Great Knot at Titchwell

Absolutely brilliant scope views on Titchwell beach - so, so much better than the Breydon bird. If this bird hangs about, someone with a big lens is going to blow it away. I had views down to about 50m and could have got far closer; some of the Knot were half that distance from me. Unfortunately the tide pushed it off before that could happen - my feeble efforts with the 400mm lens below:

Finland's owls

One of the main attractions for wildlife enthusiasts and photographers visiting Finland is the range of boreal owls that can be seen in the country. In late spring and early summer these birds are breeding, which makes locating them a difficult task. Although it's possible to locate some of the more conspicuous species with a lot of luck and graft, using a local guide is the most sensible option as others such as Great Grey and Tengmalms are otherwise more or less impossible to see. We were indebted to Harri Hölttä for his help in seeing Ural, Tengmalm's and Great Grey Owls around Joensuu; further north we were fortunate enough to locate our own Pygmy and Hawk Owls.

Ural Owl
Single birds seen at two different nestboxes around Joensuu.

Great Grey Owl
Two nests visited (Parikkala and Joensuu), both revealing little more than the head of their respective occupants.

Tengmalm's Owl
A single individual at a nest box west of Joensuu.

Pygmy Owl
A vocal bird showed well to the south of Kajaani in the early hours of 25th.

Hawk Owl
Single individuals seen at two sites to the south of Taivalkoski, one of which proved extremely confiding.

Rescuing a Great Crested Grebe

I had a slightly bizarre start to yesterday. I was out the back of Langtoft, doing a circuit of my old patch, when I noticed this Great Crested Grebe sat by the side of a the road. Immediate reaction was that it had been attacked, hit by one of the many HGVs using this road or had collided with power lines, which it was sat below. It was trailing its left leg, which was covered in blood, and its left wing also looked quite badly bloodied.

Having returned home for a box, I went back to pick the grebe up. It was quite feisty but obviously couldn't move, so was easy to catch. After unsuccessfully trying to contact local RSPCA branches, I took it up to the exotic pet refuge in Deeping St James. Quite miraculously, they were able to confirm that it hadn't broken any bones in either wing and the leg seemed OK, if a little sore and bloody.

So with the prognosis positive I popped it in the car, drove it back up to Langtoft and released it at the gravel pits, at which point it gave me a rather sharp peck before swimming off - talk about gratitude!

Then it was back to the day job ...

Great Blue Heron

Had a brilliant day trip to the Isles of Scilly on Friday. There were quite a few nervous souls during the morning Scillonian crossing - many of those on the boat had dipped either on Wednesday, Thursday or both, and they were understandably apprehensive about connecting. As it turned out the Great Blue Heron played ball on Bryher throughout the day, favouring Big Pool and giving excellent views from the Hell Bay Hotel.

This was my first visit to Bryher and I can only echo what everyone else says - it's a bloody picturesque island that still looked great despite the bouts of early afternoon drizzle. The heron, on the other hand, didn't look so thrilled about life but soon perked up as the rain abated. A typically imposing individual with long snaky neck, the neck and underparts were washed with a rustiness not normally seen in Grey Heron. The thighs were quite a bit paler but tinged rufous on close views, while the neck and upperparts were a mix of dark greys and blues, and the crown obviously dark. A couple of shots below, more on my Flickr pages:

After almost an hour in its company half-a-dozen of us decided to charter the Falcon over to nearby Tresco to try the wintering American Black Duck. Tresco is another island that I'd not previously visited before and, like Bryher, is really very pleasant. There were a bunch of hirundines over Great Pool and it really looked ripe for a Red-rumped Swallow, but alas it was not to be. A 15-minute yomp round to Abbey Pool produced the Black Duck right away, showing near to one of the close islands and loosely associating with a couple of Mallards. It soon powered off towards the centre of the lake at the sight of a group of over-excited NGBers (for some of whom it was a tick) and with time at a premium, we bid farewell to this most glorious of dabblers and headed back to the quay.

Rather than slog around St Mary's for the final 45 minutes we retreated to the Mermaid for a celebratory pint before boarding on the Scillonian. It always impresses me how much you can fit in to these day trips to Scilly, and indeed see with a slice of luck. The crossing back produced a Basking Shark off the Cornish coast between St Levan and Mousehole and, bar a stop to dip the Hayle Ring-billed Gull, our next port of call was fish and chips in Indian Queens.

Great Knot!

A brief post to break the duck, here are a few photos of the Great Knot at Breydon Water today. Initially not on show at all, Kit Day and I grabbed an hour-long nap in the sun before the bird happily reappeared on the ebbing tide. It was, as birds so often are at Breydon, bloody distant initially but you could nevertheless make out just about everything you'd want to see - the largely black underparts spangled with pale gold, the black-spotted upper flanks, dark grey head, black chest and white underparts. It was also a hefty bird - as Kit said, a bird that looked familiar but different at the same time. After a while, it flew west and was relocated showing well on the Suffolk side of the channel some 1.5 miles west of the rugby club. Here, views were much better - down to 100m or so - and I managed a few handheld shots below.

If I had a better camera (my old one has been dropped countless times and it should be clear from the below that it has evidently suffered as a result) and a more steady hand, I suspect some half-decent records might have been possible.

Great Northern Diver

I went down to Maxey fishing lakes on about five occasions last weekend in an attempt to photograph the juvenile Great Northern Diver, which has been residing there since the turn of the year. I found the bird really wary and nigh on impossible to get close to - every time I got anywhere near, it would just motor back in to the middle of the lake. Nice animal though.

Bank Holiday at Dungeness

I spent the weekend with my mother on the south Kent coast at Dungeness. Although not a birding trip, I still managed to get out a fair bit on each day. Some of the highlights of seawatching on Saturday and Sunday included Sooty and Balearic Shearwaters, and Black Terns. I missed out on the big passage this morning (including hundreds of Black Terns!), but in a short seawatch late morning I had a juvenile Long-tailed Skua (later found out ten had been seen throughout the morning).

The main reason I missed everything this morning is because I spent most of the time traipsing around the peninsula looking for passerines. Three Tree Pipits flew over early on, while I also had Whinchat, 6 Wheatears, 15 Willow Warblers and 50+ Yellow Wagtails. Yesterday proved a similar line-up (though lesser numbers), with 2 Tree Pipits, Whinchat and Wheatear.

The RSPB reserve was pretty quiet, although the Great White Egret was noted on Denge Marsh late morning on Sunday, when four Garganey and a couple of Little Ringed Plovers were on ARC Pit. Two Little Stints (adult & juvenile) were on ARC Pit early this morning along with a juvenile Ruff, c.20 Dunlin and a smattering of Common Sandpipers.

Throughout the weekend, up to four Yellow-legged Gulls were around the fishing boats. They sure show well here. Also had a red-ringed first-summer Herring Gull (HX4T) - a London bird.