Big Surprise - Lesser Spot at Flackwell!

The other day I had a walk from our house with my wife and our dog Alfie. As usual I took my binoculars with me in the vain hope of a Hawfinch re-appearing in the Hornbeams just down the bridleway from where we live.  We walked across to some stubble fields which were providing good feeding for numbers of Finches and Yellowhammers and I was pleased to see some of the latter.  Then on walking back through the edge of Ronald Wood I saw a small Woodpecker fairly low in a Hornbeam.  I immediately realised it was a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker even without binoculars.  As soon as I raised my binoculars the bird had moved higher and was fairly well hidden by branches but I could see it was a male.  I went home extremely happy, the only disappointment being that I did not have my camera with me.

What was interesting is that this bird was within 30 yards of where I last saw one in this wood and that was 20 years ago!

Another couple of dog walks produced nothing but then on 19th I struck lucky.  I caught sight of the bird high in a Hornbeam.  This time I did have my camera with me and managed a few shots.  I put the news out to a few local birders and within a short space of time Adam Bassett came up and we both went back down the bridleway and soon found the Woodpecker in the same area as before.  We both managed a few photos when the bird fed somewhat lower down.

An early Christmas delight!

High up in the Hornbeams and often difficult to see.

The red on the head shows it is a male.

A good view of the barring on the back.

Showing the stiff tail supporting the bird.

Red Kites are never far away in our area.

Common Snipe at Little Marlow

During the month of December between 30 and 60 Common Snipe could regularly be seen on the sand spit at Little Marlow GP.  During sunny periods they would be very active feeding across the sand spit.  I had previously observed them gathering at dusk in an area to the NW side of the sand spit. Then on 18th I visited the site just after 9am on a cold day and over 25 Snipe were asleep in the same area as I saw them gathering, so I assume they roost in this area.  The total count today was 57 birds, an impressive number.

Common Snipe - 25 or so on the sand spit.  (Click to enlarge).

Polish Black-headed Gull

The colour ringed gull photographed was sat on the sand spit at Little Marlow GP just before dusk.  The last three characters of the ring could be read easily as "UNE" but the first (bottom) character was partly obscured but it did appear to be a "7" or a "T".  Adam Bassett confirmed that it would be a "T" and from a Polish ringing scheme.

Black-headed Gull "White TUNE"

Having reported the details I now have the history of the bird. (Click image to enlarge).  Note that it was seen in Marlow two days after my sighting.

The ringing site in Poland.  A large lake.

The total distance the bird has travelled is 826 miles (1330 kM).  But stopping off in Holland on the way!

More Gulls

A walk around the lake in freezing conditions was not very productive, although the red-head Goosander was still present and again asleep on the south of the island.  I ended up on the west bank looking through the Snipe, wildfowl and Gulls.  51 Common Snipe was pretty good but no sign of the Jack Snipe from yesterday.  Adam Bassett picked up a distant Yellow-legged Gull which was fairly close to the island.  It had a very noticeable pristine white head.

Adult Yellow-legged Gull fortunately standing in full view.

There were two colour ringed gulls present.  Black-headed Gull "Yellow 2KRC" was present.  It has been a regular winter visitor since Feb 2016 and was ringed at Pitsea landfill as an adult in March 2015 

There was also a Herring Gull "Orange 0701" (but faded to yellow). See photos below.
The history of this gull is as follows :-

Date                     Grid Ref                 Site                                                         Ring Code

13-Nov-03           SU9589                Gerrard’s Cross landfill (Hedgerley)         0701                                                                                                 

05-Mar-04           SU9589                Gerrard’s Cross landfill (Hedgerley)          0701                                                                                    

27-Nov-10           TQ520800            Rainham landfill, East London                  0701                                                                                               

12-Dec-17            SU875880            Little Marlow Gravel Pits                           0701   

So if you compare the dates to that of "Orange 0570" (see my blog entry for 2nd December 2017) you will see that these two birds were:

• Ringed within a day of each other at Hedgerley Tip.
• Re-sighted at Hedgerley Tip in the same winter as ringed (2013/14).
• Re-sighted on the same day at Rainham Tip 7 years after ringing!
• Re-sighted at Little Marlow GP within 11 days of each other in Dec 2017 after a period of 7 years without being seen anywhere.

This appears to be an amazing coincidence.

Jack Snipe at Little Marlow GP

I had a message from Adam Bassett about 10:30am but I was already committed to buying some Christmas lights, so I did not manage to get down there until after 3pm.  Several local birders had seen it during the day so I was fairly confident it would still be there.  Fortunately Mick McQuaid was on site when I got there and he soon put me in the right area for the bird. 

