The Juvenile Birder

Dapper Drakes! After a 4 hour drive, we arrived at RSPB Vane Farm at around 9:00am, spotting a Fox when we were stopping for petrol at our local ASDA along the way! We were with Kristian and Carl and our target bird was a rare Bufflehead. We made our way along the Loch Leven Heritage Trail until we arrived at a sandy beach with a fence. We met some other birders, including Brook, who pointed out the Bufflehead , which was quite distant, but clearly distinguishable amongst the  Goldeneye which it was with. It continued to dive while we were there, making it hard to get a record shot, but it was a great bird to see in the UK. Satisfied with our views, we made our way back to the visitor centre to look for the resident Red Squirrels. Once we had arrived at the visitor centre, we saw that a Red Squirrel was on a feeder that was being filmed by a live camera. We asked a warden for directions to the feeder, and immediately set off. As soon as we arrived at the feeder, we spotte...

The Only Way Was Essex Image by Kristian Wade We set off at 2.00am and took Carl and Kristian with us. We arrived at Heybridge at around 7:00am. We walked towards a silhouette of birders all crowded round the sluice. I managed to squeeze through the crowd and get a front row seat. I waited patiently with the others in absolute silence. Suddenly, the bird came into view. At first, I couldn't spot it, but thankfully a kind man helped me get onto the Northern Waterthrush . I was delighted with my   point blank views of. Unfortunately my camera wasn't choosing to work at this golden moment. I also didn't have my scope on me, so I was unable to get any images of the bird. Nevertheless, I managed to get amazing views of the bird at close range. Satisfied with our views, we then headed off to Abberton Reservoir. We arrived at Abberton at around 9.00aam. We scanned both sides of Layer Breton Causeway first, seeing a few Egyptian Geese , Shoveler & Goldeneye , but not much else....

Twitching Top Ticks!  Part I Image from David Woodhouse (same bird, but taken on different date) We were offered a trip to see Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, at an undisclosed site, by a birder called Dave (who we had previously met at Easington & Potteric Carr YWT). We set off at 4:30am and arrived at his house at 7:00am and he took us to the bird location at 7:45am. We were ecstatic when we heard the distinctive drumming and travelled towards the noise. After looking in the wrong spot for a bit, we managed to find the correct area and heard the bird close by. We also met a local birder named Rob, who was also looking for these Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. He said it had been drumming for a bit. We walked towards the sound until it was right in front of us. There was a tree that looked like a stake and had multiple holes in it, so I checked it and I spotted just the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker 's head pecking rapidly at the tee. I alerted Dave & Rob and then moved to get a better...

Seaducks! We set off at 2.30am and arrived at Cocklawburn Beach at 6:30am in hopes of seeing the recently reported Black Scoter. When we arrived, we stood on some elevated rocks and scanned the sea. A few guillemots were close in, as well as a Red-throated Diver. I then spotted a raft of Common Scoters in the distance and scanned through them, yet we couldn't find the Black Scoter. We kept scanning and saw a stunning flock of Turnstones. Then, a skein of geese flew overhead, making a barking sound. I then saw their face to confirm it, they were Barnacle Geese! These were the first confirmed wild ones I had ever seen, as I've only encountered feral ones. More skeins of Pink-footed Geese flew over, as well as four Whooper Swans! We then went over to the Seahouse Cottage for a better vantage point. We scanned, yet we couldn't find anything. Then finally another birder showed up, with a better scope and more knowledge! He came at around 9:00am (this was the same time the bird w...