2015 Review ending on 268 year list + 15 new lifers.

The most friendly bird of the year the Elmley Merlin

So another really great year out & about birding with the boys. I have seen 268 birds on our travels around Britain & added 15 new birds to my British life list.
We had a couple of dips along the way & we never got over to Skomer Island this year & that cost Jimmy & I a couple of ticks, this was the first year that we missed out on Puffin & Chough & we also missed going to one of our favourite places that being Dinas.
We did get to Cardiff Bay & Glamorgan for the Lesser Scaup & Little Bunting at Forest Farm.
The best twitch had to be at Dungeness when I get to see the Acadian Flycatcher, the only down side was that the boys were not with me to see this little beauty, but I have to thank Jimmy for the phone call that sent me to see a great lifer knowing that he would probably not get to see for himself.
That was by far the biggest crowd of the year with people just arriving from everywhere,when the call went up that the bird had been seen I have never seen a crowd form so quickly, & just so many faces that I knew.
The happiest twitch just had to be in Chesterfield for another lifer in the Crag Martin that flew around St Mary's church. It looked like it was going to be a dip with a lot of disappointed people that had travelled a long way to see this bird starting to get ready to head home after a few hours waiting, when a great big roar went up as the Martin appeared. I have not heard anything like this while out birding & then we see people walking about with great big smiles on the face's a really good feeling on this twitch.
The most friendly bird was at Elmley when a Merlin gave us really close up photos & made that trip special for us.
Lemford Springs with Jimmy gave us a really nice day out watching the Green Sandpipers & a trip to Kelham bridge to get our first ever Willow Tit was very memorable indeed.
At this point I would like to thank Brian for doing all the driving & spotting most of the birds that I see.
The birds that we dipped were Ptarmigan & Capercallie while in Scotland but we didn't try to hard for them this year.
The one that hurt the most was missing a Pallid Harrier by minutes on two occasions, one at Sandwich & the other at Flitcham, I also missed out on the one at Snettisham so three dips is not good on a bird that would have been a lifer for me.
The lifers of the year were.         LITTLE BUNTING IN GLAMORGAN
                                                    WILLOW TIT          IN LEICESTER
                                                     HARLEQUIN DUCK ABERDEEN
                                                     WHITE-BILLED DIVER PORTSOY
                                                     GREATER-YELLOW LEGS TITCHFIELD HAVEN
                                                     BROAD BILLED SANDPIPER SOUTHWOLD
                                                     HUDSONIAN WHIMBREL WEST SUSSEX
                                                     WHITE-RUMPED SANDPIPER  AT OARE
                                                     ACADIAN FLYCATCHER DUNGENESS
                                                     ISABELLINE SHRIKE BEESTON REGIS
                                                     OLIVE-BACKED PIPIT MUCKLEBURGH HILL
                                                     RED-FLANKED BLUETAIL WELLS WOOD
                                                     SIBERIAN STONECHAT CAISTER
                                                     CRAG MARTIN CHESTERFIELD
                                                     RED-RUMPED SWALLOW HOLKHAM

Fifteen lifers in all & some of them I never thought I would get to see in fact I had never even heard of some of them.
The Red-rumped Swallow was the biggest relief, picking up our bogey bird was a great bonus near the end of the year.
Being a bit lazy cost us a few birds the most noticeable being Hoopoe & Nightjar.
But I have had another great year birding & meeting new & old faces & going to new places with the boys.I am very lucky to have family that share the same hobby & take me with them all over the country to look for & photograph birds & wildlife. We never seem to have any downs but plenty of ups & many many laughs on the way, so thanks to everybody that we meet & share our great hobby with. I wish you all the very best for the new year & happy birding to all.

Little Bunting

Willow Tit

Harlequin Duck

Crag Martin

Acadian Flycatcher first one seen in Britain

Hudsonian Whimbrel

Olive-backed Pipit

Broard-billed Sandpiper

Siberian Stonechat

Red-rumped Swallow at Holkham ( lifer )

