Cape May - Part 2

Thursday 9th May

At 7.30am we joined a guided walk at Belleplain Forest State Park, lead by CMBO guides. More of a travelling convoy than a walk really, stopping off at key spots within the forest for breeding species, although there were also migrants moving through.

Even from the car park we had a cracking male Black-throated Blue Warbler, with American Goldfinch and Ruby-throated Hummingbird also present. The guides said we would be 'birding by ear' and that the use of tapes etc would be frowned on (take note, British birders!). It wasn't long until they had picked out singing males of Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. We also had female Pine Warbler here, which is considered one of the drabber warblers, although US birders are a little spoilt...

At Nummy Lake, within the forest, there was a summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper. Soon the guides were on about getting us on to 'pizza'. Now I know Americans are known for being 'hearty' eaters, but it was only 8am! All soon became clear - 'pizza' was Acadian Flycatcher, a fairly nondescript looking flycatcher; it is nicknamed after its call (which although distinctive sounds nothing like pizza to me!). All perfectly logical then...

After pizza we moved on to another spot, slightly more open, with fields on the opposite side of the road to woodland. Here we had Blue Grey Gnatcatcher, a brick red singing male Summer Tanager, Eastern Kingbird, a few Northern Mockingbird and a pair of Eastern Bluebird.

Summer Tanager

The next spot down had some longer grasses and we had a scope view of an Eastern Meadowlark perched atop a sprinkler. We had a Great Northern Diver over (or Common Loon, if you're American).

We visited some spots around Sunset Bridge/Beaver Dam, which is more swampy and thus a good spot for the likes of Prothonotary & Hooded Warblers and Louisiana Waterthrush. The nearest we came to these three species was a singing Hooded Warbler which refused to show, however we had a cracking pair of Worm-eating Warblers, Red-eyed Vireo and a Wood Thrush.

The guides advised putting in some time at these spots for the target species, which we would surely do...

Next we moved on to a further spot which had a few Prairie Warblers and the walk ended on the star bird of the morning - a stunning male Blue-winged Warbler. An Eastern Phoebe was near the forest office.

Prairie Warbler

Next, the beach at East Point for a little wader watching. Within a small flock there was Least, Semi-P & Spotted Sandpipers, a Greater Yellowlegs, Sanderling, Dunlin, Short-billed Dowitcher and Willet. Also Osprey, Fish Crow, Great White Egret and a party of 12 Bonaparte's Gulls (all first summers) congregated on the beach, making a refreshing change from the ubiquitous laughers. 

Boneys on the beach - image by Richard Powell

Fish Crow - image by Richard Powell

At Heislerville, our next site, there is a huge herony which contains Great White & Snowy Egret, Black-Crowned Night Heron and Double-crested Cormorant. 

Heislerville Herony

 

 Black Skimmers are guaranteed here.

Black Skimmers - exciting you'd think, but asleep 99% of the time

A rare shot of a skimmer awake by Richard Powell

This is also a very good site for wader watching, with huge mixed flocks feeding here on the low tide. Waders included Kildeer, Greater & Lesser Yellowlegs, Willet, Short-billed Dowitcher, Grey Plover, Dunlin and Semi-P Plover.

Also noted Black Duck, a male Orchard Oriole, Osprey and Eastern Kingbird.

At Thompson's Beach a viewing platform offers views over the marsh. Osprey were numerous here and we had a superb adult Bald Eagle, which was seen off by the Ospreys. Up to 5 Clapper Rail were seen.

At the final stop of the day, Jake's Landing, we added Seaside Sparrow, Marsh Wren and Northern Harrier to our list. A further Bald Eagle, this time an immature and Glossy Ibis were also noted.

2 Cattle Egrets were noted that evening, one on the grass outside a local golf club.

Friday 10th May

Overnight there had been south-westerly wind which is what you want here for migrants on the Cape. We joined a group here to find the trees literally dripping with passerines.

From the car park and the beginning of the path, this was pure fantasy birding. The only problem was knowing where to look first! I was watching my first ever Chestnut-Sided Warbler and Black-throated Green when someone called 'Blackburnian' - a stonker of a breeding male Blackburnian Warbler came working through the trees along with Northern Parula, Black-throated Blue Warbler and a few Black and White Warblers. Meanwhile Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager and Rose-breasted Grosbeak were in the treetops. Up popped Vireos - Yellow-throated, Blue-headed & Red-eyed. Ruby-crowned Kinglet also here. All in the space of about 10 minutes. Immense!!

