Minsmere and Westleton

As its half term, I have been able to do lots of birding. On Monday, Dad and I went to Minsmere. We started off at North Hide. We got the usual ducks, but no Pintails. We also got Dunlin, Cetti's Warbler, Oystercatcher, Marsh Harriers and common passerines. We then spotted one of the Redhead Smews. It wasn't distant, but the light was poor, as a result of this poor picture.

We then went out to look onto the sea, and got around 30 Red-throated Divers, and a Guillemot which was a welcome fly-past. Public Hide produced another Redhead Smew and a Goldeneye showing well, but this pic was taken with my little camera, so it looks distant in the photo, but it was only about 60 yards away....

We then went back to the visitor center to have lunch, and I had Prawn Mayonnaise Jacket. Absolutely gorgeous. We then headed out to Bittern Hide. Not much in there, apart from a distant Kingfisher and another Marsh Harrier. We then went on to Island Mere, and got Snipe, Otter and a flypast Bittern.

Final stop was at Westleton Heath, where we got a brief Dartford Warbler on the top of the heather before it flew off. Not a bad day. Better than going to school hey!

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