Record Shot Mentality

In recent years a camera has become almost as indispensable a piece of birding kit as my bins. The difference that a modest superzoom can make to the level of pleasure I get from a typical short session in the field is out of all proportion to any inconvenience connected with lugging it about. Even so, some may wonder if having a photographic record of birds you see is that big a deal. For me it is, yes. Why? My bird (and other nat. hist.) pics serve a number of purposes. Blog illustration for one. ID confirmation sometimes. So, a couple of practical reasons right there. Also, the immense pleasure to be derived from browsing through your old birdy pics on a rainy afternoon like this one is only possible if you have some.

Very few of my bird photos look like this...

Spotted Flycatcher photographed at Cogden on 14th September.

Generally I do not get frame fillers like the above. That's okay by me because mostly I much prefer a nice context shot, with the bird a relatively small part of the image. Though sometimes I do take it to extremes...

Two Ringed Plovers (bottom left) on Cogden Beach. In the background top right is the wooden chalet at Eype Mouth that featured as the murder location in Broadchurch series one. It is well over 4 miles away.

That was Monday morning. Birds as follows: 6 Chiffs, 1 Blackcap, 4 Wheatears, 1 Whinchat, 12 Teal W, and the 2 Ringed Plovers. Hardly bursting with activity. Which is probably why I took this photo...

Very much a record shot: Whinchat.

One other function of the camera came into play that morning: scope substitute. Way up the beach was a small group of gulls and Cormorants. Through bins a couple of the gulls had that white-headed look of a young Casp - though I was 99% sure they were Great Black-backs, and they were - but was that a Goosander sitting on the beach too? Surely not?! No, it wasn't. But I took a photo anyway, so that I could peruse it at leisure...

A hefty crop tells me all I wanted to know. Though I hadn't noticed the Herring Gull wrestling with an eel bottom right, and binoculars would never have bagged that sinensis 'Continental' Cormorant (arrowed). Value!

Yesterday afternoon I had a short walk at Cogden after work. Mainly I stuck to an area that doesn't get looked at much. Apart from a constant stream of hirundines passing west, absolutely nothing of note. So instead of birds, a couple of scenic shots...

Taken from almost the top northwest corner of Cogden, looking east. The Burton Mere reedbed just behind the beach top left. Houses at West Bexington in the distance. Shows the Cogden habitat well. Not all of it is accessible though.

Same viewpoint, looking directly along the coast. Burton Mere reedbed and fat end of Portland top right; trees surrounding Othona property on the coast road top left. A ton of very desirable habitat.

The first time I've tried the 'panorama' function on the camera. Not sure whether it was worth the bother though. Trees far right are just outside the western boundary of Cogden recording area.

This morning I had time for a quick, mid-morning visit to Cogden. Within 15 minutes I'd bagged 4 Yellow Wagtails, a Redstart and a Firecrest. The Yellow Wags were the first I've seen this autumn. The Redstart was also my first this autumn, as well as the first autumn bird anywhere in the West Bex/Cogden recording area apart from a random late-July male. The Firecrest was my second. In short, I thought I had jammed in on a fall of some kind, and was about to fill my boots. Wrong. Apart from a few Chiffs and Blackcaps, and a lone Wheatear, that was it. Record shots as follows...

Yellow Wagtail. As record shots go, this is quite a good one...

...while this one is very much worthy of the name. Blurry Redstart. I never saw it again.

Finally, the Firecrest. On occasion my photography skills desert me entirely, and I end up getting an utterly hopeless image. But even then it is sometimes possible to rescue the situation and extract the delightfully awful record shot that posterity requires...

How it started. Firecrest, as it looked straight off the camera.

How it ended up.

Sun & Rain

Not all coast is equal. Certainly it is a blessing to have a beautiful stretch of the West Dorset coast at my disposal, but it is no good expecting it to produce even a fraction of the birds making landfall in, say, Yorkshire right now. True enough, reading about the Red-breasted Flycatchers, Barred Warblers and hatfuls of Yellow-browed currently entertaining East Coast birders is motivating, but 20+ years of experience here has ensured I remain a realist. In that time I have seen one each of the first two species, and just a handful of the third. Of course, that doesn't stop me trying.

