13/10/2024 WWT Martin Mere, Burscough, Lancs

Snow Goose: I found myself with a free day, as Dawn took Autumn to her sisters for the day so I decided to spend the morning at Martin Mere and see if the snow goose I saw the previous weekend was showing any better today.

They are native to North America and are rare vagrants to the UK, but also a frequent escapee from waterfowl collections. There is a feral breeding population of snow geese also, thought to be around 100 pairs. 

Although these feral flocks are typically found on the Inner Hebrides and other smaller feral flocks in Norfolk and Hampshire. Any snow geese that  are usually considered to be genuine ‘wild’ birds are those occurring with carrier flocks of Greenland white-fronted geese in northwest, Scotland and Ireland. Yeah, so I think the fact it’s associating with greylags does it no favours. But who knows?

Lapwing: I spent a few hours in the hide overlooking the mere, watching c40 whooper swans many showing really close to the hide, honking and whooping at each other. 

 

In the fields surround the mere and flocking overhead where c2000 pink-footed geese were sighted and there were c150 greylag goose keeping the snow goose company on the mere too.

It was a really pleasant way to spend the morning, not only with the Autumnal flocks of wildfowl but with the company of Marcus and his dad Dave Owen. Good to catch up lads. 

Western The Kazakhstan, May 2024

Back in May I was given the opportunity to embark upon a work trip to survey for birds in Central Asia's largest country, Kazakhstan. This was a real privilege to work on a special project that has given me the experience of a life time. I was complied by Alex Poole colleague at WSP and a top bloke and a top ecologist, despite being a Villa fan. 

On reflection the one thing that was most notable about the trip was the difference in habitat types and how vast and distinct they were, so I thought I would lay this blog post out by each classification of habitat and the species observed within each one.

Steppe Eagle: TThis Kazakhstan Steppe is such an incredible sight spanning the horizon like the grasslands of Africa or the prairies  of North America. However, here they aredominated by  Boehmer's cat's-tail, narrow-leaved meadow-grass, northern bedstraw, lupine clover, tuberous Jerusalem sage, and Artemisia latifolia. 

The Steppe eagle is entirely migratory, probably migrating in greater numbers than any other Eagle in the world. Autumn migrations take the raptors to wintering grounds in nearby Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, but also as far away as India, Africa, and the Middle East. The birds start to return to their breeding grounds in February. Many studies corroborate that Steppe eagles generally migrate lesser distances as they age.

Long-legged Buzzard: I was surprised how green the Steppe actually was, doing the research and looking at google maps and arial imagery the whole of this area looked bleak, brown, dry and uninspiring. 

Demoiselle Crane: One of my main target birds I was really hoping to see, was the Demoiselle crane. We had a trio fly low over the road one morning and landed in the field with about a dozen or so other birds, not far from the our car it gave us a really good opportunity to see them up close. 

Found primarily in open spaces with a wide range of visibility, there can be found living in upland areas, unlike most other cranes which can be found in wetland habitat. This crane species enjoys space and solitude, therefore their habitats vary from semi-arid savannas, grasslands, and Steppes, to high plateaus.

Black Kite:  We traveled further into the Steep looking for bustards and sand grouse spotting more Steppe eagles, white-winged larks, cranes and bee-eaters.

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Tawny Pipit: There are not that many pipit species at this time of year on the Steppe so the only one we saw while while out surveying was the Tawny.

White-winged Lark: Along our survey route we found a large reservoir with ands we thought we would pull over and take look, hoping to find some waders. Instead we had a flock of European bee-eaters flying through. 

Black Lark: These striking large larks are one of the iconic birds of the steppes of Kazakhstan they are found in grassy steppe, particularly in areas interspersed with scattered shrubbery or wet patches. 

It was Alex who first spotted one of the trip in a wet area that we were scanning for waders and sandgrouse. The birds were pretty flighty and wasn't allowing us to approach too close.

Marsh Harrier: Post-Soviet fire and grazing regimes have govern the abundance of a key ecosystems on the steppe. Intensive grazing and fire patterns across the Steppes have changed dramatically over the past decades due to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and Kazakhstan is now a global fire hotspot. 

Savi's Warbler: We surveys a huge river system and delta area which is one of the largest remaining natural deltas and inland lake in Central Asia. These vast wetlands provides a rich variety of habitats supporting a range of threatened species.

These wet areas were fantastic places, Alex and I spent a lot of time birding here, focusing on our target species and areas that of importance to the project.

Black-winged Pratincole: The Kazakh steppe, also known as the Kirghiz steppe, is itself one of the largest dry steppe regions on the planet, covering approximately 804,500 square kilometres and extending more than 2,200 kilometres from north of the Caspian Sea east to the Altai Mountains. 

Caspian Plover: We were thrilled to see this stately plover with a gentle, dovelike expression. Breeding male is stunning, with a white face and belly separated by a broad chestnut patch across the chest. Breeding female is plainer brown, and has a warm rusty-brown patch across the chest. One of our main target birds. 

The whole trip was amazing, thrilling, exciting a real life experience, one full of birding memories and good laughs.  

Black-eared Wheatear: So to read more and see more images, please click on this link below or see the Holiday and Trip Reports at the bottom of this blog.

https://austinmorley.blogspot.com/p/western-kazakhstan-may-2024.html

05/10/2024 RSPB Bempton Cliffs, East Riding of Yorkshire

Isabelline Shrike: Again I find myself up on the Yorkshire coast, again twitching some far eastern birds. First stop was for the two-barred warbler which I dipped, then to Thornwick Bay for the OPB when a issy shrike spp was recorded 10 mins up the road at Bempton.

The question is 'isabelline or red-tailed shrike' you see,  not only do sabellinus and phoenicuroides are structurally and physiologically closely related but they share genetic characteristics too!

Both species have similar moult patterns, breed later and have longer migrations than the eastern races, and as one might expect show a longer wing, second primary and primary projections. 

Olive-backed Pipit: This part of Yorkshire at the moment is buzzing with some brilliant birds and almost has the feeling of November on Shetland. Its dripping in YBW, RBF and a selection of other leaf warblers like the recent pale-legged and two-barred. 

Shoulder to shoulder with dozens of birders and toggers right up against the wooden fence, where the bird showed well at first in the dappled light of the leaflitter, before moving into the taller grass and between the trees. 

Another bird that you would expect to see on Shetland in November is OBP, a long-distance migrant moving in winter to southern Asia and Indonesia with a few overshooting and this bird finding its way to a caravan park in Thornwick Bay, Flamborough. 

Whats next? Whatever it is I hope I can move quickly enough to see it. 

01/10/2024 Crosby Marina Lake, Sefton, Merseyside

Black-necked Grebe: Present for over a week now, this BNG has been favouring the smaller boating lake that sits beside the massive marina lake. I arrived after work in late afternoon while the bird was busily feeding on the far side of the lake being watched by local photographer Vicky Outen, and after a catch up we decided to approach the bird on the otherside where it showed really well. 

These small grebes closely resembles the Slavonian grebe but in all plumages it has a small and characteristically up-turned bill, a steep forehead and peaked crown. This small grebe is unmistakeable when in summer plumage - it has golden tufts of feathers on its face, contrasting with its black head and neck. 

During winter they are predominately white with a poorly defined black cap, which distinguishes it from the crisper-looking Slavonian Grebe.