An “Eastern” Stonechat was discovered, a week or so ago, in fields at Salthouse in Norfolk. I decided to go and see this bird and managed to do that on Friday 26th October 2018. The identification challenge – is it a Stejneger’s Stonechat (a potential third record for Britain) or the more regular and less […]

My first BIG twitch of the year took place on Saturday 20th October, the target, a Grey Catbird, all the way from the US of A. This was the second record for Britain of this species, so a real MEGA and had been performing in small scrubby fields at Lands End for the past five

My trip to Shetland this year (2018) took place on 21st September 2018 till 29th September 2018. It turned out to be one, if not the, worst week we have had in the last 10 years of visiting Unst. The weather conditions were very grim, with a continuous strong wind blowing from the west or

A juvenile Red-necked Phalarope was discovered at nearby Attenborough Nature Reserve this lunchtime, so a trip to see it was worthwhile. Red-necked Phalaropes are now on the move, migrating from their arctic breeding grounds, to winter in the Pacific Ocean, (see below) a truly remarkable journey. The bird was only at the Attenborough reserve for

The Derbyshire Wildlife Trust reserve at Willington is getting to become a favoured place to see a Great White Egret. Another of these graceful birds arrived a few days ago and so I decide to take a look at it this morning. Although distant, it was showing well feeding out on one of the lagoons,

A couple of special Derbyshire birds turned- up at the local reserve at Willington Gravel Pits this morning. A Spotted Redshank and a couple of Black Terns were discovered early morning. With a couple of Green Sandpiper, several Dunlin, a Kingfisher and plenty of Migrant Hawker dragonflies on the wing, it was a great place

On Saturday 1st September 2018, along with Barrie, I paid another visit to RSPB Frampton, in Lincolnshire. We had a reasonable day seeing the Stilt Sandpiper again and also the Long-billed Dowitcher that has been present for around a week now, but proven difficult to see. This morning both birds were showing on the main

A Stilt Sandpiper was discovered at RSPB Frampton Marsh, Lincolnshire during this past week (22nd Aug). I was away on holiday in Dorset and so was keeping my fingers crossed it would stay until my return. So today, Sunday 26th August, I managed to get across to Frampton and was able to see this rare