Thought it was about time I wrote a blog post! I've certainly got a fair bit to write about, so I'll try and keep it brief and put in plenty of pretty pictures.
To start with, let's rewind a week to Bank Holiday Monday. Just before Jess and I were heading out for the day I received a phone call from Sue Smith who thought she had a
Black Tern on Black Hole Marsh. I was there in a shot (half way through shaving!). Thankfully the Tern remained, although only just - it flew off north about a minute after I arrived! It looked quite a pale one to me, and I don't remember ever seeing a juv
Black Terns with a pale brown mantle (they've always appeared dark to me), but it was just a
Black Tern. Not that that's a bad thing though as they're really scarce on patch - so a very welcome patch year tick. See pics
HERE and
HERE.
So I headed off to Sherbourne for the day a happy chappy. And totally unrelated to anything else on this post, look what we saw...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV8XtZ8VJSrChLIo8vYfaEnV_d935JPBnzJQiUa7sUzKgmIXCuO9sgDaVtmA24i5ohgfH6XDAgG_klrLAlgeHS8JaI8A5mKjrSaGYikD-4RqGCBZ8ns_J7bLaTGWEtJLIFYCBdk37OyFo/s640/Golden-postbox.jpg) |
A gold post box! |
And if you can't remember why there's these gold post boxes around...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFOq4ZO1vK2r6r_VYPrhIaj74NEAXE8YS8hbr2ZNW65tSrKdSj8BVG4zDDUkt76Dtuefruhx3aJFMqVAkMBbzedJQyfCw-m03d9WVtIikGzoaIoEhh2EmnUniWg8cIP3jAm42kYFUu6Lw/s640/Gold-Postbox2.jpg) |
I saw him win this medal....on telly. Well done Peter! |
The following day saw me rushing down to Black Hole Marsh again, this time for a juv Little Gull seen from the Tower Hide. Sadly I was about five minutes too late despite my fastest sprint from the car park to the hide! Oh well, you win some you loose some. I did see a juv Cuckoo though, and am sure it is a second bird as to me it seemed a lot more rufous than the the first bird (which hadn't been seen for at least a week before).
I didn't have much birdie time last week, but when I did (except for the Tern and Gull twitch) I went in search of autumn passerine migrants, hoping for a rare warbler, Ortolan or Wryneck. Sadly none of these materialised with my best find being a juv Osprey over Beer Head on Wednesday 28th. I first picked it up just offshore after the gulls went up from the camp site, then it came in and flew west right over our heads - luckily Karen and Ian weren't far away.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-pC145wx9K9crnjNeZprH9s8lrQtAtZuI7Vok9lbXip6iWxHGWXpYmO16ShGonf6xJc3bcnEKoxJIQ_SRKsG2zps7je83nViGzcqGNET4ROBqJG8wI6uQEopuHJPn7I36Evfnauh07KE/s640/OspreyBeerHead.jpg) |
My first of the autumn |
Also on Beer Head on Wednesday morning were: 35 Yellow Wags, 26 Wheatear, 5 Chiffchaff, 2 Willow Warbler and singles of Grey Wag, Tree Pipit and Whinchat. Despite these fairly good counts, they all felt like lingering migrants from the weekend/bank holiday fall.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFdhKPL8_96VW0N3izVkgUhrEvBJxf0qw346CCAd2pjrFn3_2_ItrfHEF9Y7-Z4kqdCl5IjhcPIZLHpeHCJM8h-Zr1qkTN3aN13h_yCWcA_DMTYnmKMEsboQmdgB3y0IDqfEnR2o6WZ7Q/s640/EarsandaChatBeerHead.jpg) |
There's a Whinchat in the lower pic |
Thursday morning I thought I'd give Axe Cliff it's first visit of the autumn. No good to be honest as they haven't cut the crop yet so Ortolan potential = zero! Still, I had three Tree Pipits and a Yellow Wag over and a few Wheatear and a Spotted Flycatcher on the deck, so it wasn't a total waste of time.
