Lapland Bunting at Staines Reservoir

With a Lapland Bunting showing at extremely close range for a second day at Staines Reservoir,it seemed like too good an opportunity to miss.  The bird had been seen towards the eastern end of the causeway, so I approached from that direction and soon met a number of birders who were watching the bird at a range down to 5 metres!

Lapland Bunting - Presumably feeding on unseen seeds.

From time to time the bird would flush and often appear in between the fence uprights
before returning to feed.

A short video clip of the Lapland Bunting

Staines Reservoir is a good place to see Black-necked Grebes during the Autumn and Winter.  I soon saw one about 50 metres from the Bunting and started taking photos.  I was then told that there were three towards the west end of the causeway, so I wandered along and soon found six more, all fairly close together.  Unfortunately I could only get photos of three together.

Black-necked Grebes - They were constantly moving about and diving,

A short video clip of the Black-necked Grebes

Whale Watching - Tenerife

A couple of days after my visit to the Laurel Forest, the whole family (eight of us) hired a yacht and skipper for a trip out of Player de las Americas in search of the Pilot Whales that are resident there.  The depth of the sea between Tenerife and La Gomera goes down to over 2000 metres and the Pilot Whales hunt for Squid in the deeper waters.

We reached the area for the Whales after an hours trip and soon picked up a fin in the water.  We moved closer and had some good views.  After a while we were about to leave the area when Tai, our skipper, saw some more nearby, so we headed towards these and had some fantastic close views.

A video clip of the Pilot Whales.  Towards the end there is a larger group swimming past.

Apart from the Whales I was also looking for seabirds.  I managed to find a few Cory's Shearwaters but all were fairly distant and sat on the water.

Atlantic Yellow-legged Gull - These were very common around the coast and are clearly very similar to the Yellow-legged Gulls that occur from time to time at my local gravel pit.

We had good opportunities for some flight shots after the Whale watching when we moored in a bay for swimming.  The Gulls approached very closely for food and would even snatch tit-bits from the hand.

Tenerife - Laurel Forest Birding

 I spent most of the day birding in the Laurel forest near Erjos in NW Tenerife.  

Between the village and the start of the track that led to Monte del Aqua I saw Canary Islands Chiffchaff, Canary, Blue Chaffinch, Blackbird, Raven and heard a Sardinian Warbler.  

There is a track that leads to Monte del Aqua and beyond and runs close to the village and leads down through the forest for perhaps 10kM.  The birding was extremely hard as the trees lined both sides of the track for much of the way and did not allow long distance views across the forest.  The best viewpoint was in fact at Monte del Aqua.  

The track leading to Monte del Aqua.
A fairly typical view but the trees were larger further on.

The Laurel Forest from the track.  Most of the forest was on mountainous slopes!

On entering the Laurel forested area very few birds were seen or heard.  Over the next two hours I saw one Laurel Pigeon fairly close for about a minute.  The bird flew in and landed about 25 metres away but partly obscured, so I only got a good view of it's head and the front half of the bird.  Fortunately it's red eye helped clinch the identification (Bolle's Pigeon has a yellow eye).  I was hoping to photograph the bird but it flew before I could get my camera ready.  Later I had two other Pigeons fly into the forest fairly close by (ID by their noisy flight) but neither stayed and were unseen.  I was hoping to find Bolle's Pigeon, which would have been a life tick but it was not to be.

As I got to a lower altitude the forest changed and a few other bird species were seen.  These included Canary, Tenerife Goldcrest and Robin.  There were Canary Islands Chiffchaffs along the whole trail.  Photography was very difficult and I failed to get any Chiffchaff photos as the birds were usually fairly high in the vegetation and moving around a lot.  I did manage to get a few record shots of a Tenerife Goldcrest which are shown below.

Tenerife Goldcrest  Regulus regulus teneriffae - This is a sub-species of the Goldcrest Regulus regulus and is endemic to Tenerife and the nearby island of La Gomera. 

Robin - Taken in the dark understory of the Laurel Forest. 
A species I get in my garden at home!

