The Juvenile Birder

 All Spurnt Out!! We arrived at Spurn YWT at 6:25am and did a morning seawatch. It was fairly quiet, except for a few Meadow Pipits flying overhead. We then went over to Syke's Field, as soon as we got word that a Mealy Redpoll was sighted there, yesterday evening. On the way, we met Harry (a volunteer at Spurn), and we walked with him to the site via Corner's Field. We waited for a bit, while two other birders were also searching for it. With no luck still, we decided to go for the Barred Warbler at Kilnsea in the Listening Dish Hedge. At 9.05 we found the flock of birders and waited for a few minutes when it suddenly flew out of the bush. We then waited ages before we managed a second look at it, which was it flying straight into another bush. We then waited again until I spotted it flying out of a bush, as everyone got distracted by a Sparrowhawk. I then waited impatiently, for another long and tiring time, before it finally came out of the bush and was feeding right in the ...

 Christmas Rarity! We arrived at midday on Christmas Eve. We were hoping for some festive sighting and we got what we wanted. We first went in the Discovery Hide where we saw Common Pochards, Mallards, Common Shelducks, Northern Pintails, Ruffs, Tufted Ducks, Eurasian Wigeons, Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese and Northern Lapwings all over the mere in their hundreds . We then made our way to the Janet Kea Hide in hopes of spotting some Bramblings. We didn't see any Bramblings but we did see European Goldfinches, Eurasian Blue Tits, Great Tits, European Greenfinches, Common Chaffinches, and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. The highlight though was a rare Willow Tit that hopped onto the feeders a few times. We then went to the Gordon Taylor Hide where we saw lots of Eurasian Teals and one Northern Shoveler resting on a muddy island. We also saw Western Marsh Harriers hunting some huge flocks of waders to end the Christmasy Day.

  Falcons and Even More Mammals! ​It was my first time visiting an RSPB site. It was called Marshside and we arrived at midday. It is mainly a saltmarsh and coast but with a few freshwater marshes too. We went along a route called Redshank Road where many people walk their dogs. If you follow it, you'll end up at the coast. The further ahead we got on the path, the muddier it got. Huge puddles of saltwater were along the path. Very slippery mud and quicksand was also there. Lots of Little Egrets and Pink-Footed Geese were around. When we arrived at the coast, we made sure that the tide was right before we ventured further. A Great Black-Backed Gull was sitting in a deep puddle as Common Redshank zipped around the rocks. We examined the tide pools but nothing was there. We then headed back. We went to a viewing point and saw Northern Shoveler, Northern Pintail, Mallard, Eurasian Teal and Black-Tailed Godwits. We walked further ahead and ended up at Sandgrounder's Hide (the visi...