Trip reports
Fieldtrip - Holy Island 10th October 2009
Yellow browed warbler - image found in internet - sadly not one of our photos.
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
When I wrote the report for this trip 2 years ago, it was a day of rarities and twitchers running across the island in answer to pager messages. This year, apart from a couple of Yellow-browed Warblers, there were no rarities and twitchers were thin on the ground. The main reason for this was the quiet weather- no easterly winds to blow in the migrants. To quote Brian again, the island felt 'atmospheric'.
Nothing creates atmosphere more than sounds. One of the wildest, most atmospheric sounds I've heard came, not from a bird, but from the grey seals gathering in large numbers to give birth and then to breed. Presumably, the howling, that I first mistook for a dog, is produced by the territorial bulls. Play me a recording of the wailing of the seals and the pounding of the sea and in my mind I'm back on Holy Island. Of course, birds would complete the soundtrack. We were never far from the calls of Oystercatcher, Redshank or Curlew as we walked round Holy Island.
As well as birdwatchers, we should also be bird LISTENERS. We're often alerted to the presence of a bird by its call or song. As soon as I got off the coach my attention was drawn to the high-pitched 'seeps' of Redwings and Song Thrushes flying overhead. Apparently, you can hear Redwings migrating at night even over cities. Later on, I recognised a late snatch of Skylark song. Otherwise, I would not even have noticed the two birds high in the sky.
Sometimes, knowing the call of a common bird can free you from having to search for them. If you know the bird in the middle of the bush is a Robin or a Wren, you might not bother waiting around for it to show itself. What you're waiting for is a bird noise that you don't recognise. You follow the bird from bush to bush, always just missing it, cursing yourself for not focussing your binoculars quickly enough when it does show. Eventually, you get on it. Yes! After all that, it's probably a Great Tit. They seem to have more calls than it's possible to learn in a lifetime. Remind yourself that birding is a relaxing pastime and allow the quiet atmosphere to wash over you.
Other species it was easy to identify from their calls before even seeing them included Little Grebe, Pied Wagtail and Moorhen. Obviously, it was not possible to hear the birds out at sea such as Red-throated Divers (at least one still with a red throat) and Gannets. However, it was tempting when watching the plunge-diving to provide one's own sound effects- splosh! Even birds closer in were not producing their distinctive calls. Pink-footed and Brent Geese at Budle Bay didn't honk, the Stonechats did not do their impression of one stone striking another, Teal and Wigeon were whistleless. It was a quiet day.
There is one species which is always vocal. On the return journey, the coach was alive with chatter as the day's experiences were relived and notes compared. That is until the coach quietened to hear Brian compile a record list of 85 species.
Phil Jordan
Bird List
Red Throated Diver
Black Necked Grebe
Little Grebe
Great Crested Grebe
Gannet
Cormorant
Shag
Grey Heron
Mute Swan
Greylag Geese
Pink-footed Geese
Brent Geese (Pale bellied)
Shelduck
Mallard
Pintail
Shoveller
Wigeon
Teal
Gadwall
Scaup
Tufted Duck
Eider Duck
Velvet Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Common Buzzard
Sparrowhawk
Kestrel
Pheasant
Moorhen
Coot
Oystercatcher
Ringed Plover
Grey Plover
Golden Plover
Lapwing
Dunlin
Redshank
Turnstone
Bar-tailed Godwit
Black-tailed Godwit
Curlew
Snipe
Black Headed Gull
Common Gull
Herring Gull
Greater Black Backed Gull
Lesser Black Backed Gull
Kittiwake
Guillemot
Razorbill
Feral Pigeon
Wood Pigeon
Collared Dove
Short Eared Owl
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Skylark
Swallow
House Martin
Rock Pipit
Meadow Pipit
Pied Wagtail
Wren
Dunnock
Robin
Stonechat
Song Thrush
Redwing
Mistle Thrush
Blackbird
Blackcap
Yellow-browed Warbler
Goldcrest
Blue Tit (H)
Magpie
Jackdaw
Rook
Carrion Crow
Starling
House Sparrow
Chaffinch
Brambling
Linnet
Goldfinch
Greenfinch
Reed Bunting 85 Species
Grey Seal
Red Admiral Butterfly