Birds seen while skiing in France

My week in France in February 2009 was not intended to be anything birdy, but the Alps came up trumps with a few lifers. As soon as we arrived I saw two or three alpine accentors on the balcony. A first for me but they turned out to be very common. At first they look like dunnocks, but when you see them first hand, you notice the rufous flanks, the distinctive bib and the much more marked back and sides. Altogether a much more handsome bird than a dunnock. These differences do not always come out in the field guides.

Alpine accentor

There were also blue, coal, great and willow tits, jay, great spotted woodpecker, blackbird, raven and buzzard visible from the chalet.

A trip to Tignes would assure us of some snow buntings according to our host. The 'snow buntings' turned out to be much larger than expected and the colouration wasn't right at all. These were no snow buntings! I took a few photos with my wife's Canon point-and-shoot so I could look at them later. I wish I'd had my camera but it is heavier and, after all, this was a skiing holiday, right? Also I had no binoculars or scope.

After our refreshment stop I noticed two large black birds on the roof of the restaurant. Closer inspection showed they had yellow decurved bills, so they were alpine choughs. Thank goodness for the large image magnification on the camera to see such details as the bill. I still haven't seen the 'normal' chough with the red bill, which are rarer!

Alpine chough, Tignes.

Back at the chalet, the 'snow buntings' turned out to be snow finches, as my friend, David Campbell, had correctly guessed. Both the alpine chough and snow finch were lifers for me.

Snow finch, Tignes, France.

On the final day I went for a walk in the woods. I'd heard there were crested tits about but the first nice surprise was some treecreepers which were surprisingly tame. I hoped they might be short toed treecreepers but I can't really tell. Any experts at telling these two species apart are very welcome to comment on this photo. I thought that the slightly creamy belly and the slightly more marked white wing bar might be distinctive.

Treecreeper - Short-toed??

Just as the light was fading the crested tits appeared (another lifer). They were not so tame however and I managed to get only one distant record shot before having to go back to finish my packing before leaving for the return trip, ten hours overnight on the Eurostar, not good even First Class!

Crested tit, France.

Anyway, four lifers on a non birdwatching trip without binoculars, telescope or my digital SLR is not a bad haul.

Green woodpecker digging up my garden.

Yesterday, I went to Canons Farm and Banstead Woods with David Campbell. He was hoping to see marsh tit and brambling. I was just hoping to see anything in the snow which is stopping most birds from feeding on the ground. We didn't see either species but we did see treecreeper, nuthatch, skylark and little owl, all four are year ticks for me (125 for the year). I took some shots of the little owl and used both my 1.4x and 2x converters to get closer. I regretted it later when I looked at the photos on my computer. They were not very good at all. This photo was taken using only the 1.4x.

Little owl, Canons farm.

When I got in I noticed a green woodpecker under the large branch which had broken off the pine tree under the weight of snow, 30cm in one day. He was digging up the lawn looking for something to eat. I got my camera and took some shots through the double glazing. They weren't bad as record shots, but I was then able to open the window and take some straight views. These came out rather better.

Green woodpecker, garden

Green woodpecker has seen something to jump about!

This morning, Sunday 8 February, I went briefly to Bookham common to see the hawfinches which are usually to be found. I stopped to photograph some redwing at Great Bookham, arriving late at the Common, where the hawfinches had already been seen. I had to leave at 12.45 as we were going to lunch with the neighbours and Lynne had told me I had better be home by 1.20! I was leaving to go back to the car when someone said there was a hawfinch in a distant tree. It really was distant and against the bright sun of this lovely morning. I quickly took a few pictures before it flew off and then left. I just made it home in time. The pictures are recognisable as a hawfinch but much worse than last time's record shot (see 27 December 2008 post). So bad that I can't publish it here. I just managed to get home in time not to incur my wife's displeasure!!!

Late report of early January trips

On 4 January I decided to do a Kent round trip to start me off for this year. First stop was Folkestone to see the waxwings. I left in the dark and arrived at the retail estate well before nine. I quickly saw the waxwings and took a record shot, noting several more common birds before moving on to West Hythe for the night heron. It was there, and notable other sightings were kingfisher, goldcrest and kestrel making 19 species by 9.00. Shortly afterwards I saw green and great spotted woodpecker, redwing and snipe to total 37 by 10.00.

The road to Dungeness brought long tailed tits, marsh harrier, golden plover, red-legged partridge and curlew, but my total rose to only 43 by 11.00.

