I've walked the local reservoir for about sixteen years now with Jim who has walked it longer than that. The reservoir attracts around 130 species of bird a year most of which are pretty predictable and new birds don't come along very often so it was nice to get one this weekend when I saw my first Barn Owl. I was standing on the NE corner known by the locals as "magic corner" and another birder that's equally if not more enthused gave me the shout "BARN OWL!" and as I turned I picked out the ghostly figure of the Owl as it flew over Sewardstone marsh.
I've also had Whimbrel, Common Sandpipers, Yellow Wagtails and an LRP of note. The Ravens have been elusive since leaving their nest but over the last few days I've managed to find them mostly feeding begging young on the pilons and on one occasion the four birds together on the ground. Garden Warblers are singing now as the Lesser Whitethroats seem to have gone quiet. I'm seeing around 60 species on my visits at the moment but numbers are down within most species but in particular the Tufted Ducks are now down to around just 20 individuals. The Gt crested Grebes are still present in numbers up towards 50 birds.
I'm still enjoying walking the George and remarkably I'm still quite enjoying counting the birds there each visit which has surprised me.
On Friday I took the Jims to look for Dotterel in Cambridgeshire but the birds that had been there for three weeks had a day off only to return two days after our visit. We did see remarkable numbers of Skylark and a few Corn Buntings and I found my 26th Wheatear of the year. On the way home we stopped at Ouse Fen where Jim picked out a drake Garganey for a year tick.
Year list now 202
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| Raven |
 |
| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
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| Raven |
 |
| Barn Owl |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Great Crested Grebe |
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| Oystercatcher |
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| Whimbrel |
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| Whimbrel |
 |
| Whimbrel |
 |
| Cormorants |
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| Common Terns |
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