Monkey Business (mostly about birding)

Separated at birth? Elton John seen birding in Barking Bay

2012-02-12T05:12:00.000-08:00

Paparazzi, decended on Barking Bay in East London last week when 2 school girls reported seeing Elton John birdwatching at the usually quiet birding hotspot. I think they may have been mistaken?

Fieldfares in my garden

2012-02-12T03:35:00.000-08:00

My plan of cutting up a few apples and putting them on the snow covered lawn ,with the aim of enticing the Fieldfares down, worked a treat, with 2 visiting the garden this morning. I'm getting right into the garden watching, so I went out and bought more fat balls and seed yesterday, and added an upside down dustbin lid full of water to the help yourself bird buffet at the end of my garden.

Strange birds in our garden?

2012-02-11T09:55:00.000-08:00

That is what the text said from my wife (non birder) at 5.00pm last night. I immediately called home to get a description to be told, "there's about 6 of them, I think they might be Waxwings". Whaaaat! Describe them". A couple of years ago Julia called me at work to describe pretty accurately a single Waxwing in the tree outside our house, so it was not beyond the realms of possibility.

Anyway, after a description contained the words, big white eye strip, white underneath with a red patch, I breathed a sigh of relief, Redwings. Still very nice and an all too infrequent visitor to our garden.

This morning over breakfast we checked the tree through the patio doors and I nearly spat out my cornflakes! Redwings, loads of them, and hang on, what's that, a Fieldfare, no 3 Fieldfares! 2 minutes later they were off. Over the next 2 hours hundreds of Redwings flew over and landed in our garden. I counted around 30 Fieldfares over the same period, the biggest party being 13 birds, although interestingly the Fieldfare were more wary and never actually landed in my garden again, always visible in trees 3 or 4 gardens away.

I also had of note 3 Long Tailed Tits (my first ever in the garden) and a Goldcrest showed well briefly.

I'll be checking again tomorrow AM.

Two Tick Day!! - Parrot Crossbill and Paddyfield Warbler

2012-02-05T01:56:00.000-08:00

The January birding blues have been firmly banished and replaced with fab Feb birding! I really needed a good day out with a few of the lads on the trail of a rarity of two to re-initialise my enthusiasm, so the prospect of 2 life ticks in West Sussex and Sussex, was just what the birding doctor ordered.

With The birds just an hour apart, on Friday night we had to decide which bird to go for first. Both birds have on previous days been reported first thing, and until about 10am and then disappear. Based on that, and a combination of plummeting temperatures, snow forecast and that there had been no sign of the recently found Paddyfield Warbler the previous day, we thought getting both birds would be a tall order, so better than dip both we'd go for the one we thought would we'd have the best chance of getting. Perhaps the warbler was frozen to a tuft of grass by now! Therefore we ( Me, Jono, Nick and Bradder-jnr) decided to go for the Crossbill and play it by ear.

On route the temperature gauge in the car reached -7.5c, so I was pleased I had put my full thermal body suit on. Arriving on site around 2.5 hours later we made our way to the spot close to a now frozen pool where the Crossbills regularly first thing come to drink.

We joined a smallish group of around 20 birders and bagan looking and listening. Crossbills were in the area and could be heard and a regularly up to a dozen fly between the tree tops. Checking out every female, none looked like our target. Half an hour passed and we began to wonder whether our day out would mirror the British economy with a double dip on the cards. To rub salt into the wounds, pagers beeped to smugly tell us that the Paddyfield Warbler, was in fact not frozen solid but fit and showing well down at Pagham Harbour NT. The law of sod, crossed our minds, with much discussion along the lines of, whatever one we'd have gone for first we'd dip it and the other would sit up pouting for the birding paparazzi in attendance. Another 15 minutes passed and again the pager confirmed the so called elusive far eastern Warbler, was STILL performing well.

This time a larger flock of 30+ birds flew to the trees by the pool. One bird stood out distinctly from the rest, not only did it have a deeper less crossed bill, but it was generally much bigger and bulkier bird. When the flock flew it could be picked out on size in flight pretty easily. Tick! During the 90 minutes or so on site we also had a smart Woodlark, a few Siskin, Redpolls, calling Nuthatch and a fly by Great Spotted Woodpecker.

There had been no further news on the Paddyfield Warbler so we headed to Pagham Harbour happy with the Pirate loving Crossbill but not confident we'd also bag the rare warbler. We arrived about an hour later, after a stop for a much needed and much appreciated, bacon sarnie and a coffee at a roadside van.

At Pagham we were advised that the bird had not been seen for a couple of hours after it was flushed out into the reed bed by a photographer. Never! Now there's a shock. 5+ Water Rails kept us occupied running over the frozen water in front of us, while we waited, and searched the reed bed. There were probably 40 or so birders on site in 2 main groups. To be honest we'd almost written off our chances when we detected a buzz coming from the other group 50 or so yards further up the path. They had seen IT, well seen something, about 250 yards away. They were pretty convinced it was the bird. They described a pale bird with a darker cap, in the grass below the reed bed. Now there were 30 telescopes scanning the area, looking for movement, trying to relocate whatever it was. Some of those who had seen it were convinced it was the Paddyfield, but then again most on site were convinced a Greenshank was a Greater Yellowlegs, eh Jono!

More movement was detected much closer to us, probably 75 yards away, just the other side of the water. Then "That's it!" shouted Bradders. The bird was scrabbling (is that a word?) around in the grass at the bottom of 3 bushes, allowing directions easier i.e. "it's on the ground in the darker green grass at 7 o clock from the middle bush etc". The bird then showed for about 15 minutes, occasionally right out in the open. Tick 2. It was smiles all around as we really hadn't expected to this tricky bird.

With snow on its way and Jono wanting to be home by 4.15pm, we quickly tried and dipped near by Great White and Cattle Egrets. Who cares! Before heading home. Birding enthusiasm now fully in tact I went straight to a now frozen Berwick Ponds to see if I could find the Bittern that had been reported a couple of days earlier. Alas no joy, but I enjoyed looking.

I spy with my little eye something beginning with B.

Winter birding blues

2012-01-29T05:45:00.000-08:00

Every year around late January, with its short, cold and often miserable days, I find myself thinking that perhaps I am getting a bit bored with birding. I can't muster any enthusiasm to get out of my warm bed, get out in the damp cold air, and see what's about.

From recollection, I am pretty sure I have felt like this each January for the last few years. I question myself, am I get bored of birding? After all I've been "really into" golf, fishing, astronomy and of course football (West Ham Utd season ticket holder for 20+ years in the past), but there's always been birding somewhere in the background. But now, birding is firmly in the foreground with the odd footy match squeezed in, and fishing and golf are nowhere to be seen, in fact the thought of either doesn't sound appealing at all.

Today on Birdguides I saw "Parrot Crossbill - West Sussex", a life tick, and I couldn't even get excited about that. Don't get me wrong, I have a couple of really good days out in Norfolk already this year, and I've even had a tick with the Spanish Sparrow, but I can't for the life of me bring myself to get out and stomp round The Chase or anywhere else locally and enjoy the local birds. I take my hat off BIG TIME to you local patchers, you put in a lot of time and effort, often for little reward, keep it up folks, your dedication is admirable.

On the plus side my lack of birding is providing time to do some great family stuff. Yesterday Jamie and I went to watch our local football team, Hornchurch FC, which was great; last weekend we all went to the cinema to see War horse and have dinner out. Today we met friends at Lakeside for lunch, again, which was nice and in the long run I must be racking up brownie points like billy-o! So once I've bucked my ideas up, shaken off the January birding blues, I'll be ready and able to get out there and enjoy my birding. Hopefully starting next weekend!

Short Eared Owls Rainham

2012-01-15T02:30:00.000-08:00

With prefect clear and still conditions yesterday afternoon I headed back to the west end of Rainham Marshes hoping to latch onto the Short Eared Owls. This time I got onto the higher section of the silts where I think the owls prefer to hunt. Walking up the back to view I immediately had 2 owls about 75 yards ahead of me. Bingo!

I watched the owls for a good 30 minutes, in plummeting temperatures, with one heading east and the other remaining loyal to the immediate vicinity; although it mained pretty distant (200 yards) most of the time.

I'll be back to stake it out and try and get some good photos. (unlike this) Watch this space.

Hampshire 2 Dorset 0

2012-01-12T12:51:00.000-08:00

The quest for 2012 life ticks kicked off in ernest today. With a busy weekend ahead I booked the day off and headed south, to Hampshire, for a Spanish Sparrow, whose residence in a hedgerow in Calshot has only just come to light, despite apparently the bird being in the area for some time now, up to 2 years, according to some people! My accomplice on this occasion, was snoozy birder, Rob Burgess.

We arrived on site at around 8.10am to be told the bird had come out of its roost and had flown off. Bugger. However, the friendly bloke acting as steward, calmed our nerves by telling us that the bird had a regular pattern and would be back in about an hour. As the hour approached I was getting a tad nervous. There were plenty of House Sparrow zipping about but non of them was playing castanets! Almost to the minute, an hour after it had disappeared, and as promised, it was back, mostly frequenting the hedgerow on the other side of the road. Some record shots would have been gettable had I not forgotten to change the battery in my camera. I'm sure they'll be plenty of others doing the rounds in the coming days.

It was here we met Californian birdman, Rob, who tagged along with us for the day, and was great company as we swapped birding stories from both sides of the Atlantic.

Next stop, a Dark Eyed Junko, just a short 15 minute drive away. Again, arriving on site it took a good hour of checking every bird before the smart yank appeared, and showed well. My 2nd after the Dungeness bird 3 years previously. We were also treated to great views of Crossbill, Brambling and Siskin during our hour on site.

As it was only 11.30am we decided to head across the border to Dorset for the long staying Humes Leaf Warbler and a nearby Richard's Pipit. Almost 1.5 hours later we arrived. We looked, we listened, we looked some more, listened some more, but nothing, not so much as a Blue Tit, it appeared to be a bird free zone.

With a 3 hour plus journey home we decided to call it a day. I think the excitement of it all got too much for UK Rob as we had to stop on the way home so he could have a "power nap"!

Boozy birder or snoozy birder, you decide!

Cracking day though, 2 quality birds, including my 1st life UK tick of 2012.

East Anglia provides yet more quality birding

2012-01-09T04:14:00.000-08:00

I have been to Norfolk on average about once every 3 weeks since Oct 2011, either birding/twitching or with the family. I've been so often that I think my toes are starting to web together! Oh well, at least that will be handy when sea levels rise and half of the county floods! Only joking, I love north Norfolk and in another life would love to live there. One day maybe! Anyway.........

Just 6 days after a cracking start to the 2012 birding calendar; year ticking 90+ species in a day last week, I found myself yet again heading up the A12 to Norfolk on Saturday. This time it was accompanying Shaun,(and Hawky) to try and see returning Lesser White Fronted Goose, a bird we spent a good few hours catching up with in Jan 2011. Shaun dipped out last year so it would be a lifer.

This time it was much easier. We arrived at Buckenham at around 8am, and by 8.30am it was in the bag. The little goose with the big White flash on its forehead was still hanging out with a group of 50ish Tiaga Bean Geese and few Greater Whitefront, viewed from just 100 yards up the path. The blighter didn't make it easy by mostly feeding in a gully providing the odd head and neck scope view, but eventually it walked out for a minute or two providing better views. Tick! Along with a flock of Barnacle Geese and 3 fly by Bewicks it was a great start to the day.

Next we tried for Common Crane around Horsey with no luck so we decided to head out of Norfolk and to Suffolk, stopping on route for the distant Great Northern Diver at Rollesby Broad.

Out first Suffolk stop was Ness Point; a very liable place for Purple Sandpiper in winter and we were not disappointed with 4 providing great views, a couple of hundred yards further than the point. Kittiwakes and Red Throated Diver we also seen at sea. Just up the road we stopped at Lake Lothing for Black Throated Diver; the same location where I life ticked the species on an Essex Birders day trip, what seems like years ago but was in fact just 6 years previous. In very windy conditions eventually saw the bird distantly from the Asda car park.

