Weekend Wrap

Considering how much birding potential there is at the moment (there's Pallas's Warblers and Pallid Swifts seemingly everywhere) I neglected my responsibilites this weekend and got in a few birding sessions. Started off with a garden session yesterday morning HERE the highlights being 3 cracking Firecrests in the Lane, nearly 1000 Woodpigeons going over, a single Brambing, a Raven overhead, a Golden Plover and a Curlew over and 6 Egyptian Geese. The Tawny Owl was calling before dawn too.

I then walked to Ferry and walked along the tramway looking for a Pallas's Warbler but no luck but had more Woodpigeons still going over (another 700) , two Crossbills, a couple of Yellowhammer and a Rock Pipit off of Ferry HERE. 

A Pallas's Warbler was found at the Severals shortly after found by Ian and Marc but I had to wait until this morning to give it a bash. Couldn't find it this morning but had a nice group of six Crossbills go low over (including some red males), a Dartford Warbler, a few more Firecrests and a few Redpolls and Siskins HERE.

A few sound recordings below including the Crossbills, Siskin and the Rock Pipit off Ferry. I'm still looking for Water Pipit locally and trying to get to grips with the call- as can be seen in the Rock Pipit sonogram below the call is very shrill exceeding 8Khz with increasing pitches at stages unlike Water Pipit which is slightly less shrill and the first peak is often the same pitch as the following. The Crossbill calls that I recorded are quite low (can range from 2.5-5.5khz) at around 4Khz - could get lost in vis-mig as Linnets or Greenfinch when chattering like this. 

Plenty of migrants in the moth trap yesterday morning with 29 Rusty-dots, a Blair's Mocha, Olive-tree Pearl, Dewick's Plusia, Silver-Y and the first Diamond-back in a while being the highlights.  Not so many migrants in the trap this morning but the first Brick of the year. 

The weather forecast for this week looks very interesting again with a strong southerly airflow from Tuesday coinciding with thunderstorms over the Sahara mid-week with widespread sand across western Europe so presumably more moth migrants, Pallid Swifts and Desert Wheatears on the cards. I'll get out as much as I can this week. 

Firecrests in the Lane

Stonechat and Dartford Warbler at the Severals 

Still about six Chiffchaffs at Norton

The Brents are getting in the field behind the Church again

Blair's Mocha

Brick

Getting a few of these which I presume are Blastobasis vittata

Moth trapping at Little Oak Lodge 

Last Knocking Migrants

The southerly airflow has resumed with a nice uptick in moth migration and regionally there have been further Pallid Swifts and Pallas's Warblers have been appearing in numbers on the south east coasts. 

Yesterday the highlight was a Small Marbled in the moth trap- the 4th this year which is incredible. Supporting cast included a few Rusty-dots and a Ypsolpha ustella which was new for the lodge. 

This morning there were more moth migrants in the trap with White-speck and Olive-tree Pearl. 

As it's getting to the end of play for the autumn Marc and I met up again for another bash of East Head and Snowhill Marsh area. No Pallas's unfortunately but a bit of vis mig and some late migrants around including 6 Brambling over and good numbers of Goldcrests HERE.

In order to squeeze the last juice out of the autumn I then met up with Ian and we did Church Norton area and found a nice Ring Ouzel in St.Wilfred's graveyard which was Ian's 200th Peninsula tick for the year- a great achievement- I'm only on 188! Not much else really apart from a build up of Brents and 30+ Goldcrests HERE. We also flushed a white moth from the hedge which could have been a Crimson Speckled (there has been an influx) but it flew strongly away from us and we couldn't relocate it. 

It's basically one week left for what I would call autumn and then from mid-November it's the beginning of the long winter. The plan is to get in as much local birding as possible. Unlike island vagrant traps, seems like the concentration mechanism of vagrants round here in the autumn is the trickle down of birds onto the south coast as the autumn progresses with the very late autumn being the best hope of autumn rarities. So now is the peak time for these parts. 

First-winter Ring Ouzel

Small Marbled 

White-speck

Dark Marbled Tabby

Nettle-tap- not sure if these were migrants too. Other migrants over the last couple of days included up to 7 Rusty-dots, single Rush Veneers, Crocidesma plebjana, Olive-tree Pearl, Delicate, Scarce Bordered Straw, Whitepoints and Turnips. Very low numbers of moths but clearly a distilled migrant blend pushed up from the south in these winds. 

Ypsolpha ustella - now on 622 for the garden and 565 for the year 

Boat-tailed Grackle - World Tick

As it was only just over an hour away I popped off to see the Boat-tailed Grackle at Calshot Spit in Hampshire.  Background to this bird on Birdguides HERE and background to Grackles in the WP HERE. Interestingly there was a Great-tailed Grackle on the Azores this year too with a great pic and some notes on that from Vincent HERE.

