Barn Owl,Barn Owl,Barn Owl oi oi oi

Paid a visit to Thames Chase this afternoon,mainly to see Siskins & Redpolls and to try to get pictures of Redpolls as i got some pictures of Siskins yesterday.
Yesterday i was feeling totally dejected with this whole photography lark when i suddenly had a 45 minute golden spell,i had a flock of around 20 Siskins knocking around for a good 30 minutes and then 2 female Bullfinch on my way back to the centre,below are a few shots from yesterdays birds.I had also been to Stubbers beforehand where i had Scaup and the usual wildfowl there.

As you can see i am still crap at photography,here are todays attempts at the art.

Sorry about the picture of the rat,it was about the car park when i was looking for Owls,which i did manage to see in the form of Barn Owl,unfortunatly for me and you chaps i put my camera away when it went over the barn and by the time i got it out again,the Owl had gone,fckng typical.
The redpoll pictures were taken by positioning myself in the middle of the Alders near the pond,unfortunatly it is very dense in there and hard to get a decent shot,plus i am still crap at keeping my hands still lol

Super Hornchurch

Just got back from Hornchurch where we beat Lewes 1-0 thanks to a Martin tuohy goal after 32 Minutes.It keeps us 2nd behind leaders Billericay who are 5 points ahead but we have 2 games in hand on them.Lowestoft who are 3rd dropped 2 points and are now 2 points behind us with a game in hand on us and 3 on ricay,it couldn't be tighter,we look on paper to have the easiest run in,with only Billericay to come to the Bridge at Easter while the two other sides play each other on the last day of the season,Come on Hornchurch.The Crowd of 298 was healthy considering the conditions which were harsh for a game Hornchurch should of won more convincingly.
Was planning on doing some photography this morning and although i visited Thames chase there was little about as the wind was gusting up around 40mph.The green sandpiper was at the scrape but was spooked by me i assume,a Kestrel and a redwing was pretty much all i saw in the 40 minutes or so i was there.
Planning on going out for a couple of hours tomorrow when the weather promises to be better,managed to get a few shots of some Sparrows at my mums but they arent too good to be honest.

Bird Photography Not easy

First day with my camera in what turned out to be hard work on a gloomy day,probably not the best day for photography but i won't let it bother me.
Went to all sorts of places but basically saw naff all birds,the ones i did see i got crap shots of and as i don't have much time i will put them up on here quickly for you to see.Got to work in a minute and won't be in till the early hours so thats basically it from me folks,sorry to be short but its been a hectic day lol

as you can see,not brilliant,had a few problems getting used to the camera,had some birds i thought i should of got but didn't and when i got home it turns out they are just blurs,need to practice keeping still i guess.
Thames Chase,No Sandpiper today,but i was only at the scrape for a few minutes.Grey Wagtail was there and i got a crap photo of it,below:-

Had a few other birds,nothing of much interest,just the usual robins,tits,funnily no thrushes anywhere today but maybe because i was concentrating on the photos i was missing too much.

off out to work now but as you can see i have a long way to go in the world of photography

Photography

Its late and i have to be up in 4 hours,excuse the shortness of this blog entry.
Went to Pages Wood,upminster today,had a Male Bullfinch,3 parakeets,Song & mistle thrush,Green & great spotted Woodpecker and good numbers of tits,thrushes,finches etc.
Then onto the Polyclinic where i was given Flucloxacillin for my bad foot,feels better after 3 courses but still looks a mess.
Then home to sleep for a couple of hours before getting the text i have been waiting for,my camera is here
Nikon D80 with 18/55 lense and 70/300 lense,should keep me going,cheers Gary for sorting it out for me.
Took a few photos in the 10 minutes spare i had before i left for Stansted,not very good but i am going to hopefully get a couple of hours tomorrow to see what i can come up with,signing off,sleepy Robert,snap snap

THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING

Well sort of.
Arrived over Thames Chase earlier to hear Skylarks high over the visitor centre and over Great Barn,an area of Grassland with new woodland either side,a very nice area indeed,promises to be even nicer once it matures in quite a few years,as most of the site will.
I made my way to the Scrape but it took me a good hour to get there as the chase was a flurry of activity.Its one of those places that can be as quiet as a mouse one minute and explode into life,this morning it was full of life,the snow has now all gone and i feel its only a matter of days before the first signs of spring are seen,so with the temperatures hitting 11c today,some 25c higher than Saturday night and the sun shining,i am declaring "Spring has arrived on Thames Chase".On the way to the scrape i had yet more Skylarks over great barn,6 Goldfinch then a flock of around 40 Redpolls in the Alders followed by a golcrest then further down 8 or 9 Siskins darting in and out of the plantation.
On arriving at the Scrape,with it now ice free it is apparant that it needs a bit of a clear up,not too much but being next to the M25 it will collect rubbish from time to time,probably just needs a litter clear up every 3-4 months,the birds like it though,they love mud,water and bits of grass etc,the Green Sandpiper was very flighty this morning and it was nice to see 3 Snipe back with brief views of the Grey Wagtail,with a Pied.Once again in the Farmland backing onto the trees behind the scrape were more noisy Skylarks and a Male Kestrel hovering,as they do.
I had to dissapear to Gatwick for a job,which took a few hours,on the way i had Buzzard x 3 and the bird of the day,just as i was coming onto the M23 was a Raven,not sure if they are regular in the Area but if so then it was right at the edge of its range.A year tick for me,so me was happy,get in.
On the way back from Gatwick,i went back along the roadwork stretch of the Eastern M25,there are quite a few of these scrapes popping up on the motorway,one of which on the anti clockwise side,which has more water than the thames chase one,but was still shallow as i picked out a Green Sandpiper wading in there,obviously as i was driving i couldn't make out everything but there was a good 50-70 birds in there,most Lapwings and Moorhens but if i could get to it i am sure i could find more...
I went back to Thames Chase from 3.30pm-4.45pm,visited the scrape with the same birds minus the wagtails,then back to the visitor centre where i had a few redpolls in the Alders and a distant kestrel over Pike Lane,got a nice photo,well niceish with my phone lol

Dodgy toe

Not going to write much as i have a dodgy toe,causing all sorts of aggro at the moment,think its infected.
Done a bit of birding between jobs today,visiting Thames Chase for the first time for a few days.It was very quiet today with the Green Sandpiper,Grey Wagtail and a Sparrowhawk being the only birds of note.The usual Kestrel was around and many of the winter thrushes have now dispersed the site,no doubt going back to the fields to feed where they were beforehand.No redpolls either,although i didn't really look too hard in all honesty,i spent the first hour or so on the scrape with little reward,i then went for a walk high up over the site scanning the skies with crows,starlings and magpies being the main subjects although a massive female Sparrowhawk was hunting out of the small woodland and into a field,feeding on what looked to be a chaffinch.
As you can see from the picture below,i was quite high up,you can also see that pretty much all the snow has gone,although it is lingering on in a few places,it should all be gone by the weekend

I stayed around the top of the hill for a good half hour,getting views of the surrounding areas towards the hills in Brentwood,over to Basildon and back over to Upminster and the Thames Chase Forest Centre,below:-

While up at the top i had a confrontation with a Fox,it was a funny looking fox with a complete brown body and ginger head,very odd,the confrontation happened when i looked at him,he looked at me,he came closer to me,i moved closer to him,then he buggered off,nice spot on the hill though,only downside is you are only a couple of hundred yards from the M25 but you don't hear it after a while.I made my way back to the centre,via the scrape,which didnt see any more birds apart from a Green Woodpecker sitting on the post,nothing apart from chaffinch in the Alders where the Redpoll & siskins have been,i went home to spend an hour with the missus & nipper before taking some fellow gooners to Stansted so they can travel to Milan for tomorrow nights Champions league match.
On the way back i had a Buzzard in one of the dump pools by the M25/M11 junction and another one over Brook street,the popped down to Pike Lane to look in the fields,once again,very quiet so at 5pm i called it a day and headed home.My toe is causing me severe pain in,well my toe,obviously,although i did put some antiseptic cream on it when i started writing this blog entry some 25 minutes ago and it does feel better,well a bit better anyway.
Hornchurch's game at home to Margate was called off earlier,which is a result for me as i was going to be missing it due to picking someone up from Heathrow in an hour or so,only hope my toe holds up lol

Bittern late than Never.

Evening all,how are we today,good?,same here!!!
Today i have been sampling the delights of the Essex Coast,from Maldon to East Mersea,which is known as the Blackwater Estuary,while not as famous as other esturies around britain it certainly isn't in the shadow when it comes to birds.Unfortunately though for us this morning it was in the shadow,well the mist to be precise but this soon cleared after about half hour or so at our first port of call,Goldhanger!!

