Very early and very frustrating

We left Base Camp to the nature reserve before 05.30 this morning in fine spirits. But passing the big park it was clear it wasn’t clear there was a thick mist hanging over the lake and where our view opened out after the zoo the field there was similarly smothered in a dense fog.

Through the gate somewhere below us was the wetland lying silently unseen beneath its cold grey shroud. The air was as still as can be and even at that early hour the traffic noise was hindering our listening to the point of being very annoying. How the wildlife hears itself through the ever-present white noise we’ll never know.

Even trying to count how many loud Wrens were singing was proving tricky with the high level of background noise. Every now and then we thought we heard a trill that didn’t quite match the ending of the Wrens’ songs and it wasn’t until we were half way down the track to the nature reserve that we were able to positively pin-point and identify the singer, the reserve’s first Grasshopper Warbler (131, MMLNR #85) of the season. We then listened out for any other new arrivals but had no luck, there was no chance of seeing them visibility was down to no more than 100 yards. A Song Thrush sang loudly almost drowning out the traffic noise but struggling against the sound of an aeroplane somewhere - by eck we're a noisy species! Approaching the main gate we  saw walking down the drag towards us a couple of dog walkers with four unleashed mutts so anything grounded (literally) would have been flushed already and it wasn’t yet 06.00! It was quiet down the main path and we met another pair of dog walkers this time with only three unleashed mutts running everywhere, it’s not as it there isn’t miles of alternative paths and a huge field adjacent they can use but no the numb-nuts have to go through the reserve then get upset when they get told off or make shirty comments when we ignore them like this morning.

We thought we heard a Blackcap so stopped to listen but it didn’t give a clue as to its whereabouts – if it was one! The only birds really going for it were Robins and Wrens and plenty of each. At the gap in the reeds over-looking the back of the scrape we could just about make out the difference between Teal and Moorhens, as far as we could tell there were no waders. We don’t know what possessed us but we walked the length of the embankment, we couldn’t see far over the reed bed and the fields could have housed the Pyramids of Egypt for all we could tell looking that way. But walk it we did hearing a few Cetti’s Warblers on the way and about two thirds the way along our first Reed Warbler of the year (132, MMLNR #86) chirruck chirruck chirruck chack chack chacking away deep in the reeds and enjoyed the autumn-like spectacle of many cobwebs draped across the vegetation and hanging heavy with dew. 

We couldn’t see the wet area and floods in the fields although we could hear a distant Willow Warbler from somewhere towards the hide, so we turned round and made our way back. This time we did hear the Blackcap (133, MMLNR #87) and not far from where we thought we’d heard one/it earlier. Again only Robins, Wrens and Woodpigeons were really in evidence although we did get a strong whiff of 'recently passed this way' Fox.

Just outside the reserve we heard another Willow Warbler and another Blackcap – had we arrived a little too early perhaps although it was still far too foggy to see much.

We got a txt from Young Un AB saying he’d found a Redstart on his patch not far from work so seeing as how it was still early we decided to meet up with him. We’d only gone a few yards when we saw LR coming towards us on his early morning dog walk so we stopped to tell him about the Grasshopper Warbler. Our drive through town was fogless but as soon as we hit the coast the mist dropped again. We wandered through the dunes checking the isolated trees and bushes finding a few Reed Buntings and grounded Meadow Pipits while above the mist Skylarks sang from on high. Another txt from AB – he’d now found two Redstarts but lost track of them both, it’s a difficult place to bird when your quarry dips over a dune and is lost to view, did it go into the hollow or skip two dunes??? In the end we had to call it a dip and head off to work.

Once behind the desk we got a call from LR who was now back from the nature reserve, he’d had a Green Sandpiper calling, 150 or more Sand Martins with a dozen Swallows low over the mere and more Willow Warblers and Blackcaps than we’d had but he didn’t get the Gropper despite us speaking to him on the roadside only 250 yards from where it was singing earlier.

The morning developed bright and sunny so we took the opportunity to check the gardens out for any invertebrates finding a couple of Small Tortoiseshells (ore the same one twice) and an unknown species of solitary bee – time to start swotting up on them with the new book we got a Christmas.