Waxwings had been widely reported from a number of sites in Suffolk for a few weeks now so off we went to search for them. The nearest location was Reydon, and 30 minutes later we arrived. A group of 16 of these fantastic birds could be heard 50 yards away and were frequently visiting a small berry tree not far from the road. 10 minutes later, they arrived, quickly eating a few berries each before heading back to their look out post.

It is impossible to get bored of Waxwings. There are fantastic and I will always go and see them if I can. In the end we stayed for an hour or so, enjoying the photogenic beauties.

Heading south we decided to have one last stop at Abberton Resevoir. We arrived at the Layer Breton causeway at about 3.30pm. Good numbers of Pintail could be seen but no wild swans and no Smew. With light fading we called it a day and headed home. Another day quality birds; Shaun saw his goose, and we all enjoyed the Waxwings, definitely the birds of the day for me.

Long may this quality of birding continue in 2012!

2012 kicks off with a bang in north Norfolk

2012-01-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

After a quiet Christmas mostly spent convalescing from my operation, and not seeing any short eared owls on my two visits to Rainham Marshes, what I really needed was to kick off my 2012 birding with a bang! And that I did. Sometimes things just seem to go right, and yesterday was one of those days.

Myself, Hawky, filthy twitcher; Jono and Nick crammed into the Bradders-mobile and headed north. First stop around 2 hours later was Fakenham for a Great Grey Shrike that had been showing well for a good few days now. There had been some excitement when it was originally found as it was thought to be of the race, homeyeri, and therefore making it a rarer form of the Great Grey Shrike that is usually found on our shores each winter. After 45 minutes or so of freezing our bits off, the bird got out of its bed and decided to show itself. A very smart and pale bird it could be seen why some people thought it was of a different form, but, it now appears it is the commoner species after all. Anyway, who cares it was still very smart. Of note we also had double figures of Grey Partridge.

Next we headed to Cley for the now long staying mega Western Sandpiper. It was a month to the day since I had first seen it, and again this time it showed well although more distantly. A life tick for Nick too.

Salthouse was next for a sea watch and a warming coffee. Hot drink in hand we climbed the shingle back to view the sea. Before I was anywhere near the top Hawky began shoting that a Glaucous Gull was flying past. I ran to the top spilling my coffee all over my hand to view the brute heading along the beach. The bird then landed on the beach, with other gulls, about a mile away so we decided to try and get close to take a few snaps. Half way there a Snow Bunting popped over the bank and landed on the beach just a head of us, providing good but brief views. Unfortunately, a dog walker got to the gulls before us and put the birds up, landing on the sea. Another 10 minutes later and the Glauc was up and heading away up the coast.

Back to the car we decided to head west. Checking news, we were informed of 2 Black Brants at Wells and a Rough Legged Buzzard at the east end of Holkham. After 10 minutes we arrived at Wells to search through the Brents and Bradders quickly picked up a Pale Bellied Brent and one of the Brants. On we moved, and minutes later we picked up a large bird circling relatively close to the road. We quickly parked, jumped out to view the bird as unfortunately it slowly headed away. It was very pale and a had distinct dark tail bar; Rough Legged Buzzard. It was just too far for me to get a picture but check out Hawky's blog (link on the right) for one showing the key detail.

Back on the road we headed to Titchwell where we were all keen to try and see the also long staying Coues' Arctic Redpoll. This bird had been playing very hard to get on occasion, including the 2 hours that our mate Shaun had searched for it a couple of weeks earlier. Carrying on our run of luck on the day, we arrived on site to find a crowd of 30+ people crowded around the picnic area, all looking upwards. We joined the throng to find at least half a dozen or so Redpolls (of various form) feeding rather frenetically making picking out the arctic roll, not straight forward. After just 10 minutes or so it was finally nailed and soon gave up hiding away towards the back of the canopy and provided some good views.

Happy we headed out onto the reserve. Of note we had 2 Scaup and managed cracking views of Spotted Redshank, before arriving at the beach for a sea watch. Here we managed to add Velvet and Common Scoter and Whooper Swan to a now bulging day list. With an hour of light left at most we had to decide on our final stop of the day. We plumped for Flitcham, we at dusk had Tree Sparrow.

It was a cracking way to start off 2012 with 90+ species recorded, including many scarce and rare species. Long may this quality of birding continue.

Woodcock at Canning Town tube station - RIP

2011-12-08T04:11:00.000-08:00

I was surprised to find this fleshly dead Woodcock on the platform of Canning Town underground station yesterday afternoon, at 3pm!!! There was no glass nearby, so I guess it had hit a incoming train?

Jam tastic weekend away in Norfolk - Western Sandpiper

2011-12-05T04:12:00.000-08:00

Back in the summer when we booked a weekend away in early December in north Norfolk for my daughter's 14th birthday, little did I think at the time I'd be jamming in on a mega rarity. This is the 3rd time this year I have been back to the cottage, in Thornham. The first time involved a week away over Easter, and tickwise it went horribly wrong. During that one week I missed out on 2 life ticks elsewhere; Little Crake and Black Stork; 2 birds I have yet to catch up with.

So last Thursday when the Semi-P that had been present for a few days at Cley, firstly changed from a Semi-P to a poss Western, then onto a definite Western Sandpiper, I was thanking Jammyious Dodgerus (the Roman god of, er, jamming in on birds), that the little yank would hang on for at least 12 hours so I could get there.

At 7.30am Friday I arrived at Cley in twighlight, and walked the short distance to the hides. There was probably 50 or so birders already there spread quite evenly between the 3 hides and luckily, the bird was on show in front of the hide i opted for first, feeding frenetically, with Dunlin. In poor light it was not easy to get any photos as you will see. There I was Sibley in one hand trying to pick out the key featues to confirm why it was a Western and not Semi-P when a Merlin shot through, putting everything up. The small group of Dunlin (and the sandpiper) relocated on a small island much further away and directly under the sun, which was now just above the horizon. Everyone started chatting as is the way and no one noticed a small flock of waders flying low past to the next pool. Well everyone but me that is, as I was Billy no mates that morning, I was actually checking out the teal to try and locate the one with the vetical stripe to grip off Hawky, so followed the birds and relocated the Western Sand. Off I went to the next hide to get a better view, unfortunately, this hide was much more packed, especially after the bird had just flown in. So after cranning my neck for a further 10 minutes I decided to call it quits and head home, for a well deserved fry up! Tick and run!

The weekend didn't produce any other suprises birdwise. One trip to Titchwell failed to produce the Yellow Browed Warbler. I picked up a Tawny Owl beside the road on the way up and late afternoon on Friday, a Barn Owl provided cracking views for the family, as it hunted close to the road. Oh and of course thousands and thousands of Pink Feet provided the usual daily spectacle.

In Bruge

2011-11-26T09:41:00.001-08:00

A few pics from my visit to the beautiful city of Bruge, Belgium, with work mates: Ray, Michael, Cheryl, Laura, Debbie and Lisa.

Swan Lake

Not all special offers are as good as they may initially seem!

They must have known I was coming

Lisa, Cheryl and Laura

Debbie, Lisa, Laura and Cheryl

HTML

2011-11-21T04:47:00.000-08:00

I might be able to build a replica of the solar system but I still can't work out how to use bloody HTML, as my previous blog entry clearly demonstrates!

The wonders of the solar system

2011-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

So what did you do on the weekend? After twitching the Sharp Tailed Sandpiper on Saturday, Sunday was a a family day. Jamie had been asking me for a few days to help him with a science project that had to be in, today, Monday.

The task was to build a replica (not to scale!) of the solar system. Easy, I thought, no problem. Off to the Hobby Craft we went to buy various sized polystyrene balls to use as planets. I already have loads of coloured paints for MY art project, but that's a story for another time.

We spent the first couple of hours painting the planets and letting them dry, cunningly fashioning Saturn's rings from a circular cheese spread box. At this point we still had no idea how to display them, as they had to be in the right order from the sun. Plan A was to slot them onto a number of rods pushed though the sun, but a trip to B&Q and Homebase failed to produce anything anywhere near what we needed. We needed a plan B. After much head scratching we came up with plan C; use the cardboard tray that our newly bought fridge had been sitting in; at approximately 1m square, we could paint it black as a back drop. I was worried that the paint wouldn't dry in time to start putting it together, so with a slight alteration to plan C(a), we taped black bin liners to the inside of the cardboard tray.

Next we had to work out a way to display the planets. Thinking back to my Blue Peter watching days, it soon came to me. Egg cartons! Off we went to buy a dozen eggs, and were soon back cutting up the box to leave 10 cup shaped holders to place the planets in. First of all, we had to paint them black and let them dry, an hour later we were ready to start assembling the piece. Each painted holder was glued into the appropriate position, and allowed to dry.

While allowing for the glue to dry, here's a quick test for you. Now come on, no cheating. Name the planets in the correct order, nearest the sun first.

Got it? Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and for this project's purposes Pluto, that is no longer, as you no doubt know, officially a planet.

With the glue dried, the planets were placed in position. All that was left to do was to compile a table of extra information for each planet; distance from the sun, orbit time, revolve time, surface temperatures etc, all researched, typed out and stuck down. And that was that. Well sort of. The model was so big that there was no way Jamie could get that to school on a bus. So my final act of helping out was to drive him to school this morning. All I can say is I hope I, sorry Jamie, gets a deserved A+. It only took a mere 7.5 hours, but it was worth it!

Voila! Who needs Doctor Brian Cox!

Sharp Tailed Sand Bagged!

2011-11-19T06:38:00.000-08:00

Wow what a morning! With me and Bradders Jnr still needing Sharp Tailed Sandpiper we couldn't resist the lure of the 1st juv of this species since 1975. With Bradders needing to be back by 2pm we set off early to get to Blagdon Reservoir, Somerset, for 1st light. We were joined by big listers John Archer and Rich Bonser, who had between them seen more Sharp Taileds than I had ha hot dinners, but they had not seen a juv in this country.

We arrived at Blagdon at around 7.45am ( journey approx 2.5 hours) to be told there was no sign. Bugger. There were around 30 - 40 birders on site already, so we had a quick look around from the car park, bagging Red Crested Pochard, Long Tailed Duck and Goosander, before deciding to head to the other end of the reservoir to refind our sandpiper! Unfortunately, that didn't happen, but Bradders quickly found the Ring Necked Duck and John a Ring Billed Gull, and there were 8 Bewick Swans too! All amounting to a strong supporting cast, but where was the headline act!

It was now 9am, we had about an hour before we had to start thinking about heading home. Bradders and I headed back to the car, as John and Rich headed off in the opposite direction to try and get better views of the Ring Billed Gull. 10 minutes later we were in the car when the pager bleeped: SHARP TAILED SANDPIPER - CHEW VALLEY RESERVOIR!!

The tyres screeched as we zoomed up the winding lane trying to find the others. 2 minutes later we were all in the car, doing a u-turn and heading the short distance (2-3 miles max) to Chew Valley.

We pulled up to find out it had just a few moments earlier flown out of sight. A adult Spotted Sandpiper had also been there until a few minutes earlier but had also just flown. Nooooo. More and more people began to arrive to swell the numbers to over 100. Another 30 minutes passed and still it had not been relocated. Then, "There it is!" said someone, direction were shouted 1 or 2 people got onto it. I managed a fleeting glimpse though someone else's scope before it walked out of sight again. Aaargh. And Bradders and John had not seen it yet! A few minutes later a small flock of Dunlin wheeled into sight and plonked themselves down out in the open, and there it was, in amongst them, providing much better, and longer views. Phew.

Short Eared Owl - Rainham

2011-11-07T05:06:00.000-08:00

A late afternoon trip to Ferry Lane, Rainham, eventually produced a smart Short Eared Owl, hunting at twilight over the silt lagoons. Hopefully I'll enjoy many more of these lovely birds over the coming winter months. Unfortunately it was far too dark for pics by the time it was seen.

It was also really good to meet fellow birder, Marco, for the first time and discover after a brief chat, a family connection. Well, sort of.

