Thursday 31 October 2013

Birding in Leicestershire - October 31, 2013

With a light south westerly wind I decided to go to Dean’s Lane to see if there was any visible migration.  I was there just over an hour but migration was slow with just a few Redwing and Starling moving.  I also saw a couple of Great Spotted Woodpeckers and ten Brambling feeding in trees on the slope of Beacon Hill.

At 09:15 there appeared to be nothing moving and so I went to Beacon Hill, where I saw very little the best being another fourteen Redwing.

Swithland Reservoir proved to be a little better as I counted twenty-two Mandarin and found two Pintail on the south side.  The Mandarin count was by the highest I had ever seen at this site, the previous maximum being just three birds.  On the north side there were three Goldeneye and a Buzzard flew over and I watched a party of Cormorants feeding.  It is quite easy to see why fisherman hate the Cormorant as the twelve birds must have caught over fifty reasonable size fish whilst I was observing them and were successful almost every time.


Having returned home Dave called to say he had a large party of thrushes near Great Glen and being just a few miles away I decided to go and have a look.  When I arrived some of the birds were in flight and it wasn’t too long before they all decided to fly off to the south.  Most were Fieldfare, which I estimated at one hundred with fewer Redwing.  There was also a Little Owl calling but I couldn’t locate it.

Wednesday 30 October 2013

An afternoon at Stanford Reservoir, Leicestershire/Northamptonshire - October 30, 2013

Dave and I went to Stanford Reservoir as there had been an Osprey present for a while.

The weather had been quite pleasant this morning being sunny with light southwest winds and ideal conditions for an Osprey to move, so I wasn’t too optimistic.  We couldn’t find the bird despite spending over two hours at the reservoir and we assumed it had gone.


There was plenty of wildfowl present and we did find a single Barnacle Goose and a Shelduck amongst a mixed flock of Greylag and Canada Geese.  We also saw a couple of Sparrowhawks, three Buzzard, a Peregrine and a Great Spotted Woodpecker.  There was at least one Kingfisher calling at the inlet and although Dave had brief views I failed to it.

A day in Leicestershire & Rutland - October 29, 2013

I went to Newton Harcourt Church first thing this morning where I had a single Nuthatch, a couple of Goldfinch and a Coal Tit before visiting Rutland Water.

At Rutland Water I visited Normanton first but there was no sign of any Mandarin and nothing else.  The dam produced a sub-adult Yellow-legged Gull but nothing else of note and so I went to the north arm.
There were numerous wildfowl in the north arm, mainly Wigeon but I also found an adult and juvenile Whooper Swan and ten Pintail and the ten Barnacle Geese were in the normal area on the north shore.  A Peregrine flew over causing very little disturbance and four Red Kite and a couple of Buzzard were observed over Burley Wood.  A Great Spotted Woodpecker was also observed in a dead tree.  Despite an extensive search I couldn’t find the three Black-necked Grebes that were present yesterday, although they could possibly have been amongst the raft of ducks on the north shore.


I went to shoveler hide on lagoon three on the Egleton reserve where I spent the rest of the day in the hope the Bittern would oblige again today.  It was very quiet but I did find two male and a female Scaup amongst the raft of Tufted Ducks and I counted fifteen Pintail, although these kept coming and going.  A Buzzard was observed on the wood to the north and a Jay was seen briefly at the far end of the lagoon.  The only waders present were a few Lapwing and a single Redshank despite the water level being good, although I did have a brief view of a Water Rail.  A Sparrowhawk made a brief appearance as it circled over lagoon two as did the Bittern but as seems usual this month both Ken and I missed it again.


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Gadwall over lagoon three


Female Pintail over lagoon three


Adult winter Common Gull over lagoon three

A day in Northamptonshire & Leicestershire & Rutland - October 26, 2013

Dave and Roger had been to Harrington Airfield in Northamptonshire on Thursday this week and had seen a Great Grey Shrike and a Black Redstart.  The Great Grey was still there yesterday and so Dave and I set off to hopefully see it.  Dave advised me that it had been difficult and he had and Roger had only seen it briefly.  When we arrived there were several other cars in the lay-by, which were hopefully other birders.  As we walked to the first bunker we could see a group of birders that appeared to be looking at something and on joining them we found it was the shrike.  It was perched on the edge of a bush and appeared to be sheltering out of the wind.  We were able to scope the bird and watched it for perhaps thirty minutes before we moved off to see if we could find a reported Ring Ouzel but there was no sign today.

We went from Harrington to Eye Brook Reservoir where we found seven Whooper Swans, two Little Egrets and a Red Kite but the hoped for Little Owl was not visible in the old oak.

