BTO Bird Camp 2019

This was the event I've been waiting for - and from what I'd heard, it was going to be one of the highlights of the year. The BTO runs an annual camp for young birders, based at the BTO headquarters at the Nunnery, Thetford. This was the first time I had been and it definitely won't be the last time I go.

I was driven up on Friday afternoon but, due to heavy traffic, I arrived quite late, while most had already arrived. I chose my tent and unloaded my stuff. In this tent was Michael Sinclair, Calum Mckellar, Wilum Johnston, Rowan Wakefield, Kabir Kaul and Sam Newcombe. We went off to eat pizza, then went inside for the introduction speech, but not before I heard a Treecreeper singing from the woodland.

After the introduction, we took part in a workshop and heard a speech by Faye Vogely about careers in conservation. We picked a job that we might want to do in the future and wrote down what steps we would need to take to get there. Nick Moran gave a speech and we were introduced to one of the volunteers, Ben Porter.

Cuckoo

We then returned to our tents, supposedly to sleep, but after 5 hours of talking, this never happened, which was fine until the next day, when I fell asleep multiple times.

In the morning, we got out of the tent early to search the ground for birds, where there were Singing Sedge and Reed warblers, as well as many other species.

It wasn't long before we checked the moth trap, with some amazing species in it such as Small Elephant Hawk-Moth, Lime Hawk-moth, White Point and many Treble Lines. I thought the moth trap was great and it has encouraged me to construct my own and see what turns up in my garden.

Small Elephant Hawkmoth 

Lime Hawkmoth

Next, we headed to Lakenheath, where we were joined by volunteers, including David Walsh and Chris Mills. We were split into groups and looked for wildlife around the reserve. It wasn't long before we had seen Scarce Chaser dragonfly and many bird species including Marsh Harrier.

Scarce Chaser

We walked along the various paths and found a Garden Warbler and a Variable Damselfly. We entered the hide, where there was, apparently, a Bittern showing well, but it had escaped in to the reeds, unseen by our group. A Hobby that flew past was a good species to see, though.

Azure Damselfly 

After this, we were given a talk by Dave Rogers about the reserve.

We then went off to do some woodland birding, first stopping off to see Stone Curlews at Weeting Heath, then going to a nearby forest ride, where we saw Tree Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Firecrest, and a Dingy Skipper butterfly.

We headed back to camp briefly to eat, and hear a talk about Nightjars before we went out to see them. Unfortunately, being awake for over 24 hours was finally starting to catch up with me, so I fell asleep during the whole talk, only waking up when everyone was getting on the bus to head to the Nightjar site!

Nightjar

After this though, I was fine, and ready look for the birds. At first, we were seeing Woodlarks and Tree Pipits, then Cuckoos flying over constantly. We attempted to get the Cuckoos into the nets for ringing, but they kept flying very near, and not into, the nets.

It wasn't long before Nightjars were churring and Woodcocks were roding. The Nightjars gave good views as they floated around and, very soon, a male was caught in the net. It was brought up to us and we were given the chance to study these amazing birds up close. Another one was caught, this time a female, not as colourful, but still very interesting - this event was probably the birding highlight of the weekend.
That night I was so tired, I actually got some sleep, so was better prepared for the next day.

In the morning, we were transported to the Nunnery Reserve, where we saw Hares and a Stone Curlew on the drive up, as well as a couple of Eurasian Curlews and many Cuckoos. The first stop was at the CES (Constant Effort Site) bird ringing station, where we saw Blue Tit, Reed Warbler, Chiffchaff and a Blackbird ringed.

Reed Warbler

We moved on to bird-territory mapping, where there were many species including Willow Warbler, Garden Warbler and better views of Stone Curlew. Lastly, we looked for bird nests, with a Blackcap's nest found, and many abandoned Woodpigeon nests.

Stone Curlew

Back at camp, we went through the previous night's moth trap, which had a Brimstone Moth, Turnip and Figure of Eighty. 

We packed our stuff up and went inside for a summary of the camp and speeches from some of the young birders. The final bird of the trip was a Swift that had flown in to the building, which was picked up and set free by the volunteers, after it was shown to the crowd of participants and their families.

White Ermine

Figure of eighty

Overall, this camp was a great experience to see wildlife and meet new people, as I have met few wildlife enthusiasts near my age. I will, hopefully, be applying to come back next year, and meet up with people from the camp again at other events, including the Birdfair later in the year. The 'bird camping' isn't over yet though, as I have another one next weekend in the New Forest, which I hope will be equally as good!

