Winter Fun on Fuerteventura

The fun started yesterday morning - with an early morning charter flight with the lovely Thomson airline, a company that I'd been delayed by 56 hours with in Israel a few years ago. This time though, things were smooth - apart from some twat that the stupid air hostesses had allowed to buy 12 cans of Stella on the flight. Lee and I therefore arrived on the island just after midday and away we went, and off on the trail of rectifying a bird that had been taken from me by a white van man and a cunning Englishman who didn't know a word of Spanish.

Heading south after picking up the extremely cheap rent-a-car, first notable bird was an adult Egyptian Vulture over Barranco de la Torre - but this was just the sideshow. In no time at all, we'd pulled into Rosa de Catalina Garcia, a tidy little reservoir/pool that was full of birds in the otherwise waterless landscape.

Rosa de Catalina Garcia, Fuerteventura

Ruddy Shelduck

Berthelot's Pipit

Ruddy Shelducks were pretty obvious - at least seven (most seen at once), but probably more came and went during the afternoon - and so too were those pesky Stilts, LRPs and lots of Berthelot's Pipits mincing around and about. A small group of Teal held something more interesting - a nice Blue-winged Teal, that spent most of the afternoon alert and on the move with its slightly smaller congeners. I always enjoy vagrants from across the pond, no matter where I am, so this was a bonus. However, after an hour of no show - and Hans and Bosse arriving - I was starting to get worried about the main prize.

BWT - upperwing

BWT - underwing, belly and legs

It was all well and good that I'd seen some nice bits and bobs, but with the books not marking themselves back home, there was only one reason why I was on this pretty rancid island - and after patiently waiting, the Allen's Gallinule flew out of the reeds and then proceeded to feed on the more distant muddy edge. It looked something like this... presumably an adult bird, with a rather dull bill. If you want to see it up close and personal then have a look at this shot from my mate David Monticelli.

The gallinule for most of the afternoon remained fairly elusive, though did spend periods of time probing on the reed fringes for food. Other birds included Ruff, Spotted Redshank, Little Stint, Curlew Sandpiper... a nice assortment of waders. Also good to remember where I was by the fact that Lesser Short-toed Larks and Trumpeter Finches came down to drink at the pool, and Spectacled Warblers were pretty common too. Oh yeah, this bad boy showed late on too.

Not too well-versed with what's what in terms of historic Canaries records, I can't imagine there have been too many Great Bitterns? There was also a 1st-winter Spotted Crake in the reedbed last thing in the evening, before the sun set and I got whisked off to some shit hole of a resort called Caleta de Fuste (where I'd stayed in 2003) and to The Trafalgar Pub for dinner. It was the first time I'd ever been to an English bar abroad - I thought bloody Johnny Vegas and his Benidorm crew were about to walk out any second. At least the beers were cheap.

I only had a hour or so of birding light this morning before the flight, and being on the island perhaps for the last time, it was rude to leave without its endemic chat. So I old-schooled it and went down to Barranco de la Torre, the place I'd seen them most consistently 8 years ago. And though the tamarisk clumps had grown considerably two Canary Islands' Chats were found in the time available - a male and a female. 30 Trumpeter Finches and a few scratchy Sardinian Warblers were in the mix too.

The Ryanair flight left on time, and I was back home in my London flat for just after 5pm. It's remarkable what you can do in a weekend.

Escape - back to the future?

Events this week on Fuerteventura (well done to Bosse and Hans on a fine discovery!) have cast my mind back to the Allen's Gallinule that I saw in Spain in January 2007. I had a decent weekend away for that bird - seeing it and a load of decent Iberian stuff - although one of the everlasting memories was an unfitful night's sleep due to the hire car we'd got not actually having seats that reclined. Anyway, this bird failed to reach the grade and now languishes on Category E of the Spanish list. Reasons for this are that it was apparently a known escape from a local wildlife park and Britain's most famous twitcher (not Garry Bagnell, before anyone asks) claimed to have been told by a local that the bird had been picked up by a man in a van!

adult Allen's Gallinule, El Rocio, Coto Donana, Spain January 2011

Even though there was another Allen's Gallinule and an African Crake found on the Canary Islands that January, evidently this circumstantial evidence meant nothing given the apparent compounding evidence against it being a wild bird. People evidently are happy to keep anything and everything in captivity.

Back to the weekend just gone, after a bit of a dull day both bird and weather wise, I spent a couple of hours at Cross Ness with JA on Sunday. A 1st-winter Grey Plover, 1200 Dunlin, a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls, single Water and Rock Pipits were the highlights.

