Midhope Moor

Having been out the night before to celebrate the end of exams I did not fancy an early start but thankfully today's trip did not require a ludicrously early start, and so I left the house at 10 to head up to Midhope Moor to see if I could finally life-tick Great Grey Shrike

Its a long bus journey, and a fair walk from the bus stop to the site, but I but made it for twelve. On the way up though the fun really started. Besides the shrike there were also 2 Juvenile Rough-Legged Buzzards in the area, but overnight the weather had taken a turn for the worse and the teeming rain made seeing them very unlikely. Having said that, as I passed a field along the edge of one of the resers on the way up a brown mass in a field caught my attention.

The moment I realised it was a bird, said bird took off and flew to the far side of the field. It was a big raptor, with white on the tail and white underwing with the exception of a large dark patch. Incredibly I had stumbled upon one of the RL Buzzards. It landed on a hay bale further away. I moved along the road to get a better view but despite my distance the bird took off again and enter a wood, where I lost it. Therefore sadly no photos, and only a brief view, but still an outstanding bird to see and a great record.

 As I walked along the road to the watchpoint I saw an awful lot of Red Grouse, which is a yeartick. No sooner did I arrive on site than a car stopped next to me and the driver told me that the bird was just over the wall on a bush. I scrambled up and indeed it was, a little far away but still there. Through the scope I got great views and its just a little unfortunate that I could not photos to reflect this. I did not get to see it butcher any passerines, but apart from that I got to see the best of the bird, as it perched up high preening. Given this is Britains largest shrike I was still a little surprised by how small it was, not as big as I had imagined. In the end I got to watch the bird for around an hour before it must have flown down into the valley and I lost it.

-Great Grey Shrike

So thats lifer number 2 of 2015. A bird I have really needed to see for a long time and well worth the effort involved in getting to it. On the way back I also saw my first Jay of the year, and Goldeneye on Midhope reser and Great Crested Grebe on Underbank reser. A smashing days birding all round!!

--Update--

Sadly the Rough-Legged Buzzard was deemed inconclusive on description by the SBSG, which is fair enough as the views I got were not the best. As a result, I chose to withdraw the record rather than persue it further, so it will go down on here as a Pale buzzard sp.

Species List:

Underbank Reser: Mistle Thrush, Grey Heron, Robin, Blackbird, Bullfinch, Buzzard sp., Great Crested Grebe, Grey Wagtail, Cormorant, Mallard, Black-Headed Gull,

Midhope Watchpoint: Mistle Thrush, Chaffinch, Blue Tit, Red Grouse, Bullfinch, Great Grey Shrike, Pheasant, Jackdaw, Mallard, Long-Tailed Tit, Woodpigeon, Kestrel, Goldcrest, Jay, Goldeneye, Carrion Crow, 

New Brighton

I decided to go straight for the laughing gull the day after the news broke. I was confident I would not see it, and so it turned out, as the bird was there 20 mins before I arrived and then turned up an hour after I left but not through the 4 hours that I was there.

Having said that, I had a fantastic days birding mainly due to a rather impressive wader roost on the pontoons. I say impressive, but I have never seen one on a man made structure, and never this close. There was also an impressive diversity within the roost. At first glance it looked to be made up of Redshanks and Turnstones. There was a rather distinct pale Sanderling right at the front which stood out like a sore thumb. Next birds I spotted were a group of my favourite none snipe waders, Purple Sandpipers. Having not had a good view of this species for so long I was thrilled to be able to see these right down in front of me. I was even able to get some reasonable photos though they did spend most of their time asleep. Filtering through the masses I picked out another wader species, in a lovely Knot. When it was asleep (Most of the time) it was difficult to separate from the Redshanks, but one it looked up it stoop out rather nicely. But the flock still had another species. The final species was a Dunlin which must have steadily made its way to the front of the pack before I noticed it. It was great to see so many species all in the same space and all so close.

-Wader Roost

-Knot and Sanderling

-Dunlin

-Purple Sandpipers

And it was not a complete loss for gulls either, as there was a stunning adult Mediterranean Gull around, which flew right over the heads of the massed twitchers, its white wings looking smashing in the sunshine. I only managed a couple of shots as I spent most of its appearances admiring the beauty of the wings. It really was a smashing bird.

-Mediterranean Gull

So no laughing gull, but since it seems to have stuck I may give it another go at some point. I had a fantastic days birding. And on the way back I even spotted a fox sunbathing on the rail banking. What a great day!

