Salthouse - Shortie sunset

The morning session was a strictly local (and imageless) affair which started at Salthouse with a 30 strong flock of mobile Snow Buntings! Large numbers of finches, including a huge flock of Goldfinch feeding on the shingle ridge. Cley didn't produce anything of note, so it was off to Holkham....

More Snow Buntings here at the 'gap' and this flock had a single Lapland Bunting in tow... A quest for YBW in the woods failed to produce but a Firecrest made the walk worthwhile?

The afternoon took in the Brancaster / Docking area checking out the Pink feet - there were 1,000s and 1,000s! Quite an amazing sight.....






Deafening at take off!!






Hello, hello, hello what did we also have here? A genuine Snow Goose? (The one pictured was present at Salthouse). I can sense the list police looming but who can say - notebook out and pencil being sharpened.....






I finished the day with a stroll down the iron road at Salthouse! A Short-eared Owl had been reported the previous evening - would it show again?






An unusual capture of two juv Mute Swans on the way - flying united!






With at least an hour of daylight the Shortie showed!! Never close enough for feather detail.








But providing some atmospheric shots as the sun set....










A bonus Barn Owl too!






A mere 6 miles or so to travel back to the B&B this evening plus a relaxing pint or two.....

PS - I never did list that Goose, currently awaiting results of DNA / genetic tests and it's flight recorder.....

Felixstowe Ferry - Birdies on the 15th and 16th!

My route to Norfolk was led into temptation by the thought of a Red-flanked Bluetail at Minsmere! One classic diversion later, it was Suffolk here I come - spirits dampened firstly by a horrendous journey along the A14 (nearly 5 hours) followed by - yes you've guessed it - dip time!!

I gave the Bluetail a decent chance though (at least two Firecrest were a little compensation) but when I emerged from the sluice bushes into the daylight, eyes blinking, a couple of hours later, I definitely needed a change of scenery!

There was a plan B finale and by late afternoon, I was 30 odd miles further south at Felixstowe Ferry! I arrived at the golf course.....






..... made my was along the sea wall between the Martello towers and bumped into a fellow birder with a gut wrenching update on the Shore Lark - "its's just flown"!!

What is going on??? Please no, not a double dip!

At least there was an obliging Snow Bunting on the fairway (I've been waiting to say this) - a birdie on the 16th then!

In between obliging and then not so obliging golfers, a few shots were taken, digital that is. This is where No 1 driver would come in handy I suppose (if only to avoid the unwanted attention we were now attracting or take on the Neanderthals!) Reactions varied from "sure, take a picture!" to "this is private land - get ORF". It isn't /wasn't private land at all - just a plain dangerous place to wander!












I don't know what made me glance up the 15th fairway but so glad I did - I was just about to have a birdie on the 15th as well - playing the course backwards!!

Brilliant - the Shore Lark was back! By now the golfers were disappearing as fast as the light so I settled myself in the nearby rough and waited - sure enough - thye Shore Lark moved closer to join the Snow Bunting!










Finally, the two little stunners feeding happily together in the gathering gloom






Satnav time and with Sheringham 80 odd miles away, the drive wasn't quite finished yet - it was well worth the extra little bit though......

Shropshire - quick catch up

One or two pictures whilst out and about in Shropshire over the past week or two.....

The Bittern has landed at Venus Pool(9th)! Lucky enough to be sitting in the hide as it flew in - for the first time this Autumn? - roosting record shot in near darkness!!






Shropshire Red Kite at Crudgington on the 10th being mobbed by Corvids.






A Black-tailed Godwit dropped into VP on the 14th - present all afternoon.








Grey Wagtail at Chelmarsh on 17th - no sign of the Jack Snipe!








A Little Egret still in (and out) at Venus Pool on 18th






plus a local Sparrowhawk.....






seen off by a Jackdaw!






I'm off to Norfolk this week - hopes of something special??

Parkgate - Barn Owl surprise!!

A visit to the Wirral area joining in with the SOS field trip seemed a good idea at the time! Mid morning news of a 'local' Red-breasted Merganser at Mire Lake was a bit of a dampener - it didn't hang around though so I may not have seen it anyway?

Never mind, had I stayed in Shropshire, I wouldn't have had the pleasure of seeing the performance of the day..... A local Barn Owl feeding over Parkgate Marsh - well within range too - I make no excuse for including a representative series from three minutes of pure joy (11.00 to 11.33)- why does it always seem longer? One of those special birding moments and much more satisfying when you least expect it.....










Something moving in the grass below......








Gotcha......






