randombirder

Well.  What a day it turned out to be.  It all started quite sedately actually.  A wander round the Garrison in the morning but seeing very little apart from a Wheatear and a few Goldcrest flitting around the pines.  Heading down towards Pottery took two attempts (because of the limited viewing area) to see the Lesser Whitethroat showing features of blythii.  It did look very brown on the mantle as it flicked low into the sycamores. The Swainson's Thrush was reported again, this time in paddocks within the vicinity of the dump clump.  There was a lot of birders there so decided to stay away and look for the reported and continuing Nightingale .  A short wait and the bird popped out and settled on the metal fenceline.  Another crazy Scilly sighting of what is usually a skulking migrant.    Then the messages started appearing.  A totally underwhelming message of a Black-and-White Warbler on Tresco had all birders charging for the q...

Another dirty chase for a rare bird, and this was my third attempt for Franklin's Gull .  This time the bird did the honorable thing and showed reasonably well after an hour long wait in a biting wind. I It was eventually seen flying sorties in the company of Common Tern .  It's behaviour was very similar to Little Gull, a graceful undulating flight that made it a little easier to pick out.  The grey wings and mantle with white leading edges were obvious against the strong light as it flew out toward the pumping station. Unfortunately it never did settle, but there were four Black Tern there. Before heading away, a Nightingale was bursting into song intermittently.  It's a sound that you can never tire of. I then headed over to Fingringhoe Wick EWT reserve.  This was my first visit here and I was really impressed with it.  Around six Nightingale were heard including one briefly seen. There were 20 Bar-Tailed Godwit along the channel,...