Lockdown diaries: the patch (part 2)

I read a behavioural psychology piece during lockdown which suggested that the longer a new behaviour was adopted by necessity, the more likely it was to 'stick', even after the freedom to abandon it returned. Hopefully this will be the case for all those people who've been buying bikes to get around (I had been dithering about upgrading mine and now can't get one for love nor money!) - but it certainly seemed to apply in the case of my regular visits to my local patch at Swineham. Badly neglected over the last few years, birding there once again became a firm fixture of my weekly routine.

Reed Bunting, singing his heart out at Swineham

Sand Martins roosting in the Swineham reedbeds on one of the rare dull mornings of recent weeks

Whether it was the combination of reduced disturbance during lockdown, the consistently fine weather, the more frequent visits on my part or a combination of all three, birding at Swineham this spring seemed much more rewarding than other recent years. The late April glut of singing Reed and Sedge Warblers sustained well into May and, touch wood, both look set for a good breeding year. 

Reed Warbler - now much easier to see than when they first arrive in April

Reed Warbler

I enjoyed some rewarding morning walks along the river banks, more recently taking the 'long' route which follows the meanders of the River Frome from Wareham for a couple of miles before rounding the eastern end of the main Swineham gravel pit, then heading west up the Piddle Valley back towards town. I would normally follow this route anti-clockwise but on the morning of 29th May I went clockwise figuring it would be better to have the sun behind me as I approached the pool where I had found the Temminck's Stint a few weeks earlier. It was rapidly drying out but still held a Little Ringed Plover, a species which normally just passes through Swineham briefly in spring but which was seen either here or elsewhere around Wareham this year throughout April and May.

A couple of pairs of Sedge Warbler have stayed to breed this year - this one bearing a leg-ring

Stock Dove is often seen around Swineham - but rarely poses this well

I trudged back along the bank of the Frome, a little disappointed, and as I entered the avenue of small trees and bushes just before the churchyard in Wareham, which completes the circular walk described above, I heard a snatch of birdsong which stopped me in my tracks. It was difficult to pick out as the wind was tearing through the poplars above, but my instinct said Marsh Warbler, a rare migrant to Dorset and a species I had heard and seen well last year at Lodmoor in Weymouth. I phoned a couple of local birders to say that I thought I'd found a Marsh Warbler, and had the presence of mind to make a quick recording with the voice memo function on my phone. No sooner had I done so the bird went quiet and remained so for over the next hour.

Marsh Warbler in early morning light at Bestwall

Marsh Warbler in song at Bestwall

The recording wasn't very good and of several people I shared it with, some felt it sounded ok for Marsh Warbler, others favoured Reed Warbler. I was convinced it wasn't the latter so returned in the evening to find the bird still singing, audible more clearly now as the wind had died down. Fellow Swineham regular Trevor arrived and we both felt sure it was a Marsh Warbler. I circulated a better recording to Paul Morton, of Birds of Poole Harbour, who consulted other Sound Approach experts and the diagnosis was confirmed. We remained with the bird until almost dusk but despite singing almost constantly we didn't see it once.

Little Gull at Swineham on 1st June

My first Little Gull at Swineham for several years, possibly because I rather than they haven't been visiting

The following morning Paul was first on site making some fabulous recordings of the Marsh Warbler's varied repertoire of mimicry - over its four day stay it was heard to do Nightingale, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Green Woodpecker, Cetti's Warbler, Magpie, Goldfinch, Swallow, Wren, Chaffinch, Song Thrush, Jackdaw and Whitethroat. I was hoping for a few more patch ticks from it to be honest (Nightingale being the only one) but you can't have everything...

Thrilled to see Redshank breed successfully at Swineham this year

Two of three Redshank chicks at Swineham on 31st May

After the Temminck's Stint and Marsh Warbler I was on a bit of a roll so, following an early start with the latter, I spent the rest morning of the morning of 31sy May searching Swineham for a good 'hat-trick' bird. It came in the form of an unseasonal Short-eared Owl flushed from the path at the end of the gravel pit - not unheard of at Swineham, but very rare for the time of year. It landed on Swineham Point and stared at me for a few minutes before fleeing in response to repeated divebombing by a pair of protective Redshank looking out for their brood of youngsters which can't have been more than a few days old. My best day at Swineham of the spring was capped by capturing a distant image of the hepatic (rufous morph) female Cuckoo which I had seen several times but never for long enough to raise the camera.

