Japan in November (No.2): from Kushiro to Nemuro

16.11.15
After a good nights sleep in a comfortable Kushiro hotel, we picked up a hire car (4WD Nissan Note) and set off for along the coast, heading further east towards Nemuro. The rain had cleared overnight and the air was crisp and clear. Dozens of black-eared kites circled around the hillsides on the edge of town, enjoying the clear sunny weather.  Driving on north, after about twenty minutes a large eagle soaring overhead caused a rapid u-turn and search for a roadside pull in.  It was worth it.  Our first Steller's sea eagle was drifting over the forested landscape.  A magnificent bird.  We later found out that they had only just started to arrive from Siberia - they are winter visitors to this part of Japan.

Steller's sea eagle

We continued along scenic roads, past coastal settlements with fish farms in the bays.

Hokkaido coastline east of Kushiro

One lake held huge numbers of whooper swans.  We saw several thousand during the day, they must use these wetlands to feed up before moving further south: in another couple of months this area will be in the grip of a very cold winter, but just at the moment the wetlands must look very attractive to them.

adult and juvenile Whooper Swan

The coastline is spectacular with forest extending towards the cliff edge creating a natural ecological transition to wind-swept grassland and cliff.  Not something you see too often in Europe.

forest almost reaches the clifftop, Pacific Ocean beyond

In the woods, our first of many sightings of Japanese pygmy woodpecker and the Hokkaido race of Eurasian Jay and Eurasian Nuthatch.

Eurasian jay

Eurasian nuthatch

Japanese pygmy woodpecker

The most impressive wetland was at Kirritapu, great expanse of swamp with huge numbers of wildfowl congregated around the outlet from the wetland into the sea.  There is a newish wetlands centre beside the coastal road here, fortuitously open in November and serving a very welcome cup of coffee.

View across Kiritappu wetlands

Thousands of pintails and wigeons here, with a few American wigeons and a drake falcated duck.

pintails and wigeons

suddenly all the wildfowl took flight

Great views of a black-tailed gull as we crept towards it, using the car as a hide.

black-tailed gull

To round off the day, as we approached Nemuro, a majestic white-tailed sea eagle sat atop a fir tree, close to the road.

white-tailed sea eagle

Japan in November (No.1): at sea with albatrosses

15.11.2015
The first leg of our Japanese adventure involved catching one of the brilliant high speed trains and travelling north from Tokyo to the port of Sendai.  Here we boarded an overnight ferry to Tomakomai in Hokkaido.  The idea was partly to catch up with some seabirds unlikely to be seen close to shore.
I have to say the ferry was extremely comfortable and well organised and it was an enjoyable journey.
Frustratingly it rained continually all night and all morning, which made seawatching more challenging, but none the less rewarding.
I was on deck from 6.30am to about 10.30am with a short break for breakfast.  Most common were dark-morph northern fulmars (hundreds) and also quite a few black-legged kittiwakes (100).

black-legged kittiwake

northern fulmar

northern fulmars

northern fulmar

After about half an hour I spotted the first of about fifty Laysan albatrosses, dwarfing the other birds, flying effortlessly ahead of the ferry.

Laysan albatross and northern fulmar

Laysan albatross

Other birds seen: black-footed albatross (1), black-tailed gull (5), pomerine skua (6), fork-tailed storm petrel (2), sooty shearwater (2), streaked shearwater (15).
Arriving in Tomakomai about 11am, we were met by a taxi that whisked us off to the railway station at Chitose, where we caught the train to Kushiro in eastern Hokkiado.

Bicester Wetland Reserve: Thanks everyone who completed a consultation form

Great response from so many of you to our request for people to participate in the Oxfordshire County Council consultation for the new ring road that threatens Bicester Wetland Reserve.

Alan Peters has also done a great job raising awareness though local media, not least on BBC Oxford, and this has stimulated a lot more interest from people living locally. Many of you have encouraged friends, colleagues and family to participate. Thank you very very much: it does make a big difference.

As soon as we get any more feedback on the outcome of the consultation I will let you know.

Plans for the new country park north of Banbury started to gain some momentum last week.  Cherwell District Council have contracted Ryder Landscape to put together a Masterplan for the area and and to start the planning process they organised a "scoping" workshop with stakeholders.  They have also been out and about surveying the site.

The area offers considerable potential for wetland enhancements, especially a decent sized patch of floodplain grazing marsh, and it was good to see this opportunity recognised around the group. I am also promoting the idea of at least part of the country park being designated as a local nature reserve.

Hopefully, more news on this over coming months.

I'll sign off with a lovely image from our recent trip to Japan. I'll trickle a few more images and highlights from Japan onto my blog over the festive period.

Red-crowned cranes on a frosty morning, Tsurui, Hokkaido

 Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas!

Mike

URGENT: please help defend Bicester Wetland Reserve

Please spare ten minutes in the next two weeks to help defend BicesterWetland Reserve, a wetland jewel on the outskirts of Bicester, now threatened by a major new ring road.

Oxfordshire County Council are conducting a consultation on two options for the new road:

·         Options 1A and 1B are very similar and involve building a raised road across Bicester Wetland Nature Reserve.

·         Option 2 is across open country and misses the Reserve completely.

There is a feedback form which gives members of the public the opportunity to state their preferences and is available on line. Please log onto:

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/PerimeterRoadBicester

This website gives you the outline to the scheme, explains the options and provides a link to the Feedback Form.  There are seven questions in total, the most important are questions one and two.

Question One – please tick “do not support at all” for Options 1a and 1b. You can remain neutral or support option 2.

Question Two – please select “Southern alignment: Route Option 2”

Question Three – please describe why you think it is important to protect the Bicester Wetland Reserve as an important wildlife site for the area.

The number of responses matter so please make sure you complete the form before the deadline of 18 December.

 

Some extra details about the reserve:

·        The reserve is situated just outside Bicester, one of the fastest-growing towns in Europe.

·         It was established in 1999 and is an increasingly important area for wildlife and a veritable oasis within this rapidly developing town.

·         Major wintering site for Teal - regular counts of 250-350, also good numbers of Gadwall, Shoveler, Wigeon.

·         Up to 130 Common Snipe winter here, also regular numbers of Jack Snipe. Breeding water birds include Little Grebe. Mute Swan, Tufted Duck, Coot, Moorhen and Kingfisher. Water Rail are regular throughout the winter and possibly also stay to breed.

·         The reserve is a regular site for Green Sandpipers with a maximum day count of 23. Altogether 18 species of wader have been recorded on the reserve.

·         Nine species of warbler have been recorded on the reserve, 8 of which have bred there. In total 126 bird species have been recorded, 17 species of mammal (including Otter), 23 species of Butterfly, 14 species of Dragonfly, 3 Amphibians including Great Crested Newt and we have regular Grass Snakes.

·         We have even had a few local rarities: Glossy Ibis, Red-necked Phalarope, Great White Egret, Bearded Tit, Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, Common Crane and Bittern!

 thanks, please act NOW