An ominously quiet start...

So after the excitement of the Bullfinch visit yesterday morning, Dad and I decided to try our luck and find a new bird for him. There had been reports from the previous day and in the morning that there was a Great Grey Shrike at a near-by common. I was optimistic having seen my first Grey Shrike in the same place earlier this year which, although slightly distant, still gave some decent views.

Great Grey Shrike at Upper Hollesley Common, January 2011

We arrived at Upper Hollesley Common to find a number of other birders returning to vehicles - not necessarily a good omen. A brief chat to a nice couple revealed that the bird hadn't been seen since midday and despite a number of people searching the common thoroughly there was no further sign.

Oh well. We decided to have a short walk around anyway and were quite stunned. There were literally no birds anywhere! Half an hour and a few Crows and Magpies later we decided to call it a day and head back to the car. On one of the customary scans over the common whilst returning, Dad suddenly said he spotted something moving low and fast across the heathland. I managed to pick it up and was delighted to identify it as a ringtail Hen Harrier - what an unbelievable stroke of luck! Alas it was moving sufficiently fast that it was out of sight within seconds. Then, while hoping to grab another brief glimpse of the Harrier, a Crossbill flew overhead and a Dartford Warbler started shouting at us. Unfortunately, all we saw of the Warbler was a dark shape diving into the heather and the Crossbill didn't stop anywhere close.

Having not relocated any of the previously mentioned species, we completed our ridiculously quiet return to the car.

With a renewed sense of optimism we decided to continue down the road to Bawdsey to search for a different life tick for Dad, a Snow Bunting!

Arriving at East Lane in Bawdsey we had about an hour before sunset. We took to the sea wall, where we were watched closely by some Seals, and headed straight towards where we thought the Snow Buntings were likely to be. As we approached we saw a flock of 10 being flushed and flying further down the beach. After a careful bit of stalking we got some lovely views of the Buntings going about their business (I didn't bring my camera).

There were lots of waterfowl around the lagoons at East Lane including Tufted Duck, Pochard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Mallard, Coot and Little Grebe with a handfull of Common Scoter on the sea. There were also some Turnstone, Redshank, Lapwing and Curlew as well as a generous number of Common Gulls with the Black Headed, Lesser Black-Backed and Herring Gulls.

A question though. Is it normal for Wigeon to roost on the sea? As the sun was going down, a group of about 50 Wigeon flew out to sea and landed in a tight raft about 200 metres out and went nowhere for the rest of the time we were there.

All-in-all, a good expedition despite being desperately quiet on the Common.