Midlands Birding Blog

It's a common birding dilemma. Do you do a patch year list? But then what if you want your list to count the Cirl Bunting you see on holiday? So instead you do a UK year list. But then where's your reward for finding that Osprey over your patch, when you can see them easily at Rutland Water? My 2021 Greener Year List hopefully combines the joys of both. Allowing you to count all the birds you see but rewarding you for finding them closer to home. If 2020 taught us anything in birding it was of the joys that can be had in staying local, with many birders now opting to do this on a permanent basis. With this 2021 GYL, local birding is, rightly, weighted higher and rewarded but a trip further afield still counts towards your list. This is a list which reflects the growing movement to limit birding carbon footprint and engage in greener birding. The Rules: The Points: (all distances are as the crow flies) Walking/cycling from home: 30 points If driving/using motorised transport: Wi...

In an isolated tree in the middle of Southgate shopping centre in Bath, hundreds of Pied Wagtails flock together to roost on winter nights. I never would have noticed them, had I not been walking by late one night last year and wondered why the tree still had leaves in the winter. It was only on a second glance that I realised those "leaves" were moving! Since then, I've been back many times. There are few things more peaceful than standing on a cold winter night in the middle of a busy city watching these birds huddled together, sleeping peacefully overhead. For me, birding has always been an escape and a way to release stress; this sight has to be up there as one of the most calming. During my three years of university, I have shown the Pied Wagtails to many non-birding friends, and every time without fail they've been met with reactions of surprise and awe, and invariably seem to spark an interest in why they're there and what sort of bird they are.  The Wagtai...

If I told you 10 years ago that I'd counted 29 Great White Egrets this morning, you might have raised your eyebrows and probably assumed they were Littles. Even then, there was a time not too long before that when 29 Littles would have raised some eyebrows. And yet I really did see 29 Great White Egrets , 11 Little Egrets and 3 Cattle Egrets today! And that's not even close to a record count, with around 50 Great Whites currently on the lake. I'm sure numbers like these aren't especially impressive for seasoned Somerset birders, but for me the novelty hasn't worn off! I have my car with me at uni in Bath this year, and today was the first day I got a chance to go birding. I decided to go to Chew Valley Lake. It's a site I've heard a lot about but never visited before. First stop was the roadside at Herriot's Bridge, where I was greeted immediately by the  Great White Egrets . 21 Pintail were on Herriot's Pool, and large numbers of Pochard , Tuft...

When you plan an autumn trip to Norfolk months in advance, you can never count on good conditions. The chances are that you won't get them. So back in August, when I booked a 4 day trip to Norfolk from the 18th to the 21st of September, I was counting on a great trip full of resident specialities, lingering summer breeders and a few early arriving winter visitors which would make for a long trip list. Besides, Cranes, Bitterns, Bearded Tits and Spoonbills are more than enough to keep me happy even in the worst migration conditions. But as the days went by, I couldn't help but start to glance at the winds on Windy.com. And there they were - easterlies - starting a few days before the trip and continuing until the 21st. I didn't let myself get excited; after all, forecasts can be (and often are) wrong, with the winds all to often swinging back round to SW at the last minute just as you've got your hopes up. But this time my hopes were realised. To say that we were lucky w...

Last weekend I decided I couldn't not go and twitch the adult Rose-coloured Starling  in Measham, as it was just 5 miles away.  Having only seen a juvenile before, it certainly felt like I'd got a new lifer! A drab brown juvenile really doesn't prepare you for the pink and black splendour of an adult, and I was lucky to get fantastic views of it for around 20 minutes on Sunday morning, even though others found it elusive. To see one of these birds so close to home got me thinking about a concept I've heard other young birders talking about before but never given much thought myself - it's been described to me as an 'Uber Patch'. This is the 5 mile radius around my house, into which the Rose-coloured Starling falls! It seems to me to have many advantages as a patch: Firstly, as the Rose-coloured Starling proves, anything is surely possible. I'm resigned to the fact that in my garden, for example, I will probably never find a national rarity. And yet a qui...

My family and I went on holiday to Northumberland for a few days this week. With a forecast of strong northerly winds and regular showers, I was hoping that I might get in a couple of hours of sea watching.  Seahouses is the best place for close views of Eider Being a Leicestershire birder, any sort of Skua or Shearwater is usually a year tick if not a lifer for me! So I was hoping for a few new birds for my year list. Sure enough, I found myself in Seahouses on Tuesday evening and managed to get in an hour of sea watching from Annstead Point before dark. The visibility was terrible, and this forced birds really close in to shore. It was evident straight away that birds were moving.  Annstead Point (at the tip of the golf course) - to get here walk South along the coastal path from Seahouses harbour. Standing in front of the hide here provides shelter from the wind and rain A constant stream of gulls and terns flew by. We picked out both Arctic and Sandwich Terns and hundreds ...

A few months ago in June, I set out around Nottinghamshire & Yorkshire to try and beat my previous day record of 101 birds (from Norfolk in January 2018). Despite a great day, with a lifer of Woodlark, I failed on my day list target. On Sunday, however, I managed 105 species, beating my previous record. 93 of these were at Frampton Marsh alone in just 6 hours on the reserve!  The day didn't start off with this in mind. Arriving with my dad at Frampton at 08:15, I had two main targets: 1. to see 20 species of wader in a day (something I've somehow never previously managed) and 2. to find the Temminck's Stint which had been around on the reserve for a few days but been notoriously elusive. This would be a UK lifer, having previously seen one only at Aiguamolls in Spain. I've always loved waders. I'm not quite sure why but from an early age Curlew Sandpiper and Little Stint were two of my favourite birds. I love scanning through a teaming scrape, not knowing what ...