A Couple Of Classy Calidrids

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 23rd to Sunday 29th September 2013.......

Waders...

As the best couple of birds of the week fall into this category then this is where I'll begin... With the Semipalmated Sandpiper back in Dorset at Brownsea Island again the previous week (and possibly still present on Monday 23rd) a reappearance at The Swannery was high on my radar. So when on Tuesday (24th) the little fella below arrived on the meadow pool my expectations were high...



It soon became clear however that it was a juvenile Little Stint (here with a juv. Dunlin & a Teal)



And a closer cropped shot of the Little Stint and one of the accompanying Dunlin.

The stint lingered until Thursday when it was joined by the other main highlight of the week an adult male Ruff...

 

 

Above three pics the Ruff (with Lapwing, Teal & Pintail).

Both of the above Calidris sandpipers are only just about annual at The Swannery but more expected members of their genus seen this week were a single Knot and daily sightings of Dunlin with over twenty present most days. Oddly the only Tringa sandpipers seen were a couple of Greenshanks (actually technically just outside my patch) and singles of Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper. The other members of the Scolopacidae that went into the log were singles of Bar-tailed Godwit and Snipe whilst the family Charadriidae were represented by a peak of fifteen Lapwing and two single Grey Plovers.

Five of the twenty plus juv. Dunlin on the meadow pool.

Wildfowl...

There were no surprises in this group with all the same species present as last week in varying numbers although mostly all a bit up on last week. The only addition was the 'feral' Barnacle Goose that reappeared after being absent for a week or two (the Bar-headed Geese though have now moved on).

Miscellaneous Water Birds...

Ditto the above really but it was nice to clinch a 'Continental' Cormorant...

An immature Cormorant of the form sinensis commonly known as 'Continental Cormorant'. A regular visitor, many are overlooked due to the close views required to positively identify them.



And by way of comparison an immature Cormorant of the nominate form carbo colloquially known as 'Atlantic Cormorant'. The clincher is the shape of the gular patch (the bare skin on the throat), ending in a near vertical line on the former, while much more angled on the latter. There are also subtle structural differences and on adults in the breeding season, slight plumage differences too.

'Atlantic Cormorant' race carbo is the common British default form of Great Cormorant (the official international English name of 'Cormorant') which is found around the coasts of the North Atlantic but also penetrates inland, while 'Continental Cormorant' is the form found on continental Europe right across to the Pacific coast of Asia. It occurs mostly on freshwater but also occurs on the coast and has recently colonised Britain where it forms mixed colonies inland with carbo and is reported to also form mixed pairs (potentially making racial id even more tricky).

 

 Gulls & Terns...

Of the former the only species worthy of entry in the log this week was a solitary Common Gull (not even any 'Meds' were seen) and of the latter only a few Sandwich Terns were noted.
 

Raptors...

The Osprey was present again all week, often favouring it's bespoke bough strapped to the fence by Cuckoo Coppice...

The Osprey making use of the newly installed Osprey perch.

The male and at least one juvenile Marsh Harrier were regular too and following last weeks sightings (the first for weeks), two juvenile Peregrines were seen together, although not amicably so! A Red Kite over the nearby Subtropical Gardens on Sunday could no doubt have been easily seen from The Swannery too, if I had been there to see it, so I'll put that one in the log. The Hobby though, also seen over the said gardens would have been harder to pick up at such a distance so I'd better let that one go.
 

Passerine Migrants...

