GREEN HERON

David here.

Got great views of this stunner today, though not as good as others got just before I arrived.
6th record for UK, 1st for Kent, the whole of the south east and quite a bit further than that. Last British record was on Angelsey, Wales in November 2005.

I extend my sincerest thanks to Phil Wallace for taking me and giving me a great day.

GREEN HERON AT HYTHE

Hi, Ben here

Some of you may be aware that there was a Green Heron at Hythe today. I couldn't resist going to see it, despite the fact that my 500mm lens was away being serviced. It turns out I never needed the camera; driving rain and wind prevented any time for a photo, and I only had a brief view of it flying into the denser reeds from a perch, but still... WHAT A BIRD!!! For a photo of it visit Kentos or Folkestone Birds (from Kentos).

Today's Birding...

I was expecting an average day at Bough beech where it started well with passage of 33 Skylarks over and a few Redpolls, Green sandpipers and Siskins. Graham soon arrived and offered a lift to the R B Shrike in Wouldham/ Halling area. We arrived and had brief but tickable views of the 1st winter bird and then made out way to Dunge. Seawatching was OK with the Highlights being Great Skua(1), Kittiwake( 10), Fulmar(3) and Little gull(3). We stop at a known roosting spot for Harriers and almost immediatly we got onto a ringtail Hen harrier, though it was rather distant and in fading light!
All in all a great day with 2 lifers and 5 Kent ticks! Off to Cornwall for a week 2moro, so wish me luck!
BOU 2008 List= 180
JJS

David and Josh's bird race

With the cousins safely in Camberely, I spent the day birding around London with Josh J Shaw (josh-birdbrain.blogspot.com) for the Young Birders Bird Race 2008.

First of all we visited Nonsuch Park, my local patch. Here we needed Little Owl, Green Woodpecker, Mistle Thrush, Coal Tit, Nuthatch, Stock Dove, Goldcrest etc.

We quickly ticked off Coal Tit, which was calling by the car park and it was not too long before we heard Green Woodpecker and Nuthatch. We saw a few Redwings flying over, which were my first record at Nonsuch this Autumn. At the Cheam Park end, we got site scarcities like Grey Heron, Pied Wagtail and Lesser Black-backed Gull.

After a bit of searching for the Little Owl, we heard it from the usual spot but it was quite a way north of us! Maybe it has relocated due to high disturbance where it used to be?

There were large numbers of Chaffinches and a single Song Thrush. In the gardens we flushed a Sparrowhawk.

Nonsuch Park got us up to a respectable 32 species in just over an hour (my site record is 34 in about 4 hours!).

Next up, Beddington SF. This visit turned out to be a useful boost to my Beddington list and produced an addition to my British and European year lists.

There were large numbers of Little Grebes and Meadow Pipits around and not many Gulls (because the landfill doesn't work on Sundays). 2 Pochards were over at the far side with a Wigeon and large numbers of other wildfowl. Tree Sparrows were visiting the feeders and the remains of a flock of c140 Ring-necked Parakeets seen there earlier that morning passed by noisily.

Out of the blue, a flock of 29 Fieldfares flew south! My first of the autumn and a Beddington year tick, one which got my Beddington year list equal with my overall Beddington list! Small numbers of Redwings flew over which, surprisingly was another Beddington tick.

Just after a Sparrowhawk flew over, Josh called a female Brambling on the feeders to everyone's delight. A Beddington tick for me and one of the few I've seen in the local area.

We took a walk with Johnny Allan (http://www.diporglory.co.uk/) around the site to see if we could find the Rock/Water Pipits which another of the regulars had seen. No joy but 6 Green Sandpipers, 4 Kestrels, a Sparrowhawk and a Reed Bunting (Beddington tick).

Shortly after we arrived back at the mound, a flock of 4 Lesser Redpolls flew over! This was the year tick I was talking about and the first I've seen for 2 and a half years! Of course, a Beddington tick too.

Now my Beddington list is on 97 and my Beddington year list is finally equal. I hope I get to 100 soon.

Beddington got our day list up to 60.

To the London Wetland Centre! We had a bit of trouble getting in because we had to be accompanied by an over 16 year old, I forgot my card and Josh didn't have one but luckily the staff sympathised with us and let us in.

Birds here included about 3 Great Black-backed Gulls, 77 Cormorants, large numbers of wildfowl, great views of Little Grebes, Wigeons, Great Crested Grebes and 2 Green Woodpeckers which landed right in front of us! If only I was quicker with the camera.

Above: Little Grebe

There was also a putative Yellow-legged Gull which someone claimed as a 1st winter but to me, the legs were too short, bill not heavyh enough and furthermore it lacked the all dark bill despite having the distinctive greater covert pattern.

We left content and with 66 species for the whole day, including a year tick for me and some much needed patch ticks. Odd thing was we saw no Warblers, not even a Chiffchaff.

Parasitic Jaeger

Hey, everyone! Chris W again reporting from the state of Wisconsin in the USA. 

Here's a couple photos of a Parasitic Jaeger (pronounced "Yay-ger") that I took at Wisconsin point in Northern Wisconsin at the tip of lake Superior back in Sept. 

This is the same species as Europe's Parasitic Skua (Stercorarius parasiticus) just a slightly different name. 

