Round up from last weekend

Last Friday I set off from home at 4.50a.m. for a day's birding in Kent, before arriving in Sidcup to give an illustrated talk on The Camargue to the local RSPB group.
However, as I crossed the Dartford Bridge it was clear that the weather was going to be most unfavourable. I arrived at Stodmarsh Reserve, some 5 miles outside Canterbury at first light to be greeted with cold winds and thick fog. A short walk allowed me to hear reed bunting, water rail, lapwing, cetti's warbler and bullfinch whilst a hazy view of common birds such as chaffinch, great tit and wood pigeon. I packed up and went for breakfast. The weather did change........ for the worse. It began raining so off to Oare Marshes in the fog. Here redshanks called on the estuary and greylags, coot, canada geese, pochards etc could be seen on the reserve. I then headed off to Cliffe RSPB reserve but by now the rain was heavy and I was getting wet, so off to find the venue, have some tea and give the talk.

Stodmarsh Reserve. Great birding!!

 

 

Saturday found me checking Amwell Reserve in the late afternoon. Usual suspects, cormorants, grey heron, lesser black backed gulls, tufted , wigeon etc. This LBBG showed a ring but the fading light meant I was unable to read it accurately. In all, not the best 2 birding sessions this year.

Ringed lesser black backed gull

A few more moths

satellite moth. Note tiny white spots around the larger kidney spot. This resembles a satellite around a planet.

pale brindled beauty

A little more successful on the moth front last night. Surprisingly an, as yet unidentified plume moth, first satellite of the year along with several March moths and 2 pale brindled beauties. Still a disappointing return, but it does represent the best return for 2013!

Micro moth now identified as moth 1497: Amblyptilia acanthadactyla, beautiful plume. Only plume moth to be on the wing throughout the whole year, with over 300 records for Hertfordshire. Unfortunately, died whilst in pot and rolled up too tight for a worthwhile photo.

Moths, at last!

After a glorious day, where temperatures reached 15C, I was anticipating a good haul of moths. Several micros flew past the trap but weren't enticed to stop. One did and awaits identification. Apart from these, disappointingly, just 4 March moths were taken, one shown here. Hopefully, the warmer nights will continue and the expected early spring species will appear over the next few nights.

March moth
 

The micro moth is thought to be Acleris heracliana, a common moth that flies throughout winter. However, this is a rather worn example and consequently, difficult to identify but the white spots on the forewing do point to it being this particular species.

 

Acleris heracliana

 

 

 





2nd Norfolk Day

My 2nd non birding day of the weekend break found me squeezing in a few early hours at Cley. A glorious barn owl greeted my arrival at the reserve, posing well, if a little distant before carrying on hunting. This was just before 8a.m.

Cley barn owl

barn owl

 

At the beach car park the purple sandpiper, present now for a fortnight, was still in situ at the large puddle on the Eye Field.

distant purple sandpiper

 

Other noteworthy birds from the morning were a splendid sparrow hawk from Daukes Hide, a marsh harrier, plenty of waders and gulls with 50+ avocets. A water rail scurried from a reedbed to another, too fast for the camera. A flight sequence of the sparrow hawk below, plus a wandering drake teal.

sparrow hawk

coming in to land

landing

teal

 

After this, we packed the car and popped to Salthouse beach car park so Wendy could see the confiding turnstones. Mingling with them were snow buntings. I was about to text fellow birders, Therese and Stuart that the buntings were on show when I realised that they were standing 3 yards away. They went off to successfully find the purple sandpiper, a lifer for them. Good stuff.

On the way home I added woodcock to the list, totalling 83 species for the whole 2 days non birding. This "non birding" phrase is a little misleading but basically it refers to the fact that I spend only a few hours maximum, birding and the rest of the time I am out enjoying a walk, meal, pint etc with Wendy. However, when out for a walk, I take binoculars and camera, but leave the scope, tripod etc at home. All photos are walk by shootings, with the only stop to get a photo was for the previous day's goldcrest.

snow bunting

turnstone at Salthouse beach car park

turnstones and snow bunting

Non Birding walk

A weekend in Norfolk, arriving last night. This morning a quick check on Cley beach where a long tailed duck was still on the River Glaven. Arnold's Marsh gave views of a year lister, a greenshank whilst a high hen harrier was watched drifting west. A coffee at NWT HQ and then a drive to Burnham Overy Staithe where we set off for a wander along the coastal footpath to Wells via the Holkham tearooms.

bar tailed godwit at Wells harbour

Burnham Overy Staithe beach view.

