Channel hopping

Just back from an Easter break in Brittany with the family, where two themes dominated: first, the almost unrelenting greyness of the skies, which made photography a bit of a challenge; and, second, the presence of a number of species which appear quite catholic in their habitat tastes on the near continent, but ridiculously fussy, or absent altogether, here in the UK.

Male Cirl Bunting in the last of the light at Quiberon

A range restricted species in the UK, but more widespread on the other side of the Channel

If you can imagine Sandbanks and the top bit of Studland put together with a lot less dogs, you would not be far off the Quiberon peninsular - but can you imagine Cirl Buntings breeding at Sandbanks?

For some of these species the English Channel appears an insurmountable obstacle to establishing (or re-establishing) a breeding presence; for others, the slight difference in climate has the same effect; and for others still, the reasons for their relative success over the water are a bit of a mystery. One such is the Cirl Bunting - restricted to a few specially managed coastal slopes in the south west of the UK, but apparently much less of a fusspot across the Channel.

Female Cirl Buntings were not as showy as the males - this one was skulking in the car park at Pointe du Grouin

The song of the Black Redstart echoed around the citadel at Mont St Michel

Difficult to photograph the dark plumage against the insipid sky

We saw a pair of Cirl Bunting at our first stop on disembarking the overnight ferry at St Malo, on the rocky headland of Pointe du Grouin, and another pair on the sandy peninsular at Quiberon on Brittany's south coast, near where we spent the rest of the week. I also bumped into them on some non-descript farmland away from the coast confirming the impression of them being fairly widespread across the French countryside.

High in the Abbey grounds of Mont St Michel, a lone Lesser Black-backed Gull had staked out a small lawn within the cloisters 

Mont St Michel from the mainland

The bridge linking Mont St Michel to the mainland. Not sure Cornish planners would permit this at St Michael's Mount - and a good job too!

Before heading for the south coast of Brittany, we thought we should visit Mont St Michel - a worthwhile detour which, as well as the spectacular setting and fascinating history of the Abbey, had the added bonus of singing Black Redstart on the ramparts and rooftops.

Serin in Carnac-Plage - another species which is common on the near continent but rare in the UK 

Short-toed Treecreeper: ditto. Very similar to our Common Treecreeper but my eyes and ears tuned in to the subtle differences eventually.

Sunset at Quiberon

Bony's back

An afternoon walk around Swineham on Saturday produced not much to write home about, apart from the removal of yet more vegetation which used to be beloved of the local Cetti's Warblers. So, slightly disillusioned with this and the absence of waterbirds, I headed over the border to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire on Sunday morning. A Long-tailed Duck present all week had departed, but a pair of Goosander, a Black-necked Grebe and a small flock of Egyptian Geese kept me interested, and the hides sheltered me from the rain. The weather kept threatening to improve but never quite delivered, so having checked the forecast for Weymouth I headed there in the afternoon for another hour with the returning Bonaparte's Gull, Dorset's first for around three decades. Many photos were taken.

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake

The Gull's feeding pattern would vary between dip-feeding...

...plucking morsels from the surface of the water...

...like this...

...or flycatching in mid-air...

...like this.

From the smallest gull at Radipole to the largest: Great Black-backed Gull in the car park...

...and the Hooded Merganser. Still there, still untickable.

Egyptian Geese from earlier in the day at Blashford Lakes

Goosander at Blashford was my only photo year-tick of the weekend (#134)

A confiding Little Grebe on Ibsley Water

This Lesser Black-backed Gull at Blashford appears to have been ringed in Guernsey

The Bonaparte's Gull showing its pink legs...

...and the distinctive upperwing pattern.

Thanks fur the memories

It is with a heavy heart that I have to relay the sad news that Hodge, the guinea pig, who first featured on this blog back in the spring, sadly passed away earlier this evening. I arrived home to find two inconsolable children shedding great lumps of tears at his loss. In a cruel twist, it was the younger son's pet who perished, having jumped out of his older brother's hands and fallen from height in an ill-fated bid for freedom. So as well as the trauma, the seeds of fraternal resentment may also have been sown in that moment. I hope not, I never resented my own brother for anything worse than making my Lego at Christmas before I had the chance to. But that was years ago now, 2 or 3 anyway, so it's virtually forgotten.

Hodge: much loved, he will be sorely missed

The children were allowed to play on the Xbox this evening by their mother as a special treat. 'Do you think that will cheer you up?' I asked. 'No, but it might help take my mind off it a bit' sobbed one, craning his neck to peer over my shoulder and focus on his counter attack on FIFA 15, as I attempted to be a supportive dad. The other one didn't seem any happier by the end of the game, his World Legends XI having been soundly beaten by Arsenal. Probably not the best therapy, with hindsight, in his fragile emotional state.

As for Hodge, well, he has been lying in state on an armchair, wrapped in his favourite towel, almost too long for me to be entirely comfortable, though I daren't say so for fear of being accused of insensitivity. For similar reasons, options for the funeral have yet to be broached. The garden's a bit small, and it would really rub salt in if we got up one morning to find him excavated by a fox. The well travelled Steve Smith suggested a sky burial, Tibetan style. Thanks Steve, but with the Wareham vulture population being what it is, I think we'll pass on that. I would prefer interment on a grassy plain, in keeping with the natural habitat of his genetic ancestors, but pampas is a pretty scarce habitat in Dorset. Ultimately, of course, it won't be up to me, and I fear nothing less than a full gun carriage to Westminster Abbey will be contemplated by his bereaved owner.

