10th March:
The first birding trip of the month was down along the North
Kent coast with Pete Gurr and John Tilbrook in search of late winter and early
spring migrants. As Pete was driving we took the scenic route through the
Medway towns (no Medway Tunnel then either) and found a full summer plumaged
Med Gull on a lamppost in what I called Rochester but was actually up near the
MoD Brompton Barracks in Chatham. Little
did I know that I would end up living not too far away and that all those trips
with Pete would give me a good grounding of how to navigate my way through the
area. I often drive past the roundabout where we saw it and regardless of the
passing of all those years, the memory still pops into my head unbidden.
We headed for Sheppey and Shellness where we failed to find
the Twite flock but did locate a single Snow Bunting and a ringtail Hen Harrier
was quartering the saltmarsh.
 |
Hen Harrier
|
Back around at Harty we stood at the corner where the Raptor
Watchpoint mound now is and saw eight more ringtails Hen Harriers hunting the
fields which is almost unthinkable nowadays. A single female Marsh Harrier was
however the only one seen and there were no Buzzards back then either. The
Marsh Harrier caught and flew off with an Eel!
A female Merlin dashed through and over a thousand Russian
White-fronted Geese were present along with two Bean Geese although there is no
indication of whether they were Taiga or Tundra although I suspect that at the
time Taiga was actually more likely. A family of Bewick’s Swans was with the
Mute herd and flocks of Corn buntings were up on the wires by the bramble
clumps so at least some things do not change.
We came back along the Medway and I am surprised that my
notes do not mention stopping at Funton Creek but we did see a Chiffchaff in
the sewage works at Lower Halstow and six female and a drake Scaup from Motney
Hill which would get the pulses of the local birders rushing nowadays.
14th March:
One of the Long-eared Owls performed very well at Dagenham
Chase but there were no migrants in and just a few Snipe and Lapwing and The
Slack.
16th March:
It was down to Dungeness with Pete Gurr with Scotney Pit on
the East Sussex-Kent border being the first stop. Back then there was
inevitably a good wintering flock of Scaup on this old gravel pit and we were
not to be disappointed with 237 counted loafing around the near edge. I do not think I have heard of even a double
figure flock anywhere in the last twenty years? With no Grebes of Divers to search for and
just 16 noisy Barnacle Geese, we moved onto Dungeness and spent a two hours in
the Seawatching hide with the late and great Ray Turley. It was a bit slow but
we did see a few Kittiwakes, an adult Little Gull and two ericking Sandwich
Terns along with a few waders and wildfowl that included 15 Avocets, Goldeneye,
Mergansers and a Red-necked Grebe all undoubtedly interspersed with Ray’s
enviable birding tales.
On to the RSPB reserve where a full summer plumaged Med Gull
was undoubtedly the highlight as he displayed on an island while Marsh Frogs
(but no Harriers) were seen from the Hookers Pit look out. There were Knot, Golden and Grey Plover in
the fields and Chiffchaffs sang in the willows.
We met John Tilbrook who had seen some migrants around the
Observatory and with his help we were soon watching two male and a female
Wheatear with a flock of 35 Redwings feeding on the mossy shingle. These were my earliest records by over a
week. A female Black Redstart and
another Wheatear gave themselves up nearby rounding up an early spring sortie
nicely.
21st – 23rd March:
A couple of visits to Dagenham Chase revealed that the
Long-eared Owls had moved on but there were now singing Chiffchaffs and a
single cascading Willow Warbler as well as a flock of 22 Corn Buntings around
the old Gypsy encampment. It is interesting to note that I specifically
mentioned the arrival of British Lesser Black-backed Gulls on site. The trend for this species being an all year
round bird was only just beginning and I can even remember phoning them into
the YOC Migrant Hotline in the mid-80s! That’s not to say that our birds are no
longer migratory and even last week it was good to note them drifting west over
my house as they come back to their summer breeding colonies.
24th March:
Another Pete Gurr special day out with no real plan and just
a general direction of northish saw us at Butley in Suffolk. My notes say... 'we
came up here for no apparent reason and by the time we got back to the car we
still hadn’t found one...'
Pete was busy brewing his lemon tea on his little stove by
the car when I picked up two tussling Rough-legged Buzzards over the woods
which eventually came closer and then cruised just overhead. Which improved the
fortunes of the morning somewhat!
 |
| Rough-legged Buzzard |
White Wagtails were noted with Pieds and some finches in the
paddocks before we moved on to Benacre Broad where a Spoonbill had
unfortunately just departed but we did see a female Long-tailed Duck and two
Avocet for our troubles while a Common Buzzard over the woods at the back was
still a noteworthy occurrence back then.
Onwards and into Norfolk for a walk out from Horsey Windmill
to see what we could find. We did not know
about the far simpler and less treacherous Stubbs Mill road on the other side
of the Mere but there were still birds to be seen with four Marsh Harriers and
two brief flying Cranes that Pete missed as he was taking a short cut
apparently while a single Egyptian Goose was my first in the Broads!
We now went west and failed to find the spot in Norwich for
the Arctic Redpolls and ended up coming back through the Brecks at dusk with
hundreds of dapper Bramblings seen by the roadside near Elvedon and three female
and a male Golden Pheasant on the edges of a pine belt somewhere further down
the road. The last rays of the day were spent at Foxhole Heath where no Stone
Curlews materialised but although Partridges, Pheasants and Brown Hares
abounded.