At last a Garden Warbler was pulled out of the bag, literally as it was trapped and ringed... The first on the patch since last autumn I wasn't there to see it unfortunately so I'm still staking out those Elderberry bushes! There were no other nocturnal migrants of note and indeed several regular species were noted by their absence. Chiffchaffs were by far the commonest warblers and in fact the only other species that were seen were Blackcaps, Reed and ever present Cetti's. Diurnal migrants though were better represented with good numbers of Yellow Wagtails early in the week but 'wag-tailing' off toward the end. The Pied Wagtail roost continued to increase though and still attracted a few White Wagtails, whilst there were still several Grey Wagtails along the streams and pond edges. Meadow Pipits were still numerous and as last week they held at least one Tree Pipit, while the  first Rock Pipit of the autumn also went into the log. There were thousands of Swallows either moving through or roosting (with two thousand plus over the reeds on Sunday evening for instance) but I can't actually remember seeing any martins... I'm sure there must have been a few though! Linnets were on the move too and as last week, a few Siskins were heard, if not actually seen.
 

Stonechat...one of the only two chat species seen this week (the other being Robin), with no Wheatears, Whinchats or Redstarts nor any flycatchers!

Also Of Note...

One of last week's Barn Owls was seen again and the AWOL Lady Amherst's Pheasant continued to visit my adjacent garden.

Other Wildlife...

Work colleague Charlie installed some Reptile Refuges (corrugated iron sheets) around The Swannery a few months back and instantly they began to attract Slow worms. A few weeks back though we had our first Grass Snakes, at least two individuals...

Young male Grass Snake with adult female Slow worm.© Charlie Wheeler   wheeler-photography
Thanks Charlie.

We have been setting camera traps to try and capture an Otter on and off since early spring and at last we have been successful, albeit not a perfect image...



A rather poor picture of an Otter in Helen Hide.
Thanks to Radipole RSPB for the loan of their camera traps.

September WeBS

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 16th to Sunday 22nd September 2013.......

Wildfowl...

Teal with Black-headed Gulls © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography

Sunday's Wetland Bird Survey results for wildfowl...
Mute Swan...448
Black Swan...2
Canada Goose...3
Shelduck...4
Wigeon...2
Gadwall...1
Teal...170
Mallard...552
Mallard (Domestic)...7
Pintail...17
Shoveler..34
Pochard..35
Tufted Duck...210
The above numbers are fairly representative for the week and no other species were seen.

Miscellaneous Water Birds...

Sunday's Wetland Bird Survey results for other water birds...

Little Grebe...12

Great Crested Grebe...20

Cormorant...20

Little Egret...7

Grey Heron...2

Water Rail...2

Moorhen...11

Coot...475

Kingfisher...1

Again the above numbers are fairly representative for the week and no other species were seen.

Waders...

Sunday's Wetland Bird Survey results for waders...

Ringed Plover...2

Lapwing...9

Dunlin...27

Greenshank...1

Once again, fairly representative but a couple of other species went into the log earlier in the week. Common Sandpipers were present most days with a peak count of three and a Curlew flew through.
 

Greenshank © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography

Two of this week's Common Sandpipers.

Gulls & Terns...

Sunday's Wetland Bird Survey results for gulls & terns ...
Black-headed Gull...60

Herring Gull...8

Great Black-backed Gull...1

Not so representative for the week! The former species reached one hundred plus at times, while the latter two reached double figures most days. Also scraping into double figures for the week were Lesser Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls and after a blank week last week, terns were back in the log with one to three Arctic daily from Tuesday to Friday, at least three Common and five Sandwich.

Two Sandwich Terns, two Black-headed Gulls & a Mediterranean Gull off Bum Point.

Bathing Black-headed Gulls © Charlie Wheeler wheeler-photography

Raptors...

The Osprey (or at least an Osprey) was seen every day bar Monday but the male Marsh Harrier and at least one juvenile were a little more sporadic in their appearances. After bemoaning the lack of Peregrines of late two showed up on Sunday, an adult and a juvenile. A near miss for the patch was a Merlin at nearby New Barn Farm, which would have been a first of the autumn if it had strayed a few hundred metres further west. 

A very obliging & striking pale phase Buzzard.

A rather distant shot of the Osprey with a fish (presumably a grey mullet sp)





Passerine Migrants...

