Avez-Vous un Cuppa?

As most of friends will know I have been in Scotland (Glasgow) since the 23rd to enjoy the delights of a Scottish Christmas and New Year with my brother's family. Bird highlights over the last few days included: 23rd December 2008:Caerlaverock WWT. 5,000+ Barnacle Geese,200+ Whooper Swans,3 Scaup (1st winter bird and 2 females),Peregrine, 100+ Twite (on the saltmarsh) and also good numbers of Wigeon, Teal and Shoveler. 25th December 2008: Queens Park, Shawlands, Glasgow. 2 Goosanders (Male and Female) on the small boating lake. 27th December 2008:Hogganfield Loch, Glasgow. Drake Lesser Scaup, 10+ Whooper Swans, female Scaup, Adult Yellow-Legged Gull, 4 Shoveler and good numbers of Goosanders, Goldeneyes, Pochard and Teal. 28th December 2008: Clyde area and Lochwinnoch RSPB. Lochwinnoch RSPB 16 Whooper Swans and good numbers of Goosanders and Goldeneyes. Port Glasgow area (Newark Castle and West Ferry shoreline). 500+ Eider, 10+ Red breasted Mergansers,3 Slavonian Grebes and ...

Here a few photos of the Waxwings at Barrow-upon-Soar which I saw just before Christmas. As I had previously said on the Soar Valley Birding Blog, it's amazing how Waxwings seem to find another flock of Waxwings in the space of a couple of days (If you get my drift?!).

A walk around Watermead CP Birstall/North section produced good numbers of wintering Goosanders (35 at least with the majority seen on the King Lear's Lake). Also noted by the tarmac track towards Plover hide was a calling Cetti's Warbler . Although it didn't show it self it was probably male bird as at one stage it did it's explosive trilling call! The only other noteworthy sighting in the area was a single Shelduck on the scrape at Wanlip Meadows.

After finishing on the early shift at the General, I drove over to Eyebrook Reservoir, to look for the 2nd winter Glaucous Gull which had been re found in fields next to the reservoir. Parking up next to the hedge by the island, as I got out of my car I heard Mick Ketley's voice shout out that the Glaucous Gull was flying over the road, which upon I looked up and saw the big brute of a Glaucous Gull flying over the road into the fields behind the reservoir. Result!!! Joining Mick and the Brett's by the island we waited for a few minutes hopefully for the Glaucous Gull to return, but strangely after half an hour the bird had not returned. With this we started to scan the in coming gull roost hopefully to see the Glaucous Gull again and the long staying Iceland Gull which had been returning to the reservoir for the last three weeks. Over the next hour good numbers of large gulls joined the roost, with others sightings included a single drake Smew and smart looking male Pintail...

After walking round Cossington Meadows I drove over to Eyebrook Reservoir to see if the long-staying Iceland Gull would come into the gull roost. The majority of the large gulls took their time to come into the roost with the 1st Winter Iceland Gull arriving at 16.20pm. Slightly disappointing for the other gull watchers was the no show of the previous day's 2nd Winter Glaucous Gull in the roost. Other sightings on the reservoir included 2 nice looking drake Smews which had arrived on the previous Thursday(via information from Mick Ketley!). Hopefully before the end of the year Eyebrook Reservoir will have more white-winged gull sightings?

A walk around the reserve produced an excellent count of six Stonechats (Five males and a single female). Three birds were seen on the Swan Meadow, two on the Lower Marsh section and a single male in fields next to Rectory Marsh. The female bird was ringed.The only other notable sighting around the reserve was a single Little Egret on the Upper Marsh.

