Myrtle Warbler Durham

Like many birders, the big surprise of the year for me was a report and photo from the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch of a Myrtle Warbler 'somewhere' in county Durham but not seen since. As usual reaction and speculation on Bird Forum ranged from hoax to suppression and few if any were aware of the behind the scenes work that local birders were undertaking to secure access. As it turned out, the site location was finally released late last weekend, enabling locals to get there and see the bird. Initially it was being seen in private gardens, appearing occasionally but once feeders were put out in a roadside hedge, the bird showed quite well, and being the 30th UK record and only the 4th on the mainland it attracted a lot of attention.
I knew some who went early in the week, but I had to wait until this weekend. The assumption was that we would travel up on Saturday, but the high winds all through Friday and into Saturday were rather off putting so we took the risk to delay until yesterday when the conditions would be much more settled. As it turned out it was a lovely sunny, and reasonably mild day. The journey up was rather fraught though, Colin overslept, there was  a bit of trouble finding fuel with an almost empty tank, and we were pulled over by plod near Scotch Corner doing 70 and received a mild lecture.
By the time we arrived, nearly an hour later than expected, one or two parking spots were still available and we made our way to the hedge, passing the occasional happy birder. The Myrtle Warbler showed briefly as I reached the small crowd and then vanished for a bit. it then popped up into a nearby tree where I got some decent images before dropping down into the thicket. From time to time it would feed on the partly hidden coconuts and fat balls-good job I took the scope as the bird filled the eyepiece at 60x, my best ever views of an American passerine.
A lot of the time it was very active, flycatching from a small tree behind the hedge, and it often called at this time, sometimes getting up into the bigger trees and then  dropping out of view for long periods. Getting images was rather frustrating as it was often obscured by small branches, it's inability to stay still and the difficulty in picking it up in the camera. Despite this I was happy with the results with the 300mm and 1.7x converter.

Ron Cousins was there, and he was planning on going for the Two Barred Crossbills in Derbyshire. The Black Grouse at Langdon Beck were not all that far away (I had completely forgotten about this and only realised after reading some blogs today) and we made the decision to return home via Middlesborough. A quick visit to North Gare was fruitless so we went to RSPB Saltholme for an hour or so. Not a bad place, though previous visits were before it actually opened so it was interesting to see how it was developing. Unfortunately there were few birds to see, with a distinct lack of waders and gulls. The Green Winged Teal was not seen (it was outside the reserve as we found out later) though two Red Breasted Mergansers on the fresh pools was novel. The feeders and hawthorns were full of small birds, and the best by far were the Tree Sparrows-something I missed last year.

The return home was thankfully uneventful.
There has been no sign of the Myrtle Warbler today.

More Peregrine Images

Kingfisher and Peregrine

Another wet and windy weekend. A lot of the local roads around the Beane at Walkern are under water, and some of the low lying Stevenage roads were closed yesterday. Took a gamble and went down to Amwell the usual way along the A602. A lot of surface water and debris at Hooks Cross as expected, and many of the roadside fields are very wet, but otherwise a pretty good journey.
Arrived the same time as Bill and we were joined by Phil as we approached the watch point. The water levels on the lake are higher than I have ever seen them, and the highest point of the island in front of White Hide is almost covered. Apparently it was far worse yesterday. With little to see here I went with Bill and sat in the James Hide for a while. Despite a couple of intense hail storms, the Kingfisher put in an appearance and showed quite well. One or two singing Cetti's Warblers did not show, but we did have a brief Water Rail cross h
the big cut in the reeds.
Bill left, and I eventually made my way down to Hollycross. The rivers have topped their banks and spread quite widely, and the dragonfly boardwalk is under water. The feeders were not all that exciting this time, and none of the more interesting birds showed, so with high winds and showers approaching I made my way back to the watchpoint where I met Barry.
We had a chat and noted that the Lapwings had been very jumpy all morning. Two other birders picked up a distant raptor which appeared to have a long tail, clean under parts, brown upper parts and an un barred tail so I assumed it was a Kestrel. A little while later what they suggested may have been the same bird appeared, put up the Lapwings and was quickly identified as a Peregrine which came close at one point. I got a few images, much better than my last attempt.
I decide not to stay any longer as the wind was getting very bad, but it was great to see two Red Kites fly over the main lake.

