Snow birding

Yesterday (26/01) morning I had walk through the snow at Ditchford GP in the hope Of finding some white-winged Gulls and anything else that might be around.

There were plenty of Gulls about, however no Glaucous or Iceland. There was however a smart looking 1st-winter Caspian Gull showing well in the sunshine of the Viaduct Pit.

Also around were 2 Scaup (1st winter drake and female) and what was presumably a drake Aythya hybrid resembling a Lesser Scaup on the ski pit. I couldn't quite get a good enough view of the presumed hybrid due to the light but I would guess it's the same bird that was in the area a week earlier.

Next I headed for Harrington Airfield. I just missed out on a flyover Snow Bunting and after a good search I failed to re-locate it. I did manage to see 2 Grey Partridges, a flock of around 50 Skylark, a Barn Owl and at least 4 Brambling on the seed put out on the concrete track. Afterwards a quick look around Blueberry Farm, Maidwell failed to locate anything of note.

This afternoon, (27/01) I spent a couple of hours at Boddington Resevoir. There wasn't too much to get excited about. I did though see my first Kingfisher of the year, showing amazingly well for at least 10 minutes.12 Goosander were also in the centre of the resevoir.

Hyde Park

A very cold and wintery walk around the Serpentine lake in Hyde Park, London was very worthwhile yesterday afternoon. Birds seen included my first Ringed Necked Parakeets and great views of various wildfowl. The highlights however came in the form of a stunning and rather tame Caspian Gull perched up on railings on the south side of the lake, as well as 2 (also very tame) female Bearded Tits feeding close to the path in a small section of reeds close to the Diana memorial fountain.

Hawfinches and more great county birding

Today Dave and I again headed to the north of the county, the 'place to be' at the moment with great winter passerines on offer in particular.

We started briefly at Pitsford Resevoir to finally catch up with the Great White Egret and finally it showed very distantly at the back of Walgrave Bay first thing. Here there were also a couple of Brambling at the Feeding Station and a Redpoll sp. over.

Blatherwyke was the next stop having seen a report of a couple of Hawfinches by the church there yesterday plus the chance of Mandarin on the nearby lake.
There were several other birders there too on what was a clear but bitterly cold morning. We had a flyby Raven before after a bit of searching I found a Hawfinch sitting in a tree top close to the church, get in!! Eventually there were 5 in total sitting up showing really well. We got closer by going in the churchyard having smashing views of a pair in particular.

The lake, after a long old search eventually yielded a smart pair of Mandarin Duck cruising along the far shore. There was also news that a small flock of Waxwing were around the corner by the A43 near Laxton and after we finished up at Blatherwyke, we headed to see them. Sure enough the Waxwing showed amazing well with around 30 birds showing down to several feet!

Hollowell Resevoir was next up and the luck continued with Dave finding a male Stonechat almost straight away on fences by the outflow. We then found an beasty adult Caspain Gull which flew in and landed on the water. Other birds included at least 9 Goosander and several Snipe.

Harrington Airfield held little, with no sign of the recent hunting male Hen Harrier, however around the beginning to the concrete track were several Brambling and a couple of Lesser Redpoll around too

The day was completed at Blueberry Farm, near Maidwell. Here we were lucky to come across  a Woodcock in flight, however there was no sign of any Barn Owl in the area. Nearby Dave and I had great views of a couple of showy Tawny Owl, my first proper look at them out in the open in some kind of daylight.

Lots of new year county birding

So with a busy Christmas and the weather being pants, I hadn't done all that much birding. Therefore this weekend, Dave and I headed all round the county to kick off the yearlists in style.
We started off in Burton Latimer to catch up with the reported Waxwings. It wasn't long before Dave spotted some in the Weetabix compound. We then went to Polwell Lane nearby and after initially seeing nothing, we did eventually see some, with at least 13 on show.

