Day at Minsmere.

Jimmy has a day off work, so we make the most of it,but do not know where to head to, as nothing is being reported within our area we decide to go to Minsmere for the day.
A Surf Scoter has been seen yesterday off shore near Sizewell,  we don't expect it to have hung about over night, but we may as well give it a go.
It's 100 miles & it takes us just about 2 hours  before we arrive at the little car park near Sizewell power station.
There are a few people looking for the Scoter when we hit the beach, but nothing doing at the moment.
We spread out to give our self more chance of seeing the target bird, but it's one of those days where nothing much about on the sea. A flock of Scoters are seen flying past,our bird is not with them,
One of the birders tells us a Shore Lark was seen yesterday down by the open hide, so with nothing doing here we walk with him along the beach & on the way we hear some Bearded Tits, we spend some time looking over the reeds & soon see at least eight of them popping about from reed to reed,always nice to see them. also we see plenty of Meadow Pipit.
The walk down to the hide is a lot longer than I would have liked but still all for a good reason I hope.
The scrape is full of all the usual stuff, so we scan the scrape for a short while but we see no year ticks here.
It's a really pleasant day so it's no hardship being here as Jimmy said it beats work any day, we have another look up on the beach for the Shore Lark but no luck this time.
So no more ticks to add for October list but a good day out by the sea

Great October eight lifers + two year ticks.

The month started very badly with a few dips, mainly at Lynford looking for the Two-barred Crossbill.
Then things started to pick up for me & the boys when we got a great view of the Red-breasted Flycatcher  at Warham in Norfolk (1 ) next up we get the Lesser grey Shrike at Capel fleet (2), while here we get a year tick as well in Lapland Bunting.
Off on a roll now the best day of the month starts at Cley where I see my first Long-eared Owl,(3) I had made this bird my one to see this year as I had dipped on it last year a couple of times, so a great start to the day for me.
Pallas's Warbler(4) is the next lifer for me on the same day at Warham Green, I had also dipped on this bird earlier in the year so this is also sweet for me to pick it up here.
Still on the same day we head to West Runton for our first ever Dusky Warbler (5) a really great day only a couple of hours from home.
Then it's off to Hayling Island & we see the Semipalmated Plover on the beach, this is lifer number (6) for the month, a funny little bird that I'm not to sure it was worth the really bad soaking we all got, still we had a really good laugh about it on the way home, it would not have been quite so funny if we had missed the bird.
Also a year tick picked up while near here with the Red-breasted Goose.
The last weekend of the month See's Jimmy & myself finally get to see a Two-barred Crossbill (7) that we had dipped on four times before at Lynford, the views we get more than make up for the dips that  we had on the other occasions 's. To make the day even better is also seeing a Parrot Crossbill (8) at the same place.
I think Jimmy is going to get a day off on Wednesday so maybe we might just add to the October list.
It's been a great month for us with plenty of birds seen & meeting some really nice people & some new places visited.

Two more lifers at Hemsted Forest.Parrot & Two barred Crossbill.

With Brian working this morning, I drive Jimmy the 70 miles to Hempsted Forest in Kent. It takes about one hour & 20 minutes, there are five or six people already here, one being Dave B, nobody had seen anything up till now, so we have a talk as we scan the trees.
We see plenty of Crossbill but no target birds.
After another thirty minutes we get onto our first Two-barred Crossbill,we have dipped four times looking for this bird at Lyford so this is sweet another  lifer for both of us.
The view with the scope is really a good one, we can pick it out really easy, not just the two bars down the wing but the raspberry colour stands out on this male bird against the common Crossbills.
Now we start the look for the Parrot Crossbill.
There are now forty or more birders all looking with us, we stay with the main group for the next hour or so, then I decide to walk round to the clearing on the west side of the ride, Jimmy soon follows with five other birders, an hour goes by before we see any sign of Crossbill again.
One single bird lands at the top of the trees in front of us, every one is on to it & it is soon identified as a Parrot Crossbill, we are all convinced we have our bird, a fellow gets a photo & it confirms to us that we do have our target bird.
It has a bigger beak & thick neck & a flatter head, so we have waited to get these two birds but at last we have both of them for two lifers for the day.

Jimmy on the way home very happy with two more lifers.

A few of the birders at our first visit here.

Another lifer Semipalmated Plover at Hayling Island.

We missed out on sat as Brian had to work ? . Jimmy & myself talk about going to Hemsted Forest in Kent for the Parrot Crossbill, but with the weather looking bad we decide against going & hope to get out with Brian on Sunday.
We get the text at 5 am to meet up at 6 am, the target for the day is in Hampshire on Hayling Island the reported Semipalmated Plover.
So off we go for the 120 odd mile trip, on arrival we head to Milford first to look for the Red-breasted Goose, we give it some time looking for it at the reported place but it is not seen.
The Long-billed Dowitcher comes on the pager, it is only 10 minutes away from us , so of we head to Keyhaven Lagoon & soon meet up with the  people that had just put it on the pager, alas the bird had just flown away from the spot that they had reported it from, they seem to think it is still somewhere on the Fishtail Lagoon, so we give it a good few hours going to Butts & then back again to Fishtail Lagoons, I don't know how far we walked in search of the bird but the legs felt heavy after going up & down the stone walkway trying to keep out of the strong wind, in the end we have to give up & we head back to see the R-b Goose that has just been seen back at Milford.
A sign at the top of the road that we had just come down said the road was shut, we take no notice & head back to the bridge that we came over this morning, then we find out why the road is shut, the sea had washed all over the road making it impassable, but that was where the Goose was right in front of us, so we got away with it & many other drivers did the same as us so we don't feel to guilty about it
We head to Hayling Island now thinking maybe we have spent to much time looking for the other birds & will miss any chance of seeing what we really came here for, as we drive the good old pager goes off. to say it was on the beach again, we are 50 miles away & the weather is not looking to good but we have to give it a go.
We get there & see a few birders getting back in their cars, the words are spoken is it still about, the answer is yes but the sea has started to lap over the flock that it is with.
We run down the beach as fast as the old legs will go these days, come to think of it I got there before the two younger fit boys, always could out run them.
The bird is still there, so a quick look in  a fellow's scope already set up just to make sure not to miss it.
With the bird ticked we move down where the main group have set up to get a better view, we are not able to get a photo as it's a nasty day now & it's such a small bird in with all the Dunlin & some Ringed Plover it's hard to see, in the scope it's a great view, this is another lifer for all three of us.
Year tick 261 & my 300 life tick. We think it's time to head home before the rain comes, to late we are about to get the biggest soaking of our life's as a mini Tornado has hit the Island, we got so wet Brian had to find some golfing bottoms to change into before we could drive home.

