Birding in North Wales - Snow Buntings, Hawfinches, Purple Sandpipers and Black Redstarts!

There have been some fantastic birds present in North Wales recently, with a whole host of great subjects for photography all along the coast.

After Alex first found a Snow Bunting at Horton’s nose near Kimnel Bay back at the start of December, a pair of these attractive buntings were found a little further down the shore at the start of January – presumably the same bird Alex found relocating up the beach. With up to 6 birds having been reported (along with records at Pensarn, Llandullas and Point of Ayr) the two seem to have now taken a liking to this small stretch of coast and what is now a regularly seeded area at SH 986 808, offering amazing views and a great opportunity to study these charismatic little birds up close.

Luckily I had my camera with me when I called in to Kimnel Bay, and the single Snow Bunting that was present when I visited allowed fantastic views as it fed unperturbed on the seed.

Being the first bird I travelled some distance to see at Kimnel Bay 5 years ago, it is great to see them returning to the North Wales coastline after a considerable absence for some years, and hopefully the numbers will be able to get back up to the 14 or so birds that were present back in 2011.

The Hawfinches at Llanbedr-y-Cennin are also providing excellent views this winter after proving to be very elusive back in January and February 2015. With over 20 birds reported to be present, we had a flock of 10 fly from the trees lining the field at SH 76007 69740, before flying back in to land, offering excellent scope views as seen from the cattle grid. 

With a huge bulky appearance in flight and prominent white patches on the wings, we soon became familiar with their silhouette, making it much easier to spot individuals as they flew from tree to tree. The trees around the churchyard and the field at the above grid reference seem to be the best places to spot these huge billed finches.

The Purple Sandpipers at Rhos Point continue to be found in low numbers at both high and low tide on the rocky shoreline while the Black Redstarts on the Little Orme are also producing great views this winter, with up to three individuals having been present. There is an excellent supporting cast of Red-throated Divers, Shags and nesting Fulmars on the cliffs and on the sea, while the seal colony at Angel Bay below holds double figures of Grey Seals, often hauled out on the shingle or with heads poking above the waves. This is a great opportunity to study these pinnipeds through the scope from the cliff top path, and we got great views of several large males and females resting on the sand.

Fulmars!

Little Auk makes landfall at Connahs Quay!

Having sadly missed the influx of Little Auks to the East coast last November and with Little Auk being one of my top targets for last year, I thought I had missed the boat when it came to seeing one of these tiny arctic visitors. When an alert popped up on my phone in the middle of January telling me a Little Auk had been seen at Connah’s Quay Nature Reserve in North Wales, I opened it up expecting the report to be just a fly-by – the typical view of Little Auks over on the West coast. I was therefore shocked to read there was one apparently swimming around the inland pools outside Dee and Middle Hides!!

I was determined that I wanted to see my first Little Auk up close as opposed to a distant dot flying over stormy waves, and knowing that it could fall victim to a marauding crow or gull at any moment, we left Alex’s house in record speed (I’ve never got ready so fast). With Connah’s Quay being a permit only reserve, I had luckily bought Alex a key for Christmas – money that was now definitely well spent!

Despite a few setbacks where the Sat-nav kept insisting on directing us to a random field, we were soon on site, just missing this dainty alcid by moments with it having just that second swam around the bend. A small chase of cat and mouse then ensued, where we attempted to follow it from hide to hide before eventually pinning the elusive Auk down to Middle Hide – relief and my first UK Little Auk, a much wanted bird for some time!

Little Auk swimming along the channel at Connah's Quay NR

We watched as the tiny Auk swam swiftly along the back of the pool before powering off to the left hand side of the channel and out of sight – a much speedier swimmer than I’d anticipated! Heading back on to the road and over to where it looked to be heading, we were surprised to find it had beat us to it and had completely disappeared - seemingly vanishing in front of the assembled birders eyes – presumably taking shelter in the large rocks that lined the banks.

