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 2024? 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. 

Scilly - 9.10.24

Having dried out from yesterday’s deluge we headed up to Peninnis again to try and see the elusive Wryneck. Again we failed and to make matters worse when I was down looking for it both Brendon and Ian Williams had had 3 geese fly over. They shouted at me but due to the wind I didn’t hear them and so I missed a Scilly tick of 3 Barnacle Geese. 

With that disappointment myself and Brendon headed over to Bryher to try for another potential Scilly tick. 2 Great White Egret were in Tresco channel and as we arrived on Bryher another one flew off to join them. Before I’d even left the quay the radio burst into life with news of an Osprey nearby and sure enough there it was heading towards Tresco. 

Every time I go to Bryher I managed to take a wrong turn or get lost and today was no difference and we ended up walking around the south side of Samson Hill instead of heading straight to Popplestone Beach  but it did pay off with a Firecrest by the boatyard. 

Eventually we arrived at Heathy Hill and after a short wait a group of tourists walked down a path and flushed out the Hoopoe that’d been present for a couple of days. Sadly it took flight and headed around the back of the hill and was then seen over the boatyard heading towards Tresco. Not the best views I’ve ever had of one but a Scilly tick all the same and considering some people on site missed it completely we were lucky. My luck then improved when a Barnacle Goose flew past just offshore. 2 Scilly ticks in 30 seconds!

Dave Hall then mentioned a Grey Plover on a small island off of Stony Porth. We saw that and for me it was an embarrassing year tick!

Whooper Swan

Happy with the morning so far we said let’s go celebrate with a cuppa at the Hell Bay hotel (don’t do it unless you want to pay £9 for two teas!) but before we got there on the neighbouring Great Pool was a Whooper Swan with its Mute cousins.

Barnacle Geese

And on Gweal Island were 16 more Barnacle Geese! The northerly winds were obviously helping with their arrival.

Mauve Stinger Jellyfish 

As the boat was arriving soon we decided to to try and see if we could spot the Spoonbill on Green Island. Thankfully we were successful albeit it was distant. From the jetty I spotted my first ever Mauve Stinger jellyfish. 

An Arctic Tern was spotted just off of Tresco on the way back and being glutton for punishment we popped back to Peninnis for another crack at the Wryneck. This time though we had more luck as I managed to pick it out perched up. It then decided to show on and off for the next 20 minutes. 

Goose Barnacles

Our last stop of the day was at Porth Thomas where a 30ft long log had been washed up and it was covered in Goose Barnacles. This was the first time I’d seen these but sadly there were no Columbus Crabs seen with them.

I wonder how many people have seen Barnacle Goose and Goose Barnacles on the same day before?!

Scilly - 8.10.24

As I stepped out of our accommodation I could hear my first Redwings of the autumn closely followed by a Merlin zooming low and catching a House Sparrow. 

The Short-toed Lark was still in its favoured field on Peninnis. This bird is my 8th on Scilly and I’m still yet to see one away from the isles.

Ortolan Bunting

Up near the airport a small field held numerous Linnets and in with them was a juvenile Ortolan Bunting which showed well on occasion but often vanished in the weeds.  

Dotterel

A long walk up to Telegraph produced a Whinchat at the back of one of the fields and from the edge of the golf course a distant juvenile Dotterel and 3 Wheatear. 

A Great White Egret was at Porthloo and my final stop was Standing Stones field where I had decent views of a Sedge Warbler. 

Golden twin-spot

At the evening log Jacob Everitt brought in Scilly’s 3rd and my 1st ever Golden twin-spot moth.

Scilly - 7.10.24

5 Mediterranean Gulls were at Porthcressa beach and just out at sea 10+ Cory’s Shearwaters flew past. St.Agnes was the island of choice today and as we were sat on the boat waiting to leave a Golden Plover flew over. Once on Aggy we failed to see the reported Red-breasted Flycatcher or Barred Warbler but Spotted Flycatcher and Yellow-browed Warbler were had by the Fruitcages. 

Fly over Snipe were seen at Coastguards and Big Pool and a Black Redstart was on Pericles beach. 

