Bonus Blog

 

Some arty thrift

The previous blog was written as I ate lunch, assuming my birding was done for the day, and I'd be soon off to work.

But then the rain set in, got quite heavy, and, well, I don't much like going to work at the best of times, and definitely not in the rain, and don't need much of an excuse to not bother these days! And thankfully, being self employed, I can be very flexible and the rain is a nice handy get-out. So, a couple of phone calls later, work rearranged for Friday, when the weather will be less birding friendly, and I was on my way back to patch, convinced that the rain would have dropped stuff in.

And just for once I wasn't disappointed!

Just past Becton Bunny there was a group of four Wheatears, clearly different to those this morning.

Got to love a male Wheatear or two

And then as I passed the end of the golf course, to the west of Taddiford Gap, things got a bit mental. Most intriguing was a feeding flock of about 400 Starlings

It's been nearly a month since the regular wintering flock dispersed, and that flock included a very distinctive leucistic bird. This flock didn't, and was presumably a migrant flock grounded by the rain. Observations like this are one of the real bonuses of working a patch: any casual visit would just reveal a flock of starlings, regular visits give that flock a little bit of context.

Very soon after this, however, the starlings were forgotten, as the day's best bird by far appeared on the clifftop path.

Male Ring Ouzel!!!!!!

Bumping into Ring Ouzels away from their regular stop offs is an unpredictable business, and not something I've done often. In fact, this was only my second patch record, the first having been one of the most serendipitous sightings I've had: one October day back in 2010 I enjoyed one of my best ever autumn vismig sessions. With alba wagtail numbers in excess of 900 I decided I just had to stay longer than usual, to get the count into four figures. Then, just after the 1000th wag, with me barely 50 metres from the car, I looked up as a flock of 4 Ouzels flew over!! Had I not obsessed over the alba count I would never have seen them!

Despite the rain and poor light today's ouzel gave plenty of photo opportunities, albeit in typically furtive fashion

In the open, but distant

For a while it shared the path with four more Wheatears, in a bizarrely upland scene

And the fun wasn't over. As the rain eased the Hordle Cliff sallows proved to be full of phylloscs.

Hopefully these pics give some idea of the extent of the sallows, as described in the last post

Mostly Chiffchaffs at this time of year of course, with a final bare minimum total at the end of the walk, of 27 birds; unprecedented spring numbers on patch! But also now a couple of Willow Warblers. And all feeding in silence.

Add in a passing flock of Brent, three Teal on the sea

And a total of 4 Sandwich Terns heading east

At it was without doubt one of my best ever day's birding on patch, certainly for one that hasn't involved a big vismig.

It's been a long time since I saw Ring Ouzel and Black Redstart on the same day, so I make no apology for getting a bit carried away with it all 😃

Nor for another Wheatear pic. Think there were probably 14 in total today.

Warming Up

 Not the weather, that's about to do the polar (pun intended) opposite. But the birding, if only temporarily.

After a couple of mornings in which I enjoyed the delights of the New Forest on Sunday

Hawfinch

And then a reasonable morning at Barton with a little bit moving through - in fact whilst it wasn't actually that great, Trektellen suggests I had the busiest vismig patch in the country on Monday (reasonable numbers of the more common species of gull helped).

Last night I went to bed with a little bit of eager anticipation for this morning. Undecided amounts of rain were forecast to fall this side of the Channel, and there was a chance it might be dry on the Cherbourg Peninsula, so I was hopeful of a few birds being dropped in to patch, despite the (admittedly light) continuing NE winds.

Packing my waterproofs did the usual job of keeping the rain to a bare minimum, but it was still a productive morning (for Barton). 

A new-in Chiffchaff sang half-heartedly from Becton Bunny, and then on the edge of the golf course the day's first Wheatear, a fabulous male (aren't they all?)

Made my way along to Hordle Cliff, an area with masses of potential but most of it in inaccessible areas - from the clifftop you look down over large swathes of (mostly) sallows that it's impossible to get in amongst.

But a flick of red just below the top of the cliff got the pulse racing, and soon I was enjoying my second Black Redstart of the spring

In roughly the same area were another couple of Wheatears

And then, accompanied by a subdued fluting of subsong, the first Willow Warbler of the year. It did also give one full burst of song, but mostly it fed actively in silence.

 

Offshore there wasn't a great deal going on: gulls again mostly, Black-headed mostly, but also a single Dunlin headed east, plus a small mixed flock of Wigeon and Teal, and later another pair of the latter.

Heading back past the golf course there were now two Wheatears, which may or may not have included the first male.

With no work due until this afternoon I then extended my walk to the undercliff - normally I'd head straight back to the car and the depressing necessity of gainful employment.

The extra walk was certainly worthwhile too. In amongst the rocks were at least 11 Purple Sandpipers (but they are a nightmare to count accurately without disturbing them), accompanying 22 Turnstones (with another singleton of the latter further along).

