An Afternoons Birding!

Dad and I went to do some birding along the River Orwell and in that area. We started off at Alton Water. We got nothing here apart from a pair of Goldeneye and Great-crested Grebes from the Sailing Club and Lemon's Hill Bridge. We then went to Whearstead Strand. From the layby, didn't get nothing exciting at low tide, apart from common wader species (Oystercatcher, Redshank and Dunlin). We then went to Freston Marina. Here we got Turnstone, Curlew, Both Godwits, Pintail, Dunlin, Redshank, Oystercatcher, Shelduck and G-C Grebes... I had my little camera, as the quality of the pictures....

We then went to Shotley. We got a flock of Brent Geese, 2 Shag on the roadside and an adult Med Gull, the latter 2 self found!!!!

Happy Birding

55 species - not a bad start to 2014

Missed out on the action on New Years Day, because:

1. The weather was atrocious
2. Dad's van has conked out - the van isn't moving anywhere.

However, Dad has just come back with a hire van to get us out and about for the rest of the school holidays - yipeeeeeeeeeee very pleased.

New Years Day bought 16 species to our garden, so it was a steady start to 2014. But yesterday, Mum, Dad and I went to Alton Water, to see if we could crank up the year list further. We got 55 species, the highlights being Goosander, Goldeneye and a Barnacle Goose? Probably an escape.....

I reckon there was about 60 Great-crested Grebes on the reservoir.

 Plenty of Greylag Geese at The Wonder - this was were the Barnacle Goose was.

A Heron flew over Larchwood

Several Little Grebe were present.

The darker duck on the left I think is a female Pochard, but the the Mallard on the right shows the darkness in contrast between the duck on the left. Possibly a hybrid, or a Pochard????? Poor picture I know.

These were definite Pochards around The Wonder, lingering with the Coots.

A Shelduck was a nice surprise at the Sailing Club.

Several Tufted Duck were present around the reservoir

And Mum hit the Jackpot with a sunlight on water picture. What a range of colours.

Finally, plenty of Wigeon were present to, especially at Larchwood.

Here's how 2014 has gone so far.....

1. Collard Dove
2. Woodpigeon
3. Black-headed Gull
4. Blue Tit
5. Great Tit
6. Common Gull
7. Herring Gull
8. Greenfinch
9. Goldfinch
10. Rook
11. Jackdaw
12. Carrion Crow
13. Starling
14. House Sparrow
15. Chaffinch
16. Robin
17. Magpie
18. Song Thrush
19. Blackbird
20. Mallard
21. Cormorant
22. Pied Wagtail
23. Red-legged Partridge
24. Kestrel
25. Pheasant
26. Great-crested Grebe
27. Coot
28. Moorhen
29. Great Black-backed Gull
30. Lesser Black-backed Gull
31. Tufted Duck
32. Goldeneye
33. Teal
34. Greylag Goose
35. Barnacle Goose
36. Little Grebe
37. Rock Dove (feral pigeon)
38. Pochard
39. Gadwall
40. Long-tailed Tits
41. Wigeon
42. Coal Tit
43. Siskin
44. Goldcrest
45. Lesser Redpoll
46. Bullfinch
47. Yellowhammer
48. Treecreeper
49. Redwing
50. Dunnock
51. Wren
52. Goosander
53. Jay
54. Heron
55. Mute Swan

Not a bad day. Hoping to go out on Sunday, now that we have a new van (it's a heap of junk really). At least we have some wheels to move about in.

Happy Birding and Happy New Year!

Dad's Week of Birding plus Another Great Day!

First I'll start with Dad's birding days on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, because I'm at school and Mums at work, Dad went on his own to The Strand. He went to look for either the Long-tailed Duck or the Velvet Scoter. He couldn't locate the Long-tailed Duck, but after a bit of searching at Freston at the Stoke Sailing Club, he found the female Velvet Scoter...

Digiscoped Velvet Scoter at Freston

On Tuesday, he visited Lackford Lakes. He saw Goosander, Goldeneye, Snipe, Goldcrest and Bullfinch. Here are some of his pics, all digiscoped...

Drake Goldeneye

One of about 4 Snipe

And some Goosanders

Moving on, yesterday (Sunday 23rd), we went to visit The Strand, and Alton Water. We first went to the Strand, to look for the two scarce Ducks that Dad came down here to see. Well, as soon as we pulled up, people with scopes and binoculars were looking at the Velvet Scoter, incredible.....

Dad's Digiscoped Shot

My poor effort!

Here are some other birds that were about...

Greylag's with Wigeon in the background

Mute Swans

We then went to Freston and I spotted this amongst the boats....

A female Long-tailed Duck. Incredible!

We then moved on to Alton Water, and already getting 2 new yearlies, (Velvet Scoter and Long-tailed Duck), we were hoping to see the Great White Egret! Well, here's what we got....

Great White Egret at The Wonder

What we done was we parked in the Wonder car park, and went down the track that has the big map at the front, and followed it down until we got into a little clearing in the trees and viewed from 20 yards or so. It was brilliant. We also saw a drake Goosander fly over Lemons Hill Bridge, 2 Kingfisher, about 20 Little Egret, a Redpoll, a Goldcrest and plenty of Tufted Ducks. It was a great days Birding.

Thanks for reading and have a very Merry Christmas!

I'm Still Here!

The normal British weather is still lingering over the UK, but I must admit, it is getting better. Every day of the week now, the local Chiffchaff is still calling and showing well by the rabbit hutch on the corner, and I have managed to get some more pics.......

Also in the garden this morning were about 10 Long-tailed Tits in the far bushes, but soon cleared off.

We all headed to Alton Water earlier this week, but unfortunately there wasn't much to see. A Common Sandpiper though was resting on one of the platforms, and plenty of Common Terns, Great Crested Grebes, and Passerines.

Common Tern

We having a weekend stay in Norfolk, and we're leaving tonight, and coming back on Sunday, and I know for a fact we are heading up to Blakeney Point, so wish us luck. Obviously, I will post about it when we get back. Happy Birding.