August - Scilly Pelagics

 Earlier in the year I had booked a week on Scilly to coincide with Pelagic weekends at the end of August.

Staying overnight at the Union Hotel in Penzance before getting an early afternoon flight to St Marys

Union Hotel Penzance

After breakfast on the way to Lands End airport I stopped at Porthgwarra to look for Choughs of which I saw 2, also several Wheatears and some Grayling butterflies.

Isles of Scilly

Arriving in fabulous weather I checked into my accommodation "Minnehaha" a small 1 bed self catering unit in Smugglers Ride. That evening I took my first of several evening Pelagic trips aboard Joe Pender's Saphire.

Saphire

The trips were mainly south of the islands passing the Bishop Rock Lighthouse.

Bishop Rock Lighthouse

We looked for feeding frenzies of Gannets where the Shearwaters would be joining in.

Shearwaters in with Gannets

During the trips we saw 100's of Manx, Great, and Cory's Shearwaters plus a few Balearic and Sooty Shearwaters, Sabines Gull, Caspian Gull.

Great Shearwater

The icing on the cake however was this Fea's Petrel that was seen on the Friday evening, a lifer for me.

Fea's Petrel taken by Joe Pender.

During the daytime I spent my time walking around the islands, sadly dipped on a couple of Wrynecks and a Booted Warbler but did manage to see a Red-backed Shrike and a Pectoral Sandpiper.

Pec Sandpiper

Overall a very enjoyable trip but very disappointed with the photos from here and also the ones in July from Scotland - think its time for a replacement

July - Scotland again

 Having dipped on White-tailed Eagles when in Scotland back in January, and wanting to see Dotterel I booked another Heatherlea trip titled Eagles, Divers and Dotterel. This time I flew from Luton to Inverness then train and taxi to Nethy Bridge. After checking in I went to the river and had my fix of Dipper once more.

Our first full day of birding was on Sunday 10th where we visited Loch Garten for Crested Tit but as before none were seen but one was heard, the next site was Lochindorb were Red Grouse were seen but with it being hot the Loch was full of anglers and water sport enthusiasts and there was no sign of the Black Throated Divers. The best bird of the day ending up being Slavonion Grebe and Spotted Flycatcher.

Spotted Flycatcher

Monday 11th after an early breakfast we set off for Mull seeing Black Guillemot on the crossing and both Golden and White-tailed Eagles

Golden Eagle

White-tailed Eagle

Tuesday 12th we had a full day on Mull getting better views of the Eagles and seeing several of the commoner sea bird species. The highlight for me was seeing a Sea Otter out of the water. Sadly no pics of him.

White-tailed Eagles

White-tailed Eagle phone scoped

Other birds of note seen were a flock of Twite, a family of Winchat,Red-throated Diver, Arctic Terns, a Whooper Swan and several Hooded Crows. We  had to return to the hotel to collect our lunch before heading for the ferry back to the mainland.

Hotel at ?

While having lunch at the ferry terminal we watched the Black Guillemots at their nesting site on the quay.

Black Guillemot.

We returned back to Nethy Bridge via the scenic route arriving just in time for dinner.

Due to the weather forecast it was reluctantly decided by the guides that the 4 of us who wanted to go up Cairngorm would be Wednesday. Setting off in reasonable weather it gradually became colder the higher we went, and once at the funicular railway terminus waterproofs and gloves were needed

Accending Cairngorm

Cairngorm summit

At the summit apart from a couple of Ravens we were treated to a family of Snow buntings eating cake crumbs left by someone. Sadly no sign of Dotterel or Ptarmigan probably due to the high number of people using the mountain for recreation.

Male Snow Bunting.

After coming down the mountain we had a hot drink, then went to see the Ring Ouzels that had nested near by but only managed to see a juvenile. In the evening went to Dorbach and surrounding area where we saw a Short-eared Owl

Thursday 14th we went back to Lochindorb to look for the Black-throated Divers seeing several Red Squirrels on our way we eventually saw the Divers all be it distant.

Black-throated Divers

We then had a quick drive around the infamous estate not seeing Capercaillie and having lunch before heading off to Loch Insh to see the nesting Ospreys.

Nesting Ospreys.

 Friday our last day, we headed for the coast - to Troup Head here we spent most of the day at the Gannet colony seeing Guillemot, Razorbill, Puffin, Kittiwake and the commoner Gulls

Troup Head

Gannets

Off shore we could see a couple of Minkie Whales and in the surrounding fields were Corn Buntings and Yellowhammers, on the way back to the hotel we stopped at Cullen Bay and eventually added Tree Sparrow to our list.

The hotel and food as usual was very good and enjoyable. The trip was a bit disappointing as last year no Dotterel were seen on Cairngorm and the previous week on the same trip none were seen yet we were still taken to Cairngorm to look for them and I see that next year they are still advertising the same trip to see Dotterel!

The journey back to Luton started at 6.15am with the taxi and finally arriving back in Luton at 3.30pm if there is a next time I'll probably drive.

June Norfolk again - twice

 11th June I decided to try and twitch a Spotted Sandpiper at Titchwell, this time I just did a day trip, managed to see it fairly well through the scope although distant.

