Iceland Day Three

We started the day exploring the east side of Lake Myvatn, mainly from the car as it was minus seven degrees. We managed to find one of the main birding targets of the trip- Barrow's Goldeneye. There were about 195 of them - the most numerous waterbird on the Lake. There were also Whooper Swans, Goosanders, Red-breasted Merganser,Tufted Ducks and Mallards. We braved the weather for a quick walk at the Dimmuborgir Lava Fields but Isaac refused to wear a hat and we had a frozen and cranky toddler within a few minutes. 

We then went for lunch at the Nature Thermal baths and then spent the early afternoon at Hverir fumaroles and mud pools. By late afternoon Holly and the boys wanted to retreat back to the hotel for some respite from the cold so I spent the later afternoon checking out the River Laxa and waited by the largest flocks of Barrow's Goldeneyes hoping for a Gyr Falcon to come in hunting them- but no luck. The only new birds were a couple of adult White-tailed Eagles and about 10 Common Goldeneye in with the Barrow's. Amazingly a Wren was calling from some boulders by the lake edge. 

It was back at the hotel for dinner (local Lamb). 

Barrow's Goldeneyes, adult males and a single female (above) and female (below). The adult males are unmistakable compared to Common Goldeneye with the lozenge shaped scapular markings, the white face patch that reaches above the eye and the black bar on the sides of the breast. 

Female Barrow's Goldeneye (above and below)- compared to Common Goldeneye, the yellow/orange/pink bill colour extends from below the nostril towards the bill tip as is not so clear cut. The angular head shape is distinctive in all age classes with a vertical foreheand, peak above eye and long nape feathering creating a bulbous rear head.  The bill is more conical shaped too. The visible white in the greater coverts and secondaries is generally less in Barrow's with black tips indicating an adult female (not visible here so either a young female or an adult with concealed black tips)

Adult female Barrow's Goldeneye showing the black dark tips to the greater coverts (a first-winter bird in both Common and Barrow's lacks these). There are also tips to the median coverts forming three bars in this bird with limited white in the greater coverts. Adult female Common Goldeneye also has more white in the greater covers (see an adult female from Beddington HERE). I didn't see any first-winter birds, most of them looked like adults suggesting some kind of age related wintering filtering in this area

Male Common Goldeneye (front left) with Barrow's Goldeneyes. There were at least 10 Commons within the 195 Barrow's. 

Barrow's Goldeneye wintering it out in the bleakness of Northern Iceland. The population of Barrow's Goldeneyes on Iceland is resident and the only regular place for them in the WP. Barrow's Goldeneye is rather range restricted species globally, only occurring in Northwest Canada/Alaska and a smaller population on the east coast too. 

White-tailed Eagle

Lake Myvatn- mostly frozen apart from the south east corner where all the waterfowl were congregating

Plenty of geothermal activity on the east side of Lake Myvatn presumably contributing to wintering survival for wildlife

Hverfjall volcano

Iceland Ponies 

Jacob at Hevrir - nice to warm up a bit 

Goldeneye

Adult female Goldeneye - the first record of this species at Beddington since 2006

Shoveler and Goldeneye 

Adult female Goldeneye- aged by yellow eye, pink band on bill and by triple white wing panel (which also rules out female Barrow's Goldeneye) 

Water Pipit in flight over 100 acre 

Pan-species tick for the day- Cellar Cup Fungus (?) on the composting facility stock piles

Prof found a Goldeneye yesterday on the lake but the news got out late. Fortunately it was still there today and a few new members had a Beddington lifer- the first at the farm since 2006.
Really nice winter weather today and a few new birds about. In addition to the Goldeneye there was a female Shelduck (the first in several months), 1-2 Stonechat, 7 Green Sandpiper, 2 Snipe (Jack Snipe yesterday), 70+ Shoveler, 30+ Gadwall, 70+ Linnet, 30+ Chaffinch, 10 Reed Bunting (increase), 5 Skylark, 50+ Song Thrush (increase), 60+ Pied Wagtail and 1 Redpoll.

Pagham Harbour- Goldeneye

I did East side this morning from dawn to high tide (around mid-day). 75 species of over 8000 individuals in nearly four hours. Ebird list HERE. Highlight was a female Goldeneye on Pagham Lagoon (the first I've seen here since I first started birding on a day trip in 1987). There was also 3 Sandwich Tern, 3 Marsh Harrier, a Peregrine, 2 Rock Pipit, Dartford Warbler and Firecrest.  

Noteable no shows today were most of the Brent Geese (about 3000 probably staying at the fields at Church Norton), Song Thrush, Redwing and Fieldfare (very few on the Peninsula it seems), hardly any Little Egrets in the harbour and I presumably just got unlucky not seeing Kestrel, Sparrowhawk, Kingfisher, Yellowhammer, Grey Wagtail, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank and Whimbrel. I didn't bother doing Ferry so there would have been Shoveler and Avocet there too. So hyperthetically from my rough estimate there are over 11,000 birds in the harbour of at least 85 species.  

Only one Bar-tailed Godwit from what I could see. I picked up some Cattle Egrets in the cattle fields on Lockgate Road. The Cattle Egrets have been scattered around the Peninsula recently mainly in fields off the Selsey Road with groups of up to 35. 

Also had a Common Seal. I usually forgot to report these but often have two or three from East side. 

