Dusk in the garden of England

The original plan this weekend was to go to Norfolk to have a go at photographing the Red Footed Falcon at Lakenheath amongst other things, however that all got dropped when Mark rang on Saturday morning exclaiming there was a female Dusky Thrush in Kent, the bird had been discovered in Margate Cemetery three days before but just ID’d and news had been released late last night. A few phone calls and hasty changes of plans later and we were meeting up with twitching buddies Darren Ward and Dave Ousey and heading South, with it being a late start  we didn’t get down there till mid afternoon but fortunately the bird was showing straight away and very well, it was actively feeding, mainly flycatching but perched up on a low branch for quite a while before flying up to the top of another tree, it was a grand old cemetery with lots of mature trees and as well as the more common stuff a few noisy Ring Necked Parakeets were also present. With the bird in the bag and a bit of time to spare we called in at nearby Reculver on the way back where we got reasonable views of a female Montagu's Harrier out on the Marsh, also a couple of Marsh Harriers in the area.

it was a most impressive Cemetery

what a superb bird

Reculver

had we had more time this female Monty's may have come closer

Changes in Birding, Common stuff

I took a pleasant stroll around Strensall Common this fine sunny morning, a Spotted Flycatcher near the car park was a nice surprise, they always used to breed around that area though I haven’t seen them there for a few years now, three Buzzards were riding the thermals and being very vocal and a couple of Tree Pipits were singing away, a couple of Cuckoo's were going about their business and while trying to get close to one a couple of small birds landed right in front of me, a pair of Wood Larks, great views as they wandered around feeding no more than 5-6 feet away, another started singing close by. Now I remember when I first got serious about Birding more than 30 years ago, you would have cross the Pennines to see a Buzzard and go down to East Anglia to see a Woodlark but on the other side of the coin Tree Pipits seemed to sing from nearly every tree, well maybe thats a bit of an exaggeration but you know what I mean, Changes!.

Blacktoft

I nipped to Blacktoft Sands for a couple of hours after work last Friday hoping that a Grasshopper Warbler might be posing, no such luck although plenty of the other Warblers were singing, it was generally fairly quiet but there were lots of Swifts dashing about and as well as the Avocets there were still a handful of Black Tailed Godwits present and a Common Sandpiper in front of Marshland Hide plus a pair of Roe Deer were feeding quite happily near Xerox Hide.

 

Speyside weekend Day 4

Me, Mark and Mike were up before breakfast and out to Tulloch Moor to try for Black Grouse again, we arrived at the viewing screen to be informed by a couple of birders already present there were none showing, fortunately some other birders arrived a few minutes later and told us the birds were in an area on the other side of the road this year, it was a 15 min walk out along a rough track, past some abandoned farm buildings and across a stream then climbing up a small mound we were rewarded with views of at least three birds two of them sparring with tails fully spread. After breakfast and checking out of the Hotel we prepared for the journey home and as Mike still needed Ptarmigan we took the route across the top and down the other side of the Cairngorms to Glen Shee, we had good views of a Ring Ouzel in a field close to the road en route but when we got to Glen Shee it was unfortunately shrouded in low cloud and we couldn’t see a bloody thing. We had a coffee but it didn’t clear so we carried on our journey, the next part of the plan was to get down into Northumberland where a Purple Heron and Great White Egret had been seen at East Chevington and Hauxley respectively over the weekend, unfortunately there had been no news on either bird today, we called in at East Chevington anyway and there were a good few Terns on the main pool, lots of Whitethroats and Sedge Warblers singing, a pair of Marsh Harriers and most unexpected a Short Eared Owl, we then carried on to Cresswell Pond where a Garganey had been reported, there was no sign of that but a good scan round revealed a few waders including several Whimbrels, Avocets, Dunlins and a Turnstone, it was then rather bemusing when Marks pager went off exclaiming there were two Temminck's Stints present, we had another scan round just in case we had missed them but no the only small waders around were the two Dunlin, a very strange report. It had been another excellent weekend trip, thanks to Pete Watson for organizing it and a collective total of between 125 and 130 species were seen, my personal tally was 110, 20 of them year ticks.

scenics from the eastern side of the Cairngorms

we stopped at Berwick upon Tweed for lunch

singing Sedge at East Chevington