Larking around on Shore leave! 30th December

Shore Lark, "Eremophila alpestris", Bawdsey Suffolk 30/12/2018

I had fallen in love with Shore Larks ever since I'd seen some at Cley in Norfolk many years ago. That devotion has been shared at a distance though since I live in landlocked Oxfordshire and Shore Larks spend their time at the beach, not in the summer either, they tough it out in the cold and blustery winter months. It had been years since I'd seen any of the hardy little birds, apart from the American version at Staines in January this year, documented here American Horned Lark. Horned Lark is another descriptive name for the Shore Lark given owing to them having feathers that stick up on their heads like horns. Obviously.

The local birding scene had stagnated somewhat in a festive depression so after discussion with Mrs Caley we decided that we needed to get out of the area and see something more exciting and we opted for some Shore Larking! Now we had to choose where to go to see some since their were several possible destinations, all on the east coast. The biggest flock of Shore Larks had been wintering at Holkham Gap in Norfolk where around 20 were present along with a larger flock of Snow Buntings. Normally this would have presented a no-brainer but we'd already seen lots of Snowies this year so didn't need to go chasing them again. Also I'd read many accounts relating that the site at Holkham was greatly disturbed by hordes of dog walkers and other recreational folk and that the damage and disturbance created had led to the wardens erecting a fenced off area so that the birds could feed in peace. It didn't seem the type of place for us to enjoy some quiet birding so we plumped instead for a visit to south Suffolk where 4 Shore Larks had been seen at Bawdsey. To be honest I prefer Suffolk to Norfolk anyway, birding is much more relaxed there than it is in its more esteemed and popular neighbour. We'd never been to Bawdsey before so it would be good to try somewhere new as well.

We were up bright and breezy and on the road ahead of the 145 mile trip by 6 o'clock on Sunday morning. After we emerged from the fog just past Milton Keynes the drive was smooth on almost empty roads and we arrived 3 hours later at the almost deserted (good sign that!) car park next to the sea at Bawdsey. Not a beauty spot by any means, there are lots of dishevelled and dilapidated war defence buildings around the parking area. I had done my homework and knew that the birds were frequenting "the beach by the saline lagoon" so it shouldn't be too difficult to find them. We walked up onto the sea wall and couldn't see anything that resembled a beach! A large breakwater had been constructed here and stretched both south and north from our viewpoint, to the south there was a lighthouse type building and to the north a Martello tower. There was a large expanse of shingle shelving away from the tower so I took that to be the "beach" and so we headed northwards. The track along the sea wall passed 4 small freshwater ponds on which were a few wildfowl and a couple of Lapwing. Halfway to the tower a long narrow lagoon did indeed present itself in the distance and it became evident that I'd thankfully chosen to walk in the right direction. On arriving at the shingle I scanned the area and could see one other chap present but he didn't appear to be looking at anything so we joined him on the beach. In reality the beach was actually made up of small gravel sized pebbles rather than shingle but it was still hard going walking on it (a bit like walking in fresh snow). The chap ahead, who was sporting a camera, was now walking towards us, not always the best sign since it showed that he didn't have our quarry in view, we would meet at the southern end of the lagoon. About 50 yards short of the water I noticed some movement amongst the pebbles. A quick look through the bins and we had our Shore Larks! Not so difficult then. Tricky to see though since the birds blend in with the pebbles very well.

The 4 Shore Larks, well camouflaged on the pebbles!

And magnified!

Before long the birds flew northwards towards a grassy area further along the lagoon. We chatted to our fellow birder who explained that the Shore Larks were really flighty and wouldn't settle and that there wasn't much else around. As he departed back to the parking area, I reflected that maybe the birds were hard to pin down because of his fieldcraft (or lack of it since he had appeared to be "chasing" the birds) and thought that I could do much better particularly as Mrs Caley and I now had the whole beach to ourselves. I soon found the Larks again feeding amongst some sea cabbages at the edge of the beach. I set up Mrs Caley with views through our recently acquired and magnificent new Swarovski scope and then edged a bit closer so that I could get some decent record shots. Shore Larks are very handsome "little brown jobs". Their drab and typically Lark-like beige and sandy brown upper parts are offset by a stunning yellow and black facial pattern which renders them easily identifiable. They feed very deliberately on small seeds and are easy to observe once they're settled which they now were. I crawled up the shingle bank to get a few shots but a dog barking some way away had them alert and anxious again and they flew towards the lagoon.

I returned to Mrs Caley and scanned the lagoon sides and found the birds again feeding in the short grass there. The dog walker and his noisy charges were now on the sea wall on the opposite side of the lagoon and the birds were very alert so we just watched from a distance. To our good fortune they flitted closer to us, within 30 yards or so, enabling me to get some better photos of a species that I only had distant shots of before at Cley.

