Round Britain Tour - Day 4

Absolutely no photos today as the light was horrendous and everything we saw was at great distance.

We started today at Sopley Mill again for the Green-winged Teal as we were passing through however it was not to be found. As we were about to leave we got chatting with a local from whom we discovered that we were in the wrong place. Back into the car and a dash to the other side of the village to check some flooded fields. It took us a while but we eventually found the Green-winged Teal who was displaying.

It was then across to Kingfisher Lake for a reported Ferruginous Duck but the lake is fenced up like Fort Knox so that was the first dip of the day. We checked back in at the Ivy North hide for the Bittern. the hide was packed and the windows were steamed up as they don't open!! We managed to get some obscured views as he skulked around the reeds, we also re-located the Mealy Redpoll which was a bonus.

We thought we'd try the New Forest again for the Great Grey Shrike and spent what felt like half the day walking around the New Forest for no reward. We then tried Ibsley Common as another was reported there but don't think this is going to be a bird we are going to see, we did get a fly past Peregrine Falcon though.

Next stop was Poole Harbour and Sandbanks for Surf Scoter and Red-necked Grebe and you guessed it - we dipped both so that's Ferruginous Duck, Great Grey Shrike, Red-necked Grebe and Surf Scoter all dipped, a bonuses were Slavonian Grebe, Black-necked Grebe, Great Northern Diver and Mediterranean Gull whilst looking for the Red-necked.

With the light fading we thought we could possibly squeeze one more in so headed for the 2 Common Crane, not that we had much confidence of success based on our run of dips..... We arrived on site but couldn't see anything, as we were about to give up I questioned an odd goose like honk, next thing we knew there was 2 Common Cranes flying across in the distance. The race was then on to get some half decent views before the light disappeared completely. We located them in the river valley in a field with 2 Grey Heron and 11 Little Egret....!! After all those dips, the Common Crane certainly made up for it and was my only lifer of the day.

I saw a total of 64 species today of which 1 was a lifer and I am now up to 122 species for the trip:

1. Treecreeper
2. Grey Wagtail
3. Pied Wagtail
4. Robin
5. Song Thrush
6. Blackbird
7. Woodpigeon
8. Rook
9. Mallard
10. Pintail
11. Gadwall
12. Teal
13. Mute Swan
14. Starling
15. Blue Tit
16. Great Tit
17. Greylag Goose
18. Jackdaw
19. Lapwing
20. Moorhen
21. Buzzard
22. Green-winged Teal
23. Little Egret
24. Chaffinch
25. Black-headed Gull
26. Pheasant
27. Dunnock
28. House Sparrow
29. Great Crested Grebe
30. Goosander
31. Green Woodpecker
32. Coot
33. Pochard
34. Widgeon
35. Goldfinch
36. Canada Goose
37. Egyptian Goose
38. Long-tailed Tit
39. Collard Dove
40. Mistle Thrush
41. Siskin
42. Lesser Redpoll
43. Mealy Redpoll
44. Greenfinch
45. Bittern
46. Jay
47. Stonechat
48. Raven
49. Meadow Pipit
50. Peregrine Falcon
51. Shag
52. Red-breasted Merganser
53. Shelduck
54. Great Black-backed Gull
55. Herring Gull
56. Magpie
57. Dark-bellied Brent Goose
58. Slavonian Grebe
59. Great Northern Diver
60. Goldeneye
61. Common Gull
62. Black-necked Grebe
63. Mediterranean Gull
64. Common Crane

Round Britain Tour - Day 3

Headed down to Haslar Creek this morning for the annually returning Ring-billed Gull which showed very well, I took a vast amount of photos however only a few came out distinguishable. I've really struggled to take photos today, everything has been coming out blurred, the light has been terrible.

87. Ring-billed Gull

87. Ring-billed Gull

87. Ring-billed Gull

From there we headed to Sopley Mill to look for the Green-winged Teal, the fields were completely flooded and it was extremely difficult to find any birds so we dipped the Green-winged Teal.

 

Next on the agenda was Lepe Country Park for the Lesser Yellowlegs which was found rather easily but again it I didn't manage any acceptable photos, it was quite a distance though. Also saw a nice Great Northern Diver, Red-breasted Merganser and Common Guillemot.