                                                                             
Its quite a strange place,you go down a little pathway,past a kids playing field and suddenly out into an Estuary,the tide was out but what with the mist it certainly was an eerie place,i doubt i would of felt too comfortable on my own in that mist,would of felt like something out of the "hounds of the baskervilles" the minute a stray poodle started sniffing up my leg.
We had some good numbers of Waders,your usual Essex wader fare to be honest,a few Know,Plenty of Dunlin,Bar & black tailed Godwits,curlew,plenty of Brent Geese but it wasn't too easy in the light.We had 40-50 Skylarks with around 6 Red Legged Partridge in the field behind,plus a couple of Reed Buntings.We decided to head to West Mersea for grebes etc and we wasn't dissapointed with Slavonian Grebes a plenty,1 red necked grebe,which i didn't see,plenty of mergansers,1 Red throated Diver,some sanderling and the usual duck,geese etc,Golden plover were very obliging with one just in front of us.From there we headed down to Cudmore Grove on East Mersea,one of my favourite places but today it was very quiet,a few waders,the fields not holding any Brents,a few grebes,mergansers but very little.After there we had lunch,then headed to Copt Hall for Tree Sparrows,me feeling tired decided to have a kip while they went fot the Sparrows,but beforehand a Barn Owl came flying out the Barn we was parked next to,giving those fortunate enough a cracking day tick.As i say,i didn't go on the walk at Copt hall,got my head down and missed a few raptors.
(below,some Dunlin on Mersea,towards brightlinsea)

We then headed to Abberton,where the weather closed in on us,freezing cold once more,strong wind and annoyingly cold rain,ruined the ending really although a Drake Smew and redhead along with a Fantastic Bittern right as we was packing up rounded off what was a very good day after a dissapointing start weather wise.Cheers to all the group for making it another cracking day,shame i haven't got my camera yet so you have to put up with these crap photos for now lol.

Egyptian Goose at Abberton

Birds when i am not birding.

Havent got too much to share with you tonight,have been working hard the last 24 hours,finished at 4am this morning,an hour later than i wanted as the group of girls i was picking up from chelmsford last night were one short as one had gone off to a hotel with a "scary looking bloke" twice her age and then rang her mate to say she was in trouble,we ended up driving round Chelmsford for the best part of an hour trying to find her,before eventually getting the drunken lass on board.Sho seemed to be so relaxed about the whole thing that i wondered if she had been in any danger or it was just in her own drunken mind.Since starting this business,i see some horrific things,mainly involving 16-25 year old girls who think they are above everyone else and the sad reality of it is,some will face an experience 100 times worse than the young lass last night,who managed to escape from the hotel.The other sad thing is,if it happens to one of these girls,the type who goes off with strangers while paryletic,they really have no one but themselves to blame.For this reason alone,i am thinking of moving to an island with no stupid nightclubs offering 50 shots for a fiver or whatever they offer,just to make sure my daughter never frequents such hidiously pathetic places,god,i am getting old,rant over.
Got up at 9am for more work,yeah love it.....Had a job to London,unfortunately it took me a couple of hours to get there,so instead of coming home i decided to stay up there.On the way up i had a Sparrowhawk over Fords,a couple of cormorants over the Roding at Barking and a parakeet over Canning town.Once the passengers were dropped off,i headed for Barnes and the London Wetland Centre,a place i had always wanted to visit,but upon pulling up i noticed it was £10 to get in,er,sorry but i ain't paying that to look at a few birds i can see for free all over the South East,so the thieving gits can basically jog on,and i hope the 3 bitterns that are there uproot to the Ingrebourne,that would serve them right.....
I decided to go for a lovely Indian buffet round the corner,theres nothing better than the feeling of walking into a restaurant thats packed to the rafters and asking for a table for one,letting everyone know your billy no mates lol.
After this i wandered over to the Royal Albert Hall to park up and watch Wales v Scotland rugby on my tv before picking up my customers at 6pm and heading off home through the horrendous Sunday evening London traffic,something else that can do one until next Sunday,when i am back up there,joy of joys!!
After dropping off in Orsett,i had a badger crossing Fen lane,no doubt on the scrounge,then Bird of the day,a Barn Owl flew in front of the car,by Stubbers pursuit centre not more than a mile from my house,happy days.
Upto North East Essex tomorrow with Mr Howard Vaughan of RSPB Rainham fame and the rest of the Boozybirders,promises to be a good day with temperatures on the rise.....Not long either till i get my Camera gear,should have it by midweek,just hope i have time to use it this week as its kinda busy at the moment,am sure i will though....

As short as it gets

Not had much time to update my blog the last couple of days,been busy at work and family duties etc.Managed a bit of birding yesterday and Today,went to Thames Chase as usual Friday,saw 2 Grey Wagtails,Green Sandpiper,a few redwings and Fieldfare,well i say a few,i mean a couple of Thousand lol,also seen were Mistle thrush,2 kestrels,a couple of Snipe and a rat.
Worked till about 3am this morning,temperatures were down to -13c on my temp gauge in the car,by far the coldest i have ever known.Got up nice and early this morning,stressful day,kitchen flooded as the pipe burst,had to pick cat up from cattery as my parents have just come back from Thailand and Hornchurch's game away to Carshalton was called off,meaning we are still 2nd.
Popped over Thames Chase quickly with Alice and Isla (who is currently tearing the flat apart,being told off by mummy and every now and then coming in for daddy cuddles,soft touch lol)
Am off out to work in a minute,till about 4/5am then up again at 9 for another full day,hope to get a good nights sleep Sunday night as i am off birding with the boozy birders to the North Essex coast.
Have bought my Camera & Lense,second hand Nikon D80 with a 75/300 lense,should have it midweek so hopefully i can get some decent photos on here at last.Oh and Arsenal won today,4th place looking a possibility,fingers crossed,FOYS

