Spring Awaits!

Depending on your point of view, meteorological speaking spring is a mere 10 days away. Indeed, it wont be long before all eyes are to the skies looking for that first Sand Martin of the year!

Lots of trees uprooted and held up by the recent winds!

Today I managed a real in-depth look around Brandon Marsh and one of the things that hit me is how different the reserve currently looks after recent events. With older and rotted trees succumbing to the high winds, new ponds appearing, flattened reed beds and brimming pools, the whole place has taken on a new ambiance.

All sluices open but a slow process.

A walk through New Hare Covert just after sunrise and the whole place was awash with birdsong. Song Thrush, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Goldcrest, Chaffinch and even several calls from a Brambling high in the canopy, which unfortunately Alban, Mike and I didn't quite manage to connect with. As we passed by the golf course a couple of Cetti's Warblers emerged from the bramble, offering a brief and unmistakable snippet of song before making off. We arrived at Wright Hide just in time to shelter from a heavy downpour and even with the sluices fully open East Marsh Pool is still to bursting point. A decent count of seven Goldeneye, single Shelduck, Little Grebe, Kingfisher (3) Snipe and various numbers of Wigeon, Shoveler and Teal, plus my first Brandon Great-crested Grebe of the year were the highlights. The path leading away from Wright Hide had at least four Lesser Redpoll ground feeding and both Treecreeper and Goldcrest were heard calling.

Reed Buntings in song throughout the reed beds.

A walk to Carlton Hide and through to the screen area produced a ♂Muntjac Deer along the Carlton ditch, Skylark over and at least a half dozen Reed Buntings singing away from various vantage points, such a mundane song for such an attractive bird.

Scarlet Elf Cup - Lots to investigate in the woodlands.

Personally I love to see the open sky but for me at this time of year woodlands are the place to be and so later in the morning I spent an hour or so in Horsetail Glade, only three or so years ago a great place to see Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers. Here I settled on the bench for a coffee, sometimes a great idea to just sit and let the wildlife come to you and it certainly did. A couple of Treecreepers, generally found in pairs at this time of year were busy feeding and constantly calling, a very high pitched call which thankfully I can still pick up. A Nuthatch seemed to be investigating a possible nesting sight and at least four Great-spotted Woodpeckers were causing havoc. Jays are still battling away too in their territorial quest and a nice surprise when a Bank Vole ran through close to my perch. Sadly, no LS Woodpeckers today but we can live in hope!

Another Update!

Birding is still at a premium for me at present with a few personal projects on the go, not least the 'Brandon Marsh 2013 Report', which I'm helping edit along with Alban and Jim. However, a leisurely walk around Draycote Water with Bob and Richard on Monday morning was a treat, this during a nice break in the persistent westerly gales, plus a dismally wet and windy visit to Brandon Marsh this morning.

Yellowhammer - One of several at Draycote Water

With the risk of becoming a little complacent, the usual long staying birds were to be found at Draycote: Great Northern Diver, feeding much further out on this visit, plus drake Smew, Long-tailed Duck and Red-breasted Merganser, which we eventually found as we approached the 'overflow'.

Also of note during my walk were at least a dozen or so Yellowhammer to the back of the 'Inlet', several Tree Sparrow on the feeder, lone Chiffchaff and a couple of very bold Water Rail, of which I managed a short burst of video on the Canon SX50. I even managed to wow Bob with a little plane spotting (aviation my second hobby) when I took this image of a Russian made Anotov AN-124 as it passed overhead!

Anotov An-124 worlds second heaviest operating cargo aircraft!

Brandon remains a quagmire and although the sluices are now open on east marsh pool, goodness knows when the levels will return to anything near normality. Some decent reports though over the last week or so of Caspian Gull, Red-crested Pochard and Mealy Redpoll, so I need to get back into the swing again pretty soon!

Another Little Owl residence up for lease!

Locally, I finally managed to place a Little Owl nesting box after finally getting permission from Lord Shuckburgh, thanks should also go to James from the Crossroads Garage at Napton who helped me put the thing up.

Quick Update

I've been finding it a real struggle of late keeping the blog updated with other commitments taking priority, but in the interests of continuity thought I'd better get a few notes down while I have a spare moment.