The path to fantasy birding....

The place reminded me of a larger version of Holme NWT, but with far more birds and wider range of habitat. Along the many paths here, the action continued; more warblers - Magnolia, Yellow, Yellow-rumped, Prairie and many Common Yellowthroat. More Chesnut-sided....more Parulas....

A couple of Red-headed Woodpeckers over, a singing male Yellow-breasted Chat, a female American Redstart, 2 Orchard Oriole, Blue Grey Gnatcathcher, Indigo Bunting, Blue Grosbeak, White-throated  & Fields Sparrows, Eastern Wood Peewee and Great Crested Flycatcher were all noted.

With this area so good, it was best not to move too far. Back at the State Park there was a Royal Tern dwarfing the Forsters on the jetty. Around the boardwalks there was another Yellow-breasted Chat, a Veery under some scrub, singing male White-eyed Vireo, 3 Magnolia Warbler, 1 Black & White Warbler, Carolina Wren and 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow.

Black & White Warler

The area was now getting busy with birders ahead of tomorrow's World Series of Birding (a big sponsored bird race type thing) as well as grockles and the passerine action had died down. It had also gotten very hot, so after a short break from the midday sun, we went to look at a couple of beaches on the west side of the cape.

Magnolia Warbler - image by Richard Powell

Norbury's Landing and Reed's Beach as well as others along this stretch are the places to view waders and gulls this time of year as they feed from the eggs of horseshoe crabs. This process was really only in its beginnings, however still provided a spectacle of mainly Laughing Gulls, along with American Herring Gulls and the odd Willet and Turnstone feeding on the eggs. It was also nice and cool here too...

Horseshoe Crab Frenzy

Willet

Laughing Gulls

 At the last stop of the day at Cape May NWR at Kimbles Beach Road where we found a White-crowned Sparrow at the side of the path. This is a scarce to rare spring migrant here so we were chuffed. 

White-crowned Sparrow

 

Cape May - Part 1

Birding abroad is something that has been on my agenda for a few years now. Cape May, New Jersey was one of the places on my wish list, partly due to it being a great place to see Yank Wood Warblers and other migrants, as well as an impressive selection of resident birds.

As Richard Powell recounts on his blog, a seed for this trip was first sown in the Scillonian Club last October, although I don't recall seeing Father Jack at the log. However the decision wasn't made until about March time, when I decided to take my first plunge into proper world birding.

The 7th May was a travelling day with a flight from Manchester to Philly. I'm not that keen a flier, however one of the in-flight movies was The Big Year - just perfect to get into mood for some Yank birding! With Jack Black & co spotting a Prothonotary Warbler in a big fall-out would we be as fortunate?

Enjoyable as the film was, some of the CGI did make me cringe a little and the English birders who said 'only the Americans could turn birding into a competition' clearly have not met some of Britain's premiership twitchers...

On the drive to Cape May there were many world ticks of what would become dirt birds throughout the trip, however it was still all shiny and new to me at this stage. Northern Cardinal, Grey Catbird, American Robin and Red-winged Blackbird were all readily available in the gardens of the motel.

So on to birding proper...

Wednesday 8th May

We started off at Cape May Point State Park, which is on the point. There are a few sites on the point which basically form a massive migrant trap. You never know what you might get, but as with Spurn etc in the UK, the volumes and variety of birds is dependent on wind conditions. There were no big falls at this stage, but migrants were trickling through. American birders were moaning about the conditions, but there was still plenty to keep us newbies entertained.

The State Park itself has a series of boardwalked paths, reedbeds, marsh, lagoons and wooded areas, as well as cordoned off areas of the beach for nesting Piping Plover, Least Tern and American Oystercatcher.

There are purpose built Purple Martin nest boxes in the car park and Chimney Swift and American Barn Swallow were also present.

