Eastern yellow Wagtail ( lifer ) pending

A late mid morning decision to head up to Walberswick in Suffolk after news comes through that the Eastern yellow Wagtail had been ID'd from sound recordings & had been seen today.
We make really good time & arrive around 1 o'clock, we park in the free car park & set off on the 2 mile walk along the beach till we find a group of birders,the Wagtail had flown off but the group think it will return as that seems to be it's pattern.
After an hour the bird did indeed return along with a group of Snow Buntings & 2 or 3 Western yellow Wagtail. The bird showed really well & we had no trouble in picking out the Eastern Yellow Wagtail to give us all a good lifer tick.
So a good decision to make the trip even if it didn't feel like it as we trudged along the beach but we got well rewarded for our effort.

Eastern yellow Wagtail

Hit & miss 3 year ticks in Yorkshire

It takes us over 4 hours before we pull up just along the road past the car park of the Crown & Anchor pub in Kilnsea East Yorkshire.
We join a small group of birders who inform us that a Pallas's Warbler was showing very well.

Pallas's Warbler Kilnsea

Jimmy & I missed out a few weeks ago when Brian was the only one to see the Pallas's at Thornham Point Titchwell,this time all 3 of us get some cracking views of one, it's a good year tick & a good start to the day.
News comes that a Lapland Bunting has been seen along the foreshore. we set off to find it & do just that when we hear & then get good flight views of the Bunting as it mingles with a flock of Yellow Hammers & Reed Buntings & a Twite.
Next we head on to Spurn to look for the Bluethroat that has been about for a week or so.
We are told it has not been seen today but give it a try anyway.
It was not a long walk just past the sea watch hide,we spend an hour looking but it's not to be today but we do get to see a single Snow Bunting that shows just a few feet away.
On the walk back to the car a Woodcock flies up for a nice view.
Jimmy informs us that a Hume's leaf Warbler has been seen 5 minutes away.
A small crowd was present on arrival at Peter's Lane Easington & we have a real bonus year tick as the Hume's puts on a grand display for us. While here a Merlin hunts right over our heads for another good showing.

Hume's leaf Warbler Easington

Snow Bunting at Spurn

Snow Bunting at Spurn

Couple of ticks in Kent

This morning we head off to Kent looking for a few year ticks. First up it's Stodmarsh NNR. We look out of the Reedbed hide & find the place full of Teal & Greylag Geese but there's no sign of any Bean Geese that we were hoping to add to the year list.
A Water Rail kept us entertained for half an hour before we see a group of Geese flying over the hide & two off them are the target Bean Geese, they fly out of sight so we think they have flown a long way off so we  hop in the car to head off to Dungeness, as we drive up the exit road the Geese are seen on the field, so it's out of the car to get a good view of the two Bean Geese amongst all the Greylags. A few photos taken before it's on to Dunge.

A Sabine's Gull is the target bird here & on arrival we are told that the bird was showing well from the second hide along the beach.
A small group were looking but we are told that the bird had not been seen for some time,so we set about scanning all the Gulls flying around the patch but it's not looking good.
A few birders headed off & the mood was not good when out of the blue Brian calls out to Jimmy to confirm that he had found it & we are all on another year tick.
We put it out on the pager so those that had left could get back to see the bird as we knew one of them needed it for a lifer.
With nothing reported that we need the boys decide to head off to Cuckmere Haven which is 50 miles away as they need a Grey Phalarope for a year tick.
Not far off Eastbourne the place is packed with day trippers & the fields are all waterlogged.
After a walk off maybe a mile we find a small pool of water & the Phalarope is showing really well & only 20 yards away so good photos taken.
So with the boys getting 3 year ticks & myself getting 2 it's a milestone for all of us as we all pass our highest ever year totals Brian 290, Jimmy 272 & myself 268 so well pleased with that with another couple of months to go it looks good for a nice year total.