Just getting in a few days birding before we start all over again in the new year. The boys & I head to Norfolk to search for a lifer for Jimmy & myself in the Red-rumped Swallow that has been about for a day or two, Brian had seen one last year but we just missed the bird by seconds & we also missed the one at Gunners park by just a few minutes.
The first port of call was Fisher's Fleet King's Lynn for another look for the Iceland Gull that we missed a couple of days ago because it had got to dark to look for it although we did give it a try.
This time it is easy picking out the Gull inside seconds of parking,we spend 30 minutes watching the masses of Gulls feeding from the fish waste pouring out of the fish factory & we all get some good photos of the Iceland Gull, the only shame is when we get home we find we already had the Gull on our tick list for the year & none of us remembered when.
On now to aim for the target bird of the day, just short of Lady Ann's drive a small group had been looking for a short time but had not seen any sign of it, the pager goes off it's the bird just a small drive up to the old farm buildings.
The birders already there soon put us onto it & Jimmy & I have another lifer & one that we thought was going to be a bogey bird to us.
We spend more time than we should watching the swallow flying around in front of us along with a much larger group now gathered one of them is John P so nice to see him.
A quick call into Brancaster Staithe to see if the Red-necked Grebe had come a bit closer for a photo but it was still out by the boats so it's off to Thornham for the very long walk out to the beach & then a longer walk on the shingle looking for the reported Shore lark. The walk was broken by seeing a flock of Twite flying from bush to bush as we walk.
 The boys go on ahead of me & find 3 birds, so I get myself up there to add a year tick, it's a bit of a grey day now & the birds are a bit far off so no photos.
We make a very quick visit to Titchwell & as it turns out it costs us another tick & myself a lifer as we shoot off to Abbey Road in Flitcham & miss the Pallied Harrier by seconds & to make matters worse it had been sitting no more than a few feet away from the fellow that posted it on the pager, a large group of Grey Partridge run about in the field in front of us to help keep us amused, but the Harrier never shows. After a couple of hours we give up & head for home a bit disappointed but still another great day birding.

Iceland Gull

Again

Once more

Some of the Twite

Glossy Ibis + long-eared Owl + Caspian Gull.

I get one more tick today when we make the trip to Petts Levels & pick out the Glossy Ibis walking about amongst a large group of Coots, a nice easy tick as we see the bird within a few minutes of arrival. We have dipped a couple of times looking for a sight of the one at Wat Tyler so this makes up for missing out on that one.
After spending a good couple hours watching the Ibis we head off to see the Long-eared Owl at Dungeness. We find the Owl at the back of dipping pool sitting not to far into  the bushes, so I get a record shot of the bird.
Walking down to the hide we see a second winter Caspian Gull, this is a bit far out on the scrape for me to get any photo of it.I don't need either the Owl or the Caspian for a year tick but always nice to see them.
A quick look up by the fishing boats on the beach for a scan of the sea is not very productive with only a few Guillemot & a gannet & a few Grebe but nothing that we needed.

Caspian

Caspian Gull

On the way back a flock of Gulls are seen & we pick out a first winter Caspian & that is near enough for a photo.

Glossy Ibis

Long-eared Owl

Caspian Gull

Glossy Ibis

Day in Norfolk for two ticks

An early start See's us sitting at Wolferton Triangle before 7am in the hope of getting a late tick & finally picking up the Golden Pheasant.
After a good hour we all get to hear the bird call but no sighting again. So time to head off to Snettisham.
It's a long walk to where the Pallid Harrier has been seen over the last few days but the signs are not good when we meet a volunteer on the way to be told that it had not been seen yet & it had not been seen yesterday & that turns out to be the case for us as we miss out on what would have been a lifer for me.The place was alive with thousands of Golden Plovers & Pink-footed Geese plus Shell Ducks everywhere we looked, also many Lapwings plus other stuff walking about on the mud flats.
I must say a big thank you to Len for giving me a lift back to the car park it was greatly appreciated.
Choseley drying barns next to get great views of two Rough-legged Buzzard flying very close to us, funny how that happens when you don't need the bird for a tick you nearly always get to see one, I am not complaining as it is always nice to see these great birds as they circle around above.
While watching here we see at least 7 Red-legged Partridge in the field with a good few Hares running about.
A quick call in at Brancaster Staithe for Brian needed the Red-necked Grebe for a year tick & it is seen within minutes of arrival. So a quick tick & we are on our way to Titchwell, nothing much about as the water level is high, so we head up to the beach but once again not to much about only a few Red-breasted Merganser & some Grebe are seen. On looking up 2 Bewick's Swan fly over, I love these birds so nice to see them.The Robin in the car park came to see if we had any food for it & of course we had, it never fails to show when we come here, well it looks like the same one to us.
A drive to the  East bank at Cley nets us the second tick of the day when after being told that the Grey Phalarope had been lost to view Brian soon gets us all on to the bird without to much fuss, I have never seen a Phalarope out of the water before so this turns out to be a little cracker for me.

The Grey Phalarope

The light was fading fast but we call in at fishers fleet Kings Lynn in the hope of seeing the Iceland Gull, plenty of Gulls about but we never picked out the Iceland. It's a two hour drive home now & with road works it puts another 1/2 hour on that, a bonus day out with the boys greatly enjoyed, role on the next one.

The car park Robin

Eurasian Crag Martin at the crooked spire.

