Stumped by a duck! (25th May 2012).

On what was a nice sunny day, I spent the afternoon at two of the sites at the northern end of the Lee Valley Regional park - the RSPB reserve at Rye Meads, and the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust Reserve at Amwell Quarry.

I had made the decision to concentrate on invertebrates, and had only taken a macro lens with me, rather than my usual photographic kit which includes a 500mm telephoto lens, so naturally when I made what was intended to be a brief visit to the first hide at Rye Meads, I found something I really needed a telephoto lens for!

 

In front of the hide (but still fairly distant) was the hybrid duck that had been reported occasionally during the previous winter, and which had recently returned to the reserve following a period of absence. The above photos are heavily cropped, but still show the duck very well. It is always very difficult to be certain about the parentage of suspected hybrids, and this one had me stumped when I first saw photos of it (though this was the first time i had actually seen it 'in the flesh'). Crosses between quite a few duck species can produce the yellow facial patches which give a resemblance to Baikal Teal, but in this case the consensus is that one of the parents is a Baikal Teal - it is thought to be a Baikal Teal x Chestnut Teal cross, which would mean that it definitely has captive origins. Never-the-less, a very interesting bird, and certainly something that you don't see everyday.

More usual duck species were also present, including the Shoveler, Gadwall, and Tufted Ducks which can be seen with the hybrid in this shot:

It was good to see several school groups being shown around the reserve, and making use of the pond dipping areas, even if their use of the bird hides did cause some slight disturbance to other visitors on the reserve. I helped to point out a few of the birds that were present in one of the hides, which I thought might show that I didn't mind the 'intrusion', but was still given an apology by the teacher/helper with the group for "having my day disturbed" when they left (there was no need - the more children are involved with wildlife, the more likely they are to want to protect it in the future!).

Most of the birds present on the reserve today were the sort of thing that can be found in any similar habitat in the area, but Pochards, Common Terns, Great-crested Grebes, and Cormorants were more than enough to keep the school groups happy - especially when they could identify them themselves using the pictures they had been given.

A Male Pochard that came close to one of the hides.

Birds that the school groups probably overlooked included Reed & Sedge Warblers, Chiffchaff, and Hobby.

I didn't manage to find much use for my macro lens on this reserve, although there were quite a few damselflies visible around the pond dipping pools, and a Hairy Dragonfly was hawking along one of the paths, but this thistle looked like it would be a good picture:

I didn't go as far as the Kingfisher Hide (where the first Kingfisher had apparently fledged) - no need to tempt fate, there was sure to be a Kingfisher motionless on the nearest perch if I visited without a telephoto lens!

Slightly futher north, at Amwell Quarry Nature Reserve, damselflies were very easy to find, and this time I was able to get close enough for some photos.

Blue-tailed Damselflies, Common Blue Damselflies, and Azure Damselflies were the most numerous, with many maturing individuals found along the fence line and in vegetation a short distance from water.

Female Blue-tailed Damselfly

Immature male Common Blue Damselfly

Mature male Azure Damselfly

A fair few Large Red Damselflies were also to be found, mainly mature males holding territories at the waters edge, and there were a few Red-eyed Damselflies on water lily leaves in one of the pits. At least two Hairy Dragonflies were also around.

Male Large Red Damselfly

Common Buzzard, Little Egret, Hobby, and a pair of Oystercatchers with three part grown young were the highlights among the birds present, and other wildlife included a Red-headed Cardinal Beetle.

An evening with Owls (24th May 2012).

A short trip out in the evening with Roy produced very good views of a hunting Hobby, as well as both Barn Owl and Tawny Owl near Waltham Abbey.

The Hobby came very low over our heads, and it looked as if the Barn Owl was going to do the same but it seemed to notice us standing quietly at the last minute and veered off and away.

Another London rarity! (19th May 2012).

Dave and I started the morning at the Chingford reservoirs, where we carry out a monthly count of the waterbirds present as part of the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), which helps to assess national populations of wetland species.

It was a glorious sunny day – but this is the type of weather conditions that aren’t likely to bring the more interesting species that we might hope for to the reservoir. The good weather meant that visibility was good, and the water was calm and flat, but poorer conditions, including rain, are more likely to make passage birds like Black Terns and Little Gulls drop in as they pass over at this time of year.

We weren’t at all surprised to find that bird-wise the reservoirs were very quite. With most wintering birds having left, and few passage species present, we found that the count didn’t take too long at all. Neither reservoir has any islands, and both are concrete rimmed with bare, sheep grazed banks, so they aren’t attractive to most breeding species. A few pairs of Canada Geese do breed each year though, and a pair of Shelduck were present on the King George V Reservoir, with a new brood of 14 ducklings. Also of interest were a couple of pairs of Linnets on nearby rough ground, a few passage Common Sandpipers, Common Blue Damselflies and some flowers that had escaped being eaten by the sheep.

