Rainham Marshes, 20 Nov 2009

Rain, wind and gloom proved not to be as ominous as they seemed. The weather was uninviting at 5.30 am this morning and stayed poor until early afternoon, but I decided to stick to my plan to spend the whole day at Rainham.

I started birding in the half light along Ferry Lane at 6.50 am, and finished at 4.40 pm in the same area. In between times, I birded the stone barges, the tip borders, Wennington and the viewing mound, Aveley Bay, the saltings and the RSPB reserve. I'm knackered, but it was well worth it.

I bumped into Les Harrison near the viewing mound in the morning, and the highlight was when we picked up the Serin in a small elder just west of there at 9.15 am - a patch tick for the year. Otherwise, with much more water on the reserve this week and a bumper personal day list of 73 species, there was plenty else of interest:

* Pintail - 12 on Aveley Pools
* Marsh Harrier - ad male hunting intermittently over the Target Pools in the afternoon
* Peregrine - ad female over the same area and on pylons
* Water Rail - one seen and two more heard along the Aveley Pools boardwalk
* Golden Plover - 186 counted with 1,200+ Lapwings on the new scrape diggings next to Aveley Pools
* Curlew - two in Aveley Bay
* Black-tailed Godwit - 166 at high tide on the stone barges
* Green Sandpiper - one at the back of Purfleet Scrape
* Yellow-legged Gull - three ads (including one with a red colour ring on the left leg and a metal ring on the right), a fourth-winter, a third-winter and a first-winter along the Aveley foreshore
* Ring-necked Parakeet - total of c 10 flying back towards the Kent side of the Thames late afternoon
* Barn Owl - one at dusk
* Short-eared Owl - two at dusk
* Water Pipit - three on the saltings in Aveley Bay
* Rock Pipit - one in the same area
* Cetti's Warbler - five singing males on the reserve and another near the silt lagoons
* Chiffchaff - one in the Aveley Pools reedbed
* Starling - 1,500+ emerged from their reedbed roost along Coldharbour Lane at first light and headed straight for the tip
* Serin - a female type just west of the viewing mound at 9.15 am, and then I found the same or another 50 m inside the seawall near the Aveley Bay car park at 10.15 am

Good birding all,

Dominic Mitchell

Caspian Gull at Rainham, 12 Nov 2009

I had a meeting with the RSPB at Rainham Marshes today, and afterwards checked Aveley Pools in case there was anything interesting among the gulls (as the rest of the reserve and adjacent Wennington Marshes are virtually dry, Aveley Pools seems to be concentrating the gulls at present). Careful scanning eventually paid off with a smart first-winter Caspian Gull, which subsequently flew off in the direction of the tip. As I was there primarily for the meeting I didn't take my 500 mm telephoto, but got some record shots with a smaller lens - see www.flickr.com/photos/dominicmitchell/. Also present today in the short time I had available were:
* Pintail: male and female on Aveley Pools.
* Jack Snipe: one from the viewing mound.
* Curlew: one on the foreshore.
* Yellow-legged Gull: a first-winter over the reserve and 12 ads along the Kent foreshore on the falling tide (among many hundreds of large gulls, including good numbers of both graellsii and intermedius Lesser Black-backs).
* Great Spotted Woodpecker: one in the scrub.
* Redwing: one heard over the scrub.
* Cetti's Warbler: one singing briefly in the reedbed by Aveley Pools.
* Chiffchaff: one in the scrub.

Rgds

Dominic Mitchell

Re: [londonbirders] Eleonora's Falcon, Southend AGAIN!

I've just got in and checked the pager, and see that David Callahan's pale morph Eleonora's Falcon has been reported again this afternoon in Southend, at 4.05pm over the Westcliff Hotel area. Good to know it's still around - perhaps tomorrow the BirdForum doubters might finally log off, borrow a pair of bins and head out to see whether it does another repeat fly-past at the same time.

