Grey Phalarope at KGV reservoir.

An early morning call from Brian sees the three of us heading off to the King George V reservoir in Chingford to try to get another year tick.

A Grey Phalarope had just been reported as being seen here, so we had to come as it is only 20 minutes from home.

It has been reported on the east side of the north basin so a bit of a walk. When we reach the causeway we scope the basin and find the Phalarope at the south end of the north basin,  which saves us a long walk to the far end.

As we watch the bird it comes closer & closer till it is just below us for really great views.

Such a tiny bird that is fascinating to watch as it bobs about in the waves. 

Really nice to catch up with Harry and a few locals.

The  Grey Phalarope

Waxwings before we head home.

 After we had ticked the Purple Sandpipers at Ness Point Lowestoft, we heard that 40 Waxwings had been seen only two miles away from us, so, of course, we had to go to find them.  As we arrive a large flock of birds passes overhead and as they all land on a couple of trees we have the Waxwings in sight. Brian is out of the car with his camera as the birds feed and drop down onto a wall for a drink. We spend a fair amount of time watching and counting 47 but think there might be more in another tree. 

So a good end to the day after dipping the Pallid Swift at the start.

A few of the 47 birds seen

Canvasback (lifer ) plus a Swift dip.

The boys and I take a trip to Abberton Reservoir in Essex, hoping to see a lifer for us in the Canvasback that had been reported.

It is only an hour's drive for us and we arrive nice and early. first stop Layer-Breton causeway but no sign of the bird, so a quick look in at Wigborough Bay hide but nothing doing with it being very quiet bird-wise. So the next stop is the hide in the farm yard.

Two fellows are already in there and one of them finds the Canvasback and gets us onto it as it swims along with a large flock of Pochard it is easy to pick out among the flock so another lifer for us all. It was nice to see a lot of birders that we know that came to see the bird as the morning went on.

The Canvasback

A couple of days later Brian wanted to head to Walasea Island also in Essex only a short trip for us, Short-eared Owls had been seen and Brian wanted to get some photos, and Jimmy and I needed to tick one for the year. 

It doesn't take long before we see our first shortie and in the two hours spent here, we spot at least 8 Short-eared Owls a Ringtail Hen Harrier a few Marsh Harriers to make it a great trip.

One of the Short-eared Owls

One of the 

Another

And again 

We have been trying to get all three of us free to go for the Pallid Swift in Winterton Village.

The bird has been around for a few days now but as I say we have not been able to go until now. 

We arrive at the church in the village at seven o'clock and spend over three hours looking 

for the Swift but it turns out that we have left it too late as the bird seems to have flown off.

We do get good views of a Woodcock as it flies up and over our heads.

So we give up and head off to Filby Broad as a Fudge duck had been seen and we need it for a year tick and it is very close by.

It was not easy to find but after an hour or so we got on it and found out there were two Fudge ducks there we also spotted a Scaup for good measure.

The ducks were too far away for any photos but we got good scope views.

To finish the trip off we head to Ness Point in Lowestoft to look for another year tick.

The target bird is the Purple Sandpiper, we find the road to the beach blocked so have to park further away from where we wanted to be to look for the target.

We scan the rocks along the beach and are hopeful as the tide is coming in fast and they like to be on the rocks as the water splashes over them. 

We walk up the beach where we find six Purple Sandpipers for our year tick.

One of the six seen

Another purple Sandpiper seen

 

 

Solitary Sandpiper in Kent.

I was not feeling too good this morning, but Jimmy and I accepted Brian's offer to leave around 5 a.m. to drive us to Kent to try for the Solitary Sandpiper that Brian had already seen a couple of days ago.

We arrived at around 7 a.m. at Stodmarsh to find around 20 birders already looking for the bird.

We only had a very small area to look through the bushes at a small patch of mud where the bird had been seen yesterday and that was where Brian had also seen it.

We spent 3 hours with no luck, Brian had gone to look around at Reedhide just in case it turned up there, and we had a call to say a Water Pipit was showing well and we needed it for a year tick so we stretched our legs as they had gone to sleep with the standing so long and found the Pipit without much trouble and was glad to sit in the hide for a while.

Then we got the call that the target bird had shown back where we had come from, so we headed back at pace to be told that the Sandpiper was showing on and off on the small patch of mud walking from right to left and back again to give Jimmy and me another lifer.

