Fourth Time Lucky

 I had planned to check out Gayhurst Quarry this morning, but woke to find quite a dense fog so a change of plan was required.
 I decided to have another try for the Bearded Tits at Walton. Today I was not pushed for time so planned to stick it out as long as it took to see them.
 Arriving at 7:30ish I planted myself at the end of the boardwalk and decided to make a list of all the birds seen while I waited.
Mallard and Moorhen flew off as I walked down and  Great, Blue and Long-tailed Tit,Blackbird, Mistle Thrush, Fieldfare, Robin and Starling were seen. Corvids were represented by Carrion Crow, Jackdaw, Magpie and Jay. Woodpigeons were plentiful and a constant stream of Lesser-black backed , Herring and Black-headed Gulls leaving their overnight roost at Willen passed over. 2 or 3 Water Rails squealed from deep cover and a Cormorant passed by. A flock of 5 Siskins became 12 and then finally 22, Thirty Goldfinches and a few Chaffinch were present.
 An hour had passed very quickly with no sight or sound of the 'quarry birds', so I was pleased when extra help arrived in the form of Kenny Kramer.
 Half an hour later we were delighted to finally hear the 'pinging' of a group of Bearded Tits not too far off into the reeds. It took us a while to actually see them, but it seemed  once I had it was as though they thought 'Oh well he's finally seen us we better put on a decent show' and for the next 15 minutes or so all 4 ( 2 male, 2 female) birds flew around the reeds, perched up in the nearby saplings and flew above the reedbed. At one point 3 of them flew off to the other side, but the remaining female called them back to us.
 A very welcome Bucks tick for me and a 'Lifer' for Kenny.

Another episode of the Waltons

I finally got back to Walton Lakes today to see if I could see the Bearded Tits that were still present and been seen by the world and his wife since Paul had found them last week.
 An early visit before work saw me disturbing a Water Rail from under the boardwalk and a Snipe from the front of the Platform, also a  flock of around a dozen Siskins from the top of the nearby Alders.
 I did hear the Beardies at one point but they never came out into the open.
This meant a return visit at lunchtime. Gen was already there and hadn't seen them and  in short time I was there there was no sight nor sound. Looks like I'll have to go back.

Dipping Out in Norfolk

Paul and I spent the day in Norfolk mainly missing out on everything we went for. An enjoyable day but extremely frustrating.

First stop was Welney where a routine stop would see us grab a lifer for Paul in the shape of the Glossy Ibis.
..Wrong! Arriving at first light there was no sign..this was to be the day it chose to have a lie-in. We stayed until 9 without seeing it and decided we had to move on.( the inevitable text came through that it appeared at 9:55)

Cley was next where there had been all sorts of good birds around all week including an American Golden Plover, which I was desperate to see. We started off at the beach hoping if someone else located the bird they would put out the news, meanwhile we could go and find some of the other goodies that might be around.

 There was an obvious passage of Kittiwakes going on, a very late Arctic Tern hung around the Coastguards, a Red-throated Diver was close in and a reasonable flock of Common Scoter was seen, but other than that the sea was quiet.

 Popping in to North Hide, the obvious highlight was not 1, not 2, but three Grey Phalaropes on the marsh. Other than that it was pretty standard fare, a large number of Pintail being notable.

Disappointingly no Snow or Lapland Buntings or Shore Larks were found.

                                                                                     Brent Geese at Cley

 With no word on the Plover we moved on to Holkham which the previous day had hosted  a flock of some 65 Lapland Buntings, surely we would find them !

 I can honestly say I've never Known Holkham so bird-dead and we didn't see anything worthy of note.

                                                                           

 The day was turning into a bit of a washout, so a trip to reliable old Titchwell was called for - surely that wouldn't let us down.
 A flock of Twite near the New Parrinder Hide was good and a flock of 11 Shore Lark on the beach was even better. A Yellow-legged Gull in the gathering Gull roost failed to raise the spirits and we set off for home feeling a day that had promised so much had failed to come up with the goods - I don't think I've ever felt that way about Norfolk, maybe familiarity is breeding contempt !