It was raining slightly, fairly typical Suffolk beach weather for us, but was unseasonably mild so not too uncomfortable. I sat and watched the birds while firing off shots when I could. Our luck extended further when the 4 birds suddenly flew up and landed just behind us on the ridge of the beach! Often it is far better to sit and wait for birds to get accustomed to you being in their environment than walk and "chase" them around. They were now just 20 yards away from us and we watched them at leisure.

The "horned" feathers are visible in this pose.

The dog walker and his dogs had now returned along the sea wall and the Larks were once again unsettled (a familiar story these days) and once again set into flight, this time flying off across the lagoon and over the sea wall. That was that then, and happy with the views that we had, we decided to leave and see what else we could twitch locally. We'd been on site for about an hour. On the way back to the car we met some newly arrived birders who had also come to see the Shore Larks (the benefit of arriving early is you get the birds to yourselves). All were naturally eager to know if we'd seen them and were happy to know that they were still around. A couple of Redshank and half a dozen Turnstones entertained us on our way.

Redshanks

Halfway back to the car and as we neared the freshwater ponds, I noticed some birds fly in and land on the parrelel track below us. On looking through my binoculars I was amazed to see the Shore Larks! It's as if they had decided that "hey, we haven't finished yet, take some more photos!". So I did! They were instantly disturbed by a jogger though but only flew a short distance onto an adjacent sandy track which gave us the chance to descend from our position on the upper track to a closer viewpoint.

The Shore Larks were now feeding on a grassy border between the sandy track and a muddy field. As we stood just 20 yards away all 4 birds actually approached us and must have voluntarily halved the distance between them and us, allowing me to get the rather comical action photos below. We were once again blessed with our own private show! Reward for our effort in coming to see the birds.

The Larks were now very settled, feeding both on the grass and in the field and appeared totally unperturbed by our presence. This was obviously a favoured feeding spot for them and where they go when disappearing from the beach. Because of their unobtrusiveness they probably go unnoticed by birders heading to the beach when there. I fired off frame after frame and got photos that far surpassed the ones gained earlier. 

The birds all stayed closely together and were not bothered by more dog walkers passing by behind us. The photo opportunities just kept coming!

The Shore Larks came even closer, posing incredibly well for us despite us being so close to them. 

The only time they got even slightly rattled was when a male Stonechat attempted to chase them off its "patch".

Stonechat: "Get off my land!"

After getting my fill of the Larks I wanted to gain the attention of the other birders that we'd met earlier so that they could get their fix too. They were in view but no amount of waving my arms in the hope of them seeing me worked and they stayed resolutely scanning the beach. Another couple of walkers approached and I asked them if they were heading up towards the beach. They replied that yes they were but had come to see the Shore Larks, so I saved them a walk! I still couldn't attract the attention of the other birders though so decided to go and fetch them instead. The Shore Larks were very settled so I left them in the safe hands of Mrs Caley. Luckily the other birders had given up anyway and at last I managed to get them to see my gesticulations. They joined us and were both delighted and grateful that we'd shared the birds with them. It's nice to do a good turn sometimes.

It was now approaching lunchtime so we headed off for a Sunday lunch finding excellent fare at the Coach & Horses in Woodbridge. There was a report of 4 Tundra Bean Geese at nearby Felixstowe so we made an attempt at finding them. And failed. After a half-hearted attempt at following up an earlier report of a Waxwing in Haverhill, on the way home at least, we gave up without finding that either and drove back to Oxfordshire. It had been a brilliant morning though spent in the company of the delightful Shore Larks, birding at it's best!

The Old Caley 2018 Year Review! Part 1

County recorders do it, bird websites and magazines do it, so I thought, why shouldn't Old Caley do it too! A year review!! Concise (unlikely), to the point (even more unlikely), packed with interesting anecdotes (no chance), loaded with photos (of course!). In time honoured fashion, here goes, a month by month blow of the Old Caley birding year.

January 2018

The New Year was kicked off with a trip down to Wishmoor Bottom on the Surrey and Berkshire border for another (the third in fact) attempt at catching up with the Parrot Crossbills that had been present there for much of December 2017. After a couple of hours standing around in the cold looking at an empty tree Mrs Caley and I decided to go for a wander and luckily came across a group of Crossbills drinking at a puddle. Both Common and Parrot Crossbills were seen and identified. The small flock of 5 joined more feeding in a nearby pine tree, culminating in brilliant and prolonged views of at least 10 Parrots and 3 Commons. Later when the birds left the tree we managed to see the entire flock of 16 Parrot Crossbills in flight. Full write up and photos here Crossbills

Parrot Crossbills drinking at puddle

The following Saturday the 6th saw us standing around again in the cold, this time looking up trees in a churchyard in West Oxfordshire. This time the target birds were Hawfinches and these were soon found feeding on the berries of the Yew trees. It was a fine sunny day so views of these normally elusive birds were absolutely stonking! In total we counted 9 Hawfinch that morning, part of a huge influx of these chunky finches that had made their way into Southern England during late autumn of the previous year. I couldn't get enough of them and had now seen over 100 throughout the autumn and winter and would go to see them every day if I could! See Hawfinch. On the way home we dropped into Farmoor to add a female Greater Scaup to the year list. The following morning, sporting a heavy head cold, Blenheim Park was the venue for another Hawfinch spotting jaunt and 6 were duly found in the ornamental gardens.

