Two Lockdown surprises within a week

The last week has produced two major surprises on the birding front. With Covid restrictions still very much in place, I was sitting at home wondering what to do when news broke of three Velvet Scoters present at King George reservoir! Within minutes I was unlocking the reservoir gates and heading up the ramp. Several scans later and two of the Scoters were found. They were at the North end of the South basin and always remained distant. I managed to grab a distant record shot with my phone held to the scope.

Two of the three Velvet Scoter

On the walk back to the car park the third Velvet Scoter was found along with a smart-looking male Scaup.

Scaup

This morning a text from Brian alerted me to the presence of a Great White Egret at the Gunpowder Park. Walking along the footpath one of the Short-eared Owls was spotted and after reaching the second bridge the Great White Egret was quickly located among the reeds.

Great White Egret

Ring-necked Duck, Lee Valley

Prior to 2010, I did the majority of my birding within the Lee Valley and surrounding areas, and now with the lockdown restrictions still very much in place, I have again found myself spending a lot of time birding the lee Valley and particularly the Fishers Green area with early morning visits preferable. 

A visit on Sunday morning at first light failed to find the reported female Ring-necked Duck, but I did manage to add Red-legged Partridge, Grey Wagtail, and Chiffchaff to the year list. Today the Ring-necked Duck was reported again and my daily exercise was spent trying to locate it. Scanning the far bank the Ring-necked Duck came into view. It remained distant among a small group of Tufted Ducks during the visit.

Ring-necked Duck

Since 2012 I've managed to see 11 Ring-necked Ducks, but this was only my second female Ring-necked Duck sighting within that time. The first being back in 2013 at Chigborough Lakes in Essex. 

The year list now stands at 100 

Local Birding Highlights

Daily exercise always involves birding. Several daily walks along the River Roding had produced very little in terms of new additions to the year list. But each walk along the river would see the water levels rising and the surrounding fields getting more and more flooded. 

I've been trying to limit my daily exercise/birding walks with times of the day that would limit the number of people encountered, which has worked well so far. 

A visit to Snaresbrook and Eagle Pond at first light saw me connect with the Caspian Gull before I had crossed the road. Leaving plenty of time to visit Wanstead park before the masses appeared. 

Caspian Gull

After a brief walk around Jubilee Pond, I managed to locate the 1st winter Mediterranean Gull among the numerous Black-headed Gulls. The area surrounding Centre road car park produced two more year ticks with two Lesser Redpoll and a Little owl.

1st winter Mediterranean Gull

After returning home a Sparrowhawk appeared in the garden causing panic among the feeding birds and providing another welcome year tick.

Local Birding for the New Year

Day 1

The new year started with lockdown restrictions still in place. So the usual new year's day trip to Norfolk was well off-limits. With that in mind, It was an early morning visit to my former patch of Fisher's Green in the Lee Valley. I wasn't expecting a big total but after a casual walk around Hooks marsh, Seventy Acres, and the farms I ended the morning with 61 species. A Cattle Egret among the cows at Hall Marsh Scrape, A flock of White-fronted Geese in fields bordering the farms, and a redhead Smew on Seventy Acres Lake were the pick of the species seen.

In the afternoon I returned to Lee Valley hoping the Short-eared Owls that had been on site for a while were still present. Luckily one was showing well when I arrived.

Day 2

There were a few glaring omissions from my first day's birding and with that in mind I visited KGV Reservoir. A quick scan of the south basin produced a female Goosander and several Goldeneye to complete the three winter duck species. The North basin was scanned for any sign of the Red-Crested Pochard pair from yesterday but I failed to find them. Two drake Scaup were found asleep among the Tufted Ducks which was a nice addition to the year list along with two Black Redstarts which were found along the fence line on the opposite side of the causeway. My first record of this species here for several years.

Day 3

A very brief visit to Epping Forest added Mandarin Duck and Nuthatch to the year list. Before spending the morning at Rainham Marshes. I began with a scan from the Serin Mound which added Barnacle Goose, Ruff, Dunlin, Redshank, Shelduck, and Curlew. Aveley Bay had  30+ Avocet feeding along the shoreline and a walk along the path alongside the reserve added the hoped for Water and Rock Pipits. A final scan of the reserve from the sea wall added Snipe, Pintail, and a flyover Rook and a Marsh Harrier drifted across the reserve as I was walking back towards the car park.

