The Juvenile Birder

Northern Success! We arrived at Druridge Country Park at around 8:30am after getting a lift from Keith & Dave. As soon as we got out of the car, we were greeting by around 120 Pink-footed Geese flying overhead, making their iconic call. I immediately began scanning the lake from the car park hoping to find my target bird. Whilst scanning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a pair of Red-breasted Mergansers on the lake, something I didn't expect to see on an inland lake, but not too special as we were still fairly close to the coast. We then walked further round the lake towards a big crowd of birders, when a lone birder headed our way and told us that the bird had flown down to the other end of the lake. We then went back on ourselves, but once at the other end of the lake, we still couldn't find the bird, only a few Goldeneyes and two Little Grebes . While we were scanning through the birds, we found out that the bird had been seen again, near where we had parked. We quic...

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...

Tern Fest! We set off at 2:00am and arrived at Long Nanny at around 6:30am in hopes of seeing a rare, American tern Just from the car park, we heard a Whitethroat  and spotted a large, pale falcon hunting over a ploughed field, which was either an escaped, hybrid falcon or an aberrant Peregrine . We then walked over to Beadnell Bay Tern Reserve, spotting many Skylarks  and Reed Buntings  in amongst the dunes along the way. As soon as we arrived at Beadnell Bay Tern Reserve, we were struck by the copious amounts of noisy Arctic Terns , and it was great to see them nesting up close from the viewpoint We also spotted a brief Sandwich Tern  in amongst the terns. We then got great views of our target, the American Black Tern , as it flew around us, however it was too quick for me to be able to get a record shot. While we were waiting for the tern to re-appear, we met one of the rangers who pointed out the distant Little Tern  and Ringed Plover  nests, which were...

Northern Stars We set off at 12pm on a rainy day and arrived at Long Nanny at 3:15pm in hopes of seeing a first for Britain! We walked along the track to get to the farm, where the bird had been viewed from. We scrambled on top of a huge dirt mound in order to scan the fields. Then, a bird with a grey head, brown back, white underbelly and a striking yellow bill appeared in my view. It was the  Grey-headed Lapwing , a wader from Asia! I watched it in the cold and managed to get a decent record shot of it. Surprisingly there was no other birder in sight, I had this first for Britain all to myself! I felt very satisfied with my views and set off to Boulmer for another lifer, a Red-backed Shrike! We arrived at Seaton Point at around 4:20pm and walked towards where the bird had been reported. We met two other birders who said the bird got spooked by a Meadow Pipit, but should still be around. The longer we waited, the less hopeful we became. It was raining hard and was very cold. There...

 Twitching: The Never Ending Story! We arrived at Langdon Beck at 7:15am in hopes of seeing Black Grouse. We drove up a road that our mentor, Rob, told us about and scanned for any moving black blobs. We then continued down the road and over a stream, when we saw a darker bird with two female Pheasants . I thought it could be a female Black Grouse, but when I looked away to examine the photos, I saw a male Black Grouse in a field just further ahead. We drove up and stopped the car with our windows down. We used the car like a hide. I took a record of it, but there were only two (a male and a female) so we continued along the road, to see if there were any more. We then stumbled upon a field with 4, so I took a record shot of  three of them in a row. There were also many Mallards  & Greylag Geese in the fields. We then came to the end of the road where the Black Grouse were at. We had been told by Rob that Red Grouse can sometimes be seen along the B6277. We made our...

Birding: A Waiting Game! We started our trip by going to Brierdine (2hrs 45 mins away, we set off at 4.30am). We arrived there at 7:30am and immediately started scanning every tree and bush.  I was very worried about distinguishing between the Yellow-browed Warbler and the Hume's Warbler; Phil told me if you get a good view of a warbler, look at the wingbar. He said Yellow Browed Warber has two obvious wingbars while Hume's Warbler only has one obvious wingbar and a fainter one above. After searching in that area and listening out for the call, we were unsuccessful. We then met a birder who said he had seen this bird in the same place seven years ago. We followed him and other birders began arriving, they went to a patch of greenery that hosted a tit flock that kept doing circuits. Long-tailed Tits  were the most abundant, but a few Goldcrests  and one Chiffchaff  were present, as well as a few Willow Tits  which are a special species that breed here. We continu...

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...