Phil Bishops Birding Blog

Rye Meads

2012-01-28T17:38:00.002Z

Have had a bit of a headachy cold thing going over the last few days, and decided to go out for a while to get a bit of air.
Went down to Amwell, wondered why there were no cars and remembered that the access track was shut as they were working on the railway. Went round to the old access at hollycross but there was no room for the car so ended up going down to Rye Meads.
Had to wait for them to open the gate and was first in. Spent a while chatting to the staff before heading off with Julie who had also intended to go to Amwell. We headed up to the old lagoons as the water elsewhere was very high based on her visit recently.
Did not take long to find a couple of Green Sandpipers, and a Grey wagtail flew in. Apart from a couple of Shelduck, not much else was around. Sat in the Kingfisher hide for a while where we had a large flock of primarily Fieldfare with a few Redwings. Thought I heard a Chiffchaff calling and then two small birds flew threw the trees. Could not be absolutely certain though they did look pretty good.
With time getting on I left Julie and slowly made my way back, where I heard a cetti's warbler and a Water Rail.
Two Buzzards and a Red Kite at Watton on the way back.

For the second weekend running, had a few Redpolls fly over the garden. Would be nice if they dropped in as I only ever had one once and I am sure they would like the Silver Birch I planted some years back

Hampshire Delivers

2012-01-21T19:32:00.000Z

Having missed out last week, we pretty much had to do Hampshire today, with two major rarities and a nice supporting cast. Unfortunately the weather was not as good, with some wind and a lot od dull cloudy light. Despite this we had a great day.
We arrived at Calshott around 0830 to find a smallish crowd staring at the hedge and a Spanish Sparrow hidden deep in the hawthorn. Views were not good. I was told that there were a couple of Peregrines around the power station behind us but I never got to see them.
Got a tap on the shoulder, turned round and was surprised to see Phil Ball on a rare twitch-apparently Ian Kendall was coming down and he cadged a lift. Gesturing at a passing container ship he remarked that the Sparrow had made a very long and strenuous journey.
Eventually the Sparrow moved out of the hedge and we got very good views, much better than the ones we had way back in Cumbria in 1996 (and they were pretty good too).

Our next stop on the tour that every one seemed to be doing was hawkhill Enclosure in the New Forest. Light was very poor and the Junco had not shown all morning-Phil mentioned that he had seen singing Woodlarks as well as many Crossbills. The Crossbills showed but I never saw or heard (except possibly a distant song fragment lost in the wind) one. Eventually someone found the Junco in one of the fallen pines some way off-it showed well but distantly before flying to the usual Chestnuts. Here it fed on the ground extensively but occasionally got up into the fallen pines and Chestnut where I got some decent images with the 500mm and both 1.4 and 2x converters. Rather nice to use this lens as it was after some very disappointing photography at the Chester Junco many years ago that I got the lens-I ordered it after seeing a magazine advert while stopping off at an M6 service station on the way back.

Phil mentioned that two weeks back William had encountered many Dartford Warblers in the heath over the road, but despite a search we were not successful, as the wind was rather strong.

The Gosport Ring Bill Gull was next on the list. We arrived just after noon to be told it had been seen shortly before but was no longer on the lake. Encountering Phil and Ian again we were directed to the muddy harbour where they had seen it badly backlit by the Sun. We saw the bird in question but it was distant. A few Brents, Curlews and redshank were around. Returning to the car via the lake I was surprised to see the Ring Bill sitting on the water. Working our way round we were confused to find only a well marked Common, but soon located the Ring Bill again. Luckily someone arrived with a bag of bread and it flew by before sitting on the path in front of us.

The Iceland Gull in Portsmouth was reported at the base of the Spinnaker Tower. We decided to drive over there but finding the place proved to be an exercise in frustration with misleading and disappearing road signs and we eventually gave up and finished the day at Warblington where the Cattle Egret was showing well in the cattle field, being joined by a Little egret.

Local Great Grey Shrike at Last

2012-01-16T20:07:00.001Z

Did not do anything over the weekend. I had hoped to visit the new Forest for the Junco, plus a nice supporting cast, and the discovery of a Spanish Sparrow during the week made it a dead cert, but unfortunately I finished work last week with a bad throat and did not feel up to the journey.
Was rather annoyed to hear late yesterday of a Brent Goose in Fairlands valley-would have made a nice local tick. It was too dark to call in on the way to work but I thought it worth trying on the way home.
However, before that I drove round to Norton Green where I got superb views of the Great Grey Shrike illuminated by the setting Sun. After the disturbance of the shooting and the travellers the other weekend I had assumed it had gone, but it was reported again today. Seemed to be settled in it's favoured bushes so I assume it is likely to stay for a while.
Called in at the lakes, but I could only see the Canada Geese and the usual assortment of feral wildfowl. Most of the smaller lakes were iced up but the larger lake was clear.

Arctic Roll

2012-01-09T20:43:00.000Z

Had a full days birding yesterday, with a Norfolk trip. Colin still not 100% but was up for it. Decided to concentrate on Titchwell and it's Redpolls.

Left pretty early and most of the trip was in the dark. Picked up a couple of Barn Owls on the way up beyond Ely. The regular detour through Ringstead did not produce much apart from a small flock of Corn Buntings, four Roe Deer and the usual partridges.

Chosely did not have much at all, though we did see a few Pink Feet on the way down to the coast.

Titchwell was fairly quiet when we arrived, so no problem parking. A scan of the car park and picnic areas did not produce any Redpolls, and we went on to the feeders and waited. Many others arrived all hoping for redpolls but all we had was the usual Water Rail under the feeders. Eventually we all moved on and found a small crowd on the path looking at the bank-side Alders.

There was a small flock of Goldfinches and Redpolls feeding, but despite directions I had a very hard time picking up the Coue's Arctic Redpoll supposedly in the trees. I did see a typical Mealy as well as a colder greyer presumed Mealy, before some of the birds flew off. Got a bit frustrated at this point, as did many others as it seemed that half those present could not see any Arctic. The rest of the birds eventually flew back towards the visitors centre.

A few of us went back to try and get better views. Most of the Redpolls were feeding on the ground, mainly Lesser but the large cold bird was with them. Initial views through the scope seemed to suggest to all of us that we were looking at a Mealy but a closer study revealed baggy trousers a very short bill with a straight culmen and it gradually dawned on us that this was the Coue's Arctic Redpoll and this seemed confirmed when Colin's image of the rump was studied.

Satisfied we continued on to the beach. A small crowd were found to be watching a distant Spoonbill out on Thornham Marsh. This concerned Colin as he had not seen Little Egret and he had visions of doing all the rare herons first. Luckily I soon picked up an Egret in flight. I was worried that it looked rather big and lumbering, but did not pick up on the yellow bill........

Further up near the beach a large crowd was staring intently towards Thornham and someone mentioned that some had just seen Great White Egret fly in.

Bugger.

Still there were a few Little Egrets for Colin on view.

The sea was pretty dead apart from a few Mergansers, Kittiwakes and unusually two Goosander. Four Snow Buntings were nice to see.

On the way back we were directed to two Chinese Water Deer in the Marsh.

The path near the centre was crowded with photographers-the birds were still feeding. They were a lot closer than earlier and we got very good views of both Lesser and the Coue's at almost point blank range.

After several hundred images and very satisfying views we eventually left Titchwell and headed inland.

A drive around Welney and Pymore was rather disappointing, though we did see some swans and plenty of wildfowl. A Barn Owl on a fence post was flushed by passing cars before we got to it. At the viaduct a scan of the washes was rather shocking as they were virtually dry-there did not seem to be any more water than when we were here in the summer.

A final stop off late in the afternoon at Burwell Lode produced another Barn Owl, two Short Eared Owls and several Chinese Water Deer and a small herd of Fallow Deer.

Amwell

2012-01-07T14:54:00.001Z

Popped over to Norton Green yesterday after work at lunchtime to try and find the Great grey shrike that was found on Monday. Unfortunately with limited time it was not successful-in fact it had not been seen all day. It was re-found an hour after i got home.
So this morning I got there early and met someone leaving that I knew-he had not seen it in a good hour. As we were chatting, a tractor pulled up towing a shed and out poured a load of gun dogs and shooters. Not a good start and they were surprised to find birders on site. I popped up onto the tip briefly and noticed a load of travellers and their dogs sweeping the site, so there was no hope of seeing the shrike today, gave up and headed for Amwell.
Did not look promising-only Tony was present and he had had a fairly dull morning. Went up to Tumbling Bay and soon found the female Red Crested Pochard, but the Smew had done a bunk again. Not a great deal at hollycross, but the Siskin flock in the picnic area still present. Also had a very close Treecreeper.
arrived back at the Watchpoint to find Simon, Colin, Phil and a couple of the Sunday crew. Had a long chat with a bit of birding until Phil thought he had a dark moving shape in the reeds-presumably a Bittern but it could not be found despite a long search. I was on the verge of getting ready to leave when two drakeGoosander flew north, and just as we were celebrating Phil's Bittern became a reality feeding on the waters edge. Watched it for several minutes before it slipped away, and this time a few of us made a definite move to leave. We got as far as the bridge when the others called us back for a fine Red Kite over the hide-a superb final twenty minutes to what started off as a really bad day.

Therfield Again

2012-01-02T14:42:00.001Z

Nice sunny and cool day today. I had planned to go to Therfield this afternoon, but with the wind building up, decided to go earlier.
Parked in the village and walked down Icknield Way, encountering the usual partridges and thrushes before stopping at the open area. Scanned for some time without seeing a great deal. Chatted to one of the local birders for a bit and watched a couple of guys walk part way along the 'shrike' hedge, but nothing popped up. There were another couple of birders on the far northern hillside-turned out they were watching a Peregrine. The wind was getting stronger so I decided to walk down to the trees, and saw a Hen Harrier fly in low from the east.
More birders were in the trees-apparently the hen harrier had dropped into the field. However of more importance the Shrike was showing in the hedge out of the wind. Unfortunately it remained a long way off-it was busy hunting, dropping to the ground frequently but we never saw what it was feeding on.

We also saw several Kites, Buzzards, Kestrels and a Sparrowhawk. A few flocks of Linnets were in the area, along with lots of Skylarks. Did not see any Golden Plover this time though.
On the way back one of the many Hares put on a good show.

2012

2012-01-01T16:15:00.002Z

New Years Day has arrived and it is very mild-noticed Grape Hyacinth in flower in the garden (along with several Cowslips that have been going since October) and there are plenty of other bulbs coming up.
Did not do a big trip today-Colin is out of action (makes a change as it's usually me), so went down to the Lea Valley for a few hours.
Started off at Nazeing. The diver had not been seen for a few days but I expected to see a few Goosander and so on. Unfortunately i was pretty quiet and there was nothing much of note, so I quickly left.
Amwell seemed quiet too, as only Phil was present but eventually most of the others were encountered. Not a great deal from the watchpoint, though given time a few Buzzards and Sparrowhawks put in an appearance. The usual assortment of wildfowl and gulls, a few Lapwing and Snipe were all I saw.
Made my way up to Tumbling Bay where a drake Smew had been present for two days, but no-one could find it. I could not find the Red Crested Pochard either.
Over at hollycross, Tony and Julie were watching Goldcrests but the lake was empty, so I went with the Sunday mob to the picnic area where we watched a large flock of Siskin in the alders. A Marsh Tit was with them and showed well.
back at the watchpoint, I met Alan Reynolds so i filled him in on Nazeing. The only new birds were two Little Egrets. Unfortunately Phil had seen the Smew fly north, presumably to Tumbling Bay but by then it was getting on and I had to leave.

Raptors

2011-12-27T14:42:00.001Z

Well I spent Christmas and Boxing Day slumped in front of the telly enjoying a few wines and so on so thought I'd better go out today and get some air.

Went to Deadman's hill first and met a couple of guys hoping for one of the Merlins. Although it was fairly warm and the sun was trying to break through, birds were pretty scarce, and largely distant. One or two Kites and Buzzards were on the ground and at least three Kestrel were hoevring. A large flock of Fieldfare were on the eastern ridge and we had fly by Skylark and Linnet on a regular basis.

The Icknield Way at Therfield was much better. Walked down from the village encountering thrushes and larks on a regular basis. A nice female kestrel posed on a bush.

Further down I encountered a birder looking at a grey blob in the hedge-it looked like the Great Grey Shrike and we were joined by a couple of others and watched it for a bit. A distant blob on a hedge was believed to be a Short Eared Owl, so we thought but my photo being only a few pixels in size looked more like a Buzzard which would be more likely perched up like this.

We moved down the track closer to the Shrike which was buried deep in the bushes and one of the guys with a scope said it looked more like a ball, so I went down and retrieved the remains of a tennis ball exactly the same shade of grey as a Great Grey Shrike!. Luckily to save further embarrassment all three of the wintering Hen Harriers put on a good show for us, though none really came close enough to my camera.

On the way back to the village we encountered Grey and Red Legged Partridge, Golden Plover and Lapwing, as well as several red Kites, so despite one or two dodgy observations it was not a bad morning.

Great Northern Diver

2011-12-24T16:29:00.001Z

Went down to Nazeing Meads this morning to search for the 1st winter Great Northern Diver. Followed the instructions, walked down to the bridge scanning the two lakes without success. Five goosander (three drakes)were very nice to see especially so close, and there were hoards of winter thrushes in the area. Near the bridge, a Chiffchaff was calling. After about 40 minutes it was clear that the diver was not present.
Just about to drive off when i saw Alan Reynolds and Graham White further down the track so drove down to them, to be told the diver was north of the marina. Went over with Alan and got pretty good though distant views.
After this I called in at Amwell. The usual crowd present, and the birdlife pretty much as usual. No sign of Smew-it's been a long time since one has failed to appear before Christmas.

Tring Ticks

2011-12-23T14:35:00.000Z

Finished for Christmas yesterday, and decided on trying to get a few more birds on my county list.
Despite my 25 years of birding in Hertfordshire, my list is pretty pathetic, and this is largely due to location. Living in Stevenage, in the north east of the county, I have the Lea Valley within fairly easy reach and this has always been a favorite. However a lot of the really good birds appear in the far west at the Tring reservoirs, which for me has always been a bit of a pain to get too, as it involves going through Luton and Dunstable, or through Hemel, or around the M25-it takes about an hour when there is no traffic. As a result I have missed many good county birds, but I have decided to concentrate a bit more and try and get there more frequently.
Over the last month or so, a juvenile Drake Bellied Brent Goose has been present, and more recently a family of Bewicks Swans has arrived, but due to other commitments I never made the trip (anyway there is a very slim chance that both species might be available for me at Amwell-wishful thinking perhaps). However much more important has been the appearance of Hertfordshire's first Snow Bunting for 30 years, so i had to go.
The journey was pretty good and I arrived just before 1000 at Startops, parking in the lay by. Climbed the bank and had a scan, picking up the usual wild fowl and some fly over Fieldfares. Noticed a couple of birders looking down and went over to join them, and eventually I spotted the very well camouflaged Snow Bunting feeding among the stones and weed along the shore. It was incredibly tame and carried on feeding while we stood a few feet above it chatting. Hopefully it will stay into the New Year.
Drove over to Wilstone and walked round to the jetty. A large flock of Canada and Greylags feeding in the field nearby held the Brent Goose. While I was there I tried to scan the shore, searching among Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits for the regular Water Pipit. It eventually flew past me and I was able to watch it feeding under the concrete lip of the reservoir.
A walk round the old canal and farmland was not very productive apart from a few Redwing and a Goldfinch flock. I eventually made my way to the hide and almost immediately saw the Bewicks in front of me-a pair with two young. The large Lapwing and Golden Plover flock did not contain anything of note, nor did the gulls-there has been a Med roosting recently. Someone mentioned that a few Pintail had been present recently, but the only duck of note was the female Red Crested Pochard.

Dartford warbler Surprise

2011-12-17T20:52:00.000Z

Have not done any birding for a few weeks-recent weekends have been taken up with the usual pre Christmas things, and today was no exception.
Had to go down to see my sister Jane in Bournemouth today, and took Mum and my other sister Sarah. Very little to see on the way down, it was rather cold and icy to start, with some rain by the time we hit the M3 but it cleared near Basinstoke and the rest of the day was lovely and sunny. Sarah saw a few Buzzards and Lapwing flocks, but I missed them, though I did notice a few thrushes and Kestrels.
Janes garden seemed to be very attractive to birds with several feeders and berried shrubs. Blackbirds and Coal Tits seemed to be the commonest visitors though there were plenty of Great and Blue Tits coming and going.
The post lunch along Southbourne promenade did not promise much, though on past visits I had seen Stonechats. We saw several Meadow pipits and Pied wagtails feeding on the cliff edge but by far the most unexpected bird and a complete surprise was the Dartford warbler feeding in the gorse adjacent to the very busy path. Sarah and I watched it for several minutes as it worked it's way up the low cliff
and posed very nicely on a small branch. Naturally I did not have my camera gear with me.

Another Peep?

2011-12-03T12:12:00.001Z

Just found out that the 'Stint' seen in flight several times with the Dunlin and Sharp Tailed Sandpiper at Chew has been identified as a Semi Palmated Sandpiper.
One of my really crap out of focus images of the feeding waders obscured by willow trees reveals one that appears to be quite a bit smaller than the nearby Dunlin.

More Duff Wader Pics

2011-12-03T10:13:00.001Z

Well I had more time off yesterday, and we were going to make another attempt at the Northumberland Yellowlegs. However, I had been feeling pretty rough all week and could not face another ten hours in a car. Add the fact that no-one could find it after first light on Thursday at any of its regular locations and I was very reluctant to dip again. Luckily, the Semi Palmated Sandpiper at had been at Cley for a few days now had been looked at closely, and there were a number of people suggesting it could be a Western Sandpiper.
Looking at the published photos, I was undecided, though there were a number of pro Western features, but the big problem was the apparent delayed moult. Still it was only a couple of hours away so worth going for whatever it would be.
Arrived at 0900, and being NWT members went straight in to Daukes Hide. The Dunlin flock was a long way off, but the peep was easy to pick out (though we had to be aware of a second small stint/runt Dunlin also present). Initially very active, getting any sort of plumage details was impossible, but it did get closer at times. I noticed an obvious gingery tone to the cap, cheek and shoulder when the light was right. At times the bill looked to be pretty long with a decent curve to it, as well as being a bit more lanky than the few Semi Palmated that I have seen. However, the scapular patterns proved to be very hard to see with certainty. The photo below does seem to show the requisite anchor mark on the retained juvenile feather, so I am pretty sure it is a Western.

