Temmincks Stint

  A Temmincks Stint was seen at Amwell on Monday evening and rather unusually it was still present today-Friday 14th. I had seen one here maybe twenty years ago so there was no urgency to go down in the extreme heat of the last few days. However with a lot of overnight rain it had cooled down and looked to be rather pleasant with maybe a shower or two.

After the morning shop I departed and got there just before 10am. It was nice, albeit cloudy in Stevenage, but there was light rain at Amwell. One other birder from Milton Keynes was there and put me on the Stint-feeding on the front edge of the main island. Fortunately I had brought the scope (I rarely take it to Amwell) so got pretty good views as the rain increased in intensity. Scans produced a few Teal, a Common Sandpiper, a few Snipe, and a few Herring and Lesser Black Backed gulls in various plumages. There was supposed to be a Caspian Gull and a Wigeon as well. One Swallow was about the only small bird attempting to fly in the conditions , and after around 30 minutes and now totally soaked decided to leave.

A Big Twitch

 Temptation eventually got the better of me and I arranged with Colin to go to Derbyshire to see the Bearded Vulture. I had held off for a long time because of the distance and the rather erratic nature of the bird. When it first appeared it roosted high in the Derwent Valley, requiring a long hike to see it prior to leaving the roost and then, if you were lucky you might get close views. Otherwise it was a case of staking out a suitable vantage point and hoping it might appear. Earlier in the month it disappeared for a while, but eventually was rebound roosting to the north of Derwent around Crowden and Woodhead reservoirs.    

The views on the Saturday sounded particularly good and it was seen on and off all day in the sunshine, so we departed at 0330 and arrived at the Woodhead dam around 0645. Unfortunately the last stretch of the journey was in poor visibility, and gusting winds-not quite what we were expecting  from the forecast. Part of the problem I think was that the reservoir was fairly high up in the Pennines, and the valley ran east-west acting as a funnel for the easterly wind. I didn't plan on this and only at the last minute did I decide to take a fleece, but I had forgotten my hat.

There were a few other cars parked up, most had come for the Vulture which was last seen on the rocks south of the dam. Unfortunately no rocks were visible for a long time, and there were few birds around while we waited. One or two singing Willow Warblers, a couple of Swallows over the water and a family of Chaffinch. By mid morning I was rather damp and cold, but at least coffee was only a few yards away. Some of the guys decided to head over to the valley in Crowden particularly as it seemed to be a bit warmer and brighter there, and we swapped phone numbers just in case. Eventually the mist/cloud started to disperse and visibility improved sufficiently to scan the hillside. Overnight campers pointed out the crag where the Vulture had perched the previous evening, but it was became clear that the bird wasn't present. There was no news from Crowden either. A couple of Buzzards and a Kestrel were the only raptors around, and there were also several parties of Swift going through.

Around 1pm news reached us that it was on Dowstone rocks about a mile eastwards, and a fast walk got us there (where rather annoyingly it was a lot warmer and brighter). It appeared to be sitting on the rock, shuffling around now and again with some wing stretching and preening. Being around half a mile distant, scope views were adequate, but the slight haze still present caused issues with photography, which in this case meant shooting through the scope with and adaptor and the Z7.

This needed a lot of work and turned out to be the best of the bunch. Facing away, the dar head above contrasts with the back feathers, and below the wings are stretched slightly.

 

 

We eventually departed around 2pm, rather later than anticipated and the planned extra sites we were hoping to go to basically went out of the window. What I hadn't anticipated was the vast number of visitors to the area. Every car park, lay-by and verge seemed to be full up and it was clear it wouldn't be possible to avoid crowds even assuming we could actually get anywhere.

We came home via Strines moor an area we have visited many times in the past. A stop off at one usual spot failed to produce Red Grouse, Whinchat or Wheatear, the other usual stops were full of cars, and a quick exploration of part of Bradfield Dale was rather quiet, though the bridleway leading up to a farm produced a few Dark Green Fritillaries. Looks like it could be a good Dipper site and there was also potential for Pied Flycatchers and Redstarts as well. 

Hello Colin

 My last trip major trip was back in February with the Grimsby Black Throated Thrush. Over five months ago. Since then with lockdown, isolation etc, I haven't actually ventured outside Hertfordshire, and there have only been a few short drives away from Stevenage. Obviously as a result, I have missed a great deal of the things that I would normally expect to see over the course of spring and summer, but on the other hand staying local has been interesting and I have had a great time. However I knew at some point that I would need to get out and about a bit more, while still considering health risks, so I gave Colin the heads up last week and we decided on a fairly Sunday short trip, both being well out of practice at this sort of thing.

 Our main site was RSPB Otmoor, which we tend to visit in late August. Despite its attractions its never really busy so I was happy to spend a few hours here. For the first time, I took the new Nikon Z7 out, along with the 300mm F2.8 lens and 1.7 converter to get an idea of how it would handle. Unfortunately I had put my back out the day before and was unsure of the weight issue but it turned out ok in the end. Its been over two years since I had used the lens, having stuck with the micro four thirds GX8 and 100-400mm lens (sometimes with the manual 500mm Nikkor), and was well pleased with the way it worked on the Z7. A lot of people have criticised the Z7 as being a poor choice for wildlife and action photography preferring the autofocus of the D850 or D5 but it seems to work for me.

 Anyway the initial section of Otmoor is the summer meadow trail which is always full of insects and flowers and we spent some time here trying to get shots of some of them. the iNaturalist app on my phone added a few new plant species to my meagre life list as well.

 Further on we discovered that there was a feeding site for the Turtle Doves in the cattle fields. despite hanging around for a bit all we had were Linnets.

 Our intention was to go up to the northern lagoons and we reached the crossroads gate and had a chat with another visitor. I was scanning the woods to the north seeing several Buzzards and a much larger paler bird with them-and Osprey! At the same moment the other chap yelled that there were Cranes flying to our west-we could certainly hear them. After a bit of headless chicken syndrome Colin and I ran back and picked up one flying over the southern marsh, but the other doubled back and dropped down into one of the cattle fields joining another one. One showed quite well but was always distant. I  never found the Osprey again though.

 The lagoons were a bit disappointing with highish water levels and apart from Lapwings the only wader present was a Little Ringed Plover, so we reluctantly returned hoping to get Brown Hairstreak in the usual spot.

 We were held up for some time when some loud purring alerted us to two Turtle Doves. They tended to stay well in a tree, flying out on a couple of occasions to another and then returning.

 The Brown hairstreaks didn't play ball. We met a couple of guys that had one sitting on a flower patch for around 15 minutes but although we had a couple of flybys none lingered, and neither did the Purple Hairstreak that dropped down briefly.

 After lunch we headed down to the BBONT reserve at Warburg. It seems to have become rather popular with dog walkers, picnickers etc but we managed to avoid most of them. The beech slopes were quiet fortunately allowing us to spend some time checking the helleborine cages. There were some Broad Leaved on the track up, in full flower but most of the cages only had small plants, a couple well past their best and a few with flower spikes. I took close ups of all of them in the hope of identifying them at home, and as it turned out all appeared to be Broad Leaved. There were no Narrow Lipped at all, and the one flower that looked good for Violet had green stems and may have been a hybrid. 

 There were no orchids in the meadows, and few birds apart from the expected Marsh Tits. Butterflies were also thin on the ground, with only one Silver Washed Fritillary, a couple of Brimstones, some whites blues and browns and a couple of Large Skippers  (Small and Essex have been thin on the ground this year).

 

All in all a fairly good test of the camera and big lens combo, and a pleasant day out with Colin again.