Male birds are 9 times out of
10 more striking than their duller female counterparts and Pine Buntings are no
different, with the bright coloured heads of the males a far cry from the drab
and often tricky females! Despite getting reasonable views of the Venus Pools
female in Shropshire earlier in January, the discovery of a fine male bird frequenting
the Dunnington hedgerows a few weeks ago saw us wanting to complete the Pine
Bunting set, and with a free Sunday we made the short journey over to Yorkshire
in the hopes of connecting.
Piney
Notoriously tricky birds to
successfully twitch as of late (the Kent bird has also been proving to be
elusive) several people had left unfulfilled having dipped the Dunnington bird
after hours of waiting, some even having missed out even when the bird had
shown due to the sightings being all too brief.
The assembled Pine Bunting crowd
Joining the crowd expecting a
lengthy wait and with hundreds of Yellowhammers constantly flitting in and out
of the hedge to search through, we were surprised when after just over half an
hour eagle eyed Alex expertly picked out our male Pine Bunting, having watched
the tiny bird fly in from afar. Perched in the silver birch trees in the hedge
before flying closer into the large oak tree on the right hand side of the
hedge north of the paddock, the strikingly marked bunting remained on view for
only a couple of minutes at max, just long enough to really study the
distinctive facial features and fire off a few record phonescoped shots, before
dropping down in to the hedge and out of sight.
True to its elusive nature, it
didn’t make a reappearance while we stayed on site and it wasn’t until late in
the afternoon that it came on view again – lucky I got up early otherwise we
would have had a very cold and unfruitful day!
With a bright white central
moustacial cheek, grey central crown stripe and rusty brown tones there was
certainly no mistaking this particular individual, and it was great to get a
good look at it perched still and unobscured, especially as the flock was
extremely flighty with birds coming and going on a constant basis. The flock
itself consisted of a mix of hundreds of Yellowhammers and Corn Buntings, with
a handful of Chaffinches, Bramblings and Tree Sparrows thrown in for good
measure – and it was good to see these farmland species were doing well here having
suffered large declines elsewhere.
After this autumn’s phenomenal
influx of Pine Buntings, it was only a matter of time before further wintering
birds were unearthed hiding amongst our British Yellowhammer flocks, and this
is a species that anyone has a chance of finding while searching through their
local wintering flocks. Indeed, with birds turning up on a weekly basis on the
European continent, there is a high possibility that more of these charming
little buntings will come to light in the next couple of months.
Remaining quite elusive, there
are certain areas where the Pine Bunting seems to show fairly reliably after a
wait. As of late, it has favoured the right hand hedgerow and oak tree as
viewed from the paddock, as well as the ground around the obvious fallen dead
tree and surrounding hedgerows a few fields to the right as viewed from the
public footpath to the east of the field.
The Dunnington hedgerow north of the paddock that the Pine Bunting is making its current home
When reports surfaced of a
juvenile White-billed Diver photographed on the River Witham 20 miles inland in rural
Lincolnshire, it was certainly an early contender for one of the strangest
records in 2017. Relocated further up river late on the Saturday evening, my car
breaking down couldn’t have come at a worse time, and I subsequently had to see
through a rather agonising week in work bombarded by the hundreds of
breath-taking photos of this stunning Arctic diver at point blank range.
White-billed Diver on the River Witham - an incredible record!
By some miracle however the following
Saturday saw the diver remarkably still present on the same stretch of river,
and with my car now (hopefully fixed) I dragged Alex out of bed early and made
the 3 hour journey down to Lincolnshire.
Arriving at Kirkhall Bridge near Woodhall Spa just after lunch, we made the long treck north along the river bank, the fog
from earlier in the week thankfully abating (I didn’t much fancy trying to pick
out the diver in thick mist!) and the sun shining down. Luckily the diver
hadn’t ranged as far north as on previous days (it was often up near Stixwould
several miles away) and after around 20 minutes we caught sight of a group of
birders on the edge of the water which could only mean one thing – the
White-billed Diver must be close by.
Sure enough, upon approaching
the river a large shape surfaced among the ripples and the ghostly figure of
this majestic Arctic species came in to view.
