Winter Woodcock . . .

The chase was on - for the last two days Phil and I have attempted to track down and photograph one of Britain's most iconic bird species in Suffolk - the Woodcock! We searched for Woodcock in open areas of sparse broad-leaved woodland, with the sudden snow fall on Saturday night Woodcock were tamer than usual and not hard to find. Once we found some (8+ in total) it was a case of getting into various freezing cold positions (hoping they didn't fly off as we approached - 70% did) and then waiting silently as they fed and came closer. Of course 75% of shots were of unfavourable light direction, obligatory twigs between me and the bird etc etc the usual stuff, but we were pretty pleased with the 25% achieved - a small selection of which is here. We also scraped areas, removing the snow so the Woodcock could feed more easily, which they did. They consumed large quantities of earthworms and it was a real insight into their feeding behaviour and movements! I've never seen Woodcock so well and indeed it is a dream bird for me and one i've always wanted to photograph so it really was a red letter day!

All Fired Up . .

A memorable morning ringing in Woodbridge today with two superb female Firecrests being trapped & ringed. There are good numbers of these beautiful birds turning up along the east coast at the moment & it was great to get a sense of this spring movement further inland along the estuary here. Another highlight was flushing up & managing to catch by hand, a Woodcock, without damage to human or bird! Also controlled a Robin today & 3 Lesser Redpoll yesterday, so look forward to getting information back on these from the BTO at a later date. Popped to East Lane, Bawdsey in the early afternoon looking for my first Wheatear of the Spring, but found a nice Black Redstart instead - in the carpark. . . .

Redpolls & Redwings . . . 

Tuesday was a bit of a wash out day once again. Highlights were increasing numbers of Geese, Whooper Swans & Redwing. One Grey Phalarope was still present in South Haven. 3 more Snow Bunting were trapped & 1 Tufted Duck, Purple Sandpiper & Woodcock were also ringed. Wednesday saw better weather with force 6-7 westerlies, sunny spells & the odd hail-filled shower. Ventured south in the morning, photographing a smart NW (Iceland/Greenland) Redpoll at Barkland on the way down. This bird had been ringed the day before. There were a lot more Redwing about & at least 2 Merlin hunting the flocks. A few Redwing (Islandica) were very approachable for photography as was the Lesser Whitethroat which fed frantically on an apple (!) in the Obs heligoland trapping area. The evening saw another 'dazzling' session with 2 Juv Whooper Swans caught, 1 at Da Water & 1 at Field Pond as well as more Greylag Geese, taking the number caught to 22 in 3 days . . . .