Thank you to the many volunteers who helped organise and run the camp, the Cameron Bespolka Trust for supporting it and the BTO for creating it! One of the best parts of the camp was meeting and talking to all the young birders - some who I will probably meet again.

WAXWINGS and Other Local Birds

With the news of Waxwings at Wimbledon in early March, I decided it was finally time to track down this species which I have wanted to see for a long time. The next day was a Saturday, so I travelled down to Wimbledon on the train early in the morning, and arrived at the location where they had been seen.

However, it was immediately evident that I had messed up - after an unsuccessful search for them, I checked Twitter again to see that the only time they were coming to this park was to roost, but spent the day in some other unknown location.

I twitched a Med Gull at my patch, Stocker's Lake - an unusual bird for the lake, usually with just a single record a year

I searched the surrounding area hopelessly, with no success in finding the Waxwings, and had to give up. But there were some interesting species in the park, including Redwings carpeting the floor, including some singing ones, and a few Mistle Thrushes. 

I decided the best thing to do was to go birding somewhere local and return in the late afternoon, so I went to London Wetland Centre, where there is always a chance of something good. I made straight for the Peacock Tower hide, the best one for viewing a wide range of habitats. 

I couldn't find much except a Snipe over a long period of time, so I went to check the Gulls from the hides on the other side of the reserve. There were, however, a couple of problems. Firstly, many of the Gulls were sitting on distant islands and rafts, and I didn't have a scope with me, so judging any plumage details was difficult.

Secondly, and worst of all, my camera was out of charge, so I knew that if I did return to the Waxwings later, I would have to stick with views (usually, I prefer watching birds over photographing them, but its always good to get at least record shots of interesting species).

I did have some luck in the hide, with a Snipe coming right up to the window, and I found a Yellow-Legged Gull on one of the tern rafts, thanks to one of the volunteers letting me borrow their scope to scan briefly. 

YLG taken through a volunteer's scope

It was a good, distinctive bird, clearly bigger and chunkier than herring gulls, with clean plumage, but I can't say everyone else in the hide shared my excitement with this big brown immature gull.

By the time I was finished here, it was the evening, and I decided to head back to Wimbledon to try again with the Waxwings. I met up with Kabir and Arjun at the site, and there were lots other birders, although most of them were trying hard not to make themselves visible. 

I was talking to Arjun and Kabir when a high pitched, piercing sound made everyone turn their heads at once, and walk over to the source. It was clearly a Waxwing call, and it wasn't long before we saw the birds fly in and land at the top of a bare tree. 

For the next half hour we enjoyed reasonable views of the birds, at the top of one of the trees. Although the light wasn't great, once would occasionally shift position and sit against the tree, giving great views of the plumage.

 I, annoyingly, couldn't take any photos with my camera, but tried for a couple of phone record shorts through my binoculars. Honestly, with the end results, I don't know if they're good enough to be classed as record shots. 

Artistic Waxwing shot

Both Arjun and Kabir got much better photos than me, even though the conditions for photography were challenging. This was my second lifer of the year - new birds are becoming harder to find now. 

Other local birding was done in the period leading up to the Easter holidays, including a few visits to Maple Lodge, producing Snipe, Water Rail, Green Sandpiper and Oystercatcher, and a visit to Stocker's Lake to successfully twitch the Mediterranean Gull. 

Water Rail

Lastly, I visited Burnham Beeches, where I was unsuccessful in finding any Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, but did manage two flyover Lesser Redpoll, two Bramblings, Siskins, Mandarin Ducks, Nuthatches, a Treecreeper and a couple of Woodcock.

Snipe

Oystercatcher

The Brecks In February

After staying local for most of the February holidays, I decided to head further to see some Norfolk specialities in the Brecks. I spent the weekend around Thetford in Norfolk, and had a day guided by Carl Chapman again, who I had been guided by several times before.

I met him early on the Saturday, and we travelled to the first site of many for the day. The first birds included Goldcrest, a singing Mistle Thrush and a large finch/bunting flock which included Linnet, Yellowhammer and dozens of Bramblings, which were calling constantly.

However, the fog was too thick to look for any Goshawks, so we went to the next site. Birds here included Goldcrest, Coal Tit and Yellowhammer. The best bird though was the Woodlark, which was song-flighting and gave great views, showing off ID features such as the short tail.