Also along the beach, two more Wheatears, making it six (at least) for the morning

And as I walked up the slope back to the clifftop another, silent, Willow Warbler fed on the sallow flowers by the path.

All in all a very enjoyable morning out. I could easily have done it all again. Maybe not that much seen compared to some other sites, but definitely a good morning for my patch. Hopefully, once the predicted imminent cold snap has passed, there'll be a few more!

Ton Up

 It's not all about the numbers buuuut . ..

Like so many others I like to keep lists. I find it helps focus the birding, giving me something to aim for even when it's slow going. Unlike Matt Phelps describes in his excellent recent article I've never found it too much of an issue missing out when others see more than me (my main cause of birding blues revolves around rarity and scarcity descriptions and panels, but that's something for another time), but with Barton as a patch that's rarely an issue!

At the start of March my patch year list was a little bit short of where last year's was at the same time, and not for want of effort. But March, whilst also providing some often very pleasant birding, has seen the year ticks come pretty regularly. 

Black-tailed Godwit and Pintail were added on 2nd, then a lovely pair of Red Kites drifted through on 5th (I often leave, out of necessity, too early to expect many raptors so they're all even better value than usual there). Then on 8th five were added during an excellent seawatch.

Fulmar

Sandwich Tern the next day (which is still the only one I've seen this year, over two weeks later) was followed on 10th by a flock of seven Ravens, which headed out towards the Isle of Wight.

Which made for an excellent ten additions in just nine days. But it was to be another week before the list increased further. Species number 96, was, however, what every year is the single most anticipated bird - little in birding gets me as excited as the year's first Wheatear (the one pictured at the start of the post). Rather unusual that it was a female, the first is almost invariably a male.

The next day, the 18th, saw Grey Heron finally make it onto the list; it's one that really should've been seen weeks before!

Then, after a weekend break in Dorset (with Mrs K, so not birding) it was back to business on 22nd, with two excellent species during a productive seawatch in southeasterlies, the best wind direction for seawatching in Hampshire in spring, but seemingly the least likely direction for the wind to blow from.

Firstly a group of three Velvet Scoter tagging on the back of a flock of Commons (they nearly always seem to tag on the back I find), and then the very eagerly anticipated (in view of how many had been seen elsewhere in preceding days) Garganey, with a drake lurking in a flock of Brent Geese.

Views were better than the photo suggests, but I'm not sure I'd have been able to ID it had it been a female!

Which left me poised tantalisingly on 99.

Nothing new yesterday, but some good gull passage to keep me amused, and then I was back out at dawn this morning, still wondering what would be number 100, and how much longer I'd have to wait? Blackcap and Sand Martin seemed the likeliest candidates, or maybe something over the sea, where there are still some glaring omissions? But I had one particular species that I hoped it would be.

This morning was actually pretty quiet, with little in the way of movement, although two Wheatears included my first male of the year.

The last job on my regular circuit (which isn't much of a circuit, more a straight line there and back with the occasional detour) is always to scan the undercliff from the clifftop. And I generally scan with one species in mind. And when that species is the one you especially want for the 100th of the year you prepare to scan a little harder. 

Except I didn't have to, because there, out in the open, it was.

Black Redstart

Quite a tricky bird to connect with away from its few wintering sites (and even then often elusive) in Hants, and a quality one anywhere in my opinion.

In terms of the year list, and especially with hopes to score better than last year's 153, a very important one because, as with the previous two species, it's one I missed last year.

Oh, and I've got to 100 nine days earlier than last year too.

Spring Is Here

After ticking gently along for the past three weeks or so, spring seems to have exploded today in a flurry of Garganey. Unfortunately, that seems to be the case for anywhere on the south coast except Christchurch Bay, upon which my patch sits.

But not to worry, tomorrow there's a bit more south in the wind (at least there is at a time which is useful to me, which is basically the first half of the morning), so hopefully the passage will continue tomorrow, and the SE wind will bring them my way. Likewise Little Gull, which I don't see very often (more's the pity), and which showed up at a couple of places today.

In any case there's always something to see, and it doesn't pay to get hung up about what others have had elsewhere.

Kestrel with half a something rodenty

Today's three hours out was definitely worthwhile though, with bits and bobs always going on. Gulls of various species headed mostly east in small numbers, as did, more unexpectedly, a few Woodpigeons and a couple of Stock Dove; one of the latter was out to sea a little, giving it a convincing "on the move" feel. 

Moulting adult Mediterranean Gull

A Fulmar and a small group of eastbound Common Scoter were a nice spring sign, but one sure indication that the season has truly started is Meadow Pipits on the move.

Mipits!

