Rediscovering the Joys of Birding
• Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Finally a Mediterranean Gull!
I have come up with a new policy on birding which is that once a fortnight I allow myself the morning off from work to go on a birding trip. Today I had decided to do a couple of relatively nearby trips: firstly looking for hawfinches in Blenheim Palace Park (an elusive speciality of the area) and then on to Wilstone reservoir in Herts looking for Ruddy duck and to see the black-necked grebes that are currently there. Now you may think that going especially to see something as common as a ruddy duck is a bit strange but when I did my purge of my life list, removing all the birds that I can't remember whether I've seen or not, the ruddy duck was one of those up against the wall so I thought that it would be a relatively easy tick. Also I'd recently learnt about this appalling cull of them that is going on at present and wanted to see one before they are all wiped out.
To catch the hawfinches apparently requires going very early and hunting around the back of the Palace Gardens behind the miniature train in Blenheim Park so I got up at 6am and was out of the house by 6:30 and parking outside the Park Lane gate entrance by 6:45. It was a lovely morning: bright but with a bit of a nip in the air. The park was looking great with hardly a soul about. I got to the area where the trees began and started scanning the area. I soon heard a nuthatch calling and managed to find it not far away. This was my first of the year and one of the common but as yet unseen year-list birds that I was also hoping to find as a back-up in case the hawfinches didn't show, the others being treecreeper, jay and coal tit. I carefully scanned the trees as I walked along to the palace itself. There wasn't actually that much about: a few blue and great tits and I heard a GS and a Green woodpecker and a goldcrest that I couldn't actually locate, but no hawfinches. Back where I'd seen the nuthatch I heard a call that I'd only recently learnt and managed to find the treecreeper in question. So no hawfinches but a useful couple of year ticks.
Next on to the Tring reservoirs which proved to be a bit of a longer journey than I'd anticipated so I didn't arrive till about 09:30. Climbing the reservoir steps I was greeted with the sight of a lot of birds on the water in silhouette as the sun was in the wrong position. I therefore decided to walk around to the hide where I'd getter better lighting as well as some shelter from the nippy breeze. As I walked around I saw a very smart-looking grey wagtail on the bank which was a pleasant sight. Walking through the woods to the hide there was a chiffchaff singing loudly. In the hide itself I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow birder who quickly pointed out the two black-necked grebes in summer plumage as well as a pair of goldeneye. In the light of my missing the Med. Gull on port meadow recently I decided to give all the BHG's a thorough scan. Towards the end of the scan I saw a gull with a distinctly different dark head and a thicker bill as well as pale primaries. We'd been joined by another birder in the hide now so it was with some trepidation that I announced that I thought that I'd found a Med. Gull. I pointed it out to the others and just as they found it it decided to take to the air so we got a really clear view of the white primaries and the lack of the white leading edge to the wings - clearly a smart adult Mediterranean Gull in full summer plumage and something that I'd only seen once before in the distance as a boy along time ago so a great sighting. Back outside the hide I got a bit excited when I saw a small bird in the scrub as there'd been a firecrest there recently but it turned out to be a goldcrest. Walking around to the other side of the reservoir I managed to see a white wagtail but no sign of the wheatear that was supposed to be by the jetty. There were also lots of sand martins about. So no ruddy duck but a great Med. Gull instead and my first sighting of a BNG in summer plumage.
Back in the car I nipped off to the local cafe for a warming cup of tea and a slice of cake before starting to head back. On the way back I decided to nip in to Weston Turville reservoir where a bittern had been showing recently during the day. The reservoir itself was pretty small with reeds all down one side. There were remarkably few birds on the water: just a few coots and GC grebes. In the hide itself I had a good scan round and managed to locate a grey heron which was giving a good bittern impersonation by hiding motionless in the reeds! I also saw a couple of reed buntings and a grey wagtail. Another birder arrived and told me that there'd been a cetti's warbler, marsh tit and water rail there on Sunday. We waited around for a bit and heard a water rail or two ourselves but little else. A pretty location with lots of potential but I got the feeling that one maybe had to wait around along time for the possibility of anything interesting actually turning up.
No new lifers for this trip but four new year ticks including a couple of common woodland birds that I was starting to wonder about:
105 Nuthatch
106 Treecreeper
107 Grey wagtail
108 Mediterranean Gull |
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