Recuperation. Lazy birding at its best!

After being rushed to hospital on Friday evening to have my appendix removed I was told by the doctors to take a week to rest, but me being me I thought I'd turn my inability to get out birding on the patch or elsewhere into a little challenge and try for a few 'big days' from a comfy chair in the garden. Today was a particularly good day to do so, weather-wise, and I notched up a respectable 46 bird species.

The day got off to a good start as, no sooner had I got outside and set up my chair, the first garden Swallow for the year flew east, singing as it went.

A short while later an unmistakeable call alerted me to a Raven approaching from the direction of Blackheath. It then proceeded to soar over the garden for a couple of minutes along with the first Red Kite of the day before the two birds parted company and the Raven flew off high north. Only about my fifth garden record of this species.

Raven

Raven and Red Kite

The Red Kites kept coming throughout the day, with at least four birds involved, and two together chasing each other around low over the trees just after midday. Buzzards were up and about in good numbers too with a conservative count of six individuals seen during the day, including this strikingly pale bird.

Buzzard

Red Kite

Singles of Kestrel and Sparrowhawk completed the raptor tally for the day - sadly there wasn't to be another Osprey after the one which flew west yesterday afternoon!

Aside from a few Redpolls and Meadow Pipits over, things went rather quiet on the skywatching front in the middle of the day - not least because we were enjoying the company of some visiting family members - but my first garden Blackcap of the year was nice to hear. We were also treated to an unexpected flypast from two Apache gunships and a Chinook!

Incoming!

Pied Wagtail

As the sun began to go down a hot air balloon appeared from the west, causing much panic amongst the water birds on the large private lake across the fields from our house. Mandarin and Coot were heard and at least four Shoveler were flushed up and circled for several minutes. Tick! Number 88 on the garden bird list since August 2014. We'll likely be moving house before the summer is over but I'm still hopeful of reaching 90 at this rate before we leave.

Shoveler (honest!)

There was plenty of non-bird excitement too, with my first Holly Blue and Orange-tip for the year of particular note amongst regular flypasts of Brimstone, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Red Admiral. A Bee-fly made a brief appearance in the herb border at one point as did Common Carder Bee and Tree Bumblebee.

All in all, not a bad day considering I spent most of it sitting in one spot and, as the saying goes, tomorrow is another day!

A Berkshire outing

A drizzly Monday morning near Newbury might not sound like some people's idea of fun, but today I was a man on a mission.

Growing up near the Hampshire/Surrey border and only really getting into birding properly as the species vanished from its last remaining Surrey haunts, Willow Tit was never going to be an easy bird for me to find. I'd attended a ringing session at Rich Horton's brother's house in Forest Green several years ago where Rich had seen Willow Tit previously, but this attempt proved fruitless despite us playing a tape lure throughout the morning. And to be honest that was the only time I'd actively tried to find the species. It's bad I know but I just assumed I'd see one one day. As the years went by though I realised that simply wasn't going to happen and I was going to have to make a special trip if I wanted to catch up with this enigmatic and rapidly declining species.

As I'd worked on Sunday to help with a presentation my boss kindly said I could take Monday off in lieu. A rare day off in the week; I knew I had to get in some quality birding time, but where to go? The rarest bird within reasonable driving distance was the Pine Bunting in Little Murston, Kent, but having followed the reports it seems people have either been and dipped and said it's a miserable place, or been, waited four hours and seen the bird for a matter of seconds, and still said it's a miserable place. It didn't exactly fill me with enthusiasm. So another option sprang to mind - when better to finally catch up with a long overdue Willow Tit?

Ed Stubbs had mentioned Combe Wood in Berkshire to me last year and we'd talked about going a few times but not yet got round to it. So, with my mind made up and with a bit of help from Google Maps and Chris Burch I found the place, parked up and began walking up the hill towards the wood. The first thing that struck me about the habitat was how entirely unremarkable it was. The footpath followed a wooded corridor up the hill between farmland and eventually opened up into a larger patch of mixed woodland. There were areas of recently coppiced Hazel and grain feeders dotted about all over the place. Really the whole setting could have so easily been lifted out of any number of sites I've frequented in south-west Surrey.