The heavens opened on the boat back and we were soaked quite literally to the skin. Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Scilly - 6.10.24

Little Tern taken by Brendon

We awoke to news of a Scilly mega on Porthcressa so we quickly got dressed and power walked down there and thankfully the bird was still present feeding just offshore. The bird in question was a 1st winter Little Tern! Apparently at one point it’d almost flown out of the bay but returned and even sat on the beach a couple of times. It was my first Scilly tick of the week and a nice bonus before breakfast!

Great White Egret

We returned after breakfast to find the tern had vanished but present were Sandwich Tern, 2 Mediterranean Gulls and a Great White Egret. We then walked up the Garrison noting nothing along the Lower Brooke platform but as I arrived at Morning Point I inadvertently flushed a Whimbrel off the rocks below. At the dead pines walk we had not 1 but 4 Spotted Flycatchers. 

In Old Town bay we had another Great White Egret and the Little Tern again.

Tawny Pipit

We then wandered up to the airport and as it was a Sunday we could walk onto the airfield where we eventually had great views of just my 3rd ever Tawny Pipit.

Red-backed Shrike

After our fill of that we visited Porth Minick where our second juvenile Red-backed Shrike of the week showed well at the back of the field. News then reached us of a Jack Snipe at Lower Moors so off we went  and after a while it crept out from the sedges in the bottom corner and started bobbing. 

Porthloo beach held a number of Ringed Plover and one of them I picked out was colour ringed. Thanks to Bob Dawson it was identified as having been ringed in Holland in 2019 and had visited Scilly numerous times but this was the first sighting there for nearly 2 years.

Cattle Egret

Our final stop was Sandy Lane where in with a field containing a few cows were 4 of their namesake Cattle Egret. A Firecrest was the last bird of the day to enter my notebook. 

 

Scilly - 5.10.24

Short-toed Lark

We started the day at Porthcressa where 2 Mediterranean Gulls were feeding just off the beach before we headed back up to Peninnis to try and see a Wryneck. We had great views of the Short-toed Lark again along with 2 Wheatear by the lighthouse. The Wryneck wasn’t seen so I had a quick sea watch where  4 Cory’s Shearwaters were seen. 

In Old Town churchyard a Pied Flycatcher made its way onto my year list before we headed off to Carreg Dhu gardens. 2 Raven showed well in a field near Parting Carn before we entered the gardens rear entrance. It was here that Will Scott’s voice boomed over the CB radio saying he had an unusual hirundine pretty much over where we were standing. We got onto it and it was a very tatty looking thing but eventually it was ID’d as a House Martin with strange wing moult. Just my second Scilly Great White Egret flew over the gardens too looking somewhat out of place.

Wheatear

 

Cornwall + Scilly 4.10.24

Red-backed Shrike

Another year has passed and so it was that time of year to head down to the SW for a day in Cornwall and a week on Scilly. This plan didn’t happen as the bad weather had caused the Scillonian III to be cancelled on the Saturday and as that’s usually the last mode of transport to be cancelled I decided that rather than risk being stuck in Cornwall until Monday I cancelled my flight and booked onto Fridays sailing instead. I was this year joined by Brendon Fagan and so at midnight we set off and arrived at the Hayle Estuary about 6.30am and had a quick scan of Ryan’s Field. Here I year ticked Bar-tailed Godwit and also noted 2 Kingfisher and 3 Raven. 

We then headed to Penzance and parked up and wandered round to get on the boat. Some familiar faces were on board and as we waited to set sail I thought I could hear Chough calling and sure enough I wasn’t hearing things as heading south right over the boat was a flock of 27 Chough! This was by far the biggest flock of this species I’d ever seen.

The sailing was a good one both sea state and birdwise. 3 more year ticks were seen with 35+ Cory’s, 14+ Great and 2 Balearic Shearwaters noted. 

