Local stuff

Im still in the middle of my Lesvos blog, just too little time these days and a lot of pictures to sort through so ill update the patch blog instead for now.

Ill start 13th May just after i returned from Lesvos, all my patch year birds are late due to being away so Wheatear today was a patch year tick. Cuckoo, 2 Yellow Wagtail and 2 Egyptian geese on site also.  On the flash in front of the prison no Pectoral sand piper anymore but 5 Ruff and a Greenshank.  2 Coot was a good bird for here and a few Swift now about. 2 Common Tern over. A Fox was out hunting.

14th May 

Walked to Boyton from Hollesley, the highlights being a fall of Wheatear with no less than 9. Bearded tit pinging away at the Boyton end. 

15th May

1st Winter Kittiwake and Spoonbill the highlights of the day. 

21st May

A Glossy Ibis on the flash from Warren Hill prison side was a patch tick for me, it moved onto the main reserve for a short while later in the day. Seemed to be a few more Little Egret on site now. 2 Little Ringed Plover still so maybe here to stay for the summer. 

May 22nd

Sat in the sunshine outside Wantisden Park Cafe when 3 vocal Bee eaters flew over Boom.... awesome.

After this we headed to Winks Meadow for the stunning display of Green Winged Orchids. 

May 26th 

Ive not seen many birds so ill highlight the Moths i caught last night, im only doing this when i catch a mega moth these two Cream Spot tigers probably aint mega but the immigrant Silver Striped Moth is.

 May 28th 

Hollesley today. 1 adult Spoonbill. 2 Cuckoo. Egyptian goose flew over, the Greenshank is still around and max numbers are 95 gadwall, 55 mute swan,4 wigeon 4 pintail and a teal also 5 Coot.

29th May
So to today started at Upper Hollesley common for some more year ticks. It was great. As soon as as i got out the car i could here what i thought was a Tree Pipit and sure enough it was, Singing away further down the track. Plenty of woodlark, a singing Tree pipit, Dartford Warblers, 3 Common Redstart and plenty of goldcrest and chaffinch. Also Green and Great spotted woodpecker.

Moved onto Boyton Marsh where i spotted a Turtle Dove drinking off a roadside pool then a Cattle Egret was playing hide and seek in the pouring rain. Both patch year ticks.

Pectoral Sandpiper

Worked Saturday again so i could only get down to the patch Sunday, i was shattered so didn't get on the patch till 1030 when i did go. Headed for the screen but it wasn't looking that promising and i wasn't adding anything new to the list at this point. I continued around in a circle walking the river bank around to the front of Warren hill prison. This area looked good for waders as it wasn't so deep. I spotted a selection of waders straight away and the first one initially had me puzzled due to poor light and distance. It looked like a Pectoral sand, but wasn't overly confident at this point. Around the wader i started to count 2 Wood Sandpiper and 3 Greenshank. I went back to the mystery wader to grill it better. The light got a little better as the heat haze started to drop and i became more confident it was a Pec sand. So i put news out so others could come and see a very rare bird for the area and turns out to be a first for Hollesley. The more i grilled the bird and then saw it in flight the more confident i became. Other birders came along which helped clinch the bird 100%. The better the light became the more obvious the bird was. But for the poor light the bird was an easy one to id in the end. Now 3 Wood Sandpiper. 2 Little Ringed plover joined the waders giving me another year tick. Other birds of note were Lesser Whitethroat, Common Whitethroat, Cuckoos, lots of Yellow Wagtails and a Common Sandpiper. Jack Snipe was a massive bonus. Best i could do photo wise. 

Had today off, so went back for seconds where the bird was showing and looking better along with now 4 Wood Sandpipers 2 Greenshank. Did a Circle of the flash, 1 Little Ringed Plover and 2 New Wood sandpipers were the highlight.