Fri 6th September 2013

Now we are in September and autumn is well under way, I really want to concentrate on birds again after a summer of insects - this should have been renamed "Just a Bug". This diary was designed for my birding notes so I am keen to get back on track with that. On 25th August I headed for Jaonneuse for a seawatching session, and it turned out to be the longest seawatch I have ever done in Guernsey, at four and three-quarter hours, 0645 to 1130!

Me, at the start of a marathon seawatch session at Jaonneuse.

I never usually last that long, as I get too restless staying in one place. My seawatching though is something I am keen to develop since I always have all of August off and have plenty of opportunity to get some early season rarities passing the island. Also, I think I was able to stay so long because I downloaded various podcasts and listened to them on my iPod whilst I stared out to sea. But of course, it helped that there were plenty of birds passing. These were mainly shearwaters, with lots and lots of these as dots far out to sea. Out of those which came close enough to identify, 53 were Manx and 18 were Balearics, and I was so sure that either a Great or Cory's would be spotted, but the nearest I got was a 'possible' of the latter. The very bright sunshine made the colours on the birds difficult to pick out with accuracy, and even the only Sooty Shearwater I picked out looked so so pale. Skuas were not going past in numbers though, with just two each of Arctic and Bonxie seen, but there were a few terns migrating, and I managed to pick out a group of 21 Arctic Terns tightly flocking as they flicked their way south.

The final week of the school holidays was again very warm, and on 26th Aug I went for a walk around the edge of St. Sampsons School where I flushed 2 migrant Snipe from the grass. There were also 3 Clouded Yellowsflying there and my first Common Darter of the year.

Clouded Yellow - SSHS, 26 Aug 13

Common Darter - SSHS, 26 Aug 13

Now that I am back working at school, it means that I have been able to make regular checks of my 'patch' atPulias. There has not been a great many migrants visible there, with just a few Wheatears, and a Water Railand Sedge Warbler in the small reedbed. There has been a Greenshank feeding on the lagoon each day this week which has been showing very well.

Greenshank - Pulias, 3 Sep 13

On 4th Sep the flying ants erupted from the nest in the garden - which seems later than usual - and this prompted me to take out my bins and look up. I have seen Med Gulls from the garden just three times before and each of these sightings coincided with the flying ants' emergence, the birds joining the feeding frenzy. And so it was, two adult-type Med Gulls were seen.

Med Gull - over the garden, 4 Sep 13

Lepidoptera have continued to be great in the last two weeks, the highlights being a Palpita vitrealis on 25th Aug, another Webb's Wainscot on 26th, a Gem and Vestal on 4th Sep and a new species for the garden, anEngrailed on 29th Aug.

Engrailed - garden, 29th Aug 13

Small Tortoiseshell - garden, 1 Sep 13 - incredibly, the first ever Small Tort in the garden. I am sure that the species was almost extinct as a breeding species in the island a few years ago, but seems to be on the increase. It is still rare though.

Sun 15th September 2013

Hooray!! It has been ten months since my last Guernsey tick, but yesterday I finally got the next one, and it was number 250 for my Guernsey List. And even better, it was a self-found one too.

Last Sunday (8th) I had a bash round Pleinmont for some migrants and I got really, really soaked! I don't mind getting a bit wet if there's loads of birds around - but there wasn't. Five Whinchats were probably the highlight, but there was not much else - single Yellow and White Wags, plus about 20 Wheatear. There were signs of autumn though with 50 Meadow Pipits flocking in the fields. Had a new plant species though, with a few Thorn-apples growing in the corner of a field.

During the working week I have been stopping off at my Pulias patch trying to add to my Patchwork Challenge score. I must say I am finding it difficult to progress much, and realise it was probably a mistake choosing such a small patch. I think that next year I shall have to extend my patch to a longer stretch of coastline to get more of a variety. The Greenshank continues to show well, staying all week, as has the Water Rail. On 11th, did a little micro-seawatching before and after work and picked up Balearic Shearwater, Arctic Skua and Bonxie for the patch year list. The next day, I finally ticked off Whinchat. Also visited Fort Hommet on 12th in my lunch hour, where there was another Whinchat and, what I assume was a personal fly-past by the Red Arrows.

Wheatear - Fort Hommet, 12 Sep 13

Greenshank - Pulias, 12 Sep 13

The Red Arrows - over Vazon, 12 Sep 13

Yesterday (14th), there was a decent onshore wind blowing from the north and so I arranged another morning's seawatch from Jaonneuse. A popular idea, there was eight of up there on the rocks at one point, and we enjoyed some great birds. The birds were not passing in high numbers like they were last time but they were regular and so kept our interest. Shearwaters were passing in small groups and I had totals of 20 Balearics, 14 Manx and 9Sooties which were close enough to identify. There were not many skuas going through, and in the first couple of hours we had two each of Arctic Skua and Bonxie. Other birds included an adult Kittiwake and a few each ofCommon and Arctic Tern, but nothing too exciting or new for the season for me.

