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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

My Year List 2015 (1 Viewer)

14th May 2015

Sunny but much cooler and strong Easterly breeze at times.

Visit to the coast.

Spurn

148 House Martin

149 Little Egret

150 Grasshopper Warbler

151 Little Tern

152 Cuckoo

153 Whimbrel

A good day at Spurn hopefully migrants will start to turn up .

John
 
19th May 2015

Sunshine , Rain , Hail , wind we had it all , in two hours.
News came through of a longer staying pair of birds.

North Cave Wetlands NR

154 Wood Sandpiper

155 Temmincks Stint

Latest Lifer Temmincks Stint 296

UK List Temmincks Stint 274

John
 
26th May 2015

Weather was fine and dry with little wind, a ride out on the scooters.
Visit to our local reserve.

OLD MOOR RSPB

156 Curlew Sandpiper

157 Bittern

John
 
26th May 2015 - 28th May 2015

Alan Cawthrow and myself had a trip to North Uist and mainland.

North Uist 27th May 2015

Weather was atrocious torrential rain, with sunny spells but still enjoyable.
Weather much better on mainland but still raining on and off.

159 Manx Shearwater ( MV Hebrides )

160 Red - throated Diver

North Uist

161 Great Northern Diver

162 Corncrake

163 Short-eared Owl

164 Arctic Tern

165 Hooded Crow

166 Glaucous Gull

MV Hebrides Return Journey 28th May 2015

167 Arctic Skua

168 Great Skua

Pass of Cattle

169 Greenshank

170 Golden Eagle.

Loch Of Lowes Dunkeld Perthshire 29th May 2015

171 Osprey

172 Siskin

Latest Lifer Corncrake 297 , Hooded Crow 298 Glaucous Gull 299

UK List Corncrake 275 Hooded Crow 276 Glaucous Gull 277

A great break and some fab birds Corncrake down to five feet wandering across the road great stuff.

John
 
29th May 2015

Weather was much the same as the scottish trip.
Our return journey was planned to take us down the East coast, an RBA Alert
had us diverting around 5 miles.

Bothal Pond Northumberland

173 Black-winged Pratincole

Fabulous bird to round off our trip.

NB Twenty minutes after we left to resume our journey home a Gull-billed Tern paid a visit to the pond for around an hour. Now that would have been the icing on the cake.

Latest Lifer Black-winged Pratincole 300

UK LIST Black-winged Pratincole 278

John
 
16th June 2015 Barnsley Mega !!

Weather today was fine and warm with a gentle breeze. It remained the same during early evening.
A call came through of a Mega at Old Moor our local reserve.
Found the day before but disappeared after 10 minutes it had returned and was lingering, so after a torture walk ( No scooter available ) I eventually arrived at the hide.

Old Moor RSPB

174 Gull-billed Tern

Excellent views, well worth the pain to get there.
There have been two birds 1st in early 00"S didnt stop , and this bird which looked like it was going to roost still showing at dusk. Both birds found by Dave the warden . Thanks.

Latest Lifer Gull-billed Tern 301 BBR


UK LIST Gull-billed Tern 279 BBR
 
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30th June 2015

Weather was dry and had been sunny most of day .

News came through of a Little Bittern being seen at local reserve whilst the observer was on nest protection for the Bittern nest.

Old Moor RSPB

175 Kingfisher

No sign of the Little Bittern
Early morning start tomorrow

John
 
1st July 2015

The weather look set to be fair again , i arrived at reserve at 4.50am.
The reserve had set new opening times whilst the bird was present.

Old Moor RSPB

176Little Bittern BBR

Several birders were present at the reserve the bird eventually showed itself in a short flight from the Bittern Hide.

After a series of short flights it landed approx 30yds from hide and perched on the outside of the reed bed giving excellent views for around 10 mins before disappearing towards the back of the reserve.

At the time of writing ( 19 .8.15 )the bird is still present though very elusive and only seen in short brief flights.

Lifer 302 Little Bittern BBR

UK LIST 280 Little Bittern BBR

John
 
1st July 2015

Warm and sunny with little breeze.
A visit to another local reserve around 1 hour away to see a fantastic breeding bird which return after the previous breeding sucess.

