Owltastic!

A quick trip to Brandon Marsh yesterday afternoon produced the now regular Goldcrest in New Hare Covert, female Muntjac on Wigeon Bank and a lone Raven flying east (pictured) over the Carlton Hide, easily identified by the Cronk! Cronk! while in flight.

With the sluices currently open on East Marsh Pool and little rain recently the Islands are once again starting to appear in full, with the Flag Iris near the centre of the pool also beginning to re-emerge. The water levels are reduced during the spring and summer to allow birds such as Lapwing, Little Ringed Plover and Oystercatcher to breed without the risk of flood and of course to entice migrating Waders.

Also worth a mention to anyone visiting this week that Thursday will not be a good time as the Conservation Team will be out and about on East Marsh. We will be preparing the now successful Sand Martin structure for the birds imminent arrival (birds have already been reported In Wiltshire and Dorset) and also refurbishing the Islands in preparation for the forthcoming breeding season. We also plan to build a Shelduck nesting hole, 2 birds are currently on site and have been for a while, so you never know.

The best of the day though for me was at sunset back at the marina were I had a perfect opportunity to observe no less than 3 Little Owl. I've been hearing these birds calling for a good while now and actually identified their roost a few days ago. While replenishing my water tanks I suddenly noticed a single bird silhouetted against the remains of the beautiful sunset, and the subsequent stunning blood red sky, so went to investigate. I spent a superb 30 minutes watching the birds, not sure if displaying or playing, as they called across the marina, occasionally goading each other from adjacent trees, one then decided to dive bomb the other before departing into the darkness, what a treat!

Weekend Visits!

A couple of chilly visits to Brandon over the weekend and if my dashboard temperature indicator is not malfunctioning it was an astonishing -9C when I left the marina at 5.30am this morning.

Saturdays visit was topped off with the Bittern showing briefly in the gap at East Marsh Hide at around 9am, but this morning I left a little earlier with the specific intention of checking out Sheep Field for Barn Owls. I actually think I arrived a little too late as when I finally reached my observation area the dawn was already well advanced. After a 30 minute vigil, which only produced a lone Buzzard heading East, I decided to go in search of the hopefully imminent Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Two birds were on site at this time last year, but thus far no reports have been forthcoming.

I spent around 40 minutes in New Hare Covert where I had no less than 5 drumming Woodpeckers, all of which turned out to be Great Spotted. A very enjoyable 40 minutes though I must say with 2 Coal Tits amongst the many Great and Blue, and as I left for East Marsh Pool the sun was already hitting the canopy, one of my favourite sights at Brandon when the sky is a crystal clear blue.

On arrival at the Wright Hide 4 Oystercatcher were on one of the back Islands, 2 of which departed almost immediately, and 2 Ringed Plover, which looked frozen solid, were on Tern Island. The 2 Shelduck, male and female, are also still around on the pool, and a smaller than usual count of 5 Snipe. I should also mention 1 Barnacle Goose and a lone Little Grebe on Swallow Pool as I made my way past. No sign of a Bittern for me today, although a couple of the team had one at the back of River Pool mid-morning. A visit to the frozen West Marsh had Sparrowhawk, plus a male Muntjac on the bank just prior to entering the hide.

After the Conservation Team meeting finished at midday a quick tour around the west of the reserve produced an amazing 6 Buzzard on a thermal over Central Marsh, and a good looking Mistle Thrush (pictured) on Farm Field. As for my target birds of Barn Owl and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, no joy I'm afraid.

On a final note, thank you for the emails regarding my new Brandon Map, all very possitive I must say and a special thanks to Graham Rowling who pointed out that I had the River Avon running the wrong way! All fixed now Graham.

Spring Is Here

If your like me and believe that spring starts on March 1st then what a cracking start to the new season.

On Monday I thought I'd take full advantage of the good weather and do a full re-fuel of my boat, plus tend to a few maintenance issues. However, it wasn't long before the birding took over and any maintenance took a back seat! Firstly, the call of a Common Buzzard had me looking skyward where no less than 4 were riding a thermal in a clear blue sky, shortly followed by 2 Raven heading East. Over a mid morning coffee a large flock, circa 50, of Fieldfare overflew, and by the time the sun went down a Little Owl (Recently Pictured) was calling from the nearby Hawthorn. I did manage to get my chores done though.