Sporting a mammoth dagger-like
bill in beautiful pearly white hues of pale ivory, the sheer size of the bird
was striking, living up to its reputation as the largest species of diver and
sailing imposingly down the river. With the slightly upturned bill and delicate
pale lemon colouration it was clear to see how it got its “Bananabill” nickname
– it was truly an impressive sight and sure to strike fear in the hearts of
fish as it stalked them in the murky depths of the river.
The big beefy neck was instantly apparent, as was the diver's size, being slightly larger than a Great Northern
Regularly diving down under
the surface and only staying afloat for minutes at a time, we were surprised to
see just how much ground the diver could cover while under the water, often
re-surfacing much further away than expected and covering a huge stretch of
water during the time we were present.
The White-billed Diver was constantly diving, often staying under for over a minute
Often coming to within several metres,
its lack of shyness towards people was also apparent, and such close up and
incredible views of this species are a once in a blue moon experience!
The strong northerly winds the UK experienced a couple of weeks ago have more than likely brought the White-billed Diver to Lincolnshire from its usual Arctic home.
In a rather remarkable
coincidence, another White-billed Diver (and the only other inland river bird)
frequented the exact same stretch of the River Witham back in March 1996,
unfortunately meeting a sad end after tragically ingesting a fishing hook and
line discarded in the water.
Having not made it down for
the Devon bird at Brixham Harbour a few years ago and not having travelled for
the far out to sea distant dots off Portsoy where White-billed Divers can be
found miles offshore in the summer months, it was great to unexpectedly catch
up with what was a much sought after species for me and certainly a bird that I had
been left wondering exactly when I’d get the opportunity to see in British
waters.
At one point a canal boat flushed the diver, causing it to swim rapidly down river at speed
Sadly however and mirroring
the bird found 20 years ago, the diver seems to have got the remnants of a
discarded fishing line caught in its bill, often seen to be gathering algae
after dives and sometimes trailing from the birds mouth.
With fishing lines
undoubtedly come hooks however, and it would be an extreme shame if this
beautiful bird met a sad end after ingesting unwanted fishing tackle discarded
by humans – a stark reminder to keep our riverside locations free from fishing debris.
With the diver still going
strong however after at least a two week’s stay on the river - it was last seen flying off 7km south of Kirkhall Bridge on the 1st - fingers crossed it
will survive and somehow dislodge the fishing line – a truly incredible bird
that I was exceptionally glad I made the trip down to see!
Some birds seem to be much trickier to catch up with than
others and rather surprisingly, this winter’s Red-breasted Goose decided it was
going to be one of the awkward ones. Having already travelled down to Norfolk
at the end of December in an attempt to twitch it over the New Year period,
thick fog rather hampered our success, and despite Alex getting brief views
through the mist upon our arrival, the Red-breasted Goose rather disastrously
wasn’t seen again! A gruelling following two days endlessly searching the
surrounding fields and trawling through tens of thousands of geese in the
biting cold drew a blank (hours and hours of searching and staring at geese
resulted in me even seeing them in my sleep!), and with no further sightings of
the Red-breasted Goose at all in Norfolk, it seemed we’d mis-timed our visit
with it moving on to pastures new.
Goose! A total menace!
Fast forward a few days and rather remarkably (or
frustratingly depending on how you look at it!) what is presumed to be the same
goose was refound on the marsh at RSPB Marshside in Lancashire on the 4th
January (an hour away from home), before once more moving on to Cockerham Moss
four days later. Despite going mysteriously missing for a week a couple of days
later, it now seems to have struck up a pattern and can reliably be found
grazing in the surrounding fields in the area amongst the thousands of
Pinkfeet.
Alex's Red-breasted Goose video!
Heading up ourselves on the Sunday morning, we rather
foolishly expected to rack up and enjoy great views of this colourful species
feeding in one of the regular fields. How wrong we were….. 6 hours later and
there was no trace of our goose, and with now freezing cold feet and a form of
goose depression setting in, we were left pondering just why this one goose
seemingly hated us…
The goose field - minus any Red-breasted ones!
