Waxwings - Preston(Victoria Street) - 30th November 2008

Statue of Sir Tom Finney with Icycles hanging off it!

For the third consecutive Day i was awoken to the sight of a pale grey frosting on every surface, and the air just screamed Waxwings. I knew that there were suprisingly decent numbers in Preston so we checked Stocks Road in Ashton first which drew a blank. Next stop was Victoria Street near to the Uni where even from a distance, the camouflaged Lenses of the assembled Cameramen/Birders ironically stuck out like a sore thumb. Present on Arrival were estimated c45 Waxwings...what a wonderful sight! I hope to visit here more often during the working week during my free periods at college

Waxwings

North East Region - 8th November 2008

Black Grouse - Langdon Beck

We stayed in the centre of Newcastle on the evening of the 7th and headed back to Preston on the morning of the 8th stoping off at various sites to observe landmarks that the North East certainly isn't lacking! (the Bridges in Newcastle, the Opera house in Newcastle, Angle of the North, St James Park, Stadium of Light, Riverside, Transporter Bridge in Middlesborough, the Train Statue in Darlington as well as Teesdale High Force to name but a few!)

The Morning began with a spot of Sea watching with several decent birds turning up past Seaham south of Sunderland. Phalarops sp >S(presumed Grey Phalarope due to long wing progection and dark grey rather than almost black wings as on red necked...could not confirm however) 2 Black throated diver (lifer) >N, juv Gannet >N, fem Common Scoter >S, (and a rock pipit as my 'sea watching companion') but apart from that the sea watching was a little dull after about an hour so we moved on
Our next birding site was Langdon Beck near Barnard Castle but heading through Darlington a single Waxwing flew over the road next to the railway statue. At Langdon Beck, the Black Grouse were showing rather well until I got out of the car and all 24 of the males flew to a distant field on the hillsides. I did not locate any females just like last time.
On the trip home, I made a few sightings that proved quite pleasing and interesting. A female Kestrel was mobbing a male Merlin near Kirby Stephen, at Least 1000 Jackdaw flew over Kirby Stephen at Dusk making quite a racket and a large movement of Fieldfare over the moors as night fell.

East Yorkshire(and the future 1st for Britain) - 12th October 2008

A somewhat frustrating trip was a result of a planned visit to the East Coast. We were hoping to have a really exciting day with target birds as follows: Spurn - Red Backed Shrike, Shore Lark, Yellow browed Warbler. Swine Moor - Pectoral Sandpiper. Tophill Low NR - Red Footed Falcon(subsequently identified as Amur Falcon Falco amurensis which if accepted will be a 1st for Britain), Slavonian Grebe, Red Crested Pochard.

On Arrival at Spurn, we stopped at the Crown and Anchor in search of any unlikely new arrivals in the recent South Westerlies, the best we could get here was at the church, with Redwing, Goldcrest in the bushes and a group of 140+ Tree Sparrow flying over.

At the observatory it was clear almost everything decent had cleared out in the recent clear nights; all that was left was a Jack snipe and Shore Lark. We only had 2 and a half hours on Spurn so we decided to walk to Chalk bank for the Shore Lark, not knowing just how far this was. On Arrival we had already used an hour of our time so we weren't particularly pleased to hear that it hadnt been seen since early morning. As we had walked all that way we thought it was necessary to have a check of the birds on the incoming tide and in amongst the commoner waders (Bar Tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Golden Plover, Oystercatcher, Dunlin, Turnstone, Curlew, Knot, Redshank(as well as several Dark Bellied Brent Geese)) I managed to spot a presumed 1stw Avocet with 11 Oystercatcher. I am not entirely sure, but i think this is a scarce bird at spurn even though they breed at Blacktoft Sands.

