Cley Coastguards 2 Nov

At last! A window of opportunity and a decent N/NE wind coincided, so at about 9:30 Mike, David and I pitched up in the car park at Cley Coastguards.

If you've looked at a bird alert provider you will know it was a cracking sea-watch with lots of decent birds. So what was it like to be there? Did we get them all?

Kittiwakes were continually piling past East, and Gannets were around in number. Also Auks in hundreds passing, and a handful of Red-Throated Divers flying past. A nice background to the main dramas.

Leach's Petrel. I got a place amongst the sea-watchers in the front bay of the Coastguards, where you can see the sea over a high shingle ridge. Soon after I got in, a shout went up of a Leach's along the beach. We piled out and searched as it went west. I'd given up hope of seeing it when a small pair of black wings elegantly crested a wave and went back down. That was it, less than a second. Can I tick it? Absolutely!

Grey Phalarope. The call went up of one coming through close in. I just couldn't get on it. Mike got it all the way through. Win some, lose some.

Pomarine Skua. Two skuas through left, with immediate shouts that the rear one was a Pomarine. I know I'm marking my own homework here but I thought it was pretty straightforward. A big solid bird going straight through. The one in front looked a bit smaller, id unsure. We were fortunate in having a Name birder in the line, a leader of bird tours, and he was commenting on the short square tail. Good enough for me.

Sooty Shearwater. I called this one! A distant shearwater just continually arching heading east. Looked very dark all over. And The Name called it as a Sooty. Good enough for me again. I had excellent views last year at Portland but there is something about seeing one in classic shearing mode that is very satisfying.

Puffin. These were being called on a regular basis. A learning point for me, as nearly all my sightings have been close up birds. In summary, in flight it looks like a cross between a Razorbill and a Little Auk; noticeably smaller, dark wings below, dark tail. Couldn't get the darker face. 

Scaup. There were a few decent flocks of Scoter and single numbers of Eider. Twice had single Scaup with these flocks, and also a flock of four females. Nice white bill flash.

Short-Eared Owl. One was called out so sea. We saw it lumbering in, then swooping past and into the corner field. Owls are always great and migrating owls in off are doubly great.

Little Gull. Found a flock of likely birds out amongst the Kittiwakes and got a good first-year. Called it to the person next to me "yes there's been a few going through" and Mike had one go through just off the beach.

Otherwise a distant Great Skua, an Arctic Skua belting through low, two Pintail, and a Med Gull completed the notables.

So much for a fantastic sea watch. We headed off to Salthouse for Shore Lark and Twite but got the timing all wrong and came away with just 13 distant White-Fronted Geese. Back at the corner field we had 11 Barnacle Geese, which meant we had all the British Geese apart from Bean. 

And that was that. A truly excellent day. I didn't mind the dip at Salthouse in a way because it got us searching for birds, which is what we like doing.

Salthouse today. No avian pot of gold at the end of the rainbow sadly.

Grey Phalarope. Chesil Cove 27th October

In my portfolio of bird sightings, I am underweight Grey Phalarope. I have seen one - very nice one too, on a marsh in Hampshire, great views etc, but that was in the previous century. And I think birds that are primarily sea birds should be seen primarily at sea, not stuck on some reservoir or marsh. So I have been looking for an opportunity for a few years, but strong SW winds and my availability at the requisite location have not coincided. Until now.

The aftermath of Storm Adolf or whatever its called had dumped Grey Phalaropes in the traditional spot of Chesil Cove. Four! no Five! no Six! the number seemed to go up everytime I checked Birdguides (other birding news sources are available). Surely even I couldn't cock this one up. 

Nevertheless I did experience some considerable panic on arriving at the site and surveying the bay in front of me. It struck me immediately that The Sea Is Very Big and Phalaropes Are Very Small. And I had literally no idea where to look. Do they like to hug right next to the coast? Or out in the swell? Together in a flock? Apart? And to top it the sea was raging in the strong wind, which was spectacular and is I guess the inevitable accompaniment of Phalarope wrecks. I eventually noticed another watcher with scope at the far end of the walkway and made my way over, and he reassuringly said there were four around a distant raft of weed. Even with those directions it was hard, but I eventually had two clear birds, as in two very small pale birds with long beaks and dark markings scattered around that flew in a wader like-fashion. What were the key features that separated them from Red-Necked at this distance? Please don't ask awkward questions. 

Apart from a distant adult Little Gull there wasn't much else, so I made my way back whereupon a photographer pointed out a Phalarope a lot closer. Smashing sightings, quite a lot of detail. Really nice to get this bird in the classic circumstances.

If I had a tip it would be that the birds look for food so they were in the vicinity of gulls that were also looking for food. Not sure if this association holds on more viewings.  

Hoping it's not another thirty years until my next sighting. 

Water Pipit and Snow Bunting

A couple of short trips to round off this week in Weymouth.

First up, prompted by a record on Birdguides of three Water Pipits, was the north viewpoint at Radipole. Over the decades this location has had a range of habitat-types; ponds, scrapes, and a range of seating arrangements; today (20th) I sat in the open viewing area, looking through screens at a large open area of cut reed-bed. There were patches of water on the ground so I felt confident as I scanned across I would see three Water Pipits picking round the edge. Inevitably they weren't there. The compensation was two Stonechats, and then a couple of Marsh Harriers with 5 Swallows flying through. And as always here just loads and loads of Mediterranean Gull. Must be 1000+ in Weymouth at the moment

As I was getting ready to go there was a thin tseep and a pipit dropped into vegetation in front of the viewing area. A scope view revealed it was indeed a Water Pipit. Excellent! I had a good look as I experienced some difficulty with pipit ID at Titchwell; normally location-based ID works well for Rock/Water Pipit but the flock at Titchwell had me thoroughly confused; do two half-Water-Pipits make a whole one? This one was front on, but still showed a supercilium equally split fore and aft the eye, nice strong streaking round the throat, and well marked white wing stripes. Fantastic.

Then on 22nd a walk round Portland Bill where a Snow Bunting had been reported. Two photographers concentrating on a spot below the path did indeed turn out to be photographing a Snow Bunting, very good views too. They mentioned another Snow Bunting higher up by the huts. I went up there and found another photographer focussing on a flat area below the path by an old quarry. I scanned and saw nothing, so enquired and it was indeed the second Snow Bunting actively feeding in some low vegetation! 

I managed a sighting of Rock Pipit and checked the absence of eye stripe and lack of white wing bars, but I know from experience there is some variety. And indeed Water Pipit had been seen here recently by local top birder Joe Stockwell.  And finally Clouded Yellows still around, seven in total including a couple of the Helice form. Smashing.