Savi's

Paul's Savi's Warbler pics at Lakenheath.

 

 

Savi's Warbler-Lakenheath-(Paul Frost)

Savi's Warbler-Lakenheath-(Paul Frost)

Sunscreen

A summary of todays outing with birding pal Paul Frost.

First thing this morning we visited Broxhead Common where a European Roller showed well if a little distant.

Then over to Rye Harbour. No Terek's Sandpiper but; 3 Temminck's Stint, Little Tern, Sandwich Tern, Common Tern, Avocet, Ringed Plover, Mediterranean Gull.

Dungeness; Black Redstart, Hobby, Marsh Harrier, Tree Sparrow. Also near the moat at the Observatory a dead Hobby (insert sad face here).

Finally, early evening at Pewley Down, Guildford; Red-backed Shrike (female).

I think I might have sunstroke! Who applies sunscreen in this country on a late May Bank Holiday week-end? I thought my thick skull would be able to cope, but I was wrong.
Paul's pics from Rye Harbour then my female Red-backed Shrike pics below.

Temminck's Stints-Rye Harbour-Paul Frost

Temminck's Stints-Rye Harbour-Paul Frost

Common Tern-Rye Harbour-Paul Frost

Avocet-Rye Harbour-Paul Frost



Red-backed Shrike (female)-Pewley Down

Red-backed Shrike (female)-Pewley Down

Red-backed Shrike (female)-Pewley Down

Oi-Oi Savi's Joy

A shortened version of my intended post as my craptop had the dreaded blue screen of death last night.
Saturday 25th of May 2013. An afternoon visit to Lakenheath with Paul. The Red-footed Falcon showed well on several occasions but the Golden Orioles did not. No sight nor sound of them.
We did see Cuckoo, Marsh Harrier, Bittern and Hobby, but the best was left to last as we had great scope views of a singing Savi's Warbler.

Hobby-Lakenheath

Hobby-Lakenheath

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath
 

Monties Pics

Paul's Monties pics from our recent trip to Reculver

Dead Easy Dusky with no Irritation

A planned trip with Paul, Dave and Brendan. We had arranged to meet at 05:00 which is about an hour earlier than usual. Unusually for us we didn't have a pre-planned destination. So it came in very handy when Brendan switched his pager on and one of the messages from late on Friday evening was a Dusky Thrush in Margate Cemetery. So we set the sat-nav and off we went, arriving about 06:40. At first the bird proved a little elusive but soon showed well on and off as it did a circuit of the cemetery. Rather than follow the bird we waited for it to arrive in it's favoured area. I did take a couple of pics but as usual the light was quite poor. Always a good idea to get the excuses in early!
From Margate we headed over to nearby Reculver. Here we enjoyed nice scope views of female/ringtail Montagu's Harrier.
No news of the Red-backed Shrike, so we headed over to Stodmarsh. Not far from the car park we connected with Turtle Dove (4). A walk around the reserve where we did not connect with the North Hide. Near the river we heard a Nightingale but could not make visual contact.
News of the Red-backed Shrike at Reculver had us scuttling back to Chambers Wall. Unfortunately after walking several miles we did not find the Shrike. Lots of other birders also looking but no joy.
Cattle Egret at Shorne was our final target bird. After a slight detour due to the postcode supplied straddling both sides of the railway line we eventually arrived at Shorne. We marched along the track for quite some distance before we saw the rather distant Cattle Egret. Lots of familiar faces on the walk to and from the Egret.

Dusky Thrush-Margate Cemetery

Dusky Thrush-Margate Cemetery

Reaching for a Turtle

Stupid post titles are back!
A trip to Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire. Flying solo today, I arrived at Wicken Fen and made my way to the "new bridge". I met another birder who told me the Black-winged Stilt had flown off about an hour before my arrival. I scanned the flooded area near the bridge but nothing doing. I decided to have a walk in the direction the bird had flown. After about a half a mile I joined two birders who were viewing the Black-winged Stilt. It was fairly distant and asleep. After a few minutes it woke up and started to feed. Also here was an even more distant Hobby.
From Wicken Fen I decided to head over to Lakenheath. On route I noticed two Turtle Dove's feeding on the ground outside some farm outbuildings near the village of Reach. I stopped the car and viewed the birds also taking a couple of pics. A car drove by and flushed them so I continued my journey to Lakenheath.
At Lakenheath the first thing I noticed was hundreds and hundreds of Swifts also lots of Cuckoo's calling and a couple of Bitterns booming. I made my way to the first viewing point and almost straight away the Red-footed Falcon showed really well. The only drawback being the poor light. From here I had a stroll around the reserve where I saw several Marsh Harrier and a few more Hobby. Also on the reserve; Cetti's Warbler, Sedge Warbler, Whitethroat, Swift, Swallow, House Martin, Sand Martin. On the walk back to the car a Cuckoo was being mobbed by a Chaffinch.

Black-winged Stilt-Wicken Fen

Black-winged Stilt-Wicken Fen

Turtle Dove-Reach

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath

Red-footed Falcon-Lakenheath

Hobby-Lakenheath

Paul's Scotland Pics

All the pics below were taken by birding pal Paul Frost

King Eider-Ythan Estuary

Osprey-Loch Garten

Dipper-Findhorn Valley

Dave looking for Goosander!

Hoodie-Embo



Common Scoter-Embo
 

Surf Scoter-Embo

Poms-Balranald

Bonxie-Balranald

Rock Dove-Balranald

Golden Eagle-North Uist

Short-eared Owl-North Uist

Short-eared Owl-North Uist

Short-eared Owl-North Uist

Short-eared Owl-North Uist

Purple Sandpiper-Balranald

Red Grouse-Farr Road

Wot no Ptarmigan-Cairngorm

Red Squirrel



Arctic Skua-Rattray Head

Arctic Skua-Rattray Head

Arctic Skua-Rattray Head

Turnstone-Balranald



Poms-Balranald

Crested Tit-Abernethy

Red Grouse

Puffin-Uig to Lochmaddy ferry

Twite-Balranald

Great-northern Diver with fish-Rattray Head

Great-northern Diver-Rattray Head

Corn Bunting-Balranald