The latter half of the autumn has seen me get out birding sporadically, but have found the time where I can to have a crack at finding some birds, or more realistically go see other people's!
Standout highlight was a drake Lesser Scaup at Rushden Lakes / Ditchford GPs actually on my birthday (03/11)! Hot on the heals of the 1st county record at Stanford Res fairly recently (and likely the same bird), this was of course a county tick for me and a rather good birthday present. The bird was never drastically close, but gave decent enough scope views, diving frequently to feed amongst the mix of Tufties, Gadwall, Shoveler etc present.
Keeping up the Scaup theme, I was chuffed to finally encounter a Scaup locally, with a distinctive 1w drake reported at Foxcote Reservoir, nr. Buckingham. Managed to get over there on 18/10, with my lively 1 year old daughter in tow!
Grimsbury Res has produced a steady run of yearticks and some pretty decent patch birds amongst these. Probably the best were up to 5(!) Rock Pipit on 15/10, as well as two the previous day that departed high north, so a total of 7 in two days! Extraordinary numbers, as part of a significant passage of birds during that week, throughout the country.
Other year ticks have included a female Goldeneye (very good patch bird), a brief confiding Great White Egret, 3 Crossbill, Stonechat and Marsh Tit.
Rounding up elsewhere, a couple of visits to Calvert Jubilee Lake has produced wonderful views of a Jack Snipe on 03/11, bobbing away, feeding right out in the open! An adult Great Black Backed Gull there in the pre-roost was a welcome local yeartick - such a scarce bird local to me.
The odd vis mig stint from the garden has produced a couple of Brambling, as well as Redpoll, Siskin and a male Blackcap kicking about. A Cattle Egret was at Bicester Wetland on 09/10, which appears to be hanging about the area with the usual Littles. The local yearlist stands at 141 - very unlikely to get up to 150 now but would be nice if I can encounter a nice surprise or two before the year's out!
The evening of Friday 10/10, saw me driving up to north Norfolk for the annual 'magic week', mid-October catch-up.
This year Dan W. & Gareth B. had booked a caravan at Pinewoods, Wells-next-the-sea for a few days, with me joining for the weekend and Norfolk-based birding pals Johnny P. and Kieran N. joining too - so a decent sized crew!
As usual, we were hoping to strike lucky with the winds, to relive the likes of 2013 or 2016, memorable bird-filled years, from years gone by!
In reality, it appeared unlikely for anything like that, but still would be some good birding to be had, way better than back at home, plus would be just great to catch up and have a laugh!
With a big high tide due for the morning of Saturday 11/10, it was a no-brainer for us to start the weekend at Snettisham, to hopefully enjoy some spectacular flocks of waders, with the added bonus of a long-staying Short-Toed Lark closeby.
After encountering both Tawny and Barn Owls on route, on arrival at Snett, we were stunned to see the amount of people with the same idea as us, joining a queue to park! Luckily it was pretty straightforward finding a space and we began a wander west towards the pits. Things started well with a couple of Whooper Swans over our heads and landing on the sea - amazingly, not one other person walking down gave them a second look!
The tide was moving in pretty fast and soon nudged a good number of waders out on the mud, a touch closer to go through. We soon picked up a few scarcer species, including a couple of juvenile Curlew Sandpiper, a juvenile Little Stint and 2 Spotted Redhank. Wader numbers were of course spectacular, particularly Knot and Oystercatcher, as well as both Bar-Tailed and Black-Tailed Godwit, Curlew, Grey Plover, Sanderling, Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Redshank. These were pushed up into the sky by 1, possibly two Peregrines on a few ocassions, causing a spectacular swirl of thousands of birds. Very cool!
Amongst the mele of birds on the seaward side, a Ruff and a couple of Spoonbill were picked out, while several Marsh Harrier were crusing about. A decent number of wildfowl included Wigeon, Teal and Pintail and there were several Great Crested Grebe offshore. After having our fix and enjoying a good number of waders over our heads and onto the pits, we decided to head back east and onto have a look for the lark. A known long-staying Leucistic Oystercatcher was sat about on the way, a striking looking bird!
We headed on past the car park some 500m beyond, along the path sandwiched between the beach and the Snettisham Coastal Park. We cautiously kept an eye out for the Lark, that had been residing along the main path.
A couple a short way ahead of us, suspected they had seen it dive behind some vegetation, just off the path in roughly the right area. We waited a short while before I picked it up coming back out into the open - Short-Toed Lark! We had some nice views out in the open, before it was flushed by dog walkers towards the beach - typical! We tentatively made our way over for a slightly more extended look at it. It then suddenly appeared right in front me and I was able to get some much better views and photos before it flicked off again. It was cool to properly enjoy my first UK lifer of the year!
At this point, a female birder approached us saying she'd just found a Grey Phalarope just off the beach. Great we thought! She showed me the back of her camera and straight away I saw that it was in fact a Red-Necked Phalarope, even better and good for her, a nice little find! In no time, we were all on it, a short way further west, busily feeding just offshore. We had lovely views for five minutes or so, before it decided to fly and I watched it until a spec out to sea to the N / NE. That concluded a great morning!
Next, we headed over to Kings Lynn for a bit of brunch, as well as to catch up with the Lesser Yellowlegs that had been hanging out in the slightly unusual setting of a pool/lagoon, created adjacent to a brand new housing estate!