Short-eared Owl at Swineham Point

An unexpected bird for late May

The following evening Phil Saunders, who'd come to listen to the Marsh Warbler, picked up a probable Caspian Tern flying up the Frome towards Poole Harbour. Finding that would have made for a superb hat-trick of Swineham spring rarities! Trevor and I headed to Swineham Point and although we couldn't relocate it, we were rewarded at dusk with a 1st summer Little Gull calling over the gravel pit and a Nightjar churring way across the water of the Wareham Channel on the Arne peninsular - a superb ending to a memorable month at Swineham.

Hepatic Cuckoo - a stunning bird

Orange Tip on Bluebells - another memorable moment from an excellent spring on the local patch

Lockdown diaries: the patch (part 1)

Like that scene in The Hobbit when Thorin rekindles the furnaces under the Lonely Mountain, or, for the Marvel generation, the one where Thor reignites the star of Nidavellir to forge Stormbreaker, it's taken a monumental effort to stir this neglected corner of the internet into action. But desperate times call for desperate measures, and the empty space here has been nudging me to make an entry for several weeks now.

Cuckoo is an attractive bird when seen well - which is not often

Lockdown has, of course, been fertile territory for many an armchair scribbler - not through a surfeit of time in my case as, as a designated 'key worker' (very much at the non-heroic end of the spectrum, I hasten to add), work has been manic. Mucking in with unfamiliar roles, with the added inconveniences of working from home (small town broadband anyone?), and being some 80 miles from the office, has made it mildly stressful. Not that I'm complaining, I've been grateful to be gainfully employed and busy at a worrying time. Plus being at home rather than staying away mid-week as I normally do has provided the added bonus of being able to shout at the kids every day rather than just at weekends.

One of the two male Cuckoo sparring over Swineham

These birds gave what can only be described as Colin-esque views

Taken in lovely early morning light

One of my safe spaces during what we used to think of as the 'hard' lockdown phase, before it turned out to be somewhat optional for the governing classes, was my local patch at Swineham, a short walk from home in Wareham. I suggested to friends prior to the lockdown that enforced visits there to take my state sanctioned exercise ration was my idea of hell, but, conscious that many house-bound birders would have been glad to have ready access to such a high quality bit of greenspace so close to home, this was very much in jest. Those visits all felt a bit rushed though and with the more recent easing of restrictions enabling more leisurely visits, there has been more time to dwell with the camera.

There is usually a Cuckoo or two at Swineham every spring

To see four individuals this spring was exceptional

Some flies got in the way in this shot - but I don't do photoshop!

Note the bared talons which were waved vigorously in the direction of the other male bird

The days when April fades into May at Swineham are the best time of the year in my eyes, as the song of Acrocephalus warblers builds into a wall of sound along the banks of the River Frome. In a good year, I have counted over 60 Reed Warblers holding back-to-back territories, outnumbering the much scarcer Sedge Warbler by a ratio of 10:1 (and the resident Cetti's Warbler by 3:1). This year my high count was 57 Reed, 27 Cetti's and 7 Sedge - so a pretty good turnout by the standards of recent years.

A uniquely shaped bird, part raptor part pigeon

Two male birds continued their contretemps in the treetops...

...and were then joined by a third bird

The conflict got quite heated at times

The longer the breeding season goes on, the easier the warblers seem to be to photograph, as if desperate unpaired males need to take extra risks in showing themselves to attract a mate. So there has been plenty to photograph on recent visits.

Reed Warbler

Reed Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Sedge Warbler

Swineham can be hard work to watch regularly, with unsympathetic management of the dry bits and too much disturbance from leisure activities on the wet bits meaning that too many visits produce not much to write home about. But the creation of two new wader scrapes last winter has provided a greater incentive to visit. This spring they have attracted such goodies as a Green Sandpiper, a trio of Little Ringed Plover and, best of all, a diminutive Temminck's Stint which I stumbled across on 19th May - probably my best find at that point in the 10 year span of my 'on-off' relationship with Swineham. Well done to the local Natural England Team who negotiated the construction of the scrapes under a stewardship agreement with the landowner. Without them, the pool would undoubtedly have evaporated by now in the warm spring weather.

Sunset at Bestwall

Cetti's Warbler - difficult to see at Swineham but this one sat up nicely!

Cetti's Warbler

Goldfinch on the churchyard wall in Wareham - my route to Swineham takes me through here

If the Temminck's Stint was the highlight of the spring to that point, in view of its small size and great distance from me it was not the photographic highlight. That honour goes to a trio of Cuckoo which brawled for a couple of hours after dawn on the first weekend after lockdown eased over the hotly contested reedbeds on the banks of the River Frome. Two of these were so intent on each other that they barely noticed me as they sparred, talons bared, in mid-air just yards above my head.

