Extra time WP tick

I had little expectations to go birding in the UK again, but yesterday a Semipalmated Sandpiper that was found by James McCallum at RSPB Snettisham made me reconsider my priorities... In an atypical display of responsibility and maturity I didn't go yesterday, but this morning I was on site at dawn. First thing there were very few birders (I guess many were waiting at home for news). The tide was advancing up the Wash, and I was scanning the mud like crazy. After a while I spotted THE bird feeding among Dunlin and Ring Plovers - it was distant but I knew exactly what to look for, and as soon as I got onto it everything fell into place - stockier than Little Stint, nice and grey above with no rufous scapulars, thick bill and really obvious flank streaks. Too distant to see the palmations and for photography, so I took in all details I could with x70 magnification on my Swarovski ATX95. I saw it for maybe 20 seconds, and I think another birder got onto it as well; then the whole flock took off with the rapidly rising tide and I lost the bird in a scenario similar to this:

I spent the next couple of hours scanning through the roosting flocks at high tide. Very challenging task to say the least:

Scanning back and forth I did add some quality - a 2cy Roseate Tern (in the field I first had some self doubts but after reading a bit more if seems fine), 2 Arctic terns, 1 Black Tern, 15 Curlew Sandpipers and 2 Little Stint scattered in the Dunlin flocks, 10 Spotted Redshanks and one Turtle Dove that flew south. I was getting a bit worried that I couldn't relocate it, neither did other birders scanning. I was happy to hear that after I had left the bird was relocated in the early afternoon.

Attention: horrible phone scoped images. I really need to buy a phone with a proper camera.

Curlew Sandpiper roosting among Dunlin (adults and a juvenile)

Sanderling

There were several thousand lovely red Knot. Only this grey job was near enough to phonescope.

Snettishem is a special reserve. I must admit that I find the pans unattractive; but the spectacular murmurations of Knot and Bar-tailed Godwit over the Wash always impress. Overall it was an enjoyable morning with 81 species - check my eBird checklist here. Thanks to James (good to meet up one last time in the field, mate) and to other birders who worked pretty hard this morning.

Spurn Migfest 2017

Glad to be back home after another brilliant Spurn Migfest weekend. So many stories to tell but in short - great birding, good time with friends old and new, fantastic talks (hope mine was good too?), incredible young birders and lots of smiling faces. Stellar job, as always, by Spurn Bird Observatory team, BTO, RSPB, Migfest volunteers, Westmere Farm - congratulations!
For me, personally, it was a charged weekend. Last time I was here, in 2015, I spent most of my time with Martin. Since then also Andy had passed away and the gap in the Spurn heart seems to have increased even more. But Migfest team, led by chairman Rob Adams, certainly made this weekend so good for me - thank you!
Birding was very good - beyond weather-expectations. On Saturday morning vismig was brilliant with huge numbers of Meadow Pipits, hirundines and Tree Sparrows going through. I heard one Richard's Pipit call but nothing more than that. Other vismig and seawtching highlights were Roseate Tern (sweet call! First time I hear it), several Short-eared Owls and two Bonxies.

Short-eared Owl

Tree Sparrows

Great Spotted Woodpecker working the fence poles by Numpties. Yummy grubs!

Then I lead a walk with Terry. Five minutes after starting news broke of the headline bird of Migfest - Long-billed Dowitcher at Corner Pond / Holderness Fields. Brilliantly picked up on call by Paul - legend! We did make the group run a bit; completely ignored a cracking juv Little Stint en route. By the time we got there quite a crowd had already assembled. Great bird - distant views though.

Long-billed Dowitcher

Digiscoping results were not much better

Dowitwichers (copyright Jonnie Fisk)

The great Darren Woodhead in action. That's how far the bird was

After a few minutes of admiring this beauty of a shorebird, we moved on to look for the Wryneck at the top of Beacon Lane. We saw the bird immediately as it was feeding on aphids. As I was leading I spent no time on photography, hence the poor photo. Others got some great photos and footage of this cooperative bird.

Then a few minutes of seawatching produced Little Gull and 2 Arctic Skuas. Not a bad walk... And look at this daily summary, complete with a swallow:

Enjoyed this brilliant Comma sunning itself

On Sunday morning I helped with ringing at Church Fields. Pretty quiet but nice to see the Caspian Gull fly over, first seen over Numpties a few minutes before. This female Migrant Hawker was sweet:

Perhaps my best photo of the weekend was taken on Friday morning near Kings Lynn - while waiting at a meeting point to swap cars this Muntjac sped across a cut wheat field in the warm morning sun. Stunner. 

