Carsington Bird Club Member Reports Things To Do

CBC Visit to Drakelow Wildlife Reserve

DRAKELOW VISIT NETS 50 SPECIES

The club decided to go closer to home than usual when staging the latest members’ trip. Yet the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust’s Drakelow reserve – near Burton on Trent, and right on the border with Staffordshire – is still a fair journey for those among the nine-strong group who’d travelled the farthest, from Buxton and Chesterfield.

The reserve lies close to the River Trent and has a mix of habitats with some lakes and smaller lagoons, plenty of woodland cover and, being an old power station site, extensive flat open spaces.

We were met shortly after 9am by the reserve’s keen recorder Syd Garton, who took the time to explain the geography and what was around that day. The first bird I noted, while we were still in the small car park, was Common Tern, three of which were circling overhead before tracking down the Trent.

From one of the three hides, there were good views of an island hosting a huge colony of Cormorants, most of which were making plenty of noise in their nests dotted among the guano-spattered tree tops. We’d also been told about a quiet crossing point among reeds farther into the reserve, and viewable from another smaller hide, where we might see Water Rail. Well, we did! Or, at least, we caught a glimpse of a couple of the chicks, all black except for their light-coloured bills, as they sprinted across the clearing.

Walking around the woodlands areas, the usual springtime suspects rang out their familiar songs – Willow Warbler, Reed Warbler and the occasional Sedge, plus Chiffchaff, Blackcap and Whitethroat – joining the resident birds such as Reed Bunting, Wren, Blackbird, Song Thrush and Robin. A Cuckoo was heard and, by following its song, we got scopes trained on it as it settled down for some minutes in the top of a tree.

On leaving the reserve, via a half-mile access road, we stopped alongside open ground and heard Skylarks and, as though by way of a parting boost to our tally, a Red-legged Partridge and Lapwing showed themselves among the long grass, and a pair of Shelducks flew low overhead.

While each of us had just 40-odd species in our notebooks by the time we left the site, comparing notes afterwards it emerged that the group had collectively seen 50 species – quite a haul for a Sunday morning.

The full list is as follows: Common Tern, Magpie, Wood pigeon, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Tufted Duck, Wren, Chiffchaff, Black-headed Gull, Swift, Greylag Goose, Robin, Gt Crested Grebe, Coot, Green Woodpecker, Blackbird, Carrion Crow, Mallard, Reed Bunting, Pheasant, Reed Warbler, Water Rail, Long-tail’d Tit, Blackcap, Blue Tit, Mute Swan, Moorhen, Little Grebe, Buzzard, Willow Warbler, Cuckoo, Kestrel, Sedge Warbler, Lesser Black-back Gull, House Sparrow, Gt Spotted Woodpecker, Sand Martin, Dunnock, Song Thrush, Chaffinch, Swallow, Canada Goose, Oystercatcher, Sparrowhawk, Gadwall, Great Tit, Whitethroat, Red-legged Partridge, Lapwing, Skylark and Shelduck.

Mute swan
Mute Swan
Common Tern
Common Tern
Cuckoo
Cuckoo
Reed Bunting
Reed Bunting

Gary Atkins

Carsington Bird Club Member Reports Things To Do

Malaysia 2013 Trip Report – Gary Atkins

MAGICAL SIGHTS AND SOUNDS IN THE JUNGLE

Anniversaries seem to roll round at an alarming rate, and as we approached “35” my wife Meryl and I decided on another ‘special’ holiday.  We’d been to New Zealand at 25, Canada five years later, so looking for somewhere different we thought we’d try Asia – and with a love of wildlife Borneo seemed an obvious choice.

Our tour also took in the frantically-busy cities of Kuala Lumpur and Georgetown on mainland Malaysia, plus the rather-more-sedate and distinctly cooler Cameron Highlands, which offered further chances for good bird-watching.  But without doubt, the Borneo jungle was the outstanding highlight.  Magical is an overused adjective, but the view from our balcony at Borneo Rainforest Lodge – overlooking a garden, meadow and river with the jungle’s living tapestry as a backdrop – was, well, magical.

