Marsh Harrier

The lingering Marsh Harrier was showing over the axe estuary again yesterday afternoon but it remained distant. Still, just about worthy of a post!

Caspian Gull showing well

I'd just mixed up a stimulant drink ready for a gym session when Ian Mc passed on a message that Gav had re-found the lingering Caspian Gull on the Axe estuary again; thankfully the concoction had not yet been consumed so in the fridge it went and I headed out with camera & scope. When I arrived on scene Gav was still there and the bird was nice and obvious; it really stands out even when asleep with it's head tucked back. This is the same bird as the one I had on 17th January and posted about HERE. Also well worth reading Gav's post HERE if you haven't already done so; the same bird has been seen on Jan 17th, 22nd, 29th and February 8th.

I was really hoping for some decent flight shots but it wasn't to be. It finally took to the air at 17:00 when it was raining and getting dark so the pics are not great. If only it had had a flap around earlier when conditions for photography were only fairly bad rather than utterly horrendous... The bird flew from the mud to the river for a few seconds and it was fairly close to the car (well, close for a gull anyway) so the views were excellent. These are my best shots of a Casp so I'm happy, but there's potential for much better here; hopefully it continues to linger. The photos are massive crops with less than 3% of the original pixels left (plus a bit of cloning in one pic to remove a Herring Gull wing tip). Here's the best of what I managed:

A bit off-topic but these shots taken in bad light looked terrible when I loaded the pics on Lightroom (my go-to RAW processing software) but the Canon software bundled with the camera body did a much better job of making the bird look colourful & contrasty rather than 'flat'. RAW files are deliberately lacking in contrast, sharpness etc, especially those from Canon bodies but that's because they are meant to be processed later. Some cameras such as old compacts etc shooting JPEG do this processing for you (can tweak it further later of course). The difference in appearance of the same files on those two different software packages was quite surprising though. I tend not to use the Canon software as the organisation and library features on Lightroom are much, much better and I'd far rather take 30 seconds to edit a pic than a few minutes!

Anyway, I'm off to have a scan of what's on the estuary...

Marsh Harrier(s) and more Hawfinches

An early afternoon visit to the area surrounding St Andrew's Church gave my first double figure count of Hawfinches in Colyton thus far, with at least 10 hiding in the Yews and occasionally showing. 2 Peregrine Falcons buzzed over quite low too; I've been seeing them quite regularly in Colyton recently.

Fran Sinclair reported 2 Marsh Harriers over Axe reedbeds from 11:15 this morning and at least 1 of them was still present when I went down for a look around late afternoon; this is the 'earliest' I can remember seeing one here.

This bird wasn't particularly close (the pic above is significantly cropped from the original) but the detail holds up quite well here despite moderately high ISO of 1600; good stuff from the Canon 5DSR. Massively cropped version of the same pic, with 98% of the original pixels removed:

Good views of the Marsh Harrier and Sunset from here!

Hawfinches still in Colyton

A quick (almost) daily check around St Andrew's Church in Colyton is still yielding views and calls of Hawfinches, although only 2 were showing this morning. I suspect we still have a few; they have a habit of hiding deep in the Yews.

I've spent quite a lot of time looking at gulls on the Axe estuary recently but had nothing of significant interest all week, so here are some Snowdrops from along the River Coly instead!

Caspian Gull !!!

'Caspian Gull' was my immediate thought when I set eyes upon a very bright headed 1st Winter gull on the Axe estuary on 17th January (after missing the Glauc by minutes). Up until this point I had never seen one but have read blog posts by Steve and Gavin enough times to know that a very bright headed 1st Winter gull is interesting. As such I took a few snaps of it. I nearly sent 'possible' news out but talked myself out of it as it was getting late and frankly when it comes to 'good' gulls I'm pretty inexperienced.

There were a load of other reasons I doubted myself. Another birder was present and scanning the same birds but thought nothing of this bird when I mentioned it. I'd never seen one so had nothing in the 1st hand memory bank to compare it to. It didn't look like a 'classic' 1st Winter Casp from either the Collins Bird Guide or the local blogs, although there's obviously going to be variation from one bird to the next. Thoughts of hybrid ran through my mind and I'd missed the target bird (Glauc) so I headed home, slightly bemused. Then a disgusting illness hit and the pics didn't make it off my camera.