Yesterday afternoon was gorgeous. Sunny, warm, a moderate SE breeze. Around 3pm I arrived at Cogden, intending to work as much of the sheltered hedge lines as I reasonably could. Three hours later the tally was 28 Chiffs, 3 Blackcaps, 1 Whitethroat, 1 Skylark, 3 Clouded Yellows, 4 Painted Ladies and a Small Tortoiseshell.

Chiffchaff in a sunny, autumnal hedge.

Chiffchaff again.

The habitat looks awesome, and just walking though it is a pleasure...

Heading east. Lots of butterflies in the flower-rich meadows.

Enjoyable though it was, apart from that modest count of Chiffs there wasn't a lot to show for three hours. However, the weather was forecast to deteriorate overnight, with heavy rain moving in from the south. Might that result in a few birds dropping in?

Frankly the rain first thing was a bit too uncompromising for my taste, so I waited for it to ease a little and arrived around 08:00. One very soggy walk later the tally was 42 Chiffs, 8 Blackcaps, 6 Whitethroats, and singles of Lesser Whitethroat and Reed Warbler. And on the beach were 12 Wheatears and 5 Ringed Plovers. So, though numbers were up a bit, on the passerine front it was more or less a case of 'as you were'. No cherry.

And then, working my way up the final hedge I spied a small bird flying along it towards me. In flight I could see it was a Firecrest, which then proceeded to plonk down right in front of me. Yay!

Uncropped, shortly after arrival. Spot the Firecrest.

At this point the rain was merely spitting, so I spent some time trying to get a photo...

I am a big fan of Firecrests anyway, but even more so when they are as obliging as this one. Funny, isn't it? Just that one tiny bird elevated the morning's birding to another level.

Well worth getting soaked for.

Breakfast & Lunch

Breakfast birding is mostly what I do currently, quite often from first light. The sense of anticipation is electric sometimes, knowing that I will be the first that day to explore some prime bits of West Dorset coastal habitat. Off I stride, full of hope: what exciting birds have dropped in overnight?

Sadly, all too often these days the answer is 'absolutely none'. Certainly that was the case yesterday and today.

Still, there is always lunchtime.

It is ages since I've felt much like lunch-break birding. It used to be a regular thing - in the winter months especially - and I could often be found beside the Axe Estuary at lunchtime, checking out any gulls on offer. Yesterday I felt those old urges again, so pulled up by Coronation Corner for a sarnie session. The Axe Ospreys appear to have moved on now, so instead of acres of freshly-flushed, gull-free mud, there was actually a decent gathering, with new birds dropping in all the time. I had spotted a 1cy Med Gull even before peeling the lid off my yoghurt, but the growing number of big gulls eventually made me get out and look properly. Very quickly there was joy...

That's a 1cy Yellow-legged Gull peering over its shoulder at us. Magnifique!

Only my second YLG of the autumn, and a cracker too. Unfortunately, while it was relatively close to me it spent the whole time washing and preening, then immediately flew a lot further away and landed on the mud about mid-way between Coronation Corner and the Tower Hide across the river. Rather than post a whole load of skanky washing/preening shots I thought it might be more helpful to annotate them first, so I can at least pass them off as vaguely 'instructional'...

The final shot in the sequence is where the bird ended up staying for the remainder of my lunch break. I could see that the Tower Hide was busy (Osprey hopefuls?) so did post precise directions on the local WhatsApp in case there were any group members in the hide. If so, hopefully they realised that any 'left' or 'right' was from their perspective, and that 'lump of stump or something' wasn't too ambiguous. I would like to think someone else managed to see this handsome beast...

1cy Yellow-legged Gull. Lo-o-o-o-ovely.

The Med Gull wasn't bad either...

1cy Med Gull on the left.

Breakfast birding as follows...

Yesterday. Cogden: 5 Chiffs, 1 Blackcap, 2 Wheatears, 1 Ringed Plover, and 4 Common Scoter W. In the strong - and oddly warm - north-easterly an impressive movement of hirundines got underway at first light. Thousands and thousands - a mix of Swallows and House Martins with the odd Sand Martin - coasting E across a very broad front, with birds coming in off the sea as well as along the coastal ridge. By around 08:00 it was basically over, with just a dribble after that. Quite a spectacle.

Beach Wheatear. Passerine migrants on the deck/in the bushes were at a premium.