Well done to the Wales rugby team for beating Australia yesterday 21-18, a much deserved win against one of the Big Three from the Southern Hemisphere (South Africa, the cheating All Blacks and the moaning Aussies!) for the first time in three years. Tries from Shane Williams and Lee Bryne helped Wales produce an excellent first half perform ace. In the second half the Aussies up there game, but through penalties and a drop-goal scored by Stephen Jones handed Wales a much needed breathing space in the match and ran out winners of a thrilling match. With the British Lions touring South Africa in the Summer 2009, I would expect after this performace a few players in the Welsh team have booked there tickets for this forthcoming tour?

lovely cuddly Snow Bunting Mr Hague and a Snow Bunting Waxwings Waxwings again One of John's photos of the Two-barred Crossbill. Another early start as I picked up John at around 5.30 am and we drove north to North Yorkshire and Cleveland to see if we could photo the long staying Two-barred Crossbill and good numbers of Waxwings . Arriving at Bilsdale, just south of Stokesley we parked the car next to the main road, and then walked up the farm track. As we walked up the track towards Grafitts Farm it started to snow as had been predicted the previous day. Although the snow shower was short lived, it was still bitterly cold and temperature would stay the same all day just above freezing. Standing by the farm buildings we had to wait about half an hour before the Crossbill showed itself to the small crowd. John took a few distant shots of the Crossbill as it fed in the nearby larch trees. Whilst photographing the Crossbill, John received a phone call from Steve Lister to let us kno...

Hi all, here is the latest wildfowl count for Watermead CP North and Birstall.Great Crested Grebe: 21, Cormorant: 37 (this count included the returning Scottish ringed bird FCX), Grey Heron: 8, Mute Swan: 36, Canada Goose: 25, Wigeon: 246, Gadwall: 89, Teal: 49, Mallard: 100, Shoveler: 34, Pochard: 1, Tufted Duck: 86, Little Grebe: 6, Goosander: 2, Goldeneye: 2, Moorhen: 18, Coot: 86, Kingfisher: 3, Water Rail: 4, Lapwing: 60, Snipe: 2, and Hybrid Goose: 1. Other sightings seen in the area included 2 Chiffchaffs, 1 Cetti's Warbler and 1 Buzzard. (The Rangers at Watermead also reported a flock of 15+ probable Bewick Swans over King's Lear Lake early afternoon, but I couldn't find them in the area later in the day). I also checked out Cossington Meadows later in the afternoon, hopefully to find some Short-eared Owls, but for some numpties (or dog walkers for short!) no Owls appeared in gloom.The only other sighting I saw down at Cossington Meadows was a male Stonechat by the ...

A quick text message in the morning from John Hague let me know that the Ferruginous Duck had been re found by Allen Pocock at Groby Pool. So after finishing the early shift I drove over to the pool. Meeting up with Brian Moore and Allen we so found the drake Ferruginous Duck on the north side of the pool. Although it was quite distant I could not seen any hybridization in the duck's plumage so it was probably the bird which was previously recorded at Sence Valley Forest Park and Thornton Reservoir. The only problem was that were the hell had it been the previous couple of weeks? So after watching the duck for a good half an hour I had to leave the pool as I had a prior appointment in the evening with a few nurses at Chinese restaurant in the city, but that another story!?!

Numpties chasing the shrike! As news broke of the "Steppe" Great Shrike on Friday evening I couldn't do anything about until today (Tuesday) due to Wales V South Africa game at the weekend. Leaving Leicester just before 9.00am I was at the Shrike site within an hour and forty minutes. As John Hague and Brian Moore had seen the bird the day before I soon realised what there had said about how approachable it was. Viewing the Shrike in the bushes by the footpath, the Shrike suddenly flew past me down to less than a couple of feet away. As you can imagine I took a few record shots of the bird. It was quite interesting to note that the Shrike looked pinky on the breast and reminded me a little bit of an Isabelline Shrike with this colouration. Due to work commitments in the afternoon I could only watch the Shrike for just under an hour so it did feel a bit like a tick and run bird!, but thankfully another world tick under the belt!?

In the lap of the gods! Over the weekend myself and my brother Tim went down to Cardiff to watch Wales play South Africa. With a capacity crowd again in the millennium stadium, the first half belonged to the Springboks as there led 13-3 at half time through an early try scored by Adrian Jacobs and Ruan Pienaar adding a conversion and penalty. The Springboks extended their lead early in the second half when Jean de Villiers intercepted a James Hook pass to breakaway and score. After this score the game totally changed and Wales went on the offensive and over the next 30 minutes it was mostly one way traffic as Wales pounded the Springboks try line. Andy Powell was outstanding on his international debut with a couple of stirring runs, but try as their might Wales could not break the Boks defensive line and were only rewarding with four penalties scored by James Hook. In the last few minutes of the match Wales made a couple of mistakes as their pounded the line for the winning t...

