2015 Birding Round up!

2015 turned out to be a stonker of a year, with a number of fantastic birds not seen for decades successfully unblocked while several others that were only previously recorded on distant and far away islands finally made it to the mainland. It was also a year that included the inevitable misses, with the one day first for Britain Acadian Flycatcher a particular stinger, while the out of the way Isle of Lewis Wilson’s Warbler, the Scilly Great Blue Heron and the Orkney Chestnut Bunting all proved to be just a touch too far to travel. 

Both the Harlequin Duck and Hudsonian Godwit in the first half of the year were the first truly twitchable birds for 19 and 32 years respectively, both fantastic birds to see and with hopefully a nice healthy gap between the next records! 

Harlequin Duck on the River Don, Aberdeenshire (11th January 2015)

Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath, Somerset (25th April 2015)

I also managed to see several notoriously hard to get birds during the course of the year, achieving great views of Serin, Penduline Tit, Blyth’s Reed Warbler and Red-throated Pipit. The latter in particular was a stunning male demonstrating the beautiful ‘red throated’ plumage, and while even though Blyth’s Reed can appear to be a dull brown job at the best of times, the excellent if brief views we got after working so hard to get just a glimpse of this elusive warbler over the course of two days in Norfolk transformed it in to something wonderful, proving that effort really does pay off.

Serin at Gunners Park, Essex (7th March 2015)

Penduline Tit at Darts Farm RSPB, Devon (21st March 2015)

Red-throated Pipit at Ludworth Moor in Derbyshire (3rd May 2015)

Not quite making it in to the top ten either were several species that showed amazingly well and exceptionally closely, with the Little Bunting and Ptarmigan especially coming to mind. The masses of Storm Petrels congregating around the boat at close quarters during the Scilly pelagics was also something not to be forgotten!

And so to the ten best birds of 2015….

Crag Martin in the bag - Crooked Spire, Chesterfield

Crag Martin! What a bird, what an agonising week in work and what a roller coaster ride of emotion - all thanks to one tiny Mediterranean Hirundine taking to the skies in a Derbyshire town!

After missing the well twitched Crag Martin at Flamborough in April last year due to flying out to Spain the same weekend it arrived, me and Alex were sure it would be a considerable wait until we got another opportunity to see this mega bird in Britain again – if ever. Even though we had seen plenty during our trip to Spain, it wasn’t quite the same as seeing one in the UK, and the Flamborough Crag Martin definitely fell in the category of one that got away….

Fast forward a year and a half to last Sunday morning when the alert on my phone came through detailing the incredible report of a Crag Martin flying around the crooked spire in Chesterfield! This was an opportunity we simply couldn’t miss! Leaving on first news and despite the bird disappearing on several occasions, it reassuringly kept returning to the spire throughout the afternoon, obviously favouring the tall structure as a point of interest in the Chesterfield landscape.  I had a good feeling – it felt like we would connect.

However, at 13:50 news came out that the bird had flown off and not yet returned, and despite a vigil at the spire with another hundred or so birders in the hope that it would come in to roost, there was sadly no sign through to dusk.

Several birders were convinced it would be back in the morning, with Crag Martins on the continent often returning to the same structure or spot once they have taken a liking to it, and were staking out the crooked spire from dawn. The mega alert noise on my phone while walking through the door at work on Monday morning therefore stopped me in my tracks and my heart sank – it had to be the Crag Martin back. Phew – false alarm, it was only the Hudsonian Whimbrel in Cornwall. A second alert 10 minutes later however wasn’t so welcome – the Crag Martin was indeed back and flying around the spire! Gutted was an understatement.

An agonising work in week then ensued, before the dreaded news on Wednesday came though that there had been no sign at the church all day – this mega visitor had apparently departed without us managing to connect.

However, searching for ‘Crag Martin’ on twitter late on Thursday night, I came across a tweet from the same day by a birder saying he had enjoyed views of it flying around the spire that very morning! What on earth?! Sending the photo to Alex he sent the news in to Birdguides in case the bird had been remarkably refound – we still weren’t sure if this was a mistake or even a wind up after all the local publicity the bird had been receiving. Regardless, the report being publicised the next day worked, and sure enough (despite the sighting at one point being renounced as a hoax/plane) at half 9 that morning the few birders present confirmed the unbelievable – the Crag Martin was back for more! Every weekday worker/twitcher unable to get time off breathed a collective sigh of relief across the country. The Crag Martin twitch was back on!

