Snow Buntings at Landguard

Birding time is as ever at a premium for me, I managed another hour at KGV last week where I eventually bumped into the Grey Phalarope. Also present were Greater Scaup, Brent Goose, Goldeneye, Raven, Black-necked Grebe and a Black Redstart.

Following that little excursion and finding a free day either side of early and late family commitments I headed up the A12 to Landguard where a walk along the beach eventually saw me connect with my first Snow Buntings of 2025 and my 243rd species on the pointless year list.

Wasn't a lot else of note present but I enjoyed the company of the three Buntings before the rain started to fall and I left to pick the little ones up from school again.

Another couple of hours at Wallasea Island

I nipped down the A127 to Wallasea Island again today for a couple of hours birding. The first bird I saw was the ring-tailed Hen Harrier followed quickly by a brief view of the male hunting along the distant flood bank. A Great Egret was walking about in the distant pools and the Red-breasted Goose was still out on the marsh with the Brent Geese. A Peregrine hunted the feral pigeons around the farm buildings and knocked one out of the air spreading feathers everywhere, it grounded next to the pigeon but flew off without it perhaps spooked by people working in a nearby garden. Marsh Harriers, Kestrels and Buzzards were present but despite reports of a couple of Short-eared Owls being present I didn't see any on this visit. A Robin posed for the camera and even flew into the car through the open window at one point. Next up was a Stoat that walked along the road towards me until it saw me and ran the other way. Three Stonechat came close and again I just had to point my camera at one of them. Another nice couple of hours birding what is one of my favourite local winter sites.

Peregrine

Kestrel

Robin

Stonechat

Stonechat

Stoat

Stoat

Red-breasted Goose at Wallasea Island

I had a couple of hours free time today so headed down the A127 to Wallasea Island arriving just as the rain stopped. The first bird I saw on arrival from the car was a ring-tailed Hen Harrier hunting low over the marsh. As I scanned a large flock of waders out on the fields which contained Lapwings, Golden Plover and Black-tailed Godwits I saw a flash of white and to my surprise it was a beautiful male Hen Harrier. I grabbed a few distant record shots of both before heading down to the car park. I walked out onto the reserve in a bitter northerly wind and scoped the large good flock where the reported Red-breasted Goose was easily picked out in a small flock of Brents surrounded by Canada, Greylag and Egyptian Geese. Two Great Egrets were the only other highlights before I returned to the comfort and warmth of the car to enjoy more views of the Hen Harriers and a pair of Marsh Harriers.

year list now 242

 The birds were all distant and the weather was really grey reflected in the noisy images above.

Grey Phalarope at KGV

I figured that after yesterdays rain from storm Claudia there might be a chance of Phalarope dropping into KGV this morning and sure enough before I had left home to look Richard B had found one in the mist that engulfed the reservoir at first light. Put out originally as Red-necked it was reidentified as a Grey Phalarope when DM arrived and news was shared.

I called the Jims and we headed over to find four other birders watching the bird in the south west corner of south basin. It swam past me and headed into the south east corner before being spooked by a boat from the sailing club and it flew back towards the west bank. The bird gave me my 241st year tick.  I didn't have long due to a commitment with my youngest involving some digging, some pannelling and some laying of steel works all of which I'm starting to think I may be a little too old for these days but we got the work done and enjoyed a nice dinner together.

ps..returned for an hour on 17th November with better light................

Red-breasted Merganser at KGV

I'm still busy supporting my son and his wife with the little ones whilst they endure the challenges life has thrown their way and as such birding time remains limited but with no commitments today I called Jim and offered him a couple of hours birding the local KGV reservoir which he duly accepted and we made our way through Chingford to make the long walk out along the east bank and back.

Our reward for the effort was a slow count of just 39 species which included Red-breasted Merganser which was a new bird for me on the reservoir, a Slavonian Grebe on south basin, 3 Goosander and a Red Kite. Ducks included Teal, Mallard, Gadwall, Goldeneye, Tufted, Pochard, Wigeon and Shoveler along with Mute Swan and Canada Goose. A Little Egret was in the relief channel and there were a number of Coot, Little Grebe and Gt crested Grebe present. Grey Wagtail was the highlight of the smaller birds seen.

It was nice to be out birding and I'll try to find more time as the year comes to an end leading up to the start of another year of listing and chasing a few ticks.

Brown Shrike in Suffolk

Jimmy needed Brown Shrike for a life tick and whilst we were at Spurn on Wednesday one was found quite close to home at Hollesley in Suffolk but I couldn't do the extra miles on the way home on Wednesday having already driven c450miles. I was tied up yesterday and the weather was dire anyway and as it turned out the bird wasn't seen despite people searching all day in the wind and rain. Roll on to this morning and I'm sitting in the garage waiting for an MOT on my car when Jim rings to tell me the Shrike has been seen and to ask if I'd take him and Dad. With the car passing with flying colours I agreed to the trip and so we set off at 10.15am to arrive on site just before noon. The Shrike performed well for the crowd on site but remained busy and a little distant for my little 400mm lens. The Jims were delighted to finally tick the species after a couple of dips over the years.

Year list now 240

Black-faced Bunting at Spurn

News of a Black-faced Bunting at Spurn on 20th October and I had no chance of making the journey on the day. I had family commitments on 21st but had a long awaited free day today so despite the clear night forecast and the risk that the Bunting might have moved on I persuaded Jim to join me on the twitch. Dad was ruled out with the long drive and long walk factors along with his commitment to get Mum to a lunch date. I picked Jim up at 3am and had a reasonable drive up the M11/A14/A1/A15/M180 etc arriving at Spurn at 7am. We walked out towards the point along the sand for a mile or so to meet the five other birders that had arrived before us. The news was negative and we waiting an hour before deciding we'd move along the road a bit incase the bird was still around but had moved further down the road. After a few steps we had a bird fly out of the grass away from us and as we turned the guys behind us that had decided to stay put pointed to the spot where the bird had dropped in. After a short wait and with the help of a thermal we knew the bird was still in the grass but we didn't know it was the target until it moved out into the open to fully reveal itself. I put news out to encourage those waiting on news and then grabbed a couple of record shots.

The Black-faced Bunting is a difficult bird to connect with in the UK. There are only nine accepted records in the UK with the first in 1994 and the last in 2022. (several records are still under consideration from 2023/2024) 

Roe Deer at Spurn

Spurn Lighthouse

Black-faced Bunting

Black faced Bunting 

Black-faced Bunting

After connecting with the target we decided to walk out to the point meaning we'd walk around six miles in total with much of that on soft sand which eventually took it's toll on us both. Our reward for the long walk was a Merlin, Shore Lark, Eider (which was a year tick) Yellow-browed Warbler, Rock Pipit, Redpolls, three Whooper Swans, lots of wader action and the expected migrant thrushes and Chats. Three Red-throated Diver and a Guillemot on the sea added to the day list which totalled 71 species

The Bunting is my third new bird this year with the Booted Eagle and Zitting Cisticola bring my life list to 453 and my year list to a respectable 239 considering the lack of days out etc etc. (I could add 20 sub species to this list making 473 if I included them)