Red Crested Pochard

Went to Calder Wetlands in search of the drake smew reported there. No sign but  a lovely drake red crested Pochard made the trip worthwhile.

Anglesey Trip

Rather than having a lie in on Sunday I went over to North Wales and Anglesey on Sunday 20th. November with David Evans for some birding. After a foggy start we arrived at Llandullas in beautiful sunshine and blue skies and went sea watching for the velvet scoters that were seen yesterday. Sadly the birds were far out in the bay and there appeared little chance of picking ou velvets amongst the thousands of Common Scoters that could be seen. We did see Red Throated Divers and Goosanders.
We then went to Anglesey in search of the Glossy Ibis seen on Malltraeth Marsh. No show but saw Whooper Swans, Greylag Geese, loads of Ravens and plenty of chipping Snipe. Then onto Llyn Penrhyn for some excellent views of the long staying Red Necked Grebe. We then went to the Alaw Estuary where we looked for the Lesser Yellowlegs. After a failed first attempt on which several birders, myself included tried to convince ourselves that a Greenshank was the said bird, we finally nailed it after a quick visit to South stack to watch the Choughs. We finished off the day at Llyn Coron and saw White Fronted Geese, Tundra Bean Geese but no Siberian Chiffchaff that was reported from there earlier in the day.
In all, an excellent day smashing our day list record with 68 species!

Potteric Carr-Tundra Bean Geese

Brief views of 2 Tundra Bean Geese at Potteric Carr

Spurn visit 13/1/11

Myself and Dave Evans had a great day's birding at Spurn on Sunday 13th. November with great weather and some cracking views of Woodlark and Great Grey Shrike. We just missed out on a Dusky Warbler that was seen at the point earlier that day. It was trapped the following day. In total we saw 60 species.

American Wigeon

Dashed over to Wintersett Reservoir to twitch the American Wigeon. It was showing quite well but a bit far for a decent photo and the light was poor. I know, excuses!

Great Grey Shrike and Stonechat

Went to Leash Fen in Derbyshire near Baslow on Tuesday lunchtime and had a brief view of a Great Grey Shrike. Stunning bird which quickly flew when a flock of greenfinch landed in the tree it was sat. Sadly it didnt show again. I will be watching the announcments on Rare bird Alerts as I would love to get a better view and some pics for the blog.
I was delighted to see a male stonechat on Wednesday morning just up the hill from home on a run.