Upside down Sandpiper

An Early morning jaunt to Stansted today saw me back in Upminster by 7.30am so i headed down to Thames Chase Pike Lane again.It was a bit warmer this morning.I headed to the Scrape,on the way i had Good numbers of Goldfinch,a few Greenfinches and 3 Redpolls,a nice Green Woodpecker whizzed past me.As usual there were good numbers of Fieldfare & Redwing,no where near as many as yesterday though.
I headed to the Scrape,this is what it looked like......

                                                                                   
Yes,empty,well not as empty as it looks,within seconds 33 Linnets popped down for a bit of a drink before taking off quite swiftly,they returned about 45 minutes later.After scanning,i found a couple of Snipe,one hiding under a blue bag and another tucked up on the bank.The Green Sandpiper was hiding behind the bricks but soon showed itself well.
Not too much else showed up this morning,i went back to the Centre about 10.30am for my cuppa and cookie,lubbly jubbly me old china,on the way back i had 28 Redpolls,they let me get within around 15 feet and got cracking views,happy days.
I went off to do a couple of jobs before going back around 12.30,i met Tony from the football club who had rang me asking about the Scrape,i met him and off we went.Plenty of Thrushes including Mistle & Song thrush.There was nothing new on the scrape,a few fly over birds but the same on the scrape.At one point i asked Tony if he could see the Green Sandpiper,but he said he could only see an Upside down one,obviously looking at its reflection rather than the bird itself.doh....On the way back to the centre we got good views of the Fieldfare that by now were all on the deck,a few Redwing in the trees were a new one for the year for Tony,we had Kestrels and then a smaller flock of around 10 Redpolls,all Lesser i assume but didn't always get the best views this afternoon.A good day out though,enjoyable as per usual and the snow is starting to thaw again after a cold few days

Thames Chase Again

Evening all etc etc.
Went to.....surprise surprise Thames Chase again,this time bright and early,well earlyish,around 8.30am.
It was freezing cold,no seriously absolutely freezing,but i was wrapped up warm and ready for a few hours birding.
On arriving at Thames Chase i was greeted by a small flock of Goldfinch,a good start to the day,a few Pied Wagtails were bobbing around the Car Park and the Thrushes were making themselves noticed,over the day i reckon i saw 1000 plus Fieldfare and a good 6-700 Redwings.
Making my way to the scrape i had a few more Goldfinch to go with the Thrushes but not too much else.
Arriving at the scrape,the Green Sandpiper was still there,it looks settled there and i can see it sticking around,i had 1 Snipe,then a second,then a third.Two Lapwings and 3 Pied Wagtail made up what was on show.
After an hour or so of watching,a couple more Snipe came onto the scrape but it was the quietest day on the scrape out of the last 3.I left around 11am and as soon as i did 16 Linnets,yes Linnets,positive id and all that lol,naughty robert (still reeling from that)
I made my way back to the Visitor Centre for a Pot of Earl grey,scrambled egg on toast and a white choc chip cookie,job done,on the way back to the centre i had 8 Lesser Redpollls feeding on the young Alders,would of made a nice picture if i had a decent camera.Was frozen but after wolfing the grub down and the tea i headed South to the Wooded area,higher up.To be honest i didn't see too much,a couple of Goldfinch,5 Greenfinch and the large numbers of thrushes was all but still nice.I had a walk around before going home for a nice afternoon kip.


I woke up late afternoon,ready for the eagerly awaited talk by the ecologists working for Skanska Balfour Beaty,who are responsible for the Motorway Widening on the M25.I won't bore you with all the details but it was a fascinating talk and gave a cracking insight into the preparation involved in such a large job and ensuring  the wildlife disturbance is kept to a minimum,really was impressed with the whole process.There was also a cracking display of bird photography by members of the Upminster Camera Club under Malcolm Fish' guidance,cracking stuff,hopefully one day i can get shots half as good as those,roll on my camera arriving,i like big lenses!!!

