Twitchfield Haven

Dobber Dawson and on!

Nipped down to Hoveringham Lake at tea time for what turned into a few hours birding & chatting. Bumped into a good bloke - Mark Dawson with his scope. He knows Lee GR and the guy I'm meeting on Saturday and has a bird alert pager and etc etc. In fact he knows everyone in that BBC4 documentary.
Anyway, got my debut Peregrine (I spotted it) and was zoomed in with scope action, and then 2 Reed Warblers. Off to bird paradise tomorrow. SjS 119.

17 April Warbler Stalk

Chaps, No update to my year list as the formatting remains all wrong even though I put it back in list format last time. Rog - why is it one long paragraph? Help from Site Admin reqd. I will keep updating the Mitchell & Webb patented spreadsheet though. Anyhows - 2 and a half hour effort in blazing sun today at Netherfield Lagoons 15 mins drive away yielded some good results and a tan. I got my first ever Whitethroat with decent views and then 2 more later with one singing on top of a tree for a few mins - ,my highlight. Also saw a dozen plus sand martins very close up with lots of swallows above, including some starting to nest. 3 blackcaps, not new to the list, but only ever seen 2 before - great song on these suckers. Half a dozen common terns flying around and on their rafts in the lagoon. Better still was a Sedge Warbler - after talking to some chaps who confirmed where these and Reed Warblers were hanging. lots of listening and eventually got one in a bush next to the reed bed. Not super views but enough to get the tawny back and eye stripe, especially with the big distinctive song that I checked on the in-car CD. A couple of Willow warblers later and then it was barbecue and wine time to celebrate. Progress on warbler understanding was the main thing. they are tough. Cley and Blakeney next weekend for my secret rendezvous with Evans Lee jnr. 117 is the number. Year target revised to 130, but will need cliff birds I wager. SjS, aged 42.

Mitchell Hat-trick

Despite being on a non-birding weekend, I have managed to add 3 more species to the list. On a warm, sunny Friday evening at Carrington Moss (next to the United training complex) I ticked a number of chiff chaffs and then, on the way back to the training ground, I managed to spook a reed bunting which in turn spooked a pair of grey partridges. After an uneventful weekend, I needed to fill my feeders on Monday evening. Hearing a nearby "Ker-whit" I looked up into the neighbour's tall tree and saw the tawny owl sitting there. Having fetched binoculars I got just a few seconds of proper viewing before watching the bird fly away. Beauty.