Dungeness and Oare Marshes visit: 02.03.14

Setting off before 5a.m. and picking up Gary in Bishop's Stortford meant we were on the beach sea watching at Dungeness at 7. This was after a quick coffee break at Maidstone to get an early caffeine shot. Upon arrival, a stiff breeze but clearly good bird movement with over 40 common scoter west, little and Mediterranean gulls heading to the patch. A few kittiwakes, too before 2 guillemot landed on the sea in front of the sea watch hide. Several red throated divers and numerous great crested grebes were seen before we headed into the breeze to walk to The Patch hide. Hundreds of gulls present, both over the water and roosting on the beach, but the wind made for tricky viewing as the scopes were not remaining still.

Dungeness sunrise

We then donned wellies for a wander around the Trapping area in search of an elusive Humes leaf warbler. The whole area was very flooded and without precise directions we were hoping for a bit of luck. Great and blue tits were noted but no warbler. Green woodpeckers called and magpies, chaffinches, blackbirds, robins and dunnocks got on to the list. Back to the car where we met up with Therese and Stuart http://theresegoesbirding.blogspot.co.uk
From the lighthouse we headed for the fishing boats and the glaucous gull. Several folk were about, but no sign, so off to The Hanson Hide on the ARC pit. En route, we stopped at the causeway, picking up great white egret, smew and black throated diver. All good birds. Into the Hanson Hide, more smew but water levels meant no waders apart from a couple of oystercatchers. Reed bunting and cetti's were added along with the regular selection of wildfowl.

goldeneye

ARC pit flyby grey heron

great white egret

take off: ARC pit mute swan

pochard

distant smew

We then headed for the Reserve and topped up on coffee and corned beef bread buns. All good sustenance before a wander all the way around the reserve. Marsh Harrier and more regular wildfowl were noted from the hides, with greylag, brent and canada geese from Dengemarsh Hide. A search for the rarely seen penduline tit drew an expected blank before a distantly high bird over Lydd attracted my attention. So far off i.d. very tricky, but, by the way it circled and swooped down, putting up a flock of starlings, I would wager it was a peregrine.
Upon arriving back at the Visitors' Centre we checked the Dennis Hide. A black necked grebe had been reported and, after 10 minutes of searching the far side of the pit, Gary noticed it some 15 metres from our hide! Good bird to see so close and another year lister for me.

black necked grebe

Black necked grebe and tufties

reed bunting: Dungeness RSPB car park

From here, we popped down the road towards Lydd for the glossy ibis. This was showing well in a muddy field that also had an emu wandering around! Then, back to the fish hut to check for the glaucous. Still no sign, so off to Oare for a quick check and maybe an owl or two at dusk.

glossy ibis

The water level at Oare was extremely high and so all the waders were on the tidal mudflats. On the Reserve some superbly plumaged pintail, more wildfowl and geese. On the mud we added avocet, redshank, curlew and lapwing to our day total, before returning to home, arriving back 14 hours after we had set off. A superb day.

pintail drake: Oare Marshes

Species list: (year listers in bold)
black throated diver, black necked grebe, great crested grebe, little grebe, gannet, cormorant, little egret, great white egret, grey heron, glossy ibis, (10 sp) mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, brent goose, shelduck, mallard, gadwall, pintail, shoveler, wigeon, (20 sp) teal, pochard, tufted duck, common scoter, goldeneye, smew, marsh harrier, common buzzard, kestrel, peregrine, (30 sp) pheasant, moorhen, coot, oystercatcher, avocet, lapwing, dunlin, redshank, curlew, black headed gull (40 sp) common gull, mediterranean gull, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, little gull, kittiwake, guillemot, wood pigeon, stock dove, (50 sp)collared dove, green woodpecker, skylark, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, song thrush, mistle thrush, blackbird, (60 sp) cettis warbler, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow, starling, house sparrow, (70 sp)chaffinch, linnet, goldfinch, greenfinch, reed bunting,

Moth News

A few moths have now come to the garden light trap this year; 3 to be precise! Firstly an Early moth on 14.02.14 followed a week later by a Common Quaker and then this morning, a splendid Oak Beauty. The latter was, indeed a surprise as it was very cold, but cloud cover after midnight meant it warmed up somewhat. As usual with oak beauties, they prefer to roost on the actual trap rather than in amongst the egg boxes. Always a good moth to find.

