Always be prepared to have your mind blown

As a 'patch birder' I can say I have found some pretty amazing birds over the years, some of the best from 2000, I'll dwell on those another time.

I have fallen to the wayside on keeping my blog updated, I think it was trying to juggle a YouTube channel and not having a clear picture of whether I wanted to do videos or shorts, the latter seemed to bring more views. But I've done neither for many months, mostly as my digi adapter broke and I am about to have it fixed.

Anyway I digress, the reason for the out of the blue post, is because while out this morning, another rarity event occurred - this time in the form of a Marsh Tit. 

Many in other parts of the country are blessed with Marsh Tits, we on the other hand are not ad as far as I am concerned there has been few if any reliable reports since 1984. I chased one back then and instead saw Willow Tit, which has become even rare in our County and likely to go extinct very soon.

Most mornings, I arrive near 05:30 and my 'routine' is to check the exposed mud on Sandford, hoping for a wader - in this case I was nearly an hour late and did of course check for Black-tailed Godwit - no sign and it's fair to say my hopes are dwindling now as the Islandica form have mostly gone through by now. It was here I felt compelled to change my routine, instead of turning back to do my usual route, I decided I'd check the other mud spit at the South end just 100m away, I approached very slowly to avoid flushing what might be there.

I paused and peered around the Balsam - 1 Green & 1 Common Sandpiper, I could hear a tit flock right by me and a Treecreeper began calling and suddenly a bird dropped onto the path 8 feet away, with naked eyes I could see it was brown and grey and didn't even need my bins for my brain to shout "is that a Marsh Tit, it can't be, they're extinct around here". Lifting my bins I was in no doubt in one second, it flicked up just a couple of feet and I stayed on it, with my mind blown.

I put out the news on our WhatsApp group - nobody responded.

It flitted around with 10 to 20 feet for 6-7 minutes and I called my good friend Trevor, he is accustomed to my early calls and knows that if I call early it's usually something good and he was as blown away as me.

My reckoning is that as hard as it might be to find again, it almost certainly will stick with this flock, at least for a day or so.

It was April 19th 1984 I hoped to see Marsh Tit, but got Willow Tit, as the years have gone by, I have resigned myself to believing I'll never see one on my beloved patch - Moral of the story "Always be prepared to have your mind blown"

It's that annual moment happening all over again

Starting the new patch birding year seems to instigate a desire to write something in my old blog, but the issue for 2 years plus has been time and the desire to keep posting.

I'll see how I feel, but for now I just wanted to share some sunrise pictures from 20th January, as I haven't seemed to be able to capture too many lovely ones in recent years.

Here's to hoping we see more birds and more species than we did in 2023.

Where has the time gone

 Yes, it's obvious that running a blog and a YouTube channel have seemed beyond me, but for me the events of January 2022, warrant a special mention. Is there any point carrying on the blog if I don't do regular updates? Maybe not, but here are my thoughts anyway.

January 1st was outstanding, helped along by the long staying Great White Egret, male Goosander and wintering Stonechats. My total for the day was an unprecedented 79, only missing Little Grebe, Rook and Woodcock. Other tricky to get birds on any January day, were Chiffchaff, Mandarin, Raven, Siskin, Mistle Thrush, Meadow Pipit, Kingfisher, Peregrine and Fieldfare, but rarer than these were Kestrel, Skylark and rarer still Blackcap, but the rarest of all and a massive surprise was a flock of 40-50 Brent Geese that I barely got on, arriving from the NW over the landfill and dropping - I could even hear their barking calls as they crossed ESE, but due to an epic failure on my part I never got them in my scope, immediately losing sight of them behind the trees beyond Tern scrape, but then failing again as they turned back, looked tempted to drop, but went on ENE and out of sight.

 

I will mention the Stonechats again as them wintering at all is still a rare, but I am happy to say increasing trend. A female was around the car park field Jan to Feb 2002, but nothing more until up to 3 birds from Sept 1st to Nov 5th 2014, then a repeat 1/15th Sept 2015 onwards till 2/30th Oct, similar 2016, but 2017 they arrived Sept 19th and stayed all the way through to March 4th. Skipped 2018, but passage till July 21st, then from Sept 10th 2019, minimum 3 birds, but a new high count of 5/4th Oct, 1-3 all they way through to March 6th 2020.

Sept 2020 records began 8th, with 5, then another new record count of 7/27th, although that was the last for the year. Feb 21st to 25th 2021 a pair came and went, then Sept 3/23rd onwards, 5/27th, 7/28th and at times were with multiple Whinchats.

My belief is that the landfill has gradually become more appealing to chats in general, our putting our Eastern boundary fence, has acted as I had hope as nothing short of a perfect perching point - the Meadow Pipits like it too, as do many species. My question as the possibility of the sheep farming coming to and end in 2-3 years, is will they continue after we lose the sheep?

So back to January 2022 - Grey Wagtail, our first Yellow-legged Gull in 4 years, 2 Med Gulls on 2nd, then Woodcock finally for me 5th, Shelduck, Rook and Coal Tit by 9th, meant 86 species, only lacking Little Grebe compared to the park list.

