Wryneck at Landguard

Back from my short break in Devon Jimmy & I meet up with Brian & set off to Landguard in search of a Wryneck.
We never found the one at Dungeness last week so hope for better luck this time.
It's around 7 am when we arrive & we find the Wryneck within half an hour, it flies out of a bush & drops down about 60 yards away in the open ground to give us great views for a good 10 minutes before flying off not to be seen again for over 2 hours.
We spend over 4 hours here & spend most of the time searching for Pied Flycatcher but although 2 have been reported nobody could find any sign of them but we do get to see another couple of sightings of the Wryneck.
As we walk we see many Linnet a single Redstart a few Willow Warbler loads of Whitethroat + the odd sighting of Lesser Whitethroat & down by the caravan park many Whinchat are seen.
Some familiar faces are here so always nice to catch up with them.Tom & Barry plus a good old talk with people around makes it a very pleasant morning indeed.

Once again Brian the only one us who got a good photo

The Wryneck

Cirl Bunting Labrador Bay + G w Egret Ham Wall.

Great w Egret

On a break near Exmoor  last week with my wife Jean gives me the chance to head down to Labrador Bay in Teignmouth, it's a 50 mile drive but times our own & well worth the effort to see the wonderful Cirl Buntings.
When we arrive the notice board informs me that the Buntings have had a good year & up to 28 have been seen here,so off to look for them.
I turn right after going through the gate & spend an hour searching without any luck, so I head back & go left & meet a couple coming back & they have just seen a few & guide me in the right direction & within minutes I am watching 4 Cirl Buntings on a small drinking trough by the top gate.
A couple more are sitting in the trees waiting to fly down. I only spend around 30 minutes watching them & that is all I managed to find but as always a great treat to see them.

The next day I pay a visit to Ham Wall & the only highlight is when a Great white Egret drops in as we arrive in the hide.

Cirl Buntings

Cirl Bunting

Dungeness again.

It's off to visit Dunge again this weekend,we are driving down Gallaways around 7 am & have the place all to ourselves on a nice bright warm morning.
We would like to find a Wryneck & maybe a Pied Flycatcher for a couple of year ticks but we fail badly on that score.
Over 15 Whinchat many more Stonechat a fair sprinkling of Wheatear plus a nice Spotted Flycatcher.
A pair of Raven show well over head.

Despite not getting any ticks this was a very nice place to be with so much flying about.
On now to drive the track down to visitor centre where we see just one Cattle Egret in the cow field, over 14 were seen yesterday.
Before heading for home we stop off at the Long pit area for one last look for a Pied Fly.
But all we got was a long walk but Brian did find a Grass Snake.
We divert on the way home to Wanstead for another look at the Red-backed Shrike.
A fellow is already on the bird when we arrive, so we spend around 45 minutes watching the Shrike just dropping off the bush to feed & back up again.So a rather nice finish to our birding day.

Wanstead Shrike

One of the many Whinchat

long way off the single Cattle Egret

Spotted Flycatcher

Red-backed Shrike at Wanstead

Nick found a Red-backed Shrike on his patch over the flats on Tuesday around 2 o'clock & he posted it on Bird guides,20 minutes later Jimmy & I are heading over there.
Unfortunately as we approach him the bird takes flight & over the next 2 hours all we get are 3 flight views. We are told this is the first Red-backed Shrike since 1980 so pretty rare for here.
So we decide to head back over the flats today in the hope of a better view.
We spend around 4 hours there & are rewarded with 3 good views of this juvenile bird,it was still very elusive but with a bit of patience we get our reward.
After we have had our fill of the Shrike we head over to the now burnt out enclosure that still has a fair bit of scrub left to try to find any Pied Flycatchers 2 had been reported earlier.
It's a bit of a walk to get there but on the walk there we see 3 Whinchat they are not needed for a tick but always nice to see them.