We moved hides to scan Pat's pool, at about the same time the waders decided to move, but luckily they did not stay long. A few Avocets remained and there were good numbers of other waders and wildfowl. The light was pretty dire but with patience the Green Winged Teal could be picked up.
Moving to the brightly lit and calm sea, it seemed to be pretty quiet. A small Common Scoter flock and the occasional Guillemot and Gannet was about all that we saw for some time. One or two Red Throated Divers were present and someone noticed that one hard to see individual looked better for Black Throated, and so it proved when it drifted past. A few Little Auks had been reported, and eventually I managed to see two-one distant and one close in. At about the same time a small flock of Little Gulls fed off shore.
Both of us were feeling pretty tired achy so we decided to return home, but called in at Salthouse briefly. The usual Turnstone flock was present in the car park along with a few Teal and Redshank. Climbing the big hill, I saw a flock of Snow Bunting approach from the west, but they dropped down and when I got closer i could not find them.

Ups and Downs

2011-11-27T16:12:00.001Z

Having decided last weekend to go for the Sharp Tailed sandpiper as it would not stick around (still there today) rather than the Greater Yellowlegs we obviously had to try for the latter this weekend.
It had been reported at Cresswell Pond every day, though often going missing for some time, but it did seem reliable there, so having accumulated enough time to have Friday off we headed up there, arriving around 0930 after a pretty quick and unhindered journey, considering we were in the Newcastle Durham area at rush hour.
News from the hide was that it had been seen at first light before walking into the reeds (as on previous mornings) and based on previous observations would be back late morning. Well we stayed until 1515 and there was no sign. I suspect the high winds and squally rain may have played a part, but waders were coming and going all the time, and often staying well out in the open. I assumed it may have slipped out of the reeds un-noticed and flew to another location. Only decent birds we saw were a flock of Pale bellied Brent Geese-rather hard to find in the south among the Dark bellied we usually see.
Saturday I had hoped to visit Tyttenhanger for the White Fronted Geese and then maybe Tring for the Brent and Bewicks Unfortunately the journey took it's toll and I did not really feel up to going out. News that Ricky and the boys had picked up a Bean Goose at Tyttenhanger was a bit gutting as was the late report of Greater Yellowlegs at Cresswell Pond again and later on at Hauxley.
Still feeling a bit crap today, but I decide to go to Tyttenhanger. Arrived around 0930 and a quick scan into the Sun from the river bridge south of the main fishing car park produced a small flock of geese moving into the sallows. Two undoubted White Fronts among several Greylags and a darker goose almost obscured. Moved up to the hide for a better look and better light, with one other birder there. He had seen the Bean on the mud earlier. The Greylags and White fronts were still showing in among the sallows and other vegetation, but it seemed like the Bean was still hiding.
I moved up to the farm and spent some time watching the feeders. Lots of tits flying down, but the Tree Sparrows were much more elusive, calling from deep in the hedge and not really coming out. Had a long scan from the cliff top for the geese and suddenly they all flew out onto the water. Moved over to an open area, joining four other birders and we all got very good views of the Tundra Bean Goose swimming around and resting on the sand bar with both adult and juvenile White Fronts and the Greylags. I also picked up the over wintering Green Sandpiper before heading home.
So one major dip, and two county ticks.

Sharp Tailed Sandpiper

2011-11-20T10:23:00.001Z

Everything was set and we were ready to go to Northumberland for the Greater Yellowlegs, so what were we doing at Chew Valley south of Bristol?
A report late on Thursday of a juvenile Sharp Tailed Sandpiper at Blagdon Lakes made me change the plans at the last minute. There have been a few Sharp Tails in the last couple of decades, but I have not been able to get to any, and this was the first juvenile since 1974. Also, there is a suspicion that the Yellowlegs may over winter so we headed off to Bristol yesterday.
Bad news from Blagdon as we were approaching Bristol-no sign by 0800am, so we diverted to Herriot's Bridge at Chew as there were at least some good birds there. Five minutes before we got there the pager said the Sharp Tailed was at Herriot's Bridge!
Leapt out of the car to be told it was lost from view behind a reed bed, at a distance of a couple of hundred yards, so we set up and waited. We were virtually the first to arrive, but soon the lay byes filled up. Did not take long to locate the two Long Billed Dowitchers feeding at the water's edge, among large numbers of Lapwing and Teal. Two Bewick's Swans were nice.
A small flock of Dunlin appeared far to the right, almost hidden by reeds and I noticed a slightly larger, darker reddish bird, but could not get much on it. However those with better views were able to confirm it as the Sharp Tailed. Eventually it came out and sat in among the tree stumps with the Dunlin. Lighting was terrible but we were able to see all the diagnostic features. Unfortunately the birds were flighty and were soon off. The Sandpiper stood out in the flying Dunlin flock by virtue of it's larger size and darker plumage. A much smaller bird was also seen-a Little Stint.
The birds repeated this routine over the next couple of hours and eventually we got clear views in better light. The Dowitchers also appeared in the same area though I never got to see all three together.
In between watching the Sandpiper I went over to the south side where I managed to get fair views of the Spotted Sandpiper on the causeway and in flight.
Other decent birds included Peregrine, Goosander, Red Breasted Merganser, calling Water Rail and Cetti's Warblers.

Padding the year list fails.

2011-11-14T20:09:00.001Z

We intended to do Norfolk on Sunday, by way of a few birds on the way. However the news of a Greater Yellowlegs all the way up in Northumbria was a bit of a problem. The fact that it had been seen a few times in the morning and then disappeared until late afternoon suggested that it may be too flighty and unlikely to be reliable (rather like the recent Cornish bird). In the event it remained in front of the hides at Hauxley all day and we never got to Norfolk.
A few miles up the road from me just outside Biggleswade a small party of White Fronted Geese could be seen from the road, so we made them our first target. I have been geese hunting around here and nearby Shuttleworth before and found it a difficult exercise, but these were as reported, easily visible from the narrow lane. Parking was a bit awkward, and the light morning mist did not help.

The other side of Biggleswade, on a new housing estate the female Black Redstart was not seen despite a circuit of the estate. However, on getting back to the car I noticed a small reddish bird pop up briefly on the nearby school roof. Frustratingly a Starling then appeared in the same location, appearing somewhat orange due to the low Sun, and then flew off with another three birds. Luckily the small bird reappeared, dropped down and out of view. Approaching the school fence I noticed the now obvious Black Redstart on the fence where it gave satisfactory views before flying into the housing estate. We followed and got a number of good images. A number of other birds were seen in the area, a few flyover Yellowhammers and Skylarks, a Pied Wagtail family and a very short tailed Lark could only have been a Woodlark.

We then went to the RSPB Lodge at Sandy in the hope that the unusually late staying Osprey would put in an appearance. In the event it did not but the autumnal scenes and the fungi were wonderful. Will be putting more images up on my Zeiss page.

Apart from Siskins flying around, a few Woodpeckers and assorted finches the only birds of interest were Ravens-two juveniles and an adult bird were seen frequently near the visitors centre.
Our next target was an inland Slavonian Grebe on Orton brick pits south of Peterborough. We may have had duff gen and the pit we tried to find could not be found-a new housing estate had been built on the approach road and we spent around fifteen minutes driving around what could only be described as the most depressing and god forsaken development I have seen for a long time.
We gave up and headed for Guyhirn on the Nene washes. For some time now eight Cranes had been present on the cattle fields south of the A47. Unfortunately the farmer was driving a tractor around the fields when we arrived and the cranes had obviously gone so we went to Eldernell just in case they had ended up there.
I recognised two of the birders as locals that we had met several times before in the area and they had checked most of the sites between here and Guyhirn with no success. We spent some time chatting while large flocks of Lapwings and corvids entertained us but there were no owls, swans or geese on view. They did give us a better location for the Orton grebe so we called in there on the way back. This pit was at least accessible but full of motorbikes and theer was of course no sign of a Slavonian Grebe. To make matters worse we left at 3.30 pm and later on a pager message said 8 Cranes Eldernell at 3.20.
So we got a couple of year ticks, three dead certs could not be found and a lifer was on view all day 250 miles away. Still it was a nice day.

Dull day pays off

2011-11-12T16:28:00.001Z

Woke up to another dull dreary autumn day. Been promised bright sunshine for last couple of days and have yet to see any. Did not know what to do but eventually decided to go down to Amwell and while away a few hours.

Bill Simon and Tony were the only ones present and there did not seem to be much happening as usual. The board had three Goldeneye and I was told that a first winter Mediterranean Gull had been seen briefly in recent days. Simon went down to the hide and checked the gulls out before leaving, but did not find anything special.

Jay and Phil eventually arrived so with nothing better to do we also went to the hide in the hope the Med might appear. We found several colour ringed birds- Lesser Black Backs TL3T white on orange, DHAC white on blue and a Herring KDHT white on orange, some of which are from France but I hope to find out more later. A white headed Herring looked good for Yellow Legged, but it was light mantled-paler than some of the Herrings, so Bill and Phil dismissed it, particularly when they though they glimpsed pink legs. After about half an hour it made its way to the logs got out and revealed its bright yellow legs!

With time getting on we made our way back to the watchpoint and I was intending to depart when Phil noticed three Goosander -two males fly down from the north and carried on towards Stanstead Abbots.

My first Goosander of the year (I have not been trying too hard) and my first Herts Yellow Legged of the year.

Eastern Crowned Warbler

2011-10-30T13:44:00.001Z

There was me thinking the best bird in Herts is the Shrike, and I get a mega saying Eastern Crowned Warbler trapped and ringed at Hillfield Park!
Unfortunately no sign after release, and there is no general access anyway.

Great Grey Shrike

2011-10-30T12:24:00.000Z

Had a report last night about a Great Grey Shrike seen west of Royston at Coombe Road. Apparently Ray Hooper had been told about it, saw it briefly but then lost it while getting the news out.
Arrived just after 0800 and found Simon Knot and Mike Illett-who had already spent a couple of hours here. They had not seen it, so I decided to head to Dead Mans Hill.
There was a small flock of Fieldfare in the Hawthorns when I arrived, and across the road a large number of Starlings, Lapwing and a few Golden Plover were feeding. Had a few Linnets, Greenfinch and Larks, but not much else. A Red Kite hunting to the east never really got close enough to the camera.
Drove down to Wallington, but the fields were quiet, though I did see a few larks and Corn Buntings. On a whim I decide to go back to Coombe Road just in case.
Arrived just after nine and met Royston Dave and a friend, wound down the window to tell them the bad news, only to be told they were watching the Shrike! Unfortunately it was not in view, had been seen in a distant hedge a good 500 yards away. A wing barred bird flew out, I followed it in my scope and realised it was the Shrike, but I lost against the pale grass. Luckily Dave found it on a small bush and we had good if distant views as it hunted from the bush and the fence.

More birders arrived and some were lucky to get on it before we lost it. Unfortunately William Bishop and Bill Last didn't. However we did get four Crossbill go over which was a nice bonus. We kept on scanning the area while Bill went up to the top of the road, and eventually William's phone rang, though nothing came through. However it was clear that Bill had found it part of the hedge hidden from us.
We all got decent views for around five minutes -it was around 250 yards away low down in a Hawthorn, then flew out and perched before flying back down the hill. Before I eventually left it was back viewable from Coombe Road.

Amwell

2011-10-29T17:43:00.000+01:00

Usual morning at Amwell. Bit cool until the sun came out.
Work on clearing the scrubby bits in front of the watch point has supposedly finished, though piles of willow and brush which was meant to have been burnt last week suggest it didn't exactly go to plan.
It has however left us with some pretty clear views of the water's edge where things like Jack Snipe end to lurk, so hopefully when water levels build up it should deliver.
Plenty of thrushes moving again, and there seem to be a lot of Starling and Meadow Pipits flying around too-small parties of the latter dropped down into the newly cleared areas. Small numbers of finches went over, mostly Goldfinch and Siskin, one or two Linnets and a single Crossbill.
Departed at twelve, and walked down to the wood with Phil where we encountered huge numbers of Harlequin ladybirds sunning themselves on the fence. They appear to be associating closely with dense clumps of Ivy-presumably wintering sites. Ended up covered in them myself and one or two ended up tucked away in the car.

One down two or three to go

2011-10-23T11:44:00.001+01:00

The area between Baldock and Royston has been a pretty good in recent years for raptors, game birds and mammals, which is why I often take a drive up there. Over the last four years of occasional visits I have managed to see most of the commoner raptors that can be expected to be seen in southern England, and while Osprey and Honey Buzzard are a bit unlikely, the one glaring omission has been Merlin. There have been several reports, but i have never managed to locate any.
Alan Reynolds saw one at Wallington last week, and he saw it again a couple of days ago, so, with nothing much else to do today I went up there.
The ploughed fileds south of the A505 held a large flock of Lapwing-around 70 and when they went up, I saw around 80 Golden Plover. A scan produced many partridge, pheasants, Larks and Black Headed and Common Gulls. A distant raptor on a fence proved to be a Kestrel. Nearer the village, the hedges held a small flock of Yellowhammer and 8 Corn Buntings.
Driving over the Coombe road did not produce any birds, though there were a good 25 Hares in the fields, along with more game-birds.
Deadmans Hill had more Lapwing, partridge, Larks and a single Buzzard. As I got out of the car, a small dark falcon flew low down from the hill to the east and flushed several larks from the set aside before continuing. By the time I got the camera up it was gone. With Merlin now out of the way, I need to find a Pallid Harrier....

Yesterday's visit to Amwell was more social than anything, catching up on gossip, especially as there were a few people I had not seen for a while. Like many, the news of the Scarlet Tanager in Cornwall was very tempting, but the lack of sightings on Friday put us all off. Good job we did not go as it appeared to have been re-found on Scilly.
Birds were pretty much standard-a few Teal, Wigeon and Shoveller. No Goldeneye yet. Usual assortment of loafing gulls including a Greater Black Back. Despite the sunny weather and breeze, only a couple of Buzzards and Sparrowhawk seen, along with a single Kestrel. Occasional Skylarks and Meadow Pipits going over. Best birds were three Redpoll, one Bullfinch and a flyby Kingfisher.
Looks like at least one Red Crested Pochard is back for winter, but we could not locate it.

Full of Eastern Promise

2011-10-16T17:14:00.001+01:00

With easterly winds at last, birds were pouring into the east coast from the continent on Thursday, and to a lesser extent on Friday. The plan therefor for Saturday seemed pretty well sorted early on, as there were a few decent birds in Suffolk-a putative Isabelline Wheatear, an Isabelline Shrike, a Bluetail and lots of Yellow Browed Warblers, with the promise of more. 50 Short Eared Owls in off the sea at Titchwell on Thursday was interesting. The news of a Rufous Tailed Robin at Warham Greens in Norfolk late on Friday changed everything.
The clear skies did not look good for the bird to stay, so we decided to get to Norfolk fairly late, head for Titchwell and divert to Warham if necessary (also because of the decidedly odd at the time parking instructions).
Driving up the A10 through a fogy fenland landscape, the early news that the bird could not be found was not a great surprise so we carried on with our plan. News of a Red Flanked Bluetail trapped at Holme but not seen since release interesting-I was pretty much expecting a bird to be found today.
We drove through Ringstead and along the backroads to Chosely, finding a nice covey of Grey Partridge. The Moon looked good too.

Further on, a walk around the hedges produced a number of thrushes-my first Fieldfare of the winter, lots of Blackbirds and a few Song Thrushes. Red Legged Partridges, some Curlew and a flyover lapland Bunting added interest. Chosely Barns were rather quieter than last weekend, though some Corn Buntings were found.
As the Bluetail had been seen again, we diverted to Holme. Despite the early hour, the car parks were pretty busy and Bill Boyd was getting overwhelmed issuing permits. We headed off into the pines and searched. A few Brambling and Goldcrests seemed to be it for me, until I noticed that everyone had gone. Rushing back to the access track we found a large crowd watching a single pine where the bird was supposed to have flown too. Despite a long wait there was no sign.
Looking round, I noticed Bill Last, Mike Illet, Darren Stanley and Barry Reed, so stopped to chat. Obviously they had come up for the Robin first thing and decided to make the best of a bad day with the Bluetail.
We drifted back to the ridge and noticed people moving rapidly-the bird was in the brambles in the dunes. I got glimpses in a small pine as it worked it's way up and then it flew over my head into another bramble clump. It then flew out, and headed west, ironically back to the original lone pine and then another just beyond. I sat down and watched the bush for a bit, seeing a bird fly out and then apparently come back. However it was later relocated in the sycamore and buckthorn by the NWT car park, though few seemed to have seen it, so I returned to the car.

We eventually left and arrived at a full up Titchwell car park. A spell in the Fen Hide failed to locate any Jack Snipe, though I did see a Bittern fly over. Further on in the next hide we watched a huge flock of Golden Plover, many Brents flying in and a rather odd hybrid Wigeon-the head pattern showed a large amount of green on the ear coverts, and a vineous breast more reminiscent of American Wigeon, but everything else, including the head pattern fitted Eurasian.

The sea was rather quiet, as expected due to the light south easterlies, but a small crowd in the dunes drew our attention. I was told a Short Eared Owl had just dropped in. Views in the marram were not brilliant but it was great to see a bird so closely. On the way back, we heard another Lapland Bunting, found around five Rock Pipits on the fresh marsh and watched a pair of Bearded Tits in the reeds.