Purple Martin

A walk around the boardwalk provided the first warblers of the trip; 4 Yellow-rumped Warbler, 3 Yellow Warbler, 4 Common Yellowthroat and 2 Palm Warblers. We also noted a singing Blue Grosbeak, 2 Blue-headed Vireo, Eastern Wood Peewee, Downy Woodpecker, 2 House Wren, Blue Jay, a female Eastern Wood Towhee, Tree Swallow, Northern Mockingbird, Tufted Titmouse and a few White-throated Sparrows.

 

Tree Swallow

Tree Swallow - image by Richard Powell

On the marshes we noted Great White Egret and a Wilson's Snipe with 2 Glossy Ibis flying over. The lagoons and the beach held a few Kildeer and Piping Plover, a Greater Yellowlegs, a single Cliff Swallow, 2 Northern Rough-winged Swallow, 1 Savanna Sparrow and Eastern Kingbird. A single Common Tern was in with the Forsters flock.

Kildeer - easy peasy!

We later visited The Cape May Migratory Bird Refuge; AKA 'The Meadows'. This is like the American version of Titchwell, but thankfully with far less people. 

 

The Meadows - The Cape's answer to Titchwell

From an elevated viewing platform you could view the marshes. It's a good place for looking for herons and we had 2 Tricoloured Herons, 1 Green Heron, along with both Great White and Snowy Egrets, which are both common throughout he area.

Tricoloured Heron - image by Richard Powell

 

 Both Turkey Vulture and Black vulture were readily seen here, the former the commoner of the two species by far. Also Osprey, Savanna Sparrow, Willet, Green-winged Teal and (a more familiar sight) a pair of Gadwall.

A Western Grebe had recently been in the area, a Cape May mega - only the third county record. We weren't really expecting to see it, with the last report on the 5th. However as we were near the site, at Alexandra Avenue we had a glance at the sea. Incredibly, theWestern Grebe soon came swimming past us, quite close in!! Really a very rare bird to see over this side of the States.

Western Grebe - Image by Richard Powell

 Also here were 44 Black Scoter and a large flock of Double-crested Cormorant.

We had packed a lot into our first day and our final stop of the day was Nummy Island. This consists of a series of roadside stop-offs for viewing extensie saltmarsh. Here we added Boat-tailed Grackle, Song Sparrow, Semi-palmated Plover, Least Sandpiper,  Black Duck, Pale-bellied Brent Geese (or 'brants' as they are known stateside), 3 Hudsonian Whimbrel, Grey Plover (or 'Black-bellied Plover' if you prefer), Dunlin, Knot and a Clapper Rail.  

Nummy Island

Male Boat-tailed Grackle

6th & 7th April 2013

Saturday 6th April

And now for something completely different...

Not quite Cairngorm; this is snow-capped Titterstone Clee in Shropshire. Although I hadn't been here before, it was a good call by Martyn to go and look for Ring Ouzel and other passage migrants.

We locked onto our first Ring Ouzel within minutes before the bird disappeared into scrub on the south slope. We could however hear some Ring Ouzel calls and with a little persistence 5 Ring Ouzels revealed themselves when they came out to feed in a grassy area. 4 males and 1 female. Result!

Ring Ouzel - image supplied by Martyn Yapp

Other migrants are much slower than usual to arrive this year due to the prolonged cold northerly winds and wintery weather. We managed one male Wheatear, which was only my first this year.  Other stuff noted included 2 Peregrine, 1 Buzzard, 1 Kestrel and around 30 Meadow Pipit.

The rest of the day was then spent around the Wyre Forest. Highlights included 1 Marsh Tit, 1 Brambling, 8 Siskin, Grey Wagtail, Yellowhammer, 5 Mandarin and a doo-lally day-flying pipistrelle bat.


Sunday 7th April

The morning began with a dip. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker at Ladywalk NR. The birds have been regular on the reserve and our mistake really was to visit the River Walk Hide and miss the birds showing by 10 minutes.

The Scaup was still present and we also noted 2 Willow Tit, 4 GS Woodpecker, 1 Curlew, 1 Redshank, 2 Snipe, 12 Goosander and 4 singing Chiffchaff.

Scaup - image by Martyn Yapp

As we now needed cheering up, we could not resist popping in at nearby Shustoke for this extremely showy Kittiwake....

Kittiwake

Kittiwake  

Usually a fleeting visitor to our midlands inland waters, this Kittiwake was showing very close in and was coming to bread brought in by Sunday duck feeders.

