Lapland Bunting at Staines res + Dowitcher at Rainham.

 We have found it hard to get any birding in lately, Brian has been very busy with his in-laws and we had the bad news that his mother-in-law had passed away a couple of days ago. We had a short trip to our local reserve at Rainham Marshes where a Long-billed Dowitcher had been seen. Brian was at his son's house when the bird was reported that is only 10 minutes away from the reserve, so he popped in to get a year tick,  

We find out that this is a first for Rainham, so we meet up the day after and head there to get the year tick as well, It was very easy to see as it was only down the ramp from the visitor center on Purfleet Scrape. It was really nice to meet up with Marko while here.

We then walk along the Thames path and get another year tick when we see a Water Pipit, so a good little trip.

Brian popped in to see us this morning after dealing with all the stuff that he has to deal with at the moment. We decided to get a break with a short trip to Staines reservoir as a Lapland Bunting had been reported and we needed it for a year tick.  On arrival, we park on the grass verge and take the short walk up the ramp we see a few birders and walk up to them and the Bunting is there only a few yards away, a lovely little bird and not at all bothered about us being there. We also see a couple of Black-neck Grebe not needed for a tick but nice to see them.   

The Lapland Bunting

Long-billed Dowitcher

3 Lifers + 4 ticks in East Yorkshire.

We all wanted to head up to Bempton after a lifer was found there a few days ago, so we jumped at the chance to go when Brian found time, and I had no commitments. It's a 3am start. and we arrived at Bempton Cliffs around 7ish, a crowd had already gathered and we just walked around the corner to join them. A birder had a Thermal imager and he told me he had the Pale-legged Leaf Warbler in the bush in front of us, I got a quick view of the bird, it's a lifer for all of us. Over the next 2 hours, we all got good views of the bird but it was very active and it was dark in the bush so trying to get good photos was not going to happen, but was well worth the trip to see this first reported live one in Britain.  

While here we get a year tick a Yellow-browed Warbler plus not needed for a tick but Tree Sparrows were everywhere. 

Jimmy has dipped a couple of times with Icterine Warbler so with one being reported at Flamborough and only just down the road, we shoot off to find it. 

The bird is reported just behind the Viking Hotel Holmes Gut. As soon as we arrive we get a year tick when a Red-breasted Flycatcher is spotted. 

A short walk down to a closed-off bridge where a small group tells us the bird had not been seen for a few hours, so not looking good, Jimmy thinks it is another dip for him, then Brian who had walked off sends a call to say he has the Icterine in sight, we head up to him at speed, Jimmy a bit faster than me. 

The bird gave us really great views and another lifer ticked for both of us. 

40 miles away another lifer is reported at Spurn. So off we head to search for an Arctic Warbler. It has been seen at the Discovery Centre car park. Not a lot of birders here and it is not looking good, so once again Brian walks off and it's not long before we get the call he has found it around the back of the center. Everyone follows us and the Arctic is showing really well and was not disturbed by us being there, so cameras click away.

Down the road by the trap nets, we see a Spotted Flycatcher and a year tick when a Barred Warbler flew out of the trap and up the hedge row. 

Just up the road at Kilnsea Wetlands we pay a quick a quick visit and spot an American Wigeon for another year tick. 

Off home now as it's a 4-hour drive we leave sooner than we really wanted to and when we get home we find out we could have had a few more ticks but that's life. Still, we had a cracking day and got 7-year ticks 3 of which were lifers for Jimmy and me, Brian only got 

one lifer but what a good one.

Red-Breasted Flycatcher

Arctic Warbler

Icterine Warbler

.

Blue house farm, Temminck's Stint plus 2 more ticks

Brian visited Blue House Farm a few days ago and had a great time there.    

So when he asked us if we wanted to go with him for a return visit, we jumped at the chance to get an afternoon out birding.

The farm is in Essex and only an hour away from home, I had never been there before, and I found that hard to believe, and I thought I would recognize it when we got there but I had never been there.

We got the car parked in a tiny car park but the upside it was free.

A walk of about a mile across a couple of fields before we reached the small hide that had a few birders in there, a friendly lot that made room for us to start looking for the Temminck's.

As luck would have it the bird was just a few feet away on a small island so a good year tick within minutes of arrival. a cracking little bird, so small when looking at other birds around it.

We spend about 4 hours in the hide with some good company and pick up two more year ticks when we spot 3 Wood Sandpipers and 3 Curlew Sandpipers to get the year list moving after not getting out in recent weeks.