As I was working later in the day, I decided to check out Dean's Lane, Beacon Hill to do a bit of Vis Migging in the morning. Although I got there a bit late at around 10.00 am, I noted straight the way that a large movement of thrushes was occurring as I had seen over 200 Redwings and Fieldfares within twenty minutes. Then at around 11.00am I spotted a group of fourteen geese flying over the ridge just below the lane from a north-west direction. As there came closer I realised that there were Pink-footed Geese and were probably migrating south in the direction of the east coast. Over the next half an hour I counted more winter thrushes and small groups of finches like Siskins , Chaffinches and probably Lesser Redpolls. Please of what I had seen over the last hour and half, I then moved onto Swithland Reservoir. Scanning the reservoir and seeing the usual suspects I noticed something slightly different in a small group of Tufted Ducks. I realised straight the way that I was loo...

Over this weekend via Kidwelly in west Wales to look for a reported Little Blue Heron and then locally for another Ferruginous Duck in the county at Thornton Reservoir I have dipped (did not see!) twice. So briefly following news on Friday afternoon of a Little Blue Heron (a first for Britain) was reported at Kidwelly,near Llanelli in west Wales, myself, John, Ben and Carl Baggott drove down to Gwendraeth Estuary early on Saturday morning. Meeting up with the Warwickshire crew of Neil Howes (desert storm), Tony Shephard, Bob Duckhouse and Colin we searched the surrounding estuary for the next eight hours. Over the day we saw numerous Little Egrets in the nearby salt marsh, but no sign of the "reported" Little Blue Heron. However we did see a nice 1st winter/male Hen Harrier quartering the marsh, a couple of Peregrines and a Cetti's Warbler was also heard calling in the reed bed behind us. Although we didn't see the bird it was a good day just for the craic with ...

Over the weekend I counted loads of birds. Firstly myself and John did some visual migration at Burrough Hill Country Park on Saturday morning. Starting at 7.30am we watched this site until just before 10.00am. On the whole we had good numbers of thrushes pass over us, but the jewel in the crown sighting (or more heard only) was a Lapland Bunting heard calling with a small group of Skylarks as it flew over the hill in a north-west direction. John kept note of the birds which we saw and heard and the totals were: Redwing: 300, Fieldfare: 195, Chaffinch: 78, Starling: 70, Skylark: 13, Meadow Pipit: 4, Linnet: 4, Siskin: 3, Greenfinch: 2, Song Thrush: 1, "Alba" Wagtail: 1, and the best for last 1 Lapland Bunting! (This was a county tick for me but I won't be adding it to my county list due to only hearing it call). After dropping off John at home and sorting a few things out at home, I was out again to count ducks down the Soar Valley for the monthly Wildfowl count. The ...

Here is a few shots I took last week on Shetland, the non-photo shy Long eared Owl was at Quendale Mill, the ponies were at Grutness and the two landscapes are views of the Pool of Virkie in the South mainland.

As I got home early from Shetland, I had the chance to watch Leicester Tigers play the Ospreys on the Sunday. Sitting tightly in the home crowd, I watched another rubbish game of rugby between these two teams. Although I've lived in Leicester for most of my life, my family connections are rooted in Welsh history and culture, so I was supporting the Ospreys on this occasion. As usual the game was not a great free flowing game of attacking rugby, but more like the two teams defences cancelling each other out. Toby Flood scored all the points for the Tigers in the form of four penalties, but Jamie Hook had an off day with the boot as he missed three kicks in attacking positions. The game was very tight right until the very end, and if Tommy Bowe had not been hauled down by his Irish International colleague Geordan Murphy very close to the try line, the Ospreys may have gone home with an unexpected victory. With this final chance of a try the Tigers ran the clock out to...