Cliffe Cracker - Isabelline Shrike

2011-10-17T06:06:00.000-07:00

The ticks are coming thick and fast now; that's 4 in 2 weeks! Feeling decidedly unwell today I called in and booked a day off leave. After a couple of emergency visits to the bathroom, I was lying in bed feeling quite sorry for myself, when a text from Hawky read: Issy Shrike still there! Refering to the adult male bird at Cliffe in Kent. With Cliffe just 40 mins or so from home, and I had not been sick for over an hour, that was it, I was off.

The bird was showing immediately on arrival 100+ yards away, just a tad too far for good photos. The pics below certainly do not do this stunner justice. Perched, fanning its lovely chestnut tail and flashing its black mask it really was a little cracker, and BOU tick 386 for me (UK400 no 399). If I can fluke an unexpected tick or 2 over the remaining months of 2011, then perhaps I can reach the BOU milestone of 400 next year. Who knows, I'll enjoy trying though!

Booted Warbler in the bag - literally!

2011-10-16T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hot on ther heels of yesterday's Raddes Warbler seen in the hand at Weybourne in north Norfolk, today I was lucky to see this stunning Booted Warbler at close quarters, at Landguard, Suffolk. Not much more I can say, than superb!

Woodchat Shrike, Lowestoft, Suffolk

2011-10-10T09:14:00.000-07:00

A few pics of the very showy juv Woodchat Shrike at Lowestoft, Suffolk.

A male Brambling adding a splash of colour to proceedings.

Please move along - there's nothing to see here

2011-10-10T05:02:00.000-07:00

For each of the last 4 years, a few of the lads have had a week or long weekend away in October. Last year it was Shetland, and the 3 previous years it was Scilly. This year myself, Shaun, Hawky, dirty twitcher Jono and Dave Mo were off to Norfolk!

With south westerly winds off the Atlantic hitting our shores for the last gazillion weeks; American megas have been tripping over each other on Scilly. Even Shetland has been relatively quiet. After a failed last ditch effort to convince the lads to write off Norfolk, take the hit on the accommodation costs and head off to the Scillies, we were on the A12 heading north on Thursday AM.

A couple of hours later we arrived in Suffolk to take in the Sandhill Crane again. Dave Mo, was the only one in the party to not have already seen it and with Norfolk being totally devoid of any birds, we took the scenic route. The bird was pretty mobile in the hour or so we were there providing ok views.

Next we took an even more scenic route to Horsey where we hoped to make it a 2 crane day. I must admit I had never heard of Reedam Ferry across the Broads until Thursday. Well now we have. £4 to travel 30 metres had us wondering if in fact we were on the Scillies. I am sure that the ferry company must have a deal going with Garvin, taking numerous unsuspecting drivers across country and to that ferry! Anyway, needless to say, despite a good look, no cranes could be found. Well by now we were in Norfolk so the cranes were just preparing us for the next few days. Hawky luckily spotted a ringtail Hen Harrier on route to the cottage, which livened up the journey a bit.

Despite not a lot to see, the next few days passed in no time. We had good views of common waders, a fleeting glimpse of a Yellow Browed in Wells Wood, a couple of not overly great sea watches and er that was that. 3 days, no birds, well no bird of the quality were were hoping for anyway. We decided to throw in the towel and come home a day early. Sunday AM we split into 2 groups, with one so bored they went straight home to watch some paint dry and the other; me, Hawky and Jono, again taking the scenic return journey via Suffolk.

The journey home, although quite long, produced some cracking birds at last. Firstly, we located 2 Common Cranes. near Horsey. Next it was off to Lowestoft for a very showy juv Woodchat Shrike. Superb. Pics coming soon.

We continued south to Minsmere were the Glossy Ibis showed pretty well too. Finally we arrived back in Essex, back to Coalhouse Fort, for a look at the now long staying Semi Palmated Sandpiper, of which we had good but brief views.

The moral of this story is; if you are going to pre book a birding break in October each year, use your loaf and either go to Shetland or the Scillies. Ok you might get a duff year every now and then, but nothing like it was in Norfolk. We'll take that one on the chin and start planning next year's trip. I suppose at least we didn't miss anything gettable anywhere else!

Oh hang on what's this on birdguides:

Probable Blue Rock Thrush, East Runton, Norfolk, for 2nd day on Sunday 9th October, no sign today. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Sandhill Crane, Boyton, Suffolk (not Aberdeenshire)

2011-10-03T09:42:00.000-07:00

Someone once said about something, "It's a funny old game", and he (or she) was right! Less than 2 weeks ago Hawky and I seriously considered for about 30 minutes twitching the Sandhill Crane in Aberdeenshire; a whopping 550 miles each way, costing god knows how much in juice, one turns up just up the A12. Well someone else also said "Good things come to he who waits". Well wait we did and voila! The crane flies about 500 miles south and plonks itself down in Suffolk, a drive of about an hour and 20 minutes from home.

After securing the afternoon off I was on the road by 1pm. By 5.30pm I was home in time for dinner. Superb. That's 2 quality local ticks in 3 days. If that Solitary Sand hangs on I hope to bag that on Thurs too, which would a make it one hell of an already tick-tastic week.

The best I could get at distance in heat haze.

Best cure hangover ever - Semi P Sand! (and 2 paracetamol)

2011-10-01T06:38:00.000-07:00

This morning was the morning after the night before after a late one on the sauce last night. Still in bed at 9.30am enjoying a a lay in I was rudely but happily awakened by Shaun telling me that there was a Semi P, yes a Semi P, just down the road at Coal House Fort, on the Thames. Shaun was already on his way after giving up calling my mobile, but a quick call to Hawky to arrange a pick up, meant we were on the road just 30 minutes a later, and on site viewing the bird about 20 minutes after that. Well done to the finder; Paul Wood!

The bird povided good scope views, along side Little Stint and Dunlin for comparison purposes, but was too far for any pics as in my hungover state forgot my small camera for any digiscoping.

Bearing in my Shaun and I had considered twitching the recent Hants or Somerset birds; this was a real result. Essex rocks! Pallid Harrier and now a Semi P in 2 weeks!

Should I stay or should I go? Go you f@cking idiot, go!!

2011-09-25T10:11:00.000-07:00

Oh dear, sometimes everything just goes to pot and this weekend has been a prime example. Earlier in the week the Scillies was ram jammed with yank rarities and Hawky and I had hatched a plan to day trip the beautiful islands hoping for at least one or two of Black and White Warbler; Northern Waterthrush, Solitary Sandpiper, Baltimore Oriole, Red Eyed Vireo and perhaps a splash of colourful Bee eater. By midweek half the birds had buggered off leaving by Thursday just the Waterthrush and Solitary Sand, with both playing hard to get a lot of the time. Should we stay or should we go? With no new arrivals we felt it too risky that either one or both birds would disappear or could not be pinned down during the short 4 hour window a day trip would allow. We needed a plan B.

Plan B duly arrived in the shape of another yank mega, this time a much bigger one, in the form of the Sandhill Crane found in Aberdeenshire! Our initial enthusiasm was significantly dampened when it dawned on us it was almost 550 miles away, equating to a 10 hour+ drive each way. We agreed that although the bird was rare, it was not work 20 hours in a car! We decided to do the sensible thing, stay at home and hope something would be found nearer to home. Much to my delight, come 6pm on Sat, I had the choice of 2 life ticks; a semi p in Hants or an Arctic Warbler in Norfolk. For me no choice, I have already missed out on one Arctic Warbler when the A12 in Essex was closed meaning we couldn't make the relatively short trip to Landguard.

The next choice was do we go on no news or wait? Well I'd had enough of sitting in doors, waiting until half the day had gone, to find out if a bird was still present. I hadn't had a full day out birding for a couple of weeks, and after all it is late Sept and there's already an Arctic Warbler and a Pied Fly at Burnham Overy so what else is there. So that was it a day birding in Norfolk!

At this stage I am going to cut a long and BORING story very short:

1. There was no sign of the Arctic Warbler :o(

2. There was no sign of hardly any birds in AT ALL in Norfolk

3. The semi p showed well all morning in Hampshire

4. The waterthrush and Solitary Sand showed pretty well all weekend

5. Ditto the crane

Anyway here are some pics of what little we did see.

Long tailed Duck - Titchwell

Convolvulus Hawkmoth

Pallid Harrier, Colne Point, Essex

2011-09-18T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday afternoon I continued the trend of going with Shaun to get him a tick, this time, for a juvy Pallid Harrier, in our home county of Essex. After eventually finding the site we had an anxious wait of around an hour until the bird, which had been resting, out of site, on the ground in a field, decided to give itself up and provide good scope views. It was my 2nd Pallid Harrier after catching up with a smart adult male a couple of years back in Cambridgeshire.

It must be my turn for a tick next? We'll see.

Olympic Park Visit

2011-09-12T09:27:00.000-07:00

Had a quick tour of the Olympic park site this afternoon. We had to stay on the mini bus apart from one stop off at the handball arena. To be honest it made me even more annoyed that like many, many people I didn't get any tickets to a "proper" Olympic event. I don't count football!

Another Cornwall weekend

2011-09-11T12:39:00.000-07:00

With very strong south westerly winds forecasted this weekend, myself, Shaun and Hawky, headed down to Porthgwarra, Cornwall for a sea watching session. It was my 3rd session there in 6 weeks and both previous occasions having seen Cory’s Shearwater, I was hoping for some Greats this time. Not as much as Shaun though who needed it for a lifer.

We left Essex at 10pm and drove through the night arriving in Penzance about 4.30am. Having stocked up in the 24 hr Tesco we headed to our digs; the McDonalds car park, where we tried to sleep for an hour before grabbing some breakfast at 6am. By 6.45am we were at Porthgwarra setting up our scopes, along with a dozen or so others.

Over the next 6 hours or so we enjoyed steady streams of Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters; loads of Manx’s, a few Puffins, and half a dozen Arctic and Great Skuas. As usual Storm Petrels were proving difficult to latch on top at distances of up to a mile, with only 1 seen well. Then after about 4 hrs at last we had Great Shearwater; prolonged views of it inside the Runnelstone helped us check out the differences between it and Corys, with its straighter wings and more direct flying pattern.

The highlight for me though was a pair of Choughs that joined us for 5 minutes mid sessions. I’ve only ever had poor views on one previous occasion.

After another couple of hours and the conditions worsening for sea watching i.e. blue skies and sunny, we headed off to see what else we could find. Around Porthgwarra we looked unsuccessfully for the now long staying Wryneck; unsuccessfully. We headed off to Drift Reservoir where Pec Sands had been reported when mid journey the pager said Black Kite a Polgigga; where we had been 15 minutes earlier. 20 minutes later we were back scanning the fields in all directions. Unsurprisingly eagle eyed Hawky picked it up distantly further inland, so we jumped back into the car and set off in pursuit. 5 minutes later we located it again, with 3Buzzards, thermaling over a near by ploughed field. It never really came close but we had good scope and bin views.

Next it was on to another Wryneck, near St Just. Again after a good look it could not be relocated, but a smart Peregrine provided very good views. Back at Drift the Pectoral Sands showed down to a few feet (see Shaun’s blog for cracking pics from someone who had more patience than me).

Next it was off to Hayle to try for the Buff Breasted Sandpiper, but again we had no luck at high tide. It was now 6pm, and we were starving and tired. After lovely fish and chips we headed to Penzance to find a bed for the night. Unfortunately, every B&B was full; there was not a single room to be had. So that was it, we had to drive home. 6 hours later, and very, very tired we arrived home at 1am. Cornwall and back in a day. Madness? Perhaps. But it was well worth it.

Western Bonellis Warbler, elusive but worth the wait

2011-08-28T06:38:00.000-07:00

Shaun and I headed out again yesterday for a Western Bonellis Warbler, our 2nd attempt in 3 days and 3rd overall after dipping one in Wells Wood after the "Alder" Flycatcher twitch last September. The previous day there was also a Greenish Warbler on site to make things even more interesting. We met Hawky, Bradders Jnr and non twittcher Jono on site, in Cromer, Norfolk at 7.30am.

