Red-crested pochard in Egham

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A quick run to Egham for a local drake red-crested pochard before work was successful, if muddy. Red-crested pochard shouldn't be that hard to find, but like brambling, I'd managed to go through last year without coming across one.



I'd not been to Egham Hythe Pond before, and discovered on arrival that access from the side I arrived at was restricted. Nevertheless, with a bit of poking about I was able to find a good viewpoint over the lake, from where I could see small numbers of black-headed and common gull, shoveler, mallard, gadwall, pochard and tufted duck. Through the reeds I could make out the striking drake red-crested pochard (Netta rufina; click for larger). I moved around for a better view, but it immediately flew to the other side of the pond - clearly not tame as I was more than 50 yards away. I took a couple of record shots in the poor, drizzly light and then had a quick look around the surrounding fields. There is evidence of habitat restoration (in-filled gravel pits?) and the hay meadows nearby held large numbers of gulls and wood pigeons, while the ring-necked parakeets kept up a constant racket. Thirty minutes up - time to get to work...

Ring-billed versus common gull identification

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Just as an aide memoire for anyone interested (and a reminder for me as much as anything) - here are the key distinguishing features of adult ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis; click for larger). The image below was made with a little Photoshop jiggery-pokery (common gull Larus canis shot at same time and similar distance added into the main image); both gulls processed exactly the same way, so colour differences reflect the individuals, not the photographer's preferences. This is the Gosport over-wintering ring-billed gull - affectionately known in some quarters as Waldo.

Most likely to be confused with: common gull, but compare mantle colour (paler - difficult to pick out without a direct comparison), yellowish rather than greenish legs, big black band on bill (not as useful as you'd think - lots of common gulls have bands), chunkier (including bill), white tertial crescent less obvious (surprisingly clear and useful). For a different perspective, have a look at the current header on the Poor Birding World blog - it made me laugh anyway!



What startles me is that the first British record was in 1973, and for a decade they were a real rarity (I remember seeing my first ones in Limerick in the mid-80s - an unprecedented pair!). Now there's regularly over 50 reported in a year, and there is a suspicion that some move in both directions across the Atlantic. Just goes to show how expectations affects reporting...

Langstone Harbour and Lavell's lake

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A day of two birding halves with work in the middle - one which turned out well. I dashed down to Budd's Farm sewage works first thing in the morning, in part because the trip earlier in the week suggested that a visit when the tide was out might be worthwhile, and also because I fancied another go at the green-winged teal.

There were good numbers of teal, tufted duck and pochard on the pools, but no sign of the green-winged teal, so I moved on to scan the harbour. The Spinnaker Tower loomed in the distance, and bait pickers collected lugworms across the bay (click for larger). The light was contrasty and difficult, but there was lots about to keep me entertained.





The tide was out and there were small flocks of brent geese (Branta bernicla; click for larger) feeding among the seaweed.





Flocks of dunlin and knot, as well as scattered ringed plover, curlew, oystercatcher, redshank, greenshank and grey plover foraged across the mudflats, joined by a couple of little egrets (Egretta garzetta; click for larger).



Further out on the water, red-breasted mergansers, shelduck, goldeneye, wigeon and a single common scoter floated on the mirror-like water in the bay, while large numbers of black-headed (Larus ridibundus; click for larger), herring, lesser-black back and common gulls passed by. One last look at the geese, and it was back to Reading.



After work I headed to Lavell's Lake to see if the bittern would appear as it went to roost. I left the camera in the car as the light was going. Wearing a suit I was slightly out of place, but clearly there are standards to be maintained... There was no sign of the bittern, but the water rail was showing well under the feeders and there was a decent range of ducks. A sharp-eyed birder found some snipe at the rear of the wader scrape - one of which was bobbing away as if it was on springs. Obviously an unexpected jack snipe, and some half-decent views (considering the fading light and it being hidden by vegetation and teal) were had. An excellent end to the day.

UPDATE
Lots of people saw the jack snipe the next day, and there's even a photo.

Fish supper

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I took a quick lunch time trip to Pingewood Gravel Pits, just south of Reading to see if I could connect with a reported black throated diver. No sign of the diver, but good numbers of gadwall, wigeon, tufted duck and pochard. This great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus; click for larger) caught a large perch close by and dispatched it without a second thought.

Black redstart and ring-billed gull, Hampshire

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I managed to find a day to do a bit of birding, and predictably, the weather was atrocious - windy, cold and constant rain. Optimism (and necessity) dictated that I'd give it a go, and I decided to see if I could pick up a couple of my target species for the year by having a dash around the outskirts of Portsmouth.

Species number one was black redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros; click for larger) - we don't find too many of those in Surrey or Berkshire, and one has been overwintering at a building site in Eastleigh, obviously mistaking it for a rocky shore. I arrived in the rain, and that didn't stop. After a little searching I located the redstart on a mound of soil, flicking between there and the detritus of building work. Views were distant, but good.