Its a Linnet not a Pipit you plonker

Todays blog was supposed to be a happy one,one full of my days birding and first day as a budding Thirty something photographer,well it still is but i have to clear one thing up first,i made a mistake,a mistake i am seriously annoyed with myself for making,almost because i just assumed and didn't look into it properly because i thought i knew better,but i didn't,i am a fool lol.
I mistook a Linnet for a Meadow Pipit and even after seeing a photo,which i didn't really look at as i assumed i was right.
The incident happened at Thames Chase Forest Centre,the new scrape that i am fascinated by at the moment,the place i will get up at 7am for tomorrow in -4c temperatures,the place i will trudge to in freezing cold conditions to see what goes on there first thing in the morning.I was with my good friend Garry Bowden who was showing me the ropes in the world of photography.We took loads of photos of all sorts of birds who visited the scrape during the day,a couple of photos Garry took were of what i just casually assumed was a Meadow Pipit,they were head on photos,i thought i heard it call,didn't really pay attention as i was watching the Snipe and just put it down as Meadow Pipit.When i got home,i looked at the photos,looked at the bill,thought it was odd for a pipit so asked someone who knows more than me,but for whatever reason still thought it was a meadow pipit,for whatever reason i just didn't consider Linnet,despite us seeing a flock of 22 Linnets all bloody day.It may of been me,getting carried away with the photography but i should of known better,its not really an easy mistake to make,not the hardest birds to confuse,oh well!!!
Everyone makes mistakes,i shouted Bittern once when a pheasant flew over a hide at Dunge,got some funny looks but that was more instinct and i knew straight away it was wrong,the hide laughed,oh did they laugh....
Anyway,glad thats off my chest......Me and Garry arrived at Thames Chase,well i arrived first,got myself a pot of tea and a couple of cookies,lovely.We made our way to the scrape after quickly testing his gear,Garry uses a 400m lense,gets good shots but his main gear is away with Nikon at the moment and he let me use his wives camera just to get an idea how to use it,i really am that clueless...On arriving at the scrape,a quick scan revealed Snipe (1),Green Sandpiper (1),Pied Wagtail (3),Lapwing (2) and after a while we found a lovely Grey Wagtail.During the day we were treated to 23 Linnets,a few Long Tailed tits,kestrel,some Goldfinch,a few Greenfinch,plenty of Fieldfares,redwings and another Snipe popped in.
We finished off walking back to the car around 2.15pm with some good shots of the birds (will post below if i can do it).After another pot of tea and a look at some of the photos Garry had to dash for the school run,whereas i made my way back over to the scrape,buzzing from the days work so far.On arriving there were now 3 Snipe,shortly to be joined by another two,a healthy flock of Goldfinch were knocking about,then an Egyptian goose flew past,seemingly following the M25 North.I decided then as it was below freezing to call it a day,on heading back i had a Woodcock over the area called Great Barn,a bit unexpected really but a first for this year,was made up.Got back to the visitor centre to talk about the birds i had seen,lovely birds but no Meadow Pipit lol,silly Robert.
More birding tomorrow but unfortunatly until i get my gear which i hope to be in the next two weeks,more crappy Blackberry photos until then,probably keep me out of trouble though !!!

This was my first picture,spot the Snipe,and no i am not getting confused with a Lapwing,there is a Snipe there!!

Another Snipe,just so you know i know how to id a bird,grrrr

A Lapwing

Guess what these are lol !!!

Goodnight all!!!!

Oh,ok one more for you

Night

New Scrape attracts Jack Snipe!!!

Evening all,or afternoon/morning to those reading this tomorrow or those in foreign climes.The Big thaw is under way in Sunny Essex after Saturday nights snow.
Got up nice and early this morning,awoken by the Nipper demanding porridge and Dumbo as usual.
Had a bit of work to do this morning so dissapeared around 9am and headed for a quick pit stop via the finches et al down Gerpins Lane,as usual i wasn't dissapointed.

There must of been 250-300 birds there today!!!!!!
The Majority were Chaffinch but there were around 15 Goldfinch,10 Grenfinch,Around 30 Linnets,which if you look in the picture on the right and can see a few dots high in the high grass,these are Linnets,trust me,they are!!!
Other birds of note were 4 Red Legged Partridge,2 Reed Buntings a Kestrel and many Finches,mainly Fieldfare but a few Redwing as well.
I then went to work for an hour or so before heading to Thames Chase Forest Centre Mid Morning for an hour or so,on the way i had a Bullfinch (MALE) outside the Crematorium in Upminster along with around 80 Fieldfare in the trees.
Thames Chase is in Pike Lane,Upminster with a golf course on one side,the M25 on another and Farmland the rest of the way around.
On driving up Pike lane to the Centre i had 6 Red Legged Partidge,a Lovely Common Buzzard and around 60 Fieldfare in the trees and a few Redwing to boot.
My main objective on visiting Thames Chase this morning was to check out the new scrape which has been designed by the Ecologists who work with the Company who are responsible for the widening of The M25,europes busiest Motorway!!.I started walking towards the Scrape seeing Meadow Pipit on the way,large tit flocks,including 16,14 & 11 Long Tailed Tits,a few Goldcrest and the usual finches & thrushes.
3 Green Woodpeckers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker were seen.

