Norfolk - 17.10.26

As it was my dad’s birthday we popped up for the weekend to celebrate with him with a night at the dog racing in Great Yarmouth. But during the day we went to Winterton-on-sea so the kids could play on the beach and also see the seals. I on the other hand had a half hour seawatch as the northerly gales were producing some decent birds all around the East Anglian coast. 

Good numbers of Brent Geese and Wigeon were seen, as well as 7 Red-throated Diver, 9 Common Scoter, 2 Redshank and 11 Meadow Pipit coming in off.

I then spent the last bit of daylight looking out from Second Avenue, Caister-on-sea whilst everyone went swimming. The main highlight here was a Norfolk tick Grey Phalarope that headed north. Other notables were 2 Bar-tailed Godwit, 6 Pintail, 3 Dunlin, Curlew and a Red-breasted Merganser. Sadly I wish I’d had more time as I’m sure I’d have seen some other goodies but family first!

Scilly - 9.10.26

 Just as I thought that the previous days birding was one of my worst today happened!

5 Golden Plover were seen on Peninnis, the Sora was seen again and in Standing Stones I picked up a female Reed Bunting!

So the end of another week on the isles and a total of 120 species seen. But for the first time I failed to add a new bird to my Scilly list. Thanks again to Mark for use of his photos and company. We'll do it all again next year.

Scilly - 8.10.26

The northerly wind made the days birding very difficult. In fact it was up there with one of the worst days birding I’d had on the isles.

My notebook contained 3 species. These were the Little Porth Black Redstart for the 3rd time, a Grey Phalarope showing well off Steval and finally 2 Bar-tailed Godwit on Porthloo!

Grey Phalarope

Scilly - 7.10.26

4 days of t-shirt weather came to an abrupt halt when the wind swung to a strong northerly. With the wind getting up I thought I’d try a quick seawatch from Peninnis. Singles of Manx Shearwater and Kittiwake were noted along with 100+ Gannet. I picked out a bird that looked promising for a Leach’s Petrel but sadly it was just too far out to confirm it.

Jack Snipe

From the Hilda Quick hide at Lower Moors and showy Jack Snipe was doing what they do best. Bobbing! From The screen at Shooters Pool a brief Yellow-browed Warbler and a Lesser Whitethroat were seen.

On the way to Longstones for some lunch 2 Firecrest were seen just past Carreg Dhu and in Carreg Dhu after lunch a Pied Flycatcher showed well.

Pied Flycatcher

News of a Red-throated Pipit saw us head to Carn Vean but it’d long vanished and a Glossy Ibis was still in a field near Normandy. At Porth Hellick I broke out the thermal and found 4 birds on the far side. They were Snipe and I got a few others on them. A woman then said oh one is bobbing and yes it was a Jack Snipe! The Sora showed briefly again.
 

Scilly - 6.10.26

Juvenile Sora

During the week I’d tried 3 times to see the Juvenile Sora at Porth Hellick but either the hide was full or the bird was hiding so I made the conscious decision to get up early and get to the hide for dawn. I arrived and was the first one there but there was no sign as dawn broke. 3 others turned up and a few minutes later one of them picked it out along the edge of the southern reedbed. It then showed well until I had to leave to get back before breakfast.

Adult Sora

The other reason I decided to see it so early was that an adult Sora had been found on Tresco the previous day so I thought it’d be good to try and see both. Negative news came in early from Tresco but we still decided to head over. Just before we docked on Tresco positive news came through so I power walked round to the David Hunt hide and upon entering met John Judge who said look in my scope and hey presto  there it was. Both Sora in just over 3 hours and I think I become the first birder to ever see 2 Sora in a day!

Along Pool Road we had good if brief views of a Yellow-browed Warbler and behind Abbey Pool another showy Lapland Bunting.

American Golden Plover

News then broke of a juvenile American Golden Plover at the far end of the island which was a fun walk! On arrival it took flight calling with 3 Golden Plover but thankfully landed again allowing good if distant views. This was exactly where I saw my last one back in 2020.

A female Common Scoter showed well in Tresco channel and whilst sat on the boat Mark picked out a Glossy Ibis that landed in a small field next to the pub.

Wilson’s Snipe

Back on St.Mary’s I wandered down to Lower Moors where from the ISBG hide my 4th Wilson’s Snipe showed excellently just a few feet away. 

Yellow-browed Warbler

Lapland Bunting

 

Scilly - 5.10.26

Red-backed Shrike

Today we visited St.Agnes in the hope of adding a Western Bonelli’s Warbler but as it turned out it along with the one on St.Martin’s they’d both buggered off.

