Return from China

It's been that time of the year where I head off overseas. Usually I've been able to write about my travels on the way, but this year I've been in China for the last 18 days. No blogs, no facebook for this rather bizarre country that embraces capitalism [and unsustainable development] yet clings on to its communist ideals. A truly fascinating country, full of extremes, and glad I've been able to see the place for myself. But I'll need to go back at some stage to see some real quality birds.

Karen and I travelled around, staying in 4 places - Shanghai, Beijing, Xi'an and Guilin. Terracotta Warriors, Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square and The Great Wall visited, as well as the ultra modern stuff in Shanghai and karst scenery in Guilin, there was also time for some birding. 5 days or so all in all - many thanks to Terry T, Mark M and Dev who made this happen as well as Philip He and Jiawei Wu for helping me out around Yangxian and Zhuque (and to Karen who is always tolerant). More comprehensive stuff to come, but here are a few bits and bobs: -

Crested Ibis, Yangxian

Reed Parrotbill, Hengshui

Black-tailed Gull, Nanhui

Vinaceous Rosefinch, Zhuque Forest Park

White-collared Yuhina, Zhuque Forest Park

And also, some of that general tourist stuff wasn't bad either: -

Meanwhile in Rotherhithe, she is still about and has new wings that have been grown since early August.


female Long-tailed Duck, Rotherhithe 20th August 2013

Also had this excessively ringed Lesser Black-backed Gull (which I believe is from The Netherlands) at Crossness yesterday morning: -

Lesser Black-backed Gull, Crossness 20th August 2013

midsummer goings on in Rotherhithe

It is no ordinary summer here in Rotherhithe, as the female Long-tailed Duck continues to stay on at Surrey Water and was still around earlier this afternoon. I doubt she'll be going anywhere anytime soon given the state of her wing moult, in that she hasn't got any outer primaries at the moment.

female Long-tailed Duck Rotherhithe 29th July 2013

There are lots of gulls on the river at the moment, and I had a nice adult Mediterranean Gull drift over high east today amongst the hundreds of Black-headed Gulls. Large gulls are once again congregating on the mud off the Hilton Hotel, with lots of juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls in particular, as well as this 2nd-summer/3rd-winter Yellow-legged Gull today.

3cy Yellow-legged Gull Rotherhithe, 1st August 2013. P8 to P10 are old second generation feathers. P5 is growing with P6 and P7 dropped. Typical moult for a 3cy at this time of year (they usually just have two or three older outer primaries).

Anyway, that'll be it for a while now in terms of updates from me as off on my summer hols later on today.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse in Egypt

Last Wednesday, after an overnight flight, I landed at Cairo airport where after a lengthy wait for my bag to arrive I met up with old time Belgian buddies Vincent L and David M. We were quickly on the road and heading south into the Nile Valley. Until recently, as the army have become less officious since Mubarak's fall from grace, a lot of the Nile to the south of Cairo was off limits to westerners. But with less military presence you can travel around Egypt pretty easily, and with this in mind, we headed towards the semi-desert an hour or so to the north of the town of Al Minya. The target was to see Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse, a species only recently rediscovered in Egypt.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse (two males and a female), Sandafa Al Far, Egypt 24th July 2013

In fact, it was only last year that Swiss birders doing survey work made this rediscovery (presumably of the race floweri) - you can read about it here. Up until then, I'd envisaged that my only hope of seeing Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse in the WP would have been in Kuwait. As it turns out though, this species seems to be pretty common and during the course of the day at Sandafa Al Far on 24th July, I had 16 bird sightings (of ones and twos) from arrival at 10.20am to 3pm and then the afternoon activity turned it up a notch with 87 bird sightings, including a single flock of 16 birds.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse (female), Sandafa Al Far, Egypt 24th July 2013

Stunning birds in fantastic light that were attracted to a pool that had been created by a leaking pipe in a semi-cultivated, arid area. It just goes to show that with no coverage, birds that appear to be relatively common - albeit on a local scale - go undetected even in countries such as Egypt.

Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse (two males and two females), Sandafa Al Far, Egypt 24th July 2013

Return from Egypt - Saunder's Tern breeding on Sinai

I've just got back from a quick trip to Egypt, my fifth trip there. The reason for going in late July this year all started last winter when one of the Egyptian birders, Mohamed Habib, photographed some 'Little Terns' in southwest Sinai. The photographs were circulated courtesy of Fred Jiguet, and although just on the deck, there was enough to suggest that these were no ordinary Little Terns but Saunder's Terns - they showed a nice rectangular facial pattern with the eye within the mask, subdued legs and perhaps fairly extensive dark in the primaries and obvious darkish bill tips. I was pretty stunned when I saw these shots a few months back, as from a WP perspective, no Saunder's Tern records that I'd heard about would really stand up to modern scrutiny.

Mohamed had seen eight birds in July 2012, so roll on to 25th July 2013 and a group of nine of us arrived at the site with Mohamed. After getting onto the sand bar, we were immediately greeted by rather squawky calls, very distinct from the Little Tern calls I'd heard on the beach at Rye a couple of weeks back. In fact, it was obvious that the birds we had just found were on territory. Within minutes, after taking many shots and sound recordings, every single feature of these birds was in line with what you would expect for Saunder's Tern.