At Dungeness there were many waterbirds, notably goosander, red-breasted merganser, pintail, greenshank, smew, red crested pochard and bittern. By 13.15 I was on 64. On to the fields north of Lydd where, on 1 January, Josh Jenkins-Shaw had seen many geese. I saw only greylags so on to Scotney Pits. In the fields on the way were several Bewick's and whooper swans. At Scotney itself I was rewarded with a single bean goose and c.35 white fronted geese, several scaup, a flock of barnacle geese (don't say it, David), stonechat and, at Jury's Gap some turnstone.

My total for the day stood at 75 and the light was beginning to go. A man I'd met told me of the long-staying long-tailed duck at Lydd-on-sea so I decided I would risk it. The light was fading as I arrived and I was expecting to have to pick out the duck against the setting sun at the far Southern end of the lake. As it happened the sun had already set and the duck was at the Northern end of the lake not too far away. I quickly saw it in the scope but when I looked with the camera to take a record shot the scene in the viewfinder was much darker, and it took some time between discounting the tufted ducks and waiting for the long-tailed duck to surface again after frequent dives before I was able to get a picture.

A large flock of rooosting oystercatchers brought my total for the day to 77; not bad for a short winter's day. A good start to the year.

2008 Roundup - Part 2

The next week my wife, Lynne, and I went to Shetland for five days. Shetland is something of a Mecca for birdwatchers and Lynne has also wanted to go there for a while. I won’t bore you too much with the problems of flying on a very small plane and needing to carry a fairly large lens in hand luggage, but if I tell you I can’t print Lynne’s reply when she learnt that her entire hand luggage would have to be replaced with one lens in a rucksack you’ll get the drift. Shetland is treeless, rather like Iceland but less dramatic. In summer, days are long. You really get good value out of the daylight. Roads are good and traffic jams are unheard of. Petrol was £1.40 a litre then but probably cheaper now.

Shetland landscape


We stayed two days at Sumburgh, a few minutes from the RSPB reserve at Sumburgh Head. There were still puffins in early August but not that many. Still, there were twite, another lifer, and Lynne pointed out some small birds to me on the grass bank just over the wall. I looked and knew they were crossbills, another lifer, but it wasn’t till I got back to the hotel that I realised they were juvenile two barred crossbills, rare vagrants from northern Russia. What I didn’t know was that nearby there were adult birds that are very colourful! If only I’d had my iPhone then, I would have been able to access the Internet and see what was about!


Two barred crossbill


Next day was Noss, an island off the East Coast, sporting loads of Great skuas (bonxies), about 20,000 gannets, rock pipits, arctic skuas and some seals. It’s quite impressive to see so many gannets, and the smell stays with you for quite a while too!



Gannet, Noss, Shetland.



Great skua, Noss, Shetland.


Next was the island of Mousa for black guillemot, red throated diver and storm petrels. Well we didn’t actually see the petrels, which only come at night.


Red throated diver, Mousa, Shetland.



We then moved to the North West, where the highlights were Whooper swans with young and merlin.


Whooper swan with cygnet, Shetland.



Next a trip to Hermaness in the very North of the islands where it was blowing a gale. On reaching the cliffs after walking across the reserve I sat down to rest and watch the birds. Thousands of gannets wheeled below me over the sea, plunging every so often from a great height to fish. Fulmars soared along the cliffs; puffins came and went bringing food for their young.


Fulmar Hermaness, Shetland.


One puffin approached and then circled round again, …..and again, ….and again. I wondered why he didn’t go to his burrow. Then he landed 2m from me and stared at my feet. I was in ecstasy. A puffin with at least 15 sand eels in its bill was 2m away from me. I quickly took several pictures, one of which I regard as one of the best shots I have been lucky enough to get, and looked down at my feet to see what he was staring at. My leg was in front of his burrow!!! I moved away and he scurried in at last.


Puffin with sand eels, Hermaness, Shetland


A last day in Lerwick and then home. The last three months of the year started with the sighting of a green heron at West Hythe in Kent. I went with David Campbell on a very wet and dreary day and the heron never came out from the tree he was sheltering under. I don’t blame him!


Green heron, West Hythe, Kent.


The following month a night heron was found in exactly the same place! What are the chances of that? I went to see that one as well.


Night heron, West Hythe, Kent.


I had always denied being a twitcher, but as I also went to see the desert wheatear at Sandwich, the hooded merganser at Radipole lake (on the way to the Westcountry) and the hawfinch at Bookham I suppose I must have turned into one of sorts this year. I also saw black redstart for the first time at Portland Bill; a very nice bird.


Black redstart, Portland Bill.


Finally, I went to see waxwings at Folkestone, also a lifer and a very handsome bird.


Waxwing, Folkestone, Kent.



All in all it was a very enjoyable year. My thanks to David Campbell who was with me and educated me on many of the outings. I was never so dedicated or knowledgeable at that age!

