Once I had achieved this goal, I contented myself with adding to the life list as and when I could, without having any further target specifically in mind. Much birding later, I found myself approaching the 50 mark. I thought I had finally reached this target on 16 November when I latched onto some Slavonian Grebes in Wales, but I later realised that I had forgotten to count Twite and Scaup as lifers earlier in the year, so Black Tern was actually my 50th lifer some three weeks earlier. I must be more thorough next year!

I finished the year with 54 lifers, an average of more than one a week! I’m more than just a collector of ticks though. I’ve enjoyed seeing these new birds, but some of my best moments have involved the more common species, or have been memorable because of the company I was keeping at the time. As a result, I thought it would be fun to do some awards for the year. More of that later.

Looking forwards to 2008, I have a few goals in mind. Firstly, I will try to list each bird exactly as I see it. That might be tricky early on when virtually everything you see is a year tick, but it wasn’t until March 2007 that I started doing this and as a result some of my lifers may be a little out of order, which is a shame.

Secondly, I will draw up a list of 20 birds that I hope to see in 2008. This list will be based on realistic targets. For example, I’m off to Scotland in May, so birds like Scottish Crossbill and Crested Tit will appear, along with a few of the easier birds that I have yet to see, like Yellow Wagtail.

Next, I will compile a dream list. Previously, this would have included Wilson’s Phalarope and Lesser Scaup, but I was fortunate enough to see both of these birds in 2007. This list will include the kinds of bird that might take me many years to see, but that’s half the fun, isn’t it?

The first goal in 2008 is to pass the 200 mark. Only another 7 birds to go, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too long before I achieve this milestone. My Dad and I are keen to hit 200 on the same day, with the same bird. That probably means waiting until Scotland in May, but as my Dad has already seen a few birds up there that I need, it’s possible that I could beat him to it. Equally, he needs a few birds that I have so the reverse may be true. Whatever happens, I’m sure we’ll be celebrating whether it’s me or him, or a dead heat.

Okay, enough waffling. Here are some of the highlights of 2007.

Best Lifer

There are a few contenders. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that turned up in the garden on 13 August was particularly memorable, albeit a little lucky, and I really enjoyed getting the Tree Pipit and Whinchat within minutes of each other in Wales in May. There can only be one winner though, Wilson’s Phalarope. It had been number one on my most wanted list and I still can’t believe that I got it on a local patch so early on in my birding career!

Best Self-Found Bird

Absolutely no doubt in my mind on this one. I went to Shenstone on 15 April to tick Corn Bunting and Grey Partridge. Imagine my surprise when I latched onto something unusual nearby. I’d been studying my bird songs that week and new instantly what it was, then up popped a Wood Warbler! Certainly an odd place to find one. I think it was also my first report to the Worcester birding website. What a beauty!

Funniest Moment

When you go birding with Dave Lyons there’s usually a tale to tell afterwards. Norfolk was no exception. On 25 February we checked out of our guest house in Wells-Next-The-Sea and went to Holkham Hall. We parked the car and were putting our boots on when I noticed that some of Dave’s hair was orange. It looked like he had put turmeric in it! Anyway, Brian suggested that he rub it to get rid of it, but this only succeeded in turning it yellow and spreading it further across his head. We think he must have caught his head on some pollen-laden flowers as he picked his bags up in the morning. Brian was in tears! Dave wore a hat for the rest of the day.

Biggest Dip

There have been a few. I suppose in terms of travelling time and the fact that it was so late at night, the winner would have to be Nightjar on Cannock Chase. We were probably a bit late for them to be honest. Still, Dave Lyons’ presence ensured we still had a laugh as the sun descended leaving us in total darkness, with the threat of doggers lurking in every car park.

The Ones That Got Away

I didn’t tick a Knot this year. I think I may have seen one in breeding plumage in Devon in April, but I wasn’t 100% sure. If I’d known I was going to dip on a few at Bittell later in the year, perhaps I would have been a bit more thorough at the time. No Velvet Scoters despite extensive searches in Wales towards the end of the year. A Tawny Owl called from the oak tree opposite my house in the autumn, but despite a half hour vigil it never revealed itself. No luck with Little Owls or Short-Eared Owls either. A possible Yellow-Legged Gull in Wales in July never showed well enough to confirm its identity, and Red Grouse and Ring Ouzels were almost certainly heard, but never seen. All in all though, I had many more hits than misses and I can look forward to seeing those that evaded me sometime in the future.

