Bramble
Saturday, 8 August 2009
Hilbre Island
Things are changing fast on the island, autumn is approaching. The Willow Warbler passage is in full swing, with good numbers recorded last week at the observatory. Today I counted at least five birds flitting around the bushes, including one on Middle Eye. How many more were hidden in the Blackthorn I couldn't say. The only other migrant passerine seen was a single Wheatear.
Meanwhile out at sea, great excitment. The Little Terns have left their breeding colony at Gronant, and are now roosting on the West Hoyle Bank at low tide, and feeding off Hilbre. Today I estimated at least 150 birds, and probably more. The Sandwich Tern flock has risen dramatically, with at least 800 birds present today. Unlike the Little Terns, most of the Sandwich Terns chose to sit on the East Hoyle Bank. Probably a wise descision, since the West Hoyle was terrorised by two Arctic Skuas, a pale phase and a dark phase. These were the first skuas of any kind I have seen this year, and they hopefully herald the start of the autumn sea watching.
Still three Whimbrel around the island, and the small wader numbers continue to increase, but slowly.
Single summer plumage Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit flew over. Butterflies today included a few Painted Ladies, a Small Copper and a few Graylings.
Arctic Skua - Year 205
Small Copper
Willow Warbler
Painted Lady
Meanwhile out at sea, great excitment. The Little Terns have left their breeding colony at Gronant, and are now roosting on the West Hoyle Bank at low tide, and feeding off Hilbre. Today I estimated at least 150 birds, and probably more. The Sandwich Tern flock has risen dramatically, with at least 800 birds present today. Unlike the Little Terns, most of the Sandwich Terns chose to sit on the East Hoyle Bank. Probably a wise descision, since the West Hoyle was terrorised by two Arctic Skuas, a pale phase and a dark phase. These were the first skuas of any kind I have seen this year, and they hopefully herald the start of the autumn sea watching.
Still three Whimbrel around the island, and the small wader numbers continue to increase, but slowly.
Single summer plumage Grey Plover and Bar-tailed Godwit flew over. Butterflies today included a few Painted Ladies, a Small Copper and a few Graylings.
Arctic Skua - Year 205
Small Copper
Willow Warbler
Painted Lady
Friday, 31 July 2009
Hilbre Island
A beautiful day of red sand and bright blue skies on Hilbre today, with many waders in full summer plumage. On the beach at least 40 Ringed Plover, over 80 Dunlin, 40 Curlew and hundreds of Oystercatchers. On the rocks around the island, at least 15 Whimbrel, 40 Turnstones, a few Redshanks and a single Common Sandpiper.
The Sandwich Tern flock has grown to over 200 birds, but no sign of any other terns today.
Highlights of the day were the first returning Wheatears of the autumn, with three on the west side, a single Willow Warbler, and perhaps most unexpected, a family party of six Shags. Shags do occur frequently at Hilbre, but I’ve only ever seen single birds.
After returning to the mainland today, I had a snack in the excellent Sands cafe in West Kirby, and then got my bike out of the car and headed off down the Wirral way cycle / footpath, and made it all the way to Inner Marsh Farm (via the Harp Inn at Little Neston!). By the time I returned to the car at West Kirby, I had covered 23 miles on the bike. En route I saw about 15 Little Egrets (two with my pint at the Harp!), a Green Sandpiper at Inner Marsh Farm and best of all, a Hobby at Parkgate.
Four of the six Shags
Various.
The Sandwich Tern flock has grown to over 200 birds, but no sign of any other terns today.
Highlights of the day were the first returning Wheatears of the autumn, with three on the west side, a single Willow Warbler, and perhaps most unexpected, a family party of six Shags. Shags do occur frequently at Hilbre, but I’ve only ever seen single birds.
After returning to the mainland today, I had a snack in the excellent Sands cafe in West Kirby, and then got my bike out of the car and headed off down the Wirral way cycle / footpath, and made it all the way to Inner Marsh Farm (via the Harp Inn at Little Neston!). By the time I returned to the car at West Kirby, I had covered 23 miles on the bike. En route I saw about 15 Little Egrets (two with my pint at the Harp!), a Green Sandpiper at Inner Marsh Farm and best of all, a Hobby at Parkgate.