With the clear skies at this time of year comes the frost and a shock to the system was the -7C at the marina before departing for Brandon on the Tuesday morning. Nothing too unusual to report but the Snipe numbers are continuing to grow with a healthy 21 dotted around East Marsh Pool. The 2 Oystercatcher are still on site but are currently spending the latter part of the day on the golf course feeding. On the way across to Newlands for more work on the Phase 3 project I lost count of Reed Bunting numbers which have suddenly exploded. Other notables where a single Goldcrest in New Hare Covert, 4 Water Rail, 6 Cettis Warbler calling, a Kingfisher on Swallow Pool and a flock of circa 100 Redpoll.

Today's visit and works party once again didn't throw up much from the norm but it's interesting to see the decline in Teal on site as we march ever closer to summer. That said excellent numbers of Thrushes around with Fieldfare, Redwing, Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush all recorded today, with Siskin and Redpoll still feeding in the Alder. A small flock of 19 Linnet on Farm Field were also well worth the walk with a singing Skylark overhead. 2 Shelduck on East Marsh along with 3 Great Crested Grebe are also worth a mention.

The senseless minority. It has to be said!!



One disappointment today was when I popped into the very busy East Marsh Hide on the way back to the Nature Centre with other members of the conservation team. We have some excellent photographers at Brandon Marsh who are great company, always friendly, helpful and thoughtful and take some stunning shots of birds from the comfort of the hides, without resorting to the tactics displayed in the above photograph. Recent Bittern photographs from the hide have been stunning, but how long before a few mindless idiots chase the bird away?
I become extremely frustrated when I see certain idiots, the minority, who insist on having a 2ft lens 90% out of the hide flap. One particular person today had positioned themselves in such a way that anyone sitting either side of them would have no chance of seeing past the protruding monstrosity! There's good and bad in everyone, birders and photographers alike but for goodness sake let common sense prevail!!


(Picture displayed was taken from East Marsh Hide looking over to Baldwin Hide late last year, without sticking the lens out of the flap!)

Good Timing!

You know when you wake up at 5.45am and the rain is battering down on the roof and you just simply turn over and go back to sleep!

I finally left the boat, having slackened my mooring ropes, at 8am with the rain now light and bearable. On the flooded path down to the car park I was delighted to hear a Skylark singing high up and as I reached my car a Yellowhammer was also in full song at the top of an Alder.

I arrived at Brandon Marsh this morning at around 8.30am and made my way straight down the East Marsh path, where 2 Cettis Warbler were calling, to the big hide. The River Avon is slowly progressing into flood and so as you would imagine River Pool is inaccessible and Teal Pool is on the brink of over flow. It turns out though that my timing was impeccable. About 15 minutes after my arrival a single Bittern emerged from the left reeds and walked slowly across the whole span of open ground in front of the hide, disappearing into the right hand reed bed a short time later, probably my best ever view of a Bittern!

With the Bittern sighting in the bag and the rain now history a walk around the reserve was next on the agenda. New Hare Covert produced a Goldcrest in one of the Scots Pine, my second of the year, and after a walk through Horstail Glade, where a Nuthatch was calling, we headed across the Tip area. The walk around Farm Field back to the Nature Centre produced Kestrel, Common Buzzard and around 15 Chaffinch in a small flock. After a bacon sandwich in the tearoom and a catch up on species of the day other notables on East Marsh were, 1 Water Rail in the gap, 1 Sparrowhawk which sent everything skyward, 2 Shelduck and **2 Oystercatcher, which were seen before I arrived, but I did have them myself on Tuesday.

The final string to the bow for the day was a female Stonechat (pictured) which was siting patiently on the bramble on Top Reed Bed as myself and JR returned to our cars in the main car park, only my 3rd sighting on the reserve.

**3 Oystercatchers were reported on site on Wednesday!

Wet, Wet, Snow!

As I'm compiling this post in beautiful sunshine and a crystal clear blue sky I'm briefly interrupted as I spot 12 Golden Plover over flying the boat, their lovely golden colouring sparkling in the sunshine.

A completely different story to the past week were it seemed that every time I went out into the field the heavens opened and soaked me to the bone!

I suppose the best day of the week was Tuesday when we managed to shift around 3 tons of sand across to the Sand Martin structure in preparation for the forthcoming season. Nothing really of note to report at Brandon though on the birding front.

