Dante and I were both up before dawn on Tuesday and we had left the campsite by 07:15 with our supplies for the day including the necessary flask with warm Chicken soup for lunch. It was a lovely crisp clear morning and as we headed down the path towards the triangle I picked up the first Short-eared Owl of the day hunting silently over the farmland. This was an awesome sight and to be honest it was barely visible in the dull pre-dawn light! What was noticeable was the massive invasion of Thrushes over night with the place full of Blackbirds and Redwings. They were quite tame as they were busy refueling after their journey across the North Sea. It looked as though there had also been a fall of Wrens, Robins and Dunnocks overnight with nearly every bush holding at least one of these birds. Grey Plover and Curlew were vocal from the salt marsh next to us and as the sun appeared on the horizon it gave us a false sense of what the day was to bring. Brent Geese were also on the mud flats with at least 91 counted. When we reached the end of the canal a Water Rail flew up out of the reeds while 2 others stayed hidden in the rails calling. The Water Rail did however flush a Kingfisher out of the reed beds and it called rather angrily as it flew out of the bed and headed down towards the Breach, which is where we headed. There was a bitter cross wind when we were crossing the Breach, but the scenery was amazing and kept us going. We were also spurred on by the fact that the tide was on the rise and if it was high enough it could cut us off and therefore we need to be quick! Once we arrived at the other side of the Breach we split up to search through the undergrowth to see what we could find! Most of what we found involved yet more Redwings and Blackbirds, but with the odd Fieldfare mixed in as well! Most of the interesting birds were either migrating overhead or over the North Sea. Our vis mig totals were quickly adding up and by the end of the day we had recorded 80 Meadow Pipit S, 27 Siskin S, 48 Linnet S, and finally 20 Lesser Redpoll S. We also had a total of 85 Wigeon S along with 5 Teal over the North Sea. The weather however started to turn against us and in the end we decided to head for the High Tide Wader Roost Hide at Chalk Bank. Unsurprisingly it was busy here with Waders as it was high tide and since it was raining we decided to count everything. We spent around an hour and a half in the hide whilst the monsoonal rains lashed against the hide soaking everything on the outside. The Wader Roost numbered 417 Oystercatchers, 160 Dunlin, 6 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Little Egret, an unseasonable Avocet, 70 Turnstone doing what they do best, 14 Redshank, 5 Sanderling, and 12 Ringed Plover. There was also quite a bit of movement about including 13 Lapwing heading South, 4 Common Scoter heading South, and also 2 Cormorant heading North past the hide during the worst of the weather. The best sighting was probably the rather wet Merlin that I picked up sitting on a post to the left hand side of the hide. He was rather bedraggled due to the rain and eventually flew up and sat on the deck right in front of the hide, before eventually being scared off by a crow. Once he had moved on a pair of Stonechat came out of the cover and started to feed on the insects in front of the hide as the rain started to subside! Above: Little Egret, Oystercatchers, Turnstones Below: Oystercatcher, Turnstones, Dunlin Above: Oystercatchers, Avocet, Dunlin, Turnstone Below: Turnstones Above and Below: Dunlin and a Turnstone Above: Grey Plover, Dunlin, Oystercatcher Below: Ringed Plover Above: Turnstone Below: Curlew and Dunlin Above: Stonechat Below: Little Egret, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Turnstone Above and Below: Sanderling Above and Below: Oystercatcher, Cormorant, Turnstone Above: Turnstone and Ringed Plover Below: Merlin It was now about 10am and the rain had died down quite a lot and so therefore we decided to set off and out into the elements once more. However just as we were doing so a group of Brent Geese came down to rest on the ever expanding Mudflats! Above: Brent Geese Below: Oystercatcher and Cormorant Above: Brent Geese with Oystercatcher, Dunlin, and Turnstone And so finally we left the hide to gloomy skies and flooded roads. We split up yet again to check to see if the rain had dropped anything in and for a change it was me hitting the jackpot. I came up to a bush that I could see lots of movement in and stopped short of it. Eventually up came a male