1st March:
Pete and I headed up the A12 towards Abberton Reservoir
passing a single Waxwing in Harold Hill on the way perched on top of some
bright red Dogwood. Goldeneye were everywhere and many were displaying but
there was no sign of the Long-tailed Duck. Two Goosander and 12 Ruddy Duck were
noted before we headed for East Mersea.
We were after the single Shorelark at Mersea Stone and with
luck found it at the very end quietly grovelling in the loose company of about 30
Sanderlings. A Essex lifer to boot and a
very smart individual. A male Merlin dashed across and with a squall coming in
we made our way to Fingringhoe Wick for lunch. The tide was all the way out by
now with all the usual waders spread out across the mud. A ringtail Hen Harrier
and female Merlin were the only raptors seen out across Langenhoe Ranges.
Shorelark
2nd March:
The Chase Pine Bunting was still with his Yellowhammer
buddies and the six LEOs were still napping.
4th March:
Back to the Chase once again, this time with Pete and the Pine
Bunt performed incredibly well in the bright sunshine with 16 Yellowhammers. A brightly
plumaged singing Chiffchaff was quite probably a migrant rather than one of our
drab wintering ones.
On to Duckwood where 12 Hawfinches performed brilliantly and
some were even singing before we made our way up to Hanningfield Reservoir
where 16 Goldeneye and 84 Wigeon were counted from the causeway but the Ruddy
Duck flock was on the south pool and 70 were counted including many bubbling
males in full display. A ‘typically polite, warm hearted’ water company
official then threw us off for trespassing…
7th-8th March:
A busy weekend moving ponds around the garden at home
resulted in sore hands, an aching back, a small financial gain, a Coal Tit,
four Chaffinches, a Greenfinch with a white tail and a garden tick in the shape
of a single Greylag over with Canadas!
9th March:
An after Poly visit to Hall Marsh resulted in no Little Ringed
Plovers but a pair of Greylag were notable along with nine Snipe, three
Goldeneye, 200 Siskin, Green Woodpecker and two Willow Tits. [Eds: Just remember
that… Greylag notable… Willow Tit casual mention]
11th March:
I picked up Nigel Pepper in Ongar at 10am for a day out in
Essex and after a look at his amazing music gig images and re-identifying a
poorly rescued Meadow Pipit in the aviary as a Skylark, [Eds: no errant
Catharus thrushes were noted…] we headed across country to a windy Hanningfield
Reservoir. Fifty Ruddy Ducks were counted and three Sand Martins became my
earliest ever.
On to Abberton where despite the wind and cold we did manage
to find and count 212 Goldeneye, 14 Ruddy Ducks, 500 Wigeon, four Bewick’s Swans,
12 Russian White-fronts, two male Pintail, two Oystercatchers, 42 Dunlin, a
Ruff and a flock of 343 Fieldfare.
It was far too windy to try Mersea so we sat it out at Fingringhoe
and despite being high tide the Colne only offered two Great Crested Grebes and
32 Red-breasted Mergansers. A smart Ringed Plover and two Avocet were seen
amongst other species and a ringtail Hen Harrier quartered.
We stopped at Horseford Bridge on the way home where Nigel’s pair of Little Owls duly obliged.
Such perpetually shocked looking faces!
14th March:
With winds in the south-west Pete and I headed to Dungeness
in the hope of some migrants. We were to be disappointed with just a White
Wagtail and a single Med Gull for our troubles. The reserve and ARC were dead
so we headed to Scotney which was more productive with 2m and 3f Scaup, a
Russian White-front and two flying Long-tailed Ducks which were a welcome year
tick.
Back east now to Folkestone with me dozing en route and
awake again somewhere just outside town where we stopped for lunch with a 2nd
year Med Gull drifting through on cue. And only briefly stopping for a ready salted crisp. The drizzle came and went and was fortunately
in the latter phase when we got to Copt Point where 22 Med Gulls of various ages
milled about [Eds: This was the Med Gull hot spot at the time].
North now to Stodmarsh for the first time this year. We walked
all the way around to the flooded meadows at Grove Ferry and scanned around for
the Glossy Ibis. It was a lovely sunny evening and so we watched the field and
hoped it would appear. There were lots
of ducks and Herons but no Ibis while a lone ringtail Hen Harrier hunted along
the back and a flight of 32 Mute Swans made a strange sight.