Once on Scilly we headed straight up to Peninnis where after a few minutes we saw the Short-toed Lark in a bulb field. Just after we’d seen this a Merlin flew over. Standing Stones field was our next stop where we immediately got onto the juvenile Red-backed Shrike. 2 Yellow-browed Warbler were heard in the NE corner of the field but not seen. A Wheatear at Porthloo beach was just my 4th of the year. It was good to be back albeit a day earlier than planned.

 

East Yorkshire- 29.9.24

Pale-legged Leaf Warbler. Photo courtesy of Damian Money

The winds had been blowing from far to the east and so birders were hoping for something stupidly rare being blown to our shores. On the 25th Andy Hood found a wing barred warbler at Bempton Cliffs RSPB that he couldn’t put a name to even with a strange call. On the 27th it was sound recorded and identified as Britain’s 2nd Pale-legged Leaf Warbler! The first had been found dead on St.Agnes,Scilly in 2016 after it’d flown into a window and identified from DNA. Back in 2012 a bird was seen in a garden on Portland,Dorset but was identified to species as Sakhalin Leaf Warbler couldn’t be ruled out. 

I could go Saturday which was probably just as well as the crowds looked horrendous even tho everyone got acceptable views in the end so plans were hatched to team up with the Moreton brothers. 

We left early and despite me coming off a junction early and adding 20 minutes to the journey we arrived just after 7.30am and met Dave Woodhouse who had seen it the previous day and told us it’s favoured areas. The bird could be heard giving a strange Bullfinch like call and every so often would sit in full view briefly. George and Matt both had these good views but I managed to miss them. Eventually after an hour or so I finally laid eyes on my first ever PALE-LEGGED LEAF WARBLER deep in a Hawthorn bush and despite the dark conditions you could see all its salient features. As soon as it moved on eyes moved upwards as my first Yellow-browed Warbler of the year showed well in the tree above. Tree Sparrows were also nice to see seeing as they’re now pretty much extinct in Herts.

Siberian Stonechat

Happy with seeing the mega we then walked south along the coast path for about 30 minutes where we searched for George’s second lifer of the morning. We scanned the area it’d been in the previous day to no avail so decided to head back only for us to spot 2 birds the other side of the large mound. The first bird was a year tick Whinchat and the second a nice Siberian Stonechat that started preening showing off its peach coloured rump. 2 ticks down for George with 1 more to go. 

Icterine Warbler

We then headed to Flamborough Head. We parked up opposite the Viking Pub and walked to the nearby sewage works. Here we immediately got onto the Icterine Warbler in the nearest shrubs. George’s third tick of the day to which I said it was disgraceful to tick that after the Pale-legged! Another Yellow-browed Warbler was heard calling in nearby trees and the my first Red-breasted Flycatcher since 2020 flew into the same shrubs as the Icky. 

Another great days birding in East Yorkshire. Just a shame it’s not a bit closer to home!

 

Hemel - 31.8.24

The previous day I’d got up early to sit in the garden hoping for a flyover Tree Pipit. Sadly none were to be seen. 

Fast forward to today and a morning in the garden cutting the lawn etc also failed to produce but after lunch I went out to put some rubbish in the bin and low and behold the familiar call of a Tree Pipit filled the air. I managed to pick it up as it flew high west. This was the 4th occasion and the 5th bird over my garden in the 10 years living here.

Wilstone- 30.8.24

Birthday birding again and the last one of my 40’s! A morning wandering around Wilstone produced 3 year ticks which were all seen from the hide. They were 2 Green Sandpiper, 2 juvenile Greenshank and 2 Hobby. A Kingfisher was also a patchwork challenge year tick. 

3 Raven were to the north of the reservoir and 2 Wigeon were I think the first returning birds of the autumn. 

Greenshank

Normandy Marsh + Acres Down - 8.6.24

I joined Matt Moreton on the trip down to Hampshire. As he had to drop his brother off at Luton airport at 4am he picked me up on the way back and so we were on site around 7am. We wandered around the sea wall and joined 4 other birders but nobody had had any sign of our target species. 

I cheated a bit and scanned Twitter and using video and photos already posted I worked out roughly where we should be looking and picked out a white blob tucked in the long grass and weeds but despite the odd shuffle it refused to show.