Elusive Beardies

I took a call from Paul this lunchtime who excitedly told me he'd just found one maybe two Bearded Tits at Walton Balancing Lakes.
 As this is a very rare bird in Bucks, I just had to go. It was starting to rain so I wouldn't have been able to work anyway.
 Arriving on site Paul said the bird had just disappeared into the vast reedbed, so it was just a question of waiting, looking and listening. I did a lap of the wetland before returning to the boardwalk and after about an hour there was the unmistakeable 'chink' of a Beardie right out in front followed the answering call of another off to the right. I could see the reeds moving but not any birds, then a movement through the foliage but nothing definite. They then drifted off again and despite a couple of odd calls that was it. Hopefully they will stick around so I get the chance to get a proper look.
 Great find by Paul.
Other birds seen on site were a couple of Shoveler, Coot, Moorhen, Water Rail and Reed Buntings.

A visit to Stockgrove Park

I had the opportunity to pop into Stockgrove Park today, just over the county boundary in Beds.

As usual someone had put some seed on the fenceposts and the regular Nuthatches, Great, Blue, Coal and Marsh Tits came down steal some.

                                            A rather scraggy looking Nuthatch

                                                Coal Tit

Jays were plentiful and there seemed to be several reasonable sized flocks of Siskins around.

 Down on the lake about 30 Mandarins were present hiding amongst the bankside Rhododendron bushes, along with an equal number of Mallards.

                                              Drake Mandarin

 I later took a look at Back Wood to see the large Finch flock that is feeding in the Game Strip there. These were increbibly mobile and it was difficult to scrutinise what was in there, but I would hazard a rough guess of 50 Greenfinch, 30 Chaffinch and 20 Bramblings.
Looking over the woods a Buzzard was soaring and better still a Peregrine zoomed over.

Making the Extra Hour Count.

All week I've been hearing people say 'Oh we put the clocks back this weekend. An extra hour in bed!'
 Well you can keep your extra snooze time. I was up and out at half five to make use of this extra time, heading to Welney to catch up with a Glossy Ibis that had been performing to anyone who cared to go and see it for the best part of a week.
 I timed my arrival  for my latest visit to 'Nelson's County' for first light, and parked up at the recommended site. Finding the field where the bird had been seen, there was no sign, but I figured it probably hadn't yet left it's roost so I stood around waiting for it to arrive.
 I could hear wild Swans on the WWT reserve and several groups of mainly Whoopers but with a few Bewicks flew low overhead as they headed off for their days grazing on the nearby fields.. A Marsh Harrier flew across and a Barn Owl hunted in a neighbouring meadow.
 By now more birders had arrived and all it needed was our bird to show, and indeed it did. At 7:25 exactly the unmistakeable shape of a big brown  bird with a long curved beak was seen to fly in from the west and land in it's chosen field. When I've seen these birds previously they always been quite elusive hiding in the long grass or reeds, but this one was just 50 yards away and out in the open, the light of the sun bringing out the colours on it's back.

 Having seen my target bird early I decided to take a look at the nearby Ouse Washes Reserve to see what was around.
 I noticed there had been reports of Curlew Sandpipers on the reserve, so I thought I would have another go for them. Unfortunately it was from the Stevens Hide, the furthest one, some 3 kilometers from the car park, but what the hell, nothing ventured.....
 The walk was fairly uneventful with small flocks of Reed Buntings, Pied Wagtails and Meadow Pipits on the track ahead. More Whoopers flew overhead and many Wigeon, Mallard and Teal on the pools of the yet unflooded Washes.
A massive flock of Lapwings and Golden Plovers numbered at least a couple of thousand, several Snipe and a couple of Bar-tailed Godwits were seen in flight.
 Having endured the long trek (stroll ?) to the very end hide, my efforts were unfortunately not to be rewarded - no Curlew Sands and not even one of the 75 Ruff that were reported to be there.

Goldies are here

 A trip to Gayhurst this lunchtime produced all the regular crew, with the exception of Little Egrets - I can't remember ever not seeing them here - and the Goose flock had gone off wandering.
 Thirty Golden Plovers were the first notable flock of the autumn. - I later bumped into Chris Coppock who said he'd just seen a flock of around 500 !!
 Lapwings were numerous also with around a hundred present.
10 Siskins were a nice surprise within a small flock of Goldfinches that were frequenting the Alders by Spinney Pit.
 Hides around the Fishing Pit have been rebuilt so I guess shooting will start any day now !