randombirder

Another monster late afternoon / evening at Broom having powered through reports and meetings, I headed over to find three arctic tern still present on GLE.  It was an incredible experience watching these polar wanderers fly in close to the viewing screen, against a brisk and biting northeasterly.  It's been a day for them but inland sightings are always special - especially when they turn up locally. This was certainly up there with my best local birding moments. Also present was a stunning summer plumage dunlin , common sandpiper , greenshank , two each of the now resident little ringed plover and oystercatcher and clouds of hirundine and few swift coursing through. A hobby hurtled through on a couple of occasions disturbing everything in its wake - a spectacular sight seeing hirundines swarming and terns charging off in unison.  There was so much activity across this modest sized waterbody. The 2cy common gull was present again along with two little egret , two yellow wagtail

Another eventful day with plenty of hirundines moving through on these relentless northeasterlies with at least 150 sand martin , 25 swallow , four house martin and two  swift feeding over the reserve.   The greenshank remained for its second day as viewed from the car park watchpoint in the company of two little ringed plover , three common snipe , and two oystercatcher . The 2cy common gull was still hunkered down low on the scrape not looking evidently well but may be absolutely fine, where seven yellow wagtail were feeding voraciously.  Two teal  were present in the shallow pools.

Spring is doing its thing at Broom.  Today I made three visits narrowly missing out on finding newly arrived waders but revelling in the influx that we all enjoyed at this modest inland waterbody. Bird of the day was undoubtedly the wood sandpiper that dropped in around lunchtime probably ten minutes after I had left for home after a quick mid-day visit.  It stayed for the rest of the day and was a typically impressive bird, the fifth I've seen here in just under two years.  This was on the back of seeing my first ever Broom greenshank that was tucked away in the bay on the southwest side of GLE.  The two oystercatcher remained. The early visit was rewarded with a first hobby of the year at 6.30am shooting through and disappearing over the ploughed fields to the east.  It was the lunchtime visit where the hirundines were plentiful, around 40 sand martin , a pulse of 30 house martin , and seven swallow and 20 swift flying through. A sedge warbler was singing in the hedgerow b

It was galling having missed out on the birding bonanza yesterday due to prior commitments so today was the hope that I could salvage something - not that it was ever going to top a group of 15 whimbrel settling briefly on GLE. My wader count is not at all shabby for the short time I've been frequenting the site but there's always the hope that the tally will be extended.  A wander all the way around GLE is not something I had done in a while (that may also be prohibited) offers a different perspective on the reserve.  A peregrine flew low appearing to carry prey was the first of the year.   Hirundines once again were present in good numbers with 75 sand martin , 19 house martin , 32 swift and seven swallow dominating the skies particularly on the western side. Totally unexpected, two whimbrel were feeding on the grass bank behind the scrape.  They may have been there all along, but may have totally missed them the first time around. Also present were the two little ringed p

For the first time this year, a subtle change in wind direction to near easterlies and the floodgates opened as many inland sites saw an influx of some our spring specialities most notably little gull with arctic tern, black tern, and waders filling the boots of local patchers. Despite the modest return at Broom, two little gull were present on Peacocks, a glorious adult and a second year bird.  They are always so great to observe and a real spring treat.  A female goosander was also present - a scarce bird here and an oddity for this time of year. Other sightings for the afternoon were two wigeon , two egyptian goose , four oystercatcher , two little ringed plover , 15 common tern , 80 sand martin , and two yellow wagtail . Once again I left my camera SD card at home :-/

Not even sure what I had planned today - just fancied seeing some osprey.  It was my first visit to the Lyndon Visitor Centre at Rutland Water.  The staff were welcoming, helpful and charming.  The sun was blazing, the winds light.  Birds were in song.   Most evident were willow warbler with a least eight singing males within a 1km radius from the vistor centre.  Blackcap were also widespread, at least 15 singing males noted there. The bay was like a millpond.  A walk over to the Makepeace hide for the nesting osprey .  The female protecting three eggs with the male in close attendance.  Then the switch around.  A proper family unit.  The live footage within the hide and visitor centre are testament to the technological investment that the wildlife trust have made to sharing the continuing success of the local osprey population in and around Rutland.  There are now up to 22 birds present in the area with the hope that they will continue their expansion outside of the local environs. T

