3rd December : Alpha Pool Cliffe Marshes
Black necked Grebe with a Tufted Duck.
News of both Red necked & Black necked Grebes on Alpha pool at Cliffe marshes made up my mind to go and try and see them , Cliffe marshes is not somewhere i go to visit to often to be honest and i had never been to Alpha pool.
So after some directions kindly given on twitter and from Frank.C. (many thanks) i made my way around to Alpha pool with RR and got very muddy in the process !!!
We eventually reached Alpha pool and it was great to see so many Little Grebes & Great crested Grebes but we could not locate any Red necked Grebes.
RR soon picked up a Black necked Grebe in fact we saw 2 birds together , we watched these for awhile whilst constantly scanning over the pool when i was once again watching a single Black necked Grebe and RR was still watching 2 Black necked Grebes at the same time making 3 birds in total.
Red necked Grebe.
We eventually saw 1 of the 2 Red necked Grebes nearer the castle and although distant good scope views were obtained.
The walk back was just as muddy however we did see good numbers of both Fieldfare & Redwing.
8th December : Dungeness Area
Great white Egret.
A trip to Dungeness on Saturday 8th was rewarded with some good birds , starting of near Horse bones farm a Great white Egret flew through but no sign of any Bewick's.
Next stop was at Cocklesbridge and this time there was 3 ad & 2 juv Bewick's Swans amongst the herd of Mute Swans.
Red necked Grebe.
Lade was hard going looking for the Humes & Dartford Warbler's as the wind was very strong and not really good for looking for warblers , however some really good views of the Red necked Grebe were obtained.
Red necked Grebe.
A look out to sea produced several Red throated Divers, Guillemot , Razorbill , Gannet & Kittiwakes but was very cold.
Calling into the Rspb reserve was the next destination and from the Firth hide there was 5+ Goldeneye and an adult Yellow legged Gull.
Closer views of the Yellow legged Gull from Makepeace hide plus a second adult bird was seen, there was also 2 Cattle Egrets along the entrance track .
Adult Yellow legged Gull
Obsessed with this stick.
Yep likes this stick !!!!
Yellow legged Gull.
12th December : Anglesey
A very long trip to Traeth Lligwy on Anglesey in the hope of seeing the American Royal Tern quite frankly resulted in a right ROYAL DIP !!!!
That's birding or rather twitching for you , all the old cliche's come to mind , 'you have to be in it to win it' or ' you won't see it by staying at home' etc , etc, all offer very little comfort when you do dip a bird after travelling so far.
However i have dipped on many occasions over the years and it effects me less these days and i just try to make the most of the day out regardless.
That said i spent most of my time in the hope the Royal Tern would make an appearance (it didn't) i did head off to Llyn Llygeirian to see the ♀ Lesser Scaup which was a welcome year tick and a delightful bird to see.
♀ Lesser Scaup.
The pick of the other birds seen today were : Sparrowhawk , Great Northern Diver , Red throated Diver, Common Scoter, Guillemot & Black Guillemot.
