Couple of bits from the garden

Much of my time is now spent at home as you know caring for my wife and father in law and of course offered time with the grandkids or birding I'm always coming down on the side of the grandkids but having said that, the garden still gives me the opportunity to keep the camera in use and this weekend gave me a chance to point it at the new Vixen that's using the garden and a Parakeet that's taken a liking to the sunflower hearts.  We do have a dog Fox coming into the garden but he's much more skittish and jumps the fence at the first sign of the doors opening.

Great Reed Warbler at Ouse Fen

Well it's been a while since I added a year tick, I've got twitchy over Indigo Bunting but never found the time to visit Durham for it and the same can be said for Thrush Nightingale at Blakeney point and Collared Flycatcher at Kilnsea. I did manage to add Yellow-legged Gull to the year list at Rainham last week but otherwise I've been tied up with family stuff until this morning when I took Jim up to Ouse Fen just an hour from home hoping to see the Great Reed Warbler that's been there for a few days.

We parked up and walked about half a mile down to Crane fen where we could hear the bird calling long before we landed on the viewing mound. Over the next couple of hours it called almost constantly and chased the Common Reed Warblers around giving the odd view as it stopped to announce itself.

Bitterns boomed and we had one fly right whilst four flew left and another bird boomed from the reeds so we could safely say there's at least six Bittern here and it's always great to see them in flight.

The pointless year list moves on to a disappointing 209 but I hope I can add a few with some planned day release.

New Fox in the garden

With the old Dog Fox seemingly passed over the winter my garden has been void of a resident Fox for most of this year until recently when a small Vixen has moved in and quickly realised that I'm an easy target for a good feed. Hopefully she'll stay for a while now she feels safe in the garden.

Dipping again and a special day with the little guy

Pitstone Quarry

Having been busy on Sunday when the Alpine Accentor was found in Bucks and not needing it for a life tick I decided to make a run for it Monday morning. Being a bank holiday we covered the 40 miles around the M25 in about 45minutes and started the walk over Pitstone hill and down to muddy slopes on the other side. The path down into the quarry was a little too steep for Dad so we waited outside hoping for news which didn't come. I also had a walk to the top edge of the Quarry but with around fifty people walking about at the bottom I decided not to climb down saving that delight for positive news on the bird which never came.

The afternoon was spent with my Grandson buying presents at the Arsenal shop and taking him on a tour of the stadium with his Dad. His face on seeing the pitch for the first time was a delight and I bought him this seasons away kit and couldn't resist buying him a replica of the first shirt I ever had way back in 1971.

memories to cherish.

 

First Youngster in the garden this year

Robin is usually the first young bird I get to see in the garden each year and this year is no different with the first sighting today which seems a little earlier than normal too.

So far this year I've seen fledglings of Lapwing, Avocet, Mallard, Greylag, Canada and Egyptian Goose but this Robin is the first for the garden.

A life tick was available yesterday but I couldn't find the time to twitch it four hours away at Spurn in Yorkshire, a fine male Collared Flycatcher and a bird I have previously dipped in Yorkshire. The bird had moved on today so my chance of adding this to the pointless life list may have gone for another year. Today an Alpine Accentor has been found an hour away at Pitstone in Bucks but again I can't get away but this isn't a life tick so doesn't hurt so much.

What mega will be next and will I find the time to chase it? I live in hope.

Woodchat Shrike at Rainham RSPB

I was minding the grandchildren in Hornchurch when Ian L. found a Greater Short-toed Lark on KGV Thursday this week so watched the mornings sightings from a far and was disappointed to hear the bird had been flushed early afternoon by a photographer getting into it's comfort zone and forcing it to fly across the relief channel into Sewardstone marsh. With my family duty over I dropped Suzanne home and drove to Sewardstone Marsh where I found Nick and Marco and negative news from their search. I offered them a lift around to the reservoir with a plan to walk to the north east corner in case the Lark had returned. We did the walk finding just a Common Scoter on north basin amongst the few remaining Tufted ducks. There are still lot's of Great Crested Grebe about and mixed numbers of hirundines. Four Common Tern flew across the reservoir heading south and Nick had a Whimbrel which I missed. There was no sign of the Lark and so sadly it won't be appearing on my Essex/London lists anytime soon.

Roll on twenty four hours and a Woodchat Shrike is reported at Rainham and this time my time was my own so I called the Jims and within twenty minutes we were on our way. The Shrike was in brambles by Shooting Butts hide which meant walking to about the half way point on the reserve, about a mile or so. We arrived to find a few locals already there and good news that the bird had been showing well but was a bit flighty if you got too close so everybody was keeping a healthy distance (unlike reports from the Lark at KGV) and our reward was a couple of hours of good views as the Shrike dropped to the floor to feed and returned to the top of the brambles to rest in between. It was grey and damp so whatever it was eating was tiny although it did miss an opportunity when a vole ran out across the path below it. With the reserve closing at 5pm we set off at 4pm to ensure a safe exit from the car park. 

year list now 207

The Shrike is also an addition to my London list which now stands at 239