Scillies - Day 5 - Grey Phalaropes at sea & quiz night

Grey Phalaropes

Grey Phalaropes

Grey Phalaropes

Bishops Rock

 Shags

Adam & Paul

Brad

Sanderling 

Sanderling

ID round on the pool table

Anagrams proving too much for our Brad

I was on the boat yet again on day 5 with no new arrivals on the island. The boat was full indicating a lot of birders had the same ideas.

The best bird on the way out to Bishops Rock was a Sooty Shearwater which raced past the stern of the boat giving brief views. We saw two Grey Phalaropes at distance flying away from us but that was as good as it got.

Bishops Rock is in the Guinness Book of Records as the smallest island with a building on it. The present building was built in 1858, which was an amazing engineering feat.

As we edged around the Western Isles we picked up a few Turnstones on the rocks and some Great Black-backed Gulls loafing on the waves.  Turning back towards the islands was when the Grey Phalaropes started appearing in good numbers.

Whilst I'd seen individuals on the sea I'd never flocks like this. We recorded 20-30 birds in total, as many as 15 together in one flock close to the boat where I was thankfully positioned.

Upon landing we headed straight to Pennis Head where there was a mobile Dartford Warbler whizzing around. The bird was much too mobile to try and get a record shot but it was a Scillies first for me.

I did my regular circuit during the afternoon seeing another Yellow-browed & Firecrest before heading to Porthloo. On the beach were a flock of Sanderling that I just watched from the bench behind the beach. After watching for around fifteen minutes the Sanderlings made an alarm call as a Peregrine dived into the flock to pick out an afternoon snack as easy as I had selected my lunchtime pasty.

Paul (Freestone) held the annual Quiz on the evening which our Lower Strand team finished joint 3rd. This was as always a good evening.

West Midlands record Grey Phalarope haul for Salford Priors

Fridays new arrival

Grey Phalarope - No.136 on the pits year list

Amazing detail on birds back

Poorly light on Saturday

Profile shot

Wheatear

After the Sunday storms

Sunday action shot

Meadow Pipit

Large flocks of Martins still passing through (M Clarke)

Peregrine (M Clarke)

Spot on Arctic wader here on Pophills

Common Sandpiper

 
With a number of Grey Phalarope being blown in with very strong westerlie winds I was hopeful that we might get one at the pits. With an extented weekend off work I headed down on Friday morning determined to find one. Starting at Kingley pool then working south I checked all lagoons before finally ending up at the main pit. 

There in front of me at the south end of the main pit was the expected juvenile Grey Phalarope, as I text the rest of the team I then picked out a second Pharalope. The birds were constantly feeding and appeared very comfortable in their new surroundings. There had only been one previous record at the pits in September 2010, so to record two was  unique.

With the light being excellent I managed to take some video and still images of the birds. With no contractors working it enabled many people to come down and see the birds over the weekend. Other Friday sightings included a Hobby, 2 Common Sandpiper, 1 Golden Plover, Great Crested Grebe, 15 Sand Martin, 12 Swallow, 40 House Martin, Raven, Pintail, 90 Meadow Pipits & 60 Skylark.

Knowing more people wanted to visit on Saturday I went very early on the hope the birds were still present. Starting at Pophills as I do normally, I wanted to check check the east shoreline for waders and after picking up the Common Sandpiper there was another Grey Phalarope. Surely it must be one of birds from the main pit, but no, the plumage looked more advanced. The Squire arrived and we were both agreed different bird but was the pair still on the main pit ? They were indeed making it a record count for the West Midlands region, thanks to Phil Andrews for this information. This seemed to generate more interest and we had a steady stream of visitors for the rest of the weekend all following the direction and behaving perfectly. Mike Wakeman text me on Friday as he wanted to head down but some how eneded on Pophills rather than the main pit and he observed a Pharalope early on Friday evening so this must have came in early afternoon.

These amazing tiny birds breed high up in the arctic ;north siberia, Canada, Siberia, Alaska & Greenland and are migrating south to South Africa. You will notice from the video the birds spin when feeding to stir up food, normally clockwise.

