Faulty starter motor, but I'll get it fixed . Soukous BY 2020

[Soukous]

52 minutes ago, elefromoz said:

Cant be many people out in the reserves, looks like they are all at Bournemouth!

 

Not too many, but sadly the majority of them are still closed. 

[shazdwn]

On 6/30/2020 at 8:04 PM, elefromoz said:

@Soukous, I am a little envious of the variety of Garden birds you get in the UK, quite envious in fact. A Buzzard from the breakfast table is pretty nice. When we stayed at our relatives property in Sussex last year, I looked up from my  afternoon tea to see 2 Great Spotted Woodpecker on the fence and a Green Woodpecker "bugging" the lawn. I can't think that my garden birds are quite so exciting.  

 

I got pretty excited to see a couple of sulphur-crested cockatoos perched on our deck railing the other day - that is at least until I saw the third one snipping the top of all my tomato plants.  Up goes the tomato netting.  

[Soukous]

An early start this morning for a visit to Minsmere. I must have been early because when I arrived there were no toher cars in the car pak.

As with almost all RSPB sites at the moment, the visitor centre is closed and so are the hides but that doesn't bother me too much as I've never seen a great deal from the hides. Sorry, rephrase that; I've seen planty fromthe hides but it is all a bit distant and therefore of little interest from aphotography point of view.

 

My target this morning was the area between the reserve and the sea. Along the eastern border of Minsmere is a stretch of gorse and brambles that is home to a purprising variety of little birds, and if I'm lucky, it is also a good spot to catch the terns flying back and forth as they go to catch fish.

 

Minsmere is also pretty much a dead cert to see Sand Martins. The cliffs where they nest don't really get good light until the afternoon, but I wasn't planning to come back today.

 

#157 - Sand Martin - Riparia riparia - (FTP # 60)

 

I didn't stand much of a chance to catch the adults in fligth as they were just silhouettes against a whitish sky, but by now there are lots of youngsters and some of them sit on the edge of the nest hole looking out.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Soukous

[Soukous]

Optimistically, I was hoping to see a specific species this morning; namely a Black Redstart. Not common, but they have been seen on this stretch of coast recently.

Needless to say I didn't see one, but I did get different lifer.

 

#158 - Dartford Warbler - Sylvia undata - (FTP #61)

Minsmere, Suffolk. July 2020

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Soukous

[Soukous]

Lots of other stuff to see too, but all of them were species I have already counted in my BY.

 

Lots of Dunnocks

 

 

Black-tailed Godwits

 

A Turnstone

 

some Wrens

 

Whitethroats

 

 

juvenile Blue Tits

 

Sedge Warblers

 

and Chaffinchs

 

[Tdgraves]

Dartford warbler - very nice. I’ve never seen one either...

[TonyQ]

I have never seen a Dartford Warbler either - well done!

[Soukous]

13 minutes ago, TonyQ said:

I have never seen a Dartford Warbler either - well done!

 

Wow! I had not appreciated how rare these wee birds are. I was just very happy to see one for the first time. I've looked a bit more closely at the distribution and I fear they are unlikely to venture as far west as your part of the country @TonyQ, and probably not as far as you either @Tdgraves

They sure are pretty though.

[Galana]

Worth getting out of bed early for a Dartford Warbler. Or just take  a lie in and dream of one.  Either way it would be a good morning.

That threesome of Sand Martin fledgelings are not to be sneezed at either. Something about all Hirondenes makes them very cute and three really does it. Worthy of a caption competititon.

[PeterHG]

A beautiful lifer and a great photo, too! You may not have added too many for the thread, but you did get some specials and a really good set of pics for the whole trip.

[Dave Williams]

I have long wanted to return to Minsmere, maybe my memories are exaggerating how good it was when I visited several years ago. I thought the views from the Bittern hide were excellent when I eventually saw a Bearded Reedling after several early morning forays. I had my best ever view of a Cetti's near there too, and the reserve is a great spot for Nightingales singing too. Dulwich heath is the place for Dartford Warbler in spring when they are singing. 

We had Dartford Warbler breeding very close to my home  in North Wales but tragically some idiots set fire to the heather and I'm told it was a fire engine that actually destroyed the nesting site, inadvertently of course.

[Soukous]

21 hours ago, Dave Williams said:

I have long wanted to return to Minsmere, maybe my memories are exaggerating how good it was when I visited several years ago. I thought the views from the Bittern hide were excellent when I eventually saw a Bearded Reedling after several early morning forays. I had my best ever view of a Cetti's near there too, and the reserve is a great spot for Nightingales singing too. Dulwich heath is the place for Dartford Warbler in spring when they are singing. 