Also a Kingfisher was noted here and several Great Crested Grebes were getting jiggy.

Great Crested Grebes

Our next move was to be a crucial one. We almost got tempted by some Staffs twitching, however we decided to stay in the area and do Dosthill. So glad we made this choice, as it came up trumps with our surprise find of a female Bearded Tit!

There was a very surreal moment in which we heard a familiar 'ping' from the tiny reedbed of the pond between the Waterski Pit and North Pit, but looked at a Coot and Reed Bunting in confusion as to why something was calling like a Beardie. Suddenly the Bearded Tit revealed itself crashing round this scrap of reedbed.

As Bearded Tit is a rarity in this neck of the woods we scrambled the news out pronto, although we were not entirely sure whether we were in Staffs or Warks, as this is border territory. Equally good in either county, we then sat back and enjoyed this little gem before other birders began to arrive on the scene. One of my most memorable regional birding moments so far!

Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

Bearded Tit

 

 

Also the two Long-tailed Ducks were both still present, along with 8 Goldeneye and a Water Rail called.

Be sure to also visit Martyn's Adult Plumage blog for some quality images of the Bearded Tit.

Wyre Forest - 3rd March

I'm back and with a plethora of excuses as to why I haven't blogged for some time; bronchitis, bubonic plague, frostbite, kidnap etc (strictly speaking, only the first one is actually true). 

Now spring is in the air and as the bleak winter loosens its grasp, I'm sure postings will begin to spring forth from my blog like a bouncing March Hare. Or there again, perhaps not!

Back in the birding saddle after a few weeks of absence, it was a trip down to the Wyre Forest on the Worcs/Shrops border with Martyn. Of course, we stayed Worcs side, not wishing to stray far from the regional borders. Not without passports and inoculations anyway.

It was one of those mis-timed things, had we gone the day before which was a brighter warmer day, I'm sure we would have bagged more of our target birds. We had hoped for perhaps displaying Goshawk & also Lesser Pecker, neither of which can be described as easy in our area. Unfortunately the day remained dull, cool and overcast.

On the bright side, we encountered 3 Dipper along the Dowles Brook. Contrary to Martyn's photo below, we enjoyed very good views (blame the above lighting conditions!).

Dipper - image courtesy of Martyn Yapp's recycle bin

In the Dowles Brook/Dry Mill Lane area we also noted a male Brambling (in a small Chaffinch flock), a large Siskin flock of perhaps 30 birds, 1 Bullfinch, 2 Grey Wagtail, 2 GS Woodpecker, 2 Jay, Nuthatch and Treecreeper.

Great Tit

Alas spending extensive time in Wyre Lesser Pecker country and another Worcs site with previous history of LSW, we could not winkle out one of these elusive buggers and there was no sign of any Goshawk either. At the site that has been known to produce Goshawk, there were up to 5 Buzzard and 2 Raven.

In other news (apart from the shocking discovery of poo in Ikea cakes), the first Wheatears are now arriving on our shores, so keep the faith; in no time they will be hitting our local patches. Spring cometh.

12th & 13th Jan 2013

Saturday 12th January

At Stubbers Green early doors, an adult Caspian Gull didn't disappoint, despite the gathering of gulls being very small on this occasion. A classic specimen of Caspo, no question. No Iceland though and we didn't hang around.

Also here, 5 Great Black-backed Gulls and 1 Common Gull, 5 Goosander and the omnipresent flyover Lesser Redpoll.

Next, a return to one of the local haunts; Croxall Lakes. 6 Redshank clung to the river scrapes, whilst 2 Little Egrets were on the main lake with 13 Goldeneye and around 60 Pochard.

Things were looking up when a drake Scaup dropped in...

Dodgy Aythya Hybridy Thingumy - Images courtesy Martyn Yapp

Unfortunately upon closer inspection it became apparent that this 'Scaup' was not the full shilling. Not only was it rather small, lacking robust Scaup-type jizz, it also lacked a small black nail on its bill, in fact having a very extensive but poorly defined black bill tip. There was also some dark streaking to its white flanks. 

Presumably Tufty x Scaup hybrid? It was displaying to some of the female Tuftys, so perhaps more Aythya ID headaches cometh...