Spotted Sandpiper (to the right of the Shelduck)

22nd June another visit to Norfolk staying again at Thetford Forest for a couple of days, primarily to visit the breeding Beeeaters that had just been anounced and being monitored by the RSPB at Mundesley. I managed to see 5 although at times there had been 7

Beeeater

A visit Weeting Heath I saw a couple of Stone Curlews one with two chicks

Stone Curlew

Stone Curlew with Chicks

At Lakenheath I failed to see any Cranes but numerous dragonflies and a couple of Cuckoos were still calling. In the forest still displaying Nightjars and a Woodcock.

May Twitching

May 14th, in glorious weather I went to Knepp the stars undoubtedly were the Storks despite what hard core birders think I am for the conservation and introduction.

Knepp White Stork

Other birds added to my year list were Turtle Dove and Garden Warbler.

May 21st I headed back to Thetford Forest for a couple of days mainly to twitch the Great Reed Warbler which I have only seen when in eastern europe.

Great Reed Warbler

Other birds seen were this barn Owl and 4 purring Turtle Doves

Barn Owl

A visit to Weeting Heath there was a couple of Stone Curlews, and in the evening at the back of the campsite at least 6 Nightjars were churring and showing well and a couple of roding Woodcocks.

On the 22nd a Caspian Tern was found at Hickling Broad, a reserve I haven't been to before. I managed a distant view just before it took off and was not seen again till the next day. 

Caspian Tern

The 30th May took me to Sandwich in Kent for the Eleanora's Falcon another lifer. Whilst there a Red-footed Falcon and up to 6 Hobbies.

Hobby and Eleanora's Falcon

April Twitching, Norfolk, Yorkshire, Devon and Cornwall

April being the time when few leaves still on the trees and birds more active I wanted to catch up with those hard if not impossible to see in East Sussex. A trip again with the caravan staying at Thetford Caravan Club site. On arrival there was news of a White-tailed Lapwing at Frampton Marsh, so after setting up went there and got onto the bird immediately but it always remained distant.

Frampton Marsh

White-tailed Lapwing

White-tailed Lapwing

The next morning I joined Marcus Nash and two others primarily to see nesting Lesser-spotted Woodpeckers. At a site at Santon Warren we weren't disappointed, seeing the male excavating a hole and the female watching near by.

Female Lesser-spotted Woodpecker

Other birds of note seen were Woodlark, Goshawk, and Stone Curlews. The plan was to return home the following day, but with news of the Albatross returning to Bempton Cliffs the previous day I headed to Yorkshire staying at the Bridlington club site.

Again after a quick set up I went to Bempton only 6 miles away and was put onto the Black-browed Albatross sitting on the sea but distant. A few moments later it flew up and landed on the cliffs where it stayed for the next 2 hours at least until after I had left.

Black-browed Albatross amoungst Gannets

Next morning a return visit to try and get a closer look but the bird had flown out to sea to feed. After a short while looking at the Razorbills and Guillemots and not finding any Puffins I left to try and find another lifer.

Guillemots

Razorbills

At a place known as Hull Bridge there was a lot of flood water, and hundreds of Ducks mainly Wigeon Mallards and Teal. With strong winds it took some finding but eventually I found the Baikal Teal that had been present there fore a few days and pleased I was able to put another birder onto it.

Baikal Teal

Later in the month on the 24th. I headed west on my annual visit to see Cirl Buntings and other western specialities . Taking the caravan I stopped at Stover club site for 2 nights. Firstly seeing the Cirl Buntings at Labrador Bay on the day of arrival and a handsome male Blackcap.

Backcap

Cirl Bunting

Labrador Bay Devon

The next morning I went to Yarner Wood on the edge of Dartmoor, here to see the breeding Pied Flycatchers and was not disappointed.

Pied Flycatcher

Other birds seen were Common Redstart and Tree Pipit

A drive up onto Dartmoor in glorious weather I visited the Haytor Rocks, I last saw when camping with the scouts around 1968 - still looked the same!

Haytor Rocks

The following morning I headed further west to Marazion camp site as I had booked a day trip to Scilly on the 27th. Due to the Gig racing the Scillonion was doing a double crossing giving me 6 hours on St Marys. Apart from 30 plus Wheatears on the golf course and a lot of Rock Pipits not much else was seen. However I managed to see a couple of Choughs at Porthgwara. on the 26th.

Chough

The Jackdaws were helping themselves to nesting material from the cattle

March Twitching another Wild Goose Chase

 A Red-breasted Goose had been in Norfolk for a few weeks and so decided to twitch it although seeing many in Romania they were all so distant. Taking the caravan and staying at Weybourne I was close to where it had been seen regularly. On the day of arrival it was nowhere to be seen and no reports either. However I did find this Iceland Gull on the beach at Cley

Iceland Gull

The next morning I headed back to Cley, on turning a corner near Salthouse a large flock of Brent Geese were by the roadside including the Red-breasted Goose

Also seen was a Black Brant right at the far end of the flock.

The next day I moved the caravan to Sandringham and from there twitched the American Wigeon at Frampton Marsh.