350 at last!!!

Before reaching the magical 350 landmark a rather special 349 turned up at Seaton Sands Cleveland by way of Britains latest ever Isabelline Wheatear! When I arrived I was expecting to see it distantly if at all. It turned out to be a right show off and actually coming within 10 feet of me at times!

So that left me on 349 and in persuit of number 350. Well 350 species using my rules and yes it does include the Chinese Pond Heron and a dubious Little Auk in Scotland, which on reflection was a probably a reference to the size of a distant guillemot!

News broke of a an Eastern Black Redstart at Scalby Yorkshire at the weekend. Playing by my rules this would be number 350, so off I went up the M1 to Scarborough to a residential housing estate. When I arrived there were several groups of birders standing nattering about the weather, what they had in their packed lunches etc etc. This is never a good sign and the bird had gone missing. The bird had been seen at the end of a cul de sac about an hour before I arrived. So I got chatting to the locals who laughed I had made a 135 mile trip to probably see nothing. Then someone shouted 'its behind you!' and after realising they were not rehearsing for the local panto, turned round to see the bird on a roof!
It promptly flew off to be relocated on a residents allotment then various locations around the housing estate.

What a cracking bird all the way from the 'east'.

A day at the seaside

Well half a day actually due to an unfortunate incident on the way. A rear end shunt forced me to pull over and the unfortunate driver of the other vehicle could only watch as his cars front end disintegrated in front of his eyes! I was lucky I could drive off, he had to be towed.
So I arrived at Flamborough on Sunday about midday and bumped into David Aitken, warden for Bempton, in the car park who informed me the Citrine Wagtail was still showing on the beach. Hurriedly I went the 200 yards or so to the beach to find the wagtail had been flushed up the beach by a Woodcock fresh in off the sea!
After half an hour of searching I spotted the Citrine back where it had apparently been found earlier in the day. It showed really well in good light.

Whilst talking to David he informed me that the Rough Legged Buzzard was showing well near Grindale just outside Bridlington about 5 miles away. So off I went and promptly found the group of birdwatchers and photographers by the side of the road. I found a gap in the hedge and the beautiful bird was feeding on a strategically placed hare by the edge of the field. It fed for about 10 minuets then flew to the hedge were it preened until I left.

It's a bit like getting a hole in one!

No I haven't taken up golf and got lucky but did end up near a golf club on Friday and getting very lucky. Hunley Hall to be exact in Cleveland for the Mega rare Eastern Crowned Warbler (ECW)

News came through on Thursday afternoon that the UK's third record had been found in a plantation near the golf club. So guess what, I set my alarm for 3.30 am the following morning and arrived on site at 6.30. No tooth brush required this time as I could easily get there and back in a day.

I stood with several others where the bird was last seen the evening before, but after two hours I decided to go where the bird was first located about a quarter of a mile away. Still no sign of it there so I walked back just to be told it had been seen where I had just come from! Panic and I ended up running yes running. It was an odd sensation with my eyeballs jigging up and down in a way I had not felt since 1982. Once I had got my breath back and established I wasn't having a heart attack I ventured into the plantation to be met by 150 other folk all fighting for a position to catch a glimpse of the ECW high up in the tree canopy.

The next two hours were extremely frustrating as the bird hopped around from tree to tree and often went missing for long periods. However just as I was about to leave it appeared out of a low level bush and click click I had the photograph below which shows all the ID features of this truly Mega rare bird.

So it was off to the 19th hole for a celebration coffee and chip butty thanks to Hunley Hall Golf Club who allowed me in despite muddy boots and an unshaven look.

Another trip to Porthgwarra

A year ago I made a mad dash to Porthgwarra one Wednesday evening. I stayed overnight at Bodmin and arrived at Porthgwarra at 7.45 the next day to be told the Hermit Thrush had just flown up the valley! Three hours later it returned for about  30 seconds and I got a couple of decent photos.

Anyway a year later and BOOM! a Yellow Billed Cuckoo turns up in the same place! Now for the dilemma, will it survive the night and still be there in the morning? So its 2.00 in the afternoon and takes 6 hours from Nottingham to Porthgwarra in Cornwall and the bird hasn't been seen for two hours! So what do I do? Yep I grab my camera and toothbrush and head south. I arrived at Bodmin at midnight and arrived at the stated location at 6.30 the following morning not knowing if the cuckoo is dead or alive or even still there! At least I hoped I was at the right place as it was dark and sat nav took me to a car park with about 10 cars in it with their headlights on!

So off we set up the track in the rain and fog to a dried up pool about half a mile away. Finally at 9 the Yellow Billed Cuckoo showed itself tucked away in a bush. It was quite mobile and gave brief good views all morning despite the rain and fog. Happy with that I went for a Cornish pasty and coffee near the car park before returning up the valley. The cuckoo had relocated to a bush and was sat there about 10 meters away from my lens! As the afternoon progressed the weather improved and the bird became more mobile before perching on a dead tree right in front of me before flying quite a distance away!

Click click I had my photos, only one problem it was 6 and I had to get home to Nottingham. The journey back took 10 hours thanks to the A30 being closed! But did I care?

Virgin Blogger!

Well after 51 years on this planet I have finally got round to starting a Blog dedicated to my notorious dashing around the country, camera in hand, in pursuit of our feathered friends. I have bored the pants off all my work mates with my adventures and amusing stories of socially inadequate bird watchers and photographers!
So here goes.............