It started on Friday when I came down with a stinking cold. Having struggled through work, I decided that the best remedy was to fight fire with fire and picked up a chicken madras from my local Indian takeaway on Friday evening. I have to say, I did feel quite a bit better on Saturday, but was still a bit chesty and frail, and on waking up this morning I decided to stay in bed a bit longer, which is quite out of character for me.

Having finally risen from my slumber at about 8:30am, I staggered to the computer to pick up what birding news I could, but instead of my usual tour of the birding websites I decided to spend half an hour or so creating an account for my Dad on Birdguides. Having done this, I then typed up a short set of instructions for him and emailed them to him. He’s headed off to Scotland this morning so is keen to keep an eye on what might be around whilst he is up there.

So, it’s about 9:10am and only now am I starting my tour of the websites. For some reason, I leave the Bird Forum till last. I don’t know why I did that, but when I did finally take a look at 9:13am, I saw a post from a fellow birder stating possible Wilson’s Phalarope at Upton Warren on the Flashes. It was only posted three minutes previously, so any earlier and I wouldn’t have seen it!

Wilson’s Phalarope! This is a bird of near-mythical proportions. I nearly twitched for one a few weeks ago, but it would have been a bit of a drive and I didn’t really want to see it without my Dad being there. If I had, I would have felt bad about it.

Anyway, I rush into the bedroom, start babbling to my wife about it and before you can say Jack Robinson, I’m showered and ready to go. Having very little hair helps, but even if I had a barnet like Julia Roberts I guess I could have worn a hat!

Okay, so it’s about half an hour later and I’m at Upton Warren. A quick dash to the hide reveals that word has travelled fast. There must be about ten scopes in there already. And I thought I’d got there quick! Still a few spare seats though. I grab one fast. A few minutes later and there must be about 20 birders in there now, all frantically phoning their mates. Arthur Jacobs [Upton Warren legend] asks ‘Has anyone got hold of Gordon yet?’. ‘I’m already here!’ comes a voice from the farthest reaches of the hide. Brilliant!

The bird isn’t showing yet, but the chap to my right points out roughly where it vanished a few minutes ago. It turns out I’m looking in completely the wrong direction, however, as the bird pops up and back down again without me seeing it. Surely I’m not going to dip on it? That would be too much to take.

Suddenly, several people are on it again, perhaps the whole of the hide, with the exception of me of course! I ask the chap to my right if it’s out. He tells me it is and suddenly I have it in my sights. Wilson’s Phalarope [lifer!]!

If I hadn’t stayed in bed so long and if I hadn’t looked at the birding websites exactly when I did then I wouldn’t have seen it reported, by which time it might have been too late. I wouldn’t have wanted to go without my Dad either, but as he was probably halfway to Scotland by then there was nothing I could do about it. Of course, the bird could always hang around for a few days, but I wasn’t about to take the chance! I guess it was just meant to be. Sadly, in my haste to leave the house I didn’t pick up my camera so I don’t have a record shot, but I can always get that next time. If there is one!

Finally, on the way home I got flashed by a speed camera and, to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less! Why? A speeding fine: £60. Wilson’s Phalarope: priceless!

However, I then dipped on the Knot at Upper Bittell Reservoir in the evening, a bird which is proving to be my 2007 bogey. I thought I had had one in Devon in April, but was not certain enough to tick it and now I’m hoping a few more pass through during the Autumn passage so that I can add it to the year list.

Time was a bit short yesterday as my Dad had to get home in time to watch my nephew play rugby, so I’m afraid that we were a bit guilty of acting like dudes [birding term for those who, amongst other frowned-upon activities, have a tendency to turn up, get their tick and bugger off again]. We were only at Upton Warren for about ten minutes, before heading off to Holt. Having got the Ruff almost immediately we then went to Grimley and enjoyed good views of a Kingfisher for all of five minutes before setting off home again!

