The Juvenile Birder

  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...

 Rare Pochard and Lifer Pipit! We arrived at North Cave Wetlands at 7:20am in hopes of seeing a rare Red-Crested Pochard. The bird here was a female viewable from South Hide. We walked in and started scanning the waterfowl. We saw Little Grebe, Tufted Duck and a family of Swans. We then saw the Red-Crested Pochard (aka RCP). In the evening, we arrived at a site called Scarborough Harbour in hopes of seeing Rock Pipit and Purple Sandpiper. When we arrived, we went on East Pier and scanned the rock barrier for sandpipers. We didn't see any but did see a Rock Pipit as it flew off. We viewed it again as it defied gravity on a wall. We also saw another one feeding with the House Sparrows on our way back. Overall, a great day with two lifers, RCP and Rock Pipit. 

 Spoonbills Finally! We arrived at 7:00pm in hopes of seeing some Spoonbill. We headed straight for the Coal Tips Trail and took two rights two view the flashes. We saw a Green Woodpecker on a post while on the trail. We then viewed The Moat where we saw three Spoonbill fly in and out of the trees with one even landing on the water near the end. They did this quite and, other than them flying, they weren't doing a whole lot. Though, never the less, it was a new tick! Cormorants, Little Egrets and Grey Herons were also present in the heronry as they flew in and put of the trees as they completed their fishing trips. While getting caught up in the moment track of time and had to rush to the car park before it shut at 8:00pm. Overall, a brilliant way to end the day!

 Bearded Tits and Winter Migrants! It was our second time visiting Leighton Moss. We arrived at around 10:00am as everyone we saw said to get here early, and it was well worth it. We were told that the Bearded Tits were out and active. We rushed towards the Causeway where the grit feeders were​ and along the way, I hand fed a hungry European Robin some seeds. We stopped at the grit feeders where two male Bearded Tits and one female Bearded Tit were feeding. We were also told that it was the perfect time and weather to see Great Bitterns from the Lower Hide. We made our way towards the Lower Hide, hand feeding a Eurasian Blue Tit and some Great Tits some seeds. We then arrived at the Lower Hide where we saw Mute Swans, Gadwalls, Eurasian Wigeons, Western Marsh Harriers, Eurasian Teals and Northern Shovelers. On our way back, we saw a huge flock of Eurasian Siskins along with two Eurasian Jays feeding on some seeds somebody had left on the armrest of a bench. We also saw a Goldcrest ...

 Winter Thrushes and Elusive Rails! It was our first time visiting Leighton Moss and we were very excited as we had heard a lot of great things about it. ​In the parking lot, we saw a Fieldfare in a bush eating some berries, a stunning winter finch tick to start the day. We then went to the feeding station where we saw Great Tits, Eurasian Blue Tits, Common Chaffinches, European Robins, Common Pheasants and European Goldfinches but my favourite were the Marsh Tits, another lifer. We first went to the Grisedale Hide where somebody had said they had seen four Red Deer earlier on. It was around 12:40pm so it unlikely for us to see the Red Deer but was still possible. We saw Mallards, Northern Shovelers, Eurasian Teals, Northern Pintails and a Great White Egret out on the lake along with around 20 Common Snipe feeding along the edge. After a while, someone pointed out a Water Rail that was just behind all the Common Snipe. I saw it feeding but it wasn't the right lighting to see the pl...