Black-Throated Diver at Scotney GPs

Brian has a day off & we get a call to meet in 15 minutes to head off to Kent,no particular reason just to see what we can find but Hen Harrier would be nice & looking for Barn Owl at Capel Fleet is always a nice way to spend a few hours.
Looking out from the mound we spot at least 15 Marsh Harrier flying or sitting in the field but no Hen Harrier seen.
The place is alive with hundreds of Starlings feeding on the ground & all along the wires & the bushes looked like Starling trees, flocks of Corn Bunting fly about as well.
We head off to Scotney GPs in the hope that the Black-Throated Diver was still about, it only took about 5 minutes to answer that when Jimmy picks it out & it dives & comes up not to far away from us. A year tick for both Jimmy & I so pleased about that.
Of course we pop into Dunge & get another look at the Ring-Necked Duck we had seen last week.
Looking for the Tree Sparrows by the entrance it seemed that none were about, then we spot them round the left side of the house where another feeder had been put up & it was shielded from the wind so a lot of the Sparrow were sitting in the bushes round that side.
A drive down to the visitor centre to buy an easy clean bird feeder & we have to have a quick look at the Long-eared Owl just outside the centre.
Now it's off up to the beach to get blown about for no real return as it is very quite bird wise.
Before we head home it's back to Capel Fleet to watch the Harriers come into roost.
Once again we see loads of Marsh Harrier & get lucky when a Hen Harrier flies into roost but still no Barn Owl, we drive up & down the track & get to see our only Barn Owl of the day, we sit & watch it fly about until the light starts to fade.

Black-Throated Diver

Dipper at Bassingbourn Cambs.

Checking the weather, today was going to be the best day to head to the Cambridge Herts border in the hope of picking up the Dipper that has been around since April.
It's an hour trip of about 40 miles on the A10 & we reach Bassingbourn around 7.30.
Jimmy had got some info from a couple of people on twitter & that made it easy for us to find the stream & we get parked just across the road from the bridge on Brook Rd then it's only a few yards to find the stream & we get lucky when after just a few minutes the Dipper is spotted sitting on a low branch & then dropping into the water to give a great view.
With no Scotland or Wales trips this year this is a bonus for us to find one this close to home.

                                                                     

The Dipper

Dungeness in the wind.

The boys & I had been lucky enough to see the Forester's Tern yesterday afternoon so with not to much about we head off to the old favourite of ours despite the that fact we knew it was going to be a nasty sort of day with storm Angus hitting the Kent coast. Dungeness really was blowing a fierce gale, we took a lot longer to get there & never arrived  till 8 am.
First port of call was the pool by Boulderwall Farm just past the entrance to the reserve, a Ring-necked Duck was reported & Brian still needed one for a year tick.
The car was being buffeted about & to open the car doors was really hard to do with the wind really gusting, so we pulled the car closer to the pool & picked out the Duck without to much trouble & we also managed to spot the Cattle Egret following the cows around the field, not needed by any of us for a tick but a photo had to be taken & with the wind blowing the cameras about it was never going to be great.The Ring-necked Duck was being bounced about in the strong waves but it was showing well.
Next up we make a silly decision to head up to the boats by the beach & we are blown about all over the place, holding onto the scopes really tightly we scan the sea but apart from many flocks of C Scoter & the same amount of Cormorants a few Gannets, G C Grebes, Kittiwakes, a couple of Divers, nothing much was happening, so it's off to look at the Gulls to see if there is anything special about, but not today despite giving it a lot of time looking.
Heading home now & on the way we spot a few Bewick Swans amongst some Mute Swans I always like to see them. Later we spot a Buzzard feeding on the ground & that means trying to get a photo of it.

Cattle Egret

The Buzzard after it flew into the trees

Being bounced around Ring-necked Duck

Forster's Tern at Mistley for a lifer

Just watching the end of the Man utd Arsenal match when Jimmy comes down stairs with a text from Brian, do we want to try for the first winter Forster's Tern at Mistley  in Essex, 10 minutes later we are in the car heading up the A12.
It's coming up to 2. 30 so we hope the light holds for us as it's 60 miles away & it's not the brightest of days.
When we arrive on the Quay there are only two other birders present & we are told that the bird was still about but had just flown further out over the Bay & was lost to sight, not looking good for us.
By now birders were arriving in numbers & we all got rewarded when Jimmy calls that the bird is in his scope & heading straight towards us, it flies right in then turns right to give us a good side view.
We hang about until the light goes but it's the only sighting we get, so not a long view but a good one.
I am told this is only the 2nd Essex tick & the first Suffolk tick which pleased a few people around us.This is a lifer for all three of us & a right unexpected one at that.
And some how Arsenal got a very undeserved equaliser to earn a draw so a very good afternoon for us all.