The broken pectoral band helped identify this as a Temminck's Stint

A tiny wader - dwarfed by a Pied Wagtail

Note the spangled pattern on the back

Grey Heron - often seen at Swineham

Cuckoos seem to be having a good year, possibly some have suggested because lockdowns across the Med reduced the usual spring slaughter of migratory birds - a bittersweet theory if this needless ritual recommences in 2021. But whatever the reason, this is certainly the first year I have been able to confidently identify four individuals at Swineham - the three grey (presumed males) pictured here plus a hepatic (rufous-morph) female seen darting out of the reeds a couple of times.

Swineham is good for all the hirundines in spring - House Martin

Sand Martin

Swallows nest around both yacht clubs along the River Frome at Swineham, often perching on the rigging

Swallow

So while initially perturbed at the wing-clipping effects of lockdown, I came to embrace it and am now quite thankful for the fact that it reconnected me with the highs and lows of patch birding. I also used the car so little in 10 weeks that I almost forgot how to drive, and am thus far sticking with the habit of staying local, having not left Dorset since 12 March. I'm just mildly ashamed that it's taken a global disaster to get me back to the patch regularly and to move me to post an update here again. I'll try to post something else before the next global crisis erupts - though at the rate they are occurring I can't promise anything...

A pair of Egyptian Geese has been semi-resident at Swineham this spring

Common Seals sometimes come a long way up the River Frome - even further it seemed given the absence of leisure boats on the water

Roe Deer are often seen in the meadows around the gravel pits

Sandwich Terns sometimes fish on the River Frome

A few Whimbrel usually stop by on spring passage

Well that went quickly

And so 2018 has drawn to an end. A transition year for me professionally, and the focus of my energies on this perhaps inevitably led to less time out with the camera over the course of the last twelve months. Which is not to say I didn't get out - on the contrary, communing with nature and Canon continued to be an essential distraction from the trials of 'real' life. Blogging, by contrast, definitely took a back seat - just 28 posts in 2018 compared to 68 in 2017 and 165 in 2012, which was apparently the peak of my powers in terms of textual diarrhoea. A few highlights from the first 6 months of the year below.

January
My review of the year starts, with unswerving commitment to neat chronology, in January, when the Hawfinch invasion of late 2017 continued to dominate the birding scene. Rural Dorset churchyards continued to receive many optic-bearing visitors not normally seen on hallowed ground as these chunky finches congregated wherever there were Yews. A couple of trips to Stanpit hoping to improve on my average pictures of the long-staying Stilt Sandpiper, which had relocated there from Lodmoor via Brownsea, proved unsuccessful towards the end of January though I did at least see it.

Bird of the month for January: Horned Lark, Staines Reservoir

My first and only 'out of County' trip of the month was to the exotic environs of Staines, where an American Horned Lark spent several weeks around the causeway of the vast west London reservoir. Shore Lark is one of my favourite species and Staines is closer than any of their regular wintering sites so the chance of seeing this exceptionally rare form reasonably close to home was not to be missed. The undoubted wildlife watching highlight of the month was, however, a chance encounter with a Humpback Whale in Chesil Cove in my adopted county of Dorset. A brief sighting of a distant individual allowed only for a poor record shot - but an incredible record nonetheless.

Wildlife highlight of the month: Humpback Whale in Chesil Cove

February
February was a month for gull connoisseurs, with a dozen species available for viewing in the Dorset/Hampshire area. The rarest of the lot, a putative Thayer's, currently regarded as a sub-species of Iceland Gull, was enjoyed on a short-range twitch to Blashford Lakes with my good friend Steve Smith, taking a break from his punishing schedule of globe-trotting wildlife junkets to slum it on the south coast with the rest of us. A Ring-billed Gull kept company with the Thayer's Gull in the same late afternoon roost.

Thayer's Gull, Blashford Lakes. What do you mean, underwhelmed?

With no disrespect to the Thayer's Gull (a rather drab juvenile), it was eclipsed for beauty if not rarity by one of the most sought after species from its family later in the month with the arrival of an exquisite adult Ross's Gull in Weymouth. This bird first arrived at Lodmoor where it proved difficult to catch up with but by the weekend it had relocated to Radipole Lake where Jol Mitchell and I, plus our respective sons, were delighted to catch up with it.

Ross's Gull, Radipole: my first Dorset tick of 2018 and bird of the month for February

March
March was a month of contrasts with icy 'beasts from the East' sandwiching the first signs of spring in the middle of the month. The cold snaps brought a Firecrest to my tiny urban garden, and a pair of hungry and unusually confiding Hawfinches down to feed in the graveyard of my local church in Wareham for a sought after patch tick.

