We started a holiday at Rutland Water where we broke up our journey to Halesworth in Suffolk. This was part of a fortnight taking in Suffolk and Norfolk but having as “bookends” stopovers that allowed us to visit Rutland Water twice – a fortnight apart. “Bookends doesn’t quite cover it as on this first visit we managed to add twelve year ticks and saw fifty-three species in total, some of which were pretty spectacular.
Apr 30 2017
Rutland Water 30th April 2017
Apr 25 2017
Woolston Eyes 25th April 2017
After our visit to Moore Nature Reserve with the birding group (actually just six of us) we went to a local pub for kunch before heading off to the nearby Woolston Eyes Reserve where we managed to get a couple of examples of our target bird, Black-necked Grebe, which was a “year tick” for us.
Apr 25 2017
Birding Group Visit to Moore Nature Reserve : 25th April 2017
On the 25th April we had intended to go to Etherow but David decided that we should not go there, in part because rain (had we had any ?) had washed away some of the path up the hill to the top of the site. Instead we changed our schedule to Moore Nature Reserve.
Apr 19 2017
Burton Mere Wetlands : 19th April 2017
After a bit of a break from birding due to having a (non-birding) visitor staying with us, we managed to get back out on the 19th for a day at Burton Mere Wetlands. One way and another we seem to have missed early spring this year so this was a chance to catch up with things and we managed to get seven year ticks including a great view of a Cetti’s Warbler.
We started out at the main reception hide where we could see some Barnacle Geese (year tick) and Black Swans over in Shotwick fields. It was an incredibly clear day though not a particularly sunny one. It was low tide – in fact the low tide was officially 0 metres ! There was a single Ruff looking like it was getting into breeding plumage and lots of Avocets.
Walking down to the Marsh Covert hide we could hear lots of Reed Warblers in the reedbed but sidn’t see the Little Gull that has supposedly been around there recently. Neither did we see the the single Spoonbill that has been roosting in the Little Egrey / Grey Heron roost. There were Swallows (year first) and Sand Martins and in the bushes we saw a vouple of Blackcaps and heard even more.
Down at Inner Marsh Farm there were four Spotted Redshanks among a large group of Black tailed Godwits. There were also a fair number of Avocets.
Up at the fort there was surprisingly little to see – perhaps because the tide was so low but walking back towards the reception hide we did get Buzzard, Kestrel and Sparrowhawk, the last, briefly. Near where the toilets are I managed to get a good view of a Cetti’s Warbler – one of several we heard during the morning. A single Reed Bunting and a Great Spotted Woodpecker made for a trio of year ticks.
Back at reception and out the other side, near the blind we saw a single Linnet perched atop a gorse bush; it was so unconcerned with us that we got withing about 8 feet of it at eye level and it did not fly off.
So the total “year ticks” for us were Barnacle Goose, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler, Linnet, Swallow, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Sparrowhawk. A nice addition to a bit of a slow start to the year. We now stand at 114.
Apr 04 2017
Birding Group Visit to the Marshside and Mere Sands Woods 4 April 2017
The first birding group outing in April was to Marshside where we had a good day, with fair weather (but still impossibly windy) and managed to get two good “year ticks” in the shape of a pair of Mediterranean Gulls and a large flock of Golden Plover.
Mar 31 2017
March 2017 Summary
March 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to March: 104
Total UK Species in March: 41
New “Year Ticks” in March: 3
New “Life Ticks” in March: 0
Year ticks inc Skylark, Meadow Pipit and Hen Harrier at Neston Old Quay on 28 March 2017
Mar 28 2017
Birding Group Visit to the Wirral for a low high tide 28th March 2017
The so-called high tide was supposed to be 9.7metres at 12:12pm which wasn’t particularly high but we thought it might be OK for Riverbank Road. We were a bit early so we dropped in to Burton Mere Wetlands where we just looked from and around the reception hide. The highpoint must surely have been the eighty-two Avocet right outisde the reception hide.
Mar 22 2017
Holiday to San Francisco and Hawaii, March 2017
We went for a fantastic three-week holiday taking in a three-night stop at San Francisco either side of a week on Maui and a week on Big Island. I didn’t record every sighting as it wasn’t really a birding trip, as such, and I wanted to record lots of other things too. I did, however take as many photos as I could. though we did not see too many endemics (we never really got much of a chance to spend time on our own in the rain forests which is where we really need to be) Despite that we clocked up about forty species and twenty-six of those were lifers.
Feb 28 2017
February 2017 Summary
February 2017 Summary
UK Species Year List to February : 100
Total UK Species in February : 73
New “Year Ticks” in February : 15
New “Life Ticks” in February : 0
Feb 28 2017
Hoylake, Parkgate, Neston and Burton : 28th February 2017
With a high tide of 9.8 metres at 12.15pm we thought it was a good day for the birding group to go to Hoylake. There was a bit of a surprise in store, though, when we woke up to heavy snow falling. We waited a bit though, to see if it would ease off, and eventually we decided to give it a go.