The Juvenile Birder

Crowd Pleaser!  We arrived at Winterfield Park in Dunbar at around 9:00am with Dave in hopes of seeing a rare shrike. As soon as we got out of the car, we immediately spotted a big, pale bird perched on top of a wall. It was our target bird, the Steppe Grey Shrike . We then made our way over to the crowd where at first the bird was sat up on a wall a few feet away. However, it then decided to come down from the wall and feed only a few metres away, giving us all incredible views. It then sat back up on the wall long enough for me to get a record shot through Dave's scope, capturing almost every little detail of the bird's head. Since this bird is a subspecies of the Great Grey Shrike, it is not a proper lifer for me. However, it is still an armchair bird, in case the bird gets split and it is certainly a great bird to see! We then decided to scan the sea, spotting two Shags , a Great Black-backed Gull , a Goosander and an Oystercatcher . Suddenly, the Steppe Grey Shrike dropped...

Twitch , Eat, Sleep, Repeat! We arrived at Whitley Bay at around 8:00am (after a 3hr drive) in hopes of seeing the recently reported Pied Wheatear. We parked along the side of the road and walked towards the Panama Dip. Upon arrival, we met Phil, who let us look through his scope and directed us to the Pied Wheatear . It was arguably one of the easiest twitches. The beautiful Pied Wheatear was tame and not bothered by the runners or us! It is always great to see a pretty bird without bins and I enjoyed watching this bird, as it flitted around! It sat in plain sight, on the side of a wall, and came closer to us, on his own accord. It was great light too, making for one of my best record shots! We then drove 8 minutes to St Mary's Island in hopes of seeing, what was reported as a showy Water Pipit. When we arrived, we walked down to the promenade and scanned all the rocks and kelp. We met and chatted with a great birder named John, who said the bird was in a single spot, chasing aro...

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...