Ringing Tuesdays - migrants moving through?

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Another excellent morning's ringing - a beautiful sunrise, blue skies and only a gentle breeze to disturb the mist nets. Warblers made up half of the catch, with 10 garden (including one first trapped 5 years ago) and 13 sedge warblers, along with varying numbers of chiffchaff, blackcap, whitethroat, willow and reed warblers providing the rest of the Sylviidae. The rest of the catch was made up of a mix of finches, dunnock, robin, blackbird, wrens and tits. In total there were 56 birds, of 14 species. Undoubtedly many of these are moving through and things will get much quieter as summer progresses.

The Loddon lilies (Leucojum aestivum; click any image for larger) have reached their peak - it's difficult to capture how impressive the spread is.



After ringing I had a quick look in Dinton Pastures for a local grasshopper warbler, but everything had quietened down as the heat rose, so there was no sign of it. On Lavell's Lake common terns chased by, a great crested grebe (Podiceps cristatus) preened, a mute swan (Cygnus olor) defended its territory and a hobby (Falco subbuteo) hunted overhead.





The heat stifled the bird song, with occasional bursts of chattering from the sedge and reed warblers, and not much more from the hedgerows - this female reed bunting (Emberiza schoeniclus) was one of the few passerines to pose.



The day ended on a good note too - I heard that my rough-legged buzzard record from Richmond Park has been accepted - the 15th county record...

Summer atlassing - Fox Corner and surrounds

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Beautiful morning's birding on Sunday, catching up with one of my altas tetrads. This tetrad centres on Fox Corner, which is a small village with a local nature reserve, and the rest is fields and hedgerows. The garden warblers were in, and willow warblers, chiffchaffs, blackcaps and whitethroats added to the rain-delayed warbler-centric dawn chorus.

There were also lots of butterflies, hoverflies (here Eristalis pertinax; click and for larger) and flowers dotted the meadow. Toad tadpoles writhed in the pond, and a roe deer kept to the shadows of the copse.

Ringing Tuesdays - Loddon Lilies

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An excellent morning's ringing, with 40 birds of over a dozen species, with blackcap being the most common, followed by bullfinch! In addition we had whitethroat (Sylvia communis; click any image for larger), chiffchaff, willow and sedge warbler, making up a nice mix of summer migrants - the whitethroat was my first of the year. The excited twitterings of sand martins came from overhead, a sparrowhawk dashed through, a common tern flew by, and my first cuckoo of the year called in the distance.

The site was looking good, with swathes of flowering Loddon lilies (Leucojum aestivum) carpeting the carr-ish ground. These are a local speciality and I gather is red-data book listed, and is considered a marker of good habitat quality. Butterflies, including peacocks (Inachis io), orange tip, small white and comma (another first for the year), were in flight - the peacocks have emerged from hibernation and were egg laying on patches of nettles.

There was something very atmospheric about the morning, starting with the mist rising from the river, the mild musky odour of the blackthorn in full bloom, and the vivid blue of the sky, still vapour trail-less. Gorgeous!

No ring ouzels for me...

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A quick stop at Aston Rowant before work on Sunday to hunt for ring ouzels which have been around for a little while - no luck and it was quiet on the bird front. Nice place, clear con-trail free sky, but unfortunately the site is split by the M40...

Sounds of silence and skylarks

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Every now and again I just need to get away from the bustle and activity of life, to take a moment to absorb the calm. To hear the cadences of bird song and the wind in the trees and just breathe in the absence of the imposed sounds of civilization. There are sadly few places where this calm can be found in Surrey. An early morning walk near home is to be surrounded by dog-walkers, joggers, horse riders or mountain bikers, jets flying into Farnborough or Heathrow, and the ever-present rumble of lorries, cars and motorbikes. This all creates a dissonant soundscape. There's the surface element, with the incoherent noise of human activity, and there's the one that gets to your bones, the inescapable urban infra-soundscape fuelled by the processed remains of long dead plankton.



