Another noteable on birdguides

I post quite a few images on birdguides and occasionally one get's recognised as noteable and I have managed a single photo of the week award. Sometimes the shots that get recognised take me by surprise but this week I managed a nice shot of a Firecrest and showed it in natural habitat and just looked right to me so when this one got recognised it was less surprising to me.

Noteable

This is the second Firecrest image to be recognised in this fashion with the other posted below.

And the other noteable Firecrest

Got to be one of my favourite birds.

Amazing Firecrest fall at Dunge

Needing Wanting Bluethroat for a year tick we headed down to Dunge this morning arriving just after first light. We found the gorse bushes alive with Firecrests and I mean alive, simply dozens of the little gems feeding frantically after the long crossing. A few Goldcrests flitted around with them and a couple of singing Chiffchaff added to the spectacle but the target bird failed to show despite a good search and long wait.

Firecrest at Dunge

Fire

Firecrest

Firecrest

Just magical

At the lighthouse we found more Firecrest and a Black Redstart showed in the power station as we approached the sea. From the shingle we watched Gannets and Auks and had a couple of Sandwich Tern fly down.

If it moved it was probably a Firecrest

At Elmley the usual suspects showed as did a pair of Peregrine hunting the usual suspects and entertaining us in the process.

Redshank

Year list now 170

Two new additions to the garden list

The last addition to my garden list was Stock Dove back in November 2016 so it was a surprise to add two in one day.

Whilst watching the regular activity at the feeders with Goldfinch, Great & Blue Tits, Robin, Dunnock, House Sparrows, Starlings etc I glanced up to see what at first looked like a large gull heading over which is very normal but a closer look revealed the bird to be a magestic Red Kite.
It drifted left before turning to fly back over the house towards Epping. I've been saying for a while that it would be just a matter of time before it was added.

Later whilst again watching the feeders I noticed a male Reed Bunting on the ground which then sat on a bush briefly before taking flight. It returned for a short time but never really settled.

Two great garden ticks moving that list to a modest 63.

Snowy Owl Snettisham

I tried to take the old fella for the Owl yesterday but he had other plans so we put the trip on hold until this morning. We set off at 5am and arrived at the coast around 7am stopping briefly to tick Fulmar from Hunstanton Cliffs and to grab a shot of an obliging Barn Owl as we drove through Snettisham.

With the Arctic Owl seen at Thornham all day Saturday having also been seen at Heacham and Burnham Deepdale in previous days we decided Thornham harbour would be our first stop and we scanned hard from there with little joy. At Titchwell we walked the reserve finding lot's of Scaup and Long-tailed Duck out on the sea but little else of note. As we did a second lap trying to tick Red-crested Pochard news came in that the Owl had been seen at Snettisham so it was all systems go.

We rushed back to the car drove the eight miles to Snettisham parked up and marched the two miles (40 mins walk at a good pace) to the end of the reserve to find a small gathering on the boardwalk policed well by a couple of RSPB wardens or volunteers. We now had the target Snowy Owl sitting in front of us on a grassy ridge less than 100 yards away and there it remained for the remainder of our visit.
Life tick for the old man and a great year tick for me. (I had previously seen the 2001 Felixstowe ship assisted grubby bird through a hole in a fence)

What a bird!

EFFORT = UP AT 4AM, ON THE ROAD AT 5AM FOR A TWO HOUR DRIVE A FOUR MILE WALK AND ANOTHER TWO HOURS HOME

REWARD: = SEE BELOW!

A little bit special

Snowy Owl Snettisham

"Showed well"

Barn Owl......just slipped in

What a bird

Sleepy

Lot's of familiar faces around today on what turned out to be a very smart twitch and full marks to the staff at Snettisham who several times had to rush down the path to stop people with free running dogs from getting near the bird but managed the crowd well with friendly respectful attendance.


Year list now 169

And he's off............

The Fieldfare popped in this morning for one more breakfast before taking to the skies allowing the resident Blackbirds and Song Thrush back in the garden to feed.

The wintering male Blackcap was joined briefly by another male and female but like the Fieldfare he defended his garden well and they quickly left without as much as a bite from his stock of apples.

Great to see the winter Thrushes but they do play havoc with the local birds who have come to depend on the garden for survival so I suppose we should be thankful the white stuff cleared in good time to enable normal service as far as the Blackbirds are concerned and good to see the Song Thrush making a few trips to the garden again today too.

The Fieldfare and The Apple

The Blackcap and The Apple

The Blue Tit and The Apple (Glad to see these little guys survived the last week)

Blackcap

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Until next Time......

Fieldfare drops in

With the recent cold blast the Fieldfares have decided they like the menu on offer in my garden to the point where they have taken over. The resident Blackbird and Song Thrush are chased off as the Fieldfare defends his new short term territory whilst he ignores all the other birds.

Fieldfare

Fieldfare

Smart bird!

The male Blackcap has also been putting in a regular shift feeding on the apples.

Blackcap

Light was poor today and due to work I missed the shots I wanted of the Fieldfares in the snow but still nice to see them visit the garden today.