Next, mid-morning we headed onto Ditchford GPs, to the area west of Ditchford Lane. Here there were plenty of year ticks to be had. Notable birds included plenty of Red Kites hopping around looking for worms in the nearby fields as well as a couple of Scaup (female & 1st winter male) showing well on the Water ski Pit.

Lastly we headed to Pitsford to see the 'resident' Great White Egret, Slavonian Grebe and anything else we could find. Walking down the old road to the feeding station there were tonnes of birds about. It wasn't long before we located 3-4 Brambling up in the trees and feeding on seed.

The Scaldwell Bay held a couple of a single Shelduck, 3 Goosander, as well as tonnes of other common wildfowl. No sign of the GWE though. It was then onto the south side, finding my first Little Grebes of 2013 as well as seeing great numbers of Goldeneye. But sadly no sign of the reported Slav. As the sun was setting it suddenly emerged just off shore close to the gorse bushes showing really bloody well, Slavonian Grebe in the bag! 

Back at the causeway, the search for the Great White Egret again drew a blank, however a smart drake Smew flew out of Holcot Bay in the fading light.

Sunday, (06/01) again we decided to have another day in the gloom. Was really foggy, and a quick visit to the causeway was very fruitless with us barely able to see 10 feet off shore!
We headed for the North of the county with Wakerley Woods the first stop for Crossbill. Within a few minutes we had several in larches no more than 10m from the car! Had great views of them feeding away, dodging their dropped cones in the process! A stomp around the area failed to locate any Woodcock or anything else unusual other than a few woodland yearticks.

We then spent a little while at Fineshade Top Lodge finding very obliging and vocal Waxwing for around 5 minutes as well as 17 vocal Crossbill over the wildlife hide, as well as great views of Marsh Tits and Nuthatches on the feeders.

We got the news of some Bearded Tits at Ecton Sewage Farm soon while at top lodge so we decided to head there via Blatherwyke Lake and most likely, KFC! Bearded Tit was a long awaited county first for both us so it was a must see! Blatherwyke held nothing however KFC was much more obliging, holding some seriously succulent chicken!!

Soon after, around 2pm, we were parked up on the Billing to Ecton road and headed down the track to the phragmites bed where Mike Alibone had found the Beardies earlier on. After passing a rather shifty looking pikey with bolt croppers we approached the area of reedbed. We immediately flushed a Green Sandpiper from a channel. After walking round to the reeds for a short while, a nearby flock of Lapwings flew up, swiftly followed by a male Peregrine, casually chasing them up into the clouds. Sudden;ly we heard something from the reeds and, sure enough there were several Bearded Tits calling away. We then spotted them and in the end we had a male and female feeding no more than 10 feet away from us and the edge of the reedbed. Fantastic! Here, between us we also had calling a Water Rail, Chiffchaff and Siskin. The yearticks were rolling in. Below is an image taken by Dave James of the male Beardie:

After what was such a quick and successful trip, it was 3pm. For the last part of the day, we decided to go to Stanwick GPs to take a look for the 1st winter Glaucous Gull that had been seen the previous evening.
The main lake was alive with birds. Of note included several Goosander, 1 Black Tailed Godwit, c.400 Golden Plovers, 1 Dunlin, 1-2 Redshank, 3 Snipe and an adult Yellow Legged Gull. Suddenly Steve Fisher, a local birder said he had an Iceland Gull and sure enough there in the centre of the main lake, a smart looking 1st winter Iceland Gull...awesome!! This was a real bonus bird and meant there was the chance of getting both white wingers in one night! It hung around for a while before heading off east.

Plenty of gulls continued to pile in and then suddenly the Glaucous Gull too appeared, flying around attacked by a Herring Gull. Eventually it landed on the water. It too was a 1st winter and was a wopping big bruiser! It was amazing to get both species of white-winged Gull in a winter that so far is nothing compared to last winter's glut of white wingers. What an end to a great weekend's birding, really was.