Land of the Pharoahs

Just back from a seven day blast around Egypt with the usual suspects... what a trip!

The target species were all seen, well, and the padders made for just fantastic birding!

For me, the highlight was reaching 800 species for the Western Pal (IOC) and Graeme matching me within 24 hours.  After 25 years of such trips both together and separate, it was wonderful for us to crack such a milestone more or less simultaneously.  Still a target less than ten people have achieved.  Special birds too.  For me, Three-banded Plover at Tut Amon - Graeme with African Mourning Dove at Abu Simbel....

My other two targets were Goliath Heron and African Skimmer - neither of which I really expected to see but both were found.  The Heron was tricky but a full day searching the mangroves at Lahami and then Hamata eventually paid off and the Skimmer was found on our second day at Abu Simbel - taking a boat to "Bay 2" just north of the airport was the key to finding it - as well as good numbers of all the Abu Simbel specialities.



Highlight of the 'padders' were probably the half dozen Egyptian Nightjars we had great views of and this Pharoah Eagle Owl........ an absolute stunner!

A twitchable Red-rumped Swallow - At last!

Red-rumped Swallow has a bit of 'history' within Cleveland.  There are eight accepted records but in total only about ten people have seen them.
The 'history' revolves around whether or not they're all believed, whether others that were not submitted or rejected should have been and why the hell have we not had one that hung around for long enough for the masses to catch up with.
Well at least the latter point was put right today, with Chris Sharp coming up with the goods yet again (he's had a decent couple of years :-)).
This beauty was at Bowesfield and lingered for all the 'listers' to catch up with.......

Cheers Chris!!

Get in there!!

Its just over two years since I began this blog, with the difficult choice to be made about a Thayer's Gull in Ireland. Well, good things come to those who wait....... apparently.

News this week of a Thayer's in Lincolnshire had us all comparing the photographs with the books and, sure enough, it looked a goodun!

Off to the middle of nowhere, somewhere near Scunthorpe on Thursday, to connect with this extremely distinctive fella. The BBRC / BOU will have the final say (eventually) no doubt but it looks good enough for me.. nice addition to the list.

Having finally got my first tick of 2012...... Bring on Egypt and Turkey!

The 'Boro continues to be hard work!

....who's idea was this?

Flogging Middlesbrough is proving at least as difficult as I could ever imagine, though Saturday afternoon added a few.

The morning had seen me flogging Stewart Park and Hemlington Lake to death from early doors, adding Stock Dove for my efforts, before taking a break over the river to see some real birds.... Highlights being Marsh Harrier (Cleveland's first over-wintering bird) and this obliging LEO..

Back to the 'Boro for the afternoon and an exploration of Eastfields Farm. Hoping to see Barn and Little Owls here when I get some dawn/dusk motivation so this was more of a reccie...

Excellent place though... the rough pasture round the farmhouse producing Yellowhammer, Reed Bunt and Tree Sparrow and a large Holly tree attracting all five thrushes. A flock of Golden Plover got another potentially tricky species out of the way and week two ended with the total stretched to a massive 62! ....

... suspect it's going to get really difficult now.... bring on April!

Year listing....

Many years ago, I used to love year listing within Cleveland... friendly competitive fun, motivation to get out birding and a challenge!

Of course, sea-watching at Hartlepool every night in autumn and twitching Boulby for every semi-rarity racks up the miles and would be a very expensive game to play these days. So....

Cleveland is neatly split into four unitary boroughs, of which I live in Middlesbrough. A perfect solution for 2012's motivational problems :)

It has its pluses... will cost next to nothing and nobody's 'done' Middlesbrough before, so I'm bound to set a record. However, there's a reason why it's not been done... it's crap!

Compared to the other three boroughs, there's no marsh and no coastline, so the expected number of species will be less than half of any of the other three. Still - I've said I'll do it now!

End of week 1 and total stands on a whopping 46 lol. Lads doing each of the other three are already well into three figures.

Highlights so far are Ring-necked Parakeet and Kingfisher..... regular updates to come.

2011 Highlights...

... as the year draws to a close, time to reflect on the highs of the last 12 months and to wonder what lies in store for 2012.

Eleven new birds is a decent return, collected mainly over trips to Morocco (twice) and the Azores... two of my favourite places for birding.

Highlight of our first trip to Morocco, for me at least, was Cricket Longtail, only recently discovered in the country along the road to Assouerd, a fantastic birding area.

