Just a Bit of Fun Quiz week 10 Answer plus New " Mystery Bird "

Woodlark

Last weeks "Mystery Bird " was in fact a Woodlark seen in  in 2011 , a very big well done to all correct entries and there were : Ephraim P , Chidders , Ellis  , Ben M and Miguel Rodriguez Esteban.

Unlucky those with wrong answer and many thanks for having a go . 

Here is this weeks new " Mystery Bird ".

" Mystery Bird " ??????

If you fancy a go just leave your answer in the comments and i will reveal the correct answer and entries next Saturday , thanks for having a go and remember its just a bit of fun.

Spotted Crake at Grove Ferry

A short visit to Grove Ferry Bank holiday Monday produced distant views of a juv. Spotted Crake on the back of the main pool , it was quite elusive most of the time but did show now and again , it was spooked by a juv. Water Rail at one point and the size difference was very notable.

Also present was a fantastic Wryneck feeding along the path just past the Feast hide , it spent most of its time feeding on the ground giving great views through the scope , this was a great find by Martyn Wilson and Chiddy. Sorry for the lack of photos in this post .

There is still time to take part in this weeks quiz if you fancy it , just leave your answer in the comments .

Mystery bird ?????

I will reveal correct answers tomorrow ( Saturday ).

Norfolk Stars Again........Lifer plus Year Tick

4 Curlew Sandpipers at Cley in  2011.

Taking advantage of the bank holiday weekend i  headed to Norfolk on Sunday 25th August with several target birds on offer , i called into Cley by the Teal hide in the hope of connecting with Icterine Warbler, there was already a small gathering of birders at this site , the Icky was being very elusive , i was fairly certain i saw it fly to a small bush south of the willows , however i did not get enough of it to be sure , after a while i headed into the hides and had some great views of 16 + Curlew Sandpipers , these are really smart little waders .

Black Tailed Godwit.

The above Black Tailed Godwit showed well close to the hide .   

Wryneck at Salthouse.

I decided to head to Salthouse and hopefully see the Wryneck that had been there all morning and after about half an hour i connected with this super bird , it was perched on a fence post for a short while before landing on the ground feeding on ants .

Another pic of the Wryneck .

I added several migrants from here including 2 Whinchats , Spotted Flycatcher and a single Pied Flycatcher. .After some lunch i decided to head to Burnham Overy Staith as there had been a Greenish Warbler reported there , well after a 2 mile walk i was on site and within minutes i was having fantastic views of this amazing Greenish Warbler , now i had very very poor views of one in 2011 and have been battling with my conscience ever since if i should add it to my life list and although i did it has never sat that comfortable with me , well now after these full scope views i can now put my hand on my heart and add this smart warbler to my list with a clear conscience .

Note the long supercillium.

small wing bar.

yellowish bill plus long supercillium .

 The Greenish Warbler was constantly calling and was a real joy to watch , i probably watched this bird for a good 45 minutes , other birds of note here were Common Redstart , Whinchat , Lesser Whitethroat and another Pied Flycatcher. 

With time against me i decided to have one more look at Cley in the hope of better views of the Icterine Warbler but without luck , i did see Reed Warbler , Willow Warbler and my third Pied Flycatcher of the day , i also saw a delightful adult Yellow Legged Gull , i never tire of seeing these birds .

There was also a large Caterpillar and i think it is a Poplar Hawk Moth ?? There was also a Wall Brown which was the first i have seen this year. 

Possible Poplar Hawk Moth.

Wall Brown.

A very wet Dungeness

Male Common Redstart.

On Saturday 24th August i made a trip to Dungeness and more or less rained all day , i called into an area by the Lydd rifle ranges in the hope of seeing some migrants and was informed there were Pied Flycatcher and Whinchat in the area however as hard as i tried i could not locate either , i did see a really smart male Common Redstart which was really great to see , i also added several Stonechat and 2 Wheatear  here.

Hobby on entrance track to reserve

I decided to head to the rspb reserve and as i was driving along the entrance track just before the car park i saw a Crow chasing a small falcon which then landed on some posts and turned out to be a Hobby , i then proceeded to inform the reserve staff who didn't seem to understand a word i was saying , this is not the first time i have had this problem here , 2 years ago i found a Barred Warbler here and i informed the same member of staff who didn't believe a word i said and just for the record the Barred Warbler was seen for the rest of that afternoon and several days after by numerous birders . rant over ..lol

Fox by the bird feeders at the rspb reserve.

