Dave Mo Birding

Old Haunts - Stubbers and West Thurrock Marshes

2012-02-15T22:19:00.000-08:00

I headed for my old patch again at Stubbers after Paul and Shaun found a Drake Scaup late on Tuesday afternoon, on arrival I could see it straight away hugging the far bank with Pochard on Russell’s Lake. Walking round to the far side I managed a few digiscoped shots but it and the Pochard are very wary so I kept my distance. After having a good look at it, it is a cracking looking bird, we don’t get that many full plumage Drakes, most of the ones I have seen have been 1st winters or females.

Drake Scaup with Pochard

After this I scanned the rest of the lake, 2 female Goldeneye were diving together, the 3 Redhead Smew were still present and a new arrival was a Redhead Goosander. Now that I have a bit more time I will have to start covering this site again, the 2 lakes have never been fished so there is obviously a good food source.

Redhead Smew

Redhead Goosander

From here I headed to another old favoured patch, West Thurrock Marshes, I did this patch regularly for a good number of years, being a Thameside patch it was inevitable that it would turn up some good birds. Grey Phalarope probably topped the list, the site has not changed much, the graffiti still provides an unusual background on the sea wall and it looks like the scramblers still use the site.
In the past the site has come under threat from developers being Brownfield, I know it was due for development, I suspect the reason that nothing has happened is probably down to the recession. Whatever it may be it is good news that it is still here, long may it stay this way.
Being so close to Rainham RSPB I often wondered why the RSPB did not step in as it has the potential to be a good reserve. It has the old ash lagoons which used to pull in waders years ago along with good woodland, scrub, ponds and reed filled dykes, although relatively small it would have been a good reserve for the local community.
I suspect due to the access problems, remote parking and location by the 4 Weddings and a Funeral Church, the council have only supplied 3 parking slots, it is never going to pull people in like a good ‘ Country Park ‘ should.
Back to the birding – I went straight to the far end to check out the large mud flats, on the way seeing Curlew and good numbers of Teal, when I arrived I had a nice selection of waders, see below.

Black Tailed Godwit – 67 including a colour ringed bird
Bar Tailed Godwit – a single seen
Oystercatcher - 8
Knot – a single seen, probably the same wintering bird that has been around for a while
Curlew – 24 including the earlier seen bird
Lapwing – 214
Dunlin – 50
Sanderling – 3 seen feeding with a small lock of Dunlin
Grey Plover – 2
Redshank – 52
Avocet – 7 resting up
Common Snipe – 16
Jack Snipe – 1

A Snipe admiring the Graffiti

Common Snipe

The same bird

Jack Snipe

The same bird

3 Sanderling feeding with Dunlin

Knot

Colour ringed Black Tailed Godwit

Like Stubbers I think I will try and get over as much as possible, it can be a bit remote but the quality of the birding is too much of a lure.

The Garden and the Valley

2012-02-14T00:53:00.000-08:00

Like many others at the moment in the south east I have noticed massive numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares where ever I go, this is mainly due to the extreme weather and wind change. Where I live, in Hornchurch we have a large communal garden, bordered by trees, shrubs and bushes with a good number of Hawthorne’s, conveniently right next to my bedroom window.
Over the weekend they arrived en masse, mainly Redwings but also a good flock of Fieldfares, I was fortunate enough to be at home to get a few photos.

Redwing

All though the weather was not ideal, little light and grey skies meant a high ISO, they didn’t come out too bad.

Fieldfare

The whole flock of Redwings at one point landed in a tree outside of the gardens and I was able to get an exact count after taking a photo. We all estimate birds flocks and it will never be an exact science, but from the photo below how many would you say were in the tree?
No copying either and counting the dots.

Redwings all - how many would you estimate?

The Valley
I left it a little later than the usual dawn start hoping that I could catch up with Shaun’s Jack Snipe by the running stream, much of the land and water bodies are still frozen so I gave this area about ½ an hour. I did connect with 10 Common Snipe but unfortunately no Jack, with a thaw coming they will now probably disperse to their usual haunts.
I did get some distant views of a Kingfisher which are always a pleasure to see, trying to photograph the little bullets is another matter, I was lucky that it perched for a while.

I carried on with another bird in my head, Woodcock, with the extreme weather they have been making an appearance just about everywhere, again despite walking all the likely haunts, as with the Jack, it was not to be.
Fieldfare and Redwing were everywhere, 70 and 160 recorded by the end of the walk, I also got lucky with the White Fronted Goose, I saw it come in from the Belhus direction with a handful of Greylags. Where the other has gone who knows, moved on, Fox who knows?
I have also sussed out exactly where to see the Common Buzzard, mostly just listen to the Crows but it is favouring a section of woodland and is regular, 2 female Sparrowhawks also added to the raptor list.
Not surprisingly, few of the smaller passerines were seen, 4 Bullfinch and a calling Redpoll going over were the pick of the bunch. Still no Siskins, the Valley never holds big flocks but they used to be regular.
A single Golden Plover flyover completed an enjoyable walk.

Golden Plover overhead

In search of Smew

2012-02-11T15:53:00.000-08:00

Every now and then you have a day birding when it all comes together, you can do no wrong and good birds trip themselves up trying to see you, today was one such day.
I had been trying to visit Grange Waters for a while now, basically ever since the wind shifted from the usual westerly / south westerly and came round to a northerly/north easterly; it is usually the cue for the rarer winter migrants to hop across the North Sea.
The Smew at Grange Waters usually arrive in the 1st week of December, due to the winds they have not, until the recent cold weather and the wind change.
I arrived pretty early at Mollands Lane hoping that the lakes would not be frozen, the 2 smaller lakes were partially frozen and the big lake with the island was 50% open, the 2 smaller lakes produced a 22 Wigeon and 2 Bullfinch.
Walking down to the end section of the large island lake and I came across a large circular raft of Shoveler doing there circular feeding routine, a total count of birds in the unfrozen water came to 47, a good start.
Whilst scanning around amongst the Black Headed Gulls I found a cracking Drake Smew, this was what I was looking for, views were distant and through trees but none the less a very good start to the morning. After some digi scoped shots I headed off to the other lakes, no other Smew were found but plenty of Fieldfare present with 185 seen along with 3 Lesser Redpolls. Given the weather I was expecting more on the 3 Grange Waters Lakes, in the past I have found Long Tailed Duck, Goosander and Goldeneye.

Distant photos of the Drake Smew

Arriving back, I thought I would take one more look at the Smew to try and get a better photo, no luck with relocating it but 6 Goosanders had took its place! There were 2 Drakes and 4 Redheads, this was the other bird that I had in my head, I was now on a roll, no stopping me now, I took some record shots and made my way back to the car.

2 Drake Goosanders

Redheads with a Drake

Preening

Thinking that Stubbers might be worth a visit I headed that way, booking in on arrival I walked over to Russell’s Lake. A good 70% was ice free and I could see Wildfowl in good numbers, one of the 1st birds seen was a cracking Drake Goldeneye. Scanning round and good birds started to show, more Goldeneye and also Redhead Smew, it was freezing cold but days like this make all the blank ones worthwhile.

Redhead Smew

After covering most of the lake I arrived at 3 Redhead Smew, 6 Goldeneye made up of 2 Drakes and 4 Ducks, again I took a few record photos for reference, again distant but not too bad.

Drake Goldeneye

3 Female Goldeneyes

2 Redheads feeding together

It was whilst I was reviewing the photos at home afterwards, in particular 2 Redhead Smew together, that I noticed a Duck in front on the photo. Blowing it up a bit showed a big white saddle, big head and bill, it looked very good for a Scaup, photo below. At the time I was so intent on digiscoping the Redheads I obviously overlooked it, even when scanning the lake. Later Dave Mcgouth saw it as well.
All in all a very good mornings birding with some cracking birds.

Large head and bill, white blaze, wide body,looks good for a female

Patch additions and surveying

2012-02-09T22:14:00.000-08:00

As of late I am in a semi-retired state, I am getting more time to visit the patch and am also very lucky in that I get to go to different locations to survey for birds; such has been the case over this week.
When I say patch, like many other Londoners I take part in a light hearted competition every year to see how many species you can record on your local patch or flying over it, all my mates do it as well. It is good clean fun, the rewards are far more satisfying if you find a local rarity yourself, each year you try and beat the previous year’s total.
This week I have visited both Barking Bay and Barking Outfall, both are turning up good birds due to the weather, the way it looks with the freeze continuing it is likely that even more wildfowl and waders are going to grace the Thames.
I visited Barking Bay on Wednesday and covered as much ground as I could, of Stonechat there is still no sign, I can remember seeing up to 8 birds here, the recent hard winters have hit them hard unfortunately.
After covering most of the site I got 3 additions to the patch watching the river, this held good numbers of waders as the tide was out.
A female Sparrowhawk absconding to Kent joined the list as did a small flock of 8 Wigeon drifting down on the tide, they are not usually here and quite hard to get.
The best of the lot was an adult Mediterranean Gull resting up on the mud, I managed a couple of digi shots of this, although they are getting more regular every winter, locating one amongst the hundreds of Black Headed Gulls is another matter.

Heavily cropped photos of the Mediterranean Gull

Grey Plover at roost

The mud flats produced a good count of waders in 121 Redshank, 300 Dunlin, 9 Grey Plover, 9 Curlew, 112 Black Tailed Godwits, 5 Snipe and a single Ringed Plover.

Surveying

From Barking Bay I headed for Dagenham Riverside for the monthly hide tide count along the foreshore and the jetties. The main jetty on its day holds very large numbers of waders, namely Black Tailed Godwit, Lapwing and Redshank, today was no different.
Black Tailed Godwit numbered 454 with a single Bar Tailed mixed in with them; the supporting cast was 4 Curlew, 63 Shelduck, 84 Teal, 53 Redshank, 26 Gadwall and 29 Lapwing.
All of these jetties/structures are vitally important for London’s waders and wildfowl, steps are now in the process of trying to safeguard them all.

