Lea valley Nightingale + 2 ticks

Jimmy's up & out early to go over to his local patch Fisher's Green in the Lea valley, I stay behind but he will text me if the Nightingale is heard.
At 9 o'clock I get the text he has seen Grasshopper Warbler, Whitethroat, Lesser White

throat, Bullfinch,& at least 3 Nightingale. So 1/2 hour later I meet him in the car park & 10 minutes later I hear the beautiful singing of my first Nightingale of the year & after watching the bush from where the song is coming from I get my first sighting of the year.
Now a walk round to the brambles where Jimmy had the Whitethroat & the first bird we hear is a Lesser Whitethroat we watch & see the bird fly out into another bush & we hear at least another 2 singing.
Then we spot a Common Whitethroat sitting out to give me 3 year ticks & only 20 minutes from home, so not bad as I had no plans to go birding today.
I don't get to see or hear the Gropper that Jimmy found but I had one at Lakenheath on Thursday so a shame but not needed for a year tick. Some Willow Warblers are seen & Great spotted Woodpecker sitting out for a photo along with some Treecreepers make it a nice short morning birding.

                                                                     

Common Whitethroat

                                                                               
                                                                     

Lesser Whitethroat

                                                                             

Nightingale

                                                                                 

A nice Great-spotted Woodpecker seen today at Fishers Green

Great views of 6 Stone-Curlew + Grasshopper Warbler.

Just Jimmy & I set off for the Brecks in Suffolk to look for Stone-Curlew, as we pull up we are greeted with our first Cuckoo of the year calling away.
Within 5 minutes we have located 3 Stone-Curlew & we have the best views we have ever had of them & then we see two more plus one on it's own all within a small area.
They walk about in the open ground for all of the hour that we watch them, they are a bit far over the back by the silver birch trees, we could see them with the naked eye but through the scope they are fantastic.
Stonechat,Wheatear,Skylark, all seen while here before we head off to Lakenheath RSPB that is only a short trip away, only 3 cars in the car park before us & not to many people about as we walk the top track in the hope of at least hearing a Grasshopper Warbler.
No luck & we end up walking the whole way down to Joist hide at the bottom of the track, a Hobby would have been nice from here but once again no show.
We do get to see one of the Cranes fly in & land over the back. Loads of Marsh Harrier are flying about & a bonus when a Bittern flies up not to far away from us & another one flies into the reeds on the other side of the watch point.
Then a Cuckoo flies by for our first view of the year & we hear at least 3 while here.
On asking a fellow who had just turned up at the watch point if he had heard a Grasshopper Warbler on the way down, he says yes up by the new hide, so in no time we are up there & within a few minutes we are hearing one reeling away,  it went on for a fair while getting longer as it went on, a bird flies out of the bush that we think it is in & heads off over the reserve, not sure if it was our bird but the reeling stopped so maybe it was.
                                                                           
                                                                     

As near as my camera could get.

Subalpine Warbler & White-spotted Bluethroat Portland Dorset

Up early & it takes us 2 half hours to drive to Portland Bill in Dorset to arrive at 7 30 am.
Parking off road just outside the observatory we go round the back & join a few other birders & soon see loads of Willow Warbler & chiffchaff plus many Linnet, then we see 2 Short-eared Owls come in off the sea & fly right past us to give us great views, you never tire of seeing Owls in flight.Unfortunately we are told that there had been no sight of either the Subalpine or the Bluethroat.
Walking round the back of the observatory we find a Little Owl sitting in a bush in the middle of a small canyon.
As we are walking back we hear that the Warbler had been found down by the beach, that's not to far to walk & we don't have to long to wait before Jimmy & myself had great views of the Subalpine Warbler to give us both a lifer the first lifer of the year.
Over the road we walk up the grass hill to search for the reported Hoopoe, on the way up plenty of Common Redstart are seen to give us a year tick & then 2 Shorties are seen sitting in a bush not to far from the track so good views of them. The pager tells us that the Bluethroat had shown in the same bramble that it was seen in last night & we are no more than a couple of hundred yards away from it .
A large group had gathered back down the hill & we have high hopes of getting an easy tick, as it turns out we have to wait for over an hour to get at first a quick view as the bird popped out of the bush & then back again.
After a long wait we get a much better view as it flies out onto the ploughed field & sits on a clump of mud for a good few seconds, a short view but a very good one being able to see the White spot on the blue throat as it pops up & down off the clump of mud. Time to head home after a nice day in a lovely place on a warm day, only 3 ticks but one being a lifer makes the long trip well worth it.


