The University of East Anglia Bird Club organised regular 'van trips' which were birding trips using one of the UEA minibuses. This was great as we inevitably twitched what ever rarities were around at the time and also because most of us birders had no car and had to travel by bus or hitchhiking, so this was a real treat.
Today was a van trip. As usual the van picked us up an hour later than planned. The aim was to head to Kent for a Lesser White-fronted Goose that would be a lifer for most members of the bird club, including me. There had been no sightings of the goose the previous day, so we decided to go for the wintering Olive-backed Pipit in Essex first. The journey to Pitsea was quite entertaining as Mark Gurney, one of our fellow birders, had been out on the beer the night before and was sick as a dog. I was also pretty rough and slept most of the way to Essex. We arrived at Pitsea Country Park at 11.30am and were told by birders already on site that the OBP had not been seen since 9am the previous morning, so our spirits dropped and we felt the arrival of an imminent dip. The OBP had been wintering under the trees in this community woodland and was going strong despite the cold weather. Whilst not unprecedented, a wintering OBP in Britain was an incredibly rare event, so we were all keen to see the bird, even though most of us had seen the bird at Holkham on a van trip back in October.
Shortly, we noticed that John Pilgrim and Fuzz had disappeared and when a birder suddenly hurtled past, we realised that the OBP may have been located. Another birder from the van trip, Nick Robinson had found the bird and we were soon on location. Sure enough, this lovely pipit was showing really well, walking about in the leaf litter, pumping its tail. It gave excellent views down to three metres in good sunlight. This lifted everbody's spirits and when news of the Lesser Whitefront came through on the pager, we all piled back into the van with renewed enthusiasm. Off we went, to Kent.
At Capel Fleet, I was stunned by the sheer volume of birdlife present. The grasslands swarmed with ducks, geese and swans. Absolutely incredible! Large flocks of Lapwings and Golden Plovers loafed, with Teal and Wigeon abundant along the flashes and ditches. Four Hen Harriers and one Marsh Harrier caused chaos among the smaller birds, flushing flocks of Skylarks, Starlings and smaller waders. Epic stuff.
After a little walk we arrived at the best place to view for the LWFG to find several birders already scanning through a huge flock of European White-fronted Geese. It looked pretty daunting as most of the geese were feeding and partly obscured by reeds and other vegetation. I began to feel quite pessimistic until one of the other birders casually mentioned he had found the Lesser Whitefront and seconds later I had managed to find this petite version of the Euro White-fronts strolling around with its commoner cousins. Luckily, the bird was at the nearest side of the flock and the yellow eyering could be seen easily, although the small size, short neck, stumpy beak and headshape were the most obvious features that stood out from the flock. After a good grilling, we went to Laysdown Caravan Park where we failed to located last week's Iceland Gull. We then visited the amusement arcade and fish and chip shop which was a much better plan and a good end to the day, before jumping back in the van for the long drive back to Norwich.
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