Hawfinch, Wareham

A short Scottish trip at the end of the month saw me add the first new bird of 2018 to my British list in the form of an American White-winged Scoter off Musselburgh near Edinburgh. This striking seaduck was in good company bobbing along with Velvet Scoter, Surf Scoter, Red-throated Diver and Slovanian Grebe for company. Difficult to beat watching seaducks in winter on a wild Scottish estuary.

American White-winged Scoter (left-hand bird), Musselburgh: March's bird of the month

April
Easter saw us hopping on to a ferry in Portsmouth for a week's family holiday in Brittany. The beach and marshes at Suscinio turned out to be the top birding spot of the trip with Fan-tailed Warbler, Bluethroat, Black-winged Stilt and Kentish Plover all within a short walk form the car park. Serin, Firecrest, Cirl Bunting, Short-toed Treecreeper and Crested Tit exemplified the theme of the week: apparently common species in Brittany which are all rare or range restricted birds at home.

Camberwell Beauty, Le Parc naturel regional de Briere

A visit to the extensive wetlands of Le Parc naturel regional de Briere produced one of the highlights of the holiday - a close encounter with a couple of Camberwell Beauty butterflies basking in the spring sunshine. Marsh Harriers, Savi's Warblers, White Storks and Blue-headed Wagtails provided a colourful supporting cast.

Male Kentish Plover, Suscinio

Back in Dorset a Bonaparte's Gull returned to Longham Lakes continuing a good run of records of this American rarity. During the course of its stay I visited a few times to see the mottled feathers on the head moult into a fully dark hood within the space of a week.

Bonaparte's Gull, Longham Lakes: April's bird of month

May

Cuckoos are easy enough to hear in the spring but seeing one really well is another matter as they can be very shy. So when other commitments took me past Thursley Common early in the month I took the opportunity to pay homage to an exception to this rule - an unusually bold returning male which has become a photographer's favourite in recent summers. Concerns have been expressed about whether the mealworm diet supplements laid on for it have been doing it any good - but it hasn't stopped it getting to and from Africa over the last couple of years so I guess it can't be causing too much harm! 

Cuckoo, Thursley Common

May also saw me returning to Cerne Abbas, one of Dorset's best butterfly sites, where the Duke of Burgundy can be seen on the wing. This species is recovering well nationally thanks in large part to the efforts of staff and volunteers working on behalf of my new employer, Butterfly Conservation. A special mention to one of them, Patrick Cook, who I bumped into that warm spring day at Cerne Abbas, for over-taking me on his bike so often when I started cycling the 7 miles to work this summer. The daily humiliation spurred me on to stick with it and I'm a lot fitter as a result - cheers Patrick!

Duke of Burgundy with Dingy Skipper, Cerne Abbas

Due to my fondness for sanitation, when the family went camping toward the end of the month I was banished from their company and treated myself to a few days on the east coast. There, among other delights, I enjoyed the sight of lekking Ruffs at Frampton Marsh and breeding Swallowtails in the Norfolk Broads.

Swallowtail, Strumpshaw Fen

Back home in Dorset, a smart Rose-coloured Starling at Portland Bill was part of a remarkable invasion of this species across the country. This pink poser looked quite at home among the cliff-top thrift of the same colour and gave some close views when Rowan and I paid it a visit.

Rose-coloured Starling, Portland Bill: bird of the month for May

June

June began with some lepidopteran highlights: an Eyed Hawkmoth was a first for the garden moth trap, and a professional visit to Northern Ireland provided an opportunity to see my last UK butterfly species - the Cryptic Wood White - at Craigavon Lakes.

Cryptic Wood White, Craigavon Lakes: my wildlife watching highlight for June

Continuing the insect theme, I made the effort this summer to see some of the Odonata species which I had yet to see in Britain. Most spectacular among these was the Clubtail Dragonlfy. I spent a blissful morning photographing these on a slow-flowing Sussex river, then foolishly allowed myself to be talked into twitching a Moltoni's Subalpine Warbler at Blakeney Point in the afternoon with Steve Smith and Paul Welling. While I saw the Warbler's undertail coverts vanish into deep cover it was an untickable view, and the trudge back along several miles of shingle in the dark, with a limping James Lowen in tow, was, well, let's just say memorable! I should be grateful though that this was my only significant dip of 2018.

American Royal Tern, Church Norton: my second new British bird of 2018 and bird of the month for June

As is traditional, mid-June produced an inconveniently timed mega-rare bird in the form of an American Royal Tern at Church Norton. Train, bike and car were all involved in a late evening dash from Dorchester to see it just as the sun went down!