Morden Hall Park and current British birding, 31th January 2018

On Sunday I did my first session with the 'Urban Rangers' group at Morden Hall Park in the morning, where we sorted out the tools they had and learnt how to maintain them as part of future conservation work - similar to what I did in Dorset in October. It was a good first session, with the next one in just under a month's time due to half term. Afterwards, I had a quick spin around the patch and a single Water Rail in the border between areas [8/9,] 2 Grey Wagtail, 1 Little Egret, 1 Little Grebe, 1 Kestrel, Cetti's Warbler in area [9,] 7 Fieldfare and 3 Nuthatch the highlights. I've got a camera back, though not the one I've been using since 2015 (Canon SX60 HS,) but an old Pentax DSLR model the Pentax kx. I'm hoping to get a new lens for it, as I would like to take some better pictures. If anyone has recommendations please let me know.

Throughout Britain, the last few weeks has been pretty good for birds. 

Just as Steve Gale predicted a month or two ago, the Hawfinch invasion has picked up in strength and more birds seem to be arriving, with charms of them now arriving in much larger numbers - in Surrey groups of 70 and 40 have been counted in places like Juniper Top/Bottom and Guildford. Unbelievably he also had 200, an incredible number to see in one go. Though I've seen individuals and pairs this autumn I'm yet to see a big group, and am keen to find one - maybe even on the patch.

Rare birds have picked up too. That Stilt Sandpiper in Dorset is still moving along the coast, no longer at Arne or Poole Harbour. The American Horned Lark (or Shorelark subspecies?) has returned to Staines Reservoirs after an absence of nearly 2 months - this brings into question which reservoir or reserve has it been at over Christmas? Which birder has missed the bird at their own patch? Or was it just hiding on the furthest parts of Staines, which the birders there couldn't see? Who knows...

These two birds are both ones I'd like to see, as well as 2 other species that have been seen in the vice-county. That is the Parrot Crossbills at Wishmore Bottom, though I've never even seen Common Crossbills perched, and the Little Bunting at Walthamstowe Marshes. Both are quite far and considering I don't really have spare time to go on twitches for obvious reasons, so I'll have to settle for local birds. For now. 

Next weekend I'm heading to Brownsea Island with the Urban Rangers, and that should be good fun and should definitely produce some good birds - I'm pretty sure I can find myself either a good wader if not a Black-necked Grebe, diver sp, Merganser or a nice gull! Having never seen a diver or rarer grebe, that be my target!

Beddington Farmlands - Twite Twitch #2, 27th January 2018

I finally got the opportunity to go to Beddington again today for another dig at the Twite with a small company led by David ("Devilbirder") Campbell. When we eventually got in, we headed straight over to the tip. On the way there, 4 Snipe flew onto the North Lake, (probably because of the active f Kestrel) and a Song thrush was also noted.

When we reached the tip, the Twite was immediately found by David, but within seconds it had flown off again. Bit of a surprising start. We hung about in that same spot for 20 mins or so, but with it not reappearing and very little else but a fair few Reed Bunting and Mipits around were seen. So we decided to head southwards along the tip, when David suddenly came to a stop and lifted his bins, looking towards the perimeter fence. In other words it was a signal for us to stop. Then he said something unexpected and to me, quite exciting. 'There's a Dartford Warbler!' It took me a little while to get onto it, but there it was, flitting around in the thick grassy/reedy area just below the fence, staying fairly well-hidden but enough to show the reddish breast and red eye-ring. Having not been seen for a couple of months it was a welcome surprise, and I've finally got that bird. One bogey bird complete! As I'm still camera-less, I still didn't get the opportunity to get a picture, so that one will have to wait. 

We carried on walking, following the Linnets around for a little bit, with what seemed like an endless supply of gulls filling the sky, tip and lakes. Then a pair of Tree Sparrow hopped onto the fence, just 2 of the remaining 5; another lifer for me, so already a double victory. I got a distance picture through my phone, though pretty woeful. 

We walked along a bit more, though nothing more was found. Then David heard the bird call and land nearby on the tip. The scopes came out and then it was found by one birder, with everyone but me seeing it clearly. Just as I got onto it through a birder's scope, adjusting the focus, I watched it hop onto a rock then fly off, allowing me a 1 second ground view and 10 second flight view. And that was it. Sadly we never found it again after another hour of searching. Nonetheless I saw it, whether a quality view or not, and it was enough to see the pink ring and rump. Hopefully if it hangs around for another month I might sneak in for a better look, but either way I can't say that the Twite Twitch #2 was unsuccessful.