Further Saturday sightings included 2 Wheatear, 103 Meadow Pipits, 7 Wigeon, 90 Lapwing, a Swallow, 60 House Martin, 11 Golden Plover & 2 Great Crested Grebe.

So, on to Sunday where it was lashing down with rain for most of mine and Jon's normal session. Two Phalaropes were present on the main pit but no sign on Pophills. We both observed a wader twice that we both through was a Pectoral Sandpiper but with the rain and optics struggling with conditions we couldn't refind the bird despite our best efforts. Very frustrating.

Other Sunday highlights included a juvenile Peregrine hunting the wildfowl on main it, attempted repeated attempts before landing by the Little Owl tree, 21 Golden Plover, Green Sandpiper (Old Works lagoon), Kestrel, 150 Swallow, 18 Sand Martin, 130 House Martin, 6 Wigeon,  1 Pochard (central lagoon), 30 Siskin & 3 Reed Warbler. 

Monday update :- Both birds still present

Farmoor for Grey Phalarope & bacon sardie

I needed a later start on Sunday as I was feeling tired from the previous day & perhaps a glass too many on the evening. So once I was up and about I headed to Farmoor Reservoir to have an enjoyable hour watching a Grey Pharalope at very close quarters. 

For a while I was there on my own until I joined by a couple of jolly photographers from Swindon (Dave & Dave). This arctic breeding wader paid no attention at all to the audience and just went about it’s feeding without a care in the world.  

With the ears getting cold I retreated to the sailing club café where the “Daves” tipped me off to a bargain. They weren’t wrong, £1.50 for a coffee & bacon sandwich (did lack HP sauce though) was just the job as I headed back to Salford Priors.

Grey Phalaropes at stormy Farmoor

Grey Phalaropes

Grey Phalaropes

 Plenty of balls

 Nice comparison with Black-headed Gull

Goldeneye

Great Northern Diver

Great Northern Diver

Yet another very windy weekend for us in the Midlands so we headed down the M40 for an hour to Farmoor Reservoir. The £1 parking fee is nether here nor there but we fancied a good walk but on concrete rather than slugging through the mud in wellies.  Star attraction were two Grey Phalaropes that were putting on a real show for the local birders and photographers. Despite the 40 mph wind the birds were feeding really well and didn’t seem bothered about the audience or the waves. I crouched as low as possible to photograph the birds from the patch and was quite pleased with results given the limitation of the camera. Looking at the photos closely it seemed one bird was an adult whilst the other a first winter. 

The wind on the bottom corner of the Reservoir was so strong it made it difficult to walk straight however on reaching the far side and more cover it was more comfortable. We found six Goldeneye quite close trying to get some shelter and there was a huge count of Great Crested Grebes. A stunning Grey Wagtail darted around the end of the causeway as we continued our walk to the other side.

After a great deal of searching we found a Great Northern Diver centrally located however as we turned back towards the car the Diver drifted towards us enabling some fantastic views and a couple of images. I do love watching Divers and I’m really hoping I get to see some up in Scotland in May.

Grey Phalarope in Northants on Sunday twitch

 The confiding bird modelling for photographers

Red Kite

Owl Meadow

As is always the way a Grey Phalarope turned up just a few miles from work while I was away in Scotland to continue it's inclusion on my bogey bird list. Having spent Saturday on a course in Worcester the temptation of twitching a reported Phalarope just over an hour way got the better of me on Sunday. 

Arriving on the causeway of Pitsford Reservoir the locals tipped me off to drive round to the county park and walk from there. After grudgingly paying the £2.60 parking fee I set off east around the reservoir path. With no signage of Pintail bay in sight I was hoping more than being confident of finding this arctic breeding wader. 

Finally after a good mile walk I found the bird in a small bay being watched by a handful of photographers and birders. Despite it being very windy I managed to get a few shots that I was rather pleased with. I was quite capitulated watching this wader and spent a good deal of time observing the bird.

As I was leaving a local birder, Dave James said hello as he recognised me from Twitter. I told him I was heading to a local site to look for Short-eared Owls but kindly he offered me some alternative advice which paid dividends as the light faded. I picked up a Shortie flying along the hedge line on the far side of the meadow. Beauty ! With the final light gone I headed back up the A14 and M6 having had a top afternoon out.