20/10/2015 Wells Wood, Norfolk

Red-flanked Bluetail: Great day in Norfolk with wall to wall blue skies and warm temperatures topped off with some great new company.

However with a change in the weather and winds, my major target bird the Isabelline Shrike had packed up and left the area!

Gutted!

Never the less the Wells Wood Bluetail put on an excellent show at the drinking pond, and the coffee shop sold me the most expensive but probably the best chocolate muffin I have had in my life!

There was a resident Robin who was making a pain of itself, periodically chasing the Bluetail away, usually just when it had settled on a nice branch in full view!

But with a bit of patience the bird continued reappear up until around 1 o'clock when it disappeared for the rest of the day!

Olive-backed Pipit: After filling my birding boots with some smashing views of the Bluetail I got a call from Jonny saying he and Danni just had the OBP so I headed straight over.

Here I bumped in to Ian Igglesden, top bloke from Liverpool.

Ian and I searched for the pipit for a little while in between some long spells of chin-wagging.

Ian and I saw Jonny dashing through the woods with intent and we thought he might have something, so we headed in that direction and started to search the area when Ian whistled me over and pointed in to the trees where the POB was sitting.



Not the views or pics I was hoping for but great to hear the bird call and see it adequately enough to tick it.  Towards the end of the day Jon Doherty and I located a Pallas's foraging among the hundreds of Goldcrests along the path between Holkham Pines and Wells Wood although I only had the briefest of views, so I'm not going to tick it, I want to see a proper Pallas's with its crown and its pale yellow wing bars so I'm going to have to wait until I see my next one.

14/10/2015 Spurn, East Yorkshire

Jack Snipe: To put it simply Spurn has been brilliant this year especially over the last few days and I've spent many an hour up there, all of which I have really enjoyed.


Today was no exception, a one tick day for me as I finally added American Golden Plover to the list.

Despite today not being as good as the last few days (typical luck for me) Spurn still has plenty of familiar faces and plenty of good birds on offer.

The amazing thing about Spurn today were the shear amount of Goldcrest, I was literally stepping over them at one point.

Yellow-browed Warbler: The YBW was showing really well in the trees next to Kew although I kept my distance.

The bird as per most YBW was really difficult to pin down with my camera it must have been on speed or something as it constantly foraged away.

Other highlights included a very showy Jack from the scrape hide a Firecrest opposite the Crown & Anchor and plenty of Redwing and Fieldfare.

12/10/2015 Conwy RSPB

Spoonbill: Today I found myself back in North Wales after last week's Alpine Swift, but this time for three spectacular Spoonbill.

I arrived early afternoon where the trio were happily roosting on a scrape in front of Benrath Hide. I waited around 20 minutes before they decided to feed and put on a good spooning show!

One of the three birds had coloured rings attached to both legs and I have been informed that this bird was rung in Holland.

The folks on the other side of the country who regularly get Spoonbill are very lucky, as these birds are great and a welcomed addition in the North West.

I haven't seen many in the UK and even fewer in the North West, mainly Parkgate and Leighton Moss but I have never had them come this close and put on such a good show.





I watched them until they spooned their way out of view, by which time I was getting cold from the prevailing winds coming straight in to the hide so headed back to the warmth of my car.

Just take a look at that brilliant bill.

22/09/2015 Dungeness RSPB

Acadian Flycatcher: Sometimes you just get lucky, I say this as I had a really short bird surveying job in the morning, the next couple of days booked off.  So just after BirdGuides pinged Dawn and I decided to run down to Kent and tick the bird.

The jury was out to what species the bird was however it was shortlisted to the nondescript group of American "empidonax" flycatchers that are renowned for being notoriously difficult to separate and identify.

Once we arrived and found a suitable place to park we didn't have to wait long to get our first glimpse of the bird dashing between the bushes at the side of the cottage.


The bird eventually gave us some stunning views as it flittered in and around the front door and the wooden benches outside the cottage.

There were plenty of discussions going on around me about the birds bill size, yellowness of its belly plumage, its primary wing feather lengths and many people keen to call the bird a Yellow-bellied and Alder Flycatcher.


Still the jury was out.

The bird seemed to become more accustomed to the gathering crowds of twitchers as several times it came right up to the fence and within just a couple of feet from us.





If the birds gets accepted as an Acadian Flycatcher it will be the first ever record for the UK. There are plenty of people with more of an eye then myself that believe the bird has positive overwhelming features to be identified as an Acadian.

Dawn has never witnessed crowds of this size and was amazed as they swelled and more and more twitchers came to stand in the rain and see this super little bird.

Great twitch topped off with my first Wilson's Phal from Vange Marsh, Essex.

16/08/2015 Ainsdale Beach, Southport

Caspian Gull:  Take a look at yet another superb North West gull, this 2cy Caspian has been showing on and off for a few weeks now and seen between Formby in the south to Birkdale in the north.

After dipping this bird yesterday and having very tight time restrictions throughout the week and most weekends due to the bird surveying work I have undertaken and the weekend wedding photography, it was brilliant to actually connect with it.

