Hunting the Unicorn

One of the joys of my new job is working on animals and habitats I find really interesting, either with students or without. Next month, I will be responsible for taking 50 second year's birding at a site that was, until Tuesday, a complete unknown to me. Farlington Marshes is a Wildlife Trust reserve in the Langstone and Chicester Harbour protected area. An amazing mix of grazing land, mud flat and fresh and saltwater ponds, it is well known for winter migrant wildfowl.

In the interests of delivering an excellent field trip, I thought it a good idea to go for a walk around the reserve and identify the best sites and key species. The tide was in when we arrived and the freshwater lake was full of teal and dunlin, with a smattering of turnstone and grey plover. Brent geese were bobbing in the harbour and grazing on the marsh, accompanied by curlew and canada geese.

As we walked round the seawall an onshore breeze was driving spray onto the path, and we could sea another large wader flock on an island that barely broke the water's surface away to our right. Linnet were present in the scrub and a pair of stone chat sat upon the barbwire. At the second pond, shoveler and wigeon mixed in with the teal, and black tailled godwit fed in the shallows. Edging further around the path we heard Cetti's warbler in the reedbed.

We waited there for a while, hoping for a view of the Cetti's, a chance bearded tit or silent short eared owl, but we were not in luck, and before long the cold wind drove us back to the car. 

I can see why the reserve is popular with both birders and migrants, the habitat mix and location are ideal. I'm just hoping for less of a breeze when the students and I are back in December. With the right conditions, who knows what we might see!

  

Unsurprisingly, there were plenty of brent geese

G plover and dunlin were present in large numbers.

A few lectures, a little marking, and one very long meiofauna practical later, and the weekend rolled round again. After seeing the numerous reports of hawfinch from all over the county, and the supposed influx following the Saharan dust storm, I decided that my next target would be my unicorn bird. Long standing readers will know that I try to get this bird each year on my birthday, heading out for a walk around Cromford or Clumber Park back home. These annual escapades clearly weren't working. Hoping for a sure thing, I went back to Lee Evan's site guide; finding two odds on sites in the Hampshire area, both of which generally host flocks of around 30 from mid-November onward. With fingers definitely crossed, and a longer than usual lie-in under our belt, Jack and I bundled into the car on Saturday morning and headed of to Rhinefield Enclosure, tucked away in the new forest. 

The guide suggested waiting for dusk for incoming roosters, but we arrived at 11; wandering aimlessly around the arboretum and surrounding forestry land, keeping an eye on the treetops. After an hour we'd seen very little (I'm not a fan of birding in woodland, the trees get in the way); coal tits, GS woodpecker, siskin and goldcrest. But no hawfinches. My hopes weren't up to begin with, and when Jack suggested lunch I was more than happy to bail to the Swan Inn for a fantastic hot lunch and dessert, returning to the Enclosure around an hour before dusk. 

Now the midgies were out, rising from the drizzle-damp glass to cloud around our faces. We walked another lap of the arboretum before settling in beside the gate to wait for returning birds. We sat/stood around for another 45 minutes, and I was almost ready to wrap it up. A few birds had come and gone, mainly siskins, but there was no sign of my unicorn.... Then something flashed into a dead pine just obscured from view. Jack went one side of the tree and I went the other, just in time to see the flash of a white terminal band on the tail. That was it right?! That white tail bar? Another bird flashed up, a black bib obvious under its beak, and I was finally confident enough to shout across to Jack that I was on the bird. 

Over the next few minutes we watched around 10 birds in the Enclosure, before finally giving up after a particularly noise group flushed the flock. The pictures weren't great, I was midge bitten and cold, but I had found the unicorn. Not only that, but in the last week we had added this, grey phalarope, dartford wabler and cattle egret to Jack's life list. That's before sand martin or greenshank; wish I'd gotten that kind of running start!

Hawfinch record

Short stays in the South

So I've moved again, this time to take up a teaching fellowship at the University of Portsmouth. I'm back living by the sea, but now as far south as I've ever called home. Living in a city again feels stifling, no garden, a good ten minutes to the shore (which is concrete and shingle). It all feels very un-inspiring.

After the first mad month of moving in, sorting out the bills and getting to grips with the new job, I was desperate for a chance to get out birding. Today I took advantage of the migrants hanging on in the south and had a flit around some of my first Hampshire sites; Blashford and Pennington Marshes.

First stop was Blashford to catch up with the lesser scaup that had been sighted during the week. We got to the reserve at 9 and had a good tramp round, but - despite the dozen or so birders on the lookout - failed to connect with the duck. The reserve itself is great, all boggy broad leaf woodland, good sized lakes and bags of waterfowl. The car park was haunted by nuthatch and tits, and their was a nice pop up cafe. We gave it 3 hours before heading to our next site of the day, Pennington.

After a lovely drive through southern heath, occasionally dodging the New Forest ponies, we made our way down narrow lanes to the carpark at Lower Pennington. Eager to get to the long staying grey phalarope, we hot footed it toward Oxey Marsh, only checking my phone en route. It was then I realised that I'd practically sprinted away from 2 cattle egret, mingling with the cows beside the camp site. Rookie error.

Torn, I made the tactical decision to carry on for the GP. As we wandered along the path that girdled the marsh, we met one birder after another, all happily reporting excellent views of the phalarope. After a morning stumbling round Blashford, we were happy to hear it. As we came around the bend to overlook the marsh, the little bird was directly ahead of us, flaunting itself in the sunlight as it fed a meter away from 2 delighted birders. I shouldered my camera and began snapping away.

I could have happily stayed that way for a few hours, the sun was warm and the bird was really confiding; but the thought of those un-ticked cattle egrets niggled away at me, and I soon found myself heading back the way I came, stopping only briefly to acknowledge the backside of a skulking dartford warbler as I went. 

As we got back to the car park I could see the cattle egrets glowing in the field ahead of me. If I'd only looked around after parking they would have been right there. Thankfully they hadn't shifted in the intervening hour. I watched them through the scope, occasionally moving for incoming cars or letting others share my view, and really appreciated how good my luck had been. Then, 2 new birds under my belt, I reversed away and headed for a well earned beer at home.

I'll have to scope out some more sites for next weekend. Maybe living down south wont be too bad after all.