01/09/2024 Spurn, East Riding of Yorkshire

Wryneck: Spurn is synonymous with the arrival of migrant birds from Scandinavia during the autumn migration period and is a standout area for its amazing track record of producing rare and scarce birds. 

Toady might not have thrown up anything mega rare, but its was one of those magical migration days. Every other bush and shrub contained a pied fly or lesser whitethroat and we managed to relocate the wryneck at the point. 

Pied Flycatcher: The point was dripping with migrant birds, there was a small dell areas that had over a dozen pied flied, spot flys whinchat, yellow wags, redstarts and wheatear all feeding in the shrubs and movng through the area.

Whinchat: Todays trip was the brain-child of Gary, who needed wryneck and after dipping several in the past he had his eye on this weekend it's probably one of the most eagerly anticipated weekends to connect with wryneck. 

Red-backed Shrike: We had a smashing day, which was topped off with a wonderful woodchat shrike near the Wildlife Trust visitor centre. 

03/09/2022 Spurn, East Riding of Yorkshire

Citrine Wagtail: I booked a night in the Spurn Bird Observatory with Gary, Kris and Tobie as the winds were looking promising and there had been a trickle of scares migrant warblers mid-week, so we were hopeful.

Red-necked Phalarope: After a late one in the Crown and Ancor we headed out first thing were Kris relocated the cit wag in the ditch along Chalky Point. 

It eventually made an appearance on the grass lawn behind the Riverside Hotel. 

Whinchat: Citrine wags breed on the windsweapst tundra and meadows in parts of northern and eastern Europe and north-central Asia, they winter in south Asia there aren't many annual records so when one turns up and shows well it tends to be a bit of a draw.

Pied Flycatcher: Spurn was littered in common migrant birds we found at least six pied flies, countess whinchat, a handful of common restart and willow warblers. 

Willow Warbler: We scanned almost every hawthorn, peered in ever hedge and looked at miles of buckthorn and still no scarce migrant warblers. 

Fox: We even walked the long walk to the point after a late report of a wryneck came out, the walk defiantly helped out step count but not our legs. 

No scares birds but we did have an unusual encounter with this fox, as it came out from behind the lighthouse and walked right up to us. It stoped and started at us, within touching distance then walked off. 

It didn't look too well and I suspect that some visitors who walk down there may be feeding it as it appeared really tame.

Pied Flycatcher: The buckthorn and wind burned tree stumps  held several pied flies but not much else. 

Fox: Spbesquently since I came back from Spurn I have learned that this 'Lighthouse Fox' is a bit of a regular and is often seen taking food from folk who venture down. It has also been reported by the BBC that the fox has befriended the crew at an East Yorkshire lifeboat station who gave it the original name Basil. 

Common Redstart: Bacon ponds was particularly

productive especially as high tide rolled in and the wader numbers built up.

Wood Sandpiper: Hundreds of dunlin, redshank, ringed plover and black-tailed godwits filled the pools along with five curlew sandpiper and a single wood sandpiper. Two red-neck pals were also here feeding on the flies skimming across the shallow water. 

Curlew Sandpiper: Curlew sands are slim, pale buff waders compared to dunlin which they can be confused with. Curlew sands breed on the Siberian tundra, a quarter-span of the globe to the east of Britain. In autumn, they head south, west and east, to spend the winter as far apart as west Africa and New Zealand.

Sparrowhawk: I always enjoy my visits to Spurn but combined with a night away in its observatory accommodation this trip was particularly good. Very enjoyable birding, company and evening drinks in the Crown. Brilliant. 

20/04/2019 Cannock Chase, Staffordshire

Wood Lark: I will no longer need to hang my head in shame, for wood lark is now on my list!! A fairly common bird I know, but for some reason I just haven't seen one in the UK before.

Perhaps its because wood larks are found mainly in eastern and southern England or maybe its because they are heathland specialists, and up in Wigan we have very little of that around.
More likely its because I'm pretty lazy and knew I would connect with one eventually.

I spent the day with Mark Payne and Stoke-on-Trents very own Phil Locker who was our guide for the day and give me an introduction to the Chase. Top bloke, top gen, top day, cheers Phil.

Almost as soon as we arrived up on the heath we could hear the tell tale call of the wood lark before spotting a bird flight past us with its distinctive broad wings and short tail.

We could see presumably the male, perched on upon a tree singing. We could see its short crest, rusty cheeks and prominent supercilium, the two sides meeting in a shallow ‘v’ on the back of the neck.

The bird put on a good show displaying and singing above us.