25th March:
A trip up the Lee Valley with Ian Woodward in search of
migrants and the hoped for pair of Little Ringed Plovers were still on the
Fishers Green Goosefield along with a pair of Ringed Plovers too. Both species were displaying. There were no other migrants at all – not
even a Chiffchaff so we headed for the bleakness of the KGV Reservoir and
walked the whole way round. Three Goosander and three Goldeneye were the only
wildfowl of note but the Tree Pipit in sparkling fresh plumage was a very
pleasing find amongst 38 Pied and two White Wagtails.
 |
Tree Pipit
|
27th March:
A short visit to Gernon Bushes at the top end of Epping
Forest revealed at least three pair of Hawfinches. I seem to recall having ten
pair there at some stage over the next couple of years. It was the last good strong hold in the
Forest but if any are still present they are very thinly spread and even shyer
than they used to be. It must have been a pleasant day as I also saw Brimstone,
Comma, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell butterlies.
A Welsh Easter with Peter Gurr
29th March:
A typically long and tortuous journey that included a
‘detour’ around Birmingham and I suspect no roads with an M in them saw us
arrive on Anglesey at Holyhead Harbour at about 3pm in the hope that the long
staying White-billed Diver would still be around but the news from tow local
birders was that it had not been seen for a few days! I had seen my first as a flyby at Holme in
October the previous year that had thankfully also been seen and submitted by
another observer but I was keen to see another.
With no Divers and only few Guillemots and Mergansers on
show we made our way to RSPB South Stack where two Choughs were seen almost
immediately as they collected grass from one of the paddocks around the
buildings but we never got far as a couple of chaps told us that they had been
watching the WBD just an hour before so we packed up again and made our way to
the bay opposite the Aluminium works. Twenty minutes later we were watching
this monstrous banana billed Diver feeding just offshore in the company of a
near full breeding plumaged Great Northern. I can remember watching both
species snorkling before diving down after crabs.
 |
White-billed Diver
|
With our main quarry acquired and the day waning we made our
way back to South Stack where we had booked into the huge white house there but
there was still time to watch the Wheatears and Choughs on the cliff top and
have a fry up on Pete’s stove for dinner in the RSPB car park...
The evening was apparently spent losing at Scrabble with a
family from York although i can honestly say that I have no recollection of
that whatsoever!
30th March:
We were up early in the hope of some pre-breakfast migrant
hunting and were not to be disappointed with a male Ring Ouzel singing
mournfully from the rood of the B&B outbuilding and being nicely set off by
the white chimney pots behind it. There were still two Wheatears and many alba
Wagtails, Skylarks and Meadow Pipits on the short cliff top sward. I flashed forward to the 7th June
2003 when the rotund Black Lark flew in not long after dawn and grovelled on
the same patch but with a huge crowd of admiring birders in attendance. I seem to remember having a Gurrish style
pre-sunup fry up in the car park that morning too. Happy days...
Back in time once again to that Ouzel morning and the
Choughs and Raven put on a good show and four Puffins were seen amongst the
throng of Guillemots and Razorbills on the near vertical cliffs. There was also
a great encounter with a male Peregrine that caught a Feral Pigeon and had
started to pluck it but then took off and promptly lost its grip and dropped it
breakfast before returning to the ledge and having a proper paddy at its
carelessness.
After a full Welsh repast we headed across the island to
Fedw Fawr down the tiniest of lanes in the hope that firstly nothing would be
coming the other way and secondly that the Black Guillemots would be
present. Thankfully we were successful
on both counts and had 13 dapper chocolate black and white auks on the sea
below us. They were incredibly vocal and that red gape could be seen from some
distance while the red feet and flashing wing panels could be seen while they
were ‘flying’ under water.
 |
| Black Guillemots |
Fulmars cruised bar at head height and both Rock and Meadow
Pipits displayed and a Chiffchaff started to sing from the scrubby bushes.
The Black Guillies did not have the bay all to themselves
with a huge bull Grey Seal bobbing around and Kittiwakes milled around a
fishing boat a little further out.
Cemlyn Bay was out post lunch stop and although it was too early for
Terns it still contained a few duck and waders and a ludicrously vibrant,
almost red Caribbean Greater Flamingo which had apparently been in the area for
several years. More Black Guillemots,
Ravens and Choughs were seen at Penmon before another evening with the Peregrines
and corvids at South Stack and a second thrashing at Scrabble!
31st March:
A slight lay in and breakfast before a final look around
South Stack before starting the journey off Anglesey and south through the
heart of Wales. It was a wiggley route but
it had its rewards with a pair of Dippers on the river at Bedgellert, Chough
near Snowdon and a few Buzzards and Ravens.
There were no Red Kites north of Devil’s Bridge at that time and so we
had to get well south before we had a chance and by the time we reached
Tregaron we had seen four of this most graceful of raptors from the car. One
circled above us while we had lunch at a picnic spot that was full of finch
song with Siskins, Lesser Redpolls, Chaffinches and noisy group of 30 Common
Crossbills.
From here we headed east over the high tops to Bluith Wells
and then hay-on-Wye which was entertaining to say the least as Pete’s Fiesta
could not make it up the hills so on at least two occasions I was deposited at
the bottom of a serious incline and forced to walk up and meet him at the top
in the hope that he had actually made it there without conking out! On the
second of these Pete had actually stopped the car just shy of the top to allow
me to catch up but the car refused to start for fifteen long minutes in the
middle of nowhere! Thankfully noting came along the single track road as we
were completely blocking it.
Once started we had to negotiate the 1:4 down the other side
complete with hairpin bends and dips and hidden dips and humps which I think we
did out of gear to save fuel. Once down
in the valley bottom there were Goosanders on the river and Buzzards above. I
suspect that those valleys are full of Kites now.
We stayed the night in picturesque Hay-on Wye before heading
home the next day via a fruitless search for an American Wigeon at Slimbridge.
