Dorset 23rd-24th March 2008

I went to Dorset for a night last weekend. I was hoping to go to Cheddar reservoir and get a Bonaparte's Gull, with a Red-necked Grebe and some Scaup, so there would be three lifers in one day. But it was not to be.It was too far away from where we were staying. But despite this major disappointment, I still managed to fit in some fantastic birding!On the Sunday, we were nearing Dorset when a Raven flew over the car, chasing a Carrion Crow, it even tumbled for me! This was great, it is one of my favourite birds and an unexpected year tick.We arrived at the hotel, where there were nesting Jackdaws and Rooks nearby, but fortunately for me, we were too early to check in and settle into our room so we ended up going to Pennington Marshes earlier than planned. The marsh was interesting with lots of Dark-bellied Brent Geese (2008 tick) and a female Goosander with a few male and female Red-breasted Mergansers swimming next to each other! Other birds of note included a very showy Greenshank with a red ring on its right leg that I really must report (2008 tick) and one or two Ringed Plover and a few Grey Plover.Black-tailed Godwits were plentiful. Otherwise, there was not much of note.The next day we headed off to Arne RSPB, first we went round the smaller heath trail. Before we started, I had a look at the feeders, and I saw a Marsh Tit, quite unexpected and yet another year tick. I saw one singing later on, this is the first time I have heard this. The gorse itself did not provide much, but the view of the river from the trail did provide some great birds with 11 pure white Spoonbill, all either asleep or half asleep; every so often I would see one awaken and show me its strangely shaped bill for which they get their name. They were lovely, and as a bonus, another year tick. There were lots of Shelduck and one or two Greenshank there too. As I was scanning, I heard a scratchy song, immediately Dartford Warbler came to mind. Sure enough, after a good while of searching it popped up for a second. A brief but good view, a year tick and just brilliant. I had already seen 3 birds that I hardly ever see, and I realised that in spring Arne would be an even more fantastic place to be.We finished the trail, with nothing else of note being seen and went to have lunch in a nearby pub. I persuaded mum and dad who had until then broken they're promise to return after lunch and do the rest of it, to do so.We agreed only to walk up to the viewpoint and hide along the other trail. The farm was pretty disappointing, but I did see a Redwing and a Fieldfare right next to eachother on the way back. It turned out that I missed the viewpoint and the raised hide didn't show me anything interesting other than a few Red-breasted Mergansers in the harbour. I don't know what it is about this year and Red-breasted Mergansers, I didn't see any last year, or the year before or before and before and maybe even further back! I have seen about 30 this month alone.On the way back the deer let us get extremely close and I saw the above mentioned Fieldfare and Redwing. Near the car park a Buzzard flew over.When packing away, what did we see on the latest sightings board? Male Hen Harrier and Rough-legged Buzzard. 'oh....' I uttered to myself. Yes, a disapointment but I did see Marsh Tit, very close and singing, a Dartford Warbler, singing (I think i was the only person that day to see one), 11 Spoonbill, Red-breasted Mergansers, Redwing and Fieldfare sitting right by each other and much more. Although, to be honest, missing the Harrier and Rough leg is of course still really bugging me.

Spring Migrants at Bockhill

Spring is in full swing down at Bockhill, with Chiffchaffs, Blackcaps and Wheatears already arriving en masse. Sand Martins have been seen, and large numbers of Redwings and Fieldfares are gathering to leave- some have already started to head north. It won't be long before the pair of Black Redstarts at Dover Castle arrive and breed. I took some nice photos of the youngsters last year.

Sand Martins - Brockholes Quarry, Lancs SD585305 - 9th March 2008 - Zac Hinchcliffe

5 Sand Martin at the Quarry today constituted the earliest onsite spring records...previous record was 11th March in 2001

this also meant I along with several other birders at the quarry saw Lancashires first birds of the year...excellent news! (y)

See my blog for full account of todays birding and pics of Barn Owl, Water Pipit

, Glossy ibis etc

Hen Harrier movie

Here is my video of the female Hen Harrier featured in my last post.