Black Tailed Godwit piling into the roost

Still room for more

Thursday found me near Coryton surveying a large area which I have to admit I really enjoy, it has regularly turned up some good birds, despite the conditions, a white blanket of snow all over, I still saw some good birds.
I also came across a hunting male Sparrowhawk going after a small bird in a small bush; it looked like a Pipit, despite the Pipits advantage inside the bush, the Sparrowhawk would not give up even though it was getting hooked up. At one point one wing was caught and he could not move, in the end he reversed and came in at a different angle from the outside, the scrambled pursuit inside the bush continued and then suddenly the Pipit made a break for it.It unfortunately was his undoing as the Sparrowhawk caught him after a brief chase, the Pipit was probably exhausted. Sad yes, but nature is nature, everything has to eat.

Male Sparrowhawk

I also had a male Marsh Harrier come over, too far away for photos but always good to see a striking adult male.
There seems to be an influx of Woodcock everywhere at the moment and it was one bird that I thought I might pick up, this proved true with one bird seen, a bit distant and bad light but identifiable.

A heavily cropped Woodcock

Barking Outfall and Beckton

2012-02-07T17:53:00.000-08:00

With the recent weather I headed down to the Outfall as I knew that, as in past winters, the wildfowl increases dramatically with the arrival of hard weather. Looking over the sea wall confirmed this with Tufted Duck hugging the low tide shoreline all stretched out, a later count recorded 362 birds, a good start to the morning.
Wildfowl numbers had gone through the roof, a count produced 102 Gadwall and 167 Shoveler, Teal I could only estimate, certainly 500+.With a rising tide Cormorants were piling in as well, a count of 52 came up but this was increasing all the time, on mid river there was also 8 Great Crested Grebes.
I turned my attention to the mud flats at the Outfall and looking west; this produced 6 Black Tailed Godwits, 146 Redshank, 2 Curlew and 2 rare waders for the Outfall, a single Bar Tailed Godwit and 3 Grey Plovers. The Bar Tailed Godwit I was particularly pleased with as it was unexpected; the Grey Plover I thought was likely given Gary’s and Nick’s sightings the other day. Having said that it is only the 2nd time I have recorded Grey Plover at the Outfall.

Grey Plover

Grey Plover showing the black armpits

Lapwing and Common Snipe

Black Tailed Godwit

With Beckton slightly upriver I headed around there where the 2 East India men had done so well, I was lucky and arrived just as the tide was rising, it pushed birds towards me.
Scanning through the rocks on the water line showed 9 Common Snipe at the edge, just as I got on another one it flushed with the others due to a cyclist coming through, even before it flushed I had seen enough to confirm Jack Snipe. I had all to brief views as it went east with the Commons, the difference in size is quite apparent; it was seen to drop in around the corner.

Meadow Pipit

Common Snipe

Grey Plover

Other waders present were 3 more Grey Plover, I know just like Buses, these were a separate 3 as I had seen presumably the same 3 seen earlier fly upriver. Also a good sized flock of 38 Lapwing were floating around and eventually landed briefly before heading off down river.
All in all a very good morning, I would like to have stayed longer to see what else turned up.

Ringing Return

I recently posted photos of a colour ringed Sanderling taken at Southend on Sea on February 4th, courtesy of Steve Arlow, Simon Buckle and Jeroen Reneerkens in Greenland, I now have the information on the bird.Thanks go to them for such a quick response, see below.

Colourcode: B3YRYR NameRinger: Antoine Dervaux 2nd Ringer: Johannes Lang

Ringnumber: 8224096 Date Catch: 2-7-2011 CatchingPlace: Karupelv valley, Trailisland

Greenland 72.29.58 N 23.59.05 W

Sightings of this bird:

Date(d/m/y) Place Observer 2ndObserver 3rd Observer

4-2-2012 Southend on Sea, Essex DavidMorrison

United Kingdom 51.32.05 N 00.41.29 E

Kittiwakes - Southend Pier

2012-02-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

I started the morning a little undecided as to where to go, I am not use to having many spare weekends, there usually tied up with either Surveying, Peregrines or out with my missus. In the end I plumbed for Canvey Point arriving just after 7.30am, after 45 minutes with the usual birds seen I started to think about the Pier. Knowing that the 1st train out is 9.15am, I went, in all honesty I was numb from the cold and wanted to thaw out in the car.Arrived at the pier ,train delayed until 10.00am to check for ice, so eventually got out there at 10.10am.
High tide was around 9.40am, even as I walked up the pier I started to see Kittiwakes sitting around the pier on the sea and at least half a dozen mixed in with the Med’s on the ramp.

Oystercatcher

As many will know, the ramp where the Purple Sandpiper roosts and the Med Gulls rest is now unapproachable, you can’t get anywhere near it, this is due to all the construction works taking place and the fencing to keep you out.
Of the Purple Sandpiper there was no sign, work was taking place above and below so most likely disturbed, even the ‘tame’ Turnstones were not on the ramp. Going to the upper level I took a count of Kittiwakes resting up on the river, I ended up with 67, there were more further out at a distance.
Of the 2 ships I saw coming in both had large numbers of Kittiwakes following so it was quite obvious there was quite a number of birds in the Estuary. I stayed for just under 2 hours, surprisingly no Red Throated Divers or Auks were seen despite the cold conditions, highlights were 3 Pintail and 3 Great Crested Grebes. I spent most of the morning getting photos of the Kittiwakes, good to see them present in 1st winter and adult stage, as with the Mediterranean Gulls, most stages were present.

Ist winter Kittiwake

Adult

Ist winter

Prior to coming on to the pier I killed a bit of time on the foreshore where I had a small flock of Sanderling and a similar flock of Dark Bellied Brent Geese. In amongst the Sanderling flock was a colour ringed or flagged bird, will send it through, be good to see where it originated.

Juvenile Dark Bellied Brent Goose

With adult

Colour ringed Sanderling

Also amongst the Brent Geese was a juvenile, this is the first one I have seen here at Southend.

Barking Bay February 2nd

2012-02-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Cold, it was bloody freezing at dawn with – 3 showing in the car, the tide was just starting to drop with some mud already showing.
I checked the Snipe area first, as expected all frozen up but none the less 9 birds flushed which I watched very closely hoping for a Jack. With the promise of even colder weather on Friday and the weekend it is likely more Snipe will make an appearance along with more waders and waterfowl.

Frozen Snipe Pools

Moving on I checked the Graffiti area for any goodies but was very surprised to find a chap sleeping rough in what looked like a quilt, he must have been freezing but he was sound asleep. I know Paul saw him the other day and it gave him a bit of a shock, see his blog. With the sub-zero temperatures it does go through your head, is he all right, to make sure I started shouting at him, ‘are you ok mate?’ On the 5th shout he responded, ‘yes I am ok’, he didn’t sound old, I asked him again to make sure and he said yes no worries. He didn’t come out from the cover, it makes you wonder the story behind how he got there, quite sad really, hopefully he will be ok, I notified Barking Riverside just in case.
Back to the birding, walking inland produced 25 Fieldfare and a large flock of Lapwing numbering around 120 birds, a lot higher than the usual fare so possibly cold weather movement, they usually roost on the jetty. Additional to this a Green Woodpecker was seen along with 4 Skylarks, still no Stonechat.

Skylark

Lapwing at roost on site

Lapwing

Linnet

By now hands and feet were dropping off so I began to walk back, a final scope around as there was now more mud showing produced a single Curlew, Grey Plover, 67 Redshank, 83 Shelduck, 35 Black Tailed Godwits and 5 Ringed Plover on the Jetty.
The Linnet flock was hovering around 120.

Ringed Plover roosting on the main jetty

North Kent Marshes

2012-01-30T16:54:00.000-08:00

Sunday dawned, survey time again over the other side of the water, also another chance to have a crack at the Rough Legged Buzzard.
Driving down with Paul and the temperature gauge in the car showed 1 above, worse still was the dense foggy conditions which had blanketed just about everywhere. On arrival visibility was down to 100 metres as we started the survey, I looked round and the only thing that shone through all the gloom was Paul’s high forehead, it was like a beacon shining through.
Not much chance of finding many birds in this stuff, but surprisingly we did, Paul recorded Bearded Tit again along with Cetti’s Warbler which I also recorded, and Common Buzzard was seen by both of us.
When it did eventually clear, around 11.00am, we were both on the river at our respective watch points; the numbers of waders over the Kent side is quite staggering. The mud flats here are far larger than on the Essex side, consequently far more birds, for starters I had 3100 Dunlin stretched out in front of me, Paul had a similar count of Dunlin at the other end.Wigeon peaked at 860 with 700 odd Dark Bellied Brent’s seen to the east of us. Between us we also had nearly 300 Curlew and 200 Grey Plover, it makes you realise how important these Thames mud flats are, unbelievably some pratt called Boris wants to stick an airport near here.

Stonechat

When we had finished we looked for the Rough Legged Buzzard, eventually picking it up after coming across Marsh Harrier, 2 Common Buzzards and male and female Merlin, all were distant but good views were had of most.

Very distant Rough Legged Buzzard

The Rough Leg eventually flew towards us and we got better views through the scopes, again distant but it was very wary and liked to keep a ¼ mile buffer zone between it and us. It is a cracking looking bird and the challenge in the coming months, if it stays whilst we survey, will be to get a decent photo of it. With the promise of cold weather coming it is unlikely to move on if it has a food source, and could hopefully be joined by another. With up to 3 Common Buzzards on site food does not seem to be a problem.

Short Eared Owl

We also caught up with the regular Short Eared Owl, out hunting in the gloomy weather at 2.00pm, a fine end to the day watching it tangling with a Kestrel. Photos are poor owing to the naff weather and the bird’s not playing ball.

