Siberian Stonechat at Caister + Owls galore

We had not made any arrangements for Sunday morning so it was a nice surprise when Brian texts Jimmy to see if we want to meet up at the late time of 8 o'clock & head to Holland Haven for the Rough-legged Buzzard.
The idea behind that was that if the Caister Stonechat gets reported we will be half way there & will shoot off for it from there.
As it turns out we had only gone a short distance when the pager reports the Siberian Stonechat is showing again & giving good views,so change of plan & it's off to Norfolk for the third week running,it's a 2 hour drive for us but we are rewarded as soon as we arrive as Brian picks out the bird within minutes of walking the 500 yards over the dunes to see it.
Along with a small group of birders we get good long views over the next 2 hours as the bird flies up & down along side the golf course bushes.
After saying goodbye to the people we had been talking to which included John P & Steve G it's off to see the Rough-Legged at Holland Haven.
It's 88 miles but going back towards home helps, 2 hours in the car park costs £2-20 & we think that will be enough time to catch up with the Buzzard.
As we head towards where the bird has been seen we get to see maybe 7 Short-eared Owls that give me the best display I had ever had of these cracking Owls & we stay here watching them till the light fades.
We also get wonderful views of the Rough-legged Buzzard & it turns out to be the best view I have ever had of one as it settles on bushes right in front of us & we also get a couple of great flight views.
The time of the parking ticket had expired by some distance when we got back to the car but we got away with that.

I must say this was a really great day birding, just watching the Owls would have been enough on it's own & to pick up a lifer with the Siberian Stonechat & throw in the great views of the Buzzard made this really a day to remember for me .

Siberian Stonechat a lifer for me.

Jack Snipe at Rye Meads

A very quick trip to Rye Meads for a Jack Snipe that has been reported on bird guides, Jimmy calls down do you want to go to look for it, so we are off within 10 minutes & 20 minutes later we have another year tick.
The Snipe shows really well in front of the hide to give me the best views ever of a Jack Snipe.

Jack Snipe

Olive-backed Pipit & Red-flanked Bluetail.

Ready to head off to Wells wood at 4.30 am when we get the added bonus that Brian will be able to join us. It's a good 2 hour trip from home in Essex not helped by some fairly thick mist on the way.
Parked up in Wells car park just after 7am we head off down the track with a large amount of other birders already here looking & listening for anything to give us  a tick or we hope a lifer or two.
A fellow tells us he has just had a Blyth's warbler round by the old toilet block, so off to look for it.
After a good time spent both looking & listening it's a no show so we head of to the drinking pond & bingo the first lifer of the day when the Bluetail shows to give  good views, never really chased a Bluetail but really pleased to have got  one now.
I had the camera out but I couldn't focus on the bird as it moves about in the undergrowth with not much light on it, really frustrating for me but not surprising.
The boys had set off down the track so time to catch up with them. A large group had gathered when I reached them & I soon pick up another lifer when a Yellow-browed Warbler shows & also calls as it flies about in the trees.
At the same place a Hume's leaf Warbler flies over our heads  but lands out of sight but it also calls from the back of the bushes.
On the way back to the car I volunteer to get back to the car as the parking ticket had run out leaving the boys to pick up the Blyth's before they leave, I have only ever seen one before so a bit gutted about that. But on the way I had picked up a Brambling that I had flushed up from the grass.
Off to Muckleburgh Hill now in the hope of picking up the Oliver-backed Pipit.
It's not to far away from us & we are soon joining a small group on the hill.
After a short time it's another lifer when the bird shows well from under a tree,it walks about in the ferns to give us good views but once again I get no really good photos of it.
The pager tells us that a Long-eared Owl had just been seen a short way away at Beeston Common.
We have to go to look for it, we were here last week for the Isabelline Shrike & Brian & Jimmy go for another look for it leaving me to look for the Owl.
As they head back having got some more photos of the Shrike I had found the Owl sitting in some bushes, I seem to be the only one that could see it & I think people were starting to doubt me when the Owl flies out of the bush & heads up to a big tree but is mobbed by some crows & Magpies & thinks better of it & flies out & off over the road, some people try to find it again but we head back to the car well satisfied with another great day's birding & also meeting up with a lot of birder's that we know.
                                                                         

Brian's photo of Oliver-backed Pipit

Brambling

Brambling

Brian's Pipit again

Isabelline Shrike & Pallas's Warbler in Norfolk.

