Patch work Monday

Monday morning was here and with a clear sunny sky and a frost on the ground i decided to head straight for Langenhoe point in hope of spotting some Bearded Tits. And i wasn't disappointed with 25+ individuals feeding on the reed tops, as the thawed in the early morning sun allowing them to feed. During my stroll round the point 6 separate water rails could be heard squealing in different locations.

After spending a few hours on the point i decided to have a look down the centre track. This area has been out off bounds recently. As i scanned the Hawthorn bushes through my Binoculars i noticed a pale patch on a Hawthorn bush. On closer inspection with the scope it revealed 4 Short-eared Owls in a Parliament meeting. 

 

Another is in the top right back corner

After leaving the Owls the seawall was my next port of call but i was stopped in my tracks by a Cattle Egret and the Great white Egret flying around the marsh from one spot to another. A final look over the sea wall produced a good number of winter ducks and a quick snap of my favorites the Pintails. What a lovely end to a bird filled day on my Patch. A quick look at my watch and 6 hours has passed and it was time for home. Roll on next week  

Greater Day

Well the Velvet Scoter is still in the Pyefleet channel, but i still haven't been lucky enough to gain any better photos on my last couple of visits to the ranges. Each time the Juvenile duck has been on the Island side of the channel or vice versa. But then i never expected it to stay around this long so i still have a chance. Another highlight of the day was three Short-eared Owls tussling in the air and one would often land on the ground and gaze up at the other two still in dispute. I was more interested in watching them then taking photo's but i did snap a few as you can see at the bottom of this post. On the plus side after spending some time scoping the large flock of Greylag & Canada geese on Monday i noticed 4 separate birds standing further away from the main gaggle. With such poor light it was hard to get a clear ID but i noticed one was smaller in size. So after walking across the Marsh i was able to get within about 200 yards of the four birds. And how pleased i was to see the result of my walk. Three of the geese were greylag but the smaller one was a Greater White-Fronted Goose. Showing the characteristic markings, the dark splodges on the belly and the white forehead. So although the photo opportunities were poor i did manage some record shoots for my new 2022 list. 

 

Velvet Finish to the Year.

On Wednesday Evening one of the Mersea Birding Group members found a Velvet Scoter in the Pyefleet Channel. So my plan for the following morning was to walk from Shop Lane to Maydays Sluice. Just in case the Scoter was thinking of leaving with the tide and drifting back out to sea. This route might give me a chance of seeing it if it did. But not this young sea duck it had stayed put overnight and by 9.am i had located it feeding and mixing with the Red-breasted mergansers. But it wasn't going to be easy getting any decent pictures of a duck 150 yards out bobbing about on a rather blustery sea with low cloud and no sunlight. So after two hours and 900+ images to look at when i got home and after some cropping and sharpening these are the results. Since then the Scoter has stayed in the channel and another visit was made on New Years Day to kick off another hopefully bird filled 2022. I'm now hoping it stays till i get back on the Ranges next week as it might give me a chance of getting some better images.We will just have to wait and see now.