15 years ago this week

Stuck in the house doing DIY today (one hawfinch over...), so here is a little something from the diary (North Uist, October 1995):

"We were not prepared for the 20th and its events, after what was a very quiet first half of the month. Arriving at Clachan Farm I stopped by the gate and saw to my disbelief a small Catharus thrush at the end of the caravan. It hopped off and I told Cath who did not believe me. It took us 2 hours to relocate the bird in what is a very small plantation. I got two tantalising glimpses during this period and had narrowed it down to either veery or (less likely) wood thrush! Just as we were about to give up we walked towards the caravan on our way out and the bird flew up and perched in the lower branches of a pine. I locked on and finally identified it as a veery (4th for WP, 3rd for UK and 1st for Scotland).

Veery, my best UK find. Nicked this image off the internet (it's an adult).

An active little bird, which then started feeding around where we had collapsed (often down to 4 metres). Superb. Warm brown uppers, grey lores, lack of buff eye-ring, gold-tipped coverts, greyish flanks all led to identification of the bird as a veery. The bird was difficult to see after the first day – I never saw it again! Tim (Dix) and Paul (Boyer) both managed to see it over the next two days and Paul saw it once more on the 28th. Only four birders saw it in the end, no one making the effort to get over from the mainland."

Twenty years ago today

Sitting at Heathrow at the start of a fifty hour nightmare journey to Kota Kinabalu in Sabah. I hate travelling but I like to get there! Here is something from 20 years ago, would love to revisit Australia sometime...

7/1/89 Hattah-Kulkyne National Park

Cath did it again, surprising a striated grasswren in amongst a flock of variegated wrens. I did not see it, having to be content with the regular white-fronted honeyeater. The afternoon session was more like it however, located 3+ striated grasswrens and had superb views of one male as Cath drove them along. Fantastic birds. As usual their call was familiar, also shy hylacola (1). Having succeeded we went back to Hattah Lake; blue-faced honeyeater (3) and pink cockatoo (4).

8/1/89 Hattah-Kulkyne National Park

Enjoying the place so much, decided to check out ‘Beesite 8’. An area where the traditional bee-keeping in the mallee persists despite it being in a National Park. It is a lucrative business apparently. More mature, taller mallee trees here with more leaf litter and less spinifex. Picked up yellow-plumed honeyeater which were common in this type of mallee. Also yellow-rumped pardalote (+).

Then came the big surprise, located a black-eared miner (1) a bird I was so convinced we would not see I was not even bothering. The bird showed a uniform grey mantle and rump, very little white in the tail, underparts paler grey, fading paler towards the vent. Overall impression was of a grey bird reminiscent of noisy miner rather than yellow-throated. Facial pattern more extensive on ear coverts than yellow-throated. According to my criteria, this proved to be a pure black-eared miner! Another could be heard nearby but was not seen. The bird showed no sign of shyness until pushed hard. Cath got a photo which will be interesting to see. Told the ranger who was quite excited, so gave him all the details to forward to researchers working on the birds. In his gratitude he told me where an ‘easy to find’ malleefowl mound was.

Located the mound eventually, couldn’t get the van up the track, so walked in and past the mound. When we eventually found it, watched it for four hours, hearing a male but not seeing it. We were however rewarded with two striated grasswrens right on dusk. One bursting with curiosity came out in the open to inspect us! You spend three days looking for a bird and then it comes and looks at you. Camped overnight on the track which was a bit naughty. I’d love to know what the bird that landed on the roof in the night was.

9/1 /89 Hattah-Kulkyne National Park è Vaughan Springs

An early morning stake-out did the trick, after a brief look at us, two birds came out and started work on the mound. However I think we disturbed them and they melted away into the mallee. So we left them to it and after thanking our ranger headed for Bendigo. Got there at 4 pm but could not raise our contact who lived nearby so we headed for Vaughan in the hills east of the Castlemaine-Daylesford Road. Nice to see fuscous honeyeater (+) and brown treecreeper (2+) again.

A year ago this week

Dice snake Natrix tessellata, common along the waterways of southern Turkey, in a similar niche to our grass snake. I paid for catching this one though, like grass snakes they exude a powerful smelling substance from their cloacas... It took a two days of pine resin and scrubbing to free my hands of the smell!

