Thursday 30 April 2015

Shapwick Heath - Hudsonian Godwit!!!

First UK lifer of the year (371) and was this really my first serious distance twitch!! Stubbornly remaining distant most of the day, I managed to eke out rather a lot of record shots of the Hudwit to keep myself busy with the delete button:-)

The gallery - every man, woman and dog were there! Big crowds last Saturday and 'twas well in the 100's today with a constant flow of folk coming and going.....


Interesting phone conversations? "Yeah, really sorry I can't get in today, back's gone and can't get out of bed"!


The view and the dots on the far side of the scrape are the Godwit flock - I know, I can't see them either!


I'll spare you the shots I took at 300m + distance. Fast forward 4 hours and it finally relocated to the near side of the scrape :-)


Still 100m or so distant and the heat haze was terrible!






Flight shots eventually became the order of the day!


Showing of those striking black axillaries and underwing coverts....


And then, comparison shots with the Black-tailed Godwits....




Sometimes taking on an incredibly dark look to the plumage!



Who needs feather detail when you can convey so many differences between Hudsonian and Black-tailed Godwit with one distant flight shot......


The slightly upcurved bill, short narrow wingbar, narrow band at the tail base and feet projecting much less beyond the tail.....



Zooming in!


Always easy to pick out - the darkest bird in the flock!






By evening it was just the few late arrivals and photographers lining the path!


Those upperparts again!


And a final image, lit up by the setting sun......



A third for Britain, the previous two being a long stayer in the early 80's followed by a one dayer in Aberdeenshire later that decade attests that this was a bird not to be missed! I'm glad 'I was there' for this one!!

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Venus Pool - seven whistler

I was sat in the main hide bemoaning the fact that nothing was happening (and I'd missed his Wood Sandpiper during the morning!) We were both there hoping for but hardly 'expecting' a Whimbrel? I decided to check out the North hide to see if anything Wood Sandish was lurking..... I'd only just sat down and the window wasn't even open when....

A rapid burst of  pupupupupupupu! I opened the window..... pupupupupupupu* again..... but now almost repeated continuously......

(* I couldn't even begin to spell what it sounds like!!!)

Eventually I got onto it, bearing down on me over the middle of the pool....



Then in a flash, overhead and high - gone - heading North.....



I started to walk back to see Martin (probably at the same time he decided to walk to me!) We met in the middle and exchanged a simultaneous "Did you see that"?  The seven whistler strikes again!

Monday 27 April 2015

Wood Lane - Barwit!!

No UK list this year and I'm not going for a big Shropshire list... But that doesn't mean a good wader gets ignored? Bar-tailed Godwit is pretty tricky in the shire, just about one annually  'somewhere'.
The 'somewhere' in 2015 seems to be Wood Lane again where it eventually surfaced as 'news' - morphing over a three day period  from Blackwit to Barwit (according to the hide book)

It was also pretty elusive, never straying onto the nearby scrape so excuse a glut of record shots - which is what this blog seems to be about just lately!


Resplendent in summer plumage!


And constantly flicking about some 100m distant...




Picking up a tasty morsel or two....


And generally getting ignored by the Black-headed mob.


I didn't even reach for my Ear-defenders - a good wader makes for a soothing experience.....

Friday 24 April 2015

Venus Pool - Whinchat etc

I had a bit of a recce today - it was the day before the big day if that makes sense? There was nothing special although just about every warbler on the visitors list was now in, including this Common Whitethroat .....


 There was even a Dunlin on what little mud was available!


But the highlight was this Whinchat spotted by Helen G and it was still there an hour later :-)


But will it still be there tomorrow?