Finally some Migrants

Wigeon and Black Headed Gull .

An early start saw me heading off to Landguard to try and catch up with the Short-Toed Treecreeper that had been there for the last couple of days , i arrived at 8 am with the news being positive on the bird , and after almost minutes of me being there it flew from one area of scrub to another and out of sight , it had quite a laboured flight but on those views i was less than happy to include it on my year list .

 Thankfully I did not have to wait to long for it to re appear in a some what smaller tree giving some brief but excellent views , its overall appearance was so much different to that of Eurasian Treecreeper , the wing pattern was quite striking and the supercillium was not as long or as broad , the rufous flanks were not that obvious from the range we were viewing from , it also called on occasion.

I also added Black Redstart from this site and after i was satisfied with the views i headed off to Minsmere , i have not been to this reserve for a number of years and it has changed quite abit , however back to the birds !

Male Tufted Duck.

I spent quite a bit of time checking the scrape and it was not long before i saw a smart Spotted Redshank , which was followed by  a Yellow-Legged Gull , i also added Avocet , Black Tailed Godwit and Ruff plus several Pintail scattered here , there and everywhere , i also managed a couple of photos of a very close Tufted Duck and a smart male Wigeon .

I headed off to the Island mere hide and was soon surprised to see two female Goosanders , whilst i was scanning the area i saw some hirundine over the reed bed  and  was very pleased to be watching 10+ Sand Martins .

 On the Sunday i headed of to Farlington marshes to hopefully connect with the Spoonbill and after walking around to roughly the area it had been seen from i picked it out doing what Spoonbills do  ....  

Sleeping Spoonbill .

Its awake !!!!!

I had prolonged views of the Spoonbill and it every now and again did a little bit of preening , this was a superb adult bird and you can make out the yellow tip to its bill in the second photo.

 From here I called into Chichester to hopefully see the Little Gull which has been lingering there for quite some time and after a short walk i soon located it .

Little Gull.

I just love Little Gulls and was very pleased to see this one and even managed some pics , i added several Chiffchaffs but not alot else so with news of an Osprey near West Witterring i headed off there and despite a lengthy attempt of seeing this bird i failed but did get a very smart Swallow fly through  and a couple of Red Breasted Mergansers for my efforts was reward enough.

Dungeness

Goldcrest.

I spent a few pleasant hours at Dungeness today and although my main target bird the Penduline Tit never showed up i still had some decent birds , i arrived at the Hanson hide at approx 8.30 am and after spending approx 2 hours scanning the reed beds and willow trees i had no luck with the Penduline , there were plenty of Reed Buntings keeping me company plus a very showy Goldcrest , there were several Cetti's Warbler in full explosive song but were keeping out of sight as usual .

Goldcrest

I then decided to have a walk around the rspb reserve not adding much to my days total , i eventually caught up with the Firecrest that has been residing in the scrub at the back of the Christmas dell hide and although i got some superb views through my bins i never managed a photo , i walked further along the track and just before i reached the Denge marsh hide i saw this fine male Stonechat .

Male Stonechat.

I always find these birds so photogenic and love seeing them in all there glory , i had my lunch on the viewing ramp over looking Hookers and added Bearded Tit and another Cetti's Warbler which actually allowed me a very brief view as it flew low down between bushes . I was hoping to connect with some early migrants but other than several vocal Chiffchaffs around the reserve i never got any . other birds of note today were :

2 Redhead Smew and 1 male and 5 female Goldeneye on the Arc pit plus a pair of Marsh Harriers displaying over the reserve , oh almost forgot i did see a White Wagtail on my way around the reserve just past the Makepeice hide , so all in all a enjoyable day out .

M40 ..... Record breakers

I drive for a living and every so often i end up driving along the M40 motorway which has a very healthy population of Red Kites , and to turn a very dull day into something quite special i often do a raptor count along my journey , as i can only go as fast as 56 miles an hour top speed and am quite high up in my truck i get quite a good view .

I have counts normally between 15 to 20 birds and my record total was 25 Red Kites in August 2010 , however that all changed on Tuesday 8th March 2011 when i counted no less than  36 Red Kites mainly between junction 3 to 6 , i also saw 9 Common Buzzards and 5 Kestrels , i have encounted Merlin , Peregrine and Sparrowhawk on previous journeys along this motorway , i know i should keep my eyes mainly on the road but hey who could resist looking at these majestic birds ????

Hampshire Birding ......

Great Grey Shrike.

A trip to the New Forest in Hampshire proved to be very successful, here are a selection of photos of the birds i saw.

                                                                      Firecrest

Firecrest.

Dartford Warbler  female

Dartford Warbler male

Second male

Dartford Warbler.

One of two Woodlarks.

Woodlark.

Red Kite.

Kent and Thanet tick at Pegwell Bay

Caspian Gull 1st winter.

I spent 3 hours at Pegwell Bay this morning scanning through a massive roost of gulls , hundreds in fact and my target birds were Caspian and Yellow legged gulls , constant rain showers and the distance of the gulls made the viewing fairly challenging , i always get a buzz from scanning through gull roosts because you never know what you might come across , it was nice to sit in the dry and comfort of the hide , my first scan through was long and laborious but a probable adult Yellow-legged gull was seen , however although it looked darker on the back , somewhere between Herring and Lesser black-backed.  the head shape was slightly wrong and at that range the leg colour could not be confirmed  .

