to 18th April 1970.

 From British Birds – Looking back April 1995

Twenty-five years ago, in April 1970, the talking point was an unprecedented invasion of at least 40 Little Egrets Egretta garzetta, the first 12 all arriving during 17th-19th April; in contrast, there was none in autumn. In the same month, British Birds subscribers were reading that: 'Although considered to be largely sedentary, the Wallcreeper Tichodroma muraria has been recorded as a vagrant about seven times in Britain. The most recent occurrence, and the first for over 30 years, was at Winspit, near Worth Matravers, on the Dorset coast. The first authentic sighting of this individual was on 19th November 1969, though there is some evidence that it had been present since at least 9th September. It stayed throughout the winter, working its way each day back and forth through the abandoned stone quarries that extend along the cliffs for about a mile east from Winspit. Hundreds of birdwatchers travelled to see it, local inhabitants and holiday-makers borrowed binoculars, and it even put in an appearance on television, but at times it could be remarkably elusive and no one seems to have met with much success in photographing the bird. By the end of March it had already acquired the black throat of the male's breeding plumage, and it was last seen on 18th April.' (Brit. Birds 63: 163)

 An actual black and white film of this bird appears in the BBC archive along with some rather dodgy early TV sensationalist reporting.

https://www.facebook.com/BBCArchive/videos/1970-nationwide-wall-creeper/228187989063253/

Roll on forwards to 1978:

Cheddar Quarry Somerset March 19th 1978

A new bird for GB!

Unbeknown to 99% of UK birdwatchers a Wallcreeper had wintered in the Cheddar Gorge area of Somerset from early November 1976 to April 6th 1977. The first since the widely available Winspit bird in 1969 – 1970 it would have drawn a big crowd but was not made public. Fortunately, it returned on November 9th 1977 and stayed through to April 8th 1978 with news being released to all and sundry in March 1978. Mick Mellor and myself decided on a visit on March 19th and after negotiating the quarry wall and ending up in the bottom we had some great views as detailed blow: it remains the only bird I have seen in Britain and a wintering individual now would be a massive draw as the last British record was a one day bird on the Isle of White in 1985.

My field notes:

A brilliant bird first noticed giving its call that sounded somewhat similar to the song of Black Redstart being a three syllabled see see seeeit rising at the end and quite distinctive given regularly whilst moving about and feeding. Song also given quite often was the same as that heard in the Pyrenees again sometimes trisyllabic and the first two notes sometimes given without the rising third note tu tu tueeese rising on the last long drawn out high pitched note.

Not easy to pick out on the rock face due to its small size and habit of spending a good deal of its time sitting stationary whilst feeding on a wet cliff face.

Bill curved and black; crown nape and back all pale grey looking slightly darker on the naps than the back. Throat black with odd white spots where still moulting to summer plumage. Faint white eye ring visible at close range. Breast dark greyish. Wings brilliant crimson on forewing with blackish primaries and prominent white spots on the black inside tips. 

creeping about feeding on the rock faces especially in cracks and under overhangs and on one face with running water where it spent a lot of time feeding by picking flakes of mud off the face in search for invertebrates underneath. Also seen drinking water as it dripped off the face. Flicked wings out quite regularly especially when moving about. In flight brilliant crimson, grey and black and white with large butterfly like effect caused by the broad wings. Flight very rapid and erratic with amazingly quick turns in flight making it a hard bird to follow.             

In my attempt to be a bird sketcher days and even felt obliged to add some colour to a bird like this one 

Since that memorable encounter in 1978 I have seen Wallcreepers in Southern France and the Spanish Pyrenees as described below every sighting leaves an indelible mark on the memory.

 June 5th 2000 --  a trip to the Pyrenees and NE Spain June 3rd – 10th 2000

An early start heading north on the A131 to Huesca and then on to Jaca via the 330 and Sabiñánigo. Decided on a first look at the Monastery area at San Juan but at the top low cloud made birding impossible so we dropped down to the village of Santa Cruz de la Serós. Here a good variety of raptors including Hobby, Peregrine, kites and Booted Eagle plus Alpine Swift were logged before the rain set in! We then drove to the Mirador de Oroel and managed to get views of a few typical woodland species, Bonelli’s Warbler, Short-toed Treecreeper, Firecrest and Nuthatch. Also heard Black Woodpecker but failed to see any. A chat with a young birder who had been shown Wallcreeper at the Hecho the previous day prompted an early departure and a rapid drive to the Boca del Infierno. Here it was extremely windy, cold and difficult to locate any song but after about 30 mins the male Wallcreeper appeared on the rocks to the left of the road and flew down into the gorge where we all had good views as the rain set in again. A few minutes later a second bird, the female was found feeding on the high face across the gorge and we were able to get good scope views for 90 minutes by standing in the shelter of the overhanging face across the road. In addition to these super birds 2 Lammergeier, 5 Egyptians, Short-toed Eagle, Booted Eagle and Red-backed Shrike were all seen. Higher up the valley a lone Black-bellied Dipper was sole consolation in appalling weather with torrential rain. By evening it was fine lower down the valley and we headed for the supposed Eagle Owl site near Alastuey. The valley revealed Red-backed Shrikes, Bonelli’s Warbler, Cirl Buntings and two probable but distant Bonelli’s Eagles. At dusk a Scops Owl called and an Eagle Owl was heard but the highlight was three Eurasian Nightjars feeding on the road with a female allowing approach to 2m in the lights of the car. Night in a Hostal at Puente la Reina.

my first Wallcreeper image taken at shall we say a slow shutter speed in the depths of the gorge in flight - almost recognisable

 June 8th

Golden Orioles calling from the poplars along the river at the hotel at dawn. A drive up to the St Juan area revealed good numbers of a variety of butterflies in what was a rather hot day, 27C plus a variety of raptors but not the stunning close views we expected. Lammergeier, Egyptian Vultures, Booted Eagle, Peregrine and a flock of 50 Chough were highlights. From here we headed back to the Wallcreeper site and had Golden Eagle, Peregrine and 2 Lammergeier in the air. The Wallcreepers were located at the nest with the male feeding the female. Tracking down the valley we crossed west into the Anzo valley having 2 Short-toed and 2 Booted Eagles in display from the ridge top. A short stop at the bottom of the Binzes valley revealed Orphean Warbler, Ortolan, and 5 Short-toed Eagles. Evening in the town park at Jaca where at least three Scops Owls located including a pair mating in a tall tree in the north-east corner of the park. Night at same Hostal as 7th.

male Wallcreeper in the gorge a micro-dot image on KChrome slide 

In the mid 2000’s with cheap air travel opening up long weekend birding trips, four of us headed to the Camargue and Les Alpilles in January or February of 2004, 2005, 2008 and again in 2010 tempted by close encounters with Alpine Accentors, Greater Flamingos and hopefully the Wallcreepers that winter on the cliffs at Les Baux. Below are the Wallcreeper days!

February 5th 2004

By 12:40 we were at Les Baux and parked in an almost empty car park by the main entrance to the old town; 3 Euros in a meter (useful to have a few Euro coins available when you arrive). Entrance to the higher levels of the old town costs 7 Euros but when we returned three days later the girl on the desk recognised us and let us in for 5:50 as we were regulars! The upper reaches of the old town soon produced some good birds with 10-15 Alpine Accentors feeding around the buildings and on the open areas; very tame but frustratingly poor light prevailed. Also 1-2 Blue Rock Thrush, some very approachable Sardinian Warblers, Black Redstart and a pair of Serins. Various sources suggested that Wallcreepers winter on the northern edge of the town cliffs and at the southern end. We started off by walking west down the road towards Les Maussannes. On the first right hand bend you can look back up to the cliffs and the buttresses on the side of the town. DJ quickly picked up a Wallcreeper here and we had good views as it fed on the walls and cliffs but access was restricted by the scree and scrub. The second site is found by taking the path south from La Vergière Noire along the foot of the cliffs to the southern end of Les Baux. Two Crag Martin and a fine Firecrest obliged along with further Blue Rock Thrush and odd Accentors on the cliffs above. Our second Wallcreeper of the day was soon picked up in an area of honeycombed limestone by the Stèle des Gaiè. We soaked up this delightful bird for a few hours and then moved back to the car and drove towards La Caume.

Digi-scoped Wallcreeper with the Nikon Coolpix E880 a 3MP camera February 2004

February 9th

Following up on information from the Spanish and French birders we headed into the northern delta to look for a Pine Bunting seen the previous day. A flock of 16 Cattle Egrets passed as they left their roost and the flock of 30 or so Yellowhammer were duly located. Eventually at least one adult male Pine Bunting was seen very well and it seemed likely that two had been present. With the wind getting ever stronger we headed back to Les Baux. On the higher levels it was hard to stand up and the Alpine Dunnocks were very difficult due to harsh light and their constant movements. On the southern cliffs it was possible to get out of the wind and in the sunshine two Wallcreepers performed brilliantly keeping us entertained for about three hours. Also seen were Blue Rock Thrush, A Accentor, Black Redstart, 20 Crag Martin. Without much hope of any action in the cold wind we headed for the Eagle Owl site and found one bird immediately on a daytime roost on the crag but it was by then 18:00 and the light was fading.

For fast moving small birds on a big cliff digi-scoping had its challenges - Les Baux February 20024

 February 19th 2005

By early afternoon were at Les Baux and walked up to the upper village where Alpine Accentors were quickly located along with Sardinian Warblers and KDD jammed a Wallcreeper on the inner ramparts. A couple of Black Redstarts were seen before we moved back to the car park where two obliging Alpine Accentors performed brilliantly amongst the crowds of Saturday afternoon visitors. A walk around the bottom of the cliffs turned in three delightful Wallcreepers and three Crag Martins plus Blue Rock Thrush.     

local tourists taking in the Alpine Accentor by the entrance to Les Baux courtesy of digi-scoping KDD and DJJ

Alpine Accentor at the entrance to Les Baux - mow armed with the Canon 20D and original 100-400 lens images were getting a bit better

Monday 21st

Starting out at Les Baux it was already very windy; a Cirl Bunting sang near the car park and the southern cliffs were sheltered. A male Wallcreeper was very accommodating and a few Black Redstart and 13 Crag Martins seen. By the main entrance we had two close Alpine Accentors in what was now nearing a gale force north-westerly.     

