Bonxie 31/12/09

Third day now for the Skua, will it stay another day? for tomorrow is the start of the Patch listing compition, with a few more doing it this year should be very interesting!! Me and Jono the filthy year lister will start at the crack of dawn at the silts to pick up Barn and short-eared owls as well as the bonus of buzzard and merlin before picking up the serin, marsh harrier and bearded tit and the long staying skua!! Well, we will see.............

yes you will go down!

Lakeside & Skua

No its not a name for a Pub, but a call from H saying he has a Bonxie on the river from the centre brought our family shopping trip to Lakeside to a slight detour to Rainham (not for the first time must i add!) 5 mins later there i was dashing along the seawall where luckily a few off the boys were watching the bird as it loathed around on the ebbing tide, a great site & London tick.

Hopefuly a pic will appear here if the bird stay's.

Fishers Green 27/12/09

An afternoon stroll to walk off all that turkey and brussell sprouts, and to play with the camera (and dads lens which i still haven't gave back ha,ha) brought us to fishers green, along with all the rest of the world!! carpark was choco block full of dudes in there new festive bright clothing which probably gets aired once a year! any way a few pics in shit light, bad weather, dont know what im doing etc,etc.

What a Lovely Pair of Tits

Rainham marshes all to myself this morning, just like the good old day's!! thats the privelage of being a VBR (volunteer bird recorder) . A stunning pair of Bearded Tits showed very well on the southern boardwalk just up from the visitor centre, also male Peregrine hunting the targets and unusual high numbers of Fieldfare on the reserve with over 400 birds counted.

Mayesbrook Massive!!

OMG! 90 Gadwall this morning, a record count and surely a good london record for such an urban site! previous high counts were 69 last week and upto 35 on previous winters, also higher numbers of Shoveler (28) and Teal (6) Pochard (14) Tufted (22) and also 4 Snipe were another suprise, 3 Little Egret and Grey Wagtail were residents.

Gulls,Gulls,Gulls

Lets face it, its a bit like Marmite, you either love it or hate it. I actually dont mind them. Done the walk from the stone barges to cold harbour point onto ferry lane this morning and amongst the usual suspects found 12 adult, 2 2nd-winter Yellow legged gull, 1st winter Caspian gull and 1st winter Med gull.

STOPP PRESS- Monkey reported at rainham

News broke of several un-confirmed phone calls that Martin the blowmonkey was making his way to Rainham RSPB, having needed this species for a rm life and London tick. I dashed to Ferry Lane, calling Shaunboy on route who was idealy placed nearbye. We arrived together and began to suggest the best watch point for such a rare species to occur. Bagsy travelled down from Leicester and Jono as far as Wansted ,we eagerly awaited the monkey-mobil. Just as we were about to give up the little blue focus apppeared in the distance and before we knew it the Monkey was showing well down to several feet for all to see, unluckly my camera batteries were dead but hopefuly someone should have some pics.

Blowmonkey sp on scilly oct 09 (6th from right)

Male Dartford Warbler (Honest!)

Also supporting cast of several adult Yellow-legged gulls and a fine male Dartford warbler not a bad mornings stroll.

Serin

Managed a couple of record shots of the Serin this morning at Rainham.

probable female

Both birds showing well, and this bird a lot brighter than the other. female and a juv probably best bet, also a common buzzard low over wennington and green sandpiper and 7 fieldfare over.

How time fly's

Jack's been birding since day 1!

1 week old (hasn't got a chance)

19 months (Bou 72)

Serin's return to Rainham

With a report of 1 or 2 Serins reported (again, as 3+ birds were present last autumn) at the west end of the reserve, and a free afternoon off work, it was an ideal opportunity to go and check it out. I arrived at 12:30 and there were several local birders looking (inc Jono Leth, the filthy dirty year lister!). I gave it a couple of hours in blustery conditions and was about to leave when I picked the bird up in flight with a small flock of goldfinch, before disapearing from view.

A male Marsh Harrier was an added bonus hunting the reed bed by the owl box, until harrassed by local corvids and chased south of the river.

Male Marsh Harrier

Harrased by local corvids

Zitting Cisticola - 07/11/2009

Or Fan-tail to me and you!! Monkey Cabs picks me up at 06:00 sharp, for what would be attempt N0 2 for me and third time lucky for Monkey. All is well at 07:15 when we arrive at Pegwell bay, no wind and sun rising. We wait patiently at the reed bed in front of the car-park where the bird has been showing well all week!! A crowd of nearly 100 gather and at 08:00 we could here the bird singing in front off us. It was not long before we had cracking views of the bird perched openly on the saltmarsh, and even hovering to compete with the nearby stonechats.

Cracking little bird, also had a pair of Peregrines and a fem Merlin upsetting the wintering waders in the bay, and the odd ring-necked parakeet over.