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. 

11/06/2021 Singleton Avenue, Horwich, Bolton

Rose-coloured Starlings: This is a rare visitor  for anyone's garden feeders but even more rare with it being a garden in Greater Manchester!

This summer has seen an invasion of rosy starlings after large numbers have spread west through Europe and across the Channel Islands over the past few weeks. 

Weather where they are typical found has been much more unpredictable, possibly its has been much hotter than usual or like here in the UK their summer started off much colder May and into June. A combination of this could have stimulated the birds to overshoot their breeding grounds and push westwards through Europe. 

With this individuals settling in a garden near Bolton. 

The bird spent a lot of time within the garden itself, out of view, presumably feeding on some food on the ground. But from time to time, and with a spot of patience the bird appeared upon the fence. 

The bird was fiercely defending the feeder, chasing away all the other starlings and was unwilling to share. 

I hope the feeders get topped up soon, there wa plenty of activity with other starlings, wood pigeons, blackbirds and house sparrows all making a dent in the food. 

I've already topped up my own feeders and places dozens of fat balls around my own garden hoping i too can get as lucky as the redsitnet of this garden,I'm keeping my fingers crossed!  

06/06/2021 Sleekburn, Blyth, Northumberland

Red-necked Stint: This weekend just gets better and better! 

After yesterday successful twitch to Ham Wall I was quite looking forward to a long lie in, but then news broke that of a red-necked stint in Northumberland on the River Blyth. So I set my alarm for another 2am start and off I shot for fisrt light. 

I made good time and soon had a phone call of Mrak Payne who said it was still there at 5am, I arrived at 5.15am of which the last 15 minutes was a tense and stressful ride. 

Europe has no more than 30 records of red-necked stint with the UK playing host to only seven records, now eight including this individual and before this one it had been almost eight years since the last record. 

So needless to say when the news came out yesterday evening, it got peoples blood pumping. 

Typically just after I left the bird decided to land within 10ft from a few lucky birders who drove to a more favorable viewing area on the opposite side of the river.

So these blurred smudges that I took today through the scope just don't do the bird justice, in real life it's a belter. 

Special thanks to top bloke Paul Baker for lending me his image, great work mate. 

05/06/2021 Ham Wall RSPB, Somerset & Bristol

River Warbler: Well this was a turn out for the books, a baby free saturday, minimal negotiations with Dawn a 2am start and I've just added river warbler to my list. Absolutely brilliant. 

The bird performed brilliantly, singing in full view and constantly returning to the same persches in the same small area. 

River warblers belong to the Locustella family of warblers, the same as grasshopper warbler, but unlike their more common counterparts these are large, rather nondescript warblers, lacking the grasshopper scaling and with a dark a plain brown back, faintly streaked breast, and pale belly. The tail is rather long and full with a pale-tipped undertail. 

These birds are harder to come by then some folk realise, the last twitchable bird was over 11 years ago and the Wigan bird was back in 1995, well before my twitching days. 

02/06/2021 Saltwick Nab, North Yorkshire

Lesser Grey Shrike: After a couple of bad weeks of back to back dips I was relieved to have finally broken my bad streak by ticking the little beaut and adding a new bird to the list. 

When I arrived there bird was being pretty elusive and the small group of birders who made it one site before me were standing and waiting while looking on the hedge were it had spent most of the previous day. 

Eventually it was relocated to another hedge in the vicinity and was showing really well, if a little distant. 

The bird looks very similar to its cousin the great grey shrike and acts very similar too. But there are a few subtle differences. 

The shrike has a distinctive black face mask and long tail. Down the back runs a jacket of military-grey feathers and around the white brest is a pink flush. 

Very nice indeed. 

The species breeds no nearer than northern Spain and is more at home on the arid steppes of Asiatic Russia or the bush-dotted pasture of Romania. It is, in truth, mostly African, living eight months a year by hunting beetles or grasshoppers among the thorn scrub and drylands near, or south of, the Kalahari.

But the bird seemed just at home on the East Yorkshire cost of Whitby, amongst the hawthorn hedges, bramble scrub and newly sprouting cereal crops. 

28/05/2021 St Helens, Merseyside

Red Fox: Back again, and not soon enough as I was eager to spend another evening with the local fox family and wasn't disappointed as I was treated to not one, not two, not three.... but four foxes on show tonight!

Brilliant!

the fisrt vixen broke cover around 6.30pm and by 7.30pm there were two vixens which were coming out into the open to forage on the short grass right in front of me and they were joined by another two a little later on.  

they were getting regularly spooked by dog walkers and dashed into cover before popping their little heads out, their ears up and eyes focused on the yapping yorkie. 

Eventually the dogs would pass and barking would stop and they vixens would reappear back on the hunt for food. Foxes are mainly carnivores but are generally classed as omnivores.

In Britain, the red fox feeds mainly on small rodents such as field mice, voles and rabbits, however, they will also eat birds, insects, earthworms, grasshoppers, beetles, fruit and mollusks and crayfish, amphibians, small reptiles and fish. almost anything it finds, often eating carrion (dead animal carcass) or preying on smaller to medium sized mammals and birds. 

Another great evening in the company of these great animals.