The area over cover was large so we split up, and 30 minutes later Hawky called to say he had a likely suspect briefly for the Bonellis. Unfortunately as we found him the heavens opened and heavy rain started to fall. Not great warbler watching weather! An hour later, things were not looking good. The rain continued to fall and we wondered whether it would be 3rd time dippy.

For once the weather forecast was right. Bright spells were forecast from lunch time, and right on cue, about 11.45am, the dark clouds and drizzle were replaced with blue skies and sunshine.

We began searching the site heading round the perimeter and in a sunny glade found quite a few birds flitting about. Immediately one or two looked interesting but it was hard to get enough on them to confirm what they were. There was a very pale bird that when it flew appeared to have a yellowy/green patch on its side, could it be the Bonellis? Before we could confirm it disappeared.

So again we headed off to carry on looking. 10 minutes later we took a call from Jono to say the Greenish Warbler had been found. Back at the play area, 30+ birders staring up into the canopy. At first there was some confusion as the bird we were looking at appeared again to be very pale, and not Greenish like. With good views provided over the next 20 minutes we soon realised we were getting good views of the Bonellis Warbler. It took 4 hours but it was 3rd time lucky for both me and Shaun, so via an escaped Burrowing Owl just up the road in East Runton, we headed off home happy.

Dunge Dip

2011-08-25T04:03:00.000-07:00

The news of a Bonellis Warbler being trapped and ringed in The Moat at Dungeness mid morning yesterday; had myself, Bradders Jnr and Shaun heading south straight from work hoping for a midweek tick (my and Shaun only).

By midday it was confirmed as a Western Bonellis, and it at 1.30pm it was reported again. Leaving Hornchurch at about 5pm we made good time arriving around 6.30pm. At first the news was positive with a departing birder stating the bird had shown just 10 ins earlier. We joined a small group of birders stood before a section of cover and it soon became apparent that it contained a number of Willow Warblers, but not a lot else. After 30 mins or so we decided we'd search the rest of The Moat. Despite us not finding a Bonellis Warbler we did enjoy a great supporting cast of 2 Black Redstarts, up to a dozen Wheatears, 2 Winchats and best of all 2 cracking male Redstarts.

With the light rapidly fading we bashed some bushed hoping to relocate the earlier reported Wryneck, but again no joy, so we headed off for a fish and chip supper, only to find that closed too!

That's the 2nd Western Bonellis me and Shaun have now dipped. It'll be 3rd time luck hopefully.

Some birds from Mallorca

2011-08-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

Just back from a week long family break to Port Du Pollenca in Mallorca. We've visited the Port Du Pollenca on 3 previous occasions, each time over the May half term, and I was not surprised to find it much quieter bird wise in August. As well as many fewer birds, it was significantly hotter too, with the thermometer hitting 37c on at least 2 days. That's over 100f in old money, and too hot for me!

Anyway onto the birds I did see. I only actually went out birding once, for 2 hours early one morning to S'Albefuera wetlands, actually it was more like drylands! I was lucky to have a party of Bee eaters fly overhead within 10 minutes of arriving, as they would be the only Bee eaters of the trip. The main differences from previous visits to this site, apart from it being much drier, was the absence of Black Winged Stilts, probably the most common bird seen on previous visits, this time I saw none (at this site). There were also many more Purple Gallinule and the re introduced Nobbed Coot, many not tagged. Also seen on site, loads of Kentish Plover, Nightingale, Black Crowned Night Heron, Cattle Egret and Sardinian Warbler. Next I headed off to my favourite site at the sewage works up the road, but I was gutted to find there was no longer access!

Sardinian Warbler - plentiful but elusive

Other birds seen were 2 Booted Eagle, 1 very well but with no camera! 3 Eleanoras Falcon, 2 Hoopoe, 1 Audines Gull, 1 Raven, loads of Spot Flys, Serins and Ospreys. Notably no Woodchat Shrikes or Cirl Buntings were seen.

Porthgwarra sea watch - Sun 7th Aug

2011-08-09T07:11:00.000-07:00

I took Matt, our friend's 11 year old son, for his first sea watch on Sunday morning. Matt, a young keen new birder,his dad Ray, and I headed to Porthgwarra for a couple of hours, to see what we could see.

No one wanted an early start do we didn't arrive until 10am and there were half a dozen birders already there. We were informed it had been good for a few hours with good numbers or Corys passing and 2 Great Shearwaters. (I knew we should have got up at 5am!) Fingers crossed it would continue.

In the following two hours a steady stream of Manx's passed through, and after about 45 mins we had our first Corys. It was not easy at first getting Matt on to them (we only had my scope) but we soon got into the swing of things, lining up birds to pass through. The undoubted highlight was a Cory's Shearwater about a third of the way out to the Runnelstone. It slowly passed from east to west providing cracking views as it lazily flew along.

In total in two hours we had:

200+ Manxs
6 Cory's
2 Pom Skuas
1 Arctic Skua
1 Sooty Shearwater
2 Puffin
2 Balearic Shearwater
1 Common Scoter

Amazing!

Surfs up!

2011-08-09T06:54:00.000-07:00

Just back from a cracking weekend in Cornwall (many thanks to Ray, Tina, Matt, Adam, Ron and Barbara) for inviting us down to share a part of their holiday with them. The kids tried surfing for the first time and I think they're hooked!

Shear delight at two tick weekend

2011-07-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Just back from a very successful, if tiring, weekend in Cornwall. On the back of monster Cory Shearwater passage past Porthgwarra, me, Hawky and Bradders Jnr, decided late in the day on Friday to make the long journey south west to try and catch the tail end of it and hopefully a Corys or two.

We left Essex at about 11.30pm, driving though the night arriving on site after a stop or two about 5.30am. We were the only birders on site when we arrived at the cliff top 15 minutes later. Quickly setting up our monster sea watch session began, and it didn't take long to get interesting.

Just 5 minutes in, Bradders calls an interesting large shearwater around the Runnelstone (you can just make it out in the pic above), lolloping along, droopy winged Hawky immediately calls it as a Corys. We watch it for 5 minutes or so until it slowly heads out of site west.

Throughout the rest of the day we have good numbers of many sea birds, but surprisingly just one more Corys, eight hours later at 2pm. During this time we had 500+ Manxs, 30+ Storm Petrels, 20 ish Sootys, around 10 Balearics, and 7 or 8 Poms.

The excitement got too much at times! Or was it no sleep and sitting in the sun for hours?!

A well deserved and superb fish supper - mmmmmmm

After an early night we were up early and heading home via Devon, hoping to catch up with the now long staying Bonapartes Gull. Luckily we plumped for the site near Topsham where it was last reported the day before and Hawky-eye located it within minutes. Pulling that out at distance from the many juv Black Headed Gulls was an impressive feat! After 10 minutes it flew up stream and despite two further stops we could not relocate it.

It was all very tiring but worth it. Two ticks in a weekend, can't be sniffed at! BOU 381.

Rainham Marshes 23rd June 2011 7pm - 10pm

2011-06-24T01:33:00.000-07:00

Last night Shaun and I took a large group of 25 for an evening guided walk around Rainham Marshes. The group enjoyed a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the feeder in the woods, as well as a single Cuckoo and numerous Marsh Frogs.

We took a slow walk round not seeing that much, until the very end. At about 9.00pm we were about to leave the reserve onto the sea wall when, whilst chatting to one of the group, I thought in the back ground I caught a short zzzzz of a Grasshopper Warbler. A few seconds later, there it was again. Moving back down the path we honed in on where it was and surprisingly I spotted it deep in cover. Being a new bird for almost all the group, and with only 2 scopes available we tried to keep some sort of order, for people to see it. Eventually after about 30 minutes, everyone enjoyed good views as, every now and then, it sat out in the open. With the light fading fast we exited the gate to the sea wall to be greeted by a 2nd Gropper, reeling away. We didn't get to see this one, but the group all went home, no doubt texting "tick and run" to their birding buddies! Surely everyone does that don't they?!

Who needs an unreliant robin, when you can have a Roller!

2011-06-14T04:27:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, the photo is crap, but we had great scope views of this cracking adult Roller last night!

There could not have been a much better bird than a stunning adult European Roller, to help me, and no doubt one or two others, get over it all going a little bit pear shaped with the robin last week.

However, for a while it looked like this wasn’t going to happen either. Around 12.00pm news breaks of a possible Roller, at Hollesley in Suffolk. Thirty minutes later, a possible becomes a definite. Yes! Then all of sudden if dawned on me, that that night of all nights, I had an evening meeting at work, and I was chairing it! No! An escape plan that Steve McQueen on a motorbike, carrying a pummel horse, would have been proud of, needed to be hatched, and quickly.

An email from Bradders Jnr. stated he’d be ready to leave from 5pm. Shaun was working in Burnham on Crouch, so it made sense for him to go straight from there, although he had no bins, scope of camera on him, Hawky was working in an area with no mobile signal and Jono, well Jono, was cursing as it was just one of those days when he couldn’t get away. Being philosophical about it, you can’t win ‘em all and with Audouin's Gull and Blue Cheeked Bee eater on his list from birds staying nearer 1 hour than 1 day, he couldn’t complain too much.

First I called my colleague Gary to ask if he would chair the meeting. I know he would, he’s top bloke, but it was my boss I really needed to convince. Over the years I have been quiet open with my boss about my birding and twitching escapades. I don’t want to get into lying to leave early or phoning in sick to go on a twitch, because a) it’s wrong and b) more importantly he’d know as every major twitch now gets in the national press etc. Anyway, to cut a long story short, he knows how passionate I am about it and agreed that he and Gary would cover the meeting and I could leave early. Phew!

Hawky then responded to the text asking him to call me urgently and a plan swung into action. We’d meet in our usual spot on the A12 by the M25 at 5.30pm, via Shaun’s house to pick up his bins etc.

Now don’t get me wrong, most twitches are exciting; will it still be there? will it be taken by Sparrowhawk 5 minutes before we get there? Or more likely, will some dick head photographer try to get within 2 feet of it with his 500mm lens and flush it! But this was a Roller, a full adult, superb, multi coloured Roller. Possibly my no 1 most wanted bird. Ok it’s not a first for Britain, it wasn’t even mega alerted (being over 300 British records) but it is right up there with the very best.

Amazingly for once the gods of the A12 were in a good mood and we sailed through. See previous post from September 2009 for aborted after work Arctic Warbler twitch at Landguard, Suffolk, when the gods of the A12 were in a terrible mood and we had to turn back in grid lock at Chelmsford. I still need Arctic Warbler by the way!

We took our last left hand turn and could see the long line of parked/ditched cars along the road. Shaun and Dick, and Gavin, were all smiles as they pointed out the turquoise blob around 150 metres away on MOD land. Over the next 2 hours we enjoyed some cracking perched and flight views when it hawked insects occasionally landing on the fence.

About 9.00pm we headed off for lovely fish and chips in Woodbridge, where a large male Stag Beetle swooped down over our heads before landing on the front of a house on the other side of the road, providing good views.

Arriving home at 10.45pm, I showed Julia some pics on the internet of the bird, and even she was impressed, saying she may have come along if she knew it was going to look like that!

Finally, it was good to chat to the birder who turned up in his suit from central London, who successfully twitched via train to Ipswich and then taxi to the bird, where even his driver enjoyed the scope views!

I’ll be surprised if I see a better bird this year, or in fact, any year.

Red Backed Shrike - Vange Marsh RSPB

2011-06-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I didn't manage any pictures of this smart adult female, during a fleeting visit early afternoon. The bird was giving the few on site the run around when we (me and Jamie) arrived but luckily within 2 minutes it flew into site and landed just 60 feet in front of us. Great scope views were had for a few seconds before off it went again. We relocated it 100 yards away, again enjoying good scope for just a few seconds before I could get any sort of picture. And that was that, we searched for another 10 minutes but could not re find it.

Stag Beetle

2011-06-09T12:59:00.000-07:00

Each summer we usually get a handful of Stag Beetles in the garden. We had a fly by whirring individual last Saturday evening and tonight we went one better with this large male found under the garden waste bin. In poor light I managed a few shots. Hopefully the hawk moths will appear soon. Last year we managed Lime, Privet and poplar in and around the house, so this year I am hoping for an Elephant Hawk Moth, oh and a few more Stag Beetles of course.