3 dips two scores, Sheppey 2/3/08

I went to Sheppey today, this was the second time I have tried to fit three Sheppey sites into a day, and the second time that it didn't quite work!We left just after 10am (later than planned, yet better than normal) and arrived at Capel Fleet at around 11:40am, after constant scanning into the distance, starting to go a bit mad with how unlucky I am with this site (been 3 times, best I've seen is a very breif ringtail Hen Harrier). I went ver to another birder, hoping he'd be able to get me onto something good, but he was having no more luck than me... there were some Bewick's Swans amongst about 40 Mute Swans, which I was pleased with. We moved on to the raptor viewpoint, saw nothing but a male Kestrel and left. As we drove past I saw a frustratingly Corn Bunting like bird on a wire, surely it was one, but we couldn't stop! I wish we could have stopped because Corn Buntings always prove to be a pain to get onto the year list. I will have to pay Sheppey a visit in late 2008 when the winter migrants come back, to get the species I missed today (basically everything!). We almost ran over a Stoat on the way back!We arrived at Swale/Shellness NNR, I was very hopeful with little doubt that I would miss the Hooded Crow or Barnacle Geese. I went over the ridge and started walking towards the beech... oh dear... no Geese on the marsh. I arrived at the beech, there were loads of waders running around, but I just knew that the Crow wasn't there... I could just feel it in the atmosphere. Relentless scanning revealed some year ticks, mostly waders, which I haven't had much of this yearr. My 2008 ticks seen at this site were: Little Egret, Black-tailed Godwit, Dunlin, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit and Knot.I scanned the site for anything like Divers, Red-breasted Mergansers or anything that would be a lifer to make up for the Crow, I was right, 8 Red-breasted Mergansers on the sea, 2 of which were gorious males. A lifer!When we got back in the car we discovered that mum had left her sun glasses on the beach, time was getting on and I was getting stressed up, I had already spent too much time on the beach not accepting that I had missed the Geese and Crow (over an hour, and by this time it was getting on 4:00pm). Dad badgered me into going back to get them with mum, which turned out good because I added the latter two species at the end of the last paragraph onto my year list.We finally left and as we approached Elmley Marshes, I saw an unusual Bird of Prey hunting over the field next to us. I got my binoculars on it and shouted "HEN HARRIER!!!". It was a gorious ring tail showing fantastically and I got some pleasing video footage of it as we stopped the car up a drive. This was a very nice surpise after missing the two Birds that I thought were almost garunteed today. I watched it for nearly 5 minutes before we had changed postition, ending up in the middle of the road and there was no choice but to go. We stopped by the round about further on and looked cross the field but failed to locate the Bird.We arrived at the begginning to the long entrance track at Elmley and soon saw a Red-legged Partridge right out in the open! A year tick, great video opportunity and one of the few times I've seen one for a while before it ran away into cover! There were loads of Little Egrets along the track, a few Kestrels (one was on a post next toa cattle grid, letting us get very close), loads of Coot and Wigeon and some other stuff. There was a very close Skylark right by the car which I photographed. There were Lapwing, Redshank and Ringed Plover flying about and a few Pheasants and Grey Herons. I couldn't go past the car park because we had to be back soon to take someone out for a meal, so, frustrated as I was at being so close to getting Short-eared Owl, Peregrine and more I had to make do with what I could see around and from the car park. People told me about the Short eared Owls and Peregrines they'd seen just 10 minutes down the track! Inside one of the owl nest boxes on the trees behind the toilets, there was a Little Owl type thing... it could have been patterns in the wood, but others seemed to think it was a Little Owl. In the 20 minutes or so that I was there, I didn't notice it move, so I am going to have to not accept it. It was too dark to see what it was really. I went back to the car reluctantly, and as we left, we saw a lot of the same things along the track that we did on the way in, as well as a male and a female Gadwall flying up.

