Steve Flynn's Birding, Wildlife and Photo Blog

Jan 2, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Lunch at the in-laws in Blackpool this morning, which just happens to be within 3 miles of the Tundra Bean Geese on Lytham Moss. On arrival in Blackpool I was relieved to note that I had "accidentally" left my scope and bins in the car - how fortunate! Half an hour later Tundra Bean Goose was my first Lancashire tick of the year and as I was back at the table for lunch.

The geese were at the back of the a field close to the road-side and adjacent to the runway landing lights of Blackpool airport. The first thing I noticed was the Pink Foot as its lighter blue-grey back stood out amongst the Beans. The light was excellent and I enjoyed several minutes of full power x60 views of these scarce Lancashire visitors, getting excellent view of the plumage and bare parts. An approaching aircraft flushed the geese which then gave brief flight views before circling round and landing in the same spot.

A good start to the New Year bird list.

Gulls and Geese

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 21:27:00 +0000

Taking advantage of some free time over Christmas I headed up to Heysham where there has been a first winter Glaucous Gull in recent days. It was high tide when I arrived and I walked down the sea-wall in front of the power station from the Red Nab rocks stopping to photograph some close Kittiwakes and a not so close juvenile Little Gull. Another birder arrived and he continued towards the wooden jetty where he found the Glaucous Gull loafing with some other large gulls. The glaucous briefly flew close while my camera was still in its bag before heading back out to the end of the wooden jetty. Along with eight species of gull there was also a couple of Guillemots on the sea, at least two shag, two Red-breasted Merganser and a few Pink-footed geese which flew over. While chatting with the other birder he told me that eight White-fronted geese had been reported from Rishton Reservoir, so I decided to head home while there was enough light to call in at Rishton.

I arrived at Rishton with about 30 minutes of daylight remaining. The white-fronts were all in clear view on the far side of the reservoir with the Canada goose. flock. There were six eurasion white-fronts (two adults and four juveniles) and two Greenland race birds which are likely to be the two present before Christmas, (and which I failed to see one Saturday morning). It was very educational to see both races together; the Greenland race clearly darker than the eurasians with the bill differences clearly apparent, even with the dull and fading light. Of note, the adult eurasions frequently showed aggression to the Greenlands if they came too close, but not to any of the Canadas.

Some photos of the gulls and guillemot below. The Little Gull was rather distant but I've included it because is nicely shows the upperwing comparison with the juvenile Kittiwake; the Little Gull showing a dark secondary wing bar and the Kittwake showing umarked white secondaries.

Glaucous Gull in flight

Glaucous Gull on Wooden Jetty

Guillemot

1st winter Kittiwkae

Adult Kittiwake

1st winter Little Gull

January odds and ends

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 21:59:00 +0000

Family commitments and a bout of the winter vomiting bug kept me home most of the month but I managed a few free hours birding on Saturday 22nd January. I headed for the Ribble marshes which were unfortunately severely fog bound. An hour at Hesketh Out Marsh produced only an indeterminate number of Pink feet flying in an unknown direction which were heard but not seen, six Whooper swans, a few Teal, Wigeon, Curlew and redshank on the marsh, again mostly heard rather than seen. The passerines around the car-park were limited to Linnets, Reed Buntings and Chaffinches. With visibilty not much more than 50 metres I cut my losses and headed inland.

Calling in at Brockholes on the way home the day way rescued by a Barn Owl hunting by number one pit. I only managed a dim photgraphic record shot in the murky dusk light. There were a few Redwing around the reserve along with about 100 Lapwing and small numbers of Pochard, Goldeneye, Gadwall, Mallard and Teal, as well as the ubiquitous coot. Below is a photograph of the man made sand martin wall which is looking rather unattractive at the moment - a bit like the rest of the reserve it must be said. Still a few more weeks and all will be different.

On Saturday morning January 29th we had the pleasure of watching four foxes for nearly four hours close to home. There appeared to be some sort of territorial behaviour going, with field boundaries being patrolled, and scent marking taking place. January is the peak of the mating season and also the time that last year's litter will be forced to disperse by the parents if they are still in the family group. There didn't seem to be any conflict between any of the four foxes but it seems likely that one of the foxes was a female attracting the attentions of at least a male. Were the other two foxes last years litter or rival males? Hopefully they will put further displays in the next few days and reveal more about their lives, maybe even revealing the location of this years den?

Unfortunately one of the foxes was lame in the front right limb. Although it wasn't apparent how serious the injury was, hopefully it will only be temporary. The picture of the fox below in the field (not on the wall) is the lame one.

Visiting the in-laws later in the afternoon at South Shore in Blackpool seemed like a good reason to call in at Fairhaven Lake for the Red-necked Grebe that is still present. It was duly found at the unfrozen eastern end of the lake where it did nothing for half an hour except drift round in the centre of lake out of range for any decent photos - it didn't even lift its head so I didn't even see its bill! Most boring bird of the year so far!

The lame fox

One of the other three foxes

The soporific Red-necked Grebe

About six weeks before the new tenants arrive?

Late for School

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 19:49:00 +0000

I was late taking Annie to school today because at 8:30 this morning a roe deer walked across the field belonging to the neighbour right up to our garden. I fired off the photo below from the bedroom window before going into the garden to see if I could get a better picture. Unfortunately, the deer had gone, frightened by a passing car. However as I was standing in the garden a snipe flew over my head and landed next to the garden pond but out if sight! This was a new bird for the garden - obviously, but on checking the BTO Atlas website it was also a new bird for the tetrad, which is arguably more important.

