Looking back and looking forward to.... Autumn

I know Autumn and Spring are the key rarity finding seasons of the birding year, but Autumn really is the most exciting for me. Over recent years things have changed somewhat at home (and are set to change again very soon with our new arrival due in Nov ), so I know that I'm not going to be able to get to see everything. It's just that most days you get a MEGA alert come through on the pager, quite often more than one a day, and with the magical beeps comes the excitement of something amazing from the East or even better, something from the West, namely America. Although we tend to get more records of the commoner species like Swainsons and Grey Cheeked Thrushes, Blackpolls and Myrtle Warblers, there's always the chance of something really special, like another of these little beauties turning up...

Or it's about time I caught up with one of these and unblocked it from Dad so this would do for starters, preferrably on the east coast, on a weekday, no crowds and all that!!

Desperate times...

...call for desperate measures!!!

With the disappearance of last nights Spotted Crake at North Cave Wetlands, came news this morning of one of the commoner birds I need for Yorkshire. With a busy morning ahead swimming with Amy, we took a short drive out after lunch.

Parking at the far end of the lane, we walked straight towards Far Lake where this morning's report came from, but stopping on the way, I scanned through the scattering of ducks on Carp Lake and picked out the 3 Red crested Pochards (243) (2 eclipse drakes and a female).

You can just about make out the red bills on the 2 males - honestly!!

Amy checking for any other additions to her list!!!



A bird in the hand...

To cheer you up through the summer quiet period, click the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=EUEZkwJulBY

Marsh Sand at Blacktoft RSPB

Reading through posts on Bird Forum this morning before Amy's walk to school, I felt a change of plans to the day ahead was imminent. The Marsh Sand was at Alkborough Flats, Lincs, last night and it had been commented on that it could move north over the Humber/Trent to Blacktoft RSPB. Just as I got back from taking Amy to school, the pager went off, "Marsh Sand - Blacktoft RSPB at 9am".

After a quick trip to the other side of Hull for some work stuff, I made the short trip along to Blacktoft, arriving just after 11am. The bird was immediately on view at the back of the Ousefleet Lagoon, often in the same scope view as a Spotted Redshank and Dunlin, with several Bearded Tits feeding at the base of the reeds behind.

I hadn't seen a Marsh Sand since the flock of 3 at Cantley Beet Factory back in 1995 so glad I made the trip and it was another addition to the Yorkshire list. The end of year target of 275 seems a long way off with the summer ahead, just hoping for a decent autumn.

What a read!!!

A few weeks ago, we were awoken with a thud onto the door mat. I knew what it was before we even opened the packaging, "The Birds of Yorkshire - John Mather". I'd been searching online for a while for a copy and had had no luck, the local library only had a reference copy and therefore you weren't aloowed to take it home!! Then I found a copy of it on Amazon for £4!!! Alright, so it's not in mint condition but it's 25 years old, so the odd scuffed corner can be forgiven.

I've always enjoyed scanning through books like this and it's one that I'm sure I'll come back to time and time again. One of my most read bird reference books has to be "Rare Birds in Britain 1800-1990 - LGR Evans". This was then updated with "Rare Birds Where and When (Vol.1) - Russell Slack" in 2009, looking forward to Volume 2 when that's published.

There's some great old pictures in the book, Yellow Billed Cuckoo at Spurn in 1978, Song Sparrow at the obs in 1964 and of course this little beauty......

With a run of 12 records out of 20 nationally being in the county, during the nineteenth century and a further 3 during the 1900s, it got me thinking, when will we get our next record? Must be due, surely.

So this is what it should look like

After yesterday's post including my feeble attempt at digi-scoping whilst balancing Amy on one arm and the camera in the other, here's a slightly better attempt from Jim Lawrence.

White-Throated Robin - Hartlepool  (Jim Lawrence)

Check out this video on the RBA website of it in the hand, wouldn't have minded being there when the penny dropped.

At least we didn't have to resort to these measures to get the bird!

Teacher Training Days - Aaaaggghhh!!!

That's normally what we say in our house, followed by "Why can't they just fit the training in sometime during the fifteen week long summer holidays (ok, so I might have exaggerated that last bit!!). Today, though, that was all set to change.

This was how it all started:

08.07am
Cleveland Red Flanked Bluetail Hartlepool Headland - trapped and ringed

08.34am
MEGA -  Cleveland White Throated Robin Hartlepool Headland - trapped and ringed (not Red Flanked Bluetail)

And that was that. Plans were being formulated in my head, a leisurely Daddy and Amy day was put on hold, swimming was cancelled and Amy was up for the twitch!! She grabbed her pink Mothercare bins and was ready. Only slight problem was that we were both still in our pyjamas, hadn't had a wash or a shave (me not Amy!) and we were still in need of breakfast. Luckily Liz was on hand to get Amy dressed and washed while I did the same and loaded the car, with everything I might need to entertain Amy during the journey north; DVD player, books, toys, crisps, drinks and biscuits - I remember the days when I could be out of the door within 5 minutes of a MEGA breaking, not any more!

Within an hour of the MEGA alert going off on the phone we were on our way and the usual worrying started, would it be seen again after release, would it stick around until I arrived, would the photographers do their best to flush it, plus this time, as with any twitch with Amy, would the site be accessible for her and would she get bored and start screaming, that would go down really well!!!

A very low flying Red Kite was nice as we drove up the A1, but we were setting our sights slightly higher today.

Well, by 11.30, we were on site and all of my fears were dismissed, Amy was a star and behaved well throughout our stay and even managed to make her own field notes of the key features!

The bird showed really well at times, often out in the open on the short turf bordering the inner bowling green, and always better than the pictures below might suggest!!

(Ok, so they won't win any prizes, but I was holding Amy up at the same time as the camera to the scope)

Finally I'd connected with another MEGA in the north-east, having dipped the Eastern Crowned Warbler and the Glaucous Winged Gull and I'd even managed to see it before any of the Norfolk "Big Boys", now that really is something that doesn't happen very often!

It seems that viewing conditions have got a bit worse since we were there, with photos appearing of people standing on van roofs and climbing ladders to see into the Doctor's walled garden, I'm guessing no scope views then!

As always, good luck to everyone going tomorrow.