North Norfolk - 3.1.25

George Moreton asked if I fancied joining him on a day out in north Norfolk so of course I said yes! We set off from his house at 5am with a hard frost covering the cars and surrounding countryside. 

Just before dawn we arrived at Wolferton triangle where in the past was a go to site for Golden Pheasant but sadly they’ve long since disappeared. However on a slow drive around the triangle we had brilliant views of 2 Woodcock on the grass verges.

Old Hunstanton was the next stop but just as we were leaving Heacham I picked up a Barn Owl quartering a field. Upon exiting the car at Hunstanton the cold wind hit and whilst trying to download and sign up to the car parking app my fingertips became so cold I couldn’t feel them! 

Here we went year tick crazy adding waders and gulls and seabirds of varying description but frustratingly not the 2 species we were after. The juvenile Glaucous Gull turned out to be at Thornham Harbour and the 6 Shorelark were seen by another birder while we were there but eluded us.

We popped into Thornham only to find the Glauc had flown off so we headed to Titchwell RSPB where surprisingly the car park was fairly empty for once. 

Escaped Black-winged Stilt

Here we added yet more year ticks including a brief Long-tailed Duck, a very showy Spotted Redshank and a roosting Tawny Owl plus a sadly escapee Black-winged Stilt which had a plastic ring just above its knee. It took me back to when Sammy the stilt graced the same reserve for about 12 years. After a hot chocolate and a lovely pasty we headed over to Holkham.

From a lay-by on the A149 I managed to pick out the top half of a single White-fronted Goose but then the day got all dippy again with no sign of the Long-billed Dowitcher from Lady Ann’s Drive and the Shorelarks in the roped off area had vanished just before we arrived. 

Glossy Ibis

Our final stop of the day was Stiffkey. We parked up along the road to the campsite car park and walked back to view the flood to the south of the road. After a few minutes I finally laid eyes on the Glossy Ibis viewing through the tree branches as it fed with a flock of Wigeon.

We had our fill and headed back to the car. Driving down towards the car park a Cattle Egret flew low west over the car with possibly another heading north.

Over the marshes we waited patiently for our main target and were kept preoccupied with Marsh Harriers and Little Egrets until I picked up a female Hen Harrier over towards East Hills. I then found a Merlin perched up a bit closer and then finally the adult female Pallid Harrier came in and perched up on the bridge.

An excellent day with 91 species seen and should’ve been closer to 100 but many expected species were notable by their absence.

Thanks to George for driving and for use of his 2 photos.

Cassiobury Park - 2.1.25

As my wife was off seeing her best friend I took the kids to Cassiobury Park for a wander. We walked around the nature reserve noting 2 pairs of Mandarin on the river. From the bird hide Coal Tit and 8 Siskin made the list and at the fishing lake 2 Little Grebe were noteworthy. Whilst walking back to the car a Kingfisher perched up over the river. Sadly no sign of the Little Owl in their usual trees.

Back Garden - 1.1.25

New Year’s Day for birders usually means getting out somewhere to get the new year list going and at the end of December a Hertfordshire all day bird competition was created. Sadly a storm hit and apart from Rupert Evershed who bravely went out into the elements the competition was a bit of a damp squib. I continued on with decorating my kitchen and noting birds in and from the garden. 

I finished the day on a whopping 14 species with Jay being the highlight. 

YELLOW WARBLER! - 26.12.24

Yellow Warbler courtesy of Lee Woods

There I was at work on Christmas Eve waiting to go home and start my 12 day relaxing (bar decorating) break when news broke of a Yellow Warbler in Kent! I must have let out a sigh of annoyance as my colleagues said what’s up? I told them and said that’ll be a few Christmas family get togethers ruined! Sadly I couldn’t go Christmas morning as I had to be at my mums early for dinner preparations.

My attempt of the Yellow Warbler

For Boxing Day I’d agreed to go to my in-laws for a buffet type dinner and didn’t have to be there until 3pm so I was up at 5.15am and on the road at 6am. For once a rarity wasn’t 4-5 hours away but only 75 minutes. I arrived in the dark and wandered down to join the throng. Around 8am the bird was spotted briefly but the majority of people missed it. It then started calling but again showed briefly to a few.

My blurry photo of the Yellow Warbler

And that was it as it went quiet. 2 Firecrest and a handful of Chiffchaff were noted to keep us occupied but around 11am people started running down the path. Just as I got the group the bird flew back to where we’d just come from and then after 3 hours of nothing it decided to show off continuously for the next 20 minutes and YELLOW WARBLER was on my list.

This 10th for Britain became my 10th American warbler species in Britain and amazingly my 6th species in the last 26 months! 

A great end of the year.

 

Cassiobury Mega - 11.12.24

Just before going to lunch I spotted 2 geese heading towards me and to my surprise they were Brent Geese! They flew over the bowling green heading SE and became the newest species on the Cassiobury Park/Whippendell Woods list and my 114th species for the park.

Remenham- 3.11.24

Back in 1999 a light morph Booted Eagle toured England, Scotland and Wales but was rejected due to the time of year it arrived, feather wear, their inability to cross water and length of stay. Fast forward to this year and a dark morph bird was found in Cornwall with the now annual Red Kite movement but was only seen briefly. 

Then last month whilst I was on Scilly a pale morph bird was found in the Lands End area and seen by a few lucky birders over a couple of days. We gave it a couple of hours once we’d arrived back in Cornwall but had no luck.

Then at the start of November a dark morph bird was seen briefly in Oxfordshire of all places and then amazingly re found the next day in Berkshire. Those who were able to get there early enough on Saturday morning were rewarded with a couple of showings before it disappeared over Henley-on-Thames.

