The Standlake Birder

         Northumberland has been on fire recently for rare birds. At some point in the past week or so White-billed Diver, American Pipit, Ross’s Gull, and Grey-headed Lapwing have all been present. While the Diver is not the rarest of the four, that award would surely go to the Lapwing, it’s the one that piqued my interest the most as there is a great big hole in my UK list where it should sit. In contrast, I have previously seen and photographed the other three quite well.    There are five living members of the order Gaviiformes, (Divers, or Loons if you are American)  worldwide. These being the foresaid White-billed Diver, Great Northern Diver, Pacific Diver, Black throated and Red Throated Divers. I have seen the other four in the UK, in some cases many times, so a twitch to see the White-throated would give me the complete set of Gaviiformes.   One of my best birding experiences occurred when watching a  pair of courting ...

Every year a small and variable number of Yellow-browed Warblers attempt to over-winter in the UK. This represents a very interesting example of bird vagrancy. Its nearest breeding range is some 5,000 kilometres away and the vast majority winter in southeast Asia.  A small number, however, exhibit a phenomena known as reverse migration and head off 180 degrees in the wrong direction and end up in the UK. The current theory is that this is due to a genetic error causing  them to get magnetic north and south mixed up, see here  f or a much more detailed account of the causes of bird vagrancy. There is a possibility that having a small fraction of the population reverse migrate has an evolutionary advantage in that, if the habitat and climate is convivial, it would help establish a second independent population. To the best of my knowledge the Yellow-browed Warbler has never attempted to breed in the UK so these reverse migrators must either not survive our harsh w...

   Hudsonian Godwit Here then is my traditional year end review of my birding year.    The year of 2024 was definitely a case of “what a difference a year makes!”    It certainly    brought us all back down to earth after a truly stellar 2023.    In the autumn of 2023 Lee, a truly  monstrous storm sprawling across some 15,000 square miles of the    Atlantic with winds up to 165mph, coincided with the mass migration of passerines along the west coast of north America. This almost unprecedented series of events delivered a large number of mega rare and UK first American    passerines, mainly to the UK west coast, such that I managed to add a rather staggering 27 new birds to my UK life list. In contrast 2024 was notable for the almost total absence of American vagrants with the exception of a small number of birds early in the year, presumably leftover and undiscovered from the previous autumn. I managed ...

  A few days ago I made the short trip to Gloucestershire’s worst kept secret birding location to watch and photograph Short-eared Owls. I normally go to this location two or three times during the winter and have been blessed on occasion with some fantastic views.  I’m told the farmer maintains the fields here specifically with the Short-eared Owls in mind, meaning maintaining scrubby uncut grass, - so hats off to him or her!!    Sometimes they take to the air at midday and sometimes not until its almost dark – it’s pretty much potluck. At a guess I would say that it depends how hungry they are as their ability to find their favourite prey, voles, is much reduced in wet windy weather. This was my first visit this winter and it was great to see that at least three owls have returned. They came out  at 14:30 and continued to show well until sunset. In truth, it can be a bit of a circus at this site with many photographers present but on this occasion it...

  Water Rail The winter birding months tend to be mega rarity free and  I wouldn’t expect anything that would be an addition to my Uk bird list until at least April or more probably May. I find it hard to motivate myself to travel long distances for birds that I’ve seen well and photographed so the next 3 months will probably be mainly local.   I had a pleasant and relaxed day at Slimbridge on Monday. I hoped to see two scarce birds that had been present for a few days, namely Little Stint and Green-winged Teal. With no pressure to get there at a particular time I rolled up just before 10:00. From the car park I immediately  heard the eerie bugling of the recently returned Bewick Swans. I was, perhaps rather selfishly,  pleased to find very few visitors at the reserve, the combination of a school term weekday and winter having the desired effect. I say selfishly because, of course, the WWT are largely reliant on members and visitors for funding th...