East London melody

A quick trip after school produced decent enough, but not spectacular, views of a Melodious Warbler in a holly bush within striking distance of all the Olympic commotion.The little blighter didn't sing at all when I was there, or at least not knowingly as anything bar the endless passing cars was difficult to hear.

Brownish legs and deep based, orange bill

Capturing the typical posture you'd expect for this species

A decent hour or two this evening with the bird, and evidently appreciated by all the London big dick players as they've been a bit thin on the ground over the last couple of decades within the capital. Good to see a whole host of people there including John A, Paul H, Dave W and Barry R. Quote of the day to LGRE who greeted me with 'those are snazzy shoes Rich', relating to my pretty average looking work shoes. And that's coming from a man who revels in his trademark white slip ons. Genius.

Looks atypically round headed in this shot, as it looks towards the camera.

Nice brownish legs. Shame this is taken from below, but with a bit of imagination you can just about make out the tail projecting beyong the wingtip twice the length of the primary projection.

All quiet

Thought I'd just copy Hawky's blog title for today, as that's exactly what it was - quiet. Very little doing this side of the river too in the uncharacteristic spring 2012 sunshine. Struggled to get out of bed once again but hadn't missed anything by the time I got to Crossness. In fact, it was almost dead save for c.20 Swallows in dribs and drabs northwest, a Little Egret east and then 12 Ringed Plover and 6 Dunlin in Barking Bay.

Whitethroat at Rotherhithe

Back at Rotherhithe, it was excellent to see 2 Whitethroats again on territory - a real scarce Inner London bird, with my patch perhaps being the only regular breeding site in Inner London. Not much else going on, and the gulls on the foreshore failed to deliver any rings today. Oh yeah, if anyone recognises where this ringed GBBG may come from please let me know (it had gone before I got the code): -

Any ideas where this big boy comes from?

It really is black and white... it isn't one.

Karen came over to the laptop this evening. The screen looked like this when she arrived: -

I'm pretty sure she's not a closet BF user, but astute as always, she then knowingly stated that 'you were one of those that lost your nerve'. There was nowhere to hide, between the words of a perceptive non-birder and Alan Lewis - the only guy who has consistently been outspoken against the rising tide of views, questioning the contemporary establishment that seems to be brainwashing the masses these days. I had to admit I'd handed my bollocks over to the men in white suits when I headed up north for a bit of ficedula fill. Though Alan was, as I expected, correct that the bird was not an Atlas Flycatcher. Karen finished her words of wisdom off by stating 'I still don't understand why you have to get influenced by others, as you told me it wasn't one the evening before you went'. If only it was all that easy and I evidently need to man up somewhat. But at least I don't have to alter any of my blog posts though!

Oh yeah, I also went out birding today. An early morning at Crossness wasn't early enough, as I missed another Turtle Dove. It was a lovely morning, but they don't necessarily equate to the most productive on the bird front. Passage on the Thames was quiet, and the highlights were limited to a couple of Yellow-legged Gulls on the mud, a Wheatear in the paddocks and a Hobby that whizzed east over the golf course.

US1T

Back in Rotherhithe, standing at the top of Stave Hill was colder than anticipated and didn't produce the hoped for Red Kite, though a few hirundines and Swifts were moving through. It was good to see a Common Tern back on one of the nesting platforms on Surrey Water (I've had one on Greenland Dock several mornings before school this week), while loafing gulls by the Hilton Hotel included a couple of ringed birds - another NTGG Herring while a green-ringed bird, presumably Dutch from what I have figured, didn't behave well enough for me to get the whole code. Tomorrow perhaps...

Corvo late autumn 2012?

I'll be heading off to Corvo again this autumn and, having just got my holiday dates, it'll be a late one so I'll be on the Azores from 27th October to 3rd November. So, if there is anyone who fancies a late autumn stroll on a volcano and enjoy searching for some good vagrants, please give me a shout [an email] if you fancy just coming along.

Corvo's caldeirao - the crater lake

Ribeira as Cancelas; one of many valleys on the east side of Corvo favoured by American passerines

Exciting birding in one of the most scenic places you'll ever visit. And there's likely to be no more than a handful of birders present - and a likelihood you genuinely can find some vagrant birds. Just like this White-tailed Tropicbird that I found at Vila Nova do Corvo in October 2011: -

White-tailed Tropicbird, Vila Nova do Corvo, Corvo, October 2011

I've now visited Corvo for three consecutive late Octobers, and the yank roll call is topped by Northern Flicker, Summer Tanager, Black-and-white Warbler, Northern Parula, Common Yellowthroat (self-found), Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Chimney Swift, Buff-bellied Pipit and two Indigo Buntings (1 self-found).

Summer Tanager, Fojo, Corvo, October 2011

Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Lower Fields, Corvo, October 2009

Indigo Bunting, the airfield, Corvo, October 2010

The quarry at Cabo da Praia on Terceira is really exciting too, and you just never know what's going to be in there on each visit - and the views of the birds are good too. A fair few yanks will be seen here too. Highlights of the last three Octobers have included Great Blue Heron, a mega flock of 19 Blue-winged Teals, Least Sandpiper, American Golden Plover and multiple Long-billed Dowitchers, Semipalmated Plovers, Lesser Yellowlegs, White-rumped, Semipalmated and Pectoral Sandpipers.

Great Blue Heron, Paul da Praia, Terceira, April 2010 (also seen in October 2010)

Pectoral Sandpipers, Cabo da Praia, Terceira, October 2010

Lesser Yellowlegs, Cabo da Praia, Terceira, October 2009

Long-billed Dowitcher, Cabo da Praia, Terceira, October 2009

Is spring here yet?

