Final twitch for the year

After reading that a Penduline Tit had been found in Bedford yesterday, I could not resist travelling down to the area to see it (especially as Penduline Tit has been on my UK wanted list for about 25 years).

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

Penduline Tit

Otmoor 28th December 2014

After staying with our good friends Sarah and J for the night in Oxford on the way home from Hampshire, we decided to go for a walk in Otmoor.  Our walk took us to the very end of the reserve and despite the good weather, the area was pretty quiet with just a few birds seen.  The cow pens had Reed Buntings and the pools had Wigeon, Teal, Tufted Duck, Pochards and Shovelor.  The fields at the end of the reserve held Lapwing and Golden Plover and the flooded areas nearby had a lot of Wigeon, one of which was picked off by a Peregrine Falcon.  The area also had at least 5 Red Kite, several Buzzards and flocks of Canada Geese which held a feral Ross' Goose.

Fishlake Meadows, Romsey 24 & 25 December 2015

As I was staying with my sister over Christmas, I took the opportunity to patch some excellent Marshes near to her house.  Over the two days I visited I managed to find about 5 Cettis Warblers, 5 Water Rail and 1 Snipe.

Norfolk for final time this year

We decided to visit North Norfolk for the final time this year this weekend on a part birding, part shopping trip.

As per usual we left early and had our breakfast with a cup of coffee at Wolferton Triangle in the hope of seeing the elusive Golden Pheasants.  Unfortunately, they proved to be too elusive this year and we did not see any so we moved on and headed towards Holkham where we decided to take a walk on the beach followed by some shopping at the Adnams Shop.

For lunch we decided to drive over to Salthouse and then spent the rest of the afternoon around there before heading back before dusk to take in a Short Eared Owl at Burnham Overy.

Today we decided to spend the morning at Titchwell before meeting a friend at Burnham Market.

A pleasant weekend with lots of shopping and probably less birding than normal.

Flexi Day Twitch

After completing a major project this week I decided to take off a flexi day and twitch a Blyth's Pipit in West Yorkshire.  The first time I tried for this particular species was back in 1989 where I found out years later that the bird was re-identified as a Richard's Pipit.  So, today was a case of achieving a bogey bird.  The journey up the M1 was relatively easy and I arrived in good time for an organised flush of the bird which was held at midday.  The flush produced about 10 Meadow Pipits, 1 Snipe and the Blyth's Pipit which obligingly sat in a tree which allowed everone there the chance to see it.  The tree was too far for me to get a decent photo so instead I opted for a naff record flight shot instead.

Blyth's Pipit

Combrook

After doing a drive through Combrook yesterday, myself and my birders wife decided to go for a walk in the area today.  We parked up at the end of the main lane in the village and made our way up the footpath through the village field owned by the locals and through the Ridings (the local wood).  The footpath took us through the wood and then across a field to the main road outside Compton Verney.  We then turned back and retraced our footsteps and before we hit the village again we took another pathway which took us along side a set aside field (presumably for the local shot).  The field was providing lots of food for a variety of birds including Yellowhammers, Chaffinches, a Corn Bunting, Bramblings and even a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  We then made our way back to the village and took a further footpath out of the village to Compton Verney (a different route).  This took us along the edge of the lake which provided a bit of variety in the habitat but not that many birds except for a Kingfisher and a party of Goldfinch.  On the drive back home we took in the edge of the wood which has a few firs where Crossbills have been seen but alas not by us.