My year list after three short days birding stood at 87.

Masked Shrike: Shuart, Kent

It's been sixty-five days since my last birding trip. There have been several reasons for this, Covid cases on the increase, more restrictions being implemented in certain parts of the country, not being able to go out birding as a trio, and lack of motivation all playing a part.

The arrival of a Masked Shrike at Shuart in Kent yesterday had me interested, and when it was reported again this morning it was enough to persuade me to make the trip. The roads were relatively quiet and the seventy-seven miles went by quickly. The news services were saying park at Potten Street and walk along Shuart Lane, but there was plenty of parking along Potten Street Road and at the top of Shuart Lane. A mile walk along Shuart Lane and then Shuart Drove followed before we arrived at a row of Hawthorn and sallows at the edge of a field. There were about twenty birders already present and Brian was among them. We have been observing government rules as closely as possible and this has meant we haven't shared a car since March! Hopefully, we can start birding together again soon. There was plenty of space available in the field and social distance was not a problem. 

I had wanted to see a Masked Shrike for many years, the last twitchable bird at Spurn in 2014, had proved to be well out of range at the time, and the recent Cleveland bird was not even considered due to the distance involved. Today all that was forgotten as I had seen the bird before even setting up the scope. It was perched in a Hawthorn for much of the time I was there but would venture closer at certain times and settle in the hedgerow bordering the two fields.

This could quite possibly be the same bird that appeared at Hartlepool Headland in Cleveland in the early part of October.

Temminck's Stint, Amwell Nature reserve

In the early evening of Monday, 10th, a Temminck's Stint had been found at Amwell Nature Reserve. With the bird still present Wednesday afternoon, we decided to make the 20-mile trip early today. We arrived at 7am and connected with the Temminck's Stint immediately. 

It was happily feeding on the central island in the picture below.

Temminck's Stint 

Friday 14th August

The lockdown measures in place this year have had a considerable impact on my year list numbers, and several birds that I would expect to see in April and May have been missed. Leaving me trying to connect with some of them on the way out rather than on the way in. One of these birds is the Pied Flycatcher, so when Nick C reported two at Wanstead Flats, we made the trip that afternoon. As luck would have it, we bumped into Nick shortly after leaving the car park, and he took us to the SSSI area. It took a while to connect, but eventually one showed very nicely among the branches of a Silver Birch.

Caspian Tern: Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire

A Caspian Tern had been frequently visiting the Reedbed Lagoon at Frampton Marsh since the 10th. During its stay, it had seemingly followed a daily pattern of roosting on the lagoon in front of the visitor centre and then according to the reserve warden it heads off in the direction of Boston and has been returning again 45-60 minutes later.

Leaving home at 7am we pulled into a packed car park some two and a half hours later, only to discover that none of the other birders had seen the tern since 8am. We began scanning the lagoon and soon added two-year ticks when a Little Stint was found followed by two Common Sandpipers. Scanning from one of the viewing mounds dotted along the pathway, we began scanning the large group of roosting godwits and suddenly found the Caspian Tern among them! It was almost completely obscured by the godwits with just its black cap visible. The feeding movements of the godwits disturbed it and it flew a short distance to the open water.

We were told that the Reedbed Hide was now open as long as social distancing was observed, so we made our way along the footpath and began scanning the lagoon. Some of the Spoonbills were showing at a closer range from here.

Social distancing being observed in the hide

View of the reedbed lagoon from the hide

Another scan through the Dunlin and a Curlew Sandpiper was found. Another birder entered the hide and said that there were two Wood Sandpipers on the flooded pools opposite the hide. A quick clean of the hands with the provided hand sanitizer and we were scanning the pools. The Wood Sandpipers were soon found adding another year tick to the list. Also on the pools were several Ringed and Little Ringed Plovers along with two Yellow Wagtails.

Handheld phone scoped photo of Wood sandpiper

After five hours we decided to head for home, but hopefully, it won't be long before a return visit to what is fast becoming my favourite reserve.