Hawfinch

Some local birding at Bicester Wetlands added Water Rail, Kingfisher and Sparrowhawk to the year list on the 11th and an afternoon visit to Northbrook the same day resulted in an impressive flock of 28 Corn Buntings.

Corn Buntings

I was fortunate enough to be working in some nice rural settings and in the space of 2 days, the 17th and 19th, had seen both Little Owl and a pair of the Barn Owl in the gardens of the houses that I was engaged at. On the 21st, Mrs Caley accompanied me to the Barn Owl site and despite it snowing relatively heavily (for Oxon) both of the pair were seen hunting out in the early morning half-light. Later a superb immature female Sparrowhawk graced our garden, no doubt hungry in the wintry and hard conditions. See Owls

Little Owl

A twitch was arranged for the Friday 26th when the aim was to tick off a long overdue, and bogey, bird. A Richard's Pipit had spent some time on the banks of the River Severn in deepest Gloucestershire. A gruelling slog through deep mud was required to reach the area where the bird had been seen. We had to go it alone too since there were no other birders around but after half an hour of fruitless searching in the rough field where the bird was supposed to be, I noticed a couple of Skylarks and another slimmer bird in a grassy field slightly further down the river. A look through the scope revealed the other bird to be the Richard's Pipit and the bogey was laid to rest. Not the rarest but a life tick nonetheless. See Richard's Pipit. A trip to nearby Frampton added Tawny Owl to the year list and a quick trip into Slimbridge WWT added waders, including Little Stints, ducks, geese and swans. See Slimbridge.

Richard's Pipit, a life tick!

We were afflicted with twitchiness now and the following day, Saturday 27th, saw us huddled against the freezing cold at the bleak concrete basin of Staines Reservoir, watching an American Horned Lark, the cross Atlantic cousin of our Shore Lark. I'm not particularly blessed with taxonomic skills but this was one lovely little bird and afforded us great views as it fed amongst the sparse vegetation on the embankment of the south basin. Not a separate species in its own right but it could be one day, so is a putative addition to the Old Caley life list. See American Horned Lark for more details.

American Horned Lark

The following day, the 28th and we sat in an equally cold hide at Stony Stratford, looking for and failing to see a reported Jack Snipe. I ended the month by finding more Hawfinches at two spots near work sites and the Sparrowhawk visited the garden again on the last day of the month.

Sparrowhawk

February 2018

A sneaky day off on the 1st and another Hawfinch hunt in the beautiful South Oxon village of Ardington, 3 seen there but none on show at Northmoor later. Better views of the Barn Owls at work on the 2nd before heading back to Ardington and more views of the Hawfinches. Then back to Stony Stratford on the 3rd in driving rain in another, successful this time, search for the Jack Snipe. On the 4th we braved real biting cold winds and some rain to boot as we looked for both a Great Grey Shrike and a Hen Harrier close to Great Barrington in the Cotswolds. Both were seen but were very distant and the bitter cold had us scuttling back to the car very quickly!

Hawfinch

Jack Snipe

A midweek jaunt on the 7th to the Forest of Dean resulted in a very frustrating stake out at a well known Hawfinch spot, read Hawfully Frustrating and feel my pain! The same day also gave us Brambling, Crossbill and a fine Great Grey Shrike, seen to take and "larder" an unfortunate Stonechat as well as lots of common woodland birds. The day was finished by taking in the Mandarin Ducks at Cannop Ponds.

Great Grey Shrike

Drake Mandarin Duck

After a fairly routine and unexciting walk around Otmoor in dreary weather on the 10th, better weather on the 11th was spent firstly with the Little Owl again at Shenington and then a fabulous female Black Redstart that had been found near Chipping Norton a few days before. Once located the Black Redstart showed brilliantly for us and I took many, many photos. Full write up at Black Redstart.

Female Black Redstart

On the 16th another slack day at work saw me spending far too much time watching the Barn Owls again before going to Kiddington and finding yet more Hawfinches. A punctured tyre was maybe instant karma for not working hard enough!

More Hawfinch magic!

