Rainham

I visited Rainham on Thursday and had a quick walk along the sea wall and up to the tip where my reward was Barn Owl, Peregrine and Red Kite. I failed again to hear or see any Corn Bunting which seem thin on the ground this year. Skylarks and Meadow Pipit are very vocal on the hill leading to the tip though. A Wheatear was reported but Dave and I couldn't relocate it. Dave had seen Little ringed plover on Purfleet scrape but they weren't showing when I arrived. There was plenty of Avocet in Aveley bay and still lots of Wigeon and Pintail about but otherwise little of note.

Friday saw much of the same although time was limited again. I failed to find anything new for the year but did again see Barn Owl and Raven.

I was busy with my granddaughter's birthday party Saturday when things picked up at Rainham. A Green-winged Teal, three Little gulls, the first Sedge Warbler of the year, Red breasted Merganser, Scoter and Brent Geese all being reported along with more reports of LRP and Corn Bunting. KGV also had a couple of Scoters and some Brent Geese drop in on Saturday whilst I was absent.

So this morning I set off for first light in the rain and walked the sea wall, tip mound, Serin mound etc.

First I heard my first Sedge Warbler of the year followed by at least three more. At the top of the tip I finally found a Corn Bunting singing from a fence post. Along the sea wall a Weasel came out and showed for about ten minutes as it ran along several sleepers on the hunt. The Barn Owl came out when the rain stopped and a couple of Spoonbill were seen distantly from Serin mound. A Raven was seen several times in flight and did drop to feed on a carcase for a while too. As I walked back along the sea wall Dave C. had the Green-winged Teal in view so I stopped to check that out for a Rainham tick and then moved on in search of Little ringed plover and eventually found two on Purfleet scrape for my third year tick of the day. 

pointless year list now 163 

Little Owl

Dad wanted to try and see Little Owl today but only had a couple of hours to spare so we popped over to Wanstead and with help from Marco we managed good views of a Little Owl hidden in the Ivy covered trees. We had to dash off to get Dad home and after a catch up with my youngest brother I headed out solo to walk KGV reservoir again. Sadly there was nothing new today but the drake Smew came close enough for a record shot whilst the Garganey was seen sleeping on the causeway bank again. On the north basin I found the winter plumaged Black-necked Grebe and the Slavonian Grebe which is now moulting into summer plumage. Raven and Red kite were both seen but little else of note. Can't be long now before the first Wheatear of the year followed by Terns and maybe a wader or two.

year list now 160

Slavonian Grebe

Smew

Great crested Grebe

Catching up

I've found some time this week and yes I'm still looking after Suzanne and still running around for the little ones but I have managed to squeeze in some 'me time'. I've walked the local reservoir four times this week and even had half an hour at Rainham before taking the grandkids to school on Wednesday. 

I have so far this week year ticked Barn Owl at Rainham plus Raven and Sand Martin at KGV.

KGV has yielded good views of a drake Smew, drake Scaup, Summer plumaged Black-necked Grebe, winter plumaged Black-necked and Slavonian Grebe, a Black-throated Diver and two Great northern Divers as well as Raven which appear to be nesting again. Two Sand Martins arrived on Monday and I managed to see them on Wednesday for a year tick. There has been a drake Garganey reported since last weekend but despite checking every duck on my four visits I failed to see it and it was still being seen by others up until at least yesterday so I have no idea where it's hiding on my visits.

Also present on KGV a female Black Redstart, a Barnacle Goose, a pair of Goosander and a pair of Oystercatchers. There are still a few Goldeneye and some of the drakes are now displaying to the females. There's a couple of Little Grebe and a few Great crested Grebes which are starting to weed dance now when they're not sleeping. Red Kites and Buzzard are having their territory disputes as they settle into nesting sites again. Looking forward to more visits next week when hopefully we see a bit more passive and a few more summer visitors passing through.

year list now 158

UPDATE: 14TH March went back to KGV today and finally saw the Garganey!

Garganey sleeping on the causeway 

The causeway

Also saw Smew, Scaup, GN Diver x2, Slav Grebe, BN Grebe x2, Sand Martin x 4, Raven and Black Redstart oh and a Dunlin which is a decent bird for the reservoir. Other species present were Tufted Duck, Shelduck, Gadwall, Mallard, Teal, Goldeneye, Shoveler, Wigeon, Pochard, Coot, Moorhen, Gt Crested Grebe, Little Grebe, Canada Geese, Greylag Geese, Egyptian Geese, Barnacle Goose, Stock Dove, Woodpiegon, Feral Pigeon, Parakeet, Dunnock, Robin, Wren, Cetti's Warbler, Starling, Black bird, Song Thrush, Chiffchaff, Long tailed Tit, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Reed Bunting, Greenfinch, House Sparrow, Goldfinch, Red Kite, Buzzard, Kestrel, Cormorant, Oystercatcher, Pied Wagtail, Grey Wagtail, Heron. Little Egret, Bh Gull. Lbb Gull. Herring Gull, Common Gull. Mute Swan, Green Woodpecker, GS Woodpecker, Pheasant, Meadow Pipit, Linnet, Jackdaw, Magpie and Crow. Throw in Goosander, Black-throated Diver and Peregrine and we're pushing over 70 species for the reservoir this week.

oh and I've finally had a Blackcap visit the garden this year.

