Lost At Sea - Rory Gallagher

It's been a very exciting but rather 'strange' day today, but get this for starters!

This photograph, one of 3 reproduced on yesterday's Blog, was of the Portland Search & Rescue helicopter carrying out what I considered to be an authentic rescue rather than an exercise? Today I received this e-Mail from friend and fellow birder Nick Stantiford

* To: captbagsy@waitrose.com
* Date: Wed, 4 May 2011 09:59:18 +0100
* Subject: Yesterday's Blog - aka 'You don't miss a thing do you'

Hi Paul

The vessel being attended by the SAR chopper in your pictures was my son Lyle’s charter boat Supanova which, despite the weather, was safely en route to Guernsey for a few days Turbot fishing with 5 hard core anglers on board, including yours truly.

The 'object' winched from the deck was some 58 year old angler come birder who was suffering from a vasovagal syncope (that's doctor speak for a fainting attack apparently) and as a result I am now sitting at home taking things easy! Bloody typical, I've been doing this sort of trip for years without problems and this one was going to be very special as the first Channel Islands expedition on Lyle’s new boat but now I shall have to be content with meeting the boat when they get back on Friday night and being taunted with tails of huge flat fish, much eating of good food and drinking of fine wine!

Catch you soon
Nick

Oh! Just couldn't resist another shot, so here's Nick being winched from the mighty 'Supanova' while the rest of the lads continue their voyage to enjoy themselves - TIGHT LINES!

On a really serious note, I do hope all is well with you Nick and your fully well again.

Probably the strangest occurrence of the day is that for the very first time I didn't take one photograph, consequently all images today are taken from the archive for illustration purposes only.

Considering Portland to be a good bet for an early visit, particularly a look at what might be passing to seaward, I forsook the local patches and paid for my bus fare, agghhaaaa!, intending to make quick passage to the coast. However, the sight of a light sandy coloured bird on the main path across the Top Fields had me stopping in my tracks, but not quickly enough to see it raise its head and fly off into the adjacent field. During the brief few seconds it was in view I could see it was a Pipit (albeit rather Wagtail like) with uniform light buff plumage, with no distinguishing markings at all. While on the ground it showed an elegant upright stance but this may well have been its reaction to my approach. I looked into the field, which holds a crop of high growing plants, but has a narrow furrow running down its length, where I saw the bird just briefly again. It is a full one minute walk to access the field via a kissing gate, which I did but after a 15 minute search and an attempt to phone the Observatory, it was not seen again.

I have no doubt that this was a Tawny Pipit, likely an adult, but with such scant description doubt it will convince others, luckily I only have to satisfy myself. Making best haste for the Obs, Martin Cade, John Lucas and John Down returned with me to the location but after covering a lot of ground we gave up the search.

With reports coming from the 'sea-watchers' of numerous seabirds, it was time to head for the Bill where John Down and I met up with probably as many as 20 other observers. Terns and Auks were in good numbers and among them were a few Kittiwake, Gannet, Common Scoter and a single Puffin as the first of 2 (maybe 3)

Roseate Terns put in an appearance, another 'year tick'. With my new Opticron 'Mighty Midget' telescope perched on a rock and me perched on another I was afforded good views of these dainty and brilliant white little birds. This was rapidly turning into the most extended 'sea-watch' I have done at the Bill for a decade and having already had my second cheese and red pepper roll nick by John (said I'd get you) it was time to leave, but not before watching 2 Black-throated Diver fly over quiet close to shore. These also enter the records as the first of this species to be seen in Dorset this year.

Having enjoyed a coffee at the Obs, the R/T crackled into life with another report from the Bill of a Black Tern having joined the 'feeding frenzy close off-shore. This was spur enough to get me heading from whence I had just returned, only to find the answer to my question "is it still there" being answered by a report of a Balearic Shearwater flying directly towards us.

Picking it up fairly quickly in the 'scope, how 'jammy' can you be to see the Black Tern fly into the same field of view? Two further 'year birds' was satisfactory to say the least, and on the way back did try again to re-locate the Pipit but without success. There were no birds, let alone Waders at Ferrybridge, so after a very brief visit to the supermarket agghhrrrrr, it was home!

While flicking through the photo files, it was thought a few more shots of my last trip along the Alaska Highway may wet the readership's taste buds prior to my departure on the first day of June for a re-visit. All of these shots were taken close to or at Toad River, in mid-June 2008.

American Bison

Caribou

Stone Mountain Sheep

Yukon View close to Toad River

'The Summit' highest point on the Alcan Highway

Susan Hallam & I enjoying a mid-June 'white-out'.