Bearded Tit Amwell

Another very wet week-the A602 Hertford road was closed this morning at Hooks Cross so I had to get to Amwell via the A1.
I arrived a bit later than usual and as i crossed the bridge, Bill called me over-the Bearded Tit which had eluded me all year was showing in front of the watch point. Unfortunately as soon as I got the camera up it was off. I saw it again shortly after and it popped up onto a reed head again and showed quite well, but the wind was causing camera focussing issues. Phil and Simon appeared and about half an hour after our sighting it was picked up distantly in the middle of the reed bed, luckily Simon had his scope so everyone present got to see it.
The water levels are incredibly high, the navigation only has to rise another foot and the towpath will flood, and apparently it already has at Stanstead St Margerets. The old river is very high and is at least four times wider than usual. This may have affected the birds present, with few ducks and gulls. In fact the only large gull was a single Lesser Black Back, there were no Wigeon and very few Goldeneye. Six Snipe was a reasonable number in view of the lack of mud. Up to eight Common Buzzards were seen, along with a single Sparrowhawk and Red Kite.
i went down to Hollycross bumping into Barry on the way-nothing much on his circuit of the area. The feeders were as active as ever, with lots of Chaffinch, Goldfinch, and single Great Spotted Woodpecker Marsh Tit and Coal Tit. A bright pink male Lesser Redpoll looked superb in the sun but was too far away for the camera, unlike one of the buzzards.

On the way back over the river, a large Long Tail Tit flock proved diverting. I mentioned to another birder that a Treecreeper was often with them, looked down and found it almost immediately. It never really showed well enough to get a good image.
The Siskin flock in the wood was worth  visiting as they were feeding at eye level and looked really nice with the sun on them.

I got back to the watchpoint to find all the familiar faces had departed and had a chat with a local about the flooding. During the conversation I heard some pings but could not locate the bearded Tit, but shortly after being joined by another photographer we located it at the base of the reeds in front of us. It was hard to see at times and after losing it for a bit I scanned the woods opposite picking up a distant raptor. Preoccupied by the Bearded Tit I failed to stay with it and only after it had gone realised it was a Peregrine.

I stuck around for a bit, being joined by Ron Cousins (who got the Tit a bit later) and left at 1230. I had intended to go back via the A1 again but met a couple of Stevenage guys who had come down via Aston and Watton so went home the usual way. As it turned out the A602 was open despite the information on the RAC app I had earlier checked.

Bank Vole

One day last week I was taking a break at work and decided to go out of the back of our building where there is a large line of Poplars and a steep bramble bank along the fence lines. I was joined by a colleague, Steve Myleham who proceeded to drop bits of apple over the fence. He explained that there were up to four 'mice'  that he was feeding. Got some images of one with the iPhone and the long tail and short ears suggested that they were Bank Voles.

I joined him today with the RX100 and though the light was poor managed to get a few images as one dashed out to grab the apple.

Siskins Robins and Earth Stars

No plans to go out this weekend, and horrible weather forecast for Sunday.
Had a day off yesterday and went down to Hatfield to do some shopping. On the way down I drove through Bramfield and Tewin, returning via Knebworth and Datchworth. Hoped to locate a flock of Golden Plover, or maybe a finch/bunting flock but apart from one field of corvids, the journey was largely bird free.
Today I paid the usual visit to Amwell. Rather misty and cool for some time, but it did improve a bit as the morning progressed. Lots of singing crests and tits as I walked up the lane, and there was a big flock of loud Siskins along the railway line, and some Long Tailed Tits feeding in the bushes.

Bill Barry and Tony were at the watchpoint. Simon arrived soon after and we talked about the Whitethroat he had found near the Meads yesterday-one of three winter records apparently. One Grey Wagtail flew over, followed by a Pied. Duck seem to be showing signs of Spring-the Goldeneye and Gadwall were displaying as were some of the Great Crested  Grebes.
Phil arrived and mentioned his discovery of Earth Stars in the woods. Everyone went off to see them and Phil and I went down to the new scrape to try and locate a Chiffchaff we had both heard, without success. I then carried on down to the James Hide, hoping again that the Bearded Tit might appear. Lots of Long Tail, Blue and Great Tits on the feeders, along with Reed Buntings, and two Cetti's warblers but no sign of the Bearded (Ron reported it from the watch point in the afternoon).
Carried on down to Hollycross meeting up with Barry and Bill again. One of three Redpoll was seen on the feeders along  with the regular Marsh Tit. When the sun came out it highlighted the catkins by the bridge.

I made my way back via the woods, encountering the large Siskin flock again. One of the males posed for me.

Also the very vocal Robins were posing all day-one in the woods and the other the watch point bird.

Bumped into Mick Cotton with his camera and mentioned that the Siskin flock was worth going for. As he left, I located the Earth Stars and got a few low angle close ups.

Parrot Crossbill Clip

Last weekends visit to Budby Forest was good as far as seeing and photographing the Parrot Crossbills went but the strong backlighting made my video attempts a disaster. One came out well, but the upload to Blogger ended up in a very poor, compressed state so I put it up here instead.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/101121278@N02/12106604983/