This bird made close flybys that allowed for some great shots. Normally, photos of this bird are fuzzy and the birds are much farther away.  Since they are pelagic birds, Parasitic Jaegers are labeled as uncommon to rare in Wisconsin and are found, of course, only on the great lakes.

All 3 species of Jaegers (Pomerine, Long-tailed and Parasitic) have been seen in WI. The other 2 are much rarer though. 

Happy Birding! 

Some recent pictures

Hey guys, Chris W here from Wisconsin in the USA.   I've posted some photos that I took last month while attending a field trip in Superior at the tip of Lake Superior. 

This Osprey provided great looks.

This Merlin posed just long enough for a picture.

Franklin's Ground Squirrel.

A rare species in Northern WI.

This Red-necked Phalarope provided spectacular views and photos.

This White-throated Sparrow posed for a classic picture. 

I'll post some more pics sometime, maybe this week.  I got some nice shots of a Jaeger (Skua to most of you) that you might like to see.  Til then, Happy Birding! 

Little Stint

Spent the day at Oare Marshes NR where I finally saw 6+ juv Little Stints, a much needed lifer. Excuse the poor quality shot, hand held digiscoped...

My local patch on the big screen!

From Friday 2nd to Saturday 4th October the Mansion House and the Gardens in Nonsuch Park (my local patch) were used as a setting for filming of a sequence in the family film 'From Time to Time' with Timothy Spall and Maggie Smith. Not good news for me because there were tonnes of caravans which were putting the birds off and blocking the cafe and some essential footpaths. Anyway, it will be interesting to see Nonsuch on the big screen.

Great stuff!

This morning I was sat in the school Art room for 2 and a half hours for 'Open Day' and then my mum picked me up and took me to Bough beech. On the way it was starting to rain alittle and I wasn't looking forward to getting soaked...we pulled up on the causeway and I was pleased to see Graham there with his scope. We had a chat for 10 minutes or so and he offered to take me to Dungeness for the afternoon to do some seawatching, my mum said I could and we soon set off. On the journey I noted 3 Kestrel and 1 Common Buzzard. Once we had arrived we headed staright for the seawatching hide but sat outside it for a total of about 2-3 hours. the first bird apparent were c30 Gannet out at sea, also lots of gulls including a Yellow-legged gull. Graham soon got onto some skuas which were Great skua's, a lifer for me. In total there were about 4 seen. There were also 5+ Arctic skua, 2 Little gull, c20 Common Scoter, 9 Common tern and 1 Sandwich tern. But the best bird of all was a juvenile LONG-TAILED SKUA which gave distant views as it headed east and into the bay in the afternoon. What an incredible day with 2 lifers.
2008 BOU list= 176
BOU British Life List= 181
Kent Life List= 145
JJS

Iceland July 2008.

A bit late in posting but thought I would post my lists etc from a trip to Iceland that I took in July. I went out there to help Icelandic bird ringers to catch and mark Whooper Swans to follow them on their migrations south to the UK during the winter, were I must say that a few have arrived already at WWT Martin Mere along with thousands of Pink Footed Geese! Lots of nice birds seen in Niceland and over 6+ new species for me. For anyone who has never been, I would certainly recommend going - its a fab country!

28/07/2008 - Reykjavik - Oystercatcher, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, and Arctic Tern. Akureyri – 8 Long Tailed Ducks, Tufted Duck, Mallard, Eider, 35 Arctic Tern, Common Gull, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Black Headed Gull, Redwing and Greylag Goose.

29/07/2008 - Myvatn area – Merlin, Meadow Pipit, Redwing, Arctic Tern, c250 Barrows Golden Eye, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Red Throated Diver, Arctic Skua, Redshank, Black Tailed Godwit, 10 Ptarmigan, Great Northern Diver, Whooper Swan, Red Breasted Merganser, Snipe, Teal, Pied Wagtail, Fulmar, Wigeon, Common Scoter, Garganey and Slavonian Grebe

30/07/2008 - Birds seen – Oystercatcher, Common Gull, Tufted Duck, Whooper Swan, Greylag Goose, Meadow Pipit, Redwing, Golden Plover, Whimbrel, Redshank, Snipe, Teal, Fulmar, Slavonian Grebe and Gyr Falcon

31/07/2008 - Akureyri - Birds seen – Lesser Blacked Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Arctic Skua, Black Tailed Godwit, Meadow Pipit, Snipe, Black Headed Gull, Redwing, Tufted Duck and Wigeon.

01/08/2008 - Bjorg - 4 Raven, 48 Red Necked Phalarope, Kittiwake, Gyr Falcon, Whooper Swan, Common Scoter, Fulmar, Arctic Skua, Snipe, Dunlin, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Greater Black Backed Gull, 4 Wheatear, Black Guillemot, Redshank, Purple Sandpiper, Harlequin Duck , Redwing and Meadow pipit.

02/08/2008 - Vestmannsvatn - Birds seen – Raven, Whooper Swan, Great Northern Diver, Greylag Goose, Whimbrel, Lesser Black Backed Gull, Common Gull, Arctic Skua, Golden Plover, Redshank, Arctic Tern and Black tailed Godwit.

03/08/2008 - Akureyri - Redpoll, Redwing, Goldcrest, Pink footed Goose, Raven and Oystercatcher.

And a few pics from the trip -

Summery Summary

Hi all, Brendan F from New York speaking:

This summer season has been quite good for the two lists I've been favoring recently: ABA life list and New York State list.

