India Part 3

Sunday 23rd

We drove a couple of kilometres to the edge of town and got the shuttle bus into the Tiger Reserve. We donned our leech socks (they have spares for those who don’t have any) which were definitely needed as we saw quite a few and had several on our shoes at the end. A local guide hauled us across the river on a bamboo raft and we went for a walk around. 

on the bamboo raft

It felt a bit odd walking in a tiger reserve with an unarmed guard so we were hoping not to bump into any large stripey cats! Among the birds we encountered there were Malabar Parakeets, Brown-breasted Flycatcher, Grey Junglefowl, Yellow-browed Bulbul and Puff-throated Babbler.

Porcupine tracks; we also found a quill

Red-wattled Lapwing

Back across on the raft to the centre, we had coffee in a caged café – to keep the monkeys out, not any stray cats! 

On the lookout for an easy snatch

Enjoying a healthy snack...

White-browed Wagtail

Across the lake was a distant Legge’s Hawk-Eagle, along with six Black Baza and three Black Eagles. We then walked the 5km back to the car park, birding along the way, seeing Red Spurfowl and Jungle Owlet.

Jungle Babbler

Jungle Myna

Completing a hat-trick of jungle birds - Jungle Owlet

Velvet-fronted Nuthatch

Sambar feeding in someone's front garden

This is what happens when you cross a tortoise with a cafe!

We had lunch back at the hotel and then went back into the tiger reserve, getting the bus there and walking straight back. We abandoned the walk about halfway back as it started pouring with rain.

Monday 24th

It was still raining as we checked out of the hotel after breakfast. We had a long drive ahead but managed a couple of roadside stops along the way, getting Rufous Babbler, Nilgiri Flycatcher and Jerdon’s Leafbird. We stopped for lunch in a nice restaurant with views over the countryside and spent most of the time finding moths on the windows! 

A selection of unidentified moths

Afterwards, we climbed up into tea country although the rain and low cloud were still around. 

Highlands

Tea country

We reached the Deshadan Mountain Resort in Munnar mid-afternoon at 1,600m and went birding around the hotel where we saw our first Black-and-Orange Flycatcher, Nilgiri Woodpigeon and White-bellied Blue Robin. 

Nilgiri Woodpigeon

Square-tailed Bulbul

After dark we drove to a local spot to try for Bay Owl which we heard but couldn't get close to as there were Elephants feeding in the river, however we did see another Indian Scops Owl. 

Indian Scops Owl

October birding & moths

October has the potential to be the best month of autumn but this year it was pretty quiet in London. Visible migration (vismig) - counting birds flying over on their way to their wintering grounds - is typically at its peak and there were a few decent days but the weather conditions weren't that good locally, although some sites in London seemed to be better placed.

Rainham Marshes

I managed eight visits this month and added one new year bird - Merlin. Although I missed what was presumably the same tame juvenile that hung around Ken Barrett hide earlier in the month, I did see it zoom past Butts hide a bit later. One day I'll get a photo of one.

Water and Rock Pipits returned this month and one of the former was reasonably obliging in front of Butts hide but a bit distant for a decent photo.

Water Pipit

Black-tailed Godwits increased in number during the month and often showed well over high tide when they fed on the reserve. They've all now moulted into their drabber winter colours.

Black-tailed Godwits

In the second half of the month a female Garganey was found which stayed around a while but could be tricky to track down.

Sleeping Garganey with Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal

I didn't manage to connect with the two Glossy Ibis that briefly dropped in but there's still a lot in the country so plenty of time left. On Halloween a probable Richard's Pipit was seen on the tip but had long disappeared by the time I arrived.

The final thing of note at Rainham (apart from the welcome re-opening of the Shooting Butts hide) was a Feathered Thorn moth which was roosting on the outside of the visitors centre on 31st.

Feathered Thorn

Beam Parklands

I visited a dozen times this month and the increased coverage paid off on the 26th. I was over at dawn for some vismigging when I heard a distant call in the trees. It sounded like a Yellow-browed Warbler but was just too far away to confirm so I hurried over. Eventually it called again and I was close enough to sound record it. I heard it a few more times but never managed to see it as it remained deep in a dense patch of sallows. They're still a fairly rare bird in London with typically no more than a handful of records each year so it was a nice addition to the site list.

I've had the usual finches on vismig here: Chaffinch, Linnet, Siskin & Redpoll but no Brambling yet.

Dagenham Chase

Nine visits in October, most of which were early morning for vismig. The best bird was a flyover Rock Pipit, the same day that several other sites in London recorded them. They're pretty scarce here with just six previous records, the last being in 2016.

Other sites

I visited a number of other local sites: Parsloes Park, Mardyke OS, Central Park, Goresbrook Park, Barking Riverside, Beam Valley CP and Bretons Park.

Moth trapping

With the nights getting colder, the number of moths flying has drastically reduced and a spell of rainy weather prevented me from running the trap. However, I still managed to add some new species this month.

Blair's Shoulder-knot

Meal Moth

Double-striped Pug

Feathered Ranunculus

Red-green Carpet

September birds and moths

In the birding calendar September is in the middle of autumn, most Swifts have left before the month begins and by the end of the month winter birds such as geese begin arriving. The weather has much more of an influence as storms bring in seabirds and easterlies bring in migrants from the continent. This year all that happened in September, and more.