Southern Spain Trip Report Day 1

Day 1 - Tuesday 12th August 2014

Arriving at Malaga airport extremely late on the evening of the 11^th August, Chris Alex and myself headed straight for our hotel for a good night’s sleep ready to depart bright and early the next morning. With the hire car picked up we were soon well on our way to begin tracking down our first major target of the trip – the rare and localised White-rumped Swift. Our main target for the week, Southern Spain is the only breeding location in Europe for these enigmatic aerial acrobats.

A large flock of swifts circling at the side of the road provided our first Pallid Swifts of the trip, artfully weaving through the air in pursuit of the abundance of insects enjoying the warm weather. Taking in my first ever views of Pallids, the cry soon went up of “Alpine Swift!” A huge swift with a bright white belly was hurtling through the flock, darting over our heads and away over the trees and we had excellent but all too brief views of this super-sized swift. Alpine swift was actually one of my most wanted birds for the trip, and I was especially pleased to have connected so soon on our journey – hopefully our first day would prove to be a “three swift day”! 

Carrying on in to the small village of Jimena de la Frontera, Alex thought he spotted a Spanish Sparrow on one of the railings lining the terracotta coloured houses, catching a brief glimpse as we drove by. There was was no time to stop however (even though this would be a lifer for me!) and I was told that we’d see plenty of Spanish Sparrows on the trip (we didn’t!!) so we carried on our way and in to the scenic Spanish countryside.

Stopping at a small river, the extreme heat of the Southern Spanish summer was apparent (the water had practically dried up) and we regularly reached temperatures nearing 40 degrees throughout the trip – it was impossible to stay out in the harsh sun for too long. Several Crag Martins zoomed by at eye level, nesting in the shade underneath the bridge, whilst a group of Terrapins sunbathed in the shallow water below, evidently loving the sun’s rays!

Terrapin sunbathing!

There was disappointingly no sign of any White-rumped Swifts in the area, although a female Golden Oriole picked up by Chris and Alex was a nice consolation. 

Getting lost and disorientated down an extremely narrow track (that soon turned in to a surface so potholed and boulder strewn it was like driving on an actual mountain) we had flashbacks of our first hire car’s destruction on our previous trip to Spain, so carefully manoeuvred down the track ensuring the tyres didn’t come off worse for wares. After such careful driving by Alex, it was a bit of a slap in the face to subsequently realise the track was in fact a dead end and that we would somehow have to do a 3 point turn and do it all again to get back to the main road!!

Our second site of Castellar de la Frontera also proved fruitless, with more Pallid and Common Swifts darting around the top of the mountainside, so we headed over to Alcaidesa near San Roque, where our apartment for the next few days was based and conveniently where White-rumped Swifts using the pond opposite to drink were reported just a few days earlier.

Sadly there were no White-rumped Swifts at Castellar de la Frontera

Approaching the area we were greeted by a tremendous swift flock, with hundreds of birds making the most of the afternoon bonanza of flies to feast upon.

A large flock of migrating Black Kites were visible in the distance taking advantage of a thermal, while a small Gecko scurried in and out of the bark in one of the ornamental palm trees lining the road. A showy male Sardinian Warbler serenaded us from a nearby bush, hopping between the branches, his scratchy song carrying on the sunny breeze, whilst cicadas chirruped noisily from the vegetation.

Alcaidesa Golf Resort where the swifts were flying over

Turning our attention to the swifts, the previously distant flock moved ever closer, and after around half an hour eagle-eyed Chris shouted out that he’d got one! In a flock of hundreds of fast moving swifts, getting us all on the White-rumped Swift may have proved a challenge in itself, but despite the trees and the swift being quite distant, both me and Alex managed to pick up the bird in question, the white rump clearly visible and its sheer size and wing length making it stand out from the accompanying House Martins.

With the flock heading closer still, we waited, and miraculously just a few metres above us and directly in front, me and Chris picked up the White-rumped, showing fantastically well and providing exceptional views! Calling Alex over, all 3 of us watched the bird zooming around until it became lost amongst the many hundreds of hirundines in the flock. 

Ecstatic that it was mission success on the swift front, we headed back to the apartment happy, where a Night Heron quietly searching for its evening supper on the pool opposite was a nice end to the day before bed.