Finally Bagged .....Great Waders too !!!!!

Ruff.

I set of early Saturday morning and my destination was Cromer in Norfolk , my target birds were Greenish Warbler and Western Bonellis Warbler which were both at the same location , i arrived at about 8am and the weather was awful , heavy rain which looked like it was in for the day , however after about an hour of searching the woodland was  in  there was no sign of the target birds or any other birders , i decided to head of to Cley which was only half an hour along the coast and hope for some improvement in the weather and some news to break out on the warblers 

Juv. Red Necked Phalarope.

The main attraction on Pats Pool was a superb juv. Red Necked Phalarope which was a  very welcome year tick for me , as you can see by the record shot above it was quite distant but gave excellent views through the scope , there were loads of waders everywhere , the Ruff (top photo) was very close and there were juv. Curlew Sandpipers all over the place with only one moulting adult bird amongst them , i counted 37 birds in total which is the highest amount i have seen in one location.

Juv. Curlew Sandpiper.

Moulting adult with 3 juvs.

There were groups of Curlew Sandpipers where ever you looked with one group containing 15 birds , i was treated with a really smart Wood Sandpiper which came quite close at times .

Wood and Curlew Sandpipers.

I had a real mixed bag of waders including Avocet , Black tailed Godwit , Little Ringed Plover , Common Sandpiper and this very close Green Sandpiper. 

A large flock of Greylag Geese took to the air and 8 Spoonbills just seemed to appear from behind a bank .

Green Sandpiper.

8 Spoonbill.

I had a really good session of birding here when the pager alerted me that the target birds at Cromer had been seen , so with just enough time to have another look at the smart looking Wood Sandpiper i then headed of to the car park .

Wood Sandpiper.

As i approached the car i was informed  that there had been a report of a Red-Backed Shrike nearby which  i needed  for my year list , so with no time to spare i was  soon at Whalsey hill , after a rather frustrating 15 minutes i finally managed to relocate the Shrike on top of a bramble bush , this was a juvenile bird and showed really well at times .

I enjoyed this bird then headed of to Cromer , i again arrived at the site but no birders were anywhere to be seen , which was very strange so after a quick phone call to RBA i was given directions to the right location as i was in totally the wrong area ,( thanks Pete for your help with this ) anyhow as i arrived a couple of birders were heading quite fast towards an area of the woodland and informed me the Western Bonellis Warbler had just been seen. 

I followed them and after about 5 minutes wait we were all on the bird , wow the green wing panel on the wings were very evident and the rather pale head and underparts were a real contrast to the rest of the bird , this is my second Bonellis the last one some 10 years ago ! the bird showed for about a minute and was enjoyed by all , when it went out of sight i headed off to the area where the Greenish Warbler had been mostly heard , i was there for half an hour when another birder picked it out calling , then about 20 minutes later it called again no more a foot away from where i was all standing but would not give its self up !! 

There were plenty of Chiffchaffs about  , i only saw the Greenish for the briefest moment when it dropped down out of sight , i could see the silvery under parts and smallish size , but was far from satisfied from that view , i waited around but it never re appeared ,   i went back to the car for food and my coat and on the way back news broke that the Greenish had reappeared , this has to be one of my most frustrating birding experience's , i was under a canopy of trees looking up everyone seemed to be getting on the bird except me , yes i saw movement and i again saw the underparts but could not get a clear view , i momentarily went insane at one point and thought about taking up sheep herding or joining the salvation army (No offense to any sheep herders or salvation army people out there) , eventually i did get a brief view so although far from satisfactory i have finally bagged a bogey that i have dipped to many painful times to count .

Quick visit to Oare

Little Egret.

Being on stand by at work today gave me the chance to pop over to Oare Marshes this afternoon , a  look over the East Flood gave me great views of this smart Little Egret , there were up to 4 Knot , and very high numbers of both Redshank and Black Tailed Godwit , at least 10 Ruff and several Avocets were seen .

Little Egret.

I left the East Flood and headed towards the slip way over looking the Swale in the hope of seeing my target birds which came out on the pager earlier on today , parked up and then noticed Murray Wright the regular patch watcher at Oare and two other birders i didn't know , Murray greeted me with the news the 9 ad Curlew Sandpipers (my target birds) were still there and feeding on the up coming tide line , great i soon got my scope on them and was enjoying some fantastic views Murray and his birding mates said there goodbyes after awhile and i spent another 40 minutes watching these superb waders , i did manage a couple of record shots and even by my poor standards are not that good .

3 of the 9 Curlew Sandpipers

And 7 of the 9.

Eventually they took to the air with some Black Tailed Godwits and appeared to drop down into the East flood , i made my there and did  brief scan but could not relocate them but did see 6 Common Snipe and 8 Common Sandpipers .

Hoopoe brightens the Day

I headed of to Farthing Downs in Surrey  today and after getting some local information, i arrived on site and within approx 15 minutes i was soon enjoying some stunning views of this really great Hoopoe. Here are some photos i took :

Hoopoe.

I watched the Hoopoe for approx 45 minutes but it was constantly being flushed by dog walkers who didn't seem to care that I was watching it and before i get a load of dog walkers moaning there were several paths they could have used and not make a be line for me , rant over ...

