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.

Happy New Year!!

A couple more to add to the Bird Bird Race list, have been fortunate enough to have 6 Yellowhammer frequenting my garden boundary over the Xmas break, always nice to see. I've started my 2014 year list now but this does not affect the Big Bird Race as this does not finish until the end of February 2014. I haven't been out birding yet as I have a week away on a round Britain tour so didn't want to test the patience of the misses, even is she is a saint......!

So only two more to add to the Big Bird Race list but have added a pic of a Meadow Pipit as I quite liked it and it's better than the one I added for the Race.

74. Yellowhammer

75. Collard Dove

Meadow Pipit

Saafend...! 30th November 2013

So, I had a weekend away in Southend and although I knew Southend was a Mecca for Mediterranean Gull, this was not my primary reason for visiting...........

Having been with my girlfriend for a little over 5 years now, I thought it was about time I attempted to make an honest women of her before she decided that I was dragging it out a bit! We went for a long weekend (took Friday and Monday off work), travelled down on the Friday during which I felt rather calm. We stayed at a fabulous B&B which if you visit Southend I HIGHLY recommend, it was Suenos Guesthouse, both Teresa and Neil were extremely nice.  Saturday was the big day and I normally being extremely (some would say over..) confident, I preceded to degrade into an absolute jibbering nervous wreck when it came to the proposal on the pier (I know it doesn't sound romantic but it was on one knee and there's history behind it so say ahhh...) I'm pleased to say she didn't tell me I'd left it too late and we are currently planning our wedding for 2014 = a very happy me... :)

Anyway, this is a birding blog and you are not interested in my soppy goings-on, needless to say I was at the coast so saw a few new species for the year but managed to photograph quite a few for the blog list. I'm sure it goes without saying by now that these photos are your usual amateur 'I'm new to this' type quality.  I'll just list them in order without boring commentary, 1. because you are not interested and 2. because it's late and I'm reasonably merry (#drunk):

 57. Ringed Plover

 

 58. Starling

 

 59. Turnstone

 

59. Turnstone

 

 60. Mediterranean Gull

 

 60. Mediterranean Gull

 

 60. Mediterranean Gull

 

61. Great Black-backed Gull

 

Ok so I lied about the additional commentary, this first group of birds were seen along the Southend seafront with the Mediterranean Gulls seeming to like being in close proximity to the pier, the photo with two in actually had four together on a small wooden frame alongside the pier. The following photos were taken along the seafront at Leigh-on-Sea.

 62. Dark-bellied Brent Goose

 

 62. Dark-bellied Brent Goose

 

 62. Dark-bellied Brent Goose

 

62. Dark-bellied Brent Goose

 

63. Oystercatcher

 

64. Redshank

 

On our last day we couldn't tear ourselves away so we went for a walk around Three Tree NR which is actually more of a dog walking circuit but happens to have a hide overlooking the estuary, these next photos were taken from that hide.

  

 64. Redshank

 

 65. Dunlin

 

 66. Little Egret

 

 67. Avocet

 

 68. Shelduck
 



69. Teal (in the foreground)

 

Actually the Little Egret was also taken at Leigh-on-Sea but I'd numbered it in the wrong order so it's staying there, the next lot were also from the hide.

 

 70. Curlew

 

 70. Curlew

 

 71. Widgeon

 

This last lot were then seen back along the Southend seafront.

 

 72. Sanderling

 

 72. Sanderling

 

 72. Sanderling
 

73. House Sparrow

 

Can't believe I didn't already have House Sparrow, I have a troop of them living in the hedge outside my kitchen window...



A Couple More

Finally managed to take a few additional photos to count towards the Big Bird Race.

First up is a Jay, although a very distant one, taken from my flat in London across the garden on 15th November, I'll hopefully get a better one as it is a frequent visitor, problem is I'm only really home when it's dark at this time of year.

 52. Jay

 

At the weekend we had relatives down from up north, they wanted to see the big bright lights of London Town and to witness the gold paved streets, bless...  Anyway we had a full weekend, a quick hour of which was a dash around half of the Serpentine where I managed to grab a few more photos.

 

 53. Egyptian Goose

 

 54. Herring Gull

 

55. Common Gull

 

Today (27th November) I had to travel for work, on the way back and knowing the misses was going to be Xmas shopping till late I check tinterweb to see if I would be passing any nature reserves. I was astonished to find that RSPB Fairburn Ings was only 20 minutes from my location so I thought I'd pop in for a quick hour (wish I'd had a long hour, the quick ones whizz past). There wasn't a great deal to see as it was already getting dark but a rare treat for me was the mass of Tree Sparrows, I haven't seen Tree Sparrows for years, probably 15! Certainly not in the last three years that I've been keeping year lists anyway. Here is a sample of them, beautiful little things:

 

56. Tree Sparrow

 

 Tree Sparrow

 

 Tree Sparrow (Ringed)

 







Tree Sparrow