Wednesdays planned visit to Draycote Water with other members of the Conservation Team turned out to be a complete washout. We began at 8am prompt in the early morning fog, which did eventually lift, only to be followed a short time later by torrential rain. Bird of the day turned out to be a single female Goosander, not the best day I've ever had at the water. It appears though that one of the team had a good end to the day as driving home through the village of Granborough he came across the recently showing Great Grey Shrike, just sitting in the tree he tells me as he passed the footpath gate in his car! A final note on Draycote interestingly enough is that it appears I wasn't the only individual to locate 3 Common Scoter there last Sunday according to the Draycote sightings list.

Thursday at Brandon started off with promise with one of the Bitterns showing well in front of the East Marsh Hide early on, followed quickly by a Water Rail. Also showing on East Marsh Pool were 4 Shelduck, 7 Snipe, a female Goosander and a lone Barnacle Goose. However, the arrival of the first Oystercatcher (pictured) of the year was a good sight to behold, Spring it appears is approaching fast. Unfortunately the day ended in a complete whiteout, as around another 3 inches of snow was dumped on us once again and all hopes of spring disappeared!! In fact as I rap up this post it seems more snow is forecast to hit overnight.

Quality Time!

With my chores done for the day I thought I'd have some quality time and spend a few hours alone down at Brandon Marsh. It seems that whenever I visit Brandon these days I try to cram in a couple of hours birding with the other chaps before work starts, and rarely get the time to just sit, listen and watch.

The weather wasn't the best for birding with little movement, but I ended up with a creditable 48 species. A walk through Horstail Glade to West Marsh Hide produced very little in the rain, the best I could manage was a Nuthatch calling, but when I arrived at Teal Pool things started to look up. At the very back of River Pool I could make out through the murk the distinct shape of a Bittern, who in fact ended up staying in the same place for gone 90 minutes. A short while later a second bird came out of the reeds behind and took flight towards Carlton Pool, 2 Snipe are also worth a mention.

An hours vigil in the Big Hide produced of note male and female Shelduck, 7 Wigeon, 163 Lapwing, 7 Pochard and 8 Snipe, plus during my stay I heard 2 Water Rail and a couple of Cetti's Warbler calling from within the reeds. The only Buzzard of the day flew from right to left across Newlands. Carlton hide gave up a lone Goldcrest (pictured) just prior to entering, a bird that has not been seen too often lately, and from within the hide I had a good count of Gadwall with 12.

After departing the hides I took a leisurely stroll around towards Newlands and through New Hare Covert. The best of the rest was 1 Little Grebe, 2 Treecreeper, 3 Great Spotted Woodpecker, 4 Bullfinch, and a single Redpoll, who was accompanied by 4 Goldfinch. A very enjoyable 3 hours.

Valentines Stroll

Being the dutiful husband on Valentines Day I allowed the wife to cook me a couple of bacon sandwiches this morning before dragging her around the nearby Draycote Water, a five mile hike! To be honest this was more of a pleasant walk with the wife rather than a full blown birding trip, so I only took my binoculars and left the scope at home.

Draycote as you would imagine on a Sunday had the usual cyclists, joggers and family days out, plus the many small sailing boats were out in force and so I didn't expect much on the birding side. The usual excellent numbers of Gulls were on show but it would have been too much to stop for long to scan and pick the bones out of them, especially with only binoculars, and of course my significant other.

Good numbers of Goldeneye, Wigeon, Great Crested & Little Grebe, Pied Wagtail and around 12 Goosander would have been sufficient for me today, but as we walked along Draycote Bank we got sight of a lone Great Norther Diver. I'd seen 3 on my last visit to Draycote in the Spring, but this was my first of 2010.

Now, here's where it gets even more interesting!! As I was enjoying good views of the Great Northern 3 black images swam past in my field of view just a little further out! To my delight, and after watching these birds for a good 10 minutes, I'm positive I was viewing 3 Common Scoter. Oh for my scope!!

(Library picture above of - Common Scoter)

Colourful Visitor

Nothing of any great significance, bar one, to report in the last week at Brandon personally, although with my trip to Rutland Water last Sunday I missed 3 drake Pintail, apparently looking stunning, and a female on East Marsh Pool.

