After last weeks brief stop at Pitsea for the Waxwings in the pouring rain, it was great to see a more obliging bird at Rainham and this time on a wonderful clear, crisp winter's day.
Sunday, 22 January 2017
Shrike Dipping
After last weeks brief stop at Pitsea for the Waxwings in the pouring rain, it was great to see a more obliging bird at Rainham and this time on a wonderful clear, crisp winter's day.
Sunday, 15 January 2017
Wet Waxwings and a Sunday Roast
On route to Southend with the family for Sunday lunch at the in-laws, and I made a quick detour off the A13 towards Pitsea to catch up with a few Waxwings - my first birds this winter (I've been holding out for some local ones - no joy yet!). The Tesco's at Pitsea is a reliable site to catch up with Waxwings especially when the UK experiences winter invasions of these Scandinavian punks as I've seen them here on a couple of occasions in the past.
The weather did me no favours as it was tipping down but fortunately it took me all of two minutes to locate the birds in the trees opposite the Go Outdoors store. With the rain continuing to fall I happily stayed in the dry of the car to view the birds, but I could still hear their distinctive soft trilling calls over the noise of the radio. Unfortunately in the short amount of time I had, the birds all kept there distance, sticking to the tops of the trees. I counted 31 birds in total, fewer numbers that had been reported recently so these birds are starting to disperse and looking at the diminishing berries on the trees the rest of them will soon be on their way - hopefully to a Woodford/Wanstead postcode.
The weather did me no favours as it was tipping down but fortunately it took me all of two minutes to locate the birds in the trees opposite the Go Outdoors store. With the rain continuing to fall I happily stayed in the dry of the car to view the birds, but I could still hear their distinctive soft trilling calls over the noise of the radio. Unfortunately in the short amount of time I had, the birds all kept there distance, sticking to the tops of the trees. I counted 31 birds in total, fewer numbers that had been reported recently so these birds are starting to disperse and looking at the diminishing berries on the trees the rest of them will soon be on their way - hopefully to a Woodford/Wanstead postcode.
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11 of the 31 Waxwings on view at Pitsea, Essex |
Thursday, 5 January 2017
Wanstead Gull Recoveries - Update
Firstly - Happy New Year 2017.
I have started my Wanstead patch list but as it's currently sitting on 54 (list here) with nothing out of the ordinary to report, I thought I would start the new year with a post regarding recent Gull recoveries on Wanstead Flats, in particular the Common Gull (J9R5) below.
This bird has a very interesting history, it was first ringed in July 1998 in Bergen Norway before being re-caught again in the same location in July 2011 - and this time the bird was colour-ringed (J9R5), and then for 15+ years it was regularly recorded in Bergen with last time being 15th July 2016 and then 6 months later on the 29th Dec 2016 it was recorded on Wanstead Flats and for the 1st time away from Norway, covering a distance of 640 miles to get here.
I have started my Wanstead patch list but as it's currently sitting on 54 (list here) with nothing out of the ordinary to report, I thought I would start the new year with a post regarding recent Gull recoveries on Wanstead Flats, in particular the Common Gull (J9R5) below.
Common Gull (J9R5) - Photo courtesy of Dante Shepherd |
Here is the current list of colour-ringed Gulls recorded on Wanstead Flats.
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