Can't make my mind up which is the best of the series - maybe the second one below?













Plenty of Kestrels in the area too.....








Plus a few ringtail Hen Harrier - this was the closest encounter (at speed)






Nine species of raptor were seen from the combined session at Parkgate and Burton Marsh. In addition to those already featured above, also ween well were Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Merlin, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and at least three Short-eared Owl!

The 9.6 metre high tide wasn't enough to even threaten a flooding at Parkgate. I must make a note in my diary for one of those 10 metre plus spectaculars for a real display!!

A brief visit to Inner Marsh Farm also turned up several wader species including Curlew Sandpiper .... All in all, a pretty good day!!

Staines Moor - Brown Shrike

The Staines Moor Brown Shrike has proved to be a 'few days staying twitchworthy mega' and having missed similar distant stayers this year, this one was not going to elude me. Whilst plan A was intended to be a Saturday visit, the unexpected chance of a day off coupled with a dread of the classic Friday night disappearing act, led to an impromptu plan B (Thursday!)

The news services had put the bird out as still showing, so with Andy plus Yvonne able to join in, we set off at 9.00am.... The omens didn't look good for a pleasant day out! Torrential rain, spray and motorway mayhem for the first 100 miles or so (a mere 3 Red Kites overhead on the M40) and then.....

Just like flicking a switch, once past Oxford the rain stopped, the cloud lifted, the sun came out and it was pleasant Summer t-shirt weather! The M25 behaved, then with parking on Hithermoor Road no problem (looking good now isn't it!!), we set off round the reservoir and emerged on the moor - quite a picturesque scene .....






Ahh, the peace and tranquillity.... Every two minutes this was shattered courtesy of Heathrow - just down the road!






Never mind the planes, we were onto the Shrike within the first five minutes! One of the most instantly noticeable features was the particularly dark mask. It proved to be an elusive little blighter though and was never closer than 80-100 metres and often out of view for 20 minutes or so.











A constant gallery of c40 birders (coming and going) were generally well behaved apart from a little bit of niggle when views were obscured but there was plenty of space to spread out. Local legend Franko was on site and certainly kept would be roamers / flushers in check from straying - "I'm not tellin' you again" - you just knew he meant it.....








Given the distance and elusive nature of the Shrike, I had to be pleased by actually getting some distant record shots and after nearly three hours, the bird posed in text book fashion displaying the short primary projection and rounded tail characteristic of Brown Shrike!






One helluva great day and bird - up there with any of this year's adventures.....

The return journey was fortunately uneventful apart from the Birmingham logjam but notched 25+ M40 Red Kites!

Venus Pool - Whooper splashdown!

A chance call at Venus Pool turned up a bird which (once easy!) has been a pretty difficult one to nail at the reserve for several years now!

An adult Whooper Swan.....






fresh in and with one thing on it's mind - to have a wash and brush up!!








A quick flap, whilst rearing up in all it's majesty! As I'm catching up - worth noting that it also turned up to roost the following two evenings (Sat/Sun)






More was to come with the arrival of a Bittern at 6.00pm - flying in and roosting in the willows on the far bank, directly opposite the main hide.

Hopefully it's here to stay all winter, it's highly likely that this is the same bird which overwintered last year? Same spot and roughly the same arrival date!

Trainspotting whispers.....

Apologies to the many regular visitors for the 'downtime' which has been due to a horrific virus problem (ironically a malware program called antivirus Pro 2010) which suddenly appeared on my PC. A new machine is now in place, the old one is to be formatted and act as a back up and Norton is now replaced by AVG - let's hope I can keep control away from the attentions and creations of evil lowlifes somewhere out there in the ether??

Not a lot has happened though on the birding front though, the recovery mission has taken up a lot of my spare time including a missed productive day at Spurn with the lads!!

Without interent access I also missed the fun and games resulting from a chance sighting in the Ludlow area..... from a train......

A large 'Crane species' like bird which was seen in a field near the railway line! Maybe it was best left like that, an unsolved mystery.... but birders being birders, it transmuted into a Common Crane and then potentially became SANDY relocated from Orkney!!

I was in the Ludlow area anyway and couldn't resist having a look? It turned out to be a South American Rhea and you'll have to excuse the distant record shots - I wasn't getting into a field with this potentially nasty piece of work!! Apparently they can attain a size of 1.7m - even bigger than ME!!

Hmm, I hear you thinking that's not very big or threatening then but.... A rogue local farmer has been releasing them apparently and they have been known to attack local dog walkers!








No wonder it was spotted from the train....






The mystery bird - in all its speculative glory!!