I walked up to the tunnel which takes me under the M25,it may be impassable in a day or so as the water level for the stream was quite high tioday and there is still alot of snow left to thaw but hopefully i can get round this problem,even so it will probably only be for a day or so,if at all.

On leaving the Tunnel i headed South and walked up a very snowy path,in the distance i could see some fencing,this must be the Scrape.I was a bit sceptical upon approaching it,i mean how good could a scrape be that is just a pit from the M25 works,and its only been there a couple of months.I needn't of worried as upon approaching it,it looked cracking,the only issue being it was not 50 foot from Europes Busiest Motorway.
A quick scan put me straight onto a Green Sandpiper,this had been reported on the sightings board a week ago,but on the sightings board at Thames chase once was an Eagle so i was slightly sceptical but there it was.
The scrape looked really good,it is hoped that plants etc will grow but it already seems to have attracted decent amounts of birds,the water level will go up no doubt once the thaw is complete as there are two pipes which are no doubt fed from the drainage of the M25,So in the summer it will probably get very low.
Looking around the scrape i saw 2 Lapwing,8 Snipe which was a surprise,4 Pied Wagtails,Redshank and a moorhen.I decided to walk around as far as i could and checked out the edges where suddenly i saw a Small Snipe bobbing around,first thought was Jack Snipe,i looked at the others and noticed the usual subtle differences ie size,short bill etc.A new year tick and an exciting tick for a site which isn't birded all that often,i never really see any birders there apart from the odd one in spring/summer.
Here are a couple of pictures of the Scrape,for those that use the M25 it is situated about half a mile past junction 29 going towards the Dartford Crossing,so if you stay in the slow lane,you may just see it,at the moment there is roadworks and the scrape is actually situated next to the first yellow speed camera after Junction 29(A127) you will see a brown fence,have a look if you can on your way past!!!!!

You can see to the left of the bricks a couple of dots,these are Snipe!!!

Also Pied Wagtail feeding in the middle

I think the Green Sandpiper was to the right of the bricks!!

All in all a cracking little scrape and one i shall be keeping an eye on this year,will be interesting to hear what is said at the meeting on Wednesday.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

This promises to be a crap post in all honesty,as all i have done in the last 24 hours is work,sleep,watch a bit of football and struggle to drive up hills and on Motorways.
Football was cancelled yesterday afternoon,as was all the other games in our League so we remain 2nd a point behind Billericay but with a game in hand.
For those out of the country at the moment or who live in a different country,we had a little bit of snow last night,about 5 inches,it caused mayhem on the roads in and around London as the capitals hapless drivers in their rear wheel drive BMW's with crap tyres clogged up the roads,trying to drive in conditions that were not really that bad if you know how to drive.Don't get me wrong,some roads were only just passable but if you don't have the right equipment,you don't tend to get the right results and last night was a case of this.
It got to one stage about 2am where i was driving up a hill and went past a BMW very slowly,the 3 girls,dressed in mini skirts and high heels,completely unbelievable,completely clueless as to how to drive.
I had 3 people to drop off in Brentwood,they bailed out at the bottom of the hill as the traffic couldn't move because,you guessed it,BMWs were blocking the road.twats.
Got home eventually just after 4am and was woken at 10am by a young lady asking me to take her to North London to which i obliged,only took me 40 minutes to get up there as miraculously our main roads were now clear,not something we are used to in this country,gritters actually doing the job properly!!
Haven't done any birding today,although had around 200 Fieldfare on the A12 near Romford and a Buzzard over Upminster lunchtime,also a nice Coal tit and Redwings in my mums garden.
Watched the chelsea v man utd game today,not a fan of either so a draw about right,no work till late tomorrow night so may get out for a bit of local birding tomorrow if i can,until next time,bye bye

Yellowhammers are Back

Been a strange few days since i last posted.
No further additions to my year list,instead i have been birding locally around the lanes near my house.
This recent phenomenom started Thursday Afternoon when i went for a drive around the lanes and ended up at the little Road off Gerpins Lane,it is a one way lane with a lay by which backs onto the aggregate works which is soon to become part of Bonnetts wood,this work should be complete before the summer and promises to be an exciting addition to a small and nice looking site which does get a few decent birds.
I parked up and noticed a large flock of Finches,the majority were Chaffinch but in with them were small amounts of Goldfinches,Greenfinches,2 Bullfinches.Other birds of Note were:-

14-20 Yellowhammer (i had 14 in view at one time but there were others!!)
10 Siskin
Kestrel
Pheasant
Cormorants
Fieldfare (30)
Redwing (10)

The Yellowhammer were a signifcant record for me,i havent seen that many round here for 3-4 years,just the odd couple of birds,max was 8 about 2 years ago so was well chuffed.

