Northern Peru Days 1 & 2

An early start on February 21st for my journey to Peru with a cab arriving on time at 05:30. Half an hour later I was at Heathrow Terminal 4 and quickly checked in and passed through all the formalities before it was time to relax and have breakfast. The Air France flight took off on time and we headed West over Staines, King George VI and Queen Mother Reservoirs before turning and flying East to Paris. I had a couple of hours wait at CDG then boarded the 14:00 flight to Lima during which time I watched a couple of movies including The Joker. After a long wait for my luggage I met Neil and our guide, Jose, then we drove a short distance to our hotel.

The next morning was an even earlier start, 03:40, as we had an internal flight to catch. There was just time for a quick coffee and to meet the third member of the trip, Jane, before we were whisked back to the airport and onto a flight to Chiclayo in the northern part of Peru for the start of our Partnership for International Birding trip.

We drove south through a desert plain for half an hour seeing a few common birds en route. As we approached our first stop the sky was full of hazy smoke, a result of burning of sugar cane. It didn’t affect the birds as we heard our target bird, Peruvian Plantcutter, as we climbed out of the van!

Peruvian Plantcutter

It took a few minutes to see one then after more searching we got very good views and photos of the first endemic of the tour. At least five birds were present at this site and we also saw the first of many hummers with a Peruvian Sheartail visiting flowers in this fairly arid region.

Peruvian Sheartail

Also seen was another endemic – a Blue-headed Whiptail Lizard basking amongst the piles of litter. 

Blue-headed Whiptail Lizard

Driving on we stopped briefly for an obliging Burrowing Owl before rejoining the Pan American Highway.

Burrowing Owl

Our next stop was a marsh where we had our first waders: Greater Yellowlegs, Spotted Sandpiper and a small flock of Least Sandpipers. In the tall reedy vegetation we could hear several Wren-like Rushbirds but they refused to show themselves. A huge flock of Barn Swallows hawked over the swamp and our first Vermillion Flycatcher glowed like a light in the Reeperbahn.

Jane & Jose looking at gulls while Horacio checks out his phone in the restaurant

We carried onto the coast and stopped at a restaurant overlooking the seafront. It was hard to tear ourselves away from the windows with hundreds of Franklin’s Gulls and other seabirds (Elegant Terns, Brown Pelicans and Peruvian Boobies) constantly flying past but the food was good too! On the beach were lots of traditional fishing boats made out of reeds.

Traditional reed fishing boats

After lunch our first stop was an abandoned village where our local guide found us a pair of Peruvian Thick-knees. Their cryptic plumage blended in so well with the rubble that every time you looked away from them it was almost impossible to find them again until they moved.

Peruvian Thick-knee

We then visited a large lake where there was a distant flock of Black-faced Ibis so we decided to get closer to them. Unfortunately we got stuck and despite many attempts at digging the van out we still couldn’t get free.

Digging out our stuck van

Storm clouds closing in

With the skies darkening we decided to walk back to the village so we could summon help and seek shelter in case the storm broke.

Pacific Hornero

Luckily there were some helping hands and while we found some new birds including Pacific Hornero and Snowy-throated Kingbird, they managed to free the van and we drove on to Chaparri Lodge, stopping along the entrance track for a pair of Aplomado Falcons and a sunset view.

Aplomado Falcon

More winter birding at Titchwell

Our second full day in Norfolk began with another pre-breakfast seawatch from Hunstanton seafront, this time John joined me. It was mostly the same species as yesterday with just the addition of three Red-breasted Mergansers. After breakast we took the coastal bus the short distance to Titchwell. 

We had planned to check the feeders behind the centre where we had Brambling last year but for some reason the feeding station had been taken down. Instead we walked along the Fen Trail to where the Woodcocks were roosting. Although we'd been told they'd moved out of sight there was still a number of people looking anyway so we joined them. I managed to pick up the top half of one quite far back under the trees but it was through such a narrow window that I couldn't get anyone else on it. Another one was claimed and I could see some feathers, however when I got the scope on it I could see it was just the wing of an unidentifiable corpse.

We carried on to the main path and slowly made our way up to the beach, stopping regularly to scan. A pair of Bearded Tits popped up in front of us then quickly flew off. Out on the freshwater lagoon it was wader central: the close island was a shimmering sparkle of 1,800 Golden Plover with hundreds of Lapwing on every island. 

