Norfolk - 19.2.25

 As I’m off for the half term week I thought I’d have a day out in Norfolk and as I had a rubbish nights sleep I was up and on the road by 5.30am. My first stop was Lynford Arboretum where I hoped I’d see some Hawfinch but sadly there was no sign. I did however manage a Marsh Tit year tick so all wasn’t lost.

I then headed a few miles up the road to the not so secret location where within a few seconds I’d seen 2 Goshawk flying over the woods.

Heacham beach was my next stop off point where again within a minute I’d seen the small flock of  15 Snow Bunting after they were flushed by beach goers  on the sea was an adult Mediterranean Gull and a few Red-breasted Merganser.

I then paid my second visit to Old Hunstanton beach of the year  this time I was more successful as 5 Shorelark were showing well. The Glaucous Gull however was present just before I arrived but had again vanished and wasn’t reported again until I was about 10 minutes from home!

Shorelark

To break up the journey home I popped to Welney where hundreds of swans were in surrounding fields. I scanned through and as soon as I’d ticked a Whooper Swan for the year I moved onto the WWT reserve where from the car park I year ticked a single Tree Sparrow.

My final stop was Sandon in North Herts but sadly no sign of any Grey Partridge or Corn Bunting.

Cornwall - 2.2.25

After almost 12 hours sleep (I must be getting old!) we awoke to drizzle and a slightly less windy day. Mousehole was our first port of call and after maybe 20 minutes Brendon said he had a good candidate for the Pacific Diver out by the bouy. After a few minutes I got onto it and yes it looked so good because it was one! My 3rd Pacific Diver in the UK and after missing the long returning Cornish bird from a few years ago it was nice to finally add it to my fledgling Cornish list. Yesterday’s eagle was number 200 but it’ll go down once some lumping of species on the British list comes in. 

As I was watching the diver 6 birds flew into join it. They were 6 Black-throated Divers! The most I’d seen at the same time was 3 on a couple of occasions so this flock doubled that record. After a few minutes the 6 flew off SW and we headed off to the Hayle. Again not much was happening on Ryan’s Field but just past the hide I disturbed 2 crests from some bramble. In the brief view I had they both looked to have white eye stripes. I picked them up in a tree and sure enough they were Firecrests. A few seconds later a male Bullfinch zoomed passed us at eye level and onto the year list. With nothing of note on the estuary we treated ourselves to a lovely Philps pastie!

On our way home we popped into Dozmary Pool near Bodmin where at the far end was a pair of Ring-necked Ducks but the weather was so awful I watched them for about a minute before retiring back to the car. 83 species were seen over the weekend including 13 year ticks which took my year list up to 146.

Cornwall 1.2.25

Booted Eagle courtesy of Chris Griffin

Back in October a pale morph Booted Eagle was found in the far SW of Cornwall but sadly I was on Scilly at the time and despite giving it a couple of hours once we got back to the mainland we didn’t see it. Fast forward to November when a dark morph bird was found at Henley on Thames but again I failed to see it and I thought that was my chance gone.

But then on 12th January a pale morph bird was seen just to the north of Marazion Marsh and it stayed faithful to a small area. Sadly for various reasons I couldn’t get down there until the start of February. Photographic evidence showed it was the same bird from October but where had it got to for 3+ months?!

So along with Brendon we set off from my house at 2am I drove down and arrived just after 7.30am. I parked in the A30 lay-by and got set up. Considering it’d been present for nearly 3 weeks there was still around 30 birders present and at about 8.50 someone said they thought they had it on the ground at the end of the pines and sure enough there it was. It jumped in the air a couple of times showing off its distinctive underwing before flying up onto a hedge. Here it sat for a couple of minutes before it took flight and went behind a farm before being seen crossing the A30 just to the north. BOOTED EAGLE was at last on my list!

After that excitement we headed into Penzance where on the rocks adjacent to the Jubilee Pool we saw at least 60 Purple Sandpiper, 20 Ringed Plover and 70 odd Sanderling. On the far side of the pool a Kittiwake was showing well.

We then headed over to Mousehole where from Cliff Road we saw many more Kittiwake, numerous auks and at least 6 Great Northern Diver but sadly the Pacific Diver eluded us. 

Sennen was the next stop where at the far west end of the beach coming into the garden of the last house I noted 20 Chough. Not a bad garden tick! On the rocks by the lifeboat station we saw this stunning male Black Redstart.

Black Redstart

The last stop was the Hayle Estuary where 5 Goosander, 200+ Dunlin and an adult Mediterranean Gull were seen. 67 species seen today and I was in bed by 8.30pm!

Essex - 19.1.25

I joined Brendon Fagan on a trip to our neighbouring county to the east with our first stop being Hanningfield Reservoir. This was my first visit to this site and I’m always saying I wish we had a reservoir this big in Herts to try and draw some birds in but having to drive to different parts of it to view might become a drag! Anyway after about 5 minutes I finally picked up the female Velvet Scoter by the tern rafts along with 5 Goosander.

Driving though Goldhangar I noticed a field with a small flock of Curlew in it along with 3 Peahen!

Eventually we arrived at Abberton Reservoir and headed straight to the Layer Breton causeway. From here we saw singles of White-fronted and Pink-footed Goose and just around the corner 2 Cattle Egret. 

From the Layer de la Haye causeway we ticked off 2 Slavonian and 14 Black-necked Grebe and then from other viewpoints around the reservoir I noted 20+ Goosander, 5 Great White Egret, Black-throated Diver, Spoonbill, 3 Scaup, 2 Green Sandpiper, Ruff and a Marsh Harrier.

We finished the day at Copt Hall farm where distantly from the car park I picked out the Great Grey Shrike perched atop the hedgerow.

Up to 130 species for the year.

