18/02/2025 Bury, Greater Manchester

Barn Owl: Perhaps the most familiar British owl, the barn owl will often hunt during the daytime and can be seen ‘quartering’ low over fields and grasslands looking for its next small mammal meal. And although I have seen dozens of barn owl, I've never had the opportunity to photograph them.

So who best to team up with then Martin Loftus, the owl whisperer of Bury. We headed out on Sunday afternoon and staked out an area in Bury where we waited patiently in the cold. 

Barn owls are found in relatively open landscapes, often on lowland farmland across Britain where their main prey species thrive. 

They are not a woodland or urban species although, perhaps more than other owl species, they are comfortable living in relatively close proximity to humans and are commonly found using barns or deserted buildings for roosting and nesting

These owls prefer open rough grassland where their prey of small mammals can be found in high densities, predominantly voles, mice, and shrews. They may also hunt along field margins, the edge of woodlands, watercourses or even roads, and any other grassy areas

Martin and I waited around an hour and a half before we spotted an owl hunting in the fields close by. Eventually it was joined by a second bird and they both flew closer and closer - too close at times!

Really enjoyed this session, not only getting some stonking views of barn owl, but also spending the afternoon with Martin.

15/02/2025 Gigrin Farm, Rhayader, Powys

Red Kite: After my previous visits to Gigrin Farm, way back in 2012, and I felt that I knew what to expect, but I didn't expect this beautiful white kite. 

This leucistic, or "white", red kite is a regular visitor to the Gigrin Farm feeding station. With its stunning and striking coloration being caused by a rare genetic mutation which prevents normal pigmentation of the feathers resulting in predominantly white or pale plumage. Since the eyes and bare parts (bill, cere and legs) retain their normal colours, it is not a true albino.

Just like the last time I came here, I was feeling the pressure of the challenge that capturing any photographic opportunities. Its so hard to just concentrate on one bird! 

Grigrin Farm offers a wide selection of hides all offering a different perspective and catering for all types of audiences. From ground lever hides, tower hides, panoramic hides and photographic hides. 

I chose the later, which offers a larger unrestricted window to point the big lens out of, and a bigger hoide to move around in. It was great. This cost £30, well worth every penny!

When the tractor comes close with its trailer full of kite food the swarm of kites descend right in front of the hides, its such a thrill to witness, a real wildlife spectacle. Hundreds of wild Red Kites are fed at Gigrin Farm every day of the year.

Red Kite: Once the main swarm of kites have swooped down catching the bits of chicken and then flying away without landing a few birds remain and even land on the ground picking up the scraps.

In the 1980s, anyone who wanted to see a red kite had to make a dedicated pilgrimage to a handful of locations. Today, it is a daily sight for millions of people.

In just a few decades, the red kite has been brought back to the UK, and we are now home to nearly 10% of the world’s red kite population. This could be the greatest species success story in British conservation history.

02/02/2025 WWWT Steart Marshes, Somerset

Least Sandpiper: Finally on my list, this bird was one of my biggest bogey birds and long awaited for. It's been at Steart Marshes since before Christmas and I dipped it the other week after seeing the eagle.  

The least sandpiper is not only the smallest sandpiper species but also the smallest shorebird in the world. This diminutive bird breeds in Alaska and Arctic Canada and sightings in Britain are rare enough to attract a crowd.

The least sandpiper is named as such because as I've said it's the smallest shorebird in the world, with its scientific name "minutilla" directly translating to "very small" in Latin; essentially, it's the "least" or smallest among the sandpipers. 

The bird was picked up pretty distant in the thick vegetation before all the birds were spooked and took to the wing where it was picked up feeding opposite the Quantock Hides, just behind the main scape. 
 

19/01/2025 Marazion, Cornwall

Booted Eagle: Well, I finally made it down for the beagle, with a 1am alarm, a 13 hour round drive and a 2 hour wait in the freezing cold we thought we were going to be unlucky and be adding to our dip lists but managed to move over to the A394 railway bridge where the bird soared above our heads giving some brilliant views.

This magnificent bird is thought to have come from southern or eastern Europe and is also thought 

to be the same bird that was seen at Kenidjack Valley in west Cornwall back in October.

Seen from below the booted eagle has striking looking wings with a distinctive black edge and white body.

 

Unfortunately the bird didn't hang around long before soaring over a hill and out of view. But we didn't care, we both dipped the dark phased booted in Oxfordshire so to connect with this beaut was a thrill. 

18/01/2025 Victoria Park, St Helens

Ringed-necked Duck: The long staying RND has finally moved off its wintering grounds of Eccleston Mere. A private site with no access the bird has relocated (if only temporarily) to Victoria Park on a small boating lake.

This dabbling duck, a cousin of our tufted ducks and named for the brown collar across its black neck. Both sexes carry a pale ring around the bill, close to the bean, and females have pale feathering around the base of the bill and a browny-grey body.

This North American native nests across much of Canada, Alaska, and the Arctic, with a population also breeding year-round in the northwestern portion of the continental United States.  

Each year, vagrants appear in Britain, though escaped captive birds are considered with these reports. 