Other ticks on this trip were Royal Tern and Pied Crow but, despite a lot of effort, we couldn't locate any Kelp Gulls at Knhiffis Lagoon - hence the second trip there in June!

The most productive trip of the year was my October visit to Corvo - with two twitches to Flores just for some speed boat fun :)

Five new birds including Blue-winged and Tennessee Warblers, Purple Martin, Common Nighthawk and this White-tailed Tropicbird (my bird of the year) is a fantastic return - looking forward to a full three weeks on the islands next year!

Locally, Cleveland fared well, with White-throated Robin, Sandhill Crane and Pallid Harrier all adding themselves to the county list - only the latter being remotely expected!

So, what for 2012?

Well, my real number one goal is to catch up with Brown Fish Owl in Turkey. Couldn't make it this year so hoping the pair continue to perform for another season in the Green Canyon. My most wanted WP bird for a number of years... if I see this all else will be a bonus.

So cheers to all for a great year and good birding for the next 12 months!

Geese and Grey Phal....

Weird goings on..... White-fronted Geese everywhere in Cleveland at the moment and some Tundra Beans too - what the hell has caused these record numbers god only knows?

So, off out with camera early this morning to try and photograph some but fog made it obvious anything I was going to get a picture of would have to be close... the light was just awful!

A treat it was then to be given an opportunity by this beautifully obliging Grey Phalarope at Hartlepool - what a stunner!

County Ticks!

The downside of going away in October is that you're very likely to miss 'goodies' at home.

This year's cost of going to Corvo was a four day Glossy Ibis... but it could have been much worse!

Landing at Luton to the news of 'nothing to worry about', it took only 20 minutes into the journey before the 'Hen Harrier' at Dormans photos were placed on the net and, of course, showed it to be a stunning juv Pallid!

Not too surprising that we should get one after this autumn's influx but, with no chance of getting home by dark, a rather sickening piece of news.

Regular updates had us knowing that it roosted so, before first light, Graeme and I were in position to add this beautiful bird to our Cleveland Lists.

Also staying 4 days (though hard work for the last two) it was the icing on the cake for Cleveland in 2011 - with White-throated Robin and Sandhill Crane already secured, will our county ever have a better year?

Another Corvo Season full of ticks!!

The perfect bird - Blue-winged Warbler - stayed! Joined by a Tennessee, which also stayed!

Sea-watching was magnificent - thousands of Great Shears. Also saw Grants Petrel and Fea's Petrel.

Twitched Flores twice to see Common Nighthawk and White-tailed Tropicbird - OMG what a bird!

Oh, and on the way back to Corvo we heard there was a Purple Martin on the island..... sixth tick in as many days.

Other photographic opportunities were few but pleased with this White-rumped....

Sandhill Crane!!!

Well I guess this will never happen again....

The Aberdeenshire Sandhill was tracked from Northumberland to Yorkshire today, hugging the coast - making it pretty straight forward to twitch. An hour and a quarter's wait between Whitburn and us jingled the nerves a bit but It arrived in the end and flew straight past us and through Hartlepool.

Magnificent!

Just over a week to Corvo..... :-)

Corvo 2011....

.... as I bugger about moving house, the first birders have arrived on Corvo for the 2011 season.

I knew there would be stuff to be found following Hurricane Katia and a series of less severe depressions so was prepared.... Even Scillies had scored ;-)

However, the first afternoon of searching produced two birds I could have done without! A Yellow-crowned Night Heron is likely to stay I'd have thought, meaning I wasted a few hundred quid last month with my Madeira twitch and a Dicksissel which isn't, meaning I miss out on a WP mega....

Today will be their first look into the valleys.... god help us!

t-3 weeks!

..... til Corvo

Can't wait! The thought of Yanks hiding in those valleys has me agog already.

In reality, there'll come a year when the weather is wrong and I'll see nowt but let's not entertain such thoughts.... what else is there to look forward to?

To be fair, September at home has been pretty decent birding. Lots of visible migration of Siskin, Redpoll and Mipits and a few nice waders. Two Pecs and a Little Stint were todays offering. I guess the lack of a fall has made it seem disappointing but there's time yet before I leave for The Azores... though last year all hell broke loose after I'd gone (REV, Bluetail, etc, etc...).

Hey ho, you can't be in two places at once. Here's on of the Pecs... Pic by Martyn Sidwell.

