January 11, 2005
So long England!
The last ten days have seen me embark on a whirlwind tour of the UK, not for birding, but to catch up with friends in Cambridge, Leeds, Manchester, Essex, London and Bath. Was great to see everyone again, but nine consecutive full English breakfasts was hard work! The endless miles of motorway produced the occasional Common Buzzard and flyover Little Egret, while staring out of a friend's window in south London yielded good views of Redwing, Jay, Great Spotted Woodpecker and a fly-by Ring-necked Parakeet.
Just before returning to my parents, I spent an enjoyable day's birding in Cambs with county birder extraordinaire, John Oates. The day started well with a flock of 12 Tundra Bean Geese at Swaffham Prior Fen .
We also saw 6 Grey Partridge (good count for this declining species), a Little Egret and a couple of Stonechat on the nearby Cam Washes. Next stop was Woodwalton Fen, which was unfortunately about as birdless as I've ever seen it! Still, added Stock Dove, Reed Bunting, Marsh Tit and Woodcock to my 2005 list. We also saw a flock of Bullfinches - I suspect they were 'just' the British race, but have posted these blurry pictures in case anyone can turn them into Northern Bullfinches (having an irruption year into Britain this winter).
On getting back to Essex I decided to count up my Cambs list, and discovered that Tundra Bean Goose took me to a tantalising 199 - will have to go and sort out Hawfinch and Red Kite on my return!
I hadn't planned to do any more birding before flying back to SFO on Thursday, when Neil phoned to tell me about 4 (Bohemian) Waxwings in nearby Pitsea. Needless to say I couldn't resist, and here are the results of an hour's photography.
Here's the obligatory 'about to swallow a berry' shot.
One of the birds (an adult male judging by its bright plumage), had an extremely abnormal bill - the lower mandible was short, thin and strongly upturned, while the upper mandible is almost non-existent! It seemed to have no problems feeding though.
I spent the next hour in nearby Wat Tyler Country Park. On the way in I saw 2 wintering Chiffchaffs, while the hide produced 3 White-fronted Geese (SOG tick) and 2 Marsh Harriers - not a bad haul!
Posted by rjhall at January 11, 2005 10:14 PMShouldn't your blog temporarily be named "A Brit At Home"?
Nice to have you back. I know about tantalizing. My life list is hovering at 498, with an all-day outing planned for Thursday at the mid-coast Delaware refuges. Should launch me over.
Of course, there's the matter of moving to Mongolia in March, but that's another story altogether!
Posted by: Mad AZ Monk at January 12, 2005 02:16 AM