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