 

1st winter Med                                                                In with the Common & BH Gulls                   

But then another major surprise - 18 White-fronted Geese on the landfill 13th. No records since Dec 2002, making a very rare sight here. On top of this they were super confiding, allowing views down to 70m and as I write this, they are still here 17 days later...amazing.

  Out near Lines Road

Still not done, I caught up with Little Grebe 13th, Barn Owl 13th, Lesser Redpoll 22nd, then another rarity - the first Caspian Gull since 2017 and we have to go back to 2005 for the record before that. 

January Green Sandpipers are another new rising trend, all due to Lea Farm Lake and one dropped in 25th, perfect timing for me as I was visiting the Tuesday work party team. I followed up and heard a Brambling and did the same with Linnet, catching sight of one this morning 30th and heard another.

94 Species is unheard of, the previous high count was 90, sure quite recently in 2016, and 88 in 2019, 87 in 2011 and 2021, all point to an improving species diversity.

All of this has been achieved without Great Black-backed Gull, Golden Plover, Jack Snipe and some of our other recent winter goodies like Firecrest, Pintail, Red Crested Pochard, Ferruginous Duck (if we can prove they are not reintroduction stock), Kittiwake, Curlew & Dunlin - both of which one can say rely on proper frozen conditions.

I am fully optimistic we will see Oystercatcher in the next 2 weeks, Redshank by end March, but even though we haven't had an April Red-legged Partridge since 2017, they are almost regular, so it's overdue. 

March has so much potential to impress, past ones have produced Brent Geese, Avocet, Common Scoter, Spotted Redshank and Water and Rock Pipits back in them good old early 80's.

I want 2022 to be 'The Red Year'

February - Red Throated Diver to balance things up on the Feb 22nd 1987 bird I missed

April - Red-rumped Swallow a county and park first if we can get lucky

May - Red-necked Phalarope because we deserve one

June - Red-footed Falcon because I am bitter I didn't even hear about the 1992 bird and I am sick I didn't get better views of the Oct 6th 2012 bird I am convinced was one

I encourage everyone to get out at dawn - the sunrises can be lovely

2020 done, come on 2021

Despite my best efforts, I could not add the 2 that I needed to hit my baseline of 130 in 2020, it all ended 18th October with Ring Ouzel, our first ever autumn bird.

The highlights Goosander, 3 records of Med Gull for me, having missed them in 2019, Golden Plover, Great White Egret Sandwich Tern, Black Tern, a pair of Cattle Egret over twice in April, Hawfinch, Wood Sandpiper, Red-legged Partridge, early morning Greenshanks, multiple Ringed Plover, Redstart, multiple Whinchat, more than doubled our record count of Stonechat - 7, Tree Pipit, Pintail, Merlin, a very late Whimbrel, Linnet, Lesser Redpoll and Brambling passage in Oct, but of course the top birds were the Cattle Egret on Sandford, 1 then 3 Great White Egret over Sandford and top slot and the first in Berkshire since 1987 - Black-crowned Night Heron from the 8th.

I always say "how can we top this year" and 2020 is a classic example, how can it be topped? For me it's not about topping because as we all know we have no control over birds and never have, so we can do is stay the course of a year, keep 'patching' as often as you can, especially during passage.

Jan 1st I was out as usual before 07:00 to try and get the night birds under the belt, which did kind of work, Water Rail, Cetti's calling early, then the first bonus a Peregrine chasing Redwing as they came of their roost, In the space of the next few moments a Mandarin called and I am 90% sure a Golden Plover also called. I bombed out on Woodcock, so attempted Barn Owl, which was also a no show.

The damp cold got the better of me, but I managed another 45 minutes picking up 2 Raven over the landfill, before looping back to my car for a warm up at home. This extended till 12:40, when I took a walk along the Loddon and got lucky with Snipe, Meadow Pipit, Grey Wagtail, Chiffchaff and best of all 4 Siskin, which I haven't seen on the deck all autumn.

I then looped around Lavell's, the old Gold Course - Collared Dover and DP centre, where I failed to see House Sparrow, on to BSL where a Goldeneye had been seen earlier and arriving at WSL for 15:05 as planned.

It only took barely 10 minutes before our star bird - Bittern showed and rather well too, with a little fly and fumbling around in the reeds. Onto Sandford for a Little Egret, then a lucky pair of Rook over East, onto Lavell's where an even luckier Kestrel was perched up high above Sandford Lane, then the final stop at Bittern for Little Grebe, Sparrowhawk, Barn Owl and Woodcock. No Sparrowhawk, of Barn Owl and I missed the grebes chatting outside, but Marek and I stood in the 'right place' to see the Woodcock fly right over our heads about 12 feet up at 16:44.

I finished on 67, not bad at all on a quiet day, picking up really good tricky to find birds on Jan 1st, making it easy to pick up the missing Little Grebe, Buzzard, Bullfinch, Feral Pigeon, Sparrowhawk, Song Thrush, House Sparrow, Kingfisher Lesser Black-backed Gull, Skylark and Coal Tit. 

Over the coming 6-7 weeks in the key time for Goosander, Med Gull, Golden Plover and has in the past produced many wildcard wildfowl, waders, raptors, crests and finches.

October right on track

 I've been waiting for a still morning to coincide with my availability and when I got to Ron's around 07:00 this morning, I saw 2 flocks of small finches at the far end of the landfill heading South, I packed up and left after barely any time and I'm glad I did.