Early Moth

Common Quaker

Oak Beauty

Owl Pellets

The old moat at Hadham Hall

Out at midday today to try and find enough barn owl pellets for a school science day on the skeleton. Managed to find 20, rather soggy ones underneath a regular barn owl roost. Even better was actually finding the pair in their regular tree hole where they have resided for over 3 years.
Also on the tree trunk was a single treecreeper, a year list bird for me. Skylarks and redwings were on the wing but just the solitary overwintering coot on the irrigation lagoon.
A check around Hadham Hall afterwards gave views of the resident moorhens on the old moat to the Tudor hall, but no goldcrests in the conifers within the grounds. A great spotted woodpecker was heard in New Spring Wood, so all in all, a successful half hour.

Distant barn owls

Tree reflections at Hadham Hall

treecreeper

Local Wander 24.02.14

A superb wander this morning in temperatures hitting 14C. Good selection of birds as I walked back from Tescos via Bury Green, Millfield Lane and Hoecroft Lane.
Highlight was undoubtedly this peacock butterfly, seen near the cricket ground in Millfield Lane that has emerged from hibernation in a tree hole or garden shed.. My first butterfly of the year.

1st butterfly of the year

The birds that appeared to be most vociferous were robins, skylarks, yellowhammers along with a good sized party of fieldfare (50+) and a few redwing. Green woodpeckers called and 5 common buzzards were mewing overhead. 2 parties of bullfinches were noted, but their shy and retiring nature meant too difficult to get a worthwhile shot. A group of 12 herring gulls went overhead, whilst wrens, dunnocks, green, gold and chaffinches were also seen.

redwing

robin in good voice

year list update

94. black throated diver
95. great northern diver
96. egyptian goose
97. pintail.
98. eider.
99. red breasted merganser
100. kingfisher.
101 hen harrier.
102. water rail
103. ringed plover
104. knot.
105. green woodpecker
106. twite
107 parrot crossbill.
108 corn bunting.
109 yellowhammer
110. goldcrest.

Leucistic jackdaw. Little Hadham archive 2008

Lifer and year listers in Norfolk

A trip to Norfolk yesterday was a great success, with 93 species seen including a lifer in the form of parrot crossbill. 15 were observed in the clearing at Edgefield just outside Holt. They appeared just I wandered along from the road, feeding in a distant larch and showing well for 10 minutes before dropping down into the bulk of the trees. They reappeared at the top of the tree some 20 minutes later, when I managed these very distant shots.

distant parrot crossbills

Year listers were: black throated diver and great northern diver (Blakeney harbour viewed from Stiffkey Fen) egyptian goose (Holkham, Lady Anne's Drive) pintail, hen harrier, kingfisher, knot, green woodpecker, water rail, eider, red breasted merganser (Titchwell) corn bunting (Choseley drying barns) twite (Stiffkey Fen)  and ringed plover (Arnold's Marsh, Cley)
I started at first light at Thornahm Point, but no owls or twite, so off to Titchwell. From the beach there were in excess of 2000 common scoter, plenty of goldeneye, a solitary male eider east, a few great crested grebe and 4 velvet scoter. Usual fare on the beach, including 200+ golden plover. From the Parrinder Hide a hen harrier put all the lapwings up and pintail were noted for the first time this year. It was now becoming surprisingly warm, so a quick trip to Choseley, where I was greeted by 2 corn bunting and several yellowhammers. Partridges, both red legged and grey seemed to be everywhere before I headed off to Holkham.
Along Lady Anne's Drive were the numerous wigeon and pink foots and a pair of Egyptian geese. A common buzzard overhead made the day list as did feeding starlings.

teal

redshank

little egret

pintail

wren

wigeon

red legged partridge

corn bunting

corn bunting

After Holkham I wandered down to Stiffkey Fen. Reed cutting was taking place, so only geese and wildfowl were on the water, but scoping the harbour I managed both black throated and great northern diver. One particular black throated was showing the white semi circle near the tail very clearly. Also from here, I got dunlin, avocet, goldeneye,, 16 red breasted merganser more pintail, godwits, shelduck etc. Just before I left, I heard the distinct call of twite followed by a flyover party of 5 heading west. Good binocular views showing the pinkish rump nailed the sighting. A bird I haven't seen for a few years.
I then moved along to the tower at Morston, but, amazingly, the scope views were pretty poor due to heat haze!
Off to Cley for a coffee and check at the beach. Still much damage about following the storm surge as shown here.

From here I wandered along the East Bank where there are still huge clumps of reed that have been lifted by the storm and dumped on top of the bank. A ringed plover was amongst many waders on Arnold's Marsh and a fine view of a marsh harrier.

