you know there's fuck all on the east coast when you go to the west

the last stilt sandpiper i saw in 2001 was nice and close,but todays was as usual distant.still a good bird and never realised how close the solway is to home.i had never been to this part of the country before.carlisle is in the middle of nowhere but has loads of police.
driving the roads to campfield marsh the locals had that 'children of the corn' look about them.im sure i saw a father and daughter pushing their 3 children down the road.you dont need a secret cellar in these parts.
im afraid that was it,left home at 11:15 picked up nick d and got home at 20:00.

scotland

stilt sandpiper(left)

rain sets in over scotland

on the way home stuck in traffic for an hour,chatting to nick about how all the really good birds are found midweek and go by the weekend,just like the brown shrike.
i came up with what maybe the most genius idea i have ever had.................................

tranquilize the fuckers

yes i think its the way forward.

scenario

take the brown shrike found late wednesday and gone by friday.
so using my new patented 'tranquilize birding'(tm).the shrike could of been caught and rung then tranquilized,kept safe with wires and tubes i think maybe,then revived on saturday morning,placed on the same hedge,result everyone see's it.

pro's

no more stressing
a nice easy drive to save fuel and costs,also no speeding points
you will see the bird
the farmer makes more money for charity

con's

it may die

a lazy saturday

3 hours at the 'with' from dawn,im full of cold,headache,legs ache,stomach pains.but fuck it

3 goosanders (all females)
1 chaffinch (get in year tick)
1 golden plover 1
6 twite

no off roaders! STUNNING

then set off to potteric carr

no birding but did hear a willow tit

dragons

migrant hawker 8
southern hawker 3
common darter loads
ruddy darter 6

butters

brimstone 1
comma 1

comma
incoming

common darters

southern hawker

#102 SHOVELER

3 shoveler on the res this afternoon,fuck the brown shrike!! a 'with' tick is far better!so that makes 102 for the 'with' list.
2 goldcrests in the pumphouse tree were welcome as well,even more welcome was the 2 common buzzards(1st for 2 years) that gave a great show for 30 minutes.

shoveler #102
the 'with'

common buzzard
the 'with'

the day then got better.................................
i found that tesco's is not only good for bargains but is also good for meeting single women!!!

quiet on the western front

apart from this car which had a rough ride at oxygrains.




only birds today were

skylark 1
meadow pipit 3
kestrel 1
carrion crow 2

3 yankee waders and it was crap

started at the 'with' early doors,but not early enough as the mad bagpiper of brigadoon had beaten me to it(twat) then mountain rescue were holding a training day,but i only saw them eating bacon butties! as for the birds twite 36 goldfinch 21 wheatear 1 reed bunting 4

mad bagpiper

bacon butties

then ensued the worst days birding of the year

picked up nick at 1120 yes a good 40 minutes before noon!
headed for alkborough flats in yellow belly land.i felt like ringing RBA and saying.......................

'wilsons phalarope still at alkborough flats but so distant dont bother its just a white splodge'

at one point i admit it did come to about half a mile away!

dead thing

then on to hatfield moor for the pectoral sandpipers,this was shit as well because the who ever found them could not give directions.with a bit of luck we found them.

nick puts the boot in
'no fungi were hurt in the taking of this photograph'

2 pectoral sandpipers

phising in the bushes

for fucks sake!

people are twitching the 'with' from birmingham!! i blame jim! for this on birdforum

'kay d' posted

'Green Withins Reservoir today (thanks to Jim - we got our Twite ....about 15-20 of them). Also c30 Goldfinch, 5 Reed Bunting, lots of Mipits and one Tree Pipit, Skylark, Peregrine and Kestrel.'

ok not a twitch but stopped off on the way home
tree pipit,well and truly gripped off.

oh well,
this evening

whinchat+M62 combo

tw*t*
59?

sssshhhh i had a load of t**t*

well much better weather today after the last fews days and finally some birds

it seemed quiet but meadow pipits were moving over in small numbers,and headed south west after a brief stop on the south dam puddles for a wash and drink(its like a cheap service station)
also on the dam were 42 t**te,sorry i cannot mention the name,but the twiteaholoics will be banging on about rings etc,ok one had enough rings on it that it could not fly!
the bracken to the north held 2 whinchats and 1 stonechat.
bird of the day was yellow wagtail which dropped in on the south dam on the way back,a nice year tick. it was with 8 meadow pipits,and settled in the ditch,it looked settled but my friend and her 2 dogs came bounding along! oh well at least a flight shot of the bird.which was the first for halifax this year!!!!!!

yellow wagtail

brown flycatcher ,flambourgh 2007 and that snipe

another one off the list!

yep an adult! how many adult birds from siberia turn up in the uk in autumn?
not a great many,less than 1%,most are first winters.

the brown flycatcher it was an adult,aged by the brighter wing bar and tail shape.
and the great snipe at flambourgh may just be a common snipe! but as usual its more confused than that.
phil c found the 'bird' it was flushed 6 times prior to 11am,confirmed by andrew lassey as a 'great snipe'

