Brief update

Just a few bit and bobs I have seen over the bank holiday weekend, I was working on Saturday and Monday, however I was out and about so it wasnt all bad!

The highlight (apart from the Pec which is still present) was the appearance of three White Wagtails at Buckenham. These are my first White Wags for the Mid Yare! I have seen some birds before which have most probably been this ssp, but have not been confident enough to (sub)tick them, but these three were close enough to scope and id as two males and a female.

The escaped White Stork is still finding the reserve to its liking, its happily feeding in the footdrains around Buckenham and Cantley. The small ring is obvious in this pic, but at distance it would be hard to see!

Other than these a Kingfisher was showing nicely in the gloom this morning in front of Fen Hide, a Cuckoo was singing along the riverbank, Bittern booming, 100's of swifts, swallows and martins and there were plenty of harriers milling about trying to dry off after a wet night. I found another Bearded Tit nest in front of Fen Hide, however this afternoons gusty winds may well have put an early end to it. It does make me wonder how they could possibly survive with the reeds being blown horizontally!

Finally my annual attempts to get semi decent shots of Hobby has once again started, this is my starting effort, better to come...

Buckenham strikes again

Buckenham has once again produced the goods, its looking really good down there at the moment with a nice mix of shallow grassy pools, open water, muddy pools and bare mud, so its not surprising that a decent wader turned up eventually. The breeding waders appear to be doing really well, with quite a few Lapwing broods now being seen as well as up to 11 drummong snipe!

Todays highlight was a superb Pectoral Sandpiper, this is my second spring bird in 5 years!

Other bits today included 5 Yellow Wags, 2 Hobby and the first decent arrival of swifts at Buckenham. Strumpshaw early am held 1 grasshopper w, bittern booming, cuckoo showing well breifly, 2 garden warblers giving a bit of a show as well as all other usual common migrants.

These two drake Mandarins are almost certainly the same as the birds seen earlier in the year, they were  on the river at Surlingham

 

Brecks and Buckenham patchtick!

A great day today.
I found myself awake at 4.30 and decided to have an early start in the Brecks. I went to a lovely place and connected with a super bird, a male golden pheasant.
I located it by its 'song' strangled call, it was on the track but always behind vegetation, I stealthily followed it through the dense undercover until it came to a crosstrack, out in the open it ran...fast! luckily I could see where it ran to. It then hopped up into a tree, had a preen and continued calling. Amazing scope views but always slightly concealed which made photography tricky, it did force me to learn how to use the manual focusing on my camera so not all bad. I spent about an hour with the bird, viewing it from behind a bush so not to disturb it unduly. No sign of any females, I wonder  if it is one of the final birds in the county. (and dont ask me the location, I'm suppressing it, sorry!).

After this excitement I headed to a Willow tit site and spent a couple of hours searching with no joy, the wind had also picked up so I headed home.

I had time for a cuppa and then got a text from Ron McIntyre informing me of a Great White Egret at Buckenham. Barely finished reading the text and I was out of the door, well it would be a new species for the reserve for me after all. Minutes later and on site a few scans yielded nothing, had it headed to Strumpshaw? I was almost about to head away when I locked onto the S bend of an egret, but it had a black bill. watching it closely I realised that it was the GWE, it was in breeding plumage. As it stood up out of the ditch I could see its legs for the first time, a beautiful raspberry pink hue to the thighs. It sounds as if they only come into the plumage for a few weeks a year. This was my first great white for the reserve and what a cracker. I watched it catching lots of food in the ditches for well over an hour studying and enjoying this rare plumage. Unfortunately it was quite distant and the heat haze did not help but the pics show what it looked like! Typically just as Justin L was coming up the track it flew over the wall, luckily he did see it in flight a few times.

little and large

Brecks and Strumpshaw update

Yesterday Jim, James Ricky and I went to the Brecks (you may well have read Jims blog so I wont write the same report again...)

The highlights were:
-Seeing three Stone Curlews, the first I have seen properly for a few years, good to hear these are doing well again.
-Watching a firecrest feeding well on the ground, never seen this myself before, it seemed quite happy feeding amongst the bluebell and daffodil leaves, an odd site though.

-Seeing male Goshawk in full display in view for 15 mins or so, another male was seen elsewhere too, cant get enough of these brilliant birds!

The lowlights were dipping Golden Pheasant, Willow tit, Hawfinch and Lesser Pecker. Oh well cant be too greedy!

Strumpshaw area has seen its first arrival of migrants with Blackcap and Chiffchaffs certainly very evident throughout the reserve The male Marsh Harriers which are now busy showing off to the ladies, good to see some familiar birds returning including our very pale/dark contrasting bird which is often called Hen Harrier as well as some new birds I have not seen before, always good for the gene pool! Willow Warblers due to be singing all over by the weekend I would have thought! Sedge Warblers cant be far away either!

 

This appears to be a hybrid of sorts Mallard x Gadwall??