Lestes barbarus - always good to see

Onychogomphus forcipatus - a splendid gomphid present in good numbers during our stay in southern Turkey

Gomphus schneideri - another great gomphid, slightly more local than the species above but often common where found

This time last year I was searching southern Turkey for dragonflies...

27/6/08 Esenköy and the Urluca River
The last day arrived and after shopping for our lunch, Turkish Delight and ‘evil eyes’ we headed off. Our first stop was a small stream just outside Esenköy. It was still early and not much seemed to be happening until Roy found a small group of Lestes barbarus – a welcome addition to the trip-list. We spent sometime with these damsels. Also here a single Caliaeschna batted past.

Driving on we tackled the hill climb up to the Urluca River. We spent the rest of the day here. Diversity was low but several species were found in very good numbers. The dense drifts of Platycnemis and banks of Caleopteryx splendens were especially noteworthy. We also found our first Sympetrum fonscolombii and enjoyed many Onychogomphus forcipatus and smaller numbers of Gomphus schneideri. Emperors patrolled the river and Libellula depressa were frequently encountered. After lunch we went upstream a way finding many teneral gomphids and a large dice snake. Birds were very noticeable up here and we enjoyed excellent views of black-headed, cirl and corn bunting.

Leaving the river we worked a long roadside drain and found Ischnura elegans and pumilio and small numbers of Coenagrion puella. By this time the day had once again disappeared and we headed back to the hotel. En route Hassan kindly invited us in to his house and we took tea and fruit with his family. After enjoying our first Turkish çay and Hassan’s hospitality we headed back to base to pack our bags, call the log and try and get some sleep before we had to transfer to the airport.

20 years ago this week

Packed the wife, kids and car off north for ten days to allow me to get on with some serious painting and decorating today. This is a considerable sacrifice on my part - chance to watch Wimbledon, lots of dragonflies and grouse...

So in the absence of birding in the present it is back to nostalgic trawling of the Benstead bird diaries...

Twenty years ago found me in Queensland in the middle of a 16 month long trip with my girlfriend at the time (Cath Jeffs). I always like to factor time into my trips to just sit and watch stuff go by - the chance to watch the migration of hump-backed whales north along the Queensland coast was one we could not pass up.

21/6/89 Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island fine SE 15-20
Arrived in the early afternoon, good seawatching conditions but distracted by two fine hump-backed whales, which jumped for ages. Fantastic. Also 20+ bottle-nosed dolphins.

22/6/89 Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island wind SE in pm
Seabirds noticed today, good conditions during the afternoon. Cath came up trumps spotting every single good bird. Plenty of gannets, but the star bird was a fine Providence petrel (1) viewed down to 400m, showing white primary and covert patch, beautiful bird. Also a single black-browed albatross, an immature, separated from grey-headed by pale bill, and a brown booby (1).

Little else of note, though an Australian hobby brightened things up a bit. Plenty of shearwaters out there at extreme range; fluttering/Hutton’s types.

23/6/89 Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island offshore winds
Five hump-backed whales showed up today after no definite signs yesterday. Only other thing of note was a very close fluttering shearwater (1), definitely pale underwing. Plenty more further out. A whistling kite was seen to harass this bird for some time and flew 2-3 km out to sea hunting.

24/6/89 Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island calm W
No birds during morning session, though a total of 3+ hump-backed whales noted. Afternoon session more productive (seemed to be a general rule during our stay but light so much better then). Loggerhead turtle seen off the rocks, good to see again. The chaps (the Corben gang) having joined us in mid-afternoon enjoyed an entertaining seawatch; Providence petrel (1) seen flying backwards and forwards at range often associating with a whale, arctic skua (1) very unusual at this time of year and Indo-Pacific hump-backed dolphin (3).

25/6 /89 Point Lookout, Stradbroke Island calm
Spent most of the day at Lookout. Plenty of dolphins including Indo-Pacific humpback (15+). Also two hump-backed whale mid afternoon. No seabirds but a nice wandering tattler (1) rounded things off nicely. An immature white-bellied sea eagle being harassed by an osprey made entertaining watching.