The track up to Combe Wood

The weather wasn't exactly promising with fog and patchy drizzle on the drive down continuing on and off all morning. The visibility only got worse as I clambered up the footpath, the moisture dripping off the trees all around me as I tried not to slip over. Still, there were clearly good numbers of birds around. All the common Tits, along with scatterings of thrushes and finches and, of course, a lot of Pheasants. At one point I flushed a decent-sized covey of Red-legged Partridge from near the footpath and later heard one singing: a year tick! But not the bird I was after today. As the footpath dropped down into Combe Wood proper I began hearing the odd Marsh Tit call. Promising. I'm always reluctant to use tape lures but I knew I might have to here if I was going to find the target species, so gave it a go. A couple of Marsh Tits seemed to show interest but no Willows. Further down the path and a loud 'wuf wuf wuf' alerted me to a Raven flying low overhead just above the treetops which, combined with the increasing murk and total absence of any other people since I arrived, only added to the rather horror movie ambience. A little further along still and the wood opened into a clearing and two more Ravens flew out of a tree ahead of me. Clearly this species is doing well around here as are Red Kites of which I also saw and heard several.

I sensed at this point that I'd walked too far. I managed to get enough phone signal to check Google Maps which indeed told me I'd nearly gone all the way through the wood so I turned round and headed back up the hill with a view to stopping somewhere and hoping the Willow Tits would come to me. Still, I'd been walking for over an hour now and with the rain getting steadier I'd be lying if I said my hopes were not fading a little. I walked up the hill at a slightly brisker pace than I'd descended and surprised myself how quickly I emerged on the other side of the wood again. I was just considering my options as I wiped the rain off my bins and wondering whether to write the whole thing off and come back on a better day when...
That unmistakeable scolding 'chay chay chay': Willow Tit! 'YES!', I said out loud (thankfully there was still nobody in sight). Just the one bird but it was enough for me. For around a quarter of an hour I watched it flitting about, sometimes losing it altogether for a few moments in the brambles. Ravens were cronking around the whole time as I revelled in watching the bird and tried to take a few photos. The irony of blocking out their calls as I strained to keep track of a single Willow Tit was not lost on me and I couldn't help but wonder what a birder from 50 years or so ago might make of it all were they somehow transported to this exact moment. As the bird again disappeared into denser vegetation I decided to leave it in peace and head back to my car. I hoped I might run into another on the way back down the hill as the weather was showing signs of brightening a little, but no such luck. Still, I was delighted to have finally connected with Willow Tit. Whatever other species I might see to take me to my target of 300 on my UK list by the end of 2017, this one will certainly last in the memory for a long time.

Shalford patch diary and local round-up, late November

Just the three patch visits since my previous blog post, these likely to be my last of this month as the shorter daylight hours and other commitments impinge on birding time.

 13th November

A mid-morning visit with my girlfriend, primarily to carry out this month's WeBS count. I have now taken over the WeBS counting at Shalford and Broadford from Charlotte Gray in addition to the count I've been doing at Winkworth Arboretum for a couple of years.

Winkworth was exceptionally quiet this morning with just three Mandarin Ducks and a calling Water Rail of note. After a failed attempt to twitch Ed Stubbs' Red-crested Pochard at nearby Bramley Park Lake we headed for the patch. The continued lack of water meant wildfowl numbers were still disappointing with fifteen Teal at Broadford Pond the best I could muster, in addition to two at St Catherine's Pool. Away from the water birds, the highlights were a single male Stonechat. two Meadow Pipits, two Kestrels, two Grey Wagtails and one each of Kestrel and Chiffchaff.

