New Forest 8th & 9th February

As I had the week off, I decided to take the opportunity to visit family and do a spot more birding.  On the way down, I popped by Gosport to see the ever present Ring Billed Gull who takes up winter residency at Walpole Park.  He was very obliging and posed for quite a few photos.

 

I then made my way to the New Forest with the first stop being Beaulieu Road Station.  I really don't know why I even bother going there any more as I never see anything, even though it is known for Crossbill and Hen Harrier.  That day was no exception and I therefore went a couple of miles down the road instead where after a bit of work I managed to find 2 Woodlark, 1 Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and 1 female Crossbill and a few Treecreepers.

 

 

Next stop was Pennington Marshes which was quite productive with  1Slavonian Grebe, several Red Breasted Mergansers, 2 Pintail, 1 Eider, many Wigeon, many Teal, 1 Snipe, 1 Bar Tailed Godwit, 1 Whimbrel, many Dunlin, 5 Curlew, 1 Rock Pipit, 1 Mediterranean Gull and other common shore birds.

 

 

 

I spent the rest of the day looking for two other New Forest Specialities, Firecrest and Dartford Warbler, without finding either.  As dusk fell, I took in the Blackwater Hawfinch Roost.

 

 

 

The following day I decided to twitch the Green Winged Teal at Blashford Lakes along with a Great White Egret down the rood at Ringwood and finally managed to find a Dartford Warbler on the way back.  Despite extensive searching I still could not find a Firecrest but managed to come across 1 Marsh Tit,loads of Coal Tits, Mandarin Ducks and several Roe Deers.  Highlight of the day though was a very showy Cettis Warbler and his mate on the marshes not that far from my Sister's house.  Also seen in that vicinity were more Roe Deer, a huge Pike and a Brambling.







Norfolk Day 3 - 05/02/2013

We spent our final morning again at Titchwell and during this visit we were rewarded with a fantastic view of a Bittern just feet away.  The only other addition to the usual species seen was a female Eider on the sea.  We just about had enough time for my birder's wife to do some shopping in the RSPB shop before dashing back home via Lynford Arboretum for possible Hawfinches - there were many birders but no Hawfinches and the wind was just too bitter to stand around and wait for longer than a few minutes.

 
We then made A final stop off at Thetford for a quick coffee and lunch and the ever obliging and very popular Black Bellied Dipper before winging our way back home through a snow storm on the A14.

Norfolk Day 2 - 04/02/2013

Today took us to firstly to Holme Beach to look for Shore Lark and Snow Buntings. We managed Snow Bunting but could not find any Shore Lark at all. A brief sea watch gave me Red Throated Diver.

Before going to Titchwell (where we stayed for the day), we went via Choseley Drying Barns again and this time obtained great views of Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer and Brambling. The fields round the barns contained 4 Hare as well as Red Legged and Grey Patridge



Titchwell produced the same birds as the previous day with just two additions, a Mediterranean Gull from the Parinder Hide and a brief glimpse of a flying Bittern.

Again it was another very windy day which made birding extremely difficult, not only for sea watching (as there was so much swell) but also with trying to spot passerines.

 

Norfolk Day 1 - 03/02/2013

An early start found us having a bacon sandwich in the car at Wolferton Triangle at 7:45.  After a few drives round the triangle, my birder's wife was about to give up all hope of seeing a Golden Pheasant, when one popped out the uindergrowth in front of us - she was very happy and has almost forgiven me for dropping by there the previous 40 times!

We then drove cross country and had our second bacon sandwich and a coffee at Salthouse beach carpark.  Surprisingly there were no Snow Buntings around at that time (although there were 3 there later apparently).  A quick very cold and windy walk gave us Turnstone, Red Throated Diver, Teal, Wigeon, Gadwall and a seal making its way down the beach to the sea.

We then drove to Cley Beach Car Park for some seawatching which produced Guillemot, Greater Black Backed Gull and loads more Red Throated Diver.  We then went to the Cley visitor centre to decide whether or not to go into the reserve and decided not as there did not seem to be much around.  They do have a good collection of  books for sale there, which are always worth browsing.