Blackcap. It must have given the all clear signal as it flew to cover on the other side of the path as 3 females and 4 more males came out of the bottom of the bush where they had obviously been sheltering from the wind and rain. Once they had cleared the bush I could still see something moving, and some patience was rewarded with a Reed Bunting! Above: Reed Bunting We then continued into potato fields where the first Woodcock of the trip was seen as it flew out of the long grass ahead of us and flew towards the point. The poor conditions had obviously sent the next bird a bit wayward as a Juv Gannet flew overhead coming from a long way into the Humber and heading out to sea. 2 Curlew were also performing well down on the beach below and called noisily to warn others of our presence, and so we backed off rather cautiously. Above: Curlew Once we were back on the main track we located some resourceful Linnets that were using the large puddles in the path as a place to bathe and drink. Above and Below: Linnets We hadn't gone very far before an explosion of noise had us looking to the sky as a flock of at least 100 Thrushes moved through above us featuring Blackbirds, Redwings, and Song Thrushes. Above: Migrating Thrushes Below: Blackbird Once we were finally at the point we quickly located a Black Redstart on the sea wall, however it soon moved on to the roofs of the houses and views were short, but sweet as it flew about looking for the little insects for its brunch. Below: Black Redstart What a stunner the Black Red was and it performed well at times despite the distance, between us and it. Dante and I then decided to go and see what George and Jacob were doing and as we did so a Ring Ouzel flew up into one of the nearby bushes and gave us some great views albeit briefly. Above: Ring Ouzel taken by George. After this Dante and I headed down to the dense cover at the end of the point however nothing much was present bar a huge number of Thrushes, a few Goldcrests, and also a Chiffchaff. An interesting Bunting was also briefly seen, but it flew before a better view of it was had and frustratingly goes unidentified. A flock of Brent Geese was also a nice addition, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Above: Brent Geese Once we were back near to the ringing site we found a total of 5 Brambling feeding in the undergrowth and eventually with much patience they gave us some great views of some stunning birds. To think that just under a week ago I had never seen one and now they are literally everywhere. Above: Bramblings Below: Dante's much better shot of one of the Bramblings We decided that we would next join in with some ringing alongside George and Jacob. Over the next hour or so we rung several Redwings, Blackbirds, and Starlings and got to see birds up close; I had personally never seen such amazing views of them. It is also amazing to see the intricate details and to learn a bit more about the birds. Above: Blackbird Below: Redwing Below: Starling At around 3pm and with the ringing drying up we decided to head briskly back so that we could have a chance at catching up with a certain bird before dark. The Black Redstart was showing better now and so we decided to have a little bit of a stop to admire this beautiful bird! Below: Black Redstart We then headed along the point to some dramatic skies and also 2 House Martins flew south over our heads which is rather a late sighting! Once we were back at the Warren some rather tame fresh in Blackbirds were feeding on the muddy banks looking for worms. Then another odd sighting when looking towards Canal Scrape. A pair of swallows were hawking insects over the water and looked as though they were ready to go to roost in the reeds! Whilst we were watching these a Ring Ouzel briefly sat at the top of one of the bushes to the left hand side of the scrape before it flew back into cover. Below: Blackbird Once we arrived at the Observatory it didn't take us long to get the Yellow Browed Warbler as it quickly hurried after invisible insects in the fading light of a willow tree. What an amazing end to the day. Now as we said our goodbyes, this is when things got interesting as when we returned to our tent we found out that the weather had not been the most kind to us and therefore not only was our tent wet, but so were most of our belongings and so when we went to log at the Observatory we ended up booking ourselves into the dry as more rain was forecast overnight and the chance of surviving it without drowning more belongings and ourselves was slim.
