Potential Grey-headed Wagtail - Cuckmere Haven 12/6/13

This chappy was found mid afternoon along the river bank south of Exceat Bridge. Obviously very noticeable straight away with no supercilium, dark blue/grey head and pale throat with yellow strongest on the vent weakening out up to the upper breast. With these features combined, there is potential for it to be a 1st summer Grey-headed (Yellow) Wagtail.

 

The pale throat is very misleading though 1st summer birds can show this, see http://www.birdingworld.co.uk/CleySpring2007.htm .

 

On the right side of the head, close ups reveal some very disjointed white marks. The white mark nearer the base of the bill is a feature of thunbergi, with other pale marking possibly showing characteristics of Ashy-headed Wagtail, but this would stand out much more so. http://birdingfrontiers.com/2013/05/13/grey-headed-wagtail-id/ shows a female which much more white above the eye, so I would imagine a 1st summer male would show this also.

 

Anyway, comments welcome and i'l dig deeper for more info.

 

probable Grey-headed Wagtail in Cuckmere Haven

American Golden Plover still present this evening.

American Golden Plover - Cuckmere Haven 11/6/13

I was very fortunate enough to have found this brilliant looking AGP. First found at 11.45am on the scrape, my initial impression was American, though knowing the somewhat difficulty identification issues related to this family, I played a very cautious game. It took flight several times and showed very well in the grotty weather, however I had no camera with me. After several phone calls, driving rain and dodgy photos through my phone and bins, the id. was still not certain.

John and Doreen Cooper, soon followed by Bob Self arrived on site, and with decent views and clinching photos of the underwing, the id. was clinched. Maybe to some a delayed pager message, to me it was best being cautious, but thankfully many got to see this county mega. Throughout the evening it showed well, and with good weather several plumage features were added to the notes which are detailed below.

The last twitchable AGP in Sussex was back in 1988 and the last was in 2010, both in West Sussex. This is the 3rd record for Sussex.

 

the long legs are shown here along with the rather small rounded head

and short bill. Also a rather thin looking appearance.

the dark centred mantle feathers are easily contrasted against

the pale edged juvenile tertials and coverts. On close inspection

the coverts and tertials were very worn, indicative of a 1st summer.

the long primary projection, roughly 2-3cm past the tail tip. European GP would show

1cm projection and Pacific GP would project no more than the tail tip.

Close inspection reveals 4 visible primary tips past the tertial tip,

ruling out PGP.

the thick white line behind the ear coverts very noticeable, but only

on this side.

this image portrays the slight foot projection, ruling out European GP, but

also too short for Pacific GP. The wings also appear

long and thin.

the grey underwing with no obvious white rules out European

GP.

American Golden Plover in Cuckmere

Frogs and Turtles 10/6/13

Spent the afternoon looking at the Frog Orchids near Eastbourne where I counted 25 spikes.

The moderate SE wind then sent me down Splash Point where in 2.5 hours Bob and me saw:

Great Skua - 1
Sandwich Tern - 10
Common Scoter - 50
Mediterranean Gull - 7

Afterwards, with such a lovely evening, I cycled up to Bo-Peep where there were lots of Corn Buntings and Skylarks, but best of all was a purring Turtle Dove. Good to see it back again.



Frog Orchid

Privet Hawk Moth 6/6/13

Devon .....hmmm 5/6/13

Myself, Jon King and Ads Bowley successfully twitched the long staying Lesser Whitethroat this morning in Newton Abbot, Devon.
After I drove through the night, we arrived at 3.40am, and first saw the bird around 5am. It was very skulky (reminding me of an Orphean!!) and after listening to it for a long while it was decided it was an eastern form. There was a hint that this bird might have been an Orphean, but no idea where that rumour started.

After this great start, we caught up with Cirl Buntings and Dippers, before moving to south Wiltshire for the rare Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

I arrived home at 4.40pm, needing some much needed sleep.

A great day with great company as always, fantastic weather and scenery, but hopefully a rarity will get seen next time!!!

For those that don't understand, the Western Orphean Warbler turned out to be a bloomin Lesser Whitethroat. Grim!!

 Cirl Bunting at Labrador Bay

 Dipper on the River Dart

 Marsh Fritillary at Cotley Hill, Wiltshire

Small Blue at Cotley Hill

Seaford Head 2/6/13

Well, back to normal this morning which was a shame after yesterdays small influx of Flycatchers. Most had departed and what I'm sure are stragglers were left remaining. A few juvenile birds were nice to see, with what must have been a challenging time for them in the previous few weeks/months.

Totals are:
Spotted Flycatcher - 2
Common Scoter - 35 (flock on sea)

juv Meadow Pipit on Seaford Head

Seaford Head 1/6/13

I'd never have thought that the 1st of June would have been one of the best spring days, but today this was the case with seeing 2% the number of Spotted Flycatchers seen at Portland on the Head (a good total for us), and small numbers of the more commoner migrants.

A good amount of time was spent at Harry's Bush but 4 hrs on the head produced:

Pied Flycatcher - 1 - a very tatty female checked very carefully!!
Spotted Flycatcher - 18
Reed Warbler - 1
Willow Warbler - 1
Hobby - 1
House Martin - 20
Swallow - 40

 poor record of the Pied Flycatcher

 Spotted Flycatcher - another rubbish pic

Hobby