On the way back into the house I photographed this suitably Christmassy Robin portrait. By this stage, Annie was late for school, but what an excuse "My dad was stalking a deer and a snipe in the garden"!

The deer got me thinking about how many mammals I had seen in or from the garden and the total is a respectable 11: Roe deer, fox, stoat, brown rat, house mouse, field vole, common shrew, mole, grey squirrel, rabbit and common pipistrelle bat. Hedgehog is notable by it absence, which is a sign of the times - it's over a year since I last saw a live hedgehog and that's probably the only one in five years (I don't count flat ones).

Badger culling - a bad idea

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:20:00 +0000

On 8th December the government's consultation on Bovine TB ends. I've read the consultation document and the government makes it clear it want to pursue a policy of culling badgers.

I've got no problem with culling, per se, if its use can be justified on ecological grounds. e.g. controlling deer populations (although I'd rather see natural predator control such as lynx and wolves being reintroduced, but like that's going to happen!). However the badger cull proposals have got it wrong.

There is little doubt that Bovine TB is transmitted from badgers to cattle, and that persistent widespread culling reduces TB rates, but only modestly and only in the culling areas. The neighbouring areas see an increase in infection rates and even the culled areas have high rates of TB in the cattle herds - just lower than before the cull.

Badger vaccinations which are now available don't have any of the drawbacks of culling and would cost about the same to implement. The government argues that vaccinations don't protect or remove already infected badgers. True, but the culling approach doesn't see benefits in terms of reduced infections in cattle until the 4th year anyway, and that's about the lifespan of a badger (infected or not). Vaccinations could make headway in terms of achieving herd immunity in badgers by this time. The government plays down the vaccination benefit as it's based on a model (there is little field evidence as the vaccine has only been available since March 2010). But despite decades of failed culling attempts it is pinning all its hopes on one (scientifically sound) study - the Randomised Badger Culling Trials (RBCT). This is curious because the Independent Scientific Group set up to monitor the trial concluded in 2007 that "badger culling is unlikely to contribute usefully to the control of cattle TB in Britain, and recommend that TB control efforts focus on measures other than badger culling". The government's decision to ignore this advice can only be politically motivated, because the science and the economics behind culling don't stack up.

You can read about the government's pro-culling interpretation of the RBCT in the consultation document here.

You can read the Independent Scientific Group's view of the trial here. Paragraph 15 on page 21 sums it up nicely.

In a nod to the "Big Society" the government is proposing to hand over the problem and the costs of dealing with it to landowners. It wants to come up with a proposed solution and expects the implementation to be managed at a local level. However I can't see how it will work. Any application to cull or vaccinate will need be part of a plan covering at least 150km2 -treating smaller areas is proven to be ineffective. Somebody has got to coordinate that locally and all the landowners have got to be part of the plan for it to work. It must be applied consistently for at least four years and comply with all the relevant licensing requirements . Oh and it must be paid for by the landowners. To make matters worse those in the culling area have got to tell the farmers outside the treated area why it's a good idea and that they are likely to see an increase in TB in their cattle as a result of the cull! This is because culling disrupts badger's normally stable socially structure and causes them to move around more and mix with other badger groups, which increases the spread of TB outside the culling zone - it's known as perturbation and is the main reason culling doesn't work.

Culling is proposed to be done by shooting (either trap the badger in a cage and shoot it or shoot free ranging badgers). The government is relying on evidence from the Game Conservancy, which is (deliberately?) misquoted in the consultation document, that enough badgers can be located and shot to make the culling effective. I think the evidence to support this is very weak. The Game Conservancy asserts that it would be easy to find and shoot the first few badgers, but as the numbers decline and they get harder to locate "appropriate incentives" would be required for the marksmen to carry on doing the work. Read their report here. Where is the evidence that the appropriate incentives would be paid (by the local landowners) to ensure the requisite number of badgers is killed humanely (and disposed of appropriately) to make the cull effective? You can image a bounty of £x per badger and the shooters make a few quid in years one and two, find the going tough in year three and abandon in year four for another area with a higher badger population. If this were to happen, the evidence suggests the cull would have been a waste of time. Implemented at a local level, there is little chance that hundreds of badger culling programmes would be carried out with the necessary rigour and fully funded to their conclusion that would be required to achieve a successful outcome (in terms of cattle TB control).

One final point on the Game Conservancy, for which I do have some - qualified - respect. If you ask a pro-shooting organisation how to control badgers, don't be surprised if they tell you it's a good idea to shoot badgers.

The other method of shooting, is to trap first. But if you are going to the effort of trapping a live badger, then why not vaccinate it instead of shooting it? This would do away with the well documented problems that culling causes and be a step in the right direction towards herd immunity.

I also have an issue with the licensing. Given the quite frankly appalling level of abuse of wildlife legislation and pitiful level of prosecutions and sentencing in this country I have very little confidence that that any culling on the scale needed will be conducted in an ethical and humane way and policed accordingly.

