Western Sandpiper at Cley

Well after having run out of holiday at work and having a number of engagements in past weekends I finally managed to get to Cley to see the Western Sandpiper. Initial views were distant but after an hour or so it flew very close to the hide and showed really well. A couple of videos below show the amount of ginger feathering that is now visible.

Eastern Black Redstart and Greater Yellowlegs.

Myself and some of the boys headed north to see the Eastern Black Redstart and the Greater Yellowlegs, first stop the legs. This bird gave us the run around and I only got the briefest flight views before it headed south. We chased but missed it by 5 minutes at Chevington before it flew north. We decided that we should go and see the Redstart and see what the Legs did later on.
The Redstart had taken up residence on the beach near the school on Holy Island. The journey across to the Island was very atmospheric with a glass like sea on both sides and waders feeding just by the causeway. Once we found the Redstart it showed fantastically and seemed oblivious to the assembled crowd. I was struck by how much brown it had on the crown and upperparts and assume this can be attributed to it being a 1st winter bird. Brent Geese flew in close to the shore and Eider and Red-breasted Mergansers were seen from the beach. The island had feel of the Scillies to me and I hope to return soon.
News soon broke that the Yellowlegs had been refound at Cresswell so we had to tear ourselves away from this stunning bird to allow time to see the legs before darkness fell. We managed to get good but distant views of the bird as it feed in amongst the reeds and it was successful at catching small fish on a number of occasions. This was a magic day and the glorious sunshine made it even better.

Eastern Black Redstart.

Jupiter

With Jupiter sitting nice and bright in the east sky I thought I would give digiscoping it a go. Results below.

Jupiter - You can even make out the orange bands of its atmosphere.

Nikon P300

Trying out a new camera, a Nikon P300. Its a great little camera and below are a few images from it I snapped down on the River Deben late yesterday. A more in-depth review to follow.

Daurian Shrike -Dunwich

More to follow of todays antics.

October 11th

It was almost back to a full complement with the boys back from Shetland so I thought it best to show them a Yellow-browed Warbler, after all they had only seen 30+ in the last week. The Thorpeness bird showed really well and called non stop for about 2-3 minutes. Vis mig was good with 150+ Siskin, 75 + Redpoll, 8 Crossbills (plus 13 at North Warren earlier), 150+ Goldfinches and a Tree Sparrow that got us going as it called briefly as it headed towards us. After a couple of hours it was evident that nothing was fresh in so we took the decision to twitch the ultra showy Woodchat Shrike at Links Road. The bird performed superbly and allowed so good photos before my battery died!!

The Links Road Woodchat Shrike.

Sandhill Crane

Finally got round to adding my footage of the Sandhill Crane at North Warren before it took flight and headed to Boyton for all to see (except those on Shetland).