Then we got more information from AB telling us there were another two Redstarts a little to the south. BD txt to say he was going to the big park to look for Willow Warblers and Blackcaps so we suggested he amend his plans - he did and not long after arriving on site told us he was watching the Redstart, we asked him to nail it down as we would finish work a bit early and bob down. A short wait and there it was, a superb male Redstart (134) on the fence only to be chased in to the scrub by a Robin, fortunately it came back out again clinging dexterously to the fence's vertical wires giving good but distant and sadly unphotographable views but hey-ho what a great little bird - a real stonker as they say. And we found BD a female Wheatear, his first of the year. 
Our Extreme Photographer has sent some snaps of his latest sighting, this time not from his garden. He says "

I looked at the map and worked out it’s distance from my location, as it was circling directly over a pointed hill it made the measurement easy. It was just over 2 miles and the light was fading fast."

At one point he tells us he had an Osprey and the White Stork in his bins field of view at the same time -  can't be bad eh!

Where to next? We might well try another early morning safari.

In the meantime let us know who's being far too colourful in your outback.

There's one - up there!

The Safari was lucky today, we managed to get an unintended day off work. We had the gas boiler engineer booked for shortly after 09.00 which gave us an hour and a half to get out and have a mooch around. We started off at the small park right near the cliffs at Chat Alley with the hope of coming across a waif from Siberia, but there wasn't a Yellow Browed Warbler to be found. There wasn't much happening and with the clear blue sky any vis mig was out of sight and out of earshot. All we saw was a flock of six Greenfinches which dropped and circled but decided not to stop and continued southwards, a Heron come over from the north west, another coasting like yesterday's or another feeding on the beach during the hours of darkness? A Grey Wagtail went south too but all that was 'grounded' were a few each of Dunnocks, Robins and Blackbirds and we don't know how many of these were residents in the park, a Goldcrest called a couple of times too, that was certainly a migrant.

Once we'd exhausted the possibilities in the park we drove the mile or so north to meet up with ringer AD again. This time we took a full walk around the field/woods and enjoyed the beautiful sight of thousands of cobwebs being lit up by the low morning sun.

Our wander round the site gave us a couple of Goldcrests and a Chiffchaff but it was quieter than yesterday with no sign of the Blackbird movement today. AD told us the Meadow Pipits weren't going over in anything like the same numbers as yesterday either but had caught and ringed a couple before we arrived. He'd also seen a Sparrowhawk and a Blackcap.

The appointed hour for our appointment drew near and we had to shoot off. On the way back to the car (we nearly typed Land Rover there!) a butterfly crossed the path several yards in front of us and at first we thought Speckled Wood but then  our brain registered it was too big and pale to have been one of those so with not seeing flit between the trees we approached the spot very cautiously to find a Painted Lady.

Back at Base Camp we'd been warned the gas man was running a bit behind schedule so we were able to do a bit of vis migging from the garden but again the skies were still far too clear and we only had a couple of Meadow Pipits and a Chaffinch and a singing Dunnock. Best by a mile though were two Rooks (Garden #37) that came over from the direction of the waterr tower and were the first seen at Base Camp since at least  2010.

The gas man came but by the time he left it was almost lunchtime so we phoned the office and booked a day's leave, well by the time we'd eaten lunch and driven to work it would be almost time to turn round and come home again! So we ate a quick lunch and headed out back to the little park again. In the sunniest corner a patch of Michaelmas Daisies was alive with literally hundreds of hoverfies and butterflies - it was stunning! There were Red Admirals, Small Whites, Small Tortoiseshells and a Comma vying for the best flowers. We wandered round the shrub beds recording an absolute minimum of nine Red Admirals, two Speckled Woods, five Small Tortoiseshells, seven Small Whites, a Large White and at least 10 Silver Ys. The majority being found on a patch of Ice Plant Sedum in a sheltered sunny spot. All these were being enjoyed by other folk in the park, one couple telling us we should see Peacocks too, but they didn't show today.

The birds, however, had gone very quiet so as to be almost non-existant!

Walking back to the car a small dragonfly caught our attention as it settled on the edge of the path. A teneral maIe Common Darter just beginning to colour up. It was then we discovered that, yet again, we'd left the camera's SD card in the laptop on the desk at Base Camp...dohhh - good job phones have cameras these days!

