Ingrebourne Valley - Over the weekend

Not much time spent birding this weekend; an hour's quick walk Saturday morning to Tit lake and back to the Hornchurch car park via viewing area. The highlight being my second Garden Warbler in the same area as before, just before the heronry.

Then tonight i took a walk from the Optimist Public House end which was a first to see how far it was to the Hornchurch side (Only went as far as the footbridge to the woods) plus the aim was to find Kingfisher. That didnt happen but i got Swift, House Martin, Mallard, Moorhen, Chiffchaff, Green Woodpecker, Woodpigeon plus a patch first with a low flying Hobby; rufous trousers clearly on show, it headed towards the pub end car park on my return following the riverside.

Hobby seem to be in the area at the minute, 5 at Rainham on Friday, 1 over my parents back garden yesterday and this bird tonight; up until Friday i hadnt seen one this year.

76 for 2012 over the Valley

Rainham Marshes - again this week

For the second time this week i found myself over at Rainham, this time with my dad. We arrived about half eleven and as the tide was out headed up the river.

The now usual stuff on the way all the way to the bay, Whitethroat, Reed Bunting, Skylark, Black Headed Gull, Herring Gull & Shelduck. As we got the top heading towards serin mound we got some good views of a Hobby, a year tick for me and a life tick for dad.

Moving onto serin, Linnit, Goldfinch, Whitethroat and then more views of Hobby, then another, another, another & another; a total of 5 all close, lots of flight feeding action going on - good to watch.

courtesy of Steve Round www.deeestuary.co.uk

courtesy of Paul Gale www.galleryofbirds.com

Back in the reserve revealed much of the same as Wednesday and a few more year ticks for dad.

Rainham Marshes

I managed to get over Rainham yesterday in the sun; there was not much going on but the more usual species were very busy, building / repairing nests, collecting food for chicks. I was hoping to catch up with my first Sand Martins of the year but i didnt find any.

A female Wheatear was showing in the bay nicely until it got spooked by a dog a flew of towards the longer vegetation by the mud along with a single Swallow over head.

There were plenty of Chiffchaff and a few Willow Warbler around the Woodland area; a rather showing Cettis Warbler as you come to the reeds after Barretts hide. Its at time like this i wished i had got round to buying a camera.

As there wasnt much doing i decided to practice on Reed vs Sedge Warbler songs/calls. It was something i spent a lot of time doing last year and im pleased to say i got them right. 15 Reed vs 3 Sedge. There were more but these 18 were the only ones i could confirm by sight.

46 Species in all including Common Tern & Redshank.

I caught up with this family near the MDZ dipping area.

Work Patch

Finally found myself a lunch time patch: Woodman Road Cemetery. Only a short walk down the alley at the end of the road. Can be there in less than two minutes.

Found the alley whilst on a call earlier and todays birding revealed:

Jay x1
Magpie x2
Carrion Crow x2
Blackbird x1
Chiffchaff x2 - One heard one seen
Woodpigeon x1
House Sparrow x3

Barking Bay - Bonapartes Gull

Its been an eventful weekend; after missing out on getting over to Barking for Saturday morning and then the Bonapartes Gull not being seen for a while i took a trip over Ingrebourne Valley where it has to be said the results were unblogable.

Attempt 1: So i took the decision to go over to Barking Bay anyway and confirm to myself that it wasnt there. At this time i wasn't aware of the significance of this bird and if truth be told i thought there wouldnt be that many there. I was wrong and soon realised that i neednt have bothered going at this time to confirm its abscense as along the bay there were a group of a lot more experienced birders than i who could all adequatley confirm it wasnt to be seen.

We hung around for a while and as people started to disperse i headed off further into the bay for a look about as i had spoke with Paul H last week and told him i would go over at some point. I got my first self found Common Sandpiper at the very far end along with Ringed Plover and a 2012 year tick in the form of Common Tern. More common types of mixed gull were to be found here: GBBGx1, LBBG, BHG and a few Herring. The tide was in at this time and the only bit of mud to be found was at this end hence finding the plover and sandpiper along with quite a few Shelduck here.

Reed Warbler in the cemex ditch, lots of Skylark in the scrub and Meadow Pipit seem to be favouring the works area.

Attempt 2: Came later that night with another great timed visit; arriving just after 7pm missing it by about 10 minutes.

Attempt 3: Arriving this morning there was already a smallish group on both sides of the river; phone calls going back and forth in a cooperated hunt. Finally the bird was found by the Kent side drifting down mid river towards us and soon views were had by all there. Our group then spilt with four of us heading further along the bank to get a little closer. We then stayed on the bird for a little longer but a small sail ship seemed to put it to flight where it was lost.

Kent side refound the bird again on the shore Essex side but this time two jetties up along from the bay. Our small group had been joined by another and we headed on up river past the outfall pipes and under the first jetty where we stopped and the Bonaprtes was found again by the next jetty. We were some way off but didnt want to get any closer.

Finally the bird took flight heading up river towards the Stone Barges and then eventually Rainham RSPB. From what i can gather its now back at Barking (4.37pm).

A token 1W Bonapartes Gull courtesy of www.birdingblogs.com and Ken Kaufman