Hi everyone, i just joined the community after being 18 last month! Thought I would share my local patch with you.
My local patch is a small area along the sea wall in Essex, as the Crow flies it's just 2 miles from my house.
You can see the area it covers here
The area is surprisingly good for birds and it's only 1 1/2 miles along the sea wall from the town. Winter 2011 up to Spring 2012 my patch held up to 3 Short-eared Owls which made for great watching, sadly this past winter they didn't show up, I'm hoping they'll be back this Autumn. Also last year we had a surprise Gannet turn up and we also had a Purple Sandpiper which turned out to be the first one for the town for the last 10 years. This year I am doing a Patch List, so far I'm up to 78 bird species. Here's a quick summary of this year so far:
January: 51 species added in the first month, biggest surprise was a Whooper and 2 Bewick's Swans that swam down river and then flew back up again.
February: I only visited my local patch once in February and added 2 to the list.
March: 2 visits producing 6 birds for the list. Grey Partridge was new for me on the patch, they appeared while I was watching a Barn Owl that I hadn't seen on my patch since December 2011.
April: Only one visit but that's all I needed, I got lucky with my first ever Osprey that flew straight over me, I got very excited about that one. I also managed to add a few summer migrants like Yellow Wagtail and Whitethroat, 6 added to the list.
May: 3 visits and 11 species added, possibly the biggest surprise of the year was a Black-winged Stilt that was found by another birder, had to rush out to see that one. Another surprise was a Long-eared Owl that I managed to find after it had been reported earlier in the week. Hobby and Cuckoo added too.
June: So far I've only been once and added 2 to the list.
I'll post updates every now and then and keep you updated on my progress!
Tom
Twitter Website
Hi Tom love your photos, so great that you have your own patch and I love the fact that you are making it an all year round project. You have seen some stunning birds already. I am sure, like me, lots of the members will say "Welcome to the Community".
Pat Adams - Flickr - BLOG
Welcome from me too Tom. Your local patch looks to be a great place with all the varieties of birds you are seeing. Cracking pictures especially the Barn Owl and Osprey.
____________________________________________________________________
Tony
My Flickr Photostream
Hi Tom - great patch, great photos, looking forward to more reports!
"Let loose the Kraken!"
Welcome, Tom--lovely photos--thanks! Especially love the Osprey! I await future photos!
Kind regards, Ann
Great shots Tom. 18 last month? I can't remember what that was like. Not that I'm jealous or anything...
Anyway welcome to many years ahead of excellent bird watching.
Haha, thanks everyone!
Thought I would post some more pictures. Got a lot more but here's a few.
Peregrine, came fairly close in Peregrine terms...
Turnstone, let me climb down the sea wall and get quite close which was nice.
The first Purple Sandpiper in the town for at least 10 years, always quite distant,
Rock Pipit
The surprise Gannet from last year that was pointed out by another birder, watched it distantly for ages and then it flew straight over us
Cuckoo, I was waiting for it to fly nicely in front of me but it decided to go behind me, straight into the sun.
Short-eared Owl from last year
Hi Tom. Your only 18 and your taking shots like this already. Blimey!
Cracking wildlife and love the owls shots. Your local patch has alot to offer. Look forward to seeing what else you produce.
Kind regards
Chappers (and the Wife.)
'Educate' me, on the wonders of nature.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chappers360/
Hi Tom and welcome to the community from me as well. What a fabulous selection of photos you have there and a brilliant variety of birds - I live close to woodland so get to see a completely different selection of birds - great to see yours. Almost July so it will be interesting to see what else turns up! Keep posting.
See my Flickr photos here
https://www.flickr.com/photos/115745582@N04/
Thank you everyone.
Proper summary of June:
Only one visit in June and I could finally and confidently add Reed Warbler to the list, they make themselves hard to see. Also added Long-tailed Tit at the start of my patch. Before I reached my usual spot where I sit the local Cuckoo flew towards and past me, then I spotted a Marsh Harrier hunting over fields I haven't seen it in before, it hovered for a while and flushed what looked like a leucistic (white) Pheasant. The Cuckoo again appeared later on, it was close but it was obscured by part of the tree so I could only see the back half! Not many photo opportunities unfortunately, only a Kestrel wanted to show off.
Thanks! No patch visits in July hence no July post!
Couple of visits in August and 5 species added to the list: Stock Dove, Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover. Not much on the photography front but its the first time I’ve seen ever seen Greenshank, Green Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper and Little Ringed Plover on my patch. Recently I have seen 3 Kestrels hovering simultaneously which is nice to see and female Marsh Harrier has been flying around. On the most recent visit I also had a Hobby which I don’t often see on my patch. On the river there were around 30 or so Wigeon on the river which was surprised to see already. My most recent visit left me with wet feet after we had torrential rain the day before and the fields leading up to the sea wall were flooded and the water went over my boots and when a herd of Cows started stampeding through the water I thought I was going to get soaked but luckily they slowed down.