Homage to Peckham's Long-tailed Duck

June in southeast London really isn't the time or place for a Long-tailed Duck. But this lost female was still about on the lake at Peckham Rye Park on Monday evening, still showing well, so I headed back there after school. Arriving at c.7pm, I was hoping that there'd be a little less glare than on Sunday where the white plumage was burnt out a bit on my photos. There was less glare, but there was also a reduction in light and shutter speed.

 

Yesterday I stopped off at Peckham Rye Park with Josh J before our weekly game of footy, and unfortunately the bird had done one. Mind you, you'd really have to know the size of the so called 'lake' to appreciate that any self-respecting Long-tailed Duck would have been long gone from there soon enough. It was fun while it lasted.

A crazy Long-tailed Duck in Peckham today

The day started with apathy, turning over when the alarm went off as I saw the bright sunshine coming through the curtains. Sunny weather usually means nothing at Crossness, but eventually I rose and got my sorry butt out there. And nothing was what I got, unsurprisingly given the sunshine and time of year. Well, I head a Mediterranean Gull somewhere above and a couple of scummy looking Yellow-legged Gulls dragged their sorry selves along the Thames foreshore. John A also found a Green Hairstreak, a first for the site which was nice enough.

Back in Rotherhithe, large gulls peaked at 125 on Greenland Dock including a NTGG ringed bird. And that was it, so I thought. But while doing the weekly shop in Tesco, I got an email saying that a local guy had seen what he thought was a Long-tailed Duck on the small lake at Peckham Rye Park yesterday. And the photo attached showed he was right... so after a couple of hours of chilling, Karen and I made our way  the 10 minutes or so there. Easy enough, there it was straight away just chilling out on the lake though outrageously unseasonal, but a full set of wings and no leg rings suggest its occurrence is just one of those things. John A arrived a short while later and we both papped this confiding bird, though the bright sunlight and dark water ensured too much glare unfortunately.

Long-tailed Duck - favouring a park lake in Peckham over the Arctic. Total madness!

 

Nutcracker showing well

Heading south from Krakow on Monday, the plan was simple - drive into the Carpathians, staying in the lovely town of Zakopane. A nice ski resort turned hiking centre during the spring/summer months. After dumping our stuff at the hotel and despite the relatively inclement weather, we were set for Morskie Oko.

This 'top choice' in the Lonely Planet for the Zakopane area was an easy sell to Karen - a 9km descent up and down a pine clad mountain, with a mountain lake view at the top. Thing is, it's also the best spot in Poland to watch Nutcrackers at close range: -

Nutcrackers at Morskie Oko, Poland 27th May 2013

There were up to four of these inquisitive beasts on show at a time, literally coming to within a few centimetres and feasting on the leftovers of tourists' food. I'd only ever seen the species on one occasion previously - in the Italian Alps a few years ago - so seeing them at such close range was a new, quality experience. These birds are of the relatively sedentary thick-billed race caryocatactes - would be nice if another one of the slender-billed irruptive race macrorhynchos made it to Britain sooner rather than later. Nutcracker is the most regular species I've not seen in Britain and Ireland... managed to miss the Kent bird in 1998 by a rather fine margin after pegging it down from Spurn with Tom Lowe.

Morskie Oko and its Nutcrackers

Birding in Krakow

This is the first of a few short write ups from a short and very enjoyable, relaxing trip to Poland. Unlike most birders, I didn't venture to the northeast, and stayed distinctly in the south-central area in the region of Małopolskie. First up was the picturesque city of Krakow, the number one destination for tourists in Poland. It didn't disappoint (and wasn't that packed either), but with just one full day, it was a little hectic and only a bit of leisurely birding done between the tourist attractions.

The first thing that strikes you compared to London is the different composition of species - first and foremost, Fieldfares. Displaying, whirring their wings as well as feeding young, this species was present on pretty much every area of parkland. Cracking birds, severely underrated: -

 

Surrounding the old city is an area of parkland called 'Planty', and though busy during the day it's still possible to see Icterine Warblers and Serins here, as well as the more numerous Blackcaps.

Black Redstarts were also around central Krakow too, even in the Wawel Castle grounds and feeding young in a small church just off the main square.

