The Juvenile Birder

Another Showy Shrike! We arrived at RSPB Bempton Cliffs at around 8:30am in hopes of seeing yet another mega shrike. We were accompanied by Carl and Kristian, who had given us a lift. We joined the crowd and waited only a few minutes when a large, sandy bird came into view midway up the bush. It was our target bird, the Daurian Shrike ! The bird then decided to reveal itself in all its glory and sat up on top of the bush, giving spectacular views.  Since this bird was a 1st winter, it had been ruled as an Isabelline Shrike sp, meaning it could either be Daurian (which would be a lifer) or a Turkestan (which I had seen two years ago, also at Bempton) Shrike. However, based off of its extremely sandy plumage, it is very likely that it is a Daurian Shrike. Satisfied with our glorious views, we made our way down to Flamborough Head to try and find a bogey bird of mine.  As soon as we arrived at Flamborough Head, we made our way over to Motorway Hedge, where 3 Firecrests (a bi...

Foggy Birding! We arrived at an extremely foggy Flamborough Head at around 7:00am with Carl and Dave, who had given us a lift. Just before we arrived, a Red-breasted Flycatcher was reported in lighthouse bushes, so we decided to try and look for that while waiting in anticipation for our target bird to get reported. As soon as we started looking for the flycatcher, a notification came up saying that our target bird, the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler, was back at Old Fall Plantation. In a hurry, we started making our way towards the plantation. Once at the plantation, we noticed a huge crowd of birders, which I thought was a bush at first, all looking towards the hedge. We quickly joined the crowd and after a bit of waiting, someone pointed out the Eastern Olivaceous Warbler sat inside the hedge. Although it was obscured, I was delighted to see it, especially after not being able to go for the one at Long Nab last year.  Suddenly, the bird decided to come out in full view and just...

 Infuriating Wrynecks!! We arrived at Spurn YWT at 6:30am, to search for a Wryneck that was showing well yesterday, (along The Canal). I checked the rocks briefly, to no avail, and then walked along the canal towards the seawatching hide; which was very quiet, except for an Arctic Skua and a few Scoter, Wigeon and Red-throated Divers were also seen. We then ran towards the Canal Scrape Hide when we heard the radio message of a Jack Snipe showing well, yet when we arrived, we got the sad news that it had JUST flown away. We waited for a bit, again no avail, and then rushed back along The Canal to go see a reported Yellow-browed Warbler; in the Crown & Anchor car park. Along the way, we saw a crowd of people staring at the rocks. I asked someone what had been seen, and he replied Wryneck!. My face lit up as I rapidly searched for it, when I finally saw it fly onto a rock and land in view, briefly. Then, the radio said a Yellow-browed Warbler, caught in the mist nets, that was goi...