Almost upon arrival at the bottom of the car park field a flock of 17 Linnet headed down the middle of the landfill South, easy to pick out their colours in the morning light - a much awaited year tick. I concluded that the flocks I'd seen from Ron's were most likely the same species. 

Every few minutes I could hear Chaffinch and started picking up small groups of 3 to 9 heading WNW, after 2 hours I'd seen at least 60-70 birds, checking for Brambling whenever I got close enough views. 1 then another lone Swallow went South, 5 Reed Bunting, 4 Skylarks, then 2 'smalls job' landed on the wires next to a Meadow Pipit, I scoped and was rather happy to see Redpolls, quite pale ones as it happens, but in my haste to get video footage they dropped below before I could either record, or convince myself of them being Mealy candidates, so I'm hedging on Lesser Redpoll for my year list.

I picked up 4 Redwing coming South above the trees beyond Lodge Wood, a few Meadow Pipit dotted around, then headed for BSL, where I picked up an adult Common Gull, it seems the first of the autumn, all in all, 2 year ticks in one October day is a pretty good show, when on average I get three in the whole of October, putting me on 126 for 2020.

If I can pick up a Brambling any day and against the odds a Jack Snipe graces our shores and we get a late Garganey, I am nearly on that minimum 130 target.

It's getting tough

 I can't complain, I've not missed anything tragic, but if one was to look at each species as an equal 1 point, then missing the only Black-tailed Godwit of the year (so far) on July 10th wasn't useful.

We've had 3 Black-tailed Godwit reports after September and I can only authenticate two;

3rd Dec 1988 : Tern scrape (S Mills)

16th Sept to 21st Oct 2001 : Lea Farm fields & Tern scrape (Many Observers - MO)

9th to 12th Nov 2002 : Tern scrape, only moving off due to flooding

16th Oct 2011 : "30-40 birds overhead and on shingle island" (PH) but nobody ever came forward to identify who PH was, so the record cannot be validated

So it's not all over there yet.

Spotted Flycatcher : My first miss since 2009, which stings a bit

Wood Warbler : Okay I lied, we all missed one good bird, but as it was only seen by a non local whom I had doubts about when he told me, I didn't know about it until the day after and never even checked.

It's still not too late for Osprey and Marsh Harrier, but the bulk of records are before now, so I'm not confident getting either.

Garganey : We seem to skip a year in 3 to 5 year skips, loads of time for one yet, in the last 20 years we've had 5 October birds and 2 Novembers.

Red Crested Pochard : Doubtful, 2 December records in 10 years, but stay hopeful right!?

Scaup : Wild card, easily possible

Wild Geese : Brent is possible of course

Wild swans : Both occurred 2013 and 2014, why not again?

Ruff : 2 October records, I'm pulling a face, but our chances have to be better with the new marsh

Sandwich Tern : I've had one late record!

Jack Snipe I'll be stunned if we don't get one, but with the East shore massively changed, it might take a bit of luck..we'll see what unfolds

Lesser Redpoll : I'm trying to get a passage bird each day this week

Linnet : October is the best month for passage birds

Firecrest : A keen eye and some luck

Brambling : From mid this month onwards passage again might produce

And let's not dismiss any bonus birds, I remain up for Spoonbill, Green-winged Teal, American Wigeon, Shag, Great Northern Diver and our first ever Ring-necked Duck...that would be quite an end to a good year...birding wise!

Is 130 or above still possible?

I have hit 130 or above for the last 10 years, if I can do it this year somehow 11 consecutive years sounds even better to me. The question is with such a slow start and lockdown, do we normally see enough new species Sept to Dec for me to reach it?

Pintail - Seen every September since 2014, except 2018

Garganey - Seen 5 out of the last 10 years in Sept, or Oct

Red Crested Pochard - Seen 2 out of the last 10 years in Dec

Marsh Harrier - Seen 6 out of the last 10 Septembers

Osprey - 4 Augusts and 1 Oct in the last 10 years

Merlin - 5 out of 10 Octobers, or Novembers

Ruff - 4 Out of 10 Decembers

Jack Snipe - 4 Out of 10 Octobers, Novembers or Decembers

Curlew - 4 Out of 10 Sept, Oct, or Decembers

Spotted Redshank - Wildcard, but late August to early Sept is best window

Little Gull - Rare in the Autumn, but keep checking

Yellow-legged Gull - Wildcard

Arctic Tern - Late Aug, but also Sept records in 90's

Tree Pipit - A few days left to catch on going over

Rock Pipit - With the gravel being consolidated into specific locations, we are long overdue a bird on the deck

Ring Ouzel - Wildcard, must go over most years

Yellow-browed Warbler - We've had 2 in 7 years

Firecrest - Overlooked and likely most years

Pied Flycatcher - Still time if we check hard

Brambling - Oct onwards for fly overs and around the feeders

Linnet - Mid Oct to early Nov is best passage

Lesser Redpoll - Become rarer as a wintering species, but passage in Oct to Nov

Let's not get over confident

Having enjoyed self finding a great bird, patch and county tick, and then getting double the value from predicting it, would it be too much to share a list of predictable species? I may have already done so before, but an updated perspective won't hurt.