The 17th was spent on Otmoor and we were lucky enough to be treated to a close fly past by one of the resident Bitterns. Compared to the week before Otmoor yielded a bonanza of birds in the much improved weather and in addition to the Bittern we had terrific views of Marsh harrier, Peregrine and, at last, the male Hen Harrier that had been present all winter but had evaded me until now.

Bittern

Female Marsh Harrier

Scotland was our destination for a late winter holiday primarily in a quest to see Ptarmigan in their pure white winter plumage. Firstly though on the 23rd we made our way to RSPB Saltholme in an attempt to secure some views and photos of some well known roosting Long-eared Owls. Despite an RSPB volunteers best efforts at dissuading us from even trying, we managed to find two of the Owls secreted in deep cover. Saltholme is also a great place for Tree Sparrows, uncommon to say the least in Oxon, and many other birds. Full write up here Leo's.

Two roosting Long Eared Owls

We stayed the night in a fabulous Inn (The White Swan) not far from Bamburgh and the morning of the 24th was spent at the Stag Rocks within view of the famous castle. The main quarry was Purple Sandpiper and after a bit of a search, over a hundred of these rock loving wading birds were found. Purple Sandpipers are one of my favourite species of wader, I love the tenacity of birds that live "on the edge". The site was terrific all round for wading birds, see Purple Patch for more.

Purple Sandpiper

We had moved onto the RSPB reserve at Loch Leven near Kinross by lunchtime on the 24th adding some more Tree Sparrows before reaching Pitlochry before dark to finally tick a life bird in the shape of a Glaucous Gull. After several near misses in the past, particularly in the Outer Hebrides last year, it was good to get the hulking great Gull on our lists. Only a juvenile but they all count, maybe we'll see an adult next time.

Tree Sparrow

Glaucous Gull, another lifer!

We've been visiting our holiday cottage located near Nethy Bridge for nearly twenty years and know the area well. The 25th dawned bright but very cold and the garden feeders were attracting lots of birds including a fine male Yellowhammer. Gardens in this part of the world get many unusual visitors both avian and mammalian. As we were leaving for a day out, I spotted a Crested Tit on the peanut feeder, in the summer we normally have to look hard to find those.

Yellowhammer

Crestie! Great start to the Highland holiday!

There had been a drake Ring-necked Duck at Lairg for a few weeks and with a worsening weather forecast, we decided it would be wise to head up there and twitch it. The Ring-necked Duck was duly added to the year list, showing extremely well in company with a few Tufted Ducks. The Pier cafe by the side of the loch served us up a most delicious Sunday lunch too! Our luck was out though later when a pair of Shore Larks couldn't be located at Coul. We ended the day by doing a recce at the Cairngorm Ski Centre, to see what the conditions were like ahead of our excursion into the mountains for the Ptarmigan, and logging part of the resident Snow Bunting flock.

Ring-necked Duck

Monday the 26th was the day. It had to be since much snow was forecast to fall over the next few days and access to the mountains would prove impossible. The Ptarmigan were reported to be in Coire an t'sneachda, about a mile or so from the carpark. It was freezing cold day, temperatures of minus 10 degrees centigrade with an added wind chill of another minus 12! Possibly the coldest conditions I've ever walked out in and full credit to Mrs Caley for doing it. Our reward was seeing at least five fabulous Ptarmigan in their winter plumage at close range. Full report here Ice Bird Challenge. Red Grouse were also seen on the way up and down the mountain.

Ice Birds!

Red Grouse, somehow getting comfy in those conditions!

After a warming hot chocolate in the resort cafeteria, we shared some sunflower seeds with the attendant Snow Buntings at the picnic tables. In the lovely afternoon sunshine we had some of our best ever views of these fabulous little birds. Lots of photos here Jewels in the snow.

Snow Bunting, a Bunting in the snow!

Overnight the Speyside region was hit by large amounts of snow fall and the Ski Road was shut and would remain so for the rest of the week, so we were vindicated in our decision to go! A friend of mine also there that week wasn't so lucky and missed out on his chance to photograph the Ptarmigan. On the 27th we made it into the forest and walked one of our favourite tracks in search of the elusive Capercaillie. No luck with them but we were rewarded by stunning views of Golden Eagle and Crossbills, probably Scottish but without sound recordings will just have to go down as Crossbill species. 

Goldie flying past very close!

On the last day of February, the 28th, it snowed heavily all day but we still ventured out! Difficult birding though so we joined the "Toggers" and their artificial perches in Loch Garten Car Park and watched Crested Tits and other birds take advantage of the free hand-outs. I don't sign up to fabricated settings for bird photography preferring to take photos "on the hoof" but at least the birds were getting fed in the harsh conditions.

Crested Tit on a Real perch.