Titchwell and Holme

2011-10-10T17:31:00.002+01:00

Having not done a great deal so far this holiday, and feeling the need to do something, we decided to head out to Norfolk on Sunday. Not much on the pager, but I thought the overnight rain, and a brief spell of warm southerlies after the constant north westerlies might produce something.
Called in at Chosely Barns on the way. Lots of Chaffinch, Yellowhammer and Pied Wagtails feeding in the fields and around the barns. Saw my first Pink Footed Geese of the winter-just a few birds flew in from the east.. A longer scan produced lots of Curlew and Red Legged Partridge, some Meadow Pipits but no Corn Buntings.
Titchwell was a bit blustery at times but reasonably warm considering the last couple of days. Work on the sea defences is almost over, but the disturbance has resulted in a lot fewer birds. With the tide dropping we went to the sea for about an hour. Lots of duck movements-alll heading west into the wind. Wigeon, Teal, Pintail, Tufted Duck a few Pochard, more Wigeon, Common Scoter, some Mergansers, Goldeneye, Wigeon. Did I mention Wigeon? Also a considerable number of waders were coming in, Knot, Dunlin, Snipe, and we even had three Grey Herons. Just about the only birds heading east were small numbers of Gannet. Also saw a male Velvet Scoter sitting on the sea.
Never seen anything quite like it, just a shame there were no divers, Skuas or anything we would normally expect to see, but the wind just did not seem right for them.
Not much on the way back, a female Pintail dropped in and posed, before a loud party of birders sent her off.

Still a few dragonflies around in the sheltered fen area, just Migrant Hawkers and Common Darters.

Spent the early afternoon at Holme. Called in at the Firs and had a chat-apparently they have been waiting a while for large duck movements, but unfortunately there was not much for us to find in the dunes.
Had a walk anyway, and encountered a few Tit flocks, Meadow Pipits and finches. No Woodcock yet, and no thrushes, though the Buckthorn hardly had any berries.
Walked back through the pines and called in at the observatory briefly. Not much happening here either.

Drove back through the Ouse Washes at Welney and Pymore-three small herds of Whooper Swans were found.

Cold

2011-10-08T16:17:00.001+01:00

After last weekends heatwave, its a bit of a shock to go out in full winter gear today-its freezing. Not helped by a bit of a cold bug, but I had to get out and get some air.
Went down to Amwell for a few hours. Main talking point was of course the Crane-which true to form flew of yesterday thwarting the weekend birders. Other items we talked about included the 'Northern Flicker' seen in Essex nearly a month ago and only just been reported and the possible Black Tailed Gull seen in the Graffham roost.
Birding today was a bit quiet still, enlivened by several flocks of Redwing flying through-at least some things are coming in from the continent. Thrushes seemed to be fairly active compared to recent months with Mistle and Blackbirds, plus several distant unidentified birds. One Common Sandpiper is still present-we thought it wise in view of the huge number of American waders in the country to eliminate Spotted Sandpiper.
Redpoll and Siskin have been seen recently, and there were some Swallows a few days ago.

Hatfield Forest

2011-10-06T19:52:00.000+01:00

Been working in the garden over the last couple of days, so have not gone out birding.

Here are a couple of images from Monday when we called in at hatfield Forest. Both have had a bit of experimental processing.

Sandhill Crane

2011-10-03T16:14:00.001+01:00

Early start today-left at 0415 and got to Colin's about half hour later. Arrived at Boyton about 0600 and it was still dark, though the sky was starting to brighten. Birders already pouring out of the Church Hall car park.
Walked down the track, accompanied by calling Tawny and Barn Owls and reached the fields where the crane was supposed to have last been seen. Kept an eye on what we were told was the maize where it had flown off to roost, until a sudden rush took us round the corner overlooking another patch of maize where we were told it roosted-well it couldn't be both. Two Spoonbills flew south which was a nice diversion.
After about 45 minutes a shout and we saw it flying low from the north over Orford lighthouse-nowhere near the supposed roost spots. It pitched down in a distant field and we watched it for about an hour while it fed. It then flew low along the sea wall and landed near the end of the track so we moved a bit closer, and so did it. I realised it was now pretty close to us and it gave us superb views feeding around 200 yards away. After nearly another hour it suddenly took off, flew close to us and was lost over the sea wall to the south.
It could not have gone better, and in a way I am glad we did not go yesterday as the views in the extreme heat would never have been as good as what we got in the cool of the morning.

Most of us then returned to the creek where we searched for the Willow Emerald damselflies. Did not take long for me to find one, and having got the scope on it, I was able to show it to the crowd. At least one or maybe two others were later seen.

We did not have any more targets in the area so returned home. We called in at Marks Hall where the arboretum promised nice autumnal landscapes, but it was shut, so we ended up at Hatfield Forest for an hour or so.

Holiday part !

2011-10-02T14:20:00.000+01:00

Well the October holiday has started and the heatwave continues.
Spent a few hours at Amwell yesterday until the heat got too much. Very little happening and the regulars were more interested in sorting out their phone apps.
Apart from four Snipe and a few Wigeon and Teal there is little sign of winter visitors. Apparently though, a Bittern has been seen.

Today I decided to do a bit of work in the garden before the heat got going. Was quite pleasant at first, with a few Skylarks heading west as they do at this time of year. An adult Chiffchaff spent some time in the Birch, Rowan and Elder occasionally singing.
Just about finished the work and got a call from Colin-Sandhill Crane at North Warren. Dithered a bit and decided to pack. Just got in the car and got another call saying it had flown south. Well that killed it for me and I decided to have lunch.
It came down at Boyton, and hopefully it will stick until tomorrow morning. If it flies, next stop could be Kent or Holland.

Horrible Weather

2011-09-30T20:15:00.001+01:00

The late summer heatwave continues. The high over the continent has all but killed any migration and I have just started my holiday-two weeks off.
The Sandhill Crane reappeared yesterday over the Northumberland coast. It slowly flew south and reached Whitby in Yorkshire before heading west. No sign today, and it may be a while before it decides to move again. Hope someone finds it.
Meanwhile the Sun has been pretty active. A superb auroral display a few days back did not seem to get down to my latitudes, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something may happen soon.
Here is todays sun.

Sunny and quiet

2011-09-25T20:34:00.001+01:00

I was not able to get up to the Loch of Strathbeg to twitch the Sandhill Crane this weekend, due to various commitments. Hope it stays a while.
The high pressure over the Continent has not been all that great in producing much in the way of good birds, and those that have appeared have not really lingered, so we decided to save a bit of cash. The fine autumnal weather has prompted me to get out locally with the camera and look at landscapes. Have yet to process the results though.
Yesterday I went out around Aston End and up the (dry) river Beane. In the local conifer plantation, I was surprised to find a pair of Treecreepers-I have walked through these woods since they were planted around 1970 and have never seen Treecreepers here before. I assume they were associating with a fairly mobile tit flock. I also heard a Nuthatch here-a species that has only occasionally encountered here in the last few years.
A pair of Bullfinches near the Crown pub was nice. Most of the nearby fields are or have been ploughed and as usual there were Skylarks moving around and a large flock of Lesser Black Backs, also five Red Legged Partridge near the ford. The hedges seem to have been cut recently so Yellowhammers and finches were rather scarce.
Birds of prey included two Buzzards over Lords farm being mobbed by corvids, and at least six others could be seen to the north and east. A pair of Kestrels were seen several times and appear to have young in one of the trees judging by the noise. Finally another pair of Bullfinches were heard near the radio mast at Chells Manor.
Few butterflies despite the sun, one Small Copper, one Red Admiral and a few Speckled Woods.

Today I drove over to Sandon and then south and east through some of the remoter villages.
Eight Buzzards at Deadmans Hill, along with a Kestrel and a female Sparrowhawk that disturbed a very big flock of Skylarks and Linnets. A couple of Corn Buntings flew through, and there were a few red legged Partridges too.
Not much seen on the drive, apart from soaring Buzzards everywhere, and I 'only' managed to see one Red Kite.

Gulls don't Get Much Better

2011-09-18T15:34:00.001+01:00

After several weeks without much long distance birding, decided to go out for the day. Plenty of good stuff knocking about now, but most of it is in Cornwall and the Scillies-not much good for a gentle Sunday out. Decided to go to Graffham instead where last weekend's ex hurricane had left a few birds.
Arrived and was worried to see signs for the Graffham Water marathon-marquees, bunting the lot. Luckily we arrived before the crowds and it was still quiet. Walked out to the dam and saw a few birders in the distance, but not much birdlife-a few gulls, plenty of geese and some grebes. Colin looked over the edge, decided he wanted to photograph the Ringed Plover and then we noticed the Grey Phalarope sleeping-I had assumed it would be on the water. Eventually it woke up and performed well-and the returning birders who had walked straight past it had a good time as well.

No sign of our main bird, the adult Sabine's Gull. We heard it had been seen in one of the north-western bays so drove off and through the village, parking at the end of the lane.
Met a birder who had not seen it in the reported bay, so eventually headed west and met two others who called me over. Had great views of the bird flying around in conjunction with a Black Headed, but it was quite distant.

It eventually flew off and was seen to land on one of the beaches so we followed. Got pretty good views from fairly close range looking through the trees but my stake out at a clearing failed as it flew off again.
Having now been joined by a small crowd, we made our way back, trying to get good views on the ground, but it kept flying off, until it reached what we were told was it's favoured beach, where it really performed at close range-I was getting almost full frame images.

Only once have I ever seen an adult Sabines in breeding plumage-and that was on the Scillonian pelagic in August 1996. To see one inland is incredibly unusual-most of the storm driven birds tend to be younger birds, which also seem to be what we invariably see on decent sea watches.

We decided to head off to Clacton where the juvenile Pallid Harrier had been reported early morning, but a later message saying no sign since mid morning prompted us to turn round, luckily just a short distance from Langthorns Nursery-I have put a new fence and arbour up so needed a few climbers which I knew they had. Also had a few impulse buys but I think the butterflies would like them.
Incidentally this has been the only place I've been this year where Painted Ladies have been seen in any quantity.

Amwell

2011-09-03T14:26:00.002+01:00

Spent a couple of hours at Amwell this morning with Phil and Bill. Phil had a few moths and some Lesser Earwigs from his moth trap.
Pretty quiet and not much seemed to be happening. Two Common Sandpipers still, and a Green Sand dropped in for a bit. Up to four Hobbies feeding over the woods, the most I've seen this year at one time. After Jay and Simon arrived, things picked up. We had around five Buzzards and a Kite, along with the usual Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and two unidentified distant large raptors.
Hirundines were moving through in small flocks, Sand Martins and Swallows in the main. Rather good were two or three Swift-a bit too early for Pallid unfortunately.
Still a few Common Terns present, but few warblers.
Only butterflies seemed to be lots of Red Admirals, various whites and a Small Tortoiseshell, mostly on the Ivy flowers.

Been a Long Time

2011-09-02T16:07:00.001+01:00

As mentioned in my profile, I was for many years active in a wide range of astronomical fields, and one of the areas I specialised in was white light solar imaging-visual observations from 1984 onwards with digital imaging taking place between 2000 and 2006.
With around two years of on-off surgery, the specialised equipment was put in storage, and subsequently the solar cycle went into a very deep prolonged minimum. Since I saw no point in taking images of blank yellow circles I never got round to dusting the equipment off. I keep an eye on spaceweather.com and seeing that there were some interesting sunspot groups decided to have a go.
Had to completely strip the equipment down and ensure every optical surface was clean, and discovered that there were also a few mechanical issues to sort out as well. Still the results were pretty good considering how out of practice I had become.

There is a small amount of cirrus cloud drifting over the disc but the six active groups are visible.

Just to point something out-this was taken with highly specialised equipment designed specifically for solar observations. Please do not try this with ordinary camera equipment, lenses or telescopes as damage to the equipment is a certainty and there is also a very high risk of severe eyesight damage.

Bank Holiday at Cley

2011-08-30T20:14:00.000+01:00

Decided to spend the Bank Holiday Monday at Cley. There had been a few good migrants over the weekend, and the low in the `north Sea promised a bit of sea watching. Unfortunately it looked like the Western Bonelli's had gone.
Approaching Cley, the mega alert went off-Yelkouan Shearwater off Coastguards suggested that the sea was delivering, but as it turned out we missed the best of it. I had a chat with some birders-none had seen the Shearwater which sounded a bit odd, though I later read the report which sounded pretty good. The only decent bird I saw was a Roseate Tern close in and above the heat haze over the water. Plenty of Common and Sandwich Terns offshore with one or two Arctics and Littles thrown in. Gannets and a couple of Skuas were very distant, and I never did see any Shearwaters. Seeing that activity was declining we headed off to the East Bank.
Arnold's Marsh seemed full of `godwits and Curlews with a few moulting Spotted Redshanks. There seemed to be a lot of Wigeon present. Had hoped to pick up Whimbrel and maybe a scarcer wader or perhaps a chat of some kind. Went back to the car and then headed up to Walsey Hills where the juvenile Red Backed Shrike had been for a few days. Gradually worked our way towards the hedge and got pretty good views at times. One potential problem was the bizarre sight of a large number of female pirates (a hen party we think) appearing on the footpath was avoided when I was able to direct them away from the favoured corner. Despite this the bird did eventually disappear into the hedge shortly after we left and remained elusive for some time.

We headed off to Bishops Hide overlooking Pats Pool. The 14 Spoonbills were not hard to miss, nor were the huge number of Curlew Sandpipers-something approaching 40 were reported. Only saw a few Little Stints and failed to see the Wood Sandpiper, but some of the birds were approaching the hide close enough for some pretty good images.

With little in the way of reported migrants we called it a day early afternoon, and called in at Cley Spey for a while before heading home. Convinced Colin that the new Swaro 12x50's would be worth looking at and he seemed to like them.

Spme More Recent Images

2011-08-28T18:03:00.000+01:00

Not been able to get out this weekend so far.

Getting Up to Date

2011-08-21T15:07:00.000+01:00

Here are some recent images that I have only just got round to looking at.

Today I went down to Amwell for a few hours. The usual Sunday crowd present so it was mainly talking with a bit of birding-its still very quiet.
The weather was rather warm with the humidity building and it got a bit uncomfortable at times. Seemed to help with the insects and this produced a lot of Hobby sightings-also had a lot of Sparrowhawk activity including a close encounter on the bridge as one was chased by a crow.
Duck numbers remain constant, but Shoveller and Teal seem to be more obvious now. Few waders-the summering birds have gone, but there were at least two Common Sandpiper on the islands and we also had a very brief visit by a Greenshank that dropped in for a minute before flying up the valley.

Rye Meads

2011-08-13T15:40:00.000+01:00

Spent a few hours at Rye this morning. Started off very damp and drizzly but got better by noon.
The Elder bushes around the Water Vole watchpoint were full of warblers-Chiffchaff, Willow, Blackcap and many other birds such as tits and Wrens. The birds would often perch on the hand rails affording superb views, and also the fence, but most of the time they were foraging in the bushes.

I was told that the Wood Sandpiper may still be around so spent some time in Draper Hide. However, the ringing group were running a demonstration and had nets up at the back of the reeds, which probably caused some disturbance. There was only one Green Sandpiper for instance, and the recent Garganey was nowhere to be seen. There were a couple of Teal though which seemed to be a bit early for a winter arrival, as well as some Shoveller.

The Black Necked Grebe is still around, from the Tern hide and was as usual tucked away in a corner and did not show. Not much else to see though having the camera meant I could grab a shot of a flyby Canada Goose.

The Kingfisher hide was full of cameras. One did show for a considerable period but was on one of the more distant posts and the lighting was not all that great.

Because of the weather there were few butterflies on the wing apart from Green Veined Whites and Speckled Woods. Dragonflies were limited to Brown Hawkers and a few Common Darters.

Amwell

2011-08-07T14:50:00.000+01:00

Arrived at Amwell this morning to a largely full house, but few birds. Spent much of the morning chatting to everyone about plants and butterflies.
Saw a few birds. Duck numbers are low, and being in eclipse do not look all that great. Couple of Shoveller among the more usual summer ducks. One Hobby and several Buzzards were seen-I arrived too late for the Red Kite and Yellow Wagtail. Got good views of Hertfordshire's first locally bred juvenile Little Egrets but filed to find any migrant waders despite the lowered water levels.
The weather did not look good for dragonflies but I did see a few Red Eyed and Small Red Eyed Damselflies among the more usual species. Few butterflies, though Red Admirals and some Commas were on the Buddleas.

Orchids and Butterflies

2011-08-07T14:43:00.000+01:00

Getting to the end of the season, but there are still a few insects and plants to see, and having not seen Colin for about a month we decided to do another Chiltern and area tour.
Heard that the Warburg Violet helleborines were flowering, so made that the first stop. Luckily the office was open so we could consult the map-and heard of a few bonuses too. Did not take long to get to the helleborine cages-walked past the now gone over Narrow Lipped, but there was no sign of any Broad Leaved at all-apparently all been eaten by Deer.
The Violets were a superb sight and we found several multi-stemmed plants to boot. Took most images using my flash gun to isolate the plants from the background.

The walk back took us through the southern meadow where we were told to look out for Chiltern Gentian. Not hard to miss being so big. Spent quite a while trying to get sharp images of the hover flys that seemed to like them.

The meadows were very colourful, with Musk Mallow, Thyme, Marjoram and the Gentians contrasting with yellow Wild Parsnip and Agrimony.
Birds weer rather scarce again, as most of the adults and juveniles tend to skulk at this time of year. We found many Marsh Tits as usual, along with the more usual woodland species and were delighted to hear a flock of Redpollss fly over.

The weather was not ideal for our plans as drizzle was not exactly expected for the morning. By the time we got to Aston Rowant it had turned to light rain. This did not stop the butterflies though. Lots of Common Blues and Chalkhill Blues and volatile Silver Spotted Skippers-our main target. Luckily one settled down for a long time allowing a close approach.

The Red Kite watchpoint was a dead loss in the rain, though one distant bird did fly over.

