Magical Merlin

 finally managed to get out today after a couple of busy weeks at work. arrived at the bay about at about 9.15 with the tide almost out the mud was full of Dunlin, Lapwing & Redshank plus 10 Curlew & 2 Black tailed godwit. try as i might with the sun so low i couldn't make out if there was anything more interesting amongst them.

                                      dodgy picture of a curlew, bad day for photography.
 Walked along to the cemex ditch( flushing several skylark and meadow pipit on the way} and spent about 45minutes there. Didn't see to much  a couple of  song thrush and a redwing  were the highlights also 2 Mute swans and a grey Heron flew over. I then moved on to the scrub flushing out more shylark and meadow pipits on my way to the middle ditch.(still can't find the stonechat that i saw regulary before the new year).

                                      couple more pointless photo's to break up the tedium.
Had my usual stop  at the small pool  for a cigarette,lI was there for about 10 minutes when the star turn arrived. A Merlin, it whizzed past me about 3ft off the ground kept low across the ditch up the embankment and striaght into the linnets scattering them all over the place. I saw it again about 20 minutes later scattering the finches at the other end of the ditch as it flew off towards the railway. Normally i then go back along the river but today i walked down to where the works are going on and across the scrub  near the house my reward was 30+ crows and nothing else until i reached the service road when out in front of me a possible jack snipe flew out i didn't get a good  look but it seemed a bit small and the bill didn't seem long enough for a snipe. l went to where i thought it went down but it never showed again. all in all a good day with 4 year 1sts and a patch first (for me anyway).The only downer was not getting photo's

Barking bay 07/01/12

Arrived at the bay this morning about 8 oclock, on the mud were the usual suspects includung 92 (by my dodgy counting) blackwits and 18 curlew.

 plenty of meadow pipits and skylark along the river path but didn't see a rock pipit today. on the cemex ditch managed to see little grebe, song thrush in the trees at the back, mallards, coot, blue and great tits with the long tailed and a kestrel, none of which i saw last week except the long taileds.

 crossing the scrub to the middle ditch only saw meadow pipits and skylark. on the middle ditch i had 2 wren and a green woodpecker both year ticks.
 walking back along the river towards my car( luckily the gates were open this morning so i could park near the river). The tide was nearly in but i saw 4 common sandpiper in there usual place near the jetty must sort out a digiscope adapter) also a year tick.
 As i was driving of i got near the gate and got the bird of the day, a peregrine flying over from the power station a very nice year tick.

11 year ticks for the patch not a bad day.

Today at the bay

Happy new year all.
Couldn't get out yesterday but managed to get out today. The 2 brent  geese were still in the bay along with dunlin,curlew, blackwits, redshank and lapwing and a rock pipit seen from the river path.

 Moved onto the cemex ditch and had 2 water rail and a cetti's warbler (heard not seen).
.

along the middle ditch there was the usual mixture of finches and linnets plus several fieldfare.
and a brief glimpse of a small grey bird that stopped on a bush before disappearing down into the undergrowth b4 i could get a goog look at it. 42 species in total not too bad as there were several species that i usually see that didn't show.

New Toy

Thought i'd nip over to Barking Bay this morning before going to Romford to finish christmas shopping. Didn't get over there till about 10.15, but i had my new toy to try out in the shape of a nikon D7000.
The first birds i encountered were 6 great tits near the riverside centre. I reached the river just a a flock of a couple of hundred Dunlin were going of to roost (chance to use my camera)

These were quickly followed by about 50 lapwing (another chance).

there were also 15 curlew feeding on the mud

As there was nothing else along the river i headed towards the middle ditch where i come across the resident linnet , 2 green woodpeckers, a dunnock,3 robins and the resident finch flock at the far end of the ditch. Time to go shopping on the way back i saw what looked like a stonechat out on the scrub but it flew off almost as soon as i saw it and 2 fieldfare back at the river end of the ditch.

Didn't see anything special but i was impressed with the camera as it was giving reasonable shots with an iso of 1600 need more time to get to know the best settings but pleased with it so far.
Merry Christmas Happy, New year and good birding to all.

Work work work

Have been working every day for the last few weeks and havn't managed to get out.
Was hoping to go over Barking bay on the 3rd to have a walk round with dave and Paul, but got caught up in work and only had time for a quick look along the river and a near sprint along the middle ditch. when i got to the visitor centre they were right at the far end of the foreshore looks like they had a good crowd with them. Not much seen in the way of birds though about 5 Curlew 10 redshank by the jetty and a Kestrel were probably the best was a bit windy for the small birds. also managed a quick trip to rainham where i spent about an hour waiting for a Redwing to pose for me (no luck).

this is the only photo i managed.

 Been working round amersham way and seen plenty of Red kites , Kestrel ,Sparrowhawks and Buzzard.

Lots of tits too inc Great, blue, long tailed and about 6 Coal tits. My favourite though is this little fellow in the Mcdonalds car park on the st Albans turn off from the M25

 there every morning, flying from wing mirrow to wing mirror. Sometimes sits on the edge of your door if you have your window down. got next thursday and friday off, also getting my new camera and scope (i suppose the overtime is useful for something) Need some decent weather now.

barking baywatch

quite busy at work now so havn't had much time lately and will be getting less heading up to christmas.
Been working around amersham and quite surprised at how many Red Kites there are about. Managed a couple of pics with my compact of One on a lampost.

had thursday and friday off so i headed over the bay on thursday where saw paul and dave had already seen a lapland bunting and a common scoter both of which had departed by now. I headed off towards the middle ditch
to try to get a picture or 2 of the bramblings if they were still around (no luck only found gold, green and chaffinches. spotted several reed Buntings near the pool but little else. As i got near the green fence i spotted a stonechat which and got off a couple of pics before he went.

As i was soff on friday i got over there about 7.15 to try and find the lapland but as i was walking along the foreshore there was another guy with a great dane about 200 yards ahead of me. When i met up with him later he was looking for the lapland bunting too neither of us had any luck .
As i had to go out i headed for home along the middle ditch and took a couple of shots of the reed buntings

Hope to be getting a new camera soon with better low light capabilities. As i reached the foreshore i flushed up about 100+ linnets which flew off along the foreshore 2 skylark which headed onto the scrub and a single bird which was nearby which flew off on its own over towards the earth works could it have been the lapland bunting it already gone quite a distance when i picked it up with my bins and it just kept going.

Too much work

Busy week and weekend this week with work, so only managed  an hour or so on the patch saturday afternoon. The tide was well out and with no scope only bins couldn't make out if there was anything amongst the 120+ blackwits, redshanks and dunlin. other than 2 curlews about 50 mtrs apart. Thought there was a spotted redshank out there, but with not much light couldn' get a decent pic to positivly id.

 walked along the middle ditch and found 3 fieldfares at the choats road end.
apart from that there wasn't much movement at all.

At work Sunday out in the middle of nowhere in the chilterns i looked up to see a Red kite above
i also nearly tripped up a muntjac a bit later.Apart from that its been a bit quiet this week.