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Two weeks at Dungeness, two hours at Rye

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I stayed at Dungeness Bird Observatory (DBO) from October 18th until November 1st. These are the highlights of what proved to be - as usual - a most interesting and enjoyable time. All counts are of birds personally recorded by me. The official observatory day totals will largely be higher. Early easterlies. The weather had looked good for a bit of vagrant action, and if you were in East Yorkshire that was certainly the case - but down at Dungeness it was but a matter of wishful thinking. Dave Bunney tried his hardest and came up with a beautifully bright Yellow-browed Warbler (19th) which we gratefully accepted although I’d be economical with the truth to suggest that it was anything other than winning the third prize in a raffle. That same evening a skein of nine White-fronted Geese flew east. These were just the warm up act for the following day. The 20th dawned overcast and muggy with the brisk easterly wind still in the ascendancy. It turned out to be one of those ‘proper’ observ...
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Half-way point: over and out

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We   are now half-way through Meteorological Autumn and I am at the same point in my foolish Uberpatch challenge. Whereas the results for September were slightly underwhelming, so far October has been undeniably underwhelming - there have been a handful of surprises (see below) but by and large overhead vis-mig and grounded migrants have been hard to come by. We are now past the point when any notable pipit or hirundine movement can be expected and, as expected, neither have shown during October. Finches are still absent apart from a few modest Chaffinch mornings and the thrushes have yet to get going. I just hope that they will do so. Birding took place on 14 out of the 15 days and there now follows a list of the highlights. October 2nd: Malden Rushett A warm, light southerly wind encouraged 133 Meadow Pipit to move south, a Yellow Wagtail to head in the opposite direction and a flock of 5 Mistle Thrush to head east (in what is a decent autumn for them.) The stubble held up to 50...
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Pete Burness

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I first met Pete when I was standing on the banks of the moat that surrounds Dungeness Bird Observatory - it would have been around 1981. I knew that he was one of the 'old time' DBO regulars and up until that point our paths had not crossed. It was like ticking off a new species of bird, as most of his contemporaries had made it onto my 'seen and met' list. We immediately hit it off. What struck me was his great sense of humour which was mostly aimed at himself - self-deprecation had rarely been so expertly showcased! Over the years we would meet up, always at Dungeness, and bird away whilst guffawing at the latest gossip, mishap or balls-up (mostly at our expenses) and reminisce about the places and people that we shared in common. Pete was a modest man. You could be forgiven in believing that he had only just picked up a pair of binoculars such was his modesty, but here was a man who had been birding since his youth in north-west Kent and was part of the pioneering t...
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UMA26 September report

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September has positively flown by. My 'Uberpatch Meteorological Autumn' project (a rather pompous construct to spur me on to cover the local patches throughout September - November) is a third of the way complete. I can say that it has, so far, not totally lived up to expectations. Looking back over the last four weeks has certainly had its moments but these have been heavily outweighed by periods of disappointment. It was always likely to be this way, no dry inland birding patches are going to compete with what the coast - or local sewage farms or reservoirs - will be able to serve up, but the purpose of my efforts are to highlight what is possible across areas that are largely shunned and neglected by the avid birder. There were times when I berated myself for yet again treading this 'path less taken' but then something - invariably something quite modest - delighted me and I was once again fully engaged. I can truthfully say that I have got out of bed each morning wi...
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Fly lines

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I'm now well into week four of the 'Uberpatch Meteorological Autumn' project and will wait until the end of September before going through the highs and lows that have been experienced. I have been doing a lot of sky-watching, or vis-migging if you prefer that description, and this has opened up avenues of pleasure, frustration and bewilderment, especially in trying to understand what weather conditions are best to witness a decent movement and where I'm best to position myself to do so. It isn't straight forward! I have a number of 'go-to' places to practice this dark art and all can produce the goods. In rough order of prominence they are: Denbies Hillside; Colley Hill; Box Hill; Epsom Downs; my Banstead garden; Canons Farm; and Priest Hill. Apart from my garden all have great viewing conditions (open sky, long horizons) although Box and Colley Hill lack decent northward views. This post is a distillation of what I think I know about autumn bird movements...
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Southern Green Shieldbug

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On August 14th this year I found a bright green Shieldbug in the MV moth trap which I was pretty sure was a new species for me - not the common Green (Palomino prasina) but the far more localised Southern Green (Nezara viridula), a species that has been increasing in eastern and southern parts of England since the turn of the millennium. The photograph below illustrates nicely the presence of white dots at the front of the scutellum, an identification pointer for viridula . Then a few days ago an unfamiliar insect landed on my arm as I was making a cup of tea in the kitchen. After quickly potting it up I was able to identify it - with old-fashioned perusal of field guides (albeit on-line) - as a mid-instar Southern Green! I think you might agree that this younger stage knocks its final appearance into a cocked hat.
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In or out?

It is just over a year since I took possession of my hearing aids - obtained because I had lost the ability to hear high-end frequency sounds which includes the calls of Swifts, Redwings, Tree Pipits (all unless they are close) plus most grasshoppers and crickets - and if I want to be completist, also some annoying human-manufactured bleeps and pulses that accompany certain electrical goods (but thankfully not fire or smoke alarms!) I only use them when vis-migging where the ability to hear calls is quite a plus point. However, since using them I am just as mindful to leave them in their cases. Here's why... When I first tried my hearing aids out in the field it was really eye-opening (or should that be ear-opening). I could hear sounds that I didn't know existed. I stood at the top of the garden and marvelled at the bird calls that were audible. I took the ear pieces out and was at once plunged into a muffled semi-silence - yes I could hear a Robin calling and a nearby Great T...
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