I was starting to think about leaving when we saw a dark Pomarine Skua go past. We didn't see it too well, as it was picked up already heading away, but it was really massive. As it powered along it looked like it could barely keep airborne. We didn't even consider Arctic Skua as a possibility, we just was making sure it wasn't a Bonxie. It was big, even for a Pom. This was great and made the seawatch worthwhile.

At about 10:10 I had decided definitely to head home, but the few terns had now become a definite trickle, and we were picking up flocks of 'commic' terns every few minutes, so I gave it a little longer. This was a great decision. I 'scoped up another Common Tern and then noticed a second tern following behind it. Well, that was my first impression, whereas my second impression was - 'Oh what? It's a skua'. As any birder knows, if you have a skua and it reminds you of a tern, then it can only mean one thing, and so I called out to the others "I think it might be a Long-tailed Skua". Everyone soon located it as it wasn't too far out - about reef distance - and we watched it purposely head west, low over the surface of the water, until it disappeared round the corner.

At no point did I think it was anything other than a Long-tailed Skua - it was so clear to me. I have seen adult Long-taileds whilst seawatching, and I have seen juveniles stranded inland, but I have never actually seen a juvenile whilst seawatching. However, I have seen hundreds of juvenile Arctic Skuas and this bird was different. It was just greyish with no hint of any brown or rufous in its plumage, and it was so tiny - not at all scarily fierce like its relatives. It didn't fly like a skua, but like a small gull, flicking, and bouncing, and dodging about. The wings were narrow-based, parallel-sided and long, whereas an Arctic has broad-based, almost triangular wings. There were a few other pointers I picked out, and also a few other features which I didn't notice at the time. When I got back home, I quickly made some notes in my notebook whilst the bird was fresh in my mind.

Everyone there seemed pretty happy that it was a Long-tailed but it was a pity that it went past so quickly or that we hadn't picked it up much earlier. This was a species I had not seen in Guernsey before - there are only 10 previous records from the island - and I was chuffed to get to 250 species with something I had found myself. Happy days!!

Thu 26th September 2013

The persistent north-westerly airflow gradually subsided during last week and we had less-strong and more variable winds. During migration it seems to help here on the island when we get variety in the weather, so long as some of that variety is easterly. It has been a bit too pleasant and sunny though, and even though it's late September we've been birding in t-shirts. It is the rain that brings birds here, especially overnight rain, and it is no accident that the best birds arrived after it rained during the night.

My efforts at Pulias have not been especially productive but I have had multiple Whinchats, a Sedge Warbler in the thistles on 20th, plus two new species for the patch year list - Spotted Flycatcher on 19th and a flyover adult Med Gull on 25th.

A rather damp Spotted Flycatcher in the hidden field, Pulias, 19 Sep 13.

Last Saturday I was planning to do some birding but I was called up as an emergency football player for my team - the Police - in the local Saturday League. Although officially "retired" I am available to fill in if they are short. So first game of the season and they are short! Does not bode well for my retirement. But played for 45 minutes and I was fine - fitness is temporary, class is permanent.

So Saturday abandoned, I was hoping for some birding on Sunday (22nd). Luckily the night was wet and misty and, Sunday morning, Mark G found a Rosefinch at Pleinmont. Thought I'd better show my (dis)respects to this Manky Grotfinch, so I headed up there mid-afternoon. However, apparently the Rosefinch was being a right bugger and there was not a sniff of it in the maize field by the scramble track, so I went for a wander. Migrants were few, but there was a nice selection including Spotted Flycatcher and 2 Whinchats. My best find was a group of 3 Firecrests in the Valniquets, ridiculously close in the roadside willows. As soon as September gets into the 20's, the migrant Firecrests arrive on the island - you can set your watch by them! (so long as your watch only counts in days and weeks, and you don't mind it being highly inaccurate, or need to use it at all). Back at the maize field for another fruitless search for the Rosefinch, some visitors showed me, on the back of their camera, a photo of a Hoopoe they had taken at L'Eree earlier in the day - grippers!

Whilst I basked in the sun at Pleinmont, a grapevine message arrived on the phone telling me that Jamie had just found a Tawny Pipit at Creux Mahie. This was only about 5 minutes drive away, so I returned to the car and headed there tout suite. Chris and Jamie were on site and told me it had just flown into a field of very long grass, but when we headed over there it appeared in the field righ tin front of us. It wasn't very close and my scope was in the car, and I didn't have time to retrieve it. But it was a nice bird to see and, surprisingly, an adult with a plain, pale brown back. This was not the first Tawny I'd seen here, as I had found an adult bird just 2 fields away on 23rd April 2000 - I cannot believe it was so long ago! (old git). So, a bit lucky to get this bird as I was just down the road, but a great ending to a beautiful afternoon in the field.