Saturday saw me give Black Hole Marsh a proper look for the first time for over a week! It was the first time I saw the 'Curlew Sandpiper show' with at least 15 juveniles scattered about amongst the Dunlin and Ringed Plover...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfGG_AvslO9EV5448bFEcghpxjRJwEAADnoYzQLcmT_mk_h9yIQlWy48kKzS8LVbConGgHJMZi4yRIven6GhussJRWHGIzDBRsHKV5Kg2CvSntBPWlZXVqVABz03WXWeB9rosM97c8wf0/s640/CurlewSandjuv.jpg) |
Some are coming stupidly close to the hide too! |
Also present were two Little Ringed Plovers, a Ruff and this juv Turnstone...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnSnqfkQM8X9Z-t4zFxyBJSFDTHyLkUFNuMCp3LaaXv5XrdCnESZ_LNEUyT4pVdekwIjXuc8PkSjtcLxddaELc3xt7A4NkEHUdxoo6MN8VgZN3djCCj23RWm9TGb19UNkLeSjVUdy1u04/s640/Turnstoneonabreak.jpg) |
Taking time out from stone turning and having a bit of chill time! |
This afternoon I gave Black Hole Marsh another look. On the marsh was a similar selection of birds to Saturday, but a trip to the Tower Hide was certainly worthwhile. I thought I heard Spotted Redshank call shortly after I arrived, and soon spied two likely suspects roosting up river from the Tower Hide, both clearly juvs. I got everyone on to them (everyone who was interested anyway!) but we had to wait a little while until we saw some head and bill - they were clearly very sleepy! The rising tide pushed them about which allowed me to get this superb flight shot...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9_nqUYQ7oZvABnTCfbl-DesZE6Cgl9Gig7pxlwJCjqfC4DI2Ckj8SZvfq9TdRmW0i2QYZ_AkylmeiiGu9Fo28pF89iZy38yfL44yXZ7r1uk4Ua6LWHEBgVQ8Zl6vV1RERzHMrnY6_Vzw/s640/Spotshanks2.jpg) |
You won't see any better flight shots than this! |
They eventually moved on to Black Hole Marsh and mingled with the Blackwits and Redshank.
Just before my visit to Black Hole Marsh I had a look around Lower Bruckland Ponds. Whenever I go here I always spend a lot longer wandering around than I was planning too as there's always so much to see and photograph! Best of all today were a couple of lovely male Ruddy Darters...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioy_OhBKa68GgWenqCRR7v1cQ1Ze2vJRZVayatoDhNLZztc8qG-8LN_MwcasFaHOCUSHCBrcGSkgasUbbeRO1JbRpn2D0-au5hp2WDFkpUZhyZvcjP-CqWNIxL9mg4ZgymVpWKIKghgp8/s640/Ruddy-DarterLBP2.jpg) |
Check out that body shape! Is that what they call an hour glass figure!?? |
I don't think I normally see Golden-ringed Dragonflies this late in the year, but have seen plenty recently including this showing one at LBP today...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_Di8Xwgv57GpByc8wX0DlOJ_KtH0cf3dl7jNFmkoDyf8m6S95_kXp218gdL49rflMm7N2qccu8kEFvX77TFIslUtohUrtrTldsjgql5tbhW69DaDBZoEbetJUOv5YUkbitBtvXjcjRrs/s640/Golden-ringed-Drag-LBP.jpg) |
One of my favs these |
Along with the expected
Migrant Hawkers...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSW-DwzdfbC5y31N3y-Pt6sDtE5UhWqP72VHC9yXoVQVM77UOmn3_ZrmxEqTlmFH4ponUJaFH7R9mDdGNdYhxWfjpjH3aRfFb4IUN9hODofdxCJPlM75S8nRTJd1t2JxNpNJ3VTc6mzlM/s640/Migrant-Hawker.jpg) |
The dragonfly of the autumn |
It's not just dragonflies that distract me here, because as always there were lots of butterflies too. The best being the second flight period of Dingy Skippers...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOnKz2qP7kTPYjRFLu52EvF4f6RHr2igvX2VWCGtmuJK0PRaI8b0LO1-TxOtyReS2QCvObJxh9rhJ4hE-B66-Zxt0OseskQP0npos-7Rnvb0Y28tiiKNx0U1trO57sBfJ5F6yKXxlhWek/s640/Dingy-SkipperLBP.jpg) |
Dull but sweet! |
American waders are turning up all over the place at the moment - so I know where I'm going to be doing most my birding over the next week....