Back in May I found Tennessee and Golden-winged Warblers to add to both lists just north of metropolitan NYC. Then in June, I saw my first Acadian Flycatcher in NYC's Jamaica bay (after hearing my first a month earlier). A visit out east on Long Island produced my life Grasshopper Sparrow, Cory's Shearwater and heard-only Whip-poor-will and Chuck-will's-widow.

Right after that it was breaktime, and I was off to Arizona. 2 weeks of VENT's Camp Chiricahua was absolutely spectacular, albeit rainy (!). I acquired 91 lifers (including a Scissor-tailed Flycatcher seen while changing planes in Houston, TX). There were too many excellent experiences to wrap into one little blog post, but they included almost a dozen species of hummingbird, 8 species of owls, a fine sampling of venomous critters, and a loud Flame-colored Tanager.

Back to NY! Two weeks later a Red-necked Stint was found at Jamaica Bay while I was out of town. Naturally I was at the site the next morning and was rewarded with not only the stint, but an adult Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (only the state's 3rd record or so!). Finally, last weekend I got to see a Lark Bunting at a local barrier beach. I currently stand at 297 species for NY, including the heard-only caprimulgids, and 467 for ABA.

Cheers!

What a Dip...

Hi, Ben here.

I tried to do a little twitching today at Bockhill. Who wouldn't with 2 Yellow-browed Warblers, a Barred Warbler, a Dusky Warbler, a leucistic Spotted Flycatcher, Ravens and a Great Grey Shrike all in the area?

Well the score is Birds: 7, Me: 0

I couldn't find any of them!!! Just shows how unlucky I am as a twitcher. I stumble across something fantastic then don't see anything for the rest of the year. I'll just have to remind myself that a White-winged Black Tern is nice enough as a trophy for a normally non-twitcher such as myself.

Report from local patch today.

Swallow (1 south, patch lifer for me) Pied Wagtail (3rd patch record for me), Grey Heron, 24+ Jays, 2 Green Woodpeckers, 4 Great Spotted Woodpeckers, 3 Nuthatches, 10+ Goldcrests, 1+ Chiffchaff, 1 Kestrel, 1 Sparrowhawk, 1 Moorhen, c10 Jackdaws, 2+ Mistle Thrushes, 2 Stock Doves.

Despite 4 hours of more or less non stop thorough checking I turned up nothing more than good patch birds as you can see...

Wheatear

Digiscoped at Rye Harbour NR today, one of about 25. Also 1 Whinchat, 5 Stonechat...

Josh

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 20th September 2008

with recent days producing a great number of migrating Honey Buzzards throughout the country, I thought I would make an effort at Brockholes as I would assume migrating Birds of Prey would use a major river valley such as the Ribble for direction. Before I had time to react, I received a text from Bill Aspin saying that John Wright had seen a Juv fly >SW...damn! maybe there would be more.

I went down and because of the last few days producing a juv Hobby on the back pits of the site near Boilton Woods, I headed in that direction. There were several assembled observers and we soon picked up the Hobby. This was by far the best experience I have had with a Hobby and I even managed to hear an Alarm Call as it was flushed by a fisherman. This is a nice late record and a promising bird...

Also on Site was 2 Snipe and overhead there were 7 Curlew and 3 Golden Plover >west, the latter being increasingly hard to see down at the quarry.

No Honey Buzzard but theres still time...

Seeing as there have been so many photos of Cranes recently I won't post my poor record shot from Welney WWT. The windows are angled (presumably so that the nesting house martins don't crash into them all the time!), but this makes photography very difficult - especially digiscoping. There were 2 very close Little Stints which provided an amazing photo opportunity, but because of the windows I vas forced to use the hide's remote camera and take a photo of the LCD screen. It looks alright if you don't look too closely:


Also found this scanned image of a puffin I drew, whilst sorting through my photos.
James

White-Winged Black Tern at Dungeness, among other things

I'm still gonna post even if some of you don't believe me! Cranes at Dungeness were fantastic, albeit at a distance. Lifers: Cranes, Little Gull, Black Tern, most importantly White-winged Black Tern. Something to beat my rarest British bird to date; a White Stork over Canterbury 4 years ago. That's an overshoot anyway. Here's a pic of the cranes, though I can't say it's excellent...

Still, it wasn't taken through a scope... I have no scope. I probably ought to get one; it'd increase my (currently poor) seawatching no end!

Grey phalarope

A last minute trip to Bough beech for Grey phalarope this evening where it showed very well but my photos are poor due to the bad light. A great bird and Lifer, BOU 2008 list =172.

Crane, Dungeness RSPB

Went for the 2 Cranes at Dunge today. They were best viewed from the 1st hide at the visitor centre and showed beautifully. BOU year list is now 171. Full trip report and videos can be seen on my blog

www.josh-birdbrain.blogspot.com

A new Grebe and an old friend...

