29/03/2014 Lake Vyrnwy RSPB

Goshawk: From Worlds End we headed down to Lake Vyrnwy, here we were on the hunt for a monster!

We walked almost the entire route of the blue trail which included a mammoth hill which almost killed me, I'm definitely feeling the big three zero approaching.

After a stringy,  possible sighting we again got lucky as we saw the bird fly through the forest then right over our heads before circling around above us for a few moments.

Chiffchaff: Other highlights we spotted from the blue trail included several chiffy's, Goldcrest and a pair of very active Raven.

Siskin: Lake Vyrnwy has a very busy feeding station where they position the feeders incredibly close to the windows giving us all some stunning views of some cracking birds such as Siskin and Coal Tit.

It was good to finally get a decent birding day in made better by the sun and the company, cheers to Matt Bett and Tanmay.

29/03/2014 Worlds End

Black Grouse: After a couple of quiet days birding I decided to make my own luck and started early at Worlds Ends famous Black Grouse lek.

I've never witnessed the lek here and I was not disappointed.

I counted 17 males however there could have been more lurking behind the grasses and heather. When we arrived these male birds were happily strutting their stuff at around 150 yards away. 

150 yards is good, but 10 meters is much better, I think we got lucky as one individual flew away from the main lek and started displaying almost right in front of the car, only one word AWESOME! 

13/03/2014 Giltar Point, Pembrokeshire

Greater Spotted Cuckoo: So far this year my twitching days have been few and far between so when this little cracker came through on BirdGuides I was ready to go!

Scott, Kinghorn, Daz and I left a very foggy Cherry Corner around 2am and got to sunny Pembrokes for about 6am.

We were not waiting long before the bird was picked up roosting in a distant tree, people commented on how ropy the bird was looking but after a warm up in the early morning sun and evading the local Magpies the bird decided to take off and fly right past us, giving us all some superb views.



We relocated the Cuckoo almost instantly in a much better place sitting in full view. We watched it roosting and preening for a good while when the bird made its move and flew off to feed on the ground.

It was looking much more alert, became more active and we even saw it feeding along the tall grasses at the edge of the golf course.

So perhaps earlier that morning when we first saw it the bird was just looking tired and cold, I could definitely sympathies as I was certainly feeling tired and cold.

 Glaucous Gull: This beast on the hill was spotted by the eagle eyes of Kinghorn as when we first arrived we followed some shocking directions and ended up walking the wrong way!

I wasn't bothered at all as I love a good gull and bagging this Glauc made my day a two tick day!

Very good indeed.