Bickering Black Tails

2012-01-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

There is a site on the Essex side of the Thames where, if everything is right, I can get some half decent photos of mainly Black Tailed Godwits. I found this site a few years back by accident whilst surveying, it is an old concrete jetty facing west, half collapsed and disused. When high tide rises in this area, the mud directly in front is the last showing.The trick with it is to get to it without being seen by all and sundry, mainly Black Tailed Godwit, Teal and occasional Redshank. The SAS would have been proud of the approach, every blade of grass is used for cover to reach it.
Once inside, it is a welly job as the mud is quite deep here and there, there are a series of small holes where a telephoto lens can be placed without spooking the birds, it is the perfect hide.
Everything has to come together on the day, I have to catch the tide right as it is rising, it has to be sunny, and most of all the Black Tailed Godwits have to feed on this last bit of mud instead of going to roost.
It doesn’t always happen, on Friday it did.

Click on photos to enlarge

Anyone who has ever seen Black Tailed Godwit together will know what I mean when I say bickering, they don’t stop, feathers are constantly raised and fights quite frequent, presumably amongst the males.

Essex Bound January 25th

2012-01-26T17:51:00.000-08:00

Along with Squire Hawkins, we decided to have a day out and visit some sites on the Essex coast as well as a few inland, it had to be a dawn start to make the most of the day, weather as usual was crap.
First port of call was Abberton Reservoir, to say it has changed since I last saw it is an understatement with all the works taking place, hardly recognisable in some areas. On arrival we headed for Layer Breton hoping for the Bittern, this did not show but in its stead we located 2 Redhead Smew at the very back against the reeds. Of the Drake Smew there was no sign unfortunately.
Scanning both sides of the causeway produced 19 Goldeneye, 2 Drake Goosanders, Egyptian Goose, Water Rail and 3 Little Egrets, no raptors were seen other than a male Kestrel.
With all the road works Layer De La Hague causeway was a bit unwatchable as there was nowhere to park so we pulled into the top of the visitor centre by the gates, this proved a good move with 4 Green Sandpipers together on the immediate flooded area in front.
From here we headed for Fingringhoe Wick where a Glossy Ibis and a Great Grey Shrike awaited, we arrived just as the reserve was opening at 9.00a.m.We decided that the hide that overlooks the massive saltmarsh was favourite after talking to the lady in charge. Scanning produced many Dark Bellied Brent’s, Curlew, Golden Plover and Avocet were everywhere with 5 Red Breasted Mergansers and 2 Goldeneye on the river. Paul came up trumps and located the Glossy Ibis out on the Saltmarsh, views were very distant but none the less it was a lifer for me.

A touch of colour on a grey english day

We continued looking around and added 2 Peregrines, 2 Marsh Harriers and 5 Little Egrets. Moving on to the other hide overlooking the estuary added 8 Bullfinch in the woodland, from the hide we saw Knot, Bar Tailed Godwit amongst the commoner waders and a Common Seal fishing.
After this, despite a stop at every vantage point on the way out, we were unable to locate the Great Grey Shrike.
We pressed on to East Mersea on a rising tide after dipping the other Great Grey Shrike near Tiptree, no sign of the Snow Buntings seen a little while ago but many waders were seen going to roost. The best watching was had in front on the sea with no less than 18 Slavonian Grebes picked out loosely associating with around 80+ Great Crested Grebes, the fishing must have been very good.
Also seen on the sea were 3 Common Scoter, 8 Red Breasted Mergansers, 2 Goldeneye, and a single Shoveler sitting with the Goldeneye, quite an unusual sight.

Roosting Curlew on the flood - East Mersea

Dark Bellied Brent Geese arriving

Moving on, we headed for Tollesbury Marina after being pointed in the right direction by Bradders, the target being the resident Red Breasted Goose mingling with the hordes of Brents.Unbelievable numbers of Golden Plover were in the air looking for somewhere to roost, they probably numbered around 4000, the sky was full of them, quite a spectacular sight.
Paul did it again and located the Red Breasted Goose out on the Saltmarsh, another lifer for the day, of course I am not a twitcher, I leave that to my very good mates, there all a bit touched.
Also seen at Tollesbury was a female Merlin with prey, a flyby drake Smew and a female Marsh Harrier.

Dark Bellied Brent Geese at Tollesbury

The last leg of the day saw us heading for Braxstead for the Hawfinch, no luck with these but a Common Buzzard was heard.
An excellent days birding, did not get many photos as most were out of range, just good to enjoy Essex.

The weekend and the Valley - Jan 23rd

2012-01-23T21:22:00.000-08:00

From past posts you will know I have been doing a lot of surveying lately, the weekend was no different with a visit to the North Kent Marshes. Not an ideal day on Saturday with overcast grey skies in the morning and a very strong south westerly, this put paid to any small stuff making an appearance.
As most are probably aware there has been a Rough Legged Buzzard on this section of marshes, a juvenile, after missing one myself at Sheppey we were optimistic, I was with Paul, that we could see it here.
As you can see from the images below, we did get to see it, very early when the light was bad as we arrived at dawn, but not one to complain even though the views were distant.

Very distant Rough Legged Buzzard

Just about see the white tail and tail band

The Valley

Out at dawn again in search of the Bittern at Berwick Ponds, met Les, despite both of us looking, again no sign. As far as I am aware no one has seen any of them this year, there are usually up to 3 birds, unfortunately they are very hard to see over Berwick. If its freezes up it is easier as they are forced out to search for unfrozen waterways and food, elsewhere they do seem to be easier to see. One big reason could be Berwick’s vast reed bed, it holds water throughout, no doubt smaller fish are in the reeds hiding from the bigger predatory fish, Pike and Perch, they probably have no reason to come to the edge of the reeds.
Elsewhere in the Valley there are now 2 White Fronted Geese, no doubt the birds that were seen on Sunday over Rainham RSPB, with a colder snap they may well be joined by more, Gadwall numbers have gone sky high with 78 seen.

2 adult White Fronted Geese, possibly a pair as one seems larger

Distant Tiercel Peregrine

An unusual sight was a Common Buzzard over in a distant field trying to feed on a dead something whilst 4 Crows gave it a hard time. Fieldfare and Redwing numbers are climbing, especially Redwing, they seem to have been a bit thin on the ground this winter.
To round it off, a Tiercel Peregrine was seen going over Berwick Glades, very likely one of the Thames birds having a day out, they do like to wander.

Taken the previous weekend, a Dark Bellied Brent Goose going past Battersea Power Station, unfortuantely I got the White Balance wrong.

Green Woodpecker in the garden

Isle of Sheppey - January 17th

2012-01-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

Since Monday I have been off work with back trouble, rest is the only option and a visit to the Osteopath to speed things up, they never cure you unfortunately.
I decided on a visit to Sheppey as I was climbing the walls, also I could do most of the watching from the car, Harty Lane, Leysdown Sea front and the Swale Car park were ideal and meant no walking.
I have been going to Sheppey for years being a bird of prey nut; it never disappoints and always produces good birds, especially Raptors.
I decided on arrival to visit Leysdown on a falling tide, a spectacular sunrise greeted me along with a number of waders already arriving from roost. Scanning the sea produced 32 Great Crested Grebes, 19 Red Throated Divers and 44 Dark Bellied Brent Geese, a very good start, quite happy to sit in the car, it was bloody freezing.

Sunrise at Leysdown (click on photos to enlarge)

Upwards and onwards I headed for Harty Lane and the Raptor Watchpoint on the way down Lapwing and Golden Plover were everywhere, in amongst them I also located 5 male Ruffs. Nearing the watchpoint produced 36 Corn Buntings, 2 Kestrels and 2 Stonechats; I also managed to squeeze of a few photos.

Corn Bunting

Male Ruff

Lapwing

Stonechat

I stayed at the Watchpoint for an hour and picked up at least 6 individual Marsh Harriers, 2 Common Buzzards and a distant flock of 30 White Fronted Geese; from here I headed to the Swale Car Park in hope of a distant view of the Rough Legged Buzzard. This did not happen but compensation was provided by a calling Snow Bunting going over, unfortunately it carried on and did not land.
After an hour here I headed back to Harty Lane where I added another 6 Marsh Harriers, a superb Ring Tail Hen Harrier, a male Merlin and a pair of Peregrines. The Falcon was seen to take a female Teal.

Marsh Harriers

Again I scanned around for the elusive Rough Legged Buzzard but it was not to be, neither did I see Short Eared Owl, although if I had stayed late afternoon no doubt I would have caught up with one.
If the back persists I can see myself going back down there, what better way to convalesce.

The Valley - January 14th

2012-01-14T16:01:00.000-08:00

After visiting Parliament to check on the Peregrines at dawn I left London a few hours later and headed for the Valley, with good sunshine I was hoping for a Bittern. With much of the lakes frozen up I thought I had a good chance of catching up with one of the 2 or 3 that are present. Again no luck, they are very hard to locate but I did catch up with the White Fronted Goose again, with colder weather forecast and a change to an easterly for once, we could also see the arrival of the rarer ducks like Smew, Goldeneye or a Goosander.

White Fronted Goose - click on photos to enlarge

With the brighter weather I also caught up with 2 Common Buzzards, presumably a pair, one aloft and one in trees with 2 Crows for company. Elsewhere overhead I had a flock of 120 Lapwing with 4 Golden Plover calling in with them.

Green Woodpecker taken the other day in the garden

Distant male Sparrowhawk obviously been chasing something with white feathering showing

Mute Swan males, just starting to warm up

Distant Common Buzzard

Mute Swan

A Mistle Thrush was singing along with at least 3 Song Thrushes, a good morning to be out and great not to feel a westerly wind for once.

Mink - Barking Outfall

2012-01-08T06:03:00.000-08:00

Whilst starting my patch list off for the year on Saturday at the Outfall I heard some distant Crows harassing something on the ground, I eventually located them about 100 metres away. Expecting a Fox I hid on the corner on the half chance that it came towards me, you can imagine my shock when I saw it was a Mink they were mobbing.
It was moving towards me, stopping occasionally to look into the very large water tanks, in short it looked as if it was hunting, eventually it came as close as 8 metres away and I got off a few photos. Weather was not to clever, overcast at the time and I should have upped the ISO, but as you can see from the photos below, it was intent on hunting even when I made myself known. Instead of bolting it carried on, only speeding up slightly, a Fox would have been long gone.