Even with the 100-400 lens the Wallcreepers were small and usually distant 

Wallcreeper on the honeycombed southern cliffs of Les Baux 

At the time photos of Wallcreepers were quite scarce and this image featured on the cover of the Ornitholidays tour company brochure 

January 12th 2008

A fine and sunny morning with light winds so we head up to Les Baux to have a go at the Wallcreepers at Les Baux—hopefully! There only seems to be one female on the whole of Les Baux so it gives us a bit of a run around trying to get close to it; not so the Alpine Accentors which perform admirably. Also seen 3+ Black Redstart, a male and female Blue Rock Thrush, 20+ Serin, Sardinian Warbler, a couple of Cirl Bunting low down and at roost time 17 Crag Martins and a Merlin on the adjacent hillside.

With the Canon 1Dmark2N and 300 2.8 lens the Alpine Accentors were a dream target; tame and in great light 

January 13th;

Another amazing hot and sunny day but with a light north-easterly wind. The female Wallcreeper again took up most of the day but we also saw 3 Bonelli’s Eagles in the distance over La Caume and a Griffon came from that direction and flew over Les Baux. Additional birds during the day were 6+ Black Redstart including a male in song, 20+ serin, Sardinian Warblers, male and female Blue Rock Thrush, 20+ Alpine Accentors, 2 displaying Ravens, Chiffchaff and Sparrowhawk. Late afternoon we move to Le Destet and have Woodlark, a ringtail Hen Harrier and a singing male Eagle Owl at dusk.

male Sardinian Warbler at Les Baux another distraction from the Wallcreeper hunt 

but even with the 2x converter on the 300 lens the Wallcreepers were stubbornly distant 

Les Baux February 10th and 12th 2010

At least one male Wallcreeper with some reasonable photographic opportunities. Armed now with the 500 f4 Canon lens and a 1.4x converter there were better photo chances but the birds were still small and tricky to find with a lens when standing on a loose scree slope looking essentially upwards. 

The south facing cliffs at Les Baux favoured by Wallcreepers - the dense head high scrub on scree leading up to the foot of the cliffs is a real challenge especially with a camera and big lens 

John W and KDD trying to get an angle on a Wallcreeper looking down from the top of Les Baux 

https://www.grahamcatley.com/wallcreeper

Second guessing where the birds would be was a nightmare - if you were at the bottom they were at the top and vice versa and walking between the two spots took nearly an hour 

this bird was performing some amazing aerobatics as it fed on the cliff face 

It would regularly fly up to a hole or crevice in the cliff face and disturb something that would then eitehr jump or drop from the cliff at which point the Wallcreeper would fly down and catch the prey item in the air - amazing to watch but impossible to capture in the camera auto-focus systems of 2010 - today’s gear should provide a better chance 

From underneath they lack the striking colours on the upperwings 

flying almost upside down did not seem to be a problem 

Terrible image but shows the prey items that this bird was flushing off the cliff face anbd then chasing in flight 

flying up to the cliff face to probe for food in a hole 

Presumed female 

Pale tipped undertail coverts 

Flicking the wings and tail open is a regular action but getting the camera to catch it was a challenge in 2010 

Blue skies and sunshine are certainly far from guaranteed on a short mid-winter visit 

searching the rock fissures 

many of the locations where Wallcreepers occur are highly scenic and Les Baux is one such place on a nice day 

a giant Red Admiral butterfly just about sums them up 

One of my favourite images of all time 

That is now 14 years since seeing a Wallcreeper so I am well overdue a renewed acquaintance.

Hawfinches

I still remember my first Hawfinch. On July 5th 1970 still not at an age to be able to drive and definitely unable to own a vehicle, my parents took my on one of our Sunday drives to the area of Pelham’s Pillar Woods, striclty private so any birding had to be from adjacent roads. We parked for a picnic on the triangle of grass and tarmac between Caistor Road and Cabourne Road at Audleby Top. Suddenly a bird landed next to a puddle by the car - a stunning Hawfinch unmistakable and unforgettable. I have driven past that spot 100’s of times since and walked those woods but never seen another Hawfinch there. Indeed it was March 1974 before I saw another Hawfinch at East Wretham Heath while studying at UEA. That bird was eclipsed by a flock of 30+ on January 24th 1975 and my highest ever count came from the same spot on April 3rd 1977 when there were 50+ there.

On April 16th 1983 while walking round Far Ings I put up a Hawfinch from a grassy spit between two reedbeds and this remained my only local patch record until the invasion of 2014 when one flew west on September 28th. In the 1980’s indeed through to 2004 or thereabouts a small breeding population was located in the woods east of Scunthorpe and these provided annual encounters with up to 10 birds and I even found a nest in Kingsway Woods in the crown of a Hawthorn only 20 feet up by a busy car park. I managed some pretty dodgy digi-scoped images of some of the birds in 2004 and 2006 below - but my image gallery was to say the least lacking in quality.

Male Hawfinch digi-scoped with Swaro scope and Nikon Coolpix E880 a 3MP camera 2004 

Hawfinches feeding on the ground under yew trees February 2006

Then along came the autumn of 2017 and a major invasion of continental / Scandinavian Hawfinches into Britain. Staking out the migratory corridor of Barton Pits I managed to see one heading west on October 25th and a party of five heading the same way on the 27th. The following winter the Scawby Park - Forest Pines yew complex produced record numbers with my personal peak being 49 on February 27th 2018 with 45+ on March 2018.

Hawfinch Forest Pines November 2017

Hawfinch flock January 2018

male Hawfinch January 2018

Hawfinches January 2018

male Hawfinch January 2018 

Floack of Hawfinches feeding on the ground under yew trees March 2018

female Hawfinch feeding under yews March 2018

Fast forward to 2024, with none seen in the interim and a calling Hawfinch flies south-west over my garden early on October 29th. With others being reported and a mini influx akin to 2017 I have a look at the favoured site and find five on November 6th but they are very flighty and I don’t even see one perched. Returning on 18th and there are at least 11 and I finally get a few images including a couple feeding in a yew next to a beech with its golden leaves forming a great backdrop.

male Hawfinch in yew November 18th 2024

Hawfinch hiding in Larch tree 

male Hawfinch in yew 

over ensuing days I go back when the weather looks good ie with light or no wind and sunny but mainly they are elusive and flighty and although they can be feeding close by in a yew they are typically hidden from view and even when perched high in a beech or larch they have a habit of always being behind whatever branches are available.

They seem to love to be high up in beech trees

all images with the 200-800 lens at max power and still small in the frame 

adult males seem to be in the minority 

crunching the seed? of the yew not the berries 

Even when you see them fly up into a tree, oak here, they just seem to disappear and they are well camouflaged in the autumnal tree canopy 

a bit easier to see in the top of a larch 

while odd birds perch on top of the larch trees others disappear into the morass of twigs 

even when close it is possible to hide behind a minimalist yew branch 

adult female in a beech 

another adult female using criteria in the new ID Handbook of European Birds

I have been trying to get some flight shots but as with all passerines its not easy as they are quite small and speedy but some of my attempts are bordering on acceptable record shots 

an adult male with nice broad white tail feather tips 

the flashing white wing bars on upper and underside are distinctive 

and my best shots so far this winter - here an adult female 

an adult male in yew 

and an adult male in a yew with the backdrop of the golden beech leaves 

A Siberian Stonechat at Gibraltar Point November 16th 2024 and personal musings about past Lincolnshire eastern stonechats

As a new subscriber to British Birds in 1975 the anticipation of the monthly mail delivery of the next issue revolved around the unknown content; would there be an article on identification of some tricky species or accounts of the finding of rare birds or a write up on an extraordinary influx of some scarce migrant or winter visitor or would it be a bit of a non-interest issue! Prior to subscribing I had been given a run of issues from the 1950’s all of which had been devoured searching for inspiration and information on rare birds to be honest. While at the BTO I had spent countless hours trawling through all issues from 1960 onwards reading and re-reading accounts of the finding of rare birds like the mythical Red-flanked Bluetail and photocopying identification articles like the Dusky – Radde’s Warbler paper by Ron Johns and Ian Wallace complete with Ian’s pen and ink sketches that spoke a thousand words. All of this information was of course to be hopefully applied in the field when the Lincolnshire coast was blessed by Easterly autumnal winds, or at least that was the theory.

The June 1977 issue of BB contained a paper entitled Identification and European Status of eastern Stonechats by Iain S. Robertson. Complete with some very grainy black and white images and a pencil sketch this threw up a potential rare bird that most people had never heard of or contemplated but the first European record dated back to October 11th 1883 on, where else but that fabled isle of Heligoland with the second on the Isle of May on October 10th 1913 but more to the point there had been an upturn in records since the late 1960’s with 10 in 1974 alone so there was hope of discovering one of these gems. In Lincolnshire we did not have to wait long as the Donna Nook stalwarts unearthed a first-winter female on October 7th 1978 that stayed to the 8th and allowed the avid few Lincs twitchers to watch it feeding around the rusty barrels and barbed wire dump. I even managed a couple of very distant Kodachrome slides of said bird. Later a spring male at Donna Nook in the previous May 1978 was also considered an eastern bird but identification of males is harder to prove than immatures.

first-winter eastern stonechat Donna Nook October 8th 1978 presumably Siberian Stonechat maurus

Two years later, a late autumn search at Donna Nook on November 9th 1980 revealed a dark looking first-winter eastern Stonechat that I identified as stejnegeri probably the first for Lincolnshire though at that time all eastern birds were simply classified as a race of Stonechat and it was not until 2004 that these eastern birds were split as Siberian Stonechat with races maurus, variegatus, armenicus and indicus, stejnegeri and przewalskii.

