A nice visit to the garden.

A nice little visit this morning ( 15th Feb.)  Four Long tailed Tits on the peanut feeder. They are not regular visitors, about 3/4 visits a year, but best in the winter.
Arrrag..... no camera ready !

R.S.P.B Reserve Dungeness

Dungeness visit with Havering local R.S.P.B group (planned coach trip).

Date: Saturday 30th January

 Not a bad day, weather wise, a bit chilly on the sea front with a keen wind. The sun came out just after lunch for a couple of hours, lifting the temperature a couple of degrees. Plenty of Razorbills, a few Gannets, Cormorants and a good number of Great Crested Grebes, probably numbering about twenty and the usual Gulls you would expect, Kittiwakes, Black- headed, Lesser and Great Black- backed Gulls. Missed out on Glaucous and a Caspian Gull which some others saw.

The highlight of the day for me was two Long – eared Owls. One was just perched and preening itself in full view, but the other one was deep inside some cover of small trees and shrubs and you could just about make out  its shape. Other birds of note were four Tree Sparrows, three Great white Egrets, Goldeneye, Smew, Pochard ( Redhead), Slavonian Grebe and a Marsh Harrier.

 

A good day out Birding with great company.Looking forward to the next trip out !

Raiding party !

Well awoke this morning with a dusting of snow on the ground, hardly anything really and less that was forecasted on Saturday night.

 Last week I was talking to someone at Rainham Marsh about how many Lesser Redpolls were visiting the garden feeders and how they had replaced the Goldfinches feeding on the Niger seed. The person said,  “wait until the weather turns colder with some frost, ice or snow and the Goldfinches will return” he had something similar happened in his garden last year.

At about 9:00 this morning and  having breakfast and watching the Lesser Redpolls (6) feeding, suddenly without warning a party of 7 Long - tailed tits arrived along with 2 Blue tits, 2 Great tits and took over the feeders ( Peanuts and Niger seeds) The Lesser Redpolls left the feeders and just looked on. In a small space of time, approx 10mins they all left, then 4 Goldfinches arrived to continue where the L. Redpolls left off.

The Goldfinch situation was part right!

Keeping an eye open tomorrow morning.

Rainham Marsh visit

A few hours spent over Rainham Marshes today. Makes a nice change for it not to be raining, a bit chilly, but the sun was shining. First port of call the Purfleet scrape hide, Shelduck, Teal, Mallard, Widgeon, Lapwing, Moorhen and Coot.

  Wigeon & Lapwing

                        Shelduck, Moorhen, Lapwing                             

Walking along the southern trail towards the M.D.Z hide good sightings of 2 pairs of Stonechats, 1 pair of Reed Bunting and a brief viewing of a Cetti’s Warbler before it disappeared as normal. Into the M.D.Z hide, hoping to get a sighting of any Kingfishers that might be looking for a nesting hole ( 1 seen yesterday) from the M.D.Z , but no luck, Just 2 Mute Swans, 1 Coot and a Little Grebe. Returned to the Visitors centre for a nice cuppa and a comfort break.

Then a walk around the Cordite Woodland and around the ‘loop’ to the woodland feeding station. Plenty to see Redwing, Great tit, Blue tit, Long- tailed  tit, Robin, Wren, Dunnock and another pair of Reed Bunting’s feeding off of the feeding table. A Great spotted woodpecker paid a visit to the ‘seed hopper’, even two field mice came out to pick up the fallen seeds.

Redwing

A further walk up to the Ken Barrett hide hoping to get a better view of the Dartford Warbler, no such luck ! A walk back to the centre and home as the light was not very good, but managed to see a lovely Song Thrush and hear it singing, a good end to the visit.

Rain,Rain, Rain

It has rained every day at some time since the 1^st January, 41 mm so far, needless to say I have not been out much. I really feel for those who have been flooded out.

My small garden is changing habitats, at this rate it’s becoming a marshland.....umm might get some waders. It’s still a pleasure to look out of my window and see the birds, all common species I know but they become my birds. The Lesser Redpolls ( 12 most days now) have taken over the feeders and the Goldfinches are visiting but not in the usual numbers. The other observation is the Robin seems to be obsessed with chasing the two Dunnocks out of the garden. The Dunnocks frequent the garden most of the day; they pick up the spills from the ground below the feeders.

A few birds from the garden;

The number of Lesser Redpolls visiting my garden is growing.

The number of Lesser Redpolls visiting my feeder is growing from just one last week (a 1st) to five today !

Here's 3 on the feeder, 1 on the floor directly underneath the feeder. The other was at the top of a shrub keeping a lookout, I expect.

                                            No more photo's of Lesser Redpolls.....promise

Thanks for real Birding experts !

It’s nice to know ‘real’ birding experts as friends, so if you make a mistake in identifying different birds they can gently correct you ( real birders don’t ridicule you ). I had made such a bo-bo. I had identified  a ‘Common Redpoll’ in my garden....guess what...it was a Lesser Redpoll. I had sent some sightings and a photo of the said bird to the East London Bird Forum ( ELBF) who record local sightings. These were published on their website, but Howard Vaughan (real expert) who administers the site corrected the I.D. before publishing....phew, doesn’t  made me look such a Blue tit.....Thanks  Howard. 
Check out the ELBF site...great for upto date local sightings.