Birding in the Brenne II – Spring 2010

Sun 09 May 2010

After last year’s successful trip to the Brenne, David, Alan, Chris and I eagerly set off for a repeat trip to the same area. The first leg of the journey was an evening drive down to Portsmouth to catch the 22:45 ferry to Ouistreham. This was a change of plan as originally we had booked the following morning’s sailing to Cherbourg, but this had been cancelled at short notice. Sadly, this meant no sea-watching to kick start our list. After a cuppa in the restaurant we adjourned to our cabins in the hope of getting some sleep before the early morning start.

 

Mon 10 May 2010

We rose early for breakfast at 5.00am, then down to the car deck ready to disembark. Once off the ferry we soon had our first bird – a herring gull! The early start gave us the opportunity to visit a couple of sites in Normandy before the drive south to the Brenne, so our first destination was the museum at Utah Beach.

 

The monotonous “dzip… dzip… dzip…” song of a fan-tailed warbler could be heard coming from the bushes next to the car park. The bird was difficult to locate, but eventually it gave a brief display. The beach was devoid of birds, probably because of the sand-storm being whipped up by the wind. We moved a couple of kilometres along the coast to the Beaugillot Nature Reserve.  An hour or so’s birding here found, amongst others, great white egret, black swan, marsh harrier, and a small flock of spoonbill. A coypu was in front of one of the hides.

 

Next, a short drive to the nearby Ponts D’Ouve reserve. Sadly no sign of any bluethroats, but we did manage to get a brief glimpse of a Cetti’s warbler as it flew across the river. A white stork was in its nest with young, a grasshopper warbler was heard, and another spoonbill was seen from the hide. Raptors included hobby, marsh harrier and kestrel.

 

The journey south was quite long, but fairly straightforward as it was mostly on motorways (A28/E502, A10/E05), which were very quiet compared to British motorways. A short rest stop at Alençon services for fuel and coffee and then we continued on our way. The only bird of note seen on the journey was a harrier, but from the car we could not be certain whether it was a Monty’s or hen.

 

As we neared Champ d’Oeuf David remarked that a clearing on the D14 through the Forêt de Preuilly looked an ideal place for nightjars (more on this later).

 

Not far from our destination there were piles of hail stones by the side of the road, and as we passed through wooded areas the road was covered with leaves. A thunder storm had recently passed, but luckily we had not driven through it. The storm could be seen to the south when we arrived at our gîte. The sky was very black, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the accompanying rolls of thunder.

As last year, we  were staying at La Confiance, owned and run by Sue and Chris Mooney. Sue was there
to greet us as we arrived, and as we unloaded the car a nightingale burst into song to greet us as well.

There was plenty of time to sort out our things and have a shower before walking around to Sue and Chris’s dining room for our four-course dinner.

 

Tues 11 May 2010

A short walk around the lanes of Champ d’Oeuf before breakfast found turtle dove, melodious warbler and a singing nightingale. After we had all breakfasted the first destination was the Chérine Nature Reserve near St. Michel-en-Brenne for a meeting with Tony Williams. He has lived and worked in the area for many years and is the best source for all the latest info. Although it is only a short drive, it took longer than expected as every “bird on wire” had to be investigated, and a marsh harrier held us up for several minutes. We had a good sighting of a water rail from the viewing window in the visitor centre whilst waiting for TW, and Alan spotted a reed warbler. Also black tern, little egret and marsh harrier.

 

TW’s info included the news that there were black woodpeckers nesting in a pine tree next to the restaurant at Étang de Bellebouche, so that was added to today’s itinerary. Also that the bee-eaters were no longer at Néons-sur-Creuse but had re-located to nearby Tournon-St-Martin.

 

The rest of the morning was spent thoroughly exploring the area around Chérine. First the Tower Hide at the north-east corner of Étang Ricot. Nightingale and blackcap were singing well in the wooded area surrounding the car park and a golden oriole was heard from the hide. Common tern, marsh harrier and black kite were also seen from the hide.

