• Tuesday, November 17, 2009 - Increase in garden birds, and a local Tawny Owl.
Been crocked for over a week with a cold, so haven't done very much at all lately. Have noticed the garden and surrounding area is now brimming with a much larger numbers of birds:
The recent storms brought a couple of Redwings down into the bushes behind the house, but they seem to have moved on. Jays have numbered at least 6, and Woodpigeons must be well over 50. Plenty of Blackbirds are clearing the berries, and the regular wintering Grey Wagtail has returned to the nearby brook. There is also a family party of Long Tailed Tits passing through the garden on most days.
A Tawny Owl was hooting in the distance a few nights ago. I made the fatal error of imitating the call for a laugh, and now he sits in the closest trees to the house wailing for hours every night! Sonogram of the long wavering hoot, and a wav file below. 1.4 seconds is good going for any bird!:
Spent late afternoon around Baddesley Common and Emer Bog. To be honest, given the weather and time of year, it was very difficult to choose anywhere to go for a couple of hours. Whilst there, I stumbled on a whole new strip of woodland that I'd never really checked out before, but the paths seem well established, and a couple of dog walkers were using it. The problem I have with Baddesley Common is that it is huge, you could spend pretty much all day in there, and still not cover all the habitat. Did stumble across a small Tit flock, but nothing of interest amongst the Long Tailed and Blue Tits. Pick of the Finches were two Lesser Redpolls. There were also around 20 Redwings overhead, and a Siskin.
Dusk at Emer Bog was fairly quiet but a Fox put 5 Snipe up which would otherwise have gone undetected, and a Water Rail was calling.
The Common itself is looking better than I have seen it previously. Plenty of Meadow Pipits, and long "Fallow" grassland.
Record shots below of Fox and Redpoll! The fox was taken at 1/4 second on ISO 6400.. miracles do happen!
Checked out the dog walkers field first light. A couple of families of Stonechats in the bushes with 6 Meadow Pipits was about all I could find, plus a singing Mistle Thrush.
Overhead was slightly more exciting with good numbers of Redwing initially. I was well over 200 in about 30 minutes, all in groups of 30-40, and all heading West. the passage appeared to stop quite abruptly around 9am. Also overhead were a few Pied Wagtails, not sure if these roost locally and were heading into the village for the day, or were part of a longer range movement. They were heading North, along with at least 3 Skylarks. The rest of Hoe Lane was pretty quiet, except for a few flocks of Woodpigeon.
I expected to come home to find reports of big movements of Redwings over the County, given my modest success. However, nothing seems to have been posted, so either everyone has given up counting them or North Baddesley was punching above it's weight!
• Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - Normal service resumed!
Back down to earth after recent trips!
Hoe Lane on Sunday didn't have a great deal to write about, just a couple of Stonechats at the Western end near the farm. Did, however, notice that the main pheasant cover has been reduced to stubble, so potential for Finches in a couple of months. (This strip was left 5 foot high last winter).
Regarding the Portland obs thread in my last entry, and on Hoslist, I am going to try and photograph as much as I can, and change my birding set up accordingly:
* The padded rucksack that I keep my camera in on walks will have to go! by the time I get the camera out, the bird has gone! I can carry the camera over my shoulder, but worry about mud etc splashing onto the lens, so am designing a "holster!" to keep it in!
* I currently take the scope off the tripod and replace with the camera for photos.. This takes too long as well! I'm going to try and find a mini-clamp tripod that can be clamped to the top of a tripod leg for the camera to connect to, and try and take more photos holding the camera. They won't be perfect, but will be better than nothing I expect.
• Saturday, October 10, 2009 - Time to ditch the scope?
Photos from my Unst trip, and a visit to the Portland Bird Obs website got me thinking!
I noticed during the trip that the quality of pics from my EOS500d, viewed on the camera LCD in the field, were bringing out detail that I had no hope of capturing with my naked eye or binocs. In fact, the zoomed in images were at least the equal of my scope with 32x magnification.