35 Golden plover were in the field opposite the Alrewas war memorial.

Little Egret - Image by Martyn Yapp

Next the fields at Whitemore Haye where we were lucky enough to have a female Merlin, although views were a little fleeting... Little Owl was present and around 10 Yellowhammer, 4 Tree Sparrow, 1 Reed Bunting and the Golden Plover flock that was now 500+ strong.

Elsewhere in the Trent Valley we had 3 Jack Snipe.


Sunday 13th January

Martyn and I spent most of the day at Ladywalk, hoping to better get to grips with the Tristis Chiffchaff that we located on New Year's Day along with Ian. Now the tick-happy days of early January had been exhausted, quite a crowd gathered along the path  at Ladywalk. The Siberian Chiffchaff had been seen and heard again in recent days.

Unfortunately the bird was elusive today and I only had a brief view and alas this was in strong sunlight, therefore not allowing for observation of the plumage tones. The bird called very occasionally, but generally wasn't playing ball.

However since then it has been confirmed that there are actually 2 Tristis Chiffchaff present and they have been much more obliging at times! Here are some images by Dave Hutton...

Tristis Chiffchaff - Image Courtesy of Dave Hutton

The 2 Tristis together - image courtesy Dave Hutton

Also 1 or 2 regular Colybita Chiffys were noted and many Goldcrest were around the reserve. A single Waxwing commuted from the area behind the car park to berries in the Sainsburys depot. 3 Lesser Redpoll, 3 Reed Bunting, GS Woody, 2 Siskin, Buzzard and Grey Wagtail were all noted.

At the outflow at Edison Road 6+ Chiffchaffs showed well, however none of the Siberian variety. Firecrest was also absent here, however we did have a Green Sandpiper.

Chiffchaff - Image courtesy Martyn Yapp

Later in the day, Lea Marston & Coton. A Long-tailed Duck was still viewable from the road bridge and in the gull roost we had an adult Med Gull. Other notable species included Shelduck, Water Rail (h), Sparrowhawk and Goldeneye.

5th Janvier

It was back into the old work thing a bit sharpish this year and Day 5 of 2013 was only Day 2 of birding. Sadly, no Waxwings around North Solihull and the only thing I had was a year tick of a Sparrowhawk to keep me going. Harsh times.

Saturday was mainly spent around Cannock way with Martyn & Ian and we began at Coven Heath. Coven Heath may sound like the setting of a Thomas Hardy novel, but it is actually an area with a small sewage works and some nice stubble fields, lined with hawthorn scrub etc. It is a place that warrants further exploration. On this occasion we noted c200 Chaffinch, 9 Yellowhammer, Skylark, Grey Wagtail, Stock Dove, Lesser Redpoll and Buzzard.

Next on to Gailey, where the regular adult Med Gull was on the water with the Black-headed Gull flock, which numbered over 300 birds. Bit of a stunner the Med.

Med Gull - Image courtesy Martyn Yapp

Sadly it soon flew and all the other birds were flushed when boating activities began on the water, so like them we decided to move along.

Our next stop was the area around Kingswood Tip, where we had a feeling that the Glaucous Gull might be poking about. The second-winter Glauc that had come into Chasewater on recent evenings was as yet unaccounted for in the day times. Immense numbers of gulls using this area to feed; it was odds on it would be here somewhere, but with the main part of the tip not viewable and 1000's of highly mobile gulls, finding it might be a different matter.

Of the thousands of gulls in the air, we could pick out no white-wingers, so we relocated slightly down the road to the area opposite Kingswood Pool. No gulls at all on the water, but quite a gathering on the corrugated roof of the factory opposite.

How lucky can you get? The second-winter Glaucous Gull was sat on the roof, right at the front! Gullmazing! Now if you don't get excited by a big, fat, dirty, smelly white-winger, why are you in birding? I was and it proper made my day.

Glauc! Image courtesy Martyn Yapp

This certainly didn't appear to be the largest Glauc I'd ever seen, but still a brute in appearance we watched it for a while until it wandered into the melee of gulls.

2 Goosander were on the small pool.

Next to the Chase, where the Great Grey Shrike was eezy peasy at Upper Longdon. This bird is currently quite reliable in the usual clearfell spot.