                                         Another poor record shot of 1st winter Caspian gull.

On my second scan through i came across a superb 1 st winter Caspian Gull , high breasted , very white  pear shaped head , it had the classic small dark eye although at that range the colouration would not have shown , all black bill , very long legged , white tipped brownish tertials and black primaries were all easily seen , it also had the dropped lower rear belly , the photos really are bad i know and they just don't do the bird any justice at all , at one point it stretched its left leg and the length was quite amazing , you can just about make the very long legs out in the second photo , it spent most of the time preening .

Mixed gulls and waders going out with the tide.

Several species of wader were seen also today including , approx 75 Bar Tailed Godwits , Grey Plover, Dunlin , Redshank , Curlew and Oystercatcher , also a Sparrowhawk did a rather quick fly through .

Curlew.

So all in all a very rewarding 3 hours spent doing some local birding ( for a change ..lol )

Like Buses....... wait ages for One then get Two together !!!!!!

Rufous Turtle Dove.

An early start saw me  heading to Chipping Norton on Saturday the 19th Feb in the hope of seeing the Rufous Turtle Dove that had taken up residence there on and off since December 2010 , the journey was uneventful and i duly arrived on site at approx 6.30 am , the weather was constant drizzle and i headed of to The Leys to join the already gathered queue of approx 100 other birders , it felt quite weird standing in the queue of this road  god knows what the local residents thought when they opened their curtains ???  and as time went on the queue kept growing and growing , i think at its peak there must of been 400 birders there , the rain was getting heavier and after 2 hours i felt like a drowned rat , the news was negative from No. 41 where the dove was seen most mornings , oh joy getting up at 3 am driving all this way standing in a road for 2 hours getting soaked !!!  i must be mad , oh wait i am !!!

Anyhow whilst i was debating whether i should go off and check out other areas were the dove had been seen from hence giving up my place in the queue or should i just wait it out just in case ?!  the news broke the dove was seen on top of a tree between No41 and 39 , well it was nothing short of a stampede ,  total madness no order nothing , and i was more or less carried along with the crowd , some how i was near the front so i crouched down out of the way when another birder bumped into me knocking me over , then i tried to set my scope up while kneeling down only to find someone standing on my straps . total madness eventually i managed to set the scope up and was soon enjoying the Roufous Turtle Dove ( form Orientalis ).

Another record shot .

The dove eventually flew off and was then re found in tree at the bottom of the Leys in a field and the madness started all over again ,  i got myself in a goodish position to view the dove , notable features were the white tipped median and greater coverts giving it a scaly appearance , the upper breast and belly were fairly dark , the pale head with smallish red eye were noticeable , i never really got a great view off the tail but i did notice the whitish tipped tail edgings did nt seem as extensive as normal Turtle Dove , the neck markings were evident every now and again , red legs were also seen , overall a very compact dove and despite the total madness of the occasion and the weather being awful it was well worth the journey on are return journey we added 6 Red Kites . 

On Sunday the 20th Feb. i headed off to Rainham marshes in the hope of seeing Britain's first Slaty Backed Gull , this bird has been giving birders the run around turning up at Pitsea , Hannigfield res. and of course Rainham , also it has gone missing for weeks on end , so i was hopeful more than expectant of seeing this bird , i arrived at Rainham and i was informed  that the rubbish tip doesn't work on Sundays and therefore the gull has not been seen here on Sundays as it only comes in to feed at the tip and then rest up on the marsh , not the news i had hoped for to be honest , but my thoughts were well it has to be somewhere and although the tip is closed there is still going to be food waste there for any gulls to feed on , i headed off towards  Wennington marsh and the rubbish tip along the sea wall adding Wigeon , Teal and 100 + Dunlin , plus 11 Avocets were a nice  to see , i got  onto a small falcon flying over the river from Crayford marsh heading in land and i soon identified it as a Merlin  !

I reached Wennington marsh and there were not many gulls about to be honest , although there were several large gulls flying inland most of the time , i joined 3 other birders and they informed me that they had not seen it , i checked through the gull roost in the middle of the marsh which were very distant ,   as i was getting nearer to the tip i noticed a closer roost of large gulls and i started to scan through the flock , as i was scanning a large gull flew across and landed in my view , very broad white secondaries just hit me , long legged , darkish grey wings ,white head with streaking on the nape , deep fierce bill,  my god it was the SLATY BACKED GULL i quickly got  another birder onto it, we watched it for about 10 mins , wow i could not believe my luck , then the gulls all took up some went left and right and it was lost to view the murky conditions were awful , i couldn't decide to put the news out or wait until i picked it up again , we were joined by 3 other birders and we all started to scan for it again , and thankfully another birder picked it up again , i then put the news out at 12.14 pm and the Slaty Backed Gull was then seen for most of the afternoon , and like my title says , ( Like buses ) i have been waiting ages for one lifer now i have had two in a weekend !!!!!.