Great Norther Diver - still an attraction at Draycote Water

From a local perspective things have remained pretty much as was with the now long staying selection at Draycote Water of: Great Northern Diver, Smew, Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Duck. A visit to Napton Reservoir on route home from Brandon Marsh yesterday produced of note a couple of ♂Goosander, two ♂Pochard and the welcome sight of my first Kingfisher at the reservoir for some considerable time. It seems that Saturday's storm has also had an impact, with one of the large trees at the southern end literally chopped in half!

Drake Smew - During a recent visit to Draycote Water

A little further afield a Hume's Leaf Warbler is causing a twitch at Ham Wall, apparently Warwickshire's first county record buts it's unlikely I'll get the opportunity to get over for a look.

Few diving ducks to be found but the dabbling ducks are still around with good numbers of Gadwall at Brandon

Brandon Marsh remains flooded out with little in the way of diving ducks on offer, likely due to the birds having the whole country to choose from during the current climate. The odd Woodcock can be found on site, normally inadvertently flushed while walking the perimeter of the Farm Pool reedbed and Jack Snipe have also been seen while the conservation team are out working. One bird which remains elusive is probably the only current Bittern on site. However, this bird seems to be a creature of habit and over the past several days can be found regular as clockwork just before dawn. Position yourself by the bench at the top of the track which overlooks Newlands reed bed and you stand a good chance of seeing the bird fly in from it's roosting point, probably somewhere on Swallow Pool. Another surprise during yesterdays visit was an early Oystercatcher, Brandon doesn't usually see it's first until well into February.

Dunnock - Now beginning to sing!

Finally, the marina has been playing host to at least a half dozen Tufted Duck, which regularly fly in to roost overnight before heading off mid morning. The adjacent fields are a haven for Fieldfare and Redwing, now ground feeding and at least a dozen Skylark were flushed over the weekend. The feeders continue to attract the local Tree Sparrows and at least one Blackcap is regular, a Chiffchaff can also be heard regularly along the hawthorn. The eerie call of Fox has also been a feature of late, the Dunnocks are starting to sing but the local Owls are a little quieter at present.

Normal Service

Apologies for the break in transmission over the last fortnight and although I have been out birding on several occasions, blogging has had to take a back seat due to a few other projects in the mix.

However, normal service has resumed and Sunday an early start around the marina grounds before heading off to Brandon Marsh. The highlight around the marina was my first Little Owl of the year, when one flew east just prior to dawn. A Tawny Owl was also heard but at distance and I suspect came from somewhere over towards Napton Reservoir.

Shoveler on east marsh pool recently, Brandon Marsh - Canon SX50 HS

The water remains high at Brandon after the recent floods and as normal the sluices aren't due to be opened until February. Even then it remains to be seen how quickly the water on east marsh pool will recede. The team also attempted to raise a couple of perching trees across on Newlands last Thursday to replace those brought down over recent months. I'm entirely unsure as to how long these will last but it was great fun trying to get them up and with any luck the Brandon Cuckoos and Hobbies may have somewhere to perch this coming spring.

Siskin taken recently at Brandon in the gorgeous sunshine - Canon SX50 HS

A large Siskin flock was near Wright Hide feeding high in alder, with some stunning Lesser Redpoll within and a Chiffchaff calling near swallow pool was another highlight, before coffee in east marsh hide. After coffee a walk around the top reed beds and past the old farm buildings flushed a Woodcock and also produced Sparrowhawk, Buzzard and a few dozen Fieldfare and Redwing feeding on the surrounding fields.

This morning I headed off to Draycote Water in the hope that the predicted fog hadn't actually arrived! I wasn't disappointed, with the most glorious morning on offer. It wasn't long before I was onto the drake Smew, quickly followed by several Goosander, distant Long-tailed Duck and the long staying Great Northern Diver. I decided to take advantage of the weather and gave the Canon SX50 a once over using the HD video feature. I've uploaded my first attempt to my YouTube account and I hope you enjoy it. Bare in mind this was filmed hand held and there are a few exposure issues which I think I've got my head around for the future.

Brief Encounter

I left the boat in heavy rain, arriving at Brandon Marsh just after 8am for my first visit of the year. Some of the team were already out and about and by the time I'd caught up with them Martin had told me of a Bittern he'd seen flying on to the Newlands reedbed. Amazingly, this is the first sighting this winter! The guys had planned to do some work over on Newlands but I was keen to see what was about and so Martin and I left them to it.