Favourite Birds

I can’t pick one individual, but my favourites have been Wilson’s Phalarope, Grey Wagtail, Wood Warbler, Redstart, Bullfinch, Lesser Redpoll and Fieldfare, mostly for their beauty, but others for their elusiveness.

Best Birding Day

The day at Shenstone that I mentioned above was pretty special, but I couldn’t give this award to a day that I spent on my own. In view of that I think I would have to say 22 May, the day we came back from Wales. Bagging Tree Pipit, Whinchat, Cuckoo and Hen Harrier in half an hour was magical.

Here’s the year list for 2007 in its entirety:

Blackbird, Black-Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Dunnock, Goldfinch, Great Tit, Jackdaw, Magpie, Moorhen, Robin, Woodpigeon, Buzzard, Mallard, Pied Wagtail, Rock Dove, Long-Tailed Tit, Greenfinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Grey Heron, Jay, Mistle Thrush, Canada Goose, Coot, Cormorant, Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Herring Gull, Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Mute Swan, Pheasant, Pochard, Reed Bunting, Rook, Shoveler, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Teal, Tufted Duck, Water Rail, Wigeon, Willow Tit [lifer!], Bullfinch, House Sparrow, Bittern, Goosander, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Green Sandpiper, Green Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, Kingfisher, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Nuthatch, Peregrine, Raven, Skylark, Snipe, Treecreeper, Brambling, Wren, Barnacle Goose [lifer!], Bewick’s Swan [lifer!], Curlew, Dunlin, Greylag Goose, Pintail [lifer!], Redshank, Shelduck, Spotted Redshank [lifer!], White-Fronted Goose [lifer!], Blackcap, Redwing, Fieldfare, Great Black-Backed Gull, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Great Northern Diver, Smew [lifer!], Barn Owl, Common Gull, Crane [lifer!], Egyptian Goose [lifer!], Hawfinch [lifer!], Linnet, Marsh Harrier [lifer!], Red-Legged Partridge [lifer!], Ruddy Duck [lifer!], Sparrowhawk, Stonechat, Woodlark [lifer!], Yellowhammer, Avocet, Bar-Tailed Godwit, Black-Tailed Godwit, Brent Goose, Common Scoter [lifer!], Eider, Fulmar, Golden Plover, Grey Plover [lifer!], Little Egret, Marsh Tit, Meadow Pipit, Oystercatcher, Red-Breasted Merganser, Ringed Plover, Sanderling, Scaup [lifer!], Shorelark [lifer!], Turnstone, Twite, Woodcock [lifer!], Chiffchaff, Siskin, Cetti’s Warbler [lifer!], Little Ringed Plover, Garganey [lifer!], Jack Snipe [lifer!], Sand Martin, Corn Bunting [lifer!], Wood Warbler [lifer!], Grey Partridge [lifer!], Lesser Whitethroat [lifer!], Sedge Warbler, Swallow, House Martin, Willow Warbler, Wheatear, Rock Pipit, Razorbill, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Sandwich Tern, Laughing Gull [lifer!], Greenshank, Dartford Warbler [lifer!], Cattle Egret [lifer!], Gannet, Common Tern, Swift, Reed Warbler [lifer!], Common Sandpiper, Wood Sandpiper [lifer!], Red Kite [lifer!], Pied Flycatcher [lifer!], Dipper, Spoonbill [lifer!], Whooper Swan, Osprey, Grasshopper Warbler [lifer!], Garden Warbler [lifer!], Guillemot, Puffin [lifer!], Kittiwake, Chough [lifer!], Shag, Arctic Tern, Cuckoo, Redstart [lifer!], Tree Pipit [lifer!], Whinchat [lifer!], Hen Harrier, Tree Sparrow [lifer!], Turtle Dove [lifer!], Spotted Flycatcher, Manx Shearwater, Little Tern [lifer!], Black-Throated Diver, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker [lifer!], Hobby [lifer!], Ruff, Curlew Sandpiper [lifer!], Wilson’s Phalarope [lifer!], Black Tern [lifer!], Grey Phalarope [lifer!], Little Stint, Common Crossbill, Red-Throated Diver, Slavonian Grebe [lifer!], Purple Sandpiper, Lesser Scaup [lifer!], Lesser Redpoll, American Golden Plover [lifer!]