Towards the lower parts of the trail there were exposed rocks on the steep slopes.  These attracted some fast moving Lizards.

Lizard Species - These were very common.

After I left the forest, I returned to Playa de las Americas by bus.  From the bus station to the hotel was a 10 minute walk and along a fairly quiet road I cam across a Hoopoe feeding on the grass verge.  I gradually moved closer and the bird ignored my presence and I managed some nice photos and a video.

Hoopoe - As I first saw it.  The road on the right did have some vehicles pass by but they did not disturb it.  I approached to where the metal drains were in this photo.

The Hoopoe stayed in the shady area.  Presumably that is where the food was.

At times the Hoopoe was probing deep into the grass.

A stunning bird!

A short video clip of the Hoopoe follows.

Little Grebes - LMGP

 Three Little Grebes seen feeding in the NW corner of the lake.  Just before dusk six were seen.

Pink-footed Goose at Fulmer Lake

 This species is not infrequently seen as an escape or released bird but it is often difficult to be sure if an individual is a truly wild bird.  In this case the bird was found at a time when good numbers had just arrived on the east and west coasts of the UK.  So it is fairly likely to be of wild origin and had somehow become separated from a flock.

The bird was found by David Ferguson and subsequently seen by a number of local birders.  It frequented an area of Sedges to the west of the lake at Fulmer and was often seen feeding.

Spurn Point Weekend

 As in recent years I visited Spurn Point with my daughter Katherine.  We stayed at the Observatory for three nights and enjoyed the excellent facilities that it has to offer.

Unfortunately the winds were from the SW all weekend which is not great for rare migrants.  However some compensation was the large numbers of the more common migrants that were passing overhead.  Theses included Swallows, House Martins, Meadow Pipits, Chiffchaffs, etc.  Of course as soon as we left to head back home the winds turned northerly and then to the North East!

Hopefully the following photos show that the birding can be good despite the "wrong" winds.  Click on the photos to see an enlargement.

Pink-footed Geese - One of the fantastic sights that Spurn produces each Autumn as the "Pinkies" arrive from the north, often heard before they are seen.  They did not land and headed further south.

Brent Geese - The only two reported during our stay. 
Many more will no doubt arrive soon.

Cattle Egret - Perhaps the scarcest bird over the first three days. 
As expected it managed to find some farm animals to feed among,

Kestrel - A juvenile perched along the Canal Bank path.

Shelducks - A daily sight on the Humber at low tide.
Many hundreds were present.

Spotted Flycatcher - This individual was found after we walked to the end of
Spurn Point.  It was happily feeding with a darker individual pictured below.

Spotted Flycatcher - This made the walk to the point and the trudge back just about worthwhile.

Song Thrush - At least four Song Thrushes were feeding in this Yew tree over 
two days, this one reaching for a berry!  They were apparently new arrivals but as to where they came from is anyones guess!

Swallows - Just two of about 30 gathering on the wires in the Triangle.

Little Egrets (and others) - seen on Kilnsea Wetlands. 
The left hand bird was colour ringed and apparently ringed in Norfolk.

Roe Deer - One of two walking past the hide at Kilnsea Wetlands

Avocets - Three of 10+ on Kilnsea Wetlands taken in poor light conditions.

Common Terns - Several small groups of Terns flew over Kilnsea Wetlands all heading south.  Some dropped in for a short time and included a good number of juvenile birds.  A few Sandwich Terns and Little Gulls also dropped in.

Little Grebe - Seen on the Canal Scape pool.

Whimbrel - Seen on the Humber from the Canal Scape path. 
One of two seen over the three days.

Below the Whimbrel flying away.

Curlew - A rather tatty looking individual feeding on the Humber. 
Good numbers were seen over the weekend.

Common Snipe - Resting by the Canal Scrape hide.

Common Gull - A 2nd calendar bird

Common Gull - An adult along the Humber.

Common Gull - A final two photos of a bird in flight showing the species ID features
well and demonstrating how good the Sony RX10 camera is for flight shots!