I also saw a Sparrowhawk whilst looking at the Hobby , after i left the visitor centre i saw this lovely Fox by the feeders , i then proceeded to head to the first hide , sorry i can never remember the names of the hides , anyhow i had great luck in here as i saw 2 Little Gulls close in by the hide .

Little Gull.

Doing a bit of wing stretching.

I also added 2 Egyptain Geese from here plus 2 Common Sandpipers , all the regular wildfowl were present and 2 Little Egrets and a single Grey Heron flew past the hide . I then decided i would head down to the sea and although it was fairly quite i did add a dark phase Arctic Skua , several Gannets a single Fulmar and approx: 40 Common Scoter to my day list .

1 of 2 Pied Flycatchers.

This second bird was in the gorse bushes.

I had a walk around the area by the Old Lighthouse and saw 2 Pied Flycatchers which showed very well at times , there were also several Willow Warblers in the area , i had a really pleasant days birding here despite getting soaked and headed off with a couple of years ticks and some great birds in the memory.

Just a Bit of Fun Quiz week 9 Answer plus new " Mystery Bird "

1st Winter Red Breasted Flycatcher .

Last weeks Mystery Bird was indeed a 1st winter Red Breasted Flycatcher , very well done to Chidders , Martyn Wilson ,  Ben M and Ellis L for all getting the correct answer .

Here  is this weeks " Mystery Bird " .

Week 10 Mystery Bird ?????

Once again sorry about late post of last weeks answer , i have another busy weekend birding ( posts to follow ) .

If you fancy a go at the mystery bird just leave your answer in the comments and i will reveal correct answer along with correct entries next Saturday ( hopefully ).

Some more Pics of the Pec from Reculver

Pectoral Sandpiper with Dunlin

Here is another selection of pics of the Pec Sandpiper i saw at Reculver yesterday with one or two pics of other waders .

Greenshank .

Redshank.

And for good measure .

Greenshank and Redshank together .

Pectoral Sandpiper shows well at Reculver

Pectoral Sandpiper.

Having been told i was not required at work this afternoon i took the opportunity to try and see the Pectoral Sandpiper at Reculver , so after a 25 min walk from the car park i had reached cold harbour lagoon , i bumped into Chris Hindal and his good lady and we thought we had it in a near by inlet, however  i walked along the sea wall and had a clearer view it turned out to be a Common Sandpiper , there was also Turnstone and Redshank here.

I decided to walk around the other side of the lagoon and soon had great views of the Pectoral Sandpiper , it was keeping company with 2 Dunlin , these are really smart waders and this has to be the best views i have ever had of one although my photos don't do it any justice , i spent an hour here and enjoyed watching its feeding habit and also at one point it decided to have a rest and the whole it kept its beak open as a cooling down system .

Resting with its beak open .

I have 100's of pics to sort through and have only posted a few to give you an idea of how well he showed , there were also several Redshank and a single Greenshank .

Close Greenshank.

Another pic of the Pectoral Sandpiper.

Don't forget to check out the new "Mystery Bird " photo in a previous post .

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 8 Answer plus new Mystery Bird

Female Ring Necked Duck.

Sorry for the late posting , i have had a busy weekend however here is the answer to last weeks mystery bird and it is indeed a Female Ring Necked Duck which was seen in Norfolk in 2011.

Well done to Ellis L & Ben M who all got the correct answers and also to Martyn Wilson and Chidders  who also correctly got the right answer.

Unlucky to those with the wrong answer , as always many thanks for taking part and better luck next time.

This weeks Mystery Bird ???????

Here is this weeks  " Mystery Bird " as always just leave your answer in the comments and i will post the answer and correct entries next Saturday , and as ever i will only post the correct entries so don't worry about giving the wrong answer , you can have as many guesses as you like .

I had planned to just run this quiz through the summer however if you want me to continue beyond let me know in the comments , if not the last quiz post will be next week , ok many thanks for taking part and good luck .

Patch and Year Tick at Oare Marshes

Huge numbers of Black Tailed Godwits. 

I had another very enjoyable birding session at Oare Marshes this morning and my primary target was Temminck's Stint which was seen yesterday , i parked up near the slip way and made my way back towards the east flood noting several Little Egrets as i went , there were huge numbers of Black Tailed Godwits  on the flood which i would estimate in the region of 2000+ birds .

I spoke to a couple of birders and they said it was seen earlier but not for a couple of hours , i then walked around to the hide where i met up with Steve Ashton and Adam , who informed me it was seen in the small pool west of the road .