We were told the water level was on the way down by a local named Dave, so we got lucky

when we also see 9 Spoonbills, 2 Greenshank, 4 Common Sandpiper, 6 Ringed Plover, loads of Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Ruff, and 16 Snipe plus Avocet and Marsh Harrier that put the Spoonbills up in the air for good views. A really pleasant afternoon and not far away from home and I'm sure we will visit again.

 

Woodchat Shrike, Rainham marshes.

A call from Brian asks if we fancy a trip over to Rainham, as a Woodchat Shrike has been seen there.    

It's 1 pm so the trip turns out a lot longer than normal, it's only 18 miles from home but the traffic is heavy and that means we arrive after 2 o'clock. 

We drive to ferry lane first in the hope we can get a view from there but we soon realize that is a mistake and we head off to the reserve and meet a young birder who tells us where to go as he has just seen the target bird. 

It turns out that we have a long walk up past Target Pool to shooting buts hide. it is a rainy afternoon but not too bad, as we near where the bird is Tom B points to tell us the Shrike had just flown to a bush near to us, with bins and scopes out we are soon looking at a cracking year tick. 

Swifts and Martins are in big numbers and I get another year tick when we see House Martin flying low over the water. 

A nice little trip with a great bird and nice talking to a few local birders.

Woodchat Shrike

A Whitethroat 

Quick run over the flats this morning.

 Brian called to see if we wanted to shoot over our local Wanstead flats for an hour or so, Whinchat is the bird we are looking for and as soon as the car is parked we see a couple in the fenced-off area. Such a great-looking bird to watch as it sits up for great views.  

Jimmy gets a tick when we get Lesser Whitethroat as we have a walk around. 

Nice to meet up with Marko and a couple of local birders before we head off home, short but sweet trip.

The Whinchat on the flats today.

mid week trip to Minsmere plus Surf Scotor & Dunwich.

 The three of us set off early for a mid-week visit to Minsmere in Sufffolk.  It's only 7 am when we arrive and we have the reserve to ourselves for a while.  

As we head up to the new boardwalk we hear our first Cuckoo of the year, with the place being so quiet we hear Grasshopper Warbler as we walk, a good tick for me, the boys already had one last week. Nightingales are heard and we see a few Bearded Tits.

The new boardwalk up to the first hide is a great improvement to the site. Once in the hide, we see Dunlin, Ring Plover, Garganey, Med Gulls, Knot, Oystercatcher, Barnacle Geese, 2 Greenshank, and the only tick we needed was Sandwich Tern.

Looking out to sea large flocks of Kittiwake gives me another year tick. We spend a couple of hours walking around but no more ticks, a search for Dartford Warbler is in vain, so it's a short trip up the road to Dunwich Heath, and as a member of the National Trust I get to park for free always a bonus. 

Only walked a short way on the heath before a pair of Dartford Warblers show and more are heard. Many Sandmartin flew about with Swallows but never saw any Housemartin.

6 miles along the coast we head to Walberswick to search for the Surf Scoter. 

Parked up we walk a few hundred yards up the beach where a flock of Scotor are seen.

They are a fair way out and the sun wasn't helping us,  but the scopes soon picked it out and it was easy to spot once on it. 

A nice Bar-tailed Godwit

Two of the Barnacle Geese.

On the right a long way out to sea but that's the Surf Scotor.

Frampton comes up trumps with a few year ticks.

A late-night call gets us up early for a trip to a real favorite reserve of ours in Lincolnshire Frampton RSPB.  

We arrive in the car park at 8 am and scan over the fence where there is loads of water and it is packed with many birds.

The boys already had the Lesser-Yellowlegs from another trip that I missed but I soon put that right when the Lesser-Yellowlegs showed well for my tick.

A Black-winged Stilt was soon found over the back of the scrape for a good tick. Looking over this scrape is so good that we had to drag ourselves away to look for more stuff.

Up at 360 hide, Ringed and Little Ringed Plover are seen, while in the hide a lady that we had been talking to came back to the hide to tell us that the Black- Tern that had been reported had just been relocated up by the end of the track to the hide, so a quick run up there see's us get a really good year tick, the Tern gives a really good up and down display. 

Brian then picked out a couple of Little Gulls for another good tick and then a fellow next to us found a Gull that he wasn't sure of, so he got Brian to have a look and it turned out to be a Bonaparte's Gull. it had been reported the day before but had not been seen today so a really great find. 

Also seen while here Greenshank, Spotted-Redshank, a few Yellow-Wagtails a White Wagtail, a Great-white Egret, and a Little Egret a sedge Warbler get us a year tick. 

As I said we love this place and on the right day it's a magic place for us, and this visit was one of them.

The Black Tern

Again

The Bonaparte's Gull

A bit far off but the Black-winged Stilt

Nightingales & Yellow Wagtails at Abberton reservoir.

