The Juvenile Birder

Notts Adventure! We arrived at Finningley Gravel Pits at around 5:30am in hopes of seeing a rare bird. As soon as we arrived, we made our way to the pool where it was last seen at. We noticed a few Sand Martins  feeding over the lake, as well as a Little Egret . We then met a birder who had just arrived, named Nigel. After a bit of waiting, a large flock of Lapwings flew in. I scanned the flock and noticed a slimmer, smaller bird at the bottom of the flock. It was getting mobbed by the lapwings and suddenly dipped just below the horizon long enough for me to see its plumage. It was our target bird, the Black-winged Pratincole ! It soon separated from the flock and flew in the direction of another pool just further down the track. We then made our way down the track, when suddenly we were met with a few cows in the middle of the path. Nigel quickly dealt with them, and we reached a viewpoint overlooking a large gravel pit. After a brief scan, we noticed around 200 Sand Martins feedi...

Egg-cellent Bird Hunt! We set off at 3:00am and arrived at RSPB Middleton Lakes at around 6:00am in hopes of seeing the rare Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Once we arrived at the site, there was another birder there who said that the Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers were often seen in the oak trees opposite the car park. We waited in the car park, and after a few minutes, we heard one drumming. It took a while, but we eventually located the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker  in the middle of the oak tree. It showed incredibly well, before eventually flying off. Soon after the  Great Spotted Woodpecker started drumming in the exact same spot! Overjoyed with our views, we made our way to Whitemoor Haye for a rare grebe. We arrived at Whitemoor Haye at around 8:00am in hopes of seeing a Slavonian Grebe. As soon as we arrived at the site, we noticed multiple singing Yellowhammers . We walked further down to a gap along the road and started looking for the bird. As I was scanning, I noticed a flash ...

 More Rarities and A Wanted Species! (image from internet) We arrived at 1:00pm at Hornsea Mere to see a rare female Ferruginous Duck. When we arrived, we went to the viewing area near Hornsea Sailing Club. We saw a birder who had seen the bird a couple of times before it dived down. It was a female so a hard bird to connect with, especially as it dived a lot. The man lowered his scope, since mine couldn't go that far, and showed me it a couple of times but it had either dived or moved out of view by the time I had looked through it. Suddenly, it stayed up for a long time and was by itself. I looked through and saw it as it swam side on to the right at the end of the raft. Wanting a better view, we went into the fields opposite and met Rob, Chris and some other birders who showed us the bird multiple times through their scope. We then got another decent look at it in the other field with a footpath where we also saw a Black-Necked Grebe. Everyone was struggling to find it, especial...

  Owls! (image from internet, didn't see Blue-Headed subspecies ) We arrived at 5:00 in the evening (after a successful day at RSPB Bempton Cliffs). As soon as we arrived, a couple pointed out a Little Owl by the old miner. We viewed as it sat in plain sight on a wooden post, not seeming bothered that we were less than three meters away from it. We then headed on, looking for the Wheatear that had been seen earlier. We had no luck. We then noticed that a group of birders had seen something. I quickly went over and two my surprise, I saw my first Yellow Wagtails of the year. They flew over, calling as they glided towards the fields. They said a male Whinchat had been reported on the fence in the distance but we couldn't find it. We continued along the path where the Black-Necked Grebes where, watching a Greylag Goose go into the canal with all its gosling. Just then, the movement of something diving caught my eye. It was a Black-Necked Grebe. There was a pair on each side of me...