Bony's back

An afternoon walk around Swineham on Saturday produced not much to write home about, apart from the removal of yet more vegetation which used to be beloved of the local Cetti's Warblers. So, slightly disillusioned with this and the absence of waterbirds, I headed over the border to Blashford Lakes in Hampshire on Sunday morning. A Long-tailed Duck present all week had departed, but a pair of Goosander, a Black-necked Grebe and a small flock of Egyptian Geese kept me interested, and the hides sheltered me from the rain. The weather kept threatening to improve but never quite delivered, so having checked the forecast for Weymouth I headed there in the afternoon for another hour with the returning Bonaparte's Gull, Dorset's first for around three decades. Many photos were taken.

Bonaparte's Gull, Radipole Lake

The Gull's feeding pattern would vary between dip-feeding...

...plucking morsels from the surface of the water...

...like this...

...or flycatching in mid-air...

...like this.

From the smallest gull at Radipole to the largest: Great Black-backed Gull in the car park...

...and the Hooded Merganser. Still there, still untickable.

Egyptian Geese from earlier in the day at Blashford Lakes

Goosander at Blashford was my only photo year-tick of the weekend (#134)

A confiding Little Grebe on Ibsley Water

This Lesser Black-backed Gull at Blashford appears to have been ringed in Guernsey

The Bonaparte's Gull showing its pink legs...

...and the distinctive upperwing pattern.

Buzzing around Norfolk

After a short break in Suffolk last week we made our way up to North Norfolk for a day before heading home to Dorset. I thought Pink-footed Goose would be a shoe-in for the photo list here but while quite a few were seen they were all too far off to photograph unfortunately, even at the normally reliable Lady Anne's Drive. I would surely have found some closer had I driven around the back lanes but after the long journey from Suffolk I feared a revolting family family revolt had I done so. So it was a stroll on the beach at Holkham followed by cake and coffee at Titchwell instead. En route from Holkham to Thornham (for the Twite) though we did stumble across a nice, close pair of Egyptian Goose. Non-native, but tickable.

Egyptian Goose, near Holkham, Norfolk (#113th species photographed in 2015)

Norfolk is a stronghold of this introduced species

Little Grebe on Holkham Park Lake (#114)

Muntjac Deer near Holkham

Earlier in the week when we were still in Suffolk I also nipped over the border to Norfolk look for a Rough-legged Buzzard which has been wintering on Halvergate Marshes. I had not been to this area before but thanks to some gen from James Lowen I found the right viewpoint. After a couple of hours I had seen nothing more exciting than a Marsh Harrier, and being on a deadline I was considering knocking it on the head when one last scan with the telescope revealed a large hovering raptor in the extreme distance. It dropped out of sight but it was enough to persuade me to stick around a while longer and not long after it re-appeared close enough for a few record shots.

Rough-legged Buzzard, Halvergate Marshes, Norfolk (#115)

Rough-legged Buzzard shows a white band across the tail

This bird caused me a bit of confusion when it flew over shortly afterwards - it was motoring on so not really in typical Buzzard/Rough-leg mode, and with a pale head and much white in the closed tail my initial impression was of Rough-leg...

...but on sharing the photos with more expert birders the conclusion is juvenile Common Buzzard. Note the dark 'comma' in the forewing, compared to the dark carpal patch on the Rough-leg, and the longer winged, more Harrier like appearance of the Rough-leg.

So that's the East Anglian trip wrapped up then: five nights, two Counties, and 21 species added to the photo year-list, including some potentially tricky ones - Rough-legged Buzzard, Waxwing, Hawfinch, Twite - all of which I could easily go the year in Dorset without seeing.

 

And so this is Christmas...

...and what have I done? Well apart from over-indulging in a variety of victuals, solving seemingly intractable Lego-based challenges and spending way too much time with the family, there has been precious little in the way of birding. A quick trudge around a birdless patch therefore seemed in order today. I was hoping it would help me dredge up enough memories for a 'review of the year' post. Not quite, though it did serve as a reminder of all the good birds I have missed at Swineham in 2014. In fact, I managed to display spectacularly bad form in this regard, even by the low standards of my fickle patch-watching career.

A Grey Wagtail brought a dash of colour to Swineham this morning

It all started in April when a pair of Black-winged Stilts appeared no sooner than we had gone to Cornwall for a week's holiday. Others were seeing a Great White Egret in the area through the spring but I failed to connect despite several early morning and late afternoon vigils. The dipping continued into autumn when a White-winged Black Tern eluded me and I failed to connect with Marcus's Yellow-browed Warbler. The Neil Warnock-like run of bad luck finally came to an end in early December when Paul Morton's Bean Geese did the decent thing and stuck around long enough for me to catch up with them.

Shoveler: one of a 40+ flock at Swineham this morning

According to an erratically populated notebook, the Beans were one of only six patch ticks this year. The others - Garganey, Black-necked Grebe, Smew, Egyptian Goose and Turnstone (get in!) - all good patch fare if not exactly patch gold. Not a bad return though, given how little time I spent there: the first part of the year, any spare time I had seemed to be spent chasing around after rarities; the latter part, getting to grips with a new job which had quite an impact on the energy and time I had left for birding anywhere, including Swineham.

Little Grebe at Swineham

Throw in an apparent rise in the number of non-birding visitors (and four-legged ones), and the increase in the use of the gravel pits for water sports, and it seemed at times like I was not the only one who had forsaken the old patch: quite a lot of the bird life seemed to have too! Perhaps in 2015 foul weather, all year round floods and general lack of visitation will bring them back. Well, I can dream, can't I?

A belated Merry Christmas everyone and thanks for reading this year. No snow-covered cliché perches for the Swineham Christmas Robin: he much prefers to rest on expensive optics.

North Kent revisited

A glorious day to visit some old haunts in Kent and renew a dormant birding partnership with Matt Jones. Like me, Matt is a former Kent resident who trumped my move to Dorset by becoming domiciled on New Zealand's Stewart Island with only Kiwis, Penguins (and loyal partner Jules) for company. Was it something I said? Despite high rolling with Kakapo and world listers in his adopted land, Matt is still able to enjoy the familiar sights of Green Sandpipers, Yellow Wagtails, Little Grebes and Avocets (all pictured here) on the North Kent marshes. Reed Warblers, Wheatears and Whinchats were also very much in evidence today. Birds that can fly clearly now appear as things of wonder to Matt...

Starting at Oare and working our way down to Grove Ferry, we were able to marvel at the continuing success of the former and the lack of visible water and mud at the latter, which seem to decrease with every visit. There has clearly been some investment in new facilities at Grove since our last visit, with new hides, a pond dipping platform and some sort of bus stop structure for visitors to enjoy - but you fear the full benefits of this investment might not be realised if the the reedbeds aren't managed a bit more to allow the same visitors to see what's in them! Looking up proved more fruitful, with a pair of Hobbies adding a dash of drama to an otherwise sleepy reedbed.

For images of the more exotic wildlife Matt is used to in NZ, check out his website.