The last couple of weeks.....

Since the delights of the Bee-eaters at Theberton, there have still been some really successful trips in the last few weeks. For starters, the patch has provided me with 6 big fat year ticks, including 5 lifers:

• HONEY BUZZARD
• Common Crossbill
• BLACK-TAILED GODWIT
• NUTHATCH
• COMMON SANDPIPER
• OSPREY

The Honey Buzzard was actually way back on June 28th (well, not that far back really), with it going over my own house with the local pair of Common Buzzards doing their best to see it off. This also allowed me to compare the 2 species really well, and enjoy this 116th bird for my patch life list!

Similar to the Honey Buzzard, the Common Crossbills were also over my house, with 2 over on the evening of July 14th. The next bird was Common Sandpiper, another lifer. Over the past week or so now, I have seen about 6 birds on the patch, an increasing visitor in July/August...

The next bird to go on the list was Nuthatch, where we had tried 3 times for this elusive bird in Shrubland Wood this year and failed. Well, on July 23rd, we finally saw one, calling and moving around the wood with a tit flock. Odd company I know, but its on the list! A Red Kite was also present here too. 

When I realised I'd missed a flock of 17 Black-tailed Godwits on the patch, I was pretty miffed! But, I was notified on July 26th that there was one present, so in the pouring rain we went, and was rewarded!

The 5th lifer of the week was seen this morning, where we had an Osprey over Needham Market town centre! Incredible views but unfortunately no photos. It was seen yesterday morning down Pipps Ford, flying west at 9:30. This morning, it done exactly the same, but we picked it up at 10am on its way west! We're going to try again tomorrow morning.

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A couple of weeks ago, we went to twitch the Black-necked Grebe at Livermere, which is still there today, and although it was distant, we saw it, along with amazing views of a Barn Owl too. I took a video of both the species as I didn't have my camera lol!

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Last Thursday, we met up with David Walsh, and headed for a days birding on the Suffolk Coast. Minsmere was reasonably quiet with no Albatross being a real shock, but we did have Little Gulls, Spotted Redshank and Ruff...

Then, an afternoons Gulling with Brian Small at Walberswick taught me how to id young Yellow-legged Gulls, and we found a Caspian Gull to join in the fun!

Adult YLG

3cy YLG

2cy YLG

Caspian Gull

Happy Birding!

BEE-EATERS!!!!

Last night, Dad took me down to Theberton in the chance of catching the local Bee-eater flock coming in to roost in the black poplar trees down Moat Road. There has been 10 birds present, which have been frequently seen in the evenings and mornings before flying off for the day, and coming back to roost. When we arrived, we were shocked to see the amount of people that were there. There was probably about 70 people! We only expected a handful!

After chatting to several known faces (always great to have a catch up), the clock approached 7:30, and we were all wondering whether they were going to turn up, when all of a sudden, the fluty calls alerted us to them passing overhead, and then landing on the wires. An incredible moment! What fantastic colours on a Bee-eater! But not 1, 10 of them. Amazing. Here are my phone-scoped shots...

And here are my shots with the camera...

And a video...

An incredible evening twitch!

Happy Birding!

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!

Two types of Red-necks!

On Sunday I was at Minsmere volunteering to help Springwatch run along smoothly! This will only be a brief post, so here are some shots of the male Red-necked Phalarope from the East Scrape. It kept its distant, so is a record phone-scoped shot. There were also a couple of Med Gulls about, 4 Little Gulls, Little, Common and Sandwich Tern, a rather late drake Pintail, Kittiwakes and the usual bits and bobs!

Then, yestersay afternoon/evening, Dad offered to take me to Livermere to see the full summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe. It was a fine looking bird, but very dozy to say the least. Like the Phalarope, it kept its distance, so the pics are pretty pointless even for a record!

Happy Birding!

The Love of Patching!

For the last couple of weeks, birding has been focused on the patch, so that my patch total for the year has the greatest chance of increasing as much as possible.

The first Little-ringed Plovers came in on the 6th April, with 3 present up to a week ago...

The first Swallow was also on the 6th, with the first 2 singing Blackcaps on the 7th. The first Willow Warbler was in at Wildwood on the 10th too. The first Nightingales were singing on the 15th along with the first Whitethroat and House Martins...

The first Sand Martins were feeding on the 19th, with Garden Warblers and the first possible 'Greenland' Wheatear was present on the 21st...

The first singing Lesser Whitethroat was present at Wildwood on the 22nd, and the first calling Tawny Owl, Hobby, Greenshank and Redshank on the 24th.

Redshank record shot

Then, a very productive 'tour' around the patch with David Walsh produced Sedge Warbler (scarce on patch), Cuckoo, Reed Warbler and Swift on he 26th. 

On the 29th April, my luck was in as I found a cracking Yellow Wagtail. All the following shots are phone-scoped.

A good record was a Red Kite over Brewery Farm, Earl Stonham the Saturday just gone, and first my returning Spotted Flycatcher came back to the usual wood by my school on yesterday.

Bird of the month so far though was undoubtedly today, as I was walking out from school, a pair of Sandwich Terns passed over flying north! That's an incredible record for the patch, and takes my total to 103 species. That is already 3 more than my total last year!

Happy Birding (and patching)!