lapwing – tonydavisonphotography.com

A new bird for Britain

2023, Birds of 2023 No Responses »

May 082023

On Monday 1st May 2023, a Grey-headed Lapwing was discovered on the wader scrape pools at Low-Newton-by-the-Sea, in Northumberland. Goodness knows what the birder must have thought, when he set eyes on this extremely attractive wader, that had decided to arrive on his local patch. If accepted by the BOU, it would be a new bird for Britain. The Grey-headed Lapwing is a lapwing species which breeds in northeast China and Japan. The Chinese population winters in northern Southeast Asia from northeastern India to Cambodia. The species has previously occurred as a vagrant in Western Europe, Russia, Australia and Sri […]

Local Patch Raptors – Sunday 9th September 2012

2012, Birds, Birds of 2012, Year No Responses »

Sep 092012

Local Patch Raptors - Sunday 9th September 2012

Local patch birding in my county of Derbyshire is hard work but sometimes rewarding. It is all down to the quality of birding one is looking for. In my view you cannot compare a days birding in Derbyshire, to a days birding at a coastal site in Norfolk or Yorkshire. These locations would win hands down, however there are exceptions and today was one of them. The early morning was spent at Carsington Water and a Turnstone, always a good bird in our county, a Wheatear and an adult Yellow-legged Gull were the major highlights. Yellow-legged Gull – Carsington Water, […]

The Land of the Smew – 29th January 2012

2012, Birds, Birds of 2012, Year No Responses »

Jan 292012

The Land of the Smew - 29th January 2012

Winter birding at Eyebrook Reservoir & Rutland Water generally produces a good selection of wildfowl and to-day was no exception. These are probably the best two waters in the midlands to see Smew. We had 3 “White Nuns” (drakes) and 6 Redheads, 2 drakes at Eyebrook and 1 drake 6 Redheads at Rutland. Unfortunately we were not able to locate the drake Green-winged Teal at Eyebrook, having spent some 2 hours searching through the numerous Common Teal. We did have 3 Redshank, 3 Egyptian Geese and a fly over Red Kite. At Rutland there were hundreds of […]

Waders Galore at Blacktoft – 31st July 2011

2011, Birds, Birds of 2011, Year No Responses »

Jul 302011

Waders Galore at Blacktoft - 31st July 2011

Eleven species of wader were on view at the RSPB Reserve at Blacktoft Sands this morning, including the very rare Marsh Sandpiper. The bird had been present in the area for nearly three weeks and so it was about time we came to see it. Plenty of superb Black-tailed Godwit and 18 Spotted Redshank along with 12 Green Sandpiper, Ruff, Avocet, Redshank, Dunlin, Snipe, Lapwing and Greenshank completed the wader list. A few Marsh Harrier and about a dozen Little Egret. The best I could do with the Marsh Sandpiper was a half decent digiscoped effort but at least you […]