This is where i found them.

They were all in the trees and surrounding bushes and it became clear that a good 200 birds were involved,they were feeding on the ground,seemingly enjoying the bounties available and obviously drawn to the area by the food on offer in the cold weather.

I went back again today for 45 minutes.
Didn't have the same amount of birds,slightly different mix with the Following seen.

Marsh Harrier,over the Reservoir which backs onto the field
48 Greylag Geese
1 Common Buzzards
23 Linnets
12 Siskin
22 Fieldfare
18 Goldfinch
3 Pheasants
2 Greenfinch

I then went off to do a job,after a couple of hours i went back to Gerpins where i had a bigger flock of Linnets,around the 40 mark,difficult to count in bad light.
Snipe flying over was a nice bird.
I then visited the Thames Chase centre for a quick cup of tea.
On entering the centre i noticed a sighting of Green Sandpiper on the Scrape???
I didn't know they had a scrape so i enquired and was told it was new,built by the developers who are making the M25 into 4 lanes,just by the motorway.There is a talk about the ecology of the site on Wednesday at the Thames Chase Forest Centre at 7pm and i will be going to find out whats going down!!!
Snow on its way and i am off to work now,lets hope its only light so i can go birding tomorrow.

No Birding Today,well sort of !!

Decided to have a day off of Birding today,had a bit of work,usually i would of fitted a bit of Birding around it but i've done quite a lot recently so thought it time for a rest of sorts.I was making my way to Dover around 11am when i was called back to do another job as the boat was delayed,after doing that job i thought it best to buy a 2012 diary for work even though it was now February,couldn't find one locally so ended up HAVING to go to Lakeside and that great British Institution WH Smiths,no wonder people shop in shopping centres,local shops seem to be absolutely useless nowadays.I don't like Shopping centres,preferring to shop locally but whats the fucking point when your local shops are naff.
While in Lakeside i popped into Jessops to look at Cameras,i was helped out by a lovely assistant who went through everything with me,i told her what i wanted it for and that i wasn't going to be serious,just wanted landscape shots & shots of the birds,she,unlike many other shop staff nowadays advised me to look around,she said the Cannon EOS550 with a seperate lens 75/300 i think,was a good deal but don't rush into buying it.Now i am clueless in camera speak but after a few minutes i started to get the drift,almost to the point of parting with £500,but going home to Alice and exclaiming ive just spent a monkey on camera may of been pushing it a bit.I have a friend who works at Currys,asked him what he thought,he is going to see if there are any deals,i also have a friend who is a Proffesional Photographer (hello Big Garry),who is taking me out locally some time next week so i can work out what i want etc and maybe find me a good deal on E bay or elsewhere,and quite cheap by all accounts.
I have only really been into photography in the way of enjoying looking at peoples photos or at exhibitions like the one at the Natural History Museum a couple of years ago,me and Alice went and it was brilliant,now i don't expect for one minute to enter any competitions,i simply want to be able to catch the birds i see,or at least some of them and also things like sunset/sunrise etc etc like tonights offerings from my Blackberry phone which i took on a drive out,before heading back down to Dover,where i am now,waiting for Customers.I like the evenings,when the sun is setting and when it has gone down in that little window before the dark sets in,you get lovely colours in the sky and i want to take photos of it,also i want to take photos of various sites around Upminster,especially farmland,lakes,basically anywhere where the average person who lives in and Around Upminster probably doesn't have a clue exists.
I told Alice about my photography issue,ie spending some wonga on the gear and as long as she gets to play with it a little (a very small amount if it has anything to do with me) then its fine.
Anyway,by about 4pm i was becoming restless,i had transferred all my 2012 appointments from old Diary to new and Alice wanted the Dongle for the computer for her coursework,the Nipper was making herself useful as usual charging round the flat exclaiming that everything is "WOW,AWESOME!" which is her new catchphrase for things like Molly the Doll and her toy house,whats awesome about them i don't know but she seems to think so,bless....
Anyway,as i was restless,thought i would leave for work a bit early,looking around the Fields and Sites for anything really but always hoping to see the odd Owl,none today i am afraid.First Stop was the Paddocks near the Country Park about 1/2 mile from my house,was probably about 4.30 when i got there and didn't see too much,a couple of Mute Swans i captured in a very crap photo Below:

See Crap Photos,from a Crap piece of Equipment,but lets face it,Blackberrys and their cameras are not really made for swans flying across Hornchurch Country Park at Dusk.
I next decided to head Past Bonnetts Wood,narrowly escaping being hit at 60 mph by a prick in a BMW 5 Series who decided he would hammer it down a country lane at 60mph at dusk and at -2c fucking plank.
On arriving there were a few Crows around and a Green Woodpecker and i managed to get a couple of Herons flying past in another Crap Photo in Crap light but you get my drift.......

