Little Swift - Cheshire - 23rd June

I can still remember looking through the past reports of the Little Swift at Old Moor RSPB and wondering how long it was going to be until the next one. The species always seemed to have that veil of super rarity with it due to the fact most of the birds were one day wonders expect from the Notts and Norfolk bird, yet even though these birds were available perhaps not to the masses. Then on Friday afternoon when seawatching news broke of a Little Swift at New Brighton in Cheshire; which is near Liverpool for anyone wondering. Normally I would just up sticks and go (as it is only 3 hours each way), however for some reason I didn't bother and continued to seawatch off Hartlepool Headland. The highlight was 1 Manx Shearwater and I had already agreed that I would twitch the Little Swift for first light if it was still present in the evening, an anxious wait and then at about 09.15 news was put out the bird had roosted on the Pier House at New Brighton. Roosted was exactly the words I wanted to here, I set off at 12.45 and picked up some mates before going onto New Brighton, the drive down wasn't too bad and plenty of chat to keep my awake and entertained. Arriving at around 04.15 it was just starting to get light, there it was sitting hunched up in left hand corner of a window above the entrance to 'Pier House'. The rump was obvious and large, the bird didn't do much for about two hours but did raise its head on two separate occasions and the best was when it eventually woke up to fly and some amazing views were had of it sitting head up before taking off.

(Little Swift - © Andrew Kinghorn)

It was nice sitting but it was nothing compared to actually seeing the bird in flight! What a beauty, darting about over our heads showing well with its large white rump and throat patch being obvious. They are just how I remembered them in Israel last year, except this bird was allowing for some amazing views and it was actually in Britain! It performed amazing well both at close and distant quarters, allowing for comparison with Common Swifts in varying lighting conditions and distances. It was easily picked out even with the naked eye just going of behaviour. A truly awesome bird.

(Little Swift - © Zac Hinchcliffe) 

(Little Swift - © Zac Hinchcliffe) 

(Little Swift - © Zac Hinchcliffe) 

(Little Swift - © Zac Hinchcliffe) 

Until next time, Foghorn out!

3rd time Long-billed Dowitcher

Yesterday news broke that the Long-billed Dowitcher was on Greenabella Marsh, knowing how close it might be I gave into temptation and headed down early afternoon. On arrival I checked the whole area and no sign at all, however the local Avocets presented some enjoyment and humour. What I did note is that the North Tees Marshes seems to be few in number when it comes to waders at the moment, that'll soon change at the end of July I'm sure!

Checked Zinc Works Road and that yielded nothing out of the ordinary apart from an unidentified caterpillar and a couple of Meadow Pipits. Butterflies were few and far between with Common Blues being the only species. Checking RBA revealed that the Long-billed Dowitcher was in fact on Greenabella, so on arrival back and after a short walk it was on the closest pool to the path on Greenabella. Amazing! The bird was at last fairly close, which of course allowed for a bit study and some image and videos to be taken. I had of course seen the already available great photos of the bird but seeing it in the flesh was great, a mixture of rufous, browns, and black. The scapulars and tertials are superbly marked, a truly stunning individual.

(Long-billed Dowitcher - © Andrew Kinghorn)

Please view in HD:

(Long-billed Dowitcher - © Andrew Kinghorn)

Until next time, Foghorn out!

Red-footed Falcon

I can remember getting a hold of my first 'proper' bird books many years ago and looking at pictures of male Red-footed Falcons and hoping I may see one some day in the UK. On Wednesday the 6th of this week my wait to see a Red-footed Falcon was finally over. There had been no news the previous day after around 2.45 in the afternoon and the thoughts of "was it still there" started to rise in my mind. I reassured myself that they weren't really all that rare and it was probably still there just not being reported. I arrived on site the on the 6th and news broke it was still there; phew.