While I tried my best to endure one of Krakow's museums, after an hour the tedium got too much, and so leaving Karen to it I walked to some nearby riverside bushes where I was happy to find both Marsh and Great Reed Warblers singing. This area was on the south side of the River Wisla; head south on Starowislna and over the bridge and then immediately left (east) and along the river path a couple of hundred metres to an area of bushes and reeds near a turning circle where the asphalt road stops. Nothing ground breaking, but a real bonus within this urban environment.

Meanwhile, Jackdaws are a common sight in the city, and seem to be rather mixed in their appearance - too dull for 'eastern race' soemerringii and lacking the obvious neck collar (though remarkable how this varies in changeable light), but still more contrasting that British birds with a greyish hue to the mantle in many birds - presumably these birds are of the race turrium according to this and this.

Another YLG in Rotherhithe this evening

Every morning and evening, before and after school, I check Greenland Dock. There seems to be a pair of Sand Martins nesting here this year, which is a new breeding pair, while there are always a few cormorants and gulls loafing around. Tonight, there was quite a nice looking 2nd-summer Yellow-legged Gull that allowed quite close approach: -

2nd-summer Yellow-legged Gull - red orbital ring, yellowish legs and dark grey upperparts. In flight this bird had retained a lot of black in the tail, still forming a neat band. Note the predominantly adult-type grey scapulars, with a couple of retained old feathers in the rear scapulars, as well as the abraded (presumably 2nd generation) greater coverts.

Numbers of Yellow-legged Gulls on the Thames usually reach an annual low about this time (or slightly earlier), so numbers should start to increase again hitting a peak late summer.

Dusky Thrush in Kent

Fraught is the word that comes to mind. Somehow, I'd managed to get myself involved in having to supervise a load of 16 year olds on a revision/activities weekend in landlocked Wiltshire in mid-May. I generally chance these kind of situations, safe in the knowledge that previous efforts mean. I rarely have to make a move for rares nowadays. However, getting a call from Josh late Friday night about photos of a Dusky Thrush in Kent had me sweating somewhat. And then, with a text from Lopez the next morning letting me know it was still about just before 6am, I was well and truly caught with my pants down... totally unprofessional.

Being the first twitchable Dusky Thrush since 1959, desperate times call for desperate measures and so, with balls of steel, I was watching the first-winter female Dusky Thrush in Margate cemetery by mid afternoon: -

first-winter female Dusky Thrush Margate, Kent 18th May 2013

Remarkably, this was my second new British and Irish lifer of 2013 (after the Pine Grosbeak) - equal to my year end total for 2012 (Western Orphean Warbler and Belted Kingfisher). Don't really like talking about lists, but two new birds by mid-May is exceptional these days. Obviously this Dusky Thrush was a top bird as all thrushes generally are, but nothing looks wise on the first-winter male I saw in the sparkling Belgian snow in January 2009. Allow me to reminisce: -

first-winter male Dusky Thrush Erezee, Belgium January 2009

I was back in Wiltshire by early evening, while back in London this evening a trip to Crossness revealed absolutely nothing. It was a year today that the first of two Bonaparte's Gulls turned up down there so, with that in mind, I at least wanted to have a look through the Black-headed Gulls but predictably to no avail. Reason for no posts for a while? Stale local birding with no birds. Highlight last weekend were a couple of Wheatears.

Gulling in May? It must be quiet

Well, that was a non-event. Back in the day when I was a pager-toting teen, I was positively salivating at the prospect of a bank holiday weekend in May - heading south from my home in Cheshire to feast my eyes on a load of European scarce in the southern half of England. Now I live down here, the birds are gone. Bank holiday birding excitement is no more. At least this weekend didn't do it. It felt more like early June locally than it did early May. Spring really had died on its arse, though hopefully just momentarily, as the quality from the northern isles still awaits us cheque book birders.

Crossness highlights first thing were a paultry Dunlin and 2 Curlew. A bit of sunburn, a Red Kite and nine Crossbills were all rural Essex had to offfer. It's not a good sign that when you live in Central London, bird of the day is actually within a couple of hundred metres of my flat in Rotherhithe. A showy 1st-summer Yellow-legged Gull - not a good month for the species even in London, so here are a few photos. Thought it might be a lusitanicus-type, but they're not meant to be as leggy as this bird: -

Anyway, while chilling out trying to pap the mich, Greenland Dock was a (comparative) hub of bird activity - 2 Common Buzzards over, a couple of Sand Martins, a pair of Egyptian Geese and two Common Terns. Just hope that next weekend is better.