Beachy Head & Tide Mills - 11 September 2022

A long trek down to Birling Gap this morning in the hope of finding that mid-September scarcity unfortunately drew a blank. However, I met up with Simon, Laurence and Josh and together we enjoyed a decent raptor watch, with four Honey-buzzards seen (two adults and two juveniles), two Marsh Harriers, a Hobby and plenty of commoner birds-of-prey. The HBs were top class and worth the effort entirely, with brilliant views of a juvenile and a striking adult male, whilst another two remained rather distant. 

After visiting Dad, I thought I'd give Tide Mills a quick look as Josh had found a Wryneck there this morning, and being relatively past their 'best' time of year, it was worth a try in case no others get found next weekend. Despite low expectations, I succeeded, and the bird was particularly showy, yet, preferred to stay at a distance. 

juvenile Honey-buzzard

Wryneck at Tide Mills

Thorney Island – 27 August 2022

Yesterday, I spent seven hours walking the Thorney Island circuit, keen to find something semi-decent as I know very few people actively go birding here. 

As always, this wasn't to be but I came off with a good haul of nice birds and feeling confident I had given it my all. Walking to the western seawall near the caravan site, there was plenty of warbler activity, with mainly Willow Warblers moving positively inland. The harbour had at least six Greenshanks present and a Redstart and a mixed warbler flock was next to the security gate. The first of ten Cattle Egrets was spotted amongst the cattle and at a distance, over the water, an Osprey was circling before landing on a post just over in Hampshire. A Barn Owl also gave an excellent fly-past and later on, another Osprey was over Great Deep where a flock of 7 Whinchats were also present, with another seen at Marker Point. Other then this, it was a case of the usual suspects and migrants, but a nice walk none the less.

Cattle Egret

Scilly Pelagics, Isles of Scilly – July/August 2022

In the early hours of 31st July, I started the long drive down to Penzance, arriving at Drift Reservoir at around 7am. The main target here was the Least Sandpiper which had been around for a few days previous; the bird showed relatively well but always at some distance, but enough to discern all classic features of this American wader. A juvenile Garganey and several Green Sandpipers were also present.

I left here, met Ian and Jake briefly, before continuing onto Pendeen to do a short 2-hour seawatch before having to leave for the Scillonian. It wasn't too bad, with a few Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters, European Storm Petrels and of course heaps of Manx Shearwaters piling past.

It was then time for the Scillonian crossing to St Mary's. I met Ian and Jake at the quay and during the crossing we recorded the following:

Ocean Sunfish - 1

Risso's Dolphin - 6

Common Dolphin - 1

Cory's Shearwater - 3

Great Shearwater - 1

European Storm Petrel - 1

On Scilly, we stayed at the Rocky Hill Chalets, roughly a 20-minute walk from Hugh Town. During the course of the seven days I was on the islands, I did four pelagics, had a full day on Tresco and St Martin's and generally just chilled out, swam in the sea and eat as much as I could. Land birding was fairly poor expectedly for the time of year, with just a handful of common early autumn migrants and the Lesser Yellowlegs on Tresco.

The pelagics, organised as ever by Scilly Pelagics, were excellent and on each outing we encountered a number of large shearwaters, a few Wilson's Storm Petrels, but maybe best of all, were the Porbeagle Sharks rising to the service to check us out. We even caught a couple of 200lb+ sharks which were tagged and released, add to this the Blue Sharks too and a couple of Bluefin Tuna! One evening in particular stood out... after observing and catching many Porbeagle Sharks, our journey back in saw hundreds of European Storm Petrels in the slick with a decent sunset in the background. 

Pelagic Highlights

Wilson's Storm Petrel - 8

Great Shearwater - 25

Cory's Shearwater - 25

Sooty Shearwater - 10

Long-tailed Skua - 1

Blue Shark - 5

Porbeagle Shark - 10

Yellow-legged Gull - 5 juvs

Wilson's Storm Petrel

Porbeagle Sharks

Great Shearwater

Cory's Shearwater

Long-tailed Skua

Manx Shearwater

Yellow-legged Gull

Lesser Yellowlegs on Tresco

Seaford Head – 12th & 13th August 2022

I was down in Sussex at the weekend, which happily coincided with a prolonged spell of easterly winds, so Pied Flycatchers were very much on the menu from the off. I paid two visits to Seaford Head and enjoyed a decent amount of southbound migrants, though nothing out of the ordinary was noted.

