Booming Bitterns & Hudsonian Godwit revisited

Booming Bittern.

On Saturday the 2nd May i fancied another look at  the Hudsonian Godwit at Meare Heath in Somerset , i had seen it on the previous Thursday but was keen to have another look and try and get some flight shots of it's underwing.

An early start and an uneventful journey saw me arrive on site at 8am with positive news , the bird was still here !!!!  on the footpath i first en counted a group of birders watching a Bittern out in the open "Booming" , i have often heard them Booming but never actually seen one do it , an incredible sight and experience .

Hudsonian Godwit.

I eventually dragged myself away from the Bittern and joined the assembled birders looking for the Godwit ,it had walked out of sight below the nearby bank , eventually the Hudsonian Godwit flew from under the bank out into the open and gave some cracking views , and made alot of birders very happy.

Having a preen.

Reddish flanks.

Eventually the flock of Black Tailed Godwit's got flushed by a Peregrine and they all took to the air including the Hudsonian Godwit and i achieved the flight views i so much wanted to capture on film.

Hudsonian Godwit in flight.

Top view of the Hudsonian Godwit.

Black auxiliaries .

I watched this bird for a good couple of hours plus i had some fantastic views of Great White Egret including a pair displaying , which was another first for me.

Grey Heron spooking a Great White Egret.

Great White Egret.

I also saw the male Garganey which was keeping mostly to the back of the pool , also there were large numbers of Common Swift , Swallow , Sand & House Martins overhead , I also saw at least 3 Hobby and along with the Booming Bittern i saw at least two more Bitterns in flight , Warblers were well represented with numerous birds heard including , Cetti's , Sedge , Reed, Chiffchaff, Blackcap , Willow  & Garden Warbler.

This is a wonderful very well managed site which is full of bird life and one that i will no doubt visit again in the future. 

Hudsonian Godwit ....Meare Heath in Somerset

Great White Egret at Meare Heath.

Yesterday the 30th April at 4.30am i set of to Meare Heath in Somerset in the hope of seeing the Hudsonian Godwit which would be a lifer for me , apart from a diversion on the M3 i had a pretty uneventful journey and arrived on site at approx 7.30am.

As i walked through the car park i could hear a Bittern " booming " in the distance , great start and what an awesome sound , i eventually joined the already assembled birders but sadly there was negative news regarding the target bird .

However i had plenty of birds to look at as i waited for the anticipated arrival of the Hudsonian Godwit , first bird to catch my eye was a splendid Great White Egret in all it's finery and showing quite close .

Close Great White Egret.

Love the plumes blowing in the wind.

I also had an array of waders to look at including Ruff , Dunlin , Redshank and approx 170 Black Tailed Godwits , i also saw a superb male Garganey.

Male Garganey.

I decided to have a sit down on a near by bench whilst keeping a close eye on the the birds that were coming and going from the pool , and then another birder picked up the Hudsonian Godwit flying into the pool at approx 9.30am , awesome i was soon onto the bird and had fantastic scope views of this cracking wader .

Hudsonian Godwit.

Streaking extending down to under tail coverts.

Overall alot darker than the Black Tailed Godwits.

Lovely colours on this bird.

I watched the Hudsonian Godwit for about an hour and a half , seeing it in flight on a few occasions where the black under wing was a stand out feature .

I also added 12+ Common Swift's plus at least 3 "Booming " Bittern's , Hobby , Marsh Harrier , several Cetti's Warblers , Blackcaps and a singing Garden Warbler to my days birding at this wonderful site.

Great Blue Heron ......... On Scilly

Great Blue Heron on Bryher.

Yesterday the 24th April i headed on a long journey to the Isles of Scilly and my target bird was the Great Blue Heron on Bryher which was only the 2nd record of this species in the UK . 

 

Given the lack of news , i decided to head for Bryher where the bird was favouring mostly.  Other birders joined me making 12 in total on the small craft that was ferrying us to Bryher, getting the fare down to £5 each.

