Hoopoe at last plus Little-ringed Plover

Jimmy & I set off to tick the long staying Hoopoe that is in Staffs at Hinksford G P,armed with a map from Brian who had seen the bird a couple of weeks ago.
Leaving at 5am we arrive on site at 7. 30 am after a 140 mile drive, I take a couple of wrong turns but not to bad, at first it looks bad as the target had not been reported at all yesterday & the place was very boggy with a lot of water about after yesterdays heavy rainfall.
After scanning the area for what felt like an hour Jimmy finds the bird on the ground at the bottom of the hill.
We spend the next hour with the bird & have it all to our self as well so loads of photos taken as we get very close to it & it just feeds without worrying about us being there.
We are only 4 miles away from Dudley cemetery so we go & pay our respects to one of the finest footballers that I had the pleasure to see play & was taken away from us far to early in the Munich air crash of 1958 at the age of 21, Duncan Edwards was already a great player & would have gone on to captain England and become one of the greatest players ever.
All very sad but really glad to have done it & to also pay a visit to the church of St Francis to see the stained glass window commemorating his short life.
Back to birding now as we head to Sandwell Valley rspb, just north of West Bromwich our first visit here &  we love the reserve.
As we get outside the visitor centre Jimmy picks up a tick when he gets see not 1 but 8 Bullfinch, thank god for that it's  been driving him mad & Brian has been taking the micky a bit.

In the hide that is only a short walk away we see 2 male Goosander  a pair of Goldeneye along with Oystercatcher, some Grey Wagtails & a bonus when we are put onto a very early Little-ringed Plover for a year tick for both of us.

Hoopoe

One of the Bullfinch

                                                                                

                                                                             

Lapland Bunting & Snow Bunting in Norfolk

Setting of early the boys & I head to Norfolk & arrive at Blakeney Quay around 7 o'clock, we walk up to the sea wall & head to the NT gate, Jake & 4 of his uni mates were already on site & they had walked back from further up the sea wall so we think this must be the place to wait for the Lapland Bunting to show & it's not long before a small flock of them drop down to feed on the path in front of us. They fly back & forth to give great views, we spend a good hour with them, this is the first time I have seen Lapland Bunting on the ground & this close to them only having seen them fly over head & calling before today, so really nice to see a much better looking bird than I had thought it was.We also get to see Twite, Meadow Pipit, many Reed Bunting & a single Stonechat & Skylark while here.
Cley is next on the list & we walk up the track at the east end & we leave Jimmy sitting in the new shelter half way up to the beach, he already had Snow Bunting this year so has Brian but he walks the long walk down the beach to maybe get a photo or two of the Bunting.
On the way we find a dead Porpoise that had been washed up onto the beach, not nice to see that.
The Snow Bunting are found after a 15 minute walk & Brian gets some good photos & I get a nice year tick.
A quick look for the Red-necked Grebe at Brancaster Staithe proves fruitless so I remain the only one of the trio not to tick it yet this year.
Before heading home on a very cold day we look in at Hunstanton cliffs & get a year tick as we look at a few Fulmar flying about above the beach. This was a nice day spent in Norfolk, freezing cold but we missed any rain that came down .

Snow Bunting

Snow Bunting

Lapland Bunting

Lapland Bunting

Willow Tit & Dowitcher at Rutland

Just Jimmy & myself set off for Kelham Bridge  today & after having a bit of trouble finding the place we phone Robert for a bit of help & he guides us to the reserve, it turns out we were not to far away so it's not long before we are on site & after about 10 minuets we see a single Willow Tit arrive on the feeder, so a good year tick in the bag.
Next on the agenda is Rutland in the hope of seeing the Long-billed Dowitcher, we pay the entrance & car park fee it was £10 for the two of us so not to bad.
It's a bit of a walk down to the Shoveler Hide & on arrival we find it packed out & to make matters worse everybody had to crowd down one end of the hide & it was not to comfortable in there but we do see the bird over on the far bank walking about with a couple of Snipe,after to short a time we had to move out to let more people move forward to get a view of the bird, so we leave the crowd behind & take the fairly long drive to Welney Nature reserve in the hope of meeting up with the Stork that's been around since Saturday.
It was posted at 8.30 this morning but had taken flight & had been seen over Burnham Market later in the day.
After hanging about for over three hours we give up any hope of it coming back to roost for the night & head for home, only two year ticks but a very nice day out & meeting some nice people on the way.                                                


                                                       

On the feeders at Kelham today

Just a couple of many Long-tailed Tits

Hooded merganser,penduline Tits & many Goshawk.

