Rainham

I had two hours free yesterday morning so popped down to Rainham after the school run. I hadn't found any Corn Bunting at Rainham this year despite a report of four birds in the usual location below the tip so I walked down that way with Steve B and sure enough there was a single Corn Bunting singing its heart out from the favoured Buddleia bush so that was quickly put to bed and Steve later found a second bird up on the hill. I pointed out a couple of Stonechat which was new for the year for Steve and then we went to task counting Black-tailed Godwits which we settled on a count of 140. A few Avocet and Redshank were also on the mud with good numbers of Teal and a few Gadwall and Shelduck.

Down on Wennington marsh Steve pointed out the six White-fronted Geese and in return I found him his first Rook of 2026 for Rainham. I counted the Great-black-backed Gulls and after three counts settled on 136 as a total but of note was the lack of many juvenile birds amongst them. This has to be the biggest gathering I've seen of this species out on the marsh. 

Finally I walked the reserve which I don't do very often. I counted 27 Pintail on the Purfleet scrape and quite a few Snipe. Further round and I found a flock of 60+ Fieldfare and then from Butts I watched as hundreds of Lapwing filled the sky for about thirty minutes reluctant to return to ground but couldn't find the expected Peregrine amongst them although I did pick out three Golden Plover and 20+ Dunlin in the flock. A flock of 20+ Snipe was also notable and proved something was disturbing the whole area and my thoughts were probably a fox had got beyond the fence or was it an Otter which is now on the reserve?  I did see two Marsh Harrier but this disturbance seemed a little more than the usual you'd have from a passing Harrier. On the tip a sizeable Starling murmuration was notable.

As I walked past target pools I had my first Bearded Tits of the year which a fair bit of "pinging" and the occasional view as they moved across the top of the reeds.

On the way home I stopped at Dagenham chase and with a tip from Steve I managed to see my first Firecrest of the year.

Year list now 152

Red-breasted Goose at Paglesham

I had a few hours free in the middle of the day today so asked the Jims if they wanted to try for the Red-breasted Goose at Wallasea Island and despite the heavy rain they decided to join me in the limited time we had. I've already been to Wallasea this year but didn't find the Goose but recently the bird has been seen more often on the other side of Paglesham creek so before heading into the reserve today we drove down to East End Paglesham and very quickly found the Red-breasted Goose in a large flock of Brents.

The bird was distant and the rain was heavy but I managed a record shot.

Red-breasted Goose with the Brents

On the reserve we walked in the rain out to the hide and managed to add Ringed Plover to the year list amongst the 59 species seen on this visit which included Hen Harrier, Grey Plover and Avocet to name a few.

Kestrel

We got wet, very wet and headed home in good time.

Year list now 150

Bittern

There's nothing better than having a good bird close to home and over the years the Bitterns wintering at Fishers Green have given me real value for the time invested in the hide waiting to see if they show. This year a lone bird has arrived on 17th January and I've spent a few hours since watching it or on occasion not seeing it but today was a good day. I arrived at 7.45 to find the bird out in the open and watched it just sitting there until 8.30 when a couple of other birders arrived and with the door opening it ran for cover. After about half an hour it returned to the open area and eventually started to hunt fish although I have to say its not the greatest as it misses most fish it darts into the water for in fact I hadn't seen it make a catch until today and even then it only got one fish. I do enjoy sitting waiting for the bird to show and then watching how it goes about its business. Saw a Black Swan today which is a first for the valley even if it isn't yet tickable (not considered self sustaining yet!)

Here's a few of the 110 pictures I took today 

Some days the bird doesn't show at all, some days you can see it hidden in the reeds but it doesn't come out and then there's days like today when it just goes about it's business forgetting people are looking at it a few feet away in the hide.

Norfolk day out

With my family stuff needing me to be around locally we don't get the days out we used to so with the full day to myself I asked Dad and Jim if they'd like to visit the Norfolk coast and nail down some year ticks for 2026 and of course they agreed as they too had a rare weekend without commitments.

I had a Barn Owl from the car on the way up and we stopped at Hunstanton first to year tick Fulmar at this regular haunt of theirs. I found a Red Breasted Merganser too for the Jims who needed it for a tick.

Next stop was Titchwell and walking out along the meadow trail we found the Tawny Owl roosting in an Ivy covered tree before headed back to the main track where the Jims picked up several ticks for their trouble whilst I just got the single tick as a small flock of Pinkies flew over. At the beach we scanned the sea and I picked up three Long-tailed Ducks drifting along with four RB Mergs, Two drake Eider flew east and on the tide line I added Sanderling and Turnstone to my year list. 

Brent Geese

Sanderling

Sanderling

Sanderling

Tawny Owl

A stop at Brancaster Staithe added Barwits whilst the Jims picked up Grey Plover too. We moved on to Morston Quay were to our surprise we very quickly found the Glossy Ibis on the marsh in front of the car park and a Greenshank gave us another tick as it walked along the creek here. 

Oystercatcher

Curlew

Turnstone

Turnstone

Turnstone

Bar-tailed Godwit

Bar-tailed Godwits

Greenshank

We drove along the beach road at Salthouse in search of Twite bur found only Snow Bunting here although with a shoot in progress on the farmland behind the A149 we scanned the fields to find dozens of Red-legged Partridge for another year tick. By now we were just six miles from Sheringham so I asked Jim if he'd like to see the Eastern Black Redstart and of course he did so we made that our next move. The bird was found as expected on the buildings behind the esplanade and we enjoyed watching it for about half an hour before calling it a day and heading home.

Eastern Black Redstart

I saw 94 species on this trip and added 13 year ticks for my trouble.

Year list now 148

Great -tailed Grackle at Holbury in Hampshire