America - The Nice

Starting today's post with a quick return to previous days , giving the readership an update on one or two happenings. Firstly, yesterday's mystery plant (only to me it would seem) is

Rock Samphire as pointed out via the following E-mails:-

HI Paul,

Firstly thank for sparing the time to pass on the valued local bird info today, and secondly thank you for the mention in the today's Blog.

The plant on the wall @ Ferrybridge is Rock Samphire, (I think I said it was Sea Samphire) and is only found on south and west coasts, usually found on sea cliffs and rocks, and very rarely on shingle.

Regards - John Gifford

Well howdy. Rock Samphire if I'm not very much mistaken, although not yet in flower. In Shakespeare's time was a popular vegetable, cooked in the same way as Asparagus. Glad you got the Dragonfly (and assume my text got thru'), been waiting over 20 years to see one of those!

Cheers - Paul Harris

Thank you both very much, it must be a real trill to keep the 'Ald Lad updated?

Secondly, with a great deal of help from Martin Cade, Warden of the Portland Bird Observatory, the following has been reveled about the Red Knot I observed and photographed at Ferrybirdge on Saturday:-

...fantastic, and thanks for making a special effort to photograph the colour-ringed/flagged bird; I've sent off the details to the project - it looks like it will have been ringed in either Holland or Mauritania.

Cheers
Martin

Overview of the sightings of colour-ringed Knots of: Martin Cade
Period: 01-Apr-11 till 01-Jun-11
Colourcode: Y1RYRY Date of original catch: 30-Aug-98
Place of catch: De Richel, Holland - see footnote.
53.16.97 N, 5.08.23 E
Sightings of this bird:
Date(d/m/y) Place Observer
23-Aug-99 Waardgronden, Engelse Vaarwater Leon Peters
53.11.00 N, 05.02.00 E
11-Sep-99 Suderoog, Schleswig Holstein Sebastian Berger
54.28.00 N, 08.33.00 E
01-May-11 Ferrybridge, Portland Bill, Dorset, England Martin Cade via P Baker
50.34.00 N, 02.28.00 W

De Richel (Dutch for "the ridge"), is a permanently dry sandbank in the Wadden Sea, in the gap between the Dutch islands of Vlieland and Terschelling. It is located about 1 kilometer east of the northernmost point of Vlieland and is administered by the municipality of Vlieland. The sandbank has an average surface area of 116 hectares. It is completely flooded only during extremely high tides.

The first thing that struck me about this 'return' was the age of the bird, first caught in 1998, that makes it 12 years old. I had no idea that these medium/small Waders were so long lived! Most, if not all, of the Knot 'ringed/flagged' in this project over-winter in Mauritania, West Africa, but this individual had not been seen there during its lifetime - this would have made it a special recovery, but it is easy to see what great value, even through this brief note, bird 'ringing' is.

and finally, I noticed this drain cover when viewing the Vagrant Emperor Dragonfly yesterday which just conjured up an imaginary advert in the local newspaper:-

You can rely on us, even though we are 'S HITT' Builders of Weymouth

and so to today which was both Blustery and Chilly to say the least. On the upside the clouds were short lived and reverting to the Antarctic jacket (kitch red) I was warm a toast! By and large, another 'blank' at Radipole with the saving grace being these

2 Common Terns roosting outside the Visitors Centre.

In sharp contrast to their lethargic mates, the Lodmoor colony were hard at work fishing, while

the 3 at Ferrybridge were content just flying around.

Along the Sea Front and now in the 'eye' of the blustery wind, I saw this notice which needs bringing to the attention of at least our 'local' readership. If you only have the slightest interest in contemporary music then be assured this gig is not to be missed. Performed by the 'cream' of Dorset musicians and singers I, along with my youngest daughter Lisa, attended the first concert several years ago now. So impressed was my little girl that next day she visited me and copied all the lyrics of the Floyd classic 'Dark Side of the Moon'. There have been another 2 since, which also saw my attendance, and its only the impending next adventure that will keep me away from this one - Be There or Be Square.

This was the scene looking from Greenhill towards Weymouth along the sea-front this morning, but the choppy sea wasn't deterring the

Ocean Racing Yachts already half way across the Bay and shaping-up for the Isle of Wight.

On Lodmoor, Common Swifts were quite numerous so an opportunity to practice some 'in-flight' camera work -

a lot more practice needed I would say! In addition there were good numbers of Swallow, a few House & Sand Martins, 3 Little Egrets, a Ringed Plover and on the way back a tardy Brent Goose flying across Weymouth Bay. Unfortunately, once again, there was no sign of the Long-billed Dowitcher.

OK boys and girls, here's another one for you. I've been through the Field Guide without success, so same wall, same location Ferrybridge - off you go!

Along with Common & Sandwich Terns there were also still 46 Bar-tailed Godwit

on the fore-shore along with a few Dunlin and Ringed Plover plus one remaining Red Knot.