Wells harbour, brent geese

curlew, Wells harbour

 Brent geese, godwits, curlew and redshank were noted in the salt marsh whilst common gulls populated the beach towards Holkham Gap and Paradise beach. A wander up to the Victoria for a pint was worthless as the hotel is closed until May, so a coffee had to suffice. Back on the track a goldcrest, year lister #132 was photographed before we arrived at Wells harbour.

highly mobile goldcrest. Over 20 photos, all but these 2 missed the bird!

goldcrest

little egret

redshank in its element

skylark on path from Burnham Overy Staithe

 Loads of ringed plover, ruff, 4 bar tailed godwits, grey plovers etc were noted before #133 was seen: a black redstart near the Harbour Master's office. Several pints of Nelson's Revenge at The Edinburgh before a bus back to the car and a drive back to The Old Bakery, Salthouse. Our superb hideaway for the weekend. Tonight, a meal at Crofters in Sheringham, an Austrian based restaurant.
A quick count up gives 71 species for the day. Not too bad for a non birding day.
Finally, for comparison. Firstly a high silhouette of the hen harrier seen high over Cley, and secondly, a photo, also taken at Cley of a marsh harrier. Note the "fingers" or primary feathers at the wing tip. Hen harrier frequently shows 4 whilst the marsh shows 5. Good id guide for silhouetted harriers.

hen harrier

hen harrier

 

marsh harrier

Amwell and Bramfield

A morning visit to Amwell gave the usual suspects, plus a pair of pintails that are not a regular sight here. Plenty of lapwing, gadwall, shoveler, several teal and plenty of grey herons and little egrets. Having spent a while here, I thought it would be good to pop up to Bramfield village, where several hawfinches have overwintered in and around the churchyard.
I arrived to find several birders on site, nothing in the churchyard, but wandering along the lane past the post box I got good but distant views of at least 3 in conifers that were in the backgarden of the Old Rectory. Too far away for any worthwhile shot, but good to see both male and female birds. A lone nuthatch was the only photo of the morning.
The hawfinch takes my year list to 130sp.

Year List

great white egret, Dungeness

Siskin, Amwell

tree sparrow and reed bunting, Dungeness

tawny owl, Little Hadham

Ones in red are ones I missed out on in 2012.
Thought it about time to list birds seen this year. A good start to 2013 without seeing anything hugely uncommon. Total far in excess of last year's by this time.
great crested grebe, cormorant, grey heron, mute swan, greylag goose, canada goose, mallard, gadwall, shoveler, teal (10sp) wigeon, pochard, tufted duck, scaup, goldeneye, smew, red kite, common buzzard, kestrel, moorhen (20 sp) coot, lapwing, black headed gull, common gull, herring gull, lesser black backed gull, greater black backed gull, collared dove, wood pigeon, dunnock (30sp) robin, blackbird, great tit, blue tit, long tailed tit, jay, magpie, jackdaw, rook, carrion crow (40 sp) house sparrow, starling, chaffinch, goldfinch, siskin, reed bunting, waxwing, fieldfare, redwing, pied wagtail (50 sp) egyptian goose, great spotted woodpecker, treecreeper, mistle thrush, wren, bullfinch, red legged partridge, yellowhammer, stock dove, pheasant (60sp) green woodpecker, nuthatch, marsh tit, song thrush, tawny owl, little grebe, barn owl, little owl, woodcock, sparrowhawk (70 sp) coal tit, little egret, red throated diver, guillemot, razorbill, common scoter, gannet, kittiwake, brent goose, turnstone (80 sp) great northern diver, tree sparrow, oystercatcher, shelduck, pintail, cetti's warbler, stonechat, marsh harrier, snipe, great white egret (90 sp) water rail, dunlin, golden plover, snow bunting, dartford warbler, linnet, greenfinch, redshank, ring necked parakeet, ringed plover (100 sp) pink footed goose, chiffchaff, lesser redpoll, meadow pipit, grey partridge, great grey shrike, merlin, caspian gull, green sandpiper, skylark (110 sp) grey wagtail, brambling, little stint, fulmar, curlew, spotted redshank, black tailed godwit, bar tailed godwit, knot, whooper swan,  (120 sp) sanderling, grey plover, avocet, ruff, corn bunting, long tailed duck, purple sandpiper, shore lark, hen harrier.