My original plan for today was to go to Sevenoaks WR but I decided Bough beech would be more productive and indeed it was. As soon as I got out my mums car a birder ( Graham) told me that a BLACK-NECKED GREBE was on the reservoir I immediately got onto it, and it showed for the whole day! What a great bird and lifer! Later on in the day I caught up with an old friend, namely an AVOCET which proceeded to fly around the south basin calling until it finally landed on North lake and fed for the rest of the day, My 3rd coastal self-found bird for Bough beech in just over a week! That brings my 2008 BOU list to 168 and my Bough beech list to 99 (ooh!) I only managed some crappy phone scoped videos of them which are on my blog.
www.josh-birdbrain.blogspot.com
I hope everyone's having a good summer!
JJS

Rentree

Ben here, back from a short break in Yorkshire. Haven't posted much after the lack of faith from one anonymous birder. It was a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak, and although my evidence isn't concrete, doesn't mean I'm lying! It was the first really rare bird I'd ever seen (other than a White Stork over Canterbury), so don't spoil it! Some of you should be content with the rarities you've seen/found. ANYWAY...

Yorkshire was great! All target birds achieved: Gannet, Red Grouse and Osprey, all 'lifers', to use a twitching term. It was nice to see so many Bullfinches too; they're so rare down here in Kent. An unexpected bonus was a migrating Short-eared Owl at Bempton Cliffs. It filled the gap that the auks left... they'd all left for the open ocean by the time we arrived. Here are some of the best photos from the excursion.

Inland Kittiwake

I just got back from Bough beech, were I found a juv. KITTIWAKE, lifer. It flew over heading south at 17:10pm. A great inland record and I found it! YAY
More photos on my blog
www.josh-birdbrain.blogspot.com
Cheers
JJS

Wych Cross, East Sussex

After talking to one of my teachers (who is a birder) he told me of a place where he had seen 4 species of bird that I really wanted to see. It wasn't too far away so I managed to persuade my mum to take me there this afternoon and stay until 10pm, we did and it was so worth it!( Thanks for the tip off Mr.Moore!) After 20 minutes of searching gorse at a heath I finally found a DARTFORD WARBLER, it was a superb male and showed down to c5 metres whilst calling, what a great start to the day. Next up were a few TREE PIPITS parachuting over my head, great little birds. Then whilst driving on a lane through some heathland I noticed a small bird perched on top of gorse...bins up...LESSER WHITETHROAT. Could this day get any better? Hell yeah. I waited ages from 8:50-10:00pm and finally at the last minute a WOODCOCK showed it's self amazingly, flying past calling manically, then at 10pm exactly to end an amazing day off...yes a NIGHTJAR flew over my head about 3 metres above. I can't believe it! A fab evening, thanks to my mum for putting up with me and Mr.Moore for the directions and tips! 5 lifers in a day!
Year list: 157

Woke up at 5:30 this morning to go and see the Roseate Tern at Cley. We were beginning to worry that it wouldn't show after more than an hour's waiting, but another birder spotted it join the flock and directed us to it. Not easy to pick out, "small sandwhich tern with red legs" was a pretty accurate description! You can see the rings on each leg.

After the Roseate Tern we went onto the main reserve, passing some sprightly Bearded Tits, and saw the Lesser Yellowlegs, which was a bit of a let-down really. It was extremely difficult even to tell that it had yellow legs! Sadly the Spoonbills hadn't been seen, but it was still a great morning, with my 15th and Simeon's 13th lifer of the year.

James

Warnham LNR 22nd June 08 and Nightjars Chobham Common 20th June 08

Warnham LNR 22nd June 08

A more relaxed trip this weekend to Warnham, but still in search of one year tick- Mandarin Duck!
We started the trail at around 12:45pm. From the first hide I saw the Common Terns that are nesting for yet another year and loads of Herring Gulls. The Terns were very aggressive and attacked the Gulls whenever they came near. The usual common stuff was on the feeders providing the first real photo opportunities for a while and I was very pleased with my shot of a Dunnock. My female Mandarin popper out :-) year tick 159.

Photos not working at the moment- see diary page of freewebs.com/southeastbirding (soon moving to southeastbirding.com)

At the feeders there was a showy Nuthatch, juvenile Tits, Chaffinches and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. And at the last hide I got good views of a Great Crested Grebe (its mate was on a nest fending off Herons). A Black-headed Gull flew in and a Jay flew over.
A good day.

Nightjars Chobham Common 20th June 08


After years of letting it slip by, I finally managed to arrange a trip to see the Nightjars at Chobham Common! I didn't think I would be that successful because a friend of mine had gone there earlier in the week and only heard them, and in better weather, so I was wondering if I would even hear them let alone see them.
We arrived at around 9pm and started our walk after about 10 minutes of pointless waiting around for nothing. Within minutes I was seeing Woodcock fly over, though not roding, instead making a high pitched call. I did that silly-dance-with-tissues-and-clap-your-hands thing which I think may have worked because it was not too long before I heard a Nightjar churring! And it was not too long after that until one flew right past me- what a bird and what a great lifer! It settled nearby, though I couldn't see it, and I got to hear it churring more clearly. Meanwhile some more Woodcocks flew over and a Lapwing called. I soon heard one or two more Nightjars. The bird flew back to where it came from and I decided to take the opportunity to do the tissue and clap thing again to see if it would come any closer, but it didn't really work. It flew back again and then once again returned to its original area. A few bats were flying around and by now it was getting very dark. I walked up and down a few times and at one point I could hear a Nightjar churring literally right next to me! I couldn't see it though and when I took one more step I heard its wingbeats as it took off and the clapping of its wings! I caught a glimpse of it as it flew but didn't locate it again.
We started to make our way back slowly and heard the first bird again. As we got back in the car I heard two Tawny Owls making high ptiched noises. As I neared them, I heard them no longer and decided to go.
A very enjoyable night.

