I'd been wondering about the brief Linnet call I'd had a few days ago and it was bugging me I'd heard one so early in such cold conditions, not at all typical for our sightings of them.
knowing what I needed to check I spent 10 minutes on Xeno, it confirms my hunch that it was actually Brambling flight call not Linnet I heard.
Linnet is so hard to get over DP now, but they do drop in and fly over, so I'll be keeping my ears open to add another new species.
I'm only 9 behind the park now and most are still likely, except Crossbill and Red-legged Partridge, though I only got 1 Linnet last year.
Sunday, 14 April 2019
Cool start, hot finish
I woke early yesterday and was parking in the lay-by at 05:36, by 05:36 and 5 seconds I could hear the first Cuckoo, sounding like it was in the 'usual spot' - behind Teal scrape. It was freezing, only minus 2-3, but felt very cold.
I went straight on through to Lea Farm Lake and it carried on calling, but went by left at 05:59.
The Sedge Warbler was calling, the 30 or so Sand Martin whirling, a Redwing called, but to be frank it was dead quiet. About 12 Teal still lingering, 3-4 Shoveler.
I went home 08:00 due to family commitments. by 13:20 Geoff was calling to say a couple had just walked into Ron's hide and asked "how long has the Avocet been on the bund at Tern scrape?"
At Bittern hide by 13:28 and there was the Avocet, half obscured by the bund, I quickly put the news out as still present, quite quickly it moved and headed nearer the hide, then over the bund into the scrape.
I can't believe the last record was 2008!
I went straight on through to Lea Farm Lake and it carried on calling, but went by left at 05:59.
The Sedge Warbler was calling, the 30 or so Sand Martin whirling, a Redwing called, but to be frank it was dead quiet. About 12 Teal still lingering, 3-4 Shoveler.
At Bittern hide by 13:28 and there was the Avocet, half obscured by the bund, I quickly put the news out as still present, quite quickly it moved and headed nearer the hide, then over the bund into the scrape.
I can't believe the last record was 2008!
Friday, 12 April 2019
A day to remember
The 9th did not look like much of a day at 07:00, 3 Common Gull were nice, 3 Redwing over may be the last of this winter period, but it's fair to say nothing much was happening in he misty drizzle coming from the East.
So when Geoff texted to say Curlew and 2 Wheatear, it was time to shift on down to LFL and I arrived around 12:35, picking up the Curlew and one of the Wheatear relatively quickly. Whilst searching for the Wheatear, I found 3 White Wagtail, then 2 male Yellow Wagtail, but that wasn't the whole story either, while tracking one of the Yellow Wagtail a small brown bird was moving under the lush water's edge vegetation and as it was staying so low, my heart was racing at the prospect of something good.
When it did appear, it was a confusing few minutes, a pipit for sure, but rather dull, a bit olive, but strong malar, or moustacial stripe, but views were obscured by the vegetation and distance. It eventually flew into deeper stuff and I decided to dismiss it as never likely to show well enough. But 15 minutes later and it was out again, better for a few moments and showed white outer tail feathers and Trevor noted the facial markings again.
That was the best of the views and Trev and I did our own 'research' after, I found a nice blog from a Seaton birder on Water and Rock Pipit, including Scandinavian and my conclusion is that we were looking at a winter plumage Scandinavian Rock.
I left but others then found a Whimbrel which was gone by the time I got back at 16:30.
I will not be submitting any description to the rarities committee of the Rock Pipit
Two days later on the 11th I was out with my good friend John, on arrival I heard Linnet go over, nice start, A Sedge Warbler jumped around in front for a few moments too, then as we left Bittern hide later a very pale Pipit came over just above tree level, lightly streaked and looking only like a Tree Pipit would, it went over the new wet meadow and landed in the trees behind the Oaks, but out of view and was lost.
I'm still only on 105!
So when Geoff texted to say Curlew and 2 Wheatear, it was time to shift on down to LFL and I arrived around 12:35, picking up the Curlew and one of the Wheatear relatively quickly. Whilst searching for the Wheatear, I found 3 White Wagtail, then 2 male Yellow Wagtail, but that wasn't the whole story either, while tracking one of the Yellow Wagtail a small brown bird was moving under the lush water's edge vegetation and as it was staying so low, my heart was racing at the prospect of something good.
When it did appear, it was a confusing few minutes, a pipit for sure, but rather dull, a bit olive, but strong malar, or moustacial stripe, but views were obscured by the vegetation and distance. It eventually flew into deeper stuff and I decided to dismiss it as never likely to show well enough. But 15 minutes later and it was out again, better for a few moments and showed white outer tail feathers and Trevor noted the facial markings again.
That was the best of the views and Trev and I did our own 'research' after, I found a nice blog from a Seaton birder on Water and Rock Pipit, including Scandinavian and my conclusion is that we were looking at a winter plumage Scandinavian Rock.
I left but others then found a Whimbrel which was gone by the time I got back at 16:30.
I will not be submitting any description to the rarities committee of the Rock Pipit
Two days later on the 11th I was out with my good friend John, on arrival I heard Linnet go over, nice start, A Sedge Warbler jumped around in front for a few moments too, then as we left Bittern hide later a very pale Pipit came over just above tree level, lightly streaked and looking only like a Tree Pipit would, it went over the new wet meadow and landed in the trees behind the Oaks, but out of view and was lost.
I'm still only on 105!
Monday, 1 April 2019
Enjoying the light
While the slow plod adding things to the year list continues, I have been tinkering with the mobile pics again, having no adapter currently makes it real hard to get a decent shot but here are some okay ones
Sunday morning I did catch up with Swallow, one over Lea Farm Lake another heading North over Sandford. Shoveler numbers remain high for this time of year, I've checked all records and 80-90 is an insanely high number for late March, but so wonderful they are choosing here to gather before departing...who knows a pair might like to think about having a stab at breeding? If that happened it would be incredibly rare for Berkshire and not something we'd advertise.
Sunday morning I did catch up with Swallow, one over Lea Farm Lake another heading North over Sandford. Shoveler numbers remain high for this time of year, I've checked all records and 80-90 is an insanely high number for late March, but so wonderful they are choosing here to gather before departing...who knows a pair might like to think about having a stab at breeding? If that happened it would be incredibly rare for Berkshire and not something we'd advertise.
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