Otherwise, it has been a fairly quiet week, though I did have a Swallow fly over the garden last Sunday, which was a first for the year, and yesterday morning, a pair of Muntjac deer turned up in the field opposite my house at 6:30am. I’ve never seen them around here before so this was a bit of a surreal experience!

The Autumn passage seems to be in full flow now, so with a bit of luck there could be some good stuff to go for locally over the next few weeks. Then I have a couple of expeditions to Wales to look forward to at the end of October and November, so I have a chance of squeezing another half dozen or so birds out of 2007.

Next year there are plans afoot for a trip to Devon in February, Norfolk and Suffolk in April and the highlands of Scotland in May, so if I don’t pick up some quality birds there then serious questions will have to be asked!

First off, I walked to work this week so picked up a few nice birds along the way, namely Great Spotted Woodpecker, Nuthatch and Kestrel. I also heard a Green Woodpecker along Brick Kiln Lane, but didn’t see it.

Tuesday night was a bit special. I went outside to collect the wheelie bin just after 10:00pm and no sooner than I had stepped out of the front door a Tawny Owl called from the oak tree just over the road. I waited patiently to see if it would show. Alas, it did not, but in a twist of irony a Barn Owl did float over whilst I was waiting! I continued my surveillance from the bedroom window and heard it call again about half an hour later, but still no sign. Shame, as it would have been a lifer.

On Friday I went to Weston-Super-Mare for the day. I couldn’t resist trying for the Spotted Crake and Little Stint at Coombe Hill Meadows on the way, having first sought consent from my long-suffering wife. Sadly, neither birds showed up, but it was good to find out where this reserve is in case future twitching opportunities present themselves.

Before we set off for Weston-Super-Mare, a pair of Bullfinches turned up in the garden. Other good birds in the garden this week included Coal Tit and a Wren this morning.

Weston-Super-Mare was pretty uninspiring as far as birds go. Just gulls, gulls and more gulls really. Still, they say if life hands you a lemon, make lemonade, so I now have some reasonable pictures of a Starling, Lesser Black-Backed Gull and Herring Gull to add to my growing collection of amateur snaps.

On Saturday I had a stroll around the lanes and picked up a Goldcrest in Wilmore Lane and then Buzzard, Sparrowhawk and Kestrel along Barkers Lane and Tanners Green Lane. Map of Wythall courtesy of Google is attached. The Resolution building where I work is at the top left of the picture.

I had planned to nip out this morning and have a look for the Great White Egret that turned up at Grimley yesterday, but it appears that it did not hang around. Too bad. Let’s see if next week brings anything worth going for!

Therefore, I shall take this opportunity to talk about the regular visitors to my garden. On Bank Holiday Monday I was out there with the camera and managed to take a few snaps of them. Please excuse the quality of some of them!

The Nuthatch has always been a visitor to our garden and I think it was this bird that first got me interested in birding because it was so different to anything I had ever seen before. They love the peanut feeder especially, though I actually ended up taking a photograph of one on the seed feeder.

The Coal Tit was around too. They are less frequent, but I see them most weeks.

The smaller birds you can rely on day in and out are Great Tit, Blue Tit, Robin, Dunnock and, best of all, Goldfinch. The latter never used to be around, but having noticed a pair one day a few years ago I started putting out niger seed and they are now ever present.

Among the larger birds, Woodpigeons are never far away, plus Jackdaws and Collared Dove. Wrens are scarce as are House Sparrows, Bullfinch and Greenfinch, but they do appear from time to time, unlike Song Thrush, which I have not seen in the garden this year.

The Great Spotted Woodpecker appears from time to time and usually hangs around for a few days when he does, favouring the peanut feeder. The Lesser Spotted Woodpecker that showed up a couple of weeks ago was probably a one off and I doubt if I will see it again.

Other erratic visitors over the past few years have included Siskin and Lesser Redpoll, which were around during the very cold spell in March 2006. A Goldcrest will often pop up in the winter and maybe later in the year too. In fact, one paid a brief visit to the garden on Monday, but has not been seen since. Not a great photo unfortunately.