The best thing for me is that almost every tick carries with it the memory of a great day, a good laugh or something else that made it special, which in my opinion is exactly what birding should be about. Roll on 2008!

There didn’t seem to be too many birders about, so I knew it would be a bit of a challenge trying to find this bird in the vast expanse of water amongst so many Tufted Ducks, which it superficially resembles. As time went on one or two more birders turned up, but any decent gen was a bit hard to come by. Even those who had seen the bird seemed to be a bit reluctant to give us too much information. Finally, we stumbled upon a couple of very helpful chaps, who I later found out were Steve Seal and Bob Duckhouse. They got us onto the Lesser Scaup in no time [lifer!] and I would like to thank them for their help. Definitely couldn’t have done that on my own.

Other birds of note at Draycote Water were Goldeneye, Goosander and many Redwing. I also had some cracking views of Fieldfare, one of my favourite birds. Alas, in my semi-hungover stupour I forgot to take my camera so a few good photo opportunities passed me by.

Next we headed to Brandon Marsh. We usually pop in there when we’ve been to Draycote Water as it makes the journey a little more worthwhile [as if getting a Lesser Scaup was not enough!]. We were dead keen to get a Lesser Redpoll in view of events over the past few weeks. We latched onto a flock of Siskins after a bit and sorted through them. I thought I had a Lesser Redpoll amongst them, but just as I did so, the flock took off. Disaster! But within seconds, they came back to the tree we were under, and this time a splendid Lesser Redpoll was perched right up above us [year tick!]. No doubt about this one. Another cracking little bird. Definitely one of my most rewarding ticks this year.

On Monday we spent the day at Slimbridge. This trip had been planned for a few weeks, but took on more significance when the American Golden Plover turned up there at the end of last week. I checked the Slimbridge website every night to make sure it was still there. It was, but in view of the fact that it was amongst 1600 or so Golden Plover of the non-American variety meant I wasn’t over-optimistic about our chances of seeing it. My Dad was also keen to see White-Fronted Geese and the wintering Bittern, which were potential lifers for him.

We tried for the Bittern first. Worryingly, we received news that it had been showing brilliantly about 20 minutes before we arrived. Whether this was just sheer enthusiasm from the chap who had not only seen it, but had a rather nice picture of it, or a serious case of ‘being gripped-off’, I’m not sure, but as he was a pleasant fellow I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I probably would have done the same if I were him.

We left the hide about 15 minutes later minus our tick [actually, I've already seen a couple this year], but managed to buoy our spirits with what may at the time have seemed like misplaced optimism about seeing the American Golden Plover. However, on the way to the Holden Tower somebody told us it was showing very well. My Dad and I couldn’t contain our excitement. We practically skipped the last few yards to the hide, though not hand in hand I should hasten to add, and made our way up the steps. There were quite a few birders there and, yes, they were on the plover! We dashed to the window and got our binoculars up, then looked on in horror as the flock went up!

Call it divine intervention if you will, but as it came back down one of the birders [who in my opinion should be named in the Queen's next New Year's honours list] got back onto the target bird in a matter of seconds. He then proceeded to give an unusually excellent set of instructions as to its location and, with the scope now up and operative, I was able to get onto it with relative ease [lifer!]. My word, it wasn’t hugely different to the regular plovers! A bit smaller, a bit darker, a bit paler in the face. That kind of thing. Kudos to the person who first found it.

Having also ticked the White-Fronted Geese here, we decided to have another go for the Bittern. On arrival, we were again told that it had been flying around the reeds about 15 minutes earlier. If somebody had said it had been in the hide itself, eating a banana I wouldn’t have been surprised! Anyway, we scanned and we scanned to no avail. We were there for quite some time. Then one of the chaps from the Holden Tower spotted it [though he was now in the Zeiss Hide with us!]. Cue scenes of mass confusion as he tried to pick out some distinguishing features in the bit of the reedbed it was in!