I’d tried to research which bird I might see there – courtesy of trip reports and two field guides – but there were so many types I’d barely heard of, such as flowerpeckers, sibias, minlas, trogons and fulvettas, it seemed a forlorn hope.  At the end of 14 days, though, I’d accumulated a list of 118 species, so perhaps the ‘homework’ did do some good after all.

Of course, bird-watching somewhere so totally alien calls for different techniques, since virtually all birds spotted were new to me!  So, after my trusty binoculars, my most important tool was a notebook in which I scribbled the distinctive features of each unrecognised bird.  Then, after each birding session I’d dash back to my room and pore over the field guide to see if I could work out what I’d seen!

I got practical help in a couple of locations: a local birding guide was available for the early-morning ‘waves’ in the Cameron Highlands, and at the two jungle lodges, personal guides kept us busy with as many treks, canopy walks and night drives and they – and we – could manage … So, I have to admit a fair few ‘spots’ were largely down to local expertise, though I did still check out the field-guide to make sure.

I’ll come back to the birds, but Borneo’s bewildering range of primates, reptiles and insects is also worthy of mention.  Orang-Utans are a highlight, of course, and we saw them both in rehabilitation reserves and in the wild.  One truly magical (oops, there I go again) moment for me was when I returned alone to a canopy walk and spotted to my right a mother and baby Orang relaxing in a tree top just 30 yards from me.  Doing the decent thing, I switched off my camera’s flash, but in those valuable few seconds, the orange beasts had silently slipped out of sight.

Long- and pig-tailed macaques, Bornean gibbons, proboscis monkeys and red- and silver-leaf langurs were among other primates we saw among the branches.  Their haunting calls – along with the immense din generated by cicadas at dusk – brought the jungle alive. 

I saw flying squirrels, tree shrews, a slow loris and several monitor lizards, one lumbering sedately over a golf course. Massive bird-winged butterflies flew by and daintier tree nymphs seemingly floated down like leaves to feed on flower buds.  Photos of stick insects, leaf insects that were virtually impossible to spot among the vegetation, several other types of mantis, a scorpion and a rhinoceros beetle were obtained fairly easily as they were part of the display in an oddly-named ‘butterfly farm’.

The most awesome bird of the trip was almost certainly the Rhinoceros Hornbill, which is four feet long and competes with the cicadas as the noisiest thing in the jungle.  I saw four hornbill species in all, including at Kinabatangan Riverside Lodge a pair of ‘Oriental Pieds’ that evidently roosted in the same tree every night.

Among several raptors, the White-bellied Sea Eagle was probably the most impressive, while for stunning colours the Black-naped Orioles that patrolled a city-centre park in Kuala Lumpur were hard to beat, though the electric blue Large Niltava ran them close, each Kingfisher seen was a riot of several shades, and the Whiskered Treeswift’s markings were exquisite.

Bulbuls were busy and characterful, the  Black-thighed Falconet (a sparrow-sized raptor!) was a delight, and unusual names like Silver-eared Mesia and  Black-throated Wren Babbler have now made it onto my ‘life list’, but surely the Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler wins the prize as the cutest name.

Nevertheless, a few old acquaintances from previous Asian trips popped up again, including the Oriental Darter, Spotted Dove, Hill and Common Myna, Brahminy Kite, Dollarbird and Large-billed Crow.  Each seems fairly widespread across most of South-east Asia.

Though my list included very few birds we would see in the UK, it was nice to see Grey Wagtails, and Tree Sparrows seemed to have replaced their ‘House’ cousins in co-habiting with people.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

White-throated Kingfisher

Crimson Sunbird

Below is my full cast list ……..