Nocturnal migrants were once again a bit thin on the ground with for instance only two Wheatears noted all week. Three Spotted Flycatchers went some way as recompense and although this autumn's trickle of Willow Warblers has dried up...Chiffchaff passage now seems to be in full flow. A few Reed and Sedge Warblers along with Blackcaps are still much in evidence, as are our 'resident' Cetti's Warblers but both Whitethroat 'sp' have been noticeable by their absence of late and I haven't seen a Garden Warbler for a full twelve months now! As for the diurnal migrants - wagtails, pipits and hirundines continued to steal the show...Yellow Wagtails are beginning to tail off (no pun intended) but Pied are increasing and a few White and Grey are still moving through too. Meadow Pipits were fairly numerous toward the end of the week and held at least one Tree Pipit in their ranks. There were thousands of Swallows along with good numbers of House Martins and a few Sand Martins, whilst 'also-ran's' included the first few Siskins of the autumn and a hint of the first movement of Skylarks.

One of this autumn's few Spotted Flycatchers.



And Last But Not Least...

Other species that made it into the log this week were the now regular Lady Amherst's Pheasant, a couple of Barn Owls (the first since the spring), a couple of Bullfinches (ditto) and despite their regularity these days a still fairly impress count of eight Ravens overhead was worthy of note.



The view on Sunday looking SE down The Fleet to Portland from Seventeen Acre Point, Abbotsbury.

Thanks to Charlie Wheeler for the use of three of the above photos and for Steve Hales for his bird sightings and ringing info.

 



'Wonderous Wagtails'

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 9th to Sunday 15th September 2013.......

Summary...

After the excitement of the last two weeks (i.e. the Semipalmated Sandpiper & Citrine Wagtail), this week was much more subdued. There were no 'new in'  wildfowl or wader species and most passerine migrants were still in rather short supply. It was not all mundane however as a 'near miss' pipit got the adrenaline flowing and the ringers continue to pull enigmatic wagtails from their nets.

Wildfowl...

The highlight of this category was the continued presence of the juvenile Goosander...


The juv. Goosander.

...And although they have been back for several weeks now the novelty of seeing freshly arrived Wigeon, Pintail and a couple of hundred Teal has not yet diminished...

Just a few of the two hundred plus Teal present this week.

Waders...

This weeks peak counts were... Lapwing 6; Ringed Plover 2; Black-tailed Godwit 3; Bar-tailed Godwit 2; Turnstone 2; Dunlin 9; Common Sandpiper 5; Greenshank 4; Snipe 1.

One of this weeks two juv. Ringed Plovers

Gulls & Terns...

There were no terns at all this week and in the absence of even any Mediterranean Gulls the best larid was a third calendar year Yellow-legged Gull on the beach opposite today.


Raptors...

Along with the three common resident species the Osprey was still around for much of the week, as were the regular male Marsh Harrier and at least one juvenile.

Male Sparrowhawk.

This species along with Buzzard and Kestrel are regularly encountered at The Swannery and all breed in the vicinity. Strangely Peregrine has been scarce of late and there hasn't been a single Hobby or Merlin so far this autumn.

 Migrant Passerines...

There still seems to be a dearth of nocturnal migrants with none of the regular falls of warblers, for instance, that one expects at this time of year. Flycatchers and Chats are not faring much better either with none of the former this week and only a few Wheatears and a single Whinchat. Diurnal migrants have been rather more numerous with hundreds of Yellow Wagtails still roosting most nights along with good numbers of Pieds and a few Whites. At the roost ringers Steve and Luke continue to trap a few flava types (presumed Blue-headed Wagtails) and this autumn's first thunbergi type (apparent Grey-headed Wagtail). Out of range Yellow Wagtails, other than adult males are arguably impossible to racially identify. For more details on these birds see... abbotsburyswanneryringing & welshbirderindorset . A few Grey Wagtails continue to be logged too and  Meadow Pipit passage is now clearly underway. On Saturday a Tawny Pipit was reported further east along New Barn Road in a ploughed field near Merry Hill Barn. Comfortably outside The Swannery recording area it would, however, still have qualified as an Abbotsbury tick and a Fleet tick too for that matter. I dipped however as did everybody else that went for it as far as I'm aware.