On Periglis beach 43 Ringed Plover, 8 Sanderling, 3 Dunlin and a Wheatear were seen and around the Fruitcages 3 Blackcap. My 2nd juvenile Red-backed Shrike in 2 days was seen by the bulb dump and this one sadly only had 1 eye.

Lesser Emperor

Back at the Fruitcages I picked up a dragonfly zooming around that had an obvious blue patch. Amazingly it perched up right by the path and allowed me to grab a photo with my phone. Not knowing if it was either a Lesser or Vagrant Emperor I posted it onto the Scilly wildlife group and it came back as a Lesser Emperor. This was my first ever and only the 2nd record for St.Agnes according to Bob Dawson who also confirmed it as a male.

Black Redstart

Once back on St. Mary’s before heading back for a cuppa I popped into Little Porth to see my first Black Redstart of the year.

Scilly - 4.10.26

Short-toed Lark

The first full day on the islands started off on Peninnis Head where I quickly found 1 of the 2 Short-toed Lark as it walked amongst some cowpats. A Wheatear was by the lighthouse.

Rose-coloured Starling

Our next stop was the pub at Old Town but for a juvenile Rose-coloured Starling not a swift pint. It was on show straight away on wires with its normal cousins before flying off towards the airport.

We then trotted up to the golf course where distantly from the car park we saw the juvenile Red-backed Shrike perching along a hedgerow and on a small hut.

Turtle Dove

Next stop was Telegraph where after about 20 minutes trying to find the correct field we eventually found the Turtle Dove with some Stock Dove.

I then visited Old Town churchyard in the hope of seeing a Pied Flycatcher. It’d been seen about 20 minutes earlier but had vanished. I heard a couple of Firecrest calling so went to have a look and as I was searching I noticed a movement in the tree behind. It was the flycatcher and was still fairly black and white. A nice end to the day.

Thanks to Mark Sutton for his photos.

Scilly - 3.10.26

In my previous post I mentioned that for the first time in 3 years I didn’t have to go to Scilly a day early as the weather was kind. It was about 5.30pm I received a phone call from the IOS travel company asking me to get to Lands End airport for 7am due to possible problems! Saturday morning arrived and I drove to down and hit thick fog. So it was on the boat again! 

Notable sightings from the crossing were 40+ of both Storm Petrel and Grey Phalarope and 16 Meadow Pipit!

Once on the islands and stuff dropped off at my accommodation I along with Mark Sutton headed down to Porth Hellick. Here we hoped to catch up with the first good bird of the day which had turned up just before our trip. Sadly from the new hide peoples heads were in the way and the old hide was full up so the Sora had to wait. I did however pick up a Glossy Ibis as it dropped in and had a quick bath and saw 2 nice Yellow Wagtail.

Glossy Ibis 

Nearby on the beach was a Snow Bunting so we went to have a look and at times it was almost walking over peoples feet! After enjoying the views of the bunting we headed up towards Normandy but then the Sora was re found so Mark went back and got some good views and photos of it. I carried on as it’d only be a year tick and at Holy Vale I found 2 Firecrest. Not a bad first day.

Snow Bunting

Cornwall - 2.10.26

Lapland Bunting

It was that time of year again where I head down to the SW and for the first time in 3 years the weather was kind and I didn’t need to go over to Scilly a day early. I started off by Hayle library and quite quickly found a year ticket Curlew Sandpiper in with some Redshank. I then moved to Ryan’s Field where 2 more year ticks were noted those being Bar-tailed Godwit and Grey Plover and another Curlew Sandpiper. On the estuary itself were 4 Sandwich Tern and 29 Mediterranean Gull.

I then headed further west to Drift Reservoir where despite spending almost 2 hours there I failed to see either the Pectoral or Spotted Sandpiper. A Wheatear was a year tick though.

After seeing a report of 60+ Grey Phalarope past Pendeen I headed over. As I was walking to the lighthouse something zipped out from under my foot. Thinking it was a rodent I was surprised to see it was in fact a Lapland Bunting! I’d missed a previous message about there being one there so I guess I could claim it as a self found seeing as I wasn’t aware it was there! Sadly the seawatch was pretty dire so I headed off to check into my hotel for the night.

Once in my room I read about a Black Kite just up the road at Cambourne so popped over to see it  sadly it was distant so not much detail could be seen and as it transpired it was hybrid between Black and Black-eared Kite but was still nice to see.

Another quick visit to Hayle Estuary produced a Ruff and Peregrine.

Wilstone Yet Again! - 30.9.26

I was back at Wilstone this time for another duck. This time it was for an eclipse drake Garganey, my first of the year which showed well from the jetty. 

Garganey