Short Toed Eagle twitch

Me, Mark and Darren did a twitch down to Ashdown Forest in East Sussex on Saturday for the Short Toed Eagle, this was the bird seen fleetingly in Dorset and other places over the last two or three weeks but has obviously found this area to its liking and has been showing quite well there over the last week and falling into a more predictable pattern. It was an early start and we were on site by 7am, the bird was first spotted around 8am although initial views were pretty distant of it sat on top of a small conifer at the bottom of the valley, when it started flying around it looked better and as it started heading back up the far side of the valley we thought that’s where we need to be, a bit of a trek through knee deep heather until we found a track then a climb up the other side but it was well worth it as we got several really good views, the bird flying right over us on a couple of occasions, I've seen them abroad before but this was a mega British tick for us all and my second new bird for the year. As we were down south we had decided to have a look for Adonis Blue Butterfly, I had found a site not too far away, Malling Down near Lewes, it was an old limestone Quarry and we eventually located a few “Blue” Butterflies flitting about but they were very active in the warm sunny weather and we spent quite some time chasing them around trying to get good views and photos unfortunately we couldn’t clinch them as being Adonis and thought them to be just Common in the end, a good few Marbled Whites there as well. After lunch we headed back via East Anglia with the lure of an adult Rose Coloured Starling at Lowestoft, it had been a few years since me and Darren had seen one and it would be a tick for Mark, the original plan was to call in at Minsmere for Stone Curlew and Dunwich Heath for Dartford Warbler as we passed, it was already late afternoon by the time we got to Minsmere and the area where the Stone Curlews had bred had become quite overgrown, there seemed little chance we would see them, a couple of Cetti’s Warblers sang nearby one seen flitting between bushes, chatting to another birder he informed us the Dartford Warblers had also become elusive with there being a stiff sea breeze so we decided to give them a miss and carried straight on to Lowestoft, or a garden in suburban Carlton Coleville to be more precise, the Rose Coloured Starling had dropped in to the Gardens and out of sight 10 mins before we got there and even though many common Starlings were up and down and gathering in a couple of bushes further down the road it was not amongst them, then after an agonising 30-40 mins it dropped in to the bushes, it preened there for 5 mins or so before flying up onto a roof then dropping back in the gardens where a kindly resident allowed us into her garden where it was feeding on a coconut. Hometime and we headed back to the A1 via the Brecks, with failing to see Stone Curlew at Minsmere we thought we'd pay a quick visit to Cavenham Heath, a good call we had five birds near the perimeter fence although even approaching in the car the birds took flight before we got close enough for a photo with just one landing not too far away, all in all though a good end to a mega day.

Ashdown Forest, Eagle country

initial views

it came closer

perched up for a while

attended by the local Corvids

hovering

Malling Down

Eyebright

Pyramidal Orchid

Common Blue Butterfly

a big percentage of young Starlings in Lowestoft

eventually their more colourful cousin dropped in

posing nicely on the roof

with sun

without

landed just too far away for a decent photo

Redcar and Wykeham 2

A couple of evening trips this week the first being Tuesday when me and Mark met up with Darren and Mike from Leeds and went up to Redcar for the Black Scoter, it was in with a small flock of Common Scoters and although it  took several scans initially to find it, once you got your eye in it became relatively easy to pick out, we timed it just as the tide was coming in and as it did so did the Scoter flock so we ended up with some pretty good scope views but it was always too distant for photography, I took a rather distant record shot anyway. A good Yorkshire tick although its technically Cleveland, the old boundaries still count for the list.

On Wednesday me, Mark, Paz and Pete Watson went on the annual Nightjar pilgrimage up to Wykeham Forest, arrived in good time with the others hoping for a late up Turtle Dove but no luck there, a Buzzard was seen to go to roost and there were some interesting Moths on show, as the light began to fade several Woodcocks put on a good show then some churring started to right of the track and we got our first views of a distant pair of Nightjars flying around, another pair soon became active to the left of the track and ended up putting on a great show for us flying over our heads and regularly landing on trees close to the track, a really good evening.

a pair of mating Gold Swifts

Clouded Border

roding Woodcocks

and the stars of the night

Wykeham

I caught up on a bit of sleep and had a later start yesterday (Sunday), not the best of afternoons to go up to Wykeham Forest looking for Honey Buzzards but for want of anything better to do I thought I’d give it a go, checked out the Nursery fields first where I managed to find three Turtle Doves in one of the fields there, a few Tree Pipits and Garden Warblers were also in the general area. Went on to the Raptor Watchpoint and spent a couple of hours scanning but there had been no sightings of Honey Buzzards prior to me arriving and nothing more than a few common Buzzards and Kestrels were seen while I was there, dropped down into Troutsdale later for a different viewpoint and had a Goshawk go over but it was a no show day for the Honeys, a pair of Spotted Flycatchers were seen near the bridge at Hilla Green.

Common Spotted Orchid

seem to be thin on the ground this year

singing his heart out by Hilla Green