 I was fortunate with further finds at Donna Nook of first-winter maurus probably male, from my notes on head pattern, on October 2nd 1987 by Ponderosa and an early first-winter female at Pye’s Hall on September 22nd 1994. I also saw another first-winter female maurus at Saltfleet Haven between October 1st – 3rd 2000 but that was it until 2016 when a first-winter male stejnegeri was found by Steve Lorand at Donna Nook on October 6th 2016 curtailing our search at Pye’s and involving some brisk southward walking. In the same glorious autumn, we found another eastern bird by Stonebridge car park on October 14th and assumed just on the paleness of the plumage and obvious differences from the earlier Donna bird that this second bird was maurus. The 2016 birds were written up with annotated photographs in a short paper in the 2016 Lincolnshire Bird Report pages 238 – 244.

The superb Challenge series thought provoking two volume series by Martin and Ray, thanks to Ray for permission to reproduce these images and I am sure Martin would not have mionded either 

maurus now Siberian Stonechat, at least for a while 

stejnegeri now Amur Stonechat as most people struggled to spell stejnegeri including me 

As more identification features came to light firstly in Martin Garner’s Birding Frontiers, Challenge Series, Autumn, then in a new paper in BB we started to question whether the second 2016 Donna bird may also have been stejnegeri? The BB paper ‘Eastern Stonechats’ in Britain; by Andy Stoddart and Martin Collinson in the September 2019 BB noted that: Recent taxonomic changes to ‘Eastern Stonechats’ have separated Stejneger’s Stonechat Saxicola stejnegeri from the five taxa that now comprise Siberian Stonechat S. maurus. Images of birds trapped and confirmed by DNA analysis and new plumage features in the paper laid out a set of criteria for identification but two birds identified as one species were in fact confirmed as the other by DNA so things were clearly not that clear cut. The following two paragraphs probably sum things up nicely:

However, the fact that the provisional field identifications of some DNA-tested birds did not align with their genetic identity is a cause for concern. Individual variation and the lack of an absolute feature clearly pose a problem. At the same time, the questions around intergrades/hybrids remain unresolved while, to complicate matters further, could there even be, as suggested earlier, a lack of congruence between the morphological and genetic divides between the two species? In other words, could a proportion of ‘Eastern Stonechats’ be apparent Stejneger’s on plumage but genetically Siberian (or vice versa)? These (and other) lingering taxonomic questions also suggest that caution is in order.

 Finally, even without these difficulties, any attempt to cherry-pick ‘distinctive’ individuals would still be problematic. How could ‘dark enough’ or ‘pale enough’ be defined? What about the more ‘intermediate’ birds? And, perhaps most importantly, given the difficulty of establishing true plumage hues, how much reliance can really be placed on field notes (if available), and, in particular, how useful are photographs? 

 The latest identification handbook, ID Handbook of European Birds by Nils van Duivendijk shows the most reliable features for separating what are now called Siberian maurus and Amur stejnegeri Stonechats and confirms at least that the Gibraltar Point bird is a first-winter male.

With all this in mind, and assuming I had not seen a Siberian Stonechat since 2000 a visit to Gibraltar Point to take in the features of the first-winter Siberian Stonechat found by Sam Goddard and still present early morning on the 16th, seemed in order. The weather men had typically got it all wrong and the afternoon was peppered by thick cloud and showers of light to moderate rain. None of the images below were taken in anything other than dull, though flat light and most were at ISO 3200 or above. The bird was at times fairly close to a male and female Common Stonechat but was generally on its own.

First winter male Siberian Stonechat (maurus) Gibraltar Point November 16th 2024. Images taken in slightly different lights, there was no sun while I was there, and different toned backgrounds could have the effect of changing the subtle colour tones of the bird’s plumage. Images taken later in the afternoon after a series of showers emphasise the blackish feathering in the crown and ear coverts partially due to the crown being wet. The bird could appear strikingly obvious and pallid at times but at others could look quite dark and at a distance could almost be passed off as a Common Stonechat.

The unmarked white undertail coverts and vent contrasted with the peachy underpart colouration. Depending on the angle of the head the mask formed by the blackish feather bases in the ear coverts could also appear striking or much less obvious. According to some published images the small very pointed bill is also a maurus feature with stejnegeri being thicker and blunter tipped.

After several showers the crown and head feathers became a bit matted with water. The buffy – cream tips to the greater coverts and greater primary coverts rule out this being an adult male.

In duller light there was more contrast in the mantle and scapular feathers with the dark feather centres appearing blacker. On the underparts the upper breast also showed a deeper orange colouration than the remainder of the underparts.

The darker orangy area on the upper breast shows well on this image taken in dull light just after some rain.

Also shown is the orangy colour on the upper breast in this flight shot where the throat appears to be marked with black feathers, actually feather bases and also note the black underwing coverts with pale whitish fringes another feature of first-winter males.

Most of the rump was essentially white to pale cream with a faint apricot wash to the uppertail coverts and distal part of the rump feathering. In flight at any sort of distance the rump looked uniform and pale creamy coloured but frozen images show the peachy wash.

The chin and throat were mainly white and contrasted with the peachy breast and underparts but faint blackish feather bases were visible in the throat patch.

The narrow white-buff fringes to the lesser and median wing coverts are shown here with the creamy – buff outer web fringe and tips to the greater coverts. The tail feathers were essentially black with a narrow and worn whitish tip. The pointed tips are usually a feature of juveniles.

In particularly dull light with thick dark clouds the apparent colour of the bird changed making it less contrasting and more female Common Stonechat like.

Unlike the Common Stonechats nearby nearly all of the Siberian’s feeding forays consisted of aerial pursuits of insects and this made it easy to locate. It used high perches in the buckthorn and elders and occasionally resorted to a nearby barbed wire fence. At one point if lew 150m out onto the saltmarsh to bathe quickly in a shallow area of water before quickly drying and preening and returning to the dunes.

The black underwing coverts contrasted markedly with the paler flight feathers typical of a first-winter male

The black tertials with crisp white broad fringes and the white-cream outer webs of the secondaries formed the typical striking wing panel.

Whitish tips to blackish tail feathers with narrow white fringe to outermost

All in all, a beautiful little bird but how does it compare to the two 2016 birds at Donna Nook?

Looking first at the presumed Amur Stonechat found at the south end on October 6th – 10th it was a dark looking bird and at a distance could have been passed over as a Common Stonechat. The following description was compiled by Steve Lorand who found the bird:

At distance, it resembled a female Common Stonechat, but differing light intensities and viewing angles could cause some variation in impressions of the bird’s general colouration.   It was overall darker and more richly-coloured than any maurus birds seen by any of us, while the obvious sharply-demarcated throat patch and the deep orange rump were particularly striking features.   In very good sunlight, the dark mottled crown and ear-coverts contrasted with the pale cream supercillium which met just above the base of the bill.   A broad dark line from the bill passed through the eye and widened to form a patch on the ear-coverts.   The creamy throat patch was very conspicuous, particularly with the sharp demarcation from the warm peachy-buff of the breast and slightly paler belly.   The undertail-coverts were whitish.   The underwing was silvery-grey with black axilliaries and underwing-coverts, thus determining the bird as a male.   The upperparts were dark brown with orange-buff fringes on the mantle and scapulars.   The greater coverts were tipped orange-buff.  The primaries, secondaries and tertials were brown-black with cream fringes.   The rump was a striking clean deep orange and the tail feathers were brown-black narrowly tipped with orange-white which extended along the outer webs of the outer feathers.   One or two of Graham’s photographs show a creamy suffusion on the upper rump and also dark shaft streaks to two central uppertail coverts.   The bill, legs and feet were blackish.

Presumed Amur Stonechat Donna Nook October 6th 2016. Note general similarity to a female Common Stonechat but clearly demarcated creamy throat and unstreaked orange underparts with obvious pale supercilium. These images are massive crops as the bird was particualrly flighty and impossible to approach 

Blackish underwing coverts confirm that this was a male. The rather dark orange rump and rear flanks contrast with the black tail

Black underwing coverts contrast with paler flight feathers. Deeper orange underparts with only hint of paler colour on undertail coverts.

Orange not peachy underpart colour and dark upperparts, to some extent exaggerated by low sun, with dark ear coverts and crown make this bird look very similar to some female Common Stonechats. Note stubby looking bill with broad base a feature noted by Garner and Scally.

Deep orange rump extends over uppertail coverts with two obvious black shaft streaks on longest uppertail covert feathers.

Amur Stonechat Donna Nook October 6th 2016. Note here the pale creamy tips to the black tail feathers with the deep orange lower rump. and uppertail coverts also the fringes to the flight feathers are buff to rufous not white as are the tips to the greater coverts.

The second Donna Nook October 14th – 16th 2016. Found by GPC and ND after a long day slogging the Pye’s Stonebridge area this bird looked paler than the earlier Amur and suggested that it was a maurus but good images reveal features that appear to be at odds with that identification and suggest that it was probably a second Amur Stonechat.

The very pale underparts of this bird immediately suggest Siberian but note the heavy black centres to the scapulars and mantle and the deep orange rump just visible between the closed wings. The head is also generally dark with little sign of a paler supercilium. Tips to the greater coverts and fringed to the flight feathers are creamy as are the tips to the tail feathers. Bill looks a little stubby?

From the front underparts are richer coloured and contrast with the white throat. Head pattern is still very unremarkable with only a hint of pale supercilium. Alula and primary coverts are jet black.

Uppertail coverts are deep rufous with obvious black shaft streaks; tail black with pale whitish tips to all feathers. Fringes to flight feathers are creamy to buff but not white and mantle and scapulars quite dark with heavy black centres to all feathers.

On a duller day the underparts look much darker.

Black underwing coverts make this a male and note the rather dark coloured rump and darker uppertail coverts with white fringe to outermost tail feathers.

