A First For Britain

 Another quick post about a couple of twitches that I've been on recently. The first was fairly local, well in the East of the county of Leicestershire for - and getting more scarce - a Turtle Dove. I was with one of my birding mates, Dave Gray. On arriving at the site we decided to split up, and after half an hour of meeting up again, Dave had heard it at the church. Leaving Dave there and walking back to where we started, I first heard the distinctive call - and there it was sitting on a tv ariel! a quick call to Dave  and we were both watching this now very rare bird for Leicestershire.

                                                                     Turtle Dove

                                                                          Turtle Dove

The second twitch, well there was a bit more to this. On Satuarday 6th of June a Western Reef Heron, a first for Britain, was found in the Foryd area in North Wales. There was no way I could go, as me and the wife were getting ready for a coach trip to Scotland on the Sunday. The bird was relocated on the Sunday and showing well at Caernarfon.

The bird showed well all week, so I thought I'd have a chance of seeing the bird the following Sunday as we came back from our Scotland trip on the Satuarday13th.

Though there were a couple of reports of the bird on the 13th, they turned out to be erroneous, so I thought this one had slipped through the net for me.

Fast forward to Wednesday17th June, mid morning a report came of the bird being relocated at Conway RSPB. 

We were out shopping when the news broke, so it was straight home, unpack the shopping, and 3 hours later I was watching Western Reef Heron -  as I said, a first for Britain,  but what a bird.

                                                                Wester Reef Heron

                                                                    Western Reef Heron

                                                               Western Reef Heron

                                                                   Western Reef Heron

The images are not the best you'll ever see but records images of a great twitch 

. 

As always thanks for stopping by

First Few Months of 2026

 Just thought I would do a quick post on some of the more common and rarerities species I've seen in 2026. Mostly it's been with one of my mates Dave Gray, and on the odd occassion John Hague (Shrike Birding Tours) would join us. We would do a few hours birding in the morning mainly on a Satuarday and then do a non-league game of football in the afternoon. Must admit we have spent a lot of time in Lincolnshire this year, Frampton Marsh RSPB being a favourite.

Great-grey Shrike. This bird showed really well at Fillingham in Lincolnshire often hovering over its favoured field.

Black-throated Diver. This was with a couple Great-northern Divers at Covenham Reservoir in Lincolnshire. 

Great Northern Diver. This was one of two at Covenham Reservoir in February.

Shorelark. Took some finding, there were two individuals at Saltfleetby Lincolnshire but always distant

Avocet. These next few images were all taken at Frampton Marsh RSPB, it's always a good day at this reserve no matter what time of the year.

                                                                            Ruff
                                                                             

                                                                          Little Egret

                                                                     Goldfinch

                                                                            Sedge Warbler

                                                                                 Lapwing

Marsh Tit. This image was taken at Carr Vale NR in Derbyshire at a feeding station.

Reed Bunting. This was taken at the same feeding station as the previous Marsh Tit

Oystercatcher. The next few images were all taken at a local Wild Life Trust Rerserve, Cossington Meadows

Cuckoo. Very distant record shot, always nice to hear and see a cuckoo, you know spring has definitely arrived.

                                                                    Garden Warbler

                                                                     Blue Tit

                                                                         Common Whitethroat

                                                                        Little-ringed Plover

Wood Sandpipers. These are two of five birds found by John Hague -  almost sure a site record.

Long-tailed Tit. This was taken at Middleton Lakes Warkwarkshire, building a nest. This individual with a bill full of nesting material.

As always thanks for stopping by, let's see what the rest of the year brings as I'm excited about a couple of trips I'll be doing.

 

A bit of Winter Sun 2026

 On the 12th of January 2026 my wife and I enbarked on a cruise for some winter sunshine. Our home for the 23 days was aboard the Ambassador Ambition. We left Tilbury heading for Leixoes in Portugal which was two days at sea and which meant crossing the Bay of Bicay in really windy weather,  and a four metre sea swell -  not good for people that suffer with sea sickness [which gladly the wife and I don't suffer from.] The weather did stop me getting out on deck to look for cetaceans and what few birds there were, Gannet and Kittewake were the only birds I saw. Shearwaters would be way out in the Atlantic off the eastern seaboard of South America. This wasn't a birdwatching holiday, but when the opportunity arose I did take a few images.

                                                                        Yellow-legged Gull

Apart from Madeira and the Canary Isles where the weather was excellent, tempreture in the mid 20's, the visits to Malaga, Cadiz and Vigo, all in Spain were cold and sometimes really wet, but we still managed to get out and have a mooch about. Our two ports of call in North Africa, Casablaca and Tangiers were both cancelled due to inclement weather conditions. When we were in Gbralter we had to leave 3 hours early due to strong winds and a large sea swell coming in from the Atlantic.

                                                                      Cormorant

Below are a few images from the trip, all the waders were taken the harbour at Arrecife in Lanzarote. I love it there as you get fairly close to birds when the tide is right.

                             Atlantic Canary this was taken in Maderia at a childrens play ground 

Yellow-legged Gulls are common in the harbours around Iberia and Atlantic Islands, in Lisbon there were a flock of around 30 Mediterranean Gulls, sadly never came close enough to the ship for any images.

Canary Isle ChiffChaff

Rose-ringed Parakeet

Santa Cruz (Tenerife) has one of the best botanicl gardens, lots to see and lots of wildlife. it's a lovely walk and when you have had enough you finish with a nice cold drink from the cafe on site. Both the above images were taken here.

Like I've said,  Arreciefe is great for watching waders up close and it was nice to bump into 5 Eurasian Spoonbill; all the images below ere taken here.

                                                          Two of the five Eurasion Spoonbill

                                                                    Common Sandpiper

                                                                        Dunlin

                                                                        Whimbrel

 

                                                                              Little Egret

                                                                             Little Egret

                                                                     Turnstone

                                                                        Plain Swift

                                                                 Spanish Sparrow

Whilst I was on the ship in Arreciefe Harbour trying to take images of Yellow-legged Gulls I noticed a bird with a different wing pattern and bill structure; picking up my binochulars and getting on the bird,  I surprised  to see a lovely Audouin's Gull, and  also a very dark Lesser Blacked-back Gull, could be (fuscus) but I'll send the images to our Gull guru Carl Baggot.

                                                                 Audouin's Gull

          Lesser Blacked-backed Gull

The two image below were taken in Malaga when it was raining fairly heavily, it was that heavy my camera got wet through and stop working. but having got back to the ship it did dry out and none the worse for wear,

Monk Parakeet

Monk Parakeet

We have never been to Gibralter and was really looking forward to seeing the Barbary Macaque's. We don't go on many of the ship's trips as we like doing our own thing, but this was a must; on our way up the rock I did see some Barbary Partridge -  a bird I have not seen in a long time. but the Macaque's didn't dissapoint us, what alovely animal

Barbary Macaque

I can see one

Mum what they all lookig at

Do I need this many carrots

Oh, I saw that

Our last port of call was Vigo (Spain) always a good place for Black Redstart, I had seen a female type in Lisbon but had no camera with me, but here in Vigo I have always seen them around the harbour or very close to it, this time was no exception- a male and female were frequenting a little area next to the marina feeding around the statue of Jules Verne. along with a couple of Chiffchaffs.

Female Black Redstart

Male Black Redstart

Chiffchaff

It was a shame about the weather and the missed ports - although we did have a 'confused sea' according to the captain -  a new one for us. We still had a great time visiting some new ports, but Gibralter was the place for me. As alaways thanks for stopping by and hopefully be posting again very soon.