East Bank, Cley

After Cley I popped up to Edgefield, near Holt. I was after the reported parrot crossbills and , having tried twice before I was not expecting any results. As I arrived a party of 4 common crossbills came into view before I heard a larger party. 15 birds alighted in a distant larch. Some very bright red males showed larger bills and were, in general, heavier birds than the previously noted commons. A lifer for me and my first since 2011 when I scored with a western sandpiper at Cley. A few texts were sent before a quick trip to Kelling Heath, where all I noted for the list were several jays and then on to Salthouse beach but no snow buntings. I then decided to head back to Holkham for some geese/sunset photos. The sunset itself was great but the geese were not interested, so a photo of a mallard silhouetted against the reddening sky had to suffice. By now it was gone 5.30 and I had been on the go for 13 hours, so time to return home.
In all, a really good day's birding.

pheasant close up

pink foots at Holkham

mallard

redshanks as the sun sets

  Species list (year listers in bold)

red throated diver, black throated diver, great northern diver, little grebe, great crested grebe, cormorant, little egret, mute swan, pink footed goose, greylag goose, (10 sp)brent goose, canada goose, shelduck, egyptian goose, mallard,  gadwall, pintail, shoveler, wigeon, teal, (20 sp) pochard, tufted duck, eider, common scoter, velver scoter,  goldeneye, red breasted merganser, marsh harrier, hen harrier, common buzzard, (30 sp) sparrowhawk, red legged partridge, grey partridge, pheasant, water rail,  moorhen, coot, oystercatcher, avocet, ringed plover, (40 sp) grey plover, golden plover, lapwing, knot, sanderling, turnstone, dunlin, redshank, black tailed godwit, bar tailed godwit, (50 sp)curlew, ruff, black headed gull, herring gull, common gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, wood pigeon, stock dove, collared dove,(60 sp) kingfisher, green woodpecker, skylark, meadow pipit, pied wagtail, wren, dunnock, robin, song thrush, blackbird, (70 sp) cetti's warbler, goldcrest, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, magpie, jay, rook, carrion crow, jackdaw, (80 sp)starling, house sparrow, chaffinch, linnet, twite, goldfinch, greenfinch, siskin, common crossbill, parrot crossbill, (90 sp) reed bunting, yellowhammer, corn bunting

Considering no grey heron, winter thrushes, kestrel, auks, gannets, kittiwakes, skuas etc I was very close to the hundred mark for the day!

greylags in evening light

Holkham sunset

Village round up

A few walks over the last 10 days or so have realised very little apart from a few expected year listers around the village: goldcrest and yellowhammer. The former too fast for the camera on one of many grey and overcast days. A walk all the way to the irrigation lagoon gave up a solitary coot! Plenty of common gulls around on the polo fields and golf club, but very small numbers of winter thrushes, with a party of 30 fieldfare and 15 redwing being the best around at present. Several red kite and a walk from town to home last Sunday gave great views of 6 common buzzards.

coot

yellowhammer

goldfinch

goldfinch

great tit

blue tit

A check on local wild flowers came up with a few aconites and the dog mercury in grass verges along Ford Hill. See top of post.

Year list update;

58. red throated diver
59. little grebe
60. glossy ibis
61. pink footed goose
62. greylag goose
63. brent goose
64. shelduck
65. teal
66. common scoter
67. velvet scoter
68. long tailed duck
69. goldeneye

willow warbler (archive 2010)

70. marsh harrier
71. oystercatcher
72. avocet
73. grey plover
74. golden plover
75. sanderling
76. turnstone.
77. dunlin
78. redshank.
79. black tailed godwit
80. bar tailed godwit

green woodpecker (archive 2010)

81. curlew
82. woodcock
83. ruff
84. lesser black backed gull
85. greater black backed gull.
86. barn owl.
87. meadow pipit.
88. cetti's warbler
89. brambling.
90. siskin
91. sparrow hawk
92. peregrine
93.bearded tit

treecreeper (archive 2010)

Amwell visit 01.02.14

Morning visit to Amwell in bright conditions and, at last, some sun. A peregrine was noted, high above 3 buzzards but no sign of the redpolls or marsh tits at the feeder. A sparrowhawk had whizzed through just before I arrived so, consequently, most birds were hiding.
A bearded tit had been reported at the viewing point and after 15 minutes was seen on several occasions, flitting from one reedbed to the next. Apart from the regular residents there was not too much about. 20+ siskins in the alders and a distant female goldeneye were other highlights.


siskin



moorhen

siskin

siskin

cormorant with a fine mohican

long tailed tit.

Year listers; sparrow hawk, bearded tit, siskin, peregrine. This takes my total for 2014 to 93 species.