Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch

Yesterday (Saturday June 16^th) my dad and I took the plane of 9:10 in the morning at Schiphol and arrived at 9:30 (minus one hourJ) in Liverpool to visit our friend Stephen Menzie for a week. Menzie picked up us at the airport and we went to his home.  At home we made some plans and once the plans were fully made we left to North Wales (Anglesey to be more precise) for some birding. In the night we would maybe participate in storm petrel ringing but later it turned out weather was not good for the ringing: too strong winds and rain. 

On our way to Holy Head we stopped by at the village with the longest name in the world: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyllllantysiliogogogoch.

What a name!

We arrived at Holy Head in the afternoon and the weather was OK, no rain. There we went to South Stack where a large seabird colony is situated. We got out of the car and walked to the colonies. We saw thousands of Guillemots and Razorbills on the rocks and in the sea. It didn’t take long for us to see our first looong awaited lifer: a few Manx Shearwaters were flying by on the sea. Distant, but clearly visible! Then we walked along the cliffs, seeing Fulmars, a Puffin, several Choughs, quite a few Shags and Kittiwakes. In the harbor of Holy Head we saw a beautiful adult summer Black Guillemot.

 South Stack, Holy Head

 Guillemots (Uria aalge)

 Razorbill (Alca torda), a pair

 Puffin (Fratercula arctica)

 Guillemot in flight

Razorbill in flight

 Chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), colourringed

Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle)

After the successful visit to the seabird colony we headed for a tern colony on the northern part of Anglesey called Cemlyn Bay. Just when we arrived there and had walked to the colony, seeing lots of Sandwich Terns but also good numbers of Common Terns and Arctic Terns, it started to rain heavily. We headed back to the car and drove on to Amlwch. In Amlwch we got some delicious Fish & Chips. Always great to eat! Then we headed to some other village along the sea where we had great views of quite a few Manx Shearwaters foraging close by on the water. At one moment there was a group of 25 Manxies foraging close by. The light was really bad so I didn’t take any photos.

As we weren’t going to ring any petrels we headed back to Liverpool. We arrived at Liverpool around 23:00 and went to bed quickly.

Today (Sunday June 17^th) we got up at 7:00 and left Liverpool around 8:00, heading to North Wales again to try and see the reported Rose-coloured Starling that had been found yesterday. We arrived around 9:00 and the bird was already present in the garden. It was an adult male showing really well from up close, foraging on the bird feeders. It was a very aggressive bird, chasing away other Starlings, House Sparrows and Dunnocks. Here we also met up with Stephen’s friend Alex.

Rose-coloured Starling (Sturnus roseus), adult male

The first real small UK twitch for my dad and I!

 After this nice observation we went to Llandudno where we did some sea-watching. Not much flying by, just Gannets, Kittiwakes, Fulmars and that kind of species. We did see nice Fulmars nesting on the cliffs.

Northern Fulmar (Fulmarus glacialis)

From there we drove to Conwy where there is a RSPB reserve located. There were some nice hides. We saw a colony of Little Egrets, some Dunlins, a Black-tailed Godwit, Little Ringed Plovers, a Snipe and that was about it.

 Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius)

 Alex, Menzie and me.

The moors of Denbigh

Next stop would be the moors of Denbigh to look for Red Grouse. We drove around the moors and stopped several times but we failed to see any Red Grouses. We did see a nice Cuckoo.

Early evening we checked Menzie’s local patch, Frodsham Marsh. There were some Avocets, 6 Dunlins, Teals, Redshanks and there should also be a Ring-necked Duck present but we didn’t find it.

In the mean time the weather had improved even more and there were some nice clearings in the sky.

All in all two excellent days already in the o so rainy UK!

I use Nightjars and Woodcocks as alarmclock

Yesterday I held CES 7 at my ringing site. Since I didn't have too much time due to driving lessons in the afternoon I slept at the ringing site so everything would go quicker. I went to sleep with a singing Woodcock, I heard it constantly while I tried to fall asleep, not the easiest thing when you hear the Woodcock all the time! I woke up three minutes prior to my alarmclock (I also had the alarmclock set in my mind;)) and just after I awake I heard a singing European Nightjar for maybe a minute, it then went quiet. The weather was great! It was cold in the early morning (6 degrees) but it warmed up pretty quickly.

