September Birdseeker
19th September 2005
Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers’ Trip Report by Neil Glenn
Photos by Lynne Demaine©
The minibus was booked and filled, now all our intrepid party of Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers needed was a destination. The previous week had seen several Greenish Warblers and lots of other goodies on the east coast. By Friday, the winds had switched to northerlies producing some of the best seawatching in the east in recent years (thousands of Sooty Shearwaters, several Sabine’s Gulls, all four species of skua, etc, etc). However, the winds were due to switch to light south-westerlies for our trip.
I, therefore, took a gamble that the east coast would be quiet and decided to head down south instead. I was nervous that the decision would prove to be a bad one but that is the chance we all take when undertaking a bird watching trip. The only difference was that fourteen people would be with me wanting to see some birds!
The day started well when I saw the local Gotham Barn Owl ghosting across the road. Unfortunately, I was the only one in the van at this time! Pick–ups didn’t go exactly to plan due to me giving hazy details about a meeting point due to the overnight roadworks at the Priory island.
Still, we were away by 6.10am and arriving at our first destination by nine.
Avonmouth is not the most scenic of places to watch birds, and the smell was even worse but we soon found the drake Ring–necked Duck on the small pool by the road! The American visitor was seen with Tufteds for comparison, the peaked rear head, bill pattern and differences in flank pattern easily visible at such close range.
This attractive bird made up for the less than salubrious surroundings. Grey Wagtail and a Kingfisher were also seen here. However, we couldn’t hold our breath any longer so we headed south east.
I have never been to Chew Valley Lake before but my volunteer navigators got me there efficiently (thank you Richard and Frank). We parked in the fishermen’s car park and began to ’scope the large expanse of water. Peter soon shouted that he might have our target bird. After a quick check, we were all trying to see the distant juvenile Sabine’s Gull.
It was sat on the water across the far side of the lake. It was much smaller than the Black–headeds it was associating with but its all brown plumage made it hard to pick out at this range. Its behaviour made it stand out once we had our eye in: it paddled in a circle on the water, looking like a large, brown phalarope! Fortunately (for us, not the Sabs), three immature Lesser Black–backs took a dislike to their new neighbour and began chasing it.
WOW! As it flew, the Sabine’s revealed its superb wing pattern. The whole group managed to obtain reasonable views through telescopes as it evaded the Black–backed bullies. It flew towards Herriott’s Bridge and disappeared. What a smart bird!
Our next port of call was the aforementioned bridge. 
We were immediately entertained by a couple of Grey Wagtails and an obliging Kingfisher, which perched for photographers to capture a snapshot.
I soon found a Little Stint playing hide and seek behind Ringed Plovers, Teal and Dunlins. It took a while but everyone saw this tiny wader in the end. Andrew found a couple of Curlew Sandpipers while Lynne discovered a few Black–tailed Godwits on the pool behind us. Time was pressing as our real target, the icing on the cake on what we had seen so far, was being reported further north, but we still had one more species to find before we left.
We found a narrow track to a small car park and started to scan the duck flock for our quarry. No sign but we counted over sixty Great Crested Grebes. We walked a little further on and scanned another flotilla of birds. This time, the female Ferruginous Duck revealed itself, trying to hide in amongst Pochards. This was a drab female, but once people ”got their eye in“, it could be picked out easily from the other ducks.
The white undertail was the most noticeable feature and it was much smaller than the Pochards. We failed to find the Black–necked Grebes but I wanted to move on to the main course of the day from these excellent starters!
After negotiating Bristol’s ring road, we arrived at Slimbridge at 12.30pm. We arranged for a group discount (only £5.50 instead of £6.75) but it still seemed a lot for a collection of captive ducks. We weren’t here for them though, thank goodness.
The Zeiss hide was packed with bird watchers, much to the amazement of families out for a quiet afternoon feeding the Greylags. Our group managed to get into a position where we could all see onto the pool without too much trouble. And then there it was, after a wait of only a couple of minutes: the Little Crake! It crept out of cover and moved along a stony spit.
From my position in the hide, I was getting a superb view of its reflection in the water but I couldn’t see the ‘real’ bird due to a large fence panel! I could hear members of our group giving directions to each other, and most got obscured views of this tiny crake (about half the size of a Moorhen, if not smaller).
Eventually, the Little Cra(c)ke(r) wandered across the spit and along the opposite bank in full view for all to see and enjoy. The hide fell silent as people studied the crake and Lynne managed some excellent digi–shots of it.
The group split up to either visit the canteen, scan from the other hides or take close-up photos of some exotic wildfowl. Excellent views were obtained of Black–tailed Godwits, a Spotted Redshank, several Common Snipe, five Green Sandpipers and another couple of Curlew Sandpipers.