On Wednesday it's a short trip to Abberton Res in Essex hoping that Nightingales have arrived.

We tried our local patch at Waltham Abbey but never heard any on Tues. So we meet up and arrive nice and early and the Nightingales are singing loud and clear but seeing any was a bit harder, perseverance paid off and we all got a couple of sightings.

A quick scan from the causeway over the Res gets us a year tick of an Artic Tern also seen  Little-ringed Plover shows.

Once again time was of a premium so a quick drop into the farm where 3 Yellow- Wagtails show well for another year tick before we had to shoot off home.

Yellow -Wagtail

Again

Garganey & Stone-curlew gives us a nice morning in the Brecks & Lakenheath.

Brian gave us an early call asking if we wanted to go to Cavenham for the Stone-Curlews.  

So a quick cup of tea and some toast and on our way around 6am.

The early start pays off when we arrive to find a fellow birder already has a few Stone-Curlew

and we are soon onto them and we spot 5 in all.

I need a Woodlark for a year tick but to my surprise, I never heard or saw any, Brian heard one while Jimmy and I walked about in the hope of getting a year tick, Jimmy already heard one a couple of weeks ago when I again missed it.

We see a few Wheatear and Stonechat plus 0ne Lesser Redpoll, a Red-legged Partridge, and a 

nice Red Kite along with Kestrel gets us off to a good start for the morning.

Off now to Lakenheath 20 minutes up the road.

We soon pick out 3 Garganey way over the back of the pool but they are well hidden by the reeds so a long way off, as we walk around the water opposite the east forest we spot 3 more to give us the most that we have seen in one go, 4 Drakes and 2 female.

Water Pipit had been seen yesterday here but we never found them.

4 Great Egrets along with a few Little Egrets are seen to round off the morning.

 Stone-Curlew

One of the 6 Garganeys seen.

 

Ring Ouzel + Wheatears & Sand Martins at KGV res

 A late afternoon trip over our local reservoir as we have heard of a Ring Ouzel over there.

It's only a short trip but the 20 miles per hour signs slows us down.

As soon as we arrive we find a few first-of-the-year Wheatears, then another year tick when 2 Sand Martins fly along the water then back again over our heads.

We meet up with a couple of birders that Brian knew and after a talk, we head off in different directions in the hope of finding the Ouzel.

About 20 minutes later we heard a loud shout that told us that the other two fellows had found the bird.

We shoot off back toward the yacht club and meet up with them and the Ring Ouzel is there

just by the fence, so another good year tick for all of us.

One of the other fellows tells us he needed the Ouzel for a lifer so nice to share that with him.

The Ring Ouzel

Again

Jack Snipe at Amwell nature reserve.

Brian came over to us so we could pop over to Walthamstow to renew our  KGV reservoir permit but after a phone call, we were told that their printer was not working and can we go over next week.

So we decided to head to Amwell as that is only 20 miles away and we don't have a lot of time.

The aim is to see the Jack Snipe that has been reported from James' hide. I did the driving to give Brian a break as he is doing a load of that at the moment with family ties.

After a quick look from the viewing platform where we see a single Snipe,

some Shoveler, Teal, and a Little Egret and Heron before we move onto the hide to look for the Jack Snipe.

We scan a channel of flat reeds and Jimmy finds the target at the back of a pool of water along with another Common Snipe, that is a good year tick for all of us. While here we get the first Chiffchaff of the year for us. We never saw the Bittern that is here but to be fair we never looked for it. As I said it is a short visit so we headed off for home after a couple of hours with 2 years ticks. Just nice to get out to see some birds as it is hard finding time when all 3 of us can go at the moment. 

Although we got some great views in the scope of the bobbing Jack Snipe it never came right out of the reeds for great photos.

Local trips gets me 4 year ticks.

We pay another visit to Lemsford Springs as a Jacksnipe had been seen there, I pick up the only remaining key from the warden's house and head down to the hides, only one fellow in the hide and he had no sight of the Bird.

So we headed off to the other hide to search for it but all we saw were 3 Common Snipes 6 Green Sandpipers, a couple of Grey Wagtail plus 8 Little Egrets. So after 2 hours we gave up and headed off to Baldock and found a flock of Corn Buntings and another tick when we found some Grey Partridge as we drove around the roads.

One last place to go today as we need to see a Little Owl and we know a park close to where we are, on arrival, we head across the park to scan two large trees in front of the closed cafe.

It takes half an hour before somebody spots a single Little Owl sitting on the main trunk, it is really hard to see, but once on it, you wonder why it took so long to find.