As you would expect from a reserve situated on the River Avon floodplain the whole place was bursting at the seams and Martin and I abandoned an attempt to get down to the East Marsh Hide, the paths completely deluged and well over our wellies. Martin headed off and I decided to take my old route passed Sheep-field and on into New Hare Covert. As I passed the Sheep-field gate a quartet of Bullfinch with 2♂ and 2♀, a couple of Greenfinch and by the time I emerged from the Covert I'd further recorded: Buzzard, (2) Nuthatch, Great-spotted Woodpecker, (11) Siskin and Goldcrest.

One of four Goldeneye - Canon SX50

I finally managed to bypass the floods late morning and eventually got through to the Carlton Hide. It was here that I had the good fortune to have yet another close encounter with a dog Otter. This time I had my trusty Canon SX50 HS with me and managed to get a short HD video of the event. I must say I'm really enjoying carrying this amazing little camera around with me, it's great fun to use.

Solitary Barnacle Goose on East Marsh Pool - Canon SX50

At Carlton Hide I also managed a couple of Willow Tit, and another Goldcrest before settling at East Marsh Hide for morning coffee. Willow Island is completely immersed, well almost with around a hundred or so Lapwing seemingly perched on the water! A couple of Snipe on Wigeon Bank and (4) Goldeneye with 1♂ and 3♀. A solitary Barnacle Goose was among the Canada Geese, Little Grebe, (2) Sparrowhawk, Water Rail heard and a couple of Wigeon were other notables.

A brief visit to a very high Napton Reservoir on route home produced of note: a couple of ♂Goosander, (3) Pochard and various numbers of Fieldfare and Redwing, now ground feeding having almost demolished the berry crops!

Back Aboard!

Finally back aboard after visits to the north-west coast of England and Chauvigny France over the Christmas and New Year period and time to settle back down to a little normality. Mind you, while flying in over the UK I'm thankful once again that I live on a boat! Wide expanses of the countryside are simply deluged, with large areas looking like small groups of Islands.

Yuan Zi on the prowl in the huge purpose built environment!

After our earlier visits to Réserve naturelle du Pinail and Le Brenne Natural Parc, the last few days were spent locally. I've been surprised to find as many wintering Blackcap and Chiffchaff during this stay, mind you the weather has been extremely mild, even for this neck of the woods. The Firecrests and Marsh Tits are always a delight around the garden but I never did manage to connect this time with the local Red Squirrel, a regular feature in the area.

Huan Huan enjoying a nice spot of bamboo!

I also managed to fulfill one of my lifetime ambitions of seeing a Giant Panda. The Zooparc de Beauval, around a 90 minute drive from Dee's parents, is home for the next 10 years to a pair named Huan Huan (girl) and Yuan Zi (boy). I'm not a great lover of zoos for obvious reasons, but in many circumstances I do feel that zoos play an important role in conservation and research. Having spent the best part of the day at Zooparc de Beauval and seeing many threatened species well cared for and in some stunning environments, I can only offer lots of positives from my visit, although I'm not a lover of birds in cages!

Brilliant Year End!

Dee and I spent the last day of the year touring around the many 'etangs' (man-made lakes) of the La Brenne region of France, a place we've become very familiar with over recent years.

More tests with my Canon SX50 - You would not believe how far off this Stonechat was!

Taking the usual back roads on route our first birds of note were Merlin and a very confusing almost cream coloured Common Buzzard, strangely enough, not the first we've encountered around this particular region. On arrival at La Brenne our first stop was the Chérine Nature Reserve and after parking up we made our way down to the hide which overlooks Etang Du Gabriere. The walk down in pleasant sunshine produced a pair of Stonechat and the usual Redwing and Fieldfare, feeding on the remaining berry crops.

Cormorant - More from the Canon SX50 HS at distance!

The lake itself, usually a cacophony of noise during the breeding season was much quieter and held a large number of Cormorant and a typical selection of winter wildfowl, the highlights being: Pintail, Pochard, Shoveler, Wigeon, Teal and Gadwall. A Peregrine made a brief appearance with an attack on the Lapwing flock, but fortunately for the flock left empty handed.

Great White Egret - Full 50X zoom and a mile away, impressive!