Rainham Marshes 7pm - 9pm Thurs 26 May 2011

2011-05-27T04:43:00.001-07:00

Shaun and I led a walk around Rainham Marshes last night. Late afternoon there were down pours and thunder and lightening, so it was a suprise the walk went ahead, and even more of a suprise that there was not a drop of rain during the walk. Unfortunately there were not many birds to be found.

I think those attending still enjoyed their walk and the bits we did see/hear inc. which included 3 cuckoos of note.

Patch update - Thurs 12th May 6.15pm - 7.15pm

2011-05-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

Another pretty quiet session on The Slack, with 1 LRP, 1 Common Sand and 1 Common Tern.

This is the flooded area by the stables where one day soon I am going to find a Spotted Crake and a Squacco Heron!

I didn't know birds could read, I think this sign is aimed at dog walkers not the birds themselves!!

Patch update - Wed 11th May 6.15pm - 7.15pm

2011-05-11T11:41:00.000-07:00

With plenty of good habitat on The Slack surely it is just a matter of time until a decent passage wader stops off for some R&R! The Ingrebourne Valley viewing area is just a mile away as the crow flies and has had a Bar Tailed Godwit and Temmincks Stint in the last week, but it has much greater coverage and it's likely that birds are slipping through the net at The Chase.

Tonight The Slack produced of note 2 LRPs, 1 Common Sand, 1 Common Tern and 1 Swift. There's always next time!

Last night I dreamt of a tall bird with long legs and .........

2011-05-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Cracking day out in north Norfolk today with Jono, Stuart and Nick. Our first stop was over in the very east of north Norfolk for White Stork. On arrival at 7.30am there was no sign, so we split into 2 groups, with Jono and I heading to the local land fill site and Stuart and Nick searching the local fields. An hour or so later, bingo! Stuart and Nick had relocated the bird distantly over the river in Suffolk. We viewed the bird distantly (from Norfolk) for 15 minutes before it took flight, heading our way. We hoped it would land in the pools nearby but a crow had other ideas and chased it away, although it appeared to land not too far away. A good start to the day, especially for the others as it was a lifer for them. It my 2nd after a bird at Rainham Marshes briefly in 2006.

Next it was the long and slow drive to Cley where the previous night's Citrine Wagtail was still present. On arrival almost 1.5 hours later the bird had not been seen for hours so rather than stand around chatting we headed to the main reserve to check out the scrapes. On route we had Wheatear and Yellow Wagtails, in Eye Field, including a very smart Blue Headed Wagtail and on the north scrape, from the hide, we added 4 Temmicks Stints. On the shingle bank 200 yards away 5 Shore Larks were very skittish but provided good scope views.

After a long walk round we arrived back at the Citrine Wagtail site to be told it has been seen briefly in flight, however, we had also found out via the visitors centre log book that a Richard's Pipit had been reported back in Eye Field, so back we went again. Passing Winchat on a fence, we arrived at Eye Field and located the large pipit straight away. Distantish but decent scope views gave us plenty of discussion points, leading us to rule of Tawny Pipit, leaving us happy with an ID of Richards. Finally after giving up on the Citrine Wagtail, 7+ Wood Sandpipers were found on a scrape by the car.

A great day could only have been better if the Collared Flycatcher at Holme had been found an hour earlier, as by the time we got the news were 30 miles away on our way home. At least we'd seen one before, otherwise I think we'd have turned around and gone back, and faced the wrath of Mrs' B and L!

Patch update - Wed 4th May 6.45pm to 7.45pm

2011-05-04T12:29:00.000-07:00

Another brief visit this evening still fails to produce any new waders on The Slack. One LRP was present plus a Reed Warbler and Little Grebe on Hooks Hall Pond.

Patch update - Tues 3rd May 7pm - 7.45pm

2011-05-04T05:19:00.000-07:00

I managed just a quick visit in between dropping dropping off and picking up Sophie from Brownies last night. With only 45 mins available I only had time to check out The Slack, hoping for a new wader arrival. With the backdrop of a glorious setting sun, the only birds of note were 2 Little Ringed Plovers - there was no sign of the Ringed Plover.

I'm still waiting for Redshank, Greenshank and Bar Tailed Godwit this spring.

Ringed Plover - The Chase

2011-05-02T10:23:00.003-07:00

Patience paid off this afternoon with a Ringed Plover on The Slack at The Chase. As usual on arrival I was greeted by people and dogs on The Slack and not much happening birdwise. Rather than walk round I decided to stake out The Slack once the tresspassers had cleared off. Having mistaken an LRP for a Ringed Plover in the heat haze from the far bank I headed round for a better view, to confirm it was in fact an LRP. I bumped into Vince who also had the same idea to stay at The Slack. Vince had had a Ringed Plover earlier in the day (his 1st for 15 years on site) but in an hour or so it could not be relocated.

Flyover Buzzard, Hobby (2) plus 2 LRPs, a Common Sand, a White Wagtail and the usual 2 Egyption Geese helped the time pass, but after 2 hours it was time to go. Just as I was about to leave I noticed the 2 LRPs had turned into 3, and upon closer inspection we realised the Ringed Plover was back! The record pics below wont win and competitions.

This patch birding is hard work but at least the journey home is only 5 minutes and it doesn't cost a bomb in petrol!

Ouch

2011-04-27T10:55:00.000-07:00

Exercise is officially really bad for you - and here is the evidence! The results of tearing my hamstring playing 5 a side football.

From now on I'll stick to this passtime

A pint of Wherries in The Lifeboat Inn, Thornham, North Norfolk- the real amber nectar!

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside

2011-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

A few pics from a jaunt to the south coast on Monday with Hawky.

Glaucous Gull

Red Kite in off the sea

Dungeness is a Tree Sparrow hot spot

Hairy Dragonfly

Common Lizard

Sandwich Tern

Juvy Med Gull

Adult Med Gull

A Family Trip to Rainham Marshes

2011-04-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

This afternoon we had a family jaunt to Rainham Marshes RSPB. Our 3 newphews joined us for a circuit in the glorious sunshine. We saw of note 2 hobbies, 2 Swifts and a Water Vole.

The play area always comes in handy when bribing under 5s to walk 3 kms around the reserve!

A quick stop at The Chase produced 10 dog walkers, 5 mountain bikers and 2 LRPs.

Two Tree Island Black Crowned Night Heron (juv)

2011-04-23T04:44:00.000-07:00

Last night myself, Shaun, Hawky and Jono headed out into Essex looking for 3 birds! Shouldn't be that hard you would think, that is until you realise they were not Sharon, Tracy and Chantelle but a Hoopoe, a Night Heron and a Savis Warbler!

At West Canvey RSPB we dipped the Hoopoe that had apparantly been booted into touch by photographers trying to get within a few feet of an already obliging bird, will they ever learn! Then it was up to Leigh on Sea for the now long staying juveline Black Crowned Night Heron. Jono's gen (having been already to see the bird) helped and we had good views from the sea wall. (my 3rd)Also on site were numerous Cuckoos and at least 1 Nightingale.

What's this button here for?

With less than an hour of light we headed back to Canvey and walked out to where the Savis Warbler had been seen the previous evening and heard again in the morning. It was 8.15pm by the time we found the spot and a group of 30 birders. No one had seen or heard the bird for hours and with approximately 100 million gnats feasting on our bare legs and arms we turned about face and headed back to the car.

Grasshopper Warbler showing well at The Chase 22 April 2011

2011-04-22T02:01:00.000-07:00

Another good session at The Chase this morning (6.45am to 9.00am). The early start was rewarded by the best views yet of the Grasshopper Warbler. At least one Nightingale could be heard intermittently as well as a Cuckoo. Again the 2 Ring Necked Parakeets flew in towards Black Poplar Wood (perhaps they'll breed there?)and there were 3 LRPs on The Slack. I also had my first Common Tern of the year, 2 Lesser Whitethroats and a huge number of Common Whitethroats. Still no Wheatear though.

Cracking hour tonight at The Chase

2011-04-21T13:03:00.001-07:00

I really am making an effort to work The Chase now. After Sophie's piano lesson I headed straight over arriving at 7.30pm. Vince was already there and before I caught up with him I could hear a Nightingale singing from the old Allotment area. Within seconds of meeting Vince the Grasshopper Warbler began reeling away 50 yards away. Initially it played hard to get, burying itself in deep cover. After 10 minutes though it flew right at us landing literally 6 feet away out in the open, shame it only stayed there for 5 seconds before flying onto another bramble 30 feet away. We had a couple of obscured views before it it buried itself in deeper cover and shut up.

We moved further away and stood quietly hoping it would give itself up. We were not disappointed as 15 minutes later it perched out in the open reeling for at least 10 minutes. Unfortunately the light was not great by this time (8.10pm) so I only managed a few record shots. I should mention at this point all along a 2nd Nightingale was singing a couple of hundred yards away!

Finally on the way back to the car, a cuckoo called continuously making it 3 "patch" year ticks in an hour! I'll be back tomorrow am - looking for a Wood Sand on The Slack.

A week in Norfolk

2011-04-19T13:33:00.001-07:00

Spent last week in north Norfolk. We had a lovely relaxing week which was pretty quiet bird wise. Of note, I saw my 3rd Iberian Chiffchaff (Titchwell); saw 1 Gropper and had another 4 reeling away, all within a mile of each other between Thornham and Holme; 5 Gargany, (Titchwell); Blue Headed Wagtail (Titchwell); Golden Pheasant (female) at Wolverton plus loads of other more common migrants.

Slightly annoyingly the one week I was away I missed chances to go for 2 life ticks; Little Crake and Black Stork, both very gettable, but hey what can you do, you've gotta go on your hols!

Dagenham Chase - Mon 18 April 6pm to 7.30pm

2011-04-18T12:44:00.000-07:00

Bumped into Vince over The Chase. Had 4 Green Sandpipers on The Slack and 1 LRP. Then 2 Ring Necked Parakeets over before heading off to the old allotments to try and relocate the Nightingale that Vince had found a few days earlier. Unfortunately we could not relocate . We parted company and it was only when I got back to the car that I noticed loads of missed calls from Vince! Just a minute after we headed in different locations Vince picked up a Gropper near where we had been walking. I hope it's still there tomorrow!

The Chase - 08 April 2011

2011-04-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

Quick update from The Chase. Just spent 1.5 hours searching hard for migrants with little joy; just 2 LRP's on The Slack. There were 2 Ring Necked Parakeets in Black Poplar Woods, and yet again I bumped into the 2 Egyption Geese, this time on the flooded area over by the railway line. Unfortunately no Ring Ouzels, Wheatears or Redstarts!

The Chase - Sunday 3rd April 2011

2011-04-04T00:47:00.000-07:00

I am determined to get out locally and do some birding this year. I have decided to get over The Chase at least twice a week from here in. I grew up just opposite The Chase in Elm Park and have good memories of walking around The Slack and along the River Rom. I can clearly remember seeing my first ever Kingfisher sitting there on a twig overhanging the river as I walked through Black Poplar Wood some 20+ years ago. Since then The Chase has attracted some rare birds with both Pine Bunting and Great Snipe by passing me back in the day. I couldn't get out until an hour or so later that I had hoped. An early morning would have been better but it was Mother's Day and that involves letting Julia have lie in, with tea delivered to her bed side. So after visiting my Mum and the Mother in Law, I headed out late at 5.30pm. There was a chill wind and the skies were looking grey. Of note: NO Kingfisher and NO Little Owl. On the positive side there was a single LRP on The Slack, plus all the usual wildfowl inc: Teal (all with horizontal stripe), Gadwall, Shoveler, Shellduck and one greylag. No other waders and only a Sparrowhawk for the raptor list. As usual there were plenty of Green Woods calling, and one Chiffchaff. Fingers crossed for Ring Ouzel, Wheatear, Wiinchat, an Osprey over heading north and a few waders in the coming weeks.