Juv. White Wagtail in the meadow.
Although the ringers have come across several this autumn this is only the second  individual I've seen 'in the field' so far this season.

Swallows and martins have increased this week, with thousands present on Saturday. The latter were mostly House Martins but there have been good numbers of Sand Martins too.


A sure sign of autumn... Swallows & House Martins gather on wires. The larger 'birds' are actually swan deflectors!

And finally...

The male Lady Amherst's Pheasant reappears yet again around my chicken coop.

The Return Of The 'Peep'...

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th September 2013.......

The Semipalmated Sandpiper returns...

So yes the highlight of the week was the return of the 'Semi-p' on Wednesday after it's two day sojourn to Brownsea Island...



 

Above two 'pics' the juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper on meadow pool this week and below the latter shot more heavily cropped...

 

Indeed the little 'peep' seems to have had 'itchy wings' since it's trans-Atlantic arrival, as it now seems that it was present at the other end of The Fleet at Ferrybridge in the early afternoon of Sunday the 1st before it turned up at The Swannery. In fact it seems it may well have been present there in the morning too. It now also appears to have been seen back at Ferrybridge in the early evening (after it left Abbotsbury) prior to it's late evening sighting back at Abbotsbury. Although hand on heart the latter sighting at The Swannery was extremely distant so it may have been erroneous. Either way it then did a moonlight flit to Poole Harbour before it showed up on my patch again on Wednesday (and I even identified it correctly this time!). I wasn't the only one to have had problems with it's 'id' though as it wasn't initially correctly called at any of the above sites hence the confusion over it's exact movements.

The 'Semipalmated Peep'.
For the benefit of my non-birder readers 'Peeps' are what American birders call the smaller calidris sandpipers.



It could be quite flighty at times and in fact after it was first seen early on Thursday it went missing for several hours. On Friday it journeyed even further, turning up in Hampshire at Keyhaven/Pennington Marshes and was still there to Saturday at least.

Other Waders...

The exposed mud in the meadow was quite a draw for other calidris Sandpipers too with a peak count of forty plus Dunlins and between two and five Curlew Sandpipers from Tuesday to Friday, along with two Knots on the latter day too.

Juvenile Curlew Sandpiper (top) with two juvenile Dunlins.

Two of the at least five Juvenile Curlew Sandpipers in the meadow this week.

One of Friday's two juvenile Knots.

At least three Ringed Plovers and three Little Ringed Plovers also graced the meadow along with six Lapwings, three Black-tailed Godwits, a Green Sandpiper and five Snipe.

 



One of the three juvenile Little Ringed Plovers.



The Fleet shoreline though was more attractive to the remaining wader species with peaks of one Oystercatcher, four Common Sandpipers and four Greenshanks.

This Common Sandpiper though was in the meadow.

Gulls & Terns...

The only notable gulls were a single juvenile Yellow-legged and a few Mediterranean and the only terns seen at all were a couple of Sandwich.


One of this week's Mediterranean Gulls (a first winter).

Wildfowl...

There was little change to this weeks number and variety of wildfowl although new in was a juvenile Goosander (as last week's individual was a drake in 'eclipse').

The juvenile/first winter Goosander.

Raptors...

The second best bird of the week after the Semi-p was a Honey Buzzard, although feasibly with one sighting at around eight in the morning and a second in the evening it could be that two birds were involved. I managed to miss both, which was a shame, as I have only seen this species on three previous occasions at the Swannery. The only Marsh Harrier I connected with this week was a juvenile while the only other 'BOP' of note was a lingering Osprey.

Workmate Charlie and I fixed a downed bough to the end of a stock fence near Shipmoor Point in the hope of attracting the Osprey and within an hour...success!

Passerines...

