27/08/2021 Blacktoft Sands RSPB, East Yorkshire

White-tailed plover: A long awaited bird, living in the North West and knocking about with some Liverpool birders I have heard  many stories about the white-tailed plover that was found at Seaforth.

This was before my twitching days and was a bird I've always longed to see, but typically the day the bird was found I was booked in top photograph a wedding, and on a Thursday! My only Thursday wedding this year. 

Anyway, the couple were lovely and the wedding was stunning at one stage I was even showing the bride and groom pictures  of the bird. 

So the following morning I decided not to wait on news and go for first light arriving at the reserve just before 6am. 

I was worried to when the reserve would open, officially it opens at 9am and there was a shocking lack of information despite folk asking about the opening times following the bird being found.

But when I arrived the warden was there opening up, also there was Chris Griffin who along with his rumbling belly kept me company as the bird put on an outstanding show right in front of Townend hide. 

I was blown away by hw great tis bird is, with is extremely long bright yellow legs, and its diminutive face packing away at the mud this is a really nice bird.   

Big thanks to the RSPB warden who arrived early to open the reserve and allow us all into the hide to view the bird. 

 

13/06/2021 Spike Island, Widess

Whooper Swan: These elegant and well travelled swans come to the UK in their thousands to spend the winter here; they arrive from Iceland in late autumn, returning north again in the spring. Their breeding range, extending from Iceland and northern Scandinavia in the west to the Pacific coast of Russia in the east. 

This individual has decided to stay put this summer and not return to its breeding range, but instead take up residence with the local mute swan at Spike island in Widnes!

  

Whooper's show obvious individual bill variations, their black and yellow patterns on the bill are almost like individual fingerprint in humans with each bird having a different pattern. The extent of the yellow and black on the bill can also tell you which population they belong to with the Icelandic population wintering in England having more black than has been found on the bills of the eastern Siberian population wintering in Japan. 

The bird seems right at home, totally habituated to the slobbering unleashed dogs that are allowed to run straight in the resting flock and making the most of the free food given to them by children and families who have come fo feed the ducks. 

Whooper swans have a distinctive upright posture in comparison with the its cousins the Bewick’s and mute swans, with a slight kink at the base of the neck and a relatively long neck to overall body length. 

The yellow bill really stood out among the orange bills of the resident mute swans. 

 

Let's hope that it eventually moves on and finds its own kind and takes on the mammoth journeys whooper swans regularly take up north.

11/08/2021 Taylor Park, St Helens

Mediterranean Gull: This is a cracking bird, one that really stands out next to the local black-headed gulls.

Not only is the bird much darker bird and slightly bigger with obvious white ringes to its scapulars compared with the black-headed gulls, but it was much more vocal and aggressive towards the other gulls.  

Either loafing on the lake or perched upon the jetty, the bird was eagerly waiting for scops of bread, seeds and pretty much any food that the families  bring to feed the ducks and geese. 

Taylor park is on the opposite side of Grange Park Golf Course east of Eccleston Mere and is a lovely place for a walk especially after being stuck in for a few days.  

Not much else to note really apart from the Med gull.

26/07/2021 Snettisham RSPB, Norfolk

Western Sandpiper: With less than a dozen British records this bird was definitely on my hit list. However,  when news broke on over the weekend I was stuck with baby duties. I'm not complaining she's the best baby ever but I will admit I was I'm a bit of a grump over the weekend! 

The bird appeared to show well all day on Saturday and became elusive on Sunday with only two sighting, one from the hide. 

This combined with the fact that Snettisham is currently home to thousands upon thousands of dunlin, knott and many other species, the phrase a needle in a haystack sprung to mind.

The alarm went off at 2:45am and I arrived at 6:30am when I walked up on the shingle bank overlooking the great expanse of mudflats, mile upon miles of prime feeding habitats for a wide range of wading birds! 

Absolutely brilliant. 

Within an hour the tide covered much of the exposed mudflats, the restaurant was closed and the birds whizzed over our heads and on the the pools to roost.  So I ambled down to the hide hoping it could be picked out amongst the crows of dulin that had settled here to roost., but not before long a bloke spoke up saying the bird had just been reported on Birdguides, a hurried scrum ensured. 

The bird amazingly was with about 5o dunlin that had chosen to roost just off the main footpath on the shoreline of the shingle bank. 

It showed briefly before entering the dense mass of bird, lost to view. From then on it was a nervous wait. 

but once the tide began to go out, exposing the mud the birds woke up and scampered out to feed. 

The bird showed exceptionally well. 

I remember missing the infamous Hoylake bird, unable to go as I was working away in London at the time carrying out black redstart surveys. 

So I'm thrilled to grip this one back. 
 

