Arrived shortly after 9am at Brandon Marsh, the main aims being to have another go at year ticking Gargeney and more importantly to look for a Grasshopper Warbler, which would be a lifer for us.
Things were looking up, on the way to the Carlton Hide we heard that a Whinchat was showing – an unexpected bonus. Spent around an hour in the hide, witnessing an exciting moment when a Sparrowhawk swooped in and made off with a Lapwing. It only made it as far as the bank then a mobbing from the other Lapwings and its prey putting up a fight forced the Sprawk to surrender its brekkie!
We had the Whinchat near the dead trees (year tick) also several Whitethroat (year tick), Kingfishers frequently passing, Little Grebe, Heron and Jay. The Gargeney pair showed briefly before disappearing round the corner (year tick) .
Things were looking up, on the way to the Carlton Hide we heard that a Whinchat was showing – an unexpected bonus. Spent around an hour in the hide, witnessing an exciting moment when a Sparrowhawk swooped in and made off with a Lapwing. It only made it as far as the bank then a mobbing from the other Lapwings and its prey putting up a fight forced the Sprawk to surrender its brekkie!
We had the Whinchat near the dead trees (year tick) also several Whitethroat (year tick), Kingfishers frequently passing, Little Grebe, Heron and Jay. The Gargeney pair showed briefly before disappearing round the corner (year tick) .
Gargeney at Brandon by Steve Seal Next Newlands for the Grasshopper Warbler. We’d missed the showy one (though not for us) by about 15 mins. We waited for about an hour with Steve Seal and some other folk, but it didn’t show although we heard reeling from the undergrowth. There were a couple more not to far away so eventually we switched our attention to these and we saw a reeling Grasshopper Warbler near 'Cetti’s Corner' (lifer 212). Smashing bird. Unsurprisingly lots of Cetti’s Warblers in this area, also Cuckoo (heard) and Sedge Warbler (year tick). The Sedge’s weren’t showing well but were noisy as usual.
Grasshopper Warbler at Brandon by Steve Seal - http://stevesealbirdingimages.fotopic.net/
Back at Carlton Hide again the Gargeney pair were now showing well. Similar birdlife to earlier but in addition we had a Hobby (year tick) probably my best views yet of one, hawking insects and perched several times on the dead trees. Also Oystercatcher, Redshank and Kestrel.
Hobby by Steve Seal - http://stevesealbirdingimages.fotopic.net/
After this we looked for Garden Warblers but couldn’t find any. Plenty of Blackcaps, Willow Warblers, Whitethroats and a pair of Bullfinch were seen.
Many thanks to Steve Seal for helping us to see the Gropper and thanks for the images above and on the right http://steveseal.fotopic.net/
2 comments:
Some excellent birds there. Hope I have some of your success when I visit.
I think you will Reg...perhaps Sylvia Borin too?
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