How to find… Waxwings!

OK, I’ve still not got much interesting to write about, so I thought I’d make myself useful and do the first of some semi-regular posts on how to find certain species.

Now November’s with us it’s time to be wary that waxwings may descend upon us at any moment. Some years these Scandinavian berry-munchers arrive in Sheffield their hundreds (such as last year), or sometimes there’s virtually none (such as the year before). Conditions in their homeland play a big factor in this, especially waxwing population size and the success of that year’s berry crop. I’m not sure what the situation there is this year, but so far there’s only been a handful of waxwing reports in the UK, so perhaps it’s not going to be a good year, but time will tell.

Waxwings love red berries, and this love brings them to unlikely places where ornamental trees and shrubs such as rowan and cotoneaster have been planted, such as supermarket car parks, retail parks and town centres. This means they can be a handy lunch-hour twitch, or an unexpected surprise while doing some Christmas Shopping.

A nice surprise at the supermarket…

They’re noisy birds, that give a distinctive pulsing, high-pitched trill (hear it here), which is very loud where sizable flocks gather. Learning this noise is the most powerful tool in your waxwing-finding arsenal, as you will very often hear them before you see them. The triangular sillhouette of a waxwing in flight is very similar to that of a starling, and they are also confusable if sat in a large flock as they are a similar size and shape. If you see a flock of what appears to be starlings in a tree, it’s always worth giving them a quick scan in the winter months just in case.

Easy to dismiss as starlings…

Waxwings have a distinctive habit of feeding, where they’ll perch in the tallest tree in the area (so it’s worth checking flocks settling on trees such as poplars), and then without warning swoop en masse into the surrounding berry trees, gorging themselves on berries until they’ve had their fill and they head back to their lookout. If you catch them mid-snack they can be very confiding.

There are several locations in Sheffield that attract waxwings, and may be worth a look over the winter, and I’ve put some of them in the Google Map below. Also keep your eyes open on the Sheffield Bird Study Group and Derbyshire Ornithological Society websites for latest sightings, and check sites like BirdGuides (if you’ve got a subscription).

View Larger Map

A dose of flu…

Well, I was hoping to start November with some good hijinks from the weekend, as I fully intended to have a potter round Little Matlock Wood to get some mushrooms for my uni course on Saturday, and spend Sunday morning vis-migging at Redmires. Unfortunately the flu struck on Friday evening – I’m not being overdramatic enough to say it was the dreaded swine flu, but it was a nasty bout that wiped me out for the entire weekend, and very nicely made me just about all right again to go to work on Monday. So nothing interesting to report!

All I can say is I took some comfort from being woken up by the rain lashing against the bedroom window at 7am on Sunday, which made me slightly less sad at missing the vis mig trip…!

So all I’ve got to say, really, is to keep your eyes open for the latest Birdwatching Magazine, in which I have a ”Go Birding” walk for the Loxley Valley. Whether or not this means my patch will be innundated with new birders has yet to be seen, but I know of one fella who saw the walk and ended up going there and seeing his first dipper, which is what it’s all about really.

Hopefully next weekend I’ll be up to full speed and will finally have something interesting to say!

The last two weekends (including a lifer!)

 

Sorry, I haven’t updated for a while, but here’s a few details of the last couple of weekends.

Last Saturday I had a uni fieldtrip to Ringinglow looking for fungi (I’ll do a mycological post soon, honest!), and there were definite signs that autumn had well and truly arrived, in the form of two skeins of pink-footed geese, hundreds of redwings and a smattering of fieldfare around.

Yesterday I had a walk from High Bradfield to More Hall, via Broomhead Res, hoping to pick up some crossbills along the way, with sadly no luck. To be honest the fog was so bad to start off with that there could have been anything out there! There were small numbers of redwing and fieldfare along the way, and a mewing buzzard somewhere in the fog. At More Hall there was a cormorant and a great crested grebe on the water, but that was about it. Good walk though.

Today was a bit more successful with a quick and dirty twitch to Carr Vale NR to see the cattle egret which arrived this morning. I didn’t have much time to find it, but luckily it was showing distantly but well from the observation mound, a first for me and a cracking bird.

(I’ve been really bad and getting photos this last few weeks, so I’ve cheated and used a photo from last year to illustrate this entry!)

Return to Spurn

Today I managed to have another crack at Spurn, after persuading my dad he needed to experience Spurn in autumn! The day started well with my first fieldfare of the winter, and a brambling in the churchyard. A quick peek in the Crown & Anchor car park led to us following the gaze of the assembled birders there and getting a brief glimpse of a yellow-browed warbler in the treetops.

Continuing round the triangle we found redwings and more fieldfare, all the usual waders (knot, turnstone, redshank, both godwits, curlew, grey plover, golden plover, ringed plover, little egret etc.)  and some brent geese. Sadly there was no sign of the firecrests that have been sighted in recent days.

Walking back past the churchyard for a well-deserved pub lunch, we had a quick peak in the trees, and I glimpsed what I presumed was another yellow-browed. Some other birders had assembled in the churchyard and I heard them speculating it may have been a Pallas’s warbler… I trotted round to where they were looking, and got great views of a stunning little bird, with a very distinct crown-stripe that easily gave away its true identity!