Blackish shaft streak on one of the uppertail coverts visible here in a poor flight image but also note the deep orange rump and uppertail coverts.

Deep orange or rump again visible in this image with general appearance of a darker duller bird than initial views suggested.

Rump and tail well shown here if you ignore the umbellifer stem 

Lincolnshire eastern stonechat records:

A summary of the county records to date - details of some still need researching

Donna Nook      May 23rd 1978                                          1, Adult Male       Stejnegeri?

 Donna Nook      October 7th – 8th 1978                       1, First-winter male  maurus

Donna Nook first-winter October 8th 1978 - yep 46 years ago the barrle is long gone 

Donna Nook      November 9th 1980                                    1, first-winter male  Stejnegeri

 Bill black Chin whitish – creamy separated from breast which was pale orangey – buff; Paler under belly undertail coverts. Short narrow, pale supercilia to just over eye; Ear coverts dusky brown, Crown brown streaked darker blackish; Mantle brown with darker blackish streaking; Tertials black with orange fringes and tips; Primaries blackish – brown. Secondaries fringed with bright orange – buff forming a prominent pale wing panel. Rump orange and quite large, unstreaked and with a white lower edge. Tail black with buff fringe to outers and tips to all feathers; Prominent white patch in wing in flight

Donna Nook      October 2nd 1987                                          1, First winter male  maurus

Probable first-winter male maurus but note underwing coverts not seen

Feeding on seeded onion crop and weeds in field just north of Ponderosa; often in the same area as Whinchats and when perched at a distance could have been overlooked as that species. Generally pale buff above with dark wings and tail and very pale salmon below looking creamy at a distance.

Bill fine and black; a narrow pale supercilium ran back from the forecrown meeting over the bill to just behind the eye. Eye dark and large with a narrow white eye ring; lores dusky joining into a dark eye stripe/mottled ear coverts; ear coverts mostly buff-brown but with some underlying back feather bases showing through giving a mottled look; Crown buffish brown with rows of fine black spots extending backwards giving a streaked appearance from further off; nape buff-brown but only lightly streaked darker, mantle, back and scapulars all looked buff-brown with darker blackish streaking greater coverts blackish-brown with buff-brown edges and pale creamy tips forming a curved but narrow wing bar; Tertials black edged and tipped with white quite broadly on the edges; secondaries all fringed white forming a prominent pale wing panel; greater primary coverts all black with broad white edges; primaries black narrowly tipped with white; tail feathers all black tipped with white ; lower back-rump all white large and broad and often looking in flight to extend round onto flanks and cut off the tail; uppertail coverts salmon fading into the white of the rump ; throat / chin white – cream with greyish malar stripe ; breast and flanks salmon-buff at close range all feathers tipped paler ; belly and undertail coverts paler cream; legs black

 Skegness          October 21st – 25th 1990                       1, First winter Female   Stejnegeri/maurus

 Skegness          October 23rd – 25th 1990                       1, First winter Female   Stejnegeri/maurus

A Black and white image of one of these birds appears in the 1990 County bird report

Donna Nook      September 22nd 1994                           1, First winter Female   maurus

Siberian Stonechat;       first-winter female  Pyes Hall September 22nd 1994.

Found feeding with four Whinchat and five Northern Wheatears on the bank of Somercotes Haven where it runs out onto the saltmarsh, perching on 1m high stalks of vegetation and making flycatching sallies from perches into the air and onto ground. Size of Whinchat alongside but paler on both upper and underparts. Overall pale buffy brown upperparts with darker wings and tail, with obvious white fringing, pale buffy-grey head, dark eye and whitish chin demarcated from pale peachy underparts.

Bill fine black; Large dark eye with a fine pale supercilium stretching back to rear of ear-coverts; crown pale brown with darker streaking, ear-coverts grey-brown with clear demarcation to whitish chin/throat;  rest of underparts a lovely pale peachy colour with slightly darker area in centre of upper breast and with whiter undertail coverts. Nape and mantle pale buffy brown with darker streaking down mantle and on scapulars. Median coverts black centred with whitish fringes; greater coverts black with white tips forming a narrow but clear-cut wing bar. tertials black with white outer edges; secondaries edged prominently with white forming an obvious wing panel effect in combination with tertial edges; primaries and primary coverts black. Rump all a pale creamy/peach colour, unmarked and extending from uppertail coverts to a line level with top of tertials; when wings drooped this was seen to wrap around the whole of the rear of the bird joining up with the lower underpart colour and isolating the black tail. Tail feathers black with thin white tips. Legs dark. In flight with a scope I could not see any obvious black on the axillaries and therefore I concluded that the bird was a first-winter female.

Saltfleet            October 1st – 3rd 2000                       1, First winter Female   maurus

Siberian Stonechat first-winter female Saltfleet October 2nd 2000

Gibraltar Point  October 5th – 6th 2013                      1, First winter Male       maurus

Flight shots © Russell Hayes of the 2013 Gibraltar Point bird also shown below

eastern stonechat first-winter male Gibraltar Point October 2013 ©Russell Hayes

Donna Nook      October 6th – 10th 2016                    1, First Calendar year Male       Stejnegeri

see images above 

Donna Nook      October 14th – 16th 2016                  1, First Calendar year Male       Stejnegeri?

 see images above

Donna Nook      September 23rd – 28th 2024              1, first-winter female   maurus

 found by Laim Andrews who has compiled thee annotated plates below from images ©Mark Johnson

November break in Suffolk

Last week we had a couple of days down in Suffolk staying at the Ship Inn at Dunwich with a long walk around Minsmere and Dunwich in some sunshine and a second cloudy day around Dunwich heath and Walberswick my old stamping ground from UEA days in the early 70’s.

Blue hour just before sunrise from Dunwich beach 

Dunwich on a dull morning - our base 

A Herring Gull on Greyfriar’s monastery remains of - would Herring Gulls have been resident in the days when the Monastery was active? 

Beats the normal seaside rooftop view

Part of the resident East Suffolk Barnacle Goose flock heading up the coast to the favoured fields at Southwold early morning 

The woods at Minsmere were in glorious colour but are largely ignored by most visitors who head for the hides and wet birds! 

The woods were pretty quiet though but managed a Marsh Tit and a few Green Woodpeckers 

some cracking fungi were in evidence in the woodlands and I even started trying to take some low angle pics with the tilt screen on the R62

a late Red Admiral on the sunny day 

Gorse in flower in late November with plenty of spiders webs. The heather seemed to be recovering from the dire state we saw it in in April with a lot of new growth that hopefully bodes well for the Dartford Warblers next year

Dunwich heath and the woodlands at Minsmere 

Although we used to see wintering Stonechats on the Suffolk heaths in the early 70’s Dartford Warblers were never dreamt of being confined to the South coast heaths at that time 

male Stonechat in the heather 

The feeding association between Stonechats and Dartford warblers was often evident on the heaths

Even if the warbler had to climb up very high 

There were a few Dartford Warblers in the heather like this immature but they were tricky to see and usually fairly quiet

A couple of male Dartfords were doing a bit of singing 

This male was feeding well up in some birch trees gleaning insects from the trunks and remaining few leaves

Minsmere looking from Dunwich cliff to the Sizewell thing - probably best in black and white 

Cormorants flying past the ugly dome Minsmere - Sizewell 

My first ever Marsh Harriers were a female and two juveniles at Minsmere on June 30th 1972 so it seemed a ppropriate to take a couple of images of this juvenile one of at least eight birds we saw in the late afternoon 

Walberswick Marsh with the remains of  the iconic windmill. I have so many great memories related to this place from my years at UEA when winter birding jaunts were often directed to the Minsmere - Walberswick duo with raptors high on the list of hoped for species. 

Little Egret at Walberswick - it is daunting to think that back in the early 70’s Little Egret was still a BB rarity and six records at Cley in 1972 was described as remarkable and Great White had amassed only 10 British records by 1974 - we saw many Little of course and at least four Great Whites. 

Male Marsh Harrier Walberswick - we saw at least six birds including two adult males - in the early 70’s Marsh Harrier was still a rare bird in Britain and even rarer in winter but we did see the odd one - how times have changed 

Female Marsh Harrier pre roosting in the Walberswick reedbed - in the early 70’s we used to watch the raptors from the vantage point by the Lodge but the views from there are now almost totally obscured by trees while East Hills is also more tree covered and far different from when I saw my first Red-backed Shrike juveniles there in August 24th 1971 when of course the species still bred there. I actually saw a Woodchat Shrike there before my first Red-backed as I was looking on East Hills and came across a birder looking at the vagrant adult Woodchat before I managed to find the Red-backed Shrikes. 

Walberswick was also the site that yielded not only my fist ever Rough-legged Buzzards, three over East Hills on November 10th 1973 one of which I distinctly recall was straight over my head at one point and not very high up. The same day I made notes on a Common Buzzard that was with one of the Rough-legs such was the rarity of that species in eastern England at the time. A move to Minsmere the same day also produced my first adult male Hen Harrier.  In the ensuing winter of 1974 - 75 Rough-legged Buzzards arrived in East Anglia in even greater numbers and Walberswick provided us with a run of sightings with the astounding sight of 11 in the air on November 10th 1974 as we scanned around the reserve and Dunwich forest. The same day a Great Grey Shrike was on East Hills, an almost guaranteed species in winter in those days, two Hooded Crows, a ringtail Hen Harrier, female Marsh Harrier, 6 Bewick’s Swans and 20 Velvet Scoters completed a good day out! We were back at the hallowed site on December 7th and 8th amassing more sightings of at least five Rough-legged Buzzards, a Red Kite then a major rarity in the East, a Goshawk even rarer, male and two ringtail Hen Harriers, two Great Grey Shrikes, 6 Hooded Crows, Waxwing, male and female Marsh Harrier and Merlin. 

