2 tick day

Like Andy, I also needed Stonechat for the SFYL and had a wander around Sandy Smith and Chicksands yesterday with no result. However, today was noticeably different with various birds on the move, such as dribs and drabs of Redwing, Swallows and Golden Plover.

Not a bird I needed for the list, but I was pretty surprised to see a Redstart on the path at Old Warden tunnel, so things were looking up. Moving on to Sandy Smith and there was a smart male Stonechat up by the silos, and then another 2 on the grassland where the public path cuts across the Chicksands MOD site.

I got a 2nd tick whilst watching and listening to a fairly large mixed flock of tits, Goldcrest and a few Blackcap at a site not very far away from the Stonechats (it's a private area, hence the vagueness). I was convinced I could hear a Firecrest in amongst them all but it took quite a while to be able to pick it up visually, due to the foliage and poor light. I didn't even manage to get a SFYL standard photo but did have the bird in the bins a couple of times for a good enough view to confirm the ID. This is only the 2nd Firecrest I've seen in Beds (I'm not a birder remember :-) ), so I may have to indulge in a small shandy this evening.

A bit more of the red stuff

While you guys all wait by your pits for some waders, I'll go get a few more of these, and hopefully a black one later. Redstart at Pegsdon 26th July (presumed same as 13th July).

I love chats

Poking around at the weekend, I managed to find a Nightingale that sang a few chook-chooks in Coronation Pit before I played my phone at it and got a full long repertoire of song. Nice SFYT and always fantastic to listen to, if not to look at. For good looks though you can’t do much better than a male Whinchat, unfortunately one seen on Tuesday was a bit distant as one of two found while twitching a bird reported by Dave Odell, (not having that one as a SFYT). Then, and a similar stunning looker, I found a stonking male Redstart on Pegsdon this evening which showed really nicely feeding in the sun and giving me the opportunity to capture an image worthy of this blog with bins in one hand, camera in the other and both a foot in front of my face…

I love chats.

The Hills

Two more nice SFYTs and an ace bimble too. Dragged my son up and also Mr Oakley-Martin to give him a break from Potton.

First was a Tree Pipit calling overhead as we reached the summit, followed by another. The first perched as you can see clearly from this photo.

Near the trig point, a male Redstart flew in front of us. Also two Wheatears and a Red Kite.