The Juvenile Birder

 Magic at the Marsh! A bad record shot of a Peregrine We arrived at RSPB Marshside at around 2:30pm, and immediately set off to the sandplant in hopes of seeing some interesting raptors. Once we had arrived at the sandplant, we met two friendly local birders. After a few minutes of searching, I spotted a small, dark raptor with a distinctive white rump. A ringtail Hen Harrier  flew distantly above the marsh, spooking a flock of Lapwing before it dropped down near the estuary. A few minutes later, it was up again. This time, it continued further and further away from us, until it was out of sight. Then, one birder spotted a Peregrine distantly on a log. It was in the exact same place I saw my first Peregrine on my first visit here back in 2021! I managed to get a horrible record shot of it, before it flew off. I then noticed a small raptor close in on a post. A stunning male Sparrowhawk was perched on a fence, allowing for some nice digiscoped record shots.  Another birde...

Just One... But a GOOD One! We arrived at RSPB Marshside at 10:30am. We were hoping to catch a glimpse of a Water Pipit, something that I had wanted to see and dipped before. We walked towards Crossens Outer Marsh, seeing a hunting female Sparrowhawk and a few Wigeon with a pair of  Teal along the way. We also saw a Buzzard flyover. We set up by the trough, that the Water Pipits were reportedly seen from. We waited for a while and were accompanied by a beautiful flock of Goldfinches flitting around, a few Stonechats posing on wires, two Pied Wagtails ,   and a  Robin made for a pleasant morning's birding . Suddenly, I think I spot a pipit species, so I immediately think it's a Water Pipit. As I try to get it in the scope to confirm it, I lose it. I then desperately try to re-find it, I start scanning, but to no avail. Then, a small bird waddles in the grasses by the edge of the water. It was a pipit species! I get it in the scope and immediately think it's a Water Pipi...

Dipping Rather Than Ticking! We arrived at Mynydd Mawr at 8:20am (Leaving at 5am!) in hopes of seeing a rare Isabelline Wheatear. We had been told by our mentor that there is also Chough here (which would be another lifer after dipping them last week). We parked in a big, grassy layby and started our trek up to the bird. At first, we were a bit disorientated, but we managed to find the right footpath up to the location where the bird was last seen. Without any effort and with no birder in sight we straight away found the medium-sized bird (much larger than I anticipated). It flew straight in front of us and landed up to 10 metres away. I got many record shots, as it danced around near us. It was very pale, and seemed to be the only wheatear there, leading us to believe that it was indeed our target bird, the Isabelline Wheatear . I was thrilled to see this bird, as I was in Gloucestershire, when it was reported last weekend, I really needed it to stick for me! We then scanned around fo...

SPURN MIGRATION FESTIVAL!! (adult female Pallid Harrier flyover)  ( Black Redstart ) (Common Redstart) (Willow Warbler) (juvenile female Eurasian Sparrowhawk) (Pale-bellied Brent Goose) (about a dozen distant Common Scoter)  We arrived at Spurn YWT at 6:00am and parked in North Field, for Spurn Migration Festival (aka Migfest). We got a lift to the Seawatching Hide and did a seawatch. It was fairly quiet with a few Red-throated Diver flying north. Then a flock of around a dozen Common Scoter landed close in on the sea, making for some brilliant digiscoped images of them and incredible views, before heading north. Soon after, a huge flock of  Little Gulls landed on the sea and fed over the sea, like butterflies erratically flying up and down. We then got word that the ringing team had caught a female Sparrowhawk so we rushed down to see it. It was very similar to what happened at Global Birdfair, when their ringing team also caught a female Sparrowhawk, with the only diffe...

 Evening Lifer!! We arrived at 7:00pm in hopes of seeing a lifer Red-footed Falcon (a bird I've been wanting to see for a while). We parked along Lawson's Road and walked up to Marton Mere and arrived at the RBA location. There, we met Phil Rhodes, the same person from the Sabine's Gull twitch. He let me look through his scope to see this stunning falcon. I took a terrible digiscoped image of it through my scope. We then walked further along the path where we met another birder who we were familiar with from the Temminck's Stint twitch. We then saw the bird fly out of a  bush. After a while of chatting, the birders left. Soon after we saw the bird fly around right above our head. It was around 8:40pm and turning dark. Lastly, we went towards the first hide from the entrance and saw a huge honey bees' nest with all the honeycomb covered by the bees, only showing the top honeycomb. It was a site to see and quite still and calm as all the bees went to sleep. Overall, a...

