Saturday 16 March 2024

First Chiffchaffs of the year

Time has really been at a premium of late but I managed a brief walk along the sea wall at Rainham this week where I saw Spoonbill, Sparrowhawk and Marsh Harriers of note and then Thursday I had a quick walk over Sewardstone marsh where I found my first Chiffchaffs of the year and a single Cattle Egret before taking a walk out to the causeway and back at KGV where the only highlight was a drake Smew.

Cattle Egret

Drake Smew with a pair of Goldeneye



year list now 170

Sunday 10 March 2024

Frampton RSPB

I've walked the foreshore at Rainham twice this week as I was collecting my grandson from school close by and on the second walk located a single Water Pipit for my trouble.

Following on from these short walks I visited Frampton today with Jim in the hope of adding another year tick or two in the limited time I now find for my hobby.

We arrived at 7.30 and found the Lesser Yellowlegs on the pool by the car park before it flew to the far corner of the marsh. Ruff and Redshank were present along with Pintail and Wigeon. A large herd of Whooper Swan flew over calling before we moved on down the track where we found the Green-winged Teal with surprising ease. Dunlin, Golden Plover, Lapwing, Oystercatchers, Ringed Plover, Avocet, Balckwit etc made up the bulk of the birds on the marsh but we did also find a few Med Gulls whilst searching in vain for Little Gulls to bring about a healthy day list total of 76 species.

Golden Plover

Goldeneye

Lapwing

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Lesser Yellowlegs

Ruff

Ruff

Ruff

Whooper Swans

Whoopers


Year list now 169 as we await the spring arrivals to nudge the list along further.

Monday 4 March 2024

More Waxwings

I returned to the Loughton Waxwings this morning, being only half a mile from home I just had to do it and enjoyed a couple of hours watching these cracking winter visitors and bumped into a few local birders to which is always good.










Sunday 3 March 2024

Waxwings in Loughton again

I've seen Waxwings a couple of times this year and I've had Waxwings in Loughton before, in fact I've had them in the garden on a couple of occasions over the years. Waxwings haven't been seen in Loughton or at least haven't been reported as seen since 2013 so when reports came through of some by Roding Valley School on 10th February I took a look but couldn't find them. Again on 24th February "a flock" was reported on Vere Road so again I took a look around with no joy and I was starting to think they could be just mis ID'd Starlings but when a report came out today of 22 by the Wickes store in Loughton less than a mile from home I couldn't help but pop out for a look and this time I did find the birds, 24 of them sat in a tree opposite the junction between Wickes and Toolstation. The birds dropped to feed on some Cotoneaster berries but were spooked by an alarming Blackbird and flew off high over the Wickes building. 








Most of the birds reported in Loughton over the years are Waxwing. They account for 28 of the 36 reports on birdguides or almost 80% so we're not exactly on the mega highway here. The other reports for Loughton include possible Night Heron and possible Spoonbill along with Great Egret, Meally Redpoll, Red Kite and Hobby. Interestingly Hobby is now annual over my Loughton garden and Red Kite can now be seen almost daily.

I might have another go if they hang around.

Great grey Shrike at Weeting

Having not been out birding since 16th February I decided yesterday that despite the horrible weather I'd give the wintering Great grey Shrike at Weeting a go and the Jims decided to join me. We arrived at Weeting late morning and parked up at ride 47 before walking into the forest for around half a mile or so to find the clearing that the Shrike has been favouring. It took a while to find the bird in the distant corner of the cleared triangle but I managed to get the other birders present onto it before leaving to walk the footpath to the east hoping the bird might eventually work its way closer and it did. It remained distant but came close enough for me to lift the camera for a record shot. Two Woodlark flushed from the footpath into the clearing and a Goshawk came up briefly with three Buzzard for company. Marsh Tit and Stonechat the only other birds of any note before the dark clouds delivered a heavy downpour that sent us and the Shrike heading for cover.



This is my first Great grey Shrike since January 2022 so having not seen one last year at all I was pleased to connect with this bird. They seem to be wintering locally in smaller numbers now which is sad as they're great birds to watch.


year list now 167



Friday 16 February 2024

Black Scoter at Holkham

Black Scoter isn't a particularly rare vagrant but it's a difficult one to catch up with. The first British record was 1987 in Lothian and there have been dozens since but until 2014 all had been around the Scottish and Welsh coasts save an exhausted bird picked up in Lancashire in 2007. 2014 Saw one found off the coast of Cleveland at Redcar before 2015 saw one found in Northumberland which proved popular returning each year until it's last accepted appearance in August 2022 although sightings continued through 2023.