Four of the six Shags
Various.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Monday, 27 July 2009
Hilbre Island
Heather and Bell Heather
Hilbre
Rock Sea-Lavender
After an absence of a few weeks, I finally got back to Hilbre, keeping alive my ambition of visiting the island at least once in every month this year. In fact this was my 20th visit of 2009 so far.
It was important to slot in a July visit, because I didn't want to miss the flowering of Rock Sea-Lavender, a Hilbre speciality and one of the few places it is found in the World. I though that I might have missed it this year, but fortunately it was still very much in evidence with lots of plants still in flower.
Also around the island are patches of heather, mainly Calluna Vulgaris but also a few patches of Bell Heather Erica cinerea.
From a birding point of view, there is very much an autumnal feel in the air. Waders have begun to build up in numbers, notably 12 Whimbrel around the island, and some spectacularly plumaged Turnstones. What stunning birds they are! The air was full of the sounds of Sandwich terrns, with about 150 on the East Hoyle Bank. A female Peregrine flew over the island and then swooped towards the Oystercatcher flock, causing panic and mayhem.
Meanwhile, on the West Hoyle Bank Grey Seal numbers have risen to about 300 individuals, and butterflies included a couple of Graylings.
The feel of the island now is of a place bracing itself for the onset of autumn gales and the arrival of some good sea birds and hopefully a few decent passerines, now only a few weeks away!
The anticipation is almost unbearable!
Saturday, 25 July 2009
Sardinia, 17th - 24th July 2009
The following is a brief trip report to north west Sardinia, July 17th to July 24th 2009.
To sum it up, it was hot! The temperature gauge in the car showed 48 degrees C one day (118F), and that wasn’t a stationary car standing in the sun, that was a car which had been running for an hour with the air conditioning on and all windows open. It was boiling. On another morning I went out at 5:30am and the temperature was already 28 degrees C.
In such conditions breathing was difficult, let alone birding! A 10 minute walk at any time of day left you lathered in sweat, and birding was just impossible after about 8am. I had a go at it though, and even climbed a small hill at midday on one occasion. I didn’t bother with a scope, because that really would have killed me off, and it would have been useless in the heat haze.
So when I talk about the birds I saw, or didn’t see, bear in mind that I wasn’t seeing the place at its best, and it was very tough work. Plus of course, being July, there was no migration and most of the resident species had stopped singing.
Just warming up nicely!
Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard
Scarlet Darter (Broad Scarlet)
Lang's Long-tailed Blue
Long Skimmer
Barbary Partridge
I visited Lago di Baratz on three occasions, twice early morning and once in the afternoon. The main species here were Ferruginous Duck (two adults with eight chicks), Red-crested Pochard (4), Hobby (2), Purple Heron (1), Cattle Egret (1), Cetti’s Warbler (2), Firecrest (5), Marsh Harrier (1) and Turtle Dove (2). No sign of Purple Gallinule. It was also swarming with dragonflies, with loads of Lesser Emperors, Scarlet Darters, Long Skimmers and Black-tailed Skimmers, plus damselflies which I didn’t bother with.
Twice we visited the town of Bosa, about 50km south of Alghero. This is the best area in Sardinia for Griffon Vulture, and although we didn’t find them easy, we did see four birds about 5km north of Bosa. Also here, Lesser Kestrel (2), Peregrine, Buzzard and Crag Martins.
However the place I enjoyed best was the nature reserve around Mount Timidone, Porto Conte, not far from Cape Caccia. I “discovered” the place late one afternoon, only to find that it was about to close for the day, which was probably a good idea given the intense heat. However a brief discussion with the woman on reception revealed that it would open again at 8am the following morning.
So next day we were there just as it opened, at 8am. We drove slowly down a track, looking into a field, hoping for Barbary Partridge, when suddenly a Wild Boar shot past! I drove up to a gate, and four of them legged it right past us and into the woods! It was always a major ambition of mine to see these animals in Europe, and I just couldn’t believe how lucky we had been, and after so many misses previously in the Coto Donana.
We decided to eat our breakfast here, in the car, in the hope that the boar might reappear, but they never did. However we did see two Fallow Deer, and at last, Barbary Partridge, my only lifer of the holiday. Just like buses, once I’d seen one, suddenly there were three family parties in view at the same time!
We moved into the main part of the reserve, and saw Marmora’s Warbler (2), Blue Rock Thrush (1), Griffon Vulture (1), Alpine Swift (100), Pallid Swift (100) and Crag Martin (2). Also here, many Corsican Heath butterflies, lots of Tyrrhenian Wall Lizards and a single Pygmy Algeroides.