I also saw the following on the Portland birds obs website ( http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/ ):
"Finally, we are instigating a small change in the way we report on rarities and other records of local interest/importance. In future the PBO website and annual report will no longer include records of this nature that lack the support of video, photo or sound recording evidence".
A small change of gargantuan proportions!
Given the choice, it seems the budding bird finder should pack a camera and long lens before the scope, and even the notebook! Something that has been on the cards for some time, especially if you go out solo.
The Birders on Shetland were in this camp, all toting long lenses, very few with scopes.
It would certainly change the priorities if you find something out of the ordinary.. What do you do? phone the news out or leg it 50 yards to grab the nearest birder? or get a photo first, then phone the news out? Bearing in mind the grief you'd get if a bird flew off while you had a camera pointing in its direction! the photo may be better obtained before the crowds arrive ;) What if it takes a couple of hours to get a photo. Now you are suppressing news too!
I have recently made a big effort to capture finds on film, especially single observer ones, but it ain't always that simple. Just last week, my best finds of Red Throated Pipit, 2 Yellow Browed Warblers and a Rosefinch were pretty much impossible to record in this way.
And are we saying that if 6 experienced birders are eating breakfast at the Obs when a Veery hops onto the Portland Observatory garden wall then drops down never to be seen again, then it won't feature in their annual report?!
My Annual Autumn birding weekend. which seems to get slightly longer each year. A fact that has probably not gone un-noticed domestically! Armed with Flybe free flight vouchers, Scottish Islands were the obvious choice. Sanday last year was a success despite westerly gales, with a Pectoral Sandpiper found on the last day. However, it was hard work, and I could easily have returned home with zero from that trip. So I went with the Probabilities and chose Shetland this time round, and headed to the Northernmost point of the UK.. Unst.
Booked the flights and checked the bus times, then found I couldn't find anywhere to stay in the Northernmost villages, so panicked and hired a car. After much searching found a B&B in Uyeasound.. Batavia. A modern carbon neutral house that was very comfortable, and made for an enjoyable base.
Weather leading up to the long weekend was dominated by strong Westerlies. Here we go again! but as luck would have it, the winds died off during my stay, and in addition to 3 days out of 4 being in beautiful crisp, mild, sunny weather. The easing off of the westerlies, and low pressures over Scandinavia gave the Eastern migrants more than enough encouragement to leap frog northern Scandinavia and cross the North Sea. Overnight storms over Shetland were the final piece in the jigsaw, and done a decent job of bringing down small numbers of migrants.
Thursday was spent travelling, but on a brief recce of the northern villages of Haroldswick and Baltasound, I did see two "Greenland" Redpolls from the car. Got good views through the bins, and these turned out to be the only ones I saw in the trip.
Friday:
I was full of enthusiasm, and set off on a major trek around Lambaness. Not much in the way of quality for much of the walk, despite serious searching of every sheltered spot on the peninsula. The regular species made it interesting with plenty of Ravens, Fulmars, and a few Twite and Snow Bunting. Got near the point to be overtaken by a local birder in a car. Had this horrible feeling I was going to be beaten to the prize, but there was nothing on the point except Snow Buntings which we both admired for a while.
Returned along the Southern side of the peninsular which had warmed up nicely, and seemed to attract a few more Meadow Pipits, Skylarks and Twite. Best bird of the day was saved until the end, about 200 yards from the car.. A Pipit perched on a stone wall turned out to be a superb Adult Winter Red-Throated Pipit with quite a bit of orange remaining on its face and throat. Completely unexpected, and made the trip worthwhile for me with three days still to go!
Took some mental field notes, and switched from my telescope to camera, but sod's law, the bird dropped out of sight just as I was hitting the shutter! Didn't see it on the deck again, although I did hear it call in flight a few minutes later, and watched it head out towards a sheltered cliff top. Headed off there, and after 20 minutes or so, heard it again in flight. Tried the original stone wall an hour or so later, but no joy. Still, a nice experience while it lasted.