Click on photos to enlarge

It appeared quite fearless and is bad news for all local wildfowl, water voles and ground nesting birds; I will inform the relevant people.
Elsewhere the patch list got off to a good start with 3 Rock Pipits, 3 Curlew, 2 Chiffchaffs, 4 Black Tailed Godwits and Cetti’s Warbler being the highlights. Of the recently seen and slightly oiled Oystercatcher there was no sign, hopefully it recovered.

Cormorant in the surf

Chiffchaff

41 species recorded for the morning.

White Fronted Goose - The Valley

2012-01-06T16:41:00.000-08:00

After all the recent bad weather, I decided to get the patch list up and running especially as clear skies and sunshine were promised. I left in darkness around 5.30am and headed for the Optimist end and entered the woodland in darkness, surprisingly the first Owl heard was a Little Owl out in the farmer’s field. It was on the move and kept calling from different sections of the field; it was a good hour before I heard a Tawny. It was heard only twice, not from the usual woodland but the tall trees as you go round the bend just past the Optomist Pub.For some reason or another they don’t seem to call well over the Valley, on other sites they do seem to be very audible.
A good start so headed down to the viewing area as the light was starting to show, 12 Wigeon were a good count, 2 Bullfinch overhead at dawn were also a bonus.
After checking Berwick for the Bittern, no luck, I headed towards the top paddock, checking the Greylag flock produced a very nice White Fronted Goose. They seem, we have had up to 4, to be more or less annual now, and I check the Greylags regularly so it looks as if this is a new arrival.

White Frnted Goose (click on photos to enlarge)

Dodgy Greylag foreground, White Fronted Goose background

I ended the morning with 64 species seen, the highlight no doubt the White Fronted Goose but also seen were a flock of 70 Fieldfare, 14 Lesser Redpoll, 2 Kingfishers, 3 Ring Necked Parakeets, Yellowhammer and god knows how many calling Water Rail.

Kingfisher - out of focus, trying to stay on these little bullets is very hard

With a big bit of luck I could have possibly nudged 70; notable absentees were Mistle Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Kestrel, Great Black Backed Gull, Golden Plover, Snipe and Rook.
Without doubt the best start I have had though so can’t complain.

Goosanders - South Weald Country Park

2012-01-03T11:08:00.000-08:00

With decent weather on the Bank Holiday Monday I popped over to South Weald with my wife Christine for a bit of fresh air and to hopefully get some photos.
I caught up with the Goosanders, 3 drakes and 2 Redheads on the smaller of the 2 lakes. They do have an uncanny knack of keeping themselves on the far side of the lake or there always seems to be a tree in the way of a really good photo.

Drakes (click on photos to enlarge)

Drake and Redhead

I managed to get a few decent shots, no flight shots but in truth it was good to be out with blue skies and sunshine replacing the constant grey overcast Christmas weather. Roll on spring.

Barking Bay New Year's Day

2012-01-01T15:39:00.000-08:00

First of all, a Happy New Year to all.

I decided on a visit to the Bay to get the patch list up and running, I arrived at dawn in the slim hope that I might pick up a Short Eared Owl hunting. After last year’s 2 separate sightings it was possible that a bird could be wintering, none materialised but one might show if it gets colder.

Dark Bellied Brent Geese (click on photos to enlarge)

Best birds of the day go to 2 Dark Bellied Brent Geese initially picked up going up river and then seen again later with Paul who had joined me, a good start to the day as with the milder weather none of us was expecting too much in the way of rarities.
Black Tailed Godwits were out in force with 100+ on our side of the river, 14 Curlew was also a good count; these seem to increase every winter in Inner London.

Black Tailed Godwit

Redshank

The ever elusive Stonechat still eludes me despite covering most of the site in 4 hours.
Best of the rest, was 50 Fieldfare, Peregrine, Rock Pipit, Grey Wagtail and a single Redwing, I ended the session on 53 species, not a bad start to the year.

We also met up with a couple of Falconers, one with an immature male Peregrine and the other a female Harris Hawk, cracking looking birds as you can see from the photos below. The downside to these being on site is that everything just buggered off; the Black Tailed Godwit flock went straight over to Kent on sight of the Peregrine.

Female Harris Hawk

Theres nothing quite like a Peregrine stare

Southend Christmas Eve

2011-12-29T07:37:00.000-08:00

Bit of a late posting as my BT Internet crashed on the 23rd, finally identified and back on line after 6 days due to a failed server.
I have at last got my new camera; a D300 so decided to try it out, firstly on the foreshore at Southend and then out to the pier to catch the high tide. The light at first was not too bad but then it became overcast and grey.
I have to say that the camera performed well, it’s going to take me a while to get used to it, I am not a gadget man, there’s just too many things to remember at once, can’t teach an old dog new tricks springs to mind.
With my wife Chris going shopping in Southend I headed for the pier after a few shots of the Sanderling flock on the way as well as a couple of Brent Geese near the pier.

Sanderling and single Dunlin (click on photos to enlarge)

Sanderling and Dunlin

Brent Geese differing

Dispute over

Sanderling

On arrival at the end I checked the ramp Turnstone roost and tucked in with them was the Purple Sandpiper, a cracking bird, I suspect it will be on many New Year’s Day lists if the tides are right.

Purple Sandpiper

Turnstone

Just behind them the Mediterranean Gulls hovered around the 20 mark, the full range from 1st winter right through to full adult were on display, not a great lover of Gulls but I never tire of looking at these.
After firing off god knows how many shots, new toy you know what it’s like, I tucked myself out of the westerly wind and watched the river from 11.00am to 1.00pm.Quite surprised as I was not expecting too much, I saw the following;

Great Northern Diver – 3 at one point all fishing together about 150 metres out of the eastern end of the pier
Red Throated Diver – 38 all upriver, this included a flock of 16 together
Kittiwake – 19 mostly following boats but some loafing on the sea
Great Crested Grebe – 2 on the sea
Guillemot – 3 all up river
Razorbill – 1 upriver @ 12.02 and presumably the same bird out @ 12.24pm
Common Seal – 2 just off the pier

Distant flock of 16 Red Throated Divers coming in

Distant Great Northern

2 of the 3 Great Northerns together

Great Northern Diver

Not a bad haul for a couple of hours, a pity about the overcast skies, just have to go back over the Christmas Holiday, a good easterly wouldn’t go amiss.

Barking Bay December 22nd

2011-12-22T13:00:00.000-08:00

I have finished work now for the Christmas period so a dawn visit called to see what’s about.
With a rising tide waders were being pushed up closer, the first initial scan produced a goodie in the shape of a Knot, a bit of a rarity this far up the river. Unfortunately it did not stay long and soon disappeared down river, a pity as I was hoping to get some photos.
Other waders present were 7 Curlew, 2 Black Tailed Godwits, 32 Redshank and 44 Dunlin. I also got onto a small flock of waders going over to Crossness, all Dunlin bar one, a bigger wader, chunky with a smallish bill, only a silhouette but possibly a Turnstone. Decided to walk the rest of the site in the hope that I can catch up with the ever elusive Stonechats, not surprisingly they did a bunk but I did see Green Woodpecker, 5 Fieldfare, 6 Common Snipe, Chiffchaff and a male Sparrowhawk.
The Linnet flock is now hovering around the 150 mark.

Large Dunlin flock (click on photos to enlarge)

Redshank foreground with Lapwing and Dunlin behind

Dunlin dropping in

Redshank

By the time I returned to the river the tide was nearly in, the remaining mud now held 8 Black Tailed Godwits and a very good count of Curlew 16 in number. The Redshank had already gone to roost but the biggest flock by far were Dunlin, an estimated count of around 600 birds was reeling all over the river looking for somewhere to roost. In the end they split, at least 400 of them headed for the Riverside Jetty and eventually landed and waited out the tide. If I my memory serves me correctly this is the first time I have seen them using this particular jetty, good to see its use taken up by the waders, this is what it has been set aside for.

Dagenham Riverside

After Barking Bay I headed for Dagenham Riverside, on arrival a Peregrine had put every wader present up, quite a sight as the Black Tailed Godwit flock were feeding on the mud that was now starting to show. A count of 430 was reached with 39 Redshank, 86 Lapwing, 2 Snipe and a Curlew as a supporting cast. Obviously this is part of the flock from the Stone Barges roost, it would be good to know how many, or if they did roost on the Barges.

Black Tailed Godwit

Barking Outfall and the Stone Barges

2011-12-15T21:56:00.000-08:00

An unplanned mid-week visit to the Outfall came up trumps with a 1st site record in the shape of a Turnstone. They are a bit of a London rarity this far up the river, occasionally turning up at Rainham or seen as a migrant coming through in May. There are hundreds of wintering birds at Leigh on Sea and Southend, one this far up the river is quite rare. Photos below

Turnstone ( click on photos to enlarge)

A slightly oiled Oystercatcher

Spotted

After this I went to the Stone Barges to have a look at the roosting waders, Paul the other day had a flock of 600.An estimate of their numbers reached 560 roosting on the barges, I also had another group heading up river on arrival.

A small part of the Black Tailed Godwit flock

Dunlin

A very high tide

Also present were 69 Redshank, 150 Dunlin, 18 Lapwing and 2 Water Pipits.

Kent

2011-12-12T10:05:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been doing a lot of bird surveying over the Kent Marshes, the quality and numbers of birds on show have been quite staggering, especially at low tide. Along with Paul, we have both seen some really good birds, Wood Lark, Richard’s Pipit, Black Redstart and Hen Harrier to name just a few.

