Aylesbury - Wilstone - Marsworth, Bucks & Herts, 23/11/2008

Weather: cold, wintry showers. From 3:15pm.

Another trip to the Aylesbury layby to hopefully see the short-eared owls again, this time a bit earlier. However a day that started off with snow followed by a torrential downfall (at least in London) had me thinking that the owls would stay at hidden away out of it, but by mid-afternoon some sunshine convinced me it was worth a visit.

I arrived & joined a couple of others, the sun still shining but unfortunately after 15 minutes or so, & after admiting a bright rainbow, the black clouds on the horizon, heavy with precipitation, moved closer bringing their rainfall with them which sent me scurrying back to the car. I had only managed to see a couple of Kestrel & a lone Buzzard in the far trees, & nothing but Crows & Woodpigeon in the fields.

The first heavy shower passed by & from the car still nothing could be seen in the fields as dusk came on quickly. Another shower soon followed & it was enough to convince me that the owls would not be appearing this evening, however because I was nearby I thought I'd pop in on Wilstone & see if could pick out anything from the wall in the gloom, or even maybe see a little owl, a few of which are occasionally reported.

At Wilstone, from the reservoir's wall, I was struck by the large number of Black-Headed Gulls roosting on the water, hundreds at least. Also in the gathering gloom I picked out Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Great-Crested Grebe, Pochard & Coot.

Finally I decided to call in on Marsworth to see if I could catch the big starling roost which I'd also read about, though I suspected that I would be too late. And so it proved to be, though I could hear them chattering away in the reeds I had missed any spectacular aerial acrobatics, however a Sparrowhawk zipping low through the trees over the reeds meant it wasn't a complete loss, & there were also a few Shoveler on the water.

12 species.

A41 Lay-by, Berryfields, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, 15/11/2008

Weather: overcast, damp & mild. From 4pm.

After reading great reports of exciting & nearby birds on "birding tring reservoirs" blog I decided to check out the lay-by on the A41, adjacent to some rough grassland, at dusk in the hope of seeing the short-eared owls, a species I haven't seen in many years & which Kim had not seen before.

Sure enough after arriving & joining the half dozen or so other birders it wasn't long before the first Short-Eared Owl was seen perched in the far distance. No sooner did I have that one through the 'scope than another was spotted to the right & as I tracked it with the binoculars another couple appeared in the background with it, these then proceeded to quarter the grassland to the right on the far side of the Quainton road. I have only ever seen two before so to see more together in such an accessible area was fantastic. One then continued to quarter the grassland from right to left coming ever closer before it finally pounced down a few hundred yards away & unfortunately it didn't re-appear.

The light faded quite quickly after that & apart from a Kestrel which zipped over, the show was over. Unfortunately we arrived too late to see the hen harrier seen by the other birders & also dipped on tawny owl, but now I know the site I hope to return earlier in the day.

RSPB Rainham Marshes, Essex, 02/11/2008

Weather: Mixed clouds & sunshine, cool, still. From 12:30pm.

A trip out for the reported serins on a lovely autumnal day.

From the car-park the usual Collared Dove, Blue Tit, & then something less usual, a lone Grey Wagtail flew over from the reserve to the riverside, then back to normal Crow, Magpie & Woodpigeon.
I headed out along the seawall after getting more information on the serins from the visitor's centre & after spotting Greenfinch, Goldfinch, House Sparrow around the feeders.
In the scrub either side of the path or visible on the scrapes on the reserve: Stonechat, Pied Wagtail, Wigeon, Shoveler, Starling, Meadow Pipit, Greylag Goose, Black-Headed Gull, Skylark, Grey Heron, Wren, Kestrel.

I reached the section of the path which curves to the right at the base of the mound of the tip & looked downhill into the scrubby area, on the adjacent dyke were Moorhen & Coot. On the way up a few people had mentioned that the serins had not been seen that afternoon but that the Dartford Warbler had been seen in the locality, nevertheless I had to stay put for a good 15 minutes before I finally saw it low & nearby but only briefly in some scrub apparently accompanied by a 'ticking' wren. Happy with the dartford but dipping on the serin I headed back past a Robin & alerted to some crashing in the bushes I saw a fox hastily diving away through the undergrowth towards the reserve.

The tide was up which meant the muddy bay was submerged but on the water & on small patches of mud: Shelduck, Teal, Cormorant, Curlew, Great Black-Backed Gull, Herring Gull.

Back near the visitors' centre for Lapwing, a large group of chattering Linnet & a final Chaffinch.

As mentioned no sign of the serins, the theory being that they were amongst goldfinches feeding on the nearby rubbish tip which was closed allowing them to feed there undisturbed, & not on the reserve.

35 species, none new.

Update, 16/11/2008: the serins are still present, seen today (Sunday) so hopefully, if they stay around I'll have another try.