With no bird action we decided to give the nature reserve a go. Almost as soon as we got out of the car (remembered it is only a car this time and not a Land Rover) we  saw a huge mass of gulls wheeling around in the distance. We soon saw what we assumed to be the reason, the Police helicopter was hovering over the fields not far beyond them. That wasn't the reason for their panic though as we also spotted a couple of Buzzards circling below them - that would do it! The Buzzards gained height and slowly drifted towards us then came almost directly overhead still drifting west offering the best opportunity we've had for Buzzard-in-flight shots which we managed to spectacularly waste. The pic below was by far the best of a very disappointing bad lot!

At the Feeding Station we met up with MMcG who'd just filled the feeders and almsot as soon as his back was turned the birds returned including a couple of Coal Tits (MMLNR #103). A Sparrowhawk zipped in landed briefly spotted us and zipped out all in the blink of an eye and accompanied by two not very impressed Magpies.

Out on the wider reserve there were butterflies and dragonflies everywhere, don't think we've ever seen so many dragonflies here on any one day in the last 25 years! When you put it like that we also can't believe we've been coming here for almost half our life - doesn't seem that long somehow!

There were Common Darters and Migrant Hawkers whizzing every which way many in tandem, the sun catching their twinkling gossamer wings like sparkling jewels of motion. Occasionally there'd be a Brown Hawker with it's bronze wings glistening in the sun and just once there was something else large that went past so fast we didn't really get a good enough look at it but was probably a  Southern Hawker or an  Emperor.

At the FBC hide a family of numb-nuts from the holiday camp had broken through the fence and were sitting in front of it so we gave it a miss but did hear a Cetti's Warbler  sing briefly from not far away. Continuing our circuit we didn't see the Grey Wagtail in the stream but once over the bridge we heard it call then turning round we saw it drop in so we're not sure if we flushed it or it had  just that second arrived.

A Kestrel pounced on something in the cut Barley field and stayed down a long time in stubble, on the other side of the path, in the reeds, a Water Rail screamed. At the far end of the embankment a large pale bird swooped low into one of the larger Willows and landed just out of sight, didn't look 'right' for a Woodpigeon so we stood and waited a minute until a Jay flew out...and then a second, two Jays could be a site record for us!

We bumped into MMCG again who'd walked the opposite way round to us and he had nothing to report but there was a volunteer group getting stuck in to some vegetation bashing by the Panoramic Hide (which will have a new name soon as local children have come up with new names for all the hides). As luck would have it with the work party nearby the hide was open so we took advantage and sat and watched the world (mostly dragonflies and gulls - nowt wrong with that!) go by.

A Chiffchaff moved through the Willows to our left then into the reedbed in front of us, another Cetti's Warbler sang nearby and two Water Rails screamed at each other, unseen but very close. We heard the 'wink wink' of approaching Pink Footed Geese and through the end window watched a skein of about 80 travel south over the fields to the east. Also over that way were a good number of Jackdaws and Feral Pigeons, the pigeons balled up and the Jackdaws whiffled down suggesting a/the Peregrine might be about but if it was we didn't see it. Later they did the same when a large female Sparrowhawk cruised eastwards. We spent a good hour in there while the volunteer party finished of and then took their tools back to the store in which time three sets of folk arrived, none came in to the hide but all stopped for a look. 

There's the hide all doors and windows open and inviting, there's even a screen for when it's locked up - where do you think all those folk stood? Yes you've guessed it - round the front of the screen - what absolute dipsticks! We decided to take a pic of the next person to do it for a Numpty of the Week award but no-one else came until Ranger IB came back to lock up.

While we were chatting about how best to secure the front of the hide against the numpties another Jay arrived and flew across the mere - three in a day; deffo our site record! Another Buzzard drifted north east too and we heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker call.

We were having a fantastic afternoon in the warm sunshine but once again time ran out and back to Base Camp we had to go.

