The Juvenile Birder

Welsh Mountaineering! We arrived at the Great Orme at around 7:30am with Zak Spaull in hopes of seeing some rare butterflies. Firstly, we walked along Marine Drive, being guided by Zak, to try and find a rare orchid. As soon as we reached the spot, we noticed many of them marked by red flags. They were Dark Red Helleborines . Since it was a bit early for them, none of them were fully flowering, except for this one plant. We then walked further up Marine Drive to see a plant endemic to the Orme. It was the  Wild Cotoneaster . There were six individual plants located on the Orme, and this was one of them. They were special, but not beautiful. Zak then pointed out another plant next to the Wild Cotoneaster. We both took a photo of it and Zak later told us it was a Welsh Hawkweed , one of the many rare hawkweeds found on the Orme. Whilst looking at the plants, we noticed many Choughs , including four that landed right next to us! We also found our target butterfly, the Silver-stud...

Ancient Woodland Adventure! We arrived at a small woodland at around 5:30am targeting Wood Warblers. We went up a steep yet short trail yet to no avail. We then went down the trail back into the woods, but still nothing. Just as we were about to leave, we heard their unique song. Excitedly, we scanned the trees and managed to spot at least four Wood Warblers  singing and chasing each other around. We waited around for a few more hours, trying to get a record shot, but we ended up leaving empty handed. We then went to a private reserve to try and find more woodland birds. This reserve has two halves, the woodland and the mosses. We first walked onto the mosses, spotting an  Osprey  along with multiple House Martins , a few Swallows  and a pair of Ravens . I then found a black and white bird singing on a wire. It was a Pied Flycatcher !  While photographing the Pied Flycatcher, I noticed some movement in the tree next to me. Upon closer inspection, I realized it w...

 Temporary Tick! Image by @RobsBirding, not same bird We set off at 3.30am, picked up Dave and were taken to Fakenham by Keith. We arrived at around 9:00am. Our target bird was the Rustic Bunting, that had been seen here yesterday, however a Coues's Arctic Redpoll had been seen earlier in the morning, which would also be a lifer. Once we had arrived at the site, we scanned the crop cover at the far end of the field. The first thing that stood out to me was the large flock of Lesser Redpolls  feeding in the crop cover, as well as the numerous Meadow Pipits and Skylarks in the surrounding fields. We also noticed many Red-legged Partridges  in the fields. In the crop cover were a few beautiful male  Yellowhammers . There were also a few Bramblings . I was very happy to see them after only getting brief views of them in the past. Suddenly, someone spotted the Arctic Redpoll in their scope, and they let me have a look. The Coues's Arctic Redpoll was sat on a branch, ...

  Owls and Summer Wildlife! (pic taken from webcam) We first visited RSPB Leighton Moss (for location, click 'Bats and Rare Ducks') at 6:00am with nothing in mind. We went to the Grisedale, Causeway and Lower Hide without seeing much. We then went past Lower Hide where we saw a Tawny Owl (year tick). We also saw some swifts (another year tick) at 7:00am on the Causeway. After a quick stop to the saltmarsh where we saw Bar-Tailed Godwits and Mediterranean Gulls, we headed to Foulshaw Moss CWT (location pinned to blog). We went straight towards the Osprey platform, keeping an eye on the boardwalk for lizards and adders as we walked on. We managed to catch a glimpse of an Osprey through a scope as it popped its head out of the nest from time to time, although it was quite a distance away. We continued along the boardwalk when suddenly I came to a halt. Without noticing, I was standing right besides a Common Lizard. We both stood still until the lizard dropped down. We then scanned...