Vaccinations, which are not likely to cost more than culling, are more likely to meet with local approval and therefore more likely to succeed in achieving the necessary coverage. I can't imagine that there are many areas of 150km2 in the country where all the necessary landowners can agree on a policy of culling and then finance it to its conclusion, however if the policy was to vaccinate I would imagine no shortage of community volunteers and conservation agency support to assist landowners in tackling the problem.

One of the arguments against vaccination is that it doesn't remove infected badgers. This is a short-term view that is not credible if the vaccination plan is given longer to work (say 10 years or more). Culling only likely to work after four years and without vaccination TB infected badgers will eventually return. Vaccination will be cumulative from year 1 and can carry on until the necessary herd immunity is achieved. Once achieved the savings to the farmers and government (it currently costs £63 million per year to deal with TB in cattle), will pay many times over for the cost of the vaccination programme.

Because vaccination at present requires capturing and injecting the badger (an oral vaccine is less than 5 years away however), the government is peddling the view that shooting is a more viable option for landowners. Reading between the lines I suspect the government thinks it will be easier to sell the solution to farmers if culling is part of the package - vaccination alone being more costly to implement initially and with a longer time before it starts to payback. I think this view is mistaken, but the government seems to want to absolve itself of any responsibility by handing down an unworkable solution.

There is another side to this debate which is that there is evidence that TB in cattle can be controlled by cattle measures alone and this is not being given enough prominence by the government, but this is a wildlife blog and I'm not going any further into that side of the debate.

Culling badgers is ineffective and is not a long term solution. It is costly, difficult to police, and is socially and morally unacceptable. Vaccination needs to be given time to prove that it works. This is the only acceptable way forward likely to lead to a successful outcome for badgers, cattle and farmers.

Lancs Wildlife Trust have more information on the subject. If you've got time do your bit.

Pink-Footed Geese

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 27 Nov 2010 21:09:00 +0000

A few enjoyable hours today at Marshside and my current favourite birding location, Hesketh Out Marsh produced the following highglights.

Hesketh Out Marsh. 250+ Golden Plover in the fields with similar numbers of Lapwing, 2+ Brambling in the hedgerow by the car park, 12 Tree Sparrow in with a mixed flock of finches, several hundred Skylark over the Marsh, 1 Green Sandpiper, 3 Snipe, 1 female Marsh Harrier and one skein of Pink feet over. Wildfowl and waders were visible in far distance but the marsh was frozen solid and most of the birds had moved off to the mud or fields.

Same picture at Marshside with most of the freshwater pools frozen solid save for a few isolated unfrozen sections. Wader numbers much reduced on my last visit but plenty of wildfowl with good numbers of widgeon and Pink-footed geese on the ground.

As high tide and dusk approached I stood on the salt-marsh and marvelled as skein after skein of Pink feets flew low overhead from the estuary to their roosting areas.

Pink-footed geese flying in to roost over the saltmarsh, Marshide

Waxwings

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 10:25:00 +0000

Arriving at work this morning I noticed 6 waxwings in the trees in Tesco car park. This is the third time I've seen them in this location so far this winter but don't have any photos yet. So I turned round a went home for my camera. When I got back 20 minutes later they had gone.

So if you want to see some photos of waxings, look on someone elses blog.

A hatrick of Merlins

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 19:26:00 +0000

On Saturday afternoon I should have been watching Blackburn Rovers play Aston Villa but the game was rescheduled to Sunday so I had a free afternoon. The Ribble estuary is always worth a visit at this time of year and I had time to call in at Marshside and Hesketh Out Marsh. The timing wasn't great as the tide was out but free birding time is free birding time.

Marshide had the usual complement of wildfowl and waders with, I'd say about 1000 Lapwing and not many fewer Golden Plover on the pools. Two different Merlins both gave excellent views. Other waders included up to 100 Black Tailed Godwit, several Curlew and a single Ruff. Wildfowl included Shoveler, Mallard, Teal, Pintail and Wigeon. A single Great Black Backed Gull was with several Herring and Black Headed Gulls.

Although the tide was out up to 50 Pink Footed Geese were on the mud banks. Everything else was too distant to id, save the odd Curlew and Redshank.

At Hesketh Out Marsh the third Merlin of the day was perched up on a hay roll. A dozen Whooper Swans were in the fields south east of the car-park along with a party of Fieldfare. Linnets and Goldfinches shared the hedgerow with the Fieldfare.

As the light faded I was optimistic of an owl of some sort, but none appeared. A Litte Egret flew in as I headed for the car-park and about 20 Skylark arrived overhead.

The lanes back to the main road produced a Little Owl perched up in a classic spot right on the apex of a barn.

A very satisfying couple of hours, much better than the football.

Merlin, Marshside

Pintail, Marshside

Lapwing and Golden Plovers, Marshside

Great White Egret, River Ribble

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 20:00:00 +0000

I had about 20 minutes spare on my way to Clitheroe this morning and took a chance on the Great White Egret still being close to the bridge at Mitton. It had being located earlier in the day by Mike Watson. I parked up and saw it straight away from the road as it was in the middle of a field.

A small group of birders were already watching from the public footpath behind the Aspinall Arms, so I joined them for the few minutes I had available.

It was distant but I managed this record shot of the bird. There are much better images on other local birders blogs. See Mike Watson's Diary and Bill Aspins Birding blog.

