A family trip to visit friends in Essex over the Bank Holiday weekend, and a chance for a little casual birding. We were staying in Fingringhoe and enjoyed three lovely days in the countryside. The drive up on Saturday morning was uneventful and despite a little traffic on the M25 the only thing of note were three fly-by Ring-necked Parakeets.
An enjoyable walk on Saturday afternoon produced some of the expected countryside species plus some good views of three Cuckoos interacting and a fly-over adult Mediterranean Gull. A couple of Sand Martins were whizzing around one of the local gravel pits.
Sunday morning and a post-breakfast stroll to the river where a couple of Common Terns were seen and four Greylag Geese flew over. A single Little Egret was also noted.
After a lunch at The Whalebone pub we spent some of the afternoon at Fingringhoe Wick EWT Reserve where we were lucky enough to get a chance to check out the new area of the reserve that is not yet open to the public. Although we didn't see much the area has got potential! Over seventy Shelduck were noted as well as a couple of pairs of Common Terns. Two Oystercatchers and a couple of Curlew were also seen. I failed to see or hear any Turtle Doves or Nightingales which was a bit disappointing, but a Garden Warbler was in full song.
We headed back home on Monday and were making good progress until we reached Amesbury and a car park had replaced the A303. After being stuck in slow-moving traffic for about half an hour I took to the back roads and an enjoyable journey through the countryside produced four Red Kites and five Corn Buntings...so it was well worth it and was a nice end to a good weekend away.
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