Birdwatcher’s Diary No.102

Published on: 7 Feb, 2016
Updated on: 7 Feb, 2016

By Malcolm Fincham

Moving into the end of the January the weather started to turn mild once again. Unfortunatly for me however, with it brought more overcast conditions and rain.

Unabated by it I continued on my ventures. Meeting up with fellow manic birdwatcher, pal Dougal, we set out on the trail of a few more ‘new year ticks’.

For a change of scenery on we decided to visit Witley Common on January 24.

Not personally having great knowledge of the area, we arrived at a path that ran alongside a fenced-off area. It was there I spotted a bird perched alone at the top of a tall tree.

Great grey shrike on a grey day. Click on all pictures to enlarge in a new window.

”Looks a bit like a great grey shrike,” I said, as I pointed it out. Raising our binoculars we confirmed it indeed was.

Was it the one that had been so elusive on Thursley Common in the last few weeks? With us being just across the A3 from Thursley this was quite a possibility.

Woodcock. This one I photographed a few years ago in Scotland.

Adding to our latest sightings, we accidentally flushed up a woodcock, getting good views as it flew a short distance away to the safety of some bracken. Not wishing to inflict it with any further disturbance just to get a photo, I’ve added one from my picture library.

Goldcrest on Witley common.

We added mistle thrush, fieldfare, redwing, a greater spotted woodpecker, siskins and a few more common species to the day’s list which included a few goldcrests.

Long-tailed tit on Witley Common.

And even a small group of long-tailed tits.

We were able to pick out the rarer sight and even a brief call of a lesser spotted woodpecker, regretting that I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture of it. And so with daylight fading we decided to call it a day.

A view across the lagoon at Farlington.

Confessing to my wife’s accusations of my ‘camera envy’ when seeing some of the photographers’ cameras and lenses as they arrive at some of the locations, we took advantage of a dry, sunny day, for a drive down to Farlington Marshes near Portsmouth. I continued try to convince myself that it is just not practical, too obsessive and far too expensive for the work I enjoy.

The tide was coming in on our arrival there, quite a few birds were being pushed off their island roosts by the rising tide, and this, combined with the sunlight being in my favour, gave me some good opportunities for some in-flight shots.

Black-headed gull at Farlington.

A practice shot of a black-headed gull still in winter plumage was a nice start to the venture.

Brent geese in flight at Farlington.

While an attempt to catch a picture of some Brent geese, still wintering in there thousands at the reserve, also gave me a chance to attempt some manual focusing.

Pintail at Farlington.

On the lagoon several small groups of pintail ducks could be viewed.

Male and female teal at Farlington.

Other members of the regular wintering wildfowl contingent were present and easily viewable. Drake teal showing their iridescent colours in the sunlight.

Shoveler at Farlington.

Shoveler, unmistakable due to its large spatula bill.

Shoveler in flight at Farlington.

Its wide-flat bill is equipped with well-developed lamellae – small, comb-like structures on the edge of the bill that act like sieves, allowing the birds to skim crustaceans and plankton from the water’s surface.

And wigeon, many of which visit the UK in winter from Iceland.

Bearded tit (reedling) at Farlington.

Adding to my year listings, two bearded tits briefly flew up from the vast reed beds near to the information hut, flying across the path, overhead, they they disappeared without further trace into the smaller reed bed behind the hut.

Lapwings and starlings at Farlington.

Lapwings and starlings flew up in a large flock, agitated by a common buzzard flying through.

Dunlin at Farlington.

A little way out in the harbour a ‘fling’ of dunlins held fast to one of the only spits that remained above sea-level.

Ringed plovers at Farlington.

Among them I was also able to pick out a few ringed plovers nestled in with the dunlins.

Dunlin are highly gregarious in winter, sometimes forming large flocks.

The collective name is a ‘fling of dunlin’.

While several flocks in turn gave up their roosts and flew by into the inland lagoons.

Oystercatchers at Farlington.

On another small island a few oystercatchers could be viewed, their long, carrot-like bills showing well in the afternoon sun.

Kestrel at Farlington.

The reliable sight of a kestrel also showed well.

Little egret, first known to breed in the UK on Brownsea Island, Dorset, in 1996.

A little egret posed, statue-like, by one of the lagoons on one leg with its yellow clawed foot on show.

Skylark at Farlington.

While several Skylarks could be seen in the fields.

The highlight, however, came at the end of my day as I walked back along the harbour wall, and with the tide at it highest, several ducks could be seen quite close by.

Two female red-breasted mergansers.

Among them were three red-breasted mergansers.

Red-breasted mergansers live in both fresh and saltwater and are usually found around the UK coastline in winter.

These members of the ‘sawbill’ family, although breeding on freshwater lakes and rivers, are more often seen in salt water coastal areas during winter months, than their close cousins the goosander.

Although goosanders also breed on rivers in the north and west of Britain, more often they can be seen wintering on lakes and reservoirs in southern counties of the UK. Identifying the two types of sawbills, can be pretty straight-forward when confronted with male birds. However, the females, or redheads as they are more often called, can be much more difficult.

It was by coincidence, that a few days later I got an invite from good friends Dougal and Bob, on a trip to East Horsley and Pennymead Lake, where a drake red-breasted meganser and eight or so goosanders had been recently reported by The Surrey Bird Club.

The male goosander has a dark green head, a black back and a long, red bill with a hook at the tip. The white sides and breast sometimes have a pink glow.

Feeling this was a good opportunity for some up-to-date photos of goosanders to show the difference between them and at the same time, for me, to see what was a comparatively rare ‘Surrey’ sighting of a red breasted merganser.

Male and female goosanders have different calls, with the male producing low-pitched croaking sounds in contrast to the harsh “karr” and cackle of the female.

The female goosander is grey with a gingery or rufous brown head and a white throat.

Although quite distant when we arrived and the reflection off the water wasn’t in my favour, I was able to get some reasonable ‘record shots’ of both male and female goosanders.

Drake red-breasted merganser at Pennymead Lake, East Horsley.

And even pick out the drake red-breasted meganser on the far side of the lake.

With thumbs up all round on the views, we decided to move on. Heading for home, as the rare sight of the sun although by then low in the sky continued to shine, we decided to do a slight detour through Send, towards Old Woking.

Ring-necked parakeets at Papercourt.

Grateful for the fact that I had remembered ‘me’ wellie boots, we parked up in Tannery Lane. We walked across a footbridge over the River Wey and on to a very wet and muddy Papercourt water meadows, trying not to fall over, as I attempted a photo of three ring-necked parakeets, squawking as they flew over.

But it wasn’t long before we got to see what we had hoped for – a short-eared owl.

Short-eared owls’ flight is erratic to say the least. Often described as “moth-like”, it flaps its wings high in a slow, floppy fashion.

It was about 4.15pm that it first made an appearance, rising up like an apparition out of the long grass.

The short-eared owl is largely nocturnal and crepuscular (dusk and dawn), but it is still one of the most active British owls during daylight.

Quartering the field and rowing it’s wings like a giant moth.

Seeing a short-eared owl is always a wonderful sight for me.

Although I have had more than my fair share of sightings since last autumn, and having got a good selection of pictures for my previous reports it was my first recording of one since the new year and a good excuse I thought, to get a few more pictures of what I feel is a truly beautiful critter.

Short-eared owl at Papercourt water meadows.

Short-eared owl takes flight out of the long grass, at Papercourt water meadows.

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