Having attended and  spoken morning and afternoon at the Dutch Birding Vogeldag on 11th Feb, I got to spend the next day with top Dutch birders, Nils Van Duivendijk, Diederik Kok and Jeroan de Bruin . The place was under an arctic ice blast. So following early pick-up we headed north to the famous Dutch island of Texel- Holy ground apparently for Dutch birders!  Arriving at the port of Den Helder I was hit by the Smew- quite a few. The guys with me were keen to get on Texel as both Smew and Goosander were potential island ticks. In the end over the next 3 days I saw Smew (and Goosander)- EVERYWHERE. And the boys got their Texel ticks. Some could even be found on the tiniest wee garden pond. A true Smew fest. Fantastic!

You could ‘knock yourself out’ on Smew watching. Early views I thought were great at Den Helder of small flocks

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However over the next couple of days views just got closer and closer.

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Very nice to see this 1st winter male Smew, a plumage I don’t recall seeing in the UK. This bird was on tiny patch of water in front of someone’s house!

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North Wales,  Saturday 3rd March

Saltholme, Teesside,  Wednesday 7th March

Moore N.R./ Richmond Bank, Cheshire, Saturday 17th March

Places very limited (N. Wales already fully booked) £35 per person.  Join me  for a day from 9am to 5 pm. See your confidence and skills in identifying gulls grow and have lots of fun along the way!.

How to Book: Simply send an email to martin.go@virgin.net and let’s get you booked in.

“I couldn’t have hoped for a better introduction to ‘Advanced Gulls’ and I can’t wait to get back out again, armed with a bit more knowledge and, perhaps more importantly, the inspiration to continue discovering…” R. Webb

Maybe we will see one of these?

adult Russian Common Gull (ssp. heinei) Texel, Netherlands, February 2012

Identification of female type Green-winged Teal has been a little pet interest of mine for a while. Have even written about it a few times elsewhere. Here then a nice refresher and update from Slimbridge WWT warden, James Lees, comparing adult females of captive Green-winged Teals and Eurasian Teal, side by side: Can you see all the little, but helpful differences? YES you can identify them in the field!

Great job James, ta very much. All photos copyright James Lees at Slimbridge WWT, Feb 2012

captive adult female Green-winged Teal, Slimbridge WWT, Feb 2012.

Head patterns: Green-winged Teal (left) with Eurasian Teal (right)

Upperwings: Green-winged Teal (above) with Eurasian Teal (below)

Undertail region: Eurasian Teal (left) with Green-winged Teal (right)

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Photographed in Essex, S.E England on 11 Feb. by Steve Arlow. Pretty striking looking but not one I find straightforward to ID. Neither does Steve I think. Have a look, comments welcome:

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very nice photos all copyright Steve Arlow

Just  over a week ago (9th Feb.), had an excellent day out with Marcus Lawson followed by very enjoyable evening with the Kent Ornithological Society. Spent most of the day birding in the Dungeness area, warm welcome from obs warden, David Walker and a wonderful variety of birds seen included plenty of Smew, geese, included Eurasian White-fronts, a locally scarce Pale-bellied Brent, a bunch of Woodcock, a Bittern in flight, couple of Chiffchaff, 3 Bearded Tit and  best, an obliging  Cetti’s Warbler feeding out in the open.

Cetti’s Warbler, Dungeness ARC hide, 9th Feb. 2012

Thanks to Marcus for warm welcome, hospitality, sharp eyes and lots of organising and for the folk I met and chatted with in Maidstone.

…it’s looking good! Martin Collinson has done the first round of analysis. These is more to come but the initial results on DNA analysis of the Kent bird from November 2011 are stated by Martin as:

“We got the first results through today and it is most similar to database DNA sequences from China.  We’re going to do a bit more work but at least we can confirm that genetically it was a bird of the P. o. phoenicuroides subspecies group.”

1st winter male Eastern Black Redstart, Margate, Kent, November 2011 © Mark Rayment.

Within half an hour of leaving Schiphol airport (10th Feb 2012) Arjan and I were looking for the Hume’s Warbler at Katwijk. Apart from a couple of distant calls, a 3 day wait ensued before I got a proper show. With Sander and Nils we had excellent time with the bird, mainly listening to calls while it remained hard to see well in the pine canopy. One of the calls was a lovely somewhat Chiffchaff -like monosyllabic call, only heard a couple of times and new to me. P.S. I also overlooked a block of flats into which a White’s Thrush flew and died (in the 1980′s) as we listened to the Hume’s Warbler (in 2012). Quite a place!

Call One ‘typical’: here

Call Two monosyllabic: here

(n.b. a calling Great Tit tries to drown out the monosyllabic call but you can hear it). More Hume’s Warbler recordings and links.

Hume’s Warbler calls by Sander Bot, Katwijk, 13th Feb. 2012

I managed a couple of rubbish photos, and René kindly sent me some better ones of his.

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I returned again on the 14th  Feb with René van Rossum and Frank for more brief views and calls, and Rene let me use a  couple of his pics (below), taken previously.

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Have a look for this natty wee poster in the Stubber’s Green area, elsewhere in the West Midlands or maybe in your in box. With grateful thanks to Kevin Clements and Walsall Countryside Services.

Poster:  Gull Masterclass

and for a review of recent Gull Masterclasses see here

I have only a couple of places left for folk coming with me. Others can make their own way and it’s already getting an international feel with guys keen to come from UK, Netherlands, Spain, USA and Canada. Still time to book and come on the adventure of a lifetime.