Cassiobury Park - 13.9.11

Only 11 RN Parakeets today but a couple of other goodies were to be had with probably only the 2nd record of Grey Wagtail this year and 7 Meadow Pipits that flew South which were the first for the Autumn. 2 Chiffchaffs were still around with one singing briefly again. A Single Swallow zoomed past the car park just before lunch.

Cassiobury Park - 12.9.11

With the remains of ex-Hurricane Katia blowing through the country it was a pretty windy day in the park. The main highlight (if you can call it that) was the total of 40 RN Parakeets that all flew in from the South or South-East including a group of 17 birds. 13 Swallows flew through, at least 6 juv Woodpigeons were seen with over 20 adults and a flock of Long-Tailed Tits totalling around 45 birds were in with a mobile tit flock.

This evening I thought i'd try my luck at finding a wind blown strafe at Hilfield Reservoir but as expected there were no Grey Phalarope or Sabine's Gull. A Common Sandpiper, c.40 Yellowhammers and around 50 Sand Martins were as good as it got!

Happy Birthday Dear Pager!! - 9.9.11

10 years ago today my new RBA pager popped through the letterbox and so began my twitching days! When I recieved it i'd seen 243 species in the UK. Within a week i'd added Red-Necked Stint and American Green Heron! After 10 years of ownership i'm now on 428 (UK400 rules). So thats 185 new species seen in the last 10 years! I dread to think how many miles i've travelled and how much i've spent on fuel but hey ho it's been fun! Just hope I live long enough to reach 500, though if I try to average a new species every month i'll do it in 6 years! I'll be lucky in the next 25 years!

Birdwise today in Cassiobury Park saw 2 juv Pied Wagtails enjoying the paddling pools, 2 late House Martins and a Kingfisher was heard near the waterfall.

22 Years - 7.9.11

A very quiet day in the park with only a group of 5 RN Parakeets as anything of note. Later in the day as there was no food in the house instead of going shopping we decided to go fill the car up with fuel and get a McDonald's! I was just about to open the door when my phone started ringing. It was Joan Thompson and when she phones it's usually because she's heard of a good bird! It was a good bird and it was at Wilstone Reservoir, Tring. Trouble was I still had to go fill up the car and get dinner and it was 6.45pm and sunset was in 50 minutes! A run of good traffic meant I arrived about 7.10pm and parked up at cemetary corner and had around 50 House Martins overhead while I walked to the jetty where I found Joan, Steve Rodwell, Mike Campbell and a couple of others looking out onto the spit of mud from the jetty. There on the left hand side with c.10 Ringed Plovers (including my first ever tundrae race birds) was a Pectoral Sandpiper. This is the first record in Herts since 1989 (22 years). I actually saw that bird which was on Startops End Reservoir during a Y.O.C outing! I watched it until 7.50pm when it was almost dark and it had started to rain. But before I left I counted the Little Egrets that were roosting in trees on Drayton bank and counted 22 birds. My highest Herts count.

The Bumbling Bears

There is a new addition to my (Site I Visit/Link) section. Its to a site that has been produced by The Rugby Lads or as I know them Pete, Jon and Dave Hall. They added my blog to their site ages ago but due to my failing memory I forgot to add them to mine until now (after an email from Pete!!) Sorry lads! So go visit their site and see their excellent photos. Please!

Back To Work - 5.9.11

It was back to Cassiobury Park again this morning and it started off pretty good with a Hobby zooming over the yard in pursuit of 3 RN Parakeets! A bit later on a charm of 27 Goldfinch flew over the paddling pools and a couple of Chiffchaffs were still present. But after that it turned very quiet.

Not A Lot - 3.9.11

Either 1 or the same Sparrowhawk flew over the caravan whilst at Waxham the few hirundines that were flying over the dunes were having a rough time with a Sparrowhawk and 2 Hobbies chasing them! 20+ Sandwich Terns were over the sea.

Back To Norfolk - 2.9.11

I went back up to Norfolk this time with my boy so he could see his grandad again. We popped over to Winterton Dunes in the hope of seeing the juv Red-Backed Shrike but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack! A Linnet and Yellow Wagtail were seen in the dunes whilst 3 Bar-Tailed Godwits and a few Sandwich Terns were seen from a brief seawatch. Back at the caravan 2 Cormorants and a Hobby flew over.

Hilfield Reservoir - 30.8.11

36 today and I wake up feeling like i've been run over (and not due to booze!). To escape the whinging baby I went to Hilfield Res for a wander round. On arrival at the car park a Chiffchaff called (1 of at least a dozen), a Jay flew over and a Buzzard was harrassed by either a Kestrel or Hobby but my bins were still in the boot so i'll never know! From the base of the steps I noticed a small bird perched on top of one of the life rings so through my scope I saw it was a female Wheatear. Just as I was about to endure the steps Steve Murray arrived and so we both went up and scanned the res together. After nothing much of note on the water I said my farewells only to be stopped in my tracks by a stunning Fox in the corner of the car park. I got Steve onto it and whilst watching it I suddenly heard the call of a Ringed Plover! Sure enough I turned round to see it fly in from the North and nearly crash into Steve's head! It eventually landed on the dam and was ID'd as a juv and was apparently the first record for the year. The walk round saw a Sparrowhawk fly by, still 7 Swifts, 35 House Martins and 18 Swallows. 3 Yellow Wags flew NE over the dam and a Little Owl was sat on a post in the paddocks behind the viewpoint. Just as I was walking past the North pines a huge flock of gulls arrived from the NW and landed on the water. I scanned through them and rough counts were 600 Black-Headed Gulls, 150 Lesser Black-Backed Gulls and 50 Herring Gulls. Back in the car park and 3 Greenfinches were atop of one of the trees.

The Journey Home - 29.8.11

We weren't supposed to be coming home until the Tuesday but Barbara's grand-daughter (Smelly, my name for her!) had been rushed to hospital back home with an asthma attack. So we packed up and left this morning and headed home but news coming through was that she was ok just a little chesty and that she'd probably be staying overnight so no need to speed home. So with that good news we stopped off for a quick burger at McDonalds and a quick 5-10 minutes at Deadman's Hill at Sandon. 2 Red Kites were hunting over a ploughed field just outside the county boundary at Chrishall in Cambs whilst a quick scan of the fields at Sandon saw a covey of 9 Grey Partridge and 52 Stock Dove in the adjacent fields.

UPDATE - As I was packing the car this morning back up in Hemsby I heard an unfamiliar call so unfamiliar that I couldn't even put it to species!! It was a dysillabic call similar to Pied Wagtail but deeper and harsher. I desperately looked for what was making the call when suddenly 2 terns flew NE over the caravan site. I know the calls of the usual terns that i'd expect to see/hear around there (Little, Common, Sandwich and even Arctic) but it wasn't a call i'd put to any of them. So just now i've been checking out tern calls on xeno-canto (a great online bird call library) and the only one I can find that matches the call I heard was that of Roseate Tern!! I certainly wasn't expecting that this morning!! Only my 2nd and 3rd in the UK.