Introduction

Hi all! Allow me to introduce myself, as I am a new contributor to this site. My name is Benjamin Young, and I'm a 13 (nearly 14) year old birder from East Kent. I'll admit that I'm not much of a twitcher, though I do jump at any occasion to find vagrants from Southern Europe (I used to live in the south of Spain, you see). My local patch is the rifle range south of Kingsdown, where Black Redstarts and Fulmar breed. I have seen offshore divers and Gannets here too, along with several oiled guillemots. My British List numbers 156, which is fairly impressive. I haven't seen many rarities in Britain, though an overhead White Stork in 2004 and a Red Kite in 2007 are probably my best sightings. I'm quite keen to become a professional photographer, though I still have a lot to learn.

Today I decided to head for Folkestone Warren. It is without doubt the place to see Mediterranean Gulls. I counted 33 on the sea and on the rocks. Also of interest was a female Kingsfisher using the rockpools as fishing sites and a Rock Pipit that gave amazingly good views. I also heard a Chiffchaff today; it must be a very early arrival.

Going Ivory gull hunting.

Ok. Let's face it. Ivory Gulls are one of the most fiendish birds to fly over this earth.  They are ridiculously small, impossible to see and love to play hide and seek.  3 friends and I drove overnight on Tues to look for one. It's about 10 hours, packed into a little tiny rental car, from home here in WI to Pierre SD where the bird was hanging out.  We spent all day Wed (10:00am til sunset) looking for the bird without success. Then we spent all day Thurs (sunrise to sunset) still without any luck.   It was a long trip for not finding THE bird. Although, I added 5 lifers and 17 year birds.  

My lifers were:

SNOWY OWL

Glaucous Gull

Ross's Goose

Sharp-tailed Grouse 

Gr Prairie Chicken

So the trip was not a complete loss. 

I now hate Ivory Gulls though and will hate them more if the bird is refound! 

Intro

Hi there thought I'd briefly introduce myself as I'm a new contributor to this site. My name is Connor D. Rand and I'm a young (15 years old) birder from north Norfolk. My British List is 311 and my year list is around 140. My local patch is Holme Dunes, which, popular to contrary belief is most certainly not rubbish and past it! In the last few years my main aim has been finding my own rare and scarce birds, with European Bee-eater at Spurn Point the best, as well as Richard's Pipit (Sumburhg Head, Shetland) and Surf Scoter (co-found at Holme)... I already know several contributors to this site, such as Simeon and James from the Young Norfolk birders and Jyothi.

Recently in Norfolk it has been pretty slow, although 2 Goshawks and a Lesser-spotted Woodpecker in the Brecks were both cracking and a Rough-legged Buzzard at Burnham Norton was good. This year has produced three British ticks, the White-crowned Sparrow at Cley, Lesser Scaup in Warks and Spot Sand in Glamorgan.

Good luck to all as Spring migration (slowly)arrives, my website is http://www.connorsbirdingsite.blogspot.com/

Connor

During half term we had the fabulous opportunity of a skiing holiday in Hemavan in the north of Sweden. On condition that Orjan, our host, acted as Hemavan's "Turistprast" (tourist priest - fairly self explanatory) for the duration of the holiday, we could borrow a house next to the church!

We packed our binoculars dreaming of hordes of Nutcrackers and Siberian Jays, but unfortunately the reality was almost more surprising. There weren't any birds! The total number of species seen on the whole trip was about 10...

Magpies and Hooded Crows were the only regular birds. Great tits were fairly common, averaging about 5 individuals per day! Pistewatching (not a recommended activity) produced only Raven, whilst snowballfightwatching delivered a lovely flypast by a male Black Grouse - the star bird of the trip!A very tantalising "owl sp." made an brief appearance for James; he thought it was a very small Barn Owl, before realising that Sweden has no Barn Owls, and decided it was probably Tengmalm's. Simeon heard a distant call which was possibly a Hawk Owl.

