Patchtick...again!!

Jim found a black-redstart opposite Buckenham on Sunday afternoon, so first thing monday morning I was down there checking out the roof of the pub. Luckily for me it was still there, a lovely little bird, although a little distant for photography I did have a go. Amazingly this is by fourth new species for the Mid Yare this year already!

On the way back to the office the woods were alive with chiffchaffs singing, clearly a small arrival finally! I also had good views of a Goldcrest which posed for a few quick snaps.

Today I was carrying out routine checks and looked up to see a subadult male Hen Harrier flying over the fen, a quick fumble in the bag for my camera produced another poor shot...always a great bird to see though!

Tommorrow I am having a look for the Ring Necked Duck and Scaup that have been in the eastern reaches of the patch, fingers crossed!

Catch up blog

Its been a mixed start to spring for me and the fen, very quiet migrant wise with just singing Chiffchaff to speak of.
A few Cranes have been around, which are always very nice to see, as are the Short-eared Owls that have been seen on and off at Buckenham.

Ringed Ruff at Buckenham- still need to send off the combo to BTO

50 Bewick's Swans flew over the office on Thursday, which was a nice surprise on a bright spring like day, their soft calls alerting me to their presence, the same flock was seen later on at Breydon Water.

I had a day off on Friday and decided to do a bit of gardening instead of heading out birding. The day started off cloudy and it looked as if there was going to be no chance of seing the eclipse, however the cloud thinned for a matter of seconds and I was able to take the photo below, I guess it was lucky, but it was the second time this week that clouds thwarted a good show (the Aurora being the other dissapointment).

Whike gardening in the morning I noticed a small passage of Buzzards over the garden so decided to go to my local raptor watchpoint, in an hour I got 7-10 Buzzards, 9 Marsh Harriers and at least 4 Sparrowhawks, not bad but could do better. I got home and saw that the White Tailed Eagle was circling over Gt Yarmouth, so out I went again! A message came on saying it was heading NW over Breydon Water so I thought it may pass by Halvergate Bridge on its way to Ranworth. It turns out that it did not pass the bridge, or at least I didnt see it. I spent at least an hour at this location its always a great place to see over the marshes and although the eagle did not show it didnt dissapoint. I saw Rough-Legged Buzzard, many C Buzzard, Red Kite, Peregrines, 2 SEO, as well as Kestrels and Sparrowhawks. I also had the pleasure of coming face to face with the White Stork that has been in the area, plastic or not it still looked good in the spring sunshine!
I'm not quite sure what was going on with my camera, what should have been very good shots are not nearly as sharp as I had hoped considering the good light conditions, need more practice with the FZ200, I'm sure it is a very good camera I just need to master the settings!

RLB having a tussle with CB