By 3.00pm we were ready for departure. Throughout the day, my pager had been bringing news of a Leach’s Petrel on Draycote Water in Warwickshire. I checked the road atlas and found it would be an easy detour on the way home for this much sought–after species. The vanload agreed that we were “on a roll”, so off we went!
At 5.00pm we were strolling along the reservoir wall at Draycote. A quick scan with binoculars revealed a dark bird flying around a couple of fishing boats at the far end of the water.
Five minutes later, we had walked closer and everyone was enjoying ‘scope-filling views of this subtly beautiful pelagic bird. It looked at home on this reservoir but it was occasionally hassled by a couple of Black-headed Gulls. Every detail of the Leach’s plumage was noted: forked tail, white rump pattern, greyish band along the upperwing, etc.
I didn’t think we could get a better view of this species than the ones on last year’s Birdseekers’ trip to New Brighton, but I was wrong: this was a cracking view!
So, we had had our dessert for the day. Bloated on birds, we set off for home. The south–west gamble had paid off handsomely. The east coast had been quiet, saving me from a lynching by disgruntled bird watchers. My only worry is that they will expect more next time...
| Species List | |
|---|---|
| Mute Swan | Several |
| Canada Goose | Chew Lake |
| Wigeon | Chew Lake |
| Gadwall | Avonmouth, Chew Lake, Slimbridge |
| Teal | Chew Lake & Slimbridge |
| Mallard | All sites |
| Shoveler | Chew Lake, Slimbridge, Draycote Water |
| Pochard | Chew Lake, Slimbridge |
| RING-NECKED DUCK | 1M, moulting out of eclipse plumage, Avonmouth |
| FERRUGINOUS DUCK | 1F, Chew Lake |
| Tufted Duck | All sites |
| Ruddy Duck | Avonmouth, Chew Lake |
| Little Grebe | 2, Avonmouth; 3, Draycote Water |
| Great Crested Grebe | Chew Lake, Draycote Water |
| LEACH’S PETREL | 1, Draycote Water |
| Cormorant | Chew Lake, Slimbridge, Draycote Water |
| LITTLE EGRET | 1, Chew Lake |
| Grey Heron | Chew Lake, Slimbridge |
| Sparrowhawk | 1, M5 |
| Buzzard | Many by motorways |
| Kestrel | Motorways |
| LITTLE CRAKE | 1st-winter male, Slimbridge |
| Moorhen | All sites |
| Coot | All sites |
| Ringed Plover | At least 40, Chew Lake |
| Lapwing | All sites |
| LITTLE STINT | 1 or 2 juveniles, Chew Lake |
| CURLEW SANDPIPER | 2, Chew Lake; 2, Slimbridge |
| Dunlin | At least 20, Chew Lake |
| Ruff | 1, Chew Lake; 1, Slimbridge |
| Snipe | At least 10, Slimbridge |
| Black-tailed Godwit | 4, Chew lake; approx 75, Slimbridge |
| Spotted Redshank | 1, Slimbridge |
| Redshank | At least 15, Slimbridge |
| Green Sandpiper | 5, Slimbridge |
| Common Sandpiper | 2, Chew Lake |
| SABINE’S GULL | 1, juvenile Chew Lake |
| Black–headed Gull | All sites |
| Lesser Black–backed Gull | Chew Lake, Bristol |
| Herring Gull | Chew Lake, Slimbridge |
| Great Black–backed Gull | Chew Lake, Draycote Water |
| Wood Pigeon | All sites |
| Collared Dove | Most villages |
| BARN OWL | 1, Gotham Moor |
| Kingfisher | 1, Avonmouth; 1M, Chew Lake |
| Green Woodpecker | 1, Slimbridge |
| Swallow | Chew Lake, Slimbridge, Draycote Water |
| House Martin | Draycote Water |
| Meadow Pipit | Slimbridge |
| Yellow Wagtail | 2, Draycote Water |
| Grey Wagtail | 2, Avonmouth; 2, Chew Lake |
| Pied Wagtail | Avonmouth, Draycote Water |
| Robin | Chew Lake |
| Blackbird | Chew Lake |
| Song Thrush | 1, travelling |
| CETTI’S WARBLER | 1, heard Chew Lake |
| Chiffchaff | 1, Slimbridge |
| Blue Tit | Avonmouth |
| Great Tit | Avonmouth |
| Jay | 2, Chew Lake |
| Magpie | All sites |
| Jackdaw | All sites |
| Carrion Crow | Chew Lake |
| Rook | Everywhere |
| Starling | All sites |
| House Sparrow | Slimbridge |
| Goldfinch | Avonmouth, Slimbridge, Chew Lake |
| Mammals | |
|---|---|
| Red Fox | 2, M1 junction 25 roundabout! |
| Rabbit | |