Sometimes a days birding can deliver very little and then sometimes days like today come along where it all seems to go right. A Barn Owl as we pulled into the track to the reserve followed by two Short-eared Owls hunting at first light then a male Merlin flashes across us and sits out on a small mound giving superb scope views. Corn Buntings and Skylarks fly around calling before the main attraction comes out to play. A male Hen Harrier hunting the marsh and wow do we get good scope views as it stays out for over half an hour before being joined by the female bird.<\/p>\n
Lots of Kestrel and a single Marsh Harrier showed before we stumbled on a Mealy Redpoll keeping close company with the four Twite wintering at Wallasea. A Green Sandpiper and couple of Snipe flew over and good numbers of waders were on the mud banks of the estuary. A tip off gave us Shag and Eider at the Marina where we picked up a Green Woodpecker too.<\/p>\n
As we were close to Southend we took the detour and picked out several Med Gulls on the beach and found a smart Kingfisher using the jetty to fish the shoreline. We then headed for Pitsea and connected with the Waxwings outside Mcdonalds with a small mixed gathering of birders and interested shoppers all getting a little more birding experience which can’t be a bad thing.<\/p>\n I dropped the Jims off and headed off into Epping Forest with my son for a quick bit of local birding.Treecreeper, Nuthatch, Goldcrest and Mandarin were all added quickly and we found a nice male Brambling which is a good bird here. I couldn’t find Jimmy’s Firecrest so that’ll have to wait for another day.<\/p>\n Add the mid-week Parakeets (Highams Park and in the garden) and Mistle Thrush (Abridge) and the year list now sits at a healthy 128.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/3.bp.blogspot.com\/-iu2g1yv5roQ\/WHKS-1JV52I\/AAAAAAAAL68\/EWlNW_O3Hek9ePvKYmUDywT4fODCSaaFACLcB\/s640\/Med%2BGull.jpg\" "\\"\\"")