Avocet

Redshank

Whilst waiting we had a scan around and I managed to pick up a few year ticks. 4 summer plumage Mediterranean Gulls were distant alongside 20+ Sandwich Tern. A few Avocet were dotted about with young and a Cuckoo was heard. 2 drake Eider were on the sea. 

Just before 9am and when Matt was going to call it a day as he’d gone in just a short sleeved shirt and was freezing cold despite it being June the bird in question decided to finally move and as hoped it was one of the breeding pair of Roseate Tern. It clambered out of the weeds to the front of the island, had a poo and a quick fly about before walking back to the nest being on show for about 30 seconds! A tick for Matt and my 6th. 

With it in the notebook we went back to the car to warm up and decided to head to Acres Down just up the road. As soon as we got out the car we heard a couple of singing Firecrest and another Cuckoo. From the viewpoint we both picked up a chunky bird fly up into a Silver Birch tree and Matt exclaimed Hawfinch! A nice male sat there just long enough to get good views in the bins but then flew off. We then noticed some birds mobbing something in the nearby trees so we headed in to investigate and had 2 Tawny Owl fly off ahead of us. 

Lesser Grey Shrike + Northern Lights! - 10.5.24

Lesser Grey Shrike

There I was just about to settle down for my lunch when James Reader forwarded a message on WhatsApp with news of a Lesser Grey Shrike near the village of Lilley. Having never birder this corner of Herts before I awaited further news and directions and at 3pm I finished work and set off. 50 minutes later and I was on site and found a parking spot right by the entrance to the footpath. After a quick 5 minute walk I joined 5 other birders and was rewarded with excellent views of Hertfordshire’s first ever Lesser Grey Shrike as it flycatched from the trees. 

This was just my 3rd in the UK after a female in Suffolk and a 1st year bird just last October in Cornwall. After 20 minutes I headed back home but not before also seeing a Lesser Whitethroat and a year tick Corn Bunting which was singing from just off the footpath. 

WOW!

A couple of day’s previous my mum had sent me a message saying that there could be a showing of the Northern Lights as the Sun had blasted out a flare of severe magnitude but after many false alerts I wasn’t holding my breath. But as it was upon checking Twitter and a couple of photos from Ben Miller from nearby Berkhamsted of a faint bit of colour above I jumped in my car and drove up to Great Gaddesden where it’s a bit darker but apart from a vague bit of green I was left disappointed.

That was until I got back home and climbed out of my car and looked up to see vivid pink and green in the sky! I walked into the front room and told my wife who joined me in the garden as it picked up and filled the whole sky from west to east. I woke our kids up just so they could see it and I managed some great photos on my phone complete with many colours. Seeing the aurora borealis was high on my bucket list but I didn’t expect to see them over the house! After about 40 minutes they faded away but the memory of it won’t.

Alpine Accentor - 5.5.24

 

Alpine Accentor

There I was mowing the grass at home when a message came through of an Alpine Accentor having been found in Buckinghamshire of all places by a man looking for rare mosses! A few minutes later it was revealed to be in Pitstone Quarry and became the first modern day inland record!! Sadly like the Stilt it was within view of the Herts border but refused to budge. 

I contacted Ben Miller who was on site and said it’d gone missing for the last 90 minutes so I carried on gardening. George Moreton called a bit later to say he was watching it so I decided to head up and nabbed Ben’s parking spot. Access into the quarry was fun and after a gruelling few minutes I joined the group of birders watching the bird and was treated to excellent views of it feeding on a small cliff face. This was much better viewing than my only previous record at Minsmere back in 2002. I watched it for about 20 minutes or so before joining Matt and his wife on a much nicer walk back to the car. Yellowhammer and Lesser Whitethroat were nice bonus year ticks. 

Cassiobury- 1.5.24

An early start at work due to after school childcare problems proved to be a good thing as upon arrival and whilst unlocking the front gates to our yard I heard a Firecrest singing from trees near the tennis courts! My 2nd self found Firecrest this year while at work. 10 minutes later and it’d moved north into the park and that was it.