A different adult male Marsh Harrier Walberswick 

The same adult male as above a real stunner even in very dull and dismal light 

Male Hen Harrier Walberswick - this male caught me by sutprise as it flew past quite close but in terrible light and I didn’t see it until it was well past us - one of the species that we used to rely upon on winter visits in the early 70’s with three or four birds typically roosting 

In something almost worthy of the X files we had just emerged from cake and coffee at the Walberswick tea rooms when I decided to have a look at Birdguides to see if anything major was in the area and the top message was Black Redstart Walberswick by the Green which is exactly where I was standing! I then noticed a guy sat at one of the benches with bins and asked him if he had seen the Black Red to which he replied its on that roof! Grabbed the bins and camera and my first Black Redstart of the year a sadly declining species that I used to see easily every year but now often miss. 

A Pallas’s Leaf warbler and unexpected Pallid Swift - November 4th a bonus late autumn day at Donna Nook

On Sunday November 3rd a Pallas’s Warbler was reported at Stonebridge car park Donna Nook. Not a great surprise given the good autumn for eastern vagrants but every one is a treat for the eyes and a bird not to be missed particularly when it is only 42 miles away. Thus, Monday saw me heading to said car park in the hope of laying eyes on this little beauty and maybe, just maybe getting some photos but the weather was pretty dire with thick dark clouds making it appear more like dusk than midday. Located fairly quickly it fed in a large willow and small hawthorns throughout the day but ISO 10,000 was needed to get even a slow shutter speed and stopping it in mid hover was a total impossibility. But what a gem and a great addition to the autumn’s sightings.

Initially frustrating to say the least nearly every shot was out of focus or the bird pattly hidden by branches and leaves 

Named after the German explorer/naturalist Peter Simon Pallas who collected the first specimen in the area of Transbaikalia, near the Mongolian border, during the late 1700s, the Pallas’ Warbler or formerly Pallas’ Barred Willow Warbler and subsequently Pallas’s Leaf Warbler is a jewel the size of a Goldcrest or matchbox (younger readers look up matchbox on the internet) and weighing just 4-7gms the same as a new pencil. Breeding no closer than 3000 miles to the east of the UK in eastern Asia they generally move south to winter in southern China and north-eastern Indochina but late autumn high-pressure systems sitting over Central Asia bring a few birds to Western Europe in most autumns.

The first for Britain was obtained, shot, at Cley, one of my old UEA haunts, on October 31st 1896 as described below by the great DIMW in his superb tome Beguiled by Birds. It was also Ian who coined the phrase the seven striped sprite for Pallas’s Warbler a term well used.

From the superb Beguiles by Birds by the late great Ian (DIM) Wallace

A must read for British birders

With a total of just three records prior to 1958 this was a mega rare bird but the first of a series of late autumn influxes occurred in 1968 when 18 birds occurred. That autumn saw the first two records for Lincolnshire when single birds were trapped simultaneously at Anderby Creek and Gibraltar Point on October 19th. Further big autumns saw 29 recorded in 1975 and 33 in 1981 with an amazing 127 in autumn 1982.  

I think everyone remembers their first Pallas’s Warbler and rightly so, it is usually a heart stopping moment when you see all those stripes and the first time it hovers that glowing lemon rump. My first was seen at Saltfleet Haven on October 30th 1976 but was slightly reduced in impact by the metal leg iron placed on it the previous day. It fed in dead elders and buckthorn in the dunes and I went back the following day for seconds and even managed to tale a decent picture on the old Kodachrome 64 slide with my Nikon F301 and Sigma APO 400 5.6 manual focus lens. My first found bird followed three years later at Rimac on October 27th 1979 and in the magical autumn of 1982 I managed to see no less than five birds. October 21st 1988 was a Pallas’s red-letter day when we found three birds at Pyes’ Hall and by the end of 2023 I had seen a pretty amazing 62 individuals in Britain compared to 196 Yellow-browed Warblers of which I have even had seven on my local patch at Barton.

Pallas’s Warbler Saltfleet Haven October 1976 

If Goldcrests are very active and Yellow-browed Warblers extremely active then Pallas’s Warblers are hyperactive and add to this a willow that seemed to be open but still had several million leaves and branches and the dullest of days getting any decent images of this year’s jewel was fraught with problems but all in all I was pleased to get some shots reflecting its character.

Every Pallas’s Warbler deserves a concerted effort and a day of anyone’s life.

even bramble briars were against me 

a 250th of a second is not a lot of use for action shots 

Given the conditions this image was not too bad 

Escaping the willow’s branches and leaves but with a rather nasty white sky background 

getting all the stripes in one image is a tricky business 

a pretty typical view in the brambles 

and a peepo shot 

foraging for insects under the bramble leaves was more frequent in the afternoon 

a bright light in the darkness

its that who you looking at shot 

had to make do with a lemon rump shot in an almost still moment rather than the desired hovering shot 

As the afternoon drew to a close at 15:20 I was sat in the car to make a phone call but as is the case it seems with so much bird finding I needed a call back so I got out to have a last look around when a couple walked up to the car next to mine and asked what I had been seeing concluding with we have just seen a Swift, well we think it was a Swift but its a bit late! Rapid walk with 100-500 in the increasing gloom and there is a Swift drifting over the dunes - its got to be a Pallid or so we assume in fact what was almost the first British Record was just up the coast at North Cotes on November 4th 1975 being seen the following day just to the south at Rimac : I could see very little with the bins so took some images and fortunately it flew right over my head a couple of times but I was on ISO 10000 to get a reasonable shutter speed and the grey sky was almost blown out trying to keep some detail int he bird and not ending up with a set of silhouettes; A quick look at the screen on the camera quickly confirmed it was indeed a juvenile Pallid Swift but after about ten minutes I lost sight of it and assumed it may have drifted off south. Images below - to say they are record shots is an exaggeration but at least they show the key features. What next? I am surely due a Hume’s but maybe could the nana finally fall in Lincs.

terrible images of the juvenile Pallid Swift in the late afternoon gloom at Donna Nook they look almost monochrome because there was no light in the gathering gloom 

appeared to be feeding well but still moved off 

October 25th 2024 – the last chance saloon.

Having always been more inspired by trying to find birds than looking at other people’s Lincolnshire has been a good location for me and in the course of my 56 years’ birding forays I have managed to find 12 new birds for the county and a total of 303 self-found species but in recent times things had rather dried up on the bird finding stakes and adding another species to the county list seemed rather unlikely given that many of the obvious gaps had already been filled. A total knee replacement in mid-August 2023 at least gave me an excuse for finding nothing during the rest of the autumn but spring 2024 was dire and I estimated I had walked 500 miles and not found a single scarce migrant. Early autumn was no better and in a lighter moment I even put out a joking Tweet suggesting that I was due a big find in the autumn;

That would be some prediction. As we all know September is a month of constant westerlies with no East Coast potential so a two-week trip to Western Canada, postponed twice already, seemed a safe bet but pre-departure weather maps showing highs all the way to Eastern Siberia were a little worrying. Trying to avoid looking at bird news while I was away sadly failed and I had clearly missed the fall of the autumn – what had I missed in Lincs? Back in Lincolnshire early October a local walk turned up a pair of Snow Geese with the Humber Pink-feet https://www.grahamcatley.com/blog-1/twosnowgeeseonthehumber birds with the best credentials of any I had seen in the county but the weather pattern for the next two weeks looked decidedly uninspiring and after daily early morning rounds of Waters’ Edge in search of a Yellow-browed Warbler someone else found one in the viewing area while I was 400m away! It seemed the birding gods had turned against me again. Looking at the wind predictions for the next few days on windy.com on 23rd it looked at if a light south-easterly on 25th could maybe, just maybe produce a few birds. A decision was made and I headed to Donna Nook for what may be a last chance saloon for the autumn. The coastal strip between Ponderosa and Pye’s Hall had been good to me over the years since I started working it in the late 80’s with my best day’s migration on October 18th 1990, finding Olive-backed Pipit, Arctic Redpoll and five Parrot Crossbills amongst a monster arrival of thrushes and Goldcrests, being written up in the December 1992 issue of Birdwatch Magazine. Other notable rare finds along this strecth of coast included Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat, Greenish and Radde’s Warblers, Siberian and Stejneger’s Stonechats, three Pallas’s Warblers in a day and then of course the nearly finds like the Little Bunting that I was on the wrong side of the dunes when Chris and Neil found it and two skulking locustellas, one on October 29th that must surely have been a goody. Talking of Little Bunting my list of 334 British self-found species did not include a single bunting but I did find the second Little Bunting for Cyprus! With the Environment Agency destruction of the Pye’s Hall migrant trap and the progressive death of the dune scrub and trees the Stonebridge to Pye’s sector had clearly less potential to hold migrants but with a couple of Red-backed Shrikes, Barred Warblers and while I was away Siberian Stonechat and Red-breasted Flycatcher the locale still had pulling power.

Driving down to Donna on the 25th it was foggy all the way with light drizzle and the last approach produced a few thrushes in the roadside hedges always a positive sign but the car park bushes were not jumping with migrants. The weather remained damp and foggy so I only took my 100-500 lens and set of towards Pye’s.