Saturday:
Weather was foul, I decided to try Sandwick. Somewhere with no previous birding track record. Another long walk but with no real highlights. Sandwick remains a birding nowhere!
Whooper Swans were building up on the Loch at Uyeasound. Counted 12 today, plus what initialy looked like a Scaup, but the size and extensive black on the tip of the bill relegated it to a hybrid.
Sunday:
Two days to go, and I needed to get back in full swing after the previous day's none event! Migrants were much in evidence with Snow Buntings, Redwings and a Whinchat all seen from the car whilst driving out to Skaw. Had a look round Lambaness but no joy.
Norwick was the highlight of the day with so many new birds in, a decent find felt close. A Brambling was new, plus a Whitethroat, and a couple of Blackcaps. Got a result in the form of a Yellow Browed Warbler. Something of a bogey bird in terms of my self found list, with a very painful near miss in Norfolk a few years back. Also saw the Rosefinch, that had been present for a week or so.
Repeated the Yellow Browed Warbler find an hour later in the sycamores at Baltasound.. Surely the site with most potential on the whole of Unst! Watched the Yellow Browed and a Chiff Chaff picking insects off the sunny side of the wood.
Monday: Last day, and I decided on a long walk around Skaw, trying to take in places were no birders had been for a few days, as Unst seemed to be crawling with birders, and quite a few scarce birds were being reported from the well watched sites. A Rosefinch at the cottage at Skaw was a good start, but the moorland and abandoned crofts were devoid of birds. The return leg along the coast was better.. An Otter was a surprise ambling over the moors, no doubt commuting between two favourite fishing locations. Best of the birds were two very showy Lapland Buntings.. Even got photos emphasising how confiding they were. Finished the trip in the Sycamores at Baltasound, where at least 6 Chiff Chaffs were feeding but only a very brief glimpse of a single Yellow Browed Warbler in a nearby garden.
• Saturday, September 26, 2009 - Spanish Lynx Weekend
Took advantage of a free Flybe flight and had a very enjoyable long weekend in spain. Took a flight to Malaga then a hire car into Sierra Morena, just North of Andujar. An area that had recently received publicity as one of only two remaining strongholds for Spanish Lynx. Currently the rarest cat in the world, and in danger of extinction.
A couple of watchpoints are mentioned, but Spanish Lynx is as elusive as it is rare, and an average of 40 hours per sighting has been quoted! My luck was obviously in, as I saw a beautiful Lynx stealthily creep down a hillside, pause on it's haunches briefly, before disappearing out of sight. A 15 second view, about 5 seconds in the scope and not even a sniff of a photo opportunity, but unforgettable all the same. This was after 8 hours scanning from the Rio Jandular watchpoint and a pre-dawn slow drive through suitable territory. As there isn't much else to do in this part of Spain other than look for Lynx, I spent much of the remainder of the weekend scanning, but was unable to repeat the sighting.. 20 hours searching for 15 seconds of Lynx!
The stakeouts were in far from ideal conditions: Rain reduced the chances of a sighting the first afternoon, and the final morning's watch was aborted after 4 hours when a stray dog turned up in the patch. I suspect the scent of the canine would ruin any chance of a Lynx for several days.
Not that the Rio watchpoint is only good for Lynx.. Throughout my stay a procession of other Animals came and went, making it a superb place to sit out a weekend.. Wild Boar, Red Deer, and Otter were all seen. Birding highlights included Purple Heron, Spanish Imperial Eagle, Egyptian Vulture, Iberian Green Woodpecker, Hawfinch, White-Rumped Swift, Red-Rumped Swallow, Woodlark, Little Owl, Sardinian Warbler, Spotless Starling, Azure Winged Magpie and Crested Tit. Pipistrelle bats emreged here very early in the evening, and a Leisler's Bat was picked up on my Bat Detector.
