Amwell

Did not go for the Western Orphean Warbler last Sunday as planned-a stomach bug took care of that. Reckon I've lost around a dozen lifers over the years by sudden illnesses-would be much higher but I have had second chances with some birds.
Very cold northerly wind today, and not much fun on the Amwell watch point. Went down to the Gladwin hide to get some shelter and hopefully the Smew. Met Barry on the way down and had a brief chat. After about fifteen minutes the 1w drake Smew appeared behind the willows at the extreme southern end. Not very good views. Maybe six Goldeneyes were down this end and around the main island.

While waiting I spent some time digiscoping the cormorants opposite. The very poor lighting not a great help.
Eventually made my way to the Hollycross feeders bumping into a returning Tony and being joined by Simon. Bill was already there. Spent a good 45 minutes but no sign of the Bramblings. Lots of Chaffinch and Goldfinches, several Great, Blue and Coal Tits and the two Marsh Tits appeared briefly. One Greenfinch and an over flying Redpoll as well.
Lot of noise from the hawthorns-a Stoat was trying to take a huge buck Rabbit and it was a long slow struggle. The Magpies and Tits seemed to take an interest.
Returned to the now milder watch point around 1130 meeting Stevenage Dave and Ron Cousins. The Smew was back in it's usual bay and showed well in the scope.  

Amwell

Things are slowly getting back to normal now.
Popped out for a couple of hours this morning and went to Amwell. The weather was a bit grotty-drizzle on the way and murky all morning, plus it was a bit colder than my last visit. The water levels are about as high as they get although the new  excavations in front of the viewpoint provided a lot of muddy edges.
Jay Tony Trevor and Phil were present when I arrived, and Colin and Richard Pole arrived much later. Surprised to discover that Jay did not go to Wales for the Orphean Warbler-but he did manage to get to last years one. Barry and Bill had gone for insurance purposes.
Reasonable duck numbers as expected, with my first Goldeneye of the winter. Snipe were around but hard to see, and Lapwing numbers a bit low. The usual selection of gulls with a nice 3w Yellow Legged showing well.
Phil has put some feeders up, viewable from the now closed Hollycross gate and this has been pulling in Marsh and Coal Tit. Despite a half hour wait they failed to appear for me though a Great Spotted Woodpecker on the fat was nice to see. Tit flocks all over the place, I missed a couple of Treecreepers in one of them, but I did encounter a large number of Goldcrests.
Despite the lateness, the autumn colour is still a bit hit and miss with many trees still remaining green, and one of the Hazels had catkins.

Glossy Ibis Rye Meads

Mum came out of hospital on Tuesday and I have taken a few days off to help her. The same day I learnt that a Glossy Ibis lurking in the Lea Valley had appeared at Rye Meads-Jason, Lee Evans and most of the locals connected that afternoon. Bit frustrating as it has been seen there on and off since.
Mum said she would be ok for a couple of hours today and told me to go for it so I did.
I arrived around 0940 (the reserve opened early today) and met Vicky and a few others in the Lapwing hide. Unfortunately she told me it had flown off earlier onto Draper scrape and was then flushed presumably onto the meads but had not been found. Also the Konik ponies were due to be rounded up shortly.
Anyway she left to work in the office and we waited. One Cetti's Warbler calling from the ditch and a few Teal, Shoveller and Mallard were flying around and there were Pheasants, Herons and Moorhen on view.
Some time after 10 someone found it. Dont know if it had flown in-I had a tweet saying Bill Last had it mid morning at Amwell briefly, but I saw it at the back of the flood meadow a long way off and in poor light. Managed to get some poor digiscoped images before I returned home.
Considering the number present in recent years it is surprising how few have made it into Herts-this may only be the third or fifth record. And my first.

