Scilly - 11.10.17

An injured looking 1st Winter Mediterranean Gull was on Porthloo Beach.

Red Squirrel

Portuguese Man o' War

After a call from Ricky we headed up to Buzza Hill where after a short wait we had good views of the juvenile Rose-coloured Starling despite the wind.

To boost the trip list we headed over to Tresco. The wind and rain made things tricky but we cleared up the stuff on the Great Pool. On Pentile Bay I counted 80 Sanderling and a lone Dunlin and as we were heading to the Abbey Pool I put up a Reed Bunting that was a Scilly tick for Rick. As we approached the pool everything took off including the 6 Pink-feet which was another tick for Rick! The drake Pintail flew behind us and onto the list. The only other notable thing we saw was some Red Squirrels including a young one found dying on a path. Probably fell out of a tree in the wind.

Back on St.Mary's another 1st Winter Med Gull was in Porthcressa bay along with my first ever Portuguese Man o' Wars.

Scilly 12.10.17

Wilson's Snipe (front bird)

The day started at Porthloo again but apart from a Peregrine sat on Taylors Island it was very quiet. 3 Portuguese Man o' War were on the beach.

On entering Old Town churchyard I picked out a Firecrest feeding in Ivy. This was my 50th in the UK!

Single Yellow-browed Warblers were at the southern end of Lower Moors and up at Shooters Pool.

On Porth Hellick Pool myself and Brendon finally caught up with the Wilson's Snipe that was in with around 25 of its Common cousins. A lifer for Bren and Ricky who'd seen it earlier and my second.

Up on the airfield the Isabelline Wheatear was still present though even more distant than the last time we saw it! 3 Swallow were around the terminal building.

The last bird of the day was another Yellow-browed Warbler behind Castle Cottages, Old Town.

Scilly - 13.10.17

Friday the 13th today so it was bound to be an unlucky last day in the field! How wrong was I?!

A pager message the previous evening was saying that a probable Orphean Warbler sp had been seen on St.Agnes but was elusive. The early boat over there left at 8.45 but we chose to not to go. Instead we went up Penninis for a wander. A dozen Snipe flying over was the birding highlight and a brief Minke Whale was the highlight on the sea! We headed down towards Old Town and had a spot of brunch. The 10.15 boat came and went and a bit later news filtered through that the Orphean Warbler had been re-found. With this news we walked towards the quay to get in the queue for the 12.15 boat but as thee were so many birders waiting they organised it to leave early. I had texted Cliff Smith who had been on the early boat to find out some news and he'd replied he'd seen it 4-5 times but briefly each time. It sounded promising!

We arrived on site and the narrow lane very quickly became filed with around 200 birders! Cliff came over to me to say that one birder had had very good views of it when it was re-found and that it had dark chevrons on the undertail which surely meant it would be an Eastern race bird and a 1st for Britain! After over an hour of waiting and only having Blackcaps to keep us on our toes it suddenly appeared out of nowhere flew over our heads and back again and vanished into the large hedges. Another 20 minutes or so passed before it showed again, this time zooming into a Tamarisk in the corner of the field but showing off its back,rump and tail very nicely including the white outer-tail feathers. Another wait ensued before I picked it up in flight only for it to vanish again! Will Scott then radioed over the CB that he had it in a hedge behind the fields we were looking at so we all had a mad rush round towards the church to try and get a viewing point through the gap in the tack side hedge. I walked up from the main group and joined Brendon at a small gap where after a nervous wait I picked it up showing the brown colouring on the head etc but it again quickly disappeared. With this most people were happy with their views and headed back to get the boat but not before a celebratory pint in the Turks Head!

As I type this 2 weeks later things have changed dramatically with regards to this bird. Photos a couple of days after our viewings showed a spread tail shot and it was believed to fit the Western race. But then more photos emerged especially 1 from Adrian Webb that showed the dark undertail chevrons mentioned on the first morning. After a bit of digging from Bob Flood and Ashley Fisher and an email exchange with Lars Svennson it was then confirmed as an EASTERN ORPHEAN WARBLER and with it a 1st for Britain! What a finish to our trip to Scilly!

ROCK THRUSH! - 14.10.17

After misreading of the time of our flight we arrived at the airport 20 minutes earlier than we needed to but thankfully our flight wasn't cancelled this time! We landed and packed up the car and headed for home. Via Gwent!

Rock Thrush

7 Years ago I headed to the Blorenge, a lovely bit of South Wales for a Marmora's Warbler and after dipping the first weekend I was successful the following weekend. Never did I think I'd ever go back there but as it was only a short detour it would have been rude not to! After 4 hours or so we arrived on site and headed off for the mile or so walk. Eventually we found the gathered group of birders all peering up the cliff face and there it was my first ever ROCK THRUSH! Even with a hint of orange and blue it was pretty well camouflaged but not well enough to avoid the unwanted attention of the local Meadow Pipits and Wheatear who kept moving it on. Due to my wife being home alone with the littlun and having been struck down with the sickness bug that had been doing the rounds we couldn't stay too long as I had to get back and take over!