I returned home yesterday afternoon from my trip to Shetland. On the whole it was very quiet from my previous trip last year, with only a couple BB rarities seen during the week. I think the problem with the trip was that the weather conditions were not great for Shetland to produce a fall of migrants. The highlight of the trip was John, Andy Lawson and myself finding a Siberian Stonechat in fields just below the top quarry at Sumburgh Head. Hugh Harrop joined us later and with help from his camera we identified the bird as a probable 1st winter male. Other highlights of the trip included finding a Barred Warbler in the garden of the house(Nordgerdi) we were staying at; finding at least six Yellow-browed Warblers in a variety of locations in the South Mainland and seeing Little Bunting and Red breasted Flycatcher at Sumburgh head, an elusive Great Grey Shrike at the Sumburgh hotel gardens, a fly-by Red throated Pipit at the valley of plenty(Clevigarth I think?) and a non camera ...

Well , me and John, finally arrived in Shetland this morning. The Weather was pants and crossing from Aberdeen to Lerwick wasn't great. With the only highlight of trip John saying hello to the toilet just after finishing our evening dinner! Although the weather currently isn't great at the moment I expected the drunkbirders to find a few rarities in the next few days? Maybe....

Yesterday I got my new copy of BB(British Birds) and was pleased to see that my record of the Lesser Scaup I found at Eyebrook Reservoir last year had been accepted. I might not be a very competent birder but at least I can now die happy that I finally found a BB rarity! Hopefully next week when I'm on Shetland I might have the chance of finding hopefully one more BB rarity? Lesser Scaup photos originally supplied from Matt Berriman.

As the rare bird sightings on the east coast had died down a bit, I decided instead to go and watch Leicester City play Hartlepool United at the Walkers stadium on the Saturday. I must thank Rich my mate from my school days, who had a spare ticket for this match. Although most of the match was pretty uneventful, except for Leicester scoring in the third minutes courtesy of Matt Oakley. I was quite impressed with the young Welsh player Andy King in midfield (maybe a star in the making?), and of course the two Liverpool reserves David Martin in goal, and Jack Hobbs in defence. However the man of the match was Lloyd Dyer on the left wing who was a constant threat when ever Leicester went forward. After the match myself and Rich (Rich's wife Nicole had given him permission to stay out late!?!) checked out the Crit for a couple of beers and then we went on to Nila palace for an excellent curry.

Due to me going to the Football the previous day, I didn't get to see the Ferruginous Duck at Sence Valley FP until the Sunday morning. I arrived at around 9.30am and slowly walked up the Stonebridge Pool with Paul (one of Groby crew) where the bird had been previously reported. When we got to the hide a couple of birders were looking at the bird which had just appeared in front of the hide. As you would expect I phoned the news out about the bird and also took a few record shots of the duck. Joined by Allen Pocock a few minutes later we watched the duck as it behaved like a proper diving duck( happy now John!) instead of the usual view you normally get of head tucked under its wings and fast asleep! Please with the views I had, I then moved on to Swithland Reservoir to see the long staying Juvenile Red Necked Grebe feeding as usual next to the dam before nipping home for a few minutes and then straight on to work.

Little Stint by a puddle! Myself and Ben Croxtall, decided to check out the Yorkshire coast as the weather forecast the previous few days had looked good for a fall on the east coast. Starting at Spurn we took a slow walk up Beacon Lane to look for migrants. Half way down the lane, we met another Birder who put us on a migrating Osprey , which was slowly drifting down the point. Reaching the end of the lane, we scanned the fields and saw a couple of Whimbrels feeding in the long grass. Moving on to Beacon Ponds, it was pretty quiet on the wader scrapes except for a couple of Black tailed Godwits and four 1st winter Med Gulls roosting on the shoreline. Whilst sitting in the hide we spoke to another birder who let us know that a Great Snipe had been found at Flamborough Head. This was confirmed via my pager a couple of minutes later, and the next organised search for the bird would be around 11.00am. As it was quiet at Spurn we made the decision to go up Flamborough to hopefully see ...