The rather sad remanis of the former migrant trap that was Pye’s Hall, on a sunny day

A few Redwings and Song Thrushes in the bushes with a couple of ticking Robins were scant reward as I approached the dell on the inland side of the dunes. A gang of Reed Buntings, standard Stonebridge – Pye’s fodder, were flighting between the dell and the saltmarsh then at about 09:45 I heard a thin tsic call coming from out on the edge of the saltmarsh. It seemed unfamiliar but was clearly not the tic of a Little or Rustic Bunting. Could it be just a Song Thrush or an odd Robin call? The fog was a little less dense but there was still a light drizzle and visibility was not good. I decided to walk out into the saltmarsh just to be sure the call was coming from something common. Reed Buntings kept getting up from the tide wrack just beyond a small clump of sea buckthorn and conveniently perching in full view. The call had gone and I was almost about to give up looking when what appeared to be a Reed Bunting got up and perched with its back to me about 10m away. It looked unremarkable but kept fanning its tail revealing large amounts of white on the two outermost feathers then it leant forward and dropped down. Other birds, Dunnocks, Wrens and the odd Chaffinch were still getting up and I moved to scanning them when the bird I had been watching suddenly flew out and called the tsic call as it headed for the large hawthorns in the dell – IDIOT why did I not look closer at it when it was in view? I suppose because it looked quite like a Reed Bunting and I had forgotten just how similar first-winter Black-faced Bunting can be to Reeds but this was surely just an odd Reed Bunting and the call was from another bird?. Not wanting to flush it again I scanned the hawthorns in the dell from a distance and eventually saw it climbing up through one tall hawthorn. In the fog it looked as unremarkable as before but then it turned to face me and a striking pale sub-moustachial stripe and chin – throat with a pale pink lower mandible said this is no Reed Bunting but it cannot be a Black-faced Bunting! The rest of the underparts were creamy with the most prominent dark streaks on the rear flanks and the legs pale fleshy pink. It turned side on and the head pattern with just a faint paler supercilium and grey shawl were visible while the upperparts lacked any pale tram lines shown by most Reed Buntings and looked more Dunnock like. I scrambled for the camera and managed to take a few images through the fog before it flew into the other end of the dell. I managed a few further brief views in the hawthorns but when it landed on the track all the birds flushed before I could creep round the reeds to view them. Then it showed one more time in the big hawthorn and I lost it. Two birds flew out and across the saltmarsh towards the inundation channel but I wasn’t sure if it was one of them. I spent the next hour desperately trying to re find it but failed to see or hear anything and then I eventually dared to look at the miniscule pictures on the back of camera. The first ones had its head turned away and were distinctly soft then there was a side-on shot that looked to be almost in focus! And then there was one showing the head – on view. It looked good but I was still doubting myself and needed some confirmation. A quick look at Birdguides showed a scatter of Yellow-browed Warblers on the East coast but nothing major not even at Spurn – how could I have the only eastern mega? Another search of all the Reed Bunting hot spots revealed a fall of Dunnocks, 20+ in total, Wrens and at least 40 – 50 Reed Buntings but no sign of the Black-faced. At this point I realised two things my phone was nearly flat and the latest Collin’s App only has an image of an adult male Black-faced Bunting. I took two BOC shots of my dire images and WhatsApped them to a few people in the county. Asking James Siddle if I was making a big up cock his immediate response from Scilly was No! but apart from Neil Drinkall who identified it no-one else responded and I assume they wondered why I was sending them pictures of a Reed Bunting! The bird had disappeared at around 10:15 and understandably only a couple of people made the effort to come and join the search but I stuck at it for another six hours before giving up and heading home to check references on ID.

Looking at the new Handbook of European Birds by Nils van Duivendijk there was an image of a first-winter that was even less marked than my bird but all the features were supportive and other texts mentioned the call and the tail fanning habit. Happy that this was indeed a Black-faced Bunting I put a message on the Lincs Rare bird WhatsApp group that night but pointed out the negative search details.

The original image showing what little there was to work on through the fog and murk 

First-winter Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 25th 2024 - the faint paler central crown stripe, pale creamy sub-moustachial and chin and the pale pink lower mandible are visible in this shot along with the faint paler wing bars, creamy almost yellow tinged underparts with heaviest black streaking on the rear flanks and the Dunnock like black and brown striped mantle scapulars

First-winter Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 25th 2024 - the slightly rusty tertial fringes and again the heavy black rear flank streaking stand out - pale fleshy legs almost visible 

While trying to relocate the bunting in the scrub I made this sound recording of the call which I had completely forgotten about in the subsequent mayhem.

On the following morning, Saturday 26th a small group of birders gathered in the area where the bird was last seen but in spite of there being good numbers of Reed Buntings present there was no sign of the bunting in question by 09:46 when I received a call from Owen Beaumont informing me that he had re found the bird with a small group of Reed Buntings and it had been trapped at the regular ringing site at Quad three! This was somewhat staggering as the ringing site was, as the bunting flies in a direct line not using the coastal route, 3.85kms or 2.4 miles from where it was last seen. Surely there were not two! Owen kindly brought the bird round to Stonebridge as we assembled all the searchers present and it was briefly photographed before being released into the hawthorn by the car park emitting a rather loud series of hard tsic call notes, somewhat more harsh sounding than the calls heard the previous day. It preened briefly in the hawthorn before flying out and across the road and into more impenetrable scrub south of the car park. In spite of my views being less than optimal on the previous day it did not show any obviously different features and the assumption had to be made that it was indeed the same bird particularly given the species rarity in a British context although news of a third bird for the autumn trapped in Pembrokeshire the same morning does raise the question has there been a major movement of this species into western Europe this autumn?

First-winter probably female Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 26th 2024

First-winter probably female Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 26th 2024

First-winter probably female Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 26th 2024

First-winter probably female Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 26th 2024

So, persistence pays and the bird finding gods do eventually reward. My 13th addition to the Lincolnshire list – will there be a 14th? At last, a rare bunting and being the 12th for Britain a major rare bunting find – maybe now I can find some more regular rare buntings.

Update from October 29th - some slightly better field images but the bird very elusive and never remotely close for photography

The Black-faced Bunting’s favoured habitat looking towards the remnants of Pye’s Hall october 29th 2024 

The habitat chosen by the Black-faced Bunting here taken on 29th - the bird fed on the ground along some tide wrack that was in the long grass and reed fringe of the tidal realignment and would fly up into the buckthorn and elder scrub when disturbed. I saw it in this small dead tree first thing on the 29th but it was always behind branches and I failed to get any focus on it! 

close up of the bunting’s habitat on the edge of the dune system near Pye’s Hall, Donna Nook - later in the day it would fly up onto the dunes and into hawthorns and into the big buckthorn and elder clump where it could sometimes be heard calling 

Edge of the tidal realignment where the bunting was first found by the elder and buckthorn clump in the distance 

with a Reed Bunting for direct comparison 

first-winter Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 29th 2024 

first-winter Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 29th 2024 

first-winter Black-faced Bunting Donna Nook October 29th 2024 

Identifiable on a vis mig?

searching for the elusive bunting

Donna Nook and Saltfleet October 16th 2024 - a day of twigs, leaves and zero light

The reality of birding the Lincolnshire coast where birders are thinly spread and birds even more so!

Started out at Stonebridge and walked down to Pyes Hall picking up a few birds, two Brambling started things off and it was then that I realised 3200 ISO was the order of the day - thrushes were numerous mainly dark coloured continental Song Thrushes but with a scatter of Redwings, Blackbirds and four Ring Ouzels. Dunnocks and Reed Buntings were in abundance and my first Woodcock of the autumn blasted out of the marram but as usual the big bird remained elusive or should that be absent? A few Robins but no crests until the last bushes at Pyes revealed a very nice Firecrest that remained stubbornly camera shy all morning: one Goldcrest was the only other crest seen and apart form a few Rock Pipits Song Thrushes were the main item of interest. By lunch time I was nearly back at Stonebridge chatting to Chris A when we both saw what appeared to be a swallow coming down the dunes but it turned into a small bat! a strange looking thing with dark blackish brown foreparts and paler buffy brown rear end but it just continued south at a height of about 2m until lost to view - surely likely to have been an incoming migrant?

After a few thrushes first birds of note were two Brambling against the nice dull white sky 

Such smart birds should make some effort with them in winter if we get any staying

Song Thrush, Redwing and Blackbird the flavour of the Donna bushes 16th 

As one Ouzel flew off another actually sat still for all of a minute or so - in itself a strange event 

and showing both its sides 

Managed to get 1000th second at 3200 ISO 

This Song Thrush just dropped out of the sky into a tree I was stood under - cracking bird - wonder where it was yesterday - presumably a 1cy bird with the median and greater covert tips that colour 

branches and leaves and bits of a Firecrest

Views of many things seemed to be looking upward! 

a juvenile Ouzel against the inevitable white sky 

juvenile Ring Ouzel coming at you 

and another adult

and away

Its a bunting and surely looks good enough to be rare!

I like Reed Buntings with their infinite variations in subtle plumage features but a rarer species once in a lifetime would be a nice find

Song Thrush incoming over the saltmarsh after a North Sea crossing 

Arriving in Lincolnshire is much safer than Southern France or Spain but many will reorientate and head that way for a winter maongst the mad human gunmen - watched one hunting thrushes in the Alpilles one winter - really saddening 

Newly arrived Song Thrush over the saltmarsh - like the feel of this shot and the Canon R62 focused well on a very small target with the RF 100-500 lens again at 3200 ISO

So after four hours of scouring the same few bushes and grass and buckthorn I gave in and went to look for the Yellow-browed Warbler at Saltfleet - found it quickly chasing a second bird out of its favoured willow and it continued to do that all afternoon every time the second bird tried to have a feed - so a new arrival? Well Chris A did the same area as me at Donna in the afternoon and had 3 Yellow-browed Warblers plus the same birds I had, 4 Ouzels, Firecrest et al - they must have arrived in the afternoon surely I had not missed three in the 4 hours I had been there as one clearly then stayed in one of the two sycamores that I had stood next to for about 30 minutes, and its not big! Lincs coast birding reality

Yellow-browed Warbler at Saltfleet - a bird with attitude and very vocal which helps

Yellow-browed Warbler in a willow with far too many leaves and branches 

always in the dark under the canopy 

and yet more leaves across the bird

Two Snow Geese with the Humber Pink-footed Goose flock very high wild bird credentials

October 7th wandering around Waters’ Edge looking for a Yellow-browed warbler, seemed a decent chance, there were the usual hoardes of Pink-footed Geese flighting east and south-east as the departed their roost on Redcliffe Middle Sand. Casually scanning the flocks for something different I was actually quite shocked to see something very different! two adult white Snow Geese tagging along with one of the Pink-feet flocks.

