The Juvenile Birder

  Mega Rarity and Passage Waders! We arrived at 5:30am at Wandale Farm to see the Turkestan Shrike, a mega rarity. To get there, we parked in the car park at RSPB Bempton Cliffs- location pinned to post named 'Seabird Galore (and Mega Rarity)'- and walked out past Staple Newk Viewpoint until we got to the end of the clifftop fence. On the way, someone let me get a nice glimpse of the Black-Browed Albatross as it rested on the cliff within the colony of Gannets. Opposite the end of the fenceline is a flattened out path through some crops. Walk through that until you reach the top of the hill. From there, you should see lots of birders and that's where you go. If the birders aren't present yet, then walk along the path on top of the hill. The farmer might have parked his car there and it's opposite that. If the car is also absent, then just go to the other side of the hill and then down towards an old barn. That's where we met up with a ton of other birders. We al...

 Spring Migrants are Here! We arrived at Burton Mere at early evening. We first went to Bridge Pool where the female Long-Tailed Duck was. We then went on the boardwalk to Border Hide where Common Lizards normally bask. It seemed the the lizards were wise and decided to stay in due to the cold. 85 Knot had been reported on Border Pool so we made our way there. It turns out, a few minutes ago all the Knot were flushed by a Marsh Harrier and went back to the saltmarsh. We then went to Burton Point for Green Woodpeckers with no luck. There were no Woodcock seen on the journey either. We then stopped at the Bridge Screen after spotting some Sand Martins. There were many Sand Martins and at least 2 Swallows skimming over the water. There were also a pair of Little Grebes quite close in beautiful summer plumage. We also saw a male Blackcap in the hedgerow and heard lots of warblers. We then went to the Marsh Covert Hide where we saw a pair of Garganey to end the day.