Meet up with Brian at 5am & head to Titchwell Norfolk for a nice long day birding, on the way we stop to watch a nice Barn Owl sitting on a gate post & then flying off & swooping down to catch something, we never get feed up watching Barn Owls.
Next up a Little Owl is seen sitting on a pole by Choseley barns so a good start to the day.
On arrival at Titchwell we have a quick look around Meadow trail for any sighting of a Yellow- browed Warbler we also had a good look in the car park area as one had been reported there, we don't spend to long looking and never saw one, so we head to the beach where we spend a good couple of hours watching the Sanderling running about the beach & looking out to sea where we see Scoter, Gannet, a good few Eider. back on the beach we see  Turnstone, Oystercatcher,Dunlin,at least six Grey Plover nothing to add a tick but a really nice morning spent just watching the birds go about their business on a fairly warm morning.Back up to the hide we spot a nice Curlew Sandpiper & another Grey Plover also seen along with all the usual birds.
News comes on the pager that a Radde's Warbler was at Holkham Pines so off we head to look for it.
Parked up & off we go for the long walk to where the bird has been seen 3/4 of the way down the track the pager goes off a Isabelline Shrike is at Beeston Regis common,so the three of us all agree that we have more chance of seeing that than the Radde's so a long walk back to the car, it's about 13 miles away but we do find the place with ease and park up & we are only a few yards away now from seeing another lifer. A crowd of maybe fifty are here with a few people that we know, the bird is showing very well a very nice looking bird indeed.
As we are getting our feel of the Shrike a few of the birders start to head off at pace & we pick up from one of them that there has been a sighting of a Pallas's Warbler just up the road in Sheringham. we all need this for a year tick so after a short time we also go for it, only trouble we have very little info as to where it is.

It's up & down the road a few times before we find the right place, once there we find the bird straight away for some really good views of another cracking little bird.

Pallas's Warbler

Just a record shot is all I could get of the Shrike

                                                         
                                                           

Grey Plover

Ruff

Curlew Sandpiper

Black-headed Gull

                                                       


                                                                           
                                                                                                               

Ring-necked Duck at Tring

Brian is at work & already has a year tick for the Ring-necked Duck, so Jimmy & I do the 40 odd miles to Startop's end reservoir in Tring Herts.
Weather a bit up & down but as we pull up it's not raining, so we climb the steps & scan for the target bird, no sign after 20 minutes so we head round to the hide, a very good decision as the skies open & it pours down.
In the open hide Jimmy is still getting wet but I had found a nice dry corner & it is not long before we spot the Duck & get some really good views in the scope.
As the rain eases the Duck gets a bit closer to us & the camera comes out for a record shot.
So another year tick 252 up till now,also seen a few female Red-crested Pochard but not much  else of note.
 A nice easy short trip & back home for lunch.

                                                               

                                                               

Landguard Goldcrests

We head off to Landguard in the hope of picking out a Yellow-browed Warbler for a tick, as it turns out we never get to see one & none are reported for the day.
On walking around the reserve the place is alive with Goldcrest in nearly every bush we looked in & further up & round the side of where the people lookout over the reserve a group of maybe 30  were ground feeding and had no problem with the small group that had gathered to snap them with cameras clicking away without putting them to flight.
Also we see many many Blackcap, the odd Wheatear up near the beach, Snipe also seen plus Jimmy picks out a single Firecrest.
So no year ticks but a really pleasant morning spent walking around the reserve in the very nice Autumn sunshine, meeting up with a few birders that we know makes it a nice morning & it only goes & gets better with Arsenal putting themselves out to smash Man utd with some great football pity that they forget to do it more often.

Just one of many of the Goldcrest