To be perfectly honest, I never really wanted the kids to have pets, partly to protect them from this kind of upset, but to be fair they have looked after the little critters really well and showed no sign of getting bored of the daily slopping out and grooming routines as I had expected. So I really am feeling for them, despite having teased about their furry charges on occasion via this medium. And, after a suitable period of mourning, I hope eventually to be able to add to the photo year list again.

OK, mourning over.

What, too soon?

A twirl around the Radipole Lake car park on Sunday, visited after my pipit-bothering session, added some ballast to the photo year list: Common Gull #29

No Caspo, unlike my last visit, just a Herring Gull #30

Lesser Black-backed Gull #31

A reliable spot for Mediterranean Gull #32

Pied Wagtail-Gull #33

 

YouTubenose

Millions of Egyptians concluded recently that democracy is not all it's cracked up to be. After the low turnout in my recent poll, it's tempting to agree with them. But then who am I to resist the will of the people who voted in their drove (singular) for more tales of seasickness and seabirds from my recent Scilly Pelagics out of St Mary's. So at the risk of subjecting the rest of you to the tyranny of the majority, here goes. Other posts to follow as promised.

Species of the trip has to be the Wilson's Petrel seen on Sunday 11th August. Bird of the trip though was probably this Great Shearwater which flew around the boat in good light and allowed a close approach thanks to some careful skippering by Joe Pender.

Difficult to get a sharp flight shot from a moving boat despite plenty of opportunity

This shot shows how the wing does actually shear the water

Shearwaters are meant to be seen in flight, but it was still good to get close to one sat on the sea

Note the pink legs which can be seen under the water

A close up of the elegant tubenose: shearwaters drink saltwater and therefore need to excrete excess salt, doing this via a salt gland which produces a saline solution that drips out of the nostrils, sometimes giving them a 'snotty-nosed' look. Not this one though, he'd just wiped.

I spent about 25 hours in total at sea on Sapphire, but it wasn't all snapping close-ups of Great Shearwaters. Long periods were spent steaming to likely locations or drifting and chumming while not much happened. As the boat sloshed around in the swell and the sun bore down I had a barely suppressible urge to start singing Farewell and Adieu to you Fair Spanish Ladies as per Robert Shaw in 'Jaws'...Next in the photo round-up, the three other species of Shearwater which were also seen.

Manx Shearwater - by far the commonest Shearwater encountered...

...Sooty Shearwaters were seen in small numbers, this one banking to reveal the silvery underwing...

...and Balearic Shearwater, taking off to reveal the typical pot-bellied profile

During one lengthy period of inactivity, I thought I must have imbibed too much seawater myself as I was sure I could hear the theme tune to 'Pirates of the Carribean' coming from the bows. Then someone punctured to hallucination: 'Phone's ringing, Joe'.

This Balearic was with a raft of Manxies just off St Mary's one evening

Balearic Shearwater

A Manx taking off from the same raft

And a Sooty in amongst the Manxies

Speaking of pirates, piratical is a word often used to describe members of the Skua family, two species of which were seen - Great and Pomarine. Only one Pom, but Greats often turned up when there were large flocks of Gulls to be harassed.

Great Skuas - a.k.a. 'Bonxies' - were seen fairly regularly

A bulky presence

Unfortunately this much rarer Pomarine Skua was almost past us before I got the camera on it - the 'spoon' on the tail can just be seen though

All told I thoroughly enjoyed the pelagics, and more than I thought I would. I'm an impatient seawatcher, but there's not much else to do when you're out there, so I was a captive audience for once.

Gannets often followed the Sapphire, especially when we dragged a bag of fish guts along behind

They would typically announce their arrival with a raucous call before stalling and plunge diving into the wake

Gannets of all ages and plumages were seen

We didn't see everything we had hoped to see - Cory's Shearwater being the main gap in the trip list - but we saw everything else very well and at least I have a good excuse to go again some time. The family also enjoyed being on St Mary's with all the shops, cafes and bars open - it's all got a bit 'ghost town' during our normal half-term holiday in October.

Fulmar - another tubenose, this one sporting the snot-nosed look to good effect

Fulmars were often alongside or following the boat

As these pictures suggests, we enjoyed a variety of light conditions, and I found a slightly flatter light better for many of the birds with contrasting dark and white plumages which might otherwise have been over-exposed by my sloppy technical abilities with the camera.

Great Black-backed Gulls were usually present among the larger flocks, although...

Lesser Black-backed Gulls were the commonest gull following the boat

Kittiwakes often followed the boat, most showing signs of moult and not at their usual smart best

I should close with a big thank you to tour leaders Bob Flood and Ashley Fisher, skipper Joe Pender, Higgo and other regulars whose names I didn't know but who helped out with chumming, bird-finding and all round general entertainment. These trips may not be for the faint hearted, but still come highly recommended.

Storm Petrels are closely related to Shearwaters...

..but much harder to photograph due to their small size and rapid, bat-like flight.