Somehow, I managed to get a handle on where he was looking and a second or so later I had it in my binnies too. My Dad was struggling, however. Despite our best attempts, the bird disappeared before I could steer my Dad to the correct location. The fact that this meant our life lists remained level at 193 had nothing to do with this, I swear!

A good weekend all in all. I think I’ll be all birded-out for a few weeks now. My Dad? He’s off to Upton Warren on Sunday for that elusive Bittern!

At the time I was happy to tick them as Lesser Redpolls, but so many of Sunday’s Siskins looked sufficiently pale and streaky, before shifting position to reveal their tell-tale yellow markings, that I have to hold my hands up and say that I could well have been mistaken a fortnight ago. Annoyingly, I heard what I believed to be the flight call of a Lesser Redpoll as we headed back to the car. Still, I’ve had a tip-off that Brandon Marsh is a good site for them when it gets really cold. Might just follow that one up.

Next, I went to Bittell Reservoirs. I got a Green Sandpiper with comparitive ease at the upper reservoir, then caught up with another sizeable flock of Siskins at the lower reservoir. Again, no Lesser Redpolls amongst them as far as I could tell. Finally, a bit of scoping got me three Goosander, plus some Pochard and Teal.

I filled the bird feeders in the back garden at the weekend too and was rewarded with a good number of hungry birds on Monday. At one point there were three Goldcrests in the fir tree. The Coal Tits and Nuthatches appreciated the feast too.

I’ve had a lifer in every month this year, so I would love to bag another in December. With this in mind I am thinking of heading to Trimpley Reservoir again on Sunday to see if I can track down the Mandarins. The weather forecast doesn’t look too clever, so we’ll see how things shape up. Then we are heading off to Slimbridge on Monday. I probably won’t pick up a lifer there, but I’m looking forward to hunting down the Bittern, plus it’s an excellent opportunity to test my wader identification skills, which have come on leaps and bounds this year. The camera will be along for the ride too.

Lastly, there are plans afoot for a trip to Brandon Marsh [Lesser Redpolls take note!] on 23 December, with a possible visit to the gull roost at Draycote Water afterwards.

Whatever happens, you can be sure that you’ll read about it here first!

In the fading light we managed to add a few more birds to the trip list, namely Snipe, Gadwall, Little Grebe and Canada Goose. I also had one of those strange birding moments when I thought I caught sight of a Black-Necked Grebe on one of the pools. It dipped out of view before I could get a really good look at it, but even now I am pretty sure it wasn’t a Little Grebe. Logic suggests that it wasn’t and I haven’t seen any reports of such a bird there, so it remains a mystery even now.

We decided to stick around to watch the Starling roost, which was fairly modest in all honesty, not rivalling the one I saw at Slimbridge in January, but it was nice to see anyway and I did manage to get a couple of reasonable photos.

Saturday was a bit miserable weather-wise, but we still braved the wind and rain to get a bit of unproductive seawatching in at Criccieth. We did manage to add Grey Wagtail to our list that day, however, by stopping off at a reliable haunt on the way back to the bungalow.

On Sunday morning I had a walk up to the ‘magic field’ and bagged a resplendent male Bullfinch , several Redwing and a Goldcrest along the way. My Dad had gone off to pick up the papers, but he suddenly appeared alongside me in his car, clearly unable to resist the temptation of picking up a few more goodies!

We continued to the ‘magic field’, flushing a Snipe in the process, a first for me up the lanes here. We had some more Goldcrest, a pair of probable Linnets, which we couldn’t be certain of, but didn’t get the usually reliable Stonechat despite hearing its distinctive call.

Once back at the bungalow and fully fuelled, we set off again with the ladies in tow for another walk around the lanes. This time I added Stonechat and Kestrel to my list, though my Dad had already ticked these birds earlier in the week.

Later that day we paid a visit to the Glaslyn Whooper Swans before spending about an hour at Porthmadog in the hope of a Short-Eared Owl or Barn Owl. We got neither, but I added Sparrowhawk to my list and we also had a Kingfisher zipping across the water.

Our final bit of birding took place on Monday morning. We had a quick visit to the woodland near the bungalow in an attempt to get Treecreeper and Nuthatch. It was quite cold and windy and fairly quiet, so we headed back, but stopped near St Cybi’s Well, which proved to be an excellent decision as a raptor came into view over the trees. I immediately thought it was a Kestrel, but once I had my binnies on it I could see it was potentially something much better. It disappeared from sight, then shot across in front of us at which point I was able to confirm my suspicions. A Peregrine! Never had one here before. Definitely bird of the day.