Another Lifer in Norfolk.

A bonus trip to Norfolk with Brian having a couple of days off work to celebrate his 53rd birthday & that is also a great bonus that at times we never thought he would see, so every one of his birthdays is special to us all.
We arrive at Cley beach at 7 45 am & scan the sea for two hours & we see loads of Common Scoter passing through along with Red-throated Diver, the odd Gannet & some Long-Tailed Ducks swim close in to the beach,5 Eider Ducks fly past both Jimmy & myself needed them for a year tick, then a real bonus for me when a Little Auk flies close in for a great view, just the one as it turns out but that is another Lifer for me so a good start to the day for us.
Now we head off in search off some Waxwings that are being reported all over the place & we will be a bit miffed if we go home without seeing any.
We want to find some ourselves so the first port of call is Burnham Norton & we are rewarded as soon as we arrive when we see over twenty Waxwing sitting on the wires & in a large tree.
They sit out so we can get the camera on them but the light is really bad not that really makes a lot of difference with the way I take photos but still I try my best.
After we have our fill of the Waxwings it's off to Titchwell to get a coffee & a sausage roll, we never intended to walk the reserve but change our mind & walk up to the beach & that turns out to be a good move when 3 Velvet Scoter are picked out floating on the sea to give Jimmy & myself another year tick & we meet a couple of nice fellows to talk birding with while on the beach.
So a great day birding with the boys but it's getting dark now so it's off home.

Some of the Waxwings

                                                                           
                                                                                 

Set out for one lifer ended up with two in Norfolk.

Jimmy & I set off just after 5 am & head  up to Burnham Overy in the hope of getting a lifer in the Isabelline Wheatear that Brian got yesterday & had been around for a couple of days.
We hope the bird has hung around for another day, when we arrive we just about get the car parked off the road & as we start the long walk the pager tells us that the bird had been seen,so only 20 minutes away from another lifer.
We join a small group & they had seen the bird but it had just flown over the back & out of sight, so it's a case of just waiting & after 20 minutes the Isabelline Wheatear returns & we get some great views of this little beauty.It walks about feeding & it doesn't seem to bothered with the group watching it.
 So a lifer for both of us & as we scan the bushes I get a real bonus when a Radde's Warbler shows well sitting out on the side of the bush, Jimmy had already got one this year on a trip that I never went on so another lifer for me. Now we walk to the Western end of gun hill to look for the Desert Wheatear that had also been here for a few days. When we arrive a large group  already had the Desert Wheatear in they scopes, it was over the other side of the water running about on the sand along with the Isabelline  that had flown down  from where we had first seen it.
They are a long way over but we get great scope views as they run up & down the sand & some times the Desert Wheatear sits up on a log but to far away for my camera to capture any thing.
We hear that a couple of Waxwings had been seen at Burnham Norton, so we head off & find the place & meet the fellow that put it out & he tells us where to head to see them.
We walk a short way to the sluice gate & scan all the bushes but after an hour we give up & leave without any sign of them. Also seen 2 White fronted geese amongst a large flock of Brent, several Egyptian geese also seen walking about with them, a large flock of Pink foot are over the back of the same field. Ringed Plover, Grey Plover, loads of Oyster catcher along with loads of waders while watching the Wheatears.
So off home with 3 ticks 2 of them lifers so a good trip.

Isabelline Wheatear

Jimmy in the line watching the Desert Wheatear

Ring-necked Duck Wilstone Reservoir

Jimmy & I decide to head to Tring to look for a reported Ring-necked Duck seen late last night, so we set off around 6 am & arrive just before 7 am, we had to wait for the light to come up so sat in the car for 20 minutes or so & then walked up the steps & headed round to cemetery corner scanning the water as we go.
Loads & loads of stuff on the reservoir we see a few Grey Wagtails on the edge also 1 Rock Pipit, a couple of Water Rail are seen over the back in the reeds, a Jack Snipe was also seen by a fellow that had joined us but we never saw it.
After 2 hours of scanning we are about to give up & look round the other side, I give one last look in the corner & bingo I pick the Duck out & get Jimmy to get the scope on it to confirm it & yes we have another year tick. So a nice little trip not to windy & near to home.
                                                                 

Ring-necked Duck