In short, all these records of Grackles in the WP (apart from a single Common Grackle record) are considered to be either escapes or entirely ship assisted and Great-tailed and Boat-tailed are non-migratory or only short-distance migrants so not considered to be natural vagrancy candidates so are not considered Category A birds in the WP.  

Not sure what the ticking ethics are on ticking a Cat A (wild and native) bird on my World List as it's from the US and is still a Cat A individual there but it's a Cat E now it's in the UK and the WP. Granted I can't tick it for the UK and the WP but can't see why I can't have it as a World tick. Not much difference in me taking a boat to Florida and seeing one there or one taking a boat from Florida to Southhampton to come and see me? So without giving it too much thought it's now my 3355th species for the World. 

Birding society rules and regs aside, this is the best bird I've seen this autumn- absolutely mind blowing and what a journey to get here even it did stowaway on a cruise ship all the way across the Atlantic, the first one to ever reach the UK by hook or crook- it's a wild bird nonetheless. 

A male by the looks of it and according to Birdguides an Atlantic race bird. Will add some more to this once I've done a bit of reading on the age etc. 

East Head

I was hoping to get in a bit more bush bashing in the closing hours of the autumn but quite a strong southwestely was blowing with plenty of rain too. However as I've paid for a season parking ticket I decided to stick to the plan and still did East Head and Snowhill this morning. As expected very little in the way of any passerine action but the tide was high and there was a very good selection of waders and waterfowl on Snowhill Marsh and Creek. 60 species of over 2500 individuals in nearly 4 hours HERE. 

Highlights included an increase of Brents to at least 600 (still only small numbers in Pagham Harbour which presumably are an overflow population from Chichester Harbour or a geographically seperate population that migrate later), a good selection of waders including 7 Greenshank, Barwits and Knots, 6 Sandwich Terns feeding in the creek and a couple of Firecrest in the church yard. 

Basically, it's winter! 

Sandwich Tern 

Greenshank and Grey Plover 

A family party of Brents

Snowhill waders- Golden Plovers, Barwits, Blackwits, Dunlin, Curlew and Redshank 

Dunlins

Redwing- surprisngly not that easy to see on the Peninsula so nice to get a view of one today

Firecrest- that's my xmas card photo sorted for this year 

Weekend Round-up

The highlight of the weekend ofcourse was the Pallid Swift from yesterday morning (HERE) but there were a couple of other good bits and bobs too. In addition to the Swift on the Selsey Bill Seawatch we also had a Merlin fly west and I had my first Great Northern Divers of the autumn and a few other seabirds on the move HERE. In the afternoon yesterday I decided to try the Medmerry Trail Sewage works for the Swift but it started raining so I went to the Ferry hide instead which was fortuitous as a cracking first-winter Grey Phalarope appeared for about 20 minutes. Earlier on in the day I also had Spotted Redshank, 3 Avocet and 2 Green Sandpiper on the pool HERE.

This morning I did a garden birdwatch before we went smashing pumpkins with the kids, the highlights being a Fieldfare and a few Redwings and a Moorhen calling from the ditch and a Curlew flying over somewhere calling HERE. This afternoon I sneaked out for a couple of hours and did Church Norton and west side until dusk and had 59 species of over 2000 individuals with the surprise of two Curlew Sandpipers feeding in the channel before flying west over my head calling. There were also 3 Marsh Harriers and a Bar-tailed Godwit amongst the usual crowd HERE. I also had a 'White Wagtail' amongst a flock of Pieds in the field by the church. 

As hoped for there has been an influx of moth migrants in the same wind that produced the Pallid Swift but it's been a bit low key (about 20 species of about 50 individuals) with the highlights being 2 Gems, 2 Pearly Underwing, upto 10 Rusty-dot Pearls, a couple of Rush Veneer and a single Delicate. The deep southerlies resume from Tuesday with a more prolonged period of North African/Iberian air so it could be a very interesting week ahead. 

Pallid Swift

First-winter Grey Phalarope on Ferry. Grey Phal and Pallid Swift in the same day- certainly the best day of the autumn. 

Curlew Sandpipers overhead

Juv Spotted Redshank on Ferry 

'White Wagtail'- more pics compared with Pied and showing the grey rump HERE

Juv Marsh Harrier- 3 birds this evening included 2 juvs and a second-cycle male 

Gem

Pearly Underwing 

Pallid Swift - Selsey Bill

We got very lucky this morning after following yesterday's two probable Pallid Swifts (found by the Hunters) presumably one of  the same birds did a fly by (picked up by Marc Read) allowing us to get some better photos which appear to confirm the identification. The bird could have done with being closer and in better light but I think we've got enough but will have to wait to see if the BBRC agree. 