Brian's photo the Red-backed Shrike

Spotted Flycatcher

long way off the Shrike

Once in the enclosure  a few Spotted Flycatchers are flying around but after an hour we never found any Pied.

Never got very close but a record shot.

American visitor at Dungeness

A call from Brian takes us to Dungeness after he finishes work around 12 o'clock.
The target is the American black Tern that has been around for a few days also aWryneck has been reported.
It's a drive down Gallaways as far as the old tank, parked up we join a group of about ten birders looking for the Wryneck, it had not been seen by anybody here but people that had left had seen it earlier on. The boys pick up a year tick when we see about 4 Whinchat.
We give it about an hour but we get no show from the bird, so it's off to look for the main bird on the reserve.
Only one person in Makepiece hide when we arrive that was a bit of a surprise but the hide did fill up later in the afternoon,one fellow had driven from Cornwall & another from Bristol to view this cracking American visitor.
We don't have to scan for long before we find the target bird as it flies around with some Juvenile Black Terns & one adult bird.
Mainly distance views but the bird did come close a few times & we got some great scope views when the bird landed on the Tern raft.
So a late decision to come & it took us 3 hours to get here with the traffic but turns out to be a good trip as always when you find the bird you set out to see.

American black Tern

Black Tern

Early morning visit to Titchwell (Lesser yellowlegs )

We set off for Titchwell at 4 am in search off the Lesser Yellowlegs  The bird has been around for a few days now so hopes are high.

The car park is empty when we arrive at 6 am on a very warm morning.
A walk up to the beach where we find plenty of Turnstone,Oystercatcher,Sandling & a flock of Common Scoter fly past,it is very calm at sea & the beach is empty but very pleasant to be here.
Off now in search of the target bird,as we walk past Tidal Marsh it is alive with over 40 or more Little Egrets,later on we see the trees at the back of the Marsh are just awash with them,funny to see a green tree just turn white.
On to Fresh Marsh where the Lesser Yellowlegs is found on the Tern Island without to much trouble to give us all a nice year tick.
With the water level very low the place is full of bird life & we see Bar & Blacktail Godwit,Curlew,Green & Common Sandpiper plus Redshank, Avocet, Dunlin also Ruff & 5 Spoonbill drop in & stay active for a change so all very nice, still not a lot of people here so it was a real pleasure to just sit & watch all that was going on out on the Marsh.
Before we leave a Little Gull is seen along with Grey & Golden Plover also a few Bearded Tit are picked out as they dropped out of the reeds onto the mud to feed.
We shoot over to Cley & spot a very nice Spotted Redshank that gave us the second year tick of the day.
That is all we got in the way of ticks but another 5 Spoonbill drop in, that was nice then a fellow birder thinks he has a Buff-breasted Sandpiper but after a few people had got a view of the bird it turns out to be a Knot.shame that as it would have been a lifer.
There were many Green Sandpipers, a single Whimbrel, also seen Greenshank.to finish off a very nice relaxing day. Only 2 year ticks but so nice to be out & about birding after the last couple of weeks merry go round.

2 of the Spoonbill

Spoonbill in flight

Lesser Yellowlegs

Visit to KGV Reservoir

Jimmy calls down that Neville  had just reported a Little Stint at KGV Reservoir,  having missed the one at Oare on Sunday its not long before we are pulling into the car park at the Reservoir.

We need this for a year tick but we had to work for a sight of this one.

We spent 3 hours walking the whole way around the Res seeing over 15 Common Sandpiper, 1 Green Sandpiper, lots of Pied Wagtails and many Sand Martin flying around the banks of the Reservoir also some Terns but no sign of the Stint that we needed.

We were heading back towards the cabin just before the slope to the car when 3 Birds drop onto the bank & bingo one of them is the Little Stint to give us another year tick,such a cracking looking little bird.
Neville also reported a Black Tern but we didn't need it for  tick so we never looked to hard & although we did scan around the boats it never showed.