1st June:
James phoned to tell me that the White-throated Sparrow was
back at Fagbury Cliff and so after picking him up in East Ham we headed to
Colchester to collect Pete and Jill Pyke before carrying on. Needless to say it
was a futile effort as it had once again disappeared leaving several hundred
grumpy birders. James wanted to stay the night but I thought it best if I took
him home or his Mum may have been a bit annoyed with me…
2nd June:
Last night I swore I not go back for the Sparrow but a call
from Johnny Allen send Pete and I heading back up there for another Sparrowless
afternoon. We saw a Firecrest and a
Spotted Flycatcher and frustratingly two new arrivals saw the Sparrow for a few
seconds without realising that everyone else was out of view 30m further
on. They thought they were the only ones
there!
5th June:
The poxy White-throated Sparrow had relocated a short way to
similar habitat alongside the Trimley track and had settled in to a pattern so
I dashed up after my Friday lectures and thankfully was not disappointed. What
a cracking little bird. There was no
sign of the male Black-headed Bunting seen here the day before but at least I
got the Sparrow after all the effort I had put in.
[Eds: This was the golden period of Fagbury Cliff and Trimley with a wave of common and drift migrants and superb rarities that were lured down but the new and ridiculously bright lights of the new part of Felixstowe Docks - when they were changed under public pressure I believe, this migrant hotspot once more just became a patch of scrub and trees that were not even really on the coast but it was great while it lasted. My notes also say that this is the day that I discovered the mistake in my life list tally mentioned in the May post – I seemed quite distraught!]
7th June:
Another visit to Trimley as part of a family visit to my
grandparents in Felixstowe with the added bonus of a singing Greenish Warbler
as well as the now showy White-throated Sparrow. The Greenish was very showy and was bar far
my best view of one ever.
8th June:
Sheer bloody madness! I got home from Uni in the afternoon
and Stewart rang in a panic. A male Mamora’s Warbler had been trapped and
ringed at Spurn and so after getting to Newmarket we sped north through rain
and fog. About a 100 people had turned up in the still deteriorating weather
and were stood staring at its chosen patch of Sea Buckthorn.
It was about 150feet long by 30 wide and had been wisely
taped off to stop ornithological incursions although the Buckthorn should have
deterred most! It had been showing on and off before we arrived but had gone to
ground. It was being constantly harassed by tape [Ed: yes, with proper tape
recorders the size of a cereal box!] wielding birders but there was not a
squeak in response. At 7.30pm with
visibility quite bad it suddenly appeared through the fog on top of a piece of
burnt gorse sang loudly and then flew a short way before disappearing once
again. Phew. Not exactly the best of views but…
 |
| Mamora’s Warbler |
[Eds: in retrospect this was one of those occasions that we
should have stayed over and kipped in the car as the fog lifted the next
morning and the bird showed well]
11th June:
A fun day was spent dipping Rose-coloured Starlings in Essex
at Manningtree and Layer Marny.
14th June:
Unbelievably a Booted Warbler had been found in the same
clump at Spurn that the Mamora’s Warbler had been frequenting earlier in the
week. I joined Peter G and Julian for the jaunt north but we tactfully started
our day at Fen Drayton so that we would be a little closer if the bird was
still there. The lack of Red-footed
Falcon and Red-necked Grebe meant that a phone call to Birdline at 9.30 had us
heading north.
There was quite a congregation of birders on site and
thankfully our quarry showed within seconds as it sat on top of the Sea
Buckthorn singing its heart out.
It hated Lesser Redpolls for some reason and viciously
defended its patch to the extent that it would fly all the way to the other end
to duff one up! Leaving the Booted Warbler chattering away we headed back to
the main car park where an elusive male Rosefinch had been for a week. It had
not been seen for four hours but we were in luck and it appeared deep in the
Buckthorn for a few seconds when the only bits seen were the vivid strawberry
red head and upperbreast, steely grey bill and blackberry eye.
 |
| Rosefinch |
Julian had missed it and still needed Rosefinch so I left
them to it and went back to the car, had some lunch, put the radio on and did
some revision. When the lads returned they had been unlucky but had news of one
a few miles up the road in Patrington.
On arrival at the petrol station we could not work out where to go but
suddenly we could hear a Rosefinch singing but still not fathom a way in! Fortunately two birders mysteriously appeared
and showed us the secretive way in!
Once behind the buildings we could hear the birder better – a
collection of five eerily beautiful notes but it took a further ten minutes to
locate this 1st summer brown male.
It was nice to be able to actually watch one properly for a change. All my previous sightings had been
brief. Another male started to sing from
a Sallow further down the river and others had seen a female being fed by a
male. [Eds: We all thought that this was
colonisation time but although the odd pair bred for a few years it never
really happened].
Rosefinch
We watched the Rosefinch for an hour and then headed for
home via Fen Drayton where the immaculate summer plumaged Red-necked Grebe was
swiftly found. This was my first in such
a plumage and well worth the wait. We spent
the rest of this beautiful day sitting around looking for Hobbies and talking
to the Chapman family.
 |
| Red-necked Grebe |
21st June:
Peter G and I headed down to St Margarets
but although the wind was a little strong we still had great views of one of
the singing Marsh Warblers. A long walk
along the cliff top did not produce any Peregrines but the Kittiwake colony was
thriving. [Eds: is this even here any more?]
 |
| Kittiwake s |
22nd June:
Paul Whiteman and I headed out on a purely butterfly based
twitch and we spent the morning working out way through the trails of Salcey
Forest near Milton Keynes. Black
Hairstreak was our main target and we got good views of several although they
liked to stay high up for the most part. We also had White Admirals, Wood
Whites, Large Skippers, Meadow Browns. Ringlets, Small and Large Whites,
Peacocks, Red Admirals and Common Blues. Brown and Southern Hawkers were
patrolling the rides.
A stop on the way home at Totternhoe Knoll near Dunstable
with many Small Blues on the Kidney Vetch and we also added Small Heath to the
day list. There were huge poppy fields
and swathes of blue Flax and three male Quails busily proclaimed their discrete
presence while Corn Buntings jangled around the edges.
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