Lesser Spotted Woody hooray

Woke up late this morning,due to not getting in from work until past 3am,delivering the good folk of Havering safely back to their humbles abodes.
Was woken by the nipper,who for some reason seems to be happy to see me first thing in the morning,despite the fact that i always look like shit first thing.
After an hour or so of getting myself together i decided to head off to Cely Woods,close by to me,part of which i have found out is in havering and part of which is in Thurrock,courtesy of my blackberry which tells me where certain pictures have been taken.
I arrived just after midday and although it appears to have been a nice morning,the weather took a turn for the worse with heavy cloud for most of the afternoon,although the rain did hold off until i got home.
I ventured into the woods to be greated by a large tit flock with 18 Long tailed tits,many great and blue tits and 5 Goldcrest,a good start to the day.My target birds for today were Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Firecrest but i knew for the Lesser i would have to go to the other end of the woods,this is where i had one last year and where others have told me they have been een more recently.On leaving the tit flock and venturng to the other end the woods suddenly seemed devoid of life,with the exception of a Jay,fieldfare and a few Jackdaw high up and not forgetting the odd grey Squirrel (vermin)
A couple of Green Woodpeckers were heard while walking through the woods which are mixed woodland,probably no more than 1/2 mile long and maybe 1/4 mile wide but in the centre of them you feel like you are in the middle of nowhere despite a reasonably busy lane that runs to the West of the woods.There are actually two parts of the woods,undoubtably at one time they was all one great wood which would of probably spread over most of the surrounding countryside but now they are two very small sites,the smaller of the two areas doesn't usually seem to have too much in there but being only a stone throw away from the much larger Belhus woods probably has more than it seems.
I positioned myself towards the south west edge of the woods,looking up at the taller trees in the Area,after an hour i had seen a single Great Spotted woodpecker,a few tits,crows,pigeons and a lovely Treecreeper,my first in this woodland.After about an hour,with cold setting in,i decided on walking over to Belhus,on doing so i left the woods and within about 2 minutes a Lesser Spotted Woodpecker flew out of the woods,across the Scrub and landed on a tree,luckily i had my scope and picked it up straight away,good views for about a minute before it flew back into the woods to which i followed,15 minutes of searching ddn't re find the bird so i left again and wandered over to Belhus,happy and for some reason whistling "summertime" the old Ella fitgerald classic,not sure why but although freezing cold it didn't seem like a mid winters day,maybe i was just happy with the bird or because spring is on its way lol

I headed over to Belhus for my first trip to the Scrape there,its a place i like but doesn't seem to throw up the birds i think it should,i was hoping for a Red Crested Pochard like i had last year there but not much but the usual wildfowl,Teal,wigeon c 50,Tufted ducks c50,c100 pochard,heron,8 Shoveler,mallards,moorhen,coots plenty of gulls mainly black headed with the odd herring & common there.Other birds were starling,Great Spotted Woodpecker,Jay and a lovely Mistle thrush.I decided to go home after this to watch Arsenal but on my way back to the car had a look through the other part of Cely Woods,where i had a blue tit and a starling,which just about sums it up this time of year!!!

It was starting to drizzle now so i headed back to the car,just touching the corner of the main woods where i had another Green Woodpecker,Goldcrest and some tits.The last bird(s) being a flock of around 30 fieldfare at the car park.Arsenal went on to win 3-2 after a ropey first half,happy days,amazing what a team can do after a kick up the backside and the fans actually getting behind the team.
Saturday saw me up around 8.30 and heading to Thames chase Launders Lane again.Nice crisp morning but a bit hazy which didn't help.Many gulls mainly the usual Black headed in the fields and 11 Greenfinch a good number recently.2 Reed Buntings in pretty much the same place as Friday and the Star Bird was a lovely Male Brambling.After this it was off to the Bridge to Watch the mighty AFC Hornchurch v East Thurrock United,battle of the Ryman Premiers Form teams,we won 1-0 with a goal a minute into injury time from Lewis Smith,i missed the goal as i left a minute or so earlier as i was taking people to the airport,gutted but happy we won,we stay 2nd as Billericay and Lowestoft both won but i fancy us for the title.COME ON HORNCHURCH.
Offf to Heathrow tomorrow morning at 6.30 so should be there by 8 and have a few hours spare before a 1pm pick up so aim to get some birding in at the reservoirs or pits over that way.

Lewis Smiths Goal

http://youtu.be/hHjo97IZinY