Quail.

The last few years have been good for Quail in Cheshire with at least a couple of singing birds being located. This year is no exception and thanks to excellent directions from my mate Pod I arrived at a weed filled field of maize near Farndon after taking the scenic route home from Birmingham. Forty minutes later I was rewarded with not one but two singing Quail! I managed to get a sound recording on the mobile but can't upload sound clips here yet!

Nothing much else to report since the weekend although Groucho's simple I.D guide to rare birds in the NW has a new addition with a nice diagnostic mock up of Terek Sandpiper showing the key identification features.

Frodsham No. 6

Had a search for the Terek again last night - primarily cos I lost a pair of expensive sun glasses there Wednesday! No sign of the Terek but several Whimbrel and a leucistic Redshank and the missing sun glasses!! Result. I was really suprised that there was no one else looking for the Terek. All waiting on news I suppose.

Anyway, rain stopped play and soaking wet for the second time this week I gave up and set off steaming gently for home and dinner. Not satisifed with getting piss wet through once in a day I decided to check out the Wood Sandpiper at Frodsham No. 6. Luckily it was viewable from the back of the Landrover & I didn't even have to get out!

As well as the Wood Sandpiper there were a selection of other waders including Black-tailed Godwit, Redshank, 2 Common Sandpipers and a small flock of Dunlin. Watching a Heron struggle with a large Eel provided the comedy moment as the bird struggled to subdue its slimy prey and eventually dropped it in disgust.

Not a good night for photography or driving - especially as the motorways seem full of numpties who haven't got a clue about lane discipline and force people to undertake as they're intent on hogging the middle lane( gripping the steering wheel and looking like frightened rabbits). Half our motorway congestion problems could be sorted out by giving lane hoggers a spot fine and 3 points.

The crystal ball works!

No sooner had I posted about return wader passage throwing up something interesting then a Terek Sandpiper gets found on the Dee off Banks Road! Al Conlin, Paul Grennard & me were checking the roosting terns at the West Kirby wader lagoon formerly known as the marine lake (but currently containing no lake), when a call alerted us to the presence of a Terek Sand! Unfortunately it flew off as the tide dropped. I made a half hearted attempt to locate it on the way home but getting soaked in a thunder storm severely dampened my enthusiasm.

A meeting in Belfast found me on the way to Liverpool airport just after 6 am when Mr Conlin rang to say it had been found again! Luckily the meeting finished early and the new Easyjet policy of being able to catch an earlier flight at no extra cost meant I got back into Liverpool airport earlier and after charging through Liverpool city centre made it to the spot around 18.45!
As the tide dropped the Terek headed north with its Redshank cohorts and I eventually caught up with it from the cliff top almost as far north as the Thurstaston visitor centre! A cracking Cheshire & Wirral bird and a county lifer as well!

Interestingly it was reported at West Kirby 'marine lake' around 14.30 which seems a bit strange. Why would it fly away from its preferred feeding grounds on the Dee all the way around the N Wirral cost, drop in in at West Kirby for 10 minutes and then fly all the way back to where it was originally seen at low tide? High tide would seem more likely! There again, birds are always unpredictable!

No photo's of the Terek unfortunately but Mark Payne has excelled himself with this graphic illustration of Royal Tern. Hopefully it'll tern up at West Kirby or Hilbre before long & this photo should serve as a reminder of the clinching identifying feature..............

Shhh. I'm asleep until Autumn.....................

It really is that quiet. Work means I haven't been able to get out and check the N Wirral shore for Storm Petrel in the current N Westerlies and rain has stopped birding after work. Nationally the conspiracy theorists are at it again suggesting photos of Blue-cheeked Beeeater in Devon aren't kosher as its pictured on a type of telegraph wire rarely seen these days....................

Groucho Payne refound the Norfolk Caspian Tern Sunday - a lifer for the Apprentice aka Al Orton. He kindly sent me a phone scoped picture to confirm the I.D and point out it had a humungous red conk unlike Royal Tern that has an equally humungous orange conk. Both shine like beacons and should be visible for miles out to sea...................................................a message to those who saw the Royal fly past the Orme but dudn't see the bill colour!

Return wader passage is well under way and hopefully we'll dig out something interesting in Cheshire over the next few weeks

Back to reality..............

Two weeks after our return from South Africa and it seems an awfully long time ago as we hit the June birding doldrums. The excitement refinding the Royal Tern has faded as the Wirral sea watching crew spent two consecutive weekends searching optimistically, for either the Royal or Seaforth's possible Least Tern, off Hilbre and around the usual hot spots. Nothing. Not even a Med Gull to console us. Hilbre's sole highlight was a very sick loooking 2nd calender year Kittiwake that looked as it if was on its last legs. Even the Common & Sandwich terns were few and far between.

Plenty of activity in the garden though with our Robins rearing a second breed in a new nest above the porch. This meant I could take photo's through the open window as they used a nearby birch tree and the fence as a staging post.