Walking back from Chalk bank, I picked up 2 Great Crested Grebe flying south on the sea, 2 Little Egrets on the Humber and several Stonechat. No sign of the Jack Snipe at Canal Scrape sadly

2cy male Amur Falcon - Falco amurensis

Next Stop was suppost to be Swine Moor, but with increasingly dissapearing light and the fact we needed to be leaving by 5.00pm, we headed straight to Tophill Low to the NE of Beverley. On arrival in the Car Park we heard that the Falcon had just been seen flying over the Car Park(this was at 16.00) which was a promising sign, so we headed to the O reservoir which is where they assumed it was heading...no joy! 45 minutes of scanning at the res proved fruitless with the only compensation being a distant Slavonian Grebe on the res itself. we wandered back to the car stopping off at various hides on the way just in the hope of catching a glimpse. It was now 5.00 and we had to leave..I wasn't happy! On the drive out of the reserve we passed the entrance path to O res and saw two birders looking very happy. we stopped and asked them, 'Is it showing?', and this was followed by 'yeh, its perched, theres several birders round the corner looking at it now!' I suddenly turned into Usain Bolt! sprinting to O res with camera, scope and binocs. It was there! I couldnt beleive it - a fabulous 1st Summer Male perched with more than enough light to get all the distinguishing features. Shame that Cameras dont have the same light capabilities as humans...hence the picture quality ;)
On the evening of the 18th Octover, I was informed that the bird I saw has been reidentified as an Amur Falcon. I was filled with mixed emotions as 1. I had never heard of this species before. 2. I was aware it was a 1st for britain and 3. I was a little disapointed that I was not able to tick red foot :)
[Please Note] I will omit this tick in due course if the bird is not accepted...

Rossall Point - 4th October 2008

Montage of 2 Juvenille Little Gulls at Rossall Point


A sea watch at Rossall Point is somewhat of a rarity for me, as I am quite loyal to Starr Gate. With 29mph SSW winds, I was hoping for my first Leach's Petrel. Unfortunately the birding was very dissapointing:
Rossall Point: 2 juvenille Little Gull, 3 Kittiwake, 2 Common Scoter, 3 Sandwich Tern, 15 Sanderling, c150 Turnstone, 5 Cormorant, Pied Wagtail

Fleetwood Marine Lakes: 320+ Turnstone, 73 Sanderling, 11 Redshank, 2 Cormorant

Brockholes Wetlands LWT - 20th September 2008

with recent days producing a great number of migrating Honey Buzzards throughout the country, I thought I would make an effort at Brockholes as I would assume migrating Birds of Prey would use a major river valley such as the Ribble for direction. Before I had time to react, I received a text from Bill Aspin saying that John Wright had seen a Juv fly >SW...damn! maybe there would be more.

I went down and because of the last few days producing a juv Hobby on the back pits of the site near Boilton Woods, I headed in that direction. There were several assembled observers and we soon picked up the Hobby. This was by far the best experience I have had with a Hobby and I even managed to hear an Alarm Call as it was flushed by a fisherman. This is a nice late record and a promising bird...

Also on Site was 2 Snipe and overhead there were 7 Curlew and 3 Golden Plover >west, the latter being increasingly hard to see down at the quarry.

No Honey Buzzard but theres still time...

Black Necked Grebe, Condor Green - 14th September 2008

Juv Black Necked Grebe and moulting adult Little Grebe - Condor Pool
Southern Hawker - Longsands, Preston

A nice addition to my Fylde list(now standing at 187) was a juvenille Black Necked Grebe at Condor Pool in North Fylde on the afternoon of 14th September. Also seen at my house was a Migrant Hawker, which was a nice late suprise.

Beacon Fell - Mountain Boarding photoshoot

A couple of friends of mine are looking to get sponsered by a mountain boarding team, and asked me to take a few photo's of them on beacon fell. They have already been asked to go and have a test run at a mountain boarding club in chester for a sponsership...

Local Patching: Brockholes Quarry LWT 29th and 30th August 2008

Ecl male Drake(foreground) and juv Garganey
Juv Garganey
Ecl Drake Garganey
Juv Garganey
Juv Garganey with Ecl Drake in Foreground
Juv Garganey with Ecl Drake in Foreground

Two visits in two days to Brockholes is somewhat of a Rarity for me at the moment. A text from Bill Aspin saying Bill Gregory had an Ecl Drake Garganey on Main pool during the day prompted an evening visit on the 29th. within about 5 minutes I was on to the Teal group present and swiftly had the Drake. After another few minutes watching the Drake feed I noticed a teal with very boldly fringed tertials and and contrastingly 'black and white' head roosting. It began to feed and proved to be a Juv. Another 10 minuted passed and I again noticed an unusual teal roosting...another Juv Garganey. A great result for myself as i've never found British Garganey before to my recolection. Also onsite before I left was a 1st summer Hobby which flew over Main pool heading west.

