With the car in the garage for the next four or five days, it's back to the bike for getting around birding. I left home this morning at 04:30 where it took me nineteen minutes to cycle over to Nethergong in the growing light. I spent a good few hours walking around the Nethergong and Chislet Marshes patch where I noted 59 species which is pretty good for this time of the year. The undoubted highlight was when I picked up on a Wood Sandpiper (114) flying over at 06:00 calling. I only had a few seconds watching it before it disappeared over the tree line towards Grove Ferry. This is a new species for the patch and one that I thought I may have recorded at night passing over, so to actually see and hear it was a real bonus. Also seen were 9 Egyptian Geese with 7 goslings still and the adopted Mallard, 16 Moorhen, 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 Black headed Gull, 2 Common Gull, 2 Herring Gull, 1 Common Tern, 6 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 2 Marsh Harrier, 1 Common Buzzard, 2 Little Owl, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 3 Green Woodpecker and 3 Kestrel. There was 1 Hobby, 1 Jay, 12 Blue Tit, 8 Great Tit, 11 Long tailed Tit and a bonus Coal Tit (115) was found in Chislet Churchyard, only the second record here in 10 years! There were 5 Sedge Warbler, 15 Reed Warbler, 5 Swallow, 1 Willow Warbler, 1 Chiffchaff, 6 Cetti's Warbler, 4 Blackcap, 13 Whitethroat, 1 Goldcrest, 1 Treecreeper, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Song Thrush, 8 Blackbird, 11 House Sparrow, 6 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Pied Wagtail, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Bullfinch, 1 Greenfinch, 43 Linnet, 6 Goldfinch, 3 Yellowhammer and 4 Reed Bunting. A new butterfly species for the patch was also seen this morning with 1 Wall Brown noted. The addition of Wood Sandpiper takes my Nethergong / Chislet Marshes patch list to 158 species.

Coal Tit

A visit on the 25th produced 9 Egyptian Geese till including 7 goslings and the adopted Mallard duckling. There were 8 Reed Warbler, 2 Sedge Warbler, 1 Willow Warbler (113), 1 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Blackcap, 3 Whitethroat, 1 Mistle Thrush, 2 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Yellowhammer and 1 Reed Bunting. A visit again yesterday morning at 07:30 produced the 9 Egyptian Geese still, 1 Cuckoo, 38 Swift west, 1 Green Sandpiper, 6 Black headed Gull, 10 Herring Gull, 3 Cormorant, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Hobby, 1 Jay, 1 Raven, 2 Reed Warbler, 1 Sand Martin, 3 Swallow, 1 Chiffchaff, 3 Blackcap, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Song Thrush, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 2 Pied Wagtail, 4 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch and 4 Yellowhammer and 1 Reed Bunting. On the dragonfly front, a new species was found for the patch with 2 Lesser Emperor (male and female). Also seen were 4 Red veined Darter. 

I was out just after 4am this morning where I drove over to Chislet Marshes to collect the recorder. I had not long parked up and got out of the car when I heard a distant Quail calling. I heard one briefly a few weeks ago but this one was heard much easier. I walked up the track a hundred metres or so when another Quail called much closer. You wait 10 years and then 2 Quail come along! This is a Mega bird for the patch and excellent to have a couple of birds in the area. I continued to walk up the path and in the end, I must have been within a few metres of the calling bird but still didn't see it. The second more distant bird continued to call before they both went quiet. As I stood listening to the Quail, 4 Barn Owl were seen along with 1 Little Owl. A Tawny Owl was sound recorded during the night. After the morning excitement, I then spent a few hours walking around the Nethergong, Chislet Marshes area were I noted 60 species which included 7 Mute Swan, 9 Egyptian Geese including 7 goslings still and the adopted Mallard, 2 Swift, 9 Moorhen, 1 Green Sandpiper, 2 Black headed Gull, 10 Herring Gull, 2 Lesser Black backed Gull, 2 Common Tern, 26 Cormorant, 1 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Marsh Harrier, 2 Common Buzzard, 2 Great spotted Woodpecker, 5 Green Woodpecker, 4 Kestrel and 1 Jay. There were 10 Magpie, 74 Jackdaw, 2 Raven, 2 Skylark, 2 Sedge Warbler, 10 Reed Warbler, 2 Sand Martin, 8 Swallow, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 2 Long tailed Tit, 6 Blackcap, 4 Whitethroat, 1 Treecreeper, 32 Starling, 3 Song Thrush, 4 Robin, 2 Dunnock, 3 Yellow Wagtail, 4 Pied Wagtail, 3 Chaffinch, 2 Bullfinch, 69 Linnet, 2 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer, and 3 Reed Bunting. 

Quail