Cruddy Record Shots!

Female Citrine Wagtail at Titchwell RSPB

Female Lesser Grey Shrike at Hickling

Some record shots from a couple of recent twitches (just to cramp the style of Chris' gorgeous Magnolia Warbler. To give you a rough idea of why my photos are always such poor quality, the bottom photo is the original uncropped version of the very distant shrike, taken in evening light, windy conditions and without an adaptor!

James

Grasshopper Warbler(That I never saw!)

Things just keep getting better at school, Spotted flycatchers were amazing but when one of the teachers (who is a twitcher!) said he heard a GRASSHOPPER WARBLER reeling from school I suddenly got very excited but very annoyed as it was out of the boundaries! So next week I will be taking in my scope and keeping my ears at the ready! I try not to get annoyed by these things but it's just so hard!...

RED KITE

Just had a Red Kite fly over the house which was quite amazing, It was heading north whilst being mobbed by Pied wagtails, also in the garden, Baby: Pied wagtails, blue tits, starlings and house sparrows, Brilliant! British year list : 150 ( just england so far!)
Cheers
josh

Some birding recently

Hey everyone,

Chris W here reporting from Wisconsin in the USA.

Last week I attended the Wisconsin society for Ornithology's annual convention. The above Magnolia Warbler was one of the 30 some species of warblers we saw and heard.

Since the start of the year, I've been doing a big year. Currently, I'm almost halfway to my goal of 600 species for the year.

This afternoon, I spent about 3 hours biking around trying to add species to my Bigby list. I managed to add 3 species to bring my year total up to 139. My total for the afternoon was 88 species.


One of them included this Indigo Bunting:



Happy Birding! --Chris

Sussex June 1st 2008

I have just got back from my Sussex two site trip. Just before I left home for Pulborough I got a call from a friend saying he was watching the Red-backed Shrike near to Pulborough Brooks. I couldn't stand the thought of him having it and me missing it so I looked it up on Bird News Anywhere but couldn't find enough details to get it into the sat-nav, so I decided to go after Pulborough, when I may know more about it.
On arrival at Pulborough Brooks I had a quick look at the feeders and managed to see a Nuthatch of note as well as the usual garden birds. Interesting birds started right at the begginning of the trail when my friend that I was on the phone to earlier about the Shrike pointed out a Wren's nest. He wanted to get some shots of the parents as they went in so we waited there for quite a while. In between visits by the parents, parent and juvenile Linnets and Pied Wagtails entertained us.
Soon, we started to go down the trail. Not too far down the trail I spotted a Nightingale hop out onto a fence post, I managed to get my binoculars on it for about a second before it went into a bush. I heard several Blackcaps and a possible Garden Warbler or two in this area. We heard a Nightingale sing in a nearby bush, it was very close. Eventually I managed to locate it, but could only see its breast really. It was fantastic just to hear it, though, and for so long; not to mention at such close range.
We headed off for the viewpoint to see the Spoonbill that had been reported. We watched it for 20 minutes or so. It was feeding and flew a couple of times briefly because a female Mallard with 9 ducklings didn't take a liking to it, eventually, it got fed up and flew towards the other pool in front of the hide, out of view.

Above: Spoonbill

We headed back to the visitor centre to get the fledging Garden Warblers that someone had seen there, but no joy. There was a Pheasant and a few Whitethroat, though.
Another quick look at the Wren and a glance at the feeders and we were off for the Shrike. My friend led us to where it was and we arrived on site not too long after we left Pulborough.

Above: Wren

We walked over the bridge and after a quick scan of the fence posts, we picked it up, sitting on the wire! Lucky me, my friend said he had to wait 1 1/2 hours to see it before. We enjoyed fantastic views of the beautiful Red-backed Shrike for an hour. It hunted, sang and even reguritated a pellet. It was a stunning bird and a lifer for me. A great end to another great day.

Above: Red-backed Shrike

L.R Plovers, Garden warblers and a Turtle dove...

Spent the morning at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve where I had 41 Species all together. Highlights were at least 5 LITTLE RINGED PLOVER (3 ON NESTS), C10 GARDEN WARBLER( 1 PAIR GIVING GREAT VIEWS DOWN TO 2 METRES) and the EGYPTIAN GOOSE family with 4 Goslings. Not much else was of interest apart from 1 KINGFISHER.

...and I just popped to Bough beech where I had great views of 1 TURTLE DOVE (YEAR TICK) and a SPARROWHAWK which put everything up!

Gave Simeon a lift to the station today, and managed to get in a bit of birding on the way - singing Cetti's Warbler in a bush near Heygates Flour Factory, heard out of the car window! A great patch first! That concludes today's birding for me.

James

Titchwell Trip 1st May- 5th May.

Hello, I better introduce myself. I'm Josh and 14 years old and obsessed by birds. I live near Sevenoaks, Kent.

The best birds on the Norfolk trip I had at the begining of the month were:
BITTERN, BARN OWL, MONTAGU'S HARRIER, BEARDED TIT, CETTI'S WARBLER, WHIMBREL, AVOCET, COMMON SCOTER, LITTLE TERN, BLACK TERN, LITTLE GULL, GANNET, P.F GEESE, WHEATEAR, HOBBY and WHINCHAT. It was a great trip.

