Early Dip, Belated Tick. 30th March 2019

Our quest for a bigger year list total has taken over and we now find ourselves actively looking out for scarcer birds to add to it. Even though we had seen a Hoopoe as recently as last November, one had appeared at Portland in Dorset so, and with Spring migration warming up, a day out seemed like a good idea. Even though I've embraced the "year list" idea for now I quite often find myself thinking just how arbitrary we make life for ourselves by adhering to dates that are basically just "made up". I mean if I'd started my year on the 10th November 2017 then Hoopoe would already be on it! But I guess you have to go from the 1st of January each year since it is a bit more obvious and convenient to start on that date, so Hoopoe was not yet on this years list.

Hoopoe, Hilmarton Wilts, 10/11/2018

We arrived at Reap Lane, Southwell, coincidentally the site of 2016's Great Spotted Cuckoo which at the time was a lifer, into a glorious sunny morning. Several similar like minded birders were already present but it was clear from their demeanour that the Hoopoe was a no show this morning. After receiving a few negative answers to our questions we decided to move on and walked out to the west cliffs to survey the immediate area to see if the odd looking vagrant had relocated slightly. It hadn't and had obviously moved on the previous night, a Hoopoe was found later in the day about 20 miles away which could have been the same bird. Shrugging the "dip" aside we carried on with the walk to see what we could find anyway. Immediately obvious was a steady trickle of Swallows and Sand Martins passing straight through and heading northwards, accompanied by a single House Martin. The year list moved up to 169. A Kestrel patrolled the cliffs and occasionally made a dart at one of the incoming migrant birds without success so far as we could see.

Kestrel

One of the horse paddocks was absolutely rammed full with Wheatears, we counted over 20 in that field. Obviously new in overnight but not new for the year list since we saw one very early doors at Greenham Common over a fortnight ago. Seeing so many in the same place was a definitely a first for us though. During the course of the morning we must have seen over 50!

Wheatear

Chiffchaffs were also numerous and we watched one bird feed alongside a wire fence where it expertly sought out insect food. It's always a bit incongruous seeing birds "out of context".

Chiffchaff

The most excitement was generated by a Common Buzzard flying in off the sea and being set upon at once by one of the resident Ravens. The poor raptor was given some right stick by the equally impressive corvid. Eventually the Buzzard shrugged off the Raven but was then ushered out of the area by a whole mob of angry Gulls! Some welcome!

Common Buzzard being seen off by a Raven

We got news of a couple of Ring Ouzels but couldn't find them and likewise, after relocating to the Observatory area, couldn't find either the resident Little Owls or a reported Black Redstart. The early promise had dissipated somewhat and I was growing despondent. The whole Portland Bill area was becoming rather busy too with day tourists and their associated noise and bustle so we decided after a coffee to get out of there and head back to Weymouth where we could at least try to right a wrong from the previous year and tick a bird that we'd dipped on our way down to Cornwall last October. 

The bird in question was a Lesser Yellowlegs, a North American wading bird, similar looking to a Redshank except for having, as the name says, yellow legs instead of red. On that similarly beautiful day last October, the Yellowlegs had contrived to go missing while we were at Lodmoor and Radipole RSPB reserves, reappearing the day after when we had already arrived in Cornwall. the fact that we'd also managed to miss out on another in Cornwall that day just added to my chagrin. However the Lodmoor bird had remained in situ throughout the winter and we now had another chance at seeing it. 

Our arrival at Lodmoor was heralded by a fine male Greenfinch, a bird we see too few of at home these days, singing at the top of a tree that overlooked the west scrape. 

Greenfinch

The scrape itself, the place where the Lesser Yellowlegs should be, was almost empty and we could only see Black-tailed Godwits and a couple of Snipe of interest. When we'd visited last October this shallow pool had been alive with birds, except for the Yellowlegs of course, but now there was just a handful of birds present. Despondency was settling in again when on my umpteenth scan of the area revealed just the grey head of a wading bird asleep on a muddy bund at the opposite side of the water. Just as I announced to Mrs Caley that I thought I'd found the target bird, and just as her patience was running out, it stretched up to have a look around, probably thinking to itself "there's that idiot birder from Oxfordshire again, dammit I should have been looking then I could have given him the slip once more!", revealing it to indeed be the Lesser Yellowlegs. I had a record shot and bird number number 170 for the year.

Lesser Yellowlegs, at last!

Most birders who had come to see this Lesser Yellowlegs had been rewarded with stonking close up views and hence had obtained some fantastic photos of it. For Mrs Caley and myself it was now, stood up at least, about 50 yards away and we had heat haze to contend with so my reward was to get some pretty awful records shots at best. But at least you could see what it was and the photos were a marginally better effort than the ones I obtained of one in Cornwall in 2015. This was the third Lesser Yellowlegs that we'd seen, the other near Aberdeen in 2011.

Lesser Yellowlegs

We found a seat and waited to see if the Lesser Yellowlegs would begin feeding and approach our bank. Our relief was almost palpable when it did just that and it began moving slowly nearer to our side of the pool. Against the bank of the bund the bright yellow legs showed up brilliantly and it was clear that summer plumage was being grown with neat spangled upper parts evident. In reality it more resembled a small Greenshank than the Redshank that it's more closely related to.

The Yellowlegs progress towards us was slow but step by step it was closing the gap. I waited for it to appear in the open between patches of Bankside vegetation before firing off photos. But it was still just too far away for any really good images. 

Just as it seemed that the Yellowlegs would "jump" over a small creek and land on the mud right in front of us, it decided to fly back to the bund instead! Just my luck! Once back there it promptly settled down and went back to sleep. Game over.

I took a few photos of some of the other birds on offer, and made a half-hearted attempt at finding a reported Garganey, already on the year list, so wasn't bothered when I couldn't, and left.

Coot

Teal

Time was pressing but we made a call into Radipole in the hope of finding some Bearded Tits. As usual we didn't see any, we have failed to find any here on countless visits now and yet they show really well for other folk. I belatedly remembered that there was a drake Ring-necked Duck near "to the tennis courts" so we went to look for that. I spotted it straight away, our second already this year after the one at Pitsford in February, keeping company with a female Tufted Duck in the reed lined channel that runs alongside the road. Views were tricky owing to the reeds but we found a Fishermans jetty that jutted out into the channel. Once on that rather unstable but just about sound structure we had clearer views of the Duck but it was about 50 yards away. But at least the low angle of the sun was helping us from our viewpoint.

Ring-necked Duck and Tufted Duck

At last we had some good fortune when the pair of Tufted Ducks that the Ring-necked Duck and his "mate" were associating with decided to swim past us and back to the main reserve. Our quarry instantly followed and slowly swam towards us allowing me to fire off some pleasing images. As the Duck came ever nearer the sun became an interference since we were now looking directly into it but we were almost within touching distance so at least the images were fairly sharp.

Our day was completed by watching an episode of drake Mallard wars, one particular bird seemingly hell bent on killing all the others and displaying Marsh Harriers which were flying high into the air and then diving back to the reeds. 

Mallards

Marsh Harrier

After a slow start it had been another good day and that year list was up to 170.