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

My annual birding week to the Isles of Scilly this October, was to be my 28th year in succession. Unfortunately it turned out to be one of the worst weeks I can remember for seeing and finding rare birds. It didn't help that very few birders were on the islands on what has been traditionally recognised as THE

A last minute decision Saturday morning (12th Oct), was to head off to Covenham Reservoir, in Lincolnshire for a storm blown pelagic wader, a Grey Phalarope. We had no idea if the bird was still there and the weather was foul, so even if it was, would we get any photos? Really dull low cloud, rain

FAR REALLY ISN'T FAR  – Shetland, one of the greatest places in the UK for discovering rare birds. This year and the same crew, we continued with our previous format – A week on Unst, generally looking for our own birds, mixed with a little twitching here and there. Aberdeen Harbour – Friday evening 20th September 2013. After