Treecreeper

18th November

A rare week day off saw me spend a very enjoyable five hours on patch notching up a respectable 49 species in the late autumn sunshine. I started the day with a couple of hours sky watching from St Catherine's Hill which produced a scattering of Redwings, 41 Common Gulls south, 110 Herring Gulls (mostly south) and 860 Black-headed Gulls south. Small parties of Siskins passed by but most impressive was the roost flock of at least 70 which exploded from the Alders beneath the hill early morning. Another smaller flock near St Catherine's Lock contained at least two Redpoll but these were unfortunately flushed by a jogger before I could get a proper look at them.

Nuthatch

 Other highlights from the morning included at least four Chiffchaffs, a pair of Stonechats at St Catherine's Lock and two Snipe which flew up from Broadford Marsh. 

Raptors were represented by three Kestrels, at least one Buzzard and a Sparrowhawk which chased a Song Thrush very close past me near Ferry Lane.

25th November

Another Friday off and I was able to squeeze in a couple of hours on the patch before heading to Gloucestershire for the weekend. Again the sun shone and produced some wonderful viewing conditions for certain birds, but in other instances the strong light proved a hindrance. At around 9:30 I looked up to see an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull drifting north over Broom Meadow - my only one of the day. As I watched it another bird caught my eye much higher up, flying south. Getting bins on it I could see it was an Egret but it was still very distant and fast disappearing into the glare of the sun. The general impression was of a compact bird with short legs and rather short rounded wings. When it did re-emerge from the sun's glare it was much more distant and flying directly away from me on flicky, rather fast wingbeats. Little Egrets are of course a common sight locally in winter but I couldn't honestly say I got enough on this particular individual to entirely rule out Cattle Egret. That said, there were two Little Egrets at the Lammas Lands in Godalming later in the morning. One that got away.

One noticeable change since my previous visit was the big increase in standing water thanks to some fairly substantial rainfall in the past week. It's good to see some of the long dried-up pools rise from the ashes, as it were. Unfortunately there hasn't as yet been the hoped for increase in water birds, with just six Teal and single drakes of Shoveler and Mandarin of note. The marshy area near Dagley Lane Allotments harboured at least three Grey Wagtails. While I was checking this area a female Ring-necked Parakeet screeched north overhead - such a common sound at my workplace in West Clandon that it took me a moment to realise this was only my second record of this species at Shalford in 2016. 

St Catherine's Pool - topped up but bird-less!

Other highlights from the morning included three Stonechats in St Catherine's Meadow, a Red Kite which drifted west, six Egyptian Geese north, 120 Starling west, 45+ Fieldfares north/north-east and at least 30 Redwings around. 

Away from the patch I notched up my 87th garden tick in the form of a heard-only Brambling over my Chilworth garden in the fog early on the 23rd, following on shortly from a flyover Little Egret and seven Mandarins. 

On the 19th I paid another visit to Albury Sandpit with fellow surveyor Dave, where we had a reasonably productive morning in beautiful crisp sunshine. Five Skylarks and at least eighteen Meadow Pipits were feeding on the ridge, favouring the sunny south side, along with a Yellowhammer and at least two Bullfinches. Plenty of gulls passed overhead including an adult Lesser Black-backed which flew north and a 3rd year Great Black-backed which flew south-east.

Albury Sandpit

Shalford patch diary, weeks ten and eleven

Monday 7th March

After an enjoyable but rather quiet morning vis migging at Leith Hill I headed down to the patch for an extended afternoon visit. Entering from the Broadford Bridge end I had barely walked more than a few metres before I noticed a few gulls drifting over. Nothing particularly unusual there, except that was for one which even with the naked eye stood out with its pure white primaries gleaming in the sunshine. A quick look through bins confirmed my suspicions that it was an adult Mediterranean Gull. Unfortunately no sooner had I got my camera out and ready the bird had gained height and was disappearing fast to the north-east. Still a great addition to the patch list and a great start to the afternoon! It proved to be quite a gull-filled visit, with over 170 Common Gulls north later in the day, amongst the usual hundreds of Black-headeds, at least twenty Herring and five Lesser Black-backed.

Lots of Gulls!

