American Buff Bellied Pipit

An unexpected bonus today. Went to Dee Estuary to look for short eared owls or harriers and stumbled across an American Buff Bellied Pipit! Also saw several a Siberian Chiffchaff,  Hen Harriers,  two Merlin, a Stonechat and two Peregrine. Managed a few record shots and video of the American vagrant. Still no Short Eared Owl all year

Ivory Gull

Went to Patrington Haven to see the mega gull which was seen yesterday. Sadly the tide was out and it was way off allowing scope views and no photography. I hope it sticks around as I would love to get some photos/video

Parrot Crossbill

Saw at least 4 Parrot Crossbill today feeding at close range at Budby Common in Nottinghamshire.

Pleased with the results I'm getting using my Samsung S3 attached to Swaro scope with Phoneskope. Some pics and videos below

       

                 

                                         

                                         

                                         

more videos on youtube

Baikal Teal

Good scope views in windy conditions of the Baikal Teal at Marshside Marsh Southport. Other sightings included  Willow Tit at Pennington Flash and Mediterranean Gull, Twite and Bar tailed Godwit at Heysham

Martin Mere and Parkgate

Myself and Dave had a great day out in the winter sunshine heading to Martin Mere and Parkgate Marsh. We were straight onto 9 Corn Buntings at Martin Mere but I could get any shots as the sun was behind them. We headed into the reserve and had great views of a roosting Tawny Owl. There were good numbers of Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Pintail, and Pinkfooted Goose. There were 3 Peregrine looking like two adults and a juvenile and we watched the large female eating a freshly caught Teal. Before leaving we went back to see if we could see any more Corn Buntings and we were rewarded with a flock of around 25, one of which flew to a nearby bush allowing some decent shots. We then headed to Parkgate on the Dee estuary and had excellent views of several female Hen Harriers plus 2 Merlin one of which chased a small bird up onto the sky and swooped at it several times but didn't catch its prey

20131130 103731 from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.

Peregrine at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.



Corn Bunting at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.



Corn Bunting at Martin Mere from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.

Another short video of Twite at Heysham

Twite at Heysham from Anthony Capuano on Vimeo.

Twite Video

Here is the Twite video in Vimeo which appears clearer and larger than Youtube

Hawfinch and more

Great day out in Cumbria and Lancashire. First stop Sizergh castle for Hawfinch

Next it was Leighton Moss where we had brief views of Bearded Tit on the path to the grit trays and excellent views of Marsh Tit on the feeders.

We then went onto Heysham where we had the best views of Twite I've had in 30 years mixed in with other finches

We also had nice views of a Mediterranean Gull

We finished off at Marshside Marsh RSPB and saw a Great White Egret and the Ross's Goose that's been around for over a week