Alpine Swift Sheringham Norfolk

Well I decided to give the Alpine Swift a try as it was still being reported yesterday. I picked up the Jims and left home at 5am. The M11 was closed so I had to take the long way round which made the journey two and a half hours long. At Sheringham I quickly located Nelson Road jut off the High Street and as I stepped from the car at 7.30am I found the Alpine Swift flying overhead within a few steps towards Beeston Bump. Bird number 253 of the year and a little craker it was flying first alone and then with a small group of Swifts giving great size comparison with the Alpine appearing twice the size of our common Swifts. The Alpine Swift has a wing span of nearly two feet (550mm) and whilst breeding in southern Europe it often turns up in the UK as it starts it's migration to southern Africa.

Record shot of the Alpine Swift

Alpine Swift

Having had good views of this summer visitor and taken a few record shots we decided to head down the road to Cley. I paid the £5 entrance fee (NWT) and spent some time in Swarovski Optik hide and Daukes Hide.
From here we had a total of nine Spoonbill, several Green shank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, LRP's Avocets, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwits, Lapwings, Sandwich Tern, Whimbrel, Curlew and Marsh Harrier.
We had hoped to find Little Stint at Cley but after a lengthy search we couldn't locate any.
Along the path to the hides we hear Bearded Tits "pinging" and saw Reed Warbler feeding young.

View over Pat's Pool from Dukes Hide Cley

We saw this Drinker moth on the way from the hide at Cley.

The Drinker Moth

After spending a few hours sitting in the hides at Cley we decided to move on to Titchwell. Twenty miles down the A149 and we're in another cracking reserve this one run by the RSPB.

We spent a couple of hours in the hides and missed the couple of showers that passed through luckily.
Here we had a cracking Curlew Sandpiper, Lot's of Black Tailed Godwit, Ruff, Avocet, Golden Plover, Spotted Redshank, Snipe, a single Dunlin, Two Little Gulls, and another six Spoonbills along with plenty of other species.

Travelled 280 miles today but that produced another year tick and a great days birding at two of North Norfolks best reserves.

Black Tailed Godwit at Titchwell

Titchwell

Pectoral Sandpiper at Cliffe Pools

Made the short trip down to Cliffe Pools today in an effort to catch up with my first Pectoral Sandpiper of the year. Parked in the car park of the RSPB reserve I follow the path through the gate and take the second left trail towards Ski pool which is next to the main Radar Pool.
Lot's of Barwits and Dunlin about. GC Grebe, Coot, Redshank and several hundred Avocet.
A hobby flies over high in the clouds but I'm struggling to pick out the Pec.
Luckily another birder is on hand and scoped up so I manage to get a decent view of the Pectoral Sandpiper thanks to his generousity. A very quick trip with a very quick year tick (252).
Dissapointed not to find the Little Stint that has been seen on the reserve but time and the thought of the trip home through the Olympic traffic prevented a longer search.

View over Radar Pool towards the Black Barn

On a trip to Cliffe last year I recorded Common, Green, Wood, Curlew and Pectoral Sandpiper in the same pool (Boatwick Pool to be precise)  and that doesn't happen every day so it remains a special memory for me.
Good Winter records of SEO here and a RB Shrike so the place has been quite kind to me.
I'll take a trip back when I have more time and give that Little Stint another go although I might just head up to Norfolk at the weekend and see what's at Titchwell and Cley.
(There's an Alpine Swift kicking about near Sheringham that I also have an eye on to see if it sticks for the weekend and of course the weather will play a part in my weekend trip)

Whte Winged Black Tern Alton Water

Working up the A12 today so I decided to make an early run upto Alton Water in search of the reported White Winged Black Tern. The sat nav takes me up the A12 and into Stutton. From here I take the Holbrook Road toward Holbrook and find Alton Waters car park well sign posted from here.
Following the internal road to the very last car park I quickly find the dam area that the bird has been reported from and a small group of birders are in place. As I get out of the car I lift my binoculars and I'm on the bird before taking a step.
Despite seeing it frm he car I make the 50m walk from the car park to the bank and take a couple of record shots then watch the bird for a few minutes before rushing back down the A12 for a days work.
I wanted to stay much longer to admire this visitor and as I left the car park I couldn't help thinking how fitting the exit sign was.

