Volunteering at Minsmere - 18th January 2015

Last Sunday, I was volunteering at Minsmere for the day, and was really lucky to spend the day with a lady called Davene and her husband Steve.

We started off at Bittern Hide, where the lake was still frozen and there was a definite chill in the air. A single Mute Swan was resting on the only part of flowing water, but apart from that there was nothing. However, the sudden pinging of Bearded Tits alerted us to group of 9 in the far corner of the lake. Then, a Bittern flew in, but landed out of sight, followed by the first 3 Marsh Harriers of the day. A Sparrowhawk then came into view and sat in a tree near the Bearded Tits. Obviously, one bird was too busy feeding, and it was taken by the Sparrowhawk. How sad.... Here are some shots of the live birds!!!

Island Mere produced 3 Otters, another Bittern but no sign of the 2 Whooper Swans that were reported the previous day. Marsh Harriers were showing well, and there were some cracking Snipe in front of the hide however - I counted 8 in total. Also, the Teal were looking rather dapper!

The scrape in the afternoon held 2 Med Gull, the redhead Smew (not seen by me) but nothing else of note. I must say the cake in the visitor centre is lush!

In brief, had 1 female Goshawk and 8 Woodlark in an undisclosed site in the brecks, and a cracking Red Kite elsewhere on Sunday with our good friend David Walsh!

Happy Birding!

Landguard

Dad and I went to Landguard in the afternoon. Highlights were Ring Ouzel, Whinchat, Wheatear, Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter, Reed Warbler and Redwing. Full update and pictures coming soon.

Broken 200!!!!!

READ THIS POST BEFORE POST ABOVE!

I have been so busy because it is School Holidays with so many Golf Tournaments. I have been having about 4 a week!!! Since our Isle of Mull visit, we have only been out birding twice, and that was at Lackford and Minsmere. Before both of them visits, I had a walk around Cretingham Golf Club - one of my golf clubs - without playing on it (LOL) taking pictures of the wildlife around the course. Well, here you go....

Black-tailed Skimmer

Comma

I think this is a Four-spotted Chaser?

I think this is a Small Heath

And I think this a Small Heath

About a week after these photos were taken, about 5 Broad-bodied Chasers were taking residence on the 16th hole pond.

On the 24th July, dad and I were both playing golf round Cretingham, and we found a Wood Sandpiper on one of the biggest ponds. This was and incredible sighting, which bought my year list to 198. This bird only stayed for a day.

On the 31st July, Dad and I went to Lackford Lakes. We got Common Tern, Kingfisher, Sparrowhawk, Stoat plus many more.

Kingfisher - Skip the first minute of this video or you'll get bored!

Sparrowhawk

Green Sandpiper

Emerald Damselfly

Common Tern

Then, on the 1st August, Dad and I headed to Minsmere with my 10 times better camera. We got 4 new species for the year, which were Sandwich Tern, Greenshank, Little Gull and Curlew Sandpiper.

The Pictures will be on the post after this one. Scroll up to the next post.

Incredible and Amazing!

After looking on Rare Bird Alert at 1:10pm, it said that there were 18 Waxwings in Stowmarket in the Cedars Estate. That is a minutes drive away from us. I told dad, and he agreed to go down with me to see if they were there. Boy were they! Enjoy the photo stream!

12 of them!

Probably the best one!

A bit blurred!

A Video of them feeding!

After 5 minutes, we drove back home, and got mum to bring her (better) camera to take some pics. When we got there, they were still there, but not showing as close as before. But hey, still some great pics from mum! As I say, these are what mum took....

Good aren't they?

Other birds about in the garden today was the sparrowhawk again briefly, with a Coal Tit too...

You never know, the waxwings might come into the garden as were so close. I'll let you know if they do. Off on a boat trip on the Stour Estuary RSPB tomorrow, so hopefully some good birds can show as they did last year - we saw Red-necked Grebe and Black-throated Diver last year!

Happy Birding!

A Birthday, Coal Tits, Lynford Arboretum, 4 Possible Rarities plus a Cley Visit

I really need to take posting more seriously. It has been I think 4 weeks since my last post. I'm sorry ;(

I shall run through the title as in order so here goes...
You may have gathered that it was my birthday, on the 13th November, but unfortunately it was on a school day. I didn't go birdwatching until the weekend so I'll get to that in a minute. First though, its the invasion of Coal Tits in our garden. They are daily now, and sometimes, there are more than one of them.