Birds that have been observed from the garden, as opposed to in it, include Redwing, Lapwing, Barn Owl, Cormorant, Raven, Pheasant, Grey Heron and Buzzard. Living opposite a field does help!

Anyway, here’s my all time list of birds seen either in or from the garden:

Barn Owl, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Dunnock, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Lapwing, Lesser Redpoll, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Long-Tailed Tit, Magpie, Mallard, Mistle Thrush, Moorhen, Nuthatch, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Redwing, Robin, Rock Dove, Rook, Siskin, Song Thrush, Starling, Stock Dove, Swift, Woodpigeon, Wren

A Robin in the garden

A Great Tit on the peanut feeder

A Dunnock in the fir tree

Barney enjoying himself on the lawn

On Monday I went to Brandon Marsh and spotted 2 more Hobbies from the Carlton Hide. It’s like buses isn’t it? Nothing for 37 years, then 4 come along in 2 days! Terrible photo follows.

I also saw several Kingfishers, but none hung around for a photo opportunity. Judging by the quality of the Hobby snap, perhaps this was just as well!

No more birds of note were seen, but I did have a splendid flapjack from the tearoom. I may have imagined it, but whilst I was drinking my coffee I thought I saw a Willow Tit on the bird feeders. Not certain enough to tick it, but I have already seen one this year so didn’t lose any sleep over it.

On Tuesday afternoon I couldn’t resist popping up to Bittell Reservoir to see if I could locate the Greenshank that had been around for a day or two. I didn’t see it unfortunately, but afer much perseverance I did identify 2 Ringed Plovers, which I was quite pleased with considering how distant the viewing is there.

Having replenished the feeders in my garden yet again, it was nice to see the Nuthatches making regular appearances at the end of the week. I had hoped to get a photo, but found my camera was out of juice. Maybe next week. Also in the garden today was the first Goldcrest for several months.

With the camera fully charged I spent an hour or two at Upton Warren this afternoon. On a non-birding note, I spotted this excellent specimen on the footpath to the East Hide.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this is an Elephant Hawk Moth caterpillar. Good work!

Anyway, back to the birds. There were an extraordinary number of Snipe on the Flashes today, plus several Green Sandpiper and Common Sandpiper, and some Dunlin too. With a bit of help I also managed to see the Black-Tailed Godwit, though it remained pretty well hidden in the vegetation. At about 4:30pm a Sparrowhawk flew over, causing quite a commotion. I confess I immediately identified it as a Kestrel before being corrected by someone with far superior knowledge than my own [not hard!]. Still, if in doubt I always think shouting Kestrel is the better option! Or maybe I should just keep quiet when I’m not sure. Who knows?

Anyway, it made me realise that I still have a long way to go before I can consider myself a really good birder, which is quite humbling and an excellent lesson to take away with me at the end of another enjoyable birding week.

Snipe at Upton Warren

Black-Tailed Godwit at Upton Warren

Green Sandpiper at Upton Warren

Elsewhere, I noticed 2 Swifts over the house on Wednesday evening and then 2 more at work on Thursday during a stroll around the grounds, but none since. I think most of them have moved on now.

On Sunday I went down to the little village of Holt to see if I could find the Ruff that had been reported there. I spent a good couple of hours there. If you get the chance to go I can heartily recommend it. It reminded me of Bowling Green Marsh in Topsham, Devon with the amount of geese, ducks and waders that were there.

I quickly located the Ringed Plover that were present and saw a couple of smaller waders in amongst them. My initial thought was that they might be Little Stint, but I think my heart was ruling my head as on closer inspection they were a pair of Dunlin. No sign of the Ruff at this point.

I scanned the field several times and picked up all the usual waterfowl, plus some Common Tern, some of which were clearly juveniles. Then I saw some movement behind the vegetation to the right of the field, followed by a glimpse of some promising-looking plumage. I thought I had struck gold, then noticed this bird had a large bill. Curlew was my initial reaction, but it turned out to be a Snipe. Nice spot though.

