Ufton Fields & Marsh Lane

Still struggling with gout we had a flying visit to Ufton Fields before heading off to the main event of Marsh Lane.

My 1st visit to Ufton, and to be fair it was fairly uneventful, athough i did get my 1st House Martin. Still, a pretty place and worthy of further reconnaissance.




Nice little Blackbird


Onwards to Marsh Lane, and still hampered by the extremely painful gout, only a fraction of the usual tour was attempted, still managing to get my 1st Reed Warbler though, even if he was a tad camera shy -



Reed Warbler



Reed Warbler

 Not the best shots in the world, but better than nout!

The count -

1. Lapwing
2. Carrion Crow
3. Reed Warbler - NEW
4. Moorhen
5. Coot
6. Mute Swan
7. Little Grebe
8. Gadwell
9. Shoveler
10. Greylag
11. Redshank
12. Teal
13. Mallard
14. Great Crested Grebe
15. Canada Goose
16. Black-headed Gull
17. Pheasant
18. Black Swan
19. Jackdaw
20. Sand Martin
21. Shelduck
22. Common Tern
23. Reed Bunting
24. Chaffinch
25. Greenfinch
26. Great Tit
27. Tree Sparrow
28. Tufted Duck
29. Wood Pigeon
30. Yellow Wagtail
31. Common Sandpiper - NEW
32. Kestrel
33. Little Ringed Plover
34. Oyster Catcher
35. Heron
36. Lesser Black-backed Gull
37. Buzzard
38. Pochard
39. Cormorant
40. Jay
41. Starling
42. Ringed Plover
43. Swallow
44. Pied Wagtail

Titchwell

1st trip here, and in all honesty a little bit overwhelming for the novice birder.
11 new ticks for the Life & Year lists and although the overall count for the day seems a bit low there were actually more birds than you could shake a stick at.
The low count in my opinion was down to a couple of things -

1, The usual not enough time factor.
2, Simply overwhelmed by bird numbers and rather impressive Air Traffic Control style 5* hides
3, A rather painful ankle that sent agony messages to the brain with every step!

Anyway some piccys first for a change -

Avocet

Blackcap

Blue Tit

Chaffinch

Garganeys

Goslings

Grey Plover

Linnet

Robin

The count -

1. Robin
2. Blackbird
3. Blackcap
4. Dunnock
5. Pheasant
6. Grey Heron
7. Blue Tit
8. Great Tit
9. Avocet - NEW
10. Chaffinch
11. Wood Pigeon
12. Grey Plover - NEW
13. Coot
14. Moorhen
15. Linnet
16. Garganey - NEW
17. Black Tailed Godwit - NEW
18. Mallard
19. Teal
20. Common Redshank
21. Spotted Redshank - NEW
22. Ruff - NEW
23. Shelduck
24. Shoveler
25. Snipe
26. Greylag
27. Black-headed Gull
28. Reed Bunting
29. Sedge Warbler - NEW
30. Whimbrel - NEW - Got a shot of this but its quite poor (might upload it later anyway)
31. Skylark - NEW - As with this
32. House Sparrow - NEW
33. Lapwing
34. Little Ringed Plover
35. Oyster Catcher
36. Canada Goose
37. Mute Swan
38. Black Tern - NEW
39. Little Grebe 
40. Widgeon
41. Collared Dove

Marsh Lane

x2 new ticks for the Life & Year lists, but failed miserably in getting any shots of them at all :-(
Still, seen them i did so the tick gets added making the count for the day 43..

1. Canada Goose
2. Comorant
3. Coot
4. Redshank
5. Tufted Duck
6. Pintail
7. Shoveler
8. Jackdaw
9. Lapwing
10. Pied Wagtail
11. Lesser Black-backed Gull
12. Black-headed Gull
13. Pochard
14. Gadwell
15. Grey Heron
16. Mallard
17. Mute Swan
18. Wood Pigeon
19. Crow
20. Little Grebe
21. Moorhen
22. Oystercatcher
23. Magpie
24. Wheatear - NEW
25. Pheasant
26. Dunnock
27. Chaffinch
28. Blackcap - NEW
29. Common Tern
30. Black Swan
31. Tree Sparrow
32. Reed Bunting
33. Great Crested Grebe
34. Ringed plover
35. Greylag
36. Buzzard
37. Blue Tit
38. Great Tit
39. Blackbird
40. Little Ringed Plover
41. Chiffchaff
42. Robin
43. Geenfinch

A few piccys -

Brandon Marsh

1st trip to Brandon Marsh for me, not a very exciting one but nonetheless worth the effort.

