Freezing February. Pied-billed grebe, Ferruginous duck, waxwings and hawfinch.

The last pied-billed grebe I remember was up in Greater Manchester; too far for me. Another appeared recently at Ham Wall RSPB in Somerset which, I being a Devon man, is my part of the country! It had been there for a few days so, on Sunday 17 February, I decided to go and see it. All the world and his wife were there. It was quite an elusive bird but it did come out briefly a few times, almost always partially hidden by the reeds and distant.

Pied-billed grebe

The next weekend, Saturday 23 Feb, I decided to go and see the long staying ferruginous duck at Priory Country Park in the middle of Bedford. I got there fairly early on a dull, freezing crisp morning and was directed to where this handsome duck was fraternising with the local pochards. It came quite close at one point, probably only 20m or so.



Ferruginous duck - right. Pochard left.

Ferruginous duck stretching his wings

Ferruginous ducks can look superficially like female tufted ducks.
One obvious feature of the former is a nice white bum!

Two mute swans slept very nearby quite unconcerned at my presence. Shame their necks are usually dirty compared with the rest of them.




Mute swan

Some tufted ducks flew past:

Tufted ducks - all male



Afterwards, I looked round the nature garden which had been 'specially planted to attract wildlife'. It was nice, but the ravages of the harsh winter meant there wasn't much about apart from this handsome blue tit.

Blue tit

I got ready to leave. I noticed that on my route back, at Surbiton, a large flock of waxwings had been reported. I decided to check them out and was pleased to count 79 of them near the busy narrow high street full of traffic and Saturday shoppers, coming down to some trees holding only dark, shrivelled berries. Here are a few dozen of them.

Waxwings

I continued home.  Lynne, my wife, had yet to see waxwings even though I had 'already taken her on 3 wild goose chases in search of waxwings this year'?? Hmm!  Anyway, I convinced her to accompany me to Surbiton. I  promised she would definitely see waxwings this time, even though such pledges in relation to birds can be notoriously difficult to honour!! This time she was not disappointed and the whole flock performed in front of her eyes. Phew! Reputation saved!

Waxwing with rather unappetising berry

Today, Sunday 24 February, I took Lynne to see her parents in Kent. On the way we dropped in to St Margarets, Barming churchyard where a hawfinch had been reported for the last few days. We arrived at about midday and with perfect timing, bumped into the local birdwatcher who told us he hadn't seen it that day. However, we did gain valuable information on its habits and decided to look round this charming chuchyard. After about half an hour I saw a bird fly into the top of the tallest ash. It looked larger than the several greenfinches we had seen. Sure enough it was the hawfinch. It stayed in it's lofty perch for about 20 minutes although it was difficult to find an angle where it wasn't obscured by branches. Another lifer . . . for Lynne.

Hawfinch - probably female

Hawfinch at last in New Forest.

As David Campbell hadn't been able to see the bufflehead in Dorset, which seems to have taken up residence, I went a second time hoping to get some better shots of it. It was nice to see it again but it was still fairly distant for photography but fine for telescopes.

We then went in search of the great grey shrike which had been reported near Burley in the New Forest. We stayed for about an hour but there was no sign of it 'behind' the car park as reported. A brief visit to Acres Down was a mistake as the sun was gone and so had the raptors, apart from a couple of buzzards.

We therefore headed for Blackwater Arboretum hoping to see some hawfinches, which I had seen all too briefly the other day. This time we were in luck with several small groups flying in and sticking around for a couple of minutes, albeit at the very top of the tallest trees. I managed to take several shots in attractive light.

Hawfinches. Female top, male below.

Hawfinch. Female.

As we were leaving a further report of the shrike came in. As it was only ten minutes away we decided to go back again, but a further scan of all the likely bushes failed to reveal the bird. Despite this, we left happy to have seen the bufflehead, and I was very happy with the hawfinches.

Bufflehead in Dorset - 8 March 2010

As I had a day off on Monday I went to see the rare American duck that had appeared in Dorset near Langton Herring. That part of the Dorset coast is separated from the sea by the longest shingle bank in Europe, Chesil Beach, which stretches for nearly seventeen miles from Portland to West Bay. The lagoon formed by the shingle bank, the Fleet, is partially tidal and the water is brackish.

Wanting to avoid the rush hour traffic, I left home at 05.30 and arrived at the Fleet at about 0800. I scanned the water but no sign of the bufflehead, as the duck is called. My view of the Fleet wasn't clear as the coast has irregularities that obscure the view. Then the pager bleeped and I read 'no news of the bufflehead'!! Great!

Shortly afterwards the pager bleeped again and confirmed that the bufflehead was present. Judging by the position given I should have been able to see it, but I couldn't.

A few more birdwatchers arrived and we rounded a hill to get a better view of the Fleet. The bufflehead was way off in the distance but easily identifiable by its unique markings. We decided to get closer by going to Langton Herring. Even from there it was fairly distant and this shot is just for the record.

Bufflehead

After gleaning some useful information from Jackie as to where I might find hawfinches (thanks, Jackie), I went to Radipole Lake RSPB in Weymouth to see the long-staying hooded merganser, then to Portland Bill for a little seawatching.

Hooded merganser

On the way to Portland I stopped at the top of the hill to admire and photograph the magnificent view of Chesil Beach, the Portland isthmus and Weymouth.

Chesil Beach. At over 16 miles, the longest shingle bank in Europe.


At the Portland Bird Observatory, near the beach I noticed a small flock of rock pipits, which allowed me to get fairly close. There were no black redstarts, however.

Rock pipit.


At Portland Bill I saw some common scoter on the sea, and a couple of gannets.

There was time to go to the New Forest before dark to see if the hawfinches were about. I had some trouble finding the arboretum but when I did get there those waiting said they had seen nothing. A goldcrest entertained us from a nearby conifer.

Goldcrest

All the other birds that flew in were greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches or siskins. One or two of the birders left to go home as the light faded. Two other birds flew in and I looked through my scope to see a nice pair of hawfinches at last!  In the time it took me to take off my scope and pick up my camera they had gone. Ah, well! At least I'd seen them.

Bookham Common

Went to Bookham Common today for a bird I had never seen before - a hawfinch. This is a large, colourful, shy finch which has been in the area for a while. On arrival I checked directions with my friend David Campbell who saw the bird yesterday. Almost immediately on arrival I saw some birds fly into the top of some distant trees, about 200m away. One was a jackdaw and the other a handsome male hawfinch. Took a few photos before it flew away. I met up with Kevin from Beddington Farm who arrived a few minutes after me. We had to wait about half an hour to see the hawfinch again even more distant but unmistakable. Kevin was pleased as it was a Surrey tick for him. We went off in search of other hawfinches and bullfinches which were reported. Saw neither, but did see kestrel, sparrowhawk, and other assorted tits and the like. My 2008 year list stands at 197. It would be nice to reach 200. Will it be possible...

The picture is just a record shot.