Oare Marshes, Bonaparte's Gull returns for its 12th year

We spent the morning at Oare Marshes, with the temperatures set to soar, the plan was to get there early and be on our way home by midday. We arrived at six and began with a scan of East Flood. The returning Bonaparte's Gull was absent which normally means it's feeding out on the Swale mudflats. A Barn owl was seen hunting over the grazing marsh and we picked out three Turtle Doves by the wind turbines. We heard Cuckoos calling and saw groups of two and three flying out over the Swale towards Sheppey. Another Cuckoo gave superb scope views perched on a telegraph pole. 

We scanned the mudflats from the ramp and soon found the Bonaparte's Gull. It was busy feeding with several Black-headed Gulls. It took a liking to a stone block embedded within the mud and would return to it after each feeding venture.

Sunrise over the Swale

Bonaparte's Gull

 

Chobham Common, Nightjars

Instead of heading North East towards Bury St Edmonds and our usual Nightjar site at West Stow, we decided to try another site in Surrey this year. So it was a trip around the M25 to Chobham Common. The plan was to park at either Staple Hill or Jubilee Mount car park, but these plans were scuppered by road resurfacing work. We had to make other plans and decided to park at Monument car park and try to find a suitable spot from there.

We took the main path onto the heath and found an ideal area. The sun was dropping below the trees and by 9.15 we had our first view of a Woodcock. It flew straight past us just above the heather. Just fifteen minutes later the first Nightjar started churring. 

By 10pm we had seen ten Woodcock and heard several Nightjars one or two would allow quick glimpses of individuals as they flew between trees. The best was still to come, two Nightjars appeared from behind us and came so close we could have touched them!

When we set off from home, we had no idea what to expect, but safe to say we will be back next year.

 

Almost a full moon

Quail and Spotted Flycatchers

Brian asked Dad if he wanted to spend Father's Day morning birding. With other family members due to visit in the afternoon we stayed relatively close to home. We set off for Upper Ray Meadows in Buckinghamshire where a Quail had been heard singing in the meadow since the 15th. We pulled up by the specified gate and when Brian got out of the car he could hear the bird singing. Before we could join him at the gate the bird had gone quiet! Thankfully half an hour later the Quail started singing again. 

Upper Ray Meadows, view from the gate

We moved closer to home and visited Wilstone Reservoir, hoping to find Spotted Flycatchers. We had heard that a pair had been present around Cemetery Corner of the reservoir. Swifts were present in large numbers, flying low across adjoining fields and then heading out across the reservoir. 

We took the footpath between the trees and soon had our first views of a Spotted Flycatcher, giving us all another year list addition.

Spotted Flycatcher

We returned home in plenty of time for Dad to receive visits from other family members in the afternoon.

Minsmere, Roseate Terns

Brian had an unexpected free day today, so we headed to Minsmere this morning.

On the walk out we heard several Bearded Tits pinging and managed good views of two birds as they climbed the reeds near a small pond. We took the new boardwalk to East Hide and began scanning East Scrape. The scrape was quieter than normal with very few species of waders present. The only waders found were Ringed Plovers, lapwing, Avocet, and Redshank. Sandwich Terns were present in good numbers along with much smaller numbers of Kittiwake. There was no sign of the previous day's Roseate Tern. Brian picked out a Common Tern with a black bill, which had us briefly thinking of the reported Eastern Common Tern, but this was dismissed and recorded as a Common Tern.

We left East Hide and walked along the beach to the public hide where we found the two reported Roseate Terns among masses of Sandwich Terns of the furthest bund to the south of us. The whole flock was soon flushed, and when they all settled back down again the Roseate Terns were refound on a small narrow spit, allowing for some great scope views. A Little Tern was also found, giving us both, another addition to the year list. A flock of Black-tailed Godwits flew in from behind Wildlife Lookout and settled down on south scrape.

Roseate Terns

 

Roseate, Little, Sandwich, and Common Terns

Part of South Scrape from the Public Hide

So far this year I had not seen a Hobby. Although I had been to some ideal locations and habitats in previous weeks. This changed when I scanned the large area of reedbeds from the Wildlife Lookout Hide. On top of a small bush in the middle of the reedbed was a Hobby.

We decided to spend the last part of the morning scanning the reedbed from the Bittern Hide and were rewarded with sightings of three Bitterns, several Marsh Harriers, and numerous Hobby flybys.

An excellent morning's birding, finishing with 78 species and picking up 3 additions to the year list.

Thursley Common and new Honey Buzzard site

Brian and I set out this morning to check out the newly released Honey Buzzard viewing area in West Sussex. But before we did we visited Thursley Common, hoping to add a couple of year ticks. As we walked past the Moat, I heard my first Garden Warbler of the year. As we wandered along the tracks and boardwalks we heard plenty of Skylarks, Woodlarks, and Tree Pipits, and soon we were enjoying views of all three species. Stonechats were abundant and several Dartford Warblers were also seen. Swifts and Swallows were seen overhead, but as hard as I looked I couldn't find a Hobby! The weather looked perfect as did the habitat, with dragonflies darting around every pool of water, but there was no sign of Hobby. We searched for the recently reported Red-backed Shrike but failed to find it. We checked several areas for Redstart but it was on the walk back toward the car park that Brian spotted one. A stunning male perched on a burnt stump close to one of the tracks.

Dragonfly sculpture

Redstart

Stonechat

We wanted to give ourselves plenty of time and the best chance to see Honey Buzzards., so we left Thursley Common and headed for Woolbeding Common. The track to the car park was up a single lane and could easily be missed if not paying attention. The car park was quite small and was almost full.  Having parked the car we crossed the road to join thirty or forty other birders. Only one Honey Buzzard sighting had been seen before we arrived, but over the next couple of hours we managed five separate sightings, whether these were different individuals or the same birds we couldn't tell, but we do know that there were at least two birds present as one was a very dark individual and another was very light coloured. The birders were spread out along the ridge which helped quickly get people on the birds as they appeared from different directions.

Honey Buzzard viewing area

Honey Buzzard

Although quite distant for Brian's camera the scope views more than made up for it.