Here is a list of sightings I have seen over the last week. 5th September 2008 : 1 Swift at Watermead CP South 6 Black Terns (3 Adults and 3 Juveniles), and 2 Hobbies at Cropston Reservoir. 6th September 2008: 6 Black Terns and 1 Little Egret at Cropston Rservoir. 2 Black Terns and a single Hobby at Swithland Reservoir. 7th September 2008 : 4 Little Egrets at Cropston Reservoir. 5 Hobbies at Swithland Reservoir. 1 Black Tern,1 Eclipse Drake Garganey, 2 Little Egrets, 6 Knots, 15 Dunlins,1 Green Sandpiper, 1 Common Sandpiper, 2 Greenshank and 2 Ringed Plovers at Eyebrook Reservoir. 9th September 2008 : 1 Female/1st winter Pied Flycatcher , 1 Redstart , 2 Spotted Flycatchers , 3 Chiffchaffs and 2 Blackcaps at Croft Hill. So basically over the week I saw a year tick in the form of the Pied Flycatcher at Croft, good numbers of Black Terns away from Rutland Water and an assortment of waders at Eyebrook.

As I finally come to my last six months of nurse training, I have been snowed under with loads of work at the moment both on my placement and the theory work in the form of two assignments to be completed in the next week or so. So the wildlife sightings will be on the back burner for the next few weeks until I go to Shetland in early October when hopefully myself and the Drunkbirders will again found some top notch BB rarities?!

Over the last few days, It looks like Autumn migration has finally kicked in with good numbers of Waders and Passerines reported from different sites in the county. Here is a list of bird sightings I have seen in the last few days. 29th August 2008: Cropston Reservoir : 4 Greenshanks, and 1 Oystercatcher. Cossington Meadows LRWT: 1 Spotted Flycatcher by the main track , 1 Whinchat( male? ) on the "Moor" , 3 Crossbills flew over Hobley Pool in a north west direction at 16.45, 1+ Redstart (possibly two birds?) in the hedge between Tern Pool and Moor Pool and 1 Common Sandpiper on Plover Meadow. 30th August 2008: Cossington Meadows LRWT: 2 Whinchats in the large field(Swan Meadow) opposite the Moor and main track, 1 Wheatear on fence posts between Plover meadow and Lower Moor. Cropston Reservoir: 1 Little Egret and 1 Greenshank viewed from the dam end. 31st August 2008: Swithland Reservoir: 2 Hobbies noted over the reservoir. Cossington Meadows LRWT: 1 Whinchat still ...

Juvenile Red-Necked Phalarope at Swithland Res A quick phonecall from Allen Pocock this evening, had me driving over to Swithland Reservoir, as he told me that he was watching a Phalarope Sp. at the end of Kinchley Lane. When I arrived at Kinchley Lane, Allen and Ben Croxtall were trying to get a better view of the bird, but were having problems seeing the bird due to surrounding vegetation. I quickly walked up the Lane and scoped the bird from the stone wall viewpoint and concluded it was probably a Red-necked Phalarope , but needed better views. Rejoining Allen and Ben we all climbed over the metal railings to see the bird through a gap in the vegetation. With better views of the bird we all came to same conclusion that the bird was a juvenile Red necked Phalarope. At the same time I also took a few record shots of the bird. Driving back to the viewpoint I met up with most of my birding mates (John, Dave Mack, Jez Robson and Brian the wearside whippet!) and got approved views of the ...

A Shag at EBR! Juv BN Grebe at SWR. Autumn Lady's Tresses no.1 Autumn Lady's Tresses no.2 I spy a grey Knot! Another view of the Shag at EBR. My original plan for the day was to check out the last orchid of the season at a site near Wisbech but following a text message from John Hague that Steve Lister had found a Black-necked Grebe at Swithland Reservoir I quickly drove over to Swithland Res. Joining Steve at the Kinchley lane viewpoint, it was only a matter moments before I had year ticked the Juvenile Black-necked Grebe. The Grebe showed reasonable well, and I took a few distant record digishots of the bird. Reverting back to my original plan I thanked Steve for finding the Grebe and then drove to Wisbech (well near it) to check out my regular site for Autumn Lady's Tresses (Spiranthes spiralis). Parking next to the pumping house, I climbed over the fence and started looked at the nearby short turf and after a few minutes of searching I found good numbers (at least 80+)...

