A Dartford Runaround and Then ….

Having dipped on the Dartford Warbler yesterday I intended returning for another look at first light this morning. I woke quite early and could see that it was quite foggy. A warm bed decision to not get up was shown to be a bad one when a message came through at eight o’clock saying that it had just been seen. I got up, had breakfast and headed out arriving at around nine. Again I had started to check out the compound area when Mark turned up on his bike to tell me that he had seen it in a different but nearby location. It was only a couple of minutes walk and I soon got onto a Stonechat. Most sightings of the Dartford seemed to have been around the Chats so I started to move closer. As I did a dog walker came into view and his dog ran straight into the vegetation where the bird was. I think I saw a second bird fly off but it wasn’t identifiable. The guy stayed there for at least five minutes with the dog running around in the vegetation. After he had gone I hung around for another thirty minutes but not a bird of any sort came near. Grey Wagtail and Little Egret flew over as did a handful of Redwing. Dip number three was completed at ten as I needed to get off. This afternoon I needed to go to B&Q and also to do some food shopping. After this I decided on one more try for the Dartford. Having parked at Waitrose and walked over the bridge it was decision time on which area to go to. I decided on the pools which meant walking past the compound. Another birder who had also been here yesterday was coming the other way and said that he had been told that the bird was back in the fenced area nearest to the pub. So back we both went and soon saw a bird in the undergrowth. Another Wren unfortunately but a minute or so later another bird made a brief appearance before diving back into the vegetation. It did however stay in view long enough to confirm that it was the Dartford. It repeated this twice more, never giving a great view but enough for me to head home with my first county tick of the year.

The Going Away Curse Strikes Again

While we were away in Lincolnshire a Dartford Warbler was found in, what was on the face of it, the unlikely location of what is a new development site in Swindon. Just two minutes from a Waitrose supermarket and nestled between new housing and two large schools is a fenced off patch of ground that is basically pretty wet and covered in weeds. The Dartford was reported in the company of a couple of Stonechats on lunchtime yesterday. There followed regular reports of it showing well for most of the afternoon. I had planned to cycle down first thing but was a little later getting up than planned. It was reported as being seen a little before eight and I arrived in the middle of the school rush at around half-past. I then spent the next ninety minutes scanning for the bird but it had either gone or was doing some serious skulking. The two Stonechats showed occasionally as did a Reed Bunting. Meadow Pipits, Goldfinch and Wrens were also around. I needed to get off at ten but planned to return at lunchtime. This I did and spent another hour scanning what was now an even quieter patch of waste ground while eating a sandwich on the go. Dartford Warbler is a pretty rare bird in Wiltshire and is a long overdue county tick for me. This is the third one that I have dipped on is as many years. Regarding the actual site this is an area that I used to visit regularly after work but as the new development had encroached on the area I have stopped visiting. This sighting just goes to show that good birds can turn up just about anywhere.

Lucky in Lincolnshire

Have just got home from a weekend visiting friends in Lincolnshire. As usual when going anywhere I keep an eye on birdguides to see if there is anything good in the area. I had noted that there were some good birds at a site called Covenham Reservoir. A quick check on the map showed that it was just a few minutes drive from our friends house. We drove up on the Friday and spent the afternoon and night in Lincoln and then on the Saturday morning carried on to our friends. I had allowed enough time for an hours birding at the reservoir. On arriving we parked in the lower car park and then I walked up to the path at the top of the reservoir. My wife had decided to stay in the car. I saw that there was a car park at the top for the sailing club. I asked someone if it would be okay for her to park in the top car park as at least she would then have a decent view. I got an affirmative answer so called my wife to tell her. When she got to the top the first thing she asked was “is there a cafe”. Unfortunately there wasn’t. I set off past the clubhouse where there another birder was checking the water. I asked him if he had found anything and he replied Great Northern Diver and Slav Grebe. I then asked if he had seen the Velvet Scoter as it had been here for a few days, he answered no. We both started looking and almost immediately he got on the Scoter. By the time I looked it had dived again but soon re-appeared just a hundred metres or so along the bank. We started walking towards it fully expecting it to swim further out from the bank. Amazingly it didn’t and I got my best ever views of a Velvet Scoter, although a juvenile still a great bird, previous ones seen had been distant birds out to sea. After this I started looking for the other birds and soon found the Slavonian Grebe. The Diver took a little longer as it was spending a lot of time underwater but I eventually found it. Amongst the other birds noted were a handful of Goldeneye and good numbers of Pochard and Little Grebe. Heading back to the car a lady asked me if there was a rare bird around as there had been a lot of birders that morning. During our conversation she offered to make me a cup of tea, i refused her kind offer and explained that my wife was in the car, she then offered to make her one as well. It was nice to have such a lovely welcome as at many reservoirs birders either seem to be discouraged or banned. so full marks to the Covenham Sailing Club.

