Stour Estuary

It seems ages ago that Dad and I went on the Stour Estuary. In fact it was the 5th January. Anyway, we had a great day, and I collected 18 new species for the year making my total 103. When we got onto the boat and got rolling, it was very misty, but the birding day started. We started off with plenty of Goldeneye and Red-breasted Mergansers.

We then got a lot of Brent Geese

We then passed a group of Pintail and Wigeon, with a few Teal

Plenty of Great-crested Grebes roamed the estuary

We then spotted a delightful Shag

We then got 5 Eider in Holbrook Bay, the first sightings in about 10 years, but were only viewable through a scope. A bit further on though, a group of Goldeneye took up from the side of the boat, and a female Long-tailed Duck was amongst them. Very fleetingly, we got a view through bins, but it was soon past the boat. We had an Egyptian Goose fly past the boat too.

We also got plenty of waders like Turnstones....

And Black-tailed Godwits with some Bar-tails too, but his is a Black-tail.

We then came into Harwich Harbour, and the raptor spotter saw a Peregrine distantly on a blue crane....

Still got to post about the Barton Broad and Hickling Broad trip, plus the Thetford Area trip that was yesterday so keep posted. If you can't wait then look at the Daily Sightings page. Happy Birding.