Tawny Pipit - Creux Mahie, 22 Sep 13

I was at work on 24th, when I received a grapevine message about a possible Icterine Warbler at Bordeaux. This would be a Guernsey mega, none having been seen here for about 30 years. We had an after-school meeting, so I didn't get on site until about 4:30 and the bird had been seen a short while ago but had gone missing. After searching for about half an hour or so, I managed to relocate it in a willow tree by the greenhouses. I called the other searchers over and we watched the bird feed actively in the area. It showed a clear wing panel, and seemed quite pale overall with a lemony face, but on plumage alone it could have been either Icky and Melodious. We tried to get a good look at the key feature - the primary projection - but the bird was just a little too far away and moving too much to see this properly. The wings did seem quite long in the field but we just couldn't decide, and we hoped that the good photographers were able to get identifiable shots. I left the site hoping that it was an Icterine and from what I could see, there was no reason why it wasn't, but I would reserve judgement until I'd seen some good photos.

That evening, via emails and Facebook,  we had a long discussion about this bird, constantly changing our minds as new photos came in. In the end, we concluded that the bird must be a Melodious Warbler due to the short primary projection compared to the tertials, as well as a few other wing-formula pointers. So it wasn't the rarity we all hoped for, but these little puzzles that the birds sometimes set us are superbly enjoyable.

Melodious Warbler - Bordeaux, 24 Sep 13

Tue 8th October 2013

Of course, with it now being peak bird rarity time, this post is bound to be all about the rare birds that I have seen and found during the last week or so......

Well, to Hell with all that bird crap, I only went and discovered a bloody rare, once-in-a-lifetime, mega-moth didn't I!

Last Saturday morning (night of 27th Sep) I casually strolled out to the trap, bleary-eyed, and saw an unfamiliar carpet-type moth on the outside of the trap. This was great as I knew it was something new for me, and went inside to get a pot and popped it in the fridge for ID later. I had no idea that it was to be a big rarity. As I have done very little moth-ing elsewhere, if I haven't had a moth species in the garden before, then I won't recognise it, no matter how widespread the species is. I didn't think too much about it, and was more excited by the first garden record of the awesome Convolvulus Hawk-moth that was resting near the trap.

Convolvulus Hawk-moth - garden, 27 Sep 13

After a bit of brekkie, I thumbed through the moth book to see which new species this carpet was, and was confused when I couldn't find it. It was pretty distinctive but I went through a few times and it simply wasn't in there. Puzzled, I got out my "Papillons de nuit" French moth book and, despite not really expecting anything, there it was - a Pungeleria capreolaria.

Pungeleria capreolaria - garden, 27 Sep 2013

I knew that this had to be pretty special because in that book I had pencilled in all the names of the moths in English to avoid confusion, and this had nothing by it, and this had no English name. There followed much panicking, and research on the internet, and postings on twitter, and emails to other moth-ers, No-one appeared to doubt the ID and no-one thought the species had been recorded in Britain before. Much excitement ensued!

At the moment, I am not 100% definitely saying it is a Pungeleria capreolaria and am awaiting confirmation from European experts in the field, but it does look extremely likely that it is this rare species. Of course not a first for "Britain" or the "UK" since the beast has not crossed the Channel to England, but it would be the first time it has been recorded in "The British Isles". I can't find a lot of info about the species but it is apparently from the mountains of Europe, feeding on Fir trees. People have told me that being a first, I may get to choose an English name for it..... (*mischievous grin*).

Getting back to the birds, it has been disappointingly quiet for rarities here on the island, and just at the minute it is very quiet altogether. I went for a stroll round Le Guet today at lunch, and not a single Chiffy, Blackcap, crest or other warbler. Last Sunday though (29th Sep) it was better and I had a really nice couple of hours at Pleinmont. I got there just after first light, and the first bird I saw as I stepped out of the car was a Wryneck. It was very mobile and I kept seeing it on and off for the next hour or so in the Scramble Track car park area.

Wryneck - Pleinmont, 29 Sep 13

There were little pockets of migrants around, but it was quite hard work locating them. I had 2 Whinchat, 2Yellow Wagtails, 3 Whitethroat, 2 Spotted Flycatchers and about 20 Chiffchaffs, but the valleys were quite dead with most birds up on the top of the headland. Around the TV mast field there was a flock of about 50Meadow Pipits and I briefly saw something slightly different with them on the deck. They all then flew up and I watched a Lapland Bunting fly over me, calling, and head East towards Mont Herault. A Grey Plover came in low and calling, confusing me at first due to the unusual location, before flying off far to the east.