Brambling

After getting good views of Woodlark, we looked for more birds around the area, including Green Woodpecker.

We went back to the original site to look for Goshawks, as the fog had almost cleared, and viewing conditions were good enough. We arrived at a site full of people, and set up the scopes. Very soon, I noticed a raptor flying over the distant pines, and was sure it was a Goshawk.

I got Carl on to the bird, and he confirmed it was a Goshawk, while putting everyone else on to the bird. Only the second I've seen in Britain, with both at this site.

The goshawk was in view for a while, and a second appeared, drifting closer until it was almost right above us, giving amazing views.

We headed to the next site at Santon Downham, where we were unsuccessful in the search for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. However, there were loads of other good birds seen, including Brambling and Siskin on the nearby feeders. The other highlight here was a couple of Otters, which came within a metre of us and showed very well, undisturbed by the many admirers.

The Otters showed well...

The final site of the day was at Lynford Arboretum, where we searched for the regular flock of Hawfinch. We found them feeding on the floor below a large tree, with a few males giving good views out in the open. I watched these for a while, until they flew in the tree, then seemed to somehow disappear, without anyone seeing them go.

There were loads of other good birds seen here, including male Crossbills giving prolonged views, a fearless Water Rail that came very close, and dozens of Marsh Tits, singing and showing well.

The highlight, however, was probably the Firecrests, tracked down from their high-pitched song. One individual showed well, coming out of the dense trees to give unobscured views on open branches.

We finished the day waiting for a murmuration of Starlings, but it must have been the wrong conditions, as the only Starlings I saw were in small groups. It had been a successful day, and I started to work out what to do the next day.

Amazing picture of a couple of Woodlarks

I started the Sunday off at Santon Downham again, where I tried for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker for the second time. After some waiting, I heard its hawk-like call from nearby in the woodland, and I began scanning the trees for it.

Eventually, I noticed it at the top of a nearby Alder, and tried to put everyone else nearby on the bird, although my directions were pretty confusing.

Another bird joined it, and they began chasing each other around the woodland, calling constantly, until they flew over the other side of the river, and deep in to the woods. While I was walking back along the path, I heard one of them drumming, before they fell silent.

Other birds seen here were another obliging water Rail, a Marsh Tit, Bramblings and many Siskins.

This Water Rail showed well

The decision for the final site of the day was hard, as I didn't have long left. At first I considered Burrel Way - the gull site in Thetford - but decided that, while in the Brecks, there were better things to do than stare at gulls, so I tried a new site to look for Willow Tit instead.

I found the feeder that had been set up for them when I arrived, and stood a few metres back to set up the scope, while birds were still coming to the food. Birds on the feeder included Blue, Great, Coal and Marsh Tit, but no Willow Tits.

I met a group of birders who said one had been heard singing further down the path earlier in the day, but I had just a few minutes before I had to catch a train back to London. So I had to abandon the Willow Tit search (though probably not for the last time) and head back to London.

Cliffe Pools and Some Local Stuff

During the week-long holiday in February, there isn't always masses to do except looking for local stuff around the Colne Valley, which is what I did for most of it. However, I always try to organise more long-distance trips over holidays, so, on the Wednesday, I decided to head to Cliffe Pools in Kent, hoping for waders and, importantly, the many grebe species they had recently had.

I got up early to begin the train journey to Cliffe, not too bad, but still too long to do regularly. I arrived at a a place which was different from what I expected, and began to scan the first pool. There was a Little Grebe, many Mediterranean Gulls, and some waders such as Redshank, Lapwing and Golden Plover.

The pools had the same range of species on them, but one had a pair of Goldeneye, and someone told me they had a Spoonbill on one, before it had been scared off by a raptor.

I spent the next couple of hours wandering around random paths, trying to find the Alpha Pool, with no luck, seeing nothing but a Marsh Harrier, and constantly thinking I'd found the right path until I realised it was a construction site, or an overgrown path that led nowhere. However, I eventually found the correct path and reached the Alpha Pool, where there were dozens of Teal on the Thames, and a couple dozen Grebes on the pool.

Red-Necked Grebe

Most were Little Grebes, with a few Great Crested Grebes mixed in. I scanned but could find nothing else, until I noticed a Grebe closer than the rest, which was immediately recognisable as a Red-Necked Grebe - my first lifer of 2019. It showed well - better than most of the other Grebes, but was unfortunately swimming away.

