Fuente De, Picos de Europa

Arrived at Fuente De yesterday and staying at the very nice and well positioned Parador de Fuente De. There has been a lot of snow here recently although all the roads are clear. Spent the afternoon around the hotel. 

Firecrest - male

Great views of Firecrest, which were singing, the males orange crest looked like it was almost glowing in the shadow of the trees, fantastic birds! Also saw Crested and Marsh Tits.  

Crested Tit

There were several Black Redstarts in the area. These are the Iberian race P. o. atterimus with black extending on to the nape.

Black Redstart - male

Some nice looking Eurasian Nuthatch, I think this could be the race S.e. cassia, lacking white spotting on the under tail.

Eurasian Nuthatch

This morning before we took the telecabine to the mirador viewpoint I did another circuit around the hotel grounds and found a nice Rock Bunting. I'm expecting to see more of these but the first on a trip is always special.

Rock Bunting - not sure on age and sex, perhaps female?

The telecabine gives access to the higher mountains, there has been a lot of snow recently and the upper area was covered with deep snow 

Fuente De- top of telecabine

We quickly found some Chamois and saw about 12 in total, none very close but appearing less wary than their Alpine counterparts with which I'm quite familiar but these Pyrenean Chamois were new to me.

Pyrenean Chamois

We struggled to find any passerines so Alpine Accentor and Snow Finch will have to wait! Plenty of Alpine Chough in the area and some distant Griffon Vultures.

Moving south tomorrow.

Santander Ferry 15th & 16th March

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the Santander Ferry, both in terms of the weather (the sea could be very rough at this time of year) or the wildlife (this isn't the peak time for sea mammals or bird migration.
However, the trip was a great success and full marks to Brittany Ferries, the level of service was fantastic and both Pam and I really enjoyed the journey. The weather was very kind with sunshine on the first day with cloud on the second but with an almost flat calm sea. 
The bird list is quite interesting with very few migrant seabirds but a decent count of migrant passerines.

Gannet - landing

Gannet was the commonest seabird with Guillemot a close second with about 100 of the former and 60 of the latter. I also saw singles of Fulmar, Kittiwake and Mediterranean Gull plus 4 Great Skuas.

Great Skua

The first passerine was a White Wagtail but as we neared the French coast a Skylark appeared and circled the ship for some time.

Skylark

The following morning, there were fewer Gannets and auks but a Song Thrush appeared, closely followed by a Collared Dove and a Chiffchaff and Robin. The Collared Dove was most unexpected where would it be heading in the middle of the Bay of Biscay?

Collared Dove

I had seen perhaps 40 Lesser Black-backed Gulls on the first day and this was repeated on the the 16th. As we neared Santander Yellow-legged Gulls appeared and a cheeky Chaffinch flew in off the sea and landed on my camper van.

Chaffinch - female

Cetaceans were disappointing I saw nothing on the first day and just 4 of what I took to be Bottle-nosed Dolphins on the second day. Although a school of about 15 briefly appeared at the bow but I missed them. I sea watched for about 10 hours over the two days and despite the low sea bird count thoroughly enjoyed myself.
Now on to the Picos De Europa!

Wild Europe - a journey from the Mediterranean to the Arctic

Since I was in my early teens and first read Peterson & Fisher's Wild America, the record of a 30,000-mile journey in the 1950's around the North American continent by an American naturalist most widely known for his illustrations and ground breaking field guides and his British colleague who was also a renowned author and broadcaster, I have dreamt of doing something similar on this side of the Atlantic. With family and work commitments it's not easy to find the time and it's a somewhat selfish idea but the possibility of travelling North with the Spring for several months stayed with me over the ensuing years. 
Continuing my bird watching on family orientated holidays, usual picked with some particular birds or habitat in mind, I read and reread Wild America and came across Stan Bayliss Smith's Wild Wings to the Northlands another bird watching adventure which documents the tale of two brothers travelling from the Camargue on the Mediterranean to Varanger in the Arctic completed in the late 1960's. This was exactly what I had in mind, the book captures the excitement of finding birds during their northward migration as the two brothers travelled northwards in a Bedford van towing a caravan. The idea of completing a similar journey stayed with me as my children went through their teens in to adulthood. 
I started to consider the route and to make notes on the birding locations along the way. With the extension of Europe since Wild Wings to the Northlands was published I was keen to follow a more eastern route, initially tracking round through Poland and then in to the Baltic states, but there are so many bird species which do not get further North in Europe than Greece and Bulgaria that it seemed a shame to miss out on some of the great birding at places like Lake Kerkini and the Black Sea coast. So I modified my route to accommodate them, who wouldn't! 
I am a keen wildlife photographer so choose sites where I can get close to birds and other wildlife, particularly the larger mammals but also reptiles, dragonflies, butterflies and plants.
I am also fascinated by bird identification and geographical plumage variations and this would be a great way to indulge those interests.  