I spy the Spinnaker tower Short-tailed Blue Cetaceans sightings Transporter bridge at Santurzi Over the last few days I have been on my annual Bay of Biscay trip with the Company of Whales to look for Seabirds,Cetaceans (Whales and Dolphins) and hopefully the odd Shark. The weather wasn't the best I've ever had crossing the bay, in fact it was probably the worst I've experienced on the southern crossing for over ten years! Due to the bad weather on the southern crossing, we saw an excellent number of seabirds. Over the three days the group recorded six species of shearwater: 1 Little Shearwater , 6 Great Shearwaters , 114 Cory's Shearwaters , 10 Sooty Shearwaters , 2 Balearic Shearwaters and 6 Manx Shearwaters . Also other pelagic birds recorded included 9 Sabine's Gulls , 3 Grey Phalaropes , 14 Storm Petrels , 4 Arctic Skuas , 3 Great Skuas , 10 Sandwich Terns , 15 Arctic Terns , 1 Common Tern and 1 'commic' tern . Due to the rough weather spotting Cetace...

I just spent a couple of days with my University friends, Sarah, Cherie and Ivor in Cork, Ireland. Based near the University College, I was pleasantly surprised how nice Cork was from the hospitality of the locals to the very much understated city centre. Over the two days we spent quite a bit of time in the local Pubs and Bars but we did go a city bus tour which was an excellent choice to see the city sights. Hopefully in the future I will visit this city again and the surrounding countryside as it would make a great base for a longer holiday.

It was great to see Nicole Cooke win the Gold Medal in the Women's Cycle Road Race this morning. Wales's greatest female cyclist timed her sprint to perfection at the end of the race and sprinted passed her four rivals in appalling weather conditions to win by a couple of bike lengths. Nicole is the first Welsh person to win a Gold medal for 36 years. Let hope this is the start of a few more Olympic medals over the coming week?

Here is a list of bird sightings I saw today: Eyebrook Reservoir: Eclipse Drake Garganey, 3 Green Sandpipers, 3 Dunlin, 2 Common Sandpipers, 1 LRP and 6 Yellow Wagtails. Rutland Water: Manton Bridge Adult Spoonbill, 8 Ruff, 7 Dunlin, 3 Black tailed Godwits, 2 Green Sandpipers, 4 Curlew, 5 Common Sandpipers,1 Greenshank and 1 LRP. Rutland Water: North Arm Juvenile/first winter Sandwich Tern, 1 Turnstone, 2 Little Egrets, 5+ Yellow legged Gulls, 1 adult Caspian Gull and 1 Hobby. So basically I saw lots of waders and a couple of good county year ticks!

Another Orchid tick Narrow-Lipped Helleborine A good example of Broad-Leaved Helleborine Another angle of the NL Helles Another shot of the BL Helles Following top secret instructions of the location of this site, I arrived at the site mid morning to look for the Holy Grail of British Orchids in the form of the mythical Ghost Orchid(Epipogium aphyllum). Although it is now over ten years since the last time Ghost Orchid was recorded flowering this country. The recent poor weather conditions over the last couple of Summers has increased the possibly of the orchid flowering. Checking around the surrounding Beechwoods, I saw plenty of mushrooms and toadstools, which was a good sign of possibly flowering, as the Ghost Orchid is saprophytic and grows only in deep leaf-litter where the ground is virtually bare of vegetation. Whilst look for the Ghost Orchids I came across a group of 20+ Narrow-Lipped Helleborines(Epipactis leptochila) . The majority of the plants had gone over, but I did fi...

Berry Head, Brixham. Cirl Bunting. Having arranged this trip earlier in week,Leaving Leicester at 2.40am myself and Dave Mack drove down to Brixham, Devon to do a bit of Seawatching off Berry Head. This was the first time I have been to this site as I usually seawatch in autumn from Flamborough Head in Yorkshire and my regular annual trip to the Bay of Biscay. Arriving at Berry Head just before 6.15am, the first bird sighting of the day we had was of two Cirl Buntings singing in the car park! This was a lifer for Dave Mack, so to say Dave was pleased was a bit of an understatement!?! As we didn't really know to view from we decided to watch from the end of the head next to the small lighthouse. Over the next half an hour we scanned the sea and saw the usual seabirds associated with the English Channel like Gannets, Shags, Cormorants, Kittiwakes, Fulmar and a variety of seagulls. A few moments later, Dave picked up an Arctic Skua as it flew west past the head and then we had a Ma...