It was feeding fairly close to the west side of the sand spit and about 30 yards from the start of the reeds.  It was moving around slowly and constantly bobbing up and down.  At times it would either crouch down or go into a dip and be impossible to see.  It was also close to some Common Snipe at times (50+ on site) which enabled a good comparison to be made.

This is a very scarce bird at this site and often very hard to see.  They are probably present most winters but stay out of the sight in one of the marshy areas.

Late afternoon in very poor light and even with a high ISO the shutter speed was only 1/13 second!

A better view of the head markings on the Jack Snipe.   Shame about the Common Snipe!

Note the lighter coloured lines on the head and down the back on the Jack compared to the common.

Med Gull

I arrived at about 2:30pm ready to see the gulls arrive to roost.  Several thousand did come in the closer it got to dusk.  Mick McQuaid was already there when I arrived and he managed to spot a Meditteranean Gull in with the large number of Common Gulls that were present.  Surprisingly we could not find any colour ringed gulls this evening.  Mad panic, probably caused by an unseen raptor did not help.

Mediterranean Gull stretching it wings.  Note the small amount of black in the wing tips indicating a second winter bird.

Mediterranean Gull - As is often the case this species seem to associate with Common Gulls.

Herring Gull "Orange 0570"

The winter is a great time to see the Gulls gathering just before dusk at Little Marlow GP.  There is always the chance of picking up a scarcer gull species but this is always a challenge giving the shear numbers of gulls arriving in a relatively short space of time and spread over a fairly wide area.  Apart from checking the species, the possibility of finding a few colour ringed gulls is an added interest.  Yesterday evening was no exception and I managed to see two colour ringed individuals.

Herring Gull Orange (now faded to Yellow) "0570"

The two photos are rather poor due to poor light in the gathering gloom and a brisk wind that shook the scope and camera.  However I managed to read the ring on "Orange 0570" quite easily although I recorded it as Yellow.  There is a warning of colour fading on the project entry on CR Birding website.  Within an hour of reporting the sighting I had a response from the ringer, Paul Cropper.

I was rather hoping the bird had been ringed in some far flung part of Europe but no.  It was ringed at Hedgerley tip (Beconsfield/Gerrards Cross), a few miles away from Little Marlow. It was ringed by Paul Cropper.  However that was in November 2003 and it was ringed as an adult so must be at least 17 years old!  No wonder the ring has faded!  Since ringing the bird has only been reported twice, once a short time after ringing and then in 2010.  All winter sightings, so maybe this bird breeds somewhere outside of the UK.

Full details are:
 Date                    Grid Ref               Location                                        Darvic ring

12-Nov-03           SU9589                Gerrard’s Cross                             0570                                                                                                   
15-Dec-03           SU9589                Gerrard’s Cross                              0570                                                                                                   
27-Nov-10           TQ520800            Rainham Landfill, East London    0570                                                                                                   
01-Dec-17            SU880875            Little Marlow Gravel Pits              0570     

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The Black-headed Gull pictured below is well known to us at Little Marlow.  It was originally ringed at Kiel University, Germany on 12th June 2015 and has been seen many times at Little Marlow over the past three winters, although sometimes returning here as early as July.  I will try and find out if it returned to Germany this summer and update this post.

Black-headed Gull White "AJ66"

Parrot Crossbills

When I heard that a group of Parrot Crossbills had been found in Swinley Forest, Berkshire, just 45 minutes drive from home, I knew I had to make the effort to see them.  Despite having done a fair bit of  birding abroad I have never seen a Parrot Crossbill, so a chance to add a species to my world life list!

Mike Collard, Dave Cleal and myself headed down there, parked on a housing estate close to the forest/heath.  With a few directions from Adam Bassett, who was just leaving, we soon located the birds after about a 15 minute walk.  About a dozen birders were already watching the bird, so that made finding the flock easy.

A male showing the massive bill.

Female

Chiffchaff in Wooburn Park

We were walking the dog when I heard a Chiffchaff calling above us in some tall Willows.  It was very active and flitting between the branches calling a lot.  I rather like the "lucky" shot when I got it in flight.  It shoes the relatively short wings (compared to Willow Warbler)  rather well.

Horned Lark

The short drive over to Staines reservoir with Simon Ramm was successful in seeing what is thought to be the American race of the Shore Lark, known in the US as Horned Lark "Eremophila alpestris" and only recorded in the UK a handful of times.