Who cares, I'm fine with making mistakes and learning there is solid rationale to my ponderings;

Great Northern Diver - Berkshire's most frequent visitor never seen on DP, or over for that matter

Storm Petrel - Tricky species, but the randomness of the last 2 make it just as possible we can get one

Little Bittern - This sits in my Top 5 most likely due to the same reasons I already predicted Night Heron

American Bittern - It's not for fun that I include this, as Berkshire's best Bittern site we are tops for one

Spoonbill - This one is just for me having missed the 14th May 2007 pair, I reckon in the next 2 years

American Wigeon - We haven't had a big winter for Eurasian Wigeon since 2010, but I'm not convinced it's about flock size anyway, Top 3

Green-winged Teal - This sits in my top 3 most likely, our Teal count keeps rising and with the new marsh we could easily hit 500+ and score in the next 2-3 years, Top 3

Blue-winged Teal - Not high on the list, but nonetheless as possible as many other things

Ring-necked Duck - I am amazed we haven't had one already, Top 5 for sure

Long-tailed Duck - Perhaps on time span alone we should probably have had another, the only record was 1983

Lesser Scaup - Never say never, enough records for us to stand a good chance

Black Kite - We have a pretty good record for raptors, so why not

Baillon's Crake - A bit on the hopeful side, but no reason why not

Waders, waders, waders, surely nothing is off the table?

Black-winged Stilt - Records nearby over the last 2-3 years, we're next right!?

Stone Curlew - Random, but always possible and almost certainly flew over already at night

Kentish Plover - How they would come running and again why not us

American or Pacific Golden Plover - I only thought of this due to our fly over this Eurasian this week, was it Eurasian though? We can never be sure can we?

Curlew Sandpiper - Assuming the Oct 2nd 1988 record isn't complete shite (oops) then we are overdue one big time

Pectoral Sandpiper - It's amazing what hasn't made an appearance, this is quite a shocking situation, surely it's about to change this year? Top 5

Lesser Yellowlegs - Oxon had one, why not?

Marsh Sandpiper - Oxon had one, why not?

Spotted Sandpiper - It's got to be a good candidate

Red-necked Phalarope - They do like bigger waters on the whole, but Moor Green had one

Arctic Skua - Fly over flock of 2005 will haunt me forever, maybe a sick bird will stay long enough one day?

Sabine's Gull - 1987 will haunt me longer, could it happen again?

White-winged Black Tern - Good old random will produce one not far from now

Caspian Tern - Just because I want it to happen

Whiskered Tern - Moor Green had one...

Long-eared Owl - Perhaps we've had it in modern times, but we should have worked harder 15 years ago when they wintered nearby

Bee-Eater - Come on, it's sunny the wind is from the South, tomorrow please

Hoopoe - What fun to be had with one on the golf course, then behind Lavell's

Red-rumped Swallow - I've had this in my top 5 for about 10 years, soon my friends, soon

Citrine Wagtail - I saw one at Fleet and with that in mind, I'm not convinced having Yellow's makes a difference...hopefully

Bluethroat - We got marshes and reeds

Great Reed Warbler - It was on my list before the Green Park bird and it remains in my good chance list

Savi's Warbler - Oxon had one this spring

River Warbler - I like them, what more do you need

Fan-tailed Warbler - Seems unlikely, but what the heck

Dartford Warbler - Should have had one already, random stuff

Marsh Warbler - Tricky expecting another, but it's never impossible

Aquatic Warbler - When it happens it's most likely going to be pulled out of a net, but maybe someone will get luckier than that?

Barred Warbler - Coastal only, still possible

Arctic Warbler - A good look for one can't hurt

Penduline Tit - Marshes and I'd really like one

Red-backed Shrike - Good chance

Snow Bunting - Somewhere at Lea Farm, or just minutes at the DAC beach

Serin - Fly over always possible

Ortolan Bunting - Fly over always possible

Little Bunting - Feeding station bird of course

Lapland Bunting - feeding station bird?

Night Heron - The photographs emerge

 After a telephone conversation, my friends wife had him send some photographs over a 'strange heron' and you could tell straight away it was the Night Heron..."when was this?" I asked...."Thursday!"..."oh blimey, that's 2 days before I saw it and none of us knew"....."Any sign since?..."afraid not".

Nothing we can do now, so let's hope it has stuck around and is using pools to the East and maybe roosting nearby??

There is no public access to this small and now very dried up pond, regardless of anyone's feelings that them seeing this bird is being more important than residents privacy, it isn't.

That was 4 days ago so if in the unlikely event it does show up again, I've asked them to tell me and we'll go from there.

That morning after feeling

2 days on from seeing the juvenile Night Heron I have reflected on many thoughts, not least how much fun it was telling the story of it happening. 

I have always said, the best birds are those you get to share with good friends and I will say once more, the blissful difference of finding a bird versus 'twitching' someone else's bird are significant;

I have twitched many other people's birds and 'that journey' to park is often fraught with moments where you think "why do I have to behind the slowest driver in the world", or where am I supposed to park when you get there. The Grey Phalarope of 1st Nov 2018, wasn't exactly a classic, because I was already in the car - returning from shopping and luckily I was in Woodley, so it took me barely 3 minutes to get to the car park gate. Had I not sprinted to Bittern hide from the car park gate and had Steve Day not have waited and handed me his bins, I would have missed it....lucky for sure.

