Birding etc with Dominic Mitchell

Important: Rainham landfill site

2012-01-28T21:31:00.000Z

There have been problems recently at Veolia's Rainham landfill, which unlike the adjacent RSPB reserve and riverside footpath is a private industrial site to which public access is not permitted. On three recent occasions birders have been found trespassing; one incident apparently involved 10 people on the site without permission.Anyone who wants to watch gulls in the area should stay outside

Wrong side of the river

2012-01-23T22:54:00.000Z

Tale of the unexpected: an American Mink is mobbed as it breaks cover in Thamesmead, south-east London. I made a rare trip across the Thames to ‘sarf’ London today, mainly with the aim of seeing the second-winter Iceland Gull at Crayford after a tip-off from Kev Jarvis. In that ambition I failed, the gull departing before I arrived on site. A fly-by first-winter Yellow-legged Gull was scant

Where there's muck ...

2012-01-09T22:51:00.000Z

I could think of no better way of spending last Friday than being surrounded by gulls for hours on end. With a major influx of Iceland and Glaucous Gulls taking place after last week's Atlantic storms, I was hoping for a white-winger locally, but in the event it was Caspian and Yellow-legged Gulls that provided the main interest. At least four of the former comprised a first-winter, a

Out with the old ...

2011-12-31T22:57:00.044Z

A few of the thousands of European Golden Plover at Cley NWT, Norfolk. I spent the last three days of the year in Norfolk, but because of family commitments only managed to get out in the field for a couple of hours just before heading back to London for New Year's Eve. Having studiously ignored it on the last two trips up here, I therefore decided to do the decent thing and twitch the Western

Gulls galore

2011-12-29T08:48:00.009Z

Adult gull showing characters recalling the atlantis form of Yellow-legged Gull (or Azores Gull, reflecting the range of true atlantis). This is the second such bird I've seen in London. Note the pattern and density of head streaking. I managed to squeeze in the last gulling session of the year at my local study site yesterday, and it was well worth it on a number of counts. Top billing

Season's greetings

2011-12-24T17:16:00.000Z

Quality trash birds

2011-12-22T09:03:00.017Z

A third-winter Caspian Gull assumes a dominant stance. Note the adult-type wing-tip pattern with long pale tongues on the inner webs of the outer primaries and the extensive white on the tip of P10. I picked up the same bird again a couple of hours later, circling the throng and eventually drifting south to drop down out of view somewhere near the river. Note the bill shape and pattern, and

Colombia: new(ish) to science

2011-12-16T15:31:00.001Z

Parker's Antbird, described as recently as 1997, was named in honour of the late Ted Parker. Colombia represents a challenging frontier for field studies. It may be ornithologically advanced compared to its neighbours, but its huge avifauna, combined with the difficulties of visiting some areas until recently, means that there are discoveries still waiting to be made. Even since my return

Colombia: some highlights

2011-12-08T23:28:00.007Z

Singing male Black-crested Warbler - one of the most attractive of Colombia's 12 Basileuterus species. Among the many component species of the mixed flocks in the cloudforest was Crimson-mantled Woodpecker. Breathtaking scenery at Rio Blanco in the Central Andes. 1,878 species. Or thereabouts – let’s not haggle about the odd one. There’s no point, as Colombia’s huge avifauna is very much a

On the road again ...

2011-11-26T18:04:00.002Z

Time to pack - Bogota here we come! That open field guide, by the way, is Hilty's Colombia bible - and that plate is just one of four covering tyrant-flycatchers. A mind-blowing trip to the world's number one birding destination awaits - more soon.

On the road ...

2011-11-23T19:04:00.001Z

The Topsham Red-breasted Goose appears diminutive alongside its dark-bellied Brent companions. It's been a very busy few days, with brief trips to Scilly and Norfolk and scarcely a break in between, and the best part of a thousand miles clocked up en route. Part of the purpose of the Scilly visit was snipe photography, and some of the results will be seen in next month's Birdwatch with a

Burp, Water-flick, Head-up-Tail-up, and Down-up

2011-11-15T23:29:00.000Z

What exactly are the above, and what do they all have in common? Perhaps the images below will provide some clues ... Drake Eurasian Teal in display mode - perhaps undertaking the so-called Water-flick manoeuvre? Males centre many (but not all) of their elaborate actions around a single female. In case you haven't already guessed, they are among the major communal courtship displays of

Late Holly Blue

2011-11-13T18:35:00.016Z

Holly Blue in mid-November - what's going on? The butterfly season should be well and truly over by now, so I was amazed to see a pale blue shape skip past the window this morning and land in the garden. Fortunately I had the camera to hand and was able to document my latest-ever Holly Blue, a species whose flight period is usually over by the end of September. Quite how unusual a local