Woken up by a text from Brian tells us to meet up at 6 am to head to Derbyshire in the hope of meeting up with the Crag Martin for another lifer for us all.
So it,s 2 1/2 hours to the crooked spire in Chesterfield & we arrive to find a big twitch of maybe 300 birders already spread around the car parks & on the roads all around the church of St Mary's & all saints with the famous crooked spire.
Three hours later & with a nice Greg's sausage roll & coffee to keep us sane we see a few people start to move away, up to this point we had not even thought about giving up, it was starting to look a bit glum weather wise when Brian said to me go & have a walk around the church as it is my thing to do that, I like that sort of thing, I did say as soon as I go the bird will show, so for the good of the all the birders gathered here I head into the church & spend a short time looking around a really nice church indeed. I had just got talking to a helper about why the spire was bent like that when a big cheer went up, just glad I was right by the door & I was out to find that the Martin had at last put in an appearance, it spent the next hour flying around the clock tower & then flying off for a short while & then back again to fly once again around the clock tower.
I did get the camera out but the bird was so quick & it was not going to land so I gave it a go & just managed to get a sort of photo just to record it for myself.
I have been on a lot of twitches now & I have never seen people so happy to have seen a bird, people were walking past us with great big smiles on there faces & it was a really happy place to be at that time, I don't know what made this so different but it just was.

As we drive home the rain came down to make it a hard drive home for Brian but well worth us going to claim another lifer for us all.

Lucky to get anything.

just a silhouette

The crooked spire 

Brian with a small group that were at the twitch

Siberian Stonechat at Caister + Owls galore

We had not made any arrangements for Sunday morning so it was a nice surprise when Brian texts Jimmy to see if we want to meet up at the late time of 8 o'clock & head to Holland Haven for the Rough-legged Buzzard.
The idea behind that was that if the Caister Stonechat gets reported we will be half way there & will shoot off for it from there.
As it turns out we had only gone a short distance when the pager reports the Siberian Stonechat is showing again & giving good views,so change of plan & it's off to Norfolk for the third week running,it's a 2 hour drive for us but we are rewarded as soon as we arrive as Brian picks out the bird within minutes of walking the 500 yards over the dunes to see it.
Along with a small group of birders we get good long views over the next 2 hours as the bird flies up & down along side the golf course bushes.
After saying goodbye to the people we had been talking to which included John P & Steve G it's off to see the Rough-Legged at Holland Haven.
It's 88 miles but going back towards home helps, 2 hours in the car park costs £2-20 & we think that will be enough time to catch up with the Buzzard.
As we head towards where the bird has been seen we get to see maybe 7 Short-eared Owls that give me the best display I had ever had of these cracking Owls & we stay here watching them till the light fades.
We also get wonderful views of the Rough-legged Buzzard & it turns out to be the best view I have ever had of one as it settles on bushes right in front of us & we also get a couple of great flight views.
The time of the parking ticket had expired by some distance when we got back to the car but we got away with that.

I must say this was a really great day birding, just watching the Owls would have been enough on it's own & to pick up a lifer with the Siberian Stonechat & throw in the great views of the Buzzard made this really a day to remember for me .

Siberian Stonechat a lifer for me.

Jack Snipe at Rye Meads

A very quick trip to Rye Meads for a Jack Snipe that has been reported on bird guides, Jimmy calls down do you want to go to look for it, so we are off within 10 minutes & 20 minutes later we have another year tick.
The Snipe shows really well in front of the hide to give me the best views ever of a Jack Snipe.

Jack Snipe

Olive-backed Pipit & Red-flanked Bluetail.

Ready to head off to Wells wood at 4.30 am when we get the added bonus that Brian will be able to join us. It's a good 2 hour trip from home in Essex not helped by some fairly thick mist on the way.
Parked up in Wells car park just after 7am we head off down the track with a large amount of other birders already here looking & listening for anything to give us  a tick or we hope a lifer or two.
A fellow tells us he has just had a Blyth's warbler round by the old toilet block, so off to look for it.
After a good time spent both looking & listening it's a no show so we head of to the drinking pond & bingo the first lifer of the day when the Bluetail shows to give  good views, never really chased a Bluetail but really pleased to have got  one now.
I had the camera out but I couldn't focus on the bird as it moves about in the undergrowth with not much light on it, really frustrating for me but not surprising.
The boys had set off down the track so time to catch up with them. A large group had gathered when I reached them & I soon pick up another lifer when a Yellow-browed Warbler shows & also calls as it flies about in the trees.
At the same place a Hume's leaf Warbler flies over our heads  but lands out of sight but it also calls from the back of the bushes.
On the way back to the car I volunteer to get back to the car as the parking ticket had run out leaving the boys to pick up the Blyth's before they leave, I have only ever seen one before so a bit gutted about that. But on the way I had picked up a Brambling that I had flushed up from the grass.
Off to Muckleburgh Hill now in the hope of picking up the Oliver-backed Pipit.
It's not to far away from us & we are soon joining a small group on the hill.
After a short time it's another lifer when the bird shows well from under a tree,it walks about in the ferns to give us good views but once again I get no really good photos of it.
The pager tells us that a Long-eared Owl had just been seen a short way away at Beeston Common.
We have to go to look for it, we were here last week for the Isabelline Shrike & Brian & Jimmy go for another look for it leaving me to look for the Owl.
As they head back having got some more photos of the Shrike I had found the Owl sitting in some bushes, I seem to be the only one that could see it & I think people were starting to doubt me when the Owl flies out of the bush & heads up to a big tree but is mobbed by some crows & Magpies & thinks better of it & flies out & off over the road, some people try to find it again but we head back to the car well satisfied with another great day's birding & also meeting up with a lot of birder's that we know.
                                                                         