On the Railway Pool there were four Teal and a Little Egret, while St Catherine's Pool held eight Teal and a pair of Shoveler. Just north of St Catherine's Lock I flushed a Water Rail from the reeds as I passed. The usual pair of Kestrels were still around, while two single Red Kites flew over (or possibly the same bird) - one north-east followed by one west a while later. Other raptors were at least two Buzzards and a male Sparrowhawk which flew over carrying prey. Meanwhile a Raven drifted into the patch airspace from the west for a moment before turning and heading back the same way. There were at least fifteen Rooks around, including a pair mating in St Catherine's Meadow, west of the lock (I'll put an annotated map on here one of these days). All in all not a bad afternoon - patch birding at its best!

Kestrel

Friday 11th March

The best thing about this time of year is surely the ever-lengthening evenings and, thanks to still being on winter working hours, I can now easily get in a couple of hours' birding after work. After one of the mildest days of the year so far, the patch was still thronging with birdsong when I arrived.

Blackbird singing

The rain earlier in the week had had a noticeable impact on the water levels, with the southern end of the meadows mostly flooded again although thankfully not enough to prevent access via the boardwalk. Indeed, amongst the first birds I saw this evening were a few Teal out on the flood here, along with two on the Railway Pool and at least fifteen on Broadford Marsh, viewed from Railway Line Walk. Other wildfowl of note were at least five Shoveler, and two Mandarin which flew over St Catherine's Pool and two more (or possibly the same two) which flew down into Broadford Marsh a while later. Pausing a while at St Catherine's Lock I noted a singing male Grey Wagtail and a Little Egret, the latter perched in a tree a little way along the river towards Guildford. Meanwhile there was a Little Owl in the usual tree just upstream from St Catherine's Lock on the west side of the navigation.

Grey Wagtail - Richard Waters 

Cuckooflower - considerably ahead of its avian namesake

Saturday 12th March

A well-timed late morning visit after the early fog had cleared saw the meadows bathed in warming sunshine, and the birds were clearly responding in kind: Reed Buntings were singing, along with a few of the many Redwings gathering along the Railway Line Walk, and a Carrion Crow was building a nest in an Oak along the eastern boundary. The Chiffchaff I'd earlier seen skulking through the undergrowth by the river when I first arrived was singing away at the top of a Willow as I walked back to my car. Always a sound to lift the spirits at this time of year, even though this species is increasingly overwintering in Britain and isn't quite the harbinger of spring it once was. The other surprise this morning was another patch tick in the form of a male Rose-ringed Parakeet along the river just north-east of St Catherine's Lock. After a few minutes of nibbling at the buds in this Ash it flew off south, screeching as it went.

Rose-ringed Parakeet

I was unfortunately not quick enough with my camera to capture the leucistic Goldfinch I stumbled across feeding on Burdock seedheads along the Railway Line Walk. Had it not been with a small flock of Goldfinches it would have really had me stumped. Indeed, when I first caught sight of it, all black and white with a gleaming white head, thoughts of recent UK occurrences of Northern Long-tailed Tit flashed into my head! Other highlights from today's visit included Little Egret, Firecrest, Red Kite, Sparrowhawk, two Buzzard, a flyover Redpoll and at least twenty Teal.

Goldfinch

Red Kite

Sunday 13th March

Just a flying post-work visit tonight produced at least three Reed Buntings, two Buzzards, the usual Kestrel pair, five Cormorants north and a single Egyptian Goose south. Richard Waters arrived around about the time I was heading home and manged to photograph a Barn Owl.

Cormorant (and Common Gull)

Barn Owl - Richard Waters

Monday 14th March

The north-easterly really had some bite to it when I arrived on the patch after work this evening and unsurprisingly there wasn't a huge amount of bird activity going on, most things sensibly hunkered down out of the wind. Of note though were a couple of Mandarin and a high count of fourteen Shoveler at Broadford, plus a couple of Buzzards lingering over the trees near the railway line and getting mobbed by the local corvids.