On a normal day am I lucky? I'd contest not really, but the thing is I am out there 97% of the time, I've never stopped doing my patch in 20 years. Sure I go on holiday and miss stuff, most notably the Great Reed Warbler at Green Park, which is a shame, but I can't do anything about that, what I can do, is get up at dawn and get myself to my patch and give it my best shot to cover as much of it as possible. 

As my good friend Trevor says, "I won't see anything from my sofa". So I do it, it's pretty quiet much of the time, but many days there is something interesting to see, you just have to stay sharp and humble enough to enjoy what is there to see.

On that subject. here is a picture of this mornings Shoveler in the early sunlight.

Here is the link to the short video I took of 6 Common Sandpiper that were only there 3-4 minutes.

I don't need to tell anyone to enjoy their birds and birding, it's not a challenge, but for anyone thinking I'm a lucky soandso, I just go out nearly every day at dawn and encourage everyone else to do the same.

AND, once in a while you get lucky, well actually 4-5 times on average, this year : 1 Sandwich Tern in and out in 45 seconds, 2 Cattle Egret flew over two mornings on the trot, Hawfinch flew over 17th May!, 3 different Med Gulls and we haven't even reach mid August, when peak passage starts and I ALWAYS remain optimistic something will show up. 

I guess what I'm saying is consistently visiting at dawn 97% of the time brings rewards, but you've still got to remain on it, sharp for that 5-15 second fly over view of an amazing bird like Berkshire's 4th ever Night Heron.

I did make that prediction didn't I!

Back in May - my last post I wrote a short piece on the rather impressive track record our patch has for herons and allies, stating that we stood a better chance than any of pulling a mega heron...and we did.

06:13 this morning I was panning around seeing not a lot, 3 Common Sandpiper were the highlights in fact, I was a bit bored and just looking with my naked eyes around the lake, I happened to look left as a 'heron' came in from that direction (North) and lifted my bins thinking "those wings look rounded" and OI was met with a bit of a surprise.

Still partially face on I first saw it's stout bill, bright yellowish/orange eye and grey streaked underparts, as it came past revealed the short neck, very white spotted upper wing and legs just dangling a little behind. I knew immediately this was a juvenile Night Heron, or sometimes called Black-crowned Night Heron, because I've seen literally thousands of them in the Philippines at various sites I've visited.

I didn't count how long it took to fly past, which it did at tree height and was lost as soon as it went over the trees behind the SW corner, but I'm guessing 15 seconds, give or take, but I knew in the first 2, so I enjoyed the moment to it's full and sat for about 2 minutes repeating "I've just found a County and patch tick, I've seen a !*^$£'ing Night Heron.." and laughed out loud. 

I came to my senses and called a few friends and then WhatsApp's the 'Mega Alert', I spent another 30-40 minutes in the hide, filmed a pretty nice Kingfisher and then went 'walkabout' to see if it had put down to roost anywhere obvious...no such luck.

Will I be out tomorrow to check it does the same...you know I will.

Those of you who like stats, this Night Heron was;

My 19th first for the park

My 189th self found species

My 206th species

My 264th County Species

Oh yes and my 116th species this year

Why Lavell's, Dinton Pastures and Lea Farm are on for Berks lifer

I have been saying for years that our little patch is one of the best for heron species and sad as it may be that during lockdown 2 Cattle Egret flew over Dinton and Lea Farm Lake two mornings on the trot.

No-one could have done anything about it, not least because of lockdown, but also because I didn't realise they were Cattle Egrets first morning and only twigged the second, but sadly they were not repeated a third.

24th I picked them up going away from me, thought I saw yellow on the bills, couldn't gauge size, so let it go as a missed opportunity, think Great White anyway. Then 25th over they came this time head on and I instantly saw they were Cattle Egrets, but on they flew. Where had they roosted? We'll never know, but I suspect on DP somewhere.

They did end up in the 'Shetland Pony field' adjacent to Hurst Green Pit, where my friend Mark took 2 photographs before they flew off and I even suggested looking there without going myself, so when you think he found them nearly 2 hours after I saw them fly over, a good handful of people could have at least had a chance to see them. Given the circumstances I could hardly justify putting the news out a tempting locals to twitch these birds. Anyway I deprived myself the chance to watch them for nearly 2 hours. Luckily Mark got these two shots to remember it by;

So our third record and nice to get another self found species for me on my patch...188 out of 205 species ain't bad.

Now let's look at the herons and allies picture...

