MY BIRDING YEAR 2019

All was quiet on the birding seen until late February when a Tengmalm's Owl was found on Shetland.I twitched the bird the day after it had been found and got absolutely stonking views of this mega bird.

Early April was spent on the Isles of scilly for my birthday which was a cracking weekend for early spring migrants.Local birding carried on until the end of April when I visited Speyside with my mates for a long weekend where we managed to see all the scottish specialities including cracking views of White billed diver.

On the 24th May I visited my local patch Burton RSPB and saw an adult White winged black tern which I needed.News then broke in late spring that Bearded tits and Spoonbill's had bred at Burton RSPB.

At the beginning of the July a Gull billed tern was found just up the road at Thurstaston.This was a Cheshire and Wirral tick for me and I had cracking views of it has it fed on the shoreline.

I then had to wait until the end of August for a tick when a Brown booby was found in St Ives,Cornwall.I managed to see the bird but it was very distant and I had to get back to work so couldn't hang around.The following week I ended up on the Lizard in Cornwall where another one was found and views were much better.

As I came back from Cornwall news broke of Wheatear species at Fluke Hall in Lancashire.The bird was put out as a Eastern Black eared wheatear that I needed but to me it looked like a Pied wheatear but apparently after so many stunning photos that had been taken of this bird and,perhaps crucially,one image seemed to show a concealed whitish spot at the base of one of the mantle feathers

–according to Svensson,this is a feature that Pied Wheatear cannot show, but it does not address the hybrid possibility that arguably still hangs heavy over this particular saga–and thus pinning our colours to a single photo of a single feather at this stage perhaps doesn't seem wise for such a complex case.Anyway DNA was picked up from the bird so I wait with bated breath to see what it is,if they can tell.

At the beginning of September a good number of Leach's petrel's were off the north wirral coast,I had a great afternoon after seeing 7 individual birds.

News broke a the end of September that a possible Eastern Yellow wagtail had been found at Cemlyn bay on Anglesey.I went that afternoon and saw the bird.Birders had crucially got a voice recording,enabling sonogram confirmation of the identification.

At the beginning of October a Yellow billed cuckoo was found on the Scilly Isles.I had to stay on for a week but I got the bird!

News then broke on the 30th of October that a Stella's Eider had been found on Westray on the Orkneys.I travelled up the next morning but there was no sign of the bird.The bird was then relocated on Papa Westray so I went up again on the 11th November and got cracking views of the bird.

Another great years birding!ROLL ON 2020