Good Run Comes to an End .......

Avocet.

Well as the title indicates the fantastic run of connecting with major target birds came to an end yesterday evening  when i dipped the Great Snipe at Cley in Norfolk , i spent from 4pm til 9.15 pm in the Avocet hide which was rather full , you could feel the anticipation and excitement grow amongst the crowd of birders gathered to see this delightful bird but sadly the very anticipated viewing never happened , the weather conditions didn't really help as it was quite windy , it was apparently heard  but that might of been the tape recording someone played near the end of the evening  , still as disappointing as the dip was i had a truly good days birding.

Close view of an Avocet from the Avocet hide.

I started of at Titchwell and soon connected with the superb Wood Warbler that was by the picnic area , it called off and on and gave some superb views , i really enjoyed this bird , there were several local Robins with young nearby as well as Chaffinch feeding young as well , a pair of  Great Tits were constantly in and out of a nearby nest box and you could hear the young birds inside  !

I did not spend long here as i wanted to get to Cley , i decided it best to check out the wader pools along Beach road before i stake out at the Avocet hide , wow what a selection of waders i saw , first and foremost was a superb Lesser Yellowlegs which is the second one i have seen this year or maybe its the same bird i saw in Somersett a few weeks ago ????? , in the same pool there were at least 4 Wood Sandpipers  and then i saw a  Temmincks Stint which was a new bird for the years . 

Lapwing from Avocet hide.

From here i headed of to the visitor center and got my permit then made my way to the hide , and as i said earlier i spent 5 hours here and although i never saw my target bird i still had some quality birds , first up was a fantastic close view of an Avocet , this was a very aggressive bird chasing off every bird that came to close to its territory and young chick  , maybe the Great Snipe had got to close at some point ??

 I also had a very confiding Lapwing which performed well for the camera , there were a pair of Little Ringed Plovers zipping around and the selection of waders kept growing with , Greenshank , Whimbrel and Common Sandpiper  all added along with 2 Temmincks Stints putting in a brief but welcome appearance .

A juv. Spoonbill did a fly around and landed in a pool not to far from camera range .

Spoonbill juv.

The Greylag Goose in the foreground had a dutch ring around its neck , apparently thats how they ring them , i   have to confess i am not to sure i like the way these birds are ringed , its not that they are being harmed or look bothered by them i just think it takes away the charm and looks of the bird .

Whilst waiting for the non appearance of the Great Snipe someone picked out the earlier seen Barn Owl and Short Eared Owl flying together which was great to see . At least 3 Common Snipes put in an appearance plus there were very good numbers of Sand Martins flying here there and everywhere and they were joined by a good number of Swifts as the evening drew to a close , i had a good selection of mammals today including a Weasel   plus 2 Brown Hares .

Dungeness Sea Watch and RSPB reserve

Dungeness sea watch 6 am to 9.30 am then 1.30 pm to 3 pm , all birds moving east unless otherwise stated :

Pomarine Skua          15 light phase  2 dark phase

Common Tern           50 +

Arctic Tern                 1

Sandwich Tern            50+

Little Tern                   8

Black Tern                  2

" Commic Tern "         100 +

Fulmar                         1

Gannet                         100 +

Great Crested Grebe     10 + on the sea

Common Scoter            80  east and west

Shoveler                        2

Kittiwake                        1

Bar Tailed Godwit          3

Sanderling                       9 east  2 west

Oystercatcher                 8

Turnstone                       2

Dunlin                             1

Redshank                        5

Auk Sp.                          1 west

Swallow                          6 in off

Not huge numbers of birds moving although the main target bird Pomarine Skua was seen very well with most birds quite close in and their " spoons " were easily seen .

A quick visit to the Rspb reserve was less productive with very little seen , highlights being a showy Cettis warbler and a Booming Bittern was good to hear , also several Common Whitesthroats gave themselves up to the camera .

                                                                Common Whitethroat.

I also had a look over the ARC pits and  picked out a Black Tern being harassed by a Lapwing , not else of note was seen here , although a smart Little Egret and a Grey plover was nice to see .  I also saw  4 Common Swifts flying overhead which was a welcome year tick .

From Pratincoles to Cranes ....Weekend Birding at its Best

Collared Pratincole.

An early start Saturday morning saw me  heading off to Lincolnshire and Norfolk for the weekend , i started of at Rosper road pools for the Collared Pratincole , i arrived at 2pm and had missed it by 25 minutes , but was informed that it often goes and returns later in the evening ,  i decided to put the time in as i had come so far , i was entertained by several House Martins and i also heard Lesser Whitethroat which was new for the year , i had been waiting for approx 3 and half hours and was deciding how much longer i should give it when another birder announced he had got it from the front of my car .