La Brenne is also a great place to see Great White Egret and at least two were mingled in with several Little Egret. The walk back to the car produced our first ♀Hen Harrier of the day, plus our second Merlin and a surprise, when a Woodlark came down in the brush just in front of us in full song!

Pochard - Canon SX50

With the wildlife visitor centre closed we continued our tour dropping in at various lakes, including Blizon and Foucault lakes, where there are a couple of hides and here the highlight was a second ♀Hen Harrier, followed shortly after by a ♀Marsh Harrier. A couple of other private lakes we managed to view from the road were very lucrative, the first holding at least sixteen Great White Egret and the second a dozen Green Sandpiper. The only other wader of the day, apart from Lapwing were a couple of Black-tailed Godwit, a great end to the year!

French New Year

We arrived in Limoges France on Sunday evening after the usual Ryanair fiasco. Please bring back the Easyjet flights into Poitiers!! Fortunately, we'd had the foresight to book legroom seats in advance, which also includes priority boarding and so by the time we stowed our luggage in the overheads, we settled to watch the fiasco of 'find the luggage space' unfold. The fun didn't stop there! As by the time the crew had organised the trolley's, we were already on our descent into Limoges and so we didn't even get a chance to enjoy a nice glass of wine during the flight to lighten the experience!

The 90 minute drive north to Ste Radegonde was a joy, little traffic, Barn Owls and Fox on route and an amazing starlit sky at Dee's parents, no light pollution here. I managed to spend a good half hour stargazing around midnight after an excellent dinner, with the eerie call of a nearby Barn Owl and Tawny Owl to keep me company.

A real challenge trying for a flighty Firecrest with the new Canon SX50!

Waking around 11am after a rather late night, I took a stroll around the cherry orchard and the huge grounds that accompany Dee's parents house. Although quite a dull morning it was a good opportunity to further test my new Canon Powershot SX50 HS.  By the time I'd reached the wooded area at the bottom of the garden I'd recorded Jay, several Chaffinch and a couple of Chiffchaff. I paused for a while to explore the area and was delighted to come across at least two Firecrest, Nuthatch and Lesser-spotted Woodpecker. From the wood itself you emerge into the village and here an apple orchard held a good supply of windfall. A small House Sparrow population were taking advantage of the fallen fruit, along with a couple of Blackcap and a single Marsh Tit, which I finally got a positive ID on after hearing the unmistakable 'pitchoo' call.

A better effort in poor light of this Blackcap - Canon SX50

After breakfast we headed off for Réserve naturelle du Pinail, a reserve Dee and I have come to know very well. The mosaic of over 3000 small pools, moor and heathland are a real haven for harriers, chats and a great place to see Dartford Warbler. Unfortunately today wasn't our day, as on arrival it was evident that the area just beyond the reserve was playing host to at least two 'Chasse' (French hunts). The noise of horns blowing, hounds barking and 'maniacs' screaming was spine-chilling. Even more amplified by the stiff breeze, I can't even imagine what fear and dread the animals being hunted must have felt, let alone all other surrounding wildlife! Suffice to say, the birding was poor and although we walked the tracks, I was uneasy during my whole time there.

Lac de Saint-Cyr

Finally with the rain now falling, we made off for Lac de Saint-Cyr which is a large lake, a section of which has been developed into a Réserve Ornithologique. Only constructed a few years ago Dee and I have followed it's progress and were keen to see how it was progressing. With several hides surrounding smaller pools, three of which are only used during guided walks to protect the wildlife, it's a good place to see Kingfishers and one of my favourite, Coypu.

Coypu - One of five today - Full normal zoom in rain on the SX50

We weren't disappointed, with at least five Coypu and a couple of Kingfishers, which delighted Dee's mum. The only down side and a critic from our previous visits was the shielding of the pools. With the newly planted trees and bushes still yet to flourish, most of the wildfowl is spooked when you approach the hides as your almost in full view, still the potential for future years after this develops is huge.

Festive Birding

As with most of the country over the Christmas period, with the exception of the day itself, the weather here on the north-west coast has been abysmal, with strong winds and torrential rain the order of the day! With family commitments too, this has resulted in very little birding time over the festive period.

Whooper Swan 

However, Dee and I have managed a couple of outings. Firstly, a few hours at WWT Martin Mere on route to Liverpool on Tuesday and with the winds still gale force, accompanied by torrential downfalls, the birding was certainly a challenge.

