I was on my way to Wales with my son but we decided to go via Radipole Lake in Dorset in hope of the Great Reed Warbler. We had arranged to meet Tony T and he had arrived earlier to report that the bird wasn’t showing. We persevered for a few hours but the bird could not be found. My non birding son Daniel was impressed by the explosive song of the local Cetti’s Warblers and was lucky enough to see one singing out in the open an unusual sight.


Other than this the young coots provided great entertainment as they chased the
parent around begging for food. Marsh Harrier was seen hunting and Red Admiral
and Holly Blue were on the wing.
This one is enjoying feeding on something that we would find unpalatable.

Mark C.

Australian Raven, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

On my final full day in Australia I visited the John Forrest National Park, the first National Park in Western Australia, where I had my second encounter with what was my favourite Australian species of bird.  I regularly saw Black-cockatoos throughout my stay but invariably they had white not red in their tails.  However, on Day 5 on route to Fremantle I spotted three Black-cockatoos fly over the Leach Highway at Welshpool.  As the birds approached their destination, a tree beside the carriageway, they spread their tails to reveal bright red tail panels that contrasted strongly with their predominantly black plumage in the bright sunlight.  It was an impressive sight and the intensity of the red was so unexpected.  As well as the three Red-tailed Black-cockatoo the journey to Fremantle Prison also resulted in sightings of Australian Pelican (3), Peregrine Falcon and Straw-necked Ibis.

Red-tailed Black-cockatoo (male), John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

My second sighting of the endemic Red-tailed Black-cockatoo was as I walked along the disused railway track at John Forrest National Park.  I heard what I assumed to be a parrot calling from a clump of trees and eventually spotted a Black-cockatoo.  As I had experienced before they can be surprisingly difficult to locate for what are large birds (55-60cm).  I managed a record photograph before the bird, and a second that I was oblivious to, flew out of the tree to reveal vivid red tail panels.  Once again the intensity and contrast with the predominantly black plumage was impressive.  I encountered what were probably the same two birds on the way back from the tunnel as well as my last endemic species of the trip, the tiny but none the less impressive, Spotted Pardalote.

The disused railway track, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12

John Forrest NP - 2 May 12

The dry National Falls, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12. In full flow in Aug/Sep.

Back at the car park I headed to The Tavern for a coffee where I encountered several Common Bronzewing (endemic).  The birds appeared to be very well fed and presumably benefited from the food put out for the Kangaroos.  Also present in the surrounding scrub as I enjoyed a coffee were Magpie-lark, Australian Ringneck and Galah.

Common Bronzewing, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Magpie-lark, Aveley - 25 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Australian Magpie (juvenile), John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Laughing Kookaburra, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Laughing Kookaburra, John Forrest NP - 2 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before I will get an opportunity to add to my ‘Ozzie’ list.  A very big thank you to my brother for taking me to all the sites I visited in and around Perth.

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)

On the Sunday we were up early with a 05:00 meet. The
main group were carrying out a general survey o the camp whilst I was assisting
with the ringing, helping with nets etc. We set off for an area that Roger
Dickey had already investigated as a possible ringing area. We set up 6 nets
over quite a large area and set about on the regular 20 minute rounds of the
nets. The first birds in were a Song Thrush that had been born this year and a
Lesser Whitethroat, so a good start.
Birds were steady but not in great numbers until Roger picked out a special
bird, a controlled Reed Warbler, this bird already had a ring, a great find for
our first day on this new site.

Another Lesser Whitethroat followed, with a Common Whitethroat and a few Willow
Warblers.


All in a ll a great weekend at a lovely location with some fine people.
Mark C

On Day 7 I visited Kings Park and the Botanic Gardens that overlook the city of Perth.  The park covers a large area that includes a significant amount of bush land.  The most numerous species of bird was the Rainbow Lorikeet that I encountered at all the sites I visited around the city.  Other species that you couldn’t fail to encounter in and around the city included Australian Magpie (endemic), Red Wattlebird (endemic) and Australian Raven and I was rarely ever out of earshot from their distinct calls.

Perth viewed from the Botanic Gardens - 1 May 12

Rainbow Lorikeet, Lake Monga - 26 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Australian Magpie, Herdsman Lake - 26 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Red Wattlebird, Botanic Gardens - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Red Wattlebird, Botanic Gardens - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

In the afternoon I took a stroll around the bush land that surrounded a lake on the lower slopes of the site.  Unsurprisingly Pacific Black Duck were present on the lake, a species that appeared to inhabit every body of open fresh water.  Also present was a single Little Pied Cormorant.  The highlight from the bush land was my first Grey Shrike-thrush that showed really well as it searched for food amongst the scrub.

