Rainham passage watch

A weather front over the last few days meant that Rainham might just see some passage movement along the river so I've put some time in since Friday watching the Thames in the few hours of spare time I have.

Dropping my grandson to school in Hornchurch puts me close to the reserve and makes visiting a little more justified but still with other family care commitments the time is limited but I managed to enjoy some time in the worst of the weather.

Tuesday saw me ticking my first House Martin of the year followed by my first Swifts on Wednesday and then as the weather closed in Thursday had me picking up my first Whimbrel of the year with one sat on the foreshore. A Greenshank has been regular on Wennington and a Wood Sandpiper has been reported but not seen by anybody I know despite some lengthy searches and wasn't even spotted on the breeding bird survey. A couple of Wheatear remained on site. Thursday saw me pick up my first two Hobby of the year too.

Swift

Saturday saw the rain and the wind really pick up and it proved to be a rewarding couple of hours as I saw 80 or more Arctic Terns moving up and down the Thames making it difficult to count but with groups of 30 then 37 along with smaller groups of ten etc it's fait to say at least 80 were involved but possibly many more. Two Sandwich Tern flew out of the river along with two Black Tern and three Little Gulls to add to the drama. A Black-necked Grebe was drifting up and down on the tide along the Thames which I think is a Rainham tick for me. Four Whimbrel dropped onto the foreshore along with a couple of Barwits and eight Blackwits. A  Short-eared Owl was seen being mobbed by a Crow and later sat on a post out on the reserve and two Raven flew over kronking. Two Groppers where still reeling away but remained hidden. Out on the far bank of the River I spotted more Black and Bar Wits, three Grey Plover and four Little Ringed Plover remained on Wennington where I counted nine Yellow Wagtails although others reported twenty or more. 78 species were seen in total on Saturday by me without going onto the reserve proper.

A return on Sunday saw less action on the Thames but eight Arctic Terns were seen along with twelve Little Gulls, twelve Whimbrel, two Barwits, Greenshank, 4 Little ringed Plover, 31 Dunlin, 13 Ringed Plover, a Drake Pintail and a single Wheatear was new in on Wennington. A Purpose and Seal were spotted out in the river too. Others saw Kittiwake and Little Tern but I missed them whilst searching the marsh.

Monday saw Arctic Terns coming back out of the Thames and fifty or so were counted as the stopped to feed by the Yacht club with some Common Terns. A single Little Gull was noted and six Whimbrel plus three Ringed Plover remained. New in were a couple of Common Sandpipers and my first Cuckoo of the year for Rainham along with a single Wheatear again. The Greenshank remained as did the Pintail and a Peregrine was spotted flying over.

Whitethroat

Wren

I've also managed an hour at Fishers in the middle of a care home visit at the Abbey which resulted in me year ticking Garden Warbler as many have arrived over the last week or so. Nightingales are still singing in the usual places and a couple of Cuckoo are now in.

Heron

Cuckoo

My First Garden Warbler of the year in that oak tree

Year list is now 206

An Eastern Subalpine Warbler was found in Norfolk late on Sunday but I was unable to travel Monday due to commitments with my wife and in-laws. Tuesday was to prove difficult too with it being my youngest Granddaughters birthday so I planned a trip for today (Wednesday) but unfortunately despite the bird showing well all day and into the late evening on Monday it wasn't seen again on Tuesday. I've seen Subalpine Warblers but they were split into Western and Eastern in 2020 and none of those I've seen have been accepted as Eastern hence my interest in this bird but it'll wait for another day when I have less commitments.

Wanstead Flats

With a spare hour this morning between family commitments I chose to spend it walking around the roped off Skylark area of Wanstead Flats and my reward was two cracking Whinchat, a Little Owl, lots of Common Whitethroat, Two Lesser Whitethroat, a Willow Warbler and a Green Woodpecker along with the obvious Skyarks of and a little chat with Marco which happens annually on my spring and autumn visit to the flats in search of migrants.

I also spotted a couple of Green Hairstreak butterflies which I don't see very often but I failed to find the reported Redstart despite directions from Marco.

year list now 201

Green Woodpecker

Green Woodpecker

Little Owl

Whinchat

Whinchat

Whinchat

Minsmere RSPB

With another unexpected free day I arranged to take Dad and Jim to Minsmere today. We arrived at 7am and walked down towards the sea hearing a couple of Nightingale on the way. Bearded Tits flew across the reeds but dropped in quick on the back of a cold wind. At the Boardwalk we heard a Grasshopper Warbler reeling and Jim got us focused on a distant Cuckoo too for our first year tick. At East hide we picked out our first Sandwich Terns of the year along with a drake Garganey, 2 Greenshank, 3 Ringed Plover and a couple of Turnstone. Med Gulls were present along with Blackwits, Dunlin, Knot and Oystercatchers.

Barnacle Geese

Black-tailed Godwit

Surf Scoter (last bird on the right)

From the public hide we found a couple of Pintail and more Sandwich Tern and Med Gulls. The towers at sea held good numbers of Kittiwake and we found a few Whitethroat and Stonechat at the sluice bushes. A Yellow Wagtail in the pony field before a flyover Bittern and several Marsh Harriers. Buzzards and Sparrowhawks were next  along with Kingfisher to wrap up our visit.