Species List:

New Brighton: Feral Pigeon, Pied Wagtail, Sanderling, Turnstone, Redshank, Cormorant, Mediterranean Gull, Carrion Crow, Purple Sandpiper, Knot, Black-Headed Gull, Dunlin, Common Gull, Oystercatcher, Starling, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Magpie, Woodpigeon, Collard Dove,

Old Moor RSPB

First full no exam day and with nothing on the cards I decided to head over to Old Moor for a spot of casual birding. Reports of a Brambling in the 'tree sparrow farm' had caught my attention and I was keen to catch up with this bird as well as some other species I had not managed yet this year.

I first went to the bird feeders where there was plenty of nice things, Long-Tailed Tit and Bullfinches, as well as yearticks of Tree Sparrow and Willow Tit, the latter being something of an unexpected surpirse as they are not as common here as they are at other RSPB reserves.

Next I headed to the 'tree sparrow farm' which lived up to its name of having ample tree sparrows but also an incredible number of Reed Buntings, more than I can recall seeing anywhere else. I made 3 visits to the farm during the day. On the first visit I was rewarded with the star of the show the brambling itself, distant at first before I lost it, only to realise a couple of other birders had been watching it right in front of them... Anyway, I managed to get some cracking views of it, possibly the finest brambling I have ever seen. There was also a Yellowhammer on the first and last visit, though it showed much better on the last, and an incredibly showy Redwing on the second and third visits, showing to within a matter of feet of the hide, a really smashing view.

-Brambling

-Redwing

-Yellowhammer

The mere and ponds were mainly frozen so all the birds were concentrated. I year ticked shoveler at this point, as well as seeing plenty of the usual wildfowl. The wigeon especially were giving fantastic views as they fed on the grass in front of the main hide. One female bird caught my attention as it had a striking white eye ring which I do not recall seeing in these birds before. Curious.

-Wigeon

At the end hide there was a really nice surprise as a couple of Barn Owls were roosting in the willow trees at the back. They were obscured and distant but clearly owls and an unexpected yeartick. Its just a pity they did not show better as it would have been nice to get a proper profile.

Species List:

Old Moor: Yellowhammer, Song Thrush, Willow Tit, Tree Sparrow, Bullfinch, Collard Dove, Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch, Goldfinch, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Woodpigeon, Long-Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Pheasant, Moorhen, Reed Bunting, Brambling, Common Buzzard, Wren, Wigeon, Canada Goose, Herring Gull, Lapwing, Grey Heron, Common Gull, Common Teal, Gadwall, Jackdaw, Pochard, Tufted Duck, Goosander, Goldeneye, Shoveler, Coot, Cormorant, Snipe, Mute Swan, Carrion Crow, Graylag Goose, Barn Owl, Kestrel, Magpie, Great-Spotted Woodpecker, Starling, Redwing, Little Grebe,

Orgreave Lakes

Exams finally finished and so to celebrate I spent the afternoon at an incredibly cold Orgreave. Man it was cold. Very nice conditions for the snow bunting... if there had not been a photographer chasing it around the mounds. I decided to settle down and have a look at the gulls while waiting for the bunting to be flushed closer. In the end it come reasonably close but not close enough for a great shot.

-Snow Bunting

Other birds on site included a patch tick of Peregrine when it flew over me and the usual suspects. I tried going through the gulls since my revision breaks have mainly been spent going over gulls to try and improve myself in that area. There was one which caught my eye, but I decided to was a herring, until I got home and had a look at the photos. Anyway, I threw it out on twitter and the response I got agreed that it was a herring.

Apart from that I also patch ticked Bullfinch with a striking male bird which was in the trees on the bank of the river. It was distant but if the first I have seen here and this year. A great end to my afternoons birding.

-Bullfinch

Species List:

Orgreave Lakes: Peregrine Falcon, Kestrel, Herring Gull, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Cormorant, Coot, Tufted Duck, Pochard, Mallard, Wigeon, Gadwall, Linnet, Skylark, Snow Bunting, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Blackbird, Lapwing, 

Orgreave Lakes

Since yesterday I had done my first exam I decided to take the morning off today in order to have a lie in. However, a lie in means you will fail to get a spot in the Library so I decided to spend the day at Orgreave hoping to see some good stuff, such as the snow bunting, while bumping up my yearlist.

I arrived knowing the bunting was with skylarks and began my search for birds. First yeartick was Meadow Pipit, the second was Gadwall and also Coot, Wigeon and then Skylark. There were an awful lot of Skylarks and the first 2 groups I came to did not have a snow bunting in them.

Half way round the first pond I saw a flock of waders heading towards me. As they approached I could see that they were Golden Plover, another yeartick for me and a really nice species to see. They did multiple loops round, sometimes right over my head and I was able to get a record shot.

