Hot Birds of 2014.

Another year over, and here are some of my best bits birding in 2014. 

JANUARY

My first trip out was just down the road from home, to see a Glossy Ibis, although this was not a new species for me, it was a scarcity for Bedfordshire.

FEBRUARY

In Feb' Sarah and I along with friends, Mark,Gill,Jill, travelled to Extramadura to visit our friend Neil and get in some fantastic birding. The weather was awful, with rain and flooding! But the one day we were graced with sunny skies turned out to be on the day we needed it most...a trip to Monfrague for the vultures...wow. Even though the weather was bad and most of the birding was done from the car, the abundance of bird species was overwhelming with goodies like these below.

 Purple Swamphen

 Crested Lark

 Spotless Starlings

 Iberian Grey Shrike

 Spanish Imperial Eagle

 Griffon Vultures

 Black Vulture

 Golden Eagle

 Blue Rock Thrush

 Common Crane

 Egyptian Vulture

 Little Bustards

 Great Spotted Cuckoo

 Great Bustards

 And not forgetting the White Storks, below was where we connected with Alpine Accentor, the weather had closed in so bad the visibility was very bad and raining too.

APRIL

A trip into Cambridgeshire at Fen Drayton for the stunning Baikal Teal.

JUNE

June was a month of Mega's and firsts. A journey down to Ashdown Forest for the awesome Short Toed Eagle. After a 3 hour search and wait it finally gave itself up.

Second Mega of the month was my first Spectacled Warbler, my Dad and I got soaked twitching this, despite the forecast as being dry! Still worth it though.

SEPTEMBER

A great trip to Blows Down in Bedfordshire for the county's first ever Barred Warbler.

My first ever Masked Shrike, my Dad and I travelled to Spurn for this gem of a Mega.

 A short trip for myself and Sarah to Norfolk gave us this lovely Rose coloured Starling.

OCTOBER

This was a busy month, and what better way to start it than with a very showy Hoopoe, and just a short drive from home. It stayed at Willington, Bedfordshire long enough to delight many birders.

Sarah and I spent quite a lot of time in Norfolk this month and were rewarded handsomely. 

This Red Flanked Bluetail put in a few appearances but was very elusive.

And a added bonus whilst looking for the Bluetail, was this Long eared Owl.

 Our next great bird was a Raddes Warbler at Wells Woods, our stay in Norfolk was turning out to be a memorable one, with a calling Yellow Browed Warbler showing itself briefly right outside where we were staying in Cromer.

 A Grey Phalarope posed for a few pics at Cley.

Our last day in Norfolk and joined by my Mum and Dad, we walked out to the shoreline to see the Surf Scoter.

NOVEMBER

Although this was a sight seeing tour of Rome, I had to mention the birds we encountered. With Yellow Legged Gulls all over the place and very close too, other birds noted were Hooded Crows, Parakeets loudly calling all over the place, Italian Sparrows, a most enjoyable trip, and a place I shall return to.

DECEMBER

Bringing us to the last month of 2014 and after a nightshift I drove to Boyton Marshes in Suffolk for the "presumed escape" Trumpeter Swans. As a lot of birders had no doubt done, this was more of an insurance tick just in case by chance they were accepted onto the British list. Being unringed and turning up after a Winter Bomb, with no place declaring any missing surely they warrant a better chance than normal?

And to the final stunner of the year, and also turning up in Bedfordshire close to home, a lovely Penduline Tit. Sarah and I visited Meadow Lane GP's on the afternoon of the 29th and immediately were graced with great views of this bird. The next, very cold, morning I returned to Meadow lane and after some time it finally showed itself only for it to then fly off high south east and not return.

A great end to the year birding wise, and I cant forget other great non avian sights such as the Fallow Deer rutting in Norfolk, or the butterfly searching around Bedfordshire, lets hope 2015 is even more successful.

Happy New Year to you all.

"What a Tit!" Bedfordshire. December 2014.

 Penduline Tit is a species myself and Sarah had connected with previously only once before at Rainham Marshes. So when one turned up close to home it was too good an opportunity to not go for it. And what a lovely little bird they are. It showed well whilst we were there, venturing from the reed mace on the main lake to the small lake adjacent to feed. 

Trumpeter Swans. Suffolk. December 2014.

 Having to work over Christmas I thought I would get myself out and about when my night shifts had finished, so after the last one I headed off to Boyton Marshes in Suffolk for the "presumed escape" Trumpeter Swans.

 I'm not going to go into the politics of whether they are genuine or not, but turning up on the back of a Winter Bomb and being unringed and reportedly no Trumpeters being declared as escaped then it was an insurance tick that had better than normal credentials. 

It was a cold and frosty start but the temperature was warmer on the coast than inland. What a nightmare it was trying to locate the reserve, the actual track labelled footpath that I needed was eventually taken and a short walk later, although distant, I could pick out the pair of Trumpeter Swans. 

 Even at a distance they were easily picked out by the all black bills. 

 From other birders write ups and images I knew they were not in the same area where they had been viewed and photographed a lot closer before. But on this day it was obvious why they were more distant, namely two blokes shooting. I do not know the boundaries of the reserve but the kelp field the swans were feeding in can be seen at the base of the photo above. They were shooting the other side of the sea wall but the disturbance would not of helped.

 With no sign that they would venture closer I headed off for home, but I enjoyed the morning venture out on a lovely winters morning.

A Couple of Hours at The Lodge. 10th December 2014.

 It seems ages since I last ventured out, so I headed up to the Lodge RSPB for a couple of hours in the hide. There was a cold wind blowing into the hide but it was dry with a few sunny spells. The usual common species were present, unfortunately no sign of Redpolls or Siskin to brighten the morning.

 There was no visits from any Nuthatch, they were on the feeders near the shop. Then a Grey Wagtail dropped into the rear pool and began to feed around the edges, disrupting the leaf litter for food.

 Gladly it moved to the pool in front of the hide, and kept still long enough for a shot or two. It then moved to the grass edge and froze in a flattened position, I knew a predator was around and with the immediate alarm calls from the other feeding birds the threat then gave itself up. Sparrowhawk!

It had landed about 10 feet from the Grey Wagtail, which dare not move at all, and with the Sparrowhawk having not noticed it it then turned it's attention to another bird in the opposite direction and it was gone.

 The Wagtail cautiously began to move around again before it departed, but not before a couple of nice poses. It had only been a couple of hours but I thoroughly enjoyed being back out, and with the report of Redpolls and Siskin on the reserve from another birder, I planned for another visit soon.