Two adult Snow Geese with Pink-footed Geese over Waters' Edge October 7th 2024

Snow Geese that appear with feral Greylags and the like or wandering flocks in the summer are rightly regarded as of suspect origin but birds accompanying Icelandic and Greenland breeding Pink-feet have much better credentials as genuinely wild birds with increasing numbers now breeding in Greenland so this pair seem to be looking good

After this sighting the birds disappeared to the south-east but after two weeks away and missing most of the East coast arrival of Siberian Vagrants I just had to head up to Bempton for looks at the first winter Daurian Shrike and a few Yellow-browed Warblers - thus I was not back on the Humber when Wayne and Neil picked them up returning to the Redcliffe roost at 18:15hrs.

The 8th dawned dull and cloudy after overnight rain but it was reasonable light and Tom picked them up in the roost by 06:50! we then watched them, sometimes alongside a lingering Spoonbill, until heavy drizzle made viewing difficult and I returned for breakfast. Suitably refreshed I chanced on potetial views from Chowder Ness but as I drove down Far Ings road at Barton thousands of Pink-feet were heaidng south-east - a quick phone call to Neil and Tom confimred though that the Snow Geese were tardy in their departure and I was soon watching them with the scope from Chowder car park. They were in one of th elast flocks to leave but thankfully came right my way and passed quite close allowing some better images than the previous day as they again veered off south-east inland possiblty over my garden! Searches on the Wolds as far at Searby fdailed to find any geese at all so they must be moving a considerable distance to feed. Beow some real wolrd / light and distance images of the roosting flock and their passage over Chowder. Suirprisngly easy to overlook head on ina flock of Pinks.

The Pink-footed Goose roost on Redcliffe Middle Sand early October 8th 2024

Even at a range of 1800m two white geese are visible in amongst the Pink-feet 

Not that obvious in a line of head-on Pink-feet

Sticking with the Pink feet flocks and ignoring the local flocks of Greylags and Canada Geese is surely a positive sign 

They usually tag onto the outside of the Pink-foot flocks 

Being white they are easier to find in a big flock of Pink-feet than other grey goose vagrants 

Red-backed Shrikes and an obliging Whinchat Donna Nook September 2024

In the late 70’s and 80’s passage Red-backed Shrikes were regular on the Lincs coast in August - September with some off passage birds staying in an area for several weeks - tey have been few and far between in recent years though so the prospect of two together at Donna Nook last week was enticing and a test for the new Canon RF200-800 lens -

The first of the two juvenile Red-backed Shrikes was a slightly greyer bird than the second and less confiding 

The first bird on a rather nice lichen encrusted perch in the dunes 

with some ruffled feathers 

The second bird frequenting the area nearer the car park was more confiding 

This perched bird saw this bee coming towards it but instead of flying after the bee it sat and waited end the bee flew close enough for it to reach up and snatch it out of the air - magic see sequence by scrolling down

almost there 

got it 

While waiting for the shrike to appear this very obliging Whinchat perched close by for several minutes 

confiding Whinchat on sea buckthorn 

the Lincolnshire coast August 31st to September 3rd 2024

With winds in the East for the first time in the autumn a journey to the Lincolnshire coast seemed in order but August 31st produced just two Pied Flycatchers and a lot of walking between Pyes Hall and Saltfleetby - Theddlethorpe - Sunday 1st we ventured to Gibraltar Point with a little more success and on 3rd I headed back to Donna Nook with little to show but twitched the Greenish Warbler at Saltfleet in the afternoon - My 5th in Lincolnshire but the first since 2005 which by sheer coincidence was in the same clump of trees on Sea Lane Saltfleet as the bird below

The sad remnants of Pyes Hall what was once one of the best migrant traps on the Lincolnshire coast killed off by tidal inundation in a poorly devised Environment Agency scheme

The few bushed and trees that are still in existence between Donna Nook and Pyes Hall are all dying and there is little to hold any migrants that do drop in but a fair abundance of mosquitos for them to feed on 

This was one of the two Pied Flycatchers that were the only migrants seen on Saturday 31st - I included some of the autumnal colours in the shot to balance the bird

here this Pied Flycatcher has just swallowed a spider it caught in the grass 

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Sunday September 1st we headed to Gibraltar Point but the morning was also pretty migrant free apart from three Pied Flycatchers and four Lesser Whitethroats - the sea has exposed old WW2 defences along the beach never seen in 60 years 

with a lack of birds we  searched for Wasp Spiders after lunch to no avail but several colonies of Sea Aster Ming Bees were active with their cuckoo Black-thighed epiolus, Spotted Bee-burglar, Red-tailed Spider Wasp 

Sea Aster Mining bees Gibraltar Point September 2024

Black-thighed epeolus - Epiolus variegatus 

Spotted Bee-burglar 

Red-tailed Spider Wasp

As we watched the bees two Whinchats and a Wheatear appeared and there seemed to be a chance of birds arriving at last - a few hours spent around Syke's Farm area revealed a good arrival of Pied Flycatchers a few Redstarts and Willow Warblers and a Spotted Flycatcher but we ran out of time to search for any better goodies 

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a cracking juvenile Lesser Whitethroat at Pyes Hall on 3rd but apart from this bird two Pied Flycatchers, a Redstart, a Wheatear and a Sedge Warbler were the only back ups

Spotted Flycatcher and scruffy Chiffchaff Rimac - another long and arduous walk with little reward 

Greenish Warbler Saltfleet Sea Land September 3rd 

Greenish Warbler Saltfleet Sea Land September 3rd 

Greenish Warbler Saltfleet Sea Land September 3rd 

Greenish Warbler Saltfleet Sea Land September 3rd - colours varied with light and also where the bird was in the willow with light reflecting off the leaves 

Terns in Northumberland June 2024

I had been meaning to make a trip to Northumberland for a few years to hopefully photograph Roseate Terns around Coquet Island their UK stronghold but I was not sure if the boat trip from Ambvle took you close enough to the Island to get any images then in June a Bridled Tern appeared on Coquet and organised and general boat trips with Puffin Cruises http://www.puffincruises.co.uk/ seemed to be getting good views of the terns so I booked a trip on the evening of June 25th, boat running at 17:00 at high tide and the weather forecast seemed to be sort of OK. As it was only a one hour boat trip the tern colony at Long Nanny was an obvious addition to the day being only 30 minutes away and with the added attraction fo the female American Black Tern nesting close to the warden’s hut, paired to a male Arctic Tern one of the most bizarre bird pairing occurrences ever.

The Bridled Tern was long gone but at least I had images of the one on the Farne Islands taken back in 2013 on another tern foray by boat. Driving up to Northumberland the weather was getting hot and sticky at 23C but on arrival at the coast there was a pleasant sea breeze and some cloud. The rip off UK car park demanded £6:50 for 3 hours which was in hindsight never enough and I could have parked another 1Km away for free all day, again knowledge in hindsight. The pleasant 1km walk through the dunes revealed a few Dark Green Fritillaries but with limited time I wanted to get to the terns and gave the butterflies rather short shrift. 

I took only the Canon R6 amrk 2 and the newly acquired Canon RF 200-800 lens determined to test its suitability and ability to focus from a moving boat. It is proving to be a great lens but the minimum focus is nothing like the RF 100-500 and hence the Fritillary shots were a bit distant.

Dark Green Fritillary Long Nanny June 2024

Long Nanny looking north to Beadnell Northumberland with Arctic Terns on the beach in the foreground

Approaching the tern colony the noise is intense and Arctic Terns are really up close to the viewing point by the warden’s hut with one bird that regularly perches on the post by the hut being quite aggressive and offering some AF challenges at close range. The 200-800 lens was really useful with the zooming out option often necessary when birds were really close. The light was not at its best being around midday with heat shimmer but I liked some of the images of birds fighting high abover the breeding colony. Below are a large selection of images taken from the viewpoint and also down on the beach.

Arctic Tern Long Nanny June 2024 with Canon RF 200-800 and Canon R62

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The female American Black Tern was initially sitting on its hybrid eggs but later the male Arctic Tern came in and the ABT went off to the beach for a wash and brush up and then went to the sea presumably to fish with a long wait for it to return to produce some decent flight shots but when she eventually did come back in the male appeared reluctant to leave the eggs and this allowed several photo opportunities as the ABT flew round and round in front of the VP attempting to land. Below are a series of images; she had lost several tail feathers presumably in a battle as it was not normal moult but a few white feathers were appearing on the head and the flight feathers were somewhat worn and brown tinged in the good light.

female American Black Tern, Long Nanny Northumberland June 25th 2024

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By mid afternoon the weather was going down hill with increasing thick cloud from the north-west and it was distinctly cooler. I headed down to Low Hauxley where I have watcher fishing Roseate Terns from the beach in the past looking towards Coquet Island but all the birds were well out apart from this second calendar year Artic Tern and a few Sandwich Terns.

Coquet Island looking across from Low Hauxley - the 200-800 lens has to double as a landscape lens

second calendar year Arctic Tern Low Hauxley June 2024

The Glad Tidings III the Puffin Cruises boat that goes around Coquet Island; the crew were great at getting close to birds and offered an educational commentary - birds seem to accept the boat and you get very close to Puffins and Guillemots on the water. On the way out I picked up five Manx Shearwaters heading south and got a few record shots below.

Manx Shearwater off Coquet Island June 2024

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seabirds south end of Coquet Island June 2024

Bridled Guillemot Coquet Island June 2024

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Atlantic Puffin Coquet Island June 2024

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Sandwich Tern Coquet Island June 2024

Being a general trip for tourists there is a mix of natural history on offer including entertaining seals but it was the Roseate Terns that I was really interested in and although views were excellent and pretty close I was pleased I had the 200-800 lens and you are always left wanting longer to make the most fo the photo opportunities available. As noted the light was very poor and hence my ISO’s were up with the moving boat also needing decent shutter speeds but overall I was very impressed with how the 200-800 lens performed and of course I knew how good the AF on the R62 is so that was not really a surprise but moving birds, moving boat and moving people all added to the challenge. It would be good to go back and I am amazed that no-one has organised a dedicated tern photography trip on this boat as was done with the Bridled Tern twitch.

