Birding Braunie

Oh my days! Is it Friday already? This was our last full day with Heatherlea and it was destined to be a big one. Correction: The big one. Do these birding tour operators plan this? Do they always save the best for last? I don’t know. Some would say the Capercaillie caper would have done it and it did in many ways but this day would match it or in some eyes surpass it. You be the judge. Another full fat breakfast! My only thoughts during this now routine ceremony was whether I would still fit in the minibus. To be honest, I thought we would be doing a bit more walking on this trip but apart from the odd amble up a hill, we were never far from the transport. The birding day began with an excursion to Roseisle and initially around some of the farmland minor roads where we picked up a couple of corn buntings just sitting on fence wires. Looking out from a viewpointon the Moray Firth at Burghead Bay there were velvet and common scoters, eider and a few red-breasted merganser. Telescope out...

Hooray! We are now in March but the idea of spending a day at the Bittern Watchpoint is a bittersweet one. On the one hand, we will shortly lose the enigmatic Bittern from the reedbeds but on the other, well actually both hands will now not be frozen solid and painfully numb. Before I open up the watchpoint I like to get around parts of the park to see what’s about. Yesterday I picked the walk up to Holyfield Hall farm. With a species list for the year of 99, I was hopeful of getting a Green Woodpecker at least but this bird has eluded me since Jan 1st and although I heard a couple, I didn’t see any. Overhead, I saw a Carrion Crow mobbing a Sparrowhawk and the edges of the goosefields had noisy House Sparrows arguing about clearly important matters such was the cacophony  coming from the hedgerows. In the trees gathered 30+ Redwings and a few Fieldfare , getting ready to leave for the Spring. The Goosefields had as you might expect, a few flocks of geese, including Greylag ...

A quick update from the wilds of South Fambridge. Lots of noise coming from the bushes and trees this morning. Dunnocks, Robins, Blackbirds, Blackcaps and Common Whitethroats all acting out their own version of The Voice (only ten thousand times better). freaked out a couple of Shelduck that had settled down on some small hut by the river to enjoy the warming sunshine. Sorry. Now, left or right? Right takes me to the Grasshopper Warbler and left to buntings, wagtails et al. But it was the clamour of reed warblers that swung it and they were in to the left (try and keep up). The Reed Warblers were playing hard to see but a rather nice Yellowhammer unashamedly displayed in front of me and didn’t even fly off as I set my scope up. Yellowhammer Then, the Yellowhammer was knocked off its perch by a Yellow Wagtail to have its picture taken. If I’d known how popular I was going to be, I’d have sold tickets. I suppose it’s the same bird as the previous one I shot here. Yellow Wa...

A two centre trip today, starting with Five Oak Lane – a hidden-away area of scrub and grassland adjacent to Hainault Golf Club and then a short trip south east to Rainham Marshes in Essex beside the Thames. Five Oaks Lane is a hidden gem. I love it best for the almost guaranteed Cuckoos and Yellowhammers you will find here at this time. With heavy, leaden skies making it very dark and some seriously waterlogged paths making it foolhardy not to keep looking downat where you walked, looking for these birds was slightly hindered. A pair of Bullfinches  made it easy as they barrel-rolled past my head with the unmistakeable white rump flash easing identification.  Then that unique call of the Yellowhammer could be heard. 'A-little-bit-of-bread-and-no-cheeeeeeese' is what it sounds like but finding the yellow devil was less simple. Some careful scanning of the hawthorn bushes produced a fine male bird. Normally there are around ten birds at this site but this one was the o...