 It was quite brilliant and showed down to ten feet at times , cream throat patch and reddish underwings were the first things to hit you , short forked tail white rump and trailing edge on secondaries were easily seen , black edging around the throat patch and red base to the bill were harder to see , it was constantly flying around picking insects of the pools , whilst watching this  bird a Grasshopper Warbler started reeling in the distant bushes , i have seen four Collared Pratincoles now but this was by far the best views i have had of one .

From here i had just enough time to head of to Tetny Lock for the migrating Dotterels that had been there for the last couple of days , on arrival i picked out first 1 then 2 Yellow Wagtails which were welcome year ticks  , i reached the ploughed field and it was not long before i managed to find all 7 Dotterel 4 females in stunning plumage and 3 males , they were to distant for photos but gave great scope views , with the excitement of seeing these superb birds i headed of to a B&B near Brandon and on the way i  connected with a superb Barn Owl .

Stone Curlew.

I arrived at the first site of the day Weeting Heath just after 8.30 am and it was not long after a short scan over the road i picked up my first Stone Curlew , i also saw it in flight which was a nice bonus , i added a second bird from one of the hides and also saw a Stoat running across the  reserve , smart . i then headed of  to Lakenheath , i have not been here for a number of years and have to say the RSPB have done a wonderful job to the reserve , i was probably a couple of weeks to early for Golden Orioles at this site but never the less i had some quality birds , 2 adult Common Cranes gave amazing flights views on a couple of occasions and were also heard calling .

Common Cranes.

Other birds of note here were 3 Hobby , lots of Sedge Warblers and Common Whitethroats , 4 Common Terns and at least 8 Marsh Harriers giving amazing views whilst displaying plus one male bird carrying nesting material was good to see. 

My next planned destination was Halesworth and my target bird here was a superb adult Woodchat Shrike and after a short wait i was  enjoying superb views of this bird as it perched on some railway sleepers and every so often taking flight only to return to its perch.

Woodchat Shrike .

Could this weekend get any better ? well it could and it did news of an adult summer plumaged White Winged Black Tern at Minsmere which was on my way home could not be resisted , within 25 minutes i was on the site 10 minutes later i was onto the bird , quite simply brilliant to see , i have seen lots abroad but never a full summer bird in this country , wow is all i can say...

White Winged Tern.

I was treated to many flight views of this bird and although it more or less kept the same distance away it was unmistakable  , i also had superb views of  Bar Tailed Godwits in summer plumage .

Bar Tailed Godwit .

Other birds of note here were 2 singing Nightingales , Common Sandpiper , Greenshank , 2 Grey Plover and several Avocets.

Avocet.

The day was almost up when i was greeted to the news of 4 Black Winged Stilts in Essex , surely not was my first reaction but when the news was confirmed i could not believe my luck , i made a short diversion on the way home to Wat Tyler Country Park and believe it not the hide was harder to find then the birds !!

In Flight

One of the Four

4 Black Winged Stilts

This was  the most i have seen together in the UK , i just love the long pink / red legs , they were quite flighty but did spend some time feeding along the small islands eventually they all took to flight and dropped out of view in another part of the reserve . 

Top Quality Birding ....... and some Photos Too !!!!!

Record shot of Lesser Yellowlegs.

I  headed of to Shapwick Heath for the recently found Lesser Yellowlegs  and although it was a bit to distant to get a decent photo it showed very well through the scope , a really smart wader to see  , hence its name the yellow legs were very evident constantly feeding and every now and again it stopped to have a preen , quite long necked and overall a very delicate looking wader , other birds of note were Hobby, Garden Warbler and Reed Warbler which were all new birds for the year , i heard at least 3 booming Bitterns which was superb and several Common Whitethroats were seen and heard as was Blackcap , Chiffchaff and Willow Warbler , i spent a good couple of hours here hoping the Yellowlegs would come abit closer but it stayed loyal to the back of the pool along with 20 odd Black tailed godwits in their fine summer plumage . 

 From here i headed of to the Stour Valley in Bournemouth for the adult Night Heron which showed really well compared to the juv. i saw last week , this bird was stunning to see i saw it in flight on a couple of occasions and it was also calling at times.

Adult Night Heron.

I also heard  a reeling Grasshopper Warbler and i was also treated to a fishing Kingfisher , there were a pair of Long Tailed Tits nest building nearby , a really pleasant location to visit.