Golden Plover & Lapwing

In the middle was a flock of 45 Avocets and there were a few Dunlin as well. At the next marsh were a dozen Knot, and both Black-tailed and Bar-tailed Godwits.

Knot

Bar-tailed Godwit

Common Redshank

At the beach we saw more waders with Grey and Ringed Plovers and a few Sanderling scampering around chasing or being chased by the waves. The sea was a lot quieter than it had been at Holkham the day before but we did get a flock of five Long-tailed Ducks but surprisingly no Red-throated Divers.

While walking back a Short-eared Owl started flying around over the saltmarsh. This is one of my favourite birds so it was great to watch it out hunting in the middle of the day. We had lunch in the hide watching more of the same waders until a Sparrowhawk flew over flushing them all. We'd heard a Bittern had been showing well at the last pool earlier so we thought we'd look for it even though we didn't expect it to still be around. However there was quite a large group of people stood on the path and the Bittern was still on show, well sort of. It was feeding just inside the reedbed so bits of it could be seen. Every now and again it walked past a gap in the reeds and if you were in the right place you could see the whole bird. 

Bittern

Bittern

After eventually getting some good views we went back to the centre for a hot drink. We tried for the Woodcock again but didn't see it so decided to walk back along the main path towards the Bittern. It was still in the same place and we had slightly better views than earlier. Flocks of both Brent Geese and Pink-footed Geese flew over calling - one of the joys of birding in winter on the North Norfolk coast.

Brent Geese

Pink-footed Geese

Marsh Harriers were beginning to come into roost and as we'd had a good day we headed off to get the bus back to Hunstanton. Today's day list was 80 species, two more than yesterday and it'd been another great day with glorious weather. We just got back in daylight and I managed to get a photo of the sun setting over the sea - one of the few places this is possible on the eastern side of England.

Setting sun

The following morning we spent an hour on the seafront but didn't see anything new - we left that for the journey home when we added Green Woodpecker from the bus and Stock Dove from the train giving a total species count of 103 for our winter's break in Norfolk.

Winter birding in Norfolk

I usually like to have a weekend's birding break in Norfolk during winter. This year was a little different as due to hotel availability we actually did a midweek break. I met up with John & Janet at Kings Cross station at Tuesday lunchtime and we took the train up to Kings Lynn. En route we had a few Red Kites which were new for the year for me and once we were past Ely we started looking out for wild swans. We saw several flocks, some of which were close enough to identify as Bewick's - also new for the year.

Once we arrived at Kings Lynn we swapped our train for one of the local buses and headed up to Hunstanton where we would be staying for three nights. There wasn't time for any birding so we enjoyed a nice dinner at our favourite restaurant, Chives.

The following morning we hadn't planned to do any pre-breakfast birding as we didn't anticipate there would be enough time but I realised it was light enough at 7:15 so I popped over the road to the seafront for half an hour's birding. It was low tide so I wasn't expecting many seaduck but a small group of Common Scoter flew past. The main target was Fulmar which breed on the cliffs a little bit further up and I soon had one flying past and another sat on the sea. Conditions were perfect with a gentle breeze and good visibility. There were some waders around - many Oystercatchers searching for food with a few Redshank and a solitary Turnstone among them as well as a handful of Bar-tailed Godwits on the beach.

After a large breakfast we took the bus to Holkham, seeing a flock of about 200 Pink-footed Geese in a field en route. We didn't see any more as most had already headed north due to the mild winter weather. We planned to spend the whole day at Holkham so we took our time along Lady Ann's Drive looking through the assortment of wildfowl on the adjacent fields, adding Ruff and Snipe.

Shore Lark

As it was low tide we headed to the bay and walked to the roped off area where several birders were already gathered. Luckily they had pinned down a small flock of Shorelark, supposedly numbering five but we only saw four. They were fairly close for a change so it was really nice to watch them for a while. A bit further back there was a group of Snow Buntings, about 20 to start with but they were joined by some more and I eventually counted 55. We were joined by Howard Vaughan, who was taking time off from Rainham Marshes.

Snow Bunting

Over 1,000 Common Scoter. This flock also held a few Velvet Scoter

We walked over to the dunes to check the sea and initially found a small flock of Common Scoter, then realised that what looked like an oil slick was an enormous flock, exceeding 1000 birds. We scanned the flock and eventually found a few Velvet Scoter among them. Two drake Eider flew in and landed and nearby we also saw Goldeneye and a few Red-breasted Mergansers although there was no sign of any Long-tailed Ducks which had been previously reported in the area.