Then it was off to our friends house and we spent the afternoon with them in Louth. This morning, before dawn we headed for the coast to hopefully see the sunrise. Unfortunately it was cloudy but there were few birds around with Godwits, Curlew, and Brent Geese seen in good numbers. Later in the morning we visited Donna Nook to see the seals. What a fantastic place and what a privilege to be able to spend time getting so close to the seals. All credit to the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust for their management of the site. Many volunteers, a temporary information centre, gift shop and food van set up made it a great experience for the may hundreds of people visiting.

Finally Catching Up

Since being back home I have mainly been local birding with a couple of visits to Savernake trying unsuccessfully for Firecrest and some local walks from home. On the seventeenth I visited the Portsmouth are to see the newest US Navy aircraft carrier the Gerald R Fordwhich was moored out in Stokes Bay as it is too big to get into the harbour. My son came with me and we went on a boat trip out into the bay and around the carrier. It is the largest Warship in the world measuring over a thousand feet in length and weighing around a hundred thousand tonnes, a seriously impressive piece of kit. I did hope for some decent birds on the boat trip but with y attention mainly on the ship all I got was plenty of gulls and a single Red-throated Diver. A couple of days ago I went to Salisbury Plain and then onto Franchises Wood where I finally got Firecrest on the Wiltshire year-list with three birds seen. A Woodcock on the Plain was another tick but alas again no sign of any SEO.

Back Home

I arrived back home late on the eight of November having been away for over two weeks, one of the benefits of giving up full-time work. As is often the case when I am away a good bird turns up in the local area. This trip was no exception with a Yellow-browed Warbler being found at Coate Water just four days into my time away. I have only seen a couple in the county before and I don’t have it on my ten kilometre list. Pretty well every day I was seeing that somebody else I knew had been to see it but held little hope that it would stay until I was back. It had again been reported on the day I got home but I wasn’t able to get to Coate until lunchtime the next day. I arrived at the location to find a couple of out of county birders there. They had both heard and had brief glimpses of it so with fingers crossed I started looking. I was lucky as within half-an-hour I heard it call and then it appeared for about thirty seconds giving a fairly decent view. It then disappeared and apart from another couple of calls I didn’t see it again. I also stopped by the following morning and again it was heard and not seen. I believe that it finally left on the thirteenth.

A Kentish Stopover

I left my sister’s first thing the next morning and was going to be stopping over with Ian in Kent for a couple of nights. After a trouble free ferry crossing. With plenty of rain and wind forecast for the next few days birding was going to be challenging. I arrived at his house at lunchtime and we went straight back out. First stop was Foreness which is right on the northern tip of the county between Margate and Broadstairs. The reason for going was a couple of Red-rumped Swallows that were managing to find enough insects to keep them going. Ian wasn’t sure of the exact location so we parked and walked down to and along the beach. Fortunately the rain was holding off for us. On reaching the point we found a couple of House Martins hawking but no Swallows. A quick scan along the cliffs found us a small group of birders obviously looking at something. Another few minutes walking and we found the Swallows, a nice UK tick for me.We were at the bottom of the cliffs and the birds at the top so we backtracked a bit and made our way to the top from where we had great views of the two Swallows and also the House Martins that had followed us along. Also of note amongst the twenty-two species seen were Ringed and Grey Plovers and several Rock Pipits.