At 4.20pm we were beckoned back to our original spot by
another birder and I have to admit to deserting Pete and running back to the
pools where the Ibis was happily on show.
For once the flying hocky stick was a richly coloured proper Ibis decked
out in chestnuts, bronzes and greens. A male Hen Harrier was patrolling the
sallows and a second ringtail dropped in to round up the day. [Eds: My journal
does not say whether Pete caught me up but I suspect he did]
Glossy Ibis
15th March:
My last look at the Chase Pine Bunting as it left two days
later. Despite the rain it was feeding in the shelter of some bushes with the
Yellowhammer flock and a solitary Corn Bunting.
A Water Pipit was a superb find though and Jackdaw was also a notable
find that morning. After a sugarless cup of tea in the portacabin I headed for
home in the peeing rain.
20th March:
At last a Med Gull on Chingford Rugby Club fields. I check
then on my way to Poly and was pleased to find a 1st year plodding
around.
 |
| Med Gull |
21st March:
Roy W came home from Aberystwyth this weekend for the Pine Bunting
but of course it had moved on. A quick whizz round produced three Long-eared Owls,
a Corn Bunting once again and a noticeable fall of 30 smart, fresh Meadow Pipits
with a single Tree Pipit amongst them.
22nd March:
Aldwick on the outskirts of Bognar Regis was the destination
for Pete and I as we staked out some gardens for the first ever wintering UK
Pallas’s Warbler. The bird was frequenting small well vegetated cul-de-sac
gardens and so its appearances were erratic but we got lucky and it popped up
after just five minutes allowing superb scope views. A well marked bird but
oddly brighter on one side than the other. It was hyperactive and appeared to
be on piece of rather stretchy elastic. It called once – a loud ‘too-eek’ and
was the first time that I have ever heard one call. Feeling chuffed at seeing
this tricky bird so quickly we packed up and headed west towards Church Norton
passing a ringtail Hen Harrier over the car as we left.
 |
| Pallas’s Warbler |
At Ferry Pool a Little Ringed Plover was sheltering of of
the fierce wind and probably wishes it had never left Africa and three
Wheatears similarly found their way onto my year list. Church Norton was even
windier but this did not prevent three Chiffchaffs from heartily singing.
Waders were few but included Grey Plovers and a Blackwit in summer plumage already.
The sea was rough but only held Mallard, Mergansers and an obliging Slavonian
Grebe. Lunch with a bald Robin in the car park and then to Selsey Bill where as
usual we saw nothing. With that we came home across the hilly Sussex and Surrey
countryside.
25th March:
The Slack at the Chase was fairly quiet with 16 Shovelers,
12 Teal and 15 Snipe and the Meadow Pipit flock was still around. There were now five singing Chiffchaffs and
the greyish ‘tristis’ type bird was also still around.
28th March- 3rd April:
Girvan Geology Field Trip – South-west Scotland:
The long coach journey up produced a few goodies including
three Peregrines, Buzzards and Ravens and by travelling along the coast I added
two Red-throated Divers, two Whooper Swans, Curlews, Oystercatchers and a female
Merlin!
Gannets and Eiders were seen every day and Black Guillemot
and Black-throated Divers were useful year ticks too. Other jaunts out produced
Peregrine, Common Scoters, Dippers, Crossbills, Whimbrel (1st
April), Wheatear (1st April), Swallow (30th March) and a
male Ring Ouzel (31st March) with a total of 92 species logged and
five new year birds in total.
[Eds: This was my very first Poly/Uni field trip and
probably only my third time ever away from home. It was great and actually
awakened my interest in the landscape around me. Being able to bird and learn
stuff at the same time suited me down to the ground. I can remember naive nights
in the hotel bar and being introduced to (but avoiding playing) beer drinking
games, a bloated sheep on a beach that one of the lads – Dom I think – leapt onto
thinking it was a rock, to searching for local Agate pebbles on a beach, lots
of cold rain and the volcanic plug of Ailsa Craig offshore in the Firth of
Clyde]
It's the Queen of Spades Phil!
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