2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Trips

A Winters Trip to Norfolk and a British Tick

We spent a few days in North Norfolk during late November, which turned out to be well worth while. I managed to see 94 species during our 4 days. Staying at Blakeney, proved to be a good choice as there was an Isabelline Wheatear available at the end of the East Bank. Holkham produced 5 […]

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021

Local Round-Up

Two Caspian Gulls were at Attenborough NR, Nottinghamshire, during late November. Giving excellent views from one of the hides overlooking Clifton Pit, as they fed on Spiny-cheek Crayfish. A superb Jay gave me a great photo opportunity, a difficult bird to photograph. On the 20th November I discovered the 2nd record of Great White Egret

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Year

Lost the Will to Migrate?

On 1st November I decided to pay another visit to the RSPB reserve at Blacktoft Sands, in Yorkshire. The White-tailed Plover was still being faithful to the site and seemed to have lost its will to migrate.  On the 1st November it performed very well in front of the Xerox Hide, allowing me to obtain

Birds, Birds of 2021

A Rare Visitor to Melbourne Pool

On the 31st October, a Ruddy Shelduck was discovered on Melbourne Pool, a local water near to where I live. I believe this to be the first time this species has been recorded at this site. As soon as it was found, mid-afternoon, I immediately went to see it and soon found it roosting on

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Year

Hoopoe visits IBM

A Hoopoe recently took up residence on the grass lawns in front of the main IBM Offices in Warwick city. An extremely unusual location, but it stayed very faithful to the area for around 9 days. I managed to see it on the 30th October 2021 and it was very settled and confiding, until a

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Year

Another Siberian Gem

On the 16th October 2021 a Two-barred Greenish Warbler was discovered in the Canal Hedge at Spurn, Yorkshire. I had previously seen this phyllosc species in October 2017 at St Aldhelm’s Head area in Dorset, so wasn’t really too bothered to drive across to Spurn. I soon changed my mind when I saw the views

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Year

A rare wader from Asia – The Long-toed Stint

Whilst I was on Shetland, news came out that a Long-toed Stint had been discovered at the RSPB reserve at St.Aidan’s, near Leeds in Yorkshire, on the afternoon of Friday the 8th October. It was originally identified as a Temminck’s Stint, then a Least Sandpiper, before finally being nailed as a Long-toed Stint. A mega

2021, Birds, Birds of 2021, Trips, Year

Shetland 2021

I made my annual visit to Shetland for the first time since 2019 and Lockdown. It was good to get back to these magical isles. We stayed on Unst, at our normal croft at Northdale, from 6th October to 12th October. A fairly quiet trip in terms of rare birds, but we did manage to

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