Great Reed Warbler Ouse Fen Cambridgeshire

I'm starting to make time for myself again, I still have caring responsibilities with Suzanne and I still do all I can for the little ones including school runs etc but with the passing of my father in law in January and the house clearing etc now all behind me I am finding I need to fill the day with something and birding is that filler whenever I get that valuable time. I'm walking Rainham and KGV when I can watching the passage of winter visitors exiting and summer visitors returning but it's still a bit same same so now and again I need those little twitch trips to keep me going. Yesterday I had a solo run up the A12 for the Dotterels and today Jim and I popped up the M11 to see the returning Great Reed Warbler at Ouse Fen. On arrival we could hear the bird about fifty yards before we got to the birders watching it. It would prove to be very vocal and could be seen in the reeds but photographing it was difficult. It popped up for a couple of seconds allowing a couple of reasonable images before we left.

Whilst there we had a Crane fly into the reedbed, a Hobby hawked over the trees and Swifts were also seen in good numbers. Five Cattle Egret flew across the fen and Bittern boomed with one bird seen in flight low across the reeds. A Cuckoo called almost constantly and was seen in flight and sitting on the top of a Hawthorn briefly. On our way back to the car park we stopped to admire a pair of Garganey on another of the pools which they call cells here for some reason.

Year list now 190

Dotterel in Essex

I was heading up to Abberton this afternoon to give the Lesser Scaup one more chance to land on my year list for 2025 but with news of nine Dotterel in St Osyth I pushed on the extra half an hour and managed to find the field the Dotterel had been reported in with a little help from Steve E. I walked out to scan the field only to find the farmer ploughing the very field the birds were last seen in. After a few minutes I located the birds and amazingly they were still in the field despite the tractor doing its worst to disturb them. As I was joined by Mike the nine birds took flight and headed off high and away but they would return shortly after for us to enjoy for half an hour or so before a couple of Buzzard spooked them and they had another fly around before returning to the original field some distance from us.  Marsh Harrier, Stock Dove, Whitethroat, Med Gulls, Skylark and Red-legged Partridge added to the overall entertainment.

On the way home I stopped at Abberton and took in the views of the heronry where Grey Heron, Little Egret, Cattle Egret and Spoonbill are nesting. Great Egret was also seen before moving on to Wigborough Bay where I finally had views of the pair of Lesser Scaup that's spent the winter on the reservoir. A Leucistic Pochard was a surprise find and a Lesser Whitethroat was singing away just by the layby for Wigborough hide. From the causeway I had nice views of Little ringed Plover, Common Tern and a Cuckoo was heard before I left for home satisfied with two year ticks and an Essex tick to boot.

Year list 187

Essex list 282

Rainham and KGV

A preschool drop visit to Rainham at first light this morning delivered a couple of site ticks for 2025 when I found a super smart sum plum Bar-tailed Godwit with eight Black-tailed Godwits on the foreshore in Aveley bay and a Cuckoo flew across towards target pool too. There were 28 Avocet between the mud bank and Marshland discovery zone and a couple of Dunlin, a Curlew along with 2 Oystercatcher also in the bay. A few Wigeon remain but the Pintail all appear to have moved on now.

After dropping the little ones and checking on Suzanne I headed over to the KGV with the Jims were we heard our first Lesser Whitethroat of the year by the sailing club and then jammed on the Blue-headed Wagtail which had thus far given me the slip. A few Common Terns were fishing on south Basin and a Little-ringed Plover was on the south bank too. As we walked North basin we spotted the Greater Scaup which is still hanging around with the Tufted Ducks. Two White Wagtails added to the Pied, Grey and Yellow wags added interest and another three Little-ringed plovers were seen with two showing signs of breeding. The Ravens have young already so we look forward to seeing them fledge with luck. On the walk back we picked up a single Arctic Tern flying over the south basin adding to the days total for the visit which added up to 64 and is a good total for a day list at the reservoir. 

Sand Martins

Little ringed Plover making Little little ringed plovers

Little ringed plover

The Causeway

year list now 185 (Lesser Whitethroat)

Baikal Teal at Wilstone reservoir Hertfordshire

I had an hour at Rainham on Saturday and found two Whimbrel on the foreshore for a year tick. Also of note was a Grey Plover and two Dunlin. Several Common Terns flew up river and there was still a number of Black-tailed Godwit about and a Greenshank had been reported but I didn't see that or the Jack Snipe that's out on Purfleet scrape but I rarely have time to go onto the reserve so haven't seen that either.

I was due out today with the Jims but put it off only to be calling them about 10am to see if they wanted to pop round the 25 to Wilstone where a female Baikal Teal was found yesterday. We found the car park full so I dropped the Jims and waited for a space to park. Once I caught up with them they already had the Baikal Teal in the scope for me which was nice and easy. I spotted House Martin and Swift in the large flock of hirundines hawking high above the reservoir for a couple of nice year ticks. The Baikal Teal if accepted will be my 185th bird in Hertfordshire and is my first female ever seen hence the trip.

