02 Saturday Nov 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, flock of Starlings, gathering of Starlings, starling, Starlings on church steeple
At this time of year, Starlings start to congregate, at first in small gatherings and then forming the large murmurations that astound all who see them. In the late afternoons / early evenings I am treated to a modest number that rendezvous on the roof of the church opposite my house and vie, noisily, for the prime position of sitting atop the cock on the steeple.
31 Thursday Oct 2019
During each of my three visits to Portland there has been a plethora of pipits, especially Rock pipits, like this one, using the stone walls of the lighthouse compound as its rocky shore, parachuting down on to the grass within to strut and probe, then popping back up to survey the scene … and the nearby photographer.
28 Monday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, colour-ringed bird, colour-ringed gull, Great black-backed gull, movements of Great black-backed gulls, Portland Bird Observatory
We saw a lot of Great black-backed gulls during our long weekend birding at Portland Bird Observatory at the end of September, both tackling the strong westerly winds out over the huge seas and also taking a breather from those winds, snoozing in a field just along from the Obs. And, while the rest of our group was seawatching near the obelisk, I walked west along the coastal path and found one Great black-backed gull standing alone on rocks at the water’s edge.
This particular gull was ringed so I reported the sighting. It turns out the bird was not far from where it was first ringed in June 2015, on the breakwaters of Portland Harbour, as part of the Portland Gulls project. Joint project leader Terry Coombs kindly emailed me the history of P:49B and commented that ‘From the sightings we have it seems to favour Portland in the winter and cruising the Channel during the warmer months’. Apart from many sightings in the Portland area, it has also been spotted at RSPB Dungeness, on 16 March 2015 and 9 March 2019, and on the Axe estuary, on 19 August 2015.
My sincere thanks to Terry for providing the history of this gull. You can read more about his Portland Gulls project on their blog, and please do report the ringed birds (of all species) that you see – tracking bird movements is a huge part of their protection and conservation.
26 Saturday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, feral pigeon, pigeon, squab
Squab: it’s an odd word to describe a young unfledged pigeon. The Oxford Dictionary gives its origins as: “Mid 17th century (in the sense ‘inexperienced person’): of unknown origin; compare with obsolete quab ‘shapeless thing’ and Swedish dialect skvabba ‘fat woman’.”
To me, judging by the behaviour of these two feral pigeons squabs I saw recently harassing their parent for food, squab seems more likely to come from squabble: a noisy quarrel! I almost felt sorry for the adult as it was chased along the pavement by its two young, who then pushed their heads as far down the adult’s open beak as possible, hoping for the ‘milk’ pigeons feed their young.
21 Monday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, eclipse male Goosander, Goosander, juvenile Goosander, plumage change in Goosander
There were actually 5 Goosanders on the River Ely this morning. Four stayed their distance but this one, paddling alone, came over to investigate me.
I’ve been trying to work it out. I don’t think it’s a female – though they have reddish-brown heads, they’re more generally grey in the body, without so much black on their backs.
And it seems that in juvenile Goosanders the separation between the white throat and chin and the brown head is less clear cut, more ragged – in this bird it seems well defined.
So that leaves me with a male bird in eclipse plumage, i.e. still undergoing the change from its breeding plumage (of black-dark green head and upper neck) to its winter plumage, though that would usually be complete by now, I think.
Hence my confusion. If any experienced birders reader this, I would welcome your opinions (and explanations). Thanks!
19 Saturday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Britain's smallest bird, British birds, Europe's smallest bird, Goldcrest
Goldcrests always look sad to me – something to do with their big eyes and that dark, downturned line at the side of their beaks, perhaps.
Should they be sad? Being Europe’s littlest birds means life must be quite tough, especially as hundreds of these tiny creatures regularly migrate across the North Sea from Scandinavia to northern and eastern parts of Britain. According to Fauna Britannica, large numbers of Goldcrests used to be trapped in the rigging of North Sea fishing boats, which is why their vernacular names include ‘herring spink’ and ‘tot o’er the seas’.
I was delighted to see a good number of Goldcrests in trees along the south Wales coast this week. Their constant peeping indicated their presence – luckily for me, I can still hear their calls: the high pitch means many birders ‘lose’ the calls of Goldcrests as their hearing deteriorates with age. I certainly hope that doesn’t happen to me.
Goldcrests are not easy to photograph as they’re hyperactive little creatures, constantly flitting from leaf to branch and back again in their search for tasty tiny morsels, so I was pleased to get these few images, even though they’re not the sharpest.
10 Thursday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, Cardiff Bay, Ely embankment, gull scavenging dead fish, Herring gull, juvenile Herring gull
It’s difficult to share this juvenile Herring gull’s enthusiasm for the large dead fish it had discovered on the embankment of the Ely River where it flows in to Cardiff Bay, but food is food and the bird’s scavenging was removing a potentially very smelly object from the foreshore. Well done, that gull!
09 Wednesday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, Bridgwater Bay National Nature Reserve, Bridgwater Bay NNR, British birds, Shelduck, Thousands of Shelducks
One of the reasons Bridgwater Bay is a National Nature Reserve is the Shelduck.
Due to the extreme tidal range of the bay, at low tide enormous areas of mudflats are exposed and these are teeming with the tiny creatures that Shelducks – and many other species of waterfowl and wading birds – like to eat.
According to the UK Government website, this reserve is ‘the second largest European moulting ground for Shelduck, with up to 2000 birds present each July’, and rather a lot were still there last Sunday (6 October) when I visited with my birding buddies from Glamorgan Bird Club.
In fact, I’ve never seen so many Shelducks in my life before. Two thousand almost seems to be an underestimate!
04 Friday Oct 2019
I’ve left the best till last. We saw a lot of nice birds during our long weekend at Portland Obs but this bird was the undoubted star.
It was late morning, on Saturday 28 September, and a few of us were standing in the Obs front garden, watching for a Firecrest that had been seen there, when keen-eyed Tim noticed a brown bird hopping about in a buddleja right in front of us. It looked like a Reed warbler but was too big, and our experts almost immediately realised it was a Great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus). The bird disappeared for a short time (John raced inside to tell the other birders, and I went in to grab my camera), then, luckily, it reappeared and proceeded to munch on some blackberries growing alongside the garden wall. Unfortunately, it didn’t linger long, soon disappearing along the side of the buildings.
Several people had noticed the bird had a ring on one leg so this Great reed warbler must have been the same bird that had been caught and ringed in the Obs garden 10 days earlier. Amazingly, it had lingered in the surrounding scrub and bushes without anyone spotting it.
The largest of the European warblers, the Great reed warbler is only occasionally seen in Britain – it breeds in Europe and Asia and overwinters in sub-Saharan Africa – so, this bird had somehow lost its way during migration.
If you want to see much clearer photos of this cracking bird, check out Martin Cade’s photos and reports on the Portland Obs blog here (when it was first ringed) and again here (when the bird was re-found, during Saturday afternoon, in the Obs back garden).
03 Thursday Oct 2019
Tags
birding, birdwatching, British birds, RSPB Lodmoor, Ruff, satellite male Ruff, white-headed ruff
When we spotted this white-headed Ruff at RSPB Lodmoor, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same bird we’d seen at this same location on our 2018 trip to Portland. Of course, as the bird wasn’t ringed, there was no way to tell for sure but it certainly was a handsome bird, a ‘satellite’ male as I explained in last year’s post here.
earthstar 
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