251 birds seen now this year and 9 left to find by the end of August for my latest self inflicted target.

Alton Water

White Winged Black Tern

White Winged Black Tern

Hope the bird can read!

Eagle Owl Ashford

Well I know there will always be a debate about where this bird came from and we'll probably never know if it's escaped from a private collection of birds somewhere or maybe been released by it's keeper maybe because food can no longer be provided in these tough times we face? Or could it be from the breeding population established "up north" or dare I say could it have crossed the channel?
Anyway all this aside it was a bird I wanted to see so I set off with Jim this morning to check it out.
We found Charter House in the centre of Ashford Town and pulled into the Shell petrol station to find two locals with the bird in their scopes. Great huge bird sitting at the top of the building on a ledge quite relaxed just surveying the area before it closed it's eyes and took a rest.
The locals tell us that they have found pellets and it seems to be enjoying the local pigeon population and has been around for several weeks now.

After enjoying the Eagle Owl for a while we moved on to Dungeness and as usual we took in a short sea watch.
The sea was alive with Gannets fishing and several Porpoise showed as we walked along to the patch (the warm water outfall from the power station) Although the patch was quiet we saw several Sandwich and Common Tern and a pair of Scoters on the sea. Lot's of Gulls about but nothing of note.

On the walk back to the car we found several Common Blue butterflies along with several large and small Whites, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers.

Common Blue Dungeness

Common Blue Female

Common Blue

We spent a few minutes walking around the newly replaced trapping area at the observatory before rain had us rushing back to the car and making the short drive to ARC pit. We spent a couple of hours in Hanson Hide where we had good views of Marsh Harrier, Bar Tailed Godwit, Golden Plover, Dunlin, Little Ringed Plover, Snipe, Common Sandpiper and we also found five Garganey and a Green Sandpiper. It appeared the world population of Pochard had dropped in today and although on arrival no Hirundines were present they seemed to drop in from everywhere and before long we had hundreds of Swift, House and Sand Martins buzzing about.

An Egret flew off, an Oyster Catcher flew back and forth in typical noisy fashion and Mallard, Gadwall, Teal, Tufted and Shelduck completed the ducks on show. Greylag geese, GC Grebes and Wagtails added to the total as did Reed Warblers and Buntings. The trapping area held Dunnock, Blackbird and Whitethroat.

Dungeness Bird Observatory

View over ARC pit from Hanson Hide

From ARC pit we took a very quick drive through the reserve with little to report and then moved on to Folkestone Downs after a short drive along the coast. Our target here was butterfly again and we'd hoped for Blue Adonis but the second coming is not for a couple of weeks yet so we'll have to return later.

Along the path we find lot's of Skippers (large and small) lot's of Marbled White and I find one that appears to be laying eggs. There's also loads of Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large and Small Whites along with a couple of Small Heaths and another Small Blue.

We spotted several moths too including loads of Six Spot Burnets and the strange white one pictured below.

Vestal Rhodometra Sacraria

Common Blue Damsel

View across Folkestone Downs

Marbled White egg laying

Poppy Field Folkestone

A nice trip that the old fella missed as his backside is suffering from sofa itus at the moment which is forcing him to watch every televised second of the Olympics but do not alarm the doctor says it only lasts a couple of weeks every four years so he'll be joining us on our travels shortly.

Butterfly First for the garden

Meadow Brown

Had my first Meadow Brown visit the garden today....not uncommon but I don't normally see them in the garden.

Garden list now includes: Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Orange Tip, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small White, Large White, Speckled Wood, Comma and Painted Lady

Our Minature Rose finally blossomed today

Gatekeeper..another visitor today

Reflecting on the sanity of chasing 250 this year

I'm sitting in the garden again tonight, it must be around 26 degrees this evening but yesterdays blue sky has more than a hint of cloud in it. It's that muggy feeling that precedes rain. With the Olympic opening ceremony on Friday I find myself praying for it to stay dry for all the people involved but I must admit it feels like rain is not far away again.
Anyway I'm sitting here reflecting on the why and the how of my challenge to see 250 birds this year now that the target has been reached.
The why is a lot harder to answer than the how so I'll start with the how.
Trips have included a flight to Glasgow followed by three days in Scotland taking in such highlights as Loch Ness, Loch Garton, Loch Lomond, The Cairngorms and Aviemore all those places you read about.
Two trips to Wales and a boat ride to Skomer Island. Here I've also taken in such places as Strumble Head and Dinas reserve along with Teiffi marshes.
I've been to Dungerness, Elmley, Stodmarsh, Capel Fleet & Oar Marsh in Kent.
Pagham Harbour, Rye Harbour , Hayling Island all had day trips too.

