Day 1 of the tour saw us start of at Arica and travel to Iquique by way of a moonscape. There were some birds in amongst the dust, though, including a trio of cracking Hummingbirds.
It begins
Our trip to Chile is up and running, but slowly. A 14 hour flight with practically no sleep, followed by a 12 hour transfer in Santiago isn’t the stuff to get the pulse racing. Fortunately, the approach to Santiago gave stunning views of the Andes, including long views of Aconcagua, and there are far worse places to be stuck than Santiago airport. A small garden outside the domestic terminal has given us 4 lifers, and flyover Andean Condors were a surprise.
The camera stayed packed until an incredibly confiding Dark-bellied Cinclodes, another lifer, started feeding on a wall only a few feet from us.
The calm before the storm
Our last weekend in Sussex for a while, before we head off to Chile next weekend, has been quiet. A walk up to Cissbury Ring today didn’t produce much, but it’s always nice to see a Dartford Warbler, which has given me a chance to play with my new sharpening and resizing software. The moth traps of late have been quiet, but there are a few moths that are relatively uncommon for us.
Barred
A dash to Climping today to see the Barred Warbler that was still there, having been found yesterday. It was a brisk 12 miles there, and only a short wait before it showed appallingly (as Barred Warblers do). Fortunately, we didn’t have too long to wait before it gave a few rather better views. The 12 miles back was rather slower.
Flamborough
A long weekend at my brother and sister-in-law’s rather fine new caravan in Flamborough promised much birdwise: October is a brilliant time for birds on the east coast. Alas, the birds weren’t aware of this, and we struggled on the sea, with only a couple of Sooty and four Manx Shearwaters to show for three days of seawatching, although a Grey Phalarope that flew in to see us was a nice surprise. On land, there were a number of Yellow-browed Warblers, but, although they were audible, they only showed for a fraction of a second. The undisputed star of the trip was a very tame Merlin that just sat and cleaned the blood off its bill and feet while we photographed it.
To hear about a Black-necked Grebe a couple of miles from home while we were away was frustrating, particularly as it seemed to have left while we were on our way home. Fortunately, it hung around and gave us decent views tonight after work.
Back in harness
A significant improvement in my neck & shoulder, and a few birds have meant that I’m back walking seriously for the first time in a while. On Monday we made use of the bank holiday to walk to Climping for the Little Stints, which showed ridiculously well. I ended up taking 1400 pictures, and over 1000 of them would have been worth keeping – much agonising and deletion needed. (Most of the pictures here have had their resolution significantly reduced to go onto the website.) Unfortunately, the Rose-coloured Starling on the way in Rustington disappeared shortly before we arrived and reappeared shortly after we left on the way home. It hung around, so on Friday I had the dubious pleasure of a long and tedious high-speed walk for a few minutes with a pretty dull bird, and then a dash back to go out to dinner. Still, it’s a rarity and a new bird for the on-foot list.
Meanwhile in the brooks behind us the Wasp Spiders are still around, and they are creating egg balls. Looks like we might see a significant increase in numbers again next year.
Same again
Our first morning walk up to Cissbury Ring for a while started well with a report of a Wryneck showing well just as we headed up the downs. “Showing well” was very suggestive of a different bird to the nightmare bird in mid-week. Whinchats, a Wheatear, Spotted Flycatchers and Yellow Wagtails as we walked along Lychpole Hill towards Cissbury was a promising start, with a few more Spot Flies and many Blackcaps added as we neared the Ring. Arriving at the Yew, it wasn’t a long wait before the Wryneck turned up and sat in the sun, posing for photos. This does look like a different bird – the line on the side of the neck was much more striking on the first bird, and the elongated stripe through the eye was also longer. A few more good views over the next couple of hours, and the addition of Tree Pipit to the on foot-list sent us homeward happy.
The journey back took longer than expected when we walked into a small flock, which were mainly Pied Flycatchers (I’ve never seen more than one on passage). There were at least three, but possibly as many as six, as well as a couple of Spotted Flies. Not a bad walk at all!
Not going awry
Not much action from us over the bank holiday weekend, but we got the traditional passage of migrants through the field behind us, with Whinchat, many Spotted Flycatchers, a Pied Flycatcher (briefly) Whitethroats, Lesser Whitethroats, Willow Warblers, the occasional flyover Yellow Wagtail, as well as all three Hirundines, but strangely no Redstarts yet. A Reed Warbler in the pond today was a pleasant surprise.
A bad shoulder limited my activity over last weekend, but we managed to get up to Cissbury and picked up not much, with the only notable on-foot birds outside my limited range. A return to work on Monday changed everything with a Black Terns in Shoreham and a Wryneck at Cissbury while I was at work. Grrrr!
Fortunately, the Wryneck was found again today and I was able to dash up after work. The bird showed for about 10 s shortly after I arrived, but after that I just had glimpses of it: crazily elusive. That 10 s were enough for a few pictures, though.
I need a longer lens
A midweek moth trap finally delivered a long overdue Jersey Tiger: it was beginning to feel like we were the only moth trappers in Sussex without having seen one. Unfortunately, it was so worn it looked as though it had swum over from Jersey, but we’re not complaining.
The lure of Wood Sandpiper and Ruff at Pulborough Brooks wasn’t enough to make me drag myself over there. Instead I had a walk on the downs in search of migrants, which have been coming through all week. A couple of Redstarts were an addition to the on-foot list for the year and a Wheatear and Spotted Flycatchers were nice, but infrequent. The bird I was really after was Pied Flycatcher, but there was nothing doing, until, when I was about as far from home as I could be, a friend put out news of one near home. A dash back got me there in time to spend a nearly an hour with a showy bird.
Today Karen joined me on the downs, but it was quieter than yesterday, with just one Redstart and a Wheatear in amongst the Willow Warblers. On the way back news came on about 9 Spoonbills flying past Widewater, on the coast. Wrong place again! We were in sight of the sea, three miles away, and Spoonbills are big and white, so we found a suitable vantage and stared at the sea. Sure enough, after a minute or so 9 white dots appeared and moved along the coast, before moving a bit inland. It’s not often I photograph birds at three miles distance.
It’s not grim up north
We’re having a long weekend in Yorkshire this weekend, and autumn migration is starting.
It’s a long time since I had two lifers in a day in the UK, even though there have been two chances (Caspian Tern but no Albatross last year, and Eleonora’s Falcon but no Sardinian Warbler early on this year), so the possibility of the Cape Gull on the way up north and the Red-tailed Shrike was too much to resist. That hope died almost the moment we decided to come up north, when the Cape Gull went missing, but the Shrike, which was a world lifer and a smart bird, and so much more interesting than the gull, hung around and gave superb views yesterday afternoon.
After a night in a B&B where I think the name Galtry flagged up that they needed to serve huge quantities of food (good food at that) we went to Flamborough this morning and got a second lifer in two days: a long overdue Icterine Warbler, that never showed as close as the Shrike, but was very welcome.