Green Hairstreak: We moved off to another part of he Chase and stumbled across the very small but very beautiful green hairstreak. We had several butterflies including orange tip, peacock, comma, small white, brimstone, small tortoise shell and speckled wood.

Pied Flycatcher: Cannock Chase is huge, absolutely massive about 2684ha right in the middle of the county and is an outstanding area of heathland with nationally important populations of nightjar and woodlark. The surrounding plantation conifers have crossbill and the oakwoods are good for wood warbler, redstart and pied flycatcher.

We checked out the areas that are best known for spring arrivals and we weren't disappointed. Picking up both male and female pied flys and a stunning male redstart.

Fresh from its migration, this male pied fly was a belter.

Tree Pipit: These pipits are rather plain birds, streaked brown above and pale below, with streaking on its chest and flanks. They are very similar to meadow pipits but may be distinguished by their heavier bill and finer streaking on the flank - they also have very different calls.

We got lucky again as we watched this male singing away at the top of a dead pine before parachuting down on to a nearby stump giving us great view.

We ended the day at the local put with a celebratory drink and a smile on my face.

17/05/2013 Lake Vyrnwy RSPB

Siskin: Dawn treated me to a fantastic birthday trip to Carno where we stopped over in a tipi.

We stayed at Cledan Valley Tipis and it was brilliant the tipis are rustic and fun, I would recommend it to anyone who might be thinking of taking a trip to mid Wales as an alternative to a hotel.

Pied Flycatcher: We spent our last day at Lake Vyrnwy were we watched a huge flock of Siskin and a handful of Redpoll feeding on the feeders near the visitor centre.

We then took a walk along the yellow trail and spotted both female and male Pied Fly. I spotted a Dipper down the waterfall dam. And we could hear Wood Warbler singing but never saw one!

Redstart: Just as we were about to leave I spotted this stunning male Redstart in a private field next to the craft centre.

We also had a really nice lunch at the Lake View Tea Room and met some really nice folks from Warrington and Wigan, you can't go too far without bumping in to a nice northerner.

 Cledan Valley Tipis www.cledanvalleytipi.co.uk/

15/05/2013 Ynys-hir RSPB

Stonechat: So now I am 29 it the last years of my twenties and I'm going grey, this could be a day to be down in the dumps! But with a gorgeous sunny day at one of my most anticipated RSPB reserves I had a lot smile about.

Sedge Warbler: Ynys-hir is stunning, the place was buzzing with life we had a lovely walk along the nature trails seeing Sedge and Reed Warbler along with all the usual suspects.

Pied Flycatcher:  The place was full of Pied Fly, from the carpark to the furthest trails they were awesome to see, although unlike Pensychant these mid Wales birds seemed to be more timid and flighty.







Dawn and I also visited the near by Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Dyfi Osprey Project and saw both female and male Osprey on their nest. This place is always worth a visit; the film footage and live cameras on their many huge HD plasma screens are AWESOME, but actually seeing the birds was disappointing as they were miles away, even through the scopes.

So now I'm 29  next year I will be 30 and more grey but with all this wonderful wildlife on offer I wont let that bother me.

01/05/2013 Pensychnant Nature Reserve

Pied Flycatcher: Let me first apologise, I spoke to a local birder from Pensychnant Nature Conservation Centre who asked me not to tell anyone about this place!

I simply can not do that, this place is AWESOME and it would be a crime not to tell anyone about it.

 Besides this, by raising the profile of the place more money can be raised for the the nature conservation centre, and that's got to be a good thing!

As soon as I stepped out of the car the call of the Cuckoo was all around, the sun was beaming down, the skies were blue and the woods and the house looked stunning.

Just a few yards from the house a pair of Pied Flycatchers were happily living up to their namesake. I continued to come across Pied Fly throughout the woods (Home Wood) and around the car park while Buzzards were soaring overhead and Ravens were crowing from the tops of the tallest trees.

Redstart: This stonking male Redstart was among the gorse bushes at the far north of the reserve, there were at least two male and one female but there was possibly more.








I was really looking forward to catching sight of this stunning bird but after around an hour of trying to get a decent pic I now hate it, the bird doesn't like getting its picture taken and was one step ahead of me.


Cuckoo: In the same area this Cuckoo was calling and then flew off while getting mobbed by a gang of mipits.

I will be back and I will tell people to go and enjoy this little gem of a place and I would hope they would have as a good of a time as I did.






Oh and I still love Redstart how can I not, just look at them. Cheers to Paul Brewster for the heads up on this place.

http://www.pensychnant.co.uk/