Besides that, an adult Glaucous Gull had been found, and Devilbirder had seen a Caspian before we arrived. Skylarks were present in good numbers, and 2 Rook, 2 Little Egret and 2 Cetti's Warblers ended the visit. 

Thanks to David for organising the trip. Hopefully I can come again in the coming weeks, and try and see anything else that turns up, and get another view of the Twite. 

With a variety of rarities turning up at the moment, like the return of the American Horned Lark at Staines, it feels like something big might turn up at the farmlands - whether it be a Little or Lapland bunting, or maybe even a wader or other passerine, like a lark. No reason why the Horned Lark can't take a day trip...

Hornbills or House Sparrows?

Here I am, gutted to have missed the Twite Twitch today at Beddington, at home thinking of wildlife, hoping that something interesting is going to come and sit on my windowsill tomorrow morning in the horrible weather. 

As most trips I've been on have been close to home, generally the birds I see are quite similar to what I see in my home country. 

However, there are 2 exceptions. 
One is India (2012-13) where I spent nearly a month visiting relatives in Kolkata in the North and then a short break to Kerala in the south. That was a great trip, and was the second year of my birding life, so I didn't know much., though we were fortunate enough to see some good birds. 

The most incredible experience though was in the summer of 2015, where I spent 10 days on an island off Malaysia, called Pulau Langkawi.

I arguably had the time of my life, and over the 10 days managed to see c.80 species, since the island was largely inaccessible in such a short time. 

I was fortunate to see some incredible birds. Since nearly every bird I saw was quite brilliant, I'll only name a few. The iconic Great Hornbill was seen on two occasions, as were the other Hornbill species. Black-throated Sunbirds, White-bellied Sea Eagles and numerous Kingfisher species were all seen from the incredible resort of Four Seasons. Other highlights included Crimson Sunbirds, Greater Flamebacks and the endemic Brown-winged Kingfisher, and I can't forget the Brahminy Kites (all which made me wish that such exotic birds were seen back in England!)

Not only was it the birds that made the visit so great. While at the resort and the island, I was shown the wildlife by naturalists and birders Aidi, Farook and Annuar. I still remember everything I saw so well, as although I'm unlikely to visit any time soon - unfortunately - they gave me great experiences, and found the Hornbills and many other species for me, as well as the Monitor Lizards which stalked the huts at times. Finally seeing a Racket-tailed Drongo after being unsuccessful in India was a relief.

The most important bird to me, supposedly, is my profile picture for Google, (probably the first decent bird picture I took,) of a Black-naped Oriole seen outside the resort. 

If only some of these exotic birds were seen in England, along with the birds that I can never get enough of. I must have seen Grey Wagtail and Sparrowhawk and House Sparrow hundreds, if not thousands of times now, but everytime I see one I always feel quite content.

Among the usual words this week like 'revision' and 'yawn' one of the automatic words that come up now on my phone when typing on WhatsApp is 'Twite.' I'm glad to hear that David Campbell's organised twitch today was successful, and more people managed to see it. Before it heads off back to Derbyshire, I hope I can get a good sight of it. 

Here are some of my favourite pictures from that trip.

Collared Kingfisher -
For a while, nobody knew what it was as the beak looked oddly flat, and it was causing confusion among birders, but then it was easily found to be a Collared Kingfisher. My sister had even prepared a number of names in case we had found a new species :) Nonetheless it was the first time that Aidi had heard of them fishing on the beach, so was quite pleasing for me.

Black-naped Oriole

Great Hornbill

Crimson Sunbird- I got the less bright one!

Purple Swamphen - if you recognise this, perhaps Minsmere 2016?

Water Monitor

Greater Flameback pair

Little Heron

Danaus melanippus? Nice butterfly anyway.

Asian Glossy Starling juv

Blowing Cobwebs away, Morden Hall Park, 13th January 2018

2018 has started off quite nicely. Wilson's School playing fields has had a steady number of 200-500 gulls everyday for the last week and a half, and on the 10th a Yellow-legged Gull I'm 85% sure it was - flew over my head at 1ish and flew towards Beddington. On the same morning 5 Siskin and a Hawfinch flew onto Roundshaw Downs.

I have had a lot of work to do in the past few weeks and today I needed to go for a walk to 'blow some cobwebs away' and try and free my mind a bit. Since I'm not very fond of spiders I didn't actually blow any cobwebs away, although a troublesome False Widow spider is still living on my windowsill! 