Grey Plover and Turnstone ( click on photos to enlarge)

Being a Harty Lane winter regular this section of Marsh compares pretty well with raptors, on Saturday’s survey we picked up 2 Common Buzzards, 5 Marsh Harriers, 2 pair Kestrel, female Sparrowhawk, female Merlin, Ringtail Hen Harrier, Short Eared Owl and 3 Peregrines.

Short Eared Owl

As most will know I am a raptor nut being involved with London’s Peregrines, they have always given me my kicks so it was interesting to watch and observe both the Peregrines hunting strategy along with the female Merlin.
We had both seen an adult pair of peregrines early in the survey so it was a bit of a surprise when an immature female showed up and began to hunt; I suspect that it was there juvenile from this year. They do to a certain extent retain an affinity with offspring even into the following year, I have seen this in London, and this was probably why it was not challenged.
The immature quickly singled out a Lapwing, unfortunately or fortunately however you want to look at it, it turned out to be super Lapwing. The immature made pass after pass at it, some were narrow misses, in others the Lapwing made it look easy. Every time the immature cast up after missing, the Lapwing then stayed pretty tight to the peregrine instead of trying to get away, at one time it was following the immature. In the end the immature gave up and settled on a field, the Lapwing leisurely carried on, no panic whatsoever. I wonder if it would have adopted these tactics if it had been an experienced adult peregrine instead of a relatively inexperienced immature?

Pursiut

Resting after the chase

In contrast we watched a female Merlin as we were leaving; her flight at first was usual but then became more powerful as she climbed strongly. I stayed on her as she got higher and higher, presently a small flock of Starlings came into view, and she split 3 from it and then continued to chase these even higher. By now they were dots even in the Binoculars, the Starlings were climbing for all they were worth but she was getting close and closer. In the end she suddenly flipped over and was gone, I suspect the Starlings had lost their nerve as she got closer and dived for the land. The outcome? As soon as they dived it favoured the Merlin, they are tenacious.

Female Merlin

Drake Wigeon

Grey Plover

Grey Plover again

Redshank

The photo’s above were also taken at the site.

Rainham RSPB

2011-12-09T11:56:00.000-08:00

Thursday December 8th

Against my better judgement due to the gale force winds and dark skies I decided on a visit to the Reserve, I was not expecting much but was pleasantly surprised in what I did see. As expected hardly any passerines, the few that I did see were trying to retain their feathers and were hiding from the wind.

Wigeon and Teal

Drake Wigeon

A Tiercel Peregrine was one of the first birds seen, seemingly enjoying the wind to the consternation of the Lapwing flock, probably totalling around a 1000 birds, these were doing there level best to stay above him. Also up was a flock of Golden Plover, a later count on the deck showed 84 birds.

A very distant Common Buzzard

Female Sparrowhawk - note size of crop

A single well marked Water Pipit was present and hiding in cover on the foreshore, no chance of a photo but a very pale individual, will hopefully get a photo over the weekend.

Black Tailed Godwit in front of Ken's Hide

Also seen were:

Rock Pipit – 4 on the foreshore
Dunlin – around 140
Curlew – 2
Sparrowhawk – female with a very full crop
Common Buzzard – 1
Pintail – 5 Pools
Black Tailed Godwit – 3 on the pools
Grey Plover – 2 mixed in with the hordes of Lapwing

Works now have also finished on the new Purfleet Scrape, it looks good, just needs the magic stuff, water.
While I was there I also photographed a small wader, it was coming at me fast in a flock of Lapwing, (the Peregrine effect), I managed one half decent shot in the bad light before it disappeared towards the Thames. Initial thought was a Dunlin/ Snipe when first seen, and then as it went past, I thought it looks too small for a Snipe, the bill was too short and the shape/flight of the bird was wrong. I had a quick look at the camera and thought this is none of the above.
On later review of the photo and getting some opinions on it, it looks very good for a Pectoral Sandpiper; I understand Pete Merchant had one the day before on the Pools.
Photo below.

Not a good photo due to the bad light

Heavily cropped

Weekend Highlights

2011-12-07T09:50:00.000-08:00

Barking Bay Bird walk - Saturday

On Saturday myself, Paul and Shaun took a number of very nice people around the site to show them some of the local species, and hopefully show them a cracking little site which is on their doorstep. The walk was organised by Fransesca Barker of the London Wildlife Trust who works from the visitor centre at Barking Riverside. The weather it has to be said was not kind with a strong south westerly, consequently all the smaller birds had disappeared and were hiding in cover due to the wind.

Friday, blue skies looking upriver

Contrast this with the day before when I visited, blue skies, no wind, Skylarks, Meadow Pipits and Linnets everywhere, the Skylarks were even displaying in December,crazy.You can’t arrange nature, but on the day of the walk the waders came up trumps which made up for the lack of passerines.

Skylarks - the day before, singing and displaying

Pick of the bunch were 10 Curlew, around 25 Black Tailed Godwit, Paul found a Grey Plover, 40 Redshank and a wheeling flock of around 400 Dunlin on the river favouring the Crossness side.
Hopefully everyone enjoyed the walk, there are plans to organise another in spring when there should be more migrants coming through.

In search of Smew - Sunday

Every year at the start of the winter period I head for Grange Waters, starting at Mollands Lane and then walking a circular route taking in the 6 lakes. Over the years the Smew here have been pretty regular and start arriving from December 3rd onwards. It is an enjoyable walk and over the years has turned up some goodies like Long Tailed Duck, Black Necked Grebe, Marsh Tit, Bittern, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Gooseander, Red Kite and several Goldeneye.

On Sunday I made my usual dawn start and thoroughly covered Mollands Lane, no Smew but 68 Gadwall, 44 Wigeon, Chiffchaff, Cetti’s Warbler and 5 Fieldfare were the pick of the bunch. As both sites are fenced it is possible that they were hidden behind the islands.
One rather unsavoury incident did occur in the shape of 3 large dogs chasing the horses; I suspect they were from the Travellers site nearby as this was where they headed shortly after. All 3 were quite big, an all-black German shepherd type, an Akita/Husky and another whose origins I did not have a clue on. I like to think I am pretty good with dogs but must admit to feeling a bit apprehensive if these 3 Herbert’s caught me in the middle of the field as I crossed towards the Scuba Diving Lake.

Fieldfare

On a better note after the walk I drove down the private road and visited the stables to let them know of the dogs, they were obviously concerned and the chap whom I know was going to look into it.As I was talking, I was conscious of the background noise of Jays, they were obviously on to something in the Firs so I decided to have a look. After a little searching I found a Tawny Owl huddled up tight to the main branch, not great views but very welcome since it has been a while since I last saw one.

Grange Waters Lakes

Although I got some good birds, no Smew materialised, again there are a lot of little inlets that they could hide along, or they simply could not have arrived yet. Large numbers of wildfowl were present on the 3rd lake along with a calling Water Rail and a Cetti’s Warbler.
A Tiercel Peregrine and a Common Buzzard were the best of the raptors and 2 Bullfinch were also seen along with 16 Fieldfare.

I hope to visit again this weekend.

LNHS Wader Survey

2011-12-03T00:02:00.000-08:00

Sunday November 27th

Following on from the boat survey on November 14th, another survey was organized, this one land based to cover as many roosts as possible, basically from East India Dock Basin to West Thurrock Marshes. Many of my mates gave up their spare time on Sunday and for this they have my thanks, without them none of these counts would be possible.
The idea of the boat survey on the 14th was to identify any new roosts, also photograph any derelict jetties that could be enhanced for the benefit of wildlife; this survey was to provide far more accurate counts than those given by me and Paul on the boat survey. Additionally to this, this survey coincided with the highest tide of November so I was hopeful of some good results. It also provided direct comparison data to the 2010 survey undertaken on December 19th, albeit 3 weeks earlier.

A derelict disused Jetty, at the moment long grass, shingled out it could provide not only roost but breeding habitat

The results were pretty impressive and shows the significance of the Inner Thames as a wintering area for Waders, especially Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit and Dunlin. Black Tailed Godwit for example shows, in the latest 2008 Essex Bird Report, WeBS totals of 610 for the Outer Thames in November; on this survey we reached a splendid total of 583 in the Inner Thames. As you can see not a lot of difference, what makes it far more impressive is that the outer Thames is a larger section of river and has more and wider mud flats available at low tide.
On this Survey such was the height of the tide it flooded out some roosts, Fords for one, also the new
roost at Erith Yacht Club was empty, it seems many of the Redshank headed for Crossness and Rainham RSPB.

Results - roosts
2011                                                     2010

Barking Outfall

Black Tailed Godwit – 10                  Common Sandpiper - 2
Curlew – 2                                          Curlew - 2
Dunlin – 2                                            Grey Plover - 1
Redshank – 87                                     Redshank – 182

Barking Bay

Curlew – 6
Lapwing – 46

Crossness

Black Tailed Godwit – 19                    Black Tailed Godwit - 100
Dunlin – 940                                        Grey Plover - 3
Lapwing – 103                                     Lapwing - 40
Redshank – 420

East India Dock Basin

Common Sandpiper – 5                        Snipe - 16
Redshank – 12                                      Common Sandpiper - 1
                                                              Jack Snipe – 1
                                                              Redshank - 8

Fords

Common Sandpiper – 1                        Black Tailed Godwit - 93
                                                              Snipe - 3
                                                              Curlew - 8
                                                              Lapwing – 179
                                                              Redshank – 303

Rainham RSPB

Black Tailed Godwit – 550                   Snipe - 16
Curlew – 1                                            Curlew - 4
Dunlin – 400                                          Dunlin - 137
Golden Plover – 80-100                        Grey Plover - 1
Lapwing – 620                                       Lapwing - 14
Redshank – 435                                     Redshank – 85

Stone Barges

Black Tailed Godwit – 4                        Black Tailed Godwit - 280
Dunlin – 5                                              Common Sandpiper - 1
Lapwing – 2                                           Snipe - 14
Redshank – 32                                       Dunlin -220
                                                               Golden Plover – 1
                                                               Grey Plover – 2
                                                               Jack Snipe – 2
                                                               Lapwing – 12
                                                               Redshank – 90

West Thurrock

Snipe – 4                                                Avocet - 59
Curlew – 25                                           Bar Tailed Godwit - 1
Dunlin – 100                                          Black Tailed Godwit - 115
Redshank – 350                                     Snipe - 10
Oystercatcher – 8                                   Curlew – 25
                                                               Dunlin – 850
                                                               Grey Plover – 5
                                                               Lapwing - 170
                                                               Redshank - 220

Totals

2011                                                       2010

Avocet - 0                                               59
Bar Tailed Godwit - 0                            1
Black Tailed Godwit - 583                     588
Common Sandpiper 6                             4
Curlew 34                                               39
Dunlin 1447                                            1207
olden Plover 80 – 100                            1
Grey Plover 0                                         12
Jack Snipe 0                                           3
Lapwing 771                                          415
Oystercatcher 8                                      0
Redshank 1336                                      888
Snipe 4                                                   59

Some of the results, like Redshank are hard to understand, a massive increase this year and as yet no cold weather movement up the Thames, this time last year it was very cold and if I remember correctly there was snow around. It will be interesting to see what the 2nd winter period brings in.