Rgds

Dominic Mitchell

---

From: Malcolm Riddler <malcolm.riddler@yahoo.co.uk>
To: londonbirders@yahoogroups.co.uk
Sent: Sat, 31 October, 2009 17:47:39
Subject: [londonbirders] Re: Eleonora's Falcon, Southend

 

Hi Des

Just got back from 5 hours of Walking round the Essex Countryside - Really for not much reward - I hope someones had a better day than me....

No - No eagles here or Elenora's falcons Nevertheless I once saw a Pink Elephant fly over (Dark Morph) of course : )

Cheer M8 -

Still looking for that bird(S)

Best Regards Malcolm

--- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Des McKenzie" <onebluegull@ ...> wrote:
>
> Hi Paul,
>
> I've no doubt there's a discrepency somewhere that can be explained and that all three London sightings (Greenhithe included) could relate to the same bird, it's just hard to know what's what given there's not been that much descriptive info available.
>
> Des.
>
> --- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, paul@ wrote:
> >
> > Des,
> > As even a pale Eleonora's is relatively dark, I wonder if people are calling the same bird both things?
> > Paul
> > Sent using BlackBerry® from Orange
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: "Des McKenzie" <onebluegull@ >
> > Date: Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:53:57
> > To: <londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk>
> > Subject: [londonbirders] Re: Eleonora's Falcon, Southend
> >
> > Hi Malcolm,
> >
> > Recent London area claims have been of dark second calender-year and adult birds over Rainham and Great Warley on 20th September and 5th October respectively. There was a large dark falcon which was, at least, reminiscent of an Eleonora's Falcon over Greenhithe on 17th October. Unfortunately the observer in the latter record was without optics so nothing conclusive from what I can gather. Assuming the ageing was correct in the two EF claims that's two birds but of course, as I said earlier, an observer could get the ageing wrong and the records could refer to one bird.
> >
> > Reports of birds outside London have so far included both dark and pale birds so God knows what's going on there.
> >
> > Des.
> >
> > --- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Malcolm Riddler" <malcolm.riddler@ > wrote:
> > >
> > >
> > > Hi All
> > >
> > > Further Discussion of the Eleonora's Falcon -
> > >
> > > The two bird theorist.
> > >
> > > Could there indeed be two birds knocking round...The
> > >
> > > 16/10/09 Eleonora's Falcon sighting at Abberton Reservoir 10:00
> > > > probable (dark morph) flew west over visitors' centre.
> > >
> > > And
> > >
> > > 08/10/09 Eleonora's Falcon Elmley Marshes RSPB
> > > reported as possible dark hybrid falcon.
> > >
> > > Amongst other sightings - Were I understand well watched..
> > >
> > > Best Regards Malcolm
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Malcolm Riddler"
> > > <malcolm.riddler@ > wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Hi Des
> > > >
> > > > Were you on the Beers last night? - on the Razzzz were we -
> > > >
> > > > Question for you.
> > > >
> > > > Have we ever had a Golden Eagle conclusively recorded In/over London?
> > > > And if so When? ( Not including Escps )
> > > >
> > > > Best Regards Malcolm.
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > --- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Des McKenzie" onebluegull@
> > > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > --- In londonbirders@ yahoogroups. co.uk, "Malcolm Riddler"
> > > <malcolm.riddler@ > wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Nevertheless you yourself, Johnny, Des know ...
> > > > >
> > > > > ... I reckon there's something in these sightings - so I am willing
> > > to chase this bird.<
> > > > >
> > > > > That's the spirit Malcolm.
> > > > >
> > > > > Des.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> > >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>

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Continental drift

As I stepped out of the house this morning in Muswell Hill to head to work, a Coal Tit was calling in the birch tree opposite - a decent garden bird, as at best we tend to get one or so a month. I then picked up another one much closer in next door's beech tree, and two more up high, along with a single Blue Tit.

Four together was exceptional, so I paused to eyeball the closest one in the beech. At 15-20 ft away, I could see it clearly had bluish-grey upperparts with no hint of olive or brown, indicative of the nominate continental subspecies. In fact, in excellent light the colour was quite striking and obviously different. Overall it was a smart-looking bird, with bright white cheeks and nape patch contrasting against the black of the head (though with a slightly messy 'bib'), and flanks strongly suffused buffish. Looking at the other birds from underneath and more distantly, it was hard to be certain of their upperpart colour, but I suspect it was likely that some, if not all, were also continental birds.