Great Grey Shrike at Upper Longdon - Image courtesy Dave Hutton

The rest of the afternoon was spent wandering around various areas of Cannock Chase. Highlights included a fine pair of Stonechat atop the heather, 2 Green Woodpecker, 1 Great-Spotted Woodpecker, 2 Raven and  a Treecreeper.

Only two days spent in the field so far and there's been some outstanding birds to see locally. Let's hope it continues for a good birding year in  the West Midlands region....

2013 - Happy New Birding Year

Doing my 2012 round-up, I realised there was a fair bit of very good birding that I didn't get around to blogging and I often didn't post quickly enough. As with any birding year I start with a pile of resolutions and one is to keep the blog more current and comprehensive.

Welcome to birding in 2013.

Tuesday 1st January

A big day in the calender, it's easy to get caught up in the year-listing madness and indeed there was a fair bit of dashing around, but also some cracking birds seen. The day was spent mainly around the Tame Valley area of Warwickshire with Martyn Yapp (new blog here) and Ian Whitehouse.

Shustoke Reservoir, 9.00am

Decent scope views of the 2 Great Northern Divers here, with both birds still present at the time of writing. Also here a low flyover cronking Raven, c10 Goosander and Goldeneye.

Lea Marston & Coton, 9.45am

Moving very swiftly on, it was Coton next. a specific target bird here: Long-tailed duck. The bird was not immediately obvious, but a lot of the water can be hidden here so some patience is needed. Eventually the female immature Long-tailed Duck drifted back into view and showed quite well. 

Also a surprise here, a female Scaup which was picked up by Martyn. This is a robust,  classic female, although these lakes also hold a few dodgy 'scaup-faces' so beware.

There were also 2 wintering Chiffchaff near the hide.

Hams Hall, 10.40am

The Edison Road river culvert area SP199914 attracts a lot of insects and therefore insect-eaters such as wintering Chiffy and also Crests, with the site holding a couple of Firecrest a few years back. Therefore is always worth a look in winter if you are passing.

Clearly we weren't the only ones to have this idea; bumping into a few familiar faces here.

There were 6+ Chiffchaff feeding in the outflow, probably many more and the odd Goldcrest. A Green Sandpiper and a few Grey Wagtails were on the river and Green Woodpecker calling.

All very nice but then Dave Hutton came running back down the track shouting FIRECREST!! as he made a dash for his camera.

We were soon watching this little gem. Well done Dave!

Firecrest at Edison Road - Image by Dave Hutton

Ladywalk NR

Very nearby, this is another site that attracts wintering insect eaters. Indeed on a visit in November whilst looking for 2 Firecrests that we failed to see, we had 3 Chiffy and a pair of Blackcap along the main path from the car park.

It was along this path that we encountered a very grey looking, pale Chiffchaff. As we walked back up the path after visiting the hides, we heard a call which Martyn and Ian instantly recognised as Tristis - Siberian Chiffchaff. I have to confess here, that personally I had no previous experience with Sibe Chiffchaff and my knowledge was extremely limited. However, this bird was calling for a time and it was nothing like any Chiffchaff I have ever heard before. It sounded reminiscent of a subdued Bullfinch type call.

Martyn has got a few images of the bird and whilst I hasten to add again that this is more of a 'learning bird' for me, I believe the bird shows some pro-Tristis features. I probably don't know enough about it to comment at length and I am glad that Martyn and Ian both had previous experience with this sub-species; in my case it's given me some reading/research to do.

Probable Tristis Chiffchaff - I have cropped this image, but not altered it in any other way

More images and Martyn's account of this bird can be found here.

Also at Ladywalk we noted 1 Willow Tit, 1 Lesser Redpoll, Bullfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker and more than 20 Goosander.

Chasewater, 2.45pm

In the final move of the day, we switched counties to Staffs for the Chasewater Gull roost. This was largely in the hope of catching the 2nd-winter Glaucous Gull that had come in the evening before, for the first time this winter I believe. That was a roost which also held Caspo, Med and Iceland so our hopes were high.

Unfortunately we didn't do so well, although the roost was completely massive, it was impossible to scan each bird. The best we could do was 3 Yellow-legged Gull. The Glaucous did not come in and the Iceland came in very late, just after we had gone in fact.

Despite some disappointment at the gull roost it was a very enjoyable day. The first day total was 59, a good innings as they say, but more importantly quality over quantity with some cracking birds seen.