 

A few hundred metres further along the D17 there is a small parking area overlooking Étang de Monmélier. There was not much on the water, but a black-winged stilt flew over. (Note for next time: There is a track starting here that leads past Étang Miclos – this is worth checking out).

 

A track from the small parking area on the D44 leading past the north-western end of Étang Ricot through the Chérine Nature Reserve produced great birds last year, so we eagerly set-off along this path. A good number of species were seen including stonechat, cattle egret, great white egret, black kite, cuckoo, nightingale, gadwall, whiskered tern, red-crested pochard, melodious warbler, sand martin and cirl bunting. The reeling of a grasshopper warbler was heard as well.

 

On the drive to Bellebouche we got our first red-backed shrike and another cirl bunting. At Bellebouche we located the pine tree that TW told us was the site of a black woodpecker nest, but there was no sign of any woodpeckers. Brief glimpses of both hoopoe and golden oriole were some compensation, and also a tree-creeper – but was it the short-toed variety? A Bonelli’s warbler was giving it’s distinctive song, but it was very difficult to find in the dense foliage. A solitary little ringed plover was on the lake shore. We sat by the car to eat our lunch, listening to the distant song of a golden oriole. One final check of the pine trees before leaving, still no woodpeckers but we did see a red squirrel.

 

A purple heron was seen on a quick visit to the southern end of Bellebouche and a very pale, hovering bird of prey that I at first mistakenly thought was an osprey. It was in fact our first short-toed eagle.

 

Our final destination for today was Château Robert in the Forêt de Lancosme. As we were driving along the rough forest track we were all surprised when a black stork flew over – a first for all of us. Monkey orchid were growing close to where we parked the car. The walk in the forest produced a good view of a Bonelli’s warbler and one of the few robins seen on the trip. A black woodpecker was heard to call once, but no sightings. My pathetic attempts at imitating its call caused much amusement to my companions.

 

We had worked up quite an appetite from our day’s birding, so the delicious four-course dinner which Sue and Chris had prepared for us back at La Confiance was well received. A calling tawny owl was the only addition to our list on a short evening walk around the lanes of Champ d’Oeuf.

 

Wed 12 May 2010

Our pre-breakfast recce found a pair of stone curlews in a field not 200m distant from our gîte. Today was to be bee-eater day, and despite TW’s advice, we decided that we would check out the site at Néons-sur-Creuse first.

 

En-route we stopped for a few minutes at Étang Bourreau, a small lake alongside the D50. Lots of swallow, house martin and whiskered tern about, and a male harrier at first thought to be a Montagu’s, was quartering the fields in the distance. Closer inspection identified it as a hen harrier. A red-backed shrike appeared on a wire as we were leaving.

 

We parked by the small riverside play area in Néons-sur-Creuse. There was no sign of any bee-eaters so we took a stroll along the lane where we found corn bunting, melodious warbler, cirl bunting and stonechat plus several other common species. A red-backed shrike perched in the hedgerow to have its photograph taken, and a golden oriole was calling from the trees across the river, but we only managed to get a distant view of the flying bird. The most controversial bird of our trip was seen here. A very white bird of prey that could have been either a pale morph booted eagle or buzzard. I thought there were features that pointed to either species, but David was fairly convinced it was a buzzard. Anyway, it was all fairly academic as both species were definitely seen during this trip.

 

We were just packing our ‘scopes into the car prior to moving on when we all heard the unmistakable calls of bee-eaters. We rushed to the riverside where the sound was coming from and soon located the birds. A flock of five or six of them perched in a dead tree on the wooded island in La Creuse. A magnificent sight!

 

We watched them for a good twenty minutes before deciding it was  time to move on. As we had now bagged the bee-eaters there was no need to go to Tournon-St-Martin so we headed for Étang de la Mer Rouge. Here we found another red-backed shrike and had good views of a booted eagle. More whiskered tern and a nightingale was heard (not unusual, as we heard these almost everywhere we went). A hornet was also encountered here.