Combined totals for the Friday and Saturday mornings as follows:

Pied Flycatcher - 4
Nightingale - 2
Spotted Flycatcher - 1
Redstart - 1
Wheatear - 3
Garden Warbler - 7
Lesser Whitethroat - 20
Reed Warbler - 9
Common Whitethroat - 75
Blackcap - 10
Willow Warbler - 25
Snipe - 2 overhead
Green Sandpiper - 6 overhead
Swift - 5

On the Sunday, I gave the head a rest and instead went to see the Long-tailed Blue butterflies near Brighton. I counted six different individuals and was a superb ending to my time in my beloved Sussex. 

Other than this, a few swims in the sea and a Badger watch with Dad at the back of Seaford were the only activities, the latter finding four Badgers, a Fox and a super cool moonrise. 

Pied Flycatcher (top)

Reed Warbler

Willow Warbler

Willow Warbler

Pied Flycatcher

Kelp (Cape) Gull: Grafham Water, Cambridgeshire; 7th August 2022

What was meant to be a relaxing day at the seaside, actually turned into a day of slight compromise to allow me to go and twitch the Cape Gull at Grafham Water – a first for Britain no less! I arrived at around 5pm and enjoyed excellent views of this subtly striking gull, a species which I've seen plentiful times in trips to South Africa and Namibia. 

Cape Gull at Grafham Water

Bempton Cliffs RSPB, Yorkshire – Saturday 9th July

Finally a break from work, trips and whatever else, enabled myself and Ian to head up to Bempton Cliffs for the long-staying Black-browed Albatross and the recently-arrived Red-tailed Shrike.

We started off at Staple Newk Viewpoint after a 5-hour drive through the night. After a short wait, the albatross started circling just below us affording excellent views. Puffins and the usual auks were also present and the sounds and smells of the thriving seabird colony were in full flow!

Next up was a lengthy walk around the various tracks and farms in order to try and find the Red-tailed Shrike. Being an adult in spring plumage means this Isabelline Shrike can be proven to be a Red-tailed (or Turkestan) and was therefore very enticing to see since its arrival last week. Despite no news, we found several birders looking at the bird (frustratingly only 200m away from Staple Newk) and we enjoyed close scope views of this attractive bird.

Other bits before we drove home at 10am were many Tree Sparrows and a few Yellow Wagtails.

Black-browed Albatross

Red-tailed Shrike

Brazil (Part 1) - Arrival & sites close to Porto Velho

I think it was back in 2019 that Richard Fairbank and Nick Preston were arranging a private tour to SW Amazonia, with a hopeful departure set for spring of 2020. They very kindly invited myself along and Paul Noakes too. 

From the off, the itinerary sounded fantastic with a wealth of new birds on offer, including some I'd never heard of. But there were some highly sought-after species on that list too; critically endangered species such as Rondonia Bushbird, and recently described species, were all enticing enough for me to give Rich and Nick the nod. 

Of course, nowt happened in the spring of 2020, and with 2021 out the question too, it was 2022 that would be our year, and it was worth the wait. Over the next five blog posts, I will outline the highlights and a number of photos. It's worth stating at this stage that the overall experience was, for me, slightly depressing, and at times, mildly upsetting. Deforestation is rife in the state of Rondonia and to watch it in action was tough to observe. It was a different situation in the state of Acre (a state which straddles Bolovia and Peru), however, as pretty much everywhere had been cleared many years ago, with only small pockets of decent habitat remaining. It was apparent that the wildlife we were watching would not have a home for too much longer!

On a brighter note, it was a successful trip and I recorded 270 new birds and I'm yet to tot up my overall total. It was also great to meet Mike Catsis, Chris Goodie (author of 'Jewels of the Forest') and Andy Mears, whilst we were based in Humaita.

The success of the trip was very much down to Brad Davis, owner of Agami Nature Tours. Being Canadian, he spoke perfect English, was very friendly, and one of the best guides I've come across; for a whole suite of reasons, his bird knowledge was immense!