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The train journey from London to Hull was smooth and quick and with decent birding from the train the journey went by quickly. From the train we could see massive amounts of Thrushes and Wood Pigeons moving and the odd interesting bird such as Cormorants and a Ringed Plover! The train did however arrive into Hull late and therefore we missed the bus by a minute so a lengthy stop in Subway was to be had fueling for the big trip. The bus journey was smooth and the Wifi helped a lot and so we ended up arriving in Patrington with over an hour until the bus to Easington was due and so therefore a sky watch was to be had. Most of the notable birds to come through were the 52 Redwing, however we did see 2 Skylark, a Meadow Pipit, 2 Bullfinch, a Kestrel and 3 Common Buzzards circling the road as the bus finally arrived. We then arrived in Easington where we met John and were given a lift to Driftwood campsite via a possible stop at Kilnsea Wetlands. However a certain Sandpiper was not showing and so we decided to head to the campsite to set up our tent! Once we had set up our tent we decided to have a quick scan around and it was obvious that there had been a large thrush movement with over 140 Redwing and a similar amount of Blackbird on the field next to where we were staying. A flock of 40 Brent Geese flew overhead and Tree Sparrows sat in the bushes next to us and yes these were my first ever of a quickly declining species in the UK and so this was my first lifer of the trip! Above: Redwing We then headed to Sammy's Point to see what was about. The Seawall was quiet except for 2 Rock Pipit. The scenery was stunning and was like nothing that I had ever experienced before. Little Egret, Grey Plover, Curlew, and 100's of Dunlin were dotted around the salt marsh with the calls of Redshank coming from dense in the cover. It was great to see such large numbers of waders and to think that some of the birds that are rare and bird guides-able in London are as common as mud up here! Above: Little Egret We then headed off the sea wall into a field that felt quite rare and with dense cover we decided to split up to get the best out of the field. Every bush that we passed was full to the brim of both Redwing and Blackbirds with at least 10 of each per bush and by the end of this field we had a total of 218 Blackbird and 75 Redwing. It was literally like walking into thrush mania and proves that migration is awesome. Other birds that we managed to dig out of this field were 3 Kestrel, 3 Meadow Pipit, 18 Linnet, 5 Reed Bunting, 2 Dunnock, 5 Robin, and 2 Goldcrest. All of which were sheltering from the howling wind above them. Above: Linnet Above: Goldfinch The sound of Geese could be heard approaching us - this was to be a familiar sound over the coming days - as a flock of 19 Pink-footed Geese came overhead. These birds were my second lifer of the day having come from a county that rarely if ever records Pinkies! Above and Below: Migrating Pink-footed Geese And so with nothing else lurking in the hedges or the sky, we headed back. Along the way back a nice Kingfisher flew past calling and briefly sat on a post jutting out of the salt marsh. It then flew off calling and headed towards the Triangle and the new much hated National Trust visitor centre! We then got back to the main road and a quick scan and listen brought us a pair of Brambling calling from the bushes. Their call is unmistakeable and it I guess sounds a bit like a pathetic, squeaky, roar. We then met Jacob who was staying at the Obs and was on his bike heading down to the Wetlands! Whilst we were talking to him we spotted a group of Brent Geese flying past and also Blackbirds started to spiral in from absolutely nowhere, with 158 counted falling out of the sky. This was not the only big movement of birds as just before dark at a similar time to the Blackbird fall, around 10,000 Starlings flew overhead to their evening roost. These Starlings flew so close that you could heard their wings beating. What a sight to end the day, and so at 19:30 we went to bed preparing for an early start the next day and listening to a Tawny owl calling over our tent! Above: Blackbirds Below: Brent Geese Below: Starling Numbers had stared to build ahead of the final decent!
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AuthorI have been a birder since i was 8 however only really started to be able to go out to places by myself in Summer 2016 (Blame the parents) My blogs will be from all over the place, but mainly from RSPB Rainham Marshes and Totteridge Valley! Photography done by Samuel Levy aged 17. ArchivesCategories |