Time with the extended family

There are five species of 'true' tit on the Dorset list - Willow is sadly now lost to the County as a breeding bird, leaving Blue, Great, Coal and Marsh as the most likely to be seen these days. (Long-tailed, Bearded and Penduline Tit are all from closely related families, but are not considered 'true' tits). After Willow, Marsh Tit is the least likely of the 'true' tits to be encountered, but there are a few sites in Purbeck where they may come to feeders in winter, including Arne and, this winter, Corfe Castle. I popped along there yesterday, in the half-hour of daylight which remained after watching table-topping Wareham Rangers U-13s drop three points at home to the Parkstone Falcons. A result, since you ask, which leaves them just three points ahead of second-placed Swanage, who they play in their next fixture - making it a real six-pointer of a Purbeck derby. The light was going as I arrived, and had I known the boys were going to get mugged in a last minute counter-attack I might have invested the 60 minutes I spent before that, watching them spurn a hatful of chances, getting better photos of Marsh Tit!

Marsh Tit, Corfe Castle

The much commoner Blue Tit at Corfe Castle

This Coal Tit was seen earlier in the day at Bestwall

Great Tit among the pines at Swineham earlier in the day

Long-tailed Tit, from the family Aegithalidae, at Swineham

Binge birding continued...

This post is the final hangover from a weekend of binge birding around Poole Harbour. Holes Bay certainly provided the highlights on Sunday - as well as the Spoonbill, waiting patiently by the PC World drain outflow provided ample opportunity to get up close and personal with a variety of other good birds.

This Buzzard was one of two scanning for prey from lampposts on the dual carriageway around Holes Bay. Buzzard has already appeared on my blog this year but the photo was taken in 2014 so this is officially an addition to the photo year list (#79). I know, mad isn't it!

This Common Sandpiper was one of two present. I walked most of the length of the bay without seeing one but when I sat by the outflow both dropped in.

Another addition to the photo year list (#80). Bang it in!



Cormorant also graced the outflow (#81)...

...while I had to walk further up the drain to find Grey Wagtail (#82)...

...and Kingfisher (#83)

Spotted Redshank, one of my favourite birds, can give close views around the edge of the Bay

Spotted Redshank

On Sunday morning I also paid what felt like my first visit of the year to Swineham. Yes, my allegiance to patch has become that degenerate. I was rewarded for my efforts: as in, not much effort, not much reward. It did at least add a few ropey ticks to the photo year list:


Goldfinch, making its first appearance this year (#84)

Great Tit (#85) - singing like it was spring

Redwing in the shadows in Lady St Mary Churchyard, Wareham

Male Reed Bunting at Swineham

Robin at Swineham

Shelduck at Swineham (#86)

Several Common Snipe flushed from the wet grass around Swineham (#87)

Stock Dove (#88) with Lapwing in the paddocks at North Bestwall

Snowdrops added a spring-like feel to Sunday morning

My last photo year tick of the weekend was a Coal Tit seen on a family walk around Wareham Forest (#89)

The Fellowship of the Ging, Wareham Forest



Little Egret showing off its plumes in Holes Bay



An oasis of sanity

I've got into the habit recently of visiting the patch on a Friday night. Not that much about lately but it's a very good way to draw a line under the craziness of the working week. And sometimes, I think, the only thing that stops me going completely loco. Last night there was definitely something to write home about though: a Turnstone, common as muck around much of the coast locally - they almost take chips out of your hand on nearby Poole Quay - but a bit of a mega at Swineham.

Turnstone: patch gold. Well, gold dust at least.

Here it is with the second best bird of the evening: Little Gull

The Little Gull was spending most of the time feeding on the flood.

Normally seen in flight distantly over the gravel pits, the Little Gull has spent a couple of evenings on the flood close to the path.

Presumably the same bird from earlier in the week looking a bit muddier.

This week's rain has topped up the flooded field near the path which was rapidly drying out, so looking promising for waders again. As well as the Turnstone, this Lapwing dropped in for the evening.





'You'll have to be quick to catch them' suggested a well-meaning passer-by. Fortunately, I am quick.





A screaming display from a flock of Swifts always lifts the spirits.

Some noisy, irritable juveniles with insatiable appetites around at the moment. So I leave home to get away from them and what do I bump into? 

Cuckoo: keep hearing but not seeing them recently at Swineham - so this sighting was welcome confirmation that I'm not going completely cuckoo myself.



It's my birthday and I'll twitch if I want to

It was my birthday last week and I was told that for the weekend that followed I could do anything I wanted. Anything. After twitching an American Coot in Inverness was ruled out, along with some other unprintables, the suggestion of a weekend in Sherwood Forest was deemed acceptable. The choice of accommodation was between (i) the children's dream weekend at Centerparcs for the price of a medium-sized family car or (ii) a couple of nights in a cheap motel for a fraction of that. The motel was great, complete with a private plunge pool (ok, bath), multi-media entertainment centre (clock-radio) and acres of landscaped grounds (car park). I did say it was my birthday.

