Webbs and Waxwings

Myself and my birder's wife had the day off work today to do some household chores but when news broke of 42 Waxwings at Webbs by Upton Warren, we thought we would have a trip over to Worcestershire.

We arrived at 3:00pm and the Waxwings were very obvious, perched at the top of some nearby Poplars making frequent excursions down to berry bushes to feed and then be spooked by some onlookers who in my view were getting just a bit too close.

We did not linger long watching the Waxwings but instead drove over to Moors Pools and sat in a more tranquil setting in the new double storey hide.  The Moors pool was full of activity with lots of Reed Buntings on the feeders, many ducks, a small flock of Lapwing and  6 Curlew.  We spent a peaceful 30 minutes there before heading off for the horrors of Webbs Garden Centre.  Just before we left, this chap decided to come and sit on a post for us - No excuses for the terrible picture though.

Farlington Marshes this weekend

A visit to my sister down south gave me the opportunity to visit Farlington Marshes this weekend.  Myself and my birder's wife got up very early and arrived at the site at dawn and started a very wet walk to the east seawall to see if we could find the Red Breasted Goose that was spending time with Brent Geese there.  After a miserable half hour walk of seeing nothing, we met some birders coming in the opposite direction who informed us that they had not seen the bird either, at which point we turned round and headed back to the car.  As we arrived back at the car, caked in mud, we noticed a flock of Brent Geese on the water and as sod's law dictates, the goose was amongst them and very fine looking it was too.

We then decided to try and see the returning Ring Billed Gull at Gosport but got very lost and ran out of time.  So, not the greatest of weekends for birding but at least one unseen bird removed from my dwindling unseen list and the 245th for the year so far - Would love to reach the 250 mark but not sure if that it is achievable given that we have just over a month left till 2013 and the birds I would need to reach such a total would mean a lot of travelling and twitches.

Brandon Marsh Starling Roost

Catching up with a blog entry that I should have input last week - Myself and the Capt made a long overdue visit to Brandon Marsh late afternoon on Saturday to view the Starling roost.  We arrived at about 3:30pm and took the long route to the East Marsh hide clocking a good size flock of Lesser Redpoll en route.  East Marsh hide was fairly full of birders and photographers for that time of day admiring the Redhead Smew and Water Rails bobbing in and out of the reeds.  A fine looking Green Woodpecker was also on one of the islands.  As dusk descended we made our way to the Carlton hide and decided to go a bit further to the new screen and waited for the starling show to commence.  We waited and then waited some more and then waited a bit longer but nothing emerged except for a poor show of about 50 birds who descended into the reeds pretty quickly.  The only other point of interest was a miserable looking Barn Owl who popped out of its box then decided to clamber back in a few minutes later.

Birding at Dusk

Yesterday, after a brief visit by my Father and some of his friends and performing some household chores, I ventured out to Draycote Water to try out the Gull roost.  I arrived at about 3:30pm just as the gulls were starting to arrive en masse and settled myself down near Franklin's Point, as I had no idea where else to go.  It turned out that unfortunately I had chosen the wrong end of the Reservoir, as the gulls were settling down nearer the opposite bank by the visitor centre.  However, I managed to scope good views of the birds and after a while managed to find one white headed individual only to lose it but then find what looked like two adult Yellow Legged Gulls together.  Also, while scanning the roost I chanced upon the Black Necked Grebe, who was right in the middle of them.  On the way back to the car there were many Redwing and Wood Pigeon pigging out on berries.

Today, myself and my birder's wife were meeting relatives just north of Gloucester for a pub lunch and therefore we decided that we would take the opportunity to go to Slimbridge for a couple of hours.  It really was a beautiful day down there with great light which gave us clear views of Wigeon , Golden Plover and Black Tailed Godwits.  A female Brambling was also present on the feeders.

On the way home, after an enormous pub lunch, we went via Hawling to see if they had any Short Eared Owls yet and met a couple of locals who were just giving up hope of seeing one, but had seen one yesterday.  After five minutes of scanning, I thought I spotted one far away on the horizon just as it dipped out of view.  After checking the dry stone wall in the distance, I came across the owl sitting on top of the wall just before it took to flight again.  A good end to a very relaxed day of gentle birding and great food.

Norfolk DEFINITELY birding

Myself and Mike-PCC left early on Sunday Morning destined for Norfolk.  We arrived at 8:00am at the Wolferton Triangle hoping to see Golden Pheasant but this time were not fortunate.  However, we saw a nice view of a Muntjac as it ambled across the road in front of the car and a very handsome looking Jay.

A cross country drive then brought us eventually to Salthouse beach car park where we hoped to see Snow Bunting.  In fact, I was SO certain we would see them that I said I would eat my hat if we didn't - Fortunately, Mike-PCC did not make me eat my hat......  Despite the lack of Snow Buntings, we managed to clock 4 Gannet, 2 Razorbill and 2 Guillemot on the sea and a passing Kittiwake and Red Throated Diver.  The marshes held Pink Footed Goose (a lifer for Mike), Little Egret and Barnacle Geese.

A quick drive to Cley and purchase of permits soon had us on the reserve where we managed close views of Bearded Tits and a Cettis Warbler on the way to the hides along with Brent Geese.  Despite looking for the juvenile White Rumped Sandpiper that had been reported there we just could not find it and walked back to the visitor centre for some ID tips and a possible location.  After securing that information, we marched back to the hide and I soon managed to locate the Sandpiper on Pat's Pool on the edge of an island (another lifer for Mike).  Other birds of note were Pintail, Dunlin and many Wigeon.  Another quick drive took us to Cley Beach car park where we did some further seawatching and saw more Guillemots and Gannets.

After a brief lunch we then drove over to Titchwell.  Two immaculate Bramblings were on the feeders along with Goldfinchs and Greenfinches.  A very quick stroll to beach to warm ourselves up gave us a few waders en route, including Redshank, Avocet, and Black Tailed Godwit.  The beach had Bar Tailed Godwit, Knot (surprisingly another lifer for Mike) and Sanderling and the sea provided Long Tailed Duck, Slavonian Grebe, Common Scoter, Goldeneye, Red Breasted Merganser and Red Necked Grebe.

On the way back from the beach, we popped into the main hide and observed the gull roost which contained a large white headed gull which after discussion could have been an adult Caspian Gull but I am not 100% sure - One of my unseen birds finally possibly seen but then possibly not.........

Today, we visited Holme dunes and found a cracking Shore Lark (another lifer for Mike) and thankfully managed a flock of distant flying Snow Bunting - so I did not need to eat my hat after all!

We tried for Corn Bunting at Choseley Drying Barns but there were no finches around at all.  There were however great skeins of Pink Footed Geese in the sky and the surrounding field held Grey Partridge and Red Legged Partridge and a Hare.  Another quick visit to Titchwell (before heading home) gave us more Long Tailed Duck and a Red Throated Diver.