I got on the beach early morning and as I pulled up in to a parking bay I bumped in to Zac Hinchcliffe, who had just filled his SD card with shots of the bird and was kind enough to point me in it's direction.

One of the reasons the bird has been in the area for such a long time is probably down to the fact it is in heavy moult as this image shows.

Note the secondary flight feathers have almost all moulted.

The bird is very striking and stands out against the local juvenile Herring Gull and Lesser-black Back Gulls. With its almost white head and breast, long legs and it's classic Caspian long, narrow bill with an attenuated tip.

 What a beast!

Ainsdale beach at this time of year is brilliant, especially on a very sunny day, like today. There were hundreds of Sandwich Tern, Sanderling, Dunlin and a couple of Grey Plover.






However it gets busy fast, and in no time at all the beach was full of dog walkers, families and their flying footballs!






I was astonished how oblivious people can be, as while I sat on the beach clearly photographing a bird, not one but two different sets of families thought it would be fine to walk practically over me and right through where the bird was. Like I wasn't even there, incredibly ignorant folk.

09/04/2015 Preston Marina

Ring-billed Gull: From penny I took my second trip to see Preston's RBG, my thinking is you don't often get to pin down two excellent gulls that are going to show so well.

This little cracker was in the same place as last week spending the majority of it's time sleeping before finding the energy to get up and put on a show for us.

Garry and I also spent some time scanning through and looking over every other gull, hoping to pin down the juv Yellow-legged Gull that has been spotted here recently. But alas it was a tough job and we were unable to pin it down.

It was a good challenge though.

It was great to bump in to Peter and his daughter, but strange to see him without Sue, hope she's well.

09/08/2015 Pennington Flash

Sabine's Gull: Today I witnessed that bizarre event whereby a Pike grabbed on to the Sabs and literally dragged it under the water.

It was beneath the waves for about 5 seconds before reappearing and flying to the very far side of the flash. I grabbed this shot as the bird came back up but I was unable to capture any images that included the Pike, it almost sounds like bull plop, but is true and awesome to witness.

Common Scoter: There has even been eye witness reports of the gull having blood on its chest, I certainly hope the bird OK and recovers.

The other bird to note from todays outing to penny was this superb drake Common Scoter. I've never had views like this from penny before.

06/04/2015 Spurn, East Yorkshire

Willow Warbler: Great day at one of my favourite places, although it wasn't a typical Spurn day out as it was not fully loaded with freshly blown-in rarities, but one new tick to add to the list.

Sedge Warbler: I believe that Black Stork is genuinely one of those hard to pin down birds and its a bird that is missing from a lot of the twitchers and big listers tally sheets.

So I am glad to secure one on my list.

Black Stork: Almost as soon as I arrived around 8am I got on to the bird, however it was very comfortably roosting on the edge of the reeds in the middle of a big field.  Eventually the bird plucked up the energy to get up and walk straight out

It was then I was joined by two top blokes from Cheshire; Vernon and Dave Huston, who kept me company until the bird reappeared.

When it did reappear the bird was still in the middle of the big field and didn't take flight or move away from the reeds it was skulking in. Still it gave me some cracking scope views and a big smile on my face!

Unfortunately I didn't have time to explore the area and pretty much confined myself to the canal bank, but I still picked up a nesting Sedgie and got some great views of Common and Sandwich Tern, dozens of Dunlin and Knot, a Whimbrel and a Willow Warbler.

04/02/2015 Pennington Flash

Sabine's Gull: Allow me to indulge my love for a good gull, I just had to go back and try for some flight shots so after leaving Dawn with the dishes I caught the last of the good light and headed back over to penny.

And I am thrilled that I made a second trip as this time the bird was much more mobile and much, much closer!

Someone was feeding the bird bread (not me, promise) and the bird was coming right up to our feet to pick it up. I have never heard of a Sabs coming to bread before!

Great to bump in to some of the Manchester massive Rob Creek and Simon Gough and a few of the Cheshire crew; Frank Duff and Malc, good company with a good bird.

04/08/2015 Pennington Flash

Sabine's Gull: When I woke up this morning and tucked in to my Weetabix I didn't think I would for one moment be rushing out of the house and going to my local to see a stunning adult Sabs gull.

When I arrived the gull was loafing just off the side of Horrock's Hide. I was one of the first on the scene which really paid off as the gull drifted the closest it came the whole time I was there, this was before the crowds arrived.





This little cracker is the 2nd only record for Greater Manchester, I think the first one was on Audenshaw Reservoirs ages ago! And a 2nd for me after the Burton Mere bird a few years ago.

I was there for a good couple of hours as the crowds swelled and all the familiar faces came out so I got chatting away. And in all the time I was there I only saw the bird take flight once, and only for a very short distance.

I was hoping that the bird would give me some super flight views, showing off its contrasting upper wing pattern and fork tail.

But alas, these were the best of the small opportunities I had.

The bird seemed very relaxed and settled as it dip fed and slowly paddled past Horrock's where it was joined by several Black-headed Gulls and even a juv Med Gull.







Mediterranean Gull: The Med Gull was a bonus and a brief distraction from the Sabs which was still showing really well when I left.