On the 30th I made a morning visit to the site as the evening before the light was awful and my photographic efforts frankly laughable! unfortunately I was only left with the two Garganey as one of the juvs must have left overnight. I watched the two remaining birds with Allen Holmes and Mike Ainscough.

A nice way to get back into a hobby which has quite frankly flown away over the summer! (excuse the punn...)

North East Spain - 8th-20th August 2008

As another August came, and another family holiday appeared, we decided to again travel to the North Eastern province of Spain, to Catalunya. We stay at my Uncles Brothers villa in Pau, which is between Roses(Rosas) and Figueres. It borders The Cap de Creus Natoinal Park in the Pyrenees and also the Aiguamolls de l'Emporda Nationtional Park. Therefore it is a great site for Birdwatching.
Pau, and Surrounding Area
Our villa is at the base of a hill which leads to the San Pere de Rodes. which is a large Cathedral/Monestry, however this is 10 km away from our villa which can only be reached by road, or climbing over the top of a 620 meter high Hill, which in 32oC heat, i didnt risk it.
on the first morning I woke up early and looked atthe birds from our Balcony. Crested Tit was one of the first birds to be seen which was added to my spain list, and also Black Redstarts, Sardinian Warblers, Golden Orioles, Nightingale, Spotted Flycatcher and Melodious warblers were all nice additions.



I walked up the first part of the hill on the first morning, and it was obvious i was near a colony of Bee-Eaters as there was a constant background noise of theyre simply maical call! After a certain height, you walk through a small Cork Oak Woodland. Here i managed to note loads of White Admiral, at one point there was a patch of about 10 meters x 10 meters and there were 30 white admirals!The past three visits to spain, i have always noticed a reservoir in the distance from my villa. until this trip I have never bothered trying to find it, but upon walking up the hill and seeing a road that appeared to lead to it, i thought, it was worth a look. on the road to the reservoir, i saw the only Roller of the trip, and when we finally arrived at the Reservoir, i was dissapointed that my photography side of me was taken over by shear shock as a Red Kite(new for spain list) was being mobbed my a black kite. the only picture i managed was of the distant red kite. The reservoir itself had presumably about 4000 Yellow Legged Gulls, 100 Black Headed Gulls, 1st w Med Gull, Wood Sandpiper, and several Little Grebe. Also there was a small stream/outflow pipe coming from the res and odonata seem to have taken advantage. Scarlet Darter, Red Veined darter, a violet darter sp that i havnt been able to ID, variable Damselfly and Common Blue Damselfy.

Violet Dropwing

A trip to Rosas Harbour in 2006 and 2007 revelaed c20 Med Gulls and c300 Yellow Legged Gulls. This time there were only 15 Yellow Legged Gulls(later in the trip i found several meds on a beach to the south of Rosas in Empuriabrava.
Aiguamolls De l'Emporda

Aiguamolls is an unpredictable place. the Water levels vary so much that it is impossible to rely on the site for a certain species unless ofcourse you want to see Nightingale or Fantailed Warbler(Zitting Cisticola)

This Trip I picked up 4 Lifers from the Site. My First Spanish twitch came from a first for Catalunya - ALLEN'S GALLINULE. This was a juvenille moulting into 1stw plumage. Appologies for the poor photos, they were taken in late afternoon at distance on the 14th from the tower at Mata.

My Second Lifer was Great Reed Warbler, which was seen several times at the Estanys of Europa and from Mata. Estany De Europa in a reed bed next to a sewage plant, which at 30 oC, doesnt give off the best of smells. Here I saw the most shocking bird of the Trip - Little Bittern, it flew from the first hide. I initially thought it was a great crested grebe, so as i rarely see these in flight, i thought id give it a go, as i realised what it was Im not sure ive ever been so useless, i couldnt contemplate what id seen and with regards to taking a photo, that was simply laughable! Europa produced a second lifer for me too. I noticed a brown streaky bird in the reeds below me from the second hide on the 19th which i initially thought was a juv Sedge Warbler, it flew to a reed across from the hide with a rather strange flight. Suddenly I flash of yellow darted aacross the hide and joined the bird. at this point i noticed the presumed juv sedge had a conical bill and was interacting with the yellow bird. This was possibly the scaryest point of the trip as it was the first bird for about 4 years that I didnt even have a slight clue to what it may be. Weaver/Bishop sprung to mind, as i recalled the male to be similar to a species seen on Chris Batty's Trip Report on the Fylde Bird Club Website from Andalucia. It turns out that they are Male and Female Yellow Crowned Bishops

