Great view of Quail in Cambridge.

After waiting for a nice sunny day Jimmy & I make the decision to go to Orwell Cambs for the Quail instead of going to Pirton in Herts, the plan all week was to head to Pirton so we would be near enough to pick up the Montagu's Harrier on the way.
After seeing on twitter that Lee had spent all afternoon looking for the bird with no luck we think we will have a better change of picking up a sighting of Quail at Orwell, as it turns out it's a good choice
as we see at least three maybe four with two really good flight views as well.
We travel the 50 odd miles & arrive on Meadowcroft way just before 6 am, with the car parked it's a short walk between the houses & we walk over a small bridge & head up towards the next bridge, we are now waiting to hear any Quail call to give our self a chance to see them.
We have the place to our self for the first hour & get to hear at least two calling & then we have the first flight sighting as the bird flies right over our heads & drops down & starts to call, then we hear another one  & start to search for a better view.
We have to wait for while but a bird is seen just sitting on the edge of of a small open space & we can watch it as it starts to call, this is the best sighting that we have ever had, so with no news of the Montagu's it proved to be a great decision to come here.
Nice to see Dave Aiken turn up, we have not meet up with him for some time now so very nice & even better he also gets a great view of one when it drops into a channel just behind us, really pleased for him as he has come a long way down from Yorkshire.
Many Yellowhammer,Corn bunting, Linnet,plus Whitethroat seen while here. Not quick enough to get photo of the Quail so had to make do with the Whitethroat just to get some use out of the camera.

Whitethroat

Bad dip on the Icterine warbler

Had all week to go to Kent for a lifer, so it's our own fault that Jimmy & myself are on the road by 5 am & on arrival at Reculver at 6. 30 to be meet by a couple of birders that we see from time to time & they tell us they have been on site since 5 am & the bird has not been seen or heard.
Over the next 3 hours we get to hear no sound of the Icterine warbler, one fellow that joined us later saw what might have been the target bird but never got onto it quick enough to give a good ID.
So as not to waste the trip we have a look around for any Moths or Butterflies or anything else to photograph. So the ups & downs of birding do we go or not, how far to we want to travel & being able to smile when we get it wrong like today, must say it beats working any day & it was still a really nice day by the sea.

Nice Orchid from an earlier trip at Acres down Hampshire

Six spot Burnet

Marbled White Butterfly

Young Robin

Spoonbill & Black redstart Dungeness.

Up & out by 5 am & up on the beach at Dunge by 6 30, a very quite morning with very little passing through apart from Gannets & a few Terns & the odd Auk.
So off we head to look for Black Redstart that would get both Jimmy & myself a year tick.
A search of the fence around the power station eventually gets us onto a couple of Black Redstart for a good tick.
A walk around the trapping area once again is very quite with just Whitethroat & Dunnock about the only birds showing.
I have a quick look at the moth trap at the observatory & get a couple of photos & while there looking at the notice board I see that a couple of Spoonbill have been seen over the back of Scotney gravel pit, so as we had missed a few a couple of weeks ago in Norfolk we must head over there.
At first we find it hard to find them on the first pit so we move down the road to the other pit & Brian thinks he has spotted them, so with the car parked off the road the scope soon picks 2 Spoonbill out for another tick. We head off to look for the bean field in Cheyne to look or at least hear some Quail, it turns out to be a wild goose chase as we don't really know where we are heading, after spending some time searching we decide to give up & head home  with just the two ticks in the bag.

Spoonbill

The Moths

Trip to oare get's us a Bonaparte's Gull.

We set off for Oare marsh in Kent at 5am & arrive in just over the hour, a Barn Owl started the day off well giving us great views as it flies very close to us & then goes right over our heads, always a great sight to see, we never tire of watching a nice Barn Owl.
Brian headed off to the east flood hide & it's not to long before I get a message on the phone to tell us that he had got the  Bonaparte's  Gull in view.
A few minutes later we have another year tick when we have good scope views of the Gull, really pleased to get the list moving after not getting anything last week when we dipped on the New forest Wheatear, a very nice day spent in Hampshire but nothing in the way of ticks for me, Brian picked out a Honey Buzzard for a tick but both Jimmy & myself missed out on that one.
Back to today the scrape is alive with many Godwits, Avocets , some Shoveler the odd Redshank, quite a few Little Egret but we get no sign of yesterdays Spoonbill.
So this is a quick trip today & we only get the one tick but on the way home as we often do we call into Elmley, this is a bit of a disappointment as there is no water pools about, so not to many birds about, we drive down to the farm & then head back up stopping from time to time to watch Yellow Wagtails & Linnets.
As we head out we stop by a puddle on the exit road to watch Swallow, Goldfinch & Linnets taking a bath & drinking.
We spend a good hour getting photos of any thing that comes to drink at the puddle.

