Tales From An Essex Birder

 After a Rufous-Tailed Robin turned up at Flamborough Bird Observatory 4 or 5 days prior, I had been dying to visit the east coast but had not had the opportunity. Getting away from various responsibilities as soon as I could, I found myself taking a day off on the Monday and heading down towards the coast in the hope of seeing some migrant goodies. With a smattering of rare birds turning up during the rare couple of days of easterly winds that took place the previous week, there were still some rarities left to be seen. The kicker, however, was that a major storm had hit UK shores over the previous couple of days. Although conditions were beginning to improve, the forecast still looked bleak - a risk that I was willing to take for the sake of a twitch. After a long drive to Flamborough which lasted north of three hours, I arrived onsite in conditions of light rain and some wind. I quickly made my way to the area where the Robin had been seen. Thirty or so birders were stood hoping...

 After the unforeseen influx of Baird's Sandpipers across the UK which had begun during the previous week, I had been itching to get a slice of the action for myself. Luckily, the Cheshire bird at Coxbank did the decent thing and stayed long enough for myself and Marc to attempt a casual weekend twitch. After an hour or so drive to the site, we parked up the mini and walked over to the site where the Sandpiper had been spotted in recent days. As luck would have it, the bird was showing upon arrival. A birdwatcher with a telescope (an instrument that neither of us had) let us get a nice view through his telescope - one in which we could make out clearly the black speckles on the bird's flanks. Seeing the Baird's Sandpiper through our binoculars proved to be a somewhat more tricky affair, with the small stature and brown colour making the bird blend remarkably well with the surrounding mud. Yet we certainly couldn't complain with the views that we enjoyed in perfect lig...

I have been dying to get out to the Yorkshire coast in the autumn time for a long while now. For whatever reason, i just haven't been able to do it over the past few years. Whether living abroad in Dublin, or being without a car in Liverpool, I have year on year missed the boat with autumn migration. Despite a pretty rammed schedule consisting of trips back to London and plenty of uni work to be getting on with, I managed to set aside a weekend in mid October to live out my migration fantasies. 18/10/2025 Marc agreed to join me on this endeavour, providing some much welcome company. So after a 7am start, we hopped into the trusted Mini and headed east towards the coast - with hopes of seeing something special. The journey was fairly straight forward and passed quickly. Our first stop of choice was to be the South Landing car park next to Flamborough observatory where, upon arrival, we could immediately tell that there were a gluttony of birds to be found. In the car park alone ther...

 After moving back to Liverpool - my home away from home - to start a PhD, I have had relatively little time to go birding. However, weaponised by the addition of a car, I now have the freedom of travel without any reliance on public transport. This was exercised on a trip to Burton Mere a few weeks prior which yielded a White Stork (that I refound) as well as Spotted Redshank and Spoonbill. So, when news broke of a stunning male Woodchat Shrike on the Bridgewater Canal in Daresbury, Cheshire, I simply couldn't resist it. With a gluttony of great photos surfacing on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) and the birding seemingly stay put, I hopped in the car with the intention of my first twitch upon returning to Merseyside. Luckily, the journey was short, picking up my good friend Marc on the way also allowed for some top company and some good chats. We soon arrived, after parking up at a local housing estate, we embarked on the walk to the pin point that our trusted BirdGuides had prov...

 As usual, Abberton Reservoir has delivered the goods this winter with a gluttony of the season's specialty species on offer in around the reserve currently. Back from Ireland for just under a week, I jumped at the opportunity to go birdwatching at my county's premier location.  1st trip - 16/02/2025 Setting off fairly late to the reservoir with my parents and girlfriend, I had initially intended to have a chilled couple of hours at the reservoir. But, as always this was not the case, I couldn't help but run round the reservoir chasing the less common species. After a jaunt to the visitor centre to learn about the day's sightings, we decided that the first stop was to be the Layer-de-la-haye causeway. In the highly exposed winds, it was seriously chilly as we ventured. out to a central spot on the causeway. Along the way an Egyptian Goose , some Goosander and Goldeneye kept me company. A prolonged scan at first revealed the usual Great Crested Grebes . However, a siz...

 I'm really enjoying birdwatching in Essex at the moment. Admittedly this is because my county has had the spoil of all the sightings in East Anglia - the thought of travelling to Norfolk when there is more to be seen in my own county is certainly not an appealing prospect at the moment.  Still revelling in the glory of the Yank pair of Canvasback and Northern Waterthrush which have directed most of the nation's twitchers to Essex, I decided to go for my third lifer in my own county on the trot! After receiving excellent directions from a kind birdwatcher on twitter, a trip to Bradwell-on-sea was in order. Having never visited this reserve before, I really wasn't sure what to expect. It truly felt like I was in the middle of nowhere as I passed field upon field before arriving at Bradwell-on-sea which consisted of - yep, you guessed it - more fields!  As I parked the car and set off on the sizeable walk towards the goose's favoured fields, the bushes initially seemed qu...