The Juvenile Birder

Cumbria Crack! We arrived at Sizergh Castle at first light in hopes of seeing Hawfinches. We parked on the left side of the car park, and walked over to the veranda. There were a number of birders lined up. We approached them and met Joe and Steve, who kindly pointed out two showy male Hawfinches  less than 40m away. We also saw a female Hawfinch. I managed to get a record shot of both of them, before heading over to the River Kent for Dipper.  Image from @RobsBirding, not same bird We arrived at the River Kent at 8:00am.  As soon as we arrived, we set up the scope along the bank of the river, since the bridge was shut, and on the first scan, I managed to the see the Dipper  bathing, however I wasn't quick enough for a photo. We stayed for an hour, seeing the Dipper  a few more times, however I wasn't quick enough for a record shot. Satisfied with our views and eager for a lifer, we set off on the hunt for the reported Richard's Pipit.  We arrived in Ulvers...

 Rare Doves And Ano ther Yellowhammer! We arrived at 11:00am, after a successful trip to Wykeham Forest, in hopes of seeing Turtle Dove. We parked in the lay by next to Mill Inn, a pub that has been permanently shut down. Opposite us were feeders and the Turtle Doves often landed in the trees and on the feeding trays. While Collared Doves and Stock Doves were present, the Turtle Doves were remaining elusive and not even calling. We decided to walk round and while we had no luck walking behind the pub, we did hear one as it purred softly trekking further down the road, right to Mill Inn. We hopped back in the car and soon after saw a Yellowhammer land in the tree and then fly off, a much better view of it than my first sighting on Jacob's Lane. Sometime later, I spotted a pair Turtle Doves as they flew into the tree, stayed for a bit and then flew off. Turtle Doves are on of Britain's fastest declining birds and so to see them is a treat. Another new tick to end the trip here, t...

 Winter Thrushes and Elusive Rails! It was our first time visiting Leighton Moss and we were very excited as we had heard a lot of great things about it. ​In the parking lot, we saw a Fieldfare in a bush eating some berries, a stunning winter finch tick to start the day. We then went to the feeding station where we saw Great Tits, Eurasian Blue Tits, Common Chaffinches, European Robins, Common Pheasants and European Goldfinches but my favourite were the Marsh Tits, another lifer. We first went to the Grisedale Hide where somebody had said they had seen four Red Deer earlier on. It was around 12:40pm so it unlikely for us to see the Red Deer but was still possible. We saw Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Eurasian Teals, Northern Pintails and a Great White Egret out on the lake along with around 20 Common Snipe feeding along the edge. After a while, someone pointed out a Water Rail that was just behind all the Common Snipe. I saw it feeding but it wasn't the right lighting to see the pl...