Scotland Trip - Day 1

For the whole of last week, we all went to the Scottish Highlands to try and get some of the Scottish specialities onto my life list. We arrived Saturday afternoon, and Sunday was our first day's birding. We thought we would go and look at the cracking Harlequin Duck in Aberdeenshire on the Sunday, as a mini twitch! 

On route to Seaton Park, we passed a place called Tomintoul, an area of heather moorland. We were told to scan here for Red Grouse. Well, it didn't take long to get this bird on my life list. They showed really well quite close to the road...

When we arrived at Seaton Park, we parked the car, and set off. Walking down the River Don, we got great views of 2 Dipper, which were singing really well! 

Further along the river, we located the target bird, the cracking Harlequin Duck, showing unbelievably well on a rock about 15 yards! What a stunning creature!

On the way back to the car, we noticed a couple of ducks sitting in the river, which turned out to be a redhead Goosander and a couple of drake Goldeneye...

Near the car park we saw a lot of splashing in the water, so we thought we'd go and investigate. Turned out to be a cracking Otter showing really well!

We then moved on to our final destination of the day, Meikle Loch, near the Ythan Estuary. Our target bird here was a drake American Wigeon that had been seen there the previous day. The weather conditions were appalling. From where we were parked, facing the flock of Wigeon, we had had 40mph head-on winds, rain and cloudy murk that lingered over the roadside pool. I got out, and the Scope nearly flew into the near-by field it was sooooo windy! I was out there for about 10 minutes, and still no luck, but I was determined to find it. Suddenly, I thought I saw it, but it soon went behind a Wigeon, but then, no it couldn't be, yes................................. A DRAKE AMERICAN WIGEON! My hard work paid off, and we were rewarded with decent views and pictures!

What a great opening day to our holiday. The following days will be on the blog soon!

Happy Birding!

Update

Waxwings!

Waxwings have unfortunately been in very small numbers this year, probably due to the amount on berries in Scandinavia hence their presence here in the UK. However, dad took me to see the Waxwings in Ipswich on Sunday 1st Feb. The light was appalling, but still nice to see.

The Patch!

I haven't reported about the patch much on the blog recently, so thought I would give you an update. I'm on a cracking 72 species, highlights being Barn and Little Owl, Golden Plover, Snipe, Water Rail, Barnacle Goose, Peregrine, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted Duck, Green Sandpiper, Lapwing, Grey Wagtail and Chiffchaff, all great birds for the patch! Only missing Reed Bunting, Red-legged Partridge, Tawny Owl, Jack Snipe, Mediterranean Gull (4 birds - the first in 8 years!), Goshawk (!!!), Little Grebe and Egyptian Goose, all of which have been seen this year but not by me unfortunately.

Norfolk Broads 8th February 2015

Dad took me to the Norfolk Broads last Sunday to try and add to my year list - now standing at 128.

We started off at Halvergate Marshes, where we had good views of the winter-resident Rough-legged Buzzard, with a Peregrine fora supporting cast. It was great to catch up with Robert Wilson and Tom and his dad Kelvin too.

We then went to Ludham, where we saw in total around 400+ winter swans, mostly Bewick's, but about 50 Whooper's in the hazy conditions.

We then went to the Hickling Broad raptor roost at Stubb Mill, where we had: 

• 3 Hen Harrier (1 male), 
• 27 Crane, 
• 1 Merlin
• 1 Sparrowhawk
• 1 Tawny Owl
• 1 Green Sandpiper
• 1 Barn Owl
• 1 Fox
• Plenty of Marsh Harriers
• 40+ White-fronted Geese over with Pink-foots.
• 2 Stonechat
• and 4 cracking Chinese Water Deer

White-fronts

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!

New Years Day Bird Race, and the Suffolk Coast!

Mum, Dad and I decided to take part in the new years day bird race, so we thought we would go to North Norfolk - Titchwell and Burnham area.

In the garden before we left, we had Blackbird, Robin, Dunnock, Collared Dove, Starling, House Sparrow, Blue Tit, a flock of about 30 Fieldfare over, Black-headed Gull, Chaffinch, Magpie and Woodpigeon, which bought the total up to 12.