 

88. Lesser Yellowlegs

 

We made a quick trip to New Forest to scan for the Great Grey Shrike but it was nowhere to be seen, it's been reported on and off but I suppose it's rather mobile so we notched up dip number 2. We did find Stonechat, Coal Tit and as a bonus, 4 Dartford Warblers.

 

Across to Blashford Lakes next for the Black-necked Grebe of which there were 2, we also connected with Egyptian Goose. We tried the Ivy North hide for the Bittern but dipped on that too, we did add Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and 2 x Mealy Redpoll.

 

89. Mealy Redpoll

89. Mealy Redpoll (right)

 

News broke of a Long-billed Dowitcher on Pennington Marshes so we dashed over in the fading light. We arrived on sight to be greeted by a birder who was leaving, he provided some instructions as to it's location but these proved difficult to follow. We did eventually manage to find him and although we had great views through the telescope, the light was all but gone for any photo.

 

90. Long-billed Dowitcher

 

Even with the dips I managed my best day yet with 75 species in total inclusive of 3 lifers, the trip total now stands at 112 with 17 species added today:

 

1. Carrion Crow

2. Starling

3. Black-headed Gull

4. Common Gull

5. Ring-billed Gull

6. Mute Swan

7. Dark-bellied Brent Goose

8. Little Egret

9. Oystercatcher

10. Little Grebe

11. Red-breasted Merganser

12. Grey Heron

13. Redshank

14. Woodpigeon

15. House Sparrow

16. Magpie

17. Blackbird

18. Collard Dove

19. Herring Gull

20. Mallard

21. Common Sandpiper

22. Coot

23. Mistle Thrush

24. Rook

25. Jackdaw

26. Pheasant

27. Greenfinch

28. Chaffinch

29. Great Northern Diver

30. Cormorant

31. Teal

32. Turnstone

33. Dunnock

34. Robin

35. Meadow Pipit

36. Pied Wagtail

37. Song Thrush

38. Moorhen

39. Shelduck

40. Curlew

41. Great Tit

42. Dunlin

43. Lapwing

44. Red-legged Partridge

45. Lesser Yellowlegs

46. Common Guillemot

47. Kestrel

48. Stonechat

49. Blue Tit

50. Coal Tit

51. Dartford Warbler

52. Buzzard

53. Greylag Goose

54. Goosander

55. Pintail

56. Widgeon

57. Pochard

58. Goldeneye

59. Gadwall

60. Tufted Duck

61. Egyptian Goose

62. Black-necked Grebe

63. Nuthatch

64. Goldfinch

65. Siskin

66. Lesser Redpoll

67. Mealy Redpoll

68. Great-spotted Woodpecker

69. Great White Egret

70. Goldcrest

71. Wren

72. Snipe

73. Grey Plover

74. Long-billed Dowitcher

75. Canada Goose

Round Britian Tour - Day 2

Day 2 was an early start, first on the agenda was Jack Snipe at New Haven Tide Mill, we arrived on site to a rather chilly morning but soon located a total of 4 Jack Snipe. We received a tip from others on site that 2 Black Redstart we about however we were unable to locate them which was a shame as this was probably our best chance of the trip. I took some photos of Pied Wagtails as I don't yet have one for the Big Bird Race.

Next stop was Newick Sewage Farm for the lingering Swallow, it had been reported as still on-site at 09:00 but was nowhere to be seen when we arrived on site at 10:30 (Dip No:2). I did manage a few shots of Pied Wagtails as there were about 30 in the filter beds along with a single Grey Wagtail.

84. Pied Wagtail

19. Grey Wagtail

Next target were the flock of Parrot Crossbills at Old Lodge. There was a small contingent of birders waiting for them to turn up, which had been at 13:30 yesterday, it was only 11:30 so we were in for a wait. To keep us entertained, 4 Woodlarks decided to show extremely well singing and siting on the power lines in the sun, one of the Woodlarks had a moment displaying. We also had a lovely fly past Woodcock and a pair of displaying Ravens. Unfortunately the Parrot Crossbills never showed (Dip No:3) so we decided to move on for the juvenile Glaucous Gull in Shoreham which had been showing on and off all morning.

85. Woodlark

85. Woodlark

85. Woodlark

85. Woodlark

We arrived to a bright but cold Shoreham but the Glaucous hadn't been seen since late morning so there we had Dip No:4.....Not a good day, well it was good with Woodlark and Woodcock but none of the target species.

