Happy Yew Year!

As you can see, New Year's Resolution #1 - to plumb new depths with bad puns in blog post titles - has been acted upon almost immediately. Other candidates considered for this post included:

• 'Yew only live twice': would have continued an historic weakness for Bond film bad puns but would have also required me to explain how I went back on New Year's Day after an enthusiastic but not exactly quiet dog walker flushed some Hawfinches from the same churchyard Yews in Lytchett Matravers on New Year's Eve.
• 'Coccothraustes in a Yew Tree': scans perfectly with 'And a Partridge in a Pear Tree', but too tenuous even by my low standards, and would have meant breaking a policy to not use scientific nomenclature in blog post titles (way too high-brow). Plus Christmas is so last year.
• 'Graveyard of ambition': well they were in a graveyard, and as a title it would have been a satirical comment on itself.
• 'Give me a Finch and I'll take a mile'. Inexplicably bad.
• 'Haw-py New Year': no, just too awful. (Haw-ful, surely?)

Anyway, some Hawfinch photos follow to get the New Year off with a big, chunky bang.

Hawfinch, Lytchett Matravers: the recent invasion by this species has been a winter birding highlight of 2017-18

Although the birds were high in the Yews, by positioning the car carefully and staying inside the vehicle, I was able to photograph them against a more pleasing background than the harsh grey sky of New Year's Day

At least three birds were present

The impressive bill is clear to see here...

...while this picture shows the short, white-tipped tail

This crinkly-winged male refused to come out in the open

A Sparrowhawk against a rare bit of blue sky sent the Hawfinches deep into cover

Shetland day 3: brightening up

We saw a proper Shetland rarity on the third day of our recent nine day visit: sunshine. As the morning dawned brightly we decided to check out some promising looking gardens in remote areas of the western mainland before relocating to our accommodation for the coming week in south mainland.

Yellow-browed Warbler, Culswick

Yellow-browed Warbler, Gardins

Yellow-browed Warbler, Gardins

Pied Flycatcher, Culswick

Starting at Culswick, before long we had flushed a skulking locustalla from a roadside ditch. The most likely option in this scenario is the familiar Grasshopper Warbler, though there is always the chance of it being something rarer - Pallas's Grasshopper or Lanceolated Warbler being the most desirable. The Warbler buried itself in an iris bed but, with some gentle encouragement, flew to a ruined croft where it showed well enough to confirm it was 'just' a Gropper. Still, a promising start.

Grasshopper Warbler, Culswick

Willow Warbler, Gardins

Willow Warbler, Effearth

Male Redstart, Easter Skeld

At Gardins, Yellow-browed Warblers were the order of the day - including four together in one small bush at the gateway to a large house. The impression of there being good numbers of common migrants on the islands was confirmed as the morning progressed: Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, Redstarts, Blackcaps, Willow Warblers and Chiffchaffs. It felt very birdy and encouraged us to continue pishing our way around any suitable looking patch of habitat.

Blackcap

Blackcap, Wester Quarff

Lesser Whitethroat, Wester Quarff - probably of a race ;-)

Red Admiral - the only species of butterfly we saw in Shetland

Sparrowhawk, Wester Quarff

Highlights of the day were a couple of Red Grouse which appeared cackling over a fragment of heather-clad hillside near Easter Skeld and gave us a close flypast before vanishing over the horizon, and finally a Corncrake, flushed by David at Fladdibister where we were searching for a Red-backed Shrike. We assumed the Corncrake would run for cover and never be seen again but as we approached where it had landed, it flushed again to give conclusive (but unphotographable) flight views.

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld 

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld

Red Grouse, Easter Skeld

Redwing, Easter Skeld

Raptor round your finger

I've been up and down to Portland this week like the number 1 bus, chasing shadows mainly - specifically the shadows of a male Red-flanked Bluetail and a female Pine Bunting. Both of these major rarities were trapped at the Bill in recent days - see here for stunning photos of them wrapped around the fingers of Martin Cade - and while the chances of either sticking around seemed slim, with a few days off work this week it would have been rude not to head down in the hope of seeing them. In the end I saw neither but there were some photogenic fowl to be enjoyed nonetheless. Raptors put on a particularly fine display with six species seen. Photographic highlights below.