Year list now 184

Back in the valley

I set off this morning to Fishers green arriving at 6am pleased to find the gate open as it doesn't officially open until 8am but the guy tries to get the gates opened early most mornings. I walked around to the power station hearing a few Whitethroats on my walk. I couldn't find any Nightingale which was my main aim so headed up the path and over the bridge to walk back towards Bittern hide. At the bramble patch I heard and saw my first Garden Warbler of 2025 but couldn't hear any Lesser Whitethroat. As I reached the lake I heard my first Nightingale of the year followed quickly by my second and then third. 

I left at 7am and headed up onto the reservoir to find it very flat and calm today. Four Common Tern remained on the south basin but nothing else of note. On north basin I found the drake Scaup and a Common Sandpiper. A Cuckoo was singing from Sewardstone marsh as I left magic corner and then I found six Wheatear on the return leg of my four mile circuit which resulted in a total species count of 60.

Grey Wagtail

Wheatear

Fishers Green

Seventy acres lake

Year list now 180 

KGV after the rain

It rained yesterday for the first time in ages so I decided to head over to KGV reservoir and see if the rain had put any birds down which it often does during their northward migration. Five adult Little Gulls were on south basin with a large flock of Arctic Tern which others estimated at 26 but I managed a maximum count of seventeen as there appeared to be a few Common Terns in the group too.

On the Causeway we found six Yellow Wagtails but later a seventh bird was found which appeared to be a Blue-headed Wagtail. Two Common Sandpipers were picked up on north basin and another birder reported four Wheatear and a Littler Tern but we didn't see these.

We counted 52 species in total with some of the wintering ducks still on site.

Common Tern

Common Tern

Year list now 177 with the addition of Arctic Tern and Common Sandpiper.

Took dad back today and managed to get him a year tick as two Arctic Terns moved through the reservoir with the majority of Terns today being Common Tern. He added Sand Martin with large flocks passing through and hunting low over the reservoir with a few Swallows. Yellow Wagtails were seen by another birder but we couldn't find any on our visit which was bright but very blustery. I took another walk in Epping Forest on the way home and still haven't seen a Treecreeper but did find a couple of Willow Warblers.

Morning at Lakenheath and Rainham update

The pointless year list has moved on to 175 with the addition of Whitethroat at Rainham on 10th. The 9th April saw the first reports of any but I couldn't find one for the tick, roll forward a day and they're singing from every bush along the foreshore.

Whitethroat

Whitethroat

Chiffchaff

As well as the vocal Whitethroats the Sedge Warblers and Chiffchaffs are in full song but Blackcaps are less numerous now after the initial noisy arrival. The Med Gull movement seems to have stopped but Common Terns are now the daily arrivals. The Hoopoe was seen again yesterday flying from the tip across the Thames. The Garganey remains on Purfleet scrape but the GW Teal hasn't been seen for a few days now although there are still quite a few Teal around. Some of the wintering birds remain with Snipe still being seen and a Jack Snipe on Purfleet scrape too, a couple of pairs of Pintail remain and a few Wigeon stragglers are still contemplating migration. Ringed Plover and Grey Plover have both been seen this week along with the springs first Whimbrel although I didn't see it. At least 62 Black-tailed Godwit remain and the Lapwing, Redshank and Avocet have set about nesting although Wennington remains very dry with the lack of rain. The LRP is still being seen so hopefully will stay to breed. A Redstart was seen at the weekend by some locals and I had a large hirundine flock over on Sunday

containing Swallows and Sand Martins but no House Martin for me yet although they have been seen by others.

Yesterday I took the Jims for a morning at Lakenheath to take advantage of the forecast nice weather. We arrived at 6.30am and walked out along the river bank to joist fen and back. Blackwits, Lapwing, Redshank and Snipe accounted for the waders on the washland pool along with the usual ducks. We heard our first Reed Warbler of the year and added a couple more on the long walk although we later found these were the first arrivsls reported at Lakenheath this year. Gt White Egret was added to the day list before we found a pair of Garganey. Bittern were booming from every reed bed but we couldn't find any Cranes on this visit, I guess they're either out in the distant fields feeding or busy nesting in the reed bed somewhere. Marsh Harriers were seen nest building and a single Swallow flew over. Two Cattle Egrets were seen along with Heron and Little Egret to make it a five heron species day. On the way home we stopped at Cavenham and Jim found himself a Wheatear which he still needed for a year tick and then he managed to locate a single Stone Curlew to give us all a year tick. Woodlark, Skylark and Stonechat entertained us whilst we watched the heath.  We saw 72 species in the mornings birding.

year list now 175

Woodlark

A flyover from RAF Lakenheath 

Canada Geese

Lakenheath