Bittern : First record July 29th 1983 (FJC), wintered 1985, 1988, 1995 and only 2000 and 2001 were the only years we haven't had birds.
Cattle Egret : First record 1/21st May 2007 (ADB), 1/10th May 2017 (GSE et al), then 2/24th & 25th April 2020.
Little Egret : First record Feb 19th 1991 BSL (VB), but not again until 1/9th Aug 2000, 2/13th, recorded every year after that and seen in every 2008, then year on year since 2010. Post breeding high counts hit 8 in 2007, 11 in 2010, 15 in 2015 and then a new trend a new high count of 18/29th Nov 2019.
Great White Egret : First record 1/5th Nov 2009 landed Lea Farm Lake (FJC), then 1/5th Sept 2013 (FJC & BTB), 1/21st Nov over (GSE), 1/18th Sept 2015, 1/20th Jan over (FJC), 1/13th May 31st Oct 2017, 1/9th April 2018, then a pair wintered locally and were seen dawn and dusk Jan to April 2019, and a single in Oct, Nov and Dec, 1-2 probable fly over sightings so far in 2020.
Grey Heron : Always common, small colony breeds on BSL's Goat island
Purple Heron : First and only record, an immaculate adult (Male?) found by Tern scrape 4th April 2000, stayed overnight and twitched by many next day.
White Stork : Dubious claims of sightings back in the 80's but first record 2/28th June 2018 (Ian Paine), photographed over Binfield later. Then 2/20th May low over Lea Farm Lake South (Suren)
Glossy Ibis : First and only record, 1/7th May 2011, (Ian Paine, Les Blundell and RSPB) stayed for barely one hour, relocated to Dorney where it did stay for a day or 2.
Spoonbill : 1/21st Oct 1983 (D Finnie) over along Emm Brook by golf course, unconfirmed claim of 2/13th May 1996 (not in County report), then 2/14th May 2007 (Tim James et al), stayed several hours in rainy conditions.
Common Crane : 2/6th May 2012, passed by North of DP heading East along A4 area, so not right to include them, it's just worthy of mention, but 4/25th Nov 2018 flew East over Lavell's and Lea Farm during a work party (FJC et al).

Does any of this mean anything in the grand scheme of things? I think so and despite it being complete speculation, with a heron/egrets and allies record like that I feel we have about the best chance in the county of pulling in one of the following any year now;

Black-crowned Night Heron : 3 county records - Burghfield Jan to Mar 1976, Wraysbury 4th to 8th May 1983, Thatcham 30th July to 6th Aug 1987, then 30th Aug to end Sept nearby.
Little Bittern : 1826 2 immatures shot, 1865 shot, 18th & 19th April 1972 Padworth

Sure I'd be happy with Spoonbill due to absence when the 2007 birds dropped in, but I'll stand by my prediction, that most likely a Little Bittern will be found on my patch in the next 2-5 years.

January lists compared

As you know I've been slacking on the blog front for many months, it's not been deliberate, time is hard to find with so many commitments and even birding time is hard as there is no light in the mornings yet....how I yearn for it.

It's been slow, but comparing January totals show this;

2012 - 82
2013 - 82
2014 - 77
2015 - 81
2016 - 83
2017 - 84
2018 - 84
2019 - 81
2020 - 83 (on 27th)

What does it all mean?

In my opinion nothing much, as unless you see the 'bonus birds' you'll catch up with everything else later anyway. I'm missing Mistle Thrush, Green Sandpiper & Marsh Harrier and a no show for the park so far from Mandarin, Golden Plover, Great White Egret, Firecrest, Brambling, Lesser Redpoll, Med Gull, Red Crested Pochard, Pintail, Jack Snipe, Linnet, Ruff and Yellow-legged Gull.

Most are possible, some probable, but none are guaranteed as being around now.

The Marsh Harrier is a shame, but most sightings are April, August and Sept, getting a Goosander is the best bird for me so far this year, but Woodcock isn't exactly proving easy for others.

Next month Redshank and Oystercatcher usually show up, but it's a funny month, anything can happen, last year we had a rather nice Red-breasted Merganser proving the case in point.

Oh yeah, I'm vlogging more than blogging, it's kind of fun, I hope you can follow me, I've already got 10 followers, so that's exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEElyVlyaSBYA51Z9U1YYAw

New Year, New Vlog

Hello everyone, I suspect most of my old following thought I'd given up on my blog I wouldn't blame you for thinking it, time has become more precious so difficult to keep updating.

But even though it could take me longer in the end, I have begun a vlog - video blog, which resonate with my personality more than typing stuff.

The vlog address is linked to this blog but on YouTube my latest post is here Find of The Day

As I grow the thing and hopefully get myself an audience, I may switch to another YouTube account which I can name 'Find of the Day' or 'Patch find of the Day' as I want it to be all about finding your own birds, ID'ing them, the excitement, the adrenaline and fun of telling your friends.

My year list is 82 after picking up a lucky male Goosander flying East to West behind Lodge Wood.

I'll probably get all motivated to do a review of last year because it was awesome, who knows when though

My projected second half of the year

Migration came to an abrupt end, but not before I added Greenshank on the 14th, then a Nightingale 17th, back on the 'picnic island' and I'm glad I went same day because it did not sing 18th, nor since, so we assume it moved on and I doubt we'll ever see one on DP again, unless we get very lucky with a random bird.

Nothing much has happened since, I carried on early mornings most of May, the Oystercatchers appear to have finally reared a chick beyond the danger period and it must be due to fly off any day. Mute Swans have done okay, the BSL pair had 10 cygnets, but this quickly fell to 5, Lavell's have 4, the Lodden pair had 5, but that is now 3. I haven't checked the other lakes.