Pacific Black Duck, Lake Monga - 26 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Little Pied Cormorant, Botanic Gardens - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Grey Rock-thrush (male), Botanic Gardens - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)

I had heard great things about this legendary breeding seabirds colony and although I wasn’t disappointed with the spectacle or the amount of birds, for some reason I was under the impression it was a little more personal, as it was the place was packed and you had to queue or jocky for position to see the birds on the cliff face.
Gannets were present in great numbers as were Kittiwakes and auks, apparently
200,000 seabirds breed on these cliffs every year.  Although some Puffins were on the sea I onlysaw two sat on the cliffs. For many years Puffins have been declining , this has been put down to the decline in Sand Eel populations – caused either by
climate change or industrial fishing or the weather or a combination of the
three, no one is really sure but this reflects other Puffins populations. I wasn’t really  happy with the images that I had taken but here are some of the better ones.





The Puffin although not a great image proved that some were actually present.
Mark c

Either side of my time in Australia my opportunities for ‘mothing’ have been extremely limited.  However, I have managed to put out my 40W Actinic Trap out a couple of times when the weather has allowed and been rewarded with a handful of species.  The highlight was the micro tachystola acroxantha that was New For Garden.

Tachystola acroxantha, Fareham Garden - 19 May 12

The highlights from the Friday outings of the Fareham Moth Group that I have been able to attend have included Waved Umber, Great Prominent, Lesser Swallow Prominent, Lunar Marbled Brown and Barred Umber.

Waved Umber, Forest of Bere - 11 May 12

Great Prominent, Forest of Bere - 11 May 12

Lesser Swallow Prominent, Forest of Bere - 11 May 12

Lunar Marbled Brown, Forest of Bere - 11 May 12

Good mothing,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)

The Army Ornithological Society this year were kind enough to invite a member
of the RNBWS to their Annual General Meeting this year to be held at Leconfield,
an army base near Beverley in East Yorkshire.  This consists of a whole weekends
activities, a meet and greet on the Friday night, visits to Flamborough Head and
Bempton Cliffs followed by the AGM on the Saturday and Ringing and Survey work
on the Sunday. On the Friday we met as expected and I got to put some faces to
names that I had heard or read of. Saturday was an early start with a coach to
Flamborough Head. A sweep had been taken to guess the bird day total, so this
meant that those with high numbers were twitching everything from the coach on
the way. Flamborough turned out to be pretty quiet, the Night Heron that was
present was in an inaccessible location and migrants were thin on the ground
with just the regular breeding birds present.  Tree sparrows around the cottages
were a nice surprise for me.

As you can see by this photo, all military types enjoy a gutter type humour as Mark
Easterbrook waits hopefully.

Only one butterfly was seen, a Peacock. A single Yellow Wagtail and a Peregrine were
other highlights before we moved onto Bempton Cliffs for the afternoon
Mark C

Silver Gull was one of the few species I had some familiarity with prior to landing in Australia due to often seeing them in the outfield during coverage of the ‘Ashes’ and I expected it to be one of the first species that I would see, if only as a fly over.  However, it wasn’t until the afternoon of Day 2 that I came across a single individual at Lake Monga.  Unsurprisingly they were common at the coast.  I encountered twenty plus during a brief visit to Bibra Lake on Day 5, the location of my only sighting of Red-necked Avocet (7) that were in company with a large group of Black-winged Stilts and a single Black-tailed Godwit.  One particular Silver Gull at Bibra Lake, photographed below, lifted its feet up and down in the water much like Gulls in the UK do to disturb / attract prey.

Silver Gull, Lake Monga - 26 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Silver Gull (paddling), Bibra Lake - 29 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Crested Tern, as well as Silver Gull, were in good numbers at Scarborough Beach on Day 4 with more than fifty birds at rest in a group on the sandy beach.  Unfortunately, on our arrival I was unable to pick out the dark sheering sea bird that I picked up from the road at traffic lights a little earlier.  My first Albatross?  I’ll never know.