Following on the theme of non-pretty birding locations, the next stop was Walpole Park boating lake in Gosport, where a ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis; click for larger) has been resident for several months. This north American gull is a scarce visitor to the UK, and the weather made it difficult to pick out - I spent 30 minutes huddled from the rain checking through the common gulls before I found it. They're readily separated by their paler mantle,smaller white crescent on their tertials, pale eyes and fiercer look (and a big black ring on their bills, of course). The views were decent, but only lasted a few minutes before a dog walker put the birds up.



There was also a Mediterranean gull, and I took a few shots of this herring gull (Larus argentatus; click for larger) which allowed a closer view. Cold and wet, it was time to move on.




Next stop was Southsea Castle, where my second target species, a flock of purple sandpipers, usually winters on the rocky shoreline. It was clear straight away that they weren't there - the tide was in - so I moved on to Langstone Harbour and Hayling Island, stopping off at Budd's Farm sewage works (yet another nice birding location for the day) and Hayling Bay. Lots of ducks, and lots more rain at both locations, but nothing unusual, so soaked to the skin, it was time to head for home.

Water rail at Lavell's Lake

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The regular bittern is back at Lavell's Lake, and prompted by a comment on the skulls post, I decided it was time to drop in on my way home from work. Bitterly cold, and surprisingly quiet, there were the usual waterfowl and gulls in decent numbers. A pair of water rails (Rallus aquaticus; click for larger) fed under the feeders, looking for the detritus dropped by the feeding tits and finches. The light was appalling, and only the fact that I don't like having photo-less posts keeps an image in - just about acceptable I suppose for a never stopping subject at 1/20th of a second. It's not looking particularly rail-thin either - fluffed up feathers to fend off the cold.

The light died, and through the scope the bittern showed well in the far reedbed, climbing the reeds to roost. There's always something special about seeing bittern - guaranteed to be a good end to a day, no matter how demanding it's been.

Tawny owl - secret of silent flight

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Owls are silent hunters. Their prey capturing ability is based on hearing (some 10-times more responsive than ours) rather than sight for most species, and their feathers show some fantastic adaptations for their predatory behaviour. I've been covering the mechanics of flight in recent lectures, and I've been lucky enough to acquire a few wings, including one of a tawny owl, to illustrate a few points.

I'd been meaning to take shots of these to show owl feather structure, but Alan Tilmouth's recent post prompted me to get on and do it. The leading edge of the first few primaries of the tawny owl (Strix aluco; click any image for larger) have soft fringes (image below), deadening the sound of the contact between wing beat and air, and underneath the primary and secondary feathers, you can see that the inner vane (image to the left) has uneven, loose barbs, ensuring that the flight feathers slide over each other quietly.

The feathers also have a matt appearance, with an almost velvety texture (bottom image), in contrast to the gloss of most birds' tightly knitted barbs. This again helps deaden sound produced during flight, helping the owl to hear its prey unimpeded by noise, and perhaps also preventing their prey from hearing the owl's approach.

Even tawny owls, which are sit and wait predators, benefit from this, as their prey can move quickly. Silence helps the owl make those last moment adjustments before capturing its prey.

Great grey shrike at Ash Ranges

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Sometimes we just do the stupidest things. I've been virus-ridden since Monday - I managed to get through Monday morning ornithology lecturing, and then headed home to bed. After 4 hours of 'projecting' my voice completely seized up, and all that came out was a squeaky croak, and it's only coming back now. Anyway, by yesterday things weren't looking any better. However... Ash Ranges was meant to be open with no firing,and that only happens fortnightly at best, and of course on Wednesdays I'd normally be in work. Even more relevant, a black redstart had been reported near Mychett Gate - just five minutes from home - and the great grey shrike was also still around. They were worth dragging myself out from under a sweaty duvet for, or so I thought.

In my addled wisdom, I decided to test the theory that (in spite of a raging temperature, no voice and a brain filled with cotton wool soaked in chloroform) some fresh air would do me good, and I'd be all set to go back to work the next day. It didn't and I wasn't. I arrived, walked for 10 minutes, saw the GGS (Lanius excubitor; rubbish image - the dot in the distance on the top of a dead tree; click for larger if you're desperate for another 5 wasted seconds in your life) in the distance and had no sign of the black redstart (or a Dartford warbler for that matter). Felt a lot worse. Realising that I'd made a serious error of judgement, I headed for home and to the safety of bed. But I do like shrikes...

More monochrome

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Work is keeping me tied to the computer, so no time to get out and take some new shots. Instead, following on from my playing around with mammal skulls, where I converted images to monochrome, played around a bit with structure and contrast, and a bit of dodging and burning, and then blended the images so that a hint of the underlying colour comes through. I decided to look at some old shots to see if the technique would work with them. It's pretty clear to me that this is a technique for a particular type of image - both in terms of content and in terms of building an atmosphere. For me the first two work best - the impression evoked by the orang-utan is very different in colour for example. Oh well - enough play - back to work!

Bornean orangutan Pongo pygmaeus


False gharial Tomistoma schlegelii


Grass snake Natrix natrix


Herring gull Larus argentatus


Burrowing owl Athene cunicularia (captive)


Canada goose Branta canadensis