Family camping holiday in Picos De Europa

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:23:00 +0000

This year we went camping in Spain during the school holidays. I chose the destination and I picked the Picos de Europa mountains, which apart from being great for camping happens to be stuffed with wildlife - what a coincidence!

We sailed on the Brittany Ferries, Pont Aven from Plymouth to Santander and back and the seawatching was largely fairly quiet compared to other trips I've had across the Bay of Biscay.

Despite being whale migration time, I only saw a few blows from probable Fin whales on both legs of the journey. On the outward leg we saw a few schools of common dolphins and on the return we got a stunning close-up of a pod of pilot whales numbering about 12 individuals. On the birding side, nothing more spectacular than a few Cory's and Manx Shearwaters. Not that I'm complaining - Cory's is probably my favourite seabird, effortless and elegant in flight and so at home in the wide-open ocean.

As this was a family holiday I was mindful to keep time on deck to a minimum, although Jeanette and Annie were very patient with me.

For the first part of the holiday we stayed in the Picos mountains near Potes on a superb campsite set in woodland. Getting up early I was rewarded with Red Squirrels around the campsite, and once the sun got up the butterflies were simply breathtaking. I got some great photos with very little effort by just wandering around the camp site with my camera.

Despite being August and crowded with holiday makers we headed for the cable car at Fuente De. This is well known as one of the easier locations to find wallcreepers in Europe due to the rapid ascent made possible by the cable car. We almost regreted our decision as the queue for the cable car was huge and we had to wait about three hours for our ride up the mountain. We were entertained with red squirrels in the grounds of the cable car station, many different butterfly species, Griffon vultures overhead and Alpine Choughs circling the top cable-car station.

The ride up the mountain was worth the wait and the views were truly spectacular. As a rule on family holidays I keep the birding to the early morning and don't let it interfere with the holiday - but we were at the mirador at the top of the cable car station and I was half a mile walk from a wallcreeper site for **** sake. I was excused for what turned out to be about an hour as I made my way around to the scree slope documented in the guide book where the wallcreepers hang out. I walked slowly along the bottom of the scree slope looking up at the cliff face when a small passerine flew along the cliff. I though it must be the wallcreeper but after getting a good view in the bins it looked like a snow bunting - white with black wing tips. Then it dawned on me - Snowfinch! I had heard they were here but almost impossible to find in summer so this was real bonus. I watched it for about 30 minutes make several journeys to and from a ledge on the cliff. I could not get a good view of the ledge but it looked like it was taking food back to a nest.

I didn't see any Wallcreepers or for that matter any Alpine Accentors which I expected, however I didn't have long and had to get back to the others who were relaxing at the cable car station.

The journey back down in the cable car was equally spectacular.

We spent the last 3 nights on the coast at a forgettable campsite full of young, loud Spaniards. However it was situated in a spectacular cove with a great beach where me and Annie spent a couple of days body-boarding. Regrettably the Daniel Craig-esque images of me walking out of the surf didn't make the final cut.

The campsite was on a headland and although I was resisting the urge to get the binoculars out there was a notable passage of Black Kites along the coast with few lingering overnight around the campsite.

All in all, not bad for a non-birding holiday.

Griffon Vulture, Fuente De

Jersey Tiger, at the Campsite near Potes

The spectacular cable car at Fuente De

Alpine Chough, at the Mirador, Fuente De

Brimstone at the campsite

Piedmont Ringlet?, the Mirador Fuente De

Large White, at the campsite

(Iberian?) Marbled White, at the campsite

Clouded Yellow, at the Campsite

Common Blue, at the campsite

A snail at the campsite

Common Pipistrelle Roost

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:31:00 +0000

Video Footage of the Common Pipistrelle maternity roost emergence at the Inn at Whitewell on June 18th 2009

621 Common Pipistrelles were counted during the emergence by members of East Lancs Bat group. Up to 5 other species of bat were recorded during the evening including soprano pipistrelle, Daubentons, Noctule, brown long-eared and another myotis species - possibly natterers.

Warton Crag, 16th June

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:02:00 +0000

Spent a very pleasant morning in warm and sunny weather at Warton Crag. Small heath and Northern Brown Argus butterflies were present in good numbers. Bird highlights included a couple of singing lesser whitethroats, 5 buzzard overhead and a peregrine in the quarry.

A quick visit to Leighton main reserve to check if the Great White Egret was out of hiding proved to be predictably fruitless.

All photos below taken on Warton crag.

Small heath

Small heath

Small heath

Northern Brown Argus

Northern Brown Argus

Northern Brown Argus

Northern Brown Argus

Cinnabar

Yellow shell moth

Brockholes Quarry 12th June 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:30:00 +0000

Fairly quite on the bird front at the quarry. No hobby sightings whilst I was there today. There was at least a bit more going on with other winged creatures.

This teneral black-tailed skimmer was on the public footpath by No.1 pit

There were several banded demoiselle by the river and on the butterfly front over 20 speckled wood along the public footpath alone. Speckled wood in particular seem to be doing very well on site this year.
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The garden in June

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:57:00 +0000

The pond I dug over the winter is starting to pay off. This month has seen the first damselfly in the garden - a large red damselfly. Common maybe, but still a garden first and very attactive into the bargain.

From Garden Wildlife

Large red damselfly

We also seem to be reaping the benefit of leaving a part of the lawn unmowed, only about 4m square, but it's a real mini-meadow crawling with invertebrates and attracting a very pleasing number of bees into the garden.