I mostly do local birding at Sevenoaks Wildlife Reserve where I've recorded over 100 species so far. I also regularly visit Rye Harbour NR, Bough beech, London WWT and occasionally Norfolk.

Thanks
Josh

Spring summary

male White-spotted Bluethroat at Winterton, Norfolk (C.D.R)

As I haven't posted on here for quite some time though I'd give a brief account of my spring so far. Although it seems common migrants have been relatively poor in terms of numbers in comparison to recent years, scarcities certainly seem on the up, despite the seemingly ideal weather charts not really producing as much as hoped (yet!). Despite Norfolk in Spring migration being frustrating at times, highlights have included a stunning male WHITE-SPOTTED BLUETHROAT at Winterton, a superb adult WHISKERED TERN at Holkham Freshmarsh and a bright male (prob. Western) SUBALPINE WARBLER at Blakeney Point. Lesser rarities have included a Wryneck, 2 Temmincks Stints (1 self-found), a Green-winged Teal, up to 15 Dotterels, a perhaps slightly suspect Black Kite and 9 Common Cranes. Good numbers of Wood Sandpipers (6) and Black Terns (17), as well as lower numbers of Ring Ouzels and Blue-headed Wagtails (1 self-found) has kept up the interest throughout. The patch meanwhile, has produced 5 Common Cranes and a Rough-legged Buzzard (co-found). Lets hope a final push of common migrants and scarce overshoots alike is yet to come. And lets not mention Black Larks and Spectacled Warblers :(

EDIT 01/06/08. WOW, a fantastic final push for Spring (hasn't this happened a bit in the last few years?!) saw some great birding. A nice CITRINE WAGTAIL was at Titchwell RSPB, alongside 3 Temminck's Stints, and prior to that 2 RED-FOOTED FALCONS were at Lakenheath Fen RSPB and 3 calling Corncrakes were on the Nene Washes. Meanwhile, the patch produced a Red-backed Shrike (self-found with J.G) and 2 singing ICTERINE WARBLERS the next day. Revision unfortunately got in the way towards the second half or the half-term (forcing me to miss the Trumpeter Finch at Blakeney) but the holiday finished off on a high with 2 singing Quails at an undisclosed site. I then managed to claw back the TRUMPETER FINCH (rather insanely on Monday evening!) thanks to a kind lift from S.G and J.G. Presumably Spring has unfortuately now ended (finally!) but at least with a bit of a bang, with my first Norfolk (and only second British) EUROPEAN BEE-EATER at Northrepps and a singing Wood Warbler (also a Norfolk tick!) at an undisclosed site on 8/6/08. What a rollacoaster of a ride...

Cheers,

Connor

David's YBBR 2008 report

If you fancy writing a brief report of your day competing, feel free to do so.

