Long time no read!

Sorry for the lack of posts over the last couple of months. I have had a week of mock exams, so there was a lot of revising and extra work which restricted my time to do a blog post. This post is a bit of a liquorice allsorts as to what it contains, so here goes...

On the last day of Springwatch, we were on Unsprung in the audience, so if you spotted a young lad with blond hair with his mum and dad, that was me! Because of Springwatch I was down guiding at Minsmere on most weekends over a month or two. Highlights and year ticks have been Gannet, Arctic Tern, Garganey, Great White Egret and the usual bits and bobs you would expect. The Bearded Tits have been showing well along North Wall..

 
Here is the Arctic Tern, and one of 3 Spotted Redshanks that were present on the 21st June...

Moving on to the the patch and I had my first year tick for 2 months over the house last Monday, but boy was it a tick............. a HONEY BUZZARD! And best of all, it was over my garden! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture, but my local Common Buzzards were up with it, and you could compare the 2 species very easily.

We have also been out with our good friend David a lot too, and Mum and I joined him to go and look at Scarce Emerald Damselflies near Redgrave. It was a great learning experience for me to distinguish the differences between Scarce and common Emerald Damselflies by getting them close up in pots...

sorry but the pics are on the wonk for some reason!

Also on this day, we went to see some Orchids, where we saw Common and Heath Spotted, Southern Marsh and the rarer race of Early Marsh Orchid.

 Heath Spotted

Southern Marsh 

 Early Marsh

Common Spotted, but again, all on the tilt!

We have also been to the Brecks with David, where we have seen Nightjar, Tree Pipit, Barn Owl and Long-eared Owl.

Happy Birding!

Little Bittern at Lakenheath and another day at Minsmere!

On Wednesday, Dad and I headed for Lakenheath to hopefully connect with the Little Bittern. The plan was to arrive at 9:30, see the bird within an hour, then head off to North Norfolk for Dotterel. Sadly, 3 hours later, at 12:30, there was still no flight views, but the bird was constantly calling all day...

Turn the volume up loud to hear it 'croaking'

We began to wonder if all our patience was for nothing, but at 14:20, a clutter in the reeds and the amazing Little Bittern took off and done a brief 5 second flight! This was followed by another flight view about 30 seconds afterwards, but we weren't ready, so this was the best shot we managed - that's what you get for resting!

There were plenty of Cuckoos about with Hobbies and an obliging Common Tern too...

Here are Tim Oakes' fabulous pictures of the Little Bittern. At least someone was ready...

As it was now about 14:30, we thought it was too late to go anywhere, so we stayed for the rest of the afternoon, where the bird didn't show any more, but still, a cracking lifer for me!

The following day, Thursday, I had another day at Minsmere volunteering to guide on the reserve. In the morning, I was with "Spineless Sy, " the two spined stickleback just before Island Mere, and to my surprise, it was actually quite entertaining to watch them. 

I then swapped, and I went into Island Mere for the rest of the morning. We connected with the Great White Egret in 2 flight views, with Bitterns, Bearded Tits and all the other usual birds present. 3 Little Gulls were flying out the back with the Black-headed Gulls.

The Scrape in the afternoon produced more of the same, with 1 Black-tailed Godwit and 1 Turnstone being the only birds of note for this time of year.

I was gutted though to have missed a fishing Osprey at Island Mere, as by accident I turned off the reserve radio! Doh!

Did get some nice Bearded Tits though, with Hobbies about as well...

Happy Birding!

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!

Dam, it's gone, but still a great day!

On Sunday, all of us went to Cley, on the North Norfolk coast. We went their to go and see the Pectoral Sandpiper that had been lingering over there. Today was more of a wading day, with less passerines due to with the water. Unfortunately, the Pectoral Sandpiper had moved on to Titchwell, but there was still plenty to be found out on the marsh.
We started the day by heading to Avocet, Dawke's and Teal Hide, looking out onto Whitwell and Simmonds Scrape, along with Pats Pool. The first Little Ringed Plovers of the year were loitering around the scrapes, along with many chicks. Its great to see these summer visitors breeding locally! Also about were plenty of Ruff, Avocets and Black-tailed Godwits. Also, some first Bar-tailed Godwits of the year were in amongst the Black-tails. Moving on to Teals Hide, 2 Green Sandpipers were visible on Pats Pool, but only briefly as they soon went out of sight. 

Little Ringed Plover on Whitwell Scrape

Ruff on Simmonds Scrape

We then moved to Bishops Hide viewing Carters Scrape, and not a great deal in the hide, but all 10 Spoonbills were in the air spreading their wings, but soon landing on North Scrape. Some Common Sandpipers were viewable from Bishops and Teal Hide, and not that elusive.
Moving on to walking along East Bank, and several Bearded Tits were flitting along the reedbeds, with this one nearly in the river....

Both Bearded Tits along East Bank

We got to the beach and a nice Whimbrel flew past along the sea, heading west. Another nice sight was about 50 or so Sandwich Tern fishing near by on the shore - see bottom video. We got to the hide looking out onto the North Scrape, and all 10 Spoonbills seen earlier were resting on a bit of grass. The key bird to see in here first though, was the juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, a bird I have never seen before. It took a while to find  it amongst the Dunlins, but 2 Knots were resting nearby the hide. We got some pics, but their not brilliant....

This one being the better image, paler bird, center.

Not brilliant!

Spoonbills at rest.

Last but not least, a beautiful male Linnet sitting on some gorse, followed by some Sandwich Terns.

Linnet

Just a quick update on our Woodpecker, and we haven't seen him since Saturday, so maybe are peanuts have gone soggy, or maybe his young have fledged, so he has to keep care of them. Possibly going birding on Monday with weather pending. Happy Birding.