Whooper Swan battling the strong winds!

One of the highlights here over the winter period are the thousands of wildfowl on the reserve and of course the hundreds of Whooper Swans and Pink-footed Geese that reside in the area over the period.

During our stay we managed most of the hides and a good number of the compounds. Wildfowl and Wetland reserves are not everyone's cup of tea, but Dee and I are life long members and always enjoy our visits, what better place to get close up and personal with some of the worlds rarer wildfowl species.

Asian Otter at feeding time.

One of the treats of the day was getting a personal one to one with the wardens who look after the Asian Otters and we had a good chat at feeding time, a meal of fresh mussels. The Asian is the smallest otter species in the world and are also the least aquatic of all the 13 species of otter, fascinating creatures. The oriental small-clawed otter lives in extended family groups with only the alpha pair breeding; offspring from previous years help to raise the young. Due to ongoing habitat loss, pollution, and hunting in some areas, the oriental small-clawed otter is evaluated as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.

Oriental small-clawed Otter

After the otters a final look at the wetlands provided good views of Peregrine hunting and decent numbers of Wigeon and Pintail.

Pintail in good numbers

Today a few fascinating hours spent around the Wyre Estuary and Skippool Creek. With the tide out the estuary provided decent numbers of Shelduck, Redshank, Curlew and the odd Little Egret and Bar-tailed Godwit, Skylark and Meadow Pipit. Unfortunately, we never managed to connect with a reported 21 Twite, seen a few days previous. A quick look at the Blackpool sea front near the go cart track provided our annual Purple Sandpiper, when at least a single bird was in among the many roosting Redshank and Turnstone along the sea wall. A few Scoter Sp. were also out to sea, but without the aid of my scope I'd have to call common.

Cup Half Full!

Greetings to my reader and apologies for the lack of updates recently, this entirely due to the shortage of any major action around the patch. Not surprising really, with excellent berry crops and temperatures still above the seasonal average in Scandinavia and northern Europe, there's still little movement into the UK from some of our winter favourites such as Smew, Bittern and Waxwing. In fact amazingly, there have even been reports of Barn Swallows still being seen on some of our southern coasts in the past week!

Grey Wagtail - Frequently on the marina grounds.

That said, my cup is always half full and you can't complain when you've got a few long staying goodies on the patch like Great Northern Diver, Red-breasted Merganser and Long-tailed Duck at Draycote Water and Yellow-legged Gull, Black-tailed Godwit, a huge Starling roost and lots of wintering wildfowl at Brandon Marsh!

Thankfully, our Tree Sparrows have returned!

Living on a marina is also a real bonus, now that the moorers can once again put feeders out! Long story of some weird management decisions recently. Thankfully, both our Reed Bunting and Tree Sparrow populations have returned and several were making us of the re-installed feeders the other morning. Our regular Pied Wagtail roost has been fluctuating of late, but a decent count of over a hundred was managed on Friday evening. Both Chiffchaff and Blackcap have also been recorded around the grounds, small numbers of Golden Plover and Lapwing are often found in the adjacent fields and a couple of Grey Wagtails have also been a regular feature. I've now been given permission, after a long battle, by Lord Shuckburgh's son to place a Little Owl box in one of the local fields I've been monitoring and thanks to James at the Crossroads Garage for his help in securing the permission. Hopefully I can entice some of the declining local birds to take advantage of the new home.

Reed Bunting - back on the feeders!

Should also mention a very entertaining half hour or so spent flat out on the pontoon on Friday evening. No not the wine, but the Geminid meteor shower, which produced a half dozen or so really bright meteors, before I finally succumbed to the cold. Despite chastising Richard on a number of occasions regarding his self imposed blogging sabbatical,(cymbelinelister.blogspot.co.uk/) sadly to no avail, it's up to me to pass on the local astronomical news. With this in mind the ISS, or 'shed' as he knows it, will be making several bright passes over the UK this coming week just after sunset, details HERE.

Finally, I'll be spending Christmas week once again on the north-west coast, after which I'm off to France for the new year, so I'm very hopeful of some decent birding over the period, which I'll naturally keep my reader up to date with. So whatever your doing over the Christmas and new year, make time for the birds and keep watching the skies!!