Sunday 27th April 2008 Deborah4;, Epsomsalt;(Chris) (and wife Jen), Baggy2508 (John), Den21 (Denise) and I met up at Pagham Harbour for a day's birding. We started meeting at 9:30am but got going when I finally arrived after a lot of confusion as to where I was meant to be. Before I arrived the others were looking at the Small Ferry Pool, the main bird of note that they saw were some newly arrived Swifts. Otherwise there were large numbers of Shelduck and common wildfowl on the Pool and a Reed Warbler or two showing well in front of the hide. Eventually I arrived. There were Redshank and Lapwing feeding around the Pool and pair or two of on the Pool. We soon moved on from the hide overlooking the pool and crossed a bridge over a channel of water, here there was a pair of Moorhen with chicks and some fine Reed Buntings flitting about in the reeds which we all got good views of. There were large numbers of male Pheasants around the site, a few of which came quite close. It was a good day for Warblers with Reed, Sedge and Whitethroat being heard all the time in the scrub and reeds. Further on along the track we heard a Cuckoo! This was quite a surprise and despite scanning of dead trees and fence posts we failed to locate it, however John picked the bird up in flight a few minutes later but the rest of us didn't see it. A Skylark sang. A report came through from RBA of two Cattle Egrets flying over the reserve but we only managed to find Little Egrets. Hirundines were limited with only a few Swallows being seen skimming right by us. We were treated to close up views of a Grey Heron in a dyke which everyone enjoyed.With spring migration fully underway, if not finishing up, and so many Curlews around we were on the look out for Whimbrel, the others saw a couple from the first hide but they were apparently they were distant. By the time we reached the hide near Church Norton we had seen plenty Oystercatchers, and a trio performed a particularly good display, moving simultaneously together, piping while doing so. Most of the other Waders had cleared off but there were still Dunlin, Ringed Plover and Curlew present as well as the Oystercatchers. Deborah picked up a Little Tern while we were at the hide feeding over the water. I think this was a year tick for almost all of us who saw it. There were still signs of winter, though, with 9 Brent Geese over the harbour.A brief seawatch revealed nothing other than a Great-crested Grebe. As we passed the reedbeds looking for Bearded Tit about four Linnet showed very well and another Cetti's Warbler sang. From the same spot we saw a Buzzard flying low over the tree line being mobbed by Carrion Crows; it landed briefly but soon flew again and was lost to sight. A walk through an area of farmland, cottages and storage buildings produced species like Greenfinch, Blue and Great Tits, Chaffinches and a few more Chiffchaffs. With the Pheasants on a field were two Red-legged Partridges and a Lapwing, meanwhile a Sparrowhawk flew over. Further along the track we got good views of a feeding Great-spotted Woodpecker. Also in the area was an obliging pair of Kestrels. When we paid a brief visit back to the hide we were treated to fantastic views of a Whimbrel and at the hide we were told that a female Pied Flycatcher was seen five or ten minutes beforehand flying towards the cemetery and there was a Redstart there too; we were off. After a while walking round looking in vain for the Flycatcher, John had to leave and the rest of us soon headed back for the Sidlesham car park. The walk back didn't really reveal much else other than a couple more Whimbrel, we stopped off at a bench and Deb got a call from Denise saying a birder had found a Kentish Plover near the Church Norton hide. Deb and I headed off immediately but Chris and Jen had to go. On the way we spotted a couple more Whimbrel and had good views of the Green Woodpecker that we heard earlier.We approached a small gathering of birders, and thank goodness we got the reply that it was there and got distant views of the Kentish Plover for about 10 minutes until Deb left with another birder for the Bill (she saw Common Scoters, an Arctic and a Great Skua) and I decided to have one last look for the Pied Flycatcher and Redstart. We got the opportunity to compare the nearby Ringed Plovers to the bird and noticed it was a much faster feeder and much smaller, lacking such prominent markings on its breast. A lifer for me! Of course I had no luck with the Pied Fly or Redstart and headed home at around 5:20pm.An excellent day with great company, thanks guys!
Full List
1 Bar-tailed Godwit
2 Black-headed Gull
3 Black-tailed Godwit
4 Blackbird
5 Blackcap
6 Blue Tit
7 Brent Goose (Dark-bellied)
8 Buzzard
9 Carrion Crow
10 Cetti's Warbler
11 Chaffinch
12 Chiffchaff
13 Common Tern
14 Coot
15 Cormorant
16 Cuckoo
17 Curlew
18 Dunlin
19 Dunnock
20 Gadwall
21 Great Black-backed Gull
22 Great-crested Grebe
23 Great-spotted Woodpecker
24 Great Tit
25 Green Woodpecker
26 Greenfinch
27 Grey Heron
28 Herring Gull
29 House Martin
30 KENTISH PLOVER
31 Kestrel
33 Lapwing
34 Lesser Black-backed Gull
35 Linnet
36 Little Egret
37 Little Tern
38 Long-tailed Tit
39 Magpie
40 Mallard
41 Meadow Pipit
42 Moorhen
43 Mute Swan
44 Oystercatcher
45 Pheasant
46 Red-legged Partridge
47 Redshank
48 Reed Bunting
49 Reed Warbler
50 Ringed Plover
51 Robin
52 Sandwich Tern
53 Sedge Warbler
54 Shelduck
55 Skylark
56 Sparrowhawk
57 Stock Dove
58 Swallow
59 Swift
60 Teal
61 Tufted Duck
62 Turnstone
63 Whimbrel
64 Whitethroat
65 Wigeon
66 Woodpigeon
67 Wren

Blasted Golden Oriole...

Having heard constant reports of continental birds rolling in, I decided to try my luck at Bockhill. Rarity count: ZERO. I missed 5 crossbills and a Golden Oriole at Kingsdown by an hour. Seems to be the story of my life, really.

I had a fairly good time on the cliffs, but the peregrines showed at fewer intervals than usual and it was always hard to capture them as the autofocus locked onto the sea. I did manage to take a few quality shots, seconds before noticing a rather bemused fulmar sitting on a ledge only a metre or so from me.

There's somet Arctic about the Larid - 29th April 2008

As no-one has included a picture if they have seen it of the Ross's Gull in good old Lancashire so far, I thought I may as well, as I am now proud to say I have got rid of my title as only Lancs Birder not to see the Belter...What a Bird though!

Beddington SF 24th April 08

With a lot being seen at Beddington SF lately I decided to head down there again on Thursday. I know a few of the regulars there and was looking forwards to meeting them again as well as the migrants.
www.diporglory.co.uk- the Beddington SF website said that the farm had Common Tern, Lesser Whitethroat, Garden Warbler, Little Gull and Little Egret the previous day. So I had high hopes. The farm had even better passage a couple of days before so who knew what would have turned up when I went.
As soon as I arrived I heard an odd sounding Blackcap and with the Garden Warbler sighting yesterday, I was suspicous. Soon Roger came walking down the track, the two of us stood there for about 10 minutes until a couple of Blackcaps flew out.
Roger and Johnny went over to look for the Garden Warbler and I joined them, it was a longer walk than I expected and even though I'm pretty regular at Beddington it was the first time I saw the '100 acre' lake. We had left our scopes in the 'hide' but managed to pick up a Greenshank even so and there were the usual pair of Shelduck flying around.
As we neared the Garden Warbler spot, Johnny picked up a Bird of Prey going over. At first he claimed it as a Buzzard but when we all got onto it we realised there was something wrong about it. I had certainly seen nothing quite like it before. It was big enough for someone to think it a Buzzard at first glance but its flight pattern was wrong, its wing shape was wrong, it was about 2/3 the size of a Buzzard and had pointed wings. I was playing with the idea of Goshawk in my head, and dismissed the idea immediately until Johnny said it did look a bit like one but we all knew there was no way of confirming the sighting, it was silhouetted all the time it was in view. I am trying to get the bird out of my head as it will just lead to more wishful thinking, but I still can't help thinking it wasn't a Buzzard and it didn't look quite right for female Sparrowhawk, come to think of it the flight pattern was a it dodgy for Sparrowhawk. Anyway, we'll never know and just have to call it a female Sparrowhawk.
After a bit more walking we reached the fence (used by the birders here as the recording boundary, you cannot count anything seen on the other side of the fence) where there was a bit of scrub and some oak trees. Chaffinches, Tits and Blackcaps were seen. One singing male came extremely close, if only I had my camera I would have got superb photos. Other than the above mentioned species, there was nothing and we waited and waited and waited until Johnny got a phone call from Kev who was in the hide saying that he'd seen a Hobby around the lake! I felt my heart sink when I heard him say in reply 'Hobby around the lake! Thanks for that Kev we'll keep a look out'. I felt my hopes of seeing the birds slowly diminish as we continued to wait for a bird which was not going to show, even though I would love to see a Garden Warbler. Eventually Johnny admitted the bird was not going to show. I had ten minutes until I had to leave.
On arriving back at the hide I heard that the Hobby was gone and even worse, a Peregrine had flown over! A few quick scans with the scope I found nothing else of interest. But then I heard a song I had only seen on birding computer programmes and DVDs, the rattling song of my first Lesser Whitethroat! Soon Kev picked it up and I got onto it, brief and partial but I saw it. A much needed lifer! They breed across the road from me but I've still never seen one. At least some good came of the day.