On Dunwich Heath we found three Dartford Warblers and a large group of Sand Martins with the odd Swallow and we then drove the six miles round to Walberswick and walked out along the beach to find the Scoter flock which contained a single Surf Scoter to give me not just a year tick but a Suffolk life tick too moving the Suffolk list to 278 and the year list to 200.

Our day total was 94 which for April is a decent haul.

RAINHAM RSPB

We headed over to Rainham yesterday to news that a Wood Warbler had been seen and heard near the dipping pond so we made that our first point of call. On the way down the track I heard my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year and got a glimpse as it flew across the path too. We then heard the Wood Warbler which is a first for me in the London recording area. I had a brief sighting of it as it flew from a low Willow to another tree but it was very elusive despite singing well. On the walk back we picked out a couple of Reed Warblers for our third year tick of the day. At the Serin mound we saw a single Common Tern going up river but couldn't hear or see the reported Grasshopper Warblers.

Jim and I returned this morning feeling like an early visit might give us a better chance with the Groppers and this paid off as we picked up the reeling as we got out of the car and after a short walk towards Serin mound we spotted our first Gropper for a couple of years and then a second bird starting reeling too. A Short eared Owl got up twice but was put back down by the Crows. Whitethroat and Sedge Warblers are back in numbers and Cetti's are numerous and very vocal.

On the foreshore I found a couple of Wheatears and a Weasel made a dash across the path towards the

river bank.

Blue Tit

Cetti's Warbler

Cetti's Warbler

Gropper

Gropper

Short eared Owl

Weasel

year list now 195

London recording list now 236

Frampton RSPB

With a rare whole day to myself I arranged to meet the Jims and head up to Frampton this morning. We arrived at 8am to find the car park half full but nobody in the actual car park scoping the floods so we set about scanning and quickly found the resident Lesser Yellowlegs to give Dad his first year tick of the day. The Black-winged Stilt dropped in at the far end of the flood and a Short-eared Owl flew over chased by angry Avocets and Blackwits. We also had three Yellow Wagtails, a White Wagtail, Great Egret, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank to name a few of the many birds present.

We moved on and a quick scan of the gulls on the main flood gave good views of two Little Gulls, an adult and first winter bird. From 360 hide we had good views of hundreds of waders mostly Dunlin and Knot and from the mound by Reedbed hide we found the Black Tern doing circuits between resting among the Dunlin flock then as the Black-headed Gulls drifted past the mound the guy next to me asks me to check an odd looking gull which turned out to be the Bonaparte's Gull. 

We finished the day with a coffee and scone in the cafe before heading home after a great days birding which resulted in a day count of 84 species. 

Avocet

Black Tern

Black Tern

Black-winged Stilt

Bonparte's Gull

Dunlin

Lesser Yellowlegs

Little Gull (adult)

Little Gull (First winter)

Little ringed Plover

Ringed Plover

Ruff

Year list now 191

Abberton and KGV

Yesterday saw me head up the A12 with Jim and Dad to Abberton where we found the Old Road alive with bird song, at Least six Nightingale were heard but we only had a very brief view of one bird. Blackcaps, Chiffchaff and Wren seemed to be calling from every bush and a couple of Treecreepers were prospecting for suitable nest sites. On the causeway we had our first Arctic Tern which was chased by a larger Common Tern. Another Nightingale was singing in the bushes at the end of the LB causeway but again didn't give itself up for views.

On the flood opposite Billets Jim eventually found two Little-ringed Plover to give us another early year tick before we found three Yellow Wagtails by the farm for another nice first for 2024. Three Lesser Scaup were reported but we didn't give that search much time from the screen before we headed off to the other causeway. On the drive round I found four Med Gulls in the field behind Garr House Farm and at the causeway we had our only hirundine of the morning with a single Swallow. Spoonbill are nesting again and a single bird was seen at the nest.

Mallard ducklings

Yellow Wagtail

Four year ticks before we headed home for me to keep to a caring obligation.

This morning saw Jim and I at KGV again at 7am where we walked the whole site adding just the single year tick with Sedge Warbler. Black Redstart, Common Sandpiper and Greater Scaup the only birds of note save an active pair of Raven and a couple of Willow Warblers. Sand Martin numbers are picking up but Swallows were in single figures and we've yet to see House Martin although others are reporting them daily.  Species count of the day was 63. 

year list now 186

KGV first

Popped over the reservoir with Jim this morning with Dad opting out due to a bit of man flu.

As we got up the slope at 7.30am Ian L tells us we've just missed a Common Tern which would have been a year tick. A Cormorant posed for a picture on the jetty and a pair of Osyercatchers were our own prizes on south basin. At the causeway we picked out a couple of White Wagtails and then Jim found a Curlew on the causeway which I think is a first for me at the KGV and a first in the patch I call Lee Valley (the reservoir to Holyfield lake) I certainly can't remember seeing one before and my lists back that up so it becomes bird 163 for the patch.

Common Sandpipers

Cormorant

Slav Grebe

A quick chat with Neville before we headed on down North Basin where we found the Slav Grebe now in almost full summer plumage then a couple of Swallows with the Sand Martins before spotting a couple of Common Sandipers on the bank. A drake Scaup remains as do a few Goldeneye and we also saw Red Kites, Buzzard and nesting Raven to add to the day and Jim had a Wheatear on the farm fields too which I missed along with a single Sandwich Tern that Neville had on south basin whilst we were a mile or so away on the north basin.

year list now 178

 PS. Also had a couple of Wheatear at Rainham in the week 

Wheatear at Rainham

Blackcap