After a painful dip last Saturday, I spent the week hoping that the Northern Waterthrush would stick around until the following weekend. Thankfully, it seemed like it had, so four of us made the journey down to Essex to arrive at about 7am, just prior to first light.
There was already a sizeable crowd, though thankfully we had been present for only mere minutes before the Northern Waterthrush appeared in the small creek below the crowd. As the sky got lighter, the bird came closer and closer until it was directly below the majority of the crowd. Unfortunately, the poor light didn't favour photography, but I didn't mind one bit as I was over the moon just to see the bird!
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| Unmistakeable even in half-light! |
After having our fill of this North American Warbler's delightful performance, we made the short trip over to Abberton Reservoir, mopping up a decent variety of scarce birds from the various viewpoints across the reservoir. We noted Rock Pipit, the two long-staying Velvet Scoters surprisingly close to shore, at least eight distant Greater Scaup, a distance redhead Smew and a beautiful Short-Eared Owl perched on a small sapling. There were plenty helpful birders around to point us in the right direction and I was shocked at the quality of some of these birds for an inland site.
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| My first ever Rock Pipit away from the coast! |
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| The Velvet Scoters were closely than this suggests! |
Our final stop of the day was Bradwell-On-Sea, a great expanse of low-lying farmland culminating in an area of saltmarsh by the coast. We walked along the road, noting decent numbers of Corn Bunting, until we came to an Outfall where some departing birders told us that the Red-Breasted Goose was showing well on the saltmarsh. It took some searching, but the Red-Breasted Goose did show well, albeit distantly, amongst approximately 1,000 Brent Geese.
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| One of over 1,000 Brent Geese - easily the most I've ever seen |
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| The Red-Breasted Goose stood once when you'd found it! |
After seeing the Banks Marsh bird last December, I thought this was a species I could confidently add to my UK List. However, its decision to take up residence less than 50m from a pen of captive Red-Breasted Geese at Martin Mere has somewhat weakened its credentials to say the least! This bird therefore likely represented a much more genuine wild bird.
There were plenty of other interesting sightings from the Outfall, including a fantastic male Merlin, a few distant Hen Harrier, Short-Eared Owls and two Water Pipits.
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| My best views of a male Merlin yet |
All in all a fantastic (though very long and tiring) day with over 80 species seen!
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