BIRDFORUM

more bempton.....its great for east european hotties

bempton is the place on the east coast of yorkshire to see hot east european women,fact.this afternoon 3 stunning women(with bins) walked north,maybe i should put the news out?

walked the cliff north to buckton,a spotted flycatcher and redstart little else apart from a sparrowhawk.around the car park more spotted flycatchers and 2 redstarts.
just like the last influx of honey buzzards ive missed them this time.

sparrowhawk

spotted flycatcher

redstart

just after i left news broke of a 'possible' savi's warbler at flambourgh,though soon after i arrived it was just a reed warbler!
quite a few low listers headed to spurn for a pallas's grasshopper warbler,given spurn's recent seemingly news blockage it would not surprise me if this had been seen much earlier!!!!


though i think 'birdforum' is crap most of the time i liked this by 'lawts'

My words from last Sunday!! What a difference a week makes in birding. The views on the 14:00pm flush were very poor - brief and in thick fog. Nevertheless I'm having it based on its bulk, its silent rise, and its low straight flight. Also, a birder on site (and I still don't know how) managed a couple of record shots showing the bird to have a deep keel and long wings.

thats me that is!!!!!

GET IN!!!

dawn the 'with'

up to 60 meadow pipits grounded by the thick mist,which as usual were all along the south dam wall,also 15 twite (non ringed) apart from that very quiet though a male mallard on the res is the first in september.
at 10:15 a text off 'rare bird alert'(other rare bird company's are available,but shit) about a GREAT SNIPE at flambourgh.
back to the car and off!
at just over 2 hours later(due to other road users who don't realize theres a great snipe at flambourgh) first off a tame little stint,very nice thankyou.

then a birder comes up to me and says

'where is the flush taking place of the great snipe'

me 'in the field were it was last seen'

'yes but where are we meeting?'

me 'by the field where it was last seen'

i looked at the barnsley birder with disdain and left.
only to see daz ward and tracey.who were lucky enough to find the parking ticket machine out of order(dam them slow drivers could of saved me £3)
after a coffee(cheers daz i owe you one)we headed to the field after a few minutes....................

GET FUCKING IN

GREAT'FUCKIN'SNIPE!

after taking the worst ever photos of a great snipe,a walk down old fall.

redstart 2
pied flycatcher 1
spotted flycatcher 2
whinchat 1
garden warbler 1

on the sea 4 arctic skuas

little stint

and to end the day a wryneck below the lighthouse

wryneck

a fantastic afternoon with some great people

daz ward+tracy
dave mansell

ravens and whinchat

one of them visits were it seemed dead but as it went on it got better and better.
nw wind loads of clouds and rain
while sheltering in the boathouse call of the raven drowned out the sound of the M62,2 birds then 1 more flew over heading south.
stunning birds

ravens

with the wind in the 'north-west' i checked the bracken clough(now named....migrant valley.in honour of pittswood)and added more to my theory on bird movement at the 'with.

whinchat

the bracken held

whinchat 1
willow warbler 1
goldcrest 2

all migrants

on the res

goosander 2 females

a great visit

top gun

peregrines
in formation

in all the time i've spent up here at the 'with' this afternoon i saw something truly spectacular

3 peregrines playing!

they spent nearly 30 minutes chasing each other around,playing in the wind,or the 2 females were just bullying their little brother!

peregrines
playing

a big reservoir 'with' one bird on it

3 meadow pipits and 2 carrion crows were all i saw on the walk to the res,as usual the 'with' throws up it usual curve ball,on the res a black dot,a duck,a quick look through the bins reveals a drake common scoter,nice one.
in the last 3 years this is the 3rd record totaling 41 birds now,so on paper it is the commonest duck up here!!!

common scoter

bempton sunday

yep it would happen on the last day of my week off!
loads of migrants on the north east coast.after spending the morning at my parents i headed to bempton,only for the fact its the easiest place to get on the coast from riccall.
spurn is still a fair drive,scarbourgh has too much traffic on the A64,cleaveland is a drag(its easier from home) flambourgh is too clique.
bempton for seems to offer the best for me.

not a lot about only a few redstarts,pied flycatchers a couple of wheatears one of which was seen to come 'in off' lots of willow warblers

redstart

pied flycatcher

wheatear

fulmar

and i get home to find out theirs a great snipe at south gare baaaasaattttaardddd!!!!!!!
the commonest wader in britain ive not seen.

a distant phalarope in speedbump city

got soaked to the skin for this grey phalarope,its was not showing well.it was as distant as very distant thing in a distant place.but a great find for a local birder
it appears that wakefield council bought a job lot of tarmac a few years ago and with what was left over they put various speedbumps all over the place.

grey phalarope
altofts

and the sky went black

black clouds and showers were the order of the day up the 'with'

another one of those visits which make me want to come up here more.it seemed very quiet but

wheatear 5
house martin 4
peregrine 1
kestrel 1
skylark 1
meadow pipit 24
wren 2
reed bunting 3
carrion crow 3
teal 1

'with'
hdr

a blonde takes one from behind

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