Turnstone

Just some of the mad people just about to get drenched.

Somewhere in there is our lifer.

Target bird for the year seen plus two more lifers.

We meet up with Brian at 5 am,it's not a nice morning with the rain pouring down. We head to Norfolk & go to Sheringham to do some sea watching from the shelter on the beach front.

The weather forecast was for a windy rainy morning,but as it turns out the rain has stopped & the wind that we were hoping for a north easterly had changed to a fairly calm morning.

We spend a couple of good hours in the shelter,there were other people there so we have a bit of a talk to them that is always nice,as for seeing any birds it turns out to be not to good, all we see are 5 Bonxies, some Red-throated Divers,plenty of Gannets, plus all the usual stuff.

So it's a real bonus when Jimmy pops his head round the corner with the news of a Long-eared Owl has been seen at Cley.

This is my target bird for the year as of the three of us I am the only one not to have ticked one.

I must say we have not looked to hard to see one, but this is the day, so after persuading Brian to leave the sea watch, we head to Cley & go to Swarovski hide, the Owl is still here sitting on the shingle behind the hide. We get great views in the scope, so target seen at last

I take a photo from distance, so with my small camera it's not to good,the light is poor which never helps but a record shot never the less.     Old woman's lane is the next port of call to look for the reported Pallas's warbler.the lane is full of cars on arrival with lots of birders looking for it. But it's not to be again for us, we have dipped a few times looking for this bird.

 .

As we get in the car another Pallas's is reported at Wareham Greens, so off to Stiffkey. We park in the car park and walk down the coastal path. Not sure if we are in the right place we meet a lady who tells us we have gone past the location. We follow her as she has just met the finder of the bird and has the location. We walk past a gate and head up the grass track to a a ploughed field, here we see many birders already present, and in the bushes in front of us is the Pallas's to give me another lifer.

Glad to get any sort of photo another record shot.

We were about to head for home when we hear from a couple of birders that a Dusky Warbler is reported in West Runton, It would be another lifer, this time for all three of us if we can see it. We follow a car to the reported site where it's still being reported as present.
We talk to people already here and are told it's not been seen for a while, but had been heard often.
We hear it for ourselves and get a couple of flight views and a brief view when it drops to the lower branches of a large bramble bush to us another lifer. 

Not a bad day for me, three year ticks all of which are lifers.

Another lifer Lesser Grey Shrike.

The Lesser Shrike.

On the way home the pager goes off to say a Lesser Shrike had been seen at Harty Ferry, it's to late to try for it, so Jimmy & myself get up this morning & fingers crossed we set off to see it, no Brian as he has already got the Suffolk one a few weeks ago.
On arrival a good few people were already at the spot, so after finding out that the bird was still around, we set about walking over a ploughed field to find maybe fifty or more birders with the bird in sight.
So straight onto it for us for another lifer & a great view  with the scope. What a cracking bird to see, while watching we are put onto two Lapland Buntings, we both needed them for another year tick.
So after three weeks missing out we end up with two lifers & three year ticks for the two trips, a really good weekend.

A long way off but it's on top of the bush.

Off & running again.Red-breasted Flycatcher.

We decide to head to Norfolk for a day trip, just maybe something will come on the pager as we head there.
The first stop is at Lynford for another go at seeing the Two-barred Crossbill, this is the fourth time of trying for us, but after another two hours there it's still a no go, we see plenty of Crossbill but a no show again it's made worse when after we leave somebody posts them on the pager, a couple of males had turned up they would have been nice to have seen, never mind something to try again for at a later date..
On now to Warham Green as a Red-breasted Flycatcher had been reported there. We find the place & see some people down the bottom of the track & when we reach them they tell us the bird is in the bush in front of us, this time we get lucky as the bird drops down to a lower bush to give us a quick view, we see a few more quick views, then it sits still for a little while to give a much better view,so the year ticks start moving again after the last three weeks of dips, this is also a lifer for us.
 Tichwell is the next port of call, we head to Pat's hide & at the viewing mould we see a very nice Jack Snipe, not wanted for a year tick but always nice to see one.
We spend a good few hours walking the site from hide to hide & get to see a good number of birds, a few Snipe, Greenshank, Bar & Black tailed Godwits, Spotted Redshank, also a couple of Little stints give a good show. A good show of Dragon fly help to make it a very pleasant day in the warm weather.

A bugs life Migrant Hawker

More bugs Red Darter.