Norfolk October 6th - 8th

A few of us, myself, Paul Hawkins, Martin Blow, Jono Lethbridge and Shaun Harvey all headed down to Norfolk on the Thursday morning, with Martin Redfern joining us on the Saturday, the idea being to hopefully catch up with some migrants. As most are probably aware Norfolk at the moment is empty with hardly any drift migrants, one big reason being the constant westerly/south westerly winds, it Is also very mild for this time of year.
Despite this I had a really enjoyable trip, good food, too much beer, great company and some good birds. It was also nice to get close up views of the more common species, mainly waders, for this Titchwell beach is ideal, especially if you want to photograph Sanderling. They are certainly more approachable than many other waders and it was the beach that gave us all our best shots.

Sanderling - always obliging (click on photos to enlarge)

On the first day we headed down the east coast, the idea being to catch up with the Sandhill Crane, this proved a good move as it departed I believe on the day after. It was good to see one especially for myself having never seen one before, the views were distant and it was very windy, digiscoping was nigh on impossible but I managed to get a couple of record shots.

Distant shots of the Sandhill Crane

As we birded our way down the coast we headed for the Common Cranes, unfortunately we missed them so headed to our house in Thornham, time was marching on, on the way we started to pick up distant flocks of Pink Footed and Brent Geese but the undoubted highlight was a Ring Tailed Hen Harrier crossing the road before Thornham.
Friday found us debating a distant trip (8 hours) to Lancashire for a Solitary Sandpiper, as some may know I am not a twitcher but my very good mates are, basically they are nuts and not quite right in the head. In the end we decided to wait on news but it never showed again so we went sea watching. Good birds were seen including Great and Arctic Skua, close views of Red throated Divers numerous Gannets and many distant Auks.2 close Bonxies gave the best views, pick of the bunch though were 8 flyover Crossbills. After this we headed for Wells Wood for the Yellow Browed Warbler, eventually all of us getting the briefest views, very elusive.

Wheatear

Bar Tailed Godwit

The afternoon found us at Titchwell, Bearded Tit, Spotted Redshank, and Marsh Harriers were all seen on the walk out to the beach. From here we spent a good few hours photographing various waders with the highlight coming as we walked off the dunes. A windblown Skua, it turned out to be an Arctic was following the line of dunes and coming straight at us, the resulting views as it passed over our heads at no more than 4 metres above were stunning. I think Shaun got the best shots; I had the setting on the camera wrong as usual. If we thought this was good, views of another Skua the next day were unbelievable.

Dark Bellied Brent Goose

Shaun taking photos at Titchwell - note dopey birder behind who flushed everything

Selection of waders, mainly Knot

Saturday, me and Mart watched the rugby, Wales played great rugby, we were shit, excuse my French. We just don’t recycle the ball as fast as the others, we need a good scrum half and standoff, Wilkinson has had his day. We have to decide what sought of game we want play.
After the rugby we headed across the marsh to meet the others on the beach at Titchwell, to cut a long story short it turned out a bit of an adventure with an estuary to cross and a rising tide, eventually we both got there with wet feet.

Mart walking round in circles trying to get off the Saltmarsh and the Estuary

The afternoon again found me, Redsy and Shaun on the beach with the others heading off to Sheringham to sea watch; we were mixing a bit of sea watching with photography. We picked up Bonxie, Eider, 2 Red Breasted Mergansers, Arctic Skua and Sandwich Tern, it was whilst we were doing a wader photo session that I picked up an Arctic Skua harassing a Common Gull.
Eventually it gave up as it was over the dunes and then glided in low and headed back out to sea over the flat sand. It was coming right at me head on, the trick was trying to keep it in focus, it probably passed me no more than 4 metres away giving me the best views I have ever had of one, unbelievably it then gave the same views to Shaun who was positioned further up the beach.

Arctic Skua after Common Gull

As it flew towards me there were white markings on the ‘hand’ at the front of the wing, not exactly the same pattern both sides but not far off, unusual I have never seen that in an Arctic. Could have done with more light as it was overcast but how can I complain when I get views like this……

It just kept coming......