We drove to the point and had a bit of a wander round the area of the Heligoland trap, hoping to see the black redstart that had been there recently, but to no avail (apparently there was a barred warbler around too, but we didn’t see it…). I caught a glimpse of a bird of prey that I suspected was a merlin, and on the way out we fortunately caught up with it perched on a telepgraph wire – a beautiful female bird, that finally put to bed a bit of a “bogey bird”…

A great day all round – a shame the firecrests weren’t on show, but there was more than enough to make up for it!

(No photos today, because I forgot my camera. D’oh!)

Full list…

Buzzards

I had a great “from the house” tick yesterday with two buzzards low over Loxley Road, clearly visible from the living room window. I have seen distant buzzards overhead before in the Valley, but these were the best views I’ve had on patch, and the first from the house. Good stuff!

Last week I started my part-time uni course again, with a module in mushrooms and toadstools. So expect lots of mycologically-themed posts in the coming weeks…

Spurn and a new patch mammal…

This morning it was a stupid o’clock start for a trip to Spurn with the SBSG. The recent westerly winds and nice sunny weather meant that I wasn’t expecting it to be a rarity-fest, and I wasn’t wrong! The only scarce bird around was a barred warbler, which despite spending the entire day in the same patch of bushes by the Warren, was skittish and gave poor views compared with the bird seen at Flamborough two weeks ago.

I did pick up one lifer for the day, though, in the form of snow bunting, with a confiding individual putting on a good show on the coastal path. Sadly the Lapland buntings that have been there recently weren’t playing.

Snow Bunting

There was a good mix of waders on show, including whimbrel, both godwits, sanderling, golden, grey and ringed plovers, turnstone, oystercatcher and huge clouds of knot. Other birds around included whinchats and wheatears, but migrants were thin on the ground, with none of the redstarts or flycatchers I was half expecting.

Lots of knots…

Elsewhere there were red-throated divers (my first of the year), a large number of little egret (12 is a conservative estimate) and many grey seals bobbing around in the sea.

Despite the quiet nature of the day birdwise, it was still a great day out in unseasonal sunshine.

On the way home I finally saw a mammal I’ve often suspected lives on my patch but I’ve never actually seen, as a fox walked up Loxley Road in front of the car. A great animal to see.

Full list of birds from today…

A couple of patch updates

This last two weekend’s I’ve actually had a walk on what is probably becoming one of the most neglected local patches in the country…

Last week’s highlights were a dipper at Stacey Bank (ringed light blue over metal/red over yellow), a couple of grey wagtails, 5 x tufted duck on Old Wheel Dam, and the usual suspects such as nuthatch, jay and kestrel.

Today’s highlights were a mute swan on Old Wheel Dam (not a  common bird there), a single tufted duck,  5 x swallow over OWD, a hunting kestrel and a great spotted woodpecker near Rowell Lane, and two treecreeper and a singing chiffchaff at Black Lane.

A couple of pics…

Treecreeper, living up to its name…

Mute Swan

Off to Spurn tomorrow – with the recent westerly winds I’m not expecting much, but there is some reasonable stuff knocking about like lapland and snow buntings, barred warbler and Med gulls, so you never know… Not expecting a rarity-fest though!

Peeps

Before I get on with today’s sightings, a quick postscript to the last post. Here is a picture of the elusive Edderthorpe spotted crake, not taken by me but by Dave Simmonite, who not only had the fortune to see it in much better light than my twilight encounter, but turned up at the flash to find it waiting for him (jammy get!). I’m sure Dave would be the first to admit it’s not going to win him Wildlife Photographer Of The Year, but the crake is a bird that few are going to get any more than record shots of, so well done for getting a snap!

(c) Dave Simmonite

Today I returned to the Dearne Valley to have a second crack at the pectoral sandpiper at Wombwell Ings. This time it didn’t take too long to find, thanks to other birders present, as it loitered on the opposite shore hanging out with a small gaggle of greenshanks and snipe. Despite being quite a bog standard Calidris wader in many ways, it stood out as something different, and I was expecting a very dunlin-style bird, but in fact its jizz was very different and I like to think I’d manage to ID one without much hesitation should I be lucky enough to stumble across my own.

Sadly it was too far away for a photo, as were the curlew sandpipers I saw next at Old Moor. Again quite distant views, these are mistakable for dunlin (of which there were 20 or more present), but their almost pure white undersides, taller and neckier posture and longer bills marked them out with a bit of squinting. It was a good morning for waders, with black-tailed godwit, ruff, common sandpiper, green sandpiper, lapwing and golden plover also present, as well as little egret.

Just to show I do still take my own photos every now and then (I need to find more photogenic birds to write about!) here are a couple of not-great shots of some more common birds.

Great Crested Grebe

Coot

Well over 50 species seen this morning, which isn’t bad going between 9am and 1pm. Here’s a full list…

Crake, spotted…

This afternoon I finally managed to get up to Wombwell Ings and Edderthorpe Flash to twitch a couple of good birds that have been up there recently.

