Thursday 26 March 2020

Black Bellied Dipper........Plus Local Birding

                                       March 14th : High Wycombe

                                                        
                                                          
Black Bellied Dipper.

On Saturday the 14th March i travelled to High Wycombe to look for the Black Bellied Dipper which had been seen near a waterfall along the river.

However on arrival i was informed is was showing on & off near Bassetsbury Manor , so with that news we headed off to that site, on arrival there was no more then 10 other birders and sure enough the Black Bellied Dipper was performing very well .


White eye lids.

It's been a few years since i have seen a native Dipper so seeing this Scandinavian race was a real bonus.


Black bellied Dipper with a Buddha !!!!

The BBD would often go missing for awhile but with patience it always came back to this area (while we were there anyway) , and by staying still it often came very close.

Black Bellied Dipper.



March 14th : Restharrow Scrape Sandwich

Raven.

Before heading off to High Wycombe we spent an hour at Restharrow Scrape at Sandwich Bay and saw a superb Raven fly quite low over the scrape, this was a new bird for my SBBO bird list.


March 21st : Bossenden Wood 


♀ Lesser Spotted Woodpecker

A trip to Bossenden Wood on Saturday the 21st March was a very good choice, our target bird was Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and after approx an hour searching we located a female LSW which eventually flew closer and gave us some very good views before flying off further into the wood.

Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

We decided to check the area it flew to and was delighted to hear it calling before seeing both male & female LSW together, really pleased to see these as it's not a species i see every year.

We also had some really good views of a Treecreeper.


Treecreeper.


March 23rd  :  Oare Marshes

♀ & ♂ Garganey

I spent a couple of hours at Oare Marshes on Monday afternoon the 23rd March and had great views of the pair of Garganey  on the East flood from the hide.

A walk to Dan's Dock produced distant and brief views of the Cattle Egret plus several Med Gulls were seen and heard.

COVID-19 VIRUS

As this Pandemic is reaching all corners of the World and our Governments request we all stay indoors for at least the next 3 weeks, i would like to take this opportunity to wish all followers and visitors of my blog a safe journey through these very troubled times.

Best Wishes

Robs Birding.