23/10/2015: Short-eared Owls and Cranes

23/10/2015

Friday afternoon visit to Burwell Fen to check out how many Short-eared Owls were around. Distant views of at least two with a possible third. Yesterday it was reported that there were four in the area.

Managed to get a few shots with the new camera but rather distant.

On the way back to the barns as the sun was disappearing the Crane started to call. Views were distant and the light was going but able to see two adults and 1 juvenile. While scanning for them a male Stonechat popped into view.

Only harrier around were two female Marsh Harrier causing chaos amongst the gulls. Flocks of Golden Plover overhead throughout.

20/10/2015: Chippenham NNR

20/10/2015

Haven't been to Chippenham for a while so decided to visit this nature reserve this morning and see what was about and give the new bridge camera a try out.

Plenty of Blue and Long-tailed Tit in the hedgerow and Redwing were constantly moving around. Skylark were singing over the field and there were a number of Robin round and about.

A kindly Redwing allowed me the opportunity to try out the Nikon's telephoto lens with the following results:

Redwing: focal length 38mm

focal length: 179mm

focal length: 310mm

Need now to work on exposure!

19/10/2015:Holkham and Warham Green

19/10/2015

This morning up and out and headed up to Holkham. All weekend the emails and Twitter were full of what was about and the crowds that were out as well. Arrived just after nine o'clock to find it nice and quiet, with only one other birder getting ready to set out.

Decided to try to find the Isabelline Shrike first so headed towards the Washington hide. On the way it soon became apparent that there were a lot of Goldcrest around! Checking through a flock near the house found two smashing Firecrest. Lots of Long tailed, Blue and a few Great Tit were also passing through.

Scanned the area in front of Washington and was able to get a distant view of the shrike. It was very mobile and I was only able to get a very blurry photo through the scope. After a short while it disappeared and did not return so moved off towards Jordan Hide in search of the Red-Flanked Bluetail.

A lot more Tit and Goldcrest around Jordan plus Treecreeper and Nuthatch. Moved to where Bluetail had been reported yesterday and off the path and into the bushes. After a short while a Robin was making a real fuss nearby. On checking I realised it was actually having a go at the Bluetail! Sadly my view was brief as the Bluetail shot from the bush into a thicket.There then followed a number of brief glimpses as it moved through and around the thicket until a really good view was achieved when it settled on the brambles to feed. sadly not long enough for a photo. By then our quiet little corner was being disturbed as more birders arrived so I set off to return to the car park for lunch. The amount of birders I passed heading out for the Bluetail was surprising; doesn't anyone work on a Monday!

Had planned to have lunch and then check out the woods up to Wells but the crowd got the better of me and so I set off for Warham Green. Checked out the pit and the whirligig but other than a Blackcap and the usual Chaffinch and Robin little else. Two Buzzards, one of which although very high, seemed larger and longer tailed than the lower one; a possible Rough Legged Buzzard? As these two were attracting my attention a Red Kite drifted into view. Not a bad scope full! 

On the marshes there were good numbers of Barnacle Goose, Curlew and Little Egret. Redshank were calling and moving around and a sizeable flock of Golden Plover settled in for a while. Further off a Peregrine was harassing the gulls and two Merlin were involved in a little aerial combat. Two ring tailed Hen Harriers (F or J) quartered the marshes. As the sun finally set I departed to the sound of hundreds of Pink -Footed Goose passing overhead.

13/10/2015: Quiet morning around Barker's Fen

13/10/2015

A rather cold and grey morning with the threat of rain in the air. Arrived early at Barker's Fen to find no-one around and it stayed that way! Even the birds seem to have decided to stay in whatever warmth they could find. Interestingly the most vocal birds throughout the whole two hour walk were Cetti's Warbler with at least nine calling from various locations.

Popped into Charlie's hide mainly to get Annie used to going in and sitting quietly in such a place. Nothing to see from the hide but two Carrion Crow and a rather adventurous snail climbing in through the viewing flap!

Snail popping in to Charlie's hide

Just beyond Charlie's the pinging of Bearded Tit attracted my attention and shortly a pair made an appearance and I was able to get some good shots mainly of the male.

Male (lower) and female Bearded Tit

The female quickly disappeared but the male stuck around for a while longer and so I was able to get some good shoot using the bridge camera.

Bearded Tit (male)

These proved to be the highlight of the walk as very little was seen or heard. Never mind there is always another day!

12/10/2015: Out and about

12/10/2015

Already the 12th October and no addition to the blog since the 25th September! We've been out and about visiting various locations but quite a bit of time and effort has gone into the training of Annie, which happens to be producing dividends as she is doing really well.

Have spent a great deal of time in and around the local patch hoping to find Yellow-browed Warblers but with no luck.  In fact all the areas covered seem very quiet. Took a walk to the Horse Fen and along the lane to Wicken (here after known as Tit alley). Usually at this time of year it is busy with flocks of tits passing back and forth along the trees but was very quiet with only one small flock of tits and a couple of Goldcrest.

On the 3rd while checking out the Lode area had two Redwing fly over heading towards Wicken. Last year first sighting in this area was on the 12th October so an early visit from these two. However since then no more!

Wildfowl numbers beginning to creep up at Burwell with Wigeon leading the way. We've had a couple of visit but have stayed to the lower portion of the fen while we get Annie trained. Did have an interesting sighting of a Yellow Wagtail and a single Reed Warbler on the 8th October which seemed somewhat late especially for the Yellow Wagtail.

Three Common Crane put in an appearance. They had been calling from somewhere towards Upware and as we crossed the Fen they flew in, landing on the far side of the flooded area. The family party indulged in a bit of sky-pointing before moving further off.

The photos above and below were taken with Esther's Fujifilm Finepix HS30. This is a 'bridge' camera giving an impressive zoom range without having the DSLR lenses to carry. I've been trying it out over the last few weeks and must admit to being very impressed.

This afternoon (12th October) decided to go over to Cavenham Heath for a stroll. The walk was very nice but the birds absent! Never mind there is always another day.