We pulled up outside the house and young OC was playing out in the street on his own. He's a cheery young lad, still in primary school, and always chatty so came over to see what we'd been up to when he saw the bins round our neck. We told him we'd been out bird watching at the nature reserve and asked him if he'd ever seen an eagle (we meant Buzzard but was fairly sure he wouldn't know what one of those was but would understand 'eagles'). "No" he said, "do we get eagles round here?" "Look at this" - we showed him the pics of the Buzzard on the back of the camera - "cool, where was that"...we pointed skywards in the direction of the nature reserve. Then he said "like that one there" pointing to a dark bird heading north over the rooftops. "That's just a 'seagull'" we said then looked at it with the bins - that was no seagull that was another Buzzard - the eagle-eyed  youngster was right!!! We gave him a look through the bins and he watched it fly north over his house and turn round and come back right over Base Camp - awesome!!! - - What will he find next?

His other friends came out to play and he drifted off with a calling Goldcrest being heard from the end of the street above the din of their game.

Where to next? Back to Patch 2 tomorrow.

In the meantime let is know who's got the eagle-eyes in your outback.

The early bird didn't catch any worms

The Safari was at the nature reserve shortly before 06.30 this morning. with a largely clear night we weren't expecting a fall or much vis mig early on. It was darker than the pic suggests looking across the playing field at the sheet of low mist. Robins and Wrens sang all around and the zoo's free flying Barnacle Geese in the gloom passed over us to graze the field.

A couple of Blackbirds suggested either there'd been a little influx or moult is over and they've become less secretive. Our total count was only seven but that's several more than any of our recent visits.

Cobwebs festooned the skeletal Hogweed stems, we shudder to think just how many spiders must be out there...all on the menu for the Goldcrest we heard.

 We got to the reserve gate just as colour began to show in the eastern sky.

Minutes later we were at the viewing platform.

Here we heard the first two of no less than 10 Cetti's Warblers shouting at each other. A Sparrowhawk glided across the reed tops heading down the mere and a flight of Teal presumably came off their overnight feeding ponds on the adjacent golf course to spend the day in the safety and seclusion on the reserve and a small flock of seven Pink Footed Geese, our first of the season came over fairly low but didn't stop. The reason for the Sparrowhawk's trip down to the far end became apparent when about 2500 Starlings erupted from the reedbed and the Sparrowhawk was well placed to try to catch one for breakfast, we couldn't see if it caught one or not as it went behind the trees.

There weren't so many Chiffchaffs today and we struggled to find any other warblers other than a Blackcap and some 'tacking' from deep in the scrub.

It wasn't only the Hogweed that was festooned with cobwebs, the Gorse hedge was similarly bedecked with them.

Even though it was still before 07.00 on a Sunday morning the noise pollution form the nearby main road and someone's house alarm was horrendous especially when trying to listen out for high flying calling migrants. We are a shockingly noisy species and then some of us have the temerity to moan about 'seagulls'!

Wandering round to the reedbed channel scrapes there was no Water Rail on show today but three called for the reeds around the site and we continued to record the locations of the Cetti's Warblers we heard. Reed Buntings flitted here and there and we're not sure how much double counting was involved in the seven that made the notebook.

In the stubble field behind us two Herons stalked small mammals but we didn't see them strike at anything, a couple of Carrion Crows and a Buzzard watched them from their fence post perches.

The only Meadow Pipit of the day flew over, where are they???
A look over the mere gave us a couple of Wigeon fresh in, the first here this season we think.

Another Heron was standing sentinel on the edge of the right hand reedbed. In the overflow stream the now fairly regular Grey Wagtail was in residence.

Two Song Thrushes were, like the 'numerous' Blackbirds, an improvement on recent visits.

A aging Chocky Lab very much like Frank but a bit paler was refusing to go for his walk and rolled over on his back when we passed - we stopped to give him a rub and a tickle but it became too much for us and we started to well up and had to say our goodbyes quickly and leg it teary eyed into the nearby hide.

We didn't stay in there long and one the way out watched a flock of Long Tailed Tits flit across the path. The gentlest gust of wind sent a flurry of autumn leaves twizzling down like confetti.

Try as we might we couldn't find a Lesser Whitethroat or anything else other than Woodpigeons in the hundreds of Elderberry bushes all of which are weighed down with fruit this year. 

With all so very quiet it was time to leave,  a little earlier than yesterday, and nip back to Base Camp to make Wifey's Sunday morning breakfast.