The Lodge Sandy

Today I took a bit of a break from the continual hospital visits and went out with Colin. We did not have a plan as such but were hoping to do some autumnal scenes. Colin had his new Pentax dslr so wanted to give it a whirl.
He arrived at 0930, and after a quick in car discussion decided to go to the Lodge at Sandy as we have had good results in the past. There had been a lot of overnight wind, though the day was largely sunny and breezy but many of the trees have yet to colour up, and others are almost bare.
I was a bit surprised when we got to the Lodge car park and spotted a couple of familiar faces-William from Amwell and Kathy from LDAS. I found out that they were taking part in a fungal foray and over the course of the morning bumped into them from time to time.
The feeders in the car park were attractive to a number of species-mainly tits and a vocal Nuthatch but a nice bonus was the male Brambling. Shame I did not have any birding lenses with me.
We made our way down to the ornamental gardens and spent some time there looking at the shrubs and herbaceous plants, before walking through the woods and onto the old heath. Apart from a few more tit flocks, crests  and a single calling Chiffchaff the only things I saw were a queen Hornet and a male Common Darter.
Despite the fungal foray, we did not see much of interest from a photogenic point of view (not that I know anything about fungi) , but some of the trees and shrubs were excellent, as was the landscape in general. The breeze was a bit of a problem at times and I was glad to have the flash available in the more shady parts of the grounds.

End of the 'Holiday'

Well I am back to work tomorrow, and the two week break did not exactly go as expected, and effectively ended last Thursday. Thankfully things are a bit better now though there is a long way to go with Mum. Sarah and Jane have been staying which has been a big help.
I managed to get down to Amwell last Wednesday afternoon for an hour or so. The birding was not all that different to my last visit, but the autumn colours were really starting to get going. Jay Ward was present, and as I had not seen him for some time there was a lot of catching up to be done.

There were a lot of big gulls and as both Caspian and Yellow Legged had been present, I spent some time going through them without success. Surprisingly there were few raptors despite the fine conditions, but I did encounter two Red Kites at Wadesmill which was nice.

Yesterday I walked into town with Sarah and Jane, and went through Fairlands Valley. Nothing of note though again the trees were looking nice. The Pink Footed Goose has been seen in Stevenage and I was able to check the Canada flocks here and in the town, but it was not present.

Red Admiral

Just had a rather late Red Admiral in the garden-30 seconds of sunshine, which has been in short supply recently.

I have not had an opportunity to go out recently as my mother has been ill again, so the holiday plans have had to be been put on hold. Have missed a few good birds, though none are needed for the life list, but the most annoying thing has been the poor weather as the autumn colour has been looking really good over the last week or so. Could do with one calm sunny day soon.

Tuesday in Norfolk

Having missed the east coast bonanza of the weekend, we decided to try and find any left overs in Norfolk. As Colin had to do a bit of work first thing, and what with the atrocious traffic around cambridge we did not get to the coast until shortly after ten.
The drive through Ringstead and Chosely produced small numbers of thrushes-mainly Redwing and Blackbirds, plus three Fieldfare-my first of the autumn. Chosely Barns did not have much at all so we did not stay long and went down to Titchwell.
The walk along the autumn trail produced a couple of Blackcaps, a Chiffchaff and lots of Blackbirds, but not unfortunately any Ring Ouzels. A Jack Snipe showed really well on the new pool.
The tide was rising but still a way out as we made our way along the main path. The fresh marsh had lots of Teal-no Green Winged, a few Avocets and a few Redshank, Ruff and Godwits. One presumed Reed Warbler was seen briefly near the first hide but never showed again, and a party of Bearded Tits in the same area was nice. Among the many gulls a juvenile gull looked pretty good for Yellow Legged.
Most of the waders were on the beach-shanks, godwits, Knot, Sanderling and so on.  The sea was rather quiet despite the onshore breeze. I picked up a few very distant scoter flocks, and a few Kittewakes and Fulmars were following a fishing boat. Scanning up towards Thornham I managed to see the three Snow Buntings flying away at a considerable distance.

We were intending to go to Holme, but Colin had an injured toe so we decided to go to Wells instead, parking at the pitch and put course. A small group of birders told us where to go and on reaching them the Siberian Stonechat was pointed out. It was supposed to be showing well, but it was just visible above the reed heads using a distant fence as a perch from which to hunt. I tried phone scoping and digiscoping but even so the results were very poor.

We left after about half an hour and headed home, calling in at Lyndford Arboretum on the way. The Two Barred Crossbills had been seen again in the morning, though getting them is a bit hit and miss. We spent 45 minutes at the favoured Larches though the light was not all that good. Three Crossbills came down for a minute-they sounded interesting but my camera settings were way off and there was no visible detail in binoculars. Colin got a couple of badly exposed shots-no wing bars. Still expecting them to winter so may get to see them eventually.