Window to Wildlife

 Tim and I were leading an Sdos walk at Hope Gap Seaford, which coincidentally was the location if a ‘mega’  species, a White-crowned Sparrow, normally found in America and not the UK. This bird is not to be confused with the White-throated Sparrow, another American vagrant which we twitched with Andy last year. I confess I hadn’t realised this was a new bird, or I may have dragged Tim over a lot sooner, with it having been reported several days ago. The site was very busy with birders from as far afield as Cornwall. Sue managed a photo before we arrived, but with a party of seven in tow and a swarm of photographers we had to settle for short but decent views of the bird. As you can see, I was rather chuffed with this lifetime tick! White-crowned Sparrow Leaving the twitch Aside from this rarity, we had an enjoyable walk with a good mix of species seen. The outing is planned to coincide with Spring migration and we were serenaded throughout by scritchy scratchy Whitethroats wh...

 Our 20th anniversary today, and what better way to celebrate than with a birdwatching trip! It’s a long while since we visited Blackdown, but with rumours of a Great Grey Shrike off we went. This heathland habitat does not have a great diversity of species, but Tim had good views of a Dartford Warbler and I had a decent Siskin perched in a tree, which unfortunately disappeared before Tim arrived on the scene. We heard calling Woodlarks but frustratingly were unable to locate these. We searched a long time for the Great Grey Shrike without success, despite it being reported while we were on site, but the Heath covers quite a large area. In the end we gave up and walked up a lane to arrive at a different part of the Heath. And lo and behold, there perched on top of a bush was the elusive shrike! We watched for a few minutes and I could see it had a lizard in its mouth before it dropped down out of sight just as I got my scope on it. However, Tim was keen for a photo, so after patien...

 We had set today aside for packing and getting ready for our trip to Morocco tomorrow, but a report of a Little Ringed Plover at Widewater proved too difficult to resist. Due to time constraints we drove across, then walked along the path beside the beach huts to reach the mud and shingle area where any waders are generally found. It took us a while to locate the bird, and in fact we had completed an initial sweep without success and were on our way back when we spotted it right at the water’s edge. This species is not easily seen within the local area as we lack suitable habitat, so it was very satisfying to have this visitor pause at the lagoon.  In the end our quick visit became somewhat extended as we met a number of SDOS colleagues with the same idea and we ended up chatting to each one. Richard managed to spot a Firecrest in the Ivy and Chiffchaff were also here, both good birds for the site, but with empty suitcases beckoning we felt unable to linger any longer. Nevert...

We convened for a morning walk at 7am, despite it still being dark at the allotted meeting time! However by the time we had walked down the road to join the path to the river light had dawned. At the river we had superb views of a vibrant Grey Wagtail, bobbing its tail in its characteristic fashion. Crossing over the bridge we strolled through ‘The Flower Garden’, a popular public space with seating areas and children’s swimming pools, then skirted round to a small orchard where we found an African Blue Tit showing well. As we retraced our steps a probable Subalpine Warbler was heard, but couldn’t be located. After breakfast we headed for the Ouikaman ski resort, pausing en route when Bernie somehow managed to hear a Levaillant’s Woodpecker calling as we drove along a road overlooking a lush river valley. This was soon spotted moving up the trunk in a nearby tree, before flying to the top of a telegraph pole where it remained for several minutes, enabling everyone to get decent views o...

We arrived in Marrakesh around lunchtime to warm sunshine. Despite scanning the airport surroundings there was no sign of House Bunting, and travelling through the city there were tantalising glimpses of birds which were mostly impossible to identify as we drove past. Feral Pigeons were plentiful and Wood Pigeon and Collared Dove were also seen. We stopped for a late lunch in the city before driving to our first accommodation in the Ourika Valley, arriving late afternoon. View from hotel We convened in the courtyard at 5.30pm and set off for a walk towards the river.  In the scrubby bushes and trees we found Blackcap and Common Bulbul. A Grey Wagtail darted up the river and Great Tit and Chaffinch sang from the canopy. Viewing was often tricky, with small leaves partially obscuring the birds, but eventually we had superb views of African Chaffinch, incredibly bright and clear markings compared to our own UK based bird. These have recently split as a completely separate species, whe...

Smew We added an extra day to our Norfolk trip as there were reports of some interesting and less common birds on the Norfolk Broads, an area we have not visited before. At Rollesby Broad it took just a few minutes to find a group of Redhead Smew, and after pausing for photos, we rewarded ourselves with a cup of tea in the adjacent cafe!   From here we continued on to Filby Broad. This was less accessible than Rollesby, requiring a walk from the village across the fields and a footpath to reach a viewpoint where the reeds had been cut back, giving a view across the water. There were plenty of  Great-crested Grebes and Tufted Ducks here on the open water, but after scanning for some time we spotted one of our target birds, a Ring- necked Duck which swam into view from an area at the edge of the open lake where low hanging trees drooped over the water. Eventually, a Red-crested Pochard appeared amongst the tangled branches too, but the hoped for Ferruginous Duck eluded us, and w...

 Today we headed eastwards on the coast road to Cley NWT. Our main target was Long-billed Dowitcher, an American vagrant which has been around the area for several months. We arrived before the visitor centre was open, but were pointed in the direction of a likely hide by a member of staff. We scanned the pool from here noting crisp Pintails on the water and groups of Black-tailed Godwits and Avocet interspersed with a few Ruff, - our first of the year - all roosting on some exposed ridges, heads tucked neatly under their wings, but there was no obvious sign of our target bird. So we next headed off to the east bank, a raised walkway overlooking ‘the serpentine’ wetland area, unfortunately very exposed to the extremely strong winds. We observed plenty of Lapwings and Golden Plover enjoying the wet marshy landscape, but were unable to pick out the Dowitcher as we hunched against the elements and headed for the beach.  It did not take us long to find a roving flock of around 40 ...