I scanned for more birds, and found the flock of four Black-Necked Grebes, more distant than the Red-Necked Grebe, and not the best view I have ever had. But these were amazing views compared to what I had of the Slavonian, right at the other end of the pool, which was so far away that it was barely visible in the scope.

For many of the other days of the holiday, I stayed local, visiting Stocker's Lake to look for Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, but had no success. However, there were Treecreepers, Siskins and displaying Goldeneye.

 I also visited Broadwater with Kabir while he was doing the his WeBS survey, where we saw many species of wildfowl, including Goldeneye, and some other birds such as large flocks of Siskins.

Treecreeper

However, the best bird of the holiday was probably in Wendover Woods, where I had planned to spend all day looking for Crossbills. I thought it would take all day to find them, so I didn't expect to hear them calling from the car park when I opened the car door - before I had even got out!

I took the scope out and managed to find an adult male Crossbill on top of a pine tree, and had good views in great light (for once). Meanwhile, one was singing from deeper in the woods, and they were constantly calling.

Since I had seen my target so early, I decided to visit College Lake briefly, mostly to see what it was like. It looks like a good reserve, but is far from local, so I'll only visit occasionally. On this visit I managed to see my first inland Oystercatcher of the year.

Short Summary of EXTREMADURA

I recently birded Extremadura with Heatherlea, a bird-filled region in Spain, with countless new species, and good views of many of the commoner species. Even the hotel grounds had lifers for me, and the most colourful birds were often the most common. This is just a short summary about a trip I could write a lot more about but, over a month after I went, I've fallen behind on blog writing. 

One highlight included the variety of raptors, including mating Spanish Imperial Eagles, hunting Short-Toed Eagle and abundant Booted Eagles. I also had more distant views of Bonelli's and Golden Eagles, but ID features were seen well on both species. 

There were also smaller raptors, such as the Lesser Kestrels nesting in towns, and a distant Black-Shouldered Kite flying high in the sky. Griffon Vultures were common, with Black seen most days and Egyptian seen a couple of times. Other species included many Black and Red Kites, Buzzard, Osprey, Peregrine and Common Kestrel.

Another highlight was the huge variety of warblers, including many new species, such as Spectacled, Subalpine, Sardinian and Western Bonelli's. It was, however, the Western Orphean Warbler that was the highlight of the warblers, and probably the birds, of the trip. A shy warbler that showed well for a brief period and singing constantly. 

Other warblers included Dartford and the more common species. 

Birds were everywhere, including by the roadsides, so we were constantly stopping the bus to watch Roller, Bee-Eater, Iberian Grey Shrike, Zitting Cisticola and Woodchat Shrike.

Birds of the Plains included many displaying Great Bustards, a displaying male Little Bustard, Black-Bellied Sandgrouse in flight, and some more familiar species such as Little Owl. 

Larks were numerous, with Short-Toed, Calandra, Crested, Thekla's and Woodlark. Some days we entered different habitats - the marshes and pools held Black-Winged Stilts, Purple Swamphens, Little Bitterns, Gull-Billed Tern and Penduline Tit. 

We drove up to high altitudes one of the days for some specialist species - this is where I saw the Western Bonelli's Warbler, and other species such as Golden Oriole, Iberian Green Woodpecker and Short-Toed Treecreeper. 

With all these specialities, there were many common birds, with Corn Buntings and Crested Larks everywhere, and Red-Rumped Swallow, Crag martin, Alpine Swift and Pallid Swift were seen over bridges and towns. 

Other species included Blue Rock Thrush, Nightingale, Black Redstart, Spanish Sparrows, Cirl Bunting, Common Waxbill, Red Avadavat, Rock Sparrow, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Purple Heron, Cattle Egret, Montagu's Harrier and Quail.

It was a great place, and a new area for me. Birds were everywhere, including beside motorways and near the hotel. I would definitely come back here, even though I saw most of the targets, as the chorus of Corn Buntings remind me of what Britain could have been like with the correct habitat. Thanks to the excellent, skilled guides at Heatherlea, who found the amazing birds and were friendly and helpful.

Booted Eagle

Bee-Eater

Blue Rock Thrush

Hoopoe 

Crag Martin

Black Vulture

Lesser Kestrel

Red Avadavat 

Western Bonelli's Warbler 

Short-Toed Lark

Thekla's Lark