The Juvenile Birder

Tern Fest! We set off at 2:00am and arrived at Long Nanny at around 6:30am in hopes of seeing a rare, American tern Just from the car park, we heard a Whitethroat  and spotted a large, pale falcon hunting over a ploughed field, which was either an escaped, hybrid falcon or an aberrant Peregrine . We then walked over to Beadnell Bay Tern Reserve, spotting many Skylarks  and Reed Buntings  in amongst the dunes along the way. As soon as we arrived at Beadnell Bay Tern Reserve, we were struck by the copious amounts of noisy Arctic Terns , and it was great to see them nesting up close from the viewpoint We also spotted a brief Sandwich Tern  in amongst the terns. We then got great views of our target, the American Black Tern , as it flew around us, however it was too quick for me to be able to get a record shot. While we were waiting for the tern to re-appear, we met one of the rangers who pointed out the distant Little Tern  and Ringed Plover  nests, which were...

  Near Death Experience! (distant digiscoped Arctic Skua (x2) on sea) We arrived at Spurn YWT at 7:00am in hopes of seeing a reported Wryneck. We asked a site volunteer directions towards Middle Camp, where the wryneck was, and he said walk along the beach and pointed to the beach but the estuary blocked the view of the beach and we thought he meant to cross the estuary (don't want to get him fired). We walked over the grass until we were within touching distance of the mud. And when we went in, we sank in the soft mud and lost a pair of shoes.We knew someone called Phil who did it before and mentioned soft sand so we kept repeated, if Phil could do it, we can do it. But after telling him about the quicksand, he called and said "Get off the estuary, it's really dangerous, go along the road to a beach with soft sand, if I meant mud I'd have said mud,". We did it but unfortunately couldn't retrieve the shoes as it was too dangerous so we left them. I did notice ...

 Knot in May and Nesting Arctic Terns! We first visited RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands at 12:00 in hopes of seeing some Spoonbills. We arrived only to hear that half an hour ago, the Spoonbill were chased of by some gulls at Border Hide, flying towards Wales. So, with our target Spoonbills gone, we then turned our attention to some Knot seen recently, also at Border Hide. We went straight there, meeting a birder who had written a book on the way. When we arrived at Centenary Pool, we spotted two Great White Egrets out on the pools outside the hide. When we walked in, we asked a man who let me look through his scope pointed at a Knot (a life tick). It was behind a huge flock of Black-Tailed Godwits along with three others. It was only in winter plumage, though the man said that the other day there was one in full breeding plumage. It at first was sleeping, then came woke up and waddled closer to the shore, and then finally went back to sleep. We also saw a female Marsh Harrier from Marsh...