So my reluctance to travel too far to scan the seas for this bird has held me back until this year when one was found off the coast of Norfolk at Holkham. I travelled up on 29th January but failed to find the bird so with a free day today I arranged to pick Jim up and head up for a second go.

We arrived at Holkham for 8am and put £6.50 in the car park machine in return for four hours of leaving my car in the road before walking out towards the gap. The marsh was flooded so we made the decision to stay on the west side of the flood. To get around the flooded channels was quite a walk but we soon had our scopes set up on the beach and starting scanning what looked like three main rafts of Scoter.

A couple of Common Scoters got some interest showing good yellow on the bill but were quickly dismissed. We were joined by three other birders and a group of around fifteen sat in the dunes to the east of the gap. Mergansers and Grebes fed in front of the Scoter flocks and we noted Tufted duck, Scaup, Teal, Wigeon and Pochard on the sea before a surprise flock of c50 Eider flew east over the Scoters. A few Velvet Scoters were picked out but we struggled with the target until the sun came out and luckily so did the Black Scoter with its yellow/orange bill shining in the bright light and even visible in flight. The bird appeared a little bulkier in flight than the commons.  I managed to get the other guys onto it and we all left happy with the three hours we'd invested into finding it today.

Jim still needed Shorelark for a year tick so we walked west for about a mile and Jim found them feeding on the sand to get the year tick before we left to beat the parking time limit.

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Shorelark

Shorelark

Shorelark



On the way home we made a stop at Cockley Cley, Lynford and Santon Downham where we added just  Woodlark to the year list.

Black Scoter is my 448th British bird, my 165th this year and my 302nd for Norfolk
(Woodlark took the year list to 166)

This Scoter would have completed the Scoter set for the British list if they hadn't have just this week added Stejneger's Scoter to the official list so I still have one to find but with my reluctance to travel I think it could be a while before this set is now completed.

Saturday 10 February 2024

White-billed Diver at Southend pier

A quick catch up blog post.

Since my last post at the end of January I've mostly been busy looking after my wife, her father and the grandchildren but I have managed a few hours birding.

2nd Feb. 

I drove solo up to Abberton after visiting my son in Hornchurch hoping to year tick the wintering Canvasback but the Pochard flock was too distant and I couldn't pick out the bird amongst them. I did manage to year tick Caspian Gull when Daryl R pointed out a first winter bird flying in which obliged by dropping into the Coot flock. Goosanders, Red-crested Pochard and a Black-necked Grebe the other highlights.

Goosander

Goosander

Goosander

Goosander

Pied Wagtail



5th Feb 

A trip to Abberton again with the Jims to search for Lesser Scaup which we found between Wigborough bay and the screen at Billets farm. These five birds have wintered in Devon and taken the strange route north east via Abberton and doubled the amount of Lesser Scaup I've ever seen having seen five single birds previously. A Raven as we drove up the A12 was unexpected and the big surprise was only one Pochard being seen across the whole reservoir. Smew, Goosander and Goldeneye the best of the rest.

8th Feb

I had a short window between school drop off and pick up so headed down to Southend again. It was raining and the trains weren't running but regardless I had the free time so I walked out to the pier end with just me and one other non birder on the pier I searched in vain. Red-throated and Gt northern Divers were seen along with Razorbill and Guillemot with the Great-crested Grebes. A single Med Gull and lot's of Turnstone the only other birds of note in a miserable venture.

A long wet walk down the longest pleasure pier in the world

1.33miles of Soouthend Pier

The pier beyond the pleasure park



10th Feb

Back down to Southend today with Jim and this time we did pick out the White-billed Diver which despite giving great scope views at 50x it didn't come close enough to attract the attention of my camera. Three Gt northern and several Red-throated divers were seen along with a few auks, an Eider and a couple of Shag. Med Gulls were present in good numbers and a roost of well over a hundred Turnstones was good to see.  The Diver is the first twitchable record for Essex and brings my modest Essex list to 279.

The White-billed Diver admirers

The end of the pier

the bird was about half a mile off the end of the pier today.



Year list now 164