We moved onto Rutland Water and initially went to the north arm where Dave found the three Black-necked Grebes just of the now exposed spit.  The ten Barnacle Geese were visible on the north shore and we also found three Pintail and a female Red-crested Pochard.  A Dunlin flew over with a party of Lapwing, two Red Kites and two Buzzard were observed over Burley Wood and a Sparrowhawk flew over along the southern shore.  As we drove down the road we had a couple of Grey Wagtails by the cottage, which are not that regular at the reservoir.


With little else visible we moved off to the Egleton Reserve and whilst having lunch a party of nine Redwing flew over.  Ken had now joined us and after lunch we walked to shoveler hide on lagoon three.  We counted eighteen Pintail and found a single drake Scaup but although the water was quite low there appeared to be little else.  After seeing a Redshank briefly on one of the islands we decided to go to buzzard hide where we had a Green Sandpiper.  We had been watching a couple of distant Red Kite when a birder entered the hide and asked if we had seen the Bittern as apparently it had flown right across the lagoon.  So much for showing an interest in Red Kites.  Dave decided to return to the centre but Ken and I decided to stay to see if the Bittern flew back but of course in didn’t.  We did have a Shelduck, may first for some time here and a Curlew fly over but nothing else.


Little Egret on lagoon three


Little Egret over lagoon three


Little Egret on lagoon three


Female Gadwall over lagoon three


Pintail on lagoon three


Pintail on lagoon three


Shoveler on lagoon three

On getting back to the centre we had not missed to much and all we saw was a single Snip and circa ten dropping onto lagoon two.

We returned via Eye Brook Reservoir where we saw a couple of Little Egrets and this time the Little Owl did obliged and was visible in the Old Oak.

A week in West Norfolk - October 18 to 25, 2013

This was a family holiday at Brancaster, which allowed me to visit Titchwell every day except the 25th when we were focussed on coming home.  Most visits were early am, although I made several afternoon visits as well.  I also visited Choseley Barns on a couple of occasions, which were rather disappointing.

My first visit to Titchwell was during the late afternoon on the 18th when I saw little on the sea but did have my only Jack Snipe of the week from the new trail and a Barn Owl performed quite well.  Whilst Cetti’s Warblers were always heard I did see one close to Fen Hide.  There were a few Redwings and a Whinchat was a good bird so late in the month.  As is usual there was also a good selection of waders present with a single Spotted Redshank being the best.

I was out early the following morning and had saw six Marsh Harriers coming out of roost.  The tide was very high as Thornham Marsh appeared to transformed with much more water visible and the Volunteer’s Marsh was completed flood.  As I walked out to the sea there was a single Sparrowhawk that flew along the path and perched on one of the benches and brief views of a Kingfisher was a nice surprise.  There was also two superb summer plumage male Long-tailed Ducks and a Red-necked Grebe on the sea but otherwise the sea was rather quiet with just four Eider, two Common Scoter and Red-breasted Merganser as well as a few Gannets.  Again there was a good selection of waders present including three Greenshanks that turned out to be my only sightings of the week.  A Cetti’s Warbler was observed alongside the path to the sea and a Stonechat was observed towards Thornham as was the Whinchat.  I made an additional visit during the morning and returned with my granddaughter in the evening as she wanted to see a Barn Owl.  The owl duly obliged as did a ring-tailed Hen Harrier, which was over Thornham Marsh.

This was one of the days I made a visit to Choseley Barns but all I saw were seven Grey Partridge and a Marsh Harrier.

A walk with my granddaughter along a footpath at Brancaster produced a couple of Jays and my only Chiffchaff of the week.  I had been seeing Starlings moving west whilst at Titchwell and the movement was emphasised at Brancaster during the afternoon when I also began to notice Chaffinches moving as well and counted c.150 there and on my last visit to Titchwell.


On the 20th I was back at Titchwell and moved quickly to the beach and saw two nice male Velvet Scoters close in before they flew off to the west.  There were also at least four Red-throated Divers, at least fifteen Gannets and single Red-necked and Slavonian Grebes on or over the sea.  Three Sandwich Tern flew over during the morning visit and another was observed during the afternoon as was a Shag.  Two Peregrines that were obviously a juvenile male and female, and a possible third bird was seen a little later.  A Lapland Bunting flew over as I was walking back during the morning. During my second visit, which was at lunchtime I saw a female Red-crested Pochard, five Spotted Redshanks and a single Bearded Tit and the Stonechat was still present, although there was no sign of the Whinchat today.


Juvenile Gannet


Velvet Scoter


Kestrel


Peregrine


Peregrine


Black-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwits


Bar-tailed Godwits


Redshank


Ruff


Ruff


Ruff

Whist at the cottage in Brancaster on the 20th a Merlin flew over but second visit to Choseley was again disappointing with just c.600 Pink-footed Geese, four Grey Partridge and circa seventy Golden Plover being of interest.

