KB57's 2017 UK list (1 Viewer)

[kb57]

23rd April: Low Newton, Northumberland
...more gannets and shags, plus
121. guillemot
122. yellow wagtail
white wagtail (1st UK, after seeing them in Switzerland last month), and...
123. ICELAND GULL * (lifer #671)

In my youth, large white-winged gulls were real bogey birds, and finding an adult in breeding plumage was a great way to rectify this omission. Although 'finding' is putting it a bit too strongly, having already scanned the flash several times for wagtails and waders, another birder pointed out the gull in the field in front of us I'd previously overlooked...

 

[kb57]

30th April: Coquet Estuary
Watching a grey seal feeding near the weir on an incoming spring tide, then saw:
124. common sandpiper

 

[kb57]

5th April, near Rotherham
125. blackcap
126. common whitethroat

 

[kb57]

Realised I won't get near my 1972 year list if I don't go to some of the places I visited then...like Minsmere. But first:
6th May: near Alnwick
127. tawny owl

RSPB Lakenheath fen
128. common tern
129. cuckoo *
130. reed warbler *
131. sedge warbler
132. glossy ibis * (1st UK)
133. swift
134. hobby *

Dipped on common crane and seeing a Cetti's warbler (again)

 

[kb57]

7th May: RSPB Minsmere
135. bittern * (1st seen for years! - also heard booming)
136. Sandwich tern
137. Mediterranean gull
138. house martin
139. little tern
140. Cetti's warbler

Finally added Cetti's warbler to my 2017 list, Lakenheath fen the previous day took some of the 'new for year list' species away, but great to see a bittern again. Changed a bit since my last visit in 1972!
Didn't have time to search heaths for Dartford warbler and woodlark, and weather not favourable (and season maybe a little early) for listening for nightjar. Also dipped on bearded tit, nightingale and stone-curlew, but all in all a great weekend.

 

[kb57]

19th May: a very wet morning in Northumberland, grey skies and...

141: grey partridge

 

[kb57]

Lots on at work so no time for birding in a critical time of year...chances of my target species wood warbler diminishing, along with three upland woodland species I did manage to see last year - tree pipit, common redstart and pied flycatcher...
I did get a couple of 'heard onlys' when work took me near Cambridge on 22nd May - green woodpecker and nightingale, the latter frustratingly close.

 

[kb57]

5th June: Epping Forest, Highams Park area

142. ring-necked parakeet

 

[kb57]

13th June: upper Coquetdale, Northumberland
evening visit to a woodland where we've previously seen redstart, spotted flycatcher and (a few years ago) tree pipit...today cuckoo, sparrowhawk and redpoll made for an interesting walk, but for the year list only produced:

143. woodcock
garden warbler (heard-only)

I can't recall ever seeing a 'sunlit' woodcock before, revealing just how richly warm-brown coloured they are..every other time has either been daytime views in cold winter light, or evening roding flights.

 

[kb57]

20th June: SE Northumberland

144. grasshopper warbler *

A very satisfying addition to the year list - heard reeling early morning, so I settled down and waited, determined it wasn't going to be another 'heard only'. Took a bit of patience, but it eventually moved from cover and perched on a fence post (so much for skulking!), put its head up and reeled, then leant forward and cocked its tail like a wren. Possibly my best ever view.

 

[kb57]

21st June: SE Northumberland

145. peregrine

23rd June, S Yorkshire - 2 more peregrines...like buses, wait six months then 3 come along at once! (locations redacted - first possible, second definitely breeding (adult / juv))

 

[kb57]

24th June: Coquet Island

146. Arctic tern
147. Atlantic puffin
148. razorbill
149. whimbrel *
150. roseate tern

Took lots of photos, but a roseate tern flight pic (as opposed to one stood next to a numbered nest box) still eludes me.
A UK whimbrel eluded me all last year, and was a welcome and unexpected addition to the day's list.
Left all cameras behind the following evening for a walk out to Newton Point, usually the scope is more appropriate. Mistake: close views of shelduck, an eider creche, and a cuckoo on foreshore rocks (!) eating a very large caterpillar while being mobbed by meadow pipits inevitably ensued...