Brian's photo of Oliver-backed Pipit

Brambling

Brambling

Brian's Pipit again

Isabelline Shrike & Pallas's Warbler in Norfolk.

Meet up with Brian at 5am & head to Titchwell Norfolk for a nice long day birding, on the way we stop to watch a nice Barn Owl sitting on a gate post & then flying off & swooping down to catch something, we never get feed up watching Barn Owls.
Next up a Little Owl is seen sitting on a pole by Choseley barns so a good start to the day.
On arrival at Titchwell we have a quick look around Meadow trail for any sighting of a Yellow- browed Warbler we also had a good look in the car park area as one had been reported there, we don't spend to long looking and never saw one, so we head to the beach where we spend a good couple of hours watching the Sanderling running about the beach & looking out to sea where we see Scoter, Gannet, a good few Eider. back on the beach we see  Turnstone, Oystercatcher,Dunlin,at least six Grey Plover nothing to add a tick but a really nice morning spent just watching the birds go about their business on a fairly warm morning.Back up to the hide we spot a nice Curlew Sandpiper & another Grey Plover also seen along with all the usual birds.
News comes on the pager that a Radde's Warbler was at Holkham Pines so off we head to look for it.
Parked up & off we go for the long walk to where the bird has been seen 3/4 of the way down the track the pager goes off a Isabelline Shrike is at Beeston Regis common,so the three of us all agree that we have more chance of seeing that than the Radde's so a long walk back to the car, it's about 13 miles away but we do find the place with ease and park up & we are only a few yards away now from seeing another lifer. A crowd of maybe fifty are here with a few people that we know, the bird is showing very well a very nice looking bird indeed.
As we are getting our feel of the Shrike a few of the birders start to head off at pace & we pick up from one of them that there has been a sighting of a Pallas's Warbler just up the road in Sheringham. we all need this for a year tick so after a short time we also go for it, only trouble we have very little info as to where it is.

It's up & down the road a few times before we find the right place, once there we find the bird straight away for some really good views of another cracking little bird.

Pallas's Warbler

Just a record shot is all I could get of the Shrike

                                                         
                                                           

Grey Plover

Ruff

Curlew Sandpiper

Black-headed Gull

                                                       


                                                                           
                                                                                                               

Ring-necked Duck at Tring

Brian is at work & already has a year tick for the Ring-necked Duck, so Jimmy & I do the 40 odd miles to Startop's end reservoir in Tring Herts.
Weather a bit up & down but as we pull up it's not raining, so we climb the steps & scan for the target bird, no sign after 20 minutes so we head round to the hide, a very good decision as the skies open & it pours down.
In the open hide Jimmy is still getting wet but I had found a nice dry corner & it is not long before we spot the Duck & get some really good views in the scope.
As the rain eases the Duck gets a bit closer to us & the camera comes out for a record shot.
So another year tick 252 up till now,also seen a few female Red-crested Pochard but not much  else of note.
 A nice easy short trip & back home for lunch.

                                                               

                                                               

Landguard Goldcrests

We head off to Landguard in the hope of picking out a Yellow-browed Warbler for a tick, as it turns out we never get to see one & none are reported for the day.
On walking around the reserve the place is alive with Goldcrest in nearly every bush we looked in & further up & round the side of where the people lookout over the reserve a group of maybe 30  were ground feeding and had no problem with the small group that had gathered to snap them with cameras clicking away without putting them to flight.
Also we see many many Blackcap, the odd Wheatear up near the beach, Snipe also seen plus Jimmy picks out a single Firecrest.
So no year ticks but a really pleasant morning spent walking around the reserve in the very nice Autumn sunshine, meeting up with a few birders that we know makes it a nice morning & it only goes & gets better with Arsenal putting themselves out to smash Man utd with some great football pity that they forget to do it more often.

Just one of many of the Goldcrest

Just a few photos from last week from Sandwich & Oare marsh.