Midlands Birding Blog

In the middle of winter, during those long, often birdless, walks around our patch with few more species on our list than there were at the end of New Years' Day, we could all do with a bit of motivation. A reminder that anything can happen in birding, even things that seem scarcely believable. I spend a lot of time in Devon and one of my favourite areas is the Axe Estuary. On the 4th of August 2016, I was down for a week on holiday and, being 20 minutes away, decided to go to Black Hole Marsh on the Axe Estuary to see the Least Sandpiper which had been found 2 days previously. The bird was performing outrageously well from the screens at the base of the hide walkway. Far too close for scopes and close enough that I could get this photo with a phone camera: I've seen plenty of Least Sandpipers in the USA but even there, I have never seen one so close. It gave a great opportunity to study the plumage details. Who knew I'd have to employ them so soon? After getting ...

It's been 3 weeks now since my first ever rare find - or rare possible-find - whatever that may be called!  On the 4th of June, after a long and exciting day in Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire , my dad and I called in at Thorne Moors at 18:00, hoping to get to 100 for the day. What we weren't expecting was a rarity! Parking on the road in Moorends, we set off down the Grange Road access track. The vastness of this site soon became apparent; in fact, we walked for at least of 2km before we even got to the moor. We’d clearly come to the wrong place to add waders to our list, or at least the wrong place to find them in a short walk! The moor at Thorne Moors - around 2km from the Grange Road parking Walking through the small area of woodland after the information board before the main moor itself, I heard a strange song coming from quite deep in the trees, behind an area of deep water. It sounded like a Chiffchaff singing its notes in the wrong order. I pointed it out to my dad. Cont...

Most birders will probably admit their birding is a fine line between a hobby and an obsession. The listing bug is so easy to catch! I've definitely strayed more towards twitching recently. Lately though, I've tried to resist the urge and focus my listing temptations elsewhere. I've decided my favourite thing is self-finding birds - nothing can beat the excitement. I know, this is far easier said than done. Every twitcher would prefer to find the bird themselves! It is so much harder, the rewards are so much more elusive and, perhaps most of all, the rules are so much greyer. I tried to make my own self-found list - something I could count and something I could try to improve. It wasn't easy. That is, until I found Punk Birder's rules. Self-finding always makes sightings so much better, such as this surprise Spoonbill on my patch in June 2017 I was late to the party, and these rules have been around for ages, but to me they were a revelation. If you haven...

I’ve always considered myself halfway between a birdwatcher and a twitcher; I’ve never travelled long distances to see rarities but I can’t deny that buzz of seeing or even better finding one. I am a lister I suppose. I keep many different lists and always record what I see – I don’t drive across the country to see a Black-winged Pratincole but if I’m at Frampton Marsh when one is found I’ll certainly be the first in the queue to see it! I suppose you could say I twitch opportunities – I would travel a long way to visit Wells Woods during a easterly wind in the autumn but not really because there’s a Hume’s Warbler found there, rather because I want the opportunity to find the other rarity that might be lurking there!  You would be right in saying though that I’m certainly in the group of ‘one’s to watch’ in becoming a twitcher – I could easily become someone who travels to Cornwall to see an American Robin hopping round a suburban car park. It’s for this reason that I’m always ...

Welcome to Midlands Birding Blog!  This blog is my birding diary as a young birder from the midlands. Here, I'll post content about birds, Midlands birdwatching, trips and more. It will be specifically about birding in Derbyshire and birding in Leicestershire, as I live on the border of these two counties. I am a keen patch birdwatcher at Willington Gravel Pits, but I love travelling further afield in search of birds, particularly day trips in the UK to Norfolk, Spurn, Frampton Marsh and lots more and when I can, birding abroad. I’ve been lucky enough to travel to Costa Rica and Spain on birding trips and to Mauritius, Iceland, Canada, USA, France and more with my family. Costa Rica was my favourite place to go bird watching and is the primary reason why my life list stands at 836.  My UK life list currently stood at 254, almost exclusively without twitching, though that being said the best bird I have seen in Britain has to be the Spurn Siberian Accentor in October 2016....