Today. Cogden: similar conditions. If anything the wind was possibly stronger than yesterday, and hirundines were on the move again. I arrived later though, and numbers were certainly lower. I did spend ten minutes in one spot on the beach, picking through the steady flow of birds in optimistic hope of a Red-rumped Swallow. You've got to try.

6 Chiffs, 1 Blackcap, 1 Willow Warbler and 10 Wheatears (an arrival!) was as good as it got on the passerine migrant front. A flock of 3 Turnstones and 2 Ringed Plovers E was nice, also 9 Teal likewise. Other highlights included 4 Cirl Buntings and, on the sheltered upper slopes mainly, a lot of butterflies. In view of the terrible 2024 Big Butterfly Count figures recently published by Butterfly Conservation, I was very happily conscious of their presence today...

Painted Lady on the beach.

Painted Lady, silly context shot.

Cormorant giving its gular pouch some serious exercise.

Comma on the sheltered upper slopes of Cogden.

And why it's called a Comma.

Spot the Cirl. They don't always perch up conveniently.

Spot the Cirl, trickier version.

Small Tortoiseshell in the garden when I got home. It would be pretty awful if this beautiful insect became an unusual sight.

All I can say is: thank goodness for gulls. In the last week or two they have provided a lot more in the way of jollies than the 'regular' (ha-ha!) autumn migrants that ought to be filling that role. Ah well, there is time yet I guess...

Autumn Glory

Current birdy talk is all about Scandinavian Highs and really easterly easterlies, and exactly when we might expect them to deliver the goods. My outlook is too coloured by countless damp squibs to get excited about it, but if there are indeed goods to be delivered, I want some. And if I get some, well, I'd better clear the NQS material backlog in order to make room...

Saturday morning was my third Seaton Birdwatching Tram of the autumn. Kick-off was at 08:30, so I headed to Black Hole Marsh first thing to see if there was anything I needed to know about for later...

Juv Ringed Plover. Only 07:20, but almost frame-filling views plus momentarily stationary subject meant the P950 could do a pretty decent job. The Island Hide is great for wader pics, and was empty at that time.

Juv Dunlin ditto.

This lone and slightly demented Cattle Egret dropped in at 07:27.

Arty shot. Five Cattle Egrets S over Black Hole Marsh as I was leaving at 08:00. For me the species has not quite lost that novelty feel. But then I don't live near the Somerset Levels!

The Birdwatching Tram was brilliant. Among 54 species seen or heard were Osprey, Cattle Egret, Kingfisher, Water Rail and Bar-tailed Godwit, plus a host of back-ups. We saw two Ospreys, one of which repeatedly failed to catch a fish despite several attempts. This meant it was on view for a lengthy period. Not great for the Osprey, but excellent for a tram-full of birdwatchers.

I got lots of tenth-rate, back-lit photos...

A juv Osprey, but missing a primary from its right wing. As I type, I believe this bird is currently on the Otter at Budleigh Salterton, several miles to the west.

One of the Ospreys had a favoured perch some way north of our location, towards the coast road...

Axe Osprey giving us the eye. To give perspective to this shot, the car is almost 400m beyond the bird!

In the afternoon I gave Cogden a bash. The migrant tally as follows: 12 Chiffs, 4 Blackcaps, 2 Wheatears, 2 Spotted Flycatchers, a Whinchat and a Whitethroat. The highlight was my first Merlin of the year. It zipped by at waist height and point-blank range, before curling over the coastal ridge and away. For a change, this Merlin was in view long enough for me to get a photo-opp. It is small, unsharp, and its pixels are few, but I am pretty certain this is the first flight shot of a Merlin that I've ever managed, so the blog is getting it...

Juv Merlin over the coastal ridge at Cogden.

Sunday morning, Cogden again: 11 Chiffs, 2 Wheatears (the same two, almost certainly) and a Whitethroat. The morning's surprise was a Sedge Warbler at the back of the beach, amazingly my first of the autumn. But that's what happens if you don't go birding in August.

The relative direness on the passerine front got me on the beach again. Very few gulls, and zero interest there, but 32 Cormorants (30W plus 2 on the beach) was nice. Honestly. Especially seeing as I was blessed with the happy occurence of side-by-side sinensis and carbo on the shingle. An excellent photo-opp...

P. c. carbo on the left, P. c. sinensis on the right.

I have wittered on far too often about gular pouch angles and whatnot but, as well as that feature, in these two birds you can see a difference in structure too, with sinensis having an obviously slimmer, lighter build. Having said that, I am pretty sure all Cormorants vary a lot in size and beefiness. Still...

