An hour at Rainham

After dropping my grandson to school in Hornchurch this morning I popped into Rainham for an hour.

A Lesser Whitethroat was calling in the hawthorns as I exited the visitor centre and popped up for a second to allow an image to be captured.

Lesser Whitethroat

As I walked the path towards the discovery centre I could hear lot's of Marsh frogs calling and stopped to get a picture of one. Sedge and Reed Warblers were noisy along with the off Whitethroat. Two Cuckoos flew west and several Bearded Tits pinged as I got near the target pool. Marsh Harriers hunted across the reserve along with Buzzard and Kestrel but no Hobbies were seen.

Marsh Frog

Sedge Warbler

I entered the hide where the Kingfishers are nesting in the man made sandbank just outside the hide, the open area of discovery hide is closed to avoid disturbing the birds and the windows have been covered with camo too. In an hour in the hide the Kingfishers came out of the nest twice and briefly sat on the provided perch allowing me to capture several images despite shooting through the glass and in overcast conditions. A Little Grebe has a single chick left and was busy feeding it the whole time I was there.

A lovely quick visit which I'll try to repeat at the next opportunity.

year list still 218

Nightjars at Chobham Common

We usually got to West Stow in Suffolk for our annual Nightjar experience but the spot we visit is getting very difficult to see the Nightjars due to the trees in the clearing growing so we considered visiting the Kings forest to search for a new fresher clearing but at the last minute decided to visit Chobham Common in Surrey which despite being around the M25 for us is actually closer than West Stow.

With clear skies and some warmth in the air we decided to go last night and set off at 7.30pm arriving around 8.30pm at Staple Hill only to find the road closed so we needed to find a different car park to the planned destination and not knowing the site at all having never visited before we stopped firstly at Roundabout car park but after the checking the map we opted to drive down the road to Monument car park. 

We walked out onto the heath and after about half a mile found an area of bracken/heathland that looked ideal so set up at 9pm as the sun started to set.

9.15 and the first Woodcock appeared and by 9.30pm we'd heard our first Nightjars. Over the next half an hour we had no fewer than ten Woodcock and double figures of Nightjar with two birds coming so close we could have reached out and touched them as they flew slowly around us.

several Bats were encountered as we walked back to the car and we arrived home at 11.15pm to end what was probably our best ever nights jarring and it looks like we have a new place for the annual event.

year list now 218

Happy fathers day

Dad hasn't been out birding since 4th May so I asked if he was feeling well enough for a short trip this morning and he fancied it so off we went on a short fathers day trip to get him a couple of year ticks and get his list moving again. 

First stop was Bicester where a singing Quail had been reported a few times and as I got out of the car at the specified gate overlooking Upper Ray Meadow I could hear the bird singing its "wet my lips" song.

Jim and Dad missed it and it took another half an hour before the bird called again allowing them to connect. Quail along with Tawny Owl are probably the only birds I tick annually on call alone. I have been lucky to see Quail on a few occasions over the years but not today.

The gate overlooking Upper Ray Meadow 

We moved on travelling back down the A41 to Wilstone Reservoir where we found Spotted Flycatcher to give another year tick to all of us. I had a singing Garden Warbler which Dad still needed for this year but by the time he caught up it had gone quiet and never called again.

Swifts were present in large numbers hawking low across the fields to the east of the reservoir and came so close we could hear the wing beats. 

Common Tern

    Spotted Flycatcher

With Dad expecting visitors we headed home at 10am having added a couple of year ticks and enjoyed just the three hours birding but it's dusted the cobwebs off for Dad.

Year list now 216

Minsmere

 I found myself with a free day at last so arranged to take Jim to Minsmere for the day. 

The walk out gave good views of several Bearded Tit and a pair of Bullfinch along with the usual expected encounters. At East hide we plotted up and scanned all areas adding another 29 species to the growing day list. Lot's of Sandwich Terns and a few Kittiwake were good to see and we picked out a few waders but numbers were low. We picked out a black billed Common Tern but decided it was more likely not the reported Eastern bird but instead a Common that hasn't yet experienced full moult.

The dark billed Common Tern with a Sarnie

From the public platform we found the two reported Roseate Terns for a nice year tick and a second year tick when a Little Tern dropped in for a while with another two flying over high up in the clouds. A Great White Egret flew over and some Black-tailed Godwits dropped in. We encountered a couple of 2cy terns but couldn't be sure either was the reported Eastern candidate.

Roseate Terns with Sandwich, Common and Little Tern

Roseates amongst the Sarnies

Roseates

The walk round to Bittern Hide gave good views of at least three Bittern, six Hobby and a few pairs of Marsh Harrier to end a nice morning birding in Suffolk with a day list of 78 species.

Hobby

Hobby

Hobby

Year list now 214

Honey Buzzards in Surrey

This year the Surrey OC have released details of an established Honey Buzzard watchpoint so I thought I'd give it a go for this years fix at it's only about fifteen miles from Thursley Common.

We stopped at Thursley first being closer to home and walked the common for a couple of hours from first light. We had a garden warbler by the moat to give Jim a nice early year tick before finding lot's of Woodlark including a couple of juveniles. Tree Pipits were abundant and several Dartford Warblers flitted about here and there. Lot's of Stonechat with many juveniles and a Cuckoo added to the days spectacle. Swift and Swallow hawked around the bog and several Lizards were seen on the boardwalks.  We spent a while looking for the Red-backed Shrike that's been around since 25th May but didn't find it. As we walked back to the car I spotted our only Redstart of the morning to add another year tick and the bird allowed a couple of pictures before retreating back into the copse. 

Redstart

Redstart

Redstart

Stonechat

Stonechat

We left Thursley and headed to the new raptor watchpoint driving up the single dead end lane to the small car park where we found about thirty like minded souls and arrived to news that we'd missed just one Honey Buzzard so far. Over the next couple of hours we enjoyed five views of Honey Buzzard with at least two seperate birds and probably more. The birds gave great scope views but remained a little distant for my little 400mm camera lens. Common Buzzard, Red Kites, Kestrel, Sparrowhawk and Raven made up the best of the rest here. This is a nice new place for us and I'm sure we'll return for more time with these great summer visitors.

Record shot of one of the Honey Buzzards

On the way home we tried for Spotted Flycatchers at a local spot we'd been tipped off on but failed to find the target birds despite the intel.

Year list now 212