 Grey Phalarope, Cuckmere Haven

The Stodmarsh Tunra Bean Goose

Sabine's Gull at Dungeness

Again the Sabine's Gull

Red eyed Vireo + Great Snipe in Yorkshire ( Lifers )

The three of us head off to Titchwell just to get out birding for the day. Arriving around 8 am it's a horrible day dull & wet.
We walk around & soon find a year tick when we find a Yellow-browed Warbler & also meet up with Graham J & he & friends were going to Yorkshire for the Red eyed Vireo, that puts the idea in our heads & after a short talk we decide to head there ourselves.
It's about 3 hours from where we are in Norfolk & the journey is hampered with the weather & road closures in Hull don't help us.
It is now past 1 o'clock as we park up in Easington,we could see a group not far away & when we join them we get lucky as the Vireo settles on an  Elderberry bush in front of us to give great quick views.
Over the next 3 hours the bird follows the same pattern returning every 20 minutes or so.
While standing around we see a few more Yellow-browed Warblers & Jimmy & I get lucky when we get a late tick when a Pied Flycatcher shows.
Around 4 0'clock news starts to break that a Great Snipe had been found at Beacon Lane Kilnsea.
We soon joined in the rush to head there ,it's only a few minutes away by car & we are soon parked up & walking with many others up the lane towards the sea.
Half way up the lane a large group had stopped & after getting as high up on the hill as we could we get our second lifer of the day.
The Great Snipe was hard to see in the long grass but once you got onto it with the scope it was a good view of it.
Now for the long 4 hour drive home to Essex softened in the knowledge of a good days birding with 2 lifers & another 2 year ticks on top.

The Great Snipe Kilnsea

Part of the crowd at the Snipe twitch

The Red eyed Vireo at Easington

American golden Plover at Oare

The boys need Grey Phalarope for a year tick, so we head to Birchington in Kent near Margate in the hope the one seen there has stayed for another day.
It's under 2 hours to get there so not bad.It's not too bad weather wise & we arrive to find a few birders already there.
The tide is out & there has been no sign of the bird,so we spread out & scan for the next 2 hours without any sign of it,the tide comes in but it is a no show.
We give up & head off to Oare as the American golden Plover has been reported again.
The boys have already ticked this bird but I still need it for a year tick.
We arrive & I have my tick within minutes as a lot of people have the Plover in view & I get great views when we get get onto it.
It was really easy to pick the bird out from the group of Golden Plover that it was with, being smaller darker & a nice bright eye stripe to set it apart from the others.

The American Plover

Side on at back

Eastern Olivaceous Warbler at Farlington Marshes

On Saturday around lunch time Brian calls have we seen that a lifer had been seen in Hampshire but he couldn't go till Sunday, so we arrange to meet at 5 am & get a trouble free run down the A3 to Portsmouth.
As we pull into the car park the pager tells us the bird had been seen & 5 minutes later we meet up with the Moreton brothers & they put us onto the bird to give us all a nice lifer.
The Olivaceous Warbler showed well as it fed on bushes around where we first saw it.
We spend a couple of hours with the bird getting some great views of it.
Off now to Warsash where a Bluethroat had been seen .
We have dipped at this place before & it proved to be the case again when we give up after getting no sign of it & some birders had been looking for over 4 hours one being Graham J & he had given up so we followed & left to travel to Pulborough Brooks for the Red-necked Phalarope.
On arrival we are told it's a long walk down to Jupps view platform,it's a fair old walk but we find the Phalarope as soon as we arrive so the long walk well worth it for another year tick.
So 5 year ticks one a lifer in the last week is not bad.

The Eastern Olivaceous Warbler

Again ( nice bird )

Spurn Barred Warbler plus Grey Phalarope.

A short break in Yorkshire with my wife Jean

allowed me to pay a few early morning visits to the Spurn sea watching hide.
It was a very pleasant experience indeed with some really nice birders to pass the time with, but unfortunately on all 3 days I was there nothing very much passed through & I never got any ticks on the sea, but on the first day while sitting on the bench in front of the hide word spread that a Barred Warbler had been seen,everybody moved off to see it & I followed thinking it would be a long walk but was pleasantly surprised to find it was only 20 yards away at the Warren at the back of the sea hide.It was showing well to give me a nice year tick.
I had to wait till Thursday around tea time when Brian sent me a text saying a Grey Phalarope had turned up on the sea at Spurn,so only being 3 miles away at the time I shoot off & find the bird with ease just along the beach from the hide, so a good year tick.
With the break over I head for home but take a detour to Blacktoft sands in the hope of picking up a tick as a Spotted Crake had been about for a few days.
I have to walk to the third hide & after 10 minutes or so the Crake walks out of the channel to show very well in the scope but a long way off.

 seen from the Warren