That said it was very enjoyable to watch in glorious sunshine in a meadow filled with flowers and butterflies which were mainly Meadow Brown and Small Heath , it was surprising how easily the Hoopoe almost disappeared in the grass , i did see it raise it crest once which was  a bonus , i have seen many Hoopoe over the years but get the same thrill as if it was my first every time i see one .

Moth Species ????

Moth Species

I saw this quite large moth on my next door neighbours curtain as i walked past their house yesterday , i have always had an interest in moths and butterflies , i am ok with most ids on butterflies however i really struggle with moths , if anyone could tell me what this one is called i would be very grateful.

A Day in Kent

Two Dunlin at Dungeness.

My first location today was to pop into Elmley to try and see the roosting Long Eared Owls at Kinghills farm i spent a fare amount of time trying to locate these but was not lucky this time , however i had decent views of a Garden Warbler and there were 2 Green Sandpipers and a couple of Avocets nearby which are always nice to see , i decided to cut my loses and head of to Oare Marshes , i encounted 41 Golden Plovers and  a smart Whimbrel out on the mud flats , i had 50 +Black-Tailed Godwits and 200 + Avocets , other than a few Dunlin there were no small waders to be had here.

Dunlin.

My final destination of the day was Dungeness , i headed straight to the Arc pit to try and see the recently found Pectoral Sandpiper  and i was straight onto this delightful sandpiper , this was a new bird for me at Dungeness and a very much welcome year tick .

Pectoral Sandpiper.

Another record shot of the Pec Sand.

I enjoyed this bird for about 30 minutes , often feeding close by and it was also quite flighty showing off its centrel tail stripe , i also had up to 5 Dunlin, 1 Common Sandpiper and a couple of Lapwings here , from here i headed of to the Rspb reserve to try and see the Great White Egret having already failed a couple of times this year , i made my way around to the Denge marsh hide eventually i went and had a look from the gate  with one or two other birders and was soon  enjoying the Great White Egret.

Adult Great White Egret.

And about to land.

This was a really graceful bird , feeding quite actively every so often , there was not alot around other than this apart from some really smart Common Terns and a fly over Hobby , there were a few butterflies about mainly Gatekeeper , Red Admiral and a couple of Peacocks , i also saw a young Fox near the Christmas dell hide . 

Top Quality Waders

Adult Spoonbill

An early start saw me heading north to Blacktoft Sands rspb reserve in the hope of seeing the adult Marsh Sandpiper , i arrived at about 7.30 am and the weather was awful , consistent rain and quite windy , i met a couple of birders and the news was negative , not a good start but i was undeterred and i checked  out several hides where the Sandpiper had been seen on and off over the past week , i encountered a superb adult Spoonbill which was later joined by another adult bird ,  i also had some great views of   Wood Sandpiper .

Adult Wood Sandpiper.

I encountered 3 Wood Sandpipers , at least 5 Green Sandpipers and 1 Common Sandpiper at this reserve plus a really smart couple of Ruffs put in an appearance .

Two Ruff.

I also had fantastically close views of a female Marsh Harrier right in front of the hide , i have never been as close to one before , truly a remarkable sight and well worth the journey on its own.

Female Marsh Harrier.

There were plenty of waders flying in and out , lots of Egrets and at least 5 Marsh Harriers were spooking everything every now and again , i moved onto the other end of the reserve and bumped into another birder named Rich , we exchanged information of what we had seen and he said he was going to check out another area of the reserve where the Marsh Sandpiper has been seen from whilst i checked out a different area , we exchanged numbers so we could inform each other if we see the bird .

Well i was in the Marsh Hide checking out at least 50 Black tailed godwits , there were Dunlin, Snipe and various ducks but no Marsh sandpiper , then my phone went off , it was Richard with positive news , the Marsh Sandpiper was showing from the Ousefleet viewing screen , with a rather quick dash around to the viewing screen i was greeted with the news it had just waded out of sight . 

So after a fretful 10 to 15 minutes wait the Marsh Sandpiper  gave its self up  ,  really super sandpiper , a miniature version of a Greenshank is the nearest comparison i can think off , a delicate thin bill , longish legs . This was  my third bird in the UK but this was by far the best view of one i have had , i also added at least 5 Spotted Redshanks at this viewing screen including one very black bird .

From here i decided to head to Rutland Water which was on the way back and hopefully try and see the summer plumage Spotted Sandpiper , i arrived there in good time and the weather had improved i parked up and and got my permit from the visitor center .

I set off to the Shallow water  hide , and as luck would have it i connected with this super wader straight away , it was a bit distant on the far bank but you could make out the orange/ yellowish bill and spotting on its breast and flanks , it was along side a Green Sandpiper which was much bigger .

Spotted Sandpiper wing stretching.

Spotted Sandpiper

And in flight

There were five Ospreys in close attendance and one bird spooked the Sandpiper and it flew towards the hide and landed on my side of the water , wow a stunning bird to see the spots were much more evident at this close range , it had a striking supercillium  , i have now seen four Spotted Sandpipers  but this is the first one i have seen in this plumage , the Ospreys were really stunning to see at such close quarters too.

Two of the five birds on the nest.

And an Osprey in flight.

Other birds seen here were a female Goldeneye , Common Sandpiper (at one point there was Common , Green and Spotted Sandpiper all in one view) plus several Common Buzzards were flying around ,  there was a huge number of Sand Martins nearby giving some fine views.

Several Sand Martin.

Then it was time to head home  very happy after a superb days birding with some quality birds in the bag.