BIRDING SUMMARY 2015! WHAT A YEAR!

Well thought the misses would be seeing the New year again on her own as news broke of a possible White Rumped Swift in Dunbar this morning!No such luck Little Swift!Well that will keep me in the good books till the next twitch.

Anyway what a year,it all started with an early morning drive on New years day up to Fraisthorpe in Yorkshire to see the Little Bustard.

Little Bustard

Malc "Where is it"

Local birding commenced and in early February a Laughing Gull was found at New Brighton,what a bird!

Laughing Gull

All was quiet then  the 18th of April when i was leaving work at 8pm and had a phonecall off Higgo saying that a Great Blue Heron had been found on St Marys, Isles of Scilly.Got home and sorted stuff out and i was on my way making the 9.30 Scillionian crossing.On arrival missed the bird by minutes in Old town bay,3 to 4 birders saw the bird fly off in the afternoon,the bird was not relocated till the next evening when it was on Bryher and we had just reached Penzance on the boat.There was well over a hundred birders on the boat gutted!

Anyway left Cheshire on sunday night with Phil Woollen and arrived for the first boat on the monday morning, again a Scillionian crossing,quick boat over to Bryher and bang its on!What a beast!

Great Blue Heron

Next was Cheshire and Wirrals long awaited first Surf Scoter,an adult drake,which was discovered by A.Conlin and K Dummigan amongst thousands of Common Scoters.I walked out the next day and got great views.

Surf Scoter off East Hoyle Bank

Next a phone call off Dan Pointon 25th April saying "drive"theres a Hudsonian Godwit at Mere Heath in Somerset.Great bird keep these blockers coming!

Hudsonian Godwit

Hudsonian Godwit Twitch

Had a nice surprise when a Corncrake was found at Hale at the end of April which was a county tick for me.

The morning of the 10th May was mad,Citril Finch-Holkham-Norfolk,couldn`t believe what I was reading on my pager,anyway 5 hours later i`m watching this mega bird with my son Dylan,never thought id grip that one back on the cheque book brigade.

Citril Finch

 Citril Finch Twitch

I then spent three days up in Scotland at the end of May with Fred Fearn which was a great birding break and we hoovered up all the Scottish specialities and a cracking King Eider.

 Ptarmigan

Harlequin Duck

Fred photographing the Harley Duck

I then had to wait till the 16th of June for the next mega,Bardsey Island!Cretzschmar's Bunting,dipped it bad style on the saturday and it hurt but the bird was refound on the sunday and was coming to feed being put down by the wardens at the lighthouse.I travelled down again on sunday evening and waited till the first boat in the morning.Got on the first boat thanks to John Roberts and the north wales lads and was rewarded with cracking views of the bunting.Overall a great twitch with Jonny Holliday,John Roberts and a birder in a bag!Mark Thomas!

Buckon Birder getting a few hours in before the boat!

 Cretzschmar's Bunting 

I spent the first week in September on our annual pilgrimage to Shetland with Pete Antrobus and Mark Payne.A great weeks birding but no PG TIPS again!To be honest it was one of the quietest weeks I have spent up in Shetland for birds.

The next biggie came on October 13th,a Wilson's Warbler had been found by Roy Dennis and Tony Marr on the Isle of Lewis,30 years to the day of the last British record.We soon sorted a team out and of M.Frosdick,J.Pegden and D.Pointon and we were off.We arrived next morning and got stunning views after the bird gave it self up.

Wilson's Warbler

Four Nutters

All was quiet then till the 26th Oct when I visited Papa Westray on the Orkneys.A Chestnut Bunting had been found so I jumped on my first charter with S.Cole,P.Woollen,C.Bromley and S.Butchart.Cracking dayout and great bird!

Me and Sean Cole leaving Nottinghamshire for the Orkneys

Chestnut Bunting

What an amazing year!but hardest bird to stomach was the Acadian Flycatcher,dipped the next day due to bloody work.Oh well they'll be another!A great year,such laughs and great friends!Roll on 2016! 

BURTON MARSH AND DECCA POOLS

Took a walk along Burton Marsh up to the Harp Inn pub today to try and see a Short eared owl which is being seen down there on a daily basis.The bird showed well after I found it and had a good fly around before being mobbed by a group of Carrion crows.

Short Eared Owl

Up to 14 Little egrets were counted during the walk and good numbers of Wigeon were on Decca pools

                                                                      Little Egret

Wigeon

Anyway nice afternoon stroll, roll on the 1st January and get the old year list going!

Looking down onto Burton Marsh

MARBURY COUNTRY PARK AND NEWCHURCH COMMON

Spent a few hours this morning birding with Malc Curtin on my old patch,Marbury county park.We were hoping to see the Bittern but it looks like its moved on after not been seen for a over a week now,we gave it a good go but were only rewarded with a calling Water rail.The rest of the morning was just spent wandering around taking a few photos.

Beautiful Day on Patch

Great Crested Grebe

 Reed Bunting

 Nuthatch

 Robin

                                                                        Grey Heron

After a good walk around the patch i moved on to Newchurch common where i soon found the red head Smew. The bird was always asleep and i had to leave as the heavens opened and the light was to bad to get any decent photos.

Smew

Just as i was leaving i got a text off Malc to say the Northern Harrier had been accepted onto the British list which was a nice armchair tick that had took five years to go on.Happy Days!

Press On Link Below

Christmas comes early for British listers as Northern Harrier is split

LONG EARED OWL-BURTON RSPB

I nipped over to Burton RSPB this morning to try and photo the Long eared owl which has been on site for a while now.It was blowing a hooley when i got there so wasn't expecting to see it but i soon picked up the bird in the same area last years bird was seen.

Long Eared Owl

I never get fed up with seeing these beauties and hopefully if not disturbed it will stay into the New year.Otherwise very quiet on site but did see Cetti's warbler which was a bonus.

GREEN WINGED TEAL-FRODSHAM MARSHES

Spent Saturday morning birding at Frodsham marshes with Frank duff.Frank had found a Green winged teal on No6 tank last week so I thought I'd give it a go not realising the bird was commuting with at least 1000 plus Common Teal

Its in there somewhere!

After a good hour scoping through the Teal and getting cracking views of an immature Marsh harrier and a Peregrine over at West point frank relocated the Green winged teal coming out of the michaelmas daisy bed displaying to other female Teal.

Green Winged Teal

One pain of a bird to see,it only showed for at least ten minutes and then went back into the daisy bed.Other birds of note were Common pochard,Gadwall,Common Shelduck,Wigeon and Shoveler. Anyway a great mornings birding and another good bird for Cheshire

GREAT NORTHERN DIVER-WEST KIRBY MARINE LAKE

Constantly working lately so managed a few hours birding up at West Kirby. A juvenile Great northern diver has been on the marina now for the last week. On arrival the diver was showing really well by the side of the road.

Juvenile Great Northern Diver

Other birds of note were 1 Goldeneye and 3 Red breasted mergansers.

Red Breasted Mergansers

Anyway a good afternoons birding that got me out of the rat race for a few hours.