Observers
Dave Bradnum
Dave Lambert
Dave Morrison
Gary James
Martin Redfern
Nick Tanner
Paul Hawkins
Steve Bacon
Shaun Harvey

Waders

2011-11-29T15:39:00.000-08:00

On Saturday I was surveying, not ideal weather with a very strong south westerly, but none the less I had positioned myself to cover a section of the Thames at high tide.Tucked down out of the wind and well hidden I recorded wader and wildfowl movements along the river.Many waders came out early from roost and were caught out by a very high tide, with no mud to land on they headed for the rocks on the foreshore.Below are some photos taken of a small flock that landed in front of me, not great light but not too bad.

Golden Plover (click on photos to enlarge)

Grey Plover and Knot

Grey Plover

Grey Plover with Knot behind

Dunlin

Knot

Grey Plover

Golden Plover

Richard's Pipit and surveying

2011-11-25T23:51:00.000-08:00

On November 1st I was lucky enough to find a Richard’s Pipit whilst surveying in Kent, views were only brief as it flew off but hopefully it will get accepted, if not no worries, I am happy that it was one based mainly on shape and call. It was seen whilst surveying in Kent, surveying for birds makes you pick up on any different call which is not your run of the mill species that you expect to encounter, and this was the case with the Pipit.
I wrote up a brief description which is below, the problem, if accepted will likely come from Tawny/Blyth’s, they can give similarish calls at times. I could have said more but I thought this would be glamourizing it, they were only brief views unfortunately.

Whilst undertaking a survey in light rain I flushed a large Pipit roughly from the centre of a flat field. The very first thing it did to confirm the species was to give the House Sparrow call, the previous one seen at Rainham RSPB a few years back did this also. It continued to call until out of sight disappearing east, the time was around 9.40am.Overall impression of the bird was a brown bird with a long tail, larger than a Meadow Pipit and more in comparison to a plump Yellow/Grey Wagtail in shape. The long tail was very obvious and the flight was noted to be undulating, not as pronounced as a Woodpecker, but there none the less, the bill was also noted to be Pipit like and pointed. The bird was watched for about 20 seconds until out of view heading east. Views were not great given the overcast weather and rain, they were only flight views, and the bird was not seen on the ground.
If the bird had not called I would not have in all honesty been confident of identification with Tawny/Blyth’s similar in shape and size but having watched and listened to the one at Rainham RSPB for quite a while, I was happy that this was a Richard’s Pipit.Just a brief description but not a lot you can say really given the views.

Below are some species seen recently on some of the surveys.

Corn Bunting (click on photos to enlarge)

Another Corn Bunting

Yellowhammer

Avocet

Avocet coming in to roost

Brothers?

A very high Merlin

Northern Wheatear

Black Redstart

A partial Albino Starling

Peocock Butterfly seen the other day, weather is crazy at the moment

Short Eared Owl

Thames Boat Survey - LNHS area

2011-11-20T07:22:00.000-08:00

Northfleet to the O2

Monday November 14th

For some time now I have with a lot of help from the Environment Agency, London Wildlife Trust and the PLA been trying to get a boat survey arranged with the sole purpose of locating new high tide roosts, and also to identify any jetties/structures that may be suitable that can be to the benefit of London’s wader population, or indeed any other wildlife. On Monday November 14th I got the chance along with Paul Hawkins with a boat very kindly supplied by the Environment Agency with 2 boatmen, Tom Cousins and Dave Bartlett, despite the atrocious weather (very foggy) it was a success with new roosts located that I would not have found without the boat.
This coming Sunday, the 27th we have the first land based high tide count taking place which will be more accurate than the estimates given from the boat below, you can see that there are already good numbers in the Inner Thames. Thanks go to the birders who are helping out and giving up there times this coming Sunday, hopefully the weather will be a bit kinder than last Monday. The estimated counts below do not include East India Dock Basin roost or Rainham RSPB.

Bar Tailed Godwit.(P.Hawkins) click on photos to enlarge

Lapwing (P.Hawkins)

Lapwing roosting up

Sites were also noted and photographed, especially old derelict/no longer in use structures that could possibly be an enhancement to local wildlife. The potential for some of these sites is clear in that they could be converted to shingle based, to not only give waders alternative winter roosts if disturbed, but also during the Spring/Summer months they could offer breeding opportunities for specialist species. Common Tern for one, seemingly reducing as a London breeder along with numbers of nesting pairs in the Inner Docks area (E.I.D.Basin) etc…are falling away. The colony opposite Crossness (29 pairs this year) shows that structures on the Thames can be beneficial to this species.
Additionally there is also the possibility of encouraging Oystercatcher, Ringed Plover, possibly Lapwing on the larger jetties and even Little Ringed Plover to breed on these structures. Oystercatchers are under achieving in the Inner Thames as a breeding bird and eggs/young are heavily predated by the larger Gull species. This year it was noted that a pair in Barking were successful due to the fact that they nested on a Common Tern breeding jetty, in doing so they gained the protection of the colony. The Terns are extremely aggressive in the breeding season and will attack any large Gull that threatens the colony, the Oystercatchers were ignored.
The survey was conducted by boat to give maximum coverage to the area referred to above, to be in position at high tide at the Northfleet area we launched at Crossness about 12.30ish.

From Crossness we surveyed the Kent sector heading down river, staying tight to that side checking all structures/jetties right up to Tilbury Docks. At this stage in time many species had already gone to roost as most of the mud was covered, on 2 areas with high mud levels large flocks were seen feeding frantically before going to roost.

Part of the Littlebrook roost

Erith Yacht club roost (P.Hawkins)

From Tilbury Docks we kept tight to the Essex side checking the known roosts and looking for new ones also. We continued right up to the 02 before crossing to the Kent side again and then headed back to Crossness.
The most suitable mud and feeding areas for London’s wading birds has always been from West Thurrock Marshes up to Barking Outfall, consequently nearly all high tide roosts are congregated within this corridor. These areas offer large sections of exposed mud, at low tide this gives them a buffer zone from disturbance and the security they need to feed naturally. From Barking Outfall upwards there are no jetty/structures offering suitable secure roost sites, the colony of Redshank at East India Dock Basin use the Creek as a roost.

Redshank going to roost (P.Hawkins)

West Thurrock roost

Oystercatcher on one roost at West Thurrock

At the other end of the survey, downriver, the Tilbury Docks area as expected was very busy offering little in the way of roost sites, both sides of the river were checked and the results were negative. There could likely be a roost further down river past the docks but this would likely take it out of the LNHS recording area.
One area where I thought there may be a substantial roost was Greenhithe at Broadness Point, an undisturbed rural area, this never materialised and the next roost up river was at Stone Point.

New Roosts

One of the main objects of the survey was to locate any new roosts within the LNHS recording area, this was realised with the discovery of 3 new roosts, one at Erith Yacht Club, one outside Littlebrook Power Station and another just past the Dartford Bridge at Crossways. It has to be said that all 3 would have likely gone undetected but for the use of the boat as all are on wide stretches of the river on the Kent side.

Brent Geese

Brent Geese (P.Hawkins)

Peregrine Falcon

Species counts at Roost Sites

Both I and Paul undertook estimated counts on each roost site that we encountered the name of the sites and the species involved are listed below. Next Sunday’s counts will be far more accurate, one reason is that on many estimated counts we were well below the jetty/structure at river level.

Barking Bay – 7 Curlew
Barking Outfall – 60 Redshank
Crossness – 700 Dunlin, 300 Black Tailed Godwit, 100 Redshank, 30 Lapwing
Crossways (new roost) – 1000 Dunlin, 40 Lapwing
Erith Yacht Club (new roost) – 350 Redshank, 70 Lapwing
Fords Dagenham – 80 Redshank
Littlebrook Power Station (new roost) – 22 Redshank, 1 Knot. Also 18 Curlew on remaining mud, it is likely that these would have gone to roost on Rainham RSPB.
Purfleet – 100 Lapwing
Rainham Stone Barges – 180 Black Tailed Godwit, 10 Redshank
West Thurrock- Jetties – 300 Dunlin, 150 Redshank, 8 Oystercatcher. Stone Point – 3 Curlew

Totals
Black Tailed Godwit - 480
Curlew - 28
Dunlin – 2000
Knot – 1
Lapwing – 240
Redshank – 772

As you can see quite impressive totals this early in the winter given how mild it is, and the fact that there has been no cold weather movement as yet from Canvey and Coalhouse etc…

Additional Species

Bar Tailed Godwit – a single seen just after West Thurrock
Dark Bellied Brent Goose – 2 singles on the river with a further group of 4 at West Thurrock
Little Egret – 1 seen on foreshore
Peregrine Falcon – a male seen
Rock Pipit – up to 3 birds seen

A very enjoyable experience and some stunning views.

