Tynemouth Lesser Whitethroat Update

It now looks like the Lesser Whitethroat that has been wintering in Colin Bradshaw's garden in Tynemouth is probably a Siberian Lesser Whitethroat Sylvia curruca blythii.

 

Information received yesterday (Friday 21st) from Martin Collinson and his team at Aberdeen University, shows that:

'The DNA sequence was identical to that from several Kazakhstan specimens of Lesser Whitethroat thought to be blythi' whilst, 'Svensson, and prior DNA work, suggest that both blythi and halimodendri are in a Central Asian clade that is distinct from curruca'.



Siberian Lesser Whitethroat (blythii). Tynemouth (Northumberland). 10 January 2014. 

 

 

Yellow-rumped Warbler, High Shincliffe, Durham: 10 February 2014

Photograph from yesterday's successful twitch of the Durham Yellow-rumped Warbler, with two-year-old son in tow.  Monster!

Yellow-rumped Warbler. High Shincliffe (Durham). 10 February 2014.

Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat

Last Friday I managed to spend some time with the probable Central Asian Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca halimodendri) that has been frequenting feeders in a garden in Tynemouth (Northumberland).  The bird showed well on a number of occasions and I managed to obtain several photographs and videos of it.  It was also heard to call on two occasions, a soft 'tek', but unfortunately I was unable to record this.

Lesser Whitethroat (probable halimodendri). Tynemouth (Northumberland). 10 January 2014.

Lesser Whitethroat (probable halimodendri). Tynemouth (Northumberland). 10 January 2014.

Lesser Whitethroat (probable halimodendri). Tynemouth (Northumberland). 10 January 2014.

Lesser Whitethroat (probable halimodendri): Blurred video-grab of tail pattern, possibly showing pattern on T5-T6 (on right-hand edge of feeder). 

 

Great Grey Shrike & Bewick's Swan in Durham: 4 January 2014

With the family dropped off at the Beamish Open Air Museum, I had about four hours to kill birding in Co. Durham, so I whizzed down the A1 to Bradbury where a Great Grey Shrike had been showing on and off for a week or so.  Often elusive and flighty, it took me over half-an-hour to locate it, perched on hawthorns in a rough field NE of the railway bridge.  I watched it for about 15 minutes as it just hung around, saw it regurgitate a pellet and managed a few digiscoped record shots, before it flew south across the road and out of sight. 

Great Grey Shrike. Bradbury (Durham). 4 January 2014.

I then headed down to Sadbergh where an adult Bewick's Swan and three Whooper Swans had taken up residence in a flooded field just north of the village.  The swans were easily located and good scope views had of all four.  Unfortunately the poor light meant that my digiscoped images came out fuzzy!  Back up to Beamish were the woodland around the car park produced Common Crossbill, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Goldcrest.  Back home in the North Tyne Valley a Tawny Owl in the village this evening brought my 2014 year list to 91 species.  Not too bad after four days...

Leicestershire: 2nd-3rd January 2014

It's been a fairly decent start to my 2014 birding year, with my year list now up to 84 species after three days birding.  New Year's Day was, in keeping with recent years, fairly low key.  Gone are the days when I used to post a big 1st Jan total with dawn to dusk birding.  The kids take priority now, whilst red wine consumption on New Year's Eve makes for lethargy the following morning.  A quiet wander around the village on the 1st produced good views of a Kingfisher on the river, plus Brambling, 3 Tree Sparrow and a male Bullfinch.

 

Back to work on Thursday and Friday, but with site visits in Leicestershire lined up for both days, the opportunity for tagging on some birding was good.  On the way down to Leicestershire on Thursday I found myself at Burton Marsh (Cheshire) for dawn to successfully dip the Buff-bellied Pipit.  Despite the absence of the pipit there was still plenty of good birding to be had, with highlights, at either Burton Marsh or nearby Parkgate, being a distant Great White Egret, 2 Siberian Chiffchaff (tristis), 2 Common Chiffchaff (collybita), a hardy Northern Wheatear, a total of 3 'ringtail' Hen Harrier and 4 Peregrine.  Not bad for a few hours effort, before continuing south!

Car loads of pipit dippers!

Friday was also a pretty good day.  With my site visits sorted I had a burn around a couple of Leicestershire's finest reservoirs.  First stop was Swithland Reservoir where the juvenile Black-throated Diver showed well just off the dam, whilst further out were 4 Scaup and 3 Goosander.

Black-throated Diver (juv). Swithland Reservoir (Leics). 3 January 2014.

On to Eyebrook Reservoir where the female Ring-necked Duck continued to linger just off the fishing lodge.  A brief, but fantastic, session at Eyebrook also produced 2 drake Smew, 2 Red Kite, a male Merlin and c.10 Tree Sparrow.  Can't complain, especially when the day was then topped off with a perched Barn Owl in the car headlights as I drove back up the North Tyne Valley to home :)

Ring-necked Duck (female). Eyebrook Reservoir (Leics). 3 January 2014.

 

End of Year Birding

A steady period of birding over the past week-and-a-half interrupted frequently by work and family commitments.  The highlight was being able to eventually squeeze in a twitch for the Patrington Haven juvenile IVORY GULL on 20 December.  Alas I didn't arrive quite early enough to experience it's early-morning fishy-feed at no-yards and had to be happy with two hours of distant views as it sat out on the estuary rocks doing nothing much but digesting.  However, I was still chuffed to bits at seeing this stunningly scruffy boy, especially as it was a lifer to boot.  Two digiscoped shots of the bird, taken in a very strong wind below.

Ivory Gull (juvenile). Patrington Haven (East Yorks). 20 December 2013.

Ivory Gull (juvenile). Patrington Haven (East Yorks). 20 December 2013.

Apart from the Ivory I've managed a bit of local birding, two days on Teeside and a few visits to my old patch of Barrowford Reservoir, whilst staying with my folks over Christmas.  Not a lot to get too excited about on these trips but for an immature Glaucous Gull (either a 2nd or 3rd winter), 2 Snow Bunting, Twite, 2 Red Kite and several argentatus Herring Gulls.



Parrot Crossbills at Budby Common (Notts) - 13 December 2013

Whilst working down in Leicestershire last week I got the opportunity to shoot-up to Budby Common, in Nottinghamshire, to have a look at the Parrot Crossbills.  For once luck was on my side: no sooner had I got to the area where the crossbills had been frequenting, when there they were.  Over the next 3/4 hour the flock of 14 crossbills showed very well to all present, perched in two separate deciduous trees and dropping down to drink at several puddles.  Despite the insistence of the usual loud-mouthed, self-proclaimed expert (idiot), that several of the flock were "obviously Common Crossbills", that "you can't separate these birds from 'Scotbill'" and "it just makes a mockery of it all really", I thought that all 14 birds in the flock looked good for Parrot Crossbill.

 

I see a lot of Common Crossbills when out birding locally, and all 14 of the Budby birds were obviously different to Common Crossbill: larger headed with a bull-necked structure; big, deep bills; obviously deeper and bulging lower mandibles; sharply decurved mandibles towards the tip; and deeper and less metallic calls.  As for the Scottish Crossbill issue.  I'll worry about separating Common, Scottish and Parrot Crossbills when I'm in Speyside, but not when I'm in Nottinghamshire!

 

I even managed to (fuzzy) digiscope some of the birds, but alas I couldn't get my remembird to work properly, and thus failed to record any of them.

 

Parrot Crossbill (male). Budby Common (Notts). 13 December 2013.

Parrot Crossbill (male). Budby Common (Notts). 13 December 2013.