Blackcap

Richards Pipit at Newport Pagnell Bucks

I've been watching reports of the Richards Pipit that seems settled at Bury field, Newport Pagnell since its first sighting on 17th February and with little to do today I made the solo run up the M1 hoping it would hang around for another day and I wasn't disappointed finding it feeding in the furthest corner from the road I'd parked in. It was settled but liked it's own space and didn't allow a close approach so my images are heavily cropped record shots. I watched it for an hour or so where it occasionally kept company with around ten Meadow Pipits but it preferred it's own space away from them most of the time. Sparrowhawk, Red Kite and Buzzard flew over and Skylarks sang to add interest to the visit. I think it's five years since I've seen a Richards Pipit so glad I made the one hour trip for this one eventually.

Year list now 154 

Breckland birding

With a forecast of some sun we headed up into Breckland today stopping first at Lynford arboretum where we year ticked Brambling, Coal Tit and Marsh Tit. Amongst the other highlights were a large flock of Siskin, lot's of Nuthatch and Yellowhammers at the gate and what sounded like a Crossbill which I failed to locate to confirm. Jimmy had a crest calling in the carpark but I couldn't find it and he year ticked Treecreeper whilst I was at the paddock.

We moved on to our favourite Goshawk watchpoint and had a Gos fly low across the pines almost as soon as we'd set up the scopes but it took another two hours before we got the next sighting. Three Sparrowhawks lot's of Buzzard and a couple of Red Kites added interest as did a singing Woodlark.

year list now 153

A trip to Abberton

Following my father in laws funeral on 14th I had booked a week at Butlins as a half term treat for the little ones. We had a great time despite Suzanne having a flair up with back pain which kept her housebound the whole week and I arrived home to find my boiler had given up the ghost so had to organise for a replacement which should be fitted tomorrow all being well.

Roll on to this morning and I dropped my grandson to school and passing the A12 on the way home I decided to head up to Abberton to see if I could find the Ring-necked Duck having not seen one since 2023. I first checked Layer Breton which was extremely dull. A drive around to LDLH and I saw three Catte Egrets at the farm on the way round and a very large herd of Swans. At the Causeway I had two very confiding Slavonian Grebes perform at close range which had me reaching for the camera despite the overcast skies. I then found the flock of Black-necked Grebes in the distance and my best count was twelve but it was difficult as they were constantly diving. A pair of Red-crested Pochard added my first  year tick of the day and I saw ten plus Great Egrets and dozens of Goosander. 

I checked the vast flocks of Tufted Duck for the Ring-neck but didn't find it so eventually headed round to Billets farm where I did finally find the Ring-neck in a distant flock of Tufted Duck. There was a few Pochard but I didn't notice the Canvasback among them. A young Spoonbill sat on the bank on the far side from Billets and I picked out a Caspain Gull too.

year list now 148 

Couple of local twitches

Well we laid my father in law to rest on Valentines day just over a month after my mother in law but fitting that after almost sixty years together they might find themselves again on this day. Its been challenging organising two funerals in such a short window but we managed to give them both a fitting send of.

Either side of the funeral I've made two short local twitches, firstly the Green-winged Teal on the goosefields at Fishers Green which was a patch tick for me and then this morning I popped over to Lockwood reservoir where we easily found the Red-necked Grebe reported yesterday.

The pointless year list is now 143

The Lee Valley patch list is now 164 (I count the area from KGV reservoir to Holyfield lake)

Onwards and upwards!

Dunge

I committed to a morning of free time today and spent it at Dungeness with Dad and Jim. We arrived early and scanned new diggings adding two year ticks in the shape of a Long-tailed Duck and a Red-throated Diver. Down at the beach we saw another thirty Red-throated Divers and added our third year tick of the day with some distant Gannets. The sea was pretty quiet and after adding Peregrine to the days count we headed off to Scotney where we found a flock of fifty or more Tree Sparrows and Jim picked out a ring-tail Hen Harrier to add another couple of year ticks. Four Cattle Egret in the sheep pen at Cockles bridge gave up another nice year tick too and as we left we found a 48 strong herd of Bewick's Swan and a Yellow Hammer on the way out at Brenzett allowed the pointless year list to move to 141. The day count was a respectable 68 

Grieving and a Tundra Bean Goose at Wanstead

I haven't been out for a while, my father in law passed away on 17th January, I was his son in law, his carer and his friend and it's hit me pretty hard watching him decline following the passing of my mother in law back on 5th November last year and obviously my wife has needed my support through this most difficult of times. We now have the unenviable task of clearing the family home where he's lived since 1965 and preparing the second funeral in two months. The caring for him took much of my time as I'm also taking care of Suzanne with her spinal pain issues so I suppose going forward I'll find a bit more spare time but for now I'm missing the old fella and his stories of which there were many and with his increasing dementia things got a little more repetitive but I miss them all the same.

So it's been a sad ten days and I've not found the time or enthusiasm to get out birding until Tony B found a Tundra Bean Goose at Wanstead on Sunday 26th. I was in bed shaking off a bit of a chest infection on the Sunday but feeling a little better on Monday morning I drove over to Wanstead hoping the experience would give me a little lift and it did. The bird was found straight away sleeping amongst the mixed flock of Greylag and Egyptian Geese but soon woke to feed before a dog running off lead put the whole flock up before they settled on Alexandra lake. The Tundra eventually came out of the water and walked by as I hid behind a tree giving great views just a few feet away.

The experience lifted my spirits and following a little more work at the in laws house I picked up my grandson from school in Hornchurch where a Peregrine flew over the playground to brighten my day further before a couple of hours with the little ones did the trick to make it a happy day which was much needed.