The Juvenile Birder

 A Rarity In & Out of the UK! We set off at 11:00pm on Friday and arrived at Ruan Lanihorne at 7:00am on Saturday. Once it was light enough to scan the estuary, we immediately started to look. There were many Canada Geese & Wigeon out there, as well as a few Curlew , Shelduck and even a Whimbrel . Suddenly, the first flock of Lapwing  flew in and landed in the estuary. After scanning through them in flight, we couldn't see our target bird. We then watched two more groups of Lapwing fly in, all from different directions, as well as a large group of  Golden Plover , until suddenly one person said our target bird was along the water's edge. He let me look through his scope and there it was! The Sociable Lapwing was showing distantly on the estuary. After getting good looks at it through the man's scope, I then managed to get it in my scope, before everything took off and I enjoyed a good view of its distinctive wing pattern. It then landed much closer, allowing me to...

  Birding, My Legal High! Day 1: We arrived at Prawle Point at around 9:30am (set off at 3am!) in hopes of seeing Cirl Bunting and Chough. The roads to this point were extremely narrow and it was a struggle to pass by oncoming vehicles. When we finally arrived, the view was simply stunning. We were surrounded by a rugged environment with the rough sea crashing onto the rocks below. It was a place rich with birdlife. In the car park, we met a couple who said the easiest birds to see were the Cirl Buntings, as we were early, and these birds would be out feeding in the hedgerows. The harder ones to connect with were the Chough, they said, as they had probably been blown somewhere else, during the strong winds they had over the week. We took the footpath to where the Cirl Buntings were meant to be. In the hedgerows, we spotted multiple Stonechats  as well as witnessing a  Sparrowhawk  getting mobbed by two Crows . Then, the man we met earlier shouts 'Cirl' and waves us b...