Lastly, we nipped to Llanystumdwy [try saying that after a few swigs from the hip flask!] in the hope of seeing a Dipper. In keeping with the theme of the trip, we didn’t get what we were after, but we did catch up with a few Treecreepers, a welcome final addition to the trip list.

Since returning my Dad tells me has also seen Knot, Common Sandpiper, suspected Green Sandpiper and Woodcock, so our combined list must be around the 90 mark.

Weather permitting, I shall be off to Slimbridge again in December, so there is still a chance of squeezing a few more ticks and maybe another lifer out of 2007. I’ll report back in due course.

Here’s my Wales trip list:

Blackbird, Black-Headed Gull, Black-Tailed Godwit, Blue Tit, Brent Goose, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Gull, Common Scoter, Coot, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Goldcrest, Goldeneye, Goldfinch, Great Black-Backed Gull, Great Crested Grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Greenshank, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Greylag Goose, Herring Gull, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Lapwing, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Little Egret, Little Grebe, Magpie, Mallard, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pintail, Purple Sandpiper [year tick!], Raven, Razorbill, Red-Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redwing, Ringed Plover, Robin, Rock Dove, Rock Pipit, Rook, Shelduck, Slavonian Grebe [lifer!], Snipe, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Starling, Stonechat, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted Duck, Turnstone, Whooper Swan, Wigeon, Woodpigeon, Wren

We arrived on Thursday afternoon and immediately headed off to Foryd Bay to see if we could spot any rare grebes or divers on the sea, but it was very quiet and apart from a few Cormorant and Oystercatcher we saw nothing. Things improved in the bay itself where I was fortunate enough to drop onto a Common Gull as soon as I put the scope up. With a bit of patience we managed to add Wigeon, Pintail, Dunlin, Brent Goose, Redshank, Black-Tailed Godwit, Little Egret and a few more gull species to the list.

That evening, fuelled by a couple of bottles of red wine, my Dad and I felt it would be a good idea to have a go for a Tawny Owl. We headed off at about 10:30pm and after a bit of tramping around the lanes and fields my Dad managed to get a response to one of his owl impersonations. Sadly, it sounded as though the bird was about half a mile away, so we decided to call it a night and headed back to the bungalow.

We had enjoyed birding at Foryd Bay so much that we headed down there early on Friday morning too. This time we got a few Greenshank and Turnstone to add to the list. A buzzard posed obligingly on a fence post on our way down, but my pictures of it didn’t turn out too well. However, another picture of the beautiful sunrise that greeted us fared a bit better.

After breakfast we headed up towards Conwy. After dropping my wife and her mother off in the town centre, we went to Llanfairfechan for a spot of seawatching and another chance to latch onto a rare grebe or diver. It was a beautiful day and the sea was like a mill pond. Ideal conditions. We saw a number of Common Scoter, but were unable to turn any of them into anything better despite our best efforts.

There were quite a few Great Crested Grebe present, then I got the scope onto a few more grebes that had a different jizz altogether. Within seconds I knew that they were either Slavonian Grebe or Black-Necked Grebe. I got pretty excited at this point as I knew I was on the cusp of sorting out my fiftieth lifer of the year. After a good ten minutes or so of scoping, referring to the books and a bit of discussion with a fellow birder we were happy to call it. They were Slavonian Grebe [lifer!]. As time went on we saw a few more. Smashing little birds. Hoping to get them in their breeding plumage in Scotland next May. That will be something to look forward to. There is a very poor record shot. I won’t embarrass myself by posting it here!

The fellow birder also got us onto a Black-Throated Diver, only my second of the year having nabbed the one at Draycote Water in August. We also added Razorbill and Goldeneye to the list. Originally, we had planned to come here to get the Black Redstart that had been around a week or so ago, but the bird had not been seen for a number of days. Still, it is a great place that I will definitely come back to at some point.