Perhaps the best birding was when we sat in a ditch and watched someone's bird feeders! Blue Tit, (Northern) Bullfinch and several gorgeous Willow Tits were added to the list before we resorted to burying each other.

Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Willow Grouse and Ptarmigan were all seen stuffed in various cafes.

Still, despite the lack of birds we had an amazing holiday with some great friends!

A tour of 4 wetland centres!

We, the research team from WWT travelled to 4 of our centres this week to carry out routine ringing, heath checks and screening for Avian Influenza in any waterfowl that got caught in our decoys. It started off on Monday (5th Feb) leaving WWT Slimbridge en route to WWT Welney. Nothing much around at Slimbridge that morning but nice to see quite a few Bewick Swans in for the morning feed, also watching a pair of Peregrines over the dumbles scattering everything! What a sight! Arrived at Welney in the dark, straight for supper and then back to the B+B for an early night as Tuesday was gunna be busy!! Up very early on Tuesday and 26 Whooper Swans, 50+ Pochard were caught. All birds processed very quickly and then we had an hour to spend at Welney before shooting of to our next centre (Martin Mere!) With not having much time on my hands I persuade one of my colleagues at Welney to show me the Tundra Bean Geese, 3 birds seen. Also another one of my colleagues managed to get Water Pipit, which I was rather miffed at not seeing! ;( It was nice to see a wide range of waterfowl at Welney - Mallard, Tufted Duck, Pinktail, Shelduck, Pochard, Gadwall, Teal and Wigeon.Arrived at Martin Mere just after the afternoon swan feed, this is one of my favorite sights at Martin Mere!! Hen Harrier seen in the background beyond the mere, Short eared owl and Peregrine also logged. Arrived at Martin Mere (Weds) around 7.30ish, no birding in the morning as we had to start straight away... 34 Whooper Swans caught + over 80 ducks! Had one or two hours to spend at Martin Mere before our departure. Birds seen - Grt Spotted Woodpecker (3 together!), Tree Sparrows nest building, Hen Harrier again, Peregrine, Buzzard, Tawny Owl, Barn Owl and Merlin all seen...After that it was onto our final centre, WWT Caerlaverock!! My favorite wetland centre. Nice to see a field full of Pinkfeet on our approach to the centre in Annan (1500+ birds). The usual suspects seen..... Barnacle Geese, Whooper Swans, Buzzard, Peregrine, Twite, 80+ Siskin, Golden plover - 100+. The Red Breasted Goose made a guest appearance after spending time on the English side of the Solway, so it was nice to catch up with this since my last visit! Also seen.....wait for it.... Otter!!After we had all done at Caerlaverock it was off back down the M6 to home for a well needed rest! All in all a very busy but successful few days......its always nice to escape from the office!

London Wetlands Centre 3th February 2008

I got London Wetlands Centre off my little 'waiting list' for now, though I may need to go again soon to get Bittern that I missed today. At least I got one of my targets and something unexpected... Mum needed some new binoculars today so we went up to the in-focus shop. When we were deciding on what to get there was a Green Woodpecker from the in-focus balcony and a few Feral Pigeons and other usual stuff. I left mum and dad in the cafe and headed off for the main reserve, hoping for Bittern and Water Pipit. I spent the first half hour in the first hide before they caught up and we left five minutes afterwards for the WWF hide. The 1st hide produced Pochard, Cormorant, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Ruddy Duck, Little Grebe and a Egyptian Goose! I followed it as it swam with my scope and then took a video. I looked for it again five minutes later and there were two standing in the shallows preening! Excellent! This was a nice surprise and a year tick. Other than this there was not much of note at the first hide. On the way to the WWF hide a group pointed a flock of Siskins out to me, I only got a brief view of them flying as they departed, though. At the WWF hide there were a few Herring and Common Gulls amongst the Black-headed Gulls. There were Lapwing flying about too. A lady next to me said 'ooh, what's that little brown bird on that small island right in front of us' to her companion. At this moment I knew it was a Water Pipit and found it instantly, confirming the ID and telling the ladies what it was. Several people were pleased when I pointed it out. It was a lifer for me, and very close too! I got great, clear views through the scope and got a couple of phone-scoped videos and lots of photos (see right).After about 20 minutes of watching it we left for the Peacock Tower, up there I pointed the Water Pipit out to a few more people and asked if anyone had seen the Bittern, no-one had... There wasn't much else from the Peacock Tower other than good views of wildfowl including Wigeon, Teal, Gadwall, Mallard, Shoveler, Tufted Duck and Pochard. After a while we went home after a successful day.

