The juvenile Starlings arrived today

Lot's of House Sparrows have been enjoying the garden of late with many youngsters involved, I've had two young Magpies and three Great Tit juveniles plus the sad juvenile Robin that didn't see more than a few hours of life but today the Starlings arrived with their youngsters. Starlings don't feed in my garden as a rule until they have young then it's a free for all and one which I enjoy each year when the time comes.

I'm now waiting on the first Blue Tit's to emerge from the nest box at the bottom of garden but today it was all about Sparrows and Starlings.

Sardinian Warbler test

With another rare day off I took the Jims down to South Foreland today in the hope we could see our first ever Sardinian Warbler. We parked up in Beach Road and I stopped to ask for directions in the cafe only to find Jamie P getting a coffee so who better to ask and bingo we were now just a short walk away from the area he had found the target in and more importantly had just heard it calling there again before coming down for his coffee.

The Sardinian Warbler was in here somewhere

During the morning we were joined by quite a few birders. One guy fell down a rabbit hole and damaged his knee so ambulances were called and attended him whilst we continued to look for the bird. A Spitfire put on a bit of a show along the white cliffs which was good to see, a Hobby flew through the valley, Fulmars flew along the cliff edge and we had four views of at least two Peregrines. Jamie P joined us and straight away the bird called as if it knew he'd returned. The bird then gave a little sub-song before a fleating glimpse as it flew between bushes. The bushes contained both Whitethroat and Lesser Whitethroat which added to the fun although these too were quite elusive and did catch a few of us out at times, me included. A dash across the field to some guys that "had it" eventually revealed a Lesser Whitethroat before we returned to the bushes again only to hear more calls but no views save one guy that got on it just below where I'd previously seen it. 

By now people had decided to get the phones out and play the call which the bird didn't seem to respond to but it made it a little harder to know if you had the bird calling or somebody on their phone. We were joined by fellow Essex birders Shaun H and Martin B and we walked back around the bushes we picked it up on call again but seeing it was still proving difficult with limited movement being picked up deep in the cover.  A Whitethroat flew in and then the Sardinian Warbler flew out low and crossed the path. The Whitethroat also flew out but higher up. There followed some debate with the guys closest saying they had seen it well enough to be 100% sure on it and the guys around us that have seen Sardinian before also thought it safe. We gave it another couple of hours and heard the bird a couple more times and had a very similar brief flight view along with plenty of "was that it?" action. 

In all a very long and frustrating day but in a lovely spot with good company. We spent six hours on site heard the bird a dozen times both calling and singing and had no more than three very brief flight views. I've never seen Sardinian Warbler before which made it a little harder with the poor views it gave and I have to say this is one of the most elusive birds I've ever twitched. The bird is on my list as heard very well but seen really poorly and I really would like to see one better than this one day for sure.

Year list 212

Life list 431

Eleonora's Falcon at Worth Marsh

Two years ago I travelled to Winterton the day after an Eleonora's Falcon was spotted and of course I dipped as these birds never stick around and only a handful of people have the falcon on their UK life lists. Yesterday in similar circumstances to the Winterton bird news came via a photo of a Hobby that was then identified from the photo as an Eleonora's Falcon. Some twitched it yesterday and many dipped it yesterday and I thought it was just another of those "You had to be there to see it" birds but bring on 9.54am today and somebody saw the bird again at Worth Marsh in Kent. An hour later it was found sitting on a post and so it began more news more sightings more photos and it continued to pull at my twitch nerve and I continued to drive my wife crazy with each report that came in.

It being a Friday would take me about two and a half hours to cover the ninety miles required, Dad had a commitment too but eventually we managed to meet up and set off around 2.30pm arriving at 5pm to news that the bird was still sat in a tree so we marched around to the gathering of scopes and within seconds had ticked the Eleonora's Falcon. A first for Kent and a first for me. We watched it for over an hour and it made three short flights before going back to the tree to rest.

Distant record shot of the Eleonora's Falcon at Worth marsh Kent

We left and drove down to Worth where we saw the Red-footed Falcon and then had better views of the Eleonora's Falcon sat out on the marsh on a plastic post. It was distant for my 400mm lens but gave fantastic scope views along with Hobby. I've been hoping for this something special to get me out again following a month where I've only managed one local birding trip and I couldn't have asked for a better bird and only 90miles from home too.

As always thanks to the guy that took the photo of the "Hobby" the guys that refound it today and to all the staff on site for arranging parking and giving directions with a warm smile. It was a very pleasant twitch and we played our part by getting many people onto the bird too.

Onwards and upwards!

Year list now 211 - Life list now 430

I used to go birding

I used to go out birding!

I was a birder from a very young age living in a house very close to the river Roding I'd often be found walking the field enjoying the birds from a very young age. Back then we'd swim in the bomb holes of the Roding and I was a child when the M11 was build and remember spending many a happy hour swimming in the gravel works which is now the Roding Valley lake. We had no fear back then. The lake was eventually opened once the motorway was completed and we were promised all kinds of local events and past times. A guy used to come and use the lake for Windsurfing lessons and the owner would encourage a couple of us to use the boards to encourage others to pay which was good as we got free time on the boards almost daily. 

The RAF camp where the the David Lloyd centre now sits was another source of entertainment as we'd go down into the old bunkers often finding the odd item of interest in them. We'd dig the sand pits from the old disused firing range and always found a few spent shells to take home along with the odd live round or two which again worried us not. This was our life and it was always outdoors, we went home to eat and sleep but if we could get out we were out. My old Chopper bike was almost a part of my anatomy I spent that much time on it.

As I started work, got married and had children my birding days were forgotten and although the interest never left me my time was taken up working and running my boys to various sporting events and I managed a football team for ten years too with all the after work and weekend commitment that involves.