27/6/89 Boombana and Slaughter Falls
Morning trip with Tom and Lisa looking for red-browed treecreeper failed but turned up logrunner (pair), paradise riflebird (male) and rose robin (male). Tom locked his keys in the car which led to an amusing half hour.

Checked out the powerful owls (pair) and did some spotlighting with Dave and Chris; tawny frogmouth (4), white-throated nightjar (1), brushtail possum (2) and sugar glider (1). Finally got ring-tail possum in Chris’ back garden during the week.

Chris Corben, if you are out there I salute you!

18 years ago this week - the big twitch

This extract from my diary concerns a six-day twitching road trip made with two friends from college (Tony Blunden and Mark Thomas) and another birder from Sheffield (Liam Cox) in 1991. We covered 2,500 miles in Tony's Mini Metro and I got ten UK ticks (11 when you count the black scoter we found)! The 24th March was without doubt the best day's birding I have ever experienced in the UK.

21/3/91 Staines Reservoir

Evening session on the way to Holyhead! Lovely weather. A few duck still present including: ruddy duck (11) and stacks of goldeneye. Other highlights: black-necked grebe (3 summer-plumage) and chiffchaff (1).

22/3/91 Holyhead (Anglesey), Seaforth (Merseyside) and Marton Mere (Lancs)

Slept poorly in the car overnight in Holyhead. Got to grips with the white-billed diver in about ten minutes. Blustery, clear day with big movements of meadow pipits noticeable. Moved on to South Stack fairly swiftly; stonechat (2), chough (3), raven (1) and the auks had returned to their breeding ledges.

On our way to Merseyside, stopped at Llandulas to check the scoter flock, but only distant views in choppy seas. No sign of the surf scoter. Had peregrine (1) from the car nearby.

Stopped off at Seaforth in the hope of yesterday's Bonaparte's gull but no joy. Plenty to look at though with little gull (13), Mediterranean gull (adult) and scaup (6) being the highlights. Kept moving, arriving at Marton Mere to spend five hours looking for, and failing to see, the American bittern. Mark was not best pleased when he discovered that the Bonaparte's gull had arrived at Seaforth 45 minutes after we left! Did see; ruddy duck (1), long-eared owl (1), water rail (1) and Cetti's warbler (1) during our vigil, as well as mink (1).

Got back to the car park to find the gates had been locked. So we moved a bollard and drove out. Drove to Sheffield to pick up Liam and then spent from midnight Friday to midday Saturday driving a fully-loaded Mini Metro to Wick! Only highlight during my shift was a nice badger (1) somewhere in the Borders.

23/3/91 Wick and Embo

Arrived to find the bird, a female harlequin, had gone missing! The harbour was a cracker however, chock-a-block with birds; Iceland gull (2nd winter), purple sandpiper, black guillemot (8), shag and loads of seaduck. Finally Mark went off for a walk and found the harlequin sitting on rocks and occasionally feeding. Superb little bird, much better than I thought it would be.

Moved onwards towards the Cairngorms, stopping at Loch Fleet and Embo. At the latter site had some lovely seaduck at very close range, mostly velvet scoter and long-tailed duck. The big surprise here was a male black scoter just offshore, I found and identified it, but getting the boys to look at it was difficult... To be fair at the time it was just a sub-species, but this record went on to become a 4th for Britain! My first mega. Drove through to Aviemore and slept at the black grouse site.

24/3/91 Cairngorms

Awoke at Tulloch Moor to the sound of male black grouse lekking "choo-EESH". Did not take long to get up and on to the birds. Saw only two males in total, before heading for our next stop - Grantown Forest. Walked in after the golf course and found the abandoned car after a short search. Had three capercaillies in quick succession, all males. Also here Scottish crossbill (2), woodcock (2), crested tit (1) and red squirrel (2). Scottish crossbill was my 500th Western Palearctic bird. [I wonder if we identified it right?].

Whistle-stop stuff this, straight on to the Findhorn Valley, the day now glorious both weather and tick-wise. Common crossbill (1) and I finally unblocked golden eagle (1 adult, 1 sub-adult), also here buzzard and sparrowhawk.