Rainham Marshes

I made ten visits this month including a couple of river-watches when the winds were blowing from the east. They weren't quite strong enough to bring lots of seabirds up the Thames but the 24th was the best. I'd already seen a couple of Sandwich Terns and while I was having lunch and scanning the river I got a phone call to tell me there was a skua on the river. I soon picked it up in flight by the Amazon depot and then it flew across the river and back. I could see it was an Arctic Skua and Dave and Andy also confirmed the ID.

It landed in the middle and spent the next 20 minutes drifting upriver past us and then got up to harass some Herring Gulls before landing again and drifting out of view towards Erith.

Arctic Skua at Rainham

This was my first skua species at Rainham and we'd been talking about skuas earlier so it was a good reward for my efforts. The skua and the tern were both London year ticks.

Waders were still fairly thin on the ground at Rainham apart from Black-tailed Godwits which had increased to a decent sized flock of a couple of hundred but there was no hoped-for Little Stint this month.

Red Kites were regularly seen on the tip and Hobby was present throughout but down to just a singleton in the last week of the month.

Insects have been flying all month with several Clouded Yellows, plenty of Wall Browns and the odd Brown Argus being the most notable.

Clouded Yellow

Dagenham Chase & Beam Valley

I also visited The Chase ten times, mostly trying to catch up with chats/flycatchers. I eventually managed to see an elusive Common Redstart that spent several days hanging around the burnt patch on Fels Field. It was another new bird for the year although I did later hear one at Rainham.

I missed the Whinchats but just about caught up with one of the Stonechats in Fels Field. Otherwise, it's been a quiet autumn at The Chase, not being helped by The Slack being out of action as it dried up in the summer. A few Siskins and Redpolls have flown over, hopefully the vis-mig should pick up in October.

A further eight visits were made to Beam Parklands/Beam Valley CP, some of which were on the way to The Chase. Beam Parklands is still recovering from the large fire in the summer. As yet, I've not found anything of interest at either site this autumn but there's still time.

Brent Reservoir

I've been waiting over two years for a good bird to be found at Brent since I moved and when Ben found a Glossy Ibis - it was Sod's Law that it was during a week long tube strike so I didn't attempt to go on the first day. I did hatch a plan for an alternative route if it stayed another day and with positive news I went the following day.

I took the train from Dagenham Dock to Barking, changed onto the Goblin Line to Gospel Oak and then the North London line to Brondesbury (I really cannot be bothered to learn the new names of the six splits of the Overground). I then got the 32 bus to Staples Corner and cut through East Marsh to the hide, two hours and 20 minutes after leaving home.

After a few minutes searching the ibis suddenly appeared, feeding around Willow Island. I watched it for a while and managed a few distant record shots before leaving for the return journey. As it was a first record for the site, it was also new for my Brent list #211 but I'm going to have to wait a long time at this rate before I can catch up to Leo who's seen the most birds at Brent.

Glossy Ibis, Brent Reservoir

I decided to try a different way home and walked up to Hendon station and luckily just made the Thameslink train which had just arrived. I changed at Farringdon onto the Lizzy line all the way east to Romford where I got a bus home; it ended up being quicker by half an hour. The ibis wasn't seen in the afternoon and presumably went back to the London Wetland Centre where it spent the rest of the month.

Beddington Farmlands

With news of a Grey Phalarope at Beddington, I resorted to TFL's journey planner to plot a route to go on positive news the following morning. So on the 18th I took the tube to Balham via Bank and got a train down to Hackbridge. It was a fairly simple journey considering I was travelling across London. It's just a five minute walk from the station onto the public footpath that runs up the west side of Beddington and a few minutes later I'd reached North Hide.

A couple put me on the Grey Phalarope, it was walking around on the muddy island and was a bit distant but over the course of an hour it eventually came a bit closer.

Grey Phalarope, Beddington Farmlands

It's been a very long time since I've seen any phalarope in London so it was good to catch up with this bird. It had been blown inland by a storm and two more were on Staines Reservoir. I finished the month on 171 species in London on eBird, higher than any of my previous annual totals and with a quarter of the year left, there's still plenty of opportunity to add to this total.

Southend

I made one trip outside of London this month, into deepest, darkest Essex. I met John and Janet at Upminster and we took the train to Southend. After a look around the seafront where I counted 60 Little Egret, probably the most I've seen in the UK. 

We went onto the pier (it opens at 10.15) and walked down to the end. The wind was NE but too light to bring in much in the way of seabirds but we did see a few Gannets and some early Brent Geese flew past, my first of the autumn and probably the earliest I've ever seen them. 

Southend Pier

A couple of Sandwich Terns flew past and several Med Gulls were around the pier. Turnstones lurked around the picnic tables looking for scraps.

Mediterranean Gull

A marauding Turnstone

Mothing

I managed to run the trap on most nights during the month, the number of species declined as the temperature went down. As the month progressed, autumn fliers started to emerge.

Beaded Chestnut

Black Rustic, AKA Goth

Canary-shouldered Thorn

Cypress Pug

Deep-brown Dart

Double-striped Pug

Lesser Yellow Underwing

Lunar Underwing, this was really common in the second half of September

Marbled Fern

A very tatty Old Lady

Olive-tree Pearl, an immigrant

Rose Tabby

Treble Brown Spot