PALE LEGGED/SAKHALIN LEAF WARBLER- ISLES OF SCILLY

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BIRDGUIDES WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

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BIRDING AFTERNOON ON THE WIRRAL

I called in at Burton RSPB this afternoon and was rewarded with four cattle egrets on the island pool in front of the reception.

CATTLE EGRETS

There have been five around the reserve the last few days.If I had been 10 minutes earlier, I would have seen the fifth bird, which had flown along with a Great White Eagle,TYPICAL! Anyway, with time approaching high tide, I made my way to Parkgate. On arrival, I soon picked up a female ringtail, Hen Harrier, and a Peregrine sat out on the marsh.

 FEMALE RINGTAIL HEN HARRIER

As I was scoping the Peregrine, the prize bird appeared: the male Hen Harrier, one of my favourite species.

MALE HEN HARRIER

What a bird!The Hen harrier showed well and gave all the birders on site good views.Out of all of the uk's birds of prey, this species is the most intensively persecuted. It was absolute joy to watch and long may we all help this stunning species to thrive from persecution

LITTLE EGRETS ARE living ON THE deed ESTUARY

Other birds of note were 2 Ravens overhead and a distant Marsh Harrier.Little egret numbers were well over 70, and then I gave up counting; they were everywhere. Who would have thought that our first record at Leasowe in 1988 would lead to these numbers in 2016?
If you ever visit Parkgate, there is a hightide birdwatch, which the RSPB organises. I have put when the next events are held on my blog.

PARKGATE MARSH LOOKING DOWN THE ESTUARY TOWARDS PARKGATE

SIBERIAN ACCENTOR-EASINGTON-SPURN

Well now five Siberian accentors have turned up in Britain, yes five!, so I decided after working all weekend to go to Spurn and do some birding and hopefully see another one of these mega species after seeing the first record in Shetland.

On arrival, I walked up to the back of the old school at Easington. There were only about ten birders present, and I was put on the bird straight away. The Siberian Accentor was only a few feet away from the fence and was happily foraging away.

BRITAIN'S SECOND SIBERIAN ACCENTOR

As you can see, the bird was showing really well and was a cracking find by Lance Degan. Writing this tonight, there are now nearly 65 Siberian accentors seen across Europe! As I was watching the birds, news came through that the Isabelline Wheatear was showing well near the boatyard, so I got off. The Isabelline Wheatear was soon picked up in a ploughed field with two Shorelarks and three Bramblings.The bird was distant, so I managed to get some record shots.

ISABELLINE WHEATEAR

BRAMBLING

Moving on to Spurn, the fields were full of Fieldfares and Redwings as I was driving. I pulled over in the car and watched hundreds of them feeding in the stubble fields.

FIELDFARE AND REDWING

Reaching Spurn, I parked up the car and headed to the Bluebell carpark, where I had great views of two Shorelark feeding in a nearby field.

SHORELARK

There were so many birds around as you were walking about. Siskens were in good numbers, and I've never seen so many Robins and Goldcrests; they were everywhere.

GOLDCREST

SISKEN

A quick stop off at the Crown and Anchor pub garden produced a yellow-browed warbler and a Firecrest, but they only showed for a matter of seconds in blustery conditions, so no record shots, but not as though I didn't try; I just gave up.

The estuary was very quiet as it was low tide, but I did see Reed Bunting, Whaleear, and a few Grey Plover.

 GREY PLOVER

 WHEATEAR

REED BUNTING

After a great day birding, I headed home, leaving Spurn behind. What a magical place this is for birds, and hopefully it won't be long before I return.

I HAD TO TAKE A PHOTO OF THIS SIGN AS I SAW MY FIRST PALLAS'S WARBLER SAT ON IT MANY MOONS AGO 

PHOTO OF THE WEEK 12TH-18TH OCT 2016

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SOMERSET COMMON CRANE FOUND SHOT DEAD

News broke today [18 October 2016] that one of the Great Crane Project's most famous reintroduced Common Cranes was sadly found shot dead in late September CLICK HERE

SIBERIAN ACCENTOR MADNESS!

As I sit here writing this a week after I was planning a trip to Shetland in the morning to see a Siberian Accentor, a first for Britain, astonishingly a further three birds have been recorded on the mainland. The first individual was found on Thursday by Lance Degan at the end of Vicars Lane, Easington, East Yorkshire. The bird is still there today (Sunday) and has been seen by hundreds of birders, as the picture below shows.

BIRDERS QUEUEING TO SEE THE BIRD

BRITAINS SECOND SIBERIAN ACCENTOR

On Saturday afternoon, another individual was found at Huntcliff in Saltburn, Cleveland, by Damien Money (PIC HERE). Incredible to think we are now on the 3rd bird in a week, and then today (Sunday) the MEGA alert went off again at Hendon in County Durham, where the 4th individual was found at the docks (PIC HERE). 4th for Britain in a week! CRAZY!This was just a birders dream bird this time last week!WATCH THIS SPACE; WE COULD SEE 5 BY TOMORROW!

UPDATED 26th OCTOBER 2016

As I sit here updating my blog this afternoon, another Siberian Accentor has just been found at Houbie in Shetland, which now makes this bird the 10th for Britain. Numbers of this species have also dramatically increased across Europe.

158 Siberian accentor's have now been recorded since the 4th-26th Oct: SWE(59), FIN(45), DEN(10), GBR(10), GER(7), EST(6), POL(6), NOR(6), LAT(5), LIT(3), and NED(1) INCREDIBLE!