Ash Ranges is the one local place where for a few moments I can escape all of this. Protected by its use as a military training ground and its unpredictability of when the warning flags will be down, there are relatively few people who make it there. I spent some time there on Wednesday evening, where for the first hour I saw nobody, and later only a few soldiers running and a pair of dog walkers. Walking through the heathland turned up a pair of woodlarks and a tree pipit, but there was still no sign of Dartford warblers, which I hope still cling on.

I always head for Crown Prince Hill, which gives views over Cleygate and Pirbright Commons. Skylarks sang, and I could hear the glip, glip of a small party of crossbills moving through the Scots pines on Scraggley Hill. And for a moment, it felt as if there wasn't another person within a mile of me. Bliss...

Update
I wrote the above a couple of days ago, before the Icelandic volcano removed the vapour-trails from the sky. I'm at Henley Business School for a few days, working on my MBA. The Greenlands campus is beautiful, but I found it hard to stop staring at the sky, which for the first time I can recall I see without a single vapour trail. It does illustrate just how pervasive we are as a species - even when I've been in remote areas of Africa or Borneo there's always a vapour trail. Today it was just buzzards and red kites wending their way through a completely blue sky. Incredible.

Mallorcan birding odds and ends

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Final instalment of the Mallorca reports!

As with most birding on family holidays you tend to fit things in where you can. Some species are common everywhere, and easy to pick up, such as Audouin's gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii; click any image throughout for larger) and shag (Phalacrocorax aristotelis). That the former is common is one of the oddities of gull population dynamics - their numbers have picked up considerably since the lows of the 1960s, where they reached depths of under 1000 pairs.





Away from the coast, a trip to the Roman ruins in Alcudia produced many common species, with serin (Serinus serinus) in full song, joined by Sardinian warblers (Sylvia melanocephala) from the tangled vegetation, while zitting cisticolas (Cisticola juncidis) made their monotonous song flights.





A brief stop at the Cuber reservoir on the way back from Soller, quickly produced black vulture (Aegypius monachus) flying overhead - enormous! On the way there we'd stopped nearby for a picnic and had distant views of a griffon vulture soaring over the mountains.



I did manage an evening at S'Albufereta, a small wetland located between Peurto Pollensa and Alcudia, which was excellent, with avocet, great white egret, marsh harrier (Circus aeruginosus), three booted eagles (Aquila pennata), and woodchat shrike (Lanius senator), as well as some more common species such as greenfinch (Carduelis chloris; here drinking from a small puddle) and corn bunting (Miliaria calandra).







In total the list for the trip came to 87 species, with previously unmentioned highlights for me including very tame redstarts at Lluc Monastery, little bittern unexpectedly dashing past in S'Albufereta, and the calls of stone curlew and Scops owl as we packed our car to leave for home at 4am. Considering that this was primarily a family holiday, and that we were a couple of weeks early for many migrants (and especially the Eleonora's falcons), missing out on several warbler species, all the terns (except common, which is meant to be the rare one!) and even purple heron, it wasn't a bad list.

The final list was (in order of finding):

1. Swift
2. House sparrow
3. Yellow-legged gull
4. House martin
5. Wood pigeon
6. Collared dove
7. Blackbird
8. Osprey (first over on drive to Colonia Sant Jordi)
9. Woodchat shrike
10. Great crested grebe
11. Black-winged stilt
12. Audouin's gull
13. Sardinian warbler
14. Sand martin
15. Fan-tailed warbler
16. Serin
17. Blue tit
18. Mallard
19. Pheasant
20. Shag
21. Willow warbler
22. Blackcap
23. Kentish plover
24. Greenfinch
25. Goldfinch
26. Shelduck
27. Great tit
28. Little egret
29. Stonechat
30. Kestrel
31. Rock dove
32. Montague's harrier
33. Swallow
34. Reed bunting
35. Crossbill
36. Whitethroat
37. Hoopoe
38. Cirl bunting
39. Nightingale
40. Cory's shearwater
41. Balearic shearwater
42. Raven
43. Pied flycatcher
44. Pallid swift
45. Cattle egret
46. Griffon vulture
47. Black vulture
48. Booted eagle
49. Cetti's warbler
50. Marsh harrier
51. White wagtail
52. Yellow wagtail
53. Teal
54. Night heron
55. Coot
56. Moorhen
57. Stone curlew
58. Red-crested pochard
59. Little ringed plover
60. Shoveler
61. Grey heron
62. Water rail
63. Gadwall
64. Reed warbler
67. Pochard
68. Little bittern
69. Moustached warbler
70. Red-knobbed coot
71. Purple gallinule
72. Little grebe
73. Chiffchaff
74. Starling
75. Redshank
76. Peregrine
77. Redstart
78. Wren
79. Blue rock thrush
80. Corn bunting
81. Linnet
82. Marmora's warbler
83. Crag martin
84. Black headed gull
85. Avocet
86. Great white egret
87. Scops owl (heard only)