After lunch at The Lookout we took the track adjacent to Holkham Freshmarsh. The woods were pretty quiet but we did hear a Treecreeper. At the far hide we soon located the flock of White-fronted Geese, with at least 100 birds present. Further back we found a Great Egret, then a Barn Owl flying around. We wandered slowly back and found another Great Egret from the next hide. Back at The Lookout there was a Red Kite, then a really close Barn Owl which was flying around then landing on fence posts.

Barn Owl attempting to catch a Muntjac Deer (or maybe not)

We walked back happy with what we'd seen but had one last treat when I located a pair of Grey Partridge in the last field before the coast road. It had been another wonderful winter's day in Norfolk with many great birds seen and a total of 78 species.

Gulling at the Wetland Centre

After failing to connect with the juvenile Iceland Gull yesterday at Beckton Creekmouth I decided to try for the adult at the London Wetland Centre. It was a bit of a gamble as it’s been quite erratic in its appearances but it did show mid-morning on Saturday so it seemed worth trying for. It meant I could have a leisurely stroll rather than chasing around all over London which I did yesterday, also I didn’t need an early start to get there for opening time at 9:30.

As I headed for the South Route upon arrival my plan was to slowly wander around but I bumped into fellow Brent birder Shailesh who volunteers at LWC and he told me the Iceland Gull was showing at the WWF hide so I hot-footed it straight there. And a couple of minutes later I was watching a smart adult Iceland Gull, only the second one I’ve seen in London. It was initially on a distant spit but it decided to fly around and land at the front of the closest island so we all had superb views.

Iceland Gull

Iceland Gull with Common Gull behind

Iceland Gull

Someone mentioned a Yellow-legged Gull so I scanned through the other gulls and instead found an adult Caspian Gull. 

Caspian Gull

Caspian Gull with Herring Gull behind on left

After a while all the gulls took up and flew off towards the observatory just before a few other birders arrived including Shailesh. While they went back to look for the gull flock I carried on to the Peacock Hide. From the top deck I could see the Iceland Gull in the distance so hopefully everyone managed to catch up with it. A little later I picked it up flying our way and it landed on the grazing marsh. As I watched it again I noticed a Yellow-legged Gull a bit further back and got everyone on that. It was a very productive gull morning with seven species and only Great Black-back missing from the more common species.

Yellow-legged Gull on right with Lesser Black-backed Gull on far left and Herring Gull in centre

A Bittern was claimed but I couldn’t locate it before it disappeared back into the reedbed. The water level on the marsh was high so there was no chance of any Snipe there and the only Water Pipit was one I heard flying past. I scanned the hospital and was lucky enough to watch one of the Peregrines fly in and land.

High water levels on grazing marsh

As I rushed in I hadn’t seen many small birds so I went for a slow walk along the return route but it was fairly quiet for birds. It got busier and noisier as I approached the centre but that was from the families so I headed to the cafe for a coffee before heading over to the collection. I don’t usually spend a lot of time looking at the captive birds but the woodlands along the way often add species I haven’t seen earlier. Today it was Jay and Goldcrest and a Green Woodpecker at the Wildside Hide – my daily Yaffle.

Pair of feeding Shoveler

A pair of Shoveler were swimming round in circles stirring up food and there were plenty of Wigeon grazing. 

Wigeon

I was hoping to also add Goldeneye and Mandarin but I couldn’t track either duck down so I called a halt to proceedings and headed off back to the centre. On the way the whole Lapwing flock took up and started flying around. Can you estimate how many there are?

How many Lapwing?

It had been an excellent morning and I was especially pleased to see and photograph the Iceland Gull. And the photo below has the answer.

Testing out the Lumix

Another dawn start at Rainham on Saturday 18th, this time with a new camera in tow. My bridge camera was getting a bit old so I splashed out in the January sales and bought the Panasonic Lumix FZ82 and I was eager to test it out. I had to wait a while as Rainham West was fairly quiet. Down at the barges I at least caught up with my first Dunlin of the year, one of several common birds I hadn’t yet managed to catch up with this year.

Female Kestrel among emerging leaves in January

A close female Kestrel was the first bird I managed to photograph which I was quite pleased with. I later snapped another one near the Butts hide that was completely out in the open. 

