Shrewsbury 18/9/17

Well after a day at Rutland Water seeing my only second American Wigeon in Britain,I decided to go for another American in the form of Black-crowned Night Heron.
With it only being a short walk from Shrewsbury train station so it was ideal and some nice weather until later afternoon.
Arriving at the gardens and looking at the amount of people around my thought was someone is having a laugh here,maybe it was being seen down at the river somewhere.
On walking around I stopped to look at some of the fish in the lake and something made me look up and then the Heron caught my eye sleeping in a bush at first,so I just sat and waited and it decided to wake up and eventually it flew down onto the path near me and then decided to do one in some bushes.
So I left to go get a coffee and came back but was still not to be seen for a while,when it flew across the lake to perch on a small tree around the side,so I went round to get some better photo's with the sun behind me.
Then he decided to go off back round to the board walk and sat on a small conifer tree low to the water before flying back into the bushes on the island out of sight and then the heavens opened up and stopped play,I was going to sit it out but the rain got too heavy so I left for the train back home.
Makes a change to have a nice relaxing day out with a gorgeous bird.

Frampton Marsh 13/8/17

It's been a while since I last went out to do some proper Birding and photography,so when Mark suggested we go out for the day I jumped at the chance to go.
So with Mark and Maria along with Chi Chi arriving to pick me up we set off and with a decent day forecast weather wise,things was not looking to bad with reports of Little Stint,Garganey and Wood Sandpipers.
On arrival we made our way to the 360 hide where lots of Black-tailed Godwits and Ruff was close in also a couple of Greenshank was present along with a lone Whooper Swan,we made our way around the pools scanning through wader flocks,we arrived at East hide where a few Yellow Wagtails were in the grass my first of the year and a lifer for Maria.
We then continued along the sea wall but Maria was in a rush to get back to Chi Chi and let him out of the car for a walk but she missed out on Spotted Redshank,but did get to see it later on in the afternoon when we returned back looking for the 4 Spoonbill but no joy with them.
On our way back home everyone was getting hungry so we decided to stop of at The Flying Childers pub at Melton Mowbray for some gorgeous food !!!

City Airport 3/6/17

With Ramune and Kristina going off to Woolwich for the day I remembered a number of Terns being present last year,So I decided to go along to the ferry port with them to do some photo's but on arrival not 1 tern in sight.
With the sun blazing I went a walk to City Airport where I knew there was terns but didn't know if I would have access to the docks but I did but under the watchful eye of the security cameras and police.
I stayed for several hours just enjoying the close encounters with the Common Terns until the heat started getting to me and started on a few mile walk back to Beckton.

A enjoyable day along with sunburn

Rainham Marsh 6/5/17

Today I decided on a walk around Rainham,with the weather not starting off great but was to brighten up in the afternoon.
On Arrival we started of with a Coffee as always while I looked at the scrapes I could already see Whimbrel down there,So we set off clockwise around the reserve making our first stop at Purfleet Hide where I counted 9 Whimbrel in total and a lone Greenshank.
We continued with our walk and encountered a family with children throwing stones into the water ect with no interest in the Wildlife so there was no chance of photographing the Water Voles.
We reached Target Hide where I could see 2 of the 3 Wood Sandpipers which was nice along with a Male and Female Marsh Harrier.
We left here and again the family was back in front of us so I decided to turn back and walk the River path instead which was a better choice have a Hobby hunting Martins and a Male Cuckoo.
The tide was going out so exposed mud attracted waders which included a nice breeding plumage Knot,Grey Plover,Dunlin,Bar and Black-tailed Godwit along with Common Redshank.
Just before we reached the tip a Short-eared Owl got up giving us some nice views but no sign of the Ring Ouzels but we did hear the singing Quail which was very vocal but wouldn't break cover.