Two pics from the early morning

Totals below:

Blackbird 1 -
Blue Tit 1 -
Great Tit 6 - 2
Great-spotted Woodpecker 1 -
Pied Flycatcher 5 -
Redstart 1 -
Robin 2 - 2
Song Thrush 1 -
Short-toed Treecreeper 3 -
Willow Tit 1 -
Willow Warbler - 1

Total 22 - 5 = 27

 Great-spotted Woodpecker (Dendrocopos major), female; noisy screaming b*tch

 Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla), juvenile; all three hanging in the same net

 Willow Tit (Poecile montanus), juvenile

Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), adult female

 Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca), recently fledged juvenile; cute!

And a pic to illustrate how hard sexing Pied Flycatchers can be in the field, the males can be so brown!

Yellowhammer

The weather has been pretty shitty the last week , and next to that the weather forecast turned out to be wrong multiple times. Well done weathermen! This morning was calm and sunny though, excellent for ringing. What a contrast compared to the strong SW wind of 5 bft with rain.

So this morning the 5th session of the season was held on the Veluwe. We had a nice number of birds and species for this site. Observations included: Siskins, Linnets, Crosbills, Bullfinches, quite a few Hawfinches (when we will catch one??), Firecrest, Woodcock, male Goshawk and of course the more common stuff. Below the totals:

Blackbird (Turdus merula) 2 -
Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) 2 -
Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) - 1
Dunnock (Prunella modellaris) 1 - new species for the site!
Great Tit  (Parus major) 6 - 1
Robin (Erithacus rubecula) 4 - 1
Short-toed Treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla) 1 - 1
Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) 2 -
Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca) 2 -6 including 1 Dutch control (controlled on the nest already, but first time in the nets)
Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) 1 - beautiful adult female
Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus) 1 -

Total 32 birds (22-10) spread over 11 species.

Some adults had already started their post-breeding moult. For example a few Pied Flycatchers, a Willow Warbler and a Great Tit.

 Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella), female, possibly a 2cy according to the very abraded tail

 Dunnock (Prunella modellaris), an unusual capture I would say in the middle of the forest.

Pied Flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) that have started their post-breeding moult. The upper bird has started moulting its inner few primaries and also its greater coverts and has already moulted two primary coverts. The bird below is moulting the inner two primaries and has already moulted the inner two primary coverts.

'Our' juvenile Blackbirds in the back garden are doing great by the way!

House Sparrow life histories

Two days ago, as it was raining heavily all afternoon, I heard lots of House Sparrows in our back garden. There were many adults with their youngs present. Since it had been like three months that I had been reading off colourrings from my House Sparrows I figured it was about time again to do some colourring checking! The result was pretty satisfying. During one hour of watching the House Sparrows I read off 7 different colourrings (well one was only a metal ring), but there were still so many unringed adults present. Next to many House Sparrows there were also young Great Tits, Dunnocks (including the one juvenile I ringed last week) plus a cute mouse.

 Juvenile Dunnock (Prunella modelaris)

 On the left female House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) ringed on 18-05-2011, since then seen on 16-02-2012 and 04-06-2012. On the right, male House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), ringed on 07-11-2011, 04-06-2012 was the first time I saw this one again!

 Male House Sparrow, ringed on 18-01-2012, 04-06-2012 was the first time I saw this one in my garden again.

 This male House Sparrow, ringed on 20-03-2011 when I wasn't in the possession of colourrings yet. The ring however was easy to read, since I only needed the last two digits.

And this sight of young and adults always pleases me:)

And I almost forgot to place a photo of the cute mouse!

Yesterday I headed out to my ringing site as I had to ring some Pied Flycatcher pullus. I ringed three broods of Pied Flycatchers and also one brood of Great Tits. In total 19 Pied Flycatchers and 8 Great Tits were ringed. 

 Nest of Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

Pulli of Pied Flycatcher (Ficedula hypoleuca)

Rematch with the Woodchat

The search for the Woodchat Shrike continued this morning. As I said in my previous post, the bird probably went to rest in the poplar bush early and didn't show up anymore. This morning my dad and I drove there and arrived around 8:30. We started looking at the poplar bush but without any result. Together with another birder, Pieter vd Berg, we were the only ones present. Then we split up and I walked towards the Bolwerkseplas and my dad walked to the bushes along the road. It didn't take long before I received a call from my dad: I got the Woodchat! Arno ten Hoeve had also just arrived and had seen it together with my dad, but I still hadn't seen it. I walked towards the road and alerted another birdwatcher, Erik Lam, who had just arrived, that the Shrike had just been seen. In the mean time, the bird had dissappeared again. Together we did some searching and it was relocated quickly. We had great views from the bird from up close through the telescope.