Another Kestrel

Fieldfare in fading light

I spent a lot of time looking for the Short-eared Owl that others had seen in the Ouzel field but without any luck so I decided to wait until dusk. Not long after 4pm I saw an owl flying around – but it was one of the Barn Owls, actually the first time I’d seen one hunting at Rainham. It put on a good performance but it was a bit too far and there wasn’t enough light for a photo. It was a good finish to a long day even though I never did see a Short-eared Owl.

Sunday I decided to spend the morning at the London Wetland Centre. My number one target was Bittern but they hadn’t been showing that well recently, however the temperature dropped to freezing overnight and there was just enough ice around to force them out to the water’s edge. I headed straight to Dulverton Hide which is always a likely spot. It only took a couple of seconds to see a Bittern straight out against the reeds but by the time I’d put the scope & tripod up it had slithered back into the reed bed and vanished. I waited a while but a guided group of birders had arrived and it was too noisy for me so I moved on.

With the Bittern safely seen I could take me time wandering around and a little while later I ended up at the Peacock Hide. I spent a lot of time scanning the grazing marsh where a Jack Snipe was seen the day before but without any luck. A couple of Water Pipits were pottering about on the ice and I got several people onto them. A second Bittern was found at the back of the reservoir lagoon and this one stayed there for ages. It was a bit too distant for photos but I was keen to try out the 60x zoom of the Panasonic Lumix to see what it could manage.

Distant Bittern

As expected it was rather pushing it so I concentrated on photographing some closer wildfowl instead.

Pair of Shelduck

Pair of grazing Wigeon

Kicking off the New Year List

The New Year’s list started with a tie – when I opened the window I could hear Song Thrush & Robin singing simultaneously. I added a few more common birds on the way to the station and again while I was waiting on the platform at West Ham for my friends. We’d decided to kick off at Rainham Marsh and the first bird we saw upon our arrival was a Little Egret feeding on the tideline.

Despite there being plenty of exposed mud in Aveley Bay the only waders were a small group of Avocets and a few Redshank. We carried on along the riverwall and soon had both Water and Rock Pipit safely added so we headed onto the reserve. New birds came thick and fast with plenty of ducks, just making sure we saw them all. Two Barn Owls were visible in their box; this is now the easiest owl species to see in London thanks to these reliable birds.

There weren’t many small birds around but we did locate a strange mixed flock from Butts Hide – 4 Bearded Tit, Stonechat and two Chiffchaff with the odd Blue Tit keeping them company in the reeds. Marsh Harrier and Buzzard were both visible beyond the Target Pools while two Ruff did a good job of hiding in amongst the Lapwing but they eventually showed themselves. I finished the day on 66 species, just one fewer than last year’s January 1st visit to Rainham. Well actually I tied that score as well as I heard a Tawny Owl calling outside my bedroom window as I was turning in for the night.

I managed a short visit to Brent Reservoir on 2nd and caught up with a few birds I didn’t get the previous day but on 3rd I was back at Rainham again. This time I started at Rainham West and followed the riverwall along from the Concrete Barges to maximise my chances of finding some new birds. I soon caught up with some fairly common birds I’d missed before like Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Linnet then it was time to scan through the thousands of gulls in the area. I eventually located my target species – Yellow-legged and Caspian Gull, getting an adult and a first-winter of both species.

Lots of water at Rainham Marsh

I took the path over the tip (no Corn Buntings) and surveyed the scene – it was good to see so much water on the marshes after last autumn’s drought. I went through the geese on Wennington but failed to find the White-fronted Goose which appeared a few hours later! But I did see a good number of Rook which were near for the year. A loop of the reserve added a few more new birds such as Water Rail but there wasn’t a Dunlin in sight on the Rainham side of the river.

On Saturday I decided to spend the day in the Lea Valley as it offered the best chance of seeing several new birds for my year list and also it’s a great place that I just don’t visit often enough. I decided to concentrate on the Cheshunt area and took the train there from Liverpool Street. It was barely light when I arrived and I headed towards Seventy Acres Lake. There had been a female Smew seen there the previous day but I didn’t have high hopes of seeing it as Smew are notorious for moving around and there’s an awful lot of old gravel pits here for them to elude birders.

A distant drake Smew

As I walked around the southern edge I could see a distant white bird on the opposite bank which I assumed was a Black-headed Gull but something made me look at it through the bins anyway. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was a drake Smew or a ‘White Nun’ in old currency. This has always been my favourite duck so I enjoyed the moment of finding it and then continued to watch it. It swam out of view so I carried on around the path and met it again and pointed it out to another birder who was on her way to look for the Cattle Egrets.