A proper spring day with plenty on the move.  The obvious highlight being my first Broom bar-tailed godwit that had settled on the scrape beyond the car park watchpoint.  A lovely brick-red plumaged individual that was tempered by the piercing morning sunlight. There was a noticable increase in warblers and a walk along the track to the west of Peacocks down to the the pond produced my first sedge warbler , reed warbler , and common whitethroat of the year.  At least six blackcap were in full song, as were two willow warbler .  A yellow wagtail flew over. On GLE, a two shoveler , four teal , 13 tufted duck , four gadwall and two shelduck made up the remaining wildfowl, while the two little ringed plover were now on territory and 95 black-headed gull was probably the last decent sized group of the season.

It's taken a full 29 years to reach my 400th species as recognised by the british ornithologists' union.   Birding and observations of wildlife is never driven by numbers until you start adding up species lists, whether that be on day-trips, or holidays, or year lists, or local patch lists, or county lists, or country lists, or UK lists.  That's when a hobby can turn into an obsession. I remember the 2nd April 1992, the day I put pen to paper in recording the birds I'd seen.  Stockers Lake in Rickmansworth was where it all began.  I wish I still had those diaries - neatly demarcated with date, location and species.  It was the thrill of seeing birds I had poured over in books that my late dad kept in a small library of an eclectic assemblage of literature.  Probably more out of casual interest than any targeted passion for the world of avifauna. The 3rd of May 1992 and an early visit to Stockers Lake in Hertfordshire was met with excitable local birders dashing around. 

There have been many visits made to Santon Downham to catch up with lesser spotted woodpecker but without any real success.  Motivated by recent sightings, it was wise to keep the faith with this popular Suffolk site.  Visits here rarely disappoint given the selection of typical breckland species that can be found here.   A tree pipit flew across the railway line and landed in a tree by the bridge. A couple of woodlark were flighty by the path leading from the car park. Crossbill were conspicuous amongst the woodland with good numbers flying overhead along with siskin and redpoll .  A goshawk made a brief appearance disappearing over the woodland and out of site. The main draw was the woodpecker - it took a while to catch up with it but with prolonged views of this scarce species feeding within the alders and birch tree on the north of the river.

A really good day out and about heading firstly to Paxton Pits where the smew were still present, two pairs on the pits accessed from Diddington village.  Nice to see two pairs here as they appear to be becoming much more scarce as a wintering species - maybe due to the warmer winters we are now experiencing. Heading north from here, the three glossy ibis were mobile on an small area of nice marshy habitat at Earith that looked ideal for these southern wanderers.  Having only seen three ever before in the UK, this doubled my tally - they do look great in flight. It was then a question of where to go from here.  The Norfolk coast was out of the question - the icy arctic wind would have been amplified further - it wasn't warm out there. So it was onto Fen Drayton in the hope of some summer migrants that had been rather sparse over the last few days - the northly wind not helping their efforts of northward migration of course. There were migrants here though, particularly hirundines

An Arctic blast had enveloped the UK after a brief spell of unseasonal warmth that had momentarily lifted the spirits that summer was on its way.  Not today - it was bloody freezing.  As the horizontal snow came lashing down on the way to the Brecks, it did for a few moments feel like this wasn't going to be a good idea.  It didn't last long though, the sun shone for the majority of the day but the wind was bracing. It was tough going, spending a couple of hours until midday attempting to prize out the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker but without luck.  This species continues to elude me at this site after numerous attempts.  What did abound were crossbill and in good number, with plenty of gaudy males sitting high up in the woodland canopy.  Plenty of siskin were also passing by in decent flocks as were lesser redpoll , with around 25 hanging off the alders.  Six brambling flew over. A couple of woodlark were present alongside the main track as were two marsh tit , calling from th

So like every birder and her/his aunt, I headed to Exmouth to peer over into someone's garden to see the northern mockingbird .  I saw it, I took some crappy video, then I left.  It was very simple. This was #399 for my BOU species list. Think I enjoyed the walk along the coastal at Budleigh Salterton more.