Larking about

2011-11-01T00:00:00.000Z

After a lot of searching, this superb Shore Lark - a major London Area rarity - finally gave itself up today. Back from Norfolk last night to news that Britain's second Eastern Crowned Warbler had apparently been trapped and ringed first thing at Hilfield Park Reservoir, on the Hertfordshire fringe of the London Area, but not seen since. I decided not to waste a day there dipping with the

Journey's end

2011-10-30T21:04:00.010Z

Sad to think that, having moved through Scandinavia and crossed the North Sea, most probably in a single flight, this Brambling got no further than the Norfolk coast before coming to a premature end. I picked it up on the coast road at Kelling soon after dawn today; it may even have arrived at night (when some Bramblings migrate, unlike most other finches). Perhaps it was drawn to lights along

Azores: days 5-7

2011-10-21T22:59:00.013+01:00

Good numbers of Great Shearwaters were lingering in the channel between Flores and Corvo. Arm's length views of Great Shearwater were had from the boat. Three islands in three days was bound to produce a flurry of good birds, and though the wind stayed east, we continued to rack up some great sightings. The trip across to Corvo was a little on the bumpy side but 30 or more Short-beaked Common

Azores: days 3-4

2011-10-18T11:23:00.018+01:00

After dipping by 10 minutes yesterday, we could not have hoped for better views of White-tailed Tropicbird today. How best to sum up the last two days of dawn to dusk birding here in the Azores? The agony, the ecstasy and the agony again would just about do it, certainly for our time on Flores, where we are currently residing. This most westerly European island has provided exhilaration and

Azores: days 1-2

2011-10-16T23:33:00.001+01:00

The endemic Azores Bullfinch took a bit of finding today in heavy rain, but then showed well. For the last few years, October has been synonymous with one place for me: the Azores. I first visited the islands in 1994 but have made frequent visits in recent times, and for the last four Octobers have led a Birdwatch magazine reader holiday to the islands. Yesterday a small group got together for

Flava of the month

2011-10-07T22:07:00.059+01:00

The rather grey flava wagtail at Kelling Water Meadows - note the yellowish tinge on the undertail coverts. I had to spend the day in Norfolk yesterday, not birding unfortunately, but I did manage to make time to call in for half an hour at Kelling Water Meadows. The Jack Snipe and Lapland Buntings of recent days weren't on show, but a juvenile Little Stint and this interesting flava wagtail

What goes around ...

2011-10-05T19:43:00.031+01:00

Far adrift from its North American migration route, this much-travelled Sandhill Crane made landfall in Scotland and was subsequently tracked southwards along the east coast, eventually arriving at Boyton Marshes, Suffolk. Had the Sandhill Crane lingered in Aberdeenshire, I might well have spent last weekend in Scotland rather than Iceland. It didn’t so I didn’t, and that, by rights, should

Iceland: days 3-4

2011-10-04T22:34:00.001+01:00

The second Buff-bellied Pipit at Garður in as many days. I started early on Sunday – too early for breakfast at the hotel, but I wanted to get back to Garður early doors and look again for the Buff-bellied Pipit and Pacific Golden Plover. Anyhow, after last night’s disappointing curry in Reykjavik, I wasn’t especially hungry. So with just cloud, wind and rain for company, I headed back out to

Iceland: days 1-2

2011-10-04T18:30:00.003+01:00

Blue skies and a layer of cloud hang above a wind-tossed sea. Welcome to Iceland, home of the gale-force wind. This was an unplanned trip, in as much as while I had intended to spend a few days birding in the second half of September, heading overseas wasn’t part of the original plan. But by the time I was free to get away, Scilly’s mega-Yank phase had largely passed, London and the South-East

Special delivery

2011-09-28T08:25:00.022+01:00

Common Pipistrelle in the letterbox - it beats junk mail for sure. Something other than birds, for a change - I wanted to share this image as, for me at least, a close-up look at a live bat in daytime is (bar the odd rehabilitated individual) a novel experience. When we were up in Norfolk the other weekend my daughter Ava came running in to say that she'd found a bat in the letterbox - actually

Plan B

2011-09-22T22:12:00.001+01:00

It wasn't to be - but then I half suspected that, after seven days, the Temminck's-cum-putative Long-toed Stint at Weir Wood Reservoir, East Sussex, might just move on overnight. So I waited on news before going - and waited, and waited. Had the bird stayed, it would have been too important to ignore, a much wanted Western Palearctic tick. But to be honest, I could also have done without

Juvenile Sabine's up close

2011-09-21T21:45:00.000+01:00

One of the two juvenile Sabine's Gulls at Sturt Pond, Milford-on-Sea, today. Several strong Atlantic depressions, notably the tail-end of Hurricane Katia which hit last week, have bestowed a bonanza of exciting birds on Britain and Ireland in the last 10 days or so. The main headline-makers have been the Yanks on Scilly, notably Northern Waterthrush, Black-and-white Warbler, Red-eyed Vireo,