-Golden Plover

In total there were well over 100 skylarks on site, but I finally managed to find the flock with the Snow Bunting in, though I only managed to pick it up while it was in flight. As soon as I picked it up on the ground it was flushed by a dog. I then had to follow the flock round, but only being able to pick up the bunting in flight. It took a while but I finally found it on the deck at the side of the pool, though it was a distance away and the photos I got reflect that. However, I always love to see Snow Buntings and its a site tick, as well as a yeartick.

-Snow Bunting

There were 2 Skeins of Pink-Footed Geese that went over while I was there. The second Skein I saw go down on the plains. There were less than 50 birds in the skein, so when I rounded the corner to the plains I was surprised to see at least 200 birds grazing there. I could have got much closer but did not want to upset them as they had been brought down by the fog.

-Pink-Footed Geese

The second most surprising yeartick of the day was a smashing Stonechat that was in among the small trees along the side of the large pond. It looked very smart in the snow, though the photos are not exceptional they are still look rather nice with the white backdrop.

-Stonechat

It was quite a day thats for certain, one of the best days birding I have had at the site. As I was heading off back along the edge of pools I picked up another yeartick when 5 Snipe flew down, and though my attempts to locate them on the deck on resulted in them being re-flushed they were great to see.

The Pinkies were also flushed, though by what I'm not sure but they must have done a loop round as the another flock of a similar size came up from the south when the grazing birds had gone north, and it would make sense for them not to go far in the fog. They flew very low over my head, so I took a couple of shots.

-Pink-Footed Geese

I mentioned earlier that the stonechat was only the second most surprising yeartick. The most surprising was as I was leaving the site. I decided to go for a wee in the bushes before my long bus journey home. As I rounded the small pond with the trees behind I spotted something running very oddly across the pools and immediately recognised it as a Water Rail, only my second ever and the first for 5 years. I was buzzing but it scuttled off into the bushes before I got my camera out and my attempts to refind it failed. That really was the icing on the cake, and probably the best bird of the day, even beating the bunting.

Species List:
Orgreave Lakes: House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Pied Wagtail, Meadow Pipit, Kestrel, Great Tit, Blue Tit, Gadwall, Teal, Wigeon, Coot, Tufted Duck, Cormorant, Grey Heron, Skylark, Goldfinch, Lapwing, Reed Bunting, Golden Plover, Pochard, Stonechat, Mute Swan, Jackdaw, Carrion Crow, Linnet, Goosander, Moorhen, Blackbird, Herring Gull, Snow Bunting, Water Rail, Black-Headed Gull, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Mallard, Robin, Magpie, Feral Pigeon, Snipe

Not quite bird related but...

The impacts of the day out at the Harlequin and still coming in thick and fast. Today I was honoured to find out for the first time ever that birdguides has used one of my photos, a harlequin photo in their weekly review which is a real honour and I'm so pleased.

-Birdguides weekly review

And then, though this was more predicted was NGB's moment of fame on BBC Winterwatch when we were caught rubbing out knees. Haha, what a day to look back on...

-BBC Winterwatch

It was a fantastic day to be a part of and enjoy! To have a photo published by birdguides and then on Winterwatch is the icing on the cake!

University Birdwatching

I have not done weekly updates this year like I did last year, mainly because there has been less birds around, however since I have been in the IC so long I have taken up residence at one of the window seats on the fourth floor which has a spectacular view over the city and the valley. From here I have been able to do a reasonable amount of birding, so here is a quick summary of the last two weeks.

08 January 2015
I did not really make too many records today but I did year-tick Greater Black-Backed Gull which was exciting and spurred me on to get plenty more work done:
Great Black-backed Gull - 3

09 January 2015
Having been in the library a week it was becoming pretty tough to keep focused but there were a few birds out of the window to keep me excited. Year-ticked Sparrowhawk as well as there being a few other nice things fly by:
Mistle Thrush - 3 ; Sparrowhawk - 1 ; Magpie - 4 ; Blackbird - 1 

10 January 2015
This was the first day that I decided to submit all the birds that I saw to the SBSG. That resolution did not last long but for today at least I did get a full set of species which I saw:
Great Black-backed Gull - 3 ; Magpie - 3 ; Carrion Crow - 4 ; Woodpigeon - 1 ; Mistle Thrush - 1 ; Starling - 4 ; Blackbird - 1 

11 January 2015
There were a good number of large gulls going over during the morning, possibly because it was a Sunday and the tips were closed so they had to find somewhere else, or at least that was the best theory I could come up with:
Lesser Black-Backed Gull - 5 ; Herring Gull - 5 ; Greater Black-Backed Gull - 3; Black-Headed Gull - 20