I decided to head to Ashdown Forest  and i was rewarded with at least 6 Common Redstarts  , i also encounted several Lesser Redpolls and Common Whitethroats , i stacked out an area and i tried to get a photo of a Redstart , when i  saw a superb Woodlark doing its display flight , quite superb and one of the best sights and sounds  (in my opinion that is) of displaying British breeding birds . 

Eventually without success of  connecting with the Tree pipit i headed back to the car  and bumped into another birder who had just seen one and i was soon enjoying a superb Tree Pipit also doing its display flight parachuting from one tree to another .

Tree Pipit.

My final destination was Wier Wood to try and see the earlier reported Wood Sandpipers , on arrival and after  scanning a very distant area where the 2 birds had been earlier seen it was not looking at all promising , i did see a Little Ringed Plover , then  a male Mandarin flying over head , a Common Buzzard drifted over and i was about to give up when i saw one of the Wood Sandpipers feeding along the North Bank , although very distant and the heat haze didn't help it was still a much welcome bird to see ,  top quality birding  !!!

Another Busy Saturday

Bluethroat.

Another busy Saturday saw me heading to Welney in the hope of connecting with the White Spotted Bluethroat , on the road not far from the reserve i saw a really smart Barn Owl , unfortunately i must of spooked it as it took to flight before i could get any photos .

It was great watching it hawking over the fields and along a dyke , i arrived at Welney and made my way to the area of the reserve where the Bluethroat has set up territory and after checking out its more favoured haunts another birder came across it perched in a willow tree , lovely blue throat with reddish just below , white central spot was very evident and reddish tail markings were also seen , it was also calling which is the first time i have heard this call , i watched it for 5 mins when it flew out of sight , i also encountered a rather fast flying Cuckoo which was a first for the year , on the way back to the car i was treated to 15 + House Martins and 2 Sand Martins , and when back at the car i heard then saw a fine Corn Bunting , i also managed a photo of a Pied Wagtail 

Pied Wagtail.

I then headed to the nearby Ouse Washes Rspb reserve and it was not long before i picked out the quite smart looking Blue-Winged Teal  ,  it was keeping company with a female Shoveler and was very flighty , unringed and showed no sign of any wing abrasion .

Blue Winged Teal.

I also heard Cuckoo here and i year ticked 2 Little Ringed Plovers which was a nice bonus, i also saw several Little Egrets and there were plenty of Sedge Warblers in good voice , my final destination of the day was on the way back home ( sort off ) , i went to Two Tree Island for the 1st summer Night Heron , on arriving at the car park l instantly picked up the reeling call of a nearby Grasshopper Warbler , i then made my way around the entrance and eventually i saw it perched in a distant bush reeling away , its tail was vibrating along with its throat whilst it reeled away ,  i also heard and saw several Common Whitethroats here , before i reached the pool the heron had been favouring i heard the superb song of a Nightingale what a treat !!! 

 The news was rather mixed when i arrived at the pool . it was still there but not in view , damn , my experience with herons is pretty much the same as everyone else , we all know they can sit for hours , well i wasn't wrong nearly 3 hours later i  managed to see it underneath a small tree , it was very  tricky to see and i only managed to get one really conclusive sighting of it , with time against me i headed back to the car very happy after a really great days birding with all target birds bagged , i heard the Grasshopper warbler again as i approached the car .

Stodmarsh... New Site Tick

I have seen many firsts at Stodmarsh , it was one of my very first sites i ever visited when i started birding back in 1982 , these days my travels take me far and wide in this fantastic hobby i have chosen and more often than not when i venture into the Stour Valley these days i tend to go to Grove Ferry and rarely visit Stodmarsh but when news reached me via the pager and then by text ( Thanks Mark ) of the recently found Wood Warbler i could nt wait to try and see it and as luck would have it i got home on Tuesday and spent an hour and a half looking for it with no luck , so with having today of ( hospital appointment in afternoon ) i spent another two and half hours looking for the bird from 11 am to 2pm , and eventually managed to see it really well for approx ten minutes , thanks to a birder who sorry i don't know by name who kindly called me over when he got on the bird, it was delightful to see silvery white below with bright yellow upper breast and head ,pinkish bill and legs , sorry for lack of photo but it was keeping rather deep in the foliage .
other birds of note seen :

Blackcap
Chiffchaff
Willow Warbler
Treecreeper
Great Spotted Woodpecker
Green Woodpecker
Sparrowhawk
Marsh Harrier