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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Essex Birding (1 Viewer)

Hi James, I may well see you up there as some friends and I will (hopefully) be celebrating handing in our dissertations with a few drinks and a view of the ibis. I havent really had much time for birding other than on my patch recently, but I imagine that the SEO's will have moved on now.
Good luck if you head down, I hope the weather will hold out!
 
The Glossy Ibis was still present this afternoon. I was there from 4.20pm and left at 5.35pm and was still happily feeding. It's becoming so much more tame now. With people going right up to the fence and it wasn't bothered one bit. I can only suggest with the amount of people that pass the bird it's becoming used to it. It gave great views and looked very comfortable.

I also saw my first Wheatear. It was in the tree by the car park of the Fox and Raven. There was also...Lots of blackbirds, common Gull's, carrion crows, wood piegion's, collard doves, 1 long tailed tit along with few blue tit's and great tit's, also 5 robins and 1 reed bunting, 1 mute swan and 3 moorhen, few mallards and 1 skylark, 1 green woodpecker and 1 pied wagtail...Also heard a Chiffchaff.
 
dwatsonbirder said:
Hi James, I may well see you up there as some friends and I will (hopefully) be celebrating handing in our dissertations with a few drinks and a view of the ibis. I havent really had much time for birding other than on my patch recently, but I imagine that the SEO's will have moved on now.
Good luck if you head down, I hope the weather will hold out!
Click to expand...

OK, I'll keep an eye out for a wobbly-looking birder in the beer garden (as well as ignoring reports of multiple ibises later in the evening ;) ) (congratulations on handing in the dissertation.) Will see what time I get away from work but hope to be there some time between 5 & 6.
 
:t: Ill be the one propped up by my new carbon fibre tripod! Good luck!
Daniel

Jhanlon said:
OK, I'll keep an eye out for a wobbly-looking birder in the beer garden (as well as ignoring reports of multiple ibises later in the evening ;) ) (congratulations on handing in the dissertation.) Will see what time I get away from work but hope to be there some time between 5 & 6.
Click to expand...
 
Four birders turned up as I was getting ready to leave after the Ibis moved into some dense vegetation halfway along the pools this evening. After a couple of minutes the Ibis moved out into the other part of the pool and one guy with a large camera crept around the pool and when it put its head down he dashed over and sat inside the fence with his back to a post! The Ibis very quickly disappeared into another patch of dense vegetation when it saw him so if I'd been one of the others and only just got a distant glimpse I'd have been absolutely livid. If he really, REALLY had to try to get closer he surely should have waited until the other people had a decent view but even then there was no excuse for sneaking inside the fence. It didn't fly away but it might well have done for all he knew.

I wasn't happy at all as I'd deliberately been keeping a fair distance from the pool to avoid disturbing it and had been aware earlier of a birder watching me, hanging around after the others had gone and even watching me through bins from the bridge, presumably thinking I was going to do what this other guy had done. When you try to do what's right and then someone else breezes in and undoes all that in one dumb action it annoys me somewhat!

Still, I enjoyed about an hour of superb views of it feeding and moving onto the land to preen before going back to feed in the water and got some distant but decent enough shots using my 300mm lens. Hopefully he came in a car with the others and will have a frosty drive home!
 
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Hopefully it's still there tommorow. I was also there eailer. Think I left by the time you where there ( I left at 5.30pm ). I had good views luckily again. I was around near the bridge where there's a fenced of area of mud and dead plants near the river bank.

Did you see any chiffchaffs or linnets on another note? I only heard chiffchaffs, no linnits but did see a wheatear. :)
 
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There were 2 black redstarts present on the Writtle college campus yesterday, but there was no sign this morning when I got round to having a look for them. Unfortunately they are/were present in an area with no general access, but if I manage to relocate them and anybody is interested in seeing them, PM me and I will attempt to make access available.
 
Good luck with anyone going to see it today ( that's If it's still present ) , I might go for a 3rd viewing Friday or Sat morning if it's still there that is.
 
Good!! :) Hadden I had a wheatear near the car park yesterday :) chiffchaffs where very loud but didn't see any.

Are you down again for Ibis again?
 
Just arrived back from yet another sunny afternoon spent watching the ibis, beautiful in this light. Unfortunately no sign of the Black'starts around campus again today, must have moved on. Worth keeping an eye open for red kite today, theres been a noticable movement of them along the east coast this morning.
 
dwatsonbirder said:
1 red kite over Writtle college this PM, per my birding collegues. Unfortunately I wasnt there at the time!
Click to expand...

A dog walker I spoke to this morning saw one on the Baddow Meads mid-week.

Heard a Willow Warbler singing at the blocks of flats just south of the Baddow Meads earlier! Also saw a Blackcap near Barnes Mill and a flock of around forty Fieldfares at the paddocks just east of there, feeding alongside a Green Woodpecker, Starlings and Linnets. The Gadwall were still around, on the pools this morning but (as expected for early morning) the Ibis wasn't to see seen, though I did see a pair of birders walking away towards the town.

Early yesterday morning at the Marconi Ponds reserve in Chelmsford I got buzzed by a pair of squabbling Song Thrushes (really woke me up!), I heard a Great Spotted Woodpecker drumming nearby again and two Chiffchaffs were singing near the main footpath. Haven't seen Bullfinches here for a while though.
 

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