Finally we did the touristy thing and visited the Caves of Neptune at Cape Caccia, where there were lots of Alpine Swifts, and a few Rock Doves.
So in the end it was an enjoyable holiday. I find it difficult to get new species in Europe these days, so to come away with Barbary Partridge and to have the added bonus of Wild Boar was very pleasing. I guess that if you’re going to go birding at the end of July in the Mediterranean, you have to be realistic!
To sum it up, it was hot! The temperature gauge in the car showed 48 degrees C one day (118F), and that wasn’t a stationary car standing in the sun, that was a car which had been running for an hour with the air conditioning on and all windows open. It was boiling. On another morning I went out at 5:30am and the temperature was already 28 degrees C.
In such conditions breathing was difficult, let alone birding! A 10 minute walk at any time of day left you lathered in sweat, and birding was just impossible after about 8am. I had a go at it though, and even climbed a small hill at midday on one occasion. I didn’t bother with a scope, because that really would have killed me off, and it would have been useless in the heat haze.
So when I talk about the birds I saw, or didn’t see, bear in mind that I wasn’t seeing the place at its best, and it was very tough work. Plus of course, being July, there was no migration and most of the resident species had stopped singing.
Just warming up nicely!
Tyrrhenian Wall Lizard
Scarlet Darter (Broad Scarlet)
Lang's Long-tailed Blue
Long Skimmer
Barbary Partridge
Let’s start with the town birds. We stayed at Alghero, and the common birds around the town were Spotless Starlings, Hooded Crows, Yellow-legged Gulls, Tree Sparrows and Spotted Flycatchers. These were common birds in most coastal towns we stopped in. We also saw a couple of adult Audouins Gulls and a few Shags at Alghero, and Spanish Sparrow and (surprisingly) two Rock Sparrows at Bosa.
I visited Lago di Baratz on three occasions, twice early morning and once in the afternoon. The main species here were Ferruginous Duck (two adults with eight chicks), Red-crested Pochard (4), Hobby (2), Purple Heron (1), Cattle Egret (1), Cetti’s Warbler (2), Firecrest (5), Marsh Harrier (1) and Turtle Dove (2). No sign of Purple Gallinule. It was also swarming with dragonflies, with loads of Lesser Emperors, Scarlet Darters, Long Skimmers and Black-tailed Skimmers, plus damselflies which I didn’t bother with.
Twice we visited the town of Bosa, about 50km south of Alghero. This is the best area in Sardinia for Griffon Vulture, and although we didn’t find them easy, we did see four birds about 5km north of Bosa. Also here, Lesser Kestrel (2), Peregrine, Buzzard and Crag Martins.
However the place I enjoyed best was the nature reserve around Mount Timidone, Porto Conte, not far from Cape Caccia. I “discovered” the place late one afternoon, only to find that it was about to close for the day, which was probably a good idea given the intense heat. However a brief discussion with the woman on reception revealed that it would open again at 8am the following morning.
So next day we were there just as it opened, at 8am. We drove slowly down a track, looking into a field, hoping for Barbary Partridge, when suddenly a Wild Boar shot past! I drove up to a gate, and four of them legged it right past us and into the woods! It was always a major ambition of mine to see these animals in Europe, and I just couldn’t believe how lucky we had been, and after so many misses previously in the Coto Donana.
We decided to eat our breakfast here, in the car, in the hope that the boar might reappear, but they never did. However we did see two Fallow Deer, and at last, Barbary Partridge, my only lifer of the holiday. Just like buses, once I’d seen one, suddenly there were three family parties in view at the same time!
We moved into the main part of the reserve, and saw Marmora’s Warbler (2), Blue Rock Thrush (1), Griffon Vulture (1), Alpine Swift (100), Pallid Swift (100) and Crag Martin (2). Also here, many Corsican Heath butterflies, lots of Tyrrhenian Wall Lizards and a single Pygmy Algeroides.
Finally we did the touristy thing and visited the Caves of Neptune at Cape Caccia, where there were lots of Alpine Swifts, and a few Rock Doves.
So in the end it was an enjoyable holiday. I find it difficult to get new species in Europe these days, so to come away with Barbary Partridge and to have the added bonus of Wild Boar was very pleasing. I guess that if you’re going to go birding at the end of July in the Mediterranean, you have to be realistic!
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