The other main sighting of interest was on 1st Oct when I went down to Rue des Bergers hide for my lunch. At the far side of the marsh I saw, for a second or two, about half of a back of a snipe - some browny plumage with an orangey-stripe. I didn't see any head or beak or legs or any underparts, but even so, I knew it was a Jack Snipe and grapevined it. Why was I so certain it was a Jack Snipe from such non-views?......bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce.........

Thu 17th October 2013

It was quite a surprise last Thursday when a colleague gave me a dead bird-in-a-bag to look at, that his cat had brought in the previous night. I opened it up to see a superb Jack Snipe! It was amazing to see such an elusive, rarely-seen bird up close, but devastatingly sad that it had been murdered by a heinous feline. Although, since this bird was caught in the centre of St. Peter Port, nowhere near any water, maybe it was sick or injured, and would have died anyway - who knows.

Jack Snipe - St. Peter Port, found 9 Oct 13

Interesting to see the details on the bill: the odd-looking grinning (or snarling) groove at the base and the tiny pimples at the tip.

A close-up of the back showing the shining, purple feathers that are sometimes visible in the field.

Anyway, on 13th Oct I had a morning round Pleinmont and Mont Herault. The species of the day was definitely Skylark, with about 100 birds noted. And these were not just flyovers, but all these were flocks pushed up from fields. There was little else on the move, with a few Redwingsand Fieldfares the vangard of numbers that'll arrive in a couple of weeks. In the valleys there were still very few flocks to look through, but there were 3 Firecrests in the Vaux de Monel and a Yellow-browed Warbler calling loudly in the Valniquets.

recording and spectogram of the Yellow-browed calling : 

My regular visits to Pulias Headland have turned up some interesting species with 2 Bonxies past on the 9th, and an Arctic Skua plus 4 Common Scoter on the 11th. The highlight though was on the 15th when a Little Grebe was discovered feeding in the bay, just off the headland. I have been visiting the site regularly for 12 years now and this was a new species for the patch list. Apart from in the Town harbour, I cannot remember seeing the species on the sea before - this looked like a young bird. Patch Gold!!

Little Grebe - off Pulias Headland, 15 Oct 2013

Sat 19th October 2013

TRIP TO THE UK - Part 1

I didn't go anywhere last autumn, but most recent October half-terms I have headed for some rarity-hunting in the UK, mainly on Scilly, or sometimes Cornwall or Yorkshire. The main reason for these trips has always been seeing some rare birds, i.e. twitching. Of course, I try to find my own birds too, but I am always happy for this one week, to simply go around seeing birds other people have found. Recently however, this has not been very fruitful: Yorkshire 2011 - dead, no new birds; Scilly 2010 - quiet but did get Green Heron; Cornwall 2008 - excruciatingly quiet! So one new British tick in the last three trips is not really satisfactory.

So I thought I'd change tack this year. Instead of first deciding where to go, then flying over and staying in a pre-booked hotel, I would drive over in the car and not book any accommodation. This would leave me freedom to travel anywhere and "chase the rares". My minimum target on these forays has always been to see at least one new British tick and if I could go anywhere, then I thought this would be certain. 

So I booked the ferry for Friday evening, returning Thursday morning - 5 full days of birding. By Wednesday, I was planning to head for Suffolk as there was both Radde's and Bluetail there, both of which I needed. But then on Thursday evening news came out of a Semipalmated Plover in Hampshire - less than an hour away from where I would land. Not really the kind of exciting species one yearns for, but nonetheless, bloomin' rare! It was seen again at Friday lunchtime so, with nothing else new turning up, I went online and booked a hotel nearby, ready to twitch the bird on Saturday.

boarding the Condor just as it was getting dark

The weather forecast for the week ahead looked pretty awful though, with winds seemingly stuck in a southerly direction, and massive clumps of rain hurtling across the country in waves. This was not conducive for new rare migrants to come in and I was pessimistic about the twitching ahead. As I left Poole and headed NE up the main road through the New Forest, the heavens didn't open, they exploded into tiny pieces, and I could barely see anything in front of me. I was astonished at the speeds the other drivers were going in these conditions, with seemingly no regard for their own safety. It eased off as I arrived at Eastleigh Travelodge around midnight and checked in. I wandered round for a bit looking for a cashpoint and some food - Eastleigh town centre at throwing-out-time on a Friday night is not a pretty sight. After passing a drunk woman hurling abuse down her phone in the corridor outside my room, I locked myself in and fell asleep.

