Baikal Teal at Fen Drayton............

Baikal Teal at Fen Drayton.

My destination yesterday morning was Fen Drayton in Cambridgeshire and my target bird was a stunning adult drake Baikal Teal which had been seen recently , i arrived in very good time , i then had to find the lake it was last seen on the previous day , sounds easy enough however there are 12 different lakes on this site , i eventually found Moore lake and it was not long until another birder picked out the Baikal Teal a sleep on a far bank , its white crescent on the flank was the stand out feature at this range.

Lovely plumage on the Baikal Teal.

The last 2 Baikal Teal's have been accepted so fingers crossed this one will be to, its unringed and has no wing abrasion , it never came close at any stage i was there .

 There was also  several Wigeon , Teal , Tufted Duck Pochard and Mallard , i also saw a Kingfisher very briefly as it flew through , this was a very welcome year tick.

Baikal Teal with an Avocet in the foreground .

The Baikal Teal eventually woke up and had a swim around and its fantastic plumage could be fully appreciated , it never came very close but great views were obtained through the scope , i watched this bird for a good couple of hours then decided to head back checking out various lakes as i went , several Goldeneye were seen plus a very smart male Scaup which was another welcome year tick as was 3 Egyptian Geese.

2 of the 3 Egyptian Geese yesterday.

There was plenty of bird song in the area with lots of Chiffchaff in full voice ,i then decided to head back to Kent and had time to call into Swale nature reserve on Sheppy , i didn't really add much from here other than a selection of waders ,Little Egret , Marsh Harrier and 3 Common Buzzards plus several Peacock butterflies . 

Little Egret on Sheppy.

One of many Peacock butterflies.

Just a Bit of Fun Quiz Week 35 answer plus new " Mystery Bird "

Female Pintail from the Feast hide at Grove Ferry.

Last weeks " Mystery bird " was indeed a female Pintail that i saw at Grove Ferry , a couple of years ago , a very big well done to all the correct entries who are : Ellis Lucas , Mark Lewis , Martyn Wilson &  Ben M. 

Unlucky to those with the wrong answer and many thanks to everyone who has had ago , here is this weeks " Mystery Bird " .

Week 36 ????????

Ok it's a little different than normal as i am running out of pics lol , its not that hard this week and if this  proves popular i will keep the quiz going for a bit longer.

If you fancy ago just leave your answer in the comments or DM on twitter @RobsBirding

Hoopoe at Snodland and Oare Marshes

Hoopoe in Surrey in 2011.

I called into Snodland today to try and see the Hoopoe that has been seen there recently , i parked up behind the golf club house and proceeded to walk around the various locations it has been reported from , i bumped into some other birders who had seen it earlier and they showed me the area they had seen it from , however it had flown off when they had seen it , it only took a few minutes for one of the other birders to pick out the Hoopoe a bit further back in an adjacent field , it was to far to get a photo but lovely to see all the same , the above photo was one that i took in Surrey 3 years ago and that bird showed alot closer.

I watched the Hoopoe for about 15 minutes before it had walked out of sight so i decided to head off to Oare Marsh for a quick look , there was not alot around other than a single Ruff and approx 100 Black Tailed Godwits , there was also 2 Avocet amongst the godwits , 

Black Tailed Godwits with 2 Avocet for company.

Ruff .

Another pic of the Ruff.

Wildfowl numbers were quite thin on the ground with just a few Shoveler , Teal , Mallard , Gadwall and only 3 Pintail. I did see a single kestrel hovering over the East Flood.

Kestrel hovering over the East Flood.

Dungeness & Restharrow ....... Local Birding

Tufted Duck at Dungeness.

I called into Dungeness yesterday 22nd March to try out my new camera and hopefully connect with some lingering winter migrants and some newly arrived spring birds , i started off in the Hanson hide to look for the Long Tailed Duck but sadly i could not relocate it although i did hear a Chiffchaff in full voice , i also heard at least 3 Cetti's Warblers , i then decided to pop into the RSPB reserve to see what else was around , first port of call was the Dennis hide and a distant male Goldeneye was good to see plus a single Great White Egret was to far away for the camera , there were some very close Tufted Duck including the above showy male bird , a couple of Long Tailed Tits made a brief appearance and were captured by my camera.

One of two Long Tailed Tits.

I then decided to walk to the other two hides and they were pretty quite to be honest , whether its due to the water level still being very high , no islands were visible on the reserve or most of the birds were keeping out of sight of my camera i am not sure ?? i did encounter 6 Sand Martins which were my first of the spring. I also had a single White Wagtail and a fly over Grey Plover.

1 of 6 Sand Martins near the hides .

I then decided to have a drive down to the sea but had time to quickly check out the bird feeders at the start of the entrance track and was treated to these quite superb Tree Sparrows.

A regular sight on the feeders at Dungeness.

I didn't spend to long down by the sea as the wind was very cold , i know i am a wimp lol , however i did add a single Gannet to my year list , i know its all very exciting lol.

I then made my way to Sandwich and to Restharrow Scrape in the hope of seeing the reported Garganey that had been seen earlier in the day , well i duly arrived on site and there was a photographer in the hide who had no idea what a Garganey was when i asked if it was still around , so i did a quick scan with no joy but there was a very close Coot which i could not resist getting a pic of.

Coot at Restharrow.

There were good numbers of Teal , Shoveler and Gadwall plus smaller numbers of Mallard and 2 Wigeon , the water level here is also very high and the middle island is completely submerged however i did add Curlew , Lapwing , Redshank and approx 5 Common Snipe on the fringes , There were several Little Grebe in fine summer plumage .

Little Grebe in summer plumage.

After a while the photographer left and i could then check out the end of the scrape which i couldn't see before and there

it was tucked up out of the way with 2 Teal , a superb male Garganey, there were 2 reported this morning however i was happy with 1.

Male Garganey with Teal.

The Garganey was a sleep the whole time i was there however i was really pleased to see it as it looked like i had dipped at one point , this was a very welcome addition to my year list .

Just a Bit of Fun Quiz Week 34 answer plus new " Mystery Bird "

Green Heron in Devon 2010.

Last weeks " Mystery Bird " was indeed a Green Heron that i saw in Devon on two occasions back in 2010 , a very big well done to all the correct entries and they are : Ellis Lucas , Ben M ,  Martyn Wilson , Marc Heath , Mike.H. , Mark Lewis and Mark L .

Well done also to the wrong entries a really great try , and many thanks to everyone who has had ago , Here is this weeks " Mystery Bird " .

Week 35 " Mystery Bird " ????

If you fancy ago just leave your answer in the comments or DM on twitter @RobsBirding , good luck and remember its just a bit of fun .

Just a bit of Fun Quiz Week 33 answer plus new " Mystery Bird "

Western Subalpine Warbler on Scilly 2013.

This bird proved to be very hard to get right and those who did managed to also get the "race " correct to , so a very big well done to : Ellis L , Ben M ,  and Mark Lewis.

A really great try for those with the wrong answer , many thanks to everyone who had a go , here is this weeks " Mystery Bird ".

Week 34 " Mystery Bird " ????????

Just leave your answer in the comments or DM on twitter @RobsBirding and i will reveal the correct answer and entries next weekend , Good luck on this one .