This Little Tern looked like it was in the acrobatics team, but it was now time to head for Portland.

There, about the only excitement for me was the Search & Rescue Helicopter attending a small fishing or dive boat. Something about this said it was not an exercise (but I could be wrong) as it quickly went into a 'hover', before

before descending to just above 'wheelhouse' height,

sending up spray in all directions before lowering a 'winch-man'. Removing what looked like a person (difficult to tell at such distance) it quickly made for the land. After a not too appetising lunch with my friend Edwin Welland it was time to go home, where over the last couple of days I have been mussing about my day out on Saturday with Author and Naturalist Richard Crossley . Richard lives in Cape May, New Jersey, USA and knows another dear friend of mine who also lives close by Sandra Keller. Having undertaken 4 trips to this Mecca of American 'birding' I have had the pleasure of meeting and enjoying the company of a good number of the local bird fraternity.

Sandra Keller, Moi and a gentleman who's name I cannot remember (apologies).

My last visit there was with Sue Hallam, arriving Cape May 30/09/2007

Sue and I at the Cape May Lagoon

The 'Hawk Watch' at the Cape May Lighthouse (bird watchers on the raised platform right of picture). Some of the birds we encountered included:-

Solitary Sandpiper

Stilt Sandpipers

Tricolored Heron

Black Skimmers

American Kestrel


Bombay Hook, New Jersey

with our dear friend Doug Johnson who along with wife Mary and son Gabe afforded us fantastic hospitality.

'Till we meet again, here's to all my MATES in the USA!

Dragonfly - Yngwie Malmsteen

The sky was threatening enough this morning to take no chances, and stick on the 'wet weather' gear and it wasn't too long before it was needed. The best the cemetery had to offer was a Goldcrest, while Radipole was once again very disappointing with no more than 2 Bullfinch, 3 over-flying Common Terns plus this

lone Oystercatcher which seemed to be prospecting the island outside of the Visitor's Centre. Just a quick flick through my own records shows there are far fewer Warblers at Radipole these days with so far Blackcap and Grasshopper Warbler being absent, only one singing male Whitethroat, 2 Lesser Whitethroat and extremely poor numbers of Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler, maybe they're yet to move in?

Arriving at Barleycrates the rain had died away, replaced by some bright sunshine, but the easterly wind had increased some from yesterday keeping things pretty cool. Apart from this

female Stonechat, escaping my photographic clutches, there was little until reaching the West Cliff where there was a Gannet 'fishing' unusually close to the shore, while Hirundines were moving north at at my estimation of about 300 per hour for Swallows and 50 each for House & Sand Martin. Otherwise, it was left to Wheatears to make up the numbers with at least 2 dozen in the fields close to Reap Lane.

There followed another long 'sea watch' for me, today totalling about 30 minutes, during which time I was able to catch up on the news from Somerset and elsewhere with Julian Thomas. All that passed by were a number of mixed Terns including Sandwich, Common and Arctic, a few Guillemots and Razorbill but precious little else. A coffee and yet another hot (cold) dog left over from Friday's party and I was off in search of at least one of the 3 Hobby that had arrived from seaward earlier. This was not to be, but in one of the fields opposite the Observatory

3 Grey Herons (look closely now) were stood head to wind probably sitting out the blow?

All else included 5 Wheatear, a Whinchat, a Yellow Wagtail plus 6 Common Swifts but already the tide was on the turn so Ferrybridge was the next destination in hope of a repeat of yesterday's Wader-fest!

Already these Turnstone were whirring around before settling directly in front of us

showing off that

fine 'Summer plumage', while 106 of the Bar-tailed Godwit were still present but no Red Knot which had seemingly been replaced by

7 Sanderling

with some still in 'Winter Plumage'

some
in between plumage's

one allowing comparison with a Dunlin

and just one showing

this fine Summer Plumage.

Ringed Plover were represented by about a dozen individuals and there were also 3 Grey Plover, while I was also

Thanks to Paul Harris & John Gifford this plant is identified as Rock Samphire - thanks both,

interested in this plant growing out of the sea wall. With no idea of name it would be great if someone could enlighten me. It was at this point, while taking time out for a chat with avid Blog readers, brother & sister John Gifford and Maggie Hayden, that the rain started in earnest accompanied by thunder and lightning so I headed for home. Having more or less settled down for the evening there was a message alerting me to a creature I'd not even heard of let alone seen. Only a couple of miles from home and on the garden gate of fellow 'birder' Neville Fowler we found this

Vagrant Emperor, as the name suggests, a 'rare migrant' from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East. It is a well known long-distance migrant, is at home in desert conditions and may occasionally appear even in winter.

A great bonus to conclude another good day.