Bank Holiday Monday - pissing it down obviously! Actually, the rain wasn't that bad. It drizzled for much of the day, but got heavier as the day went on. With the south easterly winds, I hoped the weather might bring in some good birds, but a good passage ofhirundines, a few Lesser Whitethroats and a couple of Wheatears were the only thing that suggested a bit of migration. I headed off to Rush Hills Scrape to see what was going on there and had an enjoyable hour or so watching stuff come and go. The Great White Egret was still present, as were a single Wood Sandpiper briefly, two Garganey and small numbers of waders such as Ruff, Snipe, Turnstone, Greenshank and a flock of c20 Dunlin that flew around but didn't land.
The most entertaining part of the visit was when a Peregrine took out a Common Teal and ate it on the edge of the scrape. The teal put up a good fight, but there was only going to be one winner - the Peregrine.
Here's some photos and video of the Peregrine. It starts to get interesting after about 1 min and 10 seconds!
I headed out to Rush Hills Scrape and then down to Breydon Water for the high tide today. The best bird was a Great White Egret that had been present for a few days on the scrape. GWE was a RHS tick for me, so it was really nice to see it when I arrived.
Before I got there though, I found a very tame Wood Vole feeding next to the track. It appeared to be injured, dragging its foot behind it and looking like it had lost part of its tail, so presumably it had been attacked by something. It allowed me to get the camera within inches of it before it finally scurried off to another feeding area.
On the scrape, as well as the Great White Egret was a pair of Spoonbill, about 30 Ruff, a couple of Greenshank, and about 15 Dunlin. The egret was great to watch, feeding mainly on the west side of the scrap. At one point it killed a Water Vole, walked onto the scrape with it, battered it on the ground for a bit and then swallowed it whole!
Then it was off to Breydon Water for the high tide. It was a bit disappointing to be honest, with the best bird being a Spotted Redshank. Number of smaller waders were quite low, with only about 30 Dunlin, 10 Ring Plover and 2 Turnstone. There was also 2 Whimbrel, Golden and Grey Plover, a few Knot and Bar-tailed Godwits and a couple hundred each of Avocet and Black-tailed Godwit.
I finally gave up and went home to watch Guardians of the Galaxy.
Wood Vole, Hickling Broad
Wood Vole, Hickling Broad
Great White Egret, Rush Hills Scrape
Great White Egret and Grey Heron, Rush Hills Scrape
Great White Egret, Rush Hills Scrape
Great White Egret with Water Vole, Rush Hills Scrape
