Sea watching

The weather was poor this weekend but that always makes it good for seawatching, the wind was from the north so I headed out and did a seawatch from North deans 7am-10am then 11.30-1.30
It was great not masses of birds but a great selection the best being an Adult Black Tern. Other birds of note were 100s of Common Tern, 70+ Little Tern, 6 Arctic Tern, 20+ Sandwich Tern. Waders were 30+ Dunlin 18 Sanderling including 8 feeding on the beach. 4 Knot, Ringed Plover, 3 Turnstone, 1 Summer plum Bar tailed Godwit and 4 Whimbrel.  3 Eider were another great sighting.
More Ducks 9 Teal and 7 Tufties.

 

6 Med Gulls passed 1 Little Gull 12 Common Scoter and 3 Gannets..
Sun came out so visited the lowe peregrines for a short while.

 

Back in the garden I took a few snaps of the Goldfinch.

Went out this morning before the rain arrived but a dozen Gannet and a Whimbrel was about it really.

Cley

Started today in the Garden with 3 Adult Med Gull together.
Met up with good friends Peter and Maureen today. They were the ones who really got me into birding from a young age, so it was nice to meet up for a days birding around Cley.
We got a very respectable 67 species and the highlights were a cracking Adult Pom with spoons which flew over Simmonds scrape. 2 Little Stint, 5 Little Gull and plenty of waders such as Dunlin, 24 Ruff, many Black tailed godwits, Common Sandpipers, many Little Ringed Plovers a really nice Wood Sandpiper and 2 Green Sandpipers.
Spoonbills came and went all day with upto 7 in a group. Avocets were doing well with many young.
A Hobby was a nice addition to the list.
Lastly a Whimbrel, Little Tern, Sandwich tern and 6 Greenshank were added to the long list of birds.
Great day had by all.

Common Sandpiper

Spoonbill

 

Wood Sandpiper

Wood Sandpiper

 

Little Gull

Quick update

On one note I ran the Ekiden Race last Sunday a marathon race but split between 6 Orwell Runners from Work. This is a race run by and for running clubs with a a few social groups such as Orwell, so I didn't expect much for my first ever race. I didn't do too bad though. I had a 5KM leg which I completed in 23 min 53 seconds. 67th place out of 154.

Back to birding.
So the last 2 weeks has been my quietest time ever for birding. Although Moulting Drake Goosander last week was a patch tick. RB Merganser, Whimbrel, a few Med gulls were on the move and a Humming Bird hawk moth visited the garden as well as 50 yards down the street feeding on Valarium.
Unfortunately I found a Dead Juvenile Cuckoo by the NSW.

A Nice find was this Pyramid Orchid by the pond.

 

Recent moths have been this Meal Moth and Blood Vein.

 

Butterflies on the patch right now are lots of Gatekeepers, Ringlets and this Meadow Brown.

 

Damselfly's on the pond have been a Large Red eyed Damselfly.
Lastly this Bracket fungi Dryad's Saddle Polyporus squamosus is a coorker....

Banded Demoiselle and Bee Eaters

I went out for a run around the patch this morning but very little of interest. So this afternoon after watching the Grand Prix Rach n I went searching for the 10 Bee Eaters that had been seen all day at Leiston. When we arrived there had been no sign for an hour so decided just to go for a walk to Leiston Abbey instead.

Whilst having a wander around this wonderful ruin I heard the familiar calls of the Bee Eaters. YES!!! I never did see them though as I was too low down and the ruin walls were in the way. Another birder with his family were too on site and they had heard them too.
We finished looking around the ruins and went in search of the Bee Eaters but ended up at some beautiful river where these Banded Demoiselle were showing incredibly well. We never did see the Bee Eaters again.

Carlton Marsh

It was nice to take a long over due day off today. So the dogs and I headed for Carlton Marsh just down the road. it was a red hot day so there were loads of Butterflies and Dragonflies about.

 

Then the dogs found me and extremely good looking Grass Snake sunning itself.

We reached the scrape to a number of waders, Wood Sandpiper, Green Sandpiper, Little Ringed Plover, Black tailed Godwit and a Flying Greenshank. Other bits were a nice Hobby and lots of Black tailed Skimmers.

Wood Sandpiper

 Green Sandpiper

 Little Egret and Black tailed Godwit

 

 

 I continued round to James Jane and the gang curious as to what they were watching.. MARSH WARBLER Wow, but it had flow into thick cover DOH. I waited with the gang for a good while but nothing so moved slightly down the bank where after another 45 I finally picked the bird up in sub song. It wasn't going to show itself though. Willow Warbler and Goldfinch were just a couple of its mimicking songs. Headed home as id had enough of the sun now :-)

Come half 7 I decided to head back to Carlton just incase the Marsh Warbler was going to sing and show better but no luck as the mist dropped in. This Cuckoo and 2 Barn Owls made up for it though. Best views of cuckoo ive had for a long time.

What a great day, Wish I had more time off :-)