I'd spent the last couple of days in Hampshire with my parents, relaxing in front of a log fire. So much for it being May. Although, for a couple of hours early on today, the sun was shining and there was a enough of a southeasterly to waft a Whinchat and 8 Wheatear into the paddocks. A Hobby was also a welcome sight, as well as the first real numbers of Swifts pushing through - including 100+ at Southmere along with c.70 Swallows (and lesser numbers of Sand and House Martins). The Thames, however, was naff with just the usuals and no waders.

It was back to business at Crayford, where with no sign of the recent Iceland Gull, I immersed myself in gull rings and plucked half a dozen NTGG birds out of the birds feeding on glass(!) at Viridor Recycling Centre. If ever anyone thinks their birding is quiet, go and have a look at your local gulls for rings - I've now had near on 50 ringed birds in London this year.

So, with it all quiet on the local front, John A and I needed a fix and met up with Graeme S to have an afternoon at Elmley RSPB, Kent. And what a jolly nice jaunt it was too. People go on about the walk at this reserve. It's not that far you know you lazy, useless pussies. Honest, it isn't so that myth is over with. So a couple of Black-winged Stilts were seen on the flood from Southfleet Hide; nice for a few seconds before the realisation set in that having tons of Avocets in this country is bad enough, so why do we want even more raucous, territorial wader monsters to overpower our lovely indigenous waders?

A poor photograph of two waders

So, I quickly moved on to a quality bunch of 5 Spotted Redshanks - not quite jet black, but they were getting there. So much better than Avocets and Stilts! And even better were a couple of continental Black-tailed Godwits near Counterwall Hide; picked these birds up at range initially based on their overall peachy/orange appearance, leggy look and then the bills were both gleaming orange from the base to a 2/3rds to 3/4s to the tip. Also good to compare these to a totally separate flock of passage Icelandic birds that looked more squat and with a redder bill base and darker tip. And they never mixed... so interesting stuff there.

An equally poor photograph of two different waders

Upwards of 80, probably 100 or so, Whimbrels present too plus a couple of Barwits, a few Turnstone, 3 Grey Plover and a Little Tern. With Yellow Wags, Marsh Harriers everywhere and 85+ Med Gulls Elmley is a seriously under-rated spot. Many thanks for the late Gordon Allison for making the reserve what it is today.

Flamborough Flycatcher

I said to Ash today 'I've seen this bird better on the internet than I have today'. Not that it showed poorly. I knew all its feather detail before it even popped out onto a branch at South Landing. That's modern birding for you. And to cap it all off, field birders like me can't be sure what it is with any degree of certainty - that's a fact. If I were a betting man, which I'm not, I'd still be laying my money down on the Pied x Collared side (those coverts still don't seem right); but let's wait and see - its identity lies in the hands of the scientists! Bring on those men in white suits.

Ficedula sp., Flamborough, East Yorks May 2012

Anti Atlas?

Atlas Flycatcher. The real deal.

Now you clicked on here and thought that was taken at Flamborough? Wrong, as if you have a close look it's a nice adult male Atlas Flycatcher looking how they should in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco - I took this in early May 2007, and saw the species again in the same area a couple of years ago too.

I haven't been to Flamborough for the flycatcher. Loads of people looking to others to see what they're doing and asking around on what the various information services are saying. Well, BirdGuides and RBA have got it bang on the money 'you cannot go any further than 'possible Atlas Flycatcher or hybrid' on current knowledge. And Birdline are going on what's in the available printed literature - it's a Collared/Pied hybrid. I wonder how many people would have travelled to Flamborough if that RBA message 'possible Atlas Flycatcher' had read 'possible ATLAS FLYCATCHER'? That's what today's birding world has come to.

Some folk have just slapped their shots on the web under the banner 'Atlas Fly' and had done with it - see the Surfbirds gallery. Yeah nice shots, but it ain't an Atlas Fly unless you're better than these perceived experts who joe birding public continually put on a pedestal. This is the problem with the UK these days, and not just birding; it's all about catering for the lowest common denominator... and this situation just exemplifies exactly that. But there is no point trying to educate the uneducated. Trust me, it's my day job.

I used to be right on for going for stuff like this like a fly on shit. The never-ending saga of stuff you kind of know has a whiff of the proverbial when you go for it - basically identifications that people are making up as they go along and general hearsay - and it never comes to anything. Caspian Reed Warbler at Filey, Common Merganser in Belfast are just a couple that immediately spring to mind. But DNA has changed all this... and within a week or two, those feathers that dropped out at Flamborough on Monday hold the key.

I now realise that Small and Etherington's original article, along with Nils Van Duivendijk, have oversimplified things on the greater coverts but what I still am yet to be convinced on is, bar the outer couple of greater coverts, surely the central and inner greater-coverts of Atlas Fly should be white based (or at least have an extremely marginal black base - say less than 5% of the feather). And this ain't good on the Flamborough bird.

I am looking forward to new literature on the Atlas Fly/Collared x Pied hybrid subject, but I would expect this to come from Morocco/Tunisia with a sufficient sample of birds in hand and of 2cys (perhaps 3cys?!) and adults. Conjecture and focusing on the minutae of Mediterranean vagrant apparent Atlas Flycatchers without the sufficient DNA evidence to prove anything beyond all reasonable doubt will not push this extremely tricky subject forward with any definitive conclusion. Call me cynical if you like.