A quick post as I am still computerless following the burglary. Had to go to Derby for work yesterday so took the afternoon off on Monday to bird my way up. Things didn't go quite to plan.
Dip 1 - Red Backed Shrike, Ingatestone, Essex
Dip 2 - Bluethroat, Welney, Norfolk - I knew it tended to only show in the morning and I didn't get there until 3pm, so nothing ventured etc
Dip 3 - Green Winged Teal on the way home yesterday, Eyebrook Resevoir, Leicestershire
Dip 4 - Red Footed Falcon, Oakham, Leceistershire - arrived to find half a dozen bemused birders, no one who had seen the bird or knew anyone who had seen it.
On the plus side I found a Dipper (ironically) nest, with 2 juvs at Bradfordale, Derbs. Very nice.
Wednesday, 28 April 2010
Monday, 19 April 2010
Scotland Trip April 2010 - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Each year we take a family holiday in Scotland. We never tire of Speyside or the west coast. This is just a short preliminary post from work in my lunch break. As you will read below it is not easy blogging without a computer!
The Good - Wildlife wise as always Speyside didn't disappoint including:
Golden Eagle (2)
Capercallie (3)
Black Grouse (2)
Scottish Crossbill (lots - found a great site)
Osprey (4+)
Red Grouse (20+)
Bottle Nosed Dolphin (2) down to 30 feet
Arctic Hare (3+)
Red Squirrel (lots)
Probable Common Crane over (Sophie and Julia only)
Meeting Shaun, Dave Mo, Redsy and Dick for half a day's birding on my last full day
The Bad - with our flights home cancelled due to the ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland, we had to drive a hire car home. A very long and tiring 13 hours later we arrived home via Luton airport (to pick up our car) and Stanstead airport (to drop off the hire car).
The Ugly - our house was burgled while we were away and lots of stuff was taken, including our lap tops. Hence the short post and no photos.
What this space.
The Good - Wildlife wise as always Speyside didn't disappoint including:
Golden Eagle (2)
Capercallie (3)
Black Grouse (2)
Scottish Crossbill (lots - found a great site)
Osprey (4+)
Red Grouse (20+)
Bottle Nosed Dolphin (2) down to 30 feet
Arctic Hare (3+)
Red Squirrel (lots)
Probable Common Crane over (Sophie and Julia only)
Meeting Shaun, Dave Mo, Redsy and Dick for half a day's birding on my last full day
The Bad - with our flights home cancelled due to the ash cloud from the volcano in Iceland, we had to drive a hire car home. A very long and tiring 13 hours later we arrived home via Luton airport (to pick up our car) and Stanstead airport (to drop off the hire car).
The Ugly - our house was burgled while we were away and lots of stuff was taken, including our lap tops. Hence the short post and no photos.
What this space.
Thursday, 8 April 2010
Black Winged Stilt Rainham Marshes
There I was asleep and dreaming about a nice looking bird with long legs when.....would you believe it....... Jamie (my 10 year old) come in and wakes me up saying filthy twitcher Jono had just called:Jamie: Hello
Jono: Hi Jamie, is your Dad there?
Jamie: He's asleep, still not very well....
Jono: Here's something to get him out of bed, tell him there's a Black Winged Stilt at Rainham
Jamie: Ok thanks, I'll tell him....
Jamie: DAAAAAAAD! Jono called and said get out of bed, there's a Black Winged Stilt at Rainham
Me: Oh my God! Ok let's go
I've been ill with a chest infection for the best part of a week now. So ill in fact that I could not get out of bed last weekend to see the local Alpine Swift and Hoopoe. "You must be ill" said my ever caring wife Julia.
I put on my tracky bottoms and fleece, hacked up a load of yuk, brushed my teeth, had a coughing fit, coughed up more yuk, brushed my teeth again, picked up my stuff and we were out the door. 30 minutes later we arrived at Rainham to find a small crowd already gathered. Dick, arrived at the same time, and Dominic Mitchell confirmed it was still showing well, as we climbed the stairs to the visitors centre. And there it was....
Jono, is back from Scotland tomorrow. Let's hope it stays for him. Monday, 29 March 2010
Two Bar Crossbill
A short and sweet post as I have to dash to pick the kids up from school. I rounded off an unbelievably good weekend of birding with a quick dash to The Lodge, Sandy, Beds, where I caught up with the Two Bar Crossbill amongst a flock of 40 Common Crossbill. Poor light, drizzling rain and a stiff breeze meant digiscoped pics were not possible. Who cares, I am still on a high from yesterday's bonanza day in Suffolk.
Lesser Kestrel, Pallid and Alpine Swift - wow what a day!
