My first opportunity of the year for a "Lifer" arrived Wednesday 8th May at the tiny village of Low-Newton-by-the-Sea in Northumberland. It was a first summer male Collard Flycatcher, unmistakable and a superb little bird. Many thanks to the finder and I am sure a well deserved find. I decided that if it was still present Thursday […]
On the 2nd May, 2 Grasshopper Warblers arrived on my local patch and were "Reeling" and showing reasonably well on and off. Over the next couple of days or so I have been watching, from a safe distance, one bird in particular, to find out it's favourite singing posts.This morning, with a little patience, I was
Local Patch Notes from STAUNTON HAROLD RESERVOIR, DERBYSHIRE – from 18th April up to 5th May. Since returning from Varanger in Northern Norway most of the summer migrants have now arrived. Highlights of the Webscount on 21st April were 2 pairs of Mandarin, still 41 Tufted Duck, reduced to around 16 on 5th May, Pair of Oystercatcher, the
Our annual trip to the Scottish Highlands commenced on 25th April 2013, returning on 29th April 2013. Usual stuff and usual fantastic B&B accomodation. The weather throughout the trip went from atrocious, to spring like, with some warm, albeit brief, interludes of sunshine. Funnily we managed to dodge the bad weather and never got wet but did
This building in Vardo sums up Arctic Norway. Tony Davison© Day 1 – After a 5:15am start from home, on Friday 12th April 2013, Glyn, Mike, Richard and myself caught our Scandinavian Airlines flight from London Heathrow to Oslo, we knew there would be a downside though – we had a five hour wait in Oslo for our
Local Patch news from Staunton Harold Res for the last few days. Saturday 6th April – The highlight was a second summer Yellow-legged Gull. This bird has been around for some months now, visiting the reservoir on and off. Monday 8th April – I was pleased to find a pair of Mandarin in the middle of
Where are all the spring migrtants? This is one of the latest Springs I have known. Usually I have seen numerous Sand Martin & Swallow by now and even the odd Willow Warbler. Nothing yet and it is still very cold with a really raw easterly wind blowing almost continuously. The temperature managed to get
Good Friday, 29th March and decided to re-visit the Barmston, Bridlington and Scarborough area of East Yorkshire. A great area for birding and at the same time I really wanted to catch-up on the 1st winter/1st summer Kumlien's Gull that has been frequenting Barmston Beach everyday since we last visited this area back in February. I was begining to