For maximum flexibility, both for travelling and accommodation and to carry my camera gear, tripod, hide,telescope etc. I decided that a camper van would be the ideal transport for the trip. 
Having got a reasonable idea of where I wanted to go and the form of transport the biggest question is when, that's the year of travel rather than the months of travel as I had decided from early on that this would be a Spring trip - 100 days of Spring, following in the footsteps of both Wild America and Wild Wings to the Northlands. 
The dates on the route above are just an indication of the approximate timing. The beauty of travelling without having to pre-book means I can travel at the pace that suits me, staying longer in areas where there is plenty to see.
Well the year is 2016 and as I publish this introduction there are just seven days until I sail from Plymouth to Santander. 
For the first two weeks in Spain I will be accompanied by my wife, Pam, and I am hoping that she will join me in Norway for the return home. I hope to meet some friends on the way but will inevitably meet other bird watching groups and individuals at the more popular bird watching hot spots.
I am planning to provide updates on the journey both here and on Twitter but will also post some photos on flickr and facebook so watch this space!

A day on the Yorkshire Coast

It's been quiet for birds in Derbyshire the last few weeks so I jumped at Simon Roddis's suggestion of a day on the Yorkshire coast. American Wigeon at Scalby followed by Black-necked Grebes then Med Gulls and finally Surf Scoter at Filey were all on the menu so the day certainly had promise.
It looked like high tide was best for the wigeon, at low tide all the ducks are dispersed over the hundreds of rock pools but at high tide they tend to congregate together and can drift quite close. It meant an early start but we arrived about 08:30 just after the tide had turned and sure enough there were several hundred Wigeon in loose groups dispersed in front of us. It didn't take long to pick out the male American Wigeon, not in the closest group unfortunately, and whilst it occasionally looked like it would drift closer it maintained its distance. Great scope views though and close enough for a decent record shot.

American Wigeon - male with female Wigeon

On to the harbour. Single Razorbill and Guillemot were soon located and it wasn't long before we saw first one then both of the Black-necked Grebes, that have spent the winter there, diving by the harbour entrance. They gave fantastic views before drifting out in to the bay. If Carlsberg did eyes, I'm sure they would do them in red!

Black-necked Grebe

A dozen Turnstone in the harbour with a variety of colour-rings and flags on their legs. Not sure where these are from but I hope to be watching Turnstone on their arctic breeding grounds in a few months time.
Next stop the Holbeck car park on the south side of the town, armed with a bag of bread to entice the gulls closer. There was no real need for the bread. Black-headed Gulls with several Mediterranean were stood right where we parked the car.
I think watching and photographing these gulls at such close quarters was the highlight of the day for both Simon and I. We have both spent many hours watching the gull roosts locally, with occasional success giving distant views of a Med, so to have them in all identifiable ages, first and second year and adult in almost touching distance was fantastic.

Mediterranean Gulls - first winter

Mediterranean Gull - second winter

Mediterranean Gull - adult summer

Two of the adult birds were colour-ringed, Simon established one had been ringed as an adult in Antwerp, Belgium in May 2015 and the dark hooded bird above in Poland in May 2013. 
The bread gave us the chance to watch the birds in flight.

Mediterranean Gull - second winter

Mediterranean Gull - first winter

We knew the Surf Scoter off Filey Brigg was going to be more of a challenge to get good views as it tended to stay several hundred metres off shore in the bay. We soon located it and got surprisingly good views through Simon's telescope but it was well beyond sensible photographic range but the photo gives some idea of the 'jizz' and plumage of this second year male.