We then headed north west to try various Brown Hairstreak sites east of Oxford.
Bernwood Meadows looked promising, particularly as the sun was now shining, but we failed, as did the party that had been there all day. Lots of browns of course, and Common Blues as well as a slightly worn Silver Washed Fritillary.
A couple of more local sites described to me last week were not successful-we found the right area but i think failed to locate the correct bushes.
The last resort of Whitecross Green was our final destination. Several sightings in the logbook for the day and a chat to a returning observer raised our hopes. A long stake out of the Ash trees around the pond did not reveal anything until I located a butterfly high in one of the trees. Turned out to be a Purple Hairstreak, however two others seen flying around looked good but were too distant.
Just as we were leaving a Brown Hairstreak flew past Colin at head hight and then went up into one of the Ashes. We stayed a few more minutes but i never came down.

Rye Meads

2011-07-31T17:31:00.003+01:00

Getting over a very crappy week or so. Put my back out last weekend, and a lingering throat irritation turned into a full blown infection, so I have been out of action for some time.

Been a bit active over the last day or so and decided to go out this morning for a few hours. Rye Meads seemed a good place-not too far, an easy walk and plenty of resting spots. There have also been a couple of good birds there.

Arrived not long after ten, and met up with an assortment of Tony's. The walk to Draper Hide was interrupted as we watched one of the Water Voles from the boardwalk-they are slowly making a comeback here after a long decline. I remember them being pretty common here in the late 80's.
We spent quite a while in the Draper hide, but could not locate the Wood Sandpiper that had been present for a few days. Maximum count of Green Sands was six-and I saw two or three more elsewhere. Had a good flyby Kingfisher which returned and posed for a while.

We then went up to the Tern Hide-water a bit high so no waders. The adult Black Necked Grebe was distant but a superb sight. Another Kingfisher fly by several times and sat on a branch for a bit. Watched the juvenile Reed Warblers low down in some willows, and also saw one Sedge Warbler.

Expecting the Kingfisher Hide to be packed, I was surprised to only find one birder. One of the young Kingfishers seemed to be permanently attached to one of the posts. An adult kept flying in and out of the hole before flying off.

I slowly made my way back, calling in at Draper where I found Simon scanning for the Wood Sand-it seems to have gone for good, but no doubt another will be along soon.

So far this year, Kingfishers have been hard to get-only one at Amwell so far and two in the brecks, yet today I saw a minimum of four-according to the warden Vicky, they survived the winter quite well at Rye, no doubt due to the sewage works.

Back to Birding

2011-07-15T14:57:00.000+01:00

Colin and I were hoping to head up to northern England this weekend for butterflies and orchids, but the weather is pretty bad up there so there is no pint going.
As I had Friday off, and as it was still sunny down here, I thought I'd drive up to Melbourne, which is not all that far for the Rosefinch which has been singing for a week or so.
I arrived and the departing birders told me I'd just missed it on the roadside wires. Half an hour later, while chatting to the local postman I heard it singing in one of the gardens and got pretty poor views in a conifer. More birders gradually arrived and we were treated to it's loud song, but seeing it proved tricky. Occasionally it sat in a Eucalyptus above the gate and though some of us got pretty close up views getting images was very tricky. Associating with Greenfinch, Goldfinch and House Sparrows, it was mobile and at one point flew out into an oat field. We kept watch and it never flew back (so we thought) and were on the point of leaving when it started singing back in a garden-this time pretty close.

As usual for me, a first summer male, with no hint of pink on it at all.
The only other birds I got images of were some young Yellow Wagtails.

A quick stop at Therfield Heath produced numerous Chalk Hill Blue butterflies without the need to walk more than a few feet from the car.

They were very mobile while the sun was out, but the cloud and wind were starting to build up and I was not able to get any decent open wing shots.

A final brief stop at Deadmans Hill produced a calling Quail.

Sunday in the Chilterns.

2011-07-12T20:40:00.000+01:00

Having chatted to Bill on Saturday about orchids currently flowering, a couple of posts in Bird Forum suggested a few sites that would be worth visiting.
We started off at Warburg, as it is always interesting and there would be a host of plants and insects to photograph. Unfortunately the visitor centre was closed when we arrived so it was a case of do a circuit and see what we could find. The first good item, a blue haze up one of the side tracks turned out to be Salvia Pratensis though it seemed to be much bluer than the forms I have grown in the garden. Made a nice contrast with the various yellow plants such as Agrimony.

Among the hoards of Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites we were lucky to find a Silver Washed Fritillary.

Brambles were the favoured nectar source though the Pyramidal Orchids were also visited-the pink ones at least. There were also a few white flowered forms.

Another nice sight was a small Slow Worm under a piece of iron.

We eventually arrived at the beech woods and on climbing up a track I found a number of orchids in cages. Unfortunately all but one were in bud, but luckily the single flowering spike had two open flowers and we were able to confirm they were as expected Narrow Lipped Orchids. Also in the same area, a number of bamboo markers drew our attention to several flowers of Yellow Birds Nest.

At this time of year birds are a bit quiet-young birds are a bit shy and the adults are either back on the nest or hiding away moulting. Apart from a singing Chiffchaff and a couple of Blackcaps, the only visible birds were Red Kites-cant really miss them in this area and a family of Marsh Tits.

Leaving Warburg we headed north east, encountering many more Kites and arrived at College Lake early in the afternoon. Now this is a site that gets a lot of mentions in the local blogs, Yahoo groups and so on, but for me it is a bit inconvenient to get to, and my last visit was the 1994 Chiltern Bird Fair, not long after the quarry had finished and been passed over to the local Wildlife trust. Its changed quite a bit over the years and has matured into a superb reserve.
Enquiring at the centre regarding orchids we got a few pointers but had been told that the local expert had just gone. Luckily one of the staff who was leaving found them and returned to give us specific directions to the Green Flowered Helleborines. We were told there were four or five plants at the bottom of one of the tracks.
Colin and I searched the area thoroughly and of the 17 plants found, about half were in flower, though unfortunately the biggest and best was buried so deeply under brambles we could not get images. Also in the area were many White Helleborines bearing large seed pods.

Retracing our steps we found a couple of fairly fresh Bee Orchids, but the rather warm walk over to the other side of the lake where the majority of Bees are located proved fruitless mainly because I ended up following the wrong path. It was however interesting as this was the area the Bird Fair was held all those years ago and some bits were still just about recognisable.

Amwell

2011-07-09T15:11:00.000+01:00

The weather has been a bit indifferent today. I had hoped to do some local butterfly sites this morning, but the cloud and wind put me off so I went to Amwell instead.
Met Bill and Julie. Bill has only just come back from a few days in Scotland, and had a fairly good time getting most of the butterflies and dragonflies, but the birding was pretty poor. He was at Arnside Knot yesterday and had seen large numbers of Dark Green Fritillaries but only one or two High Browns-bad news as I was thinking of going for the latter soon.
As usual not much was happening on the main lake-yesterdays Black Tail Godwits had gone, but both Redshank and Oystercatcher had had a successful breeding season-Julie and I joined Tony and Brian in the main hide and we spent a long time watching the chicks feeding. The only other bird of note is an Egyptian Goose that apparently pops in from time to time for a nap.
Few hirundines this visit-a few Sand Martins joined the Swifts but most were too distant over the town. There seems to be a lack of Hobbies too-usually we can expect to see two or three at this time of year, but I have only had two sightings here all year. The only raptors were a female Sparrowhawk and a couple of Buzzards seen just before I parked the car.

Green and Blue

2011-07-03T17:17:00.000+01:00

Last year we got our timings wrong and were unable to go down to Kent for some newly discovered damselfly colonies-Southern Emerald at Cliffe and Dainty Damselfly on Sheppy. This year the news has been pretty good, though in recent weeks the weather has been a bit hit and miss, but Saturday proved to be perfect.
We first went to the RSPB reserve at Cliffe. Our last visit was some time in the late 90's when it was still a mix of private and public rights of way, so it was interesting to see what has changed and what has not. The lagoons seem to have been tidied up a bit and were full of water-not much mud for returning migrant waders, but like all RSPB reserves they were full of Avocets. Little Egrets everywhere of course-last time we actually had to make a special diversion to see one here!
Not much else around apart from a loafing first summer Yellow Legged Gull and on the return a purring Turtle Dove.
The trek from the car park to the ditches was a bit long and warm-shame really as we could have driven up. We joined a couple and another guy who had already found a male Southern Emerald, but it had been lost a while before we arrived. Lots of Scarce Emeralds and Blue Tails, as well as vocal Marsh Frogs. Took a while but eventually we got a call and were directed to a female Southern Emerald low down in the reeds. Not easy to photograph. Luckily not long after some others arrived, a male flew out and posed quite well for us, though the breeze was annoying.

The Dainty Damselflies found at a private site last year on Sheppy were the first seen in the Uk since they became extinct after the 1953 floods. Over the last few weeks a number have been reported from a public site, but many have had a frustrating time with long fruitless searches.
We arrived in the early afternoon and met up with a couple I know from Amwell. They and others had found a number of males in the grass some way from the water, but it was not easy. It took us, and two others nearly an hour before we found a female, and over the subsequent hour or so, another two females were found-one male was glimpsed but flew before we got the cameras lined up.

Purple

2011-07-01T16:45:00.000+01:00

Had the Friday off, and as everything got done fairly early, I decided to visit Broxbourne Woods. Called my sister as they live nearby and had hoped to visit with me now that they are back in the area.
Arrived just after 1000 to be told I had just missed a Purple Emperor in the car park. A flyover Southern Hawker and White Admiral was some recompense. I located a few Purple Hairstreaks in the oaks above the cars and got everyone on them, before going down the ride.
Met up with someone I vaguely knew and we chatted about recent dragonflies orchids and butterflies and then we searched the now open stream for a reported Silver Washed Fritillary. A few Commas, a Red Admiral, lots of Meadow Browns and Ringlets were seen. Sarah and Ed arrived and we joined the small group which had gathered on the path- a Purple Hairstreak was on the ground and showing exceptionally well, primarily because it was expiring.
We eventually left and reached the top of the path when a shout went up-rushed round the corner to find the guy I knew pointing at A Purple Emperor on the path. It soon flew over to a large area of wood ash from the clearings and treated us to superb views. We managed to get everyone up and see it. Eventually it flew up into the trees and basked for a bit before flying off.
The pond held a few hawkers and Emperors, as well as many Large Red and Common Blue Damselflies. The grassy heath;and area was quite nice as we found several White Admirals, Purple Hairstreaks and another Purple Emperor.
Returning to the cars we had a very close encounter with another White Admiral.

Poppies

2011-06-27T18:43:00.000+01:00

Have not done much over the last week or so for various reasons.

Went out yesterday afternoon up to Sandon and Kelshall, to search for Quail-none have been reported in the area yet. There have also been a few raptor reports to follow up on as well.

Turned out to be very hot, but with a bit of a breeze. No sign (sound) of any Quail in any of the usual areas. Around four Buzzards in the Deadmans Hill area, as well as a couple of Kestrel. A family party of two Kestrels with two young along Coombe Road. Lots of Yellowhammer, Skylark and Swallows, but no Corn Buntings which is a bit unusual. Also encountered a Yellow Wagtail, and one or more Lapwing in a ploughed field.

Lots of Meadow Browns, and Whites flying. A few Skippers and while driving, I encountered a few Marbled Whites.

Nice sight of several fields full of poppies. Conditions not ideal, with the high sun but I got a few images.

More Orchids, Butterflies and Rain

2011-06-13T19:33:00.001+01:00

Had a fairly quiet weekend-well after the hectic twitch we needed it.
Saturday morning we called in at Thrift Wood near Maldon. The weather was looking a bit iffy-cool and cloudy, but it did not take long to find a Heath Fritillary. It looked a bit tatty, but eventually a couple of fresh ones were found.

The small pond did not have any damsel or dragonflies, but we did see a few Meadow Browns and Large Skippers in the more open areas.
Had not heard about Lizard Orchids at Newmarket, but knowing that they were out elsewhere (though at some sites they had aborted) but we went anyway. The wind had picked up, but it was rather sunny and warm in the lee of the dike.
We found around a dozen flower spikes in various stages-some looked pretty good but one or two looked like they would not flower this year.
Large numbers of Large Skippers were flying, along with Meadow Browns and a few Common Blues.

With it being a short day, after I left Colin's I called in at Hopleys Plants in Much Hadham-an old favorite and splurged on a few choice plants which apart from looking good should be ideal for bees an butterflies.

Sunday's forecast for rain in the afternoon was welcome, so I thought I'd call in at Amwell and do a spot of gardening after dinner.
The rain started just after I arrived at 0930. Had a chat with Bill and Jan about the Robin twitch, and as I had not seen them for a while we exchanged orchid and insect sightings of the last few weeks.
Not much happening regarding birds-most of the waders had gone leaving a pair of sitting Little Ring Plovers and a few Lapwing. Most of the ducks had young, and the drakes were starting to go into eclipse so did not look all that great. Plenty of hirundines and Swifts and eventually a very welcome Kingfisher flew through-not many sightings at Amwell this year.
Gave up after a couple of hours being rather soggy, and got the gardening done before lunch.

White Throated Robin 2

2011-06-10T20:00:00.000+01:00

News broke of this mega rarity on Monday-and with only two untwitchable birds previously it quickly generated lots of interest and the crowds soon built up - http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=202466&page=3 and the crowd scenes and movie clips made the news the next day.
I was hoping to hold out until Friday, but caved in and called Colin on Tuesday to make arrangements to travel overnight.
We arrived at Hartlepool some time around 0330-the Sun had yet to appear but Blackbirds were singing a nd feeding, and the local Herring gulls were already leaving roosts. We had a wander around for an hour or so, around the two bowling greens and were gradually joined by more birders as they woke from their slumbers. Some time just after 0500, the Robin appeared by the inner bowling green and over the course of the next hour or so put on a fantastic show for us. it tended to feed under the shrubs, but often came out and fed under cars in the road. Twice it flew into the doctors garden (scene of the ladder and van siege on Monday) but rapidly returned flying low over our heads. At one point it perched in a tree directly overhead, but my best view were when I sat down on the kerb and watched it hopping around the fence opposite.

Plenty of Linnets, Swifts and Sparrows were flying around all the time, but we did not locate any migrants. Before we left w walked round to a chapel where there were several Kittiwake nests.

We left some time before 0700 and headed south through Middlesborough, stopping off at Coatham Marsh. Did not take long to find a number of Northern Marsh Orchids, but although I searched for an hour, I did not find anything else of note, though the flora on the old slag heaps was quite interesting.

Continuing south we called in at an area I had wanted to visit for a long time, the Humber Peatlands around Thorne Moor. Conditions were not ideal, with it being rather cool and cloudy. One or two singing Tree Pipits were the only birds of note, and after a long search, a single Large Heath was located.

Despite being rather tired by early afternoon, we called in at Barnack Hills for another orchid attempt. I had heard that a few Frogs were in flower but we were unable to locate them. Unfortunately the other photographers on site were either doing landscapes or butterflies so there was no local knowledge.
We did locate many Common Fragrant Orchids, and there were a few Common Blue butterflies, but yet again, the wind was a problem.

White Throated Robin

2011-06-08T16:31:00.000+01:00

Some images from Hartlepool today. More to follow when I wake up.

Hampshire Orchids

2011-06-06T17:24:00.000+01:00

This weekend, I had considered going down to Kent in the hope of seeing Dainty Damselflies and perhaps Late Spider Orchids. Decided not to as the damsels had not been showing in the recent windy conditions. As it turned out, two males were seen on Saturday, but hardly any of the orchids were flowering.
We decided instead to go down to the New Forest and see what could be seen. A brief stop off at a wood near Noar Hill was interesting with a good selection of ferns and a few Common Spotted and Greater Butterfly orchids. Few birds of note though I did hear a Tawny Owl a couple of times.
Did not really know what to expect at Noar Hill with the very dry Spring. I had heard that Musk Orchids were flowering in the south, and Frog Orchids in the Midlands, so we made them a priority. On arrival, the first thing of note was that the White Helleborines had completely gone over, and that Common Spotted, Twayblades and Common Fragrant were abundant. Pyramidal Orchids seemed to be doing well, but most were still in bud. The second thing was hearing Turtle Doves near the top of the hill-at least two were purring.
Colin searched the Musk Orchid bank while I concentrated on a number of areas we usually don't go to in the hope of picking up Frogs. We were not successful.
Butterflies started to appear eventually, mainly Small Heath and a single Common Blue. I found a number of Green Hairstreaks feeding on brambles and eventually a Dingy Skipper was seen.

Our first site in the New Forest was Wilverly Enclosure. Not been here before and did not know what it would be like. Being a warm half term weekend it proved to be rather busy.
Big problem was the wind had picked up and this was the feature the rest of the day. A walk along the north edge of the wood produced a single Lesser Butterfly Orchid which we duly photographed. A scan of the heathland a little to the north produced many hundreds more....

The orchids were very variable, some rather short, a few very tall and the number of flowers per spike varied quite a bit too. Did not encounter any other orchids here. Only birds of note were a couple of Mistle Thrush feeding on the heat and several Linnets. Had hoped to hear, if not see Redstart or Wood Warbler.
Nearby Holmley Enclosure was an interesting place-we ended up in the south west corner at Stone Cross. The damp stream bed held several large colonies of Heath Spotted Orchids, most rather small in stature but a couple in the very boggy parts were quite tall and robust-I thought they may have been Southern Marsh. Our first dragonflies of the day appeared as it was quite a sheltered area-mainly Keeled Skimmers with a few Large Red Damsels. Single Brimstones and Dark Green Fritillary were the only butterflies apart from the ever present Small Heath.
Our last site was Hatchet Pond. We do not have much luck at this place and again thanks to the wind we did not have a good time. Plenty of Keeled Skimmers, singles of Black Tail Skimmer, Broad Bodied Chaser and Emperor were pretty much it. We did eventually locate two Blue Tail Damsels-again as per previous years no sign of any Scarce Blue Tails. I did find a single Southern Damselfly but that was it. A few Heath Spotted and Early Marsh Orchids were good to see as we usually visit this site a bit later and they have usually gone over. A single male Silver Studded Blue was the only butterfly here.
I did locate several pairs of Redshank-rather they located me, and there were also Lapwing and Curlew in the area too.