Golden Plover in various states of plumage.

We made our way back down the road and bumped into Chidders , whilst we were chatting an Egret caught my eye flying away from us fairly high and i noted it seemed to have dark feet however i could not get anything else on the bird , another birder felt sure it was the Cattle Egret and to be honest it could have been however non breeding Little Egrets feet can appear very dark especially at a distance so for me this will have to go down as a possible and no more.

There were lots of waders on the flood including 3 Curlew Sandpipers in with the Godwits plus Dunlin , Avocet  and Redshank were well represented .

Record shot of Temminck's Stint.

I then said my goodbyes and headed to the sea wall to try and see this Temminck's Stint , well i put in quite a bit of time here and the Stint was not playing ball however both Greenshank and a single juv. Ruff were seen from here , i was chatting with another birder when we were waved at by some other birders from the road , when i joined them they said they had just had the Stint right at the back of the pool which was not viewable from the sea wall , well after about 15 mins it flew out of the pool and circled around and landed again out of sight , i was very pleased to see it as it was both a new patch tick as well as a welcome year tick .

After another 30 mins the Temminck's Stint had still not appeared although i did see a Little Ringed Plover whilst i was waiting , i decided to head off and join with Chidders and gang and i added a few butterflies to my days trip including a single Clouded Yellow although there were more around , after a while we all decided it was time to head off and Chidders and myself had one last look for the Temminck's Stint and to my delight i got some great views through the scope and then went home very happy.

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 7 Answer and New Mystery Bird

Yellow Browed Warbler

Last weeks "Mystery Bird " was in fact a stunning Yellow Browed Warbler , which was seen on Shetland in 2012.

A very big well done to all who got the correct answer and they are :  Martyn Wilson , Chidders , Ben M and Ellis L .

And unlucky to those with the wrong answer , and thanks to everyone who had ago .

This Weeks Mystery Bird ?????

The bird i would like you to try and I.D is the left hand bird and you get an extra mention if you can tell me if its male or female .

I will post the answer next Saturday along with all the correct entries , and you can have as many guesses as you like and as ever don't worry if you give the wrong answer as i will only post the names of correct entries .

So good luck to all who have ago .

Just remember to post your answer in the comments if you fancy a try .

Good Wading Session at Oare

Golden Plovers.

I had a very enjoyable birding session at Oare Marshes yesterday , the main focus of attention was waders and there was a good selection to look at , there were approx 12 Golden Plovers in various plumage detail , these are really smart looking birds , Black Tailed Godwit were everywhere and although i never did a proper count there must of been nearly 2000 birds here .

Some close Black Tailed Godwits.

There were large numbers of Redshank and Avocets all around the East Flood , a single Greenshank was on the far side of the flood , in with the large number of Black Tailed Godwits were 4 Knot although there probably were more . close by the road was a very impressive 4 Curlew Sandpipers .

2 Curlew Sandpipers.

3 was the most i could get in a photo .

The water level on the East flood is just right at the moment and hopefully in the next few weeks we will get a bumper load of waders on show , there were several Dunlin , 3 Little Ringed Plovers and 2 Ringed Plover  close by the road , and there was a small scattering of Ruff.

Ruff in flight.

Although i spent most of my time looking at the waders there were other birds around such as a large number of Little Egrets , i did a couple of counts and totalled 18 birds at anyone time , a family party of Mute Swans was nice to see .

Mute Swans .

Smaller birds noted were several Pied Wagtails , a single Meadow Pipit and a small flock of approx 5 Sand Martins flew over the flood . 

Of note the 1s summer Bonapartes Gull was present on the East Flood all morning keeping over the back of the flood near the sea wall .

Just a bit of Fun Quiz week 7 Last weeks Answer and New Pic

Male Blue Winged Teal and Female Shoveler.

Indeed last weeks main " Mystery Bird " was a male Blue Winged Teal and a very big well done to all of you who got the correct answer and they where :

Ellis Lucas,  Ephraim Perfect , Martyn Wilson ,  Chidders , Mick Davis , Ben Moyes and Peter .D.

And also a very well done to Ben Moyes  who also named the female Shoveler too.

Unlucky to those with the wrong answers , and many thanks to everyone who had ago .

Here is this weeks " Mystery Bird "

Mystery bird ???

I will post the answer next Saturday and i will only post the names of correct entries so dont worry if you give the wrong answer no one will know , you can have as many guesses as you like and remember its only a bit of fun , good luck and thanks for having ago .