A typically brief KNOT

FRIDAY 16 NOVEMBER

 

It was pretty foggy early on so my visit to the hills was delayed. However a NUTHATCH in the garden more than compensated for it - being the first record for this year

 

At around 1030 hours, I did finally get to IVINGHOE HILLS but it was pointless - the fog was much thicker here and had hardly cleared at all

 

Anyway, Tony Revell discovered a RED KNOT at MARSTON VALE MILLENIUM PARK (BEDS) and gave me a good excuse to change location. Of course it was gone before I got there (Martin Palmer and Andy & Melissa Banthorpe getting there before me and dipping) but I did stumble in to a nice HAWFINCH as I wandered towards the hides, undulating over and calling as it headed from the Park over the line of Poplars and away beyond towards the test track. There were a large number of winter thrushes present too, particularly Fieldfares. A single OYSTERCATCHER was a surprise sight on the Pillinge (replacing the Knot that was present for perhaps just ten minutes) but as I sat in the hide, Adam Bassett contacted me to say a RED KNOT had just dropped down into SPADE OAK PIT, LITTLE MARLOW (BUCKS) with a Dunlin - Was it the same bird?

 

I had a half-hearted look for Penduline Tits then departed south......

 

I met up with Adam, Dave Cleal and Jackie at SPADE OAK some 40 minutes later but as suspected the Knot was long gone - it had only made landfall about 15 minutes (although none of the aforementioned observers had seen it fly off) - the DUNLIN was still there though !

 

Not a great deal of interest, with low duck numbers noted, but did count 7 Great Crested Grebe, 54 island-roosting Sinensis Cormorants, 52 Wigeon, 11 Teal, 13 Shoveler, 10 Pochard, 638 Lapwing, 13 Common Snipe, Common Kingfisher and a single LESSER REDPOLL. An adult Mute Swan was dead besides the spit.

 

I left Alan Stevens scanning as Malcolm, Adam, Jackie and I departed and less than ten minutes later, the first-winter CASPIAN GULL came in at 1513 hours

Another day - another PENDULINE TIT dip !

SATURDAY 10 NOVEMBER

 

After dipping five times on Penduline Tits during this past week in Kent (three times at Grove Ferry and at Oare Marshes and Dungeness ARC), I was not expecting a call this morning to say that two had been found in BEDFORDSHIRE.......

 

Anyway, at around 1045 hours, Paul Wright 'phoned to say that he and Neil had just found 2 PENDULINE TITS feeding on bulrush heads to the left of the main hide overlooking Wetland 3 at the Marston Vale Millenium Park. I jumped in the car immediately but knew it would be too good to be true. Both Paul and Neil, along with Bob Hook and Rolf, had been running a Bird Walk for the centre and what luck for the six participants - an absolute mega for the county and a real chance sighting.

 

After negotiating the Luton-Bedford 50mph stretch of the M1, I eventually arrived on site at 1145 hours. Tony Revell had stumbled in on the birds, and both Andy Plumb and Steve Blain had successfully twitched them, albeit the latter observer just getting less than ten seconds of viewing before they flew off.  The two birds actually remained in the area for 45 minutes, actually returning on one occasion after they flew off. They called several times, particularly in flight, and did go missing for ten minutes at one time, even though they were still in the reeds.

 

I checked the site exhaustively - from every angle - and on every wetland - but it was a needle-in-a-haystack job. Those bulrushes to the left of the hide definitely seemed to be the best crop but there were a lot more scattered all over - and very difficult to view. As expected, I failed to find the two birds, as did the 50 or so other observers that eventually turned up.

 

Compensation came in the form of 6 BEARDED TITS (a party of 5 including two ringed males and a single male performing intermittently from the hide), 2 BOHEMIAN WAXWINGS (initially seen by Neil and Paul in flight before being relocated by I not far from the bench some 15 minutes later and then showing intermittently in Hawthorns by the hide early afternoon) and a very late BARN SWALLOW that Steve Blain and I saw over the Pillinge Pit, presumably a European.

 

Also noted were up to 5 different Cetti's Warblers, 25 Fieldfares, 40 Redwings, 6 LESSER REDPOLL and a number of Siskins, with a Great Spotted Woodpecker regularly visiting the bird feeder in front of the hide.

 

There has been just ONE previous record of Penduline Tit in Bedfordshire - an adult at Priory Country Park on 18 September 1991. I missed that one too.......

 

Let's hope we get another chance.....