                                                                               
From here i decided to head to Fen lane,bulphan in fading light,there wasn't much around and although the light looks poor in the photos and it was another 10 minutes later by the time i got there,it wasn't completely dark in fact for 5.15pm it was still quite light,a slow drive back towards Upminster saw me go past the Rookery in St Marys Lane,i think its the largest Rook Roost inside the M25 but not 100% sure....
I headed to Pike Lane and one of my favourite places to just park up and scan,by now the light had gone,was around 5.25pm but looking out to the West i did manage a spot of sillhouete birding above the trees.In around 15 minutes i counted 120 C Crows,8 Wood Pigeon,15 Fieldfare,2 Green Woodpeckers and 4 Redwing.A few tits were bouncing around the bushes,weyhay lol.Anyway,i got a few more naff pictures of my time sitting by the Car freezing my nuts off,here they are.............

Which one do you like,i know which one my favourite is and don't think for one minute i think they are anything special as they are not,am actually dying to get a decent camera and lens now HA HA

Not sure where i am off to tomorrow,got a 4am to Stansted first thing but should be back in bed for 5.30am,then may get up around 8 and go for a spot of birding before another airport pick up early evening tommorrow,wherever i go,expect some more pants photos in tomorrows edition,until i get a camera lol,laters chaps!!

Hawfinch Heaven

Got up a bit late this morning,not too late though as i had a job up to Colchester at 9am.Dropped the lovely ladies from a local hospice off around 10am and made my way back down the A12 to Braxted,a well known site for Hawfinch,practically the only regular site for the birds in Essex.We have had some snow overnight,albeit a very light dusting and Mid to North Essex seemed to have pretty much the same,it threatened to get heavier for a while,while driving back down to Braxted but it seemed to pass pretty quickly.I stopped at Rivenhall Lake (think thats the name!),where there were large numbers of Great Crested Grebes,a few little Grebes and the usual Wildfowl.I was only using my Bins and it was quite misty so i couldn't see too far.As i was not sure if i was supposed to be parked where i was,i thought i should move on.Arriving at Braxted i paid attention for the first time to the No Parking sign and drove up the track a bit to try to find somewhere to park,after about 3/4 of a mile i realised this was probably a wrong move and couldn't find anywhere to turn round,i finally managed to turn at a sort of junction but even this took me a few turns,poor darts!The watching 3 pheasants were clearly laughing at me,shits!!
I decided to ignore the No parking sign,or at least plead ignorance by parking as far away from it as i could,if anyone said anything i was prepared to lie to my back teeth and say the sign was blocked.
I walked up the path and while there,i met an old friend Bill,who actually put me onto the birds,there were 2 high up on the left in the trees,we watched them for a few minutes before they flew off and into Braxted Park itself.There was very little else around,2 Greenfinches and a Blue tit and those piss taking Pheasants!!!
Bill was going to Abberton to bird of the Causeway and as i had a couple of hours i decided to join him,we went via Salcott,where a Great Grey Shrike has been for the last 3/4 weeks but after a while we gave up and went to Abberton,briefly stopping for a Chocolate & Orange flapjack,breakfast at its finest.
We arrived at Abberton in our mini convoy with a few other birders braving the weather,which had deteriorated into a small sleety snow storm,thankfully after half hour or so it abeited but i was frozen stiff

We scanned the Western end of Abberton Reservoir,first up was a lovely Drake Smew,a scan around also revealed many Pochard,all huddled up against the far bank.Around 300 Shoveler were huddled up in the middle of the reservoir in a big ball with smaller numbers huddled up elsewhere.There were the usual geese,Greylags & canada,with Snow goose of the ornimental/escaped variety and a couple of Egyptian geese running around like nutters on the Causeway.A Marsh Harrier glided across the water,not on it but over it,just in case you had thoughts that they can Waterski!
Next up was a Common Buzzard sitting in a tree the other side of the water,brief views before it took off and landed a few hundred yards away.There were plenty of Cormorants around,Great Crested Grebes,a couple of Little Grebes,Tufted Ducks,coots,moorhens and a Grey Wagtail.
We then had 8 Dunlin flashing across in front of us,but by now the cold had got the better of us and Bill departed,off for a cup of tea and a scone on the reserve shop.I stayed on the causeway for another 15 minutes or so in the hope of seeing a Bittern inb the reeds in front of me but no such luch,just a Little Egret and a Heron to round the day off.A good couple of hours birding but it took me that amount of time to get the feeling back in my toes and fingers!!!!!!