randombirder

A rather sedate morning cycling through the local countryside turned into a mad dash up the A1 to see a mighty mega British first.  I'd been speaking about kelp gull with a friend during the week specifically in the context of the next new species for the UK but to have one appear thirty minutes up the road was absolutely bonkers. It was a glorious bird, what was most striking for me was not just the head and bill shape combo, but the gooey green colour of its legs - like moderately perished mushy peas.

Long stayers always peak my interest which makes decision making a little easier for trips like this.  Bempton Cliffs is a breathtaking place to visit especially in the summer when the seabird frenzy is at its zenith. The red-tailed shrike (turkestan shrike) showed beautifully feeding off a concrete post before disappearing into cover where it then popped out into the open, preened a little and basked in the sun for a while.  Lovely stuff.   The walk along the cliff-face was majestic as always, seabirds everywhere, the sights, sounds and smells of the place - nature at its best. The now reliable black-browed albatross was also present wheeling around the cliffs until it headed out seaward and plopped itself down distantly for a bit of peace and quiet.

No award-winning photos but a local hoopoe is always a draw and my second within 15 mins of home within fields by the lovely village church.

When my good friend Jason said he was heading over from the land down under for a month-long visit to his second home, the threat of four days with him loomed large and the pressure was on to find a suitable destination for a birding and beer trip.  While the UK of course provides a multitude of possibilities, the meteorological vagaries temper confidence in a rain free trip which could dampen things somewhat.  So Poland it was, cheap, accessible, and generally full of sun at this time of year.  So on arrival, to find it was 14C and raining was somewhat amusing. Thankfully the weather had improved the following day, low 20s as oppossed to the 34C that we had left behind in London.  This made things really pleasant for wandering around and we did cover some ground amassing a total of 106 species which we felt was a great effort considering the time of year. With two and a half days at our disposal, the car hire pickup and subsequent two and a half hour drive had us in...