We headed to Pagham Harbour next as the last site of the day where Ruddy Shelduck was the target, Lee assumed we'd have dip number 5 to which I said it's fine because we'll pick up Glaucous Gull... We arrived to see a birder studying a hedge, he'd apparently had Firecrest, we didn't stop but continued down to the shore stopping to chat to another birder who informed us that Lee indeed was correct, no Ruddy Shelduck (Dip No: 5) however he also informed us that I too was correct, there was a Glaucous Gull in the harbour. This Glaucous Gull was a stunning adult sat on top of a mound standing out from all the other gulls. It was too far away for photos but I managed to somehow lean my camera on the telescope to capture this shot showing (very blurred) the white wing tips.

86. Glaucous Gull

The group recorded 85 species today, of which I saw 69 including 1 lifer, total for the trip so far is 95:

1. Carrion Crow
2. Jackdaw
3. Blackbird
4. Pheasant
5. Collard Dove
6. Rook
7. Mallard
8. Moorhen
9. Woodpigeon
10. Black-headed Gull
11. Herring Gull
12. Lesser Black-backed Gull
13. Starling
14. Magpie
15. Skylark
16. Meadow Pipit
17. Song Thrush
18. Jack Snipe
19. Greenfinch
20. Goldfinch
21. Chaffinch
22. Linnet
23. House Sparrow
24. Grey Heron
25. Pied Wagtail
26. Robin
27. Dunnock
28. Redshank
29. Kestrel
30. Buzzard
31. Blue Tit
32. Raven
33. Grey Wagtail
34. Chiffchaff
35. Yellowhammer
36. Woodlark
37. Woodcock
38. Stonechat
39. Redwing
40. Coal Tit
41. Great Spotted Woodpecker
42. Red-breasted Merganser
43. Pintail
44. Glaucous Gull
45. Mediterranean Gull
46. Shelduck
47. Mistle Thrush
48. Teal
49. Oystercatcher
50. Bar-tailed Godwit
51. Grey Plover
52. Ringed Plover
53. Common Gull
54. Great Black-backed Gull
55. Black-tailed Godwit
56. Dark-bellied Brent Goose
57. Little Egret
58. Coot
59. Goldcrest
60. Great Tit
61. Curlew
62. Dunlin
63. Widgeon
64. Little Grebe
65. Great Crested Grebe
66. Tufted Duck
67. Mute Swan
68. Cormorant
69. Lapwing

Round Britain Tour - Day 1

So today was day 1 of my 40th birthday treat which is a place on Lee Evans 'Round Britain Tour' which attempts to take in as many species as possible. Today was a 06:00 start which meant a 04:30 alarm call - ouch..... Since I don't like to do things by half, the misses and I went out the night before for Tapas and Cocktails then stayed up until 02:30 watching films so I was good to go at 04:30.....Not.

I met Lee and the rest of the group, only 4 of us on this one, we set off immediately to Ramsgate Cemetery for the Hume's Leaf Warbler which we successfully found. We only saw a few birds on the car journey down, the Hume's Leaf Warbler was the 8th bird of the 9 day trip and is a lifer for me so I was very happy. It was very difficult to photograph high in the trees against a very grey morning, oh - and it doesn't stay still for a second, these are the best I could manage.

79. Hume's Leaf Warbler

79. Hume's Leaf Warbler

A few more birds were seen around the cemetery but from there we head down to Folkstone where the cliffs are home to Northern Fulmars, some of which appeared to be contemplating nesting! Yet another difficult bird to photograph; white bird against light sky (I've got plenty of excuses for my amateur photography).

80. Northern Fulmar

80. Northern Fulmar



I think we headed to Romney Marsh from here but I can't remember as we visited so many sites..
We were looking for Glossy Ibis at Romney which again we were successful with, these are a UK tick for me. There were 2 showing very well and we managed some great views of them flying round as something put them up.

81. Glossy Ibis

A bonus bird was a pair of European Stonechats which I already have for the Big Bird Race, still a handsome bird though.

50. European Stonechat

Next stop Hythe for Lee's guaranteed spot for Purple Sandpiper which was awesome for me with Purple Sandpiper being a lifer and a blocker which I continue to fail locating. When we arrived, Lee turned pessimistic as the tide was high covering the groynes on which they hang out, typical I thought. We walked over to the beach where I felt a wave of hope at the sight of 3 small waders which turned out to be Turnstone.