Spotted Dove, White-breasted Waterhen,  Tree Sparrow,  Yellow-vented Bulbul,  Brown-throated Sunbird,  Asian Glossy Starling, Cattle Egret,  Pink-necked Green Pigeon, Crimson Sunbird,  Oriental Magpie-Robin, Chestnut Munia,  Scaly-breasted Munia, Zebra Dove,  Intermediate Egret,  Olive-backed Sunbird,  Common Iora,  Forest Wagtail, Pied Fantail,  White-breasted Wood Swallow, Dusky Munia, Mekong Wagtail, Great White Egret, Oriental Darter, House Swallow,  Edible-nest Swiftlet                     Little Egret, Pied Triller,  Rhinoceros Hornbill, Common Myna,  Long-tailed Parakeet, Brahminy Kite, Black Hornbill, Great-billed Heron, Osprey, Slender-billed Crow, Bold-striped Tit Babbler, Barn Swallow, White-bellied Sea Eagle, Bushy-crested Hornbill, Blue-eared Kingfisher, Pied Hornbill, Dollarbird, Black-capped Kingfisher, Crested Serpent Eagle, Spectacled Spiderhunter, Yellow-rumped Flowerpecker, Dusky Broadbill, Blue-throated Bee-eater, Mossy-nest Swiftlet, White-crowned Shama, Hill Myna, Lesser Green Leafbird, Fluffy-backed Tit Babbler, Black-throated Wren Babbler, Crested Flameback, Brown Fulvetta, Green Iora, Spotted Fantail, Whiskered Treeswift, Streaky-breasted Spiderhunter, Black-naped Monarch, Dark-throated Oriole, Grey-headed Canary Flycatcher, Scaly-crowned Babbler, Malaysian Blue Flycatcher, Rufous-crowned Babbler, Little Spiderhunter, Lesser Fish Eagle, Changeable Hawk Eagle, Paddyfield Pipit, House Sparrow, Crested Myna, Black-naped Oriole, House Crow, Black Kite, Black-thighed Falconet, White-throated Kingfisher, Chinese Pond Heron, Grey Wagtail, Grey Heron, Common Sandpiper, Little Heron, Silver-eared Mesia, Brown Shrike, Stripe-throated Bulbul, Mountain Bulbul, Long-tailed Shrike, Fork-tailed Swift, Black Drongo, Greater Racket-tailed Drongo, Large Hawk Cuckoo, Lesser Shortwing, Malaysian Whistling Thrush, Red-headed Trogon, White-tailed Robin, Blue-winged Minla, Mountain Fulvetta, Crimson-breasted Oriole, Large Niltava, Black-throated Sunbird, Fire-tufted Barbet, Blue Nuthatch, Large-billed Crow, Green Magpie, Slaty-backed Forktail, Grey-chinned Minivet, Everitt’s Whiteye, Chestnut-capped Laughingthrush, Mountain Tailorbird, Long-tailed Sibia, Streaked Wren Babbler, Lesser Racked-tailed Drongo, Javan Cuckoo Shrike, Black-crested Bulbul, Tiger, Shrike, Rock Dove, Germaine’s Swiftlet, Silver-backed Needletail.

Carsington Bird Club Events Features Member Reports

Frampton Marsh a Hit With CBC Group !

The twelve club members who clambered aboard the coach headed for Frampton Marsh anticipated a good day's birding – and so it turned out, with 57 species logged by the whole group during nearly seven hours at the Lincolnshire RSPB site.

 
Our driver did an excellent job of getting us there inside two hours (and returning us in the same timescale) which maximised our time in the open air – though a few took the opportunity for a quick coffee. An introduction from the assistant warden gave us a good feel for what was around; and he invited us to boost their list, which I suspect we just might have done.
 
Conditions were fair with high clouds for most of the day, but it was breezy and we felt particularly exposed with little vegetation to interrupt the wind's progress across this flat marshland site.
 