Passerine passage still seems a bit slow as yet. Yellow Wagtails were still roosting in good numbers though, with a few White and presumed first winter Blue-headed along with the usual Pied of course. See Steve Hales' blog abbotsburyswanneryringing. A couple of Tree Pipits were the first for a couple of weeks and a few Meadow Pipits were  no doubt the vanguard of larger movements to come. Only a few Wheatears were seen along with a couple of Whinchats and at last the first Spotted Flycatchers of the autumn were reported (although I only saw one). Warbler numbers though were rather unimpressive...are there still more to come?

Just two of a number of Swallows (these are juveniles) moving through this week along with both House and Sand Martins. Still no impressive numbers as yet though.

'You Win Some, You Lose Some' - Two New Swannery Birds

Swannery Birding Highlights Of The Week...

Monday 26th August to Sunday 1st September 2013.......

Semipalmated Sandpiper...

I wasn't working this weekend but popped down to The Swannery a couple of times on Saturday and in the late afternoon on Sunday. Before my latter visit I had already virtually completed a draft for this weeks post and on it had bemoaned the lack of any juvenile Wood Sandpipers or Little Stints so far this autumn. It was ironic therefore that one of the first birds I saw when I reached Helen Hide was a juvenile Wood Sandpiper on The Fleet shoreline near the tank traps. I then made my way via the Fleet Pipe Hide to the Meadow Hide and was equally surprised to see two 'Little Stints' gracing the pool in front of me. Some changes were going to be necessary to my draft post! It was partly for this reason along with following events that made me so late with my eventual post this week as I had to virtually start from scratch again!



The two 'Little Stints' (or not!).

As you can see from the above photo one of the birds was noticeably duller and less well marked than the other and so instantly thoughts of Semipalmated Sandpiper came to mind. One thing I remembered from my 'Collins Guide' was that 'Semi-ps' are supposed to be slightly bigger and stockier than Little Stint and that did not seem to be the case here. When the pair flew a short distance onto mud I tried to pick out any palmations on the duller bird but with its feet coated in mud it was a thankless task. It was then that I began to think I was just being 'stringy' and that the bird was far more likely to be a Little Stint than a 'Semi-P' and that perhaps its dullness was down to it being an adult and that was how I left it. Thankfully though I had my trusty Lumix and rattled off several photos of the pair. It was not until the evening when I was uploading the pics to my laptop that alarm bells began ringing. Checking the literature it was beginning to dawn on me that the dull bird was seemingly a juvenile too with all fresh feathers and if it was a juv. then it either had to be a very drab Little Stint or a 'Semi-P' after all! To be on the safe side I emailed a pic to Brett Spencer and gave him a ring to sound him out expecting him to tell me it was just a Little Stint but no... he quickly came to the conclusion that it was The Swannery's first Semipalmated Sandpiper! By this time the light was threatening to wane so instead of heading all the way out to the Meadow Hide I drove out along New Barn Road to scope the meadow pool from the roadside. There were a few more waders present than there had been earlier but I was sure I could make out, from the considerable distance, two smaller birds among the thirty or so Dunlin and Ringed Plover, so believed that the bird was still in situ. The following morning however despite the presence of some of the other waders both the sandpiper and the stint had gone! If accepted by the BBRC this will be the first record for The Swannery of this American 'peep' but the third for The Fleet and the sixth for Dorset. My thanks go to Brett for enabling me to clinch my 262nd Swannery bird!



The Juvenile Semipalmated Sandpiper.

The juv. Semipalmated Sandpiper and Little Stint.

The Semipalmated Sandpiper.
Despite heavy cropping it still appears impossible to make out the features it is named for.

Citrine Wagtail...