The La Lancha area was also good for birdlife with Bee Eaters, Hoopoe, Griffon Vulture, plenty of Pied and Spotted Flycatchers, plus Redstarts, Black Wheatear, and a Nightjar in the headlights at dusk. This area also had good numbers of Mammals with Fallow Deer, Garden Dormouse and Mouflon seen. The latter only picked out pre-dawn when scanning a roadside area of grassland with my maglite.
The Bat activity was amazing with the area round the dam in particular holding many Common and Soprano Pipistrelles, plus a brief burst of Kuhl's Pipistrelle. Add to that Greater Mouse Eared Bats, Noctule, Leisler's, Natterer's and Greater Horseshoe Bats. I also picked up a large Bat with very low calls of about 12KHz, and half the repetition speed of a Noctule.. This may have been a European Free-Tailed Bat, but I'm still studying the calls for that one.
Couple of photos below of the commoner birds of the area:
Was fortunate enough to be involved in a second pelagic into Lyme Bay on Saturday 5th. In the aftermath of Hurricane Bill it wasn't unreasonable to hope for one or two surprises making their way back into the Atlantic.
The first hour or two was quiet with very little of note. The main aim of the trip was to try and find the White Beaked Dolphins known to be in the area, and despite a thorough search of the favourite area, we were out of luck. I did, however, see a fairly close Harbour Porpoise break the surface twice.
The next leg of the trip across the edge of Lyme Bay towards Portland Bill was much better however, with really decent numbers of seabirds. Highlights were 3 Balearic Shearwaters, a Sooty Shearwater, and 15 Great Skuas (which is by far the most Bonxies I have ever seen in such a small period). There were also a smaller number of Arctic Skuas, a single Arctic Tern, and good numbers of Manx Shearwaters, at least 150.
• Wednesday, September 2, 2009 - A well travelled Moth, and another dodgy Curlew
A very smart moth turned up in the back of the car yesterday morning! I can only assume it was attracted to a recent moth trap session, but went undetected, and got packed away amongst rubbish bound for the local dump a day or two later! If this is the case, the moth also went to Bournemouth and Keyhaven! It was very easy to find in the Lewington Moth field guide as it is the species on the spine cover! A Herald.
By the time I saw it in the evening, it was motionless, and appeared dead, which gave me great cause for concern.. Could I count it on my garden list?! Fortunately, it must have been in a severe state of torpor (sp.) for when night fell it was gone in an instant. Into the darkness, and onto the garden list!
Popped into the birdforums web site over the weekend.. As some of you may remember, I was banned a year ago for winding up the Moderators, and basically having too much non-bird related fun on there.
Pick of the recent threads is a prime example of what happens when people dearly want something to be a rare bird (fortunately punctuated by more experienced, methodical observers). I suspect this is the kind of thing that happens everyday at twitches involving mass hallucinations, and people going home having ticked the wrong bird! http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=150474
p.s. Is it just me, or do the Axillaries of the curlew in the above thread look like they have been airbrushed white!? The dark markings seem to end very abruptly at the smooth white area, and then continue further down the flank in one case LOL.
• Monday, August 31, 2009 - Whinchat on Baddesley Common
Up at dawn to check out the Common. Weather was terrible, a really fine drizzle affecting visibility, but at least no wind, and the temperature was uncomfortably high. Would have been a good night for the Moth Trap. Common was quiet with only a couple of parties of Stonechats, and a small number of Chiff Chaffs to sift through. Did find a worn looking Whinchat at the North West corner of the Common.
Was diverted on the way home by an accident, and stumbled across a field alive with bird life near Lee.. About 50 Canada Geese, 2 Feral Geese, including one with Bar Headed goose ancestry. Also Wood Pigeons, 2 Stock Dove, many Corvids (mainly Rooks and a few Jackdaws) and a Single Lapwing.
Afternoon update: A local birder, Phil, later went to check out the Whinchat and also found 15+ Yellow Wagtails.. quite a difficult bird to catch up with in the Test Valley for some reason, my only sighting being 2 springs ago.. Funny how the early birder doesn't always get the prize!
However, I ended the day on a high with great views of a Hobby gliding over the house before stooping after some prey.