Waiting to drop down to the puddle.

Swallow

Long way off Bonaparte's Gull

Again

Linnet

Bathing

Stock Dove, well it was there.

Clear off 

OK

Just some of the Godwit

Hudsonian whimbrel W Sussex ( Mega )

An unexpected call from Brian around 1 o'clock to tell us he has got the afternoon off work & do the pair of us want to head to W Sussex for a look for the mega Hudsonian Whimbrel.
It's 116 miles from home & any trip on the M 25 is a bit of a gamble, as it turns out we get no hold ups & also get lucky when we take the gamble & pull into the Church car park at Church Norton & find one space left that we pulled into, a real bonus as it 's only a very short walk to where the bird has been seen already today.
The scopes come out & a quick scan only gets us a couple of Whimbrel but not the one we want,after being joined by a few more birders one of them tells us that he had just seen the target bird further down the beach.
Off we all march & on arrival we find maybe 30 people looking & they have what they think is the bird in view, nobody is 100% sure as the bird refuses to move & with just the head showing we have to wait for over 2 hours before we see a few flaps of the wings & then what we all needed to see when we got a flight to show no white bars & everybody is ticking this mega.
So a real bonus to get a lifer unexpectedly today, a long drive but well worth it in the end.

Day in Norfolk produces no year ticks for me.

Up early & we are pulling into the car park at Titchwell by  7 am, getting out of the car we are greeted by the sound of a Cuckoo & a Barn owl shows over the field as we walk down the main path to the hides. one of the Chinese water deer shows for a photo,with Reed bunting flying about amongst the reeds.
In the hide a couple of Little-ringed plover & a lot of Avocets plus many Godwits fly in & a nice drake Garganey is picked out on the far bank.
We count 14 Little gulls that are swimming close enough to get a photo, 5 Marsh harriers also seen over the back of the scrape.
 A walk up to the beach to see Common, Sandwich,& Little tern, a few Gannets are busy fishing along with the Terns.
Two flocks of Auks pass low over the sea but nothing that we need for a tick, so it's off to Choseley drying barns.
Not to long to wait before 3 Turtle dove show well, they are not needed for a tick as Jimmy & I picked a few up in Cambridgeshire last week & Brian had seen them some time before us.
The place is full of Yellowhammer with the odd Corn bunting & Goldfinch plus many Chaffinch.
As we stand at the side of the road some Hares come running towards us, so out comes the camera as it's not a sight you see every day. So no ticks for me but Jimmy finally gets a Hobby as it flies over head for his one tick & Brian also gets one tick with the Little Gull, despite no ticks still a great days birding with the boys.

Reed Bunting

Little Gull

Yellowhammer

The race is on

Putting the brakes on

Chinese water deer

Back to Fowlmere for Turtle Dove.

Having dipped on Monday Jimmy & I set off to to put it right with another visit to the RSPB reserve at Fowlmere in Cambridgeshire.
It's only 43 miles from home down the M11 & with no traffic about at this time of the morning we are soon parked up & walking down to the reedbed hide, as we near the hide we hear the first purring of a Turtle dove, a quick scan of the trees & we have another year tick in the bag.
There is a large bare tree just before you reach the hide & with a bit of Patience you will see the bird come in to sit out in the open from time to time.
A look in the hide that over looks a reed bed we see Sedge & reed Warbler along with Reed Bunting a couple of Little Egrets fly up from the reeds.
Speaking to a local fellow birder in the hide he tells us that a pair of Marsh Harrier are nesting here & after a little time the female makes an appearance to give us a nice display.
On walking back to the car we hear at least 3 more purring Turtle Doves & we believe that there are five here in total.

Turtle dove