Presumed juvenile/first-winter Pallid Swift (above and below). The extensive and broad pale throat that extends below and beyond the eye and the pale forehead with an 'alien-eye' appearance all look good for Pallid. Structurally the bird also looks good for Pallid (see below) and the crown appears relatively flat (compared to the steep forehead of Common Swift). Furthermore there doesn't appear to be a strong contrast between the lores and the ear coverts. Typically juvenile Common Swift has a very contrasting and restricted white face with small white clearly demarcated throat patch and white lores that contrast with the ear coverts. Common Swift also often has a prominent white leading edge to the wing which is not apparant here either. 

Structurally the bird appeared to have a relatively shallow tail fork and broad arm and a relatively stocky caudal projection (above and below). The wing-tips also appear relatively blunt tipped. The lack of moult and the apparant fresh and uniform feather tracts indicate a juvenile/first-winter bird. 

In comparison Pallid Swift from today (above) and Common Swift (below)- Common Swift has a more rakish appearance, with a thinner hand and pinched in caudal projection and longer tail. Sadly there is only a hint of scaling on some images (more of an adult id feature anyway as both juvenile Common and Pallid can appear quite vermiculated on the underparts) and there is not enough detail in any of the photos that I got to see any finer details such as the contrast in the coverts and primaries or much in the way of overall colouration. However the pictures the Hunters got yesterday show milky brown coloured birds so hopefully by putting together all the details available- the large diffuse pale throat extending beyond the eye, the contrasting eye, the relatively broad bluntish tipped wings, the stocky caudal projection and the relatively shallow forked tail and the overall milky brown colouration captured in yesterday's images - seems on balance to favour Pallid Swift. In context of the time of year and the intense warm southerly airflow over the last few days that fits in with an established vagrancy pattern for this species- seems like a strong case for Pallid Swift. 

Yesterday's birds showing the milky brown colouration (Liz Hunter) 

Pallid Swift from Bulgaria above and Common Swift from Beddington below highlight some of the stuctural features as discussed above. These are both Spring birds but the structural features carry across as does the face pattern on these particular individuals which both look like immature birds, the Pallid looks like still in juvenile plumage.  

Weather chart for yesterday at around mid-day when the birds were first discovered. A deep southerly strong airflow originating from Iberia was in place. Pallid Swift are double brooded (unlike Common Swift) and late fledging birds on orientation flights getting carried north in strong tail winds are believed to be involved in these regular vagrant events to NW Europe in late October/November. Interestingly there was a Common Swift seen at Spurn today and in past late autumn 'Swift events', Common Swifts have also been involved so caution is required. 

References/Sources used:

Common and Pallid Swifts Photo Identificaton, Birdwatch, Andy Stoddart HERE

ID Handbook of European Birds, Nils van Duivendijk

Advanced Bird ID Guide, The Western Palearctic, Nils van Duivendijk

Flight Identification of European Passerines and Select Landbirds, Tomasz Cofta

The Identiication of juvenile Common and Pallid Swifts, Hans Larsson, British Birds: 111: 310-322

Wild Swift Chase

Deep southerlies have been blowing since yesterday and I've been keeping my eye on the bird news and the skies for Pallid Swifts which are almost guaranteed regionally in this kind of weather system. I did a bit in the garden this morning but only 25 Redwings of note. 

At about 1.30pm the Hunters sent out a message on the local Whatsapp group that they had just had two Swifts offshore Selsey Bill so I immediately abandoned the family and my post and headed down there. I spent the rest of the day (until dusk) waiting at the Bill but alas the Swifts were nowhere to be seen. Liz Hunter has a few photos of the birds and they look good for Pallids - hopefully will get some more detail when we see the photos on a computer later.  There's only one previous record of Pallid Swift for the Peninsula so will be a mega local record. 

A bonus pale phase adult Pom complete with spoons was a bit of a consolation prize and passage was steady off the Bill with 112 Kittiwake moving west, 58 Gannet, a presumed Arctic Tern and a few auks HERE. 

The moth trap was dissappointing this morning considering the weather conditions, just a Delicate was the only sniff of a new migrant. I'll be very surprised if there aren't migrants tonight after the Swifts off the Bill and the winds now blowing for well over 24 hours and feeling quite humid now with air from far south. 

Adult pale phase Pomarine Skua 

Kittiwakes on the move 

2nd-calender Gannet