With no sign for a good hour or so and with the bird having either taken shelter in the bank or forced its way through the small weir blocking the access in to the estuary (unlikely!) we headed over to Burton Marsh to enjoy the views of Short-eared Owls, Hen Harriers and Bewick’s Swans that were present. With reports just after lunch that the Little Auk was back in front of the hide again, we made the decision to head back to Connah’s Quay – it’s not every day you get to see a Little Auk so close after all!

Arriving at the hide to find the Little Auk had climbed on to the grassy bank at the side of the water, it was clear that this particular individual was not in completely good health, having seemingly injured one of its legs. 

Watching it for some time and following it down the channel again when it eventually swam off, we enjoyed fantastic views just metres away as it powered past us towards the weir again, and unable to pass, it once again positioned itself in the rocks out of sight to rest.

Little Auk is an excellent record for North Wales, with birds occasionally seen as fly-bys on sea watches during the winter months, and it was even more exceptional that it was found on the pools at Connah’s Quay instead of the harbour.

The small channel the Little Auk kept favouring

With our Little Auk making a final appearance just before dusk, again showing exceptionally closely before swimming off back up the channel and out of sight, we can only hope that under the safety of darkness it managed to make a getaway and head back out to sea. A report of a Little Auk flying west past Hoylake subsequently had the optimist in me hoping that this was our little bird and that he made it to safety! A truly fantastic experience and one I certainly won’t be forgetting in a hurry. 

Back to Black - Black Scoter off Stag Rocks, Bamburgh, Northumberland

With news that a Black Scoter had been spotted associating amongst the raft of Common Scoter regularly seen off Stag Rocks near Bamburgh in Northumberland during the week (it transpired that the bird had in fact been present since the 15^th Jan), we made the decision to make the long journey up to the North East to see this vagrant American sea duck. Only recently spilt from our Common Scoters in the last decade or so, and with just 13 accepted records, this was a great opportunity to finally nail this mega duck after not managing to get up for any of the previous individuals that have graced the East coast and Scotland over the past 5 years or so and being too young to twitch the long staying individual that resided off Llanfairfechan back in 1999 all the way through to 2007. With birds seen off the Northumberland coast in 2011 (in both the spring and winter) and again in 2015, it is highly likely this could be the same returning individual, especially as the April 2011 bird was actually found off Stag Rocks.

With strong gales and rain forecast for the Saturday however, we decided to call our journey off, thinking it would be near impossible to locate the Black Scoter in stormy seas and driving rain. A report at just after 11am on Saturday morning soon put paid to that theory however, and after booking a last minute hotel 10 minutes away from Bamburgh we were soon on our way north hoping the weather for Sunday would stay calm and dry like predicted.

Nearby Bamburgh Castle

Sure enough, we awoke to an extremely calm and still morning (with Alex soon picking out an Iceland Gull from the hotel window before we were even out on the road) and by 10am we were on site ready to track down the Black Scoter. Being nailed down to a regular site unlike last year’s Northumberland bird, I was hopeful we would connect and joining 30 or so other birders overlooking the sea we were soon watching a distant Scoter flock to the north of the rocks. Despite some of those present convinced one individual had a much brighter bill than the others, the birds were just far too distant to get adequate views and confirm it as the Black Scoter.

A map of where we viewed from - our two viewing spots in red and the car park in yellow

January Birding!

There have been a whole host of great birds during January in Cheshire, with some returning favourites such as the Burton Mere Long-eared Owl putting on a great show in the Hawthorn tree leading up to Inner Marsh Farm  hide, to finally getting a Green-winged Teal at my local Neumann’s Flash.

Long-eared Owl - Burton Mere RSPB

Record shot of the Neumann's Green-winged Teal

The start of the month also brought my first Cheshire Pallas’s Warbler in the form of the well twitched individual at Heswall on the Wirral. Present for nearly two weeks in the scrub around the sewage works on Target Road and associating with a group of Goldcrests, Long-tailed Tits and Chiffchaffs, we got great views of what is one of my favourite warbler species bumbling through the branches next to the sewage tanks. Giving fantastic scope views through the wire fencing, the yellow rump stood out a mile (a feature I didn’t manage to see on the Norfolk bird) as did the bold eye stripe, while the colouration was noticeably different from the accompanying Goldcrests, being much more of a green-olive colour on the back.

