A drive down to Oare Marsh in Kent today and we picked up a Hen Harrier hunting really close to us and saw Rough-legged and Common Buzzard across the river.
Skylark and Kingfisher brought the year total to 131
Saturday, 24 March 2012
11th January and a morning in Hants.
An early morning run down to Hampshire was rewarded with two lifers with Spanish Sparrow and Dark Eyed Junco. The Sparrow appears to have been around for a while as it has hybrid young. It showed really well to the crowd gathered in the gardens. Lee Evans was in attendance along with many faces I've seen around the local patches in Essex. Moving on to Hawkhill Inclosure in the New Forest I located the Junco quickly in flight and again as it came into the trees in front of another crowd of birders. I also bagged Coal Tit, Crossbill, Goldcrest and a Woodlark here too so a new total of 128
8th January Dungeness Kent
An early morning trip to Dungeness (my favourite site for Kent)
I picked up the Jims and headed for the M25 then M20 to arrive nice and early on the coast. A short stay at the point in glorious weather saw us bag the Glaucous Gull and a self found Caspian Gull which was a lifer and impressed the other birders who had arrived on a coach trip and were equally pleased to see both gulls.
Black throated Diver then a single Arctic Skua was good and add to that lot's of Kittiwake and Razorbill and a single Little gull we left satisfied and headed to ARC pit. Here we located the Great White Egret from the road along with Smew. From the hide we picked up the Long Tailed Duck that had been seen a few days earlier and ticked Tree Sparrow from the farm house on the reserve before heading homeward. A short stop at Rainham to show the lads the SEO's was rewarded by Black Redstart (picked up by Nick Croft) Linnet and Ruddy Duck picked up on the way back made the days total 14 and takes the year list to 122
I picked up the Jims and headed for the M25 then M20 to arrive nice and early on the coast. A short stay at the point in glorious weather saw us bag the Glaucous Gull and a self found Caspian Gull which was a lifer and impressed the other birders who had arrived on a coach trip and were equally pleased to see both gulls.
Black throated Diver then a single Arctic Skua was good and add to that lot's of Kittiwake and Razorbill and a single Little gull we left satisfied and headed to ARC pit. Here we located the Great White Egret from the road along with Smew. From the hide we picked up the Long Tailed Duck that had been seen a few days earlier and ticked Tree Sparrow from the farm house on the reserve before heading homeward. A short stop at Rainham to show the lads the SEO's was rewarded by Black Redstart (picked up by Nick Croft) Linnet and Ruddy Duck picked up on the way back made the days total 14 and takes the year list to 122
7th January back to Lee Valley
Back over the valley today...I picked up water rail from the Bittern hide (still no Bittern though) Little Owls showed well in the sun from the dead tree on the farm and I also bagged Great-spotted Woodpecker and a nice Cetti's Warbler followed by Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and Yellowhammer. (108)
Week one Jan 2012
Back at work and time for birding is limited but I did see Buzzards on the A130 on 3rd, Mistle Thrush and Jay on Hackney Marshes on 4th, Bewick Swan from the causeway at Abberton on my way into Colchester on 5th and stopped at Rainham for two fantastic Short Eared Owls hunting a few feet away.
List total for 2012 is now 101.
List total for 2012 is now 101.
2nd January 2012
A quick walk around Lee Valley today produced 4 ticks. Feral Pigeon (Rock Dove), Goosander, Sprawk and Green Woodpecker moved me to (96) No sign of Bittern which would usually be a banker for this site.
Back to work tomorrow!
1st January 2012
January 1st 2012 (And the start of me using the blog as the diary intended)
The start of a new year and a new year list.
A trip to Norfolk is a must to get the year list off to a good start so I picked up the Jims (Dad Jim and brother Jim) and headed up the M11 finding a nice Barn Owl on route as we headed for Titchwell where we picked up an impressive list of 74 other species including Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, a nice early Merlin sitting on the beach, lovely views of spotted Redshank but the real highlight of this first stop off was the tree in the car park that housed Lesser/Common and Arctic Redpoll.
With our count now at 75 we moved on down the A149 and stopped at Brancaster and picked up 3 more with a Ringed Plover, Common Gull and a bonus Purple Sandpiper. Following that we made a short stop at Burnham and whilst checking out the Rough Legged Buzzard we had a Lapland Bunting fly over and a flock of Redwing drop in. Add to that a nice Grey Partridge (82) and we moved on towards Cley. Along the road to Cley we picked up Kestrel, Pink footed Geese, Egyptian Geese, Red-legged Partridge and Stock Dove. At Cley we were on a mission to locate the visitor from America (The Western Sandpiper) and whilst looking saw a Peregrine take a Lapwing out and a GBB gull pushed us through 89 and then we found the Western Sand and hit 90 for the day.....secretly we all wanted 100 from day one. We heard there was a Shrike at Fakenham and after a quick pied wagtail at Salthouse we moved to Fakenham where we dipped on the shrike but picked up a Starling and Song Thrush. (92) A nice start to 2012. I've set a target of 250 for the year hoping that having the target will get me out and about a bit more.
The start of a new year and a new year list.
A trip to Norfolk is a must to get the year list off to a good start so I picked up the Jims (Dad Jim and brother Jim) and headed up the M11 finding a nice Barn Owl on route as we headed for Titchwell where we picked up an impressive list of 74 other species including Common Scoter, Red-breasted Merganser, Red-throated Diver, a nice early Merlin sitting on the beach, lovely views of spotted Redshank but the real highlight of this first stop off was the tree in the car park that housed Lesser/Common and Arctic Redpoll.
With our count now at 75 we moved on down the A149 and stopped at Brancaster and picked up 3 more with a Ringed Plover, Common Gull and a bonus Purple Sandpiper. Following that we made a short stop at Burnham and whilst checking out the Rough Legged Buzzard we had a Lapland Bunting fly over and a flock of Redwing drop in. Add to that a nice Grey Partridge (82) and we moved on towards Cley. Along the road to Cley we picked up Kestrel, Pink footed Geese, Egyptian Geese, Red-legged Partridge and Stock Dove. At Cley we were on a mission to locate the visitor from America (The Western Sandpiper) and whilst looking saw a Peregrine take a Lapwing out and a GBB gull pushed us through 89 and then we found the Western Sand and hit 90 for the day.....secretly we all wanted 100 from day one. We heard there was a Shrike at Fakenham and after a quick pied wagtail at Salthouse we moved to Fakenham where we dipped on the shrike but picked up a Starling and Song Thrush. (92) A nice start to 2012. I've set a target of 250 for the year hoping that having the target will get me out and about a bit more.
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