Barking Mad

2011-11-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

Outfall and Bay

November 9th

With the grey skies I must admit I was not expecting much from the morning, there is nothing like a little bit of sunshine, the overcast weather and light drizzle I thought would put paid to any good birds, I was wrong again.

Outfall
I started the morning off at dawn, on looking over the sea wall it was obvious the Redshank numbers had doubled, in total 61 were feeding on the mud. It did not stop there either, scanning revealed 3 Curlew and the ever present Common Sandpipers numbered 3 birds. The Curlew were the first seen of the 2nd winter period, I also managed to get some digi shots of a very confiding bird, not too bad considering the poor light.

Curlew(click on photos to enlarge)

I then latched onto a small wader flock heading up river, about 18 Dunlin, these were then seen to land on the Essex side, shortly after a flock of 23 Black Tailed Godwits came flying in and landed just in front of the Dunlin.

Redshank

Black Tailed Godwit flock

A very good start to the morning and some good birds this early in the winter, hopefully a sign of things to come.

Bay
After Sundays Lapland Bunting found by Paul, I was hoping that it would still be around and hanging onto the Linnet flock numbering around 160 birds, a good flock. Still needed as a London tick, it did not materialise but how could I complain with the supporting cast seen, Avocet, Short Eared Owl and 2 Bramblings?
The Bramblings were located in with the Chaffinch flock that favours the northern section near Choats Road, one very posy bird and a very striking full male that refused to have his photo taken. A site tick and a welcome addition.

Brambling

Goldfinch and Brambling

Brambling

As I was watching these I heard the Crows going off, they had located another Short Eared Owl and were pushing it up higher and higher, there were a few little confrontations low down but then the Owl easily just stayed above them, eventually they gave up. So far it had been a cracking morning, sometimes you do seem to get lucky, and you can do no wrong, today looked like one of those days. Mind you I have had days over here when you would welcome a feral pigeon flying by but that’s local patching.

Short Eared Owl with the usual Crow attachment

Alone and peace at last

As I was walking back to the visitor centre I heard a bird calling, it took a little while to locate as it was flying, an Avocet, quite a rarity here this far up the Thames. It now looks like becoming an established winter visitor hopefully, especially after the 12 seen in the Bay earlier in the year, colder weather may well push more up the Thames.

Avocet

With Crossness in the background

Alighting

Feeding

This bird was very flighty and was looking for somewhere to roost, the tide was nearly up and it was feeding like crazy before flying round, several times it tried to drop in with the Shelduck on the Jetty. In the end it flew off towards the roost at Crossness, I would imagine it either dropped in there or carried onto Rainham RSPB.
Strangest sighting of the morning – a Red Admiral flying by, crazy weather.

Ingrebourne Valley - the morning after

2011-11-05T09:16:00.000-07:00

November 5th

It’s that time of month again, Birders drink up the Railway the night before and I find myself heading down to the Valley at just after 6.00am, it is still dark, the idea is to walk to Berwick to try and get the Bittern coming out from roost. Walking down to the Valley after the birders drink is becoming a habit, also the feeling that goes with it the morning after, I am rough, it was a good turnout and as usual I am suffering, as usual I am saying to myself, never again......
In the end it was all worth it as I managed to connect with some good birds, a site tick, and I got the Bittern, not great views but the first one for me of this winter period.
Arriving at the viewing area and the whole area was flooded, not surprisingly given the recent weather, with this there were wildfowl everywhere, and in amongst them was a site tick.7 Egyptian Geese had tucked themselves into a corner, a long overdue tick for the site, although pretty regular at other sites this I think was the first time that they had visited the Valley.

Distant photos of the Egyptian Geese (click on photos to enlarge)

It was quite obvious also that there was a lot of movement going on, Woodies were on the move and I ended up with just under a 1000 all going south east, there was also a lot of smaller birds moving around.
It was now well light as I had spent a lot of time trying to get a half decent photo of the Egyptians so I headed for Berwick via the Glades, 32 Lesser Redpolls gave themselves up along with 5 Goldcrest, 11 Siskins over, 2 Bullfinch, 11 Redwing and a flock of 23 Fieldfare.Cetti’s Warblers were well represented with 15 calling birds.
Arriving at Berwick and I eventually located the Bittern hugging the side of the reedbed and on seeing me froze, I squeezed off a few shots, none too clever due to the abysmal light, looked at the camera, looked up again, it was gone, one day I will get a poser.

Bittern - camouflaging well

From here I headed for the Farm Trail, the game crop put down in recent years has always been a magnet for the smaller birds and so it proved with just about every crop and hedgerow holding a Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Linnet, Chaff or Greenfinch.

Reed Bunting

Yellowhammer

I estimated the numbers involved, very hard as there was movement everywhere and came up with the following-

Yellowhammer – 60+
Reed Bunting – 120
Greenfinch – 25
Linnet - 40
Chaffinch - 30

The numbers are quite impressive for this early in the winter, no cold weather as yet either, when this comes it may well bring in the goodies like Brambling and Tree Sparrow, both have been present in recent years. I gave it another half hour, these flocks do tend to attract the raptors, Merlin was seen a few times here last year.
All in all a very good morning and well worth the suffering.
I also recently undertook a survey in Kent and came across a hunting Short Eared Owl, looks like a good year for them as they seem to be coming in everywhere, photos below.

Southend Pier and Seafront

2011-10-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

October 28th

A day off from work meant that I was able to visit Southend with my wife Christine parking up towards Thorpe Bay and then heading along the shoreline for the Pier. A good walk and always plenty to see on the way, especially waders as the tide was rising and the mud was covered.

Adult Mediterranean Gull(click on photos to enlarge)

Gulls were ever present and at one time I had 3 adult Mediterranean’s in view at the same time, plenty of people about feeding them works a treat and it does congregate them. I could also see in the distance a very large flock of waders, this turned out to be the Sanderling flock; this has risen quite dramatically since my last visit. At a conservative estimate I would now say there are around 350 birds, on our return journey quite a bit later the flock was really bunched and an estimated count was probably a bit more accurate. On a tight wheeling flock it is very hard and having photographed the odd flock in times gone by on a photo and then counted the dots, (I know very sad) I have found that I am always undercounting, hence the conservative estimate.

Sanderling

Rock Pipit

Sanderling flock

Ringed Plover alighting

Sanderling, Ringed Plover and Dunlin

Looking for some room

Sanderling

Feeding

Certainly an impressive sight, they are constantly on the move from people walking down the beach and dog walkers, nothing wrong in that, I do it myself, walking by the sea makes you feel good. You would think the Sanderling would find a high tide roost like the Turnstones; these are very adaptable and will roost anywhere.

Turnstones on the Pier - posers

Eventually arriving at the Pier head after a hearty breakfast on the way produced 8 adult Mediterranean Gulls and 2 1st winters, I took some photos, none too clever as the weather was really grey and over cast. A Common Seal was also seen.

1st winter

Adult - ringed as well

1st winter

The highlight came whilst we were waiting for the train back in the shape of Gannets coming out of the Estuary, a group of 11 first of all, then these were followed closely by a group of 4 and then closely on their tail, another group of 4.In total 19 came out and passed right over the pier, I suspect the murky grey weather had bought them in.

9 of the 1st bunch of 11

A good end to the day.

Coalhouse Revisited

2011-10-25T21:48:00.000-07:00

Sunday October 23rd

Having recently caught up with the Semi – P here, I decided to visit again, there was so much on view on the previous visit it spoiled me and I wanted more. This was once one of my regular haunts 15-20 years ago, it is a great area and Paul and others have turned up some great birds here.
Sunday’s visits coincided with a fast rising tide; waders on show were Curlew, Black and Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover and the ever present Dunlin. Avocet numbers were around the 140 mark.

Swallow(click on photos to enlarge)

Male Stonechat

I decided to walk east in the hope of a Harrier or even a Short Eared Owl, in years gone by they were regular down here, Hen more than Marsh in winter, I was also hoping for Corn Bunting. In the end after about 2 miles none of these materialised but a total of 9 Stonechats were seen enroute, this comprised 2 pair and what looked like a family group of 5.The undoubted highlight was a group of 4 Bearded Tits made up of 2 pair with one of the males bearing a ring. I sat and watched these for a good hour and managed to get some photos which you can see below, I thought the views of the recent pair at Barking were good, these were little stunners. For the time I was there they worked the reed bed up and down, in between and for what seemed like no specific reason, they would go for a fly around, climb, do a few circuits and then return to another part of the reed bed. This happened about 4 times, not a noted strong flyer they could have been surveying the landscape for other reedbeds?

Bearded Tit - pair

A male in all his glory

Females not bad either...

Going for a fly around

Male

Male showing leg ring

Additional species seen were-

Fieldfare- 1 near the car park mixing it up with Mistle Thrushes
Redwing – 2
Rock Pipit – 5 noted on the way out
Swallow - 2 west
Water Rail – 1 calling
Stock Dove - a flock of 32 feeding in adjacent fields

A very good visit, I can see it becoming a regular haunt again.

Barking October 22nd

2011-10-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

Outfall

My usual dawn start with a perfect sunrise coming up over Crossness, crazy weather at the moment but not complaining, how could you with all this sunshine?
The tide was nearly in when I arrived and if any waders had been present they had already gone to roost, this proved the case with 31 roosting Redshank located later on the Gull Jetty. Also in were 2 Rock Pipits, this is the usual number for the Outfall, they could be birds moving through but I suspect that they will winter here.

Grey Wagtail enjoying the sunshine (click on photos to enlarge)

Redshank at roost

Rock Pipit

Also seen were 5 Shoveler, these are the first arrivals for the winter; Teal numbers continue to grow with 302 at the Outfall and down the Creek.

