Inner Marsh Farm - Whiskered Tern

A few hours sleep after high Wycombe..... The week up in North East beckoned (not all birding - I had to work as well!!) and with a Whiskered Tern reported at Inner Marsh Farm, I decided to head up via the M6. It wasn't much of a detour and on arrival mid morning, the hustle and bustle was over - I even got parked in the reserve car park!!

The Tern was showing well but distant (too distant really for photography but I couldn't resist a couple of record shots!) The black blobs seen in the background are flies!! I reckon this Tern will hang around for quite some time as there is plenty of food!!













Male Garganey also present, numerous Blackwits and a Knot, it was now midday and I needed to move on.....

Hauxley - Lesser Yellowlegs!!

It was late afternoon when I finally headed up the A1 North of Newcastle. A Lesser Yellowlegs had been seen at Druridge Bay pools that morning - not surprisingly, my first port of call. There was not a wader in sight unfortunately but at least two Cuckoos calling on distant fence posts and getting a hard time from the local Meadow Pipits.

Fortune then turned my way, I met a local birder who was just getting the news via his mobile that the Yellowlegs had turned up at Hauxley, a few miles up the coast - we were off.....

It was still there thank goodness, keeping company with a Spotted Redshank in awesome breeding plumage. All the birds were at least 60 metres or so distant so strictly record shot quality!















An obliging landing shot of the Spot Shank after being harassed by the local Shelducks - some things never change!






Med Gull, Long-tailed Duck and the first Terns of the trip were seen here too with this pair of Common Terns - I reckon there might be a few more to come?






The Yellowlegs was bird number 200 for my 2008 UK Yearlist - very early for me to be in this territory and sights are now set on 250?? This will still take quite a bit of effort and good fortune with my 'casual' opportunistic approach to a twitch or two......

Paxton Pits - A Nightingale sang....

Well, several actually! Nightingales are normally heard but not seen but Paxton gravel pits make a mockery of this.....

Prior to my North East trip I had a talk booked in High Wycombe the night before (not exactly the best thing to have planned before a long journey!) With Paxton being a mere 30 minute diversion off the M1, I decided to take in some birds en-route.

This site is simply phenomenal for Nightingales, I saw several and heard many more. Of course, 'showing well' does not guarantee getting a decent picture but I'll settle for these three images (for now)....










Now then, a talk, 150 mile trip home then 300 miles tomorrow......

Venus Pool - Temmincks Stint!!!

What a fantastic few 'Shropshire' days recently with good birds turning up almost everywhere! Having got the Whixall Marsh Harrier and a couple of Black Terns (neither of which will feature here) it was a question of drop what you're doing and get down to VP this evening where a Temmincks Stint had dropped in. (Thanks once again Geoff and Graham!!)

There are plenty of inland Temmincks about at present but this was special - on the old patch! It got even better - what better place to spend time on the island, in front of the memorial hide. Now, for such a small bird that is a big big bonus!!














Tell you what, considering the size of Stints (think Sparrow size!) - I'm well pleased with this one!!






And if you don't believe me, here's a Lapwing for comparison!






A big break from Shropshire again over the next week - I'm in the North East, working sadly but I have the chance of a day or two at 'play'. The Farnes are not far away - just hope the weather holds?

Lytham - A right Ross's grand day out!

The long staying Lytham Ross's Gull had been an occasional topic of conversation between myself and Andy Latham (should we?). With clearing skies and the prospect of a fine bank holiday Monday in Shropshire (= no birds), we opted to leave my car at VP and blast off up North. I was in danger of getting into trouble as this was merely (as I left home) a morning trip to North of the County. Erm, forgot to add the words 'of Lancashire'.....

Captain Kirk (me) eat your heart out. After a 6.30 start, we were stood over 'Grannys Bay' less than two hours later. Not a Granny in sight, they emerged later, lots of joggers but more importantly not a Ross's either!






This has been one of the most confiding and long staying of 'megas' this year. Was today going to be the day it headed back up to it's Arctic North?

Amazingly, we bumped into another Shropshire birder who had 'escaped' - nice to meet Anthony from Maesbury!! We teamed up and wiled away the encroaching tide, wader watching. There were in exces of 1,000 Knot with decent numbers of Dunlin, Grey Plover, Ringed Plover, Oystercatchers, Turnstone and a real 'turn up' - a single Purple Sandpiper!! How many of those have you seen amongst a beach wader flock?! Bar-tailed Godwit and Sanderling flying across too.

Try playing 'Spot the Purple Sandpiper!






