Catching Up!

Really sorry about the delay of blog updates. I shall start off when we all went to the Tesco in Stowmarket on the 19th April to see the wagtail roost, as up-to 3 of each Yellow and White had been included with the Pieds. We waited about 10 minutes, and in they came. We immediately spotted a Yellow Wagtail fairly close to the van. A couple of White Wagtails stayed distant.

We all then headed for a bit of local birding on Sunday, going to Bosmere and Alderson Lakes. The Great-crested Grebe was on the nest, and I have also found a Canada Goose and Blue Tit nest which seem active, so I'll keep an eye on them. Wildlife at Bosmere included 

Chiffchaff, 

Blackcap (new for the year),  

Treecreeper, 

2 Tufted Duck, 

2 Great-crested Grebe, 

Peacock Butterfly, 

House Martin, 

Grey Heron,

Sparrowhawk

Green Woodpecker

Goldcrest

Jay

A shy but vocal Blackcap

Chiffchaff

Chiffchaff

Jay

We then went to Alderson Lake, and we saw;

Willow Warbler x 4

Tufted Duck x 2

Great-crested Grebe x 2

Blackcap

There has been a vocal Lesser Whitethroat near my bustop for about 3 days now every morning when I get the bus, but I haven't had the chance to see it. So I went to go and see if I could find it this evening. I got decent views when it came out into the open, but not good enough views for a pic. Got Common Whitethroat this morning by the other bus top with my first Swift flying over.

Happy Birding!

Signs Of Winter

Sorry for not getting a blog post out, but here it is. I will make it sharp, so I better get on with it!

I was shell-shocked that my ears weren't being funny, but believe it or not, a Common Crossbill flew over the front yesterday, making its chip call. This is a first for the area in my times, so that's made me chuffed. Another regular visitor into the Garden this morning and yesterday has been 2 or 3 Coal Tits...

When I wrote this post, we had just came back from a long awaited Patch visit to Bosmere, and we had a very good session. I am going to show as many pictures of the stuff we saw as possible.

The Pair of Resident G C Grebes

One of about 60 Long-tailed Tits around the patch today

My first Tufted Ducks of the Winter

Plenty of Black-headed Gulls

An interesting fungus on the tree

The view of Bosmere Lake

Some of the really good sightings around Bosmere that weren't photographed was my first Grey Heron at Bosmere in the tree tops, then flew over mums and mines heads, and a Goldcrest amongst the Long-tailed Tits. Also, a Green Woodpecker was heard yaffling in the wood, and also my first few Fieldfares of Bosmere, but no Redwings yet. Now I didn't put on the blog about our very late nesting Collard Doves, that nested in September! I have a picture of when they were in the nest...

Well, here he is now!

Hopefully going out to the Norfolk Coast on Wednesday weather permitting, so we will hopefully catch some rares.

Happy Birding!

Weekly Catch Up

Because of the summer holidays, golf competitions have been flying out of the roof, so even on golf courses, some interesting wildlife can be viewed. We started off on Saturday, with a monthly medal at Cretingham Golf Club, which was Kingfisher full. I have seen these key fisherman before here, but not recently. We saw about 3 Kingfishers flying around ponds and over fairways. That was mainly it for that competition, which was made even better when I got a cut from 23,to 20, this being my handicap. As you may have gathered, I was quite a bit under my handicap (-4 to be exact).

The next competion was on Sunday, and it was a 9 hole course at Stonham Barns. I didn't play brilliant, but I went round in 37, with par being 29. My best round this course is about 32, so with a round like that, I would have won it. A nice sight though was a pair of Redpoll, mixed in with some Linnet, and Green Woodpecker families too.

On Monday, I was at Purdiss Golf Club, and another Kingfisher sparkled my round, but I still didn't play very well. Then, Tuesday was back at Stowmarket, and with the local Buzzard taking to the wing, it scared most of the other birds away. Another couple of Kingfisher at Ufford on Wednesday, and Rushmere produced plenty of Linnets and 2 more Buzzards. The next 4 days were all at Stowmarket, and a summary were Green Woodpecker, Buzzard, Linnet and Kestrel. In two of these rounds, I came in the top 5, incredible.

I took Mum to the patch on Thursday, and the Great-crested Grebe pair have still got their 3 young, followed by plenty of Black-headed Gulls.

Great-crested Grebe with young

Treecreeper

A few patch ticks were a Goldcrest, and 2 Treecreeper. We spent a bit of time looking for the Banded Damoseille too, and here's what I got.

Male Banded Damoseille

The last little thing is recently, I have been collecting egg shells, no, not eggs, just the shells. I have got 2 in my collection so far, one being a Woodpigeons, and the other one I need some help on readers. This ones the pigeons...

Quite glossy, a bit fatter than the other shell

Here's the other one, possibly a Collard Dove?

Please comment your suggestions. Thank you.

The day before this post was written, Dad and I went to Minsmere, so have a look at that to see how we got on, in a couple of days time. Happy Birding.

Nightjar, Rare Garden Visitors and a Patch Visit

Part 1
Because of me writing our Mull Diary, a lot of birding events for me have taken place recently, (the title of this post says it all). On the 22nd June, we went to Westleton Heath - near Minsmere RSPB - on a guided Nightjar walk. The weather held out for us, but the perfect Nightjar weather was just lacking. It was clear, a bit breezy, but no rain. We started by standing in a clearing waiting for a Nightjar to fly over, because apparently they fly over, and perch on a certain stick. After 10 minutes of waiting, the first Nightjar churred way in the distance, and then another one in a different direction, but still no near-by  birds. We headed on after 20 minutes or so, and we walked through some woodland to where one of the birds was churring. Stopping every minute or so, just checking for any churring birds. We got a path that headed on through a line of trees, bearing in mind it is dark. 50 yards before we stopped, a male Nightjar churred extremely close in the line of trees, but no showing. Moving that 50 yards closer, we got extremely close to it, but could we see it, no. Then, I spotted it sitting dead still on a branch, about 15 yards away from us. Every 8 people saw it in our group, and this picture follows. Its not the best, but the circle shows where it is......

Part 2

The next part is about our rare garden visitors, and for us this is a migrant if you want to put it that way, but these birds are really quite common, you may even get these in your own garden, but we don't, until a few days ago, and even right this minute.

We have lived where we live for about 10 years, and we have never had a Great-spotted Woodpecker - I've just given it away - in our garden. The closest was about 2 years ago, when we had one on a telegraph pole near our house, and actually the very first day of this year, as there was one flew over our house. Now, well, check it out.......

Its my Mum washing up you can here!

Here are some pics too......

We have had 2 more rarities in our garden, Coal Tits, and Long-tailed Tits. This winter, we had both Coal and Long-tailed Tits in our garden regularly, but died down in the spring and early this summer. Enjoy the following video. Unfortunately, no Coal Tits were photographed at this time.....

Long-tailed Tit in Garden Trees

Part 3

The Final Part is about my Patch Visit with my Dad on Sunday, and a few patch ticks included Green Woodpecker, Jay, and Common Tern. The video is brief, but it clearly shows that this Tern, and it was hunting over the lake, but soon disappeared over the trees. This is probably one of the same birds that was at Needham Lakes earlier this year. Other birds for note were Whitethroat, Blackcap, Moorhen, and Chiffchaff. Also, the local Reed Warblers were getting into high single figures around the lake, with plenty of sightings, including the pic. The Great-crested Grebe pair are now having their second brood, with the first brood raising 4 chicks, which have all left the lake.

Reed Warbler

Great-crested Grebe on nest

Common Tern