The bar one I mentioned above came on Thursday morning when just after arriving at around daybreak a drake Mandarin Duck, (library picture), suddenly appeared with 2 Mallard as company as we walked past Grebe Pool. The bird stayed on site until around 10am when it was reported to have flown off towards the River Avon.

This mornings visit was a bitterly cold one with few highlights, although a female Muntjac Deer on Wigeon Bank was nice to see and a rare visitor to Brandon, a first year Great Black Backed Gull on East Marsh Pool, plus another great count of Bullfinch (12). With the sluices still open on East Marsh Pool the Islands are beginning to show well and so too is the Flag Iris. It's also worth mentioning to anyone visiting over the coming weeks to keep a look out for Oystercatcher and Ringed Plover which normally arrive around this time at Brandon. In fact it's a warming thought to think that in only 4 more weeks we'll be keeping an eye out too for early arrivals of Sand Martin!

Misty, Muddy Rutland

A nice drive out in the new car to Rutland Water yesterday for the wife and I on yet another misty and murky day. Just prior to arriving shortly before midday I received a text from JR informing me of 4 Pintail on Brandon's East Marsh Pool, typical really, as on Saturday morning I'd spend a good while scanning for the one reported on Thursday!

It's our first visit to Rutland Water and so a few phone calls to those in the know helped us on our way. After paying the £4 each, which I don't begrudge provided the money is ploughed back into the reserve, our first brief visit was to the feeders at the front entrance. Here we had the usual finches on offer and it was also nice to see several Tree Sparrows too.

On advice and a tip off regarding Long Eared Owls we decided to complete the south of the reserve today. A lot of work is currently in progress on site to build a new footpath and more lagoons, and so I'll put the appalling state of the current footpaths, which were deep in mud, down to this!

Ploughing on we managed visits to the Mallard Hide and Harrier Hide, where we had the usual wildfowl you'd expect in the Winter months, with good numbers of Great Crested Grebe, Wigeon, Teal, Goldeneye, Pochard and a few Gadwall. However, it was at the Fieldfare Hide, the reason for heading this way, where we had the best of the day in the form of 2 roosting Long-Eared Owls (pictured), which were deep in the hawthorn on the footpath leading to the hide. Difficult to see at first but once located an eerie and superb site to behold.

Apart from the Long-Eared Owls not a great first visit for number of species, we did observe a decent number of Lapwing, spooked by a Sparrowhawk at one time plus Oystercatcher, Redshank (spotted by the wife) and 5 Green Sandpiper later in the day but the Slavonian, Red and Blacks Necked Grebes and Great Northern Diver reported in the sightings book were a mystery to us. Although I do suspect that these sightings where from the North side of the reserve, an area we didn't visit as the rain and mist descended!

Spring in the Air?

Nearly two weeks since my last post and to be honest not much to report over that period. The Green-Winged Teal, on site at Brandon for nearly a fortnight, appears to have moved on with no reports for a while. Bittern sightings however are still coming in almost daily, no surprise then that the hoards of photographers have moved from the Carlton Hide to the Main Hide, where the majority of sightings are reported. A few Otter sightings across the reserve are also beginning to trickle in and I myself have also been shown some Otter Spraint, but as yet have failed to see one!

This mornings misty and bitterly cold visit produced a few highlights but no sign of Thursday's reported Pintail, 2 Kingfisher, 3 Little Grebe, male and female Goldeneye, 6 Cettis heard, a lone Barnacle Goose and 7 Snipe, plus a good selection of Gulls with Herring, Common, Black Headed and Lesser Black Back on East Marsh Pool. What is also evident is that despite the weather spring appears to be in the air with species such as Song Thrush, Dunnock and Great Tits in full song. What was also a pleasure to see is the increasing amount of Bullfinch (pictured), one of my favourites, which must go down as yet another Brandon breeding success, I registered 10 birds this morning.

My local patch seems to have been more productive recently with Little Owl and Tawny Owl calling nightly, but my search for Long Eared Owl, which I heard over several mornings just before dawn has still drawn a blank. The Bittern reported in the reed bed by a fellow moorer during the cold snap remains a mystery, and once again my searches have been fruitless. The surrounding fields are producing good numbers of Redwing and Fieldfare plus I registered 15 Mute Swan in a field just off the canal at Napton.

Farewell to my trusty Land Rover, well not so trusty recently, as sadly on Friday it departed me forever!!