Albatross's from Kaikoura

Photo: Salvin's albatross.

Today's whale watching trip was really only about seeing sperm whale but inevitably I picked up  a few decent seabirds, most pleasing of which were this stunning Salvin's albatross and a few southern royal albatross. This brings my albatross life list to ten species.

Whale watching Kaikoura

Photo: male Sperm whale diving

Whale watching in Kaikoura today and what a fabulous day, we saw a single sperm whale and many dusky dolphins, both of which were new for me. Also today two new species of albatross and a few other decent sea birds.

Black-billed Gulls in quake city

New Zealand sits on the Pacific Ocean's Ring of Fire and as such is hit by frequent earthquakes, with several in the past decade including the devastating 2011 quake which killed 185 people in Christchurch and demolished many buildings and severely damaged the city's cathedral. Earthquakes are a way of life and a constant threat and to the visitor the the city appears to be in a permanent state of being rebuilt.

Also damaged in the 2011 quake was a 17-storey office building in Armagh Road owned by PwC. Following the quake the building was demolished and cleared so that all that remains now is a hole in the ground which was the buildings basement as well as concrete foundations and metal reinforcing.

It's a bit of an eyesore to be honest, but amazingly in amongst the rubble and twisted steel the worlds most endangered gull has made itself at home in the Central Business District of New Zealand's second most populous city.

New Zealand Scaup

This New Zealand scaup was incredibly tame today in Christchurch Botanic Gardens. Earlier in the day I'd seen about 100 adults, many with very young chicks at pools adjacent to the Heathcoate River mouth. This was a new bird for me today.

A stop over in Singapore

On our way to New Zealand and Australia, we decided to stop off for three days in Singapore. It's absolutely not a birding stop but inevitably I was bound to pick up a few new species having never been to south-east Asia before. One of the commonest was this beautiful black-naped oriole and in total I managed 20 new species in Singapore. Most spectacularly I managed to find an unprecedented flock of 12 Himalayan Vultures themalling over the CPD, whilst most pleasing for me was getting a good look at blue-crowned hanging-parrots.

Himalayan Vultures, Singapore!

During a visit to Singapore CPD today I spotted 12 large birds thermaling overhead. Turns out they were Himalayan vultures which aren't even annual in Singapore, and although there have been 3 or 4 seen recently, 12 is unprecedented numbers. I reported the sighting on the Singapore birders Facebook group and since then there have been other sightings of the flock elsewhere in the country. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me and had to be content with these phone camera shots (not through the telescope!). Also today, blue-crowned hanging parrots, bright green, about the size of a sparrow, they habitually hang upside down and even sleep that way. My new favourite bird!

Singapore

Red junglefowl, one of several seen in Singapore Botanic Gardens. This is a species which occurs naturally in this part of south-east Asia but in Singapore some populations are under threat from hybridisation with domestic fowl. This bird looks pretty good to me but it's hard to know how pure it really is.

More to follow from Singapore soon...

My top 10 UK birding experiences of the decade

Over the past 10 years I've seen 378 species in the UK and 313 species in the north-west. I added 58 species to my UK list during the decade leaving me currently on 432 for the UK and 369 for the north-west. However it's not just the birds, it's the experiences which I love with good friends in often fabulous locations. Here is my top 11 from the decade.

1. American black tern Eccleston Mere, St Helens, August 2012.

Photo: American Black Tern © Steve Young.

My best ever self found rarity, at the time it was about the fifth for the UK and the next one didn't appear until September 2018 in Kent. On the day I found it, I'd actually gone to the mere in the hope of finding a black tern and when I saw this bird. I took a few photos but it wasn't until I returned home and looked at the photos that I noticed the grey flanks which identifies it as American black.

The bird commuted between the mere and Prescot Reservoirs for a about five days, with a day spent at Pennington Flash in the middle of its stay. It was a very exciting time for me at the mere, a place which at the time I regularly visited 3 or 4 times a week and had done so for 15 years and most of the time just seeing coots and mallard.

Siberian / Stejneger's Stonechat, Ashton's Flash

At the second attempt I caught up with the Siberian / Stejneger's stonechat at Ashton's Flash today. A great north-west record, it was always distant, at least 100m, and the light was very poor today so I'm happy to get any photos. It was a decent view through the scope though. DNA is going to be pretty much impossible to obtain from this bird I would think so chances are it will never be conclusively identified.

Purple Heron, Eagland Hill

Time was when I classed purple heron as my bogey bird in the UK, I just couldn't see one, in fact I'd been birding 40 years before I managed to connect with the species on home soil. However since then I've not done too bad, and todays bird at Eagland Hill on the Fylde was my 4th in five years.

What on earth it's doing at Eagland Hill surrounded by the arable fields of the North Lancashire mosslands is a real mystery. I mean yes there are a few reedy ditches in the area, but not really that many to hold a species which is usually much more associated with reedbeds than grey heron. In fact this bird, which is a juvenile, spends as much time in a field of tall rank vegetation as it does in the nearby ditches.

Chocolat Suchard menu card

Yesterday I bought a 2nd hand book enititled "The Alpine Flora" written by Henri Correvon, illustrated by Phillipe Robert and published in 1911. The original book was written in French and this is an English translation. There are two names with dates in the book, Edith Nelson May 1935 and another which I can't quite make out but which looks like Judith Madeley, Campfer 1922. Henri Correvon was a Swiss botanist and there is a place in Switzerland called Champfer so perhaps there is a connection there. Of particular interest to me though, inside the book there is a Chocolat Suchard menu card with a hand written menu and a painting of a species of yellow foxglove labelled D. Ambigua. The label has been underlined and a question mark handwritten at the end. There is a note at the bottom of the card which says something like "In Correvon's Alpine Flora D. Ambigua & D. Lutea are pictured together and D. Lutea is much more like this of the two." This is signed and dated 24/6/1923. I can't read French but the menu appears to mention starters and prawns 🙂.