Pigmentation in the wings clearly visible

I wish they all showed like this, usually at Canvey they are distant specs

Semipalmated Sandpiper - Coalhouse Fort

Saturday October 1st

As my mates know I am not a twitcher chasing them god knows where all over Britain, I get my kicks from Peregrines and local patching.On the other hand I can very much see the thrill of seeing a new bird, I get the same buzz when I find one locally. I dare say if I had the time I would do more twitching, I have been to the Scillies and run with the best of them for a tick, it is fun. I was at Barking Bay this morning ,of course after seeing England see off the Jocks in the World Cup, and it was dead, too hot and no movement of any kind. Earlier Shaun and Paul had rang me to tell me of the Semipalmated Sandpiper found by Paul Wood, well done to him, on a whim I went, it turned out a good move as I connected with the bird as the tide was rising.

Semipalmated Sandpiper, Little Stint and Ringed Plover

Click on photos to enlarge

Not only was it present but there were also other goodies, 2 Little Stints topped the list giving good views along with the semi as the tide pushed them ever closer. Supporting cast along the tide line included Ringed Plover, Dunlin, Grey Plover, a number of Black Tailed Godwits with 5 Bar Tails also dropping in.As the tide covered the mud, everything went over to roost at Cliffe including a distant flock of Avocet around 150 birds.

Little Stint

It got even better then with 5 Brent Geese going up river, this group or another 5 were seen about 20 minutes afterwards, again going up river.

Brent Geese

The finale was a cracking Pomarine Skua heading up river around 3.00pm, hot, bright sunshine, no cloud cover, no easterly or north easterly blowing it down, sometimes it just doesn’t make sense, I am not complaining though.

 Pomarine Skua

Heavily cropped - note deep chest

A flyover calling Rock Pipit was the first for me for the 2nd winter period.
Summing up a very good afternoon.

Injured Juvenile Peregrine

Earlier in the month I placed a post on an injured male juvenile Peregrine, his left leg hanging down and to all appearances broken where it joined his body.
Since that posting I have been keeping an eye on him to see if he will deteriorate in condition and also to see if he goes as the adults were not feeding him.

Juvenile on right, Falcon centre of grill ( click on photos to enlarge )

Falcon on prey

I am very happy to say that the little chap is hanging on in there, from Sunday’s visit it looks as if he is surviving on the adult’s leftovers. He is a game little chap as well, on Sunday he waited patiently as the Falcon fed, he was sitting about 3 metres from her occasionally giving the hunger call, she in turn mantled the prey, in this case a feral pigeon. After 25 minutes he again started to call, this time edging closer to her, she made herself look even bigger already dwarfing him being a female, instead of backing away he made a grab for the kill. There followed a free for all and he came away with part of the prey so well done to the plucky little fella, he deserves to make it. I dare say the Falcon, they are dominant over all males be it adults, juveniles or immatures probably did not put up much of a struggle being her offspring.

The juvenile with 'pinched' prey

Watching him fly after this showed the leg to be held closer to the body and even perched, it was not hanging down as much as seen a couple of weeks ago. With the right foot holding part of the prey, the left was drawn up tighter to the body. Additionally when he emerged from roost in the half-light I thought at first it was the adult Tiercel as he was more streamlined as the leg was not on show.

The juvenile with the leg being held better.

Not hanging down like a few weeks back

The question is now though, how long will the adults put up with him, and is he capable of making a kill himself with the leg the way it is? I like to think that he is capable, he did have a couple of half-hearted hunts at an earlier stage and is flying much better, I will have another look at him this weekend.

Knot Landing

September 24th

Barking Bay again came up trumps again with a mid-morning visit meeting up with Paul, the idea being to hopefully bag a good wader as the rising tide came in. The plan went very well when Paul located a Knot on the fast disappearing mud, not only a year tick but also a site tick. Like other Knot I have seen it was completely unfazed by us standing there, Greg had also joined us and we managed to get some half decent photos, it only flew when the tide covered the mud completely and it went to roost.





