27th November 2011

With the forecast for bright weather the lure of the Desert Wheatear again was the only option having Txt Pete Walkden & Steve Seal the night before about going,Pete was up for it Steve has been stuck at work for the last cpl of wks so hopefully the bird will stay long enough for him to connect? anyway met up with Pete at 11am in the carpark with the wind still blowing a gale but at least the sun was shining, an even bigger crowd today with many of Y'days togs having the same idea!!! The bird showed well at times & would come to you if you sat still long enough unfortunately some decided to stand up & walk towards it when it was coming to us WHY? just can't fathom some people out! still an enjoyable few hrs & a cpl of bonus birds with Peregrine over & a Short-eared Owl being mobbed over the Clee!!!

26th November 2011

With news of a  prob Pied Wheatear in Shropshire breaking on Fri night i put myself on standby for Sat morning by 10am the news was that it was a female Desert Wheatear,even better having only ever seen 1 in Britain,so car packed & within 1 1/2hrs was on site in what can only be described as difficult conditions with poor light & a very strong winds,with quite a crowd there the bird at times performed really well (But where's the light when you need it?) A lot of familiar faces on site from Warks & neighbouring counties with myself & Chris Cook taking the chance the bird would come onto the summit we were soon rewarded with fantastic views before the rest of the crowd caught us up!!

19th November 2011

Early start this morning for the long trip north to Northumberland for the Greater Yellowlegs at Hauxley NR & the Eastern Black Redstart on Holy Island! With Andy Jones arriving at mine for 4:30am a quick packing of the car & we were on our way! on arrival at Hauxley we had cracking views of the Yellowlegs but due to the amount of birders in the hide no pics of note were taken but a great start & a lifer for myself & Andy,with satisfied views we decided to head upto Holy Island for the Redstart stopping a short distance up the road with  Leicester birders John Hague & Dave Gray for the European White Fronted Geese with Dave picking out flyover Snow Bunting & about 20 Twite heading south,nxt stop Holy Island where we had cracking views of the Eastern Black Redstart & several Pale Bellied Brent Geese padded out the list for the day!! A great day out superb weather,good birds & a lifer in the bag!!!

 

6th November 2011

The plan was to travel upto Spurn for the Isabelline Wheatear today with a stop at Attenborough NR for the Squacco Heron again where i was hoping to get some better pics whilst waiting for news! so picked Andy Jones up at 7:30 & we made our way upto Notts,the weather was cold but bright ideal for photography!! on arrival i was amazed how many birders were on site (Again!!) I stood on the bridge & made a quick txt to Darren Chapman who was with John Dickenson down the bank to see if there was room for another a quick  hand gesture & i'd joined them which seemed to open a tidal wave of about 10-15 others following suit! the bird then put on a cracking show & with negative news on the Wheatear at Spurn spent the nxt 3hrs getting fantastic views & some rather pleasing shots............

2nd November 2011

Up & about early after my Niteshift (about 2hrs sleep!!) Picked John Liggins up & headed upto Cannock Chase,Staffs for the Great Grey Shrike,the weather not as good as the other day with the wind a lot stronger but the bird showed well but for a lot shorter periods also at least 10 Crossbill over,decided then to head up to Attenborough NR,Notts for another look at the Squacco Heron which was again very popular with it seems more birders etc than the average rare bird twitch!! no photos of the Heron as i only took my bins down!! cpl of pics below with the Squacco photo from Mondays visit........ It seems that Blogger are blocking any links on the posts wether its on a label or direct on the post so Link on the right hand side of the homepage to my NEW WEBSITE...............