Big brother is Watching you

 Saturday 8/10/10
Got fed up with watching England get stuffed by France on saturday, so i popped over Barking bay for an hour or so. Only waders on the mud were 3 Redshanks and a common sandpiper in the edge all of which scarpered as i arrived. Only photo i got was of a lesser black backed gull. Moving onto the scrub i came across plenty of Skylarks and meadow pipits heard a reed warbler but never saw it in the reeds on the middle ditch. 1 Sparrowhawk and  the usual mixed flock of linnets and goldfinches. By now there were plenty of dog walkers about with dogs running around the scrub i decided to call it a day.

Big Brother
On Monday i was passing whilst working so i popped over and parked by the riverside centre.
The tide was full in so i just sat in the car drinking a cup of tea when i noticed a juvenile Starling perched on the bush in front of me. As i had my camera on the back seat i thought i'd take a couple of shots, so i got out and started snapping.
Then a women calls out from the centre that if i was going to take photo's i had to sign in.I'd never heard of this before so i asked her why and she said the police have told them that any one taking photo's has to sign in.
I asked her about the week-ends when there not in, she told me you have to tell security, So i said what about people who come in from choats road She said "Well we cant catch everybody". Perhaps its just me that hasn't heard this before but i thought the foreshore was a public footpath.

Too little too late.

Looks like Summer finally arrived this week, too little to late. Probably be snowing next week.
Had to work this week end but managed a couple of hours over Barking Bay on saturday morning.
not much on the river so i headed for the scrub. Plenty of skylarks and meadow pipits.

Large mixed flock of linnets and goldfinches plus a Greenfinch. Pair of great Tits. A Dunnock couple of Whinchats and a Stonechat.

 
Also an adult Green Woodpecker with a Juvenile (i think).

No kestrels but 1 SparrowHawk
Popped over for an hour before work Sunday morning but it seemed dead and i left about 9ish it was too hot by then. Saw a Sparrowhawk having a row with a crow but little else.If anyone notices that my i.d.s are wrong please feel free to correct me i won,t be offended  promise. All in all there wasn't much going on all week end it was just too hot even early in the morning.
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Knot a bad Week end

Went to the bay Friday morning, Saturday morning & Sunday morning.
Had a few decent sightings including:
BlackTailed Godwit, Saturday & Sunday.  2 Common Sandpipers on Saturday, 4 Avocets on Sunday morning.

Met Dave and Paul on Saturday as i was coming off the scrub after not seeing much,  (the significance of that you will see if you read Pauls blog) . I did hear a Cetti,s Warbler and saw a Great tit plenty of Linnets & Goldfinch. When i met Paul and Dave they were on a Knot feeding on the mud which stayed until the rising tide sent it on its way.

 Other sightings away from the river were a Willow Warbler on Friday, Quite a few Robins on all days, a Great tit on Saturday. 6 Meadow pipits on Friday 5 skylarks Sunday,  2 whinchats on Friday Wheatears on all days 2 Hobbies on Friday ,Kestrels all Days and a Sparrowhawk on Sunday

All in all quite a productive week end unfortunatly i didn't see the Wryneck Paul spotted in the scrub
on Saturday morning even though i spent about hour and half on the scrub

New binoculars

Got my new binoculars yesterday, Hawke frontier ED 10x43. So thought i'd take them with me today
and pop over Barking Bay after work. Arrived there just after 4pm and the
light wasn't good, but i was quite impressed with the new bins saw a greenshank on the mud (just typical when i havn't got my camera with me) also a pair of whinchats hanging around a small bush next to the waterfront path
Not much about but i was only there for about 40 minutes.

If you look hard enough you can see the spotted flycatcher from Rainham on the 15/09/11

Grey day all round

Went over Barking Bay yesterday, not only was the weather grey the birds were to.
first off was a Grey heron on the mud. Next up came a pair of Grey plovers that flew off the mud and over my head just as i was texting my daughter had to drop the phone to try to get a picture.

With nothing more along the river i decided to look down the middle ditchto be greeted by a Whitethroat and a Dunnock.

Walking back along the top path i had another Grey in a Grey wagtail. I also saw 5 Skylarks 2. Meadow pipits and  7or 8 yellow wagtails flew over. No whinchats or wheatears today. Fared well with the raptors with 2 kestrels (unfortunatly i only got a decent photo from the back).

 1sparrowhawk and a Buzzard over near the pylons. on Friday i popped into Rainham for an Hour after work and managed to see a cettis warbler in the reeds past Ken Barrett hide but only breifly too quick for a photo walking back  Through the cordite store i saw a flock of small finches high in a tree on the far side took a few photo's hoping they might be siskins not a good photo but they lookm like goldfinches all except 1 which looks like a willow warbler.
Finally as i walked to tjhe end of the trees i saw a few people looking up at a bird which had gone b4 i got there to be told it was a spotted flycatcher.they all went so i hung around and was rewarded after about 10 mins when it re appeared for a bit.

More Whinchats

Managed an hour over barking bay after work today.
No Waders only gulls, shelducks and cormorants on the river. I did see 6 different Whinchats though and 100+ Linnets.

Not much else around a kestrel hunting a long the edge of the embankment was about all apart from the usual crows and magpies. Better luck next time i hope especially on the waders.
gregA

Barking Bay 03/09/11

Managed another couple of hours again today over Barking Bay.
Didn't see a single wader but plenty gulls and shelducks on the mud
looking at the gulls i didn't see any unusual ones also the usual cormorants about.
away from the river i saw 1 sparrowhawk about 30 crows 5 magpies 2 meadow pipits
2 house martins a solitary swallow 1 winchat 3 long tailed tits and 5 blue tits (i think) in a flock.
1 chiffchaff/willow warbler and about 6 goldfinches, several feral and woodpigeons and a moorhen

only a couple of gold finch pics and a cormorant today