Roll on a week and still not happy with what the bird was, I put the pics on the PC and had a look. Still favouring Casp but not 100% confident I sent some pics to Steve and he said Casp straight away. He mentioned a few things such as the dusky flanks and extent of black barring on the tail not being typical (although within variation limits) and these features are amongst what put off my confidence with it. Also the open wing illustration in Collins looks pretty different but again that could be variation. That's where experience with seeing multiple examples of the same species counts I guess; I didn't know what would and what wouldn't be within variation for a 1st Winter Casp, even if the initial impression of the ID was indeed correct.

I also sent some pics for Gav to examine as Steve thought my bird on the 17th may be the same one that Gav had on 22nd; looking at the pics side by side this does seem to be the case. Gav confirmed this over a Twitter chat and we should be seeing a photo comparison on his blog soon... He also sent me a reading list. An initial glance over the Gibbins et al documents had me feeling slightly out of my depth but having spent a few hours with it today I'm now a bit more comfortable. I put my pics through the 'system' of tables from the papers and they place the bird as a Casp; it's reassuring to have some sort of numerical system to help with ID as it helps remove opinion and self-doubt from the scenario.

Thanks go to Steve and Gav for the confirmations and resources.

So I dipped a Glauc but found a Casp. That'll do. There are a few things for me to learn here, the main one being to put more trust in my own initial impressions; they didn't fail me in similar scenarios with half a dozen or so juv Yellow-legged Gulls in 2017 and they didn't fail here either. Still a 'beginner' with gulls, but learning. Another thing to take from this is to whenever possible, take pics of anything which you think looks interesting!

I spent another hour or two looking at gulls on the estuary late afternoon today. What is happening to me..?

Hawfinches in Colyton and a probable Iceland Gull

I've spent most of the last week in bed watching TV; if you want to lose some weight I can thoroughly recommend this illness although the side effects include significant difficulties when it comes to eating & sleeping (averaging about an hour per day)! Generally speaking I shift illnesses pretty quickly but this one is a stubborn git.

In need of some fresh air, I popped out for a couple of short walks on Monday. There were 7+ Hawfinches around the Vicarage in Colyton early afternoon and later on I had what I was pretty sure was an Iceland Gull fly over amongst the flocks heading South out to sea shortly before 16:00, I just wish I'd put the camera up to my eye rather than the binoculars as a pic would have been able to confirm it. My phone was dead at the time so I couldn't send out a 'probable' report so said to Dad who was with me at the time that it'd be interesting to see if one is reported on the Axe the next morning (not that it would necessarily stay that long). Sure enough one was; Ian Mc reported an Iceland Gull from Coronation Corner shortly after 09:30.

Old news now but Ian Mc had a Glaucous Gull last week on 17th. I rushed over as soon as he texted but missed it by a matter of minutes. I'm still yet to see a Glauc...

Hawfinches on Patch

Finally! Steve Waite had a Hawfinch in Musbury near the church a few days back and Sue Murphy had 2 the following day so I was hopeful of finally seeing one on patch. I popped up this afternoon and had a couple in the churchyard but then another 4 flew overhead calling. It was nice to finally hear their call other than on recordings; I never did convincingly hear the Shute birds. The most I saw at any one time was 8 but there must be a few more there; they were very mobile and covering a wide area and there were so many calls. 1 posed (albeit a bit distantly) for a pic in the churchyard but this turned out to be just outside of the patch boundary (cheers for the map Steve). The images have had a bit of shadow and highlight recovery here as the lighting was terrible:

And now for a pic of 4 Hawfinches which were on patch! These were the other side of the farm to the SW of the church so were comfortably within the patch boundary:

There are a couple of smart males amongst the group so I'll try and get back for some better pics. The forecast is looking a bit dodgy for pics for the next few days mind...

On the way back from Musbury I had a quick glance over Bridge Marsh and the estuary. Little of interest really other than a Peregrine causing havoc.

A few days ago now but there was still a good selection of Pipits on Colyford Common on 11th including 3+ Water, 3+ Rock and 1 Meadow.