Surf Scoter - second year male

The brigg was otherwise quiet with just 8 Purple Sandpiper and a couple of Rock Pipits of note. 
It was early afternoon so we decided to call in at Bempton before heading for home. Plenty of auks on the sea and Gannet and Fulmar on the cliffs but no Kittiwake yet and we didn't see Puffin. Whilst there we heard that a Richard's Pipit had been seen again at Thornwick Bay which is only a couple of miles further on.
Fortunately Brett Richards was watching the bird when we arrived or it could have taken some finding, but it was the only passerine in the first field after the buildings on the coastal footpath. It was on the far side of the field and I didn't bother trying a photo but just as we were leaving I thought I might try a record shot and that's what I got. Still a great way to finish a fantastic day on the Yorkshire coast.

Richard's Pipit

A weekend in Holland for Siberian Rubythroat

There are few birds that capture the imagination more than Siberian Rubythroat so news of a second calendar year male in the Netherlands on 15th January giving fantastic views was greeted with excitement well beyond the Dutch Border.
Superb photos were regularly posted on both Dutch Birding and Waarneming web sites as well as on Birdguides and RBA. I'm planning a long birding trip for the whole of the Spring departing in March so put thoughts of the Rubythroat to the back of my mind until I received a call from good friends Richard Hart and Angus Molyneux asking if I was interested in a weekend away.
The offer was too good to turn down so we booked a cheap day/overnight return on the Tunnel for £53 and caught the first train on Saturday morning, 30th January. The latest return we could get was 11:30 Sunday which wasn't going to allow much birding that day but we went on the basis that we could always book a second ticket later for the return if necessary.
We drove straight up to Hoogwoud, north of Amsterdam arriving just before dawn and torrential rain. We used the GPS coordinated provided by Dutch Birding for the sports hall car park and all the GPS coordinated provided for both rare and scarce birds on the Waarneming.nl site which was fantastic both for planning the trip and keeping up to date whilst in Holland.
The rain finally eased and we set of around the small housing estate in search of the area favoured by the bird. There were very few birders in the area which wasn't that surprising given the weather but we soon found the spot, a narrow footpath about 3m wide between the houses, liberally scattered with meal worms. We saw the bird in the vegetation after a few minutes and it wasn't long before it popped out to take a worm before disappearing again in to the foliage. This was repeated every 5 or 10 minutes for the next couple of hours. We were first there so took the prime spots for photography at either end of the narrow footpath. The local birders in addition to providing the meal worms had placed one or two branches on the footpath as slightly more attractive perches although I never saw it use these but it was possible to get nice photos on the edge of the path. We had occasional rain showers and the light was very poor but these were minor complaints. A steady stream of mainly dutch birders came and went whilst we were there so there was plenty of opportunity to get local information although the Waarneming site is sufficient.

Siberian Rubythroat - second calendar year male

The footpath in Hoogwoud frequented by the Rubythroat - it tends to appear by the sticks on the RHS

We left the Rubythroat in search of a male Lesser Scaup at Den Oever, 20 minute drive to the north. Having stopped for half a dozen pairs of Smew on the way we marvelled at the huge raft of several thousand Scaup offshore but failing to locate the Lesser moved on to look at the geese a few minutes away around Stroe and Oosterland. We found several parties of Dark-bellied Brents with a dozen Pale-bellied dotted around plus Barnacles and Greylags but couldn't find the 3 Red-breasted that were frequenting the area. Checking the Waarneming site brought news of a male Bufflehead a few minutes away back at Den Oever so we headed back.
The Bufflehead was immediately on show with Tufted Ducks and Great-crested Grebes just offshore and we watched until the sun set around 5pm.

Bufflehead with Tufted Ducks

We had very limited time on Sunday morning and had decided just to try for the female Pine Bunting near Goes a 2.5 hour drive of 255Km to the south.
We picked a decent hotel, the Bastion, in Roosendaal which was about a 45 minute from the Bunting.
It wasn't getting light until about 8:30 which gave us a fairly leisurely start. We were alone on arrival at Wilhelminadorp but Richard flushed the bunting within minutes of leaving the car, it flew from the seaward grassy area over the raised dyke. We crossed back over the dyke and there was an obvious small area of scrub which looked like good habitat and after a few minutes we got frustrating views of it through the vegetation. We had obscured views of it from various angles then as we stood together it hopped up a couple of branches out in to the open where it stood for about a minute before flying off high to the north giving several calls that I couldn't distinguish from Yellowhammer. 