En route to La Gabrière a possible peregrine flew over, and on the étang itself our first black-necked grebes. Black kite and booted eagle flew over as we viewed the lake from the roadside benches.

 

Making our way to Étang de la Sous we stopped to get a better view of a short-toed eagle which flew over. Butterfly orchids were growing on the verge here. A very impressive new hide had been constructed at Étang de la Sous and from it we saw great white egret, whiskered tern and purple heron. European pond tortoise (very common in the area) was also noted. A great reed warbler began singing from the extensive reed beds in front of the hide and we eventually located it and had a fairly good view for several minutes before it disappeared deep into the reeds. On returning to the car we found a tick on the dashboard. Chris made sure to keep her trousers firmly tucked into her socks after that.

 

A visit to the hide on Étang Massé at Le Blizon was not very productive. (Note for next time: there is a track here that runs by Étang du Blizon which would be well worth exploring). 

 

Another brief visit to the Étang de Monmélier specifically to find black-winged stilts, which was successful. Yet another short-toed eagle flew over.

 

The final destination for today was an exploration of the lanes to the south-east of Azay-le-Ferron, where little bustards used to be found. Local knowledge is that they are no longer here, but we thought it was worth a look. On the D18 1km south-west of St-Julien a couple of Montagu’s harriers were seen being mobbed by curlew, but sadly no sign of any little bustards.

 

Whilst having our evening meal with Sue and Chris we were delighted to see a nightingale on the lawn of La Confiance.

 

Thu 13 May 2010

The customary pre-breakfast walk found nothing new, but it was a surprise to see a stone curlew take-off from a pasture with grazing cattle. Today’s itinerary was to explore the forests (mainly for woodpeckers) in the morning, and in the afternoon to have a guided orchid walk. A new species for our list was added on the way to the forest - greylag goose at Étang de la Bienaise. Several cattle egret were spotted in a field on the D21 near Bellebouche.

 

We drove deep into the Forêt de Lancosme, parked where five forest roads meet and walked along a forest track. Spotting birds was difficult because of the dense foliage, but Bonelli’s warbler and crested tit were seen well. Wood warbler, garden warbler and a treecreeper (the standard Eurasian type) were heard, and a brief glimpse of a golden oriole as it flew across the ride. We spent several minutes trying to locate a bird with an unusual song. We eventually found the culprit – a blackcap. It was an very un-blackcap like song though, it sounded more like a redstart.

 

We moved on to the nearby chapel of St.Sulpice for another wander through the woods. Nothing new found, but a treecreeper was heard (this one sounded like the short-toed variety). We were pleased to find a chequered skipper butterfly, a species that can only be found around Fort William in Britain. Sadly, the only woodpecker noted today was the call of a great spotted.

 

After returning to Champ d’Oeuf for a spot of lunch we headed off to Preuilly-sur-Claise to meet Susan Walter, an Australian naturalist living in France, and her partner Simon Brand, who were going to give us a guided orchid walk. We rendezvoused in the centre of the village, and after a brief introductory chat in the Hôtel de L’Image we made the short journey to their orchard. Alan and Chris travelled in style in the beautifully restored 1953 Citroën Traction Avant owned by Susan and Simon.

 

In the orchard we saw lady and early spider orchids and a rather  splendid Glanville fritillary butterfly (only found on the Isle of White in Britain). We moved on to the nearby village of Boussay for a walk through the woods. Several more species of orchid were found here, including narrow-leafed helliborine, along with gendarme bugs, which was something none of us had seen before. A short-toed treecreeper was heard in the woods, but we did not manage to get any sighting of it.

After thanking Susan and Simon we went to check out the clearing  we had seen on the day of our arrival, as we had decided that tonight we would have a late night excursion to find nightjars. A pair of stone curlew were found on a bare field nearby.