Other sightings

Kingfisher – a bird flashing by.
Common Sandpiper – 1
Grey Wagtail – 4
Shelduck – 16

Bay
I searched high and low for a Stonechat, I ended up negative but did locate 3 Wheatears, one of them looked good for a Greenland size wise with a good peachy breast.3 calling Redpoll over were most likely Lessers and the Linnet flock was now well over a 100.

Wheatear

Looking over to Crossness into the sun revealed large numbers of waders, from a distance they looked like Redshank and Black Tailed Godwit, good numbers this early in the year, hopefully a sign of more to come.

Wheatear

3 in a bush.....

Sparrowhawk

Common Buzzard

With the warm weather it was no surprise to see 3 Sparrowhawks up together along with a single Kestrel, the highlight on the raptor front came in the shape of a Common Buzzard, my 4th for the site this year.

Other sightings included

Shelduck - 92
Skylark – 18
Rock Pipit – 2
Song Thrush – 4 possible migrant birds
Blackbirds – 9 most likely migrants
Black Tailed Godwit – 2
Redshank – 14
Lapwing – 22

The finale came not with a rarity but a Warship coming down the Thames, I suspect it was the ship that was moored up to HMS Belfast in the city, can’t see them hiding another one up the Thames. Certainly an impressive sight, ‘F81’ I suspect means Frigate, it was so big it even had a Helicopter on the back. Having been bought up as a boy on stories of the Battle of Jutland and later the Home Fleet in World War 11, I must admit to always having had an interest in naval vessels.

A fine sight

Helicopter

Rainham October 18th - where has all the water gone?

2011-10-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I last visited and in truth, the day and weather was not ideal with very strong south westerly winds, anything that did show, especially small stuff quickly disappeared seeking shelter.
Having just finished a survey in the afternoon I had a couple of hours to spare so I walked the foreshore and then the reserve.
As expected there were no waders on show on the river and not a duck of any kind, I did get lucky with 6 Rock Pipits, likely fresh in and doing there level best to keep their feathers on and hide behind something.

Rock Pipits

I did not expect to see much on the reserve but good to see Wigeon in with around 140 birds seen, Shoveler, Gadwall and Teal were also present in decent numbers.
A single Stonechat was seen holding onto a fence wire, a Chiffchaff in the woodland and a flock of around 80 Goldfinch were feeding in cover.

Stonechat

What I do find strange is the water levels, Aveley Pools has a good level albeit too high to attract waders and the rest of the reserve seems to be bone dry. The brand new hide has no water in front of it, what is the point of sitting in it if there is nothing in front of you to see. Likewise Purfleet Scrape is bone dry, this has been remodelled a number of times over the years but it always dries out, why?

New Hide, unfortunately no birds in front of it

Having birded Rainham Marshes for 30 years you know and can see its potential to bring in large numbers of waders and wildfowl, it’s a pity that it is under achieving due to a lack of water. When the Reserve floods and does hold water it pulls in large numbers of Wildfowl, it is a different place entirely. By now the water levels should be sorted out and constant, they are not, looking inland from the Visitor Centre, the nearest area of standing water is Aveley Pools.

Fox near woodland

What of the Silt Lagoons, the number of birds that these held was phenomenal when they held water, the regulars will tell you, I can still remember quite clearly flushing a group of over 40 Green Sandpipers at roost one morning, it has now been years since they opened the sluice gates and they have remained dry ever since. Again the potential is there but will anything ever be done to realise it, it has been a number of years since they held water, hopefully there are plans to bring them back to their former glory.
Here’s hoping for some rain.

Bearded Tit - Barking Bay October 15th

2011-10-15T20:43:00.000-07:00

First port of call at dawn found me in Central London checking up on a particular site, I was very fortunate to be in the right place at the right time to witness a confrontation between a male Kestrel and a Magpie.
Magpies being Magpies are, and can be right bullies, they like nothing more than tormenting birds of prey, a month ago I saw 4 of them intimidating a female Peregrine on prey, in the end she moved. Glad to say to say that Raptor honour was held up by the little Falcon, he did a sterling job of defending his little square of territory from the tormenting Magpie, see photos below.

Magpie trying to intimidate the Kestrel (click on photos to enlarge)

Seen off....

Magpie tries again.....

Kestrel ready again.....

Seen off again

And again.....

Sorted

After this I headed for the patch, 14 Redshank were showing on the mud along with a single Black Tailed Godwit, if we get the weather that is promised, very cold and even snow I suspect wader numbers will greatly increase.
It was as I was walking past the middle pond I heard a Bearded Tit call in the fragmites, it was answered by another further along. Eventually the nearest one showed itself, a cracking looking male, possibly part of a local influx as there were 6 today at Rainham RSPB.I also noted that the male that showed had been ringed,will try and blow photos up to see where he is from.

Male Bearded Tit

Showing leg ring

Other than this the Bay was pretty quiet, Red Admirals and Ruddy Darters are still on the wing along with a couple of Migrant Hawkers, Shelduck numbers were around the 70 mark with the Linnet flock starting to build with a flock of 40 seen. The calling Cetti’s Warbler was again heard, possibly a juvenile trying out his voice.

Norfolk October 6th - 8th

2011-10-12T01:03:00.000-07:00

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

2011-10-02T08:05:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-25T08:08:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-19T11:40:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-10T15:42:00.000-07:00

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

2011-09-04T01:57:00.000-07:00

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

Southend - Bank Holiday Monday

2011-08-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

Along with many others I headed for the coast in the morning with my wife Christine, the idea being to walk along the shoreline from the Pier to Thorpe Bay and then return. We arrived just after 9.00am and for once the weather was good for a Bank Holiday, also there was not that many people about ( this soon changed and the weather ) so we started the walk.

Mediterranean and Common Gull ( click on photos to enlarge)

Mediterranean Gull

Ringed Plover

I had bought my camera because I know what happens when I don’t, as I said there was not too many people around so it was ok walking down the beach with the camera. It is unfortunate in the world that we live in that you are viewed with suspicion walking along with a telephoto lense, I can understand it, I would probably be the same if I was sitting there with my family. I was fortunate that my wife was with me, alone who knows, they don’t know that I am walking along the beach hoping to photograph birds on the shoreline.

Sanderling

Sanderling and Ringed Plover

As we walked further along I starting to see Gulls and then we came across a large flock of roosting Common Terns, certainly over 40, these were in and out evading the joggers and dog walkers.
As you do I started to go through the Gulls and recorded 6 Meditteranean’s, mostly adults going into winter plumage, they are striking in any plumage.

Common Tern

Mixed flock of Sanderling, Turnstone and Ringed Plover

Sanderling and Ringed Plover

Juvenile female Peregrine

The highlight was finding a flock of 29 Sanderling, cracking looking waders again many nearly in winter plumage.
Other highlights included

Yellow Wagtail – 2 on the beach
Wheatear – 1 on the beach
Ringed Plover – 60+
Turnstone – around 30 birds roosting on the moored boats offshore Swift – 1 overhead
Peregrine – a female juvenile overhead toward the end of the walk
Common Seal – 4 hauled out in the channel opposite Rossi’s

Common Tern

A very enjoyable walk.

Canvey Point

2011-08-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

August 26th

Decided on an early morning visit as the tide was due to peak around 10-10.30am, the weather was foul, overcast, wet and eventually the wind settled to a North Westerly. Ideal conditions in which I hoped for some Skua’s.

Needless to say I did not see one, I gave it about 2 hours, Jeff and others were there when I left, they may have seen some.

Sandwich Tern (click on photos to enlarge)

Curlew coming in to roost

Common Tern

The undoubted highlight was finding 2 Black Necked Grebes sitting on the river, one still retaining summer plumage and the other more into winter, these came in with the tide and later flew out before landing again. A good bird for the point and certainly a first for me here,I suspect one of these was the bird that Jeff had seen 5 minutes previous distantly.

2 Black Necked Grebes going out, I know crap photo

Also seen were

Sandwich Tern – present but not in the usual numbers

Black Tern – 9 seen, I know Jeff had more as he was there earlier

Common Scoter – 3

Grey Seal – 1

Harbour Porpoise – 2 sightings

Arctic Tern – 1 definate

One can only wish

Not even sure if a Lottery win would cover this

Also seen coming in was a luxury Yacht called the AVIVA, not up in Roman’s class size wise but certainly a cracking looking ship.

The Valley

2011-08-18T14:36:00.000-07:00

August 17th

Decided to make the most of it as I had a follow on dentist appointment, so naturally out at dawn birding before the dentist.

The viewing area was crowded with birds roosting for the night, this included about 60 Canada Geese, 30 Mallard, Teal numbers are up to 19, 8 Gadwall and 11 Shoveler all fresh in.

Flock of Lapwing in the viewing area (click on photos to enlarge)

Green Sandpiper

Waders were represented by 71 Lapwing and a single Green Sandpiper.

Moving on from here I checked both paddocks for migrants, none seen so pressed on to the Reservoir.

Chiffchaff

Common Sandpiper

En route I became aware that Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler and Common Whitethroat were everywhere, especially Chiffies, many were feeding up on Berry bushes. Water Rail were also calling along with at least 6 Cetti’s Warblers.

With a change in the wind to an easterly I hoped for a ‘ goodie ‘ but nothing materialized.

On arrival at the Reservoir Great Crested Grebe numbers had increased to 14, also seen were 6 Yellow Wagtails, Little Egret, Common Tern and 2 Common Sandpipers.

After the Reservoir I walked the top paddock and flushed 2 Red Legged Partridges at the edge of the corn stubble.

No major migrant movement as yet but its just great to be out.

After the dentist and a meeting I popped into Barking Bay and grabbed an hour, highlights were 2 Ringed Plovers, Whinchat, 19 Common Sandpipers, 11 Wasp Spiders including an enormous female and 2 Silver Y’s.

A very impressive large female Wasp Spider

Underside

Silver Y camouflaging itself on top of a plant

Close up

Hopefully the Whinchat heralds the start of some migration.