A NEW YEAR SELECTION


 It's been a while since I've posted on here...about six months!, for no good reason apart from a large dose of lethargy on my part. So, I thought I'd better make the effort and start off the new year with a selection of images taken over the last month.

We've had a few crisp, bright and frosty days over the last few weeks and most of the local water bodies have had large amounts of ice on them, concentrating the wildfowl into smaller areas than normal...making life a little easier for the photographer...!


Gadwall taking flight...

Tufted Duck fly over...

 
 A pretty in pink Mr. Wigeon...

 There's quiet a few Goosander being reported in the area at the moment...

Still finding it difficult getting the contrast right between the iridescent green head and the subtle salmon pink tinged body of the male!

Plenty of 'winter' thrushes about at the moment too...

Fieldfare

Redwing

A male Reed Bunting... 

And in plain view, instead of using it's camouflage to 'hide' in the undergrowth, a fly over Snipe...

And my 'bestest' little birds of the year..so far!..a very showy pair of Stonechats...

 Female

Male

That's it...thanks for looking.

 

A DISTANT DUCK, AERIAL COMBAT AND A BIG FAT DIP

Yesterday I arranged to meet Keith, at silly o'clock (it was still dark!), in the car park at Wilstone, one of our local reservoirs.

Our quest? to see if we could locate the American vagrant that had been giving good sightings over the last few days...A female Ring-Necked Duck (aythya collaris)    Did we see it?  Eventually yes...sort of, but not until a grown up birder with a big spotting scope had pointed it out to us, it was quite distant!

In case you don't know what a Ring-Necked Duck looks like, here's a picture of it!

After the excitement of seeing 'the duck' we set off to walk around the rest of the reservoir.  After walking for about fifteen minutes it suddenly hit me that I no longer had the back pack, containing the wide angle and macro lenses that I usually carry around with me!  A quick rewind and I came to the conclusion that I'd left it in the bird hide, unloading my camera and bins onto Keith I set off to hopefully retrieve my belongings. Now, have you seen that funny walk  people do when they're in a hurry? .....two or three quick steps followed by a funny sort of  straight legged jogging then a few more quick steps, add in some muddy tracks and grassy banks...get the picture? I even passed two lycra clad young ladies that were out jogging/ walking their dogs (okay...okay...they'd stopped for a chinwag)  back at the deserted hide, there was my bag, exactly where I'd left it.  I shouldn't have worried, it was still early and any sensible birders were still in bed!!

It was a rather slower walk that I took to catch  back up with Keith!...the rest of our journey around the reservoir was rather less eventful, save for a quick glimpse or a long staying Water Pipit and a close flyby of some Greylag Geese that were returning to the water after feeding out in the nearby fields.

Our next stop was College Lake, just a few minute's drive away, where we were hoping to see the (three?) Jack Snipe that had been reported as showing well the previous evening. As we walked the circuit of the lake we stopped off at the various hides...no Jack Snipe to be seen though!

There were quite a few Common Darter dragonflies about along the footpaths, this female decided to have a little game of hide-and-seek with me.

At one end of the lake there is a large area covered in rough grass and small trees/shrubs and it's always a good spot for seeing Kestrels, Red Kites and Buzzards. It wasn't long before we were treated to a graceful/lazy flyover by this Buzzard.

Soon we heard the angry  kaar, kaar call of a Rook, it didn't take long to spot what all the noise was about, up in the sky above and, slowly drifting towards us, was a female Kestrel being harried by a rather persistent  Rook.

This went on above our heads for quite a while before the Kestrel  decided she had had enough and made a graceful exit.

There was one final hide to visit in the hope of seeing those Jack Snipe, although we did managed to spot four or five Snipe none of them were Jack Snipe. In other words we'd experienced what grown up birders call a 'dip' (or they've dipped) when time is spent looking unsuccessfully for their target bird.     And we'd just dipped...a big fat dip!!

A MEGA DAY OUT - PART TWO...AGAIN!

 

Part Two of a day out with Keith where we visited RSPB Framton Marsh in Lincolnshire and RSPB Titchwell in Norfolk.

After an excellent three hours or so at Frampton, and the obligatory cup of coffee, it was time to move on to our next destination...the magnificent  RSPB reserve at  Titchwell.

Thanks to excellent chauffeuring by Keith,  53 miles and 1 3/4 hours later we arrived in the rather busy (it usually is!) Titchwell car park.

A short walk to the visitor centre shop to check the sightings board to see what was about and  as is normal when you're in a crowded area I kept hearing snippets of conversations and the two words that kept being mentioned were Barn Owl!  Anyway, on through the shop and back outside to check to see what birds were coming to the feeding station (not many as it happens!) and there it was again!... someone mentioned Barn Owl  "just there,  sitting on a fence post"  No! it couldn't be, it's one o'clock in the afternoon Barn Owls don't come out at this time of day?... Oh yes they do!...a quick walk, of the twenty or so yards, in the direction of the pointing fingers and we were just in time to see a beautiful Barn Owl lift off from the fence post and give us a short fly by before disappearing behind the trees and out of sight!...a truly wonderful few minutes, and just to add to the moment, a guy standing close by then called out Stonechat! and, sure enough, we were all soon watching a (distant) pair of Stonechats as they kept flitting from the ground up into some bramble bushes...and in the far distance a Hen Harrier was hunting over the reed beds.... the day just got a whole lot better!

Barn Owl

We decided to forgo visiting the hides for the time being and instead to make our way along the main path that leads to the beach.

As always, the path was rather busy.

There were lots of other birds and waterfowl around and we were soon able to see, amongst the usual candidates Shelduck, Avocet, Shoveler,  a single  Greenshank and lots of Curlew and Redshank.

Curlew

The next big surprise was seeing the large flock of Golden Plover (circa 4000 according to the sightings board!) resting on the islands in front of the main hide and what a beautiful sight as they intermittently took to the air and sparkled and glittered in the sunlight just like golden confetti.

Just a small fraction of the Golden Plover in front of the Parrinder Hide

On past the hide and onto the next lagoon where a group of Teal were busy dabling on the shallow water.

Teal (male)

And further along, another big surprise.. a beautiful pair of Pintail were 'showing' right up close to the path seemingly unconcerned by the amount of people passing by just a few feet away!

A stunning male Pintail

And a Black Headed Gull saying "I may not be as beautiful as a Pintail but look, I can jump on water"

Out onto the beach now and for once the wind wasn't blowing a gale, and we weren't getting sandblasted, as is normally the case here!

The clubhouse for the Royal West Norfolk Golf Club across the water at Brancaster

Here we saw Oystercatcher, Turnstone and Sanderling 'working' the strand line looking for  something nice to eat.

Oystercatcher

Turnstone

This 'friendly' Black Headed Gull followed us along the beach and was never more than a couple of yards away.

On the way back to the hides we had a fleeting glimpse of a Water Rail as it quickly disapeared back into the undergrowth  and eagle eyed Keith did it again and spotted a couple of Snipe on the edge of a distant island ( he's got a knack when it comes to spotting Snipe!!)

Even I could see this one as it posed right in front of the hide window!

Keith also located a flock of Twite as they flew across the water to a far bank.

We were into the late afternoon now and the sun was beginning to set and it was time to make our way back to the car for a final cup of coffee and the long journey home.

It was a very successful and enjoyable day with 41 different species seen here, making a grand total of 57 different species for the day with 25 of them being new year ticks, and one a life tick (the Twite), and also add onto that sightings of Rabbit, Brown Hare and Muntjac Deer and it was truly...A Mega Day Out.