Having located a suitable spot to park the car we returned to Champ d’Oeuf for an early dinner. We left at about 9.00pm when there was still plenty of daylight, and en-route we saw a male hen harrier and stopped to have another look at the pair of stone curlews we had found earlier.

 

Our chosen spot was on the D14 in the Forêt de Preuilly, and after parking the car just off the road we walked a short distance into the woods. We were now surrounded by about 2m high scrubby vegetation with taller trees interspersed.  It was a cool, but calm evening and several cuckoos were calling from the surrounding forest. As the light faded a bird was seen on the ground about 50m away. We struggled to identify it in the fading light, but our best guess was a mistle thrush. We all had doubts about this as the bird seemed much too grey. Afterwards we decided this could have been a fieldfare, as the area is not too far from their summer range.

 

As we stood in silence several large animals were heard routing around in the undergrowth just a few metres away from us. We did not see them, and had no idea what they were. We think they could have been either badgers or wild boar.

We were all beginning to have doubts that the habitat was right for nightjars, but at about 10.30 we at last heard the first brief churring call. The churring continued on and off for the next half hour or so, gradually increasing in intensity, from at least two birds. Suddenly the churring stopped and the frog like “kru-it” call began. The bird was obviously now moving and David and Alan began to wave white handkerchiefs. Instantly a nightjar made a close approach to us and then proceeded to fly around our heads. Although the light was now very feint, there was sufficient to enable us to see the bird in silhouette. In fact, it was the best views any of us had had of the species. Satisfied with our night’s work we made our way back to the car, only to have another nightjar flying around our heads as we got back to it.

 

Fri 14 May 2010

We rose early today so that we could make an early start to our return trip. It was the coldest morning of our visit, so cold that the car was covered in ice. We departed at 7.15 and headed west to Châtellerault, the quickest route to join the motorway network.

 

We lost count of the number of buzzards we saw sitting alongside the motorway as we journeyed north. A short break at La Dentelle d’Alençon services for coffee and to re-fuel broke up the journey. The plan was to get in a couple of hours birding at Sallenelles nature reserve on the Orne estuary before we went to the ferry and we arrived in plenty of time to do this. Shelduck, grey plover, oystercatcher, whimbrel and  whinchat were added to our list here. There was one other bird that was heard only. It sounded at times like a song thrush, but this was only part of the song. Although we searched long and hard we never actually saw the bird, which we strongly suspect was a bluethroat.

 

Crossing the river and the canal via Pegasus Bridge we arrived at the ferry port in Ouistreham in plenty of time for our 4.30pm sailing to Portsmouth. Soon after the Mont St Michel docked  an employee of Brittany Ferries walked round the waiting cars handing out a letter. This announced that there was a strike and they could not say when we would be allowed on board, it could be two hours, four hours or even twelve hours!

 

After a long and boring wait we eventually boarded and sailed about four hours late. There was not much time for sea-watching before the light faded, the only addition to our list during the crossing was gannet. It was well after midnight when we arrived in Portsmouth, and after dropping Alan and Chris at their home, picking my car up at David’s, it was not until gone 3.00am that I finally arrived home. 

 

The weather had been unseasonably cold for the time of year, with a chilly north-easterly wind blowing. Warmer weather would probably have given us more birds, and butterflies were very thin on the ground this year compared with last, but nevertheless it had been a great few days enjoying the nature of the Brenne.

 

Special thanks to David for sorting out all the arrangements and doing all the driving, and to our hosts Sue and Chris for the splendid accommodation and food.