Crested Tern, Scarborough Beach - 28 Apr 12 - Canon SX10-IS

Crested Tern, Scarborough Beach - 28 Apr 12 - Canon SX10-IS

On Day 7 I had my best ever views of Caspian Tern, even though I had a particular good view of one in flight from HMS ARGYLL in the Arabian Gulf last year.  After we had visited the Botanic Gardens that overlook the city of Perth my brother insisted on an ice-cream from Hillarys Boat Harbour.  Although it was further up the coast it was well worth the journey because the butterscotch ice-cream was simply ‘divs’ and I encountered two Caspian Terns on the foreshore.

Caspian Tern, Hillarys Boat Harbour - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Caspian Tern, Hillarys Boat Harbour - 1 May 12 - Canon SX10IS

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)

On Day 6 I visited Wungong Gorge and Serpentine Falls National Park, located 30km to the southeast of Perth.  Although I dipped on spotting any new species of parrot I did connect with the endemics Black-shouldered Kite, Inland Thornbill, White-breasted Robin and Red-eared Firetail during the day.  The highlights from Wungong Gorge included Nankeen Night-heron (3), Wedge-tailed Eagle (escorted by what was probably a Collared Sparrowhawk) and Brown Honeyeater.  Several Monarch butterflies were also present attracted to a bush that was in flower.

Nankeen Night-heron. Wungong Gorge - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Monach, Wungong Gorge - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

On route to Serpentine Falls National Park I spotted what I initially thought were two Nankeen Kestrels hovering above a field.  In response my brother slammed on the brakes and reversed back up the road.  The hovering raptors were in fact endemic Black-shouldered Kites and showed well through the binoculars.  Unfortunately they had moved further off by the time I got round to taking a record photograph.  I spotted a further two and another Wedge-tailed Eagle later on in the day from the Tonkin Highway.

Black-shouldered Kite, Byford - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

We arrived at Serpentine National Park to find a little water flowing over the falls, possibly a consequence of the heavy rain two days before.  Unfortunately though, the charm of the location was, in my opinion, being ruined by excessive signage warning against jumping / diving and barriers.  In fact a further sign was being installed during our visit.  It was being placed at the top of the falls to the right of the flowing water.  I just managed to crop it out of the photograph below.

Highlights included the endemics Splendid Fairy-wren, White-breasted Robin and Inland Thornbill (2). I also came across what I presumed to be a termite mound, a large wasp like insect and I had my best views of Kangaroo.

Serpentine Falls - 30 Apr 12

Splendid Fairy-wren, Mundaring Weir - 29 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

White-breasted Robin, Serpentine Falls NP - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Inland Thornbill, Serpentine Falls NP - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Presumed Termite Mound and a Kangaroo, Serpentine Falls NP - 30 Apr 12

Australian Hornet, Serpentine Falls NP - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS.

Kangaroo, Serpentine Falls NP - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

On the way back we stopped at Lesmurde Falls that also had a limited flow of water passing over it.  The ‘birding’ along the trail from the car park was very quiet, but on our return to the car I found the adjacent scrub to be alive with birds.  The highlight was several Red-eared Fantail.  I’m almost certain that I spotted a Mistletoebird but I got too little on it to be sure, but how many other tiny red, white and blue birds are there?

Red-eared Firetail, Lesmurde Falls - 30 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Our last stop was at Yahara Koffeeworks where we had the two Straw-necked Ibis.

Straw-necked Ibis, Swan Valley - 30 Apr 12 - Canon EOS1 (photographed by my brother)

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)

Following a severe bush fire a couple of years ago a small group of surviving Emus have become accustomed to a morning feed by the residents of Aveley.  On day 3, before my brother took me to Yanchep National Park, I visited the location where there were eight individuals waiting for their tidbits.  The Emus were prevented from wandering into the neighbourhood by a stout metal fence that enabled close views of this Australian icon.  There appeared to be a clear hierarchy between the birds with the more dominant ones occasionally chasing off those less dominant into the nearby bush.  On two occassions though confrontation resulted in two birds fronting up to one another and actually head butting each other forehead to forehead.  Another unexpected observation was that the birds were able to close the openings of their ears exposed by the bare skin behind their eyes.

Emu, Aveley - 27 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

Emu, Aveley - 27 Apr 12 - Canon SX10IS

The days of the daily morning ritual are likely to be numbered because now that the habitat had regenerated the authorities were keen for the tidbits to stop to encourage the wild birds to return to the bush where they belong.

The short visit also resulted in my first sighting of a second Australian endemic the Common Bronzewing, although I got much better views of the species a few days later at John Forrest National Park.

Good birding,

Tony T   BSc (Hons) GeoSci (Open)