Hen Harrier & nice day in Essex birding.

With no year ticks in my local area, Brian & I decide to just go local, so with Jimmy not with us today we head to Wallasea to look for Hen Harrier or maybe a Owl or two.It's really a cold morning with a biting wind.
It,s only 30 miles from home so 35 minutes later we are looking at a Ringtail Hen Harrier flying around giving us over the next hour one of the best views we have had of one of these birds, then it gets better as it is joined by another Ringtail two for the price of one.
So a good start to the day, plenty of Corn Bunting all over the place, a Peregrine nearly gets one for breakfast but just fails to get it. four Kestrels  hover over head for a nice show.
Just before we leave Brian picks up a Merlin as it lands on a fence post, a good bonus for us.
Being so close to Southend, we have to walk to the end of the pier for a look at the Med Gulls.
We see many while here, also a couple of birders that we see  from time to time Mick & Richard turn up for us to have a nice talk to them they also have half of Tesco bread with them to feed the birds. So a really cold start to the day but really worth getting out to spot some nice birds & only a short trip from home.
While walking along the sea front, we meet an American lady who had a pigeon on her shoulder as she walked along the seafront, on asking her about it she tells us that it was raised by her from an egg that she found in a gutter at her house, it stays in her house with the full run of it, & when she goes for a walk along the seafront the bird just sit on her shoulder & enjoys a free ride, the bird is free to go where ever it likes & often goes on a flight out doors but always returns to her house, I find this an amazing story. A walk along the beach & we get to see plenty of Sanderling & Turnstones to finish the morning off,

The Pigeon Lady

Corn Bunting

Med Gull

Sandling on the beach

Turnstone

Sanderling on Westcliff beach.

Roding Valley lake & the Intone Stone RAF Chigwell.

Part of the lake just a nice scene.

A very nice walk around the Roding Valley Lake mid morning, a cold but sunny day shows the lake very busy with 2 Great- crested Grebes,12 Tufted Ducks, 4 Shoveler, 24 Gadwall,  over 50 Black-Headed Gulls, many Mute Swans, also the usual flock of Canada Geese on & off the lake, Coots, Moorhen, & a couple of Cormorants helping to fill the lake for a nice Autumn  scene.
A walk about in the nature reserve & I spot 9 Long-tailed Tits, 2 pretty Jays, a few Robins, Magpies everywhere, plenty of Crows, 2 Green Woodpeckers.
I carry on & walk up to the Intone stone that was made from pebbles by an American airman.
This had been a mystery for years as to what it was all about, but they now know the story behind the stone,

If you are interested enough & want to read about it I have put a photo of the history of the stone on here for you to read, they now know everything about this stone that was placed here in 1943, except the name of the airman that made it, I think that will always remain a mystery now.
                                                                                           

The stone itself, still bright after 70 years.

Nice trip to Suffolk watching Crossbills.

We head to Suffolk today, not really knowing what to look for as we set off, Brian thinks it's a good idea to try to get some photos of Crossbills that have been about in Suffolk for some time, so it's a safe bet that they will be about today.
It's only 7 o'clock & the gates are shut till 9 o'clock, so we head to Lackford Lakes that are not to far away.
It's my first visit here & I really like the place, while here a nice Sparrowhawk soars past over the back of the pool, we think we have a Snow Goose as it stands out from all the other geese with it's white head.
Jimmy picks up on a Water Rail but that's about the highlights while we are here.
So back we go to look for the Crossbills, we park just inside the gates & stay in the car & just wait, inside 1/2 hour we start to see Crossbills flying onto the tops of the trees around the car park.
It's a fair time before they start to drop down into the puddles to drink. Brian & Jimmy are on the right side of the  car for some nice photos, I had got out of the car to walk round to some more water at the back of the car park, as usual I am not in the right place to get the best photo.
We see at least nine Crossbills sitting around the car park with three or four drinking at one time.
The light is not very good for the photos, that,s a shame as they sit really near to us at the top of the trees.

Two Males & one Female drinking

some of the birds waiting to come down for a drink.

Off to Lakenheath now just to fill the day up, we walk down to Joist hide without seeing to much about, we do get to see a couple of Beared Tits fly in & a Marsh Harrier hunts over the back plus a Kingfisher shows briefly, but over all a long walk for not a lot. A new hide has been built that will open near xmas that is to be called Mere hide it is in the middle of the reeds as you walk down to Joist hide it should be  a nice place to see reed birds.

Trip to wish Brian happy birthday.

I drove 125 miles to spend the day with Brian & Sue in darkest Norfolk where they are on a week's break to celebrate Brian reaching his  half  century.
I know this is not a birding trip today but we still managed to walk over the field across the road from the barn he is staying at, Brian had already seen a nice Barn Owl yesterday, so we hoped to see one with the little time we had to watch for it.
As it turns out we see three all flying near to each other & not to far off.
We only had about half an hour to spare, so this was a right bonus. Back into the barn to join the rest of the family to celebrate with the birthday boy.
This is Brian's ideal holiday location as he will be up early in the morning walking about hoping to pick up a few more ticks for the year or maybe a mega while here for the week, good luck to him & congratulation's on reaching  the big FIVE O".

Brian's photo of one of the Owl's