The Standlake Birder

   Wryneck Autumn migration kicked off in earnest at the weekend with good numbers of common and scarce migrants plus the odd rarity at the usual migration hotspots. I hence planned a layback days birding on Tuesday without the usual twitch pressure of trying to get a UK tick. The east coast was the obvious destination but I was torn between Norfolk and Yorkshire. In the end I went for Spurn as everything is quite spread out on slow narrow roads in Norfolk and I wanted to maximise my birding time.   Continuing my grumpy old bugger theme of some recent posts, I knew that multiple road works were going to wind me up and sure enough 8 sets of major works on route added an hour to how long the drive used to take me. All but one had average speed cameras and 4 long sections, including most of a 50 mile stretch on the M1, were the result of the shambles caused by the department of transport turning  3 lane motorways into 4 lane death traps for anyone stupid enough to break down. Current moan

     Hudsonian Godwit I was planning to visit Rachel, my lovely middle daughter, and her family in Sale on Tuesday but she unfortunately had a bad migraine so we rearranged the visit for later in the week.   Suddenly, presented with a free day, I checked RBA and, with nothing rare to temp me, thought about some local birding. C and I were drinking coffee around 10:00 and I was bemoaning the lack of rarities this year compared to last when a report of a mega rare Hudsonian Godwit at Burton Mere RSPB reserve in Cheshire hit the headlines. Needing this for my UK list, rapid apologies and packing the car followed and off I went in the usual twitcher mixed state of excitement and apprehension. It should have been a 2 hour journey but the M6 was at its horrific worst and I didn’t arrive until just before 1pm. The bird had been continuously reported in a large flock of Godwits viewed from the Border hide some 30 minutes’ walk from the visitors centre.  What followed was the usual progression

      Baird's Sandpiper Well not really but you get my drift! I’ve only seen one rare American Baird’s Sandpiper in the UK, a  bird I saw on a trip with Jeremy to the south coast in 2017. The views were distant and heat hazy as this heavily cropped picture taken with my 800 mm lens shows. It hence resides in my well populated seen badly UK list category. So when one was found on the Welsh coast near Newport only an hour or so from home off I went off to try and see it on Sunday morning.   Bairds Sandpiper Lynch Cove Sept 2017 Somewhat surprisingly, given that it is only some 60 minutes from home, I have never visited the RSPB nature reserve on the Newport Wetlands or the nearby Goldcliffe Lagoons. I stupidly didn’t check the location details properly, you would have think I would have learned my lesson by now, and first went to the RSPB reserve where one of the volunteers redirected me to the extensive sea wall at nearby Goldcliffe.    Observing the Sandpiper on the extensive mudfl

    Green Sandpiper Since my twitch to see a Black-winged Pratincole,  see here , there’s been nothing to entice me to drive any distance. There was a report of a Tibetan Sand Plover some 4 hours’ drive away in Northumberland but before I could turn the car engine on it was reidentified as a Greater Sand Plover, a bird I have seen well before.  I guess its inevitable as my UK list moves well into the 400’s that there will be less and less new birds to tick. With the exceptions of a few gaping holes, most notably around seabirds, its only rare new birds ticks that will get my list growing. I’m also finding myself less and less motivated to drive long distances to see birds I’ve seen well and photographed before.    High summer is always slow for birding with many birders turning to the temporary delights of butterflies and dragonflies but my second major hobby, gardening, together with general maintainace work around our smallholding keeps me very busy over the summer.   Worcestershire’

   The Black-winged Pratincole is yet another bird that I have history with having dipped the one at Frampton Marsh RSPB a number of years back. When one was found on a gravel pit complex near Doncaster my good birding friend Nick Truby messaged me to ask if I was going. This was an occasion when birding was definitely taken a back seat to family affairs, in this case the wedding of my gorgeous youngest daughter Josie. On Friday I was recovering from a truly memorable day and thinking about where to go birding on Saturday when some rather surprising information appeared on our “twitching the UK” WhatsApp group and RBA. After being absent for 5 days the Pratincole had returned to the original spot.   After a quick chat with my ever suffering lovely wife Carolyn  I set off towards Doncaster. The news had hit social media around 10:30 and I departed at 11:30 on what turned out to be an awful drive north. The M5, M42 and M1 are blighted by yet more roadworks, the majority of it being down

     Male Redstart The Redstart is one of the trio of woodland migrants, the others being the Wood Warbler and Pied Flycatcher, that I would hope to catch up with in the Wyre forest annually in May. I’ve always found it hard to get decent views of the Redstarts at Wyre and this May was no exception with a brief flight view. For whatever reason, they seem to be somewhat more confiding in the Welsh forests so I planned a very laid back woodland birding day there on Thursday last week.   The site I normally visit is some 100 miles drive from home but the windy Welsh roads determine that this is a 180 minute drive. After a very enjoyable early morning dog walk at home I was the sole occupant of the small car park when I parked up at just before 9 am. The weather was rather overcast and chilly, a stark contrast to the heatwave conditions we had at home earlier in the week.   The male Redstart in summer plumage is a very handsome and photogenic bird. He has a slate-grey head and upperparts,

      Avocet Chick Its been a very tough week this week. Our lovely horse Finn, my personal favourite,  had to be put to sleep. With his heart giving out he stopped eating and there really was no alternative but to do the right thing by him.   On Friday I decided a day out birding  was required to cheer me up and, with nothing to temp me to go further afield, I opted for a chilled out visit to Slimbridge. In terms of new ticks for my UK list, its been a slow year so far with just 5 additions, all major rarities:- Northern Waterthrush, Social Lapwing, Indigo Bunting, Collared Flycatcher and Bridled Tern. Last year really was an exceptional year for great rarities in the UK so I guess its back to normal in 2024!   Taking my usual advantage of the members early access privilege I took a slow walk along the hides towards the Summer Walkway. The Rushy was alive with new beginnings with good numbers of Avocet chicks in various stages of development. Subjectively at least, the Avocets seem to

   Bridled Tern On Saturday 1 st  of June a very rare Bridled Tern was found in amongst the seabird colonies on Coquet Island a mile or so off the coast of Northumberland. This attractive Tern resides in my infamous mega dips category, see here .  Coquet Island is famous as the  location of  a small colony  of breeding Roseate Terns, the UK’s rarest breeding tern.  It is possible to do a coastal tour of the island with a company called Puffin Cruises and, in fact, Jeremy and I did this very trip to see the Roseate Terns in 2018. No one is allowed to disembark on the island, which has a permeant warden in breeding season, for obvious reasons.   Coquet island at 275 miles distant from home is a good 4 hour drive and during the week I blew hot and cold as to whether to visit. My mind was eventually made up when Wayne, who runs our “twitching the UK and Ireland” WhatsApp group, very kindly offered to organise some bespoke cruises to the island for birders. The boat trip is very tide and se