#3 Birds!

Third and final installment. The way things have been going lately expect another blog post sometime around August. I'll look forward to it ;).

Despite feeling like I've not done much birding this year I've seen a fair bit I suppose, I've only been on two birding related trips (north Norfolk coast and Thetford Forest) but working at Rutland Water really does help with sneaking in an hours birding before/after/during work everyday. The feeding table under the caravan window has also kept me entertained on many cold mornings before work, its nice being able to bird without going outside!
Anyway, no photos were taken on a recent trip to the Thetford Forest so I won't mention that any further but a trip to Snettisham and Titchwell in mid-february was more successful photography-wise so....

Siskin at Titchwell

Brambling in the same place

House Sparrow - actually taken the next day at Ouse Washes

Song Thrush

Dodgy effort at the Long-tailed Duck

Spotted Redshank

No winter Titchwell trip is complete without a shot of a Sanderling bounding along the edge of the surf

After much deliberation we decided this Diver to be a Black Throated - any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated.

 

Other good birds seen but not papped on the day included Bittern and ringtail Hen Harrier

 

The yard list has crept up towards 100 (94ish at the minute) with a recent addition being the Great Northern Diver that was spied miles off towards the valve tower in the North Arm on Saturday afternoon. Good bird that. Whooper Swan was also a welcome addition after missing the last flock to fly up the North Arm. Here's a few other decent birds (and a couple already mentioned!) that have found themselves on the end of a phone-scoping in recent weeks at work;

 

Drake Smew from AWBC

Confused Black-necked and Slavonian Grebes in the North Arm (also both on the yard-list :D )

Intrepid Hide-robin on Lagoon 3

Great Northern Diver off the dam

Scaup with Pochard and Tufted Duck accomplices on Lagoon 1

Rails on the Egleton Meadows - showing very well at the minute - up to 6 birds.

Afforementioned Whoopers from the workyard

 

I've not been at home much this year but a welcome and overdue addition to the garden list a few weeks back was Lesser Redpoll, no doubt enticed into the garden by the shiny new niger feeder that the Hooded Birder purchased a couple of weeks prior. A few Siskin sightings have also helped spice things up after a general lack of them in the garden over recent winters.

 

And finally, Owls.

Seems like ages since I've written anything or uploaded any images of owls but I can break that run today! One thing I can report on is the evident abundance of owls in the area surrounding Rutland Water , Barn Owls are clearly doing well in the area, I'm always seeing them! Normally when I've not got my camera with me but about ten days ago I chanced upon a lovely shot of a Barn Owl in the falling light. Having to shoot through my less-than-clean windscreen was a challenge but I'm quite pleased with the overall result;

 

 

Little Owls have unfortunately not been as easy to find in the area surrounding Rutland Water but I headed out to a site near Lutterworth today and happily found a pair of Owls on their favoured haystack literally gagging to be my new header image!

 

This image and the next three aren't the best I'll ever take but I'd never managed shots of pellet regurgitation before. Behold...

A keen eye can just make out the pellet falling infront of the bale. click for bigger as always.

 

 

 

Lincolnshire. Innit.

Every year around the time of mother dearest's Birthday the pair of us take a day out and go for a jolly birdwatching somewhere different - e.g. not Rutland Water! Today we headed to Lincolnshire, the home of Skegvegas and where potatoes are known as "tates".

To be precise we went to the two F's - Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore. Frampton Marsh was the first port of call and although it let me down by having precisely zero Pratincoles the reserve itself looked very good, the hides were modern and the staff in the visitors centre were most helpful in telling us what was around. Unfortunately the Spoonbill appeared to have done a runner but spirits were lifted by such things as two Bewicks Swans, a few Whitefronted Geese, single Barnacle Goose and heaps of Brent Geese.  Most of the expected waders and wildfowl were present also so I wont bore you with a long list of common species so instead look at the images:

Redshank

Blackwit.

Curlew

Skylark

Brent Geese anyone?

Close flyover

Ah, the posting of the flyover image reminds me of an amusing anecdote from today which I shall now share with you lucky, lucky people. It was during one of these close flyovers from a group of geese that I felt a large drop of liquid hit me just above my left eye. I was sure I had been shat on as there wasn't a cloud in the sky but luckily I hadn't - all I can think of is that a water droplet fell off one of the geese and smashed me in the face. At least it wasn't a poo.

