Birding Braunie

March always brings me a premature hope of Spring; and by Spring I mean Spring migrants. While trying to overlook the boring winter migrants, already ticked and captured on camera, I focus on what  might be or could be seen as the earth spins inevitably toward the prospect of rarities and forgotten friends flying back from their winter homes. It is a time for re-remembering warbler call notes and pretending to understand impact of weather systems and logical drop zones of early returners to which I am a poor student. So here is a bad school report for the month of March. 6th March – Rainham Marshes After many attempts at getting a sighting let alone a picture of the long-staying Dartford Warblers on the reserve, my endeavour finally paid off. Thanks to a couple of birders who had the warbler in their sights, I was able to get some adequate images of the birds even though it kept itself at a distance that irritated the photographer in me. Beggars can't be choosers I suppose. ...

There aren’t many small birds that get audible gasps from people when they see one. Apart from perhaps a kingfisher, it is usually the big ones that take that honour. A Bittern or a Crane, an Osprey or a Golden Eagle maybe, that kind of thing usually does it. There is one however that when seen gets people very excited. The Dartford Warbler. Not only is it a pretty and characterful little bird, it is also a very vulnerable bird and has suffered in the past from harsh weather – only a couple of pairs breeding in the 1960s to to severe winters. Fortunately it is now having a small renaissance and can be found in a number of heathland breeding areas across the south and east of England. I picked Dunwich Heath to look for them but the weather was poor. It was overcast and there was a strong on shore wind to deal with. Dartford Warblers prefer to keep low at the best of times and the wind factor just made seeing any quite difficult. Coastguards Cottages, Dunwich Heath I have on...