Thames gulls and American peeps

Had a mooch around a few sites in southeast London today. Started off at Crayford where, on some wasteground, a large flock of larids had a 3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull and a ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (red ringed SN6T; this coding matches rings used by the North Thames Gull Group so I assume it'll come from Rainham or Pitsea - I'll update when I hear back from Paul Roper).

North side LBB

Cross Ness was quiet, with an adult and 2nd-winter Yellow-legged Gull amongst the small numbers of gulls on the foreshore. 500+ Dunlin were decent, but as always, there was nowt amongst them. I then had a walk around North Greenwich where there was a nice bright-legged Yellow-legged Gull opposite Greenwich Millenium Village and a few Teal. Not much else doing mind.

The most productive birding of the day was internet based, when in the early hours of this morning my old mate and one of the WP's finest photographers Vincent Legrand passed on a link of a Red-footed Falcon from the Azores... needless to say, he's no fool and a quick look revealed that it was an Amur Falcon (photos here, here and here)! Now those islands get a fair few vagrants, but this has to rank up there with the best.

And I almost went up for the Cley 'peep', but thought better of it after another tiring week and going to bed late. Although I've therefore not seen the bird, I actually thought it was a Semi-p until the 'Thursday shots' revealed some retained rather rufous-fringed feathers that made me reconsider. A really interesting bird. Here's one I found earlier... in September 2009 on the Azores.

At all times, it felt slick and streamline, and this bird fitted that classic 'miniature Dunlin' phrase that's often associated with Western Sandpiper. Obviously so much earlier in the season, you can't really compare much plumage wise. On the same trip, I bumped into this rather rufous-looking, long-billed Semipalmated Sandpiper (presumably an eastern female?).

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Corvo, early Sept 2009

What would a bird like this look like a couple of months on?

Two great results

Ok, I've not mentioned this before on here. But, as you know by the name of this blog, my patch is Rotherhithe - even though it's pretty dire most of the time, at least I'm fortunate to live on my patch. And I live on an area of water called Greenland Dock...

aythya flock on Greenland Dock

So with 2012 and the dreaded Olympics only just around the corner, there was a proposed application to put 225 extra moorings on Greenland Dock for the Olympics next summer. I, along with loads of other local residents, had written with concern for this development (thinking that the extra moorings would become permanent rather than temporary). Thankfully, today, I heard that the planning committee refused it by majority vote because due to environmental concerns and loss of amenity for both disabled and able-bodied sailors using Tideway Sailability. We're still a little worried that the Council will try other means to get these moorings installed, as it'll be a decent money spinner for them. But the first battle, at least, is won.

Great Crested Grebe and co., Greenland Dock

Oystercatcher, Greenland Dock - graced the place for a few days in early spring a couple of years ago

Scaup - one of four present on Greenland Dock last winter

And the second massive result is that God has spoken - the Long-toed Stint at Weirwood Reservoir was one (seemingly an adult). For all those people who were doubting any video material, then suffice to say it just about did what it needed to do regarding proving the bird's identification.

Rotherhithe regulars

Between the 50 or so books that I had to mark today, I did manage to squeeze in a bit of local larid action. It wasn't as if I was targetting this genus, it's just the way it goes around here. It's basically gulls or bust, except when there's a freeze up, and especially on a day like today when there was little point looking for passers in Russia Dock Woodland due to the wind.

Black-headed Gull, Greenland Dock

Herring Gull, Greenland Dock

Basically, I saw very little - and even went to King George V dock on the other side of the river for a quick look. Had a pleasant time in the blustery conditions, taking shots of the commoner species, and got frustrated with a red-ringed 1cy Herring that just wouldn't play ball for detailed ring reading (presumably a Rainham/Pitsea bird). The aythya flock up to c.50 now, though still pretty poor given it's almost December but a sign of the mild conditions to date. All pretty mundane stuff, especially with the news of Gary Speed. Had a nice McFlurry on the way home to round things off.

Common Gull, Greenland Dock

Wish you were here? Yep, I do... but a shame it was just one of the many sails on the boats on Greenland Dock just outside my flat this a'noon.

A nice relaxed weekend...

Today feels like the first weekend day that can truly be called winter. I didn't bother to post last Sunday, as I didn't actually see much despite standing in a rather pleasant area of Tunbridge Wells without a Blackpoll Warbler showing itself.