Twitching the American Coot in Scotland did not fall within the definition of doing 'anything I liked' last weekend. So here's a Eurasian Coot in Clumber Park, Notts, instead - a Honey Buzzard hotspot in summer.

Marsh Tit, Sherwood Forest

In truth this choice of location was not entirely motivated by a desire to imbibe the spirit of Robin Hood. No, the area is currently playing host to a flock of Parrot Crossbills, a bird I felt cruelly robbed of catching up with late last year after a couple of dips followed by my extended absence from birding due to 'health problems'.

Coal Tit, Sherwood Forest

Blue Tits, Sherwood Forest

Speaking of health, time was I would have marked the passage of another year of my life with a boozy session. Two things have put paid to this. First, acceptance that my tolerance of the ale is approaching that of Blackadder - a couple of pints and I'm singing songs about goblins and insulting close relatives.

Second, some well-intentioned but rather joyless experts have created the idea of 'Dry January'. It's hard enough to get people to go drinking at this time of year with everyone skint after Christmas without this: no consideration for those of us with birthdays in the New Year! And if you go to the Alcohol Concern website, there's a tiny disclaimer at the bottom: 'Please note that this is not a medical detox programme and should not be attempted by people with an alcohol dependency problem'. So just killing responsible levels of joy then?

Goosander, Rufford - a good site for Hawfinch and Lesserspot

Drake Goosanders, Rufford Mill

Anyway, enough bitter recriminations about a high-life lost. At first, if I'm honest, I was worried that this trip was just me dragging a reluctant family along on a tick-hunt: the workmanlike pursuit of a new bird to add to the list for the shallow satisfaction of seeing it grind forward by another meaningless notch. But in the end it was much better than that: yes another meaningless tick was indeed gained (at least until the Crossbills are lumped) but there was also quality time away with the family, a new part of the country to explore, other good birds to see and another potential holiday venue recce-ed for future reference. Plus we got to don capes of Lincoln Green, shoot our bows and arrows in the woods and visit the Major Oak of legend.

Drake Pochard, Rufford

Drake Tufted Duck, Rufford

I say I gained a tick, but actually these birds have proved controversial on 'Birdforum'. (Sorry - I've just realised how ridiculous that sounds - the suggestion that adding two and two makes four being controversial on Birdforum). Some say you can't really tick Parrots in the absence of sonogram evidence. Others that some are so obviously 'Parroty' that they can be safely identified with good views and on call. The Budby Common birds had been hanging around in a flock of 14, had been faithful to the same area of pines (which Parrots favour), and sonograms of their calls apparently looked good for Parrot, so they seemed a reasonably safe bet. 

This male had a particularly chunky bill, and repeated the curse words of passing birders, both good features for Parrot

This forehead-less female was chucking cones around like, well, like they were the tiny seed-bearing fruits of a pine tree. We weren't fortunate enough to have them drinking out of puddles at our feet, and the light was shocking, but got good views through other people's scopes at least.

To me, having listened to and read about as much about Crossbills as my brain could handle, they sounded good for Parrots and they looked good for Parrots. While there was undoubtedly some variation in bill size/shape within the flock, none of the bills looked small enough to be 'typical' Common, and the flight calls were definitely purer and deeper than the 'glip' of Common. After further research, however, I have settled on the most scientifically fool-proof method of deciding whether or not they can be ticked: eenie, meenie, miney, moe...

The flock flew off after a while but heading back to the car in the direction they had flown, I came across what appeared to be part of the flock feeding right overhead. A horrible angle, and shocking light again but the head and bill looking disproportionately large here.

Deep-billed and bull-headed, like the books say, and looking very Parrot-like at this angle, though perhaps the lower mandible not bulging as much as some.

Mega-alert! Mega-alert!

Expect to see this message popping up on pagers and mobiles over the next few weeks. How do I know? I've just put my 400mm lens in for repair, that's how. Last time I did this I had point blank views of Lapland Buntings, Sabine's Gulls and Grey Phalaropes, but no decent gear to take pictures with. There's no good time to take your favourite lens out of action, unless you are fortunate enough to have a stash of top of the range spares in the cupboard (which I'm not. A 12 year old 200-400mm Tamron zoom which focuses slower than a Sloth with cataracts doesn't count.). So for now, here's the last few photos taken with the f5.6 before it went off to Canon, taken while pootling around Wareham.

 

Meadow Pipit, Bestwall

Pied Wagtail on a rooftop on Bestwall Road

Male Great Spotted Woodpecker, Swineham

Brambling - part of a small flock which has spent a few months on the outskirts of Wareham

The Grey Squirrels (Prohibition of Importation and Keeping) Order 1937 makes it a criminal offence for a land owner not to notify Defra of the presence of grey squirrels on their land. It's true, look it up. I wonder if the owners of Bestwall House grassed this one up.

Long-tailed Tit, Swineham

Great Tit, Swineham