Wallasea Island Barn Owl

The last trip of the year, one more try to see a male Hen Harrier.
We set out at 12 o'clock for the 40 mile trip just past Southend on sea,the car park is right where we have to be, just a walk up the bank to scan across both the water & the fields.
The first bird we see is a Peregrine sitting on the ground for about an hour, it's a fair distance away, but good views in the scope, plenty of Brent Geese on the water,a Redshank also seen.
It's really blowing a gale, so Jimmy & myself drop down to get out of the wind, we soon pick out some Corn Bunting, at least 3 Kestrel, 2 Stonechat sitting up showing well.2 Little Egrets, 1 Marsh Harrier.
Time is getting on & we move back up to another spot, we stop in the car & look out for any Raptors.
Not to long to wait before a Barn Owl flies right towards us & gives great views.
Just as we think about going a Short-eared Owl gives a brief show not to far away from us.
So no Hen  Harriers, but a pleasant afternoon out despite the wind.
And finally good bye to the old faithful boots, they have kept my feet dry all over this wonderful country of ours, many counties, plus Scotland & Wales. I might just hang them in the shed as a reminder of all the good times they have been on with me.
My year total ended on 252 Birds, only a few dips over the year so a really great year. .                                                                                         .
                                                                                    
                                                                                    

                                                                                       





Hello the new

Goodbye the old

 



2012 Best Birds Seen

Spanish Sparrow



Puffin



Desert Wheatear

A really great year spent with the boys, going all over the country & seeing 251 birds, that is about 26 more than last year & the best year so far.

We have seen some really great birds & been to many nice places & meet some old & new faces,
along the way we have had some laughs.
I must say a big thank you to Brian for driving us all over the place, & along with Jimmy spotting all the birds for me.                                                

Hoopoe

These are the best birds that I got a good  enough photo off for the year
The best place that we visited had to be our trip to Scottland, the White-tailed Eagle, 5 Golden Eagle, Crested Tit,& many more that I never got near enough to get a photo off, but the sight off these birds will stay in the memory for a long time.
The best bird of the year for me has to be the Hoopoe as we chased it for 3 years, & it was our target bird for the year.
I have seen many birds for the first time this year,& I am looking forward to seeing many more next year, I just hope Robert can find the time to tag along with us a bit more in the new year. so happy birding to all, & a very healthy & happy new year.



Glossy Ibis

Dark-eyed Junco



Waxwing

Great white Egret




hornemann's Artic Redpoll



Alpine Swift

Buff-bellied Pipit



 

Sacred Ibis + Richardson's Canada Goose.

Unexpected trip to Norfolk, the weather is not going to be as bad as we first thought, so we meet up & 2 hours later we arrive at Salthouse Beach.
The target a Richardson's Canadian Goose, off down the Beach towards Kelling, we get half way & no sign, so we jump in the car & drive to Kelling, it''s about 1 mile away.
Car parked we walk down a trail, it brings us out over looking the fields by Salthouse.
Brian soon spot's some Geese a long way over the back of the field, & soon picks out the target bird, it is a great deal smaller than the rest of the Canadian Geese, but a bit bigger than the Brent.



Just a little smaller( on the right)

We want a better view, so we go back to Salthouse car park, we then walk along to the Geese, this is a much better view.   


Richardson's Canada Goose

Now we head to Cley, on the way there Brian thinks he's seen the Sacred Ibis in with some Swan's, so the car stops in a lay by, over the road & straight on to the Ibis,just as we see it it flies off a bit farther away, but still giving us a view.

I take a photo as it flies , but it is only a record shot.

We move on to Stiffkey Saltmarsh, as we spend an hour here, we see 3 Female Hen    Harriers, 1 male Marsh Harrier, some Redshank,Little Egrets, Curlew. but the male Hen Harrier never showed again.

That's enough for today now into Burger King, then off home to start thinking about xmas.

Quick Trip in Essex.

As I had a hospital appointment at 4 o'clock today, the boys decide we will stay close to home as the next few days are going to be very wet, it is today or wait a few days for it to clear.
So we meet up & head to Layer- Breton causeway at Abberton, its still dull when we arrive, the first sighting is 2 drake Goldeneye,  we park & scan both sides of the road, the drakes have gone out to the middle so no photo, as I said it's dull so just as well they would not have been worth it.