Water Taxi the " Falcon ".

By 1225 we were on Bryher and on our way to the pool by Hell Bay hotel where the GBH was most commonly seen. Still no news ! Hearts were partly dampened , heads a little hung and tales of woe were already being created that would go down in the dipping halls of infamy.

As the throng of birders approached the pool there was still no sign of the GBH  at a distance , two birders were on the far side , they could see us, no body language to put a spring in the step. Closer examination was required. On we went. There by the waters edge was another birder. He looked semi-professional , you know, the kind of Sunday afternoon birder that us serious birders / twitchers can be all too dismissive of. He had some intel !

There had been a large Heron that had flown in but had conveniently moved out of sight in tall vegetation at the back of the pool. Oh yeah, really !? Apparently , he had gone in to the hotel to use the toilet so the permutations were becoming exponential.

Arrggghhhh !! The non-natives were now getting really restless. ' Lets move around to get a better view ' et al. Baaaa . The flock of sheep clambered their way with varying degrees of guile , via a few natural obstacles . Corroboration was established. The bird WAS there and it had YET to fly off. Belief ? It was becoming palpable. Did i even hear some praying ?

Then , hallelujah. ' A  sign '. A large Heron came flying into view. Within seconds ( following borderline hysteria from those that couldn't see the fly in ) the GREAT BLUE HERON myth for us became a reality .

The presence of the ' in person' bird surpassed the images that, up til now, we could only ruefully appreciate. This was the ' real deal '. Manly, and less than manly , congratulations rippled through the 15 or so conectees. Relief made birders stand an inch or two taller and we feasted our eyes for a good 10-12 minutes , whilst the Heron huffed and puffed to the sound of cameras and iPhones gorging on capturing images that would be scrutinized in the hours to come.

The bird eventually had it's fill and was soon to take to the wing. This lumbering giant slowly meandered off towards the far side of Tresco with a Herring Gull or two as , no doubt, an unwelcome escourt . So, with the pressure off and two hours before we were to be ferried back to St.Mary's the prospect of some birding took shape , i looked for some Golden Oriole , but alas without success. Who cares - GREAT BLUE HERON !!.

I enjoyed looking at some migrants washing them down with a pot of tea - oh , how civilized the happy twitcher can be. As 1530 approached the reverse journey was about to commence with the 'Falcon' on hand to speed us back to the quay at Hugh town.

Great Blue Heron.

A very long and tiring trip but with great reward , he who dares....

New bird for my Oare Marshes list

Male Bearded Tit.

I met up with Chiddy again this morning at approx 11am at Oare Marshes with the hope of seeing the Ring Ouzel's that have been seen on & off in the paddocks over the last 8 days , on my way into the reserve i had a brief view of a Yellow Wagtail on the wires just before the cottages which was a welcome year tick .

I met up with Chiddy and after a brief look over the East flood where we added Avocet & Black Tailed Godwit we continued our walk to the West flood to look over the paddocks , and after approx 45 mins Chiddy re found  the female Ring Ouzel which is a new bird for my Oare Marshes patch list ,  many thanks to Murray . W. for his information on these birds , very much appreciated.

Bearded Tit.

We had a look from the West flood hide which was fairly quite other then a superb Little Grebe in full summer plumage plus there were several Med Gulls in and around the flood , we also added at least 5 Swallows from here.

On our way back to the car park we checked out the East flood again this time adding a single Common Tern roosting on the island with the Godwits plus the pair of Garganey were still busy feeding in the SE corner of the flood .

There were 2 male and 1 female Bearded Tit showing well close to the road although i never got a clear enough view for a clear photo .

Male Bearded Tit.

There was also several Sedge Warblers near to the road including this showy bird.

Sedge Warbler with food.

Sedge Warbler.

Another scan over the flood produced another Yellow Wagtail plus several Grey Herons & Little Egrets were flying around and a distant female Marsh Harrier put in a brief appearance.

