Lytham St Anne's

On Saturday my Dad and I travelled up north to Lytham St Anne's for the adult Ross's Gull that had been seen there the day before. This bird is another one that has eluded us for a few years so was hoping to connect with it and by early morning there was no sign so we decided to head to Marshside RSPB where we saw plenty of avocets, Blackwits and the usual stuff and then after an hour or so we decided to head back to Fairhaven Lake in hope that it would turn up and as we arrived bleep bleep Ross's Gull so we quickly drove a mile down th road to see it sat on the beach sheltering from the wind, we waited another hour or so and had stunning views of this adult gull down to 30ft and some good photo's was taken. We left at around half 4 arriving home shortly after half 8.






Ross's Gull taken at Lytham St Anne's, Lancs



Adult Ross's Gull taken at Lytham St Anne's, Lancs

Little Crake, Exminster Marshes

Today my dad and I travelled to Exminster Marshes RSPB, Devon for the superb male Little Crake which had been showing down to 20ft but we had heard that this bird was extremely difficult to photograph despite its close proximity.


We arrived on site at around half 11 to find the bird had just flown to ourside of the reeds which was unviewable however after 10 or so minutes the bird flew back across the ditch and continued to show well but the problem now was the reeds and the wind, just as u got the bird in focus a reed came into view and then it unfocused and it kept doing this repeatedly so only a few record shots were managed. We left at 3:00pm after it had disappeared 4 about 3 hrs.






record shot of the Male Little Crake at Exminster Marshes Devon.

Dungeness RSPB

News broke at around half 9 of a Dark Eyed Junco at Dungeness so straight away my Dad and I was on our way without any hesitation as we missed the last bird (in Norfolk due to hesitation) we arrived on site at about 3 hrs later due to a poor journey but after a few minutes I had my first view of this little cracker which was a 1w bird.

We waited another good 1hr so that my dad could see the bird and eventually the bird sat in a bush for about 30 minutes for all to see however my pics of this bird was pretty poor as we had limited time and it wasn't as obliging as the pager 1st suggested.

Poor record shot of the 1st winter Dark Eyed Junco taken at

Dungeness!

Cornwall

Yesteday My Dad and I left Hedge End at 4.00am to leave for cornwall because of the recent Hume's Yellow Browed/Leaf Warbler that had been present in Cot Valley. Before we went one thing was bothering us, this would be our sixth attempt for this bird and we hadn't had it yet so would this be the case again?

Thankfully is wasn't after we had found the site along with another birder we had stunning views of this quite strikingly pale individual, whilst there we had the bird calling which is the main way we found it and we left at about 10:30am.

Record shot of Hume' Leaf Warbler taken at Cot valley.

After this we dropped into Drift to look for the 15 Cattle Egrets that had been present at Treganhoe Farm for quite a while, well we found the farm alrite but no sign of any birds so after about an hour we gave up and went to Mount's Bay to look for some Divers and sure enough we had a nice Great Northern Diver close inshore while I was photographing around 25 Purple Sands on the rocks below the Jubilee Pool.

Purple Sand taken at Jubilee Pool.

Purple sand again Jubilee Pool

Purple Sand.

Purple Sand.

Purple Sand.

Purple Sand.

We then went back to Drift but this time I looked at the white birds in the distant fields which I didn't bother to look and what do you know there they were three in flight briefly drifting over a hedge, Therefore we went up to Sancreed and we found a Footpath that leaded towards the Fram so we parked up by the Church and then walked down the Footpath.

5mins later we were stood at the field where the Egrets were but unfortunately there was a thick hedge however this didn't stop the Cattle from moving up to us and they brought the Egrets with them and luckily for me I managed to find a little hole in the Hedge which was just big enough for my lense and I managed some pleasing shots of a close individual.

1 Cattle Egret of 15 present.

Cattle Egret again.

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Blashford Lakes HWT

On the 28th of December my Dad and I went down to Blashford Lakes as they have had a good spell of decent birds which include Cattle Egret, Great White Egret, Bittern, Red Necked Grebe and a couple of Black Necks.


First of all we visited the Feeding station and got Siskins one of which was a superb male (see photo) also all of the usual. Moving on we headed for the Ivy North hide where the Bittern had been showing and after about an hours wait it produced no more than a Moorhen but then a Water Rail flew out from the reeds (Patch tick) and immediatley after the Bittern strolled out of the reeds and swam straight (another patch tick) for us until it reached the Nearest reeds where I managed some shots, after about 5mins it walked back into the reeds where it came and we moved on.

Then we went for the Cattle Egret nearby but it flew off just before we got there and wasn't seen again that evening. Finally we stopped off at Mockbeggar to see the Great White Egret and this we managed to see but unfortunately we didn't see all 5 species of heron present we only managed 4.






The Bittern which showed well from the Ivy North Hide.

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Keyhaven Marshes

On the 27th December my Dad and I went down to Keyhaven Marshes to look for the Long Tailed Ducks and Velvet Scoters. During our stay we managed to see both but not much else of interest just the usual. On the way back we stopped off at Sowley Pond to see if we could find a Bittern, we failed but saw another LTD.

West Sussex 2

On the 26th December my family and I travelled down to Southwick again to try and get better pics of the Little Auk and the Long Tailed duck but would be happy with a view of the Glaucous Gull. When we arrived we went straight to Hove Lagoon to look for the Long Tailed Duck and this time it was showing down to 3oft but also the light was amazing so some good shots/views were had, then we went to look for the Little Auk however this didn't show aswell and I was lucky to get any shots at all. We again missed the Glaucous Gull but it apparantly flew over our heads whilst watching the Little Auk!
On the way home we stopped of at Titchfield Haven NR to look for the Bittern and Iceland Gull but we left with neither however we did get some nice views of Pochard from the bridge.

Long Tailed Duck taken at Hove Lagoon.

Long Tailed Duck again.....

Long Tailed Duck again.....

and again....

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