Egyptian Goose

Brian soon picks out 2 male Smew, then a single Snipe is seen, as the light is getting better now we scan again & another 12 Snipe appear, all the usual stuff are spread all over, plenty of Mute Swan, Teal, a female Goldeneye shows,a nice Egyptian Goose strolls by.
We move to a new site that a fellow had just told us about just round the corner,
It's called Abbots Hall Farm, the boys knew about this but we haven't visited before, it turns out to be a great place to watch birds.
We head down a track towards the large hide, as we go we see all sorts of Finches, Linnets, Greenfinch,a few Yellowhammers, Reed Bunting also seen, apart from the water on the track it's still a nice walk.
When we reach the hide it is empty, a nice long roomy hide, so we spread our self out on the benches,
There are some Pintail along with a single Heron, a couple of Little Egrets, plenty of Brent Geese
At least 6 Marsh Harriers are picked out, at the right time of year this will be on our list to visit again.

We head towards home via a stop off at Bradwell -on sea, we walk to what is reported to be the oldest Church in England, called St Peter Ad Murum, this is another new place to us.
Heading down we soon come to the Bradwell Bird Observatory with feeders out side, it is full of Greenfinch, Goldfinch, many Tits, including a single Marsh Tit, that the locals have called Brian as it comes every day they thought to give it a name, I wonder why Brian! as we have never been here before it is too much of a coincident I think.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          We have come here to try to see a Male Hen Harrier, one was seen here this week, we always find female, but the male eludes us, after a good time looking for one it is time for us to go, so missed out again, another nice place, that we will visit again.


 Brian

So nothing special about today , but a very pleasant day out just watching some nice birds at some nice places.





Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll suffolk

We meet up at usual place, to drive 100 miles to Aldeburgh in Suffolk for a look at the Hornemann's.
We arrive & park the car by the beach, as we get out we see a mass of birders heading towards us, just then the target bird drops down in front of us on the beach, it's a bit grey but cameras must start clicking to capture photo's of this cracking little bird.
We spend a long time just looking at it as it is the most accommodating bird ever, even sitting on top of the grass tuffs, shame about the light, the beach is now full of birders all clicking away.
                                                                                       
                                                                                               



Barnacle Geese

We call it a day at Aldeburgh, & head of to Minsmere, on the way we stop off to look for some Bean Geese that have been reported, a quick scan & they are picked up a long way from us in a corner of the field, right in front of us are a big flock of Barnacle Geese.nothing else about so off  to Minsmere.

Buff-bellied Pipit. in Berkshire ( Lifer )

Jimmy & I think about going for the reported Buff-bellied Pipit, but the weather is really not to good, so it's yes, no, maybe, then it's yes but we look it up to make sure it's OK to get in the Reservoir to see it & it says
the permits were not being handed out today as there was nobody to man the gate, so the trip is off again.
So we give it one more try & it comes up that Lee Evans is Manning the gate to let every one see it.
A quick call to Brian to find out where he is, & it's lucky he is in Watford, so we arrange to meet at a church
near there.
so we set off 20 miles or so & get in Brian's car to drive the 15 mile's to the reservoir.
On arrival we find Lee sitting in his car, & he tells us the bird is showing well, it's about 1 mile or more to where the bird is, we get there to find the target walking about in front of us.
We get great view's, the weather is really horrible but photo's are taken anyway.
Just a trip to see one bird today, but the bird has flown all the way from the USA, so it would be rude not to have come, soaking wet we head off for home.
Before we leave we say a big thank you to Lee Evans for putting his self out for all the people to see this mega bird, I think this was above the call of duty, so good on you Lee.

This was 251 tick's for the year & also a lifer for all three of us.




Buff-bellied Pipit




Buff-bellied Pipit



Hawfinch at Bramfield 250th year bird tick

Another lifer for me a Hawfinch seen at St Andrew's church in Bramfield.
I have dipped out at least 3 times this year looking for one, when we arrived at just after 7 o'clock it was really bad light & a mist was spreading over the field's, but the first bird we see is a nice Barn Owl flying at the side of the church & then sits on a post but in bad light it's to far away for a photo, as I walk round the church another Barn Owl flies up to give a beautiful view.
As we stand looking for the Hawfinch, Brian starts to take the Mickey out of me & calls me a tart as I had not seen a Hawfinch before, later on about 50 other birder's turn up & as we have a good old talk to a lot of them it turns out that many of them needed the bird for a life tick,so it seems I was in good company.
After about an hour we see up to 5 Hawfinchs fly in to the churchyard, they don't hang about to long & fly off over the road.
In all we spend about 5 hours here & we see the birds flying back & forth into the churchyard on many occasions, but the light was very bad to get anything like a good photo for the equipment I have.