Pine Bunting - second calendar year female

It then started to rain again so we had a brief look at a flock of around 500 Bean Geese on neighbouring fields before setting off for the Tunnel. We had given up on making our 11:30 crossing at the outset but wanted to get there within the 2 hour window which Euro Tunnel allow and after some traffic delays made it at about 1pm and got a crossing back at 3pm. A great trip and one we'll repeat over a longer weekend  in a future winter.
Thanks to Richard and Angus for making the trip great fun and so successful and Richard for all the driving. A big thank you to the Dutch birders for finding these great birds and to all the contributors to Waarneming.nl for making the site so helpful for visiting, and non-dutch speaking, birders.

Five days in the French Alps 15th - 19th November

I've visited the Grand Massif area in the French Alps many times over the years primarily in the winter and summer but have never been in the month of November before. Fortunately the weather was fantastic with blue skies everyday and temperatures rising to 17 centigrade.

Each year I have watched the Bearded Vultures which were reintroduced back in to the area in the early 1990's and which have increased in number as the years have passed. A pair nest in Salvagny which is only about 10Km from the village of Morillon where I base myself. The views at Salvagny tend to be rather distant so I decided to try the Col de la Columbiere. This involves more walking up to the Lac de Peyre but the chances of close views are much higher. I watched at least three individuals from some distance before an adult flew directly over me giving amazing views. 

Bearded Vulture - adult ISO 500 1/1250 f7.1 300 f2.8 +2x III

This is also a good spot for Griffon Vultures which turned up about 10 years ago and have also increased in number. Other than Alpine Choughs sharing my lunch there were no other birds or mammals.

Alpine Chough ISO 500 f6.3 1/1250 300 f2.5 +1.4xIII

Whilst in the area I wanted to try for Chamois and Mouflon in the Roc D'Enfer , my brother had seen both the previous weekend so I made the hike from the Col de l'Encrenaz to the Col Ratti. There were around 20 Chamois on view from the col but no sign of any Mouflon. The Mouflon are also seen on the nearby Pointe d'Uble so probably roam quite a wide area.

Chamois ISO 800 f8 1/250 300 f2.8 + 2xIII

Chamois ISO 800 f5.6 1/500 300 f2.8 +2xIII

 
A Golden Eagle gave brief views but the only other birds were again the Alpine Choughs with a flock of over 100 feeding on rose hips on the upland pasture.
The Dipper is a reasonably common bird of the upland rivers and streams. These birds are of the Central European race aquaticus which has a broad rufous belly which continues to the legs unlike British birds which have a fairly narrow rufous band which shades to black well before the legs.

Dipper Cinclus cinclus aquaticus ISO 800 f5.6 1/500 300 f2.8 +2xIII

Another bird I wanted to photograph was the Crested Tit, I have taken reasonable photos in the past but they have often been spoilt by poor light. Most of the mixed tit flocks comprised of Blue, Great, Coal and Long-tailed Tits with usually one or two Crested and Goldcrests.

Crested Tit ISO 800 1/1000 f5.6 300 f2.8 + 2xIII

In the end I found a group in a reasonably open group of pines at Samoens 1600 and took plenty of photos, hoping that some would catch the sunlight coming through the trees.
Whilst at Samoens 1600 I photographed the Alpine Coughs, again they were feeding on rose hips, and I presume these most form a significant part of their diet at this time of year. 

Alpine Chough ISO 1000 f7.1 1/1000 300 f2.8 +1.4III

Alpine Chough ISO 1000 f5.6 1/640 300 f2.8 +2xIII

Always difficult getting the light right with the all black chough. I think the Nikon cameras have a much better dynamic range than Canon which is an area they need to improve.
I flew Liverpool to Geneva for £30 each way with EasyJet and hired a small car for £18/day.

Atlantic Salmon - Stainforth

Although I have visited Stainforth Force a couple of times previously I have never seen the run of Atlantic Salmon which attempt to negotiate the falls each Autumn.

Atlantic Salmon - male f8 1/640 ISO 2500

The appearance of the falls depends on the water level and this too is critical for the Salmon run. Each Autumn the Salmon, which spend several years maturing in freshwater, before undergoing physiological changes which enable them to spend most of the remainder of their lives at sea, return to the falls. They return annually as adults to the spawning grounds at the headwaters of the River Ribble and the Salmon must negotiate the falls in order to get there. In order to leap the falls there must be enough water flowing downstream to enable the Salmon to negotiate them, too little water and the Salmon cannot get through the rocky areas, too much water and the flow appears to be too great for them to swim against it.

