Wilson's Phalarope at Dowdeswell

30 Sept - Fortunately I wasn't starting work til lunchtime, so good views early morning of the Wilson's Phalarope at Dowdeswell reseervoir that had stayed overnight. Presumably a first-winter bird, with scaly upperparts, feeding on the exposed mud with typical delicate feeding action showing the needle-like bill and yellow legs. A Glos tick, and my 3rd Phalarope of the week. Photo, copyright Allan Chard.

Empidonax Flycatcher on Blakeney Point - and Norfolk migrants

27 Sept - A day off coincided with the presence of the Empidonax Flycatcher at Blakeney Point, Norfolk, so I made the 1 hr, 3-mile walk up the shingle and was rewarded with excellent views of the presumed Alder Flycatcher - olive green upperparts, yellow wash to the underparts, double wing bar, faint eye ring, stout bill. Upper photo, copyright Penny Clarke. There was also an impressive amount of visible migration - many Song Thrushes in the dunes together with several Redstarts, large numbers of Pipits and Chaffinches together with at least 3 Bramblings and several Siskins - and a Short-eared Owl flew in off the sea (middle) and a ringtail Hen Harrier was present.
A Marsh Harrier was seen from the A149 at Salthouse, and at Kelling Water Meadows a Red-necked Phalarope fed side-by-side with a Grey Phalarope. Lower photo, copyright Dave Stone.

China - Beidaihe and Happy Island 20-25 Sept 2010 (1)

20-25 Sept - A really excellent (short!) trip to China with Jesper Hornskov for the coastal migration, with a night at Beidaihe and 3 nights on Happy Island. Rain while at Beidaihe produced a big fall of migrants on Happy Island on our first day - including rarities such as Oriental White Stork - and a dramatic visible migration at first light - this included flocks of Pied Harriers moving south. Many passerines were moving and included Richard's, Blyth's, Pechora, Olive-backed and Red-throated Pipits. Brown Shrikes were numerous as were Warblers including Yellow-browed, Pallas's, skulking Radde's and Dusky, Two-barred Greenish and Thick-billed. Several Lanceolated Warblers were seen creeping rodent-like on the ground. Bluethroats and Wrynecks sat up and at least 8 Siberian Rubythroats were seen, including 4 superb but retiring males. Thrushes were elusive but several White's were present, including 1 drinking at a ditch where 3 Eyebrowed Thrushes also came in to drink. Red-flanked Bluetails were present in all the wooded areas. Buntings were in general rather flighty but included Yellow-browed, Yellow-throated and Chestnut-eared as well as the more common Little and Black-faced. Other raptors included Eastern Marsh and Hen Harriers as well as a steady stream of Hobbies and Amur Falcons and a pulse of Oriental Honey Buzzards on one afternoon when 50+ passed in an hour when the NW wind freshened.
The sandflats off Happy Island gave mostly fairly distant views of Gulls, Terns and Waders, but at high tide we had excellent views of 4 Relict Gulls, one of my main targets for the trip. The typical deep-chested and small-headed appearance was seen with the black bill and legs, and extensive black on the primaries seen in flight.
Waders totalled 28 species and included Far-Eastern Curlew - several of which were seen well with the distictive buff underparts and rump - Great Knot, Terek Sandpiper, eastern Bar-tailed Godwit and Oriental Pratincole. The nearby Dapu river held Pacific Golden Plover, Long-billed Plover and Marsh Sandpiper, as well as Pallas's Reed Buntings and both Pied and Eastern Marsh Harriers.
An amazing experience to be in a place where all the common migrants are those Siberian species that UK birders dream of seeing!

Photos; 1 - Great Wall at Mutianyu. 2,3 - Happy Island. 4,5 - Relict Gull. 6, Saunder's Gull. 7 - Mongolian Gull. 8 - Gull-billed Tern. 9 - Oriental White Stork. 10 - Purple Heron. 11 - Brown Shrike. 12 - Bluethroat. 13 - White's Thrush. 14 - Lanceolated Warbler. 15 - Two-barred Greenish Warbler. 16 - Yellow-browed Warbler. 17 - Pallas's Warbler. 18 - Dusky Warbler. 19, 20 - Radde's Warbler. 21 - White Wagtail (leucopsis).