Cley and Titchwell reserves in Norfolk as well as a string of other venues such as Salthouse, Burnham, Thornham, Wolferton Triangle, Lynford,  Sherringham, Ranworth Broad and Brancaster and of course Strumpshaw Fen along with the neighbouring Buckenham Marsh.
Minsmere in Suffolk along with visits to Winterton, Horsey, Lowestoft, Dunwich, Walberswick along that East Coast and of course Lakenheath and West Stow in the Brecks.
I've travelled to Hampshire and spent time in the New Forest as well as twitching in Hordle, Worthing, Meare Heath , Oxford, Maldon, Chew Valley / Blagdon lakes and of course Rickmansworth Aquadrome for the Little Bittern.

In my home county of Essex I've visited Vange Marsh, Rainham Marsh, West Canvey Marsh, Abberton, Lea Valley, Chafford Hundred, East Tilbury, Fingringhoe and Tollesbury plus Old Hall Marshes and Roding Valley. I've popped across the water for a couple of days at Crayford Marsh too.

A day out in Yorkshire saw me visit Bempton Cliffs. Add the odd trip to Cambridgeshire and places like Welney and Wicken Fen along with Sandy and East Hyde in Beds followed by Whilstone/ Startops End reservoirs in Bucks. Throw in a little London in Walthamstow and Staines reservoirs, Hayes for the RB Shrike and of course Crossness for the Bonapartes Gull and I think that about covers the how.

Thousands of miles, lot's of hours and plenty of coffee.
So anybody thinking it's easy....think again it takes a lot of effort.

Along the way I've seen five species of Deer, Foxes, Rabbits, Hares, Stoats and Weasels, an Adder and a Basking Shark. We've seen Seals and Porpoise not to mention the countless butterlies. moths insects and amphibians. We've rescued a dog and we've been towed home too.

Now the why?
I can't answer it other than to say that it's my hobby, I enjoy it and the challenge of getting 250 made me do more of it. It's taken me to the places above which have been fantastic to see, It's got me out in fresh air filling my lungs with it which can't be a bad thing and it's given me some quality time with my brother Jim (oh and the old fella should get a mention here too for keeping me entertained on many of the above trips.)

The highlight would have to be the Sea Eagle and the general scenery of Scotland.

So in summary the why is more about giving me a reason to go than actually achieving any goal or satisfaction from the numbers.
August is approaching now and with it will come a host of migrants I'm sure so I'm bracing myself for a new challenge to find ten new birds before the end of August! now that'll give me another reason to get out some more I hope.

Horizontal listing

So the weathers great, the sky is blue and we're sitting out in lovely warm sunshine.
I'm testing out the new garden chairs and find myself horizontal before long.
In this position I can't help notice the sky traffic. In an hour this evening I've clocked up the following from my sky watch.
57 Aeroplanes, 2 Helicopters, 8 screaming Swifts, 147 Black Head Gulls, 64 Woodpigeons (all going in different directions) 3 Rooks, 8 Crows, 4 Jackdaws, 1 LBB Gull, 3 Herring Gulls, 3 Starling, 1 Collard Dove, 1 Magpie 1 Red Admiral, a Small White butterfly and a large unidentified dragon fly, Oh and zero clouds!

All this had me thinking .....where are they coming from and where are they going?
All the planes seem to be coming from Stansted, heading in southerly directions although some seem to bank east as they get over the house and others take a south western route. Only one plane came in from the south west in the hour or so I watched all others appeared to be leaving this glorious island of ours.
As for the birds well only the Gulls give any clue as they are all heading south west in the direction of the large reservoirs at Chingford/Walthamstow.
Now before posting this random blog about nothing I've checked the birding grape vine and noticed a White Rumped Sandpiper at Cley and a Temminck's Stint reported there too...will they wait for me?  (If only I didn't have to work to pay the bills)

PS...make that 3 Helicopters and 65 Woodpigeons!