After dipping the Pallid Swift at Kessingland (just south of Lowestoft, Suffolk) on Saturday afternoon with Bradders Jnr and dirty twitcher Jono Lethbridge, on news that it was showing well, with an Alpine Swift back in the same area on Sunday morning, I was heading back up the A12 with Shaun and Dick.
H: Where are you?
Shaun: On the A12, in Suffolk just north of Ipswich, why?
H: Turnaround, there's a adult male Lesser Kestrel at Minsmere, it's a MEGA, you've got to go.
Us: No way! Cheers H!
Shaun: What shall we do?
Me & Dick: Turn around!
So there we were just 30 minutes from jamming in on a mega. The mobiles starting ringing, checking where we were. Hawky provided regular pager updates every 5 minutes, confirming it was still sitting on a fence post. Just 5 minutes away now, surely we'd get it. Hawky called again as we approached the site, just a few hundred yards away, this time though the news was different. The bird had been flushed by a female common Kestrel and had disappeared. Noooo! We were 2 minutes away.
We parked and decided it probably hadn't gone far. Birders were pouring into the area by the minute. For once it appeared common sense was prevailing and everyone was spreading out and checking all the surrounding fields. An hour passed and it wasn't looking good. Then a car sped passed us at high speed the driver shouting out of the window that the bird had been relocated. We sped after him but it soon became apparent we were on a wild Lesser Kestrel chase, and 10 minutes later we were back where we began. By now though birders by the dozen were running through a gate heading out on to Westleton Heath. Literally, dumping the car in a bush, so not to block the narrow lane we gave chase. About 3/4 of a mile later, we arrived to find a good 200 birders and 1 Lesser Kestrel. Yes! (life tick 367) It was quite distant but sitting up out in the open. Birders continued to poor in as we enjoyed perched and flight views for 30 minutes or so.
Lesser Kestrel
We left the crowd to it as we were concerned about getting away due to the log jam of cars in the area and being already 2 hours late home with a 2 hour journey to come, we had some grovelling to do for the respective Mrs'!
What a traffic "jam-in"and exciting end to the day!
All the way up Birdguides confirmed both birds were showing well above the local caravan park. Surely we'd get them, and in particular the Pallid Swift, a life tick for all three of us. Arriving we were quickly onto the Alpine Swift (my 2nd in 3 days) and enjoyed great close views as is swooped over our heads. However, the Pallid was no where to be seen. The birders on site informed us it had been showing well just 5 minutes earlier. 5 minutes turned into 10, then 20 and 30 and we were starting to get worried. Then after a 40 minute wait it appeared from nowhere over the roof tops. (life tick 366) We enjoyed great views a lot of the time with the Alpine Swift in the same field of view. We watched the birds for 30+ minutes before heading back to the car to head home happy.
Me, Shaun and Dick.
Pallid Swift
We stopped off a few miles up the road to look for Stone Curlew, where we had seen 2 on the way home on Saturday but this time there was no sign.
H: Where are you?
Shaun: On the A12, in Suffolk just north of Ipswich, why?
H: Turnaround, there's a adult male Lesser Kestrel at Minsmere, it's a MEGA, you've got to go.
Us: No way! Cheers H!
Shaun: What shall we do?
Me & Dick: Turn around!
So there we were just 30 minutes from jamming in on a mega. The mobiles starting ringing, checking where we were. Hawky provided regular pager updates every 5 minutes, confirming it was still sitting on a fence post. Just 5 minutes away now, surely we'd get it. Hawky called again as we approached the site, just a few hundred yards away, this time though the news was different. The bird had been flushed by a female common Kestrel and had disappeared. Noooo! We were 2 minutes away.
We parked and decided it probably hadn't gone far. Birders were pouring into the area by the minute. For once it appeared common sense was prevailing and everyone was spreading out and checking all the surrounding fields. An hour passed and it wasn't looking good. Then a car sped passed us at high speed the driver shouting out of the window that the bird had been relocated. We sped after him but it soon became apparent we were on a wild Lesser Kestrel chase, and 10 minutes later we were back where we began. By now though birders by the dozen were running through a gate heading out on to Westleton Heath. Literally, dumping the car in a bush, so not to block the narrow lane we gave chase. About 3/4 of a mile later, we arrived to find a good 200 birders and 1 Lesser Kestrel. Yes! (life tick 367) It was quite distant but sitting up out in the open. Birders continued to poor in as we enjoyed perched and flight views for 30 minutes or so.
Lesser Kestrel We left the crowd to it as we were concerned about getting away due to the log jam of cars in the area and being already 2 hours late home with a 2 hour journey to come, we had some grovelling to do for the respective Mrs'! What a traffic "jam-in"and exciting end to the day!
