The Juvenile Birder

Dragonfly Hunt! We arrived at 10:30am to meet the kind Eddie Urbanski in order for him to tour us round his patch. Once we arrived had arrived at his patch, which was Cors Geirch NNR, the first thing I spotted was a Painted Lady , followed by a moth which Kevin (Eddie's friend) identified as a Straw Dot . We then started wading through a marshy bit of the site and almost immediately, Eddie pointed out a male Keeled Skimmer . Unfortunately, it flew away instead of landing for a record shot, but little did I know, that this would be one of many to be seen that day. We continued walking through the marsh when Kevin said he had a Bog Hoverfly. I searched the area he saw it in and spotted a male Keeled Skimmer sitting right in front of me, waiting to be photographed. We then walked through a dryer area of the wetland where Kevin pointed out a Bog Hoverfly ( Sericomyia Silentis )   nectaring right besides us, allowing for a perfect record shot. We then started searching the pony dung in ...

Wading Through the Swamps of Scotland! We set off at around 12.30am with high hopes of seeing a few rare Scottish specialties. We arrived at our first bog in the Abernethy Forest at around 8:30am after dipping Slavonian Grebes earlier in the morning. Our two targets at this bog were White-faced Darters and Northern Emeralds. After around twenty minutes of waiting in the sun, we saw neither! However, I did manage to spot lots of Round-leaved Sundews  in amongst the Sphagnum Mosses , which I was quite pleased with as they were one of my favourite plants. Not yet down trodden, we headed off to RSPB Loch Garten to try and find Ospreys and Crested Tits.  As soon as we arrived at the car park, I noticed a few bumblebees nectaring on a Marsh Thistle . It had a yellow head and a red tail, so I took a picture and it was later identified as a male Early Bumblebee , a new species for me! We also spotted a Large Red Damselfly and a few Coal Tits . We then made our way to the visitor centr...

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...

Born Naturalist Day 1 We arrived at Cwrt Farm at around 9:00am, and immediately started loading our bags onto the truck. After we had finished, we made our way down to Porth Meudwy and along the way, we noted many Green-veined Whites , as well as a few Orange-tips . We heard a few  Willow Warblers and were treated to a very showy Chiffchaff . There were also some Ravens  flying close overhead. While waiting for the boat, I spotted a small bird land on a rock in front of me. It was a Grey Wagtail . I enjoyed watching the bird feeding in a small stream right next to me, accompanied by a Pied Wagtail .  I then started scanning the sea where I spotted two Fulmars flying close in. I watched them land on what I presumed was a nest on the side of the cliff. We also spotted a Shag  flying close in.  While on the boat, we got great views of a few Puffins , Guillemots , Razorbills , Shags , Kittiwakes  and Fulmars , along with one or two Manx Shearwaters . As soon as...