Sunday morning I joined the throng in the hope of it returning but like the previous Sunday despite a few hours on site there was no sign of it. But here’s hoping it’ll stick around the local area or even better head to Herts and show itself. 

This unassuming site was very birdy with 100+ Red Kite, 20+ Buzzard, 50+ Skylark, 60+ Fieldfare, 80+ Redwing and singles of Egyptian Goose, Bullfinch, Snipe and Curlew.

2 dips in a week isn’t something I’ve been used to in recent years so let’s hope that’s the end of my run of bad luck!

Donna Nook - 27.10.24

I’d visited this site once before for a Glaucous Gull in the seal colony on the way home from a twitch. But todays visit with Brendon and Ricky was for something much smaller and rarer. The bird in question was the UK’s 9th Black-faced Bunting. It’d been found on the Friday north of the car park and Saturday it was trapped and ringed 2 miles south and brought back to the car park to be released. 

It showed briefly on and off for the rest of the day and so Sunday saw us there but despite giving it nearly 6 hours it wasn’t seen and we all left empty handed. 

We were kept entertained though with 3 groups of Whooper Swan totalling 39 birds flying south, 2 juvenile Spoonbill, 6 Greenshank, Peregrine, Marsh Harrier and both Brent and Pink-footed Geese.

Spoonbill

Watford - 16.10.24

Back at work after my trip to Scilly and whilst in Callowland Rec I heard then saw a singing Firecrest. This was the 3rd I’d found at work this year and is probably the same bird I had here in 2023? One species that’s definitely expanding its range locally. 

Scilly - 11.10.24

Black Redstart

Our final day on the islands had already arrived and so after breakfast we were walking past Porthcressa just as a Black Redstart was found and it showed well in front of the laundrette. 2 Whooper Swan headed out into the bay past Morning Point then had second thoughts and flew back.

Whinchat

As we hadn’t been over to the east side of St.Mary’s all week that’s where we headed hearing a Yellow-browed Warbler calling from Lower Moors area on the way. Another was heard at Higher Moors. By Porthellick Pool a Reed Warbler was seen briefly and a Yellow Wagtail was heard from neighbouring fields. Up at Carn Friars a Whinchat showed well along the edge of the horse paddock. 

As we walked past Normandy I picked up a goose in with a couple of Pheasant. It was a Pink-footed Goose and presumably the same bird that favoured the same area last year. 

Great Northern Diver

Watermill Cove was the next stop where despite it not having been reported for 2 days I quickly re found the winter plumaged Great Northern Diver just to the north off of Innisidgen. As we were there a message came through of an Osprey over the western end of St.Martin’s. I started scanning over the area of Lower Town and managed to find it as it flew off west. 

As our tummies were grumbling we thought we’d go and get something to eat at Juliet’s Garden and whilst walking down Porthloo Lane the radios burst into life with the news of a Black Kite heading towards Telegraph. Typically we’d only just been there but we found a gap in the hedge and looked back towards the tower and we were rewarded with distant views of it as it circled around before it dropped behind the trees. My 3rd in the UK, 4th if you include the Lincs Black-eared Kite. 

Isabelline Wheatear

After some food we stopped off at Porthloo beach and had 4 Bar-tailed Godwit in amongst the other waders then it was off up to Star Castle. Here we eventually had crippling views of my 3rd ever Isabelline Wheatear as it fed on the hotel lawn before it flew up and over the castle.

A Great end to the day with the Wheatear being my 200th species for the year. 

So the trip ended with 118 species seen including 5 Scilly ticks and 23 year ticks. Sadly no mega/lifer to get the adrenaline flowing but still a great week. Roll on 2025.

Scilly - 10.10.24

The morning was a quiet one with nothing of note seen. That was until news popped up on the WhatsApp group of an Olive-backed Pipit on St.Agnes. Needing this for my Scilly list we jumped on the boat and were some of the first on site at the bulb dump. Within 30 seconds it popped out onto the short grass and started feeding and showing well. It was also my first anywhere for 21 years and just my 3rd ever so a great bird all round. 

Olive-backed Pipit

In the last field at Browarth was a lone Pink-footed Goose and this was followed by another 28 Barnacle Geese over on Annet.

A Spotted Flycatcher was just down the road past The Parsonage and even evaded a Sparrowhawk attack.

Snow Bunting

After a spot of lunch we took a wander down to the Troy Town maze area where a Snow Bunting was showing very well. It was just after leaving this bird we heard that the Olive-backed Pipit had amazingly been joined by another one so off to the bulb dump we went. They had gone into a patch of tall dense weeds no bigger than a pool table but were tricky to see. I did managed to see both in the same scope view a couple of times and they did fly out and perched in nearby hedges a couple of times. With these two birds I’d doubled the number I’d seen in the UK! 

As I was watching the pipits the radio crackled with the news of a Marsh Harrier over Annet so I clambered up the bank around Porth Killier and scoped the island and thankfully got on it straight away and that was my number 1 Scilly ‘tarts’ tick finally seen.

Aurora!

After dinner I went along to the Scillonian club for the auction of artwork of the late Scilly regular Wayne Collingham who sadly passed away earlier in the year but it was interrupted by news of the Northern Lights showing outside! The auction raised just shy of £2000 for the ISBG so a great success and it was on the way home from the log that the aurora became bright enough to be seen by the naked eye. I headed up to the health centre where it was a bit darker and took the above photos. Sadly there was just a bit too much cloud for clear pics but to have seen it twice in the same year is one of the highlights of the year for me.