Dipper at Bassingbourn Cambs.

Checking the weather, today was going to be the best day to head to the Cambridge Herts border in the hope of picking up the Dipper that has been around since April.
It's an hour trip of about 40 miles on the A10 & we reach Bassingbourn around 7.30.
Jimmy had got some info from a couple of people on twitter & that made it easy for us to find the stream & we get parked just across the road from the bridge on Brook Rd then it's only a few yards to find the stream & we get lucky when after just a few minutes the Dipper is spotted sitting on a low branch & then dropping into the water to give a great view.
With no Scotland or Wales trips this year this is a bonus for us to find one this close to home.

                                                                     

The Dipper

Dungeness in the wind.

The boys & I had been lucky enough to see the Forester's Tern yesterday afternoon so with not to much about we head off to the old favourite of ours despite the that fact we knew it was going to be a nasty sort of day with storm Angus hitting the Kent coast. Dungeness really was blowing a fierce gale, we took a lot longer to get there & never arrived  till 8 am.
First port of call was the pool by Boulderwall Farm just past the entrance to the reserve, a Ring-necked Duck was reported & Brian still needed one for a year tick.
The car was being buffeted about & to open the car doors was really hard to do with the wind really gusting, so we pulled the car closer to the pool & picked out the Duck without to much trouble & we also managed to spot the Cattle Egret following the cows around the field, not needed by any of us for a tick but a photo had to be taken & with the wind blowing the cameras about it was never going to be great.The Ring-necked Duck was being bounced about in the strong waves but it was showing well.
Next up we make a silly decision to head up to the boats by the beach & we are blown about all over the place, holding onto the scopes really tightly we scan the sea but apart from many flocks of C Scoter & the same amount of Cormorants a few Gannets, G C Grebes, Kittiwakes, a couple of Divers, nothing much was happening, so it's off to look at the Gulls to see if there is anything special about, but not today despite giving it a lot of time looking.
Heading home now & on the way we spot a few Bewick Swans amongst some Mute Swans I always like to see them. Later we spot a Buzzard feeding on the ground & that means trying to get a photo of it.

Cattle Egret

The Buzzard after it flew into the trees

Being bounced around Ring-necked Duck

Forster's Tern at Mistley for a lifer

Just watching the end of the Man utd Arsenal match when Jimmy comes down stairs with a text from Brian, do we want to try for the first winter Forster's Tern at Mistley  in Essex, 10 minutes later we are in the car heading up the A12.
It's coming up to 2. 30 so we hope the light holds for us as it's 60 miles away & it's not the brightest of days.
When we arrive on the Quay there are only two other birders present & we are told that the bird was still about but had just flown further out over the Bay & was lost to sight, not looking good for us.
By now birders were arriving in numbers & we all got rewarded when Jimmy calls that the bird is in his scope & heading straight towards us, it flies right in then turns right to give us a good side view.
We hang about until the light goes but it's the only sighting we get, so not a long view but a good one.
I am told this is only the 2nd Essex tick & the first Suffolk tick which pleased a few people around us.This is a lifer for all three of us & a right unexpected one at that.
And some how Arsenal got a very undeserved equaliser to earn a draw so a very good afternoon for us all.

Another Lifer in Norfolk.

A bonus trip to Norfolk with Brian having a couple of days off work to celebrate his 53rd birthday & that is also a great bonus that at times we never thought he would see, so every one of his birthdays is special to us all.
We arrive at Cley beach at 7 45 am & scan the sea for two hours & we see loads of Common Scoter passing through along with Red-throated Diver, the odd Gannet & some Long-Tailed Ducks swim close in to the beach,5 Eider Ducks fly past both Jimmy & myself needed them for a year tick, then a real bonus for me when a Little Auk flies close in for a great view, just the one as it turns out but that is another Lifer for me so a good start to the day for us.
Now we head off in search off some Waxwings that are being reported all over the place & we will be a bit miffed if we go home without seeing any.
We want to find some ourselves so the first port of call is Burnham Norton & we are rewarded as soon as we arrive when we see over twenty Waxwing sitting on the wires & in a large tree.
They sit out so we can get the camera on them but the light is really bad not that really makes a lot of difference with the way I take photos but still I try my best.
After we have our fill of the Waxwings it's off to Titchwell to get a coffee & a sausage roll, we never intended to walk the reserve but change our mind & walk up to the beach & that turns out to be a good move when 3 Velvet Scoter are picked out floating on the sea to give Jimmy & myself another year tick & we meet a couple of nice fellows to talk birding with while on the beach.
So a great day birding with the boys but it's getting dark now so it's off home.

Some of the Waxwings