Good day for a Night Heron. Sunday 9^th April 2023

    When two adult Night Herons were found on the 6^th of April by the River Calder, Ossett, Yorkshire it meant a trip to see these overshooting migrants was planned. I have not seen one in this country for about 25 years, so an early start leaving Kevin C`s house at 7am along with Craig B was arranged. At around 7-30am the news was good that the birds were still present, a nice drive through Mirfield and Dewsbury followed until we reached the River Calder, near Healey Mills Ind.Est. The sign brought back a few memories about my train spotting days, visiting one of the largest freight yards in Great Britain, mainly supplying all the coal trains from the Yorkshire pits to the power stations, its abandoned and nature has reclaimed it. We parked up and walked over the River Calder via a footbridge, we followed the river west until we reached a large metal bowser (placed there to stop quads, motorbikes etc) the climb over this obstacle was good fun! In the distance we could see 20 + birders, but as we arrived one of the Night Herons, that are smartly attired birds, was feeding on the edge of the river, result! The other bird had nipped off for a sleep I was told! Also seen here: - Kingfisher, Swallow, Grey Wagtail, Sand Martin, real tales of the riverbank stuff. I nice catch up with the Rochdale birding crew also. As it was cold and a little misty we decided to move along, by now the Night Heron had clambered up the bank into a tree for a well-earned rest.

   News of a juvenile Great Northern Diver at Skelton Lake (near the services of the same name) had us going to see it, if we could. After a walk all the way around the lake, it was apparent that the bird had flown, prior to our arrival. Other birds there: -Little Ringed Plover, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, House Martin, Sand Martin and various ducks, a new place to visit and quite nice.

   We headed back to RSPB St Aidans/ Swillington and managed to see the sleeping Little Owl sat in a bush behind the Dragging Machine that used to drag coal from the ground at open cast mines. Much the same as last weeks visit with a few Black-necked Grebe`s showing a little better, the weather had really turned good with the sun trying to show itself. An early start meant an early finish as we headed home by 4pm.

Dave O.

Marsden Moor. Sadly after their return post moorland fires a dead Short Eared Owl on Saddleworth Rd. Presumably road kill. 

Sarfraz Hayat wrote:

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Hi Doc,

 

A cut and paste from their twitter feed.  

Ref No 9238 Accepted-Brown Shrike 1ct-20 Johnny Brown's Common, South Kirkby, Yorks

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 cheers, don't do Twitter so grateful for that

Doc Brewster wrote:

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.......and I agreed with those on site that a bright end of the spectrum Brown Shike was a wee bit more 'best-fit' for this individual than Turkestan.

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 Glad my gut feelings were correct Thanks for that info Sarfraz, I missed that announcement

That Shrike (again)

John Rayner went to see the bird latterly and very kindly sent to me two photos which are very convincing (in Johns view as well as mine) for this to be a Brown Shrike, - (likely an adult, in view of lack of scaling on the underparts, strength and sharpness of the mask, and head pattern); - overall a really smart bird.

Structurally, the primary projection (wing point) only seems to reach the upper tail coverts, the tail appears long, and in flight it clearly shows the short outer feather and fairly even graduation of five feathers on the tails left side.

Plumage wise, any of the Isabelline group should show an obvious white patch at the base of the primaries, lacking on this otherwise well marked beast. Johns photos cover the basic diagnostic features to underpin the identification.

When, (and IF!) I ever get back to Thailand, I shall particularly study both Taiga Flycatchers and Brown Shrikes with extra critical scrutiny and also spend time working on aging them in the field, for both these species are to be seen on the farm fields/garden areas daily through the winter months.

I am not a photographer but what I have learned from the various photos posted here and online is how easily shades of brown/grey and degrees of pallor on the same individual bird can vary so much according to light and exposure variables.

Sooner or later might one turn up in Manchester...........?

Regards,

Mike P.

Hi Mike, it did show shorter outer tail feathers I can 100% confirm that - well spotted! Although the whole tail did show evidence of abrasion. The two photos were taken one in direct sunshine, the other with cloud cover and I purposely chose those 2 to show how the lighting changed the birds appearance!! There was a small sway towards Brown Shrike on site, the very long tailed appearance added to that thought. I think more folk would prefer Turkestan but I've seen Brown, Turkestan and Daurian (all accepted birds) so can maybe be more unbiased and I agreed with those on site that a bright end of the spectrum Brown Shike was a wee bit more 'best-fit' for this individual than Turkestan. But .........

