A glorious weekend and 2 British ticks

We planned to go to the caravan at Chichester this weekend as we had tickets for 'The Pyjama Game'. Before that, on Friday, I went with David to see the red-rumped swallow at Beddington. I've never seen one in UK so it was an easy tick.

Red-rumped swallow

I haven't been trying very hard recently to build up my British list, preferring to spend my time abroad seeing and photographing new birds. Don't worry, my blog about Nepal is nearly ready!!

On Saturday, news came through of another nice bird, a European roller at Broxheath Common, which was only 36 miles from where I was. A quick trip there after breakfast found me looking at a lovely roller that was showing well, if a little distant. I had gone with a few others from the car park around 3 sides of a square instead of straight there and I had left my tripod in the car! This is the best at that distance with no tripod.

European roller

I didn't stay very long as I wanted to get back in time for the theatre. We were having dinner at the theatre before the show. 'The Pyjama Game' was most enjoyable.

David had told me he was going for the terek sandpiper at Rye. As the others don't usually get up until late, I decided to leave early the following morning, Sunday. Despite being almost the first one at Rye, there was no sign of the sandpiper after two and a half hours. Apart from the multitude of nesting black-headed gulls, Mediterranean gulls, common and sandwich terns, etc. there were two temminck's stints on a pool nearby. Three cuckoos were calling.

Temminck's stint

Little ringed plover

Oystercatcher

After our return to Sutton I picked David up to go to Lakenheath Fen, he for the Savi's warbler and I for the red-footed falcon. David got lucky but I dipped the falcon!

Nevertheless, the trip was worth it if only for the first thing we saw, a gorgeous male cuckoo hunting caterpillars in the enclosure near to us. It was the closest I had been to a cuckoo and it allowed good views.

Cuckoo - male

We moved on, scanning the reedbeds for the falcon but seeing only a few hobbies and myriad common swifts. I stopped to take pictures of the swifts and we then moved on slowly towards where the Savi's warbler had taken up residence. It is a bird that likes to sing at dusk so we were in no hurry. A gadwall had an aerial tiff with a hobby overhead.

Gadwall and hobby (below)

Common whitethroat

I lingered, ever hopeful of seeing the falcon while David went on. I got a text that the warbler was singing so I joined the throng of perhaps 45-50 people staking it out. The wind kept it down but, as the evening wore on, we glimpsed it first and then it showed several times, albeit not for too long. Even so, it gave far better views than the one I saw fleetingly at Lee Valley a few years ago. I was able to take a photo and film it briefly.



Savi's warbler

David stayed for more views and I went back for the falcon, taking pictures of several hobbies that were now joining the swifts hawking over the main reedbeds.

Hobby snacking on the wing!

Common swift

Finally, the cuckoo was still there when we made our way back to the carpark.

Marmora's Warbler good, Forest of Dean better.

My first reaction on hearing the news of a Marmora's warbler in Blaenavon, Gwent was: "What's a Marmora's warbler?" Oops. Showing my ignorance again. The next question was: Should I go for it? The first day news was a bit dodgy. 'Probable', 'mobile' and 'elusive' are not words you want to hear when contemplating a 165 mile journey to see a bird. The second day reports were more encouraging so I decided to go yesterday, Sat 5 June.

I left early and arrived easily and found the car park (that lonely road on the moor is actually in Google street view). There were probably 200-300 people there already. No sooner had I got to the spot than the bird emerged unexpectedly from a bush at the side of the road and flew in front of my face a couple of metres away! It was a while before it reappeared so, in the meantime, I enjoyed the other birds. There were several cuckoos, one being mobbed by tree pipits (both year ticks), willow warbler, meadow pipits, whinchat, etc.









Tree pipit

Cuckoo






After twenty minutes, the Marmora's warbler reappeared causing a surge. It favoured a wall on the North of the road which was good from the point of view of light. I managed shots from about 100m and the bird is small. Nevertheless, you can clearly make out the Dartford warbler look, the orange legs, red eye, black tip to bill and plain breast. It was singing away most of the time. Lovely.

Marmora's
warbler

Marmora's
warbler.








Marmora's warblers normally live on Mediterranean islands such as Corsica and Sardinia. The last record in the UK was about ten years ago. After about an hour it was still only nine o'clock. I spoke to some guys from Essex who told me the Forest of Dean was very nice, especially for goshawks displaying in the Spring. It was too late for that but it was on my way home so I went to have a look. I was sure to be able to get a drink at the RSPB visitor centre!

On arrival at the Nag's Head, sorry I mean Nagshead RSPB, the visitor centre was very spartan with no facilities at all except for toilets. They had solar panels for electricity but they were not working so there were no lights. The volunteers were very helpful and, hearing that I'd been up since 5 o'clock, they gave me a coffee from their own personal flask. Thanks very much to the Harrisons (I think they were so called). That was very kind. I was gasping.

The Forest of Dean is gorgeous. It's a large area of mature woodland, ideal for pied flycatcher and wood warbler. On my way to the lower hide I heard a family of treecreepers. They were very mobile and light levels (photographically speaking) were very low in the wood. I had to up the ISO to 1600 most of the time and this does affect the quality of the photos. I know some people say modern cameras are good to 1600 and even to 3200 but I notice a distinct graininess even over 400.

Treecreeper






The hide was a very old fashioned one from 1986 with very narrow slits only about 180mm high. I had a job looking out and I only just managed to get my lens through the opening. There was a nice spotted flycatcher nearby and a nuthatch also came to the same tree.

Spotted
flycatcher






Even though I applied -1.3 stops of exposure compensation, the pale bird in sunlight is still overexposed. -2 would probably have been right for a small pale bird with the dark trees around.

I then had to find a pied flycathcer and wood warbler. According to the volunteer, pied flycatcher should be relatively common in the wood. It was simply a case of finding a nesting box with them in it. Returning birdwatchers, however, reported that all the nesting boxes seemed to be occupied by tits. I found a point where I could watch three nesting boxes at the same time. The middle one did have pied flycatchers in. The guys from Essex appeared at that moment and so did the wood warbler which proved to be very mobile and elusive.

Pied flycatcher.
male.

Pied flycatcher.
female.

Wood warbler.






On my way home I stopped off at Highnam Wood to see if there were any nightingales. The nature trail was good, but I found no nightingales. I met the Harrisons again, checking nesting boxes. They'd finished their shift at Nagshead and they'd been to a wedding in between!! That's efficient use of time.

Time to go home and look at the photos.