Lesser Yellowlegs at Cliffe

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) RSPB Cliffe Pools, 27/9/13

I finally caught up with Cliffe's Lesser Yellowlegs yesterday evening, at the third attempt. Having first ventured out during the peasouper on Tuesday morning, only to find two other birders staring at a thick wall of fog, and managing a frustratingly brief view late on Thursday evening, yesterday it showed well on the second Black Barn pool until around 18.20 when presumably it went to roost.

This bird was a first for me and I was surprised to note just how 'dainty' it was compared to the few Redshanks that were around. The combination of slender yellow legs, fine, dark bill (which I have read described as being approximately equal to its 'head length') and particularly its visibly sharp, attenuated rear end, were all good features in the field where the light was otherwise pretty weak. The number of Ruff on the pool, that ever shape-shifting wader, kept things interesting, the variability of that species amazes me. Still, the american wader was the star of the show, ably supported by the seasonal fare of passage birds, the first Wigeon flocks of autumn and a Barn Owl that hunted with typical grace over the causeways on Thursday.

Dot Dash

Looking through my photos from a trip to Bockhill Farm by St Margarets at Cliffe on Sunday is a bit like 'Where's Wally':

You can all spot the Dotterel right? (clue - top of field, just left of centre)

Upon arrival I was told that the bird had been flushed by a falcon thirty minutes before and hadn't been seen since, this is what normally happens when I go anywhere. But I got directions to the area it was last seen in and walked round to the lower half of the field anyway. Getting there I realised finding a small, streaky-buff bird in an ocean of stubble wasn't going to be easy - a couple I passed on the way down had no luck. Still, it was a nice afternoon and I got down to business scanning the surrounding fields. After 15 minutes and nothing, I was feeling a bit resigned but was boosted a bit when I started picking up a few wheatears along the brow of the field. While scanning these, another head popped up in the view and scuttled off to the right, partridge-like. Getting on it again I was pleased to see the bold, pale supercilium of a superfine young Dotterel. After half an hour it worked its way closer, giving myself and another birder some good views:

Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus) Bockhill Farm, nr Dover, 8/9/13
 - the top photo shows the extent of the supercilium at the rear of its head

A pretty smart thing, I was really pleased to catch up with one at last.

Hi Roller!

If you'd have told me when I woke up on Saturday morning that at approximately 3.44pm that day, I'd be looking at a Roller, I'd have given you the slap your lies deserved.

So here are a few digiscoped record shots of Hampshire's stunning, 'drop everything and leg it', Roller - taken at Broxhead Common at approximately 3.44pm on Saturday afternoon. What a fantastic surprise it was to see this stunning bird...just one of many highlights from a brilliant weekend out west.

Did I say it was stunning?

Dusky Thrush and a Brecks blitz...

Ok, you probably know the deal by now - news went out late on Friday that a Dusky Thrush had been found in Margate Cemetery, the first twitchable individual since 1703 or something. I did a double take when the news buzzed through on my phone early on Saturday morning and lay there for a moment unthinking...until I realised what I should be doing. Arriving in Margate just before 8am, there was already a decent crowd of 70 odd staring rapturously at an ornamental pine in the middle of the cemetery and BAM...there she was - a female Dusky Thrush perched at the top. Incredible. I think the bloke who piled in behind me summed it up best, "f**k (gasps)...F**K!" A minute or two later, the bird flew down into cover between the headstones and continued to show but from denser trees and scrub. After another half or so of shifting positions I was happy with my lot and left it to the ever increasing hordes, of which there were loads by then.

No doubt much debate about the birds' make up will follow but, never having encountered one before, I noted that it looked slightly 'thrushier' in its general jizz compared to a Redwing and more washed out than any pictures I'd seen before. The excellent views showed up the breast band/streaking and some well defined wing tracts. What a score it was by a local patcher, I reckon he did well to find the bird, confirm its ID with help and then stand back to watch the mayhem unfold. And I wonder what the bird makes of Margate, it's a bloody long way from the forests of eastern Asia.

Dusky Thrush record shot, Margate Cemetery, Kent, 18/5/13

After the Thrush I did what everyone else there did and headed along the coast to Reculver to have a look for the Montagu's Harrier that had been hanging around the oyster farm for a couple of days. Word was it was showing well, which happily turned out to be a considerable understatement as the bird drifted up and down the old sea wall near to where I stood, I barely ever get views that good of Marsh Harrier. Feeling pretty chuffed with things I carried on along the wall over the fields to see what else was about. With clouds of insects in the air, I was half thinking about the male Red-backed Shrike that had been present the day before and how good conditions were for it when not more than 50m further I watched as two linnets flicked into a hawthorn bush, on top of which perched a...Red-backed Shrike! Jeez. What a bird and what a morning.

Drifting homewards, I detoured off just before Gravesend and after a fairly massive walk round Shorne Marshes, managed to scope out the Cattle Egret amongst the livestock. True, it was still about half a mile away but I had to earn at least one tick that day. A couple of Common terns and a nice male Wheatear along the sea wall was the icing on an epic bird-shaped cake.

Following my highly original jaunt on Saturday, yesterday I headed up to Suffolk, mostly with the Red-footed Falcon that's found Lakeheath Fen to its liking in mind. Typical of a hot May weekend, the Lakenheath car park was a mass of buses and bumbags but I managed to shuffle along to the New Fen viewpoint where sizeable crowd was gathered. Oddly, the majority seemed more interested in pointing an 8ft long camera lens at anything with wings than the falcon and more than once I overheard one of the MANY hobbies dashing by being passed off as the red-foot, followed by clickclickclick, but whatever. Pretty soon the Red-footed Falcon did turn up and it put on a blinding show right in front of us. In fact when it drifted off twenty minutes later, there was a distinct sigh from the crowd, much like when the credits roll at the end  of a decent movie and reality resumes. Nice. Point and click, some for the scrap book:

Red-footed Falcon (m) (Falco vespertinus) - a really smart bird,  Lakenheath Fen, 19/5/13

Following up the Red-foot with a majestic Common Crane that flew past Joist Fen, several reeling Grasshopper warblers and a Bittern that passed so close I couldn't focus my bins in time, it was an excellent few hours in the Suffolk sunshine. Half an hour with the Weeting Heath Stone Curlews, Spurs put in their rightful place and it was a very happy drive home.

For a weekend that began in a cemetery, it sure was one to remember.

A Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) in the Lakenheath woodland (digiscoped)

Orange-tip butterfly (m)

RSPB Lakenheath Fen

Above average

Well what a rubbish day that was. Nothing really out of the ordinary at all...

From top:

1. Dusky Thrush, Margate Cemetery
2. Red-backed Shrike, Reculver
3. Montagu's Harrier, Reculver
4. Cemetery crowd paying respects (sort of)

Ok, so maybe an above average day. More tomorrow, when I've stopped shaking.