Waking up the next day (19th Oct), I was pleased to see that the rain had stopped and I checked out. The drive to Hayling Island was quite short and I wasn't in a rush because I knew that it was not high tide until early afternoon. During the previous two days, the plover had not been seen until the tide had pushed the feeding waders closer to land. So I was quite casual, although upon arrival on the island I couldn't find where I was supposed to go. So I bought some grub from a newsagent and sat by the side of the road and waited until a car-load or twitchers passed me by. Quite soon I spotted one, followed it, and parked up in the correct place - no news yet apparently but this was not surprising. Luckily the weather was great - no rain at all, and quite warm for the time of year. I soon found the line of birders by the shore waiting for the wader flocks to fly in.

Part of the "twitch". I thought that there may have been more birders attending the twitch as the bird was so rare. I estimated a maximum of 200 people present altogether. As you can see from the photo, the twitching community clearly represents the large diversity of people we have in this country. As we waited, everyone really appreciated the bloke who gave us a running commentary of each and every bird he looked at....

There were a few Ringed Plovers out on the sand but none of the birds seemed to possess all the features we were looking for. Every now and again another small flock arrived and we checked each of them out as they rested on the shoreline. Everyone was very patient, presumably because it was only about half-ten and it wasn't really expected to be there yet. In fact the whole twitch was very well-mannered, with none of this poor behaviour that I have been reading about on the internet. All the twitchers there were doffing their caps, saying please, thank you and "after you", and putting their jackets over the puddles, etc. Obviously this bad behaviour is all just media hype.

The waders were resting on the sand straight out ahead. It looks very far away on this photo but it was close enough with the 'scope to pick out detailed features on the birds present.

At about quarter to eleven, a group of Sanderling flew into the area, and just as they did, a darn sharp birder shouted that he'd just heard it call. I hadn't heard anything unsurprisingly, as I was probably daydreaming, or messing with the camera, or notebook, or phone, or more likely, shoving food into my gob. So everyone dived onto their 'scopes and we soon picked up the Semipalmated Plover standing on a bit of seaweed on the sand. It was far too far for my camera to be useful.

It is not very different than a juvenile Ringed Plover, but it was clearly on the small side, most noticeably around the head and bill, which was very didi compared to the Ringed Plovers nearby. Plumage wise it was perhaps a touch paler, but the key feature of the white throat extending slightly onto the loral area above the gape line could be seen well. So not spectacular, but a new bird for my British List. I have seen a few before, but these were in Florida when I was a teenager, many (many) years ago. This is only the third British record, and I had dipped on the last one, at Dawlish Warren in '97. I took a slight diversion there on our way to catch the Guernsey Ferry - Rosie disagreed strongly that it was 'on the way'.

Here I am post-tick, taking an embarassing selfie at the twitch. Apparently this is very important nowadays because unless you have evidence that you were there at the date and time you said you were, some people can claim that you haven't seen the bird! Shocking, I know. Just to be on the safe side, I took a few witness statements, carved my signature into the fencepost and left a DNA sample behind some bushes. And in case you're wondering, that is not a massive beer belly you can see. My pockets were stuffed with Coke and Eccles Cakes in case I was in for a long wait.

The enjoyment of the bird did not last very long as a group of windsurfers floated very close to the shoreline and all the waders took flight and disappeared over to the other side of the headland. I waited a while but I didn't think that they would come back with all the "leisure" activity going on. If I had come a long way just to see this bird I would have tried to look for it again on the other side (where it did appear again half an hour later apparently). But I wanted to make progress and so I headed North towards the M25. I was hoping that the Two-barred Crossbill in Kent had been seen this morning and going for that was my initial plan.

As I approached Petersfield, the rain started up again and it was even worse than last night. Eventually, I decided that I was unable to drive in it and I got off the A3 to wait in the services until it improved. I started off again and then got stuck in an accident queue near Guildford. How dare all these people want to drive when I am on the road. Eventually, I reached the M25 where the driving was much better. I stopped at Clacket Lane Services to get info and make a decision. Luckily Maccy D's have a nice free wifi service and as I sipped my Strawberry milk shake (I wouldn't even think about eating anything there), I logged onto Birdguides. There was no report of the TBC and there was nothing else at all. Nothing that I hadn't seen before anyway. But I had to make a decision where to go, so I headed into East Anglia, as there was bound to be something turn up there in the next couple of days that I could go see....

Mon 21st October 2013

TRIP TO THE UK - Part 2

So East Anglia it was, and I skirted London on the M25 with little trouble. I was not in a rush as there was nothing in particular to twitch and I was enjoying the drive. I get very little opportunity for long-distance motoring so it was a bit of a novelty for me to be in the car for so long. Watching the countryside flashing by, listening to the radio, being regularly overtaken by juggernaughts as I was still travelling on Guernsey speed - very pleasant. The afternoon was drifting away as I passed through Essex, and noticed on the map that Abberton Reservoir was nearby, a place I'd never been, so I detoured for a look around.