Next up was Rhos-On-Sea. I had some excellent gen that I hoped was going to get us Purple Sandpiper. Twenty minutes or so later we were there and within minutes we had a number of waders on the rocks along the sea front. A quick bit of sorting out revealed them to be Redshank, Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper [year tick!], Ringed Plover and Dunlin. This is only the second time I have seen Purple Sandpiper and although they are a bit of an underwhelming bird in terms of appearance, they are quite elusive so I deem them to be an excellent addition to the year list. They were a lifer for my Dad so he was doubly pleased and so, for the second time that day, we rewarded ourselves with a swig from the hip flask.

Next up we went to the reserve at Conwy, but I’ll elaborate on that and the rest of the trip in the next instalment.

Stay tuned, fellow birders.

With a bit of patience I managed to see a few [year tick!], plus some Siskins, Goldfinches, a Buzzard, a Treecreeper, a Goldcrest, a couple of Shovelers and a Kestrel.

Next bit of birding begins on Thursday when I head off to Wales again.

In case you hadn’t guessed from the title, the expedition was unsuccessful, but I did hear some Barn Owls screeching and thought I spotted one briefly by the church on Chapel Lane. Otherwise it was very quiet. I think next time I try this experiment I will consider doing so from the warmth and comfort of my home. I have reasonable views across the fields where I see Barn Owl and hear Tawny Owl occasionally, so this seems to be the more sensible solution.

On Sunday morning I headed over to Upton Warren with my Dad to see if we could see the Bittern. Unfortunately, the fog meant we could see very little and with no signs of it clearing any time soon, we decided to call it a day fairly quickly. We had seen some nice birds though, including Snipe, Kingfisher and a few Redwing.

I may venture to Bittell Reservoir next weekend, before heading off to Wales again for a few days on 15 November. Still hoping to see Lesser Redpoll, Purple Sandpiper, Long-Tailed Duck and maybe one of the rarer grebes this year, plus we have a bit of gen, which might yield us Firecrest and Black Redstart, but I’m not holding my breath for either of those two!

Until next time, happy birding!

Everybody else was already up there, having travelled up on Wednesday. My intention was to set off on Thursday morning, stopping off on the Berwyns (the largest area of heather moorland in Wales) for a few hours in an attempt to catch up with Hen Harrier, Merlin, Red Grouse, Siskin, Lesser Redpoll and Crossbill. Over the coming days I hoped to get a good hour’s seawatch in somewhere, and I knew there would be a couple of early morning excursions around the lanes for the more common passerines and raptors. Plans for the return journey remained flexible depending on what I had or hadn’t seen at that point.

I arrived on top of the Berwyns at about 11:45am and decided to spend 45 minutes in the area known to be reasonably reliable for Hen Harrier. I didn’t need this bird for the year list having seen them in May in this area, but I felt the area might be good for Merlin and Red Grouse, both potential lifers. I knew the chances of seeing either were slim and I suspect most, if not all, of the Merlin have now moved down to lower land to spend the winter. Not surprisingly neither of them showed. The Hen Harrier didn’t make an appearance either, but I added Buzzard, Stonechat and Meadow Pipit to the trip list.

Next, I travelled the quarter of a mile or so to a car park on the perimeter of a conifer plantation. This is where I saw my first ever Crossbills almost a year ago to the day, so hopes were high. I parked the car and wandered down a track to the left, picking up Goldcrest along the way, but the path petered out fairly quickly and so I headed back to the car and took the track to my right. It was all very quiet. A few birds were passing overhead, but I think they were Greenfinches, although I didn’t positively identify them.

Suddenly, to my left came a loud chip chip call, and a small flock of birds appeared from one of the trees, settling in another a few yards further down the track. I knew the call was that of Crossbill, but I thought the birds I had seen were Siskins. I quickly set up the scope with the intention of sorting through them in the hope of there being a Lesser Redpoll amongst them, but my heart skipped a beat and I uttered a profanity as I realised I was actually looking at a dozen or so Crossbills [year tick!]. I watched them for at least half an hour, desperately trying to get a decent photograph, but the lighting and the fact that they preferred to feed at the very tops of the conifers made it very difficult, as you will see below.

I still hadn’t given up on seeing Merlin, so I reluctantly left and travelled a little further down the road, before having one last look around. I saw another Buzzard, but 15 minutes later I was feeling increasingly pessimistic about my chances of latching onto anything decent and decided half an hour’s seawatch in Criccieth might bear more fruit.