Treecreeper - Richard Waters

Thursday 17th March

Having enjoyed the sunshine all day at work and seen my first Brimstone and Small Tortoiseshell of the year earlier in the day, I was feeling decidedly optimistic and full of the joys of spring when I arrived at Shalford. Entering the gate into Broom Meadow one of the first bird sounds I heard was Linnet, a common enough species but one which has thus far been only an occasional flyover for me here, so it was a surprise to find a little 'fall' of sorts, with at least half a dozen or so flitting about the gorse and broom bushes, and a couple of singing males perched higher in the trees. It struck me then that I hadn't seen any sign of a Stonechat here for a couple of weeks - sometimes migration is as evident by that which is no longer present as that which has newly arrived.

Looking south towards St Catherine's Lock

Other species of note from this evening's visit were four Teal, two Mandarin, two Shoveler, two Little Grebe and the now usual Little Owl in its favourite Oak between the navigation and the railway. Moving overhead were at least sixteen Common Gulls, two Lesser Black-backed Gulls and four Cormorants north and two Egyptian Geese south. As I returned to my car via the boardwalk I counted at least twenty-three Magpies gathering to roost at the southern end of the meadows. I'm not sure the nursery rhyme goes up to twenty-three?!

Magpie

Friday 18th March

A very, very, very, very cold Leith Hill tower migration watch kick-started the day, with only twenty or so Crossbills of any real note amongst the murk and drizzle. Slowly regaining sensation in our toes and fingers, Ed Stubbs and I decided to head for our respective patches, beginning with a couple of hours at Shalford. Amongst the first birds we saw was a showy Firecrest in the line of hollies along the eastern boundary. Out in Broom Meadow there were three Kestrels and at least two singing Reed Buntings, while our first Little Egret of the day flew south-west over St Catherine's Hill. We later noted another in the ditch running under the railway bridge and a probable third towards the back of the Railway Pool. The regular Little Owl was again in its usual tree, while wildfowl of note were at least twenty Teal, a dozen Shoveler and two Mandarin.

Drake Mandarin

Saturday 19th March

The twelfth straight day of north-easterlies and hope for a sudden fall of migrants was at a particularly low ebb as I made my way to the patch this morning. My optimism was buoyed somewhat though as I entered the gate into the meadows only to be greeted by the sight of a Chiffchaff flitting about in an Oak here, singing occasionally. I later noted another doing the same further west near the Riff Raff weir. Spring is proving slow to spring again this year but at least it's getting there!

Chiffchaff

Other highlights from this morning included at least fifty Redwings out in the horse field along the Railway Line Walk, the usual Little Owl, twenty-five Common Gulls and a Red Kite north and at least eighteen Teal and four Mandarin about the place.

Pheasant walking the line

Sunday 20th March

The first day of spring unfortunately brought no break in the weather as the cold wind continued to keep the temperatures down. It was a decent morning on the patch though, in spite of the unwelcoming conditions. There were again two Chiffchaffs singing occasionally, and there was a great deal of chatter from the assembled four dozen or more Redwings down the Railway Line Walk - they won't be with us much longer now. Common Gulls were drifting north almost continuously during my visit, interspersed only occasionally with a Black-headed. Teal numbers were particularly high, with at least nineteen on St Catherine's Pool alone, bringing the site total to at least thirty-four - by far my highest count of this species here to date.

Drake Teal

The Little Owl was showing well in its usual tree for me, but Richard Waters later managed to get a photo of two together which was great to see, especially as lengthsman Rob tells me they haven't bred here for a number of years. Richard also had a flyover Little Egret during his visit. Raptors were represented by at least one Sparrowhawk, four Buzzards and a female Kestrel. Gulls aside, there was just the slightest hint of some visible migration going on overhead, with a single Meadow Pipit north, two Linnets east and two Lapwing south - the latter a very welcome patch tick.

Kestrel 

Little Egret - Richard Waters

Little Owl - Richard Waters

Little Owls - Richard Waters

Little Owl - Richard Waters