#indoorstoomuch

So with previous foul weather and pretty good conditions for some birds to be pushed up the Thames theres only one thing for it as a newish birder; yep you guessed it, leave your phone in the house and start smashing up a concrete pathway in your front garden........   So by 11 i was now aware of the Sabines Gulls in Aveley Bay along with another in Barking Bay plus Black Tern picking their way about everywhere. Permission granted i dashed off for Aveley parking in Coldharbour Lane where a small group had gathered still looking for the gulls which had for some time dispersed. A quick chat with Shaun, Monkey & Steve Bacon i headed to the group and settled in.   A few familiar faces and a chance to finally meet James Astley (Parus).   James thought he had a Little Gull but it had gone behind another viewer and he lost it, 3x Turnstone dropped into the mud on Aveley Bay itself (London List Tick) and after a bit i picked out aboout 20 odd Black Tern; cool ...

A call late Friday afternoon and Paul & Bradders are on their way to KGV Reservoir for the Red Necked Phalarope over in Chingford; i was hoping to meet with them at the entrance at 5.15pm but traffice was pretty dire and after battling my way i wasnt going to catch them in time, not wanting to hold them up i headed home.   Earlyish Saturday morning and i had another call, Shaun was on his way; i wasnt going to give up today as i now new that this was a good bird for London and a would be a nice addition to my London List.   Upon arrival i was faced with a test from the Krypton Factor, some eight padlocks holding it fast, i mean i know this is east London but surely if someone wants to get in that badly they will just hop on over the fence?   Up the hill, through the sheep shit and onto the bank to find messrs Harvey, Redfern & Halley-Frame all on the little bird a fair way out; easily picked up thanks to direction and another lifer me.   ...

A family few days away to Wells in Norfolk gave me a couple of hours birding time, however sadly the sand banks at the Wells harbour are a lot smaller than they used to be and as such are further out, the smaller waders are just to small for me to ID but larger ones such as Curlew, Oystercatcher were in abundance.   Apparently the shrinkage of the sand banks is due to the dredging of the boat channel to Wells Harbour; sand is being placed in other areas which in turn is affecting the tide flow. The Common Terns that were nesting on these shingle/sandy banks have now relocated, not in the same numbers, to the spit just behind the life boat station and these could be viewed easily with the eye.   A few Turnstone and Redshank cruised the shoreline along the walk into town from the beach.       So with a couple of hours to spare on Wednesday afternoon I managed to get the whole family off to Titchwell, we didn't do much just a walk down...

I had one of those mornings that most people reading this post probably havn't had for many a year......yep 10 ticks in one morning not even a day, one morning. #TickTickBooooom.   During this morning i discovered two things 1. that seawatching is going to take me an age to learn & 2. @davemo57 doesnt use hashtags....... according to Paul you cant teach old dogs new tricks etc etc.....according to Dave everybody should know where Canvey is and as such #'s are not required.......   My first trip to Dungeness affectionately know as Dunge was great, we left about 5am and was on the shingle for sea watching about an hour and half later. I was in the hands of Dave Mo & Paul Hawkins and for my first proper sea watch i didn't really know what to expect, yes I've stood on Titchwell beech for 15 minutes having a look at what was there but only if i new something was about i.e. Long Tailed Duck earlier this year.   First bird of the day pretty much were Sa...

The plan for today was to be at Aveley Bay for 5.30am to check for waders. I was there for about that however had forgotten to check the tides, as such no mud due to high tide meant no waders.   Rather disappointed i headed to the Stone Barges; they were empty bar a lot of Pigeon - what a waste of an early morning.   So, off to the Valley. Parking at Albyns farm i took a walk up and around Ingrebourne Hill and again nothing, this was turning out to be a disaster. A "charm" of Goldfinch, probably 35 birds on the hill Lowfield Marsh side was as good as it got......   I decided to check out how the Mute Swan 4ANA was doing. He was doing well, so was the Mrs and the two kids were growing up fast.   Enough was enough, now 7am, i was going home. I then bumped into another local birder, Gary. We had a chat, he had seen one of the recent Bearded Tits but had seen it from the housing side looking onto the fishery. This is a side I rarely go so with n...

So after all the Patch MEGA activity I headed back over the Valley later that evening for one reason, adding that Wigeon to the year list. I found it on the lake between lower scrape and paddock 2013 = 94 used under the creative commons licence - original by dracobotanicus

when you look at my list...... Last night I was out with Paul looking for the Pectoral Sandpiper over at Rainham Marshes. I'm glad to say after a search for a while we found it (well Paul did) in amongst a couple of Little Ringed Plover, Redshank and Curlew.   After a celebratory woot woot along with modern day high fives I was on 200; it was short lived   A Hobby  later   also came in lowish as well but disappeared pretty quickly.   In order for today, after last nights chat, was a list clean up; ok its my list but I don't want to be reaching 500 400 300 birds to be told I have 10 dodgy ducks on there; you know what birders are like. :)   used under the creative commons license - original by jac6.flicker   So my clean list total stands at 195 with one bird awaiting acceptance: Slaty-Backed Gull.