 

[kb57]

After six months, ahead of my 2016 total (142), and more intriguingly keeping up with my uber-keen teenage birder 1972 half-year total of 148...I still had the Dorset heathlands and Suffolk wetlands and heaths to come that year though..

3rd July: near Frosterley, Co.Durham

151. common redstart

A rubbish view of a female flying across my path and into dense woodland, but after two visits to Skinningrove this year I can't complain about Phoenicurus spp.!

 

[kb57]

Work took me to Cambridgeshire last week, giving me the opportunity to visit a nature reserve famous for nightingales...which weren't singing this late in July; however I did catch up with a few other species which have managed to elude me until now.

July 13th: Paxton Pits

152. green woodpecker
153. garden warbler *
154. kingfisher

The following day found me working in the East Midlands, heading back north in the afternoon...I know I'm trying to stick with incomplete success to a 'no-twitching' rule, but that doesn't include rare breeding species, right??

July 14th: East Leake Quarry

155. European bee-eater *

This is also, according to Scythebill, lifer #672...except it isn't, as I have a distinct memory of seeing a riverbank colony from a train in northern Portugal during my non-birding years, and it's ticked off at the start of my old copy of 'Peterson, Mountfort & Hollom'...but didn't make it into my recent consolidation of records into one list. Anyway, this was much more satisfying, well worth a relatively modest 35 mile diversion!

 

[kb57]

Couple of days off in London with one of the main 'targets' the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition at the Natural History Museum; also managed another..

22nd July: Kensington Gardens

156. little owl

...saw Mandarin and Egyptian goose too, which I'd feel happier ticking if they were a bit further away from wildfowl collections...

 

[kb57]

No further additions last weekend, needing to go to Carlisle we tagged on a first ever visit to RSPB Campfield Marsh. Worth it for the white beak-sedge and black darter on the raised mire, but really not the right season for visiting this Solway goose site. Summer plumage dunlin and moulting golden plover provided a bit of wader interest on the foreshore.

 

[kb57]

As work found me in Immingham on Friday, with a free Saturday to follow, I took the opportunity to road-test the new birdwatching site guide for Yorkshire. Mixed fortunes, but overall managed to move the list along nicely:

18th August, RSPB Blacktoft Sands
157. green sandpiper *
158. common snipe (at last!)
159. spoonbill *
160. spotted redshank *

19th August

Hatfield Moors
161. black-necked grebe * (summer plumage - excellent!)

North Cave Wetlands
162. garganey *

Hornsea Mere
163. little gull *

On the negative side, missed a goshawk by 5 minutes at Wykeham Forest, then spent 1.5 raptor-free hours admiring the view...hopefully I'll get round soon to doing a 'your birding day' contribution to my 24 hours in Yorkshire

Back in the NE
20th August, Newton Point, Northumberland
164. Northern wheatear (another 'about time' addition)

 

[kb57]

24th August, Druridge Pools
Found a spot for spotting spotted crake, which sadly remained unspotted; however my wader list continued its progress towards respectability...
165. little ringed plover

 

[kb57]

26th August, RSPB Blacktoft Sands
After seeing spoonbills, green sandpiper and spotted redshank, it was inevitable that my partner didn't want to miss out...she was successful with all three, also adding garganey to her year list. Marsh harriers, ruff and lots of snipe also made for a great day, along with one new addition to the year list:

166. water rail

My #1 bogey bird as a teenage birder, water rail always feel special.

 

[kb57]

10th September, Leighton Moss
Meant to have a non-birding couple of days in the Lakes, but the appalling weather on Sunday meant a diversion to the shelter of the hides at RSPB Leighton Moss, and an impromptu twitch was in order. We were one of the luckier ones to arrive at the Grisedale Hide within 5 minutes of the purple heron making one of its periodic appearances, so:

167. purple heron * (1st UK)

Very little wader activity down at the Morecambe Bay hides though, starting to get a bit concerned that I still haven't seen a greenshank this year...

Travelling back yesterday, added another high-speed tick from the A69, thanks to my sharp-eyed partner noticing a crow mobbing an owl.

11th September, near Gilsland, Cumbria

168. short-eared owl *