Herts Local Patch Competition - 27-28.4.24

Another year had passed and it was time for the local patch competition. I was on site at 5.10am at Wilstone Reservoir but sadly it was raining and did so for the first 3 hours and even sat in the hide it was freezing cold. 

Hirundines started appearing including my first House Martins of the year. Common Tern and Sedge Warbler were also year firsts and just as I was leaving the hide Ian Williams said he had a Swift near the car park steps. Another year tick and brought up 150 species for the year. A couple of Reed Warbler were had at cemetery corner before I ventured over to the other reservoirs. News was coming in of tern movement in surrounding counties so it wasn’t much of a surprise when I’d finished walking around Tringford Reservoir that Dave Bilcock had a found a Little Tern back at Wilstone. I rushed back and got onto it. 30 minutes after it was found it flew up and away to the SW having only been seen by 5 of us. It was just my 2nd for Tring and 3rd for Herts. It was also the rarest bird seen in the county that weekend so has won me the prize of a painting of the bird by Matt Moreton. A nice Arctic Tern was also seen and the number had risen to 3 by the time I left to visit College Lake and Pitstone Quarry. 

Even though I couldn’t count what was at College Lake as it was just in Bucks I still popped in and saw the 2 Barnacle Geese present one of which has a yellow ring Y65 which was from one of the feral populations from Bedfordshire. The quarry was full of water which after the amount of rain we’ve had recently was much of a surprise.

12.5 hours later and I’d seen 68 species but was miles behind the leaders.

Black-winged Stilt

With heavy rain forecast for most of the morning I decided to have a lay in before heading back up but as it was I felt a bit rubbish and was preparing to miss the whole day. But as is so often with birding a good bird turns up and this time it was a female Black-winged Stilt just over the border in Bucks. I predicted the future by saying it’d avoid setting down in Herts and go to College Lake. Frustratingly it was seen to fly into Herts airspace and guess what? It was then seen at College Lake! Having seen the pair there 5 years previously I wasn’t going to bother but after being told it was flighty  went hoping it’d do the right thing  sadly it didn’t and just fed at the far side of the reserve before falling asleep just as the reserve closed. Still a nice addition to the patchwork challenge if nothing else. Common Sandpiper was a year tick and a pair of Shelduck dropped in for all of 3 minutes.

Norfolk Weekend - 20-21.4.24

As it was my step mothers 60th birthday we popped up for the weekend arriving Friday evening after a nightmare 4 and a 1/4 hour journey. Saturday morning dawned and as the rest of the family decided to use the in-site pool I headed over to Winterton Dunes for a couple of hours birding. The dunes themselves were dead so I tucked myself up behind one of the huts in the car park and had a seawatch. 

The first bird of note was a year tick Whimbrel that headed north just offshore. A little while later I picked up a distant small duck that was heading towards me. It then banked and headed north showing it to be a drake Garganey which was my first ever from a seawatch! Another Whimbrel, 6 Brent Geese and 100+ Gannet were also noted. The last good bird was a brief adult Yellow-legged Gull in the car park which was sadly flushed by dogs. 

Sunday and it was time for home. A quick stop off at Foxholes Heath in Suffolk drew a blank for Stone Curlews and apparently it turned out they’d not been seen there for a couple of years. 3 male Wheatear were some nice compensation though.

Another stop at Sandon in Herts failed again for Corn Bunting but 4 male Yellow Wagtail were stood on the road and made the year list. 

Leavsden - 2.4.24

Driving home from my mums I got stuck in a little bit of traffic just outside Leavsden Studios (of Harry Potter fame) and heard a Whitethroat singing from the hedge out front. Magical!

County Tick - 30.3.24

News had emerged of Goshawks being present in Herts and so on the Easter Saturday I was up early and headed the 20 or so minutes over to the site and parked up. I got myself set up and prepared for a long wait. 3 minutes later and I noticed 3 birds circling over the front edge of the woods so I got my scope on them. The first 2 were Buzzards and the 3rd was of a similar size but slate grey on the upper parts, whitish underparts and showed a fairly distinct white supercilium. It was a female Goshawk! This was my first county tick since the Green-winged Teal in January 2022.