From here we headed off to Lympe where a Sabine’s Gull had been showing incredibly well by the car park at the Port Lympe Wildlife Park. It wasn’t the most fun of journeys as a pretty violent storm front passed over, lashing rain and strong wind made driving challenging at times. It was still raining when we arrived and almost immediately saw the gull which was standing in a small puddle alongside the road. It then flew, landed much closer and then went off again before returning to the original spot. There were people watching from a couple of other cars and when one moved off I took his place which was just feet from the bird. The rain kindly stopped allowing the windows to be opened and some great views to be had of this extremely confiding bird. Presumably having never had any experience of people or vehicles before it was just not bothered about the people watching and photographing it. It was pretty weird watching a high arctic breeding gull in the Kent country side while listening to the roar of Lions. This was only my second Sabine’s, the first being back in 2011 at Sturt Pond in Hampshire.

By now it wasn’t far from getting dark so we heading back to Ian’s house for night. Next morning was another pre-dawn start as we were going seawatching at North Foreland just a mile or so south of where we saw the Swallows. A small group of birders do a seawatch here for two hours every morning and Ian joins them two or three mornings a week. The results of this dedication are recorded on Trektellen (https://www.trektellen.org/). So yet another seawatch for me, I still can’t say that I contributed much but I do feel that I am just about starting to get my eye in. There is a large wind farm just off of the coast here which is useful as it gives many marker points. With no need to rely on distant boats or funny shaped clouds locating birds was relatively easy here. It still amazes me how people identify the birds at such a distance when sometimes I can’t even see them. Of the seabirds Gannets made up the biggest number, typically it was relatively quiet but Red-throated Divers, Common Scoters and a few Auks were good to see. A lot of Wood Pigeons were coming in off the sea with at least four hundred and fifty counted. Much easier to see was a large flock of waders that landed on the rocks at the base of the cliff. This contained over a hundred Sanderling along with Ringed Plovers, Grey Plovers, Turnstone and a single Purple Sandpiper. Two Snow Buntings were flying around and a Peregrine flew past carrying prey. Also seen here was a gentleman named Keith who had been on the recent Georgia trip, having bumped into Brian from the same trip at Foreness yesterday I was beginning to feel like a Kent birder myself. After the two hours were up we headed for the Stonar Cafe where a mega breakfast for under a tenner set us up for the rest of the day.

From here we drove to the Sandwich Bay Observatory, with squally showers passing through and a persistent stiff breeze blowing it looked like we would be in for a challenging time. And so it proved with the only respite being some time spent in the Hides at the Restharrow Scrape. In all we managed a total of forty-one species in a little over four hours which was pretty good considering the weather. Best bird was a Short-eared owl that flew up and circled for a couple of minutes while being constantly harassed by several corvids. We retired back to Ian’s a little earlier than expected due to the conditions. The following day dawned with more rain and wind. We started off with a seawatch at St Margarets followed by a walk around the South Foreland Valleys. Best bird of the seawatch was a Manx Shearwater with supporting cast of Sandwich Terns and Common Scoters. Apart from the sound of the wind the Valley was pretty quiet but we did manage good views of a couple of Firecrests. As I was heading off after this we headed for sustenance at the First Light cafe where a sausage bap and hash browns set me up for the drive to my Mum’s in London. Despite the conditions I managed a UK tick, three UK year ticks and eighteen Kent ones so a pretty successful visit.

Saying Goodbye to the Cranes

The last morning here and again the same routine. Out before first light, watch the Cranes depart then back for breakfast. As yesterday we didn’t pick the right spot for the overhead birds but again a spectacular departure. Maybe you could get bored with watching them but it would take a while. After leaving the chalet we revisited the possible Grey-headed Woodpecker site but to no avail, the Lesser Spot was heard again but not seen. We then went back to the area with the main hide. This time we didn’t go in the hide but viewed from the other side of the channel. And we were in luck with a White-tailed Eagle showing distantly but well. It was pretty active, moving from perch to perch and at one point, having had enough of the constant attention from Crows took to the air a chased one around for a minute or so before landing again. Amazing how such a big bird was able to follow the Crow as it twisted and turned to get away. Please to have had this sighting we started of homewards. A roadside field had some Cranes and a couple of geese in it. As we passed we realised that the geese were not the usual Greylags. A quick stop and look was worthwhile as they turned out to be a pair of Pink-footed. An excellent final species for the list.

