24th May 2015

Headed down to Anglesey to Cemlyn Bay & South Stack to get Donna good views of Arctic & Sandwich Terns + a few lifers in the form of Chough (my best ever views) Manx Shearwater, Puffin, Black Guillemot also meeting up with good friend Andy Jones who's retired back to Wales after 27+ Years in Nuneaton......

17th May 2015

After the excitement of last weekend when Donna & myself were in the right place at the right time when the Citril Finch news broke (5mins away watching Dotterel) it was back to a more relaxed day with a few hrs spent at Farmoor Reservoir & Otmoor RSPB,Oxon. We had initially been down on the Fri for the (SP) Black-throated Diver but the bird remained asleep in the middle so a 2nd go was much appreciated with the bird giving stunning views (my 1st SP bird & a lifer for Donna 209*) also had 6 Turnstone,Dunlin & Sanderling then a brief stop off for the Turtle Doves at Otmoor which gave superb views...........

                                                                                                                                                                   

       

2nd May-4th May 2015

A busy weekend for Donna & myself,we started off at Middleton lakes early Sat only for the msg to go off that the Hudsonian Godwit was again present at Meare Heath, Somerset so off we went arriving after about 2+ Hrs of very light traffic thankfully!! No sooner had we pulled up we had Bittern fly over the carpark the 1st of 2 which gave fantastic views,we soon joined the gathered crowd & had good views of the Godwit but no photos at it spent the entire time at the back of the pool,we also had 20+ Hobby & plenty of Swift & 5 Great White Egret so a cracking day leaving Donna 1 short of the 200 species mark........... Sunday was spent at Draycote picking up 3+ Arctic Tern & 2 Black Tern & 20+ Common Tern along with plenty of Hirrundines & 10+ Yellow Wagtail (Donna's 200 species up :-) Black Tern) We then had the message that a stunning Red-throated Pipit had been found on the Manchester/Derbyshire border but the weather wasn't the best so we took the chance on it still being present on the Monday morning............

How lucky was that Donna,Archie & myself went up arriving on site about 08:20 to be greeted with the bird flying in and giving fantastic views,also had at least 10 Wheatear & 1 Grasshopper Warbler..