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...

 A Rarity In & Out of the UK! We set off at 11:00pm on Friday and arrived at Ruan Lanihorne at 7:00am on Saturday. Once it was light enough to scan the estuary, we immediately started to look. There were many Canada Geese & Wigeon out there, as well as a few Curlew , Shelduck and even a Whimbrel . Suddenly, the first flock of Lapwing  flew in and landed in the estuary. After scanning through them in flight, we couldn't see our target bird. We then watched two more groups of Lapwing fly in, all from different directions, as well as a large group of  Golden Plover , until suddenly one person said our target bird was along the water's edge. He let me look through his scope and there it was! The Sociable Lapwing was showing distantly on the estuary. After getting good looks at it through the man's scope, I then managed to get it in my scope, before everything took off and I enjoyed a good view of its distinctive wing pattern. It then landed much closer, allowing me to...

Scarcities in Scotland We arrived at Slamannan at around 10:00am in hopes of seeing the wintering flock of Taiga Bean Geese. As soon as we arrived, while driving, we noticed a flock of around 40 Taiga Bean Geese  in a field north of Shortrig Farm. They were quite distant, so I patiently waited for them to come out into view! After a bit of time I managed to get some digiscoped images of them and with loads of light left, set off to Broadwood Loch. We arrived at Broadwood Loch at around 11:00am in hopes of seeing my first drake Smew. Immediately, we noticed a lot of common waterfowl, like Canada Geese , Mute Swan and Coot , but there were also lots of Tufted Duck , Goldeneye  & Goosander  as well as some distant Wigeon . After a bit of scanning, we spotted the drake Smew  far out. We got some images of it and then left, on a high, to Newshot Island in hopes of seeing another scarce bird. We arrived at Newshot NR at around 12:00pm in hopes of seeing an American Wig...

It Had to be Done! We arrived at Sizergh Castle at 7:00am for a photo shoot for the National Trust with my mentor Rob and a photographer, Paul. We met Rob, for the first time, a year ago, when we were seeking a Hawfinch tick at Sizergh. He helped us then and has been my mentor since.   We parked on the left side of the car park and walked to the veranda of the café where the Hawfinches regularly show from March to the beginning of May. We waited for a bit before spotting a  Hawfinch in a tree, followed by four more (two males and two females) on the ground feeding, on the seed behind a mound, at the back of the car park. Then, the photographer named Paul arrived and started taking some pictures of me and Rob, while we watched the Hawfinches. We then went birding to a nearby wetland and saw some Little Grebes  as well as a mixed flock of Gadwall , Wigeon and Mallard . After the photographer, Paul, took some more photos, we ended up going back to the car park and sai...

A Day For Ducks! We arrived at Upton at 8:00am in hopes of seeing an Iceland Gull; reported as following a plough in a field. We found a large flock of Black-headed Gulls with a few Herring Gulls in it, but after searching through the same flock multiple times, we failed to see our target; so we left and headed to Sanderson's Bank in hopes of seeing a reported Tundra Bean Goose. We got there at 9:20am and before we even parked up, I could see there were both Whooper and Bewick's Swans. I scanned through the Whooper Swans and counted at least 10 Bewick's Swans . They were noticeably smaller than the Whooper Swans and had a lot more black on the bill with a circular, yellow patch by the base. We then found a small flock of Pink-footed Geese so we scanned through them multiple times but again to no avail. We saw that the Ring-necked Duck on Dishley Pool had been reported today, so we set off seeking the American vagrant. We arrived at Dishley Pool at 12:00pm and started t...

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...

Day 2: You Can Never Have Too Much of a Good Thing! We set off from our Inn at 6:30am and went over to Blagdon Lake for a Ring-necked Duck. We found the lake, which was huge, but at the two different locations that we stopped we were unable to find the duck. We could not get close to the lake; it was always overlooking private land and we were unable to therefore walk the circumference of the lake. We also tried to get to the location of the Bristol Dartford Warbler at Trooper's Hill but there was a lot of road works taking place in Bristol and the old sat nav we have could not navigate us to the right location. We ended then going to WWT Slimbridge. We arrived at 9:30am and rushed straight to the Rushy Hide in hopes of seeing the Bewick's Swans. We entered the hide and the three Bewick's Swan were sat right up front, on the mud, showing very well. I had only seen Whooper Swans at WWT Martin Mere, a site local to me, and had been scanning the flocks at Martin Mere for ages...

  So Many Mammals! We arrived very early at 9:40 in hopes of catching a glimpse of the masters at camouflage, the Eurasian Woodcock​. We also were hoping for some Cattle Egrets but they never showed. We quickly viewed the main scrape where we saw many Dunlin, Black-Tailed Godwit and Redshank. We then headed up the Reed and Fen trail and into the new section which was a hotspot for Eurasian Woodcocks, if you're lucky enough to spot one. We thoroughly searched the area, looking for the slightest dark spot or movement but had no luck. We then went to Burton Viewing Point which was a good spot to see Eurasian Green Woodpeckers in the field. 2 people had seen one fly towards Burton Viewing Point but I never saw it. We then made our way to the newest hide, the Border Hide. Along the trail, I turned a corner and, Lo and Behold, there was a Red Fox snooping around the path menacingly, about 40m apart from us. It was just at the bottom of the ramp that leads up to the new hide. It kept...

 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...

  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...