As the Sociable Lapwing was still being reported we had decided to stop off for another try. The last report of it was a couple of miles from the road but with a network of well surfaced tracks in the area access was easy. Leaving the main road we headed off road along the tracks. No sign of any Lapwings but several Buzzards and Kestrels were seen. A low-flying raptor turned out to be a ringtail Harrier, then a second was seen followed by a stunning male that flew across the track ahead of us. As we got close to the last reported sighting our hopes were raised when we saw more birders ahead of us. Unfortunately they had not had any luck. We joined them in scanning the flock but no sign. Another large group had flown just as we arrived but had carried on flying into the distance. The tracks we were following must have been built to provide access to the almost one hundred wind turbines that were scattered around the fields. We headed up to the highest point and decided to stop for our lunch while having a good scan of the surrounding farmland. It couldn’t have worked out better, somewhere to park the car and a place to set out the food.After this we headed back to the road with a couple of stops to check out more Lapwings. We passed another birder who had negative news and with time getting on decided that enough effort had been spent and it was time to head off. Disappointing but you easily spend a who;e day in the area. As a footnote the bird was reported a couple of days later about five miles away from where we had been looking showing that it was pretty mobile.

Freestyling

First-light and again we were up on the Dam wall to see the Cranes depart. We were lucky with the weather as the rain was forecast to arrive a little later on in the morning. And again we didn’t choose a spot were they were going off overhead. But again it was an amazing experience seeing the Cranes depart. We reckon that we saw about fifteen thousand birds but that was really a very rough guesstimate. Back to the Chalet for breakfast again and then we set off in the car. My brother-in-law had spent so time poring over the local maps and we were going to check out some lakes that we hadn’t visited before. However we started at the Etang de la Horre which we had visited last year. There is only one roadside place to watch from and with our luck still holding out with the weather we set up the scopes. While scanning through the Lapwing a Ruff was found along with double-figures of Snipe. A Kingfisher was flying around, it seems that there is at least one at every lake in the region. Just eleven Great White Egrets here and seven Herons. Over a hundred Mallard had a few Wigeon amongst them and there were thirty plus Greylag. A Green Sandpiper flew in and another Ruff was found. Over four hundred Cranes were feeding on the adjacent fields.

It had now started to rain so it was back into the car to check out a couple of the smaller lakes that had been found on the map. Fortunately both were viewable without leaving the warm dry car as one had just a lot of Mallard and one Great White Egret and the other five Little Grebe, four Teal and a couple of Herons and Egret. Our next stop was at a nature reserve and involved a walk to a hide were we intended having our picnic. Just after we arrived another car turned up, in it were a couple of people who had come to check on the water levels. They apologised in advance as they would potentially be frightening off the birds on the water. We followed them along the path and sure enough as soon as they emerged from the trees several hundred ducks launched from the lake. Fortunately they just flew around for a while before landing at the far end. As the rain was really heavy we headed straight to the Hide that we could see along the bank. The path got narrower and appeared to be little used which seemed a bit strange. When we got to it we found that it was very small and that access was across a narrow and extremely dodgy looking boardwalk. Fortunately this didn’t collapse but with three of us crowded in it felt as if the Hide itself could topple into the lake if we moved about too much. Hearing a Kingfisher I looked out and the first thing I saw was a much larger Hide on the opposite bank. A short debate ensued with the outcome being we were going to the other Hide. After negotiating the boardwalk and the path we reached the other bank to find a very long, just as narrow but happily much sturdier boardwalk needed to be tackled to reach the Hide. We all made it without mishap and found that this one was much more suitable, even having small benches that we could set the picnic out on. At last we actually got a chance to check out the birds. Spread out on front of us was an impressive flock of over seven hundred Pochard, I think the most I have ever seen together. Amongst then were a few Tufted, Shoveler, Gadwall, Mallard and strangely a lone Shelduck. Seventy plus Teal were along the banks and thirty-five Great-crested Grebe. A Kingfisher appeared a couple of times and a Green Sandpiper was seen flying across the water. We had our picnic and eventually the rain eased so we decided to head back to the car to return to the Lac du Der to see the Cranes returning.

For this we chose a spot on the north-side. Partially because it is a good viewing point but mainly because it was close to the restaurant we were eating at that evening. With the weather much improved we spent an hour and a half watching streams of Cranes flying in and also enjoying a rainbow and an impressive sunset. Again there were impressive numbers of other birds around with a few Redshank and thirty plus Snipe the main interest.