It's been a long old autumn, and I've had a bit of a long week at work so this weekend couldn't come soon enough. I'd been contemplating the Veery on Muck as it looked so good and worthy of a trip, but that was not to be - the bird had flown, or waves from the storm that passed through Thursday night may have swallowed it up! Some good footage on Silas' blog of the storm as it hit the Faeroe Islands here; its produced a couple of 1cy Laughing Gulls in Iceland so far.

So it was rather more locally that I started - the adult Mediterranean Gull was still showing nicely on the lake at Burgess Park this afternoon; texted RBA with the news as I usually do, but the slacker the other end either couldn't be arsed to whack it out or didn't deem it newsworthy enough (though they'd been putting it out the previous two weekends). That was one text and 30 seconds of my life I'll never get back.

Anyway, I dropped Karen off to do a bit of shopping in Bromley while I headed 5 minutes out of town to have a look at a lovely Long-tailed Duck on a small fishing pond in some pleasant horse paddocks amongst the urban sprawl. The bird showed rather well in glummish conditions, allowing a few shots as it preened/dived in equal amounts. There was also a drake Wigeon, looking pretty out of place amongst the local assorted geese. Nothing too exciting, but really nice and relaxed, rounded off with a warming chai tea latte in the Bromley Starbucks.

West Country Wader Fest

There'd been a load of stuff turned up over the last week that I'd like to have seen. The cracking Veery in Highland, the Greater Yellowlegs in Northumberland, the interesting gull in Argyll... and then yesterday afternoon a juvenile Sharp-tailed Sandpiper turned up in Somerset. Though statistically not as rare as any of the others this Sharpie was a juvenile and, though I stand to be corrected, the last one of this age was the legendary Shotwick (Flintshire) bird of '75. I'd seen an adult in August in County Clare, as well as a few in Hong Kong in the summer too, but I'd also never seen a juvenile Sharpie anywhere in the world so the plan was hatched.

John A, David B, Martin B and yours truly left the urban world of London just after 5am and, after purchasing the worst sandwich you're likely to lay your eyes on (a BLT but with no lettuce, one slice of tomato and some putrid bacon), arrived at Blagdon Lake a little while after first light. There was no sign... but the place was absolutely bird filled. What a quality site with a nice 1st-winter drake Long-tailed Duck, drake Red-crested Pochard and a couple of redhead Goosanders from the fishing lodge kicking things off. All quite distant, but it was one of those crisp mornings with crystal clear light.

We headed on round to the other side of the lake, where Dave B had seen the 2 LBDs earlier in the autumn. Loads of mud, and more quality... with a 1st-winter drake Ring-necked Duck picked up amongst the hordes of aythya, a Slavonian Grebe, 8 Bewick's Swans (including 4 juvs) and a drake ***** ****. Then John A picked up a gull on the near edge - bang, a nice 2nd-winter Ring-billed Gull and apparently a rather rare occurrence at the lake indeed. A pretty retarded bird, it then did a nice fly around being stooped upon by a Peregrine at times. Though the target wasn't in site, I was pretty happy with the crop of scarce we'd churned out. And then...

A rapid drive to nearby Chew Valley Lake, as the Sharpie had been relocated off Herriott's Bridge. We got there in quick time, despite a tractor trying to stifle us, and joined the crowd of twitcher types. The bird had flown round the reedbed and wasn't on view, although the two limnos were busy probing around, getting amongst it with the Lapwings on the fresh mud. These were my first LBDs of the autumn, and always lovely to see. Here's a nice shot of one I took about this time of year 3 years ago... (a bit closer than today's dynamic duo).

1st-winter Long-billed Dowitcher, Lagoa das Furnas, Sao Miguel, Azores Nov 2008

Right, so getting to the point, the juvenile Sharpie showed relatively quickly to those like me who weren't vertically challenged - the adjustable Swarovski meant I could get to see over the reeds where it was happily feeding amongst a small flock of Dunlin. A lovely bird - perhaps not quite as fresh as I'd expected - but I shouldn't have been such a dumb arse considering it is now mid-November. There was also a drake Goosander, and just for good measure swivelling around 180 degrees produced another bit of yankage to join the LBDs - the long-staying Spotted Sandpiper. It showed poorly, but we had to go as one of the team was due in Norfolk for dinner at 6pm and the brownie points were starting to run down.

John A and I got back to London, and spent the last hour or two of daylight at Cross Ness as per usual. 4 Yellow-legged Gulls the highlight here, as well as a decent flock of 250 Dunlin that promised more but delivered little.

A nice day out, and something I should do a little bit more. Very little beats going for quality birds that you genuinely want to see. Thanks to David B for the driving and invite.