12/01/2025 Ross Back Sands, Northumberland

American Buff-bellied Pipit: Over the last few days the North East has been on fire, with a showy Ross's gull, white-billed diver and the returning grey-headed lapwing and although I only need the gull we made plans to head over for Sunday. Unfortunately all these birds did a bunk before we arrived, but a very nice consolation prise was the ABBP.

I've not seen one since the Wirral bird in 2014,  and after being relocated by Wayne Glossip I saw the bird lurking behind the saltmasrh vegetation. The head pattern shouted at me with it's completely pale cream coloured lores which reached a level well above the upper mandible and indeed bridged it completely. 

A prominent cream supercilium reached back above the eye, which was itself surrounded by a broad, unbroken cream eye ring.

Despite the Ross's gull not doing the right thing and making another appearance, we had a cracking day our with some cracking company. 
 

27/12/2024 Kent

American Yellow Warbler: This was one of the most sensational birding days I have experienced. After having to wait over Christmas and Boxing day in order to go down for the yellow warbler I wasn't expecting much. As time went on the bird became more elusive and appeared to change it routine.

For the first couple of days the bird was doing a circuit, favouring some mature alder trees on the opposite side of a ditch that backs onto a sewage works.  When the bird appears in these trees it would often forage for prolonged periods. I left at 3am, picking Kris Wade and Paul Baker up enroute and arrived at New Hythe which was shrouded in thick fog.

 

The bird kept us waiting almost 5 hours before it made an appearance, and when it did finally show itself, Kris and I decided that would be a good time to nip to Tesco for some food.  We were gutted, a rookie move. Feeling sheepish we reentered the crowed of happy birders hoping we wouldn't be the only two within the 200 plus string crowed who hadn't seen the bird.

Eurasian Scops Owl: We didn't have to wait long before the warbler reappeared and put on the best show it ha done over the whole time it had been here. Kris and I were relieved to say the least, and thrilled to have seen it at such close close quarters.

Earlier in the day an unexpected report of a scops owl was spread through grapevine. Having seen the 2017 durham bird I didn't give it much thought but when we left New Hythe we decided to give it a go as Kris needed it. 

It was only an hour away and again once we arrived at Broadstairs, near Ramsgate we were greeted with thick fog once again. 

A crowed of birders gathered in the gloom as the sun set and after a short, cold wait the owl was found using thermal imagers. Scops owls are rare visitors to the UK, but they are sometimes spotted in the Spring and Autumn and are more common in southern Europe. These tiny owls migrates south of the Sahara, making it the only European owl to do so regularly. Two qauity birds to end the birding year on.

21/12/2024 Southport, Merseyside

Snow Bunting: Now an annal visitor to this stretch of Southport beach I couldn't resist a morning visit just after the high hinds and while Dawn have the baby for the day giving me some free time. 

Snow bunts are cracking little birds, often on the whole they aren't camera or person shy so if you approach slowly and carefully you can get pretty close to them. 

The area of beach it favours is south of the pier, opposite the cinema and retail park feeding close to the sea wall and strand line. 

Snow buntings are predominantly a winter visitor to Britain and Ireland although a tiny breeding population remains amongst snow fields on the highest peaks in Scotland. 

They do disperse and can be found regularly along the north west coast. 

18/12/2024 Moses Gate Country Park, Bolton

Caspian gull: I finally caught up with the long staying 1st winter Caspo which has been showing particularly well on the main lake.

Having dipped this bird a few days earlier with Kris Wade I gave myself a bit more time today to wait for the bird to make appearance. 

This time I waited around an hour before the bird appeared on the grass bank beside the lake, standing out like a bright white beacon amongst the slightly darker juvenile herring gulls. 

Typically they the head is proportionately quite small and pear-shaped, showing the characteristic sloping forehead, which is further enhanced by the long and slim bill. 

They have a high proud chest extending on to a rounded belly that is white with a white head. Tricky birds to connect with and often overlooked. 

19/10/2024 Flamborough, East Riding of Yorkshire

Pallas's Leaf Warbler: I've been looking forward to a some twitching all week, It's been a busy week of site work and I panned a trip back to  the East Riding of Yorkshire for some rare eastern birds with Kris Wade and Marcus Workman.

We arrived at Flamborough and was greeted with some persistent rain, but things soon brightened up with one of the showiest Pallas's warblers I've had the advantage to watch. The bird was furiously feeding in the bushes next to the lighthouse. 

These are great little birds, they are smaller than their yellow-browed leaf warbler cousins, perhaps the about the size of a goldcrest. With distinctive markings include two pale wing stripes, bright yellow rump, orange-yellow eye-stripe and pale yellowish stripe on cap.

They breed all way way over in Southern Siberia, with some populations breeding in areas to Finland are around the Altai Mountains. 

Black Redstart: This smart looking black red that was feeding on the lawns within the lighthouse garden was also a nice bonus, but we dipped the Radde's warbler.

We then made our way down to Bempton and was given the run around by the red-flanked bluetail before it gave up and showed itself. 

Red-flanked Bluetail: The blue tail was very active and going missing for long periods as it ranged between the 'dell' and the small coppice within the car park, the same area the pale-legged was that I saw a few weeks back. 

Great day out lads, really enjoyed it.