Amwell

2011-05-22T17:26:00.000+01:00

Went down to Amwell for the usual Sunday get together. Arrived at the same time as Barry and he pointed out the Spotted Flycatcher which seems to be spending its time in the woods opposite the access track.
A bit windy at times, often cloudy and with a spell or two of light drizzle made it a bit frustrating. The usual birds present, with hoards of Swifts and Hirundines feeding low over the water. One Little Egret was feeding with a group of Grey Herons, including some young ones. Bonus bird was a male Yellow Wagtail that flew in briefly and landed on the main shingle island.
Went for a walk in the hope of picking up a few dragonflies. Not much on the lily pads so I waited on the bridge. Found a few Banded Demoiselles and Azures which was a good start. Heard a couple of Marsh Tits, and as the other Sunday regulars arrived, five young Marsh Tits flew out from the surrounding bushes and some landed on the old road bridge putting on a good show for us.
TheHollycross trail was very difficult due to the wind. I found some Blue Tails and Azures, but not much else. The Southern Marsh and Early Marsh hybrids looked pretty good.
Back at the bridge, a longer wait in the sunshine produced more damsels and eventually two Hairy Dragonflies appeared.
At the watchpoint Simon and the other Colin were present, and they noticed two large corvids fly over-the Ravens are still around.

Kent Orchids

2011-05-22T17:15:00.000+01:00

Spent Saturday in Kent visiting a couple of Orchid sites.
Started off at Yockletts Bank and walked south along the upper path. Found a few poor White Helleborines and a couple of well past their best Lady Orchids in a clearing. Unfortunately Colin slipped down the bank and damaged his camera. We carried on down to the southern-most part of the wood, finding a lot of Twayblades and a few Broad Leaved Helleborines-one of which appeared to be in bud.
We returned along the lower path, finding a large chalky clearing with a few fresh Ladies, some Flies, and more Helleborines.

Did not encounter any other Orchid species. No butterflies which was a bit odd as it was warm and sunny. Birds were pretty quiet too, apart from some singing Blackcap and Garden Warblers and a family of Great Spotted Woodpeckers.

We next went to Park Gate Down where I was not expecting much as I had heard that the Chiltern Monkey Orchids were pretty much over. Seemed to be the case here as there were only a few spikes in the first field around the old chalk pit. Lots of Fragrant spikes coming up though. The second field turned out to be full of Monkeys, with a good 50 or so, looking a fine sight. At least a dozen wild Columbines were flowering at the top of the bank, but we did not see any Lady, nor Greater Butterfly. No-one we spoke to had seen Man Orchids either and a long search proved fruitless.
One interesting sight was a Cuckoo mobbing a Rook on the ground.

Had intended to visit a few more sites, but Colin wanted to get his camera into the repair centre so our day was a bit shorter than expected.

More Weekend Images

2011-05-19T16:52:00.000+01:00

A few more images taken last Weekend.

River Thames Hambledon Lock

Fly Orchid Homefield Wood

Miltary Orchids HomeField Wood

Ring Ouzel Cuthroat Bridge. Bit embarrassing as its still my best Rouzel pic.

Reservoir near Strines Moor.

Orchid Sunday

2011-05-16T20:09:00.000+01:00

Following a fairly abbreviated visit to Amwell on Saturday curtailed by a migraine (not much happening, though plenty of Swifts and Hirundines, plus the usual waders) we decided on a fairly short Sunday trip down to Henley and do a few orchid sites and maybe get some dragonflies too.
Homefield Wood is the 'public' site for Military Orchids. Had heard on Bird Forum that they had started to flower last weekend, so thought it would be a good idea to get down now. In the small field we located a good 50+ spikes with quite a diverse range of form and colour-the shaded ones tending to be darker and taller but we did find a few dumpy robust specimens including a double spike. One Common Spotted Orchid was in bud, and a very short flower was also seen. While chasing a Common Blue butterfly I found one of several Fly Orchids as well as a couple of almost flowering Fragrants and a single Twayblade. In the wooded ride to the north we saw a few White Helleborines and I also located leaves of what appeared to be Broad Leaved Helleborine and what may have been a Violet Helleborine.
The smaller more wooded field held 30+ Militaries and a single Fly.

Birds were pretty much what one would expect in woods the area-lots of Willow and Chiffchaff, various tits, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and so on. Did not have any big lenses with me which proved to be a mistake as we had a few close encounters with Red Kites-now almost ubiquitous.
At Amwell Phil Ball the 'Gomphus Guru' talked up his research site on the Thames at Remenham, and being a few miles away, we took a look. Unfortunately, the wind had got up, as we also had some light showers. This did not seem to affect the Banded demoiselles and Mayflies which were abundant, but despite a long search we did not see any Club Tailed Dragonflies. I did see a black and yellow insect fly up from the footpath some way off, but did not get anything on it-no idea of size or anything. Might have been a hoverfly or a Club Tail just dont know. On our return to the car I met another Amwell regular and his partner who had also been talking to Phil and having heard of our failure decided to go to the pub and try later. We also gave them directions to Homefield Wood.

With a few hours left before I needed to get home we called in at Warburg, a place we had enjoyed last year. The White Helleborines were easily located, though it looks as if many had been eaten by deer, but the Greater Butterflies were a lot harder as they were few in number,fairly short and predominantly in bud. Another couple of weeks and they would look as good as last years visit.
Along with a couple of others, we struggled to locate the Birds Nests and in the end only two small spikes could be found in the birch copse. Suspect the very dry Spring may have had an impact.
More Red Kites in the area, and I found a Marsh Tit in exactly the same bush as last year. One thing we did not get this time were Crossbills.

Peak District

2011-05-14T15:07:00.000+01:00

Had a day off yesterday and went up to the Peak District, for birds and landscape photography. Weather was a bit hit and miss, cold at times, warm later and an on off wind.
Arrived at Strines Moor around 0830, and immediately came upon a number of Red Grouse. Most were distant and did not make good photos. Couple of Tree Pipits singing-until one decided to chase off a Cuckoo. A few Curlew and Lapwing as well as the ever present Meadow Pipits and Skylarks.
Parked by Cutthroat Bridge an hour later and walked up onto the moors. Met a guy who had not seen much at all-not a good sign. Did not take long to find a Stonechat, and then bumped into another guy who put us onto a very distant Ring Ouzel near the top. Pretty handy as I have not heard of any passage birds locally this year. With him, we also spent a while photographing two pairs of Whinchat.

We were joined by a couple and after taking a few images we walked back and they drew our attention to another Ring Ouzel up one of the valleys but this was even more distant than our one.
We next went to Padley Gorge and parked by the quarry on the road. A walk along the track did not produce many birds apart from one or two Dippers flying down river. The gorge itself was very photogenic.

We got to the station and met another birder who led us up onto the western side where we encountered several pairs of Pied Flycatchers. Up on the top, another Tree Pipit was singing, but we never found any Redstarts or Wood Warblers.

On our way back, we hoped to get a few orchids. One site near Leicester we could not find at all, so we ended up at Barnack Holes. The wind had got up, and despite searching for well over an hour we could not find any Man orchids. Apparently according to a local, it has not been a good year.

Delayed Lunch

2011-05-06T14:45:00.001+01:00

Was expecting to knock off work around 1230 as usual-until I glanced at the pager and read Black Tern Fairlands Valley 1100 am at least. Managed to get out at 1130 and called in-it was still showing, along with a circling Red Kite, so went home and grabbed the camera.
Spent the next hour or so with a couple of local birders, and various passers by explaining what the bird was and why we were so interested.
Had a lot of trouble with the af on the 300mm lens and 1.7 converter as I have not had time to try various focus settings to optimise for birds in flight. As the Tern was quite small in the finder, I usually ended up focussing on the trees opposite. In fact some of the best images were manual focus-the lens was stopped down to about f10 and with an iso of 3200 the shutter speed was kept very high.

First one for me in Stevenage, and with the recent Little Gull and Barwit, a nice run for me in Herts.
Eventually got home at 1330, very hungry and thirsty and with a nasty bout of hay-fever starting up, but it was worth it.

Quiet Long Weekend 2

2011-05-02T17:28:00.000+01:00

Went to Amwell today.
Simon was leaving and mentioned that the Bar Tail Godwit was still present, and William had his scope ready for me. This is quite a rare species for Amwell, and this one was part of a very large inland passage. Not long after, I found the Common Sandpiper, which along with Redshank, Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Little Ring Plover and the Snipe I did not see made it something of a wader day.
The easterly wind was rather unpleasant, and I started to get rather cold despite the sunshine. Lots of Swifts started to appear around 0930, along with parties of House Martin, but surprisingly no other hirundines. Raptors were elusive and only a coup,e of Buzzards managed to get up.
There were a large number of common Terns, mainly fishing down in the southern end. There were a few Lesser Black Backs and Herring Gulls as well as the Black Headed Gulls on the raft. Just before 1100, some of us glanced at a Black Headed flying north, did not pay any attention of course until it was almost out of sight. William then spotted the black underwing and realised it was a Little gull. A few of us got to the bridge and picked it up before it was lost to view.
Had to leave then as the cold wind was getting to me and I was starting to feel a bit unwell.

Quiet Long Weekend

2011-05-02T17:18:00.000+01:00

Did not do a great deal this weekend, despite the two days extra holiday.
Friday and Saturday were largely spent in the garden, as I had a bit more work to do with the pond before the plants really got going. Missed the Royal Wedding as a result, but could not avoid the repeats all evening despite my best efforts.
Sunday was another quiet one. Not much to go for nationally, so we decided to stick with the Chilterns and butterflies.
Arrived at Bison Hill Whipsnade a bit before 0900 and found it a bit windy. Despite that, we found the first of many Grizzled Skippers on the path down from the car park. We split up and I covered the lower slopes, but apart from a few Dingy Skippers the wind proved a bit annoying and little else was seen. Plenty of Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat in the scrub.

I eventually made my way up the slope, and having lost Colin I encountered another butterfly hunter. We spread out and covered the upper slopes, and having searched the top, I returned and found him down lying down in a track I had searched earlier. Before I got to him I found my own Duke of Burgundy, and soon after several more. Colin then arrived and we reckon on having seen around nine or so.

We eventually returned to the car park, having got more Skippers as well as a large number of Green Hairstreaks.

We next went to Aldbury Nowers, not far from Tring.
My first Small Heaths were seen near the lay by as we made our way up to the Ridge Way. The slopes of the reserve proved hard to work. Got more Green Hairstreaks, Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and various whites. Colin reckoned to have seen a Fritillary as well. I had expected to see orchids, but I suspect we should have visited the southern section for these as the steep slopes were not ideal.
Our last site was Sewell Cutting near Dunstable. We had been told that Small Blues were flying. Unfortunately the cutting was more like a wind tunnel and little was flying. We did see Common Blues and a single Brown Argus, along with yet another Green Hairstreak and Dingy Skipper.

Easter part 2

2011-04-25T19:15:00.000+01:00

Went to Amwell yesterday, in the hope of picking up some migrants. Weather looked promising-with some mist early on, but by the time I got there it was starting to heat up, though it took a long time for the sun to break through the clouds. Everyone seems to have gone on holiday, and hardly any regulars were present.
The two Oystercatchers seemed settled and three or four Redshank were present, along with the pair of Little Ring Plovers. There were around a dozen Common Terns in, though our hopes for a Black Tern among them never materialised.
There are at least two Grasshopper Warblers present-the one from the watchpoint is rather quiet, but another down near the James Hide is a lot louder, though John who was with me could not hear any of them. We wandered down to the bridge in the hope of picking up some damselflies, but none were seen, so we decided to have a look at the meadow where I managed to locate a single Large Red Damselfly. The orchids seem to be coming on quite well, with the hybrid Southern Marsh in bud and one with a few flowers.
Back at the watchpoint, the only bird of interest was a distant large corvid which appeared to be a Raven.
I left around noon, as my hay fever was starting to get quite bad.

Today, I first went down to Waterford Heath. Although it was sunny and fairly warm, there was a cool northerly breeze. As a result it took a while before I was able to locate a Grizzled Skipper, and it eluded my camera. I eventually managed to find another, and got a few images. Apart from that, one Peacock and a few Orange Tips were all I saw.

I eventually left and decided to head off to Graffridge Wood as it would probably be my last chance of getting some Bluebell images this year. Some bits looked quite good but the harsh noon sun made things difficult and results were a bit disappointing.

Easter in Norfolk

2011-04-24T14:44:00.000+01:00

Had a very busy Good Friday, but with little birding, though I did get my first Lesser Whitethroat.
Decided to do Norfolk on Saturday, and started off quite early to avoid the traffic.
We arrived at Snettisham Coastal Park just after 0700, and went off in search of migrants. Lots of warblers in full song, including a couple of Grasshoppers, one of which posed for us.

Did not encounter a great deal else-a few Wheatear and a Grey Partridge that flew in and settled down until an presumably blind dog walker waddled over and almost trod on it.
Stopped off briefly at Chosely barns, and had a quick scan of the fields-seems to be all wheat and no peas, so no Dotterel likely......
Did get a nice pair of Corn Bunting though.

Arrived at Titchwell shortly after 0900, and it seemed pretty quiet thankfully. Got out onto the marsh and the heat started to build rapidly to rather uncomfortable levels. Ran into Ray Tipper who had got a message that the Wood Sandpiper was still showing from Parrinder hide. Tried to find it on the way up but without success. Eventually located it in a small reedy patch on one of the islands. Did not get good images due to the lighting.

A pair of sleeping Garganey on the island was nice having struggled to find any on the Ouse Washes in recent weeks. Also got to see a pair of Little Terns and a female White Wagtail.
Sea watching was rather poor due to the haze, but very nice thanks to the breeze. Found a few Scoter, single Eider and some Gannets and then two distant Grebes turned into a pair of breeding plumage Red Necks.
Was surprised to see a Green Hairstreak settle down behind Penny Clark who was with us, but it soon flew off. Unfortunately it landed on my arm, and I had to stand immobile while Penny and Colin got images. This turned out to be a bit of a mega, as Ray turned up and informed us that he had only seen two in 40 years at Titchwell.
On the way back we had another look at the Wood Sandpiper, recovered a bit of Colin's tripod and snapped a few waders.

We got a message-16 Dotterel at Chosely-in the field I had scanned earlier. Got there at Noon. Difficult to see well now the heat haze had built up, and they remained distant, but we managed to see at least six.
Also of interest were a large number of Large Red Damselflies in the hedgerow, a long way from water.
With energy flagging we headed off inland, calling in at the wonderful Beers of the World warehouse and stocked up.
Our last destination was Paxton pits. The visitors centre pond held Great Crested and Common Newts. The Nightingales were very vocal of course but due to the abundant leaf growth, hard to see. Several Turtle Doves were heard along the river and I got to see one flying off.
There were Black Terns further north at Diddington but we were too tired to contemplate the walk.

More from Today

2011-04-15T19:49:00.001+01:00

A few more images.

New Toys and a Friday Off

2011-04-15T17:50:00.000+01:00

Bought some new toys recently-a Nikon D3S body and a Zeiss 35mm f2 lens. Had the day off today to do some birding and things and see how they work-my initial tests last week were very promising.
Last year, a White Spotted Bluethroat was on territory at Welney for most of the Spring, and it has come back. The reserve has been opening early to accommodate Bluethroat twitchers, and we arrived not long after 7am.
Got down to Lyle hide to see one or two birders looking at a speck in a sallow, and I thought I heard a snatch of song before it dropped out of sight. About twenty minutes later, one or two got a glimpse of the Bluethroat low down in the bank vegetation, but I could not get on it. My first Reed Warbler, and a lot of singing Sedge Warblers was not much compensation. We spent a while in one of the hides overlooking the bank in the hope of picking it up with no joy. A few Avocets on the pools, and decent numbers of Black Tail Godwits, some Dunlin and frequent flyby and drumming Snipe helped pass the time.
Around 1020 we made our way back to the Lyle path, and not long after, the Bluethroat flew over Colin's shoulder and down in front of one of the small fibreglass hides. It was elusive initially but eventually came out and started singing. We were rather pleased at the performance it put on for us.

To put it mildly, I have never had such good views of a Spring Bluethroat. A nice start with my new camera.
On the way back, we encountered several Green Veined White butterflies, my first House Martins from the observatory, and several Yellow Wagtails.
The Ouse Washes Blue Winged Teal was back on the pagers last night and was reported again today, so we headed off to see it.
On arrival at Welches Dam hide we were rather disappointed to discover that it was sleeping with some Shoveller. However, from time to time it did lift its head. I had to use the 500mm lens with both 1.4 and 2x converters to get an image.

There were hardly any duck left, compared to two weeks ago, and no waders apart from a few Lapwing, Redshank and Oystercatchers, and the pair of Little Ring Plovers.
Just outside the hide a hunting Kestrel payed us no attention. This is with the manual focus 500mm and both converters!

Our final destination was Haley Wood in Cambridgeshire. We were there last year for the Bluebells and Early Purple Orchids. This year the spring is slightly more advanced, and some of the orchids were in flower though the Bluebells are not quite at their best yet. We also saw a lot of Cowslips, and what I presume to be Oxlips.
Photos will follow later.

Norton Green

2011-04-08T15:47:00.000+01:00

Woke up to the sound of a Willow Warbler outside this morning.
Called in at Norton Green before I got to work. The very low sun was a bit of a problem at times. Around six Red Legged Partridges were scattered over the site, and Linnets seemed to be everywhere.
Found a single male Wheatear, and another Willow Warbler.

The spring garden is starting to look nice now. Because of the very dry weather, the Dogs Tooth Violets have not been damaged by slugs and snails this year.