Peering through the fencing, we soon got onto the bird, distantly at the end of the lagoon. Also here were a small flock of Black-Tailed Godwit, a couple of Green Sands, a few Grey Wagtail and a big GBB Gull for a short while too. A decent little patch if you've just moved into one of the new, adjacent houses!
We were then ready for some food, so found somewhere for a half decent full English on the edge of Kings Lynn. We plotted a mooch about Titchwell next, however were scuppered by some event there, with the car park overflowing, didn't really fancy that! After a bit of umming and ahhing, we decided on North Point Pools, just the other side of Wells, which is a always worth a look.
To be fair North Point served us well, soon encountering a fly-by Glossy Ibis and a couple of Water Pipit flying around calling regularly. 10+ Cattle Egret were kicking about the cattle and there was a nice mix of wildfowl including c25 Pintail. We wandered on to view the saltmarsh east of Wells, bumping into several pretty fresh Wall Browns scattered about. First I've seen in a long time, so a welcome surprise on what was a very mild afternoon.
We popped back to the caravan for a while after, to plot our next move. We settled on an evening at Cley in what were beautiful, calm conditions. This was lovely, but not hugely condusive for birding interest! Still, a half hour look at the sea produced a fly-by Med Gull, a Razorbill, several Red-Throated Diver and a couple of Gannet.
We moved around to the south side of the reserve and walked down to Daukes Hide to check out Simmonds Scrape / Pats Pool. This proved to be a decent move with the 4 Glossy Ibis hanging out, feeding away. Wader highlights included a couple of brief juv Little Stint on Pats Pool and a very vocal Spotted Redshank somewhere out on Simmonds. Large gulls gradually streamed into Simmonds, including a couple of striking 1w Caspian Gulls, before a Marsh Harrier sent them all up and over to North Scrape. With light fading fast, we walked back to the car, spying 3 Whooper Swans distantly sat up in a field beyond the visitor centre, that had been recently reported. To finish the day, a Tawny Owl made a brief appearance by our car at the bottom of Old Womans Lane.
Sunday 12/10 saw the wind switch to a very light NE, giving faint hope of some birds making the leap across the North Sea. As it was, a wander from the caravan, into Wells Woods produced quite a bit of fog, but zero signs of any new arrivals. In fact it was dead! With little happening and really a need to get home, I reluctantly decided to hit the road back to south Northants!
Before leaving Norfolk, I made one short stop off, to have a nother look at the Lesser Yellowlegs in case it would show any closer. Pleasingly it did and I was able to take it in at closer quarters and get a few half decent pics too! A good end to a brief, but fun couple of days with the boys and keep up our Mid-October birding tradition! Hopefully longer next year.
My standout highlight of August and September was the appearance of a lovely crisp juvenile American Golden Plover that graced Clifford GPs, Northampton from 30/09, before eventually ending up at Pitsford Reservoir for a while.
On hearing the news of it's discovery and subsequent ID, I successfully got a pass from my other half to skip the kiddies bath/bedtime and head straight over to Clifford Hill from work - result! AGP was undoubtedly my biggest bogey bird, having probably tried 5 or 6 times to see one previously without success. It was also a potential county tick, so a bit of a must see!
After enduring the Towcester and Northampton roadworks traffic to get there, I began my walk along the bank around the NW corner of the lake, towards the north shore where the AGP had been residing. It was no surprise, knowing my luck with AGP that a message then promptly came through saying it had flown high and away 'until a distant spec', having been flushed by a bloody hot air balloon (which I could clearly see above my head!). I could not believe it - all that effort and to be actually on site too. Having got over the initial dismay, I gathered myself to stake out the north shore for a while just in case, having heard it had been quite mobile earlier in the day at times.
After about 10-15 mins of standing scanning through what was there, I happened to glance up to see a wader flying in over my head from the diection of town, simuotaneously calling - a call not instantly familiar. Sure enough, my luck was in - the AGP was back...phew!
A real sense of relief arrived instantly, although it took it's time to land, circling for sometime right to the far side of the lake, before eventually settling on the N shore with a Ringed Plover already there.
It went on to give really nice scope views for the next half hour. It was great to enjoy one not peaking out of a flock of 100s of Goldies and to take in all the features and a leasurely pace. The elegant shape was particularly noticable,more so than I expected.
Finally, American Golden Plover had fallen and a pleasure for it to fall in good old Northants, my home county!
Back to more local fare, probably the main highlight from August and September was a juvenile Little Stint at Boddington Reservoir, thats stuck around long enough for me to catch it on 15/09, hanging out with 9 Ringed Plover - plus a couple of Ruff that had been around a while. Actually, only my second ever LS locally, so a worthy trip for sure.
Other local birds of note included a surprise Firecrest at Hinton Airfield, several yearticks with 7 Cattle Egret near Lower Keyford (first of the year), Whinchat, Greenshank, Redshank and Red Crested Pochard. Also a couple of smart juv Med Gulls at Grimsbury, Wheatear, Mandarin and Great White Egret among other things.
Lastly, I had a few days in north Norfolk with the family, towards the end of August. Not any serious birding really, however did get lovely views of a 1cy Caspian Gull by Cromer Pier, while a walk at Titchwell, did produce views of a couple of Little Stint, Great White Egret and Spoonbill amonsgt the regular visitors, seen from the path.
