A nice few hours spent at Wallasea Island.

Being only 40 minutes from home we head to Wallasea Island & arrive at first light, a Rough-legged Buzzard has been reported & we hope to find it. On getting out of the car we find that it is a bit colder than we thought & the top coats soon go on.
A number of Kestrels are seen hovering & it's not long before we see a nice male marsh Harrier that had a really nice white tail a stunning bird to see, it is later joined by two more one female & a juvenile to give us a good flight show.
As it gets lighter two Female Hen Harriers appear for our entertainment. we always get a buzz out of of watching  Hen Harriers.Two Peregrines are seen hunting over the the bank & head towards us then head over the estuary.
A local birder turns up & tells us he thinks that the reported Rough legged Buzzard is a bit of a red herring in he's opinion & we never get to see it while here.
A load of Brent Geese fly over & there are Corn Bunting & Skylark all over the place, we also pick out a few Stonechat.
We are told that Short-eared Owls went to roost the night before, so we wait in the hope that they might show, but after four hours we have to give up to head home as we only have a little time today.
Brian got a couple of photos of the Harriers but I never took my camera out of the bag.
Not to much about & we don't get any year ticks but a really nice few hours spent here  with the added bonus of not moving more than a few feet from the car.

Two more year ticks, Leo + Cattle Egret, Elmley & Dungeness.

We set off a bit later as we head to Dungeness arriving around 7.30 & set our scopes up by the fishing boats.
We give it 2 hours in the hope that something good will pass by that we needed for a tick,  as it turns out all we pick out are a few Kittiwakes, some Sandwich Terns, a single Bonxie ,some Scoter plus a nice close in Arctic Skua, a flock of Swallows pass by, many Gannets on show as well but with the weather not to good we head off to the trapping area, on the fence we see at least 3 Stonechat & as we walk about 4 Ring Ouzels are spotted. But we have to wait till we head off to the cattle fields before we pick up the first year tick of the day when the Cattle Egret is found.
At first it is hard to spot but it then gives a good display as it finds a nice Cows back to sit on & fights for the right to stay there with a few Magpies.
The weather is a lot better now so a quick look in at Elmley on the way home for a bit of Owl spotting.
We locate the Long-eared Owl as soon as we arrive as a small group of people were already on the bird, so nice & easy this one for year tick number 2.

Cattle Egret

A bit of fun.

It's head never got clear of the leaves.

Half hidden Long-eared Owl.

A meeting with the new Warden at Elmley.

A Skylark on the way out.

Little Crake + Steppe grey & Red-backed Shrikes.

Up early to head up to North Norfolk, the aim is to get another lifer in the Steppe-grey Shrike that has been seen at Burnham Norton over the last few days.
It is just getting light when we arrive, it's not to long a walk up the track & we can see a group of birders already here & when we reach them they have the bird in view.
The bird flies from the bushes & feeds from some meal worms that had been placed there by a local birder, this gives us some great close views of this cracking little bird, the light is rubbish with what little sun being right behind the bird. We spend a few hours just watching the bird go back & forth.
So another lifer in the bag for all three of us, we now head off to Ness point Lowestoft to look for the Red-backed Shrike reported as being seen in the Birdseye car park,this is 70 miles away so it was good of Brian to get us there as he had already had one for his year tick, Jimmy & myself both needed it for our year tick.
We find the place without any trouble & pick out the bird within minutes of arrival, at first we are the only ones here so we have the bird all to our self. We get some good close photos of another very accommodating Shrike.
On the way home we decide to have a quick look in at Minsmere to see if the Little Crake is still about. We park in a very full car park & head down to the Bittern Hide.
The hide is packed but we can still get good views of the area where the Crake had been seen, we stand next to a fellow that had been in the hide for a few  hours looking for it, but as luck has it he had just got it in his scope, he kindly lets us get a look at it so we don't suffer the same fate as him & as it turns out the Crake shows on & off over the next 1/2 hour or so, we get some really good scope views to round off another great day birding, we end up with 2 lifers for all three off us & a year tick for Jimmy & myself.

         

Red-backed Shrike

The Shrike when we arrived

Steppe Grey Shrike