Day 1 (27 May) - Arrival into Porto Velho

On the 26 May, I departed LHR late on and arrived on time into Sao Paulo. It was a tight connection to make the onward journey through to Porto Velho (Rondonia), not helped by the need to recover my luggage and checking it back in again, but I made it and all was well. Nick, Rich and Paul were already out in Brazil visiting Amazonia NP, a site that initally drew me to the trip, but limited annual leave denied that!

I got a cheap taxi to the hotel, settled down for a bit, then walked down to the Rio Madeira to see what I could. I purposely left my optics behind just in case it attracted any unwanted attention. I was pleased to see Black-collared Swallows, White-winged Swallows and a pair of Red-bellied Macaws for my efforts, whilst from my bedroom window, Silver-beaked Tanagers, a Short-crested Flycatcher and several Chestnut-bellied Seedeaters were viewable from the seventh floor. A huge male Green Iguana was a late surprise as it roosted.

male Green Iguana

Porto Velho - the capital of Rondonia

Day 2 (28 May) - Forest close to Porto Velho

It was an earlyish start for me (mega early for the others) as the other three and Brad arrived from Manaus before it got light. They met me at the hotel, and after a quick bite, we drove a short distance north to a forest patch. We walked a newly opened logging trail, which although is good for birding, it sadly means the end if nigh for this particular forest patch, although it will have a few years of freedom yet hopefully. 

The first few hours were highlighted by one of my main targets, the superb Hairy-crested Antbird! In tow were White-throated and Black Antbirds, whilst in the treetops, Yellow-throated Flycatchers, Paradise Tanagers, White-throated Toucans and Amazonian Pygmy Owls were seen. Bonaparte's Parakeets also kept us on our toes and eventually showed well.

Not a bad start at all and further additions came relatively thick and fast with Chestnut-winged Foliage-gleaner, Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper, White-fronted Nunbirds, Inambari Woodcreeper, Snethlage's Tody-tyrant and a small troop of Red-chested Tamarins (by far the highlight for me). 

After the trail, we then walked the road in the increasing heat, but scored well with a great view of a Western Striolated Puffbird, Short-tailed Pygmy Tyrant and a Fasciated Antshrike which refused to show poorly! 

After lunch back in Porto Velho, we again returned back across the river and worked a different track into a patch of white sand forest. This once flooded landscape, however many years ago, supports a number of specialist species, with white sand stretching all the way north into Guyana. Here though, hoped for targets seen comprised horrific views of a Humaita Antbird, a few Predicted Antwrens, several Campina Jays, a Fuscous Flycatcher and a Bluish-fronted Jacamar. 

Time was getting on and with a damp, bumpy track to negotiate, we headed back in the low light and back into Porto Velho where we stayed the night. 

Bonaparte's Parakeets

Amazonian Barred Woodcreeper

Snethlage's Tody Tyrant

Amazonian Pygmy Owl

Fasciated Antshrike

Bluish-fronted Jacamar

Campina Jay - discovered this century!

Day 3 (29 May) - Porto Velho to Tabajara

We started the morning off at the same location as we did yesterday, but this time concentrated along the road. Tings started brilliantly as a Crested Owl was heard, and then seen, as it responded well to playback. A Starred Wood Quail sang from the deep, as did several tinamous, so we walked the road to see what we could find. Despite hearing an Undulated Antshrike, it remained well and truly elusive, with Rich being the only one to see it clearly enough for a solid tick.

Further on, a duo of antbirds comprised both Sooty and White-throated (much to the relief of Rich), with the former showing brilliantly. A White-necked Puffbird, a small group of funky Curl-crested Aracaris and a Double-toothed Kite all showed well too, but perhaps the star of the morning were a small group of White-bellied Parrots; really cool looking and perhaps the highlight of the morning, especially as they showed far better than the overhead Dusky-headed Parakeets. 

On our return, a Scaled Woodpecker was watched feeding amongst the twigs of an overhang, and after watching a White-necked Thrush, a small mixed flock were located and included Rufous-bellied Euphonia, Paradise Tanager, a Peruvian Warbling Antbird and a Glossy Antshrike.

This pretty much rounded off our morning and we were soon ready to hit the road bound for Tabajara, which was roughly a five hour drive with a few highlights seen along the way... next blog post.

Crested Owl

female Sooty Antbird

White-bellied Parrots

Double-toothed Kite

a phone-scoped Curl-crested Aracari