 

This female Hen Harrier has been around Portland Bill for over a week

I bumped into it on several occasions on recent visits

It was often mobbed by corvids - though gave as good as it got on this occasion

Against the sea off the Bill

Banking in response to another corvid attack

Rare to see this species so well...

...though difficult to photograph without the clutter of fence lines...

...gates...

...or vegetation in shot

Well that's almost artistic

Hen Harrier

This Buzzard was also attracting attention from corvids - here with a Raven 

Male Kestrel hanging in the breeze off the West Cliffs this morning

Kestrel

This Peregrine cast a bulky shadow

The classic flying anchor shape

This juvenile Peregrine has a colour-ring - will be interesting to see where that comes from

Finally form Portland a very distant record shot of a Merlin

 

Sparrowhawk was also on Portland though this one was photographed at Durlston earlier in the week

And to close the raptor theme, this Marsh Harrier was at Swineham before my visit was so rudely interrupted by news of a Pine Bunting on Portland!

Talon spotting

Having been a bit starved of quality time with the camera in recent weeks I reluctantly had to neglect parental duties this weekend to mend relations with the Canon 7D Mark II. As well as depriving me of the opportunity to watch Wareham Rangers U-13s concede eight and get dumped out of the Dorset Youth League Cup at the first time of asking, this required me to try photograph a variety of passerines and waders. Not easy when they were being terrorised by the following:

This Peregrine over Keyhaven lagoon flushed the waders half way to the Isle of Wight

Tune in to next post to see if I was able to photograph the Long-billed Dowitcher which was among them

This Sparrowhawk caught a thermal over a warm Middlebere on Saturday morning

It posed for pictures before having a tilt at one of the Chiffchaffs I was photographing

Kestrel at Keyhaven

A rousing finale

We arrived back in Dorset last Saturday after a family holiday in Suffolk which left me free on Sunday morning to trawl Dorset for some minor rarities and photo ticks for the year list. The forecast was to turn nasty by mid-morning so I started reasonably early at West Bexington, hoping to see the 3 Cirl Buntings which had been reported on and off. I was fortunate to bump into Mike Morse on arrival who showed me to the right spot. The first bird we saw was a Sparrowhawk so that didn't bode well, but after not too long a wait the Cirls flew in to the far hedge as Mike had predicted. Birders are being asked not to use the permissive footpath which goes close to their favoured hedge so we watched from the coast path and I managed a few record shots from distance. Possibly the worst photo tick on this blog this year. But this is a top bird in Dorset, a county tick for me and, more to the point, it's identifiable so passes all the necessary tests for inclusion here.

Sparrowhawk, West Bexington (#116)

A very heavy crop of the male Cirl Bunting (#117) at West Bexington

Raven, Abbotsbury (#118)

Next stop was Abbotsbury where a Greenland White-Fronted Goose has spent much of the winter - not a photo tick this year on account of it being a race of White-fronted Goose, several of the nominate race of which I saw earlier in the week in Suffolk. But still a very good bird down here, and the first I had photographed of this species in Dorset. A Raven over provided an easy photo opportunity. The Black Guillemot in Portland Harbour was my next target, and I soon located it, still distant but closer than on previous visits, and certainly close enough to get a passable picture by the low standards I have set so far in this post.

Greenland White-fronted Goose, Abbotsbury

Now here's a test for the ethics of the photo year list: the white blob with black on top far right is a drake Scaup at Abbotsbury Swannery. The dark blob with white blaze on the face far left is a snoozing female Scaup. I know they're Scaup, you know they're Scaup, but should I 'count' them for the photo year list? No, even I have standards.

Black Guillemot, Portland Harbour (#119)

A close Pale-bellied Brent at Ferrybridge was nice, although the rain and wind had picked up by the time I got there. Again not a photo tick on account of it 'only' being a sub-species of Brent Goose. Finally, there was just time to catch up with the Golden Plover flock at Maiden Castle for one last photo year tick (also the first I have photographed in Dorset) before heading back to Wareham for Rangers' U-12s final game of the season. Although arch rivals Swanage and Ringwood have games in hand and on form should finish above Wareham, we look likely to conclude the season as top scorers and can finish no lower than third, so well done lads - and thank you for letting me have my weekends back.

Pale-bellied Brent Goose, Ferrybridge. Compare to...

...Dark-bellied Brent Geese

Golden Plover, Maiden Castle

Golden Plover, Maiden Castle (#120)