The Juvenile Birder

The Last of My 2022 Birding Shenanigans! We arrived at Elmley NNR (5hrs away) at 10:30am in hopes of seeing Penduline Tits. When we arrived, we walked down a path that lead to where the Penduline Tits were last reported. We saw lots of Golden Plovers , Lapwings , and Curlew along the way to the Penduline Tits. Halfway along the path, we then got a call from Rob (@RobsBirding) who said the Penduline Tit was showing well further up. I then ran dangerously towards where the Penduline Tits were seen and met up with Evan (a young warden there) and Rob who let me look through his scope directed at the Penduline Tit ! I enjoyed watching it as it flit from one branch to another.  After getting good views and a digiscoped image of it, we went to the old ruins to try to see a Dartford Warbler, which Evan had found a week ago, that was still showing. We did a quick scan but to no avail. We then said goodbye to Evan and we went to Oare Marshes KWT in hopes of seeing our next target. We ar...

 Day in Northumberland (& Lincs)! We arrived at Boulmer at 7:00am in hopes of seeing the Red-eyed Vireo reported last night! It took us 3 hours to get there. We trekked along the beach, enjoying the Rock Pipits flying about everywhere. The Turnstones were settled on the rocks and the Sanderlings were doing their iconic run away from the waves. We then went on a track next to some ferns, before then going back to the beach as a 'Private Land' sign popped up ahead. We continued along the beach, with Stonechats and Eider on the coast and bushes. We then saw two birders, meaning we were in the right place! We were taken to the bush where the RE Vireo was last seen, in a caravan park on private land, yet after waiting for around 3 hours, we were unsuccessful. We were then advised by the birders to try Widdrington Moor Lake (25 mins away) where a Red-necked Grebe was reliably showing, so, we set off in hopes of seeing it. At first, we parked in a layby and walked along East Bank,...

 Arctic Gulls and Shanks! We arrived at 7:30pm at RSPB Leighton Moss coastal hides (location pinned to post named 'Goosanders and Waders') in hopes of seeing a Sabine's Gull, which unfortunately had a missing right foot and presumably an injured left foot, that was reported earlier. We did go to the saltmarsh in the morning but sadly dipped it. When we arrived at Allen Hide (where the bird was last seen), we asked someone named Phil Rhodes who mentioned to us that he had been here for 20 minutes and didn't see it at all. He then told us about how the bird is being very random. It has sometimes been spotted on Causeway Pool, then it usually hangs out on Allen Pool, and then somewhere it goes somewhere within Morcambe Bay but we are yet to know where that is. After a while, Phil went to go check the Eric Morcambe Hide and soon after, the head of RSPB Leighton Moss, Jarrod, came in. After a while, he pointed out two Greenshanks as they flew in and landed in the only bit of...

 Bearded Tits and Winter Migrants! It was our second time visiting Leighton Moss. We arrived at around 10:00am as everyone we saw said to get here early, and it was well worth it. We were told that the Bearded Tits were out and active. We rushed towards the Causeway where the grit feeders were​ and along the way, I hand fed a hungry European Robin some seeds. We stopped at the grit feeders where two male Bearded Tits and one female Bearded Tit were feeding. We were also told that it was the perfect time and weather to see Great Bitterns from the Lower Hide. We made our way towards the Lower Hide, hand feeding a Eurasian Blue Tit and some Great Tits some seeds. We then arrived at the Lower Hide where we saw Mute Swans, Gadwalls, Eurasian Wigeons, Western Marsh Harriers, Eurasian Teals and Northern Shovelers. On our way back, we saw a huge flock of Eurasian Siskins along with two Eurasian Jays feeding on some seeds somebody had left on the armrest of a bench. We also saw a Goldcrest ...

 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...