Amwell Sunday

2011-04-03T15:50:00.001+01:00

A nice pleasant morning again with a refreshing cool breeze.
I got down to Amwell a bit earlier than usual and was pleased to see and hear a number of Blackcaps singing. On crossing the bridge I also heard a Willow Warbler. What I did not get to hear was the Sedge Warbler that had been heard earlier.
I had barley got to start scanning the waters when Bill had a call from Jan in the main hide-he was listening to a rather early Reed Warbler. Unfortunately by the time we got there it had shut up. Not much to see from the hide, until the Oystercatchers flew in.
Back at the viewpoint it seemed that the big influx of migrants reported nationally yesterday just was not happening to us and it proved to be rather quiet until a couple of parties of Swallows went through. After a couple of hours, my hay fever was starting to get a bit much and so I decided to leave, but just as I was going, someone found a Sand Martin over the water.

Brecks and and Washes

2011-04-03T15:42:00.001+01:00

Following a really crappy week with some sort of flu thing, it was great to get out in the Spring air this weekend and I am starting to feel much better.
On Saturday we decided to do a fairly short run around the Brecks and finish up in Cambridgeshire hopefully with migrant ducks and terns.
8am saw us getting a bit cold at Foxholes Heath where we soon heard Stone Curlews and a couple of singing Woodlarks. Finding either proved rather tricky as we assumed the Curlews were beyond the ridge. However, after about twenty minutes, six flew up out of a hollow and dropped down in plain sight and shortly after, I located a further four birds.

We never did find the Woodlarks, and in fact just about the only other birds on the heath were a few Linnets.
Next stop was Santon Downham. We parked in the main forestry car park and walked up to the river. A small cherry bush in a garden held a number of Siskin and Redpoll, with more higher up in the big trees along the river. Also present were a large flock of Crossbills.

Along the river, we encountered a pair of Nuthatch, and also one or two Kingfishers.

Green Woodpecker was heard, and a distant Great Spotted Woodpecker caused a bit of confusion as our main target and hence mindset was on Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. I eventually located a pair flying above the trees and calling, but never got satisfactory views. Another confusion bird was a tit we found gathering nesting material. The call as it flew over the river and landed by us sounded rather Marsh like but it looked much like a Willow. I found it again soon after, and the identification was confirmed when I heard the distinctive Willow calls.
Grimes Graves just to the north is a good raptor viewpoint, being high and open. It also held a Great Grey Shrike. The dull windy conditions were not conducive to raptors, though three low soaring Buzzards were seen, as well as Sparrowhawk and Kestrel. Despite a long search by several birders, the Shrike could not be located.
We went next to Lyndford Arboretum in the hope of picking up one of the Hawfinches-apparently heard singing, but no-one was able to find one. I did get my first Swallow of the year and we did encounter several elusive Firecrests managing to get good views of one. Also and seemingly abundant were more Nuthatch. We were shown the location of a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker nest site, but the birds were not obliging, though they had been seen earlier in the day. We did find a singing Marsh Tit in the area. There seemed to be plenty of Brimstone flying in the area, and I also got to see my first Orange Tip of the year.
RSPB Ouse Washes was the last site of the day as both Colin and I were feeling a bit tired-we had hoped to get to Graffham in the evening. As it was it was a pretty good couple of hours. The Tree Sparrows were showing quite well on the feeders and as we went down to Welches Dam hide one or two Sand Martins went through.
The large expanse of mud and shallow marsh held an enormous number of Black Tailed Godwits, many in full breeding plumage, several Ruff and surprisingly four Knot. Vast numbers of Wigeon and Teal are still present, but despite a long search we failed to find any Garganey- nor did we see the drake Blue Winged Teal that had been reported the previous evening.

Garden Images

2011-03-27T17:24:00.000+01:00

Some images of garden plants today.

Summer Time

2011-03-27T14:24:00.000+01:00

Just got past the 'first day of Spring' courtesy of the equinox and we changed the clocks to British Summer Time today. Not acclimatised-the body clock is a bit screwed.
Most of March has been pretty dry, and the pond level had dropped considerably. Ever since I re-profiled it about six years back, and extended the liner slightly I have suspected a leak, as the level has always seemed rather lower than intended. Decided to do something about it and a few evenings back removed the large iris clump, Purple Loosestrife and the Marsh marigolds, along with most of the pebbles. Bailed more of the water out and stored it in the wheely bin and surveyed the liner. Seems as if some of the plant roots have got under the extension, so used butyl tape to repair it.
Also used the tape to stick some of the larger pebbles back-no more sliding into the water hopefully. Replanted Friday, and finally finished things off this morning by topping up the water. Noticed that some of the tadpoles have hatched within the last week and that the Pond Skaters are back.

Working in the garden has produced a few surprises. We definitely have a Robin's nest in the ivy-until recently my garden was between two territories so this is new. Also there is a good chance the ivy has a Wren nesting as one or two birds are almost permanently in the garden. A pair of Great Tits visit frequently-I suspect they have a nest in the Oak in the front. Not sure where the Blackbird pair have their nest, but the Bay is a possibility.

After last weeks warm weather, the weekend has been quite a bit cooler. Yesterday was a bit of a shock to the system when I went to Amwell-cold ad misty first thing and it never really warmed up as it remained cloudy.
Singing Chiffchaffs everywhere but nothing else in the way of spring birds-unless you count the pair of Oystercatchers back again for the summer. Most of the winter ducks have gone-only a few Teal left now. Hardly any gulls either, though it looks like a few Black heads are taking an interest in the tern rafts. Had hoped to pick up the Kingfisher now that they have returned, and had a stroll with Colin round to Hollycross but were were not successful, but we did come across the Marsh Tit and a few Cetti's Warblers.
The low misty cloud also meant that there was little chance of seeing any Sand Martins, or even an early Swallow, and to some extent it was a bit of a disappointing visit.

First Garden Butterfly

2011-03-19T16:14:00.000Z

Just finished a spell of gardening, and found a mating pair of Commas warming themselves on some dark coloured washing that was still hanging up on the line.

Hoopoe and Eagle

2011-03-14T17:23:00.000Z

With the fine weather and the prospect of early migrants we had pretty much decided on Friday that Sunday would be spent at Portland-we had had a good time last March so figured it would be worth the drive. Knowing a Hoopoe was present made it definite.
The dull drizzle as we drove past Southampton was a bit worrying but we hit sunshine soon after and the weather turned out really well for us.
We arrived at the Bill just after nine and bumped into some birders I knew and was told that the Hoopoe was some way along the cliffs east of the light. Bit of a walk out past the beach huts but we eventually found it. It proved very flighty but by waiting by the coast path i eventually got a few good images.

I was on the lookout for migrants while we were searching, particularly as there were a lot of alba Wagtails reported-strange that my first was a Grey Wagtail flying in off the sea. Found plenty of Pied, but failed to locate any White. Also present of course were Rock and Meadow Pipits. The open areas held a large number of Wheatears as well.
Searching the quarry south of the Lower Admiralty failed to locate any of the Black Redstarts so we went to the cliffs to look at the sea birds. A few Gannets went past, as well as numerous Fulmar and Kittiwakes. Auks were abundant, flying out from the cliffs, and Colin eventually found a Puffin among them. I had to wait a while but eventually one flew out and sat on the sea-the greyish head and dull bill was a bit disappointing as mine had yet to acquire full breeding plumage.
Despite being very busy at the Bill we eventually found a small flock of Turnstone and Purple Sandpipers on the rocks.

A quick stop at the Fleet produced a single Mediterranean Gull before we called in at Radipole. The sleeping Hooded Merganser was seen from the bridge and I spent some time getting images of the ducks, grebes and flying gulls while Colin photographed it. The walk around the reserve did not produce much apart from a Small Tortoiseshell.
We had planned on visiting the New Forest but decided to go to Old Basing and see if the White Tailed Eagle would show and we arrived mid afternoon. The small crowd informed us that we had just missed it some way away. A couple of rather pale Buzzards proved interesting while we waited, but after about an hour I noticed a commotion above the distant trees and realised that corvids were mobbing something big. Even at nearly a mile it was clearly the White Tailed. It gradually drifted closer, but as it did so it got higher, and was continually harassed by the Buzzards-very spectacular and from time to time the corvids also joined in.
Eventually the camera was able to get a decent focus lock, despite the great hight and I got a few poor images.

Unfortunately i then decided to head back down towards the distant woods where we eventually lost it.
Still, it more than made up for the frustrating day down at Hordle.

First Butterfly

2011-03-12T14:22:00.000Z

Did not know where to go this morning-the warm southerlies have been producing the first migrant Wheatears and Sand Martins, and it was about time to listen out for Chiffchaffs. In the end I went to Amwell and did not see any of these.
The warm sunshine was tempered by a southerly which at times seemed a bit chilly. I had missed a Green Sandpiper, but the first of the sites Redshank had appeared and was very mobile-it had been here for a couple of days but had yet to settle. One Little Egret was present, and the Cormorants and Herons seemed busy in the nesting trees.
Lots of raptors today-several Sparrowhawk and Kestrel with at least 8 Buzzards in the air at one point. A nice bonus while counting them was seeing the two local Ravens-they are usually only seen very early and very late in the day.
Other bonus birds were my first Grey Wagtail and Treecreeper for the year.
On the way back to the car I encountered my first Brimstone butterfly.

Ravens and Kites

2011-02-27T15:34:00.000Z

Took advantage of the sunny morning to drive out to the villages west of Stevenage in search of raptors.
Only just got out of the north west part of town when I encountered the first Buzzards-three in thermals and two apparently displaying.
Small birds were relatively hard to find while driving, apart from the ubiquitous Chaffinch and Blackbird, plus a variety of duck and geese on the small ponds, though things like Skylark and Yellowhammer were also seen. Much more apparent were the larger birds-pigeons and corvids in particular.
Driving down the Lilley Bottom road, I encountered six Red Kites as well as several more Buzzards, with a few Rooks mobbing the birds. A bit further down, and up a very muddy lane, several more corvids flew over the car including two of the local Ravens, but I was not in a position to stop and get images.
I drove around Bendish and Whitwell for a bit-one Little Egret on the cress beds, before returning to the Kites which were near St Pauls Walden where I got a number of rather poor images-for some reason the auto focus seemed a bit sluggish despite the bright sunshine.
Also here is a few of the frogs doing their thing in the pond.

Signs of Spring.

2011-02-26T17:06:00.000Z

The frogs have been having a field day in my small pond-at least 25 are busy spawning at the moment. Plenty more of all sizes seem to be wandering round the garden.
Had four Goldfinches down at lunchtime-the most for several months, as unlike the last few winters they have not been visiting in large numbers.
A female Blackcap spent a while in the larger shrubs and was joined briefly by a male. So far this year I have had seven sightings, five of which have been in the garden, which is by far my best ever winter total.

A Lifer At Last

2011-02-18T19:58:00.000Z

Its been a bit frustrating this winter with several mega birds largely unavailable-Oriental Turtle Dove in Oxfordshire identified from photos, a stunning male Dusky Thrush in Manchester-none readily available for over fifty years, also identified from photos and the of course Slaty Backed Gull which has put in brief appearances in the Thames area largely out of public view.
This past week things have turned out a bit better-on last weekend the Turtle Dove appeared in a birders garden and he happily opened up on Monday and Tuesday for a suitable donation. Unfortunately, the press had a field day on the Tuesday when only the first fifteen got to see the bird. However, those that persevered got to see the bird from outside the houses over the subsequent days. To add to the excitement, the Slaty Backed reappeared at Rainham on Thursday.
So I took today off.
First bit of bad news was that a serious accident had effectively made Rainham inaccessible all day, which was to be our afternoon destination. Out of about 150 birders that got there apparently only one claimed to have seen the gull anyway.
We arrived at Chipping Norton just after 0800 and heard that the dove was showing well-apparently Steve had opened up the house again. I saw a bit of a queue outside his house, but was directed to a garden a few doors up which was being renovated. The high hedge made things very difficult, but shortly after finding a milk crate the Oriental Turtle Dove was located in an apple tree. Views were a bit tricky as we were looking through a closer tree, and although visible to the naked eye, getting the camera on it was not so easy but I managed a few shots in the dull gloomy light. In binoculars the bird was stunning, and I was able to see all the salient features indicative of the subspecies orientalis-the grey tail tips, the greyish vent and belly and the general violet rather than pinkish tones to the head and breast.
I left the garden to find Colin coming out of the house, and as I seemed to be one of only a few outside decided to pop in. Unfortunately the Dove was sitting well back in the tree and largely obscured, though parts could be seen occasionally. The garden feeders were amazing-in the fifteen minutes I was there we had a couple of Siskin, a Brambling, several Bullfinch and a Blackcap as well as the more expected tits and sparrows. Soon after 0900, a Wood pigeon came down, flushed the Dove and it flew off-something that it generally has done at about this time.
We stood around for a while chatting to friends and commiserating with late arrivals, though as the bird was seen later I guess most were eventually successful and eventually headed home.

Hawfinch Again

2011-02-12T17:38:00.000Z

Went back to Bramfield again this morning. Arrived around 0930, and found quite a lot of birders loitering around the church gate. William had seen three Hawfinch earlier in an oak at the back of the big garden opposite.
Seemed to be a lot of bird activity this time, with singing Goldcrests, Tits and my first Nuthatches of the year. Wandered down the road to look at the oak a bit more closely and noted more Nuthatch, a Great Spotted Woodpecker and a lot of corvids and Starlings. The main target here actually was one of the Firecrests and it did not take long before a very bright crest flew out of the evergreen shrubs in front of us before vanishing deep into the hedge.
I then went back to the church to search the yews and holly before ending up in the playing fields to join some of those I was with yesterday. We chatted for a bit then unexpectedly a Hawfinch flew out over the church and low over our heads before heading off to the big woods west of us. No idea where it came from as no-one by the gate saw it.

I then called in at Rye Meads for a couple of hours. The water levels on most of the reserve is very high, good for ducks, including my first Herts Shelduck of the year, but luckily the northern lagoon is being kept virtually empty. The many rocky islands and shallow pools are ideal for waders (and also more ducks) and I found three Green Sandpipers. Not much else of note, the Kingfishers were not seen and I had hoped to locate a Chiffchaff. Many other birders were trying to find up to three Bittern, but the many reed beds are not all that easy to search, and the birds move around a lot.

Hawfinch

2011-02-11T16:43:00.000Z

There has been a small flock of Hawfinches at Bramfield over the last few days, in and around the churchyard. I finished work as usual this morning and popped down for an hour or so.
I arrived a few minutes late-just after 2pm as one had been perched high up in the limes but had just flown off. William was present so we had a chat while waiting. Saw my first Red Kite of the year along with a couple of Buzzards, as well as three Bullfinch. A flock of Fieldfare were around, but apart from a few Greenfinches and tits there seemed to be little activity in the church.
After around 40 minutes, I noticed a large dumpy short tailed finch fly from behind the church and on to the south west. Seen enough over the years to know it was a Hawfinch, but despite waiting another forty minutes in deteriorating light, we never saw one return. The only bird of note was a calling Little Owl from across the playing field.
No sign of any Firecrest, and although a Chiffchaff was heard I missed that too.

Whoops I made a boo boo

2011-02-05T17:33:00.000Z

A bit windy this weekend, and it seems that little is being reported.
Did a bit of shopping this morning and went for a drive around the villages west of Stevenage. Apart from a few corvids, a couple of pheasants and some very low flying Skylarks, hardly anything was showing in the wind.

Have been going through last weeks images and found a cock up.
The 'Ring Bill Gull' that Colin and I were photographing is a well marked Common Gull. The black bill band is a bit thin and weak, though the large chunky yellow bill and the rather pale grey mantle are superficially Ring bill like. Bit too much white in the wing tip flight shot too. Guess it never came back from when it flew off after all.

Great Expectations

2011-01-31T17:22:00.002Z

Sunday looked to be very good on paper, with a lot of potential down in Hampshire. Did not go quite to plan.
We arrived just outside Hordle, where the wintering juvenile White Tailed Eagle had been seen again after a short absence just after nine, and found a small crowd. It was extremely cold, barely above freezing (and was to remain that way most of the day). After waiting some time, we headed off to Angel Lane, another favoured spot but despite another wait, and one or two others scouring the immediate area we decided to head off to Milton and await news.
Milton had four Lapland Buntings in a stubble field. Did not know the field was so big....
Found a Greenshank among Dunlin and Turnstone which was nice but never managed to get an image of it.

Scouring the field edges I picked up a lot of Skylarks, some Reed Buntings and Meadow Pipits. Just as we were leaving we were told the Laplands had been seen in the eastern hedge before flying out into the middle of the field.

With no news of the Eagle we went off to the New Forest at Burley where we hoped to connect with the Great Grey Shrike we had seen last year, plus hopefully Woodlark and Dartford Warbler. Despite the sun, it was still very cold and exposed on the high ground and a search of the area failed to find anything of note.
Next stop was the Titchfield Haven area and it's Red Breasted Goose. Not familiar with the area and knowing it was ranging over several miles of coast we first tried an area near Hook which turned out to be a holiday home park. Some of the nearby 'roads' were little more than narrow tracks and with no other information we headed off to the Haven and parked. Found out the geese were in a field near the holiday homes and it was a couple of miles walk along the cliff top. Checked the area on satellite maps and still cant figure out an easy way of getting there.
As a last resort we headed off to Gosport and it's regular Ring Bill Gull. Arrived to see a pretty good adult Ring Bill fly off into the sun with a Common Gull. Hung around for a while and eventually noticed it had snuck back in and was sitting on the water. Flew off a couple of times but always returned to the same bit of the boating lake.Ended up with a few decent images, including some nice flight shots.

Salvaged something out of the day. Heard in the evening that the Eagle had been seen early afternoon perched in a tree for a bit, and it has also been seen a couple of times today from Angel Lane.