• Sunday, August 30, 2009 - Keyhaven and local Buzzards starting to return in numbers.
Took a walk round Keyhaven on Thursday after the Shearwater and Cetacean survey had been cancelled due to bad weather. Wind was quite strong along the coast, so it was definitely the right decision! The Red Necked Phalarope from a few days previous was showing well, along with a Greenshank, a few Knots, and a good number of Dunlin. Surprisingly, most of the Waders were on the Westernmost Lagoon (Keyhaven Lagoon?) as opposed to Fishtail which I'm used to seeing as the premier Wader lagoon. Sadly, the flooded meadow inland from Fishtail has dried up. A shame, as I fancied a pre-dawn stakeout here for Spotted Crake or something, but at least I won't have a wasted journey now!
A couple of Yellow Wagtails overhead was a highlight, but I was unable to find the Cattle Egret.
Back in North Baddesley, the Buzzardworld fields at the West end of Hoe Lane have been harvested, and Buzzards seem to be returning.. 8 at Thursday lunchtime (but only 3 Saturday afternoon).
In Madeira recently, I saw a handful of Desertas/Zino's Petrels on the Ventura Boat trip to the Desertas Islands, including 1 definate Desertas Petrel, (though I wasn't able to make the distinction myself). Every sighting was on the other side of the boat from where I sat, so I struggled! I also saw a smaller number of shadows resembling Zino's Petrels on the spectacular, and knackering night walk in the Madeiran Mountains. I left the Island without any great emotions towards the Pterodroma Petrels.. Obviously they are extremely rare, but with such fleeting views, I didn't really get the chance to grow too attached to them!
What I never dreamt of was that I would see another within a month, in The English Channel, and with much better views. Incredibly, this is exactly what happened to me last weekend, when I volunteered to a Balearic Shearwater and Cetacean survey in Lyme Bay, on a Diving boat out of West Bay, near Bridport. It was the kind of day when everything fell into place perfectly.. the weather had been naff with a strong south-west wind and heavy rain for the previous two days, and I was lucky that the boat trip sailed on the Saturday in much calmer conditions. Seawatching from the boat was fairly comfortable with a superb uninterrupted 180 Degree view to the front of the vessel, and a steady trickle of birds which kept me busy for most of the 10 hours I spent on deck.
It was at the dive point, some 30 miles south of Bridport (a couple more miles would have made us closer to the Channel Islands than the English mainland!), when the "presumed" Fea's quite unexpectedly zoomed past the boat giving me incredible views, albeit only for a few seconds before it headed off into the distance. I was understandably left quite stunned, a feeling that stayed with me for the next 3 or 4 days, realising the magnitude of what I had seen, and how lucky I was to be on the boat and on to the bird during it's brief fly past.
I'm now a big fan of the Fea's group of Petrels.. the speed and elusiveness that frustrated me no end in Madeira, now makes me even more in awe of these amazing superfast seabirds. Here is a bird that made the Balearic and Manx Shearwaters on the day appear sluggish and flat, as it darted and wheeled around the boat. I suspect however many you see, you will always want to see more, and watch them for longer.
It has also made me see the English Channel in a whole new light: Previously, I've looked at it as pretty tame, with all the decent birds stopping in the Bay of Biscay or West of the Scillies. I'm now seeing it as a huge almost unchartered area in terms of Birders.. Let's face it, anyone heading on the typical Biscay ferries run makes sure as much of the Channel sections are overnight, and spent asleep dreaming of what lies in store in the Biscay! Even with determination, it is quite difficult to get out in a boat in fairly calm conditions straight after stormy weather (assuming the storm chaser theory for finding birds holds true out at sea, as it often does on land!). I tried to follow up with a second survey this week, the weather was again looking suitably terrible in the days leading up to the survey, but the survey itself fell victim to the weather.
To cover this area with the regularity you would associate with a local patch is pretty much impossible, so who knows what is out there.