Below: Water Pipit (phone-scoped)

Birdnut is back!

I am pleased to tell you that my website has finally been fixed (the only way of getting it back was to create it from scratch again).
It is the same address as before (www.birdnut.me.uk).
It has a couple of new pages (Links and News) but the Resources page has been taken off.Any comments on the new design are welcome.
Regards,
David

Hello from me and my recent visit to Ireland.

Hey!

My name is Kane Brides, I'm 18 and from Atherton which is on the border of Grt Manchester. Been interested in birds since I can remember. My local patch is Pennington Flash but also spends lots of my time at WWT Martin Mere. I have birded in quite a few countries France, Spain, Germany and Australia and I am also a registered BTO ringer (C permit). I have worked/volunteered for the Wildfowl and Wetlands trust for 6-7 years working at Martin Mere, Slimbridge and Caerlaverock. I currently have Zeiss bins 10x42 conquest and a opticron scope + Nikon coolpix 4500 camera.

Anyhow I hope I am doing this correctly! Thought my first post would be regarding my recent visit to Ireland last week whilst looking for Whooper Swans for WWT. I was staying mostly in the Donegal area but also had trips out to Derry and Sligo again in search of swans but managed to get some nice birds along the way. Green Winged Teal, Iceland Gull, Kumliens Gull (Lifer for me), Glaucous Gull and Surf Scoter.

Also lots of other common species, nice to see Hooded Crows, Bewick Swans and also Gannets whilst on the ferry from Belfast.

Rye Harbour 27th Jan 08

There were several species reported around the Dungeness/Rye Harbour area that I thought I'd give it a go this weekend.My targets were as follows:Long-tailed Duck at Scotney GPsScaup at Rye Harbour LNRShorelark at Rye Harbour LNRWe left later than planned and only arrived at around 1:00pm despite constant badgering of my parents. We met Phil at Scotney and I knew he had seen the duck earlier in the morning from a phone call. After a quick scan I had it and got the scope on it, I got great views of it ( a female) but foolishly forgot to get a record phone-scoped video! Anyway, it was a great bird and well worth the detour (which ended up slowing the trip down by almost an hour (because of problems getting there, instead of it being a 15 minute trip. I was shocked when Phil said he saw about a hundred White-fronted and Bean Geese half an hour before I arrived, both potential lifers! We soon moved on to Rye and Phil and I went ahead, eager to catch a glimpse of the Shorelark. We soon got Stonechat (08 bird for me) and when we reached the red roofed hut that the Shorelark was meant to be around, we soon found the flock of Skylarks it was meant to be hanging around with, but unfortunately it wasn't there and after a good 15 minutes we pressed on, concerned with the ever decreasing number of sunlight hours left.There were Oystercatchers and Ringed Plovers flying round, both two more year birds in the bag. Other than this there was not much of note other than large numbers of Gulls on the sea. We asked several people whether they had seen the Shorelark or Scaup and all of them said they hadn't seen the Shorelark and all but one said they hadn't seen the Scaup. One man, however said he had seen a drake and a female on the Long Pit and a Ferruginous Duck! At first I was delighted and hastily made my way over there with Phil, leaving mum and dad behind half way there. As we walked and saw Meadow Pipits and Stonechat, I thought about the Ferruginous Duck and was convinced something fishy was going on. This is not really the time of year for them and, if it was one, it was likely to be an escape.On one of the pools on the way there was a Redshank (08 bird) and some Shelduck. When we got to the Long Pits we scanned the Pochards and Tufted Ducks but there was no sign of either any Scaup or a Ferruginous Duck (though there was a female Tufted Duck with a very white vent, which may have confused the man). There were some displaying Goldeneye (two males and two females). A birder came up and asked us for help with orientating himself, half way through what he was saying a Barn Owl flying past! Quite near us too, it flew away and out of sight, by then the man had left and it came back again then flew round the back of the open barns (its presumed home) and we followed it, we got some more good views as it hunted and later on I spotted it sitting on a concrete box, it sat there for five minutes as I filmed it with my camera phone held up to the scope then flew off and that was the last we saw of it. By then it was getting very dark and we headed back, a Song Thrush sang.