Knot (click on photos to enlarge)

Going to roost

The sky promised a rarer large raptor but none materialised unfortunately but 2 Hobbies put in an appearance, an adult and a juvenile, in particular the adult was present for most of our visit and spent its time picking off Common/Ruddy Darters. It also at one point went into a flock of Linnets, spectacular stuff, happy to say the Linnets evaded it.

 Adult Hobby at speed after Linnets

During the course of the morning we split up, Paul saying I’m going to find a Wryneck, sod me he bloody did, well done to him. After a frantic fully laden dash across the grassland dodging the booby traps (rabbit holes ) I arrived sweating at the spot, despite an hours search we could not relocate it. He did manage to get some photos of it when first located so worth having a look on his blog. http://www.hawkysbirdingblog.blogspot.com/

 This is what a Wryneck does to you, well done mucker.

The river other than the Knot was pretty quiet, a single Common Tern seen distantly at the Outfall and 2 Common Sandpipers in the usual spot.

Wheatear

Whinchat

Another year tick came in the shape of a calling Cetti’s Warbler, as they are now doing very well they should start to colonise the site, it has the right habitat and could hold 2 or 3 males.

Also seen were

Wheatear – 2 juveniles
Whinchat – 2
Common Snipe – 1 over
Skylark – 14 all up together
Shelduck – numbers increasing with 116 sitting out the high tide.

Not sure if I can get over on Sunday, Peregrine stuff, I reckon the next wader has got to be a Curlew Sandpiper, there seems to be one up and down this section of the Thames, who knows.

Barking Bay - catching up

I have been very busy of late and have not had time to post the sightings from the Bay, I squeezed in some visits which I have listed below.

August 28th

Whinchat – 4
Black Tailed Godwit – 2 feeding on mud
Common Sandpiper – 11 – usual spot, they seem to like the area around the large jetty
Dunlin – 1 on the mud
Oystercatcher – 2 on the mud
Common Tern – 7 seen on the river

Black Tailed Godwit ( click on photos to enlarge)

September 10th

A quick visit paid dividends with a site tick, a Spotted Redshank, this followed on from the one John Archer found relatively close at Fords Dagenham earlier in the year. Not usually associated as a Thames side mud feeding bird like Redshank it was a welcome and unexpected addition.

Other sightings
Yellow Wagtail – 5 all overhead
Meadow Pipit – 40 all overhead south
Redshank – 27 first returning birds for the 2nd winter period
Teal – around 60 seen, again arriving back
Wheatear – 3 fresh looking juveniles seen
Whinchat – 2
Swallow – 40 all heading for warmer climes

Whinchat

September 16th

Another lightning visit around mid day, rewarded this time with a Marsh Harrier seen on the other side of the river, initially low and then thermalling and heading south.

The river produced
Common Tern – 28 all heading up river
Swallow – 17 over south
Black Tailed Godwit – 5 on the mud
Redshank – 36 on the mud

September 18th

A good visit, with a good spread of species, I would have liked to have stayed longer, the sky promised a good Raptor, especially after Johns Honey Buzzard on Friday .I met up with Paul, no Honey unfortunately but a Common Buzzard was very welcome especially as it was needed as a year tick by Paul.

Bar Tailed Godwit

Other highlights
Goldfinch/Linnet – mixed flock of around a 100
Common Snipe – 1 seen dropping in
Black Tern – 1 at the outfall with around 12 Common Terns
Bar Tailed Godwit – 1 feeding on the mud
Black Tailed Godwit – a probable on the other side
Greenshank – 1 on the other side
Hobby – 1 messing about with a Sparrowhawk
Arctic Tern - 1 juvenile seen well heading up river
Little Egret – 1 a rare bird in the Bay
Whinchat – 3 together

Summing up, some good species seen, hopefully more to come.
I have also posted some photos taken recently at Parliament and elsewhere, the Fox was walking around opposite Victoria Tower in broad daylight, tourists and all, it actually walked up to me, completely unafraid.

