Tales From An Essex Birder

 With a rare afternoon free from the uni grind, I finally got a chance to do some more birdwatching. The looming deadlines of final year has meant that the amount of time spent in the field recently has been thin on the ground. Nevertheless, it was decided that Kent was to be the destination for this afternoon out - Hothfield Heathland being the first port of call. With a long-staying Great Grey Shrike being frequently reported from the site, I thought I'd hedge my bets and have a look for this species - which would be a lifer and only my second ever sighting of a UK shrike. Accompanied by my father, we arrived just after midday and headed towards the heathland - making a beeline for the specific tree in which the shrike was apparently hanging around. Upon arrival, there was no sign of the bird and I was instead accompanied by flittering Chaffinches and Goldfinches as well as the occasional call of a distant woodpecker. Me and my Dad head in different directions - covering more g...

 As August begins to draw to a close, the migrant season usually begins to hot up. With the multiple sightings of migrants such as Pied Flycatcher and Whinchat etc as well as scarcer migrants such as Wrynecks being reported in the past few weeks - this has certainly been the case. In fact, it was the latter species that I set my targets on when me and my Dad set off to Kent on a brisk, late August, post-birthday birding session. Having only had a brief glimpse of a Wryneck once before in August last year at Porthgwarra, the aim was to get my first good views of the species. With this in mind, we set off towards Abbott's Cliff (where two Wrynecks had been reported for the last few days). Before venturing along the cliff, we stopped for a sandwich at a beautiful, picturesque cafe which overlooked the cliffs and the misty sea. After fuelling up with a Tuna Mayo sandwich (controversial I know) we headed out towards the location. Having never been to the site before, I was unsure of wha...