Gary Howard's birds and wildlife

Saturday 29th May

Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertfordshire

Paul Matson and I spent the morning in the Brecks, the early afternoon at Welney and the late afternoon at Wilstone Reservoir near Tring in Herts. It worked well enabling us to miss most of the rain and still do quite well for birds.

At Lakenheath RSPB we had a Red Kite, 2 Bittern, Garganey and heard Golden Oriole. It was overcast and dull but dry. I'd hoped it would be a hive of activity but in reality it was a bit quiet and whilst it was pleasing to get 6+ Cuckoo's we did not get a Gropper nor Crane.

Late morning we left Lakenheath and drove the short distance to Welney. The long-staying Bluethroat remains "in territory"; singing, displaying and chasing anything that comes too close. We had some nice views and a combination of the weather and the length of it's stay meant there were no crowds. Two drake Garganey were out on the pools together with c50 Black-T-Godwit and small numbers of Avocet and Redshank. Watching a single Snipe drumming I was suddenly aware that it's now sadly a rare sight in the south-east.

Heavy rain started late morning but we retreated to a hide and carried on birding until hunger drove us to the WWT cafe.

It was still pouring down as we headed south-west towards Tring around 2 pm. It was very slow going with loads of lorries and lots of standing water but as we got near Tring the sun came out and the rain stopped.

We spent about 90 minutes at Wilstone reservoir watching the first-summer Red-footed Falcon, 5 Hobby's and something in excess of

1,200 Swifts! They rather stole the show. A few hundred House Martins and several dozen Swallows were mixed in with the swirling mass.

Had a Cuckoo and about 20 Common Terns too.

All in all a rather good day.

Bluethroat

Sunday 30th May

 A couple of hours on chalk downland not far from home at Shoreham was very productive for butterflies today.

I'd targeted Dingy and Grizzled Skipper's and was not disappointed. Thank's James for the tip-off!

Brimstone,Large White,Peacock,Common Blue c20, Dingy Skipper c15 and Grizzled Skipper 4+ all seen well.

Lesser Whitethroat,Whitethroat,Chiffchaff the only birds of note.

Common Blue 

Dingy Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

Grizzled Skipper

 Monday 31st May

 Elmer,Barnham....W Sussex

We went down to stay at Grandma's the previous afternoon.

Not birding today just family bike rides and walks along the beach, but then again I'm always birding.........

We took the kids on a bike ride along a new cycle route between the villages of Flansham and Barnham this morning. Lots of reedy dykes and hedgerows and fallow fields. Reed warblers, Sedge Warblers, Whitethroats,Reed Buntings,Yellowhammers, Swifts,Swallows and House Martins. A couple of spots looked really good for gropper but I heard nothing.........

In the afternoon we walked from Elmer to Climping beach. A scattering of Sandwich Tern's feeding close inshore and a few Gannet's too. Just a handful of Sanderling on the beach and a single Little Egret. Very quiet on the land - just Whitethroats, several pairs along the mile or so of beachside bushes. Best bird was a Hobby, over the kids park on the Elmer Sands Estate - can't recall seeing one before in this area. Edward got a really good look and ran off to grip off his brother!