So the above hopefully illustrated that A) I have always had the birding bug and that B) I put the boys before my birding for almost two decades. So they've grown and they've flown the nest and since 2010 I've been year listing and enjoying the trips the ticks and not so much the odd dip but I've had more time and it's been great seeing some lovely places, great birds and the odd bit of company along the way has been great too. Move on a bit and my wifes health starts to fail needing more time and care from me, my mother in law moves into a care home and my father in law now needs more of my time. Then my children start to have children and my time now is very much split between caring for my wife and my father in law and playing with the three grandchildren I've been blessed with and my birding is now once again falling way back down the list. 

I'm left instead enjoying the garden wildlife and dreaming of finding more time to get out and about again. 

This year the House Sparrows have been successful and the first broods are out pumping up the numbers coming to my daily offerings. The Robins managed to get a single fledgling but sadly it collided with a window on day one and they have started a second brood. The Magpies now have two fledglings and the Blue Tits are busy in the nest box so I hope for some youngsters soon. The Foxes are visiting the garden more regularly and earlier in the evenings allowing for some images to be captured but we're still waiting to see the youngsters. All this is giving me a small fix to keep my eye in with nature and that's where I'm at!

I'm a lucky man to have these drains on my time I know but I really would like to find the time and to some extent the motivation to get back in the saddle with my birding adventures. Maybe a decent life tick is what's required or maybe just a really good day out like Bempton. Time will tell.

Oh and I've been sketching again, I'm not particularly keen to share the results but here's a couple of teasers..........

Cormorant

Now where's that day out I'm so desperate for?

All happening at home

So it's been a busy time at home recently.

First my second grandchild Emily was born on 16th March then my youngest and his wife had their first child and my third grandchild on 30th April, then on 1st May I celebrated 40 years of marriage with Suzanne and of course I have my grandson who celebrated his fourth birthday with me yesterday.

As you can imagine all the above along with my care commitments has seen my time for birding very limited. I did manage a walk around the valley recently where I dipped three valley ticks in the form of Glossy Ibis, Barwit and Spotshank but I did pick up a year tick with my first Lesser Whitethroat of the year along with enjoying many singing Nightingales.

I also managed to get away yesterday morning for a short walk around Rainham RSPB. I added two year ticks here with four Wood Sandpipers from Butts hide and a Hobby on the return leg of the reserve. Two Cattle Egrets, a Great White Egret and a Cuckoo among the highlights of the 70 species seen on the visit.

Year list now 209 

40 years! ("It'll never last")

Cattle Egret

Cattle Egret

Marsh Frog

Redshank

Common Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Canada Goose in full defence mode

KGV

A quick trip to check for Terns at KGV early this morning delivered a nice bonus year tick in the form of a Black Tern flying around the south basin. The smart summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe was still about but remained in the middle of the reservoir during our brief visit. As we watched the Terns our attention was taken by a group of hirundines overhead and following them was my first Swifts of the year with a small group of five followed by another group of twenty plus with yet more hirundines. 

A Turnstone was seen as we searched for Common Sandpipers and shortly after we added the Sandpiper to the year list with at least three birds present. Two Yellow Wagtails were added to the days totals before we left but the drake Smew eluded us.

A short but productive visit with three new for year birds. 

Year list now 206

Common Sandpiper

House Martin

Pied Wagtail

Red necked Grebe

Sand Martin

Swallow

Swallows

Turnstone

Lakenheath RSPB

I've recently been bemoaning my lack of birding opportunities or adventure but with Robert wanting to visit Lakenheath, yesterday gave me an opportunity for a decent morning out with him and the Jims. We left home early and arrived at Lakenheath around 6am. Lakenheath is one of those great reserves that has dawn-til-dusk access and allows you to enjoy the dawn chorus fully and so we started at the washland view point where we found Garganey, Ruff, Avocet, Black-tailed Godwits and more but the noise was the most impressive thing as all around us we could hear Sedge/Reed/Cetti's Warblers, Reed Buntings, Wren, Robin, Blackbird and Common Whitethroats all singing as if their lives depended on it.

The walk up the river bank gave nice views of several of the above singers and a Grasshopper Warbler was heard very distantly reeling. The Greylags and Egyptian Geese have young with the latter almost fully grown. Cuckoos were calling and often seen perched up or in flight and our first of many Marsh Harrier was seen as we walked past New Fen.

We arrived at Joist Fen and sat to enjoy the view for a couple of hours. Single Cranes were seen on five occasions flying across the reed bed and dropping into the surrounding fields. These are thought to be wondering birds not the birds breeding on site. Marsh Harrier continued to show and we had two Bittern in flight along with several fast flight views of the local Kingfisher. The view from Joist Fen has changed a bit with the reeds being thinned to create a scrape which held large numbers of Snipe. We added House Martin to the year list but general numbers of hirundines was low and with the cool grey day no Hobbies had shown on this visit. A single Common Tern flew up the river.

Distant Common Crane feeding out on the farmland across the river

Reed Bunting

Sedge Warbler

We slowly made our way back visiting the hide and New Fen on our way. At the hide we had brief distant views of some Bearded Tits but it was very quiet and slow viewing with the entertainment coming first from a Coot feeding its single chick then a fight between four Coot and finally and interaction between Coot and Great-crested Grebe.

Coots

Coots

Coots

Coots

Great crested Grebe

Great Crested Grebe

This Grebe popped up next to the Coot giving it quite a fright

At New Fen we had another encounter with a wondering Crane that was joined in the air by our third Bittern of the day.  

A brief visit to Cavenham before leaving the Brecks was disappointingly quiet and we failed to find a single Stone Curlew. 

Skylark

Stonechat

A day list of 80 species was reached with just the one year tick being House Martins.

Year list now 203