With a few days in work behind me and a sunny day, possibly the last for a while, I fancied a trip out. Should I drive over 4hrs through the night for the Rufous Bush Chat in Norfolk or go somewhere closer. The later choice won and with a single sighting only coming out of Norfolk (genuine or wishful thinking??!) I am happy that I chose correctly.

I headed over to South Kirkby, a place I had previously visited to see an Iberian Chiffchaff, and parked down the end of Carr Lane as I had done before. A very muddy, quite long trek then ensued (do wear wellies if you go!) and initial signs weren't great. The bird had gone missing for an hour, but then as I neared its favoured fields a returning birder said it was showing well and directed me to a viewing point away from the main crowd but halving the distance between the observers and the bird. Thanks to that birder if he's reading this!! I joined just 6 birders in the potato field, well sapaced, socially distanced and the bird was in a hawthorn right in front of us. The putative Brown Shrike OR Turkestan Shrike was showing very well but not visible to the big gathering of at least 30-40 birders on the track over a wide, water-filled ditch from where we were! We then watched an photographed it for the next hour and a half feeding actively and moving between our field and the next one down. Most of my companions where I was were photographers with long lenses but all kept their distance from the bird, great behaviour. In the end just 3 of us were there as the shrike settled down to digest all it's food intake and for the next 45mins it never moved. The last 3 of us then decided that that was our cue to leave too.

Like Mark says the jury is out, lots of knowledgable birders have seen it and I chatted to the observers today. The bird looked very different in different lights and an argument could be made for both Brown Shrike and Turkestan Shrike, the latter being much rarer with, I think, 7 accepted British records. Even photos can't be used to determine ID as the camera often adjusts lighting and contrast in 'Auto' to get the best colour balance. I did mention on site several times that the tail looked extraordinarily long and that's even with the obvious abrasion to the feather tips that you could see, this is a pro-Brown Shrike feature but...... Also someone has mentioned elsewhere the possibility of DNA analysis so watch this space.....

A couple of distant digiscoped shots attached.

In the end I had to give in - I've seen many Hoopoes in Europe, but never in the UK, so I ended the torment yesterday with a trip to Leeds.

On arrival at Linton cricket ground I was told that the bird had left 10 minutes ago! The usual stress of will/when will it come back was lessened by the two Red Kites overhead.

After only another 10 minutes I saw the Hoopoe fly across the cricket ground and into the tree in front of me. It then dropped to the ground 5 metres away.

For the next 90 minutes it put on a superb show for the semi-circle of 30-or-so birders. Usually 5 -6 metres away, but occasionally coming as close as 1 metre. Completely unperturbed by the audience as it poked and probed the outfield.

Events were only terminated by a heavy shower causing the birders including myself to leave, but the bird was still there.

Well worth the trip over the hills!

Went for the Franklin's Gull this morning. Arrived at 10,30am. This was one of the more challenging twitches of the year (just how they should be !) With us basically walking miles through farmers fields only to get very distant scope views of it, for it then to immediately just fly off back in the direction you just came from.Spent most of the time trying to spot it mixed in with 300 plus, circling black-headed gulls over random fields. Managed these photos on a sudden 10 second fly by when it caught me and a few other birders by surprise. An excellent life tic none the less.

Sunday 13th Sept

Early morning visit to Redcar Tarn after taking a chance that the Franklins Gull would show.
Nice to see Leeds birder Darren Ward and his pal.

- Franklins Gull (Lifer)
The Black-headed Gulls were building up slowly but no sign of the Franklins, another Saturday night bunk I thought. Just about to leave at 8am as I had to be back in Manchester when another small group of Black-headeds were closing in and Bingo! The Franklins Gull was with them, stood out a mile.
I called it out and soon the few birders present were watching it loafing on the Tarn. Within a minute it disappeared but it hadnt flown far, over the road into the field.
We watched it for a few minutes but it became mobile again and flew off, lost to view. I said my goodbyes and set off for home.

I soon stopped at a group of Gulls in a field along Tarn Lane where I picked it up again and signalled to the others. This time it was a bit more distant and was moving from field to field, some nice flight views but viewing it on the ground was difficult and it disappeared over the brow of a sloping-away hill.
That was my cue to leave, well worth the 1 hour journey. Easy viewing if the bird you are going to see remains on the Tarn.

I stopped to watch a hunting Barn Owl on the journey over too!