Donana Trip April 2008

Hi, Ben here. I returned from a fantastic holiday to southern Spain last week, and what a great week I had! I managed to tick all but one of my target species (Baillon's Crake), and have photographs of all the best birds on my Flickr site. Of twitching interest I saw a Pied Kingfisher, a Bald Ibis and the best rarity of them all: an adult male Rose-breasted Grosbeak, which was seen by three other birders. Just a shame that it was too dark to photograph as it kept to the top branches of a stone-pine. Here are five of my best shots: Greater Flamingo, Purple Heron, Purple Gallinule, Montagu's Harrier and Squacco Heron. These individuals were very confiding; all seen within a few metres of me, some from a hide, others from the car.

Go BIGBY!

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting much lately.

I just wanted to make sure everybody knows about BIGBYing, or participating in a Big Green Big Year. It's simple - you count every bird that you see that didn't require use of a gas-guzzling vehicle on any part of the trip, from door to door (not sure about buses though...). Catch a train, bike to your local patch. It's much more challenging than regular ol' birding and is guilt free. You can sign up and become an official BIGBYer, or just do it on your own:

http://www.sparroworks.ca/bigby.html

Please consider joining the group of BIGBYers. We are the next generation of birders! We can pioneer this new trend and make a difference! It's so easy -- why not?! Especially since half of us can't drive yet!!

Calling all (UK based) Young Birders!

Calling all UK based Young Birders (18 and under, though this could be extended possibly upon request). Seeing as the Young Norfolk Birders (that is myself, Simeon Grundy, Connor Rand, and Matthew Evans) had a cracking Spring day today we decided that it would be cool to launch a game of Finders Keepers for 2008. We had in mind for this to be a team game (largely to stop Connor from jammily cashing in on our finds) - Young Norfolk Birders v. Young Birders, although any friends can be included so long as the number does not get ludicrously large (in which case multiple teams could be formed).

For those of you not initiated in the rules of the game, it involves finding as many scarce/rare birds as possible in 2008, for which points are earned. For co-finds the points are split depending on how much of a hand you had in the find. Birding does not have to be done as a team, the points are simply added. Also, as Steve and Jyothi have expressed concern that we live in Norfolk it has been decided that points will be adjusted depending on where (and when in some cases) the bird was found, eg. A Baltimore Oriole in London scores more than in Norfolk which scores more than in Shetland. For this reason we cannot invite people outside the UK (including Ireland, sorry!) as it would get rather confusing - I don't know what a Baltimore oriole is worth in the USA!

We will have our own set of modified rules, as the Punkbirder rules are somewhat out of our league, with Simeon and I deciding the points to be given with a second opinion from Connor - don't worry we will be totally fair (well, as fair as we can!). Also, we will operate on the basis of trust - all records will be accepted, trusting that people's consciences will ensure that the records are valid. Anyway, it would be a little unfair if we were to judge validity without actually knowing anything about it - it doesn't work for the county recorders and it wouldn't work for us! There will be no prizes, except the ultimate prize of satisfaction and glory!

Above all we will be playing largely for fun, not to prove that we are better than everyone else! I for one have A levels to think about, so if I find a rare it will probably be by accident, not because I went to Sumburgh Lighthouse at 5:00am every day - don't worry, it's not going to be intensely serious.

Please email me at jimmyg777@hotmail.co.uk if you are interested or if you have questions.

TX trip pictures and species list.

I got back from the TX coast last week after spending a week in the little coastal town of High Island just south of Houston.
It was a fun trip. I totaled 146 species, 122 year birds and 14 lifers!

my trip pictures can be found here:
http://web.mac.com/stoneageoutpost/RC_Birding/My_Albums/My_Albums.html

My trip list can be found here:
http://web.mac.com/stoneageoutpost/RC_Birding/High_Island_TX_trip_bird_list.html

and my daily trip updates can be found on my blog:
http://swallowtailedkite.blogspot.com

enjoy,
Happy Birding!