I only got there half an hour or so before the reserve centre closed and so didn't stay very long. I was very impressed by the place. It was a really massive area of water, with seemingly plenty of birds present - looked great to have as a local patch.....except, everything was so bloody far away! Even from the hides, the birds are still little dots in the distance. I wouldn't be able to enjoy this, it would frustrate me. I noticed some wee dots on the island which I presumed were small waders, and even with maximum zoom on the 'scope, I got them asRinged Plover with 3 probable Little Stints. Perhaps the locals have a few places that they can see things closer up. I hope so.

Abberton Reservoir - see those tiny dots on the island? no? neither could I.....

I saw lots of species around the lake that I had not seen for ages - like Canada Geese, Common Gulls andGadwalls. There were about 10 Pintail swimming around as well as a female Goldeneye. An adult Peregrine came in to buzz the other birds and a Marsh Harrier hunted in the distance. There was a small black and white grebe also but it was too distant for an ID.

I thought that trying to find more viewing spots would be a bit difficult so I headed back towards the main road and headed NE into East Anglia. As it was now almost dusk, I thought I'd try a few places around Ipswich for some accommodation but every single hotel I tried was full. I don't know what was so popular in Ipswich - perhaps there was a tractor convention on? I tried a few out-of-town motels nearby but the weather had now deteriorated and I was getting rather fed up driving round in the dark. So I stopped at a Pizza Hut to treat myself to some nosh. I ordered one thing - just the one - and they got it wrong. I then ordered a cuppa and they gave me a dirty cup. Quality service as usual in the UK.

In the end I decided to ditch the fruitless hotel-hunt and find somewhere that I could kip down in the car. I used to do this quite a bit in my younger birding days but not for quite a while. Finding a suitable spot is not that easy, especially if you're by yourself, as you don't want somewhere too far from civilisation where you could wake up to find the cast of "Deliverence" tapping on your window. But not somewhere too busy, where drunken yobbos or the Old Bill will want to know why you're there. Also somewhere with some street lighting and easy-access to a private pee-ing area. I found a great spot, in a quiet car park, just off Aldeburgh high street, right on the beach.

My room for the night.

I had brought a blanket with me and had earlier bought a pillow from Tescos for £2 - how on earth can they sell a pillow for that cheap!? The Moon was full and the midnight light was beautiful as I stood by the breaking waves with my wash bag, brushing my teeth. So peaceful. Then the realisation hit me that my shower gel had leaked during the journey and I was currently brushing my teeth with Co-ops finest body wash! Much cleansing out of the mouth followed and I fell asleep easily in the car after a busy day.

Sun 20th - I woke up rather refreshed after a surprising 6 hours solid sleep, ate some malt loaf and drove off. Just north of the town was North Warren RSPB reserve and I had a hour's walk around this area to wake me up. The wind was quite unpleasantly fresh and still from the South which was noy going to bring in anything new. Migrants were not around at all with just a few Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests seen and a single Crossbill going over. But as before it was great seeing unfamiliar species like Jay, Reed Buntings, Great Spot and Green Woodpeckers. The reserve is mainly for winter geese and there were 3 White-fronts in the fields already in.

Just as I jumped back in the car the rain started with fury. Again. I drove up to Minsmere and had some breakfast at the cafe and stole some of their electricity for my phone. The rain was now heavy and persistent and I was stuck inside until it finally stopped mid-morning and the sun came out. The wind was keeping any small birds down low and there was little of interest on the scrapes, but at least there was not thousands of photographers in the hides like last time I was here.

A Minsmere scrape.

Water Rail - Minsmere, 20 Oct 13

After not seeing very much at all, I headed round to the Island Mere Hide where things greatly improved. As I walked down the boardwalk a Great White Egret flew right past the hide windows. If I'd have been a little sooner, I would have been able to get some great shots maybe. It landed at the back of the pond and showed well but distantly. Great White Egrets may be a bit blasé to british birders nowadays but this was only my second sighting in Britain.

Great White Egret - Minsmere, 20 Oct 13

Whilst looking at the GWE, there was a little splashing in the water in front, and everyone in the hide watched anOtter swimming around the lake. I have been looking through my records and I cannot find any sign that I have seen the species in the UK before. I thought I had done, but it seems not. Also I saw two different Bitterns flying over the reeds from this hide. Walking back through the woods an unfamiliar call caught my attention and had great views of a Marsh Tit.

Common Puffball - Minsmere, 20 Oct 13

Leaving the reserve, I struggled to find any internet connection to get any local birds news, but Andy M was going to text me if anything important turned up so I wasn't worried much. I carried on North, checking a few coastal spots as I dodged the rain showers, but little was seen. I managed a walk along the cliffs at Covehithe - just 2 Chiffchaffs and 5 Med Gulls - but had to again rush back to the car as the sky had turned a foreboding, indigo-black.