The Water Pipit

The Sandpiper

Water rail that we saw

Jimmy & I with a few of the other birders

American Cliff Swallow. ( lifer in Kent )

Jimmy got an early call from Brian asking if we wanted to head off to Kent for the Cliff Swallow that was seen there yesterday, we didn't fancy going that early so decided to wait for any news that the bird had been seen today.

That news came at 8 o'clock, so we met up with Brian and headed off to find the bird.

Arriving around 10 o'clock we park in Joss Bay car park North Foreland Kent.

Around 30 birders are already here but none of them seem to be looking for the Swallow.

On asking we are told it had been seen around half an hour ago but had flown along the beach toward the pub and it would probably head back to fly over the cabbage field where we were all waiting.

Sure enough, after waiting 10 minutes, Brian picks it up as it flies along the cliff and heads over the cabbage field, we get good views as it heads towards the lighthouse, it does the same thing over and over again while we are here.

Not a lot of other birds about but the American Cliff Swallow is a lifer for both Jimmy and myself so well worth the visit.

American cliff Swallow

The cabbage field where we saw the bird

Aquatic Warbler Upper Beeding West Sussex.

We have struggled to get any time to go out on birding trips of late, but when the Aquatic Warbler turned up in Upper Beeding we had to give it a go as all three of us needed the bird for a life tick. We left home late in the morning as we waited for the bird to be seen, It was nearly 9 o; clock when we left, but we got a trouble-free run and arrived around 10:40. We were able to park outside the local paper shop at the town centre that means we only have about half a mile to walk along the east side of the river Adur. 

We soon join up with a few familiar faces, around 30 birders are watching a small Hawthorn bush. We get nothing for over an hour then the Warbler gets disturbed by a couple walking their dog and flies off the bush onto the floor and then flies over our heads and lands over the fence onto the grass for a few seconds then heads over the river then back towards the Hawthorn, we had not moved and got rewarded when it landed on dead hogweed and moved up to the top for great views of another lifer for all three of us. 

The Aquatic Warbler

Lovely views of Goshawk at Cockley Cley

We have found it hard to get out birding over the last few days, but the opportunity came up on Wednesday the 15th and we headed up the A10 to Lakenheath to search for the Tundra Bean Geese that had been seen here for a few days.

From the river bank, we find 3 Great White Egrets and four Whooper Swans, but after walking the length of the bank down to the viewpoint there's no sign of the Bean Geese, only loads of Canada and Greylags.

A walk along the bottom track gets us a couple of year ticks in Bearded Tits and Water Rail.

Heading back we pop back onto the river bank and get lucky when a dredger was going along the river and put the Geese up. The 3 Tundra Geese fly right over our heads and land on the washland behind the river to give us great views of them.

It's off now to the main reason for coming to this area today, a visit to Cockley Cley in the hope of seeing Goshawks, and boy did we see them.

A couple of cars are here when we arrive, but the signs are not good as they had not really had anything and told us that they were heading off and that if the normal happens we will get to see them.

Sure enough within minutes, we see the first Goshawk coming over the trees with 4 Buzzards flying around it, soon we see two of them putting on a display for us.

Five times we see goshawks flying over and then one lands on top of a distant tree and we get great scope views of this truly fantastic bird to watch.

A young fellow named Toby and his mum arrive and we get them onto the bird in the tree and is great to see his excitement at seeing it and for him to be so into it at such a young age of 11. Also seen while here a year tick Woodlark. 

On the way home we visited Lynford Arboretum for another try for Hawfinch, but after two hours we give up. Jimmy did pick up the long-awaited Brambling for a tick, this has been annoying him a bit as he missed it when Brian and I got one earlier in the year and he was looking the wrong way and it never hung about.

The 3 Tundra Bean Geese at Lakenheath.

Also the Whooper Swans

A long off-view of one of the Goshawks

 

On Thursday 16th we popped over to St Andrew's Church in Bramfield for a quick visit and saw a Hawfinch within seconds of arrival.

Lesser Scaup at Staines Reservoir + Jack Snipe Lemsford Springs.

With only a few hours to spare on Sunday morning, the three of us head up the M25 to visit Staines Reservoir in the hope of meeting up with the Lesser Scaup. We arrive around 8 am and park not far from the entrance.

The Scaup is visible as soon as we arrive, a birder put us onto it but it's not a great view, so we head up the ramp and join a group of eight others.