During the morning we had received news of a Bonaparte’s Gull, the North American counterpart of the Black-headed Gull, which had been found on the River Thames not too far away (the second record in the London Area, with the only previous one in 1983).

It proved elusive during the middle part of the day, after having been seen at Crossness and Barking Bay in the early and mid morning,  but with three other observers we found it again in Barking Bay as the tide ebbed late in the afternoon.

It was a 1^st summer individual, although it had yet to start showing any sign of a dark hood. In size and appearance it was something like a cross between a Black-headed Gull and a Little Gull, superficially more like a Black-headed Gull, but with a black bill, pink legs, an indistinct grey wash on the nape, and a different pattern on the wings – most noticeably the pale underside to the primaries. It’s behaviour and flight action was more reminiscent of Little Gull, which meant that it could be fairly easy to pick out from the Black-headed Gulls at times – not always though!

The above, rather poor 'phone-scoped' photo (taken through a telescope with my mobile phone) does show the Bonapartes Gull, rather than the more numerous Black-headed Gull (honest!). Better photos were taken by other observers, closer to the bird when it had been seen in the morning, and over the following days. Remarkably a second Bonaparte’s Gull later joined it!

Exotic Melodies! (16th May 2012).

News of the discovery of a Melodious Warbler singing in back gardens not far from the River Lee in Leyton was quickly passed on to local birdwatchers, and I was able to spend a little over an hour and a half watching this exotic visitor, usually found only on the continent, late in the afternoon.

While I was present it returned several times to a Holly tree, and other trees/bushes close to the road, and was also heard singing from bushes further from the road. It was quite a bright individual with pale yellow underparts, and the typical shape and largish size that is associated with most Hippolais warblers. The separation from the similar Icterine Warbler can sometimes be tricky, but in this case the song made it relatively straight forward – and, although elusive at times, the bird showed well enough for the short primary projection to be seen clearly on a number of occasions.

Although I saw the bird extremely well, and it was well within range of my camera, on this occasion I managed to miss the best opportunity for a photo and was not able to spend time waiting for another chance.

As a result the best shot that I managed is completely unidentifiable- but I'll post it anyway! (Better photos taken by other people here).

This is a Melodious Warbler - but you'll have to take my word for it (sometimes you miss the shot!).

A short visit to a site on the edge of Epping Forest later in the evening to see if any Grasshopper Warblers were in, failed to find "Groppers", but hopefully there will be some at the site this summer. At least some of the other warblers weren't camera shy as the Melodious was when I tried for photos of that!

A Common Whitethroat wasn't keen on posing for the camera, but I managed a couple of shots, and a Willow Warbler (bottom photo) was happy to show himself off - you can tell it's a Willow Warbler because it's in a Willow!:

In search of Nightingales (14th May 2012).

Following a period of generally poor weather I finally managed to have a proper look round a tetrad (2 km x 2 km square) that I had been allocated for the BTO Nightingale survey. I had previously made brief visits to parts of the tetrad, and hadn’t found any sign of Nightingales.

The tetrad included Galleyhill Wood, just to the east of the River Lee Country Park, as well as nearby farmland areas with a few scattered copses, and it was a very pleasant area for an early morning walk, although very wet and muddy under foot due to the recent rain. Unfortunately I was not able to find any sign of the presence of Nightingales anywhere in the tetrad, and I was not especially surprised about this because the habitat wasn't really ideal.

 

Above: Cattle at Holyfield Hall Farm viewpoint, with part of the River Lee Country Park in the background. Red-legged Partridges, Pheasants, and Yellowhammers were on the farmland between here and Galleyhill Wood, including some very smart looking ‘melanistic’ type male Pheasants with glossy purple-black plumage.

In the woodland their were Nuthatches, Coal Tits, Sparrowhawks, and various warblers, and at one point I had four different male Cuckoos calling nearby, as well as a 'bubbling' female. The calls from the female Cuckoo attracted two of the males who flew directly towards the sound.

Various common mammal species were seen early in the morning, including a small herd of Fallow Deer that did their best to hide in a thicket as I approached them along the public bridleway, and Reeve’s Muntjac, Red Fox, Rabbits, and Grey Squirrels were also seen.

Greater Stitchwort (above) was one of the more obvious flowering plants along the edges of the bridleways and footpaths, with the relatively small white flowers quite detailed when viewed closely. There were also quite a few other flowers to be found, as well as a variety of invertebrates that were feeding on these or present on nearby plants, some of which I was able to photograph with the only camera I had with me today – the one on my mobile phone.

Hoverfly - probably Syrphus ribesii.