Another bonus trip with Brian off work for the day, we head to Gloucester for the Penduline Tits.
On the way we pop in to tick the Hooded Merganser just in case it gets excepted later on.
On reaching the lake we have been beaten there by John P & a small group that already had the Hooded Merganser in sight, so we are onto it with out any trouble although it was parked up on the far bank for a long time before it moved a bit closer for the big lens cameras to get some good shots,I just about get a bad record shot before it takes to flight back over the over side again.
We don't hang about long as we hope to get the Penduline Tits at Horsebere Pool.
The Premier Inn is found & we park in the layby on the A417 opposite, where we can see a small group looking over the pool as it is only a few yards away from the road.
Once again we are onto the birds within minutes, very hard to pin them down for any worth while photos but we get some nice views of them & spend over an hour looking at them.
While here a large group of maybe 90 or more Common Snipe the most I have ever see in one group fly up & head away from the pool.
Off now to New Fancy in the forest of Dean & once on the viewing platform it's not long before we see Goshawk flying back & forth across the valley, this has to be one of the best views that we have had of this many Goshawk really great. Three Raven pass over head for a nice view.
At the church in Parkend we meet up with a nice group that we see from time to time & they put us onto a pair of Crossbill a nice & easy year tick.

Brian's photo Hooded Merganser

Jimmy's Hawfinch photo

Not hanging about we find the cricket pitch just a few roads away & get to see a nice Hawfinch feeding on the ground. So a really nice day spent doing what we like doing but now the long trip home.

One of the Raven

Glaucous Gull at Dungeness

A bonus trip on Friday See's the boys & I head off to Dungeness  the aim being to find the Glaucous Gull that we dipped on our last trip here.
We are on the beach before 8 o'clock & spot the bird within minutes but it flies up & over our heads & out of sight,so the search is on & it is seen again after about 1/2 hour & this time it settles down not to far away from us, it's a right beauty & stands out from all the other gulls around it.
The cameras come out as it poses & stays for a good long time, we spend a good hour just feet away from it. We also find a Slav Grebe & get to see a few Bearded Tits which is always nice, looking out to sea I get a year tick when several Red-throated Divers pass through. The two Long-eared Owls that have been here for some time show well but well back in the bushes so we get no photos of them today.As I said an unexpected trip so the  two ticks is not bad & a day out birding is always a pleasure.

Glaucous Gull

Lackford Lakes & Grimes Graves gets 2 ticks

Nothing planned for sat morning but a call comes from Brian & we meet up at 6 30 am & head to Lackford Lakes in the hope of seeing the Long-tailed Duck.
We have a look over all the lakes from the hides & spend a couple of hours searching for the target on a really cold morning, on the verge of giving up Jimmy has one last look over the water as we head back to the car & bingo we have the duck for a year tick.
Really enjoyed it here as we see a few Kingfishers & many Goldeneye to keep us amused while searching for the duck.
On now to Grimes Graves for the long staying Shrike,we park right by the gate & that only leaves us a short walk to start scanning for the Shrike.
Once again it's hard work & it's looking like a no show & once again we are near to heading off when I see a bird half hidden in a bush & we get the scope on it & we have tick number 2 for the day with the Great-grey Shrike & it then comes out to sit on the top of the bush for some great views.
A quick look in at the Lynford Arboretum just to round the day off, didn't spend a long time here but long enough to see Nuthatch, Coal Tit,Long-tailed Tit, Siskin, a very nice Treecreeper right in front of us, always like to watch these busy little birds.

Shrike in flight

Grey-grey Shrike

Little Grebe

Goldeneye

Nuthatch on feeder at Lynford

Trouble at Dungeness, I still get 3 ticks

With no intentions of going anywhere on Sunday morning we get a surprise call from Brian do we want to go somewhere local & if we do meet up at the very late hour of 11 am.
So despite the fact that it was raining & pretty dull we of course meet up at the usual meeting place, in the car now we have to decide where to go,no idea is the answer so what always happens when we have no place in mind it's off to Dungeness, where the local came in to that thinking I don't know it's 90 odd miles away.
We are nearly there when Sue's car that Brian had kindly taken for a run decided that it needed diesel to make it go, we have pulled off onto a roundabout & got lucky when out of the blue a petrol station appears & with a bit of stopping & starting again we just make it & fill up & only 97.9p litre,
With we thought our troubles out of the way it's on to Dunge to look for the Glaucous Gull.
The wind is blowing a right Gale & everywhere you look the beach is full of fishermen taking part in a big tournament, so most of the Gulls are hovering just off the beach making the job a bit more tricky with hardly anything roosting on the shingle.The sea is awash with birds but all we manage to pick out with the rain & wind blowing in our faces is Razorbill & Kittiwake for 2 year ticks but no sign of the Glaucous.
A quick drive down the observatory road gets us a single Black Redstart sitting on a wire fence for another year tick.
We never really moved far once back looking for the target bird, no luck again although the Caspian Gull showed well. The dark soon creeps up on us & when we try to start the car it says no, a call to the AA sorts us out after about an hour of waiting so that was not to bad.
Maybe we should of stayed local after all, but 3 year ticks makes it just about worth going & it's always a laugh.

Caspian Gull