All in all a great little trip in spite of the light and the Roseate Terns were superb.

Roseate Terns Coquet Island June 2024 Canon RF 200-800 with Canon R62 from offshore boat

Roseate Tern -

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a weekend in the Lake District

Hoping for a repeat of our Wood Warbler experience of 2022 we headed up to Sophie’s in Kendal for three days but quickly realised that timing is everything and that a forecast of a hot sunny weekend, the Windermere Marathon and a variety of other events meant that it was rather too humanified for me but we had some good birds and a really nice variety of odes that I did not expect.

Grasmere May 2024

The woodlands were in full leaf making Pied Flys and Redstarts hard to see and we never managed a Wood Warbler at all - maybe they had already stopped singing?

Friday we arrived late afternoon and headed up to Ambleside for the Dippers - the young were just fledging with some still in the nest but sadly Soph spotted a Mink in the stream where the birds were feeding: by the Sunday two birds had fledged but the Mink was back and actively hunting them looking in every nook and cranny in the retaining wall where the young were sheltering - fortunately one flew quickly as the Mink approached and fingers crossed they survive. Took rather too many images all with the Canon R62 and the RF 100-500 with and without the 1.4 converter

Juvenile Dipper on the Sunday evening only two days out of the nest but already starting to look for food in the moss though still being fed by the adults - hopefully it will survive

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The North American Mink in the stream - a beautiful mammal but should not be here

Grey Wagtails were feeding young on the same stream as the Dippers

The Esthwaite Ospreys

Male Osprey - never close and in the heat haze

Down the roadside a cracking Golden Ringed Dragonfly landed on the back of an overgrown wall hence the very poor angle and image - then it flew off never to be seen again

Easy to hear male Pied Flycatchers singing but the closed canopy made seeing them a bit of a challenge

male Pied Flycatcher

not seeing many spring birds I tend to forget they can have quite pale rump

This male was quite distant and under the canopy so the RF 100-500 with the 1.4 extender produced a shutter speed of just 1/250th second at ISO800 and f10 hand held but the IS on the lens and body combo is very good

female Pied Flycatcher paired to the male above

this male has a mix of old brown juvenile and new black adult primaries

we picked up a few Beautiful Demoiselles but they were mainly up in the oaks and hard to get an angle on - a nice bright female -

male Beautiful Demoiselle up in the riverine trees

On a very hot 23C Sunday we headed to Foulshaw Moss NR in the hope of seeing White-faced Darter that I had mistakenly assumed did not emerge until June but which the net suggested could be on the wing in late April and surely with the weather as it was there was a decent chance? On arrival even without the aid of the new 8x21 Swaros that we bought for Julia at Minsmere, she spotted an Adder sat on the track by the welcome centre cabin - a promising start

Adder on the track at Foulshaw Moss

the area swarmed with Large Red Damselflies landing on anything particularly clothing and hair and there were odd Four-spotted Chasers and Azure Damselflies but not the hoped for darters then we picked some up darting over the pools but at 40m not close enough for photography - two intruding Ospreys displayed but in the intense heat images were very very poor.

Intruding Osprey carrying a fish? and displaying Foulshaw Moss May 19th 2024

the other intruding Osprey

Persisting with the search for a close White-faced Darter, Julia and the new bins picked one up almost within camera range but with some very dodgy lighting - but it was my 42nd species of odonata in the UK and long overdue

nice perch but about 60m too far away

White-faced Darter closer but tricky lighting and on a boardwalk you cannot just get round it

while searching other pools for darters those new bins came across this perched Downy Emerald but as was becoming the norm it was partly obscured and at a tricky angle fro the light but a species I had not expected to see in the area due to lack of research

Downy Emerald Foulshaw Moss May 19th 2024

with a couple of hours to spare and cooler weather on the Monday morning we headed back to Foulshaw to try for perched White-faced Darters on the premise that it was not so hot and they might be less active; the boardwalk was littered with sunning Common Lizards and while the AF struggled to find their eyes Sophie resorted to MF with my gear and of course got the best shots

Sophie’s Lizard shot - good old MF

Common Lizard Foulshaw Moss

In the cooler weather my hunch paid off and several White-faced Darters were warming on the wooden boardwalk - not the most aesthetic of perches but nice and close for some images

having seen a lot in Sweden the urge to visit a site in the UK was not high but this was a good add on

about time they were reintroduced to Thorne and Hatfield where they historically occurred

Hunting Hobbies

Every year I delight in watching the amazing skills of hunting Hobbies with the dragonfly challenge dominating the late April - May scene. This year I have mainly been using the Canon R62 and the Canon RF 100-500 sometimes with the 1.4x extender but it has been a pretty hot spring and there has been a lot of atmospheric distortion even at pretty close range so there have been an awful lot of deletions! Catching the moment the bird homes in and snatches the dragonfly in flight is a real challenge and even if you can half predict the snatch the bird often jinks up or left or right and can disappear out of the frame particularly when they are close enough to produce a decent sized image. Using the R62 on its maximum of 40 frames per second I did eventually manage one sequence of a bird catching a Hairy Dragonfly that I was pretty pleased with but it was a pretty heavy crop and I still endeavour to get some bigger and better images and it would be good to get them lower down with a backdrop but due to the ehat they have almost invariably been hunting high us this spring. White skies have also been the norm with few days when blue has been in evidence.

Hobby just about to snatch a Hairy Dragonfly - these insects are clearly very rich in protein as the birds often hunt for about an hour a day and end up with a full crop before drifting off to perch up and digest.

Hobby just after the snatch - dragonflies are typically dismembered in flight with the wings being dropped and the juicy bits consumed ina few seconds

the dramatic manoeuvres produced by birds hunting insects are a sight to behold

A flight portrait with a blue sky backdrop for a change

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From the small head and delicate look this is a male

Birds sometimes produce vertical stoops of up to 200 feet to take up coming dragons

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Dragonflies are held in the foot and eaten on the wing

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A visit to Suffolk April 28th - May 1st

We booked a three night stay at The Ship in Dunwich, well recommended and good value, intending to just wander around the local heaths and Minsmere one of our favourite parts of the country. After a night and morning of rain on 28th travelling down was distinctly unseasonal with flooded roads and dull, dull weather and rain but by the time we checked in at 16:30 it was almost fine and our first wander revealed a pair of wailing heath chickens on the nearby Dunwich heath. Not having seen or heard a UK Nightingale since 2006!! I was keen to hopefully hear one or two. My first early morning foray onto Westleton Heath quickly revealed two singing birds though views were lacking. Later in the day we came across another seven birds and in total we heard 16 around the Dunwich - Minsmere area and one at Lakenheath Fen on the return journey. Two were seen or at least bits of two were seen hence the very poor images but the iphone recorded some nice song in an area not plagued by human background noise. Why are they absent from Lincolnshire well species declines but also habitat and food availability must be involved - appalling spray drift from intensive arable farming pervades the whole of Lincolnshire and it minuscule woodlands and tidy tidy farms.

Msle Nightingale in song Westleton Heath April 2024 - typically very skulking this was a good view!

Nightingale habitat Dunwich Heath April 2024 - three males were singing along this track with wailing heath chickens and Woodlarks on adjacent heathland

singing male Nightingale Westleton heath April 2024 - we spent over 4 hours trying to see birds in this rea and this was the best view located with Julia’s new bins!

Dartford Warbler was another of my targets and in the past they have been very easy to hear and see on the Westleton - Dunwich heaths but my first morning foray revealed brief views of just one bird in 2 hours in an area where there are usually 5-6 pairs; the state of the heath though quickly suggested the reason - most of the heather was dead, at least 80% in most areas and consequently no insects and so no warblers. Asking local people the reason was stated to be cold wet winters and an explosion of heather beetle. Looking online it seems that this beetle is killing large areas of heather around the country. Eventually we did find three pairs of Dartford Warblers but they were flying long distances in search of food and even feeding in silver birch trees. Images were terrible.

Dunwich Heath with dead heather April 2024

Heather looking slightly better on Westleton Heath - a pair of Dartford Warblers and Woodlarks were nesting here April 2024

Dartford Warbler

Male Dartford Warbler searching for food in silver birch

Dunwich Heath April 2024 - in two days we walked nearly 19 miles across the heaths and around Minsmere in beautiful weather - heard two singing Redstarts but didn’t manage to see any

early morning on Westleton Heath

Stone-curlew or the more apt wailing heath chicken on Dunwich heath - always distant and heavily cropped but great to see and listen to their vocalisations

Stone-curlew Dunwich Heath April 2024

female Stonechat Dunwich Heath

Minsmere sausage rolls are a bit of a local attraction

the distinctive calls of passing Mediterranean Gulls are a newish addition to the heathland birding scene as they commute to the favoured pig fields

We stopped off at Lakenheath RSPB on the return trip and had a long walk in rather hot and humid conditions - I was hoping for feeding Hobbies but unlike my last visit about 20 years? ago all the Hobbies were very distant - roll on the next blog post

Another day at Frampton Marsh - dangerously becoming a habit

With the prospect of a few nice birds on offer and the usual draw of the cake filled cafe I was tempted down to Frampton RSB for the second time this year on Tuesday. The Bonaparte’s Gull was a bsent but I have seen several 1000 in Canada and the Us so no real problem and the adult and 2cy Little Gulls along with a nice Black Tern were more than adequate compensation. Add to them some nice Ruff, a Red-breasted Goose that stayed stubbornly distant with the Brent Goose flock and the rather dapper Lesser Yellowlegs still occasionally frequenting the fence line by the parked vehicles in the car ark, a pair of Garganey a flat white and chocolat ebrownie and in spite of the very strong and very cold wind it was another visit to remember.

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