Tales From An Essex Birder

 I'm really enjoying birdwatching in Essex at the moment. Admittedly this is because my county has had the spoil of all the sightings in East Anglia - the thought of travelling to Norfolk when there is more to be seen in my own county is certainly not an appealing prospect at the moment.  Still revelling in the glory of the Yank pair of Canvasback and Northern Waterthrush which have directed most of the nation's twitchers to Essex, I decided to go for my third lifer in my own county on the trot! After receiving excellent directions from a kind birdwatcher on twitter, a trip to Bradwell-on-sea was in order. Having never visited this reserve before, I really wasn't sure what to expect. It truly felt like I was in the middle of nowhere as I passed field upon field before arriving at Bradwell-on-sea which consisted of - yep, you guessed it - more fields!  As I parked the car and set off on the sizeable walk towards the goose's favoured fields, the bushes initially seemed qu...

Revelling in my newfound freedom post essay deadlines I decided on a trip to Abberton Reservoir, my favourite reserve in Essex, in the hope of seeing Smew and some of the other goodies that had been spotted by the throng of twitchers many of whom - after seeing the Waterthrush - descended on Abberton Reservoir. This had resulted in the large expanse of the reservoir being well-covered over the past couple of weeks. I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and give it a go myself. I arrived casually in the late morning and decided to have a look around the reserve before heading to the various causeways or viewpoints. Before I'd even walked into the visitor centre, I noticed a large number of winter thrushes congregating by the car park, a look in the scope revealed that these were in fact Fieldfare - a lovely start to the day's proceedings.  Fieldfare This was to be the theme throughout the day as the reserve itself revealed a gluttony of winter thrushes. Posing by the bushes o...

 The day was another mundane Thursday. In the midst of writing a uni essay, I had struggled to find time to get out birding and had thus far not ventured out to get my year list kickstarted. However, this was about to change. The previous night, a report on BirdGuides revealed that a Northern Waterthrush had been photographed in a local garden in Maldon - only a half hour drive from my house. Although briefly delighted I had tried to contain my excitement as rarities found in gardens are often either never seen again or access is restricted. Fast forward to the following morning and the news that this mega bird had been seen in a nearby creek immediately set the alarm bells ringing. Initially, I simply hoped it would remain long enough to connect with the bird after the due date of my essay (4 days later). But returning to my work jittery and unable to concentrate after receiving such mega news, I decided to drop everything in an attempt to see the bird. As I fired up the mini for ...