Beautiful Autumn Day at Bradwell

Tuesday saw me visit Bradwell on Sea and the Bradwell Bird Observatory with Steve "Linford Birder" called so because funnily enough,he lives in Linford.For anyone who doesn't know,and that appears to be most of my fellow Hornchurch Fans at last nights game (we lost 2-0 to Chelmsford),My dad and his friends,basically everyone i know apart from my mum is completely in the dark over Bradwells existance,fools.
We started off,just after dawn with a cracking Male Hen Harrier,we were to see this bird a further two times but each time it was either too far away or too dark to get a picture.We hung around the Bird OBS for a good hour,wasn't too much going on,lots of Finches,not many thrushes which puzzled me,seeing as they had literally been falling out the sky in Norfolk the week before.Plenty of Tits,including a lovely Marsh Tit,feeding on the feeders.We bumped into John Southeby who helps out at Bradwell and opened up the OBS,he also made us a cup of tea,nice touch from a fellow Arsenal fan.John then went off and we hung around trying to get snaps of the Marsh Tit,which i did,well one.High over us and causing a comotion with most of the birds in the OBS area was a female Peregrine,Steve then Flushed a Woodcock from the vegetation near the OBS back into the wood.
We decided to walk along the Sea wall on the look out for Snow Buntings but with no luck,we did manage around 20 Reed Buntings though,most showing off for the camera,other birds of note on the way out to the Power Station were 5 Corn Bunting,Sanderling,grey plover on the barges,plenty of Knot,Dunlin,Cormorants.We settled down near the Power Station for lunch on the high tide and then made our way back for a bit of seawatching and to take a further stroll along the beach as it was more exposed due to the tide now going out considerably.On the way back we had 3 Red Brested Mergansers,Pied Wagtail,ducks,waders and a very distant diver,Probable Great Northern,Big bird but way out,even with the scope.
Me and Steve split up for the last hour or so,i had thousands of waders over the beach,oystercatchers,Knot & Dunlin were the main ones,i also had the odd Marsh Harrier and the last bird of the day was a lovely Merlin which flew in front of us and perched on a bush.I didn't get a decent shot of it but theres always tomorrow!!!

Reed Bunting

Kestrel

Brent Goose

Brent Geese

Knot

Little Egret

Marsh Tit

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

Oystercatcher

Reed Bunting

Mixed waders,mainly Dunlin,Knot

Reed Bunting

Stonechat Fever

Evening all,or morning,afternoon depending on what time and where you are reading this,hope the weathers ok,especially all those in North America.
Went back to Thameside Thurrock again today as i had an early morning job in the area and a few hours in between picking them up.I arrive on site around 8.30am to immediately be welcomed by a pair of Stonechat,they are so showy and easy to photograph here,mainly perched on fences,wire or bushes,next up was one of around 30 Skylarks seen,then the Meadow Pipits.
I made my way to the hide where i sat down for a few hours,it was quiet today,barely a wind and the Thames was about as Calm as i have seen it.Plenty of Ducks around,the usual suspects on the wader front,Kestrels,Green Woodpeckers,Cormorants etc etc
We (the bloke next to me!) had a distant Peregrine swooping across the Thames and i had 2 Gannets and a very distant Great Skua.A total of 37 Common Scoter were see in 3 groups,24,12 & a single bird,these made it just past the hide about a half mile out before settling on the water for a while.
I went for a stroll around the site and had some more Pipits,Skylarks & Stonechat and Little egret on the mud,3 in total.A large Female Sparrowhawk was hunting on the high ground near the Visitor centre on my way out,not the most productive of days,very quiet on the river but a pleasant day which was also seemingly enjoyed by the resident Common Seal a few hundred yards out.Off to Bradwell tomorrow,hopefully without the vast amounts of Fog that i had on my visit last Tuesday,oh i do love getting jobs near bird/nature reserves.
HAVE SOME PHOTOS AS PER USUAL

Another Top Weekends Birding

With AFC Hornchurch away at Bath Yesterday,losing 3-1 to continue our recent woeful form i decided to skip the match due to not getting home before 10pm to descend on the Suffolk coast with Howard Vaughan and his army of Boozy Birders,the nickname for our group of mainly non drinkers!!!
We met at Minsmere at 8am where the weather was set fair.This lasted for approximately 30 minutes until the heavens opened and we were treated to a light shower of 2 hours,in which time we hid under bushes and eventually made our way to the Visitor centre for Sausage rolls,coffees,teas,cakes etc etc,although in the brief 30 or so minutes before the rain we had a Garganay,Bullfinch (2) various waders,ducks,crests,finches,thrushes etc
After the rain abeited we headed for the beach where the waves were crashing in and the oncoming Winter was pushed upon us almost instantly,by now though the sun was out and we soon saw 4 Snow Buntings and then a Little Auk flew past us,the buntings were coming to within about 10 feet of us,cracking little birds.
We had a Peregrine behind us over the reserve,red throated diver on the sea,A few Gannets way off,the odd scoter going past.
We walked upto the sluice where there were crests etc in the bushes,just about to leave and a large silverish grey warbler rested on a branch but as soon as we got on it,it went off,Those of us that had seen Barred Warbler before were in no doubt that this was that and when the bird did the same again a couple of others came round to our way of thinking,our suspicions were confirmed when we got back to the centre to find that a Barred Warbler had been seen in the same place on Thursday.A hail storm shortly after put a brief dampner on things but this was soon put out with the arrival of lunch,although on the way back Howard saw a Bittern and could hear Penduline Tits,a species that seems to be ever incresing in this country now,after this we headed to the Island mere hide where we had 2 Spotted redshank,Marsh Harrier,Bewicks Swans.We headed off happy after a great days birding via Eastbridge where we stopped at the usual owl spotting place,2 Barn Owls rewarded us with decent views,we then headed off to the chippy in Martlesham (j's) where the group demolished Fish and chips,i basically went home and slept.
Today (Sunday) i headed off to Thameside Thurrock,a new Essex wildlife trust reserve in Mucking,near Stanford le Hope,Essex on the banks of the River Thames,its a cracking site with a hide on the Bank of the Thames with plenty of bushes showing Stonechats,Finches,Thrushes,even a Green Woodpecker.On the Thames we (me,denis tuck and dave Cornwell) had around 25 Scoters,Hundreds of Teal & Shelduck,wigeon.There were good numbers of Waders,around 60 Avocet,Knot,Dunlin,250 plus Black Tailed Godwits,Grey Plovers,Curlew.A Peregrine Flew High over towards the other side of the Thames,then came back round and flew in front of the hide (excuse the poor photo below),A little Egret hunted on the mud to the left,We went up to the top of the visitor centre where we had a Kestrel and then a Short Eared Owl,possibly 2 hunting over the back.I hope to go back here tomorrow to see what goes upriver on the rising tide etc.Heres Some pictures