When we arrived we were told it was being watched a short way along the causeway. However within a minute or so we discovered that the gathered birders, perhaps 30 or so, had lost track of it.  So we spent the next hour or so scanning the banks of the reservoir.  Eventually Simon spotted a small group of Linnets on the west bank of the northern section, close to where the Horned Lark had last been seen.  I focused on these and low and behold there was the Lark feeding close to the Linnets. It was certainly hard to see and out of range for binoculars.  A bit frustrating as it had been seen down to a matter of a few metres 2-3 hours earlier!  Soon everybody else was on the bird and happy to have least sen it.

As the bird was such a long way off it was hard to even see the bird in my Nikon compact camera viewfinder! I could see the bird more clearly in my mobile phone but some of the detail is lost with the digital zoom. What with a brisk wind shaking the scope, the photos are purely record shots but an interesting comparison.

Digiscoped with my Samsung S7 mobile phone.

Digiscoped with a Nikon P6000 compact camera 

Colour Ringed Black-headed Gulls

Four colour ringed Black-headed Gulls at Little Marlow GP in five days is not bad.

First of all was "White EA4F" on 19th November.

"White EA4F" was ringed as a nestling on 31st May 2014 at Griend, Holland.  It was first seen at Little Marlow GP in February 2016.  It reappeared in October and November 2016 and after that not again until this week.

White EA4F movement

Then on 22nd was "Yellow 2PJH" and "Yellow EMJN".   

"Yellow 2PJH" is a bird ringed by the North Thames Ringing Group, so a relatively local bird.  It was ringed in March 2016 as an adult at Pitsea Landfill and subsequently seen at Little Marlow several times between Nov 2016 and Feb 2017.

"Yellow EMJN" was ringed in Zoutleeuw, Belgium, about 420Km distance, on 2nd June 2017 in the nest.  More information on the Belgium ringing scheme can be found on this link.

Recoveries of all Black-headed Gulls ringed at Zoutleeuw, Belgium.  The Little Marlow marker is the most northerly

Finally on 23rd was "Yellow 2KRC" 

"Yellow 2KRC" was ringed by the North Thames Ringing Group at Pitsea Landfill Site 21st March 2015 as an adult.  It was first seen at Little Marlow in January 2016 and also in February and March.  It was then not seen until the following winter when it was seen mant times bewteen November and February 2017.  So a similar pattern again with it being seen this winter once again. 

"Yellow 2KRC" is a Little Marlow Regular. . 

Pitsea Landfill to Little Marlow.  Updates to this can be seen at this link. 

Snow Bunting and Hawfinches

Snow Buntings and Hawfinches are bit of a strange mix but with a single Snow Bunting not too far away at Wilstone Reservoir (Herts) and Hawfinches still at Great Hampden, I decided to try and take both in during one session.

First stop was Wilstone Reservoir, parked the car, walked up the steps, walked 30 metres along the bank and there it was feeding on the concrete side of the reservoir.  Amazingly close with the bird almost vertically below me for a time, at the base of the steep concrete sides to the reservoir.  A steady stream of admirers stopped by to view or take photos.  One some of mine I had to use the 300mm telephoto lens at less than full zoom to fit the bird in!

The bird was constantly moving around feeding on very small items.  According to the discussion on Twitter, this individual originates from Iceland.

A short video of the Snow Bunting feeding actively beneath me.

Then onto Great Hampden where good numbers of Hawfinches had been present since 1st November.  I approached the site from the Hampden Hall end. On walking past the church and Turret House I saw 3 Hawfinches land in some tall trees next to the house. I carried on across the path that cuts across the oilseed Rape field and spent about an hour and a half in that area. There were 25 approx seen to fly into the copse in the centre of the field. They arrived in small groups and flew out in one group, so I managed to count reasonably accurately. The birds were again feeding in the seeding Hornbeam in the South side of the copse. It is hard to get close to these birds and the light is not great as the tree is to the South of the footpath. However I did manage to get good scoped views of several birds that were feeding on the outer edges of some of the branches. I also managed to record photos of these. On walking back past the church there were several more Hawfinches moving around and at least one was feeding on Yew berries in an obvious berry laden tree. So I suspect that these were different to the birds to the ones in the copse. So the total count could well have been about 30. 

The photos below were all taken at a distance and in fairly poor light, so not the greatest of quality!

Reaching down to take a Hornbeam seed.

Seventeen Hawfinches in this photo.