Not great but better than nothing

As I have said these birds are pulling in the birders one being Lee Evans, which we didn't think would be so popular. we meet some nice people & have a good old talk, Paul Hackett who is a digiscoping expert  gives the boys some really good advice.
We see what we think is 5 + 3 Hawfinchs but not sure if they were the same birds seen again.
Last year was the first year that I started to list the birds that I had seen & 223 where seen so to reach 250 birds this year is a good effort for me.Thanks to Brian for taking me everywhere to see all these birds, also thanks to Jimmy who along with Brian spot the birds for me to see.

Before we head home we call in at Amwell to see the Scaup & a really good looking pair of Smew. it's my first visit to Amwell & it's a nice place so I will be coming back again,the boys had been here before, but it must have been before I got into birding.


Off home now another nice day birding
meeting some nice people & seeing the
target bird, always gives a nice feeling
on the drive back,although not to far from
home today.


Amwell

                                                                                                

                                                                              


Just about a pair of Smew

Long-tailed Tit

                                                                                              









Epping Forest in the snow

A really nice walk in the forest today with Jimmy to get some photos, we hope to see the Mandarin at Strawberry Pond,but the ice on the pond stops us seeing them.so we take some nice photos of the forest & then head off to Fisher's Green, this is Jimmy's patch so we hope to see something new there.
We spend a couple of hour's walking down by the farm, but nothing to add today.

Waxwing in Buckhurst Hill.

Only 2 minutes from home at Albert Rd, & Loughton way traffic lights, in a large leafless tree I see 17 Waxwings at the top.

As I get my bins out to view they fly away over the roof tops, just as Brian turns up he had got a call from Jimmy telling him where they were, I jump in his car & we tour the roads looking for them, we don't spend to long looking for them, & head back to where we first saw them, bingo they are back on the same tree, so we set ourself up to get some photos, we wait for them to come down to feed a bit closer to us,after a few minutes they start to come down to feed on the few berries that are left on the bush.

Camera''s out & we start shooting away, as we stand there another birder turns up to see them after seeing Jimmy's posting on bird guides. A nice little hour spent watching these lovely birds so close to my house.



Ring-Necked Duck at Eyebrook Reservoir

Brian went to Twickenham to see 15 battered Kiwis, so Jimmy & I had to plan a trip without him,we decide to head to Leicestershire for the Ring-Necked Duck that has already been seen by Brian last week.
We set out at 6 'oclock & drive the 100 miles & arrive about 8 o'clock, we are on the Island side when we arrive & need to drive round to the Plantation side.
We jump the gate & walk down & start to scan the water, groups of Tuffed Duck are every where,we stop at each clearing to scan, I walk a bit away from Jimmy to give us more chance of spotting the Duck, as soon as I go the call comes got it from Jimmy, back as quick as I could & get great views in the scope, it's easy to see once you get on to it amongst the Tuffed, this is another lifer for me & 249 so far for the year.it is Jimmy's 250th not a bad bird to see for him to reach that target.
As we over look the water we see plenty of Goldeneye,
then a female Goosander is seen,a Smew is reported here ,but we don't see it.
A nice place here & I think another vist soon.

on the left Ring-Necked Duck



Ringed-Necked Duck



Goosander



Off now to find Fermyn woods & country park that a fellow birder told us about, he says we might see Hawfinch,so being as we both need this for a tick having

Over looking the Reservoir

 missed it early in the year, off we go it's about 13 miles away so not bad.we find the park pay the £2.50 to park all day & set off to walk the woods.The first thing we see is a nice couple of Red Kite flying right above our heads.Next up is a Common Buzzard,as we walk we see many Fieldfare,also Redwing,then 3 more Red Kite pop up.the Warden has told us a Hawfinch has been seen today, but after a couple of hours we have to give up to head home without seeing any.

A really nice place to see plenty of birds and in a pleasant surroundings's, I am sure we will vist here with Brian some time soon.





Red Kite

  

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