At lunchtime we were back out again but this time went to the little woodland opposite the zoo where we sat on the bench by the fallen log that good folk put generous handfuls of bird seed. within a minute of us sitting down a pair of Great Tits dropped down to get a beakful of the good stuff only feet from us. It was then we realised we'd left the SD card in the laptop from this morning's pics...Dohhh - Not to worry we had the phone if necessary.

A Nuthatch (MMLNR #102) called from the denser part of the wood to our left, they seem to have become scarce, or very quiet, locally judging by the lack of records since last winter.

From the bench we walked further up the wood towards the Great Crested Newt zone, on the way we heard at least four Goldcrests working their way through the stream-side bushes and then a Jay gave us the run-around in the tops of the tall trees at the end of the wood by the golf course.

A Great Spotted Woodpecker called and Speckled Woods fluttered but at our amphibian area there was just one Toad.

Retracing our steps there was nothing new and it was time to revisit the nature reserve.

By now it was mid-afternoon and the quiet time of day for bird activity.  We decided to keep an eye on the mere and reed-beds. All the gulls went up of the water and local roofs but we didn't see what the cause was. A little later they lifted off the water but not the roofs and again we didn't see what they'd seen - hope it wasn't the very elusive Bittern!

About a dozen House Martins skimmed low over the water with a single Swallow. Just before we left a skein of about 60 Pink Footed Geese went south at height over the far east fields.

So just short of seven hours in the field today, all very enjoyable even if we didn't need the camera in our second visit.
Where to next? A potentially wet and windy Patch 2 visit beckons.
In the meantime let us know who's bedecking what in your outback.

It's a frustrating hobby with no swarm of migrants

The Safari heard a familiar bird calling at work the other day and thought nothing of it...but some thing in the back of our mind needled us into checking our records and there was indeed an enormous gap in the list. Jackdaw (P2 #66), but had we heard it earlier in the year and forgotten to add it to the spreadsheet or was this truly the first record?

At the close of play we had a quick errand to run up to the nature reserve and was able to have a few minutes in the FBC hide with MJ and AH. Not much was happening but we learned we'd missed a Mediterranean Gull. In the cut area of reeds in front of the hide the usual not-so-shy Mallards were joined by a couple of normally ever-so-shy Shovelers.

We planned on a very early start to do some vis migging with the overnight weather forecast looking very promising. Then in the middle of the night we were woken by torrential rain -squinting at the alarm clock it was only 2am, that was too early for rain and was going to put the dampeners on everything, it lasted about an hour. Now had it been 5am when an hour's rain started a nice selection of birds might have been dropped, we weren't hopeful.

Pulling in to the car park and turning off the headlights all was quiet barely a Robin ticked - not a good sign!

Walking up to the reserve nothing stirred and nothing went over, our fears seemed to have come true. As we approached the reserve gate we saw a huge swarm of Starlings lift over the scrub and in the gloom at the far end there were more heading out over the fields, we estimated a total of in excess of 500 but could have arrived too late to others already gone from their roost.

Still all was still, there wasn't so much as a breath of wind to waft the rain damaged cobwebs on the Gorse bushes. Did the spiders get the weather forecast wrong too?

The sun rose to reveal the first tints of  autumn on the Poplar trees and overhead we head the first of what we hoped would be many Meadow Pipits, wrong! We only heard one more call in the three hours we were there.

The cool morning air hung heavy with the scents of, depending where you're stood, mild Starling droppings (this'll get stronger as the roost increases!), cidery windfall Apples and manure from the mountain ready for spreading in the field.

At least the Cetti's Warblers were vocal, we heard seven. Half a dozen Reed Buntings flitted out of the reeds and half a dozen Reed Warblers flitted through the reeds, their invisible progress being marked by the raindrops being shaken off the reed tops. Chiffchaffs sang and others moved through the scrub either alone or with Blackcaps or Long Tailed Tits, in the end we had at least 10!

A movement at the back of the Channel Scrape next to a juvenile Moorhen had us peering into the poor morning shadows, a small bird had just run into the reeds and popped it's head out briefly, probably a Water Rail but it does look very good for a Spotted Crake on there. Tantalising glimpses followed over tthe next 20 minutes including a very buttery undertail but we couldn't get anything conclusive until it came right out in front of the reeds on the mud and was after all that 'just' a Water Rail. Meanwhile two others were calling from deep in the reeds some way to our left and right.