The rain again looked set in and I decided to head inland to Andy's house where I was going to spend the night. There followed a horrendous half hour where the driving was ridiculous - I cannot remember a time ever driving in worse rain. As I was travelling down smallish roads with a line of cars behind me it was somewhat stressful! I eventually made it to Andy's village and calmed down with a cuppa and a top curry. It was great to have a mini-BUBO reunion and we enjoyed a couple of pints down the pub. 

Tue 22nd October 2013

TRIP TO THE UK - Part 3

Monday morning (21st Oct) I drove north and headed for the North Norfolk coast. Ideally I was going to go see something exciting but the news from the previous day was poor, with nothing new for me in the whole of East Anglia, or even anything interesting that I'd seen before. There had been a sighting of a Parrot Crossbill in Wells Woods though, so I headed there first as I may be able to locate some more of them and it is as good a place as anywhere to find my own things.

As I arrived in the town though, the rain started again, with a real vengeance. The wind was still annoyingly southerly and quite annoyingly strong. I had no enthusiasm for trudging around in these conditions. I waited it out in the car, listening to the radio and reading the paper. It wouldn't stop. The rain eventually subsided a little and I headed out for a walk through the woods. There was a few Chiffchaffs and Goldcrests in the first section called "The Dell" I think, but no sibes could be found. I did enjoy getting great views of Jay and Coal Tit though. I then went off for a massive trek through the pines and saw very little else at all although I had an ace Stoat and a close Muntjac, plus a variety of interesting fungi, plants and mosses to look at.

After this I headed East stopping at a few places like Cley and Salthouse, but the weather continued to be awful and I headed back to Andy's after probably the worst day's birding in Norfolk I had ever had!

The next day (22nd Oct), Andy showed me two moth-ticks caught in his trap - Barred Sallow and November Moth , which was a bonus. But I was unsure what to do bird-wise as there was still nothing obvious to go see in the whole region. There was a probable Northern Harrier in the Fens (meh) or I could try and re-find the Two-barred Crossbill in the Brecks, but that hadn't been seen since Friday, so it might be a wild goose chase. In the end, I didn't want another depressing day like yesterday, so I decided to sod the birding, head into London and hit the Natural History Museum! At least I could guarantee some rare sightings there.

So I drove round the M25 and parked up at the train station in Langley and headed into London on the train. I had not been to London for about 18 years, so I was obviously very concerned about being the victim of crime. But I am pleased to report that I was not stabbed at all - not even once! But I was very worried all day about all my stuff being nicked from my car. The journey into the city was interesting and when I arrived in Paddington I had not a clue what to do. When I asked an employee "So how do I get out?" he looked at me incredulously, and as I tried to get through the wrong 'turnstile' thing, he just shook his head and opened it for me. I managed to make it into the open air and negotiate the streets and the throng of people and headed into Hyde Park where I saw a species I'd only seen twice before in the UK.

Ring-necked Parakeet - Hyde Park, London, 22 Oct 13

The Natural History Museum was, of course, full of fantastic sights. I had been once before, when I was a young teenager, but I barely remember. I didn't realise that the museum was free to get in, which meant that there were masses and masses of people inside even though it was midweek and not a school holiday. Far too busy. This heaving throng was very claustrophobic. I think that a lot of the displays were catering for kids, or for adults with very little knowledge, especially the newer bits which seem to have prioritised style above substance. Or perhaps I am being a pompous ass....

The picture below was the large mammal room. Very spectacular and excellent models showing the true sizes of these animals, but I couldn't work out which things were real and which were models.

The best room though was, of course, the dinosaurs, and I especially liked that they have built a walkway so that you can see some of them at head height (although I don't understand why is was so bloney dark in there!). Below is a picture of Albertosaurus.

Every now and again I came to an exhibit which really took my breath away. Not because they were massive and spectacular, but because they were of things so rare, so famous, so magical, that I could barely believe I was seeing them with my own eyes. Such a privilage. For example, below is a picture of a chunk of Mars. Yes, a piece of another planet right in front of me!! The tiny dot in the sky, millions of miles away, that I sometimes see above my house - and there is lump of it a foot away from my nose. Blow the mind.

This meteorite was actually seen falling to Earth in Egypt in 1911 and was formed when a comet smacked into Mars 11 million years ago, and eventually this piece got caught in our gravity and fell down. And then just next to this case was this piece of awesome awesomeness...

It doesn't look much, but the dust at the bottom of this vial is the oldest thing I will ever see. THE OLDEST THING I WILL EVER SEE!!! These are tiny space-diamonds formed in the dust around dying stars billions of years ago, before our solar system was even formed. I AM LOOKING AT SOMETHING OLDER THAN THE SOLAR SYSTEM!!!!! And then there is the famous stuff like what was attached to this label....