Local Birding - 12.1.25

I started my day at a frozen Verulamium Park in St.Albans where after a few minutes the Yellow-browed Warbler that’d been present for a week or two flew out of the trees in the island and into the large oak tree where it showed well for a few minutes. It was my 4th in Herts and only my 4th winter record in the UK.

I then wandered up to the cathedral where I spotted one of the Peregrines sat upon the roof. Then it was sitting on a bench looking at a small diamond shaped window near the top of the building above the main entrance. After about 5 minutes the Black Redstart (presumably last years bird) appeared at the wi down and then flew off about 10 seconds later.

I then popped up to College Lake where among other things I noted 8 Red-crested Pochard and a winter plumaged Black-necked Grebe.

I finished the day at Startops/Marsworth where a Great White Egret and female Goosander made the year list.

North Norfolk - 3.1.25

George Moreton asked if I fancied joining him on a day out in north Norfolk so of course I said yes! We set off from his house at 5am with a hard frost covering the cars and surrounding countryside. 

Just before dawn we arrived at Wolferton triangle where in the past was a go to site for Golden Pheasant but sadly they’ve long since disappeared. However on a slow drive around the triangle we had brilliant views of 2 Woodcock on the grass verges.

Old Hunstanton was the next stop but just as we were leaving Heacham I picked up a Barn Owl quartering a field. Upon exiting the car at Hunstanton the cold wind hit and whilst trying to download and sign up to the car parking app my fingertips became so cold I couldn’t feel them! 

Here we went year tick crazy adding waders and gulls and seabirds of varying description but frustratingly not the 2 species we were after. The juvenile Glaucous Gull turned out to be at Thornham Harbour and the 6 Shorelark were seen by another birder while we were there but eluded us.

We popped into Thornham only to find the Glauc had flown off so we headed to Titchwell RSPB where surprisingly the car park was fairly empty for once. 

Escaped Black-winged Stilt

Here we added yet more year ticks including a brief Long-tailed Duck, a very showy Spotted Redshank and a roosting Tawny Owl plus a sadly escapee Black-winged Stilt which had a plastic ring just above its knee. It took me back to when Sammy the stilt graced the same reserve for about 12 years. After a hot chocolate and a lovely pasty we headed over to Holkham.

From a lay-by on the A149 I managed to pick out the top half of a single White-fronted Goose but then the day got all dippy again with no sign of the Long-billed Dowitcher from Lady Ann’s Drive and the Shorelarks in the roped off area had vanished just before we arrived. 

Glossy Ibis

Our final stop of the day was Stiffkey. We parked up along the road to the campsite car park and walked back to view the flood to the south of the road. After a few minutes I finally laid eyes on the Glossy Ibis viewing through the tree branches as it fed with a flock of Wigeon.

We had our fill and headed back to the car. Driving down towards the car park a Cattle Egret flew low west over the car with possibly another heading north.

Over the marshes we waited patiently for our main target and were kept preoccupied with Marsh Harriers and Little Egrets until I picked up a female Hen Harrier over towards East Hills. I then found a Merlin perched up a bit closer and then finally the adult female Pallid Harrier came in and perched up on the bridge.

An excellent day with 91 species seen and should’ve been closer to 100 but many expected species were notable by their absence.

Thanks to George for driving and for use of his 2 photos.

Cassiobury Park - 2.1.25

As my wife was off seeing her best friend I took the kids to Cassiobury Park for a wander. We walked around the nature reserve noting 2 pairs of Mandarin on the river. From the bird hide Coal Tit and 8 Siskin made the list and at the fishing lake 2 Little Grebe were noteworthy. Whilst walking back to the car a Kingfisher perched up over the river. Sadly no sign of the Little Owl in their usual trees.

Back Garden - 1.1.25

New Year’s Day for birders usually means getting out somewhere to get the new year list going and at the end of December a Hertfordshire all day bird competition was created. Sadly a storm hit and apart from Rupert Evershed who bravely went out into the elements the competition was a bit of a damp squib. I continued on with decorating my kitchen and noting birds in and from the garden. 

I finished the day on a whopping 14 species with Jay being the highlight. 

YELLOW WARBLER! - 26.12.24

Yellow Warbler courtesy of Lee Woods

There I was at work on Christmas Eve waiting to go home and start my 12 day relaxing (bar decorating) break when news broke of a Yellow Warbler in Kent! I must have let out a sigh of annoyance as my colleagues said what’s up? I told them and said that’ll be a few Christmas family get togethers ruined! Sadly I couldn’t go Christmas morning as I had to be at my mums early for dinner preparations.

My attempt of the Yellow Warbler

For Boxing Day I’d agreed to go to my in-laws for a buffet type dinner and didn’t have to be there until 3pm so I was up at 5.15am and on the road at 6am. For once a rarity wasn’t 4-5 hours away but only 75 minutes. I arrived in the dark and wandered down to join the throng. Around 8am the bird was spotted briefly but the majority of people missed it. It then started calling but again showed briefly to a few.

My blurry photo of the Yellow Warbler

And that was it as it went quiet. 2 Firecrest and a handful of Chiffchaff were noted to keep us occupied but around 11am people started running down the path. Just as I got the group the bird flew back to where we’d just come from and then after 3 hours of nothing it decided to show off continuously for the next 20 minutes and YELLOW WARBLER was on my list.

This 10th for Britain became my 10th American warbler species in Britain and amazingly my 6th species in the last 26 months! 

A great end of the year.

 

Cassiobury Mega - 11.12.24

Just before going to lunch I spotted 2 geese heading towards me and to my surprise they were Brent Geese! They flew over the bowling green heading SE and became the newest species on the Cassiobury Park/Whippendell Woods list and my 114th species for the park.