The Juvenile Birder

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...

Duel at Dawn! We arrived at a moorland site in North Wales at around 5:30am. Our target was Black Grouse, and we were hoping to see them lek. We parked in a layby at dawn, and waited for it to get lighter. We could just make out their white tails in the dark. After around 20 minutes, we were finally able to see the lekking Black Grouse clearly. Their blood red "eyes" stood out at first, as well as their iconic shape created by their fan tail as they lek front-on.  While the  Black Grouse  were lekking, they made an amazing and iconic bubbling sound. They would also occasionally call. We could also hear a singing  Cuckoo  distantly, but we were unable to locate it. We then continued along the moorland, spotting multiple Red Grouse  as they flew across the road and landed right besides our car. Happy with our morning, we set off to try and find my bogey bird, and a bird I've wanted for 3+ years! We arrived at Pensychnant Conservation Centre at around 8:30am i...

Hiking in the Highlands! We set off at 2:00am in the morning and arrived at a secret site up in the Highlands of Scotland at around 9:00am. Our only target was Ptarmigan. I had dipped this last year, after a hard and long climb up a mountain, in the snow! We were feeling strangely optimistic about this adventure, as lots of the snow had melted, meaning that the Ptarmigan should hopefully stand out. Enroute to the site, I spotted loads of Red Grouse . As soon as we arrived in the car park, the first bird we saw was a Red Grouse  feeding in the grass only a few metres away. After scanning the boulder scree on the mountain from the car park, I couldn't initially spot anything that stood out as Ptarmigan. I then started scanning the few patches of snow. Suddenly, two white specs caught my eye as one of them moved. They were Ptarmigan ! I was ecstatic, and immediately got a digiscoped image of them. The pair were showing well, however they were extremely distant. They were a lifer for m...

Highlights of the Highlands! We set off from home at 12am with the intention of arriving to the Capercaillie site at first light. We parked up at 6.50am and started walking along the tracks. We scanned the trees and heather looking for them. We then went on a track that a male had been previously seen on. We turned a corner and saw a big shape in the trees. At first, we thought it was some litter, but when we looked through our binoculars, we saw that it was a male Capercaillie ! It sat in the tree for a bit, before flying off. We were shocked at how well the bird showed and managed to get a record shot of it! We then walked further ahead when another male Capercaillie (probably the same one from earlier) flew straight past us deep in the forest. We then continued walking and got good views of  Roe Deer  but didn't see any more of the target elusive birds. We then travelled to a site, known for Scottish Crossbills, seeing some Red Squirrels for the first time along the way. W...

 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...