As I walked down to the beach on the Monday morning I saw eight Marsh Harriers come out of the roost as well as a single Ring-tailed Hen Harrier and a Peregrine flew over Thornham Marsh.  On reaching the sea I found three Long-tailed Ducks, a Red-throated Diver, a Red-necked Grebe, a Slavonian Grebe and a single Razorbill and Rock Pipit also flew over.

I made a second visit during the afternoon and there were plenty of waders during both visits that included Oystercatcher, Golden Plover, Grey Plover, Lapwing, Knot, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ruff, Snipe, Black-tailed Godwit, Bar-tailed Godwit, Curlew, Redshank and Turnstone.  The highlight of the afternoon was a juvenile Arctic Tern that spent most of the time feeding towards Brancaster.

The 22nd was my younger granddaughter Fleur’s birthday and so I didn’t make the usual early morning visit to Titchwell.  I did go out in the afternoon, which proved to still be quite good.  There was a female Red-crested Pochard showing as I walked along the footpath and on reaching the sea I found three Long-tailed Ducks, fifteen Common Scoter, two Red-breasted Mergansers, a Red-throated Diver and eight Gannets but there was no sign of any grebes and six Snow Bunting were also observed on the beach.


Lapwing


Grey Plover


Redshank


Herring Gull


Snow Bunting
As I walked back towards the centre there were three Marsh Harriers over Thornham Marsh and the ring-tailed Hen Harrier performed for a while over the north west corner.  The Barn Owl was also observed as it quartered the southern edge of the marsh before flying towards Thornham after being harassed by a Marsh Harrier.  Waders were again well represented very much as yesterday but I also saw three Spotted Redshanks.

Wednesday the 23rd was a little cooler, although it was mainly sunny.  As I approached the last lagoon I saw the Kingfisher again as it flew from the near corner towards the sea before disappearing.  I found the three Long-tailed Ducks on the sea and also seven Red-breasted Mergansers.  There was also at least six Gannets and eventually I saw three Slavonian Grebes, two Razorbills and I found my only skua of the week , which was an Arctic.  The Whooper Swans had departed by the time I had walked back.

After some breakfast I went to Hunstanton before returning to Titchwell in the afternoon.  Four Shore Larks had been reported at Thornham Point in the morning but not since but I thought I would walk out as I felt it was more likely that no one had looked since the first sighting than the birds actually going.  On the walk to the beach I saw a pair of Beaded Tits and a single Little Stint and Spotted Redshank.  It was quite difficult walking to Thornham Point as the fresh wind was blowing into my face and was also carrying some sand.  As I got close to the point four birds flew towards me and I saw as they went past that they were the Shore Larks.  They settled just after going by me and I realised that four walkers had flushed them.  I could see the birds on the beach and asked the walkers to walk closer to the dunes.  However they became interested in the birds, which eventually flew to the base of the dunes and the walkers were able to continue on their original path.  I managed to get several shots of the birds before they flew back towards the point but they then turned and headed off strongly to the east.


Brent Goose


Brent Goose


Grey Plover


Grey Plover


Black-tailed Godwit


Bar-tailed Godwit


Curlew


Snipe


Shore Lark


Shore Lark


Shore Lark

On the 24th I again went to Titchwell early and there were thirteen Whooper Swans on Thornham Pool.  Two Marsh Harriers flew from the reed-bed to the marsh putting up a Short-eared Owl as they did so and another four Marsh Harrier were observed over the marsh.  On reaching the sea the tide was still advancing and it was rather quiet I all I could find was two Red-necked Grebes.
After some breakfast I went for a walk with the family to Brancaster beach seeing a couple of Little Egrets and hearing a couple of Cetti’s Warblers.

On returning to the cottage they went to Holt shopping and I returned to Titchwell.
On arriving back at Titchwell I walked straight to the beach as I was hoping the tide would be relatively high.  I was not disappointed as there were clearly more birds present.  There were three female Eiders; seven Long-tailed Ducks, including a stunning summer plumaged male; two Red-breasted Mergansers; four Red-throated Divers, a close Great Northern Diver; fifteen Gannets; two Red-necked Grebes and seven Slavonian Grebes.  I eventually made my way back and after some lunch walked along the new trail from fen hide seeing very little so I returned to the main path where I enjoyed the last hour or so of my visit on a very pleasant afternoon.  The only bird of any note I saw though was a Stonechat.


I had a very pleasant holiday with my family and some reasonable birding recoding 120 species, three of which were year ticks.


Little Egret


Brent Goose


Wigeon


Teal


Lapwing


Snipe


Snipe


Snipe


Ruff


Stonechat