We had Dartford Warbler breeding very close to my home  in North Wales but tragically some idiots set fire to the heather and I'm told it was a fire engine that actually destroyed the nesting site, inadvertently of course.

 

Unfortunately although Minsmere is open, it is only partially open, with some trails and all the hides closed. On the plus side, it is not very busy so much more enjoyable.

[Zim Girl]

What a great sighting and pictures of the Dartford Warbler.  Needless to say I also have never seen one.

[michael-ibk]

Very cool lifer Martin, and a cracking picture. Was not aware Dartford occurs at all in the UK, but given the name it really should not have come as a surprise to me!

[Soukous]

15 hours ago, michael-ibk said:

Very cool lifer Martin, and a cracking picture. Was not aware Dartford occurs at all in the UK, but given the name it really should not have come as a surprise to me!

 

Yes, given the name you'd think this was its home territory

[Soukous]

At last!

This bird has been my nemesis for the past 2 years. I see so many of them but they are so elusive and skittish I have only been able to get crappy prictures through the window.

Every once in a while they fly over to check out the feeders. Jays love peanuts and will scoff all the peanuts on a bird table very quickly.  Sure enough, I put out some peanuts and within 30 minutes this fellow appeared. I didn;t get him first time, but I knew he'd be back. It was just a matter of making sure I was ready.

 

#159 - Eurasian Jay - Garrulus glandarius

My garden, Suffolk. July 2020

 

 

 

 

 

[Zim Girl]

Great shot and great bird to see in the garden.

[Dave Williams]

48 minutes ago, Zim Girl said:

Great shot and great bird to see in the garden.

 

Seeing is one thing, getting a shot of one is the difficult bit. They are so,so wary!

[PeterHG]

Wow, excellent photos of the Jay! 

[Soukous]

A few days ago, on a different thread, @Galana told me "Confession is good for the soul."

I'm not convinced, but I'll play along.

 

For the past week or so I have been visiting various nature reserves in search of some Spoonbills that have been reported almost every day. For the past 4 or 5 days they have been seen in the same area and I have made a couple of visits to see them for myself. But I've had no success.

Well, I found out this morning that I have been looking in the wrong place.

It is not entirely my fault. The location has been repeatedly reported as 'Ramsholt Water Meadow'.  The only problem with that is that none of my local contacts (birders & farmers) have ever heard fo this place. So we took a guess, and were obviously wrong.

The actual location, just a few hundred metres away, but hidden on the other side of a small area of woodland, is Lodge Marshes.

Once I knew the correct location they were easy to find.

 

Apparently they have a breeding location a few miles away, as the Spoonbil flies, that they have visited for th epast 2 or 3 years. It is on an island, but even so they have not been very successful raising their young as foxes swim across to the island to predate the chicks.

 

#160 - Spoonbill - Platalea leucorodia - (FTP # 63)

Lodge Marshes, Suffolk. July 2020

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2020 by Soukous

[Soukous]

This next post marks an unexpected milestone in my Big Year. It is the first time that my UK total has ever exceed my Africa total.

So far this year I posted 80 birds from my Africe trip, This will be #81 from the UK.

 

#161 - Black Swan - Cygnus atratus

Lodge Marshes, Deben estuary, Suffolk. July 2020

 

 

 

[Soukous]

This year has been in interesting year for me as I have spent a lot more time out looking for birds in the UK than in any previous year.

It has also been an unusual year in that there have been many more sightings than usual of certain species; Cuckoo and Turtle Dove being two of them.

It is being speculated here that the reason we are seeing so many of these species this year is because Italy and other southern European nations were in lockdown in Spring when these species make their journey to the UK. The significance of that being that they were not able to go out and shoot them as they passed overhead.

It will be interesting to learn whether there is any real truth to this as the prevailing opinion up to now has been that the dwindling numbers of Turtle Doves in the UK was due to a loss of habitat.

 

#162 - Turtle Dove - StreptopeliaTurtur - (FTP#64)

Alongside River Deben,Ramsholt, Suffolk. July 2020

 

Surprisingly well camouflaged in the trees

 

 

 

1 photo removed as they were pretty much the same image (weren't they @xelas?)

Edited July 15, 2020 by Soukous

[xelas]

Excellent new additions! Is there a reason/difference between two photos of Turtle Dove?!

[Kitsafari]

Lovely new additions.  congrats on finding the spoonbills - never knew foxes could swim!

 

[Soukous]

9 hours ago, xelas said:

Excellent new additions! Is there a reason/difference between two photos of Turtle Dove?!

 

not really, slightly different composition. The only shots I managed to get were of it sitting in this tree (It flew away after a few seconds) but until I processed them I was not sure which one to choose. Hey, come on, they are my first Turtle Dove pictures.