They were on the move and so was I, but I headed home again at lunchtime to try and relocate them. Needless to say, having been actively feeding and on the move when I saw them earlier, they had passed straight through.

The key field character for this subspecies is the bluish-grey upperparts, while the underparts seem more variable. According to Tits, Nuthatches and Treecreepers (Harrap, 1996), for example, "Fennoscandian and western Russian birds (south to NE Poland and the northern Carpathians) ... [have] flanks to undertail coverts grey-buff", while these areas are darker on birds from central and western Europe which, in extreme cases, "approach britannicus". The tone is on "average more cinnamon (less grey)" on birds from Italy and Sicily, and so on, in assorted permutations according to freshness of plumage and, doubtless, individual variation.

The Migration Atlas indicates that Continental birds reaching Britain do so from the near Continent mainly via the east and south coasts, so a western/central European origin might be most likely for nominate birds occurring in the London Area; the few ringing recoveries in Britain of nominate birds all involve individuals originally trapped in the Low Countries and Germany. Interestingly, and a fact I didn't know before today, Continental Coal Tits bred on Scilly between 1976 and 1989.

Wild goose chase

Still in Scotland, I'm heading south-west today towards the Solway Firth - so no prizes for guessing the target birds. But first, leaving Edinburgh before dawn on the scenic A701, a stop at a regular spot at Tweedsmuir, not far from the source of the River Tweed, was well timed - a Dipper was living up to its name well in the swirling currents downstream from the bridge.

The next pit-stop was in the centre of Dumfries, in the riverside car park from where great views can often be had of another torrent-feeder: Goosander. Today there was just one female in sight, but often several drakes can be watched here too fishing in the waters below the weir.

It's a short drive on to Caerlaverock, where thousands of Barnacle Geese always make an amazing sight to a London birder like me. What's more, there's the added attraction of other geese, including the occasional vagrant Canada or Cackling Goose, in among them. Yesterday a Taverner's (Cackling) Goose was again present here, although there was no sign so far today. A minima Cackling Goose had also been seen intermittently, though not since 30 January - so what fantastic timing to be in the Avenue Tower when it was refound with a couple of thousand Barnacles. None of the standard European field guides deal with these small 'Canadas', and even Sibley's excellent North American guide isn't comprehensive - but the supplementary notes on his website, blog and elsewhere go some way to making sense of all the forms (more than 100 subspecies having been named by one author!).

After indulging in some close-up wildfowl photography and finding an Aythya hybrid while checking the Tufted Duck for Lesser Scaup (I'd seen one here three winters ago), I was amazed to bump into Ken Shaw back in the centre - long time no see, and it was good to be able to show him the latest Birdwatch on display which featured the 'Chum Odyssey' article he had co-authored with Russell Wynn.

Having told Ken my plans for the day he gave me some very useful tips on locating two other Yanks further north in Argyll, and a couple of hours later I was carefully checking the fields near Drongen in east Ayrshire for goose flocks. The white morph Lesser Snow Goose seen recently wasn't at its regular location at Treesmax Farm, but with perseverance I found it tucked away with Greylags and a few Pink-feet not far away. Thanks to permission from the farmer at Drongen House to walk his land, I ended up getting decent views of this bird, in a flock numbering some 600 or so grey geese, and with a tag-along contingent of four Whooper Swans.

Heading west, it took more protacted scanning to finally pick out the distant female Ring-necked Duck at Martnatham Loch, finally located in company of a female Tufted Duck and, briefly, a female Common Goldeneye. Several Goosander showed well rather closer, but time was running short so I headed for Troon - arriving too late for the Iceland Gull or anything else of larid interest, but it was good to see the site and adjacent Barassie Shore, which looks to have great gulling potential. Some 265 miles and 13 hours later, I called it a day back in Edinburgh.