10/07/2021 My Garden, Abram, Wigan

Green Finch: Saturday morning enjoying may garden feeder visitors. Quiet during this time of year as there is lots of natural food around, but I'm still toppoing the feeders up regularly.  

I've been tending my garden for over seven years now and it's a working in progress, an ever changing habitat of wild flowers, ornamental plating  and vegetable growing to a creation of a new of a pond.

Song Thrush: The best birds I've had in the garden during my tennear include bulfinch, lesser redpoll, siskin and willow tit. 

 

08/07/2021 Blackdog, Aberdeenshire

Black Scoter: After carrying out a series of preliminary ecological appraisals near Edinburgh and Aberdeen I planned a trip to Blackdog beech in a hopeful search for the black scoter. I was joined by local bider and top bloke Nick Littlewood who was a huge help in giving me some gen and helping me search through the flock.

Eider: Blackdog is an exhilarating place to visit made that little bit better having the large scoter flock, looking like a black slick relatively close in from the from the turbines.  

The scoters were fascinating to watch as they packed tightly together bobbing up and down on the surface of the water before diving in synchronous one by one following each other and completely disappearing under the water to feed and then appearing on mass. 

Eventually I picked the black scoter up with its bright yellow bill glowing in a short spell of good light.

I spent the following morning at the mouth of the Ythan Estuary trying to relocate the king eider, but with most of them now entering eclipse plumage the odds were stacked against me and as nick said it had probably moved on anyway. 

04/07/2021 Cemlyn Bay, Anglesey

Elegant Tern: This is the summer that keeps on giving, another new bird added to the list. 

I was half contemplating going for the Oriental turtle dove over in spurn before the news broke then decided to head down south to north Wales insead.  And I'm glad I did, I don't need the dove but this tern is a UK fisrt for me. 

This is the 2nd record for Wales after the 2002 bird that was found at  Black Rock Sands, Gwynedd. 

They breed on the Pacific coasts of the southern United States and Mexico and winters south to Peru, Ecuador and Chile in and nest in dense colonies.

Elegant terns nest in dense colonies, very similar to that of the tern colony at Cemlyn. It even appeared to be exhibiting courtship displays, raising the crest, standing tall, and drooping the wings, all the while calling and flicking the bill upward. 

The bird stayed in on area of the tern colony, often hidden by the vegetation and occasionally liting its bright organy-yellow bill upwards and flying short distances.   

Brilliant find by  Mark Sutton. 
 

30/06/2021 RSPB Bempton Cliffs, Bridlington

Black-browed Albatross: This bird is one of my all time sought after and hotly anticipated birds. Not only is it an astonishing bird, majestic and rare but after last year's debacle where I dipped it by 20 minutes and subsequently spent two days at bempton hoping it would come back to say I was keen to go once news broke would be an understatement. 

Albatross that are found in the northern hemisphere are famously rare and non more than the affectionately named 'Albert Ross' who has been loitering in the North seas for several years.

Albert first appeared on the Bass Rock in 1967, then subsequently at Hermanness, Shetland almost annually from 1972 to 1995.

Since then he has been spending much of it time over near the west coast of Denmark and Germany but he does make the occasional visit to Bempton Cliffs. 

Yesterday news suggested that it may have gone to roost within the gannates on the cliffs so with that in mind I had an early start. 

The bird wasn't seen at fisrt light, or in the few hours proceeding, we waited and waited, with bated breath before the bird came flying into view, the bird glided over the arch at the furthermost cliff faces and spend the next few hours putting on a good show before alighting upon the cliff itself and settled down to rest. 

Next to the gannet and the herring gulls this bird stood out, it was huge, with its massive wingspan and jet black back and wings. 

That moment where the bird came around the corner and passed right by us Is one of thoses birding moments that i will never forget. 

Brilliant bird, brilliant day!

16/06/2021 Undisclosed Site, Lancashire

Long-eared Owl: Such a marvelous sight and such a privilege to observe these shy and elusive birds on a site that I've been monitoring.

Listening carefully and following the sounds of their sharp squeaking whistle, reminiscent of a squeaky gate. Their begging call rings out from within the pine plantation, but pin pointing them as they sit still, camouflaged is still a challenge. 

LEO's will breed between February and July with the female staying with the eggs and chicks all day and only taking a few breaks at night. The male hunts and brings food to the female and chicks until the brood are independent. 

I was also lucky enough to get a glimpse of an adult bird hunting over the moors, it was great to see it flying deep into the pines to feed its young, then flying off back on he hunt for more food. 

The chicks still can’t fly when they leave the nest and instead walk out onto neighbouring branches. Their parents will provide for them until they become fledglings and learn to fly and fend for themselves.