A Good Start to the Year

 So we are 12 days into 2023 and this is our first post of the year. I''ll start with a short walk at Loch Leven on New Years Day from the Kirkgate car park to the screen overlooking the Loch. It was actually very quiet with not a lot to report, some Mute Swans of course, a few Goldeneye, a flock of Lapwing racing around the loch edge from the viewpoint. But the highlight was a very confiding Goldcrest near the screen:

Sadly by the car park was a poorly Pink-footed Goose;

The aforementioned Lapwing:

and some trees!!

On the 2nd we took are annual winter pilgrimage up to Braemar. Lots of snow when we arrived, the Glenshee Ski Centre car park was rammed, so we passed on through down to Braemar, we usually stop to look for Mountain Hare and Snow Buntings but too many people!!

The following day the weather wasn't great so we took a drive down the Linn of Dee, again it was very quiet, but we did manage to find a Dipper on the Dee.

We did go looking for Crossbills at Invercauld but to no avail. We had wanted to go for a walk but the weather precluded that.

Next day we headed over the Lecht and visited Loch Garten to look for Crested Tit, these have surprisingly eluded us on our last two visits, but this time they came out to play!

We also saw Great Spotted Woodpecker and Treecreeper which was nice,

as well as the usual Tits, Robin and Chaffinch,

After Loch Garten we dropped by the hide in Boat of Garten overlooking a frozen Milton Loch on the edge of the village, the only things on the Loch were Mallard, so I thought I should take a photo!

From there we drove up to the Cairngorm Ski Centre to see if anything was about and were rewarded with Snow Buntings by the car park:

 By now it was starting to get dark so we started the drive back to Braemar.

Next day we went walking locally around Braemar and along the Old Military Road at the back of the village, but little was seen.

Our next day out was to Glen Muick on the Balmoral Estate for a longish walk. Again we saw very little, some Red Deer, Rabbit and a Raven flying through, but no Grouse, we usually see Red and Black but neither this time. We stopped for a for a coffee at the end of the walk at the visitor centre, when we heard load "chip chips" and a flock of birds descended on the tops of the Scots Pines, Crossbills!! Unfortunately the light was terrible, so I won't bother with adding a photo of the Crossbills, but here's some scenery instead!

Finally we had a day out at Loch of Kinnordy and Loch of Lintrathen over in Angus. There was still a lot of ice on the Lochs that the ducks were using:

We also saw our first Pintails for a long time (left of the Swan!)

Kinnordy is always reliable for Red Squirrel,

a Robin posed nicely,

while a Buzzard did a fly past,

Long-tailed Tits are an absolute delight,

and it was great to get our first Tree Sparrows of theyear,

So a nice start to our birding year..... 49 species so far!

A Week in Sometimes Wet and Windy Norfolk - RSPB Titchwell

A mixed weather day for Titchwell, started bright, but became rapidly overcast. At the visitor centre we saw that there was a Red-crested Pochard on the East Pond, so we went there first, but it must have know we were coming and bug**d off!

It was otherwise very quiet that side with just Coot, Mute Swan, Mallard and a few Tufted Duck about, although as expected we did see a Marsh Harrier or two while we were walking.

So back around to the main part of the reserve and a coffee in the first (Island) hide overlooking the freshwater marsh. The first thing was being treated to what can only be described as a murmuration by the Golden Plover,

Shelduck are always a treat to see,

as are the Teal,

a juvenile Ruff turned up and showed quite well to the left of the hide.

After coffee we decide to walk straight up to the beach and see what was about, as with Snettisham the tide was a long way out so with only bins (as my scope is bust!) it was impossible to see anything. There were plenty of Gulls, Oystercatcher and a few other waders on the shoreline but we decide not to venture further and check them out.

From the path back to the Parrinder Hides overlooking the Salt and Freshwater marshes the Redshanks showed well:

We had great views of the Golden Plover from the South Parrinder Hide, although the weather was rather dismal now, so the photo doesn't do their colours justice:

While we watched though a Pink-footed Goose sauntered past the window,

we normally don't get see any that close.

A highlight was a Water Pipit, this was our first Water Pipit for 8 years! It doesn't look special but it was great to see.

Plenty of Ruff showed from the hide which was nice,

there were also a number of Pintail about, now that is a splendid duck, but they were fairly inactive and distant, but for the record:

We stayed quite late and watched the Marsh Harriers and Little Egrets gathering for the roost.

We counted at least 32 Marsh Harriers in the air, which was magnificent and we lost count of the Little Egrets, but I'm guessing at around the 50 mark.

Oh, I forgot to mention that from the North Pallinder hide we did see a distant (aren't they always) female Hen Harrier.

So a good day as usual.

RSPB Rainham Marshes, a stroll!

My blog post are like buses, non for ages then 6 come at once!

After a great and boozy weekend with our lad in London we returned making a small detour to drop into Rainham Marshes. It was a bit cold and windy but at least it was dry.

There was allegedly a solitary Brambling about by the feeders at the visitor centre, but of course no sign of it when we headed out onto the reserve. Our initial goal was to stop at the first hide only a couple of minutes from the centre and have coffee. From here there were the usual wintering ducks, Wigeon, Teal and some distant Shelduck. There were also large numbers of Lapwing both on the ground and in the air. Watching Lapwing is always enjoyable and a real treat.

As we had a 3 hour drive home we couldn't afford to linger to long so set out to do the circular walk around the reserve, only really stopping for any time in the large hide about half way around to have lunch.

The walk was very productive with 41 species seen over the couple of hours we were there, not great numbers but still not bad. Photography proved to be difficult as everything was keeping its distance, but here are a few just to prove that we were there!
Stonechat:

 Lapwing

 Wigeon

 Teal

 Wigeon

 Gadwall

 Pintail, plus spot the Snipe!

So a good couple of hours, the full list being:

Blackbird

Black-headed Gull

Blue Tit

Carrion Crow

Chaffinch

Collared Dove

Coot

Cormorant

Curlew

Dunlin

Dunnock

Fieldfare

Gadwall

Goldfinch

Great Tit

Canada Goose

Greenfinch

Greylag Goose

Herring Gull

House Sparrow

Kingfisher

Lapwing

Linnet

Little Egret

Little Grebe

Long-tailed Tit

Magpie

Mallard

Moorhen

Pied Wagtail

Pintail

Reed Bunting

Shelduck

Shoveler

Snipe

Starling

Stonechat

Teal

Tufted Duck

Wigeon

Woodpigeon