 

The Bird List

 

Mute Swan	Black Swan
Greylag Goose	Canada Goose
Shelduck	Wigeon
Gadwall	Teal
Mallard	Shoveler
Red-crested Pochard	Pochard
Tufted Duck	Red-legged Partridge
Pheasant	Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe	Black-necked Grebe
Gannet	Cormorant
Cattle Egret	Little Egret
Great White Egret	Grey Heron
Purple Heron	Black Stork
White Stork	Spoonbill
Black Kite	Short-toed Eagle
Booted Eagle	Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier	Montagu's Harrier
Buzzard	Kestrel
Merlin (Doubtful)	Hobby
Peregrine (Possible)	Water Rail
Coot	Oystercatcher
Black-winged Stilt	Stone-curlew
Little Ringed Plover	Grey Plover
Lapwing	Dunlin
Snipe	Whimbrel
Curlew	Greenshank
Black-headed Gull	Common Gull (?)
Lesser Black-backed Gull	Herring Gull
Great Black-backed Gull	Whiskered Tern
Black Tern	Common Tern
Feral Pigeon	Woodpigeon
Collared Dove	Turtle Dove
Cuckoo	Tawny Owl (h)
Nightjar	Swift
Bee-eater	Hoopoe
Black Woodpecker (h)	Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Skylark
Sand Martin	Swallow
House Martin	Meadow Pipit
Yellow Wagtail	Grey Wagtail
Pied Wagtail	White Wagtail
Wren	Dunnock
Robin	Nightingale
Bluethroat (h?)	Black Redstart
Whinchat	Stonechat
Blackbird	Fieldfare (Probable)
Song Thrush	Mistle Thrush
Cetti's Warbler	Fan-tailed Warbler
Grasshopper Warbler (h)	Sedge Warbler
Reed Warbler	Great Reed Warbler
Melodious Warbler	Blackcap
Garden Warbler (h)	Whitethroat
Western Bonelli's Warbler	Wood Warbler (h)
Chiffchaff	Long-tailed Tit
Blue Tit	Great Tit
Crested Tit	Nuthatch (h)
Treecreeper	Short-toed Treecreeper (h)
Golden Oriole	Red-backed Shrike
Jay	Magpie
Jackdaw	Rook
Carrion Crow	Starling
House Sparrow	Chaffinch
Greenfinch	Goldfinch
Linnet	Bullfinch
Yellowhammer	Cirl Bunting
Reed Bunting	Corn Bunting
Total 132 Species

The Insect list

Compiled by Alan Strachan

Chequered Skipper	Wood White
Glanville Fritillary	Large White
Small White	Green-veined White
Orange Tip	Peacock
Wall	Small Heath
Common Heath Moth	Cinnabar Moth
Speckled Yellow Moth	Hummingbird Hawk Moth
May Bug	Gendarme Bug
Hornet

The Flower list

Compiled by Chris Shayler

Early Purple Orchid	Lady Orchid
Monkey Orchid	Birdsnest Orchid
Early Spider Orchid	Fly Orchid
Sword-leaved Helliborine	Lesser Butterfly Orchid
Meadow Saxifrage	Meadow Thistle
Asparagus	Milkwort
Crosswort	Water Violet
Common Water Crowfoot	St. Bernard’s Lilley
Kerry Lilley	Common Cow Wheat
Lungwort	Solomon’s Seal
Purple Toothwort	Wood Spurge
Cypress Spurge	Portland Spurge
Large Flowered Sandwort

Additions to My Life List 2009

31 Dec 2009

It’s been a good birding year for me. These are the species that I have added to my Life List during 2009.