Friday, 26 March 2010
Cromer Alpine Swift and other Norfolk stuff
Just back from an exhausting day in north Norfolk with Hawky. Our 350 mile round trip began at 4.30am when I picked Hawky up in Barking and got onto the M11. Conveniently the M11 was shut near Stanstead so we carried on cross country adding 20+ minutes to an already long journey. 
By 6.30am we were 4 Barn Owls to the good as we approached Wolverton Triangle. To our great suprise we found 3 male Golden Pheasants feeding on the verges, quite close the main road.
Next we made our way to Hunstanton, adding another cracking Barn Owl on the edge of town, where we hoped the roosting Alpine Swift would be up and about. We gave it an unsuccessful hour and a half, before deciding to head right the way across the north Norfolk coast to Cromer where a 2nd Norfolk Alpine Swift was apparently showing well. An hour or so later we arrived. Hawky immediately had it around the church whilst I looked for a parking spot. Eventually we found a space just out of town and headed along the coastal path. We immediately picked up the bird again and enjoyed great views, sometimes just 20 or 30 feet above our head, for more than an hour.
We began the journey south, with a 90 minute drive to the Brecks and Stone Curlews. Just 2 showed distantly which was a little disappointing. Our final stop was to be a short drive away at Cavenham Pits where 1 and now possibly 2 possible Canvasbacks were apparently showing well. Well the only thing that was in fact the pits was the directions, or lack of them on RBA. We drove up and down every lane and road, down muddy tracks and asked every local we could find. No one had a clue where Cavenham Pits were. After more than an hour we gave up looking and headed home. Not happy. The silver lining came later when it was confirmed that neither bird is a pure Canvasback; one is a Pochard hybrid and the other a Pochard.
I saw this sign in the pay and display car park in Hunstanton. Spoil sports!
By 6.30am we were 4 Barn Owls to the good as we approached Wolverton Triangle. To our great suprise we found 3 male Golden Pheasants feeding on the verges, quite close the main road.Next we made our way to Hunstanton, adding another cracking Barn Owl on the edge of town, where we hoped the roosting Alpine Swift would be up and about. We gave it an unsuccessful hour and a half, before deciding to head right the way across the north Norfolk coast to Cromer where a 2nd Norfolk Alpine Swift was apparently showing well. An hour or so later we arrived. Hawky immediately had it around the church whilst I looked for a parking spot. Eventually we found a space just out of town and headed along the coastal path. We immediately picked up the bird again and enjoyed great views, sometimes just 20 or 30 feet above our head, for more than an hour.
We began the journey south, with a 90 minute drive to the Brecks and Stone Curlews. Just 2 showed distantly which was a little disappointing. Our final stop was to be a short drive away at Cavenham Pits where 1 and now possibly 2 possible Canvasbacks were apparently showing well. Well the only thing that was in fact the pits was the directions, or lack of them on RBA. We drove up and down every lane and road, down muddy tracks and asked every local we could find. No one had a clue where Cavenham Pits were. After more than an hour we gave up looking and headed home. Not happy. The silver lining came later when it was confirmed that neither bird is a pure Canvasback; one is a Pochard hybrid and the other a Pochard.I saw this sign in the pay and display car park in Hunstanton. Spoil sports!
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Ingrebore Valley
Had a day off yesterday. My first thought was to have a day at Minsmere to hopefully see the flock of Penduline Tits currently residing there. Something told me though not to bother though and have day locally, visit the local sites and see what early spring migrants I could find.
To cut a long and boring story short, I spent the best part of 2 hours at "the valley", and saw, well, not a lot really. Kicking myself that I had not gone up the road to Leyton Flats for the Alpine Swift I headed to Cely Woods to brighten the day up with a Lesser Spot or two................ or none. Heading back to the car I dodged the tumbled weed and went home, feeling slightly robbed. At least I hadn't gone to Minsmere where there was no sign of any pendies.
I'm off Friday and Monday again thisend week so perhaps I'll give this local patching another go. Yeh right. With precious few free days I think I may just end up having a day out somewhere, hopefully somewhere with some birds to look at.
I take my hat off to you local patchers. I hope you find something on your patch very soon to reward you for all your effort and of course so I can twitch it!
To cut a long and boring story short, I spent the best part of 2 hours at "the valley", and saw, well, not a lot really. Kicking myself that I had not gone up the road to Leyton Flats for the Alpine Swift I headed to Cely Woods to brighten the day up with a Lesser Spot or two................ or none. Heading back to the car I dodged the tumbled weed and went home, feeling slightly robbed. At least I hadn't gone to Minsmere where there was no sign of any pendies.
I'm off Friday and Monday again thisend week so perhaps I'll give this local patching another go. Yeh right. With precious few free days I think I may just end up having a day out somewhere, hopefully somewhere with some birds to look at.
I take my hat off to you local patchers. I hope you find something on your patch very soon to reward you for all your effort and of course so I can twitch it!
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