Very, very tame

Looking for the dogs

Male Kestrel

Female Kestrel

Juvenile female Peregrine

Also a pair of Kestrels and a juvenile Peregrine flying the flag at Parliament.

Young Peregrine

Recently I visited one of my regular sites checking up on a juvenile male peregrine, the resident pair had only produced the one this year, I was following his progress closely to see when he would leave and make his way in the world.
On arrival a very sad sight greeted me, he was still present, flying round as normal but his left leg was broken and hanging down, it was also quite obvious that the injury impaired his flying and his landing ability .It appeared to be broken where it joined the body.

The juvenile with the leg held out in front of him

For many other species – pigeon, black headed gull etc., this could possibly be something that they could overcome, to a bird of prey like a peregrine the injury will very likely be the end for him. The leg will hinder him catching prey, he will lose speed and manoeuvrability in the chase, and if he does manage to catch prey it will be very hard to balance, hold the prey, and feed on one leg.
If he does survive Bumble foot could be an issue as Peregrines, as do many birds of prey alternate their leg they are resting on.

Watching him this morning was a sad affair as the adults are starting to hold prey back, this is his message to go, and without prey he will soon lose condition and deteriorate.
What caused it? – he has now been flying for over 2 months so his flight ability is not that of a recently fledged bird, the likely causes could be chasing prey and hitting an obstacle in pursuit of prey or he has wandered into another pairs territory and been attacked by one or both resident birds.

A sad sight

I have let NaturalEngland know but the kindest thing may be to put him out of his misery to stop him suffering. While I am awaiting an answer, if he does leave the natal site and is seen elsewhere in London or Essex I would appreciate a call of his whereabouts, you can contact me on www.londonperegrines.com or leave a message at the bottom of this entry.

The Valley and Tylers Common

September 3rd


Following a very enjoyable birders drink up the Railway on Friday night I got up at dawn and headed for the wilds feeling none too clever. Automatic pilot took over walking down to the Ingrebourne, bravely pushing forward in the hope of that rarity or a rare migrant that I know is out there somewhere. The site is way overdue a Red Backed Shrike, Wryneck or Wood Warbler, the main reason that they are not found if they do visit is that there is just too much habitat, the site is massive, probably 40% of it inaccessible.                                                                                                           This morning I decided to cover as much as possible, my route started at the Farm Trail, then on to the top paddock, Berwick Glades, middle paddock, viewing area and then all the habitat to Ingrebourne Hill.
No major rarities gave themselves up but I did record some migrants moving through including Spotted Flycatcher, a year tick for the site so well worth getting out of bed for.
Many warbler species were present with at least 6 Blackcaps seen along with at least 10 Chiffchaffs, 6 Cettis’s were heard 2 Bullfinch were also heard at Lowfield.

Best of the migrants go to

Whinchat 3 – 1 middle paddock and 2 on Ingrebourne Hill
Wheatear – 1 Ingrebourne Hill
Spotted Flycatcher – 2 middle paddock
Yellow Wagtail – 12 Farm Trail

Spotted Flycatcher - middle paddock ( click on photos to enlarge)

Juvenile Robin

Elsewhere on site there were at least 100 Lapwings, 36 Teal and 8 Gadwall in the viewing area, overhead produced a minimum of 70 House Martins up high with a sprinkling of Swallows in with them.2 Sparrowhawks were the best of the raptors.

Whinchat on the Hill

Whinchat

 Tylers Common

 

A non-birding visit in good weather in the afternoon with my wife Christine and daughter Nicky, the idea being to have a picnic and get some photos of her dog, Bo.                                                            In between the sausage rolls and doughnuts I scanned the almost cloudless blue sky, presently I picked up a Common Buzzard thermal ling that gave good views through the camera, no tail band present so looked good for a juvenile. When this drifted off 2 Hobbies showed up a little while later, again these gave good views and I managed to get some half decent shots, photos below.

Juvenile Common Buzzard

Adult Hobby

Being mobbed by Swallows