On the way up to Titchwell, we managed to see a further 29 species, making 41 species in total (see complete list at the bottom of the blog post for the birds seen). At Titchwell, the first new bird seen was Wren, followed by a Sparrowhawk. We then added the normal species on the fresh-marsh and salt-marsh, the highlight being a flock of 7 Twite from Parrinder Hide, and then a single Spotted Redshank on the salt-marsh. After finishing at Titchwell, we were on 77 species.

We then went to Burnham Overy, to look for the Rough-legged Buzzard. We soon jammed in on that, and we also got Common Buzzard and Canada Goose.

At the layby looking over to the west end of Holkham, we got a single White-fronted Goose to make the list 85.

We finished the day off at Warham Greens, where we got 3 Hen Harrier (1 male), Linnet, Merlin and a Woodcock, which concluded to a total of 89 species, a very successful day.

New Year's Day Bird Species in order:

1. Blackbird
2. Robin
3. Dunnock
4. Collared Dove
5. Starling
6. House Sparrow
7. Blue Tit
8. Fieldfare
9. Magpie
10. Black-headed Gull
11. Chaffinch
12. Woodpigeon
13. Rock Dove (Feral Pigeon)
14. Common Gull
15. Rook
16. Goldfinch
17. Green Woodpecker
18. Greylag Goose
19. Kestrel
20. Jackdaw
21. Herring Gull
22. Pheasant
23. Lesser Black-backed Gull
24. Great Black-backed Gull
25. Moorhen
26. Mallard
27. Mistle Thrush
28. Mute Swan
29. Cormorant
30. Carrion Crow
31. Red-legged Partridge
32. Song Thrush
33. Egyptian Goose
34. Great Tit
35. Pied Wagtail
36. Redwing
37. Long-tailed Tits
38. Greenfinch
39. Jay
40. Red Kite (2)
41. Pink-footed Goose
42. Lapwing
43. Wren
44. Sparrowhawk
45. Coot
46. Tufted Duck
47. Gadwall
48. Teal
49. Wigeon
50. Brent Goose
51. Ringed Plover
52. Little Egret
53. Curlew
54. Snipe
55. Redshank
56. Grey Plover
57. Dunlin
58. Shelduck
59. Avocet
60. Twite (7)
61. Marsh Harrier
62. Ruff
63. Meadow Pipit
64. Reed Bunting
65. Water Rail
66. Pochard
67. Goldeneye
68. Turnstone
69. Knot
70. Golden Plover
71. Oystercatcher
72. Pintail
73. Shoveler
74. Little Grebe
75. Spotted Redshank
76. Black-tailed Godwit
77. Bar-tailed Godwit
78. Sanderling
79. Great Spotted Woodpecker
80. Coal Tit
81. Stock Dove
82. Rough-legged Buzzard
83. Canada Goose
84. Common Buzzard
85. White-fronted Goose
86. Hen Harrier
87. Linnet
88. Merlin
89. Woodcock

Covehithe Broad and Dunwich Shore Pools

Yesterday, Dad and I teamed up with our friends David and Ed to do a bit of Suffolk coast birding. Before that however, I was stunned to see myself looking at an adult male Bullfinch in the garden. The light wasn't brilliant, but it was still a cracking bird to have in the garden! A first in 4 years...

We started off at Covehithe where we ticked Brambling, flyover Barnacle Geese, Yellowhammer, and a brief Bearded tit before arriving at the broad. We could see the Shorelarks through our bins before looking at them closely, but then they took off and flew high south, and for quite a few miles. However they have been seen again today, so they must go for a fly about before returning. We also got Red-throated Diver offshore, a redhead Smew, and 3 Goldeneye in the area.

We then went to Dunwich Shore Pools. On the walk up, we got Common Scoter, Stonechat, several Great-crested Grebes offshore, Brent Geese, a Skylark, Rock Pipit, Reed Bunting and a cracking male Hen Harrier, which hunted the reed bed albeit a bit distant...

We then located the Twite flock with a bit of help from another birder, where about 20 birds were present.

Further up (about a further 2 miles!) we relocated the Snow Buntings, which were so obliging to us...

On the way back home, we had a lovely Barn Owl hunting alongside the road in Pettaugh which was another year tick taking the total up to 108.

We had a brilliant day, and I just want to thank David and Ed for taking us out, it was a real pleasure.