There was an excellent array of waders, ducks and geese on the wetland scrapes, including the increasingly widespread Little Egret, various sandpipers, 'shanks' and several smaller waders. There was much discussion and some confusion – even with the help of scopes which were put to liberal use in each of the three hides – as many of the species were changing from summer to winter plumage.
 
Migrants passing through en route to warmer locations to spend the winter included Wheatear and a few final hirundine stragglers, while other waders, ducks and the odd Brent Goose were arriving on their winter quarters. With the tide out, a few distant seals could be seen on the open sand at the edge of the Wash for those who walked the two miles to the mouth of the Witham River.
 
Raptors were few and far between (we had over-optimistically hoped for a Merlin, Hen Harrier or Short-eared Owl), but a few Kestrels were seen and the highlight was a pair of Marsh Harriers.
 
The total 'CBC' cast list, roughly in order of appearance, was as follows: Greenfinch, Goldfinch, Tree Sparrow, Rook, Collared Dove, Mallard, Teal, Little Egret, Greenshank, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Moorhen, Ruff, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Cormorant, Little Stint, Canada Goose, Pintail, Black-headed Gull, Shelduck, Wigeon, Mute Swan, Redshank, Meadow Pipit, Skylark, House Martin, Greylag Goose, Coot, Tufted Duck, Kestrel, Wood pigeon, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Starling, Reed Bunting, Wheatear, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Curlew, Swallow, Great-crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Brent Goose, Grey Plover, Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, Greater Black-backed Gull, Wood Sandpiper, Carrion Crow, Gadwall, Shoveler, Knot, Snipe, Golden Plover, Curlew Sandpiper, Scaup and Marsh Harrier.
 
Gary Atkins
Member Reports

Bempton in April……..

A short trip report from Gary Atkins.

April seemed to be living up to its reputation for showers – and heavy ones at that – as a car containing myself, fellow club member Bernie Brown and his friend John Cave splashed up the M1 and M18 towards Bempton Cliffs, the RSPB’s brilliant reserve with its mass of cliff-dwelling birds.

It quite literally rained all the way, but as we opened our doors, as if by magic it stopped – and didn’t start again until well into the afternoon.  And the luck stayed with us throughout as we logged 62 species inside six hours.

All the usual suspects were there at Bempton, with thousands of Kittiwakes, Guillemots and Razorbills squeezed onto seemingly every square inch of the narrow ledges, and fewer Fulmars and Puffins adding to the spectacle – but the real highlight was the sheer quantity and antics of the Gannets.

It’s difficult to guess at how many were there, but everywhere we looked their black-tipped wings spanning six feet were in evidence.  They were also gathering nest material, so we had good, close views as they sought grass and moss from the cliff tops, awkwardly tearing at the vegetation with their long pointed bills.

We saw Ravens and Rock Doves and, away from the cliffs, Pied Wagtails, Linnets, Meadow Pipits, Tree Sparrows and a Reed Bunting, but not the hoped-for Corn Buntings or Black Redstart that had been seen there recently.

Anticipating bad weather, I’d got a back-up plan – which was to visit nearby Tophill Low (a reserve run by Yorkshire Water) as it has a dozen hides, so plenty of shelter.  In the end, after about two and a half hours at Bempton we were tending to see the same things, we decided to head off to Tophill Low anyway, and we’re jolly glad we did as we virtually doubled our daily total.

This site has two small reservoirs, several wetland areas and plenty of woodland, so the variety is excellent – to be recommended.  Highlights here included Avocet, Redshank, Sand Martin, the early-arriving warblers Blackcap, Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, and a surprisingly good selection of ducks comprising Goldeneye, Goosander, Shoveler, Wigeon, Gadwall and Teal.

En route to Bempton (which is best between around April and June, when the breeding season is at its height), there are several other reserves worthy of a visit such as Fairburn Ings, North Cave and any of a number around the Humber Estuary.

Yorkshire – a rich birding territory.

G.Atkins – April 2012

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