Overhead migration was in full swing - NOT - with singles of Pied and Grey Wagtails going south. Three Great Spotted Woodpeckers seemed to come from the north but could have been local birds moving around looking for breakfast. More interesting was the only Blue Tit of the morning which dropped into the reedbed in the south east corner from on high, it hadn't come from the nearby tall trees as it came over our head from the north an dropped in to the reeds rather than the trees.

A light shower brought down about 30 twittering House Martins which left as soon as the drizzle passed. The fields to the east have been harvested and the golden stubble held a veritable swarm of at least half a dozen more than plenty Woodpigeons and Feral Pigeons.

The temperature rose with the sun and out came a few Speckled Woods to bask, getting ready for a hard day's nectaring.

After three hours of not a great lot we left but maybe we should have worked it harder and perhaps had a look in the trees along the south side as a Spotted Flycatcher was found later not too far away. Anyway we headed off down the motorway for a look at a reserve we don't visit often enough these days.

By now the morning was well underway and it turning into a very nice and warm late summer's day. Our first port of call was the little picnic area on the hill overlooking the visitor centre. From there there's a good view down one of the lakes and across the tree tops now hiding the other large lake. Scanning the first lake we saw something we'd not seen before, how long is it since we were last here? An Osprey nesting tower - now that's something our nature reserve could do with too. Would a good splash of Dulux's best white emulsion paint make it look pre-used? Would that be more or less attractive to prospecting Osprey?

Those Ospreys look like Carrion Crows to us

Stood on the hill we only heard a single Meadow Pipit call, but a Buzzard mewing in the distance was something we never heard when we lived not too far away and visited more frequently. The only swarm of migrants coming from the north was a very noisy flotilla of three military helicopters shattering the peace, even drowning out the motorway noise!

We had a mooch about watching more and more dragonflies take to the wing, a good sign for later we thought. From the impressively windowed new 'Look Out' - not a hide! - we saw the Buzzard circling over the trees at the back but the lake was very quiet, a Heron stood motionless in the shadows for ages, not even the fish were moving. You can't hear anything through the (probably) bullet-proof glass (we guess it's so toughened as the site suffers badly from far too much wanton vandalism) so we went to stand on the higher adjacent site of a former hide that was destroyed by said vandals.

Heading back to Land Rover and butties at lunchtime we came across a Garden Snail that had been trodden on on the path eagerly being slurped up by a large Black Slug.

We took our butties back to the hill top and spotted a blue damselfly on the way, careful stalking got us a pic that showed it to be a Common Blue Damselfly, can't many left on the wing at this time of year

From our lofty position we could see hundreds of dragonflies all over the place, don't think we've ever seen so many. they were close by, low over the grass and shrubs, high above us in the ether and many were in tandem laying eggs in the lake - a long way off!

Female Common Darter

Male Common Darter

Mating Migrant Hawkers

Mating Common Darters

With all this flying protein it was inevitable that our quarry of the day would put in appearance, but ours is a fickle hobby and the hoped for/expected Hobby almost inconceivably failed to turn up and put on an aerobatic master class.

With time now running out the heat of the afternoon required an ice cream from the impressive floating visitor centre. Crossing the raiseable drawbridge and gangway we looked into the crystal clear water and saw a few fish. Small ones at first, a shoal of small Perch.

Then in the deeper water on the lake side of the gang way a larger one.

After our ice cream we saw three even bigger huge ones about a foot long, not seen Perch that big since the 70s and before the disease which wiped out most of the biggest fish.

Best sighting of the day came when we were trying to get pics of the shoal of small ones, a tiny Red Water Mite came bumbling by. Good to see the small things as they are the base of the food chain for the bigger things.

A most enjoyable eight hours in the field but not a swarm of migrants to be seen - where are the Meadow Pipits?

Our overnight mothing session was pitiful with only three Light Brown Apple Moths and four Large Yellow Underwings in the trap after a mild windless night.

Where to next? Chores today but no doubt there'll be something to see.

In the meantime let us know who's moving where, or not as the case may be, in your outback.