Tundra Bean Goose	Welney WWT
Brent Goose (Dark Bellied)	Titchwell
Black Brant	Titchwell
Ferruginous Duck	Old Hall Marshes, Essex
Velvet Scoter	Titchwell (Offshore)
Red-throated Diver	Cley (offshore)
Night-heron	Etang Ricot, Brenne, France
Great White Egret	Pymoor, Cambridgeshire
Purple Heron	Etang Ricot, Brenne, France
White Stork	Ponts Douve, Normandy, France
Greater Flamingo	San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain
Black Kite	Cherine, Brenne, France
Egyptian Vulture	Near Torrevieja, Spain
Short-toed Eagle	Brenne National Park, France
Booted Eagle	Etang Ricot, Brenne, France
Montagu's Harrier	Near Azay-le-Feron, Brenne, France
Rough-legged Buzzard	Coveney, Cambridgeshire
Merlin	Old Hall Marshes, Essex
Black-winged Stilt	Cherine, Brenne, France
Pectoral Sandpiper	Keyhaven
Kittiwake	Cley (offshore)
Glaucous Gull	Cley Marshes NWT
Whiskered Tern	Brenne National Park, France
American Black Tern	Farmoor
White-winged Black Tern	Farmoor
Hoopoe	Brenne National Park, France
Black Woodpecker	Forét de Lanscosme, Brenne, France
Crested Lark	Champ d'Oeuf, Brenne, France
Crag Martin	Near Torremendo Lake, Spain
Fan-tailed Warbler	Beaugillot NR, Normandy, France
Marsh Warbler	Otmoor
Sardinian Warbler	Parc Natural de la Mata-Torrevieja, Spain
Western Bonelli's Warbler	Brenne National Park, France
Crested Tit	Forét de Lancosme, Brenne, France
Golden Oriole	Forét de Lancosme, Brenne, France
Red-backed Shrike	Etang de la Mer Rouge, Brenne, France
Spotless Starling	Parc Natural de la Mata-Torrevieja, Spain
Serin	Parc Natural de la Mata-Torrevieja, Spain
Cirl Bunting	Etang Ricot, Brenne, France

Spain – November 2009

Sat 7 Nov 2009

Arrived in Spain for a week’s holiday to visit Steve and Di. Not solely a bird watching trip, and as I brought hand luggage only I had no telescope/tripod with me, only binoculars.

Sun 8 Nov 2009

The first new tick – crag martins seen in a gorge on our way to the restaurant at Rebate for Sunday lunch. Nothing much else seen during the day until we got back home, when an Egyptian vulture flew over the house as we sat having a drink. 

Mon 9 Nov 2009

A short recce trip with Steve to the Park Natural de la Mata at Torrevieja. Black redstarts, crag martin

and crested lark in  abundance and another new one for me – serin. Clouded yellow and painted lady butterflies also present.

Tues 10 Nov 2009

Steve drove me to the Park Natural de la Mata, where I spent the day exploring on my own. Black redstart, crag martin and crested larks were again very easy to find. Whilst I was watching a small flock of serin feeding on the ground amongst grape vines a warbler that

I could not identify perched on the top of a nearby shrub. It looked superficially like a common whitethroat, but the back was much browner and the tail seemed longer. It was not until later in the day when I found a male Sardinian warbler that I realised that this bird was a female of that species.

The hide gave good, but distant views of the birds on the shore of the Salinas de la Mata (I really needed my ‘scope). There were definitely turnstone and golden plover, but there was also some very pale and small waders which I thought were sanderling. But Kentish plover winter on this coast and I wonder if that’s what they were (I wish I was better at identifying waders!).

It would have been nice to get a much closer view of the crested larks, as Thekla larks are also found in Spain, but they are so similar that really close views are needed to reliably identify them (the Thekla lark has a shorter bill and a less spiky crest). As the Thekla lark is usually found in rockier habitats at higher altitude it is more probable that these were in fact crested larks.

Other nice finds today were great grey shrikes (at least three individuals), hoopoes, Dartford warbler, rose-ringed parakeets, a possible flying stone curlew and monarch butterflies.

One final species found at the end of the day was spotless starling. I could see a flock of “black birds” but could not recognise what they were. I had to go back to get close enough to identify them.

 

Wed 11 Nov 2009

A walk along the low cliffs above the beach at Playa Flamenca today. Mainly species that I had already

seen (black redstart, Sardinian warbler, crested lark etc), but a couple of others. A sandwich tern and a gull that I could not identify (no surprise there). It was a largish gull with a dark bill, silvery grey back and black wing tips. Could it have been an Audouin’s?

