5th January 2013

Headed over to Upper Longdon,Staffs this morning for a crack at the returning Great Grey Shrike,spent a good few hrs waiting around watching it from distance/into the sun etc so decided to give up & head for the car! Was just nearing the top carpark when the Shrike flew past,a quick check in the right hand corner of the  clearfell & sure enough the bird was sitting low down & close enough for some reasonable photos with the 2x conv on!! After about 15mins off having the bird all to myself & it getting closer the crack of broken twigs/branches & the bird was off!! looked over to see a birder with his scope probably a good 100ft closer (Just don't get it!! I was happy the bird was happy feeding, just bad fieldcraft then he had the cheek to say bet you got some great shots!!! "Yeah no thanks to you  Ya Numpty" ) Rant over pics below.........

2nd & 3rd January 2013

Most of the 2nd was spent over Stubbers Green,W.Mids looking for Caspian & Iceland Gulls to no avail only getting 1 2nd W Yellow-legged Gull amongst the Herring & Great Black Backed Gulls. Photo below

The 3rd was a lot more productive!! Out & about with Andy Jones we started off at Upper Longdon,Staffs with the Great Grey Shrike showing well (No pictures as it was more of a birding day!!) Then off to Swithland Reservoir,Leics for the Velvet Scoters (2 females still present with 1 showing quite well) Photos below

We then headed back to Warks looking for & just missing the Firecrest at Hams Hall (But some of the lads who dipped on NYD managed to connect!!) before heading for Lea Marston where the Long-tailed Duck has been joined by a 2nd bird also female Scaup still present,finished the day off at Shustoke with both the Great Northern Divers showing well (Scope views) Not a bad day at all!!!

1st January 2013

A nice leisurely start to the New Year picking up the Great Northern Divers at Shustoke & Long-tailed Duck &  female Scaup at Lea Marston before moving on to the outflow off Edison Rd,Hams Hall which is always good for wintering Chiffchaff!! 1st bird I lifted the bins to was a cracking Firecrest (a great start to the year) But with the camera left in the car I was cursing as it was so close in brilliant light!! A quick phone call to Tom Perrins who put the word out,with many New Years day listers arriving throughout the day even though it was particularly elusive most went home happy!! Only managed 1 photo after running back for the camera!!

30th December 2012

After seeing Glyn Sellors photos on Surfbirds of the Velvet Scoter/s at Swithland Reservoir,Leics I just had to give it a go,having only ever had 1 inland bird Years ago at Draycote which wasn't photographable the chance to see 1 up close rather than distantly at sea was not to be sniffed at!! Arrived on site about midday where the 1 bird was showing reasonably well on & off but hard work with the sun being at a funny angle (Certainly not worth getting there early as it would be directly into the sun!) a few shots below..........

16th December 2012

Hadn't planned do do anything all weekend just a bit of local birding & all was going to plan Saturday  out & about with Long-tailed Duck being about the best bird but no pics,then a txt Sat night from Archie Archer asking if I'd be interested in joining Jules Allen,Steve 'Snapper' Richards & himself for a leisurely drive down to Berkshire for a rather confiding American Buff-bellied Pipit on the banks of the Queen Mother Reservoir on the Sunday morning was a no brainer,after meeting up at the Pretty Pigs carpark we made our way down where we were treated to fantastic views often down to a few feet & to close to photograph!! A few pics below............

4th December 2012

With the weather not looking to promising again decided to stay localish with a quick trip to Lichfield,Staffs for the Waxwings but gave up after a few hrs with only 1 bird present with another 6 briefly! On the way home I took a slight detour to Shustoke Reservoir,Warks for the Great Northern Divers where both birds were still present & managed to finally get a shot of one of the birds!!

3rd December 2012

Finally cracked & went after some Waxwings today after 2 days of trying for more shots of the Divers at Shustoke & Chasewater & not getting a single shot!! arrived in Lichfield at about 1pm & had an hour or so with about 30 birds present on & off!! Shots below also a record shot of the Long-tailed Duck from Sunday at Dosthill main lake,Warks

25th November 2012

Had a trip over to Chasewater,Staffs this morning for the juv Great Northern Diver on the swag was then planning on going for the Waxwings nearby in Lichfield but got carried away with the Diver & with having a single Waxwing fly over just after midday decided to stay with the Diver!!

21st November 2012

The Waxwing invasion has finally hit Nuneaton with 3 birds in trees opposite the shop on Kingswood Rd opp the Pennine way jnc! not a bad find on the 30 sec walk from the house to get the paper!! No pics as the weather is bloody awful! The birds are coming to the same 2 Rowans as the birds in the 2010/11 winter invasion! that time they slowly built up from a single bird to nearly 200 over a few days!! Here's hoping!!

31st October 2012

A txt from Tom Perrins on Tues morning letting me know of a Slavonian Grebe at Shustoke Reservoir had me cussing as the car had just gone in for a service,so had to wait till the Wed morning before i could get over!! The bird was duly reported Wed morning on BG's & off i set,arrived on site & eventually found the bird at the far end by the outflow showing down to less than 20ft at times!! The bird showed very well for about an hr until the dog walkers etc started arriving when it became much more unsettled & rather distant much to the disappointment  of several photographers (my only gripe I could have done with better light!!)

 

Shetland Isles Sep 30th -Oct 7th 2012

A week on Shetland with Tom Perrins & Julian Allen started with the 1st of 2 flights from Birmingham-Aberdeen then Aberdeen-Sumburgh (Well worth flying with flight time less than 2 1/2 hrs rather than the long slog driving up) We landed at Sumburgh late afternoon & went from the airport straight for the Little Bunting & a flyover Hawfinch before driving to Hoswick where i was soon watching my 1st Siberian Stonechat (Not a bad start to the trip!! Wont bore you with all the trip details but ended up with 3 Lifers in the week as well as some good year ticks! (American Golden Plover,Sibe Stonechat & Pechora Pipit {which was a lifer for all 3 off us} ) Photos below of some of the birds seen............

Little Bunting

Spotted Sandpiper

Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll

Isabelline Shrike

Buff-bellied Pipit

Twite

Black Guillemot

Siberian Stonechat

American Golden Plover

A great week but hard work with a trip list of just under 100 will update with a full trip report link when Tom has had the time to do the write up!!