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

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 ????