An hour or so later, I was there. I picked up several rafts of Common Scoter fairly easily, but they were too distant to pick out any potential Velvet Scoter that may have been amongst them. A few single birds were nearer, but I was unable to turn them into anything better either.

On arrival at the bungalow in Llangybi my Dad and I headed over to St Cybi’s Well, which is only five minutes walk away. Half a dozen Ravens had been present for a day or so, displaying over the hill behind the village and it was a good opportunity to see these birds at close quarters.

Friday morning brought a visit to the ‘magic field’ and here I saw Stonechat, Raven, Buzzard, Green Woodpecker, Great Spotted Woodpecker and Kestrel. Fairly quiet overall though. We headed down to Criccieth beach later with the boys. Whilst they rummaged around in the rock pools, I added Rock Pipit, Gannet and Oystercatcher to the trip list, plus I noted either Guillemot or Razorbill, and what was most probably Manx Shearwater out at sea. We also saw about eight or so Turnstones on the rocks, but unfortunately for my year list there were no Purple Sandpipers amongst them.

There was a real champagne moment on Saturday. As it was a bit of a miserable day, my Dad, brother, my nephew Will and I went to the pub near the Glaslyn valley. We thought we could enjoy a pint or two, then see the Whooper Swans, which arrive here at this time of the year. We did enjoy a couple of pints, but the swans are obviously a little late in arriving this year. However, the injured Whooper Swan that has been resident for a year or two now was present. I bet he or she can’t wait for the others to arrive. Not long to go now mate!

Further down the river I spotted a Red-Breasted Merganser and my Dad and I (my brother is not a birder and had headed home with Will) made our way along the bank so that I could try for a photo. The flash from the camera spooked the bird, which flew off and the picture was rubbish, but then I noticed something else in the water. I got the binnies onto it and another profanity escaped from my mouth – it was an Otter [lifer!]!

I came home on Sunday, via Criccieth where I picked up a Red-Throated Diver off the sea [year tick!], then Porthmadog where I saw Redshank, Curlew, Teal, more Ravens, a few Red-Breasted Mergansers, Lapwing, some Common Gull and three Black-Tailed Godwits. I stopped off again on the Berwyns and saw one lone Crossbill, plus what I think was a male Hen Harrier ghosted over the top of the conifer plantation. I wandered much further through the plantation than I have before. Some cracking habitat, which warrants much more birding in the future.

All in all, a great trip. About 60 species seen and a couple of year ticks to boot. No lifers as far as the birds were concerned, but the Otter more than made up for that. I’m back up there in November and hope to be spending a day on Anglesey, which could yield a few newbies. Only a couple of weeks to go!

Not a great deal else was seen to be honest. Highlights were a Raven, a probable Peregrine and numerous Buzzards, but there were no lifers nor year ticks to be had.

On Thursday we went to the National Bird Of Prey Centre near Newent. Well worth a visit. They have many captive birds including several different types of owl. An excellent opportunity to get up close and personal with some amazing birds. They have at least two flying demonstrations daily and despite only intending to see one demonstration, we spent so long looking around the captive birds that we ended up staying for the second one too.

On the day we were there, they flew Harris Hawk, Southern Horned Owl, Great Grey Owl, Eagle Owl, Lanner Falcon, Kestrel and a pair of Turkey Vultures, plus a few others that escape me at the moment. All in all it was excellent value for money and somewhere I will almost certainly pay another visit to one day.

I returned home on Friday afternoon and immediately checked the web to see what had been around the local patches whilst I had been away. The first thing that I noticed was that a Grey Phalarope had turned up at Earlswood Lakes on Wednesday and had hung around until at least Thursday. A glance at another website told me that the bird had been seen there on Friday too, though I didn’t know when or exactly where.

Undeterred by this lack of gen, I dashed off down there expecting to be greeted by a host of fellow birders, but the place was very quiet. A bad sign. As I was scanning the lakes from the central causeway a chap stopped his car to ask me if I had seen the phalarope. I explained that I had only just arrived, but that I wasn’t too optimistic in view of the lack of activity and he drove off. Just then, I heard a bit of a commotion and noticed a pair of Black-Headed Gulls harassing a small bird further along the Windmill Pool. I scurried up the path running alongside the pool and found the bird, which turned out to be the Grey Phalarope [lifer!] as expected.

