Montagu's Harrier, King's Fleet, Suffolk

Montagu's Harrier 1 1st summer male
Marsh Harrier 1 male
Channel Wagtail 1 male
Yellow Wagtail 1 male

Year: 248 (Montagu's Harrier)

I had great views of the Montagu's Harrier as it hunted across wheat fields and rape fields at King's Fleet near Felixtowe. My first Monty in the UK since the one I found on Reed's Moss in St. Helens back in 2001, and only my third ever in the UK.

First impressions when seeing an unexpected Monty can be that it looks like a huge falcon, and in fact when I saw the bird on Reed's Moss in 2001, my first reaction was "bl#!dy hell, that's a big falcon!".

As you can see in this photo, the harrier appears to be carrying a dragonfly.

Channel Wagtail. My second Channel Wagtail this year, following one at Leasowe in April. Channel Wagtail is a Yellow x Blue-headed Wagtail hybrid.

A14 just west of Kettering

Hobby 1
Red Kite 1

Year: 247 (Hobby)

Essex

Turtle Dove 1
Sandwich Tern 2
Cuckoo 1
Green Woodpecker 1

Nice views of the Turtle Dove, sitting on a wire and purring away.

Eccleston Mere

Gadwall 2 (m&f)
Kingfisher 1
Tufted Duck 5
Buzzard 1

Very quiet.

Rough-legged Buzzard??? No, this is a Common  Buzzard hovering over the fields at the mere. For comparison, below is a photo of a genuine Rough-legged Buzzard hovering, which I took on Anglesey in 2012.

Frodsham Marsh

Red-necked Grebe 1 adult summer on Weaver Bends
Lesser Scaup 1 adult male on No. 6 tank
Marsh Harrier 1 male carrying prey over No. 6 tank

None of these birds were even Frodsham ticks, let alone life or year ticks!

Lesser Scaup

Red-necked Grebe.

Long-tailed Skua, Hatfield Moor

Long-tailed Skua 1 adult
Turtle Dove 1 displaying and calling
Tree Pipit 1 displaying
Cuckoo 1 calling
Garden Warbler 1 singing

Year: 246 (Long-tailed Skua)

Dragonflies: 4 Hairy Dragonflies, 1 Broad-bodied Chaser, 5 Four-spot Chasers. These were my first Hairy Dragonflies.

Beetles: Green Tiger Beetle

The Long-tailed Skua was both a stunning and remarkable sight, flying around in the middle of the Hartfield Moor NR peat diggings known as Packard South. This is a huge reserve, and it was nearly a 3 mile walk from the car park to where the bird was showing, and yet three quarters of the reserve still stretched away in front of us. At first I thought that it was an odd place to see a Long-tailed Skua, but I suppose that's only if you consider the species from a British point of view as a passage sea bird, but Hatfield Moor is probably quite similar to its breeding grounds.

With a year list of 246, this year is now already my second best year ever and I'm only 13 behind last years record of 259. This time last year I was on 197.

Green Tiger Beetle.

Broad-billed Sandpiper, Nosterfield LNR, North Yorks

Broad-billed Sandpiper 1
Dunlin 10
Avocet 10
Lesser Whitethroat 1 singing

Year: 245 (Broad-billed Sandpiper)

The Broad-billed Sandpiper was my 4th. It was asleep most of the time, but when it did move it showed very well and we could clearly see its head markings.

Little Bittern, Elton Reservoir

Little Bittern 1 adult male
Common Scoter 1 adult male
Common Tern 1

Year: 244 (Little Bittern); North West: 350

At last Elton Reservoir came up trumps! After dipping on the White-winged Black Terns at the same place last week, I made the grim journey along the M60 and through Bury with a heavy heart today. The threatening black clouds overhead did nothing to ease the feeling of impending doom, as I confidently expected to dip again with a bird which can be skulking and difficult at the best of times.

However, it had showed well this morning apparently, so I waited patiently with the ever increasing crowd of birders, hoping that it would perform again. After an hour though, it hadn't reappeared and the heavens opened. I decided enough was enough, vowed never to return, and started walking back towards the car.