Both Rock + Blue Rock Thrush falling within 11 months wasn't something I had even thought of happening and to get another chance at Rock Thrush so quickly after not being able to get down for the Scilly bird in the Spring was a real bonus. I got home about 6 pm having had an excellent 9 days with Ricky and Brendon. The total for the trip was 114 species which included 3 Mega lifers.

Wilstone - 2.10.17

The hoped for Knot, Whinchat and Spotted Flycatcher had vanished and it was much the same on the every increasing mud. The only thing of interest was a Bar-headed Goose from the jetty!

Wilstone - 30.9.17

A Raven over the car near Bourne End was a nice surprise and on Wilstone itself were 6 Black-tailed Godwit, Green Sand and a male Pintail. But the group of 7 Ruff was my largest count of this species ever in Herts.

American Redstart!! - 16/17.9.17

American Redstart

The last time an American Redstart put in an appearance in Britain I was 10 years old. I recently turned 42 so us birders had been waiting a long time for another one. So when one was found on Barra, W.Isles I thought it'd be another 32 years until I see one. But after a few days on site Craig Fulcher asked if I'd be interested in going. After last years dip of the Black-billed Cuckoo on the W.Isles I was in two minds but not for long and the evening of the 15th saw me take a drive to Suffolk where I joined Craig, Eddie Marsh and Nathaniel Cant (nice to meet you both) for the long journey up to Oban. We were about 15 minutes from Oban when the news we had been waiting for came through that the bird was still present. Once in Oban we had a couple of hours to kill before the ferry so after a fry up and a quick bit of birding which gave me a couple of year ticks in the shape of Hooded Crow and Black Guillemot we boarded the ferry for the near 5 hour crossing to the island of Barra.

As we passed through the Sound of Barra I got sight of 2 White-tailed Eagle sat on an island. Over Mull itself a Golden Eagle was avoiding the attention of the many corvids around including around half a dozen Raven. Once we had cleared Mull we were in a stretch of water called The Minch which produced some good birds many of which were year ticks. A Manx Shearwater was joined by 5 Great Skua, Arctic Skua, Grey Phalarope and I personally saw 2 of 6 Storm Petrels. Non birding highlights were a Basking Shark, Harbour Porpoise and Common Dolphin.

We finally arrived at Castlebay and after a short while arrived at Eoligarry church. We were greeted by the finder of the bird who kindly informed us of its presence. We got into position and within a couple of minutes 25 of us were watching the 1st Winter female AMERICAN REDSTART as it flitted around a Sycamore tree and twice perching on the wall giving great views and flashing its yellow tail panels. Over the following hour it became more and more elusive as the temperature dropped and the light faded. Happy we went to our digs for the night and headed out for dinner. The only trouble was that the 2 hotels in Castlebay stopped serving food at 8.30 and 8.45pm on a Saturday night! Thankfully a curry house prepared us a takeaway that we ate at our lodgings. The night passed too quickly and at &.50am the ferry left back towards Oban.

The return journey was less eventful birdwise but we did manage 2 more Golden Eagles and a mammal tick with brief views of 4-5 Atlantic White-sided Dolphins. I crawled into bed at 12.20am Monday morning exhausted but with a 6th for Britain on my list! Many thanks go to Craig for the driving and Eddie and Nat for the good company.

Herts Tick! - 12.9.17

White-winged Black Tern

During a drink break at work I checked Twitter and read that a Black Tern had been found on the fishing pit at Tyttenhanger GP's. A good record I thought as I'd only seen the one there many years ago. It was while having lunch the first photo appeared on Twitter and I immediately thought that doesn't look right for a Black Tern! Another photo was posted showing a black underwing. It was a White-winged Black Tern! Only trouble was I couldn't get there for another 4 hours so I had to hope it stuck around. Thankfully it did and on arrival I found it sat on one of the islands. It had a brief fly around before landing again. After missing the last 4 or 5 birds due to being at work or in Norfolk it was a relief to finally add it to my Herts list. A Yellow Wagtail flew over as I walked back to the car.
A big thanks to my mate Steve Blake for finding it!

Wilstone - 9,9,17

A wander around failed to produce the Knot, Spotted Flycatcher and Whinchat that I hoped for but there was still an impressive list of species seen.

The Spotted Redshank and Ruff had been joined by 4 Black-tailed Godwit, 2 Dunlin, 2 Greenshank and 4 Redshank. the 4 Black Tern were also still present.

and as I've forgotten to post a visit there on the 31st August I'll mention here the highlights. a Pink-footed Goose that I picked up as it landed infront of the hide was unexpected, 15 Little Egret was a nice count and an eclipse drake Garganey made the notebook.

Wilstone - 6.9.17

Due to the ever increasing amount of mud the reservoir was now attracting good number s of waders. A Spotted Redshank was the highlight albeit distantly and 4 Black Tern were also new in.