Turnstone

Dejection didn't last too long as hidden being the breaker were 3 more small waders which became my first Purple Sandpipers, they were so obliging that I managed to obtain quite a few photos, these are my favourites.

82. Purple Sandpiper

82. Purple Sandpiper

82. Purple Sandpiper

82. Purple Sandpiper

We then went to RSPB Dungeness where we saw 4 Great White Egret, 2 Black-throated Divers (another lifer) and Smew. Unfortunately I didn't manage any photos of the Black-throated Diver but did manage one of my forth lifer of the day - a cracking adult Caspian Gull.

83. Caspian Gull

We stopped at a few places between those mentioned, predominantly Pegwell and Sandwich Bays. The total for the day was 78 species of which I personally saw 63 listed below, of which 4 were lifers with an extra being a UK first:

1. Rook
2. Carrion Crow
3. Magpie
4. Wood Pigeon
5. Collard Dove
6. Starling
7. Hume's Leaf Warbler - Lifer
8. Great Tit
9. Blue Tit
10. Goldcrest
11. Glossy Ibis - UK First
12. Teal
13. Widgeon
14. Mallard
15. Gadwall
16. Coot
17. Bewick's Swan
18. Mute Swan
19. House Sparrow
20. Reed Bunting
21. Chaffinch
22. Great White Egret
23. Canada Goose
24. Greylag Goose
25. Smew
26. Goldeneye
27. Little Egret
28. Black-throated Diver - Lifer
29. Purple Sandpiper - Lifer
30. Turnstone
31. Marsh Harrier
32. Kestrel
33. Buzzard
34. Great Crested Grebe
35. Northern Fulmar
36. Gannet
37. Cormorant
38. Little Gull
39. Oystercatcher
40. Curlew
41. Red Knot
42. Golden Plover
43. Bar-tailed Godwit
44. Pheasant
45. Shelduck
46. Caspian Gull - Lifer
47. Stonechat
48. Corn Bunting
49. Goldfinch
50. Jackdaw
51. Pied Wagtail
52. Tufted Duck
53. Shovelar
54. Spoonbill
55. Common Gull
56. Black-headed Gull
57. Herring Gull
58. Lesser Black-backed Gull
59. Great Black-backed Gull
60. Pochard
61. Lapwing
62. Redshank
63. Ring-necked Parakeet

Forest of Dean

Had a few hours to kill today so made a trip to the Forest of Dean for the Two-barred Crossbills that have been showing extremely well of late. They had been reported around Crabtree Hill just down from Speech House and a blog I read yesterday gave Ordnance Survey grid references. I parked up in the Speech House car park and took a walk to said grid reference but was unable to locate any Crossbills by sight or sound. I did however manage Nuthatch, Treecreeper, Goldcrest, Coal Tit, Stock Dove and Marsh Tit for the year list, Goldcrest and Marsh Tit are also Bird Race ticks. Them Goldcrests are difficult to photograph, I had to put the camera onto manual and rattled off a fair few shots of which this is the best one!

76. Goldcrest

 

Thought I'd add this Treecreeper as it's marginally better than my one from previously on my blog.



I was on my way back to the car when I stopped to watch some Nuthatch's chasing each other around the canopy, when a tit flock came through which contained a few Marsh Tit, again not the best clarity as I was on manual trying to keep up with them. I've just realised that I also need Nuthatch for the Bird Race list but don't think I got any shots other that silhouettes of them.

77. Marsh Tit

77. Marsh Tit

 

I thought I'd add this one to today's blog as I was reasonably pleased with it, seems that Robins are the only birds I can satisfactorily take photos of.

Robin

 



After my abysmal failure at locating the TBC's I decided to head down to Parkend as Hawfinch's had be reported around the grassy area along the side of the cricket pitch. I spent about half an hour searching and only managed to find 2 Robins and a flock of Greenfinch. I decided to give it up and started to head towards the car when I heard high pitched squeaking, on looking up I saw a flock of finches fly over my head and across to the top of some tall trees. I stopped for a look and was rewarded with not 1 Hawfinch but 8! I've taken a few shots but they were at a distance, high up and with a grey back drop, you can just about make them out as Hawfinches from their shape and pattern.

 78. Hawfinch

 



78. Hawfinch





So even though I didn't catch up with the TBC, or even Common Crossbills actually, I still had an enjoyable couple of hours as this was only the second time I've seen Hawfinches.