A good weekend on the Nethergong/Chislet Marshes patch with 6 year ticks. Saturday was sunny, windless and warm compared to this morning where the coat and hat had to come back out again in the strong wind. Birding the area Saturday produced 2 Mute Swan, 3 Egyptian Geese, 2 Tufted Duck (103), 4 Cuckoo chasing each other around which allowed me to grab a few images. There were 36 Herring Gull, 2 Common Tern (104) fishing on the main lake, 1 Little Grebe, 12 Cormorant, 2 Bittern heard booming early morning from the Stour Valley, 6 Cattle Egret (105) flew east, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Jay, 1 Raven, 1 Sedge Warbler, 10 Reed Warbler, 3 Swallow, 2 Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 7 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 2 Whitethroat, 2 Mistle Thrush, 1 Nightingale, 4 Linnet, 3 Goldfinch and 2 Reed Bunting. 

This morning produced 2 Egyptian Geese but sad to see one dead in the Penn under some pylons. Not sure whether it got electrocuted or had a fall out with the pair. There were 4 Stock Dove, 46 Woodpigeon, 1 Cuckoo, 1 Swift, 2 Moorhen, 2 Black headed Gull, 13 Herring Gull, 2 Lesser Black backed Gull, 3 Common Tern, 41 Cormorant, 1 Little Egret (106), 1 Grey Heron, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 1 Green Woodpecker, 1 Kestrel, 1 Hobby (107), 2 Ring necked Parakeet (108), 19 Jackdaw and 19 Rook. It was nice to see 4 Raven including 2 newly fledged young, 4 Skylark, 7 Sedge Warbler, 16 Reed Warbler, 5 Sand Martin, 2 Swallow, 3 Chiffchaff, 2 Cetti's Warbler, 6 Blackcap, 6 Whitehroat, 1 Mistle Thrush, 1 Nightingale, 1 Yellow Wagtail, 1 Pied Wagtail, 2 Chaffinch, 10 Linnet, 3 Goldfinch, 2 Yellowhammer and 4 Reed Bunting. 

Cuckoo

Common Tern

Cattle Egret

As I was collecting the recorder Friday morning, I could hear a Garden Warbler (98) singing away from some deep cover. This can be a tricky bird to get on the patch so a welcome bonus indeed. Birding Sunday morning around the area produced 1 booming Bittern early morning from the Stour Valley direction, 2 Nightingale were hear singing, 1 Greylag Goose, 8 Mute Swan, 1 Gadwall, 10 Mallard, 2 Grey Partridge, 3 Pheasant, 4 Stock Dove, 72 Woodpigeon, 1 Cuckoo (99) was heard calling, 4 Swift (100) were high up over Upstreet, 6 Moorhen, 2 Common Sandpiper (101) were on one of the new Islands on the new reservoir, a good bird to get here at any time, 1 Black headed Gull, 1 Mediterranean Gull (102) was heard calling and 57 Herring Gull. There were 4 Lesser Black backed Gull, 38 Cormorant, 2 Grey Heron, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Common Buzzard, 1 Great spotted Woodpecker, 2 Green Woodpecker, 2 Kestrel, 2 Jay, 1 Raven, 6 Blue Tit, 6 Great Tit, 4 Skylark, 7 Sedge Warbler, 15 Reed Warbler, 6 Swallow, 5 Chiffchaff, 4 Cetti's Warbler, 5 Long tailed Tit, 7 Blackcap, 1 Garden Warbler, 14 Whitethroat, 1 Mistle Thrush, 3 Song Thrush, 1 Wheatear, 4 Yellow Wagtail, 5 Chaffinch, 2 Bullfinch, 2 Linnet, 1 Goldfinch, 1 Yellowhammer and 11 Reed Bunting. 

Common Sandpiper

Yellow Wagtail

A bit of a catch up. 23 Sand Martin (94) and 1 Yellow Wagtail (95) were seen on the 14th April. A text yesterday from the owner Jed alerted me that he had recorded a Nightingale singing on the campsite so last night, I went down and put a recorder out nearby. I returned this morning at 6am and on opening the car door, I could immediately hear the song of a Nightingale (96). This is a good bird for the area with 5 records in the 10 years of recording. The recorder also picked up a Whimbrel (97) call flying over. 

Nightingale