Walk like an Egyption

2011-03-27T12:17:00.000-07:00

With a couple of hours spare I ventured to The Chase for the first time in ages. Unfortunately no Kingfishers or Little Owls could be found, but I did find two very noisy Egyption Geese, in the first paddock by the stables. Also of note were three Chifffchaff. Then a quick look in at Harrowlodge Park lake to enjoy the displaying Mute Swans and Great Crested Grebes, as I about to leave, in flew two Eqyption Geese, from the direction of The Chase!

Short Toed Treecreeper and yet more Waxwings

2011-03-26T10:33:00.000-07:00

Shaun, Hawky and I couldn't resist a trip to Landguard NR, near Felixstow in Suffolk this morning when news arrived that the rare Short Toed Treecreeper, was still present. This was Britian's 25th record and Suffolk's 1st. There were around 100 birders on siTe when we arrived and by the sound of it the bird was proving difficult to pin down. Hawky refound it after 15 minutes or so but could not get us onto it in the few seconds he had it in view. The bird then moved west along the trees of Icky Ridge eluding most of us. Hawky then again spotted the bird fly 20 yards to the next clump of trees and everyone moved with it. Then at last after another 5 minutes the bird eventually gave itself up and as you would expect appeared at the bottom of a tree creeping its way up, very tree creeper-esque. And that was that! Later, this afternoon Sophie (my 13 year old daughter) headed toLakeside shopping centre where after our short shopping excursion, we caught up with around 70 Waxwings near Debenhams.

Florida Gators and other stuff

2011-03-16T07:36:00.000-07:00

A few more pics of Florida wildlife, starting with a manatee at Blue Spring State Park, Orange City.

Florida Trip List (Sunday 20 Feb to Friday 4th March 2011)

2011-03-07T12:07:00.000-08:00

Trip details:
3 nights Sanibel - Sun 20th to Tues 22nd February 2011

1 night Everglade City - Wed 23rd February 2011

8 nights Orlando - Thurs 24th to Fri 4th March 2011

Trip List (number seen/location/notes) if blank = many seen
* = tick

1 Pied Billed Grebe
2 American White Pelican - dozen - Ding Darling Preserve Sanibel Island
3 Brown Pelican
4 Anhinga
5 Double Crested Cormorant
6 American Bittern - 1 briefly on the Blue Spring State Park boat trip
7 Great Blue Heron
8 Great Egret
9 Snowy Egret
10 Liitle Blue Heron
11 Tricoloured Heron
12 Cattle Egret - single figures all locations
13 Green Heron - 2, 1 -Ding Darling Preserve Sanibel and 1 Epcot Disney
14 Black Crowned Night Heron - 2 juvs only both Ding Darling
15 Yellow Crowned Night Heron - 2, 1 hotel grounds Sanibel, 1 BSSP boat trip
16 Glossy Ibis - 2 - both Everglades
17 White Ibis
18 Roseatte Spoonbill - approx 20 Ding Darling Sanibel and 1 Gatorland Orlando
19 Wood Stork
20 Canada Goose - 1 over seen by Jamie only
21 Mallard
22 Mottled Duck - 4 - singles at various sites
23 Blue Winged Teal - 4 - one flock Bailey Tract Sanibel
24 Lesser Scaup - one double figure flock on lake in Orlando
25 Hooded Merganser - 2 together on pond in parking area Magic Kingdom Orlando*
26 Black Vulture
27 Turkey Vulture
28 Osprey
29 Swallow Tailed Kite - 2 at Corkscrew Swamp Naples
30 Cooper's Hawk - 1 Orlando*
31 Red Shouldered Hawk
32 Red Tailed Hawk
33 Bald Eagle
34 American Kestrel - 1 Sanibel
35 Peregrine Falcon - 1 Sanibel
36 Wild Turkey
37 Moorhen
38 American Coot
39 Limpkin - 2 both on the Blue Spring State Park boat trip*
40 Sandhill Crane
41 Killdeer - 2 small flocks, 1 Sanibel and 1 Everglades
42 Greater Yellowlegs *
43 Spotted Sandpiper - 2 both Sanibel
44 Willet
45 Dunlin
46 Laughing Gull
47 Ring Billed Gull
48 Herring Gull
49 Royal Tern
50 Rock Dove
51 White Winged Dove - 1 Universal Studios Park*
52 Mourning Dove
53 Common Ground Dove
54 Belted Kingfisher
55 Yellow Bellied Sapsucker - 1 Corkscrew Swamp*
56 Red Bellied Woodpecker
57 Downy Woodpecker - 2 Gatorland
58 Northern Flicker - 1 Gatorland
59 Piliated Woodpecker
60 Eastern Pheobe - 3, 1 Corkscrew Swamp, 1 Everglades and 1 Orlando*
61 Great Crested Flycatcher - 1 Corkscrew Swamp
62 Loggerhead Shrike - 1 Sanibel
62 White Eyed Vireo - 1 Corkscrew Swamp*
63 Blue Headed Vireo*
64 Blue Jay
65 Fish Crow
66 American Crow
67 Tree Swallow
68 Purple Martin
69 Tufted Titmouse
70 Marsh Wren - Ding Darling Sanibel*
71 Carolina Wren
72 Ruby Crowned Kinglet
73 Blue Gray Gnatcatcher
74 American Robin
75 Gray Catbird
76 Northern Mockingbird
77 European Starling
78 Northern Parula - 4, 2 Corkscrew Swamp and 2 Gatorland
79 Yellow Rumped Warbler
80 Palm Warbler*
81 Pine Warbler - 2 or 3 Corkscrew Swamp*
82 Yellow Throated Warbler - 1 Hotel grounds Sanibel
83 Black and White Warbler
84 Common Yellowthroat - 1 Corkscrew Swamp
85 Painted Bunting - 4 or 5, mostly males Corkscrew Swamp*
86 Northern Cardinal
87 Chipping Sparrow
88 Red Winged Blackbird
89 Common Grackle
90 Boat- tailed Grackle
91 Brown Headed Cowbird - 1 small flock of juvs Corkscrew Swamp
92 House Sparrow
93 House Finch

Florida Birds #6 - Gatorland

2011-03-07T11:02:00.000-08:00

On our last morning the kids and I had a visit to Gatorland, while Julia packed. Hawky had told me about a previous visit of his and a very productive boardwalk through a mangrove swamp. He wasnt wrong. We had an excellent haul of birds in just an hour or so on the boardwalk as well as numerous egrets and herons on the main site.

Downy Woodpecker

Tri coloured Heron

Carolina Wren

Northern Parula - poor pic I know

Catbird

Piliated Woodpecker

Osprey

Woodstork

Boat tailed Grackle

Great Egret

Great Blue Heron

Florida Birds #5 - Blue Spring National Park

2011-03-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

The following pics were all taken on a 2 hour boat trip at Blue Spring State Park, near Orange City, approx 1 hour north of Orlando.

Limpkin - my 1st ever and high on my wanted list - a 2nd was seen poorly later on the trip

Another Belted Kingfisher picture

A pair of Sandhill Cranes on nest - a dozen seen during the holiday, including 3 pairs on nest on this boat trip

Red Shouldered Hawk - many seen during the holiday

A displaying male Wild Turkey - many seen on this trip, plus a group of 6 in the grounds of Magic Kingdom

Red Winged Blackbird - one of only 2 seen well, although many were seen at dusk in Orlando going to roost

Juv Bald Eagle

Common Crackle

Double Creasted Cormorant

Florida Birds #4 - The Everglades

2011-03-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

We only had half a day in the Everglades as we had to head north for the re arranged space shuttle launch (see pics posted earlier today). We still managed to see loads of Alligators, birds and fit in an airboat ride!

Belted Kingfisher from the airboat

Mottled Duck from the airboat

Palm Warbler - one of half a dozen seen

Northern Mockingbird - very common

Bald Eagles and nest

Northern Cardinal at a feeding station

Florida Birds #4 - Cork Screw Swamp (Naples)

2011-03-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

On route from Sanibel to the Everglades we stopped off at Corkscrew Swamp where we spent the morning.

Painted Bunting - my no 1 target bird!

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Blue Headed Vireo

Great Crested Flycatcher

Yellow Bellied Sapsucker

Swallow Tailed Kite - on arrival we were told that no Swallow Tailed Kites had been seen so far in 2011. Julia changed that by spotting 2 drifting over!

Eastern Pheobe

Tufted Titmouse

Female Painted Bunting

Turkey Vulture - very common - hundreds seen

Florida Birds #3

2011-03-06T07:43:00.001-08:00

The last few pics from our stay at Sanibel.

Roseatte Spoonbill or Pteradactyl coming into roost?

Another Roseatte Spoonbill at dusk

Roseatte Spoonbill - about 20 at Ding Darling

Anhinga - relatively common, 30+ seen

Pied Billed Grebe at Ding Darling at dusk - very common

Brown Pelican - very common

Florida Birds #2

2011-03-06T06:24:00.001-08:00

More pics from the first 2 days of our holiday, on and around Sanibel Island.

Kildeer, only two flocks seen all holiday, this one of a dozen birds on Sanibel

Bald Eagle - this adult returning to the nest. The nest contained 2 chicks. We saw a surprisingly large number of Bald Eagles our holiday. We saw 2 nests, both with 2 chicks and a number of individuals including one on a lamp post in downtown Orlando!

Wood Stork - 20+ seen

Little Blue Heron

Ding Darling Preserve, Sanibel, at dusk

Juv Black Crowned Night Heron

White Ibis - very common - hundreds seen all over

Green Heron

The same Green Heron

and another.....

Florida Birds #1

2011-03-06T04:50:00.000-08:00

The pictures below were all taken on the first 2 days of our holiday on or around Sanibel Island.

Spotted Sandpiper - on the beach outside our hotel

Ring Billed Gull - one of a zillion seen all over Florida

Peregrine - on a ledge about 20 feet from our hotel balcony

Black and White Warbler - one of a dozen or so seen during the holiday, this one on the first morning in the hotel grounds

Little Blue Heron, on the beach outside the hotel

Belted Kingfisher - on the jetty outside the hotel, probably over 100 seen on the holiday, with dozens seen later in the Everglades

Yellow Throated Warbler - hotel grounds

Red Bellied Woodpecker - hotel grounds

Yellow Crowned Night Heron - hotel grounds

Space Shuttle Discovery Launch - February 24th 2011 - Florida

2011-03-06T03:06:00.001-08:00

I don't think myself, Julia, Sophie or Jamie will ever forget Thursday February 24th 2011. On our third attempt we managed to see a space shuttle launch. It was an amazing and quite moving experience, but we almost didn't make it! (see below)

This was Space Shuttle Discovery's last ever launch and the 3rd from last shuttle launch ever. If we didn't see this one, we would never see one. On the day of the launch we were in the Everglades. The launch was not until 4.50pm so we had plenty of time to get to Orlando, drop off our bags and then drive the hour or so out to Cape Canaveral. We left the Everglades at 7.30am arriving in Orlando at about midday. We were staying in a friend's house (many thanks to June and Terry!) so quickly dropped off the bags, and got back on the road, hoping to arrive early at our viewing spot and relax, but as we pulled on to the interstate (motorway) we ground to a halt. 1.5 hours later we had covered 3 of the 40+ miles to our destination, and it wasn't looking good. Another hour passed as we reached a toll that I hoped was causing the long delays. We now had less than 2 hours to cover the vast majority of the journey. Thankfully within half a mile of the toll, the traffic began to move. I guess everyone on that road was in the same position, we were soon cruising at 70mph, with fingers crossed there would be no more delays, we would make it. With traffic queuing to Titusville we carried on to Cocoa where we eventually found a car parking spot at the side of the road, and walked back to a bridge to view the launch site. Phew!

Just as we began to relax, another problem arose. Via the loud speakers relaying live feed from the Mission Control Centre, it became apparent there was a problem with one of the computers. The problem persisted with regular updates every 2 minutes stating the problem had not been sorted out I really thought we would miss out again, with 2 minutes and 20 seconds to go, the message came over that the glitch had been rectified and we were good to go. The crowd cheered and well the rest is history!

It took us 4 hours to get back to Orlando. We had been on the road for 13 hours that day, but it was well worth it. The news the following morning reported on the traffic chaos, stating there were over 300,000 people there for the launch, over double the usual numbers.