S'Albufera, Mallorca

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S'Albufera is of course the most famous birding site in Mallorca, and one of the most important wetland reserves in Europe. I managed to visit twice over the holiday, once alone, and as I was so impressed, I had to return with family in tow, if only to share the scent of the wild garlic that lined many of the tracks through the marsh.

My first arrival was greeted by a locked gate, as I hadn't realised that the park didn't open until 9am. A park worker took pity on the poor birder standing forlornly with drooping scope, and let me in, so I had the park to myself for an hour, even if at the ire of another worker who didn't seem to believe my tale. The light was poor on each occasion - heavy cloud and a bit of a chill wind - but it didn't stop the birds. Sardinian (Sylvia melanocephala; click any image throughout for larger) and Cetti's warblers (Cettia cetti) were to be heard everywhere. Later on reed, sedge and a single moustached warbler added to the din. Little (Egretta garzetta) and cattle egret (Bubulcus ibis) along with night herons (Nycticorax nycticorax), were busy nest building alongside the main canal.






I wandered to the nearest hide to be greeted by the evocative calls of stone curlew (Burhinus oedicnemus), with five chasing around the edge of the water. It didn't take long for the highlight of my day - an osprey (Pandion haliaetus) hunted over the marsh for 30 minutes, passing directly overhead. What I would have given for a decent background! The osprey was colour ringed, but it's not a British bird, and was probably ringed in Menorca.






If the osprey was the most charismatic bird, the one species that triumphed for sheer impressiveness was the swifts (Apus apus), which dashed over the marshland in huge numbers, in this image hawking for insects around the distant osprey. They were joined by lower flying swallows and martins, which hunted over the open waters.



Moving back to the centre, I spent some time scanning the paddock where huge numbers of flava yellow wagtails (Motacilla flava) and a few white wagtails foraged for insects, and I also picked out a couple of hoopoes (Upupa epops) feeding on worms in the damp soil.

Hoopoes have always been one of those near-mythical species for me and seeing one is always special. Perhaps this has something to do with being taught the fable of how they gained their crest when in primary school, and they appeared to be untouchably exotic. Apparently, Solomon demanded a show of fealty from all the animals, but noticed the hoopoe was missing. He was outraged, but calmed when told that the hoopoe had discovered a rich new land, ruled by a woman, the Queen of Sheeba. The hoopoes guided Solomon across the desert to Sheeba, shading him from the fierce desert sun by flying overhead. Solomon offered the hoopoes any reward they desired, and they asked for a golden crown, like his, to reflect their importance. Solomon queried if this is what they really wanted, and they said they did, so their wish was granted. They were overjoyed, and strutted in pride in front of the other birds. The other birds were jealous, and attacked the hoopoes, and men hunted the hoopoes to steal their golden crowns. Eventually, the hoopoes begged Solomon to take back his gift, which he did, but in his place he gave them their feathered crest to remind them of the consequences of pride. I suspect that the moral of the story went over our heads at age 6, but it has completely influenced how I think about hoopoes since then!




