Oare Marshes and Cliffe Pools

On Saturday July 19th my brother and I headed to Kent to bird in a couple of spots - the lovely Oare Marshes and the RSPB Reserve at Cliffe Pools.

I was still missing a few possible waders and both Gray (Black-bellied) Plover and Golden Plover had been reported at Oare Marshes along with, what would be for some, a twitch bird - a Bonaparte's Gull. We spent an hour and a half at the reserve mostly in the drizzle and dipped on all these birds. But we saw lots of Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew and Redshank on the mudflats and Lapwing, Ruff and Common Sandpiper on the Flood.

Black-tailed Godwit

Common Sandpiper

Black-winged Stilts had bred at Cliffe Pools this year, although the young were predated, and I had some hope of adding this bird to my UK list. However local birders said that they did not know if the adults were still around. The pools were pretty disappointing although we had a close view of a Hobby chasing a Swift and a distant view of a Whimbrel on the mudflats of the Essex side of the Thames.

Black-headed Gull

A long delay at the M25/A13 roundabout - we moved half a mile in one hour - forced us the long way home and we took back roads from Wennington to Langdon Hills. As luck would have it we found a couple of Red-legged Partridges on the road near Bulphan!

Norfolk Trip - day two

On Friday July 18th David and I started the day on the North Norfolk Coast before racing on a twitch to Minsmere en route home.

We left our YHA hostel accommodation at Sheringham in search of a twitch bird - Black-winged Pratincole - that had been at Stiffkey Fen. We soon learned that the bird had left the previous evening, flying high and to the west. Nevertheless Stiffkey was a nice place to bird, with the incoming tide pushing waders onto a lagoon. The best bird at this sight was Eurasian Spoonbill - although all ten birds were inactive.

Common Terns

Our next stop was Cley Marshes, one of the gems of the north Norfolk coast but one which held similar birds to Titchwell and Minsmere. I added Brent Goose (Brant) and Common (Mew) Gull for the trip but otherwise we saw the typical birds of the scrape - for example, Pied Avocet and Ruff. We stopped off at the beach area for a few minutes but the winds were cold and rain was in the air. Sea watching produced nothing, but we enjoyed a number of Sandwich Terns heading towards the roost site at Blakeney Point.

Dunlin (summer plumage)

Dunlin (moulting into winter plumage)

We had finished up at Cley much earlier than planned and spent some time wondering about our next step. We disregarded heading back through the RSPB Reserve at Ouse Washes for possible Garganey. It transpired that this was the new location for the Black-winged Pratincole, although the bird was nto seen until the following day! Instead we decided to head back to Minsmere on a twitch, this time for a Collared Pratincole which had been seen that morning.

Arriving at Minsmere we soon headed for the South Hide from which many birders had just left with tales of wonderful views of the rare bird. Alas we spent a long time in the hide, dehydrating by the second in the heat of the UK's hottest day of the year (low 30s C, near 90F) without luck. This bird was probably resting out of site and would, at some point, fly around for a while before settling again. We had dipped on two species of prantincole in one day!

Nevertheless Minsmere had some surprises for us - just four days after our first stop we had Ruddy Turnstone, Common Snipe, a fly-by Whimbrel and surprisingly Kittiwakes. We also had another close view of a Hobby.

Norfolk Trip - day one

On Thursday July 17th David and I headed to the North Norfolk Coast.We drove from Basildon to Thetford for stops at the Lynford Arboretum and Weeting Heath, reached the coast at Hunstanton and then drove to Titchwell and Holkham.

Our first stop at Lynford Arboretum was intended as a spot to stretch our legs after the long drive but several birds were very cooperative. I had good sightings of Goldcrest (which I missed at the Ashdown Forest), Eurasian Siskin and Treecreeper but unexpectedly also saw several Spotted Flycatchers. I had only seen this bird once or twice before but got to enjoy the bird here, first high in the trees and later at eye-level.

The second stop, just a short drive away was to Weeting Heath which delivered our target bird - Eurasian Stone Curlew (Thick-knee). Several of these birds were visible from the hide, all standing so a careful search was not needed, but all quite distant.

A lengthy drive took us to Hunstanton in search of another target - Northern Fulmar. We had short glimpses of this bird from the cliff top on either side of tea, but a walk along the beach gave us close views of both sitting and flying birds. The muddy shore also held Oystercatcher, Redshank and Curlew.

Northern Fulmar

Northern Fulmar

In late afternoon we drove past Snettisham (an RSPB reserve best in winter) and Holme to the RSPB Reserve at Titchwell. The scrapes and hides were reminiscent of Minsmere and held many of the birds seen earlier in the week, but we added Little Ringed Plover to our list for my trip. We again got to enjoy Ruff in many degrees of moult.

Ruff

Ruff

We ended the day driving some back roads (yes we got lost) but did not find any partridge.

Suffolk Trip - day two

On Monday July 14th David and I spent the day at Minsmere and Dunwich Heath, an area which delivered many of the birds we had expected to see.

We arrived at Minsmere around 10am where we immediately enjoyed Sand Martins (Bank Swallows) at the famous sand bank just outside the visitor center. We then spent about 3 hours on the loop around the scrape, stopping to visit the hides on the way round. We saw a (Common) Greenshank at the first hide and at the main hide had Spotted Redshank, Ruff, Dunlin, Ringed Plover. Three tern species were also present - Common, Little and Sandwich Terns - but the bird of the day was my lifer Little Gull. There were a dozen of the birds, petite gulls with a tern-like flight. At the Public Vieweing Point we saw a Eurasian Spoonbill - a new UK bird for me - actively feeding  and were then lucky enough to have a long look at a perching Bearded Reedling as we headed inshore past the sluice gate.