White-tailed bumble-bee

Bowland Fells

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 30 May 2009 21:02:00 +0000

I've spent a quite a few days in the Bowland Fells this month getting off the beaten track. I've been encouraged by the numbers of raptors that I've seen with regular sightings of peregrine, hen harrier, merlin and buzzard (can't say where exactly for obvious reasons). It also good to seen ravens increasing in Bowland, due no doubt to lower levels of persecution. I do wonder what the success of the raptors and ravens will mean for other moorland birds; there are no ring ouzels in the white greet area for example (although they are doing ok in other areas) and a regular quarry nest site in area is now occupied by ravens but with the ring ouzels absent for the first time in years. Could be chance, but maybe not.

This gorgeous whinchat and raven were both in the White Greet area. The grey wagtail and green hairstreak were at Cross of Greeet Bridge.

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:46:00 +0000

Southern Spain, September 2008

I've been to Spain numerous times and seen some good birds but normally in the company of non-birders so this was a much anticipated birding trip. I went with Tim and Janet Davie, and John Wright. We travelled by Easyjet from Liverpool to Malaga and stayed at Meson de Sancho, which lies on the main road between Algeciras and Tarifa.Although the main purpose of the trip was to observe the spectacle of raptor migration, there is wide range of wonderful habitats, mostly within an hour of Tarifa that we managed some excellent general birding during the week.

I find it a pain embedding photo's in the blog so I'm experimenting with picassa web albums. I've uploaded the photos from the trip to picassa and embedded a slideshow here.

To view the slideshow in full size click here

Alternatively to see pictures in a gallery, click here.

Day One

The first birds of the trip were a couple of parakeets that flashed over the road in front of the car on the way from the airport. We first thought these were ring-necked but later decided they were more likely to be monk, due to the number of monk parakeets that we later saw near Malaga and the fact that we didn't see any other ring-necked during the week. The most notable event of the trip from the airport was a forest fire in the hills to the east of Tarifa, quite close to where we were staying. Flocks of cattle egrets flying into their roost with the smoke and flames raging in the background made for quite a impressive sight. Later we observed several pallid swift and about 40 bee-eaters over the hills to the south of the hotel before darkness fell.

Ruppëll's vulture

Day Two

With much anticipation we headed off for the migration watch-points that are stationed strategically along the coast around Tarifa, but not before ticking the first griffon vultures and alpine swifts of the week outside the hotel. The first main stop of the day was Calzada watch-point where raptor migration was much in evidence. This established viewpoint is easily accessed of the Tarifa road and overlooks the nearby hills that are coated in wind turbines, which must surely be a major hazard to the birds. On our arrival visible migration was in full swing with a steady stream of booted eagles, honey buzzards and short-toed eagles passing overhead at close range (later in the week the birds seemed to pass over much higher). Several flocks of alpine swift passed by along with a few black kite and bee-eaters two red-rumped swallows, a common swift and 20 spotless starling.

Next stop was Barbate estuary where we connected with 30 black kites and an osprey along with a few waders and gulls. The adjacent Barbate salt marsh was proved productive with 25 Kentish plover amongst a more familiar cast of dunlin, greenshank, redshank, turnstone, common sandpiper, sanderling and whimbrel. Four little and 15 sandwich contributed the first terns of the week.

After a leisurely lunch we headed inland to La Janda, a flat cultivated plain to the west of Tarifa and a real birding gem. Immediately upon arrival quality birds were apparent. The pick of the bunch were montagu's harriers with up to 4 juveniles, a male and a female putting in an appearance over the rice paddies although two distant black-shouldered kites vied for top billing . Up to four marsh harriers were also seen along with 150+ glossy ibis, 87 white stork, 15 collard pratincole, 1 night heron and 1 squacco heron.

Black Kites over Calzada watch-point gaining height in a thermal

Day Three

An early morning start saw us make a pre-dawn departure for Bolonia estuary where white-rumped swifts were known to come down to drink at daybreak. The fetid green swamp we encountered on arrival was not an encouraging sign and during a fruitless wait no swifts appeared. However 20 audouin's and 20 yellow-legged gulls were on the beach and a few Cory's (presumed scopolis) and one Balearic shearwater were offshore.

Mid morning we headed off to La Janda again but this time approached it from the eastern end and worked westwards towards where we started the previous day. The first stop produced a rufous bush chat and an olivaceous warbler (missed by me!) as well as a good selection of other passerines. Another four sightings of monty's were had as well as a common buzzard. The journey back towards Tarifa produced the first Hoopoe of the trip.

We headed back to the watch-point at Trafico for some more raptor migration. Less birds were coming through but these still included several booted and short-toed eagles, one honey buzzard, 83 white stork, four black stork, four black kite, four alpine swift and 40 bee-eater. We finished the day a short distance away at Playa de los Lances – Tarifa beech – where we picked up another eight Hoopoe, two roller, several short-toed lark, three juvenile woodchat shrike and two tawny pipits along with the pleasingly abundant corn buntings (not like home!).