The Great Crested Grebes on Lavell's had 2 young, but both are gone as of this morning, the Coots at Lea Farm are always in grave danger from Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, or other predators, the Terns seems to have 11-12 pairs, this could be growing, 3 or more pairs Sandford, but yesterday's rain and unsettled weather does not give me faith the latter has much chance.

If we have flooding, then the last raft only has 1 pair of Black-headed Gulls, so with a bit of luck they'll re-camp there. The Sand Martins are doing just fine some say 40 holes occupied.

Lots of Garden Warbler all around, an amazing spring of Lesser Whitethroat could mean we have 2 or more pairs? If you see Willow Warbler anywhere let me know, Sedge Warbler may be around I'm only aware of 2 singing birds in May.

Redshank and LRP still about, little sign of an attempt at breeding, this is likely to be due to Jackdaw, I hope we can have a massive cull in the future for when we've done all the habitat creation in the NE bay of Lea Farm Lake.

Cuckoo still calling this morning and finally, I picked up a Green Sandpiper, no doubt yesterday's LFL individual, but now happy on Tern scrape bund....we must strim the vegetation.

Green Sandpiper June records;

7th : 1992 & 2019
8th : 1993
11th : 2009, 2016
12th : 2004, 2006,
14th : 1994
18th : 2000, 2012
19th : 2005
23rd : 2002, 2018
24th : 2013
25th 1997
26th : 1995,1999
27th : 2010, 2015

That was a fun first half of the year, so what will happen for the second half? 14 good candidates to potentially add, plus we seem to see great surprises every autumn, but what occurs the most are the following, and I have attempted to put it the order we've seen past records;

Black-tailed Godwit - from last day of June all thru July
Linnet - Any warm day, but if not peak passage is mid Oct
Dunlin - A total guess
Ruff - August, but any month really
Little Owl - A night visit required, but October has produced in the past
Yellow-legged Gull - Late July and Aug, good chance if loafing gulls pattern continues
Pintail - August is a good time
Marsh Harrier - early Aug onwards
Stonechat - Sept onwards
Osprey - Sept to Oct
Merlin - Oct
Jack Snipe - Oct
Lesser Redpoll - Late Oct and Nov
Med Gulls - Nov and Dec

I've done a little checking and since 2012, we have averaged at least 2 mega's in the last 3 months of the year, 4 last year alone.

Whilst it has no bearing on the future, it reminds us to look darn hard until the 31st of December, because at the moment so if we can get the 8 in bold above and just a few of medium rare species we have had in the last 7 years, plus long awaited repeats and overdue firsts and we are on track for a new park record, so anything out of this list (bold red are new for park);

Great Northern Diver (most overdue species as a tick for the park)
Black-necked Grebe
Storm Petrel (Random in storm conditions)
Spoonbill (I can't believe we haven't had another since 2007)
Brent Goose
White-fronted Goose (none since 2002)
American Wigeon (If LFLis safe from disturbance 2010 highs of 1,000 might occur, so who knows)
Green-winged Teal (Our Teal numbers have tripled since 2006, it's just a matter of time)
Scaup (easily overlooked)
Ring-necked Duck (long time overdue species, our Athya record is good so one will occur soon)
Long-tailed Duck (not a sniff since the only 1983 bird)
Smew
Honey Buzzard (2016 dark morph bird seen by FJC & TAG was almost certainly one)
Red-footed Falcon (Sure I saw one briefly 2012, only confirmed was 1989)
Spotted Crake (none since 2002)
Red-necked Phalarope (why not)
Sanderling (with LFL East shore improved, chances must improve)
Curlew Sandpiper (only record 2nd Oct 1988)
Bar-tailed Godwit
Spotted Redshank
Wood Sandpiper (last was 2 in 2011)
Turnstone (last was 2012)
White-winged Black Tern (I believe)
Arctic Tern (rare in autumn, but last were Aug 2015 & 2016)
Red-rumped Swallow (one in Oxon this spring)
European Bee-Eater (can occur anywhere)
Waxwing (a fly over)
Redstart (none in car park field since 2016)
Dartford Warbler (do get into all sorts of scrub outside breeding season)
Firecrest (must come thru most years)
Bearded Tit (we've got the reeds, come on!)
Red-backed Shrike (early Sept, perched near the scrape)
Snow Bunting (no reason one couldn't put down on the gravel lake edge)
Little Bunting (often seen at feeding stations)
Yellowhammer ((one must fly over now and again)

I dare to dream and never stop looking, have fun folks

Mind blowing Spring

I'm busy at the best of times these days, but this spring will stand out as one of the best and I want to just pause and present a list of good birds;

2019
female Goosander - 16th March (last date)
Adult winter Little Gull - 20th March
Red-legged Partridge - 22nd March
Common Scoter - 23rd March
male Wheatear - 23rd March
Jack Snipe - 30th March
2 Mediterranean Gull - 5th & 6th April
female Goldeneye - 8th to 10th April
Curlew - 9th April
2 Wheatear - 9th April
2 male Yellow Wagtail - 9th April
3 White Wagtail - 9th April
Rock Pipit (Scandinavian) - 9th April
Whimbrel - 9th April
Tree Pipit - 11th April
female Wheatear 12th April LFL
Avocet - 13th April
Whinchat - 21st April
2 Great White Egret - Over BSL 23rd April
Curlew - 25th April
Whimbrel - 26th to 28th April
Adult Kittiwake - 28th April
1st winter Little Gull - 28th
male Garganey Sandford - 30th April to 8th May
2 female Wheatear Mortimer's Meadow - 30th April
Wood Warbler - 1st May
Black Tern - 8th May
Ringed Plover - 8th May

The only other spring that comes close to this was all the way back to 2003, but in my opinion this year was better, although I confess due to poor data recording on my part I am missing data on a Dunlin and a Whimbrel record which may have been in May.