Blacktoft Sands RSPB

177 Montagu's Harrier

Fabulous views of the male, but unfortunately no food passes whilst we were there. Marvolous news they believed to have reared two chicks.
A stiory of good reserve management and hopefully they will return for a third year.

John
 
21st July 2015

Weather was sunny and dry little breeze.

A trip into Staffordshire for this long staying bird with Alan and John.

Chatterley Whitfield

178 Red- footed Falcon

Latest Lifer 303 Red -footed Falcon

UK List 281 Red-footed Falcon

Excellent views , bird is still present at time of writing 19.08.15

John
 
23rd July 2015

Weather warm and sunny.

A planned visit to Norfolk with Alan was taken today.

Weeting Heath Norfolk Wildlife Trust

179 Stone Curlew

UK List 281 Stone Curlew

A great day out

John
 
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31st July 2015

A sunny day not too warm with no wind.

News came out on the RBA alert that there were breeding Bee Eaters in Cumbria.

No Brainer had to go , myself and Alan made the journey.
A 1 mile round trip walk was a killer but well worth the effort and pain.

Brampton ( Lower Gelt Quarry ) RSPB Cumbria

179 Bee eater

Latest Lifer 304 Bee eater

UK List 281 Bee eater

It was a excellent day we saw three birds in total, there are two nest with young, although only one nest was at the location we were at, the other is not available due to the still working quarry.

John
 
5th August 2015

Weather sunny and dry with a gentle breeze at times

A trip to Spurn with Alan for another fabulous bird , hope the Autumn migration is going to be good this year. Started Well !!

Spurn East Yorkshire

180 Black Stork BBR

181 Sandwich Tern

The bird was located in Bluebell pond and dyke. The canal bank was the only place which afforded any views . For 3hrs we saw occasional glimpses of its head,
thankfully it took to the air and flew around the assemble birders at 30 yards distance. Great views of a fabulous bird , the second for Spurn Bird Obs in its history.

Latest Lifer 305 Black Stork BBR

UK List 282 Black Stork BBR

John
 
13th August 2015

Another pleasant day with sunshine and little wind.

Another visit with Alan to Blacktoft sands for another fabulous bird.

Blacktoft Sands RSPB

182 Spotted Crake

183 Green Sandpiper

The bird was located at the first hide and was showing very well.
When we arrived it had flown to an area where it was not viewable.
However it did return to its favoured spot along the reed bed opposite and gave some fantastic views.

Latest Lifer 306 Spotted Crake BBR

UK List 283 Spotted Crake BBR

John

Marching relentlessly towards my UK 300 list, will it be this year ? who knows
 
25th September 2015

A visit to Spurn

Spurn Peninsula

184 Yellow - browed Warbler
185 Barred Warbler
186 Jack Snipe

A good day at Spurn with Alan

John
 
12th October 2015

Spurn Peninsula

190 American Golden Plover

191 Red -flanked Bluetail BBR

192 Fieldfair

193 Richards Pipit

194 Brent Goose

Another day at Spurn with Alan

Latest Lifer 307 Red-flanked Bluetail BBR

UK LIST 284 Red flanked Bluetail

John
 
25th November 2015

A day out at the coast with Alan , weather very mild but blowy.

Scarborough

195 Turnstone

196 Little Auk

197 Black-necked Grebe

Had a very good day finally saw a Little Auk swiming in the harbour near to the lighthouse for around 3 minutes , dived never saw it again .

Latest Lifer 308 Little Auk

UK LIST 285 Little Auk

John
 
2015 Review

This has been a mixed year for me a good start then had problems with mobility
a scooter was aquired which helps now to get to places Alan and myself cannot walk too

I'm very pleased that I saw many fabulous birds and a good number of new birds.

Year Total 197

New Lifer birds

23 Lifers 10 being British Bird Rarities

15 Birds still needed for my 300 UK maybe next year, although anything can happen.

Good Birding have a great 2016 Regards

John
 
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