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!

Work Experience at The BTO!

Over the last couple of weeks, with no school due to Easter, I have been able to get out a lot to do some birding. The first week of the holidays (last week), I was really looking forward to doing work experience at the BTO, similar to what Evie Miller did earlier in the year - see her blog here. 

Day 1

I started on the Tuesday, where I was set tasks by my 'boss', Paul Stancliffe. He was a great guy to be around, and would love to spend more time with him out in the field. After my tour and health and safety check, I was set to complete the BTO's Bird of the Month report for April, where I chose to do the Long-eared Owl, a favourite of mine and bird of concern for many in terms of the breeding and winter distribution of it in the UK. I was keeping an eye on the pager just in case something turned up though....

After getting half way through this, it was lunch break, and Dawn Balmer and Sarah Harris, both great people of the BTO, invited me to come 'Gulling' with them to Livermere Pig Fields, obviously Iceland Gull being high up on my hit list.

After lots of searching, we had no luck, until we got to the last flock by the road, where I picked out a near adult gull that looked to have white wing tips, but it was covered by another Gull. Then, they all got up, and you could see that the Gull was a stonking 3rd calender year Iceland Gull, a lifer for me!

Back at the Office, I continued with my bird of the month, until my first day of work experience was over, and it was the end of my shift. A brilliant first day and I was eagerly waiting for the next!

Day 2

The second day of my work experience was more office based, doing a lot more media work than the previous day. This I thought was very beneficial, as in a real world of work, this is most likely what you do for the day.

I started with finishing my Bird of the month report, then proof reading a BTO membership leaflet. I done a range of other tasks that were office based before lunch break, where I went out onto the local Nunnery Lakes reserve with Sarah and Neil. The only thing of note was a Stone Curlew, which I thought about taking to my patch, which would have been very beneficial to others besides me ;)

In the afternoon, I worked in the Nest Recording Scheme and Ringing Unit, where I was identifying nests for their database. I must admit, after about 300 nests, it turned into sleeping material, but it was good fun anyhow!

After similar tasks in the afternoon, the day soon came to an end, with the next day approaching.....

Day 3

It was an early start to my final day of work experience at the BTO, as I was out ringing on the BTO's local reserve "Nunnery Lakes." I was being taken out by Lee Barber and Justin Walker, both great people, and we started ringing at 7am. I was able to ring up to 4 Brambling and 3 Lesser Redpoll, as it was great to actual get some proper training!

After the ringing session, it was back to the office at 9am on the dot! I finished writing a press release for the Garden Birdwatch team on the Dunnocks of Buckinghamshire before Paul arrived. After finishing this, I completed more media work, before the real deal of the day arrived! IOLO WILLIAMS!!!!!

Myself, Ieuan and Paul all had a good chat with him about bits and bobs that are happening in the nature world at that present time before we went for a walk with him on the reserve.

Iolo was here for a welsh interview with Ieuan, so as it was in Welsh, Paul and I had the foggiest as to what they were saying, so we just went a bit further ahead to the bridge out of their way to do some birding. 

We were hoping for an Otter in the river but no sign. Then, a distinctive cronking call passed overhead, revealing a pair of bloody RAVENS!!!! We couldn't believe it! They flew through the canopy just over our heads chasing a pigeon and then through NW. That was both Pauls and my first Ravens for Norfolk, East Anglia to that matter!

After the interview, we discussed the Ravens, as Iolo and Ieuan heard them too, and that they could have got them calling in the background of the interview. Then, I had to ask Iolo for a picture with me - you've just got to with people as great as that!

After this, we went for an extended lunch break at Lakenheath Fen with Ieuan and Paul after we had to say "hwyl fawr" (welsh for goodbye lol) to Iolo. We only had time to go to the Washland viewpoint, and here we had 2 flight views of Water Pipit, but no hirundines. We hoped for one of the Great White Egrets or maybe even a Garganey too but no sign of either of them. 

Back in the office for my last shift, I finished my last piece of media work before it was time to leave.

