A first winter Green Heron, a North American species and a rare vagrant to Britain, had been found in a garden in the small Pembrokeshire village of Narberth. The bird had taken up residence in a large pond in the garden of a local resident, who kindly opened up his premises to visiting birders. The […]

I always look forward to a spring ramble round the excellent Anglian Bird Watching Centre Reserve at Eggleton, Rutland Water. Today was very sunny and warm and there were plenty of migrant warblers singing, a Nightingale in full song was a nice bonus and plenty of newly arrived Common Terns. What was surprising, was how

On Sunday 15th of April there was an obvious influx of Little Gull in Derbyshire and the surrounding counties. A flock of 14 was found at Willington Gravel Pits during the early morning and I spent several hours at my local patch in the hope of finding an odd one there, but with no luck.

Last weekend (8th April) a photograph of a Bittern, taken at Carlton Marsh in Suffolk, was posted on Social Media. It was very quickly re-identified as an American Bittern, an extremely rare vagrant to our shores. I last saw an American Bittern in the 1990’s, when one was at Marton Mere, near Blackpool, in Lancashire.

We spent our Easter break in Northumberland, at Bamburgh. Despite some atrocious weather, Sunday turned out to be a superb day of weather and managed a few birds whilst out and about in the general area. A stunning coast line between Bamburgh and Newton-by-the-Sea. Best birds were Grey Phalarope, 2 self find Black Redstarts, including

A rare occurrence in Derbyshire, a Lapland Bunting was found feeding in a field with Skylarks and Meadow Pipits at Peak Dale Quarry, just south of Chapel-en-le-Frith in North Derbyshire. It was first found on Saturday and as this was a county tick and a good opportunity to see this rare county bird, I went

A few visits over the weekend and 1 today to my local Patch in South Derbyshire. It was really bitterly cold this morning, with a strong easterly wind and snow & ice still on the ground but not as bad as Sunday 18th March, when conditions were dreadful. I managed to find just a single

On Sunday afternoon, 4th March 2018, I decided to pay my patch a visit, as I had not been for a few days and wasn’t able to get Sunday morning. I parked my car in the dam car park and began to scan the water. At first glance, noticing only the usual suspects – Cormorant,