They're like bloody buses.....

Two weeks shy of exactly a year ago, I posted here about a ghost laid to rest, when I finally caught up with Sharp-tailed Sand on my Cleveland list. This species had haunted me for 14 years, since I made the awful decision of fitting a game of 5-a-side in before going for the last one, and missing it by seconds....

Well, as the title suggests, you wait 14 years then they all come at once.

Todays repeat performance was of this beautifully marked bird... on exactly the same pool as last year!

Following White-rumped, Semi-P and Wilson's Phal, it's proving a good year for waders :-)

Euro-twitching.....

....can be very rewarding at times.

Desperate for a break and on the point of blowing a fortune on a Bridges of Ross sea-watching trip, I had a last minute change of heart and priced up twitching the long-staying Yellow-crowned Night Heron in Funchal Harbour instead......

The bird performed in its regular spot by the pier at the west end of the marina on each of the three nights I was there.

The beauty of choosing Madeira meant that the sea-watching wasn't compromised either.

Lots of Cory's and Bulwer's and great views of a nailed on (IMHO) Zino's were fantastic. Three cetacean species and plenty of Loggerhead Turtles added to the fun and then there was the warm weather, cheaper beer etc etc....

All in all an inspired choice!

It's been a while......

...... since I last posted.

News of Fish Owls have dominated my summer - especially the fact that I couldn't get over to Turkey to see them! Work has taken over my life but it's all quietening down now in time for some autumn goodies I hope.

Madeira next week to twitch (hopefully) the Yellow-crowned Night Heron then its countdown to Corvo time!

Oct 10-19th on the rock.... let's hope it matches the previous trips.

Just my knee to worry about - up and down those bloody hills will knack it I'm sure but still have time to shed a little weight in advance to give it a fighting chance of survival.

One of these would make it worthwile!

Back of the net!

So the Kelp Gull finally gave itself up, with a close and prolonged fly-by on our second day at Khniffis..... Well, second day this trip :-)

No photos as I was too busy grilling the relevant features through my scope.

A great trip with lots of good birds. CCC's were the highlight for me, some giving excellent views...

Also saw Blue-cheeked Bee-eater, a Moroccan tick and plenty of quality birds throughout, with great company in the form of Tom and Graeme. Thanks to Graeme for the immense driving effort!

Cape Gull take 2

So it's off to Morocco again for that bloody gull!

Seems we were the last attempt not to see the Cape (Kelp) Gulls at Khniffis this winter, before they returned to set up territory again on the island - hopefully this time we'll be luckier. The situation there seems complicated though, with individuals apparently varying in their purity. Just hope we can get good views of a good one!

Been quiet for a couple of weeks here, with water levels too low in the estuary and weather not nice enough to photograph any goodies. Shot this Little Egret in the rain yesterday. Hopefully the bad weather will refill the pools and I can get to play with some waders when I get back!

Hartlepool scores!

Long time since Hartlepool hit the headlines but it came back in style today.....

Originally identified as a bluetail.... causing only mild panic but the lack of blue tail (mmm) and the large size finally caused the penny to drop and all hell let loose up the A19 for Britain's 3rd (1st twitchable) White-throated Robin.

Showed well and eventually got a decent shot. Red-backed Shrike at Seaton added to the wonderful day! T-2 days to proper internet connection - yipee!

Bloody tinternet!

Moving house certainly can be stressful but having to do without an internet connection for almost a month, courtesy of Landlord trying to help but Sky 'rules' meaning he's only made things worse, haven't helped! Who'd have thought I'd be grateful to McDonald's and their free wifi?

Anyway.... struugling to post for the next couple of weeks but here's a decent Redshank shot from the other day. Phil Stead hide, which I reckon is going to give some great shots as wader passage really kicks in.

Nailed a Sedgy at last.....

Been trying to get a good shot of Sedge Warbler for a few days now, with a bit of success. However, early this morning I finally reckon I nailed one. There's a new breed of twitcher in Teesmouth these days, armed with cameras. Any mention of where you photograph a showy bird and there's a crowd there in no time. Not sure I approve, especially when it's territorial birds and there's also accidental disturbance to resident birds already breeding... I reckon the Dormans Pool Stonechats have gone BECAUSE of the showy Gropper in the same area :(

Anyway, I'm not posting locations anymore to minimize the impact.