Grafham Water 9 February 2013

Spent the morning covering the area near the dam and the west end of the reservoir from 0800 to 11.30 am; a pleasant sunny bright morning with a light south-westerly breeze.

A modest selection: 4 Bewick's Swans were still at the west end, the female Red-breasted Merganser and first-winter male Scaup were off the the dam, 6 Goosanders (2 males) off the Yacht Club, a lone redhead Smew was in Littless Creek, 5 Yellow-legged Gulls (2 ads, 2 2nd calendar year and 1 4th calendar year; 6 Redshanks, 2 Green Sandpipers, c.30 Siskins and 
c. 40 Lesser Redpolls. 

 Lesser Redpoll (male)

Red-breasted Merganser (female)

A Norfolk weekend 1-3 February 2013

The traditional February weekend away now re-located to Norfolk during which we encountered some spectacular north sea sleet squalls brought in by a bitingly fierce northerly wind.

The weekend kicked off on Friday with an en-route visit to the Ouse Washes at Welches Dam where in addition to rather distant views of wild swans  a flock of c.200 Golden Plovers allowed closer scrutiny but were eclipsed by a series of impressive large overflying flocks of Goldies totaling c 2000, 5 Ruff (all males) were around and a couple of Goosander were just about it.. 

Saturday morning dawned with massive storm clouds coming in over the north sea and a light dusting of snow as we walked along the Wash bank at Snettisham. The crystalline clarity and fiercely bright light enhanced the high tide wader roost spectacle. In addition to the anticipated large numbers of Knot, Dunlin, Bar-tailed Godwits etc the numbers of Pintail, Wigeon and Brent Geese were impressive; three Long-tailed Ducks which flew north close inshore were an added bonus.  

Oystercatchers

Knot and a lone Turnstone

We then headed for Holkham for the afternoon, several skeins of Pinkfeet flew overhead en-route. The weather deteriorated with massive rain and sleet storms sweeping in limiting our visit to a couple of hours, the best sightings were an adult Black Brant or hybrid with a small flock of  bernicla Brent Geese which also held a single adult hrota; some decent sized flocks of Pinkfeet were around with flocks arriving from the south and engaging in some frisky flight displays; just 4 White-fronted Geese and 2 Barnacle Geese. 

A strong westerly wind for the Sunday morning walk from Cley to Salthouse and back made birding hard work with 3 Red-throated Divers, a single adult Yellow-legged Gull, 2 Marsh Harriers and an impressive grazing flock of c.900 Brents being the best sightings. 

A final stop off at Woodwalton Fen was too late for any roosting Harriers but we did manage a single Woodcock at dusk and a couple of heard only Long-eared Owls. 

Grafham Water 27 January 2013

In a fresh south-westerlies, covered most of the res. for four hours this afternoon until dusk for the gull roost...

Great Northern Diver 1 off the dam early afternoon, 4 Bewicks Swans, Red-breasted Merganser the long staying female/immature off the Yacht Club, an adult female Scaup off the yacht club and a first-winter male Scaup off Valley Creek, an immature Peregrine hunting at dusk, 4 Sanderling and a Dunlin between the Yacht Club and Lagoons, three Turnstones along the Dam and 2 Green Sandpipers.

The only gull of note in the roost was 1 adult Yellow-legged Gull.

Dunlin & 2 Sanderlings 

Birding in the mist 22 January 2013

With temperatures down to -6 degrees centigrade overnight the early morning balcony watch over the Great Ouse at Little Paxton delivered the following sightings: 

The Otter was back working both banks of the river in search of food, a single male Goosander appeared on the river late morning, 2 Golden Plovers flew over SE, a Little Egret flew north along the river, 100+ Fieldfares and 5 Corn Buntings flew over south and the garden feeders were full of variety including some strikingly variable Long-tailed Tits as depicted below which were part of a group of 12 birds. 

I had taken the afternoon off work with the intention of spending all of it at Grafham but no sooner had I got into the car than the mist came down. Undaunted I headed for Grafham Lagoons and spent an hour here with little success except a female Bearded Reedling which called just once came to the top of the reeds and then promptly dropped out of view. Options were now becoming limited due to the visibility so I retreated to Paxton Pits to look for  passerines. An old fashioned large flock of mixed finches and buntings in stubble and weed fields comprised c. 500 Linnets, c.120 Reed Buntings, c.60 Yellowhammers, c.40 Chaffinches and a single Woodlark. c.40 Fieldfares were gorging on any berries that they could find and a flock of c60 Redpolls evaded close scrutiny again. 

The lower bird has very clean ear coverts, limited streaking on the underparts
with a broad white largely unstreakedcrownstripe indicative of race europaeus though
probably also within the range age of variability of race rosaceus. There are three recent
recoveries of race europaeus all ringed in Belgium and controlled in Essex.

The Island - Little Paxton 16-20 January 2013

Having spent most of early to mid January sifting through gull flocks in the area a few days of easy observing from and near home combined with a spell of cold and snowy weather delivered some  interesting sightings...

A redhead Smew flew  north down the Great Ouse on 16th and a Goldeneye spent the same day feeding along a small stretch of the river; a Red Kite flew over north on 18th. A northward movement of 1200+ large Gulls during the morning of the 19th included a single adult Caspian Gull and a female Merlin flew low south over a snow covered Lammas Meadow the same afternoon with nice views of a male Reeve's Muntjac across the river the same day. Best of all, on the 20th an Otter swimming along the river finally offered the photo opportunity from the balcony that I've been waiting for though in poor light and heavy snow; winter thrushes already appear to be quite weak and lethargic and a Marsh Tit visited the feeders for the second time in three days.

Spent three hours in constant snow wandering around Paxton Pits this afternoon (20th) the best sightings in difficult conditions were 1 Bittern in flight over the reedbed at Hayling Pit, 3 Smew (1 drake), good numbers of Linnets and Redpolls though sadly the conditions prevented close scrutiny of the latter and 11 Corn Buntings.

Otter - River Great Ouse, Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire 

Adult female Goldeneye - River Great Ouse, Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire

Male Reeve's Muntjac  - Islands Common, Little Paxton, Cambridgeshire 

Grafham 6 January 2013

A late afternoon visit (1445-1650) to check out what turned out to be a substantial gull roost even by Grafham standards; the best larids for me at least were a single second calendar year Caspian Gull which arrived early enough for distant photos, 2 second calendar year and three adult Yellow-legged Gulls, also 31 Goosanders was a respectable count.

Distant 2cy Caspian Gull - no prizes for photographic artistry 

2cy Caspian Gull with classically pale and in this shot blurred underwings 

Paxton Pits - 23 December 2012

Walked along the western side of the area to Diddington Pit Late afternoon the highlights being a redhead Smew on Island Pit, 4 Goosander over south, 117 Black-tailed Godwits over west with 3 Golden Plover in tow, a single Ruff on Pumphouse Pit, a lone Woodcock at dusk, 1 Chiffchaff and a respectable count of 55 Yellowhammers.