Day 4

First stop was the Los Alcornocales migration visitors centre a short way up the road from the hotel in the Al Jazeeras direction. In the woods surrounding the visitors centre were five firecrest, six hawfinch and one short-toed treecreeper. Crested tit was heard but not seen. It was starting to warm up and we noticed raptors were passing overhead so we headed the short distance to El Algorrobo watch-point literally "across the road". It was 10am and we were just about to be treated to a honey buzzard bonanza as at least 91 passed over in several groups. A supporting cast of other migrants kept things interesting and few passerines were added to the trip list including serin and redstart.

After about an hour here we headed back up to our favoured watch-point at Calzada and at 12:30 were rewarded with first one and forty minutes later another ruppëlls vulture. With a totally different pattern of pale markings on the underwing coverts and darker coloration overall these were not difficult to separate from the many Griffons that were in the area. We later saw the ruppëll's on the ground at a carcass with about 100 griffons and an egyptian vulture. The ruppëll's is easy to pick out in the picture below (because it's circled in red!) as it's darker than the griffons which have the bicoloured dark flight feathers with a sandy brown back. Once again there were plenty of other raptors passing through as well as one of two swallowtail butterflies seen during the week.

We spent the early evening back at La Janda where the usual marsh and montagu's harriers were observed as well as four collard pratincole, several flocks of glossy ibis, and several white stork.

Day Five

A change of tack today as we headed inland to Laguna de Medina to look for white-headed duck. What a pleasingly location it proved to be with several white-headed duck in evidence as well as red-crested pochard, black-necked grebe, black-winged stilt, spoonbill, purple heron, greater flamingo, black tern, whiskered tern and good selection of other wetland birds. In the fields surrounding the laguna were up to 50 Stone-curlew and a black-shouldered kite.

After lunch we headed for Algaida woods, an area of coastal pine woods on the fringes of Coto Doňana . A Bonelli's warbler, and elusive golden oriole were the main highlights. The ground was covered in tiny hair like spines from some of the vegetation which stuck into your feet and made walking around the woods a very uncomfortable experience. This was also probably the hottest and driest location we'd been in and we were plagued with flies while walking around. On the whole I we were glad to move on.

We started heading back along the coast towards Tarifa and stop of at the wonderfully named Bonanza salt-pans. A good selection of waders were present on the pans including black-winged stilt, redshank, avocet, ruff, common sandpipier, dunlin, knot, greenshank, little stint, curlew sandpiper, black tailed godwit and greater flamingo (over 1000). A lesser-short toed lark put in a brief appearance and the first slender-billed gulls were noted. The highlight for me however was the small water tank no more than about 50 metres square that had five tern species all within one view simultaneously – these being whiskered, common, black, little and sandwich.

Day 6

An early morning visit to Playa de los Lances produced a few Kentish plover, 12 night heron, 150 calandara lark, six short-toed lark, two wheatear and 40 bee-eater. We then tried a new spot on the coast, Zahara lighthouse for a brief spell of sea-watching combined with raptor migration. A cory's shearwater, whiskered and sandwich tern were seen over the sea and overhead passed 60 honey buzzard and a male montagu's harrier. The first blue rock thrush of the week was also seen here.

Further up the coast again and another new site – Barbate pine woods. Most notably birds here were a Dartford warbler and a chiff-chaff with an unusual call that we had down as Iberian at first but after some post trip research by JW was put down as a regular P. collybitta.

Heading back east towards Tarifa we called in a La Janda where we were greeted with great views of 10+ collard pratincolea along with five monty's and 4 marsh harrier, 150 glossy ibis, 100 white stork, and a squacco heron. There was also a significant movement of swallows during the hour we spent here with a steady southward stream of 500+ birds.

In the evening we followed up some local info that white-rumped swifts might still be using a know roost at Bolonia caves. It looks like we were about a week to late for them, but we were compensated with two very brief little swifts which appeared for about 10 seconds before entering the caves to roost.

Day 7

The morning found us back at Playa de lo Lances where a single Dotterel went over and a about 100 calandra lark put on a good display. Twenty honey buzzards were also seen including several birds on the beach.

By 12:30 we were back at Calzada watchpoint where in the next three hours we estimated that at least 10,000 birds passed over on their way across the straits of Gibraltar. A truly awesome experience. I could not keep an accurate count of each species but several thousand each of booted eagle and black kite went over and at least 250 honey buzzard in obviously ideal migration conditions.

We ended the day with another attempt for the white-rumped swift but had to settle for the admirable little swifts again. We were joined however by some amiable Polish birders who were delighted with the little swifts which put on a slightly longer show than the previous night.

Day 8

The final day started unsurprisingly at Calzada watch-point where another fine display of raptor migration was in evidence. Eventually and reluctantly we had to leave for Malaga. En-route we called in at Sierra Crestellina where JW was the only one of us to get good enough views of two rapidly departing Bonelli's eagles. We were some way in land here and about a hour east of the straights but there was still an impressive number of raptors, especially black kites, passing over.

The final stop of the trip was the Guadalahorce estuary very close to Malaga airport. An nice spot to round of the trip, it produced a noisy roost of monk parakeet, a southern grey shrike and osprey and a (presumed) red-necked nightjar along with a good selection of waders.

And so ended a fantastic week's birding in a very accessible location. Raptor migration easily ranks with any of the world's great wildlife spectacles and this week produced great memories that won't have faded that much before I'm back here again.