Luckily though we persevered, and with several large flocks
flying in from further north presumably to roost, we drove over to the main feeding
field to trawl through yet more Pinkfeet in the hope that our Red-breasted had
landed with them.
Joining the assembled birders and having not even got my
scope set up yet, it was a case of “right place, right time” as in what was one
of the most casual announcements of spotting a bird ever (second only to a
French birders deadpan “I have eet” proclamation of finding our much sought
after Dupont’s Lark in Spain) a lady exclaimed that she thought she had found
“the red one”.
The "Red One"
With panic ensuing and almost in disbelief that after 4
whole days of searching our target had finally been found, there were a tense
few frantic moments when there were no available scopes to look through – if it
had flown off at this point I would have cried!
Luckily Alex soon found it amongst the flock and getting my
own scope set up and on it we were finally able to enjoy prolonged views of
this beautiful, petite goose. With no fog to obscure our vision and remaining
out of the way of any bustling Pinkfeet, it was great to finally savour the sweet
taste of success – Red-breasted Goose in the bag.
After around 10 minutes of it feeding in the field, our
goose eventually took flight, presumably heading off in to the next field with
a large group of Pinkfeet and unfortunately timing it’s departure at the same
moment the other birders in the area arrived to try and connect…. it seems the
goose certainly hadn’t lost its frustratingly mischievous trait where doing a
vanishing act was concerned!
So, the big question… is it gen?
With Red-breasted Geese breeding in far north Russia – in
the same area as Bean, White-fronted and Brent Geese, despite being amongst a
large Pink-footed Goose flock we can presume that this particular bird arrived
with the several White-fronted Geese that have been mixed in with the Pinkfeet.
Migrating Pinkfeet
Migrating south for the winter, once the Beans or
White-fronts hit northern Europe they can mingle with the hundreds of thousands
of Pink-footed Geese migrating in the same direction, often getting carried
over to Britain with their host flocks. Indeed, several White-fronted and Bean
Geese were present at both Cockerham and down in Norfolk, with the Red-breasted
Goose regularly choosing to associate itself with the White-fronted Geese in
particular when feeding.
Photo by Alex Jones
Both White-fronted and Bean Geese were present with the Red-breasted Goose
With several large Brent Goose flocks also overwintering down
in Norfolk, an alternative theory is that the Red-breasted Goose may have travelled
across to Britain with the Brent Geese before getting mixed in with the
Pink-footed Goose flocks, preferring the food source of the grassy fields as
opposed to the saltwater marshes favoured by Brent Geese. We did in fact actually
see several Brent Geese mixed in with the Pink-footed Goose flocks down in
Norfolk, showing that the two species do mingle.
The Norfolk Brent Geese
It was also interesting to discover that the Pink-footed Goose
flocks in Norfolk regularly make the journey up to Lancashire each year, and
with the Todd’s Canada Goose in Norfolk also being spotted up at Cockerham,
there is no doubt that these birds are all part of the same flock that have
made the journey north – the Red-breasted Goose included.
Despite many Red-breasted Geese in Britain being of dubious
origin having escaped from captivity, this individual’s wild tendencies, migratory
patterns and association with carrier species (both Bean and White-fronted
Geese were present with it in Norfolk and at Cockerham) are enough to earn it
the benefit of the doubt for me.
Having given us the run-around for almost a month and
sending us on a wild goose chase half way across the country and back, it was a
weight off the shoulders to finally nail this (elusive for us!) individual!
Great work on Alex’s part driving to both Norfolk and Lancashire for me to
track down my goose – this almost makes up for him doing a runner to see a
White Stork without me in August… almost!
Finding the Goose:
The Red-breasted Goose seems to favour a particular set of
fields adjacent to Cockerham Marsh, running alongside the A588 from Cockerham
to Stake Pool. The main flocks congregate between Braides and Sand Villa Farm
(postcode LA2 0EW) but we also found substantial flocks along Horse Park Lane
and Backsands Lane. Several birders have also been successful further north at
Upper Thurnham off the A588 layby just south of Moss Lane, while we found a
large flock at the end of Slack Lane on the other side of the Marsh. The most recent sighting came from Eagland Hill and Nateby, slightly further south.