Also a little egret, a humming-bird hawk moth and a red admiral.

 

Thu 12 Nov 2009

Not a bird watching day. Went to Calasparra to the Santuario Virgen de la Esperanza. But whilst we were having lunch in the restaurant saw crested tits in the fir trees (much to the amusement of the waiter who thought I was looking at squirrels).

Fri 13 Nov 2009

A visit to the Parque Regional de las Salinas y Arenales de San Pedro del Pinatar in the morning. Black-winged stilt, yellow legged gulls black necked grebes and my first sight of wild flamingos. Also lots of biting insects!!!

At a stop for coffee I at last got a very close view of a lark to enable me to confirm it as a crested and not Thekla lark.

After lunch walked along the causeway between the salt pans and the Mar Menor. Flamingos, sandwich tern, shelduck and more gulls. These were black headed size with a  red bill and black wing tips. They seemed to be in adult plumage and I thought they were Mediterranean gulls, but adult Med gulls do not have black wing tips! I wish I was not so rubbish at id-ing gulls!

This is the list of birds seen on this trip (I was disappointed not to see a Spanish sparrow, though there were plenty of house sparrows).

Shelduck	Red-legged Partridge	Great Crested Grebe
Black-necked Grebe	Cormorant	Cattle Egret (?)
Little Egret	Grey Heron	Greater Flamingo
Egyptian Vulture	Kestrel	Moorhen
Black-winged Stilt	Avocet	Stone Curlew (?)
Golden Plover	Sanderling (?)	Dunlin
Turnstone	Black-headed Gull	Yellow-legged Gull
Sandwich Tern	Woodpigeon	Ring-necked Parakeet
Hoopoe	Green Woodpecker	Crested Lark
Crag Martin	Meadow Pipit	Grey Wagtail
White Wagtail	Robin	Black Redstart
Stonechat	Blackbird	Dartford Warbler
Sardinian Warbler	Chiffchaff	Long-tailed Tit
Great Tit	Crested Tit	Great Grey Shrike
Magpie	Starling	Spotless Starling
House Sparrow	Serin	Goldfinch
Siskin (?)	Linnet (?)

Keyhaven and Pennington Marshes

27 Sep 2009

Eleven members of the VWH Local RSPB Group met in the car park at Keyhaven for the first of this season’s outings. It had been a chilly autumn morning (7°C) when we had began our journeys, but on arrival the sun was shining brightly, and with only a slight breeze, a fine day promised.

House sparrow, pied wagtail, collared dove and wood pigeon were all seen before we had left the car park. The pond next to the car park held wigeon, coot, cormorant and little grebe. A couple of jays flew over and a buzzard was seen in the distance. A Cetti’s warbler was heard singing in the adjacent reedbed, the first of several heard throughout the day. The tide was high and there was no sign of the turnstones that usually frequent the little inlet.

Once on the path around the southern edge of the marshes we noticed that the air was full of swallows and house martins. We tried hard to find sand martins amongst them but without success. The yaffle of a green woodpecker rang out and the bird was seen flying low over the mud, pursued by angry house martins – something none of us had seen before. A solitary clouded yellow butterfly put in an appearance. All the usual species of wader were busy feeding out on the mud, and the missing turnstones were found feeding on the strand line.

Wheatears were expected but were very elusive. We found just one. A single whinchat was a nice find to compare with the more numerous stonechat.

The water level in the freshwater lagoons was very low, not surprising considering the lack of rainfall during September, but there were some interesting birds to be found, notably curlew sandpiper and pectoral sandpiper. The latter species is a very long distance migrant that breeds in the tundra of North America and north-east Siberia, and winters in South America, and is a regular vagrant to Britain. [This was a new tick for me, the 34th addition to my Life List this year]. Unfortunately we did not find the little stint that was rumoured to be about, but a water rail showed well in compensation.