Amwell

2011-01-29T14:57:00.000Z

Managed to get down to Amwell for the first time in several weeks. Absolutely freezing, barely above zero.
Got the drake Pintail quite quickly, and the other regular ducks soon followed. Gull numbers seemed a bit low, and with the frozen mud there were no waders apart from a few Lapwing, and virtually no small birds to be seen.
After a while, the I managed to locate the drake Mandarin on the island-it swam out briefly tailed by a female before returning.
With no Smew visible I thought I'd head up to Tumbling Bay, but got distracted by calling Siskin in the old picnic area. Counted a good 50, along with a few tits, but no Redpolls were present. Up at Tumbling Bay there was nothing much at all, just a small number of the commoner ducks. Ran into Bill, Barry and William on the way back and had a chat before going along to Hollcross Lake. Thanks to Julie and her scope had great views of the three Red Crested Pochards and three Red Head Smew.
We all met up at the watchpoint before many left for the waxwings down at Stanstead St Margarets. The rest of us eventually found two more Red Heads and a fine drake Smew at the far southern end of the main lake.
Not long after the cold got to me and I retuned home.

Tucking into lunch the Blackcap put in an appearance again.

Blackcap

2011-01-28T16:46:00.002Z

Came home from work early, as is usual for a Friday. While finishing lunch I happened to look out at the feeders and noticed a male Blackcap. Of course as soon as I turned round he was off. Ran up to get the camera and waited but after a long time I assumed he had flown off further down the road.
Nearly an hour later he was back, down among my pots of Lilies, but as soon as the camera came up it was game over. Waited a further hour before the light dropped but no further sign.
I get Blackcaps most winters-invariably males from the continent but usually only one or two sightings-which with the limited amount of time I spend watching the garden probably means they are visit most weeks.
While waiting, I had a pair of Great Tits, three Blue Tits, a pair of Blackbirds, a Wren, the usual Robin and pigeons and several Starlings.

Larid Fun

2011-01-16T22:31:00.001Z

On Thursday, Birdwatch Magazine editor Dominic Mitchell found an interesting gull on the tip adjacent to the RSPB reserve at Rainham. He immediately identified it as Britain's first Slaty Backed Gull from the western Pacific. However his initial images caused some concern due to the apparent paleness of the bird.
A number of birders saw the gull on Friday, and confirmed the identification, though the bird did not seem to be as dark as expected-somewhat between Yellow Legged and graelsii Lesser Black Backed instead of almost black. Naturally this dictated our Saturday destination.
Rainham are very good, and opened up two hours early at 0730, and by the time we arrived just after 0800, parking was limited to the approach road verge (they also opened up the normally closed road by the railway). It was a bit of a slog along the Thames footpath due to the wind but we eventually arrived to find around a thousand birders lined up on the bank along the fence. I managed to find a spot in with a group from Belgium and stared scanning. Some one then fainted prompting urgent calls for a doctor-and eventually an ambulance arrived.
Did not take long to find a good candidate first winter Caspian Gull, and soon after a number of Yellow Legged Gulls were found, several first winters and and adult. Had a bit of a scare when i saw an all white bird with bright red legs , but it soon became apparent that it was the well known leucistic Herring Gull bearing the ring number SH1T.
Over the course of five hours we found one or two birds that could have been Slaty Backed on colouration, but structurally they were all wrong and were either large pale Lesser Black Backs or very dark Herring/Yellow Legged types (the light was poor and viewing through the fence and vegetation added to the difficulties in judging colour). One did look very good, but it was largely hidden from view and we were not able to determine what it really was. Every now and again I would scan the flying throng with my bins and one or two birds were seen with a wide white trailing edge, but the requisite wing tip pattern was never seen.
After showing people some images on Surfbirds, someone got very excited about a dark headed Lesser Black Back and as in the nature of these events a number of others became convinced it was the Slaty Backed but we were able to rule it out on size and structure. We attracted a crowd though.
Just after noon, the tip closed down and this caused many of the gulls to leave, but a number settled down in front of us,including a fine adult Caspian-looking slightly better than a third winter bird I had seen distantly earlier.
Rumours started to pop up that the bird had been seen on the Thames, and also on a pool somewhere, and it eventually emerged that at least three small groups of birders had claimed to have seen the Slaty Backed, but news was never released.
We decided to call it a day and got back to the car at 1400-it was very tiring trying to stand on the narrow muddy bank and viewing through he scope was very uncomfortable and bad on the back. Having the 500mm lens did not help.
Still it was an interesting day, saw some good gulls and got in some practice on Caspians which is always useful. Nice to see a large contingent from across the Channel too.

Long Time No See

2011-01-10T17:09:00.002Z

After many many weeks, I had a day out with Colin. Good job he remembered where I live, though both of us were a bit rusty with our preparations.
Headed off to Norfolk, more specifically Thornham Harbour where the Northern Harrier has been seen on a regular basis. With a heavy frost and lots of black ice we took the roads very gently, and as a result when we got to Thornham just after 9 am we were rather gutted to learn the Harrier had just gone out of view.
Over the course of the next hour or so, we kept scanning over towards Holme Dunes where it was last seen, with the occasional scan over towards Titchwell. This was productive as we saw a normal ring tail Hen Harrier, a large covey of Grey Partridge, many hundreds of Pink Feet and about 20 Barnacle geese among the more usual suspects. A bit of sea watching, despite being a long way off was worthwhile with a couple of fly by Red Necked grebes, some Long Tail Ducks (not having seen any at all last year) and Kittiwakes. Lots of waders and sea suck too.
Around 1030 we were surprised to get a message saying the Harrier had just been seen to our north, presumably by the crowd near the barn a few hundred yards away. On their return we quizzed them and got confirmation, as well as the last position, and soon after some of us located a Harrier near the old blockhouse on Thornham Marsh. It looked promising, but the diagnostic feature (a broken leg) did not show. It landed for a bit allowing everyone to locate the bird and over the course of the next ten minutes it then flew towards us before flying along the shoreline where we got very good views. The very dark brown upper-parts contrasted with the peachy orange largely unstreaked under-parts, and the very dark head was outlined by a pale collar and a dark boa- I could understand the comparison with Pallid Harrier. Satisfied with the views I ran back to the car to get my camera but by then it had vanished. Colin got a few images with his Pentax K5 and 300mm lens:-

Long considered conspecific with Hen Harrier, some authorities have split Northern Hen Harrier, as it seems to be more closely related to Cinereous Harrier which is logical as it is also an American species. So a tick of sorts on our first day out.
We left soon after and went to Titchwell which turned out to be pretty much full up with only a few spaces left along the approach road. While getting ready and having a coffee we scanned the car park, but were unable to locate any Redpolls-Mealy or Lesser among the tit/Siskin flocks. Had the same problem at the feeders so we decided to wander round the Fen Trail to see if we could find any other birds. Good move as we flushed two Woodcock-another species we failed to see last year.
Heading up to the new Parrinder Hide, we scanned the fresh and salt marsh picking up several Twite and a flyby Water Pipit, before bumping into Bill Last. Had a quick natter as I had not seen him for a bit and investigated the new hide and view points.
Took a few snaps as well.

The sea was productive with more Long Tail Ducks and Red Necked Grebes. Tried to locate one of the Slavonians, but the tide was dropping fast. This also meant the Scoter flock was very distant, and despite a long watch I failed to see any white wings of a Velvet.
The old tern hide has long gone, but it's location was a good vantage point to watch the nine Shorelarks feeding in the dunes. Never managed to get them all in the viewfinder though.

Eventually we left Titchwell having found the female Scaup on the fresh marsh and headed off to Burnham Norton. Found a small crowd watching flights of Pink footed Geese coming in and a quick scan of the beet field produced the adult Ross's Goose among the Pink Feet.

We finished off just down the road at Burnham Overy and heard we had just missed a Rough Legged Buzzard. I scanned the geese and was rewarded with a single Tundra Bean goose though it soon vanished into a hollow and few others saw it. A couple of Barn Owls were nice to see and after a short wait a very pale Buzzard over the Holkham Pines proved to be one of the Rough Legged. It was on view for some time, where it was joined for a while by a Common Buzzard before hunting over the Burnham Overy dunes-would have been nice to have been there with the camera as it would have been very close. As it was i had to settle for a pretty pathetic distant image.

Nice start to the Year

2011-01-02T17:02:00.000Z

Did not feel up to going out yesterday, so spent a lot of time scanning the garden. Being a very damp drizzly day, it remained fairly quiet with only a few birds visiting, and not much seen in the murk flying over.
This morning, I thought I'd try and get down to Amwell for a few hours. Worth Doing.
Barry, Jan and Phil are back in South America, but the usual Sunday crowd was present. Unfortunately so was a big working party, but they did not cause much disturbance. Something like 70% of the main lake is completely iced up, with most of the open water in front of the watch point.
First decent bird was a Red head Smew feeding on the ice edge not too far away-another was found soon after. The grotty Pintail has now moulted into a fine drake, though at times it proved very elusive. All five expected gull species were loafing on the ice-Dave Beer tried but failed to find Yellow Legged.
With Tony, we went down to the Water Vole pit, which surprisingly was largely ice free. A small flock of Siskin flew through We just missed a Bittern, but found the three female type Red Crested Pochards-they had moved from the largely iced up Hollycross, which is where we headed to. Took a while but eventually Tony found the stunning drake Smew.
We returned to the Water Vole pit and I found a Water Rail scurrying through the cuttings, and not long after that I saw the Bittern come out onto the ice at the back where it posed for a few minutes. Happy, we returned to the watchpoint, having found Marsh Tit among one of the tit flocks.
A last scan of the reserve failed to find anything new-the ground is so frozen there are no Snipe for example, and few passerines feeding, though one or two Cetti's Warblers are calling.

On the way back I called in at Tanners Close hertford where 26 Waxwings were sitting in two trees.

End of the Year

2010-12-31T11:48:00.000Z

Due to the recent ice and snow I have not been birding, since the priority has been ensuring Mum can get out shopping, and with the state of the untreated minor roads it has been pretty difficult. Any trip to a birding hot spot was pretty much a non starter.
The last few days at work were interesting in that the large corvid flocks were still being seen going to roost, and on several days Meadow Pipits were heard flying west.
The thaw started just after Christmas, and as I managed to get my usual collection of illnesses I have been largely immobile. Got my bins stashed by the window waiting for something special to come down to the feeders or flying over. Has not happened yet.
Apart from the usual stuff mentioned recently, the only garden visitor has been a Wren in the ivy covered fence. The three Blackbirds have finally started on the Cotoneaster berries-not that there are many.
Managed to get out this morning to clean the feeders, and while I was doing that, a couple of Skylarks were heading north-presumably they were displaced by the cold weather.

Snow is Back

2010-12-19T11:46:00.000Z

The Northern Harrier has been seen again in the Titchwell/Thornham area. Had hoped to get up there this weekend but the sub zero weather has returned.
Took Mum shopping on Friday as the ground was very icy, and while we were out there were a few snow flurries. Yesterday all I managed to get was get a paper and pick up a prescription. The overnight temperatures had dropped considerably and there was a lot of thick ice everywhere. Difficult to get the ice out of the birds drinking trays and I watched a few hardy souls try to extract their cars from a thick crust. Mid morning, the first snow flakes started to fall, but most arrived early afternoon. With the strong winds it looked to be very unpleasant outside and this has led to some drifting.
Woke up this morning to find the garden covered in several inches of the white stuff. Its grey and overcast so I don't feel like it's worth trying to get pretty landscape images-if it was sunny that would be different. Stayed in to see what the garden would produce. So far it's as follows-

3 Collared Doves
2 Wood Pigeons
2-3 Blackbirds fighting over three Pyracantha berries.
1 Robin
1 Dunnock
6 House Sparrow

2 Blue Tit.

1 Starling.

Outside there are a lot of gulls again-Black Headed, Common and Lesser Black Backs. Big flock of Starlings at one point, but no Waxwings among them. In view of the large number of thrushes in the area had hoped to see some fly over, and also expected to see a few more tits.

A bit warmer this weekend

2010-12-12T16:44:00.000Z

Had a call from my sister that when she walks the dog, they keep encountering a small silent Snipe, so yesterday morning I popped down with my camera hoping to get decent images of jack Snipe.
Called in at Amwell for an hour or so. A large part of the water is still iced up, but it was quite pleasant in the sunshine. The singing Cetti's Warblers thought so too-they seem to have survived the recent freeze. A single Egyptian Goose was about the best of the bunch at first, until I noticed a pair of Mandarin hauled up on the island. More exotica then ensued when the Harris Hawk put in an appearance again, soaring over the woods. Was a bit of a struggle but we eventually got on to a single redhead Smew before I left. Shortly after, Jan picked up a Mealy Redpoll again.
Arrived at Sarah's and after feeding the animals, we took Molly for a walk in the fields behind their house. The low lying areas were flooded and looked promising, particularly the tussocky stream, but despite searching the area, no Snipe. Found a large flock of Redwing adjacent to the A10 and there were a few Woodpeckers flying around.
Bringing the camera was not a complete waste.

This morning went for a walk along the river Beane. Encountered small numbers of Redwing, and the occasional Mistle Thrush scattered all over the area. One flock of Fieldfare numbered 35. Not much in the fields-no larks, pipits and very few finches, not surprising as the ground is still largely frozen.
Three Green Woodpeckers together was interesting, and the usual three Bullfinch were seen in the horse paddocks. Have not seen the Little Owls here for quite while.
Got a call this afternoon, the Snipe was seen again.

Amwell

2010-12-05T16:37:00.001Z

Strange morning at Amwell today.
Arrived to find the usual crowd, and an Egyptian Goose which flew off soon after. Spent a while failing to see the red head Smew in one of the bays and got distracted when Tony saw a wing bar wader fly down behind the reeds. Turned out to be a Dunlin-only the third for the site this year, and as I don't live there, my first for many years. It was joined by a Snipe, Grey Wagtail and one of two female Pintail. We assumed that that was the days highlight.
A while later I saw a 'buzzard' fly down to the trees by the main hide and disappeared from view. It had a small white rump patch. As one had been seen recently Jan realised it was a Harris Hawk, and it entertained us for some time as it was being continually mobbed by Magpies and crows. A sudden commotion nearby saw everyone scoping an odd mammal in the water. As a Stoat was known to be hunting in the area hunting it was assumed to be that, but it looked wrong (and pale). Mink was dismissed as was Otter and then someone worked out that it was a Rabbit. It made it back to the shore, where the Stoat was waiting (as was the Harris Hawk). Nobody fancied it's chances but it's fate remained unclear.
Came home just after noon to hear that a Mealy Redpoll had been seen by Jan just after I left.

Big freeze

2010-12-03T17:20:00.000Z

Have not heard of any Waxwings in Stevenage since Saturday. Not sure if anyone is going out looking for them though, due to the weather.
The freeze started last weekend, after several days of overnight frosts, and a continual easterly or northerly airflow has seen daytime temperatures barely getting above freezing on the warmest days. Nothing unusual has yet appeared in the garden, plenty of food is being put out and there is water available. The usual dozen or so House Sparrows, Wood Pigeons and Collared Doves are still around, as well as a pair of Dunnocks, up to five Blue Tits and one or two Robins. Have occasional visits by Goldfinches which had disappeared for a long time-they have been feeding on Salvia seed heads rather than the feeders. Not sure about thrushes like Blackbirds as I have not seen any for a few days now.

Coming home from work over the last few days I have noticed large numbers of Jackdaws-many hundreds, apparently coming in to roost in the southern part of Fairlands Valley in Monks Wood. I have occasionally seen large corvid movements from the garden on summer evenings and assumed they were heading for the Leisure Park mainly because I see big flocks (though mainly Carrion Crows) there when I get in to work early.

Nothing much to get excited about nationally, though a rumoured Hawk Owl somewhere near Swindon recently will tempt me out if genuine. The Norfolk Northern Harrier has not been reported for a few days now-hope it is still around somewhere. Otherwise it seems that there are now three Bittern and at least one Smew at Amwell.

Another Waxwing Image

2010-11-26T15:58:00.000Z

Waxwings

2010-11-26T12:46:00.000Z

Got a message this morning of 22 at the top of Sish Lane, off Grace Way.

Long Weekend

2010-11-25T12:49:00.000Z

Using up some holiday at the moment. First really cold night of the winter, and this weekend is not going to get much above zero, so may not be going far.
Spent an hour or so driving around the Pin Green area of Stevenage. There have been six Waxwings present in and around Mildmay Road over the previous couple of days. Did not find any, and knowing they were a bit flighty I checked the more traditional areas around Canturbury Way, again with no success.
Lots of Starling flocks to confuse the issue.

Nice day in Norfolk

2010-11-15T16:42:00.000Z

After last weekends dire trip, it was great to have a good day out on Saturday. Decided to ignore the delights of Manchester and it's Pied Billed Grebe (seen loads-they were year listing padders in the 90's) and the American Robin at Exminster, and hit the Norfolk coast.
Drove through Ringstead and on to Chosely in the hope of picking up some thrushes. Quite a lot of Fieldfare on the hawthorns-all on Colin's side of the car and too flighty for his camera, and we found flocks of Red Legged Partridge too-again on his side. Not much at Chosely Barns so we carried on to Titchwell.
Had a chat with Ray Tipper in the car park about the new (unopened) Parrinder hide-shows well from the barns and the Pallas's warbler, which had been around for some time.
Spent some time in the car park and woods, but in the event, no Pallas's and not much else either so carried on to the marsh. Water levels were a bit high-plenty of Pintail and Teal, and a few Avocets lingering. Suddenly I noticed a Bonxie flying around the fresh marsh and this had the effect of putting everything up. It eventually dropped onto the water before moving on to one of the islands, and after a while went up again which is when I discovered I had not got the camera set up for flight shots.

Too low a shutter speed and having the shutter set to focus lock is not a good idea when things are close and moving fast. Neither is the 1.7 converter.
One of the benefits of the brute scattering everything was a small flock of Dunlin flew off with two Little Stints among them. Rather late birds for this location.
On the brackish marsh we soon found the flock of Twite which have been a bit of an attraction. Getting hard to find at the traditional coastal spots these days. Only three were close enough for the camera. A lot of Skylark, a few Meadow Pipits and two Scandinavian Rock Pipits were with them.