16 January 2015
The day of my trip to Aberdeen commencing so I was having kittens for most of the day. However, I did library tick Blue tit which was a nice addition to my growing library list:
Blue Tit - 1 

20 January 2015
Got some really good birds from the library today when 2 skeins of Pink-Footed Geese went over within the space of 20 minuets between 10.00 and 10.20. The first was around 70 birds, the second was larger and was at least 100 birds. It was a really nice surprise and good to see the day before my exam.
Pink-footed Goose - c70 - north at 10:08 ; Pink-footed Goose - c100 - A second skein north at 10:14 ; Sparrowhawk - 1 ; Magpie - 2 ; Woodpigeon - 1 ; Feral Pigeon - c50 ;

21 January 2015
Some last minuet cramming for my exam, going over it all one last time rewarded me with a library tick when a Pied Wagtail flew past the window showing. The snow meant the light was not very good but you could still get some decent features on the bird, making it more than a silhouette
Pied Wagtail - 1 

Species List:
University of Sheffield Library/Information Commons:
Magpie, Greater Black-Backed Gull, Mistle Thrush, Blackbird, Sparrowhawk, Carrion Crow, Woodpigeon, Starling, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Herring Gull, Black-Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Pink-Footed Goose, Feral Pigeon,

Aberdeen - twitching Harlequin Duck

Its been a pretty poor year for me so far this year...

having spent the majority of my January in the library working for my exams and my yearlist reflected that as a result. All the while there was a rather lovely Harlequin Duck up in Aberdeen that seemed to be showing incredibly well. Of course, this time last year I had resolved not to twitch where I would have public transport transfers, but times have changed and this bird was tempting.

It had already been there 2 weeks by the time I decided to just go for it. Broken by revision I weighed up my options and got moving to hopefully get my first twitch, lifer and mega of 2015.

My best option was to get the coach up to Aberdeen overnight to give me plenty of time there, as I would arrive at 10, and then train back. Train there and back would arrive at 13.00 and I decided, looking at the birds pattern that I could miss a lot of the action if that were the case.

So my journey started at 21.10 on the Friday night. At 21.55 I arrived at Leeds. We were delayed leaving Leeds, setting of 23.20 to arrive at Manchester 00.35 on Saturday! The day of the duck had arrived. At 1.30 we set off for Glasgow. We hit shocking snow outside Hamilton though, and the bus driver did not seem to care, overtaking the gritters on a snow covered motorway at around 4 in the morning but fortunately still made it to Glasgow for 6.15 to get my 7.15 coach to Aberdeen. I finally, finally arrived at Aberdeen at 10.00 in the morning.

The first birds of the day were the Pied Wagtails at Glasgow bus station, and along the coach trip I year ticked Mute Swan, Graylag Goose, Pheasant, Common Buzzard, Curlew, Goosander and Hooded Crow, the latter being a unfortunately brief view for a bird that I have not seen for a long time.

I arrived in Aberdeen and pretty much straight away got the bus to the park. I arrived in the park and quickly made my way to the site that had been described. Having not been birding much this year I picked up plenty of year-ticks on my journey to and through the park; Greenfinch, Oystercatcher, Redshank, Dipper, Goldeneye, Coot. The highlight of this time was to hear my first ever dipper singing. It was a great call to hear, I was pleased with how the day was progressing.

I passed some birders who informed us that the duck was still showing as of 10 mins ago, but I failed to find it. There were a couple of other birders too and we could not find it. However, further up the river we caught a glimpse of some other birders pointing, and as such we decided to move over that way. I got a lift with those birders.

We arrived on site and headed down to the river. Thats when things started to get a little crazy. I was following one of the birders when he said 'its Chris Packham' and it was. That was the first surreal thing that happened, but decided to just go to for the duck. The BBC were filming for Winterwatch and both Chris and Martin HG were there.

Then the duck showed itself, coming out in the rapids close to the near bank. The view was good but sadly obscured due to branches and trees. Not 10 mins after the bird appeared and I turned around to see Jonnie Fisk and Zac Hinchcliffe, a lovely surprise and very unexpected. Matt Bruce had driven up, so it was nice to see them again. NGB does harlequin duck.

The bird showed well, moving in the rapids and sometimes stepping onto a rock to preen, looking sublime in the process. It showed well and I was able to get some decent photos while chatting to the NGBs. I had a look through Matts Swaro too and got an exceptional view while it was sat out on a rock. 