I carried on just beyond the Bittern WatchPoint when I heard a cronking Raven behind me and I could see it flying over Seventy Acres and it landed on a pylon. Another unexpected bird and the first Raven I’d seen in the Valley. I headed northwards towards Holyfield Farm & Lake, picking up a few Siskins and a Treecreeper along the way, the latter being one of the ‘stupid’ birds I missed last year.

Grand Weir Hide overlooking Holyfield Lake

At the Weir Hide I found a female Goosander, the third bird I’d seen today that I failed to connect with last year. More unusually I also found three Red-crested Pochard which I’d guess are quite scarce in the Lea Valley. 

Male Reeve's Muntjac

I retraced my steps, seeing a close Reeve's Muntjac, then popped into the Bittern WatchPoint where I was told there weren’t any Bitterns around at present. I saw the redhead Smew again then carried on down to Hall Marsh Scrape. Only one of the Cattle Egrets was on show, the other had apparently flown off earlier with a Little Egret but one was sufficient and would have been new for my Lea Valley list had I kept one (I started one when I got home!). Another Common Buzzard flew over as I made my way back to Cheshunt station.

One of the Cattle Egrets on Hall Marsh Scrape

The following day I decided to visit Staines Reservoir. It's not one of my favourite birding spots in London, mainly as there's not much to see but there were a couple of good birds I wanted to catch up with. I got the train from Waterloo to Staines, luckily a fast one rather than one that goes all round the houses and arrived at 08:45. There were only a couple of people on the causeway and I'd just missed a good showing of the Long-tailed Duck so I had to put in the hard work to relocate it. 

When this bird is actively feeding it spends at least 95% of its time underwater and with a large area to scan it can take a lot of time to find it. It was about an hour before someone located it on the South Basin and gave me directions. I got on it immediately and watched it dive and surface several times. I'd not seen a Long-tailed Duck in London since the Peckham bird in 2013 so it was nice catching up with this one. Over on the North Basin the flock of 10 Black-necked Grebes only needed a few seconds to locate. This is one of the largest groups I've seen in London. Apart from many Goldeneye on both basins which I also needed for the year there wasn't much else so I called it a day with my London Year List up to 95 species.

Blowing in the wind

With the shortest day only a week away I got a later train down to Rainham but still arrived at dawn.

Sunrise over Rainham West

The forecast breeze and single figure temperatures suppressed a lot of bird activity and very few Cetti’s Warblers were heard as I walked through Rainham West. As it was low tide I decided to do the long walk via the barges instead of heading along Coldharbour Lane.

When I got to the river a male Peregrine slowly circled around over the gull-less gantry. Perhaps because of the presence of this top predator there were very few waders around, just a small gaggle of Redshank and a solitary Black-tailed Godwit.

As the light wasn't very good for photographing avian raptors I've included a feline one instead.

Despite the wind, raptors seemed to be the order of the day as walked along the Thames with a Kestrel, a female Peregrine and a Merlin all seen within a few minutes over the tip. The Merlin was actively hunting the Starlings, with flocks flying around and splitting up. Unfortunately they disappeared over the other side of the tip so I didn’t see if the Merlin was successful or not.

Just as I approached Aveley Bay an alarm gull made me look up and a gull flew over in panic with two Peregrines flying together behind it. However they ignored the gull and flew straight north. It’s possible these were different birds from the first two birds I encountered so I may have seen four Peregrines. I diverted to the Serin Mound hoping to add some more raptors and a pair of Marsh Harriers were hunting over the reserve but there was no sign of the Common Buzzards that I usually see here.

I scanned Wennington and counted 18 Rook, my highest count here but there could have been more birds present. The weather had deteriorated and there was the odd shower and the wind had picked up considerably. Black skies in the distance made me head to the centre without much delay but I did scan Aveley Bay and apart from a flock of 20 Avocet was surprisingly devoid of waders.

Ominous skies behind Serin Mound

Pylon lit up by a Rainbow

Needless to say the woodland walk was closed due to the winds and there was no chance of any Beardies in this weather so I walked clockwise straight to Butts hide for lunch. The incoming tide had brought many Lapwing and Dunlin in and I managed to find a single Snipe to add to the wader list before calling it a day.

A swirl of Lapwing with a single Dunlin

A Snipe I photographed a week earlier when the light was better

The weather meant it was a struggle finding many of the usual birds such as Stonechat and Reed Bunting but I managed a respectable 65 species which along with the views of the raptors I had earlier still made it a good day.