Perhaps we need a few proper pelagic boats out of Weymouth or West Bay, into these unwatched areas 30 or 40 miles south of Dorset and Devon, complete with a couple of barrels of Chum. Count me in if you hear of any trips, but I suspect weather related cancellations would be frequent.
If you see any opportunity out there.. believe me, grab it with both hands!
Other highlights recorded from the boat: 5 Common Scoter, 4 Manx Shearwater, 3 Storm Petrel, 3 Great Skua, 2 Balearic Shearwater, 1 Arctic Skua.
• Thursday, August 20, 2009 - Improvements to the Moth trap
A couple of sessions with the Moth trap recently. I noticed that the mercury vapour bulb didn't seem to be "lighthouse" strength recently, and on reading up on them, discovered that they degrade gradually, while still using up the same amount of electricity! So, I changed the bulb, and also moved the trap about 3 metres to a spot where it shines over 5 more gardens (!), and has a larger view of clear sky. Fortunately the gardens are all bungalows, so the light doesn't affect the neighbours.
All this change resulted in a marked improvement in the catch. The first session, on a night of cloud and drizzle, the catch was pushing 100 moths, with all the egg cartons at capacity! New species for me were:
The Olive
White-point
Six-striped Rustic
Scorched Carpet
Common Carpet
A couple of nights later, I ran the trap but in clear sky, and the catch was much smaller, around 30 moths. I still got some quality though, with the following new species:
Flounced Rustic
Marbled Beauty
Pine Carpet
Very few Hawkmoths this year, only a couple of Poplars, which is a shame. Still have hopes of pulling in a rarer Hawkmoth one of these days!
• Saturday, August 8, 2009 - Final Madeiran shots, and "The show must go on"!
I did have the option of going out yesterday evening and/or this morning but the weather is so barmy I figured it would be a lost cause. Have downloaded a final couple of shots from Madeira. The Waxbill unfortunately gave very limited photo opportunity, and for the one shot I had, the auto-focus looks to have hit the reeds instead of the bird, leaving no options to zoom in any further with the crop. A real smart bird if a little "soft". The Wall Lizards were everywhere on the Island!
Common Waxbill:
Madeiran Wall Lizard:
Finally.. 101 uses for a travel tampon, courtesy of talented (but apparently prone to nose bleeds) young rock musician Ben Kweller!
Headed into the woodland clearing at dusk to try and find evidence of the local Nightjars' Breeding success, but no joy. In fact not a hint of any Nightjar this evening. Also, no Woodcock, so a complete blank with birds!
Luckily, on leaving the house, a Pipistrelle Bat whizzed overhead reminding me to take out my Bat Detector.
Confirmed this was a Common Pipistrelle, and 5 minutes later in the woodland I picked up a couple of Soprano Pipistrelles. A Noctule passed over the clearing, then best of all a "medium" sized Bat came weaving low along the path. It got to within a metre of me before swerving around me, and only the very faintest click was picked up on the Bat Detector.. A Brown Long Eared Bat! one of the UK's commonest species, but one that I always struggle to record, particularly when surveying in open areas.
Tried to pick up a couple more bat species, but the Serotines don't seem to be around behind the house this year, and there were no Myotis Bats along the stream either.
• Saturday, August 1, 2009 - A busy night at the Moth Trap
Yesterday evening, I disturbed a Silver Y, one of the UK's commoner migrant moth species whilst watering plants, and decided to run the Moth trap in case this was a sign of bigger and better species in the area.
No other migrants were found, but the haul was pretty good with 5 firsts for me, none of which were particularly rare.
The full list of macros (Firsts in Bold):
Large Emerald
Riband Wave
Yellow Shell Small Rivulet
Peacock Moth
Brimstone Moth Purple Thorn
Scalloped Oak
Willow Beauty
Common Wave
Black Arches Dingy Footman
Buff Ermine Ruby Tiger
Shuttle-shaped Dart
Flame Shoulder
Large Yellow Underwing
Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing
The Lychnis
Copper Underwing
Common Rustic / Lesser Common Rustic Small Dotted Buff
Silver Y
A mixture of technical problems meant that I was unable to take any bat recordings until the final night of the holiday! However, my luck was in with both Leisler's and Madeiran Pipistrelle Bats easily detected about 5 minutes along the beach front from the hotel.