One of the more numerous insects that I didn’t manage to photograph were the longhorn moths with antennae about three times the length of their body and iridescent wings. These were of a species known by the scientific name of Adelea reaumurella, and given various English names including Green Longhorn Moth and Fairy Longhorn Moth. Quite a few of these were around hawthorns and other trees/bushes, hovering above them in small groups or perching on leaves in the sun.

After I had finished surveying the tetrad I paid a visit to the nearby River Lee Country Park where I did manage to find some Nightingales in the usual areas. There were also a few Hobbies hawking some of the emerging insects, which no doubt included the damselflies that were now beginning to appear. Various damselfly species were easily found in vegetation near, or at the edges of  the various ponds, rivers, and gravel pits, but almost all were not fully mature.

Male (top) and female Banded Demoiselles, a species which can be numerous
along some of the rivers and streams in the Lee Valley.

An Angle Shades moth, found in sparse vegetation at the edge of one of the ponds.

Raptors at Upshire (8 May 2012).

I spent a couple of hours at Fernhall Lane today, an excellent place to spend a bit of time when you don't want to be too active. It's a great place for birds of prey with views across towards Galleyhill Wood and up to Copped Hall. The highlight today was a Honey Buzzard with a supporting cast of 6 Common Buzzards and a Hobby.

International Dawn Chorus Day (6th May 2012).

A 4.30 am start time for a bird walk always seems unlikely to be attractive to many people, but dawn chorus walks always seem to be popular. This year I was joined by 15 early risers for a walk in the River Lee Country Park.

Nightingales and Robins could be heard singing from the car park while people were getting themselves ready, and they were soon joined by a couple of Blackbirds. This meant that right from the start we were able to listen to the most famous British songbird, as well as the far commoner Blackbird and Robin which I personally think have far nicer songs – if not quite as loud and striking as the song of the Nightingale.

During the morning we were able to listen to and compare the songs of various different species, including those that are often confused with each other, such as Sedge Warbler and Reed Warbler, and the very similar Blackcap and Garden Warbler. We also had the opportunity to listen to the songs that readily help to identify species pairs like Chiffchaff & Willow Warbler, and Common Whitethroat & Lesser Whitethroat, species which can otherwise be difficult to separate.

Try listening to the linked recordings below. These have been linked from a website with a large database of songs/calls of European birds (all those linked were recorded in the UK, some from the site where this walk took place - though not during the walk!). Please let us know if you find these links broken.

Sedge Warblers tend to sound 'angry', almost argumentative, with frequent sudden changes in both the speed and strength of delivery. Reed Warblers on the other hand sound almost like they are singing away quietly to themselves.

Blackcap and Garden Warbler song can sometimes be so similar that even experienced observers can find them difficult to tell apart - especially early in the spring when they haven't been heard for a while. Blackcap song tends to be more varied, with frequent changes in pitch, Garden Warbler song is usually flatter and less variable. The real difficulty comes when Blackcaps are singing quietly, especially when they are in sub-song!

Of course we didn’t concentrate only on the birdsong, and took the opportunity to look at other birds and wildlife while we were out, which included brief views of a Sparrowhawk and Muntjac Deer, as well as Shoveler and the now expected Egyptian Geese.

I had already agreed to lead a second walk, this one on behalf of the Lee Valley Regional Park and due to begin at 10.30, so rather than going away and coming back I stayed on site and continued birdwatching – accompanied by one of the participants from the dawn walk and a another lady who we invited to join us.

Most of the time was spent watching over 70 Acres Lake from the viewing platform on the east side, from where we were able to watch the activity without moving from the spot. Recently arrived migrant Hobbies, Swifts, Swallows, and House Martins were hawking for insects over the lake, and Common Terns were actively fishing in the lake and nearby river channel – harassed by the nesting Black-headed Gulls when ever they caught a fish. Nearby two secretive species, Cetti’s Warbler and Nightingale were seen in lakeside willows.

At one point a low pass by a Hobby flushed many of the birds on one of the islands, including two Yellow Wagtails that had previously been feeding unseen amongst low vegetation.

Also seen briefly were two Bar-tailed Godwits, which flew through low over the lake heading north-east. Knowing the area I guessed that they were likely to drop in to feed at the area known as “The Goosefield”, where a number of shallow pools had been created with passage waders in mind. A walk up there proved this to be the case, and we were able to watch them feeding at the edge of one of the pools. One was in near full breeding plumage, the other was in duller non-breeding plumage ('phone-scoped' shots below).

The second walk of the day followed a very similar route to the dawn one, with similar birds seen and heard. The real dawn chorus experience was obviously lacking, but even so there were still some birds singing – and those present on the second walk had the opportunity to see the godwits that had arrived after the earlier walk had finished.