couple of hours local birding

I'm still busy with family commitments, running around trying to keep on top of things for everybody but in between I'm stealing a little time for the hobby. An hour at KGV with the Dad and Jim on 11th saw us add a few year ticks. Two Common Scoter were easily picked up in the middle of south basin followed by a distant Black Redstart scoped along the fenceline on the west bank. I picked up a 2cy Caspian Gull close in as we got about half way to the causeway, a smart bird that pleased the Jims as it saved them a trip to Snaresbrook to twitch the wintering bird there. Jim picked up a distant Black-necked Grebe and from the causeway I found the juvenile Great northern Diver to conclude the visit. 

On the 14th I did the school run and then had an hour on the river wall at Rainham where I added Pintail and Skylark to the year list. I found a couple of Rock Pipits and three Meadow Pipits too and had a large movement of Fieldfare and the smaller numbers of Redwing passing through. The river was full of Teal and Wigeon and a good number of Lapwing and Redshank were present. A single Red Kite over and double figures of Snipe was the best of the rest.

Year list now 118

Caspian Gull is a new bird for my modest KGV (133) list and indeed the Lee Valley (169) list too. 

Fieldfare

Rock Pipit

Rock Pipit and Goldfinch

Rock Pipit and Goldfinch

Rock Pipit

Snow Goose in Lincolnshire

I've been watching news of the Snow Goose in Lincolnshire which has travelled south with Whooper Swans so has decent credentials for a wild bird. I've seen Snow Geese before but still fancied seeing this one so set off on my own this morning as the Jims had other plans and this was the only day I had for a while where I could set off early. I arrived before the sun came up over Deeping lakes and scanned the Whoopers finding no fewer than three Bewick's Swans amongst them. It would appear the Snow Goose has now found a new roost area as it wasn't present. I walked out to the hide and found two Long-eared Owls roosting in the ivy a few feet from the hide but they were obviously tucked in well. A guy came with a thermal and said there was actually four birds roosting in the tree.

The walk back gave me my first Chiffchaff of the year and I noted a well over a hundred Fieldfare and a few Redwings too. I drove around Crowland checking the Whooper flocks but couldn't find the Goose until I got to Gull farm where I managed to pick it up in a distant herd. On the drive out I found six Red Kites, Two Marsh Harrier and a pair of Raven feeding on what looked like a dead pheasant or goose.

I had nine Cranes fly over head as I drove out through Thorney and broke the journey home with a first time stop at Doddington Pits in Cambs where a couple of locals put me on the drake Ring-necked Duck for another year tick which took the modest list to 111.

Snow Goose with the Whoopers

Jack Snipe at Lemsford Springs

I've added a year ticks since the last update, a walk around Rainham gave me the chance to see my first Water Pipit of the year on the foreshore along with both Rock Pipit and Meadow Pipit. Avocet was another year tick as did a pair of Stonechat close to the car park.

The 8th saw me take a run down to Wallasea island either side of the school run. I added Reed Bunting as I walked out to search the fields for the wintering Red-breasted Goose. Scanning the geese I added Brent Goose and Barnacle Goose but didn't find the target although there was a Black Brant or at least a Black Brant/DB Brent hybrid. A male Hen Harrier quartered the far corner as I approached the bank of the river. Being careful not to stick my head above the wall and spook anything on the other side I scoped throught the grass to find about 300 more Brents but again didn't find the RB goose. On the mud were Curlew, Oysterctcher and Grey Plover to give more year ticks. Also present but not first for years were Dunlin, Redshank and Black-tailed Godwits.

This morning between family commitments I took a short drive up the A1 to Lemsford springs hoping to see a Jack Snipe and I wasn't dissapointed as one showed well in front of the first hide. 7 Snipe, 5 Green Sandpiper, a Kingfisher and Grey Wagtail made up the other highlights along with several Redwing and a first for year Jay.

year list now 103

new year list

The excitement for starting a new year list was building as we moved towards January 1st but I was feeling a little under the weather on New years eve so called the Jims to postpone things and instead ticked a few birds in the garden. On the 2nd I called and asked if they would like to do a short local trip with me as I still didn't feel up for a longer drive to Norfolk for the big start. They agreed and we made our way to Abberton where we found three Bean Geese in the fields before finding three drake Smew either side of the causeway.  Next we found the White-fronted Geese from the gate opposite Billet's farm and then two Little Stint, Goosander, Rock Pipit, Marsh Harrier, Green Sandpiper, Black-necked and Slavonian Grebe from the main causeway. We failed to find the reported Bewick's Swans but at Lodge lane Jim found the Lesser Scaup amongst the Greater Scaups for our best tick of the day. A Kingfisher was a nice addition before we left too. On the way home we stopped at Ardleigh and quickly ticked the Red-necked Grebe.

Today I called and asked if they'd like an hour or so at St.Albans which is only half an hour from home and again the Jims fancied the trip so we arrived just after sunrise and saw a couple of Kingfishers before the main target of Yellow-browed Warbler was found and enjoyed for the best part of an hour. We also added Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Grey Wagtail but didn't see the Med Gull that others reported. A quick stop at the Watercress LNR in St Albans bagged us Lesser Redpoll, Siskin and Bullfinch to take my three day list to 90 and we also enjoyed another Kingfisher show.

I do love the energy that the new year brings to the hobby.

Eastern Black Redstart

I had a day off yesterday and despite feeling a bit under the weather I decided I'd go see the Eastern Black Redstart at Sheringham. Being a sub species I've never really bothered to twitch one before despite there having been some twenty plus records. 

Eastern Black Redstart (Phoenicurus ochruros phoenicuroides) is a bird that inhabits Asia with a range creeping into Eastern Europe so to find one on our shores is quite remarkable and with this one being around two hours from home I thought I would try for it. The Jims were otherwise busy being Christmas and all that so it was a solo run. There was a police incident on the A11 that caused me to divert around Thetford but otherwise the journey was fine. I decided to stop at Ludham seeing that it would make a shorter original travel plan and pulled into the car park before first light to find the car park had just one space left. Walking along the river bank I could see the twitch in the distance and hurried along to join it. With news that the bird had roosted last night the "presumed" bushes had been staked out but as the light came up there was no sign of the Black-winged Kite. By about 8.30 the mood had dipped until somebody picked up the Kite hovering in the distance some way west of us. For the next hour or so we watched as it hunted and sat up in distant trees before it eventually was lost to view. My second Black-winged Kite in Norfolk following the Hickling bird of July 2023. (The same bird? I wonder.)

I got back in the car and made the 25mile journey north to Sheringham parking up on the promenade where the news wasn't good as the bird had gone missing just before I arrived but within a couple of minutes it appeared on the sea wall and then moved down onto the beach to feed among the stones and on the wood groynes before heading back up and away into the buildings behind the promenade. Luckily there is a shingle road behind the buildings and I managed to find the bird sitting high on a gutter where it would stay for about an hour resting between the gutter, the warm boiler flue and the window cills. After an hour it got active again and would drop to feed on the floor a few feet from us and would take regular trips to bath in a garden out of site. I don't like these residential twitches which always feel a bit intrusive although we did everything we could to not be and I have to say every single local that came out of the houses showed nothing but interest in the hobby and the bird.

I headed home satisfied that I'd added my 250th year tick (including the Green winged Teal they stripped me of but not the Eastern Black Redstart of course which at this point has never been a full species but maybe one day one of these splits will go my way ) but by the time I arrived home the man flu had got into me so it was an early night and a good rest up to recover for new years day if I can.

Year list 249 (plus GWT=250 😉)

The very distant Black-winged Kite