Click here or the image below to see the gallery of pictures from the trip

Tarifa

Local Birding

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 02:00:00 +0000

Managed to fit in a couple of hours at Brockholes quarry on Saturday, where things were quiet. Most of the birds moving through like Ringed Plovers, a Garganey and a Grey Plover had clearly taken advantage of the settled weather and moved on. The highlight was a double figure count of Tree Sparrows including juvs around one of the feeding stations. Tree Sparrow is an uncommon breeder in the local area and it is real pleasure to see them so close to home.

Tree Sparrow, Brockholes Quarry

On the way back home this Little Owl was sat on wires by the roadside 300 metres from my house. It was totally unconcerned as I reversed the car to within a few meteres of it a fired off a few pictures.

Little Owl, Mellor

Black Grouse Lek - Yorkshire Dales

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Mon, 19 May 2008 08:56:00 +0000

I like my bed so it took extreme motivation to get up at the brutally early time of 03:30 today to attempt to see black grouse. Unfortunately there are no black grouse in Lancashire so I needed to go further afield. I knew of a couple of well publicised sites in the Yorkshire Dales so that's where I headed. As I was pulling out of the driveway I looked at the dashboard clock which read 02:50! Double checking the time with my watch confirmed that it was only ten minutes to 3! I had inadvertently got up an hour earlier than intended because the alarm clock was an hour ahead. Trying to quickly turn this cock-up to my advantage I thought briefly about heading up to Upper Teesdale - a longer journey but I now had time to get there before dawn and this area has the highest density of black grouse in England. I quickly dumped that idea and went back in the house to my half finished cup of tea!

A few minutes later I quietly left the house again and headed off. I made quick progress on the quiet roads and within 70 minutes was driving along a moorland road in the dales. I stopped about 15 minutes short of my first intended location for a quick recce and a pee. As I stepped out of the car I was greeted with the most amazing sound; It was 04:10 and in the pre-dawn half-light the moorland dawn chorus was in full swing. There was a backdrop of waders calling with a wailing little owl quite close - very eerie, but closer still was the unmistakable sound filling the crisp, clear morning air of black grouse, seemingly only metres away! I had stopped right next to a lek, but it was too dark to see anything!

I quickly grabbed my bins and started scanning the area where the bubbling black grouse calls were coming from, but couldn't see much. There was quite a bit of light in the sky now but the ground was still cloaked in near darkness. I waited, and as the light levels increased I could make out a rise in the ground about 30 metres to the east of the road and beyond this I could see movement. Looking through my bins I could make out what look like the heads of grouse. In order to get a better view and without risking disturbing the birds by going closer I ended up first on the bonnet and finally on the roof of car. From this vantage point I could see beyond the rise and there 35-40 metres away were seven black grouse lekking!

Slightly further down the road I noticed a stone track leading up to the lekking area. I realised that this passed behind the rise that was obstructing my view, so I drove down to this area and got out of the car. Staying behind the car at all times so as not to disturb the birds I could see the whole lek, where eight cock grouse were performing. Absolutely amazing!

As the grouse continued to lek, the little owl was still screeching and by now the skylarks and meadow pipits had joined the chorus. This was a magical moment - British wildlife at its absolute best and in my view comparable with anything anywhere.
I decided to check the two sites that I originally set out for, so I left. These produced no black grouse which somehow made finding the lek even more rewarding. I decided to return to the lek. When I got back it was about 05:30 and fully light, the bird song had receded and the black grouse were calling much less intensively. They were alternating between feeding and half-hearted displaying. It was now I realised that accidentally getting up an hour early meant that I was here much earlier than intended and witnessed the lek at its peak. In fact had I been running to my planned schedule I would probably have driven straight past this spot in favour of the original (grouseless) sites.

I scanned for female grouse but didn't see any. Hopefully breeding has already taken place earlier in the Spring and the females are brooding. Black Grouse in the north Pennines are a rare conservation success story and lekking males are on the increase. Hopefully one day they will be back in Lancashire but even then I think this place will see me visiting regularly every spring from now on.

I left at 06:00 and was home at ten past seven. I was knackered at work the rest of the day but it was worth it! Wildlife seen this morning included: Black grouse, red grouse, grey partridge, red-legged partridge, snipe, curlew, lapwing, meadow pipit, skylark, little owl, buzzard, kestrel. Mammals: rabbit, hare and rat.

Bonapartes Gull - Stocks Reservoir, Lancs

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sun, 11 May 2008 12:08:00 +0000

On the evening of Saturday 10th May we were at my sister's house enjoying the unseasonably warm weather and having a barbeque. Normally these family affairs can get quite raucous due in no small part to the amount of alchohol consumed. It was my turn to drive so I was stone cold sober and would have to put up with my drunken relatives all evening. But at least I'd wake with a clear head in the morning. What a bonus this turned out to be as instead of nursing a hangover I spent a pleasant 45 minutes watching a Bonapartes gull at Stock reservoir. This cracking bird was found the evening before by Mike Watson (see his blog for details), and hung around just long enough for a few local birders to see it. It is the first for Stocks and only the second for east lancs. It didn't give particularly close views and this is the best shot I got of it. I suspect Margaret Breaks may have got some better digiscoped images, and Mike Watson's photos are of the bird on the ground. As far as I know this is the only flight shot of the bird (it's the right hand bird, the other two black headed gulls are left in the frame for comparison). If anyone has any better images I'd like to see them.

