A visit to Long Eaton Gravel Pits Complex, Derbyshire, on Saturday morning 16th May, proved to be somewhat of an anticlimax. We visited the site in the hope of seeing a Temminck’s Stint, a very rare passage wader in Derbyshire. May is the prime time for these birds to arrive at inland sites, as they […]
Sunday 10th March, another bad decision day. News breaks of a Citril Finch in Norfolk. Here we go again!! Few phone calls made and consensus of opinion amongst the ranks, was long journey, (late in the morning when the news broke) and as bird was very elusive, at the time and at Holkham Dunes (vast
The morning of Saturday 9th May began with somewhat of a waiting game. So Richard and I set off to a local reserve in the Erewash Valley. An area of small pools and marshland with one pit ideal for migrating waders. A couple of Wood Sandpiper had been found a few days earlier so whilst
A great deal of Saturday the 2nd of May 2015 was spent at Whisby Nature Park in Lincolnshire, with the elusive Nightingale. This local nature reserve has become famous in recent years for one of our best songsters. Izaak Walton, a famous English writer, wrote about the song of the Nightingale – “breathes such sweet
Couldn’t believe it when the mega alert on my pager went off on Thursday 30th April 2015 – The Hudsonian Godwit had reappeared at Meare Heath in Somerset. Barrie contacted me and he was planning to go Friday afternoon, so I said, count me in. Another agonising wait but the bird was still on site
Well, that was the weekend that will be remembered for a Hudsonian Godwit. A really bad decision not to go on Saturday 25th, as the bird flew off Saturday afternoon, obviously disappointing the Sunday twitchers, me included. Hopefully it will either be – re-discovered on route to the far north, or it will return in
After domestics on Saturday, I was looking forward to some local birding on Sunday 19th April. Richard & I set off for our local reserve at Willington Gravel Pits, with the intention of visiting a nearby RSPB reserve in South Staffs, later in the morning, where a pair of Black-winged Stilts had been found on
Saturday 11th April and no better place to spend a spring day than at Rutland Water. There is always a good variety of birds and the chance of some migrants at this time of year. With waterfowl now in full summer plumage, some good opportunities with the camera. Numerous migrants were around with first Willow