On the way to the ski-lifts, stopped at Loch Vaa for Slavonian grebe (3) and Loch Morlich for red-throated diver (3) and goosander (3). At Glenmore had the only dipper of the trip. Up around the skiers (lots of these) we eventually find ptarmigan and also lots of red grouse (well above the snowline). Also snow hare (2). Could not believe the day at this point, we had cleaned up all the Cairngorms specialities in just 7 hours. So off we went to the coast. Stopped off at Lossiemouth for a Ross's goose. A really wild bird, in with a flock of very wary Icelandic greylag. Good-looking chap, but will it ever be tickable? Next stop Banff harbour for Kumlien's gull, which has no chance of being split but is good to see. We did not find it as obvious as others made out.

Finally after a hectic dash before dusk we whacked over to the Ythan Estuary and picked up a fine male king eider. Spectacular as it was, the sheer volume of eider packed into such a small estuary was more impressive.

The day did not stop there though, because we then drove to Largo Bay, which was very tiring after such a day. Slept on the sea front at Elie.

25/3/91 Largo Bay (Scotland), Seaforth and New Brighton (Merseyside)

Searched long and hard but could not locate any surf scoter, plenty of seaduck however and the odd Slavonian grebe. Eventually we called it a morning. Found out later that they were two miles west of Largo). Hammered down to Seaforth in good time. Not much doing though - wheatear (1) and scaup (3). The Bonaparte's gull had been regular at New Brighton during our stay in Scotland , so it seemed like the place to check next. Eventually I located it and we got great views. Two little gulls in the area too. Drove up to Blackpool and spent the night near Marton Mere.

26/3/91 Marton Mere, Preston Docks and Greater Manchester

Started off with a short session looking once again for the American bittern. No joy, but did have a nice barn owl (1) and ruddy duck (2). Eventually the bitterly cold wind got the better of us. Tried Preston Docks again, this time we connected with the second-winter ring-billed gull. On the way back to Norfolk we checked a few sites without success.

Two months ago this week

Approached to one metre for this photo!

Two months ago I had my first encounter with a hawk owl in the Western Palearctic...

11/1/09 Vist, Västergötland
Finally got to grips with the long-staying hawk owl at Vist. I found it eventually and walked in for close views. I could hear a vole gnawing behind me so I moved back five metres and the owl whacked it almost at my feet. It then flew to a low tree 5 metres away and dropped the vole accidently. It spent 45 minutes trying to retrieve it before I walked in (it flushed at less than 1 metre) and found the vole. I threw the vole onto the path and the owl swooped down and nabbed it. Priceless.

Two years ago this week

White-billed diver and close!

Spotted sandpiper

Part of our UK farewell tour included a couple of days birding in Cornwall, during what was definitely a bit of a purple patch. The haul included white-billed diver, gyr falcon, spotted sandpiper, Franklin's gull and dusky warbler.

5/3/07 Hayle, Newquay and Stepper Point, Cornwall wet and windy, gale S
A quick three hour session with the girls around Hayle produced spectacular results. En route we had a single raven over. First off we hit the spotted sandpiper and got excellent views. Also here we had a single grey wagtail. Next stop was Lelant Station where we searched for the Franklin’s gull but it appears to have gone. We did get three Mediterranean gulls here though (two first-winters and one second-winter), little egret (1) and greenshank (5). Nearby we had brief views of the possible halimodendri lesser whitethroat. Moving round the estuary into Hayle we stopped off by the viaduct for an excellently close adult white-billed diver. Superb. Then it was back to the hotel for lunch, great morning.

After lunch I headed north, stopping briefly to try for the dusky warbler at Newquay. No joy. Last stop of the day was Stepper Point (just north of Padstow), walking down to the quarry I spotted some rock pipits feeding in fields. Presumably driven off the shore by the incredible waves being generated by the gale force southerlies (it was raining too!). At the quarry I was surprised to find that the gyr falcon was in residence. Superb bird. Also here a stonechat for the year. Good end to a great day.

6/3/07 Penzance, Hayle, Stithians Res. and Falmouth sunny, SW brisk
Kicked off by the boating lake at Penzance where a blackcap was hanging around near where we parked the car. On Love Lane the yellow-browed warbler performed well and here also my first chiffchaff of the year. The weather had drastically improved overnight and we actually got a bit sunburnt! We worked the seafront to Jubilee Pool hoping for the Pacific diver but no joy, just brief flight views of a Slavonian grebe and six superb great northerns.