See part 2 (separate post) for more photos.

Glossy Ibis again !

18 Sept - while having a quick look for any late Hobbies in the CWP, I had a shock when the Glossy Ibis reappeared in front of me, flying low from pit 95 towards Kent End pit - a few minutes later it flew up from the back of Kent End and flew NNW towards South Cerney and the Glos section of the park (photo, at pit 82, copyright S Smith). Also, 1 Hobby seen briefly over the back of pit 95.

The Red-necked Phalarope at Slimbridge

17 Sept - this excellent image of the recent juvenile Red-necked Phalarope at Slimbridge was taken by, and is copyright of, Martin McGill.

Pec Sands at Slimbridge

17 Sept - Good views of the 2 juvenile Pectoral Sandpipers from the Robbie Garnett hide at Slimbridge, together with 11 Black-tailed Godwits. On South Lake, a Greenshank, 2 Redshanks and 16 Black-tailed Godwits. Pec photo, copyright Martin McGill.

Kittiwake and Med Gull at Coate

12 Sept - The juvenile Kittiwake (upper) still at Coate Water early afternoon, and seen v well feeding over the lake - black nape patch and black upperwing markings, with black tip to slightly forked tail. Also present, a juvenile Med Gull (lower) with scalloped upperparts.
The Kittiwake was a Wiltshire tick, and puts my Wilts list up to 229.

Migration at Tarifa, 9-11 Sept 2010

9-11 Sept - A brief visit to Tarifa for the autumn migration of raptors across the Straits of Gibraltar, to link up with a British tour group. Overall, 544 birds of prey, of 13 different species, seen in 2 days, the majority being Booted Eagles (172), Black Kites (107), Short-toed Eagles (32) and Honey Buzzards (62). Very windy on the 10th with a gale force easterly wind which curtailed the migration, but still some excellent sightings, the highlights being high numbers of juvenile Montagu's Harriers, a flock of 80 Black Kites early morning on 11th, 25 Egyptian Vultures descending to roost late afternoon on 10th, and large flocks of Bee-Eaters migrating south totalling over 320 birds. Compared with previous years, I was surprised not to see more Honey Buzzards as I was earlier in September, and I didn't see any flocks of Storks moving. Despite disturbance, several smart Audouin's Gulls were on the beach at Tarifa. Red-rumped Swallow and Alpine Swift also seen.
Photos - 3-5 Short-toed Eagle; 6 Booted Eagle (taken in 2009); 7 Honey Buzzard (Surfbirds); 8-9 Marsh Harrier; 10-12 Montagu's Harrier; 13-14 Red-rumped Swallow; 15-16 Audouin's Gull. All except 7 taken by JM.

South Coast - and a Spotted Crake

4 Sept - An excellent morning's birding en route home from a family visit. First stop Hayling Island, and an Osprey flew W over the A3023 bridge, flushing the excellent selection of waders - 11 Bar-tailed Godwits (4), 6 Grey Plovers (3), a Knot, Redshank, Ringed Plovers and Dunlin - also 3 Little Egrets. The next car park to the S produced an adult Med Gull (2) in winter plumage, a large mixed wader roost containing Curlews, Oystercatchers, RPs and Dunlin - and 6 more Little Egrets. Sidlesham and Church Norton at the adjacent Pagham Harbour held a Spotted Redshank, Black-tailed Godwits, Ruff and Common Sandpiper; and the estuary gave good views of more Grey Plover and Knot, good numbers of Turnstones, RPs and Dunlin, and a juvenile Little Gull. Together with nearby Farlington, a further 16 Little Egrets were seen here, giving a total of at least 31 birds - by contrast, I only saw 1 Grey Heron. Farlington also held 100+ Black-tailed Godwits and 100+ Redshank, together with at least 50 more Grey Plovers.
Radley Gravel Pits were the final stop and the Spotted Crake (1, photo copyright Adam Hartley) was feeding out in the open, so obviously hadn't read the books.....also here, 3 Greenshanks, 3 Snipe and a Green Sandpiper.
17 spp of wader today! (and 22 in the last week.....)