Saunder's Tern, adult, Egypt July 2013 - note the squared off forehead patch with the eye solidly behind it, the extensively dark-tipped bill, three black outer primaries with obvious black primary shafts on the underwing

Saunder's Tern, adult, Egypt July 2013 - this photo shows the concolourous mantle, rump and tail nicely. Also note the active primary moult

Saunder's Tern, adult, Egypt July 2013 - leg colour more subdued that Little Tern, this bird being at the brighter end of the spectrum (ranging from olive to dull orange); again note the rectangular forehead patch and the position of the eye within the black, as well as the contrast at rest of the black outer primaries and extensively dark-tipped bill

Saunder's Tern, adult, Egypt July 2013 - showing the concolourous mantle, rump and tail despite the harsh light conditions

Saunder's Tern, adult, Egypt July 2013 - again note the shape of square shape of the forehead patch (compared to Little Tern which tapers off behind the eye), dark-tipped bill and dark under primaries

We walked along the sand bar, and found at least 20-25 pairs (c.50 birds) along with a single chick and two fledged juveniles. Juvenile Saunder's Terns are poorly documented, so hope this bird provides interest - seems to show darker primary-coverts and have much darker primaries than Little Tern but more research and study of individuals obviously needed. Probably safer to call this bird a first-winter given that it seems to have already moulted through some 2nd generation scapulars.

Saunder's Tern, juvenile/1st-winter, Egypt July 2013

So do you have to time your visit for July? Well, obviously not. With two fully fledged, flying juveniles seen it would suggest these birds were probably born in late May/early June. If you read here, it seems that Saunder's Terns may, just like Little Terns, be staggered breeders as we saw one chick that was not at flying stage so had evidently hatched in the last 3 or so weeks. Being on the southwest coast of Sinai, there is a military presence so it's advisable to get in touch with Mohamed before you go as access needs to be granted.

Showy Med Gull in Rotherhithe

After probably the hottest and most pointless school day (babysitting those who had opted not to go to Thorpe Park), I was back in Rotherhithe early and had a quick look in at the pontoons on Greenland Dock. Much to my surprise and pleasure, there was a juvenile Mediterranean Gull sitting there. With no camera, I rushed back home and was back within a couple of minutes with a bit of bread, and it got amongst it quickly. Just like yesterday's bird, it was quite a vocal bird but less advanced moult wise. It also proved to be rather confiding too. Very nice indeed.

juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Greenland Dock, Rotherhithe 22nd July 2013

Anyway, this will be the last post for a week as I'm off to Egypt tomorrow evening to fill in a WP gap or two.

A good day turned bad

Felt a tad bizarre when I woke up, leaving the house with more than one layer. By recent standards, the morning was positively chilly. Checking in at the Long-tailed Duck on Surrey Water revealed it was still present, and then 22 juvenile Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the mud by the Hilton were all presumably local birds as some were still being accompanied by their folks and begging for food.

There was little on the mud at Crossness, but as the tide rose, more Black-headed Gulls congregated at the outfall and in amongst them was this beautiful juvenile Mediterranean Gull.

juvenile Mediterranean Gull, Crossness 21st July 2013

It was really agressive to all the Black-headed Gulls, calling away regularly, but after an hour or so it presumably realised its petulance wasn't getting anywhere so it chilled out a little bit. Not much else doing, bar a couple of Common Sandpipers, though views of the Common Terns at high tide here are always excellent so I had a bit of a papping session in the now bright light.

adult Common Tern, Crossness 21st July 2013

juvenile Common Tern, Crossness 21st July 2013

A lovely relaxing morning until I got back to my car. I found the back windscreen smashed and the boot crumpled. I first thought someone had nicked stuff, but the lovely people in the house at the end of Lytham Close had seen it all. Transpires that one of those cowboy scrap metal vans backed into my car and drove away. Miraculously, they'd got part of the registration number and the company it was so, with a little bit of detective work, I managed to track down the driver and get all the details required. Nonetheless, I'm now carless and, once again, left questioning the dignity of the majority of the human race.

From Surrey to Surrey Water

I've had a pretty packed day today. Pretty much being a bird only man, just dabbling a bit with other aspects of natural history, James L and Graeme S were my nature guides for the day. We'd initially planned to head up to Northants to join the masses at Fermyn Woods where Purple Emperors are enjoying a record year, but a look at the weather forecast revealed overcast conditions. So, with the same target in mind, we diverted to sunny Surrey and a nice little place near Chiddingfold called Botany Bay. James L was armed with shrimp paste and rotten bananas, though these weren't required, as on arrival a nice male Purple Emperor was feasting on the horse dung!


Purple Emperor, Botany Bay 20th July 2013

In total we saw four of these massive butterflies, as well as perhaps ten or so Silver-washed Fritillaries and half a dozen White Admirals. All very nice indeed, so with time ticking on, I was escorted to nearby Thursley where my expert guides talked me through the Odonata there. Namely Downy Emerald, Keeled Skimmer, Four-spotted Chaser, Small Red, Large Red and Emerald Damselfies. Thanks guys.

Silver-washed Fritillary, Botany Bay 20th July 2013

Though with not a gull or whiff of sewage in sight, I was gagging to get Crossness and do what I know best. On arrival I was pleasantly surprised to find a Whimbrel on the foreshore by the golf centre - first of the year here for me as spring passage was so lame. Five Yellow-legged Gulls included my first juvenile of the year, and a couple of ringed Herring Gulls were from the NTGG and Suffolk, while a Jersey Tiger moth was on bushes in the sewage works.

Jersey Tiger, Crossness 20th July 2013

Back in Rotherhithe, an adult Yellow-legged Gull was new in on the mud off the Hilton Hotel before some twat with a dog flushed it, along with my first juvenile Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. Then a check of Surrey Water late evening allowed me an encounter with a long lost friend...

Long-tailed Duck, Rotherhithe 20th July 2013

All in all, a thoroughly pleasant day out.