Barton is actually a tricky site to properly count spring passerine migration. Unlike in autumn, when most things follow the coast (or nearly do), in spring it's a case of "in off". And because my patch has no obvious promontory to channel incoming birds any passage is only ever a sample of the full story. My patch covers about 4 miles of the gently concave north coast of Christchurch Bay (7 miles in total between Hengistbury and Milford) and generally one only picks up those within a relatively short distance of wherever you're stood (and if the sea is noisy not all calls are picked up, to add to the incompleteness). Add to that the fact that passage tends to peak after I have left for work (first Mipits typically arrive about an hour and a half after sunrise having made the 75-mile crossing from the Cherbourg Peninsula) and the counts I make are highly unrepresentative of the total. The 42 I had north this morning no doubt equates to many hundreds along the full width of the patch during the time I was there, and from what I saw whilst working, there was a good movement pretty much throughout the day.

A very nice surprise this morning was the reappearance of the Purple Sandpiper flock.

Since racking up that county record 33 on 10th February I have only seen "purps" three times on patch, with a maximum of just three birds: apparently they've been favouring similar habitat just across the border in Highcliffe. So, after seeing three birds when I arrived it was a real pleasure to then get a proper flock as I got back to the car park. Reeled off some photos to aid with a count.

And was thrilled to see that, as suspected (and as predicted back in February), the flock had grown. So the county record is now 36!!!

One last sign of spring this morning: on top of all the song from a variety of species, my first nest-builder of the year, rather fittingly a Stonechat.

And very busy she was too, coming back every twenty seconds or so with a new beakful of vegetation.

Spring Nearly Springing

 Been a while since the last post. Birding has been limited by weather - yes, I can be a bit of a fair weather birder, guilty as charged, although less so at times of year more likely to be productive: my patch can be hard work at times and it's often not worth getting drenched or wind-blown for, however much I enjoy it there - and dragging myself out in a birdless hoolie is never very appealing .

So a lot of time has been spent stuck indoors, but not unproductive: eBird has been getting some attention as I work through my old notebooks from foreign travels. And dry and vaguely productive is preferable to wet or windswept for no obvious reason.

But I have got out a few times, sometimes on patch, sometimes just around the village, where Firecrest can be increasingly relied upon. One even ventured into our tiny back garden for the first time ever.

Not the one in the garden!

Peregrine is another that can be seen more or less as and when I want at this time of year and through summer, with a couple of pairs nesting within 4 miles of home and a couple of others not too much further away (although my only patch record so far this year was way out to sea on a seawatch).

Other seawatching records include an excellent count (for Hampshire) of 25 Shags, seemingly moving early morning to feed in Poole Bay, where that sort of count is more to be expected, and a single Kittiwake during a predictably unproductive Storm Eunice.

But this time of year is all about the anticipation of spring. A White Wagtail in off on 26th Feb was an early harbinger, and coincided with a noticeable increase in Pieds.

Female Pied

The patch year list has got back to ticking along in the past week too, after a period of nothing new. A flock of 60 Dunlin heading east offshore was a good count (my highest I think) for Barton, and the first this year, with another, less appealing, flock the next day also representing a first for 2022.

Greylag Geese

On the list now, so no need for any more thanks!

Yesterday afternoon I made a rare afternoon patch visit (usually work gets in the way, and birding is a morning thing) just for an hour or so, and was rewarded with two more additions. A small flock of Black-tailed Godwit likely won't be the last this year, but the nine Pintail that also headed east is a top quality patch record.

Six males, three females

A showy Dartford Warbler too, albeit about 20 metres below me in the undercliff scrub (which I MUST give more attention to this year).

And also yesterday, during a relatively rare foray into doing some work (it's getting harder and harder as I get older to motivate for work, especially in the winter months, not that it's something I ever look forward to) my first singing Blackcap of the year. Tentative subsong at first, but developing into something richer and more song-like as it grew in confidence.

And all the while, a trickle of gulls that have hinted at imminent movement. 

Then this morning, finally the first half decent passage. Mediterranean Gulls were the stars, with 46 through (in the coming weeks much bigger numbers should pass, but that will certainly do for starters). All were adults, in varying degrees of summeryness, except this one third-calendar-year bird 

3cy on the right

A few Common Gulls trickling through too (seven today), a species that's only really reliable at Barton on spring passage, but also the first suggestion of Black-headed Gulls moving. It is often difficult to work out which of these (and Herring Gull too), such a common bird on patch, are truly on the move rather than just drifting back and forth following the food and the tide or whichever mood takes them, but it gets easier when they're obviously associating with the Meds:

And sometimes it just sort of feels obvious that they mean it:

I have 145 down as today's total of birds moving, but, because of that doubt re local birds, it's not the most scientific of counts; a matter of intuition as much as anything.

Regular scanning offshore also turned up a Razorbill, my first in breeding plumage this year, and a small flock of Common Scoter, another species that will get more numerous (but no more easy to get a decent pic with a bridge camera!) as the spring progresses.

On the land there has been plenty more song, with Rock Pipits regularly displaying of late, and this morning there appeared to be a few more Blackbirds, although maybe they're just more conspicuous with slightly nicer weather. 

But definitely more Stonechats (another that's singing regularly now), with ten present today, up from between 4 and 6 previously. One bird that can pretty much always be relied upon at Barton is Stonechat!