Cap De Creus National Park

The Lighthouse at Cap de Creus is an area where I love to seawatch. This year wasnt as good as previous years, but I did get some pleasing views of Cory's Shearwaters that for me was a hightlight of the trip. on the 16th I woked up at 6.30 and walked further up the Hill behing the villa and managed to reach a site called 'Area d'Esbarjo de Mas Ventos'. when i got there, the views were stunning, there were non people, and the birds...This turned out to be the best site of the whole trip and best site ive visited off the top of my head! Species Seen here

3 Ortlotan(Lifer), 2 Wryneck, female Red Backed Shrike, 14 Golden Oriole!(family parties i think) Orphean Warbler, 3 Crested Tit, 12 Cirl Bunting, 10 Woodchat Shrikes, 4 Thekla Lark, 2 Wood Lark, 100+ Corn Bunting, 8 Great Tit, 2 Hoopoe, 8 Red Legged Partridge. The Same day, I went to the Nou Camp in Barcelona and saw Barcelona - Boca Juniors(2-1) aswell as a Lunar Eclipse! getting home at 0400 meant that i was up for 21.5 hours that day!!

On the Last full day(19th) I went around the Cap de Creus again and picked up a few decent birds for the trip - Red Rumped Swallow, Black Eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Thrush, Rock Binting, Spectacled Warbler, (along with the Bishop at Aiguamolls)

Species Seen - 120(120 was my original target too!)

Taxonomy - Collins Field Guide Taxonomy

Great Crested Grebe

Little Grebe

Cory's Shearwater

Gannet

Shag

Little Bittern

Night Heron

Cattle Egret

Little Egret

Grey Heron

Purple Heron

White Stork

Mute Swan

Shelduck

Mallard

Gadwall

Teal

Garganey

Black Kite

Red Kite

Short-Toed Eagle

Marsh Harrier

Sparrowhawk

Goshawk

Common Buzzard

Bonelli's Eagle

Peregrine

Common Kestrel

Pheasant

Red legged Partridge

Water Rail

Moorhen

ALLENS GALLINULE
Common Coot

Black Winged Stilt

Avocet

Little Ringed Plover

Kentish Plover

Lapwing

Dunlin

Curlew Sandpiper

Little Stint

Ruff

Snipe

Black Tailed Godwit

Curlew

Spotted Redshank

Redshank

Greenshank

Wood Sandpiper

Green Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Black Headed Gull

Mediterranean Gull

Yellow Legged Gull

Lesser Black Backed Gull

Sandwich Tern

Whiskered Tern

Feral Pigeon

Woodpigeon

Collared Dove

Monk Parakeet

Little Owl

Alpine Swift

Swift

Pallid Swift

Kingfisher

Hoopoe

Bee-eater

Roller

Wryneck

Woodlark

Crested Lark

Thekla Lark

House Martin

Red Rumped Swallow

Swallow

White Wagtail

Nightingale

Stonechat

Black Redstart

Black Eared Wheatear

Rock Thrush

Blue Rock Thrush

Blackbird

Reed Warbler

Great Reed Warbler

Cetti's Warbler

Fan Tailed Warbler

Melodious Warbler

Sardinian Warbler

Orphean Warbler

Dartford Warbler

Spectaled Warbler

Subalpine Warbler

Willow Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Crested Tit

Great Tit

Blue Tit

Wren

Red Backed Shrike

Woodchat Shrike

Magpie

Jackdaw

Raven

Golden Oriole

Starling

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Yellow Crowned Bishop

Serin

Linnet

Goldfinch

GreenFinch

Corn Bunting

Rock Bunting

Ortolan

Reed Bunting