The Great Auk used to be a British bird less than 200 years ago. Just imagine if these were still around. This was part of the "Treasures" display with a lot of the most famous things together in one place - Dodo skeleton, originals of "Origin of Species" and "Birds of America", insects collected on Wallace's expedition, Archaeopteryx, etc. Superb.

I stayed there until closing time when it became a little quieter, and made my way back to Paddington Station. Rush hour was on and I was struggling to get my bearings amongst these human-ants milling around the place. But I managed to get on the correct train and reach Langley Station again. Much to my relief, my car was intact, and I jumped in and headed south.

Thu 24th October 2013

TRIP TO THE UK - Part 4

So it was now very dark as I headed down the M3 towards Southampton. I had booked a Travelodge at Ringwood, so not too far a drive ahead for me. Just as I was approaching Winchester however, massive fork lightning appeared above the road ahead, flashing the sky white and interrupting Radio 4. A few more flashes and I thought I'd better pull in to the services. Just as I stopped in the car park it totally hammered down with such a force, that my 10 yards dash inside soaked me through. I know I have mentioned heavy rain more or less every day, but this was the worst of the lot. I later learnt that, just down the road, the evening's Pompey footie match was abandoned because of it. Apocalyptical stuff! So I was pretty late to Ringwood in the end and had a good rest.

With again nothing decent to go for in the local area the next day (Wed 23rd Oct), I didn't rush off. At least it was going to be a dry day, so I headed towards Portland Bill, stopping at Weymouth Morisons for a nice cheap cooked breakfast on the way. I tried to buy a couple of items in the store but the woman at the checkout refused to accept my Guernsey 20p coin. Borderline racism! Driving up to Portland brought back good memories. I spent an autumn working in Dorset and went to Portland most weekends, seeing some classy birds in the area. At the Bill, I got out of the car and cursed again that the wind hadn't died down and was coming in west off the sea, pretty cold and pretty strong. So I drove back North a bit and tried birding some of the eastern cliffs which were quite sheltered.

Portland Bill Obs

It was quite a nice walk but birds were few and far between - one or two Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Goldcrests. There was some movement overhead and pipits and wagtails streamed south, and a Merlin skimmed past. In one of the valleys, a Hummingbird Hawk-moth and 2 Clouded Yellows were flying in the sun, one of the latter being a white one. Driving back to the Bill I went for another walk round, the wind dying down a little. There was little extra to see - a Swallow and decent flocks of Skylarks. I did have a very brief bunting which I thought looked decidedly interesting (Little maybe?) but it flew flew flew. The highlight was the excellent Little Owl hiding in its usual spot in the quarry.

I stopped at Ferrybridge hoping to 'scope for Black Brant and maybe other birds on the Fleet, but a heavy rainstorm put paid to this idea. Driving into Weymouth, I stopped at Radipole and there were a few Med Gullsamongst the gulls in the car park. I was hoping to see the famous Hooded Merganser but couldn't find it - heck, I was even dipping on plastic ducks!

first-winter and adult Med Gulls - Radipole, 23 Oct 13

Back to the hotel late afternoon to make myself presentable for my return tomorrow, or I maybe wouldn't have been allowed back in the house for hobo-ish tendencies. Scrubbed up I strutted into town to paint Weymouth red. Well, I bought some nosh at Tesco and ate it whilst watching "Rush" at the local cinema.

Next morning I had to be sharp as breakfast started at 7 am and last check-in for the ferry was at 7:30. I'm sure the guests and staff at the Best Western were aghast at this uncouth ruffian hoovering up the breakfast buffet, but I definitely got my fill. The weather leaving Weymouth was quite sunny and I planned to seawatch from the deck, especially as an albatross had been observed from the Condor a few days ago. Soon into the voyage it started to rain and, apart from numerous Gannets and a few auks, the only notable seabird was a Bonxie about half-way across. What was more interesting was the little flocks of Meadow Pipits that I kept spotting skimming over the waves on their way south.

Guillemot and Razorbills - English Channel, 24 Oct 13

To summarise, the trip was rather disappointing bird-wise. I seemed to hit the quietest few days of the whole autumn and even then, I was always a day too early for the rarities. Two different Pallid Swifts were found the day after I was near the places, the Two-barred Crossbill was seen again the day I left the Brecks, plus one or two other things like that. Luckily I got the semi-p to make sure I got my tick. Also, the rain was awful and reduced my time in the field, and the wind was probably in the worst direction it could have been. However, it was nice to do what I wanted, when I wanted, for a few days. And I was very pleased how the logistics went. Just making it up as I go was a great idea and something I shall do again.