I had left my camera in the car so unlike my dad and Arno I didn't take any good photos from closeby. I only managed to get a reasonable shot from a distance. After some time the Woodchat Shrike decided to move on to the edge of the Bolwerkseplas where it was hunting and perched continuously in a row of willows and small bushes. With a small group of twitchers we enjoyed this great observation. This place is only a few hundred metres away from where we found the Bairds three weeks ago. This part of the IJssel has been proved golden again!

 My distance shot of the Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator)

And two great images from my dad:

Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator) by Tammo Meijer.

The small group of twitchers with the church tower of Deventer on the background.

Hit and Run!

While watching tropical birds in Burger's Zoo (and having a flyover Grey Wag)  an alert came up on my phone: Woodchat Shrike, Deventer. Wow! A very good bird for our county! It was first seen at 14:00 but not relocated after the first observation. Then as we got home from Burger's Zoo I checked waarneming.nl again around 17:30 to find out the Woodchat Shrike had been seen again! My dad wasn't able to go so I made a quick decision: I took the folding bike and took the train to Deventer from 18:08. I arrived at the Bolwerksweiden, Deventer at 18:35. There were only two other birdwatchers present and they had also just arrived. Together we decided to check the rear of the large poplar bush to see if the bird would be perched there. We had a look just around the corner and there it was: the Woodchat Shrike was sitting 5 metres away from us on a branch! Awesome! I looked at the bird with my binoculars and after that I grabbed my camera. I took one photo and then the bird took off from the brench and landed a bit higher in the same small tree, argh! It wasn't shy at all and we saw the bird foraging the next minute; it was catching some insects and landed on the ground once. Then it dissapeared into the large poplar bush with small bushes around it and it was never to be seen again! My guess is that the bird is still present in the bushes, we didn't see it fly away. The bird looked pretty tired and cold (as it is only like 10 degrees) so I hope it still will be present tomorrow to take better pic's! Nice were also 2 Patridges foraging in a cropfield. 

For what's worth it: my 'one split second too late photo':

Amazing shot of the Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator).

Twitchers waiting for the Shrike that didn't feel like showing up anymore!

Red-footed Falcons!

Yesterday 3 Red-footed Falcons had been found on the Deelense Veld on the Hoge Veluwe, approx. 10km south of Apeldoorn. They've been pretty rare so far this spring with only fly-by's if I'm correct. So that was a good reason to get up early this morning and look for them! There were also some other species I wanted to try for my yearlist, such as Turtle Dove and Red-backed Shrike. 

I arrived at the eastern part of the Deelense Veld, along the Deelenseweg around 8:00. The light was perfect, no heatwaves and a clear sky with a shining sun. The falcons weren't hunting yet however.. Just 500 Swifts hunting above the water. I waited and scanned for about 30 minutes and then decided to cycle on. Around 8:45 I arrived at Vliegveld Deelen. There is a small viewpoint along the road from which you can look through the woods out in the open. The site is very disclosed as it is an air base. The last years there has been a pair of Red-backed Shrikes here. Also this year they're present (at least the male). After some waiting I suddenly discovered a male Red-backed Shrike perched on a small bush. I looked at it and I quickly grabbed my scope, to find out the bird had gone again...! I waited a bit longer but I didn't see it anymore. Next stop was Deelen where some Turtle Doves have been singing. I waited on the exact spot for quite some time, but nothing. I did see and record a brilliant Black Woodpecker. This species and Pileated Woodpecker are probably one of my favourite species. So impressive!

Here is a recording of the bird calling, in a lane of beeches:

 Black Woodpecker by Fmeijer 

Along the road between Hoenderloo and Deelen I heard at least 4 different Wood Warblers singing. For a change, I decided to make some effort. I approached one and recorded and photographed it. It wasn't shy at all, singing above my head.

The recording and some photos:

 Wood Warbler by Fmeijer 

Wood Warbler (Phylloscopus sibilatrix), not so yellow!

I wanted to give the Red-footed Falcons another try, so on my way back I stopped at the lookout again. There were some more birders and it didn't take long until we saw a Red-footed Falcon. A first-summer female was hunting above the lake. It was quite distant but we could see the characteristics really well - lack of red 'pants', orange-tinged underparts including wing, long tailed, white-cheek, light neck and the upper part of the wing was a bit brown greyish - and every now and then it was catching dragonflies. A bit later a second individual was relocated, also a first summer female. Another interesting observation was a fly-by of a Ruddy Shelduck! Not the place where I would expect one! My dad arrived a little bit later and also saw one Red-footed Falcon. On our way back home we saw a nice Honey Buzzard on the Hoog Buurlosche Heide.