Slavonian Grebe - Barrow Lodge SD740381 - 20th January 2008

Only my 4th trip out this year and I was back in the house at 10.00! I think this was the easiest twitch I've ever been on. I saw it after 5 seconds after getting out the car

What a Bird - see my blog for more details - www.zacswildlifeblog.blogspot.com

Very, very poor record of the Great White Egret at Pymoor! It was gorgeous, but we definitely found out why nobody has taken any photos of it.

James

Ok, it definitely wasn't this bad when I watched it on my camera...

Various highs and a big low at Dungeness

Ok, I persuaded dad to take me down to Dungeness today because there is not much anywhere else, don't feel like having another bad experience with that darn Hoopoe and there is always something of interest down at Dunge.


I find Dungeness a highly productive but frustrating site- today it was windy, the sun was right in front of me and making the Gulls look different and I got a moan from my parents every time I requested another part of Dungeness!





Ok, lets get this over and done with, you may have read before that the following disasters have taken place involving my equipment, here is the story so far:



29th December 2007: Dad drops the D80 with the 500mm lens onto solid stone stairs as we were taking stuff to the car for our stay in Manchester.


30th December 2007 AM: The laptop crashes in the hotel, therefore disconnecting me from the birding world (other than good old Bird News Anywhere from Birdguides) and waisting £25 that we had paid for the week's internet in the hotel.


PM: I foolishly lean the tripod with my new video camera against the car, with the legs folding in,it topples over; samshing the camera.


13th January 2008: I climb up the sea wall at Dungeness with strong gales coming at my face (and tripod) from the sea. I see a Gannet and write it down in my notebook, turning away from my scope- you guessed it- the scope falls over! And no, its not just an unlucky fall, the eyepiece adjuster (glasses/non-glasses thing) come loose (AGAIN!!!!!!!!) But that is not all- the focus stops at near infinity, making it frustratingly just out of focus and sort like a double image when seawatching.





So that is the updated story!





So, I scan the sea with my now capput scope, trying to make out the distant Auks, the broken scope making it even more difficult to ID as they zoom past. One passed close-by though, allowing a positive ID and a decent focus- Guillemot. After this loads more were seen. It was impossible to see whether they had dark armpits or not with them flapping so much and the poor optics.





I moved on to the reserve, deciding to ditch the Long- pits idea because I simply had no idea where they were and whether it was alright to walk across the 'desert' off track.





The trip to the reserve began with a surprise from the visitor centre - Shag, on an island (below)! This is my first good view and a quality 2008 tick. See the videos link on the left hand side near the top of the site to see a video of this bird.

Then I was directed to some Smew and Goosander over at another island- two more 2008 birds in the bag. (Smew video on videos blog, see links).