The tide, as paint duly dries, came in and still no Ross's. Everyone seemed content to sit and wait but we were getting itchy feet. We walked North past Fairhaven Lake and eventually found a smiling birder! Ross's just around the corner on the sea! The pace quickened somewhat.....

Oh you little beauty!!






As close as it got!



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All of a sudden the thought of having this bird down to 5 metres was forgotten - it wasn't going to happen anyway but at least I got one brief chance for some distant record flight shots!






Just look at that wedge shaped tail!








We had to fend off numerous comments from the locals who had totally p***ed us off by crowing how good it had been showing all week... Apart from their dogs causing mayhem, a loose sort of translation from proceedings was along the lines of....

Eckie thump Vera, yon Birdaz lookint Rossis Gull. I'll nip downt' Rovers an tellum!

We called in at Newton marsh where the wader tally got a real boost: Spotted Redshank, Redshank, Ruff, whimbrel and Lapwing. There were in excess of 100 Black tailed Godwits here too!!

Neumanns flash beckoned on the return journey. The pair of Black-singed Stilts now sitting and sharing this duty - one parent briefly caught in open water.....






Never a dull moment on the return journey either! Whether it was the V8 engine tuned truck which Andy valiantly failed to catch or the 4WD tosser who dared to tailgate us (he crawled for several miles in our 'very carefully' driven bendy stretch wake!)

Then, back to VP and what had we missed. The entries in the book for 5th May 2008? Totally, totally blank - absolutely nothing!!

South Shropshire - Raptors & Warblers galore....

After the excitement of the previous evening, could the standard be maintained?

Andy L, Yvonne C and yours truly were on a South Shropshire mission for Dotterel, Goshawk and Warblers..... The first few minutes in the car were interesting, how long would the 'f' word be kept under wraps? It lasted all of one minute and then we had a fantastic day, lots of laughs and went places a Renault Laguna really shouldn't go (I've still got my exhaust - just!!)

The Longmynd was first with stops at Boiling Well, Pole Cott, an offroad dodgy adventure and the 'sheep fields'. Not a Dotterel in sight but we had a few cracking raptors. Red Kite, Kestrel and then an unfortunate Buzzard entered into Merlin territory where the feisty pair set about him in no uncertain terms!!

Bury Ditches was fairly quiet but at least we added Goshawk to the list, a distant bird displaying well! Garden Warblers pretty vociferous but unseen - at least the Redpoll were obliging.....






Clunton Coppice was alive with Warblers and a normally reclusive Garden Warbler showed exceptionally well (pics courtesy of a sharp-eyed Yvonne!).











As did possibly the highlight of the day - Wood Warblers!! Two superb singing males with Blackcap, Willow Warbler and Chiffchaff also in the area.












Another raptor watch over Black Hill turned up another Goshawk together with the ever increasing count of Buzzards (shedloads, whatever!)

Several stops on the way back to Clun added more Warblers, Pied Flycatcher and Redstart.

A final stop on the Mynd and following a 'Dottereless' breezy walk around the flanks of the sheep fields, we added a pair of Hobbies, Kestrel and Merlin. Then, back to VP where there was not much of interest at all!

Andy was on form as ever - you want a Goshawk? - here's a Goshawk etc.....

The moral? Sometimes you have to travel to find decent local birds - we did on both counts! Another five year ticks added to my year list: Goshawk, Garden & Wood Warbler, Pied Fly and Hobby. For me, so early in the year, the UK '200' is now in sight (currently on 188)

Ellesmere - Gropper!!

This story starts the previous evening where I was giving a talk to the Ellesmere branch of the SWT. Birds were the main feature and one of the audience came up to me later with what are now immortal words - "Do you know a bird that sounds like a Cricket?" I did (Could it really be a Gropper!) and we swapped contact details with a promise of the location to follow.....

The next day after work, on checking my voicemail, I had enough to go on and decided to check it out. The drive to Ellesmere seems endless especially when the light is fading and just by luck - the only place to park along the narrow lane between Ellesmere and Sandy Hill just happened to be where I was about to tick for the first time in Shropshire - Grasshopper Warbler!


I could hear it reeling as soon as I got out of the car and almost immediately had some startling views - too darn close!!! The bird was literally filling the big lens field of view! It never really came completely out in the open but I had two awesome chances (when it nearly did) to get a picture of two as it emerged from the depths of the hedge.

I never really got the shot I was after but with twigs here and there, got just about every angle of view! Apologies for the bits of green here and there but tell you what - I'll settle for these!!

Cracking start to the Bank Holiday weekend, now how about them Dotterel.....