Meanwhile the local pond has proved a safe haven for two more broods of residents.

Highlight of a very quiet birding weekend was a singing male Reed Bunting about 400 m from the house - a local rarity. A flyover Peregrine didn't hang around much and a pair of Ravens caused panic amongst the hirundines at the nearby farm. At least the warm weather has brought an abundance of wild flowers and both Bee Orhids and Spotted Orchids are flowering along the railway embankment.

Stanney Woods is also very quiet with only the regular woodland species present. Warbler numbers have crashed over the years with only the odd pair of Chiffchaff and Blackcap present. Still, a walk in the coolness of the woods is a welcome relief during the heat wave and the smell of the wild honey suckle is certainly an improvement on the aroma experienced every morning in our temporary S African abode!

S Africa. The Karoo.

The final instalment documenting our recent trip to South Africa see's the team heading north onto the gravel roads of the Karoo. The longest gravel highway in South Africa. Over 200 km between the nearest towns and surrounded by arid semi-desert the whole way!

The map we were using in the bird finders guide is wrong so rather than take the risk of getting lost and having nowhere to sleep but in the car we decided to travel as far north as we could in one day and then return to the town of Ceres to find a motel and carry on the next day. A sound plan.

The attraction of the Karoo were the endemic larks and other localised species and although seemingly birdless the area was actually teeming with life if you looked hard enough!

Get a puncture here and your stuffed so we decided that in such an eventuallity we'd change the trye and then head out of the Karoo back onto tarmac roads. The dust was incredible and passing vehicles kicked up a mini sand storm everytiem they passed. The strategy was to stop whenver we saw either interesting birds or good vantage points. Every post seemed to have either a Southern Pale-chanting Goshawk or a Jackal Buzard perched on the top.

Karoo Lark was one of the endemics we wanted to see and after several flight views one obliged right by the side of the road. other larks in the area included Thick-billed and Spike-heeled.

Karoo Lark above, Thick-billed below:

Spike-heeled Lark.

Several small parties of Karoo Korhaan were seen but other species remained elusive until sharp-eyed Mark picked up two Ludwig's Bustards during one of our frequent stops. Our luck continued when the equally sharp-eyed Mr Albatross found us not one, not two but four Birchell's Coursers - another hard bird to catch up with!

Karoo Korhaan

Other good birds found here included Mountain Wheatear, Capped Wheatear, Tractrac Chat, Karoo Chat & Sickle-winged Chat, Chestnut-eared Warbler & Namaqua Warber.

Chestnut-eared Warbler.

Karoo Chat

With time pressing we were determined to find the oddly named Skitterykloof. Funnily enough this name provoked great hilarity although I can't understand why? Once again the directions and road names in our guide let us down and after passing the correct road twice in two days we eventually found it by accident and spent a couple of hours birding this fantastic desert oasis.

This area is supposedly one of the best in South Africa for the Cinnamon-breasted Warbler and the best way to find them is using a tape to call them in. We didn't have a tape and didn't know waht the call sounded like so failed dismally. We did find several new species for the tri plist though includsing Grey-winged Francolin, Long-billed Crombec, Proteas See-eater and Fairy Flycatcher whilst Cape Weaver and Grey-backed Cisticola made up a supporting cast.

Finally we headed out of the Karoo and onto the tarmac roads around Ceres and spent the last few hours of daylight vainly searching for Black Harrier. A bird we failed to see and a good enough reason to return to S Africa in the future. Stopping and scanning at various locations we came across a flock of Cape Sparrows - the final photo opportunity of the trip.

A great trip with great company. What next? Suggestions of Patagonia to watch Killer Whales taking Seals off the beach have been mentioned. Meanwhile its back to more mundane June birding in the UK...................................

Rooeils & Overberg Grasslands.

Rooeils is one of the main sites in the Cape area for Cape Rockjumper! A stunning looking bird and one on my list of 'must see' whilst in S Africa. It didn't disappoint. We were lucky enough to find a family party of 3- 4 birds near the entrance to the track where we parked the car.

This was the only site we also managed to connect with Cape Rock Thrush - a singing male and a much drabber female. Unfortunately we the local Black Eagles weren't playing ball but we caught up with them on the way to the Overberg grasslands.


We wanted to visit the Overberg area to catch up with a few more endemics during our short stay. One of the target birds was Agulhas Lark and we were fortunate to see a single bird. Other good birds in this area included Blue Crane, Thick-billed Lark, Pearl-breasted & Saw-wing Swallow, Red-capped Lark, Karoo Korhaan, Crowned Plover and the first of many Jackal Buzards, Yellow Bishops & Southern Chanting Goshawk.

Another long day but well worth the miles travelled. We were back in our favourite bar in time for Steak, Egg & Chips washed down with a few pints of Guinness before 20.00.