Departure of the Cranes

The next morning we were up and out by half-six and we drove to one of the many vantage points to see the Cranes flying out. It was still dark when we arrived and several people had got there before us. It was too dark to see anything but the Cranes were already calling. As the sky began to lighten the first of the Cranes could be seen flying out. There are many places to watch from and despite there being so many Cranes departing it always seems that the majority are flying out over a point other than the one you choose. However as long as you have an open view it doesn’t matter as the sight and sound of thousands of birds departing is incredible. Some leave in groups of single figures and others in flocks of up to a hundred. The official count for the days we were there was around sixty thousand and almost all of them leave within thirty to forty minutes. Many travel just a short distance to feed in the fields surrounding the lake but others are heading off south to their wintering grounds. There is plenty more to see with large groups of Cormorants and gulls flying around. Great White Egrets fly in from roost and Starlings head out in the other direction. After the Cranes had left we headed back to our chalet for the almost obligatory Croissants and Pain-au-Chocolat.

After breakfast we headed out to visit some of the many birding spots around the lake. The first was a walk along the edge of some woodland next to water with nothing much of interest seen. The next was some open fields with a small wood nearby. This was more productive with Green, Great and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and what we initially thought was a Grey-headed but we weren’t able to confirm it. We then moved onto the Eglise de Champaubert which is one of the best places to bird from. Here were, at a good estimate, at least three thousand each of Teal and Cormorant, almost as many Coot and upwards of five hundred Mallard. We counted the Great White Egrets and got to around four hundred. Plenty of Grey Herons as well along with a few Little Egret and a couple of White Storks. There is a also a nice hide near to here which gave us more of the same along with Curlew, Lapwing and Snipe. With rain moving in we went for a drive to the Orient Lake and Forest area. There was an undercover picnic spot that we have been to before and some good hides that overlooked lakes so we could birdwatch in the dry. From the first hide there were large numbers of more of the same along with a distant perched White-tailed Eagle and from the second a few new species which included seven Bewick’s Swans.

In the evening we had a meal at a Ukrainian / Russian Restaurant. Not the sort of place you would expect to find in rural France but it has been here for many years, is very good and it was nice to try some different food.

Crane Time

After giving up on the Sociable Lapwing hunt it was only a forty minute drive to the Lac Du Der. The first thing we did on arrival was to have our picnic, sat at the picnic table by the car park the lake was not visible and all was quiet. It was hard to believe that within a couple of hours the skies would be alive with the sight and sounds of thousands of Cranes arriving back from feeding on the surrounding fields. After we had eaten we headed for the main hide. As this was my second visit to the area I knew what to expect but the number of birds in view was pretty impressive, and this was with only a very small number of Cranes. As we would be returning here again we didn’t stay here long but still managed to roughly count around three thousand Egrets, Herons, Swans, Cormorants, ducks and Coot. It isn’t as such a problem, but with the lake being so big and the water levels at this time of year being low many of the birds are very distant.

We then made the short walk to a much much smaller lake, the Etang de Landres. This has a split level hide right on the edge of the water so is a completely different experience. As we walked into the hide we could hear cameras going and a quick look confirmed our guess that a Kingfisher was on show. It seems that no matter what country you are in this is one of the most popular birds to photograph. After watching the Kingfisher for a while we started to check out the rest of the birds on view. There were a good variety of ducks including a single Red-crested Pochard, Great Crested and Little Grebe and plenty of Great White Egrets, Herons and Cormorants. A Snipe was seen moving in the vegetation close to the hide and as it moved into the open we could see it bobbing, it was a Jack Snipe and it proceeded to show really well for at least thirty minutes. At one stage a Common Snipe also came out but we just couldn’t get a picture of them both together. Several raptors were around including a group of seven Red Kite. Flocks of Cranes started to appear, all heading for the main lake, without any real effort we counted around seven hundred but with our attention split there were obviously many more. ALso seen here were at least fifteen Coypu, we were a little surprised to see this many as we would have expected some contro; measures to be in place as they can cause a lot of damage to the habitat. We stayed here for the best part of two hours notching up thirty species until we had to leave to go and book into our accommodation.