On Thursday evening, ringers Steve Hales and Luke Phillips were attending the wagtail roost on 'Bum Point', as they do most suitable autumn evenings. Most of the roosting birds are Yellow Wagtails but there are also good numbers of Pieds (and by late autumn the latter predominate of course). Amongst the Yellows and Pieds there are often a few apparent Blue-headed Wagtails and a few Whites, as was indeed the case this week. The birds usually gather on the beach opposite, around the land shore  of The Fleet or specifically on the tern island before dropping down into the reed bed. It was while glancing through the throng of birds on the tern island from Helen Hide that Luke picked out a first winter Citrine Wagtail standing out distinctively among the Yellows and Pieds. He only watched it for a few seconds however before all the birds took to the air. Needless to say the bird was not trapped or seen again. I was at The Swannery that evening but unfortunately I had gone out to Meadow Hide to checkout the wagtails and waders on and around the pool and decided not to bother Steve and Luke, out at Bum Point, as I knew they would be busy ringing. In fact by the time of the sighting, as the light was just beginning to wane, I was probably already on my way home... Doh! Up until now I have been very lucky never to have missed, or at least not seen retrospectively (or in birder-speak 'gripped back'),  a single bird species that has been confirmed as being seen within The Swannery recording area during my twenty-five year tenure. Lets hope I 'grip' this one back very soon! If accepted by the BBRC this record will constitute the first for The Swannery and The Fleet and will only be the fourth for Dorset with the most recent being an adult male at Lodmoor RSPB in May 2009.

And now for the rest of the weeks news...

Wildfowl...

A few more Wigeon and Pintail arrived joining the Gadwall, Teal and Shoveler (not to mention the Mallard and few remaining Shelduck), while a few more Tufted Duck and Pochard were also in evidence. The duck of the week however was a Goosander found by work colleague Charlotte on the Decoy Pond. Unfortunately it was my day off and although I popped down later it had long gone.



One of this autumns first Pintails on meadow pool.

The two Black Swans remain with the Mute Swan herd and the Barnacle Goose and two Bar-headed Geese still linger with the Canada Goose flock (along with the usual hybrids).



Waders...

I have already mentioned the three headline waders this week, namely the Semipalmated Sandpiper, Little Stint and Wood Sandpiper but peak counts of the other species were... Oystercatcher - one; Golden Plover - one; Lapwing - six; Little Ringed Plover - one; Ringed Plover - twenty plus; Curlew - two; Black-tailed Godwit - eight; Bar-tailed Godwit - one; Sanderling - one; Dunlin - twenty plus; Common Sandpiper - seven plus; Green Sandpiper - two; Greenshank - eleven; Redshank - six and Snipe - four.







Little Ringed Plover in the meadow.

......



Juvenile Black-tailed Godwit beginning to moult into winter plumage (meadow pool).



Two Green Sandpipers (meadow pool).

Gulls, Terns & Petrels...

A Fulmar overflew The Fleet and I at last managed to clinch my first juvenile Yellow-legged Gull of the autumn but apart from the now expected smatter of Mediterranean Gulls there was no other gulls of note and disappointingly not a single tern!

Raptors...

Both the regular male and female Marsh Harriers were around but in addition three juveniles were seen together on Friday, perhaps the Weymouth birds? There were also a few sightings of at least one Osprey...



A rather distant Osprey by the tank traps.



Passerines...

The headline passerine was of course the aforementioned Citrine Wagtail with it's supporting cast of up to a thousand roosting 'Yellow Wags' including a few apparent 'Blue-headed Wags' and 'White Wags'. Also noteworthy as neither bred at The Swannery this year was the reappearance of one or two Goldcrests and Stonechats - the first since early spring whereas a couple of Whinchats were the first of the autumn too. One or two Redstarts and groups of up to ten Wheatears continued to move through too but no flycatchers (in fact there has been no 'Spotflys' at all so far this autumn). Willow Warblers were by far the most numerous of their ilk, indeed the only other warblers seen could theoretically (though perhaps unlikely to) have all been local birds rather than on passage considering the numbers and species involved.

Wheatear from meadow Hide.

Lets hope passerine passage shifts up a gear soon with maybe another Citrine Wagtail!