Foreign visitors to the Algarve

Yesterday we took our day off and replaced the steppes of Alentejo with the saltmarshes, beaches and lagoons of the Algarve. It was a long and brilliant day, packed with quality stuff. We left very early to arrive at our first site, Salinas do Forte do Rato in Tavira in good time. It was pretty birdy there with lots of common shorebirds, some gulls and terns etc. Highlights for me were Iberian Yellow Wagtail that showed nicely, a flyby Audouin's Gull, and the best find of our day was this Roseate Tern in the bay - a pretty good record for mainland Portugal.

Iberian Yellow Wagtail

Roseate Tern - digiscoped from a long distance

Curlew Sandpiper getting into nice summer plumage

The local photographers learned the trick and placed ugly sticks in the middle of the dry saltpans for Bee-eaters to perch:

It was fun birding with Dan - he get's so excited (SIKKKKK!) by common Mediterranean species like Sardinina Warbler and Serin - his excitement infected me and I papped this Serin too:

In the bushes there were very few migrants, but these Common Waxbills were entertaining - our first sexy Cat C species of the day, such lovely birds aren't they?

We wanted to get to the Atlantic Coast to do some seawtaching and look for gulls on the beach. On Google Marta Rota looked like a good option but in fact there was nothing there, between the millions of people. We then made the right decision and joined local birders Thijs and Bruno. We did a quick circuit of the nature walk at the Parque Natural da Ria Formosa headquarters in Quinta de Marim, Olhão. It was very hot and we didn't see much of interest, but added a few species to our growing day and Portugal list. Non-bird hightlight was this fine butterfly - Spanish Festoon (Zerynthia rumina):

 We then headed over to Quinta do Lago. What a strange place. Within the Beverly Hills of Portugal, the golf course lagoons are packed with birds. The specific lagoon where we visited hosted a Little Crake in the past couple of weeks, a national rarity. We halfheartedly searched for it, but I really enjoyed the huge number of very tame birds. Sadly, our failure with crakes continued later on.

Red-crested Pochard - a fine duck!

Snipe with one of the many tarrapins there

Purple Golf-chicken (AKA Western Swamphen)

Black-headed Weaver - what a stunner!

We had a quick look at Lagoa de Almargem, where we had several Audouin's Gulls. Quality! Terrible light and heat haze...

After a quick lunch we headed over to Silves, and tried our luck with the Sora. It was still reported last week, so we had hopes that it stayed. But we arrived there in high tide which is not right to look for it, and indeed we did not find it. 

Our next stop was Portimão Harbour, where the American Herring Gull is or was. The individual we saw is not going anywhere with its terrible wings. It was hanging around with all the other miserable gulls in the gull-hospice of Portimão. So many missing wings, legs, feet, fingers etc. The broken gulls there reminded me of the broken toys scene in Toy Story.

This is not an easy gull. I need to do some homework on it, but I must say I feel uneasy with the ID of this specific individual as American Herring Gull. This individual has a thin red orbital ring; and the leg colour - I am not sure what it is. Not pink, not yellow, some non-descript colour. Is it the same individual that was identified in winter? I am not sure. It could be a Yellow-legged Gull. On the other hand, the wing pattern is identical (but what terrible accident happened to it since?). Is it possible that with maturity and breeding season hormones it developed some yellow bill and a thin red orbital ring? Need to see - there is an interesting discussion on this bird in the Euro Gull Facebook group.

Compare the wing pattern to the photo here - identical

Most other gulls were standard Yellow-legs, and quite a few intermedius / graellsii Lesser Black-backs:

Anyway, after we had enough of the morbid gull experience, we headed over to Lagoa dos Salgados that was fantastic. Highlight was a fine drake Ring-necked Duck that had been found a few days ago (my second in the WP), but there was lots more to see. The lagoon held several Audouin's Gulls and Collared Pratincoles, and the few minutes of seawatching produced a Balearic Shearwater, two Great Skuas and a late Razorbill.

Ring-necked Duck

Digiscoped attempt

We headed back to Silves for a last try, but the tide was still high and no joy for us. Then the drive back to Castro Verde, and back to the steppes. More on that soon.

Many thanks to Thijs and Bruno for their help and company - a superb day. Two or three WP ticks, if you count Cat C's - not bad?