While we sat enjoying our packed lunches, several butterflies were also making the most of the warm autumn sunshine.  Wall, common blue, and a beautiful small copper butterfly were observed. On a mud bank a group of grey plover included a few birds still resplendent in their breeding plumage. Great crested grebes were diving for food in the sea, but no sign of any other species of grebe or mergansers.

There were very few geese about. In fact we only saw two, one each of Canada and Brent species. Several thousand Brent geese usually overwinter on the Marshes, so the one that we saw must have been an early arrival.

We returned to our cars along the lanes behind the marshes, adding several “garden” species to our day’s list, which finished on a total of 65. A splendid day.

The Bird List

Mute Swan	Canada Goose	Brent Goose
Wigeon	Gadwall	Teal
Mallard	Little Grebe	Great Crested Grebe
Cormorant	Little Egret	Grey Heron
Buzzard	Kestrel	Peregrine
Water Rail	Moorhen	Coot
Oystercatcher	Ringed Plover	Grey Plover
Lapwing	Knot	Pectoral Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper	Dunlin	Snipe
Black-tailed Godwit	Curlew	Greenshank
Redshank	Turnstone	Black-headed Gull
Common Gull	Lesser Black-backed Gull	Herring Gull
Woodpigeon	Collared Dove	Green Woodpecker
Great Spotted Woodpecker	Swallow	House Martin
Meadow Pipit	Pied Wagtail	Wren
Dunnock	Robin	Whinchat
Stonechat	Wheatear	Blackbird
Cetti’s Warbler (h)	Chiffchaff	Long-tailed Tit
Blue Tit	Great Tit	Jay
Magpie	Carrion Crow	Starling
House Sparrow	Chaffinch	Greenfinch
Goldfinch	Linnet

The Butterfly List

Clouded Yellow	Wall	Common Blue
Small Copper	Speckled Wood	Red Admiral
Comma	Peacock

Otmoor Great White Egret

15 Sep 2009

A good list of species from a couple of hours at Otmoor this morning, including the marsh harrier and two green sandpiper. Good views of a couple of snipe from the first screen. Large flocks of meadow pipit and linnet on The Closes, with a couple of yellow wagtail with them.

Star bird today was the great white egret which arrived yesterday. It flew around over Greenaways when I first arrived, and was preening in full view at the far side of the same area as I left. This is my third great white egret this year (2 in UK, 1 in France).

The List

Mute Swan	Greylag Goose	Canada Goose
Wigeon	Gadwall	Mallard
Cormorant	Great White Egret	Grey Heron
Red Kite	Marsh Harrier	Kestrel
Moorhen	Coot	Lapwing
Snipe	Green Sandpiper	Black-headed Gull
Sand Martin	Swallow	House Martin
Meadow Pipit	Yellow Wagtail	Wren (h)
Robin	Cetti’s Warbler (h)	Chiffchaff
Long-tailed Tit	Blue Tit	Great Tit
Magpie	Jackdaw	Rook
Carrion Crow	Chaffinch	Greenfinch
Goldfinch	Linnet	Reed Bunting

Marsh Terns at Farmoor

31 Aug 2009

A bank holiday visit to Farmoor to see the white-winged tern and American black tern. Quite a big twitch – a line up of about 40 ‘scopes by the tower. The American black tern was the big attraction (only the third for the UK), but the white-winged was just as interesting for me as I had never seen one before. The ABT does not count as a tick anyway as it does not have full species status, being considered a sub-species of black tern. A black tern made up a nice trio of marsh terns.

Marsh Warbler at Otmoor

27 Jun 2009

Stood watching the marsh warbler for an hour and a half (on the footpath about 100m from the far screen). Lots of tantalising glimpses before it eventually perched in full view for three or four minutes, singing from the top of a reed stem. A new tick for me, at the cost of loads of horse fly bites!