September 25th – October 3rd 2015 – Another autumn week on Unst, Shetland, staying at our usual croft at Northdale. What a great location to spend a week looking for rare birds. This year was not what I would call a classic week, yet there were still some good birds about, especially on the mainland. We stayed on Unst for our week and managed to find around 15+ Yellow-browed Warbler; 2 Barred Warbler and a Richard’s Pipit. We also saw Arctic Warbler, Pallid Harrier, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Red-backed Shrike, Scaup and Olive-backed Pipit. So better than a “Poke-in-the-Eye”. Common migrants included […]
The weekend weather indicated opportunities for potential sea bird passage down the east cost. Saturday 5th September and there was a strong North Westerly wind blowing as we arrived at Filey Brigg, on the Yorkshire Coast. After a precarious trek down to the Hide, and I mean precarious, I began my first proper sea watch for many years. Filey is a great place for birds and the sea at the Brigg was chaotic. We were quickly watching large numbers of Gannet and Fulmar heading in all directions. Eventually I picked up my first Sooty Shearwater, followed by another 15 or so, […]
Saturday 29th August and I spent the day in Northumberland, with Glynn and Richard, at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea. What a fantastic place for waders and Terns. The coastal area of this small seaside town is a great place to see Roseate Tern. As they leave the breeding grounds on Coquete Island, the adults bring their youngsters to traditional feeding areas along the East Coast, where they stop off before heading south to their wintering grounds in South Africa. Today was no exception as we had around 20 Roseate Terns during the day. Plenty of waders too, including Dunlin, Knot, Redshank, Ringed Plover, […]
Sunday 23rd August and a trip to the North Norfolk coast was in order. A good move as this visit, to one of my favourite areas of the country, kick-started my autumn birding. A visit to Titchwell provided the usual array of waders including, 4 Little Stint, Wood Sandpiper, 4 Spotted Redshank, Black and Bar-tailed Godwit, Grey Plover, Sanderling, and Avocet to name a few. Six Spoonbill in two flocks of three, flew in from the west and settled down on the fresh marsh. A Marsh Harrier was quartering the salt marsh briefly and there was the usual scattering of Little […]