Garden Brambling and first Spring Migrants

 Garden Brambling last few days, couple of early Ring Ouzels and Wheatears on my local hills. Local Dippers active and displaying Common Buzzards also present locally

Pallid Harrier

Spent Saturday at Welwick Saltmarsh and saw an incredible 9 species of raptor. The juvenile Pallid Harrier was seen a few times initial view was alongside a Hen Harrier and Peregrine. Also see were Kestrel, Merlin, Marsh Harrier, Short eared Owl, Sparrowhawk and Common Buzzard

Black Scoter

Distant scope views of a Black Scoter at Cheswick Sands Northumbria yesterday. On route we had good close but sadly brief views of a male Goshawk at Kielder Forest plus several Common Crossbill. we also saw several Common Buzzard both dark and pale morph one which has a pale rump base and got us excited briefly as we thought we were onto a Rough legged but sadly not!

Raptors on the Wirral

A nice selection or raptors on Burton Marsh yesterday. Several female Hen Harriers, a Buzzard, at least two Peregrine, two Merlin and at least two Short eared owls. Sadly all birds were too distant for DSLR but managed some video of SEO and Merlin

Night Heron

Myself and Dave Evans went down to Thornton Leicestershire for good scope views of the Night Heron. Bit too far for anything more than record shots. On way back we stopped at the Wellbeck Raptor point and saw no Honey Buzzards but several Common Buzzards and a nice group of 8 juvenile Crossbill. Our final stop was Old Moor RSPB where we had good views of several Green Sandpiper and a Kingfisher

Honey Buzzard......Finally!

After at least 4 trips to Wykeham Forest and no definite sightings of Honeys just Common Buzzard and Goshawk on every visit, I turned to Wellbeck Raptor Point in Nottinghamshire. I went last weekend and saw Goshawk, Osprey, Common Buzzard and Sparrowhawk. I also had one brief gliding raptor that looked like a honey but was gone below the treeline in a flash. A free morning yesterday and with the weather looking decent I went again. I had two good views of a dark probable female Honey Buzzard at 10.30 and 12.15. The second time it was seen it soared up and then suddenly dropped height like a whiffling goose. Spectacular! It was a great reward for the hours of failure until yesterday. Also seen were a Goshawk and several Common Buzzards

Rose coloured Starling

A weekend of highs and lows. Me and Dave got up early yesterday and went to Wykeham Forest hoping for Honey Buzzards. The weather was aweful so no show from the Honeys. We did get great views of Goshawk, Hobby, Common Buzzard, Crossbill and Turtle Dove.
Today as it was father's day I managed to briefly escape and twitch the amazing Rose coloured Starling at  Rhos on sea. I also got to test out my new Nikon 80-400VR lens. I am very pleased with the results and glad I got rid of my Sigma 150-500 which I just couldn't get on with, too heavy and consistently soft results.

Kielder Goshawk

Had a fantastic bright and sunny Saturday 17th. March at Kielder Forest. The target were Goshawk  and we were not to be disappointed. We arrived before 9 and saw none for the first couple of hours. We did see enormous numbers of Crossbill though and it was great watching them feed and get good experience in listening to their calls. We saw several soaring Common Buzzards before a brief drive in the car to get some refreshments. As we drove out onto the main road we watches a male Goshawk fly over the road and circle back several times before disappearing ofcourse before I got to the camera! We then returned to the Bakethin area and watched at least 2 Goshawk sky dancing, climbing high then diving with folded wings and shooting back up still with closed wings like a roller coaster. It was quite spectacular.
On the way home we stopped off at a service station just before Carlisle ob the M6 and was at least 200 Pied Wagtails on the car park area and in the trees getting ready to roost. We picked out one White wagtail amongst them. Kielder is a fabulous remote area and I look forward to returning again.

Raptor feast on the Wirral

Myself and Dave went over to the Wirral on Sunday 8th.January for a day's birding. We were treated to a great display of Hen Harriers (ringtails), Short Eared Owls, 2 Merlins, a Buzzard,  a Peregrine Falcon and a Kestrel. Other highlights included a lovely male Stonechat, 2 Tundra Bean Geese, good views of the long staying Great White Egret, Snipe, Whooper swans and Stock Doves

Spurn Head and North Lincolnshire

Had a great day firstly at Spurn. It was relatively quiet due to southerly winds but redeemed itself with a fabulous female Black Redstart.

We also had good views of grey plover, redshank, bar tailed godwit, sanderling, curlew and knot. Other highlights were a great skua and lots of dark bellied brent geese.

We then went onto Far Ings just over the Humber Bridge to see the Ferruginous Duck and were told at the visitor's centre that it hadnt shown today. However, the Gods were with us and we had good views in a pool next to the visitors centre before it skulked off into the reeds!

We then went off to Worlaby Carrs where a rough legged buzzard has been seen the last few days as well as hen harriers and up to 8 short eared owls. We stared at the skies for 2 hours but it was a no show regarding the rough legged buzzard. We did see plenty of common buzzard, hunderds of fieldfare and large numbers of geese flying over, probably pink footed geese. As the light faded we at last enjoyed a great show of at least 4 short eared owls hunting.