Another rubbish day on the patch

The patch has been, comparatively speaking, rubbish this year. The pond at the heart of the patch is overgrown and has no standing water despite recent rains, and location means that it doesn't get much in the way of vagrants, so I set off this morning with low expectations.

A flurry of tits and a couple of Goldcrests at the bottom of the drive, then round the corner and up to Nursery Wood at the NE corner of Pishiobury Park. A brief stop saw a Nuthatch and a family party of Bullfinches, and another Goldcrest.

Not much then until the three-bridges area. Capability Brown designed Pishiobury Park to have a serpentine lake below the park toward the river. This area is no longer a lake but is private farm-land. When there is heavy rain water flows over the west and fills the still-present depression. Viewing is hard in winter as it is through a hedge, and impossible in summer. Today I managed to see Teal, Gadwall, and male Wigeon. The Gadwall numbered about 5 and the Wigeon and Teal were recorded in single but may have been more.

Down to Feakes Lock - 2 Cormorant in the Cormorant Tree, 13 Redwing over, then round the Loop field - more Bullfinches, Yellowhammer over, 70 mixed Common Gull and Black-headed Gull in a field, Kestrel, more Goldcrest, then back to the three bridges for a second look at the wildfowl. A flurry of birds with 2 Ring-Necked Parakeets calling loudly and flying around, Stock Dove, and a look around revealed the cause of the excitement - a male Sparrowhawk slowly causing over the field. 2 Siskin over and 4 Jays , and it was off home, stopping by the willows by the navigation for a small flock of tits including a Treecreeper, back to Nursery Wood where there were now 2 Nuthatches, then Bullfinch again and excitingly 2 House Sparrow - always noteworthy on the patch as they are not an everyday occurrence.

So not Minsmere, but some nice stuff and a few local notables courtesy of the flooded field.

Home and Away

A couple of recent trips

Abberton. Quite a list! Black-Necked Grebe , Long Tailed Duck, Common Scoter, Bewick's Swan, distant Little Gull, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Black Tailed Godwit, Marsh Harrier, and I've stopped looking at Great White Egrets there are so many of them.

Canvey Point - a bit gloomy, but a diver flying around was probably a Black-Throated, then off to Rainham. Howard on the desk. Anything around? Howard rattled off an okayish list, and then said that a gloomy day with an easterly breeze something like White Fronted Goose was a possibility. Just before the Ken Barrett hide 5 geese over - one of them has massive black barring on the belly - thank you Howard! Then Water Pipit, Pintail, Ruff, and a couple of Marsh Harriers. So some decent stuff.

This all contrasts with the patch, which has been  ... okay. A Chiffchaff calling incessantly in river-side willows eventually gave pleasant sepia views; my first winter chief on the patch. A Little Owl prowling at dusk. Then in the park, 5 Lesser Redpoll were the first of the winter, and a few Siskin were flying around.

Today I managed an hour or so. Three Green Woodpeckers in the field, a few Bullfinches, then some bird action visible over the railway line. A flock of a few hundred Woodpigeon with some Stock Doves, about the same number of corvids, and about 50 Chaffinches and 20 Yellowhammer, with good numbers for the patch. Now many areas have seen Bramblings passing through recently, and as its one of my favourite birds I had as good a look as I could through the finches. I'm sure you can imagine my joy at finding I had possibly the biggest flock of Chaffinches in the south of England that does not have even a single sodding Brambling in it.

But anyway ... onwards, and quite a few Fieldfare including ones feeding in bushes not too far off, and a distant Red Kite.

The thing is, I think I enjoyed my common birds about as much as I enjoyed all those rarities at Abberton. I guess we all started birding because we love birds. And not just rare birds, but any bird. I'm increasingly conscious that the best moments of bird trips aren't necessarily the target birds, but are the ones that give confiding views, or that you stumble upon and didn't expect. Take that Chiffchaff - is there a duller bird than a winter Chiffchaff? But I really enjoyed its smooth sleek plumage and warm tones.

Summer on the patch

Spring has been and gone with hardly a migrant to mark it. We are into summer now and everything is settled, although I could do with the Garden Warbler that sings in the impenetrable forest to show itself so I can get it properly on the list, and for a local Hobby to appear at some point.

Today there was Common Tern fishing along the river, Grey Wagtails at the lock, and some Swifts and House Martins overhead. The Marbled Whites have emerged in decent numbers, and I added Large Red Damselfly to the patch list - long overdue.