2003
Spotted Redshank - 15th March (BTB et al)
2 Garganey - BSL 8th to 11th April
Male Redstart - Lavell's 12th
4 Little Egret - Over 12th April
Little Tern - BSL 15th April (Adam Bassett et al)
Pair Red Crested Pochard - WSL 16th April
2 Arctic Tern - over 16th
Oystercatcher - 17th April (rare then)
12 Little Gull 17th April, 4/18th
Caspian Gull 21st April (FJC only)
Eider 21st April ((K Tubb et al)
Wood Warbler - 25th April (Kev Creed, but not believed by me)
Spotted Flycatcher - 29th April (D Rimes)
Turnstone - Tern Scrape 20th May

I'd like to add that a good number of uncommon waders have occurred in mid and late May, so we can still at least hope more good stuff could happen.

And to close today's post here are some record shots of the three rarest birds this spring

Life is good!

Correction

I'd been wondering about the brief Linnet call I'd had a few days ago and it was bugging me I'd heard one so early in such cold conditions, not at all typical for our sightings of them.

knowing what I needed to check I spent 10 minutes on Xeno, it confirms my hunch that it was actually Brambling flight call not Linnet I heard.

Linnet is so hard to get over DP now, but they do drop in and fly over, so I'll be keeping my ears open to add another new species.

I'm only 9 behind the park now and most are still likely, except Crossbill and Red-legged Partridge, though I only got 1 Linnet last year.

Cool start, hot finish

I woke early yesterday and was parking in the lay-by at 05:36, by 05:36 and 5 seconds I could hear the first Cuckoo, sounding like it was in the 'usual spot' - behind Teal scrape. It was freezing, only minus 2-3, but felt very cold.

I went straight on through to Lea Farm Lake and it carried on calling, but went by left at 05:59.

The Sedge Warbler was calling, the 30 or so Sand Martin whirling, a Redwing called, but to be frank it was dead quiet. About 12 Teal still lingering, 3-4 Shoveler.

I went home 08:00 due to family commitments. by 13:20 Geoff was calling to say a couple had just walked into Ron's hide and asked "how long has the Avocet been on the bund at Tern scrape?"

At Bittern hide by 13:28 and there was the Avocet, half obscured by the bund, I quickly put the news out as still present, quite quickly it moved and headed nearer the hide, then over the bund into the scrape.

I can't believe the last record was 2008!

A day to remember

The 9th did not look like much of a day at 07:00, 3 Common Gull were nice, 3 Redwing over may be the last of this winter period, but it's fair to say nothing much was happening in he misty drizzle coming from the East.

So when Geoff texted to say Curlew and 2 Wheatear, it was time to shift on down to LFL and I arrived around 12:35, picking up the Curlew and one of the Wheatear relatively quickly. Whilst searching for the Wheatear, I found 3 White Wagtail, then 2 male Yellow Wagtail, but that wasn't the whole story either, while tracking one of the Yellow Wagtail a small brown bird was moving under the lush water's edge vegetation and as it was staying so low, my heart was racing at the prospect of something good.

When it did appear, it was a confusing few minutes, a pipit for sure, but rather dull, a bit olive, but strong malar, or moustacial stripe, but views were obscured by the vegetation and distance. It eventually flew into deeper stuff and I decided to dismiss it as never likely to show well enough. But 15 minutes later and it was out again, better for a few moments and showed white outer tail feathers and Trevor noted the facial markings again.

That was the best of the views and Trev and I did our own 'research' after, I found a nice blog from a Seaton birder on Water and Rock Pipit, including Scandinavian and my conclusion is that we were looking at a winter plumage Scandinavian Rock.

I left but others then found a Whimbrel which was gone by the time I got back at 16:30.

I will not be submitting any description to the rarities committee of the Rock Pipit

Two days later on the 11th I was out with my good friend John, on arrival I heard Linnet go over, nice start, A Sedge Warbler jumped around in front for a few moments too, then as we left Bittern hide later a very pale Pipit came over just above tree level, lightly streaked and looking only like a Tree Pipit would, it went over the new wet meadow and landed in the trees behind the Oaks, but out of view and was lost.

I'm still only on 105!

Enjoying the light

While the slow plod adding things to the year list continues, I have been tinkering with the mobile pics again, having no adapter currently makes it real hard to get a decent shot but here are some okay ones

Sunday morning I did catch up with Swallow, one over Lea Farm Lake another heading North over Sandford. Shoveler numbers remain high for this time of year, I've checked all records and 80-90 is an insanely high number for late March, but so wonderful they are choosing here to gather before departing...who knows a pair might like to think about having a stab at breeding? If that happened it would be incredibly rare for Berkshire and not something we'd advertise.