I would just like to thank the BTO, Ieuan and Paul for being absolutely brillaint and really making me feel at home. I even got Mike Toms book of Owls signed by him and all the people I worked ith while at the BTO. Fantastic!!

Sorry its on the tilt!

Happy Birding!

Lakenheath Fen

A bit early for the Orioles, but there was still plenty to see at Lakenheath Fen. We started off with a Cuckoo flying over the van in the village Lakenheath, adding another new one on the list. We got to Lakenheath Fen, and the car park was full - all because of that Red-footed Falcon. So we had to park near where the staff do. Another 2 species on the list immediately were Sedge Warbler and Hobby, the latter lying over the visitor center.

Reed Bunting and Warbler were also present

We then got to Joist Fen viewpoint, where a lot of people gathered to see the R-F Falcon. Minutes before we got there it was showing well over the hide, but when we got there it was quite distant. It did get closer, as did a Red Kite. One of the resident Cranes also took to the stage...

Red Kite

Red-footed Falcon

Crane

We then stumbled across a perching Sedge Warbler and one of plenty Whitethroat's

Then we went to the wash, and we got my first Common Tern of the year flying down stream, along with a smashing Red Kite.

WE then went to Lackford Lakes in the hope of a Turtle Dove. We got a singing Nightingale, but no Turtle Doves. We did however get a Kingfisher and my first Arctic Tern of the year. There were 3 Black Tern on the sailing lake, but they weren't there in the afternoon. We also saw a distant Cuckoo.

Mum and I went round my Aunties last night as she has got a pair of Turtle Doves in her garden. I got a flying bird which was great. Also a pair of Stock Dove feeding under the feeders. 

Blue Tit nest-box update:

9 eggs!!!!!!!

Happy Birding!

Goldies are back!

We all went to Lakenheath Fen today, and it was pretty obvious on what we were targeting, the Golden Oriole. We didn't hang around the house too long this morning, so we aimed to get there about 9am. After meeting up with a guided walk that were looking for the Goldies, so we hanged around behind them.

We reached the first viewpoint, and we were treated to a blue flash of a Kingfisher, zitting across the reeds. But oh no, people weren't looking at that, they were looking at 3 territorial Bitterns. This was very odd however, as they were flying high above the reeds in circles together!

After they reached touchdown, and out of sight, we realized that a group of people were looking up into the poplars. I asked the man "were they looking at a Oriole?," but the man said that they heard one about 5 minutes ago, so they were looking for the same bird again. Like we stood on a certain good luck rock, the Oriole sprung into life, bursting full of song, but do you think we could see it? No. While the drama was going on, the Reedbed Warbler species were enjoying themselves singing, away, it seemed that only Grasshopper Warbler were absent, not surprisingly.

We then moved on to another group of people, looking more promising into the Poplars. Reaching there, they said "the Oriole just sat there about 30-50 yards away," and we missed it. It was still singing, (see video), but was very, very difficult to see, with all the green leaves formed. With a couple of brief sightings from other people in the same area, I, personally, couldn't believe my eyes. Bearing in mind that there were about 40 people at this very space, I shouted out "I got it!." Everyone was crowding around as I tried to explain where it was, but frustratingly, they couldn't see it anywhere, but I could? I thought and said, "may I borrow someones scope to show it to all of you. This man let me, and believe it or not, I found it in the scope. It was indeed a male Golden Oriole, sitting motionless in the tree. Incredibly, everyone out of the 40 people saw it, and I was knighted. Such a fantastic lifetime moment for me, and I'm only 12!

When watching this video, turn up the volume to hear the Oriole singing at the start, either on your volume settings, or a remote control.

Other species of birds that were active around the reserve were the Crane family were feeding in the reeds, Reed Buntings, a pair of Garganey, and a brief Grasshopper Warbler flew into the short grass, but remained silent. The only thing we didn't see were Stone-Curlew, which we were hoping to catch at Lakenheath Warren, but anyway, another great day!

TOTAL OF BIRD SPECIES FOR 2012 = 161