Coal Tit in the Garden

Now, its the trip to Lynford Arboretum. Enjoy the pics and videos!

Nuthatches feeding

with a pair of Jays

And then a flock of about 15 Lesser Redpoll!

A Marsh Tit

And brief views of a Firecrest!

We did not see the reports of 2 Waxwings in the Arboretum though which was a shame. Here are some of dads pics....

Some of the Lesser Redpoll

And a striking male Bullfinch

Moving on, and on Thursday lunchtime at school, I was playing football with the lads when I saw 4 massive birds flying overhead. I raced to get a better look, and they were Stork shaped birds. When I got home, I went straight onto rare bird alert, and no-one had put in a report of Cranes / Storks going over Bacton. So that was a miss. I still haven't got a clue what they were. They weren't Swans, and I don't think they were geese? 

Now, it was a visit to Cley on the Saturday just gone....

Brent Geese on Arnolds Marsh

with a Little Egret

and some handsome Widgeon

 We then moved on to Salthouse, where the big shock of the day came....

Turnstones with a Common Gull on the beach

1 of 2 Common Seals

Plus a flock of thousands of geese, Containing a Richardson's Canada Goose!

We were fortunate enough to get a group of about 50 Canada Geese come in and land near Gramborough Hill, and I was scanning when I found the smaller Richardson's walk in front of a common Canada. It was amazing to see. My best bird ever!

A quick mention, this was in the garden Sunday lunch...

A Sparrowhawk with its kill

Happy Birding

Little Things!

Since my last post, there has been a lot of signs of winter coming in. Yesterday, I was treated to go up to Manchester and watch Manchester United play Stoke. I am a Man U nut, and we go up to see the red devils play about once a year. The final score was 4-2 to us, and we thoroughly deserved it. But we had organised this trip earlier this season, and we had booked to go on the Man U Galloway Bus to Old Trafford. We went with our friends, and had a delightful day. It was an early start to the day so a bit of sleeping was needed on the bus, but we did see a great Buzzard perched on a shallow post in a field on the road side, and also a few Jays, a Kestrel and more unsurprisingly, a Red Kite. While waiting for the bus to arrive in Coddenham, about 50 Redwing's were flying about the car park, quite extraordinary that the birds have come this far in land. Even better, 2 Redwings were flying over the house on Thursday, so that was great to see. A Sparrowhawk drifted through the close this morning, but disappearing.

Happy Birding.

A Big Migration!

You would not believe the amount of Homework I am getting now that I'm in Year 8, its about 2 bits a day! This is why the Blog has been quiet. A lot to mention so I'll get on with it.

Some time ago, Mum was here on her own and got this having it's lunch on the garden!

Sparrowhawk

A pair of Yellow Wagtails over Bacton on Monday was a nice sight, and plenty of Jays around home and school - sightings probably reaching 15! 2 Sightings of the Great Spotted Woodpecker on Wednesday and Thursday. The Chiffchaff is still about but not so regular. A Skylark was over the bus stop also on Thursday, and the Coal Tit put in an appearance...

Past Picture of a Coal Tit in the Garden

An incredible surprise at Cretingham today was a flock of 5 Redwings seen several times going round the golf course with their bell like trill. The first for the autumn. Other birds of note included a Buzzard, a Jay, a Kingfisher, a Long-tailed Tit flock, Bullfinch, Kestrel and Goldcrest, plus several Chiffchaff. 

Going to Norfolk coast for a Birdwatching trip onto the coast, hopefully picking up some lifers. Only things that I think are about are a possible Blyth's Reed Warbler at Titchwell, Caspian Gull at Cley, and a Pectoral Sandpiper at Kelling. Anything else please let me no before tomorrow morning, thanks a lot.

Happy Birding.

Jays out of the Window

Just a quick update was that on Wednesday morning, on the school bus, we were driving and I spotted 17 Jays come out of 2 trees. I couldn't believe it, just counting them as they came out.

Another interesting fact that a Collard Dove egg shell was sitting on our path, I looked up, and a Collard Dove was sitting on the satellite dish on a nest.

A bit late in the year surely

The Chiffchaff is still lurking near the bus-top now, and a sparrowhawk is putting in a regular appearance too. A Jay at the bus-top this morning, flying about and eventually landing in our garden, incredible.