There was an unexpected bonus when another chap who was present picked up a pair of Hobby flying over [lifer!]. They remained in the vicinity for a few minutes and I managed to get the scope on them and got some nice views. Second lifer of the week. Good work!

Just as I was preparing myself to miss out on the Ruff, it showed up in the centre of the field, wading around in the mud [year tick!]. I knew at this point that that was going to be my lot for the day [though I saw later that 3 Greenshank had been reported there too – I never saw them!] so I headed home. A nice end to a memorable week.

Here’s my Holt trip list:

Black-Headed Gull, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Common Tern, Coot, Dunlin, Goldfinch, Green Sandpiper, Hobby [lifer!], Kestrel, Lapwing, Little Grebe, Mallard, Moorhen, Mute Swan, Pied Wagtail, Ringed Plover, Robin, Ruff [year tick!], Sand Martin, Snipe, Swallow, Teal, Woodpigeon

And here are the birds I would like to see before the end of the year:

Crossbill, Knot, Lesser Redpoll, Little Stint, Long-Tailed Duck, Red-Throated Diver

I rushed upstairs to get the digital camera and managed to get a reasonable photo seconds before it flew away.

Very unexpected, but obviously a very welcome addition to the life list!

I wonder if it will make another appearance? Stay tuned to find out.

I also spotted a Common Sandpiper, which I flushed on my way back to the car.

After dipping on Nightjars earlier this week it was nice to have a bit of success.

Until next time, happy birding!

The best bit of news is that there are Spotted Flycatchers apparently nesting near the bungalow in Llangybi. I noticed one when we arrived and then spotted [no pun intended!] a pair later on in the week. They were perched on the ash tree in the front garden. Excellent stuff.

The Greater Spotted Woodpeckers continue to visit the feeders in the garden regularly, but I did not spot the Siskins this time. Blue Tits, Great Tits, Chaffinches and House Sparrows are all regular visitors too.

There were good numbers of Gannet in the sea near Criccieth, plus Manx Shearwater and Sandwich Tern. Along the shingle beach I had Ringed Plover, Oystercatcher, Sand Martin, Swallow, Cormorant and Rock Pipit. There were many Herring Gulls, but I did see a few Black-Headed Gull there aswell.

On Thursday we paid a visit to Borth-Y-Gest. It was raining, so we sat in the car eating our sandwiches. I glanced behind me and spotted a gull with yellow legs and knew immediately that it was not a Lesser Black-Backed Gull. By the time I had wheeled around and grabbed the binoculars it had taken flight. I did get another glance at the legs and remained satisfied as to their colour, but the bird flew towards the estuary and landed some distance away from me. Sadly, I did not have the scope to hand so had to wait patiently for it to return. I did notice, however, that the the gull’s back was mid-grey, darker than that of a Herring Gull. When it finally returned, it flew over head before disappearing behind the terraced houses that border the harbour. On balance, I am fairly certain that it was a Yellow-Legged Gull, my first one as it happens, but the views I had were not really good enough to be conclusive.

I paid my first visit to the nature reserve at Penrhyndeudraeth on Friday. I was keen to see it as it is a prime site for Nightjars, though the weather was never really good enough to contemplate an evening visit to see them. However, I did see Redstart, Whitethroat, Bullfinch, Linnet, Meadow Pipit, Buzzard and Raven up there. Hopefully I will get up there next year for the Nightjars. A trip to the ‘magic field’ that evening added Stonechat, Goldfinch and Skylark to the trip list.

That was about it. No lifers, no year ticks even, but a very pleasant, relaxing week. I probably won’t be up there now until October when I hope to get a few divers, sea ducks and maybe some Crossbills with a bit of luck. Can’t wait.