So after a spot of luncheon we headed onto Freiston shore where a walk down to where the sea defences have been intentionally breached produced a trio of raptors (Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and Merlin) and helped nail a few waders for the day list that had been hiding until this point (Grey Plover, Turnstone, Oystercatcher). Infact, the only downside of the place was the injured Pink footed Goose that was lingering close to the car park in the hope of bread based nourishment:

4th Jan: Fakenham, Cley, Holkham & Titchwell

When Drunkbirder John Hague messaged me earlier this week asking whether anyone fancied joining himself and the Llama for a trip out to Norfolk on Wednesday I jumped at the chance: I dont often get out with actual proper birdwatchers so this was an ideal opportunity to sponge some knowledge and besides, I quite fancied a trip out to the seaside!
So off we embarked from the Llamas stable bright and early at 6am, picking up the first bird of the day, a Barn Owl as it flew over the road. After a refuelling stop at the world renowned Kings Lynn Mcdonalds we soon got to the first port of call - the Fakenham Great Grey Shrike. Found the site well enough although admittedly I wasn't very confident about finding the bird itself - my only other experience with GGS was the Harrington bird(s) late last year that gave me the runaround and that fact combined with the total lack of sightings on Tuesday made it all the more surprising when the Shrike flew in and landed above me and Andy about 10 minutes after arrival. It didnt stay on this elected perch for long and quickly relocated to a hedgrow about 50 yards away that ran perpendicular to the path. This wasn't all bad however as there it stayed and allowed closer scrutiny of the features that have been pointing towards the homeyeri race:

As im generally uneducated in such matters im not going to say anything else about this bird except that at this stage it appears to be some form of integrade between homeyeri and excubitor but im just happy enough to call it my 2nd ever GGS!

And so we moved onto the next port of call - Cley. I'd never actually visited Cley before (unless you count standing on the shingle bank with my 6th form Geography class measuring pebbles) so I was keen to visit just for that reason but the main draw was the Western Sandpiper that would have been a lifer for me and Andy. It wasn't to be however. As it turns out we had just missed the bird on one of the scrapes and when we arrived the Dunlin flock was romping around the Cricket marsh and being generally uncooperative and invisible for the most part. We might (and I stress, MIGHT) have had the bird in flight on a couple of occasions when the wader flock was put up by a Marsh Harrier or Peregrine but there was no chance of me ticking it on that basis. After 60 mins or so of freezing our nadgers off (very windy, cold and exposed) we retreated to the visitors centre with only a flyby Water Pipit to show for our efforts. A cup of tea for the oldies and a council of war was in order but I certainly did NOT menace any old persons! They menaced me with questions such as, "what are all those birds flying around?" and, "you're from Leicester!!? Oooooo, Harold did you hear that? This young man is from Leicester! We used to live in Nottingham, what are the chances!!?"

In the end we decided to stuff the Western and head back down the coast in favour of having a decent days worth of birds rather than waiting all day trying to see an uninspiring peep.

And so we headed to Holkham where 4 Shore Larks did the decent thing and sneaked their way onto my life list (very nice), a large flock of 80ish Snow Buntings were sort of worth the walk (or rather the walk back) and a flock of Linnet tried their very best to string themselves into Twite. A couple of Rock Pipit were knocking around too and a quick seawatch (the tide was way out) produced 3 Red Breasted Mergansers on the sea and a Sanderling on the beach.

The final destination of the day was Titchwell and en-route we had a Short eared Owl hunting by the road which fulfilled my owl quota for the day but we didnt bother stopping and looking for the Rough legged Buzzard as the strong winds were keeping most raptors grounded. Arriving at Titchwell I was pleased to immediately see a crowd of observers gathered by the feeding station - a good indication that the Coues Arctic Redpoll was present! Indeed it was (lifer!) and due to the helpful directions from one of the observers I also managed to see my first Mealy Redpoll too!
There wasn't much else to see on the reserve however, the best of it being a few Spotted Redshank on the saltmarsh and single Med Gull and Yellow legged Gull that Andy "Guller" Mackay picked out of the roost. We stayed and froze half to death waiting for a Hen Harrier to come into roost but that wasn't to be.

Still, a cracking day out, topped off with 3 lifers!