Back to Reality...

So, after my 4 months off, I'm now back at uni, and it's back to the crushing reality of work once again! Blog posts are becoming very few and far between, so I've decided to just keep doing a few months of summary every so often to keep it ticking over! Here is what I've been up to since I last posted:


1/8/15 - 7/8/15 - Scilly Trip

Me and my dad always go on a birding holiday once every year, and since neither of us had ever been to Scilly, and my dream has always been to do the pelagic, we decided this year, we'd give it a try. We booked for two nights on Scilly, and the rest of the week touring the UK sites we'd never been to either. In summary, we racked up 125 species for the week, however the Scilly Isles themselves were a bit of a flop! The Scillonian Crossing was absolutely horrendous, and everyone was ill, which left us in poor stead for the pelagic later that day, and suffice to say, the pelagic was a tough 5 hours for us! The birding was slow, but the sea was not and within 30 minutes of leaving, I wanted my 'dream trip' to end, and was ill throughout, therefore I didn't take any photos! Despite being green all the way through, we managed to get 200+ Storm-Petrels, Balearic Shearwater, 6 Bonxies and not a lot else! No Wilson's, Cory's, Greats... But, we did get some brilliant views of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Porth Hellick on the last day.

However, the week on the whole was superb! I got 3 lifers in Red-Footed Falcon, Montagu's Harrier and Cirl Bunting, plus a massive supporting cast of waders, especially at Norfolk on the way home with 4 Curlew Sandpiper, Little Stint, 20+ Whimbrel, Wood Sandpiper at Titchwell plus 25 Spoonbill at Stiffkey, and Spotted Redshank everywhere! We also went to Ham Wall RSPB which was hard work, but still managed a Great White Egret. Here are a few photos from the trip:

 Avocet at Titchwell RSPB

 Black-tailed Godwit at Titchwell RSPB

 Brimstone at Ham Wall RSPB

 Cirl Bunting at Broadsands (Lifer!)

 Gatekeepers at Ham Wall RSPB

 Super Views of a Pectoral Sandpiper at Porth Hellick Pool.

Wood Sandpiper at Titchwell RSPB

 Red Admiral at Ham Wall RSPB

Red-footed Falcon at Chatterley Whitfield, Staffordshire

Another outstanding highlight for me in August was the very showy Long-eared Owl that hung around the patch all month before inevitably being moved on by pushy photographers.

Later in the month, I went on a family holiday to Budapest for the week, but managed a day out with hungarianbirdwatching.com, which was a fantastic day around the city surroundings with no less than 8 lifers: Eastern Imperial Eagle, Saker Falcon, Great Bustard, Black Woodpecker, Middle Spotted Woodpecker, Lesser Grey Shrike and Golden Oriole! Not many photos taken, but here's a couple:

 Black Woodpecker in the Buda Hills

Lesser Grey Shrike and Turtle Dove

Arguably my bird of the year so far took place on the 5th September this year, and when the news broke, I was at Spurn dipping a Black Stork! A Great Shearwater went north past Old Nab in North Yorkshire, so we admitted defeat and headed back north in hope it would be seen again. It was seen in numerous locations north close-inshore and also seen at St. Mary's as we came back through the Tyne Tunnel! In a last ditch attempt, we headed for Church Point at Newbiggin, and just as we arrived, it was in view and we got stunning views of it as it came north really close giving some crippling detail! Superb lifer!

Later in the month, I went out on Paul Stewart's pelagic out of the Tyne in the hope of getting over my fear of the open water (after my Scilly experience!), and I can honestly say it was much better than the Scilly one! We got 2 Storm-Petrels, Blue Fulmar, Great Northern Diver, 6 Sooty Shearwaters, 2 Arctic Skuas, 2 Great Skuas and a Roseate Tern, and I even got some photos this time!

Fulmar

Sooty Shearwater hanging around the boat


Other notable photos:

 Roseate Tern at St. Mary's

 Comma at Tynemouth

By far my best ever views of Shore Lark at Blyth

Song Thrush on Holy Island

Speckled Wood at Tynemouth

St. Mary's 22/3/11

Lovely light yesterday morning so before school I headed down there. The south bay was full of waders like bar-tailed godwit, dunlin, turnstone, redshank and sanderling. The north bay had oystercatchers and curlew but not a lot else. All my photos are from the south bay. After St. Mary's I went along to the cliffs at Whitley Bay to check out the fulmar colony; they are coming along well. At least 18 pairs there now! Fulmar This Turnstone found a crab on the beach and spend about 15 minutes eating it. Dunlin Bar-Tailed Godwit

Yorkshire Trip 30/8/10 - 1/9/10

I have been busy lately so I haven’t had time to do a blog of the holidays! But I do have time now.

Me and my dad went down to Yorkshire during the holidays to visit some of the reserves there. We left early on Monday and went straight down to Fairburn Ings RSPB. My membership had run out with the RSPB so I went and got it renewed while I was there. While we were waiting, the warden showed us some of the best sights on the reserve. The hides on the reserves didn’t produce a lot, so we went to the place where the warden had told us there had been some rare waders seen. We went along and just on the roadside was a pool, we stopped and got out. When we looked at the waders I saw a new bird for me, 3 curlew sandpipers, a ruff and greenshank. After a while, they flew over to our side, producing the best view I have ever had and some great photo opportunities. After spending an hour there, we went onto Far Ings. We went straight to the main hide which had had reports of water rail, bearded tit and marsh harrier. When we got there, we were told that the water rail had been out earlier but not seen since. But after about 20 minutes, we saw a little red beak pop out of the reeds, and soon it was walking around, brilliant photos again! It wasn’t long before the next bird showed up; a bearded tit appeared just under the reeds. Eventually showed a bit better but not great. Still good to add to the list though! The next hide was good too, another new bird, a lesser whitethroat in the trees next to the hide again, great views! So many great views on this trip! We were staying in South Cave, next to North Cave wetlands, so just before going the B&B, we went to see what was around. Not a lot on the reserve, although a first-winter male redstart in the trees was a bonus. Not such great views but not bad! We went to Blacktoft Sands for the last day. Not a lot here, spotted redshank was the highlight, 7 little egrets and a few ruffs. But the marsh harriers were out and there was a few, 6 in the air at a time! One came very close, never seen them that close before! A nice male showing off the grey wings! Fantastic! Spurn Point and Bempton Cliffs on the way home were good as well. Thousands of waders at Spurn, whimbrel was the highlight on the beach reasonably close, and grey plover flocks were around but very timid. There was also a nice roe deer on the hill quite close but was scared by a dog just as I was getting close. Bempton was just the usual really but some fulmar were coming close on their way past which was a very good end to the holiday. In total, 97 different species, well worth the visit! Curlew Sandpiper - The Highlight! Ruff Lesser Whitethroat Fulmar Cormorant from Far Ings Marsh Harrier Bearded Tit Whimbrel Water Rail

Redstart Roe Deer