  Near Death Experience! (distant digiscoped Arctic Skua (x2) on sea) We arrived at Spurn YWT at 7:00am in hopes of seeing a reported Wryneck. We asked a site volunteer directions towards Middle Camp, where the wryneck was, and he said walk along the beach and pointed to the beach but the estuary blocked the view of the beach and we thought he meant to cross the estuary (don't want to get him fired). We walked over the grass until we were within touching distance of the mud. And when we went in, we sank in the soft mud and lost a pair of shoes.We knew someone called Phil who did it before and mentioned soft sand so we kept repeated, if Phil could do it, we can do it. But after telling him about the quicksand, he called and said "Get off the estuary, it's really dangerous, go along the road to a beach with soft sand, if I meant mud I'd have said mud,". We did it but unfortunately couldn't retrieve the shoes as it was too dangerous so we left them. I did notice ...

Rare Breeding Birds and North American  Waders! We arrived at 8:28am at the RSPB Bee-Eaters Viewpoint (location pinned) in Norfolk in hopes of seeing breeding bee-eaters. Bee-eaters are a scarce sight in the UK, so to have them breeding here is tremendous. The last time they bred in the UK was in 2017 in Nottinghamshire but they ended up failing to raise young. The last successful nesting site was in Cumbria in 2015. When we arrived, an RSPB man named Darren said they were seen earlier today. We waited ten minutes and then we saw them. A Bee-eater flew as it got mobbed by some swallows. It circled round then slowly swooped towards the nest, the wind occasionally pushing it backwards. After that, Darren scoped out two other Bee-eaters on the wires in the distance. I looked through his scope and saw them. They were very colourful with their orangey-yellow back standing out when they faced away from us and their cheeks standing out when facing towards us. Then, one of the bee-eaters f...

Winning An Award and Sighting Badgers!                            (image from internet)                        We arrived at the Global Birdfair (location pinned to post) at 9:00am and at first went to the Swallow Marquee to check out some of the stall there. After that, we went to the BTO Bird Ringing Demonstration and as soon as we arrived, the staff who were ringing were showing everyone an adult female Sparrowhawk and soon after that they showed everyone a Goldcrest and I got a really close view of it. We then moved to a different marquee and met Stephen Menzie at the British Birds stall. We had a good conversation and I learned a lot about ageing, observation and patchworking. We then attended a bird ID competition for young birders at 3:00pm which was hosted by three people including Stephen. After that, we checked out a few more stalls, meeting David L...

 Bats and Rare Ducks! We arrived at 4:20pm, after a visit​ to RSPB Burton Mere, in hopes of seeing some Garganey. Yesterday, there were at least two pairs reported. We got info that a pair had been seen a quarter  of an hour ago at Grisedale Hide. We headed straight towards the hide. When we arrived, a few people were there. One of them let us use their scope pointed at a female. They then moved it on a drake duck. They were stunning. The ducks foraged in the lake. A Grey Heron, a Little Egret and a Great White Egret were also there. We then went to the Skytower to view the murmurations. We saw bits of the murmuration but it wasn't as good as the others. We also saw a Peregrine, a Eurasian Sparrowhawk, Western Marsh Harriers and a few Soprano and Common Pipistrelles at 7:20pm to end the day.

  Raptors! ​It was our first time visiting Burton Mere. Parking was good and it was our second time visiting an RSPB site. Burton Mere is located near Wales, on The Wirral. When we arrived, we saw a pond with both a Great White and Little Egret along with the usual winter ducks. We walked along the Burton Mere trail at around 1:20pm but didn't see much. We then went on the Reed and Fen trail. We viewed the Reedbed Screen where we saw some Mallards and a Common Moorhen. We then arrived at the Marsh Covert Hide where we saw two Eurasian Coots and a possible Water Rail go past. I didn't get a good look at the Water Rail so it wasn't a confirmed sighting. We then went on a bridge that lead to a boardwalk that went across the reedbed. We then arrived at the Border Hide where we saw Gadwalls, Mallards, Tufted Ducks, Eurasian Wigeons and Northern Pintails. We also saw a flock of Eurasian Curlew fly by as well as some Long-Tailed Tits passing through the trees. We then walked towar...