Last Sunday 15th December, during the late afternoon, news broke that a juvenile Ivory Gull had been found at Patrington Haven on the Humber Estuary, East Yorkshire. What a blow, as yet another Ivory Gull was seemingly tantalising me, especially having dipped the two in Northumberland a couple of weeks ago, I was begining to think I would […]

Eyebrook Reservoir in Leicestershire was one of the first major bird watching jaunts I undertook as a small child. On the 22nd of January 1967 I can remember joining a Derbyshire Ornithological Society Field Trip to this site, seeing my first Goldeneye, Bewick's Swan, Goosander and a range of common wildfowl. Fortyfive years on and Eyebrook is

Saturday 7th December not 1 but 2 Ivory Gulls were seen together at Seahouses in Northumberland. An extremely rare event in Britain and one that was too good to miss, so Sunday Glyn, Richard and myself set off in the hope that we might see just one of these superb arctic gulls. On arrival at Seahouses

A fairly quiet weekend birdwise, so Saturday 30th November, we decided to head off to the North East Coast and Hartlepool Fish Quay, Hartlepool Headland and South Shields. A few good birds including numerous Purple Sandpiper, a huge flock of roosting Redshank at Sea Burn, Red-throated Diver, Common Scoter off Hartlepool Headland, a Long-tailed Duck, several

A cracking weekend – Saturday 23rd November, Glyn, Richard and myself decided to head off to Norfolk and try for the small flock of Parrot Crossbills that had been frequenting the Car Park of Holt Country Park. Our arrival was impeccable, as we pulled into the car park, bright sunshine, blue sky and nine Parrot Crossbill performing. No

A trip to the Lincolnshire Coast in late autumn is the right time to see Grey Seals at Donna Nook. There's also the chance of one or two good birds in the surrounding area and Saturday 16th November 2013 was no exception. We first of all visited the inland reservoir at Covenham. This is a cracking

An immature/female type Pied Wheatear was discovered and identified at Collingham Gravel Pits, near Newark, Nottinghamshire, on Saturday 9th November 2013. News came out late on Saturday evening. Yet another rare vagrant to grace the Midlands and hot on the heels of last weekends Dusky Warbler. Pied Wheatear is a vagrant from Eastern Europe and

After the recent onslaught of rare "Yanks" arriving at all corners of the country, this weekend was rather mediocre. In any case my bank balance wouldn't have stood the charters and petrol money required to vist Porthgwarra, Cornwall for a Hermit Thrush (didn't need it in any case); the Isle of Rum for a Mourning Dove; Unst