Oct 1st-7th: raptor fest

The first three days of the month were spent at Brent Reservoir. I started each morning off with a little vis-migging but yet again it was so quiet that I didn’t record much flying over. Best was a single flock of 15 Redwings on the 1st. I also found a roost of Greenfinches on the Dump and 19 flew out. We’ve had small numbers here regularly so it may be most of these were passage birds and stopped off for a rest as I’ve not recorded such numbers since.

Other notable birds during this period were a 2nd-winter Med Gull in North Marsh. It’s the least common plumage in London and I’ve only seen a couple of similar birds at Brent before; and I also found a pair of Stonechat up towards the dam. Given the large influx of this species across London this was a well overdue patch year tick.

Stonechats

On Tuesday I took an early train to Andover and met up with Lynne from my recent Sao Tome trip. She showed me around her extensive local patch – Salisbury Plain. I’ve not birded this area before so I was keen to visit it. And according to eBird, my Wiltshire list was zero so I had a big hole to fill!

We started at an unremarkable field where Stone-curlews hang out in autumn. They have usually all migrated by now so we didn’t expect to see any but as I scanned across the field I came across a likely looking brown lump. In the scope it soon transformed into the rather bizarre shape of an actual Stone-curlew. Over the next five minutes we’d found another two, although they were very good at hiding just by sitting down in the low crop. We were off to a good start and carried on driving around.

It’s an odd place to drive around as there are tanks moving around in the distance and occasional blasts as a shell is fired into the target area. Although there are a few public highways that cross the area, Lynne is able to go on restricted roads as part of her job.

We saw a lot of Stonechats, along with a few Whinchats and Wheatears, but small birds are generally scarce in this steppe like habitat. Skylarks and Meadow Pipits are common and we had a couple of Yellowhammers and a large flock of Corn Buntings.

Once the drizzle stopped we began seeing raptors and during the course of the day amassed a total of seven species. Kestrel and Common Buzzard were the most widespread, along with a few Red Kites and the odd Sparrowhawk. It was when we stopped to look at a few raptors that we encountered our first surprise. A raptor came towards us, looking very odd, but as it passed over we could see extensive barring underneath. It then all fitted into place as it had long straight wings and a long tail: Honey-buzzard! We stopped for lunch overlooking an area where a ringtail Hen Harrier had been seen recently but we couldn’t find it.

In the afternoon we tried a different section and eventually found the birds I really wanted to see: Great Bustard. They’ve long been extinct as breeding birds in the UK but there is a re-introduction project here which has been going on for quite a long time. The numbers are now up to 150 with many females producing broods so it has been successful. It can’t be long now before it is deemed to be a self-sustaining population. They are free to roam around the Plain and some individuals do fly off further afield.

We saw a flock of 23 in a field, consisting of females and immature males. They really are quite impressive birds and it was very reminiscent of being on the Spanish Steppes which was where I last saw them.

Great Bustards

On the way back we stopped when we saw a raptor hunting over the fields, it turned out to be a male Hen Harrier, always a great sight to see, especially in southern England where they are now so scarce. While we watched it hunt, a falcon suddenly appeared and followed it. It was a Merlin and they are known to hunt with Hen Harriers, chasing after any small birds that the harrier flushes.

Hen Harrier

After this great end to the day we sped back to the station and I got on the platform just as the train was pulling in. 

I had another couple of fairly quiet days at Brent before venturing out to Rainham on Friday with some friends. We headed straight onto the reserve when it opened (about 10 minutes late!) and made our way to the KB hide, hoping for some waders. One Green Sandpiper became two and eventually three as did the Ruff on a more distant pool.

3 Green Sandpipers

As we walked back to the centre a Hobby flew past us and landed low down on an adjacent pylon. It was the regular juvenile that has been hanging out around the woodland area. Along with a Marsh Harrier that we’d seen earlier, this was two more new raptors, making it nine species this week!

Juvenile Hobby

After a stop for coffee and cake at the visitor centre we walked the other way to the Butts hide. It was a very quiet walk in the strengthening wind and we didn’t see anything until we got into the hide. There were another two Ruff and four distant Pintail amongst the other dabblers. We cut out through the turnstile to look at the bay again but by now it was high tide and it was empty.

Ruff