A mild spell has resumed now so I had the moth trap out last night. 11 December moths was all I had. Another Levant Blackneck was caught last night, this time in Surrey so I'll try again tonight in hope.

Female Goldeneye

Golden Plovers (above and below). At least 1000 on the mud and got to have been 4000 or so Lapwings. 

Rock Pipit- I'm looking forward to see what these birds look like in Spring. This for example is already quite contrasting with a strong supercilium. 

Cattle Egrets out in the Peninsula fields. They seem to have dispersed from the breeding area by the North Wall and Halseys Farm and are getting all over the place. I even had one when I went to pick up the Campervan (which has a very tidy makeover). Seen them up as far as Hunston on the Peninsula and see them most days now while driving up Selsey Road to Chichester. 

Female December moth (above) and male and female (below) . The female is larger, has different markings and does not have feathered antennae. 

A few bits and bobs

Been pretty busy this week  with work (including a big quote for the London Wildlife Trust at Hutchinson's Bank and Matt came over on Wednesday and we got a lot of the patio work done) but managed to get out in the field briefly a couple of times. Had a look at Dell Quay on Thursday on a Jack Snipe search but unfortunately no Jacks but did see the male Goldeneye that's been around. 

Did a bit of garden birding yesterday morning, the main change round here is Song Thrushes are now singing after being absent for a lot of the winter. Other birds like Robin, Dunnock, Blackbird and Woodpigeon were also singing- the first hint of a spring dawn chorus this year. There were about 400 Golden Plover flying around and 350 Lapwings went over too - presumably birds moving between Chichester and Pagham Harbour. 

Today Lee and Rachel visited and we had an afternoon walk to Church Norton where we found the male Long-tailed Duck that has been wintering off shore. What with Goldeneye and Long-tailed Duck, I'm now on 111 for the Selsey Peninsula for the year.  

A few moths have been attracted to the garden office window in the first hours of darkness after which the temperature has been dropping fast. I tried the moth trap yesterday night but drew a blank. 

Male Goldeneye at Dell Quay

Male Long-tailed Duck off Church Norton 

Early Moth- I think

Common Flat Body, Agonopterix heracliana 

Acleris notana/ferrugana

Lee with our Western Hognose. A great day with Lee visiting, I bought a couple of live Lobsters from the local fishermen for lunch. 

Winter Birding begins

The wind was blowing from due north today and the day temperature was just below 10 C with clear skies. I started the day off at the Bill with Andrew and Ian. There was quite a few interesting bits seemingly been pushed into the area with the northerlies with 7 Eider (5 fem/imm west and a pair east), a Velvet Scoter, 11 Common Scoter, 40 Wigeon west, 4 Shoveler east, an influx of 22 Red-breasted Merganser, 8 Kittiwake, 5 Sandwich Tern, 2 Red-throated Diver, 7 Shag and over 400 Auk sp mainly heading west. HERE. 

I then checked out Ferry and Mill Pond Marsh. Highlight there was 20 Avocet on Ferry- another influx.

Next it was over to East Side where I walked to Pagham Spit and back. 76 species of over 5000 individuals is the highest number this winter with a notable recent influx of Knot and Shelduck. Highlights were a female/imm Goldeneye on Pagham Lagoon, Spotted Redshank, a Red Kite circling, a Dartford Warbler and 10 Chiffchaff along the Tamarisks. HERE

Overall with the seabirds on the move at the Bill and the influx of winter birds in the harbour, a really nice winter's day birding to get things started. 

Interestingly for comparison there are still large Woodpigeon movements going on in some parts of the country including Portland  HEREwhere they are still seeing quite a bit of vis-mig. Woodpigeon movements and general vis-mig hasn't been a thing round here for a week or so now. 

It was down to 4 C last night so I didn't bother putting the moth trap out (although there were 2 Silver-Y in Ni pheromone lure so maybe I should have) and it looks like all week is going to be cold. 

Adult male and female Eider

Five more distant fem/imm Eider

Red-breasted Mergs on the move

Kittiwake in the winter sun

An immature Shag looking like a Mediterranean bird

Avocet on Ferry- the highest numbers in quite some time

Spotted Redshank with Redshank and Lapwing

Fem/imm Goldeneye on Pagham Lagoon- the first of the winter locally

Dartford Warbler

Good numbers of Chiffchaff down East Side- a good place to pick up a wintering sprite

The harbour is filling up with winter birds (above and below) 

This Clouded Yellow was a surprise in the wintery conditions 

The Beast that keeps giving

Took Jacob out this morning and decided to have a look at Standlake Gravel Pits for a hard weather diver, grebe, Smew, Merganser or Goosander. It was my first time to the area and luckily bumped into Mike Cunningham. As we were chatting five geese came in relatively high from the east. I fired off a few shots and back of the camera analysis looked like they were Pink-foots from the under-exposed images. Got back to the lap top and immediately could see the contrasting silvery upperwings that ruled out Bean Goose- so Pink-foots it was! I've been looking for Pink-foots all week at Beddington so getting them over Oxfordshire was great. Always wanted to see hard weather Pink-foots.

A few other bits on the pits I looked at (the area is a bit of maze). Had about 15 Red-crested Pochard which have a feral population in the area, 2 Oystercatcher and 4 Goldeneye. 

Hoping to get some more time to check out the rest of the area soon.

 Pink-footed Geese over Standlake Gravel Pits

 Red-crested Pochards

 Oystercatchers 

 Two male and one female Goldeneye (above) and male from below (below)