Dove at first site

2011-02-19T08:36:00.000-08:00

Hot on the heels of ticking the mega Slaty Backed Gull at Rainham Marshes on Wednesday, myself, Shaun and Hawky headed to Chipping Norton, Oxon, bright and early this morning hoping to add another mega to our lists, this time our quarry being the apparently long staying and recently refound Oriental Turtle Dove.

Arriving at about 7.30am we found ourselves at the end of a long queue (approx 200 yards), which started outside No 41 The Leys where for a few days now the bird had been frequently visiting the back garden. With the kind owner allowing birders in 10 at a time at the cost of £5pp (donated to the RSPB) we soon realised that unless the bird showed away from the garden we would be in for a potentially very long wait, in the rain.

An hour or so in, and with no news from the front whether the bird had been seen or not, things were not looking good! Then from our left, across the road a bird appeared, Hawky called it immediately. Luckily it flew to the rear of No 41 and rather than settle out of site, it sat at the top of a large tree in the back garden. 200 birders jumped out of the queue and blocked the street all trying to view the bird between the houses. Everyone got onto it although not the best views were had.

5 minutes later the bird flew to the lawn in the back garden of No 41 and the 1st 10 in the queue no doubt enjoyed cracking views. Just a few minutes later again it was off and appeared to make its way along the back gardens. Despite searching we couldn't re find it, however, someone else had, it had slipped past us to the other side of the road and was showing in a tree at the back of a private field. This time I was much nearer the front which was just as well as the viewing area was small. I had a quick peek at the bird through someones scope this time providing much better views of the smart bird. With desperate birders climbing fences and generally not behaving, I thought it best to move away.

Shaun, Hawky and I celebrated with high fives, and a cup of tea and slice of home made cake, being sold by some girls living in the street rather entrepreneurially (is that a word?) raising money for charity!

Two amazing bird in 4 days! Long may this run continue!

Slaty Backed Gull - Tick and Run!

2011-02-17T08:27:00.000-08:00

When Dominic Mitchell found the Slaty Backed Gull at Rainham a few weeks back I decided to give the mega twitch a miss knowing it would be madness over at Rainham Marshes, and with over 1000 people dipping that day I wasn't wrong. Up until a week ago less than 40 people had connected with this mega rare bird, with it seemingly touring Essex and who knows where else. Then yesterday it was refound at Rainham and seemingly playing ball for a lot of the time. With news again today that it was showing on Wennington Marsh and the opportunity to get out of work early for once, I worked through lunch and left work at about 2pm. Via a train, bus and car I found myself at Rainham about an hour later, along with 50+ others.

The gull was viewable for about 30 minutes distantly, providing pretty good scope views, until a Peregrine flushed all the gulls and off they went, with the SBG flying strongly south east.

Gulls don't exactly rock my boat, but I am glad to get this mega rare one on my list.

More Waxwings in Grays

2011-01-28T07:51:00.000-08:00

With Monday AM free I managed to catch up with yet more Waxwings. This time just 3, in Grays in Essex. I'll never tire of seeing these fantastic birds and 2011 is turning out to be a bumper year.

More Waxwing pics

2011-01-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

Chief Waxwing Chaser-offer

2011-01-15T08:21:00.000-08:00

2 Pints of milk, a brown loaf and 32 Waxwings please

2011-01-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Well done Dave McGough who found these beauties whilst out shopping in Sainsbury's in Hornchurch. It was good to see so many shoppers showing an interest and asking questions.

On a wild goose chase (+ Northern Harrier)

2011-01-03T02:22:00.000-08:00

Hawky, Jono and I headed up to Norfolk yesterday on hopefully what will be decided was a wild goose chase by the powers that be. We met up with Bradders Jnr and Snr at Cantley on a mission to find a small goose with a big white flash on its head. The Lesser White Fronted Goose had been hanging around with around 100 Tiaga Bean Geese, so we hoped it would be a case of find the Tiagas and find the Lesser Whitefront. Unfortunately it wasn't that easy.

There was no sign at Cantley with the 40-ish Tiagas we could see so we headed up the road to another of its favourite haunts, Buckingham Marsh RSPB. Pulling into the car park the pager confirmed it was here just 100 yards up the path. Yipee! As soon as we clamped eyes on it we knew something wasn't right; 1. it was with Greylag not Bean Geese and 2. the white flash on its bonce was much smaller than the bird we had seen in photos of the bird we were after and 3. there were known escapes in the area! Damn! Back to the drawing board. We began the long walk out onto Buckingham picking up 2 Peregrines on the way. A mile into the muddy journey the pager bleeped to inform us that the bird had been relocated back at Cantley with 50 or so others. With restricted views from the gate at School Lane we headed to higher ground and voila! There it was! It showed well at distance for 10 minutes or so, too far for any pictures before flying off back towards Buckingham RSPB. All in all that wild goose chase took a very cold 3.5 hours.

Bradders Snr, Jono and Bradders Jnr literally on a wild goose chase

With the goose bagged we set off to Thornham to try for the now long staying American Northern Harrier. It was even colder at Thornham, and standing around waiting for the bird to show didn't help. However about an hour or so later when it eventually appeared, it was worth the wait! The bird showed very well, including making a kill. With the light beginning to fade we headed home happy.

The new hide at Titchwell in the background

Ps - Happy 40th birthday Shaun!

Bittern-tastic at Berwick

2010-12-30T07:57:00.000-08:00

I had my best ever view of a Bittern today. Jamie (my 10 year old) and I dipped the Waxwings in the rain at Pitsea so stopped off for the 3rd time in 4 days at Berwick Ponds to try for the Bitterns. At the road end we had brief flight views as one seemingly dissappeared into the reeds. We spent 20 mins searching for it before finally viewing from the road, and there it was, amazingly camoflaged but right out in the open for at least 15 minutes. Crack on!

Happy New Year everyone!

Berwick Bitterns

2010-12-28T00:42:00.000-08:00

I took my non birding mate John for a walk to Berwick Ponds late yesterday afternoon to try for a Bittern as he had never seen one and we were not dissapointed. At the road end we had 2 almost straight away, proving good flight views.

John also added Water Rail to his list with this obliging little fellow!

Upminster Waxwings

2010-12-24T07:39:00.000-08:00

Great views were had of 6 Waxwings in and around the car park at The Optimist pub in Upminster late this afternoon. With berries in abundance in Alder Close expect them to stay and gorge themselves and hopefully be joined by one or two (hundred) others!

Merry Christmas!

Thanks to Shaun for the tip off.

Come back all is forgiven!

2010-11-25T03:47:00.000-08:00

Look who Jamie and I bumped into on Monday night in IKEA! Yes ex West Ham United manager, Gianfranco Zola! If only he was at the healm at West Ham now and not the clueless Avram Grant. Come on you irons - pull yourselves together and get out of this mess!

November in Nolfolk

2010-11-25T03:16:00.000-08:00

Some pictures from our long weekend in north Norfolk, with our good friends Barry, Clare and Aimee. I promised Julia there would be no birding and by and large that was the way it went.

"Is that a Shore Lark?"

The three amigos

Ok, ok, had to get some pinkees in somewhere

Dirty Twitching - Pied Billed Grebe

2010-11-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

It really was a case of tick and run this morning for me and Jono as we made the long trip north for yet another yankee mega. I picked Jono up at 5.30am, arriving in the frozen north some 3.5 hours later. Luckily the bird was easy to locate and showed well, down to 15 feet for a few seconds, allowing some good photo opportunities (life tick #385). Unfortunately with Jono needing to be home by mid afternoon there was no time for any birding and we hit the road again to head home. This is certainly not ideal, but in this case needs must, as I would not have been able to get up there for at least 2 weeks after today.

Flushed with success - please note no American Bitterns were hurt in the production of this story

2010-11-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Ok, ok, technically the bird was flushed. Big deal. If you were there and objected fine, but just in case you weren't let's get some facts straight. One birder walked along a fence line, slowly, quietly and carefully. That's it. There was no line of people sweeping the field, no kicking of bushes or other disturbance of any kind.

100+ birders had waited patiently on the road side for over 3 hours, and in my case for the 2nd time in 2 days for a glimpse of this yankee mega and in my opinion the end justified the means. I didn't see many people there objecting at the time.

I headed down to Cornwall with my son Jamie (10), my non birding friend, Ray, and his son's Matt (12) and Adam (10). Matt is a keen birder just getting into the hobby so a lads and Dads weekend away/twitch to Cornwall must have been very exciting for him.

Jamie and Adam - enjoying lunch at St Agnes beach

A 5am start saw us make good time and we arrived in Zennor, 360 miles and around 4.5 hours later. The bird had flown to some pines about a quarter of a mile away after being harassed by a Peregrine. Was it still ok? Well, almost 3 hours later I was none the wiser as there was no further sign. With the boys getting a bit bored I decided to let them run off some steam so we headed to St Agnes to run around on the beach. A school boy error.

As we arrived in St Agnes just 30 minutes later I got a text from Bradders Jnr informing me the bird had been seen again flying over the pools (where I had been standing) and off into the distance and out of sight! Nooooooo!

After a couple of hours on the beach we headed back. The weather had turned and it was raining heavily. Another 2 hours were spent unsuccessfully up on common. Jono, Bradders Jnr, Dick and Nick arrived late afternoon, to be on site for first light. Tail between my legs we headed to the digs, arranging to meet up at 6am for another bash.

6am came and Matt and I joined the lads, and 120+ other birders in position back up on the common. nb - when I say on the common I mean on the side of the road, on the right side of the fence!

Jono, 5 minutes before seeing the bird

A cold, damp and hungry 3 hours passed before, to be honest much to our surprise, there it was. We were pretty much convinced it had gone. Therefore when Mr Bloggs asked if we minded if he carefully walked the fence line, of course we didn't, and the rest is history. American Bittern on my list (life tick #384). Unfortunately Matt had left just 30 minutes earlier. I didn't blame him. I was tempted but had to stick it out.

Crap pic, as enjoying the flight views in the bins before grabbing the camera at the last minute as it disappeared into the pines

Ray, Adam, Jamie and Matt, full of breakfast picked me up and we headed off to another beach to run around for a bit. It was still only 11am so we decided to head to the Lost Gardens of Heligan near St Austell to try and see our another American mega, Green Heron. I saw the Kent bird not long ago but was happy to see another, and we couldn't have Matt coming away with nothing when he could have got 2 yankee megas on his first ever twitch.

The weather turned far worse as we arrived. We walked in torrential rain for 30 minutes trying to find the bird after being told to go to the wrong place by some birders, and arrived soaked to the skin. Half decent scope and flight views were had but to be honest we were so wet through it spoilt it a bit. The bird was too far for decent photos and I just wanted to get back to the warmth of the car. A mega for Matt though! See here for decent photos: http://www.wansteadbirder.blogspot.com/, or http://www.bradderbirdingblog.blogspot.com/.

"Yeees, I've seen a Green Heron!"

The journey home was much more stop start taking about 6 hours eventually arriving home, tired but happy around 8.15pm. I couldn't do too many twitches like that a year.

Thanks to Ray for driving and congrats to Matt on his first mega!

A hint of Red Flanked Bluetail

2010-10-24T13:08:00.000-07:00

I took a welcome break from decorating the new extension to have a day out birding with the lads; Shaun, Hawky, Jono and Bradders Jnr, in Suffolk.

First stop was the now long staying, and very smart, Red Flanked Bluetail, in Lowerstoft, Suffolk. Luckily we located the bird, which showed well on and off, quickly and enjoyed great views. I have now been lucky enough to see three of these cracking little birds, with this one probably being the brightest in colour.

Next stop Reydon for Rough Legged Buzzard. After a lot of searching and waiting eventually we were rewarded with distant views. A pleasant surprise were 2 Waxwings, my first of the winter.

On to a long walk along Southwold beach for Shore Larks. 10 were reported, we saw 3. A flock of Twite were seen on route, and on the way back Hawky spotted a Short Eared Owl coming in off the sea being harassed by gulls.