The bird stayed still for ages but when it did move it popped out and went up and down the branches to give us all great views of it.

The next day we hear that a Fudge duck was on a local pond that is only a few miles from home. 

The Ferruginous duck is showing but it is half-hidden by weeds and branches.

After 20 minutes of watching the duck, it came out and showed really well close to where we were standing for some nice photos. 

The Ferruginous duck

Showing well the Little Owl

Bramfield church Hawfinch in Hertordshire.

A trip up the A10 to Bramfield church with the boys to look for Hawfinch, it's a place we visit at least once a year and nearly always comes up trumps with a year tick, and after a short wait and a walk down the hill to the row of bushes Brian spots a single Hawfinch amongst a large flock of Greenfinch and Yellowhammer.

As we get on the bird it flies over our heads and back to the church and settles on a tree for good views. A single male Bullfinch was also seen for the first one of the year.

Only being a few miles from Lemsford Springs it makes sense to get to watch the Sandpipers who always put on a good show here.

When we finally get into the reserve after waiting for people to return with a key to the gate, a bit annoying but that is the system they use here, and must say it's the first time it has happened to us, at the hide we find six Green Sandpipers plus four Snipe, Teal, Grey Wagtail, and two Little Egrets, this is just a nice place to spend some time just sitting and watching and the cameras are sure to get some good shots.

As we set off for home Brian asks if we want to go to St Albans for a Black redstart that had been seen in the picnic area of the Cathedral.

We struggle to find a parking place but after we do it is only a very short walk before we see a small group looking at a tree the cameras are clicking so bingo we are onto the Black-Redstart and get great views of a nice little bird.

Brian had heard about the Kingfisher who was posing well so set about finding it and after a tip-off from a birder he was off down the hill to the river, the bird was showing very well and we knew Brian was going to spend some time with this little stunner on the end of his camera.

The Black Redstart

One of the six Green Sandpipers seen.

Brian loved this little cracker.

Another 13 year ticks at Dungeness and Oare.

With Brian's car back on the road, the three of us head off to Kent. Arriving around 8 am we start off at Walland Marsh where we find the two Bean Geese along with about twenty Bewick's Swans to give the day a great start, we knew where to look for them but nice to get there and they are still there.  We drive around the Marsh and find a very large flock of Treesparrows feeding on the seed crop for another tick, this is the most Treesparrows any of us have seen maybe two hundred or so. Many Yellowhammers and Reed Buntings were also seen but not needed for a tick.   As we drive on we spot a Merlin and a Mistle Thrush both needed for a tick.  Off now to Dungeness where we head up to the beach hide, Hundreds of divers pass through then three ticks for us as we see Gannets, Razorbills, and Guillemot.   As we head off a Cattle Egret is spotted in the sheep field just past the reserve entrance, not needed but always have to stop to get a photo. Jimmy and I also pick out some Barnacle Geese for a tick.    Off now to round the day off at Oare Marsh. A Spoonbill is asleep on the far bank but is soon joined by another to give a good display to us. A Water rail was close in feeding on a dead fish, and we got our first Avocet of the year, We got another tick when a Kingfisher flies up and down the gully. A Stock Dove gives Jimmy and I another tick. A really nice day birding with the boys that gave me another 13-year ticks.

Just after the Spoonbill had flown in.

 

 

Lynford Arboretum gets me 10 year ticks.

We got off to a bad start when Brian's car had a flat tyre from another trip down a pothole.

So I had to take my car, the upside being it gave Brian a day without driving for once.

It is 83 miles to Lynford from home and we arrive around 8.30 and park up.

Within minutes my first tick when we spot a Treecreeper well before the gate, don't know why but I love to watch Treecreepers.

At the gate, Marsh tit shows for the second tick, then Siskin, plenty of Chaffinch is not needed for a tick but always nice to watch.

Down at the bridge, 11 Crossbill were showing well in one of the big trees overlooking the brook. 

While at the bridge we tick Nuthatch and Goldcrest for another two ticks. Coal Tit and Marsh Tit along with a large flock of Siskin.

As we look for Hawfinch we hear a Raven kronking and then it flies overhead for a good view of the bird.

With no sign-off Hawfinch, it's back up to the gate and we see Yellowhammer I was the only one of us who needed it for a year tick, and then we all get our first Brambling of the year. Also seen while here we tick Lesser Redpoll.

We all agree to give it a try for a Goshawk as it's not far away.

As we pull into the lay-by one of the birders already here tells us he has a Goshawk in the scope and all three of us get to see a nice Goshawk perched up in one of the pines how lucky is that. So another nice day out with the boys and now the drive home.

Some of the Crossbills

Brambling

A lovely Treecreeper