It's not much of a better view, the bird is asleep most of the time we were there. It swims with a large group of Pochards but is easy to pick out of the group. It's a grey old morning so no real photos of the Scaup at that distance.

We didn't hang about too long as we wanted to pop up to Lemsford springs for the Jack Snipe. When we arrive we find the gate has been left open as a lot more people want to visit and they only have 4 keys it makes sense to just leave it open. We go to the second hide and find one of the three Jack Snipe immediately. It's on a small mound with a Common Snipe, allowing great views of the two species alongside each other.

The Lesser Scaup over the left side.

Lemsford Jacksnipe

We eventually found all 3 Jack snipe in front of the hide. 

The warden is in the hide and gives us the story of one of the 14 Green Sandpipers that keep returning here, one is 12 years old and is the oldest one in the world and they tracked it flying to Norway in 24 hours and finding an old nest to roost in. He also told us one of the Little Egrets is the most recorded in the world with 600 reports. He has been the warden here for years and is very interesting to listen to.

Eldernell Owls and Holkham plus Pallid Harrier.

On Sunday the three of us set off for a long day of birding. First up we head to Cambridgeshire to look for the Owls at Eldernell in Peterborough.

With the car parked, we start to walk along the grass bank, 5 Cranes fly across, and later a few more go the same way. Jimmy then picks out 4 more feeding over by the trees.

After a short walk, we meet a couple of birders who tell us the Long-eared Owl is in the brambles in front of us, we watch from the top of the bank so as not to disturb the bird but get really great views of the Owl.

We are on a mission so it's off down to the small copse on the right-hand side where we soon find the Tawney Owl perched in a tree that was just set back a bit.

You had to look hard to find the Owl as it was in a hole about 8 feet up from the ground, but once on it what a great view of these wonderful birds. Jimmy and I pick up a few ticks when a group of Fieldfare land in a tree and a Green Woodpecker flies over.

A Merlin and a Peregrine are seen while we are here, and then a real bonus arrives when a male Hen Harrier shows, what a great sight when you get lucky enough to see one these days.

On the way back to the car we all get a year tick when we see a Kingfisher sitting on the river bank. I love this place and will be back soon.

It's an hour's drive now as we head to Holkham to make up for not being able to get near the place on new year's day, Lady Ann's drive was shut and packed out so we gave it a miss then.

On arrival. we start to look for any Grey Partridge and stop to ask a group if they had them in sight, they say no but have a Long-billed Dowitcher right in front of them. This is the nearest we have been to one of these birds, so a great start and it gets better when we find a few Grey Partridge just before the tea room.

Off now for the long walk down to the roped-off area along the beach where we find the Shorelarks and about 30 Snow Bunting. A walk up to the sea is a waste of time so it's back to the car for a drive to Wareham Greens for another search for the Pallid Harrier that we were not sure of seeing on the first day of the year.

This time we drive up the lane and park on the concrete pad, it's not too bad a walk to reach the place to view the bird. After an hour we get a sighting of the Harrier as it flies low along the back trees. we would like a better view so we hang about till after 4 o'clock when the bird flies over our heads and comes in to roost, still, no perched views but good enough for another year tick. A really nice but long day out bird watching with a good number of year ticks.

The Long-eared Owl

The Tawny Owl

Long-billed Dowitcher at Holkham

Holkham Shorelarks and Snow Buntings

Some of the Grey Partridge at Holkham

Long-billed Dowitcher again.

Dungeness & Waxwings ( Ipswich )

 The boys and I head off to Dungeness in Kent for our first visit of the new year.

Up on the beach, we have to shield ourselves at the side of the hide to protect ourselves from the very strong wind and it is very cold, we are the only people there and we soon find out why. We are only after year ticks but apart from a few Gannets, Kittiwake, and the odd Razorbill and Guillemot all needed for year ticks, we hang around for a short while but nothing else was seen.

We shoot around to the farm by the entrance to the reserve and pick out a Glossy Ibis for another tick. A large flock of Bewick's plus  3 Whooper Swans were also seen around the back roads but no sign of any Cattle Egret.

On the way home, we pop into Lynford and tick Marsh and Coal Tit, but never saw any Hawfinch so a big disappointment also we found out that the feeding station by the big gate is no longer there a big letdown and something we looked forward to when visiting here.

Off home on a very cold and a bit of a rubbish birding day, but a few ticks so not all bad.