                                                               

Brian was the only one to get a photo

Subalpine Warbler ( a lifer )

The Little Owl

One of the many many Linnets

My effort to get a photo of the Short-earred Owls

Ring Ouzel at last thanks to Neville

Jimmy & I dipped last Monday at Blows Down & again yesterday over Wanstead Flats, on Monday 7 Ring Ouzel had been seen but we missed them, so when bird guides posted that one had been seen over the flats we set off to find it.
We meet up with Nick after about an hour of looking & he tells us where abouts he had seen it but we dipped again, still nice to have a chat with Nick.
So this morning London Wicki tells us that Neville had seen one over KG reservoir.
We rush over & we walk clock wise around the first basin an spend a couple of hours looking to no avail. Jimmy walks the second basin on his own & meets a fellow who had been watching the Ouzel over the fields at the back of the basin, as luck would have it a work van pulls up right where the bird was & off it goes , so Jimmy missed it again. while I waited for Jimmy to come back I saw at least 8 Wheatear & got a few photos of them.
We meet up with Neville & he tells us that we should drive to the end of the Reservoir & scan the fields from there as that was where he had seen the bird earlier. On the walk back to the car we get a tick when we get a Willow Warbler.
It's only 10 minutes away but we can't get down the road when we arrive & it has started to rain a bit heavy so we decide to give up & go home.
Half way home we get a call from Neville to say he was looking at the bird & that we should turn round & head back & that he would meet us. So 25 minutes later we are standing on a bridge & looking at the Ring Ouzel really glad to get that one out of the way it was starting to get annoying.
So a big thank you to Neville for his help & also for sending me a few photos of the bird as we never got close enough to get any for our self.  


                                                                           

Neville's photo

 

                                                                         

Wheatear

Wheatear

Dungeness again.

Out of the door at 4.30 am to meet up with Brian & we are parked up by the beach at Dungeness & on a really sharp cold morning we are glad to be able to get in the hide to look out to sea.
A few bird recorders were in the hide so we miss nothing going past, we spend an hour or so in the hide & see hundreds of Sandwich Tern, many Common Tern, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver,Common Scoter, hundreds of Brent Geese, 3 Shelduck & some Shoveler. so not anything to go mad about tick wise just adding the two Tern but a nice time spent with the people in the hide.
As we drive about 2 Wheatear are seen, starting to see a few about now.
A quick drive down to the visitor centre nets us our first Sedge Warbler of the year & our first House Martin flies over head to give the tick count a boost.
When ever we go to Dungeness we call into Elmley on the way home & today is no exception.
A Yellow Wagtail would be nice but not looking likely after about an hour driving down the entrance track.
The Marsh Harriers are up in numbers so we have to watch them gliding around the track above the car & try to get myself a photo.
Before we head home a single Yellow Wagtail drops onto the grass not far away to make it 5 year ticks for the day.

Little Egret, just had to take a photo

Skylark

One of the Marsh Harrier

Yellow Wagtail

Over six hours to tick the Purple Heron at Wat Tyler cp

Headed to Blows down with Jimmy on Monday only to dip on any of the 7 Ring Ozuel that had been around on Sunday, it rained during the night so we set off in the hope that they had stayed around for a while, but alas they had moved on.
So we wait till Friday & go for the Purple Heron at Wat Tyler CP, with it only being 40 minutes from home & not being open till 9 o'clock it's a late start for us & we are in the first hide just after 9 am, we are still there at 1 o'clock with not any sight of the Heron in that time, sitting at home later the bird comes up on bird guides as flying past the hide at 2 30 pm just our luck.
So a text to Brian as he leaves work today gets the three of us once again in the hide to try once more for a nice year tick.
The Heron had shown just before we entered the hide & we are told it had gone down just over the road to the left of the hide so we feel we have a chance.
A couple of hours later we are rewarded when the bird flies up & back over the hedge across the road & lands just to the left of the hide but it quickly goes out of sight in the reeds & that is all we saw of the bird. On the way home it comes out on the pager as flying past the hide, really glad to hear that as some nice people that we left in the hide were desperate to see it & it was a lifer for some of them.
A Sparrowhawk plus a couple of Marsh Harrier give some good entertainment along with a few Bearded Tit, a flash of blue announces the arrival of a nice Kingfisher & we hear & see a few Cetti's & a Water Rail also seen.
So well worth the trip to get another year tick. Our first Swallow gets us a second tick before we head home.

                                                                   

Brian's photo

Purple Heron Brian's photo

The day starts early at Minsmere & Dunwich ends with Wheatear at Landguard.

5 am start from home gets us looking at our first Sand Martins of the year as they fly about around the sand bank at Minsmere at about 6. 30.
Quickly on to North hide where we pick up the Garganey without to much trouble & I get my fourth Jack Snipe in the last two weeks as it bobs about not far from the hide.
Walking on to the next hide we search for the Iceland Gull but only pick out a Caspian that's nice but not needed for a tick.
It's still pretty cold but the sun is on it's way & it gets warmer as we walk round the reserve, we see & hear many Cetti's Warbler plus a sprinkling of Bearded Tits. Booming Bittern heard but not seen today,must say we never looked to hard for one.
Jimmy & I have been a bit lazy with not going for Med Gull but pick out many here today for a year tick. A nice break in the restaurant before shooting off to the Heath to get me a Dartford Warbler & I also pick up a tick when a Woodlark flies up & over my head.
It's off now to Landguard where we pick up our first Wheatears of the year & a pair off Black Redstart show well.
We missed out on the Iceland Gull but despite that & the fact that it came on the pager as we got near home we had a great day & I picked up 6 years ticks to move on to 177 for the year.