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!

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