randombirder

Heading up to Flamborough once again on Thursday evening to catch the final throes of Migweek started off with a captivating talk by the brilliant Johnny Mac on his past trips to Mongolia and the range of breeding Siberian species that the region supports. The passport is ready for a trip there at some point soon! Birding on Friday was relatively pedestrian with most of the interest out to sea. Ambling gently around the area, Old Hall produced just three brambling , 12 chiffchaff , a blackcap and a treecreeper . Not much to scream and shout about in an autumn that has yet to deliver any decent falls of Eastern vagrants. After a quick break, focus was drawn to the sea and within 15 minutes of setting up, six glorious pomarine skua drifted slowly north around a mile off-shore comprised of five big-spooned adults. Shortly after, J Mac headed over and invited me to join a small group on a seawatch (that also included John and Jono!). A couple of hours there produced a juvenile pomarine s...

Today it felt like I was window shopping for owls. First of the vegetative frontages was this extremely brazen short-eared owl , totally unfazed by the modest assemblage of birders lined on the bank of the Cambridgeshire washes at Eldernell. A fabulous site for a variety of species but particularly for wintering owls. Continuing along a hundred metres or so where two long-eared owl were not so confiding, typically tucked away in the dense scrub, one of which was relatively showy compared to some of the LEO experiences most folk have of this species. The second bird was slightly higher up in the thicket that was much more concealed. There have been reports of seven individuals present at this site. And then a hundred metres further along the track, and probably my favourite of all was this glorious tawny owl snugly tucked into a limb cavity. Incongruously, I've definitely seen more long-eared owl than tawny owl so this was a real treat. Also on site apart from thousands of wildfow...