A few hours spent at Fishers Green in the Lee Valley on Monday failed to produce any sight or sound of any Nightingales, even though Brian had, heard a singing bird the previous day.  This morning we headed for Abberton Reservoir and immediately heard a Nightingale singing as soon as we left the car. We walked the approach road to the reserve and heard at least six Nightingales. However, seeing one proved much more difficult. I eventually managed brief views of a single bird. We moved along to the causeway and found an Arctic Tern resting on a small buoy on the water between both causeway ..read more

Today we had a free morning to go birding, so we headed north to Cavenham Heath in Suffolk. The first Stone Curlew was spotted as soon as we scanned the heathland. We eventually managed to find five individuals. Five Wheatears were also present as well as several Stonechats. A flock of Linnets contained a single Lesser Redpoll and Skylarks were displaying overhead. Red Kite, Buzzard, and Kestrel were the only raptors seen. Start of one of the trails We headed further north to Lakenheath, where we scanned Hockwold Washes and eventually found two drakes and a female Garganey. We walke ..read more

Brian and Dad had different commitments today, so a trip to the KGV Reservoir had to wait until late afternoon. A walk up the slope to the causeway soon produced several Wheatear. At least four males and a single female were found. I scanned the north basin and found the Slavonian Grebe that has been present since the 8th of December. As we scanned the reservoir two Sand Martin flew across the River Lea for another addition to the year list. The main reason for the trip to the reservoir was for a reported Ring Ouzel, it was reported as on the path on the east side. Unfortunately, Thames Water ..read more

An early morning visit to Frampton Marsh today. We pulled into the car park and spotted the Lesser Yellowlegs immediately. It was feeding along the muddy edges close to the car park fence. A large herd of Whooper Swans was resting on the water in the northwest corner. We were still in the car park when they flew directly overhead toward their favoured feeding areas in the nearby fields. There were large numbers of Pintail, Wigeon, and Teal on the water known as the reservoir. We wandered along the track, and while checking out a small wader on the Marsh Farm Grassland, Brian found the Green-wi ..read more

We had made plans to visit Weeting on the 28th Febuary, however these plans had to be changed at the last minute. Today was our first chance since then to visit, the weather forecast was not looking good, in fact it was looking pretty grim, with heavy rain showers predicted. We put the rain gear on, but were greeted with sunshine upon arrival!  We parked by ride 47 and followed the track to the clearfell. It took several scans of the area before eventually finding the shrike. I had brief views of it in flight, then enjoyed much better views when it  perched at the top of a tall tree ..read more

We had a spare couple of hours this morning, so popped over to the reservoir in search of the Red-necked Grebe. Scanning the north basin we soon found Great Crested and Little Grebes in good numbers. Another scan and we spotted the Slavonian Grebe among a small flock of Tufted Ducks. The main target had still eluded us thus far but after numerous scans, the Red-necked Grebe was found. It was distant, and not far from the west bank. It was diving frequently, and no sooner had it surfaced than it would dive again. Two Great Crested Grebes in the same area proved to be very useful in relocating t ..read more

A birthday trip to Norfolk this morning. The Black Scoter was our main target, but we knew before we set off it was going to be a difficult challenge. We arrived at Lady Anne's Drive around 8am and had a quick scan for the Green-winged Teal that had been found on the 21st. We failed to find it among the mixed flocks of Eurasian Teal, Wigeon, and Lapwings, but we didn't spend very long looking as we wanted as much time searching for the Black Scoter as possible. We headed along the boardwalk toward the beach, only to find the tide had almost completely covered the bay. All that was left was a t ..read more

News of a White-billed Diver yesterday at Southend was frustrating, as Brian had grandad duties and by the time he was free we wouldn't be able to get there before dark or before the pier had closed.  We decided we would give it a try this morning, we set off early but with the pier not opening until 10.15 we headed for Wallasea Island. We pulled up along the entrance track and within an hour of scanning the marshes we had managed to see six species of raptor. Kestrel, Merlin, Buzzard, Short-eared owl, Marsh Harrier, and Ringtail Hen Harrier.  We arrived at the pier shortly befor ..read more

On Tuesday a Ferruginous Duck "of unknown origin" was found on Jubilee Pond at Wanstead Flats. Yesterday it was refound on Eagle Pond in Snaresbrook. Just five miles from home it was worth a visit even if not a genuinely wild bird. We arrived to find three-quarters of the pond frozen. At first, we couldn't locate the bird, but then spotted it among the overhanging branches of a tree at the end of the island. It remained asleep for a while, but eventually, it became more active.  When the locals turned up with bread for the resident ducks and swans, the fudge duck followed them around and ..read more

A return visit to Lemsford Springs this morning in the hope that the Jack Snipe that had been reported yesterday would still be present. We spent a couple of hours searching every area without any luck, only finding three Common Snipe for our efforts. We later found out that someone had decided to walk along the grass banks in front of the hides yesterday completely ignoring the no-entry signs, and had inevitably flushed everything!  The entrance gate at Lemsford Springs Our main target this morning was to try to see a Little Owl. Before driving to the site, we drove along the ..read more