The sea seemed quiet, in part due to the off shore breeze. Took a long time for the Common Scoter flocks to show themselves. Had a few Eider, Goldeneye and Mergansers among them. Single very distant Slavonian Grebe and an adult Little Gull. Few waders on the beach apart from the Sanderling.

On the way back the Bonxie was still around-Ray said that in the many years he had been at the reserve, he had never seen one on the fresh marsh. Got back to the visitor centre and did not take long to find a flock of Goldfinch, Siskin and Redpolls. One or two pale birds, but nothing that could be called Mealy. A single Brambling was associating with the Chaffinches.

Spent the early afternoon at Burnham Overy, parked by the main road. Lots of Barn Owls floating around, always nice to see. Several Buzzards, including an interesting pale bird, but I never saw a Rough Legged though others apparently did. One very distant bird on the ground was where one of the Rough Legs had been seen to land but it was too far to make anything out. Several Marsh Harriers too. The apparent Northern Hen Harrier (Marsh Hawk) had been seen earlier but presumably had flown through.
Lots of Pink Feet and a few Barnacles among the more usual wild fowl.

Crap Day Out

2010-11-08T17:05:00.000Z

Had a long weekend.
Went for a walk around Aston End and along the river Beane Friday morning. Despite the recent winds, some of the trees and hedges look quite nice, but hard to find any berries-as mentioned a while back, a lot of hedges have been badly cut this year. Tried desperately to get some good images, but could not get a good composition with my available lenses.
Wildlife seemed a bit scarce at times, as the ploughed fields are greening up. Surprised to see a Red Kite drift down river-first I've ever seen here. Big flock of Grey Partridge in the horse paddocks, and a few small groups of thrushes as well. Around 25 Yellowhammer is big for this area too.
Saturdays plan was to go to the Norfolk coast via Welney and try and get a few extra year ticks especially as there were a few good photogenic subjects around.
I woke up in the early hours feeling a bit rough, Colin arrived 20 minutes late thanks to extra diversions on the way, and some way into our journey he realised he had left his jacket behind. Kind of went downhill after that.
Arrived at Welney around 0830 to find the Glossy Ibis was no where to be seen. Couple of people had been here since daybreak. Gave it a couple of hours, and had a lot of flyby dabbling ducks, some Bewick's, and a distant Marsh Harrier putting everything up on the reserve scrapes a mile to the north. Big flocks of Lapwing held a lot of Golden Plover. Eventually decided the bird may have gone courtesy of the rain and cold night, so headed off to the Cattle Egret at Guyhirn.
Arrived, having found big herds of Bewick's in a number of fields to be told that the Egret had been seen briefly when the farmer had been in the field, but had dropped into ditch. With a lot of the ground hidden from view, it did not look good, but after a long wait, and the constant blast of car horns the cattle decided to start moving. Thought this might bring the Egret into view but no such luck. Worse still, the Ibis was back on the road side pool, so we went back for it.
When we got there everyone was back by the bridge. Apparently it had flown in from a long way north, settled by the pool and was feeding. Bunch of birders then descended and made so much noise it flew again. Stuck it out for another couple of hours, and apart from a large black bird flying into a reedy hollow a good half mile to our north we saw nothing. Early afternoon both Colin and I were starting to feel a bit rough so decided to give up and come home. Had not gone far when we got the message that the Ibis had been seen again. No idea if it was a distant speck or if it had come back to the roadside as we had no further messages.
Sunday morning spent three hours at Amwell. Got rather cold. Strange to see that a lot of the ducks had gone as had all the geese. Small numbers of Wigeon, a few Teal and the lone rather grotty Pintail remained. Some Siskin flew over, as did some Redwing. May have had other thrushes too, but most were distant.
Barry Reed arrived, having come back from the Irish Northern Harrier twitch. Not sure what he would have made of the later messages of a probable in Norfolk for the last couple of weeks. Went for a walk with William to try and warm up and went to visit the Red Crested Pochards-down to three now, as per last winter. Still no Goldeneye, but we do have a Bittern now.

American Bittern

2010-11-01T20:05:00.000Z

Well we did it.
Left at midnight Saturday, and got down to Zennor and found a place to park just off the road near the pools. Had about an hours kip before it got light.
Joined the growing throng around 6.30am and stood on the roadside overlooking the gorse, rush/sedge beds and pool. It was rather chilly. We had a few birds over the next couple of hours-one Buzzard walking among the cows, assorted crows and some flyover Golden Plovers. LIke most of the crowd, started to get a bit despondent when it failed to show around 8 ish which seemed to be about the time it usually left the roost. Some thought it had gone, perhaps down to Zennor where there seems to be better habitat.
Had a scan of the crowd and spotted Jan and William-they got down too late on Saturday, missed bird, including an amazing the Peregrine attack http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npNnf...layer_embedded and had to find a place to stay overnight. Had a chat with them for a bit and carried on with the vigil.
At just after nine, I went back to them and we watched a group apparently investigating the farm track and got a bit worried that they might go in. Luckily that did not happen and soon after the cows came down to the pool and through the rushes. As the Bittern did not fly, we assumed it had definitely gone and one guy-with almost unanimous approval (someone said if it was flushed he would not even look despite having spent loads of money on the long journey) went to the back of the pool to investigate.
He had not gone far when the Bittern suddenly flew out-he was quite a way from the bird at the time. We all managed to get good views in bins and scopes. Even to the naked eye it appeared a bit smaller and thin billed, and the upper-parts were a lot plainer, paler and the wing trailing edges were also pale buff.
Got a few shots with the 300mm lens, but had to use a high iso in the poor light.

It flew north, then circled round and headed back, and then dropped into a belt of short pines. Assuming it had dropped down in the filed we went to investigate, but saw nothing. With cows moving through the trees we assumed it had made it's way back to the pools, but just as we were leaving someone spotted it sitting in a tree. It moved back quickly and few got on it.
Left just after eleven, and being a bit tired, decided not to call in elsewhere and headed home.
Having just posted my images to Bird Forum, Lee Evans etc, I hear it has been found today on the Camel Estuary where some gripping images have been obtained. http://www.cbwps.org.uk/images%20201...2%20011110.jpg

End of October

2010-10-30T16:30:00.000+01:00

Never did get round to any updates over the last couple of weeks. Not that I did much with family up for half term and so on.
Last Saturday, had a report of 15 Waxwings Stevenage. No other details. Anyway got out for a couple of hours and explored the favoured spots, but no birds and no birders, so I headed off to Deadman's Hill as it looked good for raptors. Drove out to Coombe Road from Kelshall, and a Peregrine took off from a tree just in front of the car, but I lost it behind a hedge. Discovered hikers crossing the fields at Coombe Road so went to Deadman's Hill and joined a small group. We had a couple of Red Kites, Buzzards and Kestrels, but the Hen Harrier failed to show (mainly because it was two miles east of us at the time). With another Waxwing report with more detail-opposite Durham Road, I went back for another look. Bumped into William Bishop who had been there for a couple of hours, and we met up with most of the Stevenage locals. No-one had seen a thing all afternoon. Eventually we called it a day.
Sunday morning at Amwell was a bit quiet and I was not able to stay long anyway. Had a Marsh Tit and five Red Crested Pochards.

Today the plan was to be at Zennor Cornwall and see the American Bittern. With all the alleged flushing/chasing the bird on Friday over the moors etc and no sign after 10 am I decided to wait. Just about to leave for Amwell and it came on this morning but decided to carry on with my journey. Heard that William and Jan reacted to the message and went from Amwell. Unfortunately no sign again from after mid morning.
When I got to Amwell, assumed that everyone else had gone as well, with no one in sight. Usual assortment of ducks and gulls, but still no Goldeneye or Bittern for the winter. Was about to stretch my legs when I got a pager report of three Bearded Tits from the James Hide. Tony was just leaving and showed me a photo of a male. Found Barry and Dave upstairs and not long afterwards, three Bearded Tits (two males) put on a very good show. They remained for about fifteen minutes before flying to a distant part of the reed bed. Heard them occasionally but very faintly for a while, but I decided to go back to the watchpoint. Met up with Phil Ball recently back from an extended India/Sri Lanka trip and we were joined by Colin. Had two Kingfishers flying around for a while and just after noon, I heard pings again, and one of the males flew into the reeds just in front of us where it remained for some time.

Off to Cornwall tonight. Hopefully the Bittern will leave the roost at the usual time. Not much else down there though.

Fungi

2010-10-15T15:32:00.000+01:00

After a couple of damp days, decided it would be good to try and get images of fungi. Don't know many suitable woods in the area, but though that Broxbourn would be a safe bet.

Only in the woods a few minutes when I came across several fine bodies of Fly Agaric-one toadstool I can identify.

Under the birches were many other kinds, but some were well past their best. I had hoped the bracken would be colouring up, but much of it has been cleared. The trees are still largely green, and though the birches and hornbeams were raining leaves they were not outstanding.
Called in at Danemead and got some of what appeared to be Field Mushrooms. Tried to get images of some of the tree stumps but none came out as well as I would like-still learning to get the best out of the flash.

On the way back, took a few images of Ermine Street which seems to be colourful enough.

Called in at Rye Meads for a few hours. Scanned the Draper scrape for one of the Garganeys that had been around, but no sign, so headed off to the north lagoon. Its been drained since my last visit and looks quite good.There were at least four Green Sandpipers and four plus Snipe. A pale distant sleeping duck caught my eye and once it woke up I could see it was a male Garganey yet to attain breeding plumage. Well known photographer Paul Hacket was around and had a chat and showed him the bird which was now swimming around.

Midweek Update

2010-10-14T16:47:00.000+01:00

After a cracking end to Sunday, its back down to earth with a bump.
Spent Monday sorting out the images and trying to fight off a chesty cough that has been coming and going for the past week.
Tuesday looked quite nice for a raptor watch so headed off to Sandon/Kelshall. Took a very long winded route, avoiding closed roads and diversions everywhere. The countryside is looking very nice in the autumn sunshine. Eventually got to Coombe Road and stopped for a bit. Large herd of Fallow Deer in the lower scrubby fields, a couple of Buzzards but nothing else. Peregrine, Hen Harrier and Ravens have been seen recently.
Drove back along to Kelshall and found that Deadman's Hill road was shut, so came back via another diversion and drove down one of the supposedly closed roads I'd avoided earlier.
Wednesday was cool and dull. Went down to Fairlands Valley in the middle of the town. Used to visit regularly but it's only really worth doing on quiet weekdays. One Cormorant, and one Great Crested Grebe on the lakes. Not much in Monks Wood which is getting a bit overgrown-no coppicing taking place any more. Plenty of tits and crests, and Jays everywhere. Got another Nuthatch on the way back.
Down to Amwell in the afternoon. Bill was leaving and mentioned a few Tree Sparrows had been seen in set aside fields. Met up with the photographer Brian and a regular couple and as the watchpoint was not doing anything for us, headed up the old railway line, across the road and into the fields. No sign of the Sparrows, just a huge flock of Pheasant. A few corvids and Blackbirds were around, but even thought the hedge and woods seemed full of berries and seed we did not see any thrushes or warblers. Came back, and while Brian was shooting the hop vines over the Ash bridge, we watched a tandem pair of Migrant Hawkers.
Today is very cold, dull and drizzly. The chest is playing up again, but decided to try and clear things with a walk through Aston End and back up along the Beane. Six Redwings at Aston End. Most of the fields have been ploughed and rolled so plenty of bare earth for larks, gulls and pigeons. One portion of a very large field had eleven alba Wagtails feeding. Got the impression there was many more in the bits I could not see. Rest of the walk was a bit quiet but there are still a couple of Bullfinch down by the river.

Nice end to the day

2010-10-11T10:35:00.000+01:00

The constant easterlies over the last few days brought in a lot of good birds all along the east coast, and megas seemed to be coming up on the pagers all the time. Decided to do Norfolk on Sunday, as there would be plenty for us to go for.
Clear skies overnight said otherwise.
The Radde's Warbler had gone from Warham greens by the time we got to the coast and with the tide preventing access to the Stiffky Olive Backed Pipit (I did not twig what that meant..) so we stopped off at the beach road Cley. A scan from the bank produced the expected wildfowl, egrets and a hunting juvenile Marsh Harrier. No sign of the very elusive Hooded Crow.
Wit Shorelarks from the East Bank we headed there. Lots of people-no larks. Ran into an old friend who said they were very mobile. Sat down to do a bit of sea watching-couple of Gannets, Red Throated Divers and a late Sandwich Tern. Two Wheatear were nice to see. Best bird on Arnold's Marsh was the pretty close juvenile Spoonbill, and it's Little Egret companion.

With no news, very light winds and clear blue skies, we decided to call in at Walsey Hills. Seemed to be full of Goldcrests-obviously new arrivals, and a few Chiffchaffs. Couple of Siskin and Redwings went over, and a series of buzzy zews alerted us to fifteen Brambling dropping in. Tried to get photos but not successful.
Left at noon, and was heading to Holme when news of the Olive Backed Pipit came in, so managed to park at Stiffky. Assumed it would be along the coastal path in the trees-did not realise it was half mile out on the salt marsh. Tide was low, plenty of slippery creeks to jump, lot of mud to fall in, which I did, landing on my now very muddy camera. No harm luckily.
Managed to get very good views as the pipit crawled through the long grass and the gorse-have not seen one for years. Unfortunately the long grass hampered photography for me and I never got anything worthwhile. Colin did and left. I stayed for a bit, picking up a couple of Redstart, more Goldcrests and Brambling, and then got paged about a possible Isabelline Wheatear in Lowestoft. Returned eventually to the car, and it was now definite.
Took us 90 minutes, and the small crowd included Barry and Bill from Amwell, as well as Joan Thompson and Lee Evans. Royston Dave, and William arrived soon after us.
Spent over an hour watching the lifer feed among the old net poles on the North Denes, getting very good views. Another bird that has eluded me for years is now safely ticked.

Cold Amwell

2010-10-09T20:10:00.000+01:00

The forecast today of cool with early mist was correct, but where was the warm sunshine we were promised? With the easterly wind, it made for a rather colder than expected visit to Amwell.
Did not seem very promising at first, though there were large numbers of duck and gulls on the water. Two Little Egrets were present all morning. I missed Yellowhammer and a Black Tailed Godwit that were present earlier.
Noticed that Snipe were very active, with one or two flying around all the time, and more coming in from the north. While Barry and Jan were on walkabout, William and I noticed several flocks of Redwing coming over from the east, and this was to feature for the rest of the time I was there. I would imagine that well over a hundred birds went through, and with the low cloud, we probably missed many more. A few Song Thrush were heard, but no Fieldfare or Mistle.
A few more Siskin flying around still, and one or two Grey Wagtails, some Skylark Meadow Pipits and Pied Wagtails went through as well.

Autunm Walk

2010-10-07T19:10:00.000+01:00

Another fine sunny day, following a cool night and days of rain. Hoped the conditions might be good for autumnal colour and or fungi, so decided to go down to Aston End and the river Beane.
Only thong that seemed to be happening as I set off was a westward movement of Skylarks. Hit the conifer plantation and found a few tit/crest flocks, a singing Nuthatch and at the southern end a couple of heads of what I presume to be shaggy ink cap.

Should have moved the obscuring leaf.
Out in the lanes and fields it was pretty boring at first, but things picked up as I went down to the ford. A distant ploughed field had a fair number of Black head and Lesser Black Back Gulls. A loud hoeet at the river sounded Redstart like at first, but turned into another Chiffchaff.
Not much sign of colour-a few of the Field Maples and Dogwoods are starting to turn, but it looks like a lot of the hedges have been cut recently, so berries and Spindle look to be in short supply.
Crossing the fields down to the footpath bridge I encountered a large flock of Meadow Pipits along with more Skylark. A bit of a surprise, since it was late morning was a calling Tawny Owl, and this was followed by another singing Nuthatch. Two or three Bullfinch in the area as well. No sign of the local Little Owl though.
In the longer grass of the set aside and field edges Roesel's Bush Crickets seemed to be abundant, and very visible for a change. Too far away for the macro lens and I never managed to net one either.

Holiday starts

2010-10-06T16:44:00.000+01:00

My autumn holiday started today. With the prospect of heavy rain in the morning, I decided not to go out, and waited in for a new pair of waterproof trousers (Stealth Gear and very nice they are too). Would have been handy on the Blakeney twitch but better late than never. Signs are warm, dry easterlies for the next week so they wont get much use yet.
While waiting, the damp morning was very productive in the garden, with two Coal Tits coming to the feeders for several hours. Nearest conifers some way off, so we don't see them all that often. Was blown away when one came down to the feeder and was chased off by a Chiffchaff. Hear them occasionally in spring, and most common warblers have been seen in the garden but they are very rare. Does make me wonder what passes through when I am at work.
Lay in wait with the camera, and got a reasonable sequence of the Coal Tits through the window, but the Chiffchaff never came back to the feeders, preferring the Rowan and Purple Elder at the end of the garden.

Amwell Saturday

2010-10-02T14:33:00.000+01:00

Spent a very nice morning at Amwell. Started off a bit misty, but that lifted and we had one of those pleasant sunny autumnal days.
Arrived to find a large flock of Swallows over the horse paddocks, and ticking Robins along the path. Met up with Jan and Bill, with Barry arriving later. Over the next three hours we had a lot of Skylark and Meadow Pipits go over, along with a few Linnets, wagtails plus my first autumnal Siskin and Redpoll. Plenty of Jays gathering acorns, a lingering juvenile Hobby, one or two Kingfisher and great views of a Cetti's Warbler added to the day.
Someone found a late Lesser Whitethroat in the bushes which we tracked for a while-I also got a few butterflies eg Comma, Red Admiral, Small White and dragonflies like Migrant Hawker and Common Darter. Bill and I also saw a large Hawker-presumably a very late Southern.
In between the visible migration, and watching the ducks and gulls we swapped horror stories of the Blakeney twitch and the putative Baikal Teal in Essex.