Saturday 30 June 2012

Bonxie

A couple of hours seawatching at Milford on Sea this morning; Gannet (c300), Great Skua, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Auk sp, Common Scoter, Curlew, Swift. Rock Pipit nearby.

Also earlier in the week a further visit to Pig Bush/Beaulieu Road Station; Spotted Flycatcher, Crossbill, Snipe (several "drumming").

North Gate near Beaulieu; Raven.

Tuesday 26 June 2012

Pig Bush

An early morning visit to Pig Bush in the new forest whilst wifey took granddaughter swimming. I chose Pig Bush because I like the name! A nice mixture of heath and woodland produced; Stonechat, Redstart, Treecreeper, Marsh Tit, Siskin, Willow Warbler, Lapwing, Sparrowhawk, Cuckoo, Great-spotted Woodpecker, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Song Thrush.

Saturday 23 June 2012

Shatterford

On a family hol in the new forest this week. A pleasant stroll around the Shatterford/Beaulieu Road Station area with Audrey(wifey), Becky (daughter), Drew(Son in law), Amelie(2 year old granddaughter), Joshua(7 month old grandson). I managed to squeeze in some birding whilst pushing the all-terrain buggies; Stonechat, Dartford Warbler, Redstart, Coal Tit, Siskin, Song Thrush, Mistle Thrush, Nuthatch.

Saturday 16 June 2012

Night Heron-Little Bittern

Keyhaven with Dave, Paul and Brendan; Night Heron, Little Egret, Mediterranean Gull, Little Tern.

Later on the River Colne at Stockers Lake, Rickmansworth; Great close views of Little Bittern.
Paul's pics below; 1st three Med Gulls, Little Tern, last three Little Bittern.






Thursday 14 June 2012

Little Bittern at Stockers Lake

Paul Frost's Little Bittern pics. River Colne, Rickmansworth

 

Saturday 9 June 2012

European Roller

A trip to East Yorkshire with Paul. A long drive to Aldbrough in East Yorkshire was worthwhile as we had great views of the long staying European Roller. Also noted at Bewick Hall where we parked; 6 Tree Sparrow.

On the way home we stopped off on the Ashwell to Bygrave Road where we were delighted to see 3 Turtle Dove. Also noted; Lesser-whitethroat, Yellowhammer, Corn Bunting, Grey Partridge, Red-legged Partridge.

Some of my hd, 3d, scratch n sniff, high quality pics below. The first eight turquoise blobs in a cultivated field are European Roller, the next three lbj's on a barn roof are Tree Sparrow, next three grey/brown bird in a bush Lesser-Whitethroat and final pic if you look closely you can just make out three Turtle Dove shaped blurs. Enjoy!














Friday 8 June 2012

Lakenheath Oriole's and Cuckoo's

On a recent visit to Lakenheath with Brendan we met northwest birder and photographer Paul Foster. He has posted some great Oriole and Cuckoo pics on his blog; http://paulifos.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/cuckoos-and-orioles.html

Wednesday 6 June 2012

Pics from Saturday

Paul's pics from saturday; Barn Owl, Crane, Hobby and Marsh Harrier at Lakenheath. Corn Bunting, Lesser Whitethroat and Yellow Wagtail, North Hertfordshire between Bygrave and Ashwell.






Paul's pics below;

Tuesday 5 June 2012

Flew Southwest

Monday 4th June 2012.
A planned trip to East Yorkshire with Dave, Paul and Brendan was cancelled because the European Roller "flew southwest" on sunday evening. As no further reports had been posted that evening we decided to head for Norfolk and in particular a couple of sites where we might see "Montie's". On route news came through that the Roller had been seen in it's usual place, however, as we were already in North Norfolk we resisted temptation.

On route near Walsingham a wing tagged Red Kite was noted.

We drew a blank at our first "Montie's" site and same result at the second.

Next stop was Titchwell which was really busy people wise. Nothing out of the ordinary here, the highlights being; Little Gull, Little Tern, Fulmar, Bearded Tit, Red-breasted Merganser. From here we returned to one of the alleged "Montie's" sites. No Montie's (of course!) but we did note; Grey Partridge, Marsh Harrier, Red Kite, Buzzard, Yellowhammer and a possible Quail ran quickly across the farm track but too distant to confirm i.d.

With nothing much reported in Norfolk we decided to head for Lakenheath in search of Crane's.

Lakenheath; Golden Oriole (singing), Bittern (booming), Bearded Tit (pinging), Cuckoo, Hobby, Garganey, Kingfisher, Marsh Harrier-up to 20 birds seen including several pairs performing  "food pass", Barn Owl-prolonged views hunting over ditch's, Crane-2 adults foraging for food, it is believed these birds have young but reeds too tall for us to see them.

On the way home we stopped off on the Ashwell to Bygrave road in North Hertfordshire. A great way to finish our day as not only did we see the recently reported Turtle Dove but we also had outstanding views of the following; Corn Bunting, Yellowhammer, Linnet, Lesser Whitethroat, Yellow Wagtail, Grey Partridge.

Paul managed some pics and they will be added soon.

Saturday 2 June 2012

Otmoor

A visit to Otmoor with Paul and also a brief stop at Bledlow.

Otmoor; Turtle Dove, Garden Warbler, Willow Warbler, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Reed Warbler, Grasshopper Warbler (reeling), Reed Bunting, Bullfinch, Snipe (4 drumming), Curlew, Redshank, Buzzard, Swift, Cuckoo, Great-spotted Woodpecker.

Bledlow; Nightingale.