I had remembered to pick up the camera and I must have taken in excess of fifty pictures of the bird, four of which turned out quite well! I was a bit worried about the chap in his car at this point, so was pleased to see him turn up a few minutes later. Two more birders arrived shortly afterwards, then I bumped into a pair of birding friends on my way back to the car. As I made my way back down the causeway, more birders were beginning to arrive. I did my good deed for the day by pointing them in the right direction and headed home.

I went along again on Saturday with my father, but the bird had gone. Unfortunately, my Dad has dipped on two phalaropes in the space of as many weeks, but takes consolation in the fact that he connected with Great Skua, Arctic Skua and Velvet Scoter whilst in Scotland.

We then headed off for Upper Bittell Reservoir to see if we could get the Little Stint, a potential lifer for my father and a year tick for me if we were successful. We knew it would not be easy, after all we would be looking for a bird about 12cm long from a distance of about a quarter of a mile away! Not discouraged by this fact we arrived, set up the scope and began surveying the water’s edge. It takes me about forty minutes just to get my eye in at Bittell, but we were lucky enough to have a fellow birder present who was very pleasant so we were able to have a bit of a natter, which made the situation a bit more pleasurable.

Finally, I picked up a small wader across the reservoir. Not a Little Stint, though. After a bit of debate and with the assistance of the other chap we decided it was almost certainly the Curlew Sandpiper that has been reported there recently. The scanning continued for another fifteen minutes or so until I picked up two tiny waders. For a starter, there were supposed to be two Little Stints present, so this was a good sign. Secondly, they were undoubtedly much smaller than the Curlew Sandpiper. Beyond that, it was extremely difficult to make out much detail, but the jizz [general impression of size and shape] of the birds was good for Little Stint and the plumage and bill length, so far as we could tell, was good too. On balance, we decided it had to be Little Stint [year tick!]. Despite seeing this bird twice now at Bittell, I have to say I would love to get a bit closer to one!

That’s about it for this week. The autumn passage seems to be tailing off a bit now, but here’s hoping something else drops in during the next week or so. Remember, I only need one more lifer to take the year’s tally to fifty! I would love to achieve that target this year as the law of diminishing returns means I will struggle to get anywhere near it again.

Firstly, on Monday my wife and I had a stroll along Bittell Reservoir. It was fairly quiet apart from the usual species that you tend to see and I was unable to pick out anything of note at the upper reservoir, despite recent reports of juvenile Arctic Terns, Curlew Sandpiper and one or two other smaller waders. We did, however, spot a Hobby hawking over the field behind the reservoir. This was a lifer for Mrs Telescope and possibly the best views of this bird that I have had. Excellent viewing.

We then headed off to the Lickey Hills, not for anything specific, but I thought we might connect with a few woodpeckers maybe. However, it was fairly quiet up there. I did see a couple of Nuthatch and caught up with my first Treecreeper for a few months, but that was about it really.

On Tuesday, I saw further reports of Arctic Tern and Black Tern at Bittell, so I decided to pop along after work. After a bit of effort I got the Arctic Tern, though I have to be honest, telling these birds from Common Tern is still quite a challenge for me. Shortly afterwards, I thought I had the Black Tern in my sights, but they were too far away to be sure. I had to wait patiently for ten to fifteen minutes as one inched its way across the reservoir. Then it was close enough to identify [lifer!]. Quite a small bird, with a short tail. An unexpected yet welcome addition to the life and year list.

Not a great deal else of note this week. A number of Jays have been quite active in the field opposite the house this week. I don’t remember seeing that many Jays last year, but I can’t seem to get away from them this year. Lots of Mistle Thrush too, but hardly any Song Thrush. I guess it just happens that way some years.

On Saturday afternoon I spotted a pair of Muntjac deer in the farthest field from the house. Having first seen them a few weeks ago, I wonder if they’re going to become regular sights now? Also, whilst I was writing this blog, a Grey Heron flew right over the top of the house.

Should get out next weekend with the scope. I’ll keep an eye open for any rarities passing through before deciding where to head to. Until next time, happy birding!