It seemed like an age to get there but as soon as we arrived at the spot it was on show; catching insects and dragonflies over the river Trent on a quite pleasant morning. It was great to watch, it was a 1st summer male which I personally think this plumage makes the birds more handsome than adult males. I was finally watching my first Red-footed Falcon flying overhead catching insects and generally showing well. Was great to watch and the added bonus of the local Hobby's added to the days enjoyment. I didn't see it perched up only in flight, but I wasn't going to moan about it; they are better in flight anyway. Highlight for me was when it caught what I presume was a Banded Demoiselle quickly ripped its wings off and consumed it in a matter of seconds. They sure have refined their technique, great bird! Another major contender as one of the top birds of the year.

Derek Charlton's attempt to film this ace bird:

(Red-footed Falcon - © Derek Charlton)

(Red-footed Falcon - © Neil Loverock)

After this we had a pop into Blacktoft Sands RSPB where we had poor views of the Marsh Warbler, other than that I only saw a single Marsh Harrier from the Warbler watch point. Great day, great bird, and the Marsh Warbler the next day at Hadston Carrs in Northumberland made up for the poor views of the Blacktoft Sands RSPB birds poor performance.

Marsh Warbler - Northumberland

This bird is definitely deserving of a whole post of its own, I am skipping ahead a bit here as I should really be posting about my dirty rotten twitching day yesterday. However I will post about this Marsh Warbler first, to cut a long story short I couldn’t resist a look for this bird. I knew roughly where it was at Hadston Carrs and so this morning headed up to Northumberland and arrived on site around 08.45. No birders were present; however it was ‘just’ a Marsh Warbler. A quick search of the area revealed an area that looked favourable, a text came through from Alan Tilmouth (who I found was still sunning it up in Spain) and it confirmed I was indeed in the right spot.

I heard a bird calling some 20meters to my left but it was clearly singing near the top of a sycamore. I lifted my bins to see an un-streaked ‘acro’ sitting on the top singing its heart out. I got my scope on it and I couldn’t quite believe it but it was indeed the Marsh Warbler. It continued to perform well for the hour or so I was there, it was a great chance to be able to study the species. Something I had not had the privilege of doing in the past, cranked my zoom to nearly full and enjoyed the bird singing its heart out.

Whilst studying the bird I noticed that they really are similar to Reed Warbler, if it hadn’t of been singing I would have definitely struggled. A couple of things did however stand out; the rump was a tawny buff colour, a shade brighter than the rest of the upperparts but in dull conditions this may not even be noticeable. Broad and obvious supercilium with the eye ring being indistinct, the head was very rounded and lacked the general shape I usually see on Reed Warbler, its crown looked peaked as the feathers were raised upwards and this no doubt contributed to this rather squashed oval shaped head appearance.

(Marsh Warbler - © Andrew Kinghorn)

It showed and sang like an absolute dream, I doubt I will be getting better views of the species in the UK (other than in a ringer’s hand). I heard it mimic at least 7 species of bird, these included:

• Willow Warbler – contact call.
• House Sparrow
• Goldfinch
• Oystercatcher
• Common Tern
• Blackbird
• Swallow

Please view the video in HD:

(Marsh Warbler - © Andrew Kinghorn)

It was rather humorous to watch it sing House Sparrow, it was a rather good imitation. In fact I would not have known it was the Marsh Warbler unless I had seen it with my own eyes singing. Gem of a bird and enjoyed I went to go and have a look.

Until next time, Foghorn out!

Weekend Waders

Hi all, sorry for the lack of updates recently. Its down to both laziness and the fact that the quality of birds in the North of England at the moment is very high, with so many good birds turning up its hard to find the time to write up my blog! Saturday was spent at Saltholme RSPB in Paddy's Pool Hide looking to get a second look at the new nicknamed Long-billed Ditchwitcher (Dowitcher), as was typical for the bird it stayed mainly hidden throughout the day but did pop itself out eventually and I enjoyed it for a couple of minutes before it then disappeared into the grassland not to be seen again for another short while. My first Little Stint of the year was present on Back Saltholme, the hide was dead apart from the reserve wardens and good but distant views were had of the bird, also present was a 1st summer Little Gull. The later species not being much of a surprise. It was a good afternoon stint out and very much so enjoyable, at least I have managed to see the Long-billed Dowitcher again, however it was not as close as the first time I saw it! Sadly the bird didn't show as well as it did on Monday, as Ian's photos below demonstrate:

(Long-billed Dowitcher - © Ian Forrest)

Sunday afternoon I spent doing some more dirty rotten twitching, however you will have to excuse me this time because I hadn't seen the species for about 2 years and so couldn't resist. I went to go and see the Danby Beacon Dotterel, on arrival some friendly North Yorks birders informed us they had been walking around for 2 hours and hadn't seen it. I stopped by some burnt bracken and scanned around a little, turned around and pointed my bins on the horizon of some bracken and there was the Dotterel. A nice male, I would have preferred a female; however it was a Dotterel so moaning would have been more than a little rude!

(Dotterel - © Andrew Kinghorn)

(Dotterel - © Andrew Kinghorn)

Until next time, Foghorn out!

On a Rustic Roller

A day out birding on Friday was rudely interrupted when a European Roller turned up at Aldbrough near Spurn the previous evening. The next day started early and news soon broke that the Roller was still present so straight down to East Yorkshire to see this absolutely stunning bird. When arriving at site a Yorkshire birders explained it was perched up on its favourite perch and kept flying off to feed before returning. This is pretty much what the bird did for a while, it then decided to feed in the field and gradually got further and further away. However up until the end it was fantastic to take in and enjoy the bird, a striking plumage of brown, purply/blue and turquoise; a stunning bird that just looked so out of place. Fantastic behaviour, fantastic plumage, just fantastic to watch. Definitely another highlight of my British birding so far, here's my best of a badge bunch. No one can really do this bird justice, has to be a bird to be seen with your own eyes.

(European Roller - © Andrew Kinghorn)

Please view video in HD:

(European Roller - © Andrew Kinghorn)

After the Roller a dip on the Flamborough Icterine Warbler wasn't all bad, it turned my attentions to another bird closer to home that when I thought about it I wanted to see. After a few moments of being sensibly minded I decided to ignore my sensible side and go for the Farne Islands Rustic Bunting, 'Stringer' rang and was informed I was going and kindly booked spaces on the boat for myself and my companions. We arrived with 10 minutes to spare and were soon on the boat to the Farne Islands, a great twitch; just the fact I was leaving the mainland on a boat to go to an island that is largely inaccessible to twitch a stunning bird was rather special. When we moored up we were informed the bird had literally just flown off high west, the wardens apologised and took us to the site where it had been just incase. Almost instantly one of the birders on the boat trip spotted it and let us know in a rather excited sounded tone and after a few panic stricken people saying "where" we were all on the bird. We enjoyed stunning views of this male Rustic Bunting, a cracking rusty brick coloured plumage with arrowhead marks down the breast side and flanks, cracking head pattern and just an amazing looking bird. Given the fact it was late on in the year meant that the bird was truly in summer plumage and was a male! Was an amazing looking bird.

Please view video in HD:

(Rustic Bunting - © Andrew Kinghorn)

Two cracking birds on the same day and both twitches fairly exciting, made for a very memorable day. 

Until next time, Foghorn out!

Orphean Warbler

Tuesday morning broke, the phone rang and 'Paul Anderson' graced the screen of my phone. I knew this was going to be a big bird for Durham but what could it be. Paul quickly informed me that they had caught and ringed an ORPHEAN WARBLER at Hartlepool Headland. Don't panic!

 (The Crowd - © Andrew Kinghorn)

(The Crowd - © Andrew Kinghorn)

(The Crowd - © Andrew Kinghorn)

I arrived at Hartlepool Headland and the bird had not been seen since release, a tense period of time passed and eventually the bird was picked up sitting motionless in a tree on the other side of the bowling green. It sat in the same spot for hours before eventually moving and then performed well on and off until late evening. I had some superb scope views of the bird but no view was as good as those in the hand. It was good to catch up with folks I know from around the UK and great to share the memorable day with local birders, good bird, good banter; great day!

(Orphean Warbler - © Andrew Kinghorn)

(Orphean Warbler - © Chris Bell)

Mint bird!

Until next time, Foghorn out!