The Juvenile Birder

A Cumbrian Specialty! We arrived at Smardale Gill NNR at around 8:00am in hopes of seeing a rare butterfly. We were told by a butterfly enthusiast, last week, that he saw lots of them a few days ago just before the viaduct, so we made our way there. Along the way, we met a man who told us he had seen two just across the viaduct, and that it needed to be sunnier in order for the butterflies to emerge before the viaduct. Once we got across the viaduct, I spotted a Meadow Brown and a Silver Y moth, before spotting a dark butterfly nectaring on some knapweed. It was indeed our target butterfly of the day, the Scotch Argus ! At first, it was flying high up the bank with its wings always closed, however, after a bit of waiting, it decided to come down and started fluttering between our feet, sometimes landing on our shoes! It also landed a few times right in front of us with its wings wide open. We think it was a female as it was large and had big, vibrant orange spots.  Suddenly, I spot...

Scoring Close to Home! Day 1 I managed to find a new patch which had a more diverse habitat and more accessibility than my last one. We arrived at our new and improved patch (Carr House Green Common) at 6:00am. Looking at the Fylde Bird Club website, we saw recent sightings of Grasshopper Warbler, along with Sedge Warbler and Whitethroat. As soon as we arrived, I spotted a Whitethroat singing in a tree right next to the layby which we had parked at. We then continued along one of the footpaths, spotting a singing  Sedge Warbler  and a flyover Shelduck . Suddenly, I heard a loud, reeling sound. It was the distinctive call of a Grasshopper Warbler. We searched for it and within a few seconds, I spotted a small, brown bird with a yellowy chest perched up on a bush. It was indeed a Grasshopper Warbler . The bird was incredibly showy and was only a few metres away. We enjoyed watching it for ages, and it was relentlessly singing. Satisfied with our views, we moved on. We walked jus...

Cumbria Crack! We arrived at Sizergh Castle at first light in hopes of seeing Hawfinches. We parked on the left side of the car park, and walked over to the veranda. There were a number of birders lined up. We approached them and met Joe and Steve, who kindly pointed out two showy male Hawfinches  less than 40m away. We also saw a female Hawfinch. I managed to get a record shot of both of them, before heading over to the River Kent for Dipper.  Image from @RobsBirding, not same bird We arrived at the River Kent at 8:00am.  As soon as we arrived, we set up the scope along the bank of the river, since the bridge was shut, and on the first scan, I managed to the see the Dipper  bathing, however I wasn't quick enough for a photo. We stayed for an hour, seeing the Dipper  a few more times, however I wasn't quick enough for a record shot. Satisfied with our views and eager for a lifer, we set off on the hunt for the reported Richard's Pipit.  We arrived in Ulvers...

 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...

 Found Myself a Patch! I have always intended to find a patch and have recently explored some potential sites. After browsing google maps looking for a place to patch, we found a place called Grimsargh Wetlands. We also saw that a Garganey was reported there yesterday. With it being quite local to us, and there being nothing to twitch, we decided to give it a try. We arrived at Grimsargh Wetlands at 10:30am and as soon as we got to the main viewing screen, we managed to spot the drake Gargane y straight away, fairly close on Island Lake. We also saw two Avocets  which were also reported on RBA yesterday. We then spotted two Great Crested Grebes doing their courtship display on The Mere and while we were watching them, I spotted a medium-sized bird with a striking blue wing fly across the lake and land in a tree. I had a look through my binoculars and saw that it was a Jay ! We watched it for a bit and then observed the species on both lakes. We spotted an Oystercatcher , a few...

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...

 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...

 A  Quick Morning Lifer! We arrived at Conder Green at 7:20am and parked in a layby on the B5290 that overlooked Conder Pool on one side and a river/creek on the other. Recently, there had been a reported Temminck's Stint present. They are small waders, around half the size of a Dunlin. This bird was an adult and was moving quite a bit. We had come on the 1st August and the 2nd August in the evening but dipped it twice. With it being seen every morning and barely in the evening, we came earlier. We went to the screen and met someone who said they had seen in on the island full of lapwing but it went down a channel. We waited and soon enough the man said it was visible. I looked through with my scope and saw it as it foraged along the rocks. It didn't seem small when looking through a scope but with a naked eye it was tiny, I could barely see it with my binoculars. It then flew to the neighbouring island and foraged along the tip before going out of view. Then, someone who we h...

 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...

 Padley Gorge Disappointment and Encounter With Cows! We arrived at 8:00am in hopes of seeing Wood Warbler ad Redstart. We were told by Scott to go upriver to the left of the river which meant we had to cross it after a very treacherous walk alongside it. We crossed at a point with millions of Grey Wagtails flying upriver and downriver. We then saw a bridge and then a black, small thing was moving up a trail. At first I thought it was a very big froglet or toadlet, but upon closer inspection, was some sort of rodent. I thought it was a mouse, but then I saw the same thing in the water. They were Water Voles! We continued out trek and ended up finding a path. We then asked some people where to go and the all didn't have a clue what those two birds were. Finally, we met a man who was a birder and he told us is was unlikely we were going to see one this late. While we could hear both birds, we couldn't see either one of  them. This was when I really needed a thermal imaging ...

 Rare Warblers and Rare Starlings! (record shot by birder next to us) We first went to RSPB Langford Lowfields (see post named Hobbies Hawking and Bitterns Booming and.., FLYING! for location pin) at 6:00pm in hopes of catching a glimpse of the rare Great Reed Warbler. We met someone called Andy on the way there and when we arrived at the Beach Hut, we could see a group of people by Phase 1 to the right of the hut. When we arrived, there were a frenzy of birders. The bird was singing loudly in the patch of reeds in front of us. At one point, we even heard it directly beneath us. We thought we got a glimpse of it as it flew towards an island and back though it could've easily been a common Eurasian Reed Warbler. We waited for about an hour until the someone finally spotted the bird. We rushed down and saw amazingly close views of it as it sung away in the reeds. Besides it were two Eurasian Reed Warblers trying to chase it away from its nest that was nearby. The bird was huge compar...