Winterstoke surprise

The chance to walk down to the harbour was gratefully accepted and an appearance by the sun, was an added bonus. Nothing particularly notable along my route, although there were 15+ Redwing in King George VI Park - looking rather dapper in the bright sunlight. Fulmars were on their regular patrol duties long the cliffs and off shore was a huge (3000+) gathering of gulls, the vast majority of them being Commons heading slowly into the brisk northerly. Onward to the harbour, where I was rewarded with a couple of Rock Pipit, 4 Shag, 2 Ringed Plover, 7 Cormorant and the regular assortment of Black-headed, Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls plus the bonus of a Kingfisher on the slipway of the A&P shipyard (as was!). My walk back along the beach was enlivened by the discovery of a female-type Black Redstart. It was along the coastal path, close to the scaffolding below King George VI Park. It seemed quite settled, yet never particularly cooperative. With the sun hidden behind the cliffs, ISO 800 was required with the resultant grainy image, but at least I got my photo!

Can't win 'em all

It's cold, the weather is lousy; with a NE wind blowing clouds across the night sky and it's a Monday! The forecasters are warning of a return to the freezing conditions of early January, although we will probably be spared the snow fueled chaos of that particular period. I'm sat here, having been scanning the recent postings, on the web, and would like to welcome Barry Hunt to the sordid world of Thanet Birding Blogs - he has just started the "Cliftonville Birder" blog and is much more likely to provide news of scarce visitors to the Foreness/North Foreland area than I am, he also takes a fair photo, so the blog should be worth sticking into your "favourites" folder.

When not on the Internet, I spend a lot of my time going back through some of my older images in a half-hearted attempt to make order from the jumbled folders that constitute my portfolio. Every so often I stumble across a long forgotten image which causes me to side track and delve into my library - books are so much more rewarding than the instant info available on the web, plus they are much nicer to look at than a stack of CD's/DVD's. One such bird, which I did publicise at the time, yet didn't attract any interest was a rather strange Phylloscopus warbler that was found in the area of the Minster water treatment works by Don Wilks in April 2006. Not much to look at, my digi-scoped image being slightly out of focus, it was the song that attracted the attention. Marcus Lawson coining the phrase "mixed singer" when in correspondence - my own research led me to believe that this individual was a hybrid between Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler. Both songs being delivered in impeccable fashion, but never completed as the bird would switch between one and the other. It was equally happy to start as a Chiff and finish as a Willow Warbler and vice versa. Looking at the image does support this hypothesis, yet the true id will never be known as the bird ceased singing in June 2006 and didn't reappear in Spring 2007. The Dutch Birding website has several recordings of "mixed singers" (id'd as hybrid Chiff x Willow) that are very similar to the Minster bird. The 2nd mystery bird is one that I found in NE Greece in May 2009. I did attempt to get some feedback via Planetthanet, yet again, failing to get much interest. The circumstances behind this sighting are quite significant as they may account for the apparent colouration/appearance of the plumage. It was flushed from the roadside where it was either bathing or had been forced down, by a torrential thunderstorm. Either way it was very wet! Several birders have made suggestions involving various shrike species, my own feeling, having actually witnessed the bird, is that it is a bunting? There is a hint of a pale median crown-stripe, bordered by a darker lateral crown-stripe. The lack of the typical shrike "bandit mask" plus the fact that I had seen several thousand Red-backed Shrikes, during the period of this sighting, makes me sure that it isn't a shrike, hybrid or otherwise - the forked tail, with white outer feathers is also more akin to a bunting than a shrike plus it didn't strike me as being particularly large. So that's another little conundrum that will go unsolved, part of birding's rich tapestry of experience. My final image is of another strange bird, this time one I was able to id - eventually. The leucistic female Red-backed Shrike was found in the early morning, looking directly into the rising sun. I spent an adrenalin fueled few minutes trying to get into a decent position to get some images - which I finally did. In the mean time three or four male Red-backed Shrikes (newly arrived migrants) were frantically calling and bowing in display as they tried to attract the attention of this strangely patterned individual. If the males had not been around would I have been so confident with this id - I'm not so sure?

Doing a Hollyer?