A flock of Brent Geese were nearby, so we drove the short distance and settled down to try and find the 2 Pale Bellied and a Black Brant Juvenile that were in the flock.  We were just about to give up when a friendly cycling birder came by and we asked him for some guidance.  He very kindly showed us the Black Brant - he had started from the left and it was the third bird in - and then my birder's wife found the Pale Bellied.  Not as easy for those two compared to the Golden Pheasant but just as satifying.

We then made our way gradually to Titchwell, en route missing the Rough Legged Buzzard at Burnham Overy but gaining Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting, Chaffinch and Brambling at Choseley Barns.

Titchwell itself was quite hard work with poor light but spectacular sights on the beach with thousands of Black Headed Gulls and Common Gulls feeding on a recently washed up crop of (we presume) razorfish.  The beach also had Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Sanderling, Knot, Black Tailed Godwit, Bar Tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Curlew and Linnet.  The sea held a huge flock of very distant Common Scoter and the marshes had Redshank, Greenshank, Spotted Redshank, Golden Plover, Ruff and Lapwing.  It was my turn to spot and chanced upon a Water Pipit among some Pied Wagtails.  The reedbeds attracted Hen Harrier and Marsh Harriers coming into roost as well as Bearded Tits and Bittern (the latter two which we missed) - can't have everything.

Today was as hard it can get birding wise, the rewards were out there but it took a lot of effort and time to achieve the results we did, and it was cold, especially for a tired birder's wife.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a bit easier.....

Lunchtime Stroll

Despite getting up early everyday this week and keeping an eye on my feeders during breakfast, I have not managed to spot our visiting Brambling again.  The Great Spotted Woodpecker has been fairly regular, as have been a small flock of Chaffinches feeding on the ground below the feeders but we remain Bramblingless for the moment.

This lunchtime I took a stroll along the River Leam with a Colleague and as we passed along the path in Victoria Park, I finally managed to spot the Kingfisher, which I have heard on many occasions but never seen.  A few Mistle Thrushes were also around, which were an unusual site.

Two great garden birds

As I drew back the curtains this morning I noticed a different looking bird on my bird station, however, due to time constraints I had to push on and get myself ready for work (instead of rushing for my bins).

As I was waiting for my bread to be toasted, the first bird I noticed was a Great Spotted Woodpecker knocking the merry hell out of the fence trellis - A great bird for the garden as he has not been around for over a year except for the odd flyover.

I decided to use my bins, on some birds on the ground under the feeders and immediately clocked a few Chaffinches then almost fell over when a Brambling walked into the scope of view.  It was obviously the same bird that I seen earlier.  I rushed to find my camera only to come back to the window with nothing in the garden anymore and a Sparrowhawk sitting on the rooftop of a nearby house (before flying off).

Ever since hearing a Brambling flyover the house early winter, I have diligently over the past 2-3 months checked each Chaffinch looking bird by my feeders in the hope that I may spot a Brambling - patience does pay!  It also confirms that Bramblings are in the area most winters, as this is now the third winter that we have encountered them in our garden.

Hopefully it will return tomorrow morning so that I can obtain some record shots.

RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch

I took part in the big garden birdwatch for the RSPB this morning between 8:00am and 9:00am and clocked 3 Blackbird, 2 Blue Tit, 2 Chaffinch, 1 Dunnock, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Great Tit, 5 House Sparrow, 2 Robin, 3 Starling, 5 Woodpigeon, 2 Reed Bunting and 1 Blackcap.  Shame the watch does not include flyovers as I had 3 Lesser Black Backed Gulls, 5 Blackheaded Gulls, 1 Cormorant and 1 Great Spotted Woodpecker.

After an exhausting morning shopping in Stratford Upon Avon, we rushed back home, collected our bins and made our way to Draycote Water to have a look at the gull roost.  The roost seemed quite small to normal standards but I managed to find an adult Caspian among the larger gulls and as we walked round the Reservoir we obtained good views of a Smew along Farnborough Bank and a Black Necked Grebe off the Windsurfing area.  It was quite dark by the time we were finished and the walk back to the car made us surprise a largish deer along the hedgerow which barked indignantly at us (possibly a Roe stag).  A good round off to what had been a bit of a bird free week.