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...

 Passage Sandpipers, Waders and More! We arrived early morning at 5:00 and headed straight towards the sea wall (overlooking The Wash). Temminck's Stint, Pectoral Sandpiper and Little Stint had been seen there. We went over, seeing some Dunlin in summer plumage, a few Common Terns and a Lapwing as it dive-bombed a Pheasant grazing. As we went on the sea wall, huge flocks of Dunlin and Ringed Plover covered entire masses of islands. High tide had just come in while a Hare ran up on the path, paused, and then continued towards the sea. I scanned the islands when I managed to come across something. Feeding along the rocks was a breath-taking, summer plumage Turnstone- a year tick. It ran along and then flew off towards East Hide. A few more Common Terns were landing on islands while Brown Hares were being consistently seen running through the fields. We then made our way towards East Hide, spotting Sedge Warblers, Meadow Pipits and Skylarks on the way. We went in and I scanned. Presen...