It circled around again before it suddenly dived into the trees presumably hunting and vanished. I hung around for another 40 minutes and noted 20+ Buzzard, 25+ Red Kite, 4 Stock Dove, 6+ Lesser Redpoll and a single Sparrowhawk. 

Tring + College Lake

Just my second visit of the year to Tring started off well with a small group of Sand Martin in the NW corner along with a single Swallow. By the Waddesden Estate gate near the path up to the dry canal I heard a Willow Warbler singing and just my 2nd patch RN Parakeet flew west. 150+ Golden Plover were seen to the north of Wilstone in flight and the Pink-footed Goose was still present. The other 3 reservoirs held nothing of note but College Lake had 2 Oystercatchers, 2 Redshank and 5 Snipe which were my first of the year! 

Scotland Day 2

Black Guillemot

Black Guillemot

Red-breasted Merganser

After an indifferent nights sleep and morning fry up we headed back to Saltcoats where even before the car had stopped I picked out a couple of stunning Black Guillemots. In the end we had 10 birds and they were showing so well we could hear them calling and see them swimming underwater. Singles of Razorbill and Red-breasted Merganser were also seen along with yesterdays 3 Purple Sandpipers.

Bullfinch

We then headed up to Lochwinnoch RSPB reserve in another new birding county for me Renfrewshire.  We crossed over the road and walked down the track to view over Barr Loch. Scattered over this Loch and Castle Semple Loch on the other part of the reserve were over 50 Goldeneye and a dozen Goosander. But the main prize on Barr Loch was the female Lesser Scaup that I managed to pick out in with a group of tufties. This was my 3rd in Britain but my first female. A female Long-tailed Duck was on Castle Semple Loch and a very showy pair of Bullfinch were seen in roadside bushes. 

After a quick cuppa we headed for home and I arrived back about 8pm. Thanks to Brendon for the fantastic driving even when full of lurgy and to Rick as usual for his company. 

Durham + Scotland

Yellow-rumped Warbler

Last autumn saw the biggest number of American passerines to ever appear on our shores with mega rarities from Scilly to Shetland and so it was hoped that during the winter some more would be unearthed. 

A Northern Waterthrush in Essex wasn’t what I’d hoped for as I’d seen the Scilly bird back in 2011 but then news broke on the 20th February of a Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler visiting a garden in Ayrshire. This one I did need having not being able to get up for the last mainland bird in Durham 10 years previously. 

Plans were made to head up with Chris Sharp but they were cancelled when he was told he had ‘his own surprise’ retirement party to attend! 

More plans were then made with Brendon Fagan and Ricky Flesher and so at 5am we headed north but not straight to Scotland but first to County Durham. We had a quick stop at Barnard Castle not to check our eyesight but to try for Dipper. Sadly the river level was too high and so we struck out. 

Langdon Beck was our next stop. This was a new site for me and looked very impressive and even more so when we spotted a couple of nice male Black Grouse. These were embarrassingly my first since I ticked them in Scotland way back in 1991! Further down the road we did see a Dipper on a small river and then Rick picked out a Red Grouse. A Barn Owl flying just after 11am was a bit of a surprise as were displaying Curlew which I can’t recall having seen before. 

After our fill in England we headed north of the border and arrived at Kilwinning just after 3pm. We parked up, crossed the road and walked through 2 sets of doors in a housing block and into the tiny garden where we joined 4 other birders. After a couple of minutes we heard a call very reminiscent of Long-tailed Tit but it was coming from a pale bird with a yellow rump! Eventually it came down to feed on the numerous bird feeders and showed brilliantly on and off. I was watching my first ever YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER which was my 9th species of American wood warbler (my favourite family group).

After taking it in for about half an hour we moved onto Saltcoats. Here we checked the harbour for Black Guillemots but they weren’t around. 3 Purple Sandpiper were thought along with many Eider and a handful of year ticks out at sea. By now we were all knackered and hungry so retired to our hotel for dinner and sleep.