I must be getting old! Yesterday, I spent the best part of the afternoon & evening putting together and fixing a new set of bookcases for my study area. I knew that I ached a bit when I went to bed, this morning I just hurt! Therefore, I opted for a session at Grove Ferry, sat in the David Feast Hide - just like my old mate "Jolly" John Hollyer and his pals. This type of "sit and wait" approach isn't to my liking but, under the circumstances, it would have to do. For the majority of my time (2 1/2 hours) I had the hide to myself and was able to play with my camera at will. Good numbers of Lapwing and Teal on the remnants of the pool (where's all the water gone?) with Tufted Duck, Pochard, Shoveler, Gadwall and Mallard also present. 4 Common Snipe, 2 Redshank, 2 Stonechat, a Bittern - seen in flight on two occasions, Grey Heron and Little Egret made it into the notebook along with a Water Pipit, Bearded Tit (116) and a superb male Hen Harrier, which did a fly past as I was in the company of a visiting birder. "A bird like that always makes it a red letter day" was his response. I agreed, but in all honesty wouldn't have put it like that. It just demonstrates how much I take for granted the superb birding available within 20 minutes of my front door!

Seaton and Marshside

I went back to Seaton as the promised sun failed to appear in time for me to visit the Canterbury "ring woods" as I'd hoped. Plenty of birds to be seen, as expected, at this superb venue. Today's notes included 9 Goosander (2 drakes & 7 imm/females), 2 Goldeneye, 2 Woodcock, 1 Bittern, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Treecreeper and 2 Canada Geese; the last two species being year ticks! Great Spotted Woodpeckers drummed from several areas and there were still good numbers of winter thrushes on the water meadows by the entrance. Grey Herons were busy around their "rookery" with several Little Egrets also present. I wanted to check the Marshside area for swans; as I still required Bewick's for the year, so I drove across to Chitty Lane and found a large flock away out on the marsh. I walked a mile, or so, onto the marsh and scanned the birds to find 2 adult Whooper and an immature Bewick's Swan amidst the gathering. Far too distant for anything more than record images, it is certain that these are the birds that are being recorded at Grove Ferry - the Whoopers are probably the two birds I found at Minster on 2nd January? A successful morning with the 3 year ticks taking my total to 115 species, thus far and photos of 3 additional species taking that score to 41 - so far, so good!

Armchair ticks

Once again I have to thank young (Posh) Josh J-S for the seeds of the idea that has led to this posting. I read, with no little amusement, his posting on the KOS Forum (a superb source of entertainment!) about young birders and unbelievably long lists. Oh, to be young again! I have to admit that there was a period in my life when the "list" was more important than the birds I rushed to see. Shameful, I know, but bloody good fun none the less. The passing of time has resulted in me becoming an old fart and I've mellowed a little. The birds are of far more interest than a list, so much so, that I haven't kept one since 1999, although I obviously know where, when and what new species (be they lifers, UK, county or patch ticks) I have seen, I have just got out of the habit of keeping a yearly record of such trivia. So where is this going? Well, with the purchase of Collins 2nd Edition, I notice that Canary Island Chiffchaff has been deemed a full species, something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I didn't need to resort to mitochondrial DNA sequences to spot that these Chiffs looked, sounded and behaved nothing like the familiar birds of the UK countryside. An addition to my life list, although I'd already made my decision in 2004 when I had the chance to watch them. The other side of the coin is that I have also been awarded a UK and Kent tick in the shape of the Hooded Merganser at Chilham in December 2005. I am in no doubt as to the id of this particular species, although the KOS has it recorded as a "1st winter/female" where as I, and several other observers, on 9th December 2005 were happy to id the bird as a 1st winter male based on the tertial pattern that we noted as the bird flew around the lake. However, I am not happy with the credentials of this individual - they are a commonly kept species and the chance of escape has never been ruled out - the powers that be adopting the "innocent until proven guilty" approach of the Dutch. What a shame they were unwilling to use the same reasoning with the Bockhill Booted Eagle! So I am not going to add this plastic duck to my list, as I have no wish to resort to ticking the inmates at London Zoo or Arundel WWT Res.Ultimately, you pay your money and take your choice and Josh, if you're still reading this rubbish?, you'll get there, just don't be in too much of a hurry - take the time to smell the flowers along the way.