'Continental' Cormorant P. c. sinensis.

P. c. carbo

Apart from my first effort on 6th September, Cogden walks have felt relatively migrant free. A bit depressing really, because what you want at this time of year is the exact opposite. Actually, not just what you want, rather what you expect. So, ever the optimist, another bash before work on Monday...

26 Chiffs, 12 Blackcaps, 8 Whitethroats, 3 Whinchats, a Wheatear and a Spot Fly. Better - and it did feel like there had been a tiny arrival, with several birds along or close to the coast path - but definitely not fireworks. However, by far the most exciting event of the morning involved a breeding species. For me, Cirl Bunting has featured once so far this autumn at Cogden, a single juvenile. On Monday morning I saw seven! Judging by my ropey photos, taken at considerable range, the tally was 2 males, 4 females and a juv. Absolutely fantastic! I shan't saddle this blog with all that ropiness, but here's the juv...

Juv Cirl Bunting looking a bit gormless...

...and less so.

In the latter shot the Cirl is calling. I have taken to carrying my recorder with me on recent outings, in anticipation of overflying Dotterels and the like, with the little external microphone clipped to my shoulder strap. It did a fine job of picking up the Cirl Bunting's call. I of course could hear nothing.

The One-Bird Theory

Two days after the Cogden Caspian Gull, a similarly striking individual was briefly present on Portland Bill. Even though very little of it is visible in the published photo, I got all sorts of déjà vu. Surely this was the Cogden bird? Hopefully the photographer Matt Ames won't mind me using his image...

Making allowances for the woeful lack of resolution in my massively cropped photos, there is enough here to convince me that the Portland Casp is the Cogden bird. (Portland Casp photo by Matt Ames)

The Portland Caspian Gull was sitting down and relaxed, so its feathers were arranged very differently to those of the standing bird at Cogden. To be honest I struggled to find matching feathers among what was on view, but I am fairly confident about a couple at least...

Shame the tertials and greater coverts aren't visible, but I am happy enough that these two feathers are a match. (Portland Casp photo by Matt Ames)

I'm not sure why I am struggling to confidently match any of the scapulars. Is it the poor quality of my photos? The bird's posture? Or maybe the bird has moulted one or two juv scaps in the interim? Or perhaps it really is a different bird?! Re the latter: obviously I don't think so!

Anyway, this isn't the first time I have seen a Caspian Gull that was subsequently (or previously) recorded elsewhere. I can think of at least three others. One of them was initially on Portland in October 2012, then on the Axe Estuary at Seaton in December.

Before I leave gulls, this smart Med Gull was on Cogden Beach this afternoon, and the presence of a ring encouraged me to photograph it...

Note the metal ring on its right leg. Shame there is no colour ring!

All I can make out is 'ARNHEM' and '3.742'

Turns out this was enough detail for Mike Morse to recognise it as a Dutch-ringed bird that he photographed back in August, and previously in July last year. He is still waiting to hear back on the bird's history.

Other recent stuff...

Highlight of an early visit to Cogden on Monday...

Spot the three Sanderlings.

There weren't many gulls on the beach, but one looked vaguely interesting so I got the camera out and zoomed up to 2000mm for a closer look. It was just a Herring Gull, but while peering through the camera I spied three little waders scuttling among the gulls. I hadn't seen them at all with bins! I didn't fancy the shingle that morning, so just took a couple of super-long range photos. Well, at least you can see what they are.

On Tuesday, Mike let me know that a roosting Nightjar he had discovered at Cogden the previous day was still present. It was in a restricted area but Mike kindly arranged access for me, so I popped along after work. I haven't seen a Nightjar in daylight for decades...

Roosting Nightjar doing 'bit of log'.

I arrived at the same time as Adam, the local farmer. The bird was closer to the viewing spot than I expected but seemed very relaxed, and as you can see in the above photo its eye is barely a slit. However, I think it was well aware of our presence. The next photo was taken just after our arrival. The bird's eye is definitely open a touch - there is a little glint there...

Nightjar, possibly not quite as roosty as it looks.

Finally...

Very few migrants at Cogden this afternoon, but at least there was a Whinchat.

A remarkably pale Buzzard, on the road between Seaton and Lyme Regis.