At about eleven o’clock the pager informed us that the Franklin’s gull was again available at Hayle so we nipped up there and caught up with it from the platform at Lelant Station. A fantastic first-winter bird. Whilst in Hayle we sampled the excellent pasties and caught up with the white-billed diver (1), spotted sandpiper (1) and had the first common sandpiper of the year. Stopped off at Stithians on the way back to the hotel and had a superb adult summer red-necked grebe.

Seawatching from the balcony in the evening after a swim with the kids produced black-throated diver (1) and slavonian grebe (1). Another great day.

7/3/07 Newquay and Falmouth, Cornwall
An early morning visit to the dusky warbler at Newquay failed again so we all went to the beach and had a picnic on the clifftop. Eventually news drifted in on the pager that the bird was showing, so we drove up and after about 20 minutes I heard it calling in a nearby hedgeline and there it was. Great bird. Drove back to the hotel for more swimming and had a black guillemot (1) and great northern diver from the balcony in the afternoon.

8/3/07 Otterton and Beer (Devon) and Avonmouth (Avon)
The big drive home was punctuated with plenty of stops in the south-west. Managed to dip the cattle egret at Otterton (it had moved a mile away), but did get little egret (8) and kingfisher (1)) and the surf scoter at Beer (just four common scoter). Finally stopped off at Avonmouth but no sign of the ring-necked duck! [A ring-necked duck turned up a mile from our Falmouth hotel the next day!].

23 years ago this week

This was one of the first long-weekend twitches I ever undertook. It was so long ago the photo of the least sandpiper above is in black-and-white!

1/3/1986 Cornwall trip no rain, calm
Set off by train at 2000 on the last day of February to make the most of the British Rail offer. Only cost £12 return to Cornwall – not bad. Slept a little after Paddington and arrived at Bodmin Parkway at 0700. Pete’s mate Pat picked us up at about 0715. Then straight to Porthscaso via a petrol station where the car refused to start. The petrol-geezer told us it was the starting rod and that all we had to do was push the car backwards in gear. Sure enough she started. On arrival at Porthscaso, a rather pleasant little seaside village, Pat immediately located the king eider (female) along with a great northern diver (a tick for Will). We gave it a quick look before heading for the least sandpiper which was all of 500 yards away. Found this one straight away too. A gorgeous little bird completely dwarfed by the nearby golden plovers. Reminiscent of Temminck’s stint; yellow legs, collar band of speckles (faint in middle), dark streaked crown, faint pale supercilium, bill thinner than little stint and down-drooped at tip. Watched for 20 minutes, also 2 shag on the sea nearby. Then went back to look at the king eider again (nice pale eyering, softer rounder bill and whiter chin than eider). By this time the great northern diver had been joined by five black-throated divers a fantastic sight.

Then onto Port Leven for Iceland gull, via a place called Tresillian where we stopped to look at waders. A tidal river with mudflats which produced redshank (2), little grebe (2), curlew (3) and masses of dunlin and bar-tailed godwit. From here we birded around Falmouth picking up very little but great crested grebe (a good Cornish bird I am told). Had three buzzards en route. Finally arrived at Port Leven to be greeted by a very obliging black-throated diver in the small harbour, scoped it down to 10 yards. Also rock pipits and a mass of gulls, from which Pete finally extracted a first winter Iceland gull. Not typical of the species, the bill inclined towards the bulky side (as was the bird) but unanimously decided to be an Iceland.