We gave the Great Grey Shrikes a go at Westleton Heath with no joy, with a few Dartford Warblers seen.

A great day as usual with some of Essex's finest!

Red KIte Cafe

2010-10-17T11:23:00.000-07:00

If you are a fan of bacon sarnies and/or Red Kites, get yourself down to Chris' cafe, in Stockenchurch, Bucks. At 12pm each day (closed Sundays) scraps are thrown out into the car park and a Red Kite feeding bonanza ensues, providing plenty of photo opportunities. Enjoy!

Shetland Birds - October 2010

2010-10-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from my recent trip to Shetland. A fantastic trip that included 6 life ticks (see post below) and many other good birds.

Lanceolated Warbler - Unst

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll - Unst

Glaucous Gull - Lerwick

Buff Breasted Sandpiper - Eshaness

Red Breasted Flycatcher - Out Skerries

Black Headed Bunting - Out Skerries

Citrine Wagtail - Out Skerries

Black Guillimots - Vidalin

Otters - Vidalin

Raddes Warbler - Sumburgh

Shetland update - six of the best!

2010-10-07T23:02:00.000-07:00

Six days, six ticks! The highlights: (new birds) Sykes Warbler; Swainsons Thrush; Black Headed Bunting; Buff Bellied Pipit; Hornemanns Arctic Redpoll and Lanceolated Warbler! As well as this impressive bunch also seen were Citrine Wagtail, two Buff Breasted Sandpipers, Red Breasted Flycatcher, Barred Warbler, Yellow Browed Warblers, Raddes Warbler, Glaucous Gull and Short Toed Lark. Four Otters were also seen well.
Full trip report to follow soon.

Shetland Bound

2010-10-01T04:57:00.000-07:00

Does anyone know where I can by a re inforced umbrella? Tomorrow I am off to Shetland with a few of the lads and apparently Mr Weatherforcasterman is saying Shetland is going to be battered today and tomorrow with at least a million mile an hour south/easterlies, and therefore Mr UK400man is suggesting that we will be triping over megas. This being the case I expect to have common muck such as Barred warblers, Rosefinches, Bluethroats, Yellow Browdes, PG Tips etc raining out of the heavens, hence the need for the umbrella.

So far, bar the Norfolk yankee flycatcher sp. it has gone somewhat spectacularly wrong this autumn bird wise, missing out on lifers; Arctic Warbler, Isabaline Shrike and Icky (yes I still need icky!) so I am hoping to put it all right with a haul of megas on Shetland so impressive, you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel! (I love Blackadder as well as birding)

Watch this space!

No Pain No Gain - Flycatcher sp. Blakeney Point

2010-09-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

Yankee Flycatcher sp. (thanks Shaun for pic)

Walking the three arduous miles of Blakeney Point with Shaun in driving rain and gale force winds was extremely hard work but worth it for this yankee rarity, although I must admit I will be quite pleased not to have to do that walk again for a while. A single Brambling was also present in the plantation. Two hours after setting off from a flooded Cley beach car park we were heading back, soaked to the skin but very happy. The return leg was made easier along the beach, and we were rewarded with Arctic Skua and Grey Phalarope flying along the beach and within 20 feet over or heads.

Hopefully some clever clogs will be able to decide if it's an Alder, Willow, Least, Yellow Bellied etc, so until they do Flycatcher sp. goes on the list (#373)

Return of the Dip Monkey

2010-09-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

Two days, three dips. Three times I've twitched East Yorkshire, three times I've dipped. This time Brown Flycatcher, previously it was Pechora Pipit and Brown Shrike. On Sunday I dipped an Icky (my 5th Icky dip) at Landguard and the least said the better about the Brown Fly and subsequent R B Fly dip day yesterday. Some pics from the weekend:

Adding Cory's Shearwater to my UK list - Norfolk in chance

2010-08-31T01:42:00.000-07:00

I've seen quite a few Cory's Shearwaters. It was a number of years ago on a whale watching trip in the Bay of Biscay, but I've never really come close to adding one to my British list. So when Mr BBC weatherforecasterman informed me that on Monday there would be gale force northerly winds battering the north Norfolk coast, I thought I would have a good chance of adding the large shearwater to my list.

"Wake me up when something happens"

"Wake me up when something happens"I was not the only person who had this thought. I made the 2.5 hours journey alone arriving at Sheringham at 7.00am to find the shelters packed to the rafters with Cory hungry birders, including fellow Essex birders; Messers Bradders Jnr and Jono "The Leth" Lethbridge. With the skies grey and the waves smashing in against the shore, things looked very promising. It didn't take long to add shearwaters to the day list with both Sooty and Manxs passing through west. Unfortunately the constant steam of Arctic and Great Skuas were not interrupted by any Long Tailed or Poms though. Good views were had of a relatively close Storm Petrel, which got the Norfolk birders excited, being a tough bird to catch up with in the county.

As we reached late morning, the skies began to clear, the grey clouds replaced with blue skies. Birders started to drifting off (to sleep) Coryless. The pager was quiet so I decided to head home early and bag a few brownie points rather than hang about and bash a few bushes or twitch a juvy type Red Backed Shrike or two but with hopeful a good autumn about to kick off I'll save that for another day soon, hopefully. As for Corys, there's always next year!

Vange Spoonbills

2010-08-23T08:54:00.000-07:00

Off work today looking after the kids I managed to convince them that a quick visit to Vange RSPB after lunch would be more fun than watching the Disney Channel or playing on the Wii.

Their enthusiasm (dragged them kicking and screaming) was for some reason not heightened by the news that they could possibly see 3 Spoonbills and a juvy type Red Backed Shrike! Kids!

30 mins after leaving home we parked on the grass verge by the entrance and off we set. 10 minutes later I located the 3 Spoonbills fast asleep. The grey skies seemed to get much greyer very quickly and rain began to fall (I am sure I saw the kids do a rain dance) The kids looked at them for at least a millisecond look through the scope and I tried unsuccessfully to take a couple of distant digiscoped shots. With the rain falling and kids moaning I decided it best not to suggest we walk round for an hour to try and locate the shrike and headed back to the car. By the time we got home 30 minutes later the sun was shining and no doiubt the shrike was sitting up on a bush providing cracking views to someone.

Broad Billed Sandpiper - East Mersey Essex

2010-08-23T01:23:00.000-07:00

Just as our friends arrived for lunch yesterday by phone vibrated to let me know that a text had arrived from Hawky. "Broad Billed Sand...East Mersey". Three hours later I was putting my scope, bins and camera into the boot and was heading east on the A12. Half way through the 80 minute drive and other text from Hawky confirmed it was still there.

Parking up I hooked up with 2 friendly fellow birders from Suffolk and began the long walk to the bird, and it was a long walk. What seemed like ages later we arrived to double the number of birders on site to 6!

The bird was showing distantly (approx 200yards) across the river on the mud with Ringed Plover and helpfully with Dunlin, which when close showed the size and plumage difference nicely. (life tick #372)

Picture from by Sean Nixon - thanks

California Trip Birds - Poor and record shots - help with ID required

2010-08-12T00:28:00.001-07:00

Ok, here a few shots that I need some help with. Some are ok, some are distant and some are blurry. Please let me have your suggestions via the comments or at martin.blow@rocketmail.com. Thanks.

Chipping Sparrow?

Hairy?

Help? Townsend Warbler?

Purple Finch?

Sage Sparrow?

Juv - White Crowned Sparrow?

As above?

Taken by Sophie. Savanagh Sparrow?

Orange Crowned Warbler?

Northern Mockingbird - it doesn't look quite right to me?

Belted Kingfisher?

California - more pics

2010-08-09T10:31:00.000-07:00

Sea Otter - unlike a River Otter these beauties are much bigger at 1.2 metres in length - this was one of a handful found early morning in the harbour in Monterey.

Columbian Black Tailed Deer

Sea Lions - lots of smelly Sea Lions - Monterey harbour, many more than at the famous Sea Lion haunt at Pier 39, San Fransisco

Golden Mantled Ground Squirrel - not a chipmunk - thanks Ryan for the info

California Highlights - Elephant Seals

2010-08-09T07:50:00.000-07:00

Around 75 miles south of San Fransisco off Highway 1 is the Anu Nuevo State Reserve. Each summer for about 6 weeks Elephant Seals arrive to shed their hides and skin. With each one weighing in excess of 3000lb they really are a very impressive sight as they males jostle in the surf!

California Whale Watching in Monterey Bay

2010-08-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday 5th August we went on a half day (morning) whale watching trip in Monterey Bay. A detailed account of our fantastic trip will follow in the holiday trip report on ELBF (http://www.elbf.co.uk/tripreports/htm in a week or so.

We were lucky to see 2 Blue and 26 Humpback Whales, 100+ Rissos Dolphins and double figure Northern Right Whale Dolphins, as well as 3 Black Footed Albatross', Cassin's Auklet, Red Necked and Red Phalaropes, Sooty Shearwaters, a probable Pink Footed Shearwater and many Common Murre.

A Humpback 20 feet from the boat!

A mother and calf.

The largest creature to have ever lived on earth, bigger than any dinosaur, the Blue Whale.

With a passing Sooty Shearwater

California Highlights #4

2010-08-09T06:06:00.001-07:00

Rock Wren

Black Necked Stilts & Snowy Egret

American Goldfinch

Red Tailed Hawk

Turkey Vulture

Raven

Chipping Sparrow

Clark's Nutcracker
Great Blue Heron

Snowy Egret

Bush Tit

Western Gull

American Robin

California Highlights #3

2010-08-08T23:16:00.001-07:00

Black Footed Albatross (wow!)

Black Footed Albatross

White Crowned Sparrow

Wrentit

Commom Murre (adult and juv)

Red Necked Phalaropes

Pigeon Guillimot

Heermann's Gull

Black Crowned Night Heron

Brown Pelican

California Highlights #2

2010-08-08T22:51:00.000-07:00

Steller's Jay

Blue (Pacific Sooty)Grouse

White Headed Woodpecker

Dark Eyed Junko

Sage Thrasher

Brewers Blackbird (probably the most common bird we saw)

Red Winged Blackbird (the only one we saw briefly!)

Northern Flicker

Cassin's Finch

American Robins

Yellow Rumped Warbler

California Highlights #1

2010-08-08T22:09:00.000-07:00

Just back from my family fly drive holiday to California. We had a great time, visiting some fantastic places. A detailed trip report will be available in the next week or two via ELBF (www.elbf.co.uk/tripreports.htm) however for now here are some pictures of just a few of the birds we saw along the way.

Clark's Nutcracker

Red Breasted Nuthatch

Housefinch

Anna's Hummingbird

Western Scrub Jay

White Pelicans

Spotted Towhee

California Towhee

Osprey

White Breasted Nuthatch

Western Tanager

Evening Grosbeak

Black Pheobe

A not very Poplar Hawk Moth

2010-07-21T04:04:00.000-07:00

At precisely 11.32pm last night, as I lay asleep in bed, my wife Julia shook me up to wake me up, "There's a huge moth in the bedroom, it just flew in through the window, get it" and then she took cover under the duvet. Rubbing my blurry eyes I expected to find a small moth fluttering around the light, but instead I was pleasantly suprised to see in fact it was a Poplar Hawk Moth. After a few minutes of bashing around the walls it settled on the curtains. Downstairs I went to get a camera to take a few snaps, before coaxing the beast out of the window, much to Julia's relief.

That's Lime, Privet and now Poplar Hawk Moth in and around my house within a month or so.

Jono hears that the White Tailed Plover is relocated on Wanstead Flats

2010-07-11T13:54:00.000-07:00

British Grand Prix Twitch

2010-07-11T06:12:00.000-07:00

On Friday I was offered two tickets for the qualifying session for the British Grand Prix. Although not into motor racing it was a too good opportunity to miss. Jamie (my 10 year old) and I joined Chris and James Butcher (in Jamie's class) for the day at Silverstone.

And they're off!

Lewis Hamilton leaving the pits

And again meeting the crowds

Michael Schumacher!

Jenson Button's disappointing time left him 14th on the starting grid for the race itself