There were a few Goldeneye around too. Other wildfowl included Mallard, Gadwall, Shoveler, Teal, Pintail Wigeon and Pochard.

On the way from the Makepeace hide to the Scott hide there was a male Smew just over the bank that a man pointed out.

From the Scott hide there were a few Ruddy Ducks and four Red Crested Pochards.

After this we left the reserve and as the light faded we went down Dengemarsh road, hoping for some Bewick's Swans, of course no luck. But I think I saw a Barn Owl, but I can't be sure so I haven't added it to my year list. It was a white bird flying quite rapidly, less floaty than a Gull and it suddenly stopped and landed on the ground. By this time all the Gulls were at the roost so I suppose it must have been. It didn't re-appear after it dropped down though so I couldn't confirm it- aarg.

A day of various emotions- after we send the scope off all I will have is a mighty midget scope and a pair of dirty, falling apart binoculars... oh well....

Videos on youngbirdersvideos.blogspot.com

White-crowned Sparrow twitch (and a few others)

Got up at 5 this morning with Simeon, full of anticipation for the day ahead, and somewhat worried thanks to Jyothi who was coming to Norfolk later that day (scary, I know!), but seriously, he was hitching a lift with a guy who regularly drives 130mph on the way to get birds (Unfortunately I called Jyothi later to find that they had broken down in Slough - I hope his day had a happy ending)! Matt, Nigel and Mr Munns had all been unable to come with us, so I had a great opportunity for driving through some huge puddles!
We left before 6 and arrived at Cley shortly before 8 with a crowd of people already gathered. We managed to get a reasonable spot, and an hour later it appeared! A huge surge of people across the road ensued and we saw nothing thanks to some mysterious floating heads which appeared in view. Angry shouts erupted and the bird soon popped back in. A guy near me left as he had decent views and kindly pulled me into his space! Simeon meanwhile was kneeling on the road near the front of the pack. Suddenly it reappeared again!!!! There was less of a surge this time and we both got cracking views, leaving immediately to make space.
Next stop Walsey hills. After going to the toilet behind the obs we quickly relocated Thursday's Firecrest - best views either of us has ever had! We notified a nearby birder and zoomed off for the Laplands at Salthouse. 5 minutes later: score! One with a large flock of snow buntings showed well.
We left at 9:45 for the Great Grey Shrike at Roydon, deliberately via the White-crowned Sparrow to make people behave and move off the road (hehe!). The road seemed a lot longer. We got to Roydon and our luck seemed to be running out. However, after quite a long wait and a chat with a bearded fellow it reappeared some way off on a hill. The views were rubbish, but it was tickable and we'd seen one there before so we moved on to the Richard's Pipit at Terrington Marsh.
A short drive and a long walk later we arrived to find everyone watching Twite. A kind couple showed us where we should be looking, then relocated it for us! It was gorgeous, a much sought-after target for us, and showed very well. Picking up the Twite, we left at about 13:00. Deciding against going to Titchwell via Docking (to look for Ross' Goose) we went to Saddlebow to find ourselves a Glaucous. All the gulls were in the air, so we left immediately and stopped off at Tottenhill on the way home instead.
Tottenhill was not what it once was. No Smew, and few ducks, though we did see some gorgeous Gadwall, a Barnacle Goose and a Whitefront too, and learnt how to identify 1st winter Common gulls properly.
Wow! What a day! Possibly the best day birding we have ever had. And that's used up pretty much all of our 2008 birding-luck quota!

Year lists: James - 93, Simeon - 89

Iceland Gull video

A video of the Iceland Gull (see earlier post) is now on youngbirdersvideos.blogspot.com. I just had to trim it off on the video due to file size etc but a slightly bigger, more streaked on the head, white winged gull comes into view- at least it looks like it has white wings- a Glaucous maybe? Doubt it. I might post that part of the video later.

Videos

See youngbirdersvideos.blogspot.com for videos from my Manchester trip- more in the next few days.