Madeiran Pipistrelle seemed very similar to Common Pip, with a peak frequency of 45KHz. They appeared to have a slightly faster call rate. A sample of the frequency division output is here.
Madeiran Pipistrelle Sonogram:
Leisler's Bats were calling from higher up the cliff face, and I didn't manage to see them. A sound file of the Frequency division output is here.
Just returned from a super family holiday in Calheta, a quiet, sunny corner of Madeira. Saw just about all of my target birds for the trip, plus some other nice wildlife sightings. Highlights below:
Thursday 23rd July:
Stopped off at Lugar de Baixo which is a tiny freshwater pool. There was something different at this pool on each visit I made, but the best I could manage during the week were my first Common Waxbills. Other sightings were Common Tern, Yellow Legged Gull, Moorhen, Coot and Common Teal.
Friday 24th July 2009:
A trip to the Desertas Islands in fairly rough seas was very memorable with many Cory's Shearwaters passing close by and also a few Bulwers Petrels. Best of the photos are below. We did see a small number of Fea's / Zino's Petrels, but the views were usually very brief. On the Desertas Islands I got a photo of Berthelots Pipit, and also saw many Atlantic Canaries. On the return sailing back to Funchal, I was lucky enough to see a succession of Whale Blows, but they were too far to investigate further. We did encounter a group of Atlantic Spotted Dolphins at extreme close range.
Cory's Shearwater from the Venturas Boat:
Bulwer's Petrel:
Berthelot's Pipit on the Desertas Island:
26th July:
An afternoon drive into the highlands of Madeira between Calheta and Porto Moniz. Madeiran Firecrests were calling everywhere, but it took about 30 minutes trekking along a fairly spectacular Levada walk through dense woodland before I got reasonable views of 2. I could also hear Trocaz Pigeons, and frustratingly even heard their wingbeats as they flew, but was unable to see any here. Back in the open, Swifts were quite numerous overhead, and I eventually confirmed a small number of Plain Swifts, their deeply forked tail the most obvious feature. A probable Pallid swift also zoomed overhead.
With daylight fading fast, and low cloud making visibility into the valleys almost impossible, I decided to stake out the only wooded valley that seemed to be cloud free. After about 20 minutes, I was very fortunate to see two Trocaz Pigeons fly up from the valley and land in trees across the valley. Got superb views through the scope of these extremely shy birds. Despite the fact I was a good 500 yards away, they didn't seem to take their eyes off me, before eventually moving on.
27th July, I took the Madeira Wind Birds night trip to the breeding colony of the Zino's Petrels. Heard the birds calling thorughout the evening, and saw a couple fly past, but the views were not great. Nevertheless, it was a memorable experience.
Around the hotel in Calheta, a couple of Monarch Butterflies made regular appearances, and an afternoon seawatch from the beach had a few Cory's passing by plus a couple of Bulwer's Petrels.
Cory's were nesting above the hotel and every night, their eery calls could be heard above the hotel. A batwatch on the last evening got me two of the three Bat Species present on Madeira: Madeiran Pipistrelle and Leisler's Bat.
• Monday, July 13, 2009 - First Fox in the Garden, and more Hedgehog news from under the shed!
Another first for the garden this morning as a Red Fox hurdled the front garden fence and trotted past the kitchen window. Superb views of a really smart individual. I often wondered last winter what was eating the bread and food off the ground feeder. We have had Roe Deer in the past, but this winter I didn't find any Deer droppings, and suspected maybe a Fox.
More Mammals this evening, as we have been treated to the young Hedgehogs making their first steps into the big world. There are at least 4 of them, and were fun to watch as they negotiated the Children's toys and Wendy House. They are starting to get quite street-smart though, and soon disappeared back under the shed when they realised they were being watched.
