Woodchat Shrike, Rainham marshes.

A call from Brian asks if we fancy a trip over to Rainham, as a Woodchat Shrike has been seen there.    

It's 1 pm so the trip turns out a lot longer than normal, it's only 18 miles from home but the traffic is heavy and that means we arrive after 2 o'clock. 

We drive to ferry lane first in the hope we can get a view from there but we soon realize that is a mistake and we head off to the reserve and meet a young birder who tells us where to go as he has just seen the target bird. 

It turns out that we have a long walk up past Target Pool to shooting buts hide. it is a rainy afternoon but not too bad, as we near where the bird is Tom B points to tell us the Shrike had just flown to a bush near to us, with bins and scopes out we are soon looking at a cracking year tick. 

Swifts and Martins are in big numbers and I get another year tick when we see House Martin flying low over the water. 

A nice little trip with a great bird and nice talking to a few local birders.

Woodchat Shrike

A Whitethroat 

Quick run over the flats this morning.

 Brian called to see if we wanted to shoot over our local Wanstead flats for an hour or so, Whinchat is the bird we are looking for and as soon as the car is parked we see a couple in the fenced-off area. Such a great-looking bird to watch as it sits up for great views.  

Jimmy gets a tick when we get Lesser Whitethroat as we have a walk around. 

Nice to meet up with Marko and a couple of local birders before we head off home, short but sweet trip.

The Whinchat on the flats today.

mid week trip to Minsmere plus Surf Scotor & Dunwich.

 The three of us set off early for a mid-week visit to Minsmere in Sufffolk.  It's only 7 am when we arrive and we have the reserve to ourselves for a while.  

As we head up to the new boardwalk we hear our first Cuckoo of the year, with the place being so quiet we hear Grasshopper Warbler as we walk, a good tick for me, the boys already had one last week. Nightingales are heard and we see a few Bearded Tits.

The new boardwalk up to the first hide is a great improvement to the site. Once in the hide, we see Dunlin, Ring Plover, Garganey, Med Gulls, Knot, Oystercatcher, Barnacle Geese, 2 Greenshank, and the only tick we needed was Sandwich Tern.

Looking out to sea large flocks of Kittiwake gives me another year tick. We spend a couple of hours walking around but no more ticks, a search for Dartford Warbler is in vain, so it's a short trip up the road to Dunwich Heath, and as a member of the National Trust I get to park for free always a bonus. 

Only walked a short way on the heath before a pair of Dartford Warblers show and more are heard. Many Sandmartin flew about with Swallows but never saw any Housemartin.

6 miles along the coast we head to Walberswick to search for the Surf Scoter. 

Parked up we walk a few hundred yards up the beach where a flock of Scotor are seen.

They are a fair way out and the sun wasn't helping us,  but the scopes soon picked it out and it was easy to spot once on it. 

A nice Bar-tailed Godwit

Two of the Barnacle Geese.

On the right a long way out to sea but that's the Surf Scotor.

Frampton comes up trumps with a few year ticks.

A late-night call gets us up early for a trip to a real favorite reserve of ours in Lincolnshire Frampton RSPB.  

We arrive in the car park at 8 am and scan over the fence where there is loads of water and it is packed with many birds.

The boys already had the Lesser-Yellowlegs from another trip that I missed but I soon put that right when the Lesser-Yellowlegs showed well for my tick.

A Black-winged Stilt was soon found over the back of the scrape for a good tick. Looking over this scrape is so good that we had to drag ourselves away to look for more stuff.

Up at 360 hide, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover are seen, while in the hide a lady that we had been talking to came back to the hide to tell us that the Black- Tern that had been reported had just been relocated up by the end of the track to the hide, so a quick run up there see's us get a really good year tick, the Tern gives a really good up and down display. 

Brian then picked out a couple of Little Gulls for another good tick and then a fellow next to us found a Gull that he wasn't sure of, so he got Brian to have a look and it turned out to be a Bonaparte's Gull. it had been reported the day before but had not been seen today so a really great find. 

Also seen while here Greenshank, Spotted-Redshank, a few Yellow-Wagtails a White Wagtail, a Great-white Egret, and a Little Egret a sedge Warbler get us a year tick. 

As I said we love this place and on the right day it's a magic place for us, and this visit was one of them.

The Black Tern

Again

The Bonaparte's Gull

A bit far off but the Black-winged Stilt

Nightingales & Yellow Wagtails at Abberton reservoir.

On Wednesday it's a short trip to Abberton Res in Essex hoping that Nightingales have arrived.

We tried our local patch at Waltham Abbey but never heard any on Tues. So we meet up and arrive nice and early and the Nightingales are singing loud and clear but seeing any was a bit harder, perseverance paid off and we all got a couple of sightings.

A quick scan from the causeway over the Res gets us a year tick of an Artic Tern also seen  Little-ringed Plover shows.

Once again time was of a premium so a quick drop into the farm where 3 Yellow- Wagtails show well for another year tick before we had to shoot off home.

Yellow -Wagtail

Again

Garganey & Stone-curlew gives us a nice morning in the Brecks & Lakenheath.

Brian gave us an early call asking if we wanted to go to Cavenham for the Stone-Curlews.  

So a quick cup of tea and some toast and on our way around 6am.

The early start pays off when we arrive to find a fellow birder already has a few Stone-Curlew

and we are soon onto them and we spot 5 in all.

I need a Woodlark for a year tick but to my surprise, I never heard or saw any, Brian heard one while Jimmy and I walked about in the hope of getting a year tick, Jimmy already heard one a couple of weeks ago when I again missed it.

We see a few Wheatear and Stonechat plus 0ne Lesser Redpoll, a Red-legged Partridge, and a 

nice Red Kite along with Kestrel gets us off to a good start for the morning.

Off now to Lakenheath 20 minutes up the road.

We soon pick out 3 Garganey way over the back of the pool but they are well hidden by the reeds so a long way off, as we walk around the water opposite the east forest we spot 3 more to give us the most that we have seen in one go, 4 Drakes and 2 female.

Water Pipit had been seen yesterday here but we never found them.

4 Great Egrets along with a few Little Egrets are seen to round off the morning.

 Stone-Curlew

One of the 6 Garganeys seen.

 

Ring Ouzel + Wheatears & Sand Martins at KGV res

 A late afternoon trip over our local reservoir as we have heard of a Ring Ouzel over there.

It's only a short trip but the 20 miles per hour signs slows us down.

As soon as we arrive we find a few first-of-the-year Wheatears, then another year tick when 2 Sand Martins fly along the water then back again over our heads.

We meet up with a couple of birders that Brian knew and after a talk, we head off in different directions in the hope of finding the Ouzel.

About 20 minutes later we heard a loud shout that told us that the other two fellows had found the bird.

We shoot off back toward the yacht club and meet up with them and the Ring Ouzel is there

just by the fence, so another good year tick for all of us.

One of the other fellows tells us he needed the Ouzel for a lifer so nice to share that with him.

The Ring Ouzel

Again