A rare excursion into BEDS (DOTTEREL intended)

MONDAY 5 NOVEMBER

 

Following yesterday's torrential rain, today dawned clear and bright. In fact it was a beautiful late autumn morning, with light NNE winds and largely cloudless skies. It was still very much on the chilly side though, with temperatures hovering around 7 degrees C.

 

I had high hopes for Woodpigeon migration following the recent weather but this proved to be a non-event - in fact migration was virtually at a standstill.

 

I did an hour or so of vizmig at PICADILLY HILL KNOLL, IVINGHOE BEACON (BUCKS), before walking the usual circuit, but it was dire - passage consisting of just 9 Redwing, 12 Skylark and 11 Chaffinch and the berry-bearing shrubs in Inkombe Hole supporting 21 Common Blackbirds, 2 Song Thrush, 10 Redwing, 2 Jays and 2 Bullfinches and Top Scrub producing just 2 Goldcrests.

 

I decided to move onto BEDFORDSHIRE, where I had not visited in any proper birding capacity in over a month........

 

At STANBRIDGEFORD (BEDS) near Eaton Bray, a large cereal crop held at least 25 Skylarks, whilst STOCKGROVE PARK LAKE (at SP 914 283) produced a superb count of 62 MANDARIN DUCKS and the adjoining BAKER'S WOOD an impressive 25 Jays, 66 SISKIN, 2 Nuthatch, MARSH TIT and Coal Tit.

 

BROGBOROUGH LAKE (BEDS) (at SP 975 395) held an enormous number of Aythya ducks and after diligently click-counting them twice came up with a total of 2,134 birds, 1,625 of them Tufted Duck and 509 Northern Pochard. The two long-staying BLACK-NECKED GREBES were still present at the West End, viewable from the Watchpoint at SP 973 393, with 17 Great Crested and 8 Little Grebe noted also, and 4 Mute Swans.

 

I was just about to bird Marston Vale Millenium Park when Lol and Bob 'phoned to say that they had relocated the Dotterel in the Southill area, first seen by Steve Blain, Paul Donald and Steve Heath yesterday. It was in the fields north of the village at about SP 434 158 but was flighty. I aborted Marston Vale and drove over to join them both.

 

At around 1410 hours, after Lol & Bob had lost the flock, I relocated some 650 European Golden Plovers in the cereal fields just NE of SOUTHILL VILLAGE (BEDS) at around SP 157 425 and after a quick scan, located the juvenile DOTTEREL in with them. Managed some pretty decent views before I was joined by Stuart Warren in the layby. I pointed it out to Stuart and after a while, he managed to get his 'scope on to it, but within minutes the entire flock took flight again and wheeled around for a while. Thankfully, they came down in a field on the opposite side of the footpath where large numbers of Starlings and Lapwings were feeding. Once again, I quickly relocated it and got Stuart on to it, and then Bob Chalkley, Lol and Cambridgeshire birder Aubrey. Dave Odell arrived shortly later and eventually he latched on to it too. It was difficult to see, due to the undulating nature of the field, but for a while it sat in full view preening in the sunshine.

 

Then disturbance from walkers on the footpath (one of them a birdwatcher) saw the flock take flight again at 1435 hours and after a long time in the air, they dropped back down again in the field about a mile north of Southill. I did not see the Dotterel again after that time and left Phil Rhodes, Mike Campbell, Jack O'Neill and others searching for it. These do seem to be the favoured fields however but as always, the flock is particularly mobile. Have patience if you are visiting.

 

Lee Evans

Late-ish RING OUZEL

Darren Oakley-Martin has found a RING OUZEL - on waste ground between Chicken Farm
and where the footpath turns sharply towards Potton Wood on Hatley Road (Potton).

DOTTEREL today in Beds

A DOTTEREL was identified amongst Golden Plovers today at Southill, whilst 5 RUFF were discovered at Radwell Floods and the 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBES remain at Brogborough Lake. Up to 6 BEARDED TITS are present in the reedbed of Marston Vale Millenium Park, with a late NORTHERN WHEATEAR on Pegsdon Hills.

Brief KITTIWAKE

Johnny Lynch had a juvenile KITTIWAKE at Grovebury Pit briefly this morning whilst 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBES remain at Brogborough Lake.

ROCK PIPITS

Still at least 3 SCANDINAVIAN ROCK PIPITS present at Broom Gypsy Lane West today (Richard Bashford), whilst 2 BLACK-NECKED GREBES remain at Brogborough Lake. WOODLARKS continue to be seen at The Lodge, Sandy, as well as the odd RING OUZEL.