Sand Martin bank at Minsmere

Eurasian Spoonbill

Little Gull

After tea we headed back to the beach, this time turning left and going up the hill to the lighthouse where we saw a raft of 70 Common Scoter offshore. The 3 hour loop through heath and woodland delivered the target Dartford Warbler but not the hoped for Adder.

Suffolk Trip - day one

On Sunday July 13th David and covered areas of Suffolk near Oulton Broad and Lowestoft, the Blyth Estuary and near Snape.

The day began with some heavy rain but this had mostly subsided by the time we reached our first destination at the northern end of Suffolk. We stopped at Carlton Marsh near Oulton Broad and picked up one of our target birds, and life bird for me, Wood Sandpiper. Although another target, Garganey, was present these birds swam too close to the near shore of a distant pond and I did not feel confident in calling the ID for what would be a new bird for my UK list. Black skies and some rain meant we did not loiter hoping for better views.

Our next stop was Lowestoft Harbour where we easily found our target (Black-legged) Kittiwakes. These birds were also distant, but further away at a pier south of the harbour.

Black-legged Kittiwake

We then headed south for a stop at the Hen Reedbeds close to Blythborough. We did not have target birds in mind but we found a large group of Mediterranean Gulls on the mud, and scanning further we found a couple of Red Knot among the typical waders. 

Mediterranean Gulls

Mediterranean and Black-headed Gulls

A stop at the farthest hide produced a (mostly sleeping) Green Sandpiper. The contrast with the Wood Sandpiper seen earlier that day was clear. Back at the car park we took tea and scones to a viewpoint around 7:30 where we were treated to a Barn Owl as well as several of the much more expected Marsh Harriers. As we were leaving we heard the purring of a Turtle Dove and found the bird close to the road.

Hen Reedbeds

Green Sandpiper

Our final stop of the day was at Blaxhall Heath. After checking into our accommodation at the local YHA hostel we went out before dark and enjoyed the churring, and a brief view of a Nightjar. 

Lee Valley

After a morning at Finchingfield to see the Tour de France go through (during which time I saw my first House Martins of the trip), David and I spent the late afternoon and early evening of  Monday July 7 at Lee Valley, including an hour at the Rye Meads RSPB reserve.

At Rye Meads we headed to the Gadwall and Tern Hides to see the pair of breeding Black-necked Grebes. This has been of much interest here, but these are the Eared Grebes of the Kachina Wetlands! We then walked down to the Warbler Hide at the end of the reserve, seeing nothing and then spent a few minutes waiting for the Common Kingfisher that eventually showed at the Kingfisher Hide. Sadly we were then told that the reserve was closed and we missed the 7 Green Sandpipers that we know just outside another of the hides!

We then headed to Lee Valley park, first to see the Egyptian Geese in with the Canada and Greylag Geese on the Goose Field and then to the Great Weir where a Little Egret was probably the best bird. 

Egyptian Goose

Canada Geese

 

Rainham Marshes

On Sunday June 29th David and I spent the morning at the Rainham Marshes RSPB reserve. We did reasonable well and had good views of both Sedge and Reed Warblers but saw no sign of the hope-for Bearded Tits. We saw a Common Sandpiper in with some Black-tailed Godwits, as well as a good selection of ducks. But the bird of the day was a Hobby flying high and bothering some Swifts.

Common Chaffinch

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Jackdaw

Ashdown Forest

On Wednesday June 25th David and I spent the day in the Ashdown Forest south of the road between Royal Tunbridge Wells and East Grinstead. The choice of location was driven by a twitch bird, the UK's first Short-toed Eagle.

We arrived to hear that the bird had been around that morning but had not been seen for half an hour, and so we took a hike across the heathland where we saw many Stonechats and Linnet and several Tree Pipits, my first of these in many years. A probable Wood Lark did not cooperate enough for me to add this to my life list. We also saw a couple of Reed Buntings in what did not appear to be their natural habitat. Alas we failed to find an Adder although others had seen that that morning! As we came to the end of our hike we saw a couple of birders looking high in the air, and we were treated to 10 minutes of the Short-toed Eagle. We saw it hovering like a kestrel and flying around with totally horizontal wings.

We made another couple of stops in the forest after that and I added Coal Tit, Great-spotted Woodpecker and Redstart for the year.

Stour Estuary and Holland on Sea

On Tuesday June 19th David and I went to the Stour Estuary RSPB reserve but the tide was in and we only found the most typical waders (shorebirds). Perhaps the best bird was a Little Egret.

Lapwing

We then went on to the Great Holland Pits where the only bird of note was a Little Grebe. The weather was not good and the woods were silent. We had more luck at Holland Haven which turned out to be much better than our guidebook had indicated. We had Avocets, Black-tailed Godwits, Curlew, Redshank and Oystercatcher at a scrape and I got to see a Green Woodpecker on a vertical tree trunk. This is not exactly rare but I always see this bird on the ground!

Pied Avocet

Eurasian Oystercatcher

Bradwell & Hanningfield

On Sunday June 15th David and I headed to Bradwell on Sea to an area with a bird observatory next to a chapel founded by St. Cedd. The farm fields near the coast held several Corn Buntings and Yellow Wagtails, and Whitethroats sang in the hedgerows. The footpath was too far from the beach to see much but we saw Shelduck and Redshanks.

Common Wood-pigeon

Later in the day we went to Hanningfield where Red-crested Pochard have been breeding and are definitely countable birds. We found a pair of these from one of the hides and generally did well with both woodland birds and lake species.

Tufted Duck

Greenfinch