S'Albufera is home to a range of reintroduced species, species which are of significant conservation concern in mainland Spain, and which were hunted to extinction on Mallorca. The most common species is the red crested pochard (Netta rufina), here preening. Purple gallinules (Porphyrio porphyrio; do I really have to call them purple swamphens - it's a bit undignified) strutted on the margins of open water, regularly fighting. The most difficult reintroduced bird to connect with (at least those without collars which are the offspring of the original introductions) was the red-knobbed coot (Fulica cristata), which are a bit more secretive than their more common cousins.






There were good numbers of Kentish and little ringed plovers around, but apart from a solitary redshank, the stone curlews and the ubiquitous black-winged stilts (Himantopus himantopus) there was surprisingly few waders about. The black-winged stilts were mating, and several were already brooding eggs.




There's little doubt that S'Albufera is what makes Mallorca special - the sheer numbers and diversity of birds is incredible. It was well worth making the trip for this place alone.

Ringing Tuesdays - blackcaps

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An interlude from the Mallorca posts...

Ringing Tuesday again, and a quiet day, with three blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla male and female below; click either for larger) the highlight (along with varying numbers of wren, great tit, blackbird, song thrush, reed bunting and chiffchaff). Blackcaps seemed to be everywhere, with their tak call coming from most hedgerows.




The birding highlight of the day was a hobby passing over as we were setting up the nets, and later an unusual (well - it is unusual for Berkshire) oystercatcher flew over calling. I did my usual short stint at Lavell's Lake afterwards, for my first sedge and willow warbler of the year. The blackthorn was in full bloom, there were lots of beeflies, and also my first peacock, brimstone, small white and orange tip butterflies of the year - all within the space of three minutes. An excellent Spring morning.

Formentor and the Boquer Valley, Mallorca

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After southern Mallorca, we spent a week in a (freezing cold!) villa outside Puerta Pollensa, an overly touristy beach-town in the north-east of the island. This is an excellent corner for birding, and with a little planning, both family and wildlife needs can be met. Our first trip was to the Formentor peninsula, which juts into the sea in north-eastern Mallorca.

The scenery along the Formentor penninsula is stunning, with the winding roads tightly following the contours of the steep mountainsides. Once you negotiate the cyclists, you end up at a lighthouse and some gorgeous sea views. This is not ideal for sea-watching as you're high up, but at least you haven't disappeared off from the family for another morning! There are plenty of yellow-legged gulls (Larus michahellis; click either image for larger) around, providing some easy photo opportunities.



The main bird reason for coming out here are the shearwaters, with both Cory's (Calonectris diomedea; click either for larger) and Balearic (Puffinus mauretanicus) shearwaters giving good but distant views through the scope. From the elevated viewpoint, you can look down on the shearwaters as they pass the headland, and in these conditions provide an opportunity to work on shearwater identification. In this case though, the size and flight of the Cory's readily separates them from the Balearics, and even bill differences were clear at this distance.



A hawking pallid swift was an early and welcome surprise, providing excellent views, and a few crossbills fed in the pines, but it was relatively quiet otherwise - ideally we would have been visiting a couple of weeks later for some of the more impressive passage migrants.

Later in the week I went for walk through the Boquer Valley (click any image for larger), located at the beginning of the Formentor peninsula. The Boquer Valley provides a scenic walk to the sea through areas of garrigue vegetation. The weather was poor, with high winds keeping most birds down.

The route starts with a small olive grove and surrounding trees which, in addition to the ubiquitous Sardininian warblers, provided a flighty woodchat shrike and a tree pipit (Anthus trivialis; click either image for larger), while crag martins and a peregrine dashed about the rocks at the entrance to the valley, while a raven flew over at a more sedate pace.




Into the valley proper, the wind kept most species down. I had a fleeting (i.e. rubbish) glimpse of a Marmora's (or Balearic, depending on how much of a splitter you are) warbler, the only one of the trip, and a blue rock thrush on a dry stone wall. In spite of the wind, the serins never stopped singing, and a single pied flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca; click any image for larger) posed for a couple of distant shots.






As the wind increased, and the rain threatened, it was time to leave...