Dropped in on Marazion for a quick look; some good birds including Will’s first ruddy duck (female – another good Cornish tick) along with ruff (1), shoveler (15), teal (5), gadwall (10+), pintail (3), little grebe (2) and about 20 wigeon. Whacked up to Penzance Harbour, so Pete and Will could buy a smock each [the Bryan Bland look was big in the 80s!], whilst they did that Pat and I scoped the harbour turning up great northern diver (1) and razorbill (1). A mile up the road was Newlyn Beach, one of the haunts of the Bonaparte’s gull. Arrived there to be greeted by a mass of gulls. Started leap-frogging, checking all of them, when a shout came from behind us. A Cornish birder was beckoning wildly across the road. We ran to him and he led us to Newlyn boating lake and there in the corner with about 20 black-headed gulls was the Bonaparte’s and what a bird! A real stunner and only 30 yds away. Sitting as tight as could be whatever went past. Seen swimming, standing and flying – a mind-fucker. Pale pink legs, slender black bill and black eye. Black crescent behind eye, dark scapular/shoulder patch, dark primaries, 4-5 brownish secondaries, fantastic smoky cap, nape and incomplete breast band. Two thirds size of black-headed gull. In flight white tail with black sub-terminal band and disjointed black W, wings have black trailing edge, two white patches on leading edge of wing either side of elbow [underwing not noted!]. A really superb bird and it was difficult to wrench ourselves away after 20 minutes. But now time was beginning to press, so we headed for Drift. This was what I had secretly been waiting for – black-necked grebe. Drift really did turn up trumps, crossed over the dam and walked up the right arm. Picked up yet another great crested grebe immediately, further along two curlews flew up out of the fields and then it started to happen. Picked up a female scaup (one of nine) and Pete found me the black-necked grebe – a really good bird but a bit distant. Also around at this point little grebe (1), black-throated diver (1) and goldeneye (female). Moving around the corner we scoped through all the ducks; wigeon (40+), pochard (25+), tufted duck (20+) before I spotted the ring-necked duck amongst the pochard – a cracking male. It was all going so well, we could not believe our luck, we had not dipped a thing.

Pat took us back to Bodmin to stay the night at his place, after a quick trip to the pub we had little trouble getting to sleep (even though my sleeping bag had gone mouldy).

2/3/1986 Devon Coast sunny
Got up at about 0800 and headed for Rame Head in the vain hope of a Dartford warbler. No joy – but nice place with buzzard (3), kestrel (1) and sparrowhawk (1). After about an hour we gave up and Pat took us to the ferry where he intended to leave us. On the way we had greenshank (3) at Millbrook Lake. Missed the ferry by ten minutes, so went for a pasty and a pint in the nearby pub. Here we met two local birders one of whom Pete knew from Poly. They told us of a red-necked grebe (a potential tick for Pat and Will) and a black guillemot (a tick for Will) at Jenny Cliff on the other side of the Plym estuary. Pat was raring to go, so off we went taking the ferry across the estuary, getting spotted redshank at St John on the way.

Jenny Cliff was crowded with Sunday walkers but no black guillemot but we did get red-necked grebe (2), great crested grebe (2) and red-throated diver (1) though. As Wembury was so close we had to go for it, one road was blocked by snow so we had to go round it. This was the only trouble we had with snow the whole trip. Not bad because the weather the weekend before had been foul. Wembury did not produce the goods either but after the day before we did not care much. Did see another red-necked grebe, purple sandpipers on the rocks and a nice female grey wagtail down on the beach. And so the day was over a lot quicker than on Saturday. Pat dropped us off at the station, amidst profuse thanks and invitations. Caught a 1750 train. Slept pretty well this time. Had to bus from Newton Abbot to Exeter as we did on Saturday morning because the line was down at Dawlish. Arrived at Paddington at 1015. Dashed to Liverpool Street but the only train was the 2300 to Ipswich. Slept all the way on this one. When we got to Ipswich, Pete tried to get us on the mail train to Norwich. No joy – wrong type of carriage. So we had to wait/sleep until 0730 for the next train. Frosty night, all clothes and barbour on in the sleeping bag. Very amusing! Pete found a shop open at 0600 and brought breakfast. Straight to work, what a day. Took ages to recover but well worth it (Pete got three ticks, I got six and Will nine).

30 years ago this week

Here is the first of an occasional thread on the blog, where we travel back in time to see what the Benstead was up to in the past. This one's topical (if a little dull), it snowed a bit back then....

16/2/1979 Aylsham – back garden, Norfolk day after heavy snowfall
The freezer broke down so we were able to feed the birds during this harsh weather. Birds coming to a mixture of bread, cheese and black currants included; bullfinch (feeding on cultivated blackberry), black-headed gull, starlings, blackbird, pied wagtail, robin, chaffinch, rook and song thrush. The following day saw fieldfare in the garden too.