I hadn't gone 100 yards, when I looked back to see pandemonium! Birders were running, others were peering through scopes, and the rest were clicking away at cameras! I joined the ranks of the former and legged it back to the crowd. After an anxious 30 seconds, I found the bird sitting in a small willow tree, an obscured view but never the less a big relief! Then it dropped down and was gone again. However, it was now clearly active again, so I waited a bit longer. Finally, after about another 20 minutes, it flew out of the willow and gave us all a 60 second aerial display before dropping down again into a bush. That was my cue to go. Elton Reservoir had redeemed itself...... for the time being.

Spurn, East Yorkshire

Red-breasted Flycatcher 1 female
Red-backed Shrike 1 female
Little Tern 10
Dark-bellied Brent Goose 30
Avocet 5
Wheatear 1

Year: 243 (Red-breasted Flycatcher, Little Tern)

Red-breasted Flycatcher, my fourth species of flycatcher so far this year.

Female Red-backed Shrike.

Little Tern.

Spurn.

Filey Brigg, East Yorkshire

Red-backed Shrike 1 male
Puffin 3
Gannet 10

Year: 241 (Red-backed Shrike)

Filey Brigg.

North Cave Wetlands

Mediterranean Gull 1 adult
Little Gull 1 1st summer
Avocet 10
Little Ringed Plover 8
Common Tern 10

Surveying Great Crested Newts

It's been a busy few days, I've been in Warwickshire doing a variety of surveys, including bats, reptiles, great crested newts and birds. Tiring stuff, up at dawn and still working at midnight, but all very interesting. Below are a couple of photos of great crested newts from this morning, a male and a female.

Male.

Female.

Brandon Marshes, Warwickshire

Cetti's Warbler 2 singing
Little Ringed Plover 2
Ringed Plover 2
Common Tern 5
Kingfisher 1
Garden Warbler 1 singing
Reed Warbler 10
Cuckoo 1 calling

Houghton Green Flash

Ringed Plover 3
Little Ringed Plover 1
Yellow Wagtail 2 (male & female)

Eccleston Mere

Mandarin 1 m
Swift 10
Tufted Duck 4 (2 pairs)
Whitethroat 3 singing
Great Spotted Woodpecker 1 juv at entrance to nest hole.

Flycatchers, Warblers and Osprey in Cumbria

Pied Flycatcher 3 (2 singing males & 1 female)
Spotted Flycatcher 2
Wood Warbler 3 singing males
Garden Warbler 2 singing males
Osprey 2 on the nest from Dodd Wood view point

Year: 240 (Spotted Flycatcher)

An excellent day in Cumbria, I first had a couple of surveys in the north of the county and was delighted to find two Spotted Flyctchers, a Wood Warbler and a couple of Garden Warblers. Then it was onto Dodd Wood at the side of Bassenthwaite for typically poor, distant views of the Opsreys on the nest. Finally I headed over to the other side of Bassenthwaite and found a couple of singing Pied Flycatchers and a couple of Wood Warblers at Powter Howe.

Spotted Flycatcher.



Pied Flycatcher.

Close up of an Osprey on the nest from the Dodd Wood view point.

I found this Coal Tit nest in the roots of this birch tree.

Houghton Green Flash, Winwick

Black-necked Grebe 2 adult summer
Yellow Wagtail 2 (male and female)

Brundholme Wood, Keswick and Blencathra

Wood Warbler 1 singing and displaying.
Pied Flycatcher 1 singing
Redstart 4 singing
Garden Warbler 4 singing
Lesser Whitethroat 1 singing
Tree Pipit 1 singing

Year: 239 (Wood Warbler, Pied Flycatcher)

We walked a 10 mile circular walk from Brundholme Wood, over Blencathra and back through the village of Threlkeld. All of the birds above were in or around Brundholme Wood. The only species seen on Blencathra were Raven, Wheatear and Meadow Pipit.

Wood Warbler. Pure white underparts! I love watching these warblers display, and this bird performed admirably.

Brundholme Wood.

Brundholme Wood.

Blencathra.

Sharpe Edge and Scales Tarn, Blencathra.