Back to blighty with a bump

Two days back in the county and nothing more than a Spoonbill and a trickle of passage waders to raise the pulse. Last week I couldn't step foot outside Tbilisi without tripping over Corncrakes, Quails, shrikes and buntings; thank God I'm back in a country where the government (enthusiastically aided by the farmers and 'developers') keep all these pesky birds under control.

Definitely not Gwent

Have just returned from another two weeks in the bird-filled Republic of Georgia, probably the best birding in the Western Palearctic. Managed to get to the Lesser Caucasus this time, a new mountain range tick. Unfortunately a rather intense work schedule severely limited the birding opportunities, however, it is impossible to spend any time in the country without seeing something of interest. Topics for discussion this time include: distribution of rubicola, variegata and armenica Stonechats; 'eastern' Black Redstarts and/or Redstart x Black Redstart hybrids; and the status of Laughing Dove in Tbilisi... discuss.

Flippin' un-ber-loody-believable

What an absolutely outrageous FA Cup final, it's official Stevie Gerrard is greatest being ever to have graced this planet.

PS. Also bagged a couple of Wood Warblers this morning before the footy, 144 for the year.

Fourth time lucky

Finally caught up with a Garganey today and it looked like this...

Look who's back...

Spoonbill was added to the year-list today but, of more interest, was the return of one of our Pochard hybrids. This female is of a very similar appearance to the bird recently reported as an "apparent first-winter female Redhead" at Slimbridge. The pics below were taken in dull conditions this evening, resulting in an artificially dark appearance, however, many features, e.g. details of the shape of the facial 'blaze', appear identical to the Slimbridge bird.




And just to prove Spoonbills can be exciting too...

Now the shelducks are at it!

Australian Shelduck x Ruddy Shelduck? Shelduck x Australian Shelduck?? Ruddy Shelduck x Shelduck??? Is there a slice of something else in there? Is it a backcross or a multiple hybrid? This is all too much, if you think you know this, presumed escaped, bird's parentage click on 'comments' and leave a note.

*sigh*

Pied Flicker

Just the one new species today, Pied Flycatcher, a pair nest building at Goytre House Wood.

Aythya ID, cynicism and the vagaries of digiscoping

Since New Year I have recorded at least four different aythya hybrids on the Newport Wetlands Reserve, my initial reaction to any report of Scaup now teeters between deep cynicism and outright disbelief. However, this morning my hybrid-induced neurosis appears to have reached new heights, I am now at the stage whereby, even when confronted by a spanking male, I grill it to within an inch of its life, in an attempt to find the merest hint of a hybrid origin. An even more surprising development is that my camera appears to have succumbed to the same condition. My negative outlook, and an errant imaging sensor, today conspired to suggest a more extensive black bill tip was present than would be expected for a pure Scaup (see left-hand pic below) and I briefy entertained the thought it might be a Scaup x Scaup hybrid backcross. However, once better views had been obtained, the bird showed the classic Scaup bill pattern (see right-hand pic below), it was of course a perfectly normal male Scaup with apparently unquestionable parentage.

Heads up guys, it's not just the birds that are out to fool you, your camera might be too.

Three steps forward, two steps back

Another three (briefly four) species were added to the year-list today and one removed. First the removal, due to woefully inaccurate information regarding the northern boundary of the GOS recording area, I'd erroneously ticked off Ring Ouzel whilst in Powys,... bugger. New species today were: Little Stint, Scaup, Arctic Tern and Swift.

And now begins a twisted tale of doubt and paranoia, a salutary story as to why birding is bad for your psychological well-being and why waders are the spawn of Satan. Picture the scene: a bleary-eyed birder, intent on a seawatch, stops briefly on the second platform at Goldcliff; about 200 Dunlin fidget and jostle on the back of the large shingle island; an earlier report of Little Stint bobs, phalarope-like, on the swell of the birder's subconscious; and then, up pops a wee, greyish, small-billed head; a stint/peep shuffles across a gap and disappears into the throng. Bob's your mother's brother, Little Stint goes on the year-list, off goes the birder happy as the proverbial Larry.

At a slightly less anti-social hour, three locally renowned observers follow in the footsteps of the first, bag a Sanderling on the first lagoon and make their way to the seawall.

Birding musketeers: "Much doing?"
Larry-like birder: "No, did you get the Little Stint?"
Birding musketeers: "Nope, one Sanderling though"

The (slightly less) Larry-like birder thinks "surely not", dismisses the possibility and continues to stare at the wobbly blank canvas that is the Bristol Channel. But, of course, the doubt nibbles away at the certainty of the stint, paranoia consumes the diminutive calidrid and disgorges in its place the plump, hind toe-less form of a smug-faced Sanderling. Do you have any idea how smug a Sanderling can be? Surely the most evil of the waders. Oh sure, they look "purer than the driven..." in their whiter than white winter dress, but we know the malevolent machinations crossing and recrossing their little avian brains. Smirking all across its stubby little bill, it sits, on the barren shingle ridge of the birder's mind and, every now and again, stretches a strikingly contrasting wing.

Other birds come and go; three or four Arctic Terns move up-channel, a few swifts shoot inland and a very smart drake Scaup hangs out with the local Tufties. News of a 'funny' swift at Uskmouth induces mild panic and a brief sojourn to the far end of the reserve.

But back comes the birder to Goldcliff, the hateful Sanderling forcing a return to the fateful second platform, its little black bill probing at the softest parts of the ornithological psyche. Of course there is no Little Stint offering salvation from amongst the Dunlin now, no redemption of mind by minuta and no bleeding Sanderling either!

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it's off the list, still think I saw a Little Stint (somebody get a photo, please!), still can't believe I f****d up quite as royally as it would appear I may have, and still looking for something to wipe the smile off a certain Sanderling's conceited little fizzog. Oh the shame of it all!

PS. 140 for the year.
PPS. Note to self - mustn't let imagination run riot.

Two little Ruffs at the pools are we...

Two Ruff at Goldcliff kept the numbers ticking over (138 now), the only other half decent boids were 15 Whimbrel, 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 1 Wheatear and a couple of Yellow Wags although also got 43 more Whimbrel and a Short-eared Owl at Uskmouth before bad light stopped play.