Stainforth falls - bottom section

The peak time for this migration is October/November, the Autumn rains open up access to the higher areas of the river so the Salmon congregate below these obstacles until the conditions are suitable for their onward passage.
Small numbers of Salmon can be seen attempting to leap the falls at any time during this period, and at other times of the year but the mass run of Salmon coincides with the first suitable conditions during the late Autumn. 

I had been watching the weather and was aware that there had been no significant run of Salmon and with heavy rain forecast overnight on 28th October I decided on an early start on the 29th. It was raining when I arrived but I went over to have a look at the falls at around 8am. There was plenty of water coming over the falls but no sign of any Salmon. I walked back and picked up my gear which included an umbrella, which proved very useful, and returned to the falls. I saw the first Salmon around 09:30 and that marked the start of a steady stream of fish attempting to leap the falls, sometimes there were gaps of several minutes between sightings but it continued until about 13:00. The water level had continued to rise during this time and the metre drop at the downstream end of the falls had all but disappeared due to the volume of water going over it. It may be that there was, by then, too much water flowing for the Salmon to negotiate but for the following hour there was perhaps just one or two Salmon attempting to leap the falls which was a shame as it had rained steadily until 11:00 and didn’t start to brighten up until mid-day.

Atlantic Salmon f6.3 1/800 ISO 4000

Atlantic Salmon f6.3 1/800 ISO 4000

Atlantic Salmon f7.1 1/1000 ISO 2500

Atlantic Salmon uncropped 70mm ISO5000 f8 1/800

In all I estimate that I saw 100 - 150 Salmon attempting to leap the falls. Clearly, many of these could be fish making multiple attempts but there was a big variation in both colour and size indicating that many fish were involved. Salmon could also be seen in the water at the base of the falls so there could have been more in the area that did not attempt to negotiate the obstacle. The lower fall is about 15m wide but the majority of the leaping fish were concentrated between 1m and 7m distance.
I’ve mentioned that the fish varied in both size and colour, the smallest fish leaping were about 15-20cm, most looked around 0.5m but some were significantly bigger than this. The colour ranged from almost black to a pale silver but this varied with the angle the fish was viewed at, a small number of fish were bright orangey/red, presumably these are the breeding males?

Comments on photographing Salmon

Unsurprisingly there were several other photographers around for some of the time I was there. I positioned myself in line with the lower fall, this had the advantage that the fish were more likely to be side on but also gave a good contrast in the background with white water below the falls contrasting with the brown colouration of the water on the falls. I found that the fish stood out most against the white background but the image had more impact and colour if the brown water was also in view. 

There were a mix of people taking photos with and without tripods but, like the umbrella, I think a tripod is essential. With a tripod the general set-up was to have the camera with a short focal length lens of around 70 -100mm pre-focused for the main area where the fish were jumping and an aperture of around f8. I used a 70mm focal length which at f8 focused at say 8m would produce sharp images for any fish jumping from about 6m to 13m. Once the camera is set up it’s just a question of pressing the shutter to capture as many images as possible for the second or so that the fish is out of the water.

Without a tripod you had to hold the camera to your eye for as long as possible waiting for a fish to pass through or raise the camera when you saw a fish, but the fish would be gone in most instances before you had the camera to your eye.

A longer focal length would produce a larger image in the frame but the number of fish crossing the narrower field of view would be reduced, on balance I think 100mm is probably about right.

I aimed for a shutter speed of about 1/1000 but because of the poor light this was a compromise with aperture and ISO setting. I started off at an ISO of 5000 and managed to reduce this to ISO 2500 when the light improved but used a shutter speed as low as 1/500 and aperture of f6.3.
General information
I decided to stay overnight, although the weather forecast was poor and it rained heavily all the following morning.

I stayed at the Knight Stainforth Camping & Caravan Park which was excellent and the site is next to the river and waterfall. 

There is parking for about 4 cars on a very narrow road, by an even narrower bride, which is about 100yds from the falls. Alternatively you can park in Stainforth which is about a 1/4 mile walk. 

Stainforth is close to Hawes so this could be a combined trip for the Red Squirrels at Snaizeholme but I didn’t bother due to the poor weather.

Watching these fish battle against the raging river makes you appreciate what fantastic animals they are. Some of the adults may have made this spawning journey several times, returning back to the sea once the eggs are laid - incredible!