Monday 24 June 2013

Paul's Wilson's

Paul and Dave went over to the Isle of Wight yesterday to see the Wilson's Phalarope.
Paul's pic below.


Wilson's Phalarope-Yarmouth IOW-Paul Frost

Sunday 23 June 2013

Posse Birding

Saturday 22nd June 2013.
A trip to Wells, West Quay in Norfolk with Paul, Brendan, Dave, Ephraim, Samuel, Tony D and later Jim.
We met up at 06:00 at the Harvester and all 7 of us including Brendan crammed into my miniMetro. A brief discussion as to how to load the vehicle resulted in 3 in the front and 4 in the back. It rained nearly all the way but luckily had stopped by the time we arrived at Wells where we met Jim. Jim had already seen a nice looking bird and her name was Penny. We joined the other birders assembled a sensible distance from the feeders under the Rosy Starlings favoured tree. We didn't have to wait too long before the Rose-coloured Starling dropped down onto the feeders. It showed well for a few minutes before hopping back up into the tree and out of view. Then again a few minutes later a repeat performance and this time it took a drink from the bird bath. Whilst at the Key we also saw a Spoonbill on the saltmarsh and a Little Tern fishing.
Next stop was a site in Norfolk where we had recently seen a male Montagu's Harrier.  But now we had Jim with us, so how were we to load the miniMetro? Yes you guessed it 4 in the front and 4 in the back. We didn't have to wait too long before we connected with a male Montagu's Harrier. It showed well for about 45 minutes quartering the fields. A female also made a very brief appearance. Just before we left we enjoyed a bit of action as the male gave chase to a Skylark, unfortunately we couldn't see the outcome as both birds disappeared behind a hedgerow. Also here a Red Kite.
Next stop was Swanton Novers " Raptor Watchpoint". We spent some time here but as expected no Honey Buzzards.
Titchwell was our final destination and the best birds seen here were; Spotted Redshank, several hundred Knot including some in summer plumage, Bar-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Little Gull, Common Tern, Sandwich Tern, Little Tern. Also a cute looking Chinese Water Deer showed briefly.
Nice to meet Tony D, who I always wanted to be as good as at football but now at birding/photography, however, I have no points on my licence so maybe I'm a better driver?
Tony, Ephraim and Samuel took some pics and no doubt they will be on their respective blogs.
Tony's Blog http://regentsparkbirds.blogspot.co.uk/
Samuel's Blog http://samuelbirding.blogspot.co.uk/
Ephraim's Blog http://mybirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/
Paul's pics below.
Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Rose-coloured Starling-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Male Montagu's Harrier-Paul Frost

Knot-Paul Frost

Knot-Paul Frost

Chinese Water Deer -Paul Frost

Monday 17 June 2013

Paul's Pacific Success

My birding pal Paul Frost connected with the Pacific Swift at Trimley yesterday. I couldn't go yesterday due to fathers day commitments. Regretting not going on Saturday now!
Pacific Swift-Trimley Marshes-Paul Frost

Pacific Swift-Trimley Marshes-Paul Frost

Sunday 16 June 2013

proposed day trip to Calais

We have been talking recently about doing a birding day trip to Calais and surrounding area. I recently read a post on a blog that I thought I followed that had some really good sights and info, however, after looking through all the blogs I follow I can't find it. So fellow bloggers if you have any info you think might useful for a birding day trip to Calais it would be very much appreciated. Either post a comment or my email sh4rpy [at] Hotmail dot com. Many thanks.

Birds 2 Hapless Twitchers 0

Saturday 15/06/2013.
American Golden Plover in East Sussex and Black Kite in Kent were the target birds for myself, Paul and Ephraim. First stop was Cuckmere Haven, where the Amercan Golden Plover appeared to have done a Friday night flit. So not too much time was spent here and we headed off to Selling in Kent. A couple of miles from the site the news services reported the Black Kite and also a Honey Buzzard. So things were looking good. Also a Pacific Swift was reported in Suffolk so we discussed the possibility of going for this if we connected fairly quickly with the Black Kite. Well we spent 5 hours on site and no sign of the Kite. A pair of Hobbies did do their best to entertain us. We probably still had time to get to Suffolk but the news services reported the road where we were going to park being closed and police on scene issuing tickets, so we headed for home.

Sunday 2 June 2013

Fort it was then Fort it wasn't

An afternoons birding in Hampshire with Paul and Ephraim. A late start due to Asda's, Costco and then wifey to work. At our pre trip team meeting we all rather half-heartedly decided to head for Fort Brockhurst to see the "is it" or "isn't it" Marsh Warbler. As soon as we got on the m25 the traffic was really heavy. We were discussing the Marsh/Reed Wabler and looking at the reports on various  news services. We fairly quickly decided to abort our mission and instead head to Acre's Down. We couldn't stay as long as we wanted as I had to be back to collect the boss. However, we did manage some decent birds. 2 probably 3 Firecrest, 2 Wood Warbler, 2 Redstart (male and female), Buzzard, Marsh Tit and Grey Wagtail. Ephraim's account here http://mybirdblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/the-new-forest.html
Firecrest-Acres Down-Paul Frost

Wood Warbler-Acres Down-Paul Frost

Redstart-Acres Down

Redstart-Acres Down