The Juvenile Birder

Birding: A Waiting Game! We started our trip by going to Brierdine (2hrs 45 mins away, we set off at 4.30am). We arrived there at 7:30am and immediately started scanning every tree and bush.  I was very worried about distinguishing between the Yellow-browed Warbler and the Hume's Warbler; Phil told me if you get a good view of a warbler, look at the wingbar. He said Yellow Browed Warber has two obvious wingbars while Hume's Warbler only has one obvious wingbar and a fainter one above. After searching in that area and listening out for the call, we were unsuccessful. We then met a birder who said he had seen this bird in the same place seven years ago. We followed him and other birders began arriving, they went to a patch of greenery that hosted a tit flock that kept doing circuits. Long-tailed Tits  were the most abundant, but a few Goldcrests  and one Chiffchaff  were present, as well as a few Willow Tits  which are a special species that breed here. We continu...

 Deer Stags ! (image from internet) We arrived early at 8:20am ​in hopes of catching a glimpse of the Eurasian Otters that are making an almost daily appearance at the Lower Hide. We were told that 3 Eurasian Otters were out 20 minutes ago and are best seen at 8:00. We then went past the Lower Hide into the woodland in hopes of seeing some a Common Chiffchaff that had been spotted there. We had no luck but did hand feed 2 Marsh Tits, Eurasian Blue Tits and Great Tits. We also saw a large flock Eurasian Siskins along with two male Eurasian Bullfinches and a Eurasian Jay. We then made our way to the Lilian's Hide where we saw a Northern Shoveler/ Cinnamon Teal hybrid. The bird has escaped from an ornamental garden and is wild. It comes to Leighton Moss nearly every Winter and may also stay during the summer. Not a wild bird though. We also saw lots of Common Snipe, a Common Redshank a Great White Egret, Northern Shovelers, Mallards, Eurasian Teal, Northern Pintails and a male Common ...