-Harlequin Duck

The weather was glorious and the bird continued to look good, the light bringing out its colours so well. We watched and chatted for a while. The BBC then asked if they could film us for a feature on Winterwatch about twitching, where we all rubbed our legs in a Chris Packham type manner and then looked at the duck. So if you want to watch the NGB and I make fools of ourselves, either Wednesday or Thursdays Winterwatch is the one to look for.

While we were with the BBC the bird had moved downstream. Zac had not come with us to the BBC and in the meantime he had had good views of the bird. Jonnie and Kieran went round to sit with Zac while Bruce and I watched from where we were. After a bit the duck decided to head downstream so we casually went round the corner to the others to catch up with it. On our way round we passed a birder who told us that it had just got onto the bank right in front of the others. Incredibly gripped we headed round to find the bird still paddling close to the bank, dipping and diving in the water near to us.

The birders were spread out along the bank, with the bird swimming right in front of Jonnie. without really thinking I moved to go and sit next to Jonnie round the fence, only moving when the bird was down, but in hindsight this was a rather risky thing to do and if I had been thinking about it properly would not have done it.

However it paid off, as I sat next to Jonnie, Kieran also came round and within about 5 mins the bird decided to return to the bank about 4ft away from where we were sitting. I could not believe it. The light kept changing but I was able to get some incredibly good shots of the bird. It sat there for a couple of mins before swimming off downstream. In that time I got some pretty decent shots and views, while Jonnie and Matt both got selfies with it. I could not have got a better view even if I had wanted to, it was an incredible experience and I still struggle to believe it happened.

-Harlequin Duck

-The Harlequin and I (Photo courtesy of Zac)

That was the best way I could have got my first lifer of 2015, and made the £130 price tag and the 21 hour travel journey all worth it. Not long after it had sat with us the bird swam off downstream and we decided we could no longer follow it. We decided to call it quits, though I still had a couple of hours before my train, the guys said they were going for some food, so I decided to chill with them for a bit.

The BBC had also called it quits, and as we were leaving Jonnie decided to give Chris Packham a biscuit, a tradition of Jonnies on twitches. So we went to go and see the BBC and while we were at it got a photo with Chris and Martin, as if the day could not get any better.

-NGB meets BBC

And with that we left the site and headed into Aberdeen. Sadly the guys could not find anywhere in Aberdeen and so they dropped me off at the station and headed home. My return journey was long and drawn out, but I got stunning views of Durham Cathedral all lit up, and also had a skein of Pink-Footed Geese go over, which was a nice year tick. 

What an incredible bird, What an incredible day.

Species List:

Glasgow Buchanan Bus Station: Pied Wagtail

Coach Journey: Mute Swan, Herring Gull, Woodpigeon, Rook, Feral Pigeon, Hooded Crow, Carrion Crow, Graylag Goose, Jackdaw, Common Pheasant, Common Buzzard, Blackbird, Starling, Curlew, Magpie, Goosander, Black-Headed Gull, 

Seaton Park, Aberdeen: Greenfinch, Greater-Spotted Woodpecker, Oystercatcher, Common Redshank, Goldcrest, Treecreeper, Dipper, Goldeneye, Coot, Goosander, Mute Swan, Blackbird, Robin, Herring Gull, Mallard, Black-Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Great Tit, Harlequin Duck, Sparrowhawk, House Sparrow, Woodpigeon, Feral Pigeon,

Train Journey: Pink-Footed Goose, Herring Gull, Magpie, Jackdaw,

Harlequin Duck

The library at university kindly lends of out 'creative media equipment' and since this discovery a couple of months ago I had contemplated taking a video camera on a twitch to see what I could get. I decided to loan one out and take it with me to the Harlequin. Sadly I did not have it on me when the bird sat in front of me, but I preferred to get some photos of it rather than video. I did get a bit of video from before when it was out on a rock preening. Its not groundbreaking but it will do and offers a different view of the bird.

-Harlequin Duck

I also got some video while the bird was swimming showing how amazing it was at diving and yet remaining stationary within the rapids. It must have had to use up so much energy to avoid being taken by the river.

-Harlequin Duck

Zac also took did some video, but his video was while the bird was close and he got some fantastic footage of the bird. He put it up on Youtube so to have a look at it just have a click on this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2QjNzJyD7o&feature=youtu.be

His video is fantastic and really flaunts the bird. Its just another viewpoint on the bird and another reminder of a fantastic day, it really was superb. 

West Street

After a 2 hour stint in the Library I decided to head into town as means of a break. I don't normally post wandering sightings but this one was very good. Walking down West Street I saw a large bird flying towards me, that when it went over my head showed itself to be a Peregrine, one of the birds from the church presumably. Its not even that big a surprise given how close they nest but I was not expecting it, which is why it was so nice to see, and the way it flew over my head.