A Little Catch up ....... Bee-eaters & Spring Migrants

Bee-eater on Isle of Wight 2014.

Here's a little catch up from my recent birding exploits starting with a brief visit to the cemetary along Old Charlton Road in Dover last Sunday the 19th April , news broke early of 5 Bee-eaters in the cemetary , normally they are just fly overs but when there came a second report of them still being present i made up my mind and headed there , 30 mins later i was walking up the hill behind two other birders and i could hear the Bee-eaters calling then i saw them circling around above the cemetary then heading high off and out of sight , 20 seconds later and i would have missed them 1 min earlier i would have had them perched in a tree .

That's birding for you , they were to quick for a photo so the above photo is from the breeding birds from the Isle of Wight from last year.

Cuckoo near the Marsh hide.

Yesterday the 20th i went to Grove ferry and  had a decent mornings birding session with lots of spring  migrants including my first Cuckoo of the year , there were plenty of Sedge Warblers calling and briefly giving  glimpses plus a few Reed Warblers were also making their presence known .

Superb Little Owl.

On my walk towards Stodmarsh i added both Common Whitethroat & Garden Warbler which were new birds for the year for me plus i en-counted a superb Little Owl near one of the barns , plenty of Marsh Harriers were on the wing with most birds carrying deceased Marsh Frogs in their talons.

Two of the three Green Sandpipers.

I eventually ended up at the Reed bed hide and saw 3 Green Sandpipers , i also added 2 Common Terns over the main lake .

As i was checking out another Cuckoo which was flying over the back of the reeds another bird caught my eye and i soon recognized my first Hobby of the year we ended up seeing a further 4 birds as the morning went on .

Hobby .

I eventually ended back at the ramp having seen and heard plenty of birds and as i was heading back to my car i saw a fledgling Mistle Thrush by the entrance track.

Fledgling Mistle Thrush.

Today i paid a quick visit to Oare Marshes in the hope of seeing the Ring Ouzels ( i know i am being greedy lol ) but sadly missed out on them but was pleased to see the pair of Garganey in the south east corner of the East flood.

Male & Female Garganey.

Busy feeding.

I also saw a really close Grey Heron feeding very well in the dyke near the pull in.

Grey Heron.

New Site Tick Plus some Migrants ...At Oare Marshes

Male Garganey.

I spent an enjoyable birding session at Oare Marshes yesterday afternoon and my primary target was Garganey , i had a quick scan over the East flood and didn't really add anything out of the unusual , i continued down to the sea wall and walked along to view the West flood and after a bit of scanning i located both male & female Garganey , they were both asleep until a maniac Coot charged at the male which then stood up did a bit of wing stretching then went back to sleep again.

Male Garganey going to sleep again.

There were several Med Gulls calling overhead and i managed a couple of photos of these great looking Gulls.

Med Gull.

Med Gull being very vocal.

There were the normal array of waders such as Avocet , Redshank , Curlew , Oystercatcher and Dunlin . I kept my eyes on the sky as well and saw up to 10 Marsh Harriers and a couple of Common Buzzards plus a single Peregrine drifted over towards Sheppy .

Curlew.

I continued my walk back towards the sea hide and around the East flood where i heard my first Sedge Warbler of the year by the hide , plenty of Bearded Tits were "Pinging " in the reeds plus i even managed a photo of a female .

Female Bearded Tit.

Lots of Black Tailed Godwits were busy " chattering " in the south east corner of the flood and even more Med Gulls were calling overhead , there was a Kestrel  hovering quite close to the sea wall plus a single Swallow flew by very quickly and was a very welcome addition to my year list . 

Male Kestrel hovering.

I then on my approach to the East flood hide saw a delightful Wheatear in all it's glory on a post.

Wheatear.

My last bird of note of this cracking birding session was a Little Owl which was a new bird for me at this site , i did get a very poor record shot but it just looks like a small blob lol .