Therfield Heath

An early start found me at the Prince Of Wales for Gary before 7a.m. A short drive to Therfield Heath, parking at Royston rugby club before a wander up to the Icknield Way to try and photo the Great Grey Shrike. Kestrel, common buzzard and mistle thrush noted as we walked up the slopes. After a half hour fruitless search, we heard great tit alarm calls and turned round to find the GGS at the top of a tree. Some record shots before it flew off to alight on the power lines. After this it disappeared into a thick hedge and out of view. A few shots here, distant and in poor light.

 

 

 

Other birds of note were common buzzard (2+,) a  very distant circling red kite (photo 4 looking toward Duckpuddle Farm) a distant hen harrier over conifers at Grey's Farm, a solitary brambling over and good numbers of chaffinches, yellowhammers, black headed gulls and winter thrushes, predominantly fieldfares, goldfinches, a flock of 75+ linnets and a couple of wrens.
A great start to a Friday, albeit cold. A hot coffee at the Silver Ball cafe on the A10 brought feeling back to hands and faces.

Another moth

After an exceptionally warm day, a very cold and frosty night meant I had little expectation of finding any moths at the trap. However, this rather uninspiring (both in colour and name) Early moth was discovered.
Today has been even sunnier and warmer so maybe some emerging moths. However, the temperature has once again dropped markedly, so it may well mean they will not be on the wing and attracted to the garden light trap.

A Norfolk Day

A 5a.m. start for a whole day birding in Norfolk. No particular plan, just a wander and see what was about. In all a pleasing 87 species were recorded for the day and whilst nothing was stunning there was plenty that made it more than worthwhile.


Hunstanton Dawn

Hunstanton common gull on a frosty morning

A 7.00a.m. start to proceedings at Hunstanton Cliffs gave a good view of a common gull (above) along with a quick shot of an out to sea fulmar as well as land based birds such as goldfinches, pied wagtails and a selection of gulls.

Spot the black headed gull

knot and sanderling

Knot (and sanderling)

Knot

Sanderling

brambling

early morning Titchwell

A short drive found me as the only person at Titchwell RSPB  reserve. Super birds were seen, including: water rail, brambling (below) siskin, a surprise little stint mingling with dunlin west of the footpath, spotted redshanks. However, upon reaching the beach I primarily noted the smell of rotting shellfish! Millions of razorshells had been washed up in a strong tide and now, cleaned by gulls were rotting away, much to the pleasure of 1000's of knots, 100's sanderlings and 10's of turnstones.
A jay was also witnessed balancing upon the feeders near the visitors' centre

jay on feeder

However, the highlight for me was coming across a fairly common bird that offered an opportunity for a reasonable snap. A spotted redshank with reflections, courtesy of the good light.

Spotted redshank

same bird




redshank for comparison. Note short bill.
 

Having covered most of Titchwell Reserve, adding whooper swan, black tailed godwit, 30+ avocets, ruff, a single guillemot (distant over the sea) pintail, grey plover etc, I left for Choseley drying barns. Here, 12 corn buntings, numerous house sparrows, yellowhammers and chaffinches were noted before a quick stop at Holkham for Great spotted woodpecker and another spotted redshank.
Then onto Cley, where I renewed my membership and enjoyed some pastry in the shape of a Cornish pasty along with the obligatory double espresso. On the reserve I noted a few new birds for the day (pochard, bar tailed godwit, marsh harrier and starling) before a walk along the East Bank to Arnold's. Here were plenty of waders with ringed plover being a new one for the day. A little grebe was also noted in a drain ditch. However, some good opportunities to photo a little egret were on offer, if you didn't mind crawling through reeds!

Then, on to the car park where a purple sandpiper was feeding near the Eye Pool. I have never seen one of these feeding in a field, its usual habitat being rocks close to breaking waves. Whilst here, I popped up on to the sea defence to check towards Blakeney and found a long tailed duck in one of the channels. At this point I met a few folk who had been to some of my RSPB  talks, so good to catch up with them.
After this, I whizzed around to Salthouse beach car park. The regular turnstones didn't move for anybody, offering close up photos. Whilst here, I also recorded a flock of mobile snow bunting and over the dunes, a single shore lark, heading towards the Muckleborough collection and Weybourne.

confiding turnstone

late afternoon looking back towards Salthouse

After this, with light fading, I thought a quick wander around Kelling Heath would give up a few birds. A dartford warbler was heard whilst kestrel, fieldfare and redwing were added to the list.
A super day.

Kelling Heath sunset
 

Finally, a few random photos of other birds where the photos worked. Good for folk who are trying to sort out tricky waders in flight, plus a few extras.

mainly golden plovers

What can you see here?

Not too friendly!