The target of Wombwell was a pectoral sandpiper that has been up there for a few days, but sadly after much scanning we failed to find it. The best there were about six greenshanks and a few snipe.

Then on to Edderthorpe Flash, where we arrived around 6.10 and decided we’d give it until seven to find the elusive spotted crake that has spent a few weeks up there. As the light faded and the clock ticked we started to fear that we’d dip both birds, but at least an overhead hobby was a good bird if it didn’t show. It got close to our self-imposed deadline, but at 6.59 another birder shouted “It’s here!”. We watched the crake pottering around in good view of the bench, giving a brief but good performance in the fading light! A cracking bird, and well worth the wait.

Birdlington 09…

This weekend I’ve been on my now annual September pilgrimage to Bridlington and Flamborough.

 

FRIDAY…

My day started off arriving at Brid at 11am. Highlights immediately presented themselves with a juvenile(?) bar-tailed godwit in the harbour, along with the usual redshanks, turnstones and oystercatchers, and a nice flock of kittiwakes on the harbour wall. There was also a barnacle goose wandering around – although I could try and argue a legit Cat C tick, I think I’ll leave this lifer for the time I get a “proper” one.

After checking in at the B&B, it was time to go to Flamborough. The day was glorious, hot and still – an ideal day for seaside visitors, but unfortunately not for any big fall of migrants! In fact I saw very little of interest all afternoon, with nothing more interesting than a wheatear, sparrowhawk and curlew seen all day(!). Old Fall plantation, often a migrant hotspot at this time of year, yielded just two willow warblers and a blue tit or two. Some nice dragonflies around, though…

Later on I saw on Birdguides that a greenish warbler was at South Landing. I spent a while squinting at the chiffchaffs and willow warblers trying to turn one into its rarer cousin, but with no joy. I seem to be cursed with my solo trips around Flamborough – last year’s was equally quiet.  Still a nice walk…

SATURDAY…

The main event this morning – the RSPB Skua and Shearwater Cruise, meeting up with some of the guys from BirdForum (presume any people I mention from now on in this post are part of that group…). Birds seen by me on the trip included arctic skua, great skua, Manx shearwater (one of them doing a very obliging turn metres away from my side of the boat) and common scoter (all year ticks), plus fulmar, gannet, sandwich tern, cormorant, shag, guillemot, razorbill, puffin etc. Red-throated diver was also seen, but sadly not by me. Grey seals and harbour porpoises could be seen on many occasions, and James called a whale when he sighted a massive spray from a blowhole, and a probable minke. Despite these sightings, it was still a very quiet cruise as the weather was a little too clement, and I’m hoping next year’s is a bit more dramatic (I’m still hoping to get a few sootie shearwaters!).

That morning some of the BFers had already checked out Flamborough, and Marcus and Jim had aready found a barred warbler at Flamborough Head. After filling up on Brid’s best chips, we made our way there, making a slight detour to South Landing (picking up whimbrel and dunlin while there, plus another seal). At the Head the barred warbler wasn’t tricky to find, as a small group of birders had gathered. I must admit I wasn’t expecting good views, figuring it’d be skulking around the brambles, but it showed brilliantly at the top of the undergrowth. Also on show with it were whinchat and stonechat, and swallows, house martins, sand martins and even a late swift flew overhead, and a yellow wagtail flitted by.

(I’d love to take credit for the below photo of the barred warbler, but it’s one of Marcus Conway’s – check out his website for more cracking shots).

(c) Marcus Conway http://ebirder.net

After this it was another walk to Old Fall, but it was as dead as the day before, but while we were there a phonecall alerted us to an osprey heading south over the sea. We got on to it just in time before it turned and headed out to sea, disappearing into the distance. Brilliant stuff, and my second lifer of the afternoon!

Other birds around included an eider and some purple sandpipers. Graham used his superhuman eyes to spot two great skuas battling over the sea, and got most of us on to them. While the group disbanded at the end of the day, a few of us stopped to seawatch for a while, navigating the (seemingly to a wuss like me) perilous path to the cliffs, and picking up a party curlews, whimbrels and bar-tailed godwits, while a greenshank flew past closer to shore. An arctic skua was also spotted by James, and a mystery whale was briefly picked up by Keith. The cold clifftop air started to bite, and we said goodbye to another BirdForum Yorkshire meet - it was great to seeeome of the guys again, and to meet others for the first time.

SUNDAY…

Today I got up before breakfast, and a walk round the harbour turned up a few common gulls, a purple sandpiper, and two knot in the harbour, the latter being a year tick.

I decided to finish my time in Brid with a go on one of the one hour pleasure cruises on the Yorkshire Belle, hoping to spot the divers I missed on Saturday, but sadly it wasn’t to be. The boat stayed too close to the shore to get anything too interesting, but I did pick up a couple of guillemots, several gannets and fulmars, and a small flock of scoters.

And then home! A great weekend by the sea, with some cracking birds seen.