Ross's Gull, Lytham

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:04:00 +0000

A couple of days after missing the Ross's Gull I want back and this time the bird showed really well. Due to it's rarity and approachability this is certainly the most photographed and blogged bird in Lancashire this year, so I'll make do with just a single picture.

Ring Ouzel and Dotterel - Pendle Hill

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:22:00 +0000

The short hike up Pendle is one of my favourite walks and something I do several times year. Between late April and early May Dotterel can be seen on the summit and the slopes often have Ring Ouzel. This is one of 5 Ring Ouzel that were seen during the weekend. There were also a couple of Dotterel on the summit, that were unfortunately flushed by inconsiderate photographers so I didn't get a very good view of them. I didn't have the time to hang around and my non-birding wife Jeanette was with me. I have become quite an expert on how far I can push it when birding with Jeanette and she wouldn't have enjoyed hanging around the summit of Pendle getting cold while I tramped around looking for the Dotterel so we came down after only a few minutes on the summit. I went up a few days later though on my own and got a much closer view of Dotterel. I didn't get any photos though - I don't get hung up about photographing everything I see, sometimes I think it's more worthwhile to just watch and enjoy.

Lytham / Fairhaven

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:51:00 +0000

While I was in Ibiza a Ross's gull turned up on the Ribble estuary near Fairhaven Lake. It had been showing very well for several days and the first chance I got to go for it was on 25th April. This was the day it decided to become elusive and wasn't seen during the entire morning I spent looking - it turned up later in the day after I'd left. Consolation came in the form of two summer plumaged adult Little gulls in the channel a short way upriver from Fairlawn road. There were several distant "commic" terns further out - probably Arctic but I wasn't certain. There were also good number of waders on the mud including several stunning summer plumaged grey plovers and a few summer plummaged knot. Other waders included black-tailed godwit, dunlin and ringed plover. Photographically I had to settle for this linnet. It didn't deserve not to have its photo taken just for being common so here it is.

Ibiza 13th-19 April 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 11:31:00 +0000

Every year I normally spend a few days in Ibiza. This is a work trip and spare time is severely limited but I always manage to get a few hours birding in. This year I was hoping to track down Marmoras/Balearic warbler, but missed out. However one of Ibiza's birding highlights is the abundant Audouin's gull which can be observed at close quarters.

The other abundant gull on Ibiza is yellow-legged gull.
The picture above shows the islands of Es Vedra and Es Vedranella, breeding site for Eleanora's falcon. April is a bit earlier for this raptor. Well, that's my excuse for not seeing any.
Most people picture Mediterannean islands as barren lumps of rock, which they normally become in the height of the summer holiday season. However in Spring, Ibiza is surprisingly colourful.

This very distant woodchat shrike was the only one of the trip.

Other birds seen included 3 sandwich tern, 2 possible Balearic shearwater, 100+ cory's shearwater in San Antonio bay on 18th April, Mediteranean shag, thekla lark, corn bunting, serin, sardinian warbler, bee-eater, the first swifts of the year including a possible pallid swift and a Hoopoe on the way to the airport on the 19th.

Hortobagy, Hungary 8-11th February 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 11:47:00 +0000

I was accompanied on this short birding break by Bill Aspin and John Wright. The main purpose of the trip was to photograph White-tailed eagles from an underground hide with an additional days birding in the Hortobagy. Bill has done a full trip report, for which see his blog which is in my list of links. This trip was without doubt my best overseas birding experience to date and one of my lifetime birding highlights. Here I've listed just a few of my better photos that help me remember the trip.

This is probably the best buzzard photo I took on the trip. Many bird of prey portraits you see are of captive birds, but this was truly wild and was taken from about 5 metres distance from the underground hide.

I love this long eared owl shot. It really takes me back to the day. The weather was clear and crisp and Janos our guide took us to a suburban roost which are apparently common in this part of europe. Janos estimated there were about 150 owls in the roost of which we counted about 90. It was such a weird sight seeing so many owls in roadside trees with passers-by walking a few feet beneath the birds. The owls seemed so unconcerned - so different to long eared owl sightings in the UK.

We were supposed to be photographing white-tailed eagles, but despite many sightings during our visit, none decided to appear on the cat-fish that had been staked out in front of the hide, so we had to make do with Caspian gulls. Bill and John are gull aficionados and have started finding caspian gulls locally in recent years. They appreciated the time to study so many different plumaged caspians at such close quarters. It was a real learning experience for me too having not come across caspian gull in the UK and in some way made up for the lack of w-t eagles. To see what we should have been photographing take a look at Mike Watson's blog for December 2007!

All is not lost on the w-t eagle front as Janos promised us a return visit as we blanked on the eagles. I think this is partly because the this was the first year for the hide and it's location was somewhat experimental; on sunny days the early morning sun illuminates the inside of the hide and even with camoflague clothing and scrim netting it is nearly impossible to prevent spooking the birds from the slightest glint from a camera lens. Janos informed us that the hide will be rotated a few degrees further towards the north in the summer so next winter the sunlight problem should be eliminated. Hopefully we'll find out when we return.

Reed Bunting

noreply@blogger.com (Steve Flynn) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 12:17:00 +0000

This reed bunting was a garden tick and one of three that frequented the feeders during the winter. Hopefully they'll stick around to breed nearby.