Hit list was as follows;

1. Robin
2. Pied Wagtail
3. Buzzard
4. Magpie
5. Canada Goose
6. Oystercatcher
7. Greylag
8. Tufted Duck
9. Coot
10. Moorhen
11. Mallard
12. Crow
13. Teal
14. Pheasant
15. Little Grebe
16. Comorant
17. Wood Pigeon
18. Grey Heron
19. Great Tit
20. Reed Bunting
21. Swallow

A few piccys-

All out for 51

Super fine day weather wise, but as usual with my visits to Marsh Lane the disaster reared its head and showed itself in the form of yet another flat battery in the camera, despite being fully charged the day before!
Soon discovered that it was my own fault for leaving the camera switched on in the bag since leaving Summer Leys Saturday afternoon.. Pratt!! Fortunately Dad had a spare fully charged battery in his bag, which saved loads of tears and an angry Lewis Hamilton style like drive back home, because today was new 400mm lens testing day!!!

My not perfect Chiffchaff, but good enough 1st attempt

Jackdaw

Very shy Long-tailed Tit

Greylag Goose

Redshank

Pleased with my Reed Bunting

A thoroughly acceptable score of 51 was the end result, with only the 1 tick gained for the Life & Year lists, wickets fell like this -

1. Coot
2. Lapwing
3. Shoveler
4. Mute Swan
5. Kestrel
6. Chaffinch
7. Lesser Black-backed Gull
8. Cormorant
9. Greylag
10. Great Crested Grebe
11. Pintail
12. Mallard
13. Redshank
14. Little Ringed Plover
15. Gadwell
16. Heron
17. Buzzard
18. Tufted Duck
19. Teal
20. Little Grebe
21. Wood Pigeon
22. Black-headed Gull
23. Oystercatcher
24. Moorhen
25. Shelduck
26. Crow
27. Pochard
28. Pied Wagtail
29. Canada Goose
30. Magpie
31. Pheasant
32. Chiffchaff
33. Blue Tit
34. Blackbird
35. Great Tit
36. Green Woodpecker
37. Starling
38. Black Swan
39. Common Tern
40. Snipe
41. Jackdaw
42. Wren
43. Tree Sparrow
44. Reed Bunting
45. Great Spotted Woodpecker
46. Stock Dove
47. Ringed Plover
48. Long-tailed Tit
49. Swallow - NEW
50. Yellow Wagtail
51. Greenfinch



Summer Leys - Northamptonshire

An unsheduled stop at the Summer Leys Reserve in Northamptonshire gave me 1 new one for the tick lists, otherwise not a fantastic show but worth the drop in nonetheless..

1. Mute swan
2. Song Thrush
3. Crow
4. Magpie
5. Tufted Duck
6. Lapqing
7. Black-headed Gull
8. Coot
9. Great Crested Grebe
10. Gadwell
11. Mallard
12. Moorhen
13. Shoveller
14. Widgeon
15. Little Grebe
16. Wood Pigeon
17. Canada Goose
18. Kestrel
19. Common Tern - NEW
20. Redshank
21. Sparrowhawk
22. Heron

It was a hard target to beat - Marsh Lane

Hail stones and thunder brought the day to an earlier close than normal, and as usual another visit to Marsh Lane was completed where i'd forgotten something, this time my drink!

Nowhere near lastweeks 53 alas, but a reasonable 45 with x2 new ticks for the Life List, which of course means x2 new ones for the year as well, so here they come

1. Great Tit
2. Blue Tit
3. Crow
4. Reed Bunting
5. Mallard
6. Lapwing
7. Chaffinch
8. Gadwell
9. Starling
10. Tufted Duck
11. Mute Swan
12. Coot
13. Shoveler
14. Greylag
15. Black-headed Gull
16. Lesser Black-backed Gull
17. Buzzard
18. Wood Pigeon
19. Greenfinch
20. Song Thrush
21. Green Woodpecker
22. Chiffchaff
23. Redshank
24. Jackdaw
25. Heron
26. Pheasant
27. Moorhen
28. Little Grebe
29. Black Swan
30. Magpie
31. Tree Sparrow
32. Ringed Plover
33. Sand Martin - NEW
34. Teal
35. Blackbird
36. Pintail - NEW
37. Shelduck
38. Oystercatcher
39. Cormorant
40. Canada Goose
41. Wigeon
42. Great Crested Grebe
43. Pochard
44. Jay
45. Pied Wagtail