Trip list:

Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-Headed Gull, Blue Tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Collared Dove, Cormorant, Dunnock, Gannet, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Linnet, Magpie, Mallard, Manx Shearwater, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Nuthatch, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Razorbill, Red-Breasted Merganser, Redstart, Ringed Plover, Robin, Rock Dove, Rock Pipit, Sand Martin, Sandwich Tern, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Starling, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Whitethroat, Whooper Swan, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren

The first stroke of luck was on top of the Berwyns, which is quickly establishing itself as an essential stop off point on the way to North Wales. This rugged moorland is located near the village of Bala and has delivered Crossbill, Tree Pipit, Whinchat, Cuckoo and Hen Harrier in the last eight months or so, and I have heard Red Grouse up there too. On Saturday I picked up my first Spotted Flycatcher of the year [year tick!] in the conifer plantation. This is actually only the second time I have seen this bird, the first time being in the Lake District in 2003 when I was a very average birder.

On Sunday, we headed down to Criccieth in the afternoon and spotted a Gannet out at sea, before picking up the Rock Pipit that had eluded me and my friends in May. It was feeding a youngster and I managed to get a few decent photographs of it. We also had some Sand Martins down on the beach, but nothing else of particular significance. I had some fun in the rock pools, however, discovering a few crabs and fish.

On Monday I did some slightly more intensive birding along the cliffs near Aberdaron. We had thought about going to Bardsey Island, but decided not to in the end. However, from the cliff walk you can see the island and we were hopeful that scanning the sea around this area would prove worthwhile. Along the cliffs there were high numbers of Whitethroat and Yellowhammer and I managed to get some really good pictures of the latter.

We scoped some small islands out to sea and noted that there were many small seabirds on the rocks and in the water, but they were a little too distant to identify. Logic suggests that the majority were Guillemots, with some Razorbills thrown in, but there could have been Black Guillemot too, which would have been a year tick for me. We shall never know for sure.

Further along we had some Choughs, then we noticed that a number of seabirds were making their way from Bardsey Island across the water not too far away from us. With a bit of patience we managed to make out that most of these were Guillemots and we noted some Gannets too, then we realised that there were Manx Shearwater [year tick!] there aswell, which was a lifer for my father as he had missed out on them in Islay last year. Bardsey Island has many thousands of pairs of breeding shearwater, so if you can’t get to the island itself then I expect these cliffs are probably one of the premier places in Wales to go looking for them.

Shortly afterwards, we picked up Fulmar on the cliffs and more Choughs with their young, plus Linnet, Meadow Pipit and also a Sparrowhawk as we made our way back to the car.

We paid another visit to Coed Aber on Tuesday and had excellent views of a Peregrine up on the cliffs near the falls. We again failed to find a Ring Ouzel, but did pick up a female Redstart and heard a few warblers including Wood Warbler. We stopped off on the coast road on the way back and got Curlew, Whimbrel, Little Egret and Red-Breasted Merganser, but failed to find the Spoonbill in Foryd Bay, which we saw last month.

On Tuesday night we couldn’t resist going for Storm Petrels at Criccieth as the weather was quite rough, but unfortunately we failed in our quest. That was about it, except for an early morning excursion on Wednesday to Criccieth beach and the cob at Porthmadog where we sorted out more Gannets, a Redshank and a Common Sandpiper.

My final count was 74 species, excluding a few birds that I was not 100% certain of. Not too shabby for a relatively casual bit of birding.

Trip list:

Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-Headed Gull, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada Goose, Carrion Crow, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Chough, Coal Tit, Collared Dove, Common Sandpiper, Cormorant, Curlew, Dunnock, Fulmar, Gadwall, Gannet, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Great Black-Backed Gull, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great Tit, Greenfinch, Grey Heron, Grey Wagtail, Guillemot, Herring Gull, House Martin, House Sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black-Backed Gull, Linnet, Little Egret, Magpie, Mallard, Manx Shearwater, Meadow Pipit, Mistle Thrush, Mute Swan, Oystercatcher, Peregrine, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Raven, Red-Breasted Merganser, Redshank, Redstart, Robin, Rock Dove, Rock Pipit, Rook, Sand Martin, Shelduck, Siskin, Skylark, Song Thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spotted Flycatcher, Stonechat, Swallow, Swift, Treecreeper, Whimbrel, Whitethroat, Wigeon, Willow Warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellowhammer