#indoorstoomuch

You would have thought that after working in Southend for 18 months a while back that i would know two things: 1. Southend has a lot of speed cameras 2. Southend traffic wardens love their jobs.   So why was it then that when i cut my way to Mess Road i decided to park elsewhere and take a walk through the new estate leaving the car at the mecery of Sounthend Council? As such it turned out to be a relatively expensive trip. £70 or £35 if i pay within 14 days, how nice of them.   Why did i park elsewhere? I was being a considerate and careful birder, not knowing where in Mess Road the Crossbills would be i decided a quiet approach would be better - shouldnt have bothered after seeing all the cars and construction equipment down the road.   Anyway the Parrot Crossbills performed exremely well in the fir towards the the far end of the road on the coastal side. Arriving on site about 10am all four birds were in and out of the tree giving their own little per...

The first full circuit of Rainham in an age. I had No1 Son and we arrived at the center for about 10ish and with the weather looking Ok we couldnt have asked for more.   It has been a while; there has been a few changes to the walk as well it seems with new viewing areas being put in to enhance the experience.   As we came off the ramp we headed right towards the woodland but initially stopped and scoped the scrape. Teal, Wigeon were in good numbers along with Greylag & Canada Geese , it was whilst scanning the back of the scrape that a white rump darted in front of the view briefly and down into a gulley. A few minutes later and there it was a fresh faced looking Wheatear, my first of the Autumn.   Heath was being pretty vocal so the chances of seeing much close up was thin so distance birding was the order of the day and as such not much seen within the Woodland area; heard a fair bit though, mixed tits, cettis warbler...the usual around this area. ...