Skegness

For about the first time this autumn, the wind had turned easterly, so I thought it might be a good idea to visit the coast. Most people in this neck of the woods automatically head for Norfolk, but I fancied something different.

Inspired by the Further Adventures of Kevin Du Rose (who always has rarities coming to eat out of his hand while he's sitting on Skegness seafront, or something like that), we left for Lincolnshire early-ish on Saturday morning.

After a wander around Skegness itself (the dunes and scrubby bits, rather than the amusement arcades and other delights), it was evident that there was some Serious Migration going on. A Brambling wheezed overhead while a couple of Lesser Redpolls... 'chipped' (or whatever it is they do) and dozens of Redwings seeped in.

[I had a great bacon sandwich, as well...]



However, we didn't find many Goldcrests and birds on the deck generally seemed to be around in small numbers. Time to head to Gibraltar Point. On arriving in the car-park, we heard that a Ring Ouzel had been trapped and was going to be released at the observatory [which isn't really as grand as it sounds; it's a small, dark concrete shed].


A pretty nice bird, which called obligingly as it was released.

More walking around through the dunes and along the beach. Redwings were calling all the time, literally having just come in from the continent. Some dropped into the buckthorn immediately as they made landfall, while other stayed in flocks of 30-40 and went further inland. They were easily audible but not always easy to see - they looked more like clusters of midges some of the time, they were so high up.

That's the overriding memory of the day for me - the Redwings coming in.



However, this unusual 'installation' was also of interest... I've no idea what's going on, but possibly someone hung a piece of lost property on the dead tree once upon a time, and now it sports a range of gloves and assorted footwear.

[Another pic of it here, on www.geograph.co.uk, an interesting site...]


Everything's A-OK.

A variety of stuff from the hides:

Grey Plover


Redshank


Lesser Black-backed Gull munching on local crab


Curlew

So, what happened to the rarities, you may ask? Don't ask me. Despite a few hours working the Plantation hard - very hard indeed- we even struggled to find many Goldcrests. Never mind a Yellow-browed Warbler, which was what I really wanted, or a Firecrest.

Another day...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Beside the seaside

Holkham Gap








Titchwell


Burnham Overy Staithe

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Misty morning at The Lodge

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Woodwalton Fen NNR

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Autumn at Minsmere

Comma on blackberries

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Small Copper

photo taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Bugs

Shieldbug


Common Darter


Migrant Hawker


Feathered Gothic

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Damp, misty morning

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995

Dunge

Another RSPB reserve 'tick' for me. Went daaaahn saaaaahf to Dungeness with the same crew as last weekend in search of... well, migrants, I suppose. We were greeted by a Wheatear on the roof of the toilet block and there were shed-loads of Yellow Wagtails calling overhead.

But otherwise, finding birds took a little more hard work. Bramble-bush-watching found us Whitethroat, Blackcap, Sedge and Willow Warblers, while scanning across a field picked up a distant Whinchat. OK, so they're not exactly top-drawer rarities, but it felt really good to be getting onto birds that we wouldn't have with just a casual glance here and there.

Hooray for birding!





The Marsh Frogs on the reserve were, I suppose, a UK amphibian tick for me. One of the pools was filled with them in a variety of different sizes. That hadn't gone unnoticed by a Grass Snake, which was wending its way through the water and had its eye on Marsh Froglets for lunch. Though we didn't see any actual action, it was fascinating to watch.




Migrant Hawker

frog photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece. Dragonflies with Nikon Coolpix 995

Birds of the day...

... were undoubtedly the two juvenile Dotterel at RSPB Snettisham. As well as having huge Bambi-style eyes, elegant looks and the good sense to pose nicely among the ox-eye daisies, they endeared themselves to assembled birders even more by being very tame indeed.

Hurrah for Dotterel!


The resident female Scaup on the pit nearby had less appeal, somehow.


Curlew Sandpipers were present in good numbers (c30) at RSPB Titchwell Marsh.

I really should get off my backside and get up to Norfolk more often. Thanks to Darren, Dave, Joy, Pete and Corinna for a grand day out!

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

River Nene

The reflections of vegetation at the edge of the river caught my eye. I was watching some Common Darters perching on some debris which looked like a cross between some white plastic sheeting and a lump of loft insulation, when it suddenly dawned on me that it was a sheep at an advanced stage of decomposition...

Moving on...


Banded Demoiselles have got to be the most gorgeous insects going.






Female munching on a small insect

All these photos digiscoped along the River Nene just west of Ferry Meadows. For reference, the pronunciation of the river name is as follows:

If you're downstream of Oundle, it's Neene
If you're upstream of Oundle, it's Nenn

Incidentally, when I visited Slimbridge as a youngster, I wondered what the connection with Hawaii's state bird, Branta sandvicensis, the Nene Goose, was...

I have to be a bit careful when I go home to Northants, because I live in Peterborough now I tend to say Neene, which probably reveals me to be a traitor. I grew up in the Nene valley; I still haven't escaped it and I can trace ancestors who lived in the valley (at Little Addington) back to at least 1680...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece

Ferry Meadows birds

Feeding time for baby Swallows! It was all a bit fast for me





That's some primary projection...

Grey Heron on Gunwade Lake

Coot on a backwater

Ferry Meadows on a sunny bank holiday weekend is a busy place to be, but there were a few birds around nevertheless. I decided to seek out somewhere more peaceful...

photos taken with Nikon Coolpix 995 + Leica Apo Televid 62 with 16x eyepiece