Serin,Isla's middle name...

Serin,Isla's middle name...

Monday 20 December 2010

Marsh Tit in the Woods!

Hello again,decided to finally go to Belhus Woods Country Park to look for the reported Marsh tits (2) that have been regular for the last couple of weeks or so.Marsh Tit is quite a scarce visitor in this area,i last had one about 6 or 7 years ago close by and i know another has been reported recently at Grangewaters but apart from that this area is not a stronghold for this species,so i thought i would go and tick this list off my local list,saying that the list is just in my head as i have neglected it this year due to not going birding enough and not always filling in my logbook or on my pc.Anyhow,i know i haven't seen one round here for a few years.I pulled up about 9am and hoped to see the bird by the feeders where they have been reported very quickly so i could then get down to the Stone Barges at rainham to look for the Ring Ouzel.After 20 minutes or so there was still no sign of the Marsh Tit so i thought i would go for a stroll around the woods on the off chance i may hear or see them.
                                                     
A quick stroll around the woods produced 2 lesser redpoll,a treecreeper,plenty of greenfinch,chaffinch,blue & great tits as well as both Great Spotted & Green woodpecker,a flock of around 20 siskins was nice as was 2 nuthatch very close to the visitors centre on the way back,i decided to give the feeders one last try and as soon as i got there i was rewarded with the Marsh Tit,i believe it was only one bird but not 100% sure as it seemed to be very busy and could possibly of been two birds.I was talking to someone who was over there doing some photography and was trying to get him to take some shots but he didn't seem too interested as he was more into landscapes than wildlife photography,although he did say he was interested in taking pictures of waxwings,so i told him a few decent places as he was going to go to stortford to photograph some,nice bit of nikon though,about 6 grands worth.
From Belhus i shot down to the Stone Barges at Rainham,or at least that was the plan,the road leading up to the car park was very slippery and i couldnt get up the slight hill at the end in my crap BMW,then reversing back down i managed to get stuck in a bit of a rut and it took me 10 minutes to get out.So i decided to go round to Coldharbour lane and have a look at Aveley Bay but the tide was in,probably best to have checked before hand as i was sliding all over coldharbour lane in my crap BMW.From there i went back to the car park by the road leading up to where i had been stuck,as i was pulling up to the car park i saw what appeared to be a Ring Ouzel on the wire fence,i was pretty sure it was as the bird has been reported in the area for a while now,as i pulled up there was already someone there (johnathan ledbridge aka jono)who said he had seen what he believed to be a ring ouzel on the same fence,we both agreed that it was a ring ouzel but carried on looking as we wanted to get better views of the bird.After a while jono went and i gave myself half hour to find it before going off to tescos to get the babies nappies,which is why i originally went out this morning :) .After about 15 minutes,the bird re appeared,this time for 15-20 seconds and i could positively identify the bird,which is a year bird for me!!.Other species seen were good numbers of redwing,quite a few fieldfare,blackbirds,pipits,a kestrel and a snipe.A quick scan on the reservoir opposite berwick glades and the paddock on the way home produced nothing but a heron and a kestrel overhead.Off home to the missus and baby where i watched the garden birds for a while but only collared dove,blue tit and 2 dunnocks bothered visiting.Tomorrow sees the shortest day of the year,from then on all the days get longer which is only a good thing as far as birding goes,tomorrow also sees Hornchurch travelling to Concord Rangers on Canvey Island in the next round of the Essex Senior Cup,but i can't see it being on and this will be the 3rd time we have had the game called off,fingers crossed though as i could do with a game of footy to watch!!!

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