The Juvenile Birder

 Twitch On & Carry On! image from Toby Carter Our targets for the day were King Eider, Iceland Gull, Little Auk & Smew. The weather throughout was freezing, with strong winds and lots of heavy rain. It was stormy weather, making me hopeful for Little Auk. We arrived at Redcar at 8:00am and parked opposite Zetland Cafe. We immediately scanned the beach for an Iceland Gull reported yesterday afternoon. But, upon scanning, there was no sign of it. We then walked towards the Palace Hub in hopes of seeing our target bird, the King Eider. It was reported as being far out and difficult  to see, but it was worth a shot. It was windy, hammering with rain and cold; exactly what I wanted  today. We scanned from multiple shelters until we met 3 other birders all looking for the King Eider. One of them had even seen a Little Auk! We kept scanning until someone found the bird, and they gave directions for where the bird was. To my despair, I wasn't able to pick it up. Gary ...

  Birding, My Legal High! Day 1: We arrived at Prawle Point at around 9:30am (set off at 3am!) in hopes of seeing Cirl Bunting and Chough. The roads to this point were extremely narrow and it was a struggle to pass by oncoming vehicles. When we finally arrived, the view was simply stunning. We were surrounded by a rugged environment with the rough sea crashing onto the rocks below. It was a place rich with birdlife. In the car park, we met a couple who said the easiest birds to see were the Cirl Buntings, as we were early, and these birds would be out feeding in the hedgerows. The harder ones to connect with were the Chough, they said, as they had probably been blown somewhere else, during the strong winds they had over the week. We took the footpath to where the Cirl Buntings were meant to be. In the hedgerows, we spotted multiple Stonechats  as well as witnessing a  Sparrowhawk  getting mobbed by two Crows . Then, the man we met earlier shouts 'Cirl' and waves us b...

 Morning Mega!! We arrived at Redcar at 4:30am in hopes of seeing a MEGA rare Greater Sand Plover that was reported last night. A few days ago, this same bird was located in Aberdeenshire (6 hours away) and we were tempted to go. Then, the one there left and this was found. Whether it's the same bird, we don't know, but it's much closer than Aberdeenshire. It was a two and a half our journey and the sun was barely out when we arrived. We parked at Majuba Car Park and followed a group of birders along the path overlooking the coast. Sanderling ran along the shore with Ringed Plover, while Oystercatchers and Redshank fed along the softer sand. We then arrived at the spot it was last seen and started looking. Suddenly, a man shouts that he's got it in the line of kelp midway through the beach, yet I had no clue where to look. It took a couple of attempts to find the bird, with joggers and dog walkers making it fly off and come back, when suddenly, I got a quick glimpse of ...

 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...

 Rare Terns! We arrived at 5:00am in the morning, after a two hour drive, in hopes of seeing a rare Caspian Tern that was reported last night. Upon arrival, we met someone named Scott who was also searching for the bird. He said that when he arrived, there was one flying around the back of the lake with a gate. He managed to show us a video he took of it before it started flying. We made our way towards the viewpoint when the bird emerged and started flying above the wires in the skyline in the distance. It was about the same size as a Lesser Black-Backed Gull in flight. We enjoyed the bird until we lost it out of our view. A lifer, none the less. Scott then said he'd seen a Green Sandpiper, another lifer, as it flew over the trees but I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of it unfortunately. We then got word of a Caspian Tern that was roosted on the lake which gave much better views. We were unsure whether this was the one that we saw before or the second one as there were two l...

 Knot in May and Nesting Arctic Terns! We first visited RSPB Burton Mere Wetlands at 12:00 in hopes of seeing some Spoonbills. We arrived only to hear that half an hour ago, the Spoonbill were chased of by some gulls at Border Hide, flying towards Wales. So, with our target Spoonbills gone, we then turned our attention to some Knot seen recently, also at Border Hide. We went straight there, meeting a birder who had written a book on the way. When we arrived at Centenary Pool, we spotted two Great White Egrets out on the pools outside the hide. When we walked in, we asked a man who let me look through his scope pointed at a Knot (a life tick). It was behind a huge flock of Black-Tailed Godwits along with three others. It was only in winter plumage, though the man said that the other day there was one in full breeding plumage. It at first was sleeping, then came woke up and waddled closer to the shore, and then finally went back to sleep. We also saw a female Marsh Harrier from Marsh...