So I went to Morden Hall for a quick hour, and the sun was out. It was a nice surprise to be greeted by a family of 5 GSWs drumming away near the boardwalk, the loudest I'd ever heard them. I was then absolutely ridiculed by Chiffchaff which was singing near the river - something I'd never heard before in January. Yes, I'm not the most experienced birder but I can reassure all readers that it was singing! Either way, 3 Water Rails were heard today all in the same areas as before. One was calling loudly 10m or so diagonally left of the viewing platform. Other than that all was quiet, besides a hunting Kestrel, 2(-1) Wood Mice, 1 Little Egret and a Grey Wagtail.

The marshy side of the reedbeds is looking really good, like a small area of the marsh at WWT Barnes. I reckon, with a bit of effort, a Snipe or even a Jack Snipe could be found in the coming months. 

On the way back we passed Carshalton Ponds, and a Grey Wagtail, c.70 Black-headed Gulls, c. 20 Herring Gulls and a mix of LBBs and Commons made up the rest- with a few left unidentified. 

The camera is still being repaired, and with an old model of a Pentax also in for repairs it may finally be time for an upgrade...

Roundshaw Downs - Weirdo! 8th January 2018

Today was a pretty horrible day. The weather was gloomy, which meant that I had a lovely cross country run in the afternoon. However, it was arguably the first time I wasn't too worried about it; not just because it wasn't actually raining, but also because it's the only time of year that I go to Roundshaw Downs. The only problem is that there were lots of other students and teachers, so I obviously couldn't have binoculars dangling down my neck.

Either way, at 14:30ish we set off and it started off well. c. 30 Redwings, disturbed by a group of raucous runners, set off from some berry trees, as did 15 or so Common Gulls from the fields. My biggest hope was to spook a Woodcock from the long grass - very optimistic, and it obviously never happened. 

However, the highlight was a Firecrest which was calling from a group of Long-tailed Tits and Goldcrests. I stopped to admire its bright colours for a few seconds, although from about 15m away. I was then dragged on by an impatient friend. It was unexpected so pleasing, but I still haven't had a good view or got a good picture of one yet. After that it was all quiet, except a single Skylark in the old airfield. Either way, considering it was just a bit of birding whilst running, it was quite good, despite having lots of people shaking their head or saying some nice descriptions like 'Bloody weirdo' as I walked past, which I actually quite like to be honest!

I haven't had the camera for a few weeks now, and I'm starting to get more and more impatient with birding, with the Twite showing even better than before and some Parrot Crossbills showing really well on the Surrey border. Though I've got no chance of seeing the PC's, the Twite, Iceland and Caspian Gulls are the ones I'm really hoping for this winter.

As soon as I'm free in 3 weeks I know where I'll be trying to go, if I get let in of course!

Meanwhile, the garden list has grown again, incredibly reaching its 49th sighting, as a pair of Chaffinch finally came into the 'recording area.' Oddly, though Goshawk and Osprey are on the list, Kestrel and Green Woodpecker aren't.  

RHS Wisley, 30th December 2017

Although previously promised that the 30th was reserved for me to choose where to go for a walk, we had to go to RHS Wisley - I was annoyed primarily because I was certain that my choice of Box Hill would be more rewarding, and I would be able to get a last minute 2017 Marsh Tit. However, since the camera is in for repairs at the moment it was fine, as there was nothing really photo worthy at Wisley.

Anyhow, when we arrived there were 6 Siskins and a redpoll sp. feeding in an alder in the car park. The last time I'd got good views of Siskins were in the Peak District last winter, so it was probably the highlight of the trip. 

Outside the main restaurant cafe, there were 45 or so Redwing feeding on the ground. I heard a few Fieldfare, but didn't see them. 

There was a Grey Heron and 2 Grey Wagtails along the river, and from the birdhide there were tons of small birds, Nuthatches and 5 Siskins more were feeding high in the trees in a Goldfinch group.

I found that what I thought was digiscope kit wasn't, but was actually an attachable 10x lens for my phone. So I just took a few pictures with my phone and new phone lens, which were all pretty bad.

Besides that there was a fine 1w male Pheasant on the base of the feeders, and a Treecreeper sidling around a tree.

That's it for 2017 then. 
As I've written this a few days late, I would lile to wish everyone a Happy New (birding) Year. 

Coal Tit

Etc.