Rye

A couple of pics from Rye Harbour NR from yesterday.

Whinchat

Managed an hour on the patch and found a stunning male Whinchat in the Bay this evening though again not being very cooperative with the camera as are the fifteen plus Wheatear still on site.

Corn Bunting at Barking

The Good run continues at Barking Bay with a Corn Bunting along the river path this afternoon despite model aircraft activity the bird showed well and even John archer managed to twitch the bird from the other side of the river with the little help from me running up and down like a sheep dog!!

Also a Little Ringed Plover was new for the year.

Monkey Strikes Back.......

Once again i find myself out with the Dip Monkey along with Shaunboy and Jono and it wasn't long before we were dipping a showy Hoopoe at West Canvey marsh, Savi's Warbler at Canvey Wick but we did get consolation in the now resident 1st summer Night Heron which looked like it was glued to its favourite perch so it probably wasn't gonna go far!

Ring Ouzel gives me run around.....

Back on the Patch this morning and a big influx of Whitethroats as well as 4 Lesser's (first for the year) several Yellow Wags over and some hurundine movement including Sand Martin and Swallow, 2 Singing Sedge Warblers were new for me as were 2 pair of adult Mediterranean Gulls flying up river and 3 Whimbrel in the Bay.

The female Ring Ouzel is still around and is playing hard to get and only managing record shots before it bolts from one side of the mound to the other.

Short-Eared Owl

Dave Mo discovers a Short-Eared Owl this morning on the patch and he watched the bird as it ditched down, ten hours later myself and young Jack flush the bird from the exact same spot and we watched the bird gain height and settle back down again, it was great to see this cracking bird as Barking Bay was a hot spot for this species back in the day but due to development and habitat loss this is probably a migrant rather than a late wintering bird.

Other birds of note was a Calling Cuckoo and a pair of Wheatear though we couldn't relocate the Ring Ouzel that has now been present for a least three day's, plenty of activity from the near bye Common Tern colony is always nice to hear.

all pics taken with Jack on my shoulders (got to blame someone for poor record pics!!)

Back To Birding

Saturday 03:30 me and filthy twitcher Lethbridge travel down to the New Forest in search of the Black Stork that had taken up residence, a crack of dawn start was essential as the bird was seen to roost in a favourable tree which when we arrived assumed we was in the right place but later on realised we were 300yds to far north!! not to be out smarted we then began to walk the favourite enclosure along the stream and flushed the bird from a boggy area and had stonking views as the bird climbed out the clearing and circled the wooded valley, shame both our camera's were still in our bags!!

We tracked the bird again and had distant views as it flew further up the valley.

Common Redstarts were in song along with Woodlark and Tree pipit, and also had a male Goshawk at the usual site, all this before lunch so we headed home for some browny points.

many thanks to Jono for keeping me awake for the trip !

Sunday: Barking Bay: 2 Whimbrel and a Greenshank were new for the year as was Reed Warbler.

Monday: Barking: 14 trilling Waxwings was a nice surprise outside the flat this evening, all to brief though!

Tuesday: Barking Bay: the good run continues as i find a female Ring Ouzel at dusk and added Cuckoo for the site.

Wedding Pics

Almost forgot !! the reason we went to Mexico was for Me and Lisa to get Married......

Pops and Jack

lisa's sister Cheryl and boyfriend Jamie

lisa's mum and dad

the gang

oh dear

The Patch

Basically you can bird anywhere from the Hotel gardens along the roads, on the Golf course (though did get thrown off most days!) all the hotels a carved out of the jungle so anywhere is good and i added different species everyday along these same route's, people are very friendly and i didn't feel uncomfortable anywhere.

Birding did get harder as the day got warmer so the first three hours of light was the most productive and late afternoons can be good.

Hotel Gardens

Surrounding streets

The Golf Course: very productive

Dump: good for flycatchers and warblers

Some of the local wildlife

Surprisingly i only saw one snake, though didn't really go looking for them!! Iguana's are all over and can be seen sunbathing mid morning onwards, Two com monist mammals were Agouti (like a large guinea pig) and White Nosed Coati (like a raccoon) we also had a family group of Howler Monkeys in the Hotel gardens, which really lived up to there names at about 5am each morning!

White-Nosed Coati

Agouti

Howler Monkey

Iguana