The Great Northern Diver at West Kirby Marine Lake also continued to show well throughout the month, and we managed to catch up with this impressive diver on the far side of the lake after seeing the Pallas’s Warbler just as the sun had started to go down. 

Great Northern Diver - West Kirby Marine Lake

It’s always lovely to see these beautiful divers up close, and this particularly confiding individual came to within just a few metres of the side whilst diving for fish and crustaceans.

Winter Birding on Anglesey - Hooded Crow, Iceland Gull, Black Guillemots and Slavonian Grebe!

With a whole host of great birds present on Anglesey over the winter, we decided to make the trip over from the mainland to try and catch up with what was an excellent selection of quality birding goodies on offer.

First stop was the Hooded Crow that has been favouring the McDonald’s car park in Holyhead for the past month. Presumably a bird from Ireland or the Isle of Man, it was great to see this subtly beautiful corvid up close, perching obligingly on the aerials of nearby houses and on the lampposts in the car park itself. 

With various hybrids scattered across the line where both Hooded and Carrion Crows reside up in Scotland, it was refreshing to see what is definitely a pure looking bird.

The Black Guillemots at Holyhead Harbour dutifully performed on cue, and viewing from Beach Road they were in their usual spot feeding near the ferry terminal.

The Iceland Gull near South Stack RSPB at the Range also proved to be extremely easy to connect with, and as soon as we turned the corner towards the farm fields that the gird reference had directed us to (SH 22971 80396), we spotted a bright white shape feeding in the grass. 

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….

New York Trip Report (21st May-30th May 2015) - Photo Gallery

New York Trip Photo Gallery

American Redstart - Prospect Park (23rd May 2015)

American Robin - Central Park (21st May 2015)

Baltimore Oriole - Central Park (22nd May 2015)

Black and White Warbler - Central Park (22nd May 2015)

Black Duck - Jamaica Bay (29th May 2015)

Black Skimmers - Plumb Beach (24th May 2015)

Black Vultures - Doodletown (24th May 2015)

Blackburnian Warbler - Prospect Park (23rd May 2015)

New York Trip Report (21st May-30th May 2015) - Species List and Locations

Day 1 – Central Park

American Robin – 21^st May – Central Park (Near entrance on south side). Numerous throughout

Blue Jay – 21^st May – Central Park (Near West Drive). Numerous throughout

Northern Cardinal – 21^st May – Central Park (Near Umpire Rock). Numerous throughout

Baltimore Oriole – 21^st May – Central Park (Near Umpire Rock). Plentiful

Chipping Sparrow – 21^st May – Central Park (Near Umpire Rock). A handful seen

Swainson’s Thrush – 21^st May – Central Park (Near Umpire Rock). Plentiful

Cedar Waxwing – 21^st May – Central Park (Near the terrace). Numerous throughout

House Finch – 21^st May – Central Park (On the path towards Bethesda fountain). Male showing well and gathering nesting material. 5 seen in total – all males.

Chimney Swift – 21^st May – Central Park (Flying overhead). Numerous throughout

Cape May Warbler – 21^st May – Central Park (In pines near East Drive). Female feeding in pines. Only one of the trip.

Magnolia Warbler – 21^st May – Central Park (In pines near East Drive). Male feeding in pines. All males seen – plentiful.

Warbling Vireo – 21^st May – Central Park (In trees near East Drive). Two singing in trees behind the path. Several individuals seen throughout.

Common Grackle – 21^st May – Central Park (On field near East Drive). Numerous throughout

Mourning Dove – 21^st May – Central Park (In trees near East Drive). Numerous throughout

Downy Woodpecker – 21^st May – Central Park (In tree next to the lake). Several seen throughout

Blackpoll Warbler – 21^st May – Central Park (In trees at front of lake path). Males and females seen – plentiful.

Gray Catbird – 21^st May – Central Park (In flight near the lake). Numerous throughout

Song Sparrow – 21^st May – Central Park (On grassy patch by the lake). A few seen throughout.