Happy New Year to you all.

2008 Roundup - Part 1

2008 was a hectic year especially in the last few months. I'd never kept a year list before but David Campbell made me (well, all right - suggested that I should) keep a year list, so I did. At first I kept a list of all I saw on any trip but after a couple of months I only kept a note of new birds that year. Initially, we were fairly relaxed and I didn't have any idea how many different birds I would see in one year. By the time I had reached 175 the idea dawned that it might be possible to see 200 and this, linked with a little healthy competition with David, made me turn into something of a twitcher in the last three months of the year.

Early 2008 brought several lifers for me (birds that I'd never seen before). Some early trips to Dungeness saw white fronted geese (like greylag geese with elegant white foreheads) bean geese, which also look something like greylags, and long tailed duck.


White fronted geese.


Bean geese.

Nearer to home I saw brambling in Banstead. A weekend in Norfolk was cold but interesting, with highlights being snow bunting, spotted redshank, barn owl and, of course, the American white crowned sparrow which stayed for several weeks to the delight of birdwatchers everywhere.


Barn owl Norfolk


American white crowned sparrow

The Spring was a lovely time watching the young birds, and their parents desperately rushing around to find enough food to feed them all. At Pulborough Brooks in W. Sussex, one wren in particular had to run the gauntlet of all the visitors as her nest was just outside the visitors' centre. In Devon I saw the peregrine falcons nesting at Plymbridge Woods high in the cliff and a lovely dipper which was perfectly at home in the fast flowing river. Neither was a lifer for me but they are not common birds and it is nice to have the opportunity to observe them.


Wren


Dipper

In June I saw my first red backed shrike, the so-called butcher bird, because it catches its prey and often impales it on thorns or barbed wire spikes to save them till later.


Red backed shrike

July was a lazy month and at Oare Marshes I spent some time observing a sedge warbler as it flew to its favourite perch and then off to the reeds for a while. Its favourite post was just over the water channel and, while it was away from it, I approached through the long grass and set up my tripod. I stopped every time it came back to its perch and sang its long scratchy song, moving closer when it left. Eventually I was directly opposite it and I was able to take a series of photos. One, as it sings its heart out, is my particular favourite. Later in July, also at Oare I saw a grey heron catch and eventually swallow a large eel. It took him some time with the eel wrapping itself around the heron’s bill so it was difficult for him to open it. The struggle went on for 7 or 8 minutes before the eel gave up and the heron had his meal.


Sedge warbler



Heron fighting eel

Our family holiday was just a week on the Greek Island of Lesvos. Opportunities for birdwatching were few but we did get away for a couple of hours to visit the salt pans of Skala Kallonis. July isn’t the best time for birds. Lesvos is apparently a great place for migrating birds in May but here we were in July. Nevertheless we saw c.100 greater flamingos and the same number of avocets. Just as we were leaving I spotted a black winged stilt which was calling loudly, another lifer for me. This is a beautiful wader with the longest legs imaginable on a bird, relative to its size of course. I managed to film it for a short while before it disappeared but I felt very happy to have seen it.

Waxwings and Goldcrests

WAXWINGS

The end of the year was exciting. Waxwings are common winter visitors from Russia and Scandinavia every five or six years when there is a large influx of them (called an irruption). 2008 was one of those years. There were none near me, however, and I had to go to Folkestone to see them (for the first time in my life). I arrived at 9.00 but none were to be seen. I waited near the carpark of the warehouse where they were last seen but still saw nothing although a redwing came to feed on the berries on a low bush nearby. Waxwings are often seen in supermarket carparks as they often have the ornamental berry bushes that waxwings like.

I was talking to another birdwatcher when someone told us the waxwings were 100m up the road. We saw them in the top of a tree in another carpark. There were 8 or 9 of them. At a certain point they all descended to feed from a nearby berry bush so I could get closer views. Then they flew back to the top of the tree again to digest what berries they had taken. This process was repeated every 5 or 6 minutes. Two of these handsome birds are shown below.

GOLDCRESTS

The following day I went to see a ring-necked duck in Hampshire. The only problem was that it wasn't there. It was so cold that the sand pits half full of water were all largely frozen over. I wandered around and flushed three or four jack snipe (they startled me just as much). That was a year tick for me, making my total for the year 200. As I was leaving I heard goldcrests calling. Five or six were coming towards me feeding on the thistle and gorse seeds. I put up my tripod and kept still. Goldcrests are, with firecrests, Britain's smallest birds. They weigh only 9gm and are very active, always in motion. I had never been able to get a good photo of one up to now. As I was alone they came closer and I was able to take several photos as they passed. This more than made up for not seeing the duck.

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.