Waxwings in Ipswich )

We hear about a flock of Waxwings in Ipswich and we meet up with Brian and arrive at Blanche st just as it was getting light, only a short street so no problem finding the small Rowan tree that they were feeding on.

It's about an hour before we find the 7 birds on a large tree behind the houses down a short alleyway. They fly onto the Rowan tree on and off but not stopping on the tree for any length of time but a good year tick and well worth the trip.

We now try for the Palla's Warbler at Swalecliffe, we park the car and it is only a short walk to the bushes where the Palla's has been seen. After a couple of hours, all we get is a couple of short calls but never had any sighting of the bird so no tick there.

A walk up to the foreshore gets us a single tick where we see 20 or so Ringplover, but no sign of the reported Purple Sandpiper.

One of the Waxwings

5 of the 7 birds

A few local trips.

I join the boys for a couple of trips to the KGV reservoir in Chingford, it's only 20 minutes away from home and a good place for us to pick up some ticks over the year.

First up we spot a Red-necked Grebe to add to the year list. Work is going on up by the north basin so it means we have to walk around the long way to head up to the north basin where we are told a Great-Northern Diver and a Slav Grebe have been seen.

As we head up a Greenfinch shows well for a good tick, we head on to the north basin and that is a long walk and we don't find the diver or the Grebe, it starts to rain and gets heavy so of home. Jimmy and I return 2 days later and face the same long walk but this time we find the Great-northern Diver and the Slav Grebe plus 6 Goosanders,3 nice ticks. we also saw a Black Redstart.

In between the two KGV visits Jimmy and I drove to Strawberry pond in Epping Forest which is only a couple of miles from my house, we now have to pay to park on a muddy bit of land that only has space for 4 cars but that's where we know we will get to see Mandarin duck, we see some as soon as we arrive so we head into the forest and tick Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Goldcrest and also Great-spotted Woodpecker, 5 good year ticks makes it a good morning visit. 

Now we drive a few miles to Lee valley to look for the Bittern that has made its home there,

The Bittern is seen as soon as we arrive in the lovely new hide, we spend a good hour with the bird and it was visible the whole time we spent there.

On the 7th Jan Brian calls to say he is off to Lemsford springs where we always get Green Sandpiper and we find 7 of them along with 6 Little Egrets we had already ticked them but nice to see them just in front of the hide. A Jay was ticked while here. It's off to a new reserve for me not far away called Watercress n  reserve, what a cracking little place.

It's only a small reserve but we see Bullfinch, Redpoll, and Siskin plus a couple more ticks.

The year tick list has gone up to 101 now.

Lee Valley Bittern

Nice catch

Epping Forest Mandarin 

The KGV Red-necked Grebe

First day of the new year we head to Norfolk

We meet up at 5 am to start our new year list and to tick as many birds as we can, it's off to Norfolk and that takes around two hours. 

As we near Hunstanton we get the first tick of the new year when we spot a Barn Owl sitting on a post and then a few minutes later we find another one to get off to a good start to the day.

On arrival at Hunstanton, it is still fairly dark as we pull into the car park, 3 Oystercatchers are seen on the grass and it's only a short time before we spot Fulmar and some Gulls allowing us to move on to Titchwell.

It is dull and very cold and not many people are about,  we walk up to the beach ticking anything as we go. On the beach, all the normal stuff is ticked but the sea is very quiet the only thing really seen to tick was Red-breasted Merganser.

On the feeders, I pick out a Bramling that was nice.

Now we head to Brancaster where after an hour we hear and then get a few good views of a 

Hume's leaf Warbler. and we also meet up with some birders that we know and that is always nice. 

Now it's off to Holkham and we stop to scan from the gate overlooking the fresh marsh, the IOW White-tailed Eagle is seen sitting on a dead tree to give great views and also seen the very pale Common Buzzard that people have been calling a Rough-legged Buzzard but has been identified as a really light Common Buzzard so no tick there. White-fronted Goose and Pink foot seen and 3 Bewick Swan drop in while here.

We head along the road to Lady anns drive but it is packed and the car park is shut, so we head off to Stiffkey and walk the really muddy path it seems a lot longer walk, and it is cold, a female Hen Harrier is seen but not the reported Male.

Marsh Harrier ticked but a very distant view of what we think is the Pallid Harrier is just not close enough to be sure so no tick. I end up with 77 ticks for the day not the best total but a rubbish sort of a day with the weather so not too bad.