Red-winged Blackbird – 21^st May – Central Park (Flying near the lake). Numerous throughout

Common Yellowthroat – 21^st May – Central Park (Under trees near Robert Wagner Cove). Males and females seen – numerous.

White-throated Sparrow – 21^st May – Central Park (Near lakeside edge of Robert Wagner Cove). One of two seen on the trip.

Swamp Sparrow – 21^st May – Central Park (Near lakeside edge of Robert Wagner Cove). One of two seen on the trip.

Canada Warbler – 21^st May – Central Park (In trees at edge of lake near the ladies pavilion). One of three seen on the trip.

Chestnut-sided Warbler – 21^st May – Central Park (In trees at edge of lake near the ladies pavilion). One of three seen on the trip – males and female seen.

Northern Flicker – 21^st May – Central Park (The Ramble). One of several seen throughout.

Ovenbird – 21^st May – Central Park (The Ramble). One of four seen on the trip.

Red-tailed Hawk – 21^st May – Central Park (The Ramble). One of several seen throughout.

   

Also: House Sparrow, Starling, Canada Goose, Feral Pigeon

Magnolia Warbler

New York Trip Report - Day 10 (Central Park)

Day 10 -  Saturday 30th  May 2015

Our final day in New York dawned and after a great week and a half in this amazing city it was finally time to head home. Enjoying a final croissant from the bakery next door (and being given several sachets of delicious grape jelly to take back to Britain from the diner across the street) we went for a final spot of New York sightseeing, saving the best till last and heading up the fantastic Top of the Rock for breath-taking views of the city below.

An absolute must for anyone going to New York, we enjoyed unbeatable views of Central Park below, getting a birds-eye look at this ultimate green oasis, surrounded by skyscrapers and where we had delighted in our first American birds just over a week ago. Simply stunning.

With a couple of hours to spare before our taxi to JFK, we sat in Central Park to enjoy a final afternoon of New York City birding. Several Wood Ducks clustered around the bread being provided by a family at the water’s edge around the pond, jostling with the Mallards for scraps and providing the best views of this species all trip, being just a few metres away from the edge. 

Wood Duck - showing fantastically!

New York Trip Report - Day 9 (Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge)

Day 9 -  Friday 29th May 2015

With our final full day in America dawning, we had planned to visit Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge, a fantastic series of coastal and lagoon pools that offer prime habitat for a variety of water birds, many of which would be new to the trip. With reports of herons, egrets and a wealth of shore birds, this was a location that we were really looking forward to exploring.  With coastal marshes and lagoons, the habitat at Jamaica was completely different to what we had experienced so far, and we were aiming to bring our trip total of new birds up to 100 as a result.

The view of Manhattan from Jamaica Bay

Arriving at the visitor centre mid-morning, the lady at the desk promptly banned us from taking any food on to the reserve, so we quickly tucked in to everything we had brought with us at the picnic tables outside. This proved to be a good move, as several large crows flying overhead identified themselves by a series of low grunts – diagnostic of Fish Crows and our first new species of the day.

Having finished our snacks, we headed in to the reserve, following the trail between Black Wall Marsh and West Pond to see what we could find. Several egrets on the coastal marsh were Snowy Egrets, the American equivalent of our Little Egrets and another new species for us both. 

Snowy Egret

Much smaller than the scattering of Great Egrets interspersed along the marsh and extremely similar to our more familiar Littles, Snowy Egrets can be separated by the yellow lores underneath the eye (grey in those of the Little). 

Snowy Egret and Great Egret displaying the size difference between the two!

The yellow lores clearly visible

Now we’re aware of the differences, we’ll definitely be checking each Little Egret in the UK